Chapter 3

"…an eerie type of chaos can lurk just behind the façade of order – and yet, deep inside the chaos lurks an even eerier type of order."

- Douglas Hostadter

It is surprising, what can be seen in darkness. The streets of Gotham gasped in shadows, from its scarce uptown boulevards to its labyrinth of rotting slums. What tyranny, what betrayal, what death spawned from that city's rotting core. It brought darkness which boldly swam inches from light and effectively killed half-lit streetlamps. No man can escape its hushed lullaby, its frozen but comforting embrace, and from its lingering promises, criminals are born.

Under its veil, thieves swarm through alleyways looting and murdering the city's last dampened lights. In the moist caverns of a well-known boulevard, however, where constant shadow crept upon decaying stone, a hero emerged – raised in prosperity, nearly drowned as a witness to double murder, haunted and loved by both shadow and light; nightmare of nightmares; god amongst the godless; Black Prince; Guardian; Lord of Bats; King of Shadows –

Batman, the Dark Knight.

As he was crowned with shadow's darkness cape, the Bats of Gotham took their rule. A city controlled by alley dogs fell to the claws of bats, and though the Guardian crusaded for the innocent, he cared not for the affairs of cats and dogs. For enforcement of their rule, he received information. Bats were resourceful creatures; they were never hidden from the actions Gotham's darkness overshadowed. The darkness nurtured its villains but loved its demons more – faster demons, better demons; demons who could navigate their own way, demons that could see the shadow's hidden truth.

The bats were observant; they knew their own kind.

And bats knew devils when they saw them.

November 11, 10:04 a.m.

Gotham City, New Jersey

Daylight rolled over a stain glass rounded sky, the light pouring onto concrete and casting a dull rainbow upon the floor. A green rat scurried amongst the colors, followed closely by an enigma in darker blue. While Beast Boy enjoyed the finer things and bathed in purple before stepping into artificial light, Raven caught every spider web, every speck of dirt, every fluttering piece of dust. She hated city hall. It resembled a temple where monks uttered lies weaved by political puppet masters.

She caught the receptionist's attention as she approached, flipping open a tattered fold. A metallic white badge played shadows with the light. "We are Beast Boy and Raven from Division 247: Teen Titans West, Jump City, California; Level 3 of JLI."

Beast Boy sprung into human form, startling the receptionist.

"Yes, um, of course," the receptionist said. "If you would just, uh…" She stood in search of any higher soul. The halls were empty. "… follow me, I can show you right where those are."

Her knock-off designer shoes smacked against concrete as she led them into complex halls. The sound echoed, fading into long shadows on the walls. Beast Boy, a grin spread across his face, evaded the floor's array of cracks but stopped his game with low-cast ears after Raven glared.

The receptionist quickened her pace.

She gripped a bundle of rusting keys as they approached a pair of stale vanilla doors. "This… isn't an-um-emergency, is it? Capes-er, heroes-don't usually make appearances unless…" She missed the lock twice with the correct key.

Beast Boy's lips twitched; Raven cut in. "No. The Oracle was supposed to call for these files weeks ago."

"Right-yes-of-course." She fiddled with the keys and unlocked the door. "The public records are down here. I'll send the paperwork to JLI–"

"We'll sign it on the way out," Raven said. "New policy."

"Okay, well, haveaniceday."

As the receptionist conquered hallways faster than before, Raven caught Beast Boy's arm. "Nothing's wrong," she reminded him.

His shoulders sagged. "I know." He chanced a sideways glance. "I was just gonna tell her she sorta looked like dat girl in Super Monkey Cops VI."

A blush, a chuckle – suppressed to a nervous gasp, but Raven ignored it. She passed him, disappearing as she traveled further down paint-chipped stairs. He followed.

The records room stood abandoned, musky, and mucus-like. The air tasted of dirt and cobwebs staked their claim on corners of the walls. Black metal racks with broken wheels formed mountains of disorganized files, smothered in dust and spider string. The lone computer, a piece of old personal hardware, stood with a layer of dust coating its screen.

