Happy March 1st! I can't believe we're already two months into this year. I hope everyone is doing well and will enjoy this update.

Agent-M-0167: I'm a huge Tim Burton fan and I think his Batman films were quite defining for the mythology of Batman. I hope the twist in the end is acceptable and enjoyable.

pbow: A suicide might not scream, but a person supposedly alone in a room dies, one little discrepancy wouldn't be enough to challenge him quite yet.

Challenge King: Thanks and I hope you enjoy this one.

Fanfic-Reader-88: He may get a rude awakening either way depending on what goes down at Ace Chemicals.

mkpunk: Thanks and there is a little homage to Burton's Batman. I revealed Lucius in the PM, so no real spoilers for other readers who haven't figured it out yet.

Illusorygentlemen and PD31 have both updated their respective stories, 'Schneider's Island' and 'A Place to Call Home', so you should check them out and review, review and review.

Rating: T Violence

Chapter 8

Gotham Community General

As Jade and Freddie made their way to the front of the hospital after parking in the multilevel garage, the pale young woman asked with a hint of tease in her voice, "So Mister Benson, how do you propose we're going to get the list of nurses on duty from last night? You're going to talk to the head nurse and charm the names out of her?"

He cleared his throat and looked slightly taken aback in a bashful manner. "Charm a nurse? I ah, it wasn't the plan."

"Then how else were you going to get potentially confidential information about a duty roster?"

"Well, I was going to see who was in charge today and flash the press badge. He would of course give me the run around then direct me to the hospital's press agent and on our way out I would talk to a few patients that may remember the nurses on duty from last night, because none are going to talk in the hospital and risk their jobs—even if they were on duty today. We'd track them down from there."

She slightly frowned at hearing the pretty weak plan. She thought going in there and having him sweet talk a nurse with his charming looks and bashful manner might be more productive. She quickly started thinking of another plan which involved faking seeing a doctor for her shoulder after dropping her name as an excuse to be there and talk to some nurses, but as the pair passed through the main entrance of the hospital, Jade glanced up at one of security cameras. She bore a devious smile and muttered, "I have another idea that will have a better shot at working and will save us some time."

He raised a curious eyebrow.

Her smile grew bigger at seeing his confusion.

The young assistant director of the hospital, Shawn Becker, a slim and sandy haired young man, graciously led Jade and Freddie into the security room of the hospital and stated in what he thought was a charming and eager voice, "And this is our state-of-the-art monitoring center for the security of the hospital including digital recording, so I can assure you that we take the safety of the patients and staff extremely seriously. I know you wouldn't regret making another donation to the hospital knowing that your money would be put to good use."

One security guard was sitting in the seat in front of the monitoring station, a young man about the same age as Jade and Freddie with dark hair with a lean frame. On his blue uniform shirt Jade could make out on the nametag the name Braden. The face and name seemed familiar to her, but she couldn't quite place the memory.

The young assistant director knew that he should have called in his boss when the millionaire stopped by for a surprise visit and inquiring about making another sizable donation to the hospital, but he was a little greedy in wanting to get credit if she decided to donate. He wanted to impress the board members of the hospital and possibly move further up the ladder.

As Jade glanced around the various monitors and instruments, she noticed between the monitors a small logo of the manufacturer, WestTech, and it immediately gave her an idea. She politely smiled to the young man a few years older than she and Freddie, trying to reassure him that she was eating out of his hand. "I have no doubt."

The dark haired philanthropist walked over to the station and hopped on the edge of the table and slightly scooted back, crossing her legs just before the security guard could hope to get a peak underneath her skit, but he had a nice consolation prize of looking at the millionaire's lovely legs.

Shawn didn't hesitate to take a look at Jade's legs while Freddie looked on curiously.

She whispered in a seductive voice her rhetorical question, "Braden, isn't it?"

He nodded his head and muttered, "Yes."

"You look familiar. Have we met before?"

"We went to high school together. We had senior history class together and you borrowed my history homework one time and didn't return it."

She bowed her head slightly and let a small blush from on her face as she recalled the memory. "I'm sorry, please forgive me for my… youthful indiscretion."

"That was only like five years ago…" He suddenly shut his mouth and glanced away, still frightened by the memory of the young woman.

She continued in her sweet voice, "Yes it was, but… this system monitors and records everything the camera picks up even if no one is in the room?"

The former classmate nodded his head and answered, thankful for the turn in a potentially job losing conversation and to focus on something else beside his fear and being a little turned on by the scary woman, "Of course. We monitor several cameras at once and even with two people manning the room, we can't always catch everything."

"So in the dead of night where there's not a lot of activity, one person could still do the job and then review the tape later?"

"Yes ma'am."

"So say I wanted to watch what happened early this morning… say between the hours of three and four AM on the sixth floor, the system could show me?"

He looked up straight into the philanthropist's cleavage from a few of her buttons undone of her dress shirt and since she had her hands gripped around the edge of the desk on either side of her hips for stability as she leaned over to whisper in what was becoming a private conversation, her biceps pushed on the sides of her breasts together to create some eye focusing deep cleavage.

The security guard nodded with his answer just preventing himself from being tongue tied, "Yes ma'am."

