Batman Beyond 11
CATgrl: Tee hee...glad you like it...tee hee
Chapter 11: Double Deception
DAY 4:
Sketch climbed off the bike and lifted the limp shape from the snowdrift. "Tip Terry, cut out the double cheese burgers" he grimaced as he lifted Terry onto the saddle and removed his mask, placing a long coat on the older boy to hide the costume. "Let's ride".
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Erika rubbed her arm; the bandage around the chemical burn was still there. "Stupid bat" she groaned as she stuffed the files into their places and returned to her desk. She read the calendar; she'd crossed the motto ("Conflict never resolves anything") out in strategic places to read, "Conflict always resolves everything".
"Mr Wayne will be paying a visit today" Roma called from the office. "Make sure to have coffee for us". The door shut firmly and Erika pulled a face. Ms Kitty mewed from the drawer.
"What is her problem? Just because she's washed up as a model..." with a tense sighed Erika rose and straightened her dark top. "Well I'll have to whack her too."
=========================
Terry's eyes fluttered open. He sat up. "Well that was ungrateful," he muttered.
Sketch put the box of bandages back on the shelf and handed him a lollipop. "Good little patient, have a blackberry flavoured one" he smirked. "You're lucky, your body armour deflected the bullet and cushioned the falls you had."
"Well done dear" added Selina. "You defeated Catwoman..."
"Did I? I couldn't tell" Terry sighed as he slipped off the med-table. "Man, she is good, I can peg her at every turn yeah, but she does the same!"
"Whoa!" Sketch staggered and rubbed at his eyes under the goggles. "Major lust burst"
Terry blushed bright red to the roots of his hair as Sketch spoke. "She has an effect on me" he mumbled. "Like...she makes me get a little...darker. Like the original"
Bruce grunted as Selina smiled a wicked smile and nodded. "She had a knack for that even when she was younger. She's quite the spitfire".
Sketch coughed. "Okay, enough of sexy cat-chick, more on the fact there was another robbery of building supplies AND that Delphi tried to kill Batman..."
"Delphi is obviously in this up to her neck..." muttered Selina. "As bad as her mother, let me tell you. We should find some way to get info from her."
"We have a meeting with her today" Terry said. Bruce nodded.
"If you guys can get her away from her computer I can hack into her systems" Sketch said. "That should see if there's a link between her and the Triplets."
"How will you link the bat-computer to her systems?" asked Selina.
"I need to use one of her terminals to bypass the majority of her safeguards" Sketch explained. "I need to get into the building and hack from there."
Bruce shook his head. "It's too dangerous, if she recognizes you, links you to us... she'll be able to make a connection with Batman."
"How do you figure that Mr Wayne?" Sketch said coldly. "And besides, why start caring about me now? You haven't before." He sighed and unlatched his green goggles, his eyes closed. "Anyway, I look different without these on, and I can die my hair dark completely."
He opened his eyes and locked gazes with Bruce. Using Bruce's own blue eyes.
"All right" Bruce rasped hoarsely, looking away.
=========================
"I told your mother you stayed the night at the mansion because we had to clean up after the kidnap attempt," Bruce said. "Just don't let her see the injuries, I won't be able to explain those."
"I can always say the Jokerz got me" shrugged Terry.
"They've been locked up for good I believe" Bruce said. "Small scale terrorism".
"Okay, I'm ready to go!" someone shouted. Sketch slid down the banisters and landed with a grin. He was wearing a black t-shirt and jeans with heavy boots and a black leather jacket. His hair was died black and he had a pair of black sunglasses on his face. "I'll follow behind, get Delphi away from her computer and I'm set."
"Be careful" Selina said as she descended the stairs. "I want you all home safe." She rubbed her grandsons forehead. "All of you."
============
Erika looked around as she sat in at her desk. She logged onto the system and easily hacked the password. "Now, time to finish what I started...which got me killed" she muttered. Then as an afterthought added. "I have 7 lives left."
"Hey Erika" Terry said. Erika rose and smiled and then she looked around. "What?"
"The boss doesn't like Public Displays of Affection" Erika said with a smile.
"Oh" terry looked like a condemned building, his face fell. Delphi stepped out of her office...Erika grabbed Terry and passionately pressed her lips to his. He melted into the kiss, Delphi turned crimson...
"MISS ARKHAM!" Delphi called.
"Mmmm" smiled Erika. "He had a breath mint". She smiled at Bruce and stepped over to the door. She gestured at the office double doors. "Ms Cartland will see you now...Tea--" Delphi passed by. "Coffee? --" Bruce gave a shake of his head as he walked past. Erika winked at Terry. "Me?"
Terry blushed looked around and kissed her on the cheek. She blinked in some sort of surprise and grabbed him into a hug...Terry felt...sorrow beating through him from her arms...she released him and walked over to her desk to make the coffee.
==================
Sketch sat on the roof of the elevator as it rose upwards. He pulled his messengers bag from the front of his body to the side and removed a small flat disk with handles out one side. He jammed them into the doors of the floor nearest. Squeezing the handles caused the door to edge open. He slid a small dentists mirror out and used it to examine the area. There was a camera on an axis that swept the hall from its perch in the corner.
Sketch pulled the doors opened and rose, hidden by the doorway. He watched the camera for a few minutes, timing it. "And---GO!" He leapt into a cartwheel, spun into a back flip followed by another, until he landed expertly under the camera as it turned to the hall. He pulled out a small lens. "I should really thank Dr Ira for this holographic technology." He slipped the device on, an image of the empty hall appeared in the lens and on the screens in the guardroom. He darted down the hall, ducking low under the windows to an office of busy workers and through a white covering over a door.
"Good thing builders in Gotham never work over the holidays" he paused. "Then again they rarely work at all." He looked at the shattered windows, probably from the Orphan attack at the tree lighting. He sighed. "The good times" and leapt into the swivel chair behind the desk and tapped at the computer.
====================
Erika entered the system. Her fingers sprinted across the keys and shattered the defences of the files in the private segment. "The old sewer system?" she muttered. "Nerve gas?"
======================
"Disappearing business partners, environmentalists...bingo!" Sketch grinned. He frowned. "Someone else is in the system? Damn!" He worked the protocols into the system and formed a protective shield.
He drained the data onto a disk. "Okay, so who is this?" he hit the keys. Seconds later he blinked. "They shot down my tracer! That is one good computer person... oh I am so PC."
