Earth-52 IC

[Zarthrax]

The Crimson Avenger

"Psychotic? Me?"

Another mocking, exaggerated gesture, this time a great show of being offended.

"I happen to have perfectly rational reasons for everything I'm doing, thank you very much."

The Avenger gestures broadly towards the street.

"As for why come talk to you...I'm here to tell you that there aren't any heroes in Gotham. You really ought to just hang up your...rags, keep your head down, and live an average, normal life."

The Avenger's voice drops, becomes conspiratorial.

"You'll only be disappointed and hurt otherwise."

Scarecrow

The ragged man laughs for a good long while at that statement.

Finally, he returns to some semblance of control and responds.

"Barring the absurdity of that statement being spoonfed to me by someone who stole a sniper rifle, and I don't think you plan on using it as a replacement cricket bat, don't you think I already know that?"

The smile is audible in his tone now.

"You think I do this to be a hero? That I'm expecting to one day get a tickertape parade down Main in front of the courthouse and everything, where I'll get the key to the city?"

He laughs again, a short bark full of contempt.

"I do this because normal people live in fear, fear of those, like you, who do whatever they want and damn the consequences to everyone else. I do this because fear is universal, and it's all just a matter of finding the right stimuli."

Scarecrow narrows his eyes and makes a calculated bluff. (Skill Mastery, taking a 10 for a 26.)

"But I'm sure a guy like you knows all there is to know about that, isn't that right, Dick?"

Crane knows that there's two ways to take the previous statement, as either an insult or calling by name....

[industrious]

((I've decided to fast forward things a little bit. I'm going to leave Walker and Stephanie's conversation private, and move to their date. I leave Stephanie's reaction to Walker telling her in Bwuh's very capable hands))

Walker and Kate

The Irregular was the sort of bar that refused to have televisions and knew exactly where its place was in the thick of things. It was the sort of place anyone could go to without feeling too different, at least initially. The booths were high and private, and while the bar itself didn't have much besides the basics, nobody complained.

It wasn't trendy or edgy in any way. It could have been placed anywhere in the United States and fit in, decor-wise. The burgers sizzled in a small kitchen near the back, and everybody knew better than to try the chicken wings.

It was also a gay bar. There wasn't any sort of signal that it was. But most people knew it was going in.

The Crimson Avenger

Crane gets the very distinct impression that the Avenger is smiling, though the shadows underneath the fedora make that impossible to verify.

"...I've poisoned two of the drinks at the bar on the corner. Try to get there in time, hero. I'll be waiting in the alley, cackling with insane glee and frightening small children as I do so. Because that's all we villains seem to do, isn't it?"

Sarcasm and cynide. Or some sort of poison.

Spoiler

Show

Collect a hero point.

[DeafnotDumb]

Katherine Walker

Jennifer, hadn't it been, that she'd taken here? Dark hair, dark eyes, dark skin, and rather more elegant than Walker had been used to. Fun gal once you got under her skin - and that relationship had ended just like with every other woman she had tried to be more than friends with.

This one should be different. Workdates, of a warped kind, are possible. Kate's known her for a good long while and understands who she will be with. Oh, and there's the whole 'papers are going to out you so you don't have to hide her' thing, which was certainly going to make things different. And difficult.

Walker was damned if she'd let them win. And, as usual, her spite would be an excellent motivator to deny them what they wanted.

Before she'd heard about the story due to break, Walker had planned a little more of an elaborate disguise, but the point seems moot. She's just relied on the fact that most people know of her through pictures in newspapers, and therefore look for the uniform and cane rather than the face. She's plainclothes, and though she has her stick she'd blackened the elegant thing into something more like a regular cane, and arranged her hair into a less professional style. She doesn't need the deception to work for long. Just for one date.

She arrives early and buys two drinks, hoping to signal to the others that she's waiting for somebody. Not, really, that she needs to worry. Katherine, with her general manner, may be put politely as an aquired taste.

She picks someplace near enough to the bar so that Kate can see her when she comes in, and waits.

