Gotham Police Department Roof June 8th, 8pm
"Are you sure this is the best way?" Superman inquired.
"Just do it" Bruce growled. "After last night they will be after a Batman. They may think you came to help."
Superman sighed, and floated down three floors to hover outside Commissioner Gordon's office. He tapped gently on the window, and when Gordon turned around with a look of shock on his face, Superman sighed and pointed up. Gordon nodded and grabbed his coat and headed for the roof.
Once on the roof Gordon came to a stop, a little in awe of the man floating 6 inches above the ground in front of him. "I would ask if I could help you, but I seriously doubt I could." Gordon began
Superman pointed to the shadows behind him. "It was his idea Gordon, I am just the messenger in this instance." Gordon looked to the shadows and stepped back a bit. "You" he hissed, going for his gun. Superman casually floated between Gordon and Batman with his hands in the air. "Please Commissioner, hold your fire. I vouch for him. At this point."
"Gordon, you should know it's not me doing the brutal fighting, and the killing. I never crossed that line. Not with the Joker, not even with Bane. You know this."
Gordon paused, the voice sounded much more familiar then the one he spoke to a few nights ago. His fear later that night had been confirmed that something was different. Then after last night, he had to consider Batman to be a real threat.
Gordon looked at Superman's calm expression, Batman's posture the same as he remembered. He re-holstered his gun and wiped his brow. "Well, where the hell have you been? Who is the new guy? I figured radiation poison got to your brain or something."
"I was recovering." Batman said. "As to who it is, remember Blake?" Gordon gasped, then paused and thought. "He did have anger issues, and a burning desire to make changes." He wiped his head again, damn this Gotham humidity.
"Okay, I can understand why you are here, but what about him?" Gordon thumbed at Superman. "Superman shrugged. "I came to help Gotham out how ever I can. It's been an interesting couple of days to say the least."
"So what's the plan then?" Gordon asked.
"I got somebody finding him right now. We stop him, bring him in."
"Simple" Gordon replied. Turning his back to the police station he added "We have to have the new one in custody before we can legally offer you any aide but if you need anything off the books, let me know." Turning around they were both gone. Gordon shook his head. Yep, that was the real one all right.
Central city June 8th, 9pm
Wally walked through the halls of the university like any other late night graduate student pulling a double. Luckily it was relatively deserted, especially in the area where he was going. Using his professor's passcode, he entered the deserted lab and quickly plugged his jump drive into the control computer. All he had to do was scan for the right frequency to get the metal to vibrate, then increase it and voila, a new sturdier way of building would be presented. Quickly he began powering up the various lab devices taking careful notes, then placed a square of solid steel on top a plate of titanium. His goal was to vibrate the molecules of the steel at such a speed it would slowly start to merge with the titanium, creating an atomic level bonding, stronger than any welding or smelting could ever be.
Once everything was in place, he began the experiment. Slowly he ramped up the ultrasonic generator while monitoring the steel via an electron microscope. Pretty soon he began to see results, and had to use a high speed camera through the microscope to view what was happening. Oddly the molecules weren't vibrating as much as moving extremely fast.
Without any warning the power in the building flickered, and as it did, it reset the position of the ultrasonic beam accelerator to its default location. Unfortunately, it also reset Wally's program, and restarted the accelerator as it was skewing back to default. The beam hit the lens of the microscope, amplified as it blew out ever lens of the microscope, and emerged from the view finder directly into Wally's eyes. He screamed in agony as the remnants of the beam vibrated through his brain, and down his body. With a last gasp, he fell to the floor, shaking uncontrollably.
Five minutes later Wally regained his senses and realized he was two floors below the lab. Dammitt, he thought, the microscope! He turned to run back to the lab, and tripped into the wall. He paused, looking over his shoulder. What the hell? He covered 20ft in the blink of an eye? What had happened to him? He began shaking again, this time with fear, and realized he was sinking into the floor. He jumped up and landed on solid flooring, an expression of horror on his face. He had accomplished his experiment, only instead of a piece of steel, it was him.
