part 12

The three hero's paused on a nearby rooftop to discuss the plan of attack..The had to find Ryan first, and that wouldn't be easily done.

"We've listed all the known locations he frequented before his incarceration... Everything we could find, including the warehouse he killed his victim at and his last known residential address." Batman said.

"So what?..We're just gonna go knocking on doors at this time of night asking if the new tenants have seen any warped psychopathic murderous weirdo's lurking nearby?" Arsenal asked sarcastically.

"Of course not...But if he's at one of these locations we need to check them out under the cover of darkness first." Batman growled.

"We''ll do a check tonight...then if we don't find anything, we'll go back tomorrow and asked questions to whoever is living there, There's eight prime targets that need to be checked, we'll get them done tonight then we'll work out what our next move is once that's done..We're only just beginning Roy, these things take a bit of time..you know that." Nightwing said.

"Yeah I know...I know. We mightn't have much time, that's all." Arsenal mumbled as he stared at the ground.

Nightwing reached out a hand to give the archers shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"Then we had better get moving, Nightwing you and Arsenal take the first four target areas on the list, and I'll take the other four." Batman said.

"Hey..shouldn't we all split up? We'd cover the area's quicker that way." Arsenal said.

"Quicker is not necessarily safer." Batman said as he disappeared over the side of the building and into the darkness.

"Asshole." Roy spat. "What? Does he think I need a freakin babysitter...Doesn't he think I'm capable of pulling my weight?" Arsenal snapped at Nightwing.

"You know it's not about that Roy...He's doing exactly what he told Ollie he would..watching your back. You mightn't like it but it's the way it's gotta be...your too close to this case and you know as well as I do that that can pose dangers, not just to yourself, but to Rachael as well..and I know you well enough to know that you don't want that to happen."

Arsenal stood silently for a moment..He didn't like it, but he would accept it. "Let's just get the hell out of here, and get this show on the road." he said.

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"Uncle Ollie!"

Ollie winced as the shrill sound stabbed it's way through his sleep addled mind. He opened his eye's and looked up into the big brown eye's that peered happily back down at him. After a moment his brain kicked in and he smiled back, "Hey squirt!" he replied.

"You comed to visit." Lian said happily.

"I sure did punkin." Ollie said as he sat up on the sofa he had been sleeping on and reached up to rub the back of his stiff neck.

"Mom mom mom." a little voice called from Lian's room.

"That's Sam...he wants to get out." Lian pointed out.

Ollie struggled to his feet and staggered toward the room and looked inside to see a blonde haired toddler trying desperately to climb out of his crib. "Hey kiddo..." Ollie started, before the words died in his throat and a horrified look came over his face. "What the hell..!" he suddenly blurted.

"He stinks don't he?" Lian stated casually.

Ollie gagged."Uh.. he does that all right." he managed to splutter as he cautiously approached the toddler. The kid had to be almost a year and a half old...weren't they supposed to be house trained by this age?

The little boy smiled and held his arms out expectantly while Ollie watched him with his hand covering his nose and mouth.

"Do you want me to get Daddy?" Lian asked.

Ollie shook his head"Daddy's gone to work...We're on our own here kiddo, just you me and the stink bomb." he replied nasally...Anyway he could do this...couldn't he?

Seemingly oblivious to the stench that permeated the room, Lian skipped across the room to where the change table was located. "I'll get everything ready for you Uncle Ollie...I help Daddy all the time." she said as she placed a diaper as well as wipes and powder on the table.

Ollie felt weak as he approached the crib, realizing he would eventually have to take his hand off his nose to pick the kid up. He stopped and stared at the toddler, horrified by the thought of what was to come...He'd been in some pretty bad places over the years...but even the sewers he occasionally had to enter in search of the odd elusive criminal didn't smell this bad. He wondered briefly if he would be able to hold his breath long enough to complete the changing procedure...Or maybe he could call Dinah, now there was an idea, she would have been back from that case she was working on in Borneo a couple of days age, she could be there in half an hour... the kid could stay in a shitty diaper that long couldn't he? He looked to where Lian was looking at him expectantly...No, that wouldn't work, she'd tell on him for sure and Roy would never let him live it down. He started to reach towards the baby, holding his breath as long as he could.

"Daddy uses this sometimes." Lian said, holding up a compact gas mask, that she had pulled out from the shelf under the change table.

Ollie would have laughed if he wasn't so damned relieved...Roy could think practically sometimes. He reached for the mask and smiled wickedly to himself..this was gonna give him plenty of ammunition to tease the boy with later on.

Mask in place he approached the crib and lifted the boy out. Feeling confident he carried him to the change table and lay him down, before pulling off his pyjama bottoms, carefully undoing one side of the diaper and cautiously looking at what needed to be cleaned up. He threw his head back and gagged, before refastening the nappy and putting the toddler down on the floor. And walking out of the room.

"Where are you going Uncle Ollie?" Lian asked curiously.

Ollie removed the mask and replied. "I'm ringing your Aunty Dinah, I'm sure she wants to meet Sam." It didn't matter if Lian told Roy...After all he had his own ammunition to use if Roy wanted to get smart about it, he thought as he placed the gas mask on the kitchen table and reached for the phone.

end 12