Post by Batman (Bruce Wayne) on Sept 24, 2014 8:17:59 GMT -5
‘Victim’s name is Carmen Ulrich, age 34, living well in an uptown home in North Gotham and killed last night. Bruce Wayne saw her two months ago at a fundraiser for Foxtech’s charity. She was with her five brothers. What makes this case unreasonably difficult is the tension on both sides of it. Her brother Nathaniel Ulrich was killed two nights ago. Shot by 5 bullets, Carmen shot by 4. Police suspects are what you’d expected…Miranda Ulrich, Mother 65 years old. Theodore Ulrich, 67 years old, Theodore, Jr., Christopher, and Leonard. This list doesn’t include their extended family such as butler, uncles, in-laws…’ The police seem convinced it’s a gang shooting, which implies a connection to criminal activity. Staking out the Ulrich estate, we’re waiting to see what happens. The estate itself is locked down like fort knox Police have 3 squad cars and 25 private security guards based on Gordon’s Intel. With this kind of firepower, I’m confident no one is sneaking in.’ <c>
‘Inside the estate are the first three. This leaves only two of the brothers inside the city. Leonard is in North Gotham, inside a security gate apartment; not the run-down kind of place. The top floor has a pool, and in case the guests get bored there’s a nightclub on the 3rd floor. The building is somewhat secure, but if there’s a gang hit Leonard isn’t going to have much time until the police arrive. Robin and I are his only backup…Across Dick Grayson is staking out Christopher’s apartment; the run-down kind in a bad neighborhood, it doesn’t make sense why a rich kid would seek to live in the slums, but from the intelligence Dick has reported; the place has a doorman and security card swipe. Additionally Christopher’s home security is the best in the building, man has smarts if nothing else.’ <c>
-The Dark Knight’s brooding chin protruded out from his mask while those eyes fixated on a computer in front of him, within the Bat Mobile he sat in the darkness.- “This is not the usual case. We’re missing something in this case…A rich family, suddenly a target for gang violence. Two hits in a row, its likely tonight will be a third hit. Which will only help narrow down who’s the cause…Christopher or Leonard are the most likely suspects involved with the wrong crowd. ” -He spoke out loud to share information with his partner and student.-
Damian Wayne: Damian sat there in that seat, his skin crawling as he tapped on his arms as they were folded over his chest. He listened to the details that Bruce was laying out on the current case they were investigating. But, he was uncomfortable, itching to shift and writhe in his seat, but fighting it. His face, like Bruce’s own was stolid and devoid of any emotion at the moment. Unlike Bruce, Damian was not most comfortable in costume, he was most comfortable out of it. He was Damian all the time rather than Robin or the Red Bird. He got all the details though. Nathaniel Ulrich shot 5 times two nights ago, then Carmen, his sister, shot last night 4 times. Christopher or Leonard was next, Christopher living in the slums of Gotham while Leonard lived in an upscale apartment building. Both with pretty good security. Though, he was puzzled too as to why Christopher would live in the Slums. “You said she has five brothers. Theodore Jr., Nathaniel, Leonard and Christopher is only four. <c>
Damian Wayne: Who is the last?” He asked, lofting a brow. Bruce said that there was something that was missing in the case, could that have been it? But, when had it ever been that simple of a case? Never, unless they were supposed to catch someone and end up falling into someone else’s plan. “Also, they shot Nathaniel 5 times and Carmen four times…maybe that’s some sort of plan? Three shots for the next victim?” He spoke, lifting his mask to slip over his eyes, tapping the corner of it to test the sights. Infared, night vision, and detective, all clear. <e>
DickGrayson: Dick, perched atop the building across from Christopher Ulrich's apartment. It seemed to him a bit curious why someone of his stature and wealth would result into living somewhere dangerous, if not shady.Even with those being said, he knew that getting inside without getting spotted was no easy feat. Though the apartment could have easily been mistaken for something cheap and run-down, Christopher had his own doorman, and could quite possibly be a bodyguard to look after him as well.
Dick panned the entire building, scanning for any other security devices, other than the security swipe card that was installed. "Of all the places you could live you decided to live here..." Dick whispered to himself steadily watching Christopher's every move. "...Why is that so, black sheep?" He knew he was here to watch over the Ulrich, while Batman and Damian were backing up on the other brother. A swirl of theories swam around inside his mind, conjuring up his own theories as to why this <c>
DickGrayson: family was being attacked.It was true that this place was notorious for gang activity, and the attacks were staged for the money, but that theory was lackluster. It was too easy as far as he was concerned.An inside job perhaps? Leonard or Christopher wanting the estate tothemselves? Possibly too early for a conviction."Bullets, four to Carmen and Five to Nathan. Both killed on after the other." He whispered. He was lost in thought, yet managed to keep his eyes and focus on Christoper. <e>
“Marshal Ulrich has lives in Moscow,he’s made quite the niche for himself there, he only comes back to Gotham for family events…Bruce Wayne didn’t have the details as to why he was in Gotham a few months ago, but remembers seeing him at a fundraiser. It’s unlikely Marshal is wrapped up in this or the next target of a gang shooting.” -Batman had to double back, he was ahead of the student and needed to balance out saving another man’s life and mentoring his Son.- “Additionally, if the bullets meant anything, five and four perhaps that’s a message but, I haven’t been able to figure out what it could mean outside of a countdown. But, why start at 5 when there are six children and two parents?” -It wasn’t making sense, and yet the teasing sensation of *almost* having it figured out lingered like a taunting totem. <c>
It was then a camera feed into the apartment gave Batman and Robin insight. Six men dressed in black business suits walked through the main lobby, with a nod they made their way into the elevator. Switching cameras to the elevator cam, Batman and Robin could see the men pulling out small Uzi’s and Vz 61 machine pistols from underneath their jackets. After attaching suppression barrels and putting on black ski masks, Batman opened the cockpit to the Bat Mobile. “We got company.” -Batman armed his grappling hook and shot towards the rooftops. Reeling himself to the 6th floor, where Leonard’s apartment was located. <c>
Batman landed on the bedroom balcony of Leonard’s apartment and slipped open the glass screen door to enter the darkness, the television could be heard in the next room along with some chattering of 3 different people, one of them was Leonard Ulrich. Meanwhile at Chris Ulrich’s apartment, Dick would lose sight of Chris quite a few times; the apartment had only 4 rooms, and two closets. But it would be almost 10 minutes now that Chris was nowhere to be seen. The apartment was blacked out since he turned off all the lights. Night vision and Inferred would indicate no one inside the apartment. <c>
Batman and Robin would be able to hear the door open to Leonard’s apartment, a loud snap of wood and brass locks, but with anticipation Batman rolled a smoke pellet across the floor to cloud the six gunmen. Their attention would be drawn to a large black figure dashing across the room prompting them to shoot at Batman’s cape. The Dark Knight tackled Leonard and a woman to the ground spilling their popcorn bowl onto the floor along with their soda. The flat belching of the suppressed machine pistols carried throughout the room as shots tore apart the furniture and walls. Batman grabbed the woman first by the waist and led her into a closet, before taking Leonard’s wrist and tugging him towards a table.