========================
Terry stepped out of the office and breathed a sigh of relief. He drank the last of the coffee and smiled at Erika. She shut off her computer and rose. "Did you need to leave or were you sent out?"
"Needed to. They're discussing the Cartland Ball on New Years Eve" he sighed.
"Ah yes, the big party...fancy dress" she handed him a set of envelopes. "Here. Give them to Max and the gang; I sneaked them onto the guest list. And---Craig is going to be there, probably with Dana...his father owns shares in House of Cartland."
Terry closed his eyes and let his head drop. "Oh boy" he breathed.
"Hey Terry" Erika said soothingly. "You are not going to be mopey okay? We're going get you positive! Have you got a tuxedo?"
"It's tight around the collar...but yeah"
"And a Mask of some sort?"
"Well..." he murmured. "It's a Masquerade after all..."
Erika pecked him on the cheek and for a moment the strange, worried but fresh and energetic girl he'd seen picking files up that first night...stood before him. And then she disappeared into a tortured confused young woman.
"How was your night?" she asked. "Sorry, small talk, but we need it."
"Oh you know...I was chasing tails. This city takes a lot out of you..."
"Indeed it does...I was really---zapped last night"
Terry absently touched his lips and smiled at her. "I'd better get back in..."
"Should I be jealous?" mused Erika. She smiled and sat back at her desk. "I have to look busy or I'll lose my job...wait...wait, I need to get a downside to that..."
"No rent"
"Indeed, thanks" she blew a kiss and he walked back into the room. "Thank God I don't have school this week...wait...if I did I could skip it and not have to be in work til it was over...DAMN! Why did I have to find a decent guy during my full working days? GGGGRRRRRRRRRRR!!!"
====================
"Schematics for the sewer works" explained Sketch as he indicated the 3-D model on screen. "They're redundant now, built over since...well, Mr Wayne was in short trousers. They go renovated in some places but the old was closed down. Technically it's a link to gas lines, electric lines and so forth, but the sewer plants were turned into lines for the new ones or built over..."
"Except for one" Selina said as she pointed to the flickering red building on a map of Gotham. "That one is abandoned, unused for decades. Best part of a century actually."
"We should stake it out" Terry muttered.
"Hang on..." Sketch said. "They're not interested in the plant...wait a second."
He hit some keys and pointed. "The building sites were robbed of the following: welding tools, chemically strengthen pipes for corrosive or toxic materials, digging tools, non concussive explosives and a machine for studying geographical instabilities... anyone see where I'm going?"
"They're digging into the old pipe lines" Bruce and Selina said together.
"I'll fly over" Terry said instantly. He rushed towards the batmobile. Sketch moved to follow him but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Selina let him go and shook her head. He nodded in understanding and returned to the console, standing beside Bruce.
==================
"Empty" Terry stated as he climbed into the batmobile off the roof of the plant.
"Must have been an old project" Bruce muttered. "Sketch must have gotten it wrong".
Sketch looked hurt but Selina simply slapped Bruce's arm. He looked at her coldly and she returned an equally intense glare. "Head back and we'll look for some sort of link or story in these files."
"Treat our grandson like that again and I'll spay you" Selina hissed into Bruce's ear before she stalked off up the cave steps.
==================
As the batmobile disappeared the Krauss triplets directed the trucks through the gates towards the dilapidated works. "No sign of the Bat or the Cat" Stefan reported into his radio.
"Good, Roxanne, is the next part of Ban The Bat up?" Paxton asked over the link.
"We're planting the presents as you speak, tomorrow, during the raising of the Bell we'll give Gotham a reason to rezone the plaza..."
"And Batman gets blamed" snickered Karl. "To think I was worried he might catch us here or something..."
=======================
DAY 5
"Hello Satan's switch board shall I connect you to Lucifer, Mephistopheles or Delphi Cartland?" Erika sighed as she answered the phone.
"How about Erika Arkham?"
"Ah yes she's here too" smiled Erika. "Hi Ter"
"Hey" he said. "I was just wondering if you'd like to join me for dinner at eight tonight?"
"If you say at Cheesy Morino's I'll have to kill you"
"With the giant anamatronic instrument playing woodland creatures? No way, I was thinking the Sky-Rise"
Erika nearly dropped the receiver. "Are you serious?"
"Phase 1 of an early birthday present" he sighed. "So? Yay or Nay?"
"Yay" laughed Erika. "Yay all the way!"
"Then I'll see you at eight"
"Eight it is"
"Good"
"Good"
"Bye"
"Bye"
================================
Roxanne and Karl placed the explosives in the crates and set the timers. "6 minutes, 6 seconds and 6 mini-seconds" Karl said. "The Number of the beast."
Roxanne closed the lid on a box and handed it to a soldier. "When these babies go off the explosion will release the locks on the hologram projectors. The Bat signals go up and Batman is framed again."
"And then it'll only be a matter of time before he's captured"
The twins laughed, the same maniacal laughter...identical in every way.
==========================
Erika froze as she sat at Delphi's computer. Some files were locked tight into the deepest corners of this single console. Including a Project called BAN THE BAT. Erika skimmed it. "What have we here? Seems right up my alley...holy crap!"
She slipped the disk in and downloaded the files. The sounds outside the door were definitely footsteps. Erika pulled the disk out, seconds before the door slid open. Roma crossed the room and opened the drawer. She reloaded the pistol inside and slid it into the secret compartment before marching out.
"She has a gun of course," sighed Erika. She dropped from hanging in the chandelier by her legs onto the desk and scampered to the door, poking her head out, positive no one was there.
"I have to make a call..."
==========================
"Selina?"
Selina turned around from the laptop with the 3-D human shape on the screen and smiled at Barbara. "Yes Commissioner?"
"I need to talk to Bruce...and Terry, I just go an anonymous tip" the Commissioner was totally breathless. "Someone's going to frame a bombing on Batman..."
"What!" Selina gasped. "Come on". They rushed to the Cave.
======================
"The tip said that the explosives would be in the plaza" Barbara said. "The woman on the other end of the line hung up before we could get anything else, but the Plaza is going to be filled with people watching the raising of the new years bell Donated by Cassandra Cartland, Paxton Powers and, of course, Bruce Wayne that will electronically signal the new year."
"That's hundreds, maybe thousands, of people," Selina muttered.
