multiversallogs | I know it's hard but...

Entry tags:

I know it's hard but...

Who: Steph Brown, others [closed]
What: Monster fighting, rescues, healing
Where: All around Baedal
When: Over a two week period since Hasi broke reality
Notes: Everyone has their own thread starter, which are in no particular order, if there are any problems/questions please let me know!
Warnings: NPC death, gore, violence, monsters, PTSD, my inability to be succint, if I've missed any feel free to tell me

The monsters are new for her.

It's not that she isn't used to dealing with all the assorted bullshit that Gotham can throw at a vigilante, but there's nothing quite like this. There are people like Killer Croc and Zsasz and Black Mask, who might be horrific, but they're still people. These monsters are more like animals, but they're huge and violent and they hunt people. She's not trained for this, she's not equipped for this and she sure as hell isn't prepared for it. Getting the gun and new batarangs from Rex helps, and she adds a large hunting knife to her array of weaponry, but it still doesn't feel like enough.

It's terrifying, in a way that she doesn't have time to deal with, so she pushes that down and focuses on doing what she can. There's moments, as she faces down things that eclipse her worst nightmares, when she wonders if she should be hiding instead of out here fighting. But there are other moments, times when she wins, when she gets to reunite a parent with their lost child, and it doesn't matter that Steph is bleeding, bruised and exhausted, because she did good.

At the behest of Babs, and the reminders her own body sends, she forces herself to stop and rest once in a while. Usually she goes back to wherever Babs is, or Kate, if she happens to be resting at the same time. Her sleep happens in small bursts, a few hours here or there, curled up near Babs or Kate and letting the exhaustion take over. She tries not to eat too much, because she has no idea how long these monsters will stay in the city and she's scared that food will start running out. She's already started collect supplies, bringing them to the safe places and distributing them to people.

She doesn't think about the dead bodies she sees, or the injured people. A lot of Baedalites can look after themselves, but some of them can't and it's those who end up as smears on a wall. Except for when she has to stop to throw up, after seeing half eaten corpses; then she thinks about it, and she doesn't know how long she can keep going out and coming back alive.

She hopes no one will hold it against her if she gets killed.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He joins her in that moment, relieved it's over and they're both still standing. He ejects the handgun's magazine, checking to see how much ammunition is left, so he's prepared for the next fight. He's about to go pick up his shotgun when she addresses him.

By title.

She knows him?

He casts an appraising eye over her, trying to place the build, the hair, the posture. But it's the voice he finally puts a name to, eyebrows raised, surprised and impressed.

"...Steph?"

Steph grins, both pleased and amused, "The one and only," She holds the sides of her cape like a skirt and curtsies, because sometimes she needs to do ridiculous things to celebrate not getting eaten by demons.

"Or Batgirl, when I'm dressed like this. I'm supposed to have a secret identity, but it's tricky to do here," A lot of people in Baedal are like everyone in the superhero community -- they'er out fighting the good fight even if they don't have a costume and cape to do it in, and Steph finds it hard to keep secrets from them. Having a cohort doesn't help, it seems to make everyone fairly closeknit.

He laughs, delighted and a bit celebratory himself; they're alive, and holy crap, the girl he busted in on in the park one night is a costumed superhero like in the old motion pictures back home.

"So this is what you do, in Gotham? Is this an officially-sanctioned thing or an in-spite-of-the cops thing?"

"This is what I do. Back home the cops put up with most of us, as long as we toe the line," That is, as long as they don't start killing. "Here, my plan is to fuck their shit up," Her smile shifts, going a little hard, because seriously, fuck the militia. She'd probably be working against them right now, if monsters hadn't fallen out of the sky.

Speaking of monseters, "We should probably..." Ended with a vague gesture at first the dead seplavites and then in a general direction away from them. They should probably stop standing so close to dead things, in case something bigger comes looking for a meal.

"Huh. Well, off the record, I can get behind that. Hellsing obviously has to play nice with the Militia and therefore so do I. But I endorse that sentiment."

He raises his eyebrows. Oh. Right. "Yeah, we probably should. There's no telling what might come through here next. Let's get out while we can. Anyplace in particular you're headed?"

"I knew I liked you for a reason," If Jim wasn't Hellsing affliated, she'd invite him to join their anti-militia, anarchy club. But as it is, she doesn't want to get him in trouble with both the militia and his bosses at Hellsing.

