Rear Window [Finished]

[Deleted]

It had been the first night back at the Clocktower. The moment it had been returned to its former glory, Barbara had reveled in her return. She spent all night hooking up wires all across the flooring and through the walls. Setting up a digital monitor and her keyboard was something she could enjoy getting herself lost in. If anyone was around to talk to her about it, she was sure she could talk their ear off about all the new technology that went into it. She was a far way off from completing her task at hand, but at least she could say she made real progress. The morning sun had already begun bleeding through the clouds and stretching its rays across the sky, before she decided it was time to call it quits. She wheeled herself to what she would call her new bedroom, despite that she hadn’t even put a beanbag in there to sleep on. The cripple slowly exited her chair and dropped asleep on a pile of packing peanuts.

Two weeks had past, and Oracle was just about ready to settle herself down, still her room was empty, and she was just about ready to call the bagged peanuts her bed; though for several nights she had fallen asleep in her own wheelchair. It wasn’t uncommon, but she was happy to keep herself busy. Barbara seemed to actually enjoy it if you could believe that, starting from scratch, she was able to improve upon her last outline that she had minor issues with. One thing that she never had to worry about was the funding she was getting from Wayne Industries, not only for the space and the lights running, but the technology as well. The supercomputers were already in the building and the redhead had already build upon them to suit her own needs; it’s just this time she had taken them apart and fed them throughout the floorboards, so she would have more space to move around.

It was another three weeks that had passed, and Barbara had been detailing security, testing it with one of her long time friends. “Alright, go.” There was a sound like a spring trap being set off, stammering feet, and a thud. Crawling through her door, Barbara looked at the blonde blowing hair out of her face. “I think it’s pretty air tight. What do you think?” Dinah asked, trussed up with a titanium filament. “Works wonders. Here let me get that for you.” The cripple smiled and wheeled over to let her out. “Geez, pretty extreme; don’t you think? A little overboard if you ask me.” Dinah laughed as she squeezed out of the leftovers of the traps.

“It has to be. I’m not going to have another team of super crooks break into the Clocktower again.” Barbara explained trashing the mess of wires and locks. “What’s with all the black matte finishes?” Dinah asked feeling the surfaces of the counters and table tops. “Mirror Master can travel through any reflective surface. If it’s matted out, or dark, there’s no way he can enter.” Barbara said, feeling the sides of her wheelchair, as it too now had a matte finish. “Well, what about those?” Dinah asked pointing at Barbara’s face. “What? My glasses? I modified them to avoid reflecting light off--”

“No, I meant your eyes. He could probably get through there if he really wanted to break in.” Dinah said as Barbara crossed her arms, and looked to the side. “Well I guess I’m just doing the best that I can.”

“It’s good to finally see you; to think we’ve been working together for nearly a year and we’ve never met. If I had known about the Rogues, I would have been there...” Dinah explained.

“Like I said, I made it out alive. It wasn’t like the time I had government officials knocking at my door, but at least they weren’t as professional as them.”

“Listen, Oracle-…”

“Babs is fine, Dinah.”

“… Babs. I want to be here for you. I think I’m going to stay in Gotham for a while. Just to keep an eye on you.”

Barbara looked away and blushed. “Y-yeah. Thanks.”

---

Another three weeks had passed, and Barbara had settled in the Clocktower. It had been a grueling two months, but at least she was complete. The only things she had left were her modes of transportation. She had already began working on specs for the Aerie Two, the base, a helicopter, had been a gift from one of her good friends; a time traveling World War II Fighter Squadron named Zinda Blake. That had to be dealt with later. Oracle missed her late nights in the privacy of her own home to spend countless hours looking down on the city, a cup of espresso in one hand, a hot pocket in the other. Her glasses had been set up in a way to provide a hands-free experience, clicking, scrolling, and operating by simply looking at her holographic screen.

It was like flipping through channels of every day lives, a small segment. Looking through sonar wasn’t ideal, but at least she was able to see through walls, in the dark, identify electronics. It was the same technology she used as Batgirl, she was able to isolate aggressive or armed assailants.

Someone getting dressed here, someone is getting ready to start their day, hobos looking for shelter off the streets, and a family having breakfast. Clark Kent was in town asking questions for a story no doubt, and it seemed like Harvey “Two-Face” Dent was meeting up with Selina Kyle. Captain Cold and Weather Wizard was still in Gotham, it didn’t please her but they didn’t seem like they were up to no good. It looked as if they were just verbally fighting in their warehouse. Up in Amusement Mile, behind an enormous wall that was under construction, it looked like Lobo was about to get into a fight with the Joker.

