Under cover of night, Batman and I departed the cave separately, taking two different premeditated routes to the same area of Park Row. The video that Jason had found of Harley rapidly climbing the fire escape, led by what appeared to be a slippery shadow, had been only a murky question to me. But to Batman, the answer to Harley Quinn's escape was as plain as the blood on her dress: Catwoman had assisted her.
Over the communicator in my cowl, I called to Batman, "why is it you believe Catwoman and Quinn are in cahoots?"
"I'm not sure," Batman answered honestly. "But it only could have been her in that video, and the building that Harley's trail went dead at is a familiar landmark for Selina."
"A familiar landmark?" I clarified.
"Home," he responded. "At one time, at least." I felt my lips tighten.
"Tonight could get a little messy then," I nodded as I took a turn at a high speed onto the freeway towards Old Gotham.
"Perhaps," Batman acknowledged, though his voice didn't have his characteristic grit to it. More like intrigue.
"What?" I asked, hearing something in his tone, knowing he had more to say.
"Your last encounter with Selina. What happened?" Batman asked. I knew that he knew the answer, but I indulged him.
"We shared some small talk, she tipped me off to Two-Face, she threatened me, tried to escape, I stopped her from taking any of Penguin's things, she got away." I considered the details I wasn't telling him, about Catwoman's flirtation and propensity to 'play' with Batman, and the playful kiss she'd left on the tip of my nose before flipping out of the mansion. He didn't need to hear about those.
"Catwoman doesn't need to kill me, and she's demonstrated she has no interest in killing you," Batman elucidated for me. "She's not like Two-Face or Penguin or Joker."
"What are you suggesting?" I asked, weaving through traffic.
"That if we play this right, Catwoman can give us information. It wouldn't be the first time she's helped on an investigation," he said. Even as I drove distractedly down the busy freeway, weaving through honking horns and absent-minded drivers, I could hear a thick layer of subtext in his words.
She wasn't just an informant to him. Something in their relationship was more meaningful than that.
"Got it," I responded, leaving it alone for now. Investigating Selina's old apartment might give us information, and watching Batman in the apartment might tell me all I need to know about the true nature of their relationship.
I parked my bike just east of the Solomon Wayne Courthouse in a caged off alley. Grappling between buildings, I met Batman on the rooftop where I'd lost Harley Quinn's trail.
The blood stain she'd left behind had washed away long ago, but I recognized the dark rooftop all the same. Familiar memories tried to rush back as I reminisced to the last night I'd been here, just after I'd caught Two Face, and when Dick had locked me in that rapturous kiss that made my knees feel weak.
Batman's eyes narrowed beneath his mask as he approached the nearby skylight to an apartment on the top floor of the building.
"The night Quinn went missing, did you look in this apartment?" he asked, crouching beside the window. I crouched beside him.
"I looked through the skylight," I answered. "But there was nothing in there… except… some stray cats." I wanted to kick myself now for not having pieced it together myself sooner. Batman's eyes met mine in a microscopic gesture of empathy. "But I looked into the room with my detective mode activated. I saw no signs of entry, no signs of life inside." Batman moved around the skylight, searching for a hatch. He didn't find one. He stood and kicked in one of the panes of glass, the shards clattering on the ground beneath. He dropped carefully into the apartment below and I cast one last wary glance around the empty rooftop before I followed suit.
The inside of the apartment wasn't entirely empty: there was an old, ratty sofa that the cats seemed to have turned into a scratching post, and a tired, uneven mattress. Other than a surprisingly fine chandelier, that's all the apartment held.
Batman didn't seem to be glancing around at the contents of the room. "You've been here before?" I noted, though gave him the courtesy of phrasing it like a question.
"A while ago. This isn't her primary residence anymore," he said.
"Where is?" I asked as a cat rubbed up against my boot.
"A loft on Miagani Island," he said, turning on his detective mode as he scanned the room for evidence. "She's done well for herself the last few years." He turned the detective mode off again when he saw something of intrigue and walked over to the mantle above the decorative fireplace. He picked up a small piece of paper- no, a small thin photograph, like the kind produced by photobooths. Even in the darkness, I saw the corners of his mouth lift ever so slightly.
A smile.
"What's that?" I asked, too intrigued to stay away. The smile was forced off his face as he looked to me and offered the picture, seemingly out of obligation.
The plasticy paper had four pictures on it of a young woman and a girl. The young woman I recognized from our files: Selina Kyle, Catwoman. But here, she wasn't the devious, criminal threat that her paperwork described her as. In these pictures, she sat next to a short-haired, blonde, teenaged girl. She puffed out her smiling cheeks and stuck out her tongue. She crossed her eyes and put bunny ears over the other girl. She was laughing. She looked free.
There was no way the girl was Selina's daughter; the teenager was too old. And their skin tones and facial features didn't seem to indicate they were related. I decided to stop guessing. Batman's silence led me to believe he knew who she might be.
"Who's the girl?" I asked.
"Holly Robinson," Batman answered. "An abandoned orphan. She was in the Gotham foster system but ran away when one of the foster parents sexually assaulted her. She's been living on the streets since she was nine." I stared back at him, trying not to let my jaw drop as I contained my horror. The smiling, goofy teenager in that picture had endured so much. "Catwoman looks out for her."
