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Guest: Thank you for your kind words.
DJ Rodriguez: Thank you. I hope to hear more reviews from you.
Now, on with the story.
After reading about the Bat's actions in Mantle, Oscar travels to the city to learn more. He speaks to a few citizens of Mantle who have different views of the Dark Knight.
Cast
Clark Kent/Superman: Oscar Pine
Lois Lane: Amber Autumn
Perry White: Coco Adel
Jenny: Velvet Scarlatina
Wallace V. Keefe: Himself
Reporter: Cyril (Reporter name from Volume 1)
The scene started in the Daily Planet. Amber picks up her Scroll. "This is Autumn." she said.
Coco walks to Oscar's desk. "Pine, you're Sports today," she instructed. "I want you to go to Mantle, follow up on Football. 'Underdog dreams dashed ten yards between Mantle and Glory.'" Oscar nodded.
Those from Atlas chuckled while Robyn crossed her arms and grumbled under her breath.
"Oh, um, Watch yourself in Mantle." Coco paused and looked to Oscar. "Don't let them take your lunch money." she said, both joking but serious.
"It's not that bad," Robyn muttered.
"You're right, but your Mantle is better because of the Grimm." Darth Anarchus said. "Take them away and you have to deal with human nature."
"Hey, are you guys watching this?" Velvet suddenly asked, holding up a remote to adjust the volume of a TV. It was a news report covering the Superman monument that was vandalized. "-Emergency responders have created a precautionary perimeter around Hero's Park as they brought the man down from this beloved monument." the reporter, Cyril said as the man was shown. "The suspect has been identified as Wallace Veron Keefe." It was the Branwen Enterprises employee Qrow pulled from the rubble during the Black Zero Event.
"I work for Qrow Branwen! I work for Qrow Branwen!" Wallace shouted as he was carried to the back of a police car.
Many gasped upon recognizing the man who lost his legs during the battle against General Hazel.
Qrow grimaced when the amputee shouted he worked for his counterpart while Willow frowned. Surely the CEO would help the man.
"He'll be pressed for charges for vandalism, resisting and a felony charge of making terrorist threats," Cyril reported as the screen changed to show some men trying to desperately scrub off the graffiti on the Superman statue that said, 'FALSE GOD.' "That carries up to 40 years in prison."
Most of the Audience frowned, thinking the punishment was a bit much for the amputee while others grimaced at the words written on the statue.
"Poor son of a bitch." Coco muttered as Oscar, Amber and Velvet looked at the screen with wide eyes. "Velvet, headline, 'End of Love Affair with Man in the Sky Question Mark.'"
"Okay." Velvet shrugged. Amber looked down before glancing over to a downtrodden Oscar. The young man looked hurt as he looked to the floor.
This brought some humor to the Audience, others like most of the adults wondering why or how Coco's counterpart came up with that idea before most stared at Oscar's counterpart with sympathy.
Oscar was shown standing on a ferry to Mantle from Atlas. He looks around in the sky before looking to the Kingdom.
The scene changed to show Oscar, knocking on a door in a apartment in Mantle. After a moment of waiting, he holds a newspaper to a woman that was doing her laundry down the hallway. He points to the photo of a woman. A woman that had spoke to the Councils about Superman attacking the Vacuoan village. "Is she in?" he asked.
The woman shook her head. "She's been gone." she replied.
"What she do, Officer?" a voice asked. Oscar looked to the right and saw a man sitting on a chair.
"I'm not a cop. I'm a reporter." Oscar explained as he walked towards the man. "The young lady living here. . ." He trailed off.
"She hasn't been back." The older man replied. "In fact, if she's smart, then she get out of the city. And you need to get out of here before dark." He points up to Oscar and speaks in a warning tone. "Unless you want to run into him."
"Don't listen to that nonsense." The woman suddenly said as she walked over to them. "Only people scared of him, people who got reason to be." she said sternly
"Scared of who?" Oscar asked in confusion.
"When the mugger or thief stops to think twice, that is FEAR," Darth Anarchus said, getting the attention of the Audience as he sensed that some of them were wondering who the two people were talking about. "That is what he is. Because he is the reason criminals breathe easier when the sun rises."
