15484/Herald of Misfortune

Herald of Misfortune
Date of Scene:	28 July 2023
Location:	Sheldon Park - Bleake Island
Synopsis:	The Outsiders investigate the disappearances of several journalists from right within the Gotham Herald building. What they find isn't good. To be continued!
Cast of Characters:	Tim Drake, Laura Kinney, Conner Kent

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Tim Drake has posed:
    The basement of the Gotham Herald Building is a sprawling labyrinth, stacks upon stacks of old papers, filing cabinets, and other detritus from a century of publications. With limited lighting thanks to a scant few bare bulbs dangling from the ceiling and three sublevels of storage, it's easy to get lost in the basement's depths.

    Which is normal. It's a big place. What's not normal is people getting lost and then staying lost.

    It's happened enough that there are rumors spreading amongst Gotham's journalist community, and of course Red Robin has contacts. He always has contacts. One of them had been particularly keen about reaching out to him about this -- something about a lost brother -- so it's on his radar.

    "This one could end up weird," is the message that had been attached to the request for backup on Outsiders comms.

    For now, Red Robin waits on the building's rooftop, staring out at the city lights as night falls across Gotham. The news never sleeps, but after a certain time of day the offices and press floor below where he stands empties out to some degree, making some casual breaking and entering a relatively painless affair.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura doesn't usually respond with more than a yes or no to requests for her help. Today is a little different. Her response was a whole sentence.

Not a long sentence though. Just a "When don't they?"

She's dressed in charcoal greys. Sleek clothing she can use to disappear into a crowd posing as a late night jogger. Plus a hoodie she can conceal weapons under to avoid attracting attention. No scary ordinance, because even if the building isn't fully occupied it's pretty likely people will still hear if she opens up with a bazooka.

X-23 arrives in the traditional Gotham way. Suddenly and from some shadows. Probably she free climbed her way up the side of the Gotham Herald Building. It'd be the Laura thing to do.

Tim Drake has posed:
    It's a very Laura thing to do, and something Tim should probably be able to expect, some day, but as it is he turns sharply on his heel when he notices her presence. "X-23," he greets, and at least he sounds totally calm and not at all like he just got snuck up on. He cracks a smile, though it's a grim one.

    "We have three people reportedly having gone missing in the sub-basements of this building over the past week. Donna Contreras, 27. Lewis Hawkins, 49, and Bobby Park, 17 -- a high school intern." As each name is announced, a holographic display from Tim's left gauntlet flashes their pictures. "We're going to go in there and figure out what happened to them."

    There's a pause as Red Robin gives Laura a chance to ask any questions she might have, and then Tim's nodding, turning (again) to stalk over to the edge of the roof. He drops over the edge, holding on with his fingertips, and within seconds has lowered himself down and in through a window that he'd shimmied open prior to Laura's arrival.

Laura Kinney has posed:
On the plus side looking out for X-23 turning up will help Tim practising for when all the other Batfam members appear in a similar way. Perhaps someday he'll even be able to spot Bruce before he appears/disappears!

She rolls her shoulders and glances around the rooftop, assuming there will be some kind of vent or elevator shaft they can use to get down to the basement, and triple checks the two holsters with suppressed pistols in. Not the most powerful of weapons but if they come up against something seriously dangers her claws should be plenty deadly.

"Do we suspect magic?" she wonders. Switching to subvocal comms. "And I'm assuming you've done background checks of the victims looking for connections outside the office?"

When Tim goes over the edge she shrugs. Walking will probably be faster than the vents. And it's Tim's mission. So she leaps over to follow along, already sniffing the air for clues.

Conner Kent has posed:
Gotham mysteries are not Conner usual cup of tea, but since the mystery in question involves a newspaper and people that work there, he had decided to make an exception and sent a 'on my way' message to Tim. The 'way' took a bit, since he was at the other side of the country and had to fly all the way back.

In fact he arrives just in time to hear that 'do we suspect magic' bit, which makes him groan internally. Nevertheless, he follows the other two, hovering through the window. It is not as if the other two are better equipped to deal with magic. "I am here," beat, "it better not be ghosts or something like that this time."

Tim Drake has posed:
    Now that would be something, finally being able to catch Bruce coming. Let's face it, Tim doesn't freak out when he's snuck up on only because Bruce has done it to him for so long that he's just used to it. And you can't really get by in the Gotham vigilante industry if you're too jumpy, anyway.

