tushanshu | eleven : everybody's looking for something [BART'S CONSOLE]

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eleven : everybody's looking for something [BART'S CONSOLE]

[The video clicks on to Hayley sitting at a console that is not at all her own. The observant, familiar, or technologically savvy might recognize it as Bart's. She's looking casually off screen, her attitude as if picking up in the middle of an existing conversation and not meaning to make a separate post. It is, of course, an act. She means it to seem unintentional because the person it's meant for will know it's not.]

I know what I said, but Hannibal being gone changes things and maybe- okay, not maybe: I agree. That's what you wanted, right? I'm not Luke or Lex. I'm not going to be a villain.

[She looks at the camera and gives a little shrug.]

Your turn, by the way.

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[There's a very precise map attached to this message, with only one location in colour. It's not the warehouse she's been to before, but it is one of the small, empty safe-houses that Bruce has cultivated for a variety of reasons.]

[Hayley has to finish arguing with Bart and then kill a little time at her place before she can finally depart for the location marked on the map. For once, she doesn't take anything with her except the taser in her back pocket as a safety measure getting to and from the place. There's no point to bring anything else. The Bat Man is more experienced, stronger, and probably smarter too.

She arrives on the porch and tests the front door. When she finds it locked, she leans back on the wall beside the door, waiting. While normally she might look for another way in, she's pretty sure he's already waiting for her and the breaking and entering would be unnecessary.]

[He opens the door. The small house, worn down as it is, has a surplus of shadows that seem to pour in from its edges, enveloping everything. Bruce himself is swathed in it, nearly invisible but for the slight glint of his cowl's lenses. He holds the door in such a way that it blocks view of him from the street, and waits for her to step inside without comment.]

[Hayley's not entirely surprised by the gesture and the shadows contained within. That makes it no less unsettling as she slides inside and moves the few feet deeper into the hallway to give him plenty of room to close the door behind her. She turns to face him. Obedient, waiting for orders.

It's a calculated move, of course. Really she wants him to set the tone for the meeting. She knows the Bat Man's always ahead of her and she wants to learn, even if it means always playing catch up and taking the blows to her ego. Recent events have made how much she needs training abundantly clear.]

I was never going to kill him.

[It's ambiguous as to whether she's talking about Hannibal or Superman. She suspects he'll know. Superman claimed the Bat Man as his best friend; it seems impossible that the two wouldn't have spoken, especially since Kon and Barry and others knew. She knows bringing it up likely means she'll have to explain, but it seems an inevitability to her and better to be brought up on her own terms.]

[He says nothing for the moment, merely turns away from her and steps to where he knows there's a table in the dark, and upon it a lamp. He lights it, giving them just enough of its warm orange glow to see by. He doesn't need to remain in the shadows, and there's no particular need to intimidate her.

The room, now that it's no longer dark, has a cot in one corner and several hard-backed chairs. It's dusty, but not dank with disuse, but it is obviously a place in which he doesn't spend much time.]

Yet you had no idea of the damage you could do with the Kryptonite.

[He doesn't sound angry. It's a statement, mildly said.]

[Hayley's posture immediately stiffens with the accusation, more so because it's true. Well, at least now she knows he knows, even if she's not sure how much. She crosses her arms loosely, an unconscious defensive act but not entirely cutting her off. For as uncomfortable as she is here with him, she's strangely not particularly afraid.]

I had some idea. [She waits a pause. When he doesn't immediately reply, she continues.] I mean, no, I didn't really know how bad it was. Nobody told me and it's not like I could just ask.

[She drops her hands to her sides, a subtle display of rebellion. Hayley will fight him if she has to, but it's clear from the twitches of her posture and expression that she's not keen on the idea. Someone as observant as Batman might even notice genuine remorse and guilt buried beneath the aggression.]

I thought I would just hurt him, teach him a lesson, and- ..I thought he'd wake up and be fine. I didn't find out until later about everything else, okay?

And?

[Right now, all she's doing is making excuses. And he has no patience for those. His tolerance for mistakes is near to match it, but those at least can be made up for. He knows that Clark won't hold it against her, at least. Not in the long term. It's one of his best and worst traits, his ability to forgive.]

People's lives aren't a game. No matter what they've done, or what you perceive them to have done.

And.. I screwed up. I know. I get it.

[The response is, at a shallow level, nearly flippant. It's clear that sincerity nests just below, the same guilt and embarrassment bleeding through as she turns away from him and moves deeper into the room. It's an excuse both to avoid the intensity of his cowled stare and to look around, eyes passing over the walls and the items contained within.

At the latter, she shakes her head, still not looking at him.]