She kept her stare on him, a little sexy tease one but one he could see that struck fear into him during their high school years. He realized that she wanted him to show him such film. He quickly turned to his keyboard to bring up the video from the time and location without bothering to get his boss' permission.

However, the monitor showed a blue screen with large white letters displaying: NO DATA FOR THIS SPECIFIC TIME.

The security guard's eyes widened in fear and a feeling of potential embarrassment washed over him in front of the lovely and powerful young woman. He hurriedly stated, "I don't understand. Give me a moment ma'am." He quickly started typing on the keyboard, desperate to find out what went wrong and save him from embarrassment in front of the millionaire and his boss.

He fruitlessly typed away for nearly a minute, desperately trying to find the missing video all the while his boss bore angry eyes into the back of his head. Braden started mumbling, the pressure obviously getting to him, "I don't understand where the missing video could be ma'am."

She reassuringly smiled to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's alright. You're not responsible for what your colleagues do or don't do on their time. Thank you for showing me the system."

He blew out a relieved breath, "You're welcome ma'am."

The assistant the director was not as forgiving as he looked to the security guard with a cold stare. However, the assistant put on a diplomatic smile and continued as Jade pushed off the edge of the built-in desk and back to her feet, "I'm sorry Miss West. I hope this hasn't made you lose in confidence in our commitment to security. I intend to personally get to the bottom of thi—"

She quickly interrupted him, "Of course not, if I am to be upset with anyone it would be with my own people for allowing such a faulty product to be obtained by the hospital. I'll have my people investigate what went wrong and replace any or all the unit if necessary—free of charge of course. However, I must be going. My shoulder is starting to bother me and I should be heading home. It was a long night for me after all. I hope to see you later next week so we can continue our talk about my additional donation to the hospital."

The young man's face lit up as if you had taken him into a candy store and he eagerly replied, "Of course ma'am. Thank you ma'am. I look forward to seeing you."

She pushed off the edge of the desk and stood up before nodding farewell and walked to Freddie. She looped her good arm around his arm again then turned towards the exit of the security room. Freddie politely opened the door for her as she called out over her shoulder, "I'll see myself out."

The moment the door closed behind the powerful woman, Shawn turned to the security guard and demanded, "Find out what went wrong right now!"

As they stepped onto the elevator, Freddie started in a disappointing tone, "Well that was a dead en—"

He was quickly silence when she pulled her arm out from around his arm and raised her good hand and placed her fingertips over his mouth, drawing the curious expression from the reporter. She dropped her hand then reached into one of her blazer pockets. She unlocked her wireless phone and tapped a button on her speed dial.

She waited a few moments for the other end to pick up and as soon as she heard it, she spoke, "André? Jade, I need you to access a WestTech video security system at Gotham Community General."

He groggily answered on the other end of the line, "What?"

"Wake up, this is important!"

Her piecing voice cut through the haze of waking up, but still started to complain, "I've been up all night trying to figure out a way to upgrade your sui—"

Jade shot a concerned expression to Freddie, fearing that he had overheard what André had began to say as she interrupted, "This is not the time to talk about that. I need you to access a WestTech security system at Gotham Community General. It looks like someone erased some video data. I'm hoping you can access the system and recover it."

"Why?"

"Because we think it can show us who might have slipped into Steven's room and murdered him."

"We?"

"Mister Benson and I, we're investigating Steven's murder. I need you to check the data from three to four this morning."

André paused at the other end of the phone for a moment then slowly replied, "Is that such a good idea? Investigating a murder?"

"Maybe not, but I need to know who was behind the robbery and his murder. I need to know who really the man behind the curtain is."

"Man behind the curtain?"

"Really André? You still haven't seen Tori's last movie?"

"I haven't gotten around to it. You're always keeping me busy."

She snapped out impatiently, "André!"

"Okay, okay just give me a few minutes."

"Good, when you're done let me know."

"Fine, but I want overtime for this."

She rolled her eyes and muttered, "Fine, time and a half." She pressed the end call button on the phone and slipped it into her pocket.

Freddie curiously asked in mild amazement, "You can do that?"

She smirked and cocked an eyebrow then whispered, "How else can we remote access them to troubleshoot problems with our systems?"

"I understand that, I double majored in computers in college, but I thought there were safeguards put into place to prevent such a thing."

"Yeah, but who puts in the safeguards?"

He shook his head as the elevator doors opened. The pair stepped out of the elevator and headed to the entrance.

Freddie easily remarked before he could catch himself, "You're right, you did come in handy."

He noticed that despite a few apparent gaffs, he was becoming relatively at ease with the lovely millionaire, more so than he was working with Carly. He wasn't sure if he thought that was a good thing or a problem of starting to blur the lines between being mild manner and somewhat of a meek reporter and his alter ego that the Daily Planet liked to splash across its pages.

Jade rolled her eyes and sarcastically remarked, "You mean my cleavage and legs came in handy."

"As nice as they are…" He shut his mouth, realizing how he was starting that statement, but quickly pushed through his embarrassment, "…but that wouldn't have mattered if you weren't 'Jade West'."

She cocked her once pierced eyebrow, bemused by his continuing bashful manner when he accidentally crossed the line in professionalism.

