[IC][DC Adventures] Alternate Universe Gotham
INeedNoSalt
with blood on my teethRegistered User regular
with blood on my teethRegistered User regular
It is eleven past midnight in late October. The air is frosty, and breath hangs in the air for moments before being whisked away.
The Bat Signal glows in the night sky, casting its light off of heavy cloud cover. Three heroes struggle to heed that call to action -- to fill the void left in the wake of Batman's disappearance only months earlier.
BATGIRL
OOC
The Bat Signal glows in the night sky, casting its light off of heavy cloud cover. Three heroes struggle to heed that call to action -- to fill the void left in the wake of Batman's disappearance only months earlier.
BATGIRL
Ashley -- no, Batgirl, when the mask was on -- watched a group of people -- teenagers? young adults? -- from atop a stout apartment complex. They had gathered into an alley, face to face, one black, new SUV face-to-face with an old, ragged sedan. Seven or eight guys were gathered, and voices were heated. She was listening in on negotiations of a sort, and she recognized the format; she'd been involved in her own drug dealing, in the past, although rare were the instances that she dealt directly with wholesalers.
What bothered her most was that she didn't know exactly what it was that was being sold off. She didn't recognize the name -- Golden Girl, she heard one of them call it -- and even when she managed to catch sight of what they had on hand, she couldn't make it out. Tiny vials, each of them dimly luminescent with the amber hue of grain. For all that she was familiar with that particular facet from the underworld, this stood out to her -- something was amiss. It just didn't seem right.
It sounded like the negotiations were coming to an end -- an exorbitant amount of cash was going to be changing hands for what seemed to Ashley to be an incredibly small amount of the substance. She couldn't help but wonder what that might be -- and at least for a moment, what it might be like.
Which is roughly the moment that she saw one of the teens -- a younger guy, and on the purchasing end -- reach his hand down beneath his shirt, toward the waistband of his low-hanging jeans. The time to watch was over.
BLUE BEETLE
What bothered her most was that she didn't know exactly what it was that was being sold off. She didn't recognize the name -- Golden Girl, she heard one of them call it -- and even when she managed to catch sight of what they had on hand, she couldn't make it out. Tiny vials, each of them dimly luminescent with the amber hue of grain. For all that she was familiar with that particular facet from the underworld, this stood out to her -- something was amiss. It just didn't seem right.
It sounded like the negotiations were coming to an end -- an exorbitant amount of cash was going to be changing hands for what seemed to Ashley to be an incredibly small amount of the substance. She couldn't help but wonder what that might be -- and at least for a moment, what it might be like.
Which is roughly the moment that she saw one of the teens -- a younger guy, and on the purchasing end -- reach his hand down beneath his shirt, toward the waistband of his low-hanging jeans. The time to watch was over.
The thug's fist -- clad in brass knuckles as they were -- smashed into the Blue Beetle's face. He managed to roll with the blow, at least, but the sudden pain was unexpected and threw him off. He would've sworn that that guy wasn't there two seconds ago, when he'd made the executive decision to get involved in this little altercation and settle the dispute.
He was in a garage; a dim light hung from a ceiling over a car that was in the process of being stripped, and a handful of mechanics-cum-brutes were turning their attentions on him. The Blue Beetle might have been a little more careful about this sort of thing if it weren't for the single, seated man in the room -- a younger guy, not much more than an adult, who was cuffed to a seat with a nose spilling blood and and a black eye growing darker and more swollen on his face. Sometimes, you had to shoot first, right?
THE SPECTER
He was in a garage; a dim light hung from a ceiling over a car that was in the process of being stripped, and a handful of mechanics-cum-brutes were turning their attentions on him. The Blue Beetle might have been a little more careful about this sort of thing if it weren't for the single, seated man in the room -- a younger guy, not much more than an adult, who was cuffed to a seat with a nose spilling blood and and a black eye growing darker and more swollen on his face. Sometimes, you had to shoot first, right?
The Specter stood silently in a tiny office in a dank, dark warehouse near the Port Adams docks. He was standing directly behind the a seated man who was examining a shipping manifest; another man sat opposite, silent. They were both wearing fine suits, and the man behind the desk was fat and bald. A cigar smoldered in an ashtray on the desk.
Neither of the two men knew the Specter was in the room with them.
