Again, Alan Finegen's phone beeped.
Again, Alan muttered that he did not have the fucking time for this.
He was sitting at his desk in a trailer in Old Gotham, on site of the construction of the new Gotham City Police Department headquarters that he was overseeing, while talking on the phone with the crew that was already two weeks behind on the repairs on the General Hospital. Well, two weeks behind before a water pipe, which was found nowhere on the plans that the city had given him, burst under the breaker of one of his excavators. On top of that he had three workers call in sick that morning, which he suspected was connected to the Griffins going to 15 innings the night before. The air conditioning in the trailer was on the fritz, the milk that he had put in his coffee had spoiled, and now his older brother Paul, who spent his days making up video games in a properly air conditioned office with refrigerated milk for their goddam cereal bar was texting him every two minutes insisting that he look at some sub-reddit, whatever the hell that was.
Text Message 10:03 – Paul: Check out the who is batman subreddit some guy mentioned your name.
Alan thought that he couldn't care less if some jerkoff mentioned his name, or tagged him, or anything else. His very strong self-image was predicated on him being nothing like his phone gazing, selfie taking, Candy Crush playing, like-counting, tweeting, uploading, posting peers. From the time he arrived at work following his morning workout (at a real gym with big machines and aspiring MMA fighters, not one of these social clubs with massage chairs and free bagel Sundays) until he checked out about two hours after the union guys had all packed up and left, he did not check his personal email, read news, or do anything else online not directly work related. That is how you become a site supervisor in your mid-twenties and come to manage all projects in southeastern Gotham for Ace Construction by the time you are thirty. Working so hard had its costs: His attempt at marriage fizzled before their second anniversary, there were not too many guys, if any, who he could call his friend. He had not gone out for drinks or to a ballgame with anyone his age since his divorce. Life was work, working out, visiting Paul and his wife and kids, travelling to Florida every two months to visit his parents, and going out for the occasional drink with older guys from the construction business. Any free time was spent reading books roughly the size of the Gotham Directory on World War II. He was not going to interrupt his workday to go to some website for creeps to post pictures from underneath girls' skirts at mall escalators.
He picked up his phone and sent a one word message to Paul: working.
Matt the accountant came into his trailer to go over some numbers on the Police Department project, he put together a file for the bike messenger to bring to City Hall, and spoke to a medical equipment supply company about electrical wiring for the hospital, all the while wiping sweat from his brow and ignoring his phone as it beeped and vibrated its way across the table. After more than an hour, he picked up the phone and gave it a glance.
Text Message 11:06 – Paul: Better get infront of this. These clowns are all over your FB page.
Text Message 11:26 – Paul: YourAnonNews is tweeting your name
Three more messages, all from Paul, followed. He dialed Paul's number to talk to him like a normal person.
"Paul, what the fuck do you want?"
"Don't 'what the fuck' me. I'm not the guy who just was upvoted the front page."
"Upvoted to what? Speak fucking English."
"Do you even know what Reddit is?"
"I don't have time for this shit."
"You better make time, little brother, because 450,000 people are reading that you might be Batman."
"450… Batman? I really don't have time for this shit."
"I don't think you have a choice. Look at the link I sent you. Then call me back."
Alan went to one of Paul's messages, clicked on a link, and was brought to the thread.
reddit/r/crime Who is Batman?
promaster 10 points ten minutes ago: He certainly looks fit enough.
34charlyP 13 points twelve minutes ago: OMG! His uncle was a cop gunned down in line of duty. Totally has motivation.
luvluvx 8 points thirteen minutes ago: seems to be the right age
34charlyP 13 points sixteen minutes ago: found his facebook page- mining it for relevant data- see /alanfinegen
tolforest7 18 points fifty minutes ago: Alan Finegen
luvluvx 8 points fifty five minutes ago: Alan Finegen
black6widow 5 points 1 hour ago: Alan Finegen – best lead on Batman I've ever seen
"These creeps are on my Facebook page? Of course. Stupid fucking Facebook," Alan mumbled as he opened a browser on his laptop. He never wanted a Facebook, but Paul badgered him so much about being a Luddite that he eventually gave in. He almost never posted. He glanced at his page. A picture of him at the beach, shirtless, lifting his nephew over his head, posted by Paul. An image of a wreath in memory of his uncle, Captain Frank Finegen, gunned down in the line of duty, posted on the anniversary of his death. A clip of Bruce Springsteen telling a story at concert in England. Why the hell did these people care? He clicked on Settings, thenSecurity, then Deactivate your account. Done. No more creeps.
He went back toreddit/r/crime Who is Batman? And began reading from the bottom up.
reddit/r/crime Who is Batman?
luvluvx 8 points two hours ago: searching names of construction supervisors in Gotham. Must narrow it down to white men between 25 – 35 (maybe 40 but probably not). Also should…
iffyPop 2 points two hours ago: awesome idea!
stromguy78 7 points two hours ago: New theory re: bat resources: Works in construction. Supervisor or higher. Gives him ability to use heavy machinery for batmobile. Also can order rappelling gear et… without suspicion. Also, if batcave does exist (see earlier in thread) must have been built by someone with ability.
His phone rang. Paul. Alan picked up and began
"I can't believe they're…"
"What the hell did you just do?"
"Nothing. I was just reading this thread."
"So you didn't deactivate your Facebook account?"
"Of course I deactivated my Facebook account. You think I was going to let those creeps…"
"Alan, you dumbass. Now they're all totally convinced it's you."
"Because of the goddamn Facebook?"
"Because it looks like your hiding."
"What is wrong with these people?"
"Shit, just got a tweet from that prick Alexander Knox."
"The reporter from the Globe?"
"Yeah. Listen. 'Closing in on Batman. Construction manager and athlete Alan Finegen trying to cover his digital trail'."
"Athlete? Digital trail? Batman? Nobody believes this shit?"
"Alan, people don't just believe this shit. They live for this shit."
reddit/r/crime Who is Batman?
dave zero points one minute ago: My brother (went to high school with him) CONFIRMS IS NEVER SEEN AT NIGHT
sholmes twelve points two minutes ago: Can someone else confirm that he has not been seen out at night?
strngbeeen three points five minutes ago: Spoke to a friend who KNOWS HIM PERSONALLY. SAYS has not seen him out at night in YEARS.
sholmes twelve points five minutes ago :yes, mouth is eerily similar. Cannot be a coincidence.
crystalk five points six minutes ago: exact same mouth!
sholmes twelve points seven minutes ago: asked a friend in construction, says man in his position definitely would have access to all kinds of gear
gothgrl888 four points seven minutes ago: is that a bruise under his left pectoral? Looks like someone has been fighting
issuet99 six points eight minutes ago: no normal person needs to be in that good shape
As behind as he was, Alan had to leave work. Just couldn't focus, just kept refreshing the stupid thread. . One the drive home he listened to Gotham 1020, as always. Usually it just served as background noise, except for when he focused on the traffic or weather. Today, every word made his stomach turn."
"Reports coming from credible sources link Batman and Finegen…"
"The 'Worlds' Greatest Detective' doing his best to keep the amateur detectives of his trail…"
"There are clear similarities between Batman's tools and those which Finegen had easy access to…"
Batman. Of course Batman. He knew that one day Batman would get him one way or another. He always knew the other shoe was going to drop. Ever since he gunned down his uncle 15 years ago.