7923/Strix, spies a night owl.

Strix, spies a night owl.
Date of Scene:	22 September 2021
Location:	The Narrows - Miagani Island
Synopsis:	Owlman murders a gang leader, and the batfam investigate.
Cast of Characters:	Lincoln March, Strix, Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle

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Lincoln March has posed:
     It's the dead of night. Not a single honest soul left out in the streets of the narrows who wants to be there. Only a few members of the homeless population huddle in the light of trashcan fires for warmth as a heavy rain falls overhead. It's a miserable and hopeless place. The sort of place that eats a man whole and spits him back out the other side of that one bad day he needed to push him over the edge.

     Smog hangs heavy in the rain. The occasional lightning strike is the only thing to pierce the veil completely. Lighting up the hopeless faces of the homeless, the grim nature of the gangers out on the prowl in the dead of night looking for their next target.

     There's a bit of a calmness in this section of the city brought on by the rain. It brings even the criminals off the streets for the most part except those brave few from the Screaming Meanies a gang whose fallen on hard times since the suicide of their leader.

     They mill about with their hands in their pockets laughing it up in the cold of the rain as they smoke pot and enjoy themselves into the late hours of the evening. Their uniforms are simple leather jackets with gloves to match both covered in spikes. Right now they're harassing a homeless man who's making all kinds of pleas for them to stop.

Strix has posed:
Strix sometimes goes on patrol, looking for trouble to bust to pass the time. It's either that or go to one of the underground fighting rings and make a bit of money on the side. This brings her to The Narrows, watching the Screaming Meanies to see whether or not they'll get into that very same trouble.

Pot in and of itself isn't an issue, since it was recently made legal in the state of New Jersey. Harrassing the homeless man? That just seems plain wrong.

She leaps down to the ground from her rooftop perch and casually walks forward until she's right behind the leader of the pack. She taps on his shoulder and when he turns around she holds up a taloned finger and wags it at him, a silent scolding.

Lincoln March has posed:
     The leader of the bunch is a man who's dressed in the Screaming Meanies colors plain as day on the back of his jacket. The words Lieutenant of Chaos under the Screaming face on his back. He doesn't seem to hear the figure approaching from behind until they're right upon him turning around with a startle at the figure.

     "Don't you look down on me." He offers along with an expletive as he turns on the balls of his heels swiping out with a pocket knife.

     The other two in the group are shocked as the first, their reflexes slown down by the drugs in their system all over all. They look on the younger side, late teens early twenties at the latest setting around smoking and picking on the helpless. "Luey gonna ice em." One of the two offers as he leans back to watch the show. The other returns. "Luey ain't no slouch." the second of the two dropping a boot towards the downed homeless man knocking him over to one side.

     Already unknown to any of the group a lone figure watches from a nearby window. A dimly lit silhouette watching the proceedings with great interest.

Strix has posed:
Strix, however, moves fast. First she goes and disarms the Leutenant, relieving him of his knife, which she then uses to throw at the calf of the one that's about to kick at the homeless man. She doesn't continue her assault, however, instead stepping back to give them all space, and wagging a finger at them again. She, then, points at the street, a silent comment for them to leave the homeless guy alone and for them to go along their way.

Lincoln March has posed:
     The Lieutenant is far too slow to stop the removal of his knife. He pauses for a moment looking at what she's done. He looks at his hand and then to her pausing for a long moment.

     The goon who'd been in the middle of going to kick the homeless man gets the knife right to his calf and falls over towards the ground. It's a small pen knife but it still hurts when it goes in causing him to miss the homeless man and instead slip on the water falling to the ground in pain.

     The other goon looks on in shock as he just says "Player aint playing, let's jet." Rushing over towards his downed friend to lift him up off the ground. After all these particular goons aren't solo fighters, relying on sheer numbers to overwhelm and intimidate their opponents. Not to mention how high they were already.

     The lieutenant lets out a gruff grumble before sneering towards Strix. He collects his boys and starts moving with a good deal of speed leaving the homeless figure to cower on the ground with one hand above his head. His eyes still adjusting to the dark as he grumbles wearing his Iraq Veterans cap filled with holes his attention still darting from one direction to the next as he tries to make out what's coming for him.

