AURHOR'S NOTE: I've received several e-mails asking me about the Batman's new costume. I did the usual celebrity-like thing (not that I think I'm a celebrity) and ignored them completely. Then I had something that I've only had a few times before, a repeat reviewer. This repeat reviewer who is only known as the Edge to me said he wished he could visualise what the suit looks like so I thought I'd give a complete description in a little extra chapter. Sorry everybody who was hoping for an extra chapter or something but maybe when I do add one I'll turn this into a separate story on FF.net. Batman does not belong to me but most of the costume ideas do. By the way I'd like to tell one reviewer that the Batman's name is John Kane not Jake, but thanks for reviewing anyway.
BATMAN: LEGACY
APPENDIX ONE: THE BAT-SUIT
Those of you who have read Spider-Man will know what I'm talking about when I start talking about a symbiotic costume, the Batman's new suit is one of these. However some parts of it are mechanical and these extend from the back and head pieces. I'm going to go through the parts of the suit one by one and hopefully you'll all enjoy reading about it.
THE COWL - Aesthetics
The Batman's cowl looks much the same as it did in the twentieth century except that none of his face is visible. The brow is more pronounced and shadows over the eyes but this is to house the circuitry required for the complicated audio-visual systems. The cowl is pitch black and has no highlights of any colour, the ears of the cowl are longer and more finely tapered making them overall thinner.
THE COWL – Tech Spec
The Batman's cowl is his Achilles heel, what with it being the only part of the costume that is not bullet-proof as Jeremiah finds out in chapter one. It's not bullet-proof because it is the only part of the costume that is replaced, each Batman's cowl is buried with him. It's also meant to be carried with the Batman in case of emergency, like say if he has to save a life and still needs to protect his identity. It has all the inbuilt features of the 20th century Batman's cowl such as different modes of view like IR and NVG but it also has some new features like a danger assessment mode for leaps, automatic targeting for projectiles built into the gauntlets, x-ray scanner for finding hidden weapons, built-in radar like a real bat's and a scanner that can be used for multiple uses like surreptitiously obtaining DNA samples and fingerprints people at a distance.
The cowl also has a sensory enhancer which improves every one of the Batman's senses, except taste of course because unlike Batman or Batman Beyond's costume there is no way to access the mouth. Air is filtered through the suit and stored in microscopic pockets in his back in order to prevent gas attacks and to allow to Batman to stay underwater for several hours.
THE CAPE – Aesthetics/Tech Spec
The cape is made of a similar symbiotic fabric as the main part of the suit but it is stronger and more independent. The cape is kept in the back piece of the suit, a long black piece of armour that goes along the Batman's shoulders with a small triangular container in the top middle of the Batman's back with contains the cape. The ends of the cape are more densely packed than the rest of it, compensating for the inability to weight them and it makes an extremely effective weapon. The Batman's cape can be whipped around with the same force as being hit in the face with a lead pipe, by a very strong man. Along the bottom of the cape are the tendrils as described by Commissioner James in chapter two, these only come into effect when the Batman has the cape in its "cloak" mode. This is when the material extends around his entire body from the shoulders down as the original Batman often does. The cape can also be used to form a hood to hide the Batman's head if need arises. Going back to my previous point the tendrils at the bottom of the cape are simply a way to intimidate anyone who sees him. The tendrils move and interweave on a specially written program that uses randomised equations to determine their movement.
When John flaps his cape as the Batman it automatically triggers the suit's thrusters, on of the pieces of machinery that extend from the shoulders. The cape also becomes lighter or denser in order to either slow a fall or lengthen a glide.
THE MAIN BODY – Aesthetics
The main suit is jet black except for the bat symbol, not unlike the one sported by Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond, however the symbol has no definite colour and can be changed by the current Batman. In case you wondered John Kane is sporting a grey bat insignia which is also a very stealthy choice as it can be muted to black quicker. The Batman wears a silver-coloured utility belt with modules that are 3D oval shapes in which he keeps controls for the suit and gadgets like a laser torch, small amounts of explosives, smoke and gas pellets and an emergency first-aid kit.
THE MAIN BODY – Tech Spec
The bat on his chest is where he can project his own Bat-Signal is he wants to, although he has yet to find use for it. The suit's symbiotic fabric is of alien origin and nobody fully understands its capabilities, not even the Batman or his manservant. The suit has an internal power core that is powered by the absorption of kinetic energy from impacts such as a bullet. When the Batman is shot the symbiotic fabric absorbs the kinetic energy and stops the bullet cold before it has even penetrated the fabric more than a millimetre, this is often a life saving feature in prolonged battles as the Batman can redirect absorbed energy into his strength enhancers to give him more physical power. The suit's power source is located at the back of the utility belt and is housed in an almost impenetrable skin of the absorbing fabric, which is itself inside an impact-resistant box.
The suit's thrusters are also located on the outside of the Batman's thighs and these push the Batman into the air with a burst of compressed air from the suit's own reserve. These thrusters are hidden when not in use and only open for the mere seconds it takes to shoot the Batman into the air up to five hundred feet.
FINAL TECHNICAL POINTS
The Batman's gloves and boots are specially designed to cling to almost any surface. They work on an electro-magnetic concept which uses the Batman's own bioelectricity (somehow, I'm not really sure) to artificially increase the attraction between the particles of his boots and gloves and the particles of the surface he wishes to cling to.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I hope that this wasn't too technical for all you out there, because then I've probably made a hundred mistakes as I know nothing about all this stuff. If you have any questions you must surely know my e-mail address by now (sam@sgcharrison.freeserve.co.uk) and you can always REVIEW. Not that I'm hinting anything… I will put some more stuff up in future and I promise to have this all up on www.anotherworld.gq.nu soon as at the moment Legacy is purely on FF.net. I'm probably going to post this on FF.net for a while until I get some readers looking at Another World then I'll post the appendices exclusively on AW. Some readers have asked about the Bat-mobile already and I'm working on getting a better description and an artist to draw it so you never know. The next appendix (that I will probably start after this story arc) will be about the history of the world up to the point we jumped in and in particular how Gotham became two cities, the shining futuristic metropolis and the ruined slum. Enjoy your adventures in Gotham and see you next time.
