Metal Gear Solid: Shadows of Gotham
Chapter 7: The chase begins
The sunsets over Gotham… Damian Wayne lands in the window of a homeless shelter. This shelter opens its door for the victims of Joker's attack. People too afraid to walk the streets and people with nowhere to go lay their head together in something akin to a community. Damian felt for these people, whether it be the league of assassins or with Batman, he always had a home to go home to and a safety net to fall into. The quality of that home varied wildly, but still. These people have nothing, or the thing they have is constantly under attack. It steeled little Robins will.
However, Damian was here with a purpose. He was locating two friends of the family who were volunteering here for the next couple days. Selina Kyle and Harley Quinn. Well, Quinn was a friend of the family, Ms. Kyle was a bit closer to Damian's father than Damian was willing to admit.
He waited for them both to be alone, while he was waiting he noticed one of the homeless people sneaking out the back. Damian was ready to go see what the man was about, but noticed both Ms. Kyle and Quinn were alone in the kitchen. To Damian the man seemed in distress and was avoiding the population center, Occam's razor would posit that the bag is for clothes and other effects. He wasn't going to be a thug to shake down the homeless for no reason, he decided to leave the man be. It may be good to be observant, but it's never good to be paranoid.
Robin tapped the glass so both women would notice him, while Ms. Kyle opened the window, Ms. Quinn was making jokes. "Oh no! We're being accosted by a gremlin! Someone call superman!"
"I'm my father's son, I ate kryptonite for breakfast." Damian said with deadly seriousness. He wasn't serious of course, he's learning from Grayson how to be more personable. He was failing.
This had Ms. Quinn in stitches, while Ms. Kyle was just smiling in support. "Let's step out back. We don't want the other staff members questioning." Ms. Kyle said.
"Wait! Let me get this soup out for this guy!" Ms. Quinn said, as Ms. Kyle opened the door.
Damian followed out the back, "How is Harley, reeducation going?"
"A.) Not reeducation, its just an exercise I volunteered to help with because I couldn't be there during Joker's attack. And B.) she's holding up rather well. I wish Ivy came too, but I think Gothamites would recognize that reformed villain." Selina explains.
Some time ago, Batman worked out essentially a second chance with Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. More accurately, they came to an understanding. They would even be considered friends now, even if Ivy was more standoffish compared to Harley. Even Damian and Selina noticed the air was more relaxed between Batman and Ivy whenever they're around one another.
Times like today were the perfect learning experience for Harley to get used to being herself again without the Joker. With his attack and subsequent recapture being so recent, everyone thought it best to give Harley an outlet to both lay low and help people in small ways before moving onto bigger stuff if that was something she chose.
While Damian had no horse in this race, he was mildly happy that his father's project was going well. "I'm sure the old man will be pleased."
"We're not that-" Selina started to scoff before Harley stepped out.
"Man, that guy was nice! Until he got all rude and left without taking my soup! Manners died first in Gotham." She complained, holding a bowl of soup. "Here kid, you take it."
It would be a headache to argue with Ms. Quinn, so Damian took it and started drinking it. "I have been sent by both Batman and Oracle for two different reasons." He said between gulps.
"Okay… what's going on?" Selina questioned, leaning on the wall.
"First. Batman wants to know how your reeducation is coming along, Harley." Damian started, curtly.
Selina scoffed, "It's not-"
"Hey! I'm not one of those life after hate, nazi's!" Harley exclaimed. "Not that they're trying to get better too! Cus they are! Just different situations!" She responded loudly, but meekly.
Damian just raised and eyebrow and stared back.
"I'm doing okay. Some of these people saw… him… and it's got me on edge a little when they talk about him. But I've also just been on my feet for eight hours. I might just need a break." Harley sighed, sitting on the steps, her head in her knees.
Damian lightly patted her knee awkwardly. "I'm relieved. Also Wayne tech employees and volunteers get a 30 minute lunch break and two 15 minute breaks. Use them." He responded robotically, he was genuinely trying to be comforting. He could see the distress she was in, trying to throw herself into something productive to avoid the darkness.
"Aye boss." She smiled wearily. She used to be a doctor, long hours on her feet are normal. But she felt a crushing weight that didn't belong to her, like she was responsible in some way.
Selina broke the awkward silence that started due to Damians social ineptitude. "What did Oracle send you for?"
