9545/Knightfall: Daddy's Fallen Angel

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Knightfall: Daddy's Fallen Angel
Date of Scene: 12 October 2019
Location: The Chain Drive, The Bowery, Gotham City
Synopsis: Damian reminds the Gotham underworld that Batman is still around. Colette shows up and the two share a drink, and many glasses were smashed.
Cast of Characters: Robin (Wayne), Stardust
Tinyplot: Knightfall


Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Things had been rough since the fight between the two iconic heroes of the sister cities. Damian let the Titans know that he was going to have to stay in Gotham for the time being.

  He received his orders from Oracle. He was to make any and all criminals sorry they even thought of bringing their blight to Gotham.

  The Chain Drive was one such hive of scum and villainy, once where the establishment, owned by a local biker gang's president had been filled with people scoring meth and other illicit substances, drinking $1 tallboys and planning a raid on a local pharmaceutical company. Now we're unconscious bodies, blood and viscera around the place, broken bones, and a small fire in the corner. A grenade is thrown on the fire, and a loud hiss rings out, the fire gone, and only frozen Sheetrock left. Damian sidled up to the bar, sitting at a barstool, he'd told Stardust to meet him here, when she'd asked to meet. He looked to that wall of bottles behind the bar, and drew his batclaw, drawing a sealed bottle to himself, and removing the seal that assured this liquid wasn't watered down.

Stardust has posed:
"Well this place is gonna lose a few stars on Tripadvisor." The voice comes through a broken window, Stardust looking in at the devastation. She's upside-down, hanging in the air, with her arms folded. She gives a small nod of her head as if acknowledging something, then enters through the window, ignoring the remaining shards of glass still in the frame. Twisting in the air she drops down to her feet and walks over to the corner with a fire. She inspects the small blaze for a few moments, then shrugs her shoulders and takes a stool beside Damian.

    Stardust raises an eyebrow as she sees Damian with a bottle. The glances down at it pointedly, then sighs, and straightens herself on the seat. She rolls her neck, looks around again, and leans her elbows on the bar, before turning her head to look at Damain.

    "So," Stardust says slowly. "How is he. And how are you?"

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian removed a piece of dull black tape, very small, and stuck it on his mask, in between his eyes. He silenced his mic as well, Oracle and the rest didn't need to know what was going on with him at this moment.

  Robin grabbed two glasses, and uncorked the bottle of whiskey, pouring a shot in each. "Pretty fuckin' bad. I spent a good amount of time performing chest compressions on him." Her other question was simply answered by the speed of which he drank that whiskey, he scooted the other glass towards her.

Stardust has posed:
Stardust takes the glass with a nod of thanks, and downs it in one. Here she is, sitting in a bar drinking legally for the first time in her life, and the bar is on fire. This is her life, now.

    "Gotham's going to explode," she says matter-of-factly. "When people have had time to digest the news." She looks down at the counter and slides the empty glass back towards him. "Tell me I guessed wrong that your heart is torn between being at his side and paralyzing the underworld with fear."

    Stardust tilts her head towards Damain, and as she does so her costume changes. White becomes black, hardened plates. Cruel spikes grow out from her elbows and shoulders. Damian has seen this costume once before, when Stardust had gone undercover with a gang smuggling Apokolyptan tech. "Family comes first. But you have friends too. Say the word, and if you want to be by his side I'll fuck this town over for you."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "The Batman is fine." Damian says, pouring more whiskey. "Who else could do this?" He raises the glass to the bar, taking that drink. "Gotham cannot be without The Batman." He comments, looking to Stardust's new, old costume. "You should keep it. Oh, and guess what happens when you mix an Apokolips crystal with a Robin." He asks, slamming the glass in his hand, to his forehead, the glass shatters in a hail of shards, not one of them harming Damian whatsoever.

Stardust has posed:
    Robin's performance earns a long hard stare from Stardust. And the kind of long pause that those who know her know internal conversations are happening. "That sounds incredibly dangerous," she concludes aloud. "Have you noticed any unexpected... uh... time going strangely? Jumping?" She shifts her stool slightly further away. "Been glowing any?" Another thought strikes. "Are you bullet proof, now?"

    Stardust leans back and shakes her head. "It'll get out. Someone will see something they shouldn't. Word will get around. Will it earn you enough time? Batman isn't the only thing that goes bump in the night. You may need a distraction."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "No. Just strength, flight, and speed. Just like...when I almost died." He commented, looking to Colette.

  "He's in a coma, yet he knew what could happen to himself. He gave us all instructions. And as soon as a suit can be made...Robin and the rest of us are keeping these people at bay. Like I said, The Batman is fine." He grabs another glass from the stack at the bar, throwing it behind him when it doesn't pass his inspection, crashing and breaking. Another is reached, and inspected, passing. He pours two more shots, one for him, another for Stardust. "He gave specific instructions, and supers around here would bring more supers, exasperate the whole situation."

