Welcome to Gaia! ::

“New costumer discount.” A statement they both knew wasn’t true since she hadn’t ever stated a price. Still Kat smiled slightly, something that was only visible by her eyes since the rest of her face was covered by her mask, almost daring him to challenge the statement that was so obviously not true. After a few moments, giving Owen time to respond to her first statement, she decided to give him the real reason. At least so far as it pertained to Andrea. “I’ve never seen someone injured that badly. I wasn’t going to haggle with you over price while the girl suffered and arguing for money after services rendered is a lost cause.” Hopefully that would put an end to his curiosity. She wasn’t even sure why she had told him that much.

Katrina gave him a nod back before exiting the car and pushing the door shut. It had certainly been a strange series of events, advice included. Kidnapping aside, they weren't the sort of people she was used to dealing with. She was positive they weren't the sort of criminals she normally dealt with, yet they had tracked her down and built a small hospital in their house instead of taking her to a real one and finding a 'on the books' healer. That coupled with the mask comment. Some sort of vigilante group? They weren't exactly uncommon in Chicago. Once she got inside, Kat wasted no time in collecting a large glass of water, a large bottle of Advil and headed to her bedroom. There she proceeded to pop a couple of pills, strip down via conventional means while tossing her clothing on the floor without too much care where it landed and crawled under her duvet.

The next couple of days were rather uneventful. Katrina didn't leave the house, nor did anyone show up at it. Either a lucky break where no one needed her services or she had some way of communicating that she was currently unavailable. On the third night however things changed. It was nearing 4AM, that time when people of the night had left, but people of the morning had yet to emerge from their homes and the world seemed still. Three black SUVs pulled up, 12 henchmen emerged, looking very SWAT though the vehicles and uniforms suggested they didn't belong to any official organization like the Chicago police or the SIA. At least if you weren't a common citizen and knew what you were looking for. Most people would assume they belonged to one or the other. They wasted no time in surrounding the house before breaking through the front and back doors. Clearly the point men had the gift of super strength to some degree given the way they easily broke the doors, opening the way for their companions to storm the home.

Katrina woke with a start to the sound of her door being broken down. She quickly jumped into action, her costume flying across the room and onto her body as she rolled out of bed and landed crouching beside it. She could hear them moving through the house. She glanced towards the window, debating fighting or trying to run briefly. She crept towards the door and waited. Soon enough some of the intruders made their way to the second floor. She waited, carefully listening to the footsteps as they came down the hall and feeling them standing on the carpet. Three in the hall, two waiting on the stairwell. And finally when they were about half way to her bedroom Katrina took action. The carpet tangled around their feet while the balaclavas tightened around their throats and wrapped around their heads and their shirts suddenly became strait jackets, trapping their arms. She didn’t want to kill them, just incapacitate them for a while. The one with super strength managed to get an arm free, the cloth ripping, but more strands clawed at his arm, pulling it away from his neck while the balaclava tightened, cutting off even blood flow. With the extra exertion he was the first to fall unconscious. If any of them had thought to try to attack her directly with their powers they might have had a chance of freeing themselves, but panic had set in and the wrestled uselessly to get free until passing out. It was all over in about 15 seconds.

The actions had not gone unnoticed however. Katrina could only assume the five up here hadn’t responded to some kind of radio contact because soon there were more rushing up the stairs. Naturally she tried the same tactic, only this time things didn’t go as planned. Almost as soon as she made a move on the first male his entire body ignited burning away his clothing, the carpet, anything she could use against him. She could feel the heat from where she stood. He didn’t seemed particularly concerned about harming his comrades. Katrina stood and ran, her duvet wrapping around her as she did so. Seconds later she came bursting out of the window. While the thick blanket protected her from the glass shards it also stopped her from falling as she used her powers to keep it and herself in the air. She wasn't out of the woods yet though, as a large rock smashed into her and both her and the rocked went tumbling to the ground. Her costume was good at protecting her from bullets, knives and even reduced the impact from things like punching. Crushing via flying bolder less so, though the damage would have been a lot worse without it.

