245/See A Penny, Pick It Up...

See A Penny, Pick It Up...
Date of Scene:	01 May 2017
Location:	Gotham City
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Batman, Karrin Murphy

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Batman has posed:
A call came in to 911 about a disturbance in South Hinkley. This sort of call is frequent and tends not to warrant much attention--not because it's a prank call but because most officers just don't want to head that way unless absolutely necessary.

This call described a large, terrifying monster of some kind that was destroying the storefronts in a grimy strip mall.

That was fifteen minutes ago.

Now, the strip mall is mostly a smoking ruin, its front facades smashed in and collapsed, all manner of merchandise--from adult videos and sex toys to natural-hair wigs and rental tuxedos--scattered about the area like confetti.

There are two figures in the epicenter of this chaos. One is a dead woman lying face down, her gaunt limbs splayed out. The other is Batman, slumped against a crumbling brick wall, battered and in a torn costume. He's breathing. She's not.

Karrin Murphy has posed:
While Murphy is doing her very BEST to make SPECTRE a more respected part of the GCPD, Rudolph still hates that the division exists at all and half the place finds them a joke. So, when a call about a monster came in, it SHOULD have gone to their little unit. Instead, people bitched and moaned about it, passed it around the bullpen, and Murphy didn't even hear about it until 8 minutes after the call. That means even with lights and sirens, she wasn't there for 15 minutes.

15 minutes is a long time at a crime scene. People are possibly already dead or, even if it's punk teenagers, they are long escaped. She kills her lights and sirens a few blocks out, skidding to a stop right outside the strip mall and swinging out of her vehicle. She nods to her partner to take the back as she hugs the wall down the front. But, it's not too long before she catches sight of the chaos.

... clearly, not punk kids. Murphy dashes over towards the woman, kneeling down quickly, her gun pointed at the ground as she reaches for the woman's throat. A quiet curse comes, "How long has she been down?" She asks the dark clad, still breathing, if slumped figure.

Batman has posed:
The woman's on the edge of death, her pulse incredibly faint.

From his propped-up position, Batman slowly raises a hand toward Murphy. "Don't," he says quietly, grimacing as he breathes.

"Shape-shifter...or something. Dangerous." His exhale is complemented by a soft wheeze and groan. "Shocked...her out...of it," the dark knight continues.

"Weapon or...device...in her hand." Batman slowly pushes himself to his feet, although it seems he may not stand for long.

Karrin Murphy has posed:
Shapeshifter. That word gets Murphy's attention, and respect, it seems. She straightens almost immediately, pulling away from the woman and stepping quickly over to his side, "You're hurt too. We need to call a bus. Just...sit..." Murphy reaches down to the comm unit on her shoulder, hitting the button.

"This is Lieutenant Murphy, I need a bus at 4118 South Hinkley. Two injured, one critical." Though she has a feeling the Batman won't say, she calls it in. The short blonde then hugs around to the woman's other side, carefully reaching down to that indicated hand. She pulls a baton off her hip, using the end if it to prod the woman's hand open to try and show whatever the device is in her hand.

"Some shifters... they have a taliman, or charm, or something that they focus through. That's what helps them shift. It's not an innate ability." Murphy speaks flatly, no skepticism behind her husky voice. She's seen such creatures before.

Batman has posed:
The caped crusader grits his teeth, hugging his stomach with one arm. "I'm fine," he growls. "Do you have something to keep her out cold? If not, I do."

Batman takes a step toward the woman. "It might be the thing she's holding. Whatever she is--or can do--it's incredibly dangerous. You need heavy-duty backup. When she wakes up, all of us are going to be in trouble."

Batman takes another few labored breaths. "Too small to be a detonator," he says, staring at the woman's hand. "Might be a charm, then." He steps slowly on the woman's wrist as Murphy uses her baton. "A coin?" he asks, beginning to reach for it. "Doesn't look like one of Two-Face's silver dollars."

