The case, if it could be called such, was hardly insoluble. Adam knew that much. But, whatever solution there was had consistently evaded the would-be investigator. For the moment, he had restricted himself mostly to his room in the tower, locking himself away from outside distractions. He'd even shut all of the lights off, he was sure he'd heard something about it helping with concentration. The only thing he hadn't tried was playing 'Sherlock Holmes' and lighting up a meerschaum pipe, and perhaps visiting an opium den. Unfortunately, despite all of his reading on the subject, Adam Sato possessed little practical knowledge or skill as a detective.

For the umpeenth time he reviewed the information, scant though it was, in his head.

1. A man was dead. 'Gregory Kirk' occasionally called 'The Captain' for his interest in military history and collection of antique weapons. Including, it should be noted, dueling pistols dating two centuries.

2. It was with one of these pistols that he surely must have been killed. A ball of shot found in his back.

From there, though, it became tricky indeed because...

3. Nobody was in the room with Gregory Kirk when he was shot. Or at least, nobody had admitted to it, and nobody witnessed someone coming or going.

4. Detailed forensic analysis (the type of which Adam was woefully unprepared to understand or anticipate) had determined that the bullet had been fired from a specific pistol. Equally thorough examination of the pistol, however, revealed that the gun had been fired only one time in its history. And that, shortly after its manufacture... two hundred years ago!

While the mechanics of the thing were puzzling the city of San Francisco (and, the country if anyone cared to read the papers, or watch the news) a series of suspects had been outlined by the police (and media, and countless amateur sleuths) which mostly centered around the old adage of 'find who benefits'. And the chief beneficiaries of Mr. Kirk's death were... his family.

As it turned out, spending absurd amounts of money collecting weapons doesn't make you popular with those who would inherit from you. Even less when they discover that the will is to be revised so that said expensive collection, rather than being handed down to any particular heir, or even split amongst them, is to be donated to a museum... where any potential to recoup the money would be lost...

Well, a wife, a son, and a daughter (as well as a few business associates who were considered with varying degrees of seriousness) wrapped things up nicely.

"But I still have NOTHING." He groused, sitting up in the darkness of his room. It was becoming clearly obvious to Adam that the only way to solve this puzzle was to get into the building and examine the evidence himself. And to examine the evidence, he needed a far superior deductive mind to his own. (Not hard to locate, he admitted). Someone to help bring this to a close... and who he could learn from.

"I give up!" Adam shouted at last, pushing open his door and blinking against the harsh artificial lights of the Tower before tromping down through the main areas. The living room... and finally into the kitchen where he rapidly procured a piece of paper and a pen before scribbling down a quick note.

To, Anyone
Need a detective to help solve a mystery. Help appreciated.
-Adam (Tiger)

At the bottom of the page, he had scribbled both his own phone number and a crude caricature of himself shrugging his shoulders and gazing up at the note, a speech balloon encircling the words.

Roxy had just finished a brief training session in the gym and was heading to the kitchen. Alright, well it was brief for her, not so much for others. She'd only spent about an hour and a half in the gym. But as she'd just wrapped up an extensive night of patrolling in which she fell two stories onto a car, she figured she could go light. She was just wearing a black tank top and shorts with an older pair of boots. She had her staff in her hand as she opened the fridge to grab a bottle of water. She took a swig before closing the door and noticing the note on the door."

"So Adam needs help on a case....."

She said with a smirk. She likely would ignore it and move on. But then at the same time she couldn't pass up a challenge and a mystery. She grabbed the note off and made her way to Adam's room. She knocked on the door and sighed.

"Alright, you've got my attention. Now open the door and let's go over the information."

She hated this. She didn't like working with people. If anything she preferred to work alone and deal with things herself. However at the end of the day she couldn't pass up a challenge, regardless of who was presenting it. She'd never worked with him before, not like she wanted to. Usually he was hanging out with that bird girl and the vampire. She didn't care for either of them, which was why she ignored him usually. Gabby had potential she figured, but otherwise she wasn't really in the mood for working with them.

