8840/Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen.

From United Heroes MUSH
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen.
Date of Scene: 17 August 2019
Location: Arkham Asylum, The Narrows
Synopsis: Batman visits Julia in Arkham and at the end of it plans to break her out? WTH?
Cast of Characters: Stockholm, Batman




Stockholm has posed:
August so far has been shaping up to be a horrible month.

Bat home invasion and dognapping with a side of sudden feelings and sanity.

Attempt on her life by a man in a mask which got her framed as an escape attempt and a whole lot more charges. Also a severe beating by the GCPD.

Joker going extra crazy on her last night and the effects still lingering pretty hard.

At least there is air conditioning.

Which leads to Friday Night and Julia flat on her back in her cell, not on the bed but on the floor staring at the ceiling. The glass wall in front of her, with door, not being paid much attention to. She just seems lost in her own thoughts there, arm still in a cast, a myriad of little bruises and cuts fading but a couple of stitches remaining.

Batman has posed:
When the lights go out, it is with the solemn industrial 'thunk' of a heavy switch being flung somewhere in the depths of Arkham. The pitch darkness only fills the hall outside Stockholm's cell for a second, before a corresponding sound brings the light back with an electrical hum.

Except now the Batman looms there, dark and forbidding. Even in the antiseptic fluorescent light he seems to be ensconced in shadow, only the faint blue-grey outlines of his cape and cowl along with the baleful white gleam of his eyes are visible.

"Julia," his voice is grave and serious, somewhat muffled by the glass that makes up the front wall of her cell.

Stockholm has posed:
Julia blinks at the lights going out. "This. Had. Best. Not. Be. Another. Attempt." she is right sick of the idea. As Joker put it my first hit, but reversed, congrats you are a real villain or something. It doesn't feel like success, it feels like being shot then beat by cops whom you may have formerly worked with.

Then it comes on and the grave serious voice of Batman is heard. That gets another blink and she lets her head loll to the side to stare at him through the glass. "Well either this is actually Batman or another hit. Jury is still very much out about this Bats." the way she says Bats is actually reminiscent of The Joker of all things. "Here to scold me for filing a 'false' police report?"

Batman has posed:
"What did you do, Julia?"

The Bat's tone is not one of terrifying intimidation. It is deep, as it always is, but he seems to be doing his best to be even and calm. There's no trace of the adversarial, instead questioning her as a cop might interview a witness rather than a suspect.

"I need to know what made those men try to kill you."

Stockholm has posed:
She just stares making eye contact with the cowled figure outside her cell. "I was probably a bad and horrible person and fucked with someone I shouldn't have.. or maybe should have.... I hear there is a hit on me now."

Then a little shudder starts to run through her and she closes her eyes and reaches up and covers her face with her hand.

The next moment despite her broken arm she is rolling up to her feet and stepping close to the glass, almost leaving a nose print on it as she stares. "Closer" she urges now not blinking.

Batman has posed:
For a moment, the Batman does not move. Even as Julia presses against the glass, he stays where he is a good foot back from the wall. He's been in places like this before, experienced the kind of violence a mind deprived of all distractions and given a bounty of time can concoct.

"And me," he says of the hit list, "Whoever tried to kill you wants to make sure I don't interfere again."

He takes a step closer to the glass, head tilted slightly so the forehead of his cowl is only a scant inch away from it.

"These things don't just happen out of nowhere. Do you remember anyone or anything unusual?"

Stockholm has posed:
She watches staring. "I mean, isn't everyone trying to kill you. I know the Joker wants to try again because someone else actually kicked your ass." there is a pause "Do you know who the guy in the mask was?" there is a small tik by her eye.

When Batman steps in closer though, just an inch from the glass the tik stops and she blinks for the first time, and then rests her forehead against the glass taking a deep breath and then lets it out.

Softer tone and cadence. "My whole life is an unusual mess Batman." slow breath "I imagine it is because the people I work for right now want to decimate the Hook trade. They don't like it muscling in on their turf from what I can piece together. I mean it is that or the Foot is mad because the Joker had me steal one of their coins for him. I doubt that though."

Tension seems to be hiccuping out of the woman.