[Bruendor_Cavescout]

Kate Kane

Nothing. She figured she might have missed something the first time, and she refused to believe what her skills were telling her the second, but by the third, she couldn't ignore the truth. There wasn't anything else here to find about the Crimson Avenger - not a stray hair, nor unusual fiber, nor footprint in sight. She punched the wall out of frustration, angered at yet another stone wall thrown up in her path. She'd need to hit the streets and visit her informants again, see if there was any news on the escaped hitman, so that meant she couldn't drink too heavily with Katherine.

She winced as it suddenly hit her - she'd taken so long, now she was going to be a bit late to their first date. She left the crime scene, pulling her phone and texting as she headed to her room. Day from hell. Will be there but late. She changed out of her clothes and got into something more comfortable - halter top, capris, short-heeled sandals. No time to paint her toenails, just a quick bit of polish. No motorcycle this time, low-key meant the Fiat.

When she walked into The Irregular, she spied Katherine waiting for her at the bar. She sat down on the stool, placing her purse on the bar next to her. "What are you drinking? With the day I've been having, I'm going to need both of those. To start."

[ChronicLunacy]

Deadshot

Azrael

"The others coddle the wicked," he answers, moving so that he can walk in pace besides the red-clad marksman. "But not you. Not always, not when it really matters. You're a killer, with a killer's instinct." There's a bit of humor in that sentence, as though he's speaking through a smile. And he might be -- to Azrael, this is talking shop, one hunter to another. "When you looked me over a minute ago, you were sizing me up, searching me for my weaknesses, for ways to incapacitate me, if it ever came to that. To kill me, if you needed to." He bows his head in a nod. "I did the same to you when you approached... it's nothing personal, it's just what we do. It's just what we are." He scuffs the toe of his boot on the deck of the ship. "This city, this world, it needs more than this boat, this floating prison. It needs more men like us, men who are willing to do what needs to be done to cleanse the Earth of the sin that infects it, that rots it to its core."

"You see a lot, Lancelot, but this religious talk ain't for me. Way I see it...some folks just need killin'. Not everyone has the stones to see that through." Deadshot said as they walked, surprisingly quiet for...well, him all of a sudden. "Don't let it go to your head. Killing is a last resort, for the worst sort. You remember every one of them, and if you go to church and I expect you do, you ask forgiveness for 'em, no matter how evil. You don't want to go too far down that road and become one of those psychos yourself." he advised.

"I like you, kid. You old enough to drink, yet?" he asked, suddenly in his usual volume, changing subjects.

[Sophistemon]

Azrael

The Angel laughs, and it's a bitter, unpleasant sound to hear. "Not so different, then, after all," he says. "What I've done is just and righteous -- the wicked deserve their fate at the end of my sword, with their sins swimming before their eyes while they die. Their dying does not haunt me, and it shouldn't haunt you, either." He takes a quick step forward and then turns so that he's facing Deadshot and obstructing his path, halting their procession. "I was created to be the killer that I am, and I am no slouch in combat... but my skills are designed for personal confrontations, single targets, assassinations." He extends a hand, finger out, to poke Deadshot in the chest. "But you... you can cut them down by the dozens, by the hundreds! I have seen you shoot, Deadshot, and it is nothing short of miraculous." His eyes are wide behind the mask, and there is awe in his voice. "I was created by man to kill for the sake of God... but you! You were created by God to kill for the sake of man!"

[ChronicLunacy]

Deadshot

Deadshot walked around Azrael, continuing on the path. "You're a few pages short of a Bible, kid." he chuckled, trying to keep the conversation light. Inside, though, he thought over just how much this guy scared the bejeezus out of him. That look in his eyes was the same one he'd seen in the face of a muslim extremist in Afghanistan right before he triggered a suicide vest. People that killed in the name of God were always going for the largest body counts and had the least amount of scruples in accomplishing it. Technically Azrael was on their side, and Lock-Up vouched for him, but how long would it be until the crusader had the chance to do something horrifying?

