14836/The Dark Knightwing

The Dark Knightwing
Date of Scene:	22 March 2023
Location:	Randall, Nantwich
Synopsis:	Dick has fears and voices them to Stephanie. A plan is set in motion. The war for Gotham begins in the rain.
Cast of Characters:	Nightwing, Spoiler

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Nightwing has posed:
Nightwing isn't necessarily out on patrol tonight. The fire he's feeling inside him isn't direct at the criminal element directly, though it is entirely possible they may end up the victim of that simmering inferno. A run in with Selina has his mind reeling. Constantly circling back to the same inevitable conclusions that leave him feeling cold inside beneath the black/blue costume.

Kneeling upon the edge of a building, he stares down at the rain slick city where he's spent his entire young adult life. Dedicated it to a single purpose. Guided by a man who was suppose to be the undeniable representation of the mission he trained them for.. Now? Dick isn't so sure.

He's had his concerns with the way Bruce does things. The force he uses and the methods he'll sign off on if the ends justify the means. Those concerns have always been set in a foundation of trust, however. Whatever he feelt about who Bruce let himself become in pursuit of the cruisade for Gotham? There was always the understanding that he knew what he was doing.

Nightwing flexes his hand around the edge of the building, letting his knuckles bulge under his grip. Rain pelting against the back of his head in a way that has his shaggy block hair laying wet and cold against his cheeks.

What Dick feels know is completely different.

Now he has /doubts/.

Spoiler has posed:
Nightwing might not be on patrol directly this evening, but Spoiler is. She's dedicated, probably too much so some days. Whatever, her schoolwork is done, she has no other pressing concerns. Who needs a social life, anyway? This is way more fullfilling, and exciting, than going out and making moon eyes at all the fraternity brothers anyway.

She still ends up making moon eyes, though, when she swings through the rain, nice and dry thanks to the full facemask and hood on her cape, and happens to land on the same roof as Nightwing. The brooding look, in the pelting rain, is good on him. She shakes it off, making herself be Spoiler and not Stephanie as she retracts her line and moves a bit closer.

D--Nightwing? Is everything alright? You look kinda ... well, more troubled than usual."

Nightwing has posed:
Nightwing is never really been the brooding of the brothers, but all things are subject to being viewed under harsh light when shrouded in a perpetual rain cloud above Gotham. He certainly is tonight.. There are long shadows on his features, a statuesque demeanor as he leans upon his raised knee peering down at the city constantly under assault by the drizzle from above.

The familiar figure that is Spoiler draws his attention, and even a hint of a smile, when she lands on the building he's occupying. Turning from her perch to slide down onto the gravel with a quiet grinding of boots on tiny pebbles. He moves closer and reaches out to knock his knuckles against her upper arm affectionately, "No, not really." It's a lie. Something is definitely bothering him. It's written upon his features as obviously as his domino mask is worn. "How are you? Haven't seen you for a while." As much his fault as her's to be fair.

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie's face is completely hidden by her mask, only the white eyeholes having any real definition under that hood. She's still fairly easy to read, though. Her body language is expressive as it cycles through concern, then a smile at the affection, and then back to concern. But of course he asks how she's doing, even as blatant as his troubles are. That's just how he is.

She shrugs a bit. "The usual. School and this. No time for anything else. I care about Gotham, like we all do, and I can't just stop. So I've been around, we must just miss each other in the dark." She pauses, scrutinizing his face, trying to catch his eyes so she can really -look-. Her voice drops in volume, mingling with the falling rain as she whispers. "What's wrong, Dick? You can tell me."

Real names? This must be serious.

Nightwing has posed:
"We all care about Gotham." Dick says, reading the gravitas of her using his real name for the seriousness for which she meant it. Though the way he says that may hint that the turmoil he's in relates to this very idea. we all care about Gotham. It hangs there in the air, surrounded by silence. With Dick looking off to the side at a city of lights spread beneath a canopy of falling rain. Glittering and bouncing as it descends and crashes to the ground.

He forces a smile and looks back to Stephanie. As plastic an expression as it comes considering he's one to so easily find a reason to smile.. When it effects the Heart of Gotham, it must truly be serious.

