Italics are thoughts. -

Chapter 1: Blackjack Begins

The shadow-enveloped city of Gotham buzzed with nighttime activity as the Dark Knight sped through the streets in the Batmobile. He was on his way to the crime scene of a murder case he had just overheard through the GCPD's police banner. The victim, Raymond Douglas, was sixty-three year old Caucasian male. He was found dead in the apartment above his martial arts dojo, and the murder weapon was a household kitchen knife. Batman suspected that the incident was a result of a failed attempt at burglary on account of reports of forced entry through a window and torn apart room, but he couldn't be sure until he inspected the crime scene thoroughly.

The Batmobile slowed to a stop next to a rundown three story apartment building. Batman gave the structure a once-over and spotted the sign over an side alley exit door that read: Pappy Ray's Martial Arts Studio. Confirming that it was the place, Batman opened the vehicle's hatch and jumped out. Using his trusty grappling hook, he shot it onto the desired window on the third floor and pulled himself up. Landing on the narrow concrete ledge, Batman slid closer to the window and cautiously looked inside. The window he was using was one of two that was in the corner room of the building. The other, the one broken in through, was to the right and had a fire escape leading up to it. From where he was perched, Batman had a clear view of the entire crime scene.

The vigilante turned his attention the people currently in the room. There were three, the most recognizable was Commissioner James Gordon who was standing next to the body of the victim. The other two people present were a red-haired blue-eyed boy leaning against the left wall, and a black-haired green-eyed boy sitting backwards in a chair with his arms resting on the back.

Batman had done his research on the trip there, so he knew that the red-head was the victim's 14-year-old nephew, Hunter Mason. The other child was Jackson Douglas, the man's 13-year-old grandson. Both of the boys' parents had died long before, so the children were the only living relatives of Raymond Douglas. The older man had taken them in and given them a home, but now that he was gone... they became orphans.

Batman shoved all thoughts of his childhood away, and focused on the task at hand. After retrieving a listening device from his utility belt, the vigilante pressed it against the glass window and listen as voices began to crackle over the com.

"-or the las- t-me, why would I kill Paps?!" Hunter yelled at the Commissioner in a fit of anger.

Gordon simply rubbed his eyes tiredly and said, "Listen son, I'm not accusing you of murdering your uncle, but I still have to question all the suspects, which includes you. It's part of my job."

The boy seemed to quiet down after that, leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed.

Batman's attention shifted to the jet-haired boy in the chair. It appeared from the look in his eyes that he was in deep thought. Jackson hadn't paid much attention to his cousin's sudden outburst, or the fact that his grandfather was laying dead on the floor for that matter. His facial expression would change every so often to a frown, like he was troubled by something.

Gordon spoke again to Hunter, "Since you live with your uncle, you should have been there when he..." The Commissioner glanced at Jackson, probably realizing he was still talking to children, "...when he passed away."

"Well, I WASN'T here!" The red-head shot back with a glare. "I was in the city all afternoon!"

The stressed Commissioner held up his hands in surrender and said, "Alright! Alright! I just want to solve this case, but it's kind of hard to get answers with you almost biting my head off every few seconds!"

There was a low and almost inaudible mumble that came from the 13-year-old slumped on the backwards chair, but Batman was sure he said something like "that's what he wants".

While Hunter gave him a strange look, Gordon decided to ask Jackson a few questions. "You've been awfully quiet," he began, "do you have any information on what happened here? Did you see anything or..."

"I don't live with Ray," came the answer, "I live in an apartment one floor down."

The shocked expression on Gordon's face said he was having a hard time believing that, but after looking back and forth from both the boys' serious faces, it became apparent that Jackson was telling the truth.

"So," the Commissioner coughed, "why exactly don't you live in the same place as your grandfather?"

The boy just shrugged and replied, "Don't like freeloading."

That got an immediate reaction from Hunter, who snapped in frustration, "It's not freeloading if it's family, idiot!"

Batman figured they'd had that argument before since the bored look on Jackson's face hadn't changed. The Commissioner on the other hand was starting to loose his patience with the hot-headed nephew.

"That's enough young man," Gordon said sternly, "The officers waiting in the hallway have had a very long night, and I'm sure they'd appreciate it if we wrapped this up so they can go home. Now, if you'd stop interrupting me, I'd like to talk to your cousin."