The criminals felt chills and some (Roman) were glad that there wasn't anyone like that there wasn't anyone like the Batman in their world. Though Cinder and Salem hoped they would meet someone like that and have them among their ranks.
"Well, there's a new kind of mean in him." The man said as he scratches a coin on a lottery coin. "He is angry and he's hunting." He holds up the card, revealing that he had scratched out the symbol of Batman. Oscar swallowed as a pit formed in his stomach and the Audience heard the Batman theme playing in the background.
Many felt more chills upon those words. Raven and Yang frowned again as did Ruby, Robyn and the members of Team STRQ. They didn't like to hear that civilians were afraid of a superhero like Batman. Ozpin then recalled what he had read in the Library during the Intermission. Oh dear, he thought.
A underground fight club was shown. A tanned Wolf Faunus with black tattoos on his arms was shown fighting a human. He was knocked out of the ring and into the crowd and Qrow Branwen. "When he drops his right to throw a left, switch to a left and underhanded left." Qrow whispered to him before acting like an annoyed patron and shoved the mildly confused Faunus back into the ring.
Many were not expecting the scene to change to a location like this. Though both Yang and Tai grinned a little, both for different reasons. Yang for times she had snuck into fight clubs like the one onscreen and Tai remembering the days he was a member of fight clubs. Robyn blushed a little, thinking Qrow's counterpart looked sharp in his clothes.
"What is he doing there?" Winter asked. The Host held up a hand. "Give it a moment." he said.
Both Sienna and Adam rose an eyebrow upon recognizing the Wolf Faunus as one of the latter's lieutenants.
The Faunus then followed Qrow's advice and won the fight. Some patrons cheered for him while others groaned. He looked towards Qrow nodded once and Qrow nodded back with a smile. He then looked across the ring and saw Tock tossing her ticket onto the unconscious fighter.
"Nice," Tai and Yang grinned and nodded when the Wolf Faunus won. Sienna, Adam and Ilia felt some satisfaction at seeing the Faunus beat the human.
Some of the older Huntsmen and Huntresses rose an eyebrow, apparently Qrow's advice helped.
Instantly everyone recognized the Crocodile Faunus. Winter still rose an eyebrow at Darth Anarchus who still held up his hand.
Tock walked over to the bar and ordered a drink, placing her Scroll on the counter. Qrow walked up next to her and flashed his winning ticket to the bartender as well as placing his Scroll on the counter, while pushing a button, having the Scroll hack into the Crocodile Faunus's Scroll beside his. The bartender frowned before taking his ticket. "The house treats luck like an insult." Qrow mused to Tock.
"Good luck for one is always his brother's misfortune." Tock huffed, feeling insulted by the billionaire's presence. The man was already richer than everyone else. Why was he taking some pocket change from others here?
"Oh," many muttered in unison when they understood what Qrow's counterpart was doing. "It's like a spy movie!" Ruby exclaimed in excitement. "He's stealing information under the bad guy's nose!" Many saw that the young silver-eyed girl had a point.
Qrow couldn't help but scoff at Tock's words regarding luck and glanced to Raven. Yeah, she seems right about it being one's brother's misfortune, he thought.
The Crocodile Faunus moved to leave and Qrow knew his Scroll was not done hacking Tocks so he spoke to her in Mistralian. "But all accounts are balanced in the end." Tock paused and looked to him in surprise and maybe a little of respect. "Three nights with a Bosch ballerina, that line was all she taught me." Qrow said with a suave smile.
Tock frowned. Any respect for Qrow was gone. "Not all, I'm sure." She said drily before picking up her Scroll and walking away. "Good evening." she bid. Qrow picked up his Scroll and saw that it was successful in downloading information from the Crocodile Faunus's Scroll.
Like the Crocodile Faunus, many looked at Qrow's counterpart with respect before some (Glynda, Ironwood, Raven and Winter) rolled their eyes when he mentioned spending three nights with a ballerina.
Robyn chuckled though, finding it impressive how Qrow was gathering information and wondered if he had done it in the same method back in their world.
Oscar sat before a computer and looked through different Mantle News websites covering the Batman's recent actions.
For Mantle City Inmates, Bat-Brand is a Death Sentence.
Inmates were killing inmates with the Bat Brand. Oscar narrowed his eyes as he read more.
