October 31st, 2011

Doctor Saul Erdel moved throughout his laboratory, setting up the experiment he waited his entire life to perform: an interdimensional broadcast device that would open a visual portal to Mars. It had cost a small fortune to buy the Gotham City Observatory, but it would be worth it if his plan worked. He had spent fifty years building to this moment, and money meant nothing to him.

He pulls a switch to activate the device, and electricity spreads out across the room, running through wires and into the steel bars that serve as his faraday cage. He wouldn't risk anyone discovering his secret. Saul moves to his computer and makes sure the cage is holding and is satisfied to see the electricity is at peak levels with no sign of failing.

Next, he approaches the control console for the device and begins to turn dials until he finds the correct frequency. He pulls a lever to activate it, and a flash of blue light momentarily blinds him. When he looks back, he does not see the red sands of Mars, or even a portal. He sees standing before him a horrifying creature.

It stands nine feet tall with a sharp oddly shaped head and two fierce yellow eyes surrounded by black rings. There is no mouth on the monster, not one that Saul can see anyway. Its skin is emerald green, and he is sure it is skin and not scales. It holds four long sharp claws on already long and thin hands that connect to long and thin arms. On its feet it has three thick toes with curved claws on the front two toes.

The monster looks around the lab then turns its gaze to Saul, looking at him with an emotionless expression that filled him with fear. Saul's hand goes to his chest as his heart begins palpitating, and he loses all feeling in his left arm. Sweat runs down his forehead as he looks to the monster, then falls to his back.

It jumps over the console with ease and moves onto the ground, crawling up alongside Saul. Tears of pain and fear fall down his cheeks as he waits for the creature to kill him, as it moves its claws to his head. Its longest claw touches his forehead, and for just a moment he feels sharp pain in that spot. Then it stops.

"I'm so sorry," a voice says in his head. "I didn't mean to scare you, I'm so sorry."

"W-what are you?" Saul asks out loud.

"My name is J'onn J'onzz. I'm a… I'm the last Martian."

"Why are you… here?"

"I don't know. You're the one that brought me here."

"It was… supposed to just be a… window, not a door…"

"Then it worked better than intended. You saved my life, Saul."

"How do you… know my name?"

"I read your mind. You're dying, there's nothing I can do for you. Not to save you, anyway."

"I… my people…"

"They'll never find me. Don't worry, I can change my appearance. Look just like them."

"Then… my niece and brother in law… they're all I have left… would you… tell them I loved them?"

"I will."

"I haven't seen them in years… they live at,"

"I know."

"Thank you…"

Saul's body goes limp and he remains motionless as J'onn stands over him, looking down at him with sorrow. Then, J'onn's body begins to rapidly change, until he looks identical to Saul, including his clothing. J'onn approaches the switch on the wall and pulls it down, deactivating the faraday cage. Instead of moving towards the cage's door he moves towards a wall, and steps through it as though it wasn't even there.

J'onn takes one last look at Saul, then takes his leave. Though this world was strange to him, he had a promise to keep. The least he could do was carry out Saul's last request.

Across Gotham City…

Black Mask paced back and forth in front of three bound and blindfolded men, each one beaten bloody, in a dimly lit office on the second floor of an abandoned factory. Outside two guards stood dressed in black suits and masks holding submachine guns. Six other guards patrolled the factory floor, while another two guards without masks or submachine guns waited with his limo driver outside.

He dressed in a dark red suit with a black shirt and vest, a red tie, and black leather of gloves. Of course he also wore his signature black skull shaped mask. Over his gloves were two separate sets of knuckle dusters, one gold and one silver. Both gloves were stained with the men's blood, and several teeth littered the floor.

He says to them, "So, I bust my ass providing for you boys. Bribing cops, killing witnesses, and what do I get? A knife in my fuckin back. Or rather, Paulie's back. I put Paulie through fuckin college, set him up in a nice ass apartment and give him one of the best damn jobs in the business, and you little shits thought I'd reward ya for killing him!?"

