Shriek
In Powers' office
Powers was sitting down in complete darkness as someone was speaking to him. "It's a neglected sense: hearing. And it shouldn't be, because all too often our first warning of danger is sound."
That was when Powers heard the road of a jaguar, startling him as he got up from his chair. "Shreeve, what are you trying to-" He tried to ask before he saw a light coming towards him and the horn of a train. "SHREEVE!" He yelled before he saw a man holding a flashlight while shaking a bit.
"See, Mr. Powers? Just an illusion." The man named Shreeve said while turning on the lights and turning off his flashlight.
Powers calmed down and said. "I knew that."
"Of course. But after all the research money you've given me, I thought you deserved a demonstration." Shreeve said.
"Frankly I was hoping for more." Powers said with unamusement.
"More, you say?" Shreeve asked before opening a case that contained a white and black suit with blue circles on the helmet and the arms, along with claws on the hands before putting it on. "Look at this sound suit. I just finished it. It's got 4 built in sound generators."
"How's it any better than an old boom box?" Powers asked.
"Different kind of boom. Watch." Shreeve said before turning to a big stone. "It generates ultra low frequency vibrations, which I can aim in any direction." Shreeve explained before firing a sound blast at the rock, shattering it. "Imagine the time and effort this suit could save construction workers, road builders."
"Dynamite's cheaper." Powers said with a cold tone.
"But-" Shreve said before he was cut off.
"Shreeve, you're just not a practical guy. All that's ever mattered to you is your research. Which is why I had to bail out your company. And now it's time for me to see some return on my investment." Powers said before sitting down at his desk. "I want you to solve a problem for me."
"What?"
"Not what, who." Powers said with an evil smile.
The next day
This company has always meant a great deal to me, but now I'm ashamed of it." Bruce said to the Wayne-Powers board in members. "Ashamed of the way it's forgotten its history. Ashamed of how it's going to rip the heart out of this city." He explained before telling them what he was talking about. "I'm referring to a plan by the current leadership of Wayne-Powers to purchase Gotham City's historical district and then bulldoze it to make room for another soulless industrial complex. Is that what we want? Or do we want a city that remembers its history? A city where ideals flow from the past, defining our present and shaping our future."
The board members were so impressed by Bruce's words that they started clapping while the member next to Powers said. "The old boy's in rare form today."
"He's been on me for weeks about this, but it won't be lasting much longer." Powers whispered.
"Why not?"
"Because-" Powers tried to answer before Bruce continued.
"Mr. Chairman, I move we convene a stockholder's meeting next week,xso this matter can be put to a vote." Bruce said with hope.
"Second?"
"Yes." The board members agreed.
"All right. I'll notify the stockholders. Meeting adjourned!" Power said with a bit of anger, making Bruce smile in victory, knowing he'd gotten what he wanted.
Bruce then walked out to his car where Max was waiting in the driver's seat. "How'd it go?"
"The way I wanted." Bruce answered with a smile.
"Must have been pretty important to get you out of that house, especially in daylight." Max said to her mentor.
"I'll show you." Bruce said before Max began driving. But unknown to them, Shreve was following them.
Later
After a short drive, Bruce and his protege arrived at the old ruined historical district of Gotham. While walking through the boarded, abandoned streets, Bruce stated "The city council has been trying to preserve this area. But you know what it's like to get extra tax money."
While seeing the old buildings, giving its depressing look on Gotham's history, Max was confused about why her boss/mentor wanted to do everything he could to keep this place from being demolished. "I don't get it, Bruce. Why would you spend money on this?" She paused for a moment before asking. "Unless... it holds something dear to you, or something traumatic in order to keep it 'alive'."
Bruce gave a nod as he pointed to the building in front of them. "That theater." He said before both walked to the old theater while Bruce kept explaining. "It was where my parents and I went the night they were..." But Bruce stopped telling, as that memory was still too painful for him to talk about, even after all these years.
Max was now seeing the whole picture. While thinking back when both her parents and sister were killed, the new Dark Knight could easily picture how hard it must've been for Bruce when he was just an 8 year old kid that saw both his parents die in front of him because of some punk with a gun.
Feeling sympathy for Bruce, Max told him softly. "You know. If I was as rich and powerful as you were... I would also do anything to keep the memory of losing my family alive, so not only I wouldn't forget, but that memory would also be kept alive... even after I'm eventually no longer in the world of the living."
"Thank you, Max. But you'll be alive a lot longer than I will, so you'll be fine." Bruce said softly while putting a hand on her shoulder.
For some reason, Max didn't like the idea of Bruce dying, even though she knew that with how old Bruce was, he didn't have a lot of time left on this earth. "Bruce, please, don't talk like that. You have many years left in you."
