2013-05-15 - Sixteen Birds in Five Fighting Rings: Part 1 - Croc Hunters

The night is young. It is dark, bleak, the clouded skies above Gotham sheltering the denziens of the streets from the cold hearted orb that rules the night, removing color from the streets of Gotham, red is grey and yellow white - but who decides which is right? And which is an illusion? A good question at anytime - but especially in Gotham where over the course of the last month, the police have been utterly stumped and baffled by a rather disturbing increase in the amount of missing persons calls for young teenagers betweenthe ages of 13-18, generally. Even the homeless ones that many of the police were familiar with have disappeared, and it's got a little bit of press in the papers and on the evening news - but no bodies, no grisly deaths, and no proof that anything untowards is going on leads to no real interest in the masses and public who need shiny things dangled in front of them 24/7 to stay interested, and the media has moved on to more gruesome, more attention-grabbing stories for their ratings and sales.

That doesn't mean everyone isn't taking an interest -- for some reason or another, this problem has been vexing Selina Kyle for some time. And everytime she thinks she has a lead, it turns sour. Tonight, another lead has turned up, and tonight, she's not going to let the opportunity slip past her. In full costume, the Catwoman taps into her communication device provided by Oracle, to those listening in. "Hey, girls. It's Catwoman. If anyone is available, I need you to meet me, now. I'm across the street from Pizzano's Pizza, on the rooftop. I think I've got a lead on the missing kids going on here. Get down here as soon as you can. Oh. And, make sure to bring your attitude with you. It might get a bit crazy."

She looks back, through her Night Vision goggles, crouching low, watching as the two suits appear to buy a scrawny boy no older than the age of 16 a full pizza, usher him over towards a table seeming to convey a 'generous' air about them; neither looking particularly shady, or of ill-repute. Selina snaps a few pictures in the meantime, and sends them to Oracle for further evaluation as she waits.

Batgirl was on patrol. Batgirl was in a foul mood. She didn't like when anyone went missing.. And, as the emergency beacon lit up, she went to leap in that direction. Firing her grapple, leaping through the streets and the rooftops as she went at her freakishly fast pace, at full power to get there, following the directional beacon being given along by the computer. She was heading as fast as she could, calling out as she went at a full sprint only a cheetah could match, "On way." Short, to the point.

By now, Redtail's got herself a nice, shiny comm unit. She's also been spending a few days in Gotham with the news what it is, having spoken once or twice with Catwoman about the situation on the streets previously. She's spent time on the streets in what's felt like another life in the past. This is personal. "Attitude? Girl, you don't have to ask twice for that. I'll be there in a few minutes," came the response to the open call, little time needed to don the wings and the rest before she was in the sky, zeroing inon the location in question before touching down feather-light. "Pussycat." She gives a chin nod of a greeting, packing spear and mace tonight.

Helena Bertinelli has many flaws, but being cold-hearted, especially towards children, is not one of them, a since those kids started to disappear the Huntress was on the case. Tonight, of all nights, one of the very few calm nights in the teacher's life, however, Selina comes calling with leads. Standing from the couch with a groan, her ribs hurt from previous patrols, the woman gets her com, whispering a simple "I will be right there. Huntress out."



Within a few minutes the black haired crimefighter is riding her purple and black motorcycle to the spot, a known spot for the ex-mafia princess. Horrible, american pizza being served every night. Looking for Selina, she tries to find a good spot to observe and hide her byke. "Here."



By the time the first three to respond assemble with the leather-clad Cat, they'll find her crouching low on the rooftop, as she stated. And, the men and the teen have, between them, pretty much decimated the pizza, and now appear to be talking. Unfortunately, Selina doesn't have super radar hearing devices, like Batman probably has in his utility belt. She points to the figures, as she awaits feedback from Oracle. She points out, "I've seen those men, before. Though I can't remember where." And really, two grown men in theirlate thirties or fourties, buying a stranger, a teenager, pizza can usually only mean either they're trying to do something awful to him - or, they're trying to witness to him about Jesus.

