3699/Doubts and Deliberations

Doubts and Deliberations
Date of Scene:	21 January 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	The Elephant in the room is addresed. It isn't easy being the son of the Bat and the grandson of the Demon's Head. And that's without counting secret societies getting mixed into the whole thing. What's next? Ancient Aliens?
Cast of Characters:	87, Stardust, Robin (Wayne)

---

Vorpal (87) has posed:
Evening, the Safehouse is fairly quiet outside of the buzz from the computer equipment. The Cheshire cat is currenty sitting on the chair facing the monitors, perhaps nostalgic about his Monitor Duty days at the Titans (fat chance of THAT). He seems deep in thought, elbows on the arm-rests and his chin in his hands, looking pensively at the monitors without really paying attention to them.

He swivels gently from one side to the other on the monitor chair.

Stardust has posed:
"Cat." The voice comes from above, from a window. Through which Colette is entering. Never use a door when there's a perfectly good window you've left open for that purpose. What's the point of being able to fly if you stick to ground level?

    Hovering down to the ground to join the Chaos Cat, Colette looks left and right. "No angry bird? I was looking for him. Kinda concerened what with..." she gestures vaguely, then gestures again, equally vaguely, but more expansively. "All the stuff. I mean it seems it's gotta be kinda personal to him, right? He was keeping his cool in Turkey, but you could see it bubbling under. He's never that calm and collected. I think it's how he deals with stress."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Hyooman," Vorpal answers back with a mirk and swivels around to face her as she enters, like a supervillain greeting foolish heroes coming to his lair.

Except supervillains tend to have more impressive lairs. He has heard.

"I was thinking something like that, you know. Grandfather and mother."

He stretches out and puts his feet up on the desk.

"Templars and Assassins, and alien technology. This is like a bad episode on the History Channel. What exactly /are/ we getting ourselves into, here? Black markets is one thing, but a secret society war is something else..."

Stardust has posed:
Colette nods her head, and walks over (she does that sometimes) to the monitors to peer at what Vorpal is looking at. Or not looking at. "Worst comes to worst, we write the whole stack of nonsense up as a book. Worked for Dan Brown." She turns her head to look at Vorpal, one eye arched slightly. "Do you believe it? I mean like... any of it?"

Taking a step back, Colette stretches her arms out, rolls her shoulders, then starts stretching her legs. "I mean... I can't help noticing that for some reason we seem to have left Turkey without any confiscated apokawotsit stuff. Are we really just going to leave some random Turkish megacorp with a big collection of WMDs? I wasn't quite clear on why exactly we did that, when I think back on things."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Because we got a confession. And I am sure Angry Bird recorded that conversation- I would be //aghast// if he didn't. She can try to hide that stuff, but if we suspect this is big enough to get the league involved, I don't think that woman can resist a question with Wonder Woman's lasso."

Vorpal smirks it. "Do I believe it? Look who you're talking to. I'm basically a page of fiction brought to life. Evidence points to all sorts of things being possible at this point."

"The question does come back to Angry Bird, though..."

The monitors are your standard mixture of news feeds and cameras strewn about town, whatever kind of network the Batfolk tend to tap into.

Stardust has posed:
Colette frowns slightly and starts pacing. "A confession. Well it didn't seem that hard to get. To be honest? It's clear she wanted us to find her. Tracing the drone thingy. I mean that was a message, wasn't it? The burned out computer. They were waiting for us to find it, and burning it out was a way of saying 'we could have been long gone'. And..." suddenly she stops pacing, and her frown deepens. She crosses her arms and sighs a little. "Screw getting the League involved. Vorp... WE did this. We busted the biggest ring of apokawhatsit selling. We captured a major linchpin in the underworld. Got a bunch of very nice intel we could be using from that. Captured a metric ton of gear. Just saying. It's a big deal. WE are a big deal. And.. shut up, Ash. And we should recognize that, 'cos I'm not sure anyone else will.

Colette grabs a seat next to Vorpal, swings it around and sits down on it, the wrong way around, leaning forwards over the back. "We can deal with the Turks. One way or another. The only thing is... what way. I'm gonna suggest one thing as a minimum though. They agree not to bring the Apokastuff back into North America. 'Cos then... well I don't think we really have jurisdiction. I mean honestly, everything we do is borderline illegal, right? Just accepted. Too useful to discourage us. Overseas... well who knows. But maybe it's just not our problem."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Except it may become a problem. How do you think Damian is going to react to someone wanting to wipe out his grand-dad? Do you think there's still any blood ties there, however reluctant? I know his mother wasn't exactly Mary Poppins..."