Adam had retreated back to his room quickly enough after leaving the note, finding himself sprawled out over his bed, idly picking at the 'strings' of a make-shift violin. The typical sort, actually, composed of a small box with a combination of rubber bands and tightly bound strings over it, fed into a small rod he'd found... somewhere in the Tower. The small bit of improvisation had been pleasant, an effort to 'focus on something else' before returning to a troublesome mental puzzle.

Now how can people turn random debris into instruments that sound like they're supposed to? He thought to himself, pulling at one of the rubber bands until he heard a knock at his door. And a voice! Which was good, because it meant the Tower hadn't been infiltrated by assassins. Probably.

Either way, he opened his door quickly, the room still dark and his 'violin' clutched in one hand without the least bit of concern for the appearance. Instead, he spent a few moments working to determine which Titan had arrived. "Ah, right, the case. You read newspapers right? I thought it would be fun to try and solve the 'Kirk Killing'." He offered, flipping on the light to his room.

Adam turned away from Roxy quickly enough, leaving the door open for her to enter or not at her own leisure. His room was still rather spartan as he'd only just joined, but somehow it still took about a minute and a half to locate a small sheaf of newspaper articles and computer print-outs he'd taken up.

"Not sure how much you know of it at the moment, but I kept my research notes here. I'm kinda road-blocked."

As the door opened she looked at Adam. She wasn't impressed with what she saw so far. He seemed confused and was holding...something. Was he trying to make some sort of instrument? She guessed ukulele from that vague look of it. Either way she didn't see the appeal. Then again she'd never been the kind who enjoyed music. Sure she vaguely understood why some did but music had always been associated with negative aspects for her. Namely her 'Johns' using music to cover her crying. But she quickly pushed that thought from her mind and put it back to Adam.

"Yes I'm aware of the alleged murder. While indeed curious I have not as of yet looked into it. I do have a few theories but will need to see witness statements, testimonies and the alleged murder weapon. Which means we will likely need to visit the crime scene."

She said before pushing her way past him. She snatched the papers from him and began examining them.

"Interesting. Yeah, my theory seems sound so far. But I'll need to wait until I see more."

She said before looking around and shaking her head.

"I got something better in my room for finding evidence. Come on."

She said setting the papers down and walking out of his room and heading two doors down to her's. She used her hand print to unlock it before stepping in. Her room was a mess. Stacks of papers and books with book marks sticking out of them littered the floor and what was likely a desk. Her walls were covered in cork boards where numerous papers were tacked up and others were taped to the wall. However on the wall was her costume, quiver and open slot for her bow, which she replaced. She sat down at her computer and quickly began to type.

"The Question has a couple back doors in a the DMV and most police stations. I'm looking for a better quality version of the autopsy report. After that we'll investigate in person."

She said calmly as she typed The site tried kicking her out a few times before she found her way back in and began looking for the name.

"So I'm curious to hear your theories."

The pushing past him and impatient way Roxy had grabbed at the papers Adam provided had been somewhat irksome, but he was willing to ignore that in the name of getting some hands on experience doing this whole 'detective-ing' thing. He nodded along as if he understood the intricacies of this particular situation, but her remark about seeing witness testimonies, and the murder weapon finally got him to speak up.

"Wouldn't the murder weapon itself be in the hands of, well... the police. Probably in either an evidence locker or some forensics lab just about anywhere in the city?" He pointed out after a few moments, tilting his head to the side as he plucked another of his makeshift strings. "I mean, I SUPPOSE we could play ninja. That might be fun."

Like a whirlwind, though (one that reminded him of that boundless energy most fictional detectives display during a case) Roxy was already leading Adam back to her room and, with a shrug, he followed like a good Watson. "So, if you have a sound theory, would you mind sharing it with the rest of the class?" The young man inquired, as much interested in figuring out what she thought as he was in trying to understand the leaps of logic involved in getting to it.

