batmanschmatman | 015 [audio]

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015 [audio]

[Filtered away from Roman, but otherwise Public.]

Okay, so, a flood turned hostile takeover attempt, another sinister plot, a port... now do you think we'll get a little bit of downtime?

I know people had their issues with port, but seriously, at least for the most part, barring a misadventure here or there, most of us got out pretty unscathed. That's got to be worth something on the scale of boring to traumatic.

... And it was kind of fun, being a cop again. Even if there wasn't exactly much chasing down bad guys involved.

I mean, not that I'm saying "sign me up for a universe transfer", but I guess all I'm trying to say is I'll take what I can get.

[Private to Port Family: Olivia, Wally, Seven, Tim, Shego, Isaac]

Seriously, as far as fake families went, you guys were pretty cool.

[Private to Tim]

Were you ever going to get around to telling me my best friend survived the Crisis?

[Private to Ariadne]

Did you and Jensen get to say your tearful good byes, or are you now parted from your one true love forever?

And hey, I think this port's the first time we've ever gotten to hang out that hasn't been interrupted by the Barge trying to collapse around us or something. Clearly a celebration is in order.

[Private to Bourne]

So... How's your shoulder?

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Guess I should trust you, being an architect and all.

[Still, he hung back, not wanting to hop up before she'd figured out what was in the opening, if there even was room for two people up there.]

[She slicked back her wet hair and shifted so she could get some better light to better investigate the opening with. When that wasn't quite possible, she decided on something decidedly more risky and began sliding in.]

It'll be alright, okay?

[He laughed and finally climbed out of the water up onto the ledge, following her inside.]

Like I said, I trust you.

[Ariadne smiled wider, but she was somewhat obscured by the rocks around her. It was a slightly narrow tunnel but she had confidence that Dick would fit through. Carefully she continued to scoot backwards, glad that she had never been the claustrophobic type. But soon she was in the interior of the mountain, a small cave that opened up far wider than she thought it would. Sure, it was dark, but she could make out shapes in the darkness.]

There's something else back here.

[Dick's eyes adjusted fairly quickly to the darkness despite the bright sunlight outside, which shouldn't really have been shocking at all, but because of the slightly close quarters and Ariadne's position in front of him, he couldn't really see what was back in the cave yet.]

What is it?

[She carefully moved along the wall of the cave, in case there were some pit that she couldn't see.]

It's a cave. I can't see much.

[So, the architect glanced back in Dick's direction.]

Are you okay?

[Dick paused for a moment, looking from Ariadne to glance around the cave before shrugging slightly.]

Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?

[Ariadne looked in his direction again and her eyes were finally properly adjusting to the darkness. That was Dick, not some mound of rocks.]

Sorry, I couldn't see you.

[She pulled her knees up toward her chest as she tried to see more, but her own sight failed her slightly and she simply scooted closer to Dick.]

Can you see anything?

[Dick stayed still, not minding the closeness of the other warden. He tried looking past her, but again, the proximity, angle and lighting made it hard to see much beyond Ariadne. He shrugged again and smiled, even if she might not be able to see it.]

I see you.

[Ariadne glanced back at him, trying to see his features in the dark but failing. Still, she quirked the corners of her mouth.]

Anything about the cave?

You're kinda blocking my view.

[The architect tilted her head to the side a little before carefully scooting forward toward the center of the cave, trying to feel out the terrain she couldn't see. Her hand, though, met empty air and she let out a cry before, oh, wait, no there it is. Solid rock again. Just a little hole.]

Sorry.

[But now that her adrenaline was pumping through her, she thought she could almost see Dick.]

[Dick had been miliseconds away from reaching out to grab her to make sure he wasn't about to go toppling over the edge of a cliff before she confirmed she wasn't about to do just that. Still, it had been enough to get his own adrenaline pumping, and he reached out to grab her wrist to make sure she was fine.]

You okay?

[Ariadne took a couple moments to breathe, taking a definite comfort in Dick's hand around her wrist. She followed his arm back toward him like an overboard sailor would a line back to his ship and she sat beside him again. Okay, she'd gotten her fill of exploring for the day.]

Just a dip in the floor. I wasn't expecting it. Sorry.

[But there could very well be a giant whole and she simply couldn't see.]

[He didn't move, hand still around her wrist until she was safely back next to him. That could very easily have ended very badly, and he was all kinds of relieved that it hadn't.] It's okay.

[He sat there quietly for a few moments before gesturing back towards the entrance.] You want to head back out? Next time, we'll bring flashlights or something.

Yeah, yeah that'd be a good idea. Light would be good.

[She still kept a grip on his arm, delicate fingers clenching his forearm tightly.]

We should head back.

Sure. C'mon.

[And he slowly started making his way out of the cave, initially careful to move so that if she wanted to keep hanging on, she could. He didn't mind being someone's anchor, and honestly? Her hand had felt kinda right there.]

[Ariadne indeed kept a firm hold on his arm, just in case. She was still a little too overwhelmed by the adrenaline to take the moment to admire his ahem build.]

We should still be close to the tunnel, right?

[And past that, sunlight again.]

Yeah, don't worry, it's not far.

[And sure enough, pretty soon they were back at the beginning of the small tunnel, and Dick carefully climbed back out onto the ledge, looking back quickly to grin at her again. He was, once again, sort of oblivious to the fact that he was now shirtless, in broad daylight with someone who didn't know really all that much about who he was or what he did with himself, which probably should have felt like more of an issue to the vigilante, but it... sort of didn't, had he really been thinking about it.]

See? Piece of cake.

[When they were back in the light, Ariadne blinked a few times, beaming over at him in sheer relief. Nothing like a little excitement to spice up the day. Her smile only lasted a few moments though, as she took in his scarred torso. Before she could stop herself she reached out and ran her thumb over the scar nearest to where she'd been gripping his arm.]

What happened?

Huh? Oh. [He looked down at where she'd brushed her thumb and shrugged.] That's from the Aztec invasion thing. No big deal.

[He was, for the moment, ignoring the rest of the scars, which varied in size, shape and color, some faded and some clearly more recent. The two most noticeable or potentially concerning were the largeish mark on his chest from the antimatter ray that had almost killed him the year before and the through and through bullet wound to the shoulder that had ended his career as Robin, but pretty much most of his exposed flesh had some kind of mark on it.]

You want to head down?

[She didn't answer his question, instead taking in those two incredibly noticeable scars. Her mouth fell agape as she resisted touching them. They looked painful, incredibly so. In fact, she'd never seen such marks on a person's body before and honestly hadn't expected them on Dick.]

Oh my God.

[Oh. Whoops. Dick immediately felt kind of awkward, and didn't really know what to say. It had been easier when Hayley had seen the scars since she knew about the comics, and no one else on the Barge but the obvious exception of Tim had seen them before.

Still, he managed a hopefully reassuring smile. The injuries were long healed, he'd survived, and he was okay. It's not like they still hurt or anything.]

Hey, it's okay. I'm fine.

[Ariadne swallowed and finally took her gaze to his face, less than reassured by his smile. These were more than a little overwhelming to see. How did sons of CEO's get these kind of injuries in the first place.]

How did this...?

[And she thought she was reckless.]

[Dick shrugged.] No one ever said being a cop in Bludhaven's an easy job.

[Which... didn't actually really explain most of the injuries, but it was close enough to the truth that it would hopefully hold water. Most people weren't up enough on their knowledge of how injuries healed to be able to approximate the exact age of the scar, so he wasn't worried about her asking why the bullet wound to the shoulder looked much older then some of the others. He definitely wasn't telling her it had happened when he was seventeen.]

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