Originally posted at the Multiverse as E8: Batman #4 on 6/1/07

Wayne Manor

"Alfred!" Jason Todd yelled as he entered his home, dressed in a black business suit and trench coat. After a day of sitting in on board meetings at Wayne Enterprises, he couldn't wait to get out of the thing. He hated wearing suits and if it weren't for keeping up with appearances, he would never wear one. "What's for dinner?"

"Chicken Parmesan sir." the loyal family servant said, handing his employer a stack of mail and taking Jason's coat. "An eventful day at the office?"

"You know, multi-billion dollar deal here, charitable dealings there, same boring crap as usual…" Jason said, sifting through the mail. He came across an invitation for the Kane Academic Awards banquet that was being held in a couple of days, honoring the best scholars in the Gotham-Bludhaven area. "Alfred, didn't we get this invitation weeks ago?" Jason asked showing Alfred the envelope.

"Why, certainly sir. I had RSVP'ed the following day. You and Miss Stephanie are still planning on attending, correct?"

"Yeah," Jason said, opening the envelope. It was exactly identical to the invitation that he had received weeks ago, except it had a new message written on it.

YOU STOLE MY DAUGHTE®

"My goodness sir, from the look of that message…"

"Yeah…" Jason said as he ran his hand through his black hair. "This could be trouble."

The Batcave

Batman returned later that evening, earlier than usual after doing his rounds around the city and making a stop at the Gotham Morgue. It's been a while since he went out on rounds by himself and felt very strange, but after the fiasco with Red X and Tony Zucco's subsequent disappearance, Robin was placed on inactive duty and was to undergo more training.

"Welcome back, Master Jason." Alfred said while dusting the giant penny that was kept in the cave. "What brings you home so soon?"

"A John Doe just showed up at Gotham Morgue, badly mutilated." Batman said as he made his way to his computer and placed a vile from his utility belt into it for a DNA analysis. What took most labs weeks to do, the computer in the Batcave took minutes.

"What was it about this particular fellow that made you come back here for a DNA analysis?"

"First, there was word on the street that someone big wanted him killed. When I got to the morgue, there was something familiar about him He was too cut-up to make any certain ID, but I just got this feeling…" After a few minutes, the computer spit out a name and confirmed Jason's bad feeling.

"My God sir isn't that…"

"Yeah, the John Doe was the father of Stephanie's baby." Batman plopped down into his chair. "Too many coincidences, Cluemaster breaks out of jail, we get the invitation and now Stephanie's old boyfriend turns up dead."

"I thought you don't believe coincidences sir."

"I don't, but what bothers me is that the Cluemaster never resorted to murder before, he was strictly a thief. This can't be for revenge; Cluemaster always blamed Stephanie for her pregnancy, that's why he threw her out, leaving her to fend for herself in Crime Alley."

"Then perhaps it's redemption."

"I think you're right. It's the only thing that makes sense. He must want to get in her good graces, but why?"

There was a moment of silence. "Are you going to tell Miss Stephanie?" Alfred asked.

Jason sat silently staring at the keyboard console of his computer, and then looked across the cave at two glass-case memorials. One contained his old Robin costume, which Bruce set up as a memorial to Jason when he thought Jason had died in the line of duty. Next to it was a similar memorial that Jason had set up for Bruce, containing his old Batman suit.

"I have to tell her." Jason said. "I remember when Bruce kept my father's murder a secret. I know he did it to protect me, but when I found out… the betrayal and lack of respect I felt… I can't to that to Stephanie. For her to truly be my partner we can't have secrets between us."

"Very good sir." Alfred approvingly replied.

Arthur Brown stood across the street from the Gotham Banquet Hall in downtown Gotham. He was wearing a trench coat and hat, hoping he wouldn't arouse suspicion. The hall was going to host a banquet later in the evening that would honor the top scholars in the Gotham-Bludhaven area and his daughter Stephanie would be among the guests of honor.

