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Post by Batgirl on Feb 13, 2018 18:07:43 GMT -5
Barbara was not totally unaware of the looks she was getting for proclaiming she wanted to be a detective, but in order for her illusion to work, she had to pretend she was oblivious. She needed to play the innocent soul, at least long enough to keep Laura on the hook. If she was going to get Laura's help with anything, she needed to act like she didn't know what she was doing. To some extent, it could be argued that she didn't. But for now, she had all the cards.
"Scotch on the rocks, please," she said as she settled herself into her barstool.
"Well, I'll be honest with you, I'm doing this for my dad." If there was one thing she thought could tug at Laura's heartstrings, it was a father/daughter story. "You see, for years, he had this case he could never solve, and it was heartbreaking to watch it tear him apart. Soooo I stole his files and I decided I would give it a try. I really think all he needs is a fresh pair of eyes looking at it, and if I can help him at all, I want to."
She looked at Laura, trying to gauge if she was getting anywhere at all.
"You know this side of town better than I do. Maybe you could help me?" She offered another smile, a more hopeful one. "I'd like to get to know you a little better, and ... well, I do need a partner. What do you say?"
It took a great deal of energy not to glance toward the back. That would be suspicious, after all. But she wondered if Helena had seen what she needed to see. If Artie was the suspect they were looking for. If he was, she did feel some responsibility in getting Laura away from him. She seemed too .... nice to be anywhere near a killer like that.
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X-23
Heroes 
There are two types of people. you are weak, or you are me.
Posts: 120
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Post by X-23 on Mar 4, 2018 21:25:23 GMT -5
Laura hadn't expected that to be Barbara's drink of choice, and had to allow for a little respect for it, nodding easily she was able to prepare the drink without having to look at what she was doing once. The benefits of keeping everything exactly where she liked it to be was how much it cut down on service time after all. Laura doubted Barbara would notice the fact Laura had taken up one of the more expensive bottles on the bar, not that Laura had any reason to mention it either. Though if the girl developed a taste for it, Father would probably be annoyed at too much of it vanishing. oh well.
She placed the drink in front of the red head and felt even more surprise at what the driving motivation behind things had been all along. "really?" Laura asked, listening with keen interest at the story. She felt for both Barbara and her Father's situations immediately of course, the idea she was meant to never occurring to her, knowing exactly what it felt like to want to go to any length to help her Father.
"I can only emphasise with how frustrating it must be for him. And you as well." Laura offered sympathetically, leaning forwards against the bar to let her focus on the conversation better. "it is good of you to want to help make him happy." The fact that if an official officer of the law was unable to solve it after years did make Laura doubt how much Barbara would be able to achieve alone. But Laura did not carry much of a respect for the law and saw no reason that taking matters into your own hands could not get results.
Not that she was going to phrase it that way.
Besides, the logic was sound. "people can fall into ruts of their own making. developing a theory and becoming bogged down even when it can not, or will not, become the truth. Perhaps you will be able to notice things the police did not." Laura instead agreed, trying to sound encouraging about it. Laura wondered briefly if she would head over to a strange city just to try and solve something that had long bothered her Father, and knew without question that she would. It was something else to respect about Barbara.
What she did not expect was the request for help, and Laura's surprise showed on her face before she could return her expression to its usual reserved look. Why would she want Laura to come with her? Yes she had given two good reasons but Laura still found it hard to believe, if for no other reason then how rarely it was for anyone she did not know extremely well to show interest in having her around. it was simply.... out of the norm. nice.
It occurred to her that an answer was expected at some point and she had been looking at Barbara in silence as she'd rolled the turn of events over in her mind, for what was probably too long. "I can certainly try to help, and would like to." she answered, a little quickly as she tried to get past her own awkwardness a little too quickly. Without knowing the case, suspect, or any information at all for that matter, it was hard to think of anything useful yet, but Laura started running a list of the most useful informants that had been around a long time in the back of her mind anyway. better to start soon then late.
The bit about wanting to know Laura better managed to get a smile from the reserved Mutant, as she had enjoyed their last conversation well enough to think the same thing. "that would be nice." there was that word again. Nice seemed to suit Barbara well. "I will do whatever I can, and hope that it is enough."
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Rorschach
Neutral 
Soon there will be war...
Posts: 27 
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Post by Rorschach on Mar 9, 2018 3:48:12 GMT -5
Rorschach waited and watched. Something he did best, he thought. He was never the most capable fighter, more like a junkyard dog than anything trained to hurt. But in either manner he found he did the job better than most...but right now waiting and watching were called for.
