"Yeah… uh… Hah, you know who you messin' wit

The merriest flight risk

Gonna flash a punch into your right

Eye

Say goodbye when you look at me the wrong way

Gimme the keys cuz I'm here to stay

Ay!

Got a bone to pick wit each one of ya fakers

Get out ya papers

Cuz you bout to get schooled

Bout to educate ya'll, bout to make you look fooled

I'm like a vampire

Sucking out your blood

Leaving ya lifeless

Beggin' for mercy

Ya curse me

But ya ain't shit

I can't be touched, yo

I can't be hit, though!

I-"

"Akemi! Akemi, can you come down here?"

"Ugh… what is it, kaa-san?"

"Just come down here, please."

Fourteen year old Akemi Fujino exasperatedly sighed and stowed her microphone and headphones and ran downstairs to her mother's beckon. Her mother, an older visual version of Akemi herself, smiled happily upon seeing her daughter come down. Her daughter, on the other hand, looked annoyed at having been interrupted.

"Yes?" Akemi asked impatiently.

Aimi Fujino, Akemi's mother, deciding to ignore her daughter's annoyance and instead, happily give her a package. Akemi raised an eyebrow in interest and, without hesitation, opened it. Inside was a cap that said 'Rapper' in Japanese. Shocked, Fujino glanced up at her mother, who simply smiled.

"Kaa-san, what is..."

"I know your father and I were a bit harsh when we found out about your… hobby but we've talked about it and… maybe we were a little too quick to judge. It was surprising to hear about your interest in Western music… but… if you really enjoy it, then… I see no reason to… stop you."

Akemi smiled, glancing down at the cap. She knew how hard it was for her mother to accept her taste in music and she appreciated her sentiment with all of her heart. She reached out and hugged her mother, the woman reciprocating her daughter's embrace tightly. After parting, Aimi smiled at her daughter walking to the kitchen table and grabbing her purse.

"Alright, come on. We need to open up a bank account for you. When you start your new job, you'll need to have somewhere to store that money."

"Right." Akemi took the hat out of the box and put on her head, smiling at her mother and giving her a cheeky thumbs-up.

The two left the house, walking the street to the bank.

"It's still so hard to believe that my young daughter is going to college already! How amazing… You may very well be a genius, Akemi!"

Akemi smiled. "Nah, it's probably just because school was so easy..."

"I do hope college life will be easier on you. You had no friends in your other school..."

Akemi sighed loudly. "Ugh, this again? What does it matter, anyway… Friends are just a waste of time..."

"Akemi, I wish you would stop saying that. Friends are wonderful. Maybe if you were a little more softer and lady-like."

"I prefer the way I am now, thank you very much."

"I know, I know..."

"I'm sure my little sister will be like that anyway."

Aimi smiled, touching her stomach. "We don't if it's a boy or a girl. I'm only a month pregnant."

"It's a good thing I don't have any friends, too, because we're moving to Tobioka City next year to get a new house. More room for the baby and all that."

"You'll like it. I hear the city is full of friendly people."

The two stopped in front of the bank, walking inside and stopping at the line. The line was of few people, surprisingly, as the bank wasn't that full. Just as the clerk said next did a man burst into the building, shooting a gun into the air.

"Everyone, put your fucking hands in the motherfucking air! This is a robbery! Anybody calls the damn cops gets capped right in the motherfucking face!"

"Oh, my God..." Aimi covered her daughter and crouched down. Akemi nervously glanced up to see the man walk up the counter beside them, kicking her mother to the side.

"Move, bitch!"

"Kaa-san!" Akemi exclaimed, sitting next to her mother.

"Listen, motherfuckers," The man smirked evilly and pointed a gun at the clerk. "Give me all the money in this bitch and put it in here." He tossed him a bag.

"A-alright, just please don't hurt me!"

The man shot the clerk in the head, grabbing the bag and tossing it to another clerk. "Go, motherfucker!"

The clerk ran off to the vault while everyone inside shook with fear, trembling as the man pointed the gun around wildly.

"Remember my name, shitstains! I am the Hammer and I'm here to kill!" The man grabbed the money and then glanced down at the Fujino women. Raising a brow in interest, he grabbed Akemi by the arm. "Maybe you'd like to feel my hammer, bitch? What do ya say?"

"Let her go!" Aimi exclaimed, grabbing him by the arm.

"Quiet, you fucking bitch!" He kicked her to the floor and shot her in the stomach once, then shot her in the chest twice.

"KAA-SAN!" Akemi screamed. The man threw her down upon hearing sirens.