Dozens of criminals marked with 'Bat Brand.' B atman acting as judge, jury, and executioner. Has Mantle's caped crime-fighter gone too far?
Many gasped upon what they were reading. "Is that what he intended?" Qrow asked.
"Hard to say," Darth Anarchus replied with a shrug. "Bat-Qrow never really gave a explanation to his ally in the Mantle Police for the Brand or his intention for it, but he has seemed to let the criminals and inmates come up with their own conclusions."
Oscar then opened up an envelope that had a cutout of the first newspaper of Shay D. Mann and his brand. Then he found a series of photos of Shay's body of after he was killed in prison. Each one had a different word written under it.
Judge, Jury, Executioner, Justice?
Oscar looked up with a grim expression.
"So, Shay is dead?" Raven asked.
"Yeah, after he was transported to Atlas Prison, Tock spoke to a prisoner, made a deal with him and he killed Shay in the courtyard." The Host explained.
Oscar stands at a desk in a Police Department. "I'm trying to find out what happened to an inmate named Mann." he asked the woman at the desk. The woman shook her head. "I can't give out that information." she said and walked away. As the wailing of a child was heard in the background, Oscar looked down on the desk and saw a drawing of the Bat Signal and a criminal looking at it in fear. Oscar glanced up to another officer who nodded his head to the direction behind him. Furrowing his brow, Oscar turned around and saw a black haired woman holding the crying child and grabbing a bag from a police officer.
Oscar runs after her out the building. "Mrs. Mann!" he called, getting her attention. "May I ask a few questions?" he asked.
"He wasn't my husband, but I know what he did." The woman explained in a sad tone. "But he was a father, he was that too."
"Well, he tried," Oscar shrugged when his counterpart was denied to have access to information about Shay D. Mann. Some rose an eyebrow at the drawing of the Bat Signal.
"Wow, he has his own signal?" Jaune asked with starry eyes.
"Almost all Batman variants have what is known as the Bat Signal." Darth Anarchus explained. "Their police allies usually have it on a rooftop and shine it on the sky like that drawing to signal the Bat that they want to talk. But there's also another purpose."
"And that is?" Whitley asked.
"Fear. Strike fear in the criminals who see it." The Host said. "To quote a variant, that light is not just a signal, it's a warning to them. Batman may not be everywhere but they don't know that. For them, the Bat could be in the shadows in front of them."
"And it works?" Salem asked. Darth Anarchus nodded. "Most criminals instantly try to hide or not bring any attention to themselves."
Many felt impressed, even Ironwood who wouldn't really tolerate vigilantes and respected the Batman for striking fear in criminals like so. Ozpin frowned though, knowing it would backfire in their world while Blake didn't completely like how her mind was drawing parallels with the White Fang regarding fear.
Qrow winced a little at the woman's tone onscreen. Shay was a bit of a douche in their world, and a human-Faunus trafficker in this world, but as the woman said, a father too. He could sympathize with a family who just lost a father. Growing up in a bandit tribe had made him albeit sympathetic or at least understanding to most criminals.
"They took him out of Mantle Central, they moved him to Atlas." she went on, a fearful tone in her voice. "Inside, they know. They know the mark all over. Guards don't care." She shook her head. "The Bat's the judge. One man decides who lives. How is that justice?" she asked.
"Talk to me." Oscar implored. "Help me change it."
"With what? Your pen?" She retorted before shaking her head at Oscar. "A man like that, words don't stop him. You know what stops him? A fist."
"Well, this won't end well," Both Oscar and Qrow muttered in unison.
"Don't worry, guys," Ruby said, optimistic as ever. "I'm sure it'll all work out in the end."
At a cost, Darth Anarchus thought to himself.
This probably would have been published sooner this week, but I had to attend a funeral service with Native traditions and let me tell you, this is one of the few instances my legs were really sore.
Whew.
Now, what was your favorite part?
Next Chapter:
"Qrow Branwen can't break into Lex Merlot's house."
"Qrow Branwen won't have to. He's being invited."
"Well, that's convenient."
"Like how Salem's agents got into Beacon."
"Most of the World doesn't share your opinion, Mr. Branwen."
"Maybe it's Mantle and me. . . we just have a bad history with freaks dressed like clowns."
"DAMN!"
"Shots fired! Repeat, shots fired!"
"We've been hit! Man down!"
