Justice League 1. Orphan

"All is in readiness?" asks Tom.

"Jim and Leslie are ready to take him," assures Alfred.

"He is still shook up from the fall," murmurs Martha.

"This is be done for his own safety," reminds Tom.

"You both grew up in the shadow of the Regime."

"The war didn't end with Normandy."

"It continues as long as they are on our shores."

Leslie enters with her medical kit and carrying a sedative at Tom's request. The boy would not leave the house of his own volition; of this much the four were certain. Jim had his very pregnant wife to worry about yet he is one of many who realize that personalities like the Waynes are vital to the Resistance. However it is still not the time to strike against the oppressors even though they had been occupying cities such as Gotham for over a quarter of century. The four like others in hiding throughout the nation aspire to the ideal that if not their children, then their grandchildren might one day be free of the Regime, and the legacy of Vandal Savage.

"Those very sentiments are why they after you two tonight," quips Leslie.

"They have never been too particular about whom they kill, but they do with such irregularity that few ever take notice for long," comments Jim.

The phone on Tom's desk rings. Alfred picks it up and does his usual glib. The caller asks for Gordon and so Alfred passes the phone to Jim. Jim talks to the caller and it is someone asking to speak to Tom so the phone receivers get yet another hand off to Tom. Tom takes it from Jim and turns away from everyone else. The lightning flash outside the window catches Tom's horrified grimace. Martha covers her mouth. The caller is Matt and it is the worst possible news to be getting a t time like this aside from knowing that Tom's latest oratory had put him higher on the dissident hit list.

"Thank you Matt. Just be careful that Rupert doesn't know you have been talking to me for your own safety," says Tom.

He hangs up the phone.

"We are going to have to move sooner than I thought. Prepare the sedative Les, we don't have much time. The Colonel is leading the storm troopers tonight and you best get the car ready Jim."

"I'm going upstairs with Leslie. Alfred go keep a lookout for their approach," interjects Martha.

"The only thing that matters is the boy's safety and I am on my way," replies Alfred.

Martha and Leslie head up to the boy's bedroom. Jim goes to the garage and warms up the car. Alfred remains near the window in the foyer as it gives him a clear view of the winding road that leads up to the circle drive path outside the house's oak front doors. Tom takes the time to pen a letter for the boy though realizes no matter how much or little he writes, nothing will make the future without them any easier. Tom and Martha had their parents growing up, but now they were about to pass their son off to those they trust to keep him safe even though it means growing up in a world without them… _his parents_.

* * *

Tom pockets the envelope that contains the letter and heads to join Alfred in the foyer.

"They are coming up the road Master Wayne," says Alfred.

"Keep this letter for the boy. Bruce deserves some kind of an explanation if we are unable to escape with you and Leslie. Jim cannot afford to leave Gotham and he risks much by helping the escape tonight," remarks Tom.

Martha and Leslie arrive downstairs yet without Bruce.

"Where is he?" asks Tom.

"He wasn't in his room," answers Martha.

"This complicates things," continues Tom.

"I know Tom," fumes Martha.

"Where could he be?" comments Leslie.

"Come out from behind the curtain Master Bruce," insists Alfred.

Bruce with tears in his eyes appears from his hiding spot.

"It is alright Bruce, come here," whispers Martha.

Bruce dashes over into Martha's arms and Tom walks over slowly to join them.

The front doors burst open from the impact of a battering ram. The raindrops spill onto the expensive carpeting that covers the foyer.

"What a touching family moment and so nice of you all to appear together, makes this assignment quicker than I thought, but it works for me," admits Josef.

"I am the one you want. Leave my wife and my son out of this," implores Tom.

"It is as they say a package deal. The Wayne family line ends with all three of you dead."

"Even you can't be so heartless Chill."

"Think what you will Herr Wayne, but this is the end for the Waynes."

Tom remains in front of Martha and Bruce. Tom falls backwards into Martha's arms. He is dead within minutes of being laid down on the carpet. Josef advances on Martha though she pushes against his attempt to pull her up. The tug against snaps the pearl necklace she is wearing and the beads resound against the floor as they land in a pool of Tom's blood. Martha falls back down and bleeds out as well. Bruce sinks to his knees expecting to die along with them yet at that moment Alfred clubs Josef with the coat rack, which snaps it in two.

His parents' murderer lies unconscious before him and the squad of storm troopers that had came with him are now facing Jim's allies from the Resistance. A gunfight ensues while Leslie jabs Bruce with the sedative syringe and tears cease as he slumps onto her lap. Alfred takes a moment to pull a curtain down to cover their bodies. He casts a one further parting look before remembering a recent portrait down of the Waynes and decides to take it with him.

He puts it in the backseat while Leslie keeps Bruce with her in the front. Alfred takes over the driver's seat from Jim while he goes over to assist his Resistance allies. They drive off into the dark rainy night and wonder inwardly could any good come from all this tragedy especially for the orphaned boy now in their care. Only time would tell from here, but someday the boy would return to Gotham except as a man looking to liberate it from those who took his parents from him.

Until then the boy must be kept hidden because Colonel Chill's superiors did not take kindly to leaving orders incomplete though as for how Chill would survive the backlash of failing to kill Bruce after slaying his parents, is a question best left alone. The butler would have a hard enough time explaining why all this happen because in his mind no explanation would suffice or ease the emotional toll for the boy. As for Jim, he hopes that the Samaritan policeman survives this and his family makes it through more than just tonight.

* * *

The Resistance spares a car to act as a diversion to assist their passage through the checkpoint and the first of many safe houses awaits them in the less opulent sections of Bludhaven. An old friend of Martha's agreed to shelter them for a day or two once they made the move to leave Gotham. It is not a departure that the Waynes took lightly as the family had been a pillar to the pre-Regime Gotham. Alfred redirects his attention to driving despite the knowledge that his duty to Waynes now rests solely with the survival of a heart broken eight year old who only sleeps because of a sedative. Hopefully they reach the Lance household without encountering any Regime patrols.

"Alfred?" whispers Leslie.

"What is it Leslie?" murmurs Alfred.

"It is not your fault."

"All that matters right now is him."

"I know, but you…"

"Yes I know I look like a failure or at least feel it."

"He is going to need both of us. You especially, you're the last link to his parents."

"I'd imagine he would be furious with me when he wakes up."

"It will be one of a million or more things to deal with, but kids usually outlive their parents."

"Usually we tend to expect to be adults when a parent dies."

"I have to get this car to the Lances and off these streets."

* * *

They start down the block that leads towards the Lances after over an hour of driving around and dodging searchlights. Larry is out on the porch and Dinah is likely inside resting as they a daughter of their own to look after. Larry dashes towards the garage and opens it off then hand signals Alfred to hurry the car inside. Alfred drives in, turns off the car, and slowly gets out facing Larry Lance.

"Where are Martha and Tom?" asks Larry.

"They are dead. Shot point blank by the Colonel," replies Alfred.

Alfred leans his head downward and rubs his fingers against his forehead. Leslie walks out from the other side with the sleepy Bruce still in his arms.

"I doubt he slept through gunshots," comments Larry.

"He saw the whole thing. Tom and I had already planned to sedate him before the five of us were to flee here. Chill's appearance took us almost by surprise if not for Matt's warning," says Leslie.

"Let's get you three inside. I'll lock up the garage," continues Larry.

Alfred could hear Larry slam the garage door down. If the English butler were not so trying to refrain from visual displays he would be likewise ready to lash out an inanimate thing like a garage door to vent some of his anger, frustration, and of guilt. Dinah Lance was there to meet at the door as the sound of Larry slamming the garage door had driven her from her bed in order to check on their sleeping daughter. It is lucky that little girl did not wake from her sleep despite the loudness though it is brief enough that only someone awake or mostly awake would hear it. The appearance of Alfred and Leslie with only Bruce is a shake up as she had been expecting Martha as well as Tom to be with them though from the look of the three, it told her enough to know that not all went according to the plan.

Dinah heads off towards one of the guest rooms to prepare a bed for Bruce while Alfred heads for the kitchen in search of food as well as a means to brew tea. Larry comes back inside; he locks all the doors then the windows, and lastly closes the blinds. He then slumps into a recliner with a spot of brandy. Dinah reappears and directs Leslie to the guest room. Dinah almost glares at her husband, but understands in a way as Larry and Tom were best friends. She just hopes he does not go and do something rash to make them targets too though she knows by giving refuge to Bruce, she risks their lives too.

* * *

Alfred reappears with a steaming kettle and Dinah takes the tray of teacups, which she rarely used herself though could understand that some habits are necessary even for this particular butler. Pennyworth is as Martha told her, an irreplaceable fixture of our family, but in many ways he would now have to be a surrogate father to the little boy she had seen Leslie put under the covers only moments before. She knows he is in good hands, but she could tell even Pennyworth would rather have Tom and Martha here instead of taking up the duty that was now his until his death. Dinah like Larry, Tom, Martha, Leslie, and even Matt had known little of what this country was like before the Regime, but then that is the dream that the Resistance pursues… the dream of liberating this land from the Regime.

It is a dream she seeks to have for her namesake, her little Dinah, but then the liberation would not come during the childhood of either Bruce or Dinah. However in Bruce's case, a childhood's end had come for him when Chill shot his parents in front of him. She could imagine nothing quite as horrifying or shattering as witnessing that, for she would not want that upon little Dinah. She sits next to Leslie while Alfred pours out four cups of tea despite noticing Larry still nursing a brandy. The women and Alfred sip the tea in silence before Larry elects to drink the tea if only to give some semblance of a ritual anchor to Pennyworth.

"Have either of you had supper yet?" asks Alfred.

"We ate earlier, but I am sure we have plenty you could whip into something. It is rare to get cooking like yours. I will help you orient to the kitchen if you would like," offers Dinah.

"That would be helpful Missus Lance."

"Right this way Alfred."

He is about to take the tray with the empty cups back, but Leslie instead takes them for him. He weakly smiles and then goes back to listening to Dinah ramble off about the kitchen layout. As for Larry, he goes to look in on Bruce then turns his attention back to his own daughter. The dream of driving the Regime from these shores would not die with Thomas and Martha Wayne, but their only son become the one to lead the charge, only time would tell in the case of the son who becomes an orphan by gunshots. Two bullets were all it took to change everything for that kid.

Larry looks down at his wife's namesake, the precocious Dinah Laurel Lance, and he firmly prays that she begin a family in a land free of this specter that had hung over his entire life so far. The only measures of happiness for him was meeting Dinah, marrying her, and having this bundle of joy with her. Little Dinah yawns and coos in her sleep then Larry checks the lock on the bedroom windows before heading back downstairs where Alfred is busy cooking as another way to hold onto his skills as a chef. Larry and Dinah both understood why Tom and Martha held the kindly Mr. Pennyworth in such high esteem.

* * *

It had more to do what he had given them rather than what they had given him for that is the service of a man of faith. Larry would make certain that he is at least tell Alfred what he felt Tom would believe Pennyworth needs to hear right now.

"If there is anything I know Tom would say right now. It would be this, that you have done more than you know, and you always will because he… because Martha… entrust to you their most precious possession… that little boy sleeping in that guest room down the hall," says Larry.

"Thank you Master Lance," answers Alfred.

"Just call me Larry, but if makes you feel better call me what you will," continues Larry.

"Master Wayne often said similar things when I kept calling them Master and Missus."

"I bet Tom did. He always was an informal type despite having inheritance."

"He was such a presence during little Dinah's birth. He had more than just the hands of a surgeon. He the soul and the bedside manner to go with it," interjects Dinah.

"Bet Martha would agree to that in a heartbeat," comments Larry.

"She would for a fact," remarks Leslie.

The four eventually settle down for a light dinner in a somewhat cramped kitchen, but the space did not matter, only the people as well as the two they were trying to honor in words despite all the intensity that would flood this house if the intensity was water.

One minor consolation is that sedative had kept Bruce asleep for hours except when he would cry or lash out in his sleep. Alfred and Leslie took turns to keep watch, but even so, they could no more shield him from nightmares than they could from his parents' death.

* * *

Bruce can be found sitting by the window sill the following morning except little Dinah is also there with him. She might be only three, but she could tell a lot from the sour look on his face. He couldn't really explain what happen to his parents to her, but he did welcome her attempt to cheer him up as well as a hug from her. The older Dinah and diligent Alfred saw the scene for a moment before going to kitchen to ready for breakfast as the trio would have to be on the move again before tonight.

The Lances did their best to create an atmosphere to the breakfast table and even little Dinah is eager to show Bruce where to sit, which happens to be next to her. It is instinct to her to be friendly and warm to him especially when she could tell he needs company. However as much as anyone could do to brighten the room, the nightmares would last, but for that would be his burden to bear through the nights ahead of him. He had read his father letter to him earlier yet it did little to lighten his disposition yet like few things his parents had given him, he would treasure until he could return for them… to _them_.

The orphan's departure would continue and from there his exile would last only so long as necessary before he could return to finish his parents' work as he understood it, but then to lead a liberation he would need much more than the dreams of the past.

* * *

A/N 1: The idea for this story comes from the brief backstory given by the alternate Batman about his parents' death. It bears a resemblance to how they die in regular continuity except instead of an alleyway, it happens in their own home. A plan is made though as to be expected not all goes according to plan forcing Alfred and Leslie to get Bruce away from the scene.

A/N 2: The recast of Joe Chill as Colonel Josef Chill is based on the killer's contrary personal circumstances. The juxtaposition idea comes from Dostoevsky's _**Crime and Punishment**_ and Allen's _**Match Point**_. The situation reversal implies that personal circumstances are not necessarily the sole motivation to commit a crime, especially murder.

A/N 3: The moment where Chill shoots them takes cues from several versions of how the Waynes are killed while Bruce watches paralyzed by fear among other emotions/feelings.

A/N 4: The Lances are based on their comic book counterparts to some degree. As for Little Dinah, she's not quite Black Canary yet. Essentially I'm casting recognizable characters into the unseen past of the alternate Batman before the events of The Savage Time.


	2. Friend

It was no simple feat for Gordon to retrieve the bodies of the late Martha and Thomas Wayne, but he felt he owed them that much in the wake of their deaths. They were buried in Gotham Cemetery in secret and the head stone bore little else except their first names. This was done to protect the grave, but even so they should not be entombed in the abandoned walls of Wayne Manor. The few that were there for the moment saw the straining stoicism in Bruce's face, but of course he would cry later in the rain. Raindrops and tears intermingle in the damp grass.

"It is my fault Alfred. If I had just been where Mom was looking for me, they might have been able to escape before he got them," murmurs Bruce.

Alfred kneels down well aware that his trousers are likely to be soaked and stained later except he could clean it off.

"Bruce, I know I often remind you that feeling guilty for their deaths is not what they want for you. I realize I cannot grasp entirely what you are going through or feeling, but believe me they would want you to enjoy life even through you must through the years ahead without their physical presence."

Bruce puts his arms around Alfred and Alfred does the same then picks him up.

"Let's get out of the rain. Hot tea is in order," comments Alfred.

"It is not yet four though," jests Bruce.

"In England it almost is."

Bruce laughs a little.

Moments like this lessen the weight on his shoulders, but of course the wetness of his clothes made it harder to ignore the mental weight as well as the physical from his clothes. They return to the car and drive away from the cemetery. Something about the way Bruce looks back at the gates left the faithful butler with thoughts that Bruce would be likely to revisit that spot in the years ahead. Chats with a grave appears less disturbing than conversing with imaginary versions of dead people, but then certain kinds of experience skewer perceptions about concepts like right, wrong, sane and insane for starters.

Their time at the Lance household would come to an end not long after Bruce's tenth birthday almost two years later. Little Dinah now five found it difficult to part with someone who she thought of as an older brother, but Bruce did his best to reassure her that they would keep in touch somehow. She smiles, gives him a parting hug, and a gift to remember the time spent within these walls. The gift is a blanket that she made with her mother. Bruce thanks them both for it and not long after that warm moment does the trio take flight by car.

* * *

The next family to take them in was the Kyles. Maria Kyle had known Thomas Wayne a lifetime ago just before the Regime Occupational Forces had come to America. Most describe that their arrival as day turning to night as the paratroopers descending from on high were in a formation tight enough to almost block out the sun. Nobody or almost nobody describes them as an occupying force in public, but a few have been bold enough to run underground papers denouncing their authority. Their presence however had become so regular that opposing them usually did not end well once the naysayers had faces that the Gestapo could track down. This is also where publicly broadcast-ed executions had become a regular thing, but they did it random enough to not deaden the populace to it, just a handful here or there, plenty they thought to make the people docile.

Maria's daughter Selina however was in most ways the exact opposite of Dinah's Little Dinah. Maria's husband Brian is a drinker and as for Maria, she had taken the news of Thomas' death rather hard, so her offer of the Kyle Mansion's gate house is baffling to Alfred. Leslie however realizes she wants to be close to whatever remains of Thomas Wayne in this world. She could only hope that Maria would not try to force encounters between Bruce and Selina.

As Leslie did expect Maria did exactly what Leslie thought she might be up to once they were in the gate house. The two kids did not hit it off as Maria might have been expecting and so she abandons that endeavor after a few weeks.

* * *

Selina left for school every morning and would return to the mansion every afternoon then not often reappear until the following morning if it is during the week and if it is the weekend, she would rarely be seen. Selina eventually approaches Bruce on her own volition.

"I don't know why Mama was so open to giving refuge to you and the adults that brought you here."

"Leslie told me that your mother and my father were friends a long time ago, before he met my mother."

"The way Mama talks about your papa, she makes it sound she was more than just friends with him, but of course, she blames the distance between her and him on your mama."

"My dad and my mom never spoke of her. My parents were happy. My dad would never hurt anyone because that's not what doctors do, especially not to hearts."

"Not all hurts are on the outside. Some hurts are inside and they never go away."

"If I had to put how I feel about what happen to my parents into words. I don't think I could come up with a better way to say then what you just said."

"I'm sorry about what happen to your parents, but doesn't mean I want you or those two staying here. It is bad enough between Mama and Papa now… I heard him shouting at her about letting you stay here."

"If we are asked or told to leave, then we will leave."

"I believe you."

Selina wanders away and Bruce exhales quietly. Something about her got to him, but it did not make sense.

_What did Leslie call it? It started with a P and she said it affects your body chemistry in ways you never felt before.

* * *

_

The relations within the Kyle family deterioriate as the weeks turn to months and the months turn to years. Maria never made the request that they leave and Brian was home less often. If he ever did appear, he is usually drunker than he used to be, but the fights had come to a stop. A new thing took its place yet even that did not last as Bruce one day saw Maria holding something against the side of her face. He never saw such a thing in his life despite witnessing an emotionally overwhelming act of violence in his own home. He had however never seen a woman beat up, especially not by her own husband, and Selina is still not home from school as of yet.

Bruce meets her by the road that leads up to the mansion. She whips out her jump rope, which lashes around Bruce's forearm as he emerges from the shadow of the archway.

"What are you doing so far from the gate house? You know they could be watching our house for all we know. Why hasn't Mama told you three to get moving already?" fumes Selina.

"Something happen to your mother. Alfred and Leslie are with her now," says Bruce.

Selina lets go of the jump rope and runs up the road towards the gate house. She spots her father snoozing on the porch so instead charges off towards him. Bruce takes off after her and tries to pull her away from what he believes she means to do to her father. If he is drunk, she might have a shot, but he is bigger and her anger is clouding her thinking, at least this is what Bruce believes to be the case.

"Let go of me," hisses Selina.

"Come back to the gate house," insists Bruce.

"He's going to pay for what he did to her," snaps Selina.

"He will, but this is not the way to go about it," retorts Bruce.

"What makes you an expert on broken families?" quips Selina.

He doesn't answer and she stops pulling against him. She could see it in his eyes.

The anguish, the guilt, the pain and yet there is a burning dream to atone, to give, to prove that he can save someone even when he feels unable to help himself most of the time.

He lets go of her shoulders and walks away unwilling to let her see that she broke through his defenses or that he would sob after climbing the tallest tree nearest to the gatehouse. She makes her way up the tree using the jump rope as a way to ascend from the grass to the branch where Bruce sits with his head between his knees.

"Are you okay?" asks Selina softly.

He doesn't answer her. She pulls herself closer and tries to pull his head up to face hers. His eyes are wet and showing faint signs of bloodshot. She wonders how long he had been holding back those tears and she pulls him towards her then demands that he just let it out. He believes her so her private school blouse ends up damp among other things. At this point, the boy had done something remarkable to her, he took a chance getting between her and something she thought she had to do yet he had been right in the ways that count to her.

Maria saw them from a distance from the sitting room of the gate house. There is a faint smile on her face.

* * *

Maria after a time finally told Brian that he either get sober or get away from them. He made threats that he would tell the Gestapo that they were harboring Bruce. She did not back down and took a moment to remind that by telling this, he put his own life on the line. He got the message and did back down. The Kyles' marriage would not survive the years that Bruce spent among them, but Maria thought perhaps that is the point. Maria eventually becomes a widow as Brian had somehow made a judgment error by picking a bar fight with Councilor Arnold Stromwell.

The Kyle women took his passing rather hard despite his abusive tendencies while drunk. Brian's death brought the attention of another City Councilor to Kyle Mansion. It is the attention of one Carmine Falcone, so with that interest, it is agreed by Alfred, Leslie, and Maria that Bruce must be taken elsewhere for his own safety once again. Bruce and Selina have an awkward goodbye, which is made somewhat more uneasy given their growing affection for each other.

Selina kisses him on the cheek and admittedly he blushes then so does she. He disappears into the night with Alfred and Leslie.

* * *

Lucius Fox is the next to shelter them after leaving Kyle Mansion in the darkest hours of night. Fox's home is more than sufficient and he most of all understood the need for secrecy as he is secretly financing the technology that keeps the Gotham Resistance Network ahead of the technological curve. What it means is the GRN gets most of the newest rigs ahead of the local Gestapo and the Gotham City Police Directorate. How Fox covers the paper trails is one of his greatest secrets, but then after renaming Wayne Enterprises to Fox Technologies, he had the assets.

Fox took the time to explain the renaming and his ownership. He produces a letter indicating that this one of the final requests of Thomas Wayne and as further proof Alfred is shown pictures. Pictures of the last time Lucius and Thomas had dinner together almost four years ago. The old butler could rarely believe that much time had gone by since the murders, but then the company they kept had taken their minds away from the past whilst giving them things in the present that they could do something about. Alfred for once could settle back into the habits he kept as a butler and cook, which brought some comforts back to him as he often set to work in the kitchen.

Bruce meanwhile learns about the company through Fox and is likewise told the same things that Fox told Alfred. Bruce expresses a fair amount of gratitude to Fox for looking after the family company and the two got to talking about Thomas Wayne. Bruce understood after a few weeks while his father had chosen Fox to look after the company. The man had many qualities in common with Thomas Wayne and Fox's wife in some ways reminds Bruce of his mother.

Bruce eventually becomes friends of a sort with Lucius' son, who happens to be Lucius' namesake and the two also eventually meet the son of the lawyer who acts as head of FoxTech's Legal Department. This boy is known to most as Harv, but he keeps insisting to everyone, even his mother, that they just call him Harvey. He occasionally exhibits contrary behavior, but Bruce usually is able to calm him though the most effective for calming him is girlfriend Grace. Occasionally seeing Harvey together with Grace causes Bruce to think of Selina, but of course in this situation he did not know when, if ever, he would see her again.

* * *

The Gotham Times runs an article on the new reforms to the City Council and various enforcement agencies, but many suspect it is deception to convince the people to remain afraid of them. The decades had not been kind to the Gestapo as corruption and decadence had long since taken over many directorates including the one responsible for assassination contracts such as the one for the Waynes. As for the Regime, it still had a handful of nations that continue to holdout against invasions or rail against occupations. The GRN continues to operate as cells that run contacts through a closed system, which meant only one cell member had the ability to communicate with his or her counterpart in another cell.

Decentralization had kept the network from compromise and infiltration, but then one could count of Lucius Fox for such insights as he made the transition rather well from the corporate sector to the 'private' sector. Publicly he is seen as a hard working and loyal man of industry, which meant there is unlikely to be an assassination contract on him unless the Gestapo discovers his ties to the GRN. However Fox only talks to the GRN indirectly through their corporate allies who like Fox maintain convincing covers and the corruption that runs through the Regime's authority insulates them from death squads.

* * *

The library kept by the Fox family in part fosters Bruce's education and so it is there that one could say the grooming of Bruce Wayne's intellect begins, but somewhere in the back of his mind the memory of their deaths follow him, just like the fall into the crack. The crack that awoken the fear in him, the fear of a bat.

"So what are you afraid of Harvey?"

"Anger, indecision, and at times… myself," answers Harvey.

There is a momentary silence.

"What's on your mind Wayne?" queries Harvey.

"My parents, a swarm of bats, and what am I do with myself," replies Bruce.

"I'd miss my parents if they were dead, but why bats?"

"Fear."

"Everyone feels fear. All that counts is how you react to it regardless of how it affects you."

Lucius and Grace reappear with milkshakes that were made by Alfred.

"Seriously that English guy can make a mean milkshake."

"Think that would be enough cause to keep visiting."

* * *

_There is no normal. There is what you want it to be and how it is.

* * *

_

Bruce sips his shake and smiles just a little.

"Tastes good?" asks Grace.

"Yep, this is good, but the company is better."

Harvey gives a light punch to the arm. Bruce jabs him back lightly.

"Who can finish the shake quicker?"

"How about we toss on it?" remarks Harvey.

"How are we gonna call it?" asks Bruce.

"Heads or tails… got my coin right here," assures Harvey.

"Heads," says Bruce.

"Tails, it is then," continues Harvey.

He flips and it is heads.

Bruce and Harvey start slurping immediately.

"Cold headache," groans Bruce.

"Don't quit on half," jests Harvey.

"To the last drop," chuckles Bruce.

Both finish at almost the same time.

"Call it a tie?" offers Bruce.

"Sure… little secret from me to you… it is a 'trick' coin… heads on both sides… make my own chance."

"Touché."

All four burst out laughing and go back for more shakes.

* * *

A/N 1: There is a bit of time taken to bury the Waynes and have a wake/funeral for them. The Alfred-Bruce moment is similar to the one from **Batman Begins**. There is some time skipping during their stay with the Kyles, which is meant to establish a contrast of character behavior.

A/N 2: As for the Kyles, they are based off their comic book counterparts like the Lances. As for linking Maria to Thomas Wayne, it is that she had feelings for him despite the fact that he married Martha and she eventually married Brian then had Selina. Selina's initial behavior towards Bruce is standoffish as she attributes her parents' fighting to his presence even though things were likely falling apart before then.

A/N 3: The scenes where Bruce and Selina come into an understanding takes some cues from the regular continuity encounters of the adult Bruce and Selina. Likewise as for what happens to Brian Kyle in this time line, he unfortunately ticks off the wrong guy.

A/N 4: Alternate Batman refers to his organization as the Resistance, I have expanded it to include a network of cells that generally act autonomously, but there is a manner of contact between them.

A/N 5: The BtAS version of Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent appears to imply that they are/were friends, at least until the scarring that fully brought out the Two-Face personality. Again some nods to their fears and particularly to Harvey's attachment to a certain coin as well.


	3. Incognito

"If you go, you'll be going alone. I'm neither in the age or the shape to be keeping pace with you on what is likely to be a long trek across several continents," reminds Alfred.

"I did not plan to ask you to tag along, but this is something I have to do. I can't explain it, but there is only so much I can learn from this endless library," replies Bruce.

"At least do not travel alone, if you must travel at all."

"It is safer for all if I travel alone."

"If you think you must then do so, but I don't know how you plan to tell Leslie about this."

"Part of me would say it's the right thing to part ways with her as gently as possible, but then part of me wonders if just going would do… I'll tell her tonight. Lucius is already securing a route for me to board one of the freighters bound for Italy."

"You planning to rough there or is someone offering you a place to stay for awhile?"

"A 'friend' of Maria Kyle's, his name is Franco Bertinelli. She told me that he knows most of the major political and criminal personalities on both sides of the pond."

"You intend to continue your education by roaming among all the rungs of the society?"

"That's the idea… I also intend to seek out marital arts masters and other kinds of teachers."

Both are almost caught unaware by Lucius' arrival.

"Expecting to run into fights in those alleyways Mr. Wayne?"

"If would be preferable to avoid such encounters, but best be knowledgeable on how to defend one's self."

"Sound method. I believe Leslie is looking for you. She is curious and suspicious about your impending travel plans. You can't hide much from her, as she has been practically a mother for you for the past eight years."

Bruce walks off to find Leslie leaving Alfred and Lucius alone to discuss some things.

* * *

Leslie is nursing a cup of hot tea when Bruce appears at her side. He catches her slightly off guard though she had grown accustomed to what she calls his Houdini moments. He took her lack of surprise at his appearance in stride though is aware of the seriousness of her facial features. She like Alfred is not getting any younger, but she is less likely to warm up to the idea of him traveling the world whilst incognito. She rises to her feet slowly and grips him gently by the shoulders. There was a time where most of the adults had gotten used to having to look downward for a little boy yet in the eight years since that night he had grown into a tall teenager.

"Rumor has it you are planning to leave us, to go on a world tour… _alone_," says Leslie.

"I already told Alfred my reasons. I don't know if I should have to repeat them to you."

"Humor me, this one time, alright?"

"I learned and read all I can here. It is time me to go out into the world and learn more because in order to uphold my promise to my parents, I need to prepare for what that mission brings to my life."

"You were just a boy. Why not continue just as a teenager as well?"

"You know why not Leslie. I mean not to bring harm or sadness to you, but it is something I must do."

Leslie knows for certain that she cannot talk him out of it because he is more like his mother in regards to her stubbornness while sharing his father's compassion though she also realizes he cannot help Gotham in the same way they did before he was born. She hugs, he can hear sniffles, and he realizes it pains her to let him go, but she tells him that she understands why he is doing this. She only asks that he be careful in his travels because he will have to mind his own health alone.

Lucius takes him down to the garage. A limo with black tinted windows drives him to the shipyards where the freighter awaits its secret passenger.

* * *

The vessel is the** _Vespertilio_**, which Bruce later finds out is an abbreviation of a bat species' name. As he sleeps in a compartment by himself, he dreams of bats and bullets. He is again just a kid who is looking forward to an evening out with his parents except they never got to do what Bruce had in mind for that night as their killer found them at home. The memories are blurry and flash by rapidly though he can remember the sounds.

_The sounds of bats flapping past him rapidly and he shields himself with his arms after falling down through a crack in the promontory. _

_The bangs of shots fired. No words, just noises. _

_He remembers watching his father descending by rope to retrieve him after the fall._

_His father attempting to talk Chill out of following his orders and his mother's cries as his father slumps dead in her arms. The snapping that follows Chill yanking her away from his father's body. Next is the echoing of pearls before they stop in the blood._

_The warmth of her presence when she dresses his cuts and his father telling him to bite on something as he had to reset Bruce's arm because fall caused a dislocation. There is also the way she covers him up to keep him cozy after being in the damp cavern below the promontory._

The pain from that seems small in comparison to watching them die in front of him. The flapping of wings is audible again and he snaps awake to a dark room. He made it this far, he had to keep going even with the nightmares resurfacing after all this time. Some nights he slept better than others, but now he would continue to feel disorientation each time, he would awake though sleeping on a cot inside a storage compartment could lead to that probability.

The days pass slowly though occasionally he'll take walks in areas rarely visited by the crew, but of course the freighter captain was told to keep Bruce separate from his personnel. The bounty on Bruce Wayne is substantial despite the records claiming that he is dead. The Gestapo lost track of him after Fox took him, Alfred, and Leslie in years earlier. However somebody else had taken interest in Bruce, but Bruce could never track down what always left him feeling like somebody is watching him. The freighter stuck to its courses, which is how Bruce ends up spending more than two months aboard it.

* * *

He disembarks under the cover of night. Bertinelli already had a car waiting for him. This is convenient yet not surprising to Bruce. Bertinelli sent one of his 'soldiers' with the car. As 'families' go, Bertinelli carries much pull in the country even though Italy remains loyal to the Regime. What little Bruce could find on the Regime's leader indicates him to be a charismatic yet uncompromising individual. It is his kind of leadership that led to the Regime Occupation back home, but here in a foreign land, Bruce had to be far more careful of his opinions less he find himself a target of the 'Families' and the Regime.

Italy is a beautiful country yet also not without a history of violence. It is the universal contradiction of humanity, where beauty and destruction walk hand in hand forever.

The car trip ends at the gates to the walls that surround a villa. Bruce is led to the villa by bodyguards. Everyone on the grounds carries a weapon, which bothers Bruce inwardly given the weapon used to kill his parents.

His first encounter with a Bertinelli family member is Franco's daughter Helena. She looks to be eight or nine to Bruce.

