Owner	Pose
Doctor Mid-Nite	There's a free clinic in Gotham that does a brisk trade, nestled deep in Old Gotham, barely a few blocks away from the China Basin, it's situated near the docks but a good walk away from the stadium. During the day it's usually fairly quiet, what with foot traffic being pretty mundane. Sometimes the good Doctor is in residence, taking cases, giving out diagnoses, making what dent he can in the neverending march of disease and accident.     But night times... the nights are much different. That's the time when the gunshot victims come in, when the knife wounds, and sometimes even worse. It's the time when the Tong and Yakuza at times will use the clinic as opposed to hitting a hospital. Why? Discretion in part, though the cops have started to plant a patrol car in the area for heavy nights. But also because the Gotham Hospitals are often overrun at times when one gang goes to war with another.     But that Doctor McNider? He'll fix you up right quick. Sure he gives you shit, sure he will berate you the whole time he sews you up. But at least you get seen here, and he's a good guy to talk to.     Tonight, however, is at least not as busy as it sometimes is. There's a good pace in the ER, but no stream of accident victims. Some prostitutes are looking to get their physical, and that's being handled. But right now, there's just this stabbing victim that needs the time.     "So who was it this time, Lee?"     "You know me, Doc. I tripped." The Yangtze Tong soldier grins as the Doctor is tending to his abdomen.     Doctor McNider grimaces, his eyes hidden behind the dark glasses even as he touches a hand to the side of the man's waist, then guides the thread as he sews the wound. "Keep cracking jokes, watch me laugh and mess this up. Brilliant plan."     "You know me, Doc. I gotta smile or I'll bust down cryin'. How long is this gonna take?"     "Fifteen minutes before you decide to 'disappear' from the recovery room. You know some people would say taking advantage of a blind man's good will is a moral failing."     "Ethical failing doc. Morality is society."     "Pfft."
Lady Shiva	The amazing thing about emergency rooms is there are lots of people moving around at all times. Patients, doctors, nurses, techs. It's a wonderful busy anthill filled with little bodies going where they should when they should. Which is why another person walking through the many people in the lobby isn't enough to even blip on the radar for the bored security guard manning the table at the emergency room. A momentary exchange of words with the woman at the check-in leads to the buzzer being pushed to allow the visitor to enter so she can check on her poor uncle who is within.     Not that there is an uncle, poor or otherwise. It's so simply to bypass security measures at places like this. She won't even be remembered although she was not concerned about there being video captured of her arrival. She isn't trying to hide. As she walks down the hallway, she begins peeking in the doors to the examination rooms lining the hall. Some of the doors are already open so it is a simple matter to dismisse them. Others, the door is barely shifted. A glance. She moves onward. In time she is rewarded for her perseverance.     She opens the door fully and steps into the room, not caring that the doctor is with a patient nor that he is putting the man back together. "Doctor. I wish to speak with you."
Doctor Mid-Nite	That poor uncle, she assuredly is there to see him, even as that nurse checks through the current list of patients. Well... perhaps she could be that guy's niece... or maybe that guy's? Oh well. She doesn't get paid enough in this non-profit to really worry /too/ much, especially with the atmosphere the boss creates. Assuredly she won't get yelled at after this whole incident passes by the guy who foots the bill for the place. Because really, who needs security in this crime-ridden area?     But, to be fair, the security in the place is mostly shoddy as it's rare someone tries to break in. After the Doctor had tended to some of the officers from a few rival gangs, the place had developed a reputation as being a cease fire zone. Not that that mattered now, with her.     She slips into that diagnostics and treatment room and what meets her eyes is most likely what she expected. Low level Tong with his shirt off having his abdominal wound sewed closed and treated. The doctor with bloody gloves handling the needle and thread with his back to the door. He's a fairly tall blonde man in jeans and sneakers, the white doctor's coat hangs around him loosely. And when he turns his head she'll see the dark glasses that hide his eyes save for the most oblique of views. "People in hell want ice water."     The comment comes with him as he's on the end of pulling the thread through, then sits up a little as something doesn't sit right. Her voice, but not just that, the subtle outline of her form that he senses, the sound of her light footsteps, and that faint scent. His nostrils flare a moment then his brow knits together.     She can almost see the perturbation on his features, the hesitation. But then he makes the conscious decision. "But yeah, wait til I finish this. I'll be right with ya."     But Lee looks across the way, "Hey baby girl, he may be a doctor but I'm the /love/ doctor."     Only to have the Doctor cover the Tong's mouth with his hand for a second, "Yeah you don't wanna go down that road, kid."
