Caged Bird (Force/F.B.I./open)

[zinda]

She'd never asked be to be whimsically ripped from the 50's and dropped off in what was now the 21st century. It had been months now, Zinda had actually lost track of how many but it hadn't been a year yet. She'd been so busy bouncing around Gotham, blazing a trail through the shadows and dividing her time between trying to get used to all the changes separating the present from the past, as well as aiding vigilantes whenever she could while also busting criminals and making sure they found their way into prison cells without getting their rights violated either.

She'd give anything to wake up tomorrow morning and be flying in the company of her Blackhawks in arms once more but it seemed hell would freeze before that would happen. They were all dead and though she had met and gotten somewhat acquainted with some vigilantes, the sad reality was Zinda Blake/Lady Blackhawk was a woman out of time and speaking of time it was a commodity she knew would catch up with her eventually.

The F.B.I. had been running amok thinking they own this city called Gotham for quite awhile, making their own rules and tossing whoever failed to play by them into a cage and losing the key. The thought she was rebelling against her own government, one she'd once sworn her loyalty to own oath truthfully sickened her stomach but not standing up for what she believed would ruin her. The two ideals were polar opposites now and so the soldier was laying low as possible, fighting the good fight while knowing all along the F.B.I. would get ever closer to the truth, pin her down and that the day would come she'd be squeezed between a rock and a hard place.

She just never thought that day would be today.

The wheels on her armor plated limousine screeched in puffs of smoke as she raced like mad through the Gotham City streets, currently careening amid the seediest, dirties, most crime ridden side of the whole ton. The East side. The sirens could be heard by the deaf they were so loud and getting closer. Her lack of experience and time in this town compared to so many others, agents and non agents alike paled in comparison, as did her overall knowledge of the terrain.

Clad in jeans and a tee plus leather jacket, she took a sharp turn and came to a screeching halt near an alley that looked as bad if not worse than the rest of this whole east side put together, scurrying out her drivers side, and making a mad dive for a fire escape after entering this crime alley. Trying to make it to the rooftops before they, whoever they were, caught up with her.

[Deleted]

A latecomer to the chase, Agent Stevens fights frustration as she follows the string of cars. If she could only get close enough for Phoebe to see the vehicle they're chasing... but it remains tantalizingly around the next corner. If only Phoebe was better at flying...

"Yeah, yeah, I could have caught her already," Phoebe replies to her guardian's thought sourly.

"Sorry," Agent Stevens replies, sincere but distracted by the road ahead of her. Fortunately, whoever they're chasing seems to have made a wrong turn into an alleyway, and they finally catch up. Only to find that the driver has ditched her vehicle. Agent Stevens and Phoebe jump out of their car and are just able to hear one of the agents who got there ahead of them saying, "There she is, on the fire escape!"

A couple of agents, seeing the large lead the woman has, pull out their guns to follow the order to shoot any criminal that they can't catch. But then Agent Stevens orders, "Hold your fire, we can still catch her." She turns to Phoebe and says, "Looks like you get to practice flying - the roof, head down the fire escape, stop her there. I'll come from below."

Phoebe nods, needing no further clarification as it's easy enough to get the full meaning of what her guardian says by simply reading her thoughts while she talks. But for once, she reads nobody's thoughts as she concentrates on something else: very, very carefully lifting herself. It's easy enough for her to move... anything else, but moving herself has always felt a bit weird and she doesn't like to do it very much. But she'll do it to catch a bad guy, and getting to the roof should be easy enough.

She ignores the surprised comments from a few of the agents that are quickly left behind on the ground - there's still a large number of them that are unaware of her existence and most of the rest have only heard rumors. But she keeps her full concentration on keeping herself stable as she shoots up into the air much faster than anyone could manage a staircase, and eases herself onto the roof. Then she runs to the top of the fire escape, reaching ahead of herself with her telepathy to find the mind of the woman they're after so that she can get some forewarning if she tries anything drastic to get away. She's met a number of criminals willing to shoot at a 10 year old girl in order to escape, after all. Didn't work for a single one of them.

"Stop, or I'll make you stop," she calls down while she's still a few levels above the woman. That never actually works, but Agent Stevens told her that it's always a good idea to warn a person before you do that to them anyway.

[zinda]

By the time she grabbed the ladder and started scaling the fire escape Zinda was in the process of planning a few moves ahead. Comes with the military background and all that although the process was hampered by lack of complete knowledge of the terrain and for a soldier that is one serious faux pas. A mistake she wished her legs would bend far enough to kick herself in the buttocks for.

