Dinah stood on the stage, looking out at the gathered society people and wondered just how much Lucius would try and squeeze out of John before the younger man backed down. The twinkle in the man's eye said he was up to exactly zero good and she knew there was about to be a spectacle. Of course she should have expected John to start high, just to set the bar. She wasn't expecting it to be set that high.

There were of course, several audible gasps at the $10,000 opening bid. Offers were made from around the audience as it seemed to be open season now that someone was actually giving Lucius competition. She could see all eyes her on them and not her, trying to figure out who he was. No one knew, and they were all murmuring about him as one by one, other bidders dropped off and it only left John and Lucius.

It got up to $75,000, and it seemed, for a brief moment, that Lucius was going to have the winning bid and her standing lunch date with him would continue. And then John jumped the offer by $25,000. Several people gasped and a hush went over the crowd as all attention was focused on Lucius.

“Going once….” the auctioneer started, picking up the gavel. “Going twice….”

“$150,000” Lucius said calmly. Dinah herself gasped at the offer. He'd never paid that much and she wondered if that would scare him off. Lucius certainly seemed to hope so. The auctioneer accepted the bid and covered the mic, turning to her.

“Do you know that gentleman?” Dinah nodded, not looking away from John. “Going once…” he said to start the count.

“You're not gonna tell me who he is, are you?” she shook her head.

“Going twice…” he raised the gavel, and the tension throughout the whole room was as taut as one of her guitar strings.

“$200,000.”

“Jesus f*cking Christ,” Dinah swore softly to herself. Lucius motioned he was done and sat down as the auctioneer brought the gavel down. Not for the first time tonight, Dinah longed for something to drink. This was just not how she pictured anything going tonight. However, now that the auction was over, she could leave. She could get out of her godforsaken dress and into normal clothes. She stepped from the stage and made a beeline for her table.

She grabbed her things, what little she had brought and gave Lucius a quick peck on the cheek. “Way to clean out his pockets Lucius. I think I'll beat a hasty retreat now, all the fun is over. John…” she turned to him. “I have your number. I'll clear of a day in my calender and see about your hard won prize. For now, I need to get out of these heels”

The throat mic clicked. "It's worth it for a night. You have no idea. But relax. I'm good for it."

Owen's little bidding war with Lucius was drawing quite the spectacle. He was having a good time being a distraction for Henri. It didn't even matter that he'd lost the entire amount of money he was being paid for this little show. The fun was in the chase. He was even giving Lucius Fox, one of his heroes a run for his money. Literally. The man's face blanched as Owen offered a bid of 200,000 dollars. Owen gave him a grin.

"It's for a good cause, right? No sense in sparing the expenses when there's a beautiful girl and charities to help."

Lucius nodded and shook Owen's hand, telling him that he better be good to Dinah. He nodded and said he'd be a complete gentleman. Fox handed him a business card and told him to look him up sometime and set up a meeting and they'd talk more. Owen grinned broadly and thanked him. The second part of Henri's statement confused Owen. What other part of the job was that? He hadn't been briefed on a part two by his employer. That was concerning.

His eyes were on Dinah as she walked over and he gave her a roguish grin. Lucius smiled and spoke. "Let me know if you need me to take you out. Just in case he is too poor to pay for anything other than bread." Lucius lowered his voice. "I think the boy likes you. Go easy on him."

"I do okay." Owen laughed. His face settled into a broad grin. "Yeah, I'd like that. Maybe we could do something different from last time. A more upscale version of dinner, perhaps. Maybe some better surroundings too." Owen didn't want to push his luck. He felt the need to squeeze her hand or something, but there was no need. He mentally pulled back.

'Stop that.' He thought to himself. 'You know the rules about getting attached. Don't.'

'Merde' Henri said mentally to herself, listening to the conversation as she excused herself from her her table yet again. This extraction was going to be much more difficult than she thought. She could hear it in his voice he was more than a little attached to the target. Luckily she was wanted alive and in one piece or that could have been a different mess altogether. She pulled down her bag and quickly changed again, putting on her suit under the serving attire she had on, storing away the photographs and hard drive for access later. Then she made her way to the kitchens and around again, toward the side entrance that was closest to where he and Dinah had been sitting. If he decided not to help, she'd simply do everything herself. That's how she did most things anyway. Why should now be any different?