_Same or close to the same age I was when they died… when Chill murdered them in our home._

She says something to Bruce in Italian, which basically is her asking him to identify himself and why he is here. He explains that Franco agreed to let him reside with the family for a time. She smiles then skips off towards her mother who is reclining on the patio lounge chair. The bodyguards take him towards her then put some distance between themselves and her.

"Signore Wayne, we have been expecting you, how is Maria?"

"Well, at least since the last time I saw her face to face, but I haven't seen her daughter in years."

"You have feelings for Selina, don't you?"

Bruce admits nothing, but he realizes the older woman is right about that much.

Franco appears and exchanges customary greetings with Bruce. Maria made a point of instructing him the mannerisms of the 'family' exchanges.

"I see you already met my wife and my daughter. You see what I mean to protect and for the time being that now includes you as a favor to Maria. Be sure not to give me cause to treat you as something other than a welcomed guest."

"You have my word Signore Bertinelli."

"Good. Now you must be hungry, head towards the kitchen, a meal awaits you."

Bruce heads inside and then turns back to ask which way though all Franco did is inhale. It meant most likely that he should follow the aroma of the food. Somebody would probably make a fortune off using the phrase 'follow your nose'. The villa's cook in some ways reminds him of Alfred, but of course nobody could truly replace Alfred as a cook in Bruce's mind. The cook gradually brought him over into dining like an Italian because whatever she made was the only thing they would give him to eat at all.

* * *

As the months pass there is someone among Bertinelli's ranks that bothers Bruce and he could tell that this same individual bothers Helena as she often stays closer to her parents when he is around. The pale complexion runs contrary to the look of the rest of the 'guys' that were part of the family protection detail. There is usually a significant tan to most of the men that work for Bertinelli, but not the albino man. He also has a mammoth size appetite to put it metaphorically. Bruce saw eyes like his only once before and those eyes belong to Colonel Josef Chill.

His misgivings about Steven Mandragora are decidedly not misplaced given how Catalina Bertinelli's dislike of him, but then Mandragora also had a fearsome reputation throughout Europe. It is his reputation that insulates the Bertinellis against most of their rivals except the one closest to them, the one that keeps the other predators off their back side. The implication reawakens early memories of his own mother telling him fairy tales, ancient myths, and moral parables. One in particular comes to mind as he diverts his gaze away from Mandragora, the one about the fox and the scorpion.

* * *

_The scorpion could not cross the river on its own so the scorpion asks the fox to let it cross the river on the fox's back. At first the agreement appears to hold yet once more than halfway across, the scorpion stings the fox. The fox's instinct reaction to distrust the scorpion had proven right even though the fox thought maybe the scorpion is telling the truth about promising not to sting him. The fox berates the scorpion yet the scorpion reminds the fox that it is in the scorpion's nature to sting prey. The fox counters that now they will both drown._

* * *

If Mandragora is to be the Bertinellis' scorpion then he would have a way around 'drowning' if he kills them, but Bruce like the fox wonders if he is making the right call in being overly suspicious of Mandragora given the enforcer's reputation among the families.

Someone is tugging at Bruce's pants leg. It is Helena.

"Something you need Hel?"

"You are the only one to call me that besides Mama."

"Really, what does your Papa call you?"

"Call me his angel. He claims I saved him from falling off a ladder when I was like three or four."

"Cute story."

"Mama swears it is true. I don't want anything bad happening to my parents or me. Where are your Mama and Papa?"

Bruce wonders how to tell her if at all about his parents.

"My parents are resting back at home. I came to Italy alone."

"They must miss you."

"I certainly miss them."

"When you planning to go home?"

"As soon as I can."

Helena smiles and zips about the villa's backyard towards her mother who is drinking lemonade. Bruce felt almost envious of Helena's childlike wonder and her still having parents. He mentally berates this twinge of jealousy and reminds himself that the grass is not greener in someone else's yard especially when that yard belongs to one of Italy's more colorful personalities.

Bruce walks out from under the dark shade of the tree and sits down opposite Catalina who is now eating lunch with Helena. He hopes that one day he can return the favor to the Bertinellis, but the looks from Mandragora almost make him feel that he would be doing it sooner rather than later.

* * *

The notion of business as usual is hard to believe in especially with the frequency of Mandragora's absences from the villa.

It is an eerie feeling the day that Catalina decides to drive instead of allowing one of her husband's soldiers to bring the car around. Something in the air smelled funny and Bruce is not the only one to notice it. However Franco beats him to the circle path at the front of the villa.

Helena is not far behind Bruce yet both are near enough to see the car that Catalina is in explode in a fireball. Franco is thrown backwards by the blast and his skull does not weather hitting the cobblestone circle path well at all. Bruce can smell the familiar copper like stench of blood. He hears Helena cry and scream at the same time. She runs towards her father, but he is unresponsive. His head injury looks severe.

Somebody put a bomb in the car that Catalina was going to be driving. A bomb meant either for Franco or worst Bruce begins to suspect the bomb might have been meant for him as he too had driven that car often. Franco often too busy with 'family' matters left certain tasks at home to his wife.

Catalina had been the one to teach him how to drive Italian cars.

Mandragora's 'late arrival' on the scene tells Bruce two things. Mandragora was late on purpose and he himself might have had one of his lackeys put the bomb there.

"It is a tragic thing. The only one of the family left now is her. We'll need to take her somewhere safe until we can get word to one of Franco's or Catalina's relatives. As for you, Signor Wayne, your presence is no longer necessary."

Helena clings to Bruce whilst still crying her eyes out.

"I get the feeling the little lady disagrees with you."

"Helena, I am going to take you somewhere safe. It is time for you to part ways with Signor Wayne."

Helena looks up to Mandragora's pitiless eyes and does not leave Bruce's side. Mandragora hand signals two of his men to retrieve her. Bruce pulls Helena's arms around his upper body though she instead wraps her forearms over his shoulders. He quickly stands up and starts running away from Mandragora's thugs. They open fire almost as if not caring whether they shot him, the girl, or even more so both. The pair is met by the cook who orders the usual soldier chauffeur to get them out of here immediately.

The man leads them quickly and drives the car rapidly away from the garage. The chauffeur hands him a submachine gun and Bruce refuses to fire a weapon.

"Then the three of us will die. I can't drive and shoot at the same time. I know these roads better than you despite what Signora Bertinelli taught you. You want to avoid shooting people… shoot the tires then!" snaps Marco.

Bruce tells Helena to cover her ears. He vows inwardly this would be the first and last time he uses a gun of any kind. Now is not the time to wonder if he could keep that principle so he fires with almost uncanny precision, but then Franco often brought him along to measure of certain members of his 'inner circle', which usually meant going to shooting ranges.

* * *

_Several of Franco's American 'associates' were often among their numbers so Bruce applies more towards speaking with an approximation of a native inflection of Italian and an Italian accented English or his best duplication of one. Many who heard it bought both voices at face value, but Catalina usually could be heard chuckling at Bruce's ability to deceive her husband's 'associates'. It would be a tactic he would have to continue to hone in his travels, but then Bruce already saw his educational pursuits as a means to develop an array of mental talents._

* * *

Both cars pursuing skitter off the road after Bruce burst fires at their front tires. The cars take the brunt of the crashes, but it would slow their pursuers for a time. Marco follows the instructions left to him by Franco in the event that something should happen to him, to Catalina or in this case both.

Bruce drops the gun in the front seat then turns his attention back to Helena who in this situation reminds him of himself at that age and the tragedy that was his own, that still is. He offers up his handkerchief and she blows her nose then leans against him, like a little sister might do with an older brother.

[+++]

Marco arranges transport for Helena and Bruce. He tells Bruce to get her to Sicily because she is not safe by remaining on the mainland of Italy. Bruce questions how her being in Sicily could be any safer. Marco tells him of a cousin who is a member of the clergy that can look after the girl. It is only a short boat ride to the island of Sicily and Marco's cousin is there to meet them. Helena sticks close to Bruce the entire time that they in the presence of Marco's cousin.

"I would not encourage you to leave unless you have to Signore Wayne, but Marco made it sound like you were also a target for Mandragora. I have friends in America who run an orphanage called the Charlton Home for Orphans."

"I don't think she belongs in an orphanage, let alone one so far from her homeland."

"I cannot hope to keep her hidden here long. Arrangements are already in motion."

"We need to get off the streets now."

"Wise decision, your quick thinking will be a lasting asset for you."

Bruce couldn't help feeling responsible for the Bertinellis' sudden demise yet he thought the girl would be better off with someone like or Leslie. He asks Marco's cousin to pass a letter along somehow and make sure it reaches a certain butler in Gotham. The cousin understood the need for discretion and agrees to Bruce's request recognizing that Wayne had left 'family' of his own behind in America.

"So where will you go now?" asks Helena.

"Somewhere far from Italy and you will be seeing my side of the world… part of it anyway."

"I wish I could go with you, but you have a journey to be taken alone as Mama put it."

"I'm sorry about your parents. Your mother was… still is with you in memory. You are her legacy. Nothing I can say or do will make the days or even the years ahead hurt less."

Helena doesn't say anything though she does hug him.

"Try to remember the times that will always make you smile or laugh."

Helena is slow to release her hold on him, but then she steps away with Marco's cousin.

"Safe travels, my son," says Father Michael.

"You too Father," replies Bruce.

"I would ask you look up my old friend Zatara. He should be in Prague I believe."

"Thanks again."

Bruce disappears from sight once again leaving a familiar place for another strange new one.

* * *

A/N 1: The world tour as it stands begins with Bruce going to Italy where is taken on by Franco Bertinelli. His time among this is brief given happens to Franco and his wife in the regular time line. However the cause of their death is somewhat different, if you seen or read Godfather then you might recognize the idea.

A/N 2: Bruce again 'saves' a life then entrusts her to others who will attempt to maintain her safety.

A/N 3: As for Father Michael, that is a nod to the BtAS episode Never Too Late. Marco is a new character, but he is a true loyalists/protector in the Bertinelli family.

A/N 4: As for where he is heading at the end of this chapter, one can probably guess who'll meet when he gets there.


	4. Escape

The trip from Sicily to Prague is uneventful, which is a slight relief after what happen at the villa less than a week ago. However the hunger of having not eaten in over three days is starting to take its toll and for once Bruce begins to consider stealing food in order to stave off starvation. He nears a side street full of vendors, but then they all seem quite familiar with each other, so taking from one is likely to turn the whole against him, not a pleasant turn to consider yet his stomach is groaning from hunger while his head feels light from the lessening of energy in his limbs.

He reaches out for a loaf of bread on the cart closest to him yet at that instant a slender hand grips his wrist. He looks up the arm towards the face. She smiles at him then tosses a bag of coins to the vendor before handing off the loaves to him. Together they walk off and he is quick to munch away at the bread. She giggles quietly, but knows he is hungry, she had seen the look in others who often consider pocketing food to keep from going too hungry. The markets were usually left to govern themselves, which often breeds the eye for an eye principle, let the punishment fit the crime though in many cases it tends to exceed it.

If one could call stealing to prevent starving a crime, but then places like Prague are on the fringes of nations that had long been broken under the yoke of the Regime. The Regime however continues to deny that their eternal rule could end, but then they had beaten the Allies at Normandy back when her father was still a kid. She had no idea who this rugged yet determined boy was that she just fallen in with, but then something about him made her immediately like him, she even wonders if some other girl is waiting for where he had come from in order to reach Prague.

They would reach her father's workshop before long and then she would find out more if he chose to divulge much to her father.

* * *

"Father Michael is not one to send you all this way without a purpose in mind and I sense no dishonesty in your countenance, but you are running from something, though what that is not my business, the less I know the better for both of us," assures Giovanni Zatara.

"I only briefly met him through an acquaintance and I will honor your request that I tell nothing of my past to you," remarks Bruce.

"So do you have a name?" continues Zatara.

"My name is John Smith," says Bruce.

"I trust you what Giovanni translates into in your native tongue Smith."

"I do."

"You strike me as an educated youth… perhaps there are things I can teach you… things you probably left home to learn… so are you ready to begin?"

"I barely just ate on the way here."

"You'll have a heartier appetite later and besides my daughter is a much better cook than I am."

She blushes at her father's compliment though more so because of 'John' who she had to admit was equally mysterious aside from being a handsome stranger.

* * *

Zatara led 'John' into another part of the workshop where he kept most of his performance props such as a straitjacket, chains, and cuffs among others. Zatara quickly slaps the cuffs on 'John's' wrists much to the younger man's surprise.

"I know it looks like an odd place to start, but getting out of cuffs usually impresses a crowd and baffles those who look too deeply for how the trick is done… the truth is that as much as they want to know how it works… they still turn hypnotic when watching me get out of them," says Zatara.

Bruce scans the table top in front of him and Zatara now only stares at a pocket watch whilst paying almost no mind to Bruce. He picks up what looks like a lock pick except barely noticeably with its nearly miniature size then without breaking eye contact with what he figures is Zatara's daughter watching while trying to stay out of sight, he starts to pick his way out of the cuffs. It took longer than Bruce thought yet Zatara had a look of praise in his eyes.

"Most impressive… usually when somebody finds the pick they spend too much time trying to work out where to stick it… you did it without looking… you chose to rely on your hearing rather than your eyes. I would suggest you remember all the senses have merit though never rely on all or on one."

"I'll keep that in mind. Your daughter's been watching us the whole time," murmurs Bruce.

"I know, but let's not give her away shall we?" whispers Zatara.

"I get the impression she is not easily impressed," comments Bruce.

"No she is not, she is like her mother in that way, but like me, she is a capable _Homo Magi_. Now your next question while direct, it is also nearly irrelevant especially if you are as bookish as you physique suggests to me."

"Means you and her have access to magic and that I am just another non-magic human."

"Not all magic belongs to those with the words for it. Magic is about believing not hearing or seeing."

"So what's next?"

"We have done enough for today… I'm sure my daughter is eager for you to taste her cooking and as for myself I have a performance to get underway."

Zatara sweeps on his cloak then taps something with the tip of his cane and the top hat shoots out from at first looks like a flat disc.

"Remember flexibility is also part of the act too… enjoy dinner… he's in your hands again Zatanna."

Before Bruce can even blink Zatara is out of sight though the older magician could just be quick on his feet. The way Zatanna looks at him now reminds him just a little too much of Selina, but then they only had a few tender moments before he left her to say with the Foxes. He could only imagine what Luc and Harvey were up to at present though they probably would be telling him to go for with the new girl, but no matter how much he thought about it, it just did not feel right because part of him really just wants to one day return to Selina.

They ate in silence, but she kept looking at him wondering why he gotten so quiet, she could tell he is enjoying her cooking though her company is another story. She finds him adorable and annoying at the same time, but then what she felt around him so far set him apart from all the other guys she met in Prague so far. After dinner, she took him to the spare room that she usually would hide away in when her father was out performing because it had a better view of the clear nights in Prague. The moonlight casts a rather unusual shadow when he stood just behind her.

However the points at the edge of his shadow's head were due to the fact that he did not attempt much grooming in recent days, but she would leave it to him to decide whether he continue to look the part of a drifter or clean himself up. She heads for the door yet feels his grip on her shoulder. She tilts her head to look back at him.

"Thanks for dinner Zanna."

"You know my name is Zatanna… not _Zanna_."

"I prefer _Zanna_."

"You better not say that around my father… he might get ideas if he has not already."

"What kind of ideas?"

"Are you really that dense or you can't tell when a girl enjoys your company?"

"Goodnight Zanna… I am tired between the meal, the lesson, and the trip."

She leaves him alone and returns to her own room across the way.

* * *

This platonic flirting would continue between them for months, but by then she felt like she was the only one consciously doing it. He made allowances for her to lie down next to him during the colder weather that soon overtook Prague in the winter, but then he only did enough to make her believe that he did care about her, which she felt certain that he did care for her. The attraction was not overly mutual. There was another girl somewhere else, she had grown certain of this, and his disappearing act had gotten better much to her father's delight. The rapport between them made sense as he continues to exceed Zatara's expectations yet there are some secrets that no magician ever shows or teaches anyone.

After weeks of rigorous testing, Zatara first binds 'John's' wrists, then puts a straitjacket on him, and lastly shackles him up before hoisting him upside down. Both continually expect Zatanna to be watching these escape acts at a distance. She sits across the room playing with her hair like she always does and 'John's' impassive stare no longer fools her.

He hides a lot behind that mask he calls a face and parts of the real him only get laid bare when she hears him calling out in his sleep. She couldn't imagine what could cause anyone that much pain and one time he had actually awoken to see her standing over him with a wet towel.

He took it in stride yet they never spoke of it again. Something told her that he would not be around for much longer and at a same time she did not know how she could go back to being just a magician's daughter if he left their lives.

The shackles are the first to clatter to the wooden floor, the straitjacket follows a few seconds later, then he forces his upper body to swing upward so that he can pull loose the knot binding his ankles together, and lastly he pulls the loop that holds his wrists together. She hears the click of her father's pocket watch like she had so many other times before. Zatanna ducks into the revolving cupboard used for the disappearing part of her father's performances.

"It has been an honor to learn from you Zatara," confesses 'John'.

"To what purpose, you show up outside my workshop months ago in the company of my daughter and I have shown you things I rather take to my grave then have known to any magician," says Zatara.

"You could have said no, told me to be on my way," reminds 'John'.

"No, whatever your secrets are, I had and still have no right to turn you out. Whatever it is, it remains with you still and perhaps it always shall… my only advice is to live your life as they would want you to."

"What do you mean you say they?"

"You know exactly what I mean. I don't have to say it. Your eyes tell enough, but remember there are those who still care for you, maybe even love you, because you can't escape everything 'John'."

"Escape everything?"

"You might fool others when you feign ignorance, but don't try on people who know you better in some ways then you admit."

"Forgive me Zatara."

"Already forgotten… besides I do believe you have more traveling to do if your inquiries about travel routes to the Far East mean anything to me. I only warn you that you are about to leave another familiar spot behind you and someone who doesn't like goodbyes anymore than you do."

Zatara pops his top hat as usual then taps the door to the revolving cupboard without bothering to peek inside as he had already known most of his daughter's hiding spots.

She plunges out and into John's arms. Her bare legs hang over his left arm, her hip is touching his stomach, and her back is against his right arm. She blushes deeply in embarrassment as her father walks away. 'John' gently sets her down and she steps away from him while palming a deck of cards. It was different saying goodbye to a little girl like Helena, but then Selina didn't take his leaving all too well either. All the things left unsaid usually would come back to bother him later.

She firmly holds the entire deck spread between her slender hands and he already understood a considerable amount about cards though not how magicians make use of the deck even after spending months with the Zataras.

"Here pick out a card. I'll tell your future," says Zatanna.

Bruce pulls out a card from the spread. She closes the spread and turns around then leans herself against him with her hips against his waist. He inwardly curses the fact that he does find her attractive, that he cares for her, but then he couldn't get that kiss from Selina out of his mind either.

"I see intrigue, danger… two of hearts!" declares Zatanna

Bruce looks at the card, Zatanna is off, way off, but he knows he'll have to tell her.

"Joker," admits Bruce.

Zatanna almost cheerful and loving demeanor turns almost cold and livid. She tosses the deck causing the cards to fly all over the room.

"Oh, it's a dumb trick anyway," fumes Zatanna.

Bruce knows he must be going on his way for the Russian border before the week is out.

"You're leaving and there's nothing I can do to convince you to stay or let me go with you. I already got that much from your secretive plans," remarks Zatanna.

"I feel I have come to the end of my training with your father and there is still much else I need to learn before I go home."

"Yes home and to her no doubt too."

"Are you jealous of a girl you have never even met?"

"Maybe I am, she probably kissed you too, and I… there were so many times I wish you did or would."

Zatanna walks away from him and he follows her towards the railing that leads up to the loft where Bruce usually sleeps though some times Zatanna had fallen asleep up there next to him or gone up after he gone to sleep. She had never a guy quite like him and she felt she never would again.

"Zanna, you know what my plans are, there will be others in your life after I leave," assures Bruce.

"I know that, but none of them will ever affect me the way you do. I used to detest you calling me Zanna, but every time I hear you say, I feel happy, feel cared about in a way different from how my father is towards me," says Zatanna.

He pulls her towards him and she wraps herself around him like they always did up in the loft.

"Zanna, I will write to you, believe I will," continues Bruce.

"It won't be the same, but you can't leave now," remarks Zatanna.

He realizes in a moment what she had done. As he notices the cuffs holding his wrist to the ladder built into the wall, and she steps back away from him with a coy look in her eyes. She dangles the key just out of reach and then slides it into the back pocket of her really short shorts. A popular fashion trend from almost twenty years ago yet Zatanna had the figure for them. He could imagine Selina would look ogle worthy in them too. He didn't need the key she had to slip out of the cuffs and he never made a sound.

"If you really are the next Houdini, you'd be out of those…."

She looks back with a slight gasp coming from her mouth.

"Cuffs by now…"

She climbs up the ladder and wraps herself up in the blanket that Bruce had been using this week as if wanting to be close to his scent for as long as she could be, but before long her father would likely go touring again.

* * *

As for 'John Smith' aka Bruce Wayne, he heads east in the direction of an overcast dawn and the search for martial arts truly begins.

"I never got to say goodbye to them, so I am not bothering with goodbyes because something tells me I have not see the last of you Zatanna Zatara."

He didn't get what had drawn her to him or why she took his leaving as she had, but then her father was right about many things in the brief time he had been living with them. He had learned the techniques of the escape artist, he had learned how to disappear, but he had to become invisible as someone still tracks him as he goes east. It had aroused curiosity of his trackers that he spent so much time with magicians, but the tracker understood the purpose and soon would report this change to the one who sent her to follow Bruce Wayne.

"He is leaving Prague before daybreak," says the woman.

"Stay with him, but do not reveal yourself," commands the man.

* * *

A/N 1: Enter the Zataras, similar to the flashback from the BtAS episode **Zatanna**, Bruce happens upon the Zataras and is taught to be an escape artist by Giovanni Zatara. At the same time, he also draws the affections of Zatara's only daughter Zatanna.

A/N 2: Again it shifts through time rather quickly though after all Bruce is a quick study even when it comes to the techniques of an escape artist.

A/N 3: Implied flirtations between him and Zatanna. Bruce isn't really good at goodbyes and Zatanna obviously doesn't want him to leave yet the mission calls again. Their parting scene is relatively identical to the one in **Zatanna**.

A/N 4: As for who has been following Bruce during his trek through Europe, that's another mystery.


	5. Duality

If there ever was a paradox greater than Gotham, it would be the world outside of it, but then this did not surprise Bruce, only the occasional individual had the power to do that to him. He took on the identity of someone who had been hiding out in the same freight car as him. It is not the first alias he used in his travels, but it would be the first real person he did attempt to impersonate with a reasonable degree of success though he had no idea how much trouble the real Anthony Malone was in. The other problem is the real Malone is a few years older than Bruce and not quite as fit as Bruce. It had become a case of mimicking many of the dead Malone's mannerisms and not shaving though he had little facial hair to begin with anyway.

Malone had a reputation across continents, but then nobody would stick out money to phone people who knew the real Malone because the crime families had enough to deal with when it comes to the government or the police. However they had plenty of bribes to pass around between the two, but notably the only one that he kept hearing about that most family heads are particularly afraid of is known as Drakon Raatko yet few have ever seen him then lived to talk about it. As Malone, he could circle through the periphery of the criminal underworld, but even so much as mentioning Raatko brought unnecessary attention to some.

* * *

"We heard about you in passing Comrade Malone," says a man.

"And who would you be Comrade?" asks 'Malone'.

"We have heard you excel at escapes," continues the man.

"You have yet to tell me a name," reminds 'Malone'.

"My name is Kyodai Ken," says the man.

"So where are we stealing from or more precisely from whom?" queries 'Malone'.

"You'll find out once I know you are on the team," assures Ken.

"I am open to the job," says 'Malone'.

"There is a weapons' shipment being brought in from overseas… we seize it before it leaves the warehouse… you'll be the one handling the escape route," says Ken.

"When do we move to intercept?"

"One of my men will find you 'Malone'… enjoy the drink… be seeing you around."

* * *

Bruce learns that Malone has quite the reputation as a thief, a talker, and an escape artist though for Bruce he at most fits with the escape artist part of the description. Across the room sits a young girl or woman who covers half her face with her sable hair. They stare at each other for several minutes then a rowdy group of drunks pass between and then she is gone from his sight. Bruce felt certain she had been on his trail since he left Prague. Over the years, Bruce had shown a rather unique tendency to notice if someone or something is following him yet trying to stay out of sight while doing this. This girl or woman either is not very good at stealth or she made herself known to him on purpose. He starts to suspect the latter, but the deeper question is who sent her to follow him.

"Something caught your attention?" says a woman.

Bruce tries to avoid showing surprise that a woman had snuck up on him.

"My master is well aware of your presence Comrade Wayne," continues the woman.

"Your master must be a powerful man if he has seen through my alias," admits Bruce.

"He won't blow your cover with Comrade Ken, but he does offer this warning, don't take the job."

"I can't exactly go around begging or stealing to eat, can I?"

"That's up to you though it might be best if you seek out my master rather than seek out the attention of my master's opposite among the criminals… though what you do up to you."

He blinks after taking all this in only to find the strange woman is gone from his sight like his follower/tracker.

"What is with me and women?" murmurs Bruce.

He turns the glass upside indicating he is done and leaving the bar.

* * *

The bartender phones someone to inform that 'Malone' had left the place. The voice thanks the bartender for the information and reminds the man that silence is in his best interest. The bartender abides by the recommendations of the voice because it has kept him alive this long whilst amassing a host of customers who work for the various crime families in Vladivostok. The coastal city for the moment remains of one of the major shipping ports for Russia. As for the bartender, he made his business and home in this city, but seldom do generosity and kindness go hand in hand, so he realizes that this city will be the death of him soon enough.

He known for years that the voice took active interest in many of his customers and more often than not those same customers eventually stop showing up. If their names ever made to the papers, it is never his doing, but still seeing their names and sometimes their faces in the papers made him slightly uneasy though he could drink it off, try to hide that pegging someone for death was not his fault. After all he was never the one to actually kill the marked persons. He had no illusions about his place in the scheme of things, but still, the number of dead rises yet the police never made or appear to make the connection between the dead and their last point of interest. The bartender had a feeling that the voice had something to do with that for how else to keep the flow of marked person going uninterrupted, but such is speculation.

The bartender would not make it home as someone sent by the voice had come for him though they would leave his body at his place in the old quarter, which meant the voice had no interest in having his ties to the bartender known to the families or the police. It wouldn't make the front page, but then not everyone reads the front page. Some read from one end to the other though not enough to warrant messing with the presses. Besides there were methods that the voice didn't find necessary to utilize except when the situation warrants going so far to cover the tracks of his organization.

* * *

More than a week passes before Bruce or rather 'Malone' hears from Ken's middleman Yuri, but the odd thing to 'Malone' is Yuri looks more Middle Eastern than Russian or Japanese though no assumptions can be made at this stage. Yuri gives him directions and keys to the vehicle he'll drive for the job that is set to coincide with the night of the arrival of what Ken intends to steal from the warehouse that stores whatever is taken off the freighters that dock at Vladivostok's shipping terminals. Yuri leaves as quickly as he had come by, but someone else had been overhearing their conversation. The Master's messenger has come back again.

"You know in some quarters of the world, it is rude to eavesdrop on someone else's business."

She comes in from the fire escape with her hands up.

"You have remarkable hearing though I suspect other things gave me away aside from shifting around to stay warm out there."

"I have this uncanny way of knowing if someone is following me or watching me. You aren't the only woman in Vladivostok that has taken a vested interest in me."

"That would be Raatko's daughter… men are known to find her irresistible, but so far she courts none, still they as Americans would say… ogle her."

"I get the idea… so why is she keeping tabs on me?"

"Raatko obviously holds an interest in you… how long has she been watching you?"

"Since I left Prague I believe."

"Then he has been watching you for a long time since it took you more than half a year to reach here."

"How did you know how long it took?"

"Master has his eyes in the world too."

"So what is your name? You already know mine."

"My name is Kairi Tanaga… the reason for my Master's warning is Ken once trained under my Master… if I say more I will truly breach my word… I tell only as much to wave you off, but I have a feeling you are merely hearing me out… nothing more."

"What makes you believe that?"

"You have met with Ken's associate Yuri and you have the tools necessary to your part in the theft. If you do go through with it… expect treachery from Ken, Yuri, or someone else entirely."

Kairi drops something, which distorts Bruce's vision though once it clears, Kairi is gone. If he had to guess her age, she is not much older than Zatanna or Selina. It put him ill at ease to think of either girl right now considering how they both may feel about him and how reluctant he is to walk towards having a relationship with either of them down the road. Kairi had also to his surprise left him some food and some water. It is not much, but better than living off scrapes as he had during his time of train hopping with the real Malone. Malone despite his obvious criminality had been a contradiction as he had shown Bruce how to survive on less and make the most of what is available to him.

Those who dress like criminals are not always so and those who look the part of lawmen are likewise not always as appear either. All wear disguises though as to its purpose, that is not always easily read, but then Bruce Wayne, heir to the Wayne legacy and hidden wealth, looks little more than a mobster yet beneath all that resides a brooding intellect with more compassion than one could imagine fully.

* * *

The vehicle is relatively where Yuri's map had shown it and so he climbs into it then take the time to warm it up as it apparently was sitting out in the elements for days now. The Cyrillic characters on the side of the tractor trailer did not immediately register to him, but then he saw it fully when noticing an all too familiar logo printed on the side of the cargo containers resting on the wharves. It holds a rather disheartening irony as the containers bear the emblem of Fox Industries, formerly Wayne Enterprises, but Fox had obviously done well to maintain the family business in Bruce's absence.

Ken and the others are already there posing as recent hires to the warehouse personnel. 'Malone' gestures to Ken and Ken nods before hand signaling him to park the truck. He does so then gets out and goes to unlock the trailer's back door while Ken's 'henchmen' start moving the merchandise. Everyone stops dead in their tracks at the sound of sirens. Ken fumes, tells everyone to hurry, and looks suspiciously at 'Malone'. 'Malone' knows he had nothing to do with the fact that the local police were already onto to theft attempt yet even he had to wonder how they got wind of this quickly unless they had an infiltrator in Ken's team or they were already watching the place.

The local squad cars surround the warehouse in less than half an hour and they waste no time arresting everyone at the scene including 'Malone'.

"None of them look local, especially not that one," comments a patrolman.

"Tell the warden to expect a new batch of foreign criminals," remarks the officer.

"I'm not a criminal," quips 'Malone'.

"You are an accessory to theft… corporate theft no less… so how are you not?"

"We never got away. The merchandise is still at the warehouse!"

"Sure, but much of what your boss was after is in a truck you drove here!"

'Malone' attempts to run even with the cuffs on his wrists, but several patrolmen chase him down then tackle him. The ground comes up fast on him and then the impact with the ground blacks him out.

* * *

The weeks that follow are blurry at best and disturbing at worst.

He lies shivering between a thin blanket and a thin straw mattress.

**_He falls into the crack in the promontory and sees bats for the first time._**

He had lost track of time even though there's a barred window to the cell.

_**His father's overtures to Chill, his mother's cries before being shot, and a needle prick to his neck.**_

His cellmate is standing over him with a damp cloth as if he had fallen ill from the cold.

_**His nightmares return with the bats, the bangs, the fear, the fury, and always the eyes.**_

He snaps awake and the old man he had thought he had seen between nightmares is there.

"Dream?" asks the old man.

"Nightmare," answers Bruce.

Together they head towards the usual meal service, which hardly deserves the description as the guards serve pitiful rations even for a prison though it would be another experience to put Malone's more from less diet of a lesson. It is less than surprising that somehow Ken and his thugs were also being held here. After he had been caught with them yet he had seen little of them except for the occasional scrap with a few of them.

"Together they will attack you here in front of everyone, even the guards," says the old man.

"This is getting repetitive and tiresome," grumbles Bruce.

"They will do it again and again… until either you or they are dead," continues the old man.

"Between this excuse for food and them… I'd say I take death from them," remarks Bruce.

Ken strikes Bruce clearly across the face leaving a rather nasty cut that bleeds almost immediately.

"You are going to wish the police wasted you first before I am done with you. This is worse than an ordinary jail… this is purgatory and I am your death!"

"I always imagined hell to be a lot warmer than this and I always thought death wore black!"

Bruce strikes back against Ken and the blow sends him flying into the mud. The others come after him next yet in rather haphazard he fends them off one by one. It takes longer than it would have if he had more energy or a fuller stomach though he had no recourse except to hold them off. Each fare worse than Ken and Bruce did what he could to redirect the pain they brought to him back at them. Their howls and yells are more like that of hurt animals than of men looking to put him in the ground through the mud. There is burst gunfire moments later as the guards swarm his position then they start pulling him away from the knocked inmates including Ken.

