3637/You did what now

You did what now
Date of Scene:	12 January 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Batgirl (Cain), Batman

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Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
    Having a cat in the cave has just put a crimp in Cassandra's lifestyle.
    Technically, not just hers. But right now, hers is the one that matters. She comes back from patrol but she cannot follow her usual procedures. No changing out of her costume. No going up to the training room to spend hours upon hours until she exhausts herself and finally wanders upstairs to her room. No, she won't even be able to go up to her room the normal way with their house guest. It's enough to make Batgirl the Younger annoyed. Positively peeved.
    Why was she there anyway? There was no reason in her mind for that woman to be anywhere near their hideaway. Batman had to have a reason but she couldn't imagine what it was. She also didn't want to find out right now. She need to get in, stow her bike then get back out and go the long way up to the house where she would have to use the gym facilities instead.
    The good news, there was no sign of the woman.

Batman has posed:
    She's likely be able to hear where the woman is, the medbay above and somewhat off to the side from the main batcave area. Subtle how the activation of the walls in different parts of the cave would alter the acoustics of the room enough that each faint bat's cry seems to come from a different location lost in the darkness. But it will do nothing to mute the arrival of the Batmobile some bit of time later, the engine roaring to make that final leap across the waterfall even as the doors in the side of the mountain whisper open on near silent hydraulics that open and close in the tenth of a second behind the vehicle landing upon the roundabout launch pad. Its engine churns down through several different gears then goes quiet as one of the gull-wing doors slowly rises.
    The Batman exits almost immediately. A single leap takes him up and over the side of the car to slide across the hood and start walking immediately, stepping with speed towards the bat computer, an old book held in one hand as he moves. Right now he has no eye towards hesitation. Right now he moves quickly to the console, snapping a hand out to key the 3D scanner to life even as a metal hydraulic arm reaches out and proceeds to open the tome and begins to thumb through its pages, the scanning appearing up on the screen.

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
    Opting to stay in costume and get in her workout anyway, Cassandra is in one of the many training rooms when she hears the roar of the Batmobile. She heads out the door and leans over the metal railing that lines the walkway for safety reasons. Considering what they do at night wearing these costumes, the irony of safety rails isn't lost on her. She doesn't move to approach, just watching as Batman exits the vehicle and moves rapidly to the computer.
    The urgency is written all over his body language. He is intent on whatever might be in that book. Strange how everything always comes back to books or screens of text. She's getting there. It's just a slow process with her brain the way it is.
    She should go ask him about the cat in the cave. Yet, she is hesitatnt. After all, the last time she saw him was the night she'd messed up. He has other things to deal with that night. She didn't want to tempt fate and be seen. So she turns and starts to head away from the training room, needing to head for a cave exit and then work her way around to the manor from the grounds.

Batman has posed:
    The computer's arm whines faintly as it turns those pages, the multi-pronged manipulator turning the pages, extremely gently so as to not damage the tome. It's old, from another era assuredly, but beyond that there are no tell-tale marks nor title, nothing beyond the leather binding and straps that had served to aid its travel. And, indeed, Batman seems distracted. His eyes are focused on the stream of text and the search terms and characters he enters into the system for their scan.
    This will still take some time, time for the Batcomputer to familiarize itself with the dialect and the penmanship, time to decode the treatise, and time to collate with other sources. Time enough to handle other matters.
    "Get down here." Just three words sent over his shoulder, loud enough to carry and somehow ominous as after he finishes speaking there's immediately a loud rustle and series of squawks from on high as the bat swarm can sense when the man is displeased.
    Turning around and away from the computer he looks up towards the gantryway. And oh no. His arms are folded over his chest.

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
    A normal person would be cursing about now.
    Cassandra isn't a normal person. The concept of such expletives is lost on the young woman. Somewhere inside she knows the feelings that cause people to use them, she just has never seen the use or helpfulness even if she could speak. It's a waste of energy. The frustration is still there even once such words are uttered.
    Such ponderings aren't going to save her either. She turns and sees that posture, reading more than anyone else that comes in this cave ever could. Perhaps, she should pretend she didn't hear him. She toys with that for a second but no longer. She couldn't do it.
    Turning, she quickly closes the distance between them. No dragging her feet. Better to get it over with. Like taking a bandaid off fast instead of slow.
    She stops about five feet in front of him, keeping her arms at her sides and relaxed even when she feels the need to wrap them over her chest to show her discomfort.

Batman has posed:
    The man is a rock standing there, unwavering, unmoving. She only can read that initial body language of his stance and the way he follows her with his eyes. No shift in stance, no flicker of emotion over his face. In some ways between them this is the harshest thing to do to her, to in essence ignore her to her face. But then she'll see him shake his head slightly. Disappointment. The harshest of emotions to inflict upon a young adult.
    He looks to the side, then back towards her. "You were told to take some down time. You didn't." Of course he's one to talk. But then he is the boss. "You made it a working night. And you endangered all of us."

