A Matter of Life and Death. Rated PG
By Marcie Gore
Summery: Dick Is kidnapped.
At 8:30 am Bruce was getting tired of waiting for Dick to meet him at the diner.
He'd asked him to meet him at 7:30, now he was getting concerned. It wasn't like Dick to
be this late. He decides to go to his apartment to check up on him. Bruce is met by
Clancy who tells him that he wasn't here when she went to tell him the heat in the whole
building was out.6: 00am. They use her passkey to open his front door. There are no
signs of a struggle, but something doesn't seem right.
Bruce hears his pager go off. Alfred says come home quickly! There's a piece of
mail that appears to be urgent. He's back at the manor in record time. Alfred hands him
thick envelope. He reads the note inside.
"We have your son. He's currently alive and well. That WILL change if you're not by
your phone at 11: 30 AM. We will tell you what we want then, in case you doubt we have
him look in the bottom of the package."
He sees a photo of a dark haired man bound and gagged. At first he can't be sure it's
Dick. The subject is also blindfolded, and then he sees a distinctive scar on his bare
shoulder, a scar placed there by the Joker. The handwriting on the ransom note also looks
familiar .He thinks it was meant to for some reason, he'll have to study the note closer in
the cave later. The watch was a gift for Dick's high school graduation. The short
inscription is the final proof that he needs; Dick is a hostage of these men.
It's now 10:15. His hands start to shake as he puts the photo, note, and watch away. .
If he's right about who grabbed him, Dick is in a great deal of danger. This person will do
anything to get revenge for the wrong he thinks Bruce did to him.
Three months ago he had to fire an employee named Joe Kemper in the accounting
department. His work was good but he had and attitude problem. At first he would just
argue with his fellow employees and supervisors. Then he got violent. He beat up his
Supervisor in the wash room after he was reprimanded. He had no choice but to let Mr.
Kemper go. His last words before he left were, "You will pay Wayne!"
He hadn't seen him since, but heard his wife left him and took his two sons. It seems
a son for a son is his motive. He shudders thinking what the unstable man might have
planed for Dick. All he could do is hope he could find him first or that Dick was able
escape. First he had to make sure that Joe Kemper was the man he was looking for. He
goes to the Batcave to run tests on the ransom note. He checks for fingerprints. Then he
goes into Wayne Enterprises Company records. They keep scans of all business related
communications. There have to be samples of Kemper's hand writing in there for him to
compare.
The test doesn't show Kemper's fingerprints on the note. The handwriting does
strongly resemble Kemper's though. He must have worn gloves when he wrote it, and
had an accomplice put it in the envelope. The watch doesn't have either man's prints, just
Dick's and another unknown person's partial prints. . The photo has a reasonably clear
set of fingerprints; those are Joe Kemper's. It makes sense he wasn't acting alone. Dick is
strong young man Bruce thinks to himself. .
Next he contacts Barbara to find out the last time she heard from him. He hopes he
can determine when Dick was kidnapped. The longer he's been missing the further away
they could've taken him. She tells him he signed off at about 1:30 AM. This means Dick
could've been kidnapped any time between the hours of 1:30 AM, and 6:00 this morning.
It seems more likely that it happened a good bit before 6. People are starting to get out of
bed by then. That would increase the odds of there being witnesses.
He tells Babs Dick was kidnapped sometime last night. He is still waiting to hear
from the abductors. He will keep her posted. She gasps audibly. Bruce tries his best to
calm her. He reminds her how strong and resourceful Dick is. Before signing off he tells
her not to tell her father what's happened. She agrees reluctantly. She says to contact
her if he needs her help again. Dick's kidnapping will take priority over all other work.
As soon as Batman severs the connection Babs allows herself to cry.
TBC
By Marcie Gore
Summery: Dick Is kidnapped.
At 8:30 am Bruce was getting tired of waiting for Dick to meet him at the diner.
He'd asked him to meet him at 7:30, now he was getting concerned. It wasn't like Dick to
be this late. He decides to go to his apartment to check up on him. Bruce is met by
Clancy who tells him that he wasn't here when she went to tell him the heat in the whole
building was out.6: 00am. They use her passkey to open his front door. There are no
signs of a struggle, but something doesn't seem right.
Bruce hears his pager go off. Alfred says come home quickly! There's a piece of
mail that appears to be urgent. He's back at the manor in record time. Alfred hands him
thick envelope. He reads the note inside.
"We have your son. He's currently alive and well. That WILL change if you're not by
your phone at 11: 30 AM. We will tell you what we want then, in case you doubt we have
him look in the bottom of the package."
He sees a photo of a dark haired man bound and gagged. At first he can't be sure it's
Dick. The subject is also blindfolded, and then he sees a distinctive scar on his bare
shoulder, a scar placed there by the Joker. The handwriting on the ransom note also looks
familiar .He thinks it was meant to for some reason, he'll have to study the note closer in
the cave later. The watch was a gift for Dick's high school graduation. The short
inscription is the final proof that he needs; Dick is a hostage of these men.
It's now 10:15. His hands start to shake as he puts the photo, note, and watch away. .
If he's right about who grabbed him, Dick is in a great deal of danger. This person will do
anything to get revenge for the wrong he thinks Bruce did to him.
Three months ago he had to fire an employee named Joe Kemper in the accounting
department. His work was good but he had and attitude problem. At first he would just
argue with his fellow employees and supervisors. Then he got violent. He beat up his
Supervisor in the wash room after he was reprimanded. He had no choice but to let Mr.
Kemper go. His last words before he left were, "You will pay Wayne!"
He hadn't seen him since, but heard his wife left him and took his two sons. It seems
a son for a son is his motive. He shudders thinking what the unstable man might have
planed for Dick. All he could do is hope he could find him first or that Dick was able
escape. First he had to make sure that Joe Kemper was the man he was looking for. He
goes to the Batcave to run tests on the ransom note. He checks for fingerprints. Then he
goes into Wayne Enterprises Company records. They keep scans of all business related
communications. There have to be samples of Kemper's hand writing in there for him to
compare.
The test doesn't show Kemper's fingerprints on the note. The handwriting does
strongly resemble Kemper's though. He must have worn gloves when he wrote it, and
had an accomplice put it in the envelope. The watch doesn't have either man's prints, just
Dick's and another unknown person's partial prints. . The photo has a reasonably clear
set of fingerprints; those are Joe Kemper's. It makes sense he wasn't acting alone. Dick is
strong young man Bruce thinks to himself. .
Next he contacts Barbara to find out the last time she heard from him. He hopes he
can determine when Dick was kidnapped. The longer he's been missing the further away
they could've taken him. She tells him he signed off at about 1:30 AM. This means Dick
could've been kidnapped any time between the hours of 1:30 AM, and 6:00 this morning.
It seems more likely that it happened a good bit before 6. People are starting to get out of
bed by then. That would increase the odds of there being witnesses.
He tells Babs Dick was kidnapped sometime last night. He is still waiting to hear
from the abductors. He will keep her posted. She gasps audibly. Bruce tries his best to
calm her. He reminds her how strong and resourceful Dick is. Before signing off he tells
her not to tell her father what's happened. She agrees reluctantly. She says to contact
her if he needs her help again. Dick's kidnapping will take priority over all other work.
As soon as Batman severs the connection Babs allows herself to cry.
TBC