watchesthewatchers: (mutinous boy)
Peter Guillam ([personal profile] watchesthewatchers) wrote2012-11-23 07:02 pm

long overdue

It's Ricki's little ramshackle apartment, but there Peter is one morning, perched on the loveseat, reading a file, waiting for Bruce Wayne to arrive.

He has a gun, but tucked out of sight, not on his person. Just in case.
lasiurus: (balcony)

[personal profile] lasiurus 2012-11-24 03:08 am (UTC)(link)
It's been a fantastic month-and-a-bit. He gets to see Ricki more often, he's been out of the house on non-Batman-related errands. And he likes staying at Ricki's, despite his spoiled rich boy facade. It reminds him of the years he'd spent abroad.

He gives Alfred the day off and goes to Ricki's, knowing he probably won't be home yet. He plans to clean up, make them some dinner, play the night by ear....

He has a bag of things from the market, and he stops short in the doorway when he sees Peter. Typical of Bruce, he hadn't been minding those surroundings or he might have known something was different before he got to the kitchen.
lasiurus: (braced)

[personal profile] lasiurus 2012-11-24 03:14 am (UTC)(link)
"Right..."

He has an act, too, like he can't quite remember. He doesn't offer a hand for a handshake (that he can attribute to eccentricism, since Tony doesn't shake hands much either).

"Bruce. Uh, does he know you're coming? He didn't say anything to me about a guest."
lasiurus: (studies)

[personal profile] lasiurus 2012-11-24 03:27 am (UTC)(link)
"He might just be at the gym or something, I dunno. I try to stay out of Tony's business with him."

Not quite a lie. He tries, but as they've learned sometimes Batman's leads cross Ricki's.

He puts the groceries away, since Ricki's bringing food, but he leaves a bottle out on the counter and jerks a thumb at it.

"Wine?"
lasiurus: (green)

[personal profile] lasiurus 2012-11-24 03:33 am (UTC)(link)
"Nah, didn't have time to fly over there."

Another lie but since his back is to Peter when he says it (popping the cork) it'll be almost impossible to tell.

"Can I ask what you're doing here? Don't mean to be rude, but it's a Friday and I haven't seen him in a few days so..."

It's classy to trail off and let the imagination take over, right?
lasiurus: (intense)

[personal profile] lasiurus 2012-11-24 03:38 am (UTC)(link)
He slides him a glass. Bruce has one, too, but he plans to hand it off to Ricki once he gets there since Bruce never has more than one sip. If that.

"Uh...no. No, I was just going to surprise him or something. What building did you say it was?"
lasiurus: (braced)

[personal profile] lasiurus 2012-11-24 03:43 am (UTC)(link)
"He was always a field guy, huh? What'd you do there?"

He sits on the edge of the sink, balancing there as easily as a bird despite how narrow it is.
lasiurus: (chair)

[personal profile] lasiurus 2012-11-24 03:46 am (UTC)(link)
Bruce laughs, aware he's being lied to. Ricki has told him that Peter was his handler--what all that means, he doesn't know and hasn't asked, but it couldn't have been as bland as Peter put it.

"He still is, Paul. Sorry to disappoint but he's even more tightlipped since Tony hired him."
lasiurus: (lazy)

[personal profile] lasiurus 2012-11-24 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
Bruce needs to maintain the airhead act, but he feels a little bad for it now.

"No, stay. He'll want to see you. I'm about the only person he knows here. How did you find this place though? I didn't know Tony was sending anything to this address. ...I sound kind of like a Norman Bates stalker figure there, don't I?"
lasiurus: (always working)

[personal profile] lasiurus 2012-11-24 04:08 am (UTC)(link)
"Come by for what?"

And this time, Bruce is more serious. There's a small touch of a threat there.
lasiurus: (intense)

[personal profile] lasiurus 2012-11-24 04:12 am (UTC)(link)
They're not, but Bruce has slept with exactly two people in the last twelve years. It does skew his view of polyamory a bit.

But mostly, it's the fact that Peter was Ricki's handler, and he knows exactly how dangerous and manipulative those people are. He sets the glass aside, and appears loose and relaxed--it's actually more dangerous than if he had been tense.

"What do you want with him, Peter? To tempt him back to the fold?"
lasiurus: (braced)

[personal profile] lasiurus 2012-11-24 04:17 am (UTC)(link)
That hits home. Hard.

"I'm not the one who dangled his daughter's welfare over his head so I could send him into warzones, Peter. I'm not the one who lied to him about his informant being dead. And I'm not the one who cut him loose and burned him when his cover was blown. If you think you're going to show up here and manipulate him again, I will stop you. I don't care what you are to Tony."
lasiurus: (fighting; disarmed)

[personal profile] lasiurus 2012-11-24 04:25 am (UTC)(link)
"He could try."

It looks, though, as if Bruce is going to just swallow back what Peter had said.

"The thing is, I wouldn't make you disappear. I'm not a murderer."

And then with dangerous precision, he's thrown his wine glass into Peter's face and using the distraction (and potential wine-blinding) to leap forward to tackle him onto the ground.
lasiurus: (intense)

[personal profile] lasiurus 2012-11-24 04:33 am (UTC)(link)
Bruce punches his jaw, and then again in the same place. Just a little higher and he could have dislocated it, but he wants Peter to keep talking.

Spies come armed, he knows that, so he pins one of Peter's arms under his knee and forces Peter's other wrist around so if he struggles it will snap. This way he can search him with relative ease with his remaining hand.

"Who told you?"

About Rachel. About it being his fault.

Page 1 of 14