E.M. Gotham City

[Gands]

Gotham City. Since everything changed, it went from being just another crime-infested pit of a city to being the capital of New Jersey - and still crime-infested. Only difference now, is some people get paid by the government to add to that infestation. Politicians. People who think that because people punched a piece of paper saying, I think you're right for this job, that gives them the right to do whatever it is they want, as long as their adoring public never finds out about it. Sometimes even after




Not that Gotham doesn't still have it's share of trashy, slum-ridden neighborhoods. It does, even with that fancy new monorail zipping all around town like some demented theme park ride. I gotta admit though, a lot harder to dispose of a body via train 'accident' when you have to get 30 feet up in the air to do it. These are the neighborhoods that I cover. For some reason, I, and a select few other people, lucky or not, can remember how things were before. There were no Avengers, no SHIELD, no Daily Bugle or Spiderman. Or... and this is going to sound crazy, but there's these turtle guys who live in the sewers across the river. I swear, I saw one. Wearing a mask. Isn't that rich? As if a little swath of cloth across your face was going to hide you were some sort of mutant half human half turtle. People here, they need answers. Thankfully, I can answer them. Who am I? They call me..."



" The Question "

This thread is part of the Epic Mashup clan, please go there and see how to get started.

 

[Camleen]

Poor Karolina smiles awkwardly, embarrassed. She knows she knows this woman from somewhere. She had the same thought last night. But she just couldn't place her face.

She listens intently, trying to remember. Lucy… doesn't ring a bell. But Molly's innocent question does well to bring back some dark memories for Karolina. 'Your mother's friend'… for a moment that makes Karolina think that perhaps Molly's mother was also a supervillain. But no one knew it. Just like her own parents. Molly announces she's all grown up, and Karolina just smiles politely. She's so bad with faces.

But then

Her eyes widen and she jumps a little in her bed "Oh! Th—" she whimpers as she settles immediately, her hand moving to her wrapped shoulder. "Ow" she moved way to quickly and way too much there. "Ow." For a moment or two she actually seems to lose some color in her face. She falls silent as she sits there holding her shoulder lightly, her head bowed down. "Ow." She hopes her hair hides her features from Molly for those few moments. So Molly doesn't see just how badly she just hurt herself.

But slowly she looks back to Molly as she smiles faintly now. "The ape... we wanted to play with the ape... and he came at us... scared like 8 years outta me..." she says with a soft chuckle. When Molly mentioned the zoo, the floodgates of memory had opened. "I made a plan to rescue the tigers" she says with a soft chuckle, perhaps just to show that she really remembers. "And we wanted to fly like the birds..." her tone takes on an almost dreamy tone with those last words. She remembers... how beautiful the birds were. She remembers how she felt that day with Molly, so long ago.

"My goodness..." she says softly as she smiles now genuinely "Oh my goodness... I can't believe this... This is like some nutso karma stuff... I mean you showin up here in Gotham just when I'm here too..."


Tagging: @Ms.Ezra

 

[Gands]

Grady Murtaugh aka Corvus

As Grady stands, he approaches Stephanie. He talks quietly.

" Look, I have a spare room that my stepsister used to use. You're welcome to it for a night or two. She and I have not talked a lot of late. Knowing the background you have and the people you share it with that I've met... You know a lot more about me, than I know about you. That being said, Quentin's word stands for you with me. "

He walks over to The Canadian's table, leaving a business card there for him.

" I run a successful security business for local business men. I'd be honored to discuss such with you if you have the time while you are in town sir ".

With that being said, he escorts Stephanie if she seems willing to his truck and drives her home, his home. It is a nice old Brownstone with the décor a bit out of date. He shows Stephanie to a room, shows her the kitchen, the bathroom and generally around the house.

He doesn't sleep much that night, finally getting a call from the Batman around 3 am.
He gets up around 7 to start his day.

@Michale CS

 

[Michale CS]

Stephanie was... Curious..very curious. "It's usually what gets you into trouble, Stephanie." She missed aloud, her nonstop inner monologue leaking out again.

She poked around the room, found some pictures tucked away in the closet, and another one, crumpled and in a broken frame, under the bed. This lead Stephanie to believe something awful had happened between the woman in the picture and Grady. "Well I can't just ask him. That'd be super nosy and ungrateful." So, she just got one of the old pictures out and put it on the nightstand. Now, she could just casually ask who that was in the picture.