The Specter had listened in on the discussion between the two men for some time. They had invested heavily into some kind of new drug -- something the Specter had never heard of, that they referred to exclusively as GGA. And they expected a huge turnout to a party that same night, where they intended to introduce the drug to the Gotham City party crowd and watch the profits come in. Unfortunately, gathering specifics from the conversation was harsh; they seemed reluctant to speak too candidly, and when they did, their familiarity with the subject left the Specter missing key details.
What he did pick up, however, was that the drug -- GGA was how they referred to it -- was incredibly addictive, and potentially dangerous. "Hell," one of them had said, "If this rate holds out, we can afford to lose some repeat customers..."
The fat man shut the ledger in front of him and lifted his cigar, pulled it to his mouth and took a long, slow drag. The lit tobacco glowed brightly, and he held the smoke in his mouth for a long, quiet moment after he had taken the cigar from his lips. When he finally exhaled, he did so with a content sigh, and smoke wafted out into the room.
"We are going to be rich men," he said. "Very rich men."
The man across the desk looked up; he had been focused on the fat man's face, but now his eyes moved upward, locked onto the Specter -- or rather, his silhouette cast in the cigar smoke.
"Uh," he said. "Boss..."
Neither of the two men knew the Specter was in the room with them.
The Specter had listened in on the discussion between the two men for some time. They had invested heavily into some kind of new drug -- something the Specter had never heard of, that they referred to exclusively as GGA. And they expected a huge turnout to a party that same night, where they intended to introduce the drug to the Gotham City party crowd and watch the profits come in. Unfortunately, gathering specifics from the conversation was harsh; they seemed reluctant to speak too candidly, and when they did, their familiarity with the subject left the Specter missing key details.
What he did pick up, however, was that the drug -- GGA was how they referred to it -- was incredibly addictive, and potentially dangerous. "Hell," one of them had said, "If this rate holds out, we can afford to lose some repeat customers..."
The fat man shut the ledger in front of him and lifted his cigar, pulled it to his mouth and took a long, slow drag. The lit tobacco glowed brightly, and he held the smoke in his mouth for a long, quiet moment after he had taken the cigar from his lips. When he finally exhaled, he did so with a content sigh, and smoke wafted out into the room.
"We are going to be rich men," he said. "Very rich men."
The man across the desk looked up; he had been focused on the fat man's face, but now his eyes moved upward, locked onto the Specter -- or rather, his silhouette cast in the cigar smoke.
"Uh," he said. "Boss..."
OOC
All of the bad guys in these openings follow the Minion rules. They don't present a meaningful threat to any of the characters; feel free to treat them as set dressing for your posts.
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Batgirl saw one of the kids - that's what they were, kids - look up just before she hit the top of the SUV's hood with enough force to dent it.
"Do your mothers know you're out late peddling drugs?"
The one who had reached for his gun yelped, drawing the weapon. He was inexperienced and sluggish, and Batgirl regretted having to shatter the kid's nose with her elbow. She moved from him to the next with speed and ferocity, lashing out with every part of her body - elbows, fists, feet, knees, even her head.
After only twelve seconds her dance was done, and every one of them was down, groaning in pain. She singled out one of the sellers and dragged him up by his collar, slamming him on the hood of the SUV where she had landed a handful of heartbeats earlier.
She picked up the steel briefcase that contained the drugs and set it next to the still-dazed pusher and flipped it open, taking one of the vials. She inhaled through her nose and looked to the kid. She put on her best scowl.
He can't be more than seventeen.
"I'm going to ask you once. Who do you work for?"
Wiping the blood away from his nose, Ted (aka Blue Beetle), dodged the next haymaker from the thug and sent him to the ground with a knee to the solar plexus. The others in the garage grabbed various tools: tire irons, wrenches, and car parts. They began to advance on the beetle... but he only got nervous when he saw one of them reach for a gun tucked into the back of his pants.
The Beetle just smiled at them, tapped the side of his goggles, and turned off the nearby lightswitch. There were several shouts, thuds, and gunshots as the thugs staggered about, being taken down by the capable and agile blue beetle one by one. Finally, one of them made his way to the lightswitch.
When he turned it back on, he saw his partners in crime strewn about the floor... and no sign of the strange looking guy in the blue tights.
"Boo."
The startled thug reeled back as he saw the Beetle hanging from one of the garage's ceiling beams... and before he could run, he found himself slammed to the ground by a pair of blue boots as the costumed crimefighter jumped down on top of him. The beetle quickly bound all of his assailants with zip-ties before turning his attention to the young man in the chair.
