Chapter Two

Foundations Of Future Justice

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

Bruce sat back in his chair, staring at the fireplace as he marshalled his thoughts, then he turned slightly and met his brother's eyes from where he sat in an identical chair.

"Gotham. Despite the cops, despite what you and Lucius have done while I've been... away, it's gone downhill."

Clark nodded. "Yeah. There are more and more gangs every day, more criminals, the police are becoming more corrupt... I don't know what more I can do. They're twisting the law and getting away with it."

Bruce nodded. "I had plenty of time to think, plenty of things to learn. We can guide Gotham back, Clark, but to do it... are you with me?"

"Always." came the instant rply and Bruce rested his elbows on the arms of his chair, steepling his fingers and staring into the fireplace.

"Criminals are, by and large, a superstitious, cowardly lot." he said slowly. "The public need a symbol to rally behind. You tried to provide one in WayneTech while I was away, but it wasn't enough. There's too many criminals out there.

"What we need is a new symbol. A new legend that'll strike terror into the hearts of the scum who prey on the weak and the innocent, yet will be there to protect the law-abiding majority. People find it hard to support an organisation, but a hero... one who makes a stand, who holds the line against the evil that threatens the citizens of Gotham, they would flock to that banner."

"But the criminals would try to strike at the family of that person." Clark mused. "I wouldn't like to see Alfred hurt..."

"Which is why the new hero must be more then a person, an icon. Greater than human in the eyes of all, able to strike from the shadows and return to them."

"That's not me." Clark noted. "I..."

"I know." Bruce said. "You have as much willpower as me, Clark, and a heart greater than mine. I've been thinking about it and I'm the one who'll be of the shadows."

"You always were the planner." Clark grinned. "The number of scrapes you led us into... and got us out of, for that matter. But I'll back you up, as always. How are we going to do this?"

"We use the Cave as our headquarters." Bruce declared. "I don't have your powers, so I'll need some gadgets to compensate..."

"I know just the thing." Clark grinned. "I saw something really cool when Lucius was showing me round the Waynetech facilities last year, come on."

"What is this place?" Bruce asked, looking round. Clark grinned as he activated the lights and led his brother into the enormous, but crowded warehouse.

"This is where the prototypes that didn't make it into mass production ended up." he said. "So, you'll need protection since you aren't bulletproof like me. Ummm, over here."

Bruce looked at the armour in the drawer that Clark had pulled open. "What is that?"

"Prototype commando-infiltration body armour. The plates are based on the outer hull of the rocket-ship I came in, they're very difficult to make and cannot be formed in sizes greater than a meter, but they're proof against anything up to a nuke. Don't stop the impact, though, so they're padded underneath. Designed for lightness and protection, cost is several million should it hit market."

"Cool," Bruce breathed and Clark grinned. "I'll need something that lets me fly, or at least glide."

Clark frowned, then walked to another cupboard. Pulling out a piece of fabric, he laid it on a workbench. "Memory-cloth. Can be cut to any shape, solidifies upon application of a specific electrical current." As he spoke, Clark attached a couple of wire-clips and pressed a button. The fabric suddenly stiffened into a cylinder and Bruce tapped it.

"Limits?"

"Stronger than titanium in tensile terms when active, but not bulletproof. Can be made into any shape holdable by a rigid frame, such as wings. Do it right and you can get it to fold itself up simply by layering it and activating the layers in a specific order."

"Iiinteresting." Bruce mused. "That'll be better than having to stash hang-gliders across the city. But as for climbing..."

"Over here!" Clark called, pulling out a chest and opening it. "Electro-pulse-propelled grappling hook. The power cell is in the grip, holds a charge for 100 uses and is easily replaced. The hook itself incoporates a small electro-drive system that acts as a temporary air-turbine, only lasts 5 seconds, but allows for limited control of where the hook goes, directed by this thumb-stick. The retraction motor can carry a load equal to three people."

"That. Is. Nice." Bruce said, taking the device and turning it over in his hands. "Expensive?"

"Complex." Clark said. "Each bit is very hard to make, you get a success ratio of less than 2% under test conditions. Not good for mass production."

"But this one works?"

"These twenty do, and we have spare parts as well." Clark said, then paused as Bruce looked at a huge shape in the corner.