There were a few clothes in the closet too. For a tallish woman, and they were professional. Also, in one of the pockets was a parking validation for the Daily Planet. Stamped with a rubber stamp. Steph knew that visitors got little annoying stickers on their validations - she'd been there on a case before - and she had observed employees just handing their tickets to the guard and getting stamped. Steph remembered this because she'd wanted to get to some employee areas of the Planet on her investigation and was trying to do everything to look like a new intern, memorizing every detail.

Twenty minutes later, ( mind you it was like 3am then ) she'd used her tablet to look up public employee records and compared them to the pictures and got a match.

Still on the payroll, but telecommuted for the past year and a half. Steph had made up her mind that it was likely that she'd had some horrible accident that left her disabled. "Yeah, totally not going to ask now. Though I'm so close to the full story..."

When she heard Grady up and about at 7ish, Stephanie got up, throwing on the under parts of her Heron outfit which amounted to a tight-fitting set of tights and top that was just as clingy but comfortable - and with the tell-tale latticing of Kevlar and carbon nanotube fibers - and padded out softly. In retrospect, wearing that with her bunny slippers might have taken a bit away from the whole "I wake up looking badass" look.

"Good morning, Grady."

@Gands

 

[Gands]

Grady Murtaugh aka Corvus

Grady was up, making omlets with toaster waffles. There was a big pot of tea brewing.

"Good morning to yah Miss Stephanie. Did yah sleep well enough.?"

@Michale CS

 

[Michale CS]

Grady Murtaugh aka Corvus

Grady was up, making omlets with toaster waffles. There was a big pot of tea brewing.

"Good morning to yah Miss Stephanie. Did yah sleep well enough.?"

@Michale CS

"Well enough. A few hours at a time is all I get anyway." Stephanie shrugged, padding up to him. "The room's gonna be free for awhile, yes? And if I'm going to stay here more than a few days I should talk to you about rent. Ooh, omelets. Nice." She moved over and took a seat in the dining room.

@Gands

 

[Gands]

Grady Murtaugh aka Corvus

Grady served up a couple of multi cheese omlets. Maple bacon on the side. Buttered wheat toast with jelly available. Grady poured himself a big coffee.

"Whatever you can afford is fine. I am going to head over to the clinic, my friend is recovering from a gunshot wound. But I do have something you can look into. "

He pulls out a folder and hands it to her.

The pictures of Shades and the CEO of OzCorp.

"See what you can dig up on these two. I suspect they were at Arkham to do business. They almost killed my friend."

@Michale CS

 

[Ms.Ezra]

Molly Lincoln
"The Amazon Squad"
​

"Oh Karl honey..." Molly started to say when she rose to stop her from moving, catching herself using that nickname she'd made for her that day because her full first name was difficult for Molly to say at the time. When it appeared she wasn't going to be moving, Molly sat back down and smiled wider as Karolina's memory started coming back.

"Yes! I was so hung up on the idea of having a pet tiger after that. I begged and begged my Dad for one but he only ever got me a life-size plush. For the best, of course." Molly laughed and reached out to gently grab hold of Karolina's hand.

"I've actually been here a week. I never got to be the wrestler I wanted to be back then, but I'm a...high priced bodyguard. I was here protecting a rich guy's daughter, and just decided to take a drive to see Arkham last night. I wouldn't call it karma....but fate? Like it was meant to be?"

@Camleen

 

[Michale CS]

Grady Murtaugh aka Corvus

Grady served up a couple of multi cheese omlets. Maple bacon on the side. Buttered wheat toast with jelly available. Grady poured himself a big coffee.

"Whatever you can afford is fine. I am going to head over to the clinic, my friend is recovering from a gunshot wound. But I do have something you can look into. "

He pulls out a folder and hands it to her.

The pictures of Shades and the CEO of OzCorp.

"See what you can dig up on these two. I suspect they were at Arkham to do business. They almost killed my friend."

@Michale CS

Stephanie took the folder and nodded. "I've been almost dead before. Really sucks. Hope it works out for your friend. I'll call a friend of mine and see what I can dig up."

She started digging in to the omelette, avoiding the toast

@Gands

 

[Camleen]

Karolina lets out a sudden little chuckle as she lays there. "Karl…" she laughs gently again "That's the nickname you used. I thought it was weird… but then I started to like it." Something else she had completely forgotten. But now that her memory of that day has returned… she really has to question just why she didn't remember Molly when they first saw one another. Though in her defense… it was kind of dark, and they were surrounded by lunatics. Not exactly the best time for reminiscing.

Her blue eyes look down as she feels Molly's hand take hers. And immediately there is immense guilt in her heart. Xavin could still be alive, you daft cow. So, what are you doing thinking about Molly now? Thinking about Nico for these past few weeks?