Ted held his nose to keep it from bleeding. It might have detracted a bit from his previous display of cunning and martial arts prowess. And his voice certainly wasn't impressive with a pair of plugged nostrils.
"Before I cut you loose... I uh... just gotta take a breather for a sec while my nose stops bleeding. What's goin' on in here, man?"
Well, it looks like he's forced my hand. Let's give them the ol' song and dance.
The Specter released a smoke bombs from his belt and quietly dropped them into the room. The room quickly filled with smoke, and The Specter adjusted his suit to become more translucent. He also snatched the gun from the hand of the younger man who was now starting to gibber with fear. Quickly unloading the weapon and pocketing the bullets, he tossed the gun onto the table between the two men. Smirking to himself when both men jumped, he started the game.
"Both of you have committed grievous crimes against the people of Gotham City."
The younger one sputtered, "W- what are you talking about? We ain't no criminals! We ain't been convicted of nothin'!"
"The spirits of those who had their lives destroyed by your kind came to us. They cried out to us for justice! And they shall have it!"
The older man hadn't moved from in seat. At first, the Specter wondered how he could remain so calm until he noticed that the man's eyes were wide open in terror.
Ah, that's more like it. I suppose he's the one I should talk to.
The younger man had made for the door by now, but a shot to the inside of his knee and between the shoulders sent him sprawling to the ground, unconscious.
The older man seemed to be collecting himself, but the Specter was right behind his chair. He laid his hands on his sholders and swung the chair around so they were staring face to face. Er, face through face.
"Now, if you don't want to join your associate over there in seeing the horror he helped to inflict, I'd suggest you tell us more about this little scheme of yours."
Twitch Stream
"Blue Beetle."
"Yeah, you stopped a bank robbery, right?"
"Well, technically it was the police. I got the hostages out so they could take them down, though. I had to go through the ventilation system, which is kinda cliché but it's not like they posted guards there or anything. So after I grappled up to the third floor from the alleyway, I had to find the--"
"Hey, Beetle?"
"Hm?"
"Think you could untie me?"
"Oh, right. Sorry about that."
He was trying to maintain an air of authority, a bit of machismo, but Batgirl could feel him shaking in her grip.
"Nobody, man," he said. "I don't work for nobody but -- but myself, man. Come on. Just -- just let me go! You can have the stuff, just let me go, man..."
"It's pretty real."
"I can't believe you just took all those guys out," he managed.
"Yeah, that was pretty cool."
"So, uh..." The kid pressed his thumbs into his eyes for a moment, and then set his hands back on his lap and shook his head. "Uh, thanks for helping me out there. That was kind of a bad deal. I shouldn't even be here, man. Look at this." He nodded toward the being-stripped car that was lofted up in the garage.
"Someone loaded my car up with ... man, I don't even know what that is. Stripped it and filled it up." He pointed off toward a little lockbox on a nearby workbench. "Whatever it was, they moved it into there. Man. I can't believe this. Why would they use my car?"
"Well," he said. "You have me at a disadvantage, don't you?" He glanced off to his friend, who laid sprawled near the doorway. "And I'll have to assume that your ... mirror trick ... " He said this while he whirled his finger at the Specter, "Has kept you hidden from us for some time, yes?"
"So, how do I know what you know, and what you do not? How carefully have you been listening?" He smiled a bit, revealing neat rows of clean, white teeth beneath his fat lips.
"And what are you offering in exchange?"
The Blue Beetle started moving his hands in the air. It looked a little strange, but if you saw it through his goggles, you would have seen an ingenious user interface. He calibrated the goggles to allow his vision to penetrate the metal box, and also to give him the ability to identify particulate compositions if necessary.
penetrates concealment (4) + microscopic (1)
Beets can see through the box and also view its contents as fine as a dust-sized-object-level if necessary.
let me know which check i might need to make to identify whassindabox
"Not good enough. I'm going to ask you one more time, and if you lie again I'm going to throw you off of that rooftop. Who is your supplier?"
"I know enough to see that this supply of GGA is something the Gotham Police would find fascinating. And, no matter how corrupt you may think the GCPD is, they'll make this a rather high priority if they find out that you're threatening the Trust Fund Brigade and Old Money."
The Specter paused to let that sink in a little.