The pair reached the high performance vehicle and quickly slipped inside of it from their respective positions. She tapped a button on the dash and a compartment opened to show a small video monitor.

"You sure do have all the gadgets."

She playfully teased, "Careful Mister Benson, you look like you about to salivate."

"Sorry, all this stuff fascinates me. I guess I still see the wonder of it all growing up on a farm in a small town and not starting to take it for granted like everyone else in Metropolis."

Her phone rang and she pulled it out of her pocket then answered it, "Jade?"

The CEO quickly answered, apparently having gotten some stimulant between her wakeup call and his callback, "Okay, I got it. Someone deleted it, but they didn't 'delete' it. The memory partition was still intact and I was able to recover the data."

"So we can view it?"

"Yep, I'll send it through your phone."

"Good and make sure you download a copy to WestTech's secure servers. I don't want to lose the video."

"Absolutely."

She motioned with her phone filled hand towards a plug outlet under the monitor. "Can you plug my phone up for me?"

"Yes ma'am." He grabbed the stud and pulled out the universal plug. He gently took her hand, the warmth sending a pleasant tingling sensation through his hand. She didn't mind the cupping of her hand while he fit the plug into the bottom of her phone. The next moment the video André was transmitting to the phone displayed on the monitor.

Freddie released her hand and she quickly thumbed over her screen to fast forward through the video to see anyone coming in or out of the elevator. Near the beginning of the video, they saw Robbie and Detective Vega rapidly step into the elevator while Kelvin walked away from his station while Carl lazily remained in his seat. There was nothing of note on the video for about twenty minutes other than a stray nurse or two entering and exiting Carson's room.

She idly commented, "Okay, Carl's sitting at his position, drinking a cup of coffee…"

The next moment three gentlemen entered the frame of the elevator camera. Jade hit the play button to slow the frames down to the normal playing speed. She took a slow breath and her face became an impassive expression as she slowly remarked in identifying one of the individuals by pointing to the screen, "That looks like Mason to me and a few of his friends."

They watched for a few minutes until there was a muffled scream in the background then the sound of people running to the room. Seconds later, Mason and his bodyguards walked back to the elevator as nurses scrambled to the room.

"So we got him entering the floor then exiting the floor around the time of Carson's scream."

Jade shook her head. "Yeah, but I can already see his lawyers spinning it that he was just visiting his employee and that Mason didn't know that Steven was suspected in trying to kill him. There's that little bit of reasonable doubt that Steven jumped just after he left the room—and that is assuming this can even get into evidence. It's not exactly legal getting this tape."

"No, but it could be used as leverage against Carl to get him to confess that he allowed Mason inside the room to kill him."

"That's not going to get him to talk. He's not going to cop to being an accessory to a murder."

"He might as this already shows he's at least derelict in his duty that threatens his pension then lying about it in an official police investigation. How far away does he look from retirement? Maybe five years at most?"

"So we find Carl, show him the video and get him to squeal to Robbie?"

"That sounds like a good plan to me."

Officer Carl's Residence
Suburbs of Gotham City, NJ

The black sports car slowly pulled up in front the almost cookie cutter house in the nice residential neighborhood just outside the city proper. It was a nice neighborhood to raise a family, away from the crime (even the reduced crime that the Commissioner boasted about) that plagued the city. The millionaire looked out of the passenger window towards the house and let her mind drift off into how her life would have been like if her family had lived here and her parents had been middle-class. Her mind further drifted into wondering what it would be like if she was just one of the moms she was seeing playing in the yard with their children.

Freddie turned off the engine and broke her out of her thoughts, "It looks like we're here. Is that the address Mister Harris gave you?"

Jade looked down at her phone that she had kept in her hand during their journey and read off the address then looked back to the house to see that it was the correct number. She answered in a detached voice, part of her mind still within her daydream, "Yeah, this is the house."

He opened his door and stepped out then quickly walked around the front of the car. He opened the door for her and offered his hand to her as she slipped her phone back in her pocket. She carefully turned her legs to prevent giving him a show and step out while taking his hand. She gratefully smiled as she stood up then held on to his hand a few seconds more than necessary.

The investigative pair turned and headed for the door as the car door shut behind them.

Freddie tapped the doorbell and they patiently waited for a few seconds before the door opened to reveal a middle-aged woman with strawberry blonde hair. He politely greeted her and flashing her a press badge, "Hello ma'am. I'm Freddie Benson of the Daily Planet and I'd like to speak with your husband if it is all possible? I'm doing a story about the police fundraiser."

The politely smiled, finding in what she saw as a cute couple even if she thought the young woman's skirt could be a little longer and replied, "I'm sorry, Carl was called in on an emergency."

Jade curiously asked, "After pulling nearly a double shift?"

The blonde softly laughed, joining the young twenty-something in mild disbelief, "I know. The department can be so demanding, but it was an emergency they said, so duty calls."

Freddie nodded his thanks, "Thank you ma'am. We'll catch him at another time. You have a nice Sunday."

She lifted a hand and waved them away while she remarked, "You too."

He and Jade turned to head back to her car with him opening the door for her then walking around to slip into the driver's seat. Freddie sighed in annoyance, "That was a wasted trip. So you want to drive back to police headquarters and try to track him down?"

