IC Contact

[chiroptophobic]

[ There's no voice, no response, just a different change in the quality of the sound to indicate that a message is being recorded. ]

Comments

action;

[chiroptophobic]

[ It's something for Dick's skills that Bruce can't be certain he's there until the bird call sounds. Any trip wires he's laid have been avoided, and he's seen no sight nor heard sound of his approach--that's good.

He triggers the switch on one of the circulating fans remotely. The slow engine whir becomes a hum as the extractor starts working, the long wings of the fan interrupting the shafts of light coming in from outside. Bruce falls into the oscillating spotlight, liquid black, and waits for Robin to join him. ]

action;

[performance]

[ Robin hops down, and then he's visible — a flash of yellow cape in the dark, a bright contrast to the black shadow of the Bat. A grin and a wave, bright and cheery, even though this is a business call. How'd I do? ]

Nice location. Very scenic.

action;

[chiroptophobic]

[ I don't know, Bruce thinks. It could use a few plastic flamingoes to cheer the place up. But he doesn't say that; it would spoil the mood. Instead he inclines his head about a quarter of an inch to show that yes, he is impressed, and that's about all the acknowledgement of skill Dick's going to get right at the second. ]

You have something to show me.

[ Straight to business, get that out of the way. ]

action;

[performance]

No small talk. Gotcha.

[ Grinning like the cat who ate the canary (or the robin who ate the canary? this metaphor is harder with birds), Robin reaches into his utility belt and pulls out a stone about the size of his palm, obviously broken off of a somewhat larger piece. ]

Continuum. [ He tosses it up in the air, catching it again. ] I'm guessing you got the message from our lovely hosts — apparently this stuff powers the resurrection tech in the nanites. I'm sure they have half a dozen things they need do to it before it's useful to anyone, but I figured you might want to take a look at it for yourself.

[ And with that, Robin hands it over. ]

action;

[chiroptophobic]

[ Bruce keeps half an eye on the stone, just in case Dick decides to test his hand-eye coordination. He steps forward, taking the stone into his hand and raising it into the slanting light for a moment; Dick probably doesn't mean 'take a look' as in 'now you see it', although it has to be said that he doesn't have any of the diagnostic equipment he needs to properly study it. He'd have to try the university. ]

The security was tight around that compound. [ Batspeak for actual concern: Did you have any problems getting it out? ]

action;

[performance]

[ There's something to be said for the fact that Dick had considered Bruce's lack of equipment here: considered and, of course, dismissed. He's Batman. As far as Dick's concerned, he can do anything. That's been a constant in his life since he was nine years old. ]

Please. Nothing I couldn't handle.

[ He grins, pleased with himself. Hopeful, too. Because more than the stone itself being important (debatable) was Dick showing off his skills. Impressed? ]

action;

[chiroptophobic]

[ And it's a start. All he has to do now is live up to those expectations while only really having Alfred's guidelines as to what they might be. It would terrify a lesser man. ]

I don't doubt it.

[ He didn't; it was a straight compliment, and a statement of confidence. It's not cockiness, it's training. He's seen Dick move, watched Carrie; they're more athletic even than he is, far more capable, more evasive, and almost supernaturally light on their feet. Well trained in the art of subterfuge. The skill came down to him from Ducard, and he'd have to be blind to miss those same abilities reflected from them, and to know through them that alternate universe or not, it was indeed Bruce Wayne whose skill and knowledge had influenced these teenagers.

He trusted his own confidence in them. He put the stone into his belt out of the way, then folded his arms across his chest. They changed direction and speed with his usual lack of warning. ]

I've made provisions for you.

I wove myself an illusion of a day when I could cast off the Batman and have a family of my own; children--but it was just that; an illusion. You're my family now, the only family that matters, and your inheritance is no great fortune. It's a priceless and terrible responsibility.

action;

[performance]

[ He's used to changing topics at breakneck speed with Bruce. It's the subject itself that throws him.

Dick's brow furrows behind the mask. Provisions? ... Family? And the rest of it — oh, he knows this is an important talk, but he doesn't know what ground is safe to tread upon. The talk of family, he doesn't know how to prepare for that. It's not a comfortable topic for either of them. But the responsibility, that legacy... he thinks he has the words for that. ]

I wanted this, you know. I knew the risks. I still do.

[ Because the legacy that Bruce is worried about... that's the one that matters to Dick. ]

And I don't regret any of it. I don't know who I'd be without it, but I know I'm better because of what you taught me.

action;

[chiroptophobic]

[ Provisions he'll come to. For the time being he raises his eyes toward the only movement in the room, the swinging extractor fan far above them.

There's silence for a while. I wanted this. I knew the risks. I don't regret any of it. I don't know who I'd be without it. They're all things that Bruce understands himself on an intense personal level; they're all choices he made for himself. Dick had been given two opportunities to walk away from that mantle: the first, arriving here on his own months ago, the second when he'd been confronted by a strange Bruce Wayne, a man who didn't really know him, except from stalking conversations with Alfred. He could have abandoned it, but he has pride in it; in what he's doing, in who he is.

That's what he's really inherited. The bat itself could come and go, but the spirit of it is a part of Robin. It isn't just a name and a symbol, it's an unspoken promise, a bond, a legacy. It's at the heart of everything. ]

If you need anything, speak to Alfred. Repairs, financing, technology.

[ He seemed contented somehow by what Dick had said. If he had anything more to add on the subject it had been tucked away for later. ]

Your team. It's growing?