rock and roll ain't noise pollution

[cowled]

Characters: Batman and open.
Date: The night of the 11th/morning of the 12th.
Location: All over the place!
Situation: He is the terror that flaps in the – wait, wrong caped crusader. Essentially, Bruce is running around being vengeance and the night and all that fun stuff.
Warnings/Rating: Bruce isn't really prone to excessive amounts of talking when he's Batman, so threads might run a little bit short. Rating... expect some violence, maybe?
Notes: Feel free to toss actionspam or prose at me! I'm good however. Bruce is going to be all over the city doing all sorts of things, just ask if you want me to set something up for you/your character, otherwise feel free to jump right in. \o/





[Even here, it feels like fighting an endless war. The city's been quieter after the war and most of the active gang members ended up behind bars, but the problem with that is the power vortex it leaves behind. He's spent the last few weeks fighting that momentum, to ill effect. People are still being robbed in the streets, and the brutality of those robberies has escalated. More than once he's arrived too late on a scene to do anything but damage control.

Long nights. Longer days, too. But the fight goes on, and Bruce wouldn't want to be anywhere else. The front lines have always suited him. Even now, he doesn't think he ever could be a sideliner. Those few months after Bane were some of the hardest in his life in terms of sheer personal inability. Bruce was so accustomed to pushing himself longer and harder than anyone else that finding out that there was a limit even to his tenacity had been terrifying in a way that not much else ever was.

Keeliai is nothing compared to Gotham. Compared to Apokolips. The Source Wall. It's nothing compared to Darkseid's siege on Earth, to losing his mind. To being lost in time.

He has allies here. Family. And although there is an omnipresent threat of danger hanging over all their heads, it doesn't have the aura of urgency or desperation that so often permeates the crises he's faced on Earth.

He wouldn't go so far as to say that Keeliai has made him complacent, because 'Batman' and 'complacency' are as far removed in meaning as any two words in the English language can be, but he is... calmer here, almost. After a fashion.

It doesn't mean he's lost his edge. It just means he's found a little serenity instead.

Lbr, he's still punching thugs in the throat, though.]

Comments

[tactile_telekinesis]

[Kon always spent a few night out, checking over things. He didn't have Young Justice any more, so to keep him sane and safe from getting bored, he checked over the turtle now and then. He was out right now, cruising along, high enough that he wouldn't really be spotted, but low enough he could see what was going on.

He went in lower when he saw a shape of a familiar looking bat. He flew so he was in front of Batman and grinned.]

What drags Batman out?

[cowled]

[Not who he wanted to see this evening, but he supposed it was inevitable. The turtle was only so big, and to anyone with Kryptonian DNA that narrowed the playing field considerably.

Still, Bruce scowled.]

I'm sure you don't need me to answer that question, Superboy.

[tactile_telekinesis]

[He puffed one cheek and his eyebrows drew in as Batman spoke to him.

Well no duh he knew what Batman was really out here doing, but it was more a conversation starter. He snorts at his own thought process, Batman and conversation? Right, cause that would happen or make sense.

He rolls his eyes and floats a little lower, arms crossed over his chest.]

C'mon B-Man, I know why, but the details! Sniffed out some kind of drug lord? Busting up a meeting of head honcho-types?

[cowled]

[Bruce just gave him an absolutely flat look. This was a look that said 'do you honestly think I'm going to tell you my personal Battish business?'

No words.

Just that obscenely judgemental Bat-glare, fished out of a utility belt somewhere for just such an occasion.]

[tactile_telekinesis]

[There's that moment when Kon is starting to feel uncomfortable under that stare. It's like him and Supes can just look at you and make you feel how they want. He would have shuffled had his feet been on the ground.

Kon moved over so he was crouching in the air beside Batman, looking over what he could of Keeliai. There didn't seem to be much going on at the moment and he sighed, sagging slightly.]

This is boring. You do this all the time? No wonder you've got a sour face.

[cowled]

Boredom is the sign of an unused mind.

[Hint, Kon.

He won't admit that it is a little unproductive. But better he be out here where he's needed in case something does happen. Too many nights have happened where the reverse was true.]

[tactile_telekinesis]

[He turns his head and looks at Batman with a frown.]

What you gettin' at Big B?

You know you might see more if you don't just stay here sitting like a statue, right?

[There's a little bit of a huff and he peers down at the street below. Nothing really. Rolling his eyes he leans back again.]

[cowled]

[He returns that look with an eyebrow arched behind his domino mask. Come on, Superboy, he knows you aren't stupid. Too much of Clark for that.

And Lex, for that matter.]

It's not always what you see, Kon.

[tactile_telekinesis]

[He listens to him and then looks out again. He didn't say anything about it but he felt like he got what Batman meant. He hadn't always seen trouble gone down, a lot of it was hearing about trouble either by contacts or some other way.]

So, business been slow?

[He's still going to try make some conversation. If it all fails he can always ask Kal how to do things. You know, since this guy is like Rob on boss level max difficulty.]