Another squad of guards pulls Ken in the opposite direction.

* * *

Bruce's satisfaction at beating off Ken is short lived as the guards toss him into a darker cell than the one he was left to die in for the past several weeks since his detainment. The amenities as before are even worse in solitary. However something else occurs to him that while he and the cell both stink worse than dirt, he is not alone in the room. Someone had come to pay him a visit from within his own cell and that much struck him as odd. He tears something from the bed and uses it to stem the bleeding from his temple.

"Is your desperation so overriding that you let yourself be put in here just to go one on one?"

"Actually there were seven including Ken."

"Mathematics don't lie, there were only six… technically seven if you count fighting yourself."

"Fighting myself?"

"Yes, when you began this trip into the criminal underworld. You were healthier, abler, and had a direction though now you are not quite overly ill, you are slower, and to me you look lost."

"Who are you?"

"My name is Felix Reynard. I am well aware of who you are Bruce Wayne."

"My name is Anthony Malone. I have never heard of Bruce Wayne."

"Disguise your looks and voice all you want Wayne, but I know who you are."

"You are mistaken."

"Don't insult my intelligence. The real Anthony Malone has been dead for over a month."

"How is that you know this?"

"I represent Drakon Raatko. He has ears and eyes everywhere. His interest in you is heightened by his daughter's attraction to you and beside the point you made quite a few blunders though the worst of the system and the criminals have been kept away from you."

"Should I be thanking him?"

"If you wish, if you have had your share of this place then your release from here tomorrow shall be welcomed. The mountains to the north are where you'll find him and a place where you can truly learn what you set out to learn."

"What was I looking to learn?"

"At the risk of what your country calls clichés, only you can discover that one."

* * *

True to the word of his apparent employer Reynard had him out by the early hours of the following day with meager supplies, but at least the coverings were enough to shield him from the elements though the growls of his own stomach are hide to silence. The weather worsens with each passing mile yet he passes the first few landmarks rather quickly. The mountains are steeper than he had imagined, but then why else call it a hike. The hours and his hunger only appear to grow harder to ignore though soon enough he happens upon solid wooden doors. He slams the latch in sluggish motions until they part to reveal the interior of something that almost looks like a monastery.

"Welcome Mr. Wayne, are you ready for the next step?"

"I cannot feel my limbs, this hunger is draining, and you ask me if I can step any further?"

"Your senses ought to be like nails, the urge for eating held in check, and your body limits denied!"

Bruce and Reynard engage in crude melee combat though it is clear even to Bruce that his 'benefactor' retains the 'advantage'. The fight if it could be even called such lasts mere minutes before Bruce collapses now bleeding from his nose and again from his temple. Ken's handiwork as well as the more recent blows would need treatment. Reynard signals the monks to take Bruce to the healer and the shadow behind Reynard speaks to him in the tongue that only he, Raatko, and Raatko's Shadows speak in private.

"He had nothing left to him except anger and unwillingness to go back to Gotham empty handed."

"_Tend to his physical wounds then begin your sessions with him, he has potential."_

"Yoru's students had their way with him. As for Ken, he will be dealt with and as for Kairi. She is best kept away from this place if she knows of it."

"_I understand all too well. He had come to us despite the warnings from Kairi."_

"As for Talia, she is best kept away from him for now. Her interest in him is useful."

Reynard's smile widens and the shadow behind him flickers in the glow of the candles.

* * *

A/N 1: Bruce takes on the alias of Anthony Malone, a criminal he encounters while traveling across Russia. The real Malone dies at some point prior to his arrival in Vladivostok thus enabling him to impersonate him except to those who know his real name.

A/N 2: Kyodai Ken, Yoru, and Kairi appear either **Night of the Ninja** or **Day of the Samurai **(BtAS). These two episodes are the only ones besides **Zatanna** to deal with Bruce's world tour training. It also establishes this idea that Batman has more in common with a samurai than he does with a ninja. Yoru's perspective is based on Batman's modus operandi and resisting the temptation to use the knowledge of the death touch.

A/N 3: As for who Drakon Raatko and Felix Reynard are, well that's not that much of a mystery nor is the identity of the other woman briefly seen in the middle of this chapter.

A/N 4: Bruce's imprisonment for his part in the botched robbery is based on the flashbacks and early present day events of _**Batman Begins**_.

A/N 5: It was only by re-watching the mentioned episodes that I actually hit upon the idea of the plot developments for this chapter. The title in its own way is a cross between foreshadowing and hinting at the events of this chapter too.


	6. Binary

The mountains were colder than anywhere else he had been with the exception of his time in prison as an accessory to a burglary that went wrong. He could not imagine he ever find a way out, let alone a way back to Gotham, and even after running from the physical places that wrought his pain, he could not escape the pain in his mind. He wonders if it is an exaggeration or if he is holding onto it as a sign that he is alive, that there's something constant in the world, but then so much his pondering often left with greater confusion than before. The ground looks solid beneath his feet and feels that way too, but often as Felix taught him, not all is as it appears to be, and so far he no cause to question Reynard's philosophies in regards to combat.

* * *

He fought others unarmed and sometimes to force him to be creative Reynard had others fight him with weapons such as the spiked belt whip, which often left him with cuts though those scratches often heal in less than a few days. Over time he learns to dodge them effectively even when having to fight on wooden poles with metal bases that hold back the heat from below. He could almost tell that perhaps he is truly beginning to impress Reynard though to read Raatko is a different story altogether and occasionally he saw Raatko's daughter standing to Reynard during his observations. She could be there as a distraction or maybe even a reminder that he must keep his focus on his opponents. She in time begins to appear more often and he took it almost as a given though no time for assumptions.

"Today we move onto something a little different, follow me Wayne," orders Reynard.

"Where are we going?" asks Bruce.

"You'll see, it is time you learn how to fight with the tools that we use."

"Tools wouldn't happen to be another word for weapons would it?"

"Not all weapons are made for taking lives, some are meant for saving them."

"A weapon is a weapon, no matter its form."

"That is true, but if you want to defend against weapons, you must know their uses right?"

"Right… so what do we begin with?"

"An ordinary staff is one thing, but there are other kinds of staffs including a Bo staff."

Reynard tosses him what looks like a simple rod then shows Bruce how to make it change size. Bruce duplicates the method with relative ease and then they begin to fight each other with the staffs. All Reynard's blows land and almost none of Bruce manage to so much as make contact as Reynard deflects most of them. Bruce's next swing appears to be going towards Reynard's forearm except midway he instead changes direction towards leg thinking to trip the older man up. Reynard saw it so he sidesteps then pushes Bruce back gently hitting the younger man square in the chest, which sends Bruce sprawling.

"You really must learn to anticipate the moves of your opponent and only then would you stand a change at making yourself more than just a man. Now get up and let us try again."

"I couldn't even do something as simple as a trip up on you. How do you expect me to hit you?"

"Remember how you held Ken and the others back at the prison camp. If you like use that example as a way of getting close enough to hit me. Otherwise learn to anticipate my movements because I have been reading yours since before we met."

They engage again and again Reynard retains the advantage though even he had to admit training someone like Wayne had its advantages for Raatko's plans for Gotham though Raatko himself was aware that the focal point of the Regime's grip on the world lies in Berlin.

* * *

Raatko was in Stalingrad when the Russians held out against the Regime Stormtroopers, but the fact remains the Red Army was ill-equipped yet lack of proper weaponry did not stop them from defending their city against an external invasion. Raatko had been expecting the Americans to withstand an invasion with the same determination and stamina that the Russians had shown yet to his everlasting disappointing, they eventually lost to the Regime. He had heard rumors that the Americans were on the verge of developing atomic weapons, which could have tipped the scales though they never had time to put it into play against the Regime.

The Regime's grip for the longest time kept the local populations in line, but with the building of the walls to isolate Regime strongholds, the fledgling resistance movements began to lash out. Their successes were often indecisive and too bloody. Only the Regime ever knew how far the Americans' atomic project had gotten and they were not telling anyone in order to conceal the fact that the Regime already had the means to build atomic weapons. The Regime kept its secrets well though were further rumors of places in the world that the Regime could not gain access to yet Raatko could never find them despite efforts to find them.

It led him to believe they were hiding on purpose in order to conceal their presence from the world as men with who use and abuse them. One legend in particular really got his attention though of course like any legend it belongs to the distant past where even then warfare had only begun to beset humanity yet wars had grown shorter in duration while the weapons of war had grown more perverse as well. It is quite possible they hide from the world to avoid being caught in conflicts they believe do not concern them, but somehow he had doubts that was the only reason they, whoever they were, chose to stay out of world affairs.

The Americans' effort in the Pacific Theater likewise fell apart because the Regime had given logistical support to the Empire of the Rising Sun. The Soviet Union now facing three technologically superior nations chose instead to join them. Those who did resist within Europe were painfully beaten into defeat. France was never the same and the same could be said for London. Raatko had to wonder how was it that the defeat at Normandy proven to be so fatal to the Allies though the answer to all that lies with the fact that halfway through the war, a man called Vandal Savage had come into the fray. Ultimately he took over and Hitler was never heard from again.

Savage in an odd act chose to dismantle the concentration camps and instead put all prisoners to work in war factories. At first that appears to be a humiliation to those sent into them, but over the decades since the war, the factories often were targets of the European Liberation Army among other splinter groups. Savage even in his greatest triumph still could not put an end to rebellion against his absolute rule and Raatko in part did contribute to that, but as for why, nobody did suspect his real intentions in helping the resistance movements. More to the point nobody even knows that Drakon Raatko is not his real name, but that is secret known only to a few including his daughter, his bodyguard, and a man known to the ELA as Felix Reynard.

People in general know about as much Reynard as they did Raatko, which is ideal to the organization that answers to either name.

* * *

Bruce after weeks of trying finally believes he knows a way to think ahead of Reynard though Reynard continues to doubt the decision of allowing Bruce to join them. He lacks the ability to emotionally distance himself from the mission that Raatko had chosen him for months earlier. Reynard by principle adheres to the decisions of Raatko, but Raatko also made Reynard the man who must separate those that will join the ranks and those who must disappear without a trace. Bruce remains somewhere between the two as he continues to best many of the others in combat yet as usual many still insist only when you outwit Reynard at least once does he consider you worth retaining. The price of failure is a cost in blood, which means failing to earn your place in the Shadows is synonymous with death.

Today he duels with Reynard once more except this time they duel with swords customary of a Shadow footman. Both also wear the wrist gauntlets that serve a defensive purpose so that one may block the other's blade by bracing against it with the gauntlet. The further exception to the duel is that they were atop a frozen pond some distance from the mountain hideaway. Bruce notes that the ice is inconsistent in its thickness and would have to bear that in mind depending on how they maneuver during the duel. Reynard simply stands at the ready as if wondering whether or not his student would dare to maintain the trend of making the first move and if not then it would fall to him to start this thing.

"Fear is your greatest weapon, more so than your image, fear makes it impossible to escape or ignore, but turn others' fears against them, you must first rein in your own," says Reynard.

Reynard steps to the left and Bruce shifts to the right. Neither of them is going straight for the other, which meant to Reynard that something had finally gotten through to Bruce about building up the tension in order to get the opponent off balance.

"What happened in your home all those years ago is not your burden to bear. Your father could not protect himself or your mother. The fact that you are alive is a testament to those who did act to save you because they did something rather than rely on words to do the footwork," comments Reynard.

Bruce found his anger and outrage impossible to contain at Reynard's commentary about his childhood's end. He chose to strike at last except Reynard instead of striking back kept blocking every slash and swing with the gauntlets before knocking Bruce backwards while causing Bruce's blade to spin away from him.

"Chill had a gun and an entire squad of storm troopers with him that night!" yells Bruce.

"Would that stop you from acting?" snaps Reynard.

"I have had training!" retorts Bruce.

"It matters not how much you hone and train yourself for when the time comes you either act or die. Your father sought a middle ground and instead ends up dead taking your mother with him!"

Bruce clearly enraged retrieves his weapon and attacks Reynard from a kneeling position, which the older man appears to have not foreseen though there is doubt once Reynard is sent sliding across the ice without a weapon except for the gauntlets. Bruce heads over and points the blade directly at Reynard's cheek.

"Yield?" asks Bruce smugly.

"Yield, I think not, you gave ground for a blow," snorts Reynard loudly.

Bruce sees it too late to step back and the ice gives out under him.

* * *

The ice cold water feels like a thousand knives stabbing him at once. First he sees his father descend through the crack in the promontory. After he feels Reynard pulling him out of the icy water. Scenes keep twitching back and forth until he wakes by night to a burning fireplace. He sees Raatko's daughter up close for the first time since Vladivostok.

"Ah, you awake at last. You were thrashing about quite a bit in your sleep though almost getting hypothermia does strange things to people. I will let him know you are awake now."

"Wait a moment, what is your name?"

There is something undeniably exotic about the way her hair falls over half her face leaving only to see one of her dark brown eyes.

"My name is Talia and I already know who you are Bruce. Father gets such a twist in his countenance when I call you anything other than Bruce."

"What else could anyone possibly call me?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I have very strong feelings for you despite our lack of face to face contact. Your actions have impressed me over the years since you were at the Kyles."

"How did you know about that?"

"We have been watching you a very long time though I was no much older than Selina when you first went there and I shared her reluctance to let you leave her. I also felt safe knowing you were around for that little girl back in Italy and when you were with Zatanna… oh how I read her longing to have you."

"Some people might call that stalking at least in my country."

"Father believes your compassion for others no matter what their situation is a flaw. You have everything else necessary to be one of his chosen yet unlike him… you haven't killed yet."

"Killing serves no purpose except to perpetuate violence."

"Can killing be wrong if done to protect others?"

"There's always consequence whether you kill or not."

"You believe it bears on the long term?"

"Yes, how can you continue to do the right thing when you keep finding ways to rationalize killing someone, simply because you can or because they are a continuous problem?"

"You do suspect the nature of the final test?"

"It means I might have to kill someone…"

* * *

Reynard watches from above with the bodyguard that serves both him and Raatko.

"So were you ever going to tell him that I am how you knew where to find him?"

"I think there are certain things that Mr. Wayne is better off not knowing Ubu."

"I have brought another, the one you were after as a means to test him."

"Good because soon enough we must find out if Wayne can kill because if he doesn't…"

"… It is Raatko's way after all. He would be of no use to us if he can't find the nerve."

"Now I must interrupt her and her Beloved… leave it to her to fall for an outsider."

"So you object to whom she shows affections for?"

"I object yes because he yet to undo my doubts about him though it is so called compassion that she adores in particular. However she won't risk everything over him."

"Idealists cannot fight criminality effectively."

"I have known that since I killed the man who killed Talia's mother."

"Others have shown promise before only to disappoint you. He is the only one to make it this far."

"I realize that too, which makes what I may have to do much more disappointing."

Reynard descends to bring a kettle of hot tea to Bruce and Talia. Ubu remains on watch from above.

* * *

"He didn't see through my deception in Vladivostok though I have learned from the best when it comes to disguises," remarks Ubu.

"_Likewise Wayne has shown himself almost all too trusting of Reynard though that is the point because Wayne has yet to develop a strong sense of knowing when someone is deceiving him though his caution in his recent fights show him to be getting better that way,"_ notes Yuri.

"He is also quite the heart-breaker when it comes to women, so I imagine he'll disappoint or hurt Talia before long too. He acts like he deserves no happiness, that he is forever to atone for what Reynard already told him is not his burden, but then nobody can simply break their chains."

"_Few ever do. So far the only ones I have known to do it are Raatko and Reynard. Strange that we both know the truth about them whereas Wayne remains oblivious to it and besides Talia knows when to keep silent. He'll realize it though by then it will likely be too late for him."

* * *

_

Bruce arrives the next morning to face an assembly of Shadow footmen and Reynard. As per instructions, they are all in black though Bruce remains uncertain to the purpose until seeing Raatko sitting on high, half hidden in the darkness.

"You are at a critical stage in your training with the Shadows. You are more than a match for all who have fought you so far though not so much for me. It is for this reason that Raatko has chosen to test you in the way all these footmen had already been through when they have come to this assembly."

The footmen step into sideways formation to reveal an altar of a kind with an ornately carved box on it. There are lit candles around it and Reynard directs him to it.

"The box is where we begin this test… from there… well you will feel it in your senses soon enough."

Bruce advances and kneels to bring himself level with the altar which is closer to the floor then him. As he raises the lid, there is a hiss as vapor spills out, and he grips the altar. His eyes show the bats, the cave, the foyer, and the gun. His ears hear the screeching, the dripping, the bleeding, and the tumbling of the gun barrel. His nose flares as if the bats were literally around him, next is mildew like stench of the water dripping off the walls in the cave, the absence of smell for the sedative, and the gunpowder residue in the air.

**"Focus Wayne… they are your fears… master them… use them… find me if you can,"**says Reynard.

Bruce turns around to face the dozens of masked footmen. It would be a challenge to say the least. He starts to walk among them while struggling to keep his fears in check. He begins to realize that box had some form of hallucinogenic vapor in it and that it would be a way of keeping him off balance if he let it fracture his ability to check his fears and bury his pain though he could not keep burying it forever.

**"You must become fear so that your presence will paralyze your opponents and enable you do what you must do to bring justice,"** continues Reynard.

The formation of footmen shifts again after Reynard's latest ramble. Something slashes his arm, it is a flesh wound, but still it hurts, so as a way to focus he latches onto the pain reaction to being cut. He moves along making silent passive slashes at random.

**"Your invisibility depends on leaving no means for your enemies to track your movements. Perhaps my initial estimation of you was too ambitious Wayne,"** comments Reynard.

Reynard raises a scythe and puts it to the neck of the man in front of him. The slash is exactly where it should be, but there's no bleeding from the man's arm. Reynard realizes his error a split second too late and feels the sharp side of a sword on his neck.

**"Never said anything about misdirection, which as it turns out is more useful than I thought so leaving tracks does not always count against me,"**remarks Bruce.

There is a light clapping from on high.

"_I believe this is a first for Reynard. Indeed the first time any student has done such a thing during a test since they usually attempt to spot him instead of leading him to the wrong position,"_ says Raatko.

Reynard's smile widens and now it appears all except one doubt is gone from his mind. It is clear now as the lessons appear to crystallize on a truly inventive misdirection from Bruce. Bruce is sent to the healer to tend to his shoulder cut.

* * *

The next part of the test follows later that afternoon.

"It is now time for you to truly become one of us and to officially bring you into the Shadows. You must bring balance by passing judgment on a man who means to kill you because he holds you responsible for his incarceration," declares Reynard.

"Who are you talking about? You can't possibly mean?" exclaims Bruce.

"Not your parents' killer, no I mean the man who wants to kill you, a man called Kyodai Ken."

Kyodai Ken is brought out in shackles and once seeing the clean shaven Bruce Wayne he starts cursing at him in Japanese.

"_Insults won't save you from the judgment that is coming for you,"_ says Raatko.

Reynard hands him what appears to be a blade made for him as it is longer and sharper than the blades he had been using in practice fights.

"Now if left to his own devices he will surely hunt you down if left alive. The same can be said for other murderers and would be murderers, for some times one must perish for the sake of others even if they have yet to commit the crime they are being executed for in order to prevent," reminds Reynard.

"_Our weapons for bringing justice change through the centuries. Often politics and economics are tools of the decadent yet to deal with them, we ourselves must use their most trusted tools against them, and so you must use his methods against him," _interjects Raatko.

Bruce at first considers that Reynard and Raatko have points in favor of him in ridding himself of Ken yet when he is about to strike he instead flips the brand used for marking those who serve the Shadows' master. It is the shape of a demon's head, which for a moment made him think back to what he read about various secret societies though more often than not much was always hard to believe yet the brand ambigram is impossible to misidentify.

Drakon Raatko is the Demon's Head. Drakon Raatko is **Ra's Al-Ghul**.

The man calling himself Raatko lunges over the elevated balcony with a sword in hand and engages Bruce in a duel. Reynard orders the footmen to retreat to the nearest hideaway from this location and then he would have to turn his attention back to Wayne's 'betrayal'. However as he makes his way towards Raatko and Bruce, he notices Talia watching from on high along with Ubu who is still trying to get her to pull back with him. She is only going to leave of her own volition, not Ubu's, and so he hand signals the bodyguard. Bruce's attention is momentarily thrown when he hears Talia call out to him.

Raatko uses the distraction against Bruce except a ceiling beam hits the much older looking man hard. There are no signs of movement from Raatko and then Bruce runs towards Reynard. He barely gets his former mentor out of the way of another falling beam except the angle of them hitting floor appears to knock Reynard out cold. Bruce does his best to carry the slightly heavier man away from the burning hideaway though no doubt when Reynard wakes up, he will be more than unhappy with Bruce, but Bruce intends to be as far away from Reynard as he can get. He felt he just made some dangerous enemies, but he felt as he had enemies since the night of his parents' murder.

* * *

However it in retrospect did seem a bit much to burn down their hideaway and apparently kill their leader whilst saving their point man.

"Oh, sh…"

The explosion sends them rolling down the side of the mountain and much of less than solid snowy ice formations start rolling down after them. Their tumble roll ends with them at a weakened dead tree right at the edge of an overhang. Bruce realizes he is holding up Reynard with the arm that the man had cut only hours before and for that reason alone Bruce is unable to refrain from wincing in pain as he strains to pull the man back from the edge. He didn't make it down the mountain with Reynard until well after night fall and by then he is almost dead on his feet.

The village is exactly where he had seen on the way here weeks ago so he stops by there and leaves Reynard with an older woman there.

"I heard an explosion. He won't be happy when he wakes up and saving him might not have been the best idea though I will tell him what you did just the same, let him decide what to do."

"It is my fault, it seems I cannot do much right in this world, he had taught me much, but then I was asked to do something I could not."

"Life often asks the impossible of us… I suggest you leave if you wish as they say a head start."

Bruce starts out alone as he had done so many times before though his departure like before is seen by curious eyes.

"The Shadows will track him, but they won't attack him. He is the first to defy Raatko and live to talk about it. Of course Raatko is not dead, we know his ways well don't we my daughter," says the woman.

A little baby girl is half-awake in a handcrafted cradle.

Talia steps out from the other room.

"She has grown much since I last saw her Sandra," comments Talia.

"Indeed she has and your father may perhaps a better candidate for the chosen in her," remarks Sandra.

"Perhaps, but he needs his rest. He will hold a grudge because he had such expectations for Bruce, but then he rarely speaks of my step siblings often. I think this because they were disappointments to him."

"They were, but he would never say it aloud. A parent will rarely speak ill of their offspring though they will try to overlook their flaws if they can manage that."

"Where Father sees the foolish idealists that are Bruce's dead parents. I see parents who gave their lives so that he might live… live to accomplish their dream… he is still young enough to believe…"

"Believe in what? Redemption for the mistakes of the past?"

"Perhaps… what do you see?"

"He isn't the first to believe that humanity is not beyond saving. Your father did once, but then live too long and you start to believe ending is better than mending to borrow the words of Aldous Huxley."

"Father might find it surprising that you have read that."

"He might find it curious that you recognize it."

"We all have secrets… even him… be it Ra's Al-Ghul or Bruce Wayne."

Sandra takes little Cassandra into her arms and rocks the little baby girl in her arms.

Talia turns her attention to the unconscious Felix Reynard.

* * *

A/N 1: Most of this chapter is obviously similar to certain events from **Batman Begins**, so I credit that as a direct influence. However there are a few notable differences including the presence of Talia, Ubu, and of course Kyodai Ken.

A/N 2: The argument-duel between Reynard and Bruce is again similar to the argument-duel between Ducard and Bruce in **Batman Begins**. Seriously that film has great dialogue and **The Dark Knight** is likewise full of similar moments.

A/N 3: Talia is rather forward about her feelings/interest in Bruce despite her father's misgivings about some of Bruce's qualities though Sandra attributes Raatko's/Ra's' disdain for compassion to age. As for Sandra and Cassandra, they have ties to Ra's Al-Ghul in the comics. An older Cassandra is briefly seen in _**The Savage Time**_ alternate present as part of the General's group of orphans and outsiders.

A/N 4: Raatko is actually Nyssa's last name before she discovers she is the daughter of Ra's Al-Ghul. For a man who has been alive for centuries, he has a few kids. Of course the only ones mentioned in BtAS are Talia and Arkady, the latter severely disappointed him, but in the end Ra's came back for the boy as seen in the BtAS episode **Showdown**.

A/N 5: Hex didn't intend to foil Ra's Al-Ghul's plans though it inadvertently happens in his final attempt to arrest Arkady for what he had done to a girl back East. A younger Hex with the same distinguishing scar would be seen again in JLU **Once and Future Thing: Weird Western Tales**.


	7. Paths

The only illumination spills through the gaps in the shutters. They made were from steel, which since then has with stood more than just the weather for the sole inhabitant of this place is a woman who attracts only those who wish to play games with her. The only difference is the man sitting across from her is not one of those people, the villagers she had known all her life, and the children of those who knew her as a child have taken their parents place. She doesn't tell her visitor these things for to speak them would mean facing the onslaught of memories, but still the memories will rupture to the surface whether she speaks of them or not.

She wears all black, which is curious to the visitor yet he like her does not offer thoughts freely. There are many implements before her including a kettle, a metal cup, a grater, and tea leaves. She makes note of his arrival though continues as she probably always does, visitor or not. He can smell the brewing tea leaves after she adds them to the boiling water in the kettle. There are handcrafted cylindrical cups on the wooden table closest to the window. They make barely noticeable glints in the light and he takes a seat facing her back though once she turns around his attention goes to her dark brown eyes.

Something happen to her long ago that stays with her even now and she looks as if she is trying to keep it behind her, but somehow staying near the village seems counter-intuitive to that end. He could say he sympathizes, but he won't, there is no point in it, because while the experience might be similar to his own, what follows is likely to be quite different. He is from the West and her from the East, commonality perhaps, philosophies maybe, but culturally and personally, he still had much to learn and this is why he had come to her.

The others who possess the knowledge had ultimately told him he is wasting his time, they think him a liar, but then they were also afraid of him. They didn't have to say it, their eyes did the talking, and he eventually did the walking when learning of her through a less than mutual contact. It is the contact who arranged the meeting and the rest as he knows is up to him.

She settles into the other chair opposite his. She shifts and tilts as she pours the kettle with one hand and holds the filter over the first cup. Once full she pushes it to him and takes the other to fill up. The kettle is put aside and she looks to him with those same dark brown eyes so unlike his own near crystal blue yet hidden behind dark sunglasses.

"Why should I want to train you?"

"At first the others did agree with my request."

"What made them change their minds?"

"I don't know."

Neither voice betrays signs of deception.

"What is that you want from me?"

"I'm looking for a way…"

He sets his sunglasses on the table in mid-sentence.

"… to deal with my pain."

She could see it in his eyes and she felt certain he sees something similar in hers. She agrees to teach what she knows and perhaps help achieve what he seeks, but she had been living with her pain for nearly twenty years. As for him she would hear the details yet she could scarcely imagine how a child could cope with such a thing, but she had her own past to cope with, not like his though she couldn't say which of them had it worse in terms of a childhood's end. In some ways she and he would always be at that moment even while they try to keep going without knowing entirely why they had to or why it had become so important to not give in or give up.

* * *

They walk side by side in the sunlight though both are more in tune with their discussion of pain. She walks barefoot and so does he, for here one needs not fear stepping on broken glass. All that is beneath them is dirt, is earth, and further along is the garden she keeps in order to feed herself. It is clear whatever happened to her, cost her deeply enough that she alone must provide for herself and why the villagers behave as they do towards her. This is her every day, to Bruce, he can't fathom why a person could live this way, but then in his travels he rarely kept to one place long enough to have experience that might grant grasps at understanding her circumstances.

"Pain exists in two forms: Exterior, that which is caused by forces we can't control... and interior which we can. Both, though can be managed through will."

"I know, I've researched the techniques. Breathing control, hypnosis."

"What of the spiritual nature? Have you researched that as well?"

He does not strike her as a man of faith, but then witnessing his parents' murder as a child perhaps put into him the idea that only the pain is real, and everything else is just something he can't be sure is real. He looks to deal with that which he holds onto for certainty.

"The interior is something you deny you."

"No, it is something that I manage."

"Do you?"

She gives him a look of disbelief. It is often that others he had met before saw through his disguises. It didn't matter what he said or how he acts, they could read pretenses for what they were, but they wouldn't deny him what they could teach him. However all they taught him were abilities that would ensure his survival, rarely did they ever dabble even slightly into what she is confronting him with and the silence that follows her last question is telling to her.

He looks down to see her feet on hot coals. She already anticipates the nature of his next questions, which would be his way of avoiding the matter of his pain by turning attention to hers.

"Does that hurt?"

"It feels like being caught in the rain, like an annoyance."

"Does it scar?'

"Bruce… what pain doesn't?"

* * *

Not all scars are on the outside for some are inside and by remaining they only fester when the memories that made them replay before one's eyes like what happen to his parents. He still had the physical scars from falling against the cracks on the way down the shaft below the crack in the promontory. There is also when his arm felt like it broke his fall and after the nerve shock of his father resetting that same arm. The odd thing is despite having a swarm of bats fly straight at him they barely even made skin contact. All they did was make sounds then flapped their way past him.

The next thing he recalls is his mother fussing over him after his father reset his arm. They also kept his arm in a splint for a few days after the fall. The events of that week remain intact in his mind while other memories float around with occasional remembrance because some part of him he had to admit latches onto all the pain he felt during that one week. The pain itself had grown up with him and he could no more outrun than he could shake his silhouette.

She steps off the coals and into an archway then unlocks a gate.

She leads him to another barely lit room where there are murals and statuettes likely to the faith that she retains despite all her pain. Meditation is something the others had not gone into with him during his time under their wing.

"Pain can't be overcome."

This is an unchangeable fact unlike reality, which is something else entirely.

"No, but it can be put in its place."

She raises her arm after inserting acupuncture needles it and he watches intently.

"That place is where pain can work for you."

Pain doesn't do the work, she knows it too well, and so he must learn this too.

"Pain doesn't work for you. You work through pain."

As days become weeks and weeks turn into months, he is still slow to understand what he comes to think of as her litany. Everything else he quickly picks up, all the exercises, the techniques, and this is unsurprising to her, he is driven to excel, a perfectionist to the core. He means to build up a persona that can do what he feels Bruce Wayne cannot do, but she couldn't blame for his drive though his pain is part of that drive. It could destroy him if he didn't unless he has the will necessary to manage it yet again he is still not a man of faith. There are at least two things he believes in, the first being his pain and the second is bound more to purpose.

There is also the promise he made to his dead parents.

* * *

Bruce sits in the shade shirtless yet much of his exposed skin is covered with bandages. His performance in duplicating all that she taught him has lent him confidence and cuts to attest to his determination. It doesn't faze her to see him like this, she holds no interest in him beyond teaching him, but it is becoming increasingly clearer that the only thing left is something he must do for himself.

She tends to her garden as she gathers herbs and spices for both healing and cooking. It took her many years to develop this garden, but she tends to it almost religiously, for she lives off her land, because she must, because she can't leave this place. She wonders how much longer he would wait to ask her why she never leaves the grounds surrounding her bungalow.

Her cow grazes nearby and the butterflies are busy fluttering between flowers. The garden's fragrances are one life's 'small' pleasures to her. She places her gatherings into the basket and she looks back to him when she hears him adjusting his sitting position.

"Yes, Bruce?"

"How did you-?"

"Ah, the question that has hung in the air since you arrived."

She resumes gathering while talking at the same time. It is something to marvel about her, the ability to do at least two things at once, and he listens like he always listens that is something she likes about him though she doesn't admit it to him.

"My knowledge was gained through deceit. I came to the fakirs seeking enlightenment, masquerading as a boy. I have no doubt they saw me for what I really was… but they agreed to show me the path."

Before a certain age males and females are almost indistinguishable, something she made use of when she sought the fakirs. In retrospect, it appears her deception was to transparent at least to her, but the fakirs didn't turn her out immediately.

"Why?"

It is the first time she spoken of her past to what her people would call an outsider, but she thought he more than earned the right to know because she had already heard so much of his past from him.

"So I would fail. It became a game for them."

The fakirs kept her around because it amused them and because there's the underlying notion that females do not have what it takes to learn the path.

She looks away from Bruce as she sets the basket down.

"But I didn't fail. And after many years, they tired of their little game… cast me out and I was exposed. They said I had tricked them."

She had lied to them, but they still taught her. They put her through everything that comes with learning the path and still she kept outperforming their expectations. They had their kicks, but eventually they decided it was time to end it. They could have just turned her away at the start or even later on, but no they did what they saw as a fitting punishment for a liar.

