"Vatican City! It's so amazing!" Dick said cheerily, he, Bruce, Tim and Damian dressed in civilian clothes, disguised like simple tourists. "No matter how many times I see it, it never fails to impress me!"
"We're not here to sight-see. Stay on task," Bruce said evenly. Tim snorted in response as he snapped a few pictures with his camera.
"Doesn't mean we can't enjoy it a little," Tim replied, snapping a picture of the Vatican Obelisk.
"Tt. I agree with father. We need to stay focused. This 'Broker' could be anywhere," Damian put in. Tim and Dick snorted in response, snickering to themselves. Dick wrapped an around around Tim's shoulders and took a deep breath.
"Well, I'm glad at least one of you can enjoy this place. There's so much history here," Dick answered. Bruce heaved a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose; he really shouldn't have expected any different from Dick. On the other hand, at least he made a convincing tourist. "C'mon, you're supposed to be good at acting. Give it a whirl, and at least try to enjoy the city," Dick teased, playfully poking Bruce in the side with his elbow.
The four of them made their way through the crowds and toward Saint Peter's Basilica. Underneath it, they would find the Vatican Necropolis; The Question seemed fairly certain that that was where they'd find the Broker's base of operations. It seemed like a good hiding place; a massive burial ground of the dead. There was just one small problem; there were tours through the place, which would make it next to impossible to keep a 'secret base' of any kind there.
"Did you get the tickets from the Officio Scavi office?" Dick asked.
"Of course," Bruce replied, flashing the tickets. Damian snorted but said nothing, and Tim just rolled his eyes. Dick pointed toward the building which had quite a bit of traffic, and together, the four of them made their way there. Dick grabbed Damian's shoulder and led him away from the rest of them.
"Hey, what's the big idea, Grayson?!" Damian snarled in a hushed tone. Dick flashed a smile and gestured across the city.
"C'mon, they're not going to let you into the Necropolis. No one under fifteen is permitted, no exceptions," Dick explained. Damian turned to Bruce and flash a shocked look.
"What?! What is the meaning of this! I demand an explanation!"
"When they say no exceptions, they mean no exceptions. He even tried to get you a ticket as Bruce Wayne, but they said no," Tim replied, giving a shrug. "We didn't wanna tell you, because we knew you'd pitch a fit."
"Tim," Dick groaned, heaving an exasperate sigh. Damian glared at him.
"I'll pitch something alright, and I'll be sure to aim for your head."
"Relax. We'll be back shortly," Bruce replied.
"Tt, fine."
"C'mon, let's go see the sights, have some fun, maybe get some ice cream, eh?" Dick asked with a cheery demeanor, flashing one of his winning smiles as he led Damian away from the church.
"Tt, fine…and they better have chocolate."
Bruce and Tim watched Damian go, then he and Tim made their way inside the church. The tour guide, a priest donning the typical black clothing and white collar, awaited them with a small group of ten others.
"Are you the Marlones? Jacob-" the Priest said, looking first to Bruce "-and Tristan Marlone?" Bruce flashed a bright smile and wrapped an arm around Tim's shoulders, pulling him to his side.
"That's us! Sorry about bein' late; we got held up back at the hotel," 'Jacob' replied, ruffling 'Tristan's' hair. Tim flashed a smile but otherwise didn't say a word. The priest smiled in response and nodded his head.
"It is no worries, you're actually just in time. Come, let us begin the tour. Please be aware, that taking pictures is strictly prohibited, however," the priest explained, gesturing toward their cameras.
From there, the priest led the group down, into the Necropolis. Tim and Bruce exchanged knowing looks, keeping their eyes peeled for…well, anything, while the Priest spoke. They passed several sarcophagi of the many Popes that serves in the Vatican, going deeper, down into a darker,section of the Necropolis, the tombs getting older as they went.
"I don't see anything that would hint at any kind of hidden lair, here," Tim whispered to Bruce.
"Hm. We have to remember who we're dealing with. At the very least, we now have a lay of the land," Bruce whispered back, the two of them hanging back a little ways from the rest of the group. To avoid looking suspicious, they caught up with the group, pretending to look around in a mix of awe and reverence, while actually scoping the place out.
"...And this is the Tomb of Saint Peter, making this, quite literally, the very foundations of the Catholic Church! It was first discovered in 1942 during an archaeological dig. By 1968, after scientists tested bone fragment, Pope Paul the Sixth declared the remains to be the relics of Saint Paul, disciple of Jesus Christ himself, making this, the Vatican Necropolis, one of the most holy sites in the world."
While the other tourists chatted amongst themselves, Bruce and Tim backed away from the group a little to more comfortably discuss their plan of action for later. Eventually, they followed the priest and the rest of the group back out of the Necropolis and back into the church. From there, they went back out into the city to meet up with Dick and Damian.
