20179/The Light of Cold Harbor

The Light of Cold Harbor
Date of Scene:	04 March 2025
Location:	Atlantic Ocean Coastline
Synopsis:	In the lighthouse of the between place, a fetid stench wafts on frigid air. Stop blaming it on the chimp.
Cast of Characters:	Detective Chimp, Barbara Gordon

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Detective Chimp has posed:
It's a long drive from Gotham to the coast of Rhode Island, but the trip can be greatly sped up by those who have the means and motivation. Unfortunately, the Detective Chimp has neither, nor is he in possession of a drivers license, or any other form of identification apart from a Justice League ID card. It gets him a discount at Big Belly Burgers, and that counts for something. But as the privately rented boat pulls into one of the many little private harbors along the New England coastline, Bobo seems to wish that he'd never gotten mixed up with this case in the first place.

Holding his cap against his head with one hand, and keeping the collar of his overcoat closed with the other, he braces against the stiff winds coming off the shoreline, and tries to keep from shivering too much. It wouldn't do to embarrass himself with a display of weakness. Better to continue puffing on the cigarette that dangles from his lower lip, as if the flame from its tip might provide some warmth to the rest of his body. Psychologically, perhaps it does.

"You're sure this is the spot she mentioned? Because I don't see any lighthouse here."

A shiver escapes him whether he likes it or not. But he's insisting on standing up above deck, despite not being qualified to steer the boat, and probably a bit too tipsy to do so legally even if he could somehow get a license.

"Cold Harbor... they got that part right at least. Next time we work a case together we ought to make sure all the clues are in Warm Bathtub... eh Toots?"

Barbara Gordon has posed:
When Batgirl had joined the Chimp on the boat, she did so while wearing a black trench coat, that hung over her armored body. On the way in too, Babs had shed her Bat-cowl, and revealed her face to the chimp. She didn't make a big deal of it either, electing to just sit down on the boat's board that served as a seat, and pull the mask off. She tucked it away in to her backpack, which rested against her on the bench, and ran a hand through her hair, adjusted her red ponytail, and pulled a ball cap from out of her bag that she pulled over her head to at least shade her eyes from any other drones that might be in the sky tonight.

"You're not wrong..." She quietly said. "It makes me think of my heated pool back home, really." Her voice was soft, a bit sultry, through it was likely due to being calm, if not a bit weary. She had quite an experience back there in the Oblivion Bar, and it was a lot to process.

"I think we're here, though. In the right spot." She indicated, with a glance down to a smart phone device in her left gloved hand. She eyed the GPS tracking, and gave a sidelong glance up in to the sky where one of her own drones swept in, and hovered down toward them. "We need some eyes down in the water?" She asked the Chimp, as she directed the drone to do just so.

It descended down to the water, its fan blades dispersing ripples in many directions, as it touched down, and fell silent, before it sank down in to the cold depths below.

"Though really, I just want a hot shower and a hot chocolate..." Babs quietly said, her maskless face glancing to the Detective again.

"And a bit of therapy, I think..."

Detective Chimp has posed:
The boat's engines idle as the craft sits at a rough stop, pushed only slightly by the ocean currents. No need to drop anchor yet, as there's no indication that they'll be staying. Still, Batgirl's gadgets have yet to lead them astray so far, and Detective Chimp seems to have developed full faith in them by now. More importantly, he's come to trust this impressive young woman implicitly. Enough to play it cool when she reveals her face, and not make it weird. The fact that she's such a looker might make it a little harder.

Too bad she doesn't have longer arms.

"Hot chocolate and a shower sounds like therapy to me, kiddo. But I don't..."

Peering over her shoulder suddenly, the world's strangest detective tries to make sense of what the drones are reporting back. They're in a harbor, with fairly shallow water made murky from the churning of the ocean and the chopping of their own boat's engines. There really shouldn't be anything there to see. But Bobo rushes to the side of the boat to confirm what's being displayed on her screen.

Although there is no lighthouse in this harbor, as the waters begin to calm it becomes clear that they are reflecting the image of a lighthouse that doesn't exist.

"What in the..."

Glumly, he finishes his cigarette and tosses it over the side of the boat.

"The hot shower will have to wait. Looks like it's a good thing we brought the wetsuits..."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs' had a lopsided smirk on her pink lips, the pale skin of her face looking that much more alabaster in the cold night air. She had her eyes on her wrist computer, with her coat sleeve unbuttoned and rolled up to her left elbow, allowing the semi-holographic view to offer her detailed looks through the camera lenses of her drones. One was in the sky, one was now under water, but it was the one in the sky that caught the visible presence of a ghost light house. As Bobo rushed over to her side to view it, Babs moved her eyes over to the aerial view, having been paying most of her attention to the submersed drone's view in the murky waters.