She heard the voices and there were certainly a number of them. Not as many as she was expecting considering the number of cars she thought she counted tailing her but then again perhaps not all of them were flapping their gums so there could easily be more after all.

Just make it to the top gal, then you can use agility to try and outmaneuver and outshoot them if it comes to that. She muttered to herself, already knowing that inevitably would. She still wasn't thrilled about the fighting the government concept but desperate times call for desperate measures.A quick jerk of her head back toward ground level allowed her to catch glimpse of a female agent coming from behind trying to catch up. By Lady Blackhawk's estimation however she was far enough ahead to reach the top. A warning shot should help slow her down. Not planning to cause serious injury just help keep the distance between them spread by knocking her off balance.

Stop, or I'll make you stop,

Her pistol had aimed toward the woman below her and quickly coming up from behind. She was aimed and would only need one shot to cause the agent to slow down when the sound of what sounded like a child descending from above and coming from out of nowhere seemingly caused Zinda to do a double take. She may be reckless, crazy and a trained warrior/soldier plus alot of things but despite the way the government seemed to look at the vigilantes these days she was not a criminal and she most definitely would never, under any circumstances definitely not shoot at a kid. The strangest thing was Zinda just had the feeling the girl was capable of fulfilling her threat.

The days headline should make fascinating reading: Lady Blackhawk. First woman to join the elite Air Force squadron and make history. Apprehended by the F.BI and had her ass tossed in jail. "Getting children to do your dirty work. New low even for the government. Truman & Eisenhower would be rolling in their graves." She snarled, tucking her gun back into her holster and stopping where she was on the fire escape, waiting for the inevitable reading of her rights.

[Deleted]

Wait, it actually worked this time? That's literally never happened before! Nevertheless, Phoebe can already tell that she doesn't like this woman. Mostly, she has to admit, because she had a gun pointed at Agent Stevens. The woman's lucky that Phoebe could read her intention to miss in her thoughts, or there would have been real trouble. Add the comment about her age to the mix, and Phoebe is scowling as she stops on the landing just above where the woman is. "Why does everyone always whine about my age? I'm 10, not a baby," she mutters, mostly to herself.

But even as she gripes, Phoebe keeps her eyes carefully fixed upon the woman. Her expression is not unlike that of someone holding a gun on someone: watchful, careful, ready to act. Nevermind that Phoebe looks completely weaponless unless she's hiding something in the loose sweatshirt that she's wearing, and that the girl is entirely too young to do any such thing. Zinda's instinct that the girl could fulfill her threat is more than a little accurate. But Phoebe merely stands there with her arms folded and waits for Agent Stevens to catch up. Her job is to stop criminals, not arrest them and all that other stuff. That's what Agent Stevens does. Mostly because nobody would take her seriously if she did.

Agent Stevens, knowing her charge very well, slows her pace to something more reasonable than a mad dash when she sees the woman stop and Phoebe with her. Nevertheless, she's just slightly breathing hard when she reaches them. Agent Stevens may be in pretty good shape, but rushing up a fire escape is a workout for almost everyone. "Good work, Force," she says first to the girl with a smile and a nod as she reaches them, before her attention turns to the woman. "Lady Blackhawk, isn't it?" she asks as she pulls out a pair of handcuffs, "You're under arrest."

Phoebe smiles at the praise from her guardian, but she's careful not to relax yet. She knows that this 'Lady Blackhawk' person has a gun, and has to keep herself ready to act in case the woman decides that she hasn't given up. At least until the handcuffs are on - that's when it gets a lot safer.

[zinda]

"Same reason people whine about my age I assume, little missy. Everyone's a toddler compared to me in this decade and I am not ready for the rocking chair just yet." Now it was Zinda's turn to scowl, the child's comments having been quietly spoken but not so quiet that Zinda couldn't hear them. Or for a prison jumpsuit. Orange never was my color, adios and all that.""

The agent that had been behind her was now clearly out of breath. She wasn't sure what the child was capable of but as weird as it may sound there was something in her words that told the Blackhawk her words were more than just talk. Still she had to try. Suicidal as it may be, she wouldn't have her place in history if she just laid down without swinging.

If she just wanted to make nice and hold out her wrists to be fitted for a pair of stainless steel bracelets she could argue for hours upon end about how she has rights, how she hasn't done anything they have the right to arrest her for and how they are just doing their jobs but so is she and there were more ways to cut a path than firing a gun.