Lady Shiva	Her gaze flicks to the Tong on the table, taking in the manner of wound that is being carefully fixed by the good doctor. He is evaluated. And dismissed. She looks back to the Doctor, amazed anew at his lack of sight yet his awareness of everything. He is putting stitches in that are perfect. Precise. Small. Minimal scarring will result. She knows the instant he realizes who she is, seeing a shift in his posture that isn't even visible to most people. As he agrees to speak with her, like there was a choice, she nods and starts to take a step out of the room.     Until someone opens their mouth.     Shiva's movement ends before it truly begins, eyes going back to the Tong in question. Her look shows it all. That he is beneath her notice. The doctor tries to help the boy by stifling him quickly. 5r    "Doctor? Why do you bother with this one? He isn't worth the cost of the supplies you use to repair his wound."
Doctor Mid-Nite	For a moment, the Doctor is focused entirely on the wound. "I disagree." He states, answering her last question first even as he finishes with the last of the stitches. She can tell from her angle of view, from the split, the laceration, the depth, it was probably nothing more than a thin pocket knife or a stiletto of some type. Hardly anything a'tall. But still, enough for a trip to the clinic.     "That's cold, lady." Lee looks at her as if he's hurt, which he is.     "Seriously, kid." The Doctor finishes and knots it closed, then grabs some sample pain killers and puts them in his hand. "Go on, get lost. Don't pretend you're gonna wait around."     "Thanks, Doctor. Appreciate it as always!" And the Tong gangster moves to the door, shooting a look at Shiva, sort of making a funny face, but not meanly, more puzzled at her.     And then the door closes behind him, leaving the two of them alone there.     He adjusts his tie, which is undone, and then turns around to look subtly past her shoulder as he says, "I try to keep my work life and my work life separate." He pushes a hand through his hair and frowns. "I'd appreciate it if you'd perhaps pay some token respect to that that'll mollify me enough to maintain my vague concept of machismo even though ultimately you'll disregard it."
Lady Shiva	His morality again. He thinks all people are worth saving. For all his sight, he's blind. Certain people don't deserve to be saved. She learned it long ago, when she was young and naive. It led her to becoming Shiva instead of Sandra. Manipulation, deceipt, destruction. Those were the lessons she learned from her life. So to see this doctor, who cannot even see the world around him to analyze it as she does, sees soemthing worth saving. They are on opposite ends of the spectrum yet circumstance has brought them together. She doesn't speak until the Tong has vacated the hallway as well, so they do not have someone eavesdropping.     "No one is aware of my reason for being here save you," she says simply, as though that is explanation enough. She's not endangering his secret identity. Although she has made it clear that as well kept as he though his secret ones, she managed to figure out his identity. To follow him to this place without him ever knowing she was there. "Would you prefer to I seek you only on the rooftops then?"
Doctor Mid-Nite	Thumb and forefinger dig into just under his eyes and beneath the glasses as he exhales a soft, 'hrrrrrm' as if he was so tired, so very tired. But then he holds up a hand as if to stay her from taking that course of action. "No, no. I suppose here is as good as wherever. Just... what do you want?" He doesn't even know her name, she's just the crazy woman that could kick his ass and has a tendency to make people dead around her, but that won't fit on a name tag so she's just 'you' to him.     He turns his head slightly to the side, perhaps hearing the subtle footsteps outside. The Doctor takes a step to the side of her and moves towards the door, his hand held out as he reaches for the knob, touches the door, then slides his hand into place and flips the lock.     A second later there's a twist on the knob, "Dr. McNider? Are you still in there?"     "Busy!" He calls back sharply.     "Mr. Graves is here, from the Wayne Foundation, sir."     "I said, busy!"     The footsteps retreat.
