Summary: Bruce and Dick investigate. Damian takes the school bus. (Nothing good can come of this…)
(Un) Fortunate Son
By Syl Francis
"There's no other love like the love for a brother."
(Terri Guillemets)
* D * d * d * D *
Dick watched as Damian disappeared inside the school. That went easier than expected. Smiling, he got into the jeep to head for home.
As he pulled out onto the main road, a grimace replaced the smile. He hoped he was wrong. He hoped that he had been in error last night when he broke into the secure servers of Cadmus, a scientific think tank and research laboratory known for its questionable ethics. However, a tracer that suddenly appeared around his search parameters told him otherwise. He had been trying to follow the trail behind the cloning technology that Cadmus had developed illegally. It was the same tech that the al Ghuls had stolen and perfected.
More importantly, it was believed that the original head of the organization, Dabney Donovan, was killed in an industrial accident shortly after Cadmus tried to clone Superman. What caught Dick's attention was that Donovan was a dead ringer to the scientist behind the neural implant technology that Talia used on Damian. Dick only caught a glimpse of him when he raided Talia's compound a year ago to rescue Damian; however, he would never forget the face. Although they hadn't been formally introduced, Dick had taken an inordinate delight in punching the scientist more times than necessary, while trashing the neural control center.
As soon as Dick found Donovan's personnel file photo, he detected the unique cybertags of an aggressive spyware program rapidly closing in on him. He had been afraid that he wouldn't be able to pull out before the cyber-dogs sniffed him out and he was ID'd; thankfully, whoever was on the other end wasn't equal to Dick's cyber-skills. Still, it had been touch-and-go for a brief time, and he was only too glad to escape unscathed. He hoped.
Today, Dick intended to spend the greater part of his afternoon downstairs conducting a cyber search. If Donovan was part of Talia's organization, then her plans to clone Damian became even more frightening. Donovan had successfully solved the inherent problem of cloning Kryptonian DNA by fusing it with that of a human; what was to stop him from combining Damian's DNA with an unknown monster?
Leviathan the Heretic was frightening enough with his enhanced human DNA. What if Talia cloned yet another Leviathan, but this time combined his DNA with illegally obtained meta-human or even nonhuman DNA? After all, while he was head of Cadmus, Donovan had had unrestricted access to human genome research that was considered Top Secret. What kind of monster might Donovan's association with Talia result in?
Dick wished he had Babs and Tim to assist him, but he couldn't contact them without running the risk of being discovered by either Bruce or Talia. Okay… Dick still had faith left in Bruce despite being deeply disappointed in him at the moment. Besides, with Bruce currently on a worldwide hunt for Talia, Dick was beginning to believe that his mentor had at last come to his senses.
* D * d * d * D *
Half a world away, Batman checked the time. Several hours had passed but the frenzied activity in the underground complex was finally slowing down. There was still a heavy guard presence in and around the different levels, with single and double sentries posted outside important rooms, but nothing he couldn't handle. Following a real time holographic map of the complex, Batman quickly found the personnel office. According to the security files that he'd hacked earlier, this was where the ID badges were issued.
Batman had already found ten names authorized a red badge. He just needed to find the scientists' shift schedules and the location of their quarters. When he had that information, then all he had to do was lie in wait as the scientist he selected returned home.
Piece of cake as Nightwing would say.
* D * d * d * D *
Dick spent the better part of the afternoon hacked into several Ultra Top Secret, and in some cases, illegal databases from around the world. He hacked Interpol without breaking a sweat, trolling its cyber-secrets for the better part of an hour for any information it might have on Talia and Donovan. While Interpol had almost nothing on Talia al Ghul (or Talia Head) other than the usual public records, it did have a fairly informative file on Dabney Donovan. Unfortunately, the file ended abruptly with the public debut of Superboy a few years ago and Donovan's supposed death.
He then hacked into the Central Bureau of Intelligence and Checkmate, but immediately ran into a dead end as all secret files on cloning research had been purged. He attempted to follow the deleted files' invisible cyber residue, but whoever had expunged them had known what he or she was doing, leaving almost nothing for him to latch onto—except for one clue. Dick found a mention of an A. Waller hidden under several layers of security.
A. Waller… As in Amanda Waller? He thought. Nodding to himself, Dick began the next phase of his cyber-search, and perhaps his most dangerous. He went deeper into the cyber-world, breaking in through several backdoors left carelessly unlocked by lazy cyber-techs. He released a cyber-worm that zeroed in on any simultaneous mention of Waller and cloning, then sat back to wait. After almost thirty minutes of searching, he got his first hit. This was followed shortly thereafter by several more. And surprise, surprise! Dick discovered a definite link between Waller and Donovan: The two worked at Cadmus Labs at the same time.
Which meant that she was probably involved in Project Kr while she was there. Element 36 or Kr was better known as Krypton, which was not only an inert gas on Earth—but also the name of Superman's home planet. Project Kr, the project name for cloning Superman, had resulted in the creation of Superboy. According to Waller's personnel file, she had been forced to retire after President Luthor's untimely removal from office; however, shortly thereafter, she was reinstated into government service under the new administration.
So… Dick mused. Waller and Donovan had probably known each other and worked together on the same cloning project. I think it's time for Nightwing and Robin to come out of retirement and pay a little visit to Ms. Waller.
* D * d * d * D *
Batman again checked the time. It was getting on to 3:00 a.m. local time. Looking down at the supine form of his chosen target, Batman quickly double-checked the bindings and gag. The captive was secure for now. Running a diagnostic on his latest disguise, Batman compared his appearance with that of his unconscious victim and felt confident that he would pass muster. According to the man's personnel file, he was Dr. Giles Clifford, a British scientist specializing in molecular nanobiotechnology. Batman searched the small, three-room quarters but was disappointed to find it completely clean, with no evidence of the purpose behind the Red Badge Only project.