Turning back to Jackson, Batman caught a look of amusement on the boy's face before it vanished without a trace. It probably had something to do with the remark about the officers having a "long night"- as if being orphaned didn't count.

"Jackson," addressed the Commissioner, "how exactly do you own a separate apartment? Did your grandfather pay for it?"

The jet-black shook his head and answered calmly, "No. I pay for the rent myself with money I earn from working at Ray's dojo."

Gordon raised an eyebrow. "We that's... independent of you. Does the landlord know that you basically live alone?"

Jackson nodded. "Ray was good friends with her, and she has a soft spot for kids."

The Dark Knights eyes narrowed as he heard the boy call his grandfather Ray for the third time that night, unlike Hunter, who used a nickname when referring to him.

That could mean Jackson wasn't that close to his grandfather, but he could also just be avoiding talking about him on familiar terms because he recently died.

Commissioner Gordon realized his hand to his jaw and hummed. "So, where were you at 9:25 PM today?"

Jackson sat up a little and looked at the ceiling in thought. "Well, I left to get groceries at around nine, but I think I was at the convenience store at that time." The boy paused, then continued, "The clerk would recognize me, I go there a lot."

Gordon nodded. "Alright, can you give me the name of the store and the grocery clerk so we can call them up and check your alibi?"

Jackson proceeded to give Gordon the information. He walked out into the hallway to make the phone call, leaving both kids alone at the crime-scene.

Batman wondered why the Commissioner would leave the two main suspects in a room full of evidence, either of them could change something.

Just as that thought crossed the detective's mind, the nephew began to move around the room.

"Hey," Jackson said as Hunter approached the body, "don't touch anything."

Well this is getting interesting.

"Why not?" The red-head replied with a frown. "It's not like death is contagious or anything."

Jackson lead forward onto the back of the chair. "It's not that. Commissioner Gordon just left two prime suspects at the crime scene ALONE. Doesn't that seem a little strange to you?"

Hunter snorted and scuffed his foot on the floor. "What? So you think one of us killed Pappy Ray?"

The jet-black simply answered with a shrug. The seemingly uncaring response got a rise out of Hunter, who growled, "You think you're so smart, talking about murder and death like it doesn't affect you! Well, guess what? You're an orphan now, and like it or not, it's gonna affect you one way or another."

The harsh words made Batman flinch on the inside, but he also noticed a flicker of anger dart across the normally calm eyes of Jackson Douglas. But before the conversation could escalate any further, Commissioner Gordon re-entered the room.

"I called the store you told me about, and your alibi checks out. You were seen by multiple people at the time of the incident."

The former grandson's expression stayed the same, like he already knew that. Gordon turned to the other suspect and said, "That leaves us your alibi."

"I was in the city," Hunter responded stiffly.

"You say that, but do you have anyone to back up your story?" Gordon asked.

"Yeah," Hunter nodded, "Jack saw me at the park, right?"

Gordon turned to Jackson, "Is this true?"

The boy tilted his head to the right and answered, "I did see Hunter at the park..."

The nephew grinned victoriously.

"But it was long after 9:25 PM."

Hunters smile vanished at his cousin's words, then he reached into his back pocket for something. "But I have pictures."

Gordon took the camera as it was handed to him, and looked at the screen. "Well, this picture caught the clocktower in the background, and it says 9:16. Plus the date on the photo matches today. Even so, that doesn't give you enough time to get from the park to this apartment even if you took a cab." The Commissioner sighed in relief. "I guess that means you're clear."

Gordon was about to hand the camera back to Hunter, until Jackson spoke up out of nowhere. "Can I see it?"

Gordon paused, seeing no harm in it, and gave the boy the camera. Being the detective he is, Batman noticed Hunter became a little nervous at Jackson's handling of the camera. He kept pulling at his red hoodie as if he was hot, it seemed odd that the boy would be wearing a jacket in the first place since it was a considerably warm night.

Seeing as both children were supposedly innocent, Gordon was prepared to call it a night. "Alright kids, let's get you over to social services so we can-"

"Wait."

The voice that came from the boy in the chair seemed different somehow, more confident and steady. He was still looking at the camera in his hands, like it was the last piece of a very important puzzle.

"The murderer is in this room." Silence seemed to fall over the city as Jackson looked up at his cousin. "Or more specifically, the person who killed my grandfather is you, Hunter."