"Of course, if just tell me where to find the supply, I could just leave you for the cops to find. I'm sure someone like yourself would feel much better fighting your battles in court rather than against me."
Twitch Stream
"Aw man," he said, "Okay, come on, I got it from a guy called Verandi -- but come on, man, I've never dealt with the guy before this, okay? Come on, I don't know anything..."
Batgirl considered it. Verandi ... not a big name in Gotham, as far as she knew. At least, she didn't recognize it.
"Where is he?"
"Aw come on, man!" The guy struggled a bit in her grasp, but it was clear she wanted answers. "Alright, lay off, okay? He's got a place down at the docks -- that's where I picked the stuff up, and that's where I was supposed to go to pick up my next batch -- but hey, okay, I'm out, right? I'll give up the life of crime! Whatever, just let me go, okay?"
BLUE BEETLE
The database that his goggles drew from were coming up negative; they couldn't make sense of the compound, either, whatever it was.
The guy behind him asked, "Well?"
THE SPECTER
He crossed his arms over his immodest stomach. "But whatever it is you think I'm dealing in? It would be in the hands of the people who count by now," he said. "The people who are going to see to it that our investment proves profitable.
"I am, after all, just a business man."
The Blue Beetle held up his hands reaching for the box, and his fingers twitched a bit.
The kid scratched his head.
"Just think on it kid. Look at these guys carefully. Think about where you used to drive that car around, if you took any road trips recently, that kinda thing. Jog your memory if you can."
As the kid thought, Beetle pulled the minature camera from his belt and began taking photos of the scene.
"Please! Please! I swear to God I don't know anything else!"
She yanked him and slammed him again on the hood of the SUV. "You had your chance."
"No! Please, no - "
She hit him with a right hook and he was out. She tied them up and made sure to hang the kid in the pin stripe from a nearby street lamp. She liked the theatrics a little more than she should, but leaving him strung up for the GCPD was a Bat Clan calling card of sorts.
Lastly, Batgirl deposited three of the vials in one of the empty pouches on her utility belt. She'd have to do some tests back in the cave later. Now it was time to pay a visit to the docks and the man Verandi.
She pulled her grapple gun and in a second she was off into the night sky.
"Right... I'm sure you haven't done anything wrong."
The Specter allowed a his voice to harden.
"Now, here's the thing. You don't seem to understand the gravity of your situation. Allow me help you comprehend."
At this, the Specter shoots the window out and picks up the "buisnessman" by his collar. He drags the man over to the window and leans him out of it by his tie. For the final touch, he makes his arm appear to be slowly fading away...
"So, how about you tell me where are these 'people who count.'"
Twitch Stream
"The boonies?"
"Yeah, like, way up north, five or six hours?"
"That's across state lines?"
"Uh, yeah," the kid said. "Yeah, I guess so, man. Jeez. Wow, that's a crime, isn't it?" He groaned.
"Maybe, but is there anything else? Be honest, I'm on your side here."
"Uh, hell, man." He considered. "Go to work, go shopping -- ugh, you know what? I went to this party down on the docks last week, and yeah, I drove -- I mean, that's it for big stuff, though."
THE SPECTER
It was clear in his eyes, shiny and moist, that he was feeling the loss of his control over the situation; still, he had an appearance to maintain ...
"I could," he said, "If I knew where these hypothetical people were." He shrugged slightly -- and the Specter could tell it was just posturing, a false nonchalance. "But I don't; hypothetically speaking, once I would have sold my product to these people, I wouldn't have kept tabs on them at all.
"And if I knew where to find them ... well, I wouldn't just give that information away for free?"
BATGIRL
For all that Gotham City relied on goods imported through the docks, the Gotham City underworld did just the same.
The docks that evening were dark -- as dark as ever. There was the public area -- where private citizens maintained their own boats, mostly out of the way, with tiny red security lights flickering away, designating that the areas were under surveillance.
Batgirl moved past those; they seemed devoid of activity, for the most part, at least. The warehouse district -- storage for goods coming in or going out of the city -- was a more active area. But it was dark, and there were no vehicles that seemed to stand out, no real signs of activity...
And then the sudden smashing sound of shattering glass, the tinkling noise as little shards hit the ground from a blown-out second story window of a warehouse, far out of the way and, with the window gone, unlit save for a dim light escaping from that single, empty window.
As beetle picked up a nearby phone, the kid looked nervous.