He hmms and absorbs what Collete says. "Yeah. This is our case. I guess this is a good way to prove we're more than just the kids playing around in the playground, isn't it?"

Stardust has posed:
"Titans... kind of feels that way sometimes to be honest. I mean it's fun, you know? I like hanging there. But it does kind of seem more about eating pizzas and saving cats stuck up trees. When things got kinda... complicated back there, apart from Damian it didn't really feel like Titans was the way to go. " She grins slightly, reaches out a hand and gives Vorpal the quickest of ear scritches. "Nice to be hanging with you again though, kitty cat. Place is quieter without you."

"Damian though..." Colette looks around again, as if he might walk in at any moment. Which, this being his safe house, he might. She lowers her voice slightly. "Yeah. I'm worried about him. 'Cos that boy has a problem. I don't think his parents have any intention of giving him the option of not picking sides, you know? Makes a messy divorce seem like a family vacation. But ultimately, Bats wants to wipe out his grand-dad too, and he seems okay siding with Bats."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Hush, Damien likes it quiet in here, don't you know?" Vorpal smirks at the scritch. He gives Colette's argument due consideration, and he nods.

"You are right. He's had the most dysfunctional family background you can have without being raised by actual wolves. He doesn't really know how any of this works... he's not the easiest person to relate to, but maybe he needs more of us to reach out to him."

"A surrogate type of family. Because... I don't know. I can't imagine Mr. double-u has to be the most loving father out there..." he trails off.

Stardust has posed:
Colette nods her head slowly and thoughtfully. "Yeah. I think as dads go... he's probably pretty terrible. 'Welcome home son, how was school? Great. Now get into uniform, there's crime to fight.' Oh well."

  Colette leans back, and looks at the monitors again. "I wonder if we can track him down through all of... well, yes. I mean... we should be there for him. He's our friend. And this is going to be tough for him. Which.. is why I came here. I'm guessing you too, huh? Looking for him. See what he's thinking. 'Cos my view is pretty much... I mean with the whole deal thing we were offered... it depends on his take."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Pretty much. I think he has to be on patrol. Or at the manor. I'd visit him at the manor, but I haven't been officially invited." He pauses and looks up at Colette. "And I don't know how his dad will react to us knowing who he is, if you catch my drift."

"The takeaway is that we stand by the bird and make sure he doesn't go off the rails because his family is deranged. And we see this case through. The next move... well. It has to come from Damian."

Stardust has posed:
Colette says, "On patrol, yeah. Or heading here rapidly because an intruder alarm has gone off, twice." Colette flashes a grin to Vorpal, then hops out of her chair to raid the fridge. "I'm going to stick my neck out and say that lots of people know who he is. I mean okay, it's hardly general knowledge. But it's too hard to hide the... well, people who interact with him a lot are gonna figure it out, you know? I bet far more of his enemies know who he is than... other people."

A couple of bottles of water are extracted from the fridge, and Colette offers one to Vorpal before opening the other and taking a swig. "Mmm. Yup. Yeah, agreed. Damian's kinda key to this. If he's against... well then my answer is no, too. Though... it wasn't entirely clear to me. I mean she offered us backing in exchange for us helping her... but was that specifically about the assassins, or general? I mean how much does she expect from us? I want to be clear we aren't like... minions. Right? I mean some mutual cooperation, sure, but I don't plan on being played.""

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"I'm not keen on being played by anyone, either. Once we have the go-ahead from Smollest Robin, we can hash out our approach."

Taking the bottle, he shakes his head, "I don't know. It's easy to see because we know, but try to put Wayne with the Bat? It's not an easy link to make. I mean, Bruce Wayne *smiles*. Maybe Damian needs to do a lot of smiling when he's in civilian, people will never know it's him. Right?"

Stardust has posed:
"How much do you think all..." Colette waves an arm around, encompassing all the gear in the safehouse. "All of this. In one safehouse. Not to mention all the other gear. Billions. So... tech genius with billions of dollars to play with, I mean that cuts down the options right there." She takes another sip of the water. "Funny thing. Batman concentrates on Gotham. So. That narrows it down quite a bit further. I mean proving it? Yeah. But people gonna /guess/. Even with the whole smiling thing. "

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     The main batcomputer shows an alert, an impending car, the batmobile. And with inside it, the driver is Robin. He'd left the Turkey thing with little said to anyone. Merely an 'I'll take care of it'.