"It's alright, Max. I know that with my age, I don't have a lot of time left in this world. But I'm not afraid. At least when I do leave this world, I'll see my parents again. Hopefully." Bruce said in comfort.
Suddenly, they heard Ace barking from the car. "Something's bothering Ace." Max said before going to the car.
But Bruce went to the old Gotham City police station that his old friend James Gordon once ran as police commissioner. He tore off the wooden boards and went inside before walking around in it, seeing an old and torn wanted poster of perhaps his greatest enemy, The Joker before he felt something shaking.
As Max opened the car door, she spoke gently to Ace. "Easy, boy, easy." She said as she petted his head. "What's the matter, boy?" She asked before Ace growled at the old police station, making Max worried for Bruce.
Meanwhile
As Bruce felt shaking, the building was slowly coming apart as a crumbling support beam nearly fell on Bruce if Batgirl hadn't gotten him out of the way. "Earthquake?" Batgirl asked.
"Not like any I've ever been in." Bruce answered.
"Well, whatever it is, I can think of better places to be right now." Batgirl said as she began to walk Bruce out of the building.
But as they walked, they saw a man in a robotic looking suit, who was really Shreeve. He then adjusted his chest generator before it fired a sound blast that shattered a wall as Batgirl moved out of the way with Bruce.
"Do you know this guy?" Batgirl asked.
"Sorry, not one of mine." Bruce answered.
Shreeve then fired another sound blast at them before Batgirl threw Bruce out of the way, climbed up another support beam and saw the man in the suit approaching Bruce to attack him. Batgirl then threw a batarang at his right arm's sound generator, causing it to electrify and hurting Shreeve before he pushed the sound generator out of him and fired another sound blast at them both in order to escape, which he did while Batgirl got Bruce out of the old building as it came tumbling down with Batgirl watching.
"Whoever that guy was, he's going to pay for this." Batgirl vowed before she saw Bruce pass out with a groan, much to her concern. "Bruce!" She said with fear for her boss/mentor.
Later on
Max had gotten Bruce to the hospital and after waiting next to the doorway to his room, heard the nurse talking to her mentor. "Now, now, Mr. Wayne, you know you have to-" She tried to say before Bruce yelled.
"I SAID GET OUT!" Before the top part of a serving tray was thrown out, making the nurse scream.
The nurse ran up to Max and said. "You can go in now, if you want to." Before walking away.
Max then walked in the room while the door closed as Bruce told her. "Can you believe it? They want to keep me in here overnight!"
"Relax, Bruce. You just rest here and I'll find who that guy in the suit was." Max assured her mentor.
"I... don't know." Bruce said with a bit of doubt despite knowing that Max was capable of being like him in the detective regard.
"Bruce, it's alright. I've got a lead." Max said as she showed her mentor the sound generator. "Besides, I've learned and am still learning from the best." She said while touching his shoulder before walking away.
Meanwhile
"How was I supposed to know Batgirl would be there?" Shreeve asked while holding the arm part of his suit that had the torn out generator, having heard that Batgirl had returned ever since news about the new Dark Knight spread around the city.
"Batgirl's everywhere these days. Everywhere." Powers said with contempt for the new Dark Knight.
"At least I knocked down one of those buildings for you." Shreeve said.
"It's the land I want! And unless I can shut Wayne up, the stockholders will never authorize the purchase." Powers told him.
"Don't worry. Next time I'll get him. Guaranteed."
"Haven't you been listening? It's over! Wayne's in the hospital now, with guards. There's no way you could get to him." Powers told his hired gun.
"I wouldn't be too sure of that." Shreeve said with confidence.
Later at night in Bruce's room
As the old Dark Knight was trying to sleep, he started to hear a voice. 'Bruce.'
This caused Bruce to wake up as he looked around the room. "Who's there? Where are you?"
'There's something you must do.' The voice told the old Dark Knight.
Meanwhile in the Batcave
As Max was examining the sound generator, she spoke to Ace. "Ok, obviously this is some kind of sound generator, but the metal is a bit unusual." She said before taking the generator to the Batcomputer and putting it in the scanning part of it. "Computer, request a spectrographic analysis on this metal."
"Analysis proceeding." The computer before it analyzed the metal. "Analysis complete." It said before sending out a piece of paper that Max grabbed.
"Copper, iron and...acoustium?" Max asked before taking to the computer again. "Computer, acoustium." Before the computer quickly sent out the paper. "A new alloy that amplifies sound vibrations. Developed by Shreeve Sound Laboratories in Gotham City." She read before putting the papers in her pocket. "Better get there quickly. Something tells me Bruce doesn't have much time." She said before quickly running out of the Batcave.
