A new frontier; where the past don't haunt you and there's nothing left to fear

[chiroptophobic]

WHO: Batman and you
WHERE: The city of Cape Canaveral and Heropa
WHEN: After the children AND CARRIE are kidnapped in the Summer Games plot
WHAT: Bruce gathers his mantle about him for the first time since his arrival, having struggled to reconcile necessity with the death of Harvey Dent. Now that several busloads of children are involved, he makes the choice to once again prowl the streets, this time of a city that isn't his own, in the hope of digging up pertinent information--or at the very least make useful future contacts.
WARNINGS: None yet, but Bruce tends to yield violence, and conversation/introspective about violence and character death

Missing children.

What was happening here was bigger than him; bigger than any insecurities he might still harbor, and Bruce Wayne's ability to intercede on anyone's behalf vanished with his lack of business acumen. Rebuilding that wasn't nearly as simple as it was to put on the cowl again, although in many ways embracing the bat once more had been difficult in its own right. The chil--the Robins had made it easier, and Alfred of course, but in the end the battle had been between him, the mask, and the black whisper of bat wings against his ribcage.

It had been a battle against his own fears, and the black hole that waited for him whether he chose it to be his life or not. Here, those answers were different: where being Batman before had convicted him to a lonely, friendless existence, a life without family or future, here it was precisely the opposite. The bat had a family, and that family bled into his life as Bruce Wayne, gave him direction. It was hard to comprehend, conflicting so relentlessly with the choices he'd been making for the last year and a half. But it also made the choice easier, particularly knowing that Carrie was among the missing. Just spending a small amount of time around his new bat family had made Bruce want to be something for someone other than himself; a refreshing change to the self imposed misery he'd been anticipating before. He wouldn't let it go without a fight.

From his undisclosed new location, an urban batcave of sorts, he stole into the night.

Alone.

Buses filled with children didn't simply disappear. Even in a world without superheroes, such a thing wouldn't happen except by grievous accident or sinister design, and while Bruce considered it a possibility that this was some sort of side-effect of an untrained power, the sinister option made an unfortunate amount of sense--that the disappearances were deliberate and malicious, and that someone profited from them.

Kidnappers would have difficulty controlling that many teenagers without their cooperation, particularly given the abilities they supposedly had, particularly when he'd seen exactly what some of them could do; they'd have to have some place to put them, and it couldn't be too near the crash site, not when within hours imPorts with abilities that suited search and rescue would be meticulously combing the area. In any case, a ransom wouldn't be demanded until security of the hostages could be insured, which meant there would be a few hours yet before any valuable information began to trickle out. Even when that was the case, Dick was already on task, and Bruce was inclined to leave him to it. Watching his performance in a minute-by-minute crisis like this one would be more efficient than any test.

In the best case scenario, Bruce was beginning to have enough faith in Carrie's ability that he knew she'd press any advantage. In the worst she was already dead. In the worst, he'd already failed her, failed this new family, and if he paused even for a second in his quest those thoughts of failure and responsibility would envelope him. It wasn't his fault. It had been her choice to go.

So Bruce did what he did best. He put his ear to the ground. Buses filled with children - with imPort children - didn't disappear without someone knowing about it, perhaps even someone in this city. And what was the purpose? Ransoming them to the government, killing them for sport or political gain, selling them to the highest bidder, testing their abilities as had been proposed to Robin by the woman on his post? The why, how and whom were questions with answers, and Bruce intended to seek them out. He'd seek them out with his fists if need be, but he'd find them.

Whether an authority figure he could have sought out for information, or a casual passerby suddenly confronted by a black bat in a dark alleyway, he hunts with intent and moves in near perfect silence. The city was too low and sprawling for him, in truth, the town of Heropa no better, but Bruce used the low ground and shadows almost as well, observing the military installments in general, but also taking a pass by the residencies, watching for anything untoward. If he was hard and cold, voice an inch past grating into the realms of a guttural growl, it was only out of barely restrained anger. No matter how little time he'd known them himself, you didn't mess with a Batman's Batfam.


[ OOC: Feel free to assume Batman just drops down in the street, appears when your character turns around, taps on a police station/apartment building window... If you have an idea for something specific, i.e. a reason he might think your character knows more, or they're behaving suspiciously, they're about to do something daft in their grief and need an intervention etc. hit up my inbox and we can brainstorm. Tag ins don't have to be plot related at all, and if your character has abilities that would help them to have observed his approach go ahead and imply they did. If their abilities/paranoia mean they'd attack creeperbat first, go for it. If none of this works, IM me and I'm sure we can come up with something. ]

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[dontforgetpie]

Even on the nights when nothing weird or unusual was going on, Dean still liked to hit the streets. There was something comforting about being able to make sure that everything was as it should be with his own two eyes. But tonight isn't quite like the other nights. A bunch of kids had gone missing during the day and like hell was Dean just going to sit at home with his thumbs up his ass when he might actually be able to do something about it. Because this sort of thing? It seemed right up his alley.