"Like your dad." She says softly, looking towards Molly's features now. Her hand turns a little (as much as she can with the needle in her arm), and her fingers weakly hold onto her hand in return. "Your dad was a wrestler." She says, as if showing she truly did remember things of that day. "You're a body guard now? That is wild… I mean it makes perfect sense. I guess you'd be like your own little security team, huh? The Molly Prime thing and all."

She then gives Molly an odd look as she smiles a little more. "Well why wouldn't you call it karma? Maybe not next life stuff… but I think we all get what we deserve. Bad… or good." She says with a little nod. "You're right though… it's crazy that we both happen to be here. You're working… and I'm…" she almost shrugged there out of habit… but her mind remembers the last time she tried to do something with her shoulder and shut that shit down promptly.

"I'm just… here. After my friends decided to explore other avenues… I didn't know where to go. So I just… picked a direction and went. And here I am. And here you are."

She pauses as she watches Molly, and then she finds herself unable to look into her eyes as she continues. "I really didn't mean for it to happen…" another little pause. "For us to lose contact. My parents just… well that's a whole mess… but they just didn't let me mingle with some people. Like they wanted to pick who my friends were. I really" she looks back to Molly now, concern written all over her face "didn't mean to just disappear on you. I.. I know what you were going through.."

Tagging: @Ms.Ezra

 

[Gands]

Grady Murtaugh aka Corvus

After breakfast, Grady gets a call. His mood lightens noticeably.

" She's still doing okay. I am heading down there to visit her Stephanie. Let me know what you come up with ! "

It doesn't take long for Grady to be down at the clinic. Having driven like a maniac, standing silently by Tink's bed. He stood back watching her and Molly talk.

@Camleen @Michale CS @Ms.Ezra @LuckycoolHawk9

 

[Kingof192]

From the log of the Red Panda


The driver has been called, and we are soon to travel to Wayne Enterprises on Tyler Fenwick's first official appearance in Gotham city.


Resolution from last night:


Batman is out of town, and when Batman is out of town concered citizens rise up to fill the gap left by his absence. There's a lot I could say about this system. It is certainly not what we do in Toronto, but Gotham City is a far different situation. It sort of explains some of the rookie mistakes I saw evidence of last night, but also includes at least a little bit of a screening process. One has to at least be knowledgeable about when Batman is out of town to be included. I've got some concerns about the metahuman mortality rate, but I come out thinking more highly of these people than I did at first. It kind of indirectly indicates that these are brave people with the right motives. Should they ever have occasion to meet the Red Panda, they will find him friendly, though perhaps bossy.


Grady Murtaugh is one of the hubs of this system. He is known to Batman and to others, as indicated by the appearance of one new young lady who wasn't present at Arkham. He gave me a business card for his security company. I inputted the number into Tyler's phone after he left and then put the card on the back windshield on one of the cars parked outside before I called a cab. One of Baxter's Laws: If you are in a room full of spies, don't accept anything anyone gives you. Also, there's the fact that I personally carry around business cards with tracking devices and have used them to track high-profile newcomers to my city. I don't know if there was such a tracking device and I don't really suspect any malintent, as I said before I am rather inclined to like these people, but I do have an identity to protect.

Macauley the bartender: this guy I like! Not only being willing to take the risk to make a place for metahumans, but to be able to keep the thing running. The man must be a quiet genius. Not only is the place still standing, but the metahumans there are fairly relaxed. In Gotham where the villains are psychopaths and likely to do any unreasonable thing at any time the metahumans have a safe place. One of them even allowing herself to be dunk in public. In Gotham! In Gotham, I say. I have no idea how he accomplished it, but it was all I could do to resist the temptation to offer a franchise deal on the spot. Also, he recognized me on sight but did not ask about the Red Panda. Brilliant, wonderful man! I left a card, one without any tracking devices, and I hope we meet again soon. I'm even thinking about visiting his bar as the Red Panda before leaving.


As far as the scene itself, what little I've been able to gather tends to indicate Arkham security might be a problem. Whatever happened was due to strings being pulled elsewhere. Similar to some of the clues I picked up on in National City from Siobahn. Metas are used as tools. Not only by ammoral capitalists, but by those of more deliberate nefarious intent. The situation the Red Panda was concerned about back after World War 2 has come to pass, people with powers are being used as tools by alliances too complicated to even begin to untangle. The metahumans are at once the power and the powerless, as the real war seems to be fought in the shadows. This certainly does contribute to the United States being dangerous.