Back with Bruce
"Go away! I don't want to hear you!" Bruce told the voice.
'It's for your own good. Now get up." The voice told him before Bruce got up. 'Go to the window.'
"What for?"
'Go!' The voice demanded. And when Bruce walked up to the window, the voice told him. 'Open it.' Before the voices echoed in the old Dark Knight's head, making Bruce open the window while looking down. 'You know what you have to do.'
But Bruce knew this wasn't right and asked. "Who are you? Why are you saying these things to me?"
'I want to help you. I'm you." The voice answered.
But Bruce knew different. "No."
'Who else could I be?'
"You can't be me." Bruce said, knowing that this voice couldn't be him.
'Do it.' The voice said before it started echoing again, making Bruce cover his ears before he screamed out.
That was when the nurse came in and asked with concern. "Mr. Wayne, what's wrong?"
"Voices. Listen." Bruce answered while putting a hand to his ear.
"Voices?" The nurse asked with confusion.
"Can't you hear them?"
"Maybe you should lay back down." The nurse suggested, not believing him.
But when Bruce tried to force his way out of the room, the nurse called the orderlies, who came and sedated him.
Meanwhile
Shreeve was almost to his lab when he saw Max, who had the idea of showing up as a pizza delivery girl, complete with a pizza that she'd ordered before she got there. "Can I help you?"
"Yes. I brought your pizza, sir." Max said with a professional voice.
"I didn't order anything." Shreeve told her, not remembering ordering a pizza.
"You sure? This is the address I wrote down." Max told him while holding up the tablet with his address on it.
"There must be some mistake."
"Yeah, mine, and now I have to pay for it." Max said with fake annoyance before smiling at him. "Too big for one person, though."
After thinking it over, Shreeve let Max inside and ate the pizza while Max was talking. "Sound engineer, huh? Must be the coolest job in the world."
"There are good days and bad days." Shreeve said as Max picked up a sort of device.
"What's this?"
"Put it to your ear." Shreeve told her as he took a bite of the pizza.
Max did just that before hearing music. "Music?"
"It's a microfilament transmitter receiver. Picks up radio signals." Shreeve explained.
"Impressive." Max said before looking at a sound generator. "But what's this?" She asked while moving her hand to touch it.
"Don't touch tha-" Shreeve tried to say before the sound was gone, much to Max's surprise before Shreeve touched it, making the sound come back.
"What was that?"
"Sound masking." Shreeve answered.
"Ah, I think I know what that means. Sound moves in waves and the masker instantly plays back whatever sound it picks up... slightly out of phase. So the waves cancel each other out. Basically no waves, no sound." Max said, having also studied how sound works in her classes.
"Impressive. Where'd you learn about that?" Shreeve asked with an impressed face.
"I'm still in school. Pizza delivering is just a temporary after school job. But I'm planning on getting another one that's even better and bigger in the future." Max answered, lying to protect her cover.
"Sounds excellent. Now it's getting late and I have some work to do, so-" Shreeve tried to say but Max cut him off.
"One more thing: what about...sound vibrations?" Max asked.
"Sound vibrations?" Shreeve asked suspiciously as he began to get behind to attack her.
"Yes. I heard about them the other day. People say they're powerful enough to knock down an entire building, granted they said it was extremely old but still." Max answered before she was hit in the back and pinned to the floor by Shreeve.
"Who are you? What do you really want?" Shreeve asked, demanding to know who this girl really was before getting the sound generator and held it to her head. "You wanna know about sound vibrations? Would you like to see how they can split your skull?!"
By this point, Max knew she had to get away, so she headbutted him in the face, stunning him enough for her to kick him into a wall while getting the sound generator.
Shreeve recovered and said. "There's no way out!" He said before quickly getting his suit.
Max hid behind the machinery but Shreeve began blasting at her with his sound blast, destroying some of his equipment before Max got to a wall and used the sound generator she picked up to make a large enough hole in the wall to escape the lab and run away.
When Shreeve caught up with her and tried to blast her again, a police air vehicle showed up. "Hold it right there!" A policeman ordered him before Shreeve blasted it back, allowing him to escape.
A bit later
Max walked through the hospital hallway, towards Bruce's room. But when she got there, she saw that Bruce's hospital bed was empty. When his nurse just walked in, Max asked her about Bruce. "What happened?! Is he alright?!"
Feeling uneasy about Bruce's recent behavior, the nurse answered. "He's... in the psych ward. He started hearing voices."
"Voices?" Max asked, confused.
