This is Ravensburg [Batman]

[rae]

Players: Batman and Raven, the best bat and bird team eva
Location(s): Ravensburg, suburban town outside of the Twin Cities
Plot Summary: There's a sexy witch amongst the people of Ravensburg. For months now, she's been threading a trap for Raven on behalf of her magical donor, Raven's brother and one of the Son of Trigons.

This is Ravensburg. It's a small suburban town with a twenty minute driving distance from the Twin Cities. Most people work in either of the two big cities, keeping industry and warehouses out of their clean neighborhoods and peaceful commercial areas. All is essentially well in Ravensburg, other than the horrific murders and crime that have been troubling the town for almost two years now.

Case File 0446

Kidnapping. One year old infant taken from home on 286 Baker Street. No sign of break in. Alarm system untouched. No robbery. No witness reports. No criminal record on single mother Angela Day. Father of infant Thomas Wyatt was absent during pregnancy and first year, has not contacted Ms. Day since conception. Father has criminal record indicating he has committed three separate cases of conspiracy. Has not yet been found for questioning. Case unsolved.

Case File 0471

Arson, assault and battery, disorderly conduct, drug possession. At approximately 10:30 pm, 15 year old Lana Dermin and five other teenagers (friends from high school) gathered in front of the Bank of America and set it the building on fire. Dermin then attacked and beat two of the teenagers. They required immediate medical attention. When questioned over her actions, Dermin stated: "We had to burn it down. He was coming. No portal, no father. No portal, no father." Dermin later tested positive for cocaine. She died due to heart failure while in custody. Case closed.

Case File 0502

Drug possession, manslaughter. 20 year old Vivien Ruben interrupted a small wedding at a local farm. She slaughtered the bride and groom while high on bath salts. Ruben suffered from terrible hallucinations. She die due to an aneurism before police arrived. No other attendants of the wedding were harmed. Case closed.

Case File 0619

Murder, perjury. 14 year old orphan Lily Thicke murdered six boys living at the same orphanage at 204 Moore Ave. She pleaded guilty, but signed the document with multiple false statements about the murders. For the duration of the trial and her incarceration, Thicke changed her story multiple times. Her lawyer pled Thicke mentally insane. She committed suicide in her holding cell the day before her sentence. She left a message in her own blood on the wall: "Original sin." Case closed.

Case File 0698

Child abuse, domestic violence, first degree murder. At approximately 3:15 pm neighbors on Calacas St. called 911 reporting a child screaming at the 745 property. When police arrived, single mother Ruby Beurre, 28, had been torturing and beating her 6 year old son Johnny Beurre until he died at approximately 3:30 pm. Police officers found the boy but not the mother. Beurre remains at large. The word "Wild" was carved into the boy's chest. Case unsolved.

[Batman]

“Ravensburg.” Dick sat at the bat-computer his eyes narrowed as he stared at the data flashing across the screen. Everything about this screamed “trap”. From the name, to the crimes and even to the reputation as a quiet suburban neighborhood the city had. Every city had its secrets and Ravensburg hid it’s the best. People lived here because it was close to a good school and had neighborhoods that any upper middle-class family would kill for. Yet the people who lived within Ravensburg lived in a desperate hierarchy while trapped in a desperate bid for power. Barely anyone had moved from Ravensburg in the past two years and the crime rate had been steadily escalating. Yet the people within the neighborhood barely seemed to notice because they were livingly the seemingly quiet suburban life they had always wanted.

The reason why Dick was even looking at the city in the first place was because it had ended up on the top of a statistics list on the FBI’s website. It was one of the top most dangerous small cities in Middle America right now. Yet the crimes were spread out to the point where they seemed like isolated incidents. It just so happened that these crimes were too bizarre to be ignored. The Justice League didn’t have time to intervene in every city with a high murder rate. Yet Ravensburg seemed to represent the very life of one of Dick’s closest friends. From the crimes to the name of the city itself. It was disturbing to say the least. Raven’s life had always been chaotic and she herself had served as a portal for evil during their teenage years. Dick wouldn’t be surprised if Ravensburg served some type of purpose that Raven herself had been forced to serve during her youth.

