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The Batmobile raced down the abandoned underground rail tunnel. Selina had seen no less than five exits to the Batcave, and she was sure there were more. Bruce had explained that getting stuck in a traffic jam on the Kane Memorial Bridge had happened once, and he’d vowed never to let it happen again.
The tunnel led into the heart of Midtown, she knew, but Batman swerved down a side tunnel she hadn’t noticed before and came up into the darkened interior of an abandoned subway station. He spun the wheel and slammed on the brakes, coming to a perfect spot facing away from the wall they’d been hurtling towards.
“Now you’re just showing off,” Selina purred.
He glanced over at her and gave her a rare smile. “Maybe a little.”
His fingers tapped along the dashboard control screen and called up a panel with two buttons: Open and Close. He tapped on Open.
Behind them, a grinding noise began to rumble. Selina grabbed the passenger control tablet and swivelled it toward her, activating the exterior cameras. She watched a hidden door in the subway wall open up, revealing a service elevator big enough for the Batmobile. Once the doors were open enough, Bruce gunned the engine and backed into the elevator.
Selina called up the city map as the elevator lifted them. “Now why are Tim and Steph at STAR Labs?”
“Computer, open channel to Red Robin and Spoiler.”
“Channels open, Batman.”
“Red Robin, report.”
“Um… gimme a sec… sorry. Hang on?”
“Spoiler, report.”
“Hi! Red Robin’s a little busy hacking into STAR Labs security mainframe.”
“Explain.”
“We stopped a burglary earlier. Electronics store. Couple of nobodies. Told us they had heard somebody important was looking for new computer components. Double checked with a couple of sources. There, right there! Try that.”
“I know, I know,” Tim replied. Selina stifled a snort.
“Sources confirmed the burglar’s story,” Stephanie continued. “Word’s out, somebody’s looking for high-end computer components.”
“And who has higher-end components than STAR Labs?” Tim asked. “I’m in.”
“Check the delivery bay!”
“I know!”
The elevator doors opened silently, and Bruce drove the Batmobile out into what seemed like an abandoned warehouse. He turned off the headlights, plunging them into near-darkness, lit only by the control panels. Selina slipped her goggles on, set the lowlight lenses to augment the gloom.
The Batmobile purred like a big cat as Bruce eased around support girders that had once been walls, headed for the warehouse’s truck bay. As he approached the huge door moved away, and the Batmobile exited into an unused back alley.
“We’re not far from STAR Labs,” Selina said, pointing at the glowing dot that appeared on the passenger tablet.
“Red Robin, ETA five minutes. Wait for us.”
“Copy, Batman.”
It took only four minutes for them to arrive at the brownstone walk-up that Red Robin and Spoiler were watching from, but finding a place to park the Batmobile proved a challenge and so Catwoman and Batman arrived on site six and a half minutes past their estimated time of arrival.
“You’re late,” Spoiler said. Selina didn’t need to see Stephanie’s face behind her mask to know she was grinning. “Red Robin was worried.”
“Not really,” Red Robin answered, his eyes never leaving the laptop in front of him. Of course, ‘laptop’ was pretty misleading – Tim’s field tablet, the finest portable tech Bruce Wayne’s money could buy, had capabilities no mere laptop could match, not least of which was, it was bulletproof and had saved Tim’s life more than once.
“Anything?” Batman asked, crouching to view Red Robin’s screen.
“Not much. Three-point-six-five minutes ago four goons dressed as janitors came through that door,” Red Robin explained, tapping the door visible onscreen.
“Not regular custodials?”
Red Robin’s fingers picked and spread apart, pausing the image and then rewinding to the arrival of three men. He zoomed in on their faces, which the tablet immediately ran facial recognition software on. All four had police records. “To keep their federal funding, STAR Labs can’t hire ex-convicts.”
Batman made an appreciative grunt, the closest to a compliment any of his protégés would receive in the field. “Those two are brothers.”
“Twins, actually,” Spoiler said. “Fraternal, obvs.”
The two in question, Mick and Mike Callahan, had similar but not identical features. Both had shaved heads, broken noses, thick jaws. In the Distinctive Features of their files, each had a tattoo of a billiard ball on the back of their hands: the One Ball on Mick’s right, the Two Ball on Mike’s left.
“Mick’s the elder brother,” Spoiler explained.
“Here they come,” Red Robin said, swiping away the files and recording to show the live feed from the delivery bay.
The twins and their two colleagues were pushing two dollies loaded with crates towards the truck bays.
“That’s doesn’t seem legit,” Spoiler said.
“We should go tell them,” Red Robin replied, standing and slipping his tablet laptop into the special pocket on his back.
“Lead the way,” Batman ordered, and Spoiler and Red Robin leapt off the roof without another word.
“Why hang back?” Selina asked.
“The kids can handle those goons,” Batman answered, leading her in a different direction. “We need to look for their backup. The Callahan brothers are known associates of Penguin, Riddler, Two-Face, and Mad Hatter.”
“Professional thugs?”
“Professional flunkies.”
Batman pulled out his grapnel launcher and swung off the roof. Catwoman followed, a grin on her face.