8518/Daughter Of The Demon

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Daughter Of The Demon
Date of Scene: 26 July 2019
Location: Gotham, near Archie Goodwin International Airport
Synopsis: Batman saves an unknown bowman from attackers and a potentially fatal fall, only to find it is someone from his past: Talia al Ghul
Cast of Characters: Talia al Ghul, Batman
Tinyplot: Hunted Demon


Talia al Ghul has posed:
There always seems more work than there are hands to do it. Even with the number of young heroes under Batman's tutelage, that is the case. It had started with an alert from the Batcomputer. An offshore bank account that had crossed Batman's path once and been flagged for watching. It had been used in part of a shell game with corporate holdings, having purchased some land that turned out to be used as a safehouse by nefarious elements. Batman had never managed to find the ones responsible for the death of a city councilman who had used that safehouse. Though he'd come up with a single name during it. Rutger Orestes.

The Batcomputer had silently searched for transactions from the account, but found none for two years, until it signaled a detection just the other day. Funds from the account were used to purchase an airline ticket from Kabul, Afghanistan, to Gotham. A flight arriving tonight.

Batman had planned to be there when the passengers deplaned, but another serious matter arose while he was en route. While that has been dealt with now, the delay meant having missed the plane's arrival, and likely his chance to identify the occupant of the first-class seat.

Still, being nothing if not thorough, Batman was heading towards the airport when Alfred cut in on the communications channel. "Sir. There are reports on Department of Homeland Security and TSA channels of an incident outside of Gotham International Airport. Reports of gunfire and, in one case, bow and arrow fire being exchanged, outside of the airport to the east." Alfred's voice notes the bow and arrow fire in a special tone, it having stood out to him clearly as something unusual.

Batman has posed:
"On it."

The Batmobile has been abandoned, left on autopilot to return home as the choke of traffic leading to the Gotham Airport is too much for it to navigate without collateral damage. Instead, one of a dozen Bat-Cycles has been employed to navigate through the close-packed cars. His shoulders hunched over the front, his cape fluttering behind him as the wind catches it. He moves with all the precision of a professional motorcyclist, easily evading the cars and the swinging doors as people occasionally climb out of their cars to see what is going on.

As he nears, he finds the way entirely blocked by a jam of traffic. He never slows, instead veering to the right and off road. There?s his ingress. A low-angled trailer which allows him to momentary launch the bike into the air. From there it skids across the rooftops, racing at speed towards the source of the commotion.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
It takes a little time to find the incident referred to by the reports caught by Alfred and the Batcomputer. But eventually, motion catches Batman's eye. A figure in the dark rushing up a fire escape towards the roof of a ten-story building. Someone from the ground firing a gun, bullets making sparks where they hit the metal of the fire escape.

Multiple people on the ground from the looks of it. The nearest one to the building, hooded and cloaked has a bow and launches some sort of grapple to the top and then begins reeling upwards too quickly to be climbing by hand. By the time the target of the gunfire reaches the top, they have company.

The other figures on the ground that were trailing further behind stop firing, closing distance to the building and launching their own grapples. Meanwhile, a hand-to-hand fight has resulted on the landing at the top of the fire escape. The fleeing figuring takes down the pursuer, and grabs their hooded coat and bow and quiver before fleeing across the rooftop. It isn't long before the half-dozen or so pursuers reach the roof and begin running as well, in the direction of deeper into the block of buildings of varying heights.

Batman has posed:
There is a lot to take in, but the Batman has trained his mind to read everything happening before him in a record time and process it. The slowest pursuer, still on the ground, is dealt with in a prompt and efficient way. The Bat-Cycle's front wheel strikes him in the middle of his back, knocking him sharply to the ground. The Bat hauls up, rearing the bike back enough to not completely run the man over. He dismounts, leaving the cycle to skid off and throw up sparks as it slides to a halt.

His grappling gun comes to hand, angled upwards before he fires it and launches himself on a similar trajectory to the others. He's already designated his target - the hooded figure with the bow. The others with the guns are internally designated enemies, and those who come near enough to him are struck brutally and without any consideration for the long-term health implications.