It had been the third wedding that had alerted him to a possible pattern related to Raven’s life. That third crime where a young woman had slaughtered the bride and the groom. It sounded an awful lot like Dick’s own wedding. It had been a brief one interrupted by Raven when her soul had been corrupted with evil. That had not been a fun experience and always had left Dick wondering what would have happened if she hadn’t intervened. Would he have wished that she had? Would he be happier? Either way it hadn’t happened and that would always be a blight on his relationship with the woman. He had moved on and forgiven Raven but it wasn’t something he’d easily forget. It looked like that memory had served him well this time. “Raven? This is Dick. Can you meet me at these coordinates I’m about to send you? This city has some interesting tales that bare an awful lot of resemblance to someone I know…”

[rae]

The coordinates on the screen pointed to Ravensburg, just outside of Central City. She had never heard of the town, though she thought the name was odd (a biased opinion though of course). Raven opened a portal and flew through it. Out the other end, she was in the town. It looked like any other mid-American city, well kept, busy but not crowded, and surrounded by a tall beautiful trees. The people of Ravensburg were big into Halloween it seemed. Their welcome billboard was adorned with pumpkins and spiders and the windows of the shops and local restaurants were painted with witches, broomsticks, and black cats. It was all kinds of fluff and innocece. None of it was really scary, but then again, Raven wasn't easily scared. Not to mention she did not like witches.

Dick had yet to arrive so she took to exploring the town. His message was cryptic and she couldn't kick the feeling that out of all the Titans to call, if it was Raven he needed, it was typically a demonic issue at hand. But this town? What was out there that even he would be interested in?

Several minutes passed and absolutely nothing caught Raven's attention. She decided she had wandered away from the location she was suppose to meet Dick at far enough to return. Plus, she was basically out of the commercial areas of the town and now into the neighborhoods. She turned her attention back and began to fly away when she received the slightest pang. Raven stopped mid-flight and looked back at the houses. It was a quiet neighborhood with a few children out in the streets playing and nothing significant going on elsewhere. And yet the slightest trail of a magical aura was poking at her. She narrowed her eyes and flew back to the coordinates. There she found Dick arriving. She landed in front of him, removing her hood as she approached her friend. "I'm going to take a wild guess. It's me," she began. "I assure you, I've never even been here before. Their cute happy attitude toward Halloween is actually creeping me out."

[Batman]

Ravensburg and Gotham City had some eerie similarities. There were far more differences than similarities but it was the similarities that mattered. On the surface both cities were unashamedly caricatures that were so stereotypical that they seemed unreal. Gotham City was heavily inspired by its gothic architecture. There were demonic gargoyles on the buildings and there were people whose souls were as ugly as the stone creatures that watched over the streets. In Gotham City what you saw was what you got. Evil that was hidden in the cracks of the sidewalks and evil that dominated the public figures of the city. Yet Gotham City had its redeeming qualities. It had its dark and white knights and the human spirit that drove both factions. Yet when it came down to it seemed irredeemable. Ravensburg was an unashamed suburbia that was ruled by people who were so concerned with their status that they didn’t even seem real. The type of people who’d do crazy things to maintain that status and power.

Dick had compared the statistics of both cities side by side. While they weren’t the same they had the same fluctuations in crime and the similar reports to the authorities. Like Gotham City many of these reports and calls for distress had been recanted. Dick was getting major feelings of déjà vu from this city. There was also the issue of Halloween. While it was definitely a holiday that was celebrated and rarely taken seriously at all Ravensburg seemed to embrace it like it was Christmas. During the past decade the number of crime during Halloween had been steadily elevating. Whether it was through dark magic, murders or just plain chaos. Dick would figure a suburb as perfect as Ravensbug would be much more cautious about such a holiday. Maybe the neighborhood’s own obsession with appearance and perfection was why they were going through such an effort.

