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CHAPTER 6 – THE RISE OF BATMAN (MAR-2016)
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Two police officers are combing the wreckage of an apartment. They scratch their chins at the carnage, having never seen such a mess in their careers. They are not really trying, since they are mainly waiting for their expert in such affairs to arrive from the Department of Homeland Security. As if on cue, a tall ominous figure finally arrives on the scene. Wearing styled body armor and shrouded in a black cloak, even the two cops get the shivers as he enters the room.
One of the policemen, a rookie, gets wide-eyed as the figure approaches and whispers to his fellow cop, a police detective. "Who's that," he asks. "Darth Vader?"
"Nope," the police detective answers in a thick Brooklyn accent. "That's our anti-terrorism expert from the DHS. He goes by the name of Batman."
The rookie sets his jaw and his eyebrows rise. "Why? and what's with that costume? This ain't some comic book convention."
The senior police officer quickly replies as he begins to approach their new arrival. "That's because the folks who wear that symbol we found on the corpse have been trying to kill him his whole life. No one knows who he really is, but he's a hell of an asset in this town. Now, shut your trap kid and learn something."
"Detective Harvey Bullock," Batman greets the detective with a deep, raspy voice. "Show me the body you found."
He smiles and replies, "Batman. Follow me."
The rookie is a tad confused, but follows.
The three make their way to a location at the center of the apartment. Located there is the body of a red-haired woman under a white sheet. She's clearly dead.
Batman pulls back the blood-stained sheet and examines the body. He recognizes her right away. "Dr. Pamela Isley... a.k.a. Poison Ivy. Dead. Looks like a she died instantly from several point-blank rounds fired from a firearm." He picks up a nearby shell casing. "9mm Parabellum. Interesting."
Batman stands and looks around the room. "This apartment is leased by Clark Kent, a reporter at BBC America. Raised in Kansas. He used to work for the Daily Planet newspaper before it was bought out and shut down. And he doesn't own a gun, especially a 9mm automatic." He wanders to inspect the floor, slowly walking away from the two police officers.
"The blood stains in this room are all wrong, as if there were several people. No apparent signs of how they were wounded." Batman finds a used smoke canister, and sniffs it. "Interesting..."
Batman is taking several photos of the room from a small device he pulls from his utility belt. Then he picks up the spent smoke canister and produces a handful of kits with swabs in them. He takes several samples of the blood stains, including one from the body of Dr. Isley herself.
The two cops are quiet as Batman finishes searching the apartment. Once done, Batman turns to face them. "Is there anything else you found out, perhaps from an eye-witness?"
Finally, Detective Bullock speaks up again. "Yep. They describe what sounded like a serious scuffle - yelling, throwing furniture, yada-yada. Ended with the sound of three pops from a handgun. That's when we got the call, and that was fifteen minutes before I called you – right after we saw that lazy-eight on the body's jumpsuit."
Batman nods. "Detective, I'd like you and your people to comb over this apartment for any more clues. Infinity doesn't strike often, but they are always very specific with their targets. There must be a pattern to their hits, but I have yet to figure it out. This one... this one may be different." Batman rubs a gloved hand along a counter-top, noticing a fine powder that shines with a green luster in the light. He takes a cloth and collects it, then seals it in yet another sample bag.
The detective nods, then replies. "Sure is different. They are usually successful. This one seems botched, like it got interrupted."
Batman nods. "Yes – and that's why I *have* to find them. The one who saved Clark Kent is a defector. It's the break in the case I've been looking for since the beginning."
Batman turns to leave. The rookie calls out to him. "Oh, Batman – you're taking evidence. Shouldn't we-"
Detective Bullock cuts him off. "Let him go – he's got jurisdiction here. Besides, I hear he's got ten times the ability to analyze it as we do."
Batman turns to the rookie, then to the detective. "For the record, Harvey: Infinity doesn't have the best track record for killing their targets, but they *are* infamous for their use of collateral damage. Sometimes, I don't know if that makes them sloppy, or just more vile. Remember that."
Batman turns to go, and the rookie once more calls out to Batman. "How do you know all this? Are you some kind of modern-day Sherlock Holmes?"
Batman stops, then turns to face the rookie. For the first time, Batman's face is somewhat revealed – there is a mask covering the top half of his face, just at the start of his nose. But there are a few scars peppering his cheeks and neck. Scars that tell a sad story few if any will ever know. Batman answers the rookie with a simple statement before leaving: "Because I'm Batman."