They found the two sitting on a bench near the obelisk, eating ice cream. Dick had just finished his, and Damian was polishing off the rest of the cone.
"Oh hey guys. How was it? See anything interesting?" Dick asked with a smile. Damian snorted and finished his cone.
"For the record, this sucked. Tell me you're not going to leave me with Grayson as a babysitter again tonight?" Damian asked, arching an eyebrow. Dick made a mock gasp and shocked face.
"Oh, but Little D, I thought we were having fun?!" Dick asked, hugging the boy. Damian growled at him and tried to shove him away.
"Cut it out Grayson, or I'll stab you in your sleep!" Damian protested, earning a snort of held back laughter from Tim, as the young teen managed to pry himself from Dick's grip.
Dick chuckled a bit and got up to his feet, brushing himself off. He dropped his smile and got back into detective mode.
"Okay, but seriously, what's the plan?" he asked.
"Tonight, we're going to infiltrate the Necropolis and do a more thorough investigation of the place. The Question will meet us there tonight. Hopefully, we'll find the Broker's base and put him out of business, permanently," Bruce replied.
"There's been a distinct lack of resistance from his forces here, though. What if he's not even here?" Dick asked, arching an eyebrow.
"I've thought about that too, and honestly, it wouldn't be wise to have mercenaries throughout the city. Vatican City, and the Necropolis, are very sacred places. It wouldn't bode well to shoot the place up. Plus, with this many tourists around, it'd be difficult to take any kind of action anyway," Time replied. Dick rubbed his chin and nodded in agreement.
"That's true. Still, digging through the tombs of the Popes is a little…Off-putting. It doesn't feel right," Dick replied. "We're talking about potentially defiling sacred ground."
"I don't like it either, but we can't allow this Broker to continue operating. People's lives are at stake. He's toying with people as if they're play things. It has to end."
"I know, I know. I just…I don't like it."
Night had stretched its black cloak over the night sky with midnight fast approaching. Batman, Robin, Nightwing and Red Robin snuck through Vatican City, sticking to the rooftops and the shadows to avoid detection. It was unsurprising to find that Saint Peter's Basilica were heavily guarded. They spotted The Question sneaking into the church however, and took that as their queue to follow his lead, to meet up with him inside the Necropolis.
As quiet as a shadow, the four vigilantes made their way toward the church, slipping past the sentries and sneaking by patrols. Getting into the church proved problematic, however, with guards stationed everywhere. Either the Papacy was worried about tomb raiders and thieves, or the Broker had connections and agents even here.
They managed to get into the Necropolis despite the security, however, slipping past the guards with relative ease. For whatever reason, they security was rather low-tech compared to what the Broker seemed to have access to. It was something they could ponder, later.
"So, you've arrived. Good. I broke into the Vatican's "secret archives". Those archives have long been a nest for conspiracy theory, and indeed, I've found some rather revealing information in there. Stole a few folders and tucked them away safely," The Question explained.
"So that's where you've been? Feeding your conspiracy obsession?" Robin snapped angrily. The Question seemed to ignore him, and produced a folder from his trench coat.
"It was not easy to break into the archives. It has some of the best security in this hemisphere of the world. But I managed to steal this; the original plans for these burial grounds. Long forgotten, stored on a shelf and left untouched, possibly for decades. There is another level to this Necropolis. It is more like an entire catacombs," The Question explained, opening the folder to reveal a series of really old blueprints, the pages dyed yellow from age.
"I suspect that if there were some sort of secret base here, it would be located on this other level. The archaeologists have yet to discover it, but if the Broker had, he would have had it excavated in secret."
"Great, so where do we start looking? Any ideas?" Nightwing asked.
"None whatsoever. However, if I had to guess, I would wager that there is a false wall nearby, with a switch hidden in one of these sarcophagi," The Question answered, gesturing toward them. The four of them stared at the sarcophagi, but Nightwing objected.
"No. I can't. I can't be a part of this," Nightwing replied, raising his hands in the air.
"They're dead. What does it matter?" Robin snapped. Nightwing glared at him, placing his fists on his hips and leaning forward a bit, as if lecturing a misbehaved child.
"Because we're disturbing the dead. It's disrespectful. I won't do it," Nightwing answered. "It's not about superstition or curses, it's just…wrong."
"Then keep watch, Nightwing. I respect your decision, and I have my own reservations about this, but we don't have a choice in this," Batman replied. Nightwing relaxed a bit and gave a curt nod, making his way back toward the entrance to keep a look out.
"I get it. I don't like this either," Red Robin muttered.
