Open | The city at the center of it all

[welcome_summer]

Who: open to all, 4th wall visitors more than welcome!
What: New faces and new cracks in the sky
When: August 2022 4th Wall- Weekend
Where: Central City
Content Warnings: If needed

[As Friday night rolls into Saturday, the repercussions of this Earth rejoining the multiverse are starting to become more clear. Missing persons reports are flooding the airwaves, the OurPowers metahuman-only social media network included. In Excelsior, it seems the newly-sentient tech devices are adding to the noise. News coming from Sunset Falls is terse-- there is also a Strong Magical Effect of some sort active in addition to the disappearances. Not even Little Love is immune; thankfully, the residents report no additional hazards.

But here in Central City, the citizens only grow more tense with each resident taken. A powderkeg with a long fuse that has just been lit. The sky is starting to crack, and the feelings of homesickness and fear are starting to spread.

It’s not the warmest welcome a visitor could receive, but the meta population has been put on alert for new arrivals, searching from rooftop to water’s edge. Central’s a VERY big city, but hopefully some generous souls can point you to the swanky Diadem Hotel in the end.

Resident metas, you might want to check in on your nearest and dearest before heading out. Some of you might be deploying to Sunset Falls or Excelsior soon, or making plans to get to Little Love before Central gets… too rough. Some of you might be adventuring Elsewhere very shortly. But maybe there is time to help out a fresh face, extricate them from a confrontation, give them the lowdown about this alternate Earth? After all, you were once new yourself.]

((4th-wallers, feel free to touch down here! Network/”text” threads welcome. Mingle to your hearts’ content))

Comments

Wren Fulton-Gray (The Shrike II) | OC

[shrikesback]

A. In Person/ Rough Landing
Wren doesn't even realize something is wrong at first.

Well, okay, something is obviously wrong in that Wren was in the bad part of downtown in the middle of the night one moment, and the next it's a bright sleek uptown in the middle of the day. Something is very wrong. But the immediate anger from all the people suddenly around, well - Wren's costume has a reputation from the past owner. It's been a while, sure, given that Wren has been the one wearing it for the last year but it's not unheard of.

"It's okay - look, I'm not here to cause any trouble-" Wren says, voice modulated through the headset in their helmet to sound deeper, a bit older, hands up and open in a placating gesture as if not being visibly armed made them any less dangerous.

"That's all your kind does!" someone in the crowd shouts, which is the first signal that this is a different kind of anger than Wren is used to having to diffuse.

"-my kind?"

A barrage of insults about metahumans follows that. Too much anger, and moreover too many people feeding into it - Wren's better at de-escalation than the rest of their team but this is beyond their abilities. Time to look for a fast exit.

B: Network/ UN: Shrike
I don't suppose anyone else here is familiar with the place Cobalt City or the organization Supergroup? I'm trying to find out if anyone else is from the same place I am. If there are any beginner guides of any kind I would appreciate it.

I also assume just going home isn't an option if enough people have gotten stuck here for there to be a process about it now.

A

[robintohood]

Whatever this phenomena is, it feels like the whole world is on edge from it. Jason has been keeping an eye on the crowds, both as a civilian and as the Red Hood. Speaking from personal experience, he knows fear has a hell of a way of whipping up people to do unreasonable things.

He was on his way to do some grocery shopping when he sees the mob surrounding another meta. The new arrival's suit is also hard to miss. He walks over, hoping it's not too late to help.

[shrikesback]

There's always going up, but to get the force to lift off significantly there's a certain amount of blowback that occurs at the liftoff point and with everyone so close together Wren has far too many awful visions of crushing injuries that can happen of falls in a tightly packed crowd. Okay, fine - a smaller one then, not full on up up and away but just enough to get over the crowd. That's easy, Wren's used their flight to finesse what looks like inhuman acrobatics plenty of times. Kickoff up and over, hitting the ground on the other side so they're no longer penned in with a tumble that absorbs most of the force of that fall - and of course almost colliding directly with the guy who just approached the outer edge of the growing mob. At least he doesn't look ready to pop off - only a little curious. And Wren managed to stop themselves from an actual collision that would have definitely toppled groceries. They'll take their lucky breaks where they can get them.

"-Sorry!' for the close call, though.

[robintohood]

Jason watches the... liftoff? Or at least the person attempting to escape. At the same time they nearly topple him over, Jason had taken several steps back.

"It's okay!" He says after they apologized.

Then Jason sees the crowd start to turn to them.

"Come on. You don't wanna hang here any longer. There's an alleyway shortcut down the block."

Jason starts to take several steps back as the mob notices him trying to help.

[shrikesback]

Wren's helmet usually has a heads up display that can access city maps, but it can't connect to any network here and Wren doesn't have the time to stop and go through every firewall they've got on it to see which (if any) is the problem. So they'll have to rely on the directions given.