He watched Helena examine the masks. He watched her reactions, the dilation of her eyes even in the dim light and even behind his shifting mask. He nodded softly as he moved toward her, indicating to the masks that seemed to vex her and pointing to them. He caught her eye and pointed to his face, nodding and then shaking his head before tilting it, indicating that she could confirm them as those of her parents without a shadow of a doubt by nodding or the opposite.
After all, they were still in the viper's den. And Artie Cade was always roaming the halls if he wasn't occupied.
And yet, hopefully he was.
While Rorschach waited for an answer, he made a passing glance at the door and listened while he looked back at Helena. He heard nothing but the commotion downstairs and felt no disturbance in the floorboards, so no movement outside.
They might just get away with this after all.
And Rorschach was never one for great bouts of optimism. Or even small ones.
He'd found that was what Babs was best for.
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Huntress
Heroes
Every hero has a story, not that I'm some kind of hero.
Posts: 47 
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Post by Huntress on Apr 22, 2018 23:08:09 GMT -5
Helena felt a body approach. Rorschach. She looked up at her, her mind still reeling from her discovery, as he made a few hand and head gestures. The precise, detailed, meaning was lost on her, but she understood the gust of what he was asking. She nodded in answer before speaking in a barely audible manner. “They are mine. My family.”
Her stomach heaved as she spoke, but once again, Helena held its contents down. She closed he eyes tight, bottling up that fear and sadness, shock and horror. She stamped it down into the depths of her soul, allowing rage, anger, and hatred to bubble up in its place. She grit her teeth hard, causing stabs of pain, but that only helped to fuel what she was feeling. She wanted to find this Cade man. She wanted to look this man straight in the eye and watch the light in them die as he bled out of the floor. Maybe she would ask him why he did it, why he killed her family, but then again, maybe she wouldn’t. Just leave him wondering why this woman came up to him and killed him in apparent cold blood. Maybe she wouldn’t even run afterwards. Let the police take her in, charge her with murder. She would gladly show them the death masks, telling them all it was justified.
Cade deserved to die.
Helena wondered if she could convince Barbara of that. surely Rorschach would be on her side. He seemed the type, after all. Looking back up at his ever changing mask, Helena spoke once more in a low, hushed tone. “Where is he? I want to see him.” Surely he had to wondering about. It was his club and they were open for business.
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Post by Artie Cade on Apr 24, 2018 2:48:22 GMT -5
It had already been a long night.
And the night hadn't gotten very far on despite that. Artie checked the time then proceeded to head down to the bar, the thunk of his cane combined with his footsteps sounding loudly down the upstairs hall as he moved. Best to at least check on the patrons, make an appearance.
After all, it was the anniversary of the Harlem Hoax.
The name of the event wasn't something he'd invented, it was just what it was called among the denizens of the New York underworld. Some five years ago on this very night, Artie and his boys had gone to a meeting down in old Harlem. One of the local factions down there had wanted his help in maintaining their territory. Artie had never been particularly fond of Mr. Jakes, the man who used to run that section of town. He was too sure of himself. Which meant he was ready for a misstep any day, which Artie intended to exploit. After all, if he could insert his own "mayor" of Harlem town, then so much the better. Replace Jakes, that was the goal. One of his own boys who oversaw work down at the docks, Mick Yarley, was from Harlem. And so Artie hatched a scheme. The plan was fairly simple: set up a return, circulate rumors of a new big bad in town, coming to take Harlem. That would bring Jakes to Artie's doorstep for help. But it would be too late. Well, by design.
Yarley was among Artie's mooks as they made their way into Harlem that night, heading to the meeting spot. Artie had the place scouted inside and out, and separated four of his boys including Yarley to head up to the top floor and clear out the successive levels of anybody belonging to Jakes. The man was sure of himself, but he wasn't completely careless. Once the meeting on the ground floor began, Yarley would appear from the upstairs levels and make the kill. Sure enough, it all went to plan, and with surprisingly few casualties. Only four died that night including Jakes. And the legend of Mick "Hands" Yarley had spread far enough that the big bad coming into town to take over the faction of the underworld in Harlem went off without a hitch. Yarley kicked up dues to Artie and all went smoothly, had been that way for five years straight. And so the toasts would be heard tonight, Artie was sure.
He headed down the main staircase and stopped to lean on his cane, looking out at the crowd of patrons. The bar settled into a soft stillness as all eyes moved to the Boss. After he let that silence hang in the air for a moment, Artie raised both hands high and a grin spread over his face and under the mask covering his scars.
