Little Trouble In Big Gotham

[Red Hood]

Players: Red Hood + Black Canary
Location(s): Gotham's underbelly
Plot Summary: Little girls in Gotham are disappearing thanks to modern slave traders and that doesn't sit too well with Jason Todd or Dinah Lance.

So they had finally come to Gotham City. Jason frowned out at the world he stared at through the nightscope. Jason had known about this specific group for ages now, he'd given them a pass and kept out of their hair because they kept out of his. That was his mistake, he knew that now, because now the bastards were in Gotham and already four girls were missing. This group never stayed in any one given location for too long so Red Hood knew one, maybe two, more victims was on their list and then they'd be in the wind again. He couldn't allow that to happen.

The girls were all rather young, that was how they liked it. Younger kids were easier to grab, put up less fight, and were broken a lot faster. Earlier that day Jason had talked to the parents of the missing girls, of course he had to pretend to be one of Gotham's finest in order for them to give him a single word, but he had found a connection between the four girls; they all attended the same elementary school. While each girl wasn't in the same class they all were in the same grade. Jason's starting point tonight was getting in that school and looking for any other girl who may have made these people's list.

His stakeout around the school building was clear. Staff was gone and the night janitor was just putting his cleaning supplies away and preparing to head out. The moment the custodian's truck headlights disappeared down the street Red Hood descended from his perch and sprinted across the street toward the school.

Elementary schools were not some top secret impenetrable fortresses, getting in was relatively easy. Jason walked the halls with a beam of light provided by flashlight guiding him. His destination was the main office, there he could find a file on every student in the place; and hopefully link a fifth girl to the four missing ones. As Jason turned a corner he suddenly stopped and pressed a hand over the head of his flashlight. He heard a sound not too far away and realized he wasn't as alone as he thought.

[Black Canary]

The four girls reminded her of Sin.

Their situations greatly differed, of course, but in both cases children had been forced out of their childhood and into a world of terror and pain. They were being used for something that they should never have to endure, and it was disgusting. Sin hadn't really understood the kind of world she had lived in, given that it was the only one she had ever known, but these were just normal little girls. They had families and friends, they talked about cute boys in their class and their favorite TV shows, and the only things they were ever guilty of was listening to Justin Bieber and growing up too quickly for their parents' liking. They had to be scared, but even they wouldn't fully understand the hell they were about to be put through if they weren't located in time.

Oracle had narrowed down a connection between the missing girls: Woodrow Wilson Elementary. They were all the same age, if not in the same class, which could suggest that one of the school employees was in on this. If they were targeting a certain age of girls, they could easily use the school's computer system to look up children who fit their desired profile. Someone just lurking around the school would have to get pretty lucky to snatch up four girls who were all in the same grade, since some of the kids here looked like they were seven and others could almost pass for being in high school. That wasn't an assumption she was going to make just yet, though. Dinah would be perfectly happy to beat the perpetrator senseless regardless of their connection to the girls.

The door to the main office was locked, but it only took a few seconds to pick the lock. No wonder so many girls were being abducted from this place; the security was awful. Dinah removed the small flashlight from between her teeth, where she had been holding it as she picked the lock, and then stepped inside the office. "I'm in," she murmured as she sat down in front of the office computer. "Work your magic." At least the minimal security would mean that Babs could hack into the files in only a moment's time. Dinah still wished the other woman could work faster. The longer she sat here without anything to do, the more she would focus on the little girls in her life whom she had failed to protect. Sin would still be with her if she had been able to take care of her better, and Lian's death was still painfully fresh to the point where Dinah wasn't sure she would be able to really handle a mission like this. But, given that having Huntress take care of it was the alternative, she knew better than to turn this down. They did still want the kidnapper alive in the end.

[Red Hood]

Was that...talking? Jason tried to listen harder, wishing briefly that he had some form of superhearing to call on. The voice he heard seemed to be coming from the exact direction he needed to be going in. A criminal returning to the scene of the crime? That was just as possible as another one of Gotham's capes being on the case. So who was it; Huntress, Batgirl, Batwoman? Red Hood couldn't be sure until he went to check it out and check it out he would. He flicked off the small flashlight and stashed it in a cargo pocket then crept along the hall, keeping nice and snuggly close to the wall. The voice had stopped now but hopefully the person was still in there and Jason could use the element of surprise.