Arthur Brown was publicly known as the costumed villain the Cluemaster, who had a notorious compulsion to leave clues to his next robbery at the current one he was working on, or sometimes would mail them to the police directly. Arthur was constantly baffling the police, until the Batman showed up and began to foil his schemes. Arthur began a steady routine of going in and out of jail or Arkham. Currently, he was supposed to be serving a mandatory 15 year sentence for being a repeat offender, add the multiple counts of robbery and Arthur Brown was supposed to be locked away for a long time.

It was his last arrest that motivated him to be outside of the banquet hall on this night. He was working a job about a year ago when Batman and a female crime fighter showed up and busted the whole operation. The female was wearing a strange purple-hooded uniform with a black mask and white eyes that showed nothing of her face, but later revealed herself to be his daughter, Stephanie. He blamed Batman for corrupting her and swore to get even with him until he, like everyone else in prison and in the community, heard of the rumors of a female Robin over the past year. Arthur had suspected who it was and it wasn't until the recently released video shown on the latest Taking Sides confirmed who Robin was. A father could recognize his daughter anywhere and it didn't take him long to figure out who her partner was.

In some ways, Arthur was glad that his daughter managed to solve his clue and bring him down. It showed she had inherited his intelligence after all. He found himself now regretting the opportunities that he had lost with his daughter and the fact he missed out on her potential. It led to him breaking out of jail and looking to reconcile with his daughter. He knew he would also have to make good with her mother Crystal, but that would've been easy, since all he had to do was keep her in pills and she would be fine.

He pulled out a picture from his jacket pocket. It was a picture of his family vacationing at Disney. He and Crystal were laughing and Stephanie, around 5 years old at the time, was perched on his shoulders holding a mouse ear-shaped balloon. A tear escaped his eye; there was still a part of him that longed for the family that he neglected for so long.

"I'm sorry to interrupt a Kodak moment," a voice said, coming from the shadows of a nearby alley. Arthur turned to see a blonde-haired man, with a buzzcut and a similar trench coat emerge from the alley.

"No you're not Zsasz."

"No really, the streetlight, trench coat, hat, the nice family picture, the tear… all really good stuff." Zsasz said. "But alas, I'm here on business. I want my money for whacking that little turd."

"Here," Arthur said, handing Zsasz a brown envelope.

"You know, when you told me what he did to your daughter, it really touched me, so much that I gave him a special mark." Zsasz opened his trench coat to reveal his bare chest which was scared with tally marks. He pointed to a freshly bleeding one, right above his heart. "Right there…" Zsasz laughed as he disappeared to the shadows he came from.

Arthur turned his attention back to the picture of his family. "We'll be together again…"

"Jason, come in." Crystal brown said as she answered the door and gave Jason a kiss on the cheek. She escorted him into the two-story residence she shared with her daughter. "She's upstairs getting ready. Wow, you look so handsome." Jason had changed into a tux for the evening, another thing he hated to wear.

"Thank you Mrs. Brown. Are you sure there's no way you can't join us?"

"I wish I could, but Stephanie never tells me about theses things. I only heard about it a couple of days ago, too little notice to switch my shift. Well, I have to get going. It's great seeing you Jason; you have to come over for dinner sometime." Crystal grabbed her coat and hugged Jason, which caused an empty prescription bottle to fall out of the pocket. "I don't know how many times I can thank you for saving Stephanie from that cesspool in Crime Alley and helping get her life back. I never should've let Arthur throw her out like that."

"Well, we all can't be perfect." Jason said. They hugged one more time and she left for work. Jason reached down and grabbed the empty bottle and saw that it was a prescription for OxyContin. Jason shook his head, knowing that he'd have to share another piece of bad news with Stephanie. "Stephanie, hurry up." he yelled.

"I'm coming down now." Stephanie walked down the stairs in a full-length purple dress with matching heels and a black purse. "How do I look?"

"You look great." Jason said.

"Thanks." Stephanie noticed the prescription bottle in Jason's hand. "Is that my mothers?"

"Yeah." Jason said handing her the bottle.

"I heard her tell you how I don't tell her things. Most of the time, she's too doped up to remember the things I do tell her." Stephanie angrily threw the bottle against the wall causing it to break.

Jason knew her frustration. He watched step-mother Catherine deal with heroin addiction and eventually overdose, but that wasn't his immediate concern for his partner. "How are you doing with the other thing?"