"If they called him in for something, he's probably in route to wherever they need him to be."

Freddie slid his left pointer finger and thumb under his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose then remarked, "So we have to wait until his shift's over?"

"Maybe, but I'd like to know what he's up to now. An emergency call? A little suspicious much?"

He pulled his hand away and readjusted his glasses to look at her and questioned, "How do you propose we do that?"

The dark haired millionaire cocked an eyebrow as another idea came to her mind. She pulled out her phone again and pressed the speed dial again then tapped the speaker button. She heard André's tired voice, "Yes Jade? Will I ever get a day off?"

"Maybe on the fourth of July, but right now I need to know if there is any way we can track down an officer's police cruiser."

He loudly sighed on the other end of the phone then answered, "Fine, I'll search the police bands and see if I can locate his car."

The pair eagerly waited for André's reply. They could hear him walking then start typing. There was another pause then he answered, "There's nothing on the police bands of his location."

Jade glanced to Freddie then cautiously answered, "Can you… fake a call from dispatch and see if he'll respond?"

Freddie raised an eyebrow over the rim of his glasses at her while there was a pause at the other end of the line.

André finally responded, "I could access the radio tower from West Tower, but someone might be able to triangulate back to it if someone investigated later…"

Jade took a deep breath and looked to Freddie, almost asking his opinion on what she should tell André. In any other situation she wouldn't hesitate in her answer, but she had a sudden knot of apprehension in not wanting to disappoint him. She pushed it aside and stated, "Do it."

There was another pause and the pair waited for about half a minute, an awkward silence falling between them. She bowed her head to avoid seeing his eyes, feeling like he was judging her doing such an underhanded thing.

André finally answered, "He says he's heading on his standard patrol route, but it looks like he's heading towards old Ace Chemicals."

Jade idly asked, "Why would he be heading there?"

"What's Ace Chemicals?"

She looked up and met his eyes, somewhat startled that she didn't find any judgment in them. She cleared her voice and settled herself then answered, "It's a local chemical plant that constantly shuffles hands and can't maintain safety standards. Someone buys it, gets it up to code to start manufacturing, drops below code and gets bought out by someone else and the cycle repeats. I'm not even sure who owns it this month."

"Why would he be going there?"

"I have no idea. Maybe they think someone's hiding out there during the changeover in ownership?" She shook her head in mild disgust as they had to wait then continued, "We won't be able to talk to him until he gets back from whatever clandestine meeting he's going to. Well I guess we'll have to pick this up tomorrow."

She pulled the strap over her head then dropped it from her arm to be catch by her other hand. She rotated her arm around and put on a tight smile. "I think my arm's getting better. I guess I can drop you off at your hotel or anywhere else you want to go since we have to cut through the city."

He gave her a weary expression and slightly pulled down his glasses to look over the rim before glancing at her shoulder. He quickly readjusted his glasses and remarked, "You want to continue this tomorrow? What about your plans with Miss Vega?"

"I'm sure Tori'll understand. We'll have plenty of time to go out later since she'll be filming here for a few weeks." She teased, "You're not trying to get rid of me are you?"

"No ma'am. I… it's nice having a partner to investigate with."

She could admit to herself that it was nice to investigate along side someone, but her curiosity was peaked by the statement. "Oh? Don't you do that with Miss Shay?"

He cleared his throat in mild embarrassment and glanced away, "She ah… she makes it clear that she's in charge and I'm there to help her out."

"I'm sorry. Is that why she gets her name first in stories?"

"For the most part."

"Would you like someone else to work with? Someone that wouldn't be as much of a glory hound? I could make a phone call…"

He blinked and slightly furled his brow, never considering not working with Carly and it was actually hampering his career as a reporter. However, he had never really considered his job as a career moving towards one day becoming the head of a department or eventually the editor-in-chief when he saw it as only a means to an end in being able to see trouble before it blew up or able to poke his nose in places he couldn't do otherwise.

He eventually, but hesitantly answered, "No, it's fine. I like working with Carly."

She furled her brow and asked with mild disbelief, "You like being second best?"

"It's not that, it's…"

Her eyes opened, seeing that she had been right at the fundraiser: he had a thing for his partner, but it was quite unrequited as she apparently had a thing for the 'Superman'. She slightly bowed her head to take a moment to gather her thoughts then looked back up and quietly remarked, "You really do have a thing for her?"

"What?" He quickly shook his head and rapidly started to utter, "No, she's just my friend and partner. Our relationship isn't like that. We don't have those types of feelings towards one another. She…" He trailed off, not sure what else to say without digging the hole further in front of the lovely woman.

She leaned further over to him (they were already turned to one another and leaning to direct their respective attention to the phone) and gently took him by the chin with her free hand and lifted his face to meet his eyes through his pair of glasses, their faces only inches from each other.

She looked to him with a sympathetic gaze and he felt for a moment she was looking directly into his soul as she whispered, "She what?"

They held their stares and in that same moment, he thought he was doing the same to her and what he saw was quite beautiful and more importantly, honesty and acceptance. He felt he was back in her kitchen just after the robbery as they looked at each other. It was probably for that reason he quietly admitted, maybe more than either of them realized at the time, "…she only sees an 'S' and not me… never me."