Either way it was worth nothing. It wasn’t even Halloween night yet. Dick was planning to spend the whole evening traveling around Gotham City dealing with all kinds of problems. That was the one night of the year where he was on high alert. It had been that way since he had first pulled on the pixie boots. Dick stood on the roof of the house that was currently in the process of being purchased. It was the only place he had been comfortable meeting Raven. It hadn’t been tainted by any previous neighbors and the hopefully family was nowhere near Ravensburg this week. As Dick scanned the city he saw Raven from a distance. He stood from his crouched position and walked to the center of the roof. The idea of hiding did appeal to him but he knew that Raven didn’t play any games. That’s what he liked about her. She wasn’t the joking sort and Dick was perfectly capable of toning down his own sense of humor when it came down to business. Being raised by Bruce did that to you.

“Well, the first thing I assumed when I got wind of this case was that it was an elaborate prank....played on you.” Dick wasn’t joking. “All we have to do is figure out who.” Dick didn’t believe in coincidences and Raven’s body language was practically screaming annoyance and confusion. It didn’t take a genius to figure out the purpose of a city like Ravensburg. The first coincidence had been the similar name. The crimes specifically tailored to Raven’s life weren’t.

[rae]

"What case...?" Raven slowly asked. So far, she had yet to see what it was about events here that Dick felt reminded him of her. This town was sweet, clean, everything seemed in order. It was actually more of her polar opposite. But his expression was serious, and the files in his hand answered her question. Raven sifted through the police documents. Her face scrunched up the more she read.

The criminal father kidnapping the child. The crazed girl destroying hallucinated portals to keep "father" away. The wedding massacre. The six murdered boys by a girl who left behind "original sin" as her final words. The murdered son labeled "wild." Raven's dark eyes lifted back up to stare at Dick. "These events," she began, her voice had fallen considerably, "it's my life. It's all the major events from my life. Wh-..." She shook her head and parted her lips again to speak, but nothing came out. Why would a town named Ravensburg have horrific crimes that resembled events from her life? Dick was right. This did all seem like an elaborate prank, set up by someone trying to get her attention probably (these crimes didn't seem to incriminate her per se, at least not yet). Now who was it? Something dawned on her.

"Not everyone knows all these things about me, especially the last case. Only the Titans saw Wyld. I made sure of that." While she didn't express it just yet, the thought was lurching over her; could it be her father? Most of her troubles were directly caused by Trigon. Who knew all that information about her and would use it harm people for an elaborate scheme? Not any of her friends, that's for sure. And her enemies couldn't know about Wyld, and maybe not even of the other events. The more she thought of it, the more she began to convince herself it was Trigon. She felt sick. "Do you have any leads?" she asked, her eyes fell and avoided Dick's gaze. "I could have sworn I felt..." Shame. Fear. "...a magic presence flying through one of the neighborhoods. I'm..." Angry. Horrified. "...sure of it, but I didn't follow the trail. Maybe we can start there..." she swallowed hard.

[Batman]

Her question made Dick feel a spark of sympathy for the woman. She had done many things in her life that she had come to regret and they weren’t her fault. She had been destined to wreak havoc on Earth since her birth and had managed to defy her destiny. This was no easy feat. The fact still remained that she had come close to being a herald to Earth’s destruction several times in the past. She had managed to destroy Dick’s personal life at one point and nearly kill him in the process. Yet throughout all these trials and tribulations Dick had forgiven her and he had come to trust her. This was why he took no joy in recruiting her on this mission but he needed her. If she was the one being mocked then she’d also be the one who could find out who was responsible. There was a likelihood that Dick would only get himself killed by some type of immortal demonic force if he poked around on his own as well. The idea of Batman was immortal…the person who wore the cowl wasn’t.

He handed the file to Raven and took one step backwards to give her space. He crossed his arms over his chest and chewed his bottom lip as he surveyed her response. He wasn’t entirely sure how she’d react. While Raven had long since come to terms with her emotions she still could lose control. He didn’t want to wind up falling through the roof if Raven had a strong emotional reaction. She had every right to, after all. “It’s happened to all of us.” He said quietly. He wasn’t sure if that helped or not. He just wanted Raven to know she wasn’t alone. There had been several times when Dick’s greatest failures and tragedies had been thrown in his face. The same had happened to Roy very recently as well. It was a common occurrence for people like them. Their enemies seemed to sit around and wait to see them fail. Yet Raven could easily make an argument for her failures being the worst out of their group.