But his eyes remain on the fleeing bow-wielder, and he gives chase.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
After taking out the pursuer who was lagging further behind, Batman clears the top of the building, giving him a view of the layout ahead. The rooftops are mostly open but do have areas with antennae or enclosed areas atop the roof with doors down, that provide some cover. Adjoining buildings on the block tend to be within a story or two in height, creating some differences from one building to the next, but usually not a lot. Some buildings are flush against one another, while others are separated by alleys, some of them wide enough to give most people pause at the thought of jumping them.

Meanwhile, his quarry are spread out across the rooftop and some distance ahead. Six pursuers are left, not counting the one Batman left below on the ground, and the one not moving on the top of the fire escape, where a crimson liquid on the metal around the body is catching some of the moonlight. Each pursuer is similarly cloaked, though they carry different weapons. Two have bows, two have guns, and two have an unsheathed sword in hand

The pursuers are chasing the lone figure, now also wearing a hooded cloak. The Lone Bowman, as it were, turns and fires an arrow back, but it is dodged by the person shot at. The Bowman sprints forward for the end of the building, not pausing as they hit the ledge. Leaping into space, the person's cloak whips behind them as they cover an alley and land on a 9-story building on the other side. The pursuers give chase, feet thudding on the light gravel scattered across the rooftop, heading to make a similar jump. One pauses to shoot an arrow at the Lone Bowman, but it hits just beside the person as they land on the far building.

Batman has posed:
Even against impressive physical specimens, the Batman moves at incredible speed - covering the distance swiftly. As he moves, his hand goes to his belt and produces a length of de-cel line and shapes it into a hook. The man who remains on his rooftop is the next target, struck at the base of his spine by a sharp knee from the Dark Knight. Even as he begins to fall, the rope is looped about his ankle and fastened to ground - he'll dangle now, rather than fall.

Batman's legs come up under him as he leaps to the next rooftop, a batarang leaving his hand in the direction of one of the pursuers even as he flies through the air. He lands in a roll, moving swiftly to keep up the chase.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Though Batman does close the distance, those he is chasing seem to be at peak levels of fitness. And the way they leap into space from one building to another without pause, and how they handle their weapons, his evaluation will be that these are quality opponents.

The man who is hooked lets out a cry as he goes down, alerting the others. While three continue on, two of them opening fire at the Lone Bowman who is sprinting for all they are worth, one with swords turns back towards Batman as the crimefighter lands, his cape flowing out behind him with the jump.

Build swarthy enough it is clearly a muscular man beneath the cloak, the figure comes on, a second sword drawn to join the first. The swords whirl and weave in unison as he attacks, trying to slice into Batman with two swords at once.

Batman has posed:
The visible part of Batman's face snarls, teeth bared as the sudden attention of the swordsman forces him to stop. The Dark Knight is unarmed, but that doesn't make him any less dangerous as he skids to a halt on the rooftop and takes a guarded stance. His gauntleted forearms raise before him, white eyes fixated on his new opponent.

The first strike does not land, the Bat ducking underneath it. Not an attack meant to cause great injury, more a testing blow to qualify the Caped Crusader as an opponent. The next attack from the second sword is less forgiving. The point of the sword spears at his midsection and though the Bat dodges it, it is close enough to slice through the batsuit here. A calculated blow from someone for whom swordplay is no mere hobby.

The Batman moves quickly, seeking to end the battle. Several more swings slow him down, one ducked under and the other caught between the ridges of the gauntlet he wears. The second of the man's swords caught, the Dark Knight drives his knee upwards as he momentarily leaves the ground. It connects with the opponent's jaw, sending him sprawling backwards with a groan of pain.

No time to consider whether he is truly out of the fight, the Bat gives chase once more.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
The chase has continued while Batman dealt with the swordsman. An eleven story building abuts the nine-story one that Batman fights the swordsman on. The Lone Bowman shoots an arrow backwards without slowing, causing one of the pursuers to stumble and go down while avoiding it.

The Bowman hits the wall of the other building at a run, using momentum to vault up into the air. A ledge is caught and arm muscles further propel the figure upwards to catch the building ledge. Bullets ricochet off the wall all around the figure, it being impossible with that billowing cape to tell if they were hit.

