20276/Missing Persons in the Bowery

Missing Persons in the Bowery
Date of Scene:	19 March 2025
Location:	The Narrows - Miagani Island
Synopsis:	Babs and Damian begin the investigation in to the missing people near the old Gotham Tram station.
Cast of Characters:	Barbara Gordon, Damian Wayne

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Barbara Gordon has posed:
A concerning number of people - particularly low-income residents and the homeless - have vanished near the old Gotham Tram Station. No bodies, no ransom demands, just people disappearing without a trace. Theories range from underground human trafficking to something more sinister lurking in Gotham's forgotten tunnels.

Batgirl had put out a call for support in a stakeout of the area, and had gotten a ping back from Robin. Tonight, the two are found atop a nearby building that was covered in a deep shadow. It's far corner had a flashing neon sign, that lit up the alleyway behind them, with an advertisement for an adjacent club that's music was thuumping quietly in the distance.

Batgirl, in her full armored suit of black and dark gold hues, stood on the edge of the building, peering down at the old tram station. A bat drone flew by overhead, linked directly to Babs' wrist computer, and a distant roll of thunder hinted at the approaching rainy season coming to the region on the breach of Spring.

A voice called out down on the street level, some teenagers strolling out of a park, bouncing a basketball and shouting curse words at one another, followed by laughter. They were just kids screwing around.

A dog barked in the distance, and the sounds of horns honking on a busier street a few blocks over. Gotham was alive tonight, but it had an underlying sinister scent, as ever.

Damian Wayne has posed:
The drone flies by overhead and Robin's chin inclines slightly to visually track its progress through the sky above. He wouldn't have been able to spy it against the darkness of a nighttime sky if it weren't for the specialized lenses built into his domino mask. The passage of the drone doesn't maintain his attention for long before Damian's gaze drops to the drone's master in the meantime. For a moment Robin's mask remains pointed in her direction and his voice issues out into the shadowy gloom of the building's face, though it's without modulation given the more private environment they've claimed.

"What's your money on?" he asks perhaps rather morbidly of the disappearances. "Mine's on kidnapping for science experiments. I don't think it's a serial killer. They like to lay claim to their kills in some fashion and typically there's something left behind," and that seems to be all the justification that Damian Wayne needs to declare that it's not a serial killer at work.

From his spot near the roof's edge, Damian's neck cranes out and he peers down at the street below. He watches the group of teenagers going their separate ways, hurling curse words at one another before expelling laughter at their own imbecilic humor. It's a humor that Robin seems inclined to comment on, his expression grim and his voice sour, "Someone should break their jaws and teach them some manners". It's clear that he's in a bit of a mood tonight and as he leans back from peering over the roof's edge, Robin's attention turns back to Barbara.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
There was something about working with Damian, that always amused Barbara. She had known him for quite awhile now, and watched him grow up in to a young man who was taller than she was now. She glanced down at her wrist computer, the glowing light from it gently casting a blue hue upon her pale chin and lips, before she looked away, toward the kids wandering toward their homes, presumably.

"Go easy on the ones who aren't causing any crime, Robin..." She quietly said back to him, casting him a grin in the dark. "As for this? I dunno..." She looked down toward the tram station, and watched a solitary figure approaching it, carrying an umbrella, unknown gender or details beyond that.

Babs' lips parted, and she exhaled, her red hair billowing out behind her shoulders, along with her cape, as a gust of rain-scented wind carried across the roof.

"Could be anything. After what we've gone through the past few years? From Werewolves, to Vampires. From aliens to ... demons. I'm not sure what I would prefer. One out of shape kidnapper, might be alright? As weird of a sentence as that is to say."

She smirked at him again, before she nodded toward the person in the rain coat with the umbrella. "Think that's them?" She asked him, as she raised her right armored boot up to press its sole against the edge of the building's ledge.

Damian Wayne has posed:
Robin's eyes remain on Batgirl for a long moment as she seeks to persuade him away from fighting crime preemptively. He seems to concede the point with a nod, but a glance back toward the street below results in another comment on the group of teens, "There is a greater than zero chance that at least one, possibly two, of them will end up in prison by the time they reach twenty one years old. Given the poverty levels of the neighborhood, I would be willing to raise that number to three of them". He glances from the street and back toward Barbara with a flat expression, "Some of them could have already committed crimes earlier tonight. Should we task a drone with keeping an eye on them for the remainder of the night? The night is young as they say. There's plenty more time for felonies".

The Wayne heir finally steps away from the ledge and returns to the true purpose in their presence on the rooftop - which isn't potentially harassing foul mouthed teenagers - and Robin's attention shifts to the dark horizon and the city skyline that acts as the skies scenery. "Werewolves and vampires," he answers with only the faintest sound of disbelief, as though he himself were still trying to process such a thing. He seems to accept it readily enough though and the mention of an out of shape kidnapping earns a glance, along with a comment back at that particular notion, "Hard to kidnap people when you get winded within the first nineteen feet".