     The figure in the window claps slowly, loudly, as the young men scatter running for cover running like roaches with a fresh light shone on them.

Strix has posed:
Strix watches in satisfaction as the ruffians beat feet. Job well done. She didn't kill anybody and only used the minimal amount of violence. Batman will be pleased.

Despite her intimidating appearance she peers down at the homeless veteran, and extends a hand to help him up, when the clapping catches her attention. She looks up and peers at the shadowed figure, her eyes behind the goggles narrowing.

Lincoln March has posed:
     The homeless vet catches that hand and uses it to come to a stand grumbling in appreciation. His words are thickly accented and almost impossible to understand but there's a thank you mixed in there somewhere as he's hauled up to his feet. They sound the grumblings of a madman but they're at the very least appreciative grumblings of a madman.

     The figure in the window stands at 6'6" and is silhouetted heavily by the light behind him a pair of bright orange eyes sticking glowing from a featureless but all too familiar mask. The Court of Owls mask.

     In the background of the brightly lit room is another shadow swinging back slowly from one side to the other, hung from the ceiling.

Strix has posed:
Strix visibly steps back, shocked to she the Court's mask again. She had thought that they had finally taken care of the shadowy organization in Gotham and that she would finally be free of them.

She quickly runs around the building to find it's entrance, and should it be found to be locked, she uses one of her very sharp swords to cut through the deadbolt. She hunts around for stairs to climb to the third story, and goes to find the room where that figure was standing.

Lincoln March has posed:
     When she reaches the apartment it only takes another slice to send the door swinging open. Into the room she would find a well dressed ganger hung from the neck beside a handwritten note left on the night stand. The window remains open letting in the cold air and rain as a single owls feather drifts through the air fluttering as if freshly left by the creature on its flight from the appartment.

Strix has posed:
Strix plucks the feather out of the air and stares at it, then moves to the window to see if she can spot the retreating owl masked figure. Not seeing him she turns back to the hanging ganger, and takes the note and does her best to read it.

Lincoln March has posed:
     The note goes on for two pages talking about how he knows that he's hurt a lot of people, and how much fun he had along the way with his brothers in arms in the Screaming Meanies. How devastated he was at the death of the old boss and how excited he was at first to get to take his place.

     It talks about how the stress of running a gang was just too much for him to handle, and the loss of his prized 1950 Chevy Bel Air was the final straw. How he got the car when he was just a kid, and built it up over the years how important it was to him and now it was gone.

     It ends with making a point of donating what money he had left to the city that raised him, and a very specific individual he would like to see appointed to replace him mentioned by name.

Strix has posed:
Strix reads the note very slowly, her fourth grade reading skills getting in the way from time to time. She hesitates for a moment before deciding what to do next. She places the note down where she found it and pulls out the Outsiders phone that Tim gave her. She punches in a special number that Batman gave her to contact him in case of an emergency. If this isn't an emergency she doesn't know what is.

The message is simple: COURT OF OWLS BACK. MEET ME. and she uses her phone to get her coordinates and sends them to the caped crusader as well. Now all she does is wait.

Lincoln March has posed:
     The rain comes down in sheets of pitch black, the weather serving to only get worse over time. There's something in the air the acrid smell of death as the leader of the Screaming Meanies swings slowly from one side to the other, caught by a light gust of wind.

     The light of the room flickers softly illuminating the body's cold closed eyes, as thrash metal from the local radio station plays in the background at a low volume from a poor quality radio.

     The wind blows harsh through the open window billowing about the black curtains of the room. Pictures of cars line the walls of the main bedroom of the apartment. Cars mainly originating in the early 1950's.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
A lot has changed in the last few weeks, and gratefully the Batman has had some time to process it. Tonight, had been very useful for that. A relatively uneventful with the newest and perhaps most unusual member of his expanding 'team'. The pair of them had been perched atop a stony gargoyle several blocks away when the call had come in, the message appearing on the heads-up display wired into the batsuit's cowl. He hadn't done much more than stop mid-conversation to look at Selina seriously and, in the voice he had concocted specifically for Batman, he says:

"Something's happened."

He swings out across the city like a grand expert. He seems to know every inch of it, moving across rooftops and between them as though they were the most well-trod path in the world. Out across the river inlets and into the Narrows, plunging down between the decrepit buildings. It doesn't take him long to track the signal from Strix's phone, and he knows the place already. He knows every place.

