9627/Knightfall: Checking In

Knightfall: Checking In
Date of Scene:	17 October 2019
Location:	Markovia Station, Old Gotham
Synopsis:	Kitty pays Jason a visit at the Red Cave. They catch up and find out that even without being a couple they'll always be a part of each other's lives.
Cast of Characters:	Red Hood, Shadowcat

---

Red Hood has posed:
It was morning and for what? Two days? Maybe three? Jason hasn't slept, since he got back to Gotham he's been powered entirely by No-Doze, Monster, and take out, with a heavy dose of trying to stay ahead of thinking about Bruce. The evidence of his lifestyle is all around the Red Cave, take out boxes, crushed cans of Monster, an ashtray full of cigarettes, and half-empty bottle of No-Doze pills.

There's other signs of Jason being a busy boy as well, crates of Bat Gear have been set up in a roughly organized fashion while his computer screens display survielance footage of a couple of gang hangouts in his new territories, with a list of names scrawled on a note pad in front of those screens.

At the moment though, Jason is working on his car, his '68 Mustang, with the usual Bat upgrades, he's dressed in the Red Hood suit, minus the helmet and domino mask and his phone, set on the hood of the car, is blasting out Sick Puppies' 'You're Going Down'.

Shadowcat has posed:
It can seem silly the amount of thought that people put into certain things when it comes to relationships, and former relationships. Like whether to wear a certain ring on her necklace, as she often has when coming to Gotham since. Or put it in her pocket. Kitty chose the latter. Whether to wear a new, much simpler ring that has gained a place on her finger, or leave that in a pocket too. She choose the former for that one.

There might be notice of her arrival, though if so it's someone who knows the proper security for entry. Rather than drive right there, Kitty takes the stairs down to it from the church above. The same stairs she chased Jason down after he beat senseless a pair of would-be muggers who had assaulted them in the park. A trip down the stairs that had opened up Kitty's awareness to the realities of Jason's life as a vigilante.

She reaches the bottom, and gives a loud knock on something that will reverberate to carry the sound across the expansive former subway station. "Anyone home?" she calls out. "I come bearing Big Belly Burger," Kitty says, a bag of greasy fast food in hand. No doubt it'll have Jason's favorites from the place in it.

Red Hood has posed:
Speaking of a silly amount of thought. Jason had wrote, deleted, wrote again, delted again about fifty text messages to Kitty before getting back to Gotham. They ranged, from a simple 'I'm back, oh hey, Tim wants you to break into Superman's tomb' to longer more complicated ones with apologies and explanations... In the end he didn't send any of them, hell he hadn't worked up the nerve to ask Babs or Carrie how she was.

Like he said, silly.

Hearing Kitty's voice Jason freezes with the nut on the oil pan halfway screwed on. Though it's only for a second, he twists the wrench hard to put the nut in place, then with a push of his hands he slides out from under the car on a dolly with a grin on his face.

"Hey," he says pushing a filthy hand through the unwashed tangle of his hair and getting to his feet. He spots the burgers, and the ring, but comments opts to comment on the burgers, "If there's a Double Belly Burger and chicken fries in there, you're a goddess."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty lets out a soft breath of air in a scoffing noise. "Of cource I'm a goddess," she says in a casual tone for her. She crosses over to set the bag down near to Jason, though eyeing his hands. "Not sure if they go well with that kind of grease though," she tells him.

Kitty moves and takes a seat at the computer, glancing it over to see if there were any upgrades done since she's been here last. The memory of her second visit to Markovia Station flits through Kitty's head. She'd showed up with a bunch of equipment to surprise upgrade Jason's system. Only to find it was a very modest upgrade instead of the huge one she'd expected to make. And what she thought would be a little 20 minute hack to break in deep enough to do the install, had taken all night and most of the next morning.

Barbara earned Kitty's respect that night. And when Barbara saw the upgrades that went in without her being alerted, the same was given back by the redhead.

Kitty pushes that memory out of her head. "I was glad to find out Bruce was stable. I wasn't able to be around when it all went down. We had a big raid on the Sentinels," she says, not wanting Jason to think she'd not cared enough to be there with his family. "Had a lead on the giant Sentinel factory the FoH were using. Plus Sebastion, that cyborg Sentinel from the future. Were able to destroy both. I didn't find out about Bruce until later," she says, frowning.

Red Hood has posed:
Jason glances at his hands and gives concedes her point with a grin. "Yeah, let me wash up," he says, no move to hug her or anything of the sort but again, hands.

