2013-12-31 - Shadow Games: Opening Shots

The Bludhaven Plaza Hotel ballroom was full of blue tonight, for the New Year's Eve Policeman's Ball, probably something that Dick would have wished he could skip but the Wayne Foundation was making a donation to the Haven PD's charitable organizations tonight and so it meant Dick had to be on hand.

He's seated up with the brass tonight on account of the donation but thankfully the dinner part of the evening is over and Dick is free to wander the room and socialize. All the usual suspects are there, Eddie Marks, the sort of sleazy detective working property crimes these days, the new Chief, Lieutenant Jacob "Mean" Green, the head of the Internal Affairs department who is hitting the booze pretty hard, and Anthony Sabato, Dick's most recent partner chatting up a couple of women by the dance floor.

It's of course now that Dick's phone rings, it's Damian's number whatever ringtone or alert he has for the little Bat-Brat playing from Dick's pocket. Dick is in his dress blues, not the most comfortable, but at least he got to sit at the head table and thus got to eat first, sometimes it is the little things in life. He isn't hitting the sauce, as he is afraid he may get called into his real job, though his official, and additional, excuse is that he drove himself. A soda in one hand, Dick pays attention to the brass and how they are acting among the donors and police.

The phone's buzz is quickly answered as soon as he can step into the hallway, "What's up?"

The brass seem to be doing alright, except for Lieutenant Green, who admittedly is not the most social man in the Haven County PD, but tonight he's sending out vibes of leave me alone and hitting the sauce pretty hard. The rest of the brass, the Chief, the Captains, they're all seeming to have a good time as midnight approaches glad-handing and telling bad jokes.

"Grayson, how's the party tedious as expected?" Damian says without much in the way of pleasantries. "Just wanted to update you, there was a murder at our party," he means the Wayne Foundation party in Gotham, which he got stuck with. "Carrie is dealing with it, but I thought you'd like to know." Dick had given Green some leeway this night, as one is wise to leave the head of Internal Affairs alone if he is having a bad time, last thing you want is him giving you a hard time on the job. Damian's message leaves Dick surprised, "What? Is everyone all right? Who was it, and who did it?"

Leaving Green alone seems to be the popular choice tonight. Most people though are watching him, a few like Marks are snickering. "Hmm, it was a friend of a friend of Carrie's, don't know how or who, but we're looking into it, just wanted to get your permission to take any steps we might need to take if we figure something out, since you are now in charge so to speak," Damian says, he's actually asking permission. Dick nods, stepping a little farther away as the conversation continues, "Yes, do what you need to, within the rules," he feels the need to say that, "But I want a sitrep every half hour, or if anything important happens, I can be there quickly if you need me. Be careful." Dick understands the importance of being asked permission, and is not going to deny it in this case.

"You're the best big brother ever," Damian says tone dripping with irony. "Have a good party," he adds before he clicks the connection dead. As the line goes Sabato wanders over with two drinks in his hands. "Hey, call from one of your girls?" he jokes as he offers something dark and smelling of rum. "Or was that Bruce making sure you didn't run off with the cheque?" Dick rolls his eyes and says, "Later." He is able to put his phone away before Sabato speaks, "The latter," Dick chuckles and wave away the rum, "Driving tonight, so none of the stuff for me. Having a good time?" He is able to relax his stance a little. "What's up with Green?"

"Cool, that's two for me then," Sabato grins as he downs one and sets the empty glass on the table. He looks back at Green and shakes his head "Dunno, weird though right, guy's an asshole, but didn't peg him for a public drunk," he takes a sip of his second drink. "You're not going to go talk to him are you?" "Yeah, whatever it is cannot go well for him tomorrow." Dick frowns and sighs, "Maybe I should, haven't done anything recently he can hurt me with." Dick straightens his posture and says, "Be back in a sec."

Walking over to Green, Dick asks, "Sir, is everything all right?" His concern is evident, and hopefully the public nature of the event will shield Dick from the worst of an outburst.

Sabato lets out a breath when Dick declares his intentions and stands there for a few moments before he sighs and slams back his drink following after him. When Dick approaches Green, Sabato is right there at his back.

Green looks up from his drink when Dick speaks and peers up at him with blood shot watery eyes. He seems to weight Dick with that look, like he's a man trying to find someone and wonders if Dick is that man, then just as suddenly he shoves Dick hard with both hands. "Get away from me Grayson," he says, and Dick feels something shoved into the front pocket of his blues. "Just everyone stay away from me!" Dick throws up his hands defensively and backs away, "All right, if you need anything..." He turns away, not giving any sign he felt anything. Sneaking away as the attention is on Green, Dick goes to the restroom and walks into a stall where he pulls out whatever was put into his pocket.

