What happened

Trip to the apartment complex done, Max headed back out. Time to try safe harbor number four. It was the last one, and she wasn't honestly sure how safe the Lair would be. Sure, she'd done all the security herself, but it was no Clock Tower, she didn't have any delusions of this. But she did know it was someplace she could get work done and not feel scarily alone.

So to the dock area Max went. The walking was hard in the ever present heels, but she headed anyway because she knew a lot of cabbies were starting to charge more to take customers down there. Ever since the crime rates had spiked.

Maybe she could work at getting out of this dress too. Max planned on trying. The frills were getting ridiculous and the coat she wore to cover it was hot. She stripped it off once she was deep into the docks, stopping in a spot she remembered, Ace's favorite spot to pee in front of the abandoned buildings. She pulled her backpack off and began stuffing the jacket in.

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The gingham dress was not her style. Neither was sulking, as Babs had so astutely pointed out. Max had had her fill of both over the past few days. She couldn't help the first, the blue and white dress was a constant companion along with random out bursts of 'Over the Rainbow' and 'Follow the Yellow-brick Road'. As much as she tried, she couldn't get the thing off.

Sometimes Max found herself thinking that maybe it was a good thing Jesse didn't want to see her right now (at least she assumed he wouldn't want to see her). Unfortunately, that tended to bring on the sulking, and she really was trying to get over that.

She'd started to resent Jesse for it, for making her feel this way over something so stupid. And it really was just that. Stupid. And it was his fault. Max had no qualms about blaming him for the entire thing, possibly because she was still mad at him. She felt… disillusioned. Yes, that was the right word. She'd somehow managed to fall in love with a man who didn't want to 'play house', so to speak. Not that she was ready to play house either, but privately the imagined thought of setting up home and family with Jesse had made her a bit warm inside.

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Prince Charming sat in the foyer of the buidling-not-called-the-Woodlands, and rubbed his temple gently. He did not sleep well last night; some people obviously had never shared an apartment with others, and therefore unaware of the common coutesies of coinhabiting- yelling loudly was very out.

His two roommate obviously had unresolved issues. He was not going to stick around, just in case there was a big heart to heart and everyone had to participate.

Kristy the front desk girl waved at him. He waved back.

The thought occurred to him that perhaps he ought to go for a walk- maybe get some breakfast- but he didn't budge from the comfortable spot on the sofa. Because it was comfortable, and he was too tired to make any sort of effort to move.
Tags: prince charming, maxine gibbons

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OOC: You can always trust a Michael Jackson television special to deliver chock full of cracky and RP inspirational moments.

Max was lying flopped out on her bed when Babs came in. She watched her enter, upside down and let out a very audible groan.

"Don't. Want. To. Talk. About. It," Max said very clearly. That had been the whole point of coming up to her room. She didn't want to talk about Jesse or her mood or the trial or anything else Babs could come up with. She felt confused and horrible enough as it was without talking about the damn thing.

It all bothered her. It was something like a weight sitting on her chest that just kept having things piled on top of it. First the trial, then the verdict, then she'd been fine until she and Jesse had had to go and get into this dumb argument. And to top it all off? Babs had come over to deliver the best news ever. Something was wrong at Arkham.

"Maxine, this is ridiculous. You haven't said a word since I got here.."

Shaking her head, Babs moved closer to Max, looking down at the girl. "I know what you're worried about. There's no point in trying to lock it up like this. You live in a house full of detectives... I don't doubt that we all know what you're worried about."

"So can I worry alone please? 'Sides, that's not all of it."

"Want to share the rest?."

"Babs."

"Maxine." Babs' voice was sterner now. "I thought we'd gotten over this? The whole sneaking around and hiding everything phase?"

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Max was just relaxing. Not that she hadn't gotten plenty of that in the night before (if sitting in a musty corner with her computer counted as relaxing) but this was a better quality of relaxing. For the most part. She had a book, a magazine, and her computer. Against her better judgment and really her interests, the magazine was getting most of the attention. It was easier to concentrate on than the book or the programing, because it didn't require reading so much as looking at pictures of clothing, which was easier to do when one's eyes were drooping and crossing slightly.

Maybe she needed a nap; the thought occurred to her right as her laptop beeped at her and then proceeded to go from 75% finished back down to a paltry 13%. God, hacking was just not as easy as it used to be. Max glared at the screen and wondered briefly whether the police department had suddenly decided to beef up security or something, though she doubted it.

She sighed and grabbed at the magazine again. No napping until business was done, unfortunately, no matter how comfortable Jesse's couch was. Hopefully the thing would hurry up, in the meantime, she'd finish looking at the pretty dresses and try to remember how to be a normal teenaged girl.

