Dynasty: A Batman Tale Part 14

NOW

As soon as the shadow hid the light of the full moon from shining through the stained glass window high above Oracle’s cage, Barbara knew she was no longer alone. She had been expecting him to visit after watching him on a live feed inspecting the crime scene at the West 127th Street Station. Barbara notified her father Commissioner Gordon to leave the scene undisturbed allowing Batman to collect uncontaminated evidence, if any clues were to be found, they would be.

“His body was dumped there, wasn’t it?” Barbara asked as Batman placed a USB flash drive and two small vials on her console, one filled with blood and the other a mud-like substance. “Dad said there were no visible wounds, though there was blood at the scene!”

“It appears to be so, please have the coroner expedite an autopsy for cause of death.” Batman confirmed Oracle’s theory, she also noticed that Batman’s voice modulator was on. His tone deep and dark, its purpose meant to ignite fear in the hearts of men.

Did he say Please!

Batman pointed to the vials, “I found particulates in the soil, see if you can discover out what they are, and who’s blood this is. That should lead to some answers! Tetch had some of the mud on the bottom of his shoes, he also had some under his finger nails along with this…,” he handed her a small zip-lock evidence bag with a single strand of red hair.

“Uh, Reddish Auburn, Ivy?” Asked Oracle.

“Perhaps.”

“Penguin has his Iceberg anchored at the North end of the harbor. A short while ago, it was boarded by a single female who arrived via speedboat. I couldn’t quite get a lock on her features, but my money says Ivy is aboard the Antarctica as we speak.”

THEN

As the teenage daughter of a Gotham City detective, Barbara Gordon had acquired a talent for investigation. Many nights after her father went to bed exhausted from reading case reports, Barbara would sneak down and comb through each case in hopes of being able to help solve them. Always the detective, Jim knew what she was doing, but never said anything.

Barbara had not forgotten the stories her father had told her when she was younger. For a while the stories had stopped, but she learned young that every storm cloud that passes gives the Sun a chance to shine through. Jim was aware that his daughter was gifted, and that nothing would prevent her from accomplishing any goal she might set. So after years of asking to hear about her father’s work, Barbara finally got her wish. Her favorites were when the Batman was involved. Jim had told his baby girl about the Arkham escape and how the mysterious caped crusader had saved his life. The next day Batman foiled a bank heist and somehow through all the chaos someone had been able to snap a photo of the vigilante hero, it was a bit blurry, but all the newspapers plastered it on their front page introducing the city to his existence.

Half the force, the ones on the take, dispelled any vigilante rumors and pinned Batman as a criminal. The other half supported Jim Gordon’s view that the Batman was a symbol intent on helping Gotham.

Barbara became obsessed. She found the idea of the Batman fascinating and completely felt like she understood his purpose. She had seen the corruption first hand. On multiple occasions Barbara watched her father challenged by The Taste. He always refused. Jim Gordon’s iron will gave Barbara reason to think, at first perhaps, her father was the Batman. No, The Batman has funding, lots of funding. The average person can’t afford half his tools, let alone possess his physical capability.

Barbara wanted to be a cop like her old man, but she had come to realize through all the corruption that true justice could not be fought in the light. No, like the Batman, it fights in the shadows. Criminals needed to fear the hand of justice not smite it. Her only problem, Barbara Gordon was still a teenager and had no resources.

The notion of her fighting crime along side the Batman had been a dream, and for a while it remained just that, until reports started coming in about another vigilante hero saving people around the city. However, these reports stood out to Barbara because the witness statements claimed Batman’s sidekick was a teenage kid. I need to start training.

Barbara worked extremely hard on her physique; she was naturally fit and very athletic. She was also quite proficient with computers, building her first at twelve. She played sports in school, studied martial arts and spent two hours in the gym each day. If she was going to be putting herself in dangerous situations, Barbara had to be capable of defending herself as well as hold her own in a fight.