Sabato moves to calm Green down as Dick walks away, waving at his partner he's got that covered. In the restroom when Dick unfolds the note, it reads: "They have my family at my house. Told me to shoot the Chief at midnight or they die." The address follows.

Dick curses under his breath. Certainly not something he wants to deal with, let alone he can not get the things he would need to resolve this. Putting the note in his pocket, and fastening it so that it won't easily fall out. Taking out his phone, Dick texts Damian,  Dick then flushes the toilet to keep up the ruse and walks back into the banquet hall, looking for who might be armed to provide the gun.

The text comes back right away. You can almost imagine Damian at the other end typing excitedly. < On it >.

Out in the hall Green is still by the bar trying hard not to look at Dick and still with a drink in his hand. Detective Marks comes by and asks "What's up with Green man? He totally hit you, should put in an IA beef," he jokes, but Marks is an ass like that.

The room seems pretty gunless unless Green left it at the coat check.

Dick frowns and would continue if it wasn't for Marks. "Eh, probably just a really bad day. Not much to do about it." His expression has a thousand-yard stare, and he seems somewhat distracted. Dick's mind is moving a mile a minute, trying to figure out how he can resolve the two problems. Giving a nod, Dick tries to see where the Chief is at this point.

Marks watches Dick closely for a moment then shakes his head, deciding he's a lost cause as conversation partner. The Chief is standing over by the mayor and a couple of council men as well as the somewhat crooked developer Jimmy "Irish" Mcguire, who throws a lot of money around the town.

Green looks up at the clock, and takes another sip of his drink, he starts moving towards the bathrooms. Though to be sick or to get a weapon it's hard to say. Dick nods, and thinks to himself, no doubt connecting the presence of the other dignitaries with the Chief as being very important, and perhaps one of them is the one to confirm that Green does his job. Dick moves quickly, trying to keep Green in his sights, gambling that there isn't a second person being blackmailed to do the job.

Green isn't looking so good. He makes his way unevenly to the bathroom and the doors close behind him. Meanwhile the clock ticks on towards midnight, and the party goes on around Dick. Dick follows Green towards the restroom, and opens the doors, maybe finding a way to stop the man, without getting him in trouble, either with the kidnappers or the law.

Green is in the can puking his guts out and crying. There's a gun on the tile by the toilet he's crouching over. Small Glock, concealable, a good weapon for this sort of job. Green looks back with wild eyes as he sees Dick behind him. "I can't do it Grayson, I can't, oh god..." he retches again. Dick frowns, "Then don't. Who is doing this to you? I want to help your family." He is not pleased to see the gun, but perhaps there is a way out of this. Dick leans up against the bathroom door, trying to bar Greene from exiting.

"Then call someone to," he retches again. "Get someone there," he says. "I don't know the guy, he came last night, wearing silver mask and calling himself the Crimesmith. He had guys with him, guys in masks, I tried to fight but they already had my kids," he says. "What am I going to do Grayson?" he looks up at Dick wet eyed. "Trust me, you can't do anything to help them if you are in prison, and you surely don't want your kids to know their dad is going to get the needle," Dick's tone is firm, "So I will do what I can, but I won't let you hurt the Chief."

Greene nods and slides the gun over to Nightwing across the wet and dirty tile. "Like I said, Grayson, I can't do it." Dick doesn't pick it up, he is known to not even wear his gun if he can help it. "Then you are going to walk out of here, and we will do what we can to get you out of this." He offers his hand to the cop, "Come on, let's get you out of here."

Greene nods and offers Dick his hand. "I'm trusting you Grayson," he says in a tumultuous voice as he staggers to his feet using his free hand to steady himself on the wall. He looks like hell, ragged and spent, sweat soaking through his dress blues.

A text comes through then: < On the way, still on schedule > Dick feels uneasy about this, he knows he cannot guarantee the man's family's safety, but he will do what he can. The buzzing occurs again and Dick texts back . Dick nods towards the door after putting his phone away, "Let's go get some water in ya, probably dehydrated, or you will be soon enough with how much you've drank.

