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thejusticelounge2014-05-05 03:48 pm
bossymarmalade) wrote in thejusticelounge2014-05-05 03:48 pm
lateral movements
The long stemmed, red roses are left by her front door in Titans Tower in a striking dark red case. They are beautiful, breathtaking blossoms that glisten and catch every droplet of light, artificial or otherwise, around them: silken petals, laced with shimmering droplets of water. The smell of them is breathtaking, and they have been dethorned, every last one of them. It’s only when they’ve been brought inside is it obvious that they are not sitting in water. The vase, that brilliant red, is actually clear and the liquid inside cloying bright and musky is blood. Cups and cups of it. The note inside reads: “Things are never black as they are painted, time for you and joy to get acquainted.”
- - -
Once Mia had gotten off work she decided to head to the Titans Tower instead of home for the day. Due to certain company at the penthouse she’d been staying at the tower more often then not, even though she felt a little bad doing that.
Anyway, she about left the flowers put next to the door there because it wasn’t like it was every day things were put on her doorstep. They had a P.O. box for fan stuff, and too many sensors for random people to just drop things off. But Mia noticed the flowers and picked them up, looking mildly interested and brought them inside her room. A second later when she realized what the were sitting in, Mia quickly put them down on the nearest surfice and backed away.
"No." She said holding her hands up, and laughing in a mostly sarcastic way. Reaching over sure not to touch the vase, not that the blood would seep through it onto her, she picked up the note and read it frowning. "What the fuck. Jesus Christ."
Mia rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone sending a text to Ollie.
[TXT] Ollie. There were some… I don’t even fucking know. Hang on let me send you a pic
[photo attatchment]
[TXT] That is blood those flowers are sitting in just fyi. And it had some creepy note too. WTF?? They were outside my door at the Titans Tower.
Then she sent a mass text to the Titans.
[TXT] Got some roses sitting in blood outside the front door of the Tower guys. WTF is all our security equipment for if not to stop someone giving us flowers sitting in blood?
Ollie sends back: [TXT] Ramsey got some kind of creepy delivery too. We’re gonna swing by and check on him.
[TXT] Be on guard, you know the drill. If TT has the capabilities, test the blood and see if it’s human. Due caution handling the flowers.
[TXT] love you be safe
[TXT] It’s human.
[TXT] Should I drop it off for you all to look at or something? Or else I’m just going to throw it out…
[TXT] Bring it to Wayne Manor. Soon as you can.
[TXT] ok
[TXT] hey besides this stuff are you busy?
[TXT] Just sorting out the details for our soon-to-be sojurn to go get your brother Tak, but that’s not for a couple days yet. something on your mind, honeybunch?
[TXT] if it requires face-to-face, we can talk when you get to the Manor
[TXT] It doesn’t require one but it’d be preferred. w/e I’ll be there in like five secs.
It was more like ten minutes. Because she hadn’t figured out exactly how to transfer this blood vase thing without touching it yet. She managed to find some high tech equipment in the junk closet and put some clamps on the vase to lower it into a holding pot where she closed it inside, treating it as if it were some fragile bomb or something. Finally Mia made her way to the zeta tube and punched in the coordinates for Wayne Manor, managing not to drop what she was carrying.
"Ok I’m here!" She called looking around. "Someone take this thing away from me. I also brought the note if that’ll help anything too…" Whatever it meant.
Ollie was waiting for her at the zeta transporter — a necessary step, since Mia had transported into the portal that was just outside of the Wayne Manor grounds. In order to get into the bay in the Cave, a person’s biometrics and zeta code had to be uploaded and authorized by the man himself, and this impromptu meeting hadn’t allowed for that.
"Here, lemme take that thing," he said when he saw Mia awkwardly cradling the bulky holding pot. "We got a little walk up the grounds to get inside." The main gate access code, Ollie already knew, so after the massive wrought iron wings of it swung open, they started the amble up towards the Manor.
"So I guess you heard that there’s been messed-up shit being sent to all you kids," he said. "Ramsey getting fibreglass cotton candy and all that."
She was happy to hand over the pot to Oliver as they headed up to the gate and she heaved a sigh. “Cass got teeth. How gross is that?” She said and wrinkled her nose. “I thought it was a Titans thing or something, but I guess not since Ramsey got stuff too. I should probably tell Vic that. I might have over reacted in my text to him… But I mean… the Tower has been blown up like… how many times? So many.” Granted she was pretty sure at least twice it’d been blown up by actual Titans but whatever…
Mia pulled out her phone and sent another text to him before putting it away again. “So, what’s the deal with this anyway? What’s going on? Who’s doing this? Is this a Batman thing or a You thing? I mean.. you guys do seem to be the cause of most of our major issues. No offense.” She added trying to hold her smile back.
