Willow Cooper-Delaney never misses her mark. (excellentaim) wrote in musingslogs, @ 2011-03-02 03:26:00 |
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Entry tags: | arrowette, eric draven, green arrow |
Who: Jack Corbinian, Willow Bullseye & Orrie Arrow
What: A random meeting, An apology, A deal
Where: Some rooftop in Rainier
When: Tonight, vigilante 'o clock
Warnings: Maybe some feelings?
Jack had been spending as much time as possible on patrol of late. Working left him without the time to follow up on leads during the day, which slowed things down a touch, but he mostly worked with street crime as it happened anyway.
Jack had come across a group of drug dealers deep in Rainier one night as they had tried to kill a woman in the street. They had a firm hold on the neighborhood, and the gang of which they were part was constantly at odds with the police. He was determined to find out where the head of the group was living, and he thought he was close. The last two gang members he had come across and extracted information from had been helpful, and he had the general area of a few blocks narrowed down. So he was haunting the neighborhood, sitting on the edge of a rooftop, pausing in his usual non-stop circling to see if anyone appeared who might prove useful or informative after some loosening.
Willow had been running around in her new gear for the past few nights, getting used to the kevlar like Arrow had asked her to. But she was really starting to get comfortable and she felt like she could actually do some actual chasing down of the bad guys now. The little exchange on the comms the other night was definitely a surprise. She hadn’t expected to cause such a commotion, or any commotion at all, to be honest. When Robin had told her about the little network they had going, she had envisioned less bickering. Still, Oracle had been nice and she was glad that Arrow and Robin would vouch for her. It made her feel like she wasn’t alone, like she was part of something bigger.
As she headed deeper in Rainier Valley, she kept her eyes and ears open for anything suspicious. It had been pretty quiet, save for a few thugs along the way. It wasn’t until she noticed a man sitting on the edge of the rooftop, that she stopped to survey the scene. At first, she’d wondered if he was going to jump, but then she realized that he was just watching the street below. It was an odd scene, and she couldn’t say she’d seen the man before, but she was still pretty new around here and feeling her way around.
“Hello?” She called out quietly, just loud enough for the man to hear her from where she was standing. This was probably not the smartest of things to do, but she figured if it was a villain, she could shoot him down before he got too close.
Jack turned, and looked up, and there was a girl there. He surveyed her costume, her apparent youth, and her bow. “Going hunting?” he asked. He made an interesting sight, even with his scarring and discolored eye hidden, the white and black makeup on his face simulating deep shadows and a wide smile framed by unruly dark hair.
“Something like that,” She smiled, but didn’t move any closer. Now that she could see the mans face, she was even more wary that she had been initially. The make-up was strange, to say the least, she could honestly say that she had seen nothing like it before, “What about you? Hang out on rooftops often?”
"I do all my hunting on rooftops," Jack said. He had a hunch as to her identity, though he chose not to voice it right away. "Do you have a name that you go by?" He walked toward her, gait easy and unconcerned, and he seemed friendly enough, but he was still six foot something and wearing facepaint, which tended to look a touch threatening.
“Bullseye,” She answered bluntly, not sure how she should feel about him moving closer. On the one hand, he didn’t look like he was about to attack her anything. But if he wanted to push her off the roof or something like that, it would not be too hard to do so. With that thought in mind, she took a few steps forward, farther away from the edge. “And you?”
"Corbinian," he said, inclining his head toward her. "I suspected it was you. I heard you on the network a few days ago. Allow me to formally apologize for the way everyone behaved - it has been a difficult stretch of weeks, though I expect Oracle already told you that."
“Oh,” she smiled and relaxed a bit once he mentioned the network, and was friendly about it, “It’s okay, I get it. You’re close knit and new people have to earn your trust and what not. It can’t be easy if there’s suspicion of a mole.” It was like that on every team, even sports teams. There was always and initiation of sorts, never anything she couldn’t handle though. “Does everyone usually get along better than that?” She was curious, but she really hoped it was usually better than it had been that night.
Jack smiled faintly. "At least a bit," he said. "In the masks, you find a lot of strong personalities. If we weren't that way, we wouldn't be doing the things that we do, and so the type of people who take this profession on tend to have strong opinions. We don't always get along, but when it matters - when people need help, we put that behind us and we band together, and I find we work quite well." He didn't remark on his own fight with the Bat only a week before and the dozen that had come before it. That was more personal than based in anything related to being a mask anyway.
