LXXI
A Long Note From The Author
Hooray!
Great job everyone! Give yourselves a pat on the back. Seventy-one chapters… wow. You're a dedicated (and patient) reader… and I really thank you for it. While I've had an idea of where I was going, it seemed some nights I was traveling there by the stars.
So Let's Recap:
A twelve-year-old Bruce Wayne tragically lost his parents to the terrorist attacks of Gotham towers in 2001. Over the next ten years, he dedicated himself education and business to run Wayne Industries and secretly used WI's nanotech patent to develop wi-screens, but more specifically to build the ultimate weapon.
Raven left idyllic Azarath for Earth to enlist allies in her struggle against her demonic father Trigon. There she met (and fell in love with) Bruce Wayne and they were married in a secret ceremony soon after. As a powerful empath, Raven helped Bruce through his emotional trauma in ways she probably shouldn't have, but they're now back to the happy couple.
Bruce's ward, Captain Richard Grayson dies tragically attempting to disarm a nuclear weapon that Lex Luthor had intended for Big Blue (e.g. Superman). President Lois Lane enlisted Scott and Barda Free to hide Clark while Luthor's weapon was to be retrieved.
What the reader does not immediately realize is that The League of Assassins (under Ra's al Ghul) is the true threat. The League uses the Kahndaqi situation as a cover to launch a massive attack upon the White House, killing President Lane and most other federal politicians. The League intends to have their inside man, the Secretary of Defense, take over the government after the attack, but unfortunately Lex Luthor miraculously survives.
On top of this, Black Adam is resurrected in Kahndaq and is determined to fight Big Blue to appease his people. However, he develops sympathy for his fellow champion and will let him live… if Clark joins him. Adam has also developed a massive crush on Barda.
Having suffered a setback with his initial plan, Ra's uses his daughter Talia to take over the mind of Lex Luthor (since Lex declined the offer to voluntarily join the League). Under Talia's control, the League utilizes Wayne's ultimate weapon against Kahndaq at the funeral for Dick, making it appear Luthor has control of the weapon.
The Ultimate Weapon re-organizes elements of the free-floating nanites composing the wi-screens into the deadly poison sarin, even inside people's lungs. What I had not mentioned is that the program can only be accessed via a live DNA blood sample/handprint taken directly from Bruce with pass code. Remember, Bruce had already targeted Kahndaq, but it still seems unlikely that Luthor or the League could have commandeered the weapon as easily as they makes it out to be…
Phew…
The previous chapter "The Eulogy" was the birthplace of this whole FanFic. But it was never meant to be spoken by Lex Luthor, or Bruce Wayne, or any character you would know. In fact, it was never meant to even be a FanFic…
The seed was planted when I read K. Eric Drexler's "Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology" (originally published in 1986), especially the concept of nanites as replicating assemblers.
Somehow, the idea of free-floating assembler nanites, remotely controlled by a microwave signal to exterminate all life, took shape in my brain. A predilection from reading too many comics with a degree in science I suppose. The horror of the unseen combined with technology-run-amok.
Originally, the story was about an industrialist, more like Tony Stark than Bruce Wayne, who made battle suits. And like our Luthor, this industrialist had become the president. Also he's a widower and has a daughter who's all grown up and also very bright. Since her father makes super-powered flying suits (like Iron Man), the Air Force uses these suits (like Iron Man), and she is one of the best pilots around, she becomes an Air Force Captain.
You should see some similarities now…
In the original story idea, a Middle Eastern nation claims to have a super-powered child with the power of divine fire who will exterminate all enemies. The daughter and her team of armored commandos are sent to investigate.
But of course, the whole thing was a trap. The team investigates, finds the boy who is just a child holding a torch, and the bad guy remote-detonates a nuclear bomb hidden beside them. They all die. The Middle Eastern nation celebrates and dad… goes insane.
At her state funeral, the president pulls a "Luthor". The offending nation is instantly wiped out by his ultimate weapon - which no one knew he even had. He then lays down the law to the world: you will live in peace…or you will die. I had code-named this idea "In This Issue… Everybody Dies!" and quite honestly had only written the speech. But what a speech!
And it sat there for about five years.
And then my wife started writing Twilight FanFics. She enjoyed them and talked about her reviews, her requests, and look dear, there's a comics section…
And I knew I could adapt "In This Issue… Everybody Dies!". And that it had to be Batman. But what if… it only had Bruce Wayne?... What if Bruce Wayne was the president who threw the switch because Richard died?...
But in the end, I couldn't do that to Bruce.
In his heart of hearts, Bruce is not a killer, he never was. As Batman, he inflicts pain upon criminals to appease the pain in his tattered soul, to quench his supernatural need for justice. Bruce Wayne will save the innocent and punish the guilty, but to kill others would be to destroy his own soul. He's not that guy.
As inspiration, I have two toys: Ra's al Ghul from the Trinity collection and The AME-COMI Raven Demon Daughter Variant. The only toys I own, honest. They worked their ways into the idea… I knew I wanted the 'What if Bruce and Raven were married?' aspect before I even began typing. I love both characters and knew that would be an interesting pairing. They seemed so right for one another… but also a little wrong. There would be challenges.
It was one of those Eureka! moments with Ra's and his Azarath connection. What if Ra's and Azar had been lovers, reflections of Bruce and Raven from one thousand years ago? But their paths had taken them in very different directions… Instead of the Lazarus pit, Ra's is a will so strong, he can forcibly separate other spirits from their physical body and mold them into his own likeness. More of a demon than vampire.
There's been some pretty amazing twists and turns through the 70 chapters, all to get to the place where the idea originally came from. I've thrown in far too many of the DC characters along the way, scrambling to make them fit, one way or another… That's how you get to 70 chapters!
But now we are approaching the climax. The Grande Finale. When you realize that the ultimate weapon was not the ultimate evil, only the tool used to summon the devil…
Dear reader… Trigon awaits.
But first, there's the matter of Clark, Barda, Scott and Black Adam.