Cassandra Cain flicks along a roof, sending a quick comm burst to Oracle as a priority signal. Hopefully Oracle would not be too busy multitasking to give what the Birds were after her prime attention. Landing quietly over along the rooftop, silent as a bat. Landing several meters away from Selina along the rooftop, glancing over at Redtail and remaining silent. Almost speaking. But not. "..."

Redtail looms overhead as she stands near the edge of the rooftop, not quite cutting the gargoyle-like appearance Batman can do, but it's something. "You figure they're tricking the kids into going with them? Not exactly a pizza party, is it?" she wonders through the comms, keeping that line of discussion open. "We'd better wait and see if they try to get him to go somewhere. Oracle, you checking the cars in the area or what?" The shaft of the spear is gripped, held at her side with the sharp end pointed skyward. "Are you listening, Oracle? Rewind the tape, or whatever." Batgirl draws a moment of attention before the hawk is staring down toward the street again, frowning at the sound of the motorcycle. "Yeah, that's not gonna draw any attention."

      "It is just a motorcyle, I am not playing our musical theme just yet.", Helena retorts with some anger at hearing Kendra's voice. And just when she thought the night was going to be about justice and retribution, Oracle had to add annoyance to it. As she remains in an alley, not too far behind, the Huntress takes her binoculars, trying to find what they are all talking about. Shaking her head the woman can feel her blood pumping already, and prays in her head to the kids who have been kidnapped previously to be okay. If not... this might end up very, very badly for everyone involved. Courtesy of Helena Bertinelli.

Oracle talks into her headphone. "Okay, just ran the picture of the men through some facial recognition software. They're no one special, but their boss is. They work security for Roland Dagget. Lovable crooked president of Daggett Industries andall-around cretin. Should have mentioned he beat that arson rap from last year with about three dozen lawyers." She pulls up a map on her computer. "Going to send you a map of the facilities you're across from as well. Look up into the sky and wave hi!" she says, even though the military spy satellite she is 'borrowing' is too far up to see, obviously.

         "Dagget," replies Selina. Somehow, that only seems to reaffirm her 'find', and the bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Still, she glances to the other Birds of Prey, and muses, "Well, at least we're prepared, right?" But, so far, there's nothing too special about anything.

         The men get up, and the kid, seemingly of his own violition, gets up and walks out with them towards an unmarked, windowless black van. No sign of force, and the kid seems to be moving under his own power. Definately -suspicious-, but only that, and nothing really anyone could call the men out on. At least, not yet.

<p class="MsoNormal">         The doors open to the van after one of the men raps thrice from the inside, and there's a startled expression on the teens face, but still no force. And, at least to Oracle and Selina, if not to the other Birds, a somewhat horrific sight -- a huge, meaty grey and scaley arm reaches out, a hand offered towards the teen -- who, after looking back at the men, shrugs, and takes it. The grey scaley arm, forearm the size of a tree-trunk and quite possibly belonging to one Killer Croc, 'helps' the kid inside. Then, the doors to the van close shut, and the men move around to the front of the van.

<p class="MsoNormal">         "Oh, hell," whispers Selina. "This isn't good."

<p class="MsoNormal">The name Daggett is meaningless to Batgirl. Just one more of the countless scum and vermin of Gotham she's sworn to help clean up. Her eyes flash behind her full leather mask as she takes note of Croc. Hisisng over, "Mine." In her mind, that leaves Redtail to go with the rest of the team in case there's more heavy firepower than immediately viewable. She strains, ready to launch over into the fight, ready to launch like a missile. Ready to bolt like a Bird of PRey. Hurtling out of the sky. W aiting for the orders to strike. Ready to unfurl her wings.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Huntress." The name is spoken with just a hint of venom in it before Redtail asks Oracle, "How many fingers am I holding up?" without actually raising a hand toward the satellite, wherever it may be. "Got no idea who that is," she says of Dagget, though her eyes narrow sharply on the sight within the van, what can be seen of it. "Who?" the winged woman asks, before the length of the spear is held out as if to block Batgirl from leaping. "Hold on. Are we doing this right now, kitty?" She actually defers to Catwoman initially.

<p class="MsoNormal">      Turns the engines of her byke on, an ominous sign of danger and war for all Birds of Prey, and yet, that trademark purple motorcycle doesn't leave the alley. It is an improvement from Huntress' previous tactics of following behind without awaiting for such orders.