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She should have known better, just from hanging out with Terry for so long, that crime fighting was not all action and adventure. And if the lesson hadn't stuck from hanging with Terry, then she should have gotten it just from spending so much time with the Bat-Clan in the City. Either way, Max shouldn't have been surprised with the utter boredom that came with sitting in a cramped dusty corner with Kate, computer sitting in her lap as she watched the entrances.

They were waiting for a small local gang of robbers to come in so that they could truss them up and leave them and the stolen merchandise in front of the local precinct all pretty-like. It was their first run at this superhero gig, almost a test-run, really. All the electronics set up and ready to go, costumes were on, and they even had what gadgets Max had managed to get her hands on. They even had a quick getaway route planned from here back to the Lair. Granted, they were lucky this time and the Lair was pretty much in the area, but it was still good to start!

Max drew her knees in, staring down at the laptop and concentrating on the exits. She was wishing the guys would just hurry up and get there with the stolen goods already. Some of the loot from previous nights was already in the warehouse and very tempting, the electronics anyway. Any longer in this place and she was going to completely rewire the Lair in her mind with the new stuff she could see. As if she hadn't just done an overhaul of the place a few days ago.

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She was talking to herself in a bit of a singsongy voice. "When did my life get so damned busy?" Busy enough so that she was cursing to herself as she laid down on her back underneath a giant circuit board, checking the time on her watch at the same time as she was trying to rehook the wires so that power came back on in the warehouse.

Why was the power out? Ask Max and she'd have only looked at you and said, "oops".

Technically she wasn't an electrician, so this wasn't the kind of thing she was really meant to do. But she played around with circuitry all the time and she'd needed to rewire so that hooking up all the new equipment wouldn’t completely blowout the board. She had the feeling Kate would so not approve if they had to operate their business in the dark. And seeing as she had to still bring up the whole Jake thing with the other girl, Max wanted her in a good mood.

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Who- Jesse and Max
What- Max can't sleep and proceeds to do weird things to Jesse
When- during the jury recess [night]

Max: Sleep had helped the emotionally drained feeling she'd had the night before. Though, technically it was still that night. It probably didn't speak too well to Max's mental state if she was waking up at one in the morning. She'd dosed off at around eight that evening, almost as soon she'd gotten back from her walk. She hadn't even waited for Jesse.

But now, awake, she saw him sleeping next to her in bed and she grinned a bit before laying back down. She had to sleep, or else tomorrow her time in the courtroom would seem doubly long.

Twenty minutes later she was still awake. And thirty minutes. And forty minutes later she was still staring at the ceiling. Max sat up again, bored out of her mind. Trying not to think about things was a hard process, and one that didn't really work. She needed a distraction.

Max: About ten minutes later she was sitting crosslegged on her bed with a variety of tubes and square color pallets sitting around her. She'd managed to turn Jesse around so that his face was facing her and she had easy access. And in result, his face was many different shades of pretty colors. Mostly in pinks in purples, as those were the colors Max used when she put on makeup.

Max ran a tube of lipstick across his lips, spreading it with her finger. He was probably going to kill her when he woke up, but it was worth it. Jack was no longer the most prominent thing on her mind, and perhaps she'd be able to sleep soon.

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Who- Max and Jake
What- Talking on the walk home from school
When- Backdated to before the trial

Max: The faster she got Short Round home, the faster she could go back to the bundles of wires she'd been playing around with in the Lair. The net and phone lines were up, and the power was more or less stable, now it was just a matter of connecting everything and then making sure that she could access what she needed. The system down there was paltry compared to Babs', but that was just for now. Max knew that it was going to improve. Just give her a few months, she'd see to it.

But babysitting duty was taking time out of her afternoon schedule. Babs' house wasn't exactly close to the Institute's campus, being more in the residential area of the City. Babs wasn't free this week to drive Jake home directly after school and she'd told Max that there was no point in bothering Alfred for something that Max was perfectly capable of doing. At first the girl had thought that Babs had meant driving, and she would've been cool with that, but what Babs had meant was that she was to walk Jake home after school everyday.

Max knew better to argue, so she did as she was asked, but it ate away at ninety minutes of time after school when she could've been working with Kate at the Lair. She couldn't wait until this damn trial was over and Babs wouldn't be so busy anymore, at least that's what Max assumed Babs was working on. She was monitoring things, always on the phone or writing emails to someone. It just made Max more eager for her and Kate to get their own fledgling enterprise up and running.

Max turned, realising that in her musings she'd pulled ahead of Jake a little, so she stopped. She had a feeling that if she lost him, no one would be very happy with her. Least of all that guy he called his father. From what she'd seen, he looked kind of menacing. "C'mon Short Round. I know you've got homework that you can't wait to get home and do."

Why did she call him Short Round? Because Max had seen way too many 'old' movies since arriving in the city, and Short Round was so much more fun than Jake'. It was said with love, really!

