Chapter 6 – Criminals Part 1
Damian stood in Batman regalia, cowl pulled down, before a digitally projected map.
"Okay, here's where all the missing girls supposedly lived," he explained, pointing at the array of dots. Each dot had a line projecting from it, connecting it up with all the information they could obtain about each missing girl.
The dots were in a single district to the northern part of the city. They seemed to be around 2 to 3 streets away from each other.
"Do you think the culprit knows where these girls live?" Mar'i mused. She had been using an abandoned building towards the edge of their culprit's hunting area to change. There was a chance that maybe the culprit saw her and assumed she lived there. But, there was also a chance it was too far and she needed to move closer.
"Probably. We need to assume everything at this point, which is why I had Abuse look into this information."
"Hopefully I didn't chase him off," Colin sighed, downcast by their lack of success. However, he had been putting a lot of work into this, into making the streets a safer place and helping to find the woman he knew.
It had to be hard, especially since they didn't know whether or not she was alive. Mar'i placed what she hoped was a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"We're going to get this guy," she promised.
Damian gave them a moment before he got their attention again.
"The best thing to do right now is man the streets. Colin, you know best what would seem out of place, so I want you walking around these streets." Damian whirled a finger around the streets where the most dots were clustered.
Colin nodded in agreement although he looked nervous about it.
"Mar'i, you'll be walking a route around these streets." Damian traced the streets outside Colin's, the streets with only a few or no victims. "Don't go out of your way to avoid Colin's streets but keep in mind that we're trying to cover as much ground as possible." Mar'i suspected that he also assumed the criminal was moving into those areas. "I'll intersect my route in the streets here, here and here." He pointed to streets at the edge of Mar'i's and Colin's areas. Damian thought carefully about his next few words. "I'll be aiming to be seen."
Mar'i instantly understood. He was hoping to herd the criminal towards Colin and Mar'i. Plus, he was probably also hoping to remind Gotham of the Batman and get them used to 'the Batman's new look'.
"Comms will be on at all times," Damian added placing some earpieces on the table in front of them. Mar'i took hers and placed it in her ear. "They're the new ones, synced to each other and almost invisible. Red Robin's little babies."
"Did you steal them?" Mar'i joked with a smirk.
Damian gave her his best offended look. The acting lessons he took as a kid mostly paid off. "I offered to test them."
Mar'i snickered and Colin even cracked a smile.
It was not going well. Mar'i had been walking around the streets for ages, trying to look like a good target. Nothing was happening. Normally, that would be a good thing but, when you have a person running around and taking girls who knows where then it was a problem. Nothing happening meant another target. It meant a missed chance. It meant more fear on the streets.
Mar'i hated the thought. Gotham was a city which didn't need to sleep. But it certainly seemed to be sleeping now.
"Excuse me." Mar'i jumped at the hand on her shoulder. She turned to see a man in a large, brown, fuzzy coat and bucket hat.
"Can I help you?" she questioned. Silently, she hoped this was it. That they would finally end this.
She could almost hear Abuse stop to listen with bated breath.
"Perhaps."
Mar'i winced as he twisted her arm. She was more durable than a normal human but, it still hurt.
"Hey!" a woman's voice cried out. The man jumped and bolted into the darkness.
On the other end of the comm, Abuse heaved a disappointed sigh.
"Are you okay?" she asked Mar'i, grabbing her arm and checking her face.
"I'm fine," Mar'i responded with a thank you. She looked this woman over. There was a small age gap between them by her best estimate. This woman was barely older than the ones disappearing, at Mar'i's best guess. Her face was round and open, her long hair pulled up into a messy bun. Her clothes were cheap, as were most of the clothes of those who lived in this area.
Something didn't feel quite right. Mar'i didn't think this woman was helping out of the goodness of her own heart.
"I can walk you home, if you like?"
"That sounds great," Mar'i responded with a relieved smile. "But I only live a few streets away."
"A little protection is never a bad thing," the woman insisted.
"Of course. Um, feel free to come with then," Mar'i responded. She heard Batman's annoyed huff and Abuse's wondering about whether he could still catch the man who bolted. Mar'i walked with the woman down the streets towards an abandoned building they were using as her cover's 'home'.
They talked about random things.
"I like your hair colour. Is that a natural brown? What does it look like out of the bun?" Mar'i asked. The woman patiently answered all her questions before making a suggestion that they visit someone she knew nearby.
The building Mar'i was guided to looked new enough, being rebuilt after some kind of disaster. New construction, probably funded secretly by Wayne Enterprises.
Mar'i agreed, casually mentioning how she didn't think Gotham had buildings which looked new.
"Oh, you're not from around here?" the woman questioned.
"I moved here a few weeks ago," Mar'i responded. Was it just her imagination or did the woman's smile grow
Have faith, she reminded herself. This woman could just be nice. It could just be her paranoia making her suspicious of foul play; she really had her father to thank for that one.
The woman opened a door.
"Come in, make yourself comfortable," she said. Mar'i nodded and let herself in.
The door clicked shut behind the woman, almost like a lock sliding into place. The room smelt of something sweet and metallic. It was mostly unadorned, just the bare basics in plain colours.
Mar'i let out a cry as a jolt went through her system and caused her to black out.
Thoughts came back fuzzy. Her body ached and twitched out of control as she tried to move it. Her eyes opened a crack and a hand slammed down over them.
She grabbed at it, pulling and scratching furiously until her mind registered Damian talking to her.
"Trust me, you won't like what you see."
"How bad is it?" she questioned. She needed to take deep breaths in order to not give into the panic she was feeling, her heart hammering away in her chest. The metallic smell was stronger and her hands touched something sticky as they dropped from Batman's glove to the ground.
"Bad." That was Abuse. His voice weak. It was strange to hear the adult, gravelly tone sound more like Colin than Abuse.
"The woman?"
"Don't have a name for her yet," Damian responded. "I suppose the police will find one when they get here. We should leave."
Mar'i agreed. She was a little tired of seeing nothing but darkness. Chains rattled and Abuse muttered a short prayer. It was creeping her out a little bit to have the two acting out of sorts.
"I'm going to blindfold you," Damian commented. Mar'i heard something fabric-like being pulled out.
"You just happen to have a blindfold on you?" she said in an amused tone. If their keeping her in the dark, figuratively and literally, was the only reason she could make jokes to cheer them up, she would take it.
"Putting it on now," Damian said to her in a quiet voice. "Close your eyes."
"I don't really appreciate being kept out of this by the way," she informed them. She wondered if her imagination was cooking up any images even close to what was beyond the darkness.
"Then why are you letting me do it?" Damian questioned.
Mar'i didn't think her reason; because you seem to need it, would make him feel better. There was a lack of sounds of life from anyone besides her, Damian and Colin and so she assumed the missing girls were dead.
"Let's go," she said, changing the subject. "The police are coming, remember?"
"-tt- Of course. I said it first," Damian grumbled, leading her out of the room. Mar'i had to admit, his dark Batman-trench coat was silent compared to the other Batman's cape.