2013-12-01 - Chatty Bats

Batman is almost starting to see patrolling not only as a way to save Gotham City from eating itself, but also to escape from his chaotic home life. Though, sometimes it is nice to have a little company. At his side this time grappling along the buildings is none other than Red Robin.

It was equally as relaxing for Red Robin as she'd not gotten to go patrolling with Batman in... a long time really. Not since Damian first showed up and she began to run her own small patrols intermixed with keeping him from escaping the house. Tonight though she just needed to go out and she'd managed to catch Bruce before he left. Swinging on the ziplines she keeps her legs tucked together neatly with practiced skill and she grins openly clearly enjoying every moment. There was something liberating about flying rooftop to rooftop after all. Glancing over toward Batman she flashes him that grin as her red hair whips behind her caught in the wind. It's only a momentary glance then she looks forward again as she lands neat on the rooftop retracting the grapple line. "Good to get out again. Been too long," she offers.

Batman lands with grace and practice. "Less piercings this way," Batman comments. He is never going to forget that disguise. Ever. Too priceless to forget. But he doesn't quite stand still, rather moving toward a gargoyle as he pulls free a small set of highly effective binoculars to take a look about. "How have you been Red Robin?" He doesn't expect a detailed answer, but he hasn't exactly been keeping close watch on how she is holding up after the news that she would likely never be able to return home.

Red Robin moves close to his side, but far enough away that he still has personal space and freedom of movement. It's actually just the right distance for both of those as if she'd had much practice knowing the exact personal and professional boundary to allow him. She doesn't perch on a gargoyle but she does sink down to crouch looking out over the city and down below with keen eyes and no binoculars. Her vision was actually rather good with her contacts in but for now she was letting him do the actual scoping out. "Good. Starting classes mid-January. Been trying to figure out Christmas gifts for the boys." That was the hard part.

"Christmas...," and Batman grunts. He forgot, AGAIN. He just thinks of Christmas as the hit for holiday crimes like the Calender Man, and such. "I suppose we should hold some sort of gathering, we certainly have enough of an extended family." He isn't thinking as he speaks, he just speaks naturally. "Minor robbery, someone trying to break in a jewelry store."

He pulls out a portable radio that actually hacks into the police system, shifting his voice as he calls it in to any nearby cop in the area. Batman started it to start taking care of some of the minor stuff and also to check for corruption in the cops. Who responds, what do they do, and so on. Sometimes he just watches them work to make sure they act honorable. This is apparently one of those times as he hears of a nearby car willing to take it, only two blocks away. They will be there in time. "Oracle will be with her Father, but I suppose Batgirl and Catwoman should be invited as well." He shares more about Oracle with Red than he does with his own son.

"The Commissioner doesn't know about us all, huh? He's a good man." It's added perhaps needlessly but it was true none the less. Carrie shifts to try and take some weight off of her heels to avoid them falling asleep and she nods at mention of the robbery. A pair of her own binoculars are pulled out to watch, and also to scan around for other issues while he's keeping tabs on the response. "Oh we're doing something, I already spoke to Alfred about it." It's said briefly, quickly, and without getting into detail because let's face it--Alfred didn't have a code name. Flashing a grin she looks back to him once more. "Just be If something comes up we can knock it out quick with all of us around. And it'd be good to have both of them there, too. Then I won't be the only girl."

"Of course not, it would put him even more as a target and make him second guess his own morality. Best he doesn't know, he is conflicted enough as is." Batman grunts, "Then tell Alfred to send them invites. I'll set up a surveillance system around predicted key areas to keep tabs on criminal activity since we won't be patrolling most of the night." Always worried about the city, but he's trying to make time for his strange family. He then says, "That means the Holiday event for The Phoenix Project will be getting held soon as well. It is actually rebuilding part of the Narrows historical area. Gang activity will likely rise around that area as a result and it will need to be patrolled more closely. Some new residential areas for low-income housing will also be available, along with a community center with drug counseling and more." Talk about an ambitious project and a dangerous one that the Wayne Foundation is doing.

