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Jessica's messaging service would have given her a note: We need to talk about our relationship. Meet me at work. - Rick.
Richard is currently in his office at the Cloisters, studying over a small object as he has out a few files, a frown touching his face amongst his various collectibles.
Poor Richard. He might have found the words most likely to keep Jess from purposefully running into him ever again. 'Relationship?' That's a dirty word. But she can't avoid him forever, not knowing just what sort of skills he has, so after debating it with herself for a few hours, she eventually made her way to the office. "You know," she says, leaning against the doorway. "I feel like that's supposed to be the girl's line."
"Figured it would be the quickest way to get you here, considering how scared you are of it. Calculated risk." Richard responds as he rises from his desk and comes over to kiss her cheek quickly. "And you didn't even ask which relationship to which I referred." he points out to her before he goes back to the desk. "Came across a gift addressed to me the other night. The other me."
"Oh, we've got more than one?" Jess quirks a brow, smile tugging at one corner of lips as the tilts her cheek up to his kiss. "Noted." She follows him toward the desk, leaning her hip up against the edge of it as she takes a look. "Left here, or in your little lair?"
"Neither. On one of my patrol routes. It was left tacked onto one of the guys I used to have for insider info on mob shipments." Richard responds, returning to his side of the desk and picks up the small card. "It's a message I've seen before, but it's the first one I've gotten." With that, he hands over the card to Jess.
http://holocron.swcombine.com/images/8/8d/BlackHand.png
"Ever seen it before?"
Jessica Drew eyes the card, head tilting. "Doesn't ring any particular bells," she says slowly. "But it sounds like you've lost your inside track. And probably not to someone who just has more opinions on what to do with criminals than you do, yeah? I'm guessing the guy you found it pinned to wasn't in the best shape?"
"Does turned inside out count as a shape?" Richard asks glumly. "He wasn't my only contact, but he was one I trusted the most. Anyway, that's the black hand. Ran across the Hand a few nights ago down on the docks, along with Deathstroke and some others. See what happens when you miss out on date night?" There's a smirk at that, before he shakes his head. "Rumor has it, I got this, I have about three weeks to get my affairs in order, cause death's coming for me."
Jess pauses, taking another look at the card. "You're saying that the card left with your contact wasn't a message about messing with whoever he was in with, it was a message that the same thing is coming for you?"
"That would be easier if it were a mafia hit. Wasn't their style, no rat." Richard explains. He would know if someone within the mob had found his contact. "You ever heard of the Hand?" he asks. This isn't just a question for general knowledge, he wants to fill out how deep her own intelligence is. Since what girl carries a shoulder holster and a knife in her boot?
"The Hand in general, sure." Jess sits on the edge of the desk, watching him. "Eastern group. Japan, China, the rest of it. Tends toward the mystical, not very organized on a global scale. Not really a threat to governments, but can be hell on an individual. So far they've been so wrapped up in their own mystical crap that they haven't been much of a threat to anyone as a whole, but they're definite move in the dark sorts."
"Oh. Well, they were on the New York docks the other night. New leader, a girl. Or at least a high-ranking member. They were off-loading something, wasn't able to stop them, but whatever it was - it had a lot of security." Richard responds, leaning back on the chair. "It was enough to draw the attention of Deathstroke - but that's a whole other story."
"Huh. Wonder what interest they've got in New York," Jess frowns, turning the card over in her hand for a few moments before tossing it lightly back to the desk. "So how does this get to the part where someone puts a hit out on you?" she asks, crossing her arms over her chest.
"That's their mark." Richard taps the card. "That's the hit. Well, a hit on Nightwing. And if I'm guessing right, Deathstroke and anyone else that was there got one as well that stood against the Hand." he shrugs his shoulders. "They don't know about you, so I have a wildcard in my own pocket now.'
"Ah, and now the truth comes out," Jess smirks, keeping her arms crossed as she watches him. "What makes you think I'm any sort of card? Maybe I just like to protect myself in this big, bad city."
