If We Must

Participants: Barbara Gordon and Roy G. Bivolo
Open/Closed: Closed
Location(s): Coast City
Time of Day: Mid-morning
Weather: Clear
Summary: There was no other choice. She promises.

The array of screens in front of her put her half the world away. Barbara Gordon might've been sitting in Kord Tower on the eastern seaboard of the US, but her cyber-eyes were trained on a situation that was about to reach critical happening all the way in Coast City. One window showed a map of the city itself, updated live through countless cross-referenced, interplaying algorithms and programs Oracle had pieced together personally.

The next window had a list of contacts, all in limbo or red. No matter what avenues Babs had reached out to, every resource of hers was either busy or hadn't answered her call. She bit her bottom lip, having to go to more and more unorthodox methodology in desperation. Oracle couldn't let what was about to happen come about, not since she knew about it. She had to do something. There had to be someone.

Oracle paused, staring at the encoded communications frequency she'd just found in her mad search, and the person that it belonged to in relation to their ping on the map of Coast City. She didn't even take a moment to rub her temples at the absurdity of it. There was no time. Instead, she hacked into the line and started speaking through the computerized filters that totally masked and transformed her voice on the other end.

"Roy Bivolo. I need you to do exactly as I say, or a lot of innocent people are going to get hurt."

A twinkling trail soared over the skies of Coast City, speeding past flocks of birds and vanishing into the puffy clouds above. Laying down on his back, Roy merely admired the beautiful skies around him, enjoying the breeze blowing against his face, and the occasional avian acquaintance perching itself upon his finger. It was true that the rainbows Roy conjured were mostly meant for crime and chaos, every now and then those glimmering colors would merely provide a calming transport, a serene grace that would soon be interrupted by a squawking signal blaring out from his earpiece, sending any nearby birds flapping furiously away. 

"Huh? What're you? Some new kind of telemarketer? Axel pulling some kind of trick? Buzz off! Can't you see I'm enjoying my day off here! Why are you trying to threaten me anyways? Saving losers is what those goody two shoes do, go ransom one of those suckers! Sheesh, the nerve of some people." His slide continued onwards, though he now sat upright upon it, his legs dangling freely over the edge as he circled the city in a spiraling pattern, dodging and weaving across buildings and skylines without a care. 

Barbara Gordon

Altogether, Barbara couldn't fault Bivolo for the kind of reaction he had. The important thing was that, for all his words said the contrary, the tone underneath made her confident that she could still work with him. She had to be convincing, and fast, though. The more time it took to talk Rainbow Raider into following her instructions, the more dire the situation became.

"Who I am isn't important. Believe me when I say there's no one else who can help. I'm contacting you as a last resort." Oracle's eyes flicked over to the screen she had set up to monitor the deteriorating situation that'd forced her hand. Her nerves steeled even more. "I've read your rap sheet, Bivolo. You might be a criminal, but you're not a villain. We can discuss payment or rewards after you help."

Babs's attention darted for a moment back to the list of heroes waiting on the wings; still no response or free agents. She cursed inwardly. This was the way the cards had been dealt, and Oracle would roll with them. "Head to your northeast as fast as you can. I'll fill you in on the way."

Roy G. Bivolo

Just who did this mystery voice think they were?! Trying to boss them around as if they were Snart or something! Preposterous! That was of course, before they mentioned the sweet sultry tunes of a reward...Reluctantly, Roy began sliding down in the direction that Oracle had pinpointed, now properly surfing around his trail,

"Reward huh? Now your talking my language mystery voice. There is only one thing that'll satisfy a proper artist like myself....Patronage! If you need a high ranking rogue such as myself to play hero for whatever reason, then your going to have to buy some of my custom artwork, and show it off to all your friends! Display it loud and proud and brag about how lucky you were to get a Roy G. Bivolo original! Trust me, you certainly won't regret it!" 

Roy boasted gleefully, a genuine grin creeping across his face at the thought of someone enjoying their artwork....even if it was through extortion. That grin would soon turn to confusion however as the smell of smoke hit his nostrils, the Rainbow Raider having come across what remained of an exploded S.T.A.R Labs facility, pausing his rainbow trail in surprise at the devestating sight.