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<p class="MsoNormal">          The insightful people around her can easily tell Helena is keeping her emotions in check because of the involvement of kids in this thing, and this van could possibly lead to more. The ones who don't know her past or don't know her very well soon hear a growl on the communication channels "What the **** are we waiting?! We have no way of telling what's going on in that van! Come on!". Her voice is strained, Helena is ready to do her thing.

<p class="MsoNormal">Oracle says into her headset, a bit surprised. "What was that?" She frowns - well the military satellites only use heat signatures for looking inside buildings, so it didnt pick up anything until that arm pulled that kid in. "Going to see if there are any security cameras in that building I can hack into to get an idea of what's inside. Whoever grabbed that kid isnt showing up on the military sats heat registers."

<p class="MsoNormal">        The van's engine starts - there is no sign of disturbance, from the back. No rocking the boat, no struts or shocks buckling oddly, besides the weight of the Killer Croc within the back of the van. Selina nods, it's a natural movement to what Oracle says, "Either way, it's not good news," she agrees. She takes her camera, and zooms it in on the license plate of the van, even as the brake lights flare, as the engine starts and it begins to back up, then to move forward, pausing to turn onto the busy street.

<p class="MsoNormal">         She pauses, looking back to the girls with her, "Redtail, follow it." Because they're not going to be able to all keep up. "Oracle, you want us to follow it and see where it leads, or should we engage?" She's /not/ Batman, and certainly didn't ask to lead anything. And frontal confrontations are not Selina's general speciality - even as others are deferring to her, she's deferring to Oracle.

<p class="MsoNormal">         "Oracle - you're not going to like this. It looks like Killer Croc might be working with Dagget. Didn't get a full view, but, I don't know any other arm that looks like that." And, with her thief-vision goggles, her eyes in the dark are among the best.

<p class="MsoNormal">They got a view of an arm. A big one. That was scaly. It's close enough to count in Gotham. HOw many huge alligators are there in the sewers? Batgirl tenses. She hisses over to her commlink, "Will handle." Straining, ready to leap, but cautious. She's never faced Croc in combat before, and while she has enough pride to know she can handle him, it may be better to leave him to Redtail. She waits, ready to leap off the rooftop when the signal was given. Waiting for Oracle to give the marching orders, and follow along after the rest or hcarge ahead. She hated working in groups.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Right. I've heard of him," Redtail says of Croc, lowering the spear before securing it to a spot in back between the wings. "On it. First one to grab on gets a free ride with me," she says, extending a hand and leaving it open to Catwoman or Batgirl to claim it. The wings unfurl and she readies to push off within seconds.

<p class="MsoNormal">   "Killer Croc is in a van, with a child? And you are all just sitting on your asses!? Oralce, give me something, God damn it!", Huntress hisses, grasping the handles of her byke tightly, gritting her teeth. While no one can see her aside from Barbara, Helena leans forward to touch her forehead against her motorcycles' windshield, closing her eyes for a moment to concentrate. Anytime now she will lose control and she knows it. "Come on... please...".

<p class="MsoNormal">Oracle pauses. "Follow him. If it looks like he's about to harm the teen, engage. If he's working for Dagget and taking the kid somewhere, follow first." She pauses. "Batgirl, that means you too. He'll probably lead you guys to where the other teens are. At least I hope. Assuming he's in one of his more lucid phases and isnt just eating the teens."

<p class="MsoNormal">Oracle then says, "Huntress, seriously. Unless he's about to harm the kid, don't do what I know you're thinking of doing. He can probably lead you guys to the others missing teenagers."

<p class="MsoNormal">        "Huntress, I'm with you. Batgirl, with Redtail." Cassandra is the lighter load, and she can glide if she falls; Selina is not so glidey. And, she can help keep the lid on Helena's temper -- she hopes. "Let's move."

<p class="MsoNormal">         The van, meanwhile, does not seem as if it is drawing any attention to itself; there's no speeding, no running red lights, running other cars off, as if they were trying to get away from something. And, it makes things easy - at least, for now, keeping to the main street, and not trying to 'lose' anyone, showing no signs they think they're being followed.

