metalogs | Jailhouse Rock (but not too hard or it'll fall down)

Who: Robin/Tim Drake

mostdangerousbird and open. Can also be used as a sort of mingle for your own toplevels.
What: A massive jailbreak of lowlevel, non-meta criminals from CCPD headquarters, after Loki removed all the walls and cage doors.
When: On a clear December night, during the mistletoe mania.
Where: Downtown Central City
Content Warnings: Please keep the damage minimal and the takedowns non-lethal.

The Central City PD are located downtown, taking up a lot of valuable ground with a stupid architectural design that wastes as much space as it does money.

It's normally foreboding griege brutalism, but everything is looking a little Jetsons at the moment. The sections were the cells are? Don't have any damn walls left. Or cell bars. It looks like something out of the Jetsons - floating concrete and rebar discs for floors and roofs. Pipes spraying water out and up and everywhere because the walls are gone. Don't worry, you won't get shocked because all the wires are gone too.

Those inside the building will have to make do on emergency lights (if they're in an area that still has walls). The circuit is obviously so badly damage that it's stopped working - a too-smart-to-be-a-cop secretary very quickly realizes the danger of an electric file and trips all the breakers on purpose.

The prisoners? About a third of them immediately make a run for it. Another third move away from the open walls, but sit quietly with visible hands because this is crazy, suspicious shit and they are not going to make it worse on themselves. The rest wait to see how far the first runners get and begin peeling off in small groups in the next two minutes.

The missing walls and bars will reappear at dawn like nothing ever happened, but there’s no way of knowing that.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Catching the criminals. As Red Hood.

[Snorts]

Red Hood? The weirdo with the helmet? What makes you say that?

[She clenches her fists.]

You know, Cass didn't bother to insult my intelligence.

What'd she do?

Pinned me and asked me how I knew. But you already know how I know, don't you?

Still got no idea what you mean, Dana. Why would I be Red Hood?

You hired her as security. You don't wonder how she's so good at it? Because you already know.

I saw her fight once. That's all I needed to know how damn good she is.

Yes, but why is she so good? [She huffs and turns away.]

Tim, Cass, Steph... they all knew each other before you hired them. And once you know who one of them is, it's easy to guess about the rest. I guess I'm the only exception.

Not my business why she's so good as long as she gets the job done.

Have you talked to the others about your theory?

Only Cass, but she confirmed it. As I said.

I should let them know, too. Make sure they know about the potential security risk. Cass didn't know who the Batman of my time was; Steph probably doesn't, either.

What exactly did Cass say?

She asked about him. Thought he'd shown up during the few months she was gone from Gotham. Not decades later in another universe.

Right. That could be confusing. Did she mention others?

Red Robin. As someone who was active during her hiatus. Someone I'd never heard of.

[Jason frowns]

Never heard of that either. Just Robin instead.

[Which is oddly true]

[She turns back to him and gives a tight smile of triumph.]

So. Stopped pretending you first heard of Robin from me?

Never said that. We talked about Batman and Robin before.

Why are you so slagging stubborn? What's the point of keeping up the pretense? You're not going to convince me you're not involved. Especially with how uncurious you are about Cass's role. I don't even need to know everyone's hero names. I just- want to know who I can trust.

[There's a short pause as Jason considers this. Dana makes a fair point and assuming her Gotham is anything like his, she could use the assurance other Gothamites are around to help if she needs it]

Hypothetically, if I were one of these costumed weirdos, it's still better that you know as little as possible about that kind of stuff.

I know. That's why I've tried to avoid finding out civilian identities. But when they're all in one place like this, and there are so few possibilities-

That's why he told me in the first place. Because I'd catch on sooner or later. And knowing helped. Between us, and so I'd know when there was danger and what was most important to protect.

[Jason nods]

Seems like it's a double-edged sword having that knowledge if you're not careful. Any hero from any alternate universe can drop by but the Confluence can drop off villains too.

[She nods back, a small tight movement.]

It was one of my first fears when the Joker showed up. Especially as when he attacked us in our home universe, I wasn't expecting it. Didn't understand why, either, until- my boyfriend explained. It was a relief to know that this one didn't seem to know who he was, but I knew that if he ever figured out, he'd probably come after me, as a way to hurt him.

[When it comes to the Joker, Jason can't help but be grim]

Hence why you gotta be careful. And sometimes, some questions are best left unanswered for your own sake.

I know. But not knowing enough can be dangerous, too. If I'd known what the Jokerz attacking us meant, I might've been more careful.

My boyfriend's gone now, so the Joker might not have any reason to target me. But if he does, I'd like to know who I can turn to. Especially the ones who want him gone the most.

(no subject)

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