"I was branded a witch."

If Bruce could have seen her face he might caught of a minor reflection of himself when those memories awoke within him, but that is why she looks away from him.

"My family turned their back to me, as I had caused them great shame."

Her family's response to the fakirs' revelation about her turns them against her. She knows this is the expected response when someone is branded or condemned, but some part of her rails against it. She is just a young girl. It spews of injustice on a personal level for nobody knows the whole story nor would they be likely to believe her because to them she is a witch that is reason enough to never believe or listen to her words ever again.

She remembers pleading with her father, but the village including her family follows the village as the village follows the fakirs.

* * *

"_Please, Papa!"_

_Her father slams the door shut after turning her out with some supplies to last her a time. She bangs at the door._

"_I swear I haven't done anything wrong."_

_Those in the street stare including her now former neighbors that have known her since she was a little girl and in some cases from before she could walk on her own. She knows she'll never be able to set foot inside her family's home ever again. She didn't know who she felt angrier towards, herself or the fakirs, but ultimately she realized it is her deception that set this thing in motion. Hindsight is rarely alleviating and she knows that now. She begins to walk away aware that those on the street are still staring at her with looks she half imagines she deserves and others she thinks should not trust the fakirs professed honesty._

_It was a paradox for her, it always would be, and so her pain begins by being driven away from all that she holds dear in life because she had done something that seemed innocent at the time, but she didn't realize it could turn against her. She kept going back to them for too long, this is a fact, but the reality is they used her initial deception to overshadow the fact that a girl could learn the ways of Bhusara._

_As she walks villagers of all ages start throwing pebbles and rocks at her. They leave scars and in some cases cut like one that hit her forehead hard enough to make it bleed. Some were thrown by boys younger than her and others by boys older than her. The women didn't come to her defense, they were afraid of being branded too or at least attacked for defending a 'witch'.

* * *

_

"In the village, I am either feared or hated, take your pick."

"Why don't you leave?"

"Why? Because this is where I belong."

Bruce thinks of a far away city, a surrogate family he left behind willingly, and other things that happen since he left it. He had not seen anything remotely reminiscent of Gotham in his travels, but then maybe he in a way had been running from 'her', but 'she' isn't letting him go so easily. The mission demands that in time he return to begin what he set out do when he left familiar shores to learn what he could not learn while there.

"In your life… is there not such a place?"

He begins to understand purpose when their conversation ends.

Pain is still elusive to him and he feels like he had done a number on her by having her revisit the events that brought her to this bungalow. A single act had undone her life as she knew it and the life she had in its place is the only reality she has left so her litany, her faith, all that she believes is the will that gets through the psychological and physical attacks by the villagers. He could scarcely fathom being in her position, but he couldn't deal in what ifs, such things were impractical.

They had their meals as usual and he got to remove a few bandages from his face since those cuts were minor, but the others would take more time.

She risks going beyond the grounds to watch sunsets by the water occasionally. He goes with her this time. He is starting to see the wonders through her eyes and finding that annoyances aren't worth paying much mind too like all the burns or cuts he got during his 'performance' in the preceding days and nights.

They return and settle into sleep, but it appears the villagers have something else in mind when both are awakened to the sound of banging at the door. He hears them and she is nearing the door.

"_We wanna talk to you!"_

"_Yes, come on out, traitor!"_

He starts to pull himself out bed to intercept her leaving the bungalow.

"It is nothing, Bruce."

"Sounds like an angry nothing."

"Just boys playing at being. Remember? I am hated."

She attempts to pacify him, but clearly he isn't buying it.

"And feared."

"Wait here."

"No."

"Please, it's nothing."

He could call it pride, but he wouldn't. She could call him protective, but she wouldn't. She steps out and he begins to maneuver into position should they start attack her with more than just words.

* * *

"You shame yourself acting this way."

"Shame? You're the betrayer. Teaching an outsider what is not his to know."

"The ways of Bhusara are open to everyone. You do well to abide by them."

The tallest in the group of boys hits her directly at the center of her forehead. She doesn't move, she doesn't cry, but her forehead bleeds as a result of the blow. The blood streams down around her nose.

"Witch!"

One had to wonder is it a game or is it more than that? What makes it one and not the other?

"Now leave before your mothers see you."

She suggests that they be on their way before someone in the village sees them doing this. They presume the villagers won't care because she has been a 'witch' since before they were born and they had the means to punish her for that status.

The one that hit with the stick is about to hit her again except someone grabs his arm.

It is Bruce and he pulls him away from her. The boys turn their attention from her to the 'outsider'. The one with the stick smashes it against Bruce's skull and even as it breaks in half he remains totally still. Another boy hits him against the back of the skull with an empty glass bottle and like before he doesn't move except to spit blood.

The older boys all brandish daggers next. They don't come after him as a team as one makes a slash towards him except Bruce already mindful of his surroundings vaults over the circle of boys much to their surprise. He drops into a stance after landing in front of her.

She remains motionless, eyes closed, but her ears hear everything else.

The one with the ponytail makes his own move, but Bruce pulls his arm in such a way that he falls to the ground. The one that hit him with the bottle comes at him next and soon after goes sprawling backwards. This one also appears to be throwing up on his way to the ground.

The one he sent to the ground only seconds ago makes a slash at his ankle, but Bruce maneuvers out the way then performs a string of attacks, which send those still standing to the ground.

The one that broke a stick against his forehead is the only one still standing that is in close proximity to him and her. Bruce continuously evades his string of slashes until during the next back step he brings his right hook to bear and hits him square in the jaw. He drops to the ground instantly.

The youngest of the group flees after witnessing Bruce take down all the older boys.

Bruce looks back to finally check on her, but she is not there. He goes back inside to see candles lit and her dropping his bag before him.

"You need to leave."

"What? I just saved you from –"

Her reaction to what he had done doesn't make sense from his perspective, but to her, she believes she could have made it through this with nothing more than a minor head cut.

"Nothing, Bruce. Like the fakirs they would have grown tired of their game. They would have left on their own."

The disbelief is slow to wear off, but she fears what his continued presence will do to him, to her, and more so the village. This is not where he belongs, she knows that now, but still his pain remains in him.

"You, though, must be sent away. It's time. You have learned what you have wanted to, haven't you?"

"Yes, I have."

"Then go."

He picks up his bag and starts to walk out another door just as he had been doing for years now. He didn't belong there or here. He realizes where he must go to now, where he must go back to the beginning for out here he is at the end of this journey. The next one, the one he had been in some ways dodging for most of his life, is on the other side of the world.

"Thank you."

One could wonder what she thought of his departure. He found something of an answer in a quick note she left in his bag.

"_I have failed you. You came asking for help in dealing with your pain. But your pain is beyond my abilities. Perhaps yours as well. For your pain is leading you down a path you desire."_

She was on the verge of being right about him and more so his pain.

* * *

After several days travel Bruce arrives at a nearby city by hitchhiking aboard a truck.

He goes to the local airport and uses what little money he had on him to send a message to Lucius Fox. He signs the message with an alias, but left an obvious clue as to his true identity that Alfred would be sure to recognize or so he hopes this to be true. It is also going out on a limb to think that Fox or Alfred was still in Gotham, but he hears a voice behind and not a familiar one at that.

"Rumor has it you are dead, have been dead for years, but here you are right in front of me."

"I believe you have me mistaken for someone else."

"I'd say you look awful lot like him."

"Who would that be?"

"Thomas Wayne."

"He was murdered over twelve years ago."

"As news cycles go, people more or less forgot the name Wayne."

"That's tragic considering how much the Waynes did for Gotham."

"Their opinions got them killed."

"I watch who you say that to."

"I didn't mean to sound like it was…"

Bruce tries to go back to writing his message to Fox.

"I'm sorry I wasn't trying to upset you."

"It is all right I am just trying to get home."

"I'm sure Daddy could get an extra seat for you."

"Why the generosity?"

"You look like you are in a hurry."

"Well if he agrees then I guess it would be alright."

She smiles and goes off to find her father presumably.

Her legs, which he had not noticed at first, are in remarkable shape. His eyes follow them before trying to pull his gaze back up though along the way he sees her hips and then the back of her head as she is talking to her father. He begins to suspect he is attracted to her even though they only met less than five minutes ago yet he also wonders what Selina looks like now, but he felt certain he find out once back in Gotham.

* * *

"Thank you for the seat Mr. Beaumont," says Bruce.

"Glad to be of help and remember its Carl," replies Mr. Beaumont.

"It is good to be going home Daddy, not I don't like traveling to the Orient, but Gotham is home."

"Right you are my dear, so where are you from?" asks Carl.

"I was born in Gotham many years ago, but I have been abroad for some time now."

"Andi was saying you look like Thomas Wayne. I never met him personally, but nobody really knows what happen to his son. You wouldn't happen to be the son would you?"

"I doubt it is in my interest to divulge that information especially if the Gees are on the plane."

"I prefer to know who I am dealing with but I can make an exception at least once."

The travelers change planes a few times between Japan and Gotham City.

Bruce goes through security as Thomas Kane. The ruse works surprisingly and one of Fox's company cars picks him up outside Gotham International Airport.

One surprise happens as is he spots Carl and Andrea Beaumont getting into a Regime government limousine. Beaumont clearly had ties to the government, but what exactly he does not know yet that would have to wait awhile. He had other things to deal with like Alfred and Leslie as well as the look he would use for the mission.

He had however Andrea Beaumont on the brain along with the image of him with her, but then her father's affiliations made that problematic.

* * *

Alfred and Leslie were not the only ones on hand for his return.

There is also Harvey and his now fiancée Grace. There is also a very feminine looking Selina Kyle.

Bruce had to keep his jaw from dropping when he saw Selina.

"Man of the hour has arrived," jokes Harvey.

"Feels good to be home?" asks Grace.

Harvey waves both hands in front of Bruce's eyes, but it is clear that he is staring at the alluring outfit on Selina.

"I was beginning to think you had forgotten about me and gotten together with some girl overseas. You really do know how to try a girl's patience Bruce," teases Selina.

"I thought about you quite often during my travels. You truly are one of a kind Selina," says Bruce.

Selina walks much closer to him to the point that their bodies were closer than they ever were in the old days. Of course both of them had gone through puberty without seeing each other and both had come through it looking better than either recalls of the other. She kisses him roughly, which turns out to be more than just a glad to see you kiss. Bruce could hear Grace giggling and Harvey holding back a laugh.

Alfred is already out preparing the table for lunch and as for Leslie just is happy to see her late friends' only son back where he belongs, where he can do the most good instead of traipsing across borders or oceans.

Bruce also takes the time to help Alfred finish setting up the table much to the butler's surprise. He missed Alfred's company and cooking more than he could find the words for, but then it is advisable to not talk with a full mouth.

It was quite late by the time the conversations around the table had come to an end.

* * *

Harvey is now Gotham's leading legal personality, which means he is the District Attorney for the city. It is a position he fought to gain after years of moving up the chain, but still the corruption is in the city's veins and at its worse it is the Councilors that still run too much of the system.

Salvatore Valestra is the head of the council and usually most of them follow his lead, but they still divide much of the city among themselves. His allies are still on the Council thanks to him, but Charles Sol was quite a resourceful by himself and Brett Bronski is there because he knows better than to get on the wrong side of Valestra. The only problems they had at the top were Falcone and Thorne, but neither poses a serious threat for the moment. Many are looking to replace all five of them whether they are public about it or not.

Harvey isn't exactly a favorite of any of the five, but so far it is only Thorne who has the deepest dislike for Harvey, but then Harvey had broken several of Thorne's smuggling rackets. Politician and criminal are just labels, but for others the two tend to blur together when dealing with the City Councilors. In the old days, some would call them the criminal underworld, but then with the Regime, crime families found opportunities to seize the political arena away from those in power before the occupation.

James Gordon is still part of the Police Directorate, but so far he remains only a step above being a beat cop. His partner and term be used loosely is Arnold Flass who most know takes bribes from Falcone. The Council and the Directorate have been more watchful of men and women like Gordon for years, but so far nobody is quite aware of the extent of Gordon's true allegiances. He believes in law and order, but the methods in the past have made him less than eager to continue working for a police force that actually commits crimes to shut people up.

The irony is furthermore not lost on him that he had to endure cell time for his involvement with the Waynes, but thanks to Dent's predecessor he got off. He and Dent make quite an informal association because even Dent doesn't like having the law strong armed by the Council. They for the sake of cover continue to operate as usual, but even so many no longer want to lay low except they feel as if they are not a match to take on the Council or the Gestapo. So everyone went on waiting as they had done before, but for Bruce Wayne or rather his eventual underground persona the time to act draws nearer than anyone knows.

* * *

Selina takes Bruce to the roof so they might take in the night sky line from the top of Fox's penthouse.

"Promise me you won't leave Gotham again," says Selina.

"I'm back to stay this time," assures Bruce.

"Good because I missed you, at first just as a friend and then it turned into more."

"I missed you too and the memory of your cheek kiss is still with me."

She saunters closer to him and he puts his arm around her. In a way Selina had dreamed of their reunion for a long time and now that she was with him all she wants is to be alone with him to remind him of their brief time together. Bruce couldn't ignore how flattering the dress looks on her and of course it is also a little on the short side, probably on purpose. He wouldn't openly call her a tease, but she did have that tease quality to her body.

The kissing goes further as tongues go into the mix.

They manage to stop long enough to see they are both almost breathless and flushed in the face. She pulls him back inside and they go the room that he would be staying in for the time being.

She kicks off her heels and starts gesturing him to the bed. He too caught in her making the first move goes to join her. Her sheer nylons are the next thing to go except she makes him remove them, which he does ever so slowly before tossing them to where her dress lays on the floor. She starts to claw her way through his clothes and leaves more than a few scratches on him because of the way he is in bed. He leaves marks of his own and she enjoys that more than anything else with the exception of having him in bed with her.

She had seen other guys in his absence, but none of them could match Bruce's ability to realize her emotional state without having to ask her.

Both gradually become too tired to go further so as they collapse on their backs, they still had yet to actually do it, but somehow to both it feels good enough to have rediscovered each other's bodies.

It is only after when she is asleep and he is awake that his mind lingers towards how becoming involved with Selina could affect the mission though similar thoughts had come to him during the fly back courtesy of the Beaumonts.

He gently sets her arm aside and decides to take a cold shower. After years of reining in his hormones he suddenly felt too much at once, but then being with Selina is arousing to say the least.

He wonders if he is capable of loving a woman in the way that she deserves, but it appears Selina had decided that she is falling in love with him if the way she had been kissing him meant what he thought it meant.

[+++]

Later the following day, he goes alone to Gotham Cemetery to visit the grave.

He overhears a familiar voice nearby. It is Andrea Beaumont.

"Guess I am not the only doing this," comments Andrea.

"How did you know I was here?" asks Bruce.

"Rumor had that Bruce Wayne is alive and I was sure I met him somewhere."

"Yes, sorry for the deception, but it was…"

"Necessary."

The silence lingers for a moment.

"So what did the three of you talk about?"

"A secret promise I made on this spot the day they were buried."

"So you are keeping it?"

"So far."

"Then why the face?"

"What do you mean?"

"You can't be that dense."

"Cemeteries are not something I am fond of."

"Could have told you that… hate hospitals myself."

"I think I should be going."

"Why the rush?"

"I rather not be seen right now."

"Just because you are who you are doesn't mean you have to duck everyone."

"I know, but I get the feeling they still want me dead."

"Doesn't mean we all want your cute self dead Bruce."

He turns to go, but she shoves something in his trench coat pocket. As he walks away he starts to read it and at the bottom she left a number. She wrote its' her private number, but he found it hard to believe that nobody would be tapping the Beaumonts' phone lines despite him working for the government. Of course his government involvement is still circumstantial, he had no way to prove or disprove it.

He now had two women after him and both brought with them a chance for something he didn't believe he deserves in life.

_**Happiness

* * *

**_A/N 1: The woman that Bruce trains will seem familiar you've seen **_Batman: Gotham Knight_** - **_Working Through Pain_**. The segment itself contends with how to deal with pain and the realism of its longevity in Bruce.

A/N 2: She teaches him the ways of Bhusara, which she was taught by the fakirs of her village. She did this by pretending to be a boy, but in the end as she reveals to Bruce, it turns out badly for her. She is branded and made to live apart from her family.

A/N 3: She in many instances echoes what he will become with the exception of how he will handle pain and how he will use what he was taught in his travels. The strongest commonalities between them is resilience and the sense of belonging to a place.

A/N 4: Two women, two paths, it is decision time, but Bruce being the brooding type, he won't make up his mind easily. As for the bedroom scene with Selina that too was abrupt and intense. As for his reunion with Andrea at the cemetery, that is closer to how Bruce and Andrea actually meet in **Mask of the Phantasm**.

A/N 5: Role reversion continues as criminals become politicians in this time line including three who were killed in **MotP**. Harvey has become a D.A. and as for Gordon he is for the moment stuck with Flass. Flass was the crooked partner of Sergeant Gordon in **Batman Begins**.


	8. Mantle

He spent time with both women. He found himself enjoying the company of both. He realizes he will have to decide between them before long. It is no trouble at all to maintain the alias identity of Thomas Kane, not with the wealth of the Wayne family routed through decades of interest from his mother's family. He poses as a distant relation to the Kanes, which many of Carl Beaumont's friends buy into without suspicion. The only unnerving character that 'hangs' around Beaumont's crowd is a man that Valestra refers to as Jack and he usually dines apart from the crowd, but always keeping an eye on any table nearby as well as their recurring guest 'Thomas Kane'.

Bruce accepts that Jack, if that's his real name, is just plain suspicious of new comers, but then he notes that he looks at Carl and Andrea in a way not that different to himself. He only appears to trust whoever employs his services.

"So who runs the Council these days? Last I heard it was still Stromwell," asks 'Thomas'.

"He and Thorne did not see eye to eye, but of course Stromwell already had a successor in mind, so he went around Thorne's back room deals and brought Falcone into play using all the favors he could muster including mine," remarks Valestra.

"Your voice must carry a lot of weight in politics then," comments 'Thomas'.

"That it does Herr Kane, that it does, but then politics also have monetary concerns and that's where Carl comes isn't it right Carl?" responds Valestra.

"Right you are Sal," replies Carl.

Tonight Carl looks rather afraid for his life, but as a prominent man of finances, he had thankless task of keeping the books straight yet the man didn't strike Bruce as a cheater or a deceptive sort though it is usually never threads that make the man or woman. It is the things that they hide from others that offer glimmers into the character behind the mask. Andrea tugs at his arm as if compelling him to the dance floor so he obliges her if only to get away from the table because clearly the scene is bothering her despite the interest he holds in getting this close to the men in power. One of those men quite possibly had given the order to send Chill to his parents, but he couldn't tell which one though they say it was always Falcone holding Chill's leash, but others talk as if he also took requests from Thorne.

The truth about whoever sent is potentially lost to the decades. Beaumont's assistant Arthur Reeves behaves professionally in public, but more than once Bruce could see that Arthur dislikes the amount of attention that Andrea is showing as he had designs on Andrea though she knows or not is in question. The one thing to be grateful besides her not blowing his cover is that Selina isn't around to blow it either, but that was his other persona 'talking' when he registers that with her leaning against himself.

"Something on your mind darling?" asks Andrea softly.

"The future," responds Bruce calmly.

"Anyone in particular or the generic variety?" murmurs Andrea.

"Ours in a way," answers Bruce.

They kiss on the floor and he finds himself enjoying it in a way he didn't expect yet he pulls back from with a slowness that he prays doesn't shift into her thinking that he didn't want her to do that because he didn't know one way or the other about how he should feel about it.

Together they leave the floor and she personally chooses to drive the car instead of having a driver along with them and he had to wonder where she would be driving them though somehow he had the feeling in his gut that he wouldn't like it. On some level, he never wants to go anywhere that place again, but she wants to see it, he can't exactly tell her "no", she knows who he is. Her father knows who he is, so maybe it was a matter of protecting his secret. She is driving towards the long abandoned Wayne Manor. To him the place might as well as be a cemetery in itself because nobody has lived there since the murders. It would be cynical to say people don't want to live where people die, but people die all the time.

It could be in their homes, their cars, their offices, and any other possible places. Nobody gains preference in the moment of their death, when one dies, one dies, and that is it. This view seems limited and jaded especially for him.

* * *

The gates had fallen from their hinges, rusted by time, by weather, by neglect. The rest of the exterior is not that much different in terms of appearance. The grass is overgrown, weeds everywhere, something lives here, but nothing human, just whatever took up residence after he left it alive. If he were one for believing in ghosts, then there would be ghosts, but to him ghosts were not corporeal, they were flashes of things past.

They would always be that to him. The giant oak doors on the front are chained to keep people from getting inside. The ones who sent Chill to kill his parents and him had left the manor standing on purpose no doubt as a constant reminder to anyone with aspirations of liberation. It fits their psychological tactics. It is not enough to simply kill someone for their views in this city, no one must leave a constant reminder somewhere and eliminating the Waynes made most of the other rich families take care as to who they associate with from then onward.

The wealthy instead began forming ties to one Councilor or another because they didn't want to fall out of favor with all of them because the story goes that the Waynes quite literally ticked off all of them starting with Falcone and Thorne. As for whether all of them were in on it, that is still debatable in many circles including anyone who gets to share a table with more than one councilor. This is often the case for men like Carl Beaumont or women such as Andrea.

Andrea shows a staying curiosity about the manor, but Bruce has no desire to remain here. They walk along towards the backyard and the promontory. The crack is hidden by years of overgrowth though his memory of the spot is the only thing that keeps Andrea from falling into it. Some earth shifts from them walking near the crack. He hears the all too familiar screeching then the fluttering, which tells him that the bats are still residing in there, for after all bats prefer darkness, why else be nocturnal. The sun is already setting by the time she sits down to check the tips of her high heels. After all his time away things he had seen in years still manage to catch his attention for few minutes before his gaze snaps back to looking at her eyes.

"You know a woman can tell when a man is fascinated with a particular part of her body and you do strike me as a leg man, but then you do also pay almost equal attention to eyes too Bruce."

"You don't seem to mind the fascination or the staring."

"On one hand I can revel in the fact that you find me attractive to the point of ogling me for awhile and on the other it can become unnerving because I wonder who is that you see when you stare at me like that."

"You don't like the idea that I could spend time with other women?"

"I think you already do, but I don't want to share you with other women, at least not in the ways of affection or intimacy, but not even I can control how other women get into your life."

"It is getting late, maybe we should head back."

"I'd think they want you to be happy with someone."

"A promise is a promise kept such is the plan."

"So where do I fit into the plan?"

She leans against him. Her perfume is familiar and ensnaring. Her hands put his palms on her hips.

"My happiness or even romance didn't factor into it then."

"What about now?"

All too close now as her breathing sounds almost aroused though he can't appear to figure why even though he too feels stimulation.

"As of now, I have yet to find a way where the plan and romance can coexist at ease."

"You flirt and tease… always so tempting when a man plays hard to get."

"I never play."

"You are sure about that?"

She kisses him. He doesn't pull away. She knocks him to the ground. He topples her with his legs. Her fall is broken by his body. His hands travel up her long skirt. She pulls off his shirt reveal many scars from his years of training and starts to trace them with her fingertips.

"You act so aloof, but nobody aloof could have these."

"All part of the plan Andi."

"What is the plan?"

"The plan is the mission."

"The mission?"

"It is of the dream of generations past."

"You are telling me you are part of the GRN?"

"What is it to you?"

"How many families have been wiped out for that?"

"More than just mine, it must stop."

"Is your life worth that? What makes that worth putting your life on the line for?"

The heat of the moment dispels as she starts to stand up then lets her skirt drop back down to just below the knees. This revelation seems like a mood killer, but now she knows more than she did before about the mysterious Bruce Wayne masquerading as Thomas Kane to the elite of Regime Gotham.

"Somebody has to do something and it might as well be me."

"So does that make me your enemy then?"

"Your father's association with the Councilors doesn't affect my view of you."

"So you like me, maybe even love me, but you want to go after my father's associations. What takes this above revenge if one of the councilors is directly responsible for sending Chill to kill your parents?"

"This isn't about revenge, this is about justice."

"It doesn't look that way from here."

"Go home Andrea."

"Don't be ruled by the past."

"What of the future?"

"Yours belongs to your mission."

"It doesn't mean we can't be together."

"Just take me home."

He does as she asks and it would be the last time he saw her. Both she and her father disappear in less than a week.

* * *

Bruce goes back to the promontory with a pike, reinforced cords, and a wrist flashlight. He also put on the gauntlets from his time with Reynard back East. It feels smaller than he remembers, but the last time he went into the crack it was not his call. He had been playing near and then he heard the screeches for the first time. His curiosity led him closer and then he lost his balance.

The rest were often the source of his early nightmares, but now all he felt down here was more physical than psychological. He also brought with him thermal and night vision goggles as on the fall he had seen very little of the cavern's interior despite having remarkable night vision as a boy. The only problem with outfitting the cavern would be how to do it without drawing Regime attention to it. He need a back door of some kind because bringing anything directly up the road to the ruined manor house would be like painting a target sign for the Gestapo or anyone else looking to take him out.

His cursory exploration of the cavern reveals a waterfall is hiding a break in the rock face, which do well as natural camouflage. It would be a way to bring the necessary machinery into the cavern.

It would be worth it to consult the city plans specifically the ones for the subway lines as they were almost practically no longer in use as Lucius told him recently. They also need to build a tunnel to connect the cavern to those abandoned subway lines. It would require serious manpower to complete this undertaking, but it had to be done to provide a base of operations for the mission. The time to begin is now and so he would start with the look.

Nothing as elemental as a bat and so he would turn his fear on those who used others' fears against them. The suit would have to be made of armor and Kevlar to insulate him against weapons like guns. As for the helm or cowl that would require a more personal approach. Next after that is a way to easily accessible tools of the trade. A way for that is a utility belt of some kind and with the resources of his parents' amassed wealth he starts building the look that would give form to his persona that the Regime might come to fear in time.

* * *

Fox is more than willing to put forth resources to furnish the cavern with the latest technology available to Fox Technologies as well as many that never made it pass the prototype stage including a rather interesting looking armored vehicle.

"Lucius, what is that?"

"She was built for military applications, but the project was axed years ago."

"Mind if I take it for a test run because I want to show you the cavern I told you about."

"I trust you found a back door to this thing because going above ground would be…"

"Ill advised I know."

The Tumbler is put into a tractor trailer in order to conceal the move from the subterranean garage used by Fox Technologies Applied Sciences, which is headed up by Earl Cooper. Cooper is also something a mechanic genius despite the fact that his previous employers didn't care for his warnings about safety issues with their latest automobiles. Fox saw a dedicated craftsman and an ethically minded worker in Cooper so that is how Cooper got his current job working for Fox. Cooper also brought along his daughter Marva as an assistant.

After a rather circuitous drive to the back road to the cavern's waterfall entrance and unload the Tumbler. Bruce uses a remote to open the retractable dashboard window. He gets in without much thought as to the fact that he is going to be driving something that looks like a battlefield vehicle and as for Lucius his cause in being here is two fold. The first is that this thing is company property and the other is seeing where Bruce means to make a base of operations. The hood slides back and the interior lights come on as the hood is made of dark tinted bullet proof Plexiglas.

The Tumbler roars to life as he turns 'her' on then starts driving her down the road. It is a slow start as Bruce looks to gain a feel for the controls and 'she' handles exceptionally well even in the narrow dirt roads that cover this area. Lucius grips the arm rests on the passenger side of the Tumbler as he weathers Bruce's rather aggressive driving style. Fox had almost forgotten how beautiful the forests were near Wayne Manor and much of it blurs by as Bruce accelerates while changing gears. He privately hopes that Bruce won't try to take the vehicle into the cavern or for that matter discovers the afterburner button hidden in the one handle he hasn't used yet.

"Looks like the Regime's loss is my gain," comments Bruce.

"Yes, they have become dicey about industrial contracts for their vehicles so they didn't see cause to pay for enough vehicles like this to replace their current generation of armored cars," remarks Lucius.

"So this is the only one that Cooper finished?" asks Bruce.

"Pretty much, he has another car in mind since you showed me the sketches for your new 'suit'."

"Guess I'll check it out too, but I'm certainly developing an affinity for this one."

"A bit of rush isn't it Mr. Wayne?"

"Indeed it is Mr. Fox… waterfall coming up soon."

"I wouldn't advise jumping, she wasn't built for that."

"Guess this afterburner button will come in handy."

The road ramps up slightly ahead as nature's erosion had long carved out pathways unlike those man-made that just cut through the land instead of flowing with it.

Bruce accelerates then flicks open the afterburner button then pushes it. There is a momentary almost boom like sound as the afterburner blast carries the Tumbler over the gap and through the cascading waterfall. 'She' lands roughly on the other side, but is no worse for wear thankfully.

"I think I'll leave future vehicles tests to you alone. Too much excitement is wear and tear on my old bones. Fun maybe, but this kind of thing is your arena."

"Sorry Lucius."

"The only question is how will I get out of the cavern because I ain't going back via another jump."

"My plan is to have a retractable platform or ramp to enable vehicles to cross the waterfall without using an afterburner."

"Like we couldn't have put that in first?"

Bruce shrugs though the older Fox suspects Bruce probably wanted to see what the Tumbler could take in terms of maneuvers such as that jump.

"Quite spacious in here. I think the locals might mind somebody else turning their 'house' into a resistance base of operations."

"I think the bats and I can coexist peacefully unlike the Regime who doesn't believe in such things."

"You have any ideas for a layout?"

"One thing on the list is getting illumination though not enough to make it too bright down here and definitely going to need a very powerful computer. The rest will be making this place into a self-sufficient all purpose space."

"So in other words the works, not going to be cheap, but we have plenty that like the Tumbler has never been put to use."

"I'd say it is time to make use of them then."

Bruce pulls out floor plans though they will need revisions naturally and then there's also separate plans to build a tunnel to connect this place to the nearest abandoned subway line.

"You realize it is particularly dangerous to cave under that much rock."

"That's why the tunnel will need reinforced titanium."

"Naturally."

* * *

Over the coming weeks and in varying phases the base of operations starts to take shape though as a matter of course the retractable platform is put together along with doors made to blend in with the rock face. It is done to hide the any detectable emissions or trails that would completely derail the construction. The estimate places completion several months from now, maybe even a year, either way it had to be done.

Bruce decides to repaint the camouflage Tumbler. Black is recurring color throughout except for making the furniture and consoles dark brown. The costume meanwhile is made up black armor and dark gray Kevlar. He had yet to don it for the purpose of introducing this persona to the self-proclaimed authority that reigns over Gotham still.

As for the tunnel, they start excavating from both directions with the intent on meeting at the middle. This is also the most hazardous concept in the overall design, but Fox understood its purpose. He fools the Councilors by claiming the operations in the old subway lines is meant to prevent the roofs of lines' tunnels from collapsing because if they did then the roads above would fall apart. The Council is always looking to avoid civilian dissent though they had few misgivings about squashing it too.

* * *

Selina remains close to him despite what went on between him and Andrea.

"Why do you stay with me Selina?" whispers Bruce.

"Because I love you, because of that afternoon," murmurs Selina.

In the moonlight, she looks too alluring to ignore, but with her he thought maybe she would join me in the mission. In a way he didn't understand why she went from blonde to black with her hair, but she confesses that as part of her animal activism she chose to give using hair dyes unless they weren't tested on animals. He holds respects the principle though the black hair looks similar to his own now. Bruce runs his fingers through her hair, which she reacts to with a rather enthused yet subtle moan. He knows she likes it when he 'plays' with her hair. She moves herself on top of him and he moves his hands along her bare back. They had not been this close since the night after his return to Gotham.

She left more than a few marks of her own on his skin. Some more permanent than others, but even those would heal given time. The others that had come from his travels were likely to last through the years ahead. Her lips lock onto the spot where she previously left a hickey or two. Neither of them were in the mind to count, too caught up in the moment, and it was also the first time she took glee in provoking his tendency to lead rather than leave it to her to make the first move towards the bed.

Her latest move gets her from being on top to being under him yet even here she enjoys herself. She claws his back, which only appears to encourage him more. Not all pain is painful. Pain in making love (a la sex), pain in creating life, pain of child birth, but even so neither sees themselves as ready to be parents. However as both know well, 'reality' doesn't bend to the 'whims' of people including them.

They separate to regain their breath and to slow down their racing pulses.

"Every time I am with you the surprises keep on coming, you never let up, and it is difficult to deny you, not that I would if I could," admits Selina.

"Likewise I am often finding myself at a loss for control when we are together, not that I mind, it is more pleasant to be diverted by you rather than relying on what I learned in the world to work through what happens in my mind," responds Bruce.

