8460/The second chance

The second chance
Date of Scene:	23 July 2019
Location:	On the hood of an otherwise unmarked SUV in GCPD's impound lot
Synopsis:	Stockholm and Damian talk with only the minimal threats.
Cast of Characters:	Stockholm, Robin (Wayne)

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Stockholm has posed:
Step by Step the plans are coming together. Third Gotham Bank and Trust has been scouted and mapped. The surprise in the vault has been planted in a safety deposit box.

Tonight though is about shopping. The store is very exclusive and select. Restricted access. Discerning clientèle. Excellent security in it's own right. GCPD's Impound Lot.

"Come on you slackers, the source says the item we want is in the storage locker B7." is said over Stockholm's very professional throat mic and earpiece rig. Which indicates the young woman has men, an unknown number of them inside working the job. She though is sitting on top of a nondescript black SUV parked inside the security fence, whose gate is wide open. She is wearing her doing dark deeds mercenary outfit, which is probably better than one of her riddler or joker-esque looks really.

The GCPD guards though are littered around the site, no shots fired. They all seem to be breathing though not dead, so that is a plus right. They do all seem to be drugged and breathing shallowly but steadily. Tranq rounds still stuck in several of them, which means those guns at her hips may not both be lethal.

It isn't like Stockholm isn't a known killer, but maybe she doesn't want to have GCPD roll out all the stops over this job. Or well maybe she doesn't want to accidentally kill an uncle or aunt.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
Damian always had his ear to the ground looking for motions of people, and in specific the naming of some others. Right now he was looking for Stockholm, which normally might be like trying to find a needle in a haystack, but if you watch the motions of people, when she starts to move it lights her up like a becon. Damian got word of this, a job by someone kind of vague he almost ignored it though he had got a little lucky. In this case he was back in Gotham, as he could never really leave, and he was in a slum of an abandonded building unknown to the residents. Undercover as LoA he couldn't be spotted so had to keep a low profile as not even the other Bat-Fam knew it was him under the mask, and he had happen to actually over-hear people talking about it directly. He decided to drop the LoA garb, and don the Robin one out of one of the many spots in Gotham where he could get a suit, and move to this meet-up.

He wasn't disapointed as he had arived a bit late, having to get his Robin suit, and while the people were inside Stockholm sat outside waiting, and watching. Damian sighs to himself, inside his head he reminds himself that nothing changes if he doesn't try. He shoots off a hook to go well over head, and swings down towards her. This is all absolutly silent as he still aproaches things quietly as he is an assassin at heart though what he did next was tough to hide. Flipping in the air he lands right next to her on the hood of said SUV. The car would only slightly rock as he minimizes the impact of his landing spreading out weight and other tricks he had learned, he stands up at his full 5'3" height and looks at her.

Calmly he nods, "Nice night Julia, you got a moment to talk." his tone is serious, but calm as he looks at the scene infront of them shaking his head, and looking back at her. He had looked over most the people in that sweep, and none of them looked dead. That was a good sign at least for the start as it was one of the few reasons he had not approached Harley, some did not want to change.. He just hopped she was different.

Stockholm has posed:
Julia's abilities, which really haven't been properly catalogued, make her pretty difficult to sneak up on. That said she still gets jumped by Bats, Ninjas, and Assassins all the time. Maybe she needs to spend more time with Ninjas, Assassins, or Bats and learn how they do it. She would pick it up surprisingly fast.

Still she was not expecting one of the bat brats to land on the hood of her SUV in the middle of her job like this, she has been working really hard to keep the whole operation more on the downlow. She even brought in some out of towners for part of it. Maybe that was the mistake, local thugs union or something got yappy insulted. Damnit. Well whatever it is here is one of the bats, and not one she has actually run into before.

To her credit she doesn't yet roll off the hood out of the way of any impending kicks or punches, but to a trained LoA member she goes incredibly still and is ready to move. Somewhere. She actually seems to be falling in synch with Damian as she looks up at him and watches him very closely. She shouldn't be reacting physiologically like that without a lot of very special training that is not the GCPD but nothing like that is in her bat-file since her run ins have been isolated to the GCPD, Red Robin, Batgirl, and Kestral over the years.