"You don't have to do this, I can handle myself," Wren says quickly as they head in that direction, hoping to absolve the helpful stranger of any possible need to help that would put him in the line of fire too. As far as Wren knows Jason's just a normal guy on a grocery run after all.

[robintohood]

Welp. Too late. There are shouts at Jason for helping "another stinkin' meta" so he's going to bolt with Wren.

"Don't suppose you got knockout gas in that suit?"

[shrikesback]

"Sorry, not my crowd control suit, this one only has kung-fu grip and a trading card," Wren said as they ran. Doing some quick math in their head to judge the space, though, they had the little extra bit of distance Wren had initially needed that had kept them grounded in the first place. So-

"You don't have weird anti-air missiles on buildings around here, right?"

Look, better to make sure first, the way Wren's day was going.

[robintohood]

Jason stares at Wren with a raised eyebrow. That was a hell of a question to ask.

"Last I checked, no," He replies. He's gone rooftop jumping all over the city long enough to know by now.

[shrikesback]

It does seem like a weird question doesn't it?

"Good to know. Uh, sorry, hold on-"

Under normal circumstances Wren does try to get permission before putting hands on another person. It's just common courtesy, alright. They've got pursuers though and there really is one fast and easy way to lose them.

So the 'hold on' is the warning Jason gets before Wren is grabbing hold of him and taking off, initial force of lift kicking up every bit of street debris within five feet as the two of them head straight up to the closest level roof.

[robintohood]

Jason yelps and instinctively holds on as Wren zips off with him. He's not used to being on this end of a "grab and fly." He looks down as the distance between and the angry mob grows.

"Thanks for the warning," he says, still clinging and pretending to be more scared than he actually is. He's assuming Wren knows what they're doing with their suit's flight capabilities.

[shrikesback]

Wren has had to emergency lift out two of their teammates in the past and was able to fairly easily manage it. Admittedly, neither of them were quite as built as Jason is but the two of them together were definitely heavier.

The landing is a gentle and graceful one, and look maybe Wren is being extra careful both as an apology for Jason getting caught up in whatever Wren stepped in as well as to prove they don't always fumble like that first one. Can't prove nothing. Either way Wren only lets go once they're sure Jason is steady on his feet.

"Sorry - again," Wren says. The fully covering facemask may hide the cringing expression but the voice modulator can't cover the audible emotion of it. "You okay?"

[robintohood]

Jason nods as he stand and straightens himself up. He looks back at Wren, studying their suit. He doesn't recognize it or the tech its using.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replies. "How about you? What was that about before?"

He gestures vaguely at the street below.

[shrikesback]

There's a pause when Wren notices Jason's scrutiny and prepares for - some kind of negative reaction. The suit has a history where they're from, after all, and not a good one.

It's more low-tech than it looks, too. The helmet has some fancy add-ons to it. But without any kind of internet hook up it seems it's mainly stuck on voice disguise, probably night vision, and keeping bugs out of Wren's face during flight. The rest is mainly lightweight armor to take hits and padding to throw off an instant silhouette recognition. Wren has to keep their secret identity a secret.

When no instant recognition is forthcoming, well. Wren shrugs, looking over the edge of the building cautiously, but however mad the people were, it wasn't 'storm the building' mad and they seem to mostly be dispersing rather than trying to follow. That's a relief. One less thing to worry about as Wren instead begins to pace the roof, looking around at the skyline they have a much better view of, as well as the unfamiliarity of it.

"I wish I knew. I'm not even sure where I am... I was in a part of downtown Cobalt City just a few minutes ago… also it was close to midnight."

[robintohood]

Jason furrows his brow as he listens to them. How many more unexpected visitors is this Earth going to get?

"Can't say I've heard of Cobalt. You're in Central City," he says. "I don't really understand it but something's happening that's making some people disappear and new people suddenly getting dropped in. It sounds like you're one of them."

[shrikesback]

Wren swears softly under their breath. A single emphatic "Fuck," followed by a "I am so missing my test tomorrow."

They were already taking a risk being sleep deprived, but they've been sleep deprived through tests before and done just fine.

Anyone in any English-speaking part of their world has heard of Cobalt City, and given Wren has never heard of Central City, well. They've never experienced alternative universe fuckery but they are a mask - they know a guy who knows a guy who's fallen into some mirror universe or another.

"And I'm guessing there's no handy publicly accessible wormhole ready to go to send those dropped in home?"

A

[eggplanting]

Steph isn't a stranger to negative reactions from the public, but it feels different when it was directed at Batgirl specifically. This is just... anger and frustration bleeding through and making people dangerous, and she can't say she's a fan.

It has her out in uniform, knowing it's likely a bad idea but unable to just sit somewhere safe while people are in trouble.

Like Wren, being dumped into an unfortunate situation with no idea what the situation actually involves. Steph doesn't think twice about stepping in, which mostly involves hooking her grapple gun on a nearby building so she can swing down and land next to Wren.

