Batman Continues

by Tando

Years after the reign of the original Batman, others are now assuming his identity and the identities' of his many adversaries. Katherine, is one of them, but when a drug called Joker Venom begins circulating through her high school, it becomes a game of who's who as it's students begin taking on the identities' of Batman's friends and foes.

2. Chapter 1

Author's Acknowledgement

I'll admit it upfront, I didn't really grow up with Batman. My father was a big fan of the 1960s Adam West show and we often watch it together during my early childhood there wasn't really much of Batman around. People were still recovering from Batman and Robin, and while I got to watch glimpses of re-runs of Batman: The Animated Series and the then new Teen Titans, my mother refused to let me watch them because she felt they were "too dark". This also came true when the Nolan trilogy started coming out and I was never allowed to see any of these films in theaters. In this fanfic I hope to achieve a marriage between the dark and campy aspects of Batman, granting the tone shifts aren't too jarring. So stay tuned, same Bat time, same Bat channel!

Chapter 1

The long hallways of Gotham County High School are fairly empty when I arrive. This isn't really surprising, seeing as how it's more than an hour before school starts. I walk down the hallway to the gymnasium locker rooms. The minute I get there, I am greeted by several other girls,

"Kathy, there you are!" a tall, unnaturally thin girl greets her.

"Hey Tara, I'm not late, am I?"

Tara shakes her head, "Nope, you just made it. But hey, looks like we're going to have a practice at lunch today. The basketball game against Disco Tech is on Friday, and most of the squad still hasn't memorized the new routine."

I nod. We walk to my gym locker where I change into my cheer uniform. The school's mascot is the Gotham Bats, in honor of Batman. Along with that, the school colors are black, and a very dark grey, giving the cheer uniforms a gothic look. After changing, Tara and I walk out to the gym, where several other Gotham High cheerleaders are already warming up.

"Okay team! Warm ups are over, it's time to get started! Let's start with the pre-game cheer! Everyone to their positions!"

The squad gets into their formation for the pre-game cheer. I put my long dark red hair into a ponytail and take my position next to Tara, the head cheerleader. We run through the dance segment before forming the ending pose.

"Good job ladies!" a male voice calls out.

The girls relax as a blond haired, blue eyed teenaged boy approaches them. Tara runs over to him and pulls him into a big hug,

"Pudding!" she cries as he catches her.

"Dang Tara, you're acting like you already own him." Sydney, another cheerleader, comments.

"Relax girls. There's plenty of Frank to go around." the boy, Frank tells them with a relaxed confidence.

The girls giggle.

"Hey Kat, good luck at the Debate Decathlon semifinals today." he tells me, to my utter surprise.

He must have read the article that Martin wrote for the Gotham High Oracle.

I smile, "Thanks Frank."

"I heard that you guys blew Wayne High out of the park last time. Your team had a pretty good argument on how to solve Gotham City pollution."

Okay…

Tara looks at him, "Umm, Frank? What are you talking about? You follow the debate club?"

Frank suddenly bites his lip in embarrassment, "Umm...well, I just heard some nerds talking about it, that's all."

The girls giggle and laugh with Frank for the rest of cheerleading practice. No wonder we need more practices, he's coming in here everyday and distracting the other cheerleaders. I step off to the side and practice my cartwheels and round offs. Due to school budget cuts they cut P.E. as a class, so now everyone has to participate in a team sport in order to earn their P.E. credits. I took gymnastic and ballet classes when I was little, so cheerleading seemed like a no-brainer to me. And I joined the school debate team because my history teacher is the teacher administrator for the debate team and she suggested that I join. It can be a weird mix, especially considering the dual sets of friends I've made in both activities, but that's what I've always been, a weird mix. But I never thought that mix would include becoming a vigilante crime fighter.

We hit the showers half an hour before school starts. Frank jokingly tries to follow us into the locker room, but he's stopped by the girls flirtatiously pushing him aside.

"Pudding?" is the first thing I ask as we head over to the gym lockers.

Tara nods, "We're kind of unofficially dating."

"Honestly, I think you could do better." Sydney tells her. "He's cute and all, but otherwise he's a loser."

"I know he's a dork, but that's all part of the charm. I like an underdog." Tara tells her, taking her blond hair out of her usual pigtails.

After showering, the girls change and head out into the hallways to get ready for class. I separate from them to head off to my hall locker. I open up my hall locker and get all of the books for my morning class.

"Morning Katniss!" a chirpy male voice calls out.

