17818/Welcome to Gotham!

Welcome to Gotham!
Date of Scene:	01 May 2024
Location:	Garage and Bat-shop (Clocktower Basement)
Synopsis:	Luke stops by the Clocktower to check in on Babs, provide some feedback on what happened in NY and get a taste of the life of a Bat!
Cast of Characters:	Barbara Gordon, Luke Cage

---

Barbara Gordon has posed:
When Luke had said he was in Gotham City via a text, Barbara told him where to find her. The Gotham City Historical clocktower. should he look it up on his way, he'd see it is a famous site within the city, said to be a upper class apartment building in its state of being today, while in the days past it was once the GCPD HQ for the whole city. It's also indicated that Barbara Gordon is the owner of it, and as directed, her apartment is the petnhouse at the peak of the classically styled building, decored in the Gothic styles the city is known for.

When he arrives in the lobby, he finds it to be decored like it is straight out of a old fashioned Noir detective movie. It's dead quiet too, but exceptionally well kept and quiet.

The lift ride up is one of comfort and class too, with a few display screens showing off a live image of the city outside in every direction beyond the building's walls, giving the lift a sense of being out in the open air of the city, shooting up 25 stories to its peak.

When the lift reaches the top floor, it pauses, and Barbara's voice comes over the comm inside the car. "Hey. Welcome, hope the trip over was an easy one." She states, before the doors ding and spread open to her penthouse floor. An open floor plan, well furnished, with huge clockfaces on all four main walls up above the floor itself. Babs is there, crossing through the living area toward the few steps that lead up to the elevator doors. Dressed casually in dark grey jeans, a black sleeveless top, and a simple pair of black track shoes, Babs is smiling. "Good to see you." She tells the man as he is welcomed in to her personal home.

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke hasn't been in this sort of opulence in a while, and it shows on the ride up. When he steps out of the elevator, he gives Barbara a look and says, "Damn, girl." His hand lifts and he circles with a finger. "This whole damn building yours? Oof." As she approaches, he drops his hand to rest it on her waist and leans down to press a quick buss to her temple.

"You look good, too," he adds, presumably so she doesn't get jealous of the building. "Trip was nice. I haven't taken that long a railcar ride in a _while_."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
The reaction to the place gets a small laugh out of Babs. She accepts the peck to the side of her face, smiling through it before she reaches a hand up to pat softly against his chest. "Admittedly, I hadn't expected my life to go this way. It's not how I grew up... not even close." She states, giving a quick look to the side. She has an open kitchen to the western wall, the kitchen styled right out of Fallout 4's sci-fi classic Americane, complete with Pip-Boys and Girls lining the shelves, and a Nuka Cola 'nuke' sitting on the island counter. the northwestern corner of the penthouse floor is her computer station, a raised level dias with many monitors visibly lining a large desk space. The northern wall is dominated by an indoor balcony level that leads out to an outdoor balcony, lined with windows looking out on the city itself. While the middle of the penthouse is the living area, dark chocolate leather furniture all gathered around each other in a comfy seating area. The southern parts of the floor dedicated to two bedrooms and a large bathroom.

Barbara draws in a breath, and motions around. "Feel free to make yourself at home. Thirsty? Hungry? Can get you whatever sounds good." She says with a small smile on her pink hued lips.

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke tilts his head and gives Barbara a _look_, without saying anything. "I'll take something to drink if you're grabbing something," he says, walking around the penthouse's living area for a few moments, taking it all in, before settling with his back against the kitchen counter.

"So, you were right," he tells the ginger, looking at her, his elbows sliding back and up onto the counter.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
As they make their way to the kitchen, Babs ends up moving over to a drink station she has set beside the island counter. With shelves for liquor and a cooling cabinet for smaller bottles, she draws out a couple bottles of beer. She steps back toward him, eyeing him with her green eyes as she hands him one. "They're not twist offs." She warns him with a smirk. "But I imagine that isn't a big deal for you." She tips hers toward him. "Wanna open mine?" She asks with a grin.

