"Any luck?"
"No. You want to fill us in on this sudden need for help finding two teenagers?" Batman wondered, not for the first time that night, why he'd ever thought a team of heroes could possibly be a good idea. They were all too often inclined to interfere…ask questions…not to mention go off on their own half-cocked ideas without so much as a by-your-…
"Um…boss? Hel-loo?"
"Nothing. I thought possibly one of them may have contacted you."
"I haven't heard anything." A muted mumbling confirmed his suspicion that Dick was with her. "Neither of us have. Really, Br…Batman. Should we be worried? Send out a search party?" She was mostly joking, but he heard the underlying tension and sighed.
"I'm sure they're fine." He wasn't about to add that since Tim had been mad at him to begin with, and who ever knew how Cassandra would look at things, they were most likely avoiding all contact with him like the plague. He shouldn't be worrying Babs and Dick.
"You don't expect me to buy that! You've called three times in the past six hours to see if either of them had called or if I'd heard anything! I mean it, Bruce…" he winced at her use of his name over the air.
"Oracle…"
"Oh, so what? It's a secure line!"
"For all we know."
"Whatever. You never ask for help! And yet you think we shouldn't think something's going on when you suddenly need help tracking down Batgirl and Robin? What, don't you have tracers hidden in their uniforms or something?" This last was dripping with sarcasm. He didn't answer…though the thought had occurred to him many times. He'd even carried through with the idea…only briefly and with limited success.
"No. And I don't need help. I just thought they may have contacted you."
"Uh-huuuh. Right." Deciding silence was the better part of valor, he cut the connection. Let them think what they would. He didn't need help. But he had a feeling Tim and Cass did. And since they obviously didn't trust him enough to ask for it…he ignored the tiny voice that sounded suspiciously like Alfred pointing out that he himself rarely asked for help. He pulled up the report from the coroner's that Oracle had obtained for him. As he'd thought, Warren's body had disappeared shortly after being admitted to the morgue. He recalled a report to that effect, short and unconcerned, in the news. But he had been distracted at the time keeping Tim's mind off the incident, and then Tim's father had found out and…well the rest was history. Now as he confirmed his belief, his feeling of unease grew. After all, this man had had meta-powers of some kind, and who knew what they entailed. It wasn't unheard of for a meta to be thought dead and end up alive, well, and wreaking havoc months later. An insistent beeping caught his attention, and he pressed the button to receive a message.
"Batman, thought you might want to know, and pass it along, the assassin Scarab is possibly looking to go after Blockbuster. Batgirl and I are following some leads on our own case…Robin out." He gave the console a death-glare as if that would change the message, but he supposed he couldn't blame the boy for wanting to follow his father's murderer's trail on his own. He shook his head, then stopped the plane. At least he knew they were all right now…and he really shouldn't have doubted them in the first place. They could take care of themselves. For now…he had a city to protect.
"But why…"
"Because!" Tim forced himself to mentally count to ten to keep from snapping worse at Cassandra as they boarded the plane. They had decided to tail the mobster to see if he could lead them to any new source of information. Tim had thought everything settled but as they had waited in the airport, keeping a covert eye on their target, Cass had started asking questions. Most of them legitimate, but starting to get on his nerves.
She had wanted to know what his plan was after following this man. What he planned to do when they found this Johnny Warlock person. Did he think it was fair to leave again without warning anyone of the possible entrance of Scarab onto the scene again? That one had caused him to send a message…no way was he going to contact them in person and get told to go back to Gotham right away…to Batman warning of Scarab's interest in Blockbuster.
Then, after he'd done that, she'd wanted to know if he had any more thoughts on the case, and then she'd suddenly thrown in a few random questions…one was about planes, he vaguely recalled, and then she'd ask how the sun worked and why the sky was blue and…and then he'd snapped. Well, really! Who could blame him, really? If she was so curious she should go ask Babs.
He realized he'd been brooding for a good ten minutes and snuck a glance at her. She seemed to be in perfect contentment, flopped back in her seat flipping idly through one of the magazines provided in the airplane's seats. Tim had made sure they had first class tickets, both for their own comfort and to be able to watch everyone get on and off the plane, keeping the mobster in their sight all the while. An added bonus turned up as the man ended up squashed between the window and a large woman in coach. Apparently his employer wasn't very generous.
