Bruce Wayne (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
chiroptophobic) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
maskormenacelogs2014-07-23 04:28 am
chiroptophobic) wrote in maskormenacelogs2014-07-23 04:28 am
A new frontier; where the past don't haunt you and there's nothing left to fear
WHO: Batman and you
WHERE: The city of Cape Canaveral and Heropa
WHEN: After the childrenAND 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. ]
WHERE: The city of Cape Canaveral and Heropa
WHEN: After the children
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. ]
no subject
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.
no subject
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.