Upon His Return

[Rojo]

Bottomless ruby eyes watched as Rena collapsed into Tawny's embrace, her body moving the way a puppet might if it's master suddenly left to attend to important business (such as a robot invasion or a monkey eating his paperwork). Somewhere, deep in the confusing labyrinth of the intricacies of Dr Strange's brain he felt some sort of emtional spark go off-- true emotion; a warm feeling rose in his chest for a moment at the sight of Tawny-- a friend (all those with good intentions are friend to a hero!) in peril, a damsel in distress and then for a moment. . .he saw a broken woman in Tawny's arms- not a person to be rescued for glory or because it was the right thing to do, but someone who was on the verge of total oblivion and needed help.
He blinked and the moment was gone.
The Mad Redeemer's eyes flitted to Tawny as she asked him the question- he didn't mind the suggestion, despite that as the sidekick it was plainly her role to watch for interlopers and goons to thwart, but clearly in this situation she held the control and the power-- for a moment, in his magnanimity, he allowed his faithful companion to stand under the Hero's Spotlight. After all, had not Robin started off the humble prodigy only to ascend to his own stardom under the moniker Nightwing? Perhaps such a change would come over Starsight and she too would stand beside The Mad Redeemer as an equal as opposed to a student.

After this small internal musing, the Redeemer nooded, snapped a rather awkward and mechanical salute before bounding around the door, brandishing the fork once more as if it were several different weapons-- he would hold it like a spear one moment, ready to throw then the next he would swing it in a wide arc like a mace or sword. His head snapped from side to side, beady little red eyes behind the cloth scanning the hallways for anyone who would dare try and stop their carrying out the course of Justice and Freedom.
He held his fork with pride, ready to make a very bloody kebab out of anyone who decided to cross his path.

[The Imfamous AKA]

Rena could not bring herself to care how any of this had come about. She couldn't bring herself to care for much of anything, really. Shock and pain had reduced her to an almost animalistic, entirely instinctual state. The cold, harsh colors and feel of the room around her were bad. Cold meant that she had no shelter, no safety, no warmth. The burst of warm, bright color that was Tawny was almost as helpful as the warmth of her grasp. She was, for the moment, comforted, but it was still an the way an animal was soothed--silent and still and not quite believing it was real and not caring.

It took her long moments--eyes squeezed shut and hearing the movement of Dr. Strange, though not being threatened by the sound--before Rena found her voice. "I can--" she broke of, her voice failing, faltering. "I can walk." The words were little more than intoned whisper, as much as she could manage. "Kite is... I don't know where Kite is." She tightened her grip on Tawny for a moment, arms almost shaking from the desperation behind the motion. She couldn't stand the thought of this warmth leaving to go find Kite, but couldn't bear to ask her not to go, either.


~~~

There was a madman brandishing something pointy outside the door. That much was utterly obvious, and enough to stop Ethinae from fully rounding the corner. She was but the faintest sliver of white before she disappeared once more. It was a nice thought, capturing the Rebels who had someone managed to enter her domain, but not paramount. Certainly nothing to risk bloodshed over, since that... well, she supposed he could best be described as a man... seemed more than willing to use that rusty pointed thing on whatever he presumed to be a threat, she deemed it pointless to move much closer. After all, she could hear just as well from around the corner.

Kite... The name echoed in her head. It was quite clear to her that the Rebel they had come to rescue was the one who had been brought in with her latest toy so shortly before. It stood to reason that the Rebel they seemed to still seek was her latest toy. A name, or at least a nickname, would be, quite possibly, the most useful tool in her illusionary torture. A sly smile had snuck onto her face before she could notice, and was quickly swept away. No use offering up smiles to nothing, not when the barest hint of her emotion was so useful as a reward or threat. No one could see either now, and all she could do was wait, and listen. Who knew what else these foolish Rebels would supply her.

[Forsaken]

Realizing that she would have to leave Kite behind if she was to save Rena was the kind of heart-breaking reality check that she usually tried to avoid with a manic intensity, but there was so escaping it now. She'd paid a heavy price to get this far. She understood so little, but she understood what bad was, and this disorientation she was feeling? It was a very bad sign.

She could feel Rena trembling, and she felt haunted by the sensation. Rena shouldn't tremble. Rena never trembled. She was too strong to ever let herself fail. Whatever had happened here...it must have been terrible.

"I think we'll have to come back for Kite later." She said, her head drooping. Keeping her grip on Rena, she walked out the cell door and back in the direction they'd come. "We have to get you someplace safe, and I have to get us out of here before I slip up again."