"Stockholm works. You aren't shooty bird or red bird... and you look a bit short really. Stabby bird or baby bird?" she hasn't called her men off the job, she needs what they are grabbing after all. She wiggles the gun now in her hand at Robin, knowing she is in hand is faster than the eye range so isn't shooting, hard to say if this one is loaded with tranqs or not as well. It was a super slick fast draw. "What did you want to 'talk' about?"

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
As she is surprised the Robin does not look happy or sad about it he only looks seriously at her staring at her quietly with an intensity of a Bat. Inside he is starting to think about how he should start, as apperently she had fallen more into her persona which wasn't good. He is very still not wasting any motions to move acting more like a statue then a living breathing person, though he isn't doing this because he knows about her. In training with his Grandfather he had learned to always be still, always be quiet so it was drilled into him to a point where it was just default for him.

Finally as she reaches for the gun he speaks up, of course the gun was out now, "You don't have to do this you know..." he watched her still not moving. There was a Batarang inside of his palm though he put it thre when she turned for the gun to hide his movements not wanting to agrivate her further.

He sighs a bit though doesn't take his eyes off her just incase thankfully he was close so it would be easier to dodge though he had to be fast. "And you can call me Robin." he adds so she doesn't feel the need to use her name. He was Robin he never really changed it, or added to it as he felt it was enough of name to do the job.

He gives her shrug, "I thought I would try talking first.. I figure you deserved at least that much." he doesn't go further then that though, as it was up to her how this conversation went from this point. In his mind he made two plans, one if she uses the gun, and another if it is just a distraction for physical combat. This was a dangerous person after all, so he would not lower his guard though from the outside it might look that way as he hasn't even moved an inch.

Stockholm has posed:
It isn't so much as falling into a persona really under closer longer study like this. She seems to be falling very still, like you and well her expression even shifts a bit towards your stoic bat expression now.

"Robin. Okay. I am just sometimes surprised at how many Robins or Batgirls there are in this town." there is a thoughtful pause "I am also surprised you want to talk about it first, or that you think I deserve anything. Most of you bats just start throwing those clever little throwing bats like the one in your palm. Are you stalling for backup from Batman?" she doesn't bother looking around, no her eyes are locked on Robin. "Is this about the time I blew up Red Robin with a yo-yo?"

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
Damian nods to her, and sighs looking at the same face he is giving thinking maybe she is not taking this seriously. He hoped some of this was getting through, but he had no outward reaction so had to keep just pushing through. She at least didn't follow up with the gun so there was that, as he listens to her quietly staring waiting for it still just incase. "I realized, if nothing changes we all will do what we are doing over, and over." he shakes his head at that. "I came alone.. the other Bats don't know I am even here." he moves for the first time that he got here a smooth but fast flick of his fingers showing the Battarang. "I would keep close any ideas I am not as easy going as the other Robins."

He shakes his hand and the Batarang disapears again as he palms it, a simple trick though it gets it out of sigh for now he falls back to stillness waiting.. "The city will not change, the Bats will not change, so it is up to us to change." he says slowly going back to it. He sighs a bit, "You were not always this, it is not too late to go back ya know." he gives a shrug, "I know it isn't easy to give up, but there is help out there."

Stockholm has posed:
Julia studies him. "Oh I know your not as easy going, I've heard about you on the streets a bit Robin." the cadence of her voice is about in synch with yours, though she hasn't tch'd yet. She also doesn't seem to be taunting you either, it isn't in the demeanor.

"Honestly I am not sure Gotham can change. Sometimes I wonder if it is sick and if Arkham is just a symptom... people like the Riddler.. the Joker... Me..." finally a movement, a bit of a shrug, though not too different than your shrug. "As for changing people. On a routine basis I get the very best psychological care this city can offer, or so the courts tell me. I understand I have been very bad at seeing the treatment through but breaking out of there is a lot easier than staying in here." which is very sadly true.

"Changing.... something is obviously wrong with me Robin. Normal people don't run around with a scythe spraying people with stolen fear toxin from Crane. I'm pretty sure Arkham just showed me who I always was.... I mean sure maybe in another life I could have been a better Batgirl than the redheaded hack."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
Damian mearly nods and looks at her listening, he agreed that Gotham was Gotham, but that is how it was it was reality not a sickness in his mind. He does speak up a bit, "You are no Joker, or Riddler or we would not be talking right now." he adds shortly, though follows up with, "That.. isn't the help I ment in this case. There are others, that feel the need to do exactly this that are trying to change. To leave this criminal life behind them, and move on to something new... those are who I ment."