"I ran into Catwoman. She had very interesting things to say about Bruce." Two things are very telling. He didn't look around to make sure the Dark Knight was standing behind him or leering from the shadows. As if some mystique has been peeled back on the shadow of fear.

And he didn't call him Batman.

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie can feel the tension. To her, it almost feels like anxiety, but not quite. It's not something that she likes, and it makes her stomach twist in knots. Especially when it relates to Him. Batman. The reason that any of them are doing this. Her concerned frown is evident through her mask. She takes a quick look around, making sure they aren't being observed before she reaches up and flings her hood back and yanks the blabk, featureless mask from her face.

Blonde hair spills out in a chaotic mess, because that's never a suave thing to do with her mane, and her blue eyes lock onto Nightwing's. "What's going on? You're being ... vague. I don't like it. It has to be pretty serious if you're this shaken about it." She takes a step closer, and then another. "You can tell me, Dick. I ... I'll listen."

Nightwing has posed:
Nightwing stays quiet for the moment, but it has nothing to do with dragging out what he's thinking. There's a part of him that feels like he's being disloyal. Through everything Bruce and himself have gone, there had always been that mutual respect between them. So long as they achieved the same goals? It didn't matter. Everything else would sort itself out. The wedge between them was one of personality, not professionalism. Bruce was his Father. As much as anyone ever had been.. for longer than his actual father was before dying, now.

So it actually hurt him to feel the things he does right now.

Then.. it's not anxiety either.

With a long sigh, Dick watches masks and hood shed from Stephanie's face and reaches up to unclick the domino mask. Sliding it into his palm at his side so that his own blue eyes are visible. He starts to speak, weighing the words over in his mouth, then just says them. "Bruce is acting very contrary to himself.. He's got Harley and Selina.. living with him.." Motioning with a vague jerk of his wrist, "I don't know what his goals are anymore, but I don't think it's Gotham... and it certainly isn't Batman."

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie, as her hair rapidly becomes soaked and stick to her head, is almost trembling. If Dick is this worried about something, it has to be world shaking. It has to be bad. The longer he doesn't get to the point, the more her stomach ties in knots. The more she's terrified at the implications her own mind is inventing.

When he tells her exactly what's going on, she recoils, almost like she's been slapped.

"W-what? That... That doesn't make any sense? Why would he..." She shakes her head, flinging water from her hair as she stares past Dick out into the city. It would explain some things. Why it's been so busy for her.

She draws a deep breath through her nose, it's a little shuddery. As soon as she exhales, whatever trauma that this revelation caused seems to be forgotten. Pushed aside. She meets Nightwing's gaze again, her blue eyes focused.

"What are we going to do about it?"

We? Uh oh.

Nightwing has posed:
It all mades so much more fun in his head. The gravity of such a situation, why not world shattering in and of itself, was certainly far reaching an impact on their world in Gotham. Dick isn't the only one who looks to Bruce for guidance on how all of this works.. less so now, of course. He's grown into his own man, seperate from Batman, but for the younger heroes? That figure is important.

It's a guiding force.

Then he spoke it out loud and he wasn't sure if he was just being crazy.. Is it so bad that Bruce has found something to guide /him/? That's self doubt speaking and he clearly knows it, but it plays on his face like a piano section. Tickling the ivory of his brow into creases as he turns over each word. Agonizing into each second before Stephanie recoils.

Validating his fears.

He releases a drawn sigh. Not even realizing he had been holding the breath in. Then follows her gaze to look out over Gotham. Rain having long soaked his hair enough that it clings to the sides of his face. Long trails run over his black suit, water resistant, it's like onyx glass. "I don't know."

It's a hard admission.

When he looks back, though, maybe he's not being entirely honest.

"I need to talk to him first. I owe him that."

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie just shakes her head again. She can barely believe it. It makes no -sense-. She draws her hands up in front of her chest, clutched together. It's an unsure motion full of trepidation and doubt and anxiety. "I mean...he could have a good rea--," she starts, trailing off. She flashes back to the way Dick said it. The gesture and general disgust. The implications.

