February Investigation catch-all

[earlybird]

WHO: DAMIAN WAYNE, closed to Investigation plot CR
WHERE: Various locations
WHEN: Early February until Mid-February
WHAT: Robin is investigating a missing childrens' case, which brings him into contact with an array of characters.
WARNINGS: The kind of content you'd see usually see in a Detective Comics comic: violence, language, discussion of sensitive topics (murder, human trafficking, etc.)

NOTE TO PLAYERS: I've set the details of this plot up so you can feel free to tag at your own pace, or opt to handwave if you like!

START... MAURTIA FALLS.

Robin first picks up the trail of a few missing kids from the street; four children from the St. Nicholas Orphanage of Maurtia Falls Catholic Union. Assumed runaways, lost numbers in the system, they were originally a case file tossed aside by MFPD. But a key witness gives him a promising lead: Mortimer Stroud, a conman with a minor criminal history working at the orphanage as a part-time janitor under a different alias. Robin suspects he took advantage of his station, and sold some info upstream to interested parties about which children wouldn't be missed.

A catch-and-release interrogation gives him the location of a recently abandoned "workshop" in Maurtia Falls, and another name -- this time of a murdered criminal whose body was found by local police in de Chima: Warren Pierce.

LOCATION... DE CHIMA.

ASIDE: CRANE

Although in de Chima on business, there's some personal motive for Damian to make a visit out to the city. Ever since he discovered this world's Bruce Wayne, he's kept an eye on the older version of his father from afar. However, curiosity wins out, and draws him closer -- close enough to find out Dr. Jonathan Crane has, somehow, insidiously inserted himself into Wayne Enterprises. He has time for a little visit.

SABRIEL

Warren's effects are being held in the police evidence locker, and his body down in the department morgue. Sabriel, on RISE business, catches Robin in the middle of his investigation, and -- after some back and forth -- uses her skill to chat with Warren's ghost long enough for an interrogation, and another name: "CONSTANTINE."

LOCATION... MAURTIA FALLS.

JOHN

Constantine is suspicious, and an asshole, but Damian knows enough to know he (probably) wouldn't be involved on the wrong side of this kind of business. However, a lead is a lead, and the "supernatural advisor" is getting a visit from Robin: whether or not John's sober enough to deal with him. Turns out Constantine knows Warren -- enough to inspire a spiteful grudge that lasted beyond the grave, evidently. Constantine also knows a few other characters who ran in the same circles.

ASIDE: MOTOKO

Other children have gone missing, and these kinds of cases are bound to cross-over the deeper into the criminal underbelly an investigation gets: Robin runs into the Major, who's following up on her own threads. She's got some opinions on a boy getting involved in this kind of business, and Robin has some opinions about her opinions.

ALFIE

Those leads have born fruit: an informant has named Alfie Solomons as a lead player in what is looking, increasingly, like a child-trafficking scheme. Alfie isn't too happy to hear that he's been thrown under the bus, used as a scapegoat and a distraction, and conned by his own clients into unknowingly taking part in the kind of unsavory business even he wouldn't touch. He has the real identities of the perpetrators to give Robin -- one of them the very informant who pointed him Alfie's way.

DARYL

He's close. But his investigation has ground to a halt, as the ringleaders went underground at the tip-off of an investigation, and he's no closer to finding out where the children are being held. He's learned from the best that sometimes a change of track, a step back, is needed. A person -- an "angel" -- keeps coming up in several related cases, and that person might have some answers... if he can find and flush him out. (Daryl, turns out, has a special kind of insight.)

AURICAN, BRIANNA, and SHELKE

With Daryl's help, Robin is able to finally track down where the missing children are being held captive, only to discover a major operation in progress: nearly thirty youth have been taken and stored at a riverside warehouse to be handed off down the line, and among them are several imPorts. However, Robin isn't the only one to be making his move; neither Aurican nor the Breeze have been sitting quietly or waiting on rescue...and Shelke is in the same boat as them.

ALFIE, REVISITED

The main players behind the operation -- this hub, at least -- escaped in the chaos, going deep underground again in hopes of evading Robin's chase. But where they lose the vigilante, they find the man they double-crossed. Their bodies are found a week later, dumped among the trash and grime of Maurtia Falls' personal "crime alley" -- and it doesn't take a genius detective to guess who was behind it.

Comments

[earlybird]

"This isn't about mental illness. This is about Arkham's finest, for whom rehabilitation is a pipe dream."

He scoffs, casually crossing one leg over the other. The catch-and-release of serial killers and freaks gets old, and he's not the only Gothamite to think so. Out of everything he's learned, his father's highest law is the one that is still the most unfathomable to him.

"Which is why I'm curious about what it is you're trying to accomplish here."

Bold brat. For a boy who's come sauntering in without an escort, he's making a point of calling a would-be villain out on his certain duplicity.

[restingstitchface]

At first, he's tempted to give the truth and observe. Then he's tempted to award nothing and return his attention back to work. When the brat crosses his leg, he regards him casually - continuously scribbling in his notebook as he does so - and wonders what would happen if he responded with flippant sarcasm.

"I believe it would be pertinent for you to ask Mr. Wayne," he says, leaning forward to whisper conspiratorially. "But between you and me, it's the poisoning of De Chima's water supply."

[earlybird]

"He's a busy man with a busy schedule, and I'm hardly a priority."

He contemplates Crane with a narrowing of his eyes from his reclining sprawl on the chair, flatly unamused. Though there is something close to a twitch, a flicker of his stare; he hears Crane's sarcasm, but he's not dismissing the answer outright.

Two can play the game, though. He clicks his tongue, raising an eyebrow.

"Hm. The city water supply is old hat. Anything better?"

[restingstitchface]

Twiddling his mental thumbs, Crane makes sure to shrug and lean back as though he's unmoved by any of Damian's attitude. He doesn't look at Damian, either, as he looks down at his work. Then he sets his pen aside, pushes his chair back and stands on his legs.

"Yes. But if there is, you'll never know it."

He moves around the side of his desk, extending one arm to keep raised fingertips against the grain.

"But this is a place of work. If you have nothing valuable to offer, like an explaination of why you're here, then I'd rather you leave."

It isn't hard to call someone's bluff. He's done it before.

[earlybird]

"Already told you. I'm here as a concerned Gotham citizen, who wonders how and why you're under the employment of Bruce Wayne."

And not behind bars, where Crane should be.

Still, there's not much more to be accomplished here -- not like Damian wants, with a fist to Scarecrow's face and a demand for explanation of his own. No sense in potentially riling up building security and risking his father catching wind of it. He pushes himself out of the chair, taking a pointed minute to straighten out his coat, a narrow-eyed, defiant stare still directed up at Crane as he adjusts his cuffs.

"However, I suppose I'll leave you to your work."

[restingstitchface]

He looks down at Damian, eyes aside. As far as intimidation attempts have gone, he's experienced more terrifying ones.

"For now," he says, acknowledging Damian's persistance whilst nodding at the door. He feels smart for catching this child out in wanting explanations and getting none. "Good day."