Disclaimer: Batman and all other Heroes belong to DC and Vertigo. I owe nothing thus you get nothing for suing me.
Gotham: the Dreaming
Chapter 1
For many Gotham is, and always will be, the nightmare of urban America. It is the best example of how a city and its inhabitants can go from the dreams of the founding fathers to the very embodiment of what every televangelist defines as corrupting evil. But even though it is considered to be one of the more dangerous places to live, Gotham is home to millions of people. They go to work, go home and generally try to live there lives the way they were taught American life should be lived. Free, a car in every garage and, if you are very lucky, a beautiful family that loves you and you love in return. For some, that life was either never offered to them or was forcibly taken away from them; acid baths, deformed face, mutagenic experiment, etc. They, in an attempt to gain what they lost or to simple make everyone feel like they do, are the reason that Gotham is, as was for mentioned, a very close facsimile to one of the first circles of hell. While others, also either never offered or lost the American dream has made it there mission in life to end, or simply minimize, the terror and pain that the first group inflicts on the general public. This is there tale.
"It was a dark and windy night, the moon was full but shrouded by eerie clouds that seemed to grasp it in…cloudy…shadowy….AAAHHHH" Cassandra Cain, better know as Bat-Girl, mentally cried in frustration. Due to the insistence, or nagging as some less refined people would describe it, of her mentor and friend Barbara Gordon, a.k.a Oracle, a.k.a Original Bat-Girl, a.k.a Babs (but only to friends), Cassandra Cain was trying to think verbally. Barbara seems to think that if Cass (again only to friends) was to clearly define every thought into words it would help her in understanding language. The only trouble is that Cass's vocabulary is not quite developed yet for such deep complexities as describing a Gotham midsummer night. It also didn't help that her other friend Tim Drake, a.k.a Robin, a.k.a Boy Wonder, had attempted to help her by offering her, what he considered, good reading material to expand her vocabulary. This reading material came in the form of one of H.P LoveCraft's compilation; the theory behind it is that if Cassandra can go through the compilation not only would it expand her vocabulary it would also help her understand the mind of mad men in general.
Thankfully for any breakable material around Bat-Girl a persisting beeping sound in her ear diverged her attention from the frustration of language. "Bat-Girl here" she said with as much control as she could muster at the moment. "Bat-Girl! Its Oracle… We have another sighting; you are the closest. 7th and Brookfield." All thought of moons and vocabulary were forgotten at once, as excitement filed Cassandra; if she hurried, she might be the one that solves the mystery that has had the entire bat clan running in circles for the past few months.
It started innocently enough, one to many sighting of Batman or one of his colleagues. At first it was thought that another would be vigilanty has taken the mantle of the Bat to fight crime. Or, for the more pessimistic, someone was just setting his credentials in an attempt to frame the Bats for a certain crime, it wouldn't be the first time someone tried to do that. It wouldn't have been the top priority of the clan, except for one event that changed all that. Robin came across this fake Batman; and he swore that it was the real one. Now for some this might not seem like a reason for the controlled panic that the Bat clan is going through; those who think that, they do not know why Tim Drake was chosen as the third Robin. It was not because of a feeling of understood lost as the first Robin, or simple loneliness as the second Robin. Tim Drake was chosen because of his mind, his detective skills are only second to the Batman, and it is thought that Tim was going to surpass his mentor in a few more years. So when Tim Drake tells you that he could not distinguish the difference between the two Bats it is a reason for worry.
But it was not only the Batman; there were confirmed sightings of Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and a slew of other heroes. These heroes would show up to help some innocent victim by chasing the villain away or, in the case of the Wonder Woman sighting, lecture the villain. But it is not only heroes that have made appearances; one criminal was chased down Main Street by an Arabian knight, one criminal that got it in his head to try and rape a nun had the fear of God put in him when lighting came down from the heavens and left a message of fire in the wall besides him. The nun is up for sainthood when she dies and the would be rapist is a born again Christian.
At first these phenomena were accept by most of the Bat clan as a great help in the endless war against crime. But soon the down side of it, the one that Batman foresaw, became clear. Even though the criminals were chased away, they were very rarely captured. Sometimes the criminal would have an accident; driving there cars into walls that they swore where not there being one of the main reasons, or in rare cases the criminal would be chased into a police station or patrol. Still it has given the criminal element of Gotham the delusion that if they ran hard enough they might be able to escape. This has made most captures harder for the Bat clan. At first it would simply take a flutter of a cape for the criminals to lose hope; now it took the clan to hunt them down and to put the fear of the night back into them.
Still, if she was fast enough she might be the one that is able to solve the mystery, Batgirl thought (without actually visualizing the words, since she wanted to focus on getting there without falling down a 15 storey building). Cass couldn't contain all of her glee; this was her chance to prove to the rest of the clan that she was more then just the muscle. All she needed to do was to get there in time.