<p class="MsoNormal">         "We'll get whatever information we can, Oracle. C'mon, Huntress. Let's not draw too much attention to ourselves." They'll draw enough; two women dressed as they, on a motorcycle. At least Selina knows how to ride, and isn't afraid of Helena's driving.

<p class="MsoNormal">Batgirl doesn't pay attention over to Selina's instructions. Inwardly, her sense of duty is clashing with an emotional undercurrent that's only peaked by Helena's. She knows that Oracle's orders are right, and if they rescue this one girl they leave others to a horrid fate, but the thought of leaving the captured girl in the van with Killer Croc makes her stomach churn. Wtih a pitter patter of feet and a purposefully triggered silence, she botls. Like a Bat out of hell. Leaping from one building to the next. Then to the one after. Inthe city streets, unless the van is making at speeds on the freeway, she'll be able to keep up running and chasing. For hours if necessary. Batgirl was on the prowl.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Slow down, Huntress," Redtail's heard chirping over the comm again. "And think for a second. Has anyone turned up dead? No. If we just go in smashing up the van right now we might not find out where the rest are." She stops long enough to add, aloud, "Did I really just suggest that? Well, it's the right thing." She'll just ignore Oracle's thought that Croc himself could be devouring them. To the air with her, Batgirl left to follow her own way when the hand is left hanging. "Fine, then." She glides up to take an aerial position others can only imagine, a silent sentry above.

<p class="MsoNormal">       Between concentrating on not going after the van by herself and keeping her nerves at bay after the whole eating comment, Huntress punches her windshield and hisses, the pain easing her mind somewhat. And yet, she knows they are right, and no kid is going to suffer because Helena didn't control herself. Anyone else, but them.

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<p class="MsoNormal">          "I can control myself.", she murmurs as Selina slinks behind her on the motorcycle. If Catwoman touches Huntress she will realize her muscles are tense and she is shivering slightly, showing that although she might have some self-control, it is hanging by a thread. Shadowing the van, the brunette tries to remain as inconspicuous and afar as she can, trying not to draw attention with her purple byke, long cape and feline companion. Yes, she is far, far behind the van and Kendra.

<p class="MsoNormal">Oracle murmurs, "Too bad the van doesn't have a lojack on it." She then says, "okay... got them on the traffic cams. And got a satellite feed on their GPS. Let me know if you're going to stop them before getting to their destination or not?"

<p class="MsoNormal">She taps in a few more keys. "Looks like they're headed for the warehouse district. Pulling up the address entered on their GPS now..." She then mentions the address to the field team. "Some of you might want to go ahead. Going to make a little traffic so you can rescue the teen now that we have a location. Be careful about Croc."

<p class="MsoNormal">    Indeed, as the van continues towards the warehouse district, traffic begins to thin, and slowly become absent. At least, until Oracle's manipulations come into play, and as the van gets closer, a rerouting of traffic causes the van to /have/ to stop. It's a perfect opportunity to bum-rush the van, and take the teen. "Redtail," says Selina, fearing - or, knowing, that Batgirl is not going to be able to take Croc out herself, "Help Batgirl. Quickly."

<p class="MsoNormal">         Her arms stay around Helena, "Let's get to the warehouse, and see what's going on. Redtail can Cassandra can hopefully hold their own, while we look into things there." This, of course, all said over the comm as well.

<p class="MsoNormal">         The van, however, at least for the moment, remains undisturbed; still no signs of struggle, or anything untowards going on.

<p class="MsoNormal">Cassandra Cain growls. She can tkae Croc on her own. Redtail to her is better left going to hit the warehouse in case there's another meta there. She leaps through the air, dive bombing! Like a vast, predatory bird of prey, ready to smash on top of the van with a loud *THUMP* and half crush the roof on top, ready to teach a short, sharp lesson to those within and introduce them to a whole new world of PAIN!