"Possibly more" Sketch said. "Especially if people are in the shops for the sales, a big enough explosion would trigger a chain reaction around the plaza".
Terry pulled on his mask. "I'm on it."
Sketch looked at Selina. She shook her head and he walked over to a workbench. "Hey! Terry!" he shouted. Terry frowned and caught what was tossed to him. "It's an image projector, good for one shot, it'll cast an image of you at seven points, they'll move around and you can escape in the confusion."
"Thanks" nodded Terry.
=========================
"I know that I can't rely on the police," muttered Erika as she donned the costume checking the newest stitching she'd put in. "But if Delphi thinks I'll let her destroy people to frame Batman she's wrong. Besides, spoiling her plans is the most fun I can have without high explosives..."
The cat meowed as she climbed out of the power shed on the roof of the building through the roof and leapt off the building into open air. Shooting towards the ground.
================
Terry slid invisibly across the rooftops watching the crowds gathering around the huge metal bell as the crane raised it high above the plaza towards the outstretched hands of a steel and stone statue. The night air was cool as the sun disappeared
"Nothing so far."
"Hey Ter" Max said. "Got some news for you. I figure that if major carnage is what these psycho's want then they would need to plant the bombs in the centre of the plaza, if they did they'd trigger a blackout to the plaza and a big bang to the rest of the buildings, lethal to everyone within 30 feet or so".
"The tree" growled Terry. "The bomb is in or around the tree."
"You have to find it" Bruce said. "And quickly..."
"Well d'uh" Selina muttered. "Terry, your scanner should pick up a radio- wave or electronic blip from the circuits. I'll try and lock onto the remote signal if there is one."
Terry's eye-scanners skimmed the tree...and locked on the presents. "Plural, signals. As in Bomb s what a surprise. Any luck?" There was a blip.
"Yes, one signal, from the roof of Cartland Fashions in The Plaza" Selina said.
"You sound surprised Granddame" Sketch said over the link.
"Not really, go pummel the brat for us Terry, if you don't mind" Selina laughed.
Terry jetted upwards. He landed on the roof, disappearing into his cloaking device. The triplets stood near the ledge with their soldiers. A black orb with a screen and keyboard sat behind them in its steel scaffolding. "That's some sort of control console" Sketch said. "Probably the link between all the bombs."
"On it" terry muttered. He stepped forwards...a strange object on the side of the power shack bleeped as he passed it, it was a rectangular box with a blue screen on it and some buttons. It went off and hit him with tendrils of electricity.
"Got him" Karl said.
"Indeed" Roxanne nodded. "I recommend killing him now."
"I second that" sneered Stefan, aiming his pistol at the head of the Tomorrow Knight.
The small button landed on the ground and burst into a magnesium flash that sent the group of armed thugs falling back shouting. A claw stabbed into the box and released Batman. "You owe me one," purred Catwoman.
She leaned on the wall, swinging her whip slightly. "Now, this is my New Years Good Deed so...let's get on with it." She spun into a kick across the faces of the triplets. She vaulted at two guards and landed into a handstand, spinning her legs into a hurricane of pain.
Terry caught the arm of Stefan and flipped him into his siblings. He hurled a batarang at three soldiers; it exploded into a cloud of smoke. Terry spun into a kick into the side of another and cracked another in the nose with the heel of his palm.
He reached the console. "Okay---now what?"
"Pop the control box" Sketch said. "If you short the signal out the detonation will be frozen once and for all. It's like dominos or a chain link."
Terry tore the control panel off with surprising ease. The cheap plastic covering clattered off the side of the device hanging by two wires. "Stop him!" Roxanne screamed. A button bomb exploded near her feet and she fell off to one side. A whip cracked and snared Stefan as he took a run at Terry. He was hoisted backwards and electrocuted by a current down the whip.
"That's two you owe me!" Catwoman shouted as she spun, a punch connected with her jaw she spun and slammed a palm into the face of a man before grabbing his arm and judo tossing him.
Roxanne raised her pistol and tried to fire at Catwoman. A batarang connected with the blonde's hand and sent the gun skittering off the roof.
"Now I only owe you one" called Terry.
Erika leapt into a back flip at Roxanne and landed both feet on the woman's gut sending her flying. She landed and swept at Karl's legs. He leapt over her leg and kicked her in the chin, knocking her backwards. She lanced both heels into his gut and flipped him over her body. "Mee-ouch" she spat.
She spun to her feet and slashed him across the face with her claws he staggered backwards. She landed a kick in his chest and he bounced off the wall with a thud.
Terry filtered the four wires out. "Sketch, which do I cut? Red, Blue, Green or Yellow?"
"You're asking the wrong person mate"
"Of course, colour blind---"
"Third one on the left, yellow" exclaimed Sketch.
"How can you---"
"Cut the god damn yellow wire" enunciated Sketch.
"Sheesh" sighed Terry. He winced and used the pair of wire-cutters from his bat belt to slice the wire. There was a snap and a crack and then a lot of smoke. "That's all she wrote."
Catwoman appeared at his side. "Meow" she whispered as she goosed him from behind. He leapt and spun ready for a fight. "Oh puh-lease I'm in no mood for a lovers tiff."
"You're going to jail" Terry said.
Catwoman shook her head. "I'd be poison to the system. I'm afraid--" she sighed. "I have to die to find peace and to give any. So? Can you kill me another 7 times?"
"Jail for you" Terry said darkly, he could feel the strange...passion for combat that she always tweaked in him...rising...bubbling to the surface like a volcano.
"No" she said. She spun into a kick; he caught her leg and swung her around. She cracked her whip across his shoulders and cart wheeled backwards free of his grip. "No" she repeated.
"YOU COSTUMED FREAKS!" roared someone. They turned. Roma stood on a roof across from the store, dressed in a bright pink bodysuit with a neon necklace.
"She's one to talk" Sketch muttered over the link.
"What's that?" Max gasped.
"A Christmas Present!" exclaimed Selina.
"A bomb!" cried Bruce.
Roma raised a pistol and aimed at Catwoman. The Feline Fatale dodged the bolt by the skin of her costume. The vinyl bubbled as the bullet hissed past. Catwoman hissed. "Hey! What is this? Shoot at the feline week?"
"Shut up you weirdo!"
The cat-cable hit the wall of the building, Catwoman launched off the building and swung at the building, running along the wall and digging her claws into the wall and scrabbling upwards. She scaled the wall. Terry took a moment to groan about "more psychopathic bombers" and launched at Roma head on. She fired at him; he veered aside and hurled a batarang at her.