"Tt, like I said, they're dead. I doubt they'll care," Robin replied, waving his hand dismissively. With that discussed, the rest of them got to their grisly work of finding a hidden switch of some kind. Batman, Red Robin, Robin and The Question searched the Necropolis top to bottom, searching for this elusive switch, or just anything in general that hinted there was more here than what met the eye.
"Hey, I feel a draft here. It's light, but it's here," Red Robin called, standing by a blank wall at a dead end. He gave it a couple of knocks, then gestured to Robin and Batman who each gave a different wall a knock. His sounded different, almost hollow.
"there's something behind here," Red Robin said. Batman, Robin, and The Question moved toward the wall and examined it carefully.
"There has to be a way to get through," Batman said evenly, scratching his chin.
"Simple. Blast it."
"Absolutely not!" Nightwing called, coming back down the hallway. "This is a sacred place! It's bad enough we're down here rifling through peoples' graves! We are not going to blow things up, too!" Nightwing scolded.
"Nightwing is right. An explosion of any kind would risk detection anyway."
"Really?! That's what you're worried about?!"
"Hold on. I've found something," came The Question's voice. Everyone turned their attention to him, and saw him standing in front of one of the sarcophagi. "This is a episcopal cross. It's slightly off kilter. I'll wager…" The Question trained off. He reached out and tried to turn the cross. At first it didn't budge, but then it turned into the correct position. The wall they'd all gathered around began to shift, sliding downward and disappearing into the floor.
"Well…that did it," Nightwing observes. Batman wordlessly made his way toward it, pulling a small but powerful flashlight out of his utility belt and making his way down, with everyone else behind him. What they found was, frankly, astonishing.
There were no sarcophagi, or any sign that there had ever been any down here. Instead, it looked like an old server room, with hundreds of old, seemingly defunct servers from the 1940s. Other than that, there was nothing else here.
"No one here. Seems like the Broker abandoned this place decades ago," The Question muttered.
"But we're getting closer. We know he was here and this proves it!" Nightwing pointed out, examining the servers.
"The question is, what now? Seems like another dead end to me. Do any of these things even work?" Red Robin asked, poking around some of them. He couldn't really figure out how to turn them on, if they even could turn on.
"Don't bother. The servers would have been wiped of information when the Broker picked up and left. He and his predecessors were meticulous and cautious. They wouldn't have left anything behind that could lead to their new location," The Question replied.
"It's still a step in the right direction. We know his operation was here at one point. That's far more than we've had as of yet.
"Congratulations, Batman. Nightwing. Robin. Red Robin. And. The Question," came a distorted, robotic voice. Everyone turned to see the source and saw one of the computer screens had turned on, revealing a green, featureless face. "You have found the original base of operations. You have come further than any before you. Truly, you are all Master Detectives," the voice said.
"How is this thing even working?!" Red Robin asked, examining it.
"You would be surprised what my organization can accomplish. Alas, your journey must be cut short here. I will not allow anyone, even you, to jeopardize my great work. You will be dead soon. These servers were long ago rigged with arc explosives. They will short circuit, and anyone within this room will be electrocuted to death. Goodbye Batman."
Suddenly, the door sealed shut and all of the servers started turning on. Red lights on them began to flash and sparks began to fly from them. The screen showed a count down of two minutes.
"We need to get out of here!" Nightwing called, racing for the door with everyone else behind him. He, with the help of the others, tried to pry the false-wall back open, but it wouldn't budge. "It's not moving!" Nightwing called back. Batman was already looking for ways to diffuse the computers.
"We have no choice! We need to…diffuse them somehow!" Batman called. He'd studied all manner of technology during his training before he became Batman, from all different eras. However, this low-tech proved to be challenging; he hadn't had many opportunities to work with it.
"I…I don't know how any of this stuff works!" Red Robin called, exasperated as he dug his fingers into his scalp, hopelessly staring at the ancient tech.
"I'm uploading a virus. These old computers are far more vulnerable to viruses and glitches than new tech. If I can just figure it out…" The Question called, frantically typing on the main computer's keyboard.
"Out of the way, I know how to fix this!" Robin shouted, shoving The Question out of the way and drawing his sword.
"No, we don't know what that will-" Nightwing called, attempting to stop him. Robin jammed his sword into the main computer and started twisting it, tearing cords, breaking tubes, and destroying circuit boards. The countdown stopped, and the servers simply shorted out. "See? Problem solved," he said haughtily. Batman pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Great. Now, let's get out of here and come up with another plan of action."
"I may be able to help with that. You should come with me. It';s likely that where ever you made your base of operations, that it is no longer safe or secure," The Question put in.
"And how can you help? You said he'd be here, and you were wrong!"
"But they were here. I told you earlier, I stole some files from the Vatican's archives. The Vatican has its own collection of secrets. Perhaps what I've swiped will shed some light."