Rooms

[Locked to Donna C]
[....] Is Marvel the city with too much sun?

[Every part of her ached. The nightmare had every overture of a homecoming, an extended visit, welcome back to hell etched into the longer than usual hours it lasted. And for a while, it was enough to forget about what was waiting outside the door. Flash knew, Flash had told Gwen, that was how Gwen knew. One of them had told Bruce, that was how Bruce knew. Why Bruce knew was a question she didn't have an answer to and one she wasn't looking for at the moment while hope still existed that maybe the rest of that family didn't know.

Not hers, no, they hadn't been her family even when she had claimed them, not really. But the gray children still screamed at her in Damian's voice as they burned through the thin cotton of her hoodie and tank top to leave aching sores and the Needler's still reminded her of one fast moving acrobat. Only thinking of them that way had distracted her enough to get caught in a group of them, with one long blade slicing from her shoulder blade to flank before she'd turned and broken open its skull with the ax she found.

It fucking hurt. Maybe it was a freaking welcome back gift because after that, the walls returned to dull gray, the nightmare eased, and with her own blood mixing into the stains of Silent hill, she started to dig herself out. A quick message to Gwen. Nightmare ended. Looking for a way out now. Don't come. No reason anyone else needed to get trapped in here if it could be avoided. (And why anyone else would come was still beyond her. She wasn't the girl Luke went chasing after, or the one Flash had.)

The stairs out of the basement took longer than she expected they would, the cut along her back declaring itself loudly with every step and soaking through to her jeans. At the top, she stripped out of her hoodie and left it there, littering the ground, uncaring. Every door she came to, she checked. The stores, the apartments, no dice. At the Fens, she grabbed a new one, her hands shaking as she zipped it up to her throat. Her hair, stained with ash and gore from half a dozen monsters, a few strands singed from grasping children hung limply down her back. The door was needed sooner, rather than later, exhaustion and the steady leak of blood spurring her on. Out the door and then - somewhere she could get patched up.

No thoughts past than the immediate relief of symptoms. She lingered in the store for a moment, something teasing at the edges of her awareness. Another monster? She breathed in deep, held it, no sound. Nothing. Something else. Quiet as she could, she crept to the back of the store to the dressing rooms. She nudged the first door open. Nothing.

But the second door was the Right One, the jackpot, the Holy Grail, Goldilock's Just Right 'cause she shoved her shoulder into it and stumbled out into the hotel, biting back her howl as she fell onto her wounded side. An immediate curl and roll onto the side that wasn't laid open-] Fuck.

[Damian W]

[There's a lot of cursor blinking as she tries to figure out the best way to say anything to him.] Hi. I made it home fine. [Blink, blink. Uh...] Don't you need your cape back?

And, thank you, again.

[During this.]

[Locked to "Hels" W]
Apparently, you're my sister.

[Locked to "Gwen"]
Are you real?

[Locked to Selina K]
[After some cursor blinking.] Cat. The girl is your daughter.

ETA: [Locked to Tony S]
Your friend, the cat, is upset.

[Locked to Bruce W, Dick G, Stephanie B, Jason T, &... Selina K]
[After this. So amused.]

A man named Flash wants me to tell you, Todd, your girlfriend is going to go after your daughter. Or Dick's daughter. Hels. In the Silent Hill door. If no one else does.

[Bruce W]

So. A panic button. She hopes you put it on a necklace. A pink one. But you didn't hear that from me.

[Selina K]

You know what they say, it takes a village. Thanks, Kitty.

[Damian W]

Road trip?

[Peter P.]
[After all the MK drama and Gwen stuff has died down.]

Hey man.

[Hels]
[After talking to Gwen.]

Want to talk about it?

[Batfam+]
[After talking to Hels. Flash has no idea who's on the lock, but he also doesn't care.]

Hey. Hels is in the Silent Hill door. She ran there cause she got upset over something, but it's not safe. Someone needs to get her out.

[Batfam +]

Can't go to summer camp if he can't find me. SEND HELP. CHILD ABUSE.

[locked to selina k.]