Beast Boy's face contorted and scrunched as he covered his nostrils with his forearm. "Dude, this place stinks! Don'tcha think somebody'd at least clean up or sumthin'?"

Raven moved towards the computer and cleared the dust with her arm. "Gotham isn't exactly the place for public records…" Dust from the keyboard kicked up into her eyes. She coughed. "Let's just get this computer working."

Complications led to thirty minutes of reboot and repairs by Beast Boy as Raven shuffled through shelf upon shelf of unorganized files. Her magic nearly tore a file in irritation.

"'Ey Raven, I found sumthin'!" In his excitement, Beast Boy nearly tipped over in the uneven chair. "An article, erm, three years ago 'bout him… leavin' Gotham?"

The file she closed shot dust into the air. She glanced up towards the creaking fan and its musky light. "So they do update this place…" She tossed the file onto the olive green plastic table then floated to Beast Boy. She leaned over his shoulder. "Grayson… boarding school in California…" She muttered off strings of sentences aloud. "It keeps mentioned a Bruce Wayne… Guardian perhaps?" A look towards Beast Boy dropped her stare into annoyance. "What?"

"A Bruce Wayne? He owns, like, everything: Wayne Enterprises, Gamestation – just bought Innovative Technologies, like, last week. Even Starfire knows who he is! He's in the tabloids all the time." He blushed. "Cyborg an' I keep up on big names, 'kay?"

A light smile tried to grasp her lips, but it never came. "Rich then?" she said.

"Rich? Da guy probably eats yachts for breakfast!" Raven grasped the mouse and scrolled through the article as Beast Boy jiggled in his seat. "Man, Robin's loaded! No wonder he's got all dat nice stuff."

Raven's hand slipped off the mouse as the words spilled from his mouth. "… Yeah," she mumbled, "no wonder…" His words skipped into an image of a rich man donning a mask and cap and beside him a boy in streetlight colors. Her jaw dropped tipped. Mere observations were dangerous to make, especially in drear times, but Raven held to one lesson Robin taught her: in JLI, expect the unexpected, no matter how unexpected it is.

"Beast Boy," she said, "look up Bruce Wayne. Robin got his gadgets somewhere, and Bruce Wayne's it. Just look 'im up."

His eyebrows rose at the command, but he retrieved the mouse and typed furiously, an action only interrupted when a raven clicked its beak upon a muck-covered window. Beast Boy wandered over and greeted K'baazh.

The only true compliments Raven received in her youth were from her mother's lovely birds, but Animalic slipped her mind over the years. The language's harsh clicks evaded her, but she picked out traces of its telepathic words. "I spoke… tried to… but the bats… rude, violent, human." Even in her mind, the raven's words were muttered. "I used… name of Cooms, but the bats in–" (the name for the region was untranslatable) "–do not respect dogs… outsiders…"

Beast Boy's shoulders slumped. He spoke a few unknown words before he said, in English. "I'll be back, 'kay?" He transformed into a hawk and sprung into smog-filled air. K'baazh followed.

Her fingers splayed across scattered files as Raven drifted towards the computer. She draped her arms over the back of the chair and gazed at the most recent article: "Wayne Enterprises buys Innovative Technologies." The eyes of a too-muscular rich man stared back at her.

Wings slapped against the lone window, upsetting Raven's meditation. She straightened herself and looked to find three bats hanging from the window's outer lattice. Her arms slipped from off the chair as she approached with one, two, three slow steps.

A low growl drew her attention from brown bats to green dogs, and she dissipated into city hall's back alleyway.

There stood Beast Boy, a wolf – mouth clenched, teeth bearing, the hair on his back bent towards a cloud-covered heaven; and K'baazh nestled tightly on his pointed shoulder, blood from bat bites dripping off feathers onto fur. Hundreds of bats screeched the sky, all dropping from formation to hang off guardrails and detailed cement ledges. The pants of bat wings ruled the air, then silence.