Gordon's eyes widened as he looked at the 13-year-old before him, while Hunters eyes became a pinwheel of emotions: dread, sadness, fear, excitement... until it finally settled on anger.

"What?!" The enraged teen almost lunged at Jackson. If the Commissioner hadn't held him back, who know what would have happened.

"Now settle down, son." Gordon ironically said to Jackson. "You can't just accuse your cousin of cold blooded murder without evidence like that." Hunter was still struggling in Gordon's arms, so it was his turn to get reprimanded. "If you don't stop causing trouble I WILL handcuff you to the sink."

The spitfire stopped fighting immediately, but continued to glare daggers at his cousin.

The Commissioner looked back at Jackson who said, "If you let me explain myself sir, you'll realize that I'm right."

Gordon seemed torn for a moment, but maybe it was the familiar tone in the boy's voice that led him to agree. "Alright, how exactly do yo know that Hunter killed your grandfather?"

Jackson closed his eyes for a second to gather his thoughts, then opened them and began, "If you look carefully at the broken window, you'll notice that there are more glass shards on the fire escape outside than in the room."

With his curiosity peaked, Gordon walked over to the window and inspected it. After a few seconds he exclaimed, "You're right! There are barely any on this side of the window!"

Jackson nodded. "That implies that it was broken from the inside. Also, there was no evidence of the door's lock being tampered with, which means either the culprit was a ghost, or they owned a spare key."

Batman had noticed the glass shards from the beginning, but he couldn't have put together the facts without seeing the front door.

Hunter decided at that moment to defend himself. "Hold on!" He interrupted, "I'm not the only person with a spare key. The landlady has one too!"

The jet-black pinned Hunter with a look. "That's correct. But Commissioner Gordon already question her, and she was confirmed to be at a late afternoon yoga class during the time of murder."

"Hold on," Gordon spoke up, "how do you know that information? You weren't there."

"Yes I was."

The Commissioner was confused. "You were?"

"Mm hm."

"I don't remember saying you could listen in a on my work."

Jackson rested his head on his crossed arms on the chair's back and replied calmly, "No disrespect sir... but you never said I couldn't."

That conversation would have been amusing to Batman if it wasn't taking place at a crime scene... or if he wasn't Batman. But since he is Batman, seriousness prevails.

Gordon shook his confusion and asked the boy, "Even in light of this new evidence, that's not enough to confirm that Hunter is the murderer."

"Maybe not." Jackson nodded to the ransacked room. "But if it was a burglar, and they killed Ray before trashing the place, someone would have heard the struggle. The walls are paper thin." To prove his point, the green-eyed boy stomped on the floor with his left foot. Merely seconds later, an angry yell came from below.

"So, the burglar wouldn't have had the time to destroy the room this much before a tenant got curious."

Jackson looked at Hunter with an emotionless expression and said, "The culprit had to have ransacked the room before killing my grandfather, which means he had to know him well enough to let him get away with it."

Hunter was obviously uncomfortable with the way the conversation was going, but it was mostly hidden by anger. "But that's still not evidence!" He retorted, crossing his arms.

Jackson closed his eyes. "Your right. So far all this has only been speculation." He then reopened his eyes, looked directly at Hunter and said slowly, "If only there was photographic evidence."

As the realization sunk in, the nephew's face became three shades paler.

Commissioner Gordon look intrigued as he asked Jackson, "What photographic evidence?"

Jackson picked up the camera that had almost been forgotten and handed it to the Commissioner. "Tell me, do you notice anything off about that picture?"

Gordon's eyes search the screen and he replied, "This is the photo with the clocktower in it."

Jackson nodded. "Yes, but if you look closely at the top right corner, there's part of a Cheshire moon caught in it too."

Batman didn't hear that phrase being used very often, but it meant that the moon was in a crescent shape. From the look on his face, it seemed Gordon had never heard that phrase before.

"Don't you mean a crescent moon?" He asked.

Jackson eyes became clearer, then he corrected himself. "Sorry, that's what I meant."

It must have slipped out by accident, but why would he apologize?

"Forget it," Gordon waved it off, "what does the moon have to do with anything?"

Jackson seemed calmer as he continued, "It's easy to miss with the sky always so clouded, but the moon tonight is almost a full one."

To see for himself, Batman looked up at the gray-black night sky and searched the clouds for the moon. The boy was right, even though the clouds were thick, an almost full moon peeked out from the darkness.

