capeandcowllogs | (no subject)

[As he promised, there comes a light tap-tap at the window pane, and he waits - almost politely - on the sill for her to acknowledge him before coming in.]

Officer Maza.

[ She swivels around and waves him in. ]

Good evening.

[The eyebrow raise is probably impercebtible under the cowl, but it's in his voice too.]

Something like that.

[He comes in and moves to stand beside her desk, a mix of respecting her authority and showing that he's familiar enough with police offices to take a few more liberties than average.]

I apologise if I've been harsh with you over this matter, but I have my reasons.

[ Dispensing with the formailities? Fair enough. ]

Actually, you've been one of the kindest yet. Don't think that I'm not abundantly aware of the situation. Even if I don't reply to people on the network, I do pay attention.

Some of the situation, yes, but not Jason's in particular, I think.

[He sighs briefly - this is going to be awkward, and he needs to avoid the kind of detail that will have Jason baying for blood.]

Officer Maza, you've been the focus of the Joker's attention for a brief period yourself, you know that it's no easy time. Imagine being someone he fixates on, for years of your life. That's the situation both myself and Jason are in, because we both work - or worked, with Batman.

You'll have to forgive me; all I know of Batman is what I saw in the movie. And trust me when I say that it was a far cry from what I've been hearing about.

[Oh man he keeps forgetting that he and Batman are fictional characters for some people here, forgive him for pausing a moment.]

I... don't know if one movie could cover everything that Batman's done, so I'm somehow unsurprised. Did it happen to cover how important our secret identities are, though?

... Well, there was more than one movie. Although the Robin in the later one was... well, those moves marked the end of the franchise, let's just put it that way.

But regardless, I'm not a stranger to secrets, and the importance of them.

[He shakes his head and mutters] I wouldn't want to watch a movie of my life.

Can I ask why your officer - the telepath involved, I'm assuming - found it okay to use Jason's full name publically in her own post, then? Especially when he's still a suspect rather than having been formally charged - unless that's changed. [And yes, there's a question in his voice - he really wants to know Jason's status.]

I get the feeling that she's very... independent and outspoken is probably one way to say it, so I don't blame you, but if people like the Joker are paying attention, and if they remember this when they get home, they are going to be able to use that name to trace back and find out Batman's identity. Hell, if the right people show up here, they'll be able to use it to hurt them. ... I know it's a little late to do anything about it now, but I wanted to stress that before it became a problem for anyone else.

Edited 2010-02-15 01:58 (UTC)

I can't say I blame you.

[And poor Elisa, who has been so swamped did not even know this.]

... She did what.

Ah. I take it you've been too busy to keep up with non-police band things. She made a post giving a hypothetical situation of a loved one being tortured, and whether or not we'd use a telepath to find the culprit, and then wondered why anyone was taking Jason seriously, using his full name.

... Yeah, I've...

[A deep breath.]

I'll speak to her about it. While we do on very rare occasions release suspects names, usually when they are at large and we need aid in looking for them, it's not something we like doing during the course of the investigation and trial procedure. I'm truly sorry.

Thank you. I really do appreciate it.

[Here is where he pauses for a second before changing the subject a bit.]

I have to restate my worry about her being allowed - in an official capacity - to look into Jason's mind without any measures in place to prevent abuse. Even accidental - if she was looking for memories of the Joker, there's a lot of painful things that she could have stirred up in Jason's mind. It had the potential to be... traumatic.

I'm well aware of your worry, and it's one I share. This is the first time we have used a telepath in this capacity here. There weren't people with these kind of abilities where I come from, and so I am very much aware of the moral and ethical implications of the police using this kind of tactic rampantly.

However, given our numbers and our odds in the City, I'd be a fool not to use every tool I have available to even attempt to clean up the streets. We used Monet in this instance because we were desperate to find the Joker. I will personally help with enacting policies that ensure we do not abuse any telepath we use.

I understand your need to find Joker before he died and came back perfectly fine thanks to the Porter. But the problem is that there aren't any policies to ensure the proper treatment of suspects interrogated in this manner, no legal limits or assurances, and yet it was still used. I realise that working out such steps and having them passed takes time, but I'm not sure that should be a valid excuse for acting without them. Not when you are the representatives of the law, official and sanctioned. You are supposed to be more trustworthy than vigilantes, given more rules and in return the public trust to use lethal force - and whatever tools you can, within the rules. When you begin to use tools without rules is when you start to damage the trust you've been given.

But of course, even if I wanted to make something out of this beyond public or private discussion, there's currently no legal recourse for me to take, is there? No matter what emotional or psychological damage I might be concerned over, regarding Jason.

[He sighs and folds his arms under his cape.] I don't mean to sound ungrateful or overly accusatory, but there are reasons why you're police and we're vigilantes, and blurring those lines is dangerous. I honestly think that it might be better if the police here stuck to the non-superpowered, or at least less... massive crimes, so that there wasn't so much pressure put on you.

Believe me when I say that I don't want to blur those lines. I'm not sure what I can say to reassure you, and perhaps it'd be best in many regards if I didn't. It can slip pretty easily into a moral grey area when you're running on about five hours of sleep for the week and every time you turn around there's some other crisis to deal with. As much as I strive to hold my officers to a higher standard, this clearly isn't always the case.

[She returns that sigh] I wish I had answers for you, good and proper ones. I truly wish I do. This is a question of what the boundaries of police authority are, and we will not use any telepath until this matter can be straightened out.