"Have either of you seen Red Hood?" Damian stated curtly.
Both girls looked between each other, "No? Jason's missing?"
"He turned off his transponder. Which is normal, but then he never showed up at the apartment. It might be nothing, but if you could keep an eye out. We'd appreciate it." Damian responded, going for his grapple gun.
Harley speaks up next, "We will. If you see him, send him my way will ya?" She requested.
"I will." He responded before grappling and gliding away.
"How come you don't have a glider?" She looked up at Selina.
Selina shrugged, "A flying cat sounds terrifying."
Harley got an evil smile, "Yeah it does."
In the early morning hours, Roman Sionis and Floyd Lawton were reported dead, Duke Thomas, the Signal, was first on the scene. He was the newest member of the Batfamily, and he felt the pressure now more than ever. He had the illustrious position of… the day shift. Which had its pros and cons, at least he had a better sleep schedule than the rest of the family… not by a whole lot, but enough. He had been given a big case like this by Batman, he and the family believe Duke is ready for something big. This was certainly big enough.
He stood over the dead body of Floyd Lawton, Deadshot. Officers moving around while forensics gathered evidence.
"Did Bat walk you through this part?" A voice spoke up behind him, a voice belonging to a very tired Jim Gordon.
Duke nodded, "This just feels strange."
"Yeah, I'm getting nervous something big is going on." Gordon responded.
"Deadshot, Black Mask, and Scarecrow. In reverse order." Duke pondered.
"What are you thinking so far? Let's say they're not related until we find more connective evidence. To me, the easiest conclusion to consider first was some kind of conflict between Black Mask and Deadshot. Maybe he owed him money or someone was paying for Black Masks corpse." Jim suggested, he knew there was more to this. But walking through possible motives was a good exercise for someone as green as Duke.
Duke pondered for a moment, "Let me see the other body first."
Jim nodded and escorted him along to the body of Roman Sionis. Duke first noticed the hole in the glass, the glass didn't completely shatter, so it was a bulletproof window. Roman had two bullet wounds, one in the abdomen and one in the head. Duke immediately noticed the difference between the two wounds. The angles show it came from two different guns, one a much higher caliber than the other. Two shooters, one not immediately lethal, the other was instant death.
"Two shooters. One sniper-" He started as he pointed through the window at the house across the way. "And one internal shooter." he turned and let his finger follow to the door.
"An empty safe implies robbery. Not Lawtons style. Did Deadshot have an accomplice?" Jim continued the thought for him.
"Or a competitor. The power was out on the block until this morning, correct? Lawton wouldn't need the power out to kill Sionis" Duke continued further. "So no security system recorded anything?"
Jim nods, "And officers entered the house across the way after identifying the same angle you did. They found a scared rich family haphazardly tied up in the kitchen." Jim continues, "As for security, Black Masks own system showed some malfunctioning cameras moments before their generators went off, but nothing was on them."
"Premeditated, but had to be done quickly. Several guards were unconscious, several more dead. All quickly but just as effective. It was a race. The indoor shooter only fired four times. The two guards in here, then Black Mask, then Deadshot." Duke responded.
"And it needs to be that order because Deadshot had to shoot Black Mask at some point. So they got to Sionis around the same time. But if Black Mask was the target-" Jim started the thought just as Duke finished it.
"-why did he not go for the heart or the head? Unless Deadshot's target was the second shooter!" Duke concluded.
Duke looked around. "The second shooter came in through the ventilation system, Killed the first two guards and had Sionis, but didn't kill Sionis immediately in order to get the safe open. Why did Deadshot take a less than lethal shot at Mask if his target was the second shooter?"
Both men pondered for a moment, stuck on this question. "Preliminary questioning of the unconscious guards say that they attacked from the shadows and essentially brought them down one at a time. The one that got any kind of look at the second shooter thought they were Batman."
Duke stepped around Sionis, who had fallen just behind the desk. "If they're roughly the height of Batman, they could have used Sionis as a human shield. There is an exit wound on Sionis, but no bullet or bullet hole found. It must be embedded in our second shooter."
"Meaning the second shooter is skilled enough and observant enough to notice Deadshot from roughly the length of a football field." Gordon added.
"And tough enough to handle the pain long enough for Deadshot to reposition, and then to kill Deadshot." Duke continued.
