ISSUE 25:

Alfred sighed as he saw the lounge was empty. "He really is like Master Wayne, "he muttered with a slight smile. He made his way to the grandfather clock in the front of the house and found the slight button at the back. He entered the elevator pod and made sure that the still hot brunch he had prepared for Ryan was still on his lap. When he reached the cave underneath, he made his way across the elevated platform to see Ryan sitting at, what he dubbed, the Bat Computer.

"You may not be as cold as Master Bruce," Alfred announced from behind the large computer chair. "But you definitely share similar traits."

Alfred pulled a sliding tray out from under the console of the computer system and placed a plate of steaming cooked food and a glass of water on top of it.

"I'm sorry Alfred, food slipped my mind," Ryan apologised, tapping away on the large keyboard.

"Master Bruce often did that," Alfred said, recalling fond memories of his surrogate son. "So what case are you working on?"

"I know that an organisation has taken the world over," Ryan explained. "But all the good leads I have are gone. So while I look for a new one, I'm going to be finding a boy who was kidnapped."

"So you're going through the Police files?" Alfred said, already knowing the answer after watching Bruce for hours on end.

"Yes and I'm going to be meeting Jim Gordon later tonight."

"And you're not worried about that?"

Ryan spun around in the chair. "Why would I be?"

"Well you have a different costume and you don't have the same voice as Master Wayne."

"That's what I thought," Ryan told the old man. "I have in fact added a voice modulation piece into the suit which will make my voice more similar to Bruce's Bat voice."

"So you can speak like him but without the painful aftermath," Alfred joked.

"Pretty much Alfred," Ryan smiled. "I'm sure Gordon won't notice who I am and even without the mask on; I've changed a lot since then so surely he wouldn't recognise me in the shadows."

"Particularly with your black hair which you should re dye by the way," Alfred moved the silver tray on his lap. "Since you are having a public talk today about why you inherited the Wayne Fortune and the company."

"What?" Ryan burst out.

"You are attending a press conference tomorrow at 1pm to talk about your new inheritance or should I say Rick Gray's inheritance."

"I forgot about that identity," he sighed. "I'll re dye my hair later, but right now I need to find that boy."

The gang who had kidnapped the boy were a bunch of unknowns who were clearly operating under the organisation who had enveloped the world; Bruce had written their name down as The Light.

Their base of operations was the stereotypical warehouse near the gang infested docks. The warehouse was made of flimsy metal and had windows going all around the top.

Batman was familiar with these types of bases by now and he scanned the area with his enhanced sight lenses; the inbuilt computer analysed the area and gave him endless read outs. Batman was so happy that he had installed filters and air coolers in the suit as it was incredibly stuffy inside the mask since there were no holes for his nose and mouth.

"Blueprints for warehouse," Batman told his suit, the sound proofing fabric in the mask neutralised the sound waves so that the outside world couldn't hear him. The inbuilt computer followed the command and on his left lens appeared the schematic.

With one eye he memorised the layout of the large warehouse and with the other he watched to see what ways the gang moved in and out of their base of operations. Batman used to wonder why his predecessor watched the criminals before coming back later to strike. It never made much made sense to him but now he fully understood, he understood the gangs first; gave over the evidence to the Police and then took the gangs out and after that the Police would clear up the mess.

He checked the small digital clock that sat in the corner of one of his lenses. He had about ten minutes to get across Gotham and to Lieutenant Gordon on top of the Police Station and he couldn't be late, Bruce never was and that would be a dead giveaway that he wasn't the real Bat or Batman.

He spread out his arms and the grey wings extended from the back of the suit. He admitted that the wings did make him look like a Bat yet it wasn't the exact same look Bruce used to don.

The pulse technology which compressed and pushed against the air particles around him, activated and he rose from the roof. Batman leaned forwards and zipped across the sky. He loved flying, he could see why Kal-El went off flying so much; you felt like your own man, when he flew Batman felt free.

He banked left, seeing the Police Station on the horizon. He admitted that he wasn't as fast as the newly dubbed Man of Steel, but his flight speed was quite impressive as he made his way across the night time Gotham sky line.

"Grapple hook," Batman said, the computer accepted his command and set the dispensers in his wrists to gas compressed grapple hooks.

He neared the building and flicked his wrist, sending a grapple hook to the top of the neighbour to the Police Station; the Batman was on the dot and never a second earlier. He pulled himself up to the top of the building next to GCPD HQ and watched below as Gordon looked around. Someone was next to him.

