7973/A Nocturnal Encounter

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A Nocturnal Encounter
Date of Scene: 24 September 2021
Location: The Narrows - Gotham City
Synopsis: Bluebird and Misfit meet. They work together to plant a tracer on the phone of one of Harper's brother's tormetor's grandmother. Slow and safe are the keywords Harper's taken from Batman's advice: whether he ment that or not.
Cast of Characters: Harper Row, Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe
Tinyplot: Rainbow Revenge


Harper Row has posed:
Late at night as midnight approaches on the twenty-fourth of September, its nearly a week since the most recent full moon but the effulgence of Earth's natural satellite provides significant light when not obscured by the nearly ever-present cloud cover that so often blankets Gotham City.

Bluebird is stalking the Narrows, seeking a specific set of persons. She finally saw their faces clearly a week ago and now she's seeking out their lair. She's dressed in her hodgepodge outfit - calling it a uniform would be such a stretch of the suspension of disbelief as to shatter it into fragments as numorous as the grains of sand on a beach - her blue leather jacket covers her armored vest, blue jeans and steel-toed work boots complete the covering of her body while she wears fairly standard shooting gloves and a pair of tinted shooting goggles. Her hair, as is typical for when she's active as a vigilante, is worked up into a purple fauxhawk with streaks of blue though it that match the blue buzzcut along the sides of her head.

Does she know what she's doing? Kind of. She's done stealth missions on many a computer game. She understands the concept. But it is her first time doing so in real life.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Charlie isn't nearly this new about all this sneaking and vigilante business. She has also been getting some pretty dedicated lessons from the Fam on this regard, especially Orphan, which has super helped the chaos muppet get good. Well, maybe not good, but better.

    Odds are that Bluebird has had a feeling of being watched, at least for the last couple of alleys worth of stalking through the Narrows. As Misfit runs along the roof top and keeps half an eye on the blue themed young woman below.

    In Misfit's defense, she has tended to patrol the narrows when let off leash because it feels like her old home in suicide slums and is chock full of opportunities to exact Dark Vengeance on muggers and criminals. Wanting to run into the new Vigilante named Bluebird is probably only sixty percent of why she has been running even more late night patrols in the Narrows in the last week or so.

    Was that a flash of movement up above?

Harper Row has posed:
Bluebird hasn't developed the eyes-in-the-back-of-one's-head thing yet and so isn't truly aware of having been watched for as long others who stalk the streets of Gotham tend to be able to. Somewhere along the way her tail will have noticed that she is actively carrying a weapon - one of her stunguns when checked for details.

It isn't until stopping at an intersection that, in the corner of her eye, she nocies the movement above her. Knowing well enough that being followed means risk, Harper hugs the wall of a building while she pulls back from the intersection and takes partial cover behind a large metal dumpster.

"I wish I had better optics," Harper mutters to herself as she tries to pickout more evidence of the hint of movement she noticed oh so briefly and rises her stungun to a more active and defensive position.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Those stun guns were examined as she tailed Bluebird, using her goggles to get a zoom in at one point. "Neat." is murmured quietly. "Wonder if she has close range tricks too." and the stalking continues on a pace for a bit there.

    "Crackers" is softly muttered as Charlie realizes she gave herself away at some point tailing Bluebird. Clearly she needs to get more practice hours in doing this. Still good on Bluebird right, situational awareness is supes important to not ending up dead.

    There is a blip, a bit of pink and purple smoke curls over the edge of the roof top and then a heartbeat later the dumpster that Harper is taking cover behind shifts as more weight settles on it. "Good spot!" chirps the redhead encouragingly.

    I mean she is wearing her gear, yellow belt, cowl, blue armor with an almost bat symbol on it, or is it a stylized M. Hard to say for sure. Which is no guarantee she won't be tazed scaring Harper. She is a bit of a brat like that though innately.

Harper Row has posed:
Bluebird doesn't squeek. No, not at all. No vigilante heroine would squeek, right? She does however start, making a noise (Not. A. Squeek.) and moves away from her cover. She nearly pulls the trigger on her stungun before the outfit - so like that of Batman's, Batgirl's and Red Robin's if not exactly matching them in color - makes her second guess; as she relaxes her trigger finger she also pulls the gun upwards so as not to be pointing it at Misfit.

