March 17, 1998

12:11 PM

"Now, Mr. Beaumont, what do you have for us this afternoon?" Fox said as I walked into the room. Instantly, his eyes met mine. I know that he hadn't been expecting me and that's why he had started the meeting without me.

"Mister Wayne. I didn't know that you were coming in today." Lucius said, obviously looking worried about my presence.

"Forget it, Lucius. Carl, continue." I replied sharply as I took my seat at the end of the table and directed my attention towards Carl. Normally, I didn't attend these meetings but right now, I needed something to take my mind off of things. Seven months later and the mention of my former protege still brought me to a rage. Plus, I actually had something to contribute.

I had long since gotten over being sad over his absence. In fact, while at the time I had been ready to blame myself for what had happened, that was no longer the case. Every time I traveled back to that place in my memories, I remembered how arrogant and foolish he had been. I may have been hard on him but a boy like him needed it.

"Well, gentlemen, I received a phone call last night from Clinton. While he's planning on cutting the defense budget significantly, he has assured us that none of our grants will be eliminated."

"Wonderful." Lucius replied. "That should keep the stocks up. Do you have anything else for us today?"

"Nothing that I know of."

I took this opportunity to stand up and address the board.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is at this time that I would like to announce my plan to phase out and sell all the weapon contracts for non-military personnel."

As I expected, the reaction was not favorable.

"Mr. Wayne, are you insane?" Darren Powers replied in shock.

"No, Darren, I'm not." I replied coldly. "Also, Wayne Enterprises will no longer endorse any political candidates, judges included, in New York state or New Jersey."

I nearly laughed out loud at their reaction to this.

"Mr. Wayne," Lucius began carefully. "Normally, this would be something that the whole board would agree on. Why would you unilaterally make a decision like this?"

Lucius knew that he was the only person in the room that could slow me down if my currently legendary temper began to flare up.

"Mr. Fox, as the sole majority owner of all things Wayne, it is, in the end, my decision as to what happens with this company's finances."

Lucius looked at me passively and spoke again.

"Are there any other reasons?" Lucius asked me, still careful to remain as unassuming as possible.

"Sure. There's this." I said as I stood and waved my secretary in. In front of each of the board members, she placed a manilla envelope with my report in it.

"Inside this report, you will see why I am going to halt any political contributions and why we are no longer providing fire arms to non-military organizations."

For the next couple minutes, no one spoke. Then, suddenly, Darren Powers spoke up again.

"You must be crazy to think that this is true." he said menacingly.

Finally, someone in the room was able to make me smile.

"Mr. Powers, I've been working with the police for nearly six months now. You see, seven months ago, GCPD discovered cases of weapons from Wayne Enterprises. They were in the possession of men who were knowingly working with the Joker. So, as a favor to me, Comissioner Gordon came to me and asked me to explain their presence."

Darren stood up and spoke again.

"Well, it's obvious. Someone from their gang must have stolen them." he said, convinced of his truth.

"I thought so too, Mr. Powers. So, I went through and checked every inventory for this particular kind of weapon since we started manufacturing them four years ago. It turns out that every single shipment went off without a hitch. Nothing lost, nothing stolen."

"Well, that's interesting." Lucius said next to me.

"Quite. So, per our contract for selling our weapons to other companies to sell, I checked their records. All of the companies showed the same results as us, except for one. This company showed that a large portion of their weapons were disappearing every month. Would you like to know the name of this company?"

Everyone in the room waited in anticipation.

"Powers Technology." I said with a grim smile.

Instantly, Darren Powers lost it.

"How dare you accuse me of stealing weapons from my own company, Wayne! Why would I ever do anything like that?"

Finally, I had him where I wanted him, angry and open.

"Well, it turns out that when Carl was caught giving money to the Red Hood Gang, he stopped giving into them and stopped funding them. So, they looked to someone else who could get them what they wanted. And they found you, Powers. After GCPD did some digging, they found out that you signed a release form every month for some of those guns. Do you know the name that they were signed out to?"

