i chose this life, i know what i'm doing; open

[the_caped_crusader]

Who: Bruce Wayne/Batman the_caped_crusader & OPEN
What: Bruce and Batman's comings and goings during early June
When: June 1st through June 15th
Where: Central City, mostly
Content Warnings: Violence, possibly. Will add as needed.

BRUCE; DETECTIVE COMICS 🦇

[ now with a routine going, bruce has started to make his-- and batman's-- presence known; sooner or later he was going to find out if that was a good thing or not. but in the daytime as bruce, he wakes up and buys breakfast: usually fresh fruit from stalls in the old chinatown around peterboro and some kind of rice and egg from one of the random hole in the wall restaurants along the road. after breakfast, he'll grab a coffee from a café as he heads further into the city. after his first big brush with the d'amico's, he notes the streets are cleaner, but not because he's put a dent in their operation, but because they were being more cautious than before. either way, it's a win-- he's made an impression. for now, that was good enough for him. and then there was logan, but he wasn't quite sure what to make of that variable yet. do you join him for coffee? catch him eavesdropping? catch him catching you catching him eavesdrop??? but if you don't decide to creep, you might also find him helping out at soup kitchens and clothes donations around the city. helping cats out of trees. you know, batman stuff. ]

BATMAN; SHADOW OF THE BAT 🦇

[ ...then night time comes, and the real work begins. he uses it to take the opportunity to test out the new batcycle he's spent the last few months working on. the batmobile was coming along, but wasn't quite up for the road yet. regardless, the bike was working great, and made ti's presence known by the sheer noise it made cutting through the streets at night. the thin eye slits of the headlights cut through the night shadows like the smaller ones on his cowls, and people begin to notice him more, going after chases, expanding his area of operation, the myth of the batman. when he wanted to keep it more personal when it got really late, when everything was quiet, you might find him on the rooftops. in gotham, he was fortunate enough to know who to expect, but this wasn't gotham, and he knew he could really run into anyone up here. join him as he broods, beats up criminals, or maybe decides to break up another one of d'amico's illicit drug rackets. ]

WILDCARD 🦇

[ nothing do it for you? that's cool! write me absolutely anything and i'll be thrilled. new cr is always welcome. if you would like to plan anything specific or have a closed prompt, feel free to friend and/or message me on discord @ batderp#3666! i'm also in the game discord. or message me on the-caped-crusader and i'd be happy to plan something with you! ]

Comments

Batman; 6/14

[hevenly]

[ On the night of the full moon, as Batman rides his batcycle through the streets of Central City, it would seem he is not the only myth out on patrol tonight. In addition to the sound of his engine roaring, there is the sound of heavy hoofbeats, and when he rounds a corner, he can see her: a larger bovine creature, huge and musclebound with glowing yellow eyes, running faster than her size should allow. She seems to be chasing something... Or someone, as a panicked man runs for his life from the creature. ]

[the_caped_crusader]

[ he SLAMS on his breaks, skidding to a halt before he runs straight into a fucking... ox? he quickly shakes off the moment of confusion. unsure what's going on, but not willing to take the chance, he chases off after her, speeding up besides her. he passes her a single look before turning back and fires a grapple from his hip that lasso's the man's feet and send him tumbling onto the sidewalk.

as he comes to a stop, he skids between the two of them, but his attention is on her instead of the man. ]

[hevenly]

[ When a motorcycle pulls up alongside her, Angela (in her travel form) flicks her eyes to the side, unsure of its intentions. But then it takes down the man she was chasing for her, and she thinks perhaps this cowled individual is an ally.

That thought is muddled, however, when he places himself in between her and her quarry.

The creature stills, hot breath coming out of her nostrils and fogging in the air, before she begins to transform, muscles contracting and shifting in jerky motions that do not look comfortable, until finally she stands before him in her minotaur form, her lower half the same fur-and-hooves shape as the bovine, but her upper half that of a woman, with curved sharp horns atop her head. ]

I thank you for your assistance...

[ She pauses, leaving space for the cowled man to give his name if he sees fit.

Behind him, her quarry shivers in fear and tries to scoot himself away. Her eyes flick to him, and she frowns. ]

I must ask, however, that you move aside and allow me to detain this man.

[the_caped_crusader]

[ he doesn't move. yet. ]

Out of curiosity. What do you plan on doing with him?

cw: cannibalism, sexual harassment mentions

[hevenly]

[ Justice is an interesting thing, in this world. In her own world, her brand of justice would be to break or behead those who had wronged. In Ryslig, it would have been eating them alive and feeding the unending hunger she was cursed with.

In this world, however, she knows she must work within the confines of the systems already in place. If she is to remain under the radar of the guilds, she cannot enact the sort of justice she is accustomed to. ]

He is guilty of harassing a woman in the club where I work. It is my duty to see that he is punished, and that he will not do it again. My intentions were to break his hands, before leaving him on the doorstep of the local authorities.