His steps were light and soundless, Jason had been trained by ninja assassins after all. As he came upon the door that was the entry way to the main office he paused, snaked a hand to the holster on his hip, and then continued on. The office door was wide open, obviously picked as there was no damage to the door and Jason hadn't heard any sounds familiar to a door being kicked open. Standing outside of the office he could see a dim light emitting from within, either a flashlight like his own or someone was currently accessing the computer. Moving slowly so that his weapon made as less noise as possible Jason cocked the hammer and stepped into the office.

His gun pointed directly at the back of the woman's head. "Didn't anyone tell you school's out? Stop what you're doing and stand up. Give me a reason to shoot you if you'd like." The Red Hood was probably going to be putting bullets in a lot of people tonight, so what if he started a little early.

[Black Canary]

Only an instant before she sound of a gun being cocked did she get the feeling that she was being watched, and the sound told Dinah she was already too late to do anything about it. She remained still for a moment, and though her blue eyes were still facing the computer screen (where Oracle was making quick work of the system) her attention was now elsewhere. There weren't a lot of people who could sneak up on her, and none of them were elementary school faculty returning to pick up some forgotten piles of ungraded homework. Her eyes narrowed and she lifted her gloved hands up in a gesture of surrender. "I'm unarmed," she promised as she slowly turned to face whoever was pointing a gun at her.

The glow of the computer was faint, but it provided enough light for her to at least see the red Batsymbol on the man's chest and the similarly colored helmet. The man wasn't anyone she was too personally familiar with, but just about every Gotham vigilante knew the other, and unless Batman had made some serious costume changes, there was only one male vigilante in this city who wore the symbol and a red mask like that. Dinah was partially glad to see that her would-be shooter wasn't someone who was very clearly an enemy, but she wasn't entirely sure that Red Hood didn't partially fit that category. From what she had heard, the guy had a hell of a reputation... most of it bad. Supposedly he was one of the good guys, though his methods were questionable to say the least.

Not that he was the only person she knew like that, Dinah silently reminded herself. One of her best friend's hadn't been much better when they first met, and Ollie... okay, she wasn't even going there. Either way, she knew better than most that someone could use excessive force and still be a good person, so she would reserve her judgement of the man for later on. That didn't, however, mean that she was about to trust Red Hood, nor that she wanted him anywhere near this case. The last thing she needed was to keep him in check while trying to manage her own feelings about the situation. "Oh, come on," Dinah rolled her eyes. "Put that thing away before you shoot your eye out. I'm on your side." Her hands remained in the air, though the rest of her relaxed slightly... if only to make him think that she wasn't ready to lunge at him and beat the snot out of him in an instant, should the need arise.

[Red Hood]

So it was another cape (though she didn't actually wear one) after all, though not one who usually operated in Gotham. "Black Canary." He'd never met the woman, or if he had he sure didn't remember it - and Jason was fairly certain he would remember that - but he knew a little something about her: works with Oracle on and off, some kind of sexual relationship with Green Arrow (were they a couple?), and most importantly a sonic scream that could scramble his brain at this distance. Jason smirked under his hood, her words only slightly amusing, and lowered his weapon. "Can never be too careful in Gotham, y'know?" Red Hood's gun was lowered but it wasn't going away anytime soon.

As previously established he had never met the blond before so there was no way in hell he was going to unarm himself in the presence of someone he didn't know, let alone trust. For now though it appeared the both were working the same case, Jason had yet to decide if that was good news or bad news. Walking up closer behind her Jason placed his hands on the desk on either side of the woman and leaned over her shoulder and watched the computer that seemed to be possessed. Black Canary didn't touch a single key but someone was obviously manipulating what was occurring on the screen.