Darren stood in the back of the room, pale and silent.

"Joe White. Joseph White was the leader of the Red Hood Gang when Joker was involved in it. Now, the police doubts that Joker was picking up the guns while he was in Arkham. But, a quick analysis of the handwriting did come up with one match. Do you know who that could be?"

"No." was all Powers could muster.

"City Councilman Armond Krol." I said, almost growling as I spoke. "Krol signed for every single one of the these reports. Eye witnesses say that he always came with another man. Tall, dark hair, greased back. They all recognized him as Arthur Reeves, another city councilman."

Finally, Powers seemed to gain his bravado back.

"So, what? They signed the forms to take some of the weapons. They said they were using them to supply under-supplied GCPD officers."

"Well, that's the story they told too. Except that when we checked GCPD, there was no evidence of these weapons ever being distributed. More specifically, a large sum of money always entered your bank account each month. And that same amount split in two always exited theirs. Finally, the tracking numbers of the guns found by GCPD match the ones we gave to your company. So, it seems that you were using MY guns to sell to corrupt councilmen who were then giving them to the most prominent gang in Gotham. What do you have to say to that?"

For a second, he remained silent.

"So what? So what if I knew they were giving the guns to the Red Hood? You aren't a cop, Wayne, as much as it seems that you would like to be one."

I laughed before pointing behind him.

"No, but he is."

Instantly, Powers turned around to see Detective Harvey Bullock standing just outside the board room. Bullock quickly strode in and cuffed Powers up. Rather than continue to fight, Powers quietly submitted to the police. As Powers and Bullock left the room, Commissioner Gordon entered the room and approached me.

"Mr. Wayne, I would like to thank you for cooperating with us." he said as he extended his hand. I eagerly took it and shook it happily.

"You are more than welcome, Jim. And please, call me Bruce."

"Well, then Bruce, thanks again. I'm sure we'll be in touch." he said with finality as he turned and left the room.

Quickly, I turned back to the board.

"This meeting is adjourned. We'll reconvene at noon tomorrow."

Thirty-five minutes later, I was working in my office when Lucius entered my office, unannounced. He took a seat in the chair opposite my desk and waited until I finished with what I was working on before he spoke up.

"How did you get this information?" he asked softly.

"A mutual friend." I replied cryptically.

"A mutual friend? Bruce, years ago, you told me that a mutual friend would be taking various things out of the Applied Sciences Division and they did. You told me to trust you and I did. Things have disappeared around there for years and you've never thought to stop it. But suddenly a shipment of guns end up in the wrong place and you spend six months hunting for the person that did it. How did you know it wasn't your friend?"

"I know."

"HOW?" he said, raising his voice for the first time in my presence.

Instead of screaming back at him, I stood up and walked to the window where I watched my city crumble before my very eyes.

"You know." I said quietly.

Suddenly, the world seemed to come into focus for him.

"You?"

I turned and sat back down in the chair on my side of the desk.

"Door, lock. Camera, rewind 30 seconds and delete. Proceed to shutdown." I said, seemingly to no one

"Confirmed."

"What was that?" Lucius asked me.

"Within the system that we have here at Wayne Enterprises, there is an override that I alone control. It allows me to lock any door, turn off any camera, and access any computer."

I didn't like the look on Lucius' face.

"Bruce, that's an extreme violation of privacy." he said, almost scolding me.

"I am well aware of that, Lucius. But as you have no doubt figured out, it is definitely necessary."

Lucius stood and began pacing the office. He stopped where I had been standing near the window and turned to speak again.

"So, you're Batman. Why?"

"Twenty-seven years ago, my parents were brutally murdered in front of my very eyes. I was eight. Ten years later, I watched as the man who killed them stood up for what he had done and help the District Attorney catch Rupert Thorne. In response, he was killed by the mob."

