20397/Shadows Over Gotham City

Shadows Over Gotham City
Date of Scene:	09 April 2025
Location:	Generic Brownstone Rooftop
Synopsis:	Red Robin and Spider-Man (Gotham edition) re-meet for the first time and plan a future team-up. Also, Miles brought tamales.
Cast of Characters:	Tim Drake, Miles Morales

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Tim Drake has posed:
The rooftop of a brownstone apartment building stretches out under a deepening indigo sky. The sun has dipped below the horizon, leaving behind streaks of faint orange and pink that cling to the edges of the skyline. The cool air carries the distant hum of the city, blending the murmur of traffic with the occasional bark of a dog or the faint notes of music wafting up from an open window below.

The surface of the rooftop is uneven, a patchwork of tar and gravel dotted with vents and an old water tower standing sentinel in the corner. A rusted metal ladder clings to the building's side, its rungs glinting faintly under the glow of a nearby streetlamp. String lights hang loosely between neighboring buildings, their weak, golden glow casting soft shadows over the rooftop's edges.

Somewhere, a siren wails, its cry bouncing between the buildings before fading into the urban night. The air feels charged, as if the city itself holds its breath, waiting.

The rooftop remains quiet until the faintest whisper of movement stirs the air. A dark figure emerges from the shadows near the water tower, his silhouette sharp against the faint glow of the city. Red Robin stands there, his cape shifting gently in the breeze. His form is deliberate, every motion measured as he steps closer to the edge of the rooftop.

The soft glow of the streetlights below catches the glint of the red emblem on his chest and the subtle sheen of his gauntlets. He pauses, scanning the streets below, his stance relaxed yet alert. A faint clicking sound accompanies his movements as he adjusts a device on his wrist. The rooftop feels smaller in his presence, his quiet confidence filling the space.

Miles Morales has posed:
The wind picks up-soft, but steady-as another presence joins the night.

With a low thwip, a line of black web arcs out of the shadows and catches the edge of the old water tower. A heartbeat later, a figure swings into view from the neighboring building, the soles of his shoes landing with a soft scuff on the gravel. He straightens up, mask catching the dim shimmer of the string lights. The red and black suit clings close to him, the emblem on his chest alive with contrast in the amber glow.

Spider-Man tilts his head slightly, taking in the scene. His breathing's easy, unhurried. He nods once toward the figure by the edge. When he spies that he's not alone on the rooftop, a few short hops brings him closer to Red Robin, far enough away for him to try to figure out which one he is.

"Yo," he says, voice low, warm, but edged with curiosity. "I didn't realize you'd already called dibs, I'll make a reservation next time for brooding."

He walks a little closer, steps soft but sure, his eyes, hidden behind expressive red-rimmed lenses, stay fixed on Red Robin. "Anyway. Hi. Don't think I met you yet. I'm Spider-Man, Gotham edition."

Tim Drake has posed:
Tim turns to the sound of someone touching down on the gravel, cape flapping as it turns against the breeze. Red Robin's mask tightens as his eyes narrow a touch. A Spider-Man. Though, not the one who'd set off every alarm at the Roost a couple of years ago. Nearly motionless, Tim regards the webslinger as he introduces himself as the Gotham edition.

"Red Robin. Also Gotham edition. I guess Regular Robin is the Gotham edition too, though." he replies, his voice erring on the friendly side of neutral, unlike the Big Bad Bat. "Did all you Spider-people decide to leave New York? I think we have the Ghost-Spider here too, now."

A chuckle leaves Red Robin's mouth, the breath of air visible for a second only. "I wasn't planning on staying long. Regular patrol. You must've run into the others a bunch of times by now." he muses, green fingered glove tapping on the other arm's wrist computer as he looks up what the Batcomputer has on this particular Spider-Man. "I like the colors. Much less visible than the other guy in the red and blue." he offers, giving a sly thumb up. "What brings you to this particular rooftop?"

