9723/BG Pays a Call

BG Pays a Call
Date of Scene:	23 October 2019
Location:	Markovia Station, Old Gotham
Synopsis:	Steph drops in on Jason and the two catch up on their lives and vampires worth swooning over.
Cast of Characters:	Red Hood, Spoiler

---

Red Hood has posed:
Clearly the apocolypse was upon us, Jason Todd actually slept, it's only a matter of time before we see cats and dogs living together and mass hysteria.

But for the moment the world has not flown off its axis and all that's different is that Jason is out of his Red Hood outfit and is instead wearing a hoodie and jeans as he runs his a hand through his messy black hair with it's white streak at the front. He is seated at his computer clutching a cup of coffee like a life preserve as he tries to get himself awake again.

Yep, it wasn't morning, it was already heading into night again, but since when did Bats play by little things like clocks or regular sleep schedules?

Spoiler has posed:
The sensors indicating someone arriving at the vehicle entrance will go off, and reveal there is a purple Shelby Cobra remake pulling up to it. The vehicle might be unfamiliar to Jason, but the blond driver won't be. Stephanie Brown. The poor college student could never afford a vehicle like that, which makes it either something she borrowed, or perhaps a gift from a certain billionaire.

Stephanie sends in the code to open the vehicle gate and pulls the car inside and into a parking place. She hops over the door rather than open it, and walks over into the rest of the station. She's wearing a pair of jeans, some Converse All-Stars remakes, and a dark grey t-shirt with a light jacket overtop of it, the latter of which she sheds as she walks over.

"Got an extra cup of that?" she asks as she approaches Jason.

Red Hood has posed:
The alerts from the sensors bring Jason out of his attention to the Red Computer? Okay maybe his rig didn't have a name, but he did turn from it to the cluster of security monitors while reaching for one of his guns left within arms reach. The gun is let go of when he sees the familiar purple car, but his brows raise when he sees the driver, he spins the chair 90 degrees and gets to his feet while she parks.

"Sure, in the pot over there," he says jerking his thumb back to the coffee machine that was set up next to his little computer set up while he continued to eye the car. "Damn, Steph, now that's a ride... so what's the deal? Bruce gift or did you start making Spoiler merch and it's flying off the shelves?" though there's another option and Jason turns and grins as he suggests "Or did you 'borrow it'," it's clear which option he's hoping for.

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie catches Jason's grin in his tone of voice even without the expression. She sticks her tongue out in return. "It was a birthday present actually, had my 21st while you were gone," she tells Jason as she makes her way over to the coffee pot.

"Oh god I wish Spoiler merchandise would sell. Spoiler on a Shelf maybe, for Christmas?" she suggests as she pours herself about 2/3 of a mug full of coffee. Leaving plenty of room for milk, or creamer if none is available, as well as a little sugar.

"But the Spoiler days are in the past. Bruce put the costume in a display case in the cave," she says, and there's no keeping the pride from her voice as she shares that. Stephanie makes her way back over nearer to Jason, taking a sip of the tan-colored beverage that resulted from her mixing. "Glad to have you back," she says. "You're looking good. No new scars worth mentioning, I hope?"? she asks.

Red Hood has posed:
Jason grins at the stuck out tounge, "Lemme guess, Daddy Warbucks got it for you?" he asks, meaning Bruce of course. No judgement there, especially while surrounded in Bat-Equipment he took from the caches he'd been gifted with, but it was fun to tease.

He chuckles at the idea, "Oh sure, but for authenticity, slip a mic in each one so you can spoil the plans of any budding child supervillains," he says as he downs a gulp of coffee and heads over to the pot himself.

There is definitely creamer, while Jason prefers his coffee black, there are times where it just serves as a delivery system for cream and sugar.

"Man, now I need to get some merch, hmm, Red Hoodies maybe?" he jokes as he helps himself to the pot and tops off his cup.

"For real?" he asks about the name change. His visit to the cave had been brief and his focus had been on Bruce and his anger rather than the sights, "Almost afraid to ask what your new codename is.? Purple Robin?"

