CHAPTER 19
"Tim's Future Comes Back To Haunt Him"

As soon as all business was complete, Bruce Wayne left his Board's late night meeting in a rush.

He had his phone switched off, so he could focus on the task at hand, the rebuilding of Bludhaven and other projects of a similar nature. Wayne Enterprises had chosen to undertake the reconstruction project of Bludhaven after criminals had almost destroyed it in a war that mirrored that of great wars from the past. The villainy had been defeated, but not without countless lives lost and more than two-thirds of the city's main metropolis and districts destroyed.

The mayor was beyond grateful for Wayne's help, and also asked if he would temporarily fund for the establishment of a new police force, as they city was being overrun by lowlife criminals and drug gangs. Wayne Enterprises also agreed to this askance, as well. For which Bruce later learned Jason had offered his services to the Drug Enforcement Division.

Bruce was still ticked off about how Jason nearly killed the Penguin—and he had beat Jason to an inch of his life for it, not because he had nearly murdered a dangerous man but because to do so was against everything Bruce had taught Jason. Batman's Number One Rule was never to kill. That was what he was angry about it the most. So, he taught his "kid" a lesson he hoped Jason would take to heart. Of course, knowing Jason, he wouldn't, and return to his old, vigilante ways of doing things.

A series of text messages and missed phone calls had filled his screen when Bruce had switched his phone on, and the minute he saw them, he knew he had to leave quickly. He called Alfred, who filled him as he drove back to Wayne Manor.

Within fifteen minutes of returning to the Manor, Batman emerged from the changing vestibule with Alfred waiting in the main area of the Batcave. Told by Alfred, Bruce was thankful that Dick was recovering from a sudden attack by Scarecrow's Fear Drug. With that off his mind, he could now concentrate on more pressing matters, like Damian, and the fact that Jason and Jon Kent had raced to an island in the Atlantic to supposedly rescue him from Jake Handles, taking the Batboat alone.

But that was his fault, he was unavailable, and Alfred had scolded him for it.

"Where's Tim?" Bruce asked. "I need him to accompany me."

"Right here!" an unfamiliar voice responded. And suddenly an unknown face emerged from one of the adjacent caves holding some sort of futuristic device to Tim's neck, holding him hostage. Tim was unmasked. The stranger was young, a strong looking man in his early twenties with dark hair, wearing all dark clothing. "Hello, Bruce. What a pleasure it is to see you again."

Batman eyed the stranger. "I don't know you," he said.

"As you shouldn't. I've learned a few new tricks since we've last met, and indeed, since I met my other self."

"Bruce, it's me," Tim said. "It's my future self. I don't know how he's done it, but he has this new changeling ability now. He's able to alter his appearance at will like Beast Boy. When I returned back from Arkham Asylum after speaking with Hugo Strange hoping for a cure for Scarecrow's Fear Germ thinking Strange could devise one, I thought it was Alfred in the Batcave. Then he jumped me."

"I merged with the AI technology of the Batcomputer I designed in the future, now it and I are one!" He pressed the futuristic device further into Tim's neck, and Tim cringed. It looked like some sort of medical hypo. "Now I can be who and what I want on a whim. It's amazing how one small instance in the past can alter the future, and it allowed me to live again. They call it the Butterfly Effect, but you already know that. But I no longer go by Timothy Drake, you can now call me Arkells."

"Quite an unusual name," Alfred remarked. "Any reference to the rock band of the similar name? I here they're all the rage with young people these days. Master Drake has even been known to listen to them from time to time."

Arkells pressed the device harder into Tim's neck and Tim hissed in pain.

"Please don't antagonize maniac, Alfred, he's already angry enough," Tim said through clenched teeth.

Bruce wasn't positive but since merging with the AI, Future Drake suffered a shift in personality. But wasn't Split Personality Disorder like Harvey Two-Face, yet was something else. "What is that thing?" Batman pointed to the device.

"In my future—which it not that far off as you know—it's called a Neuro-Diffuser. I took it off a clever medical student who designed it to be used on patients with rare neurological disorders to help stimulate biochemical reactions to aid in the benefit of spinal cord and brain injuries. I was very impressed by it that I decided to test it on him, to see for myself how it worked. Little did I know, he suffered from a rare neurological disorder that caused immediate death when I did. It's of such light-weight and intricate design that you barely know you're holding it, and its very effective at its task. I weaponized it, and when used in short bursts, it sends an electrical pulse to the nervous system creating complete paralysis for a short time. With longer bursts, it shocks the system to completely shut down, basically killing the patient—ergo, its designer."

"What is it that you want?" Batman demanded. "You've already tried to kill Tim several times and failed, even going so far as to murder him as an infant, for which you were stopped and sent packing."

"For which you've removed my ability to jump through time, using chrono-adaptability technology, yes."

"Killing your past self is not the answer to your problems. You need help. We all know the risks of the job, and how much stress it puts on us, but we all decided to keep going. If you kill yourself here, your future self will cease to exist."

"That's the whole idea, Bruce! I want to die! And you're going to help me do it!"

Bruce knew this was something he didn't need at the moment, yet another problem to add to the mix of everything else that was going on: being dumped at the altar by Selina, Scarecrow's Fear Drug, to Dick's attempted assassination. But he knew cooler heads would prevail. There was no need for secret identities, everyone knew everyone else here, so he took off his cowl to face Arkells face-to-face.

"I want you to kill me, Bruce," Arkells reiterated his desire. "And I need you to find a way for me to die!"