I'm proud of what we've done in Toronto for and with our smaller metahuman population, and hope we can bring some of that to Gotham by way of Wayne Enterprises today.


Panda out.

 

[Michale CS]

I'm proud of what we've done in Toronto for and with our smaller metahuman population, and hope we can bring some of that to Gotham by way of Wayne Enterprises today.

Fenwick's phone rang. The number he had given Wayne, specifically.

Were he to answer it, one Alfred Pennyworth would be on the other end, who insisted on speaking with Tyler personally.

"Sir, I am to schedule a meeting between my employer and yourself. Master Bruce would prefer a meeting at a restaurant known as the Troposphere. I'm sure you are familiar with it?"

The Troposphere was a restaurant at the top of the Xanadu Hotel. A lot of high powered business deals went on at the Troposphere, partially due to the fact it was part of a REIT, Essentially owned by over 40 different investors so the possibility of corporate espionage at the place was next to nil.

"My employer would like this meeting for either luncheon or dinner today, presuming you are free, sir."

Alfred stopped speaking at this point and allowed for Tyler's response.

@Kingof192

 

[Ms.Ezra]

Molly Lincoln
"The Amazon Squad"
​

"Yeah, that is my thing, and it's been really lucrative." Molly had her hand on her chin while listening to Karolina. She'd never had friends since Karolina. After the loss of her mother, Molly had retreated into her books and even more so when she manifested her powers. One would say it exacberated her isolation.

"Hey now, it's okay I never blamed you. I had a lot to deal with after too, and I thought to look you up but I don't know...I just never got around to it, and life got away from me, if that makes any sense."

At that moment, Grady came into the room and Molly was glad for the chance to change the tone. "Morning Mr. Murtaugh. I trust the visit with your lady friend and the Canadian went over well?"

@Gands @Camleen @LuckycoolHawk9

 

[Camleen]

Karolina finds herself look away from Molly a little as she speaks. "Life getting away from ya…" she laughs gently and nods, her gaze drawing back to her. She squeezes Molly's hand gently a moment as she continues, squirming a little in the bed to sit up slightly more. "Yeah I know a lil 'bout that.."

"Listen... Molly… you lost your mom like a few days after we met. And I am so so so sorry about that. It wasn't right that I didn't make more of a attempt to reach out to ya." She gets a thoughtful look on her face. She remembers her mother tried to ease Karolina from seeing Molly again. She kept coming up with excuses. And Karolina never understood precisely why. But then, at the time, she was just a kid. And if she had known about her mother… about both of her parents… back then she would have done things differently. And Molly is one of the things she would handle differently. Of course, everyone thinks like that. If only I knew then what I know now, as they say.

After a few moments of silence between them, she speaks softly. "I'm glad you're here. I'm glad you were there last night. And I'm glad you weren't hurt." She looks like she's about to say something else… but that's when she sees Grady walking in. She smiles widely she watches him, not realizing she hasn't released Molly's hand yet. "Hey Grady." She slumps back slightly (and sloooooowly) in her bed as she speaks, sounding very guilty. "I am so sorry I screwed up. I don't know what happened…" she looks from Grady to Molly, her gaze lingering a moment before she looks back to Grady. "I don't even remember what happened. I was headin to the roof, I seen the helicopter… and then I woke up here." She shakes her head a little as she frowns at herself. "I'm sorry. I swear I've been in fights before. I mean I trained with a squad of Super Squads for goodness sakes. Maybe I'm not right for your team… you guys are like all stealth like and I'm a heat lamp…"


Tagging: @Ms.Ezra, @Gands

 

[Gands]

Grady Murtaugh aka Corvus

Grady still looked a bit... at odds. Perhaps one of the girls has seen that expression before, like someone who blames himself.

"That woman was sent to me by a contact of mine. Someone that I owe a lot to. She has good investigative contacts. As for the Canuck, he didn't talk to me much anyway."

He got close to Karo as she spoke to him, apologizing for the previous night's disaster.

" Karo, you apologize for nothing, you did nothing wrong. Those people lied about why they were there, what they were doing. They landed at a government asylum during an escape attempt... What's not suspicious about that. The Pilot was an ex-convict who shot you with some sort of experimental ammunition. They were up to something, and we are going to find out what. Lastly, you are amazing, we'll always have a place for you."

He seems upset, takes a deep breath to calm himself.

" I'll be right back, going to find Sparky, get you moved up to the roof for a little sunshine."

@LuckycoolHawk9 @Camleen @Ms.Ezra

 

[LuckycoolHawk9]

Lincoln Campbell

Lincoln went to do a few rounds after he had called Grady to tell him that Karolina was okay. It helped to clear his head a little from yesterday and was a great reminder that things were going to be okay. He looked over the rooms a few more times before he went to go make himself a cup of tea.