"Yeah, none taken." Ollie made a face back at Mia’s smile, although he didn’t really protest her point. Not really. "I have no idea what this is about, tell you the truth, although Kate’s theory is that who or whatever it is intends to target our kids. I thought it was regular ol’ superhero heckling, but Ramsey…" Ollie shook his head, looking disgusted. "Who the fuck would try to get a child to eat fibreglass? It’s sick. Thank god he’s okay."
Titus came lolloping out of the house and made a wide circuit behind them, checking for danger, before coming to trot on Mia’s side as they continued their brisk walk. “Good boy,” Ollie said to the dog, who woofed and moved closer to Mia. “I’m guessing we haven’t even rounded up all the reports of this messed-up stuff happening yet, but maybe it’ll give us a clearer picture of the threat when we do.”
Pushing the urn into the crook of one elbow to balance on his hip as he opened the great doors of the Manor, Ollie looked at Mia and grinned, “Betcher glad we don’t live in one’a these gothic mausoleums, hey?”
Mia shrugged her shoulders and thought about it. There were a lot of sick people out there that they had to deal with. Though Batman had the sickest people, so it was probably a Batman thing. “People need to stop being assholes and target who they want to actually target. I mean for Christs sake. It’s such god damn bullshit.” It really annoyed her.
When Titus ran towards them, she managed to brighten up and waved enthusiastically at the dog. “Hey!” She said leaning down and petting him as he sniffed at her hands and legs. “Sorry I didn’t bring Kiki with me, honey. Don’t worry I’m sure you two will have another playdate soon. We’ll clear it with Damian and see when you’re free…”
She laughed and nodded her head. “I can’t really picture you wanting to own a place like this anyway. Penthouse fits better.” Mia said. Because it just did. The brownstone had been okay, but the penthouse was better. Anyway she didn’t see how these guys lived here without getting lost on a daily basis…
Once they were inside and safe, Titus broke off and trotted away to see to whatever other dog business needed to be attended to. By the time the click of his nails on the hardwood floor had faded, Ollie had reached the big kitchen, with its old-fashioned layout and ultra-modern appliances and set the sample urn carefully on a side counter, leaving it for a moment.
"Have a cookie," he said instead, opening the ceramic cookie jar on the table and peering inside before tipping it in Mia’s direction. "I dunno what kind they are, but they’re always good." Alfred would tell Ollie what they were if he asked, but Ollie preferred the surprise.
Fishing a couple of them out for himself, Ollie leaned his hips against the table and looked at Mia. “So,” he said, “what’s this you wanted to talk to me about?”
"I only like Chocolate Chip cookies…" Mia said in an almost suspicious tone and leaned against the counter taking one and eating it even though they weren’t chocolate chip. Oh well.
She smiled slightly, “I’m pregnant.— Haha just kidding. That’s never going to get old.” Mia leaned back as she laughed and let out a deep sigh. Maybe because she didn’t really know how to say this? Even if it wasn’t really that big of a deal it… still sort of was that big of a deal.
“Actually. Okay so… Like while me and Zach were in Italy we were talking. And we thought it
would be kind of fun to move in together over the summer? Or— Well, I don’t know if the word ‘fun’ came up. But… you know what I mean… Yeah.” She said glancing at Oliver out of the corner of her eyes.
Ollie stopped in mid-chew, putting down the second half of his cookies and flicking the crumbs from his moustache for a moment before he said, sadly, “Oh, honey.” He folded his arms, rubbing his face with one hand as he digested this and then, haltingly, asked, “…is it because Shado’s at our house?”
Mia raised her eyebrows, and blinked a couple of times before shaking her head. “No. You said she’s not going to be there that long right? She isn’t going to be there by the summer is she Ollie?” She asked in a more serious tone and sent him an expectant look. Because she had better not be. But she continued on. “But no. We just thought… it’d be fun. Actually I thought it’d be cool to like… find a place I could decorate while I was there. Instead of just… redecorating the penthouse repeatedly? Because you never let me paint or anything. And if Zach is there he can totally do all the heavy lifting stuff with magic.”
She fiddled with the cookie in her hand. “We just thought it’d be fun sort of… And we’ll still be in Star City. Because like, I’m not zeta-ing to work every morning. He’s going to have to deal with that. But yeah… no… it doesn’t have anything to do with Shado… It has to do with me. And Zach.”
The relief that crossed Ollie’s face was palpable, as was the determination in his voice when he confirmed, “No, there’s no goddamn way that Shado’s gonna be in our house any longer than she strictly has to be. Kate and Bruce are gonna keep an eye on her while we’re gone looking for Tak, by the way, but no, she won’t be here come summer. If I have to find her another place to live my own damn self.”