"What about... you know, all these thugs you knocked unconscious."
After finishing the call, he turned back to the kid, and flipped him a plastic disc with the logo of the scarab upon it.
"Tell them the truth, kid."
"What the hell is this?"
"It's a pog."
"What the hell is a pog?"
"It was a game that was popular back in the... you know what? Never mind. I gotta go. Stay put, I can already hear sirens!"
The Blue Beetle dashed out of the building, hopped on his motorcycle (also blue) and raced toward the docks... it was the closest and seemingly most obvious place to start.
He appeared to be alone, yet was speaking to someone... or to himself. Despite her cowl having aural amplifiers she couldn't make out precisely what he was saying.
She put the binoculars back into their pouch and stretched her legs a bit. She did a few mental calculations and backed up before launching into a dead sprint aimed at the open window. She leaped and angled her body into a dive. Batgirl sailed through the window, using her arms to soften the impact and propel her into a rolling crouch. She said nothing for a moment, her eyes locked on the man.
"Are you Verandi?"
However, this train of thought is interrupted by a shadow flying through the unbroken window. The shadow lands smoothly in a roll and stands upright, with the moonlight filtering in through the broken window. The silhouette steps out of the shadow, and the gold Bat emblem almost shines in the dark room.
Wait, what?
She stares at the both of them and asks "Are you Verandi?"
The Specter is still at a loss for words. This is the Batgirl. The Specter turns off the stealth and asks "Wait. Are you talking to him or me?"
Twitch Stream
"I was talking to him, but if you're Verandi then I was talking to you. But you probably aren't. Unless drug dealers have stealth suits now."
She looked the guy up and down and let out an exasperated breath. Sometimes the D-listers managed to stumble their way onto something solid.
"You're the Spook, right?"
"Uh, the Specter actually."
"Yeah? Anyway, good work but I'll take it from here. Chubby's got some information I need."
Seriously, hasn't she ever heard of a teamwork?
"Wait a second. What do you want with him? Anyway, I was here first. You want to lean on him for information? Get in line."
Twitch Stream
Okay Steph, let him help you and maybe give the guy some Bat-cookies later or something.
She crossed her arms then and leaned against the desk, looking at the cigar. "Okay then, you're here for information. So am I. Probably for similar reasons. So tell me what you've got then since you've been so awesome at leaning on the guy."
The fat businessman had a pretty cool head to his credit; he watched the two costumed vigilantes quietly.
in the distance, Batgirl and the Specter heard the distinctive whine of a high powered motorcycle coming closer and closer and closer...
VOOOOOOOOOOOOM
apparently jumping...
CRASHHHHHHSCREEEEEEE
...through the window of the next room over and skidding to a halt. some sort of muffled and rehearsed speech about evildoers halting their evil deeds and the jig being up ensued until... whomever it was realized that nobody was there.
"Awww...damnit."
the engine revved again and got further away. they both backed away from the other intact window in the warehouse.
again the engine screamed, and the window was smashed in a cascade of broken glass as a blue racing cycle broke through the window and skidded to a halt.
"The Blue Beetle is here! The jig is up evildoers, and you've had your last...."
The figure on the bike was a bit familiar from the newspapers. Distinctively blue with glowing golden goggles... and the expression on his face went from fierce heroic resolved to confused despondence as he took in the scene.
"...dammit. How did you guys get here first? What... wait... aren't you Batgirl? Holy...! We're on the same case? How did that happen?!"
Even without the announcement... there was nobody in Gotham who even nearly resembled someone in that particular costume.
Batgirl sighed. She supposed it was only a matter of time before she crossed paths with "The Beetle".
She was a little more familiar with the Blue Beetle - he was a sucker for press and had been known to make public appearances at local schools to show off his goggles to the science nerds. Looks like the trail of breadcrumbs had been more like trails.
Then again, rookies or not, it would be nice to have actual people watching her back for once. And the Beetle was striking in his own dorky way. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.
"So, like, can I get your autograph Batgirl?"
And then he opens his mouth...
Drawing the man back into the room and plopping him down into the chair, the Specter turns to face the Batgirl.
"Uh. Well..."
Crap. Ok. Even though he's acting the tough guy, you've gotten some information all ready. Just don't look like an idiot.