As she spoke he stepped towards her and gave her a small pat on the shoulder. He felt awkward doing so. Raven had never been one for physical contact and there was also the fact that his gloves were made for punching, not for patting. “You never know who may be watching. As accurate as your search may be you do have enemies in low places…” Dick switched to detective mode. Raven was essentially a living portal to hell. That was her purpose, anyway. That was hardly who she was as a person and she was essentially a living and breathing human being independent of her father’s control. Yet the fact still remained that she was born to be a post-apocalyptic disaster. So it wasn’t outside of Dick’s own circle of logic to assume that there was some demon out there aware of her bearing a child. “So far you’re my main lead….but it’s hardly your fault. You didn’t choose your family…which is so far my only other lead but you’re the only person who could possibly get in contact with them.”

He glanced at her and frowned. He wasn’t entirely sure if he liked her suggestion. He wasn’t sure if she was emotionally capable of following such a lead without suffering some sort of break down. “Raven, you’re my main lead but you’re not my only lead. Whoever is responsible for this had to be working with someone who craved power. Someone who would need some of these deeds to be done to advance themselves. Maybe if we can find that person we can find whose responsible…without investigating something we don’t fully understand.” That was ironic within itself because the point of investigation was to understand something that one didn’t fully understand. Yet he hoped that Raven would take his gesture without questioning it. Dick was certain that tackling this situation his way could yield results much more safely and quickly than trying to find the origin of an ambiguous magical presence.

[rae]

It wasn't enough to quell the horror that was sparked from the files, but Dick's gesture did have its effect. His compassion glowed off him and struck her so much so that her shoulders may have even relaxed (if only an inch). He was right though. There was no solid proof that her fears had come true. And if anything, the magical presence she could feel residing in this town wasn't dark enough to indicate it could be her father. Someone else could be trying to mess with her mind. He had point. "So you think a human may be behind this? Or at least a low level magic user, abusing their abilities?" she reiterated. "It's possible. It can explain why the magical residue I felt wasn't too powerful," Raven added with a renewed strength in her tone. "I'll take you there."

Seconds later through the portal she summoned, Nightwing and Raven stepped out into the backyard of an abandoned house on the other side of town. The grass and flowers had dried out, there was no evident upkeep to the two-story house, and there was still police caution tape wrapped around the premises. She walked up the back porch and enveloped the locked doorknob with her shadows to jimmy it open. The mustiness reeked out from the stale inside, forcing her to move her face away for a second before venturing into the house. Raven stepped off to the side to let Dick enter and examine the place. She remained in her spot in the kitchen, overlooking the setup and its adjacent room, the living room. She was frozen in place except for her twitching eyebrow. Externally, she was indifferent and quiet, but inside, where the energy of this house's past was being absorbed by her empathy, Raven screamed. "Ruby Beurre tortured and killed her son here," she said, remembering the name from the case file. "He was six."

The questions were obvious: why would a mother kill her son? Why did she have to take a further step and torture him beforehand? Was a psychological problem at the root of it? Did it make her a target? Who would benefit from this? "There's a totem here, I can feel it," she exhaled, realizing she was holding her breath. "If we find it, maybe I can decipher what kind of magic was used. The mere fact that they even used a totem already gives me an idea of what kind of person we're dealing with.But Dick," she sighed. Her dark eyes glanced over the living room quickly, but she was unable to look at it for long. "I...I can't go any deeper into this house. I'm barely keeping her son's pain at bay right now." Raven bit her lip and raised her hand to her forehead to ease the headache. "It's in the boy's bedroom upstairs." Although the crime had taken place a few weeks back and the police had examined the house and taken out all its furniture and contents, they missed the magical object hidden somewhere in his bedroom.

