Rooms

[Natasha R]

[A sketch of a time and the place. The time is depicted with a sketch of the moon past midnight, roughly one in the morning. The place is well outside the city, upstate New York, out in the woods. It's a cabin, abandoned, based on the broken windows, sketched in. General directions are also neatly appended, for convenience. They instruct her to access the building by turning off a main road and taking the right side of a fork, over a dirt track, through the trees.]

[She'd received the message hours earlier, but she didn't leave until the last possible moment necessary. Two hours later, Natasha cut the engine on the motorcycle and coasted quietly to the end of the dirt track that had been mentioned. As she stopped, kickstand went down and the spy straightened and removed her helmet, setting it on the bike in front of her as she shook out her hair. Silently, she studied the cabin and the surrounding area, but didn't move where she was. After all, he'd said nothing about going inside, and she was going to wait and see how he played this.]

[The crime that began yesterday in Gotham continues. Through the night, property damage escalates and assaults occur on individuals, groups of people, even at the parties of Gotham's elite, with one man being dragged out by a meat hook.

Around noon, the crimes begin to change. Grocery stores, pharmacies, even gas stations and convenience stores are looted, with people coming in to take out whole shopping carts full of food, medicine, and medical supplies.

A phone call is placed from a man identifying himself as Ra's al Ghul to the CDC in Atlanta. The name garners an immediate reaction, but it's the threat he makes that mobilizes them.

That afternoon, when those that can flee Gotham are packing to do so, all flights into Gotham are rerouted, while those out are cancelled. By close of business, the National Guard has blockaded all the bridges out of Gotham, effectively sealing the city off.

For those with access to the hotel, exiting Gotham is no longer possible. Entry, however, has not been barred.]

Who: Bruce Wayne
What: Narrative.
Where: Underground.
When: Nowish.
Warnings/Rating: Nah.

( Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. )

So, er, are we all ready for school to begin again? I'm kind of nervous. Kind of excited. Bit mad, isn't it? Hard to believe it's possible again after everything.

[Pepper P]

Ms. Potts? Have you got some time?

[The New York Public Library was set up as a medical station. The line went around the block for the antitoxin and for other basic assistance. FEMA was on the ground, doing their governmental best to patch the city back together after yet another nightmare. The roads seemed almost unnaturally quiet after the two successive invasions (extraterrestrial and biological, in that order) fairly well decimated the population. News reporters spoke in hushed tones, and the rest of the country was donating to Red Cross funds to help NYC back on its feet.

Under a tent that was made up of not much more than plastic and metal poles set in concrete-filled buckets, Preston was sitting in a folding chair, listening to the minds around him. There were others in the tent too, most of them in some sort of emotional distress. The bad cases had already been flown off to hospitals, and minor injuries were quickly treated. The City as a whole was suffering from shock, and those left in the crowded tent all stared blankly and blinked slowly. The overwhelming majority of them were grieving for lost wives, sons, brothers and lovers. Preston was grieving only because they were grieving, the fluid mix of emotions stronger than liquor fumes and far more potent.

A wash of identities made surface and primal emotions strongest, and the visual minds were available only for those most vulnerable, but Preston had a strong, strong reach, even as tired as he was. He recognized Steve quickly, the competent yet warm complexity of his mind and also his deliberate stride. As the soldier neared, heads turned and mouths smiled, all of them with unnatural synchronicity, as one, and more of them as he drew closer to where the massive stone lion crouched guard over the tarp. No one actually spoke, and no one showed recognition, but they all turned to watch him as he passed.

A summer rain was misting over the muggy air, and dusk would be a welcome relief from the eighty degree heat.]

Who: Holly Robinson
What: Bailing.
Where: Steph & Eddie's apartment --> Gotham streets
When: Immediately before/after Steph and Selina go on their little shooting spree.


( It took two minutes )

[Public]

the mobs ain't gonna keep this shit down?

[Marina S]

yeah bring the kid by. it ain't safe alone.

[Ford C]

stay inside.

[Sam A]

you got that real ugly brother nearby?

[Louis A/Joey A]

you two seen this shit?

[Tats anon]

still in Gotham?

[Tess A]

hey. you in Gotham? get your ass to [address.] Sam and me will pick you up.

[Locked to Isaac F]
I ain't going out in this. You can be fussed all you want.

[Locked to Shane, Graham and Amelia]
Man from the building's coming to board up everyone's windows, and he says they're doing the same to the front door and lobby. Best be here, if you want to hide inside. I got a feeling they ain't opening those doors again once they're closed up tight.

[True to her word, in an hour, Ginny had arrived at Hogsmeade. Desperate to get away from the unnatural quiet of the castle--and the inevitable fact it was unfair she had to go back to school after she already took N.E.W.T. tests--it was a welcome reprieve to meet her old friend and housemate. Had it been anyone else but Neville, she'd have taken pause about meeting a male friend at his apartment.

But it was Neville, whom she was convinced didn't possess an ignoble bone in his body. It was safe.

Approaching his apartment, Ginny wasted no time in knocking. While she waited, she crossed her arms and leaned one against the door frame casually. Without thinking of pesky things like "neighbors," she called out:] I hope you're hungry, because I'm planning on getting all the non-school food I can. [She grinned.]

[Marina was waiting in the living room, sprawled out on the couch that was more comfortable than it was attractive. Plush and springy and blue. Her legs dangled over the fluffy curve of one blue arm that was leaking white stuffing in an over-loved kind of way. She had her eyes open, pointed at the ceiling and Piaf was pouring from the CD player in accompaniment to the distant sound of sirens and chaos rising. The front door was swung wide, and the door jamb was splintered where the heel of some boot had kicked it useless. A gun rested on her stomach, and an unlit cigarette was tucked behind one ear while she waited for Shane.]

[After telling Charles where he was, Erik settled down into a chair to wait. He'd been telling the truth, he came into the bar to clean out a wound. It looked a lot uglier than it was at the time, a gouge in his ribs, and the bar was half destroyed. It was on fire partly when he got there, so he put it out, while still feverish and getting past the worst of it. There was looting in there so he was impressed any of the liquor remained, but there was whiskey. A few tables and chairs made it, but on the whole, the pub was damaged badly. So of course he'd claimed it as his own. Nothing like rising from the ashes.

Erik himself looked terrible. He didn't need to look into a mirror to know it. His clothes were torn and dirty, there was blood and sweat on his face, and he used a bar towel to bandage his cut. It was superficial, he didn't need to go to a doctor. All he needed was to rest and drink until he could take a firm stance again. There were things to be done, but he was tired. For now, he gave himself permission to be weak. Maybe it was a sign of strength, to allow weakness voluntarily, but he knew inviting Charles was a bad idea. Nothing to be done about it now. The helmet was on the table to the side, his cape thrown over it, and he closed his eyes. He'd already scared off more than a few people who tried to come in. No one had dared for at least a few hours, so there was that.]

[LOCKED to Erik L]

Question.