Roma ducked as he tried to tackle her and with a roar rose, her head and elbow digging into his stomach and flipping him over. "This is a nasty little chemical bomb" she said breathlessly. "Once this hits the plaza I'll set off the bat signals by remote and get you out of the picture."
She slipped her gas mask on. "Sayonara Batman" she spat.
Someone tapped her on the shoulder, she turned around...the left hook cracked across her jaw and she collapsed. The sound of approaching media and police choppers reached Terrys ears as Catwoman let Roma collapse. The police chopper hovered low, a sniper fired. Catwoman shrieked. Everything was a blur.
Terry reached for her gloved hand, she screamed, he grasped, the air---the descending scream...the crack and clunk as she hit a window cleaning device, it shot downwards seconds later and disappeared into the snow.
"No..." gasped Terry.
"---die---" a voice rasped. Roma pressed the device in her hand. Terry dived, grabbed the present and hurled a batarang at the large Cheshire cat smile of the revolving Cartland Logo. He jetted forwards, throwing the porjector, as weapons firing behind him as he hurled the brightly wrapped present into the hole and throwing his weight in behind a metal plate over the gap. The holographic projector hit the head of the cat occupying the fire of the officers.
"Laser" Bruce said. "In the bat belt"
"Got it" reported Terry as he welded the panel over the gap quickly. The shots were renewed, Terry shoved backwards, jetting away. There was a hiss and pop as the giant head vibrated. "Tell the commissioner what's going on in that cat's head" he muttered.
"I assume that was not irony" Selina said.
"No...what time is it?"
"8:30"
"DAMN!"
Leaving the police behind to deal with holographic doubles.
====================
Terry swallowed the pain killers and let Selina dab make up on his cheek. "I'm a mistress of wound seclusion" she said. "Now, remember that your body is really, really, really painful...don't over do it unless you want more on top of that."
"Gotcha" Terry said before stuffing the brush into his mouth and scrubbing harshly.
===================
Erika threw her keys on the table. "Honey I'm home" she called and peeled her costume off. "Oh---oww---I forgot...I'm not married---agh---oww". She kicked her door shut and threw the stealth piece at the sink. The wrecked tool hit it and a blast of water erupted. She groaned and fell back on her bed. "The damn cyber mesh left an imprint on my body. I am so glad I can..."
She sat up swiftly. "Terry!"
===================
Terry sat in at the table and smiled hopefully at Erika who was dabbing make-up to her jaw. "Sorry I'm late" they said together.
"I had to beat out a few things that Delphi had" smiled Erika apologetically.
"I had to help Mr Wayne with...a gas leak"
"Dangerous those" Erika nodded. "Ah, let's order"
"Let me guess... Ravioli?"
Erika smiled at him and opened the menu. "Probably" she admitted. "So let's just enjoy dinner. Without worrying what the other eats...unless you pick lot's of garlic"
"Same to you" Terry frowned and then smiled. Behind their menu's the pair grimaced in pain. Then reappeared and smiled at each other.
====================
D-DAY
"This is the Day. The D-Day. Tonight Gotham crumbles!" Delphi exclaimed. Her face was broadcast across the screens of the lair her soldiers were suiting up in. It was early morning. "And with the authorities and Batman butting heads..." she laughed. "NO ONE WILL STOP US!"
Paxton looked at the cackling woman from across his office. She hit a button and sauntered over to him. "Are you ready for the costume ball tonight?"
"Beyond ready" smirked Paxton. "Care to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what you want for Christmas?" Delphi gave a laugh and hopped onto his lap.
========================
"Sketch!" a voice snapped.
"What?" yelped the boy; Bruce came towards him from the steps of the cave. The echo faded as Sketch settled his bike on the "launch grid" by the Batmobile and stepped forwards.
"Where were you?"
Sketch met the cool glare with his own. "Out, about...without permission"
"Exactly"
"Let me finish, without permission from you. Granddame let me go out"
Bruce sat at the computer and swivelled the chair to face his grandson. "And what if someone recognized you?" Sketch ran a hand through the pitch- black dark hair and sighed. He walked over to the medical cabinet and pulled out an aerosol of water, spraying it across his hair and using a towel to wipe away the black, revealing shock white tendrils stretching from a snowy triangle on his fringe.
"No one would notice some kid with black hair on a motorbike" he said. "You give the citizens of this city too much credit. They wouldn't know a sociopath-ex-terrorist if he came up and slapped them around the head with a herring..."
"Don't even think it" Selina said as a funny look came over her grandson's eyes.
Sketch started making some adjustments to the computer as Bruce and Selina traded blazing glares. "He could have been arrested if he was recognized" snapped Bruce.
"Funny, it's only now you take an interest"
"Why can't you understand that the boy can't just---"
"The boy is your grandson! And far more able then you think! More able then the boys you made your Robin! He's smarter then you seem to think. And he was pulling Terry's butt out of the blaze."
"HOW?"
The answer came from the screen. "Soundbyte has just received this footage from the Heart of Mercy where DA Sam Young has made a statement." Sam Young appeared, Barbara sat at the side of his bed and was checking the bandages on his head.
"I have just received a disk containing information on the crimes Batman was charged with. It has been revealed that the Orphans were in fact working for a terrorist known as Victor Zeiss, son of the late Philo Zeiss. Batman is hereby cleared of all charges as the evidence against him has been revealed to be falsified. In addition we have found that the true fugitives are the Krauss Triplets and their benefactor. That is all, thank you for your time."
"Before you part" Barbara Gordon said. "I'd like to make sure you understand that when this evidence was delivered to the police station...certain files on a member of the Orphan's gang disappeared...completely"
Selina turned to Sketch with a strange look on her face. "I couldn't resist" sighed Sketch with a shrug.
"I should call Terry" Bruce said.
"You're welcome" snarled Sketch and stalked away.
"Bruce" Selina said calmly. "You really are an idiot sometimes"
=====TBC
Next Chapter: Sketch get's a name. There's a ball...and Delphi and Paxton's plans are revealed. PLUS! The All out animalistic conclusion of Fatale Fury! That's right! Next chapter is the last! (Shoots the first cheering person). But not the last in my Futurized series! (Throws a knife at the first person to say Awww). So, Review and I shall be benevolent with imaginary cookies...really!
