Enter: Red Hood

[newoutsiders]

Perfect. Absolutely perfect. If there's one thing you can always count on, it's Batman ruining everything. Even when he's who-knows-where, the vacuum he doesn't even realize he's leaving rushes to fill up with garbage.

Two weeks ago, that kid of his kicked Two-Face out of Gotham Harbor. Great. Very nice for the harbor. A parade for Robin. But did he really think that would make things better for the city? Did he think Two-Face was just going to shrug his asymmetric shoulders and go, "Oh well, I guess I'll just take a smaller piece of the pie"?

No. He's going to expand elsewhere. Obviously. And that "elsewhere" is exactly where you don't want him.

After the last big gang war which left Black Mask in charge of everything, you showed up and redistributed. You've spent a long time pushing those dividers. Making crime controlled. Manageable. Keeping it away from the poor, hapless folks who don't go looking for it. And you've been more successful at it than Batman ever was, even with his whole "Matches Malone" shtick.

But now, Two-Face is questioning those borders he was never even meant to see. He's started expanding to racketeering small businesses. Arming otherwise harmless street gangs. And, if the rumors are true, Two-Face's outfit has begun breaking your number one rule: pushing drugs in schools.

It's time to send him a message. That's why you've called this meeting with your lieutenants. They're all waiting for your next move.

One of your men slinks into your conference room, and whispers a message to you. There's been an explosion down at the docks. One of your men, Rusty, has been undercover as a dockworker there. Batgirl was on scene- he didn't say which one. So many bats to keep track of these days. Rusty fired at her, but she got away. He did say that a tanker full of some weird, orange chemical arrived there and was driven away off the books, but then the explosion happened, and the guy who waved it out is laid up in the hospital.

Comments

[newoutsiders]

You wake up at 11:30 AM, clicking the alarm off an unreadable digital clock with a shattered display. You have a few operational updates on your phone. No more troubles with Two-Face, for now. Aaron's being set up in your organization, and your underboss seems happy with his capabilities.

On the camera feed you set up in the cargo hold of the Hickory, you notice some boxes that weren't there before.

[exdeadexrobin]

Now that's... interesting. 11:30, huh? The ship doesn't leave until 1:00 - of course - so that's more than enough time to check things out.

His last bit of sleep had been reasonably peaceful, for once, and his burns are doing pretty well in general, so he takes the time to equip himself properly, taking inventory of his jacket and restocking on the expended smokebombs and bugs from last night. After a moment's thought, he grabs his surveillance kit, too - his built-in cams are good, but the extra options won't hurt.

Satisfied with his preparations, Jason heads back over to the Docks. He parks his bike in an alley a few blocks out, setting the security for good measure, and slips over to the Docks. He'll scope the boat out first, get a sense of the current security detail.

[newoutsiders]

There's a crew of 15 guys on the ship- you recognize a few of them as hired goons. One of them, a wiry albino you don't recognize, looks to be about seven feet tall. No sign of Riddler.

[exdeadexrobin]

Now that's a bit more what he was expecting.

Jason doesn't recognize the guy, though he looks... ominous. Still, he needs to find out what's in those crates.

Jason takes a minute to scope out an entrance route, seeing if his previous path is feasible - and, of course, if there are any visible traps or guards.

[newoutsiders]

You spot a guy standing some distance from your old pathway through the blind spots, with his back turned- but he's wearing a suspicious pair of oversized mirror sunglasses. You assess that others are similarly prepared for an ambush. These guys are clearly expecting a stowaway.

[exdeadexrobin]

Well. That definitely complicates things. And trying to have the shipment interrupted would tip his hand entirely too much. Has he been found out? Are they prepared for him, or just followers in general? Jason pulls up the feed from his videos again, making sure they haven't found his bugs.

[newoutsiders]

A quick playthrough shows that they haven't. You do, however, spot a man bringing down an interesting lockbox. Soon after, the albino follows him down. The cameras don't get audio, but you can tell he's mad. He grabs the goon by the shirt, and the goon starts stammering. The albino lets go, and barks an order. The goon supplicatingly picks up the lockbox and leaves.

You take a look out at the Hickory again. You don't see the goon from the video there.

[exdeadexrobin]

... interesting. And the box sure looks like the right size for the bull...

On a hunch, Jason sends a screen capture to Aaron, making sure to get a good grab of both men and the lockbox. "Any ID'S on men in this?"

[newoutsiders]

Just a few moments pass before a reply comes: "Angry one is your friend Paul. Don't know other guy"

[exdeadexrobin]

That's about what he figured, then. Real question now is, why was he so pissed off? Is it just that Rusty had interrupted the bull transportation, or had Riddler pulled some kind of double cross? Obnoxious as he is, Jason almost wishes he had left some other clue.

Jason looks back at the boat, at Pallbearer specifically. This makes sneaking on board tough, and takes getting caught from tipping his hand into flat-out disastrous.

He thinks. He's got time, but not a lot of it. He can try to intercept the boat underway, when their guard may be down, but without knowing what's in those crates, is it even worth the effort? And will they have the bull? It sure looked like lockbox guy had left with it, and Jason doesn't see him here. Is "Paul" even going with the ship, or staying behind to keep running things in Gotham?

Jason looks around the Docks, sewing if he can pick out the transport Pallbearer must've used to get here. Specifically, if it's particularly well guarded.

