Auroral » Titans

35|| Bludhaven

"Jeez, Bruce got a tech upgrade." Sophie stepped into the large stone room. Towards the back of the room was a long metal desk that held two wide monitors. A larger wall mounted monitor hung on the wall behind the desk.

Sophie still found herself amazed by the Batcave. The walls of the room were just the smoothed down stone and granite of the original cave walls. White fluorescent lights hung from the high ceiling and a few wide archway divided the rooms from one another.

Though her favorite room had always been the trophy room. Bruce had kept everything from the first iterations of their costumes to a giant penny he had confiscated from some thief.

Sophie had spent most of her adolescence in the Batcave. Every day after school she'd come down here to train alongside Bruce or Dick. Then her mother died and this place became her hideaway. A place where she didn't have to be Sophie any more, a place where she didn't feel so weak.

In a way the Batcave felt more like home then the actual Manor did.

"So." Barbara's calm voice startled Sophie from her thoughts.

Her head snapped over to Barbara, her eyes wide with surprise. She was sitting in the plush black desk chair, tapping away at the keyboard.

"I was thinking." Babs started again.

"That's usually dangerous." Sophie teased. She walked over to the desk and leaned against it. Hundreds of hours worth of security footage blurred across the monitors as the computer searched for Jonathan Beck, in and around Bludhaven.

Barbara scoffed before she swirled her seat around to face Sophie. "I forgot how sarcastic you could be."

She smirked and playfully kicked Barbara's leg. "It's charming and we both know it."

Barbara threw her head back with a sarcastic laugh and Sophie chuckled along.

"I see you two are working hard." Alfred's friendly voice broke through the laughter. The two girls quieted down before they turned their attention to him.

"The hardest." Barbara joked before she turned her attention back to the monitor.

Alfred brought a silver tray over to the table and placed it down. "Chai tea for Ms. Gordon, and apple cinnamon for you Ms. Dane." He said before handing out the two white mugs.

Sophie smiled happily and brought the mug to her nose. The tea smelt sweet and spicy, like a warm apple pie. "Thank you, Alfred."

"Of course." He nodded. "Still haven't given up the life, I see."

Sophie scoffed and shrugged a shoulder. "Once a hero always a hero, I guess."

"I suppose so." Alfred smiled. "Will you two be staying for dinner?" He asked almost hopefully.

One thing Sophie wanted more than anything was a slice of Alfred's double chocolate cake. But Barbara spoke before she had the chance too.

"We can't. We're heading to Bludhaven." She said and clicked away at some keys. Sophie's attention snapped to the computer. Her blood ran cold at the sight of the blurry image on screen.

Jonathan Beck was standing at the docks hidden in the shadows. Another man stood off to the side, just out of view of the camera. But Sophie already knew who it was. Henry Dane, the Mutationist.

"I'll leave you two to your work then." Alfred said before he grabbed the empty tray and left.

Sophie took a sip of her hot tea, wetting her suddenly dry throat. "See if there are any abandoned warehouses in the area. He'll need a pretty large space to conduct his experiments."

Barbara nodded and brought up a list of warehouses around the docks. Most of them were owned by Bludhaven port, three were privately leased, but none of them were abandoned.

"Whoever let him out might have rented a space for him to work." Babs started typing again. After a few seconds she brought up the names of the owners of the private warehouses.

Sophie leaned a little closer, a frown working its way onto her face. Two of the warehouses belonged to a businessman in Bludhaven, but the most recently bought warehouse belonged to Lexcorp.

"What the hell is Luthor doing in Bludhaven." She muttered.

"Nothing good." Barbara said before looking over at Sophie. "Even if it has nothing to do with your father, we need to go check that out."

Sophie nodded before taking a long sip of her tea. Lex Luthor was nothing but trouble and it wouldn't be the first time he tried to cause problems in Gotham.

****

There it stood, hidden beneath shadows and icy rain. The old red brick warehouse didn't stand out from the others in any way. It was easily overlooked, easily forgotten. It was a perfect place to do unspeakable crimes.

Sophie clenched her jaw as she shifted her weight between her feet. She wasn't sure how much longer she could stand in the icy rain.

"I don't see any heat signatures, but it's Luthor, he probably had the walls lined with something." Barbara said as she put her binoculars back into her yellow utility belt.

"Then we go in expecting a fight." Sophie said as she moved to leave the shadows that covered her.

"Aurora." Babs grabbed her arm. Sophie looked over at her, silently urging her to let go. "If your fath- if the Mutationist is in there, I need to know you'll keep yourself together."

Sophie opened her mouth to argue but with a huff she nodded. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

Barbara had been there the last time they arrested her father, she had seen the anger in Sophie's eyes. She knew Babs was just looking out for her best interest.

"Alright." She nodded before she set her attention on the building. "The schematics of the building show that there's an air duct on the roof, That's our way in."

Sophie nodded as she readjusted her large hood. "Here's to hoping everything goes as planned."

Barbara scoffed before her and Sophie sprang forwards. They moved out of the shadows quickly, climbing an old fire escape to the unguarded roof.

Rain clattered against the hollow metal air shaft that protruded from the end of the roof. It wasn't large, maybe big enough to fit one of them at a time.

"After you." Barbara motioned to the vent.

Sophie made her way over to it and created a small dagger. The glowing dagger sliced easily through the metal grate that covered the vents entrance. As she pulled her dagger away the metal grate clattered to the ground.

The cut wasn't perfect, bits of jagged metal stuck up from the edge of the vent. Luckily, the metal didn't seem strong enough to slice through the kevlar mesh that made up hers and Barbara's suits.

Sophie steadied her breath as she peered into the dead drop just beyond the lip of the vent. She had climbed through vent's a thousand times but none of those times were fond memories.

She grabbed the top of the vent before carefully swinging her legs inside of it. She placed her booted feet against the metal walls before she let go.

Her boots slipped slightly from the rain water but she quickly caught herself. She pressed her weight into her hands and feet, keeping them glued to the walls. Slowly she descended down into the darkness.