drastic measures [BATMAN]

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It was a bit chilly on the top of the building, and Summer was starting to wish that she had grabbed the jacket out of her office before climbing up the numerous flights of stairs with her overweight camera man lumbering behind her with the equipment. With a hand placed on the back of her skirt, she hoped he wasn’t attempting to look up her dress and found herself frequently turning around to tell him to hurry it up. A smirk illuminated her features as they reached their destination, the top of Gotham Live building, which rivaled the size of the building surrounding it. It was the perfect place for her little plan of luring the Batman and at least get some footage. In order to do so, Summer intended on putting herself in a perilous position by taking center stage as the damsel in distress, seeing as she did it so well.

She reached the top much quicker than her camera man and hugged herself in attempts to warm herself. Taking a brief moment to survey the area, she waited impatiently for her camera man to join her. “About time” She muttered under her breath, watching as he unceremoniously tossed several bags onto the ground. “Hey! Watch it; there is some valuable equipment in there! Okay, now tie me up.” Summer instructed, willingly putting her wrists behind her back as she sat down on an elevated piece of cement, crossing her legs. A little too willingly, her camera man opened the duffle bag that contained a large quantity of ropes and various other materials. “Are you sure your brought enough stuff, goodness, it looks like you robbed a hardware store.” Taking note of the various wires, ropes and tape, and smirk on his face she was almost beginning to think that he had been waiting for this moment for a long time.

Summer crossed her legs and waited as he restrained her wrists, legs and ankles with various lengths of thin rope. As he reached for the tape, her eyes widened. “Alright! No, that’s good, that’s enough. “ The redhead struggled against her bonds and found then unyieldingly tight. “Could have made it a little more comfortable, but whatever. Get the camera set up and find somewhere to hide, then I can start screaming.”

Trying to get somewhat comfortable amongst the tight restraining ropes, her expression went from excited to annoyed the moment she heard a low ‘uh-oh’ from her camera man, who had carelessly forgotten the film on the first floor of the massive building. “Are you kidding me? Ughh! I have to do everything!” Before she could say anything else, he was hurrying toward the roof’s exit, “I’ll go get it Miss Gleeson, no worries!” He grumbled, reluctantly dropping the duct tape at her feet.

“Wait!! No!” She squealed. “You can’t just leave me up here like this?” What are you doing? Come back and untie me!” However, it was much too late; the young reporter was left bound and alone on the dark, lonely rooftop. Swallowing, Summer struggled full force against the ropes, swearing she could make out figures in the shadows.

NOTES: thanks for threading! take your time with a reply, I know you are busy!
SUMMER IS WEARING: THIS

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Batman rested on one knee next to leonine gargoyle on a Central Gotham rooftop. Several incidents had been reported in City Hall over the past week involving the leaking of sensitive information about legal cases and city planning strategies over the past week. News had leaked out from several sources into the media, and while none of the individual leaks were very damaging, together they told the story that someone had access at will to whatever information they sought. It wasn’t normally the sort of thing that Batman troubled himself with, but someone with that kind of access could create havoc anywhere. It couldn’t be allowed to continue.

He was surprised to see shadows appear on a rooftop a few blocks away. His mask wouldn’t give him the level of detail he needed to identify those on the roof, on its own. He pulled a digital imager out of his belt and focused it at the shadows. He was mildly surprised to see who it was. He retreated from the gargoyle as he stowed the imager away and began to make his way across the rooftops. He reached his goal from the far side, landing in a silent roll across the tarred surface.

He approached through the cover of several chimneys and other structures, growing close enough to hear them as the camera man announced he’d forgotten the film. The Dark Knight waited for the overfed camera man to leave the rooftop before he locked the door from the roof’s side. He looked over at Summer, sitting bound on the cold cement. She wasn’t dressed for the night up here, which told him she hadn’t planned on staying for long.

He approached her from the shadows, not making a sound. He got to within a dozen feet of her before he stopped. The backdrop of a starless night enhanced the view, and they were above much of the city’s pollution and light glare. It was nothing like the view from Wayne Manor, but it was still beautiful. The presence of Summer did nothing to diminish the view.

“Nice view,” he said in a gravelly voice.

He moved closer, checking her bindings. He was impressed with it in general, though the knots were too ornate for his taste. Simpler knots would have been just as effective, and would have been quicker to tie, though less aesthetic. He guessed the cameraman knew more about ropes than one picked up from Boy Scouts. He wondered how well Miss Gleeson had thought this through.