[Batman]

"I think a low level magician just had the right connections to influence someone more powerful to cause all these events." Dick said. He wasn't willing to abandon the theory that this was all a massive ploy to manipulate Raven. He just thought that there might be someone who had been seduced and tricked into causing these things to happen. Dick knew very little about demons but what he did know was that in order for them to cause such havoc they needed to get someone to agree to let it happen. There had to be some sort of deal or promise. Demons were powerful creatures but like the biblical Lucifer they needed permission to operate on this Earthly plane. Dick decided not to press the issue or the theory because he knew how Raven was feeling right now no matter how well she was hiding it. You could thank Bruce for that.

He'd just let them come across the truth naturally. There was no harm in letting this case develop naturally. He doubted that Raven would totally shield herself from the truth. She was stronger and smarter than that. Raven summoned a portal and Dick stepped through it. For a moment he was subjected to the uncomfortable feeling of being transported through another dimension to another point in time and space. Eventually they found themselves standing a the door of the boy's home. Dick watched as Raven opened the door and as she did dust floated outside. Dick wrinkled his nose and barely managed to avoid a sneeze. Raven stepped aside to allow him inside and he nodded his thanks before he stepped into the musty building.

Dick stepped into the living room and after one swift glanced he surmised there was nothing worth investigating. He then turned to Raven and frowned as he saw the single display of emotion. Her twitching eyebrow and stoic body language told him that she was feeling the effects of this crime scene much more severely than he was. He thought about asking her if she was ok but realized that it would only annoy her. Instead he kept quiet. "I'll find it." He said simply before turning and walking up the stairs. The whole atmosphere of the house was truly giving him the creeps. He wasn't comfortable here and he knew it had to do with the dark magic traces within the house. He soon stepped into Ruby's son's room and switched on his energy lens. They were designed to find unique traces of energy and after consulting with Zatanna Dick had been able to find a way to track signatures of magic.

He glanced around the room quickly only feeling his unease increase. At the end of his search he didn't even need the lens. The further he moved into the room the more uncomfortable and depressed he became and he soon tracked that sense of depression to underneath the pillow of the boy's bed. He reached underneath the pillow and picked up a small wooden totem. Unique runes were carved into the wood and Dick couldn't glance at them without feeling some form of fear. He immediately tucked the totem into a closed off component in his utility belt and felt his fear ebb away. Somewhat. He turned and hurried out of the room and after trotting down the stairs he found Raven where he left her. "I found the totem. I suggest we get out of here. This place is making me feel more than a little uncomfortable."

[rae]

[ooc - I did a lil g-modding to move us from place to place. Hope that's okay]

With Dick gone, Raven was left with only the echoes of the house's dark past. She tucked in her chin and kept her head low as her gaze steadily drifted across the torture/living room. The energy was so strong here she could almost see the horrible act that has condemned the house. It was a curious thing though. The totem suggested that someone else, and not Ruby, was responsible for her change. That was the whole purpose of these types of totems: to cast a spell on another. And if Raven had to guess, this was not a magical crime against the boy so much. If it was, why would the criminal manipulate Ruby to conduct such heinous acts in the living room of all places in the house? Why not somewhere hidden like the basement? The criminal wanted Ruby to get caught perhaps. This was an attack on the mother by use of her son.

Raven faded out of her trance when she heard Dick walking back the stairs. She didn't waste a second to follow him out of the house. Back outside, she took in a deep breath. The headache was gone. Nimble fingers reached up and removed her hood. "May I see it?" she asked for the totem. Once in her hands she held it close to her face. It was pulsating with negative energy. "These symbols," Raven began. "They're familiar. And we're luck. It's from a set, so we can trace each totem all the way back to their maker." She tossed the totem in the air a few inches and caught it with a shadow ball between her two flat palms. She maintained the totem suspended while she chanted quietly. The magic object began to crackle with red sparks until finally breaking free of her shadow and falling back into her hands. A thin red line of sparks was now seemingly connected to the totem and it continued out of the yard and down the street. "Our trail."

