Post by Ashley on Feb 8, 2012 23:13:17 GMT -5
Things were relatively quiet. She knew it wouldn’t last long. But quiet didn’t mean inactive. There were a string of burglaries lately. Of expensive things. Jewels, paintings. The signature was odd. The thief only took one thing at a time. It was never a full robbery. There was no evidence. Clean cut. One item. The thing was odd. A genuine mystery. The police had no clues. She knew because she’d been looking into the records. They had no idea. A genuine head scratcher. She knew Batman might know something though. She had no idea how to contact him and she didn’t think that showing up at Wayne Manor with questions would get her very many answers. So, she just had to wait. She knew he’d find her if he needed help. Maybe he didn’t.
It was early. She’d just cleaned her dinner dishes and put things away. She had her hair pulled up and sweatpants low on her hips. She wore an old Gotham PD Academy tee that she tied against her stomach. It was one of Jim’s old shirts but it was still too big on her small form. She pulled her hair back in a ponytail and started moving through the upper levels of the apartment. She had the music turned up, pumping through the different rooms through hidden speakers. She was itching to get out, to talk to someone at GCPD but she knew her father would shut that down as fast as she could get it started.
She was about to sit down at her computers when she realized she forgot a drink in the kitchen, she turned and screamed. Bruce stood behind her. She put a hand to her heart, trying to steady her breathing.
“<i>Jesus.</I> You scared the crap out of me!” She bent over slightly, trying to regain her breath and slow her heart. She stood up and turned down the music. “Wow. You really have that sneaking up on someone thing down, don’t you?”
Out of costume he was less intimidating, but then, most people didn't know what he was capable of. They only knew Batman, not Bruce Wayne. Barbara nearly jumped out of her socks, he should have announced himself, in fact, he had, but the music was blaring and drown his voice out beneath the din.
"You had the music up so loud you wouldn't hear a freight train coming through your living room" Bruce quipped, he didn't seem quite so sour out of costume though the streak of his stoic implacability was still evident enough. She'd turned the music off and Bruce pulled one of her swivel chairs across the floor to sit on. "I assume you've been following the new thief that's prowling Gotham? I ran into her at the museum of natural history. She slipped out of my hands, got away with a ruby they call the "demon stone". But you know all of that already." he surmised.
Babs sat at her computer and Bruce watched her fingers fly across the keyboard.
"I take it you haven't been able to locate her either and I know GCPD had been turning over every loose rock and come up empty handed. It's important that I find her, Barbara. This connects to something much bigger than a serial burglar."
She offered an awkward smile when he told her he had tried to announce himself. The truth was, she had security cameras set up. But she hadn’t been paying attention to them. The door had been locked, but she’d given him the code after he’d been shot and Huntress brought him to her. If he trusted her enough with his secret identity, she could trust him enough with the code to the building. She just hadn’t expected him to show up.
She sat down and started typing. Her eyes moved from one screen to another. She turned a switch, the soft hum of a police scanner filled the silence. With a free hand, she tugged at her shirt, pulling out the knot and letting it fall down her body. She knew she shouldn’t be embarrassed around him, but she couldn’t help it. She felt significantly underdressed. Even in her own house.
There was a moment of process and she glanced at him. “Can you give me anything about her? No one’s been able to get a straight ID on the perp.” She paused, her fingers hovered over the keys. “Her?” She turned slightly and looked at him, a brow raised, waiting for him to say something. Somehow she knew this wasn’t going to end well.
“I’ve heard about the ruby’s legends. Isn’t there a cult looking for it now?” She turned back to the screens.
"They were at the museum when I got there. Dealing with them wasn't the problem." The cultists had been dispatched before they even knew he was there. It was the woman whom had eluded him and had left him dazed on the roof of an old, dilapidated apartment complex.
"Her." Bruce affirmed with something that might have been a scowl, perhaps because she was a woman or perhaps because few had managed to get away once he had found them and then managed to stay aground. Bruce Wayne was a man with a long arm and more resources than some governments. Batman was equally so. "She was in black leather and she wore goggles with red lenses, I suspect they were infrared, possibly other computerized functions. I couldn't tell."
It wasn't much to go on, in fact, it was barely anything. Bruce had figured he would find another dead end with Barbara, but he also had a plan b.
"We're not going to find her the traditional way." This would all for some outside the box thinking. A trap. "What I need is a way to draw her out, something she can't resist that she'll make mistakes to get at. Jewels and precious stones seem to be her M.O. But when I was at the museum she took the ruby but left a near perfect diamond sitting in its case. It has to be something of the utmost rarity, something unique. If we can't set a trap then I need a list of her possible targets in Gotham. I don't think she intends to leave the city."
And he hadn't exactly inspired fear in her heart when she was planting her lips on his before disappearing amongst the buildings that made up Gotham's concrete jungle.