He is silent for a long moment before he adds, "You are right you are not normal.. Neither am I to be honest. I spent a year killing people when I was very young." he actually seems to look through her when he remembers. "My hands are just as bloody as yours if not more, and even right now I know of at least four ways of killing you before you can aim that gun... Though that is not who I am, not who I choose to be." he had given her a bit of information, though it was vague and only help point her further away from a Wayne then closer so he didn't worry about it too much. He snaps back to here, and now.. "Is that who you would like to be? A Batgirl, or I guess Woman in this case." as she looked a bit old for the whole Bat-Girl setup

Stockholm has posed:
"Well I may not be them but they are in me." she murmurs softly. Then the other words make her actually tilt her head a little bit. "Well. I mean I am pretty sure no one else is doing exactly this, but you're telling me some of the oddballs like me are trying to move on from crime?" she is a whee bit skeptical there, maybe they are stringing Robin along, it is in her eyes briefly.

When he says he knows four ways of killing her before she could react that actually perks her up "Gosh I would love to see that sometime. I mean not killing me but demonstrated. Not that I am positive you could .. though you do definitely stand different than the other Robins.. it is in the way you hold yourself really.. serious.. still... it is a "

Her sentence breaks off and she stares at you. The woman's left eye actually spasms a little bit, uncontrolled muscle reaction, a tic, first uncontrolled anything since you landed on the SUV. "I would be a better Batgirl than any of the ones in Gotham right now." there is no anger, not in the tic, not in her tone, just assurance. Not too dissimilar to those inducted into the league of assassins actually. By inducted.. not those trained but those conditioned to serve the Demon.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
Damian nods, and takes that in they are all in her, and she stole fear gas to use on others like Scarecrow, and how she was motionless. He thinks he is starting to get it, though he is broken out of his thoughts for a moment. "There are, and that look might be right." he admits as they are criminals it does happen. He gives her a shrug, "It doesn't matter in the end, if they are trying to change then that is the goal not why.". He had to admit that a lot prob were not going to make it though it was something that never had been done before. No-one talks to the villians, no-one sits them down and helps them prevent the things they do. Even Damian himself had no idea where this would lead, as it was new ground.

He had fibbed a bit about four as there were many more ways though he is glad he knocked down the number a bit though he was curious what she saw in how he was different then he others as he did try to mix in with them the best he could. He actually continues talking after a brief pause this time no long akward silence this time, "Batgirl doesn't rob from places, you know this though you choose this action. This is clearly.." he waves his hand towards the knocked out people, and the sounds of people robbing the place. "Is not progress to change, this is falling back letting what is in you run you." a bit of emotion slipping through before he cuts himself short, "You have heard that before haven't you.." he had started to kind of pick up what she was doing, which was also a large issue if it worked the ways she said earlier. It wasn't multiple personality he knew from earlier when he used her name so thought about it closly... Though he does add after a moment, "The person that is stopping you from being Batgirl is yourself. The actions you choose if your willing to let me help then I will do what I can, but once he is after you.. it is too late." he clearly means Batman as the other Robins he could buy some time if needed.

Stockholm has posed:
"I'm starting to understand you I think.. I am very good at reading people... but I don't think you quite understand me Robin." she gestures idly with the gun still in her hand.

"Of course I know Batgirl doesn't rob from places. All the others rob from places though. They do crazy things because they are crazy." a roll of her shoulders, still your shrug. "Of course I have been told that I am the thing standing in my own way. That the people inside me are controlling me. The doctors tell me that all the time Robin. That doesn't make the people inside me go away because they are and aren't people. I don't have fugue states where I don't remember what I do." yeah all of this is in her Arkham file as well if someone gets enterprising. "I just .. am... and am not.. and you have no idea how hard it is to not be Harley on some tuesdays..."