Thankfully it seemed that she had. She found a roof top where she could watch the scuffle without being seen, but close enough to jump in when she needed. Cassandra had to remind herself that it was not Batman that was down there; the real Batman was in the Bat cave doing Batman related things (which in this case was to brood). Even though she knew the truth, what her eyes, ears and all her other senses told her was that that was Batman. It was only when he punched one of the thugs that the illusion failed to fool her; it wasn't the way Batman had thrown the punch but more on the way the thug took it. He went flying back; that would seem to be normal, but not for Batgirl, for who body language is her first language. It was like watching a Hong Kong action movie; the thug flew back not because of the momentum of the punch but because he threw himself back. The problem is that he didn't do it concisely; his senses told him that he was punched, thus his body acted what he knew should be the excepted result. The punch had no kinetic force behind it. When Batgirl figured that out she started to see other flaws.
The most obvious one was Batman himself, the way he moved was… wrong. It seemed like an English man speaking Arabic; even though he knows the language, understands the grammatical rules and knows the vocabulary, any Arab will be able to tell you that it is not his first language. They don't stress the right syllable. It was the same for this Batman; his body language was not second nature. Cassandra was the only one in the world who would be able to see and understand that. The second clue was how good he is. He was not anticipating the attacks; he was fighting from a script. The thugs expect not to hit him and thus they never do. The real Batman gets hit, even by two bit thugs like these two. The last clue was his shadow, it did not move the way he did.
Finally the thugs had had enough and were going for a quick exit, and like always this Batman didn't chase them down. Unfortunately for them, Batgirl was there to stop them. "As I swoop down on them like an avenging angel they…q… qu... quake in scare… no that not right… hum… they quake in… FEAR. Yes that right word." Since they were only two bit thugs, Batgirl figured she had the opportunity to work on her speaking skills by narrating the fight in her head. Alas the fight didn't last long enough for her to really get into the narration.
"I had them I really didn't need your help Batgirl!" Cassandra wiped around and had to stop the reflexive action of bowing her head whenever Batman criticized her. She had to remind herself that it was not really Batman that was giving her the Look. But it was so hard, the timber of his voice, the smell (latex and sweat) and even his aura where all vintage Batman. This was no shapshifter that had taken the form of Batman; it WAS Batman. She should know the difference. One of the training that Batman had her, and all of the other Bat crew, go through was with the Martian Manhunter. To tell the tell tale signs of a shapshifter.
With a low growl Batgirl charged with a quick combo of kicks and punches. The fake Bat simple flowed around them like water. His punch on the other hand went through her guard and connected. With a grunt she backed a few steps away. "What the hell are you doing Batgirl?" the statement was issued with a slow deliberative voice; again vintage Batman. Cassandra didn't answer, she was checking herself mentally. It wasn't real; even though she felt it the second it connected the pain wasn't there anymore. A punch like that would have made her abs ache for a few days at the least.
"Telepath!" the thought shot through her. It explained everything, the ability to predict where her punches where going to land, the ability for them to hurt her even though they had no force behind them. She was fighting in her head. Armed with that knowledge, she took a second to go through the mind exercise that would block any mind readers from her mind and went on the offensive again. And again he dodged her attacks; that just pissed her off. She was better then Batman in hand to hand. Batgirl knew that she CAN hit him, and hit him she did. Her fist connected with his jaw with a satisfying thud. Flesh on flesh no doubt about it, but she pushed her fist farther; and suddenly her balance was gone as the resistance vanished. She stumbled through him as if he was nothing more then a ghost. By the time she turned around she was alone on the sidewalk with the two unconscious criminals.
The sudden sound of running feet in the ally near by was all the indication that someone was there. Batgirl chased after them, if she could not only figure out that it was a telepath but also capture him or her it would be the coup that she always wanted. To solve the case that not even Robin could even begin to figure out would prove to all of them that she was not stupid, no matter what Oracle thought. Deep down Batgirl was still hurt by what Barbara had said, even though it was in a moment of great stress; Oracle had apologized countless times, but for someone that can read body language Batgirl knew that she still believed what she had said.
Her thoughts were cut short as she found herself face to face with a wall that was at least five stores high. "Stupid… if telepath make Batman smell right easy for him to make sound of footsteps." She mumbled to herself as she smacked her head against the wall. "Batgirl report, have you made contact… Batgirl are you alright. Cass please say something." Cassandra didn't want to answer; she felt ashamed. The telepath was right there that is why he had used the divergence. He could have been standing right besides her, and she like a rooky had fallen for it. Her one chance to prove that she was just as smart as Robin was lost to her because she was too cocky
"Batgirl please respond… I am gonna send backup." That got Batgirl's attention; the last thing she needed was for the others to get worked up for nothing. Besides she might not have figured out who it was but she knew what it was. That was something and next time she wasn't going to be fooled that easily. Feeling much better about her self Batgirl pressed the little button on her ear piece. "Batgirl here. I made con…contact. F… fu…fugitive got away." "It's ok Batgirl. You had me worried there for a bit. We'll get him next time." Oracle answered. If it wasn't for the mask, Batgirl would have lost all her street rep because of the impish smile that was plastered on her face. "Didn't get him… but know what he is!" Cassandra said with triumph. "Oh! Are you gonna share it with the rest of the class Cassandra or are you going to just sound smug about it." Oracle shot back with amusement in her voice.
"Telepath! It telepath… we are fighting a telepath" Cassandra said with conviction.
End of chapter One.