Tired eyes and scanned the city, until something caught her eye. “Oh shit.” She whispered as she zoomed in on her subject. Two bodies had been dismembered and decapitated, writing on the walls in possibly their blood. It had to have just happened upon further inspection, but there was only so much that she could do. She needed help.

Oracle sent a distress beacon out to contact anyone who was available to help her out. She only needed to wait for a response.

[Deleted]

well Halloween was fun while it lasted now it was time to get  the work boots back on and get back to work
 Frankly it had been a very slow day that was until she head what seemed to be the sound of a distress beacon. She tried honing in on the signal. "Hello? This is detective Naomi of the Gotham Police Department. I'm receiving your signal pleas respond over.

[Deleted]

The response came in, it was quick, it was short, and it was fast. To the point, just the way she liked it. Oracle began typing and an automated voice read what she typed to respond to the officer, in order to keep herself anonymous.

Trouble: 187, Double Homicide.

Location: Gotham Central, Westfork Building, 12th floor, Room 1505.

Need CSI.

End Transmission 

Oracle clicked the phone call dead, and returned back to her own investigation. Whatever killed them, it seemed like they didn't want anyone to find out who they were, cutting all loose ends that would lead them back to the killer, yet they were on display, writings on the wall in blood as if they wanted the bodies to be found. 

The hacker scanned the building, she scanned every singe person, got a positive ID on everyone, it seemed as if they were oblivious to the gruesome murder that had happened. Was it possible that the murder was for her to find? Barbara scanned the writing once more to see what it said. 

"You are not safe"

[Deleted]

The Batmobile raced through Gotham's streets just as the sun was beginning to peek out over it's many skyscrapers. The hour of dawn was near at hand - and thus the shadowy protector's patrols had concluded. It had been one of his more silent patrols compared to the others. It was almost suspicious how little the police radio had buzzed the entire night to the point where he felt on edge. Just waiting for that transmission to reach him reporting one of his more dangerous rogues on the run just as he was getting ready to hang up the cowl.

Batman had rarely noticed the small beeping light on the console of the Batmobile over the roar of it's engine. He released one hand from the steering wheel to press a button - revealing the message that Oracle had just sent to one of the GCPD's officers and the reason behind the small distress light blinking in the Batmobile. His hand shifted from the button to the side of his cowl as he pressed a small button to activate his comm link.  "I'm en route to your coordinates now, Oracle" He informed her, his voice as stern as ever as he boosted the power of the Batmobile's engine. 

He had swiftly arrived to the building, dancing from shadow to shadow as he moved throughout. The dark figure almost like a ghost as he crept closer and closer to the scene of the crime. The number of the door indicated that this was the exact room that Oracle had found the bodies in - and it was no surprise that it was left unlocked. A chill blew in from a window, white curtains flailing in it's grasp as the cold white eyes stared angrily at the scene in front of him. Two bodies belonging to innocent people murdered in cold blood. The Dark Knight hovered over the pair, examining their tragic state for but a few moments before continuing his investigation.

"Oracle - I'm at the scene." He quickly called into his comm, almost breathless in his reply as his eyes had fallen to something else. A lone picture sat on the ground with the glass cracked and smeared with the blood from one of the two bodies. He kneeled down to place a hand on top of it and proceeded to wipe the crimson red stain from the class to reveal the picture hidden underneath. The picture that showed a man - likely one of the two bodies in front of him with a small girl that he almost knew was the man's daughter from the likeness. He couldn't help but feel the fire, the rage rise up from within as his other hand rolled tight into his fists. His lips pulled taught and his eyes narrowed as he relieved his hand from it's position on the picture to examine the rest of the crime scene.

[Deleted]

    The cool, Fall air whipped against Tim's face as he raced down the streets. He has just been settling down to bed after a patrol with Bruce (who decided to stay out a bit longer), when he received an emergency beacon from Oracle. Normally, he would've just ignored the call, besides, Bruce was out and could probably handle it. But something about this call just felt... wrong. Tim had learned to trust his intuition, and it was telling him now that something was very wrong. He had ran straight back into the cave, pulled on his suit, and raced out.

