8632/The Tale Of The Hunted

The Tale Of The Hunted
Date of Scene:	02 August 2019
Location:	Wayne Manor
Synopsis:	Bruce finds out Talia is being hunted by former associates set on seizing power. Whether she will accept his protection is up in the air
Cast of Characters:	Talia al Ghul, Batman
Tinyplot:	Hunted Demon

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Talia al Ghul has posed:
Time passes without either Talia or Bruce saying anything. It is the night of her arrival in Gotham on a flight from Kabul. The night that assassins, identities unknown to Bruce, were waiting for her.

They would have succeeded, with a grenade sending her falling off a high-rise. But Batman dove and caught her unconscious body and lowered them both safety on his grapple.

Talia's once nice slacks and blouse still bare the marks of the grenade, though her face was cleaned while she slept in the bed with Bruce sitting at her side. Sloe eyes blink long, soft lashes occasionally as she looks up at Bruce. His offer to stay after hearing she had nowhere to go caused more emotion inside than she had expected.

"Bruce," Talia says softly. "It won't be safe." Her eyes slowly drop from his. "Tonight won't be the last," she says. They wouldn't stop coming, and would not let anyone get in their way. "Perhaps it would be better if I go." He would be safe if she did.

Batman has posed:
"You came to Gotham, Talia. For all intents and purposes, you came to me. Whatever it is that's got you running - whoever those men were - you must have known on some level that you'd be safe here."

Bruce's voice is calm and grave, a baritone that betrays no real emotion or urgency. When spoken in a growl, it is enough to terrify the superstitious and the cowardly. But like this, it can be almost reassuring. The voice of someone in total control, who will face any problem and know what to do. The knight in the dark.

"I won't let you run. Who are they? Tell me, and I can stop them. I will stop them."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia is still lying in the bed, her head back on the pillow. The aspirin or whatever it was they gave her has helped clear her head. She seems to consider Bruce's words. Her eyes drift away from him. "Or maybe I picked Gotham, figuring, it would be the one place I'd feel least safe. I did sort of... shoot you the last time I saw you," she says, eyes staying from him.

Though looking away probably isn't enough to keep Bruce from telling the words are not quite truthful.

She looks back to him, swallowing and betraying the topic of who is after her causes Talia some tension. "Former associates. Ones who figured it was their time. I expected something eventually. But I underestimated them," she says.

Seeing something in Bruce's eyes, Talia shakes her head. "Not the League," she tells him. So someone else gunning for her?

Batman has posed:
Bruce's eyes drift away from Talia to his own leg. In the moment, he remembers the searing white pain - a pain he had long learned and become accustomed to - as the low caliber slug tore through the meat of his calf. The furious look on Talia's face. The agony of making the trek across the rooftops with a gunshot wound in his leg. He glance back up once more to meet her eyes, shaking his head.

"If you were shooting to kill, I'd be dead. That counts for something, at least."

He reaches out to rest a hand on the edge of the bed, not touching her but watching intently as though trying to read every unspoken word written in the language of her body: "If not the League, then who?"

Factional divides amongst the League of Assassins? He should be so lucky. They would pose less of a threat, but nevertheless a greater potential for bloodshed. There was no 'win' there.

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia's eyes drift down to Bruce's leg as his own do. She has the grace to look slightly embarrassed. "I wouldn't have had to if you'd just left the matter alone," she tells him. Though there is no heat at all in her words. A token complaint.

Talia's eyes lift back up to his, looking at him for a moment, her expression softening. "For something, at least," she agrees before letting her eyes drift away from his again.

Her hands come together over her belly. The blankets are pulled down to about her thighs, so the sight of the scorch marks and tears in the silk of her blouse are part of the backdrop of her slightly wringing fingers. "Other associates. I don't imagine you know too much of them," she says. Then after a moment, "Barcelona," she concedes. Bruce probably didn't even realize she knew about his trip to Barcelona.

"My father would try to protect me. But, I'd be too exposed. Some of the associates are in the League as well. But I don't know which I can trust, or not," she admits.

Batman has posed:
There is a subtle note of surprise in Bruce's features, not enough that anyone without an eye for such details would notice it but it is there nonetheless. The mention of Barcelona is a startling revelation. He been keeping track of her too, of course, but sometimes it was easy to forget that this particular blade cut both ways.

He lets the topic of their last meeting drop. Things are left unsaid as they so often are with the pair of them. That seathing resentment mixed with genuine care to such a point now that there is almost no separating one from the other.

"You're safe here," he asserts, "those men on the roof were well-trained, but not enough that we can't hold them off if they come for you."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia al Ghul does seem to note Bruce's surprise, and she even gets a small smile to let him know she noticed. Putting one over on him can be difficult to do, and in this case having made the admission, she might as well milk it. The men in Barcelona, involved in bringing down a corporation. One that uses sweatshop labor and preys on consumers, but then a lot of people would have been hurt as collateral damage had Bruce not stopped them from collapsing the company financially after spotting the issue through some Wayne Enterprises maneuverings.

Talia's thoughts become unreadable again, and turn out to go in a perhaps unexpected direction. "How is Damian? Though I'm sure he must be here with you, he's infuriatingly well trained," she tells him. Of course, she was one of the ones who trained him.

Batman has posed:
"He's you, in many ways," Bruce explains, a faint sigh escaping him, "Independent. Capable. When he came here, I thought it would be to learn - but that which I still have to teach him are skills he doesn't see the merit of. Last we spoke, he was running an op himself. He's been away since then."

While he does not worry for his son's safety in the traditional sense, there is something grave in the way Bruce makes this revelation. But whatever it is, this particular emotion is too unusual and subtle to be properly read. He clears his throat faintly.

"He may want to see you. Though I don't know when he'd get the message, if I sent one."

Talia al Ghul has posed:
Talia's eyes can't hide a little spark of emotion at hearing Damian might want to see her. "I'd like to see him as well. Though I wonder if I should carry a shield with me when I do," she says. "He... went off in directions we did not foresee," she says. The words simple. The understatement complex.

Talia glances about the beautifully appointed room in one of the most luxurious mansions in the country. She knows Bruce's capabilities, yet looking at the doubt in her eyes, one can't help but think she's questioning whether she should be here.

"This... Bruce, maybe it was a mistake for me to come here," she says. "You'll be a target. Damian will be a target," she says, a muscle in her jaw tensing visibly. "I'll have brought down on you..." Talia says, trailing off, and then seeming to make a decision, pushing herself up and beginning to rise, intent on leaving.