He pulled out an RF detector and checked the area for transmitters before he sat down next to her. “You wanted to talk?”

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“Are you serious? Come back this instant and get me out of this!” Summer squealed, wondering why he didn’t turn around the moment she started shrieking, after all, didn’t he know she controlled his future at this company? As much as she didn’t want to rely on the newest camera guy for one of her ‘grander’ schemes to lure the Batman, her favorite had the night off to play in his band at a local café. Summer much rather would have been there like she promised rather than sitting on the top of this chilly rooftop tightly restrained by the ropes. He had certainly came prepared, Summer assumed a few ropes from the hardware store might have sufficed but he had brought and entire duffle bag and several rolls of tape. Summer never agreed to tape.

The redhead wasn’t easily scared and this was mostly a controlled situation in her eyes. After all, her camera man would be back in a matter of moments and then they could put her plan into action. She would be out of these tight, uncomfortable ropes within the course of the hour and hopefully have Batman on film to show for it. Biting her lip, she gasped at the sight of a moving shadow, only to realize it was simply her imagination getting the best of her. Summer struggled against her bonds in an attempt to free herself. It had been nearly ten minutes and he had not returned. Either he managed to get lost or something was up, but Summer was no longer eager to stay in this vulnerable position for long. She typically liked being the one in control of the situation, making others feel uncomfortable on the other side of her questioning. However, at this point she felt overall helpless.

A deep voice resulted in a jump and a gasp from the young news anchor and she looked to see Batman standing a few feet before her. She had no idea how he managed to silence his footsteps –or if he even had walked to approach her. He was a man of complete mystery and while she had her leads and suspicions, none had been confirmed. “You mean me or the city?” She shot back, hoping the darkness hid the blush on her cheeks as she continued to struggle. The bound beauty held still as he approached her, assuming that he was going to untie her and set her free. While her plan hadn’t gone the way she had hoped, she still wasn’t going to complain if he relieved her at this point. When it had been several moments she whirled her head around to face him. “Wait, aren’t’ you going to untie me first?”

Of course she had questions for him, dozens of questions that had gone unanswered for far too long. With an exasperated sigh, she gave a mock struggle. “Of course I have questions for you; I just hoped my camera man might be back before you got here. However, something tells me he found something better to do…” She accidently kicked the roll of tape while struggling, glancing at the exit in hopes she might see the large man bounding through the door with camera in hand, but something told her that wasn’t going to happen.


SUMMER IS WEARING: THIS

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The gasp was real enough that Batman believed she’d been startled by his appearance. He appreciated that she had found a place to be bound that wasn’t quite on the edge of the rooftop; he preferred not having to rescue people if it wasn’t necessary. His poker face remained perfectly in place when she asked if he’d meant her or the city, though if his eyes hadn’t been hidden behind a dull white shield, she might have noticed a touch of mirth in them. In fact, he’d been referring to both, and the blush on her face told him she had inferred at least part of it correctly.

He bent down to pick up the tape, then moved to the bag her cameraman had left next to her. The gauntlets on his hands would leave no prints, and the materials they were made from would leave no residue. He began laying out the contents of the bag where Summer could clearly see them. There was enough rope there to bind six women. It was high quality nylon, color coded and new, though the packaging had been removed and each rope had been rewound to allow easier immediate use. A quick look at the knots binding Summer confirmed that her partner knew what he was doing with the knot work as well. The man was obviously skilled in the art of rope bondage. Summer would have to be equally skilled as escapology to free herself, and at the moment, she didn’t seem capable. The wire was another issue. If used, it would provide no play and could be injurious in itself. The tape was the least dangerous of the three, in general, and the easiest to use, as long as it wasn’t used to block the airway of the victim.

“Should I? You went through a lot of trouble to get me here. Shall I free you and leave?”

He rose up from laying the equipment out, which had included a utility knife, forceps, a spiked medicine wheel, a few vibrators with several packages of batteries and a box of latex gloves. The equipment was new, but the evidence suggested the man that had brought it likely knew what he was doing with it, and Batman expected the man had a plan of some sort. From Summer’s reaction, he got the distinct impression that she hadn’t been briefed.

“He had an agenda. Unless you had plans for all these toys,” he said with a glance at the arrayed bondage equipment, “I suggest that you look a little deeper into the background of your cameramen in the future. And that includes anyone else you intend to trust with your life.”