"Hi, Babs." He spoke cooly into Canary's ear and in the com-link he was sure connected her to Barbara Gordon aka Oracle. Jason had missed the whole transformation into the computer wizard Babs had become following what Joker did to her but he'd learned of it after watching Batman and Robin for so long. Mentally he reminded himself to address how Joker had changed both of their lives at a later time. "I'm guessing you're looking into the disappearances as well. But mind if I ask why?" It may have sounded ridiculous what with there being young innocent lives in danger, but this was Gotham city and as far as Red Hood knew Gotham wasn't usual Canary turf. Or maybe it was, who could really keep track of all the vigilantes that popped up and gave Gotham their undivided attention? Jason sure as hell couldn't. Though he wouldn't say he minded the new female company the city was apparently attracting.

[Black Canary]

He recognized her. Good. That meant she was a lot less likely to get shot, providing he really was on her side. Given that he lowered his gun, Dinah assumed that was the case, though the fact that he didn't actually holster the weapon said the same thing she was thinking: they knew who the other was, but they were far from trusting each other. Not that his gun would do him much good, and if Red Hood really knew who she was, he would be aware of that. All it took was a second of her Canary Cry at the right volume and his gun was toast. "You win a prize," she remarked as she lowered her hands. "I'd guess your name, but it's a little obvious, isn't it?" Most of the Gotham vigilantes went the straightforward route when it came to choosing codenames.

Satisfied that she wasn't about to get a bullet through her head, Dinah resumed her seat at the computer, though she kept Red Hood in her peripheral vision as he approached. "Don't I know it," she commented. The fact that they - she - was investigating abductions from an elementary school only supported that sad fact. The blonde forced the flicker of surprise from appearing on her face as Red Hood spoke into the earring that served as her link to Oracle. Just about every hero relied on Babs for information to help them through their missions - provide them to begin with - but only a handful of them knew who she really was. Even Dinah, who had worked with her more closely than most, hadn't known her identity for a long time. Even fewer than the number of heroes who knew who the mysterious Oracle was were people who, like Red Hood, didn't completely meet the 'good guy' standards. "Shoo," she said, waving her gloved hand at the man to get him away from her ear. "Get your own computer geek."

The activity on the computer had stopped, either because Oracle was equally surprised at what Dinah assumed must have been a familiar voice or because she didn't want Red Hood jumping in on this investigation. The redhead on the other end of the line remained silent, however; she had no way of knowing if the man was still within earshot. For now, Dinah preferred it that way. She didn't want Red Hood getting his foot in the door of this investigation until she knew exactly what his plan was. "Call me crazy, but I have this thing where I don't like little girls being kidnapped and sold into slavery," Dinah shrugged as she spun the seat to face Red Hood, her arms folded and her blue eyes narrowed coolly as she watched him from only inches away. She knew what the whole personal space invasion thing meant, whether intentional or not; people were by nature very protective of their own space, and having it violated was the easiest way to intimidate someone and throw them off their game. He would accomplish neither with her. "What's your excuse?"

[Red Hood]

She didn't like him, or trust him, or maybe she just always had a smart mouth when someone pulled a gun on her. Of course Jason wasn't ruling out option D) all of the above. He would have laughed had he not been trying to pull the whole "serious vigilante" thing at the moment. Honestly Black Canary didn't look like much, of course he could see the tone of her body and tell she engaged in rigorous training regularly - who didn't in their line of work - but he wondered just how much she leaned on that cry of hers as a crutch. As arrogant as he was he wasn't about to test her. Either she relied on it heavily and she shouted right in his face shatter his skull and making his brain into putting, or she could go without it and totally mop the floor with him. Another smirk flicked on Jason's lips, he wouldn't test her now....but maybe later.

Enough of analyzing the blond in fishnets though they had more important work to get to, like finding a potential next victim and preventing her kidnapping and then saving the others. He peered at the computer before Canary with absolutely no idea if Oracle had reacted to him or not, he couldn't exactly hear her on the comm, but he was fairly sure she had. Anyway, the case at hand! He wasn't the tech savviest but he could perform a simple search and click on a school computer. However his role was cut from production as Canary shooed him away. Jason raised his hands, in mimic of her just moments ago, and backed away from the woman and the computer. "Alright, alright."

