angermanaging | IC contact (TuShanshu)

[Hayley looks panicked and makes no effort to hide it.]

Bruce, I- I made a mistake.. and I need you to hold onto something for me for right now. I promise I'll explain later, but I need you to keep it and not tell anyone you have it until we talk about it. Will you promise me? Please.

[There's no hint of deception or exaggeration in her tone. Her voice seems only to be attempting to lessen the anxiety and fear that she clearly feels right now.]

[If there's anything that'll make Bruce alarmed, it's someone he cares about-- feels responsible for-- looking panicked, especially when it's an expression he's never seen on them before. Unlike Hayley, Bruce is good at managing it. His eyes widen briefly but then he settles quickly, brain kicking into crisis management, a state he hasn't had to use much in Keeliai but is well ingrained into his nature.]

Alright, [he agrees immediately, because he knows better than anyone that sometimes you need to act before you can think.] I'll hold onto it, Hayley. Take a deep breath for me. [There's a brief pause to let her do that, indicating that he was serious about the instruction. Then, meeting her eyes through the camera and speaking soberly,] Are you safe?

[That's more important to him, far more important to him, than getting answers.]

[Hayley nods eagerly at his agreement. It isn't until he actually pauses that she realizes he means for her to actually breathe, then realizes she's been holding her breath without noticing. She takes a deep breath, as ordered. Then another, focusing on that for a second.

At his question, she becomes distracted and stops again. No matter what they've been through, it's still strange to her that Bruce cares about her safety.]

I don't- I think so. Yeah.

[There's a pause as she moves to check on Clark, then returns to the microphone.]

Yeah. Can you meet me halfway though? I need to give it to you and be back right away.

[Typically, Bruce doesn't carry any of the unconscious air of authority that adults tend to while speaking to teenagers. He'd been too smart as a kid to ever turn what he'd seen as patronizing on anyone else, and too rebellious, too. Now there's a hint of it, as his normal, unassuming facade strips away to reveal a capable, deft hand at dealing with unexpected crises, taking control without missing a beat.]

I'll meet you wherever you need me to, [he says crisply, already standing and grabbing his keys from beside the console, taking his face out of frame as he gathers his things to leave.] Time and place.

[He'll get his explanation later-- and he does require an explanation to hold onto an undefined object for her in secret. But right now, he gets the sense that time is critical.]

You know that little fountain that's like on the border of Metal and Water? Can you meet me there?

[Hayley, for her own part, is already wrapping the box of Kryptonite up in a spare sweater and shoving it in her bag, just as eager to meet him.]

As soon as you can get there.

[He does a quick mental calculation before promising,] Twenty minutes.

[Set and ready to go, Bruce leans over to look directly in frame, finger hovering over the disconnect button on the console. Level and even, he says,] While you're moving, I want you to think about what your next three moves are going to be after I pick this up. And I want you to set a check in time. If I don't hear from you then, I'll come find you. Got it?

[There's another pause as Hayley nods before realizing she can't be seen.]

Yeah, got it.

[It's really not that kind of crisis in her mind, but as if she's about to argue with Bruce while asking a favor.]

[He hasn't evaded capture for over a decade by taking any crisis lightly, that's for certain. Bruce knows what he's doing here.

Which is why he cuts off the feed a second later and departs, mind racing faster than the steady clip at which he jogs over to the designated location. Whatever Hayley's gotten herself into, he wants to protect her from.

It's stupid of him. She might even deserve it, might have engineered it herself. Bruce is under no illusions.

But he still wants to protect her. That damn instinct has never gone away his whole life.]

[Hayley runs. Although she knows it to be a more obviously suspicious way of getting around, the girl doesn't have time to waste. Superman could awaken at any moment and she really needs to be there when he does to have any hope of reconciling the situation. Clark has too many friends and she likes him too much more than she'll admit to want to leave it like that.

She sees Bruce from a distance and immediately course corrects to head straight for him. Her breathing is almost heavy by the time she reaches him, not used to running for so long, and she slows only when almost in front of him.]

I'll check in in three hours. [She huffs, already reaching into her bag.]

[Bruce, on the other hand, has the steady even breaths of someone who runs every morning as a survival skill. He's reflexively checking his wrist monitor as he comes to a stop in front of her, but it's good, at a safe rate, proving that his constant militant practice has a purpose.

He nods shortly, opening the flap on the battered leather messenger bag he'd brought with him, ready for whatever she's handing over.]

And tomorrow morning, [he insists, because incurable paranoia is a way of life for him by now.] If you need a place to stay tonight, you can use mine. [Even if she's done something wrong, she's just a kid. She shouldn't have to suffer for her mistakes the way Bruce has, and has always had to. She should have a chance.]

[Hayley tugs the sweater-wrapped bundle from her bag and hands it over to him, sweater and all. She wonders if Bruce could recognize Tony's handiwork in the lead box that houses the Kryptonite and does her best to explain quickly, still both hurried and afraid.]

You can unwrap it, but do not open the box. And don't mention it to anyone until we talk. [She pointedly meets his gaze, because she knows how close he and Tony are.] Anyone.

[Then she's glancing at her watch, closing her bag, and trying as best she can to reclaim her normal breathing rate.] I'll be there. Tonight. Thanks.

[He's relatively close with Tony, but Bruce has absolutely no trouble keeping secrets from anyone. There's a whole swath of things he'd never told Betty, and this isn't nearing that level of disclosure.

He does wonder where she got a lead box, but he doesn't question it, instead carefully depositing the bundle into his bag, securing it.] I can handle that, [he assures her with relative poise.]

I'll wait for you. [There's no flicker of a smile, no hint of reassurance, just Bruce's sober gaze and quiet intensity.]

[Hayley nods and turns, taking a few steps before she catches herself. She pauses and turns around to look at him, her solemnity mirroring his own. There's some part of her that doesn't quite understand why he's doing this for her and knows it's a risk to trust him with this, even though he's proven to be good to his word in past. But that distrusting part of her is currently buried beneath the panic of an unexpected situation and so there's something more important that draws her attention now.]

Thank you.

[It hangs there, isolated. It's amazing how many thanks he gets, the sincere and weighted kind that she gives so infrequently. Then she's turning and running off again, anxious to get back and continue working on her next steps as instructed.]

[Bruce is pretty scarce with genuine thanks, too, and he appreciates it when he hears it, waving a hand in brief acknowledgement before turning to go himself. She doesn't owe him anything, not in his mind. The thanks aren't even necessary.

He takes the injunction not to open the box seriously. Someone else might be tempted by curiosity and eventually overcome, but not Bruce. He'd been down that path and he'd been burned so fiercely that he has no desire to risk it ever again.

He returns back to his apartment and carefully hides the entire bag where he keeps his physical notes on his condition, in the kitchen in a cupboard with a false back that he'd installed himself. Maybe no one here was specifically out to get him, but Bruce didn't see any reason to relinquish hard earned habits.

Settling in to wait, he makes some tea to calm himself, and musters all of his patience. In the meantime, he might as well do some work-- his standard time filler.]

IC contact (TuShanshu)

video; encrypted 100% - backdated to Dec 7th

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skipping to that night? or holding off for now?