The man turned his head, he was clearly nervous, and Batman saw who it was. It was Tom, his old partner, why had Gordon brought him along? He smirked as he imagined that this was how Bruce felt when Gordon had brought him along to their meeting.

"Computer, bring up Detective Tom Jones' file."

A document popped up on his left lens. It showed a folder but he immediately spied something different about Tom's rank. He had moved up, he was now a Sergeant.

"Typical, he moves up as soon as I leave," Batman smirked. The clock changed and Batman realised that it was time for the meeting.

He unhooked the grapple and flew down to the building. His feet touched down silently and he stood still behind them.

"Activate speakers, voice modulation software," Batman told his computer. "And fold up wings." The wings began to collapse back into the back of his suit. "Gordon."

The two Policemen spun around as his wings closed up fully. Gordon looked bemused by the new uniform but Tom look slightly scared by the Batman's presence.

"Evening," Gordon said.

"Why have you brought Sergeant Jones to the meeting?" Batman asked, imitating the original Bat's cold logical attitude.

"My man, Detective Connolly quit," Gordon sighed. "So Tom here took a promotion and I let him into my secret."

"Well you shouldn't have," Batman snapped back. "The more people that know; the more people that could hurt."

"Well I'm sorry but that's a risk I'm willing to take," Gordon retorted.

"On your head be it Gordon," Batman replied. "I have a lead for you. But it'll have to be done under the table."

"What do you mean?"

"I know where they are holding the boy who was kidnapped last night," Batman replied coolly in his harsh and growling voice. "But apparently you are not allowed to intervene."

"I already know that."

"I found it in the Police fi-" Batman stopped at the Lieutenant's reply. "How?"

"From another source I have," Gordon told him.

An alert popped up on his right lens, someone was now behind him.

He kept his breathing calm and tried not to look disturbed, just like Bruce did; nothing could surprise the Batman.

"Hello," the voice said.

Batman didn't even flinch. "I don't like people trying to surprise me."

"You aren't surprised by my apparition?" the man curiously enquired in a deep velvety voice.

"He isn't like the rest of us," Gordon told the man behind the avenger of Gotham. "He isn't scared easily."

The man moved from behind him to the side of Batman. He turned his head slightly to see the man was slightly smaller than himself. He wore a beige trilby and trench coat. His nose looked broken and his jaw line was strong; his thick brown hair came down around his small ears. The man's eyes were deep brown but to Batman's keen eye looked slightly off.

Batman felt a strange twinge in his head and he knew what the man was. He was a telepath. Just before they had battle Black Manchester, Bruce had taught him about psychic attacks and how to block them out, something he learned from Tibetan monks on his world travels.

This man was trying to go through his head, well surface thoughts anyway.

"Don't bother," Batman told the strange man. "I have blocks in place."

"It explains why you were harder to sense," the man smiled.

"Bat, this is John Jones," Gordon interrupted, ignoring the confusing conversation between the two Detectives. "He came to me with a tip off."

"It's Batman," Batman told him. "I've changed the name."

"Okay...Batman," Gordon said clearly confused at the change in the man he believed to be cold and ruthless. "Well he came to me about an hour ago with the tip off."

"I could have reached you earlier but I had a stake out first to gather extra evidence for you," Batman replied. "I thought that would be more useful to you than just a location."

"Very thorough Batman," John Jones smiled at him. "Your reputation precedes you."

"As it should," Batman replied, smiling under the mask. "I'm going to go back to the warehouse and rescue the boy from the gang and wait for you to round up the criminals." Batman held out his hand, "Video Evidence #26954," the Batman mumbled.

A USB drive popped out of his wrist and into his hand. He tossed it to Gordon and turned away from the rooftop. "I'll send you a signal when I'm finished."

"Batman," John said as the wings from the back of the suit began to extend.

Batman turned around. "What?"

"May I propose a collaboration of efforts?"

"I don't see how having a telepathic Detective would be an advantage."

The man suddenly rose off the ground with a cocky smile. "Let's say I have special talents."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

So that was Issue 25 and it's okay. I think some of you can guess who John Jones is but if you can't then you will find out in the upcoming issues. I hoped you've enjoyed this and if you leave a constructive review that would be great or if you want to see a character in a certain way then give me the tip and I'll probably do it.

Oh and P.S thanks to the Guest who reviewed the story; my first reviewer and that was cool. Thanks for the saying the universe was better than New 52 (though I find that hard to believe) and it's great to know you like my work that much. :)