Dean heads away from the residential area, staying away from the roads, weaving between houses to get to the business district. Maybe not the best place to start, but none of the imPorts seemed to know anymore than he did, judging by the reaction he'd seen earlier. A text from some Robin.

He ducks between another set of buildings, eyeing some people passing on the other end of the dark path. As good a place to start as any, right? Except he hardly had a chance to take another step forward before there's the whoosh of air being displaced. That's all the warning he gets before whatever, whoever had just dropped down in front of him is there, seemingly looming into his personal space without actually being quite that close. His gun is out and in his hands more out of habit than anything else. Something just popping up like this had never been a sign of awesome things to come. And if a tendril of fire curled around the hand that wasn't holding a gun, well, that wasn't really worth dwelling on at this point.

"What the hell?!" The exclamation is a little louder, and maybe a tad more high pitched than Dean would have liked for it to be, but he's focusing on something else entirely now. Like creepy dude's outfit.

"Seriously? You're going with the 'Batman' look? ….And apparently the sound, too. Has anybody told you that's seriously creepy? And… uh. Freakishly good, actually. Now I'm just gonna…" He makes a vague gesture back the way he'd come, seeing as the way forward is now pretty effectively blocked.

"Have a good time at the costume party, Bruce." Dean snuffs out his flame and starts to turn away.

[chiroptophobic]

The best thing to do, most of the time, is to let someone like this talk themselves out. Quiet is easy. Landing he doesn't make a sound, nor does he remotely stir from place while Dean speaks, a gun pointed straight at him. At this close range the gunshot would hurt; it would crack through his armor and lacerate skin, and while he'd most certainly survive, spooking him and getting shot without reason would do him no good. The flame, though. The flame is something else.

It's new.

Not new new, Bruce knows all about the powers in this place, he's had time to observe some of the people slightly more open with them, particularly back on the boat, but in a hostile situation--it's different. He isn't ready yet for that challenge. And in fact thorough apprehension was the only thing that kept him from spinning forward to disarm the gun and driving his forearm into the stranger's throat when Dean uses his real name.

He only has the space of a beat to reconsider offensive action. His name; this man knows his name. But who the hell is he? Not anyone from Alfred's lists, certainly not anyone with any respect for him. Costume party. He has to temper his rage down. The last thing he needs is a fight about whether or not Dean is interested in providing an explanation. He will get one, one way or another.

"We need to talk."

Finding out why Dean was so willing to turn around and abandon whatever he was doing was secondary to finding out how he knew his name.

[dontforgetpie]

"We need to talk?" Dean repeats the words back, sounding slightly incredulous. "That's what you're going to go with here?"

At least bat-guy hasn't made any move to attack. The potential for a fight was mostly what had made Dean turn away. He wasn't looking to fry anybody tonight, but he turns back, raising an eyebrow. If it weren't for the whole fire thing, he might have opted for pushing past Bruce to get out of the alley. Unfortunately, it's something he has to take into consideration now, even if he'd rather not have to deal with it at all. Even though he's unwilling to use his powers intentionally on another human, the gun stays out. Dean's not taking any chances with someone who can move like this guy.

Now that he hasn't just had the shit scared out of him by a giant ass bat dropping down from God only knows where Dean takes a moment to appreciate the costume. This guy had dedication. Dean would give him that. Maybe a little too much dedication, actually, but it wasn't like he could blame him for that.

"Look, man, as much as I'm digging the costume, I'm a little busy right now for a chat." That and the people he'd planned on questioning were now long gone, thanks to mr tall, dark, and mysterious. Disappointing, but there were other alleys to turn down, other people to question on the streets. Not that talking to people had yielded much more than a big fat nothing.

Although if Bat-guy wanted to talk, maybe Dean could at least find out if he knew something.

"Unless you know anything about the missing imPorts. Then I'm all yours." The smile that accompanies that statement is more of a smirk than anything else. He's pretty sure this guy doesn't know anymore than he does.

[projectkr]

That was the thing about the bat family - they always managed to sneak up on Superboy even with his superhearing. He could hear a pin drop a mile away if he wanted but never heard Robin come up beside him when the younger teen was in stealth mode. So it would stand to reason that he wouldn't hear the hero who taught the Boy Wonder either.

It took a moment for him to even register that there was someone on the roof with him because of the sheer level of stealthy silence that he automatically attributed to the Dynamic Duo. As far as he knew Robin was out of commission and honestly there weren't any others of the family that he even knew. So far his Robin had been the only Robin. That means he automatically assumed the presence was Batman.

