20391/May I borrow a cup of webbing

May I borrow a cup of webbing
Date of Scene:	08 April 2025
Location:	Penthouse Terrace (Clocktower - 25th Floor)
Synopsis:	Miles drops by to pick up some refills on his web cartridges from Oracle and gets pulled into Bat-Family Shenanigans.
Cast of Characters:	Miles Morales, Stephanie Brown, Barbara Gordon, Cassandra Cain, Bruce Wayne

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Miles Morales has posed:
Early evening in Gotham City. While the (dark k)night shift is getting ready to start their evening patrols, it seems that someone is finishing their shift from the day side of it. And keeping a promise he made to a certain redhead Batgirl that he would drop by the clocktower at some point. He was here previously with Cassandra for New Years Eve, so it's been a while.

Nor was he in costume at the time. A webline of white snags onto the overhang of the terrace and swinging upwards, the black and red Spider-Man flings himself skyward, twisting and pulling into a backflip at the apex of his swing to release the line and come in for a landing on the balcony terrace, the city lights framing his lithe form as he spreads his arms out wide. "And he sticks the landing!"

He uses the moment to shake off his travel time and get his bearings. "Huh. Maybe I should have come in through the entrance?"

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Well that's not true, there's no Gotham Day shift...

Ask anyone, they know. Stephanie has a DAY JOB, working at Blockbuster or something. Probably not Blockbuster, in hindsight, but it's pretty much the same thing. A Convenience store probably. It's not glamorous. Because she don't got Wayne Money. She's got a lot of purple themed outfits, Spoiler alert. Which she's donning in the clocktower, to prepare for her nightly night job.

"There's never more than one Robin, so why would there be two Batgirls? That doesn't make any sense... what happens if someone says 'Hey Batgirl' and we're both there? We both answer? The memes on that would be way too awkward for me to deal with." Which is why she's gone back to what works.

The Purple hood over a simple black mask.

If it aint broke, don't spend four years and two universes fixing it.

Blonde hair spilling out the side. "Besides, this costume looks awesome."

Peer out the window onto the landing. Slow point. "There's a spider out there. Are you expecting a spider?"

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Barbara has most definitely offered Stephanie a higher paying gig, somewhere within GGE, or one of her other ventures, but... Steph had more than likely wanted to make something on her own, and thus Babs had stopped making the offers at some point. She did, however, continue to push for all those who needed it - within their sphere - a place to live here at the tower, with entire floors dedicated to lovely apartments for the Birds, or Bats, that needed a place to stay, or call their own home. this whole tower was publicly known as a high end apartment complex, afterall.

Babs was not going out tonight, and was instead sticking close to the terminals this evening. But in the moment, she was walking down the steps from her personal computer level in the nowrth west corner of the penthouse, sliding a hand down the railing, and descending the five steps toward the main floor, where Stephanie was finalizing her gearing-up. Babs smiled at the blonde, as she approached her, dressed casually in running pants, a close-fit black t-shirt with yellow stripes up her arms, and shoulders, and her red hair tied back in a wrapped bun on the crown of her head. "You look good, and that's what matters most. Nevermind the armoring, the gadgets, and the desire to keep you safe from the mad shit you're no doubt to face tonight, style is what matters most." She teased her younger friend, before she caught the heads up, as her AI computer system was announcing the arrival of Spider-man: Gotham Edition.

Miles was on the 'clear' list for arrivals, and thus her AI was not considering his sudden appearance to be a threat.

Babs just smirked to Steph, and started to walk in that direction. Another ascent up a few steps to the interior balcony, that lead out to the exterior one, Barbara pulled the double doors open, the glass doors showing the full view of the balcony outside.

"Hi there, Web Slinger." The redhead greeted, showing him a warm expression. "Hows the swinging going?"

Miles Morales has posed:
There is totally a day shift. It's just a spider instead of a Bat. And it's only on the days that Miles doesn't have classwork to do as he works on his graduate thesis.

And it's a shame that Miles is missing out on the talk of two Batgirls, because there is also two Spider-Man(s) and they totally have it figured out when someome says 'Hey Spider-Man!' Or 'Hey, Webhead!' or any of their many nicknames that the other Spider-Man has picked up over the years.

Best two out of three in "Rock, Paper, Scissors" answers the call.

But the Gotham Webslinger is surprised to be graced by not one, but two of the Gotham's finest vigilantes, and the black and red suited one offers a wave of his hand. "Didn't realize I was crashing a meeting. I can come back later. Or you know, if it's movie night, I have a lead on some Fudge Ripple ice cream..." There's a glance over Spoiler - who he saw as someone else a long time ago, but the purple and black causes him to breathe a little hiss of critique. "You and Prowler must use the same tailor." There's is a bare hint of amusement in his voice, but bringing up Prowler is a bit of a wound to him.