"That's starting to feel like a stretch." Gordon sipped his coffee.
Duke shook his head, "Deadshot didn't die in a sniper perch, he was out in the open, why? The other body that is out in the road, did anyone find that bullet?"
Gordon nodded and signaled one of the forensics investigators. It takes a few minutes to gather the evidence bags, in the meantime Gordon spoke up. "You're doing pretty well, new guy."
Duke awkwardly responded, "T-thank you.. Sir." His demeanor while investigating was more confident. Gordon likened it to Nightwing or a younger batman. It made Jim smile a little bit.
Duke considered using his powers to assist him, but he had something to prove. To show that his investigation skills were enough, that he could be just as good as Batman. He would need to be to work during the day with all eyes on him.
The other investigator brought the bullet. Through the plastic evidence bag, Duke immediately noticed the strangeness of the round.
"A tracking bullet. But why is this in one of Sionis' men?" Duke lifted his hand and scanned the bullet with his helmet. He stepped away to the window, "Oracle, this is Duke. Are you awake?"
Immediately he got a response, "Red Robin and I compete for the worst sleep schedule, what do you have for me?"
"Can you view through my helmet? I found a tracking round, my hud says its still emitting a signal. Can you tell where its transmitting to?" Duke inquired.
Oracle typed away for a few seconds, "I got your eyes and I got the signal… sorta. The bullet you're holding stopped transmitting. But there is a signal nearby, just outside where you are now. As for where that signal is going… is nowhere right now. Its receiver has been turned off and unlike our tech, the trackers don't show a history of where it was last transmitted to." She explained while Duke walked, following the direction Oracle sent to his HUD.
Duke followed it back to the body of the man out in the road. The one Deadshot killed. Duke crouched down and his helmet showed a signal being transmitted from his abdomen, but no entry wound. "The bullets in his stomach?"
"I'm a little lost for context, what's it mean?" Oracle inquired.
"The Second shooter ripped the bullet out of his body, made this man swallow it then used this man as bait, and used the tracker to draw him in. Deadshot goes in to confirm the kill for the client, stops when he notices it's not his target and is shot by that target instead." Duke continues, he stands to look at deadshots body, he takes notice of the angle of the bullet and traces it to the bushes.
Gordon followed Duke the whole time. "This second shooter was skilled enough to stealth into Black Masks compound, cut the power, notice one of the best snipers in the world, then stealth around Deadshot to get the jump on him? Are you sure he hasn't trained with one of you guys?" Gordon sighed.
"I'm sure, Red Hood and Batwoman are the only ones who use or have used firearms and this isn't their tactic, not with people like Sionis or Deadshot." Duke sighed in response.
"If I were you, Duke, report back to Batman. I'll pass this along to Nightwing, he's working the underbelly searching for signs of the escaped inmates. Maybe, he can find out who hired Deadshot and who his target was." Oracle explains.
Duke nodded, "Yes, Ma'am. Signal out." He looked over at Gordon. "Thanks for the help."
"Eh, I still got it." Jim shrugged.
"Maybe they should make you commissioner or something." Duke chuckled before handing the bag back and starting to leave.
"Yeah I'm sure that won't be the most stressful job on the planet." Gordon sighed.
Selina Kyle stepped through the exit elevator to the Batcave, sitting alone at the computer was her beloved. The Batman. To say these walls were storied and these two were storied even more so would be an understatement. She quietly walks up behind him-
"Hello Selina." He gruffly replies as she wraps her arms behind her.
She smiles and kisses his cheek, "Hello Bruce." She mocks his gruff reply.
"How was your day with Harley?" He inquires as he keeps researching, leaning too peck her cheek. One of the things she grew to accept about him was multi tasking with work. She did want his attention, but all of the super criminals in Arkham got released. She understood why his attention was divided.
"She's doing well, did you get Damian's report?" She replied.
Bruce nods, "I did. But you spent the day with her. Anything of note?"
"She's a little shaken. I'm glad Joker got caught when he did. Or else she may have had to hole up with Pamella for a little while. And I don't like shoving them away when the going gets tough." Selina replies.
Bruce sighs, "I know. When this is over I will pay a visit to the two of them. I promised I would be more active with them."
