Press Gang

After a day of getting a crash course on how to push a broom around a mechanic shop, evening came and Gar remained hopeful that the basic mechanical knowledge he had shown to Arnie would shorten his time behind the broom.

Gar sat on the roof, a bit curious to see if Robin would show up for tonight's rounds. Last night may have seemed a little rough to him but quite simply, Gar didn't care about his feelings. [I am not doing this to be in his good graces or to join the Devilbat family. I honestly find their brand of catch for the courts to release, crime-fighting philosophy a half measure.]

[Don't get me wrong, I'm not the kill em all type, but there is a level of too dangerous for society to live, that I am ok with killing. I will not kill 1000 to ensure I kill the 1 bad one, but I sure won't let the bad 1 that has killed 1000's go because they have a sob story.]

As nice as it would be for the law to be black and white, Gar just didn't see a way for that to be true justice. The Yin Yang symbol from ancient China represents the most basic of ideas for Gar. A wrong can be done for the right reason, and a right can cause irreparable harm. It is up to us to decide. Though Gar knew he was a sucker for a lot of old sayings like the two Wolves of love and hate in every person and many others.

Hearing footsteps behind him, Gar turned to see Robin, "You waited for the wind to shift before jumping over here, smart. What's our goal tonight? More drug dealers?" Gar asked.

That's right, Gar's plan for dealing with last night's unpleasantness was to simply ignore it. He didn't plan to change his mind about his sense of justice and he surely didn't plan to listen to Robin preach his ways to me.

"About last night." Robin started before being interrupted.

"Leave it where it is, in the past. You don't approve of some of my methods and I don't plan to change for you. That doesn't mean we can't work together or even be friends. Not everyone is going to agree with everything you think and if you plan to have only people who do, around you then you will be a very lonely guy." Gar stopped there, not wanting to turn this into any more of a life lesson than it already was.

"You like to preach to people don't you Gar? You sound an awful lot like the Autobot leader from an old cartoon I liked to watch. Turning every moment into a learning experience. It's irritating. Anyway, Devilbat says there are a lot of homeless people going missing in The Bowery and Barr Town. That's Scarface's town but he says he knows nothing about it and he isn't the type to make things difficult for the common people.

In a city of over 10 million, it would be hard to notice the disappearance of 70-100 people over the course of weeks. Who but the Devilbat would notice?

"Lead the way, my trusty guide." Gar said as he changed into the shape of an Owl. It had become his most used form so far and Gar loved the feeling of flying so effortlessly.

Robin heads south and Gar followed. After following him for a time Robin stopped and flagged me down. Gar landed and changed back to human to see what he had to say.

"You know, you could have just connected us mentally," Robin said.

"Oh yeah, I have it so suppressed to keep the random thoughts out I forget I can still use it partially sometimes. I need to practice more I guess." Gar replied.

"Anyway, this is the area that most of the missing usually stay." He pointed to a few alleyways in front of them.

Looking around, Gar noticed a lot of elderly homeless people that are in bad shape physically. Most are missing limbs or just so old that they can barely move.

Thinking for a moment, Gar asked Robin. "Is the homeless population here just the old and crippled? I am used to seeing at least a few able-bodied mixed in with others in my old life. Or are the gangs just good at pulling in the able-bodied to increase their numbers?"

Robin frowned and said, "No, that is unusual for this area. Let's move around some and see if it has become normal in this area. Meet back here in 15." After he said that, Robin started moving west and Gar changed back to an owl and headed the opposite way.

When they grouped back up, Gar said, "All I saw were maybe three or four able bodied people. The rest were very old or lame. What about you?"

"Same for me, it's as if an old press gang came through recently." Robin said.

"Let's float around here and keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Something like a big van or someone handing out cards that promise food or easy work." He went on.

"Ok, I'll also try to form a link with you and keep it open. You may get a few random thoughts from it here and there but nothing too obtrusive. Let me know if it bugs you, I can shut it down." Gar told him.

Gar took to the air and start searching in a square pattern forcing himself to remain focused on what he was looking for. If he wasnt careful, his instincts would have him swooping down and snacking on a rat before he knew it.

{I may have something on my side, a couple guys just got approached about a manual labor job. They declined but the offering party had more people and forced them into a green minivan.} Robin said across the mind connection.

{Well unfortunately Owls are colorblind so hopefully there won't be many minivans running tonight.} Gar tells him.

{Well, the fact that I'm running alongside it on the rooftops should clue you in too what one you need to watch. Hurry, as soon as they are out of these alleyways, I won't be able to keep up with them.} He said with some amusement in his tone.

Pulling up to a higher altitude, Gar spotted the boy-wonder running and in turn saw the vehicle he was tailing. {No worries, I got it in sight and won't lose it. Well so long as there are no tunnels nearby.} Gar said trying to keep the humor going.

After about 15 minutes of driving, Gar watched the minivan pull into a warehouse, so he told Robin. {That Minivan you had me tail has gone into a warehouse next to the Crowne Point Park, I'm circling it to make sure they aren't just pulling through it to lose anyone following.}

{I'll be there in just a few minutes; we can link up then.} Robin replied.

Once he got there, Robin thinks, {Stay airborne and keep an eye out, I'll look around in the warehouse.}

Not waiting for a reply, Gar saw him use his cape as a glider to get to the roof of the warehouse. Shortly after that, Gar lost sight of him.

{All I see in here are tire tracks, the minivan isn't in here.} Robin reported.

Before Gar could reply, he saw a large Humvee headed down the street towards the warehouse. {Robin I got a Humvee headed you way and its way to decked out to be in this neighborhood. Now that's just stupid, who takes a Humvee and makes it a lowrider?}

{Did you say a lowrider Humvee?} Robin asked.

{Well, I thought it but yes. Is there some significance to this?} Gar asked.

{Hurry and get in here, that is Boss Biggis vehicle. There would be a huge war if Scarface found him in his territory. There must be something important for him to risk coming here. Scarface has enough manpower to smash Boss Biggis flat.} Robin said.

Squeezing his way in through a broken window, Gar looked to see where Robing was but what caught his eyes was a piece of floor in the processes of lifting up and the Humvee driving down a ramp. It hit Gar at that moment that this was the reason the minivan wasn't in here.

{I can't get an angle to get to the ramp without being seen Logan, if you have a shot go for it and keep the link open to let me know what's going on.} Robin called out.

Gar quickly switched to a bat form because of the size difference, and he wasn't going for long distance flight here but quick and maneuverable. He managed to get to the ramp just before it closed and swooped directly above the Humvee to avoid any motion on the rearview mirrors giving him away.