The Bowman disappears over the edge while the three remaining pursuers grapple up after them. Batman does the same, not just grabbing the end, but letting his grapple gun pull him up fast enough to send him fifteen feet above the building, giving him a view of what is going on.

The Lone Bowman has taken refuge behind a small squat structure that has a door down into the building. The two gunmen are firing keeping the figure pinned down. The pursuing figure with a bow instead pulls out something and throws it towards the Lone Bowman. The figure is cloaked and hooded, but there is something in the posture that suggests widening of eyes at the sight of the object arcing their way. The Bowman sprints forward a few steps and then leaps into the air and kicks the object out of the air and off to the side, knocking the grenade just far enough away that the explosion buffets them, but not so badly the Bowman doesn't regain their feet and start running again after, while arrows and bullets hit all around them.

Batman has posed:
Batman extends his cape about himself, the air catching it as he descends like his namesake towards the two gunmen. Even as he descends through the air, he calculates the resultant fight will take longer than the Lone Bowman will need to escape. Instead, one hand moves to his belt and produces a small gel capsule. It is thrown before him at the ground between the two gunmen, immediately coalescing into a sickly green cloud of regurgitant gas. Not deadly, but enough to put even a hardy soul out of commission with nausea and vomiting.

The Dark Knight is already holding his breath, determined not to breathe even the faintest hint of the gas. He has trained for this, and he is prepared. He turns his attention on the other bowman, plunging towards him with ruthless brutality. A fist thrown at his midsection, another lifted to deflect an oncoming blow. It is a quick and violent fight, and though the Batman takes a blow to his own torso and then to his jaw he manages to hold his breath as the gas wafts over. As the other bowman begins to breathe it in, the Bat presses his advantage to take him down with a swift kick that momentarily reverses the bend of his knee.

Again, he wastes no time checking on the defeated opponents. He wants to catch the Lone Bowman before they get away ...

Talia al Ghul has posed:
The Lone Bowman is a silhouette in the night. Even apart from the dark hood and cloak that the figure is wearing, dark clothing beneath was visible in moments the cloak billowed about during leaps between buildings. The person pauses on the roof of the building to look back. There is no other building to jump to from where the Bowman stands. Just a long eleven story fall to the ground below. The bow is held at rest downwards, not pointing at anyone.

The cowled head tilts back just slightly as if looking at something that arcs past Batman overhead. The sound of one of the gunmen collapsing back to the ground, vomiting, likely doesn't distract eyes away from the thrown grenade. This one lands short of the Bowman and explodes. The cloaked figure is blown off the roof, body hanging limp in the air before gravity asserts itself and beings to pull the figure towards what will surely be a fatal fall.

Batman has posed:
The Dark Knight pauses on the edge of the rooftop, staring back down impassively at the Lone Bowman across the gulf between them. The eyelets of his cowl narrow, reading body language and slowly drawing each piece together in his mind to form a picture. What is that sense of familiarity? What is it about this archer that is so familiar?

As the grenade arches through the air, the Bat is too late to intercept it. Instead, he does the next best thing by throwing himself across the gap. The explosion buffets the Bowman off the rooftop even as Batman moves gracefully through the air, and he rushes ahead through the still-clearing smoke.

He throws himself off the building without a second thought, one arm heaving out a de-cel line in a practiced motion while the other reaches out to try and catch the Bowman in mid-fall. One muscular arm wraps tightly about their midsection, the other grabbing the line to slow their fall before terminal velocity is reached.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
The line uncoils, slowing from the breakneck pace to something that will gently bring Batman to the ground safely. The Bowman doesn't move as Batman catches them in mid-air, seemingly knocked out cold by the grenade blast.

A grassy slope beside the eleven story building awaits Batman's feet as he touches down with the person held in his arm. On the ground he gets a better sense. So light, unlike a man. And even through the body armor, the sense of curves that confirm it is a woman even as Batman lies her down gently in the grass.

The hood covers her face, but the cloak falls away to show dark slacks and a fitted black blouse beneath. The curves of hips and the kind of narrow waist that only the fittest of women possess. Slowly Batman's glove reaches for her hood, pulling the dark cloth back, revealing a familiar visage. A stunning Eurasian beauty who looks like she could be ten years younger than he, though Batman knows her age. Yes, down to the very day he knows the age of Talia al Ghul.