The nod toward the street and the signal paid toward the person in the rain coat and umbrella results in a low click of Damian's tongue against his teeth, "Tch," before he begins to move toward the ledge to stand alongside Batgirl. He doesn't plant a boot to the ledge, but does rest a hand upon the low wall that constitutes the rooftop's edge before as he finally offers a more substantial answer, "it seems kind of obvious, doesn't it? How many Raincoat Killers have you ever busted? I believe my tally's still at one, so you're sure to have at least two or three," he remarks dryly while peering down the distance between his own position and the rain slicker-wearing goof with the umbrella.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Barbara knew Damian well enough to know that he would not feel comfortable until she had those teens properly being observed, at least from afar. "Alright, alright..." The redhead announced, as she raised her left arm up again, her computer screen displaying that pale blue upon her form once more. "I'll owe you a Coke, if they do anything criminal." She added, in that soft style of ever being coy and playful. Did Damian drink Coke, though? Barbara had a lot of Nuka Cola on-hand in her penthouse, but... even she only hit it so often.

"They are being tailed, so we'll see."

She smirked further at what the young man told her, nodding her head gently once. "Four." she replied. "Four killers in long coats. Though one of them was a Flasher too, so I am glad that I was still in the chair, when he got apprehended by some of the other Birds. Still counts, though." She said, grinning at him again.

A little beep sounded on her forearm, but she paid it no mind, as the drones she had over the tram station were still circling, but impossible to see without visual aids such as their masks were equipped with.

When the redhead lookd down at the umbrella man again, she shook her head. "He looks like just a school teacher. On his way home from teaching a class."

The man walked ever closer to the old tram station, pausing when he reached it, which had Babs raising her chin up, watching curiously from their shared shadowy roof. Raindrops started to lightly fall all around them, the sounds of them pelting Barbara's cape and cowl creating a little symphony of thwapss, but it was still not quite hard enough to be a full on rain fall.

The man in the coat, down by the station, held his umbrella up, and glanced down at his phone. His phone lit up his face. A white man, maybe in his mid 40s or 50s, hard to tell.

"Maybe he heard the kids down the street, and is getting an Uber now..." Babs softly said.

A second later, there was a scream, female, somewhere past the man in the coat. When he heard it, he looked up, looked right and left, before he stuffed his phone in his pocket, and began walking rapidly again toward the west. The scream? It came from the north, behind the tram station..

"Checking it out with the drones..." Babs said, instantly on it, with her computer arm up again...

Damian Wayne has posed:
The latter half of Barbara's answer pertaining to trench or raincoat wearing miscreants actually seems to earn a rarely provided smile from Damian. It's small, it's fleeting, it's a ghost of a smile, but for that one small, fleeting, barely there moment the typically grim young man seems to find some humor in Barbara's answer. He nods once before he finally answers verbally, though by then the smile has fully dissipated, "That's very funny," he says with a voice like someone proclaiming the date and time of their own doom.

The notice that the group of teens is being tailed does at least earn a nod, though no thanks are spoken. Again Damian falls into silence and much like Batman he elects instead to brood. In the darkness no less. He watches the street, the teens wandering their own way, and finally back to the individual in the rain coat and armed with the umbrella.

The mention of the man's profession guessed through visual cues is met by a low scoff from Robin before he continues, "The most heinous of criminals often seem very normal. Their neighbors always say so after they've been apprehended or slain."

Though as the scream is heard and Batgirl begins to divert drones to the area of the sound, Robin begins to move around the building. He calls out toward Barbara then, "You coming into the action for a change or are you going to do the aerial support thing tonight?" There's only a slight hint of judgment to the question.

Robin steps briskly along the ledge, one gloved hand trailing along the building's wall both to permit him greater stability as well as to simply enjoy the raspy sound generated by his glove trailing along the building's stone face. It's clear that he's heading around the building and for the northern face just in case he must spring into action quickly.

He might be just a little too eager for the prospect of getting down onto the street and putting the hurt on someone tonight.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Batgirl hadn't even noticed that she'd managed to actually get a bit of a humorous reaction out of Damian, as she hadn't been looking at him when it had made a rare appearance. Much like her days of playing Pokemon GO in the mid 2k10s, she never got the rarest Pokemon. She blamed her wheelchair at the time..