So she wanted to run the show, or at least this portion of it, no skin off Jason's teeth. He hopped up and placed his butt on a desk behind Dinah and spread his legs for comfort, letting one elbow rest on a knee as he watched from there. The woman's reasoning was the obvious one and Jason supposed he should have been more blunt and asked her why she was in Gotham. That could potentially lead into an argument or fight though and given the fact that two unaffiliated vigilantes were working on the same case fighting would definitely come later. There was no need to jump the gun. "Okay...crazy." Hey, she told him to call her that.

When she spun in her chair to face him Jason watched her eyes, they were watching him pretty closely. He felt odd that she would turn the question around on him, wouldn't she suspect him of having the same reasoning? Or had Dick been slandering him to the entire hero community and now she had the perception that he was a nut too? "Let's just say I have a sore spot for kids who are taken into lives that inevitably lead to early deaths." Red Hood shrugged before making a shift in convo, "So the computer got anything yet?"

[Black Canary]

With Red Hood perched on the desk rather than standing over her, Dinah turned to look back at the computer. It appeared that Babs was back to work, but she could very well just be wasting time until Dinah was able to figure out exactly what Red Hood's goal was. Hell if she knew enough about computer to be able to tell the difference between actually searching the information and just dawdling. Her microwave still bested her sometimes. She just had to hope that Red Hood wouldn't decide to get impatient and take a closer look at what was happening on the computer screen. Dinah definitely had to go about this very carefully. She didn't want to get into a fistfight in the middle of the office; if whoever was abducting these girls was connected to the school itself, discovering that two masked crime-fighters had been duking it out in the main office would be more than enough to scare him away. The odds of locating these girls was already low enough as it was, and Dinah wasn't about to blow the only lead they had right now.

That being said, she wasn't prepared to buddy-up with Red Hood. Though she felt strongly than anyone was capable of good, that didn't mean they always chose to. Dinah wanted to believe that he would handle this properly, even if the evidence was to the contrary. She just didn't know him well enough to be confident in him. Hell, she didn't even know if he wanted to do anything beyond put a bullet in the kidnapper's head. If that was the case, she needed to find a way to get him out of here without alerting anyone to their presence. For the moment, she would wait and see.

Dinah placed one elbow on the desk next to the keyboard and planted her chin in her open palm. "Okay, I walked into that one," she muttered. That wasn't the first time she had been called crazy, and very likely wouldn't be the last. Anyone who dressed up in fishnets and ran off to fight crime probably was a little nutty, she silently acknowledged. Red Hood's answer matched hers, but she couldn't help but wonder what had drawn him to this case to begin with. From what she had heard before, Dinah had thought that he mostly focused on gang-related activity, not slave traders. "Our apparently mutual friend's still cross-referencing the missing girls," the blonde explained. She quirked a brow as she glanced sideways at Red Hood. "Wanna compare notes?" She didn't trust him, but she wasn't going to completely ignore the fact that he could be helpful so long as he wasn't planning on shooting anybody. Dinah already had enough burdening her shoulders and she would never forgive herself if she included him in this and someone wound up dead because of it. She just wouldn't be able to handle it.

[Red Hood]

One elbow rest on his knee while the arm attached to his pistol draped over his opposite thigh by way of forearm, Jason had to be ready to pull up and fire if the time called for it. However he had a feeling he wouldn't need to shoot this woman. Trust was never Jason's strong suit and though he could tell Black Canary was judging him, she was keeping it from being too apparent. Maybe he was a sap but Jason was thankful for that, not that he'd ever admit to caring that much.

The line he fed her about why he was looking into this wasn't 100% true. Jason had after all been all but too exited to blame Robin and he was done with blaming Bruce for letting him get killed. Though there was a part of him that did feel for these kids because he'd been in a slightly similar situation as a young boy, most of his reasoning was because he'd been made to look like a fool. He had been gracious enough to leave these people alone and now they were in his town? Maybe if he'd taken them down sooner these four girls wouldn't be missing.