She nodded, satisfied by that description. “That makes sense. And most of the time you work on your anyways, right?” That was something that both Robin and Oracle had said to her, that the communicators provided a way for the masks to do their own thing and still be connected, “I guess as long as what needs to be done is done, then all’s well.”
Willow took a second to glance off the side of the building, to see if anything interesting had happened, before she started speaking again, “So how often does everyone work together?” What she was really curious about was whether or not all the masks had met each other at one point or another.
"Exactly," Jack said, with a nod. "No group of people is going to agree all or even most of the time, but when it counts..." he spread a hand. "I won't say it's a faultless system, but it keeps everyone watching each other's backs."
"As often as the situation dictates, but usually only in severe circumstances. We've had to work as a group three times that I can think of over the past few months." That should illustrate, Jack thought, that things had been tense for all of them. His gaze swept over her again. "Arrow vouched for you, didn't he?"
Three times didn’t sound like a lot, but when she thought about how short a time a few months was, she had a pretty grim picture of the severity of the crime rates in Seattle. Willow nodded again, deciding to leave out the bits where she had stalked Arrow for a while before ever actually talking to him, “Yeah, but isn’t he pretty new too? Do you know him?”
"He is," Jack said, nodding. "I met him a few weeks ago and recommended he get in contact with Oracle. I'm glad to hear that him joining up meant bringing you along, even if he isn't altogether pleased with the way people conduct themselves on the comms." He was surprised Arrow hadn't turned off his communicator entirely after the way some of the people on the network had behaved toward both him and Bullseye. "We find ourselves in a difficult time because of so many threats so close together. I know he may have seemed suspicious, but Rorschach is a good man, and a good mask besides."
“Yeah, he didn’t sound like he liked me much. But I mean, he’s only looking out for you guys, so that’s good,” She understood, even though she’d been a little bit shocked at his tone of voice. From what Corbinian was saying, it sounded like the threats had started relatively recently and Willow wondered if he had been doing this in Seattle for longer than that, “Have you been doing this crime-fighting thing in Seattle for a long time? I mean, even before all these larger crimes started popping up?”
"Close to two years now," Jack said. "Though it feels like longer. Some of us fought in Musings and have simply continued here, and some of us have been here for a long while. There's a variety of experience, the same as you'll find in every team. And don't mind too much if Rorschach seems unfriendly. He tends to warm to people in time."
Vigilantes in Musings. She knew about those, that’s the whole reason her mother tried to get into it in the first place. Other kids got stories about frogs and princesses, at bedtime, but she got stories about masked vigilantes and costumed villains. “Oh, that’s good to hear,” She smiled, “He definitely sounds like someone you’d want to have on your side.”
Orin had been patrolling near Bathos that evening, in Redmond, which wasn’t a normal location for the Masks to be. But he wasn’t too keen on only helping the folks in the harder parts of town, not when the middle class folks needed the help just as much, if less frequently. In suburbia, the work was a little different. More domestic violence and crimes of passion, less drugs and hookers, but it was still helping at the end of the day - or night.
Once Orin finished, he turned toward Rainier and the roofs there, because he suspected Willow would be working that way, and he’d been thinking long and hard about how to get some DNA off the child. He hadn’t come to a real decision yet, but he would by the time he found her. He didn’t think it would be real hard to track her down.
Orin heard Corbinian’s voice before he saw either of them, and his approach was loud enough to be heard. He didn’t try to hide himself, not wanting to end up with an arrow lodged in his body anywhere, and he called out when he was close enough to do so without drawing attention from below. “You two calling it a night, or taking a rest?” he asked.
Jack heard Arrow as he came up, and turned to watch him approach, unperturbed. It did seem a little strange to meet up with both of them at once, but considering the relation between their weapons of choice and that Arrow had recommended her for the network, it seemed natural that the pair of them would keep tabs on each other. He wondered if Arrow had been following her. "Just a rest on my part," he said, looking up to Bullseye. "We happened to run into one another. I wanted to apologize for the way things went on the comms." He studied Arrow as he came closer. "I'm surprised you didn't turn yours off for good. I might have."
“Just a rest,” She agreed with a nod, the night was still early, afterall. Willow smiled at Arrow, there was always a small amount of giddiness that bubbled inside her when she saw him, kind of like a teeny-bopper meeting her favourite pop idol for the first time. It was all very silly, and she made she it didn’t show too much, she didn’t want to seem like a dork. “Are you patrolling down here too?”