One moment the window is empty, and the next he sits perched upon the ledge bundled beneath his damp cape and staring down at the Talon and the swinging body.

"How?"

Selina Kyle has posed:
    For once - and it is of historical note - the Catwoman's presence in Batman immediate vicinity hasn't been a total nuisance to him!

    Emphasis on 'total'. Selina Kyle does not meekly follow, and she's rarely one to keep her thoughts to herself if she's sufficiently entertained by them. Not that she's been a chatterbox, but, well...

    She's been keeping him company.

    It's been kind of nice.

    Catwoman's been prowling the city almost as long as Batman, and while her ventures weren't driven by the same purpose, or given to the same level of analysis, Catwoman has an instinct for traversal, and knows the city like the back of her hand.

    A whip cracks audibly in the few seconds before Batman appears, as Catwoman swings up and over Batman, and onto the ledge above, perched on all four limbs as she then peeks her head into view, peering upside down into the room with curiosity, followed by a grimace, one hand on Batman's shoulder to keep her steady, as if one can just... *do* that. "*Ooohhh*, yikes..."

Strix has posed:
Strix idly examines the room for clues. She knows that when Batman gets here, if there are any, he'd find them. Her training never dived into detective work. Fortunately she doesn't have to wait long before Batman shows up.

Turning to him she gives him a shrug. She doesn't know /how/ she just knows they did. She pulls out her phone and using the text to speech app that Tim installed for her she tells him what she can. "STOPPED GANG FIGHT OUT THERE" The similar yet legally distinct from Siri voice of the program says. She points to the alley down the window where the homeless vet was. "HEARD CLAP. LOOKED UP. SAW MAN IN COURT MASK. WAS GONE WHEN I GOT HERE. LEFT THIS," she says, handing over the owl feather that was floating down when she got here. "AND THIS," she says pointing at the dangling figure.

Selena gets her attention, though. She looks at her and cocks her head in a silent question. Who are you?

Lincoln March has posed:
     Beer bottles litter the floor scattered about from various foot traffic, the local minifridge looking to have been mostly full of the stuff from the way that it's been cracked open. The place isn't exactly a pigsty as much as the home of someone who's clearly had quite the lot of partying in their life.

     The bed is a heart shaped monstrosity in dark burgundy sheets with a mirror stuck to the ceiling just above it for personal viewing of the owner. Sheets have been left to one side haphazardly as if someone had woken up in the middle of the night and never bothered to make it.

     A single chair wrests knocked over onto its side at the foot of the bed, just enough for the owner of said apartment to have reached the rafters and done the deed. It's a simple wooden thing mass produced, with a vague attention to detail at absolute best.

     On the nightstand near the bed rests an alarm clock with yet more beer bottles, and a picture of the victim standing next to a latino woman and a young child.

    The door to the main hallway of the apartment is left swung open, giving a clear view into the pitch black hallway illuminated only by the single bulb of the master bedroom.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Batman doesn't introduce Selina. She can introduce herself. But by the way she drapes herself over him for that moment, it's clear they know each other and likely very well. But in this moment the Dark Knight is all business, and he shows it in his demeanor.

The feather is plucked from Strix's fingers and examined, turning it over in his hand. Inside his cowl, sophisticated lenses take magnified video as he attempts to match it off with his knowledge of ornithology. Thankfully, when it comes to ornithology as it relates to Gotham he is a veritable encyclopedia. Blame the Penguin.

"Bubo scandiacus Gothamii," he says flatly, tucking it away into a clear plastic resealable bag before depositing it into his belt, "The Gotham Snowy Owl. Extinct since 1986. The Court must keep them."

He begins to move through the apartment, careful eyes trawling for any sort of clue.

Selina Kyle has posed:
    When Batman enters the building, Catwoman puts both hands on her perch and flips forward, twisting in the air to land in the open window Batman just vacated, before stepping inside after him.

    "Gesunheidt." Catwoman says distractedly as she peers around the room with a bit of a grimace, before regarding Strix. She looks the masked woman up and down briefly, then glances at Batman for confirmation, before she gestures to herself by way of putting one hand on her chest and purrs, "Catwoman. Don't mind me, I'm just here to make sure he behaves himself~"

    Yes, she's aware she has a reputation.