She pecks his cheek then walks off to the shower knowing he is staring at her. She felt quite at ease to move about in his places without anything on her body. She would say he is the only one he doesn't allowing see so much of her, both emotionally and physically. He still keeps things from her including the Cavern. In time, he would show it to her as she is close enough to him to be brought into the circle.

"Master Bruce," calls Alfred.

"What is it Alfred?" responds Bruce.

"Mr. Fox on the phone," answers Alfred.

"I'll take it on the line in here," continues Bruce.

The tunnel is still proving problematic even with structural reinforcement.

"Any more problems with the tunnel Lucius?" says Bruce.

"_It is something like that, but we are getting closer," _replies Lucius.

"How far along is the main project?" queries Bruce.

"_I'd say it will be ready for business ahead of schedule," _assures Lucius.

"Excellent news on that front. What of the suit?"

"_The suit is ready, but that multi-functional helmet you want that's trickier."_

"You have anyone on the payroll to handle that?"

"_It'll be ready that's all you need to know. The rest is already locked away."_

"How do I unlock it?"

"_There are several methods, all tied to identity verification."_

"Clever."

"_It is after all one of the most combat suits we have ever made so best to insure its storage."_

"Thanks Lucius."

The conversation ends shortly after and Bruce turns to face Selina in only a towel wrapped around her body.

"You sound rather happy about something… you care to share?"

He had to admit she cleans up better than he can and it always gives her an alluring scent.

"A project of mine is nearing completion. There is something I want to show you. Fox and I began this endeavor months ago. It ties to a promise I made to my parents."

"Sounds interesting, I'd like to see it, but after we are going to see this show, I trust you remember what a circus is?"

"I do, believe me it is one of those things you don't forget."

* * *

The pair travels to a FoxTech shipyard on Gotham Bay. He leads her inside and towards a hidden bay.

"You bring me to a shipyard to see this?"

"This is only part of it."

The hood retracts to reveal two seats inside of it. He gets into the pilot seat after helping her into the backseat. He inputs several commands, the first of which seals the ship tightly and next it dives into water. She freaks out just a little, but then she had never seen the bay from this angle before. Bruce fires up the engines then pilots the submersible away from the shipyard.

"Where are we going now?"

"You'll see."

"Which will get me first anticipation or curiosity?"

"You know what they say about the later."

"Be glad there's a seat between us because I'd hit you over the head if you say it."

"I won't."

"Good idea handsome."

Bruce smirks just a little then navigates towards the waters nearest to the promontory. An underwater passage connects the outside waters to the cavern's pools. The submersible resurfaces after Bruce transmits identification codes to the security made to prevent any unauthorized entries into the cavern.

"Welcome to the Cavern Miss Kyle," says Renee.

"So how many other women knew about this before me?" teases Selina.

"A couple, but you are the first that has no ties to families in the GRN."

"So the Resistance is still around after all these years?"

"Since my parents' murder they went the way of sleeper agents, but that is going to change soon."

"Because of this place?" guesses Selina.

"Something like that and more."

The Cavern is a vastly different place than Bruce had found it months ago during his first trip down the hole of a crack as a child.

"That has to be the biggest computer screen I have ever seen."

"We are thinking of calling it the Bat-Computer."

"Why that?"

The screeches above her answer that one.

"You choose to build this in a bat cave?"

"Some of us call it that instead of the Cavern."

Selina covers her mouth as she holds back a laugh. Bruce does something of a fish hook with his left eye brow.

"We also decided to jokingly call that black tank over there… the Bat-mobile!"

Bruce looks down to see a red haired girl. He heard that Gordon had a daughter, he never imagined her to be this old, but he had been away a long time so personal changes had taken place in his absence.

"I see you met my daughter Bruce," says Jim.

"You sure it is wise bringing her here?" asks Bruce.

"She's as much a part of this as me," insists Jim.

"We'll need all the help we can get, but she's still young."

"Age didn't stop you from traveling the world alone."

"Touché."

"I also hear you are going by the name Thomas Kane out there."

"Who did you hear that from?"

"Dent. He and Grace saw you dining with the Beaumonts."

"I met them on my return flight."

"They also upped and vanished months ago too."

"Life goes on. Plus this cavern can become the hub of the Resistance."

"It is impressive, amazing what wealth can accomplish at a time like this."

Gordon's daughter, Barbara, starts tugging on his leg.

"We are going to see the show, aren't we Daddy?"

"You betcha Barbara, I read that Richard Grayson is about your age too."

Barbara makes a face, which made Selina giggle.

"She's at that age, but she'll like boys sooner rather than later."

"You sound sure of yourself Selina."

* * *

The four sit together watching act after act of the traveling circus that headlines the Flying Graysons and so far the family had yet to make their appearance. They finally make their appearance on high.

John Grayson leads the way on handlebars and next Mary follows suit. The youngest Grayson is their only son Richard 'Dick' Grayson. He stands waiting for his mother's return as he is to go out next.

Nobody below can work out why he suddenly looks terrified as his mother is about to switch back to the first handlebar. She never makes it because the second one that John is hanging from breaks under their combined weight. If there had been a net below what follows might have been less fatal, but then working without a net almost never did any harm to them before. This is the catch of thinking one's self above tragedy because the comedy is the laughter they all take at providing entertainment for crowds that marvel at their family's acrobatic talents.

It is not the plunge that kills John and Mary.

The sudden stop from slamming into the hard ground is what does it.

Selina covers her mouth to hold back a sob. Barbara leans into her father chest crying on his shirt.

Bruce is motion less as he sees a tragedy not so unlike his own happen again in front of him.

He looks across the way to see someone slipping out of the tent. It might be nothing, but nobody else had made the move to leave their seats except whoever just left.

Bruce finally makes himself move to go up to get Dick. Selina wipes her eyes as she watches him climb the ladder built into the tent pillar. He didn't really need a suit to be a hero. He already is one to her.

All the same, a disguise has its uses too.

[+++]

"Dick, I am coming up," calls Bruce.

Dick is too busy crying to answer the older man. Bruce cautiously approaches the boy and offers him a handkerchief. Dick blows his nose. The fall happened less than ten minutes ago, but Bruce knows it could be ten minutes or ten years, the memory leaves a scar forever. They sat together up there until Dick fell asleep finally. He cried his eyes dry before then, but it was better to let it out than bottle it inward when this happens.

They use a big basket to lower the sleeping Dick Grayson.

"I was afraid of this," sighs the ringmaster.

"Afraid of what?" quips Bruce.

"Someone weakened the ropes on the handlebars."

"So once the Graysons used them it began to fray."

"Then it broke once Mary's legs were grabbed John's hands."

"What can we do for him?"

"We'll look after him. He's part of the troupe. The Graysons are the heart of this team."

"Whoever did this to the rope will possibly come back to get him."

"What makes you so sure of that?"

"If he knows the saboteur's identity than that's why."

"So what would you suggest?"

"I leave that decision to my friend Lieutenant Gordon."

Gordon looks upon the sleeping boy and feels a reminder of what happen less than sixteen years ago then realizes the parallels are just to striking especially with the boy from that night now standing alongside him as a man who sees an echo of himself too.

"Protective custody is advisable," recommends Gordon.

"I'd be willing to take him in Lieutenant," says Bruce.

"That is very generous of you Mr. Kane."

"Whatever I can do, I will."

Selina sits wide awake in the back seat of the company car with a sleeping Barbara then finds a sleeping Dick Grayson next to her as the men return from the fairgrounds.

"Too much tragedy for one night, at least he has you now," murmurs Selina.

"He has _us_. We need to get away from here and back to the house," whispers Bruce.

It is going to be one of those nights is the thought in mind.

* * *

Alfred already has a bed ready by the time they arrive at the penthouse.

"Not exactly the kind of family I thought I find myself in Alfred," sighs Bruce.

"What kind did you expect Master Bruce?" asks Alfred.

"I don't know, just not this, but he needs family of some kind now."

"He's in good hands with us."

"I suggest you turn in soon too. You look terrible like you have seen ghosts."

"It was like seeing my parents die again. He had to watch helpless to save them."

"Do try to sleep."

Alfred watches Bruce head towards his bedroom and he looks back to a portrait kept away from prying eyes in this very den. It is the portrait of Thomas and Martha Wayne while their legacy, their only son, now faces the challenge from a boy who faces a future without his birth parents.

"He truly is your son," says Alfred.

"I'd think they be proud of him at a time like this," assures Leslie.

* * *

A/N 1: Bruce continues to masquerade as Thomas Kane in public, which puts him dangerously close to the men he is looking to remove from power in Gotham. Jack Napier is also around (not sure if he'll turn Joker in this time line). The Beaumonts vanish as they do in _**Mask of the Phantasm**_.

A/N 2: Relationship wise Bruce finds Selina the stronger of the two and eventually the only woman who has been truly close to him since his return. Wonder Woman or rather Diana won't be turning up for awhile (both the League Diana and the one native to this time line).

A/N 3: The groundwork for this time line's 'Batcave' is underway and Bruce's test drive of the 'Tumbler' aka Batmobile is a nod to Bruce's test drive in **_Batman Begins_**. Also an explanation for why he'll use subway cars is put forth in this chapter.

A/N 4: Barbara Gordon and Dick Grayson are now in the 'family'. Dick's joining isn't cemented yet especially as his parents have just died suddenly as a result of sabotage by someone probably this time line's version of Tony Zucco. Inspired by BtAS **Robin's Reckoning** flash backs.

A/N 5: Renee is Renee Montoya and she jokingly refers to much of the technology to be used by Bruce with the Bat prefix. More informal members of the Bat Family will be on the scene before long too.

A/N 6: The rest of the Original 7 will have counterparts in this time line (unsure whether to introduce them before or after the General encounters the Justice League. Either way he won't meet them immediately, which would account for why he doesn't recognize the League.


	9. Reversals

"We have a lead on the man responsible for the Graysons' murder," says Gordon.

"I don't forget a face and I have done searching of my own," admits Bruce.

"Felt you might, the catch is Stromwell is his uncle," continues Gordon.

"Nobody is above the law. Justice demands nothing less," says Bruce.

"I'd go after him myself, but the Directorate is staying away from this one."

"It is because of Stromwell no doubt."

"Yep, the man may not run the city directly anymore, but he is harboring Zucco."

Gotham politics are the deceptive veil of Gotham criminality.

"How is the boy?"

"Alfred and Leslie are looking after him at the moment. Selina spends time with him too and I do what I can, but dealing with his parents' killer is the only way to keep from becoming too much…"

"Like you? Not everything about you is tainted."

"I know, I want him to still have a childhood."

"He can, but like you he still wants to avenge his parents and he needs a father."

"I am not a parent."

"Nobody is ever ready for it. I wasn't, I make it up as I go along, and you had Alfred and Leslie."

"I know. You best be heading back soon."

Gordon leaves the cavern via a 'Bat-boat'. The Police Directorate uses a similar less advance model except they are known as U-Divers. It is likely a take off on the term U-Boat if rumors be true.

* * *

The Cavern (aka the Bat Cave) is almost done and the subway tunnel link is nearing completion too.

Alfred laid out the costume earlier. The fitting accounts for the physique that Bruce had did his best to keep even when once again having constant turns at Alfred's cooking. As he had hope for, most of it fits like a glove. First on is the gray Kevlar suit, next is upper body armor plates, then the gloves, and after that are the boots, which also have reinforcements in their design. The only remaining pieces are the gauntlets, the helmet, and the utility belt. Alfred arrives with the helmet while Bruce slides on the gauntlets.

He snaps the belt into place as Alfred sets the helmet's storage container on the table. The lighting as it is low makes seeing the helmet almost impossible, but there's no mistaking the outline or silhouette it casts once upon Bruce's head. The transformation is complete and so he turns to walk towards the Tumbler.

"My…God!" gasps Alfred.

Alfred's reaction is almost expected, he had no desire to spook his paternal butler, but there were others that would take that kind of spooking and worse in order for him to do what he had to in this guise. It is time to pay Arnold Stromwell a visit because if anyone knows where his nephew is holed up, he would. The retractable Plexiglas dashboard window slides back and up then he hops into the driver's seat while the window of a hood closes down. The Tumbler roars to life and then follows the curving ramps up to the reinforced doors that conceal the Cavern's true purpose from the world.

"Come back alive, Master Bruce…" whispers Alfred.

* * *

It did seem strange that his passage went unnoticed as long as it had, but painting the Tumbler black so far has proven a practical decision at least for night time drives. His research regarding Stromwell points to the Stromwell Estate, which is not difficult to find as it only miles from the dilapidated Wayne Manor. One day he would restore the manor to its former glory, but not until the Regime, the Nazis, were driven from these shores, only then could it be one of many symbols that Gotham is free.

He slows the Tumbler as he brings it to a full stop and continues on foot into the trees that surround the 'backyard'. Infrared goggles reveal the grounds are crawling with soldiers. So it would be by the numbers entry. The nearest is one who is too busy taking a smoke. It might be an easy drop, but he would have to be quiet about it because being spotted would just ruin the whole point of cornering Stromwell. He had not yet found a name to use for this guise, but it almost seems unimportant though they would probably have a few words of their own, not that he care either way what they call him so long as they too afraid to fight well against him.

The smoking soldier below him flicks his cigarette's ashes. It is time to begin so Bruce drops from the branch and quickly latches his arm around the soldier's windpipe. The man gasps and Bruce steps on the dropped cigarette in order to make it sound like the choking man is finishing a smoke in order to deflect the attention of anyone listening nearby. The soldier soon passes out from the shock and the lack of air going into his lungs. Bruce hides the unconscious body behind the tree.

"Steiss?" calls a voice.

Bruce assumes the unconscious soldier is Steiss. The voice would get curious if Steiss doesn't answer him. One solution to the problem would be to take down the voice, but that take-down would probably not go visually unnoticed so a bit of ventriloquism is in order.

"Just taking another smoke!" says 'Steiss'.

"Ah, you know that will kill you someday!" calls the voice.

"Not tonight," chuckles 'Steiss'.

"Both of you back to your rounds, we can't afford a lapse ever," interjects another voice.

"You are not Steiss. You are some weirdo dressed like a Bat," interrupts a third voice.

Bruce socks the newcomer who had just come around the corner of the shrub maze.

"We have an intruder. Somebody better go alert Stromwell," orders another voice.

_Time to pick up the pace, cover is blown and I cannot allow myself to get unmasked either._

Bruce vaults over several hedges that are much taller than him, but again his 'supernatural' speed suspends belief to those watching him move among them like something that can't be human in their minds. Several guards crowd him rather than try to fire on him. He holds his breath as he releases multiple gas balls. All the guards hear next is hissing then their own bodies hitting the ground. Bruce keeps going only to encounter several more guards this time with guns. He pivots about using the gauntlets to deflect the bullets, which thoroughly ticks them off though they keep firing furiously at him and by the time he closes the distance they have to reload except he twists their wrists simultaneously.

Both men drop their machine guns and groan in pain then he knocks them together. The pair drop and now he finally has a clear path to the enormous mansion before him. The only catch is now he would have to break in instead of slip in and it would only be worth the trouble if Stromwell is still on the grounds. He fires the grappler to the highest visible overhang, which also looks like a balcony. The ascension is quicker than expected, but top of the line technology is a wonder for someone in his position. The balcony windows are shut, no surprise given that they know he is here, but getting inside is not the hard part of the 'visit' anymore, no the hard part is getting to Stromwell.

He kicks in the doors and Stromwell jumps up clutching a hot poker.

"So who sent you? The Council?" snaps Stromwell.

He glares at Stromwell.

"I'll take that as a no then," quips Stromwell.

"I don't work for your cronies. Now where is Zucco?" demands 'Batman'.

"What do you want that pipsqueak for?" asks Stromwell.

"I am the one asking the questions now!" retorts 'Batman'.

He closes the distance grabs Stromwell by his bathrobe collar.

"I am told him to stay away from me. I am tired of wasting favors just to save his neck!"

"Sure, like your kind turns so easily on family!"

"You want walk away from this alive I'd suggest you leave my home."

He releases Stromwell and slips back outside yet stays to the shadows just in case Stromwell had given him the run around about his nephew's activities since the Graysons' murder. He is doing this for Dick, he believes that because there is no way he is letting Zucco get away with it like Chill did almost fifteen years earlier. The only catch is how to prosecute Zucco or accept the manner in which he brought Zucco though he would be sure to keep Gordon in the loop for the sake of having the police detain Zucco and trust that Harvey would nail the murderer despite his blood relations.

"_Someone was here looking for you Nephew! Get the heck out of my city. The last thing I need is some nut vigilante crusading for the people you decide to pick off! What's more don't come back to my house! I am tired of cleaning up your screw ups!" shouts Stromwell._

"_Come off it Uncle, what could some vigilante do to you in that enormous mansion of yours?"_

"_He broke through more than half the security detail and then flipping accosted me in my own den!"_

"_Pretty daring, but somebody will cap him before long. Besides I got me a witness to kill because without the kid not even Dent will have a case on me. Thomas Kane and Selina Kyle are going to regret sheltering that brat. I and Jack Napier will make sure of that!"_

"_You and your stupid … petty… vendettas… how did my sister ever birth a trigger happy loon like you?"_

"_Lay off the insults old man. This city will belong to me someday."_

"_Not if somebody kills you first. Sure as hell hope that Bat-freak does it!"_

Stromwell slams the phone down. He didn't even know that the 'Bat' left a tracer on the phone before slipping out. Tracers aren't cheap, but they were impossible to trace back to a manufacturer (in order to avoid dragging Fox Technologies into his mission against the Regime).

Napier is the hit-man tied to Valestra, Sol, and Bronski. No surprise there, but Napier went off the grid not long after the Beaumonts' disappearance only to resurface prior to a contract hit put out on Colonel Chill. Chill had been lying low for years or so Bruce had heard yet word on the street paints Chill red, blood red dead. It is strange that they chose to eliminate Chill in recent years, but than everything the Council or the Gestapo does qualifies as strange though not uncommon. If either group wants someone dead, then that someone will be dead in less than a fortnight.

Cemeteries are as full as they are because of this predilection, but nobody says that directly. There is no way to account for how many graves are occupied by people murdered by the Regime, but they had been in the business of killing people for generations. It simply had to end one way or another.

Bruce rappels off the balcony then races through the shrub maze back to where he hid the Tumbler and races back to where he knows Selina is planning to take Dick and Barbara for the evening. They are going to see a movie at the Monarch Theater. He remembers his parents promising to take him to see a film there. The Monarch had been one of few places that had hidden films for decades in order to escape the burnings and once such film is the Mark of Zorro. The Monarch runners had their troubles, but so far they have successfully kept in business in his absence. It made his blood run cold to have all three of them end up dead because Zucco was a trigger happy loon as his uncle called him.

* * *

"These underground film shows are quite the rave, but the secret is not to tell anyone about them. So let's get inside and enjoy the show," comments Selina.

It felt strange trying to be a babysitter or even more so like a mother yet she wonders what being a mother might be like, she just didn't expect to experience it this early in life. She had barely gotten back together with Bruce and then Dick Grayson's parents were killed by another of the notorious yet crooked Gestapo. She honestly wishes Bruce was here to 'suffer' this with her, but him and that darn mission of his.

"Evening Miss Kyle," says Jack.

"I see you have the kids with ya," continues Tony.

"What's it to you?" quips Selina.

"Well I'm sure Lieutenant Gordon would do anything to have his daughter back."

"I have unsettled business with Boy Blunder because of his parents."

"Kids…start running… now!"

Barbara and Dick take off back towards Selina's car while Selina engages the two men on her own.

"You really shouldn't get in our way," suggests Tony.

"You are that arrogant pig that axed his parents because they wouldn't add to your racket!"

"Aren't you the smart one pretty lady," snickers Jack.

"I'd really suggest you listen to her!" recommends 'Bat'.

"Who is this freak?"

"Don't know… shoot him."

Jack and Tony open fire on 'Bat', but soon discover he is wearing Kevlar weave body armor.

"I say this shift calls for a change in plans!"

Jack and Tony shift aim towards Selina. 'Bat' dashes to get between her and the gunfire except a car comes speeding by with a side door open. Somebody grabs Selina. 'Bat' hears her cries and turns to get her away from them except together the shooters hit him with the butts of their machine guns. It hurts like hell. The helmet is still in the prototype phase, which meant not all the kinks were worked out yet. He drops to his knees and tastes some blood in his mouth. As Jack and Tony run to nab the kids, 'Bat' binds both with grapplers except Jack cuts his way out and drags Tony away with him.

He recalls the Tumbler as Jack and Tony flee with scene. Barbara and Dick run towards him after spotting the Tumbler coming out an alley way.

"Wait for the police, I am going after Miss Kyle," says the 'Bat'.

"She was with us, we are coming with you," pips Barbara.

"Yeah, I am not letting anyone tied to my parents' killer to harm her," insists Dick.

"You certainly do take your parents, Alright get in, but stay with the car when we get there."

"Do you know where to go?" queries Barbara.

"Napier's biggest racket is Axis Chemicals, deep in the Corporate Sector," answers the 'Bat'.

Barbara and Dick look like kids at a candy store so the 'Bat' (Bruce) had to keep telling them not to touch anything. On-board sensors detect the approach of multiple Police Directorate Patrol Vehicles.

"Just what I really need… the cops on my tail."

"Don't they know you are a good guy?"

"The good people get killed in this city."

The kids slightly frown and Barbara starts sniffling.

"We'll get her back. I promise you that."

They perk up a little because of his promise.

He flicks open the afterburner cap cover.

"This might get rough… secure the seat-belts and lean back against the seat," recommends the 'Bat'.

There is an audible boom as the afterburner fires rocketing the Tumbler along the road and then up to the highway that runs along the waterfront and towards the Corporate Sector.

* * *

The Corporate Sector houses much the Regime's graft network as well as the rackets kept by the Council's assassins and hit men. Greed is what binds loyalty and service within this sector, but these are distortions of what some consider being the true purpose of loyalty and service. One need only look to places like this to find the twisted corners of the world. Not everyone dares to point that out especially not under the threat of death so they hold their tongues, but impatience to remain indifferent is wearing thin for many of these silent objectors.

"You sure that Bat-Freak is going to show?" asks Tony.

"He'll show because we have these two," assures Jack.

"What is the deal with the other woman?" continues Tony.

"She's why the cops will be following the Bat," replies Jack.

"Who is she?"

"Grace Lamont, District Attorney Harvey Dent's fiancée."

"Why did you nab her?"

"See insanity is like this apple… watch…"

Jack drops the apple into the vat. It dissolves instantly and he laughs at the same time.

"That stuff is pretty potent… but what was the point of the apple?"

"Gravity, it is not the fall that kills you. It is the punch line stopper that is the acid."

Jack laughs a bit. Both women can be heard whimpering through their gags. They couldn't see with the blindfolds, but they heard everything Jack just said to Tony. The women's combined body weight is the only thing holding up release switch for the long knife that would slice the cord causing them to fall into the acid. The 'Bat' wouldn't be able to save both is the gamble on their part. Besides what Jack hadn't told Tony was the place was also rigged to explode before midnight. Jack looks at his watches and grins a little wider. It did help that Thorne had paid him to get rid of Chill and now Zucco then his uncle would be next.

There's a muffled explosion below as a black tank looking vehicle rolls in then the 'Bat' pops out of it by way of firing something towards the ceiling. He disappears into the darkness above them.

"That was him right?" chuckles Tony weakly.

"Yes… it is the Batman!" assures Jack.

* * *

"_Not only did they nab Selina, but Grace too. Means Harvey won't be far behind me,"_ comments Bruce.

"A dual weight trigger, disconnect one, the other drops, leave it to Napier to do that," quips 'Batman'.

"_Two women, I have to save both, not just for my sake, but for Harvey's too," _claims Bruce.

"How could I save both of them…I am alone against them," says 'Batman'.

"_Sever and grab both wires… the gloves can handle the sharpness of the wires," _recommends Bruce.

"That's easier said than done."

"_No time to waste."_

The retractable blade edges in the gauntlets shoot out and 'Batman' descends to cut then grab the wires. It surprisingly works out. The women scream in reaction to the wires snapping yet the sudden stop in their fall leads to whimpering and yelping on their part.

"Nice of you to drop in 'Batman'…. I don't think you can hold those wires indefinitely," implies Tony.

Tony starts firing immediately so in a flurry of motions the 'Bat' rapidly ties the wires together again despite the fact that the wire cuts into his gloves. Next he charges at Tony with his gauntlets raised in front of him. The bullets ricochet off them and off in random directions above Tony. He keeps firing until realizing his gun is empty and he'll have to reload so he starts to run in the other direction while removing the empty gun cartridge.

Someone jumps on 'Batman's' back so he starts pivoting around in an effort to throw the jumper off him. It turns out to be Napier himself and when he finally gets him off Napier pulls out a knife yet instead coming at him he looks to use the blade to cut the wires. 'Batman' quickly flicks out a spinning projectile that has a bat like shape to it. One of the others jokingly called it a batarang, he figures he might as well accept all the bat associations to things down in the Cavern, but otherwise he still has his hands full even against someone like Napier.

The 'batarang' shatters Napier's knife yet somehow he has a second so on instinct a second 'batarang' is thrown the instant 'Batman' spots the second knife yet even though it breaks the blade, Napier still manages to weaken the knot that 'Batman' made moments ago. He breaks into a run towards the wire and as the two cords start to fray apart he grabs both feeling the familiar strain all over again.

"It seems I have you in a bind Bats," snorts Napier.

"For the moment," concedes 'Batman'.

"I'd love to stay and chat, but Dent's with the police detachment coming here."

Napier slips away after activating what looks like a bomb. 'Batman' pulls the cord towards him and attempts to triple knot them instead of double like before. It works so he takes off after Napier despite knowing that Zucco is getting away. It felt annoying having to decide who to go after, but Napier had stood a more irrefutable chance of killing the women. Napier is also a government contracted hitman whereas Zucco is not, but this kind of thinking is getting in the way of catching at least one of them tonight for an attempted double homicide. The third problem is Napier's bomb so he has to deal with that first except being near a bomb with police on their way could look bad for him and they were already on his case earlier tonight.

He goes to the bomb and pries off the panel beneath the timer. He didn't have much time to decide, which wire to cut or even what order to cut them if he had to cut more than one. A few rapid taps of the goggle modes built into the helmet reveal a residual charge around the wires so in rapid fire succession he clips the wire based on the charge intensity. The timer starts counting down faster with each cut, but he believes he'll beat though not sure by how much. Either way once he starts there's no stopping. The constant ticking is grating, but unchangeable so he pushes himself to focus on the wires only. In rapid succession, he cuts them and with only seconds to spare he finds himself face to face with Harvey while holding a wire cutter.

"It appears I owe you for saving them even though their abductors got away," says Dent.

"Saving them and disabling this bomb felt more important than chasing down their abductors," remarks 'Batman'.

"So you have any names of who did this?" asks Dent.

"Jack Napier and Tony Zucco… both have records though the Council has often looked the other way given the service that Napier provides to them. As for Zucco, his uncle is likely to make him fend for himself from now on," answers 'Batman'.

"You have any…"

'Batman' pulls out a compact tape recorder and plays back the phone conversation he had overheard earlier.

"It looks like Zucco clearly implicates himself and Napier in this though I'd suggest you hold onto this for now. I have my suspicions about the Police aside from Gordon. I'd suggest you get going before the others catch up to me. I kind of broke into a run once I heard the screams," continues Dent.

"Be careful of the wire it can cut hands pretty badly with and without gloves."

"Thanks for the warning friend."

"Just get them home."

"Will do," assures Dent.

'Batman' disappears into the darkness and silently leaves the area in the Tumbler.

* * *

"Selina and Grace are safe with D.A. Dent and Lieutenant Gordon," promises 'Batman'.

"Why haven't you bandaged your hands… they are cut," pips Barbara.

"Engage auto-pilot," orders 'Batman'.

Dick's face lit up like a Christmas tree while watching the Tumbler drive itself.

"Hand me the med-kit from that compartment Miss Gordon," says 'Batman'.

"Call me Barbara… the whole Miss thing makes me feel old," suggests Barbara.

"As you wish Barbara," responds 'Batman'.

It is something of a detour to get to the Gordon residence, but he felt better leaving them there rather than taking them back to the Cavern and expose his identity to them. He had a feeling Selina might already know given the fact that she had seen the Tumbler as well as the Cavern though he would deal with that if she chose to press the matter. If not than whether or not she learns he is the one under this battle-suit depends on him deciding when to tell her.

The kids scurry over to the front door of the Gordon residence after getting out of the Tumbler. When they look back the Tumbler is already gone yet they didn't hear it leave, which is another feature to the vehicle, the ability to cloak its sound while in motion. They are let inside by Sarah, Barbara's stepmother, but for Barbara she is her mother now as her biological mother had been dead most of her life thanks to her father's partner Flass though Gordon kept this from her at least for now since he himself only recently had become aware of the fact. As to how Gordon had become aware of it given the Directorate's tendency to cover even its most corrupt officers is something of a mystery.

Conversely many wonder why nobody has gone after Gordon since learning this, but that's part nobody says that they know that he knows and because they mistakenly believe themselves safe from the likes of Gordon because he is not the type to go head to head. Maybe he is not, but there is now someone out there that just might do it for the sake of ending their reign over the police that enforces the decadent ways of the Council. Gordon is of the opinion that they are the head of all things wrong with Gotham City, but even cutting off the head wouldn't remake Gotham into something reminiscent of the city it was long ago.

* * *

Jim Gordon arrives home to find Sarah waiting up for him and gesturing him to come upstairs where the kids are sleeping though for the life he can't work out how they got here and she seems just as clueless. She thought Selina had dropped them off here after the underground film viewing at least she did until Jim tells her about what happen to Grace and Selina. He also spoke at length about how Harvey found them hanging over the acid vats at Axis Chemicals and that their abductors got away. Harvey spoke of a man in black who had been responsible for saving them and Gordon admits inclination to believe that given the rumors of an intruder at the Stromwell Estate early last night.

"Do you know who the man in black is?" asks Sarah.

"Whoever he is… he saved four lives tonight," responds Jim.

"You think he brought the kids back here after find Selina and Grace?" continues Sarah.

"That would be my guess. Let's just go to bed, I am beat," remarks Jim.

He certainly did look like he had a long night and it is already early morning now anyway.

* * *

Alfred is busy attending to Bruce's injuries after his return from last night's excitement.

"Try avoiding gunfire next time and you'll need more durable gloves despite the effectiveness of the gauntlets at deflecting bullets," comments Alfred.

"I didn't have the time to think in that factory. I had to act to save them and if meant injury then I simply had to endure it," counters Bruce.

"I realize that, but somehow if I don't say these things to you, I don't know who will," reminds Alfred.

"It looks like the car held up better than me," notes Bruce.

"A testament to her designer Mr. Cooper no doubt," wagers Alfred.

Bruce pulls a sleeveless under shirt on then puts on a button down shirt. He chooses to wear an extra layer if only to conceal the spot where the bullets had hit the armor causing it to bend back slightly. If he had been any closer to Zucco he might have had to pull bullets out himself, but for now he is glad to not have to put his bullet extraction training to use. However he believes someday he will have to master pulling bullets out of his own body.

"Miss Kyle is waiting for you back at the penthouse and Leslie cannot detain your lady friend's curiosity indefinitely," states Alfred.

"I am already on my way. Besides you have to prepare the meal don't you?" says Bruce.

"Believe me preparing meals is more enjoyable and motivating than you think," adds Alfred.

Together they leave the Cavern via the back road connecting bridge. Alfred had come down here in one of the less luxurious travel cars if only to keep attention away from him self during the trip. One of the last things needed now is to lure the secret police to the 'hideout'.

* * *

Zucco left Gotham in less than a week later and after that it had become difficult to track him down since he is undoubtedly using an alias. Nobody could figure out what happen to Napier either.

As a kid he couldn't stop Chill and even now as this 'Batman' he couldn't capture two murderers despite his training, still all their most recent intended victims remain alive thanks to him. Bruce reluctantly accepts saving lives is more important than catching those who take them and such assertions are usually spoken to him by Alfred. He has neither the man power nor the means to wage a one man war against the Council.

"Somebody stop those little thieves!"

He descends to pursue a boy and a girl running into an alleyway. They run as if they are afraid of something or someone though not necessarily him. There is something eerily familiar about the girl so he fires a grappler towards her just after she pulls back a grate to the sewers below. The boy however charges at him and the collision loosens his grip. The girl jumps down into the sewer yet the boy does not follow as he is suddenly aware of who he had just run into in this dark alley.

"You mind explaining what you and she were up to back there?" asks 'Batman'.

"We are not supposed to talk to strangers and you were attacking her," exclaims the boy.

"Who are you?" continues 'Batman'.

"Charlie," answers the boy.

"Who is she?"

