Chapter 9
Batman glides silently across the river into The Narrows on a Jet Ski board, surfing across the strait as the watercraft's mini turbine on the underside of the board propels its rider effortlessly through the mist rising from the water into the cool night air.
This is not the first destination for the caped crusader this night. His journey began at the GUH lab where, earlier that day, Bruce Wayne was caught in the explosion that destroyed the work being done by the renowned Dr. Thomas Snood to eradicate the avian flu epidemic in Gotham.
It now appears to Batman that Snood has masterminded this whole plot with his mysterious disappearance from the building minutes before the bomb arrived.
After scouring the scorched lab area, Batman shuffled through Snood's ransacked office, looking for clues as to his whereabouts. Two items of interest came from this search, a slip of paper from Gotham Public Library with the catalog numbers 512.86J and a message pad note from the department administrative assistant in the hospital morgue.
A quick search in a hospital directory narrowed the list of who from the morgue may have called Snood that day. The hospital employs 4 daytime staff members in the morgue: a forensic anthropologist named Bryan Hiller, Arthur Kemp, an anatomic pathologist, and two dieners, Lazlo Ten and Yuri Goeren. Batman scrawled the names into a notepad and paid a visit to the morgue to find which of the four had tried to contact Snood and why.
Luckily the night shift at the morgue in GUH consists of one person, a part-time second year med student from the university, more interested in spending his nights brown-nosing with the surgeons and flirting with nurses than performing job duties he equated to be little more than a babysitting position. The unattended area was an open invitation for Batman to find more information on the disappearance of Snood. Looking over the administrative desk, Batman noted that only three of the full time staff was in that day. Picking the three locks on the staff lockers took only seconds and finding what he needed was a stroke of luck. In Arthur Kemp's locker was a list of names, all victims of the avian flu. A handwritten note was scribbled at the top of the list.
Question Snood about disappearances.
Also inside Kemp's locker was a notice from Metropolis Institute of Technology regarding an upcoming alumni event. Kemp must have known Snood at MIT. Perhaps it was this repartee that led Kemp to contact Snood over one of his GUH co-workers. It seemed this cryptic list was enough to panic Snood into staging a distraction for his escape.
Batman wanted answers and this list seemed a good starting point. Finding the cadaver whose name led the list, Batman pulled open the refrigeration unit and slid out the tray holding the corpse. The body wasn't missing, so to what disappearance did the list refer?
Batman looked over the chart for the victim to see what post mortem procedures had been enacted. The body was scheduled for release to a funeral parlor the next day. Each name on the list produced a stored cadaver awaiting release to the victims' families. Something was apparently amiss here in the morgue, but without Snood or Kemp, the explanation would have to wait, unless the library held the answer.
The Gotham Public Library is home to the largest collection of books in North America.
It stands as a bastion of literature and knowledge in a city that shows little interest in such things. The alarm system at the library is as antiquated as its contents. Perimeter alarms at the windows and doors secure the facility, but once inside, the alarm system is rendered useless with its lack of motion sensors, and the easiest way around the alarm network is under it. The utility room of the library extends down to meet the sewer, and underground pipelines of water, fiber optics, and electricity that power the mammoth building. A door with nothing more than an industrial deadbolt is all that stands between the library and the Department of Public Works service tunnel. On occasion, Batman has used this entrance for late night research in the library's racks.
Tonight his visit was to find the book that belonged to the discarded card catalog number in Snood's trash. The computer database lists three materials with the call number of 512.86J, a Hardy Boys novel in the fiction section, a Jung treatise in philosophy, and a back issue of the American Journal of Medicine in the reference section.
Choosing the medical journal has led Batman back here to The Narrows. That month's edition of the journal featured an article on genetic research of diseases using deceased victims whose organs contained inactive genetic remnants of virulent agents.
If Snood were using the avian flu to further his study of the genetics of disease, the best breeding ground in Gotham would be The Narrows. Given that Batman encountered a bird-like costumed figure there as well, it seemed likely he may find the doctor nearby where he first encountered the bird-man.
On the rooftops of the narrows, Batman once again searches for sights and sounds of illicit activity. Peering down into the alleyway where the costumed bandit escaped after dousing Batman with tear gas, there is an eerie silence, reminiscent of the night Rachel disappeared.
Attuning the amplified ear inside the cowl of his suit Batman hears what sounds like captives struggling to get loose. Following the sound leads Batman to an abandoned apartment building deep in the slums.