Which he distracts himself from as he rolls back a sleeve and pops out a cartridge. "You said to drop by for a refill, I happened to be in the neighborhood. Soooo, thought I'd say hi to one of my favorite vigilantes, get a few canisters to go, and you know, do all the things a Spider does."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
"I'm the sprite of vigilantism, obey your thirst." Stephanie's got nothing, "Listen, I kept the armor, I just put it in my own suit..." It's weak, hands in the big pockets of her ... something. She needs pockets to look mopey, so she's got pockets. That or she pantomimes pockets. "I get it, it doesn't matter who gets the recognition. People are saved, lives are protected, but if it didn't matter that much, you'd still be Oracle." Stephanie points up at Babs coming down the steps.

Eyes wide. Grin wider.

"Ahhh... ah... Ahhhhh..."

Wiggle point.

Hand back in her 'pocket'.

Wiggle point towards the window out at the spider person. "He gets it. There's like nine spider peoples, which is why we have two of them in Gotham! Image is 'important'." To Miles, slow turn, wave.

"Please tell her my purple hood looks cool."

FUDGE RIPPLE ICE CREAM?!

Stephanie looks at Babs with big wide eyes that screams 'can I please skip patrol just this once?' Sliding towards the entrance to the terrace with a big grin behind her black mask, "Sup. I'm Spoiler." Glance to Babs... then back to Miles, "Batgirl, I guess, but Spoiler. Spoiler's a better name right?"

"Of course it is."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
"I'm glad you came by to get them, too." Barbara said, as she let the two of them talk a bit, while she moved across the balcony to one of the stone corners on the north eastern edge, only a few paces north of where they were. She stepped behind an outdoor bar, and keyed open a hidden compartment that served as a storage locker. "You're cleared to use this, any time you stop by. I'll keep it full for you." Babs said, as she gathered up a collection of six of those black cartridges that contained the webbing mixture for Miles, Nightshade variant from his usual webbing. It was a little stronger, but took a little longer to dissolve too.

When she returned, she offered them to him, and gave him a lopsided smirk. "Nobody is /required/ to go out and do the crazy stuff we do, and besides, if some kind of ice cream and movie night is prefered? Who am I to stop that?" She asked, glancing back to her younger counterpart, and giving her a grin.

"I don't really make the calls with what names we go by either. Oracle just works best for whomever is in the dispatcher role for the evening. But, we can arm wrestle about this later..." She said, reaching a hand over to give Steph's right shoulder a light squeeze.

"You're always welcome here, though, Spider-man. So don't ever hesitate coming by. You should utilize the training center, or the medical facilities, or whatever helps you with your day to day activities. The whole reason I put this place together, was to give our kind a home in the heart of the city. All about making things easier for us, in the very challenging past time we've elected to take on."

Miles Morales has posed:
"To be fair, I was here before the one in white and pink." Spider-Man points out. "But she's cool in her own way and it's easy to tell us apart, so hey, I'm good with sharing the city, I mean, after all, I'm just the day shift." A little flexing of his knees, rocking back and forth on the edge of the balcony when Spoiler asks him to critique the cape. "I'm a less is more type of guy. But if you're trying to hide what you look like underneath it, you get full marks from me!"

His attention swivels over to Barbara as she goes to unlock the locker and pulls out the fresh Nightshade webs. "I still feel like I should do something for these." Because to be fair, he cannot afford the amount of research and development that Barbara probably put into them. Popping a fresh cartridge into each webshooter, he pulls his sleeves back down as they cycle into place.

"So... Oracle or Batgirl. And..." a glance to Spoiler. "So you're a Batgirl as well?" he asks, catching onto the inference made.

But when Barbara goes into the whole spiel about the training facility and all, she can see that physical pause. "I dunno." he finally says, "I've been so used to being alone in this great big world. Plus, don't you need to get permission from the big Bat before bringing stray spiders in?" he asks curiously.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie lifts her cape when Miles (MORE OR LESS) points it out and lets it fall down around her ankles. She's silent for a while, a good while. A HEALTHY AMOUNT OF WHILE... then looks between them, Babs and Miles, and turns to stalk back towards her changing room. "FINE... Whatever. I'll keep being Batgirl because BATMAN said I should." Hand flick, hand wave, na-na-nah, style as she disappears while the pair of them discuss the notion of paying for web fluids produced by one Barbara Gordon.

When she stalks back out... she hasn't changed yet. Imagine? No, nobody is that fast. She's just got her hood down off her blonde hair and just the simple black mask over the lower part of her face. "Seriously, neither of you can appreciate all the puns I can use with the name 'Spoiler'? Like... it writes itself, this stuff..." She's read about Spider-Man, "Certainly YOU get it?" Motioning in his direction. Once. Twice. Thrice.

"Puns, man... so many puns."

Blue eyes go hither, they go thither.

"Philistines."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs folded her arms across her stomach, her hands clutching her elbows, as she stood with a casual lean against the counter of the outdoor bar's counter. She glanced to Steph, who was moving back to a place to adjust her outfit, before she regarded Miles again.