"How about you offer to walk her out, since your such a gentleman, hmm?" Henri went over her inventory and prepped a few things. She didn't like recovering people, too many things could go wrong. But if the money was good enough, she didn't really object to it. Which was why she had agreed to do this job tonight. Usually for these kinds of things, she packed a sedative. She was doubly glad she had done so for tonight, just in case someone got belligerent. If all else failed, she'd simply grab the woman and teleport away. The drop point wasn't too far, she could probably make it a respectable distance before he could catch up.

"Tonight is going smoothly. Do not be the thing that screws it up."

Dinah gave a good laugh at Lucius's offer to take her out instead before shaking her head. A part of her wouldn't actually mind taking him somewhere, even paying for it. Because then she knew he wouldn't be causing trouble elsewhere, the whole keeping enemies closer argument. 'Yes, but how close is too close, Di? she shook her head slightly, mostly to herself then picked up on Lucius's very astute observation. Oh, she was pretty sure he liked her, though not enough to be anything more than late night phone calls for companionship and stress relief. "Oh, I can't go too easy Lucius. Where's the fun in that?"

She gave John a rather pleasant smile as he offered to do something different than last time. Yes, she would rather like to avoid another shootout at the OK Corral if she could. "Oh, yes, more upscale, perhaps actual Italian pizza this time, instead of something someone pulled out of a freezer." She reached out and put her hand on his shoulder, giving it a small squeeze before using him as a counter balance while she pulled off her heels. She was done wearing the blasted things and they hadn't been properly broken in yet. She gripped each by the heel and slid them off before carrying them and her small purse in one hand.

"Yes, much better surroundings. While the threat of imminent death is nice, so is candle light and some flowers."

"Dinah," she turned to Lucius. "Try not to be the magnet for trouble you usually are, hmm?" He leaned in to whisper again. "He seems much nicer than your normal liaisons. If nothing else, be friendly. I like this one." Dinah bit back a laugh and gave the old man one final hug. Oh, he had no idea. John was much worse than the idiots he'd seen. Probably why she kept yelling mentally at herself every time he smiled at her. He was ten pounds of trouble in a five pound bag.

"Keep that business card, John. Not many people have those." She gathered up her dress in her free hand and started to make her way for the side door.

He let Dinah use him as balance, while she took off her shoes. Owen smiled as she interacted with Lucius, rather amused at how he'd won the older engineer over so quickly. This was an interesting mission for him to say the least. Definitely not his usual fare. The sound of Batroc's voice rang in his ears. 'Don't be the thing that screws this up'. What was the second part of the mission? Why wasn't he told about it? Owen reflexively put a hand on her waist to help steady Dinah.

"Why stop at pizza? We could find a nice upscale Italian place. I know several. Or we could change the cuisine of origin. Lady's choice, of course." Owen gave her a smile. "Of course. While gunfire and the sight of death is romantic, I'd prefer something a little nicer. I can even wear a suit instead of the usual wardrobe."

As she said her good byes to Lucius, Owen gave the man a final nod and said good bye as well. "Don't I know it. I'm probably even going to take him up on his offer." He paused and smiled at Dinah. "I know that you're in a hurry to leave, but it seems like the least I can do is walk you out. I mean you are quite an investment. I should at least make sure that you get to the door safely." His voice lowered. "Besides, how often do I get to see you without gun shots involved."

Waiting, she hated waiting, especially on someone else. A million different things could go wrong while she was waiting, and she'd have to do damage control from there. So, it might have made her a bit of control freak, but she never really had any reason not to be. Things usually went wrong when she relied on other people. But she was forced to do so today. So she tried to not fidget too much as she heard the conversation turn toward leaving. She tried not to gag at all the flirting, reading her syringe as she waited for them to come through the door. Thankfully, he was letting her go through first, because sticking him with the needle would have just been bad all around.