The geokinetic could have easily buried her in rock, but he let Katrina get back to her feet while the pyro, now naked, jumped from the second story window to join them. She held her side where the bolder had made contact while wondering vaguely if it was just bruised or if there were a few cracked ribs. “How rude of you to leave when you have guests over.” One taunted, while the other added “Going so soon? We’ve only just found where you’ve been hiding out.” Clearly they were convinced they had her trapped and wanted to play a little bit before officially capturing her. She was happy to take advantage of the reprieve though, subtly changing the properties of the duvet to be flame retardant while the pair wasted time. Some might think she ought to heal herself instead, but finding a way to deal with the fire took priority in her mind.

"How did you find me?" She asked, mostly to keep them talking, though she was also curious how they tracked her down. Still she would need to make her move before more of their friends joined them outside.

“We’ve always known where you were.” The geokentic chuckled, clearly enjoying this moment of superiority over Katrina. “You should be thanking us for letting you enjoy your freedom this long. Now be a good girl and come along quietly.”

She was only half listening though, most of her concentration going into the changes she was making to her weapon, the duvet. In any event she assumed he was lying and didn’t actually know how she was found. Just a minion who was told to go get her and where. Her work wasn’t totally complete, but Katrina was out of time. A flic of her wrist and the heavy blanket shot forward like a spear. The pyro was quick to retaliate with a jet of flame while the geo seemed to content to watch with a smug look on his face. A smug look that quickly changed to surprise and then anger as instead of burning up at the last second the duvet unfolded itself like a bird spreading its wings before completely encasing the pyro.
“What! You bi-“ The geo was cut off as his legs were suddenly swept out from under him. He landed hard, but before Katrina could take advantage of stunning the second of the pair a speedster zipped in front of her and kneed her in the stomach. Hard. She found herself on all fours retching up her last meal on the grass. She hadn’t even had time to comprehend what had happened when the speedster proceeded to backhand her across the face. This time there was a sharp yelp of pain as she toppled over to the side from the blow. Even then he wasn’t done, kicking her in the already fractured ribs bringing forth another cry of pain. Unlike the other two he wasn’t going to give her time to recover, much less work out a way to beat him. After the third blow he seemed satisfied, zipping around behind her. In the blink of an eye he had her mark pulled down and was injecting a clear liquid in her neck. She mumbled something incoherent before her eyes rolled back and her body went limp. In a matter of seconds Katrina went from seemingly like she would escape to being brutally defeated.

“What took you so long?” The pyro complained. With Katrina out he finally managed to wrestle his way out of the duvet.

“I thought you two could handle a little girl.” The speedster returned. Clearly the geo and pyro were un happy with that answer. A similar back and forth continued while they loaded Katrina and their companions she had previously rendered unconscious in the vehicles. Two trucks drove away while the third stayed behind. A couple of work vehicles would show up shortly after to remove any trace of the violence that had occurred this morning. None of the neighbours would see the broken doors or windows, for it would all be swiftly replaced.

Following the two trucks that left, Owen would later find himself at a maximum security psychiatric hospital. Seemingly a perfect cover since no one would question the armed guards, security trucks or unconscious civilians. Or the strange medical supplies they needed for their experiments as Owen would later find. After passing through security, they pulled into a secure loading bay where overhead doors opened only long enough to let the trucks in before closing behind them. From there they would carry her inside, now with the luxury of a gurney, and down into the lower levels of the hospital via a secret elevator only a few knew about.

The basement was brightly lit and clean. Every door was heavily reinforced and the halls came complete with cameras and patrolling guards. It had a separate security room from the main part of the psychiatric hospital, where two guards watched for intruders. If Owen made it to the security room he would see Katrina strapped to something that looked like a high tech electric chair while a man in a lab coat buzzed around the room, clearly happy to have the woman back.

[

Katrina struggled to open her eyes. She was vaguely aware of someone else nearby. She could hear them walking around and shuffling things about. She was groggy as hell. She wished they would stop making so much noise so she could go back to sleep. That wasn’t right though. She lived alone. Drifting on the edge of consciousness, Katrina finally managed to force her eyes open. The clothes she was wearing were no longer hers, but a thin sheet of a hospital style gown. Her wrists were shackled to the chair by thick metal brackets that seemed entirely unnecessary. She wasn’t standing up any time soon under the current circumstances. There was an IV snaking out of her left wrist she suspected might be whatever sedative that kept her on the edge of being awake while being unable to do anything. She didn’t get much further in her inspection of her surroundings before a hand lifted her chin and a face took up her field of vision. 