"The Batman?" She asked, tilting her head, before she smirked and shook it from side to side. "He's got no involvement in Clocktower affairs. He very rarely ever comes by, either. But, as I am sure it is not too much of a surprise... he kind of keeps to himself." She has a great deal of respect for Bruce Wayne, her mentor, but his isolation has only gotten worse in recent years.

She upnodded toward Steph, when the girl returned with a half-mask on. "You two should patrol together for a bit. We need to make sure we know how the others work, and how to rely on one another best." She told her counterpart, before her green eyed gaze went back on to Miles, and she smiled at him. "You already do help. The Day Shift, as you call it. You're out there, helping people in our city, when they need it most. You're using those abilities that you've been gifted, to provide aid to those who may otherwise not have it, when their life might depend on it. That kind of help is ... " She shook her head, and sort of dismissed her own train of thought.

"Anyway, these are a gift to you, for that help. It is a show of my appreciation, for you putting your own well-being on the line. It doesn't go unnoticed, and that's what I want you to see. To know."

Miles Morales has posed:
When Spoiler goes silent, Spider-Man worries for a few. Usually, when a girl goes quiet, it's BAD NEWS and Miles should probably run while he still can. And when Stephanie stalks off, one of those red rimmed white lenses rise into the air in concern. "She... she's not really taking this that hard, is she?" he asks in mild concern. Because he'll apologize if she is! But before he could go any further down the lane of self-doubt, she returns and is going on about her name.

'Spoiler'.

"Wait, do you like... catch bad guys and tell them things like 'The Ship Sinks' or 'The Doctor is a Dead Person that the kid sees'?" he asks in mock-earnestness.

After a moment, he holds up his hands. "Just messing with you. At least it's original! I'm just borrowing a name already in use because I didn't want to call myself 'The Black Spider-Man'." Because he's right there. Dressed in black. Get it?

"Okay." Spider-Man responds when Barbara clarifies things with the big bad Bat. "I just didn't want to be swinging through the streets one day and suddenly find a Batarang around my ankle and hanging upside from a light pole while he's all 'GET OUT OF MY CITY'." Very. Oddly. Specific.

"Us, patrol together?" comes the question as the realization settles in that Barbara is suggesting that he and Stephanie hang out. "I can see that. I've done some patrolling with Orphan... or is she another Batgirl as well? Anyway. Despite being a loner, I do play well with others and all..." However, he lowers his head to look down at the cartridges that are left as Batgirl OG explains her reasoning for giifting them to him. A small lift of the side of his costume at the hip exposes his cartridge holder. All sleek and stream-lined. No room for partitions and utility belts and all of the sundry that comes with being part of the 'Fam'.

"Well... thank you." he finally says honestly. "I appreciate the faith. And the appreciation. I grew up in this city, was left stranded here after the earthquake. I'm glad I can assist now."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Is taking it pretty badly, yes! Stalking off to remove her Spoiler costume, then stalking back out to sling more sass! It's serious business when a blonde white girl gets sassy... But she's doing it with a grin behind her black mask covering the lower part of her face, out of view, where nobody can see it.

"Kinda... I mean... yes, that exact energy." She points at Miles, "only, uh... only I understand the reference to the pun when I do it." She straightens her cape. Her hood where it lays down her back. Then she blinks.

"We're going on patrol? Are you saying 'Black Spider-Man' because you wear a black suit or are you doing a SPOILER?" Smug look, hands motioning, with a glance at Babs as if to say 'see?! this writes itself'. When she looks back at Miles, it's totally straight. Serious.

"I'd love to go patrolling with you."

Cassandra Cain has posed:
There's an exception to that rule in itself...if Orphan goes quiet? Well it's about normal. Getting her talking was something that is still a little more difficult. She's getting better at it though!

One of the sneakiest bats out there, Cassandra seemed to just step out of the darkness to those that were distracted elsewhere, but odds are that Bab's could have noticed the security sytem ping of her arriving at the Penthouse moments before.

If she was surprised to find the Spider-Man here on her return from her patrol, it wasn't immediately obvious on her face thanks to her mask just yet, though the young heroine would announce herself with a little lift of her hand and a single word spoken.

"Hello."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs was leaning back against the balcony bar's marble counter. She was grinning at the back and forth from Miles and Stephanie, while softly shaking her head at them. "you're both going to get Awful tacked on to the start of either of your aliases... at least in my registry." She teased them back, before she did glance toward Cassandra, a mere second before the girl emerged from the shadows. There were secret passages throughout the tower, put in to the build when the place was restored - after Bruce bought it for Barbara as a gift - and everyone in the Birds and Bats knew of them.

As if in a movie, bats actually took flight from their homes built in to the tower's facade, heralding the arrival of Cassandra, and flying out for their own nightly patrols, squeaking, and flapping leathery wings as they took off in to the night.

