Cavern Camp

As the Humvee traveled through the underground passage, the noise was nearly blinding in Gar's bat form. It was so 'Bright' that several bats were disturbed, making him far more comfortable in following along. After all, in the dark who could tell he was a green bat?

[I really shouldn't be so surprised by all the underground caverns in Gotham. There are so many stories of them being taken advantage of as hidden bases or easy construction routes for projects in the area. I think I remember there was a project to go under Gotham Harbor to the mainland before bridge technology got advanced enough for larger loads.]

{No worries yet Robin, it's just a tunnel to an underground cavern so far.} Gar said to keep Robin pacified.

{Just keep this link active and let me know of anything you think is important Logan. I'm looking up all the information in this area that I can find online.} Robin replied

Shortly after that conversation, Gar heard/saw the Humvee heading towards what appeared to be a tent camp with an Airstream camper between it and the ramp to the outside. When Gar saw Boss Biggis, he realized that the Humvee wasn't a traditional low rider it just couldn't handle the weight of its passenger.

Boss Biggis got out of the vehicle with a turkey leg in each hand and gravy stains on his shirt. The amount of effort it took for him to just move to the trailer from the Humvee caused sweat to break out all over his face.

The trailer was too well-lit for Gar to approach unnoticed, so he settled for doing a quick recon of the area to see if he could figure out what they were doing there. Gar had hoped he would hear their conversation in the trailer, but a generator overwhelmed any voices he could hope to hear with his bat-level hearing.

{Looks like there is an underground camp here Robin, so far as I can tell all the missing homeless people have indeed been press-ganged into working down here for some unknown reason. I don't think rushing down here with a bunch of police would be a good idea. I will see if I can steal some clothes to fit in down here and see what I can learn.} Gar told him, coming up with a plan as he went.

{This will take a full day minimum so if you need to leave the area, I will search for your mind occasionally and then let you know what's going on. No worries about telling Arnie anything I left a note telling him I was out with a hot chick named Robin and if I didn't come back for a day or two, he should wish me well and throw a Viagra pill over his shoulder for me.} Gar wished he was there to see the look on Robin's face right now.

{That is wrong on so many levels dude!} Robin said.

Finding a pile of discarded clothing, Gar grabbed some stuff that looked like it would work and then went to find a dirt pile to roll around in. This would be the painful part of having enhanced senses, he reeked something awful. Being this close to the bay there was water filtering through the walls so now that he had his disguise on, Gar wandered to a small pool at the back of the camp and tried to clean the clothes at least a little.

Gar went back to the camp to find a spot to wait until everyone else woke up. He tried to get close to the camper but there were too many guards between the tent camp and it. There were also three fires going with a cook at each one [Well hopefully we get fed well.].

As Gar watched the camper, he noticed that the cooks were constantly taking food into it and bringing plates back with bones and scraps that they dumped into a 55-gallon drum off to the side. As morning came, Gar noticed that two cooks moved the drum to a fire and added water to it stirring occasionally. His stomach turned as the thought hit him that the breakfast for the camp was the trash from the camper. This Boss Biggis was a lowlife of the first order.

Shortly after that, Gar watched Boss Biggis walk out of the camper and yell to some guards to get the lazy bums up. The men start walking through the tent camp and shouting followed by a few kicks, getting the camp up and moving to the breakfast line. As the line moved through and everyone got a ladle from the trash can as their breakfast, Gar heard a voice shout "Is this watery crap supposed to be the food I was promised? This is not what I agreed to." a man yelled as he dumped his bowl out.

Seeing the man's action Boss Biggis yelled "You dare waste food from my table you lowly filth. That will extend your work shift by two hours and there will be no dinner for you. Time for you to learn that hunger makes anything taste good. Look at me, I am barely getting any good food and I'm a big guy who needs more food than you, but you don't hear me complaining."

After motioning the guard to take the guy away he yells "Hurry up the line, there is lots of work to do today. Time to earn the housing and food I provide you worthless sheep."

Shuffling along and keeping his head down, Gar followed the crowd to the tool shed and grabbed a shovel, then waited to see where they would go next.

Gar overheard the guards talking as they looked at a map. "The Boss said the new translation should put the dig spot 36 paces from the entrance and turn right for 25 paces." another one asked, "How far down do they dig before we move them to another spot?" Another replied "Just keep them digging tell we are told to stop them. Boss don't like a bunch of difficult questions first thing in the morning."

[Is this a treasure hunt? How lame is that.] Gar reached out with his mind to see if he could detect Robin, but he wasn't within the area he could reach without opening himself up to everyone within miles of him. As he was concentrating, Gar shuffled to his right and bumped into someone knocking them to the ground.

Gar quickly refocused and squatted down to help them up, apologizing profusely. "I am so sorry; I wasn't paying attention. Please let me help you up." He reached out and helped them to their feet, still apologizing.

"No worries child I don't feel pain anymore, in fact, it's hard to feel anything these days. Don't fuss over little old me." Came a middle-aged motherly voice.

"How could I push you to the ground and walk on by as if it didn't matter?" Gar said as he helped her to her feet.

"You are far too polite to have been here long, did you just get here last night?" she inquired.

"Yes, I was in the alley looking around and they were taking people with a promise of food, so I followed along." for some reason, Gar didn't want to lie to her, so he stretched the truth a bit. Maybe it was the motherly feeling he got from her that caused it.

"Ahh it's the same for me, I have been wandering the alleys forever looking for something I lost. So, I came with these men to see if they could help me find it." She told him.

"Well maybe I can help you look also; my name is Gar but I'm starting to like the name Logan better so you can call me either," Gar told her with a smile.

"Hoh... You can change your name? In that case, call me April, yeah, something important to me happened in April." She giggled.

Gar liked talking to April, she was a bundle of joy in a dark wet cave. Quite literally. They followed the group until the guards stopped them and told the group to start digging there.

April went and grabbed a wheelbarrow and made a beeline for Gar then told him they would be partners. Gar was amazed at her, for someone who he assumed to be middle-aged, she was a hard worker. Gar had to assume because April wore a jacket that was too long for her and went well past her hands so he couldn't see them. He also assumed it was to help stop her from getting blisters on her hands while pushing the wheelbarrow. She also wore a scarf over her lower face and another on her head, when Gar told her she should take them off so she doesn't overheat, she said her teeth were in bad shape and it gave her bad breath and she abhorred the thought that someone would be offended by it and her hair was a mess. She was raised better than that.