I turn around to see a slightly short boy with light brown hair and blue eyes. I smile at him,

"Morning Joey, and please don't call me Katniss."

"But, but your name is Katherine, and I've heard some people call you Kat, and, and, mix that around a little, you get Katniss from the Hunger Games books! Which are way better than the movies by the way."

I roll my eyes while still smiling, "I know, I just don't think it suits me."

Joey starts jumping in place, trying to get up to my height, "But it sounds so cool!"

"What sounds cool?" a scratchy, hushed voice asks.

Joey uses his final jump to swivel around, "Martin, morning! I was explaining to Katniss here how cool her name is."

A tall, slender boy with neatly cut curly blond hair approaches them. Despite his impressive height, he's rather plain, sporting a yellow v-neck t-shirt under a thick black winter coat with grey skinny jeans and black Vans, "Whatever you prefer." Martin tells him.

"I prefer Katniss! Kat reminds me of a Kit-Kat bar, and Kathy just…isn't really you." Joey tells her.

"Tara would disagree with you. She's the one who gave me that nickname." I tell him as I close my locker and we head to our first class.

Joey waves that away with a raspberry, "We all know how many brain cells Queen Bee Tara has. It's the number of guys on the football team she hasn't dated."

Martin looks confused, "A human can't function without any brain cells…"

Joey nods, "And here's my theory on how she functions without them…"

I roll my eyes as Joey explains his ludicrous theory on how Tara's a robot put into normal society as an experiment by the government. We stop at Joey's locker as he continues to ramble off his story. He removes his green parka and stuffs it in his locker. Thanks to generous donations from Wayne Enterprises, our school has a really nice central heating system. It's really useful. It can get cold in Gotham City, but it's now February so it's not as bad as previous months.

"Did you guys hear that there might be a new Joker in Gotham?" Martin asks out of no where.

Joey rolls his eyes, "Here we go again. You and your Batman fanaticism."

"But, it's personal this time, not something I saw on the news! Lately, walking home from debate club, I've been seeing Jack Napier Clowning Supplies trucks driving around the city. And the drivers are always burly men wearing clown masks!" he explains.

"How is that relevant to the Joker? Is that where he got his stupid suit?" Joey asks.

"And Martin, what are you doing walking around Gotham City at night? You should just take the bus, it's much safer." I tell him.

He nods admittedly, "I know. See, the thing is, in addition to the Jack Napier Clowning Supplies trucks, I swear I've been seeing a Batman around the school grounds at the same time we get out of debate club! Someone at school might be dressing up as Batman!"

Oh shoot. I've been worried that someone would see me. I usually go straight to crime fighting right after debate club, and I bring my Batman costume to school to change into immediately after debate club ends. It must have been me he saw.

"Seriously?! Someone at school is dressing up as Batman?!" Joey jumps in surprise.

I clench my fists and try to appear normal, "That isn't really surprising. Have you seen how many people dress up as Batman nowadays?"

Martin shrugs, reverting back to his usual calm self, "Yeah, that's true."

Joey nods in agreement, "Hey, who do you think this guy is?"

Martin adjusts his beige shoulder bag, "Well, we get out at the same time the basketball team gets out. It's very possible our Batman could be one of them."

I nod too, keeping myself in the conversation, "That makes sense. You'd have to be pretty athletic to be Batman."

"Yes, but Batman also has to be intelligent. He's a detective after all. And that pretty much eliminates all of the guys on the basketball team."

I split off from Martin and Joey as I head to my first class. The school hallways have a pristine, clean feel to them. I walk along the granite tiled floors and I feel my blue Converse hit the ground with every step. How much longer could I keep my secret? Martin has already seen me once in the Batman costume. Who's to say he won't try to catch me again? In other words, I need to be more careful.

I sit down at my first class, Spanish. Today we're reading Romeo and Juliet in Spanish. Frank is a fluent Spanish speaker, and is reading the part of Romeo. Sydney, who's reading the part of Juliet, speaks at a much slower pace than Frank, while our Romeo has his leather winter boots on the table,

"Romeo, if only you applied your skills more appropriately, you'd be in a much higher level Spanish class." Ms. Gonzalez tells him.

Frank just shrugs, "I'm just taking Spanish because it was the only romantic language I didn't know."

"Frank, you speak French and Italian?"

Frank jumps in his chair, his feet flying back to the ground, "No, you'd think I'd know French or Italian? I barely know English!"

Ms. Gonzalez gives Frank a quizzical look before continuing.

