15036/A Bird and a Rose

A Bird and a Rose
Date of Scene:	05 May 2023
Location:	Thompkins Clinic, Gotham
Synopsis:	Skye makes an unannounced visit to evaluate Rose. The results remain uncertain but at least some of her message got through.
Cast of Characters:	Ravager, Quake

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Ravager has posed:
It had not been a good time for Ravager. What should have beem a simple hit job on the Gotham SkyTrain ended up with her mark having nothing more than a broken arm and her with the same, and fractured ribs, lots of bruises, and a vastly wounded ego thanks to a chance encounter with the Batman.

Surprisingly it didn't end with lights, sirens and handcuffs but at a free clinic with a surprising lack of security. Why, she could get up and walk out of here at any time!

Well..almost any time. The battle had taken its toll and she miiight have been sedated a lot, at least long enough to get her arm set to where it should be.

The thing is, neither sedatives nor injuries are going to hold her for very long. What she normally would have healed at home in a couple of days with nothing more than vodka and cigarettes had been given a head start by honest medical professionals. She's still battered but already much improved and getting better every minute.

Which is exactly why she's pulling out her own IV and swinging feet out of the bed, fully intending to 'check herself out' while some of the mending is still going on. Not a model patient, this one.

Quake has posed:
One of the neat things about being a hacker is that anything on computers is fair game. Like a certain Rose Wilson's visiting hours (which were supposed to be closed) were open for a very set few, including.. you guessed.. Skye.

Mind you, it took a little finagling to allow the SHIELD agent, who, for some reason could not be recalled after, in. And later that record would be erased making it even harder. But for now..

As the door opened, quietly, and the nurse was shooshed away, Skye just watched for a moment, then entered, closing the door behind her. "You're going to hurt yourself. Mind you, I never liked the medical profession myself."

Ravager has posed:
If Rose is surprised at having a visitor randomly popping in she doesn't show it. Hospitals tend to be like that anyway, as soon as you start unplugging bits and pieces somebody somewhere is going to be alerted.

"You should have seen the other guy" she grunts despite her fully knowing Batman walked away with little more than a limp. Punching ballistic rated armor is kind of a losing battle.

With the last of the tape pulled from her arm with an irritated look and the remains wadded up and carelessly tossed aside, Rose gives the other lady what was meant to be a passing glance but turns out being a more thorough examination.

"You don't look like a cop." Which is good, it might have changed the direction of this meeting.

With this observation made she shifts to messing with long white hair, mostly cleaned up from the fight but still a tangled mess. There's a whole lot of it to maintain and it's a whole lot more difficult to work on when moving hurts as much as it does.

"Is this the point where I get lectured?"

Quake has posed:
Skye was quiet for a moment. Thinking. Then shrugs. "Do you think you deserve a lecture?"

As she speaks, she moves away from the door. "I would not go out there yet. The doctors and nurses think that I am here on some official business. And they might take offense at you walking out without giving me the time of day."

"Mind you, you can. Just I wouldn't."

Again, a shrug.

"I'm curious, though, what were you doing at that train. Besides taking out that man?" She didn't say mark. ..Yet.

Ravager has posed:
"I think I wouldn't listen if you tried."

The suggestion which the visitor follows up with leaves Rose glaring at the door with eyes slightly narrowed. One could probably hear the gears turning as she debates going forward with her original plan just to see what happens... But some glimpse of self-restraint holds her back for the moment.

Possibly because this other chick knew about the man on the train.

This time Skye is given a much more suspicious look as Rose already works to make sense of the provided pieces. The situation has just become FAR more interesting.

"You're no mercenary. Batman isn't known for sharing. Tell me..." her tone shifts while slowly closing the gap until the two can be looking each other dead-on, now well within grappling range, "...how did you know about that? I'm not real big on having stalkers."

Quake has posed:
"Then why should I bother with the lecture? It's a waste of breath."

Walking the rest of the small room's distance, she pulls up the single seat, and sits on it.

"Well, I didn't have to ask Batman. In fact, I don't think I've met him. I'm here for an interested third party." Herself. Mind you in this case she was representing the Birds, not SHIELD. "As for the info? Very little goes on around the world that you can't find out about - if you know how to find it."

"And how do you know I'm not a mercenary?" She knows she's not these days, but back in the old days (god it hurts to think how long ago it was!) she was more merc than law abiding.

Ravager has posed:
Point to Skye, she knows better than to waste both of their time. This also means Rose may be more willing to listen to what the other gal has to say. Skye made the effort to be here so she must have a reason...

When the visitor takes a seat Rose reluctantly follows, bracing against the window ledge with a slight nervous tic like she simply can't wait to be out of this room.

"So you're spying" she concludes as far as information getting around. Most people wouldn't know about what Ravager does unless they were deliberately looking for it! "But if you didn't talk to him..." More questions begin to arise.

How does Rose know? She starts to fold arms but the one doesn't feel like bending that much so she sort of crosses the good arm by itself. "You don't carry yourself like one and I would have heard about you." The second half of this is assumption with a side order of pride, Rose stepped all over a number of people to carve out a name for herself but she's still young and kept at arm's length by most fixers.