Her hand slipped from under his chin to his cheek to cup it and stroke the side of it with her thumb and whispered, "I'm sorry…"

She held his cheek as their eyes remained locked with one another and they seemed drawn to one another and just as their lips were to about meet, André's voice called out from the phone Jade was still holding, "Jade? Ah, Jade? Do you need me for anything else?"

The pair quickly broke away and settled back into their respective seats, looking anywhere but each other. Jade took a quick breath then answered, "No, that's it. Thanks for all the help André. Bye." She pressed the end call button then glanced out the front windshield.

He glanced towards the steering wheel and started in an awkward voice, "Okay, if you feel up to driving then my hotel will be fine to drop me off. I ah… can get started on my story and maybe have it sent to the chief to make tomorrow's paper. We'll pick up where we left off tomorrow—I mean our investigation and figure out what Carl was up to too."

She nodded her head and choked out, "Right… right. We'll continue tomorrow."

He stuck the key in the ignition and started up the car then pulled away from the curb.

It was an awkwardly silent drive to his hotel as if they were two teenagers back in middle school and didn't know how to talk to the opposite sex.

Ace Chemicals
Gotham, NJ

Beck patiently waited off to the side of a six foot tall safe with only a handful of his crew (Sam being absent) was thoroughly 'cleaning' the rest of the office by taking every shred of paper and stuffing them into duffle bags to make sure there wasn't one line of text that could link the company to Thornesmith while the safecracker took the elaborate step of taking a blowtorch to circle around the tumbler combination lock to get into the safe.

They of course knew the combination to the safe, but simply opening it wouldn't further the appearance that this was an act of industrial espionage.

The welder finished the last of his cut and turned off the flame just as the lock fell off and clattered on the floor. He opened the safe, but instead of finding stacks of confidential documents in a few shelves, there were just a few stray empty folders.

Beck took a sharp breath then coldly stared at the empty safe as he shouted, "We've been set up boys. We got to get out of here now!"

However, unfortunate for the secret gangster and his crew, the following events had taken place just minutes ago while the safe was being cracked…

Outside the main entrance of the chemical planet, Detective Gary was handing out several sheets with Beck's picture on the front to a dozen uniformed officers, one including Officer Carl. He cautioned, "Alright boys, this is the guy we're after, Beckett 'Beck' Oliver. All those rumors about 'The Joker' are true and he's him, but we're letting the story of him being Carson circulate to not tip our hand. This is our chance to nab him without risking any civilians and red-handed trying to frame Mister Thornesmith. He's dangerous as they say, so don't hesitate to use your weapon if he doesn't give up at the first word of 'freeze'."

The handpicked officer's nodded their understanding then turned to enter the premises…

…and just as Beck and his crew were dropping everything to flee the scene as quickly as possible, the cops had arrived several yards from the office and shielded by the various pieces of industrial equipment.

"FREEZE!" one officer shouted as he and several others caught them trying to leave.

The mob soldiers already had their weapons out and started firing a hail of .38 and .45 rounds, striking pieces of equipment and holding the officers back for a few seconds. One stray shot punctured a pressurized gas line, causing a jet of high press steam to block the officers' path and start filling that area with a thick gas resembling fog, but not before one of the officers hit one of the mob soldiers with a blast from his shotgun and buckshot tearing into his chest. He was thrown back and shattered one of the windows to the files office before collapsing dead.

A number of gangsters took the opportunity to scatter and try to make a break for the exits. Beck turned and headed towards a flight of stairs just outside and to the rear of the office.

As the fire started intensifying and Gary trying to direct officers to cutoff any escape for the mobsters, Detective Vega arrived with a few more officers. He demanded, "What's going on?"

Gary gave a sideways looked to his partner over his shoulder and uttered a quick apology, "Sorry partner. We got a tip on a break in and had to move so quickly that we couldn't get a SWAT team out here. It looks like your kid's friend really is the Joker and was trying to plant some evidence against Mister Thornesmith. We're trying to apprehend him now."

Vega looked to his partner in mild disbelief and some sadness at the news.

"If he's as dangerous as they say, we might not be able to do it."

On the higher levels of the plant, Beck made it to one of the main control stations for the plant and was turning on every knob and switch to bring the plant alive as a distraction.

It was a fine distraction as machines came alive and various steam ports started jetting out coolant. On a level below Beck, it was allowing two of the mob soldiers to hold off several officers under the cover of some equipment and concealment of the smoke. They fired off a few more shots to keep them at bay then turned to flee, laughing as they went in believing they were making fools of the cops.

They were several yards down the corridor between a supporting beam and a piece of heavy equipment before they would reach an open area with cutout square opening in the floor for moving equipment from one floor to the other when something that looked like it was from Hell descended to block their path.

They raised their weapons out of fear and started to fire while one dashed off to the side, instinctively knowing what he was facing and ran out of fear. However, the dark figured that resembled a bat was quicker with raising her arm and shooting out a dart with a line attached. The dart tore through the right shoulder of one of them then she yanked hard, pulling him over the guardrail for the access floor. He tumbled over and while there was still slack in the line, detached it from her grappling gun and wrapped it around the guardrail in front of her.

