Problems, Plural [Part 2]

[livewire]

Leslie had barely pulled the last bag from the trunk of the cab when its tires squealed, forcing her to hurriedly pull it out. “Hey!” She kicked a rock at the cab as it tore off down the street, annoyed with the driver. He'd been a pain in the ass since she told him to take her to the East End. Didn't even get out of his cab to help her with the bags. Then again, she couldn't really blame him. Supposedly the East End was worse than the Suicide Slums, where she had grown up. The sun was just beginning to dip past the horizon. She could see a few people on the streets. A number of them were staring at her. One guy was leaning against a telephone pole, smoking. Another was drinking alcohol from a bottle in a bag. Similar to the Suicide Slums, but worse. Leslie dragged a heavy suitcase over to the door of the apartment and jammed her key in the keyhole. She tried turning it, but it wouldn't budge. She mumbled to herself and took a step back, looking up at the building. It appeared to have been ravaged by fire at some point in the past. No doubt it was an unsafe place to live. Probably the reason she was the only tenant. She didn't care, though. She tried the key again, to no avail. It was a studio apartment, dirt cheap and a shelter from people and the elements. As if to remind her she wasn't a fan, mother nature started to rain down on her. A few drops at first, quickly escalating into a raging downpour. “Fuck! Just my damned luck...” Leslie kicked the door a few times with the toe of her boot, before turning around and leaning her back against it, slumping to the ground. She'd hit rock bottom. When her suitcase fell off the stoop and into the mud, she just put her head in her hands. Jobless, almost penniless, and now at the mercy of the East End and mother nature. She raised her head and glared out at the dimly-lit street, spotting several people here and there. She hoped someone would try something. In the mood she was in, she wished someone would try to rob her.

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Not one to normally be traveling in these part of town, Dick Grayson had just been coming through on a business run. In other words, undercover investigation in a disguise, but was not back to being just Dick Grayson. It was still to early to pull out and go on patrol yet. He had been in quite a rush, but had not forgotten an umbrella. Just to his luck, when he had gotten back to his motorcycle, the tire had been slashed by some bum that probably had nothing better to do, ad with that Dick's cell phone had not been working so he decided on walking to the safest location to call for some help.

The sound of the rain made a heavy rhythmic pattern as is hit the umbrella that he carried as he walked. His usually leather jacket was zipped up because with the rain, a cold chill had followed in. Dick was glad he had gone with the old work boots that day, that and it was safer when riding his bike. The ends of his old worn blue jeans had soaked up a bit of water from what had splashed from the puddles he had walked through.

The weather was some what calming. Dick didn't mind the rain. It could have been worse weather to be walking through if it had decided to storm even more that evening. As he walked he heard the sound of tires squealing from ahead. Quite a distance ahead he saw a young woman trying to unload her stuff from the back of a cab that took off. Of course, people were scared of this area because of it's crime rate, but to pull out like that on a woman. Dick knew fear played a bit part in people's lives in Gotham, but it was something you got used to sadly.

He continued walking on an saw how much stuff was sitting there. Then notice her having problems with the door of the building she had been trying to get into. By the time he had gotten closer, the young woman had given up on the door and her one suitcase came tumbling down the small steps. Dick looked up at the young woman sitting on the steps. He stopped when he was close enough to the building where the woman was no sitting on the stoop. He bent down and picked up the suitcase with his free hand, his right hand holding the umbrella.

“Need a hand,” he asked the woman, looking up at her from where he stood on the sidewalk. He wasn’t about to just walk off and leave the woman stuck out in the rain. It seemed like she was having a rougher day than he had that evening. And he had seen that she was having trouble opening the door to the building and had all this stuff to carry in by herself.

[livewire]

Leslie didn't hear Dick pick the suitcase up over the rain, and when he did, she had her face in her hands and couldn't see it. When he spoke, she was startled, dropping her hands and looking up in surprise to see him standing there. “Huh? Oh... yeah, thanks. I can't get the door open.” Leslie was hesitant to take his help. This was, after all, the East End. She couldn't be reckless in trusting just anyone. However, if he turned out to be bad news, she'd just have to be even worse news for him. She nodded her head to the key in the lock and stood up. “The key wont turn in the lock.” She sprinted down the steps and grabbed her other two bags, bringing them up the stoop. The apartment was burned out, but she was assured that there was electricity, lights and heating. The sooner she got inside, the better. She stepped up next to him, so she'd be under the umbrella too. “I'm Leslie, by the way. Leslie Willis. Just moved here from Metropolis. I was a radio host there. Plan to be one here, too.”

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Dick looked up at her and then at the key stuck in the lock. He figured he could try and get it open for her, but before he could take a look at it, the woman went down the steps and grabbed a few bags. He stood there for a moment, figuring he'd come back for the other luggage to help her after they could get into the apartment. Standing on the steps, he looked at the lock from were he stood.