  The young man, however was at odds with himself, much like his own compatriots had surmised. Damian was not one to talk much, and this situation was no different. The Robin hops out of the batmobile as it descends the gantry to the backup cave, lowering his hood and firstly moving to the armory partition, looking over what he had taken and replacing things that needed replacing. Not even having said a word to the two inside.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Well, to be fair-" Vorpal gestures to the equipment, "None of the criminals get to see the equipment. Or the cave." Damian verified that it was a cave and not a belfry, which disappointed Tommy. "They only see the car and the belt and the armor. That's not /as/ an immediate a flag of billionaires. It could be any rich cat in Gotham, and you have to admit there is not exactly a dearth of them, since the town is so full of old money. Old money and misery side by side," the cat muses.

He blinks and looks at the computer. He waits in silence and waits when Robin finally comes in.... and then he looks at Colette.

'You talk to him' he mouths at her.

Stardust has posed:
Colette watches Damian's entrance with mounting frustration. Is he just gonna ignore them? "Is he just gonna..." she asks Vorpal, aloud rather than following Vorpal's subtle approach. "Yeah. He's gonna." She sighs and hops to her feet, following Damian half way down the gantry, close enough to see what he's up to.

  "Hey," Colette calls down after Damian, leaning on the gantry. "There's a security breach. Some people just came in off the street. Me an' Vorp. I uh... owe you for a couple of bottles of water." She's still holding her bottle, half finished. She glances at it in her hand, shrugs, and takes another swig. "So. I... we both... were looking for you. Um. That whole Turkey business. Guessing that gave you a lot to think about. So. Well, are you okay? 'Cos honestly, we're worried about you."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian gives a sigh, lowering his handful of smoke pellets. "It's no breach. I gave you all access to this place in the computer. "

  Damian removes his mask, setting it in his utility belt. "I'm fine." He says, looking back to the smoke pellets and placing them in the bin. "Grandfather has made many enemies in his life."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Your dad among them. But now it's getting more personal, isn't it? You already work with your father indirectly against your granddad. In the apocalyptic scale, how bad are things going to get once he realizes you'll take up a direct opposition to him with a third party?"

The cat watches Damian quietly, sipping his water.

Stardust has posed:
"What the cat says," Colette agrees, jerking her thumb back in his direction. "Look, when it comes to it there are a whole lot of questions about this whole business. But the biggest one is it puts you in a hard place. And I think Vorp agrees with me on this. That's the number one factor in my eyes." She takes a few more steps down the gantry, approaching Damian closer, but still giving him plenty of space. "Ultimately I think this one is down to you. Whatever else we figure out... whatever decisions we make, or deal we make, it's gotta come down to you. If you're not comfortable with this, we walk away. End of."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"And if you recorded out convo, we can sic the League on the lady for posessing an Apokalyptian arsenal, which are basically Weapons of Mucho Destruction. If we choose to walk, that is, 'cause I don't trust anyone with that much firepower that is part of a 'secret society', I don't care if it's the Templars or the Golden Girls club." Vorpal adds, for Damian's consideration, after Colette speaks her peace.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Robin finishes his restocking, turning around and acknowledging Colette. "I..am still thinking that over. On one hand, my family's legacy would be...demolished. On the other, I don't share the same ideals they have. With Mother dead, he has kept himself underground." He's not sure where to go on this. But there is a grave tone to his voice. Normally filled with rage, or without emotion to make a Vulcan jealous.

Stardust has posed:
"Wait, Vorp. I already said. Screw the League." Colette flashes him a frown. "If we want to sic someone on her, we sic ourselves on her. It's a bit late for her to hide now. Why do we need anyone else to help out? If you want other people to take us seriously, we gotta take ourselves seriously first."

Turning back to Damian, Colette raises a finger. "Question. What's the big deal with the assassins anyway? I mean okay, so assassins bad, I get that. They kill people for money, right. But... what was that whole thing about 'burning down the world' or whatever she said? Is there more to this than we know?"