"But, why couldn't you just pay to help the police force? Why do it yourself?"

"Because no matter how much money I have, they aren't going to play by the rules."

Lucius stood up and turned to leave the room.

"Don't lie to me, Mr. Wayne. How much money has this company lost on this?"

"Absolutely nothing. I've paid everything back that I've taken." I assured him.

"Good." he said and turned with nothing more.

March 18, 1998

8:11 AM

After a relatively short and uneventful night on patrols, I had been home, researching locations where Joker could be hiding. I still hadn't found him in the months since my last encounter with him. I had finally come out of the cave when I heard a TV on. I walked towards the kitchen where the TV rang out with this line:

"Police Commissioner James W. Gordon has been suspended from active duty, effective at 5 PM this evening. Gordon has been under investigation due to his supposed relation with Detective Sarah Essen and also his reluctance to issue an arrest warrant for the armed vigilante, Batman."

"This again?" I growled in obvious agitation.

"It appears so, Master Wayne." Alfred replied as he prepared breakfast.

"Since when is it illegal to date someone?" I asked rhetorically.

"Well, Master Wayne, when that person is your boss, it is most definitely frowned upon."

"Or when you don't play ball with the politicians." I replied.

"Also quite true. Would you like me to update you on Master Grayson?"

"Alfred, what have I told you about that?"

"I thought that maybe you had decided to forgive your former protege for his behavior and that the two of you could work on beginning to forgive each other."

"Damn it, Alfred. Just drop it."

"As you wish." he said as he silently went about finishing breakfast.

9:49 PM

"Good evening, Jim." I said as I finished sneaking in the window of his apartment. He was sitting in front of the television, watching the Gotham Knights play the Metropolis Wizards. Thankfully, he was still able to ignore the basketball game to be scared out of his wits.

"Jesus, could you knock next time?" he said as he turned the TV off and faced me. He had taken off his glasses and he sat in an old pair of gym shorts and a tank top. He had a beer in his hand and three empty bottles laying next to him.

"I see that you're taking the news well." I nearly joked.

"Sarah told me that I have nothing to worry about. She says that our Union will help me get my job back. In the meantime, some cop that is assuredly owned by city council will take my job and start looking for reasons to fire good cops. If this lasts longer than a couple weeks, all that we've worked for will be gone. Nine years of work rebooted in a couple days."

"We'll get this fixed, Jim. Who's coming after you? Anyone in particular?"

"Krol and Reeves. By doing this, we can't go after them. It will just seem like a desperate attempt to get them back."

I paced back and forth in the middle of his living room for a couple seconds, giving myself time to think.

"We can still get them. Do you know who's replacing you?"

Jim took his seat on his couch again and opened another beer.

"Well, I'm sure that as Senior Detective in Major Cases, Harvey Bullock will get promoted. But, he's going to be watched very carefully. Probably by the Mayor himself. He's not the cleanest cop in the department but he's the safest bet so that way people don't go crazy in the streets."

"Well, Hill has been Mayor of this town for far too long." I answered aggressively.

Gordon took a long swig before he replied.

"You want to go after Hamilton Hill? The man is bought and paid for by every mob family in Gotham and its surrounding areas. That's like going the mob themselves.

"Maybe it's time."

"You are insane. Plus, if Harvey is named Commissioner, he'll almost assuredly reinstate the manhunt for you."

"I'm not worried."

"You should be." Jim said as he turned to face me. But when he did, all he saw was an empty room and an open window. "Damn it, I'm going to nail his feet to the floor one of these days."

10:24 PM

About twenty minutes later, I had arrived at GCPD. I slowly scaled the building until I got the window of Gordon's office. As I expected, it was occupied by one man.

"Good evening, Detective." I said after sneaking into the window.

Bullock was obviously not as comfortable with my abrupt entrances as Gordon was.

