Okay, so this is Chapter Two. It's written and posted sooner than I thought. Schools been quite slow recently, so I've taken the peace as a chance to get on with some much needed writing.
This chapter is a little slow and I'm not too sure if I'm happy with it or not, so please review so I know if it's still good to read. And thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Chapter Two:
"The Batman?" Steph asked incredulously. "What kind of question is that? Everyone this side of America has heard of him."
"That's good," Dick said nodding, "but what do you know about him?"
Steph frowned. She glanced at the others, who were staring at her intently, waiting for her response. She suddenly felt like she was being put on the spot. "Um, he's Gotham's worst serial killer since the Joker. Nobody knows exactly who he is, or even if it is a he, or even if it is just one person. The Gotham Gazette came up with the name Batman and I guess it just stuck. Now everyone calls him that…her that…it that?" Steph turned back to Dick. "That's all I know."
"Dick sighed. "Well, it's a start."
"You can't expect her to know everything, Dick." Tim said. "The GCPD's done a good job of keeping everything undisclosed."
"Small words, Timmy." Jason reprimanded softly, poking Tim in the ribs. Tim blushed and swatted Jason's arm playfully. The older man just grinned.
Steph stared at them both; her brain trying to figure out what is was about them that she kept stumbling on. She must have been staring two seconds too long though as Jason looked up at her, the prefect picture of innocence. "Yes?" He asked, as if daring her to speak her mind.
"Nothing." Steph flustered, turning back to Dick and straightening her thoughts. "So, is this what you do? Is this what the team was created for? To catch the Batman?"
"No," Dick said, shaking his head, "when I first put forward the idea to form a team I wanted to be able to deal with things that the rest of the force would have trouble with. I thought it would make life in Gotham for the GCPD a lot easier if there was a specific group that could deal with the weird and whacky while they dealt with the usual stuff. But the head office has been putting a lot of pressure on the Commissioner to bring the Batman in and he decided to assign the case to us."
"Well, that's great!" Steph said, nodding enthusiastically. "Having a little team to remove that scumbag from Gotham streets? I'm all for it. But why do you want me to be part of it? I'm just a Rookie."
"Pure chance." Cass stated from beside her. "I was offered a partner and I offered my partner to the Captain as a new member for this team."
"Well, thanks," Steph mumbled, feeling slightly defeated, "but do I even get a choice in this?"
"Of course!" Dick said, moving around the desk to stand in front of her. "You can back out anytime you want. Even if you join us now and decide in a week or a months time that you want out then you're free to leave. You'll be a regular Rookie and Cass will still be your partner, but…" He looked around the room and spread his arms out wide, "this is all that this team is. I read your file. You're going to be a great cop, a fantastic one, and this team could really use the help."
Steph sighed. Dick definitely wasn't wrong on that last part. So far this Batman hunting team comprised of two actual police officers, one ex-detective, a computer nerd and a child who got them coffee. They were going to need all the help that they could get. She couldn't turn them down now that they had asked her. "Alright, I'll help. But you're going to have to give me everything that you know about the Batman or I'm going to be so far behind that I'll be no help at all."
"That's great!" Dick smiled; all pearly teeth and crinkled eyes. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Steph, pulling her into a strong hug. Cass coughed loudly and Dick immediately let go, stepping back a foot. "Sorry." He apologised, smiling cheekily as Cass shook her head and Jason and Tim sniggered.
"Don't worry about it." Steph said as she straightened her uniform where it had crinkled.
"The Captain likes to hug people." Jason explained. "Cass it trying to train him out of it, but it isn't working too well."
Dick ignored Jason in favour of walking to the bookcase. He bent down and retrieved a box full of case files. He placed it on the desk, balancing it on top of several other case files and a picture frame. "These are all the case files that the GCPD has got concerning the Batman. There's about seven years worth here, but the Batman appeared in Gotham ten years ago so I've got a couple of people looking for the missing files on his very first murders."
"For seven years worth there doesn't seem to be very much." Steph noted. "And even with the missing case files, are you sure you have enough evidence to catch him?"
"Hey, have some faith. We were only given this case a couple of weeks ago."
