"Scarab. Right. Gotcha." Batman had a nearly overwhelming urge to shake some sense into the younger man, but managed to control himself, instead leveling his best "bat-glare" at Nightwing who was sprawled in a chair in the cave as if he hadn't a care in the world. The glare, predictably, had no effect.

"Perhaps you should look into it." Batman growled pointedly. Nightwing shrugged.

"Why? Seems you're well-enough informed for the both of us. Besides, what with Tarantula on one side and Scarab on the other, Blüdhaven sounds like it's getting a serious pest-problem. Maybe I should move back here." It was said lightly, but Batman heard the fatigue underneath. Even in jest, Nightwing wouldn't talk about giving up unless he was seriously worn down. Batman wasn't sure what had brought Dick to the cave this evening…it wasn't as if they were on the best of terms at the moment. And, whether he wanted to admit it or not, Blüdhaven had become his city…he wouldn't just ignore the fact that it still needed a protector.

"In fact, since Tim was the one who discovered it, maybe he should look into it." Batman put down the specimen he had been examining with an audible thunk and turned.

"What is your problem?" Nightwing blinked. Direct confrontation…well, direct verbal confrontation…wasn't usually Batman's style.

"Uh…"

"In case you missed the point, you have an assassin heading towards your city, Barbara is searching for any evidence we can use to protect Mrs. Drake, Tim and Cassandra are half-way across the world searching for a killer…Tim's father's killer… and Scarecrow and Riddler just broke out of Arkham. Yet you're sitting here with a chip on your shoulder as if the whole world's against you personally. So either tell me what the problem is or get back to work." He raised an eyebrow in challenge and for a moment he thought perhaps Nightwing would simply leave and return to Blüdhaven. He knew it was harsh, after all Nightwing's leg would hardly have healed yet…but there were other things he could be doing…non-physical things. The younger man, sighed and dropped his feet down to the floor, assuming a more serious expression.

"Sorry, Bruce. I'm just…I'm tired. Blüdhaven seems less and less…I dunno…and Blockbuster…well anyway, sorry to bring my troubles here. Listen, I have some contacts…I'll see what I can dig up on this Scarab person. I assume you can handle Scarecrow and Riddler on your own?" It was said with a cheeky smile, reminiscent of so many of their old adventures. Batman nodded tersely. Now was not the time for reminiscing. "Ok, then. I…uh…guess I'll be going then." And he did. Batman stood in the silence for a moment, then turned back to his investigations.


The fact that it was daylight might deter the average night-dwelling crimefighter…but neither Tim nor Cassandra considered themselves by any means normal. Having used the flight to plan how to follow their quarry unobserved in a busy city, they departed the plane in Cairo of all places without any qualms. Now they trailed their suspect…Tim wished they had an actual name to call him, but Cass hadn't been interested in introductions when she'd bust up a mob meeting…disguised as a young couple taking in the sights. They could stroll, point out items of interest to each other...hold hands.

Cassandra hadn't been entirely sure about the disguise…their real relationship was too shaky to stand up to the pressure, she thought…but Tim had said it would be the best way to avoid unwanted attention. After all, should their target turn around he would have no reason to suspect a young couple absorbed in each other. Cass still felt dubious…yes, that wouldn't be suspicious…but neither would a pair of regular tourists. Why add in the extra stress?

"Look at that!" Tim pointed to something…she wasn't sure what. After all, she was more interested in the job than in the scenery. Beside her she felt him sigh. "You're not in character, Cass." She shrugged. He took her hand and pulled her to a shop front, pretending to examine the contents.

"I don't understand why we have to…"

"This is why." He pulled her closer and whispered in her ear. "How else can we talk in this crowd without being overheard?" She shivered a bit at his touch, feeling a strong sense of disappointment when he moved away. Yet as far as she could tell he wasn't experiencing any such feelings.

They rounded a corner and Cass snuck a glance at their suspect. He was staring out over the Nile, seemingly in idle curiosity. Tim slid back towards the shadows, wanting to stay unobtrusive. But Cass had noticed something…

"He's going to turn around!" Tim acted without thought…literally. Without any warning Cass found herself wrapped in his arms, being thoroughly kissed. She stiffened, sensing that Tim was just trying to keep their quarry from noticing them, though part of her wished it wasn't so. After a second she relaxed into it…it was just a kiss, after all. In fact she'd used the same trick herself…long ago. Trying to deny her strange feelings for the metahuman terrorist who called himself "Black Wind", she'd kissed Superboy on the balcony of a cruise ship when Tai'Darshan had looked back at her. She'd thought briefly that she might have feelings for Superboy, but she'd been wrong. The fact that he was half scared to death of her probably didn't help things.

Both that kiss and this had been meant as distractions, so she couldn't help comparing the two…and they were quite different. In fact, she thought that perhaps…

Tim broke away, his face flushed and his eyes rather out of focus. He blinked a couple of times and shook his head as if to clear it. Cass was happy to see that at least now he was feeling something.

"Uh…" He didn't seem to be able to come up with a coherent sentence. Then again, she wasn't thinking to clearly herself. Had that meant something? She cleared her throat and he gave a kind of nervous laugh. She had a sudden, irritated thought that he had had more experience with this kind of thing that she had…what was he so nervous for? Perversely she decided to change the subject.

