Stake Your Claim|| Marley and Steph (Chatzy)
Marley drove the car quietly, Stephanie in the seat next to her. She drummed her thumbs on the steering wheel as they pulled onto a street in one of the more shady parts of town. The gun sat nestled on Marley's hip, and as uncomfortable as she usually felt around them, it gave her much needed feelings of security, especially with Stephanie in the car with her. She parked the car on the side of the road and killed the engine, turning the lights off. The case was given to her by the PD, who had information about a possible drug ring that was being organized down here. They wanted Marley to follow a few suspects and see if she couldn't narrow down or find the people who were operating and organizing it. She handed the file to Stephanie-- Marley had already memorized it, of course. "I received information saying that this was the usual meeting spot. There's three men in there that I suspect to be apart of it. If any of them show tonight, we'll have our number one," she explained, her eyes never leaving the front door of the establishment across the street. It would be harder to spot them at night-- well, for someone who was looking for a face. Marley, however, would be looking for body language. Gait, posture, ticks. She knew all of the tell-tale signs of each of the three men by heart. If any of them showed, she'd be able to I.D. them immediately.
Steph was nervous about her first day back with Marley. Especially given that it wasn't just a normal day in the office, but a field mission stake-out that she hadn't even done before her kidnapping. She sat quietly through the car ride, worrying at her bruised knuckles in her lap. They weren't as bad as they could have been if she had gone at that robber gloves-free, but she didn't escape scratch free. Her various bruises and cuts from Tetch were starting to heal, leaving fading red lines and yellowing splotches across her arms and face. She /looked/ like a victim, which is why she tried not to look at herself too much lately. They pulled into a crappy part of town and she felt her body tense up instinctually, eyes on their surroundings. She dutifully looked through the file, listening carefully to Marley's explanation. The rap sheets of the three suspects seemed typical - any one of them could be the ringleader. "How long do you think we'll be waiting?" She asked, curious. Stake outs for the Bats weren't a picnic, but they always had Oracle's eye in the sky as a helping hand.
Marley "Could be all night," Marley replied matter-of-factly, leaning back in her seat. She flipped on the over-head light. "Don't read in the dark, it'll hurt your eyes," she said, still not taking her eyes off the front doors. She knew Stephanie was a mess-- not just by the bruises on her skin, but by the way her shoulders tensed whenever she talked to Marley, and the way her eyes flitted around more so than usual. The way her hands folded into her lap, trying to hide the shame she'd taken out on some poor soul probably a night or two ago. Marley wouldn't bother to ask-- it really wasn't much of her business. Still, it bothered her that this had happened to Stephanie. It shouldn't have been someone so young and influential. "Readjusting to home life alright?"
Steph glanced up as the dim light turned on, a half smile turning up her lips. She sounded so much like her mom or Barbara right then that it was uncanny. She'd been flipping through the file, but the pages stopped rustling at the question. Her hesitation probably spoke volumes on its own. "Yeah...mom is a little overprotective right now, but I don't blame her." Not just mom, she thought wryly. "Just trying to get back to normal, I guess."
Marley glanced for a moment over at Stephanie. "Normal is overrated," she said simply. Stephanie was an easy read-- nervous about what was going on, how she looked to Marley, and scoffing to herself about all the other people who worried about her current state. Marley breathed out, looking back out across the street. "So, of those three suspects, which do you think seems the most likely?" she asked, steering the conversation away from personal matters, and emotions. Marley didn't deal well with those, even if she was supposed to be trying harder as of late. She leaned forward, folding her arms over the top of the steering wheel, resting her chin on her forearms. Stake-outs were dreadfully boring, and Marley still hadn't thought up a reason why she'd invited Stephanie, if only for her company.
Steph was surprised that Marley dropped the personal question so quickly. Glad, but surprised. She was so sure Marley was well aware of her secret identity, that this first interaction back would be full of interrogative questioning. But, if not, she wasn't going to complain. Flipping back to the rap sheets, she frowned. "They're all likely suspects..." She was thinking out loud, going back through them. "But this guy..." She stopped on the last one in the file, scanning down his list of previous arrests. "No petty assaults or drunk and disorderly's like the others. Just possession and trafficking...murder dropped to manslaughter - he has a good lawyer." She looked up at Marley for validation. "He seems more like a criminal mastermind than these other goons."