"I kill when I have no other choice, when the courts have their hands tied or paid for, or a psycho gets loose on a technicality, or the government sends for the scariest bastard they can find to save the world no one else can do what has to be done." he explained. "That don't make me the hand of God, kid. I am a bad, bad man, and if there is a Hell I'm going straight there for what I've done. Don't matter if they deserved it or not...killing ain't ever the right or good thing to do. That's why I treat my body like an amusement park, because I know that whatever comes after ain't gonna be fun for me."

Deadshot paused at the hatch leading to the ship's interior. "We ain't judge, jury, and executioner, Lancelot. What we do doesn't heal or help. We're the big knife they use for when the limb is too rotten to stay on... The world will be better when it don't need people like us."

[Sophistemon]

Azrael

The Crusader lets him go, even going so far as to re-extend his arm towards the door in a sarcastic flourish. "You mock me," he says, and his voice has returned to its former bitterness. "But you know as well as I do that this world will only not need people like us when the wicked are dead, buried, and forgotten by the living. Until then, it's the duty of men like us to stand against the chaos, swords in hand. The blood of evil will water the seeds of peace." He steps towards the hatch and, after unlocking the keypad, enters the passcode that allows access into the interior of the Halsey. "Go, then. Take a tour through the menagerie. Speak to the Joker, if you'd like; he's talkative enough. When you've done that, come and tell me that men like him should be allowed to continue living. But first..." Azrael eyes Deadshot appraisingly. "You should speak to the Witch. The last I checked, she was in her quarters." He smiles beneath the mask. "It isn't safe to walk about with a set of broken ribs."

[Zarthrax]

The Crimson Avenger

Crane gets the very distinct impression that the Avenger is smiling, though the shadows underneath the fedora make that impossible to verify.

"...I've poisoned two of the drinks at the bar on the corner. Try to get there in time, hero. I'll be waiting in the alley, cackling with insane glee and frightening small children as I do so. Because that's all we villains seem to do, isn't it?"

Sarcasm and cynide. Or some sort of poison.

Spoiler

Show

Collect a hero point.

Scarecrow scowls, not that anyone can tell under the mask.

"I sincerely hope so. As soon as I'm done there, you and I are gonna have a long, violent talk."

Unspooling just enough rope from his coil to swing to street level within a block, Scarecrow lassos a nearby gargoyle and swings off to the bar....

[DeafnotDumb]

Katherine Walker

"Borbon." Katherine mutters. "No ice." She pushes one of the drinks towards Kate. "But I'm having the other one for now. We can both get something stronger later."

Katherine looks at her date across the table. For once, the workaholic has no desire to talk about work, especially after a day like this. Luckily, she has prepared an idea. "I was thinking we'd trade some stories. Heaven knows I've got enough from the GCPD, and I can't imagine someone like you left the army without a few tales under her belt." She smiles and takes a sip of the drink, to quell any risking awkwardness.

[Buwh]

The Spoiler

"Cass.. hey, wait a second!" Spoiler shouted breathlessly, barely keeping the more experienced girl in her sights for brief moments over the crest of buildings. She finally collapses on a building, looking up just in time to see Cass there.. and see her leave. "Cass? Cass!" She shouted, sucking in a lungful of air, before standing and pulling out her grapple gun. "You won't get away that easy!" She called out, before mumbling to herself. "What is wrong with her?"

Ring-a-ling-ding.

The sound of a cellphone ringing distracts her causing her to glance down. When she looks back up her friend is gone. To who knows where.. there was still so much about her she didn't know. "See you tomorrow..?" Stephanie offers to the darkness, before pulling out her cellphone.

"Hey, Lt. Walker? Hope I'm not in trouble.."

Stephanie Brown

Home. Same time as the date. Stephanie sat at home without one.

Well. She'd have a date tomorrow but that was the furthest thing from her mind. The girl felt kind of.. numb. Her costume lay crumpled on a heap in the floor and Stephanie Brown lay on her bed in her underclothes staring at the ceiling.