"Don't do that!" Harper hisses softly at Misfit which she follows with, "Who are you and does he have you checking up on me?"

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Charlie's blue eyes watch behind those tinted googles as she crouches on top of the dumpster, definitely trying to guage if she needs to dodge or not. Unsure really for a long moment if the stun gun will be fired at her.

    Also gosh she is trying so hard to not smile as she watches the reaction, because if anything she has been trying to practice the stoic appear from nowhere and brood/loom that everyone else seems to do, oh so serious. She isn't really succeeding very well though, her eyes are giving away the mirth and amusement and when Harper hisses at her not to do that, the corners of her mouth do tug up a tiny bit.

    The costume probably closest to Batgirl's but there are all sorts of subtle differences stylistically all the way down to the symbol on her chest. Literally cut from the same ballistic armor cloth though.

    "If you are going to be prowling around at night in Gotham you are realy going to have to get use to the lot of us coming out of no where and looming I'm afraid... though to be honest I'm still getting use to it. Like.. totes one moment no one is there and then bam.. like a ninja." her volume is pitched and soft but still somehow very enthusiastic. "No one sent me. I wanted to meetcha. I'm Misfit."

Harper Row has posed:
"I'm..." Harper hesitates for a moment (the first time is always special right?) as she introduces herself, "I'm Bluebird."

The novice vigilante relaxes a bit and then stands up to lean against the wall, looking upward toward Misfit. "So, Batman didn't send you... he seems the type to send a babysitter," Harper muses before asking, "You planning to stay up there and keep me craning my neck like this?"

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    "I heard. It's a cool name.... honestly probably better thought out than mine. To be fair to me though I tried to call myself Batgirl when I first showed up and was told to knock that crap off."

    "The old man is definitely hundo P the type of person to occasionally send babysitters and to keep an eye on people like us in Gotham." she confirms. "But I was just curious and wanted to see what you were like without anyone siccing me on you."

    She hops down nimbly from the dumpster and then looks up at Harper "Aaand you're taller than me.... eh hecks well I may be the shortest now that Robin hit his growth spurt but at least I'm not the newest."

Harper Row has posed:
Bluebird smiles at Misfit. "That is a knock the crap off that I can understand completely," she says in a way that makes it clear that she got a similar message about something different and... disregarded it.

Harper nods about the height differential and says, "Close though, might have some more growth in you, right?" before asking, "I'm... under instruction to be cautious so... how long were you following me?" in a not overtly interrogative tone.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    "Well. I mean don't take the knock it off too personally. Everyone gets the knock it off. My city. You don't understand the danger. This road is hard. Sacrifices you won't want to make. You know. The Talk." she really capitolizes the T in Talk there. She also sounds pretty laid back about it all.

    That serious vibe that the Batman and honestly Robin and Batgirl have, this teenager just doesn't seem to have it in her the same way. Also she is rambly when she talks which is quite different too.

    "Hope springs eternal." about the potential for a growth spurt. "Though big guys tend to really underestimate you when you are smol and then you kick out their knee cap and knee them in the jaw and it surprises the heck out of them."

    Misfit reaches up and rubs the back of her neck through her cowl looking sheepish. "I mean.. half a dozen blocks. Good spot though seriously... I was practicing my stalk and must have messed up. Still learning."

Harper Row has posed:
"I'm on edge. My..." Harper starts to say something and stops. She mentally edits the personal information she was preparing to give out for free ("My brother") and resumes without it, "I've had some problems come up lately with a gang who like to gay bash targeting someone under my personal protection. I was trying to find them when I noticed you so... yeah, I may have been primed for it today."

Mirroring Misfit's demeanor, Bluebird smiles and says, "I almost can hear it now though..." She lets her statement fade and clears her throat roughly before saying (in a piss-poor but recognizablly gruff voice) "You should be primed and ready /every/ day," she says before her voice cracks from the effort and she laughs (because of course a vigilante heroine would /never/ giggle, right?)