Marley couldn't help but smile. "Good deductive reasoning," she agreed, looking over at her from the steering wheel. "And he does have a good lawyer. I've more than a few times tussled with him," she grumbled, remembering the convictions he'd won even though her notes of her interviews were infallible. Huffing, she moved past the subject real quick. "But I'm not convinced it's him. He's more of a cog than a mastermind. Good at the trafficking part, not so much the organizing. Look at the first suspects history again," she said, reaching over and pulling out his photo. He was a more average looking male, with narrow eyes and a drooping face. "He doesn't have much of one, right? But the ones he does have, they're always third party convictions. I watched an interview tape of his last arrest, and even though he talked about being dragged into the whole thing, his posture was definitely confident. He was in control of the entire interview." She pointed to her notes on the back of the photo. "My notes are /much/ more enlightening than those silly official PD notes," she joked with a smirk.
Steph frowned, but followed along, flipping the pages to keep up with Marley's train of thought. The guy she was talking about didn't look like anything special at all, a regular goon that she would drop in one or two good punches before moving onto the bigger threats. "He doesn't look all that mastermind-y," She agreed. But of course Marley, the human lie detector, would know who was secret mastermind material and who wasn't. She smiled at her joke, a little surprised she was joking at all. It was true, though, her notes were way more thorough than the GCPD reports. "So you think we're gonna see this guy? What happens when we do?"
Marley shrugged. "It's the ones who don't look the part who are usually the perpetrator," she noted. "Nothing, actually. We take a few pictures and report back to the PD," she said. "Not a very exciting job, really, but necessary. I don't have authority to make arrests since I'm not 'officially' part of the GCPD," she noted with a bit of sourness in her voice. Sometimes she thought about getting reinstated, but the effort she'd have to put in to making relations with people, and the troubles she'd have to deal with always kept her away. "Sorry it's nothing more exciting, I promise it's not all staring across streets waiting for people who might not even show up." This was her least favorite part of the job, honestly. She'd prefer to be inside, checking things out. It was the more dangerous route, and Marley suddenly realized she'd found herself taking the "safer" option more lately. "I bet you do a lot more exciting things than this most nights. You know you didn't have to come with me, right?"
Steph thought it was very interesting that they could sit here, see the bad guy and catch him red handed, but not be able to do anything about it. The futility of it all really reminded her of why she was a vigilante in the first place. No red tape. But, then again, taking matters into her own hands had only gotten her on an arrest on sight list. "That's probably for the best," She said quietly. "I don't think I'm up for 'dangerously exciting' right now." The ease she had been put at with the lack of personal conversation dropped away at Marley's comment. More exciting was kind of an understatement. If this was Batgirl's stakeout, she would be hiding in the building and only waiting for confirmation of their suspicions before striking and leaving the baddies gift wrapped for the cops. "Not lately," She answered lightly, brushing it off. "I told you I wanted to come. Get back to normal means go back to work, right?" She was earnest in that she really /had/ wanted to come, but also in that she wanted Marley to believe she wasn't anything more than regular Stephanie Brown. "This isn't so bad, good company, nice scenery." She joked, though it fell a little flat.
Marley almost laughed at Stephanie's comment. "You think I'm good company?" she chuckled, raising a brow. "You'd be the first." Someone was heading towards the building and Marley paused, her entire focusing shifting to the figure. She lifted her camera-- the one Anissa had gotten her-- and glanced at the figure through her lens. Nope, wasn't him. This man had a limp in his left leg. She set the camera back down and seamlessly picked up their conversation again. "Either way, I appreciate the help," she said. "You can't even imagine how boring these get when it's just one person." Her eyes glanced over at Stephanie, waiting for the response. "Or, maybe you can."
Steph felt a little 'saved by the bell' as a man arrived in their area of interest. Not very much time at all passed before Marley declared him a false alarm and was immediately picking the lost conversation back up. She remembered what Barbara said about lying - don't be obvious, just roll with the conversation like she wasn't nervous to be lying. "I wouldn't know about solo stake outs," This was true, she never staked anything out without Oracle in her ear or another bat by her side, but she didn't emphasize the alone, just the stake-out part. "But I'm glad to help...feels good to be helpful." Helpful, powerful, in control, what was the difference?