    No, she doesn't especially care right this second.

    She sniffs once with disdane for their squalid surroundings - keeping a number of comments to herself, before Batman's analysis draws her attention. "The... Court...?"

    Everyone in Gotham hears about The Court. Most of those people learn not to believe in them. Selina hasn't made their acquaintance.

Lincoln March has posed:
     There's a small hole in the outer window of the room. The hole in question is just barely big enough for a finger to fit through just above the lock. It appears that whoever got in here didn't wait for the window to be open and instead opened it themselves, awaying into the room like a cat burglar in the night.

     Invisible to the naked eye but visible to the sensors of the Bat are a pair of bootprints just beneath the door. From the indentation in the carpeting and the depth left behind it's easy to say that the suspect is about six and a half foot tall, and heavy. About 350~ lbs heavy give or take for margin of error. Easily dwarfing the man hanging from the ceiling, who only stands at 5'6", and is dressed in his leather jacket identifying him as head honcho of the Screaming Meanies. The question becomes why someone would put on their leather jacket fresh out of bed.

     Inside the pockets of the jacket are a gold plated desert eagle, and the keys to a 1950 Chevy Bel Air. Yet upon closer examination of the body invisible to the naked eye is a single injection mark just behind the right ear as if someone had injected him with a very small needle while he slept, and then dressed him, and hung him from the ceiling.

Strix has posed:
Strix nods politely to Catwoman. She walks over to her, opening up the pictures on her phone. She had taken pictures of all the drawings she did for the briefing she did for Batman's raid on the Court's cavernous lair, and she flips through them until she finds one of the Court's signature nearly featureless white masks. She holds it up for Catwoman to look at as if that was an answer to her question.

Then she scrolls through the pictures until she finds the one that she drew of the lair, and zooms in on the chamber that housed the cryostasis pods that would hold the Talons when not in use. She taps the word Talon, and then points to herself. The meaning is clear. She was once a Talon, who worked for the Court.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Batman does not relay all this verbally to Catwoman or Strix. He simply moves from place to place, taking in the clues and feeding them through to the Batcomputer to create a virtual crime scene that can be examined later at his leisure. He crouches down and produces a small kit from his belt, snipping a few threads of carpet from around the footprints and storing them for closer examination in the lab.

"Catwoman," he calls suddenly, "Take a look at that lock. Tell me what you think."

If there's anyone on the planet who understands security systems and the ways around him, it's her.

"He was asleep," he continues, turning to Strix, "The killer dressed him. Possibly post-mortem. Made a point of filling his pockets, too."

He takes the gold-plated hand cannon out from its hiding place and glowers at it with distain before he begins to scour it for fingerprints.

Selina Kyle has posed:
    Catwoman peers with interest and mild confusion at the array of images the silent woman shows her, missing a measure of context for them, but seemingly getting the gist of it. "Well." She says with a little shrug, "I guess I can't judge."

    Her name is called, and Catwoman turns to Batman with a curious "Hmm?" Catwoman indulges in giving Batman a brief Look that communicates some displeasure at being directly ordered - this has come up before, both of them will need to work on certain habits - but after a quick look at Strix, she sighs softly. She's not gonna start a fight in front of one of Batman's kids. Not today, anyway.

    "Sir yes sir~" she says breezily with a little sigh, pulling her goggles up over her masked eyes and stretching her interlocked fingers as she approaches the lock to take a look at it, reaching for the tools in her satchel in case she ends up needing them.

Lincoln March has posed:
     and fingerprints he finds. All over the handle of the gas operated pistol are prints of the same size, likely belonging to the victim. It's a well used pistol that if ballistics were done would place it at the scene of countless crimes across the narrows as well as gangland shootings.

     The lock in question is top of the line, something you'd more likely find at a high end mansion then in a simple hovel inside of the narrows. One look at the thing communicates to the highly trained burglar that this is the sort of lock that one buys when they have every intention of keeping out someone or something highly skilled.

     This man was prepared for someone to come for him. It's as simple as that. All the signs point to knowing that his time was short and someone was going to get him in the night.

