15021/Inaugural Meeting of the Gotham Fashion Police

Inaugural Meeting of the Gotham Fashion Police
Date of Scene:	02 May 2023
Location:	Fort Clinton, Burnley
Synopsis:	Dick gets a haircut.
Cast of Characters:	Nightwing, Red Hood, Zatanna Zatara, Black Canary, Oracle

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Nightwing has posed:

The night had been mostly quiet.

Only a small ruckus with the Lucky Hand Triads had lit up the alert systems. That particular gang was probably still feeling the sting from their last thrashing at the hands and feet of the Canary and Nightwing only a few nights ago. But beyond their displeasure not much showed up on the alerts.

So for Dick Grayson it was an evening of hitting surveillance checkpoints, gathering intel, and keeping up the small signs of an active presence in Gotham that might make some of the more ambitious villains think twice. It also freed up some time in the late evening/early morning when a message went out.

'4 am, Rooftop of McCall Tower near Saint Mary's Park. If you're clear. Status Update.'


Not hugely revealing as to intentions, but good enough for the now. Though when the clock turned over to around that time, the young vigilante ascended to the heights of that ten story apartment building, landing light upon the lip of that rooftop and then straightening up. He checked the data display on his wrist, 3:58. Not bad time across Burnley.

He moved onto the roof, smiled slightly at the sight of a kid's playset and sandbox that was on that roof amongst a few box gardens that were set up. He made sure not to disturb any of it as he took up a place near the edge of the roof, kneeling there.

And waiting.

Red Hood has posed:
Red Hood has been keeping active since the last meeting he'd had with Nightwing and Batgirl but there had been nothing worth writing home about. Some drug dealers and a fledgling lab were shut down. Good for the city but hardly the sort of bread and butter the Bat Family was usually involved in.

Getting the call on comms, he paused then muttered back, <<Acknowledged. I'll be there.>>

And sure enough, at the indicated time, Red Hood emerges from his own personal shadows and makes his way over to the general vicinity of Nightwing. Sparing a glance toward the other vigilante followed with a nod, he looks out over the city skyline, arms crossed. Also waiting.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Though she had very little to work off of, Zatanna *had* made a promise to Dick to do some metaphysical recon. So far, she hasn't turned up anything, but that doesn't mean she'll ghost him when it comes from checking in. Plus, there may be more since for her to work with.

The door to the rooftop shimmers briefly and then opens. Through it steps Zee, dressed in her 'working' clothes (black bodysuit, white button-down, golden bodice, fishnets, coat tails, and top hat). Behind her is the warm glow of her study; lit fire and a tea service left behind. When the door closes behind her, there's that shimmer once more before it's just a roof top door once again.

A quick tug at one sleeve and Zee makes her way over toward the two figures she can now see at the roof's edge.

Black Canary has posed:
Dinah's night, as is her wont, was more active. Where others have been investigating and keeping bad guy heads down in general, Dinah started her night with a set at a local bar. A bar in which she caught wind of some 'product' moving. Product she subsequently intercepted the final delivery and payment of, not bothering to call for backup because, well, they just weren't that good. I mean that bullet that grazed her arm was a lucky shot and the guy who grazed her regretted it almost instantly as he practically got his gun force-fed to him. After the bullets were dumped from the cylinder. But he was going to need dental work.

"Just like a frickin' Gothamite. Brings a gun to a fist fight," she'd groused as she did field bandaging and stuck an annoyed finger through the tear in her jacket.

Then the alert.

"Oh, great!" she says. "Maybe some action." Because that's what 'status update' means. Action.

Well, tonight it was free climbing practice. Others swing in. Teleport in. Wait up on the rooftops in the shadows to make spooky out of nowhere entrances in. She climbs the brick facade and tumbles in at the top.

"Hey there. What's up?"

Irrepressible as always.

Nightwing has posed:

When Jason makes himself known, Nightwing lifts a gauntlet in greeting. Though he's staggeringly more verbose as he relates his own greeting.

"Hey."

Silently, however, they agreed to wait for the appearance of the others who were incoming. Down below them Saint Mary's Park seemed quiet. An older man was walking his dog but that seemed to be all the visible activity going on. Quiet, like the night. Though that didn't stop Dick from shifting the visual modes of his mask a few times just to make sure.

After a few minutes he turns his head slightly, "When you were coming up, was that where he first took you?" Nightwing asks with only a hint of curiousity in his voice. Should Jason look at him for clarification he'll give a single nod toward the park.

But then any attempt toward relating one's experience to the other's is cut short when Zatanna emerges from the shadows of that doorway, her appearance definitely giving more of an impact than most of the others that would be gathering here.