Barbara glanced in the fleeing bats direction, out over the city, and its distant ambient noises, before she looked back to Cass. "Nice to see you make an appearance, Vitamin C." She said, grinning to the younger one.

"Tell Spiderman here that he's welcome any time he wants, and to stop being a nervous nelly about it."

Miles Morales has posed:
Here's the thing. Miles has gotten so used to being around Cassandra that unless Cass is making an 'effort' to attack him, his spider-senses ignore her. Which means she gets to get the initative on him. We'll come back to that in a moment.

"Pffft, you just acting like you don't know what those movies are." Spider-Man retorts. "Unless you don't go to movies?" he asks. He was going to ask her next if she spoiled food, and if Condiment King was her mortal enemy, but the bit about patrolling together actually catches him off guard. "Uh. Sure. I'll have my guy reach out to yoour guy and we'll plan it out."

Though there's someone that he usually patrols with, he said. And he just willed her into existence. And she's there saying 'Hello.'

"Hi!" Spider-Man replies, his voice an octave higher for a momemt at being caught off-guard at Orphan's sudden appearance. Told you we would get back to it. An arm comes up and he waves back. "Hiiii! I was dropping in for these!" he says, holding up the small cartridge. "Didn't know I was interrupting important Bat-stuff!"

And then ... "Et tu, Oracle?" he asks, head swiveling around to Barbara when she calls him a nervous nelly. "I'm pretty chill about all this, just like... you know..." he straightens up. Draws in a breath. Sucks it in. And then tilts his head in an upnod as he stands tall, facing Cassandra.

"S'up."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
"oh."

Stephanie looks betwixt Miles and Orphan, "ooooooh..." Specifically when looking at Miles. Slow thumbs up, subtle nod, she's absolutely about to make things so much worse, hold her perverbial beer. "Hey Oracle." Said with a big grin behind her black mask. "I get the distinct impression that our web slinging friend fancies you..." Palm out to Babs, let her cook, let her get punched in the kidney so hard that she pees blood unironically for the rest of her life when she dares to lay a hand on Cass, even if it's meant to be very conversational and friendly.

"I think he wants to patrol with you." She murmurs, pointing to the webslinger.

She nods to Miles with an 'I got you, big dawg, wing woman mode engaged' expression on her face. This cannot end well for him, her, or literally anyone. Cass about to kill someone and Stephanie is closest.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
S'up? Really? Orphan just simply reaches a hand out and 'pats' him on the shoulder before stepping past towards the others. As for Stephanie? She didn't really need the girl to open her mouth to know what the blonde was thinking even before she spoke up. After all, there was her own interpretation of the body language...and the fact that she knew her friend well enough.

Instead, she simply moves over towards one of the tables, bracing her hands and slinging her behind up to sit herself down atop one of the tables. "Relax," she offers Miles rather blatently at Bab's insistance, swinging her legs absently before looking back towards Stephanie.

"We have patrolled together already."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
As the group talked between each other, Babs moved behind the bar. She began to crouch and open a fridge door, from which she pulled a bottle of tea. When she rose up, she was smirking at their banter, before she shook her head. "Look..." She quietly started, twisting the cap off, and leaning forward against the counter on her waist.

"I'm just trying to keep you guys, 'the next generation' of our kind, working together. You can't all be loners. We dealt with this, back when I first started hanging around Batman and Nightwing..."

Babs raised her drink up to her pink lips for a sip, before she paused, and looked out at the city. another little bat flew past, squeaking in a arguably adorable fashion, as it tried to catch up with the larger flock.

"Two Face's gangs are out in force, since the incident at the Iceberg Lounge. They have been ramping up their anti-bat rhetoric online too. They want one of our heads, so to speak, to hold up as a win for their cause." She stated grimly, as she looked back to the three of them.

"I know that doesn't really frighten any of you, but... I do want you all to be safe." She nodded to Miles. "you're considered one of us now too, so don't think you're in the clear on people actually gunning specifically for you, because of what we do."

Miles Morales has posed:
Things turn serious in a blink. Before Miles gets a chance to protest at Stephanie's picking on him about being interested in Barbara, when Cassandra pats his shoulder, he sort of deflates and crouches down on the railing he's perched upon. A breath is blown out through the mask, and both lens narrow into small white slits, a spider in thought as he considers it all.

"Ghost-Spider warned me this might happen." he finally offers. "I'm not really good at the team up thing. It's not from a lack of trying. I guess I just don't fit right. Maybe I'm just not the Spider-Man that's hoped for, you know?" he rolls his shoulders in a shrug.

"Yeah..." he finally responds to Barbara. "I knew that this was coming. I mean, new villains you hadn't seen before, but have connections to me. I wasn't looking to add to the circus, but it seems like I don't have a choice in the matter. A hand reaches up to rub at his face.

"I don't mind working with others." he finally decides to say as he turns his attention between the three.

"I'm just not as used to it."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Oof...

