From Gotham to Las Vegas

It's Going to be a Long Night

"Damian, why don't you go play in the arcade?" Jason suggested.  He reached in his leather jacket for his wallet.  "I'll give you a fifty.  You can knock yourself out."

"Todd, please," Damian replied icily.  "I am hardly going to waste my evening on Pac-Man while you and Grayson research."

"Damian, we never should have brought you in the first place.  It's Las Vegas.  It isn't a place for a kid investigating a serial killer."

"I'm perfectly competent, Todd.  I can take care of myself."

"I know that.  Really.  But I'm more worried about how the environment here might mess with your head."

"I've heard terrible conversations between you and Grayson, Todd."

"Not Las Vegas bad.  For all you know, some hooker might come onto you."

Damian's face twisted in disgust.  "I'm twelve."

"My point exactly."

Jason got up to leave the room, leaving a flabbergasted Damian behind. 

"That is not fair," Damian called after him.  "You know that is not what I meant!"

"Dick, it's your turn to look through the the security footage," Jason yawned, tossing him the remote control.  Dick and Jason were taking turns looking for a connection between the murders in the security footage and so far, it had been mind-numbingly boring.  Jason had tried to make himself feel better by focusing on the strippers milling about but even with that, he had gotten a headache.

"Fine," Dick sighed.

About an hour after Dick started watching, he found something.

"Jason, get Damian," Dick ordered. 

Jason merely raised his eyebrows.

"Please," Dick amended.

Jason nodded, then left to get Damian while Dick tried to remember who the man in the security camera was.

"What is it, Grayson?"

"Do you recognize this man?" Dick asked.

"No- wait I do.  That man is Victor Zsasz," Damian said triumphantly, snapping his fingers.

Dick minimized the window with Zsasz and began working on hacking the Arkham breakouts page.

"According to this, Zsasz escaped Arkham almost a year ago," Dick read.

"Why didn't we know about this?" Damian asked.

"Mayor Hill is running for mayor again.  It would look really bad for his campaign if the public found out about the escape," Jason explained.  "He's leaning on the media to keep it quiet."

"After the Gotham Q.R.T. left Miami, Hill got them to hunt down Zsasz secretly so when Q.R.T. found him, it would look better for his campaign," Dick added.

"Except the Q.R.T. didn't find Zsasz.  They probably assumed he left Gotham, so it wasn't their problem anymore."

"They just stopped looking for him?"

Damian's expression was outraged and his fingers curled into fists.  Jason looked surprised at his reaction.  "Yeah.  Pretty unbelievable, huh?"

Damian made a look of disgust.  "That's terrible.  No wonder there's no justice in the world."

He turned away, muttering and Jason turned to look at Dick.  "What is it with my brothers and Las Vegas?" he asked to no one in particular, raising his hands in defeat.

"Next time we come to Vegas, you can bring Tim," Dick told him, tossing him a folder.

Jason looked at him then the folder in his hand then at Dick.  "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Read it.  It's all Oracle could dig up on all of the victims."

"What's the point, Dick?  We just need to find Zsasz."

"No," he argued.  "What we need to do is find out why he targeted these men in particular."

Rubbing a hand over his face, Jason yawned again.  "I'm going to need a beer," he announced.  "It looks like it's going to be a long night."