The City is at war, a place among the young and rich

[thepull_mods]

Who: OPEN to anyone! Tag yourself in.
When: 11:27am and onward
Where: Sector 5, Turnabout Square near Cinnegrad Cemetery and branching out through out as listed below.
Summary: Former Governor Redgrave’s funeral procession goes badly very, very quickly. Agitated spectators eventually devolve into protesters against the former Governor, this

Comments

[kingofrooks]

He averted his eyes from her wings- partly because he knew she was uncomfortable, partly because she didn't need him to stare at her like she was a particularly interesting specimen. It wasn't the first time he had seen someone with wings coming out of their back- there was Zauriel, and before him were Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and sometimes there was Hawk and Dove as well. It really wasn't a surprising sight.

Merely a satisfactory one. So he was right- unfortunately, the situation was such that he didn't have the time to brag.

"I actually can't see the difference between your 'standing vigilant' and anyone else's 'standing there doing nothing like an overgrown target board'," his voice wasn't snappish, only matter-of-fact, with the barest thread of amusement in them. He watched their interactions for a moment before he turned his attention back to his captive, who was struggling for real now.

"That won't work," it was directed towards Edgeworth. Then, he cocked his head, looking down on the strange native.

"Stop. Moving," his tone was conversational, but deadly. The man stilled- for a moment, an Bruce backed up and flipped him over, grabbing his ankles and cuffing them.

"Re-l. He's all yours."

[proxysearch]

He could look away all he wanted. The deed was done; she couldn't see the confirmation in his eyes. She didn't need to. He was being smug about it. With a frown, she glanced away. Bastard. She'd say something later, maybe, once all of this had died down.

Instead, she moved past Edgeworth to grab the man, hoisting him up with a hand. Looking up at the sun, she sighed, spreading her wings again. "Watch your back, won't you?" she shot back at Batman, throwing herself into the air. She was up and into the air again, to the opposite building and its rooftop. She dropped him down and uncuffed him only long enough to loop the tie around a pipe.

"Don't be stupid."

And then she jumped right back down, wings hurting. She needed to get rid of them before they started burning into her back.

[mentis_reae]

I'm not jealous. He was not jealous of Batman's effortless strength, the way he'd been able to intimidate that criminal with a single snarled word when Edgeworth had to rage and bluster and still struggled for respect. He was not jealous of the way that Ms. Mayer spoke of him with frustrated admiration, nor the way that all others had greeted him with hushed tones. He wasn't jealous of the way that Batman was able to save people.

He just...was annoyed by the theatrics, that was all. And by the egotism. It was irritating.

"Well done, apprehending someone we could have easily handled," Edgeworth sneered at the man as Ms. Mayer ascended with the criminal. "You're certain you didn't want to put a second pair of handcuffs on the one we'd already arrested? You would have looked quite glorious with that." He looked over at the man, his lips thin. "Because, truly, neither of us is interested in glory like you are. We wouldn't have minded."

It was petty and childish, but he timed his insults so that Ms. Mayer was within earshot once more just after he finished speaking. If Batman wanted to retort, he'd have to do it within her hearing.

[kingofrooks]

Edgeworth's hostility pierced through him even though he was trying to not show it, and all the more now Bruce was glad for the lenses of the cowl. More than just the gadgets he could built in them, they were useful simply because they hid his eyes; his expression. He kept his lips thin, his face frozen in uncaring blankness.

It didn't hurt exactly, more of a sudden heavy resignation that this was what he had asked for when he put on this costume. When he created the personas of Bruce Wayne and Batman and hid himself in the spaces between the masks, those little flashes of grey that could barely be seen nowadays. He asked for this when he lied to everyone about who he was.

It was better this way. Like this, Edgeworth would never be a target for Batman's enemies. Except- the Riddler knew, Jinx knew, and though he knew they and Anna Milton and Chuck Shurley would never tell, the danger was there, nonetheless. It would be better if Batman just judged Edgeworth to be beneath his notice.

Better this way so what happened with Harvey would never repeat itself again.

"If you turn your ingenuity of insults towards your cases, then I'm not surprised that you win quite a few," there was no overt hostility in his voice. Just the same blankness as his face.

He turned to Re-l. "Your wings." He paused, "If you cut them off, will they grow back again?"

It was his way of showing worry.

[proxysearch]

She hadn't caught anything of Edgeworth's preliminary remarks, too caught up in her work to pay much attention. The crowd was loud enough to muffle his voice and she imagined he was simply instructing Batman or starting up some argument. Maybe he was immediately berating him for the incident in his office. ...No, it would be foolish of him. Now wasn't the time. He knew better than to start a fight now.