Leave it to Stephanie to forget their entire young adult life wasn't wrapped in in working on a team.. lead by Batman of all people. She just assumed, the look on her face when Miles starts deflating is palpable. Never mind what Cass says, important as it is to her joke, and the whole scenario, she feels obliged to drop the teasing act in favor of a, "oh, hey... no..." She muses, way softer than before. She knows that dejected look.

Dick.

    Tim

        Damian.

"Come on..." She's sympathetic as she slips her hand off Cass and walks over towards to Spider-Man, the black one. Because he's in a black suit. He said it. "You're fine... It's just hazing.. sorry. Listen, I'm pretty excited to have a Spider on our side.. I mean I know the hooded white and pink one is around and all, but she mostly hangs out with Nightwing, not us." A smile behind her black mask. She really should start realizing nobody can see her expressions given how long she's been wearing masks.

"You're they gay friend in a bunch of women. You'll fit right in."

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass gives a little nod to Barbara's words, folding her hands in her lap while she still watches the exchange, though the warning comes with a shrug of her shoulders. "They are not exactly pleased to see us any time," she points out before folding her arms and looking to Miles. "New villains pop up all the time, there are always more to find. If they did not chase you, they would find a reason to tangle with us the moment they set foot in Gotham."

As Steph slips away from her, she tilts her head at the analogy offered to Miles by the blonde before blinking behind her mask.

She didn't get it.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
There were certain things, sometimes, while in a conversation like this... the kind of little phrases, or statements that might easily slip by, but one stands out to Barbara, and as the joking plays out, she just walks toward Miles. She smirks over at Stephanie,, while tendrils of her red hair dance around the sides of her face in the breeze, but her stare goes back to Miles.

"You just said you're worried that you're not the Spider-man that people hope for?" She questioned him, as she stood a few paces away from where he was perched on the side of her building. "Let me just say something to you here, and hope that you remember it..." Her chin raised a bit, and her eyes grew a bit more stern in their green gaze on him.

"That is utter horse shit."

She lowered her slim chin again, and shook her head. "When people are in danger, do you think they're going to care which spider-man you are, when you come swinging in to save their lives? Save their loved ones? These criminals, these... villains, that we're up against? They take lives, sometimes without any possible reason other than just to see the city in flames. So many good people suffer for the insanity of our adversaries... When you come swinging in? You're exactly who those people want you to be. You're the hero. You're the big damn hero, that those people will get down on their knees, and pray to God to thank was there, when they needed you most." She paused for just a moment. "Look, Spider-man. You're really good at this, and there are a lot of people who really need your help. You're going to be a Legend some day too, because of what you're doing, in this city, and beyond it."

She glanced to Steph and Cass, and motioned toward them. "These two know it too, even if they may have trouble expressing their true emotions." She has to chide her counterparts, just to try and rekindle some of the light hearted banter she may have just derailed.

Miles Morales has posed:
"Legend? Psht, that's the Brooklyn Spidey you want." Miles responds with a short little laugh. "He's done it all. I'm just the next one up, hoping to be the same thing in some small way that he is. You know, save the day, get the girl. All that fun stuff." There's another little roll of his shoulders. Yeah, Barbara's words are settling in. "You three. I got lucky. Bit by a radioactive spider, got powers, yadda yadda. Tale as old as time. You three though. Training. Grit. Determination. Willpower."

"And you power through and smile at it all despite the fact that you do what you do without being able to throw a bus, leap tall buildings in a single bound, or be faster than a speeding bullet." he nods at the Terrible Trio. "You're the real big damn heroes, Oracle." comes the response as he pushes himself back to his full height. "Anyyywho." The lenses return to their full size. "I've had a real good time. And I got better than I gave, so I'm gonna call it quits and crawl back home while I have a sliver of pride left to protect."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
"You were bit by a radioactive spider?" Stephanie latches onto that, hand latching onto Spider-Man's shoulder. Could she ACTUALLY stop him from departing if he wanted? No. She's not that strong, but she is very strong for what she is. A person, with years of strength training and whatever, human stuff. She is who she is. She's grabbing his shoulder and squeezing. "No, hold on, this is important."

She tilts her head, blonde hair pooling on her right shoulder, and circles around Miles. "Do you have... like... three eyes or something? I played Fallout 4... Radiation is bad." She doesn't have a PHD in it, to be fare. Some of the Bat girls have like nine hundred doctorates by 30, Stephanie barely graduated collage.

"Are you sterile?" Serious blink.

"It's okay if you're sterile. You're a gay bestie."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Barbara showed Miles a light smile, and a soft nod of her head. She considered something for a moment, before she began to turn from him. "There's some compelling evidence that I'm sadly not faster than a speeding bullet." She darkly joked, before she walked past Stephanie and reached down to give the blonde a smack to her rump, along with a shoulder bump. "Go easy on the flame thrower!" She chided her younger counterpart.

