15857/GOTHAM NOCTURNE: Prelude in C-sharp Major

GOTHAM NOCTURNE: Prelude in C-sharp Major
Date of Scene:	13 September 2023
Location:	Gotham Public Library, Gotham City
Synopsis:	Batgirl and Batwing investigate the Riddler's latest 'clue'.
Cast of Characters:	Damian Wayne, Barbara Gordon

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Damian Wayne has posed:
The grand stone terrace of the Gotham City Public Library, rendered in dark neo-gothic architecture and flanked by leonine gargoyles is an intimidating facade even in the garish light of day. But tonight it is something altogether more ominous as the flashing red light of two GCPD cruisers sporadically light it up. A strand of yellow 'DO NOT CROSS' tape flutters in an unseasonably cold wind, and on the stairs a pair of patrolmen chatter over paper cups of mud-water coffee.

Inside, one of the assistant librarians - a man named Doyle Harker - lays sprawled across the marble tile of the main Reading Room. Blood pools dark and sticky beneath him. He's been dead a while. One of the forensic photographers leans over to snap a picture with a blinding flash, momentarily lighting up the otherwise gloomy corners of the room.

A figure in black and green, raven black hair shorn close and neat, stands near a broken display case. He's grown a lot since he started this 'work', and most of the cops who are even familiar with him scarcely connect him with the diminutive Robin who tagged along with the Dark Knight. Nevertheless, Gordon trusts him and so Gotham's Finest give him a wide berth and more than a few baleful glances.

Batwing - Damian Wayne, to those who know - holds something in his hand. A rectangle of card, green and gilded with fine, raised print.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Sometimes a number of Barbara's life pathways converge. Case in point, here tonight. She used to work at this place when she was Damian's age. She'd started when she was 17 or 18... and worked on in to a couple years after she'd been shot in the back. But once her Green Energy company took off, she quit the job and focused solely upon that at.

Tonight, she's here as Batgirl though. She arrived outside in a flash of gold and black. Some of the GCPD stood back for her even, for the same reasons they do for the likes of Batwing... well, maybe with a few added reasons involved in her case too.

The couple of patrolmen smile at Batgirl, and linger their eyes for as long as they can before she vanishes inside the building, then proceed to share some words together.

Batgirl just moves with a casual stride inside now, her cape flowing around her armored form, as she passes by the body. A few moments are spent there talking to the Detectives, her voice modulator doing just enough to help mask Barbara over with Batgirl... since she knows most of these people by name, if not had dinner with them and her father before.

Eventually though, she's right there beside Batwing, her cape swirling around her form as she smirks at him. "What have you found?" She asks in a quiet hushed tone now.

Damian Wayne has posed:
"I don't understand why you let them behave that way," Batwing says bitingly, turning the card over his his hands but keeping his voice lowered so only Batgirl might hear, "Presumptuous, ineffectual cretins."

Just what he's talking about may be anyone's guess. Though he pays a momentary, cold glance over his shoulder to the patrol officers who were eyeing Barbara as she made her way into the building. But professionalism wins out in the end and he hands the card to Batgirl almost dismissively.

"Nygma. The Riddler. A high-minded simpleton with delusions of superiority. Tch."

The card itself has words elegantly printed upon it, with an ornate question mark serving as the background:

In the heart of Gotham's maze, where past and present interlace, seek the tune the nightingale plays, for darkness soon the City will embrace.

"The display case," he continues, gesturing to the broken glass at their feet that clearly came from the broken case they stand in front of, "Contained an old municipal blueprint of Gotham. Something from Cyrus Pinkney's files. Woefully out of date since the Flood. Useless. Unless you're a madman with a penchant for trinkets."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Batgirl knows what he's talking about without having to look over her shoulder. "It comes with the territory. You just get used to it, and let it go until it becomes overly aggressive. Then you start shattering noses..." She quietly says as her eyes take in what Damian has been focused on.

She listens to the riddle, which draws out a momentary frown from the redhead. She shakes her head, her pointed cowl's ears wavering side to side. "The psychosis of the Riddler never ceases to amaze me... and make me question so many tendancies of the people who have failed to get him to stop these games."

Batgirl raises up her left gauntlet and keys on her holographic computer. "I can feed the riddle in to my AI systems. It's possible that Oracle AI can determine meanings behind the words." She notes as she taps a few things in with her right gloved hand.

"How long have you been here?" She asks him then, glancing his way.

Damian Wayne has posed:
"You should not tolerate it," Batwing tells her piously, "You stand above them. But I understand if you feel you must tolerate them. They are allies, however witless and slack-mouthed they may be."

When she makes the offer to use Oracle, he willingly hands over the card. Perhaps there's something in the choice of font, the kerning, the type of cardstock it is all printed on. Every little bit matters. He was a killer by the time he could walk, but the more cerebral talents of the detective come more swiftly to her than to him.

"The heart of Gotham? City Hall? Tch, no. The river? Perhaps the Madhouse? Father's City is well-known for its fiends and reprobates."

It's simply guesswork on his part, and he finishes musing when Batgirl asks her question.

