Laurel Lance (i_crylikeabird) wrote in we_coexist, @ 2011-07-07 08:13:00 |
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Entry tags: | dinah lance, zoe washburne |
Answers? (Zoe/Dinah, completed log)
Dinah was getting desperate for answers. She had long since lost track of the days since Jake’s disappearance. All she knew was that it had been far too long, and still there was no sign of him or the Joker.
She was frustrated, and running on as little sleep and food as humanly possible. Every second spent in downtime was a second that Jake was suffering and she was doing nothing of usefulness.
It was one city. One. She’d had an easier time finding people when they’d been kidnapped and taken out of the country. She should have been able to do this.
Dinah descended upon the man that was her best hope of finding answers. She’d already questioned him, but a few sources had pointed her right back to this thug as being one of the Joker’s henchman.
The Canary dropped behind the thug in an alley, silent in her approach. He didn’t know she was there until she spun him around and slammed him up against a wall. His eyes went wide and his face paled as she leaned against his windpipe, allowing just enough air to talk.
“Shit, Canary. I already told you everything I could.”
“No, you didn’t, Joey. Word on the street is that you and the Joker are tight,” Dinah snarled. “And I’ll tell you-I’m getting really sick of this wild goose chase. Tell me where he took the kid and maybe I won’t break all of your bones and leave you right here for anything that prowls the night to happen upon.”
“I can’t. He’ll torture me. You should see what he’s done to your boy. But you- you’re supposed to be a good guy-you wouldn’t dare-”
Dinah drew back her free hand and slammed an open palm into his nose, which shattered on impact. She ignored the cries of pain and the blood that was now dripping down his face, a few splatters landing on her sleeve.
“You have no idea what I would do to get him back,” she said in a voice that was dangerously quiet and collected.
----
The Batman was finally traveling in something familiar, comfortable. The design wasn’t exactly what she was used to, as it had to look like the rest of the Batgear, but it was something she could definitely work with. The mule was an amazing vehicle, flying and turning with just a few twists of the stick. Sure, it seemed to be similar to driving a car, but there was more finesse to riding currents and whatnot. She could get it above most buildings. The design was a little sleeker, not like the flyer she’d seen in file on future possibilities, but she wasn’t the sleek type. She liked the slightly chunkier, very durable, and one hell of a bitch to get hit by Batmule - it needed a better name, but it suited her. It didn’t look exactly like the Firefly’s mule, but anyone who saw the larger seating room than some of the Batvehicles, certainly someone who knew a mule, might know what they were looking at.
She flew through the City, having heard something she didn’t like from Alfred. She’d known about Jake’s disappearance for a while, and had been working it as the Batman. Yet, she’d also heard a few incidents that had gone beyond the usual bit of superhero-on-criminal violence, and they all led back to the wounded bird. Zoe knew something of what Dinah was going through, and she knew how she’d reacted. She wasn’t above killing, but Dinah wasn’t her. This wasn’t that reality, and she’d be damned if she’d let Dinah kill. Killing wasn’t part of the superhero gig, not much, not usually from what the Amazon understood, and she wasn’t going to let Dinah go down that path if she could help it.
It didn’t take her long to find the songbird, and she was soon dropping down from the mule to land by the pair. She even managed to do it rather stealthily. The suit had changed from the last time Dinah had seen it; it seemed sleeker, not as rough as before, yet it would still hide the feminine form within.
“I do.” was all she’d say to announce herself. The voice, of course, was Bruce’s.
----
Dinah didn’t turn in response to Bruce’s voice. Generally, she respected him and they worked together well, but right now she wasn’t in the mood for him-or anyone else-to get in her way.
“Now you show up?” she asked. “This doesn’t concern you, Batman. Not unless you have answers on where the Joker is keeping Jake.”
Her eyes locked with Joey’s, and she shot him a glare that said that he wasn’t saved by the Bat.
----
“This isn’t the way to go about it.” The Batman stepped forward. She didn’t want to give this guy the wrong idea, but Zoe couldn’t let Dinah keep doing this. Dinah couldn’t become the monster, and that was what would happen if she kept doing what she was doing. The Batman stepped forward to step in.
“Normally, I’d have no problem with you getting physical, but this isn’t going to go the way you want. Stand down.” It sounded like an order. Perhaps Bruce would give them, but the way it was said suggested this particular Bat had had military training, even if that training wasn’t seen as all that formal.
“You do not want to do this.” Zoe knew Dinah really did want to do it, at this particular time, but in the end she would probably hate herself for it.