He heads to the sink while Kitty heads to the computer and gets scrubbing. "Babs is throwing a few more upgrades my way, plus," and he frowns as he says it, as if still looking unsure. "Tying me in with the other Bats' systems."

Hands clean, he turns off the water and dries them off on his pants as he goes for the food, the smell of it was reminding him just how starving he was.

"Yeah, I was out of town too, trying to get payback on a guy who doesn't really matter, but yeah, didn't hear about it until the funeral for Superman was going on," he shakes his head. "Saw him though," a slight pause before adding, "Yelled at him for being stupid. Glad you were away doing something worthwhile at least, those Sentinels need to go."

He digs into the bag, but thinking about Bruce and everything else was robbing him of his appetite, but he knew he needed to eat something..

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty swivels in the chair, not paying attention to the computer after the brief check out of it. "Would have just been more targets for Bruce to have to protect, if any of us had been there," Kitty says, and her tone seems one of simple honesty, not trying to put a good face on it. After all, that's why Bruce locked everyone else up in the Batcave.

Kitty rests her hands in her lap as Jason gets to the food and goes through it. "I had them put extra everything on the burger," she tells him, looking away. "I'm glad that you're back and ok," she says. "I don't want to get in your way, just... with your dad and all, I wanted to stop and see how you're doing," she says.

Kitty looks over towards the car. "Everything ok with the car, or just regular maintenance?" she asks, giving him another safe conversational topic. "I restored a scooter, part of that bunch of old bikes I bought from the neighbors who had a barnful of old parts," she says. Kitty pulls out her phone and pulls up a picture. Transferring it to the computer's larger screen for easy viewing. A 1960s Vespa scooter with flower decals on it. "Just normal, I didn't soup it up or anything," she says. "I call her Daisy."

Red Hood has posed:
"Typical," Jason gripes about the lockdown. "But yeah, I know if we were there we would have just been targets but he could have said, hey, I'm going to do something monumentally stupid want to be around for medivac?" Of course /none/ of the Batkids would have left it at just being medivac and would have jumped in... damn it, he hated when Bruce was right, and it shows on his face.

Jason nods as he pulls out the burger, "Like I said, a goddess," he says with a ghost of a smile. The rest has him putting it back down and coming to stand by her side, hand on her shoulder if she lets him, "Hey, you're not in the way," he assures her, "I meant to send a text but, like you said, with Bruce and everything..." he looks down. "Anyhow, glad you're okay, I mean, you are okay, right?"

The change of subject though is welcome. "Nah, she's alright, just had her down here for a bit so I thought I'd give her a going over before I put her on the road," there's a smile though at the mention of the scooter, he's half-way to asking if she's got a picture when she pulls it up and puts it on the screen. "Mind reader," he says as he checks out the image, chuckling to himself. "You ride that thing? In public?" he teases before adding more seriously. "Cute and very you," he says with a nod. "How long she take to restore?"

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty grins at the image on the screen. "Oh, about two months. Maybe three? The maintenance manuals were all in Italian and one of the students, Moochie, is learning the language so I got him to translate it all. No using Google translate. Which, well that probably added a month on by itself," the brunette says with a soft laugh. "But it was good work. The students really took to it well, getting to have their own bikes and fixing something with their hands like that. I'm going to have to see if I can't come up with something else along those lines," she says. "I even went shopping for a couple of junked bikes for newer arrivals who didn't get a chance at any."

Kitty motions towards the screen. "I just putter around Westchester on her. Usually when I go into the city I take the shortcut to the Sanctum," she says. There's a magic mirror of Doctor Strange's in the back of her closet at the school, and another in a wardrobe in her room at the Sanctum that allows instant travel. The one being in a wardrobe let her to nickname her room there 'Narnia'.

"But yes, I'm good. I was in a coma for a few days. Sentinel. Two of them actually, hitting me with nullifiers at the same time and then whacking me with one of those metal telescoping arms. I guess. I don't remember anything of that day. But, I'm right as rain again," she says, grinning to let Jason know she's fine. "How about you? No new scars added that you're proud of, or otherwise?" she asks.

Red Hood has posed:
Jason snorts, "Respect the autheticity but a tech girl not using Google translate?" he asks, giving her shoulder a poke. "Sorry Clayface, you've been busted," he says with a laugh. "Not bad though if you were salvaging parts for the thing," he says. "And if you want I can keep an eye out for any good wrecks to fix up if you need more, plenty of junkyards over Bludhaven way," which wasn't really his turf but he made the odd trip through if only to annoy Dick.

There's a nod, "Oh right, Narnia and all of that, how's the Doc?" he asks about the whole closet portal thing before the next topic of conversation gets all of his attention.

