9345/Safe House

Safe House
Date of Scene:	28 September 2019
Location:	Matches Malone's Safehouse, Bronx, NY.
Synopsis:	Julia and 'Matches' Malone get ready to leave the safehouse and take on Bane.
Cast of Characters:	Batman, Stockholm

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Batman has posed:
Matches Malone did just what he told Stockholm he would. He brought her to a safehouse across the river from Gotham and asked her to stay put, coming by often but generally disappearing for great lengths of time. The locking fixtures were advanced, but not beyond Julia's expansive talents. It's almost as though he thought of this when preparing the place, as the locks tend to come away rather than simply break.

The safehouse itself is modestly appointed. There's a television, some LexCorp-brand game console wired into it with a few discs in plastic cases lining a shelf alongside it in the tv cabinet. There's a kitchenette, a bathroom, and a bedroom. There's a WayneTech laptop with a connection to the internet as well, although the connection has a bad habit of dropping whenever it's used to venture too far afield - for example, looking up flights out of the country. It's located in what looks to be an abandoned apartment building, which makes the fact that the safehouse itself has running water and electricity all the more impressive.

Stockholm has posed:
Julia went along with it, she was pretty zen and centered after the breakout. If still pretty roughed up and with a broken arm.

She had ... an inkling even then that something wasn't quite what it appeared. Mostly because the odds of two people having this kind of effect on her are not that high at all. Low really. Like only one person ever and now another person inside a month?

So while she did test all the limits, check the locks, fiddle with the WayneTech laptop, and such to see what options are. She doesn't seem to have been pushing it too hard in any attempt to escape.

The four weeks in the pretty well stocked safe house are pretty good recovery time. They bring her broken arm up to two months, eight weeks, she is actually healed which is awesome at this point. Also the gunshot is as well.

Tonight finds her surfing on the laptop, looking at exotic South Amercan countries and continuing her haphazard research into Bane. To be truthful she has done a lot so now it is just background country research really.

Batman has posed:
Matches' visits to the safehouse have been relatively few and far between. Usually it's just to bring supplies and check that everything is in order. Their conversations have been incredibly sparse, and he's always seem like he has somewhere else he needs to be. Julia could likely count on one hand the amount of times she's seen him since she got here.

So, when the lock turns on the door to the place, it's a little surprising. Matches steps in with a canvas back in one hand, closing the door behind him and moving towards the kitchen to unload the contents. More food, more supplies, more movies to watch by the look of it.

"Sorry, I got caught up with somethin'," he tells her as he fills the cupboards, "You ready to take that cast off yer arm?"

Stockholm has posed:
Counting on one hand, still that is a lot of data for someone with Julia's skills.

No one should claim while she didn't try to break out for real that the month here was all puppies and posies.

The survielance shows night terrors (bad ones) and episodes where she sometimes talks to hersef about Arkham and Batgirl. Which provides al ot of data in return. The longer she spends with her own demons alone between those visits from Matches the worse she seems to get.

When he comes in she tenses and looks like if she had a gun to draw, she probably would have drawn it. Hard to say if she would have shot it. But once he is in and putting away supplies and movies, she calms. Like little ticks in a clock unwinding as she watches him work from the couch.

"So so ready.. it itches and I can't wait to take a shower without plastic over it." she slides to her feet with a lot of grace. "Does this mean we are finally getting this show on the road then?"

Batman has posed:
"I'll bet," Matches commiserates, still not looking away from where he loads the last of the groceries into one of the cabinets, "I brought my kit."

He reaches into the same canvas bag now, producing what looks like a brown leather doctor's bag that would be a more common sight fifty years ago. He opens it and pulls out a few things, including what look like a pair of steel shears.

"Almost ready," he admits, "A few more things to hammer down. But you bein' healed up is a big part of it. Boss didn't want you doing anything while you still needed to recover."

Stockholm has posed:
Julia meanders over and then turns and hops up to sit on the counter and be more eye to eye with Matches now. "I imagine he doesn't want me tangling with Bane with a broken arm yup... that guy laid into your boss like nothing else so tip top healthy fighting shape it is."

Pauses.

"Otherwise just a liability."

"Those look ancient... I figured one of those safety saws that emergency rooms use.. but sure.. serial killer looking shears it is." she holds her arm up now.

Batman has posed:
"They belonged to someone important to me," Matches explains, taking the offered arm gingerly in the palm of one hand, "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."

And he does. He begins to cut away at the plaster, the strength of him surprising even given his size. He doesn't struggle, rending it easily and pulling it away as he does so. It doesn't take long before it's all gone, dropped into the sink with a clatter.

He keeps a hold of her arm, examining it carefully and bending it a few times while looking up to her face to gauge her reaction.

"How does that feel?"

Stockholm has posed:
May not have superhuman healing, durability, or endurance. But she is at the peak of her form and has been eating great and resting a lot. That and well she is a bit of a metahuman.