----
“Don’t I?” Dinah asked, still glaring at the thug. “He’s hurting Jake, and this little creep is standing by and letting him. You’re Batman-the Joker is your territory. So tell me, what the hell are you doing to help Jake?”
Her voice shook, whether from anger, exhaustion, frustration, or possibly because Batman was right. This wasn’t her.
Oliver had once told Dinah she had a ‘green thumb’ for violence. Dinah never took it as a compliment. She could deliver a lot of pain if she needed to, but she never enjoyed it. Never tried to hurt anyone more than was necessary. She’d learned ways to kill with her bare hands and ways to deliver more pain than anyone should have to endure, but that didn’t mean she ever wanted to use them.
When accepting training from Shiva, Dinah knew that there was a risk. Having access to that power would be dangerous if she didn’t make a conscious effort to control it.
Right now, she was losing her grip on that control.
----
“Oh, beat the shit out of him, but you’re not far from doing something you can’t come back from.” The Batman stepped closer. The language wasn’t right possibly, but that could always be explained later. She could explain anything in the City, who couldn’t? For now they’d just get Dinah away from the big bad man before she did something stupid.
The Batman took yet another step, and before Dinah could react, or so Zoe hoped, she had the two separated, with the “victim” pressed once more against the wall, only this time with the Bat breathing down his neck.
“Now, I have no problem killing you. Just had a problem with her killing you.” Joey would now feel the sharp pain of a batarang, a smaller version of one that looked like it was meant for permanently stopping a perp. “Now, do you have more information for her? Because you should definitely be more afraid of me than of the Joker.”
----
Dinah took a step back as Batman swept her out of the way. He was right, of course. She didn’t like it, didn’t like the interference, but he had a point. Dinah crossed her arms and continued to glare at the henchman. Not that her glare was going to make any difference.
This Batman was... darker, though she’d seen him like this for brief periods of time. She supposed the City could have done any number of things to send him down this path. She wasn’t sure whether to be grateful for the back-up or concerned that she was dragging him down.
“What is this-bad cop and badder cop?” Joey said, though the last little bit of snark faded as the Batman got in his face.
Joey was nothing if not the best con in town. He could lie without any tells, could sell just about anyone on any story. Most of the crooks from his side of town had chipped in to hire him to get the Canary off their back. Her insistence on showing up and beating the hell out of everyone was disrupting business. So Joey had been hired to throw her off, and hopefully cause a little grief that might distract her enough to allow someone the chance to take her off the grid for good.
He looked up at the Batman, and then, with an expression that suggested he might wet his pants, began to talk.
“He killed the kid. And his little creature too. Played with him, and when he finally broke, I think Jack just got bored.”
Dinah’s knees seemed to give out. She reached out to steady herself against the wall and stared at Joey.
“Look, I had nothing to do with what happened to the kid. Don’t shoot the messenger.” Joey said, his voice pleading.
Dinah tried to dive at Joey, gunning for blood.
----
This Batman had done many more things than Bruce Wayne might have, but then, Bruce had his own set of dark issues. This Batman wasn’t being pulled down, but rather keeping someone the files all suggested to be pretty important and good out of more trouble. This Batman didn’t have much of an idea how the real Batman usually handled things like this; no amount of reading or training would ever tell this Batman. This Batman held Joey to the wall and cold cocked a very angry mother without thinking twice about it.
“No, you won’t die, Joey. You’re going to prison. Maybe the Joker will let you live, maybe he won’t. But, you get out of there, she’s going to end you. I suggest you stay in.” Zoe didn’t know Joker, not like Dinah did, but she did know men like Joker. The best thing to do with men like Joker was to kill them, and she was having a hard time understanding why this had yet to happen. Remove the issue completely; there was no saving him.
Without asking, she quickly zip-tied Joey’s arms behind his back, possibly making sure his head came into contact with the wall a little harder than it needed to, and with a little bit of pushing and work, she had his ankles bound. “Maybe the police will come by soon. Maybe they won’t.” Zoe patted the man’s shoulder before standing and looking at Dinah.
The Batman turned to look at Dinah, waiting. Zoe would have the safety off her Mare’s Leg, possibly another weapon ready. The Batman could only wait.
----
It took Dinah a few minutes to come to. She rubbed the side of her head, glaring up at Batman hatefully. And then she sighed and the fight went out of her stance. Killing Joey wasn’t going to fix things. Wasn’t going to bring Jake back.
The Joker, however... she wasn’t going to give up the search for him. She still wasn’t sure what she’d do when she found him, but she wasn’t going to let him get away with this.
Dinah didn’t say anything. She gave Batman a slight nod, a show that she appreciated the help, not trusting her voice at the moment. And then she turned away and started to walk toward her bike.