CATgrl: Tee hee...glad you like it...tee hee
Chapter 11: Double Deception
DAY 4:
Sketch climbed off the bike and lifted the limp shape from the snowdrift. "Tip Terry, cut out the double cheese burgers" he grimaced as he lifted Terry onto the saddle and removed his mask, placing a long coat on the older boy to hide the costume. "Let's ride".
=====================
Erika rubbed her arm; the bandage around the chemical burn was still there. "Stupid bat" she groaned as she stuffed the files into their places and returned to her desk. She read the calendar; she'd crossed the motto ("Conflict never resolves anything") out in strategic places to read, "Conflict always resolves everything".
"Mr Wayne will be paying a visit today" Roma called from the office. "Make sure to have coffee for us". The door shut firmly and Erika pulled a face. Ms Kitty mewed from the drawer.
"What is her problem? Just because she's washed up as a model..." with a tense sighed Erika rose and straightened her dark top. "Well I'll have to whack her too."
=========================
Terry's eyes fluttered open. He sat up. "Well that was ungrateful," he muttered.
Sketch put the box of bandages back on the shelf and handed him a lollipop. "Good little patient, have a blackberry flavoured one" he smirked. "You're lucky, your body armour deflected the bullet and cushioned the falls you had."
"Well done dear" added Selina. "You defeated Catwoman..."
"Did I? I couldn't tell" Terry sighed as he slipped off the med-table. "Man, she is good, I can peg her at every turn yeah, but she does the same!"
"Whoa!" Sketch staggered and rubbed at his eyes under the goggles. "Major lust burst"
Terry blushed bright red to the roots of his hair as Sketch spoke. "She has an effect on me" he mumbled. "Like...she makes me get a little...darker. Like the original"
Bruce grunted as Selina smiled a wicked smile and nodded. "She had a knack for that even when she was younger. She's quite the spitfire".
Sketch coughed. "Okay, enough of sexy cat-chick, more on the fact there was another robbery of building supplies AND that Delphi tried to kill Batman..."
"Delphi is obviously in this up to her neck..." muttered Selina. "As bad as her mother, let me tell you. We should find some way to get info from her."
"We have a meeting with her today" Terry said. Bruce nodded.
"If you guys can get her away from her computer I can hack into her systems" Sketch said. "That should see if there's a link between her and the Triplets."
"How will you link the bat-computer to her systems?" asked Selina.
"I need to use one of her terminals to bypass the majority of her safeguards" Sketch explained. "I need to get into the building and hack from there."
Bruce shook his head. "It's too dangerous, if she recognizes you, links you to us... she'll be able to make a connection with Batman."
"How do you figure that Mr Wayne?" Sketch said coldly. "And besides, why start caring about me now? You haven't before." He sighed and unlatched his green goggles, his eyes closed. "Anyway, I look different without these on, and I can die my hair dark completely."
He opened his eyes and locked gazes with Bruce. Using Bruce's own blue eyes.
"All right" Bruce rasped hoarsely, looking away.
=========================
"I told your mother you stayed the night at the mansion because we had to clean up after the kidnap attempt," Bruce said. "Just don't let her see the injuries, I won't be able to explain those."
"I can always say the Jokerz got me" shrugged Terry.
"They've been locked up for good I believe" Bruce said. "Small scale terrorism".
"Okay, I'm ready to go!" someone shouted. Sketch slid down the banisters and landed with a grin. He was wearing a black t-shirt and jeans with heavy boots and a black leather jacket. His hair was died black and he had a pair of black sunglasses on his face. "I'll follow behind, get Delphi away from her computer and I'm set."
"Be careful" Selina said as she descended the stairs. "I want you all home safe." She rubbed her grandsons forehead. "All of you."
============
Erika looked around as she sat in at her desk. She logged onto the system and easily hacked the password. "Now, time to finish what I started...which got me killed" she muttered. Then as an afterthought added. "I have 7 lives left."
"Hey Erika" Terry said. Erika rose and smiled and then she looked around. "What?"
"The boss doesn't like Public Displays of Affection" Erika said with a smile.
"Oh" terry looked like a condemned building, his face fell. Delphi stepped out of her office...Erika grabbed Terry and passionately pressed her lips to his. He melted into the kiss, Delphi turned crimson...
"MISS ARKHAM!" Delphi called.
"Mmmm" smiled Erika. "He had a breath mint". She smiled at Bruce and stepped over to the door. She gestured at the office double doors. "Ms Cartland will see you now...Tea--" Delphi passed by. "Coffee? --" Bruce gave a shake of his head as he walked past. Erika winked at Terry. "Me?"
Terry blushed looked around and kissed her on the cheek. She blinked in some sort of surprise and grabbed him into a hug...Terry felt...sorrow beating through him from her arms...she released him and walked over to her desk to make the coffee.
==================
Sketch sat on the roof of the elevator as it rose upwards. He pulled his messengers bag from the front of his body to the side and removed a small flat disk with handles out one side. He jammed them into the doors of the floor nearest. Squeezing the handles caused the door to edge open. He slid a small dentists mirror out and used it to examine the area. There was a camera on an axis that swept the hall from its perch in the corner.
Sketch pulled the doors opened and rose, hidden by the doorway. He watched the camera for a few minutes, timing it. "And---GO!" He leapt into a cartwheel, spun into a back flip followed by another, until he landed expertly under the camera as it turned to the hall. He pulled out a small lens. "I should really thank Dr Ira for this holographic technology." He slipped the device on, an image of the empty hall appeared in the lens and on the screens in the guardroom. He darted down the hall, ducking low under the windows to an office of busy workers and through a white covering over a door.
"Good thing builders in Gotham never work over the holidays" he paused. "Then again they rarely work at all." He looked at the shattered windows, probably from the Orphan attack at the tree lighting. He sighed. "The good times" and leapt into the swivel chair behind the desk and tapped at the computer.
====================
Erika entered the system. Her fingers sprinted across the keys and shattered the defences of the files in the private segment. "The old sewer system?" she muttered. "Nerve gas?"
======================
"Disappearing business partners, environmentalists...bingo!" Sketch grinned. He frowned. "Someone else is in the system? Damn!" He worked the protocols into the system and formed a protective shield.
He drained the data onto a disk. "Okay, so who is this?" he hit the keys. Seconds later he blinked. "They shot down my tracer! That is one good computer person... oh I am so PC."