The bell rings for lunch, and, after picking up a ham sandwich and a bottle of water from the school cafeteria, I head over to the gym for cheerleading practice. I chew my sandwich as I walk through the hallways. Some students I pass are cleaning off some hallway graffiti, messily sprayed green question marks, that's a new one.

Tara is the only one stretching in the gym when I get there,

"Hey Tara, low turnout?"

She climbs out of her split, straightens her skirt, and picks up her pom-poms, "Yep. I understand though. They all have boyfriends and more important things to do..."

I nod. It's strange though, how Tara doesn't have a boyfriend. She has a desirable figure, blond hair, and a pretty face. Is something bigger going on with her? Sure she has Frank, but that's just casual flirting, at least for now anyway. Who knows, maybe she and Frank will get together for real sometime soon.

Practice ends with Tara and I trying to replicate our ten people pyramid with just the two of us. Tara calls it quits and we hit the locker rooms.

"Hey, you wanna hang out after school today?" Tara asks out of the blue. "Me, Sydney, and a couple of the other cheerleaders are planning on going to Cornerstone."

Ah yes, Cornerstone Drug and Liquor store. The cheerleaders like to hang out there after school, mostly because they can convince the store owner to sell them drugs and alcohol from the back of the store in exchange for "favors". I've gone once or twice but I've always been a proud square and I have debate club after school anyway.

"Can't. Debate Decathlon semifinals are today. Maybe afterwards I'll swing by Cornerstone and see if you guys are still there."

This is the excuse I usually give. While I am true to my word, they're almost never still there. Tara smiles anyway, pleased with the usual compromise, "Don't worry, we'll still be there, trust me, Brad's got some new stuff and it's really good."

I bite my lip. I've been her friend all year, and it's a wonder I'm still clean.

"Don't look so tense. I know you're not into that kind of stuff. Just hang out with us, relax. I can even get Brad to give you some free Junior Mints."

Junior Mints are my favorite. As a kid I would use them as hockey pucks and flick them across the table, much to the dismay of my parents.

My afternoon classes are a blur of unnecessary review as I prepare for the Debate Decathlon semifinals. What will the topic be this time around? Last time it was the state of the city's rising air pollution and if and how Gotham City should be counteracting it. Of course we decided that yes, something should be done with it. If I continue as Batman, climbing up into the smoggy skyscrapers, I'll develop asthma within a year.

The bell rings to signal the end of school. I walk to the auditorium on the first floor, where the debate club meets. Martin and Joey are already there, putting on the team shirts.

"Great, you're here. The opposing high school will be arriving in a couple of minutes so, take a t-shirt and head up onstage." Winifred, the captain of the debate club, tells me informatively, tossing my a t-shirt.

"Thanks."

I head up onstage to meet the other members. I put on the team shirt over my own red t-shirt. The team shirt is dark grey with a circular black and yellow bat logo. I admit, it's dorky, but so what? We're not here to model for t-shirts, we're here to discuss serious issues. But I wonder how serious people would take us if we talked about serious issues wearing the Batman logo from half a century ago?

"Hey, the other team's here." Martin points.

The six members of the opposing team walk into the auditorium, all sporting crisp school uniforms. Five guys, one girl. The boys are wearing navy blue blazers over white button down shirts with red ties and beige slacks. The sole girl of the group is wearing a pleated navy blue skirt instead of slacks.

"It's Gotham Academy." Joey whispers.

Gotham Academy is considered the best private school in Gotham City, and is known as the alma mater of many famous Gotham City figures. The opposing team takes their place on the opposite side of the stage. Martin walks up to the opposing team and snaps a picture of them with his iPhone before introducing himself,

"Martin O'Connor, Gotham High Oracle. I'm also on the debate club, so I cover all of our events. It's an honor to have you guys here. I could send you guys the picture if you want."

The Gotham Academy students stare at him before looking amongst each other. The girl of the group is the first to respond, "Umm…thanks. You can just post it on our school's Facebook page."

The girl has perfect skin and straight dark brown hair in a neat ponytail. When she speaks, she doesn't take her eyes off the ground. Her voice is clear and commanding, but her expression suggests she's rather shy.

Meanwhile, Martin has a naturally quiet voice, but he is in no way shy,

"Alright then. Good luck to you guys!"

He runs back over to our side, slipping his iPhone back into his pocket. The referee takes center stage, and both teams become quiet.