    So that brought us to now. Tim had locked onto Bruce's homing beacon, and was moving at blistering speed towards the location. When he was about a mile away from the scene, he ditched his motorcycle in a nearby alley. He fired his grapnel accelerator at a nearby building and shot through the air. He spread his cape out and started to glide through the sky. He turned, the wind rippling through his cape as he targeted the building. He leaned forward and closed his cape, dive bombing at the crime scene before opening his cape quickly and slowly dropping to the ground.

    Tim slowly and silently stepped towards the door and opened it, walking in. He didn't say anything to Batman, but he was sure Bruce knew he was there. Tim looked across the ground, and the sight of the decapitated bodies made his stomach churn. He had seen a lot worse, but you could never really get used to seeing stuff like that. Unless you were Bruce, of course. He held up his arm and began to type a message to Oracle on his gauntlet.

Red Breast arriving at scene

    Tim cleared his voice, and turned towards Bruce.

    "No rest for heroes, I guess. What've you found?" Tim said as he crouched down next to the bodies and began to examine them.

[Deleted]

Okay, thank God Bruce got there first. A great sigh of relief escaped Barbara, a huge part of her was thankful that the World's Greatest Detective was on the job. She could always count on Bruce not to step on valuable evidence like most of the cops in the GCPD end up doing; they were messy, they didn't care as much. Oracle tapped into Batman's cowl and proceeded scan the visuals. It was grusome, nothing that she hasn't seen before, yet still it never stopped to amaze her just what kind of person was capable of doing this. Oracle brought up the layout of the building, records of its history, news paper clippings, documents, she hacked into Westfork's mainframe, and soon she was in control of the entire grid. She found the architech who designed it, workers, their records. She was trying to find a link.

Quickly getting a positive ID on the man and girl in the picture, she switched to the comlink in Batman's cowl.

"Bruce, it looks like the man in the picture is Gregory Shuster. Cartoonist, came from an immigrant family looking for the home of the free, he's a baby boomer. His wife died of cancer three years ago, and-... uh.. oh Robin just joined you, huh? Let me patch him in as well." Oracle said stopping to type mid-sentence to check the text she recieved from Tim.

"As I was saying, dead wife, of cancer. He was trying to keep money flowing by giving up everything that he had to keep her alive, but in the end it just wasn't enough. He ended up turning to several high time criminal organizations for some extra cash to keep his daughter... wait-..." Oracle stopped again and brought up several more files. "Jesus... he has two daughters. He didn't have the money to support his kids. Look.. before we start jumping the gun, make sure there's a positive ID on both of those bodies. Try and figure out what that message on the wall means. Is he talking to a remaining victim? Or is he promising Gotham he plans to kill more?"

[Deleted]

Naomi manged to turn a corner to where the the crime scene was. Just in time to see a mysterous set of figures.

"Hey this is a crime scene you can't just..."

She stopped mid sentence when she saw the pointed Cape and Cowl.

"Batman..."

She found her body tensing up and found herself readying for a encounter

"What are you doing here?"

She then looked over at she looked at the bodies and steeped closer but did so in a way not to ruin the evidence. the bodies look brutaled and bloodied and scared she decided to use one of her magical powers gentle touching the neck of the body pretending to look for a pulse but while her hand was on his neck, she was able to learn a lot about him.

Gregory Shuster. Cartoonist, came from an immigrant family looking for the home of the free, baby boomer. His wife died of cancer three years ago.

" I know this man." Naomi said softly "He used to come down to the station. I used to hand his youngest suckers. Blast it Greg what kind of trouble did you get in to."

[Deleted]

Oh boy. Someone from MCU, wait... no not anyone. Naomi. Shit. This cop was trashing Batman for nearly an hour straight last night. Hopefully her father was on the way, she needed to get that cop away from the crime scene that Batman had already set up with Robin, she was already touching the bodies, that Bruce didn't have a chance to take a look at. This was a delicate situation, and it needed to be handled properly.

Speed dialing her father's number, he picked up nearly instantly.

"Hey daddy, it's Babs. I was looking into reinovating a building for Mr. Wayne when I found a... disturbing scene. It looks pretty serious, dad, I hear The Batman is there."

Thank you Alfred, for your thespian skills in acting class.