With that out of the way, Ollie considered the rest of what Mia had said. The Star City part of it soothed many of his misgivings about what she was proposing, although that didn’t prevent him from sounding a bit grumpy when he said, “And is Zach going into this with his eyes open? Because he seems pretty high-maintenance to me, and he’s gonna have to put some of that selfishness aside if he’s gonna live with you. Even temporarily. Even if you’re working and he’s travelling for his little magic show.”
Ollie reached over and stroked Mia’s ponytail, compulsively.
She nodded her head a little bit. “When are we going to get him anyway? Soon? With all this stuff going on?” For all they knew there could be another catastrophe when they were gone even if they were gone for a day. But then again there was always that risk wasn’t there?
Mia laughed and shrugged her shoulders. “I’m aware of how high maintenance Zach is. And I’m aware of how high maintenance I can be too. Which means it’s good a that we can leave and go to the tower, or our actual homes whenever we want to. It’s just… I don’t know. I’ve never lived with like… a roommate before. If you want to call this that. I mean besides the titans tower but I never actually lived there. If it ends up being a shit show then we can leave. Who cares.
We’re not really… making it that big of a deal. I just want to… see what it’s like. I guess.”
Ollie grunted. “Well,” he said grudgingly, “it is important or you to try out these kinds of experiences on your own. When you feel ready. With people you trust.” He raises an eyebrow. “And I’m glad you’re prepared for the high possibility of shit show.” He paused, and then repeated significantly, “The HIGH possibility.”
Leaving that topic aside for a moment, Ollie jumped back to the first one: “We’re going very soon. After the weekend. And yeah, even with all this stuff going on. Our window of opportunity is kinda limited and we can’t afford to sit on it much longer.” Ollie resumed eating his cookie, getting another one to join it. “They’ll be fine without us round here, at least for a couple of days.” He looked over at the canister. “Ready to get this down to the Cave?”
"Man, I hope it does turn into a shit show. I don’t want it to be boring.” Mia didn’t know why those were the only two possibilities. But… She would rather things be exciting. And Zach was just hilarious enough that she’d love it. “Maybe we can film it and put it on youtube! That’d be a lot of fun…”
Mia nodded her head as Oliver spoke and explained they’d have to do this. Well, then that made sense she guessed. They’d probably be find without them. Hopefully it’d give them a big of a break from the weird creepy villain thing for a few days at the very least. She pulled away from the counter and nodded her head. “Lets do this. It seems… probably not good to have a bunch of blood roses sitting around in a kitchen. No matter what they’re being held in.” She said and smiled a bit before speaking again in a curious tone as she followed Ollie. “Are you nervous? To like… talk to him?” To her knowledge he hadn’t actually talked to Tak the last time they had seen him.
The sound of their steps coming down the hallway—Ollie’s sliding instep on the balls of his feet, Mia’s steady and light footfalls— would have alerted Alfred to their presence, if their talking hadn’t already done the job.
They weren’t being loud, not necessarily, but the butler had become accustomed to the stilted tone and volume of the people who lived within the walls of the great home. He was also used to those that would visit and found the Manor’s modulating influence affecting the way they normally conversed, making them talk slower, softer. It wasn’t so with Oliver, or any of his brood, to Alfred’s knowledge, and so the colorful tones of their conversation carried—even if the words they spoke did not, providing a modicum of privacy—all the way across the dividing hallways to the kitchen, as he walked towards them.
He approaches them, and promptly stops in front of Oliver, and Mia, hands folding in front of him.
"Ah, Miss Dearden. Welcome. Shall I assume that your father has made sure you have been properly fed and attended.. to?" Alfred faltered, looking down at the vase and roses that the archer carried. Immediately, his brow knitting in concern, he sensed something off.
"Hm."
To tell the truth, Ollie was faintly relieved that Alfred had bumped into them and saved him from having to answer Mia’s question right away. Was he nervous to talk to Tak? Well, yeah, inasmuch as he’d barely even thought of Tak, except to feel guilty about not going to find him all this time. And that kind of guilt, the whole World’s Shittiest Father deal, was so built into Ollie’s psyche at this point that it wasn’t anything to remark upon, hardly out of the ordinary.
"She’s fed and watered, yeah, Alfred," he said instead, and lifted the canister slightly where it was crooked in his arm. "Some evidence along the lines of the fake candy floss that got sent to Ramsey, and the teeth and hair that Cass and Steph got. Mia got a bunch of roses in blood." He looked past Alfred at the grandfather clock further down the hallway. "Is he down there? You think he’d have a fit if I brought Speedy here down? We could always put on our masks if it would keep things kosher."
