[locked] action;

[babybatshit]

Who: The Batfamily
What: Baby brother crashes the party
When: The day of Damian's arrival (we'll call it May 30)

[The arrival of Damian Wayne begins with a bang and not with a whimper.

He doesn't bother to go for subtlety at the hospital, when he smashes a doctor's face into the wall repeatedly, ties up another and leaves him strung up from the ceiling and beat nearly to a pulp. The statements filed with the police attribute it to a dark-haired boy, somewhere around elementary school-aged, but Damian's long gone by the time any of the authorities can get there with all his gear, and he doesn't intend to be caught any time soon.

Somewhere somebody knows something, and the premise is too mad to be real. But maybe somebody believes it, somewhere around here, and somewhere there has to be a clue as to who would go to the lengths of constructing an entirely new city just for the sake of some stupid plot like this. In his mad rush for answers he goes after the likely targets first. Hospital personnel, and whatever files he can find; the city government, and their records, and the elected officials most likely to have any clues on any sort of criminal conspiracy involving the kidnapping and psychological mind screw that is attempting to convince people they're fictional. Worse, they must know he's Robin. Somebody must know, his clothes were there. This can't be a coincidence. There's got to be a reason he's here, a pattern between what's going on and what's been constructed and a plot to string together to make it all make sense and give him a direction that points to the culprit, and from there, back to Gotham. If Richard doesn't find him first.

From there he moves downwards, into the slums and the gutters and the underworld. Something has to be there, somewhere.

For the people who know how to read the signs, all of this- the systematic searching for information, the harsh interrogations conducted swift and brutal- should make it obvious who the culprit is. And when his investigations turn up certain names- Timothy Drake (not Wayne, no matter how much he wants to call himself Wayne, Damian is Batman's true son), Stephanie Brown, Jason Todd- he'll have a new direction entirely. Tracking them down and breaking into their strongholds. Waiting for them to come.

If they don't find him first.]

Comments

[detectivewonder]

In an emergency, my response time would have been shorter. Or if you triggered my failsafes -- still intact -- the computer would have wiped itself. Wrecking three years of archived data.

[is there an offsite backup? In fact, there are three. But Tim's not going to discuss them.]

Allegedly, we're all on the same side here. You want access to my network, you do what any other vigilante on the island does. You ask.

[babybatshit]

Tt. When are you going to learn to stop underestimating me?

[He might not be the computer genius Tim is, but he's not an idiot.]

And I'm not every other vigilante.

[That's arrogance, but there's something more about it too. It feels like a power play, on Tim's part, and Damian really, truly deep down, doesn't think Tim would give him anything even if he asked.]

[detectivewonder]

Believe me. That part I'd noticed.

[He really didn't want to be having this argument.]

Look. Give me your phone, and we can get out of each other's hair that much quicker.

[babybatshit]

[If he wants that phone he's going to have to pry it out of Damian's hands.]

Explanations first. And it's not like I want to spend more time here than I have to.

[detectivewonder]

It's an app called Vigilance. It patches you into the database and archives, the surveillance network, and the anonymized communications relay.

We don't get to pick how long we're here. Not yet, anyway. But if you work with the network you've got a lot better shot than you do on your own. Suite yourself.

[babybatshit]

[If Damian seemed as though he had anything remotely like patience beforehand, it's totally gone now.]

Not that explanation, you idiot. The one where you've been here for two years and you're still here.

[detectivewonder]

The forcefield doesn't respond to physical or electromagnetic force short of a nuclear strike -- probably short of asteroid impact. It's either projected externally or from somewhere deep inside the island with no surface access. Believe me, I have looked. Teleportation, technological or magical, can't get you out. Security is tight, tight enough for any of us to appreciate it, and they change it every time there's a penetration.

Best guess. The only way out is the way we came in. I've been working on that, but an eight-digit research grant would be called for for some of the equipment I'd need, and I don't think I'm getting that.

[The whole spiel is rattled off with only a few icy pauses to grit teeth and glare. Tim's not any happier than Damian.]

[babybatshit]

[The cold, hard truth: Damian doesn't think a whole lot of TIm as a person, and he'd have to be dragged kicking and stabbing before he would concede that he had any worth as a crimefighter, either. But he knows deep down where he keeps all the things he doesn't want to admit, he knows that Tim's more than competent at what they do; he resents him for that, for how much he thinks his father favors Tim, but he can't always say he doesn't understand what Bruce sees in him as a protege either.]

You've had two years, and that's all you've come up with? What the hell have you been doing this whole time, Drake? Batgirl could do better than that in two years!

[detectivewonder]

Then I guess you'll only need to wait about fifteen months for better results.

[babybatshit]

Do you have anything that's not excuses?

[detectivewonder]

Do you have any better ideas?

[babybatshit]

Several in the works.

[He's coming back for that computer, Tim, guarantee it. But in the meantime, this conversation is about as unproductive as he imagined it would be, and he's done with this.]

Unlike you, I haven't had time to get complacent.

[detectivewonder]

I'm sure I'll be thrilled to see what you do with the place.

[Reaching much the same conclusions.]