"DRINKS ARE ON THE HOUSE!" he declared with a laugh, "HAPPY HOAX DAY!"
The local crowds cheered and raised their drinks, or gratefully accepted refills. The applause lasted for some time as Artie made his way through the crowd of handshakes toward the bar. It was then that he spotted that girl Barbara from the other night. He was...surprised she'd come back. But pleased.
"Babs!" he said in a delighted tone as he clapped her lightly on the back, "Didn't know you were comin' out tonight! Good to see ya, kid, how ya doin? Laura keeping you well supplied with booze I hope."
He laughed his crooked laugh, but it was mirthful and not wicked.
Odd, for him. Usually.
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Post by Batgirl on Apr 26, 2018 14:50:49 GMT -5
Being a detective, or ... rather, an aspiring detective, Barbara did indeed notice that Laura had grabbed one of the more expensive bottles, and her heart began to race. She didn't have the money to pay for that. She didn't give any outward indication that she minded, but she had no idea what Laura expected her to do. Did she expect her to pay? Because that wasn't going to happen. Not on a police secretary salary.
She knew going into this that talking to the daughter of a criminal wasn't going to get her much sympathy, but she was quickly surprised at the interest Laura was showing. She wasn't expecting this level of interest from, well, a criminal. Especially when it might implicate her dad. Not that she expected her to realize that little detail right off the bat. Evidently, her plan was working. This was surprising, considering she was just winging it. It wasn't an unwelcome surprise, though, and she never stopped smiling her famous smile.
When Laura agreed to help, Barbara had to stop herself from breathing a sigh of relief. This made everything so much easier. Now, no matter what Helena and Rory found, they had an extra set of hands in taking down the Smiley Face Killer.
She was about to answer Laura, when she heard the thunk, thunk, thunk of a cane coming downstairs and she knew it was Artie Cade.
She was about to be caught by the man himself with his file out in the open. She casually made sure it was closed and calmly took a drink. She had to keep her heart rate down, or she would look like she was nervous. She had no reason to be nervous around Artie Cade. Not unless he had said something to Laura after she had gotten home the previous night that she didn't know about. But she couldn't theorize about that right now.
Upon the exclamation of Happy Hoax Day, Barbara permitted herself to look up and watched as Artie made a bee line right for her. She smiled a little nervously, as though she wasn't prepared for the attention, and placed an elbow on the file she no longer had time to hide.
"Hi, Mr. Cade! Laura's treating me better than I deserve," she said, half indicating to the expensive bottle Laura had pulled from the shelf, but mostly trying to flatter the girl. "I didn't realize tonight was special. If I had known, I would have dressed a little nicer." She looked between them a little awkwardly. "I'm sorry, I don't know how things work." Nailed it.
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X-23
Heroes
There are two types of people. you are weak, or you are me.
Posts: 120
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Post by X-23 on Apr 28, 2018 18:14:26 GMT -5
Even as she raised her own glass to add her own toast to the cheers and gestures from the rest of the bar, Laura was wishing Father would warn her before he gave everyone in the place an interest to heading to the bar at once. But it was her own fault for not putting two and two together and expecting what Father would do to celebrate a day like today.
As he came walking across, she was already pouring two different drinks for patrons of the bar wanting their refill and listening to the requests of the several people behind them. Sure she COULD have just left it to the staff, that was after all one of the perks of being the owner. But that would have been unfair on them, and have slowed everything down even more.
So for a while she just let her Father and Babs talk without contributing to anything to the conversation. But that didn't stop her gaining a smile from the nice things Babs said, not entirely sure why it pleased her as much as it did. If she had not been distracted she would most likely have argued the point. Probably for the best then.
eventually though, Laura had managed enough to let the staff finish up without her and was able to slip into the conversation. "There is no reason to be sorry. We do not have dress codes or noticeboards up to tell you anything like that." she said. "there is no way you could have known. so there was never an expectation for you to know."
Laura smiled at her Father and slid the last drink she'd poured over to him, "and yes. Happy hoax day to you as well Father. it does not feel like it has been another year." she glanced at Babs and nodded. "indeed. I am supplying Babs with drink as well as information. I just agreed to show her more of the city." there was nothing conscious in Laura not mentioning the exact details of what Babs was investigating. the case was not something she truly had reason to care about beyond helping out a friend, so she simply did not bring the conversation back to it. Unknowingly preventing any serious problems from arising.
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