Marley gave a brief smile. "Hmmm, well," she said, making a little thinking noise, "I'm sure you'll go on plenty working for me. That's what interns are for, after all-- to do the boring work, right?" she teased, giving a half smirk. Marley understood what 'helpful' meant in the context that Stephanie was using it-- helpful meant 'not being controlled'. It was Stephanie's choice to be here, thanks to the way Marley worded it. She understood what it was like to be hounded by people after an incident and to just want to get away. To feel like there was maybe something left in your life in your control. Marley tapped on the steering wheel. "Do you wanna know the number one rule of being a detective?" she asked.
"Oh sure, get coffee, file things, alphabetizing...the exciting life of an intern." Steph went along with her joke, feeling a bit like maybe she had evaded Marley's suspicions about Batgirl after all. Her interest piqued at Marley's offering of detective advice, and she turned in her chair to face her. "What's that?"
Marley sat back a little. "Always have a bobbi pin," she stated, then smiled and shrugged. "Kidding. Well...Mostly." She shifted so that she could see both Stephanie and the front doors-- Marley had always been good at double-tasking. "Observation. More specifically, always be observant, even of things you don't think are important, and never let people know what you're observing. Unless, of course, you want to use that to sway them, but that's an entirely different rule," she said with a small wave.
Steph smiled as she slipped a bobby pin out from a pinned back section of the longer hair that usually fell into her face. "Got it covered." Maybe that was universal, huh? That bobby pins helped out in law enforcing. She slipped it back, pinning back the piece of hair as Marley explained her real number one rule. So, no suspicions was definitely out of the question it seemed. Marley was just too observant, as she said, to not have some kind of idea. "What, uh," She started out faltering, but cleared her throat and continued. "-What kind of things do you observe?"
Marley took in a breath and looked back out the window. She nodded towards the scene across from the street. "That woman sitting on the bench? She's waiting for a person, most likely a lover or significant other," she started, "You can tell because she keeps looking in both directions every few seconds, as well as trying to seem inconspicuous about it. She arrived early and even though she knows that she still thinks whoever she's waiting on is going to be late." She pointed to the bouncer standing outside the club just around the corner. "He has a bad knee, or possibly a false leg-- it's hard to tell from here. But it's the left one. He's leaning to the right, and every time he goes to open the door he steps forward with his right foot, keeping all pressure on it." Her eyes turned to Stephanie. "You're much more then you let on, Stephanie Brown. You're bright, intelligent, quick-thinking, witty," she tilted her head. "And you have your private life, one which you guard more closely than the bruises on your upper arms or the fact that you feel like you've lost all control as of recently. But the truth is, you haven't."
Steph followed Marley's gaze as she spoke about the different people dotting the streets outside. It was crazy how much she could get in just so little - so Sherlock Holmes it was crazy. It definitely made her feel more than a little self-conscious, being an open-book to start with, what must Marley be able to figure out about her? Her fear came true as the spotlight turned on her, and she ducked her head underneath it. She rubbed at her fading bruises on reflex at the mention of them, a sad and aching feeling taking up residence in her chest. She wanted to make a joke about how she really did observe everything, but the reflex only flitted by without her taking it up. That was just a method to brush people off, anyway, and Marley was too smart for that. "Haven't I?" She replied, gaze fixed at the weathered corner of the manila folder. "Hypnosis, drugs...now I can't even-" Steph shook her head, changing her words mid-sentence "I can't even do the things I want without everyone holding my hand or watching over my shoulder. Do you know what that's like? Nobody trusts me...they think I'm damaged goods."
Marley sat back and thought for a moment. "Do you wanna know what people do when they actually lose control versus when they just think they've lost control?" She cleared her throat. "When someone feels like they're losing control of their lives, or that they have lost control, they act out-- hit things, yell, push the people in their lives away. They feel like everyone and everything is working against them, that they've lost who they are essentially." She watched Stephanie's face closely as she spoke, observing the different stressors that were going off like alarm bells across her face. Marley didn't usually feel bad for making someone feel uncomfortable, but it was apparent to her that Stephanie probably looked up to her, and she was being awfully cruel skirting around the truth like this. Would she tell? Would she not? Stephanie was probably having a teenaged heart attack. "But when someone has actually lost control of their life...they give up, Stephanie. They let the people control their lives. They let people be overbearing and run their life. They don't get up in the morning without someone else dragging them out. They don't play hooky from their hospital room, they don't try and reach out to people, and they don't resist the inevitable. You're nothing like that, Stephanie. You haven't stopped fighting yet, if yesterday's Mugshot of Batgirl says anything."