"So what -do- you want? Or rather, what does your 'interested third party' want with me?" she wonders with a small note of mockery.

Quake has posed:
"I used to be on the wrong side of the law." Which is all she will say, for now.

"As for how I was contacted, a mutual friend asked me for an opinion about you." Yes, Skye was telling her pretty much why. The actual question is: why though? Why tell Rose enough of the truth to matter - for both their parts?

"And no, you wouldn't have heard of me. I travel in completely different circles than you. Taking out a person is only one type of merc. Did you not think about how easy it was for me to walk right in without showing a badge, or being patted down by the security guards?"

"If you were to peek out the door, you would find nobody watching the door. Nobody is nervous. In fact everyone is relieved by my visit." Which was partly because she used an actual real life agent, however, she wasn't going to leave a trace when she left. Which was the hacker in her, not the SHIELD agent.

Skye shrugs one shoulder. "It's close enough to spying, I guess. Go ahead, ask me some questions if you want."

Ravager has posed:
"An -opinion?-" Rose repeats as a question, now amused. "By a mutual friend. Whatever, I don't have friends" she tries to deflect.

It's not all so simple, though. Skye puts forth a challenge and the white-haired girl follows through as far as to lean her head out into the hall, checking out both directions. Exactly how much the staff here might know about her remains an unanswered question but SOMEhow she doesn't expect Batman to have been entirely vague about her arrival. 'Deathstroke's daughter' tends to raise a number of alarms to anyone who knows and NOT warning anyone about it could be dangerous.

But there are no alarms here. Not a single badge in sight. Not even a nurse lurking around the corner.

The door is lightly tugged closed then Rose turns around and leans back against the frame, now guarding the room's only way in or out.

"Who are you, who is this 'mutual friend,' and how much of my time is this going to take?"

Someone may be nic-fitting.

Quake has posed:
Skye made it until Rose peeked out the door, and then she laughed quietly. "Told you. I mean, you make it to the elevator before you are escorted back.." Or not. "..But for now, people seem happy to leave you to me. Well, as long as I am visiting."

"As for 'friends', let's just say I have a mutual friend who wanted to know what I thought. So far you're doing well on keeping your mouth shut, though it could be to your detriment in the long term. We'll see."

She watches Rose, but doesn't get up after her. "Listen, sooner than later, you will realize that some friends are important to have. And trust me, I fought that one for a long, long time. You can call me Skye for now. Most of my friends call me that."

"As for why?" This was a trickier question to answer. "We need to know if you can be trusted, beyond the monetary. Because without that, you aren't any good to us. Are you?"

Ravager has posed:
'Make it to the elevator' now sounds like a personal challenge. There's some sneering at the idea, an over-arching confidence that no person nor thing here could keep Rose from getting whatever she wanted, but now there's someone else to keep her occupied. It's been a while since anyone's wanted to strike up a conversation with her. Not that she often gave anyone else the chance to try.

"You're playing hard to get, yourself" she flatly remarks as one foot resumes its idle bouncing on the floor.

Mention of friends (is Skye now putting herself under this label?) causes the bouncing foot to hesitate slightly, the word briefly catching in the short girl's thoughts.

But -trust?- The bouncing foot halts. A humorless grin begins to take form. Then comes a flat "Heh" as her mind gets torn into two completely different directions.

Rose's eyes are on Skye as she shakes her head and claims "No. I can't."

On the inside it's a different story. The feeling of having lost something once important. Fragmented memories of working alongside legitimate heroes, learning their moves and practicing their skills. There HAD been trust. Where Rose now wants to laugh at Skye the forced amusement simply isn't there.

Instead of a defiant stare she's now looking at the floor. "Different time, different me."

Quake has posed:
Ah, Skye knows that look. She's worn it before.

To tell the truth, she wasn't quite certain if the security guards would stop Rose. Or if she wanted them to stop Rose. She was truthful - if Rose couldn't be trusted.. She was useless to the Birds, Batman.. anyone. And until she figured it out for herself - why bother?

(In the back of Skye's brain she remembered being just like Roke. Lashing out. Refusing to open up. To trust anyone. Yet there were people who bet on her: Fury, and May in particular. They had trusted her when she couldn't trust herself.)

'You're playing hard to get, yourself..'

Was she? Damn.

"Okay, you've got a point. Let me see. Do you want a snippet of old me, or the new me?"

Ravager has posed:
Trust is in short supply and high demand. Rose may never be able to shake the feeling of 'how much did that bat-themed vigilante have to do with this?' alongside a healthy dose of vitriol. Take one job in Gotham, just ONE JOB and it feels like the net is closing in. She's got a goddamn reputation to keep! Bills to pay! Addictions to feed! Oh right, and a father to find and kill.

The leg goes back to bouncing, lasting for all of two seconds before the girl shoves herself away from the wall and starts pacing. Searching... Moving things about in the room as she looks for -something.-

"I've already got a good idea of the new but I don't have a ... damn clue about the old."