Batman has posed:
"He's an assassin named Bane," Batman explains of the man in the mask, "Likely an assassin with a fractured clavicle." It's true that Bane hit hard, but the Bat did manage to hit him back.

By now, he is as close to the glass as he can get without touching it. The smallest fraction of space and a glass wall separating them.

"Hook. That's the most solid lead. These contracts aren't just focused on Gotham, they're up and down the East Coast. I suspect whoever put these contracts on us considers us a threat. You because you were disrupting their work, me because I kept them from killing you."

Stockholm has posed:
She rests her head there against the glass just breathing slowly. "Bane. Okay. I wasn't kidding about that madman the Joker being upset at Bane and you for it not being him, I think he is going to be breaking out sooner now. He got really riled when I told him." there is a pause "Sorry."

"Hook yes. New York was the Foot but Metropolis was this guy named the Darkness and also the Light. They wanted the MD12s out of the Hook business and hired me to capture some workers while they took out the dealers." which definitely made the news, those warehouse gang warfare in Gotham. "The drug is really something unusual and a lot of very powerful criminals don't want it in their cities."

Her tone is conversational. Helpful even.

Batman has posed:
The thought crosses the transom for a moment. The notion of the Joker tracking down Bane and killing him, or vice versa - or perhaps they'd kill each other. After all that's happened, it's difficult for him to feel a real desire to stop that. If two cancer cells choose to destroy each other, then so be it.

But that's not how he works and he can't allow it.

"Julia," he uses her name, her real name - not the carnival sideshow moniker, "I want to get Hook off the streets, too. If there's a chance that our causes can align here - that you can help me, and I can help you? I have to take it."

Stockholm has posed:
"The computer person said the same thing. They want me to make a call and find out more information about hook. Said they would perhaps see if I was let out to help take down Bane." soft words.

"It is so bad and loud in here Batman but I'm not sure anyone should really let me out there. I keep hurting people out there. I might be able to get information though about Hook and give it to you not just the computer. Though I imagine they are going to just break me out of here soon." she looks up through her bangs at Batman and his cowled visage. "I want to help." she really seems to mean it to.

"Not sure I can though.. it's quiet right now but it won't last and then I'll go back to thinking about serving the chefs family to the inmates here and having him have a break down and even if it is manwiches and not sloppy joes no one deserves that. Not even the Joker..." okay she sounds like she may start crying.

Batman has posed:
For all the grief Stockholm has caused not just to him but those in his family, these are the moments where Batman finds it truly difficult to hate her. So many years spent convincing himself that the criminals were the predators, and then one comes along to show that they might just be the victims after all.

"I need you to hold on," the Dark Knight answers, "whatever it is that has you here and present right now? Keep your grip on it. I know you can help, Julia. You will. We'll find wherever this Hook is coming from and stop the flow for good. And then we'll help you."

A promise he didn't want to make. A promise he wasn't certain he could keep. But in the end, he couldn't help but promise her that little glimmer of hope.

Stockholm has posed:
A little sad hiccup of breath as she tries very hard to not cry. "The Light wants Hook gone from all the major cities. When someone breaks me out I know I can and probably will just get more information on it since the war seems to be esclating."

A shuddery breath which isn't her having an episode, it is just her trying to focus on Batman and hold her shit together. "I want to hold on. I really do. I just don't know how... I'm dangerous..." she bites her lower lip. "Did you tell my parents.. you promised you would. They can't visit I know .. this place.. someone would hurt them.. but did you?"

Batman has posed:
For a moment, Batman thinks back to the visit with Stockholm's parents shortly after she was sent to Arkham. Dismissive. The way her father had been staunch about disowning her, rejecting the idea that she could change or even have remorse for her actions. He'd not visited them as Batman - that would be too much - but rather in disguise as one of the Arkham psychiatric staff, Dr. Paul Grant. He had hoped for a more understanding reception, in truth. Still, this was one of those occasions where the truth would cut deeper than a lie.

"They'll understand in time," he says quietly, "I told them you were sorry. That what you're doing isn't you but a sickness you're suffering from. I think they'll need time before they understand it, but I told them."

He turns his head slightly, looking to one of the security cameras that quite coincidentally ceased to work when Batman set foot in the corridor.