Her arm bends and moves like it should. There is a bit of muscle tone loss from not using it all these months but it is her off hand, though well she doesn't ever seem to have an off hand. Slightly mildly less dominant perhaps.

No flinching or expressions of pain.

If anything she seems much more chill and normal with the contact of his hands.

"Feels great Doc Malone." teasing just a touch, but it seems genuinely good natured. "This vacation has been fantastic really.. club med." a glance though to the medical case then back up. "Thanks... and mmmm Tell your boss thanks." she puts some inflection on it, hinting a bit.

Batman has posed:
"You can tell him yourself," Matches says with a shrug, "He'll probably come by. Now that you're on the mend and out of Arkham, he's probably going to wanna start working with you himself. I was just the middle man to make sure you stayed put while you rested up."

He seems satisfied with the progress of her arm, letting it go and taking the shears over towards the sink to wash them. He turns the water on, glancing back slightly over his shoulder as he does.

"Sorry it ain't the Park Hyatt or whatever. Had to keep you somewhere you weren't gonna raise any curiosity."

Stockholm has posed:
"I mean this place should raise some questions, but connections do wonders...." referencing the condomned building but working power and water and all that. It should cause suspicion but well connections like she says, or secretly tapping lines.

"I look forward to your bosses visit... honestly I am itching to take care of this business and see about promises made and if they are kept." she slides off the counter working her arm over herself now. "So gross everytime." she pops her elbow in the efforts, but not in a bad way just limbering up. "I have a lot of lost time with this... don't suppose I could get some throwing knives to practice with?"

Batman has posed:
"I don't think he'd like that," Matches answers, looking at her with slightly-narrowed eyes, "And I don't wanna answer to him when he tells me he came to see you and you tried to gut him. He's not that forgiving of a boss, lady."

He begins to put the tools away back in the carry case, eyes flitting up to her as he does: "I can get you some weights, maybe? Get that arm back up to scratch. Maybe somethin' like VR to practice with?"

Stockholm has posed:
"Weights are probably just fine. I mean I had to ask." she smiles and walks towards the bathroom now. "If I am honest, muscle memory and all with me... I pick stuff up really fast and it never really leaves. I don't get rusty."

She picks up a lot of stuff that doesn't leave.

"So yeah gaining the muscle back should be good enough... then we can make Bane and his gang pay for their crimes."

Batman has posed:
"Good."

The leather case now packed up and the groceries stowed, he takes a quick look around to see if there's anything else that needs doing. Or anything that might be out of place.

"I'll bring some weights by tomorrow, then. I'm in town for the rest of the week, so I'll try to come by every night. He'll be around at some point but - you know how he is. He doesn't exactly keep to a schedule."

Stockholm has posed:
She is washing her arm off carefully in the sink but listening all the same now.

"I am starting to understand just how he is I think... and his schedule is nocturnal." amusement there.

"Huh.. Bane pay for his crimes.. the irony in that statement.. but then again Bane seems sane not certifiable... so I suppose his thugs are responsible for their actions and so is he." she sounds thoughtful as she walks out toweling off her arm.

"I want him to pay for his crimes but I don't want to kill them... weird."

Batman has posed:
"Yeah," Matches says airily, moving towards the door and giving Stockholm a curious look. His brow furrows, his mouth sets in a grim line that would be all too familiar with a cowl over it. It quickly fades away, replaced by the more down-to-earth expression that he adopts for this identity.

"You're startin' to sound familiar."

Stockholm has posed:
The walking path takes her towards the kitchen, she makes sure the cast is in the garbage and starts rummaging to check out supplies. "Oh, familiar to who?"

She pulls out some rice and then gets some supplies from the fridge to make herself dinner. Nothing fancy, cooking is not one of her many skills she has learned from people watching, she manages basically. Honestly she should spend a week in a high end restaraunt and pick up some skills.

"Thanks for everything though seriously. This has been a good month."

Batman has posed:
"Punishin' criminals, not killin'," Matches explains, a faint quirk at the side of his mouth giving the ghost of a smile, "You sound like the Bat."

That said, he moves to the apartment door and opens it again. Outside, in stark constrast to the interior, the hallway is rotted and burnt out in places. It really is like a gateway to some other, ruined world.

"You're welcome. You just let me know if you need me to come back with anythin' else. Otherwise, I'll see ya tomorrow."

Stockholm has posed:
Julia walks to lean in the kitchen doorway. "Hmm. We haven't talked that much. I always imagined a lot more silent judgement.. but I suppose he does what he does to punish not to kill or there would be a whole lot more dead criminals."

"I was a cop. I always wanted to be a cop... so yeah I'm not really surprised when my head is clear I sound more like Batman than the Joker." a light shake of her head. "Thanks. See you tomorrow."

She ducks back into the kitchen now.