She heard Dinah's chuckle through the door, just before it opened and Henri waited, more patiently now as Dinah stepped through to get a clear shot. She was able to stick the needle in her arm but only was able to plunge it half way before Dinah reacted, smacking Henri's hand away and stepping further into the hallway to give herself room. Henri eyed the rockstar with curiosity at her reaction times. She was quicker than Henri would have thought.

"Close the door. We do not need her running back in there." Henri ducked as a high heeled shoe came flying at her with surprising accuracy. She pulled a pair of ziptie handcuffs out from her pack and started to close in on Dinah, only to jump back from being attacked by another shoe. She narrowed her eyes at the rockstar, deciding to wait until what little of the sedative had been put into her system took effect.

"Would you grab her? She is ridiculously....hmmm quel est...Squirmy? Oui, squirmy." Henri held out the cuffs, trying to grab one of Dinah's hands, dodging a wild swing before slipping one cuff onto her hand and zipping it closed, trying to hold onto her and get her out before she attracted too much attention.

Was she really entertaining an actual night out with this man? Yes, yes she was. Once again, Dinah was letting her heart override her head, which was shouting loudly that this was a bad idea. But being the musician she was, she usually lead around by her heart. Or her sex drive. Usually both. But he was being just so damn charming right then, her rational mind was drowned out. She grinned at him and his "investment" statement. He wasn't wrong.

"Oh, how very gentlemanly of you." She let him walk her to the side door, not feeling the need to remove his hand from her waist. Luckily people were distracted by their desert and other things being auctioned off, but she noticed more than a few eyes turning toward her exit with the mystery man who had beaten Lucius in a bidding war.

"Besides tonight?" She lowered her voice to match his, grinning wider. "At least once more. After that, who knows. If you actually take Lucius's offer...well..." She gave him a knowing smile and pushed open the side door, stepping through but still looking back at him, completely missing the French Mercenary lying in wait. But she did feel the prick of the needle in her arm and her smile dropped immediately as she slapped Henri's hand away, stepping away from her and pulling out the syringe. She pulled it out of her arm just as her head began to swim. She tossed it on the floor, glaring at John before throwing one of her shoes at Henri as she spoke to him.

"What...what the f*ck...what in the actual f*ck?" Well, this was what she got for letting her heart lead her around. Every single time. Dinah tossed a confused look over at John, some part of her hoping he wasn't in on any of this, another part telling her of course he was, she'd just forgotten what he did for a living. Then she saw Henri come in toward her again, with a pair of handcuffs and she swung at her with the remaining shoe, her footing wobbly and unstable. Dinah clung to the wall as her head started to cloud and she fought to stay awake. Henri came in again at the first sign of her about to topple and Dinah swung, missing horribly and getting herself all tied up. She fought back, trying to kick out at Henri and almost falling over thanks to her dress.

"Whatever the hell you want," her words were slurred and angry. "You're not gonna f*cking get it."

"Take Lucius' offer? Are you trying to make me go straight for you? Give up my roguish ways? That's actually very tempting. You really have no idea..."

As the Mercenary jumped out and stabbed Dinah, Owen pulled back, drawing a gun and moving protectively in front of her. "What the hell do you think you're doing? This isn't part of the job." The surprise in Owen's voice was genuine. If this was part of the plan, someone had been smart to leave him out of this part of it. He ran through several scenarios in his head. He didn't have enough of his gear with him and he only had the one gun. Ammo was limited and she was a trained mercenary and assassin. Her skills were said to be on par or greater than the Winter Soldier was, if rumors were to be believed.

So, basically, Owen was f*cked. Which was a shame, because the night was actually going very well up until this point. He made sure to put himself between Henri and Dinah. "Stay awake, Songbird. I didn't know this was part of the plan. She'll have to go through me to get you." His thoughts flitted to his hidden bag and an anti-toxin that could counter most sedatives in his belt. That was too far away.

"She's right. Back off now. You've completed as much of this mission as you're able to. Now's the time to cut and run." He leveled the gun at Henri's face. The prospect of shooting at her didn't bother her so much as the attention the sound of the gun discharge would bring. He wondered if he'd make it out of this one alive, but promptly dismissed the thought. That didn't matter as long as Dinah made it out unharmed. He was expendable, she was not. Simple chess board logic. A pawn for a Queen. He wondered when he'd started thinking about her like that. Something was strange between them now.