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Charlie laughs too, there may be some giggle in it but she manages to not snort. "Not bad." she notes after she wrestles it back under control. She clears her throat and does a pretty decent impression honestly. "Don't take risks or fight in the light. The shadows are your allies." and she grins, beams really.

    That is about when what Bluebird's mission sinks into her there and her expression clouds. "Well.. that sucks of them. Do you want a wingman with this gang, it totes sounds like they need a boot to the face." pause "Also, your hair is amazing." random access much. Definitely some ADHD in the chaos there, though it may just be the chaos in the chaos.

Harper Row has posed:
The amusement vanishes as Bluebird nods risks and shadows. Then the offer is made. "They... have outnumbered me every time I've faced them. An Asian gal helped me last time and we sent them running but... they've hurt someone close to me." She's explaining this cautiously, weighing every word. Especially the last few.

"For now I want to find where they hang out," Harper says. Her next words show that the recent visit from Batman - as well as Misfit's own words - have weighed heavily on her thoughts. "This is an information gathering mission, not an actual engagement," she says before adding, "But if you want to help with that I'll take the assist, Misfit."

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    "Throwing yourself headlong at a problem without thinking it through is how you end up swapping bodies with a demon." is that a metaphor. Misfit cocks her head a little bit. "So information gathering makes a lot of sense, especially if you have been out matched on previous run ins with them."

    She lifts one gloved hand up in the fist bump gesture. "I'm happy to assist. Even if it doesn't involve kicking a jerk in the face yet. What do you have on them so far?"

Harper Row has posed:
"I have an address for one of them," Bluebird says. What she doesn't say is how she got it. A date with a less than attractive man who works for the DMV. Just dinner out and a movie. But it got her near his phone. Pairing to that allowed her to get near his computer via the phone. From there she figured out his work password. And that got her access to photos. It was a risky hack... but having an in with the govenment access at her own work gave her a leg up on the job.

"I'm hoping to get something to allow me to connect the dots to the others so that I know where they all live. Then I can consider how to address the problem they're causing," Harper states before adding, "I'm sure that ... they have more targets then the one I know."

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    "Oh that is better than just knowing what one of them looks like." she grins trying to be encouraging. She has no idea what Harper had to go through to get the address.

    "So are we angling for waiting until they leave the apartment and doing a breaking and entering to snoop around... or are we going to tail them to see if they meet up with others in the gang and where they hang out?"

Harper Row has posed:
"Sneaking and snooping was my hope," Harper replies. "I'm hoping to pull a tech trick to allow him to tell me where he goes for a week or two to help with the information gathering."

Nodding across the alleyway intersection Bluebird indicates a nearby corner building. It dates back to the turn of the previous century and while its not a ruin it's still in good enough shape for someone to rent the apartments incontains and not /instantly/ qualify as a slumlord.

"Third floor," Harper states before further explaining, "No idea the inside layout though so it could be any of those windows." She pauses and says, "Lives with his grandmother but I only have a picture of him. Any chance you have a trick that'd allow you to quickly peek into the windows on the third floor and see if you can find any evidence tying him to the place?" She extracts a smartphone and pulls up a picture, full screen, of a man in his early 20s who might be cute if it weren't for the nose that's been fractured more than once and the jagged split in one of his eyebrows.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Misfit will step in now to look at the picture on the cellphone. "Oohh it looks like someone has alreayd kicked that dude in the face. Which sounds quite deserved from the sound of what this gang is up to." she studies it then steps back and eyes the third floor. Her eyes flick a bit as she subvocs to control the goggles.

    "So no idea if he or the grandmother is there... got it... " she eases out to the mouth of the alley and peers up and down the street making sure it is very clear. "Okay.. hold tight." she notes back to Harper then steps like she is going to just step out onto the street.

    There is a slash of smoke though and a heartbeat later she is up on the slight ledge that runs along the edge of each floor. She leans to look into the first window before starting to blip along across the front and then out of sight, leaving small trails of smoke as she does.... jesus what the hell she is doing to do that..... it is fast and confusing to watch.....

    About two minutes later there is a crunch noise as the dumpster near Harper settles with weight on it again.