"What is that?"

Clark walked across and pulled the tarpaulin off, revealing the vehicle underneath.

"Oh. My. God." Bruce stated as he looked at the camo-painted vehicle. "That looks like the love child of a F1 racecar and a B-2 stealth bomber! What is it?"

"The tumbler?" Clark said, a mischevious smile on his face. "I don't think you'd be interested in that..."

x

The roar of the engine echoed round the empty car park as Bruce hurled the tumbler round in another tight curve. Beside him, Clark spoke as if they weren't missing pillars by mere centimeters.

"The tumbler was a military prototype designed for bridging duties. Although it can be driven by one, it was designed for two, with room in the back for two passengers in an emergency. The idea was two tumblers would leap a gap, using the boost turbine, dragging cables behind them that would allow for an unfolding bridge to be deployed in mere moments."

"Did the jump system not work?" Bruce shouted as he sent the tumbler into a slide, pulling out of it with ease.

"The tumbler worked fine!" Clark replied. "The bridge, however, Lucius said they never could get that to work."

Bruce stopped the tumbler and gazed raptly at the controls for a moment, before turning to grin at his brother.

"Can we have it in black?"

x

"So, Alfred told me you decided on using a bat as your symbol." Clark said as he floated down to where Bruce was using an airbrush to apply black paint to his new outfit. "Why?"

"Bats are creatures of the night, hunters, and they scare people." Bruce said as he de-activated the brush and accepted the plate of sandwiches Clark offered him. "I think that it's time for the criminals to fear the night."

Clark nodded. "So, you're going to be Batman, huh?"

Bruce nodded and Clark grinned. "So, Bat of the night, wingman position open?"

Bruce froze and Clark looked at him. "Bruce? Bruce?"

"night. wing... Nightwing... Batman and Nightwing..."

"I like it!" Clark laughed. "I'll need an outfit!"

Bruce nodded slowly. "Yeah. Clark, we'll need to strike terror into the hearts of criminals, but we have to keep as much mystery as possible, so..."

"Don't use my powers unless necessary." Clark said with a nod. "Or at least downplay them. No fear, I don't want to find the US military trying to disect me to figure out how to create supersoldiers of their own. Having this much power scares me, and we both know how corrupt governments can get if they think they have all the power."

Bruce nodded, then glanced over at the corner of the cave where the tumbler resided, half its armour missing. "How long before we get the tumbler re-armoured?"

"The final batch is in quality-control now." Clark said. "When it's delivered, I can shape it and install it. Your idea of fitting handholds and a hatch to the top was good."

"You can fly with multiton weights." Bruce shrugged. "Seemed a good idea to set things up so that you could carry the... what do we call it? Calling it the tumbler is just..."

"The Batmobile." Clark grinned, picking up one of the throwing blades that Bruce had made. "Hey, nice shurikan, does it return when thrown?"

"If you throw it right." Bruce replied absently, picking up the airbrush again.

"Batarangs." Clark joked and Bruce almost dropped the airbrush as he tried to restrain his laughter.

"I am never calling them that."

"Bet you will!"

x

"So, what do you think?"

Bruce looked at the outfit Clark was wearing. "Black bodysuit, dark blue wing-symbol extending to arms, matching utility belt... looks good. Nice domino mask."

"Watch this! Clark said and flung open his arms. An instant later, a pair of wings unfolded, almost doubling his armspan. "Since I can fly, I wanted something that stops people realising that it's me and not the suit that lets me take to the skies. If I hold on to the wings, I can adjust them to look cool, or..." Clark lowered his arms and the wings remained extended, "like this I can carry things and they'll still think it's gliding."

A slight twitch retracted the wings to their stored position and Bruce nodded.

"Nice one. That looks good."

"So, when we finally head out, do we go in the Batmobile?"

Bruce shook his head. "No, let's keep that in reserve for now. If we go out with too many gadgets at first, people may ask questions that we don't want to answer."

Clark nodded. "And that's why you're the leader, Bruce. So. Start big?"

Bruce shook his head. "Small. Let's start with thugs, muggers and other scum. Let rumours start spreading before we go up against the big enemies. The more off-balance they are, the better."

"Sounds like a plan."