Summary:Portents of things to come are delivered by a God Wolf to the God of Fear and a Bat Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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Staten Island is a pit of villainy and crime and it shows in the feeling on the streets. It's also why there is a band of capes that patrol it - trying to stem the never ending surge of evil that permeates the every day.
Tonight, a redheaded bat is doing her rounds, running lightly across rooftops, swinging between buildings with the help of her grappling hook, only the splash of the yellow bat emblazoned on her chest, the yellow lining of her cape and the shock of red hair that falls down her back in a braid catching the light as she does.
Her patrol varies night to night - routine is a never a good thing after all. Right now, she's coming through the train station, keeping to the shadows but ensuring that all is well there.
The red line goes trough Staten Island, commuter rail that rolls on by. Not the most reliable connection, considering this is the third time in as many months that the hazard lights clicked on and the old multi-car train slowed to a halt at one of the last stops in that burrough. A mechanical voice had spoken on the speakers,
// We apologize for the inconvenience, please exit the train, another will be along shortly. //
Though, the last time this happened to Alexander Aaron… shortly had been a good three hours. So he stepped out of the train, shouldering his backpack and slid down the metal railing of the stairs, landing with a _thump_ upon the bottom floor pavement and started walking towards the exit.
With his cellphone at the side of his head he recorded a message, "Hey guys, it's Alex. Train's screwy again. I'm gonna be late. So yeah, it sucks. If I miss Mr. Ditilio's class would you mind taking notes for me? Thanks."
And that was that. He pocketed the phone and then looked around, frowning, considering his options.
There is something moving on the rooftops. Something that keeps to the shadows but is big. Big and quiet. It's been hard for Oracle to spot, almost like it knows where the camera is. But it's not hard to follow. There's an aura of dread that flows out around it. Batgirl can likely FEEL it. As can anyone else in the area. To find the thing? Just go in the direction one's instincts say not to.
It's moving around though and quite soon Alexander can feel it on the train platform.
"Mister Aaron…" That feeling, and that voice, Alexander will know. It belongs to a certain Wolf God. It's coming from above. From the roof of the platform.
Batgirl skips across the roof of the train station, pausing momentarily at that feel. "Oracle. Eyes on anything I should know about? Feels bad here." Which is unusual for the redhead, she's intuitive but not an intuitive.
Negative Batgirl. Nothing on surveillance and there's been no reports to Staten Island PD.
The redhead frowns behind her mask, turning at the sound of the voice when she hears it and spying the blonde - a familiar blonde, not that he knows it - on the platform.
Nimbly she tumbles from the roof to stand beside him. "Begone from here, whoever you are."
Her voice is modulated and not a single feature is visible, thanks to the mask. Well, except that red hair.
That antsiness had served him before in the past. The slight tingle, a faint curiousity. He'd started to pay more attention to it ever since Diana gave him some small insight into that. He'd been tilting his head to the side when he'd heard the voice and that brought him around turning. Lifting his head to face Fenris.
And then there's a brightness to his eyes as he lifts a hand, then nods once sharply. "Sir." Likely the closed circuit cameras on the platforms will just capture this youth seemingly gesturing and smiling to something off-screen.
But then Batgirl lands in a rush of movement, rising and standing at his side. Alex turns to her and says, "Oh, ma'am. I have not met this individual, but I believe we are acquainted through a friend."
He looks back up towards Fenris, "Is that not correct, sir?"
"We are." The rumbly voice says with a low chuckle. A noise that is almost as much felt as heard. There is a movement atop the train station and in that moment Batgirl may realize why she couldn't see anything in the shadows. The creature laying atop the roof was the shadows. An enormous mass of black fur is set in motion as a gigantic wolf steps off the train station and onto the otherwise deserted platform.
"Peace, Knight of the Night. Neither Mister Aaron nor yourself are in any danger. Not from me, anyway. I have been expecting you both, and waiting for you. I've news for you of a rather disturbing bent." There's a pause and the crimson eyed enormous canine snorts as if to himself.
"But then, is there any other kind?"
"Batgirl." The redhead corrects Alexander a little absently. Ma'am - she's not that old is she?
Well maybe the younger Bats consider she is. So maybe that's fair.
"Being acquainted and being safe are not the same thing … Mister Aaron." She'd heard his name just now, hadn't she? "As I'm sure you know." She's right too - cause there's a damn big wolf that appears in front of them.
"What the hell are you?" She finally asks, moving subtly to put herself between the youth and the deity. "News of a rather disturbing bent? Would that be heralding your arrival?"
