A/N: Thanks to my one reviewer, your feedback is greatly appreciated! As to my other readers, please leave reviews so I can improve the story as I write it. Thank you and enjoy!
Chapter Three: Identity
Kara sat on Christian's couch and watched the news. Apparently Gotham's mayor had been taken into custody just recently for illegal mob deals and plotting murder because of an anonymous tape dropped off at the police commissioner's desk. It was no doubt the work of the new Batman. When asked to comment, the commissioner simply said, "I do not condone this vigilante, but the Batman has done good in the past and I have high hopes that this newcomer will do the same."
"You're still here?"
Kara turned around and saw Christian wearing nothing but sweatpants, glaring at her.
"Well I had nowhere else to go at the time," she told him, trying not to let Christian get to her.
"What about Jimmy?"
Kara sighed, "He doesn't know I'm here, and I'd rather keep it that way."
Christian's glare hardened a bit, "I won't tell him."
Kara gave him a small smile and moved over as he sat down next to her.
"So, I'm sorry about what I said last night… I was out of line," he told her
Kara laughed, "It's alright, you had every right to be angry."
"But I do stand by what I told you, the mission is now the most important thing," he looked her dead in the eye.
Kara leaned in and whispered quietly, "Are you sure?"
Christian backed away, "Yes, I can't have any of my emotions interfering with this. I can't let myself lose anyone else."
Kara sighed, "I understand…"
"Don't think I don't care about you, but nothing can interfere with my job. I let my own baby sister die, along with my father. I have to continue his work, even if that means giving myself to this city."
Kara tried to find anything in his eyes that may hint that somewhere her old friend was still in there, but as always; they were just sad and angry.
"You can stay here if you want," Christian offered, "I mean, if you don't have an apartment."
"It's alright, I have a place in a safer part of town," Kara told him, "but I'll be staying in Gotham for a while. If you need anyone, just call me."
Kara kissed Christian on the cheek and then walked out, leaving him with Eve.
"Sir, would you like me to tend to your cuts? I learned a thing or two in my time in the peace core."
Christian raised his eyebrow, "You were in the peace core?"
"Believe it or not, I was quite a rebellious teenager," Eve told him
Christian laughed, "When the hell did that all go?"
"When I had to start babysitting a twenty five year old sir," Eve answered, flicking him in the ear. Christian smiled and followed her into the kitchen to eat.
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Antonio Falcone sat down angrily in front of his desktop computer; he was ready to rant. He kept repeating to himself 'out of all these years, he has to pick now to return.'
Opening up a window in Google chrome, he typed in the web address to a site that he and his criminal network all used.
"We have a problem," he typed in angrily, hoping he would get some response.
After a couple seconds, some responses appeared bellow his message.
"The Bat needs to be dealt with, fast."
"All west side operations have been put under extreme strain because of him, its like this guy's everywhere at once!"
"Did anyone actually record this thing's death?"
Falcone slammed his fist on the table and screamed at the screen, "Does anyone know how to get rid of this guy!"
He typed in his angry message and waited for more responses.
"I think we may just have to be more careful, if we conduct our operations further in the shadows, we may be able to sneak by him."
"That won't work, the thing freakin lives in the shadows!"
"Has anyone actually tried shooting him?'
Antonio's blood pressure continued to rise as his message was flooded with idiotic replies. Shooting him, blowing him up, stabbing him, didn't these guys have half a brain? If the bat could be killed in any of those ways, he would have already been dead! No, there had to be a way to kill a legend, there had to be…
Suddenly a message from username IDENTITY popped up.
"I will dispose of the Batman."
No one seemed to respond; as if they were in shock that someone they didn't even know could kill the bat.
"Oh yeah? And what makes you think it's that easy," Falcone typed, almost laughing.
"Turn your televisions to the Gotham city news at ten o' clock tonight, and you will see for yourself," the mysterious IDENTITY responded.
Falcone thought for a bit, if the guy was for real, then they could possibly off the bat for good. If he was lying, then Antonio would just have him turn up in a ditch somewhere within the next month.
"All right," Antonio typed, "How much do you want?"
"I do not require money, I have sufficient funds."
A pleasure killer? Antonio knew these weren't the type to mess with, but it was worth it to get rid of the bat.
"Alright, we'll see what you can do."
"Do not fret, very soon I will return control of Gotham to you."
Antonio smiled, this guy might not be so bad after all.
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Eve sat down on the couch in the TV room and flicked on the news channel. Christian was out rubbing elbows with the socialites of Gotham, so she had some time to herself to relax.
