Episode 6: In the Spotlight

"Look Malcolm, we need a story to go with so give me one!" Frank was pacing back and forth behind his desk with Malcolm on the other side of it with his smart phone in his hand.

"I have two stories here, I have the news about Spider-Man releasing that trove of classified information from Oscorp, and then there is the supposed return of the Batman in Gotham with the saving of Commissioner Gordon from a gunman right outside his home."

"And let me guess, you want to go on the Batman story don't you?" Frank looked to Malcolm waiting for his answer.

"Well why now? Gotham has been reported as reverting back to a city with high crime levels across the board."

"But that's old news even with the Batman coming out for one night. Are we really going to move papers with that being the cover story? We should just go with the Spider-Man Oscorp story. With the amount of information leaked we will be set for weeks to come," Frank looked to Malcolm for his take.

"What if we go with both?" Malcolm suggested, taking a step towards his boss.

"What? That's too big-"

"No, no hear me out. We have two major incidents involving masked vigilantes, both happen just days apart. Could it be a sign of something bigger coming?"

"What? a new Justice League or something?"

"Maybe, or maybe they see things that we don't or can't see. Think about it, Gotham's crime is on the rise again, the Batman returns, Spider-Man exposes a corporation's evil deeds, if anyone else like myself or you got that from Oscorp, it wouldn't be headline news nor would we be able to get away with it, but with them," Malcolm points to the window where Frank looked, "With them at least these things can be exposed and that means we can inform people about what's going on in their backyards."

"Okay fine, you can go with that spin, but don't get too distracted, I want the piece to focus on these two incidents first and foremost."

Norman stood with his back to his desk, his eyes looking down at the city below him with his hands in his pockets, "How bad is it?"

Casey kept her eyes on the television screen with the remote in her hand, the volume was low, "If we don't respond soon things will get worse. Stock has already began to fall because of it too. But so far no one is saying that you are the prime suspect in any of the dealings exposed."

"All right well let's get ahead of this then." Norman took his seat at his desk with his eyes on the television, "Let the media know that I was unaware of such illegal activities happening in my company, and that those that did such things will be held responsible by me and by the law. Now excuse me I would like to be left alone." Casey nodded and left his large open office.

Norman leaned into his seat and watched the news on the TV about the leaks from his company. He proceeded to move files from a folder labeled "BIO-EN" onto his laptop's hard drive while at the same time preparing to go downstairs to the labs himself, that's when his phone rang and he saw the number was from Lex Luthor. He answered it.

"Luthor, offering to buy my company now that's it's losing value?" Norman asked.

"I'm a member of the president's cabinet, not a buyer remember? I'm calling to lend a hand. I know politics and exposure like this can be annoying." Lex spoke through the mouthpiece.

"Yes, though for you those days of vigilantes attacking you are behind, and now it seems it's my turn to suffer."

"As I said, I'm here to lend a hand."

"Why? What do you get out of this?" Norman asked.

"All I would like is to work with you. I know you're a man of vision, as am I. And well at least you share more with me than you do say with Stark Industries or Wayne Enterprises. So what do you say?"

Norman glanced back to the TV, "I'm listening."

"Whatever this thing you were working on, I'll keep it for safekeeping, while you can run off and put out the fires. As for this thing that haunted the streets of Manhattan, well how would you know people were taking things too far in your labs?"

"Fair enough, but how do I know you won't betray me and start working off my work? There's money to be made in this field and I hope to be the first one to crack it."

"Don't worry, I have no interest in biological warfare or enhancements. As I said, I'm interested in helping you first. Do what you have to do on your end and then contact me when you are ready."

Bruce stepped into the medial center and began looking through the blood samples that were in the freezers with his small handheld flashlight, his satchel bag with him. He could feel the cold starting to creep through his coat and shirt until his skin started to freeze. Quickly he went through the letters until he reached the R section.

"Redham...Reeves...Rodham...Rogers!" Bruce pulled the sealed dish out and checked the name again, "Rogers, Steve. Date July 10th. Over a year old but better than going bust." Bruce closed the freezer and put the blood sample into his satchel before stepping out of the room. The white hall was nauseating to Bruce, his childhood memories coming back to him. But it wasn't the flood of bad childhood memories of going to the doctor that was making him feel sick to his stomach, it was the fear of being caught with what he was doing.