Vorpal (87) has posed:
Vorpal doesn't know what to say. He'd offer an 'I'm sorry about your mother', except the fact that the woman basically saw her son as a weapon. By all accounts, she was a horrible woman. It would sound incredibly insincere, but he doesn't really know how Damian /feels/ about her.

So he just walks over to join his two team-mates... and reaches out and...

He pats Damian. On the head. Like a cat.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "The League of Assassins, along with my grandfather, believe that humanity has corrupted the world past the point of no return. And in order to save Earth, humanity would need to be culled down. Like slash and burn farming. With less factories polluting the planet, the earth would eventually regain its splendor." He sighs, lowering his head some before the feeling of a hand on his head causes him to flinch a bit, slightly reeling from the contact.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"I suppose we can't exactly convince him of the wrongness of his argument by pointing out that the way he has sort of not been a great person to his family, and that he'd... sort of have to be one of the people to go?" He asks quietly, and then takes his hand away at the flinch, "Sorry sorry..."

Stardust has posed:
"Culled," Colette repeats monotone. She falls silent for a few moments. "So like killing a significant portion of the world's population? I wonder who's rich enough to pay for that many assassinations." She gives a shake of her head and then pinches the bridge of her nose. "Dami... no. Shut up, Ash. Damian, if that's the family legacy you're worried about demolishing? Demolish it. That would be a far more worthy legacy to leave to the world. I mean okay it would be confusing if the al-Ghul legacy to the world was saving the world from the al-Ghul legacy. But I think people will deal. It's the saving bit they'll appreciate most."

  "Okay. So... " Colette folds her arms and looks up. "Assassins, bad. I think we got that bit. But also Damian, friend. So. It's your call, shortstuff. I think we should stop them. I think YOU should stop them. But that's just my advice. If you say no, then we call up washerface and tell her no."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Robin lifts his head finally. "Thing is, I don't completely disagree. Look where we are now, polar shifting, world climate has changed enough now that we know things should have been corrected years ago. Species are extinct, all from humanity's plundering the earth of her resources. The Assassin bit...is a means to an end. Where we tried to influence nations by eliminating people who needed eliminating, we eventually moved to contracts in the underworld. Causing civil unrest in the Corto Maltese, to what eventually led to the French Revolution." Robin takes a look to his chest, rubbing the golden R on it. "That life, I traded for this one. But I don't know if I can give my grandfather the death people think he deserves." A moment of thought, of doubt before continuing. "Do you know how one stays alive for seven hundred and ninety three years?"

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"A lot of sex?"

Vorpal's answer falls like a set of boulders. This IS Damien's grandfather they are talking about. Nobody said he was good at this particular sub-set of things. "Damian... the whole end justifies the means thing... it sucks donkey butt. I may not know a lot of things, but I do know that in any good cause worth following, the end /is/ the means, not an excuse for them."

"I mean, look at the horrors that the French Revolution brought about. Was Robespierre one of your grandfather's people? Because if he wasn't, he should have been given honorary membership, with all that red he splattered all over Paris..."

He shakes his head and realizes he's rambling, so he pipes down.

Stardust has posed:
"Lots of fresh vegetables, cold showers and daily runs?" Colette answers. "Look, Damian. I've got a guy in my head who's stayed alive for half a million years or something. Wait... okay, not exactly, there's a whole bunch of... okay, one of them stayed alive for four and a half thousan... " she claps her hands to her ears, squeezes her eyes shut and says "Shut! Okay, Damian, look." She lowers her hands, and looks him in the eyes. "Yes, we as a species are kinda assholes, but we're also... I mean what do you do. Kill nine out of ten people and you save a lot of whales, but you've just 90% killed the next Shakespeare, 90% killed the guy who cures cancer."

Colette shifts her feet a little, going quiet for just a moment before piping up again. "And hell, you don't have to kill your own granddaddy. We mess up his plans, let him live." Unlike Vorpal, Colette doesn't know the meaning of piping down due to rambling. "If you say... take out the key people here and there who are messing things up for the rest of us, honestly? Not sure I have a problem with that. Might even sign up myself. Shut up Ash. But culling the species? That's honestly... dumb. Apart from the whole evil thing. And you are neither dumn nor evil. You're a good guy. Al-Ghul, Wayne... those are big names. But your name is DAMIAN. That's the name I'm willing to listen to."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian shakes his head. "In my mother and grandfather's case. You use the Lazarus. If you are inches from death, to bathe in the Pits of the Lazarus will rejuvenate you, and heal you of any malady." And then the young hero sighs. "The process isn't quite known. But there is speculation that a repeated user will eventually deep into madness. No one really knows because my family controls them. And the only long term user is my grandfather."