"Helena… I think."

"Why and for whom are you stealing for?"

"Keep away Fear… he is Fear."

"Who is fear?"

"He is… he brings it and takes it away… he is fear."

"I don't understand… you are not making much sense."

"I must go. She'll get in trouble if I am not back with her."

"Alright go…"

'Batman' got a sample of Charlie's hair during the boy's charge so at least maybe he could find who he is dealing with and what exactly is going that has Charlie so afraid of Fear.

[+++]

Back at the Cavern, 'Batman' finds Selina there waiting for him. She had him made from the second she saw the Tumbler last month, but then she is an exceptionally intelligent woman so there is no fooling her. She did however agree to keep this discovery to herself because this mission carries the hope of a better Gotham within it.

"Computer, run a chemical and genetic analysis on the hair sample."

"_Chemical analysis: trace amounts of hallucinogenic derivatives. Genetic analysis: Match found."_

"That explains his fear… show corresponding file to the genetic analysis."

"_Identity: Charles Victor Szasz. Residence: Charlton House for Orphans. Current Location: Unknown. He was reported missing by Charlton House superintendent several months ago."_

"Show me a list of all missing orphans for the past five years."

"_Requested function will require thirty minutes to complete."_

Selina notices the concern on her lover's face at the words orphan and missing. Maybe he fears that Dick would be missing or lost in the system if not for him taking the boy after Zucco killed the boy's parents. She had to admit she had grown fond of Dick in so far that in some ways the boy reminds her to a degree of Bruce from the time they first met.

"So someone is using orphans to commit robberies, but why?" asks Selina.

"I wish I knew, but that someone must be stopped especially if what I suspect about Charlie's partner-in-crime is true," answers Bruce.

"What do you suspect?"

"When I went off on my world tour, I eventually found my way to Italy where I was taken in by an old friend of your mother's. Catalina Bertinelli, she had a daughter, Helena, and Helena was orphaned when Steven Mandragora killed the Bertinellis."

"How did Helena survive?"

"Franco hid her from sight, but she saw the whole thing I'd imagine, just like I did in the foyer above ground."

Selina briefly places one of her hands over her mouth.

"No wonder you want to find her. You thought she be safer away from Italy, but it appears bad things rain down on the just and the unjust alike though not as often for the unjust it seems."

"Few realize that better than the people who look at me as some kind of a messiah."

"The resistance movement has been waiting generations for a leader and now many see that leader in you."

"I'm looking to do what my parents could not accomplish in their lifetimes, nothing more, nothing less, I don't need this legend they are starting to attribute to me. I am just a man."

"You are more than just a man. You are the man I love, You are the man who pursues justice, you are the man grown up from the boy that I shared my heart with, and whether you want it or not… being a hero often means being a legend too."

"Quite passionate aren't you?"

She pulls him against her and kisses him roughly. It always made for a release to get lost in the heat of the moment especially in a place that's as chilly as this cavern. The only thing to interrupt that moment is the alert that the missing list is done.

Helena is on that list as Bruce had feared and suspected, but at least now he had a chance to get her away from whoever Charlie is so afraid. The number kids missing from the specified time frame is almost staggering, which only meant he had to liberate them all from the man who uses hallucinogens to make kids and adolescents into thieves at the price of manipulating their fears.

Personnel files from Charlton House reveal that they have several government employees on the staff and any of them could be responsible for aiding the abductors. One of them might actually be this Fear character. He didn't like the idea that was coming to mind on how to track down the hideout being used by Fear to hold the kids while they were not out committing crimes for him. It meant risking another kid's life to find the man responsible for turning dozens of orphans into pickpockets who alternate between fearless and fearful at will. It meant bringing Dick into the mission even though he felt intent on doing this alone plus every other adult present in Dick's life would object to putting Dick's life in danger so soon after preventing Zucco from killing him.

"You are planning something… to liberate those kids from their tormentor aren't you?"

She had gotten remarkably gifted at reading his silences.

"Only an idea though one everyone even I would object to because it endangers lives not in Fear's grip."

"Tell me."

"Dick would go undercover at Charlton and I would track him when Fear's associates abduct him."

"It makes sense, but you are right we would all question your sanity to do that."

"It is that or wait around for more orphan thieves and try to follow them back to Fear without giving myself away."

"I suppose you could ask Dick first… see what he says… and be sure to explain your motivation for asking him."

She already hit upon how he would choose to persuade Dick, but ultimately he wants the decision to be Dick's alone.

* * *

Dick's eagerness to put his life on the line for strangers is nothing short of surprise for most of the adults listening nearby. Most of them including Alfred and Leslie made their objections known to Bruce once he told them the plan.

"You really think he understands what you are asking him to do?" asks Leslie.

"I can either wait for another chance encounter with another orphan working for Fear or I can get inside Fear's organization by way of having someone close in age to infiltrate the gang," answers Bruce.

"You could wait."

"I have waited over fifteen years to start taking back the city. I don't like the idea of bringing him into this at his age, but frankly I can't do everything on my own. What happen to Grace and Selina proved that to me."

Gordon joins them.

"I don't know what kind of an effect you had on him or for that matter on Barbara because once Dick started talking about she wanted to go with him. I told her she couldn't then she gave me the look."

Bruce rubs his forehead realizing this hero worship thing is going to their heads. He probably should call the whole thing off and just wait for a chance to nail Fear by himself. At the same time, he is not of the mind to wait because the longer those orphans remain with Fear, the harder it will be to undo the psychological damage he is doing to their bodies and minds by way of drugs.

"When wondering the consequences of this undertaking, I didn't foresee that kids would want to risk their lives because of me. If they should come to harm, I don't know how I would deal with it yet I don't know if its my place to deny them the chance to help others instead of being bystanders."

"I get where you are coming from, but they are kids."

"I couldn't do anything to stop Chill nor could Dick do anything about Zucco. Plus Barbara doesn't know about her mother."

"You can't tell her."

"I won't because that's up to you Jim."

Jim exhales and realizes Sarah is waiting for their return back at home.

As for Bruce, there's the matter that not only is Dick willing to do this, but now Barbara wants in too. There's also the matter of what the drugs could do to them if they are exposed to it. The juxtaposition is dozens of orphans versus the lives of two kids willing to risk their safety for them, a difficult decision.

Jim and Leslie leave him in the sitting room with only his parents' portrait for company.

"What would you do?" whispers Bruce.

He could only imagine their answer, but ultimately whether or not he involves them is still solely on his shoulders.

* * *

A/N 1: Bruce finally dons the suit. Plenty of nods to various origins stories, not all of them being Batman's. If it seems disjointed well I did my best to make it linear.

A/N 2: The disappearances of Napier and Zucco are rather sudden, but don't count on them being fully gone, especially not Napier.

A/N 3: As for Charlie and Helena, who they are should be obvious, same goes for Fear. The follow up to this chapter is influenced by the BtAS episode Under-dwellers, but with a serious twist as their keeper is using drugs on his 'children'.


	10. Underworld

It didn't take long for Fear to take interest in Robert 'Robbie' Malone and Amy Beddoes. The newest arrivals at Charlton House brought in by Leslie Thompkins who still runs the Haven Sector.

The Haven Sector is one of many such places throughout Regime Amerika, which exist for the sole purpose of concealing millions who 'serve' no purpose to the betterment of the Regime. Plainly put these 'residents' have no homes, no jobs, and for that the Regime puts them in Haven Sectors. This is the Regime's solution to unemployment and homelessness, but within these sectors exist people who under other circumstances might have led very different lives. Of course they would never know it because by law they are forbidden from leaving the Sectors.

* * *

In reality they are taken there, put through processing, and after that they take up residence wherever there is available space. Gotham's Haven Sector houses nearly half the city's population and those who still live outside the Sector's walls are the ones who have manage to avoid being sent there. The people believe the government's official stories about the place yet those outside have no desire to end up inside. At least if one is in there then one knows just how bad things have gotten since the Occupation took hold sixty years ago. The Sectors on the surface are made to sound better than prisons or work camps yet they are bad in their own way. The 'residents' subsist on whatever is given to them in terms of food whereas any kind of work is usually scarce because the city does not wish to bring in more workers because it would interfere with the tenuous balance of the existing workforce.

Leslie and many who work with her at the Haven Sector detest this urban decay that the Haven represents, but again it is a struggle to keep the residents fed for starters because the Agricultural Colonies further west are kept going to sustain the cities first, everyone else is secondary.

The pristine looking billboards are all lies and anyone that works in hidden sides of Gotham know this all too well, but again image conscious paranoia is what keeps the wheels turning and because it has been like this so long that better is a pipe dream. Still there are dreamers in the gutters looking at stars.

Bruce elects to operate by the codename Batman whereas Alfred shall answer to codename Eagle since he remains at the Cavern to monitor Batman's movements as well as keep in contact with the other Resistance operatives who are going about their usual work as officers of the Police Directorate. The Directorate is currently led Police Commandant Gillian Loeb.

* * *

Loeb is clearly unhappy about the vigilante rumors so he is no doubt on the lookout for opportunities to eliminate Batman in order to restore order in Gotham. Gotham to some is limping on despite all the hidden wounds, but the 'heart' of the problem is always who is running the city because the Directorate answers to them and they want 'Batman' dealt with immediately as well as quietly.

As for 'Batman' having the Directorate after him is an inconvenience, but he still had the mission, whether he had their support or not is not the issue. Some do support him, but they can't do it publicly for the safety of those dear to them. However they would do their best to keep the Directorate off Batman's back, which is the most they could wager to accomplish even a night like tonight where he is on the trail of missing orphans and the pair he sent to infiltrate Fear's gang. It had to be done to free them of whatever Fear is using to manipulate their minds by way of psychotropic drugs.

It is already raining as he continues his track of the kids while also maintaining radio contact with Eagle and the Resistance operatives that are shadowing him just as he shadows them.

The city's architecture is harder to ignore in the dark because this is Gotham's true face though he would not allow 'her' to remain that way now that he is looking after those that lived with the Regime within 'her'. It is a long way down from up here yet he is not unfamiliar with the rush he gets from doing things like this. The raindrops pelt his battle-suit on the way down and all around him are decades old skyscrapers though they are all slight eclipsed by their newer counterparts built in more recent decades. However he felt more at home with the older ones and their gothic undertones.

* * *

"Talk to me," says Gordon.

"Reports are contradictory, but there are similar incidents going back months of children disappearing throughout the city… not just from Haven Sector or here at Charlton House," reports Allen.

Gordon couldn't believe who his men were holding between. Something had happen to Leslie during her visit to Charlton and it was not just her. There are others in similar states to hers.

"Everyone we found alive looks disturbingly similar to her. Hallucinations triggering violent behavior from all of them, but many have been sent to Gotham General after sedation. We don't know what did this, but we do know is that everyone expose will die in a matter of hours," continues Allen.

With Leslie incapacitated by this stuff, it meant somebody else with her level of medical expertise is in need, but the catch is who to ask because on some level the Directorate didn't give a damn at times whether people lived or died. The appearance of order and stability matter more than life or death to some in authority positions.

Life matters to Gordon because he sees these streets, what they have become and the apathy by those who luxuriate on high is despicable though there are a few exceptions to this disdain for high society.

He goes inside leaving the muted whirling sirens behind him. The interior matches the dementia he had seen on Leslie's face. It appears they really do have cause to be afraid of the individual who calls himself Fear.

"They said a monster appeared, a lizard man, eight feet tall, covered in scales. He attacked that woman back there though other witnesses claim the intruder was after the orphans. They also said this is not the first time they have an intruder who took the children," adds Montoya.

"He carried them off towards the nearest drop down into the sewers and after that nobody knows much else."

"This is the sixth mass abduction in weeks, but so far the incidents all seem unrelated given that they were happening only inside the Sector at first. Whoever it is, he is spreading his operations out."

Allen is undoubtedly correct, but it is highly unlikely the City Council or the Police Directorate will commit the resources necessary to capture the abductor, so where the police would not go, then the resistance would have to take up the challenge.

"Yeah – Got ourselves a real growth industry here in Gotham," admits Gordon sardonically.

Both know their superior is injecting dark humor into already sadistic case, but then he had been on the take longer than them. His only promotion happened over fifteen years ago and since then he has been stuck a lieutenants. As for that they had given him the worst of the worst in Gotham because they thought at least there they could stand to shut him up by giving him what they call 'garbage'. If he were less of a man, he would have told them walk down there and see how long they last without all their comforts.

* * *

Gordon takes point while Allen and Montoya watch his back though after some distance Montoya almost slips if not for Allen's quick reflexes.

"You two mind giving me a moment alone?"

Once his handpicked detectives are out of hearing range he believes that 'Batman' is nearby.

"You thinking what I am thinking? I know you're in here," starts Gordon.

"Fear is behind this. Fear is Dr. Jonathan Crane. He used to work at Arkham Asylum until his experiments got out of hand by leading to violent hallucinogenic episodes from the patients there."

"CSI reports and lab tests found traces of weaponized hallucinogen. It is possibly that it is the same stuff he used on the Arkham inmates."

"The sewers is where the abductor went, if I cannot catch up I will have to go straight to Crane myself."

"The Lizard Man, you think he is real?"

"There's an urban myth circulating – a cannibal – even money says he's real."

'Batman' remains in the dark as he hands over an earpiece to Gordon.

"Here – I'll keep in contact with this. It's a wireless relay system slaved to the communicator in my helmet. It can't be used to track me – signals are locked with quantum cryptology… bounced through a dozen different satellites. Nobody will have the means to follow it."

As soon as Gordon felt 'Batman's' presence, he is gone. The lieutenant returns to the streets and the rain. He wants to believe that 'Batman' will find the kids and the orphans because nothing else will do, not with over twelve people dying from exposure to the hallucinogen.

* * *

'Lizard Man' is more than twice Batman's size if he is interpreting the footprints in the sewage correctly.

"The trail is going east – towards the abandoned subway lines. Power is barely active down here."

"_Not a surprise – the city abandon the subways in favor of the monorails about twenty something years ago. I'm sure you'll recall who is responsible for the monorails."_

Gordon didn't have to say it because he had known where the conversation would lead the instant Gordon said monorails. It was one of the last undertakings by the 'defunct' Wayne Enterprises. The symbol it was meant to represent is lost to the ravages of time and graffiti. The name Wayne is all, but stricken from history books of Gotham.

For those who did manage to elude ending up in Haven Sector they were down here residing in the abandoned subway stations. A homeless man with a lit torch walks towards 'Batman' realizing he is the one the cops have been so worked up about for the past several weeks, but there are other things even this man knows that lurk beneath the streets, not up in the skies like the Bat.

"I'm looking for a monster," says 'Batman.'

"Monsters are everywhere," replies the man.

"This one is a predator," remarks 'Batman'.

"Ah, Killer Croc – they say his mama flushed him. All the toxic waste down here turned him, made him stronger," responds the man.

"Which way?" asks 'Batman'.

"Down that way," answers the man.

"What does the city look like from up high?"

"It looks dirty."

He saw no point in lying to the homeless. They realize the conditions they exist just as the people in Haven Sector know they are stuck behind those walls. Layers upon layers built up to hide the cracks in the Regime Occupational Authority.

* * *

"I'm in some kind of old railway. Coffins everywhere in this place," reports 'Batman'.

"_It used to be a pneumatic system… linking all of Gotham's cemeteries. They used it to transport the dead," _comments Gordon.

Something about the air is strange, if he had to identify the odor it means this whole place could up.

"There's methane in here – switching to air assist."

Another useful addition to the suit is the ability to tap into an oxygen reserve should he need especially right now with methane gas circulating all around him.

"_I've got a lead on your Killer Croc. His name is Waylon Jones. He was an Arkham Asylum inmate and a former test subject of Crane's fear-aversion therapy program."_

It didn't take much imagination to realize what someone of Crane's specialty could do especially to someone like Waylon Jones.

"Which means he's twice as twisted… now that Crane has had a go at him."

"_Jones was a former sideshow circus freak. Suffers from a rare skin disorder…"_

"Epidermolytic hyperkeratosis."

'Batman' is not in the habit of showing off his intellect, but then he did more than just train his body in all manner of marital arts. There are other kinds of knowledge that would prove useful at moments when he would least expect such as this one.

"_Apparently he filed his teeth to razor points and went on a killing spree. And, get this that fear of his Crane was working on averting?"_

"_Bats,"_ finishes Gordon.

It is only by quick side stepping does he avoid being hit by two sizable stone blocks thrown at him by Croc. However Croc's more direct attack is impossible to avoid so he braces his body for impact against the tunnel wall. Next thing he knows Croc bites down on his neck and vision starts to blur in all too familiar way except much stronger than the gas he inhaled in his final trials before refusing to join the Ra's Al-Ghul and the Shadows.

"_Batman - What's going on down there?"_

"Croc bit me, whatever is inside him is now inside me, which means I have gotten a dose of whatever Crane was using on his test subjects including Croc."

"_Are you in pain?" _

"I work through pain."

He shoves a reactant capsule into Croc's mouth so when he breathes it'll ignite a small amount of methane, which fortunately drives Croc away. The original task still remains despite having the fear toxin affecting him.

* * *

"Father Stromwell, the sentence is death for what you have done just like all the others who have come before you," decrees Fear.

Crane speaks of all the others who opposed the way things are here in Gotham and in some twisted way he is right because all those who stood against the injustices in this city are dead.

"Please, I have done nothing wrong," pleads Father Michael.

"Yes you have Father. You sought to help the city's homeless… took it upon yourself to save the city's wretched and forgotten. But Fear doesn't allow them to be saved. Fear desires them to be here where they belong because only I can provide for them," rebukes Fear.

He looks down to where he sees is a terrified Father Michael.

"Fear… Crane… is here with an army of former Arkham inmates and the homeless that reside down here. They have all been infected with the toxin."

"_Where are you Batman?"_ queries Gordon.

"I'm beneath the Eastern Reservoir – the old weir chambers."

"_Backup is already en route – hold tight until we catch up,"_ recommends Gordon.

"No time for that."

If what 'Batman' suspects Crane will do is correct waiting would only ensure Michael's death.

"Can anyone here speak for the holy man?"

The crowd continues chanting Fear's sentence, which probably only reinforces Crane's mentality.

"I can."

Everyone turns their attention to 'Batman' as he descends upon and in their drugged stupor they are hardly a match for him. Their fighting skills are decent though from his own experience with Reynard that kind of fighting would get you killed unless your opponent decides only to knock you out, but nonlethal fighting is not something in the Shadows' code. He can sense he has gotten Fear's attention by way of knocking every single member of the crowd that attacks him.

Fear comes at him with a long pipe, which he only cuts in half by running the gauntlet along the length of it then punching Fear/Crane hard enough to knock him out too. He would need Crane alive to cure these people and anyone else who has been exposed to the fear toxin. As a matter of priority he would have to get Michael to higher ground first, but even the good father can detect the heaviness of the air.

More of Fear's acolytes come after them even as 'Batman' uses a flare to ignite the methane gas above, which brings the interconnecting pipes above crashing down. Fear throws a reaper axe at them, but expectedly 'Batman' dodges it. The rushing water drags him, Michael, Fear, and others into a sewer tunnel at the far side of reservoir, but one of the enormous rotators is now lodged in the tunnel so if breaks loose again it could slice them to pieces. Not something to look forward to so 'Batman' fires another grappler to pull them ahead of the rotator.

The rushing water drains out to a low large pool outside the reservoir tanks. Michael is holding tightly to him and apparently Fear or rather Crane had also taken hold too. He felt glad that he brought extras tonight because a third grappler is the only thing to keep them from a fatal plunge downward because impacting even with water could kill a person with sufficient velocity. The trio manages to abort a fall by way of landing on the platform over looking the reservoir.

Gordon's chopper is hovering closer so he couldn't stick around especially if there really are police reinforcements closing in from other directions of travel plus the kids are still missing.

He pulls Fear's mask off to reveal an unshaven Jonathan Crane underneath and then Crane tries to hit 'Batman' with a further dose of fear toxin probably still unaware of that Croc had already bit him.

Crane shrieks upon being exposed to a concentrated dose of his own gas.

"Now Doctor… Give the police the antidote or tell them how it can be made."

Crane backs to the wall shaking and whimpering in terror.

"So where did you take the kids?"

"West End… deep in Haven Sector… last place the cops would look or where anyone else would bother to go for a host of unwanted children… so why do you care what happens to them… "

As clouds shift apart lifting the darkness over the reservoir Crane starts chattering as the toxin is causing him to see 'Batman' a little differently now.

'Batman' slips away as Allen and Montoya come down to secure the two men.

"Crane looks like he got a taste of his own stuff… hope he is still lucid enough to devise an antidote," comments Montoya.

"A welcome surprise to find you alive Father, let's get you out of here," says Allen.

"Whoever that man is… I owe him my life."

"What man?"

"The 'Batman'."

Most pretend they did not hear him as they leave the area.

* * *

The Tumbler helps him cross the distance between the abandon reservoir system and the walls that surround Haven Sector in the West End. However along the way he spots two boys atop one of the monorails that run parallel to the Haven Sector. He didn't know what to make of it except their stunt could get them killed. He engages autopilot once bringing the vehicle onto the street that runs under the monorail. The retractable dashboard slides forward and he shoots upward to intercept the boys before anything else happens to them.

"Whoever jumps first is chicken."

Both boys are blonde, one older, one younger and the younger is the first to jump down to the tracks after seeing the outline of 'Batman' behind him.

"Help!"

"I knew you'd chicken out."

The older boy would jump down or at least that appears his plan until noticing his boot tangled up in the bulk cables that run across the top of monorail cars. He starts tugging at it because every so often there are elevated tunnels or other obstacles that could kill a person if they were up here when the monorail goes under them. It is the former, now the older boy looks terrified so 'Batman' quickly frees his leg then breaks into a run backwards to drop down between cars. Afterward he takes both to street level for a chat.

"You play chicken long enough, you fry," assures 'Batman'.

The boys slip away, but he follows at a distance if only to hope that they might lead to wherever the other kids. It looks like another excursion into the sewers is in order given the way they smelled and he could scarcely imagine what kind of person would keep kids in such conditions, but the whole city seems mired in contradictions, maybe this was always so. This cannot continue, tonight it must end for them and one day there must not be a need for places like Haven Sector least of all in Gotham City. As he moves along he can hear a bell ringing, but there are no churches nearby, the sound is coming below street level.

As he nears the source, all that he can see are boys and girls of varying ages doing all manner of manual tasks. Some sew, some carry, and some are even chipping or shoveling away at stone. He looks for familiar faces and spots 'Robbie' just as he accidentally hits his own ankle with the side of a pick-ax. They are a work gang so when they aren't stealing or being drugged that they work their bodies to exhaustion and whoever runs this operation besides Crane obviously had no qualms about using children in this manner.

"Hurry up, hurry, hurry," order a voice.

They push themselves to adhere to the voice's commands.

"Lesson one: no TALKING!" bellows the voice.

The only sounds from ahead are the voice's shouts and the shallow breathing of his charges.

"Children are to be seen and not heard. We are the Under-dwellers – we are the silent ones. We follow the invisible creed, but, but, but, but, but… someone was talking… you. You were heard. And we all know the punishment for talking. Don't we boys and girls?"

'Batman' breaks into a run.

"I think Charlie here needs the fear. Yes, I do – a few hours should make him quieter."

Charlie is sent into a sealed chamber that's flooded with fear toxin.

"Lesson two: All of you up to the streets! Bring back pretties, lots and lots of pretties for your king - now!"

They disperse eager to do the voice's bidding if only to avoid what is happening to Charlie, but from 'Batman's' perspective Charlie is made of sterner stuff.

As he goes deeper he encounters another boy younger than either Charlie or 'Robbie'. The boy runs from him so he chases only the boy falls onto the tracks of another monorail's interior tunnels. He swoops down after him and manages to get away from the track before the monorail car runs them down.

"_Eagle to Batman, they have an antidote thankfully, Crane caved on threat of facing you again so soon. Those inoculated are expected to recover. Have you found the children?"_

"Yes and No, there are dozens of them being kept below the Sector in the sewers. I only manage to snatch one after he had been running from me and fallen into the monorail tunnel."

"_Where is he now?"_

"See you soon. Better prepare an antidote injection for him, he doesn't look so good."

"_I don't have any here, but I'll let them know we'll need some."

* * *

_

The boy's reverie at riding in the Tumbler ends by way to a sleep inducer, but it would slow down the toxin's spread possibly if he were not awake though this is only a theory. It is a circuitous drive to reach the back road and shortly after the Tumbler is coming to a stop inside the Cavern atop the turntable. 'Batman' climbs out of the vehicle as Alfred comes over to him.

"This little one is one of the thieves?"

"This is a guest. You look after him especially once the antidote is given," answers 'Batman'.

"Me, I know so little about children," counters Alfred.

"You'll do fine," assures 'Batman'.

Alfred had barely gotten used to having Dick around to be given another young charge.

"Feed him, clean him, and put him to bed," suggests 'Batman'.

"Well, perhaps – not in that order."

Renee arrives by way of a 'Batboat' to deliver a kit containing several vials of antidote to Crane's toxin. It is relieving to here that everyone including Leslie is recovering from exposure, but that still leaves the children being kept in the Sector Sewers by Crane's partner.

Renee administers the injection to the boy who is still unconscious thanks to the sleep inducer. He is then taken to the Kyle Mansion and left in Selina's care after she is given the brief on what is going on with 'Batman'. He never does things halfway. He means to rescue everyone, but how long before he discovers he can't save everyone, so far he only has two ghosts. She hopes he'll get them out especially Dick and Barbara especially since they were open to volunteering for this crazy mission.

Sarah arrives with someone who looks like a priest and it had been a lifetime since Selina had seen anyone who serves the faith, but then more often than not, there is a need to believe the impossible to be possible. She is slightly surprised by his admittance to being the younger brother of Arnold Stromwell, but then you can't judge a whole by one person alone. Something she learned from her experience with Bruce Wayne.

* * *

Alfred parts the curtains after finding the bedroom that Selina put the boy in and as it turns it is the same room in the gatehouse that Bruce slept in all those years ago.

"Rise and shine, little master," instructs Alfred.

The boy hid himself under the blanket at some point during the night.

"Time to be up and about," adds Alfred.

He and the boy get into a tugging match with the blanket. The boy shares Bruce's aversion to sunlight, but the butler also reminds himself that the boy like many of his companions have spent an ungodly amount of time underground and loose to steal during the night. A sly grin appears on Alfred's face just before he pulls the blanket clear off the bed. The boy uses one hand to covers his eyes while he grabs his dark sunglasses.

"First a bath, don't you think?" suggests Alfred.

Apparently boys no matter where they grow up still have mischievous streaks and the smirk on the boy's face tells the old butler he is in for it now, but he had similar experiences with Bruce long ago before they had to abandon Wayne Manor following the murders.

"Do you have a name?" asks Alfred.

The boy nods then hops off the bed as if looking for a way to get away.

"I hope you don't expect me to guess it. Fred?"

Next he slides under the bed, size affords the boy that option, and Alfred gets down on his knees to see where under the bed he had gone.

"Pete? Leon?"

The boy exits the other side and goes back so Alfred follows suit.

"How about a little help? Can you talk?"

He hopes the talking is slowing his young charge's speed, but like young Bruce he is quick on his feet so he easily steps out of the way as Alfred leaps over the bed. Alfred however manages to grab him before he can slip away again. The boy struggles, but Alfred is not letting go now that they are closer to the bathroom.

"You'll feel much better when you are clean."

First he tries to use his feet to push off the doorway so Alfred turns around only to find the boy gripping the doorframe with his hands so Alfred tugs harder and finally they are inside. The young ward fights the whole and even resists the bathtub until the sensation of being in bathwater calms him down for a time. It would take a long bath to get the sewer smell off him and no doubt the others, but what counts is that they stop being down there, which is 'Batman's' job for the moment.

* * *

After the bath, the boy is hungry, Alfred knows the look so he is quick to prepare a meal with Selina's help. He sets the tray down in front of the boy and then the boy tries to gobble it up with his hands. In the eyes of a butler such a thing just is not done so it is time for table manners as he sets down silverware on either side of the tray. Selina represses a laugh from the boy pocketing the silverware. Alfred sets down more utensils and the boy ignores the second set of silverware and starts gobbling up the food with his hands. Alfred shakes his head realizing that looking after just Bruce was not enough to prepare for someone like this guy, but he would let him eat because clearly the lad is hungry.

* * *

The boy comes coasting down the stairs riding a large platter plate while holding its hand grips. The older man steps aside to avoid a collision, but of course the boy collides with something else. He'd imagine Bruce, Selina, and most of the others laughing at him for the silliness that the boy had drawn him into following all afternoon.

Alfred continues to search for the boy who now unfortunately found a weapon that must have belong to the late Brian Kyle, but Selina is quick to snatch it away from him since she had been in the room too. 'Batman' appears in the doorway behind Alfred and Selina hides the gun away in a higher up place. The weapon thankfully is not loaded, but still that was close.

'Batman' goes over to the boy.

"I need your help," asks 'Batman'.

Selina smiles at Bruce as again he is asking a child for help. Whether he admits it or not, Bruce in his softer moments made an exceptional lover and an endearing father type. Together they would travel back to the Haven Sector except Selina insists on coming along to help. 'Batman' and the boy go out to the Tumbler to wait for her.

Selina had made her own costume and the way it hugs her body is distracting to Bruce.

Together the trio head back to the sewers in the Tumbler.

* * *

The missing children's keeper kept trained crocodiles on patrol in the area where they did their labors for him. Bruce had seen the list, but even so it is inaccurate and incomplete list if the numbers he is seeing once inside mean anything. There are close to fifty children, adolescents, and even a few who are almost teenagers. Naturally they all look relieved to see their missing companion, but they are looking at him and Selina with a strange reverence as if he helps them merely by returning this boy to them. At the same time, the sheer number of them here made him want to ring their keeper's neck for forcing them to live like this and use Crane's drugs on them too.

He pulls out a camera to photograph everything in this room as evidence for Gordon to strength the case against Crane and their keeper. Each flash, every photo, it wells the anger inside him and it is time to put an end to this demented Fagin charade.

"Where is he?" demands 'Batman'.

It is a long walk down a dark tunnel to where a bell hangs and 'Batman' keeps ringing it until all the children down here concentrate on his position near the bell. He keeps pulling and pulling until the support beam snaps causing the bell to crash to the ground.

"I don't know what kind of barbarian did this to you, but it's over," reassures 'Batman'.

They are hanging on his words.

"And from now you'll be treated like humans beings," promises 'Batman'.

'Fagin' arrives with two of his crocodiles.

"I think we'll have something to say about that," retorts Fagin.

The children scatter, but 'Batman' stands his ground. He knocks one of the oncoming crocodiles with the fallen bell while binding up the other with rope after flipping it on its back much to Fagin's annoyance. He merely used the creature's size against it plus it looks as if Crane wasn't limited to testing his drugs on human subjects as 'Batman' never heard of crocodiles being this vicious.

"Crush him! Destroy that costumed freak!" orders Fagin.

It appears the keeper has no shortage of crocodile 'bodyguards'. This one gets too close for comfort yet by holding its jaws apart for too long strains the creature until it passes out and Fagin hollers at the idea that so many of his pets have been taken down by a single man.

"I'll show you who rules here!" shouts Fagin.

Fagin seizes one of the boys and holds him in a headlock.

"Put him down!" implores 'Batman'.

Bruce feels his eyes widening as Fagin starts to back away holding the boy. He calls his still conscious crocodiles to follow him.

The boy that led him and Selina down here swings in from on high to rescue the other boy. It is a quick retrieval and together the pair land on the walkway above. The boy gives a thumb up and 'Batman' returns the signal with a smile. Inwardly Bruce admits the boy is a fast learner so perhaps passing on what he learned overseas would be a great asset even to these kids.

Fagin is off and running, which prompts 'Batman' to give chase while 'Catwoman' encircles the children in case anymore crocodiles appear or if the ones 'Batman' took care of decide to go on the attack again.

Fagin must have tripped something because the next thing 'Batman' sees a fast drop into the different part of the sewers where there are at least a dozen crocodiles. He is starting to dislike how true this urban legend is turning out to be. Fagin can be heard applauding him.

"You've have hurt my pretty pets and frightened my beloved children," quips Fagin.

"Beloved children?" repeats 'Batman' dryly.

"Yes. I feed them, I clothe them, I discipline them… and I teach them a trade," continues Fagin.

It looks as if Fagin means to teach something to 'Batman' as well, but somehow underestimating appears to be the mistake of tonight on both their parts though 'Batman' holds no intention of allowing Fagin to continue his 'trade'. Fagin stomps on his gloved fists as he holds onto the broken pipe and so he swings upward kicking Fagin, which cause the man to lose his balance.