[newoutsiders]

It's parked in an inconspicuous location, but you spot a mid-sized black hearse that more than likely fits the bill. For an aspiring crime boss in Gotham, you don't go far without a trademark.

[exdeadexrobin]

Well, while everyone's on the ship, Jason's going to take a moment to approach the car. He stops on the rooftop nearest, taking a final look-over for traps, as well as seeing if he can spot anything in the car's interior.

[newoutsiders]

Gaining a new vantage point, you can spot a chauffeur near the car, leaning against a building and reading a Gotham Gazette. There's a massive truck accident on the front page.

[exdeadexrobin]

One person. A lot easier to slip past than the boat, certainly.

He stops, thinking for a moment, before coming to a decision. He slips off his helmet and mask, zips up his jacket, and messes up his hair. If he's caught, he can play it off, a joyriding teenager looking for a ride, or a cash-strapped junkie looking for an easy score. Nothing traceable to the Red Hood.

Then, slipping a tracer into his hand, he drops quietly to the ground on behind a building opposite the chauffeur. If he can pull this off, he can stick the tracer firmly to the underside of the car and slip back behind the building while the chauffeur is still busy reading the newspaper.

[newoutsiders]

Even in broad daylight, you know how to stay quiet. The chauffeur doesn't so much as look up from his paper as you slip the tracer under his car.

"Unbelievable," he mutters. "So glad I wasn't at Pearl's last night."

[exdeadexrobin]

Pearl's? Jason places the name immediately - sounds like Bruce's return has made some headlines. No surprise, after a month's absence.

Tracer placed, Jason slips back to his vantage point, putting his mask and helmet back on. He switches his helmet's telescopic vision on and turns his attention back to the boat, waiting to see what "Paul" is up to now.

[newoutsiders]

Pallbearer is on the bow when a goon holds up a phone to his ear. He talks calmly into it, and mutters something to the goon.

The time is 12:27. Not much longer now.

[exdeadexrobin]

Jason settles in to wait, alternately keeping an eye on Pallbearer and the feeds from his bugs.

[newoutsiders]

As time passes, Pallbearer begins to look more and more annoyed. 1:00 comes and goes. 1:15. 1:30. Finally, you hear his chauffeur get a call.

"Hello? Understood, sir. If I could be so bold, did you manage to trap your hood rat? ...Understood, sir. Returning to the depot."

The driver gets in the hearse just as the Hickory's whistle sounds, signifying its departure from the docks.

Son of a bitch. The rat in the note wasn't Donny. It wasn't Aaron. It was YOU.

[exdeadexrobin]

Jason... almost laughs. Damn, he's glad he'd checked that route out first. Using the Riddler's MO against him like that was clever - he's gotta wonder if old Eddie was in on that, or if it was a Paul original - he's usually got a weird sense of honor about this type of thing, but the dead rat does seem to cinch it.

"Hood Rat." He likes that one.

Well then. He's just making enemies all over the place this week, isn't he? But despite the loss of Rusty, it's looking like this little gambit's left him ahead - even if Pallbearer had spotted his bugs from earlier after all, he's still got the tracer on his car, and whatever else Aaron may know now working for him.

He lets Pallbearer leave for now. He can backtrack the tracker's trajectory later, and it's less risky than following him.

Besides, now that his friend Paul's gone back to the drawing board, Jason's gotta turn his priority to another problem.

He needs to find out what's up with this Meta Brawl thing. And there's only one way to do that.

He wonders if there's still tickets available for the next match.

[newoutsiders]

You wonder who to call to get into that sort of event. You can't just show up at Pearl's. Not after Bruce's visit last night. Charlie? Sweet kid, but as much as he pretends, he doesn't have any pull.

You might be best off calling one of your underbosses. Donny knew about Meta-Brawl, maybe the others know a way in.

[exdeadexrobin]

Roulette's big thing is gambling. Between the competition between Roulette's club and the Iceberg Lounge and gambling's general legality in Gotham, Jason doesn't do a huge amount with that. There are some shadier rings, sure - such as Roulette, obviously - but it's not a pot he's ever felt the need to do much with. But if there's one thing he knows, it's that gambling rings and money laundering have always gone well in hand.

He takes a few minutes to get somewhere reasonably secluded, then calls up Darin - he knows the man flat-out refuses to text.

"Got an interesting question for you, Dar."

[newoutsiders]

"Interesting questions are my specialty, Sir Robin," he says jovially. You tend to let that go, because his nickname for you is just a coincidence. Finding himself using his financial expertise to do community charity for once in his illustrious criminal career, Darin has taken to thinking of your organization as a band of merry men- robbing from the rich, giving to the poor, and carousing in between.

[exdeadexrobin]

Jason rolls his eyes at the nickname. The same old song and dance.

"Well, through a long and complicated series of events here... I've found myself needing a ticket to a certain Roulette special event. Meta Brawl. You've been in this game for a while, I know you've got some numbers in that Rolodex of yours. You have any idea how I might go about doing just that?"

[newoutsiders]

"Well," he laughs, "Funny you should mention that. I was just on my way to buy a pair of tickets to go with Lydia tonight. Last night's show was, er, 'rained out,' if you understand, but bless that Roulette, she always pulls out the big guns for the make up shows. Perhaps we could double date?"

Lydia, you know, is one of the newer girls under Bel. Darin's a fun guy, and very shrewd, but he has a bad habit of dating in house and half his age. He's always good to his dates, though, and knows how to take no for an answer- but the no rarely comes. He's a real charmer.