"The Narrows...." Carrie trails off there as her binoculars lower. Did she see something? It's hard to tell. They lift up again after a moment to resume her absent scanning over the city streets, buildings, and areas. "I'd offer to help but it's not quite the charities I'll be associated with for awhile. I can work over to it in time," she adds with a small shrug. "Big leap from save the wildcats to urban renewal though."

A quiet hrm at that, "They are taking a while," and he finally spots them. "Response time is bad." Constantly critiquing. But he then nods, "It is a bit of a leap. Best to go from wildcats to children, then to urban renewal." Wait, is he serious? Well, he may be a bit sarcastically jesting right now in comparing children to wildcats.

"Think I may have already done that, Boss. I spend most of my time with Batwing," She reminds him simply. Was she joking toward him? Oh of course she was. Grinning at that though her attention turns to the robbery a moment to regard the police there as well. Two blocks shouldn't have taken that long. "Mmm. It is a bit off," she has to agree but she watches to see what they do as well. "Not such a huge jump though given I'm living with you guys. People do tend to opt for things their social group does and right now that's fitting." There's a pause before she adds, "I know you have a tux. Pick a day for a photo to be taken. Don't tell Alfred."

Batman works to hide his smile, "I see. That's good community service, I'm sure, but won't work too well with your secret identity. Though I suppose you could watch over him at the event." That would give her a tie-in to it if she did wish to attend. "Wait, what?" Photo taking?

But then the cops are getting out and freeing their guns, as they call out and precede to see about making arrests. "Property damage so far, but no jewelry loss." Still, he picks up the binoculars to make sure nothing goes wrong. "Why a photo?"

"When was the last time there was a family photo taken?" It's a simple question. One that in other circumstances would not seem odd, or out of place, but in this circumstance the answer was likely to bring back bad memories. Hopefully not. "Alfred takes care of all of us. He's as much family as anyone, and he's more traditional but has put up with a lot of non-tradition from all of us, for years. I think he might appreciate a little something normal for once from all of us." A family photo.

"The tradition is family painting, Red Robin, not photo. And the last one was...when I was eight." But a photo with Alfred would be fine he supposes. "Fine," he states with a grunt, having given in. "I assume you arranged someone to take the photo?" Batman is still watching the cops.

"And they are epic fail. The culprits are running. I'll send Gordon a report of this one," he states with annoyance. But then tucks his binoculars away and shoots his grapple line before he goes swinging toward the running criminals.

"Epic fail?" The corners of Red Robin's lips quirk even as she clicks the binoculars she holds to have them lock onto the side of her mask through. Her hands now free she reaches back for the trifold bow tucked beneath her cape. It's snapped out, and she draws it forward along with two arrows which are withdrawn. One is notched and the other is held between her teeth. She'd seen the path that they were leaving and she draws her arrow back taking aim with a squint to focus. The arrow is snapped off, and the other is swung forward to notch and fire. They were simple arrows--Nets. Nothing too fancy, but accurate, and she lowers her bow back to her side. "Not yet. And yeah, painting, bit outdated these days and trying to get you guys to hold still that long would be impossible," she points out with a grin.

At Red Robin's voice through the comlinks, Batman only grunts. He does have a thing for tradition. Still, he swings one down from another building to the street level where the netting caught one man, and his feet catch another. He lands on his back as the guy goes down and Batman keeps rolling forward on off the man and to his feet. The man groans in pain, but Batman merely walks over to him, puts on the cuffs as he pulls arms behind the back, and soon shoots his grapple gun. As the police are huffing and puffing to the criminals, Batman is already back in the air. "If you learn all the trick arrows, we might be able to get rid of Green Arrow in the Justice League." Ah, if only Ollie was here to hear that, priceless.

But Batman is soon on the roof tops again, turning to look at the cops making arrests and struggling to get the net free of the other criminal. "This is a little painful to watch, we should take video recording of this to also send to Gordon."