"Hey," He repeats, though this time he smiles slightly, with eyes hidden behind his mask. "Zatanna. You've met Red Hood?"

Then Dinah's appearance is the perkier version of the trio's, which causes Nightwing's smile to slip more toward a smirk. He points to her and adds, "And that is Black Canary in case you didn't know."

Pushing himself to his feet, the dark-haired acrobat rises and looks between the others, giving a nod. A hand lifts to his earpiece and he then says, "Oracle, we're starting. Chime in if needs be." Since she is almost always monitoring.

"So alright. I have some news."

Red Hood has posed:
Jason Todd is probably just as glad that Zatanna and then Black Canary show up as anyone. Small talk was not his strongest of suits. Add to that reminiscing about his time as Batman's Next Little Buddy and it was more fun going in for a root canal without painkillers.

Silently thankful for both women being punctual, he turns away from the view of the park to regard them, "Ladies."

At least he spoke to them, and is being polite about it?

Falling silent again, he lets Nightwing do the talking. He's the one with the gift of gab.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"Gentlemen," Zatanna greets in return, with a smile for each. It just might be a bit more of a *friendly* smile for Nightwing as opposed to the polite, 'nice to meet you' smile that Jason Todd gets. "Well, I have now." And this becomes a nod and a similar 'pleased to meet you' smile for Dinah.

Taking off her hat, Zee disappears it with a twist of her wrist. No telling where it's gone; one second it was there, the next there's just a small *pop* and it's gone. She doesn't crouch at the edge as the two Baby Bats might have, but rather stands nearby with hands clasped in front of her. A very relaxed pose for what might be a relatively dangerous area. She may as well be in the lobby doing a meet and greet before a show.

"News?" Zee prompts Dick with an arched brow, head tilted just-so.

Black Canary has posed:
"Ooh! Zatanna Zatara in the flesh!" Dinah's grin is wide and infectious. "Not sure if I should be squeeing like the fangirl I am or insecure at the only person out there who rocks fishnets as well as I do." Beat. "Maybe better."

Now *THAT* is an admission and a half from the loud songbird.

Striding up to the rest, she reaches out to fist-bump Dick with her right fist, Zatanna with her left, then, if Jason partakes, a double-bump for him afterward.

"News is good. I got some small-time stuff. I dumped a bunch of white powder into the sewer after removing it from some lunkheads who swore to me it was only baking soda. They seemed pretty attached to their baking soda, though. I figured I'd let the cops work it out, so zip-tied them ass-to-mouth in a human oroubu... ourob... Circle."

She tilts her head and regards Dick. "Hope yours is more exciting?"

Nightwing has posed:

There's a light dap of a fist bump as Dinah draws near, then it's back to the information sharing. At first he's speaking more toward Jason as he says, "I tapped Zatanna and Canary to give a hand while we were dealing with that manpower shortage." Which was a semi-creative thing to call it. He rests his hands on his hips and looks between the others, one eyebrow over that domino mask quirking as he considers them.

"I know I wasn't exactly forthcoming before, since some things were still up in the air. Now I think things are in a better place. Had a sit down with the Bat." Well he stood up, Bruce was sitting down.

"I don't know what his entire game was, probably never will. But things seem to have recovered somewhat. Though still going forward with taking steps to try and make it so in case something happens down the line we're ready. Or readier than we were this time." Nightwing talks... around things a bit, but he trusts that those there can follow him.

"Zatanna, I appreciate your help with the spellwork and patrolling. You're welcome to carry on with us if you have the time. Though I know your life can be... chaotic."

Then Nightwing tilts his head toward Dinah, "Canary. Same goes for you, though slightly..." He holds his gauntlet up with thumb and forefinger a smidge of distance apart. "Less grateful, since you can't cast magic spells."

It's then that they might be able to read Dick's mood as a touch better as he makes that small joke. Very small joke. "Hood, Oracle, and Spoiler also picked up a good amount of the slack while we shifted a few things around. We're approaching a point where if the unthinkable happens we'll at least be able to..."

A pause, his head lower slightly, then lift. "Well. Minimize the damage."

Oracle has posed:
As it was a slow night, Barbara had retired from the rooftops and headed back to the Clocktower. There she was working on some information for an upcoming op involving the Birds. She still had on her Batgirl costume but the cowl had been removed laid on on her desk. All the computer screens were up, their ambient light the only illumination in the room.

Over the comms came her voice. "I'm here if needed. I'll be watching." Then a hint of humor in her tone as she added. "Always watching." Because in Babs head, she went to a very different place than a rooftop in Gotham mentally. Though she was monitoring the comms and any mask or body cameras that people hadn't turned off. She also had taken the opportunity to be certain there was no CCTV monitoring where they were. She shouldn't have even worried because they were clear.