The man on the right speaks up, "Boss, we!"

Black Mask cuts them off by striking him in the left cheek, knocking him to the ground. He then straightens his tie before saying, "Of all the stupid shit my men have pulled, this has got to be the stupidest. Why in the HELL would I want Paulie dead!?"

The man in the middle cries out, "You said you were gonna kill him! We wanted to save you the effort!"

He punched the man in the right eye, collapsing it and cracking the socket. "It's a figure of speech you fuckin idiot!" he growled, before punching him again in the jaw, dislocating it. "Even if I did want him dead, I wouldn't have wanted you dumb asses to do it! I woulda done it myself, or at least get a professional to do it. Not a couple of limp dicked bastards like you!"

Downstairs, one of the guards felt a hand clasp over his mouth before another snatched the gun from his hands and tossed it to the ground. He attempted to scream as the free arm wrapped over his throat, chocking him into unconsciousness as he was dragged behind a piece of machinery. Seconds later he blacked out and was placed gently on the ground out of view from the other patrols.

Two more guards meet near identical fates, before another is attacked in a similar manner by a smaller person wearing dark green gloves. In the space of a minute, each guard on the factory floor is silently taken down without the guards above noticing anything was wrong. The smaller of the two attackers exits the building, while the larger one moves beneath the railing in front of the last two guards.

His right hand moves to his belt and removes a mechanical grappling hook, which he quickly uses to pull himself up onto the balcony, balanced perfectly on the railing, terrifying the two guards as they look into the darkness and its white eyes. The guard on the left raises his gun, only for a metal object to enter its barrel. He notices it just before he pulls the trigger and sighs a breath of relief as his partner turns to run. Before he can the shape lunges forward and grabs both their heads and slams them together, before releasing their unconscious bodies.

The Batman rises up to his full height, 6'2, and braces himself for confronting Black Mask. The Batman wears a black ballistic cloak that connects below his cowl made of the same material with ceramic plating over it. White lenses cover his eyes, serving as cameras that broadcast to a single computer, while also giving him readouts of various factors around him. Most of his suit is dark grey, with a black bat emblem with a yellow outline on his chest. Both his gloves and boots are black, while his gloves each hold three blades on his forearms, and end with sharp claws.

He moves his hand to his ear and says, "Robin. What's the status of the escape car?"

"Working on it, Batman," Robin replies as dodges a bullet.

Robin dresses in a dark red suit with green gloves and boots lacking the blades and claws of his mentor's costume. On his back he wears a black cape with a yellow interior, and instead of a cowl he wears a domino mask with the same lenses as batman. He fights using a six-foot-long staff, two inches taller than him, that can be pulled into two three-foot-long eskrima sticks.

"Why are you guys even working for this clown?" Robin asks as he sweeps the feet out from one of the guards.

"Shut the hell up!" another one yells as he unloads his handgun at Robin.

"Oh right, the boy wonder says as he carelessly dodges the bullets. "Why do you bother working for this clown. Better?"

Then he twists the top of his staff, disassembling it into the eskrima sticks before throwing one at the guard, hitting him square in the forehead. The guard falls backwards before hitting his head on the ground and instantly blacks out.

"I feel like I'm forgetting something…" he says to himself, as the other guard quietly rises up behind him and pulls a butterfly knife from his coat. "Oh right!" he exclaims, before spinning around and hitting him in the side of the head. The guard collapsed to the ground and Robin stepped over his body to move towards the driver's side of the limo. He tapped the glass with his stick and when the driver rolled down the window he said, "So, what's it gonna be, hot stuff?"

"I just work here," the man said as he raised his arms to show he was no threat.

"Good," he replied before moving his finger to his earpiece then says, "All good here, Batman."

"Roger," Batman calmly said, before kicking down the door.

"What the hell!?" Black Mask yelled, spinning around as he drew a revolver from within his coat.

The Batman smacked the gun from his hands before he could fire, then delivered a punch to his gut, knocking the air out of him. Black Mask was used to pain however and wouldn't go down so easily. He returned the favor by striking Batman in both sides of his ribs, where his armor was weakest, before upper cutting him in the jaw.