Damian Wayne: As Damian saw the firearms being removed from the six men’s jackets, he followed suit after Batman. He fired his own line up toward Leonard’s balcony, climbing up over the railing. He stayed behind Batman as he rolled the smoke pellet in. It seemed the Batman wanted to draw attention to himself and away from Damian. His first instinct was to take out the men that were firing at his father, but then he noticed that there was a third potential Hostage in the room, Batman had only grabbed two. Damian cursed as he ducked through the smoke to grab onto the second woman in the room and guide her back into the room that he and Batman had entered from. Once he was sure she was safe, he motioned for her to be quiet. He spun around and moved back into the smoky room, rapid throwing six red batarangs in an attempt to disarm the men before pulling the red stained bokken he carried, charging at the nearest assailant, taking out the man’s knee to bring the man to his eye level. <c>
Damian Wayne: He brought the bokken hard against his temple before disappearing into the smoke again. He whipped a snapflash onto another man, hitting a button on his gauntlet to activate it, sending the man flying back through the doorway at 15 miles an hour toward the opposite wall, hopefully knocking him out. <e>
DickGrayson: Realizing that Christopher had been gone for quite sometime, and total black out was the only thing that Dick had been watching, it didn't take an incredible detective like Bruce to figure out that Christopher was no longer in his apartment. A sense of urgency waved throughout Dick's entire body, as he leaped from where he perched and unto the apartment balcony. He tapped a few times on his communicator to contact Bruce, completely unaware of his mentor's current situation. "Bruce, we have a problem." he double checked inside, nightvision in his mask was on, he peered closer at the window before announcing his findings once again, "Chris is gone." Dick stuck a device on the card swiper, disengaging it's locks. He noted that it was quite easy to break in the apartment, given the fact that the person breakin in was armed with high tech devices. He took a few silent steps inside, his attention towards the ambience, trying to pick up any sense of disturbance that would alert him of any <c>
DickGrayson: type of ambush or incoming individual. The room was peppered with litter, papers to be more precise. There were only four rooms in the apartment, either Christopher was really gone or he was asleep in one of the rooms, but Dick highly doubted that. With all the silence and carefulness he could muster he crept across the room to open the first door to his left. It was the bathroom, surprisingly cleaner than the previous room. He proceeded to check the rest of the doors, still no sight of Christopher. "Bruce, I'm coming your way." he spoke through the communicator, locating them through his navigator. <e>
Batarangs struck five of the men forcing their weapons to drop towards the floor, the sound of a man losing air from his lungs carried through next as a gunman felt his knee struck by solid wood, the sensation of concrete or steel. The gunmen groaned in pain upon the floor. The next felt something tap onto his stomach, he shifted to look around in the smoke, his hands reached into it before feeling the snapflash ignite throwing him out of the room and into the hallway. The wall would crackle and indent knocking the thug out as his body fell limp onto the floor. The remaining men reached for their pistols only for Batman to hurl a bola at one of them, cackling of three marble shaped devices flew across the room, the first ball struck out causing two more to extend and surround the thug tangling him in a web of wire as he stood there. <c>
The other began shooting and firing towards Batman with his pistol as he called out. “Get out, get out!” -The remaining three men backed out of the room and into the hallway where they were spared the smoke pellet that was now beginning to fade. Batman approached the tied-up thug and growled. “Don’t go anywhere.” -with a show, Batman knocked the thug over causing him to bang his head gently against the wall to daze him. Peering around the corner, the dark knight’s blue eyes spotted the three remaining gunmen in a retreat with their weapons aimed towards the apartment room. Batman pulled a gadget from his belt and tossed it onto the wall adjacent to the doorway. The device snapped, its chrome polish color in he shape of a box, it displayed a red and blue light, with an ocular scope that began to zoom in towards the thugs. With a flash of red light before the blue became solid. <c>
The thugs would stop in place as they saw Batman charging towards them, taking the opportunity the men began firing their magazines at him, but they didn’t affect him at all as he continued to charge. Meanwhile, the real Batman sat behind the doorway waiting for their bullets to end when he would turn around the corner and charge behind the illusion. The projector would detect Batman’s presence and cause the illusion to vaporize and then recreate another Batman illusion behind the thugs prompting them to panic. <c>
Inside the apartment Nightwing would spot nothing too ordinary, it was clean and organized except for the bedroom closet where he would spot something out of the ordinary. There was black bag located on the bed, inside were small black balls, a set of black gloves. In addition he would find a black ski mask, two Vz 61’s - with no magazines for them. A toolbox with a combination lock and a laptop, that if he were to open it; it wouldn’t block anyone from logging into it. Additionally Dick would be able to notice pictures about the apartment of Chris’ family including a picture of Chris alongside Nathaniel, and another with Chris alongside Carmen. The last two pictures were of Chris with two different women that seemed unrelated to him.