"Welcome to the Debate Decathlon semifinals. Gotham High against Gotham City Academy. Today's topic is not only important in our city, it's being talked about right as we speak at Gotham City Hall. As you all may or may not know, many years ago, the entire section of Old Gotham was walled off and turned into a prison for the many previous residents of Arkham Asylum and Blackgate Prison, which were then unsuitable to house prisoners due to unforeseen events. In this walled off environment, criminals were allowed to do as they pleased, as long as escape was not attempted. Many problems arose when this idea was put into action and was eventually dismantled after Arkham and Blackgate were rebuilt. Now, decades later, with Gotham City prisons grossly overcrowded, the Arkham City Project is being reconsidered. Should the Arkham City Project be resurrected? If so, what sort of precautions should all forces involved take, and if not, what could be an alternative to the overcrowded prison problem? Both teams have ten minutes to discuss, and both arguments will be judged/mediated by me, Julia Wayne."

The students freeze for just a moment, before huddling in circles to discuss.

"Okay, so what do you guys think?" Winifred asks.

"I say absolutely not. I've researched the incident, countless common prisoners were killed in that incident, mostly by other prisoners who were fighting for territory. It was just one big gang war." Martin informs.

Winifred nods, "Alright, so what should we present as an alternative? I propose we build another prison or we expand on one of the current ones."

"Aren't they expanding Arkham Asylum already? We could propose to do the same with another prison giant like Belle Reve or Blackgate." Joey proposes.

Winifred nods, "Alright then, it's settled. We propose that they expand another prison to accommodate the growing prison population. All in favor say: I."

We all give our collective "I" and return to face our opponents, who seemed to still be talking amongst each other. Not very low talkers, some of their argument could easily be heard,

"...the Gotham City crime rate..."

"...growing criminal population..."

"...teenaged super criminals..."

Martin turns to Joey and I, "Hey, you guys wanna hear something?"

I look at him impatiently, it's the semifinals, how can he be this calm?

"I have an idea of who the original Batman was."

Joey turns around immediately, "But will that help us find the school's Batman?"

"This is something bigger than the school's Batman. We're talking about the guy who started it all."

I sigh, "Martin, I know you love Batman, but we're in the middle of the semifinals right now! You can talk about Batman as much as you want when we finish."

Martin returns the sigh, but then nods. The Gotham Academy team disperses their circle and walks over to their side. The referee retakes center stage,

"Good, now, both teams may present their proposals. Gotham High is first."

Winifred steps up onto our team's podium and starts presenting our proposal to expand one of the larger prisons in the area to accommodate the flow of incoming prisoners. She steps down when she's finished, as calm and collected as ever. The referee nods before looking to Gotham Academy. One of the boys of the group, the shortest and thinnest with neat black hair, steps up to the podium,

"We propose that the Arkham City Project be reenacted under these specific terms: that the city itself is only designated for prisoners under the death penalty, and that no prisoner under the category, "Super criminal" be placed there."

Of course they disagree with us, it always works out that way.

"Alright. Since the two teams disagree, each team will send one of their members up to their podium to argue their proposal."

We huddle back into our circle.

"Okay. Martin, you seem like the expert here. Represent us." Winifred tells him.

Martin bites his lip, but nods. Hands in his pockets, he strides up to the podium. The short boy of the group meets him on the opposite podium,

"For Gotham High, Martin O'Connor, and for Gotham Academy, William Wayne."

As in the son of billionaire socialite Julia Wayne? Then, that means the girl in the group is his twin sister Talia Wayne. Wow, how could I not have realized who they were? The Wayne family is featured in the news all the time. Martin's certainly got his work cut out for him.

"Why do you think the Arkham City project would be a good idea, William?" the referee asks.

"It's Will and my team feels that the Arkham City Project can succeed if done correctly. Much of Old Gotham consist of slums packed full of criminals anyway. Why can't we at least put these slums to use?"

I live in what can be considered Old Gotham. Yes a lot of it is dirty slums and abandoned buildings but not all of it is.

"Martin, do you have a rebuttal to this?"

"Yes, I do. While Old Gotham is known for being the poorest neighborhood in Gotham City, that doesn't mean there still aren't good, honest people there. What happens to them when you kick them out of their homes, or heaven forbid, leave them in there with all of those dangerous prisoners?"

Will shakes his head, "We won't make the same mistakes as we did last time. The Wayne Foundation is already making sure that if the project is revived, that the citizens will be evacuated and compensated."

"But what about the city itself? You seriously expect to plop a prison right in the middle of a metropolitan city and not have severe drops in land value? That's seriously going to affect the economy of the city!"