They followed the thin line that was partly invisible due to the sunlight. It led them to an orphanage on 204 Moore Ave. This was the place of those other horrific murders. The young orphan girl murdered six boys living in the same building. According to the file, police first suspected the crime happened because of a sexual assault against the girl, but after reviewing the security cameras, they ruled out the possibility. She killed them in cold blood in the middle of the night. The orphanage was still up and running and after convincing the owner to let them into the now condemned bedroom where the six boys had slept and were killed in, Raven and Dick broke down the door and were in. She stepped forward and stopped, fumbling backward and gripping Dick's arm as she did to keep her balance. "Ughh," she grunted as her knees weakened. "It's here. There's a totem hidden somewhere in the walls," she sighed. She was sure Dick was also picking up on the bad energy in this room. No wonder they kept it boarded up.

[Batman]

Dick glanced at Raven with concern as her knees buckled. He quickly grasped her by the elbow to help her straighten up. He could only imagine the grief and pain she was going through right now. Her powers of empathy really didn’t seem to have a limit. The severe emotional pain that the room held had to be far worse than the house they had just been in. Dick had always been amazed by the scope of Raven’s powers. Now he just wished he knew of a way to help her deal with it. He couldn’t help but feel guilty that he dragged her into this in the first place. He could have always asked Zatanna for help and even if that didn’t work he knew that this was something Dr. Fate or even Constantine could handle. Yet he had a feeling that Raven would want to be personally responsible for this and as a result she was suffering. As she told him where the totem was Dick chewed the inside of his cheek nervously. Good going there, Grayson.

[/color]

Dick scanned the walls and quickly surmised that there was no way the totem could be behind them. They were fairly thick and it would take the job of a blow torch or some other type of tool to burn through them. The idea of the witch also using magic didn’t quite add up to him. If she needed a totem to use spells then would she really be able to use offensive magic? It was a little something he had learned from Zatanna. People gained their powers from all types of sources. Sometimes these sources meant they accessed their powers differently. So instead of focusing on the wall Dick instead redirected his attention to the floor boards. Most of the nails were old and rusted but a floorboard near one of the bunk beds was shiny and brand new. Dick stooped over and managed to pry the needles out of the floor board and was met with ash and dust. After sifting through it with his fingers his fingers clasped around a circular wooden totem roughly the size of a television remote.

He stood to his feet and stared at the totem intently and saw that a small line of red energy ran through the totem and outside the door. He wasn’t sure if he actually wanted to give it to Raven. Could her powers really handle it? Yet he knew that she was the magical expert and he was not. If anything happened she’d be best equipped to handle it. Dick wasn’t trying to shrug off any pain and suffering but he knew that if he held onto it there was a greater chance it would be detrimental in the long run. He trusted Raven to survive this ordeal and hopefully when it was all finished he could help her recover. For now all he could do was trust her and let her do her job. Pity wouldn’t get them anywhere in this search. So with a nervous and clammy feeling in his stomach Dick handed the totem to her.

“Where next?” He questioned. He already was aware that they were visiting the scenes of the various crimes committed but he had a feeling that they were going in a very specific order. [/blockquote]

[rae]

Raven stepped out into the hall to wait for Dick to return. She stopped herself to calm the rhythm of her chest and her breathing. A boy stood at the end of the hall looking at her from around the corner. He was saturated in loneliness. Raven raised her hand and waved gently. He returned the gesture just as Dick stepped back out. The boy ran away.

Raven saw the totem also gleaming with the red trail as the previous magical item. She took it from Dick and hid it with the other. "I think we both know where this is taking us. We should split up and put an end to this game." With that, Raven and Nightwing followed the locations of the case files that most related to the half-demon's past. And as they both had suspected, there was a totem in every location. An hour later, they met 286 Baker Street where Raven grouped together the last of the totems while recalling the crime that happened here. A child was kidnapped and taken by its father, much like Raven's own father planned to do to her had it not been for the people of Azarath that granted her and her mother sanctuary. It was the first and the last of the crimes that mimicked Raven's past which meant now, they were on the path of its source. "The trail's leading downtown," she examined the red tracings from the totems. "I hope we don't attract too much attention."