"Just another fifty steps and I'm out," Bruce whispered to himself as he counted his steps in his head, his eyes looking straight down the hall in a self hypnosis, and the warm sweat beginning to run from his hairline.

"Banner!" shouted someone from behind.

Bruce froze and tried to turn his head as natural as possible to see two was calling him, "General Thunderbolt."

"Glad you came down to see me. I wanted to apologize for yesterday. Look, I talked to Nick Fury and he won't budge Rogers on it. We are going to have to shut down your project. I'm sorry, wish we could have continued it. We will help you move out of the base next week."

"Can't we just freeze it until a better time comes? We've waited before, we can do it again." asked Banner.

"I thought we could, but there are too many things going on. Currently I'm being reassigned overseas and that means my staff and my daughter will be coming with me and they are the only people I know that could work on this thing you have going." Thunderbolt tapped Bruce's satchel bag with his finger.

"What if we were to split the staff? I'm sure we-" Thunderbolt waved Bruce off.

"No, no, I won't have any of that. I want this project to work, but there is no chance of that happening any time soon," the general gave Bruce a salute, "You've done your country proud Dr. Banner. keep up the work, and maybe we will revisit this someday."

Bruce returned the salute with his awkward one before the general took off, leaving Bruce alone in the hall. He let out a sigh and continued his way out, his steps more solidified than before.

Eric woke up when the car hit a pothole and looked to Logan who was in the driver's seat, "Sorry about that. The road is a little bumpy." Logan checked his rearview mirror before parking the car on the edge of the beaten road.

"Where are we Logan?" asked Eric as he scanned the green wilderness.

"Not too far from the school, there's a route I know we can use to get to the jet."

"And then Wade?"

"Yeah, knowing Canadian forces, I'm sure they would want to deploy him to stop us from continuing our pursuits." Logan grabbed his duffle bag and began to march into the wilderness with Eric right behind him.

As the sun began to descend, turning the sky to a light pink with mango orange color Eric wiped the sweat off his head, "We've been at this for an hour. How much further?"

"Not much. This is used in extreme cases, and usually the other way around." Logan stopped in front of a large rockwall.

"Don't tell me that we have to climb that now." Eric leaned back so he could look at how far it stretched above him.

Logan looked to Eric, "No, we need to blow this fake boulder out of the way. It's the door that will lead us to the jet." Logan dropped his bag and started rummaging through it. Out he pulled two shoe boxed sized cases, "You may want to take cover, this is going to be big and loud." Eric made his way behind one of the nearby trees while Logan set the devices at the base of the boulder, turned a knob on both, then ran over to Eric's position behind the tree. Seconds later a heavy burst of smoke, sparks, and fire sparked all over the open space. When Logan poked his head out, his explosives had done the trick, a large gaping hole was ready. "All right, come on we need to hurry now." Logan picked up his bag and Eric followed behind him.

Inside the hall was dark and cold, "Don't suppose you can turn on a light now can you?"

"Just follow me, I still know where to go to the jet." Minutes later Logan came to a large door that was locked from the other side, but from his side he could push it open. The two stepped through and there was the X-jet waiting for them.

"How much time before they know we've taken it?" asked Eric.

"Not long I'm sure, especially when we use it in the manner that we are going to." Logan approached the craft from the front where then he pulled from his bag a utility belt with a large black and red X seal at the buckle. He pressed down on it and looked to see the ramp descend slowly for him and Eric to step onboard. "Come on," Logan stepped in and made his way to cockpit as he dropped off his bag on one of the nearby seats. Eric came on board, looking at the walls and ceiling made of metal.

"You know I've never set foot on this thing before," Eric took his seat next to Logan in the cockpit. Logan prepared the engines while he strapped himself into his seat.

"Well isn't this a Kodak moment? Strap in and get ready." Eric did as he was told and seconds later, Logan opened the doors for them to exit through by entering a set of commands on the command panel between him and Eric. Logan grabbed the controls and the jet took off.

Eric pulled out his folder and began flipping through the pages inside and found the map of North America, "There are twelve repressor towers in this area alone."

"Are any in Canada?"

