Batman's Story

Dhani caught sight of that smirk, and quickly looked away from Atticus. He had more important things to be worrying about. Besides, they had no real relationship to speak of; it had been a fling, a one time thing. Never anything more, and now it would certainly never be anything more. Several people spoke up about the water being unnecessary at this point. Dhani wasn’t sure he agreed; he didn’t exactly trust everyone in the room not to start something all over again. Sure, most of them wouldn’t, but Dhani could think of a few heads that could use some cooling. Then Atticus-Icarus-started speaking about working together, but Dhani didn’t look his way. Instead, Dhani was glancing around the room, trying to look as casual as he could.

Dhani turned to look at Gemini as the water went down, and offered a genuine smile of thanks when Adrian dried off his mask. He nodded, his way of assuring the fellow hero that there were no hard feelings on his part. He had to admit that he was feeling pretty awkward, standing there in his suit but no mask. He didn’t know whether to be Dhani or Paladin, and he was sure it showed. He missed whatever had happened, but before long he heard Red Witch talk about hostages and he whipped his head around, eyes darting over the scene, trying to piece together just what was happening. Luckily Gemini had a better handle on what was going on, and was able to get that situation under control. There were talks of trust, and how any of the villains could be expected to give it. Dhani wanted to ask the same thing. How were they supposed to trust the very group of people who had attacked and mind controlled them just moments ago. But he didn’t say a thing. Instead, he watched as Gemini revealed themselves to be two people, and turned to look around the room again.

A part of him wanted to go check on Kieran, but he knew she would be fine, so he stayed put. “I, uh,” Dhani wasn’t feeling the same confidence that being in costume usually gave him. You’re just Dhani without the mask. He tried to push the thoughts out of his head, cleared his throat, and continued, “I understand the hesitation, and I understand if anyone here isn’t willing to work together, but,” He glanced around, trying to find a familiar face to anchor himself, but as he didn’t find masks particularly comforting, he ultimately found himself glancing off at a support beam in lieu of a friendly face, “Heroes and villains alike are going missing. Turning up dead, or not at all. I’ve been a hero since I was sixteen years old, I don’t know how to do anything else.” He shook his head, turning to look at Blood Witch, “I’m not asking you to be my friend,” He gestured towards Atticus, “But you’re right,” He knew he would catch shit for not agreeing with Kieran, but he pushed on, “We don’t stand much of a chance unless we work together.” He shrugged, as if an indication that he was done speaking, and crossed his arms in front of him.

As much as they tried to object, the villains eventually seemed to agree that they needed to work together. Albeit rather begrudgingly, and with more than a few insults slung at various members of the group. But she was just glad that they'd stopped fighting and bickering. She didn't grace Red Witch's comment with a reaction, but her jaw clenched just a little. Red Witch stormed out in a suitably dramatic style, and Cerys just rolled her eyes. If she didn't come back, Cerys wouldn't be sorry. Gemini suggested they begin to wrap things up, and Cerys nodded.

"We need to meet somewhere on neutral ground. I don't want to be accused of favouring one way or another, but I'm sure as hell not walking in somewhere the villains can ambush us. And perhaps somewhere a little less..." She gestured around vaguely. "Grungey?" She said vaguely. "Somewhere a little bit nicer than this anyway. Can we at least agree on that much?" She asked, desperate to just try and get things over and done with.

They eventually agreed on a time and a place, somewhere it could work for both of them and that would put them on a level footing. The meeting time was arranged to be a similar time to allow for them all to do their day jobs as normal then come to the meeting. Cerys sighed, running a hand down her face as she made her way over to Aaron. "Jesus Christ, that was a lot. Can we go grab some drinks or something? I desperately need to relax," she said, running a hand through her hair.

Atticus smiled a little with satisfaction as Aboleth backed him up, agreeing that they needed to move on. People were tired and apparently just tired of the fighting, although Att got the impression that Lucy would have gone for another round, especially with Artemis if she'd been given the chance, before making a suitably dramatic exit. Atticus didn't miss her almost shoving Dhani out of her way, and he rolled his eyes. He was tempted to follow suit, but one of them probably needed to know what was going on, and besides, he wasn't leaving Aboleth alone with a bunch of heroes. He didn't know her all that well, but it was a matter of principle more than anything.

Eventually, the meeting wrapped up, and he sighed with relief. Now that Lucy was gone, he was feeling painfully exposed. He was ready to leave and just walk away from it all. And then he caught Dhani's eye again and... goddammit, Atticus. He knew that he should walk away, knew the thing that made him want to stay was the whole reason he should have left. And he almost managed it, managing to turn and walk out of the building and leave him behind.

But instead he found himself waiting outside, pulling his mask off and sticking to the shadows. And when Dhani came out, Att quickly grabbed his arm, pulling him to one side. "Hey. Sorry, I just..." he trailed off, suddenly regretting his decision. What was he going to say? Sorry I'm a villain? Sorry I didn't mention it?. "That was weird. And I guess... I'm sorry, I don't know what I wanted to say. Just. Didn't want to walk away from this without... I don't know, acknowledging it?"