Chapter Four: Just Ask the Question

Batman gathered up everything he thought he might need. He had to get out. At first he thought about seeking out the cosmic being known as Access, with his time traveling abilities he could get proof for sure, but how would he go about finding Access? There was no guarantee that he was even in their dimension. And if Batman did somehow find him, there was no real reason for him to help. No, it would be a waste of time to look for Access right now. There were others who could help. He might need a bit more power on his side if he were going against Superman… Supergirl maybe? No, she would never go against her cousin no matter what Batman said to her. Batman sighed, coming to his final conclusion. He knew where he had to go, he just wasn't too happy about it. One thing was sure, he couldn't spend another night at JLA headquarters. Superman would be after him now, and Batman had no intention of becoming the next victim.

Scene Break

The Question pasted more cutout newspaper clippings onto his wall, these ones were clippings of the recent murders and disappearances happening. The Trickster, Wonder Woman, Toyman, and most recently, the Tattooed Man. He had been studying all the information he could find for several days now, and he had come to only one conclusion: The government was killing off superheroes and villains so that they could not stop the worldwide conversion into totalitarianism. "I see we have a common interest." A voice said from behind. The Question, startled, whirled around to see Batman standing in the room with him.

"Batman! How did you find me?" Question demanded.

"It isn't hard when your secret headquarters is just your basement." Batman answered.

"And having a cave beneath your mansion as a hideout is different from a basement… how?" Question pointed out.

"When did you deduce my identity?"

"Do you underestimate me Batman? It wasn't hard to figure out. Wayne Enterprises buys a top secret military vehicle that's not even off the production line yet, and a week later Batman is out on the streets pancakeing clown cars in the same vehicle? Hardly a coincidence." Question said.

"Not bad. But more to the point, I need your help Question."

"My help? For what?"

"I see you've been investigating the same thing I have, judging by those newspaper clippings. The disappearances and murders going on lately. I might have a lead, but I need more evidence against the murderer."

"A lead? Who do you think it is then?"

"Superman."

"Oh… well that sucks. You do realize that everyone loves Superman, right?"

"I personally examined The Trickster's body. I recorded my findings in this file." Batman said, pulling out a document and sliding across the Question's desk. The Question opened it up and read.

"So basically, you have determined that The Trickster was shoved through a meat grinder and run over by a freight train, while standing on the surface of the sun? You're detective skills are incredible dark knight." The Question said sarcastically, pushing the file back, knowing that none of the information made sense.

"I thought the same thing. But watch this." Batman pulled out a disk and put it into The Question's computer, and played the video. The first scene was from a security camera at Arkham Asylum, where the Justice League and recently fought back a prison break. Batman had stolen the security tape from that day to use as evidence. On the video, they eventually saw the villain Killer Croc run across the screen, and then there was a quick flash, and Croc was passed out on the ground.

"What was that?" The Question asked.

"Watch." Batman said, taking the keyboard. He rewound the video and played it in slow motion. They saw a blur, and then a bright flash, and then Croc on the ground. Batman rewound again, slowing it down even more, and playing it frame-by-frame. This time they could clearly make out the blur as Superman hovering in the air. The flash was a blast of Superman's heat vision, which struck Killer Croc and put him on the ground.

"So? Superman shot Killer Croc with heat vision, so what?" The Question asked.

"What happened isn't the point. The point is the speed at which it happened. I had to bring this video as slow as possible just to catch it happen. Now if you look in the file, you'll see that the burns on The Trickster appeared within a quarter of a second. From what we saw here, that's plenty of time for Superman's heat vision to take effect." Batman explained.

"Okay, so you've proved that Superman's heat vision has enough speed to have fried The Trickster, but what about the intensity? If the heat vision cannot generate enough heat to cause third degree burns in that amount of time, then you have no ground to stand on." The Question said.

"I know. That's the problem. I can't think of a way to prove the intensity of that heat vision." Batman agreed.

"Play it one more time." Question demanded. Batman did not object, though he had gone through it over a hundred times. They watched the scene play out in slow motion frame-by-frame, seeing Superman fly by and blast Killer Croc with heat vision again. "Wait, play it again!" Question gasped. Batman did. "Pause!" Question demanded, and Batman did. "Okay, zoom in right there." Question continued, putting his finger toward Killer Croc's shoulder. Batman zoomed in on that area as much as he could. There was a tiny glint of something shiny, peeking up just behind Killer Croc's shoulder. Only a sliver of the tiny object could be seen.

"How did you see that?" Batman asked.

