{She just disappeared? This is not like her. There was no other message from her over the radio?} Jiaoshu asked as Cheng and Manchu stood at attention in the meeting room.

{No, sir. As we said, there was a loud crash followed by Xiaohu telling us to abort the mission. We lost contact with her after that. We knew something wasn't right; so I sent Manchu down to investigate.}

Manchu picked up the story from there. {Both women were no longer in the room. There was glass everywhere from a display case. I checked the safe and Xiaohu's explosives were all set and ready. Uncertain why she called an abort, I took the explosives off,} he said, pointing to the pile of devices that now sat on the table.

Jiaoshu's eyebrows knitted together in confused anger. This was completely unlike the girl. {And Feng?}

{There's been no sign of her, either, Jiaoshu,} Cheng said.

{Jiaoshu!} Li Mei said, hurrying into the room. She bowed in apology at interrupting his meeting. {On the news. The museum ball! One of those costumed people was robbing it tonight and there was an explosion.}

{Who? Who was robbing it?}

Li Mei shook her head. {They did not say for certain. It's all interviews with those who were attending. Nothing but a lot of noise.}

{I will give the girl until tomorrow to show. You two go get what rest you can. I must inform the Elders of this immediately.} Jiaoshu swept out of the room, leaving the three to stare after him.

{Do you think she ran away?} Li Mei asked her voice filled with worry.

Glancing at Cheng, Manchu shook his head. {You know she would never do that. Something must have happened to make her run. And I have a feeling I know what that thing was.}

~ ~ ~


At the same time Jiaoshu was contacting the Jade Tiger Elders, the Riddler's car was pulling into the garage of a warehouse. He had remained silent through the ride, eyeing the unwelcome passenger with wariness. He appreciated the help in getting away from Batman, but he had not expected the person to follow. Now and again the green eyes flicked to check on him before staring forward once more. Once he had regained enough of his senses in the car, he realized the figure in black was a woman. It would have been almost impossible to tell by the way she handled him as she checked his eyes and face for injury.

Forcing his door open, the Riddler pulled himself stiffly out of the car. The girl rose as gracefully as if she were wearing a fine gown. He stared at her over the roof of the car for a minute before slamming his door.

"There's only one bag of loot, boss," the tallest man said.

"Yes, thank you for pointing that out to me, Trigger. I seem to have forgotten how to count to one!" he snarled, shoving his way past the man.

Meaty hands gripped Dee's arms, pinning them to her side. She didn't fight, feeling no real threat from the man who had grabbed her.

"What you want we should do with her, Mr. Nigma?"

"Put her in a room for now. I'll deal with her later," he said, waving a hand over his shoulder as he headed into the hideout.

Trigger shrugged at the other. "Ok, girlie. Let's go put you away for the boss."

Between the two of them, they lifted her feet off the floor as if she weighed nothing and carried her to a closed door. Opening it, the one who had grabbed her first gave her a rough shove. The door slammed shut and she heard the lock tumble into place.

Dee looked around at her surroundings and found herself in a storage room. Pulling out her lock pick kit, she tried opening the door. For an hour she tried before she gave up. Never had she experienced such a difficult lock! Deciding it might be best if she waited till they let her out, she decided to get some rest. From her backpack, Dee pulled out a snack of a steamed bun and a bottle of water. Eating, she felt somewhat better for the moment. Pulling her hood back into place for warmth, she made herself comfortable on the couch and fell asleep.