"Take my hand!" shouts 'Batman'.

"Never!" rebukes Fagin.

It looks as if the keeper is falling to his death with all these crocodiles in the area.

"A gruesome fate for a gruesome man," comments Batman harshly.

Perhaps it is too early to think Fagin gone as his crocodiles did not dive to kill him, no they went down to save him as he reappears in the polluted water. Fagin climbs out and heads away as he thinks this time he'll be free of the Bat. Fagin makes haste for an exit just the same, he would start over somewhere else because there would always be the forgotten, the discarded, the unwanted, and they too would serve him as others had done before them.

He returns to aboveground by way of the abandoned subway tunnels except the door he thought bolted shut blows off, which meant just as the Bat thought him dead, he made the mistake of thinking 'Batman' could not somehow manage an equally surprising escape.

"Why?" exclaims Fagin.

"I don't pass sentences. That's for the courts, but this time – this time I am sorely tempted to do the job myself," responds 'Batman' gratingly.

* * *

Gordon's squad assembles in the Haven Sector, which is the first in many years that a police unit has come here. Leslie well on her way to recovery wants to be on hand when the children return to the surface so Jim takes her there. The first to emerge is one of the many missing children a boy named Jason Todd who is a few years younger than Dick Grayson.

"The light – the light – the light," pips Jason.

Gotham General ambulances are also on hand to take the kids to the hospital. Thomas Kane and Selina Kyle are footing the hospital bills for the children. It is a news sensation to say the least, but it drawn attention from the highest to the lowest echelons of Gotham.

Leslie takes Jason by hand and finds Batman's undercover helpers already in an ambulance along with Gordon. Together the five ride off to the hospital.

The Haven turnout is enormous since practically everyone living in the vicinity of this particular manhole is there to see what the big deal is here.

On high, 'Batman' hears the chatter from the crowd and most of it almost sounds uplifting and so he heads back to the Tumbler to drive back to the Cavern. Alfred left breakfast for him so after ignoring hours of hunger he ate in a manner that almost mirrors Jason.

* * *

'Thomas Kane' arrives at Gotham General to find Selina, Leslie, Jim, and unexpectedly Father Michael waiting for him. Alfred is right behind him as they approach a room being shared by five kids. The staggering number that Fagin kept below only adds to the media blitz about the event. Word got out too quickly for the Council to silence it, which meant 'Thomas Kane', made them all targets yet doing something like this is not without risks, they all know it.

"Mr. Kane I wondered if I would ever see you again after Italy and I see my impressions of you were right."

"Good to see you again Father, but the real credit belongs to the officers who found these kids."

"You are being too modest darling…" adds Selina.

'Thomas' goes in to see Helena before any of the others. It reminds Selina of that afternoon that he kept her from foolishly attacking her drunken father for his assault on her mother.

"Some things change… others never do," notes Selina.

"Sometimes I wonder what had become of him after Italy, but I can see he finally found his calling back where he belongs with all of you… it would not be my place to presume the identity of my rescuer though I believe these kids owe their salvation to this 'Batman'."

'Batman' could be the hero, but would about Bruce Wayne, would he always have to hide?

* * *

A/N 1: Inspired by **_Batman: Gotham Knight - In Darkness Dwells _**and BtAS episode **The Under-Dwellers**. Both have an underworld atmosphere and touch upon the moral ambiguity of Batman's mission.

A/N 2: Dick is Robbie and Barbara is Amy. Both names are aliases used by their comics counterparts. Age wise the two aren't teenagers yet where as Helena and Charlie are. As for the little boy, he's Jason Todd, and is among the lost children.

A/N 3: As for Haven Sectors, this concept is based on Sanctuary Districts seen in ST: DS9 episode **_Past Tense_**. It is also a stretch on when J'onn tells Savage about the present-future in **Savage Time**.

A/N 4: Selina joins the resistance as Catwoman, Batman's 2IC (second-in-command). Costume aliases are instead in this time line operative code names such as Alfred as Eagle. It seems as if the mission going well, almost too well despite a few setbacks.

A/N 5: Many of the rescued children will grow up to join the Resistance (aka the Outsiders). Time line wise these events occur during the BtAS run. Alternate selves of familiar heroes will appear in upcoming chapters.


	11. Beyond The Sky

The Kents are farmers like millions of others living in the agricultural colonies setup in the Midwest by the Regime. Nobody dares to refer to the colony or rather the town by its original name, but the Kents like the others in the colony still inwardly think of it as Smallville. Jonathan Kent was never one to shy away from any task put to him and before long he was given his own land to personally maintain yet he was still by mandate made to service to a quota. He realized he couldn't look after such a sizable tract on land on his own and he already was seeing a woman named Martha Clark. She warmly agreed because as she put it a farm always needed a woman's touch.

Not long after moving in together they marry and she becomes Martha Kent.

* * *

Somehow Jonathan found that for all the triumphs they would share together in the early years of their marriage. There is one deeply intimate and personal tragedy of a kind, which is Martha can't get pregnant. None of the doctors they could afford to see could figure it out. Martha was broken up about it and Jonathan true to his upbringing did his best to mind her. Some part of him always thought one day that they would have kids of their own, but somehow it was not to happen unless the doctors were wrong about Martha's infertility.

Another family from down the road invites the Kents to a party. They introduce themselves as the Langs and they have a little girl named Lana. Martha takes an instant liking to Lana and little Lana can plainly tell Martha isn't quite as happy as she pretends to be, but then there's idea floating around at times that children are often more perceptive at reading emotional states than adults. Jonathan doesn't know whether to admit to them or not that his wife is potentially infertile because that is more of a private matter for them.

"Mrs. Kent, are you a mommy?" asks Lana.

"I often pray that someday I will be," answers Martha.

Jonathan sniffles while wiping something from the corner of his eye. Mrs. Lang offers him a reassuring smile before going over to join Martha and Lana. Mr. Lang offers Jonathan a drink and he sips some. The party he inwardly decides is something Martha needed more than him especially after the latest doctor visit. He could grasp at Martha's desire to be a mother, but he realizes such a desire is better understood by a woman. He knows she would make a spectacular mother, but it appears biology is against her at the moment, if not forever.

Forever is too long in this mortal coil and he too found himself praying for a miracle in the form of a child.

They bid affectionate partings to little Lana and in particular she gives Martha a hug that makes it almost impossible to want to put her down, but Martha realizes she will have to do just that though she thanks the little girl for being such a good little hostess. Lana smiles at that then skips some on her way back to the farm house and Mrs. Lang offers some food for them to take back to their farm. Jonathan and Mr. Lang load it into the pickup truck. They leave the Lang Farm behind them so they might return to theirs, which they built or rather renovated by themselves.

* * *

"Cute little kid back there, wouldn't you say so?" comments Jonathan.

"Definitely Jonathan, made another bad news day less so," sighs Martha.

"Never underestimate the power of a little kid," continues Jonathan.

"Still you know my dream of being more than just a farmer's wife," remarks Martha.

"I could see it long ago and again tonight when you were with Lana," admits Jonathan.

Their conversation is cut off by a loud rumbling behind them. Jonathan slams the brakes. Something plowing through the sky narrowly misses their truck. Jonathan starts to accelerate in order to follow it. This something is not the only thing falling from the sky tonight, but it is by far the largest that they have ever seen in their lives.

"Easy honey, you are going to give both of us indigestion," chuckles Martha.

"Sorry, I guess my curiosity is getting the better of me," replies Jonathan.

The something had come down within walking distance of their farm, specifically a creek, and Jonathan pulls over to get a better look. After switching off the truck, both get out then cautiously work their way towards the creek. The something is a rather sleek looking rocket propelled vessel. Martha quickly scoots ahead of him as something inexorably pulls at her to get down there. Jonathan worried about what's inside and if it might harm Martha slides down after her. Both are in up to knees as they edge towards the vessel.

Martha runs her fingers along the ship and it does feel rather cold to touch, which feels odd for something that had flown here. What strikes her as even more odd than the fact that the vessel had been able to navigate to this spot with more precision than she had ever seen in her life. As her fingers continue to run along the exterior, the opaque window slides back to reveal a tiny interior. The equivalent to seat-belts retract into their slots. Martha makes an audible gasp and without so much as a further thought Martha picks up another something from inside much to Jonathan's confusion since he is behind her.

Jonathan heard the unmistakable sounds of cooing and of his wife making baby sounds. As he finally comes along side her, he sees a toddler bundled up in a blanket. He smiles at the sight of her with the baby, but then the vessel directly in front of them reminds him that perhaps she is too willing to accept the circumstances without questioning them.

"Put that thing back, you don't know where it came from," exclaims Jonathan.

"He's not a thing, Jonathan, he's a baby. Who'd put a baby in a spaceship?" chides Martha.

"That's just my point. It could be Russian, a Sputnik maybe," rebukes Jonathan.

"Oh really?" quips Martha.

"Maybe he's one of ours then," concludes Jonathan.

Martha starts walking away with the baby boy in her arms.

"Sweetie, we can't keep him. What are we gonna tell people? We found him in a creek?"

"Honey, we didn't find **_him_**… he found **_us_**."

His gaze alternates between his wife and the ship sitting in the creek.

"What to name you my boy from the stars?" murmurs Martha.

"Martha, what are we going to do about the ship?" exasperates Jonathan.

"We'll hide it somehow," answers Martha.

"It is awfully big to hide something this size even for us."

"Hide it under the barn then."

"I can't lift this on my own you know that don't you?"

Martha plops the little boy near the top of the tiny slope that descends into the creek and unknown to her, he starts following her down. The Kents together start to lift the ship except it is proving more of a strain for Jonathan's back and his grip starts to slip except it starts short of falling on his feet then it starts to level out again. Both husband and wife gawk with surprise as the little boy carries the ship up the slope. Together they go after him up the slope.

"You can… uh… put it in the back of the truck," suggests Jonathan.

The boy looks unsure of the word then Jonathan points to the red pickup. He sets it down there and then plops down as if the effort to carry had more of an effect on him than the actual weight of the vessel.

"It doesn't make sense. We could barely lift it and he carries it at least a dozen feet on his own."

"He's no ordinary little boy honey. We can't let anyone find out about his ability to do something like that, because lifting objects much heavier than him is probably not the least of his abilities."

Martha bundles him back up in the blanket and Jonathan covers the vessel in the tarp he kept to cover supplies or crops from the elements.

"Still he needs a name," persists Martha.

In some strange way, Jonathan begins to think maybe someone had given him an answer to his prayers if only for Martha's sake.

"Maybe Kirk or Christopher?" wonders Martha.

At the same, he feels some fear what would happen if the government ever learns of what the boy is capable of doing specifically the things that exceed what one could call biologically human. The boy looks human, but lifting a rocket propelled vessel at his age and size is too unreal. It is like something out of a science fiction serial that they used to publish before the Regime Occupational Authority took the place of the American Government that Jonathan's late parents taught him about as a child.

"Ah, I think we call you Clark. Yes you are Clark," says Martha.

The little boy now called Clark sleeps soundly in Martha's arms as they pull into the barn. They made sure to lock the barn tightly so nobody could access it except them.

Before long they start looking into ways to explain sparingly how they now had a son, which meant passing him off as an orphan they found left near their farm. They never knew at the time just how accurate that description is in a way, but there's more to it than that. The Kents had known that from the moment they found him in that ship.

Jonathan in time sets to work converting a room of the farmhouse into a bedroom for Clark though he often finds Martha staying close to him. Like any mother and the boy's case son, they had in a word become nearly inseparable. He didn't feel left out because some times mothers and sons had to bond apart from fathers. Martha would by turns teach Clark about gardening as she had been one to handle flowers and produces on the farm while Jonathan dealt with the bigger crops. This is what they thought of as the foundation for the ideals they wish pass onto him.

* * *

They had another invitation the following year in December to the Langs' farm again. Mrs. Lang or rather Laura thought it would be a nice way to spend the holidays. Plus Laura also said she thought her Clark looks rather cute together with Lana. Martha found it endearing yet again with the secret that the Kents kept by keeping Clark is something of a cause for concern at least for them. The Kents didn't admonish Clark for using his abilities, but they also told him to not freely use them in a public setting for the time being. He seems to understand yet occasionally certain acts were unavoidable.

They had to call upon his strength to put the ship into the cellar, but as he got older somehow he shows no signs of remembering the ship. Of course when they found him at a toddler looking age, he for the most part had shown behavior consistent in a sense with that age aside from independently carrying a vessel more than six times his size. Lana almost instantly took to him, but then Martha found that unsurprising since he at the age he is has that effect on girls and women alike.

"Clark's lucky to have you two. I can't imagine what parents would abandon their son like that."

"Neither can I, but what matters is he has us like you said."

Martha had to wonder still what mother would give up her son, but then maybe he had no parents either, she had heard the most disturbing rumors about science breakthroughs on artificially creating life, which in a way made her rather sick emotionally. In her mind, you can't create life without something that life grows inside of like a child in the womb. She prefers to imagine the mother had an impossible decision to make in order to save the child and maybe the father built the vessel they found him, but again she got that idea out of her husband's old science fiction serials.

* * *

The First Depression is still recalled by those still alive from those days, but many these days still remember the one that had come after the Regime invasion. A Second Depression hit during the early years of the ROA taking power. It hurt militarized cities and internalized colonies alike, but they had come through it. At the same time talk of kicking out the Regime never seems to dissipate for long, but the farmer colonies are too at ease with their relations with the Authority to risk having them put into worse conditions than they are in now.

Martha couldn't blame them, but then a prison is still a prison no matter how attractive they made the internalized farming colonies such as this one and most colonies were forbidden to use the names that used to be used for the region that the colony was built in. In her mind and definitely in Jonathan's, this is still somewhat in the heartland of what their parents called Smallville. It was a foolish dream to think it could be that again, but dreams in a way could come true unless she made more of finding Clark in a rocket ship than she should.

All she knows is without that delightful little boy her life would be by far emptier and lonelier despite the joys that Jonathan had given and shown her in the years of their marriage so far. At the same time both of them still fear someone finding about their secret, about the boy they will always treat as their son, but usually anything about people being super-human or meta-human stays out of the head lines. History already had shown millions what a fixation with a superman had done to the world as a whole especially here in the heartland of Regime America.

* * *

The surge of tinted window vehicles as of late did little to assuage Martha's fears because they had been appearing near the daycare center where Clark and Lana regularly went in the afternoon as well as the school they both attend regularly. After weeks of feeling as someone is stalking her son, she and Jonathan hid behind a stone wall they put up near they kept firewood for the winter. Clark is already taking a nap upstairs so they were eager to see if whoever was watching him would try to get closer to him when it looks like they are not around.

Six individuals all in dark suits with ties and dark glasses are advancing across the field towards the Kents' farmhouse. One of them is carrying some kind of weapon and it looks to Jonathan like something from one his science fiction serials.

"We'll have to disarm the one with the gun first," notes Jonathan.

"I'm ready when you are dear," chimes Martha.

"Nobody is taking our boy and that's a promise."

"I just never thought we might fight government for him."

"If that's what it takes to protect him then what's we have to do."

Jonathan sideswipes the one with the 'ray gun' by way of hitting him with the reverse side of a shovel. The man groans in pain before taking aim to hit Jonathan back.

Martha is taken by surprise to see a woman among them and to top she's also darker in complexion than most people in this colony.

"You're not taking my son!" snaps Martha.

"I'm afraid he's not your kid because biologically speaking your genetics don't match and sure you might have adopted him by passing him off as an abandonment case, but he's not your concern anymore. He now belongs to us," retorts the woman.

"Who the hell are you?" hisses Martha.

"Not important nor who I represent because if you interfere with this retrieval. You and your husband are looking at serious jail time," interjects the woman.

Jonathan manages to knock out at least three of them before the rest take him down while Martha is left facing the dark woman who threatens them both with criminal charges for interfering with what they perceive as a lawful action.

"We know about the ship. We have seen examples of his superhuman abilities. The fact that he's never been sick once is mysterious enough, but at this point we believe he's not human. By certain laws that are not on the books, we are within our rights to remove this threat from the colony."

"We're the only family he's ever known. You can't take him from us!" pleads Martha.

"Tell that to someone who cares because I quite frankly don't and neither of you is equipped to handle what he might turn into it," retorts the woman.

"What makes you any better qualified?" shouts Jonathan.

"Let's just say we have experience when it comes to subjects who possess abilities that exceed that of an ordinary human being."

"We learn as we go. Not usurp an assumed advantage. Now get off my farm and away from my family."

"I had no desire to make a scene, but this has gone on long enough. This is Waller initiate Plan 'B'."

More dark Cadillac cars arrive in seconds.

"Stun them and bring me the boy. Be sure to use the device on him and then contain him."

Marta flung herself straight at Waller and quite literally tackled the heavier woman. It catches Waller by surprise and then Martha hits Waller clean across the face.

"My only prejudice is this… people who abuse and use children like you intend to do with mine!"

It takes almost four operatives to pry Martha away from a bloodied Waller.

"Nothing personal Mrs. Kent, but he was never yours to begin with."

Waller wipes her bleeding lip while awaiting Martha's reprisal.

"That's where you are wrong!"

"Say whatever it takes to fill your delusion, but we have our ways of making the colony forget about him. I would say I would use it on you too, but messing with memories on a colony scale is difficult at best so we limit to anyone who has contact with him."

She watches as they take away the limp form of her little boy and she can hear his weakened cries for her, for his father, but they can do nothing with a squad pointing stun guns at them.

Waller gains an interruption when someone informs her that local colony security is onto them. It appears as if their arrival at this tract did not go unnoticed.

"It appears we need a quick exit. Just stun them now. Misery loves company after all."

Martha tries to make a run to the car where they put Clark. He puts his tiny hand to the window, he is crying and so is she. Something in the car is keeping him from breaking out because she knows her little boy is strong in more ways than one.

Jonathan grips his chest when they stun him.

He never brought it up but his heart problems are always coming and going. He slides to the ground in pain. Martha eyes avert between the two men in her life. There is her son about to be stolen from her and her husband who could die without medical attention.

She couldn't make the call, but as soon as they had come they were gone so she had to do what is possible to do for her Jonathan. She inwardly curses this Waller for the suffering they are going into from this moment onward.

* * *

Lewis Lang arrives with a host of Colony Security personnel and they quickly rush Jonathan Kent to the nearest medical facility. She is too weary to give a statement about what happen in the last ten minutes and so Lewis left that task to Laura. He felt best to let a woman get the story from Martha because even he could see she is grief stricken. Laura is instantly on the move once he phones her about something happening to the Kents and probably their adopted son too.

Jonathan would need some surgery, but he would pull through most likely. Martha when able to speak coherently told Laura at length about the people following them around the colony as well as their interest in Clark. She confesses to Laura that she had not exactly told them everything about what happen the night they found Clark after the first party they went to at the Langs. Laura accepts why Martha kept it from her because even between friends there are secrets and as a mother she grasps the need to protect him by not revealing everything about him considering his abilities.

* * *

"So they claim they work for the government and that he's not your son?" says Lewis.

"He's our son in all the ways that count, biology isn't everything Lewis," quips Martha.

"I'm sorry Martha. I didn't mean to upset you more," replies Lewis softly.

"It is… damn… I can't even put sentences together for long," cries Martha.

Lewis decides to sit with Martha while Laura goes to check on the still sleeping Jonathan. He would be in for a further shock when he wakes up and somehow she had the feeling Martha would have to tell him even though she would probably break down in tears halfway through telling him. It made her angry, made her furious, because if anyone ever took Lana from her, she would let loose on that person, government agent or not.

It is only then that she notices that Lana is over with her Lewis and Martha. There is no right way to explain the abduction to a man who had a near heart attack or to a little girl who had become terribly fond of a boy she calls Clarkie just to tease him. Neither was even old enough in a way to have a crush, but these things happen unpredictably, very much unlike a premeditated kidnapping. The contrasts register too sharply to her mind yet Laura felt glad to see Martha smile again.

* * *

Jonathan awoke finally, but he had no way of knowing how much time had passed their encounter with that amoral woman. He did remember his wife slugging her. The rest is all blurry. He looks over to the chair to see Martha sleeping with the blanket they found Clark in as a baby. It is tightly being held in her arms. It told all he needed to know about the result of yesterday's face-off. Those so-called government agents had stolen their only child and all because of his super-human powers yet from he could tell his son's powers didn't help him ward of his abductors. It meant to him that they really did know something that he and Martha did not.

However there is no way to know what precisely they used except that it made him too weak to fight back. It would be a few days more before Jonathan could return with her to the farm. The Colony Security Forces kept an eye out for any more of those dark cars and suits, yet none had come back since that afternoon. They got what they were after and they even took the ship too. The only things they found of no use to take were the blanket and a strange box Jonathan found in a compartment near where Clark was held in place during the trip from wherever he had come from though they never found a way for it to work. It did occur to both of them that only Clark had the touch to use it, but Clark is no longer with them in body.

However some part of their hearts go wherever they took him and somehow they would not let this go unchallenged, but they had no idea where to start looking for him or let alone how to get him away from those people. Both had sinking suspicions that only Clark would have the means to escape from them, but that might never happen, if it ever happens at all. Martha spent hours at a time sitting in the rocking chair Jonathan built when Clark was only into a few weeks of being with them. She sat there humming the same rhyme that she sung to him when he couldn't sleep, but now the strains all sound lonely and sad to Jonathan.

They had each other, they had mutual heartache, but what they didn't have was their boy.

* * *

It is not long after that the Langs reveal to them that are movements among the colonies that prepare for the day that the Regime will be driven out of their home lands. The Langs are part of one such movement and now they ask the Kents to join them. The Kents however say they need time and so the offer remains on the table until they felt they were ready to take part. They held onto the hope that their son would find them again like he had the first time.

* * *

Somewhere far from the Kent Farm, Clark awakens in an enclosed playroom. He looks up to see the lights are not yellow, but they are red.

The windows appear to slide apart and in walks an older man in a suit that doesn't look like the others. Not like the ones that took him from his family.

"Hello Clark. My name is Perry. I am here to look after you from now on," says the man.

"Why? Where are my parents? What did those people do to them?" asks Clark.

This Perry didn't have much of an answer. He seems well meaning yet Clark had his doubts about him already.

"I want to go home! I want my parents!" demands Clark.

"You can't go home, you are now part of Cadmus' special projects."

It appears he might have to play along for now, but someday whoever sent those men as well as that one woman after him would pay for this. It is a promise that Clark intends to keep yet it is then that he recalls much of what his parents taught him.

_When we found you. You were our gift from beyond the sky. There is much within you that can change the world even if it is only one person at a time or our case two. You may be the son of farmers yet you have a heart and a mind. Use them. Use them for good._

"What now?" murmurs Clark.

"We start tomorrow. You have had a long day."

Perry steps out of the enclosed space and leaves the Special Projects Sub-Level.

* * *

Perry rubs his temple and finds his boss' wife standing in his office looking as radiant as ever at least until he saw her eyes.

"A child? What were they thinking? Were they even thinking Perry?" murmurs Ella Lane

"Don't ask me. You think I don't have problems with this?" whispers Perry.

"He's practically the same age as my daughter!" hisses Ella.

"This is Cadmus. They take what they want and nobody has ever gotten away with saying no to them!" retorts Perry.

"What about his family? They must be devastated," sniffles Ella.

"Go home to your little lavender eyed daughter. He's my responsibility now," says Perry.

Ella heeds his advice and passes Dr. Hamilton on the way to the elevator. He is heading to seeing Dr. White.

"She best quit being so vocal about her misgivings about what we do here. She shouldn't even be down here or aware of what we do."

"She's the director's wife. He allows her down here. He thinks things like if she sees how well we keep them maybe she'll change her tune. The woman is set in her ways and 'employing' children bothers her. I can say I'm not that keen on it myself, but this is my job, it is in my interest to do my very best."

"See that you do Perry because I think you are too soft for this kind of work."

"You can't go around treating them all like inanimate versions of weapons."

"I treat them however I see fit and besides I have projects of my own to oversee. They gave you Prometheus so be sure Overman is able to deliver results."

Hamilton leaves White's office and White pours himself a drink because too much has gone down in one night starting with a frightened little boy stuck inside a box made to switch off his powers and he had to wonder how did they learn so much about how to detain him.

_He's just a boy isn't he? _thinks Perry.

* * *

Continuity: Events in Beyond The Sky time line wise happens before/during/after Orphan.

A/N 1: The arrival scenes are meshing of StAS **The Last Son of Krypton** & the pilot episode of **_Smallville_**. Both have lines spoken by Martha Kent that have maternal tenderness. It reflects to me how exactly she views her role as mother to "her boy from the stars".

A/N 2: The Langs and the Kents are present, but with some differences. I time skipped between parts because I was trying to focus on doing gem moments. Moments that are like scenes that are similar yet twisted from the familiar lore. Alternate Clark & Lana meet as toddlers as an allusion to Clark's crush on Lana during their high school years seen in StAS **The Last Son of Krypton**.

A/N 3: The dark woman is Amanda Waller, she's an amoral workaholic, whatever Cadmus orders, she does without so much as a blink. Emil Hamilton works for Cadmus in this time line too. Hamilton is much worse than his JLU counterpart (if you have seen _**The Pretender**_ think Mr. Raines).

A/N 4: Perry White is also on Cadmus' payroll. White is less changed than Hamilton. He is given Project Prometheus and its subject Overman (aka Clark Kent). Ella Lane is the wife of Cadmus Director Samuel Lane and they have a daughter who has lavender eyes (Lois).

A/N 5: _**The Pretender**_ is not a series I can explain in a way that does justice to it. If you have seen the series you know what I mean and if you haven't it is one of those series that is not to be missed is all I can say without spoiling it.


	12. Not The Stars

The nerve center of Cadmus is one of the last places she wants to see again let alone have an office inside of, but the request had come from the director who also happens to be her father. She never stood a chance at saying no – even after all these years she remains her father's daughter yet pleasing him remains a thankless task because relations between them have always been distantly warm. She didn't know who to blame that on – her or him – or worse blame the past that nobody wants to talk about – least of all her and her father.

She barely gotten into unpacking in the office when there is a knock at her door.

"Yes?"

"Miss Lane, you have a fax."

The man handing her the fax is Dan. He is the head of the Cleaner unit assigned to her by her father. As for what she herself knows of Dan relies mostly on what she read from his personnel record, which establishes him as having an impeccable company record. The same goes for his counterpart Maggie, which is vaguely reassuring if only for the fact that she won't have to worry about replacing anyone for the time being. Replacements usually means disappearances and deaths, which is not something anyone looks forward to while working for Cadmus

She unfolds the fax note. It is unmistakably his handwriting, all the more reason to find him and drag him back here. The only thing that surprises her is a date written in the lower right corner of the paper. She folds the paper up again then stuffs into her dress jacket pocket and Dan turns to head back out the way he had come only moments before.

Now to deal with his handler who is the one she is told to work with, but be way of his allegiances given Perry's connection to Clark. What exactly made her a better candidate for recapturing escapes her unless the Inner Circle is exploiting her own history with their poster boy. If they were it does not surprise her, smart ones always make mistakes, she is never thought herself smart, she prefers to be thought of as clever or at worse intuitive as her mother would say is more a feminine quality than a masculine one.

Lane exits her office, keys the lock code then heads for the only elevator than runs to where she must go now, she had not been in that elevator in nearly twenty years, she remembers full why she never set foot in it again after she went abroad for her university studies such as the one that would one day lead her to a corporate position equal to her fathers or even surpassing it. However like everyone in Cadmus fully knows the corporate and the military have been in 'cahoots' for decades to paraphrase the words of the current Cadmus Military Attache Officer, General Hardcastle.

* * *

Cadmus is the only corporation/organization to remain intact as the Regime Occupational Authority did away with everything else – nothing remains of the old order. Cadmus has also kept ties to the Lane family since her father took over as Director from her grandfather in the 1960s. Miss Lane knows next to nothing about her mother's family. Her father claims that most of her mother's family was killed during the war, she had no cause to doubt her father, but little by little she starts to realize she only accepts his words because he is the only family she has left.

It is not quite full circle as she reaches out to tap the down button on the wall panel near the elevator doors. She steels herself as she steps inside fully aware that she could not allow her emotions and memories get the better of her once inside this particular car. She did not have to tell herself why she had to ride this elevator aside from it being the only one that goes down to the Special Projects Division, which encompasses several sublevels.

She steps inside inputs her code, the doors close and so the descent to the depths of Cadmus begins anew. It might look like a pristine new interior to everyone else, maybe even to her, but not constantly. The carpeting looks for a moment like it did all those years before right down to the red pool spilling out of a prone body on it. The clean fresh scent seems to turn foul like the stench of gunpowder. The rolling of the wheels intermittently groans in such a manner that one might mistake it for banging like a bang from a gun. It almost feels like she is hyperventilating yet her heart feels like it could leap out of her when she hears crying and screaming – she knows full well who she can hear – she only wishes it would stop soon.

Lane tries to steady her trembling hands, she couldn't even find enough calmness to light a cigarette, but it is just another habit she means to kick despite the temporary relief that a smoke had given her. Of course there is the ulcer to consider now too.

her eyes water, but she doesn't cry, big girls don't cry, something Daddy always said to her over the years though she had come to grudgingly accept that he mourns his late wife – her mother in his own way. People always say now that she looks so much like her mother, but inwardly she doubts her mother ever felt as she does now, the woman that Miss Lane reveres hardly seem the type to let anything get her down. Honesty is always in short supply in this place except in people like her late mother, like Perry, and most of all so like _him_.

His escape had taken everyone by surprise except her. He always had the means to escape though he spent too many years under the delusion that he could change Cadmus _modus operandi_ from the inside, that never will happen for only Cadmus can alter its methods. So far nothing ever gives them cause to switch tactics, but with him on the loose, the old ways would no longer cut it especially if she is to pursue and retrieve their golden boy.

She exits the elevator takes a quick smoke before flicking the butt into a nearby garbage bin and leave the cleaning to the janitors though as for paper of any kind that goes through a triple shredder before the shreds are thrown into the furnace. As for the computers, they are kept secure by way of rotating daily access codes, which would stop everyone, save for a computer genius or someone who knows the code from accessing Cadmus' mainframe.

Clark never really struck her as computer savvy, but it didn't mean he couldn't learn another tool of the trade since he quickly went about picking up everything else that Cadmus taught him through Perry's handler capacity. All that made him ready for the nuts and bolts of being out there yet as for how he approach dealing with people she couldn't imagine how he would do it.

However knowing him, he would adapt, he always adapts, it always looked as if nothing could hurt him, but maybe she had been wrong about that, maybe he is just a man who happens to have super-human powers. She tugs her skirt cursing the fact that when she stood one way it always made her skirts look shorter thus causing men to ogle her in a way that made her want to deck or dunk them. It was only around him that she didn't mind the stares, she couldn't say why, but being this close to him again after all these years, it felt like coming home, coming home to the only thing that made the visits to Cadmus bearable – because he was there though now he is gone from this place.

He like her had found cause to want to get away, but unlike her, he is out there and she is in here.

* * *

Perry is there to meet her outside his workspace. It is part of a series of levels that dedicated solely to Cadmus' Special Projects Divisions (SPD).

"From here to corporate to here - only something from this far down could have been cause to bring me back," snips Miss Lane.

"It is a thrill to have you back and I am happy for the opportunity to work with you," says Perry.

"This won't take long. He leaves a readable trail, he can't hide forever," assures Miss Lane.

"He isn't hiding, he goes where believes he must go, just because he leaves a trail doesn't mean it will be that easy. Patience is one of many things necessary to recapturing him," reminds Perry.

"You may take kicks out of what you do, but my goals… my plans don't include dragging my heels across the country looking for fly boy," retorts Miss Lane.

"I recall a happy little girl… whatever became of her?" continues Perry.

"She grew up - so should you," quips Miss Lane.

She rapid taps an entry code onto the keypad, which unlocks the door and it slides over as their presence triggers the motion sensors.

The work place is a sterile yet plain looking environment, which is thought suitable for all the project 'sociopaths' are given as a place for their work. Fact is Cadmus prefers sociopath tendencies if only to switch off the qualities that 'interfere' with their work.

"It is pointless to rummage through here again. I already went over all this countless times since the escape," states Perry.

She walks about the room as if trying to reacquaint herself with all the telltale elements that one could always associate to Clark (aka Overman). It is almost like seeing a younger and happier Miss Lane at least to Perry as he watches her from across the room.

"Well I'm doing my own so bear with me won't you Perry?" insists Miss Lane.

If nothing else her investigative qualities have not been worn down by corporate work because there in lies boredom at least to Perry because here in this place is the only work that matters to him. On some level even with Clark out there, at least one can observe just how adept Clark had become at blending in, but unfortunately his superiors prefer to keep Clark or rather 'Overman' in a controlled environment indefinitely. They would let him disguise himself as anyone psychologically, but physically he is still their skeleton key for helping them whatever they ask of him. However Perry kept it to himself when noticing just how much these pretends were starting to overwhelm Clark simply because many of simulations often had disaster components where Clark had to discover why things had gone that way.