Even if we did only stick to the normal crimes, the people of the City, the non-superpowered ones, would ask why we're not doing anything. And we can't simply turn a blind eye, nor rely solely on the hope that the teams of superheroes will not only share our goals, but work towards them. Seriously, I don't think Osborn's team of Avengers would help the public out for the sheer humanitarian nobility of it all.

Just knowing that you're both aware of the issues, and giving serious thought as to how to fix them is all that I can really ask of you, Officer Maza. I can't in all good conscience make any demands for Jason's immediate release because of this, after all. [He gives her a quirk of a smile to show that he's joking, as dry as it is.]

I admit that things are different here. Back in Gotham, everyone knew how bad the Joker was, they'd seen the damage he could do, and they knew that the police tried their best but were outmatched. Well, before Batman started supporting the honest officers in it, actually, the GCPD was pretty corrupt, so it was even worse. They never officially admitted that they asked for Batman's help, but they installed the Bat-signal, and used it to light up the sky - not only to attract his attention, but to let the people know that they were willing to do what it took to protect them, and to let the criminals know he was on alert. I... don't know if you could do anything like that here.

[He goes from sounding slightly sad to amused.] No, I doubt that they would. But the Teen Titans do. We just don't tend to showboat for the cameras as much as - well, either team of Avengers.

[She returns that dry smile back at him] Oh, don't worry, if I had time to sleep, I'd be losing it over all of this.

The problem with that is that there was only one Batman. Not... a hundred different superpowered people in spandex running around eager to Fight Justice and Do What The Police Can't. And if we sanction one group over another, even unofficially, then their actions become in many respects a reflection of our own. You know, a part of me honestly wishes I was out there on the streets doing what the heroes do: skirting the law and just doing what's right. But there has to be some sort of standard before people can break it.

[She looks at him speculatively.] Is Jason one of your Titans?

Now there's a familiar sentiment. [Tim sounds sympathetic - he's entirely too used to running on just a couple of hours sleep at a time, but at least he has the training to handle it.]

It's a far more difficult situation here, I agree. With the Porter zapping people in and out, things are unavoidably chaotic, which doesn't help. If the heroes spread out more, it might work better, but any team that leaves the City runs the risk of losing their members and being left undermanned and vulnerable. [He smiles a little, again] I think you could make a good vigilante, one with the right respect for the law and the importance of evidence, but you're right - and you make a great cop.

[All the lightness and dry amusement goes out of him at that question. Jason... he looks out the window, becoming more guarded.] He was never one of my Titans, but he was... a long time ago. When he was Robin, before the Joker - did what he did.

I'm slowly getting used to it, but I'm thinking on the next vacation I get, I'm just going to sleep for a week.

Heh. Thanks. On both counts. I don't have a solution, but I am trying my best to clean up this City.

[And she turns serious along with him. ] All right, let me rephrase. Is he a Titan here?

[She looks over at him with a thoughtful expression. ] If we have you as our silent shadows, he can't be part of it. As much as I hate the political side of all of this, the reputation of the cops here in the City is, as I'm sure you're aware, less than stellar. Reputation [ she spits it out like a curse word ] impacts how well we can get the job done next time.

The fact that we need help pretty badly is glaringly apparent. If we trust you, and the rest of the Titans... what can we get in return? Maybe back home I could operate on a good word and blind faith, but this City, asyou said, is too chaotic.

You should understand something about how the Teen Titans work. We were originally founded by a group of sidekicks who were tired of being underestimated and forced to sit out missions that their mentors decided were too dangerous for them, sit idly by when they could be helping. By working together as a team, they proved that age isn't as much of a barrier to doing the right thing, to saving the world, as people think. Because of this, the Teen Titans has always functioned as more of a family than many of the other teams do - we have a saying, "once a Titan, always a Titan." Even though the original members have grown up and moved on, changed their codenames and affiliation and made names for themselves as adult, independent heroes, they always remember the time they spent as a Titan, and will always be there to help if we need to send out the call. We remember and honor our fallen, and never turn away a Titan in need.

[He frowns a little more deeply.] However, just because Jason was a Titan, it doesn't mean we can tolerate his kind of approach. The Titans don't kill, or deliberately maim or torture. He is not a Titan here, and he will never be one again unless he changes his ways. And considering that he's already tried to kill me three times back home, he'd really have to work hard to prove he'd changed before that happened.

If you work with us, I can promise you that there will always be someone ready to give you back up when you need it, just a call away. We can help you with covering the streets, and keep lines of communication open about any cases or incidents we see. And I'm trained in forensics, criminal psychology and other skills that may be of help, if you allow me access to crime scenes - I wouldn't tamper with or hide evidence from you if given that access. My goal here is to help you clean up the City, not hog the glory. I prefer to stay out of the public eye entirely, in fact, but I'm sure the other Titans can pick up any PR if needed.

[Elisa listens as he speaks, a slow smile starting to form on her lips.]

Congratulations, Mr. Robin, you and your team have got the job. Either you're a damn good liar, or you're sincere, and since you've convinced me, you're the latter. And since you have worked with the police in the past, I want to know what you need from us to make this relationship work. I don't want there to be an imbalance; nor for the cops to need you guys to come in and "save" us any time anyone looks at us funny. And if you're willing to have that sort of balance, then I am too.

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he's not taking the cowl off but I like these icons better :<

Hahaha, I can pretend.

:3

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