tushanshu | First Post [Video

[One man, reaching middle age with a wary expression on his face. Then he smirks - the smirk dissolves into a smile but those who are observant, very very observant - might be aware that the smile is not genuine. He runs a hand through his hair with something tucked under his arm.]

I was going to have today off anyway. You know. I get that I'm not dreaming and I get that I'm not going to be able to get back.

[At that, his eyes widen and there's a sense - especially to those of you who might be extra observant that this might be a good thing. Or an unusual thing. It's not something he's had time to process yet.

The expression goes dark.]

Which is pretty fucking rude if you don't mind my saying so. There any order to this spontaneous kidnapping people for riding on turtles sort of thing?

[he is betting no. however.] This would be the part where I flash my badge and introduce myself as Detective Hoffman.[He does so. One handed out of habit before realizing it and sticking it back in his pocket.] ...or indulge that habit and ask people if there's anything that I need to know about being here that's not in the welcoming committee.

...I'd appreciate any response.

[And the policeman turns off the feed and waits.]

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Forgive the question, I understand if it sounds rather... outré, but you're from a normal world? No one prancing around in tights and a cape, leaping buildings in a single bound?

No. That happens in the movies but not me. We've had some trouble with unusual murderers but beyond that.

Murders? How ghastly. Do you mind if I ask what sort?

[Sorry, Hoffman, his Detective's Mind is piqued.]

[He can't. It's on a need to know basis. The case is still ongoing...but it's not John is dead.

Isn't that what the chief said. "Let me be the first to say that the Jigsaw murders are over." Of course because people would be stupid enough to survive. To be changed. To follow him.

His face slips into police mode.]

Serial.

A serial killer with a unique perspective honestly. I'm...It's difficult to talk about. He's killed friends.

[Bruce notes that change without seeming to, his expression becoming a little... well, green around the gills, so to speak. The idle rich biting off more he can theoretically chew.

The truth is, he knows altogether how difficult it is. He spent six months in the FBI pushing papers for a good cause, and the sheer number of unsolved crimes - all the worst that people could do each other - came across his desk in neat little files and lines and it broke him, in a way he couldn't explain then and could only barely grasp now.

Police weren't enough.

That's why the world needed Batman.

But he's always had a soft spot for the men and women who put their lives on the line. Part of his crusade is so he can act for them when they can't. His expression flickers, becomes a little downcast.]

I'm sorry I asked. Sometimes my curiosity gets the better of me.

[If it were anyone else he would lie. He would say something else. He would mention something else, he would shrug it off as part of the job but it's batman.

When he had a soul that meant something.

But his soul is in shambles now, he drove a spike through it the moment he left Rigg to die on the floor of Gideon.

He had to.

He'd justified it because he failed.]

...It's all right. It's unusual because back home -everybody's fucking talking about him. He just died.

[And there's the twist. He doesn't say he killed him. It's his first slip up.

Most likely his last.]

We got him.

[Death is never the answer. Never the end goal. Every life is precious, but Bruce has no patience for precious things. They make his job... harder than it needs to be. Impossible to uphold, to survive, to improve upon.

Would it be easier to do what he does without emotion?

(He's tried it. It never works out quite the way he hopes. Instead there are dead children that haunt his dreams and waking nightmares, who walk the streets of Gotham like ghosts given flesh and blood)

Death is never the answer, but he nods anyway.]

Hopefully no one else will have to suffer.

[And for all his stoicism, for all that he tries to divorce himself from emotion, that compassion is very real. No one should have to have their loved ones senselessly murdered. No one alive deserves that pain.]

...Yeah. Well.

People will always suffer - it's just a question of if they have to suffer because of him.

And they don't.

...Listen. I'll find this Javert guy and talk to him. Can I mention your name?

[He knows a conversational evasion when he hears one, and his expression stays perfectly congenial, open. He nods once.]

Of course. That's Bruce Wayne, with a B.

[It's a joke..........]

[okay now he can't resist]

What do you do Mr. Wayne?

[No giddy smile, no gleeful noise. Just interest.]

I run several of the local businesses, actually.

[A slight handwave, as if to mitigate the importance of this declaration.]

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