As soon as darkness falls, cars line up to unload their passengers in front of the historic Wayne Manor. Large, white candles light the way up the stairway to the front door, where Alfred Pennyworth greets them, smiling warmly despite the axe through his head.

Inside Wayne Manor, guests in their finest attire with various masks fill the reception hall, where the walls are lined with buffet tables full of finger food and gourmet candies. Masks of all degrees were on display as the guests socialized over the finest alcohol. A string quartet played in the corner, the sound of their music resonating throughout the hall.

To no one's surprise (and Mr. Pennyworth's chagrin), the host of the festivities is late. However, when Bruce Wayne entered the party, everyone was made aware of his presence. He was in one of his best tuxedos and on his face, a golden mask with sun details. If anyone asked him what he was that evening, he'd grin and say Apollo. Throughout the night, he would disappear unnoticed to check on things elsewhere just to keep on top of the happenings of Gotham City.

Other distinguished guests include Kate Kane of the Gotham Kanes, LexCorp regional director Talia Ducard, and Princess Diana of Themyscira. A few journalists from Metropolis-based Daily Planet are in attendance, notably Clark Kent and his wife Lois.

The party goes on into the wee hours, as guests drink and schmooze until Alfred Pennyworth and Bruce Wayne's bodyguard Sasha Bordeaux lead them to the exit.

[ open for threading or feel free to log ]

The resolution of the Robin serial killer, taking place in Mid-October...

After the connection between the two dark-haired teenage male victims has been established -- they both were represented by the same acting agency -- the GCPD went to work, combing through all the client's files and finding any teenage actors that fit the physical description even remotely. Several phone calls later, one teenager was apparently missing -- Zack Weston.

Searching one of the bedrooms of the deceased teens, Detectives Driver and MacDonald came across a big tip -- the business card of Gotham Gazette journalist Simon Lippman, who had been frequenting Central for this case due to the photos that were leaking with his articles.

Quick to find Weston before he turned up somewhere dead in a Robin costume, Montoya and Allen track Lippman down and arrest him for murder. MacDonald and Driver brief the other detectives about canvassing neighborhoods in search for anything to find Zack Weston before it was too late.

In one of the interrogation rooms, Captain Sawyer herself accompanied Montoya and Allen in the questioning of Simon Lippman. He stuck to his story -- he wasn't going to give up his source for the photographs and claimed to have no connection to the murders. Eventually he tried to explain that he didn't even know the source of the photos, that they arrived anonymously and that half the department has his business card so that finding it in a kid's room was nothing special.

A freelance journalist came up to the front desk of the MCU squadroom, asking to speak to Detectives Driver and MacDonald. Stacy tells him that that can't happen -- until he showed her Zack Weston's school identification card. Immediately she called Driver and MacDonald and the man told them they have the wrong man in interrogation.

As it would turn out, this journalist by the name of Dunning just wanted to give Lippman a front seat to an exclusive story -- the confession of the Robin killer.

That wasn't it though. In interrogation with Montoya and Allen, Lippman pressed him for the truth -- if he had lost his fucking mind. But Dunning said no, he was completely lucid. He had planted the business card so that Lippman would be here for this. But Dunning wouldn't confess to anyone but Batman -- this was to be his entrance into that world.

Captain Sawyer and several of her detectives debated the point until she went down the hall to Commissioner Gordon's office. Soon enough, Gordon told her to get Stacy to meet him on the roof. As a civilian, she was the only one who could turn on the Bat signal.

They did not have to wait long -- before they knew it, Batman was behind them, lurking in the shadows. Gordon and Detective Driver explained the situation and the only thing Batman told them to do was cut the lights in the interrogation room.

Dunning got what he wanted -- a visit from the Bat. However, it did not come without a price. Outside the interrogation room, the detectives listened in over the intercom to Batman's interrogation -- violent and sporadic they struggled to make out what Dunning was trying to say until they get the piece of information they need -- Zack Weston was in the boiler room of Dunning's apartment building and the address. Captain Sawyer immediately dispatched Montoya and Allen while Dunning continued to whimper after Batman, asking for understanding. But Batman was gone.

A couple uniformed police officers took Dunning away for processing. Zack Weston was found in the East End apartment building and returned safely to his family. Lippman got an exclusive statement for the story and managed to make the MCU look good in the process. Stacy even managed to get Detective Chandler's gun back with the real Robin's help before the wrath of Captain Sawyer could fall on the squad room over the fact that Batman took her duty weapon.

It might not have been an entirely happy ending, but it was the best one available.

This time, it was the Gotham Harbor Patrol who made the grizzly discovery.

It was Saturday night -- not even past eleven. Detectives Marcus Driver and Josie MacDonald were the first on the scene, after Harbor Patrol found the body on their regular route. Driver and MacDonald were accompanied with the C.S.U., some of them talking to the Harbor officers while the detectives and a medical examiner stand over the recently surfaced body of another Robin -- dark-haired teenage boy in all the trimmings.

The body was brought to the docks and laid out as the medical examiner makes his notes. He explains to the detectives that this Robin was suffocated before being thrown into the water. The kid had been in the water for nearly ten hours. There was no sign of sexual assault.

As Driver bent down to remove the domino mask from this victim, MacDonald remarked how he looked familiar and more than just him being another Robin they found.

The media was already lined up and waiting on the docks. Everyone knew what this meant -- there was a serial killer on the loose.