But Jason wasn't feeling guilty or anything.

Al he wanted was to end this and get the girls back to their grieving, worrying parents. "I show you mine, you show me yours eh? I can do that." Red Hood shrugged one shoulder. What would it really hurt, they already knew just about as much as he did anyway. "Julia Crenshaw, Ashley Hall, Samanta Morris, and Lily Evans. The first three went missing three days ago, Lily disappeared yesterday morning. The parents checked out clean; no debts owed, no enemies that'd go this far..." Briefly Jason wondered if he should reveal that he'd had an eye on this group for some time now but of course that was out of the question. No doubt Canary and Babs would attack him for not doing something sooner. Still, he felt he needed to stress the urgency of all this.

"I don't think we'll have very long before they move again, so we'll need to hurry this along." His last three words were loud enough for the computer wiz to hear.

[Black Canary]

Damn. Part of her had been wishing that Red Hood knew more than they did, and that he would have been able to shed some light on this horrifying situation. No such luck. He didn't sound like he had any more information than she and Babs did, though Dinah supposed that if he had, he would be off chasing after the bad guys instead of sitting in this office with her. So far the girls had no other connection beyond their grade and school, which left a whole mess of suspects on the board... and that was only including someone involved in the school. The only good part of this was that it was most likely there was more than one person connected to the disappearances - it wasn't like these sorts of people usually worked alone - which meant that the odds of someone slipping up were higher. Dinah knew they couldn't rely on that, though. Human smugglers were good at what they did. There was a reason so many of the people they abducted never found their way home.

The thought caused her gut to tighten. That was not going to happen to those girls. Once again, her mind went to Lian. Her goddaughter had been in this exact situation several years ago, when she had been kidnapped by slave traders as revenge for Roy and the rest of the Outsiders investigating them. Lian was... had been a strong little girl, and even knowing that her father and his friends were going to save her, Dinah remembered the state that she had been in in the days following her abduction. These girls didn't have the kind of hope that came with having a family of superheroes. They were alone, afraid, and probably weren't too sure that anyone was going to come for them.

Red Hood's urging caused Dinah to bite the inside of her cheek. He had a point, but she had to get something out in the open before this investigation went any further. She couldn't keep dancing around it. "I'm gonna be straight with you here," she said, spinning the chair slightly so she could look at Red Hood more easily. She folded one leg over the other. "I haven't heard the best things about how you work. I don't know how much, if any, of it's true, but for the sake of keeping an elephant from sitting on my conscience, I need to know that that gun's going to stay in it's holster when we find whoever's taking these girls." Dinah nodded her chin at the aforementioned weapon. "I have no problem with working with you, but you go any farther than you need to and you're gonna get on my bad side real fast." If he had a problem with it, he was welcome to leave... or try his chances against her. If he knew anything about her, he would know that that would not end well for him.

[Red Hood]

Red Hood did have a conscience and right now he was wrestling with it. Tell her! Don't tell her! He felt trapped between a rock and a hard place. Telling her would expose him, make him look guilty of something; could he really risk that? On the other hand though it might very well help her realize he knew something she didn't and that was that these guys weren't going to be waiting around forever. Jason bit his tongue, there was no need to go spilling his guts and revealing faults just yet, besides Black Canary looked to be handling this very urgently already anyway. While Jason didn't truly desire working with the woman he knew that it would be an inevitability, but even then he felt keeping quiet was his best option.

That's why when Canary turned and made it clear she wanted to be straight with him it surprised him. How many people were actually straight with one another in their world? Well more precisely; his world. As a Bat you could never really get a straight forward answer or thought from anyone, years of that behavior from Bruce made it acceptable. However what Black Canary had to follow that up with was much less shocking. Jason might not have known much about her but he didn't think she was one who deviated too far from Bruce's one rule and he was right. Glancing down at his weapon Jason thought for a moment.

