Chapter 3: Trying not to mess up?
Robin took orders most of the time. If Batman demanded a certain maneuver or tactic, Robin was the first to perform it succinctly. Tonight, however, was not most of the time. Sitting in his room, costume hung up and wearing fresh pajamas, he began to boot up his computer. When he and Batman had pulled up into the Bat Cave, he was immediately reprimanded before he could even begin to investigate.
"Don't look into this, I'll handle it." Batman had glared at his young protégé, whose interests in the case were already piqued. He nodded, fled to his room, and naturally proceeded to disobey.
When researching hitmen, Dick would dive into the dark web. The software he kept, Tor, made sure that he could observe the often thoroughly encrypted sites. He usually kept a reference of links stored on his computer, and as he pulled them up into a new window he pondered on which route he should follow. One link lead to illegal kidney transplants, another boasted a cannibal forum. The goal for now was to start small and, with enough clicks, reach the destination he wanted. He scrolled down the list and found a link that lead to a black market chatroom.
Good place to start, he thought, clicking the link and waiting for it to open. He logged in anonymously and typed in a pen name: 156_chen. Already there were conversations discussing the drug trade.
quakek0te: does anyone know where to get 1kg of crack here?
serkt12ai: intending to sell or just inhale the whole damn thing?
O^ndcres : oh you know they're intending to inhale the whole of it
156_chen: hey
There was a bit of silence. Then a response.
serk12ai: hey what?
quakek0te: hey focus on me I asked first
O^ndcres : shut up no one cares about your drug habits. 156_chen?
156_chen: there was a murder recently. The link's below. Any ideas on who did it? I'm interested.
He copied the link into his chat. Inside were JPEG's of pictures he discreetly took of the scene. He also may have forgot to have mention that there was a virus in it as well.
quakek0te: that doesn't sound sketchy at alllll
serk12ai: it's a download link give us a screenshot I don't want a virus
quakek0te: ^^^^^
O^ndcres : agreed
Dick frowned. He needed the information, though.
He sent the screenshots. One was of the bloodied wall and the other was a picture of the bodies. He waited.
O^ndcres: huh
quakek0te: BSSSSSS THAT'S SO FAKE. I should know I'm a coroner
serk12ai: your not a coroner you're a drug addict
quakek0te: I can dream tho, yeah?
O^ndcres : shutup serk12ai. Chen why would you need to know who did it.
156_chen: I wanna hire them
quakek0te:oh you've come to the wrong chat try somewhere else lol
O^ndcres : yeah. Try here tho. They might know something.
A link popped up. It was to another chatroom. Dick's cursor loomed over the link and, for a brief moment, he felt an inkling of hesitation. If he proceeded not only would he be disobeying orders, but he would also be amongst some of the worst minds he could think of. His brow furrowed.
Click!