"I was looking for it." Question said obnoxiously. "What is it?"

"It's Two Face's coin. I took him down around the time Croc started causing trouble, his coin must have flown over there."

"It's a regular silver dollar, correct?"

"Yeah, there's a slash through on side of it, but yeah." Then Batman's eyes widened, and he understood what Question was getting at.

Batman played the video, still zooming, and paused it again just a moment later, at the same time Killer Croc was hit by the heat vision; the heat radiating from it melted the coin! The coin became a completely liquefied glob.

"The heat vision just melted the coin." Batman pointed out.

"Yes, and if I'm not mistaken, anything that can melt a silver dollar that fast, can easily deal third degree burns in the same amount of time."

"So we can prove that the heat vision could have killed The Trickster, but we still can't prove that it did."

"And what about the broken bones and the shredded flesh?"

"We've all seen Superman stop trains with his bare hands before. I think we know he is very capable of shattering bones and ripping flesh."

"Well congratulations Batman, you've narrowed the search down to about a hundred people." Question said, folding his arms.

"What?"

"Well face it Batman, Superman is not the only one capable of doing these things. There's Darkseid, Major Force, Bizzaro, Holocaust, and countless others who have powers similar enough that they could do the exact same thing. If you want to get Superman, you'll have to prove that he was there the night that The Trickster died, and even then you may need more."

"Well think about all the other disappearances, Question. All of these criminals who have suddenly dropped off the radar, Superman was sent after them, and they supposedly all 'got away.'"

"Let's focus on one crime at a time Batman. It would be better to bust Superman for one murder and win, then to try to bust him for several murders and fail. Personally, I'm still not really convinced he did it."

"Well you haven't seen him lately. Ever since he watched Toyman kill this little girl, he's been… broken."

"If that's the root of the problem, then go back to it. Start from there and retrace Superman's steps, and see if you find anything more."

"You're coming with me."

"Why?"

"Because two heads are better than one. You're brilliant Question, you are one of the very few detectives who I admire. I may need your help."

"And how do I know you didn't do it?"

"Excuse me?"

"You said it yourself, I'm brilliant. So how do I know you didn't commit these murders, which by the way does seem more likely, and then you realized that I would be on the case, so now you're trying to get rid of me? How do I know I can trust you?"

"Because I'm asking you for your help. Would I ever ask for help? For anything?" Batman demanded. The Question seemed to ponder this for a moment.

"No, I suppose you wouldn't. This must mean a lot to you."

"So will you come?"

"Sure. Just one question… why does this mean a lot to you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"This whole case. It drove you, of all people, to ask for help. That's how important it is. Why?"

"If I'm going to bring the man of steel down, even I know that I can't do it alone."

"Are you sure it isn't because of Diana?"

"Diana was just another woman. There have been plenty of them in my life."

"True, but Diana was the first one who you were ever afraid of. And you loved that, didn't you?" Question inquired.

Batman did not answer, he simply turned around and walked out the door. Question sighed and then called for Batman to stop.

"Batman, I'm fine with accompanying you on this little crusade. But if you're going up against Superman, we need a bit more muscle on our side. I know that you're prepared for a fight with Superman, but preparation doesn't mean victory." Question said.

"What are you getting at?" Batman asked.

"What I'm getting at is that if a pissed off Superman came after us, I would rather have somebody on our side who could fight him fist to fist and stand a chance."

"Like who?"

"Well we're fighting the man of steel aren't we? If we want power to match, I saw we go with a woman of steel."

"If your mean Supergirl, I've thought of that already. But there's no way she would help us, not until we've got some definite proof, anyway."

"Don't jump to conclusions Batman. I'm not talking about Supergirl."

"Who then?"

"You'll see…" Question said, pushing past Batman and heading out the door.

"Where are we going?"

"Where else… Stryker's Island." Question said with an undertone of excitement in his voice.

At the JLA Headquarters…

Superman sat in the silence of his private quarters, the room illuminated only by a small candle burning in the corner. Superman opened up a secret hatch in his floor and withdrew Wonder Woman's headpiece, as well as her lasso, the Toyman's final weapon, and several other mementos from recent murders. "I was hoping to save these little souvenirs…" Superman said to himself, "But with the bat running around looking for evidence, I can't afford to keep them around. But how should I dispose of them?" With his super hearing, he heard the faint heartbeat of his invisible Martian stalker, and then it was gone. "J'onn, of course! He suspects something too… and he's a mind reader… I can't have that. Time to get rid of the green man."