Stardust has posed:
    Stardust takes the second glass with another nod, and rolls it around on the bar counter idly, watching the drink slosh around. She's being unusually efficient with her words today. "If you need a little flight coaching, just ask. And how does 'exasperate the whole situation' sit with a Super Robin?"

    She doesn't wait for an answer for that one. "There's an alternative. If needed. Thing about superpowers is they don't have to be obvious. Flying around with a cape is obvious. Superpowers don't need to be used in a way that smells of super. But it sounds like you guys have a contingency plan. Of course. I promise not to interfere if it doesn't all go horribly wrong."

    Stardust picks her glass and holds it up, looking to Damian. "In the meantime, if you need a bit of extra muscle, call me. I'll stick to walking. I'll even wear a ballistic vest and just be reeeeal lucky nothing hit me anywhere else. " She raises the glass. "To your old man. "

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian's brow raised and nodded to Stardust, probably the most trusted Titan on the roster in his eyes. "That's why I'm not using them. I only stabbed myself with that crystal...to save him. And even then, I only was working off a hypothesis. The powers, don't last long. A week last time. I have been thinking of trying to keep them under wraps, even now...I still am wearing my armor."

  "I'll keep you in mind. I...have been trying to stay away from home. Keep my mind off it." He raises his glass and clinks it with Colette. "To the old man." He responds, knocking back the glass and throwing it against a wall.

Stardust has posed:
    Damian's glass is soon followed by Colette's, smashing into the wall just beside the mark his own glass had left. "It's why I stayed, you know. Remember when I was talking about leaving. You're my friends. That's what stopped me. You, Vorp... Rae in some twisted way. Even Moon Moon, God help me. I guess I've kind of been realizing how... meaningless my friendships were, until the Titans. Gotta be honest, since that message I've been... I was worried for you. You need something from me, you ask. Okay?"

    "And then there's Superman." She folds her hands in her lap, looking down at them. "I mean what the hell? Do I even want to know? Um. If it helps. Kryptonian physiology... cell structure is different. Something about the cell walls acting as a kind of... uh... quantum filter. It's possible to radioactively interfere with the way the cells absorb energy. There's a naturally occurring mineral that disrupts their... spooky alien photosynthesis or whatever. Might be hard to locate, but..."

    That might have been valuable information, a few years ago. Damian hasn't actually mentioned Kryptonite to her, though.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian gave a nod, the smashed glass and the chaos that was once The Chain Drive was crazy, but it sent a message to the underworld. "I will keep that in mind." The last touch of this was one piece, Damian took out a small can from his belt, and started shaking, the marble in the can rattled and mixed the contents. "Kryptonite. It weakens Kryptonians, poisons them. Theoretically, if exposed to the radiation for an extended period, it can kill them."

  On the wall of the bar, Damian started spraying in golden yellow, an arch on either side, then points on the underside, and two sharp ears on top. The symbol was undeniable, it was the symbol on Batman's chest. This was the message he wanted to send, Batman is not gone, he isn't away, and he will CERTAINLY not rest easy.

Stardust has posed:
    "Kryptonite," Stardust repeats. "Well that's imaginative. But of /course/ you'd know about it already. Well that saves me worrying about the moral quandry of whether I should have told you. Have you figured out how to synthesize the effect yet? Apparently it would be possible to generate a kind of... laser. Coherent quantum superpos... I'm told it's beyond Earth science by a few centuries. But the metal salt is... Kryptonite is..." the words fizzle out and Stardust watches Damian's paintwork in silence for a few moments.

    When he's finished, she sighs slightly. "You have some, don't you? Or Bats does, anyway. Too methodical not to. So, you never did tell me. With Red X. What you were planning on that island for me. My guess is something involving directed shockwaves. But I still think you've got a file somewhere with my name on it that is annoyingly empty."

    Stardust hops up off her bar stool and goes to stand beside Damian, looking at the symbol as if contemplating an artwork in a gallery. "You know. If you're doing this. If you're keeping the legend and the fear going as if nothing had happened. That means you guys are going to have to play everything very strictly by /his/ rules. Or people will know."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian shrugs, looking to Colette and staying simply. "Kryptonite is exceptionally rare. We only had it to keep out of hands that shouldn't. And then, he used it. All of it."

  Robin then looks back to that symbol, and around to the unconscious bodies around him. "They are all alive. That was his only rule. Just now I don't have a leash on me." Damian wants nothing more than to have killed every single one of these criminals, even more so than before now.

Stardust has posed:
    "And it never occurred to you that you could break it down and render it inert as a much more effective way to keep it out of the wrong hands," Stardust says with a cynical smirk. "There was never any thought that it would be a good idea to have some around just in case." She flashes Damian a wink then goes over to one of the unconscious bodies and poke it with a toe.