Batman has posed:
Batman has no concerns for the secret identities of others. Not truly. It is no great quandry for him to pull the hood away. But when he sees the face he is given pause, and the usually emotionless line of his mouth parts into a look of shock. He does not pull away, instead he remains kneeling at her side.

"Talia ... "

It is only then that the memory of the last few moments comes rushing back to him. The explosion. The break-neck fall from a great height. He immediately begins to examine her with the focus of a triage expert, searching for broken bones. He reaches a hand to part her eyelids and check the reaction of her pupils.

All that would give away his personal connection to her is the frantic way in which he does it all. He is thorough and methodical, but there is a faint air of great concern and even panic in his motions.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
The woman is unconscious, and there are smudges on her face and tears in her clothing from the explosion. No immediate signs of other wounds. Saved from the fall by Batman's daring leap, her chest can be seen to rise and fall slowly. Though she doesn't respond to her eyelids being opened. The explosion was close by, thankfully it wasn't a standard explosive grenade and not a fragmentation, or she would not have survived at that range. As it is, she's going to be battered and buffeted and sore when she comes to.

The sound of sirens begins to be heard in the distance. "Sir, first responders are en route to the location," Alfred says of the comm system. In the parking lot near to the grassy area where Batman crouches by the unconscious woman, the Batmobile pulls in, remote piloted by Batman's faithful butler and companion.

Batman has posed:
Batman cuts the evening's patrol short, putting out an alert to the other members of his extended family to manage the hotspots. But he himself returns home, with Talia alongside him and unconscious in the pasenger seat.

He doesn't leave her in the Batcave, instead taking her upstairs in his arms with only a cursory word to Alfred. He only stops once he reaches the master bedroom, laying Talia down on the bed.

Only now does he reach up, pulling away the cowl from his head. Alfred lurks in the doorway momentarily but ultimately steps away, leaving Bruce alone with the woman who once occupied all of his world. He stares down at her, a look of barely-masked concern on his features.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Time is a fluid thing, the speed of its passing variable. It seems inevitably the moments we wish we could hold onto are fleeting, while moments of waiting seem to draw out into an eternity.

Talia al Ghul lies there, not moving for that eternity. There is time to gently dab away the ash left on her face from the grenade, leaving the dusky skin looking as hale and healthy as ever. She just lies there breathing softly until finally, her body stirs a little. Talia's head moves and then the woman's long, dark lashes flutter and slowly her eyes open.

The clear, beautiful eyes slowly look around the luxuriously appointed bedroom, Talia turns her head eventually seeing the man sitting on the bed beside her, still wearing his Batman costume but for the cowl. Her eyes take in Bruce's face for long moments before finally she gives a soft smile to the man she last saw over a year ago, and on opposite sides of an issue that left them parting on harder terms. "If they are decorating the inside of Arkham to look like this, I think they are being over-funded," she tells him softly. Despite the casual tone and words, Talia's tongue touches her lips, betraying a bit of emotion at the sight of Bruce.

Batman has posed:
"You're in the mansion," Bruce answers, his voice soft and his eyes still rife with concern. There's no need for cloak and dagger here. No disguises. Talia knows all about him already - perhaps more than any other person in the world.

It is a difficult thing to read him, but she is no ordinary woman. His features flash worry, but not just worry about her condition. He worries also about what will happen. Their last meeting was a grave one, and it seemed like if they ever met again it would only end in violence. Yet here and now, it feels as though none of that is possible.

It feels like a million years ago. A young man and a young woman. Desperately in love in the hidden reaches of the world. A mountainside fortress, richly appointed. The smirking face of a man so ancient and inscrutable as to stir a hot lead ball of dread in the sinking parts of Bruce's stomach.

He shakes the image away, instead focusing on Talia before him. But he says nothing more, unable to find the words.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
The woman's expression softenss. "With you," Talia adds softly as she gazes up at Bruce. Her eyes don't want to move away from his face. Maybe she's just afraid to move any part of her. Worried that if she does, whatever managed to bring about this moment might suddenly disappear like a pricked bubble. Popping and returning her from this perfect moment, to some other reality.