She did a double take, looking up to where the aerial drone caught the view of a light house, and then looked back down to the camera where it was actually visible. "Huh... That's unsettling." She quietly said, her voice barely above a whisper, as she glanced over at the Detective. "Why did I know we'd end up in the water, no matter what?" She asked, before she looked again to the spectral light house that was not even really 'there'.

"God... I've had to get used to Werewolves and Vampires being real. Now I have to tangle with tentacle monsters, and ghost buildings? I feel like the fabric between reality, and Whacky World is deteriorating..."

As she set her drones on an automated zone patrol, to cover as much of a grid map as possible, she stood up, and let her trench coat fall back off of her shoulders, and draped it over the bench she had been seated upon.

"Can you... swim?" She asked him, a look of uncertainty on her pale skinned face, as she took her hat off and dropped it on her coat.

Detective Chimp has posed:
As unhappy as she might have looked at the prospect, at least Barbara wasn't quite as covered in fur as her partner in crime-fighting. The Detective Chimp's attention was quickly diverted as he watched the coat come off, and then the hat. But he turned away respectfully nonetheless. For though he was certainly a gross sort of person, Bobo wasn't really a creep. At least not when it counted. Still, for a moment, it looked as if he had resigned himself to the idea of going overboard, and into the frigid waters. Looking back over the side of the boat, he thought for a second, then looked up at the spot where the lighthouse would have to be in order for the reflection to be cast.

A tentative hand was raised, with a single finger extended.

"Hold on a sec... wait... just... a..."

The sound of his brain working could almost be heard all the way over where Barbara was sitting. But when he turned back to look at her, there was a smile on those oversized teeth.

"I'm an idiot. The lighthouse IS there. Right over..."

Pointing to the spot where it must be, Detective Chimp indicated a spot where there was clearly no lighthouse. Yet as he brought the boat into the harbor and tied it off to the pier, he seemed convinced of its presence.

Stepping over the side of the boat, he waited, offering a helping hand to the lady, like something that could possibly be confused with gentlemanly behavior.

"It's a shame. Would have loved to seen you in a wetsuit."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Barbara was moving her gloved hands toward the two duffle bags that they had tossed on to the boat with them, when she heard his call to halt her actions. she did just so, and looked over at him, partially leaned over, with her braid dangling over her right shoulder. When he moved to disembark the boat, she stood up straighter, and watched him with a curious glance. "God, and you had me about to strip down to my skivies out here..." She muttered, as he spoke of hoping to have seen her in the suit. It drew an honest, if short, laugh from the redhead. "If I had a dime for every time I had a..." She trailed off, and just shot him a smirk, not wishing to call him a 'monkey' in a derogatory manner, as he really was more than that.

She reclaimed her backpack, left her hat and coat where they were, as they were completely unmarked and devoid of any personal information. She slung her bag over her shoulder, and stepped out of the boat with the help of his hand. "Thanks."

As they moved, she pulled a black wool knit cap from a side pouch of the backpac, and slipped it on her head, holding her red hair down on either sides of her face, with her eyes roaming over the horizon.

"I feel like I'm entering a Scooby Doo episode..." The redhead said, her green eyes scanning left and right, as she paid a glance toward him, then up toward her aerial drone, that she knew the exact location of...

Her neural link made sure to keep her updated on her drone's status, and it gave her the ability to basically fly them with her mind alone.

"I don't have this place on my maps." She said, her voice as soft as the wind currently was.

Detective Chimp has posed:
"Oh you won't find it on any maps. A place like this is a between place... like the Oblivion Bar. It's the theory anyway."

The Chimp seemed to be counting his steps as he walked ahead on all fours, his hairy knuckles rubbing against the pier, and then the sandy beach of this New England harbor. Mostly, there were a lot of grass though, and more than a few nettles. As far as beaches went, this one would have made a very unpopular vacation destination. Which might explain why whatever was there chose this spot. It's a question that will probably remain unresolved though.

The walk toward the non-existent lighthouse was fairly short, but it took some concentration from Bobo to remember exactly where it was in relation to the reflection. It wasn't long before he came to a stop, drew himself back up onto his legs, and produced a lighter that appeared at first to be a normal vintage windproof lighter, until he clicked it a few times, and an eerie green light came out of the top.

"Here it is..."

The green flame from his lighter was reflected by something directly in front of them. For a moment, there was a shimmering, and then the doorway became more obvious as green runes danced with the light of the flame. Whatever the language was on those doors, it wasn't something that many living humans could speak, but this didn't seem to stop Bobo in the slightest. After all, he spoke the language of all animals. Even humans.

"Ertz grunack felchore... nilt korren balmarwi!"