Miles Morales has posed:
"To be fair, I was here before Ghostie showed up. Guess she felt the need to make sure I was doing okay." Miles responds easily as he heads over towards an HVAC unit a little distance away from Red Robin. "I actually grew up in Gotham." he admits as he leans down, moving a panel out of the way and pulling out an insulated lunch bag. "And the OG Spider-Man. You know, red and blue? He said go where you feel like you can do the most good. And it seems that there was a daytime shift position open." A shrug as he opens the bag to check the contents and then follows it with retrieving a thermos.

"Met Batman and a gaggle of Batgirls last night. Redhead's been helping me with getting settled in, reworked the formula on my webbing to be different. The All-Black one I've patrolled with a few times. The blonde one seems snippy with me for some reason." He doesn't know that she's Stephanie and well, he does know Gwen and that whole thing, so.

"As for why I'm up here? Good view of the neighborhood. Nice place for a lunch." Fishing out a bundle of aluminum foil and opens it. "Tamale? These are the best." That's because his mom made them.

Tim Drake has posed:
"You've stayed out of Bat-business, then?" Tim asks curiously. Of course he's met Gwen at the Manor, and he's read her file afterwards. There's a file. He nods in approval when Miles mentions having grown up in Gotham. "Good. Makes sense Batman lets you operate then, he doesn't approve of out-of-towners quick."

A glance behind Miles to see the webs he'd mentioned, and Tim nods. "Black webs. The others all use white, why'd you switch it up? Did Red Batgirl do anything else to the formula?" he asks. Like.. put it on file so the Bat-family might switch from grapnels to webshooters? One could hope. The descriptions of the Batgirls with regards to their treatment of Miles draw another laugh. "Blonde Batgirl -is- snippy." Just trust him on that. "But she has her reasons, and she'll warm up to you at some point. Fully out of nowhere. It'll seem like she's doing a 180 out of nowhere, but she keeps it all bottled up until it pops." A gloved hand pats Miles on the upper arm, just below the shoulder. "You'll see."

Tim points at Miles in response to his reason for being there. "Same here. Apart from the lunch." That is.. until he's offered a tamale. "You sure? I'm happy to if you have enough to spare." he notes. "Don't get much of this in the Batcave, you know? It's all hanging around upside down until sunset." Of course, he's joking, but as he's saying it he realizes Spider-People tend to hang around upside down regardless of the time of day. "I mean. You know. As bats do."

Miles Morales has posed:
Miles' mom always gives him too much. But that's why he has enough to share. "Aye, always happy to share a meal with a new friend." Spider-Man responds easily. "And yeah, I don't generally get involved unless a member of the family's about. Figured if I do good enough work, they'll let me handle other things." There's an easy shrug of his shoulders.

"Oracle." Changing names because Miles doesn't want to keep calling her Red Batgirl, "She made it so that they're about twenty percent stronger than the original formula, there's the black color. And they last about an hour, which is close to par with the original." he shrugs. "It's not a huge distance when you're flinging yourself from rooftop to rooftop in a way that would break most people's backs, but it's nice to have."

The lenses moves for a moment, the red-rims maybe projecting something close to an eyeroll. "Spoiler. That's the blonde one. I dunno. Maybe she'll warm up. She was pretty ugly though with the hazing." A shrug of his shoulders as he's patted. "I don't have to get along with everyone and have her as an amiga, but a little respect would go a long way, ya know?"

Fishing out one of the filled corn husks, Miles lifts the bottom of his mask, exposing dark skin as he take a bite of the filling. "Oh, yeah, that's the stuff." A rustle of foil as Miles sets it between the pair of them. "Hanging upside down at upset helps the blood get to the brain." he points out casually. "It's also a way to get a new perspective." Another bite is taken. "Better get in on this before I get all gluttonous." A grin shows up on his lips. "I have a few contacts in the Bats. Hoping to make more. I mean, not just the Batfamily. Figured there's others I could work with? The OG, he tries to go solo alot. Not my style. More of a team player."