Maybe what he's doing seems suspicious to the Bat because Superboy is just standing on a roof ledge. Or at least that might be how it appeared when he was actually listening to the city. Listening to the many voices that floated up from the streets in hope of catching one that would have some sort of information. Sometimes it's better than threatening the information out of someone.

He took a minute to make sure that no one was talking about anything important before turning on the ledge and seeking out the black-clad figure. Despite the fact that Robin had told him about Batman being from a parallel universe, there doesn't really seem to be a difference - not to Superboy. Though he doesn't know if this Batman will recognize the red S emblazoned across his chest or not.

"I should have known you'd be out here. This definitely something that the Batman would investigate."

[chiroptophobic]

Noticing the figure, Bruce had made his way to the rooftop from below. Without any kind of available height in the city, the wingspan of his cape was near useless, though were he to fall uncontrollably he would still rely on it to keep him from crashing down to earth. There's no telltale sound of the grapple gun to give him away, no soft whoosh of air as he lands, just near-silent ninja feet. But that's enough; enough to be heard when you were creeping up on Superboy.

Being recognized is still new to him. The lack of surprise is something else too, and Bruce steps down from his crouch on the edge of the rooftop at the conversational tone, cape sweeping over the top in his wake. He doesn't approach too far, just enough to get a better look at the young man, at the mark on his chest, a mark he'd seen in Alfred's files. He'd asked his butler to provide information, to help him to blend into the role he was expected to play. It would do no good at all if he were to face Alfred's version of the Joker, for example, without some idea of the threat he'd be facing.

Superboy's file had been listed among allies, although to be perfectly fair and honest, Bruce had a disposition against powers already. They seemed like something that would be far too easy to turn to evil purposes or otherwise abuse. At least the ones he'd been burdened with hadn't done anything worse than heal the long term damage his knees had sustained and close up the gunshot wound that Harvey had inflicted on him.

"They took something of mine." Not that he wouldn't be investigating anyway, but Carrie's disappearance was on his mind. If they were dead, it'd be yet another burden he put on his own conscience.

[projectkr]

This place certainly wasn't Gotham with its sky-high buildings that was absolutely perfect for the Dark Knight and his sidekick. No, it was more like Happy Harbor with nothing more than four-story apartment buildings so chances were he was more comfortable here than Batman was.

Honestly Superboy did not spend enough time with the Batman of his world to be able to see any differences between this one and the one he knew. All he knew was what Robin had told him. A Batman who didn't have a sidekick named Robin, who didn't know that they were called the Dynamic Duo among what was most likely the entire world. Of course Superboy had only ever known them as Batman and Robin so really there might be some huge differences that he wouldn't even begin to recognize. Not to mention that he didn't think this Batman would be assigning the team missions - for the Justice League or otherwise.

As for that file, the information given to him might not be entirely correct considering the differences in their worlds. Though Superboy had started to wonder just how many there could possibly be.

But right now they had the same goal and it was even the same reason. They'd both lost someone close to them and would get them back. That he had no doubt on. If Batman was playing detective, then they would find what had been taken. He's damn certain that the Robin he knew was back in his room playing detective and team leader from a distance and Superboy has to wonder if maybe there's another one. It was a fact that there was another version of himself so the same might be true for other people. And considering the level of secrecy he'd seen in his teammate, Superboy isn't surprised he didn't notice another member of the Batfamily.

Somehow he doesn't think asking if another Robin was taken will get him a straight answer so he doesn't ask. "Same. None of the citizens of Heropa have said anything important about the kidnapping."

[darwinatrix]

[If he's near the military base late at night, he'll see a tall, blonde woman walking home from her "work." She's in a military uniform, but it isn't the usual uniform of this country's military; whatever it is she's wearing it on her own.

And decades of being on the front line of combat have given Olivier Armstrong a sixth sense as to when she's being followed.

She stands still, her hand coming down to rest on the hilt of the long saber that hangs from her waist. She speaks out loud.] I hate being spied on by a coward slinking around in shadows.

Show yourself.

[chiroptophobic]

[ He's always careful - always - but even though he'd spent years perfecting the art of a thief, a ninja, there were always tells. Nobody was perfect, and Bruce was only human, after all. At the command, knowing he'd revealed himself, he let himself dissolve from the shadows, let the cast of the streetlights he'd been avoiding catch the contours of his costume.

He appreciates the effort to be direct, even if he doesn't equate observation with cowardice himself. In return, he reflects that directness. ]

I followed you from the front gate. You're out of place--the uniform.

[darwinatrix]

[She turns smartly, sharply on one heel, and though she doesn't draw her weapon, she doesn't remove her hand from the saber's hilt, either.

She eyes the man up and down with interest. What an intriguing costume.] My uniform. They can enlist me in whatever grunt's work they want, but they won't take this from me.

You're very good if you made it that far without me noticing until now. I'll respect that. [She inclines her head in the barest of nods.] What do you want?