Disclaimer

The characters used in this story are the property of Dc Comics and Warner Bros. I have used them in this story which is entirely a product of my own imagination.

Chap 24

In the bat-cave, while the two enter, Nightwing looked terribly busy, crunching something on the bat-computer.

"Any luck, Nightwing?" batman's voice startled him and he almost fell back from the chair.

"You are late!" Nightwing complained as he steadied himself, "You said you wouldn't take more than an hour. It's almost lunch time now!"

"You didn't answer my question!" Batman remarked.

Nightwing smiled a little as he turned around to face them, "Now you see how much incoherent remarks piss people off!"

"To the point, kid!" batman demanded.

"Don't call me like that!" Nightwing shrieked, and then simmered down when he became aware of Superman's presence. "Umm"

"Never mind, Nightwing! I'm used to this too!" Superman said in an assuring tone.

"You are riding on my patience!" Batman said as he approached the computer.

"Ahem… allright!" Nightwing stood up with a jerk blocking Batman's vision and nervously pressed some keys, "I have…you know…done as you said. I found out more about Lisa, and it turns out there is nothing more than what we know about her."

Superman frowned. "Dick, are you in your senses? Your sentence formation…"

He has been playing Mario on the computer again!" Batman said calmly. Nightwing went pale. Goddamn it, he knows! Superman tried hard to suppress his smile.

"Now, Nightwing! What have you got? Or let me put it this way, what did you accomplish?" Batman raised his eye brow at him.

"All right! Let me start from the beginning. I searched every possible database for information on Lisa. It turns out that there is nothing to her except that fact that she is a PTA for women and she went out with Mark, and of course, that she was found dead." Dick shrugged.

Batman took a tangential direction from the computer and walked thoughtfully. He removed his mask in the process.

"Seems like you are unable to bear the weight of your secret identity anymore?" Superman said, as soon as he spotted Batman's gesture.

"I am unable to bear the heat, Superman!" Bruce muttered, looking at Dick.

"Ah, of course, the heat! I…I must've forgotten to turn off the room heater!" Dick shrugged nervously.

"Never mind that! To the point, now!" Bruce said, loosening his collar, "What about her Passport, her SSN, her Visa and work permit?"

"Well surprisingly, no data on them!" dick said.

"I don't think that is no surprise, is it! Diana didn't possess any of them!" Superman remarked.

"Of course! The Government honored her with those emenities!" Dick said.

"I know that, Dick! But, I really don't understand how she could manage for what…three months…without any identity proof!" Bruce said.

"That shouldn't be our concern for now!" Superman reminded.

"But that is point worth noticing. Anyways, you say, there is nothing more that exists which we donot know!" Bruce turned to Dick.

"Nothing on the records, at least!" Dick shrugged.

Bruce made his way to the chair and sat down, his palm against his forehead.

"Listen, Bruce! What are we trying to establish here?" Superman asked, frustrated.

"Just looking at every possibility, Clarke! Just gimme a sec!" Bruce waved to him. He furiously pulled at his collar and disengaged the cape.

"You better turn off that heater before he takes off his shirt!" Superman whispered to Dick. Dick giggled.

"Dick! I forgot to ask! Where did you get the news paper clipping you showed me on that day?" Bruce spoke suddenly and the giggle ceased.

"Well it was on the Internet!" Dick said.

"Of course, it was on the Internet, Dick, but…hey! Speaking of the news paper, How come you didn't know anything about this Clarke?" Bruce turned to Superman.

"Well, I don't know! May be I was off duty that day!" he shrugged, but Bruce still had his gaze fixed on him.

"I'm sure Perry would know about it, I can ask him!" Superman offered.

"Even better idea! Dick, check the Daily planet for the same day that clipping appeared."

Dick typed furiously and within no time, the paper was on the screen.

"We are seeing the front page now! No mention of this affair!" Dick began to give the commentary.

"Why don't you just search the paper for keywords, like Lisa!" Superman suggested.

"Don't bother! Let's go page by page! I'm sure we have enough time." Bruce said, turning to the next page.

It didn't take more than 15 minutes to thouroughly examine the news paper.

"That's strange!" Superman frowned, "How come such an affair never made it to the paper!"

"That brings us to our question. Dick! What was that paper you saw the news in?" Bruce asked again.

"I don't know! Just gimme a sec!" he said and his fingers moved on the key board with blazing speed. That newspaper clipping was back on the screen.

"I remember it was larger when I first saw it!" Superman remarked, struvk by the actual size of the report which was positioned in the bottom right corner of the newspaper, in a small rectangle.

"Well I had zoomed it for better visibility!" Dick said.

"And I was foolish enough not to be aware of it!" Bruce snapped.

"Aware of what?" Dick asked.

"Look at this!" Bruce said, pointing to the top left corner of the page.

"Goddamn it!" Dick widened his eyes, "Classifides"

"Woah! Hardly a place for such news. Such discrimination!" Superman shook his head, "Wonder what the paper is!"

" That is another point! The paper name is Your voice" Bruce pointed out to the top right corner.

"Never heard of it!" Dick remarked.

"It covers local news! Perhaps the least popular of all the newspapers in Metropolis." Superman said.

"No wonder!" Dick remarked, "With such editor who doesn't know the difference between…"

"No..no…Dick! We can't jump to conclusion! And there is something else, about the picture!" Bruce interrupted.

"What's with the picture?" Superman asked.

"Remember the picture of Lisa and Mark we were shown!"

"Of course!" Superman replied.

"Well, look at this picture. Seeing the face of this lady, I imagined her to be 5'2'' tall at max. But she turned out to be nearly six feet tall!"

"So?" Superman frowned.

"I was too preoccupied to notice this difference before!"

"Bruce! You don't suggest that your guess precedes the actual fact that she is six feet tall!"

"I don't say that! But there is a chance. If my hunch is right, then this girl is not Lisa, I mean, Diana's sister."

"Well, Bruce! The faces match…"Superman began, but realized that he was unsure himself. The face in the picture with mark wasn't visible. She was half covered by Mark.

"I want you to do some research for me! First of all, meet the editor of this paper and find out about this edition. Then cross check the details of Lisa. Meet me here tomorrow with your results."

"And what will you do?" Superman asked.

"I have a hunch!" Bruce replied.

"Not fair, Bruce! I thought we were in it together!" Superman protested.

"I'm going to check on Mark, something which we should've done!"