“No,” Orin said honestly. “Just checking in on you,” he told Willow, and then he nodded to Jack. “Don’t know whether to thank you or damn you for that comm suggestion, Corbinian,” he said bluntly. “‘Fraid it’s actually safer out here without a bunch of people on a witch hunt.” He stepped closer, out of the shadows, but still mostly obscured by the hood and eyemask. “Do okay tonight?” he asked Willow, turning his attention back to her.
"I had no way of knowing that everyone would decide to be so hostile," Jack said. "And I do apologize. That's never happened before." He understood why everyone had been upset, but it still seemed like a drastic reaction just because the pair of them were unfamiliar.
As Arrow turned to speak to Bullseye, Jack felt distinctly like he was intruding on a conversation that ought to be private, and not for the first time wondered what, exactly, their relation was. He moved toward the edge of the roof to go. "A good night to you both."
“It’s totally fine,” She reassured Corbinian again, she honestly felt a little bad that he felt so bad about the situation. As far as she was concerned, it wasn’t anyone’s fault that the other masks felt like they needed to interrogate the newcomers. They were new and masked, she would have been nervous too. “Stay safe!” She called after Corbinian with a little wave.
Turning back to Orin she nodded, “Yeah, everything was fine. How did you know I was going to be here?” She really didn’t feel the need to be checked up on, but she wasn’t going to say that out loud.
Orin gave Jack a nod, and he watched him go before turning his attention back to Willow. “I guessed,” he said. “Most of the masks patrol around here,” he said, motioning to Rainier in general, and then nodding toward the edge of the roof and sitting down. “Got a few minutes to chat? Or you in a hurry to get back to shooting things?” he asked.
“Um. Sure,” She only hesitated for a second before sitting down beside Arrow. If he wanted to talk, he could have talked to her on the comms or the forums, but she figured it was a convenience thing. A look of confusion crossed her face for a second, but it was wiped off with a smile almost immediately, “What’s up?”
Despite years spent away from people, Orin still recognized her look of confusion. “I got you on this comm network, in a certain way of thinking, even if I didn’t put the thing in your hand. Got you dressed right for it, too. Now I just want to make sure you’re doing this for you, not for me or your mom or anyone else.” It was a telling statement - no, a telling question.
“Wait. Stop,” Willow blurted out in a moment of panic, even though Arrow had already stopped speaking. Stiffening, she pressed her lips together briefly, brows furrowing as she began to speak slowly, “Did you know about my mom this whole time?” Her voice was a forced calm, she hadn’t talked to or about her mother in years and it felt overwhelming to have to start again right now, without even a warning. She’d come here to leave that all the behind, but right now, it felt like Pauline would follow her wherever she went.
“You mentioned she was an Olympian,” Orin reminded her, not pressing the way he had intended before her reaction. “An archer, I’m thinking,” he added. “I did know her back across the portal, and I know how fanatical she could be, and we don’t have to say anything else about it if you don’t want. She isn’t what matters right here and now.”
“I didn’t say she was my mom, though. And why did you lie about knowing her?” she frowned, not letting it go quite yet. She was ready to just sit there and grind her teeth at Arrow until she got some answers, but decided against it when she realized how childish and ungrateful that would be. He had helped her after all, which meant that she owed him an answer to his question too.
“I’m not doing this for her, or you, or anyone else,” She promised, still with a frown on her face, “When I was following you around, I just realized that I could do a lot of good. Not like my mom thought she was doing when she was young. Real good.” She figured that Arrow knew more than he had let on, by this point, and there was no point trying to pretend like he didn’t.
Orin didn’t really like the idea that he’d helped her decide on this life, and it just made him more determined to make sure she was as safe out here as she could be, shared DNA or not. Orin could afford to be much more human as Arrow than as Orin Monarch, and he’d never been as willing to do that as he was right now. “You didn’t need to tell me she was your mom,” he told her. “I know your last name, remember? Hyphens don’t change Pauline Cooper from being Pauline Cooper.” The way he said it made it clear that he did know what her mother was like. “Your dad, was he good at balancing her?” he asked, and it was possibly too nosy, but he wanted to know.
