A/N: I decided to create a character of my own in this story. I hope you guys don't mind. I tried to make it so that he ties into Bruce's past pretty well. I also plan to have Zee (Since she is one of my absolute favorites!) be more involved with the story. Let me know what you guys think!
An Old Friend
"Shall I ask mother to aid us in tracking down that witch?" From behind, Diana placed her hands on Bruce's shoulders as he was sitting in his chair thinking about their next move.
"Pardon me Master Bruce, Mistress Diana… but there's something I believe that requires your attention." Alfred quickly walked up to the computer console and turned on the television monitor.
"Welcome to J-TV!" Batman's eyes narrowed with anger the instant that unmistakable laugh rang through the speakers. The Joker was broadcasting within Arhkam as Two Face, Harley, and The Riddler were seen in the background. "Joker here! And what a show we have for you lucky folks in Gotham. Tonight and tonight only, you get see the inmates run the asylum. As the new warden of this dump, I've decided to make a few changes…" Most of the asylum was torn down from Bane's jailbreak while the rest was 'decorated' with green and purple graffiti.
Joker grabbed a tied up security guard from Harley. "What do you think of Arkham's new makeover?" The guard shook his head in fear as Joker frowned. "Everyone is a critic…" The Joker sprayed the guard with laughing gas as he turned back to the camera grinning. "Speaking of critics… there are always those whose approval I never seem to get…" The video footage switched to an unrecognizable dark room that had The Mayor of Gotham, The Warden of Arkham, and Commissioner Gordon strapped down in electric chairs with The Scarecrow and The Mad Hatter torturing them with hallucinations of their worst fears.
The Joker's face reappeared on the screen. "Hmm… I wanted them to die with a smile on their faces… oh well… on to more exciting matters. What we want is simple… we want our dear Dark Knight, that's it! No bird boy tag along or the Wonder bimbo flying by. Just the Bat himself, in Arkham. Hell… a man running around at night dressed like a bat deserves to be locked up in here with us anyways!" The Joker began laughing again before continuing. "It's simple, if the dark and scary Batman doesn't turn himself in to the new Arkham authorities by midnight, we can say goodbye to three of Gotham's finest!" The Joker continued to laugh as the video footage cut out.
Batman began replaying the footage for any further clues that he may have missed. "I lose focus on Gotham for a few days and it turns into hell…"
"Where do you think they're keeping The Commissioner, Warden, and The Mayor?" Diana stood beside Batman as they both took a closer look at the unrecognizable room.
"Where is she!" Diana's eyes widened with shock as she spun around to see a man standing directly behind them with his arms folded across his chest. It completely surprised her that someone could easily sneak up on her without her knowing – even Bruce couldn't do that anymore. The man looked like some type of ninja. He was completely covered in a deep dark navy blue suit with a long black staff strapped to his back. He was an inch or two shorter than Bruce but his body was built the same way. Even in the light, it was very difficult to see his features. The suit's design seemed to be similar to Batman's but with noticeable differences. The man wore a mask that covered his entire face while having blood red screened eyes instead of white ones like Batman's. He didn't possess a cape or a belt, and his only weapon seemed to be that stick on his back.
"Since when did you start speaking behind the mask?" Bruce remained focused on the screen as Diana shifted her sights repeatedly between her husband and this apparent ally.
The man angrily took off his mask before speaking through his gritted teeth. "Where is she Bruce!" The man was of Asian descent with short black hair and dark brown eyes. His glare easily rivaled Bruce's as Diana felt nothing but anger and darkness from him.
"Can't say that I'm surprised you showed up…" Batman, still focused on the screen, pointed to the special cage that the batclan was in. "A powerful sorceress named Circe teamed up with The God of War, Ares… together they resurrected Jason, killed both Dick and Tim, and turned Zatanna, Barbra, Cassandra, Dinah, and Helena into bats."
Diana watched the man look over to the cage and clenched his fists in anger. "Well, any friend of Bruce is a friend of mine. You may call me Diana."
Finally acknowledging her presence, he looked back and glared at her. "I know who you are."
Becoming irritated with this man's rude and bitter attitude, Diana crossed her arms over her chest and glared back at him. "And you are…"
"A ghost…" The man said coldly as he walked next to Batman and began typing on the computer console. "This is all the background information you have on Circe?" It was one thing for this 'Ghost' to know Bruce well enough to actually call him Bruce while under the Batman persona, but another to actually know how to use his equipment… not to mention using it without asking. The way he was talking to Bruce was an eye-opener as well. This man had absolutely no fear of Bruce, and spoke as if he were demanding things from Bruce. No one has ever talked to Bruce like this. Not even Alfred, Dick or she herself.