He opened the door, looked around, then raced down the hall, covering 50ft in less than a second. Smiling, he began to see there might be some fun to be had, and decided to go outside and take it for a spin.
Gotham City June 8th, 9PM
Blake/Batman was crouched in the shadows by the pier, waiting for Luthor's contact to arrive via boat. He double checked his equipment to ensure everything was ready to use on a moment's notice. With the information he had, and the simplicity of his demands being met, he became nervous. He had the majority of the rock in a lead line box. A small piece was still integrated into his suit, just in case. When dealing with somebody as powerful as this Lex Luthor appeared to be, you never took chances.
Bruce/Batman, Superman, and Zatana stood on a rooftop, several blocks away from Blakes position. Bruce crouched down with night goggles on staring intently at him. Turning he looked at Superman. "That's him. He appears to be waiting on something, or someone."
Superman scanned the harbor, then paused and seemed to focus on something. "A ship is coming in, with Lex Luthor's graphics on it." He turned and looked at the others. "Why would Lex be meeting Blake?"
"Maybe it's a coincidence? Or maybe Lex is trying to bring guns into the city?" Zatana offered.
"No. Ever since Superman's appearance on earth, Lex has bought out several weapons and technology firms, including parts of WayneTech. I researched briefly into what he was doing and it seems he has scientist working around the clock at new weapons tech." Bruce replied. Turning to look at Superman he added, "Tech that is centered on armor piercing, increased velocity, nano-bots. Stuff designed to take down somebody more powerful than the current military can handle."
Superman looked thoughtfully at the incoming boat. "So Blake decides to sell his stone, and Luthor finds out and agrees to buy."
"Essentially yes." Bruce replied. "However there is more to this than that. Luthor has contacts. One of his contacts reported this to Lex. A middle man who may have their own reasons."
Superman glanced over, slightly intimidated by Batman's analytical mind. Zatana caught the glance and gave an acknowledging grin.
Batman stood up, preparing his line. "I am moving in closer, I want a good visual of who this is, and what goes down. Blake can wait, this is more important. If you two are doing making faces behind my back, let's go." With that last sentence he fired a line across the buildings and swung down to the ground. Chuckling Superman picked Zatana up and began to fly down.
"Don't worry, he grows on you." Zatana said with a laugh. "He does indeed," Superman added with a slight grin.
Two buildings away, a figure moved ever so slowly from the shadows. A distinct blue and orange outfit was layered over what appeared to be a very fit individual. He had observed the Batman, Superman, and the woman leave the roof. Apparently they were here following the new Batman. No worries, he got paid the big bucks, and if he played his cards right, now only could he get the job done, he could accomplish another, almost more important job. With practiced hands he broke down the weapon he had set up, and began installing a new one.
The Luthor owned yacht began docking at the pier, and a well-built man and a nervous looking woman stepped down the plank. The man turned and looked towards the shadows, exactly where Blake was crouched and waved, moving forward.
"Bruce. Bruce do you hear me?" A voice whispered in his ear. "Go ahead Selena, make it fast."
"I searched everywhere, including the hidden places you told me about. Nothing."
"I suspected as much. Get out of there. Batman out". Batman turned and looked at the others. "I had Catwoman search the cave once Zatana had located Blake. It's not there, which means he has it on him, and will probably be unloading it in a few minutes." Batman looked through his goggles again. "I see one woman, one man, and Blake. It would be foolish to think that was all that was here though. Zatana, keep the woman occupied, Superman, keep the yacht bottled up. I am going to have words with Blake."
Batman crept through the shadows, eyes and ears alert to any noise betraying any hit men or additional complications. He looked up and saw Superman high in the sky, ready to swoop down once the fireworks began. Looking across the alley at Zatana, he saw she was ready, her hands down, her lips moving as she gathered the mystic power to her that she would need.
The large man on the pier moved towards Blake, a disarming smile on his face. "Now, now, hiding in shadows? Is that any way for partners to act? Nathanial Adam, US Air force." Blake stepped forward out of the shadows. "I have no time for games. I got what you need, do you have the wire?"