    But at the tender age of 22, that is not a skill Red Robin possesses. He may never, even with Laura's help. Give that one up to the mystery (and mystique) of the Batman.

    "Possible, but no supernatural senses have pinged on this place during a drive-by, so we're flying blind," Tim answers, and then he, too, lets his voice drop. "Yeah, nothing suspicious. As far as I can tell they were all fairly upstanding employees of the Herald, in one way or another. Hawkins had some drunk and disorderlies from his youth, but that's about it."

    And then he's inside. His cape brushes against the carpeted floor of an office as he lands in a crouch, the desk and other assorted furniture no more than shadowed shapes given the barest form thanks to the trickle of moonlight coming in through the open window. He moves out of the way in case Laura intends to follow him, and then he stands up on his toes to check the hidden camera he'd planted in the clock.

    Because of course he did.

    When he settles back down on his heels, it's to find not just Laura having snuck in through the window, but Conner too. "Perfect timing, SB."

    He closes the window and resets the lock, checking it with a quick tug before nodding once to himself. "Alright. There's a couple of people downstairs still, but if we take the back stairwell we probably shouldn't come across anyone."

    The variety of supersenses between Laura and Conner will back up what Tim's saying: there are two people still in-house, one sitting at a desk (and wearing strong enough perfume that it has lasted until this late hour) and another in a nearby breakroom, brewing up a fresh pot of coffee.

    Tim cracks the door open and looks out for a moment, breath held, before he nods back at his fellow Outsiders and slips out into the hallway.

    The third floor is just a bunch of offices, nothing particularly interesting to see here, and Red Robin proceeds at a steady clip down the hallway to the far end of the building, where he repeats the careful door-opening and begins to descend down the steps in the stairwell.

Laura Kinney has posed:
"They don't have an inbuilding CCTV system?" Laura marvels. "In Gotham? It's a wonder they write any papers with all the supervillains who must be walking in...."

Still it makes their job easier. Between her enhanced senses and her training she could probably stroll around a building like this with her eyes closed without the slightest risk of any of the staff finding her. And that's not even factoring in all the Kryptonian senses Conner has.

"So probably not magic. Kidnappings? Victim profile seems a little broad for a serial killer." She frowns. "You checked hospital and morgue admissions for unidentified bodies which might be our missing people?"

She'd be shocked if Tim hadn't. But it never hurts to get up to speed now while they're at a pretty low risk of being attacked.

Conner Kent has posed:
"This building is old," points out Conner, speaking in whispers. Still, lack of surveillance might mean it is a gangster hangout. Because: Gotham. One never knows. He can hear the people downstairs and more or less figure out what they are doing, although not smell them, not that kind of enhanced senses. He has the trick with the tactile telekinesis to scan the area around, though, and if they are moving slowly he will do just that.

"Maybe they saw something they shouldn't have seen," suggests Conner. "Or stumbled on a magic gate to the Savage Land," that part is not likely, but maybe cool. "And got eaten by dinosaurs," because: Gotham.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Red Robin turns to look back, nodding to Conner as he speaks. "The Gotham Herald is old-school," he says, echoing the sentiment. "They've adapted to the times to some degree, but even with a surplus of new blood in the past couple of years, they still haven't upgraded their infrastructure. You should see some of the computers the reporters use, it's vintage tech." His boots are barely a whisper on the floor as he takes the stairs down, and down, and down.

    "None of the John or Jane Does match our missing reporters, no," he confirms. Then Tim pauses as somewhere a door slams shut, and his hands tense into fists at his side.

    It was just the break room door. The acrid scent of burnt coffee is briefly stronger, but the smell never closes in. Likely whoever it was that went for coffee has now just returned to their desk.

    Down again he goes. "At this point anything is possible," is all Tim decides to say, at the end, and then he's pushing open the door into the basement.

    It's dark. The smell is overwhelmingly musty, old paper and older carpet, dust thick on surfaces that haven't seen the light of day in many, many years. That sort of smell is obvious to anyone with a nose, but Laura will be able to scent something ranker, like dirty water and sewage, underneath. If Conner's continued extended his telekinetic senses, there are still two people sitting at desks nearly right above their heads now, and a whole lot of crap in the basement for them to get lost in. It's truly a maze.