Tim Drake has posed:
Tim readily accepts the tamale, in that case, and unwraps half of it. The other half stays wrapped to catch any grease that might drip out. Taking a bite, he chews for a few seconds and nods. "Not bad." he decides, and he nods at Miles' approach to vigilantism in Gotham. "You've been mentioned a few times." he notes with a grin, leaving it unsaid whether that's good or bad. Because it's more fun that way.

"Yeah, I know." Tim replies to the sudden switch to code names. He's fine with it, he just likes messing with the Batgirls that way. "You made yours on your own?" he asks when Miles compares his webs to 'the original'. "I figured you'd all be resupplied at the same spot." Because that's how it works for the Bats. Don't the Spiders organize?!

"Like you said, it's hazing. Like an initiation." Tim explains patiently. "Not my style, but, you know, I never had to fight for my spot like she did." He pauses. "I'm sorry you felt disrespected, Spider-Man." he offers, along with a hand. After switching the tamale over to his other one, a proper right hand.

Tim ponders for a moment, then muses, "There is another team. Young people only. Except Red Hood, I guess. He's old enough to have a little grey in the 'do." He pauses for a bite of the tamale, working the foil down as he eats more. "It's.. I mean, if the navy has the SEALs, the Justice League has the Outsiders. Or at least, Batman does." It's hard to explain, alright? "It's not exactly street-level, I mean. We have a Kryptonian on the team. Superboy."
Another pause, another couple of bites and the tamale is done for. Wadding up the foil neatly, preventing any grease from dripping out, Tim sets it down nearby. He'll toss it in the trash when he's near a trash can. "If that sounds like something you're up for, let me know. And if you can't find me, let Orphan know. She's on the team, too. You said you join her patrols most often, right?"

Miles Morales has posed:
"I'll get over it. She just needs better material. She uses low-hanging fruit." Spider-Man shrugs. "Easy to ignore, just makes everyone else look bad for supporting her." He finishes off the tamale and wipes his hands on a paper towel. "Oh no. I could not hope to make these. This is a family recipe." And it's easiest to keep it that way.

"We communicate. I mean. There's so many of us. From the future, from other dimensions, from who knows where. But organized? Loosely. We share things, but it's hard for me to travel to the Big Apple for everytime I need to resupply. Oracle's set up a site for me to grab what I need. Plus, it's a lot cheaper to refill a web cartridge than to get new batarangs." A mote of a smile touches his face.

But then Red Robin is making his pitch. One lens goes up, curiosity showing in the tilt of his head. "You mean Ghost-Spider hasn't already joined?" he asks in amusement. "She's the social butterfly one." But Tim is making a compeling argument, and he glances down at the hand offered to him. "Orphan's a good one. If she's part of it, then it must be something. Alright, I'll give it a shot."

He reaches out and accepts the hand to give it a firm shake. "Count me in."

Tim Drake has posed:
Tim grins at the shot at Stephanie's material. "She goes for the jugular quick. Yeah." he concedes. "But there's more from the others where that came from, and more still with the Outsiders." he adds, leaving aside that some Outsiders aren't what you'd call 'heroes' and more 'mercenary nepo babies'. "Well, if your family is ever in the mood to make more, or share the recipe.." he doesn't finish the sentence, it's a long shot to begin with.

Spiders from the future, and from other dimensions.. of course he'd known the latter. Gwen was looking for that book on just that subject, likely trying to get back to hers. But that's none of Spider-Man's business! "Yeah, I guess that makes sense too. Not even you and Ghost-Spider sharing resources, though?"

The mention of Ghost-Spider joining the Outsiders seems to briefly dissipate the friendly grin on Tim's face. "Yeah, well. I don't see her out much, really." He shrugs dismissively. "I might bring it up to her, though."

Shaking hands, Tim grips Miles' hand tight for a second, before releasing it. "Appreciate the lunch break, but I can't stay. Duty calls." he offers with a jerk of his thumb over his shoulder. Vague gesture to indicate he has to go back to the patrol. And then he does so, jumping over the ledge casually, followed by the sound of a grapnel gun launching and hooking onto something.