"They've invested a large chunk of change into some drug called GGA. They're planning on somehow introducing it to the Gotham City Trust Fund Brigade. Since this GGA drug is incredibly addictive, they're expecting a massive amount of repeat customers from this one hit. To top it off, it's also pretty dangerous. Well, most drugs are, I guess, but they mentioned that they might lose some of their clients in the first batch."
There! That went pretty good. Wait. I'm forgetting something... Oh. Right.
"So, why are you here?"
vvvvVVVVVVVVVVVVVRRRRROOOOOOOOOOM
What is that noise? And why is it getting louder all of a sudden?
CRASH!
Oh. That's why.
Twitch Stream
"Okay, sorry, that... that came out wrong. Sorry. I mean, I've been following this tonight and I think this is something really really big and it's probably mafia and I don't know who yet but they're moving this stuff and the GCPD is probably on it too but it's going to take them too long and that like us you know that's like the reason we exist you know that's what we're here for so i revved up the cycle and got here as fast as i could and then you're here too and like that means we're on to something right because why else would we all be here so we should talk about what we found out and who these guys are because if we take too long on this we might be too late and then nobody will know what happened and --"
"Dude, shut up."
"Sorry, I... I come on kinda strong. This is... this is like what i'm about, and --"
"What's your name?"
"I'm... well I mean you know I'm the Blue Beetle and stuff but... you can call me Ted."
"Ted?"
"Yeah?"
"Shut up, Ted."
"Look, Ted. That's great. I'm happy you picked up on this and made it out here. I'm going to try and make this as cool as possible for you, I promise."
She placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. Why me?
"The Spook - "
"Specter."
"... Specter was here first and already pulled some information out of this guy. So let's just calm down and process what he said, okay?"
silence
"Okay. How about this?" Beetle pulled the vial from his belt. "This right here... I don't know what it is yet, but I have a feeling you two do. This stuff is being smuggled in the vehicles or who knows what else of people who don't even know they've got it. We've got a very coordinated and insidious distribution system of this... stuff. I mean, as far as I can tell."
She pulled the little vial she had recovered and set it on the table next to the other one. They were damned near identical. "So the three of us find completely separate instances of some new experimental drug being introduced to the Trust Fund Brigade? Either the dealers have a great sense of timing and drama or someone's pulling a lot of strings and moving quickly."
She began to pace, looking the fat guy in the eyes. She liked to think out loud. "So you've got someone with an aggressive timetable putting this stuff out there. Looks like a lot more skulls are going to get cracked tonight."
"So it's a team up!?"
Both Batgirl and Specter looked at him.
"Shut up, Ted," they said in unison.
Ted's mind was racing. There were so many ways to go about this. If he had a lab, if he had equipment, if he had enough resources to do the forensics and chemistry and half-life analysis he could trace this drug to the place and time it was made. However... there was no way he could pull it off by himself. No. Way. He lived in the basement of a building that his industrialist father once owned. His only transport was a motorcycle... even though it was pretty great. Think Ted... think think think.
The Beetle didn't even realize he was pacing, fists clenched. There had to be a solution. There had to be one tonight. If there wasn't? What was the point of being a superhero? It had to happen. It would happen.
"I'm just going to say this before you guys shut me up again, okay? We gotta find the source. Tonight. Chemically, analytically... or through this guy right here. We gotta stop it. And I'm ready."
She snatched up both vials and put them in one of her belt's pouches. "We need to learn just what this drug does," she said, looking at Specter and Beetle, "and I know where we can do it."
Steph pressed the small bat emblem belt buckle and moved to the open window, looking over her shoulder with a grin. "Follow me, guys. There's some science-ing to be done." She hopped nimbly onto the sill as the sound of an approaching vehicle revving its engines filled the small office.
She waved before disappearing into the cool night.
"If you don't have wheels? Ride with me, buddy."
The high-revved sound of his bike trailied the flame of the Batgirl's vehicle, pedal to the metal.
Does she mean the Batcave? ohmygodohmygodohmygod
Steph wasn't a car girl, per say... but it's the freaking Batmobile. It was fun to drive, stylish, and it was a reminder to people on the road that there were still Bats on the streets, helping people in ways the police would never be able to.
She pulled into one of the abandoned inner city warehouses owned by a subsidiary of a subsidiary of a subsidiary of WayneTech that served as one of the many tunnels to the Batcave hidden under Wayne Manor. Batgirl pressed the correct activator and a section of the warehouse floor dislocated and began to recede.