When the scream came, and Babs was looking at her computer for a visual run down of what the cameras could see from their Birds Eye View, Babs was already delayed in going along with Robin. "Oh, uh... Yeah. I'm coming." She replied. "I'm not getting any younger, afterall. May as well get the danger out of my system, before I'm foresaken to a life in front of the tv, and reruns of ... Do reruns still exist"

She talked to herself a lot, but she was a reclusive woman, which tended to be the result!

The tram station was to the north of the building that they had been perched on, and when Babs joined Damian, she glanced one more time at her computer. "I got movement. It's in the alley on the far side of the tram perimeter!" She loudly whispered, before she pushed herself up on to the ledge, and took to the sky. "I got the air, you're welcome to join me."

Or take the ground. Either way, Batgirl was in-flight, with her cape rigid and gliding her toward the scene.

There was a second scream, but this one echoed more distantly and was harder to pinpoint, maybe not even coming from the same person, but it was still in that general direction, on the far side of the old tram station, lost in the dark where street lights had been broken out ages ago, and never replaced.

Batgirl swept over the station, vanishing in to the darkness within it.

When Damian would arrive on the far side, he'd find a bunch of trash cans toppled over, and a ten foot chain link fence door open, gently swaying back and forth as if something had just run right through it, to the north was an alleyway, and to the south were the broken windows in the back of the tram station. Someone had thrown bricks through the windows, maybe to break in to the place.

Damian Wayne has posed:
Damian's only a step behind Barbara when she jumps from the ledge. Like her his cape goes rigid to slow his descent into a glide. Unlike her however, he weaves his pattern enough to create distance between them. Better that they stagger their arrival in the event that he must break away suddenly and take a new route based on information suddenly relayed by Batgirl. When he does finally touch down it's as his cape goes slack at the last second, sending him into a roll that leads to Robin springing to his feet.

Mercifully perhaps, he's on patrol without his sword tonight. Which means that if there is crime afoot, then someone's going to luck out in not having an Achille's tendon slashed or a hand potentially removed.

He rushes forward through the swaying gate and with a glance north and then south, he breaks north. The screams had come from the north and that means that's where he's needed. At least for the moment. His movements are swift but quiet. His bootfalls only create noticeable sound when he treads across a black puddle sitting in the dark shadows of the alleyway that runs near the tram. The distinct sound would surely give him away if there are any around to hear it.

It's a sound that he silently curses himself for. It's an amateur mistake. He'll surely chastise himself of the mistake after he's off-duty and purge the shortcoming.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs landed a bit to Damian's east, on the far side of the tram station. She heard him make a break through the chain gate, and her voice came over his comm. "I'll check the station..." She quietly said, leaving him to make his rush to the north.

following his trek through the puddle, Damian came to a halt and was immersed in silence. Just the sounds of the city around him, and perhaps the beating of his heart, the sound of his own trained breathing...

Another scream. This time MUCH closer. Up around the corner to the north west! A larger puddle laid between the buildings, with the visible splashing of droplets falling from the sky causing ripples in it. this puddle was deep, and nearly four feet in length! But that scream, it had just been around that corner...

Beyond the dangerous hazard of a puddle, Damian would find himself again in seemingly endless normalcy of any given Gotham City night.

Until car lights flooded the alley, and an engine turned on. The rumbling of a heavy vehicle, coming out of the open doors of a loading dock on the back of an old taxi mechanic garage, the taxi service having gone out of business quite awhile ago.

The headlights were on, the engine rumbled, and the vehicle was pulling out of the open doors, its tires splashing down in another dangerous puddle at the base of the open storage facility.

Damian Wayne has posed:
Gotham City's very own Alley of Puddles or at least that's the nickname that he'll insist it be christened with going forward. The first puddle's a substantial one and he rushes toward the wall, leaps up, and utilizes his hands to grab hold of the frame of an old metal catwalk that once doubled as an emergency exit from the tram station into the alley. He grunts quietly as his fingers strain within the narrow gaps between the rusty steel supports beneath the old platform, then proceeds to climb like a child does the monkey bars on the playground until he's clear of the puddle below. It only takes him about three seconds before he's dropping to the ground again and utilizes the momentum generated by his drop to spring forward into a run once more.

He reaches the corner and slips around it without fear. If there were ten armed men around the corner, they would be taken by surprise and with the element of surprise as his ally, Robin could smack the tar out of all of them. He pulls up short however as headlights illuminate the alleyway and he watches, his expression twisting from one of focus and determination to an outright frown. The screen had come from this direction and perhaps even this precise place. He knew without a doubt that the vehicle is connected to the scream. He also knows that he could stop it in a matter of seconds if he wished to do so. A well-aimed Batarang or two would at least hamper any attempt at controlling the vehicle at speeds greater than the alleyway would permit.