He stopped from crashing onto the floor and started swinging back and forth just above the ground level.

Detective Vega and several officers were running under the spot just as the man was shouting for someone to let him down. The detective looked up and his mouth dropped open when he saw the dark figure look over the railing down at them. "Mother of God…"

She turned and started down the trail where the other gangster had fled.

Beck was running up stairs as fast as he could without tripping over his long coat, the other gangster behind him. However, he was unable to catch up with the long haired young man as the Bat had been quicker to round around that stairwell and stand flush against a support column. As he was about to pass to take the next flight of stairs, she threw her right fist back, striking the gangster in the face and breaking his nose with the armored back of her hand. He collapsed backwards with a considerable thump.

The long haired former inspiring actor knelt down to catch his breath when he reached the final catwalk. Unlike other guardrails of the intricate maze of metal mesh flooring, this one was several dark plates he could conceal himself for the moment. He looked down and saw several cops start to fan out on the lower level, it only being a matter of time before they closed in on him.

He stood up and decided to make a break for it in the direction he hoped was an exit, but before he got a few feet, he froze in place, surprised at seeing the costume wearing woman descended from a higher level and blocking his path. The first thought that came to his mind was that he thought ironically that he was underdressed for the meeting. He raised his weapon at her, ready to fire on her, but she surprised him by her stare. She narrowed her eye and her mouth was a thin line before she motioned her head back and whispered in a dark tone, "This way."

She turned her back on him and started down another catwalk.

He was surprised by her action and lowered his .45 and for some reason, felt he could trust the woman. If she wanted him caught, she could have tried to stop him, not just say hi and turn her back on him. He wondered if she didn't recognize him without the white makeup and dyed green hair. He brushed those thoughts aside and started jogging after her to turn a corner.

They quickly reached a stretch of narrow catwalk with another large monitoring station to their right. He looked past her and saw the green exit side above the door and realized that she was leading him out. However, before they could make it to the exit, several cops on the lower floor saw them cross the catwalk and immediately started firing.

They instinctively ducked for cover, but Beck wasn't fast enough as a bullet flew past his face and struck on of the gauges on the instrument panels to their right. The bullet ricochet away, but it shattered the glass and sending a few shards into the right side of his cheek and neck. The surprise of the impact threw him off of his step and he leaned to his left. However, before he could regain his footing, he hit the guardrail to his left and he tumbled over.

The Bat turned and nearly threw herself over the railing to try to catch him. Fortunately, he was able to grab a handle just before he fell into a large open tank of some green substance.

The Bat shouted in an oddly familiar voice, "Beck! Take my hand!"

There was something in her voice that he recognized and instinctively trusted, but just couldn't place. However, the mystery didn't prevent him from lifting his hand and grabbing the dark dressed woman's offered hand. She pulled hard, throwing her body weight back while he tried to lift himself with his other hand on a bar.

However, the pair could only grab each other's fingertips as he was too far down from where she could lean over and it wasn't enough purchase for them to hand on to each other. His fingers slipped through her fingers just as his other hand lost his grip.

He let out a scream as she looked on in horror as he fell backwards and towards an open tank of green liquid. However, miraculously before he hit the vat of chemicals, a red blur swoop across it and caught him.

The time between breaths, the red blur appeared just feet from her on the catwalk holding the gangster.

Beck looked wide eyed in shock at the 'Man of Tomorrow' while the Kryptonian firmly held him by the shoulder. He had to take a moment to realize that he was still alive.

Superman politely asked, "Mister Oliver I presume?"

He instinctively nodded in return.

The Bat whispered in a sharp, cold voice, "Let him go."

The blue costume wearing man retorted in a curt tone, "No, he's breaking and entering to cover up the crimes of his boss. He needs to be handed over to the police."

The blue eyed vigilante hissed out coldly, "I wasn't asking."

She pulled from behind the small of her back with her right hand what looked like a boomerang, but it had two distinct 'wings' joined to a circular disk, giving it a vague resemblance to a bat.

As he was distracted with the show of her pulling out the bat-a-rang, she let a small ball, about the size of a marble, slip into her hand then threw it between them. The marble sized ball struck the floor and instantly smoke filled the air, clouding the three's vision.

The muscular young man appeared unaffected while Beck squeezed his eyes shut, placed a hand over his mouth and nose started coughing up a storm.

She lashed out with the sharp edge instrument and in one swipe, cut the fabric of the sleeve of Beck's overcoat and leaving the sliver of garment in Superman's hand and freeing the gangster. She shoved Beck away with her open hand out of the billowing smoke and hissed out over her shoulder to him, "Go!"

The handsome long haired stumbled away out of it, trying to catch his breath and not going to look a gift horse in the mouth for the vigilante helping him escape the one man army.

She spun in place and backhanded the muscular young man, but her armored glove bounced off his jaw.

He took a hard suck of breath, so hard that the Bat's cap rippled around her body towards him and the smoke was sucked into his mouth.

The cowl over her head and face partially covered her dumbfounded expression at seeing the smoke gone and his billowing cheeks. He turned and blew out the smoke harmlessly off to the side. He looked to her then took a step forward, clearly wanting to go after the mob soldier.

However, the dark dressed young woman took a sidestep to block his path and swung hard with a right cross to his face.