Mia smiled and waved when she saw Alfred. “Hi.” She greeted and glanced over at Oliver when he spoke. “Yeah, I had some cookies. They were really good by the way. Even if they weren’t chocolate chip.” She cast a glance at the pot Oliver was holding and looked at it with distaste but her expression changed when he mentioned that Bruce might not like it if she went down to the cave. “Oh my god! How anal can one person be!” She rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms in a disgruntled way. Jesus it wasn’t like she didn’t know he was Batman. Or that he had his super secret batcave under his house or whatever.
Alfred’s growing distaste for the situation was obvious as he listened to what horrendous ‘gifts’ had been delivered to the children, before the realization of what it was Oliver was holding was brought to light. Then, he was outright frowning, an expression he attempted to lighten before he looked over at how Mia was dressed.
"I don’t believe that there will be any issue with you both coming down as you are, but I.." He looks at Mia, frowning the tiniest bit. "It might be very cold, please let me know if I can bring you some tea or coffee while you work. Perhaps a cashmere shawl or I can see if one of Mrs. Spencer-Queen’s jackets might suit you."
He leads the way, but instead of through the study, through the kitchen pantry and towards the moving stairs that lead down to the lowest levels in the Cave.
"Never goddamn dressed warm enough for this place," Ollie mutters to himself as they ride the escalator down into the Cave. He hops off a few stairs before the landing and trots at a brisk pace to the laboratory area, setting the canister down. "I’m gonna get the analysis going and leave some notes for B," Ollie says to the other two as he carefully decants the blood rose vase, mouth skewing to the side in distaste at the smell and the viscous slosh of it.
Pointing over at the armoury, Ollie says to Mia, “Honeybunch, you wanna find us some collapsible katana from in there? For you, me, and Roy.” He pauses with a pipette poised over the blood samples. “Get two for me.”
Bruce watched Mia as she moved, away from Ollie’s side—he noticed the death glare the young woman cast his way, as well, at the request that she gather something—and waited to see what she did. He did this often enough that it often led to his now trademarked ‘everywhere, at all times’ entrances, but it was more than that.
From here, where he was, already inside the Armory, he could watch Mia’s movements, annotate them. The slight turn out of her left foot and the way her head canted to one side, as if she’d slept wrong. If nothing more than creating a profile, Bruce watched her, knowing that of course, there was another reason: he wanted to understand her better. It was no secret that the two of them did not get along, and he understood the reasons why, and wanted to find a way to bridge them. Meet in the middle.
Well, watching me in the dark and not saying anything isn’t exactly the way to go about it, creeper.
Stepping out, Bruce cleared his throat, so he wouldn’t startle her.. too much.
"There are.." He clears his throat again. "I have multiple sizes. What are you most comfortable with?"
"I’ll be fine." Mia said giving Alfred a small smile, but shaking her head. Granted she hated cold, but she’d learned to deal with it well enough. As they made it down to the cave though it was colder than she thought it’d be. Still, she didn’t complain…
She gave Ollie a sarcastic sort of salute before turning and heading into the armory, “Why do we need collapsible katanas?” She called over her shoulder, and turned around as Bruce made his presence known. “Jesus Christ.” She muttered and let out an annoyed huff of breath. “Do you just lurk around just to surprise people or something?” Mia asked, totally ignoring the fact that they were in his cave.
Oh well. She turned back towards the Katanas and giving a small shrug. “Smaller ones, I guess. Light ones.” It wasn’t like she couldn’t handle heavier things, archers of course had good upper body strength, but she just liked smaller ones.
"Because for what we’re gonna be going up against, I want us to be completely prepared, and Bruce’s got better stuff when it comes to martial arts than we do now that Connor’s not here to be on my ass about—"
Ollie stopped himself when he heard Mia’s muttered interjection, grinning to himself. He’d taken the Lord God’s name in vain himself in exactly the same tone dozens of times over the years, and always whenever Bruce loomed unexpectedly out of some shadowy nook or crevice.
He busied himself with getting the centrifuge going while he listened to Mia and Bruce talking, not wanting to interrupt. This shit was fascinating.
Bruce nodded and moved into the Armory, pressing his hands against one of the drawers that hissed with the release of an airlock and lowered down in front of them. Inside were several polished, near shining swords in ranging ages and sizes, and he only took a minute before choosing one.
"This should work."
It was small, light weight, and oddly—or perhaps not oddly—lacquered and wrapped in a deep yellow. He handed it over to her, before choosing one for her brother, two for her father. He nodded, and moved past her, to the threshold of the smaller room and looked over at Oliver.
"When do you leave?"
"Soon as we’re done here. Gonna swing by the house and pick up Roy, and then we’re off."
Ollie set aside the canister — this was the waiting point as far as the lab analysis went, and with Bruce here, he didn’t need to fuss with it any longer — and moved over to grasp Bruce’s elbow. He knew that Bruce couldn’t exactly feel anything gentle through the thick nomex, but he stroked the inside bend of the man’s arm with his thumb anyhow.
