16497/Review of the Situation

Review of the Situation
Date of Scene:	06 December 2023
Location:	Batcave
Synopsis:	Bruce and Phoebe discuss a plan to break into Phillip Cupp's campaign office to obtain information on Saif Hassan, a metahuman magician who was in Cupp's employ. Could there be a connection to Phillip Cupp's continued persuit... or is Cupp totally separate from the pharmaceutical operations being found through-out Gotham City?
Cast of Characters:	Phoebe Beacon, Bruce Wayne

---

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    It's been an odd last couple of weeks for Phoebe Beacon.

    Music fills her ears from the wireless buds that she has in as she trains. She wears a compression top that shows the scarring on her left shoulder, angry, whorled burn scars that beneath it sport colorful blue and green inks, and careful Arabic script along the stem of a blue lotus tattoo that now covers up old scars from when Bruce first broached the idea of taking Phoebe under his wing -- for her stability's sake. It's not every seventeen-year-old that burns magical arrays into their shoulders in order to try the impossible, after all.

    She wears loose leggings that allow her full range of movement as she trains. The practiced eye could see the influences -- Aikido, her first martial art. Tim's staff and foot work. Talia's movements cleaned from decades upon decades of work with the League. Judo. Ninjutsu. Capoeira as she launches herself into the air, using her staff as a pole vault, and coming down on her feet to the mats, sliding backwards.

    She has a new scar on the bottom of her chin. There shouldn't be a scar there, if her healing powers are working correctly.

    She had been making notes, entering in information on Saif Hassan, who works for Phillip Cupp.

    Who is running against Harvey Dent in a spite match for DA.

    Who is trying to find ways to circumvent the fact that Phoebe doesn't want to be around him.

    What a mess.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Loathe to interrupt the workout of anyone in the family, Bruce lingers upon the platform a bit aways and above where Phoebe is working out, leaning against the railing and watching her form and technique.

He recognizes the styles, of course, and there is a certain sense of pride that he feels watching not just Phoebe embody the very best of all of the family, but the very nature of the family itself. The shared techniques, borrowed styles, learning and team work. When he got into this so long ago, a solo mission, even among the hordes of other heroes that followed, no one would have guessed that he would have his own family. And that his family would be the well-oiled machine it was today.

It must be all Alfred's doing, he decides, a smile crossing his lips.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Definitely Alfred's doing. That man dies and the whole family goes to pot. Not that Phoebe sees herself even as an actual 'spare heir' like she jokes in public. She's on the outer rings of the family, to her. Thanks to magic, somewhere between Jason Todd and the planet Mars.

    She catches Bruce out of the corner of her eye, and she straightens up, bringing her staff to rest beside her as she reaches up to remove the pods from her ears.

    "BRuce, I'm sorry -- did you need me for something? Or the practice mats?" she questions, motioning with her left hand. She has it wrapped in ace bandage.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
A quick shake of his head from the man who is the night. "No, not specifically on either."

He makes his way down the stairs towards where Phoebe is practicing. "I was coming down to check on a surveillance analysis I had left running, and saw you training. I did not want to disrupt you." He does a little shift to the side and a twist upon reaching the landing, and flashes a smile.

"I hope that is all you have been picking up from Talia," he murmurs, a bit of amusement on his face. A quick survey of her form, and he adds, "Are you doing alright?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Feel free to interrupt, really. Better than when it happens at the Roost," Phoebe explains, and she gets a distant look. "Or when Cass drops snow on me." she trails off a moment, and she gives a soft snort.

    "Talia's been working with me on swordsmanship, I figure it can't hurt to have an additional weapon in my toolbox. We occasionally discuss philosophy, but it generally devolves to her calling me childish and me being a little bit judgy about Damian's maternal grandfather." the teenager states as she looks up to the Knight of Night.

    Phoebe then takes a deep breath, and she lets it out quietly as she looks at the earbuds in her hand.

    "No. Actually I'm... not all right." she admits, and she looks up to Bruce.

    "I'm having trouble with one of my cases, but it's more metaphysical related. And I know how you feel about magic -- but twice now there've been metahumans with weapons that can negate my innate healing." she states, and she leans down to grab a towel.

    "One of them appears on Phillip Cupp's campaign staff."

Bruce Wayne has posed:
"That sounds like less fun."

Bruce laughs a bit as Phoebe mentions Talia and shakes his head. "I am not sure that philosophy is what I would engage in with Talia, although if you are getting her dander up about her father, that's..." He shrugs a bit. "There is a lot to unpack there, as I am sure you are well aware."

He nods slowly, regarding her softly. "That does not sound good. Beyond it sounding impossible, I will submit that your assessment is accurate, but how do you suppose they have found technology that can counter magic?"

He pauses for a moment of thought. "Was it a mace, perchance?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Yeah, Talia and I have kind of bonded over father issues." Phoebe remarks quietly. There's reasons why she's hesitant to refer to Bruce as anything except guardian. Or supervisor.

