Getting Drafted (open)

Shy walked down the street, visible and in costume. She had already been bumped into 3 or 4 times since she got to Jump City, and she was really hoping to avoid getting tripped on.

There were so many people around. It had been a nice escape from New York travelling through the Midwest, but California seemed to be quite a busy place, too.

Shy tried to move to a less busy street, and found one. Abandoned, almost. Thinking nothing of it, she kept walking. Little did she know that she was entering one of the most crime ridden neighborhoods of Jump City.

It was not uncommon to see people wearing costumes in Jump City. Some ruffians wanted nothing to do with a costumed teenager. Others liked the challenge.

A woman wearing a green uniform stood in front of Shy. Her outfit seemed to be styled after WWII, as did the uniforms of her seven friends. All eight women had buzz cuts and were armed with guns. Apparently, they were part of some odd paramilitary group. By the looks of it, you had to be female to join.

"Alright, sister," The Commander said. "How much money do you have? The Battalion is eager to accept your donation."

Wow, gangs were a lot more...creative in Jump City than they were back home. Common sense was yelling at Shy, telling her to use her power and turn invisible.

But Shy's brain had headphones on, and wasn't able to hear common sense at the moment. Besides, she wanted to see how in-character these weirdos were. "My donation?"

"Yeah. It takes a lot of money to fight off the Nazi's, you know. Now hurry up. We have more important things to do."

"I don't have any money."

"Then it looks like you're enlisting." Two of the more macho looking ladies approached Shy from behind. They were probably going to knock her out and then try to brainwash her into joining their weird gang.

"I can't. I have flat feet." With that, Shy turned invisible.

And then suddenly, a green knight- power ranger clad figure fell from above. His body twisting and rotating into a fancy acrobatic-like flip as he landed with a graceful landing, a glowing bone-staff buzzing in one hand as he gave it a little flourish while rising to his feet. "I was willing to believe that you lot were just some cosplayers. Until I saw that you were harassing... eh? Wasn't there someone else here a moment ago?" Daniel questioned. He was sure there had been one more person.

"It's that bone guy! Shoot em!" the leader barked, and that was Daniel's cue to summon his shield. Ducking behind it as he charged forward and jumped. In a very super-mario fashion, Daniel would swing down with his staff and bop each one on the side of the head before kicking off of them to send them toppling to the ground. Except for the last two who started to run. But he summoned a dozen of his bones to pepper them from the front, running up behind them and flipping one onto their back before knocking them out cold.

Once that was done, Daniel would look around as if expecting Shy to mysteriously appear. "Uh... miss? Are you still here?" Daniel asked in confusion.

Shy reappeared directly behind Daniel. It was creepier if the person didn't actually see you appear out of nowhere. "I'm here," she said, politely.

This guy was something else. He had taken down all eight of the WWII enthusiasts in a very short amount of time. He was like a one man army. Shy hadn't quite figured out his power yet, but he seemed magical.

He was also very confident.

"Thanks so much. You really helped me out there, tough guy. So what name should I call my savior?"

Daniel would very subtly jumps at suddenly hearing a voice come from behind him. Could she teleport? "Ah, there you are," Daniel pretended that she hadn't spooked him. It was actually much easier after she just called him a tough guy.

"I am the great, Dan The Man!" Daniel introduced himself dramatically, even striking a pose before he would start to group up the eight gang members. "You have to be more aware of your surroundings miss. There are all kinds of... interesting things in this city. Some that would be quite dangerous for one such as yourself," Daniel said with some excitement. Clearly he enjoyed what he did.

Shy stared at him through her emotionless mask. Dan the Man? She had heard worse names, she supposed.

She listened to his words of warning. Was Jump City really that dangerous? It must be. Dan was the Man who would know.

"I will keep that in mind. I promise to be more careful in the future, Dan. Say, I'm looking for someone. A few people, actually. Are...are a Teen Titan?" She had thought it would be easy to find Titan's Tower, but this city was so big. Dan was the first person with superpowers that she had come across, and he did seem to be a good guy. That should make him a Titan, right?

Daniel would be grouping the thugs up in a nice pile while also dismantling their weapons. Who knew Hans could actually be useful in something. "Sadly I am not. They've... become hard to reach after the city was taken over recently," Daniel admitted sheepishly. "I'm sure they're still around somewhere though. I apologize for not being more helpful," Daniel added sincerely.

The city had been taken over? Coy needed to watch the news more often. Well this made things a lot more complicated. It wasn't very assuring that he thought the Titans were still around. That meant he didn't know for sure.

Coy sighed.

"You have been very helpful. If you don't mind me bothering you, I'd like to know more about this takeover. Who was doing the taking? Who is actually in charge now?"

"It's no bother at all," Daniel assured her. He was happy to be of help. "Well as I have found out, it was some kind of criminal organization. They destroyed the titans' tower and everything using a massive robot army. But the titans came back and clearly overthrew them. And now the city is pretty much back to normal. Minus the T-shaped tower," Daniel explained. That was basically everything he knew.

It was a lot more than Coy knew. Criminal organizations taking over an entire city? Robot armies? Jump City really was a dangerous place! Did she really want to be here?

She didn't have a choice. There were people depending on her.