"Why didn't she tell me sooner?" The girl crooned with a sigh that turned into a yell. It was just one of those moods where something was such a shock you couldn't really feel anything. She didn't really have a reason to be mad- but mad she was regardless. The pillow became her personal scream silencer.

"Lesbians.." Stephanie said to herself. The word sounded weird in her mouth, it was one she didn't use too often. She couldn't have imagined. "No one ever tells me anything till they have to. Ugh! Cass included! No one!" Her tantrum continued, and she just bounced herself on the bed in frustration. If she knew where Cass stayed maybe she could have talked to her and found out what she did to make her so mad..

"And with Kate Kane? UGH! What is Walker thinking? No wonder it's all over the news!" Stephanie continued to complain to the only person that would listen- herself. "Brainless spoiled little.." The last word was too low to hear. "I wonder if that, girl, is using her.. I don't want Walker hurt.. god. This is so messed up to spring on someone. Walker always seems so strong like she doesn't need anyone and.." Stephanie paused for a moment and sighed. "Well, I guess that makes sense.. wow. That's unreal. But she is going to hear it from me when she gets home!"

She didn't really know why she was so mad. The thought that someone she knew could be with girls had just honestly never crossed her mind before. And that frustrated her. She wondered what was happening on that date..

A good girl would get started on her homework. A great one wouldn't just sit here wondering.

[ChronicLunacy]

Deadshot

"You should speak to the Witch. The last I checked, she was in her quarters." He smiles beneath the mask. "It isn't safe to walk about with a set of broken ribs."

"I've had worse." was the only reply before the heavy door hatch swung back shut with a resounding, metallic boom, punctuating the end of their conversation.

As Deadshot went to find Dr. Shondra, he thought about just what Lock-Up might have in mind for that crazy, religious kook up on deck. In Deadshot's mind, Azrael was little better than the costumed criminals they'd been seeing more and more of lately, and probably a lot more dangerous considering his "higher calling". The crusader had been right when he'd noticed that Deadshot had considered about fifty different ways of killing him up there when they first met, and now he was considering it more and more. He didn't advertise it, but Deadshot was no slouch in the brains and planning department. By the time he got home he'd be well onto a plan to take Azrael out if he had to. He'd give the kid a chance, since Lock-Up had seen fit to give him one, but if he proved a danger to the community Deadshot wouldn't hesitate to evactuate his skull with a high-powered sniper rifle and dump his body in an unmarked grave outside city limits.

He just hoped he wouldn't have to.

[industrious]

Med Bay

Shondra isn't there; in her place is a considerably older, matronly woman in a labcoat. At the sight of Deadshot, her lips thin, as if she had just tasted something unspeakably sour.

Doctor Leslie Thompkins. The scariest pacifist in Gotham.

"Mister Deadshot."

Why couldn't it have been Shondra? She didn't treat him like the scum of the earth. Probably because Lock-Up had asked her to.

She waves a hand towards the nearest empty bed, disapproval and disgust still on her face.

"I've never denied service to anyone, Deadshot, and I'm not going to start now."

Stephanie

The phone rings while Stephanie contemplates Walker's revelation.

"Why didn't you tell me?" a woman on the other end half-cries, half-wails. "Katie..."

There is the sound of the phone being snatched skillfully away from unmoving hands.

"Hi? Walker? It's Dinah. Babs is a bit ticked off with you about not telling her."

[ChronicLunacy]

Deadshot

Shondra isn't there; in her place is a considerably older, matronly woman in a labcoat. At the sight of Deadshot, her lips thin, as if she had just tasted something unspeakably sour.

Doctor Leslie Thompkins. The scariest pacifist in Gotham.

"Mister Deadshot."

"Doctor Scary McFreezingHands," Deadshot replied in the same tone, "how nice to see you."

Why couldn't it have been Shondra? She didn't treat him like the scum of the earth. Probably because Lock-Up had asked her to.