How disappointing. She was hoping to have this job all wrapped up by now. Of course there was a giant monkey wrench in her plan. She had a small feeling something like this would happen. She didn't want it to, of course, but if he was going to go all white knight on her and try and impress his damsel, well...he might not live to regret it. She could go through him to get her, but that would be messy. She didn't have time to be messy. She needed to get out of here before the girl had enough sense to scream.

She didn't flinch when he pulled the gun and waved it in her face. She merely sighed at it. So it was going to be the hard way. Hopefully the rockstar didn't wiggle too much, she'd hate to lose her grip mid jump. "How unfortunate. I admire your little...moment of morality. But that is not how I get paid. And I do no cut and run. That would be bad for my reputation. So," Henri ported behind him, slamming her elbow into the back of his head, grabbing her meal ticket, finishing the cuffing, and porting down the hall to the door at the end. "Au revoir!" Henri kept Dinah in front of her as she pushed open the door enough to see outside so she could port away farther. The drop point wasn't too far. Though she had hoped to have a fully sedated package to deliver.

"Would you be still? I don't want to drop you. Dropping you while we are porting would be very bad indeed. You'd be all dust and I'd be out of my payday." Dinah became a bit limper at that and Henri smiled as she began to jackrabbit her way to the rendezvous point.

In her hazy mind, she was fairly certain he sounded surprised at this turn of events. Where she a bit more cognizant, she'd be able to trust her own mind, but Dinah wasn't too sure of anything at the moment. Only when he pushed her behind him instead of helping with the cuffs, did she start to let the total distrust start to ebb back in mild suspicion of him. He was still there for a job, like she had suspected, and had been working with her. But she had watched him all night, he didn't do anything...except cause a scene.

"Trying...to keep my eyes open..." She slouched against the wall, looking back toward the door to the ballroom, thinking about just heaving herself toward it and getting some attention. But that would put other people in harms way and she didn't know enough about this other woman to make that kind of call. So she let John try and save her. He seemed to have at least one weapon on her, hopefully he had more. If this wasn't all a show. But that didn't seem to deter her. She...disappeared and then reappeared in between them and before Dinah could get all of his name out, "Jo-"

"-hn!" she was on the other side of the room. She looked back, seeing him stumble while Henri used her as a human shield. She was definitely not a fan of that. She was not a fan of this entire situation. She hated, hated feeling helpless.

"John!" She squirmed in Henri's arms, trying to give him a better shot, or something to attack. But she felt herself going in a million directions at once again, a sensation not pleasant in the least and found herself outside, being told not to squirm or that might become her permanent state. She was getting so tired, even with the extra rush of adrenaline counteracting the sedative she'd gotten shot up with, she let herself go limp, trying to save her energy for any attempt at an escape she might possibly see.

The first sign that his actions were about to bite him, was that his partner, Batroc, sighed at the gun as he pointed it at her. That was the problem with professionals like this. Red Hood wasn't exactly that fearsome compared to the people she probably usually ran with. "It's not a moment of morality. I didn't sign on for a kidnapping. I signed on for..."

Then she was gone and Owen heard Dinah say something before he took an elbow to the head. Stars lit up his vision as he stumbled forward. Why did they always resort to head trauma? Owen swore he was going to have permanent brain damage one of these days. He watched his partner open the door and teleport outside with Dinah. Owen cursed and ran his hands through his pockets. He pulled out his domino mask and put it on, before taking a mental inventory.

His tuxedo had few things going for it. He had a grapnel, a 9 mm., and three batarangs. He'd make it work. Owen burst out the door and fired the grapnel, on reflex, swinging up to the rooftops. He'd have a better chance of catching the teleporter from up there. He knew from experience that he couldn't just drop in front of her. No, she'd teleport beyond him and keep moving.

From his vantage point, he spotted the pair moving and decided to follow. He locked on to Dinah's cellphone GPS with his mask's HUD and continued following. Just in case he lost sight of them. Though the teleporting was doing an interesting thing with the GPS. The signal would just disappear and then reappear. The engineer in him was curious, but there'd be more time for that later. He just kept moving from rooftop to rooftop.