He didn’t mention that he’d locked the door to the roof access hatch, nor that the cameraman had no reason to think he had to hurry. After a few hours, the cold alone would have probably forced her into agreeing with any demands he’d made, if he intended to leave her alive at all. The problem with stopping a crime before it happens is you have no evidence of a crime being committed, but this man would be watched. If he did step over the line, even a millimeter, he’d end up as someone’s date in Black Gate. The Dark Knight removed an emergency blanket from his belt and wrapped it around her. It immediately blocked the wind and, within a few moments, she would begin to warm, but he made no effort to free her.

“I’ll give you a few minutes. No cameras, no notebooks.”

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A small smirk played on her features as she caught sight of the caped crusader himself. While she hadn’t been completely confident in her plan several moments ago, now she was convinced that this was going to go on smoothly. He would untie her and they could talk, her phone secretly recording the conversation in her pocket. Of course, her phone was currently turned off in the pocket of her designer dress, only adding to the inconvenience. Desperate to get out of her restraints, she continued to struggle against them as if that might coax him into assisting a bit faster. Hoping that the darkness of the rooftop managed to hide the blush on her cheeks, Summer detested being put in such a vulnerable position. While the damsel in distress role fit her very well, she had been taking local courses in self-defense in hopes to exterminate the label all together.

She watched as he rummaged through her camera man’s bag. “There is nothing in their but some of my studio equipment, it’s really not important…now about these ropes..”
Summer’s jaw fell open as he began to lay out the contents of the bag. Her eyes grew wide as she unexpectedly discovered the true objected that the bag contained. “You have got to be kidding me…” She said in shock. “What is that even for?” Summer explained as he pulled out a length of wire. Her harmless plot suddenly looked a little direr with each object being pulled out of the back. “Hah,” She managed as he still made no efforts to free her. Surely he was joking, Summer was shivering and goosebumps covered each area of exposed skin despite the summer season. “Well, you can certainly free me and we can have a little chat, I mean – after all I did go through all this trouble.” The news anchor toyed playfully.

When he moved away from the bag, Summer was able to see the complete contents of the bag laid out before her. None of it had anything to do with recording her encounter with Batman, but had much more sinister intentions. “Oh my- what was he going to do? Kill me? This cannot be happening.” Summer blinked in disbelief, her jaw slightly askew as she continued to gaze upon the items. The redhead didn’t snap back into reality until Batman had draped a blanket over her bare shoulders, shielding her from the night air. “Thank you,” she began “but I think this brief interview will be much more successful for all parties involved if I was in a little less of a restrictive environment, don’t you?” She attempted sweetly, batting her eyelashes in hopes that might tempt him to untie her. Still- a few minutes with Batman was more than most had managed; she was going to take it one way or another.

SUMMER IS WEARING: THIS

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Batman had every intention of discovering the cameraman’s intentions before he would be able to set up any more victims, but for the moment, Summer’s assistant was relatively harmless unless provoked. He had apparently been set on actually filming his exploits with the television reporter, a fact that may have saved her a great deal of trouble. Summer’s reaction to seeing the overly zealous bondage kit revealed told him that she had not known about everything in the bag. That the man carried it up to the roof meant that he’d intended to use it. His impression of the cameraman was steadily falling.

“You went to ‘all this trouble’ in an effort to lure me to you. You’re lucky I happened to be in the neighborhood.”

He rose and walked to the rooftop, surveying the city in general and activity around City Hall in particular. This wasn’t as close as his formal position, but it was a different vantage point. Still, there seemed to be nobody moving in or around the building. It was apparently going to be a quiet night. Then again, Gotham hadn’t had a quiet night in 25 years. He looked back at her as she attempted to use her wiles to encourage him to free her. Apparently she didn’t realize that a bound woman flirting with a man didn’t tend to bring out the chivalrous side of him.

“No, I don’t,” he answered plainly, shifting his attention back out over the city. “But, since you’re not asking any meaningful questions, I'll ask instead. Why did you choose this place to try to lure me?”

It was not exactly a secret that Batman tended to lurk in areas of the most violent crime. City Hall didn’t qualify for that and, unless she had a reason for suspecting him to be there, it was a very definite coincidence that had brought them together, and he didn’t believe in coincidence. If she had expected him to be here, there was the question of why. But, perhaps, the location had been the cameraman’s decision. If that was the case, it had likely been an attempt to avoid masks of any type or he was also interested in City Hall. The implications of the latter made the man a bit more interesting.