She waves a hand towards the nearest empty bed, disapproval and disgust still on her face.

"I've never denied service to anyone, Deadshot, and I'm not going to start now."

"Well, rest assured, Doc. If I had any other place to go, I'd be there, but Gotham General doesn't take my Masked Vigilante Insurance card." he quipped, the last bit caught up in a wince as he tried removing the layers of armor and fabric covering his upper body. When he got it off, Thompkins would immediately notice the huge, angry bruises covering his pectoral and ribs on his left side. He left his mask in place for the sake of his secret identity.

[Buwh]

Spoiler

"Huh, what? Wait-" Stephanie responds after picking up the phone, alas, to no avail. "Sorry, Wa- Lt. Walker isn't here. Shes, um,.." The girl kinda tinged red at the thought of the words date, Walker, and girl together. It was so weird imaging her being out with anyone- much less a female- much less Kate Kane, millionaire playgirl. "Out."

"This is Stephanie. Can I help you?"

[industrious]

The Other Line

The first voice comes back on the phone.

"Hi, Stephanie, this is Barbara. I'm a good friend of Katie's."

Wait. The Barbara Gordon? Millionaire daughter of Commissioner Gordon Barbara Gordon? Big-shot computer scientist, "Steve Jobs 2.0," Barbara Gordon?

"...And I'm her partner Dinah."

"I was just calling to ask her why she hadn't ever told me about her, before. But from the sound of things, she didn't tell you either. Do you feel like you need to talk about it?"

Dr. Thompkins

"..."

She ignores him as she methodically removes his armor, actually cutting it away in a few places to get a better angle.

"You have fragments of the round still in you, Deadshot. I'm going to have to extract them. And since you won't remove your mask, I'll give you a local anesthetic."

Several minutes pass. Deadshot can't feel a thing, but he hears the clinking of metal foreceps and the clatter as small fragments enter the kidney-shaped bowl.

"I would recommend at least a week's worth of rest, but I doubt you'll listen to me."

Spoiler

Show

You automatically make your Recovery check due to her ranks in Medicine. You're Bruised, but you can make that DC 10 in 10 minutes.

[Bruendor_Cavescout]

Kate Kane

She picked up one of the glasses of bourbon, and gratefully took a sip. "Academy," she quickly corrected Katherine. "Never graduated, so I was never technically in the army. I think most people have heard the story of why I left West Point, so I won't bore you with that. But I don't think I've told many people about Drill Sergeant Daniels." She smiled as she settled into the bar stool, taking another sip of the warming liquor.

"Drill Sergeant Daniels is something of a legend on campus, been with them for years. He oversees the majority of CBT at the school, and every year, he informally picks a few cadets to receive his special attention. Some of them are ones he wants to succeed. Others are ones he wants to see drummed out for one reason or another. The ones that survive 'Deadly' Daniels, though - they're the ones that go on to do great things. Schwarzkopf, Clark, Patraeus - they're just a few of 'Daniel's Dozen.'"

She paused for a moment to order some food from the bar, something fried and terribly unhealthy but utterly delicious and incredibly important for serious drinking. "So, yeah, he decided he would be my squad's TAC Officer when I was a New Cadet. I'm sure he recognized who I was - he trained at West Point with the Colonel...I mean, my father. Unlike the Colonel, though, he was very old-fashioned. War was men's business, and women didn't have any place in uniform - especially if you were aiming to wear chevrons or stars. He busted my squad's collective asses for the better part of our first year.. I lost count of the number of pushups he had us do, and we ran for miles every day, rain or shine. But he paid special attention to me. During the self-defense training, I was routinely matched up with guys who had achieved black belts, and he never seemed to see them aiming for my head. He couldn't deny me water during the summer training, but he did make sure I couldn't quench my thirst. I'm sure he wanted to make me cry, but I never gave that bastard the satisfaction.