Greene nods lets Dick walk him out of the bathroom. All eyes are on both of them and the chief walks over, looking concerned. "Jake, Grayson, are you alright?". Greene opens his mouth to speak but doesn't answer, and the Chief looks to Dick then, face growing stern. A text comes back from Damian on the secure channel < I know! >. Dick nods to the Chief, "He had a bit too much to drink, sir." Not a lie, not one bit. "He just needs some water and a taxi. Going to hate tomorrow." Dick isn't smiling, nor checking his phone, too busy talking with the boss.

The Chief nods and reaches out to pat Greene on the shoulder. "We'll talk about this tomorrow Jacob," he says. It sounds like Greene is in for a very bad day. "Grayson," the Chief says before he wanders back to the luminaries to make excuses for Greene's behaviour. "Leave me," Greene says. "Just go get my family." Dick nods, and then turns to Greene, "Doing what I can at this point. First step is ensuring you didn't do anything stupid." Dick's voice is firm, "You stay here," Dick says and steps into the hallway and texts Damian.

Damian's text comes back over the secure channel. < Do you have nothing to do but text me? 2nd jet, 5min out >. Dick frowns and returns the phone to his pocket and walks over to the Chief, "Sir, can I speak with you for a moment?" Dick attempts to make his voice imply that he would like to talk to his boss away from the others for a little bit.

The Chief nods looking concerned. "One moment," he says to the people he's speaking. "What's going on Grayson?" he asks. Dick sighs and tenses a little, easy to get nervous about this, he isn't Nightwing here, he can actually be targeted for failing his duties, his address is known, etc. He plainly says, "Sir, I think you might be in danger. Does the name Crimesmith mean anything to you?"

He shakes his head. "No," the Chief says. "Never heard of him. What's going on, why is my life in danger?"

Dick nods, "Because whoever it is, wants you dead. We need to get you out of here. Lieutenant Greene was blackmailed to do it, but he isn't going to do it, that being said, we need to get you out of here. His family is being threatened, and I called in a favor to try and rescue them."

The Chief, blanches and looks across the crowded hall at Greene. "Oh my god," he says. "Jake," he says shaking his head. "Uh, yes Grayson, um, Dick, let's go. How much time do we have before?" Dick nods, "Trust me, he isn't going to do it. But we only have a few more minutes before it's supposed to happen." Dick looks about, trying to see if any other threats present themselves.

The room seems clear of threats but everyone is looking at Dick and the Chief even if they are pretending not to. The chief nods. "Let's go then, Dick," he says his own eyes swivel around as everyone turns their attention to the clock. "Almost there," someone says as the last minute starts to tick away to midnight, bottles are brought out as Dick and the chief make their way across the hall. Dick's phone buzzes < We were too late. Dealing with scene, delay authorites > is the message from Damian on the secure channel. Dick checks his phone and puts it away stoicly, can't give away anything. "Sir, I don't think leaving the building will be good, but we can get you somewhere safe here. Hmm," he thinks to himself.

The Chief frowns. "Where and what's being done about Greene's family?" he asks looking around the room still as he moves off to a corner out of the way. Dick says bluntly, "Called in a favor from Nightwing."

The Chief is new to the city as Redhorn's replacement but he knows about Bludhaven's hero. "Nightwing," he says uncertain how to take that. The man was technically a criminal. "Alright, let's go down to basement, we can talk about Nightwing later Grayson, also, give me your phone, I'm going to send people to Greene's house, I know people in this city love Nightwing, but I want /our/ people on this." Dick nods and reaches into his pocket and grabs his phone. Not wanting to give away the Bat Family programs, Dick types in the 'unlock code' that makes the phone appear to be a standard smartphone. Dick tries to consider a way to delay the authorities further for Batwing, so as he hands the phone over, he 'fumbles' it, dropping it to the ground. Taking the time to think of a different solution, and failing, Dick finally hands it over to his boss.

The Chief shakes his head and Dick but takes the phone with a nod of thanks. He dials in a number and lets the SWAT team know to go to Greene's house and calls for more units to attend the hotel where the party's at. "Thanks Grayson," the chief says tossing back the phone before being lead downstairs. The timing is perfect a message comes through silened because of the code but when Dick gets a moment to read it says < Secured evidence, cleared scene will be working on it when you get home > good thing that didn't come though to the Chief.

Dick nods and takes his phone back, and figuring he has done enough tonight, he goes back into the room to suffer through the rest of the party, but knowing that the night will be rather rough, and then he has all of that work waiting for him back home.