Open and Closed

[knight_shift]

Who: Terry McGinnis knight_shift, Bruce Wayne the_caped_crusader
What: Terry introduces himself to Bruce, then gets the lay of the land in Central City as Batman
When: April 28th
Where: Central City
Content Warnings: Violence



[The Old Man (locked to Bruce)]

It really doesn't take Terry long to figure out Bruce is here once he gets a chance to settle in. Batman dabbing is still all over social media. Once Terry sees that it's not exactly the hardest thing in the world to track him down. Bruce had advertised himself online under his real name, after all, and a quick check on a library computer is all that's needed to find him.

It's not really a difficult decision to go meet him. They're going to run into each other sooner or later, Bruce is definitely going to have questions, and it's probably for the best if Terry just gets them out of the way now.

Also Terry really can't bring himself to avoid the opportunity to annoy a younger Bruce.

It's with that in mind that Terry and Ace find themselves at the door of Wayne Investigations, knocking at the door.

[Night Job(OTA)]

Night, when he goes out as Batman, is mostly about starting the lay of the land. Figuring out who the big time players are and who's moving what where. Sneaking around and staying out of things isn't something he likes doing, but it's necessary. Terry knew Gotham like the back of his hand. He doesn't know Central City. Not yet.

That said, he's not ignoring any calls for help. Like, say, from a woman who's being mugged by a pack of dregs. The thug who pulls a gun on her is almost immediately taken out by Terry gliding right into him.

"Lady, run. I've got the four or five Stooges here covered."

[Wild Card]

You know the drill.

Comments

[the_caped_crusader]

[ the door opens, eliciting a harsh screech on its rusted hinges. bruce, holding a cup of black coffee in a mug that reads "my favorite child gave me this cup" (he bought it himself. he's prepping for a troll in case anyone from his family shows up and tries to figure out which family member it was and that they have somehow garnered favor with him. bruce looks terry up and down, gaze stopping for a moment on ace before quickly coming back up. ]

You here about the ad?

[knight_shift]

Wow. So this is what you looked like when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth.

[Terry holds out his hand for a shake.]

Terry McGinnis. The dog is Ace, and I'm not here about the ad. I'm here because we need to talk.

Knowing you it's going to be a conversation that happens no matter what I do, so I figured I'd get it out of the way now.

1/2

[the_caped_crusader]

2/2

[the_caped_crusader]

[ shuts the door. ]

Re: 2/2

[knight_shift]

Yeah, that's about what I expected.

[Terry rattles the doorhandle a bit.]

And locked too. Ace, go around the back. Make sure he's not trying to sneak out.

[The dog runs off down the block.]

Seriously, you wouldn't do this to any of your other kids. Why me? Is it because I don't exist yet? That's kind of rude.

[the_caped_crusader]

[ from the other side of the door: ]

You said Terry, right?

[knight_shift]

That would be me, yes.

[Terry crosses his arms.]

You actually going to let me in? Or is this just going to be you telling me to go away by name?

[the_caped_crusader]

[ he sighs, and then like after a full minute, the door opens. he leaves it and takes a seat at his desk. ]

You have five minutes to explain. The dog bought you that much time.

[knight_shift]

[Terry whistles for Ace. The dog does not come running back. Instead he appears right next to Terry.]

Okay, that's new. Something figure to out later.

[Terry enters, shutting the door behind him.]

So, the short answer then?

[He drops into the chair across from Bruce.]

I'm Batman.

[the_caped_crusader]

I thought it would be something like that. You'll have to elaborate.

[ he looks to a cheap desk clock. ]

Four and a half minutes left.

[knight_shift]

By my time you'd quit pretty much everything. You put up the suit, Wayne Enterprises got taken over, and pretty much nobody was talking to you. Except Ace, and he's not exactly much of a conversationalist.

[The dog in question circles around the desk to sit by Bruce.]

And then I found the cave.

[the_caped_crusader]

A lot of people have found the cave.

[ he sighs and looks at the dog. after a moment between the two of them, his eyes soften enough to give him a pat. good boy. ]

How long?

[knight_shift]

Two years.

[Congratulations Bruce. You at least managed to wait until they were old enough for a driver's license this time.]</small Unless you meant how long between me finding the cave and me stealing the suit, because that was closer to two days.

[the_caped_crusader]

[ he doesn't respond to that. just a moment of silence as he processes his displeasure. ]

Not very long. [ a pause. ] I'm assuming you know the rules?

[knight_shift]

You wouldn't have let me keep the suit afterwards if I didn't.