Barbara Gordon

Some spare thread of Oracle's substantial thought capacity was grateful that Rainbow Raider was the more straightforward super criminal. She didn't have to play mind games or a round of conversational chess to try to get him to do something that would help a lot of people. Apparently... All she had to do was bite the bullet and buy one of his art pieces? She'd make a note of that later.

For now, Babs turned most of her attention onto the map of the STAR Labs facility that she'd sent Bivolo toward. With a snatching motion, she pulled the blueprints off of the screen and tossed them beside her, letting a 3D rendering of the premises fill the air next to her chair. Multiple pulsating nodes of crimson denoted crisis zones, countless readouts spiraled in the space around it, and Oracle grit her teeth.

"There's no time for the specifics. Suffice it to say that an experimental energy source that STAR Labs has been working on went critical ten minutes ago. Imagine a nuclear reactor, only this one is bleeding a different, largely uncharted form of energy instead of radiation." Barbara's fingers moved while she worked. Scanners were detecting multiple life signatures penned in.

"The building to your left. Second floor, third window from the corner. We have technicians blocked in by the wreckage from the initial explosion. I need you to clear them a way out."

Roy G. Bivolo

"Y-Yeah, alright" Came Bivolo's voice, notably less cocksure than before, more shaky and worrisome than before. It seemed at least some degree of this devastation had shaken him, a pit welling up deep in his stomach. This isn't what he signed up for! Maybe catching someone falling off a bridge, or scaring off some two bit punks....This was a whole other magnitude! Would he get blamed for all this? What if the energy leaking out did something to him?! 

Yet...He couldn't just turn his back now. He made a deal, and as a rogue he had to live it through. Sliding up to the specified window, a bright magenta beam etched into the wall around it. A perfect outline getting sliced through the wall, the chunk containing the window crumbling down onto the ground below. 

Hopping into the building before him, a crowd of frightened scientists backed away from the colorful criminal. Frustrated, Roy simply blasted each of them with a beam of green energy from his goggles, each turning into a grinning pacifist as they were filled with overwhelming amounts of joy. "Come on, come on, jump already!" He barked, a rainbow slide having formed against the wall as the now fearless scientists casually went down one by one, though another problem now arose. Instead of running off for their safety, they instead were just having a friendly chat at the base of the building. 

"Oh for the love of..." Grumbled Bivolo, a yellow beam now making it's way across the scientists, now filled with such dread and panic that they bolted off in random directions, screaming their heads off. "There." Sighed Rainbow Raider as he ventured deeper into the building, looking for the trapped civilians that the mystery voice had indicated. 

Barbara Gordon

Oracle paused in her fervent mapping of the facility when Rainbow Raider created his point of entry. She watched through the handful of surveillance cameras within view that still functioned post-blast and blinked, once, to herself. Barbara might not have done it the same way, but she couldn't deny Bivolo's methods had... Fairly reliable results. At least the techs were breathing as they ran screaming for the perimeter.

She shook the focus back into her head, flicking one finger to send the 3D replica of the property spinning for a better vantage point. "Next group got penned in the stairwell at the end of the hall. You need to be careful with this one. My scans indicate severely compromised structural integrity." Babs's mind worked overtime trying to frame a solution to this particular problem given what she knew of Rainbow Raider's kit.

"If you can use that magenta move again ten meters off the ground, on the southeastern exterior wall of the stairwell we should be good to go. Let me know if I need to repeat any of that. You're doing great so far. Just keep it up." Barbara hoped that the dash of praise tossed on the end there would encourage and not frustrate Bivolo. He seemed more... sane and less childish than most criminals, though, so. "Try asking them to use your trail this time, before you blast them?"

Roy G. Bivolo

Was that....Encouragement? That was such a foreign concept for Bivolo. After a life of nothing but being put down and degraded by those around him, those words were like the rainbow he slid across, brightening up his day amidst all the chaos and destruction. "Know what headphone lady, your not too bad yourself" Said Roy with a smile, putting a hand up to his visor for a steady shot as he gauged the measurements she had called out to him. He knew he had to be quick with this one, if he held hte beam for too long the wall might catch fire, which would only escalate the situation. 