"Is a hand-print scanner part of the 'full membership package'?" Adam inquired once again as he watched Roxy open up the door to her room. "Because I think I've just got an old doorknob. Unless the knob scans my palm print. Which would be pretty cool."

But without much else to discuss, the Titan newbie found himself lapsing into silence while the young lady was working at the computer system. At least until she finally asked him about his own 'theories' regarding the death. After a few moments of looking somewhat perplexed Adam responded with a shrug.

"I'd hardly call them 'theories'. More like poorly educated guesses. Which is a shame, since I believe there was a famous detective who insisted that 'guessing' is destructive to the deductive faculties." He offered, before clearing his throat dramatically. "But, going from least likely to most: I'd say 'time travel' followed by 'bribing a lab technician to fumble the tests'. After that..." He waved a hand. "I don't really have enough dots to start connecting any. Or, I can, but no real shape is coming to my mind. Everyone has motive. Everyone has means. Finding who benefits doesn't work because everyone around him benefited. So... the issue is we have a dearth of suspects as opposed to a lack of them...

Which is why I asked for help. I'm certainly not too proud to admit when I'm out at sea." He finished off with another grin.

SHe smirked slyly at the mention of the gun being in the hands of them police. He'd never really done a big time case with a Bat before had he? Well this would be intense for him. Intense and extremely educational.

"Police stations are designed to keep people in, not out."

She said almost in an off-handed fashion. Was it true? Yes. Had she stolen it from a movie? Yes. But it still fit and she enjoyed the nice little perk her confidence got when she acted like something was so easy. Of course sneaking into a police station wasn't hard for her. She'd done more complicated things, not to mention dealt with Gotham cops. Those made the San Fran cops look like mall security. Roxy was not concerned about them at all.

"I added the scanner. I like my privacy and have a few cases going I'd rather not share with the rest of the team, for various reasons."

Sure her scanner could be hacked by anyone who knew what they were doing, but still. It gave her a slight sense of security and that was what she wanted. Anything to make her feel more secure, she'd take it. She simply nodded her head as she typed, listening to his...nothingness.

"You're right, you don't have a lot of theories. My primary one is I'm thinking they're looking at the wrong weapon. Don't get me wrong, a paid off or simply bad lad tech isn't out of the question. We can circle back around to time travel later, I think the Avengers got a guy who does that."

She said before spinning around in the chair to face him.

"The bullet that killed him WAS indeed fired from that gun. However, it was fired 200 years ago. Just this fatal shot was not from a gun. My first theory is, slingshot. At close enough range and with the right style in the right hands it's extremely deadly, just ask Goliath. See, if we can figure out HOW he died, then we can narrow down the suspects. This wasn't just someone randomly acting out of anger or passion. We're looking for a skilled genius, or someone who can hire such a person. Admittedly a hired killer doesn't narrow it down much, but it helps us know what we're looking for."

"I'd say anything with walls and people trained in restraint and control tactics is designed to keep people on whatever side of those walls the people want them to be on." Adam offered his own rebuttal to the other Titan, adding a short grin to the statement. Of course, he had no way of knowing one way or the other just how effective the local cops would be at such a task (specifically, how the precinct in question would fare) as he tended to be more the 'punch someone unconscious, and leave an anonymous tip to the police' type of superhero. Fun, but it didn't really endear him to the public.

"Wouldn't sharing the cases with the team broaden your resource pool, though?" He asked, more rhetorically than anything. Somehow, he doubted he'd actually get an answer from Roxy on the subject of her 'private cases'. Really, he probably should have just been satisfied she was deciding to help him with THIS case.

To that end the rookie hero finally lapsed back into silence as his current... companion? Independent consultant? Temporary sidekick? began to elaborate on her own thoughts... while simultaneously... well, he couldn't say his own thoughts were dismissed (He'd just admitted they were based on nothing, after all.) still, Adam would have liked to at least hit on the right track even if by pure luck. But, that didn't stop him from deciding to ramble a bit more.

'Throw enough darts at the board and ONE will hit the bullseye eventually.'

