Mark Rand

4 hours ago, steriaca said:

"Well...I guess...I don't know how to feel that my own mother is a suspect. Not that I'm worried...my mom is primarily a school nurse, and if she retained from the comic con experience would probably be Honey's skills as a detective. By the way, did you know the anime and manga character Cutie Honey was partially named after Honey West?"

"Honey's skills as a detective will probably come in handy in her nursing profession," Batgirl says.  "Of course, she may also have Honey's martial arts and burglar skills, too."  She pauses, then adds, "I didn't know that Cutie Honey was partially named after Honey West."

1 hour ago, steriaca said:

"It doesn't matter. The outside world doesn't need to know. Just like they don't know that I can pee standing up."

"Knowing Renee, she'll investigate the ladies dressed as Fujiko Mine," Batgirl says.  "She might also look at the six dressed as Honey West, who ranged from her as a burglar to her in an evening gown.  I also saw five ladies dressed as Sarah from the NBC series Chuck, one complete with a CAT Squad.  There were also several dressed as Marvel's Black Widow.  I was one of them."

She pauses, then adds, "We'll stop by the Batcave and pick up my motorcycle.  It'll hold two and I have an extra helmet I'll lend you."

Once the Batboat leaves the lighthouse, Batgirl says, "I lied a bit about Robin.  She's not in what was once Atlantic City.  She and her family are visiting friends in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia."

(OCC: There is no COVID-19 in this universe.)

9 hours ago, steriaca said:

Lady Heart follows Batgirl. "Ever since the convention and the first time I transformed everything has been stranged. Abino cats. Floating cloaks with staff turning objects into monsters. Mentions of extradimensinal queens hunting stones. People cosplaying and turning into the characters they are portraying with no real rime or reason. "

"Yeah, that does sound weird," Batgirl says.

9 hours ago, steriaca said:

"How many false Batmen had a certain someone had to quell recently?"

"At least ten," Batgirl admits. 

"Thanks for your time, ladies," Batgirl says.  "We'll head for the Sprang Bridge and talk to Katherine Avery.  She might know something."

"I know, but there also could be women given her skills who want to do good, like the new Robin.  Since she can become a mermaid, she's on an investigation in what was the Atlantic City area before it and a few neighboring cities sunk on September 11, 2001."

"According to reports I've seen, there have been 50 highly-sophisticated burglaries in the Mid-Atlantic states within the past two weeks," Detective Montoya says.  "The MOs were different in a number of cases, but nobody was physically hurt."

"Good to hear," Detective Montoya says.

5 hours ago, steriaca said:

"Has anyone checked to see if any inmate was missing at the time? That place is a revolving door...escapes and sneaking back in."

"Yeah, Batman checked with the warden," Batgirl replies.  "Everyone was accounted for."

7 hours ago, steriaca said:

"Arkham Island. That's where Arkham Asylum is, right?"

"Yeah, and Gotham County's waste water treatment plant," Batgirl says.

"Gale force winds make walking difficult if you're going against them," Batgirl tells Lady Heart.  She then looks at Sara and asks, "Any idea who, besides you, could've pulled it off?"

"Katherine Avery," Sara replies.  "She's currently the 3 to 11 PM tender of the Sprang Bridge.  Since it carries both GTA Rail service and the Aparo Expressway, it's a lift-type drawbridge.  Of course, both she and Christina Valentine, the 7 AM to 3 PM tender, live in the drawbridge tender's house and neither are sound sleepers."

"Why not?" Batgirl asks.

"There's always some fool boater who will want the bridge raised when it's locked down either late at night or during morning or evening rush hour," Sara replies.  "It gets worse when you realize that there are eight drawbridges on the Sprang River, four alone connecting to Arkham Island, and nine more on the Finger River, one of which is a lift bridge."

(OCC: GTA Rail is the Gotham Transit Authority commuter rail service)

"So, what brings you two here?" Sara asked.

"The Vanlandingham burglary," Batgirl replies.  "It was quite sophisticated, like you used to pull.  Any ideas?"

"Probably didn't happened last night," Sara replies.  "We had near gale force winds here.  Of course, it may've been less windy in the city."

"The burglar or burglars had plenty of time to get the diamonds out of state," Detective Montoya says.  "New York, Delaware, and Pennsylvania are within easy driving reach."