"But, since I didn't scrub out, he actually is proud of me, and for himself by extension. A few months later, after he's no longer in charge of my squad, he invites me to dinner at a restaurant in town. Buys himself a large steak, and me the lobster. Tells me about his time serving with the Colonel, and his reasoning behind keeping me under his bootheel. 'I've been in combat, Katie,' he says. 'I've lost friends. I didn't want to him to have to see his only surviving daughter come back in a flag-draped casket.'"

"So I look him in the eye, and I tell him 'That's my choice, Sir. And no one - not you, not my father, nobody - has the right to decide for me whether or not I can serve my country. And, in all due respect, Sir, you're not the only one at this table who's been in a firefight.'"

"That shuts him up. We eat the rest of dinner in relative silence, and go our seperate ways afterwards. I don't see him again until I'm leaving West Point, after the...well, when I came out. He's watching me go, and I'm not sure if he's glaring or if he's in awe. Finally, he straightens, and gives me a salute. 'You stuck to your guns, Cadet Kane,' he says. 'Give 'em hell out there.'"

She drank more of her bourbon, a calming warmth spreading over her as the tension of the day finally began to release. She smiled and leaned in to Katherine. "Your turn."

[DeafnotDumb]

Katherine Walker

Katherine smiles as she listens to the story. While the heiress Kane is by no means someone she minds, the army gal inside her is something she really likes. The only interjection she makes is a silent 'You go, girl' with a raised glass as she tells the climax of her story. At Walker's turn, the policewoman takes a long drag of her drink as she considers which story to tell, and settles on an old classic that has remained silent for seven years.

"Well, this one starts about nine, ten years ago," She starts, stealing some of Kate's food. "back when I got drafted into task force thing that my colleges used as an excuse to get rid of me. It was mostly a political move which led to everybody dumping their disliked cops there, but what none of 'em realized until too late was that they'd just put a bunch of good, sorta honest cops in one damn place." She grins with evil amusement at the memory.

"I can't say I was a honest cop when I went there, or even a halfway good one, but damn did that change. If I'm good police today it's two-thirds minimum to those people. But this story is about Jimmy and there's not been a smuger bastard of a cop I've seen yet. Great police, but damn if he couldn't keep it in his pants. It's like as if someone had decided that in exchange for being the cop he was he'd have to have a libido bigger than this bar."

"Man was always trying to sleep with one woman or another, hunting at bars, cheating or getting women to cheat - you name it, he did it, long as it was female and attractive. Jimmy was a boaster too, always talking about what he'd done and how good he was, though-" And that was a really dirty grin there. "-I can tell you from experience that his boasts weren't all just empty air. Just keep it to the sex and no romance and you had a decent chance of nothing mucking up."

"But what this story is about is when we were doing some investigation into some gangs in the south, some that had mixed prositution and drugs and all that. We where out to prove that this brothel was doing business, so of course we picked Jimmy to go in, with a wire on and an terrible accent and everything. Set a whore to catch a whore, we said. So Jimmy goes into the room and he's showed the girls and we think it's all going dandy when, Jesus, Jimmy, the stupid bugger, he picks bloody two."

Katherine manages to hold back the laughter. "The goddamn idiot barely manages to say the signal before they'er both on him! So we rush into the house, grab the evidence, and run into one room where we find him buck naked, in a very compromising picture-" The words don't draw a picture but the expression in her eyes sure do. "-and all the idiot can manage to say with two women on him is 'They outnumbered me!'" Katherine guffaws, takes a slab of food and a large swing of her drink, and settles down. "We left him at work that night, trying to figure out a way to write up the report that didn't make him look like an idiot horndog. Didn't work, of course. Everybody knew about it within the day."

"And that's the story of how Jimmy nearly cost us three weeks of policework through thinking with the wrong head. Goddamn idiot." She finishes with a smile. "Wish they were around to see Gotham today."

[Zarthrax]

Scarecrow

Cursing under his breath as he gets within sight of the bar, Crane realizes at the last moment that he just can't charge into the liquor dispensary for a number of reasons.

One, that'd be insane to expect them to listen to me dressed like this, and two, that's a gay bar. Lord knows what could happen.

