Terry was still pretty miffed over an hour after his "tussle" with Inque (but if you asked Bruce's opinion, it was more like a one-sided beat down.)

Foxteca's Otisburg branch had been thoroughly slagged and Inque made a clean getaway. Batman only narrowly managed to get out of the building unseen, but Ethan and Detective Yin didn't make it easy. Once safely on the rooftops, Batman had started making his way to the Bat Bunker when Bruce told him to make a detour to Foxteca's main headquarters, which was where the old man had been skulking all night.

Batman met Luke in his office, who showed him a secret elevator behind a portrait of his father, Lucius (total schway, by the way.) The elevator took them to a secret garage underneath Foxteca that was three times the size of the Bat Bunker and chockful of technology that was either still being made or was covered in tarps or contained in boxes.

According to Luke, this was his secret "Bat Workshop" where he developed all of Batman's technology. On a normal day, Terry would have loved to skim through all the fancy gadgets, but when he saw Bruce's wide back in front of the giant Bat Computer on the far side of the workshop, his excitement shifted to annoyance.

"What did you send me into?" Terry yelled at him, whipping off his mask. "It was like some kind of blob! You should've warned me!"

"I did," said Bruce apathetically. "You're Batman now. You need to learn to think on your feet."

Terry let out an annoyed sigh, running a hand down his, and began to pace around the workshop.

"Look, you may be used to dealing with freaks and monsters," he said, "but I'm a little new at this. I don't even know what half this stuff is." He stopped in front of an open create full of cylindrical devices filled with glowing blue liquid. He picked one up. "Like, what is this thing? And why it is so cold?"

"Be – careful with that," Luke hurried forward, carefully removing the device from the Dark Knight's hand and delicately putting it back in the box. "Old freeze blast grenades – courtesy of the old snowman himself. They've got a bit of a hair trigger, so be careful how you handle it."

"See!" said Terry emphatically. "I don't know any of this! How am I supposed to be Batman when I don't even know what I'm working with?"

"He's got a point, Bruce," said Luke.

"I get it already," Bruce grumbled, annoyed. He typed away at the Bat Computer and said, "Come here and look at this."

Terry walked over to join his side when Bruce brought up an official looking fiule on screen that Terry was almost certain he shouldn't legally have. The file had Inque's name on, so that meant she wasn't just some smalltime crook. However, the picture attached the file was radically different from the girl he saw tonight. She was older, more round-faced, and gave the air of a femme fatale.

"This is Inque," Bruce explained. "She's a corporate saboteur. Interpol used to chase her for years. And if these documentations hold any real insight, then it says Powers was her last employer."

"Are you sure that's her?" asked Terry. "She looks different than how she looked an hour ago. Did she change her hair or something?"

"That's because this is the original Inque," Bruce stated. "She died two years ago after a botched job at Queen Industries Gotham branch. Green Arrow and Huntress stopped her from sabotaging major medical equipment would save millions of lives when her body suddenly destabilized and perished."

"What happened?" asked Terry curiously.

"Cellular degeneration," said Bruce. "The result of volunteering for a mutagenic experiment – the details of which remain unknown. She's been fighting it for years. Powers likely promised her a cure."

"Then if the old Inque is dead," asked Terry curiously, "who's the new one."

"The most likely candidate is her daughter: Deanna Clay," said Bruce, bring up a picture of a redheaded woman who looked like she was getting her photo at the DMV. "Over the years, Inque has been transferring large sums of money to Deanna through a private bank account. She was attending Gotham University when she suddenly dropped out two years ago and hasn't been seen since."

"Right around the time her mom died," said Terry, crossing his arms.

"With her mother dead, it was only a matter of time until her trust fund dried up," Bruce reasoned. "Some time in the past two years, she must have learned she inherited her mother's powers and decided to follow in her footsteps."

"What is up with these legacy supervillains," Terry complained, remembering a certain clown from recent past.

"You're one to talk," Bruce retorted smugly.

"So how do we stop her?" asked Terry.

"I might have something that will give you a boost," Luke chimed in, causing Terry and Bruce spin around toward him. "Come this way, Mr. McGinnis."