========================
Terry stepped out of the office and breathed a sigh of relief. He drank the last of the coffee and smiled at Erika. She shut off her computer and rose. "Did you need to leave or were you sent out?"
"Needed to. They're discussing the Cartland Ball on New Years Eve" he sighed.
"Ah yes, the big party...fancy dress" she handed him a set of envelopes. "Here. Give them to Max and the gang; I sneaked them onto the guest list. And---Craig is going to be there, probably with Dana...his father owns shares in House of Cartland."
Terry closed his eyes and let his head drop. "Oh boy" he breathed.
"Hey Terry" Erika said soothingly. "You are not going to be mopey okay? We're going get you positive! Have you got a tuxedo?"
"It's tight around the collar...but yeah"
"And a Mask of some sort?"
"Well..." he murmured. "It's a Masquerade after all..."
Erika pecked him on the cheek and for a moment the strange, worried but fresh and energetic girl he'd seen picking files up that first night...stood before him. And then she disappeared into a tortured confused young woman.
"How was your night?" she asked. "Sorry, small talk, but we need it."
"Oh you know...I was chasing tails. This city takes a lot out of you..."
"Indeed it does...I was really---zapped last night"
Terry absently touched his lips and smiled at her. "I'd better get back in..."
"Should I be jealous?" mused Erika. She smiled and sat back at her desk. "I have to look busy or I'll lose my job...wait...wait, I need to get a downside to that..."
"No rent"
"Indeed, thanks" she blew a kiss and he walked back into the room. "Thank God I don't have school this week...wait...if I did I could skip it and not have to be in work til it was over...DAMN! Why did I have to find a decent guy during my full working days? GGGGRRRRRRRRRRR!!!"
====================
"Schematics for the sewer works" explained Sketch as he indicated the 3-D model on screen. "They're redundant now, built over since...well, Mr Wayne was in short trousers. They go renovated in some places but the old was closed down. Technically it's a link to gas lines, electric lines and so forth, but the sewer plants were turned into lines for the new ones or built over..."
"Except for one" Selina said as she pointed to the flickering red building on a map of Gotham. "That one is abandoned, unused for decades. Best part of a century actually."
"We should stake it out" Terry muttered.
"Hang on..." Sketch said. "They're not interested in the plant...wait a second."
He hit some keys and pointed. "The building sites were robbed of the following: welding tools, chemically strengthen pipes for corrosive or toxic materials, digging tools, non concussive explosives and a machine for studying geographical instabilities... anyone see where I'm going?"
"They're digging into the old pipe lines" Bruce and Selina said together.
"I'll fly over" Terry said instantly. He rushed towards the batmobile. Sketch moved to follow him but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Selina let him go and shook her head. He nodded in understanding and returned to the console, standing beside Bruce.
==================
"Empty" Terry stated as he climbed into the batmobile off the roof of the plant.
"Must have been an old project" Bruce muttered. "Sketch must have gotten it wrong".
Sketch looked hurt but Selina simply slapped Bruce's arm. He looked at her coldly and she returned an equally intense glare. "Head back and we'll look for some sort of link or story in these files."
"Treat our grandson like that again and I'll spay you" Selina hissed into Bruce's ear before she stalked off up the cave steps.
==================
As the batmobile disappeared the Krauss triplets directed the trucks through the gates towards the dilapidated works. "No sign of the Bat or the Cat" Stefan reported into his radio.
"Good, Roxanne, is the next part of Ban The Bat up?" Paxton asked over the link.
"We're planting the presents as you speak, tomorrow, during the raising of the Bell we'll give Gotham a reason to rezone the plaza..."
"And Batman gets blamed" snickered Karl. "To think I was worried he might catch us here or something..."
=======================
DAY 5
"Hello Satan's switch board shall I connect you to Lucifer, Mephistopheles or Delphi Cartland?" Erika sighed as she answered the phone.
"How about Erika Arkham?"
"Ah yes she's here too" smiled Erika. "Hi Ter"
"Hey" he said. "I was just wondering if you'd like to join me for dinner at eight tonight?"
"If you say at Cheesy Morino's I'll have to kill you"
"With the giant anamatronic instrument playing woodland creatures? No way, I was thinking the Sky-Rise"
Erika nearly dropped the receiver. "Are you serious?"
"Phase 1 of an early birthday present" he sighed. "So? Yay or Nay?"
"Yay" laughed Erika. "Yay all the way!"
"Then I'll see you at eight"
"Eight it is"
"Good"
"Good"
"Bye"
"Bye"
================================
Roxanne and Karl placed the explosives in the crates and set the timers. "6 minutes, 6 seconds and 6 mini-seconds" Karl said. "The Number of the beast."
Roxanne closed the lid on a box and handed it to a soldier. "When these babies go off the explosion will release the locks on the hologram projectors. The Bat signals go up and Batman is framed again."
"And then it'll only be a matter of time before he's captured"
The twins laughed, the same maniacal laughter...identical in every way.
==========================
Erika froze as she sat at Delphi's computer. Some files were locked tight into the deepest corners of this single console. Including a Project called BAN THE BAT. Erika skimmed it. "What have we here? Seems right up my alley...holy crap!"
She slipped the disk in and downloaded the files. The sounds outside the door were definitely footsteps. Erika pulled the disk out, seconds before the door slid open. Roma crossed the room and opened the drawer. She reloaded the pistol inside and slid it into the secret compartment before marching out.
"She has a gun of course," sighed Erika. She dropped from hanging in the chandelier by her legs onto the desk and scampered to the door, poking her head out, positive no one was there.
"I have to make a call..."
==========================
"Selina?"
Selina turned around from the laptop with the 3-D human shape on the screen and smiled at Barbara. "Yes Commissioner?"
"I need to talk to Bruce...and Terry, I just go an anonymous tip" the Commissioner was totally breathless. "Someone's going to frame a bombing on Batman..."
"What!" Selina gasped. "Come on". They rushed to the Cave.
======================
"The tip said that the explosives would be in the plaza" Barbara said. "The woman on the other end of the line hung up before we could get anything else, but the Plaza is going to be filled with people watching the raising of the new years bell Donated by Cassandra Cartland, Paxton Powers and, of course, Bruce Wayne that will electronically signal the new year."
"That's hundreds, maybe thousands, of people," Selina muttered.