Whatever it was that he said, it did the trick, as the doors began to slowly creak open. It gave him enough time to put a cigarette in his mouth, and light it with the green flame. But as the lighter was put away, the flame at the end of his cigarette seemed fairly commonplace.

With a sweeping gesture, Bobo indicated that the young lady should go first. Maybe he was a gentleman after all?

"I'd feel much safer if you went first. Since you know karate."

Okay, maybe he wasn't.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
The stroll to the light house was just an average night for Barbara Gordon. Dressed in her motorcycle bat-suit, sans the mask, which had been stored in her backpack. She just looked like any average bank robber might now, with a wool cap of black on her head, and a long fiery red ponytail of braided locks draped over a shoulder. Oh, and her monkey. The two walked along the beach together, with Babs eyeing her forearm computer, it softly illuminating her face as they moved.

She looked up when the green flame took a hold of the ambience around them. Her eyes darted around, taking in the scenery, as the flame lit up their way, and when she looked down to Bobo, she saw him lighting a cigarette, and smirked at him asking her to go first. "You want me to sacrifice myself, incase our body parts thieves are inside? How chivalrous..." She said, smirking as she reached a hand up to pull her knit cap down over her face, rolling it down to cover her identity, while her green eyes peered out from the holes in the front of the mask.

Babs' put her right hand on her right hip, pulled something from her utility belt, that snapped in to place... a sharpened black Batarang, with wings that fanned out on either sides of her fist, looking sharp and deadly.

She crept forward then, every step she took going a little further in to a Ninja-mode, that was evident in the very nature of how Batgirl's body moved the further she went ahead of him.

She crept, advanced, and made next to no noise what so ever, as she found what shadow she could, and used it as an ally to push forward in to this unknown space.

Detective Chimp has posed:
From within, the building seemed much like a lighthouse, albeit one built several centuries ago. The Detective Chimp was consulting his notebook. Though it was beginning to get unmanageably full of extra bits of paper it still possessed quite a treasure trove of handwritten notes in his inimitable spidery scrawl.

Strangely though the staircase led upward, the feeling from stepping onto the stairs was one of descending, as if with each step up one were falling deeper beneath the surface of the earth. Surely just another artifact of strange mystical energies, or some sort of psychedelic experience like the one they had decided the Oblivion Bar must be. It was easier not to say the truth aloud for now, whatever they might believe privately.

But the lighting was bad, and it promised to get even worse as they ascended. Though it was silent as the grave, Bobo couldn't bring himself to speak in much more than a whisper, trying to keep his fear from infecting his somewhat more stalwart companion.

"Gonna have to risk turning on the flashlight, be ready for it."

And reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his trusty Maglite, that low tech and battery-hungry relic used by so many would be crimefighters from the 90s. The difference between his setup and that of the Bat family could not have been made more stark. A notepad and flashlight, indeed.

As he clicked the button, the stairwell was illuminated, but little clarity was provided. For the stairwell seemed to turn this way and that, going both upward and downward as it wound to and fro. Only one thing was certain, that the only ways to go were forward... or back.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Batgirl slowed when the mag light came out. She stared down at the chimp, and for a second she contemplated his arsenal of accessories. "I really need to outfit you with a bit more modern stuff..." She whispered back down to him, as she looked toward the dingy yellow light that the vintage tool offered. They started down the winding stairs, and with it, Babs kept her back up against one wall, the smooth stone barely brushing the black leather of her pack, as she kept moving round, and round the ever descending spiral steps.

Through it, she glanced down at her forearm periodically, as her wrist computer was building a 3d map of the place, though not as quickly as it could, had she flown one of her drones inside ahead of them.

Internal cursing herself aside, Babs did feel her heart beat elevated, a sign of the anxiety of the unknown laying ahead of them.

How had they gotten here? She recalled the events leading up to this, and what seemed to start out as any classically awfull serial killer, had quickly devolved in to-- as earlier described-- an all out Scooby Doo mystery, but one with the possibility of death and dismemberment.

Detective Chimp has posed:
It seemed that the further they went, the damper the walls and stairs became, and all the chillier was the air. The darkness became more oppressive, and the light from Detective Chimp's old metal club was doing less and less to cut through it. But at the end of the staircase lay the solution to a mystery, and it was clear that Detective Chimp was unable to leave it unsolved. He felt fairly certain that Batgirl felt the same way, though this might have been far out of her element. It was likely that she already needed therapy for a great many things though, so what was one more to add to the list?

For a while there was no sound but their own steps, their own breathing, and the beating of their hearts in their eardrums. Every moment a pervasive dread that another sound would be added to that list, and the tension would be replaced by something horrific. But fortunately, Detective Chimp made no further sounds, and no further smells.

Unfortunately, something else did.

A sound of sloshing, like disturbed water colliding with the sides of a reservoir. But there was a thickness to the sound, something much more heavily viscous than mere water. And it was coming from behind the door that lay ahead, at the end of the stairway that seemed to go both up and down.