Selina smiles for a second, when she met the man his crusade was so dark. So fueled by vengeance. Sure there are moments where he slips, but he genuinely cares for the people of this city, people like Ivy and Quinn, people like her. If only she and his family could slowly let some of the weight off his shoulders, she knew it was possible. He let in a family to begin with.
"You're smiling about something." Bruce interrupted her thoughts.
"We have the whole family home and it's not even christmas." She jokes, "If only we could celebrate."
"We can once this is over. Everyone deserves a break after this." Bruce explains.
Selina raises an eyebrow, "Even you?"
"A brief one." He smirks.
She rolls her eyes and leans next to him, "You didn't tell me Jason didn't come back."
Bruce stopped typing, "Damian is handling it."
She sighed, "Bad way to word that."
"I just mean-"
"You don't want to confront him yourself." She interrupts.
Bruce sighs, "It's not that, I just want him to have his space and be safe."
"I know that…" She replies, she agrees with the sentiment even if this family needed to talk far sooner than they often do.
"Is there anything you need my help with?" She offers.
"Still have any of your contacts in Gothams seedy side?" Bruce inquires.
"No, they all pretty much burned up not long after I started… 'working' with you." Selina chuckles and leans down to kiss him again.
Bruce kisses her back and sighs, "Then nothing directly. We have a lot of cases open and not a lot of details yet."
"Anything major? Maybe Cat momma can help out one of the kids." She jokes and leans on the table again.
"Scarecrow, Black Mask and Deadshot all within a short time were murdered. They may be unrelated, but something feels off about it." Bruce replies.
"You think there's a pattern yet? I was part of your biggest group of criminal rivals for a time, should I be worried?" She replies.
He briefly pats her hand, "Even if someone's hunting them all down, they'll never get a shot at you."
"My hero." She smirks. "I'll keep in mind some of the open cases. I'm going to relay to Harley and Pam to keep their heads on a swivel just in case some lunatic is hunting down the big names." She says before starting for the elevator.
"Thank you." He replies.
She stops when she gets to the door, "I love you Bruce."
He stops typing to turn around, he looks a little tired, but still the man she fell in love with. "I love you too Selina."
Barbara Gordon worked away at her computer. Compiling all the information Duke had collected. Up in her tower, she may have been alone but she could hear everything. Just low enough not to bother her but all running with alerts to let her know of a problem. She imagines this is akin to how Superman feels, only she can't tune in and out subconsciously. She was mostly just running support for everyone rather than doing any sleuthing herself.
Batman was leading the search for the escapee's of Arkham.
Nightwing and Orphan were checking the seediest contacts and breaking a few noses to make sure none of those escapees went to ground.
Red Robin and Spoiler are investigating the Scarecrow murder
Signal was investigating the murder of Deadshot and Black Mask.
Batwoman and Batwing are investigating if any big name criminals have left Gotham or gone to ground in the surrounding areas.
Robin was searching for Red Hood… for Jason.
Jason has gone absolutely missing. It may have only been a short time, but even worse arguments or tantrums than this have not resulted in this. Something was wrong, Barbara could feel it.
Apparently someone else was equally as worried, Alfred appeared on the cameras heading for the elevator.
She unlocked the doors and made exceptions in the security as the butler made his way up.
Minutes pass before Alfred finally appears. "Afternoon, Miss Gordon. I presume you've had enough sleep?"
She turned on her wheels and smiled up at him, "Of course, Alfred! I'm all rested up."
His expression doesn't change. He does put down a thermos of coffee. "I'm sure." He replies knowingly, as he puts down a wrapped up box. "Lunch and coffee. And tea for myself." He says pulling a chair close.
"Well thank you for the care package, Alfred. Is everyone out of the house and you've come to keep me company?" Barbara inquires as she takes a sip of her coffee.
"Not quite. Master Bruce is there. Chasing down a lead about Man-Bat." Alfred responds, "I'm here about a different matter."
Barbara stops, she was smart enough to know what he meant. She only looks him down in response.
"One of my children is missing. You know where he was last." Alfred starts.
Barbara sighs, "I can know where Jason's last location was, or current location if his helmet is still intact…" she pauses.
Alfred sighs with her, "I understand what this would mean for us-"
"It would mean him losing his trust in me, Alfred. We promised this would be for an emergency." Barbara interrupts.
Alfred nods his head, "Yes. Would this not constitute an emergency?"