Cursing louder, he spots Walker and Katherine Kane at the bar.

Oh gee, I wonder which two drinks he poisoned....

Finally deciding on a course of action, he pulls out a 'burner' phone that he acquired for just such an eventuality and dials Walker's cell, hoping that the cop was thorough enough to carry it with her anyway.....

[DeafnotDumb]

Katherine Walker

Walker sighs as her phone rings. "Sorry, Kate." She mutters. "That's my work phone. I best at least answer it."

She picks out her phone and frowns as she fails to recongize the number. "Who is it?" She demands.

[Buwh]

Spoiler

Stephanie made a little squeak of recognition that cut off when she heard the rest. Partners? Did Walker have tons of lesbian friends or something? How long had she been doing this? Was this just a huge part of her life she'd.. failed to mention? Yesterday she couldn't have imagined but today..

"No- no, I.. uh- I'm sorry, you're the Barbara Gordon?" Stephanie stammered, eventually settling on gushing. "I can't believe this, I am such a huge fan! I've got, I mean, well, you're just brilliant!" She continued lamely, cursing her tongue for failing her in this critical moment. "I had no idea there were so many lesbians." As soon as the words were out of her mouth she made a 'gak' noise as if that would somehow erase the words she just spoke. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by I- this is all seriously new to me!"

The girl on the other end of the line took a deep breath and sat down.

"Yeah, I need to talk about it.. what a blindside, you know?" She sighed and readjusted the phone feeling like the world's biggest heel. "How did you first know you were gay?" Stephanie blurted out without thinking.

[industrious]

Barbara

"Dinah? I think Stephanie and I need to talk privately, dear."

A click as a phone disconnects.

"I found out when I was in college, when I bumped into a very special person. We started out as just friends, and then, after nearly a year, and a great deal of confusion and doubt on our parts...we decided to be more. It wasn't easy. But we managed."

She's smiling on the other end.

"Stephanie, I'm not calling Walker because I like women. I'm calling her because she's my friend, and she felt like she had to keep secrets from me. She's a very private person, whose lived alone for many years. Believe me, she trusts you. Cares about you, though she can be very hard to deal with. She didn't have to take you in; she wanted to. Okay?"

Her tone turns wry.

"And yes, lesbians are people, too."

Noise from the other end of the line.

"Hold on for a moment?"

The resulting shouting is slightly muffled; she's pressed her hand against the receiver.

"Cassandra Cain! Dinner is going to be arriving in five minutes, and I don't want to have to get Dinah to come up there! You are not going to brood in your room all night!"

"..."

[Zarthrax]

Scarecrow

Once Walker answers, he wastes no time.

"Oh, we've met already, Lieutenant. However, social niceties aside, our mutual acquaintence in the red trenchcoat just told me that two of the drinks in that bar are poisoned. Considering the mad on it's looking like this guy may have for your social circle, I'm willing to bet that you two just drank both of the drinks. I have some antitoxin on me, but I need to know if you, or if the odds don't like me, someone nearby, is having any noticeable symptoms. Convulsions, cyanotic lips, sudden paralysis, fainting, possibly just keeling over? Anything?"

[ChronicLunacy]

Deadshot

"..."

She ignores him as she methodically removes his armor, actually cutting it away in a few places to get a better angle.

She'd actually find that cutting through a kevlar bi-weave made specifically to stop knives and bullets was rather difficult with the surgical scissors she kept on hand. Not to mention Deadshot's emphatic protests. "Woman, watch the scissors! This stuff ain't cheap!"

"You have fragments of the round still in you, Deadshot. I'm going to have to extract them. And since you won't remove your mask, I'll give you a local anesthetic."

Several minutes pass. Deadshot can't feel a thing, but he hears the clinking of metal foreceps and the clatter as small fragments enter the kidney-shaped bowl.

"I would recommend at least a week's worth of rest, but I doubt you'll listen to me."