That was when Powers stood there, leaning at the doorway. "Age can do tragic things to a person." He said with a smirk. Max looked at him with anger and hatred, but tried to keep herself as she saw the man who was responsible for the death of her family and Terry's father.
Powers then stepped into the room. "Oh, don't worry about him, miss Gibson. He's going to be in the best of hands. Mine. Who else can take care of his affairs? He has no wife, no children." He said, trying to sound like he was a caring person, which Max didn't buy for a second.
"Me! I can do it." Max said with a rising voice, telling him that she could take care of Bruce's affairs. And she really could, as she'd taken classes in how to run a big company and was even taught a couple of things by Bruce recently.
Powers just crossed his arms, still showing that evil grin on his face. "Awfully young, aren't you?"
"Awfully slimy, aren't you?" Max fired back.
That comment was testing Powers' patience and raised his finger at her. "Careful, Gibson. The courts are very strict about slander."
"Yeah? Well, let's see how they handle assault!" Max said before launching at Powers and grabbing him by the collar! But she was stopped by the hospital orderlies, who held her tightly, but had a hard time controlling her because of Max's unusual strength for someone her size.
That was when Powers warned Max of the 'consciousnesses' of trying to do anything funny. "You should know something about the psych ward here. There's always room for one more."
Not wanting to give Powers an excuse to lock her up in the psych ward too, Max held herself from attacking Powers again, despite having the urge to avenge her deceased family.
Once Powers walked away with a smirk while looking at her, Max was escorted out of the hospital. But while walking for some time, Max felt that Bruce's condition made no sense at all. She had to get to him out of the hospital and get to the bottom of this now.
Meanwhile
Powers entered his office as Shreeve was standing in the shadows before he spoke with murderous intention. "The police know about me. I'm a wanted man! I can never go back to my lab again and it's all your fault!" He said before setting his chest generator.
"That's not going to help." Powers said as he sat down at his desk.
"No, but it'll make me feel better." Shreeve told him as he prepared to blast Powers.
"You should be feeling fine anyway."
"And why is that?"
"Because your costume gives you power. Real power. Ever had that before?"
"No. Not really."
"It's no small thing. Trust me."
"But I can't show my face anymore! Or use my name!"
"The face is no loss, and if you miss your name, I'll give you another one. One that fits your new persona." Powers said before quickly thinking of a name. "Shriek."
"Shriek?"
"Not a friendly name, I grant you. But take it from me: it's better to be feared than loved." Powers said evilly.
"Shriek." Shreeve said, feeling a bit comfortable with the new name.
"Now go forth and do damage. But don't forget: you still owe me Bruce Wayne." Powers reminded him.
"What if Batgirl gets into it again?" Shreeve, now Shriek asked.
"Kill her." Powers answered.
Later
In one of the holding cells, Bruce was about to have his meal, when he suddenly heard the voices again, looking everywhere where they came from. 'The food... it's poisoned... they're trying to kill you.'
The voices kept echoing in his head, making Bruce shake his head heavily. "SHUT UP!" He screamed.
'Don't eat... don't eat... don't eat... Don't eat!'
"QUIEEEEEEEET!" Bruce screamed, before sighing. "Quiet."
Just then, Bruce saw Batgirl at the barred window, using her laser to open it before she jumped inside. The old Dark Knight then told his protege what was happening to him. "I've been hearing these voices."
Batgirl gave a nod, knowing what was going on with Bruce. "I know. The nurse told me when I was trying to 'visit' you."
"They think I'm crazy."
Max assured him as she was about to help him to get up. "Don't worry, we'll talk about it back home."
But Bruce released himself. "We're not going anywhere! Until I've figured out where the voices are coming from."
Knowing that they didn't have much time, Batgirl tried to convince him to go now. "We don't have much time. The orderlies could come in any second-"
"Check the light fixture! There might be a speaker hidden in it."
"You can't be serious-"
"Check it!" Bruce demanded.
Batgirl just gave a small sigh while firing her laser at the light, opening it, revealing there was nothing in it other than the light bulb. "See? Nothing."
Bruce then pointed to the walls. "Then the sound's got to be coming from the walls. Strip them!"
Thinking that Bruce might actually be crazy, she said. "I can't strip the-" But then she noticed something about the bandage on Bruce's head. "Wait a minute." She said before she gently removed the bandage, finding a small two-way radio in it and showing it to Bruce. "Big bandage for such a small wound. It's two-way radio. A guy named Shreeve makes them. He's the one who knocked down the old Police Station."
This started to make sense to Bruce. "He probably bribed the nurse to put that thing in the bandage. Still think I'm crazy."
Batgirl could only smile at her boss/mentor. "It never occurred to me."
