2013.08.22 - Tying Up Loose Ends

It's late morning, and Jocelyn has come down to the Young Allies headquarters. She had some notes to write and to put up, and so the tall girl has situated herself at one of the computers. The mini-fridge has what looks to be a couple dozen of twenty-four packs of of soda stacked up around it as well. Jocelyn had always made sure to stock that fridge when she was here, and she was planning on not being in town for a good, long while. So, she figured she'd just leave a large supply. It seemed reasonable to her, at the very least.

At the moment, she didn't know of anyone else around, though that could change at any moment, knowing how things work around this city. That was so much the better, in her mind, because it meant that this whole bit could be accomplished a little bit more easily, because she wouldn't have as many uncomfortable questions asked of her.

As of late, things have been a bit odd for The young Allies, haven't they?

First, you have what ever is going on with Billy. The few that know anything about what's going on with that, or have been tormented by it have been a bit focused on that.

Then you have what ever is going on with Asgard, which has mostly effected them as well.

Then there's the brief blip that was The Anomaly Killer, who was initially encountered by a few members of the team at an event where they were more or less ignored since they weren't anomalies.

And well... On top of that you have some of the usual seasonal stuff, like the members who are still in school getting ready to go back.

But in the end, ever since the run in with The Fatal Five, has the team been really a team...?

That's one of the things that one Kate Bishop a.k.a. Hawkeye has been worried about for a little while now. Not that she knows a lot of what the various members have been dealing with, and may be dealing with right now, but instead how (to her at least) it feels like the team may be drifting apart a bit. hence why as she enters via the stairway and glances around, the female archer takes a deep breath before she bites her lip, taking in just what is where here...

And who may be here as well.

In some ways, the team may be drifting. But with Billy having something magically messing with him or whatever (Jocelyn wasn't quite sure what) and Asgard being in disarray, the Allies have really been more focused on helping out other groups on various projects rather than doing things as a single entity. Jocelyn was actually kind of used to that state with the way the X-Men seemed to be operating lately, so while she'd noticed it, she didn't find it all that weird.

The woman looks up when she senses someone coming, and nods to Kate once she emerges into headquarters. "Hey Hawkeye," Jocelyn responds. Yeah, she knew who Kate was, but just in case someone else was nearby, she didn't want them to hear her actually use Kate's name. "How's it going?" the woman asks. "You look a bit far away".

"Hey Channel." is said as Kate replies to the greeting, before offering the tall redhead a slight smile and a nod.

Then though there is a slight pause, before finally the female archer... Shrugs.

"Sorry. Just considering things related to the team. How in some ways it feels like some of us are doing a lot, but at the same time..."

Jocelyn tilts her head, looking at the archer quietly. "Go on," Jocelyn says as Hawkeye leaves the final part of that statement hanging in the air. Jocelyn wasn't one to try and guess what the other person was saying, especially when she got the vibe that they wanted to talk about something that was uncomfortable. The woman stops paying any attention to the computer for the moment, and turns her full attention on Hawkeye now.

There's just a slight shrug.

"I've heard bits and pieces about what ever happened with that 'Fatal Five', even if I wasn't there for those incidents. And I've seen and heard just enough as of late to know that there's some other things going on." Hawkeye admits. "I fully understand that a lot of people here have their own things, or are part of other groups. Technically I'm part of the JLA for example, even if I've never even set foot in the Hall of Justice or even had to be called in by them for an emergency."

"But still... It feels like as a group we've slowly been drifting apart, more or less since the big 'team meeting' The Spider s wanted. Thus I can't help but worry a little about the team as a whole."

"It's possible. Things seem to be happening with individuals, but not with the team as a whole. Asgard is a mess right now, and that's got Axiom tied up, not to mention whatever exactly is wrong with Wiccan. I know that has him tied up. Spider has been active, but with all the other Spider-Costumed people out there, I think he's been trying to understand himself a bit better through them. Though he'd never say that directly," Jocelyn adds with a small grin.

"The others have seemed to be a touch in and out lately, and that includes myself, though I keep running into enough problems when I walk over to the mall. Maybe it's the summer effect. Everyone who is still in school loses all of their routine, and so they start drifting. It wouldn't be that odd, in some ways".

Jocelyn shrugs a little. "I could be completely wrong, of course. I'd say either let things settle in once school starts back up, or try and round people up to talk about it. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to get people in the habit of patrolling in groups of two or three once or twice a week," Jocelyn suggests.

There's a slight nod, and and even a 'Heh' at that for some reason, before Kate genuinely starts to smile.