"Probably not. That red-coated sniper guy is still out there somewhere and I owe him what he gave me in return. Thanks for patching me up, doc." Deadshot said, for a brief moment speaking in earnest. "I'll try to take it easy on swinging across rooftops for tonight at least, if that makes you happy. No promises, though. We do-gooders have got to do what we've got to do." he grinned under his mask.

"Speaking of anesthesia, you still got that bottle of Wild Turkey in your desk, doc? I could use a little fortification."

[industrious]

Deadshot

Leslie stares at Deadshot.

And just keeps staring.

The Irregular

Oddly enough...they feel fine. Perfectly, completely, totally fine. Nothing wrong with them, whatsoever, aside from the warmth of the bourbon.

[Bruendor_Cavescout]

Kate Kane

Kate laughed alongside Katherine as she shared her story. There were hidden depths to her that she had kept well hidden from everyone - something Kate knew a few things about. As Katherine's work phone rang, Kate chuckled to herself. "Never a moment's peace for us. Just remember you're off duty right now." She picked up her glass and worked on what was left, motioning for the bartender to pour another round for the both of them. She idly thought about pulling up the N! piece on them, but decided against it. There'd be plenty of time later to watch it, and this was certainly not the time to do it. Just enjoy this for a moment, Kate. Worry about the fallout tomorrow.

[DeafnotDumb]

Lieutenant Walker

With a firm hand, Walker covers the top of Kate's drink and pushes it down. "Tip-off." She explains quickly. "Poison somewhere in the bar, maybe our drinks. I can't feel symptoms, or see anyone else with them, so this might just be a trick to turn our life into a media cirus but I doubt my lucks that pleasant." She speaks to both her date and the voice on the other end of the phone with that last sentance.

"Have you called an ambulance?" She asks of the phone, and notices the approaching bartender. She speaks urgently to Kane. "Kate, you double-check if anybody else's got symptoms, I'll speak to the bartender and see if they've got any information, and I'll tell them of the situation. This is going to be-" She does some brief mental calculations "-my third most awkward date, moving up to first if the camera crews arrive. Damn it."

She keeps the phone pressed to her ear and uses her free hand to fish for her badge, waiting for the bartender to arrive.

[Buwh]

Spoiler

Stephanie laughs nervously. "Haha, I didn't mean any.. offense or anything." She stammered, mentally berating herself. Stephanie Brown, you just insulted Barbara Gordon to her face.

"I'm really sorry. I don't know anyone Walker knows and she's been so great to me. I really hope I'm not intruding on that private life she enjoyed. But, okay. It's just hard to imagine Walker with anyone, but, this, and who she went with. I mean, Kate Kane, honestly?" She gave a snort at the ludicrous notion. "If you'd asked me to pick yesterday who she'd be on a date with tonight I'd have been wrong everytime. How do they even know each other?" She asked, more just generally wondering than expecting an answer. Her face turns hot at Barbara's wry comment and she begins to stammer a reply before she's put on hold. Politely, she tries not to listen but..

"Cass?" She blurts out in complete surprise. Did she hear that correctly? Couldn't have. Maybe a different one? No way this was the same girl she knew. Psh, jeeze, Stephanie, you must be really worried about your friend and just hearing her name everywhere. How do you ask about something like that? It was silly.

What kind of comedy was this?

[Bruendor_Cavescout]

Kate Kane

Kate stared at Katherine as she fills her in on the phone conversation with blank incredulity. When she speaks, it's the only possible response to being told someone might have fatally spiked your drink.

"You have got to be f***ing kidding me."

Despite this, the merriment drains from her face as she looks around the bar, trying to see if anyone else is exhibiting signs of poisoning. With a frown, she shook her head to Katherine. "I'm not seeing anything unusual."

[DeafnotDumb]

Lieutenant Walker

"Didn't you know?" Katherine manages to send a grim smile her date's way before she is beset by the bartender, recalling a saying Kima had told her originated in Vice. "Gotham ladies get all the luck."

She goes back to the phone. "Nothing strange round here. You sure about your information?"