Batman backed up then moved himself into a fighting stance as Black Mask cracked his knuckles, glaring at him all the while. Then Black Mask charged forward, attempting to punch Batman in the head. The Batman replied by grabbing hold of his arm and striking the bottom of his elbow, breaking his arm, before throwing him over his shoulder.

Black Mask rose to his feet and looked up at the Batman with pure hatred in his eyes. Then he began to back up as he said, "Fuck this! Fuck YOU, BAT! I'm trying to run a business here, and you come along to screw everything up! I've had enough of this! The bosses been talking, and we're gonna fuckin kill you and that brat of yours! String him up for all of Gotham to see, so they remember whose really in charge!"

"Roman,"

"MY NAME is BLACK MASK!"

"Behind you!" Batman yelled, dashing forward as Black Mask fell over the railing, his hand barely missing the Batman's. He hit the ground with a thud, breaking a rib and twisting his ankle, but was overall fine. After making sure he wasn't critically injured, the Batman left him alone and returned to the men he had been torturing.

He told them, "Don't worry, Black Mask's been taken care of. I'm sure the police will go easy on you, after what he did to you," then he placed his finger over his ear and said, "Alfred, alert GCPD that Black Mask has been taken care of, and to bring an ambulance for him."

"Understood, Master Bruce," came Alfred's voice. "I have a rather interesting case for you."

"What is it?"

"A man died at the Gotham City Observatory, a heart attack."

"Why is that interesting?"

"Because five minutes later, he left, while his body was still on the ground."

"Is there any footage?"

"Some. The cameras were disabled until after he died, when he was recorded leaving, however a microphone was still enabled. I'm sending you the recording now."

A crackle of electricity filled the Batman's ears, covering most of what he assumed was Saul's voice. "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz -window- zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz -niece- zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz – ye- zzzzzzzzzzzzz -you- zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

"I heard the word "niece," perform a background check," Batman ordered.

"Already on it, sir. Let's see… oh my."

"What is it?"

"It appears as though you already know his niece. Well, more than know."

"Who is it?"

"Katherine Kane. Your cousin."

"Kate… I haven't seen her in years."

"Time for a visit, then?"

"Yes. Have one of my nicer suits waiting for me. I'd like to actually talk to her about this."

"Talking to someone for a case? My, you really are the world's greatest detective."

The Batman chuckled before saying, "Thank you, Alfred. I'll see you soon."

An hour later…

Bruce Wayne arrived in an antique limo outside Kate's apartment, located several streets over from Crime Alley. "She sure picked one hell of a place to live…" he muttered to himself.

"Perhaps there's a reason for that, sir," Alfred said from the driver's seat.

"Maybe. Keep Dick busy while I'm gone, will you?"

"Of course, sir. I'll have him do his usual patrols. Perhaps I'll even send him to investigate one of the many abandoned buildings littering the city. It seems like they're almost always filled with criminals."

"Sounds good. Circle the block for a few minutes, I'll be back soon."

"Understood, Master Bruce."

Bruce stepped out of the limo and closed the door behind him before approaching the front door. He looked over the intercom before selecting apartment B3 and said, "Kate? It's uh, Bruce. Wayne. Your cousin? Can I come up?"

Silence came for an uncomfortable amount of time before at last the door buzzed, and Bruce was allowed inside. The apartment building's interior was better than he imagined, although he still questioned why his cousin would ever to choose to live in a rundown apartment in a ghetto when she was an heiress.

As soon as he knocked on her door, she pulled it open, causing him to nearly knock on her head. "Oh, hi," he said.

"Come in, Bruce," Kate carelessly said as she moved towards her couch.