Red Hood has posed:
Red Hood watches and listens.

The solid mask covering his face hides the smirk at the fist bumps though when Canary reaches toward him, he does uncross his arms to return the double bump. He turns to listen to Nightwing as he begins this briefing.

Minimize the damage?

"Sure." Whether he is agreeing they're in a better place for that or whether he isn't quite drinking that brand of Kool-Aid remains unclear. Though he adds on, "Spoiller is doing well."

It's all he has to add at this point. He expects Dick has more news. Or this will be a really short gathering.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
The smile Zatanna has for Dinah only strains *a little*. Barely noticeable, in fact. It's like 'work mode' takes her out of 'minor celebrity' mode and so being faced with a fan, she's suddenly at odds with what to do. In a way she wouldn't be any random day on the street. But she recovers quickly enough, dissembling. "And I promise," the mage says, gesturing to herself with both hands, shoulders down: "This is all natural."

That said she looks back to the two boys; giving Nightwing the attention the situation deserves (though she does return the fist bump... without looking, 'cause Cool Factor(TM)). There is somewhat less of a morose reaction from her. In fact, she seems to take it fairly well in stride.

But then, she's Justice League. Chances are it's part of the contract one signs. 'If you should die, disappear to an alien planet, be possessed, go to another dimension......' Boilerplate stuff.

"I am happy to help, Nightwing. My next show is in the planning stages, so my schedule is quite open at the moment."

Black Canary has posed:
"I'm still bar-crawling until the album drops, so it's easy to make myself available," Canary says, blithely assuming that a magician and two scions of the world's greatest detective already know everything about her (including that her blonde is bottled, though that doesn't take detective work on Dick's side of things) so not bothering to even try to pretend. "This assumes the Canadian government doesn't call on me, naturally, but hey, if they do, at least they'll be polite and apologetic about it, right?"

Stereotypes are hurtful, Canary.

"So, yeah, I'm here if you need me. I'll get the band manager to set up a tighter schedule that keeps us in Gotham's orbit so I can get here quickly at need too."

She won't mention just cheating with the JL's teleporter. That would be impolitic.

Nightwing has posed:

The elder of the erstwhile Robins gives a nod as he folds his arms over his chest. The irisless eyes of his mask seem to focus on Jason's direction as he agrees, "Yeah, Spoiler was the first one to key into the vibe. She has her head on straight."

Then he nods toward Zatanna, "That's good then, I'm going to take advantage of that and ask you to keep up patrols and your magic senses open. I'm feeling better about things, but not 100%."

His attention shifts to Jason. "I know this isn't exactly your speed, Red, but I want to get your unique outlook on this. I know if I come up with a crisis scenario that you'll come up with one even worse. If you have the time to prepare something along those lines. I'd appreciate if you'd work with Oracle. That should help guide our efforts shifting gear and figuring out the extent of infrastructure we'll need."

Nightwing's head turns and he sort of half-smirks at Dinah. "You seem to be enjoying your time in the city. Glad you feel like sticking around."

He lifts a hand to the earpiece in his ear and tilts his head slightly, "Let me know if I'm forgetting anything, Oracle. But." He lowers his hand, "I think that covers what I needed to cover. Questions?"

Oracle has posed:
"Think that covered it," Barbara agrees over the comms as she continues to monitor the situation developing outside of Gotham. She started pulling more data and compiling it in one location, considering the gravity of the situation and if the Birds may need to go in sooner rather than later.

Or it might resolve itself. She has about four hours and she'll know.

"Red, get with me for that and the other information we discussed last chat. We can try to wrap it all in a day." Which involved his hideout and upgrades. And by wrapping it faster, he isn't forced to endure people for even longer.

Red Hood has posed:
Red Hood looks at Nightwing. Behind that mask he opens his mouth to say something akin to, 'What the hell was that supposed to mean?' that he would be able to think of something worse. But he pauses and considers. Of the two of them, Red Hood is not the Boy Scout. Of the two of them, Nightwing is the one who is more of an optimist.

So he just nods. "I'll give you my top three." Because there are a lot more than three he could come up with. He'd already thought of two just in the moments since Nightwing brought it all up.

As Oracle chimes in on comms, he nods. Because even he believes she can actually see them in the here and now.

"<<Will do, Oracle.>> At least she didn't say the thing about enduring people outloud. It isn't that he doesn't like people. It's more about being around the right people.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Likely the teleporter comes to mind... along with a handful of people that Zatanna *knows* abuse it. And for worse things than 'getting to a patrol.' Patrols are good, JL likes those. They don't like as much when you dip over to Japan for some ramen.