"It won't." He spoke flatly as he finally looked back toward the blond. "Look I know many people in our circle don't like the whole taking lives deal and I won't bore you with my philosophies or whatever. All I can promise is that I wont fire a single round around the kids." If the children weren't around and he had to defend himself though? Damn right he was going to use his gun! Maybe he'd avoid any kill shots so not to have another vigilante out for his head, but honestly Jason wasn't planning that far ahead.

He supposed if he was going to be stubborn may there was something else he could give his temporary partner. "Don't ask, but tell Oracle there that I think she should be checking school bus info." Everywhere this group went they found someone weak enough to spill every ounce of knowledge about the girls that went missing. It wasn't any of these four girls' family and Jason doubted a teacher who devoted their life to these young students would be pressed so quickly in the short span the kidnappers had to work with. The school was rather far from each girl's house and while their parents picked them up often Jason was sure it wasn't an everyday thing. Bus drivers were a lot less admirable than the molders of young minds. A bus driver would also know these girls' after school movements pretty well.

Jason hoped he wasn't just grasping at straws.

[Black Canary]

Red Hood left himself a lot of loopholes there, and Dinah hoped he didn't think so low of her as to expect her not to notice. For the time being, though, it would have to do. She couldn't spend all day sitting there and lecturing him on his ethics. If he started to take things too far, then she would have to take him out. Until then, she would trust that using lethal force wouldn't become an issue. She hated to be that person: the one who held another's past mistakes against them and forced them into a little box in her mind via what were often inaccurate and unfair judgements. She knew that everyone had the potential to exceed even their own expectations. Red Hood might not be a rolemodel for other heroes, but Dinah wasn't going to count him out just yet. His heart was in the right place, if nothing else. For now, she had to hope that that was enough.

"You're lucky we're on a time limit here," Dinah grumbled as she looked back at the computer. "You seem alright, so please don't make me bend you like a pretzel." God alone could help him if he decided to do anything stupid on her watch. She might be a pretty nice person under normal circumstances, but those who had seen her mean face and lived to tell about it never wanted to experience it twice. While she didn't approve of killing, she didn't have a problem with beating someone senseless if she had to.

Hood's suggestion caused Dinah to raise a brow momentarily before she spoke to Babs. "You catch that, O?" she asked. "Loud and clear," Oracle replied. "Give me just a sec." The computer screen began rapidly shuffling through information before a list of bus routes and drivers appeared before the two sitting in the office. "Looks like they all rode the same bus. Could definitely be our connection, but don't tell him that. His ego doesn't need it." Dinah scoffed before relaying the first part of Oracle's message to Red Hood. "She's running a background check on the driver," she repeated as Babs continued to speak into her ear. It had been a good call. Suspiciously good, Dinah thought. She couldn't help but wonder if Red Hood knew more than he was letting on. Considering how everyone in that family worked, it was a safe bet that he was.

"The driver's clean," the blonde spoke up again when Oracle fed her more information. "Not even a parking ticket. Not saying that he couldn't be involved, but," she shrugged one shoulder, then paused as Babs spoke once more. "One of them does have a record," she murmured, now speaking mostly to herself. Dinah curled her lips inward, glanced briefly at Red Hood, then looked back at the computer. "Gimme some addresses, O. We can each take one." She wasn't sure that she liked the idea of leaving Red Hood alone to go after a potential suspect, but considering every second mattered in a situation like this, Dinah wasn't sure she had much of a choice.

[Red Hood]

This chick had some gonads - metaphorically speaking of course - and Red Hood was almost leaning toward being impressed. However it was fairly easy to run your mouth and say all the right things, she surely carried the attitude of someone who was to be reckoned with but Jason had seen brovado time and time again. He'd really be impressed if the woman actually showed him something. "Alright, but can still get pretzel'd. Got it." He nodded to the Canary. No doubt she was less than enthused by his response to her commands to put his gun away, but what more did she want? Did she really expect him to go after these people with just his fists? Hell no, these guys deserved way worse than broken noses and black eyes and bruised ribs. Jason would at least play nice for now though, and he wasn't planning to kill anyone. It just happened in the heat of the moment. Passion, not premeditated. That was how he got out of Blackgate.