Damian Wayne: Damian dove over to the downed assailant that Batman had taken care of. He bound the man’s hands as well, soon using the bola to extend to the restraints on his hands to hogtie the man. No getting away if he woke. Damian then moved to the man that was clutching his knee, kicking his gun away, beginning to bind him too. He let Batman take care of the last three with his new gadget that he knew the man would be itching to try out. He moved to the hostages and got them all into the room that they had breached from. “Stay here, Batman and I will handle this and the GCPD will be on their way to take care of the rest.” He wouldn’t say his little speech like Dick or Tim would’ve, but he would give it. His was spoken with a monotone, a hint of assertiveness sprinkled on. Adults had a hard time taking orders from kids, sometimes even when the kid had saved them and they were dressed in colorful clothing. <c>
Damian Wayne: When that was done, he moved to the man whose knee would likely require surgery , searching his pockets for any indication of who he was, a cellphone, anything at all to give him and Batman some clue. Once done with that, he searched the man that Batman would no doubt question later. Anything he found would be tucked away for later. He moved to the groaning man, kneeling before him as Batman fought in the hall. “You know who I am and you know who the man in black is. You also know what we can do to you. What ‘I’ can do to you. So tell me what I want to know so I don’t have to take your other knee.” He said, giving the man’s cheek a few gentle pats. “Who sent you?” <e>
DickGrayson: Before he could leave the apartment, he had noticed a curious object lying down on top of the bed, it was a black bag. Dick picked up the bag, unzipping it to reveal a set of darkly shaded blackballs, same hued gloves, a ski mask and a couple of guns that clearly had no ammunition loaded inside. This seemed to have raised his suspisions against this specific Ulric, but he did this without dismissing the idea that this bag could've been planted here, then again whoever would've planned that must've been really good, or really stupid to break into Christopher's apartment. A combination locked toolbox lay beside a black and somewhatarmored laptop. With a few examinations over the toolbox, he decided to dismiss it away for the moment, and pouring his attention to the laptop. He flipped the upper half open. and a black screen seemed to light up against the green text. Dick was somehow surprised at the fact that it wasn't at all difficult to log in, in fact, he didn't even have to. As he <c>
DickGrayson: waited for the machine to properly boot up he lifted his chin up to lock his sights upon the picture of Chris alongside his siblings Nathaniel and Carmen, both in different photographs. Christopher must have been really close to his brother and sister, specifically those two, but what about the rest? His blue eyes glanced upon another set of pictures, pictures of two women that Dick could barely recognize. The suspisions against Chris began to lockdown. Dick looked back once again towards the computer screen, it was done booting up and it flashed several images of his family, but more than that it seemed that Christopher had been giving orders to people, a group of people. It was then that Nightwing had made up his mind, Christopher was up to no good. "Gotcha..." he whispered under his breath. <e>
-On the computer, Dick would files on the desktop, particularly one noted as “India 2006” another noted as Homework. A word file titled ‘Ballistics report - GCPD’, a word file labeled “Finger print analysis - JD and SP”, a folder called “Jennifer” and another folder called “Sarah Penny.” Inside the webbrowser, Nightwing would find search links to ballistic reports of dozen different weapons most were a .32 ACP or 9mm accompanied by Uzi’s, MP5’s, and the Vz 61. Only one gun wasn’t of that caliber and that was a M1911 pistol, which was known for a .45 caliber round. <c>
Batman charged at the three men, a sharp fist smashed into the closest throwing them backwards and into one of the other men. The second Batman grabbed by the throat and while snarling the Dark Knight slammed their head into the wall knocking them out cold. He approached the first man he hit and handcuffed them before tossing them off the man they had crushed. The third man raised his hands to Batman. “I surrender! Don’t hurt me!” Batman placed his boot against the man’s face and growled. “Someone sent you to kill Leonard Ulrich. Why?” “I-I-I don’t know! We just follow orders. We were told to make it bloody. We figured five grand a piece, how hard could it be? Who’d miss some rich guy anyway?” This set Batman off and caused him to apply more pressure to the thugs face. <c>
“His family...I want to know how you get in contact with your employer…” “Th-…th-the c-cell! It’s in the pocket of the guy down the hall. I swear! I won’t go anywhere Mr. Bat!” “Rrrggh” -Batman snarled one last time before punching the thug in the face knocking them out. He handcuffed the three men and piled their guns before returning to Robin. The thug would grin at Damian. “Wouldn’t you like to know? You know my boss will do a whole lot worse than you and Bat-freak…You don’t kill people. You won’t cross that line. This guy will, and I’m good as dead meat if I say anything to you. So if its all the same to you…I want my lawyer.”
