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Outside Dimensional Space
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The Phantom Stranger walks over to see the Prime Earth's present. Ozpin has finally reached the watchtower and reunited with the sisters, along with Winter & Willow reuniting the Weiss.
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Everything there is happening as should be no need for interference right now.
He looks at the branching timelines in Hypertime and looks over a story. One involving a case that nearly broke the Batman and everything he thought about his city.
September 21st, 8:00 PM
Gotham City, New Jersey, United States
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"How long are they going to take talking? The fundraiser is already starting." Damian asked in a huff to no one in particular, losing his patience waiting for his father to come up from the cave.
Weiss Schnee The team RWBY from the planet Remnant were wearing dresses to accommodate the social event Bruce had invited them to, were also waiting for the dark knight to head to the party. Weiss glared at Damian, silently telling him to be patient and shut up.
"Schnee I live with the most intimidating person on the planet, along with Batman. If you wanted to intimidate me you are going to have to try a little harder than that". Damian responded with quick wit and snark, Weiss in response wanted to just drop the topic entirely until she looked down towards his feet. Damian unlike his brothers, who were wearing formal shoes appropriate for the party that was about to happen, had casual skateboarding shoes. This contrast in clothing styles made Weiss more irritated due to how long she had to get Yang into appropriate shoe wear. Yang seeing Weiss' face looked down to Damian's feet as well
"WAIT, WHY DOES HE GET TO WEAR SLIP-ONS AND I HAVE TO WEAR THESE TORTURE DEVICES" Yang complains to her fellow teammates. Weiss now scrunching her nose, not wanting to deal with the situation with Yang again, is trying to calm down.
"Damian, why are you wearing that? We are heading to a very important party that involved the future development of the city, and you are wearing skater shoes" Weiss trying to iterate how the upcoming situation doesn't need his impertinence.
"-ttt-" Damian only said, choosing to ignore what the former royal's advice. A few seconds after this conversation Bruce finally got back up from the cave with Dick, both men wearing tuxedos for the event.
"Finally". Damian stated with him & Tim now standing in front of the grandfather clock that leads into the Batcave.
"It's a who's who of Gotham in there" Tim stating the occupants of the party. Bruce activates Facial Recognition for the party he is about to he is about to host.
"Tell me he's not using facial rec for the party"
"The party? He's using it to remember who you are, Drake"
Yang in response snorted to Damian's wit, and everyone else being indifferent almost expecting something from Damian. "And... Zing" Dick responded as the group was heading down the Wayne Manor halls, heading to the party center.
"You do know who your father is right, Mr. Paranoid who has plans to defeat his best friends and colleagues and not even sorry for having them. And you call yourself a Detective" Blake dryly remarked. Bruce still running a diagnostic on his contact lens' which are connected to the Bat computer, arrived to the center and about to give the speech which would -hopefully- improve life of all the residents in Gotham.
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Bruce was standing behind a podium in a giant room in Wayne Manor before a Large amount of people who support his dream in a better Gotham. A large photo of him and his parents is standing behind him, with a small replica of the city in front of him.
Bruce started his speech, "Lately, I've been asking myself the 'Gotham is' question a lot...". The question he was referring to was a column in the Gotham Gazette where Gothamites are asked to complete the sentence "Gotham is..." using three words or less, using to find out what the city represents for its citizens.
"What is Gotham City to me, Bruce Wayne? In a single word... Home? Family? Purpose? But the truth is - the real truth - is... I couldn't answer the question.
But then I remembered something, friends. I remembered something my father, Thomas Wayne, used to say to be before bed sometimes, back when I was a boy and I'd had a bad day... When I'd fallen down a hole in the ground or skinned my knee. At the end of a day like that he'd pat my head and he'd say , 'Bruce, tomorrow is one dream away.' that was his phrase. Sentimental, I know. But still, it worked for me. Now, as most of you know, my father died when I was a boy. He was gunned down, along with my Mother in Crime Alley across town.
And as you can imagine, the day's following his death were the worst of my life. Days of anger and fear and sadness. Still, that phrase, my father's phrase-tomorrow is one dream away- it kept coming back to mee...