She had basically had to shove Christian out the door tonight, insisting that he have an existing social life to at least cover up his midnight activities.
Sipping on some tea, she flipped through the channels, trying to find something interesting. As she was skimming through the different shows, she heard a ring at the doorbell.
With a sigh, she stood up walked over towards the door, which continued to ring until she finally opened it.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Wayne isn't home right n… Mr. Kent?"
Connor Kent stepped in and said, "It's alright, I can wait."
Eve nodded and showed him over to the living room where he sat down on Christian's favorite armchair.
"What can I do for you Mr. Kent," she asked, bringing him a drink and sitting down across from him.
Connor looked around for a bit, as if looking for something, and then answered, "I assume my cousin was not very successful in persuading Christian to stop what he's doing."
"He's a very stubborn person, I doubt he'll listen to you either."
Connor laughed, "Oh, I don't expect him to listen. Hell, I don't even expect him to give me a chance to talk."
Eve raised her eyebrow curiously, "OK, then what possible reason could you have for being here?"
"I just came here to relay a message," Connor told her, sipping on his drink, "I'm going to be watching him."
"What do you mean?" asked Eve
"I mean that if the government is threatened by the Batman's return, I will stop him."
Eve glared at Connor intensely, "Yes, I heard there was a law against vigilantism."
"Just tell him to watch himself, because if someone tells me that he's gone too far, I won't hesitate to take him out," Connor said, standing from his seat.
"Is that all Mr. Kent?"
Connor shook his head, "Look, just please make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. My cousin may not be able to see it, but he's not very stable."
"Mr. Kent, I've been watching over him for five years now and I don't intend to stop now."
"Well as long as we've got that out of the way I think I'll be going," Connor told her, standing up.
Eve nodded, "have a good day Mr. Kent"
Once Connor left the manor, Eve sighed in relief and turned the TV back on. It was about ten o' clock now, so the more interesting stories should be being aired. She flipped to GCN and began watching their normal broadcasts, until something strange happened.
The screen started going fuzzy, and then suddenly the broadcast feed cut off.
After a couple minutes, the feed flickered back, revealing a man sitting at a desk with a black cloak covering his torso and a red Oni mask with the eye's cut out.
"Greetings Gotham," the man announced in a strange, metallic voice (most likely because of a voice modulator), "I am Identity. I apologize for the interruption of your normal programming; do not worry though, it will be back on momentarily after I make this ever so important announcement."
Eve watched curiously, trying to figure out if this masked man was just part of GCN's everlasting fight for ratings.
"This message I send out is to announce my presence to this city and to all those who believe they control it. This message, though, is not to the corrupt, but rather the people. The people, who have for so long been crushed under corrupt politicians and wealthy pigs."
Eve continued to watch, but reached for her cell phone just in case she needed to get Christian on the line.
"I have come as a liberator, and to prove that I have another announcement. In 35 seconds, the governor of this state will die."
Eve stared at the screen; this guy couldn't possibly be serious? With that announcement, the police would surely be able to stop the murderer now that they were expecting it!
She watched as the man looked at a silver watch that was on his right wrist and wait for thirty-five seconds. When the seconds were up, he looked back up and said, "If you would all kindly turn to CNN right now."
Eve curiously switched over to CNN to see if the man's threat was as stupid as it sounded. When she reached the channel, her jaw dropped. Just as the masked man had predicted, the governor had just recently died of unknown causes.
She quickly dialed up Christian's number and flipped back to GCN to keep tabs on this new terrorist.
"As I'm sure you've all just seen," he stated, "my power is very real. Now those who are true and have not kept the poor under their boot have no reason to be scared. I know why you all have not taken your rightful places in society and that is because you are scared. You are scared, who wouldn't be?"
"Christian, are you seeing this?" Eve said over the phone
"Yeah," Christian growled over the phone (obviously in costume), "I'm heading over there right now."
"I'll go down to the cave and keep tabs on you, just be careful!"
Eve ran down to the batcave and switched on the computer. She activated the GPS surveillance along with keeping a corner of the computer monitoring Identity's speech.
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Batman sped over towards the GCN broadcast station, sliding to a stop in front of the tall building. Jumping out of the car, he passed by three policemen, who were too scared to do anything to stop him, and broke down the doors with a single, powerful kick.
He ran over to the elevator and started to mash the up button, but soon found that Identity had deactivated them all. Snarling in frustration, Batman turned towards the door to the stairs and ran inside.