"Thanks for the loaners," Ollie said, nodding over to the armoury where Mia was weighing out her katana options. "We’ll bring ‘em back safe and sound. And their wielders, too."
Grinning, Ollie went out to meet up with Mia, swinging his arms in front of him and clapping to get her attention. “Quit fiddling with those fiddlesticks and let’s get a shake on, girlchik! We got superheroing to do!”
- - -
Once Mia had gotten off work she decided to head to the Titans Tower instead of home for the day. Due to certain company at the penthouse she’d been staying at the tower more often then not, even though she felt a little bad doing that.
Anyway, she about left the flowers put next to the door there because it wasn’t like it was every day things were put on her doorstep. They had a P.O. box for fan stuff, and too many sensors for random people to just drop things off. But Mia noticed the flowers and picked them up, looking mildly interested and brought them inside her room. A second later when she realized what the were sitting in, Mia quickly put them down on the nearest surfice and backed away.
"No." She said holding her hands up, and laughing in a mostly sarcastic way. Reaching over sure not to touch the vase, not that the blood would seep through it onto her, she picked up the note and read it frowning. "What the fuck. Jesus Christ."
Mia rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone sending a text to Ollie.
[TXT] Ollie. There were some… I don’t even fucking know. Hang on let me send you a pic
[photo attatchment]
[TXT] That is blood those flowers are sitting in just fyi. And it had some creepy note too. WTF?? They were outside my door at the Titans Tower.
Then she sent a mass text to the Titans.
[TXT] Got some roses sitting in blood outside the front door of the Tower guys. WTF is all our security equipment for if not to stop someone giving us flowers sitting in blood?
Ollie sends back: [TXT] Ramsey got some kind of creepy delivery too. We’re gonna swing by and check on him.
[TXT] Be on guard, you know the drill. If TT has the capabilities, test the blood and see if it’s human. Due caution handling the flowers.
[TXT] love you be safe
[TXT] It’s human.
[TXT] Should I drop it off for you all to look at or something? Or else I’m just going to throw it out…
[TXT] Bring it to Wayne Manor. Soon as you can.
[TXT] ok
[TXT] hey besides this stuff are you busy?
[TXT] Just sorting out the details for our soon-to-be sojurn to go get your brother Tak, but that’s not for a couple days yet. something on your mind, honeybunch?
[TXT] if it requires face-to-face, we can talk when you get to the Manor
[TXT] It doesn’t require one but it’d be preferred. w/e I’ll be there in like five secs.
It was more like ten minutes. Because she hadn’t figured out exactly how to transfer this blood vase thing without touching it yet. She managed to find some high tech equipment in the junk closet and put some clamps on the vase to lower it into a holding pot where she closed it inside, treating it as if it were some fragile bomb or something. Finally Mia made her way to the zeta tube and punched in the coordinates for Wayne Manor, managing not to drop what she was carrying.
"Ok I’m here!" She called looking around. "Someone take this thing away from me. I also brought the note if that’ll help anything too…" Whatever it meant.
Ollie was waiting for her at the zeta transporter — a necessary step, since Mia had transported into the portal that was just outside of the Wayne Manor grounds. In order to get into the bay in the Cave, a person’s biometrics and zeta code had to be uploaded and authorized by the man himself, and this impromptu meeting hadn’t allowed for that.
"Here, lemme take that thing," he said when he saw Mia awkwardly cradling the bulky holding pot. "We got a little walk up the grounds to get inside." The main gate access code, Ollie already knew, so after the massive wrought iron wings of it swung open, they started the amble up towards the Manor.
"So I guess you heard that there’s been messed-up shit being sent to all you kids," he said. "Ramsey getting fibreglass cotton candy and all that."
She was happy to hand over the pot to Oliver as they headed up to the gate and she heaved a sigh. “Cass got teeth. How gross is that?” She said and wrinkled her nose. “I thought it was a Titans thing or something, but I guess not since Ramsey got stuff too. I should probably tell Vic that. I might have over reacted in my text to him… But I mean… the Tower has been blown up like… how many times? So many.” Granted she was pretty sure at least twice it’d been blown up by actual Titans but whatever…
Mia pulled out her phone and sent another text to him before putting it away again. “So, what’s the deal with this anyway? What’s going on? Who’s doing this? Is this a Batman thing or a You thing? I mean.. you guys do seem to be the cause of most of our major issues. No offense.” She added trying to hold her smile back.
"Yeah, none taken." Ollie made a face back at Mia’s smile, although he didn’t really protest her point. Not really. "I have no idea what this is about, tell you the truth, although Kate’s theory is that who or whatever it is intends to target our kids. I thought it was regular ol’ superhero heckling, but Ramsey…" Ollie shook his head, looking disgusted. "Who the fuck would try to get a child to eat fibreglass? It’s sick. Thank god he’s okay."