"Tch, fucking coppers!" The man sprinted around the counter and ran to the back door, leaving Akemi to cry over her dead mother's body. She shook her body, a vain attempt to wake her up but she was gone, the blood of her corpse all over Akemi's palms. Tears fell to the floor, mixing with her mother's blood.

Mochizuki slowly opened his eyes, a dark light over his head. He blinked several times before glancing down at his body. He saw that he was tightly strapped to a table in a dark room. He glanced to his right to see Ran was also tied to the table, having just woken up.

"Glad to see you have rested well. I hope you've had nice dreams because these next few days will be nothing but a nightmare."

"You..." Mochizuki glared at the Batman, who emerged from the shadows, eyes steady and his cape draped around his body majestically. He walked toward the center of the room, turning to face Mochizuki's table.

"There's far too many things I need to extract from you but let's start simple: Who is the man that gave Hayato Fujino a heart attack?"

Mochizuki glared at Batman. "...You've figured it out?"

"Arashi isn't so lack of control that he would accidentally give somebody a heart attack. I understand how his mind works."

Mochizuki smirked mysteriously. "I doubt that."

Batman grabbed the doctor by his neck, squeezing and gritting his teeth. "Tell me what I want to know."

"There's nothing you can do to get anything out of me, Komori. No amount of pain can get me to talk."

Batman reached into his belt and pulled out an electric batarang. "You're probably right… there's nothing I could to you physically that could get you to talk… but what about emotionally?" Batman turned around and stabbed Ran in the leg, activating the gadget and shocking her greatly.

"Stop, stop!" Mochizuki tried to struggle, but it amounted to naught as Batman stared at him coldly, shocking Ran until she was panting painfully.

"Who snuck into the house of Hayato Fujino and gave him a heart attack? Someone scared him before Mikami even got there, someone wearing a similar outfit to him. Someone you know. Tell me!"

"Don't..." Ran pleaded weakly to Mochizuki. "Don't… We… can't..."

"Tell me," Batman reached behind his back and pulled out a black wooden baton. "Or she suffers."

Mochizuki bit his tongue, trying to figure out a way around it. Batman didn't feel like giving him the chance and slammed the weapon against Ran's stomach, causing her to cry out loudly in pain.

"Ran!"

Batman did it again, harder. Redness could be seen building up in her stomach. "Answer me! Who did it? Who gave the man a heart attack?!"

"Inunaki! Shinichiro… Inunaki…"

Batman's memory flashed back to the time he snuck through the facility and had heard the name.

"Who is he?" Batman demanded roughly. When he got no answer, he hit Ran's stomach again. "Who is he?!"

"He's a former member of Ampule Zero. He left years ago for reasons unknown and only contacts us. It's nearly impossible to contact him. He wears an attire similar to Arashi's… when Ampule One arrived at the scene, he already saw the man standing over Hayato. He couldn't even ask him about the situation as the man escaped before they got a chance..."

Batman walked over to Mochizuki and roughly grabbed his neck, choking him slightly. "And the reason you made sure I wouldn't hear about who did it, the reason you were willing to let me attack you and torture you, was because you didn't want to give up a potential ace-in-the-hole."

"For one who's willing to torture an injured woman, you act incredibly self-righteous..."

"I'm no boyscout but I'll never be like you."

Mochizuki glanced up at Batman, smiling at him. "Not yet."

Rouga opened his eyes slowly, his fuzzy vision getting accustomed to the darkness around him. His senses slowly became sharper and he realized that he was in a cell, strapped to a bed and without a shirt. He tried to struggle but quickly found it useless. He sighed and laid his head back, quickly lifting it again when the door opened and the lights flashed on, nearly blinding him.

"Oh, hello, hello!" A short, pudgy man came in wearing a Yakuza mask. "How is our guest doing today?"

"What does he think, I'm stupid?" "Cut the crap, Tobishiro! No mask can disguise that hideous face of yours!"

Rouga nearly smirked in satisfaction when he heard an angry grinding of teeth behind the red mask. The man snapped his fingers and a woman wearing a veil that covered half of her face and domanatrix clothing walked in, handing him a whip.

"Watch your mouth, you pretty boy piece of brown shit!" The man whipped Rouga with every word, emphasizing each one as he finished the sentence.

Rouga panted, his chest stinging in pain.

"Don't worry," The man handed the whip back to his servant. "We won't start the ceremony just yet. We still need your friend, Komori."