This was probably a trap. It seemed very much like one to Owen. Though it could also be a genuine kidnapping. Dinah was a rock star worth quite a bit. But there was a nagging feeling of paranoia that wouldn't leave him. It told him that this was personal and someone was doing this just to get at him. Maybe it was his ego, but he checked his gun again, nonetheless. It was still fully loaded and functional. Not that he wasn't expecting it, but now he was flustered. And he knew that was what an enemy would want.

As he swung to another rooftop, he made a note to get more comfortable dress shoes. The current ones just weren't good for running from rooftop to rooftop. He stopped at the corner and looked down on them. They had to be close now. Hopefully. He wasn't sure what Batroc's range was or how many times she could teleport, but Owen also knew that he couldn't run forever. So, he stopped and watched.

Henri could feel it, with every jump. The implant in her spine was being knocked slightly out of alignment, fraction by fraction. It was not a pleasant feeling, but she knew she could last a bit longer before it became a real problem. She started making longer jumps, just to conserve herself until she found where she was expected to be. An empty lot next to some dilapidated buildings in what she could only describe as the wrong side of town. Looking around, she shook her head, thinking all slums started to look the same after awhile. And she had seen more than her fair share of them.

Her target started to squirm again, noticing they had stopped moving for the moment. Henri simply tossed her unceremoniously to the ground and looked at her watch. They were only five minutes early. Which usually meant they were late. Putting one foot down on the dress, she stopped Dinah from crawling away as she looked around. Henri really needed to pack an extra dose of sedative one of these days. This one seemed to be burning through her half dose already. She watched as Dinah tried to be sneaky and get something out of her little purse, but in her state, she wasn't as smooth as she thought. Henri walked over and snatched up the purse, pulling out her cell phone, looking at it a moment before teleporting it way above them and dropping it. There was a satisfying sound of the small electronic shattering into pieces off to her left and she gave Dinah a small grin, who did nothing but glare at her, as best she could.

"Merde," She muttered mostly to herself, wondering where her client was. She just wanted to get paid and get the hell out of Gotham. Getting involved with pesky Bats was the last thing she needed at the moment. She already had another job lined up elsewhere, and any delays would be rather costly. "You know, if I paid good money for someone to be brought to me, I'd at least show up on time. With the payment ready to be wire transferred."

Henri continued to look around while keeping an eye on Dinah. She seemed like she could handle herself, so keeping her grounded was probably her best option for the moment. Looking in every dark corner and shadow spot, Henri tried to see if this was some kind of trap. They'd have to be fairly quick to trap her, and she could be fairly paranoid. She'd leave the rockstar to her own devices if someone decided to try and double cross her.

Dinah felt like she was going to be sick. All the teleporting; flying apart and slamming back together in a new location was making her stomach do back flips. She couldn't even tell where they were going. But she kept a grip on her small clutch, knowing once they stopped, she'd try and signal for help. After all that jumping around, she wasn't sure John could even catch up to her or know where she was. And she was more than sure someone was out on patrol tonight and would answer her distress call. She just had to wait for the opportune moment.

Once they stopped moving for more than five seconds, she looked around, not particularly liking this stop on their little tour. She tried to reach into her purse but her hands being bound the way they were made it rather difficult. Batroc didn't seem to appreciate her attempts at escaping and tossed her on the ground. Dinah let out a groan as she hit some of the random debris in the empty lot, hoping she wouldn't find any used needles with her arms, legs or hands. She looked back at Batroc, seeing her look around and figured this was her chance to try and signal for help. She tried to be subtle, she really did, but she still felt groggy and tired and she was probably about as subtle as a drunk person trying to quietly make their way through a house.

"No...Give it back." Dinah tried to make a grab for it only to watch it disappear from Henri's hand, and hear something hit the ground behind her a few moments later. She looked around, seeing with what little light was provided by random streetlamps and the stars what was left of her phone. Maybe if she tried to get to it, she could get some sort of signal out, even if it was in pieces. She started to crawl, not caring about her dress anymore or how much it was probably worth (she never asked her assistant). She just had to get to her phone.