Strix has posed:
Strix nods silently at Batman. She figured this wasn't a suicide, which is why she called the man they call the World's Greatest Detective to come and take a look. She stays next to the window as Batman and Catwoman do their work, sticking around to answer any other questions they might have.

With her phone, she taps out a message. "WILL NOT GO BACK," the almost-but-not-quite-Siri voice says, presumably to Batman.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Finding only the victim's fingerprints for the moment, Batman takes another recording of the pistol before putting it back where he found it. It would serve as evidence in a number of other cases including this one, and it would do better in the hands of the GCPD than his own. Satisfied with what he has found, he moves away from the corpse.

"You're not going back," he tells Strix with a voice of solemnity, "The Court of Owls is arrogant. That's their downfall. We'll break them."

"It's too advanced for a Narrows walk-up," he tells Catwoman, joining her by the door, "Isn't it? Suggests he knew the killer or at least knew the Court was after him. The Computer's drawing up a list of known associates. We can work backwards and draw out a map of his last few hours."

Selina Kyle has posed:
    Despite all appearances of irreverence, Catwoman takes to the lock with a clinical sort of expertise, working silently with little other than the gradual furrowing of her brow to speak of what her investigation is telling her. "Thiiiiis... isn't normal." She agrees distractedly, still digging around a bit. "I've seen worse locks at Old Money manors. This is *not* in this guy's budget." Catwoman peers back over her shoulder at her surroundings, lifting her goggles up over her eyes, her upper face still obscured by the rest of her mask. "That or this guy either has wild priorities, or a hard-on for squalid appearances." She looks to Batman and frowns, "This guy was looking to keep out anybody who didn't bring along someone like me, or a battering ram."

    Catwoman puts her tools away and dusts off her hands needlessly, walking away from the door thoughtfully.

    With her thumb and forefinger on her chin, Catwoman paces the room thoughtfully. "... Although... if I were the kind of person who lived like *this*... but had resources to burn... I'll tell ya where I'd hide the good stuff."

    With that, Catwoman zeroes in on one of the bigger posters in the room, regarding it for a moment before she gingerly reaches out and peels it off of the wall, exposing a safe built into the wall.

    "... Meow~" Catwoman says softly, visibly pleased with herself.

Lincoln March has posed:
     The radio which had been background noise up to this point cuts to the voice of the DJ. He's a swedish man with a somewhat thick accent speaking in a bit of a chipper tone for all the thrash metal going on at the station. "And up next we've got a special request from a listener going dedicated to Bruce. A lovely little metal cover of Catch Us If You Can by the Dave Clark 5 performed by Strangulation Sensation. Wherever you are out there Bruce. I hope you catch em because they sound like quite the catch."

Strix has posed:
Strix starts and /stares/ at the radio. She's sure that Batman knew that the Owls knew who he was, but she never told him that /she/ knew, too. It's a secret and not one of hers to tell. She glances over to Batman to see what reaction, if any, he might have. She would say something, but with Catwoman being here, she isn't sure if the thief is privy to that kind of information.

She stares at her phone trying to think of something to say, but whatever it is that she /could/ say she's sure that Bruce has already thought of it, probably a few minutes before he ever entered into the crime scene.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
When the safe is revealed, the Dark Knight immediately approaches it. There's no congratulations or admiration - that's just part of working with him. He regards the mechanism for a moment. Openable, he's sure, but Selina could do it faster.

"Can you open it?" he asks her, about to speak further when the DJ speaks on the radio. He listens for a moment before he approaches it. He's already got feelers out on the radio station, tracking its incoming calls even though he's certain they'll come up clean. He's not one to leave a stone unturned.

He reaches out, regarding the machine for a moment before he turns it off with a click.

"Arrogant."

Selina Kyle has posed:
    "'Can I open it.'" Selina repeats with playful irony, reaching back into her toolkit until the radio catches her ear. Selina stiffens up, her eyes going a bit wide for a moment before she... strategically pulls her goggles back down over her eyes. Like Strix, she doesn't know who knows what, and she'd like to give away as little as possible.

    Even when it's turned off, Catwoman stares at the radio for a long moment, unable to shake the goosebumps that followed the announcement, her demeanor visibly soured. With a little grimace, she turns back to the safe without a word and begins working ont, a frown betraying that she's not able to enjoy her work for once, though her mood has done little to hamper her well honed skills.