Harper Row has posed:
Some of the windows are closed off and curtained. Many are barred, as this is the narrows, but as Misfit is rounding the third corner of the building the second window hits paydirt.

There's no way the living room Misfit looks into was decorated by the young man in the picture but it's also quite clear that this is his apartment. Plush cream carpeting covers the floor. White crown and base molding frame the Pepto Bismol pink walls. Outdated but not truly antique furniture fill the room including an easy chair occupied by an elderly woman and a couch, a coffee table and a massive, CRT television with a digital converter box sitting on top of it amid a shrine of pictures. The pictures tell the story of Bluebird's target young man from being held in the arms of his, at the time younger, grandmother though pee wee football to high school graduation; there's even a current picture. Definately paydirt that Misfit can report to her new ally.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Misfit hops down off the dumpster aghain. "So second one on the right side around the corner. Totally got the right building Bluebird." a glance back towards the street listening to make sure no one is yelling what the hell all that was.

    "His grandmother is definitely home watching TV right now... I didn't see him but saw photos of your gang member."

Harper Row has posed:
Bluebird nods. "Neat trick that," she obseres about Misfit's bouncing. "Any chance you can use it to get me up there?" she asks adding, "Even if you just drop a climbing rope for me?"

She looks like this is an outcome she'd been hoping for actually.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    The other teen pales a bit at the suggestion of using the trick to get Harper up there for some reason momentarily before relaxing and nodding. "I can totally drop you a line if you know how to climb... though actually ..." she fishes into the bigger thigh pocket and pulls out a small device and unfolds it. "Attach this to the line and hold on tight. Then hit the button and it will draw you up to me."

    She hands over the device and then glances back out to the street and vanishes. She figures Harper can get around the side of the building on her own, so she hits the roof, secures a line, and rops it down the side of the building. Another narrow alley full of trash and other detrius. Then she steps off and bounces down to the ledge by the line and waits for Harper.

Harper Row has posed:
Taking the device and watching Misfit, Bluebird follows the directions and manages to keep a restrained reaction as she is propelled upward until she's even with her fellow vigilante. "That was quite a rush," she observes about the ride up.

With them both up there and able to take the time to observe though the window it can be seen that while the woman is in the easy chair and the TV is on she is not watching it. She's asleep. There is no doubt that it is sleep as she is snoring loudly. Was she asleep when first observed by Misfit? Who knows, she's asleep now.

"Can you get the window opened without damaging it?" Harper asks having seen an iPhone though the window and being intent on her target object.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Misfit watches with amusement as Bluebird uses something like an auto-climber for the first time. She reaches out to steady her when she gets to the ledge. Tucking the climber back into the pouch as well. "That is nothing, you should try one of the grapple guns sometime." she notes quietly.

    The window is examined, though Charlie is really studying the woman inside trying to gauge just how asleep she really is. She nods to Harper and then well she does that trick with the smoke and is inside the apartment, very quietly she reaches up and pops the windows latch and eases it up and open before moving out of the way. Keeping an eye on the older woman and listening for any other life in the apartment.

Harper Row has posed:
Bluebird wordlessly nods to Misfit as she slips though the now opened window. She quietly steals her way across the room and holds her phone about an inch away from the iPhone. A slow blue pulse beats once... twice... thrice and then the screen locks in blue and the young woman carefully inches her way back to the window.

Having put the phone away she gives an aokay hand gesture to Misfit before she climbs back out the window to hang from the rope, reattaching the auto climber to her belt as she waits for her companion to rejoin her outside the soon to be locked window.

Charlotte Gage-Radcliffe has posed:
    Charlie reaches up, slides that window shut, and then latches it. She is pretty quick at that. Then she vanishes once more appearing out on the ledge with Bluebird.

    "Neat trick with the phone." she notes softly "Want my burner in case you want to team up again?"

Harper Row has posed:
"Absolutely," Bluebird smiles as she says this. After getting the number the young women descend and part ways.

Harper takes a meandering path though the chaotic mess of streets that are the Narrows. Once she is sure that she doesn't have a friendly tail she makes a quick change near her apartment building and then enters the normal way and ascends the stairs to her floor and her apartment.