<p class="MsoNormal">"I /was/ going to go straight to the warehouse since it's easier for me to reach," Redtail says, though she veers down toward the van with a curse as Batgirl ends up being the first to attack. Out comes the mace, brandished in her right hand. "I'll open up the back. Batgirl, get the kid out first, /then/ we deal with Croc." Coming up close, she prepares for a mighty swing...then tries the handle first.

<p class="MsoNormal">        "A little kid and that woman against Killer Croc... Damn it. Where is Nightwing when I need him?!", the woman growls lowly over the comm, but only talks to herself, as she speeds off and away of the van. She would have to trust these two to help the kid, and even if Huntress wouldn't trust them her trash, she puts a lot of faith in Barbara to coordinate this and rig things in their favor.

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<p class="MsoNormal">          Taking those trusty shortcuts through alleyways and even going off the street for a few moments her and there, Helena distances her and Catwoman from Batgirl and Redwing, her body still tense and every here and then trying to wriggle more room, unaccostumed athaving someone latched at her outside her classroom.

<p class="MsoNormal">Oracle says to Selina's headset, "Don't worry - between the two of them, they can handle Croc." Then says on a general frequency, "Okay, I'm going to send you a layout of the place they were headed to." she says, punching in a few keys. "Annnnd. There. Traffic jam.... Batgirl? Redtail? Get to that van and get that kid out. Oh, and don't die."

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<p class="MsoNormal">A few strokes of the keys and the traffic lights cause gridlock in front of the van, blocking its path with a bus and a lot of honking cars. "And make sure no bystanders are hurt also."

<p class="MsoNormal">         When Redtail opens the door - the reaction she gets is probably unexpected. Certainly, Killer Croc is there, sitting, calmly, his huge jaw in a twisted frown, inhuman eyes glaring at Redtail, as the teen - undamaged, unspoiled, and - oddly, not entirely scared, though perhaps neverous, looks at the winged-warrior too. Then, the top of the van is landed on, and it shakes. Voices from the front call, "What the hell?!" And, the man on the passenger side gets out, pulling out a gun to go take a look.

<p class="MsoNormal">         Killer Croc asks, gruffly, "What the hell do you want, bird-brain?" And, he sneers.

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<p class="MsoNormal">         Meanwhile, as Selina and Helena arrive at the destination - it appears to be abandoned, for all intents and purposes. Nobody around. No other cars. No lights on, save in the office itself. And, the door to the warehouse is open. The warehouse is mostly empty, save a few crates that are mostly empty, wrappers, dust, dry leaves, and vestiges of recent activity, but pretty well cleaned out. Selina stalks the length of the warehouse, after getting off the bike, "Nothing," she calls to Oracle. She points Helena up to the office, "Maybe we can find something up there. You go take a look, I'll see if I can see anything down here."

<p class="MsoNormal">         She's no Batman, but her Thief Vision works pretty well; upstairs, in the lighted office, it, too, seems pretty well cleared out. Save a few odd pieces of paper, on the cement floor that almost seem like ticket stubs, torn and not fully legible, and having no name or time stamp on them as if they were from some other sort of venue. In the garbage can, if Helena is thorough, there's a list of first names, some of which are crossed out - both male, and female names.

<p class="MsoNormal">Cassandra Cain quickly evaluates and assesses. While she's damned sure of her ability to take out Croc, protecting the girl has the priority. That's why the group works in tandem. She calls out at Croc, "Make him boots." THen goes to charge over at the man with a gun. She's not holding back as much as she usually does. As the man moves to swing around the weapon, to Batgirl he might as well be moving in slow motion to her as she flips off the side of the truck to land flwalessly on the ground. Fist going out towards the gunman's shoulder, intent on if she can strike the blow hiting the arm clean at the elbow and snapping it like a twig if she can, hopefully before the man can even swing his way fully out of the car with luck.

<p class="MsoNormal">Keeping that mace at the ready, Redtail gets a good look at Killer Croc and the sight isn't the most pleasant one around. "Gun in front," she warns Batgirl while she can, then she orders the boy, "You. Out. Now." To Croc she adds, "We're busting up this ring of yours, whatever it is. How would you like a little mace in the face?" It's a bit too cramped inside the van to take the fight there, but she strikes the open door to separate it from its hinges with quite a screech of steel. If Croc can smell fear, it just isn't there in the St. Roch heroine.