Steph felt incredibly under a microscope as Marley seemed to outline all of her uncharacteristic behavior over the past week. Hitting things, check, yelling, check, pushing people away? Triple check. But maybe she was right...she certainly hadn't given up yet - but sometimes it felt like it would be peaceful to do so. "Mugshot of - ?" Just hearing her alter-ego's name brought her up short, a little panic creeping in around the edges. She had a thought that this might be some kind of trap orchestrated by Marley and the GCPD to arrest her, but she moved past that quickly. "I - I saw that, too. In the paper." Not an outright confession, but not a denial either. Would it be easier if she just fessed up? Her survival instincts said no, but the desire to have somebody to lean on that knew the whole story was strong. She sighed, forcing herself to look up at Marley. "Fighting is...hard. I want to keep going but it's so hard. I don't know how much longer I can."
Marley nodded quietly. "Look, I'm not here to tell you what to do with your life, and I've never actually been good at motivational speeches, but here's the thing, Stephanie," she started, giving one last glance to the doors, and deciding she had a few minutes to spare where the perp wouldn't show, "I don't have the time for someone who gives up. You have so many people in your life who will still be there for you if you do, but can you honestly say that's something you want? Because according to everything I know about you, it seems counter-intuitive to your personality. I know Batgirl would never give up," she continued. She needed to wrap this up before she made it any worse. "I can't say much about everyone else in your life, because I don't know them, but I do know that you're strong, Stephanie, on your own. Don't give up," she said. "I didn't."
Steph lifted her head at the words. /Batgirl would never give up/. It conjured up images of a blur of black, so fast, so strong you could hardly see her coming. Bright red hair under a blue cowl, and then, illuminated by green glowing screens. That was Batgirl. Even...even a plucky purple figure with a grin. Batgirl. Strong, resilient. And wasn't she Batgirl? The mantle had been passed to her, not arbitrarily, but because somewhere deep inside her she had the ability to be that. That strength that carried a legacy. "Batgirl wouldn't give up." She agreed, the unspoken understanding between the two of them clear as day now. "Maybe Stephanie Brown would...but -" Her thick throat tripped her up, and she reached across the car console to wrap her hand lightly around Marley's. "But I won't."
Marley tensed momentarily under the touch. Her eyes drifted down to look at Stephanie's hand on hers-- was this what real human connection was? Leaving things unsaid? Not saying something just because you knew it to be true? Bite your tongue, after all. Marley shifted, wanting to pull her hand away, but knowing it would lose effect on Stephanie if she did. So she stayed put. "I knew I hired you for a reason," she said with a wisp of a smile. "You're pretty strong, and it definitely takes some courage to do a job like this. And patience, but that'll come." Her eyes glanced back to the doors-- still nothing. She wished they could just leave and go eat take out Chinese in the office, but Sawyer would have her head if she came back empty-handed tomorrow. Sitting back, Marley took in a breath. "So what do you think rule number two of being a detective is?"
Steph wondered which job Marley was referring to and it left a smile on her emotional face. The moment passed and she took her hand back, settling in to continue the job. That was the true nature of any job like this - feelings and personal matters all got swept aside. Bad guys don't care about your personal life, they keep on being bad. "Resilience?" She guessed, following the track of their conversation but mostly a shot in the dark.
Marley gave a short chuckle. "I'm sure that's part of some rule, but not quite," she said, shaking her head slightly. "For me, it's always been 'Always read the room before you head in'. Basically, don't rush in to things." She went to pick up one of her folders from Stephanie's lap when a shaded figure caught her sight. She froze mid-movement, squinted for a moment, before redirecting herself and picking up her camera quickly. One zoom in told her that this was there target. "Suspect number one has taken the trophy." She snapped a few pictures. "Told you so," she smirked after a few minutes. She showed the pictures to Stephanie. "Ready to catch yourself some bad guys?" she asked.
Steph made a self deprecating look at that - not rushing in was not a specialty of hers. She was going to say as much when Marley's whole attitude changed, and they both picked up the man in the shadows. He was definitely the first guy of the three suspects, not that she doubted Marley would be right for a second. On habit and instinct her hand moved for the car door handle, ready to take out the bad guy. But she reminded herself sternly that this wasn't that kind of job. "Born ready, boss."
