Now

Gotham City, Maryland

Gotham Harbor

First Mate Pepper tried not to look at Priest as he devoured a bloody raw piece of Shark meat, as the two of them and Nemo ate their lunch in the Yellow Submarine's dinning room. Pepper couldn't help but notice the similarities and discrepancies between the two, both were Immortal, seasoned men of the world, though at the moment they looked to be on the opposite sides of the spectrum, with Priest eating like an animal, as the ship's Captain ate with dignity and grace. The topic of the two's discussion was, however, far from savage talk.

"Does it matter?" asked Priest as he sipped from a pitcher of vodka, "Whoever ends up on Pennsylvania, we'll still be fucked."

"Though perhaps not entirely devoid of truth, that's an overly defeatist attitude."

"I've been an American for a long time. Nemo. I arrived here with the rest of the Titanic survivors in 1912. Being a creature of the night, registering with the authorities at Ellis Island seemed pointless at the time, and so I lived for thirty years as an illegal immigrant, moving between Boston, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles every five years.

"Come the forties I started working for Uncle Sam, but didn't get recognized as citizen. They couldn't admit I existed, could they? They expunged any proof that I ever was and so Judas Priest never existed. So for the next years I was taken care of, I was well paid, had a nice expense account and should I ever got into a fight in some bar or something I would simply give the DRI a call and cops'd be apologizing to me minutes later, but I couldn't vote. One year, I got it into my mind that I liked Jack Kennedy well enough, so I paid an apathetic frat boy from Berkley to vote on my behalf.

"And then they killed him. And let me tell you Nemo, the stink of that business traveled high. From what I saw, they couldn't be bothered to even pretend like they were actually trying to find out who it was. I was refused a request to investigate the matter, or offer any assistance at all."

"Your point?"

"You can't trust people. Those in the gutter always let the bastards climb to the stars."

"You still hadn't answered my question; who has the better chance of winning the upcoming presidential elections?

"McNeil."

"What makes you certain?"

"After the past eight years, Satan could win if he ran as a democrat. Besides, she's in bed with the League, isn't she? The night I photographed Josephine she was talking to her and looking particularly chummy."

"Yes, that's true. The League has been increasingly acting as kingmakers for the past decades. I wonder if there remains any actual democracy anyway."

"Who knows? I'm a believer in socialism myself."

"You're joking?"

"No, I'm not." Said Priest as he took another sip of Vodka.

"Is that why you deserted in Vietnam? You felt sympathy for the enemy combatants?"

"I wasn't a socialist then." Said Priest grimly as he cut another a piece of shark, "My desertion was for other purposes."

"Which are?"

"Avoiding court marshal, for one thing."

"You were going to be court marshaled?" asked Nemo, his surprise very evident in his tone and his expression.

"What is it, Nemo? Did you think I was the model soldier?" asked Priest with a smile, "It's like I told you."

"Your service record said nothing of court marshal."

"I wouldn't expect them to. If they failed to trial me, then registering my actions and their cause would only lead to their embarrassment."

"What do you mean?"

"Suffice to say that I did something …. Terrible to members of my platoon." Said Priest as he placed his bloody knife and fork on the table, then wiped his mouth with a napkin, "I did it for a reason, and excuse me if I don't say what it was."

"That's your prerogative," said Nemo, "All of us who oppose the League have done questionable things. I would simply prefer if you wouldn't hint at your actions and not divulge them."

"Fair enough." said Priest as he stood up, "Do you still have my service records?"

"Yes, why?"

"Nostalgia. I could also do with a little light reading."

"I'll have then sent to your quarters."

"Thanks. Nemo, may I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"What'll you do when it's all over."

"When what is over."

"All of it. If you ever do go to war Against the League, if you win. What will you do then?"

Nemo was silent, so Priest simply shrugged as he walked out of the room, saying, "You can tell me later. Don't forget my records."


Hours Later

Gotham City, Maryland

Gotham Heights

"Well well," said Mona as she sat on the stars leading to Wayne Mansion and the master of the house pulled up nearby in his Bentley, "The Dark Knight Returns."

"Miss Sax," said Wayne as he walked up the stairs with his briefcase in hand, "I'm sorry I had to keep you waiting. Corporate matters arose and had to be dealt with."

"What? There was no valet parking in the country club?" asked Mona as she got up and followed Wayne to the entrance, "Can we please continue now? We've wasted enough time." Said Mona as she followed Wayne into the mansion where Alfred relieved him of his coat and his briefcase.

"That's the whole thing, isn't it?" asked Wayne as the pair of them walked into one of the storage rooms, it was relatively ample and filled with dusty boxes filled with medical reports and files that once belonged to Wayne's father.

"I get it; you don't like the fact that your father was connected to an international clandestine organization that fucks human-kind annually. That doesn't change the fact that we have a job to do and you being in denial isn't helping."

"Well, we're one third of the way done. We will find out soon enough."

"Fine."