<p class="MsoNormal">         At first Helena says nothing, walking with care, feeling her body go numb, as it usually does, before she fights. It is not that Huntress doesn't know that what she does is not dangerous, or deadly, it is just something she does anyway, her life far less precious than any inocent in Gotham City. And yet, the fighting never happens, and it as Helena walks into the empty office that her hopes for this to be resolved this night are crushed.

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<p class="MsoNormal">          And she trashes the place, yelling a combination of itallian and english curses while she kicks, punches and even headbutts a closet. Nothing remains unrustled, and certainly not the trashcan, and it is just as Helena tosses it at the wall, and she falls on her butt, that the list of names comes flying lazily through the air, to land between her thighs as she catches her breath. Taking it in her fist like she depends on it to life, Helena raises her hand!

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<p class="MsoNormal">          "FOUND SOMETHING!"

<p class="MsoNormal">Oracle pauses. "I've got nothin'." She frowns about the layout of the warehouse. "Nothing in the records about any secret rooms or anything. Might want to search though. I'll see if the others can beat the information out of the ones in the van."She switches over to Batgirl and Redtail. "Guys? Make sure to keep at least one of them conscious. Might need to interrogate." Unfortunately Batgirl isnt quite a good interrogator. Or good at keeping people conscious. Hopefully Redtail is.

<p class="MsoNormal">                      The teen looks wide-eyed at Redtail, and actually scooches further into the van, not daring to speak, but moving as far away from the girl as he can. Croc sneers again, "Bad little birdy," he says, gruffly, "You should --," and, he reaches forwards, despite hissize, lightning fast, and levels a punch into Redtail's jaw and man, can the Killer Croc hit - not as strong as Bane when he's pumped up, no --- but dangerously powerful nevertheless, "Fly away."

<p class="MsoNormal">         He turns his head towards the van, "Get out of here," he tells the driver. "I can handle this one."

<p class="MsoNormal">         Now, there /is/ that sense of urgency in the van. And, as Croc moves to 'capture' his prey, the Van begins to take off, careening dangerously at a corner turn, to weave away from the traffic, and onto a different route.

<p class="MsoNormal">         The man with the gun doesn't have time to aim at Batgirl --- he's too busy getting out of the way of the vehicle, and swears a pretty string of curse words after the fact.

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<p class="MsoNormal">         "What'd you find?" Asks Selina, looking across the floor for odd drag marks, something that might indicate a false floor, or anything she could use to her favor. She peeks into the crates left, runs a hand through the fibrous packing material left inside, "Whatever was here, Oracle, they cleaned out good. Nothing on the floor. Empty crates. Packing material. But no sign of whatever was inside. No shipping labels to track, either. Torn off. They're covering their tracks, very well. But then, this is Dagget we're talking about. He's never been one to be sloppy."

<p class="MsoNormal">Cassandra Cain tenses. Car is getting away. Girl is still inside. She whirls around to toss a batarang over at the man scrambling out of the way, the blunt edged 'rang aimed at the back of his head to knock him out. She goes to race over towards the van as it speeds away, trying to match speeds with it before the car gets too clear ahead of her and escapes. Racing, keeping up, trying to gague the angle as she goes to draw her grappler.. Trying to keep in range long enough to judge the shot, fire it towards the door of the van, and use the sudden YANK of attachment to powerfully pull her right on in!

<p class="MsoNormal">There won't be much of a response from Redtail as far as Oracle's request goes. She's too busy dealing with a sudden fist that strikes out at her in short order. She's quick enough to get a wing up in time to deflect it, but only to the point that the punch still clips her chin and draws blood from the angle of contact. With a curse she darts back and up out of range of Croc, giving her the chance to assess matters. "Got a little problem here," she relays. "They're trying to get away and the kid didn't get out. Croc did, though." She circles, seeking an opening.

<p class="MsoNormal">        "Incompetente...", Huntress growls as she hears the words over the comm link, walking away from the office and going to Selina s she speaks to Oracle, hastily, reading the names on the list "Is this making any sense to you yet, Barbara, because if everything is okay or dead in here, I am going after that child. DAMN it, I knew I should have stayed. Come on, what can you do for me?". While she is sharp in the way she talks, Helena handles the paper to Selina almost carefully, opening the ex-thief's hand and putting what she found on her palm.