"Where did he go?" She realized they were still both intent on the other person, as if trying to read how much of the kiss had been more and how much simply distraction.

"Um…he, uh…" Tim finally broke away from her gaze and glanced around. "There!" There was obvious relief in his voice…they hadn't lost him. He was sitting at a table at an outdoor café, and he was…

"Waiting for someone." Tim glanced at her.

"You sure?" She nodded. Maybe this was it! Could the mystery truly be solved that easily? She moved forward but Tim grabbed her arm.

"Wait!"

"What? We go eat there too. We can hear and see who he meets." Tim nodded, but he was distracted…unfocused. She followed his gaze to the man they'd been following but nothing had changed. "What?" He shook himself slightly.

"That man… the one we're following. He was one of Scarab's men…in the alley." The ones who'd attacked them. She looked again, dubiously.

"I don't think so." He didn't move right. She started to say so but Tim interrupted.

"Yes he is! I recognize his ring." She glanced over once more and frowned.

"But…he doesn't move right."
"Huh?" Which he realized was a stupid question before it had even come out. Of course she would recognize people based on their body movements. But if he wasn't the man from the alley… "Are you sure?" She sighed.

"No. There were…a lot of them. And I was…distracted." She considered the man for a second. "Possibly I wouldn't have noticed anyway…I wasn't thinking of a connection to Gotham mobsters at the time." This last was said dryly and Tim had to choke back a laugh.

"Well…this might complicate things. If he was one of them he'll be more likely to recognize…"

"But he didn't!" She was triumphant, but he shook his head.

"He might not have gotten a good look at me in the dark alley…or even in that shopping center…it wasn't extremely well lit and he may simply not have noticed me…expected me to show up there." He stopped, considering. "He even could have thought Scarab was going to kill us and wouldn't even expect us to be alive." She nodded, trying to bite back her frustration that once again Tim had proved smarter than her. A little voice insisted he wasn't smarter…just more experienced in thinking of things like that…but it was still annoying that she couldn't seem to help him with anything.

"Then what's the plan now?" He thought for a moment.

"We'll need to stay out of sight until night falls…and then I think our friend over there will have a nice long discussion with Batgirl." She grinned...now this was something she could handle.


"What progress?"

"Well…the good news is the coroner noticed the same marks we did, though he didn't know the significance. So Mrs. Drake may already be off the hook. The police have started to shift their investigation to perhaps a 'random housebreaker'… the idea being that a woman of Dana Drake's size wouldn't have been able to overpower Jack enough to leave fingerprints. The bad news is, Cain still has an airtight alibi and none of my informants have any idea who could possibly have called out a hit on Robin."

She paused…Cassandra wouldn't be happy about that. She had taken Cain's involvement pretty hard…feeling the blame herself. Then again, one more murder on Cain's record wouldn't do much, unless it brought his ability to escape to attention. She cleared her throat. "At least Robin's identity seems to be safe, for now." She broke off and looked up at the screen.

"Hm." Batman was simply staring into space. Barbara was tempted to say something outrageous, just to see if he was paying attention…but then, he always was.

"Oh. And all I could find on that other case…the coroner's report on Warren…was that there was no report. The body, or what was left of it, disappeared. Apparently no one thought to investigate this…" she typed in some commands, pulling up a file. "Seems that they had a real creep working as a janitor there…he was fired that day and the assumption was he took the body." She looked back at the screen with a hint of morbid humor. "Apparently he had a history of taking bits and pieces of the corpses…he was a member of one of those weird cults or something…trying to bring people back to life or bring some demon from another dimension, or…well…something." Batman finally spared her a glance, then shook his head.

"No."

"'No?' 'No' What 'no'? It's all right there in…"

"No one stole Warren's body."

"Oh? So now dead bodies are getting up and walking themselves away?" She flashed him a cheeky grin, but sobered quickly. They both knew their own share of stories about people who'd risen from the dead…many of them colleagues.

"I should have seen it." It was said without heat, as if he'd already accepted this failure, though she knew he hadn't. "He had some kind of power. He practically fell apart when Tim attacked him. Even the bystanders recognized there was something wrong with the situation. I should have realized then…should have followed it up, even just to prove to Tim he hadn't killed the man. But I was…preoccupied."

"Sounds like you've given this a lot of thought." She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "If you already knew all this why did you send me on a wild goose…"

"I didn't. I didn't remember that his body went missing until after we spoke. At that point my main concern was to make sure Tim and Cassandra hadn't fallen into his trap already, and now…"

"Wait. Wait. Wait. You mean to say this is who's behind it all? Some two-bit mobster who picked up some superpowers and…"

"It's our most likely suspect. I don't know if you remember, but S…Stephanie was pretty badly wounded after her encounter with Warren. Tim told me part of why he lost control was because he was torturing her and telling him that he was going to do the same to everyone Tim loved. Sounds like a pretty good motive to put out a hit on Robin to me." She nodded, somewhat disgruntled that he hadn't seen fit to share any of this with anyone else.

"So why are we not rallying to go get this guy? You freaked out about Tim and Cass and now all the sudden you're sitting alone in the cave! I mean…"

"Tim has to do this himself."

"But what if he can't! What if…"

"That's what Cassandra is for." His tone brooked no further argument and he cut the connection. But Babs wasn't one to be so easily thwarted and she opened a channel.

"I need a favor…"


To be continued…