As to scars. "I'd joke and say only on the inside, but that's getting old even for me. I'm good, but you know what with everything going on..." he lets that trail off with a shrug. "I guess we're all a little fucked up right now."

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie gazes over at the car. If the moment were captured in Japanese anime there would be hearts flowing out of her eyes towards the racy vehicle. "Definitely wasn't a present from Mom," Stephanie says, speaking of her opioid-abusing mother, a nurse by trade. "Yeah, I'm kind of over-protective of it. In part because I could never afford to repair it if anything happened to it," she says with a self-deprecating grin.

Stephanie arrives over at the computer console, turning around to use a clear part of it to half-perch on. "Oh god, now I'm not going to be able to get out of my head a baby onesie with a Red Hood pullover hood mask," she says, the blond breaking out in warm laughter.

She takes a sip of her coffee, eyeing Jason for a moment over the rim of the cup as if savoring the moment before she reveals, "Batgirl," to him. If the pride with the car was evident before, it's nothing compared to how she feels about being trusted with Barbara's legacy. Though she can't resist a joke, saying, "I did suggest I could go by Batbabe instead, but that seemed to just get a Bruce scowl. You know, not the normal scowl. One of the other ones." But it's really obvious there's a lot of pride in it, even with her joking.

Red Hood has posed:
Jason turns back to eye the car, "Yeah, no doubt," he says about it not being from her mom. He had his own problems with junkie moms, his just had the grace to overdose and die. "How is your mom these days?" he asks her.

He nods about the car, "Well if she ever needs a tune up, let me know I'm petty good at that stuff, also," he kicks a duffle bag at his feet, causing the stacks of twenties to shift inside. "You're welcome to some of the donations I get to the Red Hood crime fighting fund." After all it wasn't only Catwoman who stole from crooks around Gotham.

Almost choking on his coffee Jason laughs, "Oh god, who the hell would get Red Hood merch for their babies?" he asks. "Maybe Damian but yeah, I think my merch would be all rated T and up. Or at least I hope so." He shakes his head at the thought.

He waits on the big reveal meeting Steph's gaze in a semi-staring contest until she drops the news, then he smiles warmly, "Well shit," he says clapping her on the shoulder. "Good news, I mean, you probably owe Babs coffee for life, but that's great. What did Bruce say about it?" he asks, because doesn't everything come down to that with Jason. Though there's a chuckle for the Batbabe bit which is quickly quashed in favour of trying on a variety of Bruce frowns, "This one? Or this one? Or oh, maybe this one?" he says crossing his arms with the last one giving a very 'you need to take this seriously' vibe.

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie has a fit of giggles at Jason's renditions of Bruce's scowls. "Mom seems to be doing pretty good," Stephanie says. Her mother had been trying to kick the habit. "I wasn't making it around much to see her lately, but I've been making up for it recently," Stephanie adds.

Stephanie gets that small, proud smile. Pride is not something the young woman has had a lot of in her life, so it's a good look to see on her. "He was really supportive of it. I screwed up not too long ago. Did an April O'Neil interview, Spoiler and Harley Quinn when she was still locked up. And... it took awhile to earn my way out of the dog house. I was so stupid, just not thinking," Stephanie says. She obviously still kicks herself over it.

"Well, I guess I did. But... oh I could have KILLED Barbara. So she called me in to the cave, right? And told me how they'd decided Spoiler should no longer be on the streets of Gotham. I just... barely held it together. I thought I'd turned it around and... I just feel for the whole thing. Hook, line and sinker," she says, shaking her head and laughing.

Stephanie smiles. "Trying not to let them down," she says quietly. "And, well they seem proud of me so far. The stuff I've done," she adds. Stephanie's expression changes slightly at the mention of the stuff she's done. A note of somberness maybe. Though she seems to push it from her expression.

"So how about you. How have things been since you've been back in town?" Stephanie asks. "Are you doing ok with, you know. Bruce's condition and all?" she asks in a sympathetic tone.

