Nick could not risk revealing the Bat Cave.
"This better work," he grumbled, walking away from the computer, over to the elevator at the other end of the cave.
He pressed the up key, and the elevator opened.
Nick stepped inside, and the elevator slowly rose up, into the remains of Wayne Manor.
With a ding, the elevator doors slid open, to a ransacked living room.
Stepping out of the elevator, Nick watched as a book case slid over the doorway, perfectly hiding the Batcave's entrance.
Nick walked out of the room, passing spray painted messages and graffiti, into the crumbling main entrance.
Nick shook his head in shame, disappointed that such a nice place had to go to waste.
He walked out the front door.
"AYE! LEO! THERE'S SOMEBODY COMIN' OUTTA THE MANSION!" yelled a Joker. He was sitting in a car outside of the ditch.
Suddenly, Leo, Mikey's partner, scrambled out of the hole and dusted the dirt off of his overalls.
"Whattaya doin'?" yelled the Joker, waving his ragged purple glove in the air.
"Just thought I'd check out this old place. Didn't know it was a crime to do something when I'm off work," said Nick.
Leo tilted his head.
"Well, why's there a bike in this ditch?"
"I... Uh, I hid it there so nobody would steal it."
"Steal it?" shouted Mikey.
"Yeah," improvised Nick. "You never know what'll happen in this town."
Too stupid to see through the obvious lie, Leo gestured with his fingers pointing at his eyes and then toward Leo. I'm watching you.
The Joker hopped back in his car, and they drove off.
"Whew," whistled Nick, walking back into Wayne's house.
He walked back to the elevator, when something cracked under his foot.
Nick frowned and bent over, picking up the picture frame he just smashed.
"What the?"
In his hands, the cracked frame contained a picture that made no sense.
His friend, Jack, was in it. He stood beside an old man, smiling. They were both wearing suits, and they were standing outside... of Wayne Manor when it was still intact.
Nick rushed over to the bookcase.
"How do I get that elevator..."
He carefully examined the books.
They were all organized neatly, except for a single volume that sat upside down.
Scratching his chin, Nick pulled it, and the bookcase slid away.
"The life of a Batman," laughed Nick, stepping into the elevator.
At home, Jack could not sleep.
His shabby apartment at Jokerz Inn never felt like home.
There was always something off, as if he was never meant to live here.
It wasn't any more impressive than his parents' larger apartment down the hall, but their place never felt like home either.
It was odd, but Jack realized that the only place that ever felt like home was that weird cave he found yesterday. Why was that?
He kept rolling over these thoughts for hours. He thought he'd be relaxed if he could just fall asleep. He was wrong.
In a dream, he found himself in some kind of pod.
A glass shield sat above him, as a dark figure stepped into view.
With the press of a button, the shield slid away, and he was lifted into the arms of... The Batman?
Jack sat up, breathing heavily. Sweat rolled down his face. That wasn't just a dream. It was too real. That was a memory.
The next day, after the same routine of folding laundry, eating lunch, and bike riding away, Nick led the way this time to the Bat Cave. Nick said he found something that Jack had to see.
"This time, bring the bikes INTO the cave," said Jack.
Again, without realizing, Jack knocked out the code and the doors opened.
"How do you do that?" asked Nick.
"I don't know," replied Jack irritably.
Inside the cave, Nick rushed over to the computer, grabbing a smashed picture frame off of the desk.
"Look at this," said Nick, holding the picture out.
Jack grabbed it, and his eyes widened. It was a picture of him, standing outside of Wayne Manor before it was destroyed.
"How is this possible?" asked Jack.
"And who's this old man in the picture?"
Nick rubbed his hands together, booting up the "Batcomputer."
The screen flickered on, and he feverishly typed a name into the computer's database.
"I decided to investigate," he said.
"And look what I found."
A picture came up, of a man wearing the newest suit in the line-up Jack found.
"Who?" asked Jack, watching video clips of the man gliding around Gotham and punching out Jokerz.
"This is the scary part," said Nick, hitting a button.
The page changed, showing a profile of Jack. Only, it wasn't Jack. The person was labelled as "Chance Whidmore."
"What is this? Why does it have me listed as 'Chance Whidmore?'"
"This is going to sound weird," said Nick. "But he isn't you. You're him."