"Well of course. I found only a handful, I didn't venture too far."

"That's fine, all we need is one. Chances are they all have a map of all the locations at each one. When we go after this one we'll get that updated map in addition to them getting Wade on our tail."

"You sure that will work?"

"Yes, though my main concern is if our powers will be in working order by the time we face him. He tends to shoot first and ask questions later, or not at all." Logan commented with his eyes fixed at the sky before him.

Gordon's entire cheek was bruised, his lip had a cut on it, but beyond that he was fine. He checked the clock, 11:42 PM. Gordon raised himself out of bed, dressed himself in his work outfit and made his way to the rooftop of his apartment building. The night was cold as it was the other night when he was attacked. He looked around him and many lights in nearby buildings were off, leaving him in almost complete darkness.

"Been waiting for you," a deep yet soft voice said. Gordon turned around with a small smile on his face at hearing that familiar voice. There he was stepping out of the shadows, his cape draped over his shoulders and covering much of his body. He looked like royalty almost.

"Can't just break habit of leaving bed in the middle of the night in front of my wife. Not like how it was before back at the station," Gordon tried to analyze Batman, "Thank you for helping me last night."

"Don't mention it. Looks like you are proving valuable to him now with the patrol car out front." Batman nodded towards the street where the patrol was stationed out front.

"Yes well first he still wants me out, this is only for show. Wants it to beme that announces my retirement as Commissioner." Gordon crosses his arms.

"Do you?" Batman asked.

"If I did I would have done it when you went away."

"Why didn't you?"

"Well I still had a job to do, I wasn't going to just throw in the towel just because you and others were forced to call it quits." Gordon's glasses began to slip down his nose.

"I didn't quit."

"No, sure you kept going for a few more years but you still took off. Things were better yes, but there was still so much work left to be done. Without you people were getting comfortable while making others uncomfortable."

"That's why I'm back, I'm not going anywhere until everything is settled."

"Well that's good to hear, but let's let time tell that tale. Don't get me wrong, I know you mean well, just seems that you come out only when things are terrible." Gordon fixed his glasses and glanced over to the city.

"What do you mean?" Batman asked..

Gordon looked to him, "The mayor and the feds have been wanting to bring SHIELD into the fold for years now. Have them hunt down these last few crazy criminals that are floating around, but I've been against it ever since they offered."

"Why are you denying help?"

Gordon stood and came face to face with Batman, "This is our city. Not theirs, what so we can't get our house in order so we have to forfeit it? I'm not leaving until I've done my duty." Gordon took a step back to where he was before.

"If it means Gotham being safer, it may be well worth it then."

"Maybe, but I just don't like it."

"Then why let them take the Joker?" the masked vigilante asked.

"He's been trouble at Gotham Penitentiary for months now, if they want him they can him. That's the deal I cut with the mayor, they stay out, and they can have Joker. But don't worry about that, I have something I need your help with."

"With what?"

"To everyone, crime is growing back into Gotham, but what may only look like general acts, there are connections to many of them."

"Conspiracy, organized crime. Not something new to Gotham."

"Right, but this isn't like what we faced with Falcone," Gordon paced around Batman, "Where everyone knew, but couldn't prove. Now nobody knows."

"What have you been seeing?"

"Money moving around. People leaving town, never to come back, not dead, but instead living a high life in some resort town on a retirement fund they couldn't have made. Property being bought up at cheaper prices after a crime wave hits it." Gordon looked to Batman who stood by silently.

"Any names floating around?" he asked.

"Not really, plenty of middle men that's for sure, though someone did speak it, only to turn up missing."

"What's the name?"

"Penguin." Gordon said.

Batman nodded gently, "I'll look into it, see what I dig up. Here, you can reach me with this," Batman handed Gordon a pager that had one button on it, "Press it and it'll give me your location, and I'll meet you there." Batman climbed on top of the hatch of the doorway where Gordon came out from at the edge of the building.

"Hey," Gordon said. Batman turned to face him, "It's good to see you again."

"Likewise," Batman jumped backwards off the building, his cape exploding with air and quickly he disappeared. By the time Gordon looked over the edge of the building, the low engine hummed to life and off the Batman went on what looked like a motorcycle out of the alleyway.

TO BE CONTINUED...