Gotham City: June 7th, 2013
Bruce walked down the stairs of Wayne enterprises, a beautiful dark haired woman at his side. "Are you sure this will work?" Bruce whispered. "Of Course it will, I had my father check it out, and he will be supporting me from his home." The lady replied. Bruce nodded and stepped up to the podium.
Immediately the flashing of hundreds of cameras went off, momentarily blinding Bruce.
"Mr. Wayne, we thought you were dead!"
"Mr. Wayne where have you been, how did your company's fortune return?"
"Mr. Wayne, don't you find it odd that you have shown up mere days after the Batman?" asked one reporter, silencing the crowd.
Bruce managed to keep his cool as he eyed the reporter in the front row, in a blue suit with glasses. Something looked familiar about him. With a pinch on a button inside the sleeve of his suit, a micro camera zoomed in and began to photograph the reporter.
"Batman? I am much too lazy to be somebody who spends all their time in a suit. Besides, I keep my evenings much more, exciting" he replied, squeezing the dark haired lady beside him. Zatana smiled and moved into his arms, but her eyes were flashing with humor.
"I am sure everybody wishes to know where I have been, how my finances have been restored, so I will take a few moments for an explanation, then a couple of questions. Serious questions though" he said, while smirking at the reporter in blue.
"During the beginning of Banes takeover of Gotham, I was captured by Talia. I was too valuable an asset to leave alive, and she knew any in depth investigation of the stock sell would prove it was not me who authorized the transactions. She wished to utilize my connections and wealth to add to her empire, enabling more tragedies like those that struck Gotham. I was the prisoner of her sect for over 6 months, until a freak blizzard struck their compound. I was able to escape in the confusion and return to a small town. From there I phoned Alfred, who was quite surprised to hear from me. He personally came and picked me up. From there I spent another 4 months in rehab repairing the damage to my body."
Bruce paused and looked around. Commisioner Gordon was standing to the side, his arms crossed and glaring at Bruce like he had a few extra questions. Zatana had turned her head and was mumbling softly behind Bruces back. Oddly enough the reporter in the front was focused on her, almost as if he could hear her. Bruce felt the energies growing at his back as the mystical power she possessed grew in strength.
"The body Alfred turned over to the police as me, was an agent of Talia's, surgically altered to look like me, including a complete set of teeth implanted into his head matching my dental patterns, and skin grafts on the hand that were good enough to fool an examiner, once the hands had been burnt almost beyond recognition." Bruce continued. He felt Zatana sigh as the power left her, and glanced at Gordon, whose imposing stare was replaced with one of almost fatherly affection. The reporter was staring wide eyed at Zatana and Bruce.
Clark was listening to Bruce speak, when his hearing detected a female voice speaking ever so softly. He focused his hearing on the woman beside Bruce and realized she was the one speaking, but that the words made no sense. A microsecond later his brain began processing the information, she was speaking backwards! He began an instant translation of what she was saying, all the while preparing his mind against any attack. "Render from the mind of all, Bruce Wayne's mighty fall. Back from the dead his story is true, never more nothing to do. To those who know his secret name, remember it was just a silly game. Bruce is not batman nor batman him, never question ever again!" She spoke. Clark's eyes widened, not only was his hunch correct and Bruce Wayne was the Batman, he was using a witch to erase this knowledge from anybody's head that knew it. His brow furrowed in anger. So that was the kind of person he was. Nothing more than a thug in a costume, determined to get his jollies from beating up people.