"Admirable," I said plainly as I scanned the picture with a tool on my belt. I wanted to add this to Selina's file; it was too important to ignore. I then replaced the picture on the mantle. "You've met her before? Holly, I mean."
"No," Batman answered. "Catwoman is quite protective of her. And as much as I hate to admit it, I think she's safer in Selina's care than in the foster system." I shook my head.
"That's a tragedy unto its own," I said, continuing to look around the apartment for a sign of Harley Quinn's movements. "So she takes care of Holly, she takes care of Harley… anyone else she has a known alliance with?"
Batman shook his head. "Alliance is a strong word. She and Poison Ivy have fought me together before, but it was an alliance of opportunity. They split up as soon as they could."
"Well… I admit, I appreciate all the girl power," I said.
"Well thanks," a sultry, calm voice said above us. We looked up to see Catwoman's face peering down at us from the skylight. "I find it's much easier to work with women. Case and point: I bet it wasn't your job to find a way into the apartment, was it?" she asked, pointing at me. She dropped noiselessly and effortlessly into the apartment through the window Batman had broken, standing gracefully and looking sternly at Batman with a hand on her hip. "Could've used a woman's touch, Batman."
Batman's posture had straightened, his eyes narrowed, his fists tightened. But I could see beneath his posturing that he wasn't getting ready for a fight. He was doing this as a show, as a necessity.
"You helped Harley Quinn escape capture," Batman told her as he took a step closer. Catwoman smiled flirtatiously and batted her eyes at him sweetly. "Tell me why."
"Why should I?" she tested him, taking a side-step closer to me. "I think I'd prefer to talk to your partner here. She seems a bit gentler."
"Don't count on it," I growled, my eyes narrowed and back straight. Whatever mixed emotions Bruce had for Catwoman, I didn't. If she tried to run before we got answers, I wouldn't let her. But she didn't look like she wanted to run. Her lips pouted and eyes flashed mischievously up at me.
"Don't be mad," she said as she took a step closer to me. "After our last meeting, I thought you might be a little happier to see me. We got pretty… intimate." It was a good thing my cowl hid my cheek bones as I felt blood rush to my cheeks. I kept myself from darting a glance at Batman; I hadn't shared those details of our encounter with him.
"We've come for information," I insisted, pushing ahead before Catwoman could distract us further. "Tell us what you know about Harley Quinn."
"I'm still waiting to hear a good reason why," she responded, sounding bored as she looked at her artificial cat claws that could tear through skin.
"We get what we need," Batman said, forcing his way into the conversation as he stepped up beside Catwoman, "and we'll overlook the department store you robbed tonight." He stood close enough that it would have gotten any other criminal to run or cower in fear, but not Selina. She only smiled up at him over her shoulder, looking adoringly up at him.
"Threats. That's one way to get a girl's attention," she said, turning to face him. She lifted a hand and traced a finger alluringly down the front of his suit. "There are more exciting ways too, you know."
"Selina," Batman threatened as he caught her hand, releasing it again.
She rolled her eyes in boredom and stepped aside, approaching one of her cats. She knelt down and picked up a mewing cat, petting its head as she responded. "Look, I know she's had a rough go," she said, her voice suddenly annoyed and tired, "but she's not who you should be after right now."
"She was responsible for a terrorist attack on Gotham Square," I reminded Catwoman.
"She released the Joker from the asylum," Batman reminded her as well.
"But you saved everyone at the square," Catwoman gestured at me, then turned to Bruce, "and you've recaptured Joker."
"That's not good enough, Selina. She also participated in a terrorist attack in Keystone and has been part of several attacks on Penguin," Batman continued. Catwoman shrugged with a laugh.
"You don't really expect me to take that Penguin bit seriously, do you?" The cat leapt from her arms, expressing its thorough boredom with our conversation. "Look, she's not a problem anymore. Leave it alone."
Batman took a step closer, his head tilting downwards in a silent request for more information.
"Yes, I helped Harley after Joker pushed her out of that truck. She was in rough shape. And the poor thing thought that maniac was in love with her, she needed someone to set her straight," Catwoman explained, but when her eyes met Batman's she realized she'd said too much.
"What about the night of July 13?" Batman asked, drawing her attention to the night of the Iceberg Lounge opening. Catwoman rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Fine, I helped her then, too. Look, the poor thing's caught up in an abusive relationship. With the Joker. She was being manipulated by him. I tried to send her to get some help the first night after Joker killed that waitress at Penguin's and she wouldn't listen. But this time, I think it stuck. Besides," she said, her eyebrows raising as her chin lowered, "she's not your top priority."
"And why's that?" Batman asked sternly.
"Because she's not the one with a dirty bomb that could level Gotham," Selina frankly responded. My eyes flashed between Catwoman and Batman as case notes flashed through my mind. A dirty bomb. Joker. Riddler. The Suicide Squad. We'd known about this possible threat for weeks but didn't have a lock on it.