"I hope you're right, on all counts. And I might try to set that, and a few other things I've been considering, up, if others don't beet me to them."

Then slowly, she moves over towards the coffee maker, but instead of putting a K-cup in the machine, she closes it up, drops a tea bag in a cup, and presses the button to kick the machine on.

"Thanks. And I'm sorry to even be bringing that up. But considering what I said back when I was recruited by The JLA, I do have a duty to you guys first."

"Not a problem, and don't worry about bringing it up. Anytime," Jocelyn offers to the woman. Though Jocelyn dows frown a little bit before she speaks again. Timing sucks.

"Though I'm afraid I'm not going to be making your job any easier," Jocelyn says with a small sigh. "Remember when I was first recruited? I told you I worked with another team. I'm getting called in for a potentially long assignment, and I'm not going to be terribly accessible during the duration of it," Jocelyn admits. Yep. The timing sucked. There was no denying it. "I don't know exactly when things are starting, but it should be soon".

If it was possible to see through Hawkeyes 'Sunglasses' it'd be seen that Kate is rolling her eyes right now. Then again considering the slight shake of her head and all that, it might not take that much to realize what she's doing.

But she's still smilling, strangely enough.

"Understood. But if things go south and you need backup, or an emergency exit, don't be afraid to call us. Odds are, one way or another, we'd be able to get to you and help if you need and want it."

Jocelyn hangs out with Doug. She's used to dealing with body language. A nod is given. "Will do," Jocelyn says. Really, Kate was the least difficult of the members of the Allies she had to tell. Spider was going to flip out and try to convince her that he needed to come with to protect her. That was something she wasn't looking forward to.

"Speaking of, I don't suppose that somewhere in your network of contacts you have there is a magic user I could speak to about getting some sort of charged artifact from? I'd normally ask Wiccan, but that's not possible right now," Jocelyn says with a frown. "It isn't crucial, but it'd be useful to have, where I'm going".

Because while most mutants had ways of defending against physical attacks, magic usually messed them up something serious. And that'd be a useful trump card to play.

"I could try to poke The League to see if any of them could do it. But considering how little I actually have done with them, I'm not sure that's a good idea." is admitted with a slight wince. "Especially if you're leaving soon."

Mentally though, she's double checking her list? Her limited S.H.I.E.L.D. contacts? No. Hellfire Club? None of the members she knows of are magic users, plus none of them know about her costumed identity? Oracle? Probably not. The Arrows? Definitely not. The Rave? Not only does Kate rarely go there, but she has no clue what even a tiny fraction of the aliens are there and where they get their powers from... Or if they even have powers.

"Yeah. i'm drawing a blank right now on any others. Sorry."

"No problem. I only really know you and Stargirl from the Justice League," Jocelyn says. "Don't know a lot of magic users myself, at least not terribly well," Jocelyn admits with a shrug. "Like I said, not crucial, but more of a nice to have thing that might give me a bit of an edge". Jocelyn is betting Kate could guess exactly what sort of edge Jocelyn could have with an artifact that had magical power to it. Maybe she could ask Thor, if she had time to ask him a small boon. But aside from that, Jocelyn didn't have a whole lot of other options to pick from. Well, there was one, but she was kind of hesitant to ask.

Yet again, there's a slight nod at that.

"I know. And I wish I could be more helpful, but in this case.... Sorry."

Then, as she picks up her tea, Hawkeye pauses as she glances back over at the tell redhead.

"I honestly am not sure what else to say, or do. If I had some sort of 'Panic Button' to offer you so you could call in help, especially if you ended up needing that magic and couldn't get it, I'd be tossing that at you right now."

"Well, it was something I hoped to be an emergency button. If things degenerate, having magical energy available to hit someone with usually cuts through most people's defenses if they're resistant to other types of energy," Jocelyn explains as she grabs herself a Dr. Pepper from the fridge. "If you run into anyone who might be able to help, let me know. Like I said, I don't know exactly when I'm leaving yet". So there was still time.

"I suspect, that if you had to contact me as well, Axiom could do it through Heimdall. Though that's probably only for absolute emergencies," Jocelyn admits as she thinks that over. It could also serve as a way out if she needed it.

"Anyway, how about yourself? What've you been working on lately?" Jocelyn asks Hawkeye. She wasn't sure what the woman had been up to lately.

"Busy, and not busy." is said with a slight shrug. "The in costume stuff has been a bit odd. Such as something that came up that I need to drag The Green Arrow in on as soon as I can find him, even if it's kicking and screaming. Or a killer who appears to of up and completely vanished."

