Disclaimer, etc., in the prologue.

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Part Eleven

Despite the fact that Oliver was somewhere around ninety-nine percent sure that Batman was none other than his former classmate Bruce Wayne - especially after everything he'd discovered tonight - there was something more than a little intimidating about the figure in black that was standing on the balcony. The man wasn't quite as tall as either Oliver or Clark - just another sign that the man behind the mask could be Bruce - but he still seemed larger than life. Dangerous.

And right now, he was glaring at Oliver.

"Well, that's something I'm sure you don't see every day," Lois said quietly, then shrugged. "Unless you live in Gotham, I guess," she added, then slipped around the others to go to the door that led to the balcony, calmly opening it, ignoring Clark's hissed whisper of her name. Clearly the Boy Scout wasn't too thrilled that she was opening the door to let Batman inside. Of course, anyone that knew anything about Batman knew that he didn't exactly need an open door and an invitation if he wanted to get in a place.

Lois's gaze slide over the man that was all in black. "We were just talking about you. I imagine you're not surprised by that," she said, then held out a hand. "I'm Lois Lane. Chloe Sullivan's cousin."

Batman glanced down at her outstretched hand, then lifted his gaze, something almost amused in his eyes as he reached out and shook her hand. "Miss Lane," he said, his voice low and gravelly. It definitely wasn't the smooth tones of Bruce Wayne, nor was it a voice distorter. However, it didn't sound like a normal voice, either, making it clear that Batman simply disguised his own voice when he spoke... Which, quite frankly, wasn't something he did all that often anyway. Not according to eyewitnesses anyway.

Lois glanced behind her, gestured with her arm. "You can come inside, you know."

Batman's gaze flicked around at the others in the room. Oliver, Clark, Zatanna. Slowly, his gaze returned to Lois. "I'd prefer to stay outside," he stated, then looked at Oliver. "You're not welcome here."

"I go where I please."

"And I can make that difficult for you. Arrow," he said, enunciating the last word very deliberately, his eyes on Oliver the entire time. The blond billionaire's gaze narrowed.

"She told you."

"I figured it out. She'd told me before that she'd worked with vigilantes. Never gave me names. But I know where she's from, and after your antics tonight... It made it obvious that you were one of the men that deserted her."

"I didn't-"

"Oh, yes, you did," Lois interrupted, shrugging when Batman looked over at her. "Hey, I'm on your side here. I didn't know she was going to that benefit until about an hour too late to warn her that Oliver would be there, too. I totally would have told her to ditch if I'd found out in time."

"You've known where she was," Batman stated, the words not a question, but Lois answered anyway.

"I have."

"And she didn't bother to tell us. She even led us away from Chloe-" Oliver snapped out, clearly still annoyed about that, and Batman's lips curved just slightly.

"Some people are more loyal to others. Miss Lane appears to be one of them."

"She wasn't loyal to us-"

"She was loyal to the one that probably deserved it the most," Batman stated, then carefully stepped around Lois, entering the hotel room, which oddly enough, made him seem even larger than life than he had before. Maybe it was because of how incongruous he looked amidst the hotel's furnishings. His gaze moved back to Oliver, his eyes hard as he picked up right where he'd left off in talking about how he'd known Oliver Queen was the Green Arrow. "After your reaction to her tonight, I looked up stories about where she's from. I'd looked into her before, when I started working with her, but I hadn't tried to figure out the real identities of anyone she'd worked with before out of respect for her decision to keep their secrets. I knew Chloe was from Kansas, and one of the most well-known vigilantes there is the Green Arrow. You were always good at archery. The Green Arrow's trick weapons have to cost quite a bit, so he had to have someone bank-rolling him. And you never made a secret about the fact that your favorite color is green." Batman shook his head. "Really, it wasn't that difficult to figure it out once I started thinking about it."

"He does have a point," Zatanna said, and it was then that Clark stepped forward, moving to stand in front of Batman.

"Is Chloe safe here? Is she happy?" he wanted to know, his eyes on those of the man in front of him, and Batman assessed him for a long moment before speaking again.

"You're one of them. One of the ones that left her when she needed them," he stated, Batman's voice cold, and Clark winced slightly before taking a deep breath, then nodding.

"I... I am. And I regret it now. She has every reason to hate me for walking out like I did."

Batman's gaze flicked behind Clark, to where Oliver stood, then went back to the man in front of him. "At least you realize it. As for your questions... When I first started researching her, I stumbled upon several articles in which Chloe wasn't the byline, but the subject. So I must say that she's certainly in the hospital or presumed dead far less often since moving to Gotham," he said, his words causing Clark to flinch. "As to whether she's happy... You would have to ask her that. If she ever agreed to see you, that is."

"I wouldn't be surprised if she never wanted to see me again," Clark said quietly, shaking his head when Oliver went to speak. "I'm the one that hurt her the worst, Oliver. I was supposed to be her best friend. She never... She stood by me. No matter what. And I... I didn't see it then, but I see it now. What I did."

"And it's too bad that Oliver can't seem to see what he did," Lois muttered, then looked over at Batman. "I want to see my cousin."

"I'm sure you do. And if she's in contact with you-"

"She is-"

"Then I imagine that she would be willing to see you." He looked over at Oliver again. "I know why you're here. And you won't get what you want. So I suggest that you leave this town-"

"So you throw away the chance to work with a team just because of what one person says-"

"One person that I trust. And if you walked away from her when she needed you, then I have to say that you aren't the kind of people I want to work with. If you walked away from her, then there's nothing to say that you won't walk away from someone else," Batman stated, his voice harsh, and then he turned to Lois. "I imagine you know where to find me."

"I imagine I do."

"If you want to see your cousin... She'll be there as well. You're welcome to visit. But only you."

"I understand," Lois told him, and he nodded.

"I'm sure you do," he said, stepping back out onto the balcony.

And then he was gone.