Summary:Batman brings Keiko to meet an ally to line up some work - and asks her about Plokta. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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There was a call that came on Keiko's cellphone - after all, she had given Batman her card once - or he was able to find her ad easily enough on Craigslist. The message that he sent her was simple - it was an Uber code for a pre-paid ride and an address.
If Keiko accepted the ride, the car would drive her into the Staten Island area, the section that she would recognize if she paid attention to the news that the Bat works in. It's to the west side of the Island she's taken - the area is not so affluent, and older, and more run down section of the Island, before the car pulls up outside of what looks to be an abandoned storefront, with a couple of floors for apartments above it.
It's probably smart to get Keiko a lift. The handywoman has a distressing ability to get waylaid - particularly now she's working with WAND.
As the scene slowly changes to Staten Island, her mind goes to the last time she was here. The graveyard where she'd met one of the Bats. She knows who's 'town' this is and she thinks on that poor review that tanked her YELP rating.
Sliding from the UBER, backpack and toolbox in hand, the small asiatic woman looks at the building and takes a deep breath. Her sleeveless shirt displays the tattooes on her arms and the choker with silver filigree around her neck.
Resolutely she starts towards the building.
"Keiko." The voice comes from the shadows, and stepping out from it, she can make out the familiar form of the Bat. "Thank you for coming." he offers to the woman, before he's moving towards the alley. "It's this way. The front is kept closed up." he explains. He expects her to follow her down the alley - why wouldn't he? More to the point - why would she? He just steps back into the darkness of the alley, seeming to just blend into it as he does when he pulls off his disappearing act.
"Batman …" her accent is still that mix of something from south america. A closer look at the woman will show that she looks tired and her eyes might be slightly red. From crying? That's unusual - if Batman has done any research on Keiko, the term stoic would be a good one.
"Why?" The alley is dark and she hesitates, drawing the rod from her backpack before continuing. "You ask a lot of a woman, you know that?" it's slightly snarky as the tattooed woman steps into the gloom. She can hold her own, mostly.
He can see that look in her eyes. The redness. He's not going to push on it yet. Instead, Batman leads the way down the alley, to a side door.
'Deliveries' it reads.
He knocks on it a few times, and then it opens. Standing on the other side is an older woman - at least in her early sixties. She wears a white medical coat and long sleeve shirt. "Batman, what can I…" and then she notices the woman. "…oh." she says, opening the door wider. "Come in, come in." she coaxes.
Inside, what looked like a dingy store front out at the street gives way to a clean clinical area - a sitting room, complete with desk, and tables set up. Medical supplies are stacked in crates, labeled with 'Wayne Pharmaceutical' on the side of them.
"This is Doctor Thompkins. She is trying to set up a clinic to help those from the streets." he explains as he turns to look at Keiko.
But apparently the doctor is taking charge. "Batman, you said you were bringing me a handiperson, not a patient!" she scolds him immediately as she moves to take the young woman's arm, "Come, sit. Are you alright? Can I get you some coffee?"
Keiko can barely read. Her spanish is perhaps better than her English but it's questionable. She knows 'Deliveries' That's common and doors that she often has to use. She recognises 'Wayne' from the TV but anything else is lost of the woman.
"I am a handiman … Doctor Thompkis." the small woman says, shaking her head and moving her arm to avoid Lesleys touch. "I'm fine. I'm not sick or a patient." She's small and slim - with all the hallmarks of someone who hasn't ever had a lot to eat.
"What … is this?" She looks to Batman to explain.
Doctor Thompkins frets for a moment, but she pulls away. "Are you sure about this?" he asks Batman, looking up at him. Apparently the doctor has /no/ fear in standing up to the Bat.
"I am." Batman responds, and then he turns to Keiko. "You need work." he says to her. "Doctor Thompkins is currently in the process of opening a clinic and home for those youth on the street that have been affected by violence, explotation, or illegal kidnappings." he explains. "She's hiring you to help her get the place to code and running and then maintain it."
"Let's discuss getting it up first, then we'll talk about maintaining." corrects the Doctor. "He's always getting ahead of the rest of us." With that, she looks to the young woman and frowns. "She looks like she has hadn't a medical exam in months." she chides, before shaking her head. "I need plumbing work, shelves built, repairs to the stairs, electrical, there's.. a lot to do here." she says, looking to Keiko. "Are you willing to help?"
"I'm not sick…" Keiko reiterates, her voice low but firm, as Doctor Thompkins frets "And despite the poor reviews on my YELP, I'm good at what I do." There's as accusatory look given to Batman - the tattooed woman isn't easily cowed. Though, she's good at not challenging a predator.
"Why though?" That's to Batman. He can see the shadows behind her eyes at the mention of kidnappings. Her history, her part in all that, is quite close to the surface of her emotions. "Why are you helping?" beat "And how do you know him?" That's to Doctor Thompkin.
It's true though. Keiko always needs work. As an undocumented she pretty much lives hand to mouth. Being a contractor too often means you don't know where your next meal is coming from.
Feast or famine is how its often described.