"Shit Kitty, you sure you're okay?" he asks hand going to her shoulder again. "Getting hit like that's no joke, ask how I know?" the last added rhetorically a reference to his date with that crowbar. He shakes his head, "And yeah, no doubt you don't remember," he says before he removes his hand from her shoulder. "Anyhow, I know you can handle yourself, just damn..." he says.

As for him, he slips easily into his devil may care, facade, "Only on the inside," he jokes though it was a joke that danced very close to the edges of truth. He catches himself and for a moment considers to continue playing well, his usual self, but this is Kitty. "Truth is I don't think the hits that are going to scar me have landed yet, been pushing Bruce and everything else out of my head and just...working, it's done the job so far, but I'm not stupid enough to think it'll work forever."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty doesn't mind the touches to her shoulder, just relaxing in the chair and cross her feet at the ankles. Boots sticking out from beneath her jeans, and a dark grey sweater against the weather that's been turning colder. "Stephen is... back to himself. So, short version... something happened to him, and the Asgardian god Loki was impersonating him for... I don't know. A month? I had no idea. I mean I was there cataloging stuff for him and I had no clue, until the mirror stopped working," Kitty shares.

She lets out a sigh. "So, Loki was stealing magic energy from Earth. Maybe used it to restore Asgard somehow. The Avengers invaded the Sanctum, through the mirror actually, and drove Loki off. We had some trouble with him at the school. Loki, that is. Showed up and got a student to help heal him. I've talked to Thor to try to prevent any further issues with him," she says. It's probably been awhile, having these kind of conversations with people. As Kitty always put it, having stolen the comment from Negasonic: their lives are strange.

Kitty gives a quick nod. "But yeah, I'm good. Fully healed," she says, patting her head, but then focusing on Jason. "Yeah, I know it's a lot to take in. And knowing Gotham, if they think he's gone, it's going to come alive. So, good that you came back," she says. "I mean, it's good you came back. But, also, good for Gotham that you're back," Kitty says, looking away.

Jason might notice there's a ring on the finger she used to wear his promise ring. It's older, but definitely has a relationship sort of look to it.

Red Hood has posed:
"Jesus," Jason says as Kitty lays out the woes of Stephen Strange, stolen magic and restored planes. "And I thought we had it bad in Gotham, but magic takes it to a whole new level doesn't it?" It's definitely been awhile and while it's a little WTF, it's also sort of nice, both for the nostalgia and for the simple fact there are people and situations out there more fucked up than their own.

Speaking of fucked up, something occurs, "Oh, by the way Tim might be reaching out about breaking into Superman's tomb," he says with a bit of a laugh, unaware his replacement had already reached out.

"Oh it's already coming alive, plus Bruce in his wisdom has given me the Narrows , and that place is always 'alive', but the Squirt and are going to drop in on them and teach them that Batman being gone doesn't mean they're any safer." He doesn't miss the rest of what Kitty says, and he'd already noted the ring, but it takes a second to figure out the words. "I had planned to stay away longer, I dunno give you space, give me space, but yeah, it's good to see you too," the hand is returned to her shoulder and he gives her a gentle squeeze. "Noticed the new ring," he remarks a simple statement that doubles as a question.

Then it's his turn to look away, "Anyhow we don't have to talk about it, not really my business. We can leave it at it's good to see you."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty says ruefully, "I caught Damian's act at the memorial. You might have to... ah... rein him in a little bit." Kitty pauses. Asking Jason Todd to rein in Damian Wayne. Yeah, she realizes how that sounds. And she knows he probably does too, flashing him a little grin. Same ol' Kitty.

Well, in most ways. "You did. Give me space, I mean," she tells him, looking up to meet Jason's eyes, her own expression gentle. "I'm ok. I hope you are too," she says. She glances at the ring. "Just sort of focused on work, and the kids at the school. Wasn't looking for anything. But, something found me, yeah. Started seeing someone," she says. "Teacher at the school. Nice guy. Geeky like me. Gentle but takes a punch well. You'd like that about him," she says quietly, shrugging.

Kitty left the topic about Tim for the end so the other wouldn't have to be revisited if Jason didn't want to. "Yeah, actually, Tim had Barbara and I both over to ask. I... am not comfortable with it. Not with the level of what he has to go on. Said I'd help him gather information in other ways, and if he has more, maybe. I mean... damn I saw that one Justice Leaguer magic up the statue after Damian tore the head off. I can only imagine what kind of protection they'd have on Superman's DNA, you know? I'm more of a mind he should ask Diana Prince to help get access. But, I'll leave that to him."