When they walked to the Batmobile, with Bruce having his regular clothes back on, the door opened to reveal Ace, who was happy to see his owner as he whimpered and licked his cheek, making Bruce smile.
"Miss me, boy?" Bruce asked.
"He wasn't the only one who missed you, Bruce." Batgirl said with a smile.
As Bruce smiled and got in the Batmobile with Ace, Batgirl flew to where the radio signal was coming from and quickly found the place in a car making factory. "Bruce, I got it. Looks like the signals coming from that factory by the hospital."
"And from there, I've got a feeling it's gonna lead to Powers." Bruce said to his protege.
"Doesn't take a detective to figure that one out." Batgirl said before flying to the factory and going inside. As she saw that the signal was strongest in the factory, she told Bruce. "Yeah. The signal is definitely coming from in here somewhere."
"Not somewhere, right behind you." Shriek said as he appeared from behind the new Dark Knight.
"You don't have to do this, Shreeve." Batgirl said, not wanting to fight him.
"But I do." Shriek replied. "And the name's Shriek now. I'll show you why." He said before they began to fight.
Shriek had the advantage with his formidable sonic blasts, making Batgirl attempt to hide. However Shriek's suit artificially allowed him advanced auditory abilities and he was able to locate the new Dark Knight with the sound of a screw dropping before firing another blast that she avoided.
Desperate to neutralize this advantage, Batgirl turns on the factory's machinery, causing a concert of noise. "This isn't going to help you!" Shriek told Batgirl before he revealed another of his sonic-suit's acoustic abilities: the projection of a dampening field that canceled out all ambient sound waves, for Batgirl as well as himself, after which he isolated and amplified the echo of Batgirl's footsteps from a distance.
Now Batgirl was pursued out of the factory in an eerily complete silence, nearly getting killed not only by Shriek but a series of dangers from the machinery that she was unable to detect without sound before she avoided another sound blast from Shriek and was stunned because of it.
Meanwhile, with Bruce and Ace
They were still in the Batmobile, with the old Dark Knight noticing that it was too quiet outside. "Kinda quiet out there, huh boy?" Making Ace bark, as his hearing was more acute than his master's. Bruce then opened the door. "But you hear something, don't you?" Before Ace ran out of the car.
Back with Batgirl
As Ace saved Batgirl from being hit by a truck, Shriek adjusted his dampening field to hear Ace and after he found them, Batgirl once again damaged his right hand sound generator with a Batarang, causing the dampening field to suddenly cut-out and Shriek's ears to be overwhelmed by the various sounds of the city which are collectively amplified in exponential by his sonic-suit, making him scream in pain before he collapsed.
Batgirl then removed his helmet and told him with force while Ace barked. "Get up!"
But from Shriek's hearing perspective, he couldn't hear anything except ringing in his ears, shocking him as he realized that he had acquired tinnitus as a result of the malfunction of his suit, a symptom of deafness. "No. NOOOOOOO!"
Later the next week
The stockholder's meeting was taking place, as with Bruce safe, Powers couldn't stop it from happening. The corrupt CEO told the large crowd of stockholders, with Bruce and Max, who was in a female business suit, among them. "It has been moved and seconded that Wayne-Powers tender an offer to the city in order to expand into the historical district. All in favor."
"Aye!" The stockholders said.
"Opposed?" Powers asked.
"NAY!"
"The motion is defeated." Powers said with contempt before he banged the hammer down. "Meeting adjourned!" He said in defeat before walking away.
As Bruce and Max stood up to leave, Max said with disappointment. "Too bad Shreeve is too freaked out to testify against that monster."
"Maybe when his hearing comes back, if it ever does." Bruce assured his protege.
But Max wanted to know something else. "Tell me something: why were you so sure the voices weren't coming from you?"
"Well 1st, I know I'm not psychotic."
"I hope your other reason is more convincing."
"And 2nd, the voice kept calling me Bruce. In my mind, that's not what I call myself." Bruce said, revealing his other reason.
Max seemed to understand what he meant and smiled. "You still call yourself Batman, don't you?" She asked, making him smile as well. "Haha. Guess I don't blame you for that. Still, it would be great if you could be Batman... the way you used to be than as you are now."
"I'd like that too, Max, but unfortunately I can't. Not anymore. But I guess you could still think about it that way. Or imagine it in your subconscious... just like I do." Bruce said while touching her shoulder, making her smile before they left to head back to the manor.
There you go, my dear friends, the Shriek chapter is complete. Hope you all enjoyed it and that you all enjoy the Dead Man's Hand chapter, which I've already completed and will post along with this one. Rate and review and I'll see you soon, my dear friends.