"I was out on a supply run before those cornered me," Which was an extremely bad move on her part; she got distracted keeping an eye out for the giant flying thing she'd seen, and hadn't noticed the seplavites trailing after her until it'd been too late. She's had to stray farther from the safe places to find food and medical supplies, and it makes it more dangerous every time she goes out.

He nods, grimly shouldering the shotgun. "Lead the way. I'll cover you. Which way were you headed?"

A moment's pause as he considers what she said. "...How many people do you need supplies for? It's not just you, is it?"

"Canker Wedge, there's, uh," She makes a bit of a face as she starts walking, carefully stepping over dead seplavites, her cape trailing behind her, "One of those giant robots there, which means it hasn't been looted much. It's meant for mutants, so it should leave me, and you - unless you've been keeping secrets too - alone."

Sometimes the Sentinels seem to go after baseline humans as well, but so far Steph has found they leave her alone if she stays out of their line of site.

"O--" It's automatic to say Oracle when Steph is in costume, she has to keep catching herself, "Barbara opened her place up as a safe house, there's about fifteen people there at the moment. I'm mostly looking for medical supplies, though. I've been running low since I got to Baedal, and this has made it worse." There's so many more people to stitch up.

Steph keeps close to the buildings as they walk, footfalls silent and a hand resting on her gun, ready to draw it as soon as it's needed. But the streets seem fairly empty at the moment.

"Nope. I'm a standard baseline human. No mutations. Someone... Actually created weapons to search out people with genetic mutations?" the incredulous and annoyed tone of his voice gives away just how much bullshit he thinks that is, it's ridiculous and wrong.

He keeps alert too, shotgun at the ready, eyes scanning the street for any sign of movement while they walk. "When this is over, remind me to see what I can do to help you build up a stockpile of medical supplies. So you're ready for next time."

"Some of my friends come from a world where mutants are basically second class citizens, they're treated awfully," It's clear that Steph finds this both upsetting and angering, she simultaneously wants to punch everyone who's ever been bigoted against a mutant, while hugging all her friends who've been made to feel terrible.

"Thank you," She looks at him for a second, just to smile, "Back home I'd gotten too used to having everything I need on hand. That was a mistake," Being Batgirl had come with a lot of perks, and it's made her complacent. Baedal is slowly breaking her out of that, but there are still some things she needs to get better with.

"That's terrible. Bigotry of any kind is unacceptable in an enlightened society. Hell, in any society. But the idea of stooping so low as to make weapons to target those who are different... I can't get my head around it."

He nods, knowingly. "It's an adjustment being here. I think I was complacent for a while, too. I was on a ship, I was used to having everything ready at my command, having all the resources and help I needed. It took me a while to get out of that mindset."

"People are fucking awful," she answers with a bit of a shrug, her tone almost going bitter, "Most of the weapons just aren't literal. There are quieter ways to wipe out minorities." Like dependence on a messed up welfare system that leaves kids as statistics from gang violence, domestic abuse or drug overdoses.

"It's tricky to do, I'm gonna have to start thinking like Spoiler again," which is a reference he won't get at all, but that's also a hard adjustment to make sometimes, especailly when she's in Batgirl mode; she's so used to talking to people who know her history.

Jim is quiet for a few long moments as they walk, taking all that in. He forgets sometimes that what is history for him is current affairs for others, that they aren't all from the same world.

"If it helps," he offers, solemn, "and I don't know if it does, but if it does: by my time, we've wiped a lot of that kind of prejudice out on Earth. I hope I don't sound condescending or privileged for saying that, or for saying that I just cannot comprehend that level of discrimination and hate."

A pause, and then: "Who's Spoiler?"

"It helps," Not just him saying it, but also for him understanding that he could sound condescending, "I'm almost glad you can't comprehend it, considering how easy that sort of hate comes for some people." At the end of the day, Steph is still a hell of a lot luckier than some people, but it's nice to know things get better in the future.

"Oh," It surprises a smile out of her, as she mentally chastises herself for forgetting that not everyone in the multiverse watched the broadcasts of her dad telling the world about the Spoiler, "Me, before I was Batgirl. It was the first name I used, back when I was fifteen and trying to stop my dad."

"Okay, good. Because I know it can sound like it's the easiest thing in the world for me or that I'm dismissing what other people are or have experienced because I haven't had to deal with it myself. And that's not right."

