ISOH-Chapter 6
Legal disclaimer-It's called fanfiction. It gives me a creative outlet. Welcome to my world. There's no money being made here.
Author's Note-Sorry it took me a while, I was suffering from the block...sigh. My DVD's are coming, along with Jeanne-too many hurricanes....
Looking out at the world from behind a mask was something that Jesse Kilmartin hoped to never experience in his life. He understood the need for a secret identity, it kept his life private, but sometimes, a costume was not the way to go. This time, there was a mission that needed an identity, and for once in his life, he knew he could take it. He loved the idea of it, strangely enough.
Brennan stared at him as they started to put the costumes on. It was more like a moment of hero worship, putting on the cowl and the cape, it seemed surreal.
As he and Brennan put the last touches of the costumes on, he half expected a wolf call of some sort from the girls, but they seemed strangely awed. Dick stopped and stared at them.
"So, that's what we look like," he smiled, "Not bad, guys."
"Thanks, I think," Brennan said, his voice soft, "You ready Jesse?"
Jesse turned and winked at Shalimar. The costume actually fit him perfectly. He looked at Dick, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"You okay with this?"
"Hey, just remember it's a rental," Dick laughed, "I loaded the information you need into the Helix's navicomp."
"Thanks Dick," Brennan walked into the hangar, the cape making a whoosing sound behind him.
The two of them wound up in the helix alone, readying it for the short flight to Gotham. Shalimar, Emma and Dick were their backup, following them by car to Gotham City. The quiet time would be good for all them, setting their minds to the task at hand. Adam had stayed back with the healing Bruce, monitoring him for signs of change.
"How do they handle seeing in these things?" Jesse asked, pushing the mask up on his forehead, "I'm stunned at how well this fits."
"This is getting way too surreal for me," Brennan admitted, "I mean, what are we doing here, going after the Riddler as Batman and Robin. Jesse, Batman was my hero growing up. This is too weird, even for me."
"Yeah, I know, Let's do it right then," Jesse had been trying to place a name to the feeling he had about this mission, it was awe. Brennan was right, it was weird to be in the shadow of a hero.
The Riddler had built his lair on the outskirts of Gotham city. It was a poorly lit warehouse, from Dick's computer readout, but, he was able to find the city records and find them a clean way in. They parked the Helix, set her in stealth and left, ready to face whatever the Riddler had in mind for them.
Luckily, they were working with the cover of darkness. Entering the warehouse wasn't a problem, they soon discovered, with Jesse's abilities and a certain lack of outside security, they knew that they were mostly undiscovered.
The problem lay in what they could expect. Batman and Robin had faced the Riddler. Not Brennan Mulwray and Jesse Kilmartin. It was a daunting task.
"We're going in", Jesse said silently into his hand as he phased the wall, waiting for the "click click" response from Shalimar. He knew they were close, the sensors on the Helix alerting him to all three movements. He had made a comm. ring for Dick, seemingly a fair trade since he had managed to rewire some troublesome terminals for him, and, since he was wearing his costume, he knew he had to.
The costume was no hamper to his power. Jesse walked through the wall, unphased as Brennan cleared and they surveyed the scene. Luckily, they were on the one wall that the Riddler had not heavily sensored, but the smell was nearly unbreathable.
"That's not the biotoxin is it?" Brennan asked quickly, gloved hand reflexively up to his nose.
"Nope, it's the sewage of his power supply, he's using the chemicals washed into the bay to create it, it seems very much like a poor man's toxin," Jesse answered, his hand going to his nose as well.
"Where to next?" Brennan asked.
"Why up here, Batman and Robin," a loud eerily familiar voice boomed, "You're looking for me after all, where might one find the big bad bat-why simply in my big green Vat!"
Brennan and Jesse looked up. They were beneath the largest vat of a biotoxin that they had ever seen and it was tipping over to wash them into Gotham Bay.