A/A: Sorry folks, I realized this chapter needed further editing.

Cypher wants revenge against Batman and his former third Robin. What better way to get revenge than to use the Wayne Family to lure everyone to their doom.

Subliminal Death

By

AJ

Part 2: A Shocking Development

Cypher reached his destination without incident. It took him a few hours longer than expected. By disguising himself as a guard from the prison and hypnotizing the warden, he was able to walk out of the prison with none the wiser. Even the guard at the gate didn't notice he wasn't part of the prison personnel. Cypher did have one small setback. He had to walk a few of miles and cross the bridge into Gotham before he flagged a cab to take him to his hideout. He tried to flag a ride before, but he soon realized no one would stop. That's when he noticed the "No Stopping," and "No Passenger Pick-up Allowed," signs along the highway close to the prison. They were there to discourage hitch hiking as well as to prevent any escaped prisoners, or newly released ones to acquire rides to where they needed to go. That left walking. Once across the bridge and reaching his destination, Cypher set his plans in motion.

'I had to think on who I wanted to target,' Cypher stated to himself. 'To get Batman's attention it made sense to target the Wayne family. They are one of the most influential in Gotham. The Wayne house was easy to slip inside, though maybe I should have been more cautious in my approach. I had to be quick. Just a couple small works of sabotage and adding a simple slip of paper into the phone book should bring me and my crew back to finish the job right out in the open without anyone realizing. Then I can begin the next phase of my plan.'

Cypher actually had been lucky. With the Waynes celebrating the 100th Anniversary of Wayne Enterprise, there was no one left at the house to stop him. He hadn't been in the house for very long. He hadn't noticed that a silent alarm had been tripped, but all he needed was a few minutes. With that accomplished he left by a different route than when he entered, and got back into his car just in time as three police cruisers past him along the road to the Wayne Manor. They hadn't noticed him. Cypher started his engine and slowly left the scene without drawing their attention.

Bruce Wayne approached Commissioner Gordon as the police exited the premises of Wayne Manor. The rest of the family stayed within their vehicles and watched the exchange.

"The house appears empty, Commissioner," an officer stated.

"What happened?" Bruce asked.

"An alarm was tripped," Commissioner Gordon answered. "We don't think anything was stolen . . "

"But you want us to check anyway," Bruce answered. "We will. Thanks for responding so quickly."

"We try," Gordon answered. "Oh, congratulations on the celebration."

"Thanks Commissioner."

"When I first arrived, I kept hearing how much the Waynes played an important part in community. I didn't know how much until your parents were killed."

"We try," Bruce echoed the same words.

The next day, Bruce was in his office making phone calls while Alfred started breakfast.

'AHH," Alfred gave out a sudden cry as sparks and smoke suddenly erupted from an outlet as he tried to plug in a food processor. "Bloody hell," he swore.

"What is it, Alfred?" Bruce came into the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee. He just finished checking in on Damian and Tim. Damian was running a temperature, true to form with the kind of flu that was going around. Tim was asleep. His fever hadn't quite broken yet, but he was sleeping peacefully, not like the last three days.

"There must be a short in the wiring, Sir."

"You're lucky that didn't catch fire."

"We'll need to call an electrician," Alfred said.

"I could replace it myself," Bruce suggested.

"With something this serious I really think we must call an electrician. the wiring in the Manor is quite old."

"Very well," Bruce said. "Choose someone who will be discreet."

"Very good, Sir."

Alfred took out his old Gotham Telephone pages from a drawer. He hung on to the old telephone book not wanting to rely on the internet for a serious matter such as this. He flipped through the yellow pages searching for the right electrician. There were so many to choose from. He turned the page and saw a flier had been inserted into the book. Curious, he didn't remember adding the flier, though he could have added it some years ago and forgotten about it. Even so, the Ad caught his attention.

"Call on us night or day, we won't leave you in the dark," Alfred read. 'Quite a curious tag line. I really should check them out before I do anything. I don't want to run into one of those fly-by-niter fellows who takes your money but doesn't finish the work. I better give them a call. No, I'll check on three others first just to be certain.'

Alfred tried to schedule each electrician to come out and give him an estimate on the work that had to be done. The first three were aware how old the Manor was and said that all the wiring really needed replacing. Even though the money was no real concern, getting an electrician scheduled was proving to be problematic. Two couldn't even get him on their schedules reciting that they were backed up for weeks. One wouldn't even be ready to do the work for four months. Alfred didn't want to wait that long. A burned-out outlet could be a fire hazard and it needed replacing right away. When he called the fourth electrician listed on the flier, Alfred was more than ready to seal the deal.

"My crew can be out there tomorrow," the man said.

"We do have flu in the house," Alfred said. "Two of Mr. Wayne's sons are ill with it."

"That's no problem," the man answered. "We'll wear masks."

"It's a large job," Alfred stated. "We'll be having the whole Manor re-wired."

"I understand."

"May I have your name, Sir," Alfred questioned. "It's so I can inform Mr. Wayne."

"My name . . . Avery Townberry," the man said.

"Sounds like a good English name," Alfred pointed out.

"It is, on my mother's side," Avery stated. "My Mum moved to the States some years, ago. I never knew my father. She hung onto her maiden name."

"Good show then. Nice to meet a fellow countryman, even if he's an immigrant. Now, can we discuss price."

"Do you mind telling me what the other electricians charged?" Avery asked. "You see, I don't want to charge too much. I want to give you a fair price."

"Oh, money is no object," Alfred stated. "But a fair price I suspect would be around 100,000? It is a large house after all."

Avery almost dropped the phone. "Yes, yes that is quite fair."

"Then we will see you tomorrow," Alfred replied. "I'll give you half to start and the other half when the job is finished."

"That's perfect, Mr . . ."

"Pennyworth, Sir. Alfred Pennyworth."

"Tomorrow then." Avery listened for the sound of the call being cut. "Oh, yes, we'll see each other tomorrow."

Continues with Part 3: A New Threat?