Red Robin stands after her arrows take flight. So one missed no biggie. She folds up the bow tucking it back behind her before pulling out her own grapple. She waits until Batman is back on the rooftops to aim and leap off swinging over to the new roof. The comlinks worked well though and she grins in spite of herself. "Hey, Ollie's a good guy! He's back in town temporarily by the way. Ran into him the other night. Bit grumpier than I remember him but time does change a person. He said he was only passing through before you worry." No mention of learning all the trick arrows though--She liked them for the distance but could only make so many. Landing gingerly she moves out toward Batman again shaking her head. "Should at least suggest they up their physical requirements."

"I wouldn't. He is the least of my concerns right now," Batman comments. "Perhaps could arrange for them to get a discount at a gym." A pause, "Could be worse, could be Bludhaven cops." Ouch. "Only a few are any good," Dick likely being one of them one would hope. He then motions for you to follow him, not bothering to record the horror below. At least they are finally getting the job done.

Red Robin turns away with a small shake of her head at that. "Yeah, figured, but he seemed worried. Pissed? I dunno. I usually saw him drunk." Which tended to mellow a person JUST a bit at least. "Batwing's getting antsy by the way, needs to blow off some steam soon. The charity thing is good but he wants training. Oh, I would like to take him to some art things," she adds a bit more cheerily. "Wicked's coming to town soon."

"If you can convince him to go, help yourself," Batman states. He waits to meet up with you before taking off to continue on patrol. "I'll do a training session with him soon then, perhaps this weekend." This was not something Red Robin could have enjoyed in her own world. The brief stunt of her having a partner in Batman was short-lived and did not involve roof top running. She has comrades here like none other, and a family that remembers her existence. "In the meantime, I'm close to narrowing where Joker is hiding. His cosmetics are off the market, but they are being sold in the black market still. Supplies are dramatically dwindled to what I suspect to be only one factory left."

"Figure that won't be a problem, Boss. I think he'll like it any way." Rooftop running. It was exhilarating. Not just being down on the streets having orders whispered in her ear, threats of being fired along with it. Different as it was, different as HE was... she did belong here. It felt right. The talk turns to the Joker though, and her expression turns serious and grim. A firm nod comes. "I could go undercover, pretend to be a buyer. I'm a girl. It's believable."

"That could actually work. Batgirl wouldn't be able to pull it off, but you could." Simple faith that Red Robin would get the job done. "I need to track an actual seller. Once one is found, I can get the answers from them. The key is locating them however, they are elusive though it may just be toward males."

Red Robin quirks a grin at that. It could be her disguise skills or just the fact that Cassandra didn't really do that talk thing. Much at all. "I'll need to know more about the product and such, but can do. Christmas is coming up, gift shopping on the cheap, they'll probably try to push it like that. Probably corner street vendors at day or something like that," she reasons already running options over in her mind. An abrupt change of topic comes as, "What're you getting Batwing?"

"That makes sense," and Batman is soon pausing to survey the area. "And I thought a trap set, that he could set up for Robin to go through." Sarcasm, obviously, one would hope. "I have no idea. What if I get you to do my shopping for me this year? I think that would work out. You can even use the budget to get gifts for others." Obviously, it be a very nice sized budget.

Red Robin rolls her eyes at that though she shakes her head. "You're taking him skydiving," she decides then and there. Perhaps she'd already considered it? It was quite possible. "Or a roller coaster park, then. He'll like that." With a chuckle she adds, "Already got a list of ideas, Boss, figured you might need some help with it." The hard part was HIM. Or ... maybe this was his gift?

Batman pauses in his scanning to look at Red Robin with narrowed eyes. "I rather doing the skydiving," then the roller coaster park apparently. "Can you hear his reaction when he finds out he is too short for the more dangerous rides?" Yep, want to look at the entire picture. But he then moves to stand and keep moving for the patrol, as this area is quiet.

"Already measured his height. He passes for six of the eight major roller coaster parks in the United States. Unfortunately most are closed for the season right now so skydiving it is," Carrie agrees with a bright grin as if she'd planned this all along. Perhaps she had. "His birthday is coming up after that. You're getting him a motorcycle so he'll stop stealing Robin's."

There is a quiet groan from Batman...