[ The first part is so that he knows not to lay another finger on a woman in an unwanted touch. The second part is her playing nice. ]

Batman

[makeanentrance]

[Down one of Central City's darker alleys, there is a lone figure lurking; a costumed figure in a cloak and wearing a shiny helmet that completely hides its owner's face. It's very late at night and this figure is acting suspiciously, pausing at doors as if they're checking to see if any were unlocked before moving on. Maybe they're trying to break into somewhere. It certainly doesn't look like an innocent midnight stroll but it seems he hasn't broken the law yet, besides being creepy. Then he pauses and there is something in his golden-gloved hands. It looks like a grenade... Now might be the time to act.]

[the_caped_crusader]

[ the inky mass of shadow drops silently behind him until he's nearly close enough to breathe onto mysterio's mask. batman grabs his wrist in a vice before growling low. ]

Drop it.

[makeanentrance]

[Mysterio startles, automatically tries to wrench his hand away but he's no stronger than an average human. The round object falls from his grip, clunking harmlessly to the ground. He's about to verbally protest but instead another question comes out.]

Who are you?

[It's nobody that he recognizes and the dark figure is very menacing. He can't even be sure if this is a hero or a costumed villain.]

[the_caped_crusader]

I'm Batman.

[ said so naturally. he's glad you asked. he gives quentin's wrist another squeeze. ]

You?

[makeanentrance]

[He winces, although it can't be seen through his cloudy helmet. Trying to regain some confidence and composure back, he answers in a firmer tone.]

I am Mysterio.

[Then his voice falters.]

Wh-what do you want? I'm not doing anything wrong.

batman; early june

[judascontract]

[Early in the month of june and late at night in Central City, when monsters of all shapes take flight, an older grey haired man in a dark suit gets out of a sleek black car with tinted black windows, accompanied by a very pretty girl in a short dress and high heels, her arm linked with his and a charming and sweet smile on her face. The man tugs her along, and his driver closes the door behind him.

The man is Desmond Reeds, a member of the society and a human trafficker who specializes in kidnapping young people with noteworthy powers and turning them over to international crime syndacites and local mafia. Unbeknownst to him, he's been found out by both the Society and the Alliance, and both have agreed to discreetly hire outside help to dispose of him swiftly. Or, in other words, Terra's target and prey for the night. So, here she is, posing as his date so she can seal him in a concrete box and hand him off to whoever's paying more.

What Terra doesn't know is that she's not the only one on his tail.]

[the_caped_crusader]

[ batman's always enjoyed clubs, but he's never been good at making quiet entrances. once they're inside, he's even nice enough to give them a little time to get comfortable before one of the bouncers goes flying through the doors and slams unceremoniously into the floor. it's an experience terra might have heard of offhandedly, or maybe even seen footage of, but it was another spectacle indeed to have a ringside view.

he mows through them as they scramble to either get away or fight him, but it's a violent dance as the lights flicker and glow as the music continues and muffles the sounds of breaking bone. the lights flicker one more time and he's gone, and then in another instant, he's right in their faces. the music is still blaring, but batman is close enough to hear. ]

Let's talk somewhere quiet. [ his eyes turn to terra. ] All of us.

[judascontract]

[...God-dammit. She had this all planned out, and here comes fucking Batman. She'd heard he was around, always knew she was going to run into him sooner or later, but this is hardly an ideal time.

When bones start breaking and cries are muffled by the music, Tara goes on immediate alert. She's watched him work. Slade wanted her to familiarize herself with Dick Grayson's actual mentor's fighting style, not that it's something she was ever able to trace back to one specific martial art. But seeing it in person is different. Alarming. Oddly captivating.

And then he's in front of her, making demands. All she can do is roll her eyes.] You're a real drama queen, you know that?

[Her date beside her looks up at Batman in stricken fear but as his hand darts to the gun strapped to the inside of his shirt, Tara's own hand darts out to catch it and using a specific move with her thumb and paulm she was taught in training, breaks it pretty much instantly.] Bad move, sweetie. Don't scream. You won't like what happens if you scream.

[She glances back at Batman as she drags him up with her by his broken wrist. The owner already organized a penthouse for the two of them, a place for her to make her move. So she moves with purpose to the elevator, to lead them all up there.]

[the_caped_crusader]

[ he follows them into a back office, quiet despite the bass that still makes the walls shake. he imagined it was quiet so they could do their business in peace. or if they didn't want anyone to hear the screams. he shoves desmond across the room and into a desk, and then points to an adjacent spot for terra, away from reeds. he doesn't take his eyes off her. ]

So, what was the plan? Sell him to the highest bidder? It seems like your M.O., Markov.

