9730/Knightfall: Briefing Shadows

Knightfall: Briefing Shadows
Date of Scene:	23 October 2019
Location:	Barbara Gordon's Apartment, Clocktower
Synopsis:	Natasha visits Barbara and gets an update on Batman's status.
Cast of Characters:	Oracle, Shadow
Tinyplot:	Knightfall
Tinyplot2:	City Fall

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Oracle has posed:
The hidden roof access to the Clocktower slides away and the black clad vigilante drops down onto the loft landing with her arms stretching backwards nearly to her elbows touching. Then up to press a button on the raised portion of armor near her neck, the mask slides apart and drops back into the chest piece freeing her bundled up red hair with a wave of her fingers into the messy knot.

The gauntlets are removed with a grip-twist near the thumb, collapsing down into her palm so they can be slipped in the pockets of her coat. A coat she removes and hangs up in the display case. Left with just the chest armor with the digital green bat-symbol ont he segmented plates.

Now it's just checking messages after switching the Promethius phone over from war mode to regular cell service.

Shadow has posed:
        BING!

    As Barbara's phone resumes its connection to the regular service it almost immediately lights up with a small flood of messages - smalltalk from friends, random updates, one or two unwisely targeted advertisements... And one that her filters shunted into a higher priority, from one of Natasha's burner accounts.

            >>> In the vicinity at the moment. Do you have time to talk?

    It's not dated terribly long ago, and a quick glance at the timestamp lines it up nicely with a report on the police scanner responding to reports of "gunfire and laughter" at a suspected mob hideout while she was in a different part of town.

Oracle has posed:
Avertisements that immediately are flagged for later targetting with a flick of Babs thumbs as she drops down into the couch cushions. A grin on her face, she brushes her thumb upwards through the messages until she reaches the high priority section with something from one of the specifically tagged Burners.

        >>> Of course. Come on by. Just got off patrol.

The phone is side tossed onto the cushions, hand free to release the breast plate with her thumbs hooked into hidden brackets just beneath her armpits. The segmented armor disjoints off her back so she can remove it from the form-fitting body suit worn beneath.

Boots, cargo pants with utility belt.

This is why Babs wanted to retire.

Shadow has posed:
    It took Barbara longer to figure out the secret to the Shadow's unseen transportation than she prefers to admit to anyone but herself, but now the Clocktower's security grid has been specifically programmed to notify her of any taxis passing through the area.

    It causes an annoyingly large number of false positives, but it /does/ mean that when an otherwise unremarkable cab briefly slows down as it turns the corner, she's there to see the flicker as a shadow passes through the pool of light from one of the working streetlamps... And not too long later, her doorbell buzzes.

Oracle has posed:
Babs has her feet, still booted, up on the rather stylish table infront of the couch where she's relaxing after work. Her phone is directly connected to the Oracle Array, which is largely what gives her the mobile hacking power she has out in the field, so with each beep of false positive her head turns in the phones direction. Only once she spies a familiar shadow passing beneath the orange glow of a dim bulbed streetlight does she reache over to disengage the security locks with the press of her thumb against biometric reader.

"Oracle seven seven two."

The door beeps twice and swings out for Natasha, and a short express elevator ride later deposits her right into the Clocktower proper. "Hey Boo. There's a bottle of wine if you're interest and some left over chicken parm I was going to heat up for Charlie and me."

Shadow has posed:
    Even when you've seen it before and know what's happening, watching a shadow on the wall shift and warp can be hard on the eyes - especially that indefinable moment where two dimensions become three, brief as a blink, as hard to comprehend as an Escher painting's twisted geometries, but at the end of it the Shadow walks into Oracle's room, nodding briefly at the woman before reaching up to take off their hat and scarf... And Natasha offers Barbara a smile as she takes off her coat to seat herself.

    "No wine, thank you, but if you've tea I wouldn't say no. I take it you've been busy?"

Oracle has posed:
It is a little off-putting the analytical brain, certainly. Babs isn't sure she'll ever really get use to it, no matter how many times she sees it and just shakes her head at the optical trick with a growing grin at her friend now materialized. "Never gets old." She muses.

Bobbing her head with her feet coming down off the table to propel her up and towards the kitchen, "I've got some, yeah. Trying to culture Charlie up a little..." Hands up in a little shrug, grin into smirk, eyes over her shoulders. "A little." The smirk fades quickly at the implications of /why/ she's busy.

"Batman came by before his fight... gave me the Batsuit and told me what I had to do if he failed." Once again she runs her fingers into her hair, both hands, and shakes the curls violently to further dislodge some of the mess left by the bun its been held in all night.

"Apparently retirement is never really in the cards for me."

Shadow has posed:
    "Or for any of us," Natasha replies, her own eyes shadowed for a moment with memories and what-ifs and a conversation in a dusty Sanctum she'd never suspected had been under the home she'd lived in all her life.

    After a moment more, she shakes herself loose and returns to the present. "That does however bring the conversation neatly to what I was planning to ask. How is he, truly?"