Lady Shiva	The man truly needs to learn to relax. Shiva watches him closely. His mannerisms. His expressions. She tilts her head to the side as he reacts to something she doesn't hear. When he moves, she does take a step out of the way but he was already moving around her location. As though he saw her yet she knows that isn't the case. The locking of the door and interchange with the person outside earns an arched brow but she waits until the footsteps are gone before she speaks.     "I wish to know what more information you may have on the slavers. Are there new developments?" She has her own resources but his data hs proved reliable so far from the little he shared the first night they met. She moves away then, across the room, examining the area where he had been working with a critcal eye. The supplies are still there. The trash to be thrown away waiting for the hands of a nurse most likely, rather than the doctor himself. "I also wish to know how you see."
Doctor Mid-Nite	"If wishes were fishes..." The Doctor starts as he keeps his head turned in the direction o f the door, but then he rounds back and walks towards the mechanical bed in the center of the room, reaching out to grab the tissue paper and tear it free, getting all the sullied parts of it, then reaches up to pull the replacement paper back into place. He turns in her direction, hand resting upon the cushion of the bed as he tells her, "Last three days I've been in my lab, trying to take the formula apart. Got most of it, basically looks to be some sort of carrier agent that neutralizes the toxins for the infected and then when it's introduced to a new target through fluid exchange it regains its virulency."     He takes a step back and then grabs some of the sutures and the needle and thread, tossing them into the waste can unseeing... and not missing. He turns back towards her and murmurs, "I'm thinking there's some sort of meta influence. Perhaps they're using a mutant or meta ability, some sort of defense mechanism. Or they've synthesized it. Either/or. Bottom line, going to need to find the place where they create it, and if possible remove that element. They don't seem to be able to synthesize it otherwise, boom, whole thing falls apart like a house of cards."     But then he turns back and reaches out for the counter, hand tapping light along its side as he seeks a particular cabinet. He pulls it open and reaches for a few boxes, searching for one particular one and discarding the others. Once he finds it he extracts an old short bottle of Jim Beam and sets it down on the counter. "As for your second question, I don't know, how do you see?"
Lady Shiva	As he tidies, Shiva continues to watch him in that calm way she has. It's a serenity that is so at odds with the little he knows of her. She kills without compunction. She has her own lack of morality compared to his strong sense of it. There should be an air of violence around someone like her. A danger that tips off everyone around them. Yet, she exudes an aura that is almost peaceful. She is not one to make ripples in the world if one were to judge by her serenity alone.     He takes care of things himself, cleaning up when she was certain it would be left to those below his station. A surprise albeit a small one. The doctor seems to do that a lot, acting in a way she would not expect. It has the oft bored assassin intrigued.     His explanations about the formula being used it taken in. She's unsure how to track those behind it but she will continue to go through her underground contacts and learn what she can of those behind it. "When you find this lcoation, I would like to assist you in destroying it." Simple, no muss no fuss.     His other answer earns a smile. "As a physician, I believe you could answer that question better than I. However, you do not see as I do. I would understand this. Is it power? Technology? Magic?"