"Oracle - the computer - will keep their word. If you help us, we'll help you. More than just getting you out of here."

Stockholm has posed:
"I don't understand it.. not sure how they could." she is insightful really. She swallows the tears that have been threatening her finally and steels herself a bit more. Her good hand reaches up and splays on the glass. "Thank you though.. you didn't need to do it." but he did and he kept his word.

"Good to know. I'll try to get the information. I can't login from here but there is a burner number I can call like Oracle said.. lawyer call. I can't do anything though on the inside. I don't want out though." she considers. "Pretty sure Harley will be trying to break me out.. she owes me for breaking her out. The Light though.. they will probably beat her to it. That or just liquidate me. They are serious. Big guns. Big hardware. Lots of resources. It's ridiculous really."

Batman has posed:
"If we're going to get you out, it needs to look like a breakout," Batman offers, momentarily struck by the notion of breaking anyone out of Arkham, "Harley will cause too much collateral damage, and the Light run the risk of trying to kill you, like you said. I'll give Oracle the go ahead to start the ball rolling from this end. When the time comes, there'll be a sign. You'll know it's me. Follow it, use the opportunity. But remember - we do not kill. I'll clear the way for you, but if I sense for even a second you're going a direction that I don't want ... "

He lets the word hang in the air. It doesn't feel good to threaten her when she's in this state, but there's a lot about being Batman that doesn't feel good.

"I'll give you a means to contact us, and a means for me to track you. Do you accept those terms, Julia?"

Stockholm has posed:
She starts trembling. "I... " she shakes her head. "It won't work.. I want this to work but it won't work. They will come back and then I'll be them and it won't work Batman..." she bangs her head lightly against the 'glass'. She still isn't having a fit or anything, it seems to be despair and frustration.

"If it is one of the bad ones I won't be able to not kill someone... I'm not me.. I'm them.. and they drown me under their weight. I want to stop but they weigh so much more... they set up house."

A huff "I don't know if that makes sense .. but it is the best words I have for it.. I want to help but it won't be safe. It just won't be safe. I can't make that promise because I know I will probably break it and I don't want to lie right now... I lie to much."

Batman has posed:
"I need you to trust me, Julia," Batman uses her name again, an old negotiator's trick that she likely is all too familiar with from her time in law enforcement, "I have a plan. I know you're afraid of what will happen. What you might do. But you know me well enough now to know that my plans work."

His brow furrows and his mouth twists into a grim line. He's wrestling with something internally, and it must be a truly titanic battle if he cannot keep it from manifesting on his face.

"I have to go. For now, I want you to try and stay in your cell as much as you can. Avoid the other inmates."

Stockholm has posed:
"Okay." she whispers "There are group therapy sessions... " she considers "But if I hurt someone they will make me stay like solitary for a week or so at least." working out how to stay in her cell. She doesn't at all sound like she is relishing hurting anyone which is quite unusual.

"I'll try." she finally says. Then her hand goes back up to the glass again fingers spread like she is just trying to .. be close. Steady breathing.

Batman has posed:
"I'm putting a lot of faith in you. Now you have faith in me."

That said, Batman turns and begins to stalk down the corridor. A moment later the lights black out again, and when they return he has gone. Somewhere outside, half-concealed in the night, the Dark Knight lifts a hand to the earpiece of his cowl. A decision has been made. Whether or not it's the right one - well, there's only one way to find out.

"Oracle, I need you to pull Matches Malone out of mothballs. Put together a data trail for activity on the west coast. An arrest warrant from the star City PD that might send him back to Gotham."

A pause.

"And get on to your people. We'll need someone to pick up the slack here."

Stockholm has posed:
When the light goes out she shudders a bit. Then it comes back up and she is trembling. "fuck... fuck... fuck..." is muttered and caught on the cameras. "Don't go." she hisses and then just grips at the glass with her free hand.

The grip gets scrambly against the glass "No.. no no no...." she is back in the soup of it, there are cells behind the other walls. Ones above her to. Arkham swims with it all for the empath.

"No!" and she cracks her forehead against the glass wall. Hard enough to knock herself out.... sliding to the floor and leaving some blood on the glass.