And no sooner had she said that, she realized that wouldn't be an issue. As Nightwing and Raven headed into the heart of the town, they saw lights, pumpkins, and a ridiculous amount of fake webbing decorating the streets. Amidst all the Halloween decor were the townspeople dressed in costumes surrounding the center square where a local band played 80s hits. A few vendors sold sweets and scary novelty items. It was a festival and the two heroes blended in perfectly. "Never mind." They walked into the crowd, the totems still tightly held in her hand. With so much movement and lights, it was difficult to see the faint trail, but slowly they made their way deeper and deeper into the populace. She used her empathy to pick up any traces of the dark magic surrounding the totems, but she could sense nothing out of the ordinary. There was however a blip in her astral radar that she was sure the totems were leading them toward.

She turned her head to speak with Dick when she saw an overzealous girl dressed as a french maid grab his arm as she jumped to the beat of the music. "Oh my God, you look so much like Nightwing! Where did you get that costume? And that body?" she giggled. Raven's eyes darted from the 20-something year old then back to Dick. "Do you wanna dance or will your mom here get upset?" she said, throwing a quick look to Raven. Meanwhile, a man behind the two heroes tapped the magic-user on the shoulder and yelled over the music, "Hey!" Raven looked over her shoulder to see him dressed in a cheap red suit with a Christmas gift box perched above his crotch. "Hey! Wanna take a look inside? You'll never guess what it is!"

[Batman]

Dick bounced the circular totem in his hand as he approached Raven from behind. At first the idea of hiding himself and meeting her in the shadows had seemed smarter. Then he had realized that this was Halloween night. Hiding in plain sight was much smarter. He had a feeling that if they did hide in the shadows they’d be detected much easier. People tended to pay attention to the darkness when they had something to be scared about. At any rate Dick had gathered his last totem and he had to admit that it hadn’t been easy. It had been buried outside of the church where the couple had been murdered by a mad woman. It had resonated all too clearly with Dick’s own failed wedding. At times he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to thank Raven for interrupting the wedding or hate her.

At any rate it wasn’t something he’d forget.
He handed the circular pendent to the woman and as he did he couldn’t help but relax. The piece had haunted him far more than the other totems had. The fact that it was vaguely shaped like a wedding ring didn’t help either. Yet they had gathered all the totems safely and were finally suited to face the being responsible. Dick was certain that this would be the easy part. Overcoming the emotional guilt that had been brought upon by finding those totems had to be the hard part. Dick had come to realize that those who were responsible for using totems and other instruments to compromise their opponents weren’t all that intimidating at all. Scarecrow as a prime example. For all his intelligence a simple punch to the face knocked him down. He had to rely on chemicals to instill fear in people because he wasn’t threatening on his own. Dick was certain their target was the same way.

“I think we’re fine in that department.” Dick said with a cocky smile as he eyed the people in the crowd. There were quite a few people dressed as Batman. These people’s costumes were definitely more authentic and more impressive looking than Dick’s. His spandex had been created for ultimate maneuverability and combat. Their “spandex” had been created for style and fashion. “Poser!” One particularly nerdy Batman yelled. Dick didn’t really offer a response. He had a point. As they continued to move through the crowd Raven’s sudden hesitation told him she was onto something. As she turned to speak to him the elder man was suddenly assaulted by a woman in a French maid costume. Dick’s eyes shifted to her face, chest and legs and he silently cursed that he wasn’t in Ravensburg for other reasons.

Then the man in the clown outfit stepped up to Raven and Dick had a feeling that she wouldn’t be too kind to him. Especially in the state she was in. “No thanks.” He gently yet firmly pushed the woman to the side and she vastly exaggerated the move by falling to the ground. She cursed loudly as Dick wheeled around to the clown man. “Take a walk buddy.” He said in his most impressive sneer. Even in his drunken state the man realized Dick meant business. Dick turned to Raven. “Is the witch in one of the houses handing out candy or is she amongst the crowd?” All the crimes that had been committed pointed to the sick mind of an older woman with a family. From a strictly logical point of view she’d be inside either wreaking more havoc or with her family handing out candy. But Dick had been wrong before.