Captain Adam shook his head. "No time for pleasantries I suppose. I hope this rock does all they claim it will. Clean source of energy, unlimited shelf life. Sounds too good to be true."
Blake paused in shock, then continued on forward. Apparently Luthor hadn't told his flunkies the truth about the rock. "It does." Blake replied. "Your bosses already triple verified my results". Blake held out the hand with the rock in it. Captain Adam opened it, verified it with a picture, and a Geiger counter. In turn, he handed Blake a jump drive. "Plug that in, it has an encrypted link to the money, where you can download it into any bank in the world in under 5 minutes.
Blake nodded, and pulled and extension out of his glove, plugging the drive in. He verified the money and the account, nodded and turned to walk away.
Captain Adam turned and walked back to the boat, the stone secure in a box on his belt. A sudden whoosh of air and the man of steel was between him and the boat. The woman beside him gasped and fell back, almost into the water before Captain Adam grabbed her.
"Superman? What are you doing here?" Adam asked.
"The rock captain, I need it. I don't know what you have been told, but the information you gave Blake is incorrect." Superman replied.
"I'm sorry Superman, this rock is the property of the US government now. I can't let you have it."
"And I can't let you turn that rock over to Luthor either" Superman added. Slowly floating down to the dock.
"Luthor? He has nothing to do with this." Adam sputtered.
"Quit talking and take him down" Blake growled, leaping from the shadows, arm extended, green radiation exploding forward. Superman made a quick choice, and lept between the radiation and Captain Adam and the woman, taking the full brunt of the attack in the chest. Mystic energy surrounded him as Zatana stepped from the shadows, her hands up, chanting backwards and she tried to shield and contain the radiation. Blake looked over towards her and shot off two steel bat-a-rangs at her. A dual sounding clang stopped him in his tracks as Bruce stepped between Blake and Zatana, shielding her. "It's over Blake" growled Bruce.
Blake took a quick assessment of the situation and laughed menacingly. "It's never over. After my success with the strange green rock, I experimented with other radiation. If the green one was bad, wait till you get a dose of my special mixture." As he spoke several small balls fell from his hand, rolling past Superman. Captain Adam saw them and grabbed the woman with him and fell on her, trying to shield her. Superman, still weakened waved his hands together, the shock wave blowing the balls past Adam at increased speed. However, as the just cleared him, they exploded, and massive doses of radiation covered Adam. He screamed and threw the woman into the water, trying to keep her safe. Zatana switched her focus to Adam, and began chanting and pulling what she could off him. Bruce blurred forward as only the true Batman could and dealt a vicious blow to Blake's jaw. Blake staggered forward and saw Superman standing. Impossible he thought, he should have been dead from that extra radiation. Falling to the pier he looked up as Bruce stood over him, and Superman floated towards him. "Zatana, get Adam and the woman to the nearest hospital. Call Lucias, tell him we need the new containment suits." Bruce called out. Zatana quickly gathered them together, keeping them all individually shielded, spoke a few words, and floated off towards Gotham's nearest hospital.
Bruce and Superman turned towards Blake. "Come peacefully and we can get you some help, give you some peace" Superman quietly said. Blake looked up, about to speak when twin laser beams pierced his skull and exited out the back. Superman and Batman turned in the direction of the shooting and heard several people screaming "Superman killed him" "Superman is a murderer" and running from the pier.
"I see somebody in orange and blue jumping off the side of the building."
"Later, "Batman interrupted, "We have problems of our own." Police sirens sounded in the distance and Batman turned and ran for the shadows. "Move it Superman, meet me back at the tower."
"But the body, those people, the police, I need to explain." Superman began. "Stay if you want, but odds are those people are Luthor plants, who will tell the cops they saw you kill him. Only chance is to clear out and sort it out later."
Superman paused, then looked up. "I am staying, running only makes me look guilty."
Batman paused, looking down, new respect showing in his eyes. "Fine, I'll send you a lawyer. And find our mystery person."
A brief moment passed as they looked at each other, nodding, then Batman disappeared in the shadows.