Karrin Murphy has posed:
There was a reason she was using her baton, even if the thing in the woman's hand wasn't a weapon or a detanator. The coin makes Karrin blink, it looking nothing like the shifter charms of that pack she's seen before, but that had only been one incident. "...Strange. It... Yeah. It looks like a coin. Still. Don't touch it. If it's got shifter magic on it, who knows how it triggers a change or anything. I suspect they could all work a bit different." In truth, she has no clue, but she's not taking risks.

Karrin uses the toe of her boot to drag the coin away from the woman's body, well out of her reach if she'd start to wake up. The sound of ambulance sirens can be heard in the distance. "...she *shouldn't* be able to shift without it. Don't know that I'm willing to take that risk with an ambulance, though... Was she already shifted when you got here? DO you know what triggered this?" There is wariness behind the blonde's eyes, a woman who has seen just enough to realize she knows so close to nothing about any of this.

Now that the coin is well away, she reaches into her back pocket, pulling out an evidence bagging and turning it inside out on her hand. She uses it to pick up the coin, never letting it touch flesh, before folding the bag back around the coin. And then double bagging. Can magic go through ziploc?

Batman has posed:
The Batman watches Murphy bag the coin. "Lieutenant," he asks, "can you personally vouch for the security of that object?" Batman clenches and unclenches the hand not clutching his ribs.

"Because I can. I /want/ to trust you. But if that /is/ magic...I know people who can look into it."

He drops to a knee and folds the woman's hands behind her, zip-tying them together.

"This woman, Suzanne Nunez, was until a few days ago a physician for Doctors without Borders. By all accounts, she was an incredible volunteer. But she disappeared 96 hours ago." Batman sighs and slowly attempts to rise to his feet again. "I was in the area tonight for other reasons. Came upon a...a great, dark thing. After considerable resistance, it was knocked unconscious and transformed into--or back into--Ms. Nunez."

Karrin Murphy has posed:
As she hears that information, Murphy looks back to the coin, then back to Batman, a slightly deeper frown on her lips. "Batman. I... I know about you. There is no one in Gotham who doesn't. But what you do is illegal. Yes. You help people. You protect this city. But you do it illegally. I cannot hand a dangerous artifact over to a criminal, you understand that? But... I'm with SPECTRE. We... investigate, things like this." A ghost of a smile, not a hateful one, not one that says she's looking to arrest him, crosses her pale features.

"And I do know a few people who are damn capable of handling things like this. I'll talk to them. It will be secure, I promise you that. If I had a lead lined box right now? I'd put it inside. But... right now, I have a good woman almost dying that I need to get in a bus and hope she doesn't turn back into some beast on the innocent ambulance crew." Murphy stops at that thought, her brows arching as she watches him, "...how did you actually put her down the first time? Silver bullets worked when I had my last... Encounter."

Batman has posed:
The vigilante slowly stands up straight, staring down at the officer. He allows a few moments of silence go by before replying.

"Lieutenant...we both know that my methods are more effective than those used by most on the force." He sets his jaw. "You think you can handle it? I'll take you at your word. But it's /your/. /word/."

Batman turns his attention away for just a moment, listening to the approaching sirens. "If you don't approve of my methods, you don't want to hear about them for something like this. Suffice it to say that they weren't pretty. Or legal."

He retrieves a grappling gun from under his cape and points it up toward a nearby rooftop. "Pursue your investigation. Keep her heavily sedated. I'll be in touch."

Karrin Murphy has posed:
The woman's jaw sets in turn. Karrin Murphy can be just as stubborn as the man in black and twice as spit fire some nights. "I'm not most, Batman." She states flatly, not bragging, just describing a simple fact. She accepted that the woman was a shapeshifter in the FIRST place. That also proves she's not most.

Then he's moving up to the roofs, and she gives him a slight nod. "Highly sedated. That we can do. Thank you for... the assistance. Go get medical attention. If not from us, from someone. You might be good, but you're not immortal." Karrin calls after the man, an actual trace of worry behind her voice. She was getting very tired of worrying over men in dark clothing who acted like they were. She then leans back down to kneel next to the woman, keeping an eye on her vitals as the bus pulls up. She'll ride the whole way back with the crew, carefully directing sedation. Treating the woman as highly dangerous, though she can't entirely explain why.