Terry turned to Bruce, who shrugged his shoulder, then quickly followed Luke to the other side of the workshop. They walked around the piles of half-finished inventions until they came across a massive object that took up its own space, hidden beneath the largest tarp humanly possible. Luke grabbed the tarp with both hands and whipped it off with a flourish.

Terry's jaw dropped in awe when he saw it.

"So, what do you think?" asked Luke, smiling knowingly.

"Mr. Fox, you are the coolest man on the planet," Terry complimented him.

"Tell me something I don't know," Luke chuckled.


Powers always excelled in keeping a straight face even in the face of the most…unruly associates, and this time was no different.

As he sat behind his desk, going through the latest reports on the upcoming bid for the lunar station, he had received an unexpected call from the "council" – or rather, one member in particular. Powers dismissed his assistant, Miss Winston, and closed the shutters on the windows, plunging the room into darkness. Powers rose from his chair and walked around his desk, readjusting his tie and putting on his best business smile as a single holographic screen appeared in the air.

"Powers!" Shadow-5 screamed immediately, his voice crackling with its usual automated tone.

"Professor Tzu, what a pleasant surprise," said Powers jovially. "How've you been hold up?"

"Don't play games with me, Powers," Shadow-5 – Prof. Tzu – hissed. "I've heard the rumors going around your city. They say that an 'inky-blob' was seen fighting Batman last night."

"Have they now?" said Powers, maintaining a straight face while secretly gripping his hands behind his back. "That's interesting. But I wouldn't put too much stock into rumors, doctor. The people of Gotham love to exaggerate. Makes thinks more exciting. I recently heard a rumor that there's a fifty-foot alligator man roaming around the sewers – "

"The description matches one of my earliest experiments," Prof. Tzu interrupted harshly. "As I recall, she was in Gotham when she perished. She was attempting to sabotage one of your competitors at the time, wasn't? Strange how another one of your competitors in suffering from similar incidents, right as you are about to make a bid for major government project, hmm?"

"I have no idea what you – "

"Don't feed me your worthless lies, Powers!" Prof. Tzu snapped, the crackle in his voice intensifying. "I'm not one of your boardroom stooges! I know for a fact that Inque had a daughter! Her mother was my property! Which makes her my property! If I find out that she has awakened her meta-gene and you didn't tell me, there will be hell to pay!"'

"I can assure you that if anything like that comes up, you'll be the first to know," Powers reassured him.

"You'd better," Prof. Tzu threatened. "Your position on the council is tenuous at best. Don't forget, you're not irreplaceable."

And on that note, Prof. Tzu ended the called. Powers immediately dropped his smiling demeanor, scowling into the darkness with his hand gripped so tight, his knuckles turned white. He pressed a button from his remote, opening the shutters, and returned to his chair.

"No more interrupts," Powers told over the intercom. "I don't want to be disturbed for the rest of the day."

"Yes, Mr. Powers," Miss Winston answered.

"That was way too close."

Powers scowled as he glanced at the shadows in the corner of the room. Only they weren't actually shadows; they were moving. The black mass jumped out of the corner and landed on Power's desk, reshaping itself into Inque's human appearance, sitting cross-legged in front of Powers.

"I thought he almost found me," Inque commented.

"That oversized omelette should be the least of your concerns, Miss Clay," said Powers, scowling severely, making Inque lean away uncomfortably. "You were seen last night. The terms of our agreement was that you were to remain hidden."

"It wasn't my fault!" Inque argued childishly. "It was Batman!"

"I don't want your excuses – I want results!" Powers yelled, slamming his fist on the desk.

"But – But I did my job!" Inques sputtered desperately. "I slagged the place just like I promised!"

"And that's the only reason why I'm still hiring you," said Powers, regaining his calm demeanor. He reached into his suit pocket, pulling out a vial of venomous-green liquid. "Your payment for a job well done."

He tossed the vial in the air and Inque jumped at it like a dog chasing a Frisbee. She all put ripped the cork off and guzzled the contents like a woman dying of thirst. She drank the fluid, the glossy surface of body became firmer and more solid. She finished the vial with a breathy sigh and looked at her hand, flexing them as if to see they were real.