Her head swims a little. It doesn't seem -real-. Batman is supposed to be incorruptable. Unshakable. This sounds like the opposite of those things. "I...yeah. You do. We all do. Owe him so much, I mean." She looks down at her hands. It seems silly to be this shaken about this. Selina, well, she always was walking that line. Dancing between the lines and flirting with being one of them. -Harley- is the bigger shock. The part of this that made absolutely no sense.

Her voice is quiet, vulnerable. Almost scared. "Is there anything I can do?"

Nightwing has posed:
A hand lays upon Stephanie's shoulder. It's a reassuring gesture, a gentle squeeze. With Dick smiling, even if not in the way he usually does, at least having someone understand the worries he's feeling has relieved some of the tension in his face. He has the same fears.. fears that he's overreacting and that perhaps Bruce DOES have a good reason.

Maybe those reasons will make sense when he hears them from Bruce himself.

He genuinely hopes for that to be true. He doesn't like feeling as if his mentor, his friend, and father has some how lost himself in this abstract way that seems so alien and wrong. "I don't hate Harley.. I feel sorry for her.. but I doubt very seriously what this is doing is helping her mental health." If anything it's a fixation to replace the Joker. It's /worsening/ them.

This is as much about her as Bruce... or Batman.. or even Gotham.

Words don't come immediately, but eventually Dick shakes Steph's shoulder gently. "We need to get the pulse of everyone elses. Jason... well he'll be Jason.. Tim.. Cass. Babs.. We have to see where they sit. You can help me with that?"

Spoiler has posed:
Pity is a good word for how Stephanie feels about Harley. She's a broken woman, twisted and abudes by the Joker and turning her into his shadow. Granted, she has been getting better, but this. She shivers at the thought. It could be so much worse in a different way.

When he squeezes her shoulder, Stephanie looks up again, some of the anxiety seeming to fall away, determination and raw stubbornness coming back into her eyes. "Yeah. I can do that. I'll try and get ahold of Cass, but you know how hard that is. And Babs, too." She pauses, worry creasing her brow again. "Could ... Could he have been captured? Could this be Clayface or something?"

Nightwing has posed:
That's a thought.. Dick considers it with due seriousness too. Then, with a sigh, shakes his head. "Clayface couldn't hold himself together that long. He never had the resolve for the long game. Soon as he realized nobody was celebrating his preformance, he would break the facade so everyone knew what he'd done." That, at least, would be a reason.

The hand remains on Stephanie's shoulder a moment longer. Just long enough to give her a squeeze and then slides back down to his side. He stands tall, he always does though, even when the darkness closes in on them, Dick stares into it defiantly. This situation will be no different. "I'll try to find Babs and speak to Tim. Jason might be receptive to you, he and I have always had a turbulent relationship." Close, but... not.

Spoiler has posed:
"Then I'll talk to Cass and Jason, I guess. I can never figure out if he wants to talk to me or shoot me sometimes," Steph says with a sigh. "We have a lot of work ahead, don't we?" The squeeze seems to help put a bit more of her spine back up. Her posture shifts, the fretting starting to bleed away as determination to see this through to whatever good end it can have fills her.

As Dick's hand starts to fall away, Stephanie reaches out and catches it in one of hers, giving it a squeeze. "We'll get through this. Whatever end it comes to, I'll be with you. I promise." Her grip lingers perhaps a second longer than is necessary before she lets go, glancing away in either shyness or embarassment or both.

Nightwing has posed:
"Just stand up to him, that usually works to disarm his gruffness." Dick says of Jason. Which, to be fair, never works for /him/, persay.. Then he's Jason's brother. Brothers are a little more grouse where it pretains to dealing with older siblings. His smile spreads, "I'm glad I'm not crazy, Steph." He adds. Rain rolling down his cheek and brow. "I thought I was just being petty."

He still thinks he might be. He knows there's a problem, but that's why he has to talk to Bruce. Hear his side of all of this... Before he makes a decision that could twist Gotham in a knot. "Thank you for that." Said quieter, turning his hand over to squeeze Stephanie's in the short moment where she's holding to him. He lets her hand fall away and nods. "We'll get through this. I believe that."