His hands hurt. He doesn't notice it until he's done for the night, back at home, safe and sound. He looks down at his knuckles... bruised; maybe he should add some more padding
( Read more... )
"I was actually about to analyze the forensic evidence again," he tells her, switching to explanation mode quickly, "according to those I interrogated, the fight lasted somewhere between ten and twenty minutes, several shots were fired and the scuffle ended before the police got there. It's possible it ended because the police got there."
"I met Spiderman before he went missing and he wasn't bad. Green as hell and clearly a bit new to this, but physically he was tough. It would take some one pretty strong to take him out and now that I've scratched you off my list of suspects, I've pretty much got nothing," he tells her. He doesn't feel guilty about her being on the list of suspects, everyone is a suspect at first.
"The good news is, I don't think he's dead," he explains, moving towards the bank of computers across the room. The door to the rooms he uses for day to day living are closed, he hopes it's enough to keep her attention on the task at hand. He punches his codes into the computer and brings up Spiderman's file. It's not very thick, a few pages on what he observed in the alley, a cross reference to the file on Freya and all the case notes for his disappearence.
She listened, impressed by his confidence and his detective skills. No problem for her to get the information, but she wouldn't begin to know what to do with it. Not like this. "Impressive."
What could she add that might be useful? Not much. "I saw a vamp-puppy take him down, but he was distracted. Whole lotta strength and some serious ow on those pups, but he had no trouble throwing it off or webbing away later. Serious heavy-hitters if the fight lasted that long.
"I've met a handful of people in the City who qualify: Drusilla and Spike, Loz, Kadaj and Yazoo, Cole and Crowley. Cole fights for the Light, and Crowley's not a fighter. And no, I didn't do it. But I could have, so good on you for not ruling me out."
She paced, trailing her hand along the wall of computers. Bats and info. The 'S' crowd never had that. They'd always relied on strength. And the Bats. "What makes you think he's not dead?"
"Witnesses place you in Callahan's that night; several witnesses," he tells her, typing the new information into Spiderman's file. He hadn't crossed her off the suspect list until several witnesses had all said the same thing.
"I know of The Brothers," he explains, "But I've never met the others, what can you tell me about them?"
"The girl was dead before the fight began, her body wasn't cold when the cops arrived. That backs up the witnesses that heard the fight lasting ten to twenty minutes. It also backs up the witnesses statements that the fight ended abruptly when the police showed up. Which means that Spiderman was still in a condition to fight when they stopped. The signs of struggle corroborate all of this.
I'm not sure what happened to Spiderman, but whoever did this, and it looks like it's more than one person, two from the evidence, left before they were actually finished. Which means this is a missing person's case and not a murder investigation. I like these better."
Lee nodded, again approving his suspicion of her. She'd probably cut off her own hands before she'd hurt Robin, but he didn't know that. Not for sure. And as a Bat, instinct would be an anathema. With the other metas in the city not likely to be as well-inclined toward him, she found herself glad, on this point, at least that he didn't.
"I don't like any of it. Straightforward, beat the shit out of the enemy. That's me." She repressed a sigh at being dragged into the role of a cape again. An 'S' to a Bat. Power to his intellect. It burned.
Arms crossed over her chest, hands tucked in, she paced. "Two, not three. So far, I've never seen the Brothers separated except when one of them is with a sex partner." Leave him to figure out how she knew that. She wasn't about to come out and tell him she'd had sex with Loz. "Maybe two of the boys got into trouble without the other, but that doesn't seem as likely as Drusilla and Spike."
Come to a stop in front of him, she smiled, grim, almost feral. "Demons. Not sure what kind. No need for a motivation, either. They're demons."
"The Brothers separate for more than that," he tells her. He doesn't want to know how she knows that. It's none of his business and he barely knows Kadaj and his brothers, "So what kind of fighting style are they likely to have used? The demons... Spike and Drusilla. Because there's evidence of gunshots and some kind of energy weapon," he tells her. No evidence of a sword though. Not a single sign Kadaj was involved.