...and deep down I knew, much as it hurt right then, things would get better.
Now, why am I telling you this? Well, Friends, my point is this-when circumstances are challenging, or frightening, asking ourselves what our city 'is' is pointless.
Because all we will see, when we look around at the buildings and streets, will be our own fears, our own frustrations.
Our own Demons
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But if we stop looking to the present and the past, and instead we look to the Future...
...if we ask ourselves what can be-what will be- Tomorrow... Then we're asking the right question. Because to hope, to dream, to predict is to shape the city yourself, rather than to by shaped by it. So, putting my money where my mouth is...
...Next month Wayne Enterprises will begin investing-aggressively and immediately in Gotham's Future.
Working with various domestic design firms, we've already set in motion an initiative to rebuild some of Gotham's most derelict industrial neighborhoods. From there, we plan on moving boldly to expand and modernize Gotham's public transit system.
I cannot tell you how excited, how hopeful I am about these plans. Much more will be revealed in the coming days, but for now, I ask you to do this... look past what Gotham was, what Gotham is... and imagine with me, just for a moment..
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Gotham as it will be..."
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As he said the final line a holographic display of Bruce's vision appeared over the miniature display of Gotham. This caused the crowd of people to gasp and cheer for the philanthropist, but more importantly his dream. The team then stood from their seats to cheer along with the crowd, they more than anyone in the crowd -other than the Robins- knew how much would help the people in need & prevent any future criminals, which in their opinion was the best outcome they would want.
"Thank you...Now what I ask of you, friends, is to invest with me. Invest in Gotham's future. Because I promise you if we can all do that, together...
a better, brighter Gotham is one Dream away"
Bruce then stepped off the podium to greet and convince the wealthy people of Gotham to help support his organizations and provide funding. The team decided to congratulate Bruce on this monumental idea to support his city.
Ruby went and hugged him from behind "OMIGOD, BRUCE THAT WAS AN AMAZING SPEECH!"
Weiss now pulling her back and giving her a serious stare down, Ruby looked at her confused not understanding what was wrong as she acted how she normally acts with everyone. Weiss then points to the many wealthy people that were staring at her because of her loud declaration. Ruby seeing this calms down and starts to talk normally.
"...Good speech..." Ruby quietly mumbled as she became embarrassed by her pervious attitude. The rest of the team congratulated Bruce as well, in a better and more controlled method than their leader.
"You did forget about the Bat-Bunker's you've hidden in each parts of the city to fight crime" Blake quietly remarked into Bruce's ear. As she said that another person was approaching Bruce, Vicky Vale Gotham's own Lois Lane - even if she doesn't have as many awards or is known as the best reporter.
"We'll get out of your hair now, again thank you for inviting us here" Weiss said as she excused her team away from the busy Billionaire. The team spent fifteen minutes admiring and talking about how the people were going to contribute to Bruce's idea. Or half of them, the sisters were eating the expensive food that was offered to them and trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.
That was until they say Bruce enter a room with a secret entrance to the Batcave. Weiss and Yang both wanted to know what was happening, Weiss for the fact that someone might be hurt, and Yang because there might be a possibility of punching someone in the face.
The duo then broke off from their other teammates to get changed into their "WORK" clothes to see what has happened to get Batman involved. They ran through the gothic rooftops when they saw Harvey Bullock being sneaked up by Batman.
"Back to stealth mode, I see. Come on. Let's go look at some art". As they both were about to enter the crime scene Batman stopped in place listening to his surroundings. "Meet me inside. I need to talk to some company". Harvey just shrugged in response and head into the apartment.
"You can come out now". As he said that two figures dropped down from the sky one wearing White and the other Wearing Yellow. "I have this covered, you don't need to be here it's just an investigation"
"Well we're out here now and who knows, you might need the backup. Not to mention I already ate most of your food and this is way more exciting". When Yang gave him the reason to why they were there, he just gave them both a glare -that never ceased to send chills down their spins- and reluctantly gave in. The three Heroes walked into the crime scene, upon seeing the state of the victim Yang nearly threw up the food she recently ate but collected her thoughts.