He takes a deep breath as thoughts and plans blaze through his mind like an unrelenting inferno. Then as though his blood turns cold, he makes the logical decision. He doesn't attempt to hinder the vehicle's travel, but instead remains in the shadow provided by the building's corner. A flick of his thumb at his utility belt drops an adhesive tracker into his palm and with a press-and-swipe of his thumb he removes the thin plastic wafer that protects the adhesive of the tracking device.

He leans out, his arm arcs to the side like a Major League Baseball pitcher throwing a sidearm fastball. The vehicle turns and the device slaps against the rear bumper of the vehicle. He'd been aiming for the rear of the trunk, but failed to give the throw enough elevation. Just one more thing he'll have to train harder on.

The tracking device's clamping arms clamp into place, ensuring that the device won't jostle free with a rough bump. As the tracking device reaches its almost intended position and clamps into place, Robin dips back around the cover of the corner and activates his own comm to inform Batgirl of the development, "Screams likely came from a car that's currently traveling away from the scene. I've deployed a tracking device rather than intervene in the immediate crime. This will help us find and excise the root, rather than a branch."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
The tracking device instantly activated, and the drones in the sky were able to identify the vehicle, and feed that information in to the Bats' arsenal of digital devices.

"Good work. My car is on the way." Batgirl's voice said, as she was back at the tram station.

"Get over here, you need to see this..."

With the summons given, babs waited inside of the tram station. When Damian arrived, she was standing just inside it. She had pulled the door open, split the padlock, and was within its lobby. On the floor was a tipped over ice cooler, with chunks of ice scattered across the tram station interior. Mixed in with the glistening chunks of ice, were Human fingers?

Batgirl crouched beside it all, a dark blue light coming on from the wrist of her armored forearm. She reached a gloved hand out, and rolled one of the fingers over, displaying a small tattoo in black circles upon the middle of the finger's underside. "Looks like a nuclear warning label. Radiation warning. I'm not picking up any radiation here though..." She stated, as she glanced over to Robin. "Did you get a look at the driver of that car?"

Damian Wayne has posed:
The instruction to rendezvous is met by Robin's rather quick arrival. He probably ran or parkoured his way to Batgirls location and, as a credit to him, he doesn't even seem winded in the slightest. He doesn't burst through the doorway however. Instead he slips in quietly and remains contained to the darker shadows near that entryway. Even the domino mask's white lenses fail to be seen by all but potentially Batgirl as the Bat Brat seems to be taking after his father in appearing from the deepest, darkest depths of shadow.

"Fingers? That would certainly cause someone to scream," he remarks with nary a grimace or scowl. If the sight of severed fingers caused the young Robin to feel any sort of revulsion, he does a superb job in hiding it. Given that the boy was raised to be an assassin from the earliest of years? It's unlikely that he feels any such thing.

The symbols tattooed into the fingers don't seem to register or spark any sort of memory, though it's clear by the heavy look that Damian gives them that he's cataloguing the detail to his memory. The question of the car results in only a slight shake of his head, "The car was traveling in the opposite direction and left a long closed taxi garage. We may want to take our investigation to that location once we've cleared this area. There may be additional evidence there."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
"I've taken a lot of images of... this, already." Batgirl said, as she rose up to her full height. "It's possible that they were having some kind of a meeting in here, I guess... and you may have witnessed the potential killer's car fleeting, but, I'm not sure yet. I'm not sure why this would get left behind."

She paid a look over to Robin, immersed in the shadows just like his father, just like his father had tried to teach her to do when she was younger than Damian is now. "good work, getting to the car before it left. I'm going to send this in to the GCPD, get someone out here to clean it up.

Over her shoulder, back outside the open doorway, the rumbling of another engine rolls up. But this engine? It is a familiar one. Babs' own agile lightly armored Batmobile glides up beside the north face of the tram station. Its black armored form sleek with raindroplets streaked down its surface, the canopy bubbled cockpit glass reflecting glimmers of city lights off of its surface in the wet droplets.

"We better go find where that vehicle was headed, though..."

In the distance, sirens could be heard, the GCPD on its way here most likely. "close the door on the way out. The last thing we need is some stray dog getting in here, and thinking these fingers are some kinda chew toy."

Babs smirked, as she marched outside, her cape swaying around her legs, as she walked with purpose toward her car, its canopy glass sliding open to give access to the two seats inside, in a fighter jet arrangement of one behind the other.

Damian Wayne has posed:
A stiff nod is given from Robin to Batgirl. There's nothing else that needs to be said for the moment. She'd already handled the heavy lifting for this particular location. Though as she begins to move away, Damian answers her advice without a nod, but an acknowledgment nonetheless, "I'll close the door and do a secondary sweep of the area. You tail the vehicle, I'll check out the abandoned garage to be sure that nothing or no one was left behind."