Willow nodded, agreeing with his logic, but still not sure why he had felt the need to lie to her. But the way he talked about her mother, sounded like they had known each other quite well. She didn’t have much time to dwell on it before the next question. “He was,” She shrugged, trying not to make it sound tragic, “I don’t really remember him much. He died when I was six.” There was no real way of making it sound less tragic but she put a smile on her face and looked up at Arrow after she said it, like it wasn’t a big deal at all.
Orin knew enough to know that wasn’t good, and he looked out over the city as he replied to her, the feeling of responsibility pressing ever harder. “I spent a whole lot of time in Seattle, back home,” he told her, because that was innocuous enough. “It was worse than here. Darker, more desperate. It’s better here.” It was a statement, just thinking aloud, and he looked back at her in the dark. “I’m not going to tell you that you’re too young, or that you don’t know what you’re doing. You got great aim, and you got good senses. You’re short on experience,” he admitted with a smile, “and you could use some years on you to get strategy down, but you can make a difference,” he admitted. “A real difference,” he amended, quoting her phrase. “I want you to let me help.”
Willow had never been to Seattle, back home, but she nodded anyways as Arrow spoke to her about it. She nodded again, with a small smile this time, as he told her that he wasn’t going to tell her that she was too young. A small part of her wondered if he knew about her time as Arrowette, as well, but that wasn’t important. A bigger smile broke out onto her face as he quoted her, and it made her feel good. “Thanks,” She looked at him, smile still on her face, “Do you mean, like, training? ‘Cause I can do that. Definitely.” If practicing with him a few night a week meant that she could keep doing this at night, she would take it. It was worth the trade.
“Training,” Orin said. “And I want to know where you’re patrolling,” he added, looking out over the city again. “I’ll do the same in return. Seems to me these comms might be good for communication, but it’s better to be out here with some who has your back.” And somehow he managed to not make it sound like he was humoring her with the reciprocal offer. He glanced back at her. “Good thing you shoot arrows. If you were fighting hand to hand, I’d probably try to keep you off the streets for a few months.”
“Cool,” She said, still too excited to feel the weight of exactly what all that meant, “I guess try is the operative word there. Would you still have tried to find out so much about me if I didn’t shoot arrows, though?” She probably wouldn’t have spent so much time following him around at night if she was a hand-to-hand combat girl. There was some kind of intrigue in knowing that that could be her future.
“No,” Orin admitted, because arrows were such a strange choice that it made her stand out. “I would have known I was being followed, but I would have been so interested in who was doing the following. That’s the first thing we’re working on, by the way. Movement out here, stealth. We’re lucky that we don’t get close often, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to take advantage of getting around silent. Gotta teach you some fighting, too, if you don’t know any.” He held out a hand to her, gauntlet glinting in the moonlight. “We got a deal? Never worked with someone before, so you’ll cut me some slack if I get too demanding.”
“Yeah sorry about that, by the way. I really didn’t thinking about how creepy that was before you caught me. And fighting, yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” She’d never really been in a fight before. Clasping his hand firmly, she smiled at him and shook it, “Sounds like a deal to me. When do we start?” She almost felt honoured, knowing that she’d be the first person to work with Arrow ever.
“Just keep it in mind when time comes for me to do something real stupid,” Orin said, and he looked approving at the force of the handshake. He stood once he’d let go of her hand, looking down at her once he was on his feet. “What time to do you normally suit up?”
“Eleven-ish? Sometimes eleven-thirty,” She replied, standing up as well and brushing herself off, “Why?”
“We’ll training alternating days, at midnight, and I’ll comm you locations before you head out. On nights we’re patrolling, you let me know your location before you start runs, and I’ll return the favor,” he said, hoping this was the right choice. He considered bringing up DNA then, considered veering the conversation in that direction, and he kept himself from it at the last moment. It didn’t matter right now; he was going to do this regardless of blood relation, and there wasn’t any use in trying to tell himself he wasn’t. “That work for you?”
Willow took a second to process at the information before nodding, “Yeah, that’s cool.” Arrow looked like he was about to say something else, but didn’t actually say it. She wondered if she should ask, but just ended up hinted at it vaguely, “Is that all?”
“That’s all,” he agreed with a nod, decision made. He looked up at the sky, which was starting to lighten somewhat. “Git,” he told her, a hint of a smile visible under the hood and mask.
“Cool,” She smiled back, dismissing her previous thoughts with the single word. With a small wave at the man, she left the roof and headed back in the direction of The Bathos. It was a good thing her classes didn’t start until noon tomorrow.