He didn't bother evading as the armor plated knuckles struck him across the cheek.

Instead of her hand striking him across the face, her fist bounced off his face. She took a step back and opened and closed her fist, dropping the bat-a-rang. The padding in the glove took some, but not all of the blow. She imagined this was what it was like to hit a steel wall.

Superman stated in a stern voice, "I'm not your enemy."

"Maybe not, but I can't let you take him in." She threw out her right armored shin and struck the side of his left knee then followed it up with a left hook, but again it was a useless gesture as it didn't faze him.

She took a few steps back and rose up her forearms to shield her head with her armored and razor sharp fin mounted gauntlets, ready to fight it out with him despite the feeling in the pit of her stomach that it would be a hopeless and useless gesture.

The pause between the costumed individuals gave them the opportunity to look each other in the eyes trying to size up the other and attempting to anticipate the other's move, however they each saw a look of familiarity to the other's set of eyes that caused each to interrupt their respective trains of thought. Also for the Bat, the super powered individual's face had a striking resemblance to someone she knew.

Before either could question what they saw, Detective Vega's voice cried out from below the catwalk, "You two stop right there!"

The pair broke eye contact and looked down at the pair of detectives, Gary raising his gun at the Bat. He was able to fire off a shot at her before David Vega could grab his arm and pushed it down.

She grabbed the side of her cap and held it up to shield herself from the shot, but the man of steel was of course faster than a speeding bullet and stood between the Bat and the bullet so it could ricochet off of his back.

She look into his eyes, surprised that he would just throw himself in front of a bullet and seeing the same familiarity in his eyes that she just couldn't place or her mind wouldn't let her place. She didn't hold the stare long as she could hear the shouts and footsteps of approaching officers.

She turned to look to her right, hoping to dash out that exit, but saw the silhouette of several police officers coming up the stairs. The man in blue had the same idea and looked to his right to see the same thing.

The pair turned back to one another, another potential stalemate about to happen between them. However, he was the one that broke it by wrapping his arm between the cape and her back to grab the left side of her abdomen then lifted off the ground with her.

The detectives looked on in awe at seeing the man lift up in the air by his own power just as a few uniform officers rushed from both ends of the catwalk.

Gary muttered in disbelief, "The Bat is real…"

Vega finished up, "And 'the Superman' is too…"

Less than a minute later, the Bat and Superman were out the door to the roof. The large neon Ace Chemicals sign illuminated the pair as she pushed off of him and out of his grip before taking a few steps backwards. She lifted up her armored gauntlet covered forearms, ready to pick up where they left off.

The red cape wearing young man raised his hands up in surrender. "I'm not your enemy. There's no need for that."

"There isn't? You were eager to hold Beck for the cops, so why not me?"

"Because you're not a criminal."

He couldn't see it under her mask, he hadn't directed his X-ray vision on her, but he could tell she raised her brow under it and gave him a disbelieving stare as her lovely blue eyes were quite expressive.

"Okay, you're a vigilante, but you're not like them."

She dismissively snorted, "Sounds like situational morality to me."

He cracked a boyish grin, one she swore she saw before, and confidently replied, "So says the woman that tried to punch me out in letting a gangster get away. Why did you let him go—why did you get him away from me?"

She dropped her arms to her sides and let her cape fall to shield most of her front and hide her lovely figure. She answered in a curt tone, "It's complicated."

"How about you explain it to me?"

"You think I'm going to explain my motivations to a complete stranger?"

He nodded in acknowledgment of her question and gave her an easy going smile. "No, I guess not." He dropped his hands then raised one in an offered handshake. "Hello, I'm… they call me Superman and I take you're 'The Bat—Batwoman'?"

She looked down at his hand, unsure what to make of the gesture then back at him with a guarded expression.

He cracked a soft smile and pointed out, "If I wanted to hand you over to the police, I could have done that down there and you wouldn't have been able to get away. It's just a handshake ma'am."

His assurance wasn't reassuring to her, so she looked up and refused to shake his hand. However, she answered with a standoffish tone, "I prefer just 'The Bat'."

He patiently waited for her to continue, but she remained silent, studying him as if she could figure him out like a puzzle. He in turn did the same, but he of course had the advantage of X-ray vision and could look through her mask if he chose, but hesitated to do so with a sense that he would be violating her in some manner. She wanted her identity a secret and he wanted the same, so he was trusting mutual respect. He quietly broke the staring contest and asked, "And?"

"And what? We exchanged introductions and you expect I'm going to explain to you my motivations? Since we're both costumed vigilantes we're just going to become 'Super Friends'?"

"No, I'm not that naïve—"

"Good," she interrupted in a curt tone.

He patiently continued, "But we are on the same side and I need to know why you let him go."

She turned and looked over her shoulder as she started towards one side of the building to the ledge, "No, you don't."

"Fine, if you can't give me at least a little to reassure me you have a plan for him then I'll track him down and just drop him on the steps of Gotham Police Department Headquarters."

She stopped in her tracks and just waited for a moment.

He could hear her heartbeat slightly increase along with her breaths becoming deeper, the advantages of superhearing.

He had upset her and he knew that was a bad thing.