Finally she stirs just a bit, eyes slipping from him. A hand goes to her head and there's a slight wince. A brief look of confusion. "Right. Grenade," she says softly as she remembers. Her lithe, shapely body stirs slowly, limbs moving as Talia checks her state. "Wow. It must have been close," she says, a hand going to her chest as if feeling a soreness there. Even with the cloak that was covering her, there are rends in the black silk of her blouse, tears that reveal bits of dusky tanned skin here and there.

"So you saved me," she says, luminous eyes finding his again. She swallows, the emotion of meeting Bruce's gaze telling. Uncertainty creeping in as she remembers how things were left at their last parting.

Batman has posed:
"I've already checked you," Bruce answers in a quiet, deep voice, "a headache, but no injury from what I can tell. Some bruising, maybe some minor fractures. You should be okay."

The emotion of it wells up from some deep, dessicated crack in the depth of his soul. Bubbling out a few droplets at first but growing stronger and stronger, filling him up. The explosion. The fall. All of it could have ended her. If he'd been too slow. If he'd hesitated too long. She would be ...

... dead.

His gloved hand finds her's on the bed, fingers entwining and clasping it tightly. It is a small action, but as his eyes find her he is at once overcome with an immense sense of gratitude. It pours forth, the walls he has built unable to commit it as the mortar splits and breaks. His face drops to her's, his mouth capturing her's in a deep kiss that is both spur of the moment and a long, long time coming.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
That simple little gesture of his hand embracing hers sends scattering all of the anxiousness and fears that Talia did not want to admit had built into a tension inside. But they are pushed aside, as are the binds that had constrained her emotions. Tied in anger after their last meeting, they snap like the most meager bit of string trying to hold back a stampede.

Talia lifts her head to meet Bruce, though it sinks back to the pillow as he leans down further. Lips pressing to his as emotions explode through her with an intensity she'd have never imagined. Her hand lifts to slide up into his hair. Still mussed from being beneath this cowl, Talia's fingers brush through the dark locks as their lips dance a slow, deep passion against one another. She rolls slightly, bringing her body into more contact with his chest as Bruce leans down into the kiss.

All of her fears and pains and worries flee before the rush of emotions that Talia al Ghoul could bottle up temporarily, but never fully suppress.

Batman has posed:
The kiss seems to stretch on forever. It plunges him backwards in his mind, remembering those lost but never forgotten times. Remembering those times where they had hated one another so fiercely, only for it to melt away into something else. Love. Perhaps the only time he had ever truly felt it.

Bruce leans down into Talia, his hand still clasping hers as the other presses into the pillow next to her head. For all the contact she seeks, he seeks it in return. When he finally breaks it, it is to lean back and look at her. Blue eyes sweep over her, a face - a body - that he felt he had almost forgotten only to discover that he never had. Not truly.

"Will you stay?" he asks, as though she were a mere phantom ready to disappear with the graying fingers of dawn creeping over the distant horizon.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia seems to float, the man's body against her, and the curl of her fingers along the back of Bruce's head her only points of anchor that keep her from drifting away to be lost forever in that kiss. When Bruce pulls away, Talia's breath goes with him. She swallows and refills her lungs as she looks up into his eyes.

"Yes," she tells him before she can give the moment thought. After that, her eyes drift away from him as she starts to remember things as her mind reasserts itself after the kiss. "I... don't have anywhere to go," she admits to him quietly.

Talia's eyes go back to his. "But... yes," she tells him again. Her lack of other options not why she said yes. Wanting him to know that.

Batman has posed:
Her words give him pause. His mind is already racing to tie together the various threads she has arrayed before him. Nowhere to go. Who was chasing her? Why? They were skilled fighters. League of Assassins? Has she had a fallen out? Where does the Demon's Head stand in all of this?

But then Bruce's blue eyes find Talia's dark ones, and the detective's train of thought vanishes like smoke. All he sees now is her, all he hears is her willingness to stay. There will be things to discuss later, of course. There is a mystery here that must be solved, and while he can delay it he knows he cannot put it off forever.

But he can delay it.

One gloved hand cups the side of her face, lowering down to kiss her lightly once more upon the lips.

He /can/ delay it.

And he does.