[Deleted]

Commissioner James Gordon of the GCPD received the message from his daughter, Barbara. The Commissioner lowered his phone and dialed the number of the Captain of the Gotham City homicide division. Captain Prescott. Gordon heard the phone ring twice, before being picked up. "Prescott" Gordon paused for a moment before starting to speak. "Captain Prescott, this is Commissioner Gordon. I need to know if there has been any activity for the homicide squad today. My daughter just mentioned something about a gruesome homicide. What can you tell me?" Gordon took a breath, waiting for an answer. "Well Commissioner, we have a double homicide being investigated in Central Gotham. Bodies have been horribly mutilated. Hell, we just got wind of it a few minutes ago. Might not be a bad idea to check it out." A silence took place. Gordon thinking over what happened. His daughter must believe it is important, if the Batman was there. Although it felt like the event just happened. Perhaps it was in the news, Gordon would never really know. "Thanks for the assistance Captain, I appreciate it." Gordon then said his goodbyes, slipping his phone back into his jacket pocket. The man then stood up his his chair and left his office. 

He quickly traveled down the stairs and to the parking garage. There is where he entered his vehicle, he would turn on the police scanner. "11-44 on Hammond and West Ninth." That's all the information that the commissioner needed to know. That is when he turned on his siren and started going towards the crime scene. It must be a pretty bad one, if the Batman was there. He'd have to get there as quickly as possible. It was a rare occasion, when the Commissioner used his siren. Today was one of those days. He'd have to see it for himself. He'd lead the GCPD and help Batman anyway he could. Hopefully the Dark Knight wouldn't mind his presence too much. 

After about ten minutes, the Commissioner arrived. Parking his car, turning off the engine and exiting. He saw Batman, and even Robin. It must be important. He stepped under the tape, walking towards Batman and Robin and the GCPD officers. "What's going on here? Who are the leads on this case?"

[Deleted]

The crime scene was a horror show all it's own.

Blood littered the floor and objects had been overturned in an obvious sign of struggle. Almost instantly his mind began putting the pieces together - replaying any and every outcome in his mind as he looked about the crime scene. The bodies seemed unfairly small, too small in fact for one of them to match a Gregory Shuster. His fists clenched tighter and tighter as he stared down at the corpses. Realization had finally hit him in perhaps one of the worst ways possible.

These were the bodies of his daughters.

Innocent children who had a life in front of them murdered in cold blood. He could barely contain his rage at the discovery. What kind of sick monster did you have to be to mutilate children of all things? What would have driven someone to take the lives of two innocent, young girls with many a future ahead of them? Questions raced throughout the detective's head with little to answer them. He just stood silent - barely even taking notice of his protege approaching behind him in an attempt to drive his full focus towards the information being fed to them by Oracle. 

When she had concluded, he went back to his work. Carefully kneeling down beside the corpse of what was likely his youngest and pulling the DNA analysis kit from his belt. Quickly he went to work, taking a sample of the corpse's finger prints and sliding it into a small console on his gauntlet. A small screen loaded millions of results right before his eyes and sure enough - the body had belonged to the daughter. Turning back to look at his protege with a grim expression, his head tilting downwards ever so slightly as he cleared his throat to speak.

"Two corpses, multiple stab wounds, decapitation, and worst of all. They were children, Robin." He informed the young boy beside him. "How truly corrupt does someone have to be to do this to children?" He expressed with a sigh, locking the DNA kit back into his belt and pressing into the side of his cowl. "Oracle - none of the bodies are a match with Gregory Shuster. Only his two daughters" He informed her. "See if you can find anything, any connections, suspects, anything we can get is one step closer to bringing this sick murderer to justice. Batman out." Lifting the button from his cowl just in time to sense footsteps coming in the doorway - he turned to face an unfamiliar individual.

An unfamiliar individual who had almost instantly started to tamper with his crime scene.

He let out a low growl as his cape draped over his shoulders, eyes narrowing at the female as she proceeded to touch the corpse as if she was looking for a corpse. "She's dead." He informed her gruffly with the assistance of the voice modulator. "Now who are you? My patience is wearing thin tonight."

[Deleted]

    Tim squinted at the body in front of him. Jesus Christ... He thought. She couldn't have been much younger than he was. He began to focus as Oracle's voice sounded through the comm in his ear.

    "He ended up turning to several high time criminal organizations for some extra cash to keep his daughter," Oracle said.

    "Mistake numero one," Robin muttered under his breath.

    "Try and figure out what that message on the wall means. Is he talking to a remaining victim? Or is he promising Gotham he plans to kill more?" Oracle said.