"You mean Dean…" Stephanie ran her fingers through her blonde hair. "Well, he wasn't a saint and he did abandon me when I was pregnant, but I did love him and had his baby…" Stephanie began to breakdown and cry. "He didn't deserve to die like that, no matter what he did and if my father's responsible, I'm going to make him pay."

Stephanie managed to have a good time at the banquet, socializing with others in her peer group and rubbing elbows with some of the most recognizable people in Gotham. Jason was bored and his thoughts drifted, circling around the Cluemaster and what he could be up too. He has to be here, he knows who Batman and Robin are and had sent that message on an invitation to this get together. He thought while he surveyed the crowd to see if he noticed anything unfamiliar when he then recognized an 18 year old dark-haired boy that was walking towards him.

"Long time no see Jay. What's it been, two years?" he said.

"Tim Drake… how's it going?" Jason said unenthusiastically.

"You know… doing my best to live the civilian life in beautiful Bludhaven." Tim noticed Jason staring at Stephanie, who was now surrounded by a pack of red-blooded teenaged males. "So that's my replacement… she's a cutie." Jason continued to give Tim an icy response. "You'd think we'd be more civil to each other, given the fact we used to be members of the same 'fraternity'."

"Keywords: used to be. Did you come here just to annoy me about the past?"

"You look tense; it's probably your night-job." Tim paused to gauge Jason's reaction. "I bet it has to do with your sidekick's baby-daddy turning up in the morgue and her father's recent breakout of prison." Jason looked at Tim who gave him a smirk. "You'd think I'd forget everything Bruce taught?" Jason would never admit it, but he knew Tim was a great detective, probably better than he was.

"You know Tim; I didn't believe it the first time when I heard some overachieving 14 year old discovered Batman's identity. You know it and I know it that he let you find out."

"I don't know why you always get your short pants in a bunch about me. It's not like you got fired and I was your replacement. You have no idea what it was like doing my job with your shadow constantly hanging over me. What it was like to see that costume hanging in that display everyday… I had to be a better Robin than you for Bruce to even let me wear the damn uniform."

"Yeah, you were so good, you quit after Bruce died, when things got tough."

Tim paused for a moment. "You know, it's not like I'm totally retired, I'm just not on the front lines anymore. I help Batgirl out with the detective stuff. I'm doing my part to make sure Bludhaven gets better, but I can't be out there anymore."

"How is Cassie doing?" Jason asked, wanting to change the subject.

"Well… though she is worried about you suing her for copyright infringement." Tim's mouth almost dropped when Jason chuckled a little bit.

Jason composed himself quickly and made another scan of the room. "I'm going to get some air. Say hello to your father for me."

"Say hi to Alfred for me." Tim said as they walked away from each other.

After his conversation with Tim Drake, Jason decided to do a search around the building to see if he could find the Cluemaster or any clues he may have left, but found nothing. He had Alfred watching the outside of the Banquet Hall and he had nothing to report. That just leaves one more place. Jason thought as he stepped on the roof. He grabbed a cigar from his jacket pocket and lit up. Bruce used to berate him about smoking when he first took him in. While he quit, he sometimes liked to indulge himself on occasion. Sometimes, like tonight, it was to calm his nerves.

"Arthur, I know you're there." Jason said. "I can hear you moving."

Arthur Brown emerged from behind a vent and into Jason's view. "You know, that's a disgusting habit."

"So is being a criminal." Jason countered, taking a drag of his cigar.

"I did what I had to do to provide for my family. Not everyone is lucky enough to fall into luxury or win the lottery. In your case, you got both."

"Providing for your family? That's what you call beating and doping up your wife and throwing your pregnant 14 year old daughter out on the street?"

"People like you make me sick." Arthur ranted, moving closer to Jason. "You think you know what's best for the little people. You think that with your money or taking in some pet charity case, you can dictate the values of society. What makes YOU worst of all is that you go running around rooftops playing judge, jury, and executioner, then suck my daughter into it and fill her head with some righteous dogma and turned her against me."

"Your own selfishness and greed turned your daughter against you. You have no one to blame but yourself." Jason took another puff of his cigarette. "You're going to stay the hell away from Stephanie and Crystal and when the cops get here, you're going back to jail."