"So the picture was taken almost a month ago." Batman's attention was drawn back to the room where Jackson had just spoken. Things were about to get real.

Gordon was paying much closer attention to Hunter now that Jackson had pointed out the error. "Do you have anything to say?" The Commissioner asked the red-head with a frown.

The cornered Hunter stayed silent for a moment, then burst out, "But the date on the picture is for today! Can you explain that?"

The attention was back on Jackson, seeing as he had all the answers that night. "Anyone with half a brain can alter dates, Hunter, and seeing that you staged this whole thing, I'd hope you'd have way more than half." His cousin opened his mouth to object, but Jackson wasn't finished. "You're even wearing the same hoodie as in the picture to make it look like it was taken tonight, that's why you won't take it off even though it's way to hot to wear a jacket.

Apparently Hunter couldn't believe what was happening, because all he could do was stare at the far wall in shock. Commissioner Gordon sighed heavily as he accepted the fact that Raymond Douglas had been murdered by his own nephew.

It was both twisted and disappointing to the Dark Knight that a kid would do something like that.

But Gotham is full of twisted people, and unfortunately... that includes children too.

Batman looked at the blue-eyed boy and wondered what the motive could possible have been.

"Out of everything tonight," Jackson said quietly to no one in particular, "the only thing I don't understand... is why you did it."

The boys words must have brought the crazy out in Hunter, because he immediately snapped and lunged for Jackson in the chair. He didn't get far though. Gordon was prepared for that and held him back again, although this time he called for the officers in the hallway. Two of them rushed in and grabbed the boy by the arms, while the third guarded the door. During the entire event, Jackson hadn't moved a muscle, not even to flinch. He just sat there with a tired look in his eyes, like it hurt to look at his depraved cousin.

Hunter was still struggling against the strong grip of the cops as he finally spoke. "You wanna know why I killed him, Jack?! I killed him because you had him fooled just like everyone else!" Even though the officers had him restrained, they couldn't stop the lunatic from talking. "You were always his favorite! Always doing everything right!" Hunter began to laugh so hard he bent over, but since the two men were still holding him by the arms, it looked like that was the only thing that kept him standing. "You were always so smart, and everyone knew you were going to do something great with your life!"

Jackson watched solemnly as his cousins slumped form began to shake. "Hah! He was even going to give you everything! His money, his dojo, all of it!" The boy's fiery head lifted just enough so he could look at Jackson with eyes of pure malice. "If only he knew."

This time, Jackson did flinch.

A cruel smile spread across Hunters face as he said, "I was just saving old Paps the disappointment, you know? It would have broken his poor heart to find out that perfect little Jacks isn't any different from me."

The room became deathly silent as the lunatic finally shut up. He hadn't done any physical damage, but words can be a more formidable weapon than any gun.

Jackson was staring at the floor, probably wishing it would crack open and swallow him whole... or at least that's what Batman thought. Instead of staying defeated, the boy's green eyes lit up with a fire that wasn't there until now.

"We all have demons, Hunter," the boy began with his voice ringing with confidence, "but only the weak let themselves be controlled by them."

That was it. No fancy speech or sarcastic comeback, just a single sentence that meant more than he could ever know.

Hunter was dragged out of the room kicking and screaming. After Gordon watched as the last officer left the room, he then turned to Jackson, who was still sitting in the chair backwards. "Your grandfather did leave you his dojo in his will. Do you plan on keeping it?"

With a sigh, Jackson answered, "Probably not. I can't possibly keep it going by myself." He turned his head to the kitchen counter and looked at the picture frame of what looked like Jackson and his grandfather. "Pappy would have wanted me to sell it and use the money for college anyways."

Gordon nodded and said, "I understand."

Both of them stayed silent for a while, just enjoying the silence, until Commissioner Gordon made the comment, "You know, son... you would make a good detective."

The 13-year-old lifted his head a little and gave the Commissioner an odd look.

"What?" Gordon asked at the reaction, "Did I say something wrong?"

Jackson thought about it for a moment, then replied slowly, "No. I'm just surprised you would encourage a kid to get into law enforcement."

Gordon chuckled. "You make it sound like I'm telling you to put on a cape and go beat up street thugs. It different than being a vigilante you know."

Jackson raised an eyebrow and replied, "Is it?"

James Gordon blinked, then let out a laugh and ruffled the boy's black hair. "I honestly don't know, kid! I honestly don't know."