Barbara turned her attention away from him and stared at him for a moment. She’d remembered reading something about a woman dressed like that. A cat. She couldn’t remember where she read it, though. It wasn’t local. She made a noise in the back of her throat before she swiveled back and forth in her chair. She tapped a finger against her lips.
“Didn’t your father buy your mom a rare necklace?”
She turned back to the computer, her fingers hitting the keys at a fast speed. She snapped her fingers when she found it. A grin on her lips as she turned back to him.
“These jewels, what do they have in common?”
She didn’t give him enough time to answer, instead she grinned wider. “A benefit to introduce the jewel to Gotham City. Right? The Museum just had a benefit to show off the new acquisition right? A few days before the robbery. If you want to find out who this cat burglar is, maybe that’s what you need to do. Host a benefit. Then put the jewel someplace Batman can keep an eye out.” She paused, her lips pressed together. Then, she shrugged. “Or, something.”
It wasn't a bad idea. It was far better than what he was thinking; A jewel in a giant mouse trap. But this was a cat. Not a mouse or a rate. He seemed to be weighing it in his mind but he could think of no alternatives. He didn't like the idea of risking what few relics of his mother remained to him but it was his best chance at catching the cat without raising her suspicions first.
As Bruce Wayne it was perfectly plausible he would throw a benefit like those; Unless you actually knew him, which few people did. More of a recluse than anything, he avoided social gatherings when he could. To maintain his identity, however, such public appearances were necessary, as much as he hated them.
"It's a good idea" Bruce admitted finally, but he would need more than the typical security. "The Wayne's will need extra security, something and someone that can watch what a machine and regular guards cannot. I need you Barbara, I need the Oracle to watch this gem and tell me when the thief gets near it. She's good, Barbara." Was he admitting there was a chance he might not be able to catch the suspect on his own? Perish the thought, he was merely covering all of his bases, or was he? Bruce, as usual, was a difficult book to read.
"Clear your books for your next weekend. I'll contact you soon with specifics." He was standing up, looking down at her in her chair. he though about thanking her, knew he should, yet the words didn't come. it wasn't that he was unappreciative or ungrateful he just seemed to avoid human contact and courtesy, perhaps it made it easier to be Batman to put those feelings aside.
She opened her mouth to say something and then she closed her mouth. She stared up at him as he stood over her. She tilted her head to the side but finally nodded. She knew what he wanted her to do. And she knew she would do it. Screw going to the gala and having fun. Cause, you know, that was what normal girls did. She wasn’t really a normal girl, was she?
“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll get some stuff together.” She wanted to say something else, but she wasn’t sure what to say, so she just smiled and nodded.
“I’ll be ready.”
It was early. She’d just cleaned her dinner dishes and put things away. She had her hair pulled up and sweatpants low on her hips. She wore an old Gotham PD Academy tee that she tied against her stomach. It was one of Jim’s old shirts but it was still too big on her small form. She pulled her hair back in a ponytail and started moving through the upper levels of the apartment. She had the music turned up, pumping through the different rooms through hidden speakers. She was itching to get out, to talk to someone at GCPD but she knew her father would shut that down as fast as she could get it started.
She was about to sit down at her computers when she realized she forgot a drink in the kitchen, she turned and screamed. Bruce stood behind her. She put a hand to her heart, trying to steady her breathing.
“<i>Jesus.</I> You scared the crap out of me!” She bent over slightly, trying to regain her breath and slow her heart. She stood up and turned down the music. “Wow. You really have that sneaking up on someone thing down, don’t you?”
Out of costume he was less intimidating, but then, most people didn't know what he was capable of. They only knew Batman, not Bruce Wayne. Barbara nearly jumped out of her socks, he should have announced himself, in fact, he had, but the music was blaring and drown his voice out beneath the din.
"You had the music up so loud you wouldn't hear a freight train coming through your living room" Bruce quipped, he didn't seem quite so sour out of costume though the streak of his stoic implacability was still evident enough. She'd turned the music off and Bruce pulled one of her swivel chairs across the floor to sit on. "I assume you've been following the new thief that's prowling Gotham? I ran into her at the museum of natural history. She slipped out of my hands, got away with a ruby they call the "demon stone". But you know all of that already." he surmised.
Babs sat at her computer and Bruce watched her fingers fly across the keyboard.
"I take it you haven't been able to locate her either and I know GCPD had been turning over every loose rock and come up empty handed. It's important that I find her, Barbara. This connects to something much bigger than a serial burglar."
She offered an awkward smile when he told her he had tried to announce himself. The truth was, she had security cameras set up. But she hadn’t been paying attention to them. The door had been locked, but she’d given him the code after he’d been shot and Huntress brought him to her. If he trusted her enough with his secret identity, she could trust him enough with the code to the building. She just hadn’t expected him to show up.