"I just don't know what could have happened to him. it doesn't really make sense for him to go missing if his attackers had to flee. Except, superstrength...," he trails off, tapping on the keyboard and bringing up an image of the block where Spiderman's mask was found. A few more keys and it narrows in on the specific area the mask was found in.
Lee gave him a long once over, realizing that despite his youth, he'd grown up a Bat, which meant, well, the same things it had meant when she was an 'S'. The capes had sex but didn't talk about it. Maybe Robin had been with one of the brothers. That would teach him about instinct anyway. None of her business.
"If there were weapons, you can rule out Spike and Drusilla. If I had to guess, I'd say they were succubi or something like that. They remind me of...someone I knew." No mentioning Mariah. She didn't want any links back to Bete Noire. Nothing that could lead a Bat to a son who wasn't dead but should be.
"Are you sure there were two?" She'd seen Loz's weapon - definitely an energy weapon. Looked like Violenz's and probably packed a wallop. No reason to think the brothers had been involved, other than that. Kadaj used a sword.
Then she listened, really listened to what Robin said. "Superstrength. Yeah. If it was me... If they managed to hurt me, I'd get away somewhere and hide until I healed."
"The physical evidence at the scene supports there only being four people in the alley, Spiderman, the dead woman and two assailants. That doesn't mean ther weren't more, that just means only two were in the alley," he tells her.
"Anyone who fought Spiderman hand to hand clearly has superstrength. What if, in the course of the fight, SPiderman was thrown. To far for them to easily reach before the police got there. I'm looking for," he types a few more keys before stopping, "there it is," he says, pointing at the screen.
"Sewer entrance. He got thrown towards it and ducked inside in order to escape. No telling where he went from there. I can get maps of them but... it'll likely be a maze down there," he pauses, considering the screen, "I'll have to get in touch with Freya again. She'll want to come."
"I'll take your word for it," she said, shrugging.
"There are a couple others I know who might have had something to do with this. There's a Lex Luthor clone or alterniverse Lex in the City. There's also Medusa, yes, the Medusa. Rogue Xavier is a meta with the ability to drain and use other metas powers."
A couple of her students had the attitude and maybe the firepower to get into something like this. But she had no interest in giving up Max, Tim, Emma or any of her other students without a reason. She might trust this little Bat as much as she trusted anyone, but giving up River, Max, Tim, Emma and Lily with no suspicion they'd done anything...just no. Little Bird could do his own homework. He'd not appreciate her spoonfeeding him anyway.
He'd started talking about the sewer system and that got her attention. "Listen. Last time I was down there I ran into about 200 hundred zombies, 4 vampires, a pack of wargs, and giant bats."
She didn't say 'I should go' because she couldn't stop him. But she wanted to. She really wanted to say 'Stay here and let me search. I'll call Duce and Anita and we can do this.'
He might be her Reason for being in Tropolis. But first and foremost, he was a Bat.
"Unless this Lex Luthor is drastically different than the one from my world, he's not the sort to do this on his own. No reports of a purple and green battlesuit fleeing the scene after all," he says, "When the minotaur took on Wonderwoman, he didn't use any kind of weapon. Doesn;t really sound like their style."
He blinks behind his lenses when she mentions finding all of that in the sewers, "You feel up to a trip in the sewer?" he asks. He knows his limits and seriously, 200 zombies? Met the requirements. He continues typing on the keyboard, pulling up another screen and typing, 'creatures in sewers, zombies, vampires, wargs, giant bats. Numerous. On par with level 10 meta'
"No. I don't think Lex attacked Spider-man. He's just someone you should add to your files." Lee didn't even feel guilty giving him up. He was Lex. Every version of him she'd encountered, and there were a few, went bad at some point.
Minotaur? Diana? She shook her head. No. She didn't want to get caught up with the capes. Didn't care. Didn't even want to know.
When he asked if she'd go with him, she breathed a sigh of relief. Well, almost. She suppressed it at the last second, crossing her arms over her chest and tucking her hands into her sleeves. "'Kay."
Hearing something in her tone he looks over at her with a smirk, "I'm not Him you know," he tells her, "I do recognize that some things can't be handled with training and preparation. I mean, I'm best friends with Superboy and I'll admit it, unlike Him and Clark, who will be best friends until they die and never admit it to anyone."