"Hey folks, you mind if we cut this short? I've gotta take our new friend for a tour." It's not really a question, and she holds a hand out for Wren, her expression a very clear suggestion that Wren should let her help so they can get the hell out of here.

[shrikesback]

Look, Wren's got no idea who the purple suit is (that logo is fully unfamiliar) but in spite of what their former team might say Wren is fully capable of playing along when needed. It could of course go pear-shaped, some kind of draw away and attack trap, but even if going 1v1 against another mask is the significantly harder fight Wren would much rather risk that than hurting a bunch of non-powered people. People don't get this angry overnight - not without mind control involved - so Wren's definitely missing something here and even if it is mind control that's another check into the box of 'do your best to not let them get hurt'.

"Sorry for the interruption, back to your regularly scheduled programming - uh, maybe," okay, that sky looks questionable to say the least, but that is not yet Wren's problem to deal with. They take Stephanie's hand without hesitating. Sure they can fly but this way they don't set off a blowback and potentially knock people over that are standing too close. "Thanks."

[eggplanting]

The problem with random people in costumes turning up is that there's no indication whether they're the good guys or the bad guys. Someone like Tim or Bruce would likely exercise more caution and analyze the situation first, but Steph isn't like Tim or Bruce, and she figures that either way, she's doing the right thing.

If it's a good guy, she's helped them out of a tricky situation. If it's a bad guy, she now has their attention on her instead of civilians. And if it's someone who doesn't fall either way, maybe showing a little kindness will make the difference.

So when Wren takes her hand, Steph smiles, despite the fact one of the locals is starting to tell her off, too. She decides it's best to ignore them for the few seconds it takes to leave.

She leads Wren a couple of feet away, still holding their hand, which she then guides to her shoulder, so she can wrap an arm around their waist and fire off her grapple gun, hooking onto a nearby building. The line retracts, and Steph keeps her grip tight on Wren so she doesn't lose them.

The landing isn't going to be the most graceful thing in the world, it never is when two people on one grapple line, but she'll do her best to make sure they both stay on their feet.

[shrikesback]

Up in the air, away from people who could get accidentally injured (slim as that possibility is), Wren can help with the landing. Nothing to kick off of to launch, but holding on to Steph a bit tighter and taking control of landing to make it easier, a bit more graceful and less hard on both of their knees.

"- Sometimes when I lift off, especially when I'm going fast, the resulting air current can knock people back if they're not prepared and everyone was packed super tight and already pissed off-" Wren explains, expecting the question for 'if you can fly why'd you not already do that'.

[eggplanting]

Oh. Steph doesn't have a lot of experience with metas, but she's spent enough time with Kara to know how to adjust when someone else takes the weight off a landing, so it's not too much of a disaster.

She wasn't expecting an explanation, either, but she can roll with that, too. "Please, you're fine." There are plenty of reasons to decide not to fly in the middle of a group of people, including the reason that Wren gave. "It's a pretty cool trick, though."

Steph lets go of Wren, mostly so she can go detach the grapple from the building, not wanting to lose it when she doesn't have Bat resources anymore.

[shrikesback]

It probably says the kind of person Wren is, too. Both for their reasoning and that they felt they had to maybe explain themselves.

Wren lets go as well once they've both got their feet under them - they've never had a vast wealth of resources so making sure to not lose a grapple gun checks out perfectly to Wren's logic.

"So - I don't think anyone here recognized my costume so I have no idea why they were that angry. What's going on...?"

[eggplanting]

Right. Explanations. She's great at those, especially when she doesn't entirely understand the situation herself, being so new. Tim has given her the SparkNotes version, and she's done a decent amount of digging on her own time, but it still isn't really enough.

"Short version would be that there's a whole mess with the multiverse and the locals have taken to blaming new arrivals as if they've purposefully displaced their friends and family." That's actually not the worst explanation in the world. Points for her. "They have a lot of opinions about superheroes and metas, too, but that would require the long version if you really wanna get into it."

And it may not be worth it, depending on how long Wren ends up stuck here.

B

[slidesrightoff]

Sorry,c an't say I do.

Cool name for a city though. Cooler than Mercury City where I'm from.

I don't think anyone made a guide, but I can answer questions if you have any??? There's a lot of stuff going on right now, like extra lot of stuff, but I can do my best.

Nah, we're stuck here for, uh, now, but like... not sure for how long.

[shrikesback]

Mercury like the element, planet, singer, or deity?

Cobalt City isn't the only place in my world that has Masks but they have the most, so it's the place everyone's heard of.

I guess first off did something happen to make the people here so angry at costumed heroes or is that just ... generally how it is?

[slidesrightoff]

Uhhh element or planet, I guess, but I wish it was the singer.

I mean some people have just been generally angry because metaheroes here have done some stupid shit over the years and there was a sudden influx of people from other worlds, but like now they're just angry because it's maybe the end of the world and so I don't blame them I'd be angry too.