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
    Disappointment. In her. That's got the feeling as a fist to the gut for Cassandra. She can spar with him, fight him full out, take hits and give them. She can face villains with and without weapons, taking blows and strikes at times. Yet, her mentor being disappointed in her is indeed the harshest thing he could do.
    She frowns behind the mask, the material twisting with the expression. She tilts her head just slightly, starting to look toward that medbay where the stranger is being kept for now. She manages not to look but there is no way he missed that moment.
    She brings up her hands and signs, <Necessary. Killer. Had to stop him.>

Batman has posed:
    His answer is given as she makes that arrested gesture upwards and his eyebrow cocks as he murmurs. "You're going to lecture me now about security." He states and lets those words hang there even as she's signing her explanation. But then he holds up a hand as if to stay her words. But he does not sign back. He maintains the steady timbre of his voice, that subtle growl. His eyes narrow and he tells her. "You had no idea what amount of security was there. Nor the extent of the situation as you were cut off from our comms."
    He unfolds his arms and then says, "You knew that it was one of the gaps in our intelligence network." He seems about to say something else, even as behind him the computerized arm continues to slowly turn the pages on that tome, the computer screen blurring with information behind him.
    But then he looks to the side and frowns, then back towards her. "The man's death is not on your hands. They're on mine. I knew the extent Marco Falconi uses with the people who fail him. I knew something like this was coming. There are many men right now in the criminal empires of the men in Gotham that are likely on their last days. We do what we can. But we can't do everything."
    Shaking his head he looks back to her, "But that doesn't excuse you for going in without forethought." He jerks a hand behind him, the leather and kevlar suit creaking faintly. "I want to be able to trust you with something like this, Batgirl. But until you start using your head you're just a thug."
    His expression sharpens, and she can see the anger there as well as the disappointment, but also the concern for the future. He says lower, but no less intently. "Is that all you want to be?"

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
    Her head jerks up at the word thug. Batgirl's frown gets even darker under that mask, brow furrowed and able to be seen as well. Her hands curl into fists. Thug. No better than the common criminals they take down on a nightly basis. And he is saying she's one of them. For trying to stop a killer. Her brain is rebelling at everything he is saying, perhaps for one of the first times ever. Her hero worship of him is always so complete but she feels she deserves more understanding in this situation and it shows in every line of her body.
    She closes her eyes for a moment, forcing her mind to let go of the input that might cloud her thinking process. He's right. She went to one of the clubs that was under surveillance but which they needed more information on. On her night off. On purpose. She can't deny that.
    She didn't think. She acted. Perhaps hastily. But her mind had gone to that place when she was a child and made her first kill. When she saw the light leave her victim's eyes. Just like the man on the floor of the club. But to admit that she lost it? That would be even worse. He might take away her cowl.
    Her eyes snap open in horror at the very thought. He can see her expression has changed to some sort of shock and perhaps fright but then it goes to normal, neutral and giving away nothing. She answers with a single negative shake of her head. No, that isn't all she wants to be.

Batman has posed:
    With her having been here he's had to get a greater control on his manner, the impressions he gives. She's seen him strive to restrain the voice she can read off of his stance and his features. And perhaps of all the people she has observed he is one of the hardest to read. But she can still get those glimmers at times. Like now, when he can tell how much of a slap in the face that was. The brief moment of regret, a fraction of a second that is /powerfully/ forced down. Because it doesn't matter if she likes him. It matters if she survives the war.
    "Then you're going to spend two nights more a week focusing on non-combat skill sets with Oracle." Directly cutting into her patrol time and routes. A harsh 'punishment.' But needed.
    Then his back is given to her as he returns to the console. Over his shoulder he snaps, "Dismissed, soldier." And that's it. That's the end of it.

Batgirl (Cain) has posed:
    That borders on cruel. Cassandra needs the action. She needs the patrols and to be out there, as much as he does. In a lot of ways, she is the most like him in that drive. She starts to argue, bringing her up hands to try and sign but he has already turned away. Just like that and it's over.
    She turns and her shoulders slump slightly as she walks away. That slow walk as though she has been condemned to the gallows and is walking to her time upon them. The very pace that others would have had coming to face his ire is the one she has from being taken off patrol two nights a week.
    She wants to argue that it'll hurt the team, that they need her. Anything. She knows it wouldn't work. He has his mind set. She could read it.
    With just the sound of her footsteps, she heads toward the ground exit out of the cave so she can start the trek to the manor, feeling like the world just ended.