He smiles and returns to tapping on the keys, "Relax, I get that you don't see me and think I'm a kid that needs protecting. That's all I ever expect out of the older metas."
"Of course I'm good," he tells her, hands folding into his lap as he turns to look at her, "I have to be good. I'm not good I'm dead. I train for five hours everyday not because it's fun but because I realize that it's the only thing standing between me and certain death. But the thing is Fallen Angel? I want to be the World's Greatest Detective, that's what I'm really good at, so I acknowledge that I might never be the strongest Robin, or the fastest Robin. I'm the smartest Robin and that's good enough for me."
"Also, I'm the most mentally stable Robin... which is actually saying something... something disturbing"
"The world's already got a Greatest Detective," he tells her, "but I'm much cuter. And I need to get ahold of Freya McAllister, she'd want to be involved. Also... I can't seem to find proper maps of the sewer system," he types into the keyboard some more, "I might have to request a copy at the hall of records."
Inwardly he groaned, and wouldn't that be a bitch, Not to mention meaning him having to set up a seperate identity for it. My only concern is that it could take days to get them that way."
"I can get those for you." Handy this making 'friends' with the Mayor. "It'll take at least day, but I can do it."
Gliding to his side, she set her hand on his gauntleted arm, trying to draw his gaze. "No questions." Only the slightest hint of a question entered her voice. He needed to trust her or this would never work.
"I met Spiderman before he went missing and he wasn't bad. Green as hell and clearly a bit new to this, but physically he was tough. It would take some one pretty strong to take him out and now that I've scratched you off my list of suspects, I've pretty much got nothing," he tells her. He doesn't feel guilty about her being on the list of suspects, everyone is a suspect at first.
"The good news is, I don't think he's dead," he explains, moving towards the bank of computers across the room. The door to the rooms he uses for day to day living are closed, he hopes it's enough to keep her attention on the task at hand. He punches his codes into the computer and brings up Spiderman's file. It's not very thick, a few pages on what he observed in the alley, a cross reference to the file on Freya and all the case notes for his disappearence.
Reply
What could she add that might be useful? Not much. "I saw a vamp-puppy take him down, but he was distracted. Whole lotta strength and some serious ow on those pups, but he had no trouble throwing it off or webbing away later. Serious heavy-hitters if the fight lasted that long.
"I've met a handful of people in the City who qualify: Drusilla and Spike, Loz, Kadaj and Yazoo, Cole and Crowley. Cole fights for the Light, and Crowley's not a fighter. And no, I didn't do it. But I could have, so good on you for not ruling me out."
She paced, trailing her hand along the wall of computers. Bats and info. The 'S' crowd never had that. They'd always relied on strength. And the Bats. "What makes you think he's not dead?"
Reply
"I know of The Brothers," he explains, "But I've never met the others, what can you tell me about them?"
"The girl was dead before the fight began, her body wasn't cold when the cops arrived. That backs up the witnesses that heard the fight lasting ten to twenty minutes. It also backs up the witnesses statements that the fight ended abruptly when the police showed up. Which means that Spiderman was still in a condition to fight when they stopped. The signs of struggle corroborate all of this.
I'm not sure what happened to Spiderman, but whoever did this, and it looks like it's more than one person, two from the evidence, left before they were actually finished. Which means this is a missing person's case and not a murder investigation. I like these better."
Reply
"I don't like any of it. Straightforward, beat the shit out of the enemy. That's me." She repressed a sigh at being dragged into the role of a cape again. An 'S' to a Bat. Power to his intellect. It burned.
Arms crossed over her chest, hands tucked in, she paced. "Two, not three. So far, I've never seen the Brothers separated except when one of them is with a sex partner." Leave him to figure out how she knew that. She wasn't about to come out and tell him she'd had sex with Loz. "Maybe two of the boys got into trouble without the other, but that doesn't seem as likely as Drusilla and Spike."
Come to a stop in front of him, she smiled, grim, almost feral. "Demons. Not sure what kind. No need for a motivation, either. They're demons."