"Thirteen minutes. The corpse was shot. Small caliber weaponry, by the way he's fallen. A single shot which suggests he was either surprised or resigned to his fate. Nothing else of interest. Just a librarian."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Babs' exposed mouth shows a smirk at Damian's intolerance of the questionable vehavior from the young Cops outside. She does finally glance back toward them in the distance before she looks back to Batwing again. "It's only a handful of them, usually the younger ones. Besides, it's just part of the job. Usually I'm not that close to people for very long. Working with the Cops like this, they're just a bit on-edge being this close to us." She quietly says back as she goes back to staring at her display computer.

"I'd put my money on the heart of Gotham being Wayne Tower in this context." She says with regard to the riddle before she does look over to where the corpse is. She stares at him flatly for a moment before she regards Damian with a short glance. "I was a librarian here too, you know?" She asks him. "Back when I was your age... I'd like to think I would've put up more of a fight for my life than this person did, but... sometimes we get surprised." She eludes to herself being shot in the back, of course, as it is always there on her mind like it's watching her from a dark corner of her own psyche.

Damian Wayne has posed:
"When you were my age. You speak like an old maid and are anything but."

The young man shakes his head, the corner of his mouth curling up into a smirk that is probably his best approximation of a smile. One of the many little 'human' things that didn't develop during his League training and so he has had to learn it here in Gotham.

"But we would not suffer the same fate," he shakes his head firmly, "Had it been you or I, Nygma would be speak his psychotic riddles through broken teeth and a dislocated jaw."

The card now turned over to Batgirl, he steps away from the empty case to frown down at it for a moment.

"Let your artificial intelligence chew on it. For now, we can leave before they start making TikTok videos."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
The two of them are far enough removed from the Detectives that Barbara actually lets out a soft laugh at what Damian says to her. She glances over at him with her green eyes from behind her masked cowl. "I'm about to turn 31, Batwing." She tells him in a voice just above a whisper. "If we don't all die on the same day, anyway..." She glances back at her computer then as she gets a bunch of different interpretations of the riddle from her AI system. "You've heard that conspiracy theory, right? September 23rd 2023 is the end of the world. So sayith many pop-culture sources..."

She trails off then and lowers her gauntlet down to her side once more. "I'll send you the results." She tells him before she glances back to the Detectives. "All the same though... I feel bad for them. Which goes without saying, I know. It's just... yeah, this one hits close to home." She notes, her eyes glancing around her old place of work as she starts to meander around like she's looking for more details, but really she just is looking the place over in-general as it has been some time since she'd been inside this building.

Damian Wayne has posed:
"Tch. It doesn't show."

Batwing raises an eyebrow beneath the domino mask he wears, regarding Batgirl incredulously for a moment.

"Forgive me if I haven't had the bunker prepared. Besides, Father would not let the world come to an end. He isn't finished with it yet."

For a moment he stands there, turned now to fully face his fellow masked vigilante. He watches her look towards the corpse, hears her talk about it hitting close to home. His brow furrows, as though he's trying to make sense of some particularly complex sudoku puzzle.

"We will avenge him," he says, the words almost tripping out and spoken louder than he likely intended - echoing off the high ceiling - before he quietens down again, "Nygma will pay dearly."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
The raised voice from Damian causes the Detectives to look toward where the duo of Bats stand. They eye the younger one for a moment, and Babs looks over in their direction for a second before she looks back to Batwing, and smirks at him. Her left gloved hand goes out to his shoulder to pat it lightly a pair of times.

"I'll assign some drones to watch this place for the rest of the night. They'll let us know if anyone is watching the place, or would be stupid enough to try and come back."

Her hand drops back down to her side once more where her cape falls across her arm again. Her eyes are covered over by eyelets built in to her mask, and she spends a few more moments scanning the library over with her advanced tech fed directly in to the Bat-coputer and the Oracle database. She knows Damian has already done this in some fashion already, but it's best to be thorough.

"Did you bring your cycle?" babs quietly asks then. "Going back out on patrol?" She asks him as she takes a step away to one of the study stations where she leans forward to eye some of the finger prints that her scanner has picked up, already processing who they belong to, with multiple sets bringing up images of multiple Gotham citizens that the prints match with.

Damian Wayne has posed:
"I was finishing," Damian explains when asked about going back out on patrol, "I have a meeting with an admissions officer in the morning. It has been decided that I could benefit from a university education."

The tone in his voice suggests he disagrees, but he's had a gap year of sorts so perhaps it makes sense. Either way, it would explain ending his patrol early rather than continuing on until the small hours.

"The Tower isn't far," he answers, "My bike is nearby. If you've kept the larder stocked, I will eat."

The young man has a real talent for making questions sound like imperious demands.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
In a lot of ways, Damian reminds Barbara of Cassandra, and it has always been endearing to see him trying to fit in to 'normal' society. She nods softly to what he says. "I think I heard a bit about that. I hope you enjoy it, but if you don't... College isn't for everyone. I don't think you need it for the education in the traditional sense, as these days everything you need to know is pretty easy to get at your fingertips. But it could be good for you socially..." She smirks his way again as she turns away from the study area.

"I've got everything I can find, I'll make sure to send you those possible riddle solutions too." She tells him then. "I'll go tell the PD that we're wrapping up here." Batgirl states as she turns to walk toward the Detectives again, who've been joined by a couple patrolofficers from outside now. She walks casually toward them, her cape swaying around her knees as her golden boots quietly impact against the floor of the library foyer, her approach drawing the eyes of the police officers..