Barbara groans again and leans back. "Let's give Damian some time?" She asked more than directed.
Alfred ponders and responds, "I can put my faith in Master Damian. But when I bring you more coffee, we'll consider this again." He stands. "Sorry to make tea time so grim."
"It's okay Alfred. I still enjoyed your company." Barbara smiled back.
Alfred starts for the door, "For the record. It would be his trust in me too. I asked you to do this, I would share its burden. And while I value that trust, I just can't mourn him again."
"I know Alfred. That's why I said yes." She replied in a somber tone.
—
Tim Drake, the Red Robin, and Stephanie Brown, the Spoiler. Together they work the crime scene of Scarecrow's death, Tim investigating the equipment while Steph was reading over the interviews with the train abductees. Watching over them was Renee Montoya, she did the preliminary investigation with Gordon the night it happened.
Tim groans and sits up "Alright, I'm able to determine a few things. While this was no doubt meant to broadcast a long form video to as many screens in Gotham as possible. However, it was not meant to be live. He was going to broadcast the recording of all of these people and leave. Everything about the toxin isn't here, we'd have to find out where his actual hideout was."
"Right, so far as I can tell everyone was unconscious when he died. There was one person who wasn't as affected by the sleeping agent as the others." Stephanie starts. "Does the footage show who woke up?"
Tim sighs, "Well that's the problem. The footage was taken." He replies, turning on the detective mode in his mask. "Trace amounts of fear toxin… that sleeping agent and not much else."
Renee jolts for a second, "Wait a minute, there is still some in the air. Is that why I'm on edge!"
Spoiler responds "Don't worry ma'am, once it spends enough time in the air it dilutes enough to be harmless. Though if we start looking like walking nightmare's let us know." she grins at the last statement.
"Not funny." Renee groans.
"Anything on your end Spoiler?" Tim sighed, looking over her shoulder.
She flipped through file folders and came to a stop. "This is the only one that might be a lead." She starts, she points up at Renee, "Detective Montoya, Do you remember the dispatch call?"
"Yeah, A man called first. Identifying himself as Jonah. He told them the street name, requesting ambulances and then laid the phone next to a little girl before leaving. By the time we arrived, the rain washed any footprints away. We think he left in a vehicle as there were some tire tracks, but a patrol out that way saw nothing of note." She explained.
Spoiler continues, "That was this little girl. In her interview she said she woke up with the phone. The few questions that related to what happened to her before she fell asleep on the train have her mention and describe a man that isn't described in these interview notes. Not that some of your officers are that good at describing people."
Renee sighs, "Yeah… I'm going to have to write up some people tonight."
"But she describes a gruff looking man who at first seemed scary, but was actually kind of nice. He seemed sad. But he had a cool bandanna and a green rain cloak." Stephanie explained.
"It's a good start." Tim sighed.
"Yeah it isn't a lot to go on." Steph sighed back.
Suddenly, Tim and Steph got a call from Oracle. "Hey Tim how's it going?"
"Not well, Oracle. We've hit a kind of a dead end with Scarecrow." Tim relays.
"We have a vague description of the man who killed Crane, and the 911 operator has a recording of his voice. He was the only one of the train victims who left long before police arrived." Stephanie adds.
"Any other things you both can Identify?" Barbra inquires typing away.
Tim walks around where Scarecrow's body had been, now marked with Crane at the morgue getting an autopsy done. "The reporting officers said that his neck was snapped. Which is a pretty brutal way to kill someone. His body fell in such a way that shows he was dropped. Given the trace amount of toxin still remaining he may have been under the effects of the toxin at the time."
"If that's the case, it would need to have passed through his system way faster than it should have. A preliminary report of the body puts the time of death and the phone call to emergency services way too close together. Even people with training in resisting the fear toxin like us can't get over its effects that quickly, even if we account for a margin of error with the coroner report." Stephanie continues to add.
Barbara replies. "Well alright, finish up anything you guys need to. Then can you both do me a favor?"
"Sure what's up?" They both reply.
"Damian is taking a brief detour to investigate a break in and reported explosion in a storm drain not too far from your location. It could be nothing-" Barbara starts before being interrupted.
Suddenly a call came over everyone's communicators, "Everyone! I found Jason! He's injured! Report to my location immediately!"
End of Chapter-
Chapter 8: Homecoming