"As much as I like your idea Sergeant, we cannot just wait for Batman to arrest your targets and then bomb Arkham with a drone strike. That would defeat the whole purpose of you being there." General Anderson told Alex over the phone. He hadn't actually meant for him to consider that request when he'd asked but whatever.
"Come on Sir, your telling me that we can't spare one predator drone?" Alex joked.
"No, now if we could get back to business I need you to do some recon. Go around the city and gather intel on where the rest of your targets are."
"Sir, you do know that most of them frequent the Iceberg Lounge right? That's pretty common knowledge." Alex informed him, hearing him sigh over the phone.
"You can't be serious Sergeant; I think our boys at intelligence would have known about that."
"Well, maybe not common knowledge outside of Gotham but it's good intel. The VIP lounge in the back is where they go to meet up or do whatever it is super villains do on their off hours."
"Alright we'll keep an eye on the place but I don't want you going in there."
"You sure Sir? Cause I could just as easily walk in with one of those machineguns you've given me and mow the place down. Or even better…" Alex is about to suggest another drone strike when General Anderson suddenly cuts him off.
"NO Sergeant! Not doubting your combat ability but I can't afford to have you walk in there without back up, these people have racked up quite the body count and I don't want you to join that."
"Very well Sir, your call. Still want me to go gather more intel, or do you have another mission?"
"Nothing actionable yet, but we've caught wind of a possible arms exchange at the park going down tomorrow evening. Observe the transaction and report back to me on the parties involved. This is a recon mission, engage only if you have to."
"You got it Sir!" He replies eagerly before hanging up. No shooting huh? Easier said than done.
Alex checked his phone for the time and saw that it was almost noon, time to head down to the library and sucker some kids into selling their souls away to the Green Weenie.
...
Barbara was back at the Batcaves computer looking for more information on Sergeant Westbrook; he seemed like a good enough guy the few times she'd spoken with him but she couldn't shake the feeling that he was in town for more than just recruiting duty, he arrived in town one day and the next evening Riddler and his goons end up dead in what looks like a military style ambush. Barbara had to get through several firewalls before she finally hacked her way into his military records and began to go over everything she could about him after the 2012 incident. Apparently after being cleared for full duty Alex had thrown himself into his work, attending multiple courses to enhance his combat skills. He definitely had the ability and means to pull off that ambush. As Barbara was digging through more records she noticed Bruce walk up behind her and look over what she was doing.
"Still looking into who our mystery shooter is?"
"Yeah, I'm nearly positive that this is our guy."
"Sergeant Westbrook. The recruiter?"
"He arrived in town a day before Riddler's gang was wiped out and on top of that he knew Harley Quinn before she went crazy, look here's the incident report." Bruce quickly reads over the incident report and the attached edits and rubs his chin in thought.
"I remember that, didn't realize he was back in town. But just because he knows Quinn doesn't peg him as a murderer, beside it says he cut ties with her afterwards. The timing of his arrival and Riddler's death are interesting however and if I'm reading these records right it certainly looks like he's capable of doing it."
"What about what I heard in the warehouse? By order of the DOD? Why is the military suddenly taking an interest in Gotham's criminals?"
"I think they always have been, this is just the first time they've done something if it is them."
"Well if it is them what do we do? I mean we can't exactly start fighting the military can we?"
"No, not until we know the full extent of what's going on. Until then we'll go about business as usual."
"And if I run into this agent?"
"Do what you can to prevent them from killing anymore and try to find out what they're objective is. If it turns out they're just another wildcard take them in. We'll also need to keep an eye on this Sergeant Westbrook, you've met him already?"
"Yeah, he comes by the library to recruit. He's a pretty cool guy when you talk with him, a little spontaneous at times, but he seems like your average guy."
"That just happens to be a trained warfighter, says here he's killed five insurgents in Afghanistan on top of Riddler and his gang if it was him. Remember that when you're dealing with him Barbara."
"Gee thanks dad…" I say, rolling my eyes.
...
Today was pretty successful, got a few kids that realized they couldn't play sports forever to come in and sign some papers which meant that Alex actually had to be at the office now during working hours and PT the kids. Oh well, at least they were pretty fit as it was. Anyways, Alex headed down to the park a couple of hours before dark, dressed in his gear and wearing a balaclava, exposing only his eyes to hide his face, and set up some cameras and audio shotguns in the bushes and trees around the park before setting himself up in a maintenance shed on the roof of an apartment building. Alex's IAR was already locked and loaded, sporting a suppressor this time, and resting on its bipod on top of a table he had pushed against the window overlooking the park, notepad and pencil lying next to it. Alex was about five-hundred yards away and had about a hundred and thirty feet of elevation from the park giving him a relatively clear view save for the few trees lining the edge of the park. With everything set up all he had to do now was wait for the party to arrive.