Doctor Mid-Nite	He siiiighs slowly, and she can see the tiredness that he feels in his shoulders and his frame even as he lifts a hand to rub at the back of his neck. Those eyes of hers can see the subtle tells of weariness, the hints of a being pushing themselves entirely too hard for a time. Thing is, the way he handles it, and handles it well, she might get the sense he is no stranger to pushing himself beyond exhaustion.     "Well, I know it has to be in a holding that the Russian Mafia uses. The Kurlyolenko family. But they have an amazing number of places on the books, let alone the ones off them."     He holds up a finger to her and says, "Excuse me a moment." That having been said he reaches over and touches the counter again, then slides his hand over until he finds the phone. Lifting it to his ear he'll feel some of the small marks on the numbers and then begin typing a short one. Just pound 112 is dialed and then he says, "Cass? Any emergencies in the waiting room? Anything taking a turn?" There's a pause as the voice on the other end says a few things then he nods to the phone and adds. "Alright, I've got a head case here I have to deal with, will probably end up prescribing her some ritalin and then go hands off. Yah it's alright. Yah. No."     He pauses and frowns, "How would I know? Yes. Yes she sounds attractive. I'll ask her."     He places a hand over the mouthpiece of the phone, "Cass would like to know if you are into women, and if so if you thought she was cute. She's the... the hell am I doing?"     Back to the phone, "I'm not paying you to date people!"     "Well if I started to pay you, I wouldn't pay you for that. Do your job!"     But the woman on the other line just laughs.     A deep breath is taken then he says, "Alright we have some time." He looks over her shoulder blankly and then remembers, "Oh right. Eyes. I don't know. Nobody knows really. I was scarred from an explosion, over time I could... sense things."
Lady Shiva	As he is talking, Shiva waits. Quiet. Still. No fidgeting or wasted movements. She simply...is.     The Kurlyolenko family is not familiar to her but she is certain she has contacts who can get her more information on some of those off the books locations. Perhaps with a pooling of their resources, they might gain the information they need to go after the source. Upon further consideration, perhaps she would be better to go without him. He'd be busy trying to save everyone as she was taking them down.     At his request to be exused, she nods although there was no need. He would've mad the call with or without her permission. His excuses are well thought out and a bit of insight as to what he likely thinks of her. Someone else might be offended. Shiva finds it amusing.     Particularly when he finds himself relaying information for the absent Cass, against his will. Her smile returns but is gone a moment later, as fleeting as the sun peeking between stormclouds.     "It is not only people or I would think perhaps it was the life force, the chi of others. But your 'sight' is much more than that. It is fascinating."     She moves. Fast, Precise. One moment she is standing in the same place, the next she is driving a punch toward his face. It can be blocked easily. If he can tell it's coming. If he doesn't block, it will stop a fraction of an inch from actually making contact.
Doctor Mid-Nite	How much of his fumbling around is for true, how much is for fiction? It may be she'll never know. But what she'll realize in that moment is that he could tell the moment she shifted from casual conversation into motion, not entirely the instant when she started to shift stance and bring up her hand, but the instant she might very well have thought of it.     Her punch cuts the air with a short sharp /fwap!/ and his forearm is there brought up in time while his other hand is brought back and closed into a fist, his hips turned to face her and ready... and he frowns. "You're gonna give me a heart attack some day."     But then, slowly as she seems not to be about to throw anymore punches he comes down from that defensive stance, but he tells her. "It's... a lot of factors. I can somewhat see in some ways, but it's muted... and augmented by my other senses. It's... I can tell you're here, can feel your presence in some ways. Body heat, air pressure. I can... hear the way the ventilation fan blows the air and where it... sort of flows over you. When you move I could sort of feel the change in the atmosphere on my..." He smirks and says, "On my hair, along my arms, my head. Different things."     He takes a deep breath, "I can also tell all the ingredients in something I eat, and yet I still like fast food." He flares his hands, "Is that enough for you?"
Lady Shiva	Just as quickly as she approached, she steps back to her original distance. Her hands are back at her sides. Shiva listens to the explanation, eyes narrowed slightly as she tries to understand and realizes she cannot. The explanations are there but, without experiencing his world, she can only imagine. It is like being a trained assassin who picks up all those little things in the world around them, yet without the benefit of being able to see it clearly. Such a skill is to be envied in truth. It is something she cannot learn though it would be wonderful to do so.     She gives a short bow in his direction, a sign of her respect even as she speaks. "You are truly gifted. I feel a respect for your ability to utilize what some would consider a weakness as a strength. Thank you for honoring me with your answers."     Then she resumes her verticle posture, gaze going to the bottle he pulled out a few minutes ago then back to his face. "I believe you spend too much time working and not enough time relaxing. Therefore, any heart attack will be of your own doing. You need to learn relaxation. I could teach you how to meditate."