She whispered in a cold tone, one that would frighten lesser men, "I heard you weren't above threatening mobsters and crooked politicians… I guess I fall into that category. So much for being potential 'Super Friends'…"

He responded in a slightly pleading tone, desperate to understand, "You've been cleaning up the streets for weeks, maybe even longer and striking fear into the street thugs so people can actually start walking the streets and hitting the Mob in the pockets, but then you let him go? It doesn't make sense. You can forgive my confusion and questioning."

She turned in place and answered as if he was a child, "Life doesn't have to make sense."

"Why? Just why would you try to save one criminal? Should I just guest at the motives? Do you have a personal relationship with him? Is that why you let him go? You can't bare the thought of handing him over to the cops?"

She walked over and did something that was futile, but surprised them both: she slapped him across the face. "My motivations are not up for discussion and I don't appreciate you calling into question my virtue."

He looked down, somewhat embarrassed by his allusion. "I'm sorry, that was out of line ma'am."

"Yes it was… but, if you're going to be so insistent on wanting to know to the point of threatening me then fine. If I let the police have him, he would just end up as dead as Steven Carson and he'd literally be another dead-end in trying to bring down Thornesmith and the rest of the mob bosses. Now I have leverage on him to try to cut a deal and tell everything he knows to the D.A. With what he knows and what Carson gave up, Shapiro should be able to take down all of them."

Superman cynically remarked, "And gets a cut a sweetheart deal since they're friends?"

She snapped back, "I don't care. I want Thornesmith and Lee and Quincy and Dickers brought down."

"Even if Carson was telling the truth and he really is the Joker? He gets a free pass on all the murdering?"

She gave him a look a sheer hatred, but she wasn't sure who it was directed towards: him or herself using his lovely blue eyes as a mirror back onto herself.

He sympathetically remarked, "You care about him and it hurts knowing what he's become."

She verbally lashed out, "Don't try to psychoanalyze me you big flying brick. This is about taking down the entire Mob and if one guy out of all of it isn't under the jail for the rest of his life for what he's committed then I think that's a small price to pay."

"Yet it is still going to eat away at you because you know someone's going to be denied justice?"

His words hurt her more than any blow she had ever received in her life. She defiantly frowned to shield her pain and her eyes bore into his eyes, a stare he didn't flinch away.

After several seconds, each of their expressions softened as startling and immediately doubtful realizations occurred to each of them studying the other's eyes. He softly began to whisper in a dumbfounded manner that slipped into Freddie's normal conversational tone, "Miss We—"

However, he was interrupted when the service door flew open and several officers with their weapons trained on them. Superman instantly took a step in front of the Bat to shield her from any fire. "Officers, I believe you are far too busy in worrying about arres—"

He didn't get to finish as several officers opened fire on him. The shots were just wasted ammunition as the bullets ricocheted off of the 'S' shaped emblem on his chest. After the first few wasted shots, they stopped firing and looked upon him in fear.

"Gentlemen, that is not necessary. You should be worrying about rounding up the rest of the burglars."

Detective Vega gathered his courage and pointed out, "Well what about her and you?"

"I will worry about…" He turned and saw that the dark figure had disappeared from behind him. He blinked and let a soft chuckle past his lips at the notion that she had slipped away from him.

Gary was annoyed that the blue figure had allowed 'The Bat' to escape, but his partner was focused at the dominating manner at hand. He cautiously started as he kept his weapon trained on the visitor from Metropolis. "Mister… Superman, I'm placing you under arrest for aiding the escape of a fugitive."

The young man slightly tilted his head to the side and curiously answered, "I wasn't aware any outstanding warrants for her arrest and I was attempting to make a citizen's arrest for Mister Oliver, so I don't see how you have any grounds to arrest me. Furthermore, I'm sorry sir, but I invoke my right not to speak with the police." He looked up and raised his right fist completely vertically before lifting off the roof and soaring through the air.

The detectives took a few steps forward and looked at him fly away. As they saw the red and blue dot disappear into the early evening, Gary shook his head and muttered in disbelief as he saw the man soar away, "This is going to be some police report."

West Manor
Bristol Township, NJ

Jade sat in the corner of the couch in the living room wearing an oversized T-shirt and sweatpants, her legs brought up to her chest with her arms wrapped around her shins and chin resting on her knees, looking off at the unused fireplace. Lying beside her on the other end of the couch was her Kevlar weaved body suit with the big black bat symbol on the chest and her black cowl and cape resting on the 'lap' of the spread out suit.

The eye shadow that covered not only her eyelids but her entire eye sockets that she wore along with her mask was a mess running down her cheeks after her tears of rage and regret.

She violated and shamed her quest for justice… her moral code… to let Beck go simply because they were once a couple in high school that had survived their breakup to remain friends and still loved each other as such for nearly the last ten years. She had not just given him a free pass but helped him escape justice. She hated him for becoming the crook she always feared he would become with working for Mason that preyed on people just as much as the rest of them. She hated the flying brick from Metropolis for pointing it out to her and she hated herself for allowing it to happen.

She sat there quietly for the rest of the night in the dark.

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter and my twists to the plot and character exploration… remember, it is only a pair of glasses. Any questions and comments of course are always welcome. OneHorseShay