One foot on that stupid dress stopped her cold. That was it, she was swearing off dresses from now on. They were ridiculous wastes of fabric anyway. Did nothing but get caught in things. Like her legs. Or doors. Same reason she didn't wear a cape. She thought they were more of a hazard than a help. She looked back at her kidnapper as she started complaining about whoever had hired her. Dinah had to run through a list of people who would want her, Dinah Gray. That list wasn't nearly as long as who wanted Nightwing. But it was still up there. However, that list got considerably shorter when she factored in money, and who the hell had enough of it to hire people with this level of skill. Her brain was still a bit fuzzy, and coming up with a name was proving difficult.

"Did you even meet your client?" She slurred. "How do you even know they're going to pay you? How do you know they won't just kill you and get what they came for?" Dinah was tempted to use her power, to play on Henri's obvious paranoia. But that always came with risks when she wasn't in costume. Someone could make the connection. And she wasn't ready to take that chance just yet.

Owen kept following the kidnapper. She was jumping far ahead now, getting harder to track, as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop. It seemed to be messing with the GPS signal that he was locked on. He didn't know why this job was turning out like this. It might have been coincidence, but he didn't think so. This seemed more like a personal shot at both of them. The Gotham crime boss stopped and looked around. Henri was teleporting too far away to be tracked easily now. Owen growled in frustration.

"No. This is what they want. Clear your head and look at your surroundings. You were trained by a detective. Act like it." He said quietly, taking a deep breath and counting to ten. Then Owen looked around and saw a street sign. He zoomed with his mask and read it. There was a pause. He knew where he was. That did not reassure him. But after a moment's consideration, he knew where they were too.

The chase resumed, with Owen bounding from rooftop to rooftop. If she was being taken where he thought, well, that meant that this was personal. He remembered when this neighborhood had been better, but that was a life time ago. Now, it seemed like it had become like the rest of Gotham. Then the GPS signal came in clear, and Owen's map showed Dinah's phone. The map on Owen's HUD confirmed his theory, before it winked out. He wished he had his full battle dress for this one. It was obviously a trap.

He landed on the rooftop of the building next to the vacant lot, staring down at Henri and Dinah. She was okay at least. Owen's stomach did a somersault. The building had still been here the last time that he came. But that was years ago. He fired his grapnel into the rooftop and jumped.

Red Hood swung in Henri's direction, tossed a flashbang batarang, and dropped down between her and Dinah. He landed as the flashbang went off, drew his gun, and pointed it at her. "I want to know who hired you. I want to know why they knew to have you bring her here." His voice was full of rage and he was barely in control. "Are you working for the mob? What's left of the scum that killed my family? Tell me and maybe I'll let you live."

The cold, logical side of him, told him that this was exactly what they wanted. He was off balance. The past was finally catching up to Owen Merlowe. His rage and anger consumed that logical side and drowned it in molten fire.

Henri didn't bother looking down at her meal ticket as she tossed wild accusations about. If she knew anything about the way Henri worked, she wouldn't be saying such stupid things. She never met with clients, and that was for their safety and anonymity. Just so long as their money was good she didn't much care about who they were or what they looked like. Amateurs, unsure in their field and with no reputation for getting things done, questioned everything. Of course she would be asking for more money if her client didn't at least send somebody to pick up the person he paid for.

"Shut up," She said calmly to Dinah. "The instructions were to bring you, they did not exactly specify your condition." Henri looked around, hearing things, but sound seemed to echo a bit, bouncing off the buildings she was standing between. She could not figure out where it was coming from until the flashbang went off at her feet. Instinctively, she jumped back, ready to port away, thinking this job might not be worth it after all. She looked around as the disorientation faded and frowned, seeing a gun once again pointed at her. And her erstwhile partner scowling at her, making demands.

"Same as hired you, I would imagine." She glared at him, wondering how fast his trigger finger was. "My clients are anonymous. And I followed instructions that were given along with the job. And..." she took a step closer and met his angry gaze with her own. "No one lets me do anything. Least of all live. So just ask yourself if you're faster than my teleport. Could you squeeze off a shot before I disappear, grab your girlfriend and drop her from above the buildings. Because honestly, I am about there. This job is not worth it."