"Well, in that case, you've got the magic CSI computer, we could start by pulling up bank records of the people close to him. Look for any sudden large withdrawals. Or smaller, consistent, withdrawals in the time leading up to his death that add up." He shrugged. It seemed like a good enough idea to him, maybe it would have some merit to her as well.

He was scared about breaking into a police station. Well that proved he was sane, mostly sane at least and not a complete idiot. Breaking into a police station was risky regardless of who you were or which station it was. However he had something on his side he didn't even know about. She had more than enough practice avoiding the police. Not to mention if she could best the corrupt Gotham cops these San Francisco ones stood no chance.

"Despite the team based living arrangements I do not play well with others. It's always been me against the world and I have an acceptable record with that. Besides who do you think the press and big time heroes would believe solved a major criminal mystery, the lesser known of the Robins or someone like Green Lantern, Superboy or Captain Marvel? So yes, it's shallow but I never claimed to be perfect."

Ok so that might be a slight exaggeration. She'd actually claimed to be perfect, or close to on numerous occasions. But that was simply a case of using arrogance in order to protect herself from others. She was usually careful to keep people no closer than arm's length.

"Financial records later. I don't feel like going down that rabbit hole until it's necessary."

There were several reasons she was avoiding going down that path. Of course her lack of math skills were a big key. Hell she had enough issues reading let alone throwing numbers in too. Of course her dad and pimp had never been too concerned about her education.

"I'm gonna change and I'll meet you in the hangar. We can take my R-cycle unless you have your own method of transportation."

Ok so she was bragging. She was fairly certain he didn't. She didn't actually have much that she could use to hold over other people. Of course among heroes a motorcycle wasn't that impressive. If anything it was rather run of the mill. It seemed to be a package deal with the mask and cape.

"So out Tiger boy."

She said shooing him out the door so she could change.

"Shallow, maybe, but if it results in people who need help getting it-" Adam trailed off a few moments, before waving one hand and offering a grin. "then it's fine by me. I mean, I'm doing this for the adventure and the thrill of it. Of course, the benefit of that outlook is... I don't care who I have to ask for help because I'm still having fun." He elaborated his own motivations for Roxy before peering over her shoulder at what data she was looking over just before her dismissal of looking into the financial records.

Which, frankly, suited him just fine as well. Forensic accounting sounded, somehow, more tedious than normal accounting, after all. Picking over all their transactions with a fine-toothed comb? It would be a long, time-consuming process, especially for a young man who was in the 'game' for the rooftop leaping and bad-guy punching. So, that in mind, he chose not to push the issue of checking financial records with Roxy. After all, she WAS the detective too.

"I've got a car!" The rookie volunteered cheerfully when Roxy brought up her motorcycle and asked about his own transportation. "By which I mean 'Adam Sato' has a car... not, y'know... Tiger. Although, a screwdriver and a decal on the hood could probably fix that. If I remember, Wildcat just put a metal Cat face on the front of his motorcycle." About that point, Adam paused in his remarks, realizing he'd been rambling. Well, that and because he realized that he was being politely shown the exit... and frankly, he wasn't interested in finding out what 'impolitely' might mean with this particular Robin.

"Alright, I'll meet'cha at the garage, then." He offered with a grin, backing out of the door before rushing to his own room to pull on his costume.

"We'll discuss how truly cheesy that idea is later."

She said before slamming the door in his face. She heard his farewell and then waited a few before quickly changing. After the work out she'd have rather had a shower but this case intrigued her too much. She changed quickly, now feeling like herself. She adjusted her wig and then added her quiver and bow before leaving her room. It didn't take her long to make her way to the garage where she assumed he'd be waiting. As she walked in she looked at the vehicles lines up. An equal mixture of personal and heroics related. Well ok so she was exaggerating to make herself feel better. Most could fly or teleport. An old school space ship, a Javelin she believed it was called, took up most of the hangar. SHe glanced over at him in his costume and shook her head.

