A/N: A shout out to Jennifer Baratta! Glad you liked the last chapter, this one promises to have some surprises. ;) Thanks!

Chapter 27

Early the next morning, Kate, Kara, and Nyssa had taken up seats near the Bat Computer as Luke pulled up the footage he'd found regarding the museum. Nyssa's discovery had given him another angle to look for and he'd found more views on other cameras.

"Ok so it's a bit of a trip but I want you to follow me here," Luke said.

"You have more coffee?" Kate asked. She'd already downed one cup and was looking for more.

"You know it," he winked. Kate chuckled and went off to the machine to get some more. It was located off to the side of the Bat Cave near the gadget area so she wouldn't be gone for long.

"How many cups is that for her?" Nyssa asked.

"Being a day person while working at night does have its drawbacks," Luke said.

"The League aways preferred the shadows, but we also didn't have to keep a high profile during the day," Nyssa said, taking a sip of her own coffee. Kara said nothing. Her Kryptonian physiology didn't need sleep every night; it was just a habit that she'd gotten into since her human family and friends needed to do it. Technically, she could go three days before needing sleep and even then, it only really needed to be a couple of hours.

"All right, sorry about that. Show us what you've got," Kate came back from the coffee pot holding two mugs. It was going to be a long day. Luke nodded and pulled up the footage.

"Sophie got some information from the curator to go with our movie. Now two days ago, the museum called for their HVAC guys to come in. They wanted the unit inspected prior to the big event to make sure that it would be able to handle the sudden influx of people. As you can imagine, a gala like last night normally packs the space, more than say your everyday school tours," he started.

"So, this guy in that uniform shows up," Kara saw a man wearing what looked like a blue jumpsuit talking to someone just outside the room where the bomb was planted.

"Correct. He brings only a tool bag so as not to look suspicious but I'm guessing that this guy did most of the wiring for the device," Luke said.

"How so?" Kate raised an eyebrow before drinking more coffee.

"The curator said usually the inspection and lube up of the moving parts takes about an hour. This guy was in there for only slightly longer than an hour and said that he thought the unit would work fine for the event, but they might want to consider replacing a few of the fans. He claimed they were starting to show their age but once he made sure they were greased they operated well. The curator said that they've been given money by the Wayne Foundation to replace the unit in its entirety. This was supposed to be the last event that this unit was ever going to handle. The HVAC company knew this and was helping them pick out a new unit, and discussing how the newer ones were much more efficient and smaller that they could maybe even upgrade some other areas of the museum that needed better temperature control," he explained.

"Well, this could be the low guy on the totem pole. Maybe he doesn't know that," Nyssa spoke up.

"That's what the curator figured it was and shrugged it off until a second guy showed up to do the inspection the next day. She told the man that someone had already been by and the two of them just shrugged it off as a miscommunication. However, Sophie reviewed the company's records and the first guy's paperwork never shows up in the system," Luke said.

"So, he wired it up. Now the wiring couldn't be completed though until the canisters were in place though," Kate pointed out. She'd finished that first cup of coffee and was onto the second one.

"That's where that broken door lock comes into play," Nyssa said.

"Exactly so. I know you and Kara were probably not looking closely at the labels on those canisters while you were diffusing the bomb but watch this," Luke switched the feeds to a back hallway. There were three men wheeling the canisters down the hallways and each of them had a sticker on them showing balloons.

"They made them look like helium tanks," Kate said.

"There were balloons at the gala," Kara confirmed.

"Exactly. The back door lock that Nyssa found broken was the doorway used by the helium delivery man, along with a few other delivery men. My guess is that our perps broke the lock, added their phony helium tanks to the pile, during the night, and then in the morning showed up like they were part of the team bringing in new tanks and prepping the balloons. We could have confirmed this if the camera near the back door hadn't been broken," Luke told them.

"Why didn't museum security report the broken camera?" Kara wanted to know.

"Seems that camera goes down on the regular and the last time it broke, they just didn't bother to fix it," Luke shrugged.

"Because who would break in where they knew there was no camera?" Kara raised an eyebrow.

"The pranksters who broke the camera never did anything else that indicated they wanted to break in. There was never a problem before, so the museum didn't bother to fix it two days before one of their biggest events of the year. They had other fish to fry," he said.

"So, you have footage of the men who moved the so-called helium tanks to the mechanical room?" Kate asked.

"Three men go in, only two come out. Our guy must have made himself a key while he was wiring up the bomb because they got into the mechanical room pretty easily. They make another run to the room with the last two canisters, then three men exit the room. Their job done and the timer set. Afterwards the door is locked and they disappear into the mess of people setting up for the event," Luke showed them.

"They're efficient, well-trained… this doesn't look anything like the Auto Show crew," Nyssa knew professionals when she saw them.

"I'm running the faces through facial rec now and so is Sophie. Someone will get a hit sooner or later and we'll know who we're dealing with," Luke was confident.

"Did you pass these faces along to Alex? She may be able to expand the search," Kara suggested.

"I did that as well. Your sister promised to call as soon as she found something. Also, she'd like you to check in. She said that things are pretty quiet in National City which is making her nervous," he admitted.

"I'll check in. Thanks Luke," the blonde smiled.

"No problem," he smiled back.

"I should check in on Mary. My dad has been giving me updates but I should be there," Kate told them before polishing off the second cup of coffee.

"Until we have faces, we have no leads. Go. Kara and I can handle anything that pops up over the next few hours," Nyssa said.

"Yeah, I mean a Kryptonian and a former League of Assassins member – how much trouble can we get in?" Kara chuckled. Kate laughed at that and thanked everyone before leaving. She was in the elevator and out of earshot when Luke turned to both ladies.

"I didn't want to say anything but…" he trailed off.

"What is it?" Nyssa gave him a look. She preferred people to just come out with it. He didn't say anything but switched the camera feed they had been looking at to another camera feed.

"This is footage before the bank incident," he explained. They watched as people walked through the museum. One recognizable person was walking around with a man that looked a lot like Pike.

"Is that Mary?" Kara's eagle eyes didn't want to believe it.

"It is. She was scoping out the museum with Pike," Luke said.

"Well, we know she wasn't herself," Nyssa said. Luke said nothing as the tape played out more. Nyssa and Kara's eyes went wide as they watched Mary kiss Pike. There was being brainwashed and then there was playing along out of fear but…

"Could she have been tricked into doing that?" Kara was trying to be nice.

"Pretty sure her tongue was in his throat," Nyssa was not trying to be nice.

"What do we do?" Luke asked.

"Call ARGUS. I want a chat with Pike and Fatima," Kara said.

To Be Continued…