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The doors were closed, and closed tightly. Little light leaked in from what was a sunny day, and as a result the club was as dark as could ever be hoped. Soft red lights, placed strategically, gave just enough illumination to avoid running into anyone. The small, roped-off square in the center of the establishment stood empty tonight. And the establishment itself was much the same, with very few patrons entering through the back or even approaching the front doors. It appeared to be nothing more than a closed-down bar, but the rear entrance was manned as though it were the main, and it was through that opening that all of his patrons entered. All three of them.

Giving the nearly-deserted building a dissatisfied sneer, Midnite removed the cigar from his mouth and exhaled into the darkness.

It had been this way since he'd opened the building, truth be told. Only a few nights out of the week were busy; with the concentration of busybodies and do-gooders in this town, no one wanted to draw attention to any one spot. Midnite had no fear of their attention, and tried to impress that on those brave enough to enter, but even the ones that continued to come and lose themselves in the revelry had fear in the pits of their bellies. As long as there were so many of these 'heroes', as one fellow nervously called them, in his city - then there would be no hope of raising more money. Of buying his way back to his true home, before they gutted his empire completely.

If they hadn't already.

Heroes. No one was a hero; not in the way that the common man wanted. They were afraid of what they could not understand, could not bargain with, and so they lashed out. Midnite had no patience for such fools. The alternative to carving out whatever you could take was the idea that you always served some nobler cause, some higher power, up to and including giving away your life for that service. Milton had made his point to Midnite, though he was not an avid reader. The voodoo king had been living proof that you could have your cake, and eat it, too.

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With the opening statements out of the way, the judge took a deep breath and decided to proceed. He knew it wasn't going to go very well, already it had started going badly. Jack Napier was all too glad to be here, and the amount of people who had showed up were only making it worse.

Sensationalism at it's best.

"We will hear from the witnesses. One at a time, please, and no interruptions from the others in the room. Each lawyer will have their time with the witnesses. Please, let's just try to do this in an orderly way."

McRiley sat back in his chair, tired already. Wanting to get this over with as soon as possible.

"Mr. Dent, your witness."

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It had begun like any other trial. Smoothly. Calmly. The judge entered and the people silenced. The baliff called for everybody to stand, and they did so, respectably. They sat just as silently, just as calmly when the judge called for them to do so. Judge Scott McRiley presiding...

It was just as the judge was settling in that the first mishap occured.

Jack Napier stood up to introduce himself to the court. And to the audience of people attending. He did so with a flourish and a bout of laughter so nerve-wracking that it took Judge McRiley a good ten minutes to quiet everybody down again.

"That is the last we'll have of that, I hope." He stated, looking Jack directly in the eye as he spoke.

Little did the poor judge know that this was only a pre-cursor to the sorts of things that could go on in a trial like this. A trial against Jack Napier. Maybe the only truly insane genius The City had ever seen. The misguided fellow might actually mistake to think he'd be able to control The Joker.

Jack himself spent a good few moments blowing kisses at Harvey Dent while Judge McRiley tried to call for order and the beginning of the trial.

He looked out at the lawyers and nodded. "Prosecution? You may begin."

And then he sat back, ready to hear this fantastic case.

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Max fed her key into the lock thinking very hard and looking very absent. Instead of going straight back to the manor after her little detour with Kate, she'd chosen Jesse's instead. It was closer and if she didn't tell him what was going on right away she knew she wasn't going to be able to sleep tonight. Mostly because he was the only person outside of Kate that she could tell.

She twisted the key in the lock and opened the door, not shouting out her arrival as she normally did. Instead she dropped her backpack, kicked off her shoes and started padding through the apartment in an attempt to find him on her own. She was still a little giddy with excitement over what she and Kate had decided on, but at the same time wondering to herself what Jesse was going to think. And just worrying in general. It was what she wanted to do, but denying that it was going to take a lot of work would have been stupid.

Still thinking, Max continued back, peeking into the kitchen and then looking in on Kojack before making her way to his room.

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Harvey Dent began to wonder if perhaps he was going overboard in preparation for this case. He knew Murdock was a great defense lawyer - he'd sat in on portions of the attorney's cases since being instated as DA - but was it really necessary to go to such lengths? He had contacted no less than four doctors, collected mountains of physical and photographic evidence, expected to call on the testimony of everyone from the arresting officer to the asylum janitor, and he had constructed opening and closing statements that would make Inherit the Wind look like schoolyard namecalling.

To be fair, he couldn't remember the last time he'd had a really juicy case like this. He was so excited he hadn't slept in a couple of days, and had only showered once in the interim. Maybe he was making up for losing that CX debate in the final round at the High School National Championships. That smug little jackass ... he could just rip that kid's eyes out ... cut off his nose ... bite his fingers off one at a ...

Focus, Harv.