Damian Wayne: He heard Batman starting to wrap up his own interrogation, Damian needed to hurry. His methods would displease Batman. He looked down on the thug, frowning some at the man’s comments, claiming to know that Damian didn’t kill. Batman doesn’t kill, Damian will if he deems it necessary. The hand that was on the man’s cheek shifted, Damian’s thumb pressed against the thug’s eye, pushing with a steady pressure, forcing the eyeball to smoosh back into the socket. He had to save face for himself AND Batman. “We don’t kill because it’s too easy. You don’t tell me what I want to know and you don’t have to live through what your boss will do to you. But, think of what I’ll do to you if you don’t tell me what I want to know.” He said, applying more pressure. Not enough to injure the eye permanently, but blood would begin to pool and run down the man’s nose to drip onto the floor. <c>
Damian Wayne: “Spill it.” At this point, the thug would either outlast Damian’s slow, not-so-subtle torture and Batman would enter to the sight of it, or the thug would break and sing like Damian needed him to.<e>
DickGrayson: Nightwing's first instinct kicked in, and it was to report to Batman whatever he found, some of them seemed to be hieroglyphics to him. Jennifer and Sarah Penny, those must be the women in the photographs that Nightwing barely recognized. He immediately connected the finger print analysis word files, the initials JD and SP, stood for Jeniffer and Sarah Penny. "Jennifer what?" he looked around more of the word files about the Jennifer girl. As he was opening and scavenging the computer for more files, he switched his communicator on once again, allowing his earlier instincts to kick in. "Batman, I found a laptop in Christopher Ulrich's apartment. What do you know of 'India 2006'? " he asked, clicking through more of the files, investigating the web browser. "It also appears that there are links in his web browsers to certain guns." Nightwing slowly listed everything to Bruce and left out the M1911 pistol "All of them falling to a specific category, except for the M191." <c>
DickGrayson: He glanced once again at the black bag on the bed, "The most important gun being the Vz61, it's the only one that I found in the apartment." he paused and took a deep breath before dropping his own decision to the Dark Knight. Sure Dick was a good detective, but he knew that his mentor was better than him ten folds, "Batman...I think we found our man." Dick stood up and picked up the photograph of Cristopher and the women, he turned it over and checked the back making sure if there was anything of importance stamped anywhere on the picture, yet no such luck. The image was printed casually using a standard photo paper, nothing special. "JD, and SP...Bruce, ring any bells?" he asked through the comms, and set the picture back down from where he picked it up. <e>
“AAAHHHH!!! FUCK YOU!!” The screams of the thug could be heard throughout the room and hallway, the shrilling sound of pain, “AAAHHH!!!! GOD! FUCK!!!” It would be at this point, Batman would intervene and shout. “Robin!” the blood concerned Batman, but in truth it wasn’t what possessed Batman to lash out with a deep growl. The people they were protecting watched in silence as Damian interrogated the man brutally. Batman placed his hand upon Robin’s shoulder to give it a squeeze. “I don’t condone, Robin’s actions here…” Batman took a kneel before the thug placing himself shoulder height to Robin. Batman’s voice had become deep and firm. A low tone that indicated he wasn’t a feral monster, but a calculating and cold one. “But you and your crew almost killed three people tonight…So, my anger towards his actions compare *little* to the anger I have for you…If you don’t want him to begin slicing your finger nails off with a knife, I suggest you talk.” <c>
“My phone…My phone, the guy said to kill everyone in this apartment. He gave us the room number and told us to kill everyone. Make it bloody. He used some kind of voice modifier, I couldn’t tell if it was a man or woman. He sounded like Darth Vader...He offered to pay us, we’d pick up the cash at a dumpster by the docks on the east end. Port #16.” Batman looked to Robin, as though seeking satisfaction, if the kid was happy with the results of the interrogation. If Robin nodded, Batman would stand up and collect his gadgets. “We should leave now. The police are on their way.” -Batman and Robin heard Nightwing speaking, prompting him to tap his cowl ear piece. “Those are the exact same firearms we have here…” -Batman removed the masks of the current thugs to reveal none were Christopher Ulrich. <c>
“Robin and I have a clue leading to the docks. Give me all the details you have so far.” -Batman pointed at the thugs. “Get their cell phones.” -Robin would only find one, which was carried by the man Damian was interrogating. Returning to the Bat Mobile, Batman began typing into the computer.- “India 2006, sounds personal.” - Inside the India 2006 were pictures of Christopher and one of the women he had a picture with by his nightstand. The pictures were of the two vacationing; both were laughing and seemed very happy. The pictures would display both the woman and Chris learning martial arts, dressed in karate outfits and bowing their heads to each other. Another picture was of the two kissing on top of an elephant. “Those guns are commonly used by criminals seeking for some high-firepower with high concealment. They don’t want to get caught. The 1911 is a fairly common weapon used by all types of people.” Batman explained as he began driving the bat mobile to the docks. <c>
As Dick continued the files would show ballistics analysis for Jennifer Dixon’s crime scene report dated: January 2007. Additionally it contained notes from another crime scene dated July 14th 2004, Sarah Penny. In the homework folder, Nightwing would see a bunch of files about chemical sampling, law, psychology, and one titled “Roman Sionis.”
Damian Wayne: Damian would cease the torture when Batman called out to him, noticing that the Hostages were watching him do so. Sure they witnessed it, but they should be more than happy to see the man suffer after he had tried to kill them. The man would be lucky if the hostages didn’t kill them when Batman and Damian left. He did, however enjoy Batman intimidating the man by threatening to let Damian back at him again. He had gotten the man’s cell already, heading out with Batman to the Batmobile. He went through the phone soon after reaching the car, looking for a name or the message that ordered the hit on Leonard. He loked for anything that’d stick out that could further help the investigation. But, before they reached the docks, Damian lifted his head to Bruce. “I’m…sorry.” He said in a rare show of remorse for the torture. Again, adults had a hard time taking orders from kids. Batman could intimidate someone into talking without hurting them. He had to hurt them, else they wouldn’t oblige.