"Keep up the good work and I may offer you a permanent solution to your problem," said Powers. "But screw up again, and you'll be following in your mother's footsteps – straight to the grave."

"Yes, Mr. Powers," said Inque submissively.

"Moving on…," said Powers, reaching into his desk drawer and holding out a manila envelope. "Here's what I'd like for you to do for me tonight, my dear."


"WOO-HOO!" Batman cheered excessively loud, not that anyone could hear him over the screaming engines of his sick new ride.

The new and improved Batmobile – a major upgrade from the heavy-duty tank that stopped the Arkham Knight's occupation forty years ago, handmade by Luke Fox. He had been working on this beauty for decades and it was finally making its debut.

The design was sleek and futuristic just like everything else in Neo Gotham with its round pod design and sharp angular points. The exterior was made from a polished Nth metal alloy that made it virtually indestructible and possessed anti-gravitational properties, which was how it was able to fly so fluidly compared to over hover vehicles. The jet thruster was the same type the used in NASA, allowing the Batmobile to fly a Mach 3. And the interior controls were keyed into the batsuit's unique biometrics to prevent anyone from stealing it, which was apparently an issue in the past. And best of all – now wheels for street punks to steal (and inside joke between Luke and Bruce that went over Terry's head.)

Terry couldn't wait to take this puppy for a spin, flying around the skies of Gotham at a hundred and twenty miles an hour.

"This is unbearably cool!" said Batman like a kid in a candy store.

"Glad you approve," said Luke over the radio. "Remember: easy gestures. Let the suit do the work – "

At that precise moment, Batman turned the controls a little too tightly and the speedometer shot up to two hundred MPH. Batman quickly loosened his grip on the controls, returning to normal speeds.

"What did I just say?" Luke complained.

"Sorry," Batman apologized.

"If you scratch it, it's coming out of your paycheck," said Luke.

"Yes, boss," Batman quipped.

"If you two are done playing around," Bruce joined the chat, "I just picked up a radio call from Foxteca's shipping unit – pier 18."

"I'm on it," said Batman seriously, turning the Batmobile on a dime and zooming towards the Gotham Bay.


A guy just can't get a break in Gotham. One minute, he's just minding his a own business, making sure the transport ship with was securely moored to Foxteca's private dock. It seemed like an easy gig from an upstanding company. But before he knew it – WHAM! – a huge-ass crane comes toppling down onto the ship, snapping it in half like a twig, and then, for some unexplainable reason, the whole thing decides to explode!

Man, that's it! He's moving to Star City!

Meanwhile, Inque reformed where the crane used to stand, cackling jovially as she watched the two halves of the boat sink into the Gotham Bay. She looked around, spotting the giant tanker with Foxteca's name branded on it, and had a wicked idea.

Inque jumped to the row of hover forklifts that were just sitting there, unattended, with the key in the ignition for no reason at all. She turned on the first forklift and pulled the lever, sending it flying towards the tanker. Inque enthusiastically waited for the big explosion until – wait, was that a jet engine she just heard?

Something dark and fast zoomed across the Gotham skyline, nearly knock Inque off balance as it passed over. Inside the Batmobile, Batman used the vehicle's auto-aiming system to lock-on to the hover forklift, then pressed a button to launch a guided missile. The forklift exploded before it could hit the tanker, but probably still caused hundreds of dollars' worth of property damage.

"Hey! No fair!" Inque complained.

"Not interested in playing fair!" Batman retorted over the batmobile's speakers.

The Batmobile turned towards Inque and flew at her. The young saboteur yelped and ran away in the opposite direction, deforming into a stream of hopping black liquid to move faster. But she wasn't fast enough and soon the Batmobile was directly over her.

Batman pulled the ejection lever that opened a hatch directly beneath his feet. He spread his wings, gliding towards Inque, and sliced her liquid body in half with his wing's sharpened edges. Naturally, that didn't do much to stop her as the two halves pulled themselves together and changed into her human form.

"Just leave me alone, dreg!" Inque snapped.

"Not happening, Deanna," said Batman sternly.

