A Civil Discussion (Stephanie)

[Arthur Brown]

Arthur waited, in his office, in one of his warehouses. He'd known for a good time now that his daughter had taken on some masked identity and was opposing his operations. Last he'd heard, she was calling herself "Spoiler". She'd been robbing him for a good bit of time now as well. So he'd dispatched a couple of goons to round up his daughter, knowing she'd never come willingly. Knowing the men he worked with, they'd drag her through the door with her hands tied and a bag over her head any minute now. Standard military procedure.

[Stephanie Brown]

And that just about summed up how Stephanie was brought into the room. Two large men had her by the shoulders and dragged her into the room, kicking as she did so. It wasn't really doing anything since they had easily lifted her off her feet, but she would have regretted it if she didn't try. They plopped her down in the chair, yanking the bag off of her head. Her mask had ben taken and her hood was pulled back, although neither fact really mattered.

"Finally" she said after the bag was removed. "I thought I had gotten away from that clow-" Stephanie stopped talking when she saw her father across from her. She tried to force out words, but all that she could think for a moment was I would've preferred Harley..

[Arthur Brown]

"Hello, Steph." Arthur said simply. "How've you been?"

[Stephanie Brown]

"I've had better days" she said. "But aside from the restraints, I'm doing pretty well." She glared at her father as she forced out the words "And you?"

[Arthur Brown]

"I'm well. Now, on to business." Arthur said. "How long have you been stealing from me?"

[Stephanie Brown]

If it were anyone else, Stephanie would have outright lied. She'd have denied it all the way down. But with her father? She didn't care enough to lie. "A couple of months. I lost count of how long it's been" she said. "It was in the middle of the spring semester of school, but I was more focused on school. That and the whole Teen Titans thing." She never bothered to keep track of what was acquired from her father and what was simply bought from a fabric store or a radio shack.

[Arthur Brown]

Arthur referenced a sheet of paper on his desk. "All told, the gear that has disappeared from my warehouses has totaled $20 million. Do you have a plan of some sort to pay this off?"

[Stephanie Brown]

"I was kinda focusing on using it" she admitted. "Instead of letting it collect dust, I used that staff to stop a rape only three hours ago." Stephanie turned her head to look at the two goon who brought her in. "That's where I met these lovely gentleman" she said, her voice taking on a slight accusatory tone. "Isn't that a coincidence?"

[Arthur Brown]

"Not at all." Arthur said. "Now, for the million dollar question: why?"

[Stephanie Brown]

"Because someone has to" Stephanie said. "One man can't clean up Gotham alone afterall."

[Arthur Brown]

"No, why work against me?"

[Stephanie Brown]

"What would you have done if I had asked to take a bunch of your gear and hand it off to a bunch of college students?" Stephanie asked.

[Arthur Brown]

"I would have had a good laugh, and then we would have worked something out so you can pay me off. I'm running a business here, Steffie." Arthur said.

[Stephanie Brown]

"I figured that my plan would have had a better success rate" Stephanie said. "Besides, that meant I would've had to let on that you are, well... This."

[Arthur Brown]

"Why? You could have invented a story easily. You were always creative."