<p class="MsoNormal">Oracle shakes her head. "Yeah just go help the others. I'm not seeing anything about the warehouse. Not even sure why they were headed there. Unless you see anything there from a search. Sorry."

<p class="MsoNormal">       Selina takes the list, eyeballs it, and then tucks it away for later. She looks towards Helena, "Anything else up there? No, Oracle. No false floors, nothing. Dagget probably had cleaners come through here, I'm guessing." She curses, under her breath. "Any other buildings tied to this one?" It's a longshot, but, hey. It might pay off? Selina frowns, and tilts her head, moving over to the back of the door they came in from, squinting. "Hey, Oracle. Any idea why someone would etch the name 'Roulette' into a door, followed by a big ol' I love you heart? Odd name. Looks like someone tried to scrub it out, too. But, it's still legible." She points at it, to Helena, silently asking the other woman with her if she's familiar with it either.

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<p class="MsoNormal">         Meanwhile, the passenger with the gun, goes down, with a perfect throw from Batgirl, body collapsing onto the pavement. Traffic is chaotic, now, as people try to evade and get the hell out of there while two huge powers collide.

<p class="MsoNormal">         As Batgirl zips into the back of the van, she'll see the teen there - and read the body language. The teen is petrified of Batgirl's presence, shouts, "Get away from me!" In a shrill voice. The van doesn't stop, though, the driver keeps on going, as fast as he can, the van turning sharply down the corner. Luckily the GPS is still in tact - not to mention Batgirl's comm unit, so Oracle can still follow.

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<p class="MsoNormal">         Croc, meanwhile, slams his hand into the pavement, rips up a chunk of concrete, and throws it at Redtail, "You're one of Batman's girls? You just don't know when to keep your beak out of other people's business, do ya?" He growls, following up the through with a huge shoulder-charge, to flatten the diminuitive hero.

<p class="MsoNormal">Cassandra Cain has little time to act as she leaps up and over into the car. Her priority is saving the girl. She quickly judges the van's forward speed and momentum, then goes to try and grab and yank at the boy with one arm, "Come with me if you want to live." Perhpas the longest sentence she's spoken in her life. Going to try and grab theguy, yank him, then reverse-fire the grapple line to yank her out ofthe van while tossing a batarang forward to hopefully ricochet and hit the steering wheel. By her judgements, the driver was likely to survive the crash of the van with his life, if not his body intact, and the van hadn't gottne enough momentum enough to be a lehtal crash luckily on the city streets as she hopefully reverse-exited the van with the victim in one arm.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Batgirl's in the van," is the best Redtail can report before she's having to take evasive maneuvers to duck out of the way of the concrete sent flying toward her, which has the side effect of bringing her closer to his level. "No, I'm just out to break up whatever you're involved with. You made it our business when kids started disappearing." As he telegraphs his charge she flies up and over it, raking across his back with the talons tipping both boots.

<p class="MsoNormal">          Muttering under her breath Helena shakes her head a bit distraught, as if she wants to go and do the more obviously rewarding thing: save the kid. Instead, she follows Selina Kyle around, an exercise in patience that Helena doesn't get too oftenly. Tilting herhead to look at the Roulette graffiti and the scrubbing, Huntress is back on it, nodding to herself. "Now we are gettting somewhere...", and while Oracle tries to find out more about this signature, Helena tries to calm herself and look about.

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<p class="MsoNormal">          It is obvious they had a cleaning crew about, and that they did a good job. One thing they might have left, however, are tire marks or other clues as to how they got here, and where they went, especially if the cleaning has been recent. Also, if Huntress can find out which vehicles they used, maybe she can find them through the cameras around the district. Well, not her, but she knows just the right person.

<p class="MsoNormal">Oracle scratches her head. "Weird though, that they'd clean out an area that fast, when they were bringing a teen there -right now-." She then says as she thinks a bit, "Actually I have an idea of what that signature means. You really should readthe Oracle Files. Roulette. AKA Veronica Sinclair. She runs underground gladiatorial arenas.... usually with superhumans. Hasnt been any metahumans reported missing, and my info on any missing mutants is not as good as I'd like. Weird though - any idea of the teen in the van is a mutant or metahuman?"