Reply
"I just don't know what could have happened to him. it doesn't really make sense for him to go missing if his attackers had to flee. Except, superstrength...," he trails off, tapping on the keyboard and bringing up an image of the block where Spiderman's mask was found. A few more keys and it narrows in on the specific area the mask was found in.
Reply
"If there were weapons, you can rule out Spike and Drusilla. If I had to guess, I'd say they were succubi or something like that. They remind me of...someone I knew." No mentioning Mariah. She didn't want any links back to Bete Noire. Nothing that could lead a Bat to a son who wasn't dead but should be.
"Are you sure there were two?" She'd seen Loz's weapon - definitely an energy weapon. Looked like Violenz's and probably packed a wallop. No reason to think the brothers had been involved, other than that. Kadaj used a sword.
Then she listened, really listened to what Robin said. "Superstrength. Yeah. If it was me... If they managed to hurt me, I'd get away somewhere and hide until I healed."
Reply
"Anyone who fought Spiderman hand to hand clearly has superstrength. What if, in the course of the fight, SPiderman was thrown. To far for them to easily reach before the police got there. I'm looking for," he types a few more keys before stopping, "there it is," he says, pointing at the screen.
"Sewer entrance. He got thrown towards it and ducked inside in order to escape. No telling where he went from there. I can get maps of them but... it'll likely be a maze down there," he pauses, considering the screen, "I'll have to get in touch with Freya again. She'll want to come."
Reply
"There are a couple others I know who might have had something to do with this. There's a Lex Luthor clone or alterniverse Lex in the City. There's also Medusa, yes, the Medusa. Rogue Xavier is a meta with the ability to drain and use other metas powers."
A couple of her students had the attitude and maybe the firepower to get into something like this. But she had no interest in giving up Max, Tim, Emma or any of her other students without a reason. She might trust this little Bat as much as she trusted anyone, but giving up River, Max, Tim, Emma and Lily with no suspicion they'd done anything...just no. Little Bird could do his own homework. He'd not appreciate her spoonfeeding him anyway.
He'd started talking about the sewer system and that got her attention. "Listen. Last time I was down there I ran into about 200 hundred zombies, 4 vampires, a pack of wargs, and giant bats."
She didn't say 'I should go' because she couldn't stop him. But she wanted to. She really wanted to say 'Stay here and let me search. I'll call Duce and Anita and we can do this.'
He might be her Reason for being in Tropolis. But first and foremost, he was a Bat.
Reply
He blinks behind his lenses when she mentions finding all of that in the sewers, "You feel up to a trip in the sewer?" he asks. He knows his limits and seriously, 200 zombies? Met the requirements. He continues typing on the keyboard, pulling up another screen and typing, 'creatures in sewers, zombies, vampires, wargs, giant bats. Numerous. On par with level 10 meta'
Reply
Minotaur? Diana? She shook her head. No. She didn't want to get caught up with the capes. Didn't care. Didn't even want to know.
When he asked if she'd go with him, she breathed a sigh of relief. Well, almost. She suppressed it at the last second, crossing her arms over her chest and tucking her hands into her sleeves. "'Kay."
Reply
He smiles and returns to tapping on the keys, "Relax, I get that you don't see me and think I'm a kid that needs protecting. That's all I ever expect out of the older metas."
Reply
Then he smiled. The first time she'd ever seen him smile for real. His expectations were so low. And he was so much better than that.
"Robin, you're a hell of a lot more than 'a kid who doesn't need protecting'. You're good. Really good. And I'm not that much older than you."
Reply
"Also, I'm the most mentally stable Robin... which is actually saying something... something disturbing"
Reply
Running a hand through her hair, because she couldn't smoke and she wanted to, she smirked. "So, Greatest Detective, what's the plan?"
Yes. Yes it is.
Reply
Inwardly he groaned, and wouldn't that be a bitch, Not to mention meaning him having to set up a seperate identity for it. My only concern is that it could take days to get them that way."
Reply
"I can get those for you." Handy this making 'friends' with the Mayor. "It'll take at least day, but I can do it."
Gliding to his side, she set her hand on his gauntleted arm, trying to draw his gaze. "No questions." Only the slightest hint of a question entered her voice. He needed to trust her or this would never work.
Reply
Leave a comment