He takes a single step, but halts in order to comment over his shoulder back at Barbara's own departing form, "Be careful, Batgirl".

Then his attention's ahead again and Damian slips into the darkness of the abandoned building after shutting the door after Barbara's own departure.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
It hadn't been a high speed chase, not even remotely. Batgirl had wanted to be quick, though, as someone's life might be on the line. They had heard screams, afterall, and the suggestion was that someone may be dealing with a serial killer here. The Batmobile had moved quickly through the night, but by the time it caught up to where the tracked vehicle was located, the vehicle was already parked.

Inside a small alley that was tucked between a two story apartment building. It was a relatively small place, with a side alley that had a few cars parked in it. The Batmobile slid in to a spot beside it, quietly deactivating its engine, and laying in wait in the shadow between the two buildings.

"Robin. I've found it. Looks like it's owned by a Carol Sarkis. Says here that she works at the hospital. Radiology. Has a pretty impressive background in the field, even having served in the Navy as a reactor specialist aboard a navy ship. I'm going to check her place out, make sure she's in there, and hopefully... not in trouble."

By the time that Damian would join Babs, he'd find her on the roof of the two story tall apartment building, having found a skylight in to the woman's apartment.

Babs had the skylight worked open, removing one of the large panes of glass, and exposing the interior of the place below.

"Looks dark..." She said, before she moved to slip inside. "Ah, the fun part..." Babs whispered, a second before she dropped, her cape fluttering as she disappeared inside the apartment, landing on a soft plush rug, and raising up to peer around the interior of Carol's home. All the lights off...

Damian Wayne has posed:
The secondary sweep of the abandoned tram building and the primary sweep of the abandoned taxi garage had each turned of nothing of note aside from the fact that they had recently been crime scenes. Shortly after his search concluded he'd made a quick exit for the Redbird and its engine growled to life. The bike's tires screeched into the night like a bird of prey screaming for the entire city to hear and during that transit he received the broadcast from Batgirl. His own response is swift, "I'll be with you at your location in two minutes".

The two minutes go by in a blur. Quite literally for Robin. Soon enough he's ascending the exterior of the building with the firing of a grapple gun that sends him hurtling up and onto the rooftop with the lightest of footfalls. He gathers up the grapple launcher's line and hook so that he may recoil it into a reloaded state. Up above he moves with careful precision and silent footfalls until he's able to join Batgirl near the skylight. He peers down and into the darkness, then passes a significant glance toward Barbara. Just as he seems prepared to speak a question, she declares that it's time to move. He offers a stiff nod in return and only a brief moment after she dropped inside, Damian follows. He lands in a crouch nearby Babs and the Demon Brat peers throughout the darkened apartment with squinted eyes peering through the low light vision granted by his mask's lenses.

Quietly he shifts with his weight onto one foot in order to pivot and turn in a half-crouch so that he can create some distance from his own position and that of Batgirl's. He's likely doing so to prevent them being caught in the same hail of gunfire by being too close to one another.

He's a very thoughtful young man.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Batgirl began to move forward, once they were both inside the place. she didn't look back to him, she just started her movement. The two had trained for these kind of breaking-and-entering situations, though personal living spaces were one of Babs' least favorite to conduct such a necessity inside of. They were usually so enclosed, so risky.

She did glance back to Damian once, before she turned to walk out of the living area, and toward a hallway. They were both capable of being exceptionally quiet, trained by the very best. They passed by a dining room, a table lined with chairs. The apartment was well appointed, with a clear measure of money behind it, in a neighborhood that was really a bit lower in income than this place's owner appeared to be. they were living WELL for this neighborhood...

Babs only paid a small glance toward the dining table, that lead in to a kitchen, the table having a bowl of fruit on it, laying ontop of a white cloth, but otherwise the table was clear and clean. the whole apartment was cleaned, and by the scents inside it? It was obvious a woman lived here, maybe a family even, but it smelled good.

Batgirl passed the first doorway in the hallway, glancing in it to see a restroom, but she paid it little mind, and moved on.

This is when it happened, and Damian would be right there to react to it...

Someone rushed out of the bathroom, carrying some kind of a weapon, be it a baseball bat or a club of some make or design!

They rushed Babs, and swung at the back of her shoulders! It was a woman, and she was screaming in terror!

Damian Wayne has posed:
Years of training, even well before The Bat had taken him under his wing, has honed Damian's reflexes to a keen edge. The moment the scream is heard Robin's already moving into action. He nimbly skips forward as his right hand shifts with the flick of his wrist and the grapple line whips through the air. The momentum of it practically causes it to hiss in the air as it swings toward Batgirl's back. The jerk of his wrist causes it to twist back, before it begins to loop rapidly around the woman's legs. "Look out!" he calls out even as Damian's arms flex with lean, wiry muscle.