<p class="MsoNormal">Oracle checks to see if there are any other buildings tied to the warehoue, or anything tied to Veronica Sinclair.

<p class="MsoNormal">         Croc bellows, as the talon-claws rake behind him --- but again he's /fast/, damn fast, and his hands lash out as his body twists, grabbing one of Redtail's feet, and using it as leverage to slam her body into the pavement, once, then throw her into the side of a building. He's done talking, it looks like, and he's not a happy camper. The creature has lost any sense of being reasoned with now - not like he was ever really that stable to begin with.

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<p class="MsoNormal">         The kid with Batgirl screams aloud, as he's literally whisked away he's at least safe, but he's screaming, "I don't want to go with you! I want to go with /them/!" Desperately, though too sacred to actually fight Batgirl lest he fall to his death as the grappleis ridden.

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<p class="MsoNormal">         Oracle will find, through further research, that another Warehouse in the district has recently been aquired by one of Dagget's 'facade' companies about the same time the missing kids started a month or so ago, one of those that's suspected of illegitimate actsbut never proven, and generally only exists 'on the books'. Nothing comes up, however, in Veronica Sinclair's name.

<p class="MsoNormal">         Selina frowns, "Croc was the only one I saw any sign of," she responds back to Oracle. "You want us to stay here? Look for anything further? Or should we go help?" She exchanges a look with Helena, and gives the Italian woman a reassuring nod. Selina's pleased Huntress has shown the restraint she has.

<p class="MsoNormal">In the midst of turning to follow up on her attack, Redtail doesn't even get the chance. In that time Croc's snared her by a boot and she comes in contact with the hard ground, then - fortunately - through a window instead of the building itself. The Nth Metal and wings might alleviate some of the damage but it still /hurts/ to be battered like that, and there's a crackling that heralds the destruction of her comm unit in the process, just after a pained sound.

<p class="MsoNormal">   Police sirens, from various people in buildings, or that were in the traffic having called in begin to fill the air; and Croc knows that while he stands a chance with Redtail, there's little good that can come out of fighting an entire Gotham Police Force that's been mobilized to take him out. While he has the time, he snatches up a sewer panel, and drops into the sewers below.

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<p class="MsoNormal">         The man that Batgirl knocked unconscious is just now coming too, and thanks to Batgirl, the screaming teen is now a limp pile of a meatbag in Batgirl's arms, and the van? The van, Oracle will be able to tell, got into an accident and smashed into a street pole as it got out of control; police already have the man in custody and he's headed to the hospital.

<p class="MsoNormal">                 "Redtail?" Selina heard the crunch. "Batgirl - you got eyes on Redtail? Oracle?" Another worried exchange is given with Helena, and Selina is already heading out to the motorcycle. "We're on our way."

<p class="MsoNormal">But, at least some of the pieces of the puzzle are coming together, and now they have some means to question various parties, to get a clearer picture of just what's going on.

<p class="MsoNormal">Cassandra Cain growls silently then. The boy is in the hands of the Gotham PD. Whether that's a good or a bad thing remains to be seen. She sulks silently then, before firing off her grapple off into the night with intent to vanish and continue her patrol. Reachable bycommlink, but having one of her 'moods' where she's annoyed at having not gottne to sink her own claws over into Croc, and hating to have to play reactive to things without any big leads to go on. "..stupid...freak.." Redtail's a bit late in charging out of the broken window, a few cuts showing on arms and stomach as she just catches sight of the manhole cover rattling closed. Then Batgirl's out of sight. Then she's trying to make the comm work to no avail. Then more attention is descending on the area. "Damn it." She takes to the air again with a plan to fall back to the room she's rented during her stay here, at which time she'll call Oracle to at least let the rest know she got out in one piece along with finding out anything else she missed. Along the way, the helmet is thrown down with a fury, indicative of how she feels about the encounter. They may have been successful in some way, but she's one angry bird.