Oh she's dry and ascerbic.
And curiously enough, Alexander's voice slips to the more formal tone he uses with his father, when speaking before those of his ilk, for there is a form to be paid attention to and it requires the proper entreaties.
"Ill tidings born by a formidable messenger, sir. I will take what is offered and uttered with the weight of severity with which you would impart." He lowers his head slightly, "If myself and mine can be of use and it conflicts not with oaths old, then I would be of aid to thee."
And as if such a sentiment carried weight, for between such beings it well does, there might be a faint feeling of portent in the moment shared.
But then he turns his head slightly without taking his eyes off of Fenris and offers Babs his hand for a quick shake, "Hi Batgirl, I'm Alexander. Aaron. Alexander Aaron. Alex. If you like. Or Phobos. That's Fenris, I met his Valkyrie. She's super nice." With crib-notes delivered he shifts his feet to face Fenris as the wolf moves, still watching.
Fenris. If Batgirl is up on her mythology at all then the implication is clear that this is Fenrisulfr. The End Wolf. The bane of Odin.
"I am the end, young knight." The great wolf says, seeming to confirm what Alexander has just said. "I am the destruction of all things. I am fire and blood and smoke and the wailing of those soon to die." He finally finishes uncurling from atop the roof and now stands before them, building sized himself. Or at least, the size of a rather large trailer.
"Rest easy though. I am not starting Ragnarok just now."
"Your courtesy does you great credit Alexander Aaron, but it is not a conflict of old that I would draw you into. I have recently become aware that there is a rot spreading in Staten Island and beyond. Creatures of legend which once skulked in the shadows and watched the mortal world from a distance now desire more from it. They begin to see themselves as superior. They align themselves with the criminal element and their leaders… they seek something. Even now their influence is spreading and it must be countered for whatever it is they seek, I do not think they will use it in any manner any of us would approve of."
There Batgirl may have some insight. As there HAVE been a spree of rather unusual crimes lately, and on top of that there are persistent if vague rumors of power struggles going on deep within the criminal underworld.
"Fenrir Wolf. The being fated to start Ragnarok. So I was right. You're dire news is the arrival of yourself. Well, I'm sorry. I don't know where Odin is. I hear there's a guy who spends a lot of time Sals Bar who tells anyone who listens that he is." The redhead answers saucily.
The blonde gets a look for his formal tone. Interesting. Batgirl will need to find Orphan and have a 'talk'.
"Hello Alexander. Aaron. Alexander Aaron. I'll call you Alex. Phobos … you've got to be kidding me. Phobos - Olympian God of Fear? Did The Joker let some smilex off that I ran through?"
She doesn't think so but it makes her wonder.
She listens though, and peers at the Wolf (my he's big) intently. "You're saying what now? That the increase in crime here is related to what?"
Sidelong, quieter to Babs he answers her with a nod and a little embarrassed, "Yes'm." Admitting to his identity fairly easily all things considered.
The blond youth turns to watch the great wolf, bright blue eyes following the movements as he hears the words offered. He nods and his brow knits as he gives thought to these revelations. For a moment he chews on his lower lip, pensive, then he lifts his chin and replies. "I have obligations of the day, yet my nights…"
Hesitation?
But then he pushes through it, "I require not sleep, so if there is aid to be granted let it be then." And then he looks sidelong towards Batgirl and smiles a little as he admits to them both, turning to look at them.
"Though I know not what aid I can render beyond a sword-arm granted to the cause."
"I know of Sal's bar. And that is no Odin. You can tell, young Knight, by how he is occasionally amusing." There isn't much humor in the great wolf's rumbling laughter.
"You may provide aid, Alexander, where I may not. It's a matter of… scale. I might oppose this rot, but were I to do so the conflict would level city blocks and cost many lives. I am not prepared to do that while there may yet be other ways. Hence…" He gestures with a paw at Phobos and Batgirl.
"Yes. The God of Fear. In a manner of speaking, Batgirl. I shall let him explain for it is his story to tell. And no, Batgirl, you are not hallucinating. This is, as they say, your life now."
He seems amused by that.
"But in short, there are a group of beings - like me but considerably less powerful - which are extending their influence throughout the criminal element and if that were ALL they were doing it would be bad enough. You do not want to live in a city even sort of run by them. But the leaders are playing a longer game, I am sure of it. I will not command you, either of you. I have no right. But I implore you. Fight them. Push back their influence. Foil their schemes. Before more drastic measures are required of me. This place, this time, these plans, they are very consequential in the eyes of Fate." He takes a breath. That was a mouthful.