His face barely illuminated by the glow of a Mag-lite, the chimp turned one last time to his partner, and tried to put on a dashing smile. The results were minimally successful.

"Please tell me you brought a bazooka with you..."

"Aside from the ones in your shirt."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
There came a time, when doing something so many times in repetition, that eventually one might begin to question it all. As Babs' was contemplating suggesting that they turn back, she instead just made a whispery joke. "I think this is a loading screen..." Though she realized the Chimp might be too old to get her video game joke.

It was moments there after that the pair emerged inside the arching passage of a darkened hallway, and that viscus sloshing could be heard at its far end. Batgirl frowned behind her wool knit mask. She heard the Chimp's off-color comment, and with a second-long glance cast down at him, she looked back to the distance. "I don't think they'll do the trick here." She said tentatively, as she started onward. "Look, you can head back, if you'd like, or at least wait here by the stairs. this is likely just a broken barrier wall, and a flooded room." She said, as she gripped her batarang tightly with her right hand, her left still showing an exterior birds-eye-view of the space outside, fed from her drone camera that was still flying around the building.

Whether he kept up with her, or not, Babs proceeded down the hallway, not bothering to get her helmet out of her pack, as she really didn't think this was going to yield any actual results. What would the odds of that be?

this felt like just another strange dead end, or maybe an even stranger love nest than the derelict ship had been for the junkyard manager.

Batgirl kept to the shadows, as best she could, and reached the doorway where that noise was coming from. She grasped its latch, and pulled it open.

Detective Chimp has posed:
Though good sense told him to remain behind, to his credit the chimp was right on Batgirl's heels. He had the good sense to click the flashlight off as she reached for the door, and the pair were plunged into blackness as the door opened with a noisy creak. Immediately, the smell of something fetid and rank could be detected, overpowering the nostrils with the stench of corpses.

Covering his mouth quickly with his pocket square, the chimp detective went through the door in a surprisingly tactical fashion, not wasting any time lurking in the doorway, but rather immediately moving toward the side to avoid drawing fire in the fatal funnel, as doorways are commonly known among various strike teams.

Only when he wass out of that doorway did he click his flashlight back on again, revealing that it was not the smell of corpses that greeted them. At least not their entirety. Instead, the sight illuminated by his flashlight was of a flooded room, much like Barbara suggested. Or rather, a pool of some sort similar in size to one that might be seen in a well-equipped gym, but of indeterminate depth. And flooding the pool along with the liquid which probably used to be water before it was unrecognizably befouled... were a collection of heads and hands far too vast to be counted even if the pair were inclined to spend the rest of the day taking inventory. Which, judging from the way that Bobo practically shrieked at the sight, was not something that he considered to be a serious option.

At the end of the pool, a simple figure stood, with its arms outstretched as if giving a benevolent gesture. Seemingly made of stone, the figure wore some sort of robe of an almost unnatural, alien fashion. But most strangely of all, the statue possessed neither head, nor hands.

"Shit! After this, I'm strictly back on cheating spouse cases!"

Barbara Gordon has posed:
When Bob clicked off his light, Babs pulled more actionably upon the door, and gave them both entrance to the chamber beyond. She regretted it almost immediately, as she smelled that wafting odor rushing over them. "God..." She whispered, as she was already breaking a number of Batman's rules, talking as much as she was. She powered through the scent, though, and stepped in to the room with careful footfalls. Her treaded boots crunched on lightly strewn detritus, as she walked around the corner, and came to a stop. Her green eyes darted over the glistening water, with its bobbing body parts. The mere sight of it was reflected in the facial expression that was covered over by her wool knit mask. It was one of pure disgust, if one was wondering.

"Shit." Babs said at the exact same time that her furry, shorter, counterpart said it, though she finished her verbal thoughts at that one sweet word.

With a hastey motion of her hands, Barbara raised her gloved hands up, and pulled her knit mask from her head. She twisted her head from side to side, as she exposed her face to the room, caring not for what-- or who-- might view her in here. She held the mask in her right hand, at her side, as she reached for her backpack with her left hand, while her eyes viewed the stone figure across the pool of death.

She gave a look to the Detective, and spoke quietly. "Be ready to run, if I tell you to." She told him. "If something here goes south, I need you to get out and find help."

From her pack, behind her hip, Babs pulled her Bat-cowl out from her pack where it had been clipped to the side of it. She raised her cowl up with her left hand, and slipped it down over her head, as she dropped the black wool mask upon the floor.

She turned her head up, and forward, to look toward the stone figure, as her Bat cowl covered her visage now, and the eyelets snapped in to place over her green eyes.

"We're here for justice." Batgirl declared, not keeping her voice low anymore.