"Jesus, man, you scared the shit out of me."

"What are you doing here?" I asked harshly.

Bullock lit his cigar before he answered.

"Waiting for you. I know that you sneak in here to talk to Gordon every night. I also figured that you would probably know about Gordon's suspension which probably means you would have gone to his pathetic apartment to talk to him. He then almost assuredly would have told you that the most logical choice for our corrupt mayor to appoint in Gordon's place was me because I was Gordon's partner, which will look good to the public, and also because I've done enough morally questionable things that the mob would potentially be happy with me in Gordon's place."

"I'm impressed." was my honest reply. "I have questions."

"Like what?" Bullock replied as he chewed on his cigar.

"What's the status of the manhunt on me?"

"Currently, we are understaffed and are not able to make Batman a priority."

"Also, where are we on the investigations of Krol and Reeves?"

Harvey sighed slightly. He put his cigar out and any life that had been present before suddenly left him.

"Mayor Hill very kindly came in and told me that if anyone even looks at the case, I will be quickly out of a job."

Quickly, I managed to think of a solution.

"Give me the information. The files. Everything."

"What? You've got to be kidding me? I'll get fired for that alone!"

"If you give me that info, I'll turn it in to every news affiliate in town. Every federal agent in town will get a copy of it by six o'clock tomorrow morning." I growled.

"How?" Bullock nearly yelled at me.

"I have my ways. Now, give me the files."

Ten minutes later, I had made my way back to the Batmobile when I heard a loud clanging noise. Instantly, I ducked behind the nearest dumpster and took a glimpse at my car. What I saw definitely surprised me. A teenager, roughly Dick's age, was trying to break into my car. Instantly, I took action. With two large bounds, I jumped out from behind the dumpster and grabbed him. I sharply turned and pinned him up against the wall behind me.

"What are you doing?" I screamed at the boy.

"I needed the money. My parents were killed a couple weeks ago and the foster home I'm living in won't feed me. I saw the ride and figured if I could steal it and sell it for parts, I could eat for the next couple weeks."

Slowly, I put him down. He was tall for his age. He already nearly stood as tall as I did and I'm sure that he wasn't done growing.

"What's your name?"

"Jason Todd." he replied shortly. His fear was seeming to subside as I talked to him more calmly. Also, no longer being held a foot and a half off of the ground probably helped.

"How old are you?"

"16."

"You say you live in a foster home?" I continued quizzing him.

"Yeah, over in the Bowery."

Great. No one survives in the Bowery. It was easily the worst part of town. Suddenly, I heard a noise behind me and I turned to see no less than ten armed thugs, guns leveled at me.

"Well, what have we here? The Bat and Robin."

"He's not Robin. Let him go and you can have me." I replied harshly.

"Oh, I don't think so. Todd has some business with us, right?" he said, looking directly passed me and at the teenager behind me. I turned my head sharply.

"Business?"

"Well, I borrowed some money from these guys to start growing. It's the only way to make money down here."

"Not anymore." I said savagely as I grabbed four batarangs from my belt. Instantly, I launched myself up in the air and fired the batarangs at the gang. As I expected, they decided to fire on me instead of the boy. As I landed, I ducked under the leader's gun and immediately went to work.

Within the close range of the shooters, they couldn't use their guns without risking hitting their friends. As I fought I counted eleven men. A swift uppercut to one, down to ten. Another reached in to grab me. Poor decision. I grabbed his arm and broke it and then threw him at three more of his comrades. Only six left. Unfortunately, the lack of men now encouraged them to start shooting again. One of their stray bullets hit me in the ankle and another in the stomach. Nothing life threatening but definitely painful.

A quick grab of a gun of the one closest and a swift smash of the butt end to his forehead knocked another out of commission. Five remaining. Two of them decided to charge me. Another bad choice. I strongly grabbed the head of each and smashed them together. Two more down, three left. As I finished hanging one with my grapnel, I saw one run away and the other raise his gun to fire at me. Even though I managed to punch him in the face and knock him unconscious he put two bullets in my right arm.

