April 10, 2016:
Bluebird finally meets up with the legendary Robin.
Robinson Park
Characters
NPCs: None.
Mentions: Batman
Plot:
Mood Music: [*\# None.]
Fade In…
It's been a long trip back from New York. Frustrated, Robin is sitting on a tree in Robinson Park, trying to come to grips with his current situation. He'd come back to America to set things right. To change his ways and start following the teachings of his father and of the Titans, of people who had shown that they had cared about him even when he had not often reciprocated. Then, on his first mission out, coming to the aid of Kate Bishop on a mission at least tacitly sanctioned by the Justice League, one of the members of the team killed massive amounts of people. His father would be so disappointed, and he had not engaged in any of that sort of behavior. But he didn't and couldn't stop it either, and for the first time in his life Damian Wayne feels guilty that one of his opponents has died.
Tonfas? Check.
Guns? Okay they really weren't guns. Check.
MK Variant armor? Check.
Super cool mask that Batman gave her? Super-awesome-doubleness check!
Utility belt with too much crap in it that it needs labels? A glum check. Super glum check.
It was a wonder she left the rail gun at home. She was carrying way too much stuff on her person anyways. But it was a quiet night. With the announcement of a new Mayor running had .. a surprising result of most of the baddies being inside instead of out. Maybe they were mulling over the changes. Maybe they were planning hits. Maybe they were afraid of the terrible Bluebird stalking Robinson park looking to kick some butt and chew bubble gum. Forget the names. She didn't care. Mostly.
The SRD drone that was hijacked long ago flew overhead as she kept watch on her phone, spying something within the tree had her stopping and looking up into the darkness, her hand over her brow to filter out the light of the drone. It passes just ahead, but she still kept that pose, squinting all the while.
"Hey. You might wanna get down from there 'fore you get hurt."
Damian drops from the sky, in no mood to be mocked. The woman before him is dressed in some sort of military armor and a wise mouth. Likely a villain of some sort. If it's a fight she wants, it's a fight she'll get, thinks Damian, but he makes no move to attack. No move to say anything, not at first. Finally, he mutters, "I don't hurt easily."
Harper drops her arm immediately to her holster, retrieving her guns with a quick snap and a point towards the young man, her brows lowering and a step taken back, yet there was no shake within her bones. "Yeah. I don't either." She mutters quietly, studying his way of dress. "Who are you?"
"Robin," he says nonchalantly, still not bothering to move. His lack of a response shows his arrogance, which is fall to demeanor when he's threatened or in one of his moods. Currently, he's feeling both. Yet, this is the same sidekick who stared down the Hulk. "You?"
"Robin? You mean Batman and Robin? That Robin?"
She slowly lowers her arm, her chin as well as she replaces the gun back into it's rightful spot. "I thought you'd be taller." Deadpan! "I'm Bluebird. I'd shake your hand but you're something like a ghost around these parts. And while I'm inclined to think that I've been hit over the head a lot.." She shakes her head. "Nevermind. Walk with me, talk with me duder. I mean, I guess we're supposed to be like sidekicks or some weird sort of Bat-kids or what have you." She was grinning then, both hands resting atop of her head, scratching all the while. "Which is totes awesome. You got that creepy Dark Knight thing going for you. I think. Sort of. Whatever! How's kicks?"
Robin falls along side her and begins walking. It makes sense. She's been described to him before, but it's dark and they've never met. "Yes, that Robin." As she talks about kicks, he turns and looks to her, having no clue what she's talking about. "I get my height from my mother," he says, irritated.
Bluebird has to stop, her face scrunching up as she looks over.. and up towards Robin. "That was a joke." This kid was all too weird. "You know what a joke is, don't you? And.." Harper lets out a little sigh. "Okay. You know how people, when they meet legendary people they're all.. 'I thought you were taller, hurr hurr', in the movies? That's what I just did." She begins to walk again, dropping her hands down at her sides to swing them to relax her muscles. "And me asking how's kicks? That's me asking how everything is. How life is. You know, normal stuff that normal people talk about. Not people who are.. Mister McLiteralPants. See what I'm saying?"
Robin stops and tilts his head as if trying to figure it out. "I'm not sure how calling me short is in any way endearing. I suppose it is an issue of cultural diffusion." Robin starts walking again, and sort of shrinks under his cowl and shawl a bit, wishing that she didn't ask. "In truth, things are not well. How are things to you?"
"Well.. no. It was meant as a joke. You obviously have some height on me. And I stopped growing in.. tenth grade? But I guess you can call it cultural.. dissolution or whatever it was you said." She was quiet enough to listen, drawing a foot back to kick the rock across the way and out of their path. She looks towards him again, then forward as she gives a slight shrug of her shoulders. "Things are things. Not too bad. But I rather redirect and ask you why things aren't going okay." She grows quiet, not one to really pry but, she was good at talking to boys. She has a little brother after all. Hah, Cullen could be a Robin, if he wasn't really oogling at.. Robin's. But we digress here.
"So, what's not well and how can we fix it?"
"Well," Robin begins as he gets a bit more comfortable with this odd one. "I responded to an incident this evening. As did a group of others. When they did, one of them held no respect for life and took the lives of those we were fighting. I'd only just returned and wanted to put these sorts of things behind me, but they continue to happen whether I can control them or not."