"Possibly more" Sketch said. "Especially if people are in the shops for the sales, a big enough explosion would trigger a chain reaction around the plaza".
Terry pulled on his mask. "I'm on it."
Sketch looked at Selina. She shook her head and he walked over to a workbench. "Hey! Terry!" he shouted. Terry frowned and caught what was tossed to him. "It's an image projector, good for one shot, it'll cast an image of you at seven points, they'll move around and you can escape in the confusion."
"Thanks" nodded Terry.
=========================
"I know that I can't rely on the police," muttered Erika as she donned the costume checking the newest stitching she'd put in. "But if Delphi thinks I'll let her destroy people to frame Batman she's wrong. Besides, spoiling her plans is the most fun I can have without high explosives..."
The cat meowed as she climbed out of the power shed on the roof of the building through the roof and leapt off the building into open air. Shooting towards the ground.
================
Terry slid invisibly across the rooftops watching the crowds gathering around the huge metal bell as the crane raised it high above the plaza towards the outstretched hands of a steel and stone statue. The night air was cool as the sun disappeared
"Nothing so far."
"Hey Ter" Max said. "Got some news for you. I figure that if major carnage is what these psycho's want then they would need to plant the bombs in the centre of the plaza, if they did they'd trigger a blackout to the plaza and a big bang to the rest of the buildings, lethal to everyone within 30 feet or so".
"The tree" growled Terry. "The bomb is in or around the tree."
"You have to find it" Bruce said. "And quickly..."
"Well d'uh" Selina muttered. "Terry, your scanner should pick up a radio- wave or electronic blip from the circuits. I'll try and lock onto the remote signal if there is one."
Terry's eye-scanners skimmed the tree...and locked on the presents. "Plural, signals. As in Bomb s what a surprise. Any luck?" There was a blip.
"Yes, one signal, from the roof of Cartland Fashions in The Plaza" Selina said.
"You sound surprised Granddame" Sketch said over the link.
"Not really, go pummel the brat for us Terry, if you don't mind" Selina laughed.
Terry jetted upwards. He landed on the roof, disappearing into his cloaking device. The triplets stood near the ledge with their soldiers. A black orb with a screen and keyboard sat behind them in its steel scaffolding. "That's some sort of control console" Sketch said. "Probably the link between all the bombs."
"On it" terry muttered. He stepped forwards...a strange object on the side of the power shack bleeped as he passed it, it was a rectangular box with a blue screen on it and some buttons. It went off and hit him with tendrils of electricity.
"Got him" Karl said.
"Indeed" Roxanne nodded. "I recommend killing him now."
"I second that" sneered Stefan, aiming his pistol at the head of the Tomorrow Knight.
The small button landed on the ground and burst into a magnesium flash that sent the group of armed thugs falling back shouting. A claw stabbed into the box and released Batman. "You owe me one," purred Catwoman.
She leaned on the wall, swinging her whip slightly. "Now, this is my New Years Good Deed so...let's get on with it." She spun into a kick across the faces of the triplets. She vaulted at two guards and landed into a handstand, spinning her legs into a hurricane of pain.
Terry caught the arm of Stefan and flipped him into his siblings. He hurled a batarang at three soldiers; it exploded into a cloud of smoke. Terry spun into a kick into the side of another and cracked another in the nose with the heel of his palm.
He reached the console. "Okay---now what?"
"Pop the control box" Sketch said. "If you short the signal out the detonation will be frozen once and for all. It's like dominos or a chain link."
Terry tore the control panel off with surprising ease. The cheap plastic covering clattered off the side of the device hanging by two wires. "Stop him!" Roxanne screamed. A button bomb exploded near her feet and she fell off to one side. A whip cracked and snared Stefan as he took a run at Terry. He was hoisted backwards and electrocuted by a current down the whip.
"That's two you owe me!" Catwoman shouted as she spun, a punch connected with her jaw she spun and slammed a palm into the face of a man before grabbing his arm and judo tossing him.
Roxanne raised her pistol and tried to fire at Catwoman. A batarang connected with the blonde's hand and sent the gun skittering off the roof.
"Now I only owe you one" called Terry.
Erika leapt into a back flip at Roxanne and landed both feet on the woman's gut sending her flying. She landed and swept at Karl's legs. He leapt over her leg and kicked her in the chin, knocking her backwards. She lanced both heels into his gut and flipped him over her body. "Mee-ouch" she spat.
She spun to her feet and slashed him across the face with her claws he staggered backwards. She landed a kick in his chest and he bounced off the wall with a thud.
Terry filtered the four wires out. "Sketch, which do I cut? Red, Blue, Green or Yellow?"
"You're asking the wrong person mate"
"Of course, colour blind---"
"Third one on the left, yellow" exclaimed Sketch.
"How can you---"
"Cut the god damn yellow wire" enunciated Sketch.
"Sheesh" sighed Terry. He winced and used the pair of wire-cutters from his bat belt to slice the wire. There was a snap and a crack and then a lot of smoke. "That's all she wrote."
Catwoman appeared at his side. "Meow" she whispered as she goosed him from behind. He leapt and spun ready for a fight. "Oh puh-lease I'm in no mood for a lovers tiff."
"You're going to jail" Terry said.
Catwoman shook her head. "I'd be poison to the system. I'm afraid--" she sighed. "I have to die to find peace and to give any. So? Can you kill me another 7 times?"
"Jail for you" Terry said darkly, he could feel the strange...passion for combat that she always tweaked in him...rising...bubbling to the surface like a volcano.
"No" she said. She spun into a kick; he caught her leg and swung her around. She cracked her whip across his shoulders and cart wheeled backwards free of his grip. "No" she repeated.
"YOU COSTUMED FREAKS!" roared someone. They turned. Roma stood on a roof across from the store, dressed in a bright pink bodysuit with a neon necklace.
"She's one to talk" Sketch muttered over the link.
"What's that?" Max gasped.
"A Christmas Present!" exclaimed Selina.
"A bomb!" cried Bruce.
Roma raised a pistol and aimed at Catwoman. The Feline Fatale dodged the bolt by the skin of her costume. The vinyl bubbled as the bullet hissed past. Catwoman hissed. "Hey! What is this? Shoot at the feline week?"
"Shut up you weirdo!"
The cat-cable hit the wall of the building, Catwoman launched off the building and swung at the building, running along the wall and digging her claws into the wall and scrabbling upwards. She scaled the wall. Terry took a moment to groan about "more psychopathic bombers" and launched at Roma head on. She fired at him; he veered aside and hurled a batarang at her.