But as she dropped down, she wasn't sure what had been said, but it apparently didn't get much of a reaction from Batman. Instead, he immediately made Edgeworth look like the crueler of the two, a childish and petty prosecutor.

She bristled silently, angered at the notion. How often had people tried to insult him that way? (And why did she get so defensive of it, time and time again?)

Re-l lifted her gaze to Batman, wings immediately tucking against her back. She didn't want either of them to see that sort of thing. "I can...pull them back in, but they're damaged. I can let the sun take care of them and they'll grow back later, or I can just...rip them out."

[mentis_reae]

Edgeworth clenched his jaw and scowled at Batman. The man - he hadn't even seen fit to insult him back. Edgeworth had been harsh and petty, cruel and nasty, childish - and Batman hadn't responded in kind. There hadn't been so much as a flinch to let him know the insult had landed...

And now he looked the fool in front of Re-l. Re-l, whom he admired with...Well, with perhaps a bit more ardor than he should show, considering they were coworkers, but...Well. He admired her. That was all that mattered.

You bastard. You complete bastard.

"Studying her weaknesses then, are you?" was what he wanted to ask, but he knew that would only confirm the impression of him which Batman was trying to foster. So, instead, he simply said, "Is this truly the best place in which to have this discussion?"

[kingofrooks]

"No, it isn't," In fact, if there was any of his choice in this, he wanted to just go. He was tired, tired of masks no matter how necessary, of barely sleeping, of clawing and clawing at saving people in a city that wasn't his. He missed Gotham; missed her smog and fog and smoke; her gargoyles and her night-dark and oil-slick voice. Miss the way her winds carressed against his cape and her lights threw orange over his uniform.

His eyes were closed behind and unseen. Bruce breathed out, and barely kept it from being a sigh.

He turned to Re-l. "Back to the station, then?" He cocked his head, eyes landing on Edgeworth's form. "Or would you rather your office, or your apartment?"

[proxysearch]

She looked at them both for a moment, shaking her head. It might not have been the best place for a talk like this but what could they do? Re-l lifted her gaze to Batman, instinctively uncomfortable with how he asked where they wanted to go. She hesitated and then shook her head once more.

"I can't go." She looked at Edgeworth. "I'm going to take you far enough away from this crowd that you won't need to worry, and then I need to come back here. Under martial law, the SPPD need everyone they can get out here to help stop this."

Fratley, Bigby and Jayden would be somewhere out here. "I need to stay. I'll deal with this," - and here she gestures to her wings - "when I have time."

[mentis_reae]

Edgeworth frowned at once. The people out there were violent fools, yes, and it would have been easier to simply flee from this situation. Indeed, in some corner of his mind he could even justify it. This was not his area of expertise; he was no combatant, nor indeed a peacekeeper. He was just an attorney. And yet if there was any way - any way whatsoever - that he might help these damned fools, might slow the course of death and destruction, then it was his responsibility to do so.

"I'm staying as well." He set his jaw stubbornly. "As I said. I can handle myself, as I've proven, and I'm not going to abandon you nor the police department without assistance. You're short-handed as it is. I can provide support."

And, made all the more petty by those implications of pettiness, he frowned at Batman. "I'm certainly not going to allow you near my apartment again."

[kingofrooks]

Bruce had the distinct, sharp urge to throw his hands up and call them both idiots, especially Edgeworth. Re-l's wings were practically smoking in the air from being burnt in the sun, and Edgeworth wasn't a combatant, not matter how much he was insisting. If they had any sort of wisdom or self-preservation or common sense, they would leave.

He stopped himself from saying all of that. But he didn't stop himself from rolling his eyes- and doing it in the most overt and dramatic way. Because that was what they're being.

"You're going back to a place where people can grab hold of your wings and rip them off," he said this flatly, without much inflection. "Or set fire to them. You are a target enough already. Those things are a weakness. Deal with it before you throw yourself back in danger."

Exhale. "And you are not a combatant. Your battlefield is in the courts. It's less than two weeks until your trial; do you really don't expect someone from AGI to spot you here and take the chance to shoot you in the head, and blame it on the riots?

And his tone said: Why are the two of you being so deliberately stupid?

[proxysearch]

For just a moment, brief as it was, she gave Edgeworth a smile. She may not want him to be in danger but if it was his choice and if he was going to stay with her, then how could she just deny him? She would just have to protect him better, but she was confident that they would manage. She turned her eyes to Batman's.

She was going to get rid of the wings before doing anything else. She rolled her eyes right back at him, aggravated that he thought her so foolish as to do otherwise. She could take care of herself and she knew how to keep herself safe. She knew how to make herself less of a liability. But Batman continued, acting like the two of them were completely useless and disadvantaged in these circumstances.