[cowled]

No.

[In fact, this is his first 'slow' night in weeks. He doesn't like the down time. It puts him on edge, makes him restless. Because there's always something and times like these he feels as if he's missing something of import.

He glances askance at Kon, suppresses a sigh. The boy's trying to hold a conversation with him, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out why. With Tim and Kara both gone, he's down to Kal and Lois for allies, and-- well, Kon and Kal didn't exactly have a good track record of familial camaraderie as far as Kon was concerned. He knows that Superboy has spoken to most members of Bruce's own extended family, but given that all of them are from a point in time after Kon... mnn.

Bruce shifts a little.]

And you?

[He's going to have a word with Clark later.]

[tactile_telekinesis]

[He had a better relationship with Kal here than he had back home. It was something he really liked but there was only so much you could talk about or do with a guy so many years older. Having people around his own age was a good help in keeping him from getting bored as well but things were still difficult.

Kon had expected to not receive any answer, or one like what he got. He knew Batman wasn't the conversation kind, or that was the impression he got from the few encounters and from talking to Robin. So when he asked him a question, there was a moment of stunned silence where it took him a second to realise what it was exactly that had been asked.]

Uh...well not really been doing the same as back home. I mean I keep an eye out for things, but not much has gone down.

[cowled]

Good.

[To... both those points, honestly. Bruce shifts his attention back out over the cityscape, silent. His body language is definitely suggesting that Kon show himself out, but there's no saying whether or not he'll actually pay enough attention to do so.]

[tactile_telekinesis]

[Hey, he's not that bad...all the time. Suggestions aren't orders and Kon stays where he is, keeping quiet. Kon's quiet for about five minutes when his brow creases and he takes a breath, turning back to Batman.]

Hey B-Man, you don't think Rob would just up and leave do you? Like he found a way and just never told us. Told you. Cause, yeah we weren't as tight as people said we were but, ugh there's no one cool here anymore. Well, from home. I mean, Nita's pretty ace.

[cowled]

[At the mention of Tim, Bruce... becomes even more still. Which is a difficult concept to explain. It's something in the way he breathes.]

No. He wouldn't.

[He's asked himself the same question. Tim's changed a great deal in the last year, and Bruce has only just begun to uncover the depth and breadth of that change. But the fundamental parts of him, the ones that are compassionate and earnest, haven't.

Bruce needs to believe it almost as much as he hopes Kon does.]

[tactile_telekinesis]

[Kon hadn't Rob would have just gone, but there was the fact that from where he came from, there wasn't huge amounts of trust. Kon thought about where he was, where they were all stuck and just that...well if there was an exit, they all seemed to be people who'd share it.

He nodded and hummed, looking as though he was settling and starting to feel a little comfortable.]

Yeah, I mean, if he did then I'd find a way to kick his ass for it.

[cowled]

[When in the history of anything has any member of the Superfam been able to kick the ass of anyone in the Batfam, gosh. Bruce doesn't roll his eyes at the bravado, but it's by a narrow margin.]

You'd have difficulty with that.

[tactile_telekinesis]

[He arches a brow and snorts. He could totally take him on. Not the Rob that was here...but maybe the one in his own time. If he planned it and took his time and stuck to a plan.]

Maybe. But when have I ever paid attention to odds and if things are hard or not?

[cowled]

[Bruce thinks about the first time he saw Tim in his new uniform, after-- everything. And he snorts very faintly.]

It isn't for everyone.

[It's. Grudging acknowledgement of the fact that some situations are best punched in the face until they're solved.]

[tactile_telekinesis]

Somehow it works though. For me. So far any way.

[There's a pause then a small whining noise.]

Or it had been working. I'm kinda trying not to do it as much.

[Sorry Bruce, he's using you as some kind of...crutch is the wrong word to use, so let's go with person to vent to that can't get away at this moment in time.]

[cowled]

Oh?

[It's okay, SB. He... doesn't hate the inane chatter.]

[tactile_telekinesis]

People get hurt. Not necessarily the people you want either. [He's totally meaning Tana here and he kind of sags a little.]

So, cause of that I'm trying to tone it down without actually losing myself.

[He puts on a grin.]

Cause c'mon, who's gonna like SB when he's not being SB, right?

[cowled]

Robin.

[Tim would. Despite it all and through everything. And despite the number of Robins cropping up on Tu Vishan, his tone means only one of them.]

[tactile_telekinesis]

[He's quiet for a moment and the grin falls into a smile, one that isn't forced.]

Wow Bats, way to say things straight on. He does, doesn't he? It's so weird being told I'm so different in the future. Guess it's a shock for everyone here seeing me.

[cowled]

Not really.

[At least not to him. He's impossible to surprise, remember.]

[tactile_telekinesis]

[He forgets that you're not a normal human and that you're a...ha, no wait he hasn't forgotten. Worlds greatest detective and everything.]

Heh, right. Almost forgot.