the cheap and evil girl sets out on the city (closed log)

[vdova]

Characters: Batman and Black Widow
Date: Mid January
Location: Fire sector
Situation: Two of the world's top information gatherers go toe to toe.
Warnings/Rating: PG-13 for violence, will update if necessary (it probably won't be)



This was a particularly insidious gang. Natasha had taken hold of the bull by the horns, watching them from a distance, gathering intelligence about them; she'd have left them on their own after a while, too, had one of her informants not told her that this particular four man band were too big for their britches, trying to take over one of the more affluent gangs in the Fire sector. He'd scoffed. She'd paid him, moved on, and started tracking them a little more diligently.

Still, she was a few days behind. The coup had caught her by surprise as well, and she'd been standing outside this very building as it had burned, disguised as a Kedan and listening. Hints were dropped, and she's back one night later, breaking into the crime scene to gather her own info. The only hi-tech gadgetry she has are her Widow's Stings, but she doesn't need anything else. She knows what to look for, what the Kedan law enforcement might have missed.

—She isn't alone. It was the shadow that crossed before a window streaming moonlight that caught her out of the corner of her eye, and Natasha ducks into the shadows going completely still, keeping an ear out for footsteps. Someone back to finish the job? She hadn't been followed, she knows that much.

Natasha briefly considers the guns holstered at her side but decides against them. She can't interrogate someone if they're dead. Instead, she powers up her gauntlets, dropping them low so the blue light doesn't attract the sight of her companion.

Comments

[cowled]

Bruce has had his eye on this particular gang for months, but they've been on the backburner for the majority of it. There are more virulent groups, more atrocious crimes, murders and thefts far grander than the one this little four-man show has ever proved themselves capable of. They are a lesser evil, and Bruce hasn't felt the need to step up his game in their regard.

Until now.

Over the last forty-eight hours, something's happened. They suddenly moved a ridiculous amount of money and armaments, made a power play on one of the largest gangs in the Fire Sector, and took it over in a bloody coup that suggested insider help. Four kedan were killed outright, the room they were in torched in a blaze that spread to three buildings before it could be properly extinguished. Kedan authorities had cordoned off the scene, but Bruce isn't interested in playing by their rules. He enters through a vent near the roof, drops soundlessly into the room. Everything is charred and blackened, the bodies were dragged off to one side and covered with plastic, likely awaiting the body-collectors that work in Keeliai. Bruce reaches up to his cowl, setting up a scientific crime-scene in the overlay of his Starlite lenses, and begins. He needs clues, something that can discern the identity of the mole that the Errant Jacks had in this crime cell.

There are footprints in the soot, those likely belong to the local law enforcement. He's more interested in what the fire's trying to hide, and he crouches to take samples in several spots.

There are certain frequencies on which only electronic devices operate. It's one of the reasons he prefers a low-tech approach whenever possible, as the keenly trained ear can pick up on the low, electronic whine that wasn't present moments earlier. Outwardly, nothing changes. Inwardly, Bruce attempts to triangulate the sound without turning to face it as he starts scraping soot off the floor. He doubts it's a kedan, but you never know. Either way, it may prove more interesting to let them get the theoretical drop on him than to admit knowledge of their presence.

If whoever it is wants to leave rather than confront him, he'll tail them. If they want a fight, well. Bruce is nothing if not confident in his martial abilities.

[vdova]

There's no movement from her for a long while, the low hum of her Stings fading away as she waits. She's got her back to a crate, peering around it, and she'd judge the outfit if she didn't know Steve or Thor or Tony. She's not interested in a fight, but the more bodies there are here, the more likely they are to be caught, and besides. She was here first. This is her crime scene to investigate, and the man in the bat suit can come back later.

She considers, and then grabs a pebble, placing it in her teeth as she silently hoists herself up onto the crate, using it as leverage to shimmy her way up to the upper floors. She lands in a crouch, and quietly makes her way to where she's just up above the interloper, watching him work a few moments more before tossing the pebble down to where she'd been hiding a minute before. Would he take the bait?

[cowled]

He listens to it bounce, assumes a general trajectory. Then, "If I were an amateur, I wouldn't be here," he says mildly, without ceasing in his work. It would have been a hot fire, to produce this kind of charring, and he picks up something that looks like a bone fragment with a pair of delicate tweezers, slides it into a small glass phial for later analysis.

If the person wanted to attack him, though, he'd have had a fight on his hands already. Odds are they simply want him to leave. Bruce doesn't generally share his crimescenes - back home, he makes a point of being there before the police, or as soon after as he can manage - but this? It's important, and he's not going anywhere.

[vdova]

He's stubborn, she'll give him that. He's obviously not an amateur, either, and while he may not be her equal (only time would tell on that), he was certainly up there. She'd be impressed, at least, if she wasn't annoyed. She was going to have to be a little more firm, it seemed.

Natasha leapt down from the catwalk, landing in a silent crouch behind Bruce, making sure to do her best to stick to the shadows.

"You shouldn't be here regardless of your skill level."

[cowled]

He doesn't give any indication of having heard her, merely corks the last of his phials closed and stows it in his utility belt before he straightens with purpose. "Then what's your excuse?" he asks mildly. He may not know exactly where she is, but fighting in the dark - metaphorically speaking - has never bothered him. He drops a batarang down into his hand, the point of one tip resting against his middle finger, and waits for her to make a move.

[vdova]

"I have business, here," she replies coldly, crossing her arms (even though he can't see it). "You're ruining it."

[cowled]

"You have yet to give me a compelling reason to un-ruin it." He closes his eyes behind the lenses of his cowl, and starts mentally rebuilding what he knows of the room. Certainly, it's dark, but that's never stopped him before. It is in fact an element of his life that's indirectly kept him alive for the duration of his career.

She's behind him. No doubt angling for surprise, though she's ruined it with the banter. That she's neither attacked him nor directly asked him to leave, it's possible she wants to bargain, or work towards an exchange of information.

"Your having business here doesn't preclude my own." It's a prompt, to see if she'll take the bait. If not, he'll use a flashbang, gather his evidence and leave.