He laughs, glancing down at her before resuming his watchful sweep of the street. "The Spoiler. I like it. It's a fitting name for what you were trying to do."

"Thank you," So many people don't get it, especially those who really should, "And don't worry too much, if you're being a dick about it, I'll make sure you know." She always made Tim know when he messed up, complaining about being middle class, like not being rich was the most awful thing in the world.

"I liked it too. Dad called himeslf the Cluemaster, so I thought it worked," It explains a lot, little things like that; she grew up with a criminal for a dad, it's how she ended up running around in kevlar and spandex. She doesn't realize she's talking in past tense about her dad, she'd gotten so used to doing it that it's a hard habit to break even though she knows he's alive now. It doesn't help that she'd like to pretend he really did die.

"Good to know." And honestly, he wouldn't mind having it pointed out to him. That's part of why he trusts Bones so much, why he respects him so much--Bones isn't afraid to call him out when it's needed.

"The Cluemaster, huh?" He can guess the guy was up to no good, if Steph was trying to stop him. And way out of hand, for her to go against her own father.

"Gotham sounds like a hell of a place to grow up."

"He used to leave clues for the cops," Her expression clearly indicates she thinks this is a terrible way to be a criminal. The only time he was ever succesful was when he didn't leave the clues, and that was when Steph had to step in.

She laughs at that, not quite bitter, but not really with humor either, "That's not even half of it. There's a reason we have the most infamous mental asylum in the world."

"Wow. I can't even imagine."

Another quick scan of the street. "Did you have somewhere in particular in mind for this supply run?" he asks. "Or were you just going to raid whatever establishments are in the area?"

"That's probably for the best." Steph loves Gotham, but she also hates it, and wouldn't wish it on anyone.

"I have..." she slows down, slipping closer to the wall of a nearby building, almost disappearing into the shadows there. It's not ecen conscious she just - did it. When she's there, she pulls out her CiD and flicks through a map before looking back over at Jim, "There's a pharmacy two blocks West. The owners live in the upper part of the building, so I can go up and pay them."

She's engaged in looting when she has to, but she's also marked down the names of the stores when she does, so she can go back and pay them when things settle down.

Jim is immediately impressed; anyone could be forgiven for looting in a time like this but she intends to pay for what she takes. "Good. And are you going to need help getting things back?" He assumes she planned on doing this alone and made the necessary preparations, but if he can help her get more supplies back, he will.

It's nice in theory, but she's going to be so poor when all this is over. Hopefully the restaurant she blew up had insurance, so she doesn't have to cover that as well.

"I was planning to just take what I can carry, but if you're willing to help I can bring more," She had considered asking for volunteers at the safe house, but didn't actually trust anyone there if they'd offered to come. The only one she'd have liked with her is Kate, and there's no way she'd bring her out, considering the injury.

"Let's go," the CiD goes back in her pocket and she starts moving again. The good thing about the Sentinels she's seen is that they're noisy as fuck, so they can't sneak up on anyway, but that doesn't mean there aren't other things lurking around.

"I can help, that's not a problem. Who knows how long all this is going to go on, and you've got others to provide for. I'll help."

He lets her take the lead, not only because she knows exactly where she's going, but so he can cover her as well. There's no telling what might be out there waiting, what might be headed for them or stalking them. He's seen so much since all of this started, and been surprised more times than he would ever have liked.

"Is anyone you're going back to hurt?"

"You make it sound like I'm a den mother or something," She'd make a face at him if she wasn't focused on making sure nothing pounces on them.

The pharmacy is marked by a sign at the front of it, but that's boarded up. It doesn't seem to surprise Steph, she just leads Jim around to the back where there's a smaller door. There's a key hidden in a loose brick on the back wall, that Steph pulls out and uses to open the door. It takes her until they're inside to answer Jim's question.

"My friend got a gash on her arm, it's infected," It's the injuries she's most worried about, if only because it's Kate, "There are a few other minor injuries."

Clearly she's done her homework, to know all this about the place. Jim follows her inside, keeping a wary eye on the aisles in case there's something lurking within the pharmacy.

(He had to tussle, yesterday, with something that could walk through walls. It's a legitimate concern.)

"Nothing life-threatening? That's good, considering all the hell that's breaking loose out there."

I know it's hard but...

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