A half dozen or closer to a full dozen perhaps, of pellets fell from her hands to produce smoke enough to surround them on the level they stood upon. Zinda had already measured the distance to the ground and leaped for the ladder once more. If she could scale down fast enough maybe, just maybe she could get clear before the little lassie could draw a bead on her. That was her plan at least as sheswung with a fist aimed toward Agent Stevens gut, lunged and tried to quickly scale down.

[Deleted]

Monitoring the woman's thoughts carefully, Phoebe senses the woman's intent to resist even as the woman herself decides to. Though that gives Phoebe a moment or two to prepare herself, Lady Blackhawk proves to be a very quick thinker when it comes to what she's going to do exactly and if Phoebe wasn't very quick herself she might have missed it. However, thoughts are always faster than actual movement and Phoebe doesn't have to move a muscle to respond. As the pellets drop she creates a sphere around them with her telekinesis, containing the smoke in what appears to be an invisible ball suspended in the air. And that's actually the hard part: making sure that she catches all of them.

The easier part is protecting Agent Stevens; with the smoke quickly and fully contained, Phoebe doesn't have a hard time stopping Lady Blackhawk's attack on her guardian. Especially since she can read what movements the woman will make directly from her own mind. Invisible walls are probably the easiest thing in the world for Phoebe to make, actually, and it would feel like running into a wall positioned just in front of Agent Stevens. A wall that pushes back a little when hit in order to keep Lady Blackhawk from falling off of the fire escape. Just because she's a bad guy doesn't mean that Phoebe wants to accidentally kill or seriously hurt her. Juggling that task and the sphere at the same time is a bit tricky, but this is the level of 'tricky' that the girl is used to.

Meanwhile, Agent Stevens doesn't have Phoebe's forewarning and would have been caught more off guard if Phoebe hadn't acted - flinching back until she bumps into the rail, the agent feels rather ungraceful when Phoebe proves quick enough to make dodging unnecessary. You'd think that she'd be used to the girl stopping such things from happening by now, but you never really do get used to fists failing to hit you.

[zinda]

What in blazes? Zinda watched mystified when the smoke capsules she released had their contents trapped and gathered into one spot. Almost as if they were being held by some sort of invisible barrier since she couldn't see anything to confirm that notion.Something very weird was happening. It was clearly something Lady Blackhawk had never seen the likes of by the expression on her face. She'd heard there were people that had weird powers floating around the globe. One of them was even in Gotham with wings and some sort of war club. She hadn't yet had a direct encounter. This moment was surreal for a simple country girl who felt like a sore thumb in this era.

What was even weirder is the fact her punch never hit the mark. Instead she slammed hard against some sort of wall, something again the leggy blond soldier couldn't see. She bounced hard against it, the force pushing her back against her and for a moment she envisioned herself tumbling off the side of the escape and becoming a Rorschach test. Mercifully that didn't happen.

Her intelligence as she watched the child go to work and the other agent who thought she might fall off the escape also, though Zinda would never have let that happen despite her being at odds with them after all she may have wanted to keep her freedom but she didn't want them dead; her intelligence and strategic planning indicated that there were still two chances out of this trap. Slim and none and slim just split town.

"You people have no right to do this. I have committed no crimes except trying to to keep my freedom in the face of false arrest. You have nothing to hold me on." She continued with an argument of protest but frowned deeply while standing in place with her arms raised in surrender, wondering where all the vigilante friends she'd made were now when she needed them.

[Deleted]

Sensing the shock in the woman's thoughts, Phoebe comments, "That's why they call me Force." She considers the ball of smoke she's now holding and repositions it above the far end of the alleyway before opening it and letting the pellets fall there. It can get all smoky over there without causing anyone any problems. But she's careful to not let that distract her from Lady Blackhawk, who she's regarding with more careful attention than ever. Usually when she has to stop people like that they don't try again. But that's only usually, and not all of the time.

Recovering from her surprise quickly, Agent Stevens clears her throat and says, "Thanks Force." The agent knows how to fight, but she's probably no match for most of these vigilantes and she knows it. She's not so sure that she'd want to be here in Gotham if she wasn't Phoebe's guardian; contrary to the title, it's usually Phoebe protecting her and not the other way around.

But then the agent's attention shifts to the vigilante, and her expression immediately becomes very serious - almost angry. "No crimes? Since when is it okay for a private citizen to investigate, detain, injure, or sometimes even kill other citizens - even if they are criminals? If you wanted the law on your side, you should have joined the police force. A crime is a crime and you can't stop criminals by becoming one. People like you just make things worse," she says firmly as she pulls out the handcuffs again, now quite eager to get this over with.

[zinda]

"How DARE you?