"I'm not going anywhere until I speak with my daughter." Arthur said pulling out a gun.

"Well, I'm right here." The door to the roof was open and in the doorway was Stephanie. She walked toward the two with her heels clicking on the rooftop as she went. "Can you leave us alone?" She asked Jason, who took one last drag of his cigar before putting it out and leaving the roof. Stephanie turned toward her father.

"Stephie," Arthur said as he put his gun away. "You look great. I can't begin to tell you how pro…"

"Hurry up and tell me what you have to say to me." Stephanie interrupted.

"I know we're in a bit of a rough spot in our relationship, but… I just want us to be a family again."

"I remember you saying that the day Jason brought me back home. Nothing changed then, why should I think things will be different now? You're an escaped convict. Is being a happy family a life on the run? Maybe we can pull off jobs together? Is that what you really had in mind?"

"You know, things would've been different if you and your friend didn't screw me on that job that got be sent up the river." Arthur stepped up to his daughter, but his daughter stood firm and was not intimidated. Arthur backed down. "I've made my peace with that, ever since I discovered your secret life. Don't worry about that, I'm not going to tell anyone and as much as I would love to tell all of those psychos that jerk put away who he really is, it would be too easy to connect him to you." Arthur reached into his pocket and pulled out the photograph he was looking at earlier. "Do you remember this? Our trip to Disney? It wasn't all bad and we can have times like that again."

Stephanie started to cry. That trip to Disney was one of the very few times she could remember the Brown family being happy together. "How many people did you have to rob to afford that trip? How many people are going to be victims for the happiness you want? How many of them are going to end up like Dean?"

"Stephie, I had nothing to do with that, but as far as I'm concerned, that punk got what he deserved for what he did to you."

"God you're so selfish, you did that for yourself."

"Stephie, listen too me…" Arthur put his hand on his daughter's shoulder. She peeled it off, placed him in a wrist lock and took in down hard to the ground.

"I'm only going to tell you this once," She said as she stuck her heel into his throat while sirens closed in on the banquet hall. "You're going to stay away from me and you're going to stay the f--- away from my mother." She dug her heel a little deeper. "I'm going to find the evidence I need to connect you to Dean's murder and then I'm going to come after you." Stephanie turned towards the door and saw Jason standing in the doorway. "I wanna go home…" she said walking towards him, not once looking back at her father.

The Next Morning…

Commissioner Michael Akins pulled up to the residence of Gotham TV personality Arturo Rodriguez, which was swarming with cops and CSU people. He never got along Rodriguez, since he was the one who started making accusations that the GCPD promoted Akins's to appease an affirmative action policy that the police department had implemented. Akins knew he deserved his appointment and most of the cops on the force agreed, but there was a noticeable sect that caused Akins's tenure to be a rough and controversial ride. He sometimes wondered why Rodriguez, a minority himself, would make accusations like that, especially when all he had was the hot air of a bunch of bigoted cops, but Akins knew that Rodriguez was about only one thing and that was ratings.

He walked up the steps into the house and was greeted by his two top homicide detectives, Crispus Allen and Renee Montoya, two more officers who had to deal with rumblings that their promotions were due to affirmative action. Both gave him a look that told him he wasn't going to be getting much sleep any time soon. "Give me the details."

"The housekeeper found them this morning when she came in to clean the house. Nothing's missing, so robbery can be ruled out." Allen said as the three of them made their way into the house. It had looked as if a hurricane had gone through the Rodriguez residence, with things thrown everywhere or destroyed.

"It has to be that batman special he did, why else would he have targeted Rodriguez." Montoya said. "We know from his Arkham files he's obsessed with Batman."

"I was just hoping that these last two years of inactivity were a sign that he was finally taken off this earth and sent to the hell he belongs in." Akins said as they walked up to the dead bodies of Arturo Rodriguez, his wife and their eight year old son. "Make sure you keep certain details out of the press. The last thing we need is a widespread public panic." Akins was referring to the fact that all three victims were sporting the infamous rictus grins that were the calling card of their murderer.

Next Issue… THE JOKER!!!

13