By the age of twenty she was ready, all Barbara needed most now were funds, and to get them, she came up with the only logical solution. She’d steal them! So with a Robin Hood mentality, Barbara hacked her way into the Wayne Enterprises main frame, uploaded an employee profile and placed herself on payroll. Voilà! She now received weekly paychecks and thanks to her regular income was able to bring her dream to fruition.

Dubbing herself Batgirl, Barbara roamed the dark alleys and rooftops of Gotham’s seedier sides for months, each night hoping and half expecting to finally meet her inspiration. Eleven months into her nightly crusades an introduction with the Dark Knight was the furthest thing from her mind. Her motivation for Batgirl was justified ten fold when she broke up a sex slave ring resulting in the rescue of twenty abducted girls aged between nine and seventeen. Her investigation led to the arrest of multiple key figures involved in sex trafficking and Batgirl was added to the list of stories reported on during the daily news telecasts. If he didn’t know about me before, he does now.

What Barbara failed to realize was that Batgirl’s existence becoming public knowledge put her on a new playing field. No longer was it Batman’s radar she needed to worry about. While chasing down a two-bit loser who had just held up a couple of college students at an ATM machine, Batgirl having turned a blind corner found herself at the wrong end of a very large gun.

“Riddle me this! A rat with wings that cannot fly, too blind and deaf and ready to die?” The Riddler, part of the Joker’s crew of Arkham escapees had Barbara in his crosshairs, he was donned in a green thrift shop suit with a gold question mark hanging off a chain around his neck.

Barbara expected to hear a gunshot, but instead heard another voice start to speak from off in the shadows.

“So it’s true. Another caped do-gooder running around playing hero. What are you supposed to be?” Giggled a young woman wearing a multicolored skintight body suit and clown make-up. There was very little information available on Harley Quinn, but by the sight of her razor blade lined pigtails, she was just as deadly as the rest of the Arkham escapees. “What’s wrong, Bat got your tongue? Ha!” Laughed Harley.

Batgirl froze with fear. Harley skipped around to Edward’s side, his gun still trained on Barbara’s head. Three others came into her line of sight, she recognized them as the thief she was chasing along with the two victims that were being robbed at the ATM. The whole thing was a setup. I’m in trouble!

“Mister J. is gonna love you!” Harley said, “What do you think Eddie, shall we?” Edward Nigma nodded. “All right get her boys.” She finished.

Suddenly the gun Riddler was holding disappeared, and a cloud of smoke filled the alley. Batgirl sensed one of the thugs coming at her and swung blindly, her fist connected and broke the criminals jaw, but one of the others had connected with Barbara’s kidneys. She winced in pain, her knees buckled, but then felt a comforting arm wrap around her waist and a voice whisper in her ear, “Hold tight!” Then her feet left the ground. An instant later Batgirl was on the rooftop of a forty-story building, and she wasn’t alone.

“Nigma and Harley disappeared just as you predicted.” The voice still holding her said. “She’s hurt.”

It’s just a little nausea from the quick ascent. I’m fine! Batgirl thought while finding it difficult to focus. What’s happening? She tried pulling away from the arm holding her up, but she stumbled and began to fall. As she did, Batgirl turned to get a look at her rescuer, but before she could, her world turned black.

Batgirl’s eyes snapped open. She was lying on an unfamiliar bed. Where Am I? She attempted to move, but a surge of pain shot up her side. A spell of dizziness prevented her from lifting her head, so instead remaining flat, she felt around her torso trying to find where the pain stemmed from. She remembered getting punched tremendously hard. She felt for the bruise, There it is, but that doesn’t feel right! Knowing something was wrong, she sensed around the bandaging reading her wound like brail. What is that?

“Stitches!” Said a deep voice from out of Barbara’s view. Frightened, she immediately touched her face to feel for her mask. It was gone. “Don’t be alarmed Miss Gordon, you are perfectly safe.”

Trying to keep her voice calm and refrain from panic, she asked, “What is this place?” It was too dark to see any of her surroundings, but it felt cold and damp. Wait! They know my name, he said Miss Gordon! “Who are you?” She demanded.