DickGrayson: Dick tried to put the pieces together himself, it was a given that these men didn't want the attention, in fact nobody does, the Joker maybe but not the standard run-off the mill thugs like these men. Dick was somewhat glad that Bruce had given him a fair bit more of intel for him to piece more of the puzzle together. He stared at the computer to give off to Batman, more information that he currently had on his hands, "I have the finger print analysis of two women, one of a Jennifer Dixon, and the other of a Sarah Penny." his eye shifted back and forth against the computer screen, squinting to make out the smaller, and finer words imprinted on the files. "It also appears that Jennifer's dead, seeing that ol' Chris here has a file on her crime scene. January of 2007, no specific day." he clicked on the proceeding folder and opened it, "I guess Sarah didn't make it too. Chris also kept a file on Sarah Penny, her crime scene files here are dated as of the 14th of July 2004." <c>
DickGrayson: A wave of uncertainty filled his lungs, "Geez Batman, either this guy's a detective or he's a real creep to be keeping these files around his laptop." he cocked an eyebrow as he motioned his mouse to hover over a very odd little folder entitled 'Homework' "And..there's one more." he spoke with curiosity through the comms. He opened the folder and began to read through each of the files, "Well let's see, this guy's got files on Chemical Sampling, Law, Psychology, it looks like this guy's parents must've been proud of his educational standing." he noted lightly, trying to ease most of the tension, yet his voice still had a serious undertone in it. He gazed once more towards the laptop, "Well, that's about every-" his lips ceased all movement as his eyes locked on to one file that made this case a whole lot more complicated. "Shit..." he whispered softly, but loud enough for his mentor to hear. "Bruce, Black Mask is part of the shindig." <e>
‘Inside the estate are the first three. This leaves only two of the brothers inside the city. Leonard is in North Gotham, inside a security gate apartment; not the run-down kind of place. The top floor has a pool, and in case the guests get bored there’s a nightclub on the 3rd floor. The building is somewhat secure, but if there’s a gang hit Leonard isn’t going to have much time until the police arrive. Robin and I are his only backup…Across Dick Grayson is staking out Christopher’s apartment; the run-down kind in a bad neighborhood, it doesn’t make sense why a rich kid would seek to live in the slums, but from the intelligence Dick has reported; the place has a doorman and security card swipe. Additionally Christopher’s home security is the best in the building, man has smarts if nothing else.’ <c>
-The Dark Knight’s brooding chin protruded out from his mask while those eyes fixated on a computer in front of him, within the Bat Mobile he sat in the darkness.- “This is not the usual case. We’re missing something in this case…A rich family, suddenly a target for gang violence. Two hits in a row, its likely tonight will be a third hit. Which will only help narrow down who’s the cause…Christopher or Leonard are the most likely suspects involved with the wrong crowd. ” -He spoke out loud to share information with his partner and student.-
Damian Wayne: Damian sat there in that seat, his skin crawling as he tapped on his arms as they were folded over his chest. He listened to the details that Bruce was laying out on the current case they were investigating. But, he was uncomfortable, itching to shift and writhe in his seat, but fighting it. His face, like Bruce’s own was stolid and devoid of any emotion at the moment. Unlike Bruce, Damian was not most comfortable in costume, he was most comfortable out of it. He was Damian all the time rather than Robin or the Red Bird. He got all the details though. Nathaniel Ulrich shot 5 times two nights ago, then Carmen, his sister, shot last night 4 times. Christopher or Leonard was next, Christopher living in the slums of Gotham while Leonard lived in an upscale apartment building. Both with pretty good security. Though, he was puzzled too as to why Christopher would live in the Slums. “You said she has five brothers. Theodore Jr., Nathaniel, Leonard and Christopher is only four. <c>
Damian Wayne: Who is the last?” He asked, lofting a brow. Bruce said that there was something that was missing in the case, could that have been it? But, when had it ever been that simple of a case? Never, unless they were supposed to catch someone and end up falling into someone else’s plan. “Also, they shot Nathaniel 5 times and Carmen four times…maybe that’s some sort of plan? Three shots for the next victim?” He spoke, lifting his mask to slip over his eyes, tapping the corner of it to test the sights. Infared, night vision, and detective, all clear. <e>
DickGrayson: Dick, perched atop the building across from Christopher Ulrich's apartment. It seemed to him a bit curious why someone of his stature and wealth would result into living somewhere dangerous, if not shady.Even with those being said, he knew that getting inside without getting spotted was no easy feat. Though the apartment could have easily been mistaken for something cheap and run-down, Christopher had his own doorman, and could quite possibly be a bodyguard to look after him as well.
Dick panned the entire building, scanning for any other security devices, other than the security swipe card that was installed. "Of all the places you could live you decided to live here..." Dick whispered to himself steadily watching Christopher's every move. "...Why is that so, black sheep?" He knew he was here to watch over the Ulrich, while Batman and Damian were backing up on the other brother. A swirl of theories swam around inside his mind, conjuring up his own theories as to why this <c>
DickGrayson: family was being attacked.It was true that this place was notorious for gang activity, and the attacks were staged for the money, but that theory was lackluster. It was too easy as far as he was concerned.An inside job perhaps? Leonard or Christopher wanting the estate tothemselves? Possibly too early for a conviction."Bullets, four to Carmen and Five to Nathan. Both killed on after the other." He whispered. He was lost in thought, yet managed to keep his eyes and focus on Christoper. <e>
“Marshal Ulrich has lives in Moscow,he’s made quite the niche for himself there, he only comes back to Gotham for family events…Bruce Wayne didn’t have the details as to why he was in Gotham a few months ago, but remembers seeing him at a fundraiser. It’s unlikely Marshal is wrapped up in this or the next target of a gang shooting.” -Batman had to double back, he was ahead of the student and needed to balance out saving another man’s life and mentoring his Son.- “Additionally, if the bullets meant anything, five and four perhaps that’s a message but, I haven’t been able to figure out what it could mean outside of a countdown. But, why start at 5 when there are six children and two parents?” -It wasn’t making sense, and yet the teasing sensation of *almost* having it figured out lingered like a taunting totem. <c>
It was then a camera feed into the apartment gave Batman and Robin insight. Six men dressed in black business suits walked through the main lobby, with a nod they made their way into the elevator. Switching cameras to the elevator cam, Batman and Robin could see the men pulling out small Uzi’s and Vz 61 machine pistols from underneath their jackets. After attaching suppression barrels and putting on black ski masks, Batman opened the cockpit to the Bat Mobile. “We got company.” -Batman armed his grappling hook and shot towards the rooftops. Reeling himself to the 6th floor, where Leonard’s apartment was located. <c>
Batman landed on the bedroom balcony of Leonard’s apartment and slipped open the glass screen door to enter the darkness, the television could be heard in the next room along with some chattering of 3 different people, one of them was Leonard Ulrich. Meanwhile at Chris Ulrich’s apartment, Dick would lose sight of Chris quite a few times; the apartment had only 4 rooms, and two closets. But it would be almost 10 minutes now that Chris was nowhere to be seen. The apartment was blacked out since he turned off all the lights. Night vision and Inferred would indicate no one inside the apartment. <c>
Batman and Robin would be able to hear the door open to Leonard’s apartment, a loud snap of wood and brass locks, but with anticipation Batman rolled a smoke pellet across the floor to cloud the six gunmen. Their attention would be drawn to a large black figure dashing across the room prompting them to shoot at Batman’s cape. The Dark Knight tackled Leonard and a woman to the ground spilling their popcorn bowl onto the floor along with their soda. The flat belching of the suppressed machine pistols carried throughout the room as shots tore apart the furniture and walls. Batman grabbed the woman first by the waist and led her into a closet, before taking Leonard’s wrist and tugging him towards a table.