The sorceress has settled back on her heels (tall ones, to go with the thigh-high boots) and clasped her hands before her again. "If anything magical crops up in Gotham or Bludhaven, you'll be the first to know, Nightwing." Well, in theory. Insofar as she can promise, at least.

Not in the loop with Babs, Zee just waits a moment expectantly after Dick checks in to see if there's anything further. When there isn't, she lifts a hand and makes a swirly figure gesture to indicate the three of them. "What's the best way to get in touch. I've got your information," directed to Nightwing, "but in case you're indisposed or to reach all of you at once. Preferences?" Certainly there's likely some magical means, but cellphones and the like are *just so easy*...and less prone to give people the uncomfy feels.

Black Canary has posed:
Canary raises a hand at 'Questions?'. "Who cuts your hair, Nightwing? 'Cause you used to get better haircuts."

Beat.

"Oh, and as for ops, should I drop a discreet word in with the Flight in case we need heavy hitters for something? I'm not sure what you're expecting to come up, but I can have some pretty big muscles in on ops if you figure we might be in over our heads." Muscle below that of the League, which Nightwing is a part of, but a bit higher than the Gotham crowd can usually front.

"That aside, no questions. But really, NW, that style's not working for you. Or you need a comb badly. One of the two."

Nightwing has posed:

Nodding once to Jason, Nightwing seems to trust that it'll be handled between him and Oracle. Then his attention shifts over to Zatanna. He lifts his chin slightly, "Justice League comms. They're keyed in so we get notified, though not guaranteed that we'll respond quick since our system has a lot of checks in case of action. Maybe can get Oracle to set up the connection so you can be directly in our feeds."

Which is feasible, though does require some security work back and forth.

Then Dinah raises her hand and Nightwing's eyes narrow slightly, his features tinged with a slight smirk. For now he leaves the haircut question alone. Instead he answers the middle one. "We have contingency plans for escalating situations, but no harm having more arrows in the proverbial quiver. Keep channels open, I'll let you know."

That said he runs a glove over his hair and smirks, "I dunno, cut it myself, with one of those little... vacuum cleaner... razor things. Oracle what were those called?" He asks the air for its wisdom.

Then he gestures to the side with one hand, "Anyways!" He gives a nod, "We're all set here. Thanks for coming. Now get lost." He says that last toward Dinah then adds with a nod to Jason, then Zatanna. "And get some rest. Good work tonight."

Oracle has posed:
That was a thing?!

Barbara was already running a search on vacuum cleaner haircuts. And she immediately regreted the decision. "Dammit, I can't unsee that now. Never mention that again. Ever."

And she quickly discarded the search and, for good measure so it didn't contaminate her systems and cause bad haircuts by proximity, shredded the deleted data.

Red Hood has posed:
"Oh. My. God. Seriously?"

It's all Red Hood can do to not throw his hands up in disbelief as Nightwing admits to using a Flowbee.

Muttering quietly he adds, "This is why I don't do meetings.." mostly to himself.

Shaking his masked head, he steps back. "It's clear we're finished here. Zatanna, Canary. A pleasure to meet you." Glancing toward Nightwing briefly then back to the women, he adds, "Don't judge us all by his poor taste."

Black Canary has posed:
Canary grins with all the malicious mischief she can bring to bear at Dick. Which is quite a bit. Eyes glinting, she steps up and gives him a sisterly kiss on the cheek, then sticks out a hand Jason's way. "I've heard about you; nice to see the reality. Pleasure to meet you. And I'd never judge anybody by Nightwing. He's his own category of judgement."

Then, with a quick trick of the tail she's off, making a beeline for the edge of the roof before sailing off into the darkness. A voice ghosts its way up over the edge...

"Wait, where's my grapnel?"

Laughter follows as the noise of a grapnel activating at the last possible second happens, and the Canary streaks off into the night.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
The talk of haircuts has Zatanna wearing a rather baffled expression. She shifts to the side a step to get a bit of better light on Dick's hair. She squints at it. "There has got to be a better way." Than the vacuum hair cutter, at least. But mostly better than Nightwing cutting his own hair.

"Xif siht s'nam riah," Zee murmurs while the others begin saying their goodbyes. She even turns away so she doesn't *entirely* give herself away when his hair changes (if it does; magic on people is super finicky and sometimes just doesn't work). "JL comms works. I just don't want to be magicking something your way if the issue *is* magic." Things go Weird.

"Have a good night. Be safe out there- all of you." And the Mistress of Magic turns to head back for the door she came from; the frame already beginning to glow as the universe folds to make two points connect that *shouldn't*.