The scream of terror is unmistakable though. Already Damian's aware that this woman is more likely a victim seeking to protect herself, rather than any sort of true aggressor or threat. Despite the hunch that it's not the barbaric monster that they're looking for, there is a simple fact that Damian can not ignore. The woman is armed and going after his partner. A partner whose back is turned and it's his job to protect.

Despite these considerations, that does not halt Damian's next movements. The yank of the grappling line sends the woman slamming abruptly to her face with a soft crunch. Likely a broken nose. He pulls twice, yanking the woman further away from Barbara while the woman groans against the sudden impact to her face. The sound of her being dragged over carpet creates a soft rustling sound as Robin speaks up while there's at least reasonable quiet now that the victim of his intervention is groaning incoherently on the ground.

"You want to interrogate?" Damian asks.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
this would go down as a text book reason why having each other's back in moments like this, was the key to coming home safely at the end of the night. Batgirl HAD been in the process of ducking, she HAD an alert system warn her, but even still, would she have successfully ducked it entirely? What if it had been a gun? Or even a knife? her armor had weaknesses toward knives in particular, especially up under the arm, or in the sections between the plates that protect her most vital organs. Weaknesses could be exploited.

Damian had her back, though, and because of it, Babs was definitely fine. The poor woman may have a broken nose, though.

"Take her to the sofa..." Babs said softly, her throat armor having activated her voice modulator, and now she had that quiet demonic undertone to mask her natural voice.

The blonde haired woman was deposited on her sofa, and Batgirl leaned over her. She had blurry vision, but when the Bat drew close, she backed up in to a corner of her sofa, and went to scream again.

Babs covered her mouth with a gloved hand. "Stop. We're here to help." She said. The woman had beautiful pale blue eyes, and they were HUGE, as she stared at Batgirl, in the dark. She was dressed in a pair of dark red yoga pants, and a baggy Gotham University sweatshirt. Her blonde hair was in a messy bun on the crown of her head, and she had a bandaide over her right eyebrow.

"Nose may not be broken afterall... It doesn't appear to be bleeding..." Batgirl quietly said, before she glanced at Damian. The woman looked his direction too, but couldn't see him from her angle.

"I'm going to remove my hand from your mouth. Nod if you plan to behave."

The woman nodded, and Babs' glove came away from her lips. She winced, as her left hand went up to her nose, touching it softly.

"You cracked it good." Batgirl said in her feminine voice, rumbled by the modulator. "Look. We're tracking someone kidnapping women. We have reason to believe you may know something about it. You were at the tram station tonight, weren't you?"

"Y-yeah..." Carol said, still hovering her hand over her busted up nose. "I was asked to meet a friend from work there. He said... said we'd go see a movie tonight, and that the station had a great place to park your car for ... Oh, it's so stupid." She exhaled, her heart rate still very high. "He said that the station had a secluded parking space, and that we'd walk to the theater, and save money on fucking parking. Fucking parking, and I almost get killed for it?"

Damian Wayne has posed:
As instructed, Damian gives the woman a few more good pulls to drag her toward himself. Not only as a matter of precaution and to distance her from the dropped baseball bat, but to further disoriented her as she's dragged across the carpeted floor. She'll likely have some hellacious rug-burn while she's about it, but that's the least she could be owed for attempting to strike his partner in the back. It was, in fact, getting off lightly. Things could have gone very differently had Robin deemed her a more significant threat and not a potential victim in fear for their life.

He helps the woman to her feet and with a gentle press of his palm, it's enough to upset her balance and send her toppling to the sofa. Batgirl's quick to fill the space that Robin's step away creates and Barbara silences the scream before it can truly grow legs.

Robin sinks into the shadows again, avoiding the thin band of gloomy line spilling in from the curtained windows and the skylight above. He merges with the shadows and may as well become part of them, just like dear old dad.

He'd ceded the interrogation over to Batgirl though and as a result he remains quiet. He observes and considers, but does not interrupt it. Not yet, anyway. For now he keeps the question or two that comes to mind to himself; no doubt expecting Batgirl to seek answers to the same questions that he's already had, because she's experienced and good at her job, too.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
There was a psychological benefit from having a female Bat speaking to a female civilian like this. It helped them talk, and helped them feel less intimidated. Though with her armor on, and her voice modulator going, that might be a negligible benefit at best...

"A friend from work, you said." Babs repeated, to which Carol gently nodded her head. "Who?" Babs asked. "A name."

