[ i feel you whisper across the sea ]

[kingofrooks]

Who: Batman [kingofrooks] and YOU
When: 27 May to 29 May, Darkness hours
Where: ANYWHERE, but especially Sectors 9 and 10
Summary: Batman has patrols. Shenainegans occur. Come join in!
Warnings: Likely violence. And I can't think of anything else.

Comments

[kingofrooks]

[ There's an hour or so between the end of his work as Bruce Wayne and when Batman's patrols begin, and Bruce usually makes use of that time well. That's why the moment the sirens sound, he's already putting on the costume and moving into the night, watching as the last of the workers crawl into clubs or back home. This timing is important, as this is when most people would still be caught outside without shelter.

The sound of an assault rifle rings in his ears, and instincts immediately kick him into action. He's running down the rooftops to the source, jumping from one ledge to the other, landing on the balls of his feet- or rolling forward when the distance is too great. It's not long until he sees her-

And there's a rope shooting out towards her. Bruce jumps down from the building, a hand around the grapple, and he's swinging forward, his feet kicking out at the door even as the knife he holds sweeps a circle around him. Cutting off the rope.

Another down. Bruce stops there for a moment, cape flying in the wind. ]

You're very far from the Tower Apartment.

[leading3men]

[ Holy mother of God - Zoey sees movement at the corner of her eye and nearly jumped out of her skin. She raises her rifle and takes aim, thinking it's another monster until it speaks.

Oh. She aims her rifle in a different direction while scanning around at the street. ]

That happens when you go in a different direction.

[kingofrooks]

[ He doesn't say a thing while he looks around himself. Narrows his eyes a little before he straightens, and points a direction east to where the Apartments are. ]

It's that way. [ The winds sweeps towards him, the air heavy and cold, like wind right before a heavy thunderstorm. His cape sweeps backwards, exposing the symbol on his chest. ]

Go. Before you meet more monsters. [ Pause. ] You're going to need the rifle for something else.

[leading3men]

[ Zoey narrows her eyes as well when she takes note of the insignia. ]

You're that guy. Batman. [ She's heard his occasional audio and the text, but hasn't really put two and two together until now.

She starts to make her way toward east in his direction hesitatingly, not entirely sure if she should rely on his sense of direction at all. (Like her's is any better.) At his later words, she tightens her grip on the rifle and gives him a crazy look. ]

Yeah, I'll use it for interior decorating.

[kingofrooks]

[ So now he's becoming recognizable. It's a good thing, though unexpected. At first, it had taken months before the GCPD had managed to pin down a solid description of him. But here- Black Mask's tongue has been flapping, and Bruce has been deliberately trying to cultivate a reputation.

Though he looks at the way she's holding the gun, and resists the urge to roll his eyes. He only narrows them, lips thinning. ]

These aren't the only monsters you'll see around here. You're wasting bullets, and rifles work terribly as a blunt weapon.

[leading3men]

Hey. [ Zoey snaps. She appreciates help when she gets it, but she's not going to fawn over it. People who helped her in the past are not known to have a great level of surviving. ] I went through a zombie apocalypse. I dealt with mutated zombies that throws cars and can slice you in half. I know what my guns can or can't do.

I appreciate your help. But don't tell me how I should survive.

[kingofrooks]

[ He's paying less attention to her ire than what she's saying. Zombie apocalypse? That sounds really, really familiar. ]

Do you know a person named Rochelle? [ That's the last he's heard of there being any sort of zombie apocalypse, and really- it sounds familiar. ]

You might know how to survive there, but not here. [ He rolls his shoulders back. ] You can't pick up bullets or spare guns or steal them off of empty houses.

[ A thin smile. ] You'll have to buy them.

[leading3men]

[ Zoey gives the man-bat a sideways look now. She doesn't like where this question might be heading, and it's only asking if she knows Rochelle. ]

Yeah. We met back home. Why?

[ And now she rolls her eyes. ]

One of the few drawbacks of re-entering society.

[ Of course, this might lead her to get a permit now, which . . . ugh. Not really looking forward to it. For all she knows this place is really stringent on gun control.

...But if there's slavery and human experimentation legal here, why not guns? ]

[kingofrooks]

[ Back home. Which means they come from the same world. The same zombie apocalypse- though she is obviously not a carrier. It's one of the less prioritized dangers that might be here. ]

What do you know about the 'zombie apocalypse' that she doesn't?

[ At those words, he rolls his eyes. And he's starting to walk towards the Apartments- follow him, Zoey! ]

Get used to it.

[leading3men]

[ Oh, Batman. She deliberately withhold a few things about the military from Rochelle and the others on the pathetic hope that the military base she was in was just a fluke. Zoey shrugs, trying not to get the guilt settle in quickly before it might be noticeable. ]

Depends on what she knows in the first place. We only met for about an hour at best - me and the others I was with temporarily sheltered on a raised bridge. When she and the survivors she's traveling with arrived, we help them lower the bridge to get across. We really didn't have time to swap stories or talk about the flu at the time.

[ Not that it really excuses it.

She makes a face at Batman's back. ]

Dick.

[ But she follows anyway. ]

[kingofrooks]

[ He hears that, and he frankly doesn't care. Bruce lids his eyes a little and continues walking, keeping his ear out for the monsters. There's a few species here who are aiming specifically for him, especially since he's killed a few of their number. That's why he tries as much as possible to not kill them.

It's simply practical. ]

What kind of raised bridge?

[ He notices that she's keeping something back- but what, he has no idea. It gives him incentive to keep talking, anyway. Keep digging. ]

[leading3men]

Hell if I know. The kind that you press a button to start and you need generators for.

[ It's also the kind of bridge she have someone she loves get killed by.

She'll talk about the zombies, but she won't talk about Bill, especially to a stranger who probably doesn't give a damn and isn't his business to know anyway. ]

[kingofrooks]

[ He stops and looks at her for a moment. ]

I meant is it a commercial raised bridge, a residential one, or a military kind?

[leading3men]

[ Oh. ]

The kind that the former townspeople would use to get across the river. Government, I guess. Why?

[kingofrooks]

I'm trying to figure out what kind of structures that you have left, and how many people remain. [ Pause. ]

The Core might pull in a carrier. [ He shrugs. ]

[leading3men]

[ Well, damn. So Rochelle knows about Carriers then. Who else knows? ]

Rochelle and three others are the only ones who are immune, like me and my group. So in total that's like eig - seven. Seven people.

If there's a carrier - [ God, it's so weird to talk about this even though she's a Carrier herself. ] - that arrives here, there's nothing anyone can do. There's no cure.