    "Got it. We'll let you know when we find something substantial. And Babs, you're sure the Clocktower is secure? Just in case this is more than just a homicide. Stay safe, and don't hesitate to call if something feels wrong. Robin out." Tim responded before tapping a button on his gauntlet to disconnect from the line. He stood up as Batman continued on examining the bodies and focused his efforts on the message, attempting to decipher its meaning.

    "Two corpses, multiple stab wounds, decapitation, and worst of all. They were children, Robin. How truly corrupt does someone have to be to do this to children?" Batman said with a sigh.

    Tim shuddered. His mind immediately jumped to his predecessor, Jason Todd, who had been beaten to death by the Joker when he was not much older than Tim. Robin quickly changed the subject.

    "So what could this message be? As I see it we have a couple possibilites here. First, whatever 'High Crime agency he had been borrowing money from, may have come back to collect, and he didn't have the money, so they killed his daughters and the message is for him. But that seems too... predictable. Maybe the father couldn't support them anymore, and killed them? But why would he mutilate them so badly? And who would the message be to? And the last idea I have... maybe the identities don't matter. Maybe it was a message for us, or Oracle. I mean, if someone was trying to get a message across why would they put people in a room that doesn't see much traffic, unless they planned for someone like Oracle, or Superman to see it? (Oh, and remind me to ask Oracle if she can see everywhere in Gotham with that sonar, even the manor, because if she can I have some severe privacy concerns.)" Tim said before tapping his gauntlet again to speak to Oracle. "Oracle, see if you can do a search for similar past crimes, maybe from someone we, or even Batgirl, eventually incarcerated."

    Tim then quieted down as Bruce relayed another message to Oracle. Both crimefighters turned on their heels at the same moment to look at the cop behind them. Great. Tim thought, they're here already.

    "I used to hand his youngest suckers." The cop said.

    "Well, you won't be doing that anymore." Tim said, before quieting down and letting Batman handle the situation. It wasn't like a little fifteen year old in red spandex could intimidate a cop off the scene of a crime. Robin looked behind her and out the door. They had already set up a crime scene, tape and everything. Damn they work fast. His hopes raised a little bit as he saw another cop walking towards them, but not any cop, it was the Commisioner. Maybe with his help they could get the last bit of evidence they needed before the rest of the rookies and media trashed the place.

[Deleted]

Barbara was getting to work fast; she wasn’t sure how much time there was left. Already, she was deducing possibilities in her head, as more information on Gregory came up. It worried her that both of the victims were children. She patched a private line to Robin, just to preserve Batman.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine… Tim, listen… I don’t want to say that Bruce has a blindspot, but just watch out for him on this case, okay? He can get… emotional when a case involves children. Be sensitive with him, and no matter what, keep his head in the game. He needs you now more than ever.”

Oracle pulled up every possible suspect that Gregory had. Warren White, the Italians, the Russians, the Ukrainians, just what the hell did this guy get himself into?

“Okay Bruce,” Oracle said patching into both comlinks now, “if you’re certain that those are the bodies of his girls then we can be sure that the message is for Gregory. The Westfork building is too high end and out of his reach to afford a room. Whoever took his girls here knew he wouldn’t be able to find them here. They wanted us to find them.”

Sharing the information on all the mobs he went to wouldn’t help, as more records show, none of them even gave him any money to begin with. So where did he find the cash to keep his wife alive for so long? She had been battling lung cancer for five years before she died. He picked a bone with someone. It was like an unwinding thread and every half inch, it was a different color. It was possible to find some other evidence in the room.

“See if you can find out how the girls were decapitated. The type of weapon and where will narrow down my search.”

[Deleted]

Naomi's fist started to clench into a ball and her eyes started to glow. This was the kind of thing that enraged Naomi and it was these types of situations that would lead her more likely to make her oni out. Obviously she could not get too much closer or else there was a possibility that the ctime scene would be compromised. This was a case of where she'd have to rely on some of her super powers to maybe pick up something others might of missed. the ine thing she did note is that it looked to her like there was not just stab wounds but small slash marks as well. and something about it seemed very familiar.

"I can tell you what this reminds me of, but I'm not sure how well it actually sticks. If I'm right, I think there is someone out there that does not think Halloween is over. I think someone fancies himself as a Freddy Kruger copycat. can anyone look around and find something that resembles a razor glove?  