Titus came lolloping out of the house and made a wide circuit behind them, checking for danger, before coming to trot on Mia’s side as they continued their brisk walk. “Good boy,” Ollie said to the dog, who woofed and moved closer to Mia. “I’m guessing we haven’t even rounded up all the reports of this messed-up stuff happening yet, but maybe it’ll give us a clearer picture of the threat when we do.”
Pushing the urn into the crook of one elbow to balance on his hip as he opened the great doors of the Manor, Ollie looked at Mia and grinned, “Betcher glad we don’t live in one’a these gothic mausoleums, hey?”
Mia shrugged her shoulders and thought about it. There were a lot of sick people out there that they had to deal with. Though Batman had the sickest people, so it was probably a Batman thing. “People need to stop being assholes and target who they want to actually target. I mean for Christs sake. It’s such god damn bullshit.” It really annoyed her.
When Titus ran towards them, she managed to brighten up and waved enthusiastically at the dog. “Hey!” She said leaning down and petting him as he sniffed at her hands and legs. “Sorry I didn’t bring Kiki with me, honey. Don’t worry I’m sure you two will have another playdate soon. We’ll clear it with Damian and see when you’re free…”
She laughed and nodded her head. “I can’t really picture you wanting to own a place like this anyway. Penthouse fits better.” Mia said. Because it just did. The brownstone had been okay, but the penthouse was better. Anyway she didn’t see how these guys lived here without getting lost on a daily basis…
Once they were inside and safe, Titus broke off and trotted away to see to whatever other dog business needed to be attended to. By the time the click of his nails on the hardwood floor had faded, Ollie had reached the big kitchen, with its old-fashioned layout and ultra-modern appliances and set the sample urn carefully on a side counter, leaving it for a moment.
"Have a cookie," he said instead, opening the ceramic cookie jar on the table and peering inside before tipping it in Mia’s direction. "I dunno what kind they are, but they’re always good." Alfred would tell Ollie what they were if he asked, but Ollie preferred the surprise.
Fishing a couple of them out for himself, Ollie leaned his hips against the table and looked at Mia. “So,” he said, “what’s this you wanted to talk to me about?”
"I only like Chocolate Chip cookies…" Mia said in an almost suspicious tone and leaned against the counter taking one and eating it even though they weren’t chocolate chip. Oh well.
She smiled slightly, “I’m pregnant.— Haha just kidding. That’s never going to get old.” Mia leaned back as she laughed and let out a deep sigh. Maybe because she didn’t really know how to say this? Even if it wasn’t really that big of a deal it… still sort of was that big of a deal.
“Actually. Okay so… Like while me and Zach were in Italy we were talking. And we thought it
would be kind of fun to move in together over the summer? Or— Well, I don’t know if the word ‘fun’ came up. But… you know what I mean… Yeah.” She said glancing at Oliver out of the corner of her eyes.
Ollie stopped in mid-chew, putting down the second half of his cookies and flicking the crumbs from his moustache for a moment before he said, sadly, “Oh, honey.” He folded his arms, rubbing his face with one hand as he digested this and then, haltingly, asked, “…is it because Shado’s at our house?”
Mia raised her eyebrows, and blinked a couple of times before shaking her head. “No. You said she’s not going to be there that long right? She isn’t going to be there by the summer is she Ollie?” She asked in a more serious tone and sent him an expectant look. Because she had better not be. But she continued on. “But no. We just thought… it’d be fun. Actually I thought it’d be cool to like… find a place I could decorate while I was there. Instead of just… redecorating the penthouse repeatedly? Because you never let me paint or anything. And if Zach is there he can totally do all the heavy lifting stuff with magic.”
She fiddled with the cookie in her hand. “We just thought it’d be fun sort of… And we’ll still be in Star City. Because like, I’m not zeta-ing to work every morning. He’s going to have to deal with that. But yeah… no… it doesn’t have anything to do with Shado… It has to do with me. And Zach.”
The relief that crossed Ollie’s face was palpable, as was the determination in his voice when he confirmed, “No, there’s no goddamn way that Shado’s gonna be in our house any longer than she strictly has to be. Kate and Bruce are gonna keep an eye on her while we’re gone looking for Tak, by the way, but no, she won’t be here come summer. If I have to find her another place to live my own damn self.”
With that out of the way, Ollie considered the rest of what Mia had said. The Star City part of it soothed many of his misgivings about what she was proposing, although that didn’t prevent him from sounding a bit grumpy when he said, “And is Zach going into this with his eyes open? Because he seems pretty high-maintenance to me, and he’s gonna have to put some of that selfishness aside if he’s gonna live with you. Even temporarily. Even if you’re working and he’s travelling for his little magic show.”
Ollie reached over and stroked Mia’s ponytail, compulsively.