"Oh, yeah? What's wrong, Tobishiro-chan? 'Fraid of a little competition? Afraid we're gonna one-up your business?"

"Heh! You're just an investor that's been operating in my shadow." Tobishiro put his hands near his head and danced around, putting on a mock Indian accent. "Oh, look at me! I think I can come to Japan and worship cows and make honest businessmen look bad!"

Rouga groaned, spitting on the man's shirt, the blood stain making it red. "I'm Bangladeshi, you dumbass. If you're going to be a racist piece of shit, at least do it right because you're making the other racist piece of shits look bad… which is saying something."

Angrily, Tobishiro slapped Rouga in the face, the man only smiling in response, angering him further. Tobishiro exhaled calmly, fixing his suit. "Once I get rid of you, everyone will understand who not to mess with. Of course, it doesn't have to be that way. Tell you what, Shiro-san, if you'll obey everything I say, I won't do anything to you."

Rouga glanced up at him, his hair over his eyes coolly. "And Komori?"

"He's another matter."

Rouga looked away sharply. "Then fuck you. I'm not doing anything unless I know he's safe too… that guy… is good. I'm not going to let you kill one of Tobioka's most sincere businessmen… Hell, he may be the only one..."

"No! I'm the only proper, gentlemanly guy in this city!" He turned to his assistant. "Tell them!"

"You-"

"Too slow, you bitch!" He angrily pulled her down and punch her in cheek, knocking her to the floor. He stomped on her side several times before turning back around, seething.

Rouga glared at the man. "Piece of shit..."

"You just wait until I get Komori!" He pointed his finger at him and then began walking out of the door, kicking the downed woman. "Guard him, you idiot!"

"Understood, sir..." She said softly, rising to her feet. Rouga stared at her for a moment, the woman briefly glancing at him.

"Why?" He couldn't resist asking. "Why do you take orders from what seems to be the result of Santa cheating on his wife with an elf on crack? You could just snap his neck and be done with it, no? So… why?"

She didn't reply, simply turned and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. The room became dark again and Rouga lowered his head, alone.

Yuko sat on the rooftop, her eyes closed. She meditated deeply, breathing in and out. She was attempting to calm herself, trying to clear her mind of all anger and rage. She breathed out, feeling the nature around her. She could feel it – the people walking through the streets, the birds chirping, the movement of the wind and her friend walking up behind her.

"What is it, Miki?"

"For the love of… how the hell do you always do that?" She asked, knowing she would get no answer. She never did.

Yuko simply glanced over her shoulder and smirked. Miki sighed and continued. "Everyone's awake and gathered… except Arashi."

"Where is he?"

"Resting, I think. The drug put his body in a hyperactive mode and now, he's going to have to go through hell for using it."

"The effects are only temporary. He'll be fine, he's strong."

Miki nodded and Yuko stood up, following her friend inside. The group was currently gathered inside a hotel room, deeming it unsafe to go to anyone of their houses. Hitsugi sat on the bed, brooding. Oriha sat against the wall, her head down in sadness and Mikoto sat on a couch, looking disappointed as well. In the bed, Arashi lay, pale and sickly.

"What a state we've become..." Yuko mentally remarked.

"He got us…" Sayo said. "That bastard came right up into our house and burned it down, taking our leader with him… "

Mikoto and Oriha sighed sadly. Yuko tapped the sheath of her sword on the floor twice, attracting their attention. "It's okay… We can find him and extract him. Mochizuki-sensei will be fine… We only need to locate him and secure him."

"We need some way to draw him out, track him down." Miki suggested.

"I may be able to help with that." Everyone jumped and pulled out their weapons upon seeing who walked into the room – Shinichiro Inunaki himself.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Mikoto exclaimed.

"Woah, woah..." He raised his hands slowly. "Such a greeting! I figured I'd stop by and say hello considering we didn't have enough time to exchange formalities earlier."

"You mean when Arashi and I came in through the window to see the guy holding his chest in pain?"

"Well, that was accident."

"Don't play us, Shinichiro!" Miki shouted, taking the safety off of her gun with a click. "You're the entire reason why our base got burned down!"

"Really, I thought it was the Batman's fault?"

"Everyone, put your guns down!" Yuko commanded. Reluctantly, the group listened. Yuko walked over to Shinichiro. "How did you find us?"

"Why, I followed you, of course.""

"You were watching the events of the raid?"

"From the treelines." He replied coyly.

Yuko sighed, getting annoyed. "What do you want?"

"I heard that Mochizuki-sensei has been captured and I simply wanted to offer my services."