"Bob... Uh, er. Robert. He hates Bob. But everyone calls him Bob behind his back anyway. He's... older than me, but he makes really good money, and he's been nothing but nice to me since I got the job." She groans, feeling a spike of pain, causing her to wince again. "God damnit..." The woman gasps, her eyes welling up with tears, as she started to feel the adrenaline of the night bubbling over the brim of her ability to stand her own situation. "What the fuck..." She gasped through her own emotions, barely able to contain them."

"Robert what?" Babs asked, her voice growling in a demonic fashion.

Carol opened her eyes, and tried to look through the blurry vision toward the Bat. "Jesus. Who the fuck even are you?" She questioned, before she noticed the cape, the ... "Bat ears?" She had no idea Damian was even here. She thought Batgirl had beaten her up somehow, and drug her to the sofa. "You're one of... them? God, fuck my life..." She muttered, as her knees came up in front of her, her mismatched socks wiggling toes as she sank her face toward her legs, and pressed her bruised nose up between them.

"Carol..." Babs said. "Carol... What is Robert's last name?" She could probably get it anyway, if she cross-referenced names at Carol's place of work, but.

"Richards." Carol said behind her knees. "Robert Richards. He's a X-Ray repairman. Our machines are always breaking down. The MRI machines, the CT machines. You name it. It always breaks down. He's the guy who comes in and fixes them..."

Babs spares a glance toward Damian, before she looks back toward Carol. "What did he do to you tonight?" She asked next.

"Nothing...." Carol replied, openly crying now, as she looked up at Batgirl, with tears streaming down her cheeks. "I... I... I... got sick of waiting in the rain, so I tried the door on the station. I went inside to get out of the rain. It was open, I didn't break the lock, it was already broken! I tripped over something, when I went inside. It was an ice cooler... filled with hands! Or fingers. I don't know. The door locked behind me, and I saw a man with an umbrella outside. I screamed, and threw a brick through the window to get back out... I parked my car in the alley, inside that open garage door. I.. God, what the hell is wrong with me..." She sank her forehead back against her knees.

"Nothing. You're alive. Robert may have had nothing to even do with this." Batgirl quietly said back, before she deactivated her voice modulator, and spoke in her natural tone to the woman. "Carol? I want you to take some pain meds, and lock your doors. Try to get some sleep. I'll be in touch with you."

Damian Wayne has posed:
The information is valuable, but purely circumstantial. It's all information that they'll have to follow-up on, even if it's on another night. Unfortunately for Carol she's likely to have a shiner or at least some heavy bruising somewhere on her face. No doubt it'll cause Robert Richards to ask some questions later. Damian remains quiet however and continues to offer silent support to his partner. Batgirl's handling the interrogation perfectly and the victim's talking, which means that there's no need for Robin's presence or intervention. He doesn't leave yet. She's here, thus he's here.

The mention of finding the hands - or fingers - in the cooler that results in placing the blonde woman at the scene of the crime earns a frown, but even that expression goes unwitnessed in the dark. There are already multiple potential culprits associated with the case between both Carol and Robert. The mention of the man in the rain coat armed with the umbrella earns another, deeper frown. It's an expression that he seems to wear well and routinely. Had they overlooked a potential suspect as a result of his own hubris and know-it-all brashness? The thought, the question; it doesn't sit well with Damian and his frown only serves to deepen as he lurks within the darkness of the room.

He slips away as Batgirl announces her instructions to Carol and that she'll be in touch soon. He moves on soft steps that are made all the more mute by the carpeted floor. He's quick and swift, dipping and leaning in order to avoid the few beams of light blazing in narrow shafts throughout the living area and dining room. Swiftly and quietly Robin uses his gloved fingers to press aside objects within the woman's purse with nary a sound. He thumbs another tracking device from his utility belt and after finding a suitable location within the purse in a small coin purse sewn into the inner lining of the handbag, Robin uses to adhesive to stick the tracking device inside the purse. He's quick to cover his tracks and slip through the darkness of the rooms while aided by the low-light vision of his domino mask.

A moment after Batgirl's made her own exit, Robin's slipping from the window of a bedroom that's been converted into a home office. He carefully and quietly slides the window closed before he begins the hand-over-hand climb up the exterior wall to find his way to the rooftop once more as he speaks into his comms to Barbara's ear, "I'm out," he declares, signaling that he'd extracted himself from the apartment. Then he continues with a follow-up question.

"I planted a tracker in her purse. I think she's genuine, but still can't risk her being a culprit and a very good actress," he explains coldly. Then he shifts to the other potential suspects with a low growl, "Do you think it was the man in the rain coat?" Somewhere in his voice is some small amount of annoyance. Not at the man potentially being a perpetrator; but in his own refusal to accept that some stereotypes tend to carry a kernel of truth.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
While Damian was planting his tracker, Babs was asking a few more questions, and offering a few whispery-comments back to the woman. Eventually, Carol was coming around, and actually gushing about having a Bat in her house, an 'actual Bat'. But, by that point, it was time to go. Babs told her to go get her med kit from the restroom, and by the time she came back, Batgirl was gone.