She nodded her head a little bit. “When are we going to get him anyway? Soon? With all this stuff going on?” For all they knew there could be another catastrophe when they were gone even if they were gone for a day. But then again there was always that risk wasn’t there?
Mia laughed and shrugged her shoulders. “I’m aware of how high maintenance Zach is. And I’m aware of how high maintenance I can be too. Which means it’s good a that we can leave and go to the tower, or our actual homes whenever we want to. It’s just… I don’t know. I’ve never lived with like… a roommate before. If you want to call this that. I mean besides the titans tower but I never actually lived there. If it ends up being a shit show then we can leave. Who cares.
We’re not really… making it that big of a deal. I just want to… see what it’s like. I guess.”
Ollie grunted. “Well,” he said grudgingly, “it is important or you to try out these kinds of experiences on your own. When you feel ready. With people you trust.” He raises an eyebrow. “And I’m glad you’re prepared for the high possibility of shit show.” He paused, and then repeated significantly, “The HIGH possibility.”
Leaving that topic aside for a moment, Ollie jumped back to the first one: “We’re going very soon. After the weekend. And yeah, even with all this stuff going on. Our window of opportunity is kinda limited and we can’t afford to sit on it much longer.” Ollie resumed eating his cookie, getting another one to join it. “They’ll be fine without us round here, at least for a couple of days.” He looked over at the canister. “Ready to get this down to the Cave?”
"Man, I hope it does turn into a shit show. I don’t want it to be boring.” Mia didn’t know why those were the only two possibilities. But… She would rather things be exciting. And Zach was just hilarious enough that she’d love it. “Maybe we can film it and put it on youtube! That’d be a lot of fun…”
Mia nodded her head as Oliver spoke and explained they’d have to do this. Well, then that made sense she guessed. They’d probably be find without them. Hopefully it’d give them a big of a break from the weird creepy villain thing for a few days at the very least. She pulled away from the counter and nodded her head. “Lets do this. It seems… probably not good to have a bunch of blood roses sitting around in a kitchen. No matter what they’re being held in.” She said and smiled a bit before speaking again in a curious tone as she followed Ollie. “Are you nervous? To like… talk to him?” To her knowledge he hadn’t actually talked to Tak the last time they had seen him.
The sound of their steps coming down the hallway—Ollie’s sliding instep on the balls of his feet, Mia’s steady and light footfalls— would have alerted Alfred to their presence, if their talking hadn’t already done the job.
They weren’t being loud, not necessarily, but the butler had become accustomed to the stilted tone and volume of the people who lived within the walls of the great home. He was also used to those that would visit and found the Manor’s modulating influence affecting the way they normally conversed, making them talk slower, softer. It wasn’t so with Oliver, or any of his brood, to Alfred’s knowledge, and so the colorful tones of their conversation carried—even if the words they spoke did not, providing a modicum of privacy—all the way across the dividing hallways to the kitchen, as he walked towards them.
He approaches them, and promptly stops in front of Oliver, and Mia, hands folding in front of him.
"Ah, Miss Dearden. Welcome. Shall I assume that your father has made sure you have been properly fed and attended.. to?" Alfred faltered, looking down at the vase and roses that the archer carried. Immediately, his brow knitting in concern, he sensed something off.
"Hm."
To tell the truth, Ollie was faintly relieved that Alfred had bumped into them and saved him from having to answer Mia’s question right away. Was he nervous to talk to Tak? Well, yeah, inasmuch as he’d barely even thought of Tak, except to feel guilty about not going to find him all this time. And that kind of guilt, the whole World’s Shittiest Father deal, was so built into Ollie’s psyche at this point that it wasn’t anything to remark upon, hardly out of the ordinary.
"She’s fed and watered, yeah, Alfred," he said instead, and lifted the canister slightly where it was crooked in his arm. "Some evidence along the lines of the fake candy floss that got sent to Ramsey, and the teeth and hair that Cass and Steph got. Mia got a bunch of roses in blood." He looked past Alfred at the grandfather clock further down the hallway. "Is he down there? You think he’d have a fit if I brought Speedy here down? We could always put on our masks if it would keep things kosher."
Mia smiled and waved when she saw Alfred. “Hi.” She greeted and glanced over at Oliver when he spoke. “Yeah, I had some cookies. They were really good by the way. Even if they weren’t chocolate chip.” She cast a glance at the pot Oliver was holding and looked at it with distaste but her expression changed when he mentioned that Bruce might not like it if she went down to the cave. “Oh my god! How anal can one person be!” She rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms in a disgruntled way. Jesus it wasn’t like she didn’t know he was Batman. Or that he had his super secret batcave under his house or whatever.
