Small Talk (DCU, AU, PG-R, 6/6)
Title: Small Talk (6/?)
Fandom:DCU, Bat-Family Centered, Keeperverse
Characters: Corvid (Blackbird), Tim Drake (Robin), Bat-Family
Word Count: Around 1443 words
Rating: PG-R for swearing and mild violence
Disclaimer: I don't own the location of Gotham or the Bat-Crew, or any other DC owned Characters/Locations
Synopsis: Robin and Blackbird stop for a chat
Previous Chapters: Tonight, Almost a Party, Chatter, Out Tonight, Small Talk
Author's Notes: This takes place in my Keeperverse. I play fast and loose with canon-continuity so I apologize if it seems off, but it is an AU. In this world Tim is still Robin and Jason is an anti-hero (who hasn't slaughtered bunches of people... he's just a little naughty).
Blackbird landed on a rooftop in the worst part of the East End. Of course, that’s kinda like saying the worst part of the dump; the whole place is just varying degrees of awful. There is no good part of the East End, but Corvid is desperately trying to fix that. She supressed a shudder when she saw a clown go strutting down the street. That was one of the few things she didn’t like about Halloween- there was always some idiot who felt the need to dress up like a villain or just a regular clown. She really hated clowns. Most children in Gotham didn't even like to see them at the circus. The entire city suffers from a severe case of coulrophobia. If you hire a clown for a children’s birthday party you are nothing short of a sadist. Clowns go right up on the top of the list of things she’d ban from Gotham.
The list also includes Hat Conventions, ancient artifacts and jewels relating to cats (Selena tries to be good, but that‘s just asking for trouble), large corporations that base their earnings on the killing of plant life, riddle contests, anything relating to duality of man…. It’s a long list. She’s spent many nights forming a list that goes on for miles. It’d be a lot easier if they could just ban villains from Gotham, but it’s not like they would comply. At least they’ve kept Supers out of Gotham. Meta Heroes bring Meta Villains and this city has enough problems.
Tim’s coming. ‘Damn, how did he find me so quickly?’ she really hadn’t expected him to locate her in less than twenty-four hours. He must’ve been obsessing. ’I guess I shouldn’t be shocked that an expert stalker has caught up with me.’ She doesn’t even turn towards him when he lands on the rooftop beside her. Mostly because she’s trying to figure out how to play this, if he was here it was for a reason so there was no use in pretending that he had the wrong woman.
Tim furrowed his brow behind the mask, he wasn’t sure if she’d noticed him. Her muscles didn’t tense for a fight, she didn’t seem nervous. Maybe she didn’t know he was there? “You left quickly last night.”
“Well, you know, places to go, bad guys to fight. I’m a busy gal, can’t stay put for long,” She turned towards him and smiled. “You caught up to me quickly, which I guess shouldn’t shock me. But should Batman really be letting you out and about while recovering from an injury?” She knew that she’d been investing a lot of energy into helping him heal, but still, she worried that he wasn’t at optimal functionality.
“I’m fine. You were injured too,” It wasn’t an inquiry into her health, it sounded far more like an accusation.
“I still am, and so are you. Don’t worry, I’m not trying to figure out your weak points, I don’t want to fight with you,” She couldn’t help the sigh that came through in her voice. “I’m out tonight because it’s Halloween and there’s a big full moon, which means tonight is all hands on deck. If I can move, I can help.”
“I see. And what makes you think I was expecting a fight?”
“Body language, you’re tense. But I’m an unknown, so you’re smart to be tense. I know where you’re injured but you don’t know the extent of my injuries and you don’t like that balance of knowledge. You have to hate it when somebody knows more about you than you know about them,” Blackbird sat on the ledge of the building and gestured for Robin to do the same, not that he would.
“Who told you?”
“Told me about body language, or about your injuries…”
“You know what I mean,” Tim had to fight the urge to sigh because she was exasperating. Did she think they were playing? She reminded him a little bit of Selena, or Dick when he was being annoying.
“Nobody had to tell me. I knew. I figured it out on my own, is that really so hard to believe?” She knew it couldn’t be too hard for him to understand that. After all, he’d figured it out on his own. But Tim is special, he’s so brilliant that Corvid has long suspected that he was even smarter than Bruce. She adores him, she’s always felt a special connection to Tim. They’ve both been outsiders watching a group of people that they wished they could join. She’s been thrilled for Tim that he was able to find the family he longed for, but she could never be a part of his world. Corvid had to keep her distance from those she felt closest too, knew best, and trusted the most.
Aside from a few other Keepers there weren’t many people that she felt connected to, but her champions would always hold a special place in heart. A lot of other Keepers had similar issues, but usually their cities didn’t just adore it’s heroes, but it’s so-called Golden Boys. The glamorous people that were the closest thing to royalty their city possessed. Keepers were expected to fraternize with the Golden Boys and Girls, half of them came from the same families as their Goldens. A lot of Keepers ended up being cherished citizens themselves. Star understood her situation, since Oliver Queen was arguably his most notable citizen while still being Green Arrow. In Gotham, Bruce Wayne was the city’s most adored citizen and Dick Grayson was very popular in his own right. Her heroes were her Golden Boys.
She just smiled and try to keep her body language looking relaxed. She didn’t want to look too defensive, Tim was great at reading body language and she was hoping he’d believe she was telling the truth. “I figured it out on my own and I’m not going to tell anybody anything about you guys. I respect what you do, admire your courage, and understand exactly how important you are to this city. I would never do anything to endanger your mission. Still, I’m super impressed that you found me this quickly.”
“We’ve had reports of a vigilante in the area matching your description,” Robin had actually tried getting information on her from Selena, who hadn’t been forthcoming at all. He fully intends to investigate a possible alliance between the two of them. He felt as if Selena was trying to protect the girl, which struck him as odd. Then again, Selena could be very loyal to those that earned her trust. The other vigilante’s operating in the East End explains why they don’t have footage of her on their network of cameras. Selena keeps disabling the cameras they put in the area, but she does protect the East End pretty well. Jason’s also been helping out there, probably because he knows he’s not on camera when he does it. He’ll have to talk with Bruce about the potential for it to become the unsanctioned vigilante haven of Gotham.
Corvid stood up, readying herself to make her exit. She could sense that they were both needed elsewhere. Tim contemplated following her, but decided that it was better to just let her go as Oracle started talking in his ear about all hell breaking loose up town. “You need to go now. The city needs you,” Corvid looked at him.
Tim nodded and reading a jump line, “Before you go, what’s your name?”
For a fraction of a second she considered not telling him, it would drive him nuts. She just smiled, “Blackbird.” And then she jumped away. They both left the rooftop to fight the chaos of Gotham on Halloween. Tim felt slightly more reassured that she wasn’t a major threat and Corvid would be lying if she said she didn’t enjoy spending a few minutes talking with him. But there were things that needed to be dealt with and tonight they were the people to deal with them.