When Grady finally found him, he would have just finished his cup of tea. He waited for Grady to talk before he interjected.

@Gands @Ms.Ezra @Camleen

 

[Michale CS]

"A morning of investigation turned up a few things for young Stephanie..."

• Hernan Alvarez had any former felonies somehow reduced to misdemeanors and those were expunged from his record. According to the FBI and GCPD, he had no priors.
• Mariah Dillard had bought a controlling share in OsCorp a little over a year ago while Norman Osborne was in Blackgate and his son Harry was missing, leaving the way clear for their stock options to revert to saleable stock. Since her takeover, she rebranded the company UsCorp and it had been devoting all public projects to helping first responders. Other than supposed criminal ties to her cousin Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes ( the investigation was dropped for lack of evidence ) the woman was entirely clean.
• Dillard, however was an outspoken supporter of the Metahuman Registration Act and loudly critical of "lawless vigilante justice" as she put it.
• With more in depth digging, it was discovered that large donations were made from UsCorp to various neighborhood watch programs, including a group known as the Fellowship of the Sun, a nearly cult-like philanthropic group whose dogma proclaimed that something should be done to "cure" various ailments like homosexuality and transgendered people as well as naturally occurring mutants.
• Overtly, the Fellowship didn't engage in hate speech or violence, but insisted they were working to cure diseases and looked with mercy and pity towards the "differently gened".

"Ugh. I need another shower after that." She proclaimed aloud. Stephanie sent the info to Grady in an email and found out from Barbara that only Helena and Celina had even been partially using the Clocktower lately but Steph decided to stay with Grady just the same.

Suddenly she got an alert on her phone. It was from her bank. A receipt for a deposit of $30,000! This was followed by a text message:

"Heard you were back in town. Continue helping where you are. Call this a retainer, NOT a loan. - B"

She shook her head. At least this time it wasn't six figures. There was no arguing with Bruce sometimes... Hell most of the time.

@Gands

 

[Kingof192]

Tyler looked over his reports that the Panda's network were starting to bring in. The network was not strong within the States, but it did exist. Alvarez came up clean, Dillard as a clean but interesting business and political sort. A position on the Metahuman Registration Act made him think; that piece of legislation effected his country and his city greatly. The words "lawless vigilante justice" brought a grin to his face.

The lady wasn't going to be sending away for a Red Panda fan Decoder Ring anytime soon, but she couldn't be considered hostile. Perhaps self-delusional in the way many in the States were, thinking that their law was vaunted and objective because their worked according to the collective will of the people. A common error though.

Bottom line about those in the helicopter the meta girl fell from:
1) Not insane. Openly, anyway
2) armed
3) Not the kind of people to be at Arkham without agenda. That was for people like the Red Panda, thank you very much.

The phone rang.

"Speaking"

"Bruce Wayne himself? Excellent" he said, remembering the comedy of errors in National City.

"Troposphere. Sure..." He said, not being at all sure.

"So, a reschedule with an upgrade then! Excellent, please do let Mr Wayne know I appreciate it. For lunch, by all means. "

He searched for information about the troposphere: the sort of neutral ground at the top of hotels thing. Surely, it meant Wayne was already serious just based on brief former correspondence.

"That's wonderful news, thank you very much sir."

 

[Gands]

Grady Murtaugh aka Corvus

After a brief search, the Irishman finds Lincoln.

" Hey Lincoln ! Good seeing you again. Thanks for the call ! . I need to talk to everyone, but first we should get Karo up on the roof into the sunshine for a bit right ? "

@LuckycoolHawk9

 

[Ms.Ezra]

Molly Lincoln

"The Amazon Squad" ​

"No, I never blamed you for not getting in touch with me again. I actually felt guilty for doing that to you." Molly's eyes dropped to the floor as Kar and Grady had their chat. When it looked like Kar was getting down on herself, Molly put her other hand over hers and locked eyes with her again. "Hey now Karl. The whole op was a wildcard, don't blame yourself."

When Grady left them alone again, for now, Molly said to Karolina "Hey, how about this: Once you're cleared to go from this place, why don't you come stay with me? I have a nice hotel with room service, plenty of cash to just sit on. Heck, I could even buy a house if I wanted. We can catch up on all those years we missed. Maybe....even another trip to the zoo? Cause some trouble and let the tigers loose?" Molly asked jokingly but mostly serious until the end, smiling.

@Camleen