Coy waited until Dan was done securing the gang members and dismantling their weapons. She held out a hand to shake his. "You can call me Shy. It's a pleasure to meet you. I have to find the Titans. It's a long story. Anyways, I hope we meet again, Dan the Man. Hopefully it will be a less dangerous situation."

"Agreed. I hope you stay out of trouble and enjoy your stay. I again apologize that I could not be of any more help," Daniel shook her hand. She seemed nice enough. Something about her mask looked familiar, like it was out of a video game. No matter, it was none of his business. But maybe he should keep an eye on her. Maybe. He was compelled to this thought atleast even though he could be spending his time looking out for other people.

Coy nodded and turned to go on her way. She stayed visible, unaware that anyone might be following her.

It was a shame that Jump City was so dangerous. She really preferred to be by herself. But if it meant staying...you know...alive, then she was willing to stick with the crowds.

It worked for a while. Then someone grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into an alleyway.

It was a big, muscular lady with blonde hair. She was wearing a military uniform as well, but hers was...Russian? What was wrong with this city?

"You wear red," the big lady said. "So I know you are a comrade. Come, we will need your help to defeat our enemies."

The big lady pulled her along, deeper into the alleyway. Shy tried to pull away, but the lady had a vice grip on her arm.

"Um, I don't want to get involved in your turf war."

"Your indifference has been noted."

Shy punched at the woman's arm, trying to release herself. "Please, just let me go. I don't want to be in your stupid gang. Why would you even want me?"

"You ask too many questions. Walk faster or I will hurt you."

Daniel would decide to follow his initial decision, not directly following her but "patrolling" close by in the unlikely event she would need his help again. He was surprised when she was again accosted by another military-themed gang! Atleast he was sure it was a gang and nothing else. He vaguely remembered something about russians declaring war on Jump City when it was it's own nation for a time. Daniel didn't know if there were more of these loonies nearby and wasn't going to find out, diving off from a rooftop with Maxillabur buzzing. When he was at his desired height of attack, Maxillaur would extend both ways and lodge itself between the walls while Daniel swung and kicked the big burly woman right in the face before she had time to aim at him.

Daniel would then hang from his staff with his legs, arms crossed quizically. "Hmm... it appears you still have need of me," he said thoughtfully. This was quite an odd turn of events. "You're like some kind of magnet for weird gangs. I didn't even know there were gangs like this roaming the city. Perhaps I should accompany you, lest you run into another strange group of people. Though the fact you seem to keep finding them is useful for me," Daniel added, swinging himself off his staff as it retracted. He landed gracefully before her.

Oh thank goodness! Dan came swinging in from nowhere to save the day again. He kicked the Russian lady so hard she went flying a good ten feet before she hit the ground.

Dan was right. For some reason, it seemed like she was a magnet for this type of thing. It was probably best to stick with him for a while, in case any other trouble happened. Shy nodded her head. "It sounds like we can help each other, then."

There was a grunt. The muscly woman was still conscious, and she was getting up. Shy was impressed. A normal person would not be able to withstand a kick to the face like that. She picked up a stray brick in one hand and turned invisible.

Mother Russia was confused. It wasn't every day you saw somebody just disappear in front of your eyes. A second later, Shy cracked the brick on her face.

Mother Russia was obviously not pleased with this outcome (a brick to the face was never pleasant) but she was still standing. Wiping blood from her broken nose, she reached for the machine gun on her back and aimed it at Dan.

Shy was freaking out. A machine gun like that could cover a lot of space. There was a good chance Mother Russia was about to shoot her, unless Dan could do something first. "Um, that was my best shot, Dan. Can you hit her again?"

Daniel nodded, peering behind Shy and noticing that the russian gangster was stirring. "Looks like I held back too much..." Daniel commented sheepishly, witnessing Shy's power first hand. So she COULD turn invisible.

He was going to tell Shy not to hit her with the brick but it was too late. Daniel wanted to avoid serious injuries but it seemed like that option was off the table. But she didn't go down! And even worse she was reaching for a weapon! "Get down!" Daniel exclaimed, summoning his shield and having it move between Shy and the gangster. Unlike him, she should be small enough to duck behind it just fine.

Daniel would then also summon several bones, one of which was blue as the gunmen opened fire in response. He had no room to move and just had to hope that the shield would keep Shy safe and block some of the bullets as he pelted the gangster. It was only with the blue bone that she went down, literally. Her personal gravity was increased, forcing her onto one knee and preventing her from hefting her weapon. "You should have just given up," Daniel commented, hitting her in the back of the head with another bone that finally knocked her out cold.

Dan's shield appeared on the ground as he ordered Shy to get down. She had seen his shield in action just a few minutes ago. It was her best chance to survive, so she dropped behind it. Thankfully, the shield managed to block the first dozen bullets or so that were heading in her direction.

'Note to self: never fight in an alleyway. Invisibility needs lots of room to be effective.'

Dan unleashed a volley of bones at Mother Russia. They all seemed to bounce off of the macho woman, until she suddenly fell to the ground, as if being crushed by something very heavy.

Shy stood and became visible again. She studied Mother Russia curiously. "What did you do to her?" Once she heard the answer, she would study Dan instead. "You aren't hurt, are you?" Her voice showed compassion, in spite of her mask. Shy would feel really bad if this guy got hurt while defending her.