[And Terry agreed with them. Maybe he wasn't as precisely stringent with them as Bruce was, but he wasn't about to go out and kill people.]

And it's longer than you think. I had to jump right into the deep end. You were in the cave giving me advice, but I was still the only one out there dealing with everything.

[the_caped_crusader]

[ he looks tired, though not just from this conversation. he tips his chin up towards the coffee machine. ]

...You want a cup of coffee?

[knight_shift]

Yeah, sure.

[It's not like any of them slept at reasonable hours.]

Look, I'm not actually expecting anything from you. You don't know me, and all jokes aside? I'm not related to you. Not even by adoption. Technically I'm your personal assistant.

[This Bruce wasn't his Bruce. Not yet and possibly not ever. It would be nice to build some kind of friendship with him, but it wasn't something Terry needed to do.]

I just wanted to clear the air a bit and make sure you didn't have to wonder who else was running around wearing pointy ears.

Night Job

[robintohood]

It's only been about two days since Jason found himself rudely dropped into an alternate Earth. Since then, he's been trying to get to know the place. It's necessary if he's ever going to leave. So far, one of the biggest things he's learned is that although the layout and the residents are different, the general feel of Central City is similar to Gotham. It's been especially obvious at night. He's already had to stop a handful of muggings.

Jason was on a dark rooftop and taking a break from swinging all over the city when he spots someone stopping another mugging. He sees it's the one claiming to be the future Batman. Looks like the guy's doing a patrol already.

Jason remains on the rooftop to silently observe how this Batman works while on the job. How much is he like Bruce? This could be a good opportunity to know, as opposed to also dealing with sentient potatoes in the middle of a crop field.

Re: Night Job

[knight_shift]

Terry makes pretty short work of them. They're not exactly cream of the crop when it comes to crooks and he's been fighting guys like them since before he'd even gotten the suit.

At the end, they're all down, groaning in pain. Terry grabs one and shoves him against the wall.

"Whose territory is this?" Terry growls.

"Third Street Hawks," the guy answers before Terry rams him back into the wall.

"Wrong answer. Let's try this again. Whose territory is this?"

"Y-yours?" the guy squeaks.

"Looks like you can be taught. Let me tell you how things are going to work-" Terry says, before something occurs to him. He rifles around in the guys pockets before find his wallet and ID. "-Adam. I find you out here doing slag like this again, I start breaking bones. I find your buddies out here doing the same thing, I break theirs and then I show up at your place to finish the lesson. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," The guy squeaks again, before Terry tosses his wallet back at him. He runs, while the rest of them pick themselves up off the ground at book it out of there. Terry turns to the roof where Jason's been watching.

"So, you going to come down here or are you just going to stalk me all night?"

[robintohood]

Jason has to admit. This Batman certainly interrogates like Bruce. Meanwhile the way he fights seems like a combination of Bruce's training and a street brawler's. Jason's recognizes a fair chunk of those moves as ones he's done.

"It's not stalking if I didn't think you were gonna be here," Jason drawls, unworried.

He steps out of the shadows and makes his way down using the fire escape and parkour.

"Can't a guy take a casual stroll around the city?"

[knight_shift]

Not exactly something most people do at this time of night.

[They'd both grown up in Gotham. Casual nighttime strolls weren't something you did if you valued their health.]

Everybody who's been around long enough to know the old man has had an opinion. Might as well get it out of your system.

[robintohood]

[He's right. It's impossible not to have an opinion about Batman, especially when you know him personally]

Nah. Seems better to let you figure that out. If you really were trained by him, then it shouldn't take long.

[Jason sees no reason to tell his personal story to someone claiming to be the next Batman. Besides, this would be another way to see the guy's capabilities]

[knight_shift]

I could, but that would require having any reason to care what you think. And no offense, but I'm fresh out of them.

[The list of people whose opinion about him being Batman he was actually interested in was a very, very short one. Some dude he just met wasn't anywhere near being on the list.]

[robintohood]

[Jason could appreciate the attitude. It was the right one to have]

Never thought I'd ever see someone else wear the cowl. Was starting to think he'd rather drop dead first.

[knight_shift]

I think he definitely tried. Old age just caught up to him first.

[There were other reasons. He had a heart condition, of course, plus there was whatever else that had happened to make him quit.

Terry had his theories about it but the only one who knew for sure was Bruce.]

[robintohood]

[Jason makes a dry laugh. Being a Gotham vigilante has its occupational hazards to say the least. But then again, if Bruce any sort of superpower, it would be how goddamn stubborn he is about anything]

That's almost just as shocking. Kudos to him for making it.