"What do you know?" I demanded from her. She looked over her shoulder at me and smiled mischievously again.
"I guess you've heard about it," the words dripped out of her mouth. "I'm happy to fill you in. Provided, of course, you look the other way on my shopping venture tonight."
"We'll walk away," Batman promised her, even though I didn't like it. It felt like we wouldn't make these kinds of concessions for just anyone.
"Joker's been working with Riddler to obtain a dirty bomb. It's taken months, especially because Riddler has gotten a bit entangled with some government agencies, and now Joker's back in the asylum. But he won't be in his cage long. And once he's free…"
"Does he need Riddler to get to the bomb?" Batman clarified.
"No," Catwoman answered lackadaisically, "but he does need Harley."
"So she'll be able to help us stop whatever he has planned," Batman said, looking up at me. I nodded understandingly. "Where is she?"
"Batman…"
"Where is…"
"Wait," Catwoman said tenderly, placing a gentle hand on Batman's chest and stopping him. "She had a life, before Joker. And she's trying to take it back. Give her a chance." Batman stared back into her eyes, and I felt like I was intruding as I watched a true and earnest exchange between the two of them.
"Tell me where she is," Batman said, and as Catwoman opened her mouth to argue he continued, "and I promise we will leave her be, so long as she stays out of trouble." Catwoman's hand lowered from his chest and her gaze dropped.
"I guess that's all I can ask," she relented. "She's at the Roosevelt Halfway Home."
"And Riddler? Where is he?"
Catwoman shrugged. "No clue. Though I hear he's been trying to avoid Gotham… probably trying to stay off your radar," she said as she looked Batman up and down flirtatiously.
"Thanks," Batman acknowledged in what was almost a bantering tone as he stepped closer to me and towards our exit. Catwoman eyed us both as she put her hand on her hip.
"Happy to oblige," she responded in a similar tone. Batman and I shot our grapple hooks out of the apartment and as we zipped back into the darkness I heard Selina call, "where should I send the bill for my broken window?"
We scurried into the night, disappearing into the darkness as we perched on a nearby rooftop. Batman called Dick's communication unit while I pulled up the location of the Roosevelt Halfway House for Abused Women.
"Nightwing," Batman called.
"Batman," he responded in a calm voice. "Looks like you were right about Victor Zsasz."
"What have you found?" Batman answered.
"His office was empty and his family's house was repossessed… but Jay found an apartment in the city that used to belong to his dad, for when he worked too late to make the drive back home. I'm there now. It's… pretty brutal," Nightwing said. I couldn't help but note the lack of sarcasm and playfulness in his voice; it must have been bleak.
"Are there victims or remains there?" Batman asked.
"No. But there's blood. A lot of blood," Nightwing answered. "And the artist that he killed, there are some of his drawings here. They look like they were done based on descriptions of the other killings. But Batman, there are tick marks carved into the wall, like he's keeping count."
"How many are there?" I asked, mentally running through the killings we'd known about. Between the body found on Sprang bridge, the three more found the day after, and the two found yesterday, we were up to 6 known victims.
"Fourteen," Dick said.
"Jesus," I mumbled to myself, wondering where these bodies were.
"And some of these drawings depict victims we haven't seen. One is of a young woman, there's another that looks like she has to be a teen…"
"Try to avoid disturbing the blood you find," I said. "It's possible GCPD will be able to identify some of the victims based on those DNA samples."
"I mean, it's kind of hard to avoid," Nightwing responded. "There's blood everywhere."
"Take pictures and share the address with GCPD," Batman advised. "He'll surface soon and we need to catch him, fast."
"On it," Nightwing confirmed.
"Nightwing, we need a trace on Riddler," Batman continued to the reason he'd called. "We've just gotten information from a credible source that Riddler and Joker did work together on that dirty bomb. Riddler might know where Joker's hiding it."
"I've got a laundry list of locations for you," Nightwing shared. "But it's a long list."
"Send it over," Batman insisted, then cut off his comms. "I'll start chasing down Riddler. I need you to confirm Quinn's whereabouts at the Halfway House."
I nodded and took off in the direction of the Halfway House. It wasn't too far, near the Gotham Casino in Amusement Mile. When I arrived, the trick was determining where in the facility Harley was. My detective mode showed an overabundance of women in every room, spilling out of beds and sleeping on the floor. My shoulders fell as I realized it was because there was a surplus of abusive spouses in Gotham. I went from window to window, scanning the sleeping faces in each room, until I finally found her.
She was sleeping on a top bunk. Her hair was in her trademark high pigtails, pressed against the pillow, but her face had no makeup on it. Without her characteristic makeup and maniacal voice, she almost looked normal.
I clicked on my communicator. "Batman," I called softly into the mic. "Quinn's location is confirmed. She's safe."
"Good. I'm sending you the list of possible Riddler locations now. We need to find him, quickly," he said, seeming satisfied by my report. I clicked off the communicator as I continued to stare at Harley, her sleeping form rising and falling with every breath she took. But her breathing was shallow, inconsistent. When I looked closer, I saw her lips were tight and frowning, and her cheeks were wet with tears.
She was crying in her sleep.