Her rant trails off, it got a little voice raised. "The only person stopping me from being Batgirl is Batgirl. If she was out of the way or I proved I was better than her in a fight .. that would prove it once and for all." okay that sounds dark, but also a bit inducted again to a trained ear with experience on those topics. The question is who hates Batgirl like that.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
Damian nods, "Perhaps your right, though perhaps I am what you can become if you choose to. A crazy person in this crazy city that is able to choose the proper route" he sighs, "It is not easy, every day it can be a strugle though in the end it is worth the change. I can't express why, or how for obvious reasons though I am... happier with this compaired to before.. maybe that isn't your thing though." he sighs again at that thought though continues, "Being Harley isn't the issue, it is what you choose to do as Harley that is the issue."

He turns falling silent at her Batgirl rant he thinks very carefully how to frame this as he felt the heat there. "To who?" he asks simply, "To the Batman, the Robins, to Gotham?" he shakes his head, "Who do you need to prove this to? Is this." he waves back to the scene mentioned earlier, "Is this to prove yourself a criminal? Who exactly to?" he shakes his head, "Everyone always is trying to impress someone else. I was guilty of it for a while, but I realized something there is no-one out there we have to prove ourselves to. We should do what makes us happy, and be settled with that.. I am hoping that a change like I am suggesting would do that for you."

Stockholm has posed:
"I can see what you mean." though in this case it is more she can see the assassin in Damian better than most. That last bit about Harley makes her squint though. "Harley isn't the issue it is what I do with Harley." there is actually a pause a beat there. "Have you ever seen anyone actually control Harley except for Mistah J." and yeah she does that spot on impression wise for Harley.

"Prove to .. who..." she seems absolutely puzzled by this now. "I am not trying .. to prove it to anyone...." she seems conflicted. "I'm proving it to myself. I do all of this and no one tells me to do it..." there is am ore ragged pause "Also... The great bat that rules over Gotham and thinks someone died and made him emperor of the night with his army of children..." to be fair she sounds almost confused like no one has asked her who she is trying to prove it to. She doesn't want to say proving it to Batman but it crawls out when push comes to shove. Still seems to be conditioning not her own idea though, even more so as things break down a bit there.

She is starting to get more agitated though despite your still presence and force of personality.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
Damian nods, and listens to her, "Yes I do know one person that could control her." he answers simply honestly as it gets. "I am looking at her right now." he says simply meaning that she herself could control Harley. She had that ability though he doubted even she saw it. "Harley maybe crazy, but even she has some sense to her if you care to look. Last I talked with her though she was doing alright didn't need anyone to control her not to make trouble... Does your Harley ever do that?" he adds with a shrug.

He reaches into a pocket and tosses a black card with a single number on it that goes to a random burner phone that would be nearly impossible to track down. "Yea he got me too for a while. It is hard not to try to impress him though after time you realize that it is a waste of time. Not that you can't do it.. just that when you do if it isn't doing the right then then it is empty." he shakes his head at that thought. "If you ever realize there is no-one you need to prove yourself to, and want to be free of those chains that bind you to this.. Let me know I will be waiting."

In a blur there is a gun on his own in his hand, though it looks like a T handle as he shoots it out not her direction. "And remember Julia... I will be watching." then with that he is yanked away flying off by cable to some far building. He neither leaves anything behind, other then the card, nor makes any noise as he is whisked away just giving her that stare of assurance that he has in this is the right move.

Stockholm has posed:
"You are a very odd Robin." she notes to Damian. "I don't have any chains I haven't made for myself." which is definitely not true.

Once Robin goes to leave Julia leans a bit and lines up a shot to his back as he yanked away into the night. Based on her academy jacket she has a very good chance at hitting the moving batling as well all said.

Still after a long moment she twirls and holsters the gun and picks up the card, checking it by rubbing it between her fingers and then holding it up to the light. Then she slips it into a metal mesh pocket on her vest that should dampen any trackers. "Damn bats..." she mutters to herself.

She slides off the hood of the SUV and over the radio with a click of her jaw "Come on out you damn cowards you better have the drone. We need to get this thing rolling fast... and then we need to burn this SUV and switch cars... " she snaps out some more orders and they do indeed burn the SUV, switch cars, and go for a lot of random driving and then splitting up.

She is thinking she needs to move the bank job up now. Because Robin is watching and the whole job may be screwed.

Also thinking about what he said makes her head hurt.