"The city is already one of the most crime infested in the world. We should focus on getting our criminal population under control before addressing these other problems. A city with a good economy isn't worth jack if it's infested with criminals."

"If you're so concerned with the safety of the citizens, why're you building a prison right in the heart of the city in the first place?!"

I let out a sigh. Five minutes on the clock can feel like forever when you're sitting on the sidelines, but when you're up on that podium, there's never enough time to argue your point.
We continue for the next hour or so, alternating turns on the podium. I argue against Talia Wayne. She argues that Arkham City would give many job opportunities for the people of Gotham as TYGER guards and maintenance crew. I disagree, saying that these jobs would pay too low for the dangerous kind of work they would be required to do. We're down to the final round, and the score is, of course, tied,

"Hey, who's going up next?" Winifred whispers to the rest of the team.

Angel, a tall, athletically built guy raises his hand.

"You sure Angel?"

He nods quietly and Winifred returns his nod.

The buzzer sounds, and Angel stands. He gives Martin a high five as they pass each other. On the other side, no such friendly gesture is exchanged. A blond haired boy steps up to the Gotham Academy podium and gives Angel a confused look when he meets him at the podium.

"For Gotham Academy, Harrison Cobblepot. For Gotham High, Angel Martinez."

The Cobblepot family is also another very rich, influential family. Not as big as the Waynes, and there's also lots of speculation as to how they came back into power after suffering severe losses for so many years.

"Harrison, if you were in charge of running the Arkham City Project, what sort of precautions would you take?"

Harrison clears his throat, eliciting a strange squawking sound. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out an asthma inhaler. After taking a deep breath, he puts away his inhaler, "First, obviously security needs to be heightened outside the city. There would be increased patrols around the city's border, and an increase in helicopter patrol to monitor activity within the city. Security will be tightened, and the corruption of the first Arkham City will not be repeated."

Angel furrows his brow, not quite sure how to respond to this.

"Angel, do you have any concerns that you wished to have addressed?"

"...yes, I do. My main concern is not with the security of this experimental prison, but of its inner functioning. During the original Arkham City Project, many former residents who could not afford to leave their homes were filed as political prisoners and left to defend themselves against these maximum security prisoners."

"That was a filing mistake and will not be repeated."

"How can a filing mistake misplace several hundred people? There were helicopters patrolling the city, did they not notice those people crying for help?"

"The TYGER guard were instructed to not interfere with activity within the city."

"But they weren't even prisoners! And what about reports of TYGER guard supplying weapons to the prisoners? Is that not interfering?"

Harrison stops. He has no response. We win.

Angel runs off the podium and pulls all of us into a big bear hug. Winifred, not one for hugs, sidesteps Angel before he can encase her,

"Ah, c'mon Winnie, we're going to the finals!"

She rolls her eyes, "That's not an excuse to forgo personal hygiene."

The Gotham Academy students stare down Harrison as he makes a slow durge back to his chair. The referee walks back onstage with the trophy and presents it to Winifred and the rest of the team. We shake hands with the other team, who don't look the slightest bit pleased, before ending the tournament.

I walk up to Martin and Joey, who're taking off their t-shirts and giving them back to Angel, who then sorts them into neat piles.

"That was so stressful." I tell them, throwing off my t-shirt.

Joey rings out his t-shirt, which is soaked from the pits down, "Hey, look at me! I was sweating in this thing. The double layer of clothing, and the bright stage lights are too much!"

"So, are you guys gonna head home?" Martin asks, as we get our stuff and head out of the auditorium.

"I'm gonna stop by Cornerstone before heading home." I tell them. I still need to check to see if Tara and her friends are still there.

"So what were you saying earlier about Batman?" Joey asks.

"So, my theory is that the original Batman was none other than Bruce Wayne."

Joey quickly pulls Martin and I into a huddle, "Dude, you know we just competed against his great grandkids, right?"

Martin nods, "It just makes so much sense though. His parents died at the hands of a thug at a young age, so there's a motive. Also, he was rich beyond belief, so he had money and a lot of free time. And to top it off, he died in his sleep not three months after the original Batman disappeared!"

"I don't know. It seems rather far-fetched. Wasn't Bruce Wayne like, a playboy millionaire for most of his life?" I ask.

Martin nods, "But he donated so much money to the Wayne Foundation which has helped the people of Gotham City immensely. So that shows what side he's on."

I wave goodbye to Martin and Joey as I head over to Cornerstone while they head over to the bus stop. Maybe this trip won't be a complete waste, I could get some Junior Mints for myself.