Batman enters the building through the roof service entrance, the aging building creaking and moaning with each step. The sound of prisoners beating against doors and walls echoes as Batman descends into the building. The Dark Knight pulls two throwing stars from his belt and places a hand on the knob of the stairwell door.
Kicking the door open, Batman is greeted by the sight of dozens of wild turkeys filling the room, flapping and pecking to gain their freedom. Batman pulls a miniature blow gun from his belt and inserts a small tranquilizer dart, then launches it into the closest fowl. In seconds, the bird drops unconscious and the masked detective pulls an empty syringe to draw blood from the animal.
Closing the door behind him to keep the birds locked in, Batman moves down the stairwell to the next floor. Behind the door lies a makeshift laboratory, with samples lining the wall and scientific formulas covering the chalkboard. Slumped in the corner is Dr. Snood, surrounded by empty syringes of "Blis/z".
Batman rushes to the Dr. to revive him for answers. "Dr. Snood. Can you hear me? Do you know where you are?"
The doctor is unresponsive save for the foaming drool oozing from the corner of his mouth. Batman places smelling salts under Snood's nose, pulls open one eyelid then the other to shine light into the pupils. They dilate as the first gurgles of consciousness return to the doctor.
A slurry phrase is all he can muster when his eyes refocus on the figure in front of him. "Drugs...me...until...I work."
"What are you working on?" Snood begins to drift out again, until Batman shakes him. "Are you working alone? What's missing from the hospital morgue?"
"Organs" is all the man can say before slumping over again.
Batman will get no more answers until he sobers the man. Raising him to his feet, he leans Snood against the wall to check for weapons or concealed devises. As he looks beneath the doctor's lab coat, an arrow whizzes by his cowl and pierces the trachea of Dr. Snood, pinning him to the wall. Blood quickly slithers into the lungs of the gasping professor. He tries to speak a word with his last breath, but the air is no longer there as he drowns quietly.
Batman spins to face the attacker; standing across the room with crossbow in hand is the mysterious bird-man. Tiring of his adversary's surprise entrances, Batman throws a SMART bomb to the outer wall of the building. Detonating upon impact, it blows out a section of the wall to expose the night sky over The Narrows. Using the distraction to his advantage, Batman launches a throwing star at his opponent's hands, forcing him to drop the crossbow.
Batman lunges toward the murderer to seize his chance for hand-to-hand combat. He lands a hook to the beaked cowl of the bird-man, who counters with a sweep kick. As soon as Batman hits the ground, his attacker slams his foot into Batman's throat to hold him down. The leverage and the well-muscled legs have the advantage over the caped crusader.
Thinking quickly, Batman pulls his harpoon gun from his belt and fires out the hole in the wall to the building across the street. Hearing the harpoon hit, he doesn't wait to see if it has a strong hold, but clamps it into his belt and hits the retract button, grabbing the leg of his opponent. As Batman is dragged through the opening, he pulls his assailant with him into the night.
The weight is too great, however, and the line snaps, sending both hurtling toward the street below. With no time to slow their falls, both make the two-story fall to the pavement, landing in the garbage-laden alley below. Battered but unbroken, Batman is up on his feet to meet the bird-man as he uses a fire escape ladder to pull himself up. The bird suit is not holding up well. The left wing is ripped in half, while blood trickles from the right leg. Holding to the fire escape for support, the bird-man tries to block the moves from a second winded Batman, but can't keep up with one hand holding to the rail.
The bird-man pulls his final trick, a vial of nitric acid, and douses the chest armor of the Dark Knight. It immediately begins to burn through the bi-weave Kevlar. Batman backs away, attempting to unhook the torso piece to remove it before the acid reaches his skin. As he pulls the top of the suit off, the injured bird-man limps off to safety.
Unprotected from attack, and with his armor being dissolved by the acid, Batman searches for a water supply to dilute the effects of the agent. An outdoor water faucet becomes his only hope to salvage his suit. He runs the water over the torso plate to rinse the acid away. The ground sizzles as the acid mixes with water and boils as it evaporates.
As Batman makes his way back across the river to the Tumbler holding the damaged chest armor of the suit, he checks his belt to make sure the vial of blood from the turkey is undamaged. Tossing the body armor into the vehicle, and climbing in, he pushes a button on the dashboard as the cockpit closes. A computerized voice fills the chamber inside the super-car.
Secure line to Lucius Fox.
"Lucius, I'm going to need a new suit."
Batman drives away knowing full well that this night is far from over even as the sun begins to rise. The blood he carries in that vial may be the source of the avian flu and the key to curing it. The only person left to unlock its potential is Dr. Catherine Henner.