Damian Wayne: As Damian saw the firearms being removed from the six men’s jackets, he followed suit after Batman. He fired his own line up toward Leonard’s balcony, climbing up over the railing. He stayed behind Batman as he rolled the smoke pellet in. It seemed the Batman wanted to draw attention to himself and away from Damian. His first instinct was to take out the men that were firing at his father, but then he noticed that there was a third potential Hostage in the room, Batman had only grabbed two. Damian cursed as he ducked through the smoke to grab onto the second woman in the room and guide her back into the room that he and Batman had entered from. Once he was sure she was safe, he motioned for her to be quiet. He spun around and moved back into the smoky room, rapid throwing six red batarangs in an attempt to disarm the men before pulling the red stained bokken he carried, charging at the nearest assailant, taking out the man’s knee to bring the man to his eye level. <c>
Damian Wayne: He brought the bokken hard against his temple before disappearing into the smoke again. He whipped a snapflash onto another man, hitting a button on his gauntlet to activate it, sending the man flying back through the doorway at 15 miles an hour toward the opposite wall, hopefully knocking him out. <e>
DickGrayson: Realizing that Christopher had been gone for quite sometime, and total black out was the only thing that Dick had been watching, it didn't take an incredible detective like Bruce to figure out that Christopher was no longer in his apartment. A sense of urgency waved throughout Dick's entire body, as he leaped from where he perched and unto the apartment balcony. He tapped a few times on his communicator to contact Bruce, completely unaware of his mentor's current situation. "Bruce, we have a problem." he double checked inside, nightvision in his mask was on, he peered closer at the window before announcing his findings once again, "Chris is gone." Dick stuck a device on the card swiper, disengaging it's locks. He noted that it was quite easy to break in the apartment, given the fact that the person breakin in was armed with high tech devices. He took a few silent steps inside, his attention towards the ambience, trying to pick up any sense of disturbance that would alert him of any <c>
DickGrayson: type of ambush or incoming individual. The room was peppered with litter, papers to be more precise. There were only four rooms in the apartment, either Christopher was really gone or he was asleep in one of the rooms, but Dick highly doubted that. With all the silence and carefulness he could muster he crept across the room to open the first door to his left. It was the bathroom, surprisingly cleaner than the previous room. He proceeded to check the rest of the doors, still no sight of Christopher. "Bruce, I'm coming your way." he spoke through the communicator, locating them through his navigator. <e>
Batarangs struck five of the men forcing their weapons to drop towards the floor, the sound of a man losing air from his lungs carried through next as a gunman felt his knee struck by solid wood, the sensation of concrete or steel. The gunmen groaned in pain upon the floor. The next felt something tap onto his stomach, he shifted to look around in the smoke, his hands reached into it before feeling the snapflash ignite throwing him out of the room and into the hallway. The wall would crackle and indent knocking the thug out as his body fell limp onto the floor. The remaining men reached for their pistols only for Batman to hurl a bola at one of them, cackling of three marble shaped devices flew across the room, the first ball struck out causing two more to extend and surround the thug tangling him in a web of wire as he stood there. <c>
The other began shooting and firing towards Batman with his pistol as he called out. “Get out, get out!” -The remaining three men backed out of the room and into the hallway where they were spared the smoke pellet that was now beginning to fade. Batman approached the tied-up thug and growled. “Don’t go anywhere.” -with a show, Batman knocked the thug over causing him to bang his head gently against the wall to daze him. Peering around the corner, the dark knight’s blue eyes spotted the three remaining gunmen in a retreat with their weapons aimed towards the apartment room. Batman pulled a gadget from his belt and tossed it onto the wall adjacent to the doorway. The device snapped, its chrome polish color in he shape of a box, it displayed a red and blue light, with an ocular scope that began to zoom in towards the thugs. With a flash of red light before the blue became solid. <c>
The thugs would stop in place as they saw Batman charging towards them, taking the opportunity the men began firing their magazines at him, but they didn’t affect him at all as he continued to charge. Meanwhile, the real Batman sat behind the doorway waiting for their bullets to end when he would turn around the corner and charge behind the illusion. The projector would detect Batman’s presence and cause the illusion to vaporize and then recreate another Batman illusion behind the thugs prompting them to panic. <c>
Inside the apartment Nightwing would spot nothing too ordinary, it was clean and organized except for the bedroom closet where he would spot something out of the ordinary. There was black bag located on the bed, inside were small black balls, a set of black gloves. In addition he would find a black ski mask, two Vz 61’s - with no magazines for them. A toolbox with a combination lock and a laptop, that if he were to open it; it wouldn’t block anyone from logging into it. Additionally Dick would be able to notice pictures about the apartment of Chris’ family including a picture of Chris alongside Nathaniel, and another with Chris alongside Carmen. The last two pictures were of Chris with two different women that seemed unrelated to him.
