Who: bruce wayne (
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beknight); asha greyjoy (
laveers) & pals.
What: bruce makes friends; asha learns to shoot.
When: before & during the event.
Where: around olympia.
Warning(s): violence! more will be added if needed. pm/pp if you want me to set something up!
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Hm. It must be true what they say about people similar personalities.
[ She stabs Alan in the stomach with it. It's a quick gesture, under the table where no one will notice. The needle and cartridge disintegrate in her hand, but the job is done. The shot itself is nearly painless and he should be feeling better already.
As for Jack, she can argue with him when they get home, if it turns out that she has to.
She leans her elbow on the table, and props her chin against the heel of her palm. ]
Do you need to take them out to measure? I can wait some more.
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It doesn't matter, though. He watches the quick process of Ana administering the injection. A bar might be a strange place to do such a thing, but it's effective enough.
A server comes by soon after, though 76 doesn't order anything. He isn't willing to take his visor off here.
He grunts under his breath at Ana's comment. ]
It isn't about that. There a reason you wanted us to meet?
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[ There's no value in building kinship with that kind of soul — it's nothing to do with Jack or Bruce's individual personability, it's that they'd work well together, but the magnetism of that violence is often repellent rather than understanding. (there's Bucky, for understanding, if Bruce wants it) ]
Same question.
[ Another man would wink. Bruce simply studies her as he catalogues the effectiveness of the shot and feels a little better, physically. ]
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[ Ana orders a coffee, and when the server finally leaves them she does remove her mask. She's shielded between two much larger men, and the low light of the bar casts generous shadows.
The details of what they do and how they move through the world are different, but Ana thinks of the two of them in broad strokes. They're good men who can't stop punishing themselves because they don't know how to be anything else. ]
I'm going to have to disappoint you this time. [ Ana shrugs. ] I suppose I wanted to give you a reason to trust each other. Enough to work together, when there's a need for it.
I'm not Gabriel, I don't know how every card is going to be played, but I know when to begin stacking a deck in my favor. We need allies. [ She glances at Alan. ] And you need friends.
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The point is, these days he would be open to working with someone who wouldn't necessarily hold him back from those newer violent tendencies.
Ana seems to think he and Alan would work well together, and Jack isn't about to question her judgment. If she trusts this Alan, then that must mean he's been reliable.
The moment that she says the name "Gabriel," 76's back goes straight and his shoulders stiffen. Ana's much more willing to speak of him as he used to be, and Jack still isn't used to it. ]
Fair enough. [ He turns to regard Alan, and the whole setup feels a little too much like when he'd interview potential recruits. ] What have you been doing since we arrived in Olympia?
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[ Besides, he already knows he and 76 can function as a unit. No questions about Gabriel. Not yet. ]
I'm a vigilante.
[ A deliberate side-step of the question. The methodology of that work will speak for itself. He glances at Ana. He promised her the story someday, but here is pieces of it. ]
What about you?
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She lets the moment pass without comment.
She looks back at Alan. His answer reads as some measure of the truth, even if it's not a direct. It checks out. ]
I think we all have that in common. Your outfit needs some work, though. It's a little underwhelming.
[ She leaves the questions to Jack. This is his interrogation - she knows what she needs to know already, even if there are plenty of questions she wants to answer. ]
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Most of what I did back home is a moot point now. [ That's been a burden to bear on its own, as both he and Ana have worked to figure out their place in this new land. ] Vigilantism might be romanticizing it a little. [ "Terrorist" might not be quite right either, though. ]
I'm guessing you have your reasons for staying away from the guard. You'd rather work on your own terms?
[ 76 had struggled with that question, but had ultimately decided to give the guard a try. It hasn't forced him to compromise anything so far, so he's stuck with it. ]
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Oh, you really don't want to meet me in a dark alley.
[ They are threats to each other. Every piece of the truth is not given easily. But nothing says they can't be a little playful, and circle. ]
[ He nods to 76. ]
There're plenty who'd say the same of me.
[ Criminal, one-man reign of terror, the headlines get more garish whenever he checks back. It just means that the law in both worlds has cracks, and people fall through it. ]
I never answered to anyone. [ To his conscience — though look where that got him. Alfred. ] I don't intend to start now.
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[ She files the information beside what she already knows to be true, or partly true. Vigilantes don't generally have good reputations, but some are worse than others.
It takes a certain measure of distrust to operate outside of the law. A certain failure at the foundation of something most people still believe in.
The waitress brings her coffee, signaling a quick break in the conversation. When she goes, Ana indulges her own curiosity. ] Why work outside the law to begin with?
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Law doesn't mean justice.
[ Gotham is a nightmare to most. Corrupt officials, monsters in every shape and form. The man who murdered his family was never found or brought to trial. ]
no subject
With Alan, on the other hand, it seems like he's always functioned outside of the law. Jack isn't going to judge it. He knows all too well how much bureaucracy and red tape can slow things down.
On the other hand, one person can only do so much.
Alan's answer sounds like something McCree might say. ]
And you think it's the same here as it is back home. That those in charge can't be trusted.
[ He probably isn't wrong. ]
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[ It's generic, as an answer, but he doesn't need or want to justify distrust. The Orbiters have delivered on their promises to him so far, so he's cooperating. It's an arrangement that works, and besides, he doesn't think powerful beings like them are especially concerned with what people think of them. ]
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[ It's not entirely true. She and Jack and the rest of Overwatch had been heavily influenced by the UN and worked under their regulations. The problem had been that they thought they were in control of something that had stopped being theirs a long time before they realized it. Still.
Ana sips her coffee. ] You can justify a lot more when there's no one to answer to, whether it's from a position of power or not.
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I think the equation changes when there's this much power involved.
[ The power that means cryotubes for miles. ]
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We're also talking about two different things here. There's the Orbiters and the Empress and her guard.
[ He leans back in his seat and crosses his arms, the closest he can get to unwinding in the current situation. ]
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I think we can all agree on the Orbiters, but they're further out of our reach.
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So what do we think of the Empress?
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[ There could be a lot of different things going on there. Maybe the king had been a cruel ruler, so the people had been all too glad to accept their new empress. Or maybe they don't speak ill of her because they're scared of the consequences. 76 hasn't been able to get an audience to find out for himself, no surprise there. ]
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[ They don't know enough about the way the nobles move in this particular city to draw any conclusions. ]
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[ He looks from Ana to 76. ]
Are we going to share?
[ Some things need to be explicit. ]
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So after a pause, and sharing that glance with Ana, he nods. ]
Works for me.