"It depends on what you call a medical exam." Keiko answers. "SHIELD medical looked me over not long ago." The laundry list of things has her focussing though. "I am, of course. Work is work. I'm not a plumber or electrician but I can do most of the work required for that as well."
"Because sometimes, in the midsts of the big picture, Keiko, you forget those affected by it most." Batman responds. And that may be the closest to an apology he may ever offer to the young woman, as he glances towards Doctor Thompkins.
"I've been taking care of him since he took to the streets, dearie." comes the Doctor's response. "I may not agree with his methods.. but I would rather help where I can then try to convince him to stop." she frowns at that, before she gives Keiko a nod. "When can you start?" he asks the woman. "And do you need a place to stay for the night? I plan on using the upstairs for rooms for those that have no other place to go." she explains.
"Now, for payment." She continues, as she turns to head to get her medical bag. "This whole operation is funded by the Martha Wayne Foundation." That explains the crates. "While Bruce Wayne may not have a full grasp of what happens on the streets, his heart's in the right place."
Knowing what inflation is like in the city, she does a little math. "Will seven fifty a week be enough to cover your needs?" she asks Keiko finally.
"I can start now. I expected to work." she gestures to the tool kit she bought with her. "I have a few hours before my next job." It's quiet as she looks between Lesley and Batman, considering.
"I have a room in Jersey." It's a no on the place to stay. Bruce probably knows about that room - the peeling paint, the ramshackle building it's in, the housemates she shares with. It's not a nice place at all. But it's hers. "Uh. Thankyou." Manners are foreign to her, as evidenced by the nod to Batmans not quite apology.
You don't apologise. That shows weakness.
"And you do, yes. Forget the collateral damage. Sometimes it can't be helped though." It's an acknowledgment. "And sometimes it's better to something than nothing. Sometimes you can't do the 'absolute right thing'. Lesser or two evils and all that."
"Martha Wayne Foundation?" She's not familiar. Her pop culture references are much stronger. The number has her blinking and she has think. "I can give you fifteen hours a week for that, some of which can be 'on call'. Is that acceptable?"
"That will be fine, and if you need room or board, there will be a place for you. We'll see how it works for the next couple of months. If it seems like you're going to be staying around…" Doctor Thompkins considers. "Every place needs a maintenance staff that can live in. We can look into that." she says before she reaches to give the woman's hand a squeeze.
There's an ngh of a snort at Keiko from the Bat. He's not going to just let her lecture tonight. He has work to do, he just wanted to make sure that this was taken care of. "Call her in a meal, she probably hasn't eaten today." Batman says to the doctor before he turns to head for the door. Clearly, his part in this is done. But he pauses.
"You said Plokta is the giver of wishes, Keiko. When he gives that wish, does he twist it against the wisher's intent, or does he give them exactly what they ask for?"
Keiko is reserved and she actually flinches when Lesley tries to squeeze her hand. Physical contact seems to unnerve her at the moment, makes her uncomfortable. More so than most who are like that.
"Let's see how it works. If we work well together, maybe I'll consider a 'live in' job." Neither of them can blame her for being cautious. This is her life and her livelihood they're talking about. The shoddy room in the rundown building is preferable to losing her liberty.
Keiko wasn't lecturing Batman. It had been to Lesley her comments had been directed. The snort draws the faintest of smiles though. She scored a hit and that's something to be celebrated. "I would take a meal, if it's on offer. Burritos or Tacos are fine." From Taco Bell, no less.
"Lor—-" There's a look that flashes through Keiko's eyes - pain but not physical pain - as she touches that choker she's wearing. "Plokta. We are told that he will give us what we wish for." Her eyes narrow though, Batman has triggered a thought. "Why … do you ask? What have you seen?"
His eyes fall to her choker, considering. "I did not see it myself, but it was reported to me. One of the others, he had been twisted and turned. Instead a creature of undeath. One that would regnerate itself and make multiples." Batman responds. "I would not think that he would want those that believe in him to have their wish make them something unworthy of worship." he says finally.
"It is something to discuss with those that may attempt to make contact with him. That those that are subrodinate to him may be subjugating his power."
"Twisted and turned?" Keiko glances at Lesley and moves to stand closer to Batman, the frown saying this is nothing good. "There was a Nightfall Magi involved?" Batman might not know, but he can find the sitrep from SHIELD. There was.
"Lo—- Plokta's power comes from the souls he gathers and he rewards those with their dreams. You're right." beat "I think you are right. I think some of the Magi have been … corrupted."
Which makes turning Plokta against his followers a little more easier to achieve.
"I will have to find out for sure. But I cannot see any other reason that this happened. Power corrupts - and I believe that Nightfall has allowed their power to corrupt them at their root." Batman responds. "I will see what I can find out and share, Keiko." he says to her finally. Having the information that he wants, he looks to Leslie. "Luis has the best fajitas in Staten Island." comes the comment.
And out the door he goes, back into the night, as Leslie turns to Keiko and clucks her tongue. "Let's get you fed, taken care of and to work." With that, she's turning to get her phone to place the order.