With all of the men down, I took a second to assess myself. All four wounds were clean entries and exits. That would make Alfred happy. Having established that I would be in pain but fine, I turned to the boy.

"You're done growing. Now."

"Hey, I don't know who the hell you th-"

Instantly, I convinced my injured body to launch myself at him and lift him by his shirt again. Although my insides screamed, I knew it was for a good reason.

"Now."

"Ok." Todd replied as his eyes suddenly got large. Instantly, I knew that there was something bad behind me.

I turned just in time to see one of the fallen thugs lift his gun. I knew that I was done. However, what I hadn't accounted for was Todd wrestling himself from my reach and pulling me to the ground. The two shots that the thug had left his gun missed by inches just above our heads. Once we hit the ground, Jason jumped up and grabbed the gun from the injured man. He pulled it back like a baseball bat and teed off on the man's head, instantly knocking him out. He quickly turned back to me.

"Are you alright?" he asked with worry in his eyes.

"I've had worse." I replied as I got back to my feet. "Get in the car."

"Why? Where are we going?" he asked in fear.

"I'm taking you home. Then, tomorrow morning, you are going to meet my supplier for a job interview."

"Your supplier? What kind of addict are you?" he asked, a cruel smile on his face.

"Weapons supplier. I'm sure you've heard of him."

"Who?" the boy asked interested.

"Bruce Wayne. You'll meet him at the front door of Wayne Enterprises for a job interview. After you go to school, that is."

"What? I haven't gone to school in months." Todd replied.

We both got into the car and we pulled out of the small alley before I replied.

"Well, I'm giving you the opportunity to change that. Was it true about your parents?"

"Yeah, man. They were both killed in a mugging by some crackhead a couple blocks from home."

"My parents were killed as well." I admitted to him. "Don't let that be the end of you. Go to school, work for Wayne."

We pulled into his apartment complex a couple minutes later. He had been quiet for the last few minutes. Suddenly, he spoke up again.

"Where's Robin?"

"Retired."

"Really? That's too bad. I would have loved to be Robin. Get back at those bastards for killing my parents."

That was the last thing he said before he got out of the car.

Nearly an hour later, I finally arrived back at the Cave. Despite the early hour, I had enough information to continue my investigation from home. Plus, my injuries would have bled out before the end of the night if I hadn't returned home to get Alfred to stitch me up.

"Another wonderful night, Master Bruce?" Alfred asked dryly.

"It was interesting." I replied honestly.

"How so?" Alfred asked as I began undressing to prep for surgery.

"I offered a young man an internship at Wayne Enterprises."

Alfred's face was priceless.

"Excuse me?"

"This boy was trying to steal the Batmobile. I confronted him and he lied to me, telling me he needed the money so he could eat. In reality, he had borrowed money from a gang to grow weed. They confronted us and the first time around I had very little trouble, despite getting hit twice."

"Ahh yes, little trouble. Where have I heard that before?" Alfred replied.

"Nice." I shot back before continuing. "Anyway, one of the thugs got back up and was ready to shoot me when the kid pulled me down and then got up and took care of him. It wasn't pretty but definitely effective. His parents were killed a little while ago in a mugging. So, I offered him an internship at Wayne Enterprises but only if he went back to school."

"Do you think this boy will become the next Robin?" he asked me.

"When I told him that Robin was retired, he said he would be interested in becoming Robin."

"Did he now?"

"Yes, but he said he wanted to do it to get back at the people who killed his parents."

Finally, Alfred had nothing to say.

"He troubles me, Alfred. On one hand, I can see the potential in him. On the other, I fear what he could become with my training."

"Well, sir, there is only way to find out."

I waited a couple seconds to think of a reply but in the end, I could only come up with this:

"Indeed, there is."