Couple hours and a few piss bottles later it was dark and vehicles started pulling into the park. Alex quickly hit the remote connected to the surveillance gear, powering them on and sighted down his scope at the park. Once the cars stopped several men in military style uniforms got out and met up with guys in expensive looking suits. Some of the military looking guys retrieved a large crate from one of their vans and set it behind what looked to be their representative. He was a rather large Caucasian male with a full head of hair and a thick beard wearing a leather trench coat over his uniform. As this was going on Alex spotted the gangster looking guy's rep walk over and shake hands with the bearded guy. He was dressed in a sharp suit and looked way too handsome to be doing this sort of thing, at least he thought until he turned his face. The other side of his face looked like it had met the business end of large IED, hair burned away and even from this distance Alex could see exposed bone and muscle tissue. Only one person in this town with a face that fucked up, Harvey Dent, or as he now went by Two-Face.
The meet up now under way the military guys opened up their crate for Two-Face to inspect the contents and Alex quickly jotted down everything that he saw since the cars pulled up.
"2300, vehicles pull into park. one group in non-standard military uniforms, carrying AK's, leader is Caucasian with dark hair and thick beard, wearing leather coat. Second group in expensive suits, armed with AR-15's/SMG's, positive ID on Harvey Dent (Two-Face). Group one making exchange with Dent's crew, 1 crate containing what appears to be RPG-7 launchers, unknown quantity of launchers and rockets."
Shit, Alex had expected it to be more AK's not god damn RPG's! He briefly considered flicking his safety off and spraying a large burst through the lot of them, but then thought better of it. This was just a preview from the looks of it, and from the way Dent's face smiled, Alex thought it was smiling at least, said that he was pleased with the launchers. He said a few more words to the bearded guy before motioning one of his men forward. Dent's man brought over a large case and passed it off to Dent who then passed it to the bearded guy. The two shook hands again and returned to their vehicles, Dent's men loading the crate of RPG's into their van before driving off.
"2345, exchange made, both parties leave park." Alex wrote down before packing up his notes and slinging his IAR across his chest. He's about to leave the maintenance shed and head down to the park to retrieve the gear which had hopefully caught the audio of that transaction when he bumped into someone as he walked out the door causing me to stumble back a few steps. "Stupid!" He thinks to himself as he brings his weapon up and stares over the scope at a boy dressed in a red outfit and wearing a mask. Only one kid ran around in that outfit, Robin.
"Nice evening to assassinate someone isn't it?" He asks with a smirk on his face.
"You know what they say about making assumptions kid, I wasn't planning on shooting anyone tonight." Alex tells him as he lowers his weapon. He'd never shot a kid before and he didn't plan on starting tonight.
"So you're the mystery shooter huh? Batgirls driving herself crazy trying to figure out who you are."
Shit, Alex didn't realize one of the Bat's was already on his case. "That so? Well who does she think I am?" He asks hoping he'll be stupid enough to tell him and sure enough he is.
"She's pretty sure you're the Marine recruiter, the time between your arrival and Riddler's death is pretty short if that's who you are." He reveals and Alex is extremely thankful he wore the balaclava tonight.
Shit, she's too close. This op may be over before it's even begun.
"Look kid I'm not here to cause trouble for you and your guys, and hey? How did you even know I was up here?" Alex suddenly asked, realizing he had literally appeared out of thin air.
"Your muzzle was sticking out the window."
"FUCK! Rookie mistake Westbrook!" He screams internally. Alex tried to walk around him but he just steps in front of his path again.
"Wow, where are you going? We're not done here." He says, poking a finger into my chest.
"Your brave kid, messing with a guy carrying a loaded weapon, and I actually know how to use it unlike those goons you're used to fighting. I respect that kid, really I do and you'd probably make a hell of a Marine one day if you get tired of doing this, but for real I got no beef with you and the other Bats." Alex says as he starts walking backwards towards the fire escape, Robin slowly following him. "There's just one thing I gotta ask you though." He asks as he reaches the fire escape and the attached drain pipe.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" He shouted suddenly, pointing up into the air behind Robin. He quickly turns around to see what Alex is pointing at, combat stance ready and holding a batarang in his hand when Alex quickly grabs the drainage pipe and slides down the building, taking off down the street.
Alex didnt stop running until he reached his Challenger that's parked a few blocks away, leaning against the hood laughing his ass off. Oh, the look on his face as he shouted! Alex couldn't believe he actually fell for that! He laughed to himself a bit more before getting into his car and starting it, changing back into civilian clothes before heading back to the park and retrieving his gear. Once that's done Alex headed back to the apartment in Old Gotham and downloaded the audio and visual data before forwarding it and a copy of his notes to General Anderson. Hopefully he and his intel boys can make sense of it and point him in the right direction, last thing this city needed was thugs with RPG's running around.
Alex also sent the General a private message warning him that Batgirl was close, very close, to figuring out who he was and asked for his guidance on how to proceed. He'd rather not have to fight her, but as the General told him earlier the mission takes priority. Alex was lucky enough to have avoided a fight with Robin tonight, sure he was just a kid but from what everyone hears he's a damn good fighter. Still a bit green behind the ears though, falling for that trick but hey, everyone's a boot at one point in time. Hopefully Robin would pass along that message that Alex had no ill intent towards the Bats along and we could avoid any complications in the future.
…Mission Complete…