A wheeled stool is given a firm enough kick to nearly topple it over, sending it across the room to smack against some cabinet doors. There's enough energy in the motion that she starts reaching for her side, momentarily slowed down.

"You're pushing that 'bad girl' energy, so tell me about her. What are you hiding?" Rose demands.

Quake has posed:
Figures. Skye would have chosen that one too. Unfortunately, it was the harder one to explain. Well, the actual facts were simple enough. But the reasons for it were convoluted and went downhill from there.

"My whole life up to recently has been - to put it politely - the shits. I only say it so that you can hear me and realize I am just like you are. Maybe more. And no, I don't want to be thinking that I am trying to tell you this so that you feel guilty, or think that I am trying to make you come over to the light side." A Star Wars imagery.

"Eventually I had enough of moving around. Never getting used to anywhere. No friends. Nothing to call mine. It really sucked until I found computers, and eventually ran away. With a little computer I taught myself to code and hack. Really well."

"In fact by the time that my hacker's name was getting popular, I had also found enemies, some in the dark webs, and some in the real world. I hacked lots of things. Most of my clientele.." She says that with a sarcastic little grin. "..Were things like.." And she names big names.

"I was pretty big, if I do say so myself. Unfortunately SHIELD came along." She shrugs. "Be glad they didn't catch you."

Ravager has posed:
Whatever it is Rose is attempting to find it doesn't appear to live within their room. As Skye begins her story the white haired girl scrunches up her face and pinches the bridge of her nose. But hey, why should she be the only one who's uncomfortable tonight! Since this is Skye's show then she can provide the entertainment!

She doesn't make it far before Rose is shooting another glare her way. "Don't act like you know me." It's delivered with a fluent ease, she must have said it countless times to others.

The 'light side' gets an eye-roll and a quick huff as she again looks away, grumpy as ever.

This changes again when her sick sense of humor enters the chat. "I enjoy hacking too" she offers in full honesty while failing to mention 'hacking' for her involves a pair of longswords.

The list of names, however... BIG names. Another snort. A huff of amusement. A frown. A tilt of head. Another stare at Skye. Is this chick being serious? There's no way...

"You're with SHIELD." A statement, not a question. A statement with more weight to it than usual in Ravager's case. "If that's your sales pitch then I'm gone."

Quake has posed:
"I would not introduce you to them.. God no." Skye gives a laugh - a sarcastic laugh at that. "If I were going to do it, I would have flashed my shield. Or worse, took you back to the Trisk either as a prisoner, or worse what I went through. I told you the truth, I came to evaluate you."

But her laughter keeps on going. "Shit, I must have driven people crazy.. I'm not acting like I know you, I'm *exactly* like you. Right from the hisses and growls, to keeping people away. If they can't touch you, they can't hurt you. I know every little bit of you keeping yourself away and safe. Trust me."

"Guess what? There's a secret." Skye stands up. "You don't get to pick which people like you. You don't. You can be the most foul tempered brat, and someone will still love you regardless."

For Skye it was May.

Ravager has posed:
Skye is much more on point than Rose would ever willingly give her credit for, thus it's back to being a bitch she goes. "You've been driving me crazy since you got here" she cuts in while Skye is laughing it up! Laughing it up AND suggesting she should be trusted.

To think she could be as repulsive as possible and someone, somewhere, would still love her? "That's because people are dumb." Yep, right back to being prickly.

Being prickly and thinking about the 'dad talk' from Batman. Seriously, why the HELL did he care?! What's it to him! And now THIS chick--

There may be answers staring Rose down but she's not ready to pay them any attention. She's still ticked off, she'd -kill- someone for a damn cigarette, and all of those fractured bones are sooo not helping.

"Want to learn another secret?" she asks the hackerette.

Rather than share one in words she simply turns around and reaches for the door.

Quake has posed:
"You hate me? You'd rather I get hit by a bus on the way out of here? That with luck I will get hacked by a person walking to the parking lot at night?" Rose's hack, not Skye's. "I'll be a prisoner used for research.. oh wait.. that one happened."

Skye just shakes her head. Damn, how did they do it with her? She should probably write certain people a thank-you note.

As Rose began to open the door, Skye gestured to it. "Go ahead. No one is stopping you. I'll make sure you aren't stopped." One of the perqs of actually being an Agent. Too bad they won't have records of this in the end.

Ravager has posed:
Door reached, hand on handle, Rose again hesitates.

"No. I don't hate you. That honor is reserved for someone else. You're just annoying."

NOPE, Skye drops one more revelation which is enough to bring the scrapper right back around. Again she approaches Skye, comes in good and close to look the other girl into the eyes...

...And sees truth.

Her voice lowers in tone, a story of violence meant solely for the two survivors present when she says "I hope you found your revenge."

Anger issues: Definite check.

No more stalling now. At the door for a final pass she calls Skye out on her promise no one would try to stop her. "If you don't then I'll be getting my own revenge soon."

Maybe she just needs some more time to recover. Get some food, smoke a few packs, attempt to drown herself in booze, whatever. But for a first encounter Skye has managed to plant the seeds of new ideas in an otherwise closed off mind.