Within a few seconds, the woman was standing under the umbrella along side of him as she introduced herself. "Dick Grayson," he replied and smiled lightly to her. He had a feeling she was a little suspicion as to his reasons of helping her out. "I've heard of your ratio station before. I have a few friends in Metropolis and have listened to a bit of it while I was in town a while back."

He hoped the light conversation would help her feel more relaxed. But he was being truthfully honest that he had heard her on the radio before. Knowing fully well that she like to bast Superman quite a good bit on her program. Looking over at the door again, Dick put the suitcase down on the top step. With his now free hand, he grabbed a hold of the key and shimmied it around in the lock a bit. Within a few moments, he felt the key was in place and turned it in the lock, grabbing the handle and opening the door.

He turned and smiled at Leslie. "These old buildings have a tendency to stick the first few tries if they haven't been used in a while," he said. Opening the door all the way, set the first suitcase inside and stepped aside to let Leslie in first. Planning he would go back down the steps and grab a few more bags.

"So, what would you be planning on talking about in Gotham? I know Superman was the main thing back in Metropolis," he asked just wanted to start a polite conversation with her about her work. He set the umbrella down outside on the stoop and headed back down the steps and grabbed a suitcase and a two boxes. Coming back up the steps he set the other suitcase within the entrance and awaited on any direction as to were she wanted her stuff to go.

[livewire]

It probably should have been a sore subject, her radio station. At least, considering she had been fired from it. However, Leslie was proud of her career. It wasn't over, just... a change in venue. “Really? Yeah... I got canned. The station I was on kind of had a cow when I got arrested. Fuck them, and fuck Metropolis too. Gotham's where it's at, right?” She did miss Metropolis. She had built a career for herself, had grown up in the streets there, and had fans. However, she had a fresh start in Gotham, and its best selling point was that there was no Superman here. At least Batman was human. After Dick opened the door, Leslie slipped inside. She tossed the bags she held to the floor, and started to dig through one of them for a couple of beers. She put one bottle on the charred-black table for Dick, and opened hers. “Oh, well... Superman was the only guy to trash in Metropolis. Gotham has a smorgasbord of creeps in capes and men with masks. Oh sure, I'll talk about Batman, but some of the criminals here are easy pickings. Like that Scarecrow fellow, or the Joker. How is it that every other person in Gotham becomes a supervillain? I'm almost worried I'll become one just by living here.” She eyed the young man who was helping her, and would watch him leave to get the remaining two bags. Once he was out the door, she stripped off her wet jacket and soaked hoodie underneath, leaving just her sports bra on. She tossed them aside and went to the suitcase, fishing through it for a dry shirt. When Dick came back she'd gesture to the beer on the table.

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Dick set the bags down and off to the side of the hall entrance. He had seen her motion toward the beer sitting on the table. His day had been quite rough and at this point he couldn't see one beer making a difference. After that under cover work, Dick had been sure that he was going to have a harder time getting back into the same place with the same disguise he had used that night. But now, he was just Dick Grayson. Helping out someone else, even after he had gone through trouble just trying to get back to the campus.

He had caught was she had been saying. It worried Dick a bit. He knew the criminals in Gotham deserved all that people said about them sometimes. Though, he had heard her stuff before, and he had a feeling that might set off a few of the villains in this town. They weren't like the outer space villains that seemed to go come to Metropolis though. Gotham's weirdos had serious problems and a lot of them had more pride in their work. And of course hated to be made the laughing stock of the city over a lost battle or a few rumors flying around here or there. Dick opened the can and took a small sip or it. He still needed to figure away to get back.

"I'd watch what you'd say about those weirdos," Dick stated. "Not that they doesn't deserve it. It's more of some of their minds are unstable." He figured she'd pick up on what he was saying. But he didn't want to over step the line. The last thing he wanted was to tick someone off.

He walked back over to the door way and leaned up against it. The old floor boards under his feet creaking as he moved. Dick was going to comment of how he had noticed that very few others went to Metropolis to help out the crime there. He had a couple of ideas why. Superman wasn't exactly someone you would want to get off on the wrong foot with. After all, the guy did have superpowers. Sometimes, Dick had a feeling that more of the newer freaks in Gotham just did it to get a kick out of getting into a fight against Batman or anyone else they could. It seemed the more you got away with it the more untouchable the lower criminals saw the top dogs become.

Looking back over at the young woman, Dick wondered just how much she knew about Gotham. Everyone knew about the Batman and the bigger criminals. But had she learned anything about the town itself? Dick was half hoping she didn't read many of the Gotham papers if they made it to Metropolis.