It was enough to anger her, to push her past the usual impassive mask she wore. Re-l took a step out of Edgeworth's line of sight, behind him, and brought out her claws. She faced Batman and reached behind her, digging into the mass of feathers and flesh there. Without warning, she dug her sharp nails inwards and ripped out, tearing them off. It hurt more than she could say and the cry that escaped her was nothing short of agonizing. She bit it off as the mass of black flesh pulled away and she tossed them both into the sunlight, letting them burn up.

She turned back to Batman, practically seething. "And you are just a man in a costume with a bunch of toys. Don't preach to me - to us - about what we can and can't do. You're a goddamn hypocrite; you're just as mortal as we are." Her eyes narrowed. "Enough of this. Go to your work. Do your duty. And don't ever tell me how to do my job again."

[mentis_reae]

"Jesus - " Terror gripped Edgeworth - absolutely gripped him - and he was paralyzed as he watched that act of brutal self-mutilation. He could smell the flesh as it burned, smell the blood, hear the ripping and cracking of flesh and bone - and he could hear the pain in Ms. Mayer's voice. With wide eyes he watched, and with horror in the pit of his stomach, and with a mouth too dry to call out for her to stop.

God. Stop.

He'd have cheered her words under normal circumstances. He'd have turned to Batman with a smug and sanctimonious nod, a confirmation of her acid words. But - God, with those wings still burning in the sunlight...He shot a single, terrified glance at Batman which he knew he'd regret to the end of his days, a shameful look that asked in no uncertain terms Jesus, what is she doing; then he pushed through his paralysis, stumbling towards her, choking, "Are - Good God, are you all right - "

[kingofrooks]

The look from Edgeworth surprised him more than what Re-l did- that was pretty much what he expected her to do, really. Not right now and not with so much blood- not in front of Edgeworth, and he reached out and grabbed hold of Edgeworth's shoulder before he shoved him towards Re-l.

He knew that she was alright; that she knew what she would doing and she would survive this. He had watched her survive a dose of arsenic that would kill even hiim and continue to live. He knew what she was capable of- that was why that little speech was unnecessary.

He sighed.

"You both keep assuming I'm mortal and human," there was a sort of mocking irony in his voice, and he cocked his head to the side. "Do you really think that if I am, I would continue doing this?"

Smoke and mirrors.

"Try not to get killed. Either of you." Always the last word, right? With that, he was gone, faded into the barely-there shadows of the evening.

[proxysearch]

She didn't believe a word of it. She knew gods, knew immortals too well. She knew one intimately so, interwoven in his destiny unwillingly. And she knew that Batman was no god, no immortal. He was human, just like them. She said nothing, staring at him as he pushed Edgeworth towards her. With a frown, she reached out and caught the man gently by the arms to stop him from careening forward but her eyes never left the white lenses behind the mask.

"You're lying," she said simply once he had gone, speaking to the empty air. He would hear her but he had said his piece. That's all that mattered to him.

Re-l turned to Edgeworth and finally acknowledged his question, nodding faintly. "I'm fine. Relax." She had done it before only a handful of times and it never got any easier. Normally, she would pull them back into her back, an equally odd and painful process, but with the wings already damaged... It was too late to care, anyway. Her grip tightened on his arms a little. "I mean it. Calm down."

[mentis_reae]

Of course he knew that she was fine. He knew what her power was; he knew how quickly she could heal. Yet even so - even in spite of that knowledge - he couldn't help but grip her back by the arms, a lump of distress in the pit of his stomach. He hadn't seen her in such pain since the night they'd tortured her for all to see...

For just a moment, he put Batman out of his mind completely. For just a moment, his resentment of the man, his irritation and frustration all seemed precisely as petty as they in fact were; all he was concerned with was Re-l and what she'd done to herself.

"I'm - " He shook his head, forcing himself to calm. There was no good done by losing his head. "Ms. Mayer - Jesus. Don't - do that again."

[proxysearch]

To just have him there in front of her, his hands tight on her arms and his eyes filled with panic and desperation, was enough to stop her from immediately brushing off his concerns. She became his bodyguard for a reason; she threw herself into danger for a reason. She knew she would be all right in the end. Come what may, it was better for her to be hurt than for someone who couldn't heal or who couldn't help themselves...

It's entirely different, she realized, when it was self-inflicted. Her grip tightens on his arms gently and her gaze softens for a moment. "Stop." Collect yourself, Miles Edgeworth. She didn't want to see him so upset.

Re-l slowly nodded. "I won't. Just...relax. It's okay, I'm fine." She wouldn't do it again, not in front of him. She didn't like doing it anyway.