"Hey, who did you say this guy was?" Cass peeked over her magazine, blinked silently, and shrugged, returning to her perusal. Tim flushed, half in anger, half in embarrassment. Oh-kaay. She obviously wasn't completely over his brief spurt of irritation at her earlier. He shouldn't have taken his frustration out on her, but…there wasn't anyone else around at the moment!
"Listen, Cass. I'm sorry, ok? I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm just…tense, you know?" The magazine didn't move and he rolled his eyes. "Come on! I said I was sor…"
"But not really."
"What?" He frowned at her, confused. He wondered vaguely when he would learn to stop putting his foot in his mouth…especially around women. Cassandra dropped the magazine and turned to face him.
"You are sorry you made me mad. You feel guilty. But you still think my questions were stupid and…" Tim's eyes lit with understanding.
"I wasn't thinking you were stupid. I just thought your questions were, perhaps….ill-timed." She shook her head at him pityingly. "What? I…"
"Doesn't matter." She waved her hand as if to banish the unpleasantness as she would shoo away a fly.
"But…" she sighed, dropping her head to her hands.
"Leave it alone. I know…I know. You're upset, you're not yourself, you didn't mean it. Ok. All right." Tim blinked, feeling at once amused and annoyed.
"Cass, I don't…"
"I know." She looked up and smiled, seemingly putting it behind her. Tim opened his mouth again to argue, then snapped it closed. Why argue if she was willing to drop it? He snuck a glance at her only to catch her watching him warily.
"What?"
"I'm sorry?" She made it a question and he had to laugh.
"Nah, you were right. I was taking it all out on you, and you're just trying to help." She gave him a big grin, then, looked down.
"Well…it was maybe my fault too. I knew I was annoying you…I didn't stop." He blinked at her blankly.
"Um…why?" She shrugged.
"You are all…you need a fight." He rolled his eyes.
"Uh, Earth to Cass…not with you! And not a verbal one, anyway." He narrowed his eyes accusingly. "Besides, you acted like I hurt your feelings!" She shrugged.
"Well…I hadn't expected you to think I…"
"I don't! I don't think you're stupid! For goodness' sake, how many times do I have to…"
"No, I know now…but my questions were dumb and…and I really didn't know the answers, so I guess…" Tim sighed and slumped back in his seat.
"What a pair we are." She grinned and he smiled back. "So…want to tell me who that guy is?"
"Hmm? Oh. Yeah. He works for Aquista." Tim started.
"What?" She looked at him confused.
"What?"
"I thought Aquista quit after…" He broke off and she cocked her head to the side questioningly. He cleared his throat. "His daughter went to my school…she…she died in the gang war." Cass nodded silently, understanding more than had been said. Tim told himself it didn't matter…he hadn't really liked her, not like that. But she had been a friend and her death followed so quickly by Stephanie's had shaken him up for quite a while.
"And you say he quit after she died?" He nodded, grateful that she was keeping the conversation going, keeping him from becoming too mired in the past.
"I thought he had. Have you heard differently?" She shook her head.
"No. But I know our guy was working for him before…maybe he's working for this Warlock guy and Aquista really did quit." But she didn't sound convinced. Tim didn't feel convinced either…though he couldn't say why. He couldn't make any connection between himself and Aquista, or, again, this Johnny Warlock or…he stiffened, a chill running down his spine.
"What?" She poked his shoulder when he didn't answer. "What did you think of?"
"I don't…I don't know. It's just…for some reason Johnny Warren keeps popping into my mind."
"He's dead."
"I know that!" he shot her an exasperated look. "But…he was working for Aquista the first time I ran into him. And now Aquista is somehow connected to Johnny Warlock, and…and I don't know how it all fits together, but…it has to!" She nodded.
"So what now?" Tim chanced a peek back at their quarry. He didn't seem to realize he was being hunted, simply trying to sleep in the uncomfortable position he was in. Tim drew his head back in.
"When we land, we're going to have a little conversation with our friend back there. And we're going to get some answers."
To be continued…