He looked up at the spiraling staircase and shot up a grappling line, attaching it to the top stair rail. With a click, Batman attached the line to his belt and ascended upwards towards the studio room.
As he raced up, he kept taking thermal scans of each floor. It seemed as if each one was abandoned for some reason or another, but why?
"Eve, I'm on my way up, but the building seems to be completely empty," he reported
"Empty, but how? Identity has to be in there, it's the only way he could get on the GCN broadcast," she answered, "And judging by the background of the room he's reporting in, I'd say he has to be in their main studio."
Christian was getting closer to the top, his line carrying him as fast as it could.
As he got closer, he could here Identity's speech continue. The man had to be stopped before he started a riot within the unstable of Gotham.
"You're needs and your rights have been blatantly disregarded by these so called 'leaders'. You have been lied to and cheated!"
Batman jumped over the rail of the top floor and kicked down the double doors.
"Eve, what direction is the main studio?"
Eve responded quickly, "Go three doors down this hallway and take a right!"
Batman ran as fast as he could, his heart beating quickly as he attempted to track down this anarchist.
"Even now, the self appointed protector of the true criminals of Gotham is on his way to stop me!"
Batman turned the corner and sprinted towards the now even clearer voice.
"Turn left down this next hall," Eve told him calmly.
He quickly obeyed and turned the corner, still hearing the man's charismatic speech ringing through his mind. If he didn't stop Identity soon, he would gather followers. Also, how was he able to kill the governor so quickly and so easily? All his questions would be answered once he got his hands on the psychopath.
"The business men and politicians of this city are like a diseased limb, and like any diseased limb they must be severed for the whole to survive!"
Identity's voice was gaining strength now; he was about to finish his speech. Batman picked up his pace, throwing three explosives at the door labeled "Studio One"
The doors blew open as Batman jumped in, looking over towards the masked figure sitting behind the anchor's desk.
"And here he is now," the figure told the cameras, "No matter, my message is complete. Now I turn this over to the people, sever the arm!"
As violently as he could, Batman grabbed the cloaked figure and threw him across the room, making sure the camera could see. He jumped over towards where the man was slumped on the wall and picked him up by the collar.
"Why are you doing this, who are you?" he snarled, shoving Identity's back against the wall.
"I am merely here to insure true justice is served," Identity answered
Something was wrong and Batman knew it. No criminals would allow themselves to get caught this easily. He tore off the mask and saw the face of a well-made animatronics smiling back at him.
"You believe the people you defend are innocent," Identity continued, "but they are just as guilty as you are. I will see to it that Gotham is remade in my perfect image."
"And that is?"
"Anarchy," Identity answered, almost as if that one word tasted like the sweetest honey.
The circuits suddenly blew out, leaving Batman with just a fried robot. Batman pulled out a small chip from the bot's head and then threw it on the ground.
"Eve, I have something that needs analyzing when I return," he reported while breaking open one of the windows.
"Sure thing, just bring it back and I'll see what I can do."
Batman jumped through the window and extended his cape, allowing him to drift down slowly through the air. As he glided down, he reviewed the case in his head.
The governor had just dropped dead, no bullet, now foaming at the mouth, just one minute he was living, next minute he wasn't. How was it that Identity was able to pull off such a perfect murder? He had to be stopped quickly before he began gaining followers, but how?
When he landed, he saw Commissioner Carmen along with three other policemen surrounding his car.
"What can I do for you Commissioner," he rasped calmly, trying to keep his intimidating stature without provoking anyone.
"This man," Jenna Carmen told him, "he's just killed off two other people. One of them was the imprisoned mayor, the other is the GCN anchor, Ryan West."
"I have now idea how he's able to commit these murders without actually being present. Maybe it's some sort of poison, but I'll have to look into it more," Batman responded as he opened the hood of his car.
Jenna bit her lip, then said, "Look, I've always been a fan of yours. What you did, or rather what your predecessor did, was a great service to this city."
How does she know I'm not the same batman, Christian thought to himself as he listened to the commissioner.
"Anyways, I've been told I have to arrest you on site due to your technically illegal activities, but because I don't think we can handle this case on our own, we'll need you help."
"I understand," Batman answered, jumping into his seat and starting up the batmobile.
"But after that, we get back to basics. You are still to be convicted of multiple charges."
Batman nodded and slid the hood of the car close. With a loud roar, the batmobile took off into the night, leaving the commissioner and her police at the scene of the crime.
A/N: I figured now would be a good time to pull in a super villain. Plz review