How do you stop a criminal?

One who fades into the shadows as easily as you?

One who can change her shape as if she's made of water?

Someone who wasn't born?

BATMAN BEYOND REVISITED

EPISODE:

INQUE

So, you're probably wondering what I meant when I said she wasn't born.

Well, she wasn't.

She was created.

Inque.

That's what the scientists called the project.

They were trying to cure cancer by creating a new type of cell.

A cell that would continuously renew itself.

It would leave a piece of itself in the bloodstream, a piece too small to be killed, but large enough to grow to a necessary size when needed and repeat the process.

That wasn't the result they achieved.

Instead, one night, when they went in to finish the project, they found something in the shape of a baby where they left their project.

Her body was black and purple all over, except for her head.

Where a face would be was a blank-paper white area.

For months they examined the new being, but got no closer to figuring out what happened.

They opted to exterminate her to avoid risking any possible outbreaks.

But Doctor Aaron Herbst would have none of it.

The past few months, he grew attached to the creation, like a father to a daughter.

As soon as he heard the word "kill", he went mad, killing the other scientists.

He took Inque home.

Inque.

That was a good name for her, he decided.

It was fitting.

He kept her a secret for the next several years.

She grew a lot during those years.

First, she grew face with black eyes, slanted lines above her eyes that looked like eyebrows and purple lips.

She learned how to use her goo-like form to change shape.

Her father watched her age, proud of what was accomplished.

What Aaron wasn't proud of was the secrets he kept.

He told Inque she was born with a molecular disease that made her body unstable.

A case no one has seen before.

He was right about no one seeing a case of it before then.

But only because no one knew about her and because no such disease existed.

He feared what would happen if she found out what she really was.

One day, of course, she did grow curious of about herself, like all teenagers.

She went into her dad's room while he was out.

Snuck into his old files.

That's when Inque discovered how she was created.

Aaron came home.

"When were you going to tell me?" she asked when he walked into his room. "When did you plan to tell me I'm a freak accident?"

Aaron stood there, stunned.

"ANSWER ME!" She yelled.

"Never. I never wanted you to know."

"You're telling me that you killed ten men and hid me from the world and you NEVER planned to tell me the truth?"

The former scientist gulped and nodded.

Inque screamed.

In a flash, her arms extended towards her false father and wrapped around his neck.

"Inque... please..." he begged as he began to run out of air. "I'm... your... father..."

Inque squeezed his neck harder, forcing him to stop talking.

"No! You were never my dad! I HAVE NO DAD!" She cried before Aaron's eyes closed and collapsed to her knees, crying.

She began wondering what she should do.

Then realized there was only one thing she could do.

"I'll get revenge...

I'll get revenge on Gotham...

On everyone in it...

By destroying its one hope...

I'll destroy its savior...

I'll kill Batman."


AUTHOR'S NOTE: There's an Easter Egg in this chapter referencing the original Batman Beyond cartoon. Can you guess what it is?