    "Any advanced technology is indisguinishable from Magic, as Tim's pointed out, but it feels like they're magic. Not like, you know, if Zee or Charlie walk by, but like..." she tilts her head back a moment. "Like walking into a room where an old TV is on and you can hear that high-pitched whine?" she ventures to describe how she senses it.

    "And no, in this case, a knife that was hidden up a sleeve, and a sword. Both turned to ash and Iwasn't able to get a sample. And neither user was able to illuminate on anything before they were taken into custody."

    And she seems to get a rather flat expression. "And I don't think they're going to let me in to ask someone where they got a magic sword that mysteriously disappears after use. There's limits to what we can ask, I guess."

    And then she looks perplexed, and turns to look up to Bruce.

    "Why would a mace be the first thing that comes to mind?"

Bruce Wayne has posed:
"Hers is...a bit much." To say the least.

Bruce nods, tilting his head. "Oh, for some reason I was envisioning rifles. I have no idea why." He reaches up to rub at his chin. "So blades that repel magic, that actually seems a bit more sensible." He shrugs at her question. "I have heard tell of a mace made of a metal that is unaffected by magic, and so I was curious. I do not know much more about it, but I wonder if there is some sort of metal, somewhere, that has a sort of vibrational frequency that is not impacted by whatever your magic uses."

He thinks quietly for a moment. "If it has a different harmonic energy to your magic, and you can sense that, perhaps that is why it is causing that whine that you hear. Have you made any other observations about it?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "They're probably is. My ancestors have some writings on materials, but mostly it references books that were lost."

    And Phoebe looks disturbed. "Magic disruption bullets are such a terrifying idea. Magical armor piercing rounds..." she reflects, and she bites at the inside of her cheek. "I haven't had the chance. Each encounter was with a different figure. I had to be close enough to be in range of their use. I would reeckon the more material that they have, the bigger the area of effect might be, but without knowing the materials used, the components that were used, or other reagents, it'd be difficult to reproduce. It's like tasting half of one of Alfred's cookies, once, five years ago, and then trying to recreate it perfectly because you *think* there might be cinnamon in it." Phoebe remarks quietly.

    She tilts her head back.

    "Further complicating things, Saif Hassan *is* a Gotham Resident, but the only place of employment listed is from Phillip Cupp's campaign website. Because the campaign information is protected to stop people from going in and intimidating the workers, there's no connected database that has the information to access. Which means the only database that has his address info?" Phoebe throws up her hands "Probably at Cupp's campaign office. Which presents an additional challenge --" Phoebe trails off, and looks at her left hand. "Cupp knows my powers."

Bruce Wayne has posed:
"Nutmeg."

Bruce pauses for a moment, and then clarifies. "Nutmeg is the secret ingredient. I deduced it years ago, but haven't said anything to Alfred about it. Don't tell him I know."

Bruce's nose wrinkles for a moment as his gaze is drawn to follow Phoebe's to her hand. "It sounds like we need to acquaint ourselves with Mr. Cupp's information, and use that to locate Mr. Hassan. Not exactly the sort of thing that Harvey can do, but ..." Bruce nods. "We go in, extract the data, get out. I'm sure Cupp's got some artwork hanging around to show how impressive he is, we take it and dump it, make it look like a robbery."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe looks puzzled at the Nutmeg remark, but then accepts it, thining a moment as she gives a nod.

    "Secret's safe with me." she remarks about the nutmeg, and she considers.

    "Yeah, DA Dent is amazing and helped reverse my death certificate and process my formal separation, but asking real nicely for your opponent's employee list might be seen as 'not good'." she admits in thought.

    "There's other information that if we had a copy of his hard drive Tim can use. There *was* a mailing list of people that were alerted about... something. A while back. Before I was -- before I was here, with you." Phoebe struggles with the vaguities.

    "Cupp thinks that Bruce Wayne is on that mailing list, and that's why I was 'adopted' into the family. And why he was pressuring me to date him."

    She chews on her cheek again.

    "Until Tim banned him from Wayne Tech and any Wayne Enterprises properties and Robbie broke his nose in a fist fight. He's kinda stayed away since those happened. IF other people are on that list... I'd like to know who they are."

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Bruce absorbs all of this, nodding slowly. "I think the answer is clear. We need to get that data, as much of it as we can."

He looks back towards Phoebe. "Let's see if we can coordinate with Tim. I don't think we should waste any time. Cupp has an event downtown tomorrow night that I was invited to. The staff will all be there. Perfect time to have a look around."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe gives a nod, but she rubs the back of her neck, and flexes her left hand a couple of times.

    "Yeah... I know Tim's been itching to get his hands on the information. I'll drop him a message before I go on patrol..." she pauses as her phone buzzes with a heart-beat pattern.

    "Tomorrow night'll have to be the night if all his staff are going to be at the event."

Bruce Wayne has posed:
A quick nod. "Yes. If Tim is not available, just find out what he needs, we can make sure we get it." Bruce nods again. "I'll let Oracle know, get the word out. We can use the backup."