Mikoto glared at him. "Why did you do that to that man? He was an innocent, for Christs' sakes!"

He shrugged callously. "Accidents happen."

Yuko scowled and, in a flash, socked him in the face, knocking him on his rear. Rubbing his face, the man glanced up to see her glaring down at him. "Your services aren't required here. Get out."

He chuckled before holding up his hands in defeat. "Alright, alright… However, let me give you a bit of information. During the raid on Oriha's house, the men who stormed in weren't ordinary mercenaries. Apparently, they were working for some woman, a famous underground information broker known as the Red Vixen."

Mikoto's eyes widened in recognition. "The Red Vixen?!"

"Now, if you'll excuse me..." He turned around with a snide smile and walked out of the door, leaving them to their meeting.

"Does this mean that the Red Vixen is working for the Batman?!" Sayo asked.

Yuko sighed, rubbing her eyes in exasperation. "She probably sought protection with him from us, figuring he would take her in."

Everyone turned their heads to the sound of Arashi coughing as he sat up in his bed. "I have… an idea…"

"Arashi!" Yuko exclaimed. "You shouldn't push yourself… your body is still recovering."

Arashi clutched his chest, his eyes wild and brazen. "I'm fine… this is nothing… Listen, I know how we can save Mochizuki-sensei…"

Konomi sat at the computer, having been there for hours. At her side were three wrappers of Big Burgers. She was currently eating her fourth one, having gotten halfway through. She sighed and sat back in the chair, having been working on the code to the files. The files were actually bits of information, each file encoded in an extremely interwoven layer of "locks". Konomi had no clue had many files there were but she had spent all night deciphering one file.

"I guess that's just how valuable this information is… Even with my hacking skills, this will take a long time..."

"Still trying to decrypt those files, eh?" Red Vixen stood in the doorway of the room, smoking her pipe.

"It's a long process… this goes beyond even government-level cuber-security. I'm the only one who can do it. Batman will be occupied with Mochizuki so it's up to me. He trusts me to do this in his place… so I'll get it done!"

"Good for you." Red Vixen replied, glancing away. "Paulo… why aren't you answering the phone? Did something happen?"

A beep went off on Konomi's watch and she quickly stood up, grabbing a tray of food. She walked down the hall of the Batcave until she stopped in front of the door to Emi's cell room. She opened the door, kicking it closed behind her.

"Lunchtime." She chirped, walking over to the wall, where Emi sat dejected. Konomi placed the tray down in front of her but the girl had no reaction, just staring dully at the floor.

"It's okay..." Konomi said softly, sitting against the wall across from her. "You don't have to eat right now if you don't want to."

"...understand..." Emi mumbled.

"What did you say?"

"I don't understand… why are you doing this? Why be kind to me – after all I've done… and tried to do…"

"I knew your mother… she was the one who taught me how to be a cop. She treated me nicely and was patient with me. I know that she wouldn't have a daughter who could be like that in any other circumstance. And I know… it's only the pain that made drove you to do that."

Emi laughed hollowly. "Yeah, that sounds like her… Always happy, nice… pretty… kind..." Emi choked on her words and glanced away, shutting her eyes painfully.

"I'm sorry..." Konomi offered. "I'm sorry this happened to you. But please, I want to help you. I want to be your friend and help you. I can let you out of here. I just have to be sure you won't do anything like what you did to me again."

Tears fell down Emi's soft skin, her eyes bewildered and confused. "I don't… I don't know what to do..."

Konomi moved tray out of the way and slowly turned the girl's head forward. She grabbed Emi's hand and gently stared into her eyes, showing assurity and warmth. The girl's tears built up quicker and flooded down her face as she wrapped her arms around Konomi, crying on her breast. Konomi only shushed her softly, stroked her hair and held her.

"Did you kill him?"

"Yeah. Snuck in there when it was quiet then killed the man just as Hunt ordered."

"Good. Now, Aranami should be getting worried. He's known someone was after him for awhile and has been switching locations on us but with his executives getting murdered left and right, he should eventually stop and forge some kind of stronghold, making it easier for us to get to him."

"What about Benzaiten?"

"Ah… I heard the report he gave. Told us that the Batman could easily be between the ages of 18-56, could be native or foreign and might not even be male."

"What? What kind of report is that? We could've guessed that! Is this Benzaiten really of any use?"

"Yes. Hunt has actually gotten on board after hearing this report."

"Why?"