Then there's a slight wince yet again from Kate.

"Then there's my usual out of costume stuff, which has been a little odd as of late in a different kind of way. And when you add on top of that what's going on with my sister..."

"The Anomaly Killer, or someone different?" Jocelyn asks. A nod is given about the Arrow Family stuff. Jocelyn didn't really know if the arrow users hung out in a group or not, but she would be surprised if they didn't at least know each other passingly. Sort of like the Spiders. "Anything I can help with before I head out with? Hunt you down some leads or something?" Jocelyn asks.

There's a nod about the out of costume stuff. "Balancing in and out of costume is tricky," Jocelyn admits. She was going to be going to college this fall. But she's pushing that back a term for the Genosha trip. "If I can help there as well, let me know, but I know family stuff is tough, and I suspect a poor girl from Detroit showing up would be a little odd," she adds.

There's a /slight/ cough before Kate mumbles something under her breath that sounds /almost/ like she's saying something about her sister getting married?!?

But once that's out, Hawkeye raises her cup of tea, and takes a deep breath, inhaling its scent before she actually says something else.

"And yes, The Anomaly Killer. Trauma and I were at the concert he attacked. And well... Whatever happened there freaked him out a lot. I wasn't able to do much myself while there, but since then I have been looking when I can, and haven't been able to find much."

"That...". Jocelyn bites her tongue. "The Anomaly Killer managed to catch me by surprise one day and knock me out. Took a number of metahumans prisoner and left us in various death traps that were meant to slowly kill us," Jocelyn informs Kate. She thinks for a moment. "Vorpal was there. Daybreak. Mend, from the Titans. And a couple others I don't know". She shrugs. "What he didn't count on was us working together to get out of his traps. Haven't heard word from him since," Jocelyn adds.

Jocelyn does hear the bit about Kate's sister getting married. But she doesn't comment on it, as Kate seems rather uninterested in talking about it, though she does add one comment. "Hope she has decent taste in bridesmaid dresses. I hear they can be pretty...unique".

Yeah. There's something Kate /could/ say regarding the dresses. Heck, she could say a lot regarding a lot of things regarding the wedding. but she doesn't. Why? Who knows. But it may have to do with the fact that for some reason news of the wedding hasn't even hit the society pages just yet... Or Facebook for that matter.

On the other hand, at what is said regarding that killer, what he did, and those names...

"Interesting. Very interesting..."

Yeah. Considering who was at the concert and what Terry said the killed said at said concert...

"The guy has an ego a mile wide though," Jocelyn says. "Left us alone to suffer at his traps. Also, he doesn't bother to do things like reinforce the bottom of his fancy energy cages. Made breaking out a little easier than it probably had any right to be," Jocelyn offers. People always forgot to seal the bottom of these sorts of traps.

"He did seem to have an idea of what we were all capable of though. I think he might stalk his victims before making his move, to learn more about them and how to neutralize them. So smart, but a bit blind by ego is my read on the guy," Jocelyn tells Kate. "What've you learned about him?" she asks.

"Nothing."

Yeah. It kind of hurts to even admit that.

"Aside from what little the news has about the guy, what you just said, and what Trauma told me, I haven't learned much else. then again, with my luck I've probably just been looking in all the wrong places."

"Well, it isn't just you who has been looking in the wrong places then," Jocelyn says. "He made a big splash, and has proceeded to disappear ever since," the woman observes as she takes a drink of her soda. "I don't know that we'll find much out until he resurfaces. The trail is pretty cold at this point, and I'm not convinced he worked enough with anyone to have a lot of contacts that can be convinced to give some information up".

Really, if the person had gone to ground, it would be hard to find them, and Jocelyn knew that.

There's a slight pause, before Kate murmurs, "I see..."

To be honest, she considers calling in 'The Big Guns', but to be honest, she isn't sure right now which of the 'Big Guns' would amount to much. Sure there is a certain someone in The League, but calling him in....? And her S.H.I.E.L.D. people have been a bit distant from her for a while now...

"I just hope then that this guy doesn't turn up on you where ever you're going for what ever group your with that's taking you away from us. Odds are that's one less hassle you'll want to deal with."

"I hope not," Jocelyn agrees. Though honestly, if the Anomaly Killer showed up on Genosha? Jocelyn is almost positive he wouldn't be leaving intact. "Anyway, I should get going on this," Jocelyn says, gesturing to the computer. "I should finish before I have to go take care of a few things. You need anything Hawkeye, just let me know".