Wait, wasn't he infiltrating?

[detectivewonder]

Okay, I think I've got the hang of this. Can you hear me?

Not that it's really hearing, it seems like it's an internal voice. Mental.

We're Travelers, we're opposing some sort of organization called the Manticore Knights, and we have access to the world they're in and a place called a liminal - is that right?

I don't see anyone else here, so I must be in liminal right now...

Is there an orientation process in place? What's an infiltrator, in this context?

Comments

[volving]

[ ...Okay, it might be a new Tim. Right? ...except that the only time Cass knows of where new people showed up partway through was... well, when she and Steph showed up. ]

[ uncertainly ] ...Tim?

[detectivewonder]

Tim. That's a name, yeah? Are you asking if I'm Tim?

[volving]

Yes?

[ This is not good ]

I'm... coming to liminal... space. Don't... leave.

[ She is portaling to limspace as quickly as she can, what is wrong with Tim what is going on. ]

[detectivewonder]

[Tim is dressed in his Grid outfit, staring at nothing, eyes and finger tracking something invisible - he's reviewing the psychic network, and has the same absent yet focused look he does while reading.]

[volving]

[ Okay, this is Tim. This is their Tim, if he's wearing that outfit. So... what's going on? ]

...Hi. Are... you okay?

[detectivewonder]

... I think so. What are our parameters for "okay?"

[He looks at her, unalarmed, interested - and completely without any sense of familiarity.]

[volving]

[ No no no no no, this is so wrong. This is so wrong and unsettling and what. happened. ]

You don't... know me. [ it's not a question. She's using the training she got from Cain to keep herself from being visibly distressed, but internally? FREAKING OUT. ] Are... you injured?

[mysunnydisposition]

What? Are you....

...hang on I'm coming to liminal space.

[detectivewonder]

I'm not really sure I can go anywhere else, so.

[mysunnydisposition]

[ Momentary pause. If it's a new Tim, wouldn't he react at least a little to hearing her voice?

Never mind. She opens a portal the second she can get off the street and ducks through into liminal space. Normally the fact that it's all made of pudding would get at least a raised eyebrow, but she's got bigger concerns right now. ]

You wanna yell or something so I can find you in here?

[ She's speaking out loud now, but she's keeping up the telepathic connection until she's sure he's close enough to actually hear her. ]

[detectivewonder]

Or Something!

[The shout leads back to a bemused Tim, wearing the black suit he got from the Grid, projecting a replay of sensory livestreams on a nearby custard pool and watching it with quizzical interest.]

[mysunnydisposition]

[ Eyeroll. ] You're hilarious.

[ She makes her way to him, and stops as soon as she getsclose enough to see what he's wearing. He didn't just get here. He didn't just get spat out of some pre-Moebius dungeon either, not wearing that, but...

Steph shakes her head and moves closer, trying to ignore the rising sense of something very wrong. ]

Okay, let's back up. What's with the Travelling 101 questions? And also... weren't you infiltrating?

[detectivewonder]

[He looks at her in incomprehension. She knows him, he can see that. And that is a problem, because...]

So... amnesia after infiltration. Not how this normally works?

[leftbehindagain]

That's... the gist of it, at least at the moment.

What's the last thing you remember? [Because Naoki's pretty sure he's heard this voice before, but this is... unexpected. And somewhat worrying.]

[detectivewonder]

Is that a trick question?

[leftbehindagain]

No. It might help us figure out what happened.

[detectivewonder]

It's. Uh. A question with a null answer.

[leftbehindagain]

...well, that's not good.

[detectivewonder]

I'm starting to get that.

[asinisterkid]

Well, looks like I'm late to this party.

Oh, Tim. Timmy Timmy Tim. You have no idea how hard it is not to fuck with you right now. And I can't even give you shit for the breathtaking toolishness of your infiltration, because you can't remember it. Where's the fun in that?

Anyway, hi! I'm Jason, and I sort of hate you. Don't worry, it's mostly not your fault.

[detectivewonder]

That would make you my brother, then.

Appreciate the sense of restraint.

Private

[asinisterkid]

That's not a term I'd expect to hear from you, but the amnesia probably explains that. We got taken in by the same guy, as part of a small legacy of kids he's trained, adopted, or both. And I'm the black sheep of the family, so you get a free pass in the not acknowledging me department.

Just so you have some idea of what you've landed in the middle of.

Anyway, Steph wouldn't forgive me if I fucked with you too much.

So anyway: Timothy Jackson Drake, boy genius, vigilante, smart enough to figure out the identity of our mutual mentor when people several times your age were stumped. You're a special snowflake, Timbo.

Re: Private

[detectivewonder]

How do you manage to be the black sheep in a family like ours?

[It's possible his working assumption about the reason they're heavily scarred and like rooftops is about one hundred and eighty degrees from the truth.]

Private

[asinisterkid]

Now I really want to know what assumptions you're making there.

But, to sum up: Daddy Bats is all about the law and order, and vigilantism with the goal of handing the bad guys to the cops with a bow on, and never ever killing them, no matter how many people they've killed and will kill in the future because no one can keep them in jail or the local loony bin for long.

Me? I grew up on the streets. I've seen the ways the justice system fails, and what happens to innocent people when it does. I literally fucking died and all he did was take in a new kid -- that's you, gumdrop -- while the psycho who killed me was still alive and killing more people.

I tried playing it his way. People died. I was one of them. My way, people still die, but they're the ones who've actually done something wrong.

Private

[detectivewonder]

... Huh. I was... way off.

I mean, scarring, lots of time spent on rooftops, ninja skills. I figured we were some kind of syndicate. Catburglars for hire, assassins, something like that.