Doctor Mid-Nite	"No thanks," He seems to be spurred to remember the bottle at her shifted gaze, his hand reaching out to touch it and rest upon its side. "I tried all that meditation stuff when I was studying the martial arts. I couldn't get the hang of it. Instead of meditation I just ended up counting to six thousand and when I was done I'd keel over and pretend I had a 'vision'. That seemed to shut the monks up."     His lip curls slightly, but then he twists the cap off of the bottle and tilts it back, taking a sip. Nothing screams High-Functioning Alcoholic like hiding booze in your doctor's office. He offers it to her with a slight tilt of the bottle, should she agree he'll wait til she's done to put it back in its hidey hole, if not then he just puts it away all the sooner.     "A friend of mine asked me to describe it to them and I told them it was like... trying to describe how you know that orange is orange and blue is blue."
Lady Shiva	Her immediate thought is that the monks were fake, a fact that she finds annoying. He does have some skills. Impressive to the layman. So they did teach him something. She simply believes he could've been taught so much more if he had chosen to follow the right path. Being unable to calm one's mind makes them limited, in her mind. Yet, he has abilities she has never seen thanks to his unusual way of sensing the world.     At the offered alcohol, she shakes her head negatively. The bottle disappears where it had been pulled from. She looks him over again, considering. Then she dismisses the thought. He doesn't strike her as the type to want help. She is pretty sure he'd be pleased if she wasn't bothering him at all. She appeared on a rooftop and put herself into his life. The formula? That isn't the part that bothers her. It's the women. How they are used and killed or weaponized to kill others. It is something that strikes a chord with her thus why she has not stepped away. Yet, perhaps, she should. They will be at odds should she continue. The doctor will want to save those responsible to face the legal system. She would want to put them in a grave where they could not use their money and influence to get back out and continue their ways.     "It simply is," she says in response to his point about the sight. "I begin to comprehend."     Then she turns suddenly, walking on quiet feet toward the doro. "Should you wish my assistance, send out word to the streets that you need to see Lady Shiva. Then I shall come to you. If not," she shrugs. "I will not trouble you again, Doctor."
Doctor Mid-Nite	"No." It's the first thing that comes from him, but then he coughs slightly and covers his mouth, turning his head to the side. "I mean... if you want to help me run down the strong points, that might be good. But... I can handle it if I have to."     But then he lifts a hand to the back of his neck and says, "And you... can come back. If you want. I mean, wouldn't be entirely terrible. If you did." Another cough that he covers his mouth with his hand for a moment and turns his head, seemingly looking past her.     Then he takes a breath and pushes past the difficulty. "I don't talk to a lot of people." That hangs there for a moment, then he adds, "I know, surprise surprise. My friends list isn't full on the Bookface. But." He folds his arms over his chest and looks distinctly uncomfortable before he sighs and says with a smile. "It'd be good to see you again. Hah." He laughs at his own 'joke'.
Lady Shiva	She flicks the lock, releasing the mechanism. Pausing, Shiva glances over her shoulder. She considers as she turns halfway back toward him, seeing the discomfort as he makes his admission. "I do not speak with many people. My arrival often brings death with it. So there are few times I am able to converse at leisure." He made an admission. She honors him with doing the same. "You are an enigma to me, Doctor. Two sides at odds yet the same. You wish to do no harm yet you are compelled to take on the role of vigilante. Your morality holds you back while giving you strength. I am interested in that which I do not understand. I have spent my life gaining knowledge, seeking enlightenment. I feel perhaps you have something to teach me."     She shrugs as she turns away again, putting her hand on the handle and turning it.
Doctor Mid-Nite	"Alright," The Doc folds his arms over his chest as she reaches the door. "Oh Cass is the blonde gal," He smirks and if she looks back at him he'll give her a small shrug. "Just in case you were wondering,"     But then he'll let her slip out the door and instead turns back around and reaches for that cabinet again... and the bottle therein.