"That's.. heavy." Harper mutters quietly. And she rightfully assumes that Batman doesn't know, based on his words. "I don't know what to say to that. I've never been put in that position but.." She purses her lips quietly, "..I don't know kid. The only thing I can say is that we can't control everything, you know? We can only control what we can do and believe in. Like, pulling a punch because you know if you hit this guy hard enough, he may die. Or actually throwing that punch and killing a man and.. it's all just circumstance. We're not lucky enough for that type of control, you know?" She grins a little. "Stop me if I'm not making sense, cause I don't even know what the hell I just said." She shrugs though, tucking her hands into her pocket. "But, either way, that person needs to be held accountable. While we play judge and jury, we're not executioners. We're not god. But you got this.. 'they're pulling me back in' sort of deal and you can change that."
"I'm unsure if I can apprehend him. He is impervious to harm, heals almost immediately, and has no regard for people whatsoever. I must come clean to Batman, but I'm not sure what his reaction will be. I can only hope that he understands." Robin's words almost seem sad, as if he's already thinking he's going to be thrown out of the house he hoped to return to for so long after he had died. No, literally, he died.
"Man, you know the crap that Batman could do. There's a work-around to all of that mess! I once heard that he took down some Shark dude with just his pinky finger!" Of course, that was a gross exaggeration. "But yeah, coming clean is your best bet. I know he's going to want to look into it and he'll probably say something like.."
And she clears her throat for this..
"You are not allowed to deal with those sorts again! Hurr hurr, but you did your best and that's all you can do, hurr hurr.." She stops almost immediately, then frowns. "Don't tell him I did that."
Robin shakes his head, "I won't."
He falls silent for a bit, using Harper's resolve as a buttress to go and do what he has to do. Though he understands about one third of what the hell she is saying, he finds that he likes this Bluebird. "How did you come to live this life?" he asks.
"Good. He kicks my ass enough as is. I think the dudes a sadist."
His question gives her pause, so much that she stops, but she keeps on going. "Well. I live in the Narrows. Not the best place to live but it's just me and my brother. I just got.. tired of people kicking our asses daily and hurting him because he's gay. I figure, if I could make the streets right, I won't have to worry about him walking home alone anymore. He wouldn't have to hide under his bed or cry at night because he heard a bad noise. But, there was this one night, a group of guys pretty much tried to kill us. Batman came and saved my brother and me. That was all she wrote then. Fell into the allure of it even though I know one day, I'm going to meet the ugliest end some weird ass bad guy is going to crop up with. And I'm okay with that."
"He is either a sadist, or just wants badly for you to be successful. He wants you to persevere. That is my belief, anyway." Robin listens to her story quietly and nods, "I am sorry that that happened to your brother, but I am happy that it has forced you to use your talents to make the world a better place. Perhaps that weird bad guy will have to go against us both, and I pray that he will find the salty taste of defeat in his mouth on that day."
"Let's go with both. It'll help me sleep better at night. Knowing that I was right." She grins then, then breaks out into full, trumphant laughter. Which really wasn't full, nor triumphant. It was a series of giggles and sniggers that has her clapping her hands and pointing at Robin with a winning smile. "I like you kiddo." She finally confesses, drawing an arm out to snake hers with his, breaching each and every comfort zone anyone could have as she tugs him along quicker.
"I like you so much, that you're gonna pay for dinner. And really. If you want me there with you to talk to Batman about what happened with you and your mission, you got me. You're gonna be like.. a brother I already have. Though.. I don't know if you're younger than me and what not so, we'll figure out those semantics over some greasy fried meal time. Cool?"
"That is fine," Damian says as he follows along. "I have money and hunger What are we eating?
After a few moments, he asks, "Do you enjoy Persian food, perhaps?" Damian is 19, but does not give that information out right away; rather makes her work for it.
Woo! Advantages of being a girl and broke. You say what's going to happen and goddamn it, it's going to happen. Harper was nearly going at full tilt, she was so intending to hit up the latest chain of Big Belly Burger to hit this side of Gotham. Though, she slows a little, her face scrunched up as she looks up towards her other Little Brother. "Uh.. no? That shit's expensive. I can't even begin to 'afford' that." Wait.. she wants to ask. But nope, she wasn't going to. Nope, that's too invasive. "I've had some cheap knock off chinese food that was made by some guy I know in the Narrows. Gave me the pits for a week, was -NOT- pretty."
"If you want it, I have no problem purchasing it for you. We will have to change first, of course, but there are several 24 hour restaurants in the area and before I go speak to the Batman, I should do so on a full stomach." Robin stops and shrugs his shoulders. Money means nothing to him, clearly. He has a lot of it with his parents.
"Uh… ookkay.." Weird. Maybe there was some weird stipulation that she's missed out on. You have to be tall and rich to get on the Batman team. But, she made it either way. With heavy reluctance. And broken ribs, nose.. jaw.. leg.. shot in the back..
"Well, since we're changing. And we're going to be in public. Call me Harper Row. Pleasure to meet you.. " She lets that hang off, at least waiting for him to introduce himself properly.
"I have many names, but you can call me Damian," he replies as he takes her hand. But even as he changes, he'll still be wearing glasses.