At his statement, she tilts her head. "Attacks?" She asks, always on the ball about it. "I heard a bit on the news. I was going to call, but my drones said you were all still active. I've been busy here with... well, our own crap. But yeah, I heard a bit. Not a lot. How... bad was it?" She asks him.

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke takes both bottles and puts his thumbs' fingernails, one under each bottlecap, and then just flicks lightly, sending both bottlecaps flicking onto the counter. He smiles and hands hers back to her.

"Attacks, yeah. Daredevil got hit; I'm not sure how hard but he was already okay. I was about a block away from Jessica's when they bombed her place." He takes a deep breath. "It was pretty bad. No one died, but some people were hurt beneath her apartment and the entire thing was a _mess_."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
The display of easily taking off those pesky no-twist caps, well, it makes Barbara snort softly, as well as shake her head from side to side. She accepts hers with a soft 'thanks' before taking a sip of the tasty bubbly beverage within. When he elaborates on what went down, she just leans against the island counter on her left hip, her left hand resting upon the sky-blue surface of said counter.

"God, I'm sorry." She quietly says. "I'd reach out to her, but yeah... she's probably forgotten who Batgirl even was by now, let alone would care who was under the mask." She frowns toward Luke, pausing a moment.

"Has she ... Like is she able to get a new place? Afford repairs, all that junk?" Babs softly asks, unsure of Jess' financial situation, clearly.

Luke Cage has posed:
"I think she has insurance. We'll see. I've closed the bar for now, so that maybe they'll pass up on bombing it. But you never know. They might still." He takes a long drink of the beer and then shakes his head. "I don't think they expected her to be as tough as she is, though. They went after her and Daredevil, haven't tried me yet. Probably still trying to figure out how to fuck me up. They had some sort of _acid_ pistol? Hurt like a _bitch_."

He pulls his shirt up so she can see the (barely there) mark on his abs. "See?" It's almost impossible to see under low lighting, and he heals extremely fast even when he _is_ hurt. "Then someone else came by and said she might have info on where the Russians might be hanging out. So I wanted to see if you'd found anything out, compare info."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs indulges in another sip of her beer, as she listens. She lowers the bottle down to her waistline again, as Luke shows off the damage sustained by the acid weapon. It causes Babs to lean forward a little to spy the barely-visible effect of it, but she still grimaces. "If it can leave that kind of a mark on you... I can't imagine what it'd do to a regular person." She mutters, straightening up again. "Yeah..." She quietly says. "I've had some monitoring taking place, but since it is out of my normal element, I'm a bit more limited on what I can get." She turns toward the living area in the middle of the room, where a large television rests within a entertainment center built specifically for a tv of that magnitude. "Oracle. Bring up the Russian mob information we were gathering." Babs states to 'no one' in particular.

On the 80-something inch television, a image pops up of several mugshots of various men. Babs walks a few steps over to the back of her leather sofa. She motions over it toward the large tv. "Chesenko's gang." She states, looking back to Luke, who might recognize two of the faces in the bottom right corner. "Chesenko is the mastermind of this team. He's got a few properties around Manhattan, and Metropolis."

Luke Cage has posed:
"Those two." Luke walks up behind Babs as she talks him through what Oracle is showing them. He points to the bottom right of the screen. "I recognize them." He takes another drink of his beer and sets his jaw, looking for all like he's going to do something unpleasant if he finds them.

"Problem with people like this is you gotta hit them back hard enough they never lift a hand against you again, otherwise it's just a war."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs moves her eyes down to the two he'd indicated, and without saying anything, both pictures take the dominance of the screen, and both have bios that appear beside their faces. One named Patenko Nokov, the other Ari Omerov. Their bios talk about military experience, espionage, with details about various sightings they've made around the world in mercenary related work.