Bruce looked over Kate's apartment, and found it to be abysmal with a dirty old couch and no TV in the living room, while the kitchen was full of dirty plates. Kate herself looked fairly better than her apartment and was clearly taking care of herself. She was 5'11 and nearly as muscular as him, though she seemed far too lazy too have built that much muscle. It didn't take a genius to realize she was acting. Her hair was orange and short, appearing as though it was just recovered from being buzzed off. Her eyes were emerald green, in stark contrast to his blue eyes.

She said, "You know there's Nazis again, Bruce? Like, actual fucking Nazis? The fuck's up with that?"

"Yeah, it's a problem," Bruce replied as he took a seat on the couch. "How have you been, Kate?"

"As alright as I can be. Mom died a couple years ago, opioids. She was more strung out than half the people in this building put together."

"Speaking of which, why are you… living here?"

"Rent's cheap. I can take care of myself. Why else?"

"Don't you want to live somewhere… better?"

"I'm fine here, Bruce."

"Do you need money?"

"For fuck's sake Bruce, I'm fine! Did you come here just to pity me or was there a reason?"

"I haven't seen you in years."

"Yeah. Whose fault is that again?"

"I'm sorry Kate, but I had to get out of Gotham for a while."

"Four years. You were sixteen, and you just disappeared off the face of the Earth. We tried looking for you, you know."

"We?"

"Me and dad. We thought you were having a break down. We followed your credit cards, but then they just stopped. That was in Japan."

"Year one…"

"Try month three. You left all of us behind, Bruce. We were worried sick. Then a year ago, you just pop back up opening an orphanage and don't even try to contact us. How do you think that makes us feel?"

"I'm sorry, Kate… I had no idea."

"Why would you? You didn't care."

"I do care, Kate. And I'm here now, for whatever you need."

"I need you to," before Kate could finish her sentence, there came a knock at the door.

She looked to Bruce to finish her thought, before standing up and moving towards the door, pulling a handgun from behind the kitchen counter as she walked past it. "Kate!" Bruce worriedly hissed.

Kate pulled open the door to reveal a tall muscular black man in a brown trench coat and fedora. He had a grey vest and red tie underneath the coat, resting over a white shirt. His jaw was strong and his cheeks thin, and he held himself up with an air of authority. Bruce couldn't help but notice how the man looked familiar, but it was a face he couldn't place.

"Kate Kane?" the man asked in a familiar, somewhat light voice.

"Yes?" Kate asked, pressing the gun to the door, aimed at the man.

"My name is… John Johnson. I was a friend of your uncle, Saul."

"I haven't seen uncle Saul in forever. Wait, what do you mean was?"

Bruce was preparing himself to charge at the man at the first sign of provocation as he said, "Saul past away earlier tonight. A heart attack. He told me to tell you that he loved you, very much, even if he wasn't around."

"I see. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Good night, ma'am."

As John turned to leave Kate closed the door before looking to Bruce as she said, "Wasn't that Detective Lance from that show we used to watch as kids?"

Bruce stood up and said, "Stay here Kate. I'll be right back."

"Not even gonna give your condolences?"

"Oh, right! I'm so sorry for your loss."

"Thanks. I haven't seen him since I was a kid so, I never really knew him. Not a big reason to be sad, you know."

"Right. You mind if I go now?"

"Sure, Bruce. Run away again."

"I'll be back. I promise."

Bruce moved past Kate then out the door, making sure to carefully close it behind him before he began to sprint down the hall. He reached the staircase and turned down it to see the man standing at the bottom, waiting for him.

"Interesting," said John.

"Ms. Kane calls you Bruce, yet you refer to yourself as Batman."

"How did you," Bruce began before John cut him off.

"Telepath, as you already realized, Batman. My real name is J'onn J'onzz, and I am not a threat to you, or anyone else."

"Saul Erdel would disagree."

"Saul died of a heart attack, something I deeply regret causing. I'm not going to fight you, Batman."

"Come with me back to my home. I need to be sure you're not a threat."

"I promise you, I'm not."

"I can't be sure of that."

J'onzz and Bruce glared at each other as J'onzz probed Bruce's mind, looking for lies or intention of harm. Upon satisfaction he said, "Fine. I will come with you."