Alex knows – at least in principle – how to find a car using its anti-theft tracking system, but he's never had to do it before. It involves hacking the police database, finding the tracking signal for the particular car, and switching on the beacon without letting the cops know about it. He could report two people missing and their car stolen, but he wants to keep the police out of this if he can. Calling them would make things easier in the short run but really, really complicated in the long run, for various reasons.
His solution, in the manner of most computer programs, is complicated in the short run but a lot simpler in the long run. It's more complicated than he thought it would be, though. The GCPD have very good electronic security, almost as good as the stuff he makes for Natalie. Most police departments aren't so well-equipped.
He's just resigned himself to a lot of sweat and code-slogging when the computer chimes at him. A phone call. Alex wasn't expecting one, and in this situation that makes him think of all sorts of nasty possibilities. He licks his suddenly dry lips and reaches for the appropriate button like he's afraid it's going to bite him.
A window pops up in the lower left-hand corner of the large screen in front of him, showing him the caller from the shoulders up. Or at least it should, but all he can see is static. He waits, just in case it's a wrong number. Then a female voice, almost obscured by the electronic buzz of distortion, comes out of the computer speakers. "Alex?"
"Melanie?" Alex says in a disbelieving near-whisper.
"It's me, Alex," she says, her voice scratchy but clearly recognizable. "I don't have long before they find out I'm not in the truck I crashed. I'm near the old factory district…"
Alex has a some questions buzzing around in his head – What happened? How did you get away? Where's Natalie? What is this about a crashed truck? – but he knows that the most important thing right now is to make sure Melanie will be safe. "I'm tracking your signal," he says, standing up from his chair. "Kitsune and Batman are looking for you. I'll tell them to pick you up…"
"No. I don't want anybody to pick me up," Melanie says.
Alex has trouble absorbing this statement. The Melanie he knows – though admittedly he doesn't know her all that well – is quiet, reserved and always does what she's asked without question. This really throws him. "Okay…what do you want?" he asks.
"My suit," she says evenly. "I know I'm not supposed to use it yet, but I can't just sit while Natalie's still in there."
Alex takes a deep breath. "Melanie," he says, trying to sound as rational as possible, "You don't need to do this. I'm sure she'd want you to come back."
"She wants to be rescued," Melanie insists with an edge in her voice, "And I should be going in there to help do it. I got out of the place and I can show Kitsune and Batman how to get in. I know it's against the rules but…please let me." By the end of her speech she sounds rational again but not, he notices, pleading. She might very well go back in whether he gives her the suit or not - he's not sure just how far Melanie's stubbornness will let her go, but he doesn't want to risk it. And, he thinks, she does know where Natalie is, so maybe letting her have her way isn't such a bad idea after all. He just hopes she won't get herself killed and he won't get in trouble.
The computer has finished tracking her signal, and the coordinates are now displayed on a smaller window next to the one showing her face. With a resigned sigh he stands up from his chair. "All right. I'm going to tell the others where you are. Just please don't make me regret this."
~***~
Terry wishes they were going somewhere, on their way to their next objective, but the two of them are just flying around on one of his patrol routes while they wait for Wayne or Alex to tell them where to find Natalie's car. Kitsune is in the cockpit of the Batmobile, sitting on the padded semicircular bench behind the pilot's seat – her hoverboard is, for the time being, magnetically attached to the underside of the Batmobile.
"Jesus," she exclaims as he whips around a turn. "Could you slow down a little? It's not like we're chasing anybody right now."
He can hear Wayne chuckling over the transmitter. Although Terry wants to respond with some appropriately sarcastic comment, he bites his tongue, slows down to something approaching a sensible speed and starts taking his turns more smoothly. "Sorry," he says. "I'm not used to passengers."
"You mean you're not used to people who don't have titanium stomachs," she says. Wayne seems to be having trouble keeping himself from breaking into laughter.
Terry manages to get out a syllable of his reply before Kitsune interrupts him. "Hold on," she says seriously. Terry waits for a few seconds. Then Kitsune leans forward, supporting herself against the back of his pilot's chair, with her face next to his so he can see it out the corner of his eye. "Alex found Melanie," she tells him. "She got out. Alex wants us to meet up with her at the intersection of 58th and Victory." That's in the old part of town. How the hell did she get there?
"Tell him I'm on my way," Terry says, picking up speed again and allowing himself a smile of amusement as Kitsune loses her grip on his chair and curses as she thumps back into the rear of the cockpit.
~***~
He brings the Batmobile down to hover just above the trash-strewn ground of an abandoned lot a few blocks from where they're supposed to meet Melanie. He disengages the magnetic lock that's keeping Kitsune's board on the underside of his craft, then opens the cockpit so they can both get out. Kitsune is a little wobbly on her feet after the ride. Terry notices a small stray dog watching them. When he locks eyes with the dog it turns away and darts into an alley. Terry presses a button on his belt to set the Batmobile on autopilot. It rises up, finds the nearest of its programmed routes and starts on it.
"Geez, it's quiet here," Kitsune says as she looks at the old buildings, many of which date back to the mid-twentieth century. She's certainly right – the noise of the city is uncomfortably far away. They're in the part of Old Town where the workshops and light industry used to be. Terry wonders what it was like when Wayne was young. He can't possibly imagine.
"You coming?" Kitsune says, startling him so his train of thought jumps the tracks. He turns to see that she's already standing on her hoverboard, bobbing gently about half a meter above the ground. Terry nods, spreads his wings, and leaps into the air with a quick burst of his boot jets. He lands neatly on the nearest roof and starts running over the crumbling brick and concrete, leaping the gaps when he comes to them. Kitsune hovers along just above him.
When they come to the right intersection – Terry notices a bank of dilapidated payphones below – he jumps off the roof, twists around in the middle of the five-story fall, and lands in a crouch on the sidewalk. He stands up as Kitsune touches down beside him and looks around. There's nobody there.
"Where is she?" Terry mutters to himself as he turns to look behind him. Suddenly he hears a noise and whips back around to see someone emerging from an alley.
The someone is a little shorter than Terry, clad in a close-fitting black ninja outfit. Nose and mouth are covered by a piece of black cloth worn surgical-mask style over the lower part of the face. The person looks at him with flexible optic lenses of the same type as his own. Terry notices a sword handle sticking up over the person's right shoulder. Once he gets over the initial shock, he realizes that the person is female. He also realizes that she doesn't seem to mean him in any harm, so he should straighten up from the threatening battle-ready crouch he's in. Terry can't shake the feeling that he's missing something important.
"Is that Melanie Walker?" Wayne asks incredulously, pinning down the thing that was bothering Terry. And, now that he's thinking about how she walked out of the alley, and the way she's standing, and the circumstances…it couldn't be anyone else. She was certainly right about the importance of little details. He doesn't answer Wayne's question – Terry's learned not to talk over the transmitter when there are other people within earshot.
Kitsune clears her throat and steps forward. "Batman," she says, gesturing at Melanie, "I'd like you to meet Shinobi."