Red Hood has posed:
Jason grins proudly at his Bat-scowl collection, "Honed over time." he says lifting his cup to her. There's a nod for her mom, "Glad," he says simply. "The visits and that she's kicking the habit."

A small smile forms, "Talking of parents, remind me to tell you about running into Carrie's folks," but for now he's on the subject of Steph's journey to Batgirl.

"Wait, I must have missed that, you did an interview as Spoiler?" he says but then quickly moves on to smile faintly at how Babs told Steph the news. "See, always knew she was the evil one of us," he says though if he was the protoge having type, he'd probably do the same. "Glad Bat-dad didn't give you any grief over it, sounds like you earned that shit."

The bit about things she's done does get noticed, "You know I've got whiskey to add to that coffee too, right?" he says. "And well, I'm me, not much I haven't done."

Now it's Jason's turn to quickly bury his feelings as he offers, "I'm surviving, just working hard to keep my sectors under control, it helps keep the rest from catching up with me," early like it is for him he falls short of being convincing.

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie grins at the offer of whiskey. "I'm able to drink now but... you know, I don't have a lot of desire to. Never really did," says the girl who grew up around a mother who was frequently under the influence of something.

"Bruce was on board with it. Tim and he had given me some equipment before that, to replace my homemade stuff. But I still never saw it coming," Stephanie says, smiling at the memory.

"Yes, I'm going out later. I've been going earlier in the night lately, so figured I'll shift it up a bit more tonight," she tells him. "It's frustrating how much my class schedule ends up impacting my patrol schedule. But I'm treading water in Economics, can't afford to sleep through another session because I was out late," she says.

She glances around the cave. "If you need a hand with anything though, I'm game, just let me know," she says. "I'm thinking I might make a trip into New York and talk to Diana Prince. I had some ideas about maybe how we could help Selene with those Lycans. Without, you know, having to take them out permanently. Not really the kind of criminals we can turn over to the police though."

Red Hood has posed:
Jason nods, "I get it," he says about her choosing not to drink. For his part he doesn't either, at least not at the moment he's got too much to do .

Jason grins, "You're going to be wearing that smile for awhile huh?" he says good naturedly at the blissed out look that memory gives Steph. He rememebred feeling the same when he became Robin, it was and remained his best day ever.

"Good. And yeah, having a life will do that to a patrol schedlule, but hold onto it, you don't want to turn into a crime obsessed weirdo who lives in a basement..." he says grinning at the irony of him giving that advice given where he was and how he'd basically moved in down here.

"Definitely could use some help with a couple of raids in the Narrows, working on hitting the gangs money and drugs..." but that pales in comparison to what Steph brings up. "Wait, I read about them, those are the," and he can't believe he's saying this, "Werewolves right?"

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie glances down at the bag that Jason had invited her to earlier, but doesn't say anything of it, not having responded to the offer. It might be too easy to do once, and if she did, then she might do it again.

"Would be happy to help, sure," she tells him. "Yes, it was quite a day. Not a lot that can push that memory from my mind for very long," she says. Though something has, of late, and she's only getting back to something like her normal self. Though with Bruce's state, it was understandable to everyone she might have been quiet and somber instead of... well, Stephanie.

Stephanie nods. "Yeah, werewolves. Crazy, right? I met with Selene to discuss them one time. I swear her body suit was painted on her rather than clothing," she says. "I mean no one- ANYWAY. Well, Bruce doesn't want me getting involved. There doesn't seem to be a cure for them and if you can't lock them up... I mean Selene doesn't take prisoners. Not really our way," she says. Then coughs a little bit, obviously noting Jason sometimes may have other ways than the rest of the group. She covers it up with a long sip of coffee.

Red Hood has posed:
Jason nods, glancing down at the bag, but he doesn't say any more, the offer stands but he understands why his fellow Bat-kids aren't as game to 'borrow' from the enemy like he was.

"Great," he says of her helping out. "Anything we hit, we'll make sure it finds its way to the police," he says, letting her off the hook about being party to his thefts. Besides he'd got a nice chunk of change to his war fund already. "And I bet, you should have seen me when I got my Robin kit, literally jumped onto the Batmobile I was so happy," he says. "And one death, and a whole lot of years later I still haven't forgotten."