On her way inside, Babs glanced back over her shoulder. "Bat drones are deploying. The night patrol is on. I'll be on the wire until everyone is back in the nest. Be safe." She called out, to those who were headed out tonight.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass herself had -just- completed her leg of the patrols for the evening, that's why she'd returned for her mandated 'break' to recharge when she'd walked in on the meeting. Now, slid herself off the table she'd been sitting on the edge of, making her own way over towards Miles and offering him a little pat on the back that one didn't have to be Cass to interpret: Good Luck.

She was headed towards the tea poured, intending one of her own. Then there was those last questions, the asking if Spider-Man was sterile, the reassurance...it's too much.

Cass might have her back to the others, but the rare, honest noise of her bursting into laughter gave the game away.

Miles Morales has posed:
Okay. Fine. Betrayed by them all. Spider-Man should know when he's beat and just turn tail and run. Instead, however?

Where he was just standing? There's nothingness. He just vanished into thin air.

When he returns, it's right over Stephanie's shoulder, as he leans in and whispers into her ear. Just for her.

"Spoiler alert - I lay eggs into my dates and hundreds of little spiders hatch out of them."

And then he disappears again, passing by Cassandra to return that little pat on the shoulder as he reappears on the ledge again. "Apparently, you do not want me here for tea, so I shall take my leaves?" Tea? Leaves?

He's probably worse than Stephanie.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Miles disappears and Stephanie is absolutely ready to go full on Mystery INC on this case... If she'd suddenly whipped a scarf around her neck, gone red headed, and started wearing (more) purple... because she's in her Spoiler outfit Bruce... she couldn't look more like Daphne.

At least until Miles appears over her shoulders, whispers threats about laying eggs in his dates, and disappears again...

"Hold on, unfair, you don't know if that's one of my kinks..." She says tot he ether, not yet aware he's soon to appear beside Cass for two more cents worth of nickle free advise. "It might be... You don't know." She points two fingers at him. "I'm a person who 'gave up' a bat themed vigilante identity for a meme centric spoiler gimmik..." She holds her hands out, 'Bro dude' style, from her aromred purple costumed adomen. "What are you doing in my waters, mother licker."

Bruce Wayne has posed:
"Hold on to that fear."

The voice emanates from everywhere and nowhere, sonorous and steady.

"You don't get the luxury of succumbing to it-- you don't give it more than a parcel of yourself, a fire in the core of your being that drives you to extinguish it, if only for a little while."

Yes, he's been here for a concerning - given the absolute absence of any evidence of his presence - spell of time.

"It's that fear of failing the ones who count on you most that guards against dashing their hopes-- whether they're aware that you are the hero they need or not."

And yes, he's chosen to wait until the last possible moment, when Miles is perched to make his great escape into the night.

"Hope is both ephemeral and fungible," says the Bat emerging into full view, cape drawn and eyes set squarely upon Miles as he approaches the gathering, measured in his pace.

"Highly susceptible to change in the presence of action."

His gaze lingers on the Spider of Tomorrow for several moments longer, waiting for either a response or a withdrawal before he finally turns his attention towards the rest of the group, meeting eyes and offering firm nods of acknowledgement all around. Once he's close enough to Barbara's console, his right hand slips free long enough to place a manilla envelope within reach. Inside is a collection of social media posts about Bat Signal sightings across the bridge from Gotham from the past few weeks - all of which were systematically caught and pushed out of visibility by automated 'crawlers - and photos taken of a decimated building in New York.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
If anyone was going to best Cass' dramatic unseen infiltration earlier? It was going to be the man himself. Cass turns to look over her shoulder, her gaze taking in the sight of the Dark Knight as that perception so acute one might think it telepathy seemed to read body language, searching perhaps for his mood or even opinion on the Spider that he wouldn't speak readily.

The interplay between Miles and Steph? Well, she wasn't quite that relaxed even despite her relationships with both of them, but hey...the little living-weapon-that-could had been building her people skills since she'd joined the Bat Family!"

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Barbara had been headed inside, toward the open glass doors of the balcony, and back in to the interior of her penthouse, when the weight of the latest arrival brought her to a sudden stop. She wasn't good enough to even detect him appearing, and as he did, she paused, and turned to face him.

A glance was given to the others, before Barbara - in her casual attire for the evening - accepted the folder from the Batman, and nodded her head lightly. She lowered her eyes to it, and began to review the contents, but before she spoke on it, she looked back up to him. "Have you heard from the Devil of Hell's Kitchen? Or at least heard of the Russian arms dealers returning to action there, and... here? They seem to have upped their level of tech, and are including some kind of highly advanced hydrogen powered mechs. We had to deal with one, in the form of a horse..." Babs softly shook her head, with the early night time winds rushing over the balcony, and casting strands of her red hair across the sides of her face. "I was just trying to pump up our friends here, as they began the night patrols." She explained, before she put her eyes back down on what Batman had given her, allowing the visual information to be absorbed, as she stood on the threshold of her penthouse interior.