[Deleted]

"The message is a warning, Robin. A warning we can't take lightly by any means. The killer could still be on the loose." He answered his protege, his cape naturally flowing over his shoulders as he marched towards it. Narrowed eyes stared intently at the dried crimson message with every intent of solving it - the children would receive the justice they deserved. Each time a case like this had come up Bruce was always one to find himself walking that thin line. He would not kill but there was almost far too many times he wanted to consider it. It disgusted him to think anyone was capable of taking the life of a child. Children were naive, innocent, they were the embodiment of purity at it's best.

So what was the motive behind such an unjust action?

Although he was not making much contact with his protege, the words spoken from the young boy's mouth did not go ignored. There were several reasons behind a homicide and he had listed several - but it was still too early in the investigation to narrow it down to one. As far as they were aware anything was possible. But he just couldn't, wouldn't imagine the man holding the baby in the broken picture being capable of mutilating his children to this extent. There was far too much pleasure in the man's eyes in the picture, too much contentment with the small girl to ever make Batman deem him a killer.

But he had to remember that even the sanest people were capable of the scariest things. He'd seen that far too much in his years of the Batman. Hearing Oracle assure them both that it couldn't be the father made the assumption much easier. Given Shuster's track record Bruce was almost certain this was the work of one of his criminal affiliations. Of which whom he would dedicate his every last breath to bringing down for the murder of two young girls.

Upon hearing the Oracle's words, he turned around and almost instantly switched the lenses in the cowl allowing him to investigate the scene further. He would be able to catch things hidden from the average open eye - and it wasn't long before he did. Small drops of blood of which had likely fallen from a blade or weapon laid deep within the hotel room's carpet but thankfully not deep enough for his detective lenses to ignore. He trailed the small path to the closet which he had shamefully neglected to search in the first place. 

He pried open the doors with little effort - to find exactly what Oracle wanted him to. In a clever attempt to hide the weapon, it seemed as though the killer had tried to bury it in clothing of which the Batman proceeded to dig through. Pulling a bloodied kukri from the pile - Batman held it up to his face as he examined it. The exact weapon used by the sick monster who had decided to take the lives of these little girls was now in his grasp. "Oracle, I've found the weapon - a kukri knife about forty five inches in length, ritualistic engravings on the handle. See what you can find."

Hearing a remark from the cop, Batman turned back to her with a glare. She had stated this might be the work of some "Freddy Kruger copycat" and almost instantly rage boiled from within his whitened eyes. "Is this some sort of joke to you, officer?" He snarled to the officer, fists balling up as he abruptly turned towards her - the man beneath the cowl almost absence in his sense as the shadowy legend stood before her with narrowed eyes.

[Deleted]

    A tone rang through Tim's ear indicating a new line opening on the comms.

    “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine… Tim, listen… I don’t want to say that Bruce has a blindspot, but just watch out for him on this case, okay? He can get… emotional when a case involves children. Be sensitive with him, and no matter what, keep his head in the game. He needs you now more than ever.” Oracle said to him softly.

    "Alright, Oracle. I'll do what I can. But if he starts to go over the edge... I don't know if I can stop him." Tim said in a hushed tone, so Bruce couldn't hear him.

    "The message is a warning, Robin. A warning we can't take lightly by any means. The killer could still be on the loose." Bruce said briskly. Tim was a bit taken back by the harshness of the tone, but he knew how Bruce was with children.

    "It'll be all right, Batman. We'll find this guy, and we'll make sure he pays and gets put away forever." Tim said in a soft, yet sharp, tough love kind of tone. Tim watched as Bruce pulled the dagger from the closet. It wasn't normal, why would there be a mob homicide with a ritualistic knife? Robin relayed his though to his mentor.

    "If the message was just to threaten or scare Greg, why use a ritualistic knife. Maybe the hired someone to do the deed, or did he mess with a group that wasn't actually just high crime? Maybe he stumbled onto some cult or something. I don't know." Tim said with a sigh.

    Tim had been ignoring what the cops were saying, as long as they weren't picking a fight or completely ruining everything. It seemed Bruce was too, but then he heard a cop say something he knew Bruce wouldn't leave alone.

"Is this some sort of joke to you, officer?" Bruce growled, taking a step towards the officer. Tim quickly took two steps toward his mentor and grabbed his cape-covered shoulder.

    "Batman. Calm down. She was just trying to make a reference so people would know what kind of weapon we were looking for. This killer is enough, no need to make enemies."