Laura Kinney has posed:
"Not /anything/," Laura says with a shake of her head. "There's pretty much no chance we'll find them all totally unharmed after having decided to play an especially tasteless practical joke on the office."

She scowls at the smell. Gotham doesn't exactly smell great at the best of times. But there's something about the smell of musty rotting things. Of a once proud institution left to crumble and decay. Which adds just a little extra unpleasantness to the mission.

Also news room coffee. Ick.

"Is there a main sewer line under the building?" she muses. "If not it smells like someone tried to dig one."

Conner Kent has posed:
"Vintage, hah," smirks Conner. "And they burnt the coffee," he adds, in disapproval. He then frowns in concentration, "they also have a ridiculously huge basement full of... I don't even know. Ancient things. Big enough for someone to get lost, I guess," but it is odd if it happened three times in a row. He grunts softly, "I guess we should check it out. I can't sense anything else interesting here. How about you, X?"

If allowed, he leads the other two through the maze of corridors and rooms towards the lower floors. Maybe there are clues there.

Tim Drake has posed:
    Tim's mouth does a funny sort of wobble at Laura's initial comment, something half-torn between amusement and something sadder. "No, not likely," he says with a shake of his head. When Superboy indicates he'd like to take the lead, Red Robin obligingly steps aside in the flickering light of the basement, his features thrown into shadowy relief from the solitary bulb above his head. Then, he follows.

    He's silent, at least until Laura mentions the sewer lines and Tim immediately goes still as he, presumably, references a map on the HUD of his domino mask. "Oh shit," he says, shocking enough on its own, but then he lets out a humorless huff of breath and adds, "Literally, I guess. Yeah, looks like it nearly intersects the sewer line."

    He rises up on his toes and leans over top of a jam-packed filing cabinet to see if he can spot the nearest stairwell, but it's a hopeless cause with everything piled around them as it is. "I hope I'm wrong," he mutters to himself.

    As they move, the smell of sewage gets stronger, and a slow susurrus can be heard. It only takes a few more steps before the sound resolves itself into that of running water. This close, Conner will be able to telekinetically feel the collapsed floor leading down, down, into the sewers.

Laura Kinney has posed:
"If people haven't seen them leave," Laura notes. "And I can smell sewage... Either they've got lost and haven't been able to find the bathrooms... Or someone took them out through the sewers." Her nose wrinkles with distaste. "Smells like the latter of the two."

When they eventually find the collapsed floor and those running water sounds she shrugs. "You'd think someone would have heard a hole like that opening up. So presumably it was done at night?" She ducks down and checks the edges of the hole. Searching for tool marks. Was it a cut hole? Did someone burst through with brute strength? Or was the building simply very old and the floor gave way?

"On the plus side. It's probably not magic."

Conner Kent has posed:
Once Conner is close enough, he can indeed detect the hole into the sewers, although by then, they can also smell it. "How is no one found this before?" He wonders, assuming at least someone has searched for the missing people.

Maybe they fear the basement. That wouldn't surprise him much.

"So, maybe kidnappings by sewer people?" He glances at Tim about this 'sewer people idea'. He has read some of the bat-computer reports. There is at least a crocodile-man living under Gotham, right? "Can you smell the missing people over the stench?" He asks Laura.

Tim Drake has posed:
    There are a lot of smells coming out of that hole. The usual ones, mostly, that you'd expect of a sewer. A whole lot of wet, gross sounds too.

    Tim bends down to consider the hole. He folds his hands over the lower half of his face but it's not to block out the smell, it's just him thinking, and intently at that.

    "Claw marks," he says, pointing at an upturned piece of foundation. Laura will have spotted similar markings from where she's standing as well, including what looks like a scale of some type, caught on a sharp piece of rebar.

    After a long moment with nothing but the smell of sewer and the sound of rushing water beneath them, Red Robin stands up. "I'll send a drone down to scout the sewer line, but we're probably best off searching the nearest wastewater treatment facility." He sighs once, but that's the only sign of his disappointment that he allows. "Other than that, I doubt there's much that we can do."

    He starts tapping at the keyboard set into his left gauntlet, but his expression is muted. "I'm going to put out an emergency call to the Outsiders on the off chance this is what I think it is," is all he says.