Red Hood has posed:
Jason rolls his eyes and laughs, "Babs asked me to talk him too," Jason says. "Alfred told me at least some of that was a show, likely part of Bruce's strategy, but if not, the kid deserves an outlet, you have no idea how badly I want to hit anyone responsible for this, and I know Damian feels the same way..." he says taking a moment to shrug off his own frustration and put it back in it's box. "Anyhow, he and I will talk."

He does meet Kitty's eyes when she looks his way, there's a nod for giving her space, but his nose crinkles at being okay, "About us? Yeah, I'm okay, my idea to walk away, so," he gives a shrug. The bit about the new guy is taken in with an inscrutable look that would have done Bruce proud. "Sounds nice," he says finally. "Glad he's a good guy, though, you deserve that, Kitty." That had been the crux of their break-up after all, they both had darkness in them and he didn't want them to lose themselves to it.

He offers a sad smile and lets go of her shoulder. Pacing as he shifts gears.

"Didn't know about the magic, but I think it's worth checking out, maybe not breaking in because I didn't think of asking the League for help," which is typically Jason. "But if /anyone/ had a hand in what Superman did, then they need to go, Kitty." Like he said, he was desperate to hit anyone responsible.

Shadowcat has posed:
"You deserve it too," Kitty tells him. A few simple words but there's so much contained in them.

She sits quietly for a moment and then says, "Yeah, I don't really understand what happened with Superman that he was behaving how he was. It kind of makes me realize just how out of touch I got there for a bit. But, well, it wasn't for lack of desire. Just so much was happening so fast with the Sentinels and some other things," she says, shaking her head.

"If someone was responsible for it, and I can help out somehow, you know I will," the young woman offers to Jason. "Just... ah... desecrating a tomb to someone who did so much good for most of his life... I need more reason than what Tim had," she says, shaking her head again.

Kitty rises to her feet. "I really am glad you're back, Jason. Even with... I mean, I understood," she says of their split. She might not have made that choice, but she knew where it came from, and after seeing Jason was serious, she accepted it was what he needed. Or thought best. "But, I still want you around, even if not like before," she says.

If Jason allows her, Kitty moves over and wraps her arms about the larger man and hugs him tight for a few moments. "You'll always have a special place in my life," she tells him.

Red Hood has posed:
"We'll see," Jason says of finding someone like Kitty's new guy, accompanied by a non-comittal nod, but the layers of meaning are registered and understood.

"Hey, your people were under attack, you've got an excuse, me well I was deep in a Central American jungle but I would have cheered if I'd see the news about him going hardcore on Metallo and the others..." he says ruefully. "So, yeah, you weren't the only one to miss what was coming."

As for the tomb, he nods, "Yeah, figured you'd see it that way, but told him to ask you anyhow," he says. "And yeah, if we find out that there was someone responsible, I'll definitely give you a call," he says, Bruce had been in her life too, figured she was owed a shot along with the rest of the family.

Jason stops pacing when Kitty gets to her feet, "I'm glad you understand, it's not that I didn't want you Kitty it was just..." but then they had that conversation once and he doubted either of them wanted a replay of it now. "I may not stick around Gotham when all of this is done, family stuff, not us stuff, but you'll always know where to reach me, I'll make sure."

He allows the hug, hell, he even returns it, leaning his head against hers as he grasps her tightly. "Mine too, no question," he says giving her a final squeeze and letting go.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde lets Jason go as well, and smiles up at him. "Lockheed says hello. Or, well, he doesn't talk, but when I told him I was coming to see if you were around, I could tell that was his sentiment," she says.

Kitty gently takes Jason's shoulders and gives them a squeeze then before letting him go. "Don't eat too much Big Belly. Or else you'll get one," she teases, giving Jason one of those smiles he used to get so often from her. "And call, anytime you need. Including if you just want to talk. Catch up. Vent. Have me talk you down from braining Tim or Damian or Dick," she says, grinning slightly.

Kitty takes a last moment, looking up at Jason before she smiles to him and then turns away and heads for the stairs.

Red Hood has posed:
Jason grins, the pivot to Lockheed a welcome relief, "Tell him hi for me, I'll be around to pet him soon," he promises.

The squeeze is accepted easily and he belts out a "Ha," at her Big Belly crack. "Right, and lose this bod?" he flexes. "No chance," he says with a smile that starts out joking but becomes more sincere, "Sure, but only if you call me to talk, catchup, vent, stop you from murdering your students, too," he teases lightly before they both fall into that final look and turn away.

"Later, Kitty," he says as he grabs his food and heads back to his car.