Chapter 4: Searching
Location: Large underground cavern, probably built at least 100 years ago (old brick architecture foundations in the cavern). Waterfall indicates location either near the river or one of Gotham's underground fresh water sources (no salt in soil, so not harbor water). Soil sample shows little chemical pollution, and the cavern is large, suggesting that it is probably outside crowded industrial or business sections of the city. Soil also indicates presence of bat guano and high levels of ash. Within a twenty to thirty minute radius of Gotham General.
Known Associates: White British male, probably in his seventies, possibly medically trained, appears in relatively good health. African-American male, unknown age (probably senior citizen but also seems to be healthy). Partial prints taken from clothing show no matches; probably no military or criminal records for either. Which of the two the prints belong to is unknown. None match US-VISIT database; if any are from the British man, he immigrated before 2004. DNA and blood sample from African-American too contaminated to analyze reliably. Both appear to be wealthy and well educated and the British man particularly seems to know the suspect well.
Suspect: Uses alias of 'Batman.' White male, tissue analysis indicates roughly between the age of thirty to forty, blood type O-. DNA gives no criminal record or military service in the United States. Numerous residual injuries of varying ages from previous fights, suggesting that he has been the only person using this alias since beginning vigilantism.
Andi sighed as she once again reviewed the analysis of her evidence. Pages of graphs on soil composition, fingerprint searches through more than ten different databases, and DNA from six. The file folder on his possible locations alone was crammed with several large maps of Gotham's water sources, overlaid with others comparing recent fires, the city's expansion in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the wide swath of land that was the appropriate distance from Gotham General. But in the end, it all still boiled down to this pathetically short summary.
It was more than all the rest of the forensic evidence on the Batman put together. Nobody else had been able to get a clue about his center of operations—although he might have others that Andi still didn't know about—much less figured out his associates or gotten a strand of DNA. Objectively, Andi knew that she had come far, that she was making progress. She'd ruled out possibilities ranging from the Batman being hired by huge networks of conspirators to being trained by the military to not being human at all, along with about a dozen other theories that cops loved to speculate on over beer and cold pizza.
But for all that, she would have thought that after two weeks of searching, she would have come up with something about who this Batman was, not just who he was not. The case had been moved to top priority for her, making her fall behind in her other work and even—she was ashamed at the thought—keeping her from more than five minutes of talking on the phone with Leena. She had searched hundreds of pictures of English immigrants to Gotham that were nurses or elderly, combed obsessively through traffic cameras from the night she had been kidnapped for a glimpse of the Cadillac, but there had been nothing. Searches of the soil database for Gotham had given her no hits, but that wasn't exactly surprising. It was years old and had gaps that covered whole districts of Gotham. Plus, she was starting to doubt this cave was actually in city limits which was as far as the database even pretended to cover.
And she still didn't have anything worthwhile on him. The Batman would be back on the streets soon if she didn't figure out something; she'd ordered him to stay out of the action for a month and a half to give herself more time to track him, not because he actually needed that much time to recover. She suspected he'd figure that out sooner rather than later. Andi tapped her lips thoughtfully and tilted her chair back on two legs, set her feet on the edge of the desk while she leafed through the papers at random. What if she tried moving outside on her own—
"Still here Miss Taylor?"
Andi yelped and jumped so hard that the chair lost its balance and tipped over, she and her stacks of work tumbling to the floor.
"Easy! Easy! It's just me." The Commissioner reached down a hand to help her up. "Sorry about that. I saw a light on in the crime lab and went to see who was here at eleven o'clock on a Friday night."
Andi let him help haul her back to her feet, trying to ignore the fact that her heart was pounding as if it wanted to escape her rib cage. She grimaced at the reams of papers and photographs she'd have to reorganize, then turned to Gordon with what she hoped was a casual smile.
"Back at MCU Commissioner? And so late?"
"Trust me, Barbara's already read me the riot act for staying out working, but I need to check on the night shifts every once in awhile too," Gordon sighed. "Are you alright? I really didn't mean to startle you."
"I—yeah," Andi said, "I was just reviewing old cases and didn't think anyone else was still here."
Gordon nodded and glanced at the thin folder still sitting on her work table. "The Batman's forensic file?" he asked, "What are you looking at that for?"
Andi shrugged and made her voice as casual as she could. "Just thought I might see something that the others had missed."
"You and half the police force," Gordon muttered. "You know, Gotham has two loose serial killers, an arsonist, five powerful gangs, and enough rapes and murders to make New York and Chicago look like safe neighborhood playgrounds. Why are you so keen on the Batman?"
Andi was suddenly glad that her own personal analyses and data were scattered on the floor from her fall. She knew Gordon had denounced the Batman when the vigilante had shown his true colors, but some of the force also suspected that he had never fully converted. The least trusting even wondered if he still had some information on the Batman that he was keeping quiet. Andi doubted that; the Batman had held Gordon's family hostage and killed Dent right in front of them. Gordon's loyalty would never extend to a man who had threatened his wife and children. But the whispers and the fact that she was being forced to justify chasing down a wanted criminal were enough to make her wary of confessing to her boss. He might be able to offer help if she told him about the kidnapping, but he could also pull her off the case.