Miles Morales has posed:
"Hijo de--"

Spider-Man was about to get away. He had gotten some quips, taken some quips. Everything was good. All he had to do was...

And then Batman arrives. There was no warning, no tingle. Not a threat. Even if his words did little to warm. How does one greet the Dark Knight himself when he arrives?

"Oh hey. Big fan. I'm Spider-Man. You probably already know that. But yeah, was here for some supplies and a pep talk! She's really good at those." His red-rimmed lenses can't be any wider. Pull it together, Morales.

He should leave. Really. Instead, however, his lenses fall on the file.

And now he's sort of paying attention, lisenting to the briefing and information from where his parents live and he lowers himself into a crouch, hands tensing up. Barbara said he was a part of this - apparently he's going to find out where the rubber meets the road.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
And then there was Batman.

Like when you think you have a substitute teacher for the day, but then Ms. Camelo comes in speaking full on Spanish despite the fact you've been playing pencils for the last 20 minutes. (Pencils is when you pay twenty five cents for a pencil from the pencil machine and then snap them against one another trying to break them because you're children and don't realize that's not appropriate for learning 8th grade Spanish)

"Dios Mio..." Says Stephanie...

As soon as she realizes Batman is here now. She straightens her SPOILER costume and tries to look professional. Like she just brought in Riddler and he was just over there waiting to be processed. Which hasn't happened because she's been here chewing the fat, instead of being on patrol. Blue eyes stare at Miles, who starts talking for the YOUNGER GENERATION.

    The perverbial Gen Alpha of this group...

"He's right, boss. We were just... uh... okay so listen... what happeneed was we were going on patrol... me and him. He said, Hey Spoiler, I'm gonna go by Spoiler again, I sent a memo, anyways..." She takes a step towards the edge of the terrace. head jerking towards Miles in a 'get tf out of here bro, wtf are you looking at him for' kind of way.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
"There was definitely more to what I was gonna say, but you're so intimidating." Stephanie says this, probably not meaning to say this, but it's out there now. "So anyways..."

Bruce Wayne has posed:
"You don't need to explain yourselves," he says for Stephanie and Barbara's benefit.

Wrapped in the black vestments of the Bat, his voice is a perpetually balanced rumble-- a rough-hewn growl just as tight and implacable as the rest of the uniform. Devoid of emotion, girded by decades of war and trauma enfolding his spirit in scars and callouses.

And its underlying sentiment is that this assemblage of hand-picked peers has already earned his trust, his reasonable doubt-- just as his coldly voiced advice for Miles hid a sparkling pearl of regard for not only his efforts, but the humility inherent to his anxiety about them.

Looking down at Barbara, he answers, "No; and yes. Do we have a sample of their technology in custody, yet? The sooner we can begin backtracing its origins, the sooner we're able to dismantle its makers." Intergang? The Maggia? Deeply embedded elements of the Russian state itself--? There's a pause for contemplation before he turns his attention back to Miles, leaving Barbara to skim or peruse at her leisure. As of now, the dossier suggests three instances of aberrant Signal sightings in New York over the past two weeks, each one fleeting. Rather than the constancy of a fixed apparatus, its location has varied across all three sightings-- with the third coinciding precisely with the ruins depicted in the photos, an Irish bar in the Kitchen thoroughly owned by the Kinahan Cartel.

"Welcome," is all he offers into the spider's dissembling--

"Remain mindful," follows a beat later, "of the city changing under your feet as you continue to travel it."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
As Batman finished up a bit more of a rundown on the information in the folder, Barbara looked up to him again. She nodded once, before she shifted her gaze to Stephanie and Cass, though she did not know if Cass was headed out tonight or not. "You might want to adjust your plans for your patrol this evening," she told Stephanie in particular. "I'll route some drones to this location, and see to it the surveilence is at max levels."

She gave a glance to Miles, who seemed to be lingering for the chance to meet the Batman, and it made her smirk for a moment. But, ultimately, she looked back to the man in the cape and cowl who started all of this.

"NYPD has the horse. I have a detailed scan of it though, and I'll send it to your system. I had planned on getting you the full rundown tonight. I'll make sure to do it a bit faster." Why? Because she knew that now that Batman was aware of alien weapons being pushed back in to Gotham's street, was likely to pique the man's interest in stopping it. She raised the photos and files up. "the drones will be all over this too." She said with confidence in her network of tech that blanketed the city in a web of watchful eyes.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass remained understated, but there was a tilt of her head as she finally returned, holding the drink she couldn't really drink thanks to her mask and then tilting her head to the side. Her gaze shifted, drifting towards Miles and Steph for a moment before considering. "I will join you."

Despite the fact she'd just finished her shift.

Alright, so Cass was probably the worst out of all of them for having the 'normal' life at the moment, but Orphan was a lot easier than being Cassandra Cain most days, and the Bat-Family didn't nearly push her to the very edges of exhaustion the same way that her mother and father had.