"Is there aught else I might tell you?" Because if he remains here, like this, as a wolf, for too long, someone is going to flip out.
My what big teeth he has.
"Ah well. He has two working eyes as well. You can tell by the way the patch he wears changes eyes." Knight is she? Batgirls not sure on that but she's called worse. Far, far, worse.
"Yes'm I walked through Smilex?" She asides to Alex as they stand there. "Or yes'm God of Fear? Ah, there we go." Fenris answered that. "You're very young and I thought he'd be taller." Both the Wolf and the youth might imagine her tone very dry if it wasn't for the modulator.
She would, if she could, rub her forehead though. "So you're telling me, that you're both real. You, the God of Fear. And you the walking apocalypse. And you need my help to fight … other supernatural beings who are influencing the crime gangs here?"
"Alright. Where do I find their leaders?" WHY does she think the answer is going to be I don't know.
"No sir," Alexander answers Fenris with a small shake of his head and seems to accept the task as bidden, perhaps having endured many such missions where his father would simply say, 'Do this thing!' and each question uttered earned him a whack. They have enough information simply in knowing this task is at hand. Though he waits with his hands behind him, fingers interlaced at the small of his back as he remains ready.
But then he leans his head slightly to the side and murmurs to Batgirl, "We should probably talk." Since really, that might help her get a grip on things going on here. But hey, he does smile at her, maybe that'll help.
Fenris fixes Batgirl with a look. "That is exactly what I am telling you. And as for where their leaders are, I have heard that those who wear the sign of the Bat are excellent investigators."
The huge wolf turns and as he does a great tear opens up in the fabric of reality. "So investigate."
With one more rumbling laugh the huge midnight black canine steps through the tear and it closes behind him, leaving Phobos and Batgirl alone on the train platform.
A most unsettling messenger indeed.
That look that Fenris give Batgirl is nearly enough to have her shake. But she doesn't. Alexander might get the fear from her though.
"Of course we are but it doesn't hurt to ask, does it?" The redhead has to wonder why it's never easy. Gods - even their tales say how unhelpful they are.
"Sure we can talk, while we ride unicorns through the sky." the bat looks to Alex and sighs. That at least is audible through the modulator. "How do I contact you?" Or course she can find him, but it's better if they give her details. "You can contact Oracle if you want me, through the Delphi forums."
Because of course.
"Batman's not going to like this." beat "If he believes it."
The youth beside Batgirl? He doesn't seem phased by the appearance and ensuing disappearance of a gigantic godly wolf, and seems to take it in stride rather easily. Though it might have something to do with fear and intimidation being something of his own domain.
But once Fenris is gone, Alexander turns to face her and smiles a little apologetically, sensing that scintillating feeling of rising fear from her. He instinctively extends a hand as if to brace her and she might well feel herself growing more courageous as this task before them… it's not so insurmountable. "Sorry about that, I know it can be tough dealing with weirdness on that level."
He steps to the side, adjusting the hang of his backpack on his shoulder and shifting his weight between sneakers. "Is there somewhere we can go to talk that might be more comfortable to you?" Since she is here in her prominent garb and cutting a rather adventurous silhouette upon that train terminal. While Alexander, wearing just jeans and a t-shirt that displays a volcano and a black tower then proclaims cheerfully, 'VISIT SCENIC BARAD-DUR, MORDOR!', well he fits right in.
"Or can talk later," He reaches into his back pocket and… just /hands/ her his cellphone. As if trust isn't an issue with him.
Batgirl watches as the Wolf leaves, just shaking her head. "I'm used to dealing with weirdness. You do know of The Joker, right?" talk about weird and psychotic "I need to finish my patrol and if I'm not mistaken, that's your train …"
Still, the phone is handed over and Batgirls gloved fingers move over the screen. Oracle, download OracleApp to this device. When it's done, she hands it back.
"You have the OracleApp. They'll be able to contact you and you them, securely. Don't worry about things being traced, it's in hand." Double double blind networks, communications bounced off servers and satellites. Most times people trying to track them end up somewhere that ends in -stan.
As the phone is handed back, the redhead looks at the youth and shakes her head. Orphan had run across him and now her. Time for some background checks.
"Later. I must go …" with that her rappel gun fires, connecting and then lifting her to the roof.
Should Alex look, as his train arrives, there's no one there. She's disappeared into the shadows.