| It's a Bird! It's a plane! It's...Robin? | |||||
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| What: Lois nearly falls off a building, only to be rescued by Robin. | |||||
Darkness has settled over Metropolis. The globe atop the Daily Planet building is a glimmering gold sphere, radiating like the sun. Back light by the amber light, a woman seems to be trying to climb up onto the lip of the roof. There's a high wind tonight, felt by the figure, as she wobbles faintly as she works to get up onto the ledge.
What are the odds that Robin just happens to be running by on a lower roofop when he sees the backlit woman on the edge and changes direction. 'What are you doing Robin..this isn't your turf.' he thinks at himself as he sends a grapple line up and fly/glides to land behind the woman on the rooftop with barely a whisper. "Don't." he speaks, his voice low. "You have so much to live for."
A squeak of surprise escapes the woman's lips, and she freezes. One foot barely touching the rooftop, the other knee fully on the lip of the roof top. Her hands are on the roof lip, hoisting herself up when she goes still. That's... not a familiar voice.. at ALL. Adrenaline spikes up her spine.
"Yeah... sure, butif I lose my pen," Lois retorts without turning around because OMG she just realized how high UP she was. She whoas and drops to clutch the roof ledge suddenly, the vertigo of a slightly swaying building and an air gust is not healthy for a regular person AT ALL!
Robin rushes forward to grab the woman before she can jump, reaching out with strong hands to take hold of her waiste. "Don't!" he growls.
Lois lets out a short squeaky yelp of surprise as the youth grabs her by the waist. A tiny voice drifts up from just over the ledge, it's soft, barely audible; a girl's voice. "Dammit! Let me go," Lois retorts, speaking over the soft voice, twisting to look over the ledge as Robin steadies her. The daft woman seems intent on getting OVER the edge to rescue her pen some five feet down on a small ledge. It is precariously balanced. She turns to look at Robin now, about ready to tell him off, hands coming up to try to push his arms off her waist when she spies the mask, and the very unfamiliar uniform. "Who the hell?"
The boy forcefully pulls the older woman back from the ledge. "That is a good way to get yourself killed, isn't it. Relax lady...I'll get your pen." he says, letting Lois go and leaping the railing easily. Dropping down, his cape flares and balances him agianst the wind as he stoops and picks up the talking pen. Another quick leap and he is back on the 'safe side' of the building.
Robin is extending the pen towards the crazy suicide jumper when the voice stops him. He double takes and glances at the pen, before his face schools and goes back to neutral. "You're Lois Lane." he states. Not a question.
With oof, Lois stumbles back onto the rooftop. Without hesitation, she's turning back around to see the child jump from the ledge. Is he mental, or is he a flyer? Not given the time to check, Lois gasps in startlement as Robin reappears in front of her with that black cape fluttering in the wind. She notes the dobule take, violet eyes narrowing faintly.
"And you're one of the two Supergirl didn't want to talk about," counters the reporter as she reaches out to take and silence her talking pen. "The four of you are getting some motion on YouTube. Drop a name on me, and I'll take the story away from Grant," Lois offers with a frown. Either the boy's got a sharp mind for recognizing voices, or...
The teen turns away and moves back to the ledge, and only stops when the upper half of his body his once again cloaked in shadow. He turns then, that black cape of his encircling his body, leaving only tiny hints of any color. And those eyes...peircing white triangles agianst an other wise hidden face. "Is that a threat?" he asks, his voice again, pitched low.
Now where has she seens those peircing, unnerving, almost inhuman white gleaming eyes before? Lois folds her arms over her chest, facing off against the Teen Blunder, chin lifting defiantly.
"You're a little far away from Gotham, aren't you," Lois retorts, fighting down the urge to squeak-run that Batman gave her when they 'met' by masking it with her usual blunt force personality. "And no. It's not a threat. It's a promise. Grant's a fluff ball. I'm not. And I've got a reputation of naming 'supers', so give me something I can work with, little Red." It /has/ been established that Lois is stubborn to a point and tends to live dangerously, right?
The teen counters quickly, his voice still low and almost whisper quiet. It sounds a little...distorted...his voice does. Not to mention that as windy as it is, it should be really hard to hear him. "And I would think that your intelligent enough to realize that the railing is there for your saftey. Or is this a 'thing' for you?"
Lois tilts her head, catching only every other third word. She tucks her pen into the pocket of her jacket. "Speak up, Red. Mumbling's a bad habit," she quips as she refolds her arms over her chest.
"Oh, yeah. You should see me on Friday nights," Lois retorts sarcastically, moving to step toward Robin. Her arms fall from her chest and she tucks her pen into a pocket for safe keeping, not trying to hide the motion in the slightest. It's as if the thought doesn't occur to her.
"So, Red it is. What are you doing in Metropolis? Lending Supergirl a hand," Lois asks, voice authoritative and calm.
The teen turns to leave, his cloak swirling behind him as he turns his back to the reporter and places a hand on the railing, ready to leap it much the same way he did before. Then he stops for some reason. "You didn't have to go after her the way you did tonight." he says softly. "Everything that the Super's do for you and you go on the attack. It makes you seem very very ungrateful."
Oh, that urks her. Lois strides right up to Robin, violet eyes flashing. She's tired and has way too much in her brain with trying to get this Captain America piece to fit with everything else to try to play nice.
