The Rooftops of the Warehouse District, Thursday Night

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

Another night, another rooftop, another prolonged bout of lurking keeping an eye out. She'd almost gotten used to it by now -- the eerie, almost preternatural quiet of Fandom's streets compared to the constant chaos that was Gotham City -- but it always left her with the feeling that it was too quiet and something had to give.

When that happened, she didn't want to miss out.

The girl in the bright red and green costume, hints of equally-bright yellow showing when the occasional breeze caught her black cape and made it flutter to expose the inner lining, was grinning so brightly it was probably visible even in the darkness. Nobody had ever told her about the boy who'd worn these colors before saying that being Robin gave him magic, but she'd completely agree if she knew. Just being out here and feeling the weight of her utility belt, the snap of her grappling line pulling taut mid-flight, and the domino mask around her eyes -- that was a thrill in and of itself.

That she clearly wasn't the only one around here who indulged in these nocturnal habits (Huh. Wonder if the roomie's weirded out by my apparently nonexistent sleep schedule yet?) didn't escape her as she crouched on the edge of a warehouse roof peering over the edge with the night-vision lenses in her mask activated. That part was nice; that part made it a lot like home, where some nights -- as she'd cracked to Batman on one occasion and almost gotten a hint of a smile for it -- you couldn't swing a purse recovered from a mugger without hitting a vigilante.

That part made her smile even wider.

Let the boss be grim and serious about work all the time; that wasn't for her. Being Robin, even when the Fandom streets were awfully light on bad-guy butts to kick, was an amazing thing, and she was going to enjoy it for all it was worth.

[OOC: Totally open, though I may be slow until I get home! As always, the fact that the person on the roof is actually Stephanie is NFB. Wait, that's my linkdrop. OH WELL.]

Comments

[longislandiceme]

It had been two days now, and Bobby had been unable to get ahold of anyone at X-Factor. Which usually spelled bad news. And so, he was attempting to work through the uneasiness such a situation caused in him by... Ice sliding around town. Yeah.

"You again," he commented with a grin, stepping off an ice bridge on to the roof

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

"I was going to say the same," Robin answered, resisting the urge to give him a hard time about being a showoff. She bounced to her feet and smirked. "If you're such an ice-guy, come up with your own lines."

Yeah, that was a bad pun even for her.

[longislandiceme]

"See, and here I was going to apologize for almost using 'come here often?' but now I'm just thinking I should've gone with my first instinct after all," Iceman retorted with a smirk.

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

Robin snickered. "What's it to you if I do? Some people party it up. I hang out on rooftops. Everybody has to have a hobby."

Or maybe not so much a hobby, but . . . details.

[longislandiceme]

"Couldn't get the hang of knitting, huh?" Iceman said in a mock-sympathetic tone.

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

Robin burst out laughing, which was probably a bad idea in a quiet town like this where the sound carried, or it would be if she was genuinely worried about having to keep her location a complete secret.

"Or maybe I got the hang of it a long time ago." Nope. Sewing, yes. Knitting, noooooooooooo. "Believe me when I say it's not for me."

[longislandiceme]

"Me neither," Iceman mused. "I think I'd end up knitting myself into something. And that would just be embarrassing." As if he didn't embarrass himself on a daily basis already.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

And Tony was essentially grounded from the suit in order to learn how to not get his ass kicked. From Captain America.

If he actually knew who Captain America was, this would totally be cooler to him.

So, instead, he decided to send a text once the alerts sounded in the lab. Oh, curse his being in the active, abandoned warehouse district! < Still with the cape? >

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

This warehouse district was amazingly active for being, you know, abandoned.

She snorted and sent a text back, which wasn't quite as difficult with gloves on as you'd think it might be.

< Hi, you! Still with the creepy high-tech surveillance? >

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

Tony snorted, reading her message on the computer screens rather than his phone. < Ha ha. You're in my part of town, you know. Not my fault you trip the alarms. >

Because he totally owned the warehouse district now. And even planted a flag there, just to be safe.

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

No flag, no warehouse, you couldn't have one? Well, all righty then.

< Oh, really? Yours? Well, look who's Mr. Territorial now. Sheesh. >

A moment, then another text:

< I haven't seen you flying around lately. >

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

< I've been grounded to only using it for emergencies. So, unless there's a killer robot out there, I'll just be in the lab. >

There was a pause before...

< Did you want to see it? >

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

< Ew. >

If ever a two-letter text message could be sympathetic, this one was. And there had to be a better way of communicating than this, but she had a feeling trying to patch Tony's phone into her suit comm unit would be a really bad idea and have the big boss come down on her -- or both of them -- like a ton of Bat-bricks, and wow, did she ever not need that.

< See what? The suit or the lab? >

She knew perfectly well, thank you.

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

< The lab, duh. It's not far from where you are. >

Tony needed to stop being a creeper and watching her cell signal.

[old-and-busted.livejournal.com]

You know... there are plenty of strange things one can see in the abandoned warehouse district.

Dumpsters.

Cardboard boxes in the alley.

A man in a black suit with a shiny gun arguing with a daisy in a flower pot.

You know. The typical stuff you'd see on a Thursday night.

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

Ha! That was more like it, and Robin inched over to get a better view of the argument. Hello there, fancy high-tech binoculars. (Don't ask how they fit into the utility belt.)

Was it really a flower pot? Because now she had to know. Thus the binoculars, and the zooming in . . .

[old-and-busted.livejournal.com]

And yes. That was a flower pot. With a daisy.

And that would be a man wearing sunglasses at night with a shiny gun being very stern with the flower pot.

Apparently the daisy was doing something wrong. Very wrong.

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

Guys in suits wearing sunglasses at night were usually something to keep an eye on, in Steph's experience.

But this was . . . something she was way too curious about.

Also? Shiny gun.

Dropping from the edge of the warehouse roof and shooting a grappling line to break her fall, she landed on the pavement and asked, "What'd the flower pot ever do to you?"

Probably not subtle, but she was banking on the element of surprise, and after that she'd wing it.

[old-and-busted.livejournal.com]

"We're having a disagreement," K said seriously. "He's not supposed to be here."

[batwaffles.livejournal.com]

". . . it's a flower pot," Robin said after a moment.

Yay, not shot yet. Go, me!

"Are there rules about where they're allowed to be?"

[solesofmyfeet.livejournal.com]

Old habits died hard, so it wasn't too strange that Vimes was walking around the island at night.

"Did the daisy not have any eye dee?"

[old-and-busted.livejournal.com]

"As a matter of fact," K said with a sigh. "It does not."

He then gave Vimes a nod. "Evening, Sheriff. How's that paperwork coming along."

[solesofmyfeet.livejournal.com]

"It's in my to do pile," Vimes replied cheerfully. It was a large pile.

[old-and-busted.livejournal.com]

"As is mine," K replied as he eyed the flower pot suspiciously. Did it try to move away again? "I'll get around to it one of these days."

[solesofmyfeet.livejournal.com]

Vimes glanced from K to the flower and back again. "I'm sure Ralph will be happy to file it the moment you're finished."

He might have dismissed K as acting crazy, but... well, if it was, it was a harmless sort of crazy. Like Foul Ol' Ron.

And less foul. Which was a blessing.