"And by the way, I was late because I had to convince the board of director not to downsize two thousand employees."

"Whatever." Said Mona, rolling her eyes.

"Some of us have a responsibility to others…."

"Yeah yeah."

"…Not that I'd expect someone like you to understand." Continued Wayne under his breath.

"What did you say?"

Wayne ignored her, walking into the room filled with all his father's papers.

"Someone like me? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Don't."

"Don't what?"

"Don't act like you've done nothing wrong. I know what kind of person you are."

"Oh, really?" asked Mona, her eyes widening with anger, "Tell me, rich boy, what kind of person AM I?"

"You think I didn't run a background check on you? I know the things you've done, the people you've killed, the lives you've ruined. You're almost as bad as your partner Judas Priest.

"You were here in Gotham back in 2002; you shot a witness just as he got out of squad car, on his way into the court house to testify in a corruption scandal involving the mayor. You shot him from two blocks' distance and allowed the mob and self-serving politicians to keep driving this city into the mouth of hell."

"Screw you, Wayne! You don't have the right!" barked Mona, "You think you get to sit on your high horse and pass judgment on me like some of those freaks you like to beat up? Bullshit. You have no idea how I wound up like this, you have no idea what it's like when you're in the gutter."

"You're dead wrong, Miss Sax. I've suffered loss and I've been to the depths, I've been with the thieves and I at times had to steal to keep from starving. But there's no excuse for the things you have done."

"Sunshine, you don't have a clue. So your mom and dad got shot when you were a kid? My mom got shot when I was a kid too. Me and my sister had to move in with our deadbeat dad who's sometimes drop us off at his sister's and her husband the sex offender while he went and tried to scam people for nickels and dimes. You have no idea what it's like to have to grab a gun and shoot two strangers you've never met so that the mob would forget about the money your dead dad owed them. So please, shut the fuck up."


Seven Hours Later

"Mona, my lovely." Said Priest with his arms extended as if for a hug as Mona stepped out of Nemo's car, having just driven in, "I have missed you soooooo much. We had shark for lunch. Shark! For crying out loud."

"Get away from me."

"What? Did Vercetti give us a fugesi?"

"No, we pretty much found what we were looking for. Where's Nemo?"

"Conning tower. What'd you find out?"

"It's better if I tell you both at the same time."

Two minutes later, the three were all gathered on the conning tower.

"All right, where here." Said Nemo, "Report."

"This is Doctor Thomas Wayne's notes from October 1988." Said Mona as she handed Nemo a brown folder, "MacGuffin did meet him. Apparently MacGuffin knew Wayne from the Oxford alumni club. Wayne owed him a favor and MacGuffin came to collect."

"What kind of favor?" asked Priest.

"Plastic Surgery. As in an entirely new face."

"And this is after he was supposedly killed?"

"Yes. Once he recovered, he left the country using an assumed name of Oliver Warren. Dr. Wayne wrote that MacGuffin said that he was headed for Morocco."

"Morocco, huh?" asked Priest with a smile, "I haven't been to Morocco since the sixties. Those were some wild times."

"You're unlikely to return soon. Not on my account that is." Said Nemo as he flipped through the folder, "Apparently MacGuffin had left a bank account number in the Cayman Islands. That'll be all we need to go from here."

"How so?"

"Did you think the intelligence wing does nothing but back you up?"

"Right. So when do we get our next destination?"

"Could be a few days." Said Nemo, "Did Bruce say anything else?"

"He said he'd be here… but…"

"I'm already here, Miss Sax."

Mona and Nemo spun around to look behind and above them, to see a crouching figure covered in black.

"Jesus." Exclaimed Mona.

"Hell," muttered Priest, "I've heard about it and read about it in the papers, but you really have to see it to believe it."

"Nemo, I thought we had an understanding." Said the Batman as he stared at Priest, speaking with a deep, almost growl like voice.

"Regarding me?" asked Priest, "I believe you said I wasn't allowed to set foot in Gotham, which I haven't. So there."

"Fair enough. What the hell happened to you?"

"I cut myself shaving."

"That's enough." Said Nemo, "Bruce, what is the meaning of this?"

"Someone seeing me here in my civilian identity would be very damaging. I would also prefer if you didn't use my name."

"Fine. What is that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Substance C." said the Batman, "I think I may have found what you were looking for."

He reached into his cape and pulled something out of a pocket, then tossed over at Nemo's feet. It was another folder filed with photographs and hand written notes.

"As you know, Project Valhalla was initiated by the Ministry of Defense in 1991; it invented Valkyr as a drug to improve morale and stamina for U.S. soldiers in 1991. Valkyr produced the desired effect, but as side-effect caused severe psychosis to 98 of test subject. When it became apparent that the defects couldn't be ironed out without obliterating the desired effect, Project Valhalla was halted in 1995.

"Nicole Horne, Miss Sax's former employer and formerly the head of Project Valhalla, developed Valkyr and continued its production after the government cut the funding, developing its fortune into the Aesir Corporation, using it to wield tight control over much of New York."