"Better me than the Bugle or some anti-super, anti-mutant two bit rag. She's got tells like a turret addled poker player, and she's got to fix that. I went easy on her today. I could have dropped her to a blubbering idiot, but I didn't. Lord help me, I held back. So if she went crying on your shoulder, sorry, but I don't care. She needs to be tough enough to deal with offensive reporters -- because let me tell you something, kid, they're out there and they don't like you, they don't like the Supers, they don't like capes. So if it makes me seem ungrateful for everything they do, you clearly haven't a clue what the media is capable of or why someone like /me/ forces people like /you/ to answer the hard questions," Lois rants, all but jabbing a finger into Robin's chest.
Robin just stands there and takes it, letting the rant wash over him, without a flinch or a muscle twitch. Like his mentor before him, be can be perfectly carved out of stone sometimes. When the lady finishes, he shakes his head. "They don't like me." he states, that low voice infuriatingly calm. "Because I am not Superman. I am not Colossus. I am not going to be in this Justice League and on the front page of your newspaper. So why does someone like /you/ care about an opinion from someone like /me/? Why all this...emotion...over me saying you were too hard on her?"
"Because you didn't have to give it to me," Lois replies, voice falling soft again. "And because you were there at the concert, fighting at her side, and she covered for you, which means you matter to her; and she matters to me." Lois sighs softly, "I have to be hard on her. I have to be hard on all of you, whether I like you or not." A smirk, and Lois drops her head to one side, almost looking cute. "And thanks for saving my pen."
The boy just stands there a moment, half in darkness and half in the light. A crossroads if you will of something he just finihsed discussing this very night. "Robin." he says at last, letting the wind open his cloak just enough to show the 'R' in his chest.
Lois holds out her right hand now, face smiling even as the winds pull at her. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Robin. I'm Lois Lane," she says. Yes, she knows he knows that, but this is just how things are done. This is how connections are made. As she stands there, she's going over the news briefs from the Gazette she's skimmed and more recently read since her last night time excursion into Gotham.
It's rude. He knows it's rude, and he knows that she knows it's rude. But Robin crosses his arms under the cloak, and just stares at the hand a moment. "Pleasure." he states dryly. "If you're not about to Jump, I have a city to get back too."
Lois quirks a brow, keeping her hand out stretched still. "Wow... Really?"
The boy actually grins. "Skin, hair, epithelials, blood, sweat....keeping an identity a secret is a real pain in the ass." Robin still doesn't extend his hand forward but he does take a few steps forward towards the woman. Wow..this kid makes no noise. "So yes. Really."
Lois holds her ground, smirks, and retorts, "You're wearing gloves." Yup! Lois is mistress of the obvious. But then, maybe he forgot. Being rude can do that to a person. As if to emphasize, she holds makes a point of offering that hand again.
Robin shakes his head once, and turns away again, retreating back into the darkness. "We've come a long way since Oh-jay." he quips softly. Wait...was that a joke? "So you care about Supergirl?" he subject changes quickly. "Genuine caring, or because she gets your paper to sell?"
By the dumb look Lois given in reply to Robin's joke it's clear that this reporter is NOT a forensic scientist or detective of any type. She's still mulling it over even as she follows his subject change, turning to keep him in sight as he moves to the shadows while she remains in the light reflecting off the globe.
"Of course I care about her. She's Superman's cousin," Lois replies, her cheeks starting to blush slightly. Dammit! Even just saying his NAME! "It has nothing to do with papers or sales. She's a good kid, and following in her cousin's footsteps. It's a dangerous thing they... you all do," she says, leaning on the word /you/ to include Robin. "I'd be scum of the earth if I didn't worry."
"I'm not like they are." he states calmly. "Which is why I think most media types don't like my 'family'." The boy stops at the railing, looking out over the city, now completely cloaked in the shadows. With is eyes turned away, he is a slightly darker patch in a pool of darkness. "But I'm glad that you care enough to teach her."
"Well, she's got big red boots to fill, if she's trying to live up to her cousin's example," Lois comments, stepping toward the darkness. "And if you'd open up, let people see you as more than just a scary dark shadow, maybe they'd see you differently," she offers.
"I think you misunderstand me, Mrs. Lane. I say I'm not like them not because I hide in the shadows and use the darkness to my advantage. I say I'm not like them because I'm not like them. I'm perfectly, normally, 100 percent human." he states, in that calm matter-of-fact voice. "Everyone loves a hero. They love a legend. They love someone who makes a difference because thay are bigger and better, stronger and faster, can fly and be bulletproof. Those people can make a difference. Those people can save the day. Little ol' me? I'll just bow my head and try not to get noticed. If I'm lucky, maybe Superman will show up to stop that mugger, because I can't. I'm not special."
Robin turns to the reporter and smiles softly. "Well Mrs. Lane. I'm not special either. But I can still make a difference."
You know... With his face half turned to the light like that, soft smile on his face, he's actually sorta of cute. Lois refrains from wanting to reach out to ruffle his hair. Instead, the reporter settles on nodding and saying, "I'm going to quote you on that, Robin. This world's too full of supers now. We've got to remember that all of us, no matter how 'not special' can make a difference."
The boy nods his head and leaps to the top of the railing smoothly. "I would appreciate you not quoting me on that. Try not to fall off any buildings until Superman gets back into town."
Lois smirks at that, folding her arms over her chest. "No promises, Robin," she retorts though which request she's not making promises for might very well remain a mystery.
Robin leaps off the ledge and sails away from the building, before the faint pop of his grapple gun fires and he swings away into the darkness.