"Look, " Jason yawned, standing up and stretching, "we've done introductions, we've got a newbie for the team, now why don't we all go our separate ways and let Steph look over those case files. We can meet up again on Thursday evening and do a couple of brainstorms." He held a hand out to Tim who gratefully took it and pulled himself up. "That sound like a plan?"
"Alright." Dick said, moving to sit in his desk chair. "I'll make a couple of calls and see if we can speed things along in finding those missing cases."
Jason walked over to the desk and picked up the box of case files, shifting them in his arms so that he had a more secure grip. "Come on; I'll take this down to your car for you."
Although Steph had planned on celebrating getting her new job with a bottle of champagne, lots of chocolate and a night in front of the TV, she actually found herself sprawled out on her living room floor amongst a mass of case files. She sighed as she stretched to pick up her third file and slowly opened the front page. The first two had been…unpleasant to read through. Steph had known that the Batman had a serious reputation for mutilating and torturing his victims but she had never actually seen an image of what he had done. Several times she had to resist the urge to throw up as she sifted through evidence photos. There was no point in trying to take the easy way out now. Soon she'd have to see these murders first hand and she didn't want to seem like she couldn't handle it in front of the others.
A light knocking from her front door had Steph silently singing praises at the distraction. She chucked the folder down and made her way through the hallway to the front door. When she opened it she was surprised to see Tim waiting outside.
"Hi." He greeted shyly, dancing from foot to foot as if he wasn't sure whether he should have come by or not.
"Hey." Steph greeted back, not sure what else to say.
"Um, I hope I'm not being too rude by coming here. I found your address on the database and, well, Jason is out of town for the night, so I was home alone and thought that maybe you might want a hand with those case files? I know some of them aren't very nice and lots of the facts can be confusing, so I could clarify things for you. If not, then I'll leave you to it."
"No, that'd be great. Come on in." Steph stepped aside and let Tim pass through.
"Nice place. No way could you afford this on a Rookie's salary, though." Tim smiled at her before realising what he had just said and dropping his gaze. "Sorry. God, that was so rude of me. Forget I said it."
"That's okay." Steph said, placing a hand on Tim's shoulder to get him to look back up. She smiled at the slight blush that had spread down his neck. "This is actually my Mum's house. She's on holiday in England with some friends and let me crash here until I find a place of my own." Steph paused. "Can I ask you something? It's a little personal, but it's been bugging me all day."
"Sure." Tim nodded, following Steph as she walked back into the living room. "What do you want to know?"
"You and Jason; are you…?"
"Gay?" Tim added in helpfully.
"Actually I was going to say dating, but I guess that kind of answers my question too."
Tim laughed; all light and breathy. "Well, yeah, Jason and I are a thing. We're engaged." He lifted his left hand and showed Steph the gold band that wrapped around his ring finger.
"Oh, wow!" Steph said, taking his hand to get a better look and bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Congratulations!"
"Thanks." Tim retracted his hand and looked down at the papers scattered across the floor. "How far have you got?"
Steph sighed. "Just finished reading about the Mackenzie Murder."
Tim grimaced. "That was a really gruesome one. I still think about it sometimes."
"You were there?" Steph asked, pulling him over to the sofa so they could sit down.
"Yeah, it was my first case with the GCPD. They called me in to look at what some officer thought was a coded message on the wall by the body. Turned out to be nothing but scribble from rival gangs in downtown Gotham." Tim picked up the file and began to flick through it. "None of what I did was ever written up, though. The officer in charge thought that because it had nothing to do with the case it was a waste of time writing it in. That was back when the corruption within the GCPD was still high."
"Why did you decide to work at the GCPD then?"
"I didn't really have much of a choice. I've always been good at computers and when my family's company crashed and was taken over by Wayne Industries I had no where left to go when I left school; so I thought I'd try and help people out by working with the police force." Tim explained.
"Wait, your family's company?"
"Drake Industries." Tim smiled.
"Drake…oh, so your Tim Drake?" Steph said, the realisation dawning on her.
"The one and only."
"God, I'm so sorry about your parents. I read what happened in the newspaper." Steph winced. Tim's face fell from smiling to stone cold. Maybe she shouldn't have brought that up.
"Thanks, but I don't like talking about it."
"No, of course not. So, um, case files?"