Sweating slightly from the anxiousness of it all, Roy braced himself as his heat beam shot out again, gliding across the wall as if a graceful figure skater, sliding their way through in a glimmering trail, the likes of which reminded of him to dearly departed Lisa Snart. Letting a shaky breath escape his lips, he watched the chunk of wall crumble away before stepping through the wall, much to the confusion of the scientists within. Another shimmering rainbow trail illuminating the pathway outwards.

"Just climb on here and you'll get out! Trust me!" He exclaimed before pushing the nearest scientist onto it, sending them sliding off towards where he had deposited the scientists before. Looking at eachother in worry, the civilians decided anything was better than here and began to clamber towards the exit on Roy's Rainbow. 

"So what's next boss lady? Anyone else left or can we blow this joint?"

Barbara Gordon

Babs paused in her working - just for a half-beat - at the warm turn that Bivolo's tone of voice had taken. Let the record show that positive reinforcement could work. She'd have to make sure to point that out to Bruce the next time they spoke. Oracle shook aside her mild surprise and appreciation at Rainbow Raider's response and patched into a distress line between first responders.

She had details herself, thanks to all of the alerts and screaming notifications from the complex's surviving sensors and surveillance systems, but hearing the words being traded from techs to authorities and from authorities to other personnel gave a deeper understanding. Oracle kept an eye and ear out for Rainbow Raider, but he was doing very well.

Barbara closed her eyes at a particular phrase that caught her attention over the garbled comms. She was just bouncing back when Bivolo asked what was next. She hadn't expected having him do much more, until overhearing what she had. "Not quite. The transformer unit that mediates the meltdown procedure in these kinds of events is down, and no one on the ground can get through the rubble to change that."

Oracle assessed the projection of the premises. "Head to the building of the complex to your right, with the antenna on it. Two-stories. The room you need to get to is in the center of the ground floor. Careful. It's not pretty." The area had been hit hard, hence the manual reset needed. Rubble, fire, fumes and... bodies.

Roy G. Bivolo

Roy winced at Oracle's words, mulling over the thought of such a thing while sliding from one building to another. He contemplated whether or not he'd be able to turn tail and run far enough before the reactor exploded...Nope. Probably too big of an explosion if she resorted to a lowlife like him. Damnit, he didn't sign up for this just to die a second time! A more shaky tone evident within his voice, Roy activated his comm. 

"Meltdown? Like a reactor or somethin'? I don't have a clue about that kinda stuff! None of us do! Me, Evan, especially Axel, not one of us is any kind of tech genius! We're doomed..." Roy's voice panicked through the radio, not paying enough focus as he tumbled through the glass window of the building, rolling across the ground with a pained groan. 

Lifting his head back up, it took roy a few seconds to comprehend the sight staring him in the face, literally. The charred, nearly skeletal face of one of the unlucky workers was mere inches from Bivolo's face, causing him to recoil back in a primal shriek of horror! Taking quick, shallow breaths, and resisting the urge to hurl, Roy shakily got back up onto his feet, braced against a nearby wall. 

That could be him...hell, that HAD been him, a few years ago...a punk caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Least these guys had it quick, least from what he could tell. Life trickles away agonizingly slow from having a painting lodged within your chest, that Bivolo could attest to. That feeling...The agony, the humiliation, the fade from existence...it was something he never longed to experience again. His grip tightening on the wall braced against him, gaze turned back towards the ominous glow of lapping flames and the unstable reactor. 

The reaper was calling once more, it's mocking laughter cackling in Bivolo's face. If he ran he'd die. If he did nothing he'd die. If he ventured forth he'd probably die. Still, probably is better than certain. Closing his eyes with a steady breath, Roy stared forth with newfound determination, sliding towards the endgame. If he was resigned to death once more, he wasn't going to go out like a bitch this time. 

Barbara Gordon