"If we ever fight a group of people I'll give you twenty bucks to do a hurricanrana on one of them."

She said before climbing on a simple red harley. After pressing a button and starting it it turned into a more sleek version, essentially her R-cycle.

"First rule of heroics Cat boy, motorcycles are cool. Remember that."

She said before putting on her helmet. She made sure her communicator was working and paired up with him.

"Check check. Can ya hear me Cat boy? Follow me to the station. We'll take back ways. Just try and keep up."

She said before shooting out of there. She should've gone slower but she also didn't want to. Plus she was curious about just what kind of driving skills the kid had. Sure when it came to fighting that was a different matter. He was pretty solid when it came to Judo, supposedly a top ranked one in his age class. Judo was a little too defensive for her tastes. Of course that being said she had some skills in it as well. Not one of the best but enough to get someone down to knock them out.

"You forget that Wildcat has been working since the 30s." Adam shrugged. "Back then it was probably the height of awesome. Actually... I still think its pretty cool." He found himself admitting, albeit to a closed door at this point. It was a pretty good cue that he was 'on the clock' now and he took off at a sprint back to his room. Tossing the makeshift violin to the side, he opened opened up a drawer for his own costume.

He grinned broadly at Roxy's appraisal of that particular costume. "Hurricanrana? I'll do you one better and get someone with the Burning Hammer. Do I get more money for that?" But, he was send into contemplative silence once again as he watched the transformation of his... current partner's motorcycle into something... else. It left him considering the bare-bones nature of his own operation.

"Speaking of money... just how much does it cost to purchase a transformer?" Adam queried, walking in a rapid, and interested, circle around the girl's motorcycle. It was just a little more effort to sync up their communicators and fire up his own car, doing his best to keep up with Roxy. Or... 'Robin' he supposed. The issue, of course, being that her R-Cycle was smaller and more maneuverable, and Adam's own practical driving experience consisted mostly of city driving and a few books he'd taken from the library on Stunt Driving.

Well, there's nothing like 'on the job training' he supposed, hitting the gas to keep the girl in site.

She raised an eyebrow as he made her a counter offer for the hurricanrana. While she was joking he made a valid point. However she wanted to up the ante even more. If she was going to pay to see a guy dressed as a wrestler do a wrestling move, then she wanted more bang for her back. Sure she'd been joking but he seemed to have a degree of seriousness to him.

"Burning Hammer? Pssh. Please. That's nothing more than putting a guy on your shoulders and dropping him on his head. But I'll tell ya what. We get in a fight and you pull out a luchador style big time finisher and I will pay to see it. I mean if a hurricanrana is 20 imagine what something like a Phoenix Splash or Dragonaranna pays."

She didn't expect to be side by side with him in a fight anytime soon. But the offer was on the table and that was what mattered. She gave a light single chuckle at his comment about a transformer. It wasn't too far off, but still her R-cycle was far from Optimus Prime.

"It's a lot of luck and ingenuity. Plus my adoptive parents had their own respective nest eggs."

She said before disappearing on her R-cycle. She occasionally glanced over her shoulder to ensure he was keeping up. She had a few ideas, primarily souping up his car when she had a chance. She wasn't book smart, but she was street and occasionally tech smart. She pulled into an alley and quietly parked beside a dumpster. She was a few buildings over. She took her helmet off before beginning to climb the fire escape. She had her communicator in still, which allowed her to communicate with him.

"We go in and out. Should be easy. However we also need to work on a more stealth based costume."

She said calmly, her black cape wrapping around her as she ran.

Adam considered her responses carefully as well. He was sure under the right circumstances that he could, indeed, perform the Burning Hammer. As Roxy had said it was 'just putting a guy on your shoulders and dropping them on their head'... although there was some argument that a number of wrestling 'special moves' could only be performed with the assistance of the one they were used on. But, you didn't put on a costume fit for wrestling if you weren't up for the challenge of making it work! And he'd be lying if he said he didn't want to impress his current partner.