Damian Wayne: Damian dove over to the downed assailant that Batman had taken care of. He bound the man’s hands as well, soon using the bola to extend to the restraints on his hands to hogtie the man. No getting away if he woke. Damian then moved to the man that was clutching his knee, kicking his gun away, beginning to bind him too. He let Batman take care of the last three with his new gadget that he knew the man would be itching to try out. He moved to the hostages and got them all into the room that they had breached from. “Stay here, Batman and I will handle this and the GCPD will be on their way to take care of the rest.” He wouldn’t say his little speech like Dick or Tim would’ve, but he would give it. His was spoken with a monotone, a hint of assertiveness sprinkled on. Adults had a hard time taking orders from kids, sometimes even when the kid had saved them and they were dressed in colorful clothing. <c>
Damian Wayne: When that was done, he moved to the man whose knee would likely require surgery , searching his pockets for any indication of who he was, a cellphone, anything at all to give him and Batman some clue. Once done with that, he searched the man that Batman would no doubt question later. Anything he found would be tucked away for later. He moved to the groaning man, kneeling before him as Batman fought in the hall. “You know who I am and you know who the man in black is. You also know what we can do to you. What ‘I’ can do to you. So tell me what I want to know so I don’t have to take your other knee.” He said, giving the man’s cheek a few gentle pats. “Who sent you?” <e>
DickGrayson: Before he could leave the apartment, he had noticed a curious object lying down on top of the bed, it was a black bag. Dick picked up the bag, unzipping it to reveal a set of darkly shaded blackballs, same hued gloves, a ski mask and a couple of guns that clearly had no ammunition loaded inside. This seemed to have raised his suspisions against this specific Ulric, but he did this without dismissing the idea that this bag could've been planted here, then again whoever would've planned that must've been really good, or really stupid to break into Christopher's apartment. A combination locked toolbox lay beside a black and somewhatarmored laptop. With a few examinations over the toolbox, he decided to dismiss it away for the moment, and pouring his attention to the laptop. He flipped the upper half open. and a black screen seemed to light up against the green text. Dick was somehow surprised at the fact that it wasn't at all difficult to log in, in fact, he didn't even have to. As he <c>
DickGrayson: waited for the machine to properly boot up he lifted his chin up to lock his sights upon the picture of Chris alongside his siblings Nathaniel and Carmen, both in different photographs. Christopher must have been really close to his brother and sister, specifically those two, but what about the rest? His blue eyes glanced upon another set of pictures, pictures of two women that Dick could barely recognize. The suspisions against Chris began to lockdown. Dick looked back once again towards the computer screen, it was done booting up and it flashed several images of his family, but more than that it seemed that Christopher had been giving orders to people, a group of people. It was then that Nightwing had made up his mind, Christopher was up to no good. "Gotcha..." he whispered under his breath. <e>
-On the computer, Dick would files on the desktop, particularly one noted as “India 2006” another noted as Homework. A word file titled ‘Ballistics report - GCPD’, a word file labeled “Finger print analysis - JD and SP”, a folder called “Jennifer” and another folder called “Sarah Penny.” Inside the webbrowser, Nightwing would find search links to ballistic reports of dozen different weapons most were a .32 ACP or 9mm accompanied by Uzi’s, MP5’s, and the Vz 61. Only one gun wasn’t of that caliber and that was a M1911 pistol, which was known for a .45 caliber round. <c>
Batman charged at the three men, a sharp fist smashed into the closest throwing them backwards and into one of the other men. The second Batman grabbed by the throat and while snarling the Dark Knight slammed their head into the wall knocking them out cold. He approached the first man he hit and handcuffed them before tossing them off the man they had crushed. The third man raised his hands to Batman. “I surrender! Don’t hurt me!” Batman placed his boot against the man’s face and growled. “Someone sent you to kill Leonard Ulrich. Why?” “I-I-I don’t know! We just follow orders. We were told to make it bloody. We figured five grand a piece, how hard could it be? Who’d miss some rich guy anyway?” This set Batman off and caused him to apply more pressure to the thugs face. <c>
“His family...I want to know how you get in contact with your employer…” “Th-…th-the c-cell! It’s in the pocket of the guy down the hall. I swear! I won’t go anywhere Mr. Bat!” “Rrrggh” -Batman snarled one last time before punching the thug in the face knocking them out. He handcuffed the three men and piled their guns before returning to Robin. The thug would grin at Damian. “Wouldn’t you like to know? You know my boss will do a whole lot worse than you and Bat-freak…You don’t kill people. You won’t cross that line. This guy will, and I’m good as dead meat if I say anything to you. So if its all the same to you…I want my lawyer.”