More importantly, he still had not found any evidence that Talia was anywhere on the premises. And yet, from everything he'd been able to observe, he'd finally come to realize that this wasn't a mercenary base, but rather a recruiting and training base for the League of Shadows. The personnel he had seen being processed into the facility were new League recruits. He knew that Talia's army had been hit hard by the timely arrival of the world's greatest heroes during the Battle of Gotham; what he hadn't known was just how hard of a hit the League of Shadows had taken.
This would explain why so many of their known locations had been either abandoned or reduced in manpower. It appeared that Talia was putting all of her eggs in this one basket. She intended to rebuild—and fast. This was why it was so important for the Dark Knight to find out what lay behind the Red Badge Only secured doors. Was it another cloning project? The facilities at Infinity Island had been abandoned, and Bruce had destroyed whatever had been left behind. Had they transferred their little science project over here?
Bruce intended to find out. Tonight.
* D * d * d * D *
Nightwing was seated at the main computer console, double-checking his findings. In the past three years, several renowned scientists from around the world in a variety of fields—from molecular nanobiotechnology to nanomedicine to DNA nanotechnology—had failed to show up for work within a few weeks of each other. It appeared as if they had suddenly walked away from their positions in universities, research and development, hospitals, and government think tanks. Most had been reported missing, but no trace or clue as to their whereabouts had been found.
That is, all except a British scientist—Dr. Giles Clifford—who had told his family and friends that he had been offered a chance of a lifetime. According to his sister, Clifford had spoken of a highly classified, highly lucrative opportunity that he couldn't pass up. That was one year ago, and the family hadn't heard from him since.
Dick couldn't tie the missing scientists to the League of Shadows or Talia, but it was highly suspicious that they had all gone missing around the same time, not long before the Battle of Gotham. While he waited for Damian, Dick went through the equipment checklist again, making sure he had fully restocked the Batwing's equipment lockers.
He'd also stocked the onboard cooler with sandwiches, snacks, and bottled water for the trip back to Washington, D.C. Dick had been seriously taken aback by the amount of food that one ten-year-old boy could consume in the course of a single day—not to mention a whole week. Unlike when he lived alone in Bludhaven, eating haphazardly at best, with a growing boy fully dependent on him, Dick found himself constantly shopping for groceries and preparing healthy meals. He honestly had no idea how Alfred had managed to keep up with the ever-growing and changing, all-male Wayne household.
He checked the time impatiently; it was already 3:00 p.m., which meant that Damian would be home soon. Dick wanted to head out shortly afterward. He had been keeping a close eye on the weather all afternoon while he waited. Doppler radar showed a cold front quickly moving in, expecting to bring a wintry mix with it. He wanted to be long gone before that happened. With the nation's capital a little over two thousand nautical miles away, they'd make it there in a little over one hour traveling at hypersonic speeds.
Meanwhile, Dick was running a locator program to find the best place to confront Waller. They would need to move quickly, using tactics designed to shock and keep her off balance. He rarely used such methods when interrogating a suspect—he had been known as the nice Batman for a reason—however, in this case they would have no choice. Dick wasn't sure which would make Damian happier: the enhanced interrogation methods he was planning to use against Waller or simply knowing that the wait was over.
It was time to take back their lives.
The next instant an alarm sounded on the computer console. Dick froze momentarily, mesmerized by the red blinking light. It was Damian's utility belt alarm.
* D * d * d * D *
Damian climbed onboard the school bus. A little girl looked up as he headed toward his seat and smiled at him. Damian's usual scowl softened a bit.
"Hi, Davey! You're riding the bus today…cool!"
"Hello, Libby," Damian said managing not to roll his eyes at her obvious statement. He searched for something else to say, but in the end, he just returned her wave as he headed toward his usual seat. Nodding at his seatmate, Damian removed his book bag as he sat down.
Across the aisle, Libby was happily chattering away about her day. He didn't really know her well enough to be friends; she was just someone who always greeted him with a happy smile and a wave whenever he rode the bus. She was nice, but annoying—almost like a little girl version of Grayson at his most irritating.
"Stop 2C coming up!" the driver announced. "Libby, Jeffrey, and Tommy—start getting your stuff together." The three children scrambled to retrieve their books and scattered possessions as the bus pulled up to the curb. As the pneumatic doors hissed open, four armed men unexpectedly forced their way into the bus. The gunmen took up positions in the front and back, their professional, no-nonsense movements shown by their menacing expressions.
Simultaneously, two other men dressed all in black from head to toe walked slowly up the center aisle. They were each armed with two swords that were currently sheathed in crossed holsters on their backs. Wordlessly, the men methodically scanned the students with a handheld device. As they got near Damian, the two men paused, taking in the readings. Before Damian could even react, they yanked him unceremoniously out of his seat. The situation deteriorated so rapidly that Damian's hands were cuffed behind his back, and his face covered by a black bag, while he was still trying to get his bearings.
The men shouted over the children's screams, punctuating their threats with a burst of automatic fire over their heads. The children's muffled sobs and frightened whimpers sounded even more terrified. Over the confusing mix of childish crying and threatening growls, Damian heard Libby shriek, "Stop it! You're hurting Davey!"
"Libby!" he shouted, struggling against his bindings, trying to throw himself in the direction of her voice. A sharp prick on back of his neck was followed by a fast-spreading numbing sensation. Before long the children's screams faded into the distance, until all sound stopped completely, and all that was left was darkness.
End of Part 7
Author's Note: Thankfor the welcome back and nice comments.
Disclaimer: All characters belong to DC, Time Warner, and CN; this is an original story that doesn't intend to infringe on their copyright. Feedback is welcome.
Copyright: September 2013