They head up the stairs to the Cape Cod-style house with the tower, weather instruments, foghorn, and antennas sticking out of the roof.  As they arrive, the door opens.  Sara Matthews, the lighthouse and Detective Renee Montoya  are standing there.  Both are dressed like cat burglars, but unmasked.

"Come on in," Sara says.

"I always wondered what it was like to be a cat burglar," Renee admits.  "Sara was going to let me pretend to be one."

"I secreted play money and plastic jewelry in the room Renee was going to prowl in," Sara adds.

"Some leads," Batgirl says.  "She may have an idea who could've pulled it off or what happened to the diamonds.  Don't forget, burglaries are common in Gotham City.  We have everything from some punk breaking into an empty house to get something they can fence for drug money to highly sophisticated burglaries."

Batgirl guides the Batboat to the lighthouse's pier and powers it down.  Opening the cockpit, she climbs out, sets the fenders, and secures the Batboat.

Aboard the Batboat, Batgirl says, "It isn't too bad out.  If necessary, I'll turn the Batboat into the Batsub."

Over the marine radio comes, "Gotham Harbor Lighthouse to Batboat.  I have you on visual.  Come on in.  Over."

"Figures," Batgirl says.  She picks up the microphone and says, "Batboat copies, Gotham Harbor Lighthouse.  Thank you.  Over."

"You're welcome, Batboat.  Gotham Harbor Lighthouse out."

"Batboat out."  She hangs up the microphone and adds to Lady Heart, "In high school, Sara and I surfed together."

(OCC: Gotham Point was a location in the 1966 Batman TV series episode Surf's Up! Joker's Under!  Although Barbara Gordon was at the beach there, nothing was said about her being a surfer.)

"Good plan," Batman says as he parks the Batmobile and opens the cockpit.  He points and says, "There's the RV Laurel Blair Clark.   She's a Thomas G. Thompson-class oceanographic research ship."

"Fine.  I take it that she doesn't know your secret," Batman says as they arrive at the Gotham University Oceanic Institute.

"Stake-out and surveillance," Batman replies.  "You can go home when you need to."

1 hour ago, steriaca said:

"I never was into sailing. I am a rather decent dancer. I also am a walking encyclopedia of Japanese pop culture." She sighs. "Take it however you safely can. Your the one with boating knowledge."

"I took a boating safety course," Batgirl admits.  "I've also studied charts of Gotham Harbor and the surrounding area.  Of course, in high school, I surfed at Gotham Point during the summer.  I still do from time to time.  When you're into that, you should take time to learn about the weather."

"Here we go," Batgirl says as she closes the cockpit and slowly accelerates.  "The harbor is a no-wake zone." 

The weather radio announcer mentions wind speeds of 10-miles-per-hour and wave heights of 2 to 4 feet. 

"I'm seeing scattered white horses," Batgirl says.  "That's a term for breaking waves." 

29 minutes ago, steriaca said:

Lady Heart follows Batgirl to the Batboat. "So, who is the oddest superhero you ever worked with?"

 

(In case you want to know, I just bought Season One of Doom Patrol.)

"A couple of mermaids helped me with a water rescue," Batgirl says as she powers up the Batboat and flips on the marine band and weather radios.  "Ready?"

"To the Batboat, Lady Heart," Batgirl says.  "It's one floor down."

"To the Batmobile, Paladin," Batman says.  "The oceanic institute is in Drescher, a neighborhood of Sommerset Township."

"Batgirl's going to visit Sara once Harold finishes prepping the Batboat," Batman says.  "It seats two."

"The lighthouse is on a 50-foot tall rock," Batgirl says.  "We'll dock at the bottom and walk up the stairs.  Who wants to come with me?"

"I'll have a look at this sea bat, then patrol the Crest Hill and Brentwood neighborhoods.  They're the two wealthiest neighborhoods in the Gotham City area."

Harold comes up from the lower level and says, "Batboat's ready."

"Nothing special," Batgirl replies, "just expensive stuff.  However, the Vanlandinghams are friends of Sara's parents, who own an estate in the same neighborhood.  After Sara's arraignment, her mother asked, "What will my friends say?'  Sara replied that she considered them to be pigeons ready for the plucking."  She then added, "I'm planning to take the Batboat and visit Sara.  She might be able to give me some leads."