The tarnish on Steph's usual glow is easy to attribute to their current situation, even so, Jason catches her eye and gives her a supportive nod as if to say it would all be okay.

"Yeah, painted on huh?" Jason asks with a bit of a grin. "And fighting werewolves? Where do I sign up?" he laughs. "But yeah, the Amazons or maybe Zatanna might know how to hold them if that's what you guys are aiming for, either that or get Alfred to melt down the family silver to make a prison."

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie motions towards Jason and says, "That's what I was thinking. Start with Diana Prince, see if she had ideas. If not... well, I might even stop and try to get a meeting with Tony Stark, or Reed Richards or someone like that. You know. Brainy. Maybe they'll be able to think up a solution, or know some enhanced person that could somehow deal with them if captured," she says.

The blue-eyed blond lets out a laugh. "You should meet her. Though do it on camera somewhere if you do, I want to see Jason Todd swooning," she jokes with him.

Stephanie takes another drink of the coffee, finishing off the mug. "Ok, this hit the spot," she says of the coffee, taking the mug over to clean it before putting it back where she got it. "Um, if you do end up working with her? Batcave has some rounds with liquid silver... um, silver... oh crap I can't remember the chemical. Anyway, it's got some liquid silver inside the bullets. Apparently they are a knockoff of the rounds Selene was first using when Blackbird met her," Stephanie says.

Red Hood has posed:
There's a nod for Steph's plan, "Well if you do decide you need to bring Stark into things, I am sure Bruce can put you on to where to find his best bud." Of course with this sort of business it wouldn't be as easy as setting a meeting. This was costume business and Jason didn't know Tony knew the family secret.

Jason's snort sends ripples across the surface of his coffee. "I don't swoon," he says with a grin before taking a sip. "But I am definitely keen to meet her, you know, to help save Gotham... from werewolves."

He takes another sip.

When Steph finishes hers and goes and actually cleans the cup, Jason smiles, hey at least someone in the family had manners. "Thanks," he says about the rounds. "I'll make sure to grab them if I do end up going all werewolf hunter on this."

He finishes his own cup and takes it to the sink, giving Steph a hip bump as he does, "Glad the coffee helped, feel free to raid my supply anytime, I'm going to be here until this whole thing is done." Meaning the Bruce situation.

Spoiler has posed:
Stephanie Brown laughs and grins at Jason Todd. "You'll swoon. I mean, heck, I almost swooned," she tells him, quickly following it up with a pointed finger and a threat, "Which will I will deny and totally kick your butt if you tell anyone that," she adds.

Stephanie turns around, leaning back against the sink's counter. "It's good to have you back in town. You were missed," she tells him with a soft smile. "If you think you and Dick can coexist in the same room without a fist fight, maybe the three of us can grab some Chinese together some night?" she suggests. "Or, you know, even if there is a fistfight but then we should probably get it carryout."

Stephanie glances back towards her car. "Ok, I should go get ready for patrol. Take care of yourself," she offers, along with a brief hug if Jason allows her. "Let me know when you're ready for that raid and I'll be there."

Red Hood has posed:
Jason's face shifts from a grin to a total deadpan, "Tell them what?" he asks with just a hint of humour in his voice, before his smile reclaims his lips and he claps a hand on Steph's shoulder. "Don't worry, if anyone one of the others starts calling you Swooning Steph, it won't be because I told them."

He lets go with a laugh, turning to lean against the counter as she does, "Good to see you guys," he says of being back. As for dinner? He considers that, "Well only if you tell Mr. Hollier-than-thou to keep his trap shut, sure we can go grab Chinese. Had some with Carrie and Damian the other night and Damian actually smiled. It was scary," he says with a hint of pride.

He nods about getting to work, he had to too, and yes, he allows the hug, clapping her briefly on the back as she does, before letting her go again. "Make sure you stay alive out there BG," he says with a smirk. "And I'll definitely give you a call, y'know, if I'm not too busy swooning," he gives her a wink.