Lincoln March has posed:
     The safe is hard work but someone like Catwoman was exactly the right person for the job. For her it's childsplay allowing the safe to crack open in a matter of simple minutes with a light creaking noise as it slides out to the right side.

     Inside the safe are a number of gold bars, some cash,a leatherbound journal, and a series of photographs. One that rests on top is a picture of Owlman in uniform. The picture is blurry but one thing that sticks out is the eyes, bright amber glowing eyes in the center of a court of owls mask worn on a dark reflection of the Batman costume, placed onto an overtly muscular frame.

Strix has posed:
Strix cant help but look over Catwoman's shoulder to see what's inside. There's a lot in here that seems out of place for a small time gang leader, but the thing that catches her attention is the picture of Owlman. She tugs on Batman's cape to get his attention, and points at the picture, points at the window, and mimes slow clapping. This was the person she saw.

There's more, though. She pulls out her phone again and types out another message: "OWLMAN. BEST TALON."

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Batman regards the safe for a moment before immediately stretching out a hand, silently blocking Strix and Catwoman from doing anything more than look inside. He reaches in with agonizing slowness, drawing the journal out at the same snail's pace and then passing it off to the former Talon to hold. The same is done with the same slow motion to take out the photograph of Owlman, which he regards with a scowl before handing to Catwoman.

Then he moves swiftly, gauntleted fist driving into the ceiling of the safe. There is the sound of a mechanism triggering but he pulls it free too quickly. A gun of some sort built into the roof of the safe, disarmed with brutal strike like plucking the still beating heart from a foe's chest. He tosses it to the ground.

"Leave the gold and money. The rest we can use."

Selina Kyle has posed:
    "... Baaaaat?" Catwoman calls with a quiet sort of urgency as she looks over the unexpected contents of the safe, stepping aside as Batman puts himself at the forefront. She takes the picture and regards it with a concerned look, before wincing at Batman's sudden loud action against the trap inside the safe.

    "... Sure." She says quietly, fiddling with the ring near the neck of her costume with one finger as she eyes the gold inside.

    ...

    It's fine. It's... probably fine. She's pretty sure her Gold Guy is in jail anyway. It's fine.

Lincoln March has posed:
     The Journal is a heavy thing weighted down with a decent cover. Inside are a number of chaotic scribblings of a man on a hunt. The book is a treasure trove of research on the court of owls digging deeper and deeper into the organization's myths and legends. All of it starts with an entry of how the boss was 'suicided' at first the writer believing it to be police action before slowly falling down the rabbit hole of hunting down information on the court itself.

     The last page of the journal he talks about how he's beaten the courts pet policeman into a coma and should have finished the job. He calls it the least he can do against the bastards that killed his brother.

Strix has posed:
Strix takes the journal in her hand, carefully looks at it. She delicately removes the broken lock with her talons, letting it dangle from one of them. Then, using the tips of her talons, she carefully opens the book, and looks through a couple of the pages.

The loud *crunch* gets her attention, and she looks up just in time to see Batman yank out the heart of the trap to deposit Sensing that their time here is at an end, she closes the book and loops the broken lock through the clasps again. No doubt Batman would want to keep that, too.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
"We need to leave," Batman says firmly, news of police responding to the call reaching him through his headset, "We're taking the Car."

He doesn't brook any dissention on the matter. They're all carrying things relevant to the case, and he's not about to chase them around for them. He moves towards the open window, climbing back up onto the ledge. Already the long, metallic form of the Batmobile has rolled to an automated stop in the alleyway below.

For such a streamlined car, there's nevertheless room for the three of them as the internal space shifts to push certain internal mechanisms into shielded copulas on the outside so that the driver and passenger bay is more spacious.

There's not another word as he drops down and out of the building, using the cape he wears to catch himself before he hits terminal velocity. The hatch atop the car opens and he lands in the driver's seat, immediately beginning a series of pre-drive checks.

Selina Kyle has posed:
    The car, he says! Selina manages a little smile at that. "Well, then. The night's not completely unsalvageable~" She says to no one in particular, though Strix is her only audience. She'll take it! Catwoman casts a last wary look of the photo in her hands before exiting the apartment through the window, to join the Bat below.