    "If you don't have a leash on now, but did before, then someone smart is going to notice. If the Bat is still around, then the Bat's rules still apply." Stardust moves around the interior of the building, inspecting the ruined decor as she talks. "You know what I'd do? You need to keep people off balance. Don't give them time to question thing. Set up a Big Bad for..." airquotes "...Batman to fight. Everyone's nervous, and you can get away with extra collateral damage."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "I'm sure it did. But he kept it around...for that exact purpose." Robin answers, then posing a question of his own. "He left us all a message. I do not understand what he sent me." Damian turns and faces Colette, his Robin R glinting in the dull electric light. "The bulk of it is a Walt Whitman stanza. I still do not know what it means. It's the second stanza of 'As I Wonder'd In Silence'."

  "What big bad? You mean setting up Red X in Gotham?"

Stardust has posed:
    "Yeah. Or no," Colette prevaricates. "I mean something like that, but probably not actually Red X. Some Titan might give the game away, but that's the general idea. Someone who appears to be a new enemy for the Bat, but gives the bad guys something else to worry about. Someone you can use to fill in any corners where fear of the Bat might slip out with a bit of extra fear of something else. And a reason for the Bat to appear a bit distracted. What's your mom up to these days?"

    Colette walks over to the bar, vaults it, and starts looking at the rack of bottles behind it. "I don't think I know that one," she says, picking up one bottle after another and letting them drop to the ground in a crash of glass and a growing pool of cheap booze. "Can you quote it? Though Vorp's probably the one to ask. He's quite a literary cat."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "She's currently doting on him, while he is in a coma." Damian comments, looking at the female Titan as she smashes gut rot booze onto the floor. "I too haughty Shade also sing war, and a longer and greater one
than any,
Waged in my book with varying fortune, with flight, advance and
retreat, victory deferr'd and wavering,
Yet methinks certain, or as good as certain, at the last, the field
the world,
For life and death, for the Body and for the eternal Soul,
Lo, I too am come, chanting the chant of battles,
I above all promote brave soldiers."

  "Why do you bring up my mother?"

Stardust has posed:
    A crease of recognition crosses Stardust's forehead at the words of the poem. "Oh. That one. Yeah, we did it at school." She sighs slightly, and having found a bottle that finally seems to meet her approval, unshoulders her backpack and slips the bottle in. Apparently Stardust is not above a bit of looting. "I wasn't the best student you know," she admits with a sigh. "I'm sure that'll come as a shock to you. I kind of felt there were better things to do with my life than learning literature. But... huh. I guess he's... as I remember it, it's a poem about poetry. He was saying that he wrote about life, not about the epic struggles and wars that classical poets wrote about. But that he viewed life as being an epic struggle itself. So the longer and greater war... is people living their lives. Facing the good and the bad, the twists and turns of every day life, and coming out... good. Being a good person, despite the odds."

    Stardust vaults back over the bar, this time stopping to sit on the edge of it and look at Damian. "I think he's trying to remind you that his fight isn't the only fight. Isn't even the biggest and most important fight. My opinion, he's saying he has regrets, and doesn't want you to let his battles consume you the way they have consumed him. He wants you to remember to live your life, and is scared he hasn't told you that enough." She looks away thoughtfully. "I may have misjudged him a little," she concedes.

    Stardust hops down off the bar. "There are a million reasons it could be a terrible idea," she says. "But it occurs to me that your mom might be in a position to be that fake Big Bad." She gives a shrug, then shoulders her backpack again.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "Mother is also in the middle of a coup. Someone associated with the League wants her dead. They don't know we have her."

  Damian stows the can of paint and readies to leave the scene. "I'll have to ask him myself, if he ever wakes up." A little bleak, but he also didn't think his father wouldn't wake, eventually.

Stardust has posed:
"Not your mom then," Stardust agrees with a nod. Surprisingly, she doesn't offer to go sort out this League threat for him. "Still, it's a solid plan. You can't ensure a perfect continuity. You can create a believable reason that's under your control which will cover up the... anomalies. And give you more room to operate. Think about it, talk it over with your brothers maybe.

    Stardust walks through the debris, glass crunching underfoot. She makes to pat Damian on the shoulder, pulls her hand away quickly as if stung, then changes her mind and goes ahead and pats anyway. "Chin up, kiddo. Your old man is made of rocks. I'm sure even Superman can only slow him down for a while. He'll be okay." She rises gently off the ground, drifting slowly towards the door. "In the meantime, I've got your back. You know how to contact me if you need something punched. Or just... a friend to talk to."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian doesn't reel back like he once did at human contact. In fact, he reaches for the hand and squeezes once. "I will keep that in mind, Stardust." He says with a small smile. At least he found a small respite from the gloom around the Manor, for now at least.