"Of course he is." Jason grumbled about the bus driver. It wouldn't be that simple for them would it? His interest was immediately re-piqued however upon discovery that at least one of the bud drivers did have a record. That was good, that was the lead they were looking for. That was their ticket to finding these slavers and preventing more misery. Red Hood slid down from the desk he'd been keeping warm and stooped down next to Dinah - out of her shoo range - and waited for those addresses. "You trust me not to kill the guy?" He teased while simultaneously down playing the shock of her accepting this team up.

[Black Canary]

Did she trust him? Not a whole lot. She didn't know him and Dinah wasn't pleased that he had promised to keep any firearms out of the picture. Had he done so, she probably would have a little more faith in him, but in this scenario she couldn't afford to be picky. The lives of four little girls were at stake, and she couldn't let her uncertainty get in the way of finding them. So, for the time being, she would trust him enough to divide the work and hope that he knew what was good for him. She knew other vigilantes who could handle a gun without using it in a lethal manner, so she would have to hope that he was willing to be one of them. Those kids were counting on them.

"I'm setting you loose on a someone who potentially kidnapped four kids. I'll let you figure that one out, Batboy," Dinah replied as she reached for two index cards from a pile on the desk, then a pen, and scrawled out the first address. Having those girls be lost among the millions already in the system would be something she would likely never recover from, but having a man fatally wounded on her watch wasn't far behind. Whether or not she personally trusted him wasn't the issue; she was trusting him with this. She still wasn't completely sure that that was a good idea, but in her experience, people tended to put their best foot forward when given the opportunity to shine. Sometimes all a person needed to do the right thing was someone else believing that they could. Maybe she was being overly optimistic, or just flat-out naive, but she would rather be either of those than be the woman responsible for four children never making it home because she couldn't extend a little trust to a colleague.

After writing down the second address on the other card, Dinah reached up to remove one of her comm-link earrings and handed it to Red Hood. "Here. It'll bring out your eyes," she smirked. "Or just hang on to it if you're too cool for the one-earring look. Oracle will patch you through to me if you find anything." She handed him one of the cards next. "That's the guy with the record. Play nice." The odds of either of them being involved were equal, so as far as she was concerned, it didn't matter who took who. Dinah stood up from her seat and folded her own card before tucking it into her glove. Sometimes those utility belt things sounded nice. "See you on the other side?"

[Red Hood]

"Hey, I wear this bat...but I'm not affiliated." It sounded dumb outloud. Why did Jason wear that red bat so clearly visible on his chest? Red Hood wasn't sure he had the answer to that, or at least wasn't yet ready to admit the answer. "Whatever," he glanced away and brushed at the air before Canary could latch onto his words and spew some smart comments at him. "I promise to be a good boy and keep my gun to myself. Okay?" He was annoyed already and Canary wasn't making it much better. Made she wasn't as hard on his case as Bruce would be but the woman wasn't much better! She didn't even know him and she already had him on a short leash. More important things were at stake however, and that was the only reason Jason played so nice for the moment. There was a lot of responsibility on his shoulders and though Black Canary was here working the same case Jason was determined to settle this on his own; his own way.

Gloved fingers accepted the small flash card and looked it over. Hidden eyes scanned the card and committed the numbers on it to memory before Jason crinkled it and stuffed it in his pocket. Jason didn't bother saying anything as he took the earring from Canary, he supposed he would need to be in contact with Oracle if he came across something and Canary didn't. Jason pocketed the commlink earring in his jacket inner pocket. "Why do I feel like you're testing me?" Sending him after the guy with a record? Even if the guy wasn't involved with this case there was a good chance he was still involved in other things, and that meant there was equally a good chance that Jason wouldn't play very nice. "No takes back." The smirk beneath his mask was so heavy with arrogance Canary could probably hear it.

"Seeya blondie, don't break a nail." Red Hood did a two finger salute before propping up a window and proceeded to slip out of the school office. A block down the street a motorcycle lay parked behind a rusted out dumpster and Jason was thankful not to find two rats screwing on his seat. He threw a leg over the bike, recalled the address he had memorized, revved his engine, and roared off toward his suspect.