"Maybe because he… because he flaunts being a criminal," she said instead after a minute. "Others, they do what they do because there's something wrong with them or because they're desperate or something. But the Batman seems to be moderately sane, and from everything I've heard has no real motive. He just does it because he wants to."
"Perhaps he does it because he thinks it's right." Gordon suggested mildly. Andi snorted.
"If he thinks killing innocent people to get what he wants is right, he's even more dangerous, sir. That makes him a fanatic."
Gordon seemed to be on the verge of speaking, of contradicting or agreeing with her, but after a moment he just shook his head. "Be that as it may, others are assigned to this case Miss Taylor. I'll be returning this to them."
Andi nodded with feigned reluctance. She had already made copies of the information and it hadn't told her much that she didn't already know anyways. The thing had more holes than a piece of Swiss cheese. But she was almost positive that, whatever Gordon had wanted to tell her a moment ago, telling her to give back the case file wasn't it. Did he know more about the Batman than he was telling? Unfortunately, Andi just couldn't think of any way to ask without essentially calling him a liar and losing her job.
Gordon smiled at her. "I know that there's no way to persuade you to leave this alone Taylor. You've got a mulish expression on your face that says no matter what I order you to do on company time, you're going to be working this case on your own."
Andi tried not to frown at him. She did not look mulish! And he was far too perceptive for his own good. She opened her mouth to deny everything he was saying but Gordon cut in before she could.
"Don't bother lying; I know the stubborn ones when I see them, and you're one of the worst. It's what makes you so good at your job. I want you to consider this, though. Fanatic or not, killer or not, the Batman has done good for Gotham too. More than you or I ever will. I know he's killed Dent, and my family's been through hell with some of the stuff that's happened because of him. But when you count up the cops he's killed, also remember the number who wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him. Myself included."
He left her lab as quietly as he had come, leaving a very confused Andi to pick up her papers.
"I've been gone too long. The streets are getting restless."
Gordon didn't jump quite as hard as Taylor had when he'd walked into her lab, but it was a close thing. He'd come here hoping to see the Batman—he seemed to know the nights when Gordon was at MCU and preferred to show up there rather than his office at county or any of the other units. But for him to be here after two weeks of silence…
"Did Bailey really shoot you?" he asked. The Batman just gave his usual glower and Gordon sighed.
"The force is angry at me for suspending him, even if it was just for three weeks and he shot you in the back. Lucky for you forensics didn't find anything at the crime scene, but a couple of them have been sifting through your files again. And I suspect one of them managed to get information from something already in there." Taylor had given up those files far too easily; she must have already found something that she could now study on her own. And he knew that once she had been pointed in the right direction, Taylor wouldn't quit until she had dragged Batman in front of a judge.
"Who?"
"Trace analyst named Andrea Taylor that I hired back when MCU formed two years ago. She quit med school to join us." Gordon paused as he saw the Batman jerk in surprise, his mouth twist strangely. "Do you know her? Asian features, maybe five foot seven, about thirty?" Batman didn't say anything but Gordon could tell he was unhappy about something. Not just unhappy. The Batman never followed such tepid emotions. No he was furious and, as Gordon knew from experience, when the Batman was angry other people tended to get hurt. "She's one of the people I trust most here," he said hastily, "Very passionate, very idealistic. To be honest, I think if she just knew the truth about you—"
"No." If anything, Batman's scowl deepened. And Gordon realized that the thing he feared most in Batman's expression was not the anger, but the subtle hints of worry leaking through his usual iron control. His arms were folded and he actually started pacing up and down the office. Gordon stayed quiet.
"How good of a scientist is she?" he barked eventually.
"She's… well, frankly, she's got a lot of talent," Gordon admitted, "She's quick-thinking and very analytical. The whole reason I've never let her look at the case files before is because I think she might be the one person on the forensics team who could catch a detail others missed. And she's dedicated. She won't get off your case no matter that I've taken the files on you back."
Batman abruptly seemed to realize that he was pacing and deliberately stopped, leaning back against the wall. "I'll look into her. What else?"
"Well, we've had a serial killer loose lately…" Gordon began pulling out sets of notes and crime scene photos, trying to shake off the feeling that he had just betrayed Taylor. She couldn't have been that much of a threat to Batman after all. But Gordon also would do whatever was necessary to protect Gotham and, unfortunately for Taylor, that included letting Batman know what she was up to. He wouldn't hurt her after all.
Gordon glanced again at his friend's stony face and very much hoped that he was right about that.
Author's Note: Oooh, the storm clouds gather...
For anyone who's interested, my profile now has cast-listings of actresses that I think Andi, Pam, and Leena look the most like. My opinion's pretty biased, of course, but I like how they turned out. Be sure to tell me what you think!
As always, a huge shout out to Thinker90, SerendipityAEY, A Last Kiss For Succubus, and xxscarlet for putting me on story alert and A Last Kiss For Succubus for favoriting! If it wasn't a creepy/stalkerish thing to do and I wasn't coughing up a lung right now, I'd bake you all bat-shaped cookies! As it is, I guess I'll just have to eat them all myself. Oh well.
Reviewers are and always will be my heroes. I'm not sure that you're up there with the Gipper quite yet, but you definitely give the Four Horsemen a run for their money in my book! (And anyone who knows who I'm referencing here gets even more points).