ISSUE 12:

The drop off of Deadshot and the rest of the criminals was easy and luckily no one had actually seen him; so he had no chance of being linked with Nightwing. They then headed back to the 'Bat Cave', well that was his nickname for it, where Bruce parked the Batwing next to the 'Bat mobile/Bat Tank' he couldn't really decide on the name and the Bat Cycle, among other black vehicles. But instead of having their talk, Bruce went straight off to the 'Bat Computer'.

Nightwing took off the mask, turning back to Ryan Connolly, and sighed. If he was going to not be linked with the symbolic crime fighter that was Nightwing, he was going to need to look slightly different.

He went into the metallic changing booth and stripped off the Nightwing armour, gadgets and skin tight under armour. He pulled his white shirt and suit trousers from the bag and pulled them on. He'd need to go back to his apartment and get some of his clothes, or at least buy some more.

He placed the costume on the tray inside the booth and pushed in the wall. Bruce had a new kind of vacuum which took the clothes and then pushed them back onto the mannequin, he didn't understand it yet but it was still cool.

He exited the booth and called up the elevator for the grandfather clock entrance, there were tonnes of them throughout the house but he preferred the grandfather clock one as it was in the centre of the house and it was the first one he had used.

He rode the elevator up to the top and exited the elevator and made sure the clock swung shut behind him. He saw Alfred wheeling across in his wheelchair.

"Hey Alfred," Ryan shouted. The elderly man spun around in his electric wheelchair to face him.

"Yes Master Connolly," the elderly man smiled.

"Please Alfred call me Ryan."

"Okay...Ryan."

"Do we have any black hair dye in the house and a shaver?"

"I believe we have some upstairs in the shower room cabinet sir and the shaver is on the side. May I ask why you need them?"

"I need a better disguise," Ryan replied heading up the marble steps and towards the large marble shower room. The whole house was magnificent and the bathroom was no exception.

Ryan had got used to being around the glamour of the Wayne estate, made the city and his apartment look even more of a shit hole. He strutted past the extravagant bath and the large shower and made his way to the large full length mirror, sink and row of cabinets.

Ryan went into the cabinets and plucked out an electric shaver which appeared fully charged and a box of black hair dye.

As he slowly stared to shorten his hair with the charger he began to think about what he was doing. Before it was a thought and now it was a real thing.

He cut away his hair until it was long enough to style and look like hair but nowhere near as long or as thick as his old hair cut. He then grabbed the box of hair dye and began to follow the instructions on the box.

He'd lost contact with his family years ago, they either died or lost touch. His best friends were from work and they never really spoke unless it was about work or they were procrastinating at work. His job was his life and when he saw there was a better path which did the exact same thing, but with actual results, what else is there to regret and miss.

He didn't have a girlfriend, a brother or a best friend but he did have a mentor and a second identity which had now evolved to become him. As slowly washed the black dye out of his now shorter hair, he realised that this was his first step from being Ryan Connolly to Nightwing, partner to the mysterious Bat.

He dried his hair with a towel and smiled at himself in the mirror. He looked completely different with his shorter black haircut, it was almost unnatural. He threw the box in the bin, cleaned up the hairy sink and then left the room.

Bruce sat in the cave, staring at the overly large screen that made up the 'Bat Computer'. He moved through a set of documents and a set of stills that looked like they were all different police interviews, one of them was Ryan's interview with Lil' Jon who was now dead.

"What are you looking at?" Ryan asked, walking over with his new hair style.

"Nice hair cut," Bruce replied, almost sarcastically. "I'm going through interviews that have a common theme, something about an organisation which their 'gangs' worked for."

"So you're saying that Lil' Jon wasn't lying!"

"That was why Deadshot killed him, because the organisation paid him to, a bit like they paid the Sportsmaster to assassinate me."

"So how are we going to find them?"

"Well like Lil' Jon told you, they own the Police so we go through the supposed top of the food chain, the Commissioner."

"I didn't tell you that," Ryan thought aloud. "You were listening in on the interview!"

"Of course I was; I never leave it all to the Police, that's how I operate. I don't work with the Police, I use the Police and they work for me; they just don't know it."

"Okay," Ryan said, almost worried. "So the Police are run by a criminal organisation and you're going to use their own Police against them?"

"Affirmative," Bruce replied.

Ryan noticed he hadn't even removed the bat suit, the collar, cowl and cape sat on the ground next to him.

Bruce fingers tapped along the keyboard as he typed up code and opened different windows until he had a desktop inside a pop-up window.

"We have control," Ryan smiled.

"We're lucky he's not logged on," Bruce told him, opening up the computer's documents.

"He's probably partying it up with the crooks or killing someone himself."

"It doesn't matter if he is, we'll get him later."

Bruce opened up a program and the Commissioner's documents were slowly scanned for incriminating evidence. It didn't take a second before they had half of the computer's data usage highlighted. His computer was infested with criminal activity.

Ryan watched as Bruce selected the least obvious document, a bank transfer. It showed the Commissioner getting a large sum of money from an unknown Swiss bank account.

"Who has that much money?" Ryan asked, shocked.

"Wayne Enterprises but I know that's not possible," Bruce replied. "The only other possible solution is Lex Corp."

"What Lex Luthor?" Ryan asked. "But he's as white as snow, he's a goodie goodie, the poster for the ideal American."

"Common misconception," Bruce told him sharply. "He's steeped in criminal activity, he deals with terrorists and thugs, all under the table of course."

"That's so weird."

"I guessed he was involved but he's smart and connected, not a good combination."

"So what are we going to do?"

"Find out what computer system the organisation runs on and then see what they have on their agenda."

"Well that's do that then."

Bruce began to type on the large keyboard and Ryan stared at the screen. Suddenly a long set of documents appeared and one caught Bruce's and Ryan's eye.

Project Krypton. Bruce opened the file and a large report popped up. Bruce read it with his calculating eyes. Ryan took in the information that lay in front of them.

"What the fuck?" Ryan asked.

"This isn't just a criminal organisation," Bruce said. "They're a network of people that are doing multiple things at once. It's like a Nexus of criminals, scientists, philosophers and practically anyone."

"Lex Corp are part of a criminal organisation and one of their projects is storing an alien?"

"An alien which they plan to turn into a world dominating solider," Bruce said. "We need to see this alien because I have a feeling this could be very bad."

Bruce reached down a picked up the cowl, collar and cape off the floor and began typing on the computer.

"I'll start the car," Ryan told him. "And I'll drive."

"Okay," Bruce said, clearly concentrating on something.

"Great!" Ryan smiled, making his way back to the changing booth.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

There it was, Issue 12, hope you enjoyed it and the upcoming piece is quite obviously about the Big Blue, I hope you are liking it so far and as always, reviews would be nice as it tells me someone out there is enjoying these and that I should at least try and carry on with them.