"Yes… but now that you're here, I need you in Gotham to track down and save The Commissioner, The Warden, and The Mayor. Diana will search for Circe and Ares." Bruce spun his chair to face the man as Diana came to Bruce's side and leaned against the chair with her hip.
The man glared at Bruce, then shifted his eyes at Diana before returning his attention back to Bruce. "No. I will find that witch. Have your wife deal with Gotham."
Batman's eyes narrowed as Diana felt the tension rising between the two men. "You're the best at what you do. I need you to find and save them for me, and then meet me in Arkham as I deal with The Joker and the rest of them. Diana will take care of Circe. Her resistance to magic will…"
"Gotham is NOT my priority, SHE is! I will find that witch faster than her!" The man furiously pointed at Diana before continuing. "I'm not going to waste anymore time. I WILL find her! But if what you say is true… I'll contact you when I find the witch."
Just as the man was about to turn to leave, Batman stood up. "Colby stop!" Batman waited until the man paused and turned his head to glare at him before continuing. "Do you trust me?"
Colby turned his entire body to face Bruce. "Trust is never an issue with you…"
"Then continue to trust me now… Diana will find Circe, and WE will take care of Gotham." Batman motioned to Diana. "She's found and defeated her before."
Colby looked at Diana as if he was unimpressed. "She's been trained?"
Diana glared back at him, now angry that this man was questioning her skills while Batman nodded his head. "She's good… very good."
Colby turned his focus back to Bruce. "Trained properly?"
"Yes…" Batman said flatly.
This man was seriously getting on Diana's nerves. "Who does this man think he is? How can Bruce allow this guy to talk to him like that?" Diana stepped closer to the man, clenching her fists. "If you want to challenge my skills and abilities… I'm more than willing to show you what I'm capable of…" Bruce quickly stepped next to her, motioning to her to not to continue in the conversation.
Colby shifted his glare from Diana back over to Bruce. "Is she your equal?"
"No. But she's close… very close." Batman said while making sure Diana didn't take another step forward.
Bruce never openly stated how good Diana was as a trained fighter before. It made her proud that Bruce complemented her skills, saying that she was almost as good as he was. "If this man knows Bruce at all…then he should know that Bruce doesn't give out complements like that to just anyone."
Colby nodded "Very well… I'll aid you in your quest to save Gotham. I'll contact you when I've found them and wait for your signal." He then turned to Diana and said flatly "You must train harder if you wish to challenge me."
Diana's eyes widened with shock. "Does this arrogant bastard think he's better than me? Better than Bruce?" Diana angrily turned towards Batman. "Who does he think he is?" Diana looked back to where the man was standing only to realize that he was gone. "WHAT? Where did he… How did he?" Diana couldn't believe how quickly he vanished. She didn't hear or feel any change in the air. He didn't trigger any of her senses. Even Bruce couldn't leave like that without her noticing something. "Who is he?"
Batman sat back down in his chair and faced Diana. "He's known as The Cerebral Assassin. He was separated from his parents when he was an infant. Master Kirgi found him and took him in to train him to become The World's Greatest Assassin. I trained with him for years before he left after mastering everything Master Kirgi had to offer him. He went on to train with Lady Shiva and became one of the few who could actually defeat her and live to talk about it. He was easily the best … and still is the best. He never speaks when he works, he believes it draws too much attention and wastes time. He's the reason why Cassandra doesn't speak. She was trained to be better than him… but as good as she is, she never came close."
"Did you know he was behind us?" Diana asked.
"No. Not until he spoke. He's the only one that I can't sense or track down." Batman said flatly.
Diana raised her eyebrow in curiosity, it wasn't everyday that Bruce would admit that someone could elude him or actually be better than him. "So is The Cerebral Assassin better than you?"
Batman narrowed his eyes. "I said he was the best at what he does, NOT at what I do. He is the best fighter and the best at keeping himself hidden from unwanted attention… as you just witnessed. He refused to take on any assassination job until he proved to himself that he was the best fighter in the world. He had defeated everyone worth fighting, myself included. But because we haven't fought together since he left Master Kirgi's, he wanted to see how far I came along before declaring himself as the best. He came to me asking for a match… because it was him, I accepted."