"...ugh...sorry, just didn't expect such a...artistic display". The man was littered with knives all around his body & mouth, the knives acting as a support and pinning him to the wall itself.
"The landlord found him on a routine rent run. He went by the name Sam Strigs, but when we ran it, turned out to be a phony. Guy has no credible I.D. in the apartment. nothing on his prints. He paid everything in cash. A true blue John Doe. Evidence points to a T.O.D. Five, maybe six days ago. When someone decided to use him as a human dart board. Thing is, whoever did it missed every one of John Doe's Major arteries-on purpose. Meaning they wanted to hurt him very badly for a long, long time"
"I don't get it. Why would some assassin or criminal torture and kill a man with no past or identity. It wasn't some hit like owing money otherwise they wouldn't make such a display of it. And this doesn't match the M.O. of any of the inmates at Arkham". As Weiss was trying to deduce what the reasoning of the murder, Batman was inspecting the weapons used. The knives were antique throwing knives, professional and expertly designed for throwing, with barn owls at the end of the handle.
"Ya think it has anything to do with the old wive's tale about the c-". As Harvey was about to finish Batman spoke. "No, it should have nothing to do with them"
"Run DNA analysis. Looks like skin beneath the Victim's fingernails, possibly the killer's". Batman sent the DNA to be checked in the Batcave for who the mystery killer was, when all of a sudden he smelled the air.
"Batman what's wrong, why are you trying to smell more of the dead guy". Batman then grabbed Harvey's cigar he was smoking. "That smell is linseed oil. A common pain thinner. But the intensity is too strong"
Batman then rubbed the lit part of the cigar on the wall causing the wall to erupt in flames saying, Bruce Wayne will die tomorrow.
"The timing doesn't make any sense, if Mr. Doe was found around a week ago Wayne would already be dead" The Golden Dragon tried to make sense of the message displayed when Batman countered it with his own. "Unless he knew when he'd be found. You said the landlord was making a routine run. I assume he always came on the second Friday of the month"
" So...the victim knew he was murdered and knew his body would be found on this DAY. Right when Bruce Wayne gave his speech about Gotham's future. And gave a warning in FIRE to who the killer will kill next.
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OK"
Harvey Bullock scoffed at the idea of the mystery killer even attempting to try and kill Bruce Wayne. "Then to the killer I say good luck. Wayne's security has security. So if the killer is anyone, it has to be someone close...like Wayne's inner circle close. Almost makes you feel bad for the guy"
"Almost?"
"I know you, the commish, and Wayne are all buddy buddy. But people like Wayne don't know how the city really works, not like how we see it. I mean, I listened to his little 'is' and 'was' and 'will be' speech on the radio tonight and it sounds nice and all. But when it comes to Gotham-"
"Quiet. Coms now, you need to hear this". The two other heroes who stayed quiet activated their coms to the Batfamily signal in the Batcave.
"Wait are you sure?"
Golden Dragon leaped off the roof heading to the cave to find out the meaning to what she had just been told. As she left the two others head after her to try and calm her down.
Within the Batcave three people stood Infront of the Batcomputer, with two of the other members of RWBY trying to convince Alfred that the Computer glitched or made a mistake. Alfred himself just stayed quiet worried what Dick might have done. Alfred then looked back at the results of the Batcomputer looking at what the DNA analysis brought to them. It showed that the DNA the Bruce brought in for analysis was a complete match with Dick Grayson.
AND COURT OF OWLS PART 1 DONE. I have a question for you guys I am thinking about doing one of these storylines next. Tell me which one you want to see more and I'll write it.
And thank you to all 7 people who actually want to see my writing. I know it sounds sarcastic but my writing is up there right next to a C+ and a B. So thank you. Here are the next possible story's after this one.
Crisis on two earths
Three Jokers
The Wedding(BATMAN)
The Wedding(SUPERMAN)
Son of Superman
No man's Land
Vs the Elite
Bloodlines
Cast you're votes and see you everybody!
