Will you sign my book, Dr. Crane?

[scream-and-cry.livejournal.com]

"Why the world needs Batman" had been re-released, extended, and put in book form. It wasn't what Crane had originally intended, but it generated a welcome level of attention from both critics, the public, and the mass media. And now, Dr. Crane was at Borders in Gotham City, signing books for the customers.

"Good grief," Crane mutters to nobody in particular. Two police guards are next to him, with orders that they're supposed to shoot him in the legs if he tries to escape or do anything violent. In honesty, he's just glad to have the cuffs off for a change. The queue that's building is massive. Infamy has its own rewards in publicity, but Crane can't help but wonder how many in this queue just want a chance to spit at him.

The first customer. "Dear lord..." a teenage girl. Very... gothic. Probably thought his crimes were cool. "And who shall I make this one out to? Ah. And were you Christened as Hellsblood? No? Pity. Goodbye." He rolls his eyes as the goth wanders away, and looks up to face the next customer. An old man. With a cane. Oh, and look, he's shaking it in Crane's direction and shouting about how the good doctor had at one point or other driven his children mad and blah, blah, blah. "Please leave," Crane directs, pointing at the door. "There are real customers here, and if you didn't have your say in court, you don't have it now." The security attending the event escort the weeping gentleman to the exit.

Crane smiles at the next customer. Another goth. Know your audience, and all that. "And what is your name? Brimstone, perhaps? Oh. It is. No, no, I'm not psychic, clearly just a good judge of character." As the teenage boy runs out, possibly to meet his girlfriend, he looks up to see the next customer. Who's not there. And then he looks down. A child.

"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary... Don't you think you're a touch too young to be reading "Why the world needs Batman?", little boy?"

The Hunt for Karate Kid : Metropolis

[jla-legion.livejournal.com]

His thoughts are jumbled - the tangle of streets and the urban decay seem at once familiar and forbidding. The tall skyscrapers of the downtown area remind him of home, but he also feels the need to stay out of sight - until he can sort out the conflicting impulses in his mind.

Val's path has led him to Suicide Slum - no better place to hide in Metropolis. Even though his black and orange outfit is unusual, the people here seem more content to mind their own business - and so he has sought refuge in an alley, sitting on the ground next to a dumpster as he tries to focus.