Roma ducked as he tried to tackle her and with a roar rose, her head and elbow digging into his stomach and flipping him over. "This is a nasty little chemical bomb" she said breathlessly. "Once this hits the plaza I'll set off the bat signals by remote and get you out of the picture."
She slipped her gas mask on. "Sayonara Batman" she spat.
Someone tapped her on the shoulder, she turned around...the left hook cracked across her jaw and she collapsed. The sound of approaching media and police choppers reached Terrys ears as Catwoman let Roma collapse. The police chopper hovered low, a sniper fired. Catwoman shrieked. Everything was a blur.
Terry reached for her gloved hand, she screamed, he grasped, the air---the descending scream...the crack and clunk as she hit a window cleaning device, it shot downwards seconds later and disappeared into the snow.
"No..." gasped Terry.
"---die---" a voice rasped. Roma pressed the device in her hand. Terry dived, grabbed the present and hurled a batarang at the large Cheshire cat smile of the revolving Cartland Logo. He jetted forwards, throwing the porjector, as weapons firing behind him as he hurled the brightly wrapped present into the hole and throwing his weight in behind a metal plate over the gap. The holographic projector hit the head of the cat occupying the fire of the officers.
"Laser" Bruce said. "In the bat belt"
"Got it" reported Terry as he welded the panel over the gap quickly. The shots were renewed, Terry shoved backwards, jetting away. There was a hiss and pop as the giant head vibrated. "Tell the commissioner what's going on in that cat's head" he muttered.
"I assume that was not irony" Selina said.
"No...what time is it?"
"8:30"
"DAMN!"
Leaving the police behind to deal with holographic doubles.
====================
Terry swallowed the pain killers and let Selina dab make up on his cheek. "I'm a mistress of wound seclusion" she said. "Now, remember that your body is really, really, really painful...don't over do it unless you want more on top of that."
"Gotcha" Terry said before stuffing the brush into his mouth and scrubbing harshly.
===================
Erika threw her keys on the table. "Honey I'm home" she called and peeled her costume off. "Oh---oww---I forgot...I'm not married---agh---oww". She kicked her door shut and threw the stealth piece at the sink. The wrecked tool hit it and a blast of water erupted. She groaned and fell back on her bed. "The damn cyber mesh left an imprint on my body. I am so glad I can..."
She sat up swiftly. "Terry!"
===================
Terry sat in at the table and smiled hopefully at Erika who was dabbing make-up to her jaw. "Sorry I'm late" they said together.
"I had to beat out a few things that Delphi had" smiled Erika apologetically.
"I had to help Mr Wayne with...a gas leak"
"Dangerous those" Erika nodded. "Ah, let's order"
"Let me guess... Ravioli?"
Erika smiled at him and opened the menu. "Probably" she admitted. "So let's just enjoy dinner. Without worrying what the other eats...unless you pick lot's of garlic"
"Same to you" Terry frowned and then smiled. Behind their menu's the pair grimaced in pain. Then reappeared and smiled at each other.
====================
D-DAY
"This is the Day. The D-Day. Tonight Gotham crumbles!" Delphi exclaimed. Her face was broadcast across the screens of the lair her soldiers were suiting up in. It was early morning. "And with the authorities and Batman butting heads..." she laughed. "NO ONE WILL STOP US!"
Paxton looked at the cackling woman from across his office. She hit a button and sauntered over to him. "Are you ready for the costume ball tonight?"
"Beyond ready" smirked Paxton. "Care to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what you want for Christmas?" Delphi gave a laugh and hopped onto his lap.
========================
"Sketch!" a voice snapped.
"What?" yelped the boy; Bruce came towards him from the steps of the cave. The echo faded as Sketch settled his bike on the "launch grid" by the Batmobile and stepped forwards.
"Where were you?"
Sketch met the cool glare with his own. "Out, about...without permission"
"Exactly"
"Let me finish, without permission from you. Granddame let me go out"
Bruce sat at the computer and swivelled the chair to face his grandson. "And what if someone recognized you?" Sketch ran a hand through the pitch- black dark hair and sighed. He walked over to the medical cabinet and pulled out an aerosol of water, spraying it across his hair and using a towel to wipe away the black, revealing shock white tendrils stretching from a snowy triangle on his fringe.
"No one would notice some kid with black hair on a motorbike" he said. "You give the citizens of this city too much credit. They wouldn't know a sociopath-ex-terrorist if he came up and slapped them around the head with a herring..."
"Don't even think it" Selina said as a funny look came over her grandson's eyes.
Sketch started making some adjustments to the computer as Bruce and Selina traded blazing glares. "He could have been arrested if he was recognized" snapped Bruce.
"Funny, it's only now you take an interest"
"Why can't you understand that the boy can't just---"
"The boy is your grandson! And far more able then you think! More able then the boys you made your Robin! He's smarter then you seem to think. And he was pulling Terry's butt out of the blaze."
"HOW?"
The answer came from the screen. "Soundbyte has just received this footage from the Heart of Mercy where DA Sam Young has made a statement." Sam Young appeared, Barbara sat at the side of his bed and was checking the bandages on his head.
"I have just received a disk containing information on the crimes Batman was charged with. It has been revealed that the Orphans were in fact working for a terrorist known as Victor Zeiss, son of the late Philo Zeiss. Batman is hereby cleared of all charges as the evidence against him has been revealed to be falsified. In addition we have found that the true fugitives are the Krauss Triplets and their benefactor. That is all, thank you for your time."
"Before you part" Barbara Gordon said. "I'd like to make sure you understand that when this evidence was delivered to the police station...certain files on a member of the Orphan's gang disappeared...completely"
Selina turned to Sketch with a strange look on her face. "I couldn't resist" sighed Sketch with a shrug.
"I should call Terry" Bruce said.
"You're welcome" snarled Sketch and stalked away.
"Bruce" Selina said calmly. "You really are an idiot sometimes"
=====TBC
Next Chapter: Sketch get's a name. There's a ball...and Delphi and Paxton's plans are revealed. PLUS! The All out animalistic conclusion of Fatale Fury! That's right! Next chapter is the last! (Shoots the first cheering person). But not the last in my Futurized series! (Throws a knife at the first person to say Awww). So, Review and I shall be benevolent with imaginary cookies...really!