In less than a heartbeat everything Lady Blackhawk believed in, everything she stood for and everything she'd spent a lifetime fighting for was everything but spat upon by a child and a hick agent of an adult; both far too wet behind the ears compared to her to have the right to stand and so brazenly judge her. Now it was her turn to get livid. Her face rapidly flushed with color, all of it red as she was boiling hot under the collar. the veins in her neck tightened and stood out as she lifted a finger and pointed it toward the older agent's chest.

What pissed Zinda off most is the fact deep down the logic of the woman's last statement had merit. She was too enraged now to let cooler heads prevail. She'd been royally insulted. Hell, they might as well have burned the flag before her eyes and forced her to watch, both would produce the same result.

"You know absolutely nothing." And it was true but yet still odd, they knew her codename apparently but obviously not the history that went with it or jack squat about her legacy. Not that they would have given a flip regardless. "I was out laying my damn life on the line, shedding blood and sweat for this country before you were even born. While your grandmama was trying to find a date for her high school prom. And I am most definitely more than a private citizen, Back in my day we had respect for our elders."

She was clearly blowing her cover and revealing the truth about herself and her past, letting out more information than she planned on but she was too irate to give a rats butt. "GO TO HELL MISSY!" She raised her voice and swung with one last right cross aimed for her chin. It probably wouldn't connect and it wasn't an attempt to get away, just blind rage being unleashed by a hotheaded blond soldier who had just been pushed beyond her limits before she felt the cold steel handcuffs being clamped down around her wrists and her arms twisted, pulled behind her back, knowing full well what she was going to hear next and steeling herself for it.

The only question that still concerned her was what their reaction would be when they did figure jut who she really was and that she was still an employee of the military a fact that Zinda herself wasn't aware of considering the time rip and everything included with it.

[Deleted]

Agent Stevens simply doesn't have the time to learn all the life's stories of every criminal they're hunting for in Gotham. That's what computer databases are for. She knows what she needs to: that this woman isn't on the list of people who may pose a special challenge for Phoebe. And that's all she really needs to know - anything else is just extra in her book. And if Agent Stevens doesn't know something, it's a sure bet that Phoebe probably doesn't either.

Phoebe, now more used to this woman's rapid thoughts, is even quicker this time and catches Lady Blackhawk's wrist in an invisible band before it can strike her guardian's face. And Agent Stevens, realizing what's happening, is quick to grab the other wrist, click the handcuff into place, then twist the arm behind the woman's back with the ease of too much experience. Phoebe does the same, if mentally, to the other wrist and allows Agent Stevens to get the other cuff in place.

"That's enough!" Agent Stevens says angrily as she fastens it, annoyed that this woman is trying to fight even though she's clearly beaten, "I don't care who you think you are - nobody is above the law. It's that kind of attitude that brought us to Gotham in the first place. And if you care at all about this country, then drop the act and tell the truth." With the handcuffs in place, Agent Stevens starts guiding the woman down the fire escape, not being unnecessarily rough but also not bothering to be particularly gentle about it.

Phoebe is silent at first as she starts to follow a bit behind them, but almost immediately on the heels of Agent Steven's last statement, Phoebe quietly says, "She is telling the truth."

"She is?" Agent Stevens replies, obviously surprised but instantly believing Phoebe's judgment on that point. "I guess that means that we'll probably be seeing more of each other then," she mutters, not sounding entirely pleased with that. While Agent Stevens isn't that old, she isn't that young either and she knows that this woman can't be older than her. So if it's true then something funny is going on, and sorting out the truth when something funny is going on is Phoebe's job and therefore her responsibility.

[zinda]

9 times out of 10 Zinda was easy to get along with. It took more than a little to get her steamed under the collar and she usually liked children but this one was an instant thorn in her side. Her apparent ability to read her thoughts, somehow causing barriers to appear out of mid-air but the kicker being the latest little trick she pulled. Things like this don't just happen out of nowhere but the low level of pain evident on her face as she felt her arms being grabbed by a freak force of nature and twisted behind her while the older of the two agents handcuffed her like she was nothing more than common street trash was obvious.

She'd never hit a child before and wouldn't do it now even if she could. It was mighty tempting though. Mighty tempting. She now had a limousine on the street near the entrance to the alley that she'd probably never see again, as well as her plane and helicopter tucked away at the Gotham airport in a private hangar. She still had the pistol tucked away at her hip as well. She had rights and hadn't been read a single one of them yet as she was nudged, shoved, and led by force down the fire escape the way she'd come up, only much slower this time.