She pressed another button and activated the commlink. The car's AI had already decrypted Ted's - Beetle's - helmet frequency.
"Please don't use those super-tech goggles to peep where we're going or I'll have to beat you up, kay? Kay."
Steph revved the engine and headed downwards.
--
About fifteen minutes later (minutes spent browsing the database's files on Blue Beetle and the Specter...) they had arrived, crossing the great bridge that connected the Gotham tunnel network to the Batcave proper. She parked the car and hopped out as Alfred Pennyworth arrived, ever punctual.
"Mistress Stephanie, you didn't alert me that we would be having guests, or I would have prepared more refreshments."
"It's okay, Alfred. We're going to be here for a little while. I... we... have some chemical samples to analyze."
"Ah yes, of course." He raised an eyebrow for a moment before retreating again, and Steph took a moment to reflect.
What the hell are you thinking, Steph? If Bruce saw you bringing in two random dudes in costumes into the Cave... he's probably rolling so hard he could power a city block.
Then again, Beetle had given her his first name. And so far, according to their files anyway, they were trying to help in their own way. So maybe she could extend a little trust their way.
Ted composed himself.
"Okay.... so... what kind of analysis equipment we got here. If we want to isolate this compound, we need some sophisticated stuff. I'm talking neutron spatial analysis, valence levels, atomic bonding energetics, the works."
Batgirl walked past the various cases containing the retired costumes of the older Bat Family members on her way to the main computer console. She plopped down, cracking her knuckles a bit before beginning the subroutines for compound analysis.
"I don't think we need any neutron spatial whats-its or bonding energizers or whatever. We just need to identify the molecular structure and compare it to the narcotics database. I'd bet the farm that we won't find an exact match, but there's only so many elements that you can brew up a drug with. So we find the closest analogue and go from there."
"If you don't have wheels? Ride with me, buddy."
Well... It's just be dumb to not accept the ride. We're in a time crunch, after all... Batgirl would understand. I mean, I called her out for being a team player.
"Right. Thanks."
The ride went through town at breakneck speed. Honestly, even though he heard Batgirl tell Beetle and him to not try to figure out where they were going, the Specter wasn't sure he would have been able to if he tried. And she made sure that they would be completely lost by going through some warehouse into some giant underground network of tunnels. Eventually, the narrow tunnel opened up into a large cave filled with high tech equipment. Apparently, this was Batgirl's Headquarters.
And then it hit him. He was in the Batcave. The Batcave. Blue Beetle was geeking out as one would normally expect, but the only reason Batgirl wasn't rolling her eyes at the Specter was due to his face concealing mask. Because he was currently staring around, slack-jawed.
But, now wasn't the time to ask where the Giant Penny or old Ventriloquist Dummy had come from. Now was a time for detective work. For figuring out where this drug came from! For SCIENCE!
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"Ted."
"I know, I know, I'm gettin' to work, Bats."
The Beetle quickly took charge of analysing the chemical, ecstatic to be in what might be the most sophisticated crime lab in the world. At least in his mind, it always would be. He had access from everything to basic oxidationn/reduction tests to electron microsocopy. He used just about everything he could, as well, becuase the chemical was not quite like anything he'd previously analyzed.
Finally, Ted punched a few buttons on the computer and a graphical display of the chemical's structure came up on the screen.
"There it is..." He waited for a while, trying not grin with satisfaction, "Don't you guys even want to ask me what I figured out?"
She brought the results up on the main monitor with a few keystrokes. She rolled her eyes at Beetle's proclamation as she beckoned them over.
Seeing the Beetle's large grin under the mask, the Specter couldn't help but smile to himself. He'd felt the pride brought about by figuring out a difficult problem.
"Impressive. How'd you get it done so fast?"
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"Ted."
"Sorry. Anyway. What we've got here is a living drug factory. If someone takes this? They might not come down until their body fights off the foreign bacterial infection, or until a doctor intervenes with antibiotics... chances are they've got some resistance to those built in as well. And if it's got similar pervasiveness as our other golden bacterium, S. aureus? This could be really, really deadly."
Batgirl scratched her chin thoughtfully as she looked at the chemical makeup of the drug.
Oh. Crap.
"So, from what the both of you have said about how you got here, it looks like this is going down tonight. And the head honcho back at the docks was talking about exposing this to the Trust Fund kids at a party tonight. But, he didn't say where the party is, and I'm not exactly on top of Gotham's social scene..."
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