What's he building in there?

[crusades]

Anyone passing by the hangar at this particular moment will hear the sound of some serious mechanical maintenance; the crackle of welding gear and the hiss of hydraulics. It's a rare indulgence for the current occupant, as intermingled with the bang and clatter of the work permeates a lilting yet bombastic tune that flares from the radio of the craft that he is currently working on.

It was one of Thomas Wayne's favourites and at this time of year, the time of his death, it was all the harder for that little boy that still hid somewhere in the caverns of Bruce Wayne's mind to ignore. All the same, he takes great pleasure from hearing it, not that an observer would be able to tell from the usual clenched jaw and eyes hidden impassively behind opaque work goggles.

That's right, even the Bat-goggles come in black. As does the craft on which he toils; an angular, wide-winged jet fighter. Or at least, it used to be, before he began cannibalising the harebrained concoction of alien technologies that had in the past been used in the designs for the Justice League Satellite and its squadron of shuttlecraft, in order to make his personal plane spaceworthy.

Anyone who wants to talk may, but they'd do well to address the Batman from a fair distance. A blowtorch and years of self-induced psychological conditioning can be a pretty lethal combination.

Comments

[crusades]

"No, only with what I can understand," he replies. Little did he know it but Damian was actually quite prodigious in the field himself, "Finding a viable source of propulsion for deep space flight was my chief concern, but the schematics General Antilles is providing for his squadron solved the matter better than I had hoped."

He thumbs over his shoulder into the cavernous hangar, "You know, there was a car in the back. It has my symbol on it but I've certainly never seen it before. I... don't suppose you know anything about that, do you?"

[better-robin.livejournal.com]

"Is it?" Even behind the mask, it's all too obvious how much Damian's face lights up at the prospect of his Batmobile being there. Well, Grayson's, but Damian was the one who'd made it. He hurries past Bruce. When he sees it, he grins. "Yes! I built this one!"

[crusades]

Bruce let's a small smirk creep across his face. He'd also given it a little test run, and he'd been quite impressed with the results.

"It flies."

[better-robin.livejournal.com]

"I know. I modified your designs." He can't help sounding proud. As much as he'd like to act like it's no big deal, he could do it in his sleep, it had been difficult to design, and he was very pleased with the results.

Not that Grayson ever let him drive it.

He smiled at the car for another moment, then turned abruptly, face back to it's normal scowl. "It's Grayson's," he said abruptly. "And it doesn't fly as well as the jet. It turns too slowly."

[crusades]

"Somehow I don't think Dick is going to come looking for it," Nightwing had his own car, though seemed to cope just fine without it anyway, "My designs only ever accomodated flight as a secondary function. Perhaps we could pool our resources, see what we can do to overhaul it."

Well, if this isn't the Bat-family equivalent of a soapbox derby project...

[better-robin.livejournal.com]

"I suppose." Which was about as close to enthusiasm as Damian gets about anything, accidental excitement at the thought of the car he built being here aside. "Though I don't see the point if no one's going to drive it."

All the same, he's itching to improve it.