"See that's where you're wrong. That's all either of you two will get from me. I owe you no answers and if I ever see you again after today it will be too soon." She scowled, waiting to be loaded into the back seat of whatever business car they would be using to haul her away while other officers looked on after they reached the ground. It didn't take much gray matter to figure out where she was headed. On the plus side, as far as Zinda knew, the child could only read her thoughts if she was actually thinking about something so all she had to do to keep her secrets from being revealed was not to think about them The largest question looming on her mind right now is where Batgirl or Huntress were and why noone even made an attempt to try and rescue her That was stuck in her craw as she waited for the inevitable.

[Deleted]

"Yes, I know I'm a freak - thank you," Phoebe suddenly says, quite sarcastically. There are disadvantages to being able to read people's thoughts, to be sure. One of them is that Phoebe is perfectly aware of all the terrible things people think about her. Pointing it out when it happens is often a good coping strategy for her - most people have the decency to be ashamed of themselves, and that makes Phoebe feel better since she can feel when people are ashamed of themselves.

Agent Stevens is used to that coming from Phoebe, and ignores it. Instead she replies, "Believe me, the feeling is mutual." There's something about these vigilante types that just gets to Agent Stevens even more than the criminals. She doesn't like that twisted mesh of them saying that they're fighting for what's right but then doing the exact opposite. Stewing over this, she leads the woman the rest of the way down the fire escape and over to the nearest van mostly in silence.

But unfortunately, while one of the waiting agents starts searching for and removes Lady Blackhawk's weapons, Agent Stevens decides to take that last comment as a challenge. "Do yourself a favor," she suddenly says, "Don't think about your real name and birthdate." It is, perhaps, a bit cruel to try using that particular tactic: there's a natural human tendency for a person to think about the thing that they're not supposed to think about at least once before you're able to banish it from your head. It takes a massive amount of mental control to avoid it. And she trusts that Phoebe will be able to catch the answers. There's technique and finesse to interrogating someone whose mind is being read, and Agent Stevens is rather good at it.

[zinda]

Zinda wanted to feel shame at the thought that popped into her head of regarding the child as a freak but she was filled with confusion and remorse over so much and all at once. She did feel shame over her situation as a whole so yes in that sense her attitude toward the child was part of that. How did everything that was so good in her life get so bad and now ended with a whimper instead of a bang. It wasn't supposed to end like this. in her life she had always done the right thing in her heart, that didn't always mean playing by the rules but there were occasions when rules were meant to be broken in the course of defending a greater good. She had thought trying to help those wearing costumes that were trying to help others, namely the vigilantes, was doing the right thing but where were they now when she needed them?

The more she thought about everything the sicker she got in the pit of her stomach. Nothing made sense in this time. Everything about this 21st century made her wish she'd never left the past. Her head was swimming with confusion . She handled this whole thing badly and she knew it but wouldn't admit it out loud. Silently she cursed the fates that dared to bring her to this future. There must have been some reason and it looked like she'd spend who knows how long behind bars trying to figure it out.

For the first time in her life she was scared. Her heart sank but she didn't respond with a single syllable. Words failed her as she was searched and waited to be stuffed inside the van wondering whether she was doing the right thing by trying to resist giving the answers until the words Screw it flooded her mind before her lips finally parted and she spoke softly, in a surprisingly meek, more humble tone, opting to give the answers instead of having her head invaded again. "Zinda Blake. July 7, 1921." She mumbled and waited, her thoughts turning to the rest of the Blackhawk Squadron, seeing their faces while a tear rolled down her left cheek in spite of her efforts to stop it. I failed. I'm sorry guys. Damn, I'm sorry. She thought to herself, more visions of the past, the war and better days filling her mind's eyes.

[Deleted]

Phoebe's brow suddenly furrows a little, but Agent Stevens is too focused on their prisoner to notice. The expression is gone by the time the woman decides to give the answers out loud, and Agent Stevens glances at Phoebe who simply nods to confirm that the answer is truthful. "90, huh?" Agent Stevens mutters to herself, surprised by it. Yeah, looks like this is going to be another case for her and Phoebe to be involved in. They already have enough on their plate as it is, but unfortunately Phoebe is the only one with her abilities.

"Put her in the van, we'll follow you in our car," she orders once they're done searching her, and a pair of agents are quick to listen. That's when Agent Stevens notices Phoebe's unusually pensive expression. "Is something wrong?" Agent Stevens asks quietly.

"I don't want to talk about it," Phoebe replies, avoiding eye contact by looking at the ground.

Agent Stevens frowns, but simply says, "Let's go then."

(OOC: New thread will be up in West Gotham momentarily.)