Keeping carefully to the shadows and maintaining a good distance between them, Dick followed Harley. He knew from training and experience that when wearing a costume like his, it wasn't enough just to keep out of the light. You had to move in such a way that your motions didn't draw the eye, keep space between you and someone watching for you and above all, not make sudden movements. So when Harley seemed to look back for him, he didn't freeze in place but simply continued to creep forwards. When she kept moving, he moved silently to higher ground, using fire escapes and ledges to move above the street rather than on it. Another thing you learned as a vigilante (or a trapeze artist) was that people generally don't look up.

The area of Gotham was just the sort of place that terrified tourists and made the brass at the GCPD or the higher-ups in the Mayor's office adopt somber expressions and talk about the 'grave situation in some areas of our fair city'. It had been abandoned to criminals and those stricken by poverty, leaving the buildings crumbling and the streets cracked with age. A sad state of affairs, Dick reflected, and not one that could be resolved by punching miscreants. On the other hand, he'd heard there was a major initiative to repair some of Gotham's more dilapidated areas in the offing. Its main sponsor was, of course, to be Wayne Enterprises.

Below, Harley started fiddling with a bulb, eventually removing it from its socket and carelessly tossing it away. She must have pressed a button or flicked a switch because a moment later, a alley seemed to appear almost magically from a wall nearby. [i]Pretty high tech for the Joker... hell, it's pretty subtle for him as well. Maybe that's why it's not on our records.[/i] Dick mused, descending to street level once again. By the time he entered the alley, Harley was nowhere to be seen. Well, not in the flesh, anyway. There was a graffiti image of her and her ex-beau embracing with an embossed heart, though it looked old and worn. Glancing around, Nightwing spotted a shard of glass marked with Harley's distinctive vibrant shade of red lipstick. The words '[color=ff0000][i]cross my heart and hope to die[/i][/color]' were scrawled on the ruined mirror.

[i][color=dodgerblue]"Thank you Harley..."[/color][/i] Dick murmured, looking back and the representation of her and the joker. Now he came to think about it, the heart looked a little out of place, perhaps raised from the rest of the wall. He walked over to it and gently pressed it down, feeling it slide backwards like a mechanical button. And, with nary and hiss or squeal, the wall suddenly seemed to swing backwards, revealing a a passageway way beyond. Crouching and moving with cat-like control, Dick stalked along the corridor, hearing the wall swing shut behind him. He knew Harley must have come this way only moments before, presumably making plenty of noise. He wasn't entirely sure about her plan of acting as a distraction but knew better than to try and talk her out of it. Instead, he intended to play along with it as best he could while trying to make sure no one died. [i]Anyone want to make bets on how that goes?[/i]

As he moved further into the hideout, a blaring sound roared out over the P.A. system. [color=ff0000][b] GO AWAY! This is a private Harley Quinn public radio service announcement and If you wanna make ur own then ya need to wait your own damn turn..! [/b][/color] With a glance, Dick's mask sensors traced the broadcast through a few walls and to its source, where he assumed Harley was busy drawing every henchman worth his salt to her location. The plan's flaws were somewhat exposed as he heard the chatter of rifles and the ping-ping sounds of bullets ricocheting off a metal surface. Dick moved much faster now, the sounds of gunfire drawing him in as effectively as Harley's provocations had the henchmen. Rounding a corner, he spotted the targets he and Harley had come to find; almost two dozen henchmen in full gear and well armed. Their grotesquely grinning masks and various clown-themed tattoos identified them as some of Joker's finest foot soldiers, definitely the people to speak to if you wanted to find the man himself.

[i]Now wer just have to get them to talk to us without anyone getting shot, should be breeze...[/i]