"Great..." Carol muttered. "Finally have someone tall dark, and mysterious in my home, and she's gone the second I turn my back." The blonde said in a dejected tone, as she dropped down on to her sofa again, and went about fixing her nose.

Babs had the glass pane put back in place on the skylight, securing it near silently, and with Damian arriving, she smirked. "I don't think it was him." She replied softly, with the window sealed again. "I think he just walked by, and scared her. But, it is worth looking in to. We'll get his face scan on a street camera, and you can surveil him for a night. If you're up for it?"

She looked to the sky, and summoned a drone with her neural-link connected to her own systems. The drone just swept down out of the blackness of a cloudy night, and landed upon Babs' left hand. Like some kind of weird Disney Princess, Batgirl's bird rested in her hand, as she walked it over to the edge of the building, leaned over, and began to position it, with her cape fluttering around her legs.

"I'm going to look in to this Bob richards. Honestly, him asking her to meet him in such a strange place, with a cooler of fingeres just waiting there, with a radiation logo tattooed on them? It doesn't sound good for Bob..."

"Anyway, I'm leaving this drone here tonight to watch over her. Should be safe."

Carol was sitting on her sofa, with one living room lamp on, dabbing at her nose with various stuff pulled from her med kit.

Damian Wayne has posed:
"Do the face grab and get his location. Pass it along to me and I'll watch him for a couple nights," he says with a glance toward his own wrist. He notes the date and with a nod he adds, "Make it a Tuesday and Wednesday night. They're typically the nights people are the most bored. If he's going to do something, it'll probably be those nights". He doesn't second-guess himself, even if there's an unspoken 'maybe' attached to his statement. He watches while Barbara confers with her little drone near the roof's edge. He watches the cape flutter about her legs and the way that she interacts with what may as well be a robotic bird.

The mention of things not sounding good for Bob results in a dry smirk from Damian before he adds or perhaps corrects, "Things aren't looking good for Carol. Bob might be a murdering scumbag, but Carol's in his sight. He's got the advantage of being the predator. Prey's usually skittish and evasive rather than confrontational".

That statement leaves his mouth and a glance is given toward the sealed skylight. Damian's head tilts, spilling some of his inky black hair to one side as it's been made heavier and damp by the drizzle of light rain, "Then again she was more than ready to take your head off because she thought you were a threat. I guess she's bad at being prey. Good for her."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Batgirl did treat her drones like a Mamma Bird might, in a weird way. They were her technological babies, in a strange way. She had it positioned, its cameras lined up for specific shots, and with that, she straightened and turned to look back at him. "You're right... She has some fight in her. But... Well, I just hope nobody makes a move on her while she's at home. Maybe I'll leave my car parked outside. Might make someone think twice." She grinned toward Damian.

"I'll have everything about Umbrella Man sent to you by the time I get home. I'll have everything I find out about Robert by morning. He's our strongest bet, I think... But, we'll see."

She nodded toward the skylight. "Thanks for the help in there. I might have had myself a bit of an issue, were it not for your save."

She turned to the east, where her car was parked down in the alley, across from Carol's. "Don't get in to any trouble tonight, without calling for backup." She told him, as she made for her leave, stepping up on the edge of the apartment building, as the rain began to come down a bit harder now, and a rumble of thunder rolled through the sky.

Damian Wayne has posed:
"I'll be ready," Damian answers regarding the final commentary regarding Umbrella Man. Though the mention of Robert does garner a response as well, "You're right," he answers succinctly. It seems that he also agrees that Robert's the likely candidate, though he follows it with a qualifier, "I'm holding out for more than one suspect, but you're probably right".

The thanks offered for his help earns only a slight nod. He doesn't offer a verbal answer at first. Only the nod is given in answer to the expression of appreciation and an objectively factual statement. Though he doesn't smile, Damian speaks after Barbara as she moves to take her leave. "You owe me one," he says as though final acknowledgment of his actions to assist his partner tonight. Whether or not he truly believed that is far more difficult to determine. He's so often serious and speaks in such a firm, neutral way that it's difficult to determine if he's expressing humor or simply dead inside.

After Barbara's gone, Damian gives the skylight one final glance and the tilt of his head permits him to take note of Carol working on easing her pains and pressing a bag of frozen vegetables to her face. He seems satisfied that she'll be fine for the remainder of the night and finally Robin slips away, leaping from her rooftop to an adjacent, lower rooftop next door. Soon enough he's disappeared into the shadows and the alleyways to seek out the Redbird and return to his patrol for the night.