She sat down and started typing. Her eyes moved from one screen to another. She turned a switch, the soft hum of a police scanner filled the silence. With a free hand, she tugged at her shirt, pulling out the knot and letting it fall down her body. She knew she shouldn’t be embarrassed around him, but she couldn’t help it. She felt significantly underdressed. Even in her own house.
There was a moment of process and she glanced at him. “Can you give me anything about her? No one’s been able to get a straight ID on the perp.” She paused, her fingers hovered over the keys. “Her?” She turned slightly and looked at him, a brow raised, waiting for him to say something. Somehow she knew this wasn’t going to end well.
“I’ve heard about the ruby’s legends. Isn’t there a cult looking for it now?” She turned back to the screens.
"They were at the museum when I got there. Dealing with them wasn't the problem." The cultists had been dispatched before they even knew he was there. It was the woman whom had eluded him and had left him dazed on the roof of an old, dilapidated apartment complex.
"Her." Bruce affirmed with something that might have been a scowl, perhaps because she was a woman or perhaps because few had managed to get away once he had found them and then managed to stay aground. Bruce Wayne was a man with a long arm and more resources than some governments. Batman was equally so. "She was in black leather and she wore goggles with red lenses, I suspect they were infrared, possibly other computerized functions. I couldn't tell."
It wasn't much to go on, in fact, it was barely anything. Bruce had figured he would find another dead end with Barbara, but he also had a plan b.
"We're not going to find her the traditional way." This would all for some outside the box thinking. A trap. "What I need is a way to draw her out, something she can't resist that she'll make mistakes to get at. Jewels and precious stones seem to be her M.O. But when I was at the museum she took the ruby but left a near perfect diamond sitting in its case. It has to be something of the utmost rarity, something unique. If we can't set a trap then I need a list of her possible targets in Gotham. I don't think she intends to leave the city."
And he hadn't exactly inspired fear in her heart when she was planting her lips on his before disappearing amongst the buildings that made up Gotham's concrete jungle.
Barbara turned her attention away from him and stared at him for a moment. She’d remembered reading something about a woman dressed like that. A cat. She couldn’t remember where she read it, though. It wasn’t local. She made a noise in the back of her throat before she swiveled back and forth in her chair. She tapped a finger against her lips.
“Didn’t your father buy your mom a rare necklace?”
She turned back to the computer, her fingers hitting the keys at a fast speed. She snapped her fingers when she found it. A grin on her lips as she turned back to him.
“These jewels, what do they have in common?”
She didn’t give him enough time to answer, instead she grinned wider. “A benefit to introduce the jewel to Gotham City. Right? The Museum just had a benefit to show off the new acquisition right? A few days before the robbery. If you want to find out who this cat burglar is, maybe that’s what you need to do. Host a benefit. Then put the jewel someplace Batman can keep an eye out.” She paused, her lips pressed together. Then, she shrugged. “Or, something.”
It wasn't a bad idea. It was far better than what he was thinking; A jewel in a giant mouse trap. But this was a cat. Not a mouse or a rate. He seemed to be weighing it in his mind but he could think of no alternatives. He didn't like the idea of risking what few relics of his mother remained to him but it was his best chance at catching the cat without raising her suspicions first.
As Bruce Wayne it was perfectly plausible he would throw a benefit like those; Unless you actually knew him, which few people did. More of a recluse than anything, he avoided social gatherings when he could. To maintain his identity, however, such public appearances were necessary, as much as he hated them.
"It's a good idea" Bruce admitted finally, but he would need more than the typical security. "The Wayne's will need extra security, something and someone that can watch what a machine and regular guards cannot. I need you Barbara, I need the Oracle to watch this gem and tell me when the thief gets near it. She's good, Barbara." Was he admitting there was a chance he might not be able to catch the suspect on his own? Perish the thought, he was merely covering all of his bases, or was he? Bruce, as usual, was a difficult book to read.
"Clear your books for your next weekend. I'll contact you soon with specifics." He was standing up, looking down at her in her chair. he though about thanking her, knew he should, yet the words didn't come. it wasn't that he was unappreciative or ungrateful he just seemed to avoid human contact and courtesy, perhaps it made it easier to be Batman to put those feelings aside.
She opened her mouth to say something and then she closed her mouth. She stared up at him as he stood over her. She tilted her head to the side but finally nodded. She knew what he wanted her to do. And she knew she would do it. Screw going to the gala and having fun. Cause, you know, that was what normal girls did. She wasn’t really a normal girl, was she?
“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll get some stuff together.” She wanted to say something else, but she wasn’t sure what to say, so she just smiled and nodded.
“I’ll be ready.”