Holy Episode Reboot!

Meeting Minerva

"Slowly, darling." She crooned, soft fingertips skipping along the man's scalp. "You've input the numbers to the safe hundreds of times, recite them slowly with me..."

"Left to four."

"Left to four." She repeated.

"Right to twelve."

"Right to twelve."

"Left to sixteen and pull."

"Left to sixteen," Minerva mimicked, "...and pull! Very good darling, now, you're going up the stairs again, one step, and you can feel your fingertips. Two steps and you can feel your legs. Three steps, you're starting to wake up... four steps, your eyes are so light they might-- ah, Mr. Horwitz!"

The man blinked blearily. "Where... Minerva?"

"Yes, darling?"

"I must have dozed off during that scalp massage." He yawned, sitting up. "That was wonderful, Minerva, I see why you're famous with Gotham's upper crust."

"You flatter me, darling. Now you'll find jacket and valuables at the front desk."

"Thanks Minerva, I feel a new man. You're truly a life saver."

"Oh, trust me," she laughed a light chime-like laugh, "The pleasure is all mine."

"News broke early this morning of a robbery at the house of multimillionaire TV producer Howie Horwitz..."

"Another one?" Dick interrupted the television set, he was still clad in his pyjamas, having only just woken up. "How does this new gang keep escaping us?"

Bruce frowned. "It's the same MO as the others: no alarms, nothing broken, just a safe left open and empty."

"You think they've got a lock breaker?"

"Maybe..."

There was the soft clearing of a distinguished throat, and the two turned to find a faithful butler stood in the doorway. "If you'll permit me, sir, I am familiar with Mr. Horwitz's personal housekeeper, I'm sure if I could take her to tea this afternoon she'd be more than willing to share anything strange she might have noticed before the robbery."

"Good idea, Alfred." Bruce checked his watch. "I almost forgot, I need to sign off on those diamonds being used for the gemstone exhibition..."

"Diamonds?" Dick asked.

"They're not mine, but they've been assigned my legal protection by a couple friends overseas." Bruce explained. "It's just for the exhibition, and then they're being shipped back to safety."

"Bruce, you don't think... I mean... a gemstone exhibition..."

"No." Bruce dismissed. "We've taken every precautions and I'll spray the gems with a low-radioactive dust so that we can track them if they're stolen." Bruce shook his head. "No, there's no need to worry about the diamonds. Right now I'm worried about these robberies..."

"Going to work?" Barbara asked, mouth full of cereal.

"Four robberies in two weeks, I've got half the rich people in Gotham breathing down my neck..."

Barbara frowned. "And there was no evidence at the scene?"

"Not even a forced lock. It's as if they were let in." Her father pecked her on the cheek. "I'll keep in touch."

"Yeah..." She murmured. "Yeah, me too."

The Saturday afternoon passed slowly for Dick, he had a test on physical and chemical change coming up, and though he tried to study, his mind was taken over with the robberies. How could they get in without triggering any alarms, without any damage to the safes? It was like they knew of every precaution and how to evade it, it baffled him.