"Says that Benzaiten already knows who the Batman is. The suspiciously vague report supports this and also says that by now, the 'World's Greatest Detective' would have some inkling to who he was. Hunt thinks that Benzaiten and Batman are in league together, figuring that we could use him. If we find Benzaiten… we can torture the identity of the Batman out of him."

"So that's what the Princess was getting at..."

"Yeah."

"So, where is Hunt, anyway?"

"Running an errand for Hime-sama."

Batman stood on the elevator as it descended down, stepping off it when it did. Konomi sat at the computer, taking notice of Batman when he walked up. She saw his bloody hands and instinctively grabbed a towel, took hold of his hand and began wiping it off.

"Progress report."

"I've opened a few but they're nothing but bits of information. They were the easiest ones to open and the rest will take much longer..."

"When you've found out anything about past and current members, bases location, weapons, alert me immediately."

"Got it." She finished off wiping his hand. Batman took of his cowl as Konomi tossed the cowl to the side. "She's doing better, you know."

"I'm glad to hear it. Your nurturing helps."

She smiled up at him, stroking his arm. "What happened in the room Vixen gave to you?"

"They told me about this man, Inunaki, a former member of Ampule Zero. Even they don't know enough about him and there's nothing substantial they have on the databases. I couldn't question them further as Ran passed out and Mochizuki had no other motivation to talk. There's so much I can do to the woman."

"Be careful. We still don't know what they might try to do to get their leader back."

"I'm more wary about the hidden player – Inunaki. Mochizuki has something he's planning, a method he hid Inunaki for. I just don't know what it is..." He took off his suit, hanging his cape in the case. "Konomi, have you received the promotion notice from the police captain?"

"Yeah..." She replied, her voice dripping with anxiety.

"Are you okay?"

"I… I guess… I mean, it's just that it's so weird… after hearing your plan to get me to be a police officer again, I was happy to hear it but… having so many men's lives at our disposal is a little overwhelming. It seems like it's too much power, that it could easily get misused."

"You're right… that's why I'm giving it to you."

Konomi whipped her head to his direction, her eyes wide in disbelief. "What?"

"Benzaiten decided to tell Hijiri that he was to take orders from you as those orders would come from the 'shadow'. He'll believe this, never actually knowing that you are in charge the whole time. Naturally, I'll still require uses of the police but I'm going to leave their direction and operations to you."

Konomi sprang up from the chair, running up to him in a panicky motion. "B-but I'm not ready for this! I'm not a leader! I can't be responsible for lives, I can't- I can't…!"

"That's not true." Bruce insisted. "You've proven yourself capable of handling lives right down here. You have a natural talent for leadership and can keep the police moving in the right direction. So long as we have Hijiri think we have leverage over him, he'll never expose you. Also, most of the captain's duties still fall on him but everything else – who gets hired, fired, used, promoted, is up to you. He's the surface, you're the water. I know you can do this, Oracle."

Konomi sighed, relaxing her body. She smiled at Bruce and hugged him, burying her head on his chest. "Okay, I'll do it. I'll do my best."

"Good." He replied, wrapping his arm around her in turn.

Now, walking down the street, Bruce began making his way to work. His phone vibrated and he picked it up, putting it to his ear.

'Komori…'

"Akemi? Is something wrong?"

'Something terrible happened… My father… he-'

Bruce never heard the end of the sentence as the phone was knocked out of his hand with a bat. Bruce spun around to see two hoodlums smirking at him. He glared at them as one of them stomped on his phone, cracking it beneath his feet.

"Hey, ossan… how much yen do ya got in your wallet right now? Mind showing it to us?"

"Go home." Bruce ordered them.

"What's the matter, motherfucker? Scared?"

"Last chance… Go… home."

"Yeah… fuck you, bitch!" The man swung at Bruce's head but when the weapon made contact, the bat split in half, the top piece falling into the street. "H-holy shit..."

BAM!

One hard punch to the face and the man was knocked out, bleeding out of his broken nose. Bruce turned his attention to the other, who raised his hands in surrender. When Bruce turned around, he expected the thief to try something but was surprised when instead, he was shot in the neck with a blow-dart. Bruce wobbled for a moment, before falling to the street on his face.

"Whoa… what the hell? WHOA! Who the fuck are you? A ninja?! No, no, no…! Help-"

Bruce's vision faded to black as he heard a sharp twist of the neck.

A.N.: Short chapter but I hope you guys enjoyed it! And just to reiterate, this is my version of Batman and it is year two Batman, so no, he is not at the point where he can sense silent darts flying through the air. Year three, yeah, but year two, no. Thanks, guys and see ya next chapter!

Green out.