Bruce looked at his strange. Tim's future self had been resurrected after being killed by some strange happenstance when The Flash had reversed some moment in time to save thousands of people from a fate worse than death using the Speed Force. The cause of Future Drake's rebirth was unknown, but since he's death was nullified, he had been wanting to kill Tim ever since, and even fused with the AI of his futuristic self-built Batcomputer to do it. Unfortunately, that created a super-criminal that caused even more problems in the long-run.

He was obviously mentally ill. Batman hated to use that term. Criminals were not mentally ill, they knew exactly what they were doing. But in Future Drake's—Arkells—case, the term was justified. He wanted to help him, but Drake wouldn't accept his help, and even blamed Batman along with Tim for his problems. Bruce knew people had to accept their shortcomings and not deflect their problems onto others, blaming them for their issues—everyone had issues—but Arkells wouldn't listen.

He looked at Arkells, his hand shaking as he pressed the Neuro-Diffuser to Tim's neck. One wrong move and Tim's nervous system would become jolted, causing a complete breakdown of neuron-somatosensation, virtually paralyzing him from the neck down.
Bruce had to defuse the situation quickly. "Take it easy, Dra—Arkells, let's talk about this," he spoke like a parental figure.

"Don't get all Dad-like now, Bruce. You were never ever good at that. Dick Grayson was more of Dad to the rest of us that you!"

Bruce gave a mental nod. That was true, he wasn't much of a father to his boys, and when he had been away for a time, and Dick stepped into his shoes and took over as Batman, he and Damian had become very close. Even Jason respected Dick more. And though he would never admit it, he did feel a little regret for attacking Jason after the Penguin affair. As for Tim, he never needed any parental supervision. He enjoyed his solitude, often toiling away in front of the Batcomputer alone, which, now that he thought about, was a bad thing, because unknown feelings of a negative nature could have been made to fester to cause Future Drake's mental condition. He would have to talk to Tim later if any issues would bothering him as of late, like a good fatherly figure.

"You're right, I'm not much of a father," he admitted bluntly. "But what do you mean I need to find a way to kill you?"

Arkells explained that when he fused with the AI computer in an effort to become stronger and smarter, he had continuously fought to remain in control. The AI kept attempting to take over his consciousness and bury his own. The machine was trying to override the man. He began to go insane and he couldn't sleep, since the AI didn't need to rest, and kept him awake. Eventually it became too much and Arkells tried to end it and shot himself. But the AI quickly repaired the cellular membranes in quick order.

"I've tried several times to kill myself, but the damn AI won't let me die!" Arkells went on. "The name Arkells isn't even mine, the AI created it for some reason of its own design. I'm even beginning to forget things. The AI keeps erasing my memories to optimize space, as if they're unnecessary data. I don't remember my parents, Bruce. The AI is taking everything away from me! That's why I need you to help me find a way to kill myself before it's too late and I become a slave to my own creation. I may have gained a greater understanding of things and secrets to the universe, but I'm losing my humanity!"

Bruce knew Drake was always a sensitive kid and he always prided himself on his morals. But suicide went beyond his self-worth. If Arkells was asking to be killed, the conflict he was struggling with against the AI must be really bad.

"Let me help you," Bruce said with empathy. "Give me time to find a way to remove the AI from your human body. Suicide is not the answer to your problems, not after everything you've been through in your life. I'll contact Cyborg, he may know a way. He would be the best person to tackle something like this. Just don't hurt yourself or Tim. Please."

Arkells shook his head. "No, it's too late to remove it. It has completely integrated into my human cells. Even if you strip all the flesh off my bones, the AI will just regenerate as a fully autonomous entity. I want to die, Bruce! Use whatever you have in your arsenal, but kill me and liquify this body, or the AI will regenerative it and completely take over. I want to die human!"

"Like a Terminator?" Tim voiced, taken aback. "That's kind of cool and scary at the same time. If you murder me here, then my future self will not exist to have this happen. I get it."

"Master Tim, do not encourage him," Alfred said straightly.

"I'm not, I'm just trying to understand. If I built this master computer and fused with it: Wouldn't an electro-magnetic pulse disable it?"

"I tried that, but it just renders it inert for a short time," Arkells explained. "Then it wakes, and so do I."

Bruce shook his head. "No, Arkells, you know my cardinal rule. I don't kill. So, you're asking me to do the impossible."

"I bet Jason would do it without hesitation." Arkells sneered. "Fine! Then you give me no other option."

However, it was Tim who reacted first. And he cocked his head sideways and the Neuro-Diffuser pushed hard into his neck, taking the full brunt of the device's depression. There was no electric shock-dance like that if someone accidentally touched a live wire, but Tim's eyes did go wide with a shock of their own. Arkells was also shocked, but in a different way.

And as Tim's body dropped to the ground, Bruce quickly reached into a pouch of his utility belt and threw a Batarang at Arkells's head, knocking him out cold. He fell to the ground next to Tim.

Bruce immediately went to Tim, holding his head up. "Tim! Tim!" Tim's eyes bulged from the voltage that had just been coursed through his nervous system, normally such a thing would make a person twitch like crazy, but not here. Tim's mouth went agape, unable to produce sound. His body obviously took a great deal. "Tim, you're going to be okay. I promise."

Although that promise could not be assured until Bruce learned just how much voltage the Neuro-Diffuser produced.

With a last flutter from his eyes, Tim's head dropped to the side, and his body went completely limp, as he lost consciousness.
"Alfred, call a doctor immediately!"

"Yes, sir," Alfred replied, and immediately used his cell phone to dial emergency services.

To be continued...