“You know who.”

It’s him. The Batman! Batman knows who I am. “What happened?”

“You got in a little over your head.” A different younger voice said. The same that whispered in her ear before ascending up to safety.

Barbara strained her eyes trying to see from where the voices came. She hollered out in pain. “Now, Now young lady…,” a third voice, older and with an English accent, from behind her said, “…keep fidgeting and you are likely to tear your stitches, and the last thing we want, is for you to begin hemorrhaging again.”

Hemorrhaging! I got punched, didn't I?

A thin older man with a bow tie stepped along side Barbara and examined her wound.

“You were stabbed!” Batman said stepping out of the shadows.

“You passed out on the roof.” It was Batman’s younger partner. Unlike Batman’s midnight black armor, cowl and cape, Robin wore a little more color. His body fitting armor was maroon with black accents. There was a yellow ‘R’ over his left chest pec, the same yellow lined the underside of his black cape. “We had no choice. We had to bring you back with us.”

Barbara’s head was spinning. “What happened?”

“You decided to take part in a very dangerous game… Batgirl, I presume.” Batman approached her.

A sense of shame flushed over Barbara. He’s right what Am I doing? I don’t know anything about these people except for what’s reported and they know who I am. “Listen… I’m,” she began.

“Barbara Gordon, daughter of newly named Commissioner of Police James Gordon…,” Batman interrupted, “…was responsible for the arrest of seventeen suspects currently serving time at Blackgate. Because of you twenty girls are safe, you’ve done well.” Batman was closer now, though all Barbara could see was the silhouette of his cowl. “You’ve got a natural talent for investigation and good instincts just like your father. You were on track to be a police officer and follow in his footsteps, but then…” Batman paused.

“You appeared…,” it was her turn to interrupt, “…and showed me another way to fight. A way without corruption, without…,” Barbara hesitated.

“Rules!” Batman finished. “That’s where you’re wrong, there are rules and you’ll have to know them if you’re going to survive this war.”

“I’m guessing tonight’s the first of many lessons to come, uh?” Interjected Robin.

“War?” Barbara asked confused.

“Unfortunately, it’s becoming a sad game of escalation.” Batman began, “I wanted to create a symbol the city could rally behind, that would put fear into the hearts of Gotham’s enemies. However, I may have provoked or even unleashed something onto the city that I never anticipated.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it, he’s a monster! Plain and simple!” Argued Robin.

“Are you talking about the Joker?” Barbara asked.

“Orphan raised in two foster homes, both families slaughtered, one he witnessed, one he committed. The woman with pigtails you met earlier is his foster sister Harley Quinn. He never once harmed a hair on her head, meanwhile he slaughtered everyone else. Apparently, he fell into a catatonic state, which he remained in until the day of the Arkham Escape. It was discovered afterwards that he and the others had been subjected to a series of unethical tests and experiments resulting in a psychotic break.” Batman explained.

“Joker witnessed his first foster father butcher his family before killing himself. Consequently, he then went and did the exact same thing, I’d say that break came a little sooner.” Robin added.

“Yes, but either way, it’s chaos he thrives on, and he’s obsessed with the idea of fighting me. Unfortunately, to him it’s a game.” Finished Batman.

“The robberies are more for the rest of his crew, he’s in it for the kill. You’ll be able to read all the files once you’re on your feet.” Robin told her.

“What happened?” Barbara still wanted to know. “I remember the gun, it vanished, then…”

Robin started to laugh, “No that’s his Bat-Mag, it’s just a really cool really powerful magnet, and it pulled the gun right out of Riddler’s hand. You definitely broke one of their jaws, that was a solid punch by the way, but another one stabbed you before I could reach you.”

I can’t believe I was stabbed!

“You’re part of his game now. So let’s put our cards on the table.” Batman said.

“What do you mean?” She asked still organizing recent events in her mind.