Miles Morales has posed:
"What's right here?" Spider-Man asked, a little point to the center of the triangle. "It seems obvious that if there is three signals and it makes a triangle, there's something in the center of it. Or is that too obvious?" The questioning look of a head-tilt and raised lenses in curiosity.

But before he can go any further, both Stephanie /and/ Cassandra are making the motions and words that it's time to go, and Spidey finally seems to take the hint. "Well, Spoiler, sounds like you've got a date with some drones tonight!" Since Barbara offered them up to her, obviously.

As for himself? When Orphan makes it clear she'll go along, he shrugs. "I have a little left in the tank and know where a stash of energy drinks are. Thanks for the top off!" he offers cheerfully to Oracle as he prepares to head off.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie slowly raises her hands. She also slowly raised a thumb...

Thumbs up to Barbara.

    It is not as subtle as she probably thought it was.

She realizes that this is not a third grade lecture room, so pointing that out is abstract nonsense. She knows that she's more than earned her right to just voice her concerns, whatever hesitancy to do so is Batman's earned regard. Wide eyed, staring. Despite she's eaten dinner in his home, enjoyed holidays, hell... damn near married his son until a Spider appeared and some weird multiverse shit happened. She's well within her rights, logically, to just speak.

So her raising her hand is out of respect.

Or necessary comedy.

    Everyone is welcome to take their guess as to which.

"Uhhh, I don't know if anyone's been watching the news, I assume you all have, but there's been some pretty nutty broadcasts coming out of New York..." She'd be remiss if she didn't at least tell everyone, "Possessions and the like. 'New York stuff', they say... but Grand Central Station nearly ate some folks." Hand still up, because she didn't wait to be called upon.

"Just food for thought on your travels."

Abandoned by her date before there was ever a date at all.

SPOILER is stares over at Miles with a 'how could you?' you look.... Then waves him off, because she totally understands given Batman just walked in on them verbally beating off. "Seeya later, Big Gay Bestie." She murmurs, careful to make sure Bruce knows that she's meaning Miles and not him... Batman leaves when he wants to. And nobody calls him out like that, certainly not Stephanie Brown... Spoiler to her friends.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
"A Jamaican restaurant," he tells Miles, stony and unwavering and still fixed on him, but not his gesture.

"The patties are excellent."

One precisely measured beat later, he turns towards Barbara with a singular nod. "The Computer is waiting to receive and process," he assures. "Wait before tasking anything to Little Odessa; I'd like to minimize the odds of any warm welcomes tonight." While he broadly trusts the capacity for stealth and/or low-profiles of the drones... it only takes one slip, one stray sighting to cast deadly ripples across an otherwise placid pool of would-be informants. They're always so much more talkative when they don't know that they're about to have a conversation.

With that, he looks back to Miles and offers, "The Signals correspond with hotbeds of criminal activity:"

His index finger grazes near a marking over Lower Manhattan,

"Triads..."

traces upwards to a second point in Midtown,

"... Kings..."

and comes to a stop in Hell's Kitchen.

"... and Kinahan Cartel. Shots were definitely fired at the first two points, but this last..."

He leaves it at that, for now. Whatever mystery's underlying the aberrant Signals is still rattling around his mind, crushed and hammered in the hopes of reducing it to a form better suited to digesting-- and solving. Instead, he gives the Spider - and the Spoiler, and the Orphan - another nod.

"Stay safe," he instructs them.

"Avoid possession," he adds with lingering glance towards Stephanie. The arched brow is hidden, but audible.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Barbara regarded Stephanie, and offered her a soft nod. "I heard about it.." She said, drawing in a little breath that was laced with the stress of magical or paranormal situations always adding some anxiety to her work. She wasn't good at that stuff, and she'd lost the reliable presence of Zatanna Zatara to other duties that the magical woman was having to deal with in life. "Keep your ears peeled, and your eyes listening." She said, smirking toward the blonde. "If anything seems to spill over in to our city? We... have to get on it fast. Nothing spreads quite as horrendously as the supernatural."

With people departing, fanning out for their assignments, or just headed home, Babs watches as her GGE Blimp comes down out of the clouds in the distance. The blimp spends most of the day time hours up in in the sky, absorbing the sunlight in to its solar systems, to later bring them down to shunt power directly in to the Gotham City power grid, via all of the sky rise stations it pulls up to on its lazy tour around the city, it headed straight for this very building right now... where one such station awaited on the southern side of the building's penthouse balcony.

After they had left, Babs looked to the Batman, and had waited for a moment of privacy. "Spider-man." She said. "he's good. He's really good. I trust him. I think you should put some work on his shoulders." She informed the Bat, before she smiled at him. "It's good to see you too." She said, before she turned to head in to her dimly lit penthouse interior. "We'll check in to all of this!" She called back over her shoulder, though he'd likely already vanished, she stopped falling for that ages ago!