"Jess. Really?" Richard smirks slightly. "Is this the show you mine, show me yours part of the program? Because I've seen it." there's a grin as he crosses his own arms. "After all, Candid Camera isn't just for Alan Funt. But if you want to stick to that story, I'll buy it."
"I'll admit to knowing enough about interrogation that I'm not going to start talking just because you say you know something," Jess replies, though she does uncross her arms, propping her hands on the edge of the desk. "Candid camera?" she arches a brow. "And just what have you been filming, Mister Grayson?"
"A city girl that comes well armed and seems to know how to defeat most security systems." Richard sighs, and then shakes his head. "If you're going to be coy about all this, it's fine." he says finally. "But I'm probably going to go looking for these guys myself, and if I don't come back, you'll know why."
Jess sighs, reaching for his arm to pull him back toward her. "No, don't go looking on your own," she says, staring wearily up toward the ceiling. "All right. Full disclosure. No judgment, though," she warns as she looks back to him. "You start judging and I'm out."
Grabbed by the arm, Richard doesn't pull away, allowing himself to by pulled back to Jessica's range. "You didn't judge me when you found my cave, Jessica. Do you really think I'm going to judge you back?" he asks, a lift of his brow as he meets her eyes.
"Yeah, well. It's not exactly…flattering." Jess lets her hands slide down his arms, taking his hands in hers. "Ever hear of HYDRA?" It's not the most common thing. Even during the war, it was fairly secret. But it's a part of history, and he's the expert there.
|ROLL| Nightwing +rolls 1d20 for: 6
"Cut off one head, two more grow back?" Richard asks as he feels her hands and returns the squeeze. "I would have known the other night if you were Greek, Jess." Which is his way of clearly not getting the other idea of HYDRA she's trying to introduce.
"That's the phrase," Jess laughs, though there's little enough humor in it. "Nazi secret science division," she clarifies. "They're what Captain America was created to fight. And my parents worked for them. Researching ways to come up with their own super powered agents. What they did was an accident. My mother was pregnant with me and was exposed to one of the experiments. They thought I was normal when I was born. Turned out that wasn't quite true."
"Oh." That sombers Richard, and he's not smiling quite as much. But he's not pulling away either. Instead, his hands squeeze hers reassuringly. Not running away. Not judging. "So what happened?"
"When I was nine, something happened. I don't know what it was, but things started to…click, I guess. Powers came in. I fell into a coma, and by the time I woke up, my parents were gone, and HYDRA was my new family. I still don't know what happened to them," Jess says quietly, pensive. Clearing her throat, she gives his hands a squeeze. "From then on, they trained me to be their operative. Fighter. Spy. Assassin. Whatever they needed."
Though he wants to make a comment about the spy that loved me, Richard doesn't. Instead his hands hold onto hers, and he nods his head for a moment, "And then?" he asks, because he's about ninety percent sure that there is more to the story.
"And after I turned eighteen, I did. For a while." Jess lets go of one hand to scrub a hand over her face. "I mean, they didn't exactly tell me they were the bad guys. They told me they were trying to save the world from evil corporations, from people who valued money more than lives. And I had a handler whose job it was to make sure I stayed…happy. They set me up to take out someone in SHIELD, had my handler get taken by them. But they underestimated SHIELD. I got in there to do the job, and they had footage showing me what HYDRA really was. Same for the handler."
Richard nods slowly, listening to Jess's story, releasing her hand before he moves to open the cabinet. He takes out a bottle with brown liquid in it and a couple of glasses, and pours them a drink. Because she may not need it, but he does. "So, you're SHIELD now?" he asks, guessing at the story's end. "Do they know about what I do?"
"That's the day job," Jess agrees. "Night job? It's the job that doesn't exactly have regular hours. And no, not from me they don't," she adds, taking one of the glasses. "They don't really need to know, far as I'm concerned. I mean, you start becoming a threat to international security and it might come up, but I don't see that happening."