"Wha – how did you?" Inque sputtered, taken aback.

"I know what happened to you mom," said Batman, which was probably the wrong thing to say continued how her face contorted in anger. "And I know the same thing is probably happening to you. Powers has something over you, doesn't he? That's why you're working for him. If you come we me, we can find a cure – "

Inque roars furiously and whips out her arms, transforming them into a pair of blades. Batman deflects them with the blades on his arms until Inque creates a third arm from her stomach, punching the Dark Knight in the abdomen. Batman slides back with a groan as Inque retracts her tendrils.

"Kid, use the new batarang I gave you!" shouted Luke.

The Dark Knight twisted his wrist, switching the hidden automatic batarang dispenser in his arm, then flexed his hand to retrieve one. Unlike the standard batarangs, this one had light-blue edges that emitted a low humming noise.

Batman threw the batarang at Inque, who just stood and took it, thinking it wouldn't cause her any harm. Her arrogance proved flawed the a thousands of volts of electricity coursed through Inque's body the moment the batarang made contact, making her cry out in pain. Inque desperately scratched at the area where the batarang was clinging to her, literally ripping it off her body and throwing it away.

Inque paused for a moment, trying to catch her breath, when she looked up and watched the Dark Knight rip a manhole cover out of the ground. Batman bum-rushed her using the manhole cover as a shield and slammed her to the ground, making her body splatter. The scattered pieces of herself quickly rolled back to the source, slipping underneath the manhole cover, and exploded upwards like a geyser, knocking the Dark Knight away.

Batman hit the ground with his back, but rolled with it and returned to his feet. He looked up in time to witness Inque turn herself into a slingshot with the manhole cover as the ammo. He ducked his head as Inque launched the metal disk at him, which flew across the pier and imbedded itself into the wall of the nearest warehouse. Batman looked back at it and rubbed his neck, imagining what would have happened if that had hit him.

He turned his attention back to Inque and realized that she was trying to make a break for it. Inque was bouncing along edge of the piers with Batman tailing her, using his wings and jet boots to match her pace. Their chase kept going until they reached the end of the pier where Inque suddenly stopped at the corner. She stared at the water like it was a pool of acid and turned around, only for Batman to block her escape route. Panic was starting to settle in on Inque's face as the woman looked around desperately.

It took a moment before it finally clicked in Batman's head.

"You don't like the water, do you?" he said.

"Wh – what?" Inque sputtered.

"The water," Batman reiterated. "You can't go near the stuff, can you?"

"Sh – shut up!" Inque retorted childishly. "You don't know any – hey, watch it!" Batman had just kicked some of the bay water in her direction and Inque bended her body out of the way to exaggerated proportions. "What the hell is wrong with you, dreg?"

"Give it up, Inque," said Batman, reached down for another handful of water. "There's nowhere left for you to run."

Inque took a step away from the Dark Knight, only to realize that he was right – there was nowhere left to run. The young saboteur looked around frantically until she noticed something on the ground next to Batman's foot – a single glimmer of hope: a storm drain.

Inque glared at Batman as the Dark Knight hand one hand in the water and the other gripping antoher electrified batarang. The two of them locked into an epic stare down when Inque suddenly lunged forward, catching Batman off-guard. He splashed the water towards the slippery woman, but she flattered herself against the ground and continued slithering his way. Batman pulled back to throw his batarang, only for Inque to stretch forward and tackle him in the chest, knocking Batman flat on his back.

The Dark Knight rolled over and scrambled to his feet with his batarang poised, but Inque had already slipped into the holes of the storm drain. Since the opening was barely the size of Terry's fist, there was no way he was catching her.

Inque escaped.

"Bad news, boss," said Batman, touching his earpiece. "She gave me the slip."

"If Powers is still intent on sabotaging Foxteca," said Bruce, "then she'll show herself soon."

"In the meantime, do you have any samples of Miss Clay available?" asked Luke.

Batman searched the pier. The piece that Inque threw off herself was splattered on the ground, rendered inert by the electrified batarang.

"Yeah, got some right here," Batman answered.

"Would you mind bringing it back to me?" Luke requested. "I think I might have a solution to our Inque problem."