Disclaimer: Batman does not belong to me. It belongs to DC Comics.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Three (Digging Up The Past):

Batman pulled off his cowl revealing the handsome face of Bruce Wayne. He plopped himself on the chair in front of the Batcomputer and got to work.

He knew who the man behind the mask was. Only one other person could've taken him off guard like that. Only one person could piece together that he was actually Bruce Wayne.

He searched endlessly for the record. His record. It was all there. Finally, he came upon it. The evil glint of the beady eyes that belonged to none other than the Joker taunted him. The Joker had long been dead of course, brought to the mercy of Nightwing and finished off. But the Joker did have something that still stained his honor. He had murdered the second Robin, Jason Todd. Jason Todd hadn't been the perfect sidekick, always independent, wanting more information. He supposed he couldn't help himself, of course, being as headstrong as he was.

Jason Todd's body was never found by the authorities. Batman hadn't examined it, for the corpse's horrid smell sickened him. Instead, he savored his memory of the young vigilante who tried so hard to escape the tyranny of Gotham's underworld, but not even Batman could help him with that one. The body of Robin was left to decompose. The shot had been lethal. But what if, against all odds, the second Robin had fought and won back his life? What if Jason Todd was alive and well, using the time to master his skills as a martial artist for yet another encounter with his mentor? Was it possible that a shadow of the rebellious spirit Jason Todd held lies in grim expression behind the mask? Batman had to find out. The pain did not matter, he simply owed it to Jason.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What's up, boss?" Nightwing joked as he arrived at Oracle's.

"I know who Shadow is." Batman claimed, "Or at least, I'm almost positive."

Nightwing cocked an eyebrow. "You do?"

"But Oracle said she wasn't able to dig up anything on Cain!" Robin persisted.

"She wouldn't because there aren't any. Nothing connected to him anyway." Batman informed. "I think the mysterious Shadow is linked to the Joker. If that's true, then we're all in danger." Batman said grimly. "He knows who I am. He knows who my adopted son is, and he knows who my other surrogate son is."

"What do you suggest we do?" Oracle inquired.

"I'll figure it out. I'll take Batgirl with me. The rest of you stay put."

"--You can't be serious--" Nightwing.

"--That's not fair--" Robin.

"No." Batman replied. "You don't know what you're dealing with. If you knew, you'd hold back. Holding back at a crucial moment like this could mean life and death."

"Who exactly are we dealing with here?" Nightwing asked annoyed.

Batman ignored the question. "Oracle, I want you to stay out of this. He might try to hurt you to get to me."

"Let him try." Oracle said in fierce determination, "I'm a big girl now, Bruce. I can handle myself. The main problem is how we're going to stop him."

"Leave that to me." Batman turned to walk to the open window.

"Wait!" Nightwing looked up, but he was gone.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There were many drafts with Chapter Three. The first attempt was a student from Cain, but I found that creating a character and making it major right away was quite annoying as there were many gaps in the plot. So the villain in this story is definitely a character we've faced before.