"Well, that's good to know - that I'm not an international security threat, that is." Richard responds, and then circles back around. Because he didn't miss it, he was just waiting for the right moment. "Powers have to do with the night job as well, I assume?"
"Mmm. The day job is the night job, though," Jess shrugs, taking a drink. "SHIELD knows who I am and what I can do, and they keep me busy enough doing it that I don't really need to freelance on the side." She pushes a hand through her hair, watching him. "I've got all sorts of neat tricks," she says with a weary, lopsided smile.
"You're going to keep being coy?" Richard asks with a lift of his brow. "Is this where you ask me to trust you, Jessica Drew?" he asks her curiously as he drains off the rest of the glass.
"Hey, I'm not used to sharing." Jess takes another drink, along with a deep breath. "Enhanced strength, speed, agility, flexibility, senses," she lists off. "Reflexes. There's the wall-climbing, of course. Venom blasts. Which according to the scientists are actually bioelectric energy, but that just sounds pretentious. And then there are the pheromones."
"Wait, are you saying you're Spider-man?" Nightwing asks with an arch of his brow. "I mean, I've seen pictures of him and you're definetly hiding something if… oh wait. The Italian place, the mouthy spider-girl." his eyes lift to hers and he smirks. "The one that said she didn't have any webs and loved to jump headfirst into trouble."
"Spider-Woman," Jess corrects with a smirk. "But yeah. That'd be me. So. Also, to my knowledge, Spider-Man doesn't do venom blasts or pheromones. But maybe he just avoids using them, because for the record, using them is pretty gross. Just…in general. I try to avoid it, honestly."
"Pheremones.." Richard arches a brow. "The other night?" he asks. He has to, it's in the guy code. "I don't know, it seems like lately there's a lot of spider people showing up in the news." he frowns a little. But he's not running away. "So. This mean you're going to help me with my Hand issue?" Because he's still making plans.
"No," Jess laughs softly. "Not the other night. They're kind of a blunt force tactic. I don't have much control over it, so things can go sideways fast." She takes another drink, smile faint. "But yeah. I'm not going to let some Hand hack take you out. That'd just be embarrassing."
"It'd be embarassing if just one of them took me out." Richard offers with a little grin before he moves to wrap his arms around her waist and looks up at her before he sighs. "Okay, so my next step is to track down Deathstroke and see if he got one of these cards as well."
"That's a hell of a decision." Jess arches a brow, slipping her arms around his waist in turn. "Guy's a professional. I hear he charges more than most hits just for the consult. I mean, not that money's a huge issue for you, but something you might want to consider."
"We have a past." Richard responds, before chewing on his lip. "His daughter and I had a bit of training together - and.. there's the whole issue of what happened with his son." That doesn't seem to be a place he wants to go visiting, but he figures out that he needs to put all the cards on the table as far as it goes.
"That sounds completely promising and not at all like it comes with the sort of baggage that might encourage him to shoot first and ask questions later." Jess reaches up to curve a finger underneath his chin, guiding him over for a brief kiss. "Good thing you're not going alone."
Returning Jess's kiss, Richard grins. "Only if you catch me first." he starts to protest before he draws in a breath. "I know what you meant, Jessica." Reaching up to take her hand, he squeezes it for a moment. "At least you can't say that us dating isn't an exciting proposition."
Jess chuckles, cupping his cheek in her hand before letting her hand fall. "That is the truth," she agrees. "I have a feeling it's just going to get more interesting the deeper we go, isn't it?"
"Depends on how deep you want it to go. Remember, this is your pace, not mine." Richard grins up at her, before pulling her into his lap and wrapping his arms securely around her. "So in case you ever wonder, yes, I do have all my affairs in order in case something happens. You know, not exactly living in the moment with that."
"Oh, thanks. That's an image I needed." Jess lifts her arms to rest them over his shoulders, hands clasped behind his neck. "Let's just try to avoid that, yeah?"
There's a grin at that. "Fiiiine." Richard responds before he leans his head against her shoulder. "So let's get to planning, then, so that doesn't happen."