sorry i was asleep for most of the past 48 hours :/

[latrodectus]

WHO: Selina + Natasha
WHERE: Generic rooftop with bad cell-phone reception.
WHEN: Before Selina went off grid, in reference to the Joker's eight-for-one sidekick special.
WARNINGS: I am the world's slowest tagger!
SUMMARY: The girls meet up and discuss a plan to steal the Joker's money.
FORMAT: Paragraph?

Natasha wasn't wearing the suit. No reason to show up to every party in full armor and with four kilos of Warsaw Pact-era explosives strapped to both wrists. Black slacks, a t-shirt, a jacket: that was enough. She did have a gun on her, but Natasha always had a gun on her, now. Life had given her no reason to be optimistic.

There was gravel on the ground, little beads of dark and dirt that sounded whenever she shifted her body weight. And all the pebbles beneath her, the wet smell still left in the air from the last time it rained, this whole damn rooftop thing-- it was something she'd tried to escape. Here there was no part of her past to run from. No nameless file passed round between desks, none of her secrets stored in warehouses. But Natasha was still waiting for some mysterious contact at an indecent hour of the night, in hopes of taking something that didn't belong to her.

At least she wasn't late.

Comments

[meowminx]

If it wasn't one thing, it was another. Selina was getting tired of "another" being synonymous with "Arkham" when the asylum didn't even exist in this damn city.

At least most of her was. A small sliver was almost comforted by the familiarity.

She really hated that part of herself.

The costume and the rooftops were familiar enough too, and she let herself enjoy the trip across the city. Not so much that she arrived late, of course. She was a professional when it came to these things.

It appeared her contact was too -- the woman had beat her there. Selina landed on the roof in a crouch, pushing up her goggles. "Natasha, I presume?"

[latrodectus]

"Most of the time, yes." The woman's catsuit was more feline-themed than normal, but in this particular section of the business, that wasn't unusual. At least it wasn't one of those leotard and thigh-highs "I'm over here, shoot me now" get-ups.

"You're Selina?" She took a hand out of her pocket, offered a handshake. Damn, it was getting cold. And late, too, both of which suited Natasha fine.

[meowminx]

"Guilty as charged." Natasha had a firm handshake. That was fine; so did Selina.

She gave the surroundings a quick once over, giving a small nod of approval. No chance of being overheard here. "So, have much experience stealing seven figure fortunes from killer clowns?"

[latrodectus]

Right down to business. Natasha appreciated that.

"Clowns? No, not unless that's a polite euphemism for politicians." She paused, thought over exactly how much of her story she wanted to tell. "But what I do basically amounts to theft. But you're the one who knows the target. So you tell me."

[meowminx]

"Theft, hmm? Sounds like we have something in common." A slight twitch of her lips, but not a full smile. Not with the topic at hand.

"And no, not a euphemism. And it's not makeup either." Selina paused. Natasha hadn't been here for the Joker's original rampage. She'd never imagined until she got here that it could be so hard to make people understand just how dangerous the Joker really was.

"He's completely insane. But not stupid. The opposite in fact." She crossed her arms, scowling a bit. "Even the smartest of the good guys on my world had trouble keeping up with him. He just doesn't think like a normal person."

[latrodectus]

Now, Natasha had dealt with all sorts of psychos-- the kind that play dress up and the kind that don't. And she knew enough about being underestimated to not want to make the same mistake herself. It would be so much easier if she still had access to S.H.I.E.L.D. databases.

"Then we don't try to outthink him. It sounds like he's itching to get caught, so he must have help." She turned her head away from Selina for a moment, shaking strands of hair from her ponytail. "But like I said, I'm the one flying blind."

[meowminx]

"He might have help, he might not have help. He might've killed the help." Selina sighed, though it sounded more like a hiss through clenched teeth. "He's really too... fluid to have an actual MO."

She glanced over at the other woman. "And he doesn't want to get caught. He wants to play."

[latrodectus]

"So what then? If we don't go through whatever system he has to pay the killers, we go to the streets? Recon the old fashioned way?" She sighed. "I get that he's a high profile crazy. I've dealt with sociopaths. I know Bullseye. And I understand that maybe this clown is worse than any of them, more unpredictable But I am finding that I cannot stand idly by. So--"

Natasha shrugged. "So I am trying to figure out the best way to not stand idly by."

[meowminx]

"Not disagreeing with that." Selina frowned, thinking. "He killed off a bunch of gang bosses back after he first showed up. It probably just wasn't for the hell of it. I've been out of touch, but I still have some contacts... I can check and see what the word is." She shrugged a little. "It's a start."

[latrodectus]

"Anything is better than nothing." Natasha reconsidered. "Most anythings, at least." She arched her back a bit, an idle stretching gesture. "I could help with that, I suppose, but it's been a while for me. I was going to look at area bank records, see if I can figure out where the money came from."

*fails*

[meowminx]

Selina gave her a brisk nod. "Good. Not sure how much of it came from sources legit enough to be traced that way, but you never do know with him."

She frowned a bit, glancing out over the rooftops spanning into the distance. "I'd only had to deal with him a few times before this place. So not sure how much insight I can really give, other than the obvious."