Tuesday, November 28, 2006

286. Dick Grayson

Can I just say that Carl Gustavus, or the Magus, or whatever the fuck he wants us to call him now, is a smug, pretentious, self-centered obstructionist bully who cannot be relied upon to do anything except screw things up? The man disappears for DAYS at a time, typically when we need him most. He's the complete opposite of everything I stand for. Everything all the rest of us stand for, or so I thought.

HE. IS. BAD. NEWS.

So why the hell does Bruce seem to find him so goddam fascinating? Even Ollie has been known to side with him every now and then during tactical meetings, or at least want to stare at him for hours at a time when no one else is looking. OK, so he is pretty fucking hot, I admit it. But looks aren't everything--the man is a complete and total son of a BITCH! Why does no one else see this?!

I think there's more to his story than he's letting on. I know our main focus these days is HM, but I'm going to get to the bottom of this. The man is trouble. He's poison to our operation.

Other than that little quibble (which I should really be limiting to my alter ego, but I'm just pissed off right now I can't even think straight), things are going well. Janice and I got together, and that went okay even though I was forced to be incredibly evasive. It was getting really dicey there, so in a flash of inspiration I kinda sorta led her to believe I'd had a nervous breakdown, and that explained all sorts of things she was asking questions about: my leaving town, my not contacting her for months at a time, these strange men I've been spending time with and whose names I kept dropping by accident, etc., etc. I did throw in a part about going down south to help out after Katrina, which of course is true, just to cover my tracks.

I am a devious Boy Wonder, I am...

Sunday, November 26, 2006

285. Robin

The meeting went well--as well as could be expected under the circumstances. I must say, it felt great to sit once more in the Batcave, this time with Batman on one side of me and Green Arrow to the other, all of us ready to work together against a common enemy. (I should probably admit I got more than a little turned on under the circumstances. I tried to concentrate on B's plan of attack instead of fantasizing about being the meat in a Bat/Arrow sandwich, but it wasn't easy.)

There was a certain amount of tension and suspicion, maybe some healthy competition, just beneath the surface between B and O, but they remained professional throughout it all. I know both of them very well at this point (to put it mildly), and I can understand why they each feel the way they do, but i also know they're ultimately on the same side, even if they're not completely convinced of it themselves just yet. I think once they witness each other's commitment to the job at hand, things will change for the better.

Things did change a bit, not exactly for the better, when Gustavus showed up, 45 minutes late. Only he's not "Gustavus" now--expects us to call him "The Magus." His outfit is pretty similar to the one we saw before--all leather, all black, not a bit of his flesh exposed beyond his eyes and lips. (OK, I admit it's a good look for him. And maybe he would fit nicely into that superhero sandwich--but that doesn't counter the fact that he's a self-obsessed jerk who DOES NOT play well with others.) Everything he said seemed designed to complicate things that had been going perfectly smoothly before he arrived. He tried to get us all to go back to square one in terms of who we are and what we're trying to do; he instantly picked up on the rift between B and O and tried to exploit it; he even questioned the dividing line between right and wrong the rest of us all seem to share, implying that twe were all living a lie and only he possessed the almighty Truth.

Let's face it: I just don't like the guy, and NOT just because he's been fucking the living daylights out of B while I was out of town. But I have to put my personal feelings out of the picture and focus on the battle ahead. Taking down HateMonger and his crew is what I've come back here to do, and that's exactly what I'm going to do, dammit.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

284. Robin

Batman has called a meeting--the two of us, plus Green Arrow, and he's also attempting to track down Gustavus, or whatever the guy is calling himself these days. That last one won't be easy, but that's none of my business.

We're going to map out a plan of attack to take on HM's organization, or at least its Gotham City base. I don't know exactly what B has in mind, but I do know that we are up against an enemy far larger than we've ever faced, and it's going to take every one of us operating at the peak of our abilities to bring it down.

And I've never been more ready to swing into action than I am, right now.

Monday, November 20, 2006

283. Batman

HateMonger has escalated his attacks on innocent men and women. It is my duty to protect them.

Robin has matured since we last worked together. His new friend appears to be a worthy ally, despite my misgivings about him.

We can wait no longer. Action must be taken.

Monday, November 06, 2006

282. Dick

I came back to Gotham four months ago thinking ... I don't know, thinking it would be easier this time, maybe? Thinking everything would be different, that Green Arrow and I would join Batman and his new partner, and together the four of us would take down the mysterious HateMonger's organization and restore order not just to this own city, but to the entire nation, since the group's ideology of hate and fear has spread like a weed throughout one community after another with alarming speed.

Instead, life has been an annoying mix of sheer chaos and utter tedium. I spend far more of it as Dick Grayson than Robin (in fact, I've barely suited up at all since Ollie and I rescued the other two back in June). Instead of investigating crime cartels, I've been scouring the paper for apartments, since it's become quite clear that Wayne Manor is not a healthy place to live these days. Oliver's been doing temp work, and I went crawling back to my old employer offering to accept a huge pay cut if they'd only take me back. (B offered to pay me for Wayne Foundation work as he had before I left town, but it just felt wrong on so many levels I can't even count them all.)

I thought I had left my previous existence forever, but I'm finding out that's not quite the case. In some ways it feels like decades have passed since I left here, but in other ways it seems like I never left. Speaking of which, I ran into Janice on the street a few days ago, after not talking to her for at least a year and a half. Awwwwwwwwwkwaaaaaaard. She pretty much insisted that we get together and compare notes over beer and pizza as soon as possible, and there was no way I could back out of it. She used to be my closest confidant in the world, and now we don't even know each other's phone numbers. I have no idea where to start, since about eighty percent of my activities since we last spoke has been completely off the record. I can't talk about Bruce, probably shouldn't talk about Ollie, have no idea what to say about anything else. "Oh, and remember that shrink I was seeing for a while? Turns out he was an evil mad scientist who brainwashed me and briefly turned me into an archcriminal intent on capturing and caging Batman, who is not an urban legend but a real person and my ex-boyfriend. So, what's new with you?"

Meanwhile, HateMonger is out there amassing an army of untold proportions, and I'm itching to suit up and take him down, but I can't do it alone, and it's painfully clear there's no critical mass of good guys to back me up at the moment.

This ain't no comic book, that's for DAMN sure.