Oracle has posed:
From the kitchen, Babs doesn't have to hide her expression behind a strong exterior mask and can easily let it droop into the real emotions she's harboring like a fugitive. "Alive." She answers as she fills the steeping pot with water from the tap, likely the most filtered tap in Gotham, but still from the tap.

"Critical condition until recently, but I think he's come around a few times." Which is to say, she hasn't gone back recently to find out. Some things are entirely too difficult to see with your own eyes. Like a broken mentor mending after, presumably, saving the world much to the Worlds chagrin.

Shadow has posed:
    Natasha nods to herself at the confirmation. "I suspected as much -- If nothing else, the behaviour patterns of the 'bat-clan' would have been much different if he were truly gone. You'd be much less invested in creating as much uncertainty about his fate as possible..."

    She smiles. "Reactions from the underworld, according to my agents, range from cynical and suspicious of this being a trick to get them to let their guard down to cautious but growing hope." The smile takes on a slightly vicious edge. "Watching that hope turn to ash when he returns should be entertaining."

Oracle has posed:
Babs glances back over her shoulder from the kitchen, brow furrowed, "Who says we're not entirely serious with our threats to the underworld? Have you /met/ Red Hood? Robin? Who do you think is yanking their chains right now to keep the leash tight?" She wiggles her fingers at Nat with a shrug.

"I let them off the leash. I don't give a flying rats ass if they put their guard down or not. I fully intend to run them to ground and burn the ground around them... scourched fucking earth, Boo. When Batman gets back, he'll be able to take a vacation."

Shadow has posed:
    "I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting either of them, at least not identified as such," Natasha replies. "I tend not to pry into the secrets of those I've no quarrel with if I don't need to."

    "As for a vacation... That might or might not work out better than planned. It seems that the Shredder has overplayed his hand; Gotham's criminal element wasn't nearly as receptive to the combination of carrot and stick as he'd expected, and in New York the Kingpin is taking umbrage at his assumption of power. On the one hand, once the smoke clears there'll be a drastic manpower shortage among all parties involved. On the other, the clash promises to get bloody /very/ fast -- and, admittedly, I'm terribly tempted to throw what oil I can on the fire and dedicate my efforts to making sure civilians are out of the line of fire otherwise... "

Oracle has posed:
"Mmm." Babs pours boiling water over a mug with a bag of tea dangling from the side, "Honey?" Asking her friend with a backwards glance.

"Huh, yeah, I think I hit a couple of the Footclans fronts with the creeperworm virus." Babs sucks her thumb, then settles mug, honey, and small plate of cookies on a tray to bring out and set down infront of Nat where she can easily reach it. "It was a risky venture on his part to move into Gotham.. Penguin wont sit on his hands much longer and I hear the Clown is out of the crazy house..."

Shadow has posed:
    "Honey would be good, thank you," Natasha replies. "Unfortunately, Mr. Cobblepot has decided to cast his fortune with the Foot, in exchange for stewardship as Shredder's governor in Gotham. He and Mr. Sionis were trying to make the case for submission to the Foot to a number of gangs earlier."

    That edge is back in her smile. "I'm not sorry to say that it hasn't worked out nearly as well as he'd have liked."

Oracle has posed:
"Clearly." Babs brings her boots back up on the edge of the table, crossing ankles like her arms over her chest. "Cobblepot is... a scavenger, but he's a scavenger who will turn on a dime. Soon as the foot don't serve his designs any longer, he'll accidentally let information surface about their inner workings to keep himself above water." A little smirk to match the edge in Natasha's grin, "It's all about applying pressure... something the Batman might do, eh?" Thumbing slightly towards the armored plate laying beside her on the couch.

Shadow has posed:
    "Indeed," Natasha agrees, noting the green outlines. "I'd heard some reports already of a possibly new Bat, but as with all rumors regarding all things bat-related I was still working to sort the truth from the dross..."

Oracle has posed:
"You know how it goes in the shadow of Gotham.." Babs opens her hands, motioning both at the tea, "Fifty fifty rumor to fact." She says with a grin and one winking green eye.

Shadow has posed:
    Natasha laughs -- a bright, warm sound, so very different from her alter ego's trademark. "I'll concede that I'm hardly one to throw stones in that regard. If nothing else, at least no one seriously tries to argue that the Batman doesn't actually exist..."

Oracle has posed:
"Who says there is one? Maybe there were always dozens of them." Babs presents with a smirk and a playful shrug, "The point is, just because one cowl is temporarily hung doesn't mean others aren't still out there. The sooner Gotham realizes that, the better. Those are some big boots to fill too.. Lord knows nobody wants Red Hood gunning his way through proving a point, but that's where we're at."

Shadow has posed:
    "Who knows? Perhaps some of them will realize that having the Batman to deal with is actually the preferable option..."

Oracle has posed:
"That seems a distinct possibility knowing the characters coming home to roost with Batman winged." Babs agrees with a slow nod, "Even me.. I'm a shade sight harder to deal with than they're use to, even if I'm no real desire to be as brutal with the application of justice. Hard to stay ahead of someone who is already three steps ahead."

Shadow has posed:
    Natasha chuckles and sips her tea, savouring the warmth of an all to brief moment in the light for both women before their duties once again call them back into the shadows.