Alfred’s growing distaste for the situation was obvious as he listened to what horrendous ‘gifts’ had been delivered to the children, before the realization of what it was Oliver was holding was brought to light. Then, he was outright frowning, an expression he attempted to lighten before he looked over at how Mia was dressed.
"I don’t believe that there will be any issue with you both coming down as you are, but I.." He looks at Mia, frowning the tiniest bit. "It might be very cold, please let me know if I can bring you some tea or coffee while you work. Perhaps a cashmere shawl or I can see if one of Mrs. Spencer-Queen’s jackets might suit you."
He leads the way, but instead of through the study, through the kitchen pantry and towards the moving stairs that lead down to the lowest levels in the Cave.
"Never goddamn dressed warm enough for this place," Ollie mutters to himself as they ride the escalator down into the Cave. He hops off a few stairs before the landing and trots at a brisk pace to the laboratory area, setting the canister down. "I’m gonna get the analysis going and leave some notes for B," Ollie says to the other two as he carefully decants the blood rose vase, mouth skewing to the side in distaste at the smell and the viscous slosh of it.
Pointing over at the armoury, Ollie says to Mia, “Honeybunch, you wanna find us some collapsible katana from in there? For you, me, and Roy.” He pauses with a pipette poised over the blood samples. “Get two for me.”
Bruce watched Mia as she moved, away from Ollie’s side—he noticed the death glare the young woman cast his way, as well, at the request that she gather something—and waited to see what she did. He did this often enough that it often led to his now trademarked ‘everywhere, at all times’ entrances, but it was more than that.
From here, where he was, already inside the Armory, he could watch Mia’s movements, annotate them. The slight turn out of her left foot and the way her head canted to one side, as if she’d slept wrong. If nothing more than creating a profile, Bruce watched her, knowing that of course, there was another reason: he wanted to understand her better. It was no secret that the two of them did not get along, and he understood the reasons why, and wanted to find a way to bridge them. Meet in the middle.
Well, watching me in the dark and not saying anything isn’t exactly the way to go about it, creeper.
Stepping out, Bruce cleared his throat, so he wouldn’t startle her.. too much.
"There are.." He clears his throat again. "I have multiple sizes. What are you most comfortable with?"
"I’ll be fine." Mia said giving Alfred a small smile, but shaking her head. Granted she hated cold, but she’d learned to deal with it well enough. As they made it down to the cave though it was colder than she thought it’d be. Still, she didn’t complain…
She gave Ollie a sarcastic sort of salute before turning and heading into the armory, “Why do we need collapsible katanas?” She called over her shoulder, and turned around as Bruce made his presence known. “Jesus Christ.” She muttered and let out an annoyed huff of breath. “Do you just lurk around just to surprise people or something?” Mia asked, totally ignoring the fact that they were in his cave.
Oh well. She turned back towards the Katanas and giving a small shrug. “Smaller ones, I guess. Light ones.” It wasn’t like she couldn’t handle heavier things, archers of course had good upper body strength, but she just liked smaller ones.
"Because for what we’re gonna be going up against, I want us to be completely prepared, and Bruce’s got better stuff when it comes to martial arts than we do now that Connor’s not here to be on my ass about—"
Ollie stopped himself when he heard Mia’s muttered interjection, grinning to himself. He’d taken the Lord God’s name in vain himself in exactly the same tone dozens of times over the years, and always whenever Bruce loomed unexpectedly out of some shadowy nook or crevice.
He busied himself with getting the centrifuge going while he listened to Mia and Bruce talking, not wanting to interrupt. This shit was fascinating.
Bruce nodded and moved into the Armory, pressing his hands against one of the drawers that hissed with the release of an airlock and lowered down in front of them. Inside were several polished, near shining swords in ranging ages and sizes, and he only took a minute before choosing one.
"This should work."
It was small, light weight, and oddly—or perhaps not oddly—lacquered and wrapped in a deep yellow. He handed it over to her, before choosing one for her brother, two for her father. He nodded, and moved past her, to the threshold of the smaller room and looked over at Oliver.
"When do you leave?"
"Soon as we’re done here. Gonna swing by the house and pick up Roy, and then we’re off."
Ollie set aside the canister — this was the waiting point as far as the lab analysis went, and with Bruce here, he didn’t need to fuss with it any longer — and moved over to grasp Bruce’s elbow. He knew that Bruce couldn’t exactly feel anything gentle through the thick nomex, but he stroked the inside bend of the man’s arm with his thumb anyhow.
"Thanks for the loaners," Ollie said, nodding over to the armoury where Mia was weighing out her katana options. "We’ll bring ‘em back safe and sound. And their wielders, too."
Grinning, Ollie went out to meet up with Mia, swinging his arms in front of him and clapping to get her attention. “Quit fiddling with those fiddlesticks and let’s get a shake on, girlchik! We got superheroing to do!”