Sorry, I haven't checked in sooner. I've been hiding and trying to pretend things in Gotham are better than they seem, but I failed miserably at that. How are you holding up?

[locked to the bird boys]

[Separately.] Alright. No bullshit check-in time.

[locked to destiny.]

[She's got no idea where to put it, so his dinosaur gummies are left on the counter in Wayne Manor again.]

[locked to eddie n.]

[Against some of her better judgement, but after hearing about some new management at the Iceberg through the grapevine. (Some of her old patients.)] You're back?

[After this.]

[Public]
I don't know, Joe. I think the smile thing is getting a little bit dated.

Who: Bruce and Damian
What: Father and not-dead son meet properly. Or something.
Where: The Batcave.
When: Now, recently, who knows.
Warnings/Rating: IDK.

( This is a cut. )

[While talking to Tony.]

[Locked to Selina K]
Cat.

ETA: [Locked to Jason T]
Todd.

[Just after this.]

[It was late, and Damian was up, alone and restless in the widemouthed kitchen of Wayne Manor. There was no Alfred—he'd learned that quickly, and with some pleasure, because at least then he didn't have to eat horrible cooking. But, there was displeasure too, as now there was no one else to make anything. He wasn't sure what was worse: enduring Alfred's meals or having to make his own.

Let's not get into how strange the Manor was or how eerie it was being back, like existing in a parallel universe where everything was the same, but the utensil drawer was on the opposite side of the room (...though, in truth, it was a parallel universe, wasn't it?)—Damian was doing his best to not think on it all just then. Drawers and cupboards were open, the flexed wings of a bird canted, behind him—all over the room, as he trawled the space in pajamas borrowed from his father, looking for a frying pan.]

[After this. Blame curiosity.]

[Locked to Tony S]
So you don't bother asking. I'm not him.

Who: Damian Wayne & Donna Carroll
What: Guess who decided to walk around Gotham alone?
Where: Insert dark gritty Gotham alley here.
When: Nowish? Soonish?
Warnings/Rating: Violence, and probs being mean to cute little Donna. :(

( If she believed in such a thing as love at first sight, Donna would have fallen head over heels for the city. Unfortunately, on their first solo date, Gotham was about to roofie the hell out of her. )

[Following this.]

You'd think with the obvious attempts for attention, you'd come out of your hole, clown, instead of hiding behind a grin carved on a dead man's face.

[A fresh message, to get things organized.]

I'm down at the docks. Nigma's working on a location for the boat. Still need someone to drive the transport. Dick? Otherwise anybody who feels like being useful can meet me down here.

[During this conversation.]

[Locked to Ra's]
Grandfather.

[Locked to Dick G]
Did you end up gay? I always figured you would.

[Damian was not content sitting still during the 72 hour bounty on his life. While it would have been wise hiding, he frankly had nowhere to go. No one to trust enough to take him in, let him lick his wounds and then return to the fight. His sister, his family, his friend. All couldn't see the cause he was fighting for. And sometimes? The Dark Knight couldn't see it himself. Here in the darkness of the Arkham sewers, he could admit that to himself. What was this all coming to? What would he actually achieve? And, did he really believe he could stop his own father?

No, of course he didn't. He also didn't believe his soul was worth saving anymore. He'd do one last thing he believed in. He'd cure Gotham of its greatest evil and escape to find out what sort of man he'd grow up to be elsewhere. The plan was simple. Use the remaining pieces of explosives he had left, attach them to the vital structures of Arkham and blow the entire place up with all the crazy people inside. Without Arkham, without the vile people within, maybe Gotham would have a real hope. If he couldn't stop the mobs with his violence, he could stop the crazy.

Dressed in his tattered Bat cape and cowl, Damian worked carefully to put C4 on an old, stone pillar. His hand shook from lack of sleep and food. His other arm was tucked at his side because moving it away from his chest hurt too much. He was running on empty and his time as Batman was running out.]

[Public as THE BATMAN]
[Tuesday morning after scuffling with Stephanie.]

"Batwoman" you are pathetic. Treating criminals and fighting like a loser. There isn't anyone in the family who could take me down.