Teen Titans Roster Day Off (7)

Familliar

Robin

Old School. That's how we do it! The batcycles are kitted out just like the rest of the gear we inherited. I'd trained with this cycle. It was Todd's bike formerly and for a moment as I drove I felt melancholic. Todd's logo on the front,  his colour scheme.  The disconnect of the life I was supposed to have. I had a place here, if I wanted it. With this team. The route we were following into the city headed towards the new Justice Monument, the mirror image of the statue at the Memorial hall in Metropolis. A statue to the batman that long guarded this city.

Bruce's manor was gone. The bat cave gone. The new bat family worked out of a network of tunnels that led to a base inside of the monument. The large structure built in honour of Batman and his achievements! According to Kate while they did have a helicopter, they mostly used street level gear, resulting in myself and Miss A riding tandem on the back of Kate and BatBoy's motorcycles.

Passing through a secret enterence in the base of the monument, we came out in Kate's lair. It looked almost amusing like Batman's, just better lit, with labels on things and a more purple colour scheme to Bruce's black aesthetic.

"So. Tim." Batboy's voice dripped with cautious sarcasm, "Your here cause you tracked a set of Dolls?"

I nodded, waking up their main computer,  "The Zombie Rag-dolls were a failed mad science contraption used in one or two crimes over East!" I wireless dropped the files from my phone to the computer,  then brought up the main specs, "The creators couldn't control them and the surviving dolls have been rounded up and brought to Gothem."

Starfire, looking around curiously still provided good assessment, "They are cute but not of a nice nature. They eat clothes then spit out more dolls!"

"They're also a little bit magical, which is why I was asked to help!" Miss A's statement was false, but as good a reason as any. "There's something else! Since of the loose threads we found at the past crime scenes had other magic mixed in! Like, beside that which let them brede! I think the dolls have fight heroes that use magically enhanced clothes! They could be more powerful than we give them credit for!"

That gave me a start, dots connecting in my head! "Back in the Alley, earlier today. we had a run in with some of the dolls. One of them started duplicating itself after it consumed super-powered clothing!" I grimaced.

"You think these things can absorb powers?" Batboy inquired, I shrugged my response.

"I think we should try to keep anything super-powered to a minimum when fighting them. Fire does seam effective but imagine if some fire-themed hero goes in and suddenly the next batch of dolls are immune!"

The thought was sobering enough to keep the room quiet, Starfire breaking the mood, "So! Will we be looking for a secret lair? Or have we an idea of who's been collecting them?"

Kate took the lead, seating herself at the computer, "I don't know if it's related or not, but we'd already been investigating something, something that'll go down tomorrow night. There have been a spate of robberies lead by two child villains called Ring Master and Little Joker!" Kate's fingers clacked quietly as documents and information flew up the screen. "There's every chance it's related, but if it's not then we can follow your trail of clues after the attack!"

"We've been coordinating with the City Watch, the new alternative our mayor instigated in place of the police. Most of them are mobsters or former mobsters who have been deputized but these kids have been ruffling feathers. Nobody wants to risk another Incredible Machine starting up in our own back yard!"

"It's Inscrutable Machine!" Starfire put in mildly, staring confusedly at the screen, "All the kid villains I've met so far have been sticklers for the Truce. If we are lucky these two will put on a big show but not put people in danger!"