“You.” Katrina mumbled weakly. 

The male grinned broadly. “I am so pleased you’ve joined us once more. I’m told you’ve taken to calling yourself Katrina Knight.” He chuckled as he let go of her and took a step back as if to study her. At least she managed to keep her head up. “I like it. I might even let you keep it. Not that you’ll remember.”  He pulled some sort of contraption down and she could feel him strapping it around her head. While she couldn’t see it, it was a metal ring to hold her head in place, with several drills and needles attached to it. “It is amazing how far we've come since the practice of lobotomy. Results were unpredictable and even the best case results left the patient with limited intelligence.” He seemed to be more talking to himself now than her. Katrina could feel a rising panic under the grogginess of the sedative. She tried to stop him as he walked over to a computer terminal, but accessing her powers was beyond her. “With this beauty though, we can erase your memories, your personality, and replace them with whatever we desire all while leaving your intelligence intact. This might hurt a little, but don't worry. You won't remember.” He pushed a button on the terminal and then Katrina started screaming as the drills started working their way through her temples.

The pain stopped as suddenly as it started, but in her drugged state Katrina had no real concept of what was happening. Everything seemed to happen all at once while she struggled to keep up with it. Something wet was running down the sides of her face, but when she tried to touch it she couldn't. And when she tried to look down she couldn't do that either, only for her thoughts to finally catch up and remember she was strapped to the chair. The doors were gone, replaced by a dark figure standing in the hallway. Someone was shouting, but the noise washed over her as she spent her limited focus on the dark figure in the doorway. He had stopped the pain. Stopped...the doctor from removing her memories, from removing Kat. Was he some kind of hero? Like knight, but not a shining knight. This was a dark knight. “Batman?”

He was a man of science not action. Careful consideration not reflexes. A man who used his brain and was rather limited when it came to athleticism. The male in the lab coat turned at the sound of the doors being ripped of their hinges, however he had little time to react before the drills collided with his knees. He went down hard among shouts of surprise and pain. His pants had been ripped and he lost some skin to the spinning drills before they wound down, disconnected from their power source. However that wasn't what upset him the most. “My machine! Do you have any idea the technological advancement you just broke!” He shouted, apparently more concerned about his science than he was for his own personal safety.

Katrina accomplished little more than keeping her feet under her while the man she had dubbed Batman supported her weight. She felt more like she was floating while halls and rooms seemed moved around her rather than moving through them. It felt more like a dream than real life. The red lights and blaring siren made everything instead seem the same. Then they were outside and Batman was loading her into a car without Kat having a real understanding of how they got there or how much time had passed since the Dark Knight first arrived. She didn't speak as he started to drive, her head lolling against the head rest, while her body sank limply into the chair. Something about the car seemed vulgarly familiar.

Glassy eyes that took too long to focus tried to follow Batman's movements as he looked her over. She had no idea where he was taking her, but had a strange sense that she should trust him. Something about the way he had carried her had been comforting. Almost protective. Not that she could put up much of a fight even if she wanted to. It took her a few seconds to process what he had said to her, but when she did she gave a deep throated chuckle. “If you figure it out, let me know. I've been trying to answer both of those questions for the last two years.” The words came out slow and slurred, her tongue not quiet working with her at the moment.

“You're the guy from before....with the dying girl.” Katrina said in a dream like way after a minute of observing Owen's face. “How is Batgirl doing?” She asked, almost as if to prove Owen's point of being too drugged out. If he was Batman, then naturally the girl was Batgirl and the teleporter was Robin. It hadn't occurred to her in her current state that he wasn't Batman at all, which was probably good for Owen. Batman was the fictional hero she could trust to help her. Batman would never work with the people who were after her. “S'not much to tell.” Even without the drugs her earliest memories were hazy at best. “Don't remember anything before the lab. They kept me locked up and would drag me out to preform their tests and experiments. I got sicker and weaker.....I was dying, but they kept going. And then one day their clothes started attacking them as they were dragging me out of the room and I escaped.”