He walked briskly down the hall to the meeting room at City Hall to prepare for his guests. One last big meeting with his team before the trial.

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On Monday afternoon Max went and put Babs' birthday present to her to good use. It was during her lunch period that she ventured out into the real world to the electronics store in the heart of the City. There wasn't much she could pick up with just the two hundred dollar certificate Babs had gotten her, but she had some extra money picked up from various computer jobs she'd been handling here and there. The total more than covered the things that she wanted to start off with.

Max had plans, oh yes she did. They weren't fully formed, they weren't all quite realistic, and maybe they were a mite bit crazy, but they were plans. Sort of.

She wandered back into school about five minutes before sixth period started carrying a brown bag in one arm and two small monitors in another, heading towards her locker. She had to keep this stuff somewhere. Not that it was all going to fit, but Max was willing to make a valliant effort.

More than six months now and she still hadn't compltely gotten the hang of the stupid twisty lock combos. They were complicated, moreso when you had a bunch of stuff in your arms.

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The dinner was over and it had, surprisingly, been a less than painful event. There'd been some awkwardness, but then, there was awkwardness at every family gathering, no matter how undisfuntional you actually were. So, perhaps this had been a success then.

"C'mon, Ace. Bedtime." Everyone was going home now and Max had said goodnight to the appropriate people. She was ready for bed herself. It'd felt like I long, long day, made even longer by being social for a better part of the evening.

Max patted her thigh, beckoning Ace over to the stairs where she was standing. He came over obediantly and pushed up to rest both front paws against her legs. The feeling was something of a reminder of how she really hadn't been spending enough time with him lately. They would have to go out for a walk the next day. Just her and Ace. The manor had expansive grounds, yes, but Max knew he was going to get bored of them eventually.

She reached down and petted him, scratching behind his ears and grinning.

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This was pretty much the last place Max wanted to be spending her afternoon.

She had work to do at school, a dog to walk, homework to do... hell, even a room to clean. She just didn't want to be here. It didn't matter that the offices were Matt Murdock's and that she at least knew him. It was all good and well when she was fixing his computer, but going in for a deposition was different. Especially on this case.

Max had been serious about what she'd told Jesse on her birthday. Having anything to do with Jack Napier's case made her feel extremely uneasy. If her days were numbered before, they'd been sliced into fifths now. But because he'd attacked her, she was a victim and therefore a witness, and she knew that testifying was the right thing to do. She'd known it before Jesse had told her. She'd known it before Babs had told her that she had to at least meet with the lawyer after he'd called.

The only reason she was here was because Babs was with her and was going to do the same thing. Maybe it mattered a little that she knew the lawyer. There'd at least be some feeling of familiarity. Still, Max was worried about what would happen when Jack escaped.

It was inevitable. No matter what anyone said.

When the secretary led them through to the back conference room Max followed sullenly behind Babs. She wasn't putting on a fake smile or anything like that. She was here to tell the truth after all. So that was what she was going to do.

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Continued from here. The warning still stands. This may get ... probably will get ... dirty. Just cause the last one didn't make it there doesn't mean anything.

Jesse got Max back to the apartment without any falls, or futher pokings. But there was plenty of laughter on his part. And a little on hers as well. It was fun, as always. Mostly for him. But he was sure she was enjoying it as well. How could she not?

Upstairs, he discovered the cake untouched, but mostly because it looked as if Kojak didn't have an off button when it came to steaks and potatoes. He'd eaten it all, and was laying pathetically on his side near his water bowl, groaning. Jesse laughed again, this time at the dog's expense.

"Your fault, pal."

Jesse left the dog there and took Max to the couch and sat her down.

"Want more cake, darlin?"

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After the mostly-lighthearted banter and casual conversation at dinner, and once Alfred and Babs had distracted Jake and Oy by showing them the 'back yard', Bruce quietly explained the situation to Terry and Max, Dick and Helena.

"I cannot remember you."

The looks were incredulous. He held up a hand to forestall the anger and disbelief he saw there in those pairs of eyes across from him. "I know you. Some of you. Barbara Gordon - though not as she is now. Dick, of course, though..." He shook his head once at Dick. Something was different. Like static discharging between them in wide, vicious arches. Like the promise of blood on the boxing ring floor. "--Though there are some who I have no recollection of. Max, we met before I understand, but I do not recall it. Terry, you live in this place, but I cannot remember when I took you into my confidence. In fact, I remember nothing about what has happened since I arrived in the City, though I understand intimately what the City is -- at least, as well as anyone can -- and feel as if I have been here for some time."

This part was much harder. He did not admit easily to this sort of thing. But if he did not know, if he did not ask them, then danger increased for all of them. What villains lay in wait outside the Wayne Manor, ready to use the information that he did not have? No. He had to ask.

"I need your help. Tell me what I should know."

OOC: Backdated to the dinner

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