  "The question remains. Does the sultan know who I am, therefore dooming is from the start, or did she call me by my Arabic name out of happenstance. That's the lynchpin. If we order knows who I am, then we would only be playing into their hands."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Assuming she knows, then you're the one in the worst position here. If she knows and you refuse, she could blackmail you. If you agree to take arms against your grand, he could expose you and your father as Batman and Robin, and you'd be ruined. Catch twenty twenty."

Vorpal finishes the water and puts the bottle down, canting his head to the side. "We're allegedly the good guys, so... how do we not help the secret society that is allegedly benevolent against a group that wants to hit the History Eraser button* on humanity?" He walks away from Damian and Colette and thinks out loud. "Of course, we just have //her// word that they are benevolent."

*footnote: https://vimeo.com/126720159

Stardust has posed:
Colette's forehead creases in thought. "Son of the Bat, you mean?" She tilts her head, and then shrugs. "Kinda obvious thing to call a Robin, maybe? Or... I dunno. If they do know who you are, why would that doom anything? If anything... well, okay. Here's a point. We found them, they didn't come looking for us. So if you think the whole thing's a set-up, I don't see how it can be. She knew all our names. Brick and I aren't exactly that well known. Actually I'm kinda tricky, what with the costume thing. There are three separate entries on Heropedia that I know for a fact are all me. And she knew Vorpal had left. My guess, the did some digging when we busted the operation. As for blackmail..." she glances at Vorpal's back as he walks away. "Would she have told us everything she did about herself if that was her plan? Seems kinda dumb."

Colette falls silent, and gets the look on her face she often gets when she's having an internal discussion with the voices she complains about so often. "Yeah. Point. Okay, so we probably ought to do some more research into the whole Order of the Temple of Bizzarium whatsit. Try to find out if they really are the good guys. How about we do a bit of that, and reconvene?"

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "Ibn al xu'ffasch is the name I was called in the League. It's one of many I had. And it's one that until recently, I hadn't been called since I had left. Depending on how good her intel is about the League, she may know I am the grandson of the Demon's Head. Which places us in a very bad position. Her hatred of my family may be so deep that she wants the al Ghul line dead, regardless of if I'm a League assassin or not."

  Damian gives a nearby mannequin a punch, his fists still tender from the casts. "Agreed, I'll try and find out what I can from my sources. Hopefully I won't have to contact...other members of my family to dig up information."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Alright, next assignment acknowledged. Let's convene again in a day or two and see where our leads lead to. In the meantime..." he walks back to the group and, this time, he puts a hand on Robin's shoulder, making sure that Robin can see it. "If backup would seem convenient, don't hesitate in calling us. We're here for you."

Whether or not Damian notices that Vorpal phrased it so it would not sound like needing help or not, it at least proves that the cat can be diplomatic when it needs to be. Obviously, one of those times is not when discussing the sexual proclivities of a nonacentenarian.

"Research Club is go?"

Stardust has posed:
"Keep the family out of it, Damian. No need to tip our hand. And um..." Colette raises an eyebrow at him. "I'd suggest both sides of the family. For now. But... if she wanted you dead, she'd probably have put a bomb in that building instead of a cup of tea. Or, you know, poisoned the tea. Or, maybe she does know who you are thinks there's nobody better at stopping an al-Ghul than another al-Ghul. "

Colette finishes her drink and attempts to balance the empty bottle on Damian's head. "Right. Sources. Welp. Mine's Google and Wikipedia, but I'll see what I can come up with." Her lips twitch slightly and quirk into a faint grin. She raises one hand, forming a circle with her thumb and forefinger, and salutes with the circle over her eyes. "Be seeing you," she says as she walks back up the gantry and takes off.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian nods. "I'll find out what I can on my end. hopefully Batman won't see the search history on the batcomputer. Or rather, the lack of entries for a couple hours." Damian gives a nod to both of them, before he raises his hood again, covering the vividly green eyes of his mother's family. "I'll keep that in mind, Vorpal." He responds, even if he won't call, he's learned how to at least say thanks.