"And you beat him of course." Diana placed her hands on her hips as she smirked confidently.
"Not exactly…" Diana's smirk quickly faded as Batman continued. "Before the match could get underway, The Joker and several other Arkham inmates were causing chaos in Gotham. I had him help me defeat them and it was then that he saw the world as I saw it. He saw the darkness of the world and decided to join my cause to rid the streets of people like The Joker. He then chose to leave The League of Assassins with my help, and became my first ally."
"But you can beat him right?" Diana wondered just how good this man really was.
"Based on pure skill, fighting ability, and technique… No." Diana's jaw dropped with surprise. She couldn't believe that Colby, someone she had never heard of until now, is really that good. "But if I truly had to stop him… I'd win."
"I see… But if he never speaks, how were you able to team up with him?" Diana said as she thought about it. Communication within the batclan was extremely important.
Bruce paused for a moment, quickly remembering the time they spent growing up and training together for all those years. "Because we both knew how the other thinks. He didn't stay for very long though. He became curious about the world's society and wanted to live a normal life. He moved out west to San Francisco and became one of the world's most respected businessmen and engineers. He easily earned master degrees in civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering along with a MBA and a CPA. He's the president and CEO of both of his companies, CL Consultants and Colbex Enterprises. Wayne Enterprises frequently agrees to billion dollar deals with both of them whenever possible. Colby is one of the few honest successful businessmen left on this planet."
Diana's smirk reappeared as she titled her head, looking a Bruce. "Smart, rich, skilled, arrogant, and handsome… sounds a lot like someone I know." Bruce glared at her before turning to get back to work on the computer.
"So why did he tell me he was a ghost?" Diana leaned against the console as Bruce began typing.
"When he puts on the mask to 'work', he moves so quickly and quietly that he appears and disappears as if he were a ghost. Zatanna didn't like him being referred to as an assassin, so she called him a ghost a while back… it sort of stuck ever since. He doesn't care for it, but responds to either name." Batman rested his head on his fist, thinking of a way to stop The Joker and the inmates of Arkham.
Diana's eyes widened in realization as a giant grin appeared on her face. "When he said 'Where is she' he was talking about Zatanna wasn't he?" Diana assumed that he was initially referring to Circe and that Batman had called for his assistance. But after thinking about it, she saw that he was furious about Zatanna being turned into a bat. He made returning her safely back to normal his only priority.
Batman cursed himself silently for mentioning Zatanna's name. "Yes... they are good friends."
Diana looked over to the bat that used to be Zatanna before turning back to Bruce. "Good friends like you and Zee? Or good friends like you and me?" Knowing that Bruce's non-answer meant that it was the latter, she jumped up in excitement. "How long!"
Bruce smacked himself on the forehead. This was the last thing he wanted to talk about right now. He still had to find a way to stop the inmates of Arhkam, find Circe and Ares, return the batclan back to normal, find out what happened to Jason, and lastly, continue to deal with the deaths of Nightwing and Robin. "A little under a year ago."
Diana wanted to know everything. "Really? When did you know? How did you know?"
Bruce rolled his eyes, wishing he hadn't said anything. "A week or two after."
"And you didn't tell me!" Diana yelled as she punched Bruce on the shoulder.
"It wasn't my place to tell you, besides why ruin Zatanna's surprise when she does decide to tell you." Batman said while now trying to think of a way to change the subject.
"How did you find out?" Diana was growing inpatient as she tapped her foot while waiting for Bruce to tell her everything that she wanted to know. "I am going to have a very long talk with Zee once we get her back to normal."
"I make it my business to know." Batman stated flatly as an alert window popped up on the computer screen. "It's him! He's found The Commissioner and the others! We need to move now." Batman turned to Diana. "Find Circe as best you can. I agree that you should go to your mother for extra support and get the equipment you need."
"Wow… he works fast! Ok. I'll go to the embassy to get Donna before I see mother. I think it will be better two on two." Diana typed in the command on the computer to teleport herself back to the league's embassy.
"Agreed, just remember to keep this in small circles… very small circles. I'll stay in contact." Batman said before jumping into the batmobile.
"Be careful Bruce…" Diana watched him nod at her words before taking off.
A/N: Yea so since Zee can't be with Bruce, I decided why not let her with a guy that's almost a Batman clone! Of course I had to make him somewhat different, and I think this relationship will be a fun one.