[judascontract]

Oh, we're using real names are we? [She cocks her head and crosses her arms, annoyed at the sanctimony in his words already.] Well, yours is a bit more of a secret, but yep, you got me. That's exactly what I was going to do.

What? Don't like the concept of people being paid?

Batman

[robintohood]

[Once again, it's nighttime and Jason's jumping rooftops across Central City.

Regardless if it's Gotham or Central City, Jason knows by now to always anticipate Batman when he goes out at night. Here and there he's caught glimpses of the man. He's almost like a shadowy cryptid. Jason knows that's intentional. Bruce is always devoted to crimefighting and his code.

Jason hasn't talked to Bruce since the night at the Opherium. It's not really a big loss for him though as he would rather limit the emotional family conversations. Still, Jason can't help but be curious when he spots Bruce on a rooftop ahead of him. It's clear he's about to break up something]

[the_caped_crusader]

[ or was this planned? and not by batman. the armed goons surround him between rooftops-- d'amico's men, who want to put a stop to him before he causes them any more trouble. from a distance, jason will see how bruce works at a distance, dropping a smoke bomb so he can take cover and pick them off. but there are a lot of them coming, and even more who yell from the street below as they rush into the building to storm the rooftop...

bruce is in there somewhere, but where? and can he handle that many people? ]

[robintohood]

[All these years and despite all the pain, damn. Jason still loves watching the man work. Jason turns on the infrared vision in his helmet so he can have a better view of Bruce fighting in the smoke. So far, so good. He's more or less still in peak fighting form.

But the yelling from the ground level draws Jason's attention and he looks down from the edge of his rooftop. Huh. It's a feistier-than-usual mob tonight]

Aww. Batman made some nice friends.

[Jason suspects this is retaliation for whatever case Bruce has been working on. Not that he could really blame his adoptive father. So far, the scum living in Central seem pretty similar to the ones living in Gotham.

Using parkour and the building's rusty fire escape, Jason quickly makes his way down to meet the goons still on the ground. Bruce is a strong and skilled fighter but even he has his limits and there's no way he has the same amount of arsenal he would have back in Gotham. Besides, Jason has time on his hands, and he doesn't want to let Bruce have all the fun]

[the_caped_crusader]

[ bruce crashes through a window, narrowly avoiding the barrage of gunfire. his suit is built to take punishment, but not quite like this. he immediately meets some of the men coming up the stares and decides to deal with them immediately. fighting them in the stairs would be more manageable than staying flaked on the rooftop. with his vision reduced by the fists and legs flying in the large skirmish, he doesn't see jason as they both work their way into the middle.

once they're there, bruce's eyes widen. he wasn't expecting jason here, but his batarang is already poised in the air at him... seemingly. until he yells and fires it off directly at jason's face... and the person coming up behind him. ]

Get down!

[robintohood]

[Jason doesn't think before he ducks. Even after all these years, the knowledge on how to work alongside Batman is like muscle memory for him. If he says get down, then you better get down. It's literally life or death.]

How come I wasn't invited? This looks like fun.

[Not that life-or-death situations always stops Jason from being a chatty support. He kicks another goon down the stairs and watches him tumble down with the others like a line of dominos]

Batman!

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

[ Doreen doesn't usually do her crimefighting rounds at night (squirrels are diurnal, natch), but... well, lately her days have been spent moving into a shoebox of an apartment, and trying to get enough freelance coding and web design work to pay the rent on said shoebox. Besides, she can't sleep, and parkouring across the rooftops is always a good way to burn off some energy and stress.

She does not expect the next roof she lands on to be occupied, and when Doreen sees the pointy-eared silhouette, her tail sticks straight up in surprise. ]

Oh, hi! Wow, you don't see many other people up here this time of night.

[the_caped_crusader]

[ he looks back once. really? ]

I'm out here every night.

[ ...and then he turns back around. ]

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

[ Yes, really. This is happening! ]

Yeah, I don't usually do the night shift, I'm more of a daywalker. Want a donut?

[ Sorry, she couldn't resist a vampire reference! But hey, she actually does have donuts. Her tail uncurls a bit, it's holding a plastic bag with a small box of donuts inside. ]

There's a place a few blocks away that sells 'em at a discount when they're about to close up.

[the_caped_crusader]

[ batman's eyes narrow. his face is a frown set in stone. he reaches into his cape and pulls out... a thermos. a bat-thermos. see? it has a little bat logo on it. he would love a donut. ]

Coffee?

[eatsnutsandkicksbutts]

Oh my god your thermos has a tiny bat on it.

[ There goes any chance he had of being intimidating! ]

Sure, thanks! One sec... [ She doesn't have a thermos, but she does have a small, mostly empty cup of coffee that she got from the donut shop. It takes a bit of juggling to hold the coffee cup and open the box of donuts at the same time, but she gets it done in the end, and offers up the box of donuts with her free hand. ]