"Hm, I'm not sure if I've got the gymnastic...ness... for it, but I'm game for giving it a shot." He declared confidently. Mention of the nest eggs got him thinking of the trust fund his father had left for well... his mother. "I've got something like that, too. Except I think it's mostly tied up in a non-profit fund for... dealing with things." He admitted, scratching the back of his neck. Once again, he had to come face to face with his inability (or simple disinterest) in dealing with things related to accounting. Fortunately, that discussion hadn't lasted long as the two raced through the streets (another fun experience. The poor would-be superhero rarely got to have that particular pleasure.) towards the station.

'Easy' she says. Adam thought to himself, putting one hand on the ladder for the fire escape, following up behind Roxy. "I dunno, I'm a fan of the idea of the gaudy, colorful role model concept for a superhero. On the other hand, a tiger striped cape would be pretty cool." He added, clearly imagining such a thing. "Maybe I could go the whole nine yards. Bring back the costume of 'weight lifting trunks, cape, mask' for guys in the cape racket. Seems like it'd be only fair."

(OOC: That took entirely too long. But it happened!)

Once she got to the roof she simply looked down at him with a raised eyebrow. Anyone else would likely be joking when talking about the costume, but she wasn't sure. That was definitely his style. He was very much over the top and the likes of the Justice Society she'd heard old, OLD stories about in the past. She didn't see the appeal, but that was her. She was more dark and brooding than anything. She liked it, it was what fit her best. She'd always been dark and brooding, but she had a dark childhood. She rolled her eyes and offered her hand to help him up.

"Stick with the mask. Besides, you might want to look into armor. After all, no more getting kittens out of trees or finding lost pigeons. The people you're dealing with now are killers. They were smart enough to almost commit the perfect crime, meaning they're likely willing to kill to keep their identity unknown."

She said calmly as she moved along the roof tops leading to the police station. She knew she could try going in in disguise and making her way inside. But with Adam tagging along that would just get more confusing and dangerous than anything. She stopped at the edge of the roof right by a police station and crossed her arms.

"The vent is out. Outside from in movies it's pretty much useless. Way too noisy and too small most of the time. No, our best bet is to go under. Go through this building and hit the sewers. Come on Lucha Lad."

She said heading towards a skylight. She reached into her belt and quickly cut a hole in the glass. She nodded her head to Adam and dropped down through the hole.

"C'mon, it's only like 12 feet. I can catch you if you're scared."

She called up with a laugh. She was pretty much taunting him now, but she knew he could take it.

Adam seemed quite oblivious to Roxy's appraisal of his remarks... although if asked, he probably WOULD have claimed he was serious. "What? You don't think I have awesome enough abs to pull off that costume?" He inquired, taking the offered hand as he finished the climb. "Although I should probably ad some pectoral exercises if I adopt a shirtless costume." He considered for a few moments before Roxy brought his focus back to the matter at hand.

"I like saving kittens." The girl's all business remarks had their (presumably) desired effect on Adam as he considered the implications of his leap from small-time costumed... adventure? Neighborhood watch? Well, whatever it was, he knew it was a far cry from the kind of work he was involved in with the Titans. Specifically the current murder investigation. "Maybe. But, I'd like to point out that this costume actually IS bulletproof." He offered up, striking the classic 'heroic' pose. Hands on his hips, chest thrust outward. "I'm really good at networking."

Aside from the assessment of his costume, the actual rooftop travel seemed to put the newbie Titan back into positive spirits as he had little issue treating each leap like a long jump, occasionally even throwing himself into a roll. But all good things come to an end, and the soaring through the skyline ended when Roxy determined that a subterranean entry was the best way to do it.

"Oh, so she does laugh." Adam teased her right back, taking a few steps backwards before a semi-running (more of a power walk) start and hopping down through the hole in the glass. His landing wasn't quite what most would call 'nimble', requiring him to pitch forward into another roll before bouncing backup to his feet... but he'd managed it without hurting himself. "I'd call that a seven of ten point landing."