"That'll be tough." Babs says, looking back to Luke behind her right side. "They're still acquiring alien weapons. That acid gun may have been one, or something based on one. I don't know what those things would do to you, Jess, or Daredevil. But I'd imagine it wouldn't be good. I'd bet with every acquisition they make, they get a good deal more arrogant. It might even be why they haven't gone after you yet. They might still be waiting on a new shipment... But, whose to say." She states with a frown. "I don't have residences for them, nothing current anyway. they were booked by NYPD, and back on the street a day later it seems." She states, her eyes scanning the latest updates her Oracle system has just added.

Luke Cage has posed:
"And the cops complain about superheroes, but they can't keep street bombers behind bars for more than twenty-four hours." Luke shakes his head and lets out a sigh, finishing his beer and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"All right, I'm going to see if my other contact has any information about where they might be staying, etc. Maybe if I can hit one of their warehouses, or shipments, I can do enough damage to dissuade them." Then again, Luke doesn't _necessarily_ live by the same rules Batman does. If there's a few less Russian mobsters in the world when he's done, he won't be too broken up.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs leaves the screen focused on the two dossiers as she turns to face the big man beside her. She shows him a soft frown, and a light nod. 'Gotham isn't the only city with corrupt DAs." She softly says. "Tough on crime is a hard sell these days. We deal with it non stop here too. We put them in, they get back out and immediately go back to what they were doing when we risked our lives to get them put away. This is why we mask up, generally." she draws in a breath, her shoulders rising and falling as she exhales. "Gotta keep ourselves safe as possible..."

Perhaps that is why she lives 25 stories off the ground, locked behind many closed and locked doors.

She shows him a soft smile then. "You're welcome to lay low here as long as you'd like though. Pretty comfy space for it too. I can show you some of our trade secrets too, if you're interested. Ever wanted to ride in a Batmobile?" She asks then, now openly grinning toward him.

Luke Cage has posed:
"I guess," Luke says, regarding corrupt DA and other issues with putting criminals away.

Her offer gets a smirk and he tilts his chin up a bit, looking down at her. "You tryna get me to hang around your house for a few, Barbara Gordon?" Because he looks like he might take her up on it.

"Probably not for more'n a night, to be honest," he says. "Even if I'm closed up, I still gotta watch the hood, you know?" She has her patrols, he has his. "Burt I'll stay tonight if you want me to. You can show me that Batmobile."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
The reaction that she gets out of him has her smiling, then laughing softly. She slowly nods her head a few times. "I can understand that. Probably better than most." She responds, her drink given another little sip. She smiles again before the television screen behind her slips back in to a monitoring state, showing multiple cameras all around the building both inside and outside, even the parking garage area.

"If you find something out though... let me know. I can show up to help. I wish I'd been there to help Jess too. But, it sadly doesn't sound like it's over..."

Luke Cage has posed:
"No. It doesn't. But it'll be over at some point. We just gotta buckle down and end it." Luke finishes his beer and then walks to the kitchen to find the recycling bin, where he drops the glass bottle and then scoops the bottlecaps into it as well.

"Believe me, if I think you can help, I'll let you know." He smiles at her, walking back with a more relaxed gait towards her, his hand reaching out to pluck her beer bottle from her hand with two fingers, just as he steps up closer.

"Sides, I like it when you're around."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Barbara leans against the back of the sofa, watching him stride back toward her geek haven of a kitchen. She sees him keeping it tidy like it were his own bar, which has her grinning softly as he returns. When he plucks her bottle from her hand, she tilts her head gently to the side, her red hair was down, brushed smooth back behind her head as she'd likely straightened herself up after he'd announced his impending arrival.

"Likewise." She fires back at him, as she raises her freed hand up to place it on his chest again. "Sure you're not hungry?" She asks. "Came all the way out here, least I can do is have a steak or two sent over. Gotta play the good hoestess, right? Make Gotham seem like it isn't all bad?"

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke looks down at her hand and then smiles back up at her. "You know, I've already gotten a pretty _good_ opinion of Gotham just from the quality of some of its residents," her, he means her, "but I _am_ hungry. Just not sure it's steak that I want to eat."