“You’re a smart kid, capable of handling yourself to an extent and great on a computer, even got yourself onto the Wayne Enterprises payroll. Is Bruce Wayne a benefactor for you?” Batman inquired.

“No, no! I don’t even know him. I…” She began, before getting cut off.

“Brilliantly got yourself on payroll by manufacturing an employee bio, that nobody was aware of because it only existed in the system. There’s only one problem with what you did.” Batman came closer so now all his features came into focus, and then to Barbara’s amazement he removed his cowl. “It’s my system.”

Bruce Wayne revealed how he had been alerted to her incursion the moment she hacked into his main frame. After tracing the upload back to Barbara Gordon’s IP address, he was intrigued to see why the gifted student daughter of a Police detective would risk doing something highly illegal. He watched her from that moment on, including her first night out as Batgirl. Bruce was impressed with her ability and after a few months he kept his eye on her less and less.

Batman conceded that while he and Robin had been focused primarily on the Joker and his circus of followers, the lower level street crime wasn’t getting as much of their attention. Bruce admitted, even he was caught off guard when Batgirl ended the sex slave ring. Nonetheless, all the attention Batgirl received in the media provoked tonight’s introduction to Riddler and Harley Quinn. “My guess is that they were going to bring you to Joker and use you against me.”

Barbara was quiet. The painkillers Alfred had given her were taking effect. She had absorbed a lot of information and was feeling woozy. Alfred took notice and said, “Please, gentlemen, Master Bruce and Master Dick, we need to let her rest.”

“Granted, it’s late for proper introductions, but it’s nice to meet you Barbara, I’m Bruce, that’s Dick and this good gentlemen here is Alfred. He’ll take good care of you.” He said as Barbara closed her eyes.

NOW

The nightmare is always the same, like a horror film on repeat, constantly replaying in her mind every time she slept.

The Doorbell! The Face! The Gunshot!

Over time, Batgirl fought along side Batman and Robin on many occasions, mostly when the Joker or any of his cronies were involved. Chiefly, she would be drawn into situations by one of them every time they resurfaced. For years they all danced together, on the rooftops, alleys and shadows of Gotham. She watched Dick Grayson transform from Robin into Nightwing, her father became commissioner and Bruce met Jason Todd.

The Doorbell! The Face! The Gunshot!

Barbara woke to a beeping sound. The DNA analysis was complete, a few more minutes and the test on the soil samples would finish as well. Then she might help further this investigation in order to save Tim and the city. What are they planning?

Oracle had started going through the files on the flash drive as soon as Batman had disappeared. There were many pictures of the crime seen plus a 3D image of the entire area, but nothing stood out.

The coroner’s autopsy report read Jervis Tetch’s death as result of a broken neck. After cleaning the body of all the blood, the coroner had found bruising around the neck. The evidence suggested that he could have possibly been hung. So, then who’s blood is it? She began to look over the DNA results, cross-referencing them with every database in the known world. Batman was right! The blood was there for a reason and none of it belonged to the Mad Hatter. The system analyzed the source of the blood. Just as I feared, it belongs to Tim, but I refuse to believe all the blood at the scene was his, otherwise he’d be... Barbara fought to keep those thoughts out of her mind. He’s not dead! All that blood has to be from multiple sources. A few moments later, the computer confirmed her suspicions, the blood came from a dozen other sources, but was unable to identify any of them. That doesn’t help. Thankfully, the test from the soil samples had better results.

The particulates discovered in the mud samples were from crushed mollusk shells. With a vast knowledge of Gotham’s history and as an expert in the underground foundation of the city, Barbara knew that over a century ago, one of the principle industries in Gotham was Oyster farming. Gotham harbor throughout history had been enriched with various oyster beds that produced millions every year. Before the subway was constructed, the original tunnels under the city were built for transporting oysters from the bay. One particular stretch of tunnel was known for being paved with millions of pulverized shells. 127th Street! She transmitted all her findings to Bruce and Dick.