Heading up to the Iceberg Lounge to investigate a lead, Detectives Romy Chandler and Nate Patton were here to see the Penguin -- Oswald Cobblepot. A tip came in that he was in town this week and they just wanted to see if it had anything to do with the Dead Robin.

Cobblepot's lackie calls ahead for the detectives but there's a problem. The detectives take that as an invitation -- they pushed into the nightclub and through the crowd, headed for Cobblepot's office.

However, when they break open the door, they weren't expecting to find the Batman bent over the cowering, beaten Cobblepot.

( 'Hold it right there!' )

As Captain Sawyer wrote the Robin case under Driver's name on the white board, she called all the detectives to settle down. "Hey! Settle down and let's get this done. At 12:17 this morning, we get the call from 4422 South Henderson about a body of a young man dead back behind his apartment building. --"

She turned to face her detectives. It had only been a few hours since the body of Robin was found and most detectives were called in on this. "Examination tells us that the costume and equipment found on the body match our reports on Robin. Therefore, until we prove otherwise, we must work as if we are investigating the death of the Boy Wonder."

She motioned to the detectives she assigned. "Driver and MacDonald are primary, Allen and Montoya are secondary. Sarge will lead a canvas of the area for some damn witnesses." Sitting back with his arms folded across his chest, Sarge looked unimpressed but he agreed.

"Batman a suspect?" Detective Chandler asked from her desk, genuinely curious about that.

Detective Montoya spoke up, glancing back to Chandler as she leaned back in her chair. "He came to us on the roof, said something about Robin being in Bludhaven."

"He also wants to stay out of his investigation," Detective Allen followed.

"Yeah, but -- is he a suspect?"

Captain Sawyer put her hands on her hips, looking to clarify the position Batman in light of this case. "I want him to come to us. We're not calling him a suspect -- yet. Not unless we get some evidence. I want that Batarang found on the roof wiped for prints just in case." She took a deep breath. "Allen, Montoya -- head down to Arkham and question the usual suspects. Procjnow and Burke, go with them. The rest of you, start looking into Robin -- anything. His enemies, acquaintances -- and not just in Gotham."

"I don't have to tell you that the media is already all over this. We have to move fast. Go."

"A little more than an hour ago, the body of a teenage boy was found in the alley a few blocks from the precinct. As many of you know, that boy was wearing a Robin costume." --CONFIRM THE JOKER IS STILL IN ARKHAM?? -- IS IT THE REAL ROBIN -- WHAT ABOUT WITNESS -- "This case is still in the early stages and I am sorry I cannot share more with you than that at this time." -- GONNA SHARE WITH US MORE THAN WHAT'S ON THE POLICE SCANNERS -- DOES THE GCPD BELIEVE THAT THIS IS -- "We neither confirm nor deny allegations that this was the Robin --"

VROOOOM. SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. -- DID YOU SEE THAT -- GET THIS!! -- POINT THE CAMERA -- WAS THAT THE -- HEY RON, GET THIS!! -- THAT WAS HIM --

"...Great."

Half past midnight. Not too far from the central precinct in Old Gotham.

Beyond the police tape in an alleyway between two high-rise apartment buildings, laid the body of a teenager boy. Dark hair, domino mask, and that signature Robin costume. Even authentic equipment. Rain fell in the alley as police combed the area around the white outline.

It look like Robin just fell between the roofs and cracked his head open.

That is, if it was the real Robin.

Uniformed officers kept the press at bay as Captain Maggie Sawyer approached her detectives on the ground. Josie MacDonald and Marcus Driver discussed whether or not it was the actual Robin with her. On the roof, from which he must have fallen, Detectives Crispus Allen and Renee Montoya search with forensics for any evidence related to the fall.

Either way, they had a dead teenage boy on their hands. He couldn't have been older than sixteen.

Before any more speculation, Batman appeared out of nowhere and informed Allen and Montoya on Robin's whereabouts in Blüdhaven that evening. And that the police better stay out of Batman's way in his investigation before disappearing.

Her hands on her hips, Captain Sawyer surveyed the crime scene, going over the facts that her detectives had given her, and mentally prepared herself for a sudden press conference about the Dead Robin.

Maggie Sawyer climbed up the stairs to the floor where the Major Crimes Unit was housed, passing through uniformed officers and some other detectives. It was 5:45 A.M. on Tuesday morning and everyone in the Gotham City Police Department were switching from the evening shift to the day shift. That also meant the detectives of the Major Crimes Unit were either ending their evenings or starting their mornings -- that is, if those on the night shift weren't going into overtime.

Captain Sawyer walked through her squad room before heading to her office, shedding her blazer after setting her to-go coffee on her desk. She glanced up and forced a smile at Lt. Harvey Bullock who gave her the highlights of the night shift.

Out in the squad room, detectives mingled and greeted each as they switched shifts. Detective Eric Cohen balanced a double dozen box of donuts as he headed to the break room, where a fresh pot of coffee was already brewing thanks to his parner, Andi Kasinsky. Tommy Burke was leaning back in his chair, relaying stories of his escapades while his partner Dagmar Procjnow rolled her eyes and read the news. Meanwhile, Sarge and Crowe were grabbing their coats and continue their usual debate as they prepare to make way for the day detectives.

The smell of coffee permeates the squad room before the sun even rises.

[ open to mcu detectives ]