Raven had been intimidated by streets before. The city dogs of Jump moved as one entity, one spirit like poison, and crushed stone with naked jaws; but Gotham's bats stood eerier, scarier perhaps, bringing chaos and order into one. Raven once faced better things, like demons, ghosts, and Slade, so she revealed no physical nerves; instead, she placed her hood upon her head and said, "Ask them where Batman is."

Beast Boy relaxed slightly, his gums falling over canines, then talked off into a clatter.

The bats screeched in interruption. Beast Boy backed a step with a sloppy grin and a nervous chuckle. The bats spoke as one. "Dogs bow here. No questions!"

A gust of wind flipped its way through alleyways and pulled on Raven's cloak. She shivered, strands of hair moving to stick to her face, but she moved forward, features tightening. "Human," she announced. The Animalic felt foreign on her tongue.

A car's honk took sound's place, but then bats gave up their fits of laughter. It carried down the alleyway. "Demon," they accused.

Blackened lips curled around canines as Beast Boy stiffened his stance. His growl twisted his throat and his bark upset a number of bats. "We're heroes.. We need –"

They hissed in return, "The Great Bat wishes not to see heroes… leave!"

A sudden clang alerted the bats, and when one took off, all followed. Their presence blotted Gotham's atmosphere but soon they dissipated past clouds and skyscrapers. Raven knew that no sound could scare the bats so witless, but instead a presence. She flipped around only to meet an empty alley. A low growl resounded from Beast Boy's throat. Then a voice came from on high:

"I must apologize for Gotham's bats. They are the most distrusting of creatures and do not show the proper respect for animals outside these walls, or in them, truly." A house cat, black fur stains blotting his lithe white body, removed himself from his fire-escape perch and landed with grace upon a dumpster a foot or two away. He flattened his ears and bowed his head, making his grin more prominent. "Perhaps I could be of better assistance?"

Raven crossed her arms, her shoulders raising as her mouth quirked further downwards. He was not what she expected. "You speak English."

"Why yes, dear girl, if only language proves my worth."

K'baazh shifted on Beast Boy's shoulder. The wolf drew his ears back and revealed canines as he spoke. "You're a cat. Sorry, but even on da west coast you don't got authority."

"A lack of authority does not always mean a lack of information. I am a street, after all, not some silly house pet that keeps out of common affairs." He allowed a chuckle. "I know of the heroes and villains of human society, the Great Bat in particular. He wishes to reinforce his presence, but why intimidate with prying eyes when he, the greater threat, lurks in the shadows?"

Raven turned away, lowering her arms and allowing her cloak to engulf her. "We don't have time for this. Come on, Beast Boy." She took a step, then two, in the opposite direction.

"I can escort you. To the cave. Or perhaps it's a certain mansion you want?"

Raven took her last step and looked over her shoulder. Her hood slipped off.

The cat's grin faded into a smirk as he spoke. "Do you think we streets simply ignore the bats as they fly overhead towards home? Their prying eyes falsely intimidate for the Great Bat has left his city, even if his absence is dangerously temporary. Bats by daytime take his place."

Beast Boy launched to his feet, the wag of his tail and body nearly knocking K'baazh off his perch. "Did ya hear dat, Raven? He can–"

"–lead us into one of the deadliest lairs in the world," she droned. "Wonderful."

The cat shrugged his shoulders and placed his left paw forward. "Deadly perhaps, but such is not the word to describe it. Instead use… informative. I cannot imagine your exact desires, dear girl, but I digress – the cave of the Great Bat holds many treasures. They may not sparkle, but is knowledge not greater than gold?"

The world I knew has ended, she realized as rain clouds smudged Gotham's sky. No longer could long-drawn thoughts or second-guesses folic in common sense, but instead quick decisions, quick observations, quick ideas reigned. She hated to leave her distrust, her critical eye in such a feeble state, to say with such conviction that Bruce Wayne is Batman, to say this cat could led to a clue to save a life; but yesterday, she woke up to Robin cooking pancakes, and truly everything has changed.

She stepped forward, caught a glance from Beast Boy, and then said, "Take us there."