"Now tell us something we don't know."

"I did some digging into Horne's past, and came up with the conclusion that she worked with a Felix Leiter in the CIA. Felix Leiter runs the New York branch of the League, it seems reasonable to assume that Horne either was a high ranking Leaguer, or that she had close ties to them."

"This is excellent work." Muttered Nemo as he tried to read the reports despite lack of sufficient lighting.

"It gets better." Said the Batman, "Horne may have had financial and tactical help from Leiter in setting up Aesir Corporations, but she had some other parties as well."

"Who?"

"Look at the third picture."

Nemo sought the picture in question and looked at it, before frowning as he passed it to Priest while the Batman continued.

"Following Horne's death and the release of evidence of the whole affair. Aesir Corporation's files were acquired by an unknown party represented by that woman. That same woman had been frequently seen during the early days of Aesir, some claim she oversaw the first production operations and may have shaped Valkyr into that form."

"Josephine." Growled Priest as he squeezed the picture in his hand, which depicted Josephine and Nicole Horne talking together by a limousine outside some building.

"Gentlemen, we can only draw the conclusion that Josephine have covertly picked up where Horne left off, as I have ran tests on both Valkyr and Substance C, carrying them out with the utmost scrutiny and came to the conclusion that they are both composed of the same base components, though with concentrations varying for a more severe effect."

"It all makes sense." Said Nemo.

"It does?" Priest asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Yes. Josephine was originally a chemist; she must be running the Substance C manufactory in Gotham."

"So what do we do next?" asked the Batman.

"Substance C hasn't been distributed in Gotham yet, and I suspect the League are putting it off because of you." Said Nemo, "Just keep an eye out for Josephine. And take care, old friend. I understand if you feel that your duties are being neglected and wish to head back into the city."

"Actually, I was wondering if could have a word with Miss Sax. Alone."

"What the heck?!"

Nemo grabbed Priest by the arm and led him to the hatch, "Of course. We will be submerging in fifteen minutes, though. Be sure you're either back at the harbor or behind the hatch door by then."

Nemo and Priest soon disappeared behind the hatch door, leaving Batman and Mona alone on the conning tower. Mona was as surprised as Priest was at the Batman's request, due to their row earlier and the stone cold silence that occupied that room for seven hours till Wayne found the journal in question, much to both his surprise and his dismay. She regretted not gloating at the fact back then and wondered what he was about to say.

"Miss Sax.. I am…"

"You can drop the scary voice. I'm not someone you're trying to scare the daylights out of."

"I'm … I'm sorry." Said Wayne, adopting his normal voice, "You were right, I didn't have the right to say the things I've said, I didn't mean them."

"Yeah you did. You meant every word of it." Said Mona, "Hell, you were right."

"Still, you were trying to help Nemo, and I was only bent on condemning you."

"Well… Apology accepted."

"Well then-"

"You know for what it's worth, it wasn't me."

"Sorry?"

"I was only in Gotham once, and that was a few months ago. I don't know who was it that killed that witness you're talking about, but it wasn't me."

"Well, again, I apologize."

"Look, Wayne." Said Mona as she hung her head, "I mean Batman. Being involved with MacGuffin wasn't really a bad thing. It seemed that your father was simply trying to get a friend out of jam. Seems your father was a believer in second chances."

"He was." Said Wayne, "I am too. I suppose if Nemo trusts you enough, it must be for a good reason."

"Yeah, well…."

"Judas Priest on the other hand I'm not so sure about."

"Totally. Guy's insane, man." Said Mona with a chuckle as she looked at her feet, then looked up to see that Batman had disappeared.


"So, do you miss your bat-boyfriend already?" asked Priest as he sat on the ground in the bridge, his back against the wall, "Am I invited to the wedding? Do I get to be your maid of honor? I already have the dress, you see."

"Priest, I will shoot you if you don't cut it out." Said Mona as she sat in a chair, her hand suggestively caressing her gun.

"Man, your kids are gonna fucking violent." Said Priest as Nemo walked in, "So what's the plan, boss?"

"I've sent scans of these reports to the intelligence wing in London," said Nemo as he dropped the folders on a steel table, "They will investigate on these findings and reports back to me, at which time I will contact you both. It may take a few days or weeks even."

"So what do we do until then?" asked Priest.

"You may have a brief vacation. Go to Morocco, if you desire it."

"I could do that," said Priest as he contently smiled and looked into space, "I wonder if Rick's Café is still open."

"Are you sure about this, Nemo?" asked Mona.

"Of course, you two've been working non-stop for the past few weeks, you've earned it."


Next Chapter: While Mona and Priest have a well deserved breather, we will have a look at some of the forgotten characters of this story, be they villains of champions. Next chapter will see the return of Mina Harker aka Josephine. As she has a session with her psychiatrist; a man of peculiar 'tastes', and reveal some interesting things.