I know they're not a game. It's not like I woke up one morning and thought 'hey, I should totally attack Superman today.' I planned. I kept it in a lead box. [A comment on her carefulness in some ways.] I get that what I did was wrong, but it wasn't an accident or a whim- or a game. I knew what I was doing.

No, you didn't. The problem is that you thought you did. You're arrogant, narcissistic, and you think that because you've been smarter than a few criminals you're smarter than everyone. You aren't. There are people in Keeliai, much less the rest of all possible universes, that have intelligence and skill beyond your reckoning.

[Not that it's ever stopped him. But that's not the point he's trying to make.]

You could do better. You could be better. But I have no reason to trust you. If you want me to, it's something you have to earn, and I won't tell you how.

[Hayley's half-tempted to bite back that she knows how much smarter some others can be, people like Lex and the Bat man himself. But if she's honest, she can't deny her arrogance. It's something that she accepts about herself and that's never bothered her all that much before. So, instead, she thinks better of any comeback and keeps her mouth shut.

His challenge finally inspires her to turn to face him, more than a silhouette but less than a fully fleshed out man in the dim light. He reminds her of the idea of a boogeyman, a monster in the dark, all knowing and always waiting. It almost makes her shiver, even if the figure himself isn't too ominous. If only because she's confident he won't kill her.]

Okay. [She agrees, not really sure what to say beyond that. She wants to be better and she doesn't blame him for not trusting her. Hayley only trusts him in so far as he's offering to help her and little more than that; if he stops being useful, then maybe she'll ask for trust too, but that's a long way off.

The idea of how to inspire trust in someone that already knows her secrets is a mystery at best. Maybe she can ask Jason about it. Definitely not Clark and she prefers Bart not know about all of this. That means figuring out what a smart, calculating lunatic wants from a teenage girl.]

Edited (words) 2014-02-18 01:43 (UTC)

[Bruce gives her a very faint nod. It's not much, but it's a beginning. Hayley is someone he needs to keep an eye on regardless of her alliances. She's too much like Jason.]

What should you have done differently?

I shouldn't have done it at all.

[The answer is automatic. Hayley knows what she should be saying to anyone who asks, without knowing if she really means it or not. Her tone, as she says it, is that of a typical teenage, one tired of rehashing the same damn apologies and stupid mistake.

Giving it a little more thought, she answers herself. She should have gotten better information from Lex when he was around, should have tried to find someone who could tell her more about the K. Part of her says she should have figured out that Clark and Superman were the same person, but she kind of doubts she would have ever found out if not for the attack.]

[Wrong answer.]

Assuming you felt it was necessary.

[It's a very slight correction, and he folds his arms over his chest as he speaks.]

What other ways should you have proceeded?

[Hayley frowns at him, waiting a beat. She knows all of this is part of some grand test and she hates losing, but she's not sure whether she should be sticking to her guns or amending her answer with the new information. It's unclear what he's looking for and that makes it impossible to know how to be what he wants.

So much of her life is spent being a reaction to the people around her that sometimes she forgets how to be when there's no one to play off of. She takes a deep breath and answers honestly, if not completely.]

I should have taken my time. I got impatient.. and nervous, that he'd find out before I was ready. I was more careful before. [Her gaze flickers over to him and then away again. It's a reference to the man he already saw in Sinbrilee.] There had to be ways to learn more about the rock without asking too. Someone even said something about it being dangerous before, but I didn't listen. I forgot until someone reminded me. Or maybe there's some other way I could have gotten to him without it. I don't know.

Better.

[And it gives her a more significant gauge of her. How carefully he has to treat her. As much as her method of dealing with people mirrors Jason's, her attention to detail and her ability to plan echoes Tim's.]

But you were motivated by a personal desire for revenge. It blinded you to the risks and the possibilities. You didn't have all the answers, so you acted without them. Don't do that. Ever. You're intelligent enough that you often consider yourself the smartest person in the room you're in. Don't rely on that assumption. Everything you can ever think of, someone else has thought of it first. Everything you could ever do, someone's done it better. Treat it as an advantage.

[Hayley has to literally bite her tongue to avoid snapping back at him. She has to continually remind herself that this is her choice, that he can be good for her, that she doesn't want to be a villain. Some part of her wants to go back to Jason's method of teaching though, learning how to get away with things and being told it's okay to kill.]

It's an advantage that someone's always better than me? [Her tone is mostly level, but he can probably detect a hint of skepticism. Hayley isn't sure if he means to treat her intelligence as an advantage or that she's never the best. The first seems contrary to his other words, but the second just seems ridiculous.]

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eleven : everybody's looking for something [BART'S CONSOLE]

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