Damian Wayne: He heard Batman starting to wrap up his own interrogation, Damian needed to hurry. His methods would displease Batman. He looked down on the thug, frowning some at the man’s comments, claiming to know that Damian didn’t kill. Batman doesn’t kill, Damian will if he deems it necessary. The hand that was on the man’s cheek shifted, Damian’s thumb pressed against the thug’s eye, pushing with a steady pressure, forcing the eyeball to smoosh back into the socket. He had to save face for himself AND Batman. “We don’t kill because it’s too easy. You don’t tell me what I want to know and you don’t have to live through what your boss will do to you. But, think of what I’ll do to you if you don’t tell me what I want to know.” He said, applying more pressure. Not enough to injure the eye permanently, but blood would begin to pool and run down the man’s nose to drip onto the floor. <c>
Damian Wayne: “Spill it.” At this point, the thug would either outlast Damian’s slow, not-so-subtle torture and Batman would enter to the sight of it, or the thug would break and sing like Damian needed him to.<e>
DickGrayson: Nightwing's first instinct kicked in, and it was to report to Batman whatever he found, some of them seemed to be hieroglyphics to him. Jennifer and Sarah Penny, those must be the women in the photographs that Nightwing barely recognized. He immediately connected the finger print analysis word files, the initials JD and SP, stood for Jeniffer and Sarah Penny. "Jennifer what?" he looked around more of the word files about the Jennifer girl. As he was opening and scavenging the computer for more files, he switched his communicator on once again, allowing his earlier instincts to kick in. "Batman, I found a laptop in Christopher Ulrich's apartment. What do you know of 'India 2006'? " he asked, clicking through more of the files, investigating the web browser. "It also appears that there are links in his web browsers to certain guns." Nightwing slowly listed everything to Bruce and left out the M1911 pistol "All of them falling to a specific category, except for the M191." <c>
DickGrayson: He glanced once again at the black bag on the bed, "The most important gun being the Vz61, it's the only one that I found in the apartment." he paused and took a deep breath before dropping his own decision to the Dark Knight. Sure Dick was a good detective, but he knew that his mentor was better than him ten folds, "Batman...I think we found our man." Dick stood up and picked up the photograph of Cristopher and the women, he turned it over and checked the back making sure if there was anything of importance stamped anywhere on the picture, yet no such luck. The image was printed casually using a standard photo paper, nothing special. "JD, and SP...Bruce, ring any bells?" he asked through the comms, and set the picture back down from where he picked it up. <e>
“AAAHHHH!!! FUCK YOU!!” The screams of the thug could be heard throughout the room and hallway, the shrilling sound of pain, “AAAHHH!!!! GOD! FUCK!!!” It would be at this point, Batman would intervene and shout. “Robin!” the blood concerned Batman, but in truth it wasn’t what possessed Batman to lash out with a deep growl. The people they were protecting watched in silence as Damian interrogated the man brutally. Batman placed his hand upon Robin’s shoulder to give it a squeeze. “I don’t condone, Robin’s actions here…” Batman took a kneel before the thug placing himself shoulder height to Robin. Batman’s voice had become deep and firm. A low tone that indicated he wasn’t a feral monster, but a calculating and cold one. “But you and your crew almost killed three people tonight…So, my anger towards his actions compare *little* to the anger I have for you…If you don’t want him to begin slicing your finger nails off with a knife, I suggest you talk.” <c>
“My phone…My phone, the guy said to kill everyone in this apartment. He gave us the room number and told us to kill everyone. Make it bloody. He used some kind of voice modifier, I couldn’t tell if it was a man or woman. He sounded like Darth Vader...He offered to pay us, we’d pick up the cash at a dumpster by the docks on the east end. Port #16.” Batman looked to Robin, as though seeking satisfaction, if the kid was happy with the results of the interrogation. If Robin nodded, Batman would stand up and collect his gadgets. “We should leave now. The police are on their way.” -Batman and Robin heard Nightwing speaking, prompting him to tap his cowl ear piece. “Those are the exact same firearms we have here…” -Batman removed the masks of the current thugs to reveal none were Christopher Ulrich. <c>
“Robin and I have a clue leading to the docks. Give me all the details you have so far.” -Batman pointed at the thugs. “Get their cell phones.” -Robin would only find one, which was carried by the man Damian was interrogating. Returning to the Bat Mobile, Batman began typing into the computer.- “India 2006, sounds personal.” - Inside the India 2006 were pictures of Christopher and one of the women he had a picture with by his nightstand. The pictures were of the two vacationing; both were laughing and seemed very happy. The pictures would display both the woman and Chris learning martial arts, dressed in karate outfits and bowing their heads to each other. Another picture was of the two kissing on top of an elephant. “Those guns are commonly used by criminals seeking for some high-firepower with high concealment. They don’t want to get caught. The 1911 is a fairly common weapon used by all types of people.” Batman explained as he began driving the bat mobile to the docks. <c>
As Dick continued the files would show ballistics analysis for Jennifer Dixon’s crime scene report dated: January 2007. Additionally it contained notes from another crime scene dated July 14th 2004, Sarah Penny. In the homework folder, Nightwing would see a bunch of files about chemical sampling, law, psychology, and one titled “Roman Sionis.”
Damian Wayne: Damian would cease the torture when Batman called out to him, noticing that the Hostages were watching him do so. Sure they witnessed it, but they should be more than happy to see the man suffer after he had tried to kill them. The man would be lucky if the hostages didn’t kill them when Batman and Damian left. He did, however enjoy Batman intimidating the man by threatening to let Damian back at him again. He had gotten the man’s cell already, heading out with Batman to the Batmobile. He went through the phone soon after reaching the car, looking for a name or the message that ordered the hit on Leonard. He loked for anything that’d stick out that could further help the investigation. But, before they reached the docks, Damian lifted his head to Bruce. “I’m…sorry.” He said in a rare show of remorse for the torture. Again, adults had a hard time taking orders from kids. Batman could intimidate someone into talking without hurting them. He had to hurt them, else they wouldn’t oblige.
DickGrayson: Dick tried to put the pieces together himself, it was a given that these men didn't want the attention, in fact nobody does, the Joker maybe but not the standard run-off the mill thugs like these men. Dick was somewhat glad that Bruce had given him a fair bit more of intel for him to piece more of the puzzle together. He stared at the computer to give off to Batman, more information that he currently had on his hands, "I have the finger print analysis of two women, one of a Jennifer Dixon, and the other of a Sarah Penny." his eye shifted back and forth against the computer screen, squinting to make out the smaller, and finer words imprinted on the files. "It also appears that Jennifer's dead, seeing that ol' Chris here has a file on her crime scene. January of 2007, no specific day." he clicked on the proceeding folder and opened it, "I guess Sarah didn't make it too. Chris also kept a file on Sarah Penny, her crime scene files here are dated as of the 14th of July 2004." <c>
DickGrayson: A wave of uncertainty filled his lungs, "Geez Batman, either this guy's a detective or he's a real creep to be keeping these files around his laptop." he cocked an eyebrow as he motioned his mouse to hover over a very odd little folder entitled 'Homework' "And..there's one more." he spoke with curiosity through the comms. He opened the folder and began to read through each of the files, "Well let's see, this guy's got files on Chemical Sampling, Law, Psychology, it looks like this guy's parents must've been proud of his educational standing." he noted lightly, trying to ease most of the tension, yet his voice still had a serious undertone in it. He gazed once more towards the laptop, "Well, that's about every-" his lips ceased all movement as his eyes locked on to one file that made this case a whole lot more complicated. "Shit..." he whispered softly, but loud enough for his mentor to hear. "Bruce, Black Mask is part of the shindig." <e>