The most recent deals with a plane crash into Metropolis Central Park. The accident had been a media sensation to say the least, but it is not the media attention that had gotten to Clark, it is the number of people that did not survive the crash. Perry activates a replay of the crash recreation where Clark went through the motions of working out how the crew would have gone about trying to prevent the crash and then when it had become unavoidable he shifts to what went on leading up to the crash.

"He played all the parts while psychologically reliving the crew's final moments as they tried and failed to prevent that plane crash thus discovering what caused it," comments Perry.

Miss Lane's impassive stare hides he true reactions, but Perry could tell that like her mother she had misgivings about Cadmus methodology except unlike her mother she puts her own interests ahead of everyone else even Clark's. She wants to get back to the career track as soon as possible.

"Hell of an environment for him, Perry," cracks Miss Lane sarcastically.

He continues to watch her in silence as she puts on quite a show for someone who pretends not to care about Clark, but that's an analysis he keeps to himself for now.

"His ability to disguise himself in any manner is impeccable, he won't make it easy, but he'll let us know what he's done and what he is going to do though the rest is up to us to work out."

"Cadmus should have stuck to machines - they don't 'run' away."

"They're not human."

"Neither is he."

Everyone above Perry at Cadmus always kept variations of rationale sayings to counter his interpretations of Clark, but he could expect no less though always with Miss Lane from her earliest encounters with Clark would try to hide how she felt about him. He had to wonder who is she trying to fool – herself, her father, or Cadmus – maybe all three he wagers to himself. Both always had feelings for each other though she often appears better at hiding them except whenever he is the topic of a conversation or perhaps she felt less inclination to hide the feelings from Perry. In his many roles, Perry had quickly learned listening reveals more than talking, which had proven especially true in Miss Lane's case.

"Very, very clever," notes Miss Lane.

Her fingers touch then pick up what looks like an ordinary piece of prop art.

"Do you know what this is?" asks Miss Lane.

"An origami angel, but I haven't figured out the emotional connection to him yet," answers Perry quickly.

"It's not an angel. The wings are bent. It's Onisius – the Greek God of Retribution. He defends the weak and the abused," rebukes Miss Lane knowingly.

"Impressive – how is that you know so much Greek lore?" queries Perry curiously.

"Frat boys at the university… they were always trying to sleep with me," admits Miss Lane flatly.

Perry tries to put the idea that out of his mind and she pushes Onisius into his face with the words this is the clue. He'd believe plus it took her to see something that was under his nose all this time. In some ways he begins to realize she is all the more necessary to the recovery of Clark.

"Your sociopath thinks he is some kind of vigilante getting even for the little people," sneers Miss Lane.

She walks out while he marvels at the possibilities of what Clark could accomplish out there instead of doing whatever Cadmus wants from him. The things he could do as an independent agent are endless, but still Cadmus won't let him roam freely, they would hunt him. They expect Perry, Miss Lane, and anyone else sent after him to get him back no matter what it takes to fulfill that directive.

* * *

The latest lead on Clark led them all the way to the West Coast. It is not the destination that fuels his movements, but the journey itself and the motive for the journey, this is clear to Perry, perhaps even to Miss Lane.

"You just missed him. Only been gone a couple of days," explains the manager.

Miss Lane and one of the Cadmus operatives or 'Cleaners' rummage through what little furniture he had at this 'fortress'.

"How did he look?" inquires Perry.

"About 6'4'', over 200 pounds," states the manager.

"That's not what I mean…" continues Perry," I mean was he okay? Did he seem in good health?"

Clark's notebook is a consistent marker at all his previous stops. This time Miss Lane found it and is flipping through it for clues as to where the speeding bullet had gone off to now.

"Are you yanking my chain? The guy had a body that pros would kill to have - no joke."

The local newspaper headline reveals the nature of his last mission, which according to the article cutout reveals that someone mysteriously prevented a nuclear meltdown.

"If he wasn't an atomic engineer then how did he keep the nuke plant from roasting us?"

'Overman' is practically invulnerable except when cut off from yellow solar energy for a prolonged duration and all this time above ground had given him ample opportunity to absorb plenty of solar energy to insulate himself against almost everything.

"You would think a man like him would know how to swim though."

"He was here for swimming lessons?" asks a surprised Miss Lane.

Miss Lane walks towards the bathroom behind the bedroom.

"He was a fast learner… mastered the program in less than a month… all day, all night, all he did was swim, never look like he got cold… until last week… he only did floating..."

She kneels at the bathtub noticing boat toys in the filled up bathtub.

"What do you mean?"

"From dawn to midnight… he'd be in the deep end… treading water without ever stopping."

There is also a helicopter – like all the other clues he leaves – he always tells where he was and where he went, but the subtlety often escapes most either by design or obviousness. It didn't make sense why someone with his abilities would bother with swimming.

"I wonder what your project is up to now," murmurs Miss Lane.

She spins the chopper blade and now it is time to return to Cadmus to resume the search from there.

* * *

"Patience, Lane, patience, he'll let us close when he wants to. We can't force it."

"Perry, patience maybe a soothing catchall down here, but my father and the Inner Circle treat patience and failure as synonyms."

"Clark can virtually blend into the crowd, be anyone, not even a phone tap will get us him."

"They have said the same thing about the Resistance bombers. It's always the smart ones who slip up with something stupid."

"Let's use the stairs – it is only three flights to Olsen's tech room."

"Quit coddling me, it's been almost 20 years, I have no problems with elevators anymore."

Together they step into the elevator. Lane hits the button and she can feel Perry standing awfully close to her as if trying to make some kind of a point.

"Your mother was a special person," assures Perry.

"My mother was weak," retorts Miss Lane, "she couldn't handle the pressures that come with being in this place. I don't have that problem."

Their eyes meet briefly before diverting back to the reinforced elevator doors. Her mother often told him that what she liked most about him is that he listens to her in a way that no one else ever did or does so he maintains the habit out reverence for Ella Lane.

"The only thing that ever bothered me was – why in an elevator?"

He felt like he could hear the little girl again after all these years of her hiding behind this facade that projects the image of the corporate driven Miss Lane, but that's just a pretense to Perry, he believes he knows her better than anyone save for Clark. Clark would always be better at reading people than anyone simply because he becomes them in a way that made them realize that he is there to help them. All the people that he had come across so far reflect on how a complete stranger had 'saved' them in ways they never thought possible and in some strange way it made Perry wonder if that is what Clark is meant to be doing rather than being stuck here.

"They go up, they go down, they end up nowhere. It's amazing how a single bullet can change your life."

He slides his hands into his tweed jacket pockets.

"If you ever want to talk about it -"

They were staring at each other again.

"Correct me if I'm wrong Perry, but wasn't my mother's session with you … one of the last things she did before she got into this elevator?"

It is true that he spoken with Ella Lane in a closed door session prior to her death. The coincidence is not lost on him, but that didn't mean that her daughter had to presume that 'talking' to Perry would end her life too.

"No, thanks. I'll take my own chances."

She walks ahead of him just like she had gotten into the elevator ahead of him. She looks unsettled, but her composure snaps back into place as they head towards Olsen's tech room where he has the phone tap ready to test out with the idea in mind that his next phone call will be his last.

The only positive of the conversation is that she admits that she is not as over her mother's death as she makes herself sound least of all to him. Perry had not gotten over what happen back then either, the fact is this place holds a lot of memories, almost entirely bad, but not all. The better ones come the times she spent with Clark though she won't admit that, not yet anyway.

* * *

"Perry."

"Usually you are on rounds on 15."

"Even psychiatrists need off-days."

"Always thought your interest in me as paternal."

"I understand the swimming, but the bathtub toys?"

"Better than your version of playtime."

Clark always manages to find some way to challenge the rationale that Perry upheld all these years and without the constant reassurance of having Clark here – Perry found it harder to believe in all the excuses he fed himself in the past to justify what happen here.

"It's funny – I can't see their faces, but their eyes won't stop staring at me."

"Whose eyes?"

"I don't know. Dead Eyes. Eyes of people who aren't alive today because of the exploitations of my work."

"Now you want to right those wrongs by using your gifts as an avenging angel. Is it like that?"

"Something like that."

Perry could see the gratification in Miss Lane's face when she can overhear Clark admitting to how he defines his new role out there because she had said that to him just after she agree to take this assignment.

"Then why are you calling?"

"I wanted to know if – if Clark was my real name."

"I think it is – at least that's what I was told."

"Thank you Perry."

Perry sensing he is about to hang up and ruin the tap does his best to keep Clark talking.

"Don't hang up. I'm worried about you."

"If you are so worried – why not go to the authorities?"

"You know I can't do that."

"Why?"

Cadmus officially does not exist nor does Clark so reporting a missing person on someone who doesn't exist on paper or in a database is a waste of time plus Cadmus prefers to maintain its decades old anonymity.

"Because you love me? Or because you are afraid of what I know?"

"Clark, if anyone finds out what you can do... I won't be able to protect you."

"If they find out what I can do... you won't be able to protect yourselves."

"Those mini-discs contain my work."

"No, they are my life."

Miss Lane believes the conversation length had given enough lead time to trace Clark back wherever his newest fortress is now, which meant they would be flying again before this day is over. In Perry's mind, this is again too easy just like it had been in Gotham. He'll lead them somewhere though as usual it will be the right place, but the wrong time. Still maybe this time they'll get lucky, Miss Lane's optimism is hard to discount, but she has been wrong about their timing before.

* * *

The phone tap trace leads them to another athletics club halfway house and Clark is nowhere in sight plus there is an elaborate mechanism made for redirecting phone calls. Perry smiles slightly at the sight of the apparatus whereas Miss Lane simply tells him to shut up before even he speaks a word.

* * *

"What the heck happen Olsen?" demands Miss Lane.

"The re-routes were all through landlines even international ones... I didn't even think that sort of thing was possible. The method seems so primitive, but its like my dad always said the old ways are usually the best."

"Enough family history... how long until you can trace it back to the real source?"

"20-24 hours," stutters Jimmy.

"You got 12," informs Miss Lane.

She walks away and he swivels his bike around while making a knowing smile to himself.

"I can do it in eight," chuckles Jimmy.

* * *

"You are doing it all wrong," says the girl.

Clark didn't know he could be eating these cookies called Oreos wrong.

"Didn't you ever eat cookies as a kid?"

"They didn't have cookies where I grew up," explains Clark.

"Where d'ya grow up? Mars?" jests the girl.

"Sort of," chuckles Clark.

The girl takes a fresh Oreo so Clark sits down to watch her method.

"First, you twist the cookie... so the top comes off like a little lid."

She parts the halves with such ease as if she had plenty of practice so with the memory of her doing fresh in his mind he duplicates the process

"Then you get all the white stuff off. I pick it with my teeth, but you can scrape it or lick it."

Together they scrape the white stuff with their teeth and both laugh at each other while doing this. He feels like asking another silly question, which he tends to do frequently in these situations though people usually humor because he puts them at ease without knowing it.

"Then what do you do with the brown part?" asks Clark.

'The grownups put it in ice cream," answers the girl.

"Why not just sell the white stuff?"

She thinks about it for a second before calling it no fun and he could see the point because they were laughing while devouring the white stuff off the cookie moments ago.

They both then look towards the girl's mother who is working down at the bait and tackle shop on the wharf.

"Your mom works so hard," comments Clark.

"Since my dad died, that's all she does," remarks the girl.

She sits down next to him and he can't help except show some sadness that their relationship had been somewhat strained with the father's death.

"He's with St. Andrew – the one for fishermen. I got my dad a statue of him at church. It was on his boat. They never found that."

"It's hard to lose a parent. I know."

Something about Clark told he really does understand her.

"What part do you miss the most?"

"My mom's smile," confesses the girl.

* * *

Miss Lane wriggles around in bed looking for the lamp switch before picking up the ringing phone.

"What?" quips Miss Lane.

"I intentionally wake you in your deepest sleep phase and all I get is lifeless what," snorts Clark.

"You want wit, read Noel Coward," sighs Miss Lane.

It felt strangely elating to hear his voice after all this time especially with him calling to speak to her, not to Perry, she felt what could almost qualify as envy for Perry being the usual person that Clark calls, but right now she had him to herself. She had to stop feeling with her hormones and starting thinking with her brain, but he always did have an effect of upending her senses even when they were younger.

"What time is it where you are?" she asks Clark.

"Cute. Not funny, but cute," chuckles Clark softly.

"You're making house calls now – I'm honored," admits Miss Lane.

"Well I was feeling a little guilty about my virtual phone game," concedes Clark.

"You know I really should tape this to replay at the Christmas party," responds Miss Lane.

She reaches out for a cigarette because suddenly she is having a craving for one.

"You'll be there, you know, rest assured," deadpans Miss Lane.

"I'm not resting much at all these days," counters Clark flatly.

"Breaking my heart," remarks Miss Lane sarcastically.

She flicks her lighter under her cigarette. She realizes one of these days she has quit because of health and vanity.

"So Clark...why treading water?" queries Miss Lane softly.

If she read too much into her tone she almost think she had gone soft in the head after less than five minutes on the phone with him. She had not said so much as a word to him in years and here she is talking to him on the phone at almost four in the morning.

"I was trying to experience what it means to know you are going to die, to die by drowning, to die and never see anyone ever again – not even those you loved more than life itself."

She starts walking in the dark while holding the portable phone against her left ear and grasping the cigarette in her right hand.

"So that's why treading... why swimming," cracks Clark.

"Not funny,," snorts Miss Lane derisively.

"You know they make fake things out here? It looks like one thing, but it turns out to be something else entirely."

"And I should care why?"

"I thought it could be a real gold mine for Cadmus."

She sits down, rubs the cigarette butt in the ash tray, and listens yet not clear why she is bothering with such a mundane conversation with a man that Cadmus has her hunting for them.

"Besides, isn't it the perfect metaphor for the way your father and Cadmus distort the truth?"

"What truth is that Clark?"

"It is all in the note I sent you."

She had to wonder what exactly did Clark know about that date, about the day her mother died.

"The truth about what makes you sad," claims Clark.

All she heard next is a click. She never got back to sleep. There is a burning urge in her to find him, to rough him up, and then demand that he tell her what he knows about that day. The urge subsides and she goes into the shower with the steam on full she had no wish to see her facial features that so often made others say you look so much like her. It is not long before she can taste her own tears again, she did not know whether to kill or thank Clark for making her cry like this again. She had not found herself able or willing to cry like this since that day.

* * *

The deeper Clark went into what exactly happen to Paul Kilner, the more things fail to add up based on what he found about the SAR put out to search for him that night, but his thoroughness is rewarded. It looks like the Coast Patrol went searching in the wrong direction because Bowman sent the vessels to the wrong area on purpose. The further proof is finding Kilner's boat split in halfway in the correct quadrant. He also discovers the Saint statuette that Kilner's daughter told him about earlier today.

There are identical paint stains on Kilner's boat and on the Coast Patrol vessel that Bowman was 'patrolling' in that night. Photographs he took would confirm and link the two as having been in collision as the water had mostly preserved Kilner's vessel aside from it being split in half by the collision. Now it is time to build the case against Bowman and ensure he does not continue to get away with murder on top of whatever else brought him to the area where he made sure that Kilner did not leave alive.

* * *

She is fully dressed and out the door once Olsen calls in to inform her that the back trace is done. Perry and Jimmy are already in the tech room by the time she arrives to see where Clark is hiding himself.

"It wasn't easy I have to admit... figuring out Clark's mind is a real treat. He's a damn clever guy," says Jimmy gleefully.

Lane had a strange feeling that Perry is grinning a knowing smile behind her though she didn't care he could be a delayed right all he wants so long as they nab Clark this time.

"Shut up and show me," insists Miss Lane.

Jimmy quickly slides into his chair and inputs a command to trace the phone apparatus re-router back to its source.

"We backtracked the call from what was Clark's room. Clark interconnected 173 international calls... but backtracking those calls was impossible because a call forwarding device tripped by a single call... all 173 calls were individually initiated," informs Jimmy.

The monitor displays the inter-connectivity between all 173 simultaneous calls made across multiple time zones and covering the entire planet so in effect there is at least on the surface no way to isolate the where Clark made the call in the first place.

"Ingenious," chuckles Perry softly.

"Took a lot of work and very expensive for Clark... "

"Who cares about the expense?"

"That's funny since he charged it to your calling card."

"Where is he?"

"Oh, in the last place you would think to look..."

Jimmy rapid taps another command, which pulls the digital overview backwards from a globe size view to an individual living space view.

"In the room right next door to where you just went the other day."

Miss Lane's eyes widen in surprise.

* * *

Clark finds Bowman's regular patrol partner John Irons at prayer. Irons struck Clark as a man of faith, but something happen the night Kilner's 'disappearance' Something that had been haunting Irons ever since then.

"It hasn't been your day in awhile has it John?"

"Why are you here?"

"Search for peace of mind and the answer to why she'll never her father again."

Clark holds out a newspaper photo of Rebecca Kilner and her mother Jessika.

"Who the hell are you?"

"I don't really know, but last night I became you and in doing that I discovered why you come here so often... the source of your guilt... and why you and Bowman didn't save her father."

"We looked for days."

"But you purposely avoided searching where you knew he would be found because he couldn't be found alive."

John shoves the photo back at Clark and starts to walk out.

"You have no idea what you are saying!"

"I do know you and Bowman go to same quadrant every Tuesday evening and every Wednesday afternoon you make a sizable deposit into a private account."

It would take more to break Irons' capacity for denial.

"What were you running?"

"You crazy."

"Am I? What about the paint on the hulls?"

Clark produces photos he had taken of both the cruiser and Kilner's sunk vessel.

"It'll match between Kilner's boat and the rescue cruiser."

Clark sits down in the pew and looks up at John.

"Look for salvation wherever you want, but you'll only find it in the truth you are running from."

Irons spills all the details about how the exchange goes down then moves onto to what happen the night they hit Kilner's vessel causing it to snap in half.

"It was foggy, I couldn't tell how it happen, just that it did so I swerved around and saw him floating there."

"He was still alive."

"He spotted me, y'know we all think this world is so big, but its smaller than we know. I saw him with his wife and daughter at service all the time. He reached out to me, but Bowman pointed a gun at my head. He told me to leave him because if we plucked him out - "

"You'd go to prison if it got that far."

"I'd take it in a heartbeat just to get out this hell I am in."

* * *

Irons' assistance and considerable improvisation stage the scene to ensure the arrest of the crooked Lieutenant Commander Bowman while Clark slips away leaving behind a present for Miss Lane.

It is a mini-disc with the same date on it as the handwritten one from Clark's fax less than three days ago. As for Clark they lost him out at sea with no discernible way of learning how he got away from a boat that had a nearly bone dry fuel tank, but Clark always made narrow escapes before.

It appears the pursuit would have to resume another day so they head back east for the third time in four days though Miss Lane isn't exactly going home empty handed with the mini-disc in her possession.

Elsewhere at the Kilner Fishing Shop, Rebecca and Jessika open an anonymously sent package that has the late Paul Kilner's statuette in it along with a note that reads: hope the smiles come back. Rebecca looks to her mother who is smiling yet also nearly at tears to see the statuette back in their possession.

* * *

It is already night by the time she settles into her bedroom in the house she keeps within driving distance of Cadmus. She prepares a bourbon and has a lit cigarette in hand as she slides Clark's 'gift' into the disc drive. It is a recording of one of the countless real time simulations that Perry put Clark through over the years, but this is happening just after one of them. She knows the date, she knows what is soon to happen, but she is going to watch anyway, she didn't know why she felt she should, maybe because Clark had given this to her freely if only to make the latest chase give her something rather than total frustration.

"_What's that Perry?"_ exclaims Clark.

"_I don't know," _admits Perry.

Perry is very close to Clark as the other man runs off in the direction of the elevator.

"_No, no!" _

Perry grips Clark tightly, but even though he is under the red solar lamps, his strength isn't completely gone away as evident by Perry's difficult in holding Clark back.

"_Stay here Clark!"_

"_They're trying to hurt her!"_

He is fighting Perry's grip with every ounce of his fading superhuman strength.

"_Get her out of the elevator!"_

Mr. Lane can be heard shouting in the distance and then there is a gunshot.

Perry releases Clark realizing his strength is gone away though not due to the lamps. It is the sight of a bawling Miss Lane being held tightly by two men that he clearly had never seen before.

"_Mama!"_ cries Miss Lane.

The disc playback halts on the teary eyed face of a distraught Miss Lane.

An older Miss Lane looks over to a painting that had come in the mail while she was still on her way back from California. Clark looks to have done it and in a very striking way it looks the last image on the disc save for the fact that there are more tears on her face than seen in the disc image. It could only mean he saw more of it past the end of the recording she had just seen herself except it made feel like she had seen that day through his eyes instead of her own. She felt fresh tears rolling down her face as the phone rings so she picks it up.

"It is me. I want to know what really happen to my mom," pleads Miss Lane sadly.

* * *

A/N 1: Inspired by the first two episodes of The Pretender, more so the second due to the complexity it adds to Miss Parker (or in this story to Miss Lane).

A/N 2: 'Flashback' event establishes to some degree the relationship between Clark and Miss Lane going back to their younger years together at Cadmus. Most of the events occur nearly twenty years after the Cadmus abduction in **Beyond The Sky**.


	13. Keys

"He said if you wanted you had to sign for it."

Miss Lane signs for it per Clark's request – she kept indulging his 'games' because he had answers that nobody else was wanting to give, willing to give or in the case of her dead mother – able to give. The man tells her that the pen is hers to as another gift from Clark. She looks at the name on the pen – it belongs to a bank – to Covenant Bank – the same bank that tends to act as intermediary for Cadmus in terms of finances – hardly a coincidence. The key belong to someone who had a safety box at the Covenant Bank – the question remains however is who did it belong to and how did Clark get ahold of this key – then again Clark is repeatedly proving to be an exceptionally resourceful person.

It looks like this trip to Florida is a waste of Cadmus time, but not hers, he kept helping her and she kept finding it perplexing despite her openness to accepting his help with the one thing that nobody aside from Perry had ever tried to truly help her with.

Once back in Covenant she went straight to the bank with the key and the secretly she is she taken to the safety deposit box. The bank officer says nothing about who owns it as apparently it was sealed away again recently and the officer was told to release the box only to Ella's daughter. She tries to ask who made the request, but again the officer says nothing even after taking her to the box. She uses the key to unlock it and inside are medical files from almost twenty years ago – her mother's medical files – in particular pertaining to a date several months before her mother's untimely death.

She had a crawling suspicion this might finally unravel the decades old cover-up about the day her mother died or at least maybe put her on the path to the truth about that afternoon instead of just having nightmares erratically about what she could remember about it.

The attending physician reports substantial injuries including lacerations, bleeding, and other external wounds, which suggests assault of some kind yet there is nothing to identify the attacker or even if there is one to identify. However there is a photograph taken as a freeze frame shot of Ella Lane's physical condition upon being brought in. Lane could barely make herself look at it because the look creepily familiar in ways impossible to ignore – somebody had to answer for this.

She exits the elevator though somebody is there to meet her – another cleaner – one she knows reports to both her father and to Mr. Hamilton – the one called Frederich Lawton. He is one of the few supposedly privileged individuals to cross the decades old racial divide that keeps anyone who is not white from working for Cadmus, but Lawton also has a record as a killer for his superiors such as Hamilton. Either way she couldn't ignore him especially if this is coming from her father.

"Miss Lane, you are to come with me," insists Lawton.

He leads her to the doors of her father's office, which seems to answer who made the summons for her. She crosses the threshold and notices the chair facing the window with the tint glass set to opaque – usually her father left the windows set to transparent – she did the same unconsciously.

"Next time you want to see me Daddy don't send Corben," suggests Miss Lane.

The chair turns back to her revealing Mr. Hamilton in her father's seat.

"You're here at my summons – not your father's."

The respiration tubes are a new twist for Hamilton, but the man had been a chronic smoker for decades – him going onto an oxygen tank seems inevitable to anyone with eyes to see and nostrils … to smell. Even his voice sounds more gritty than it mere months before when they lost track of Clark after him exposing a flawed navigation system that almost went into full use across the board and could have led to countless air travel deaths. She for a moment relives when Perry had shown her Clark's last simulation with the plane crash, the burning wreckage – she could practically feel the helplessness that Clark had to suppress to finish the simulation.

He found out that several technological flaws had led to the crash including the nav system. Since then every disguise he had worn only furthers him unmasking people who put their own interests ahead of the lives that were lost for those interests. Clark really did seem to be getting even for the little people.

Lane steels herself from losing face in front of Hamilton – it wouldn't surprise her if he had someone tailing her whether she was somewhere in Covenant area or off following a lead to Clark's whereabouts.

"You've been busy."

"I don't follow, sir."

She stalls despite suspecting he knows she's lying to him. He leans forward still staring at her.

"I follow you."

He holds out a photo of her taken today no less and right outside the Covenant City Bank. It shows her about to take a smoke – she really did need to kick smoking before it took her to an oxygen tank like it had done with Hamilton as she sees before her.

"What was in the safety deposit box?"

"Nothing, sir."

The gravel sound of his voice is somewhat unnerving now.

"Let me rephrase – it was Mommy's box."

He wheezes as if he is nervous about what she might have found in it.

"What did you find in it?"

He wheezes again.

"I was looking for answers."

No point in lying with Hamilton since he expects everyone to be duplicitous.

"About what?"

"About how she died."

The doors open a second time.

"Your mother shot herself," interjects Director Lane.

"Daddy," murmurs Miss Lane.

She had not seen him face to face in quite some time so it drops the tension level somewhat to have him in the room instead of facing Hamilton by herself.

"I'd prefer to continue this conversation without your Mr. Hamilton."

Hamilton makes as quick an exit as possible with his portable oxygen tank on wheels.

"Don't I get a hug?"

She walks over to her father and embraces him once she can no longer see Hamilton in the room with them. She looks to him for comfort, for reassurance, but somehow she found it difficult to trust anyone these days especially after several one-on-one phone chats with Clark.

Director Lane walks towards his desk, taps the window controls letting some light into the room, and so perhaps now they can talk free of being watched, but knowing Cadmus nothing stays private for long even among its highest members including the Lanes.

"How are things at the summer residence? Flowers back yet?"

"Slow as usual – winter was long, cold, and snowy."

"Your mother preferred the spring and the summer – sometimes autumn – not a fan of winter."

"I don't recall her having a particular lean for seasons."

"I imagine you are tired of the stares that come from looking so much like your mother. In some ways, something of her is still with us – her face is now yours, her eyes were brighter than yours, but the color is the same – so much the same yet different."

"I want to know what happen to Mom."

The elder Lane's focus is on the file his daughter had shown him, the one from the box, it is any number of things that could be troubling him, the fact she found this file, the fact that she remembers that night, or maybe he doesn't like the memories it brings him. She couldn't always tell with her father, he was always good at playing the defensive when he didn't want to tell her something, maybe he looks to protect her, but she isn't sure of that.

"I'm disappointed in you."

"_You're_ disappointed in _me_?"

"Don't tell me you believe this."

"I remember that night – the fight you had."

He looks away again after gauging her for believability of this medical file.

"A few months later she died."

She felt torn about the way this confrontation had gone.

"Don't let your emotions control you."

"Just tell me what happened."

She felt her eyes widen when he said he killed her – surely that is not the whole – it couldn't be that simple and it is not as he appears to express the belief that he feels as if the death is fault.

"I have for years been convinced that it is my fault – that I should have done more to help her. When someone you love commits suicide... you look for answers to an act you don't understand."

He looks right at his wide eyed daughter hanging on his every word waiting for some revelation that could put the case to rest after being haunted by the death for years.

"That's what this is about."

Miss Lane holds back the tears and sits down facing her towering father.

"I miss her."

"You were young. There's no way for you to have known what was happening to her."

She closes her eyelids to suppress the fact that she feels like crying again.

"It was sad – I don't know why she left us."

She notices his demeanor change once more.

"Don't you think I miss her too?"

"Of course."

Miss Lane didn't know what else to say in response to his counter claim that he misses Ella too.

"You can believe me or Clark – so who will it be?"

She gets to her feet.

"I'm asking for another assignment – I want to get back to corporate."

"We made a deal daughter – don't forget that."

"I know."

He looks more like a father for the moment.

"You were a quiet, uncertain little girl... and now you're this...presence."

He held her head in his hands for a few seconds before pulling away.

"I know what you're capable of."

"Do you?"

"I do so the deal remains."

She steps out of his office and retreats to her own with the file folder in hand contemplating shredding it because if she didn't do someone else would, but could she do that to this sliver of truth from the months before her mother's death. She didn't know who to believe because the only person she truly believed in without a doubt was her mother, but her mother had been for more than half her life now.

Olsen alerts her to Clark being further south of the last location she went to with Dan. It appears she got so close to him yet he had gone off another one of his 'missions' and gotten himself right in the path of a hurricane heading from the southernmost tip of Florida . The fly boy was really testing his limits again and again – everywhere he went – what did he expect – that he might encounter something that could stop him because so far nothing had done much. His only motivation to stay on the move was the fact that he was being pursued by her on behalf of Cadmus.

* * *

"It is too dangerous for you or any of us to put ourselves in harm's way with a hurricane – it might do nothing to him, but the same can never be said for us."

"If none of his powers can get him away from a hurricane safely then I'll have finally nabbed him and this assignment will be over."

"Every time we nearly catch him you have said the same thing so I won't rehash what I have told you before – so just be careful for all our sakes."

Miss Lane left with Dan for the location where they expect to find Clark due to the back-trace that Olsen manage to run before Clark supposedly, if at all saw that Olsen was trailing him in cyberspace. It is a short hop by private jet and then Dan starts to drive her the rest of the way.

She had instead of leaving the medical file at Cadmus – took it with her because something about the injuries was bothering her too much to ignore despite the show and the almost waterworks her father put on about how he felt about that night. Something felt like it had come loose in her memories of that night, maybe the report is causing repressed memories to surface, and if that's the case she rather they didn't though it feels as if she has no say in the matter. If the truth about her mother's death matters as much to her as she feels then ignoring memories is one of the worst things she could do now.

_The Lanes reside in an opulent community filled by the families of countless Cadmus employees and this was done on purpose in order to help the organization learn to live together as well as work together. It was a very contained setup because the neighborhood was built that way intentionally as nobody outside of Cadmus ever was allowed within the Community. The spouses that didn't work directly for Cadmus were in some fashion still working for it in a much more subtle way to the point they didn't know it, which like others things was on purpose – probably still would be in the next century._

_Ella and her daughter put many hours into preparing a feast for the holiday of thanks, which she learned is the replacement for the old American holiday Thanksgiving. A thunder storm started just as Miss Lane sat down at her spot in the table set for three. Her father and mother were still supposedly getting ready though she could hear muffled sounds in the distance._

"_No!"_

_It sounds like her mother shouting at someone._

"_I won't let you do it!"_

_Her mother is arguing with a man, probably her father, but she can't be sure._

"_Don't! You're hurting me!"_

_The argument is turning physical if her mother's pleas mean what she thinks they mean._

"_Come back here!"_

_The man is ordering her to do the opposite of what she seeks to do so Miss Lane in concern for her mother's safety slowly rises from her chair to investigate what is happening behind the oak door that separates the dining room from the rest of the residence. The door creaks open, the lightning flashes, the thunder rumbles, the rest blurs, but she looks out the window pushing aside the sheering white curtains. The rain drops pelt against the window, there is someone far below walking away quickly, but she can't seem to identify the retreating figure in the rain._

Miss Lane snaps back to the present and orders Dan to go faster despite the conditions on the road between the airport and the 'fortress' address where she expects to find Clark tonight.

* * *

"Cut me down pal - who the heck sat one of these in the middle of an impending storm?"

"I did for you Corben - you are illegally trafficking people across the borders and charging a hefty fee for it so when they can't pay you leave them out to die in say a storm - now usually they all die, but not this time. The parents gave their lives for the child and I already have enough evidence to make sure your racket ends tonight."

"Sure I profiteered off those poor desperate people, but those countries are in terrible shape. Come to the Amerika - the Golden Roads - seriously that sells nothing except to the desperate who'll pay anything to get out of their ruts."

"Sure they could, maybe even can, but there are other ways that don't get people killed because they can't pay."

"I confessed - now cut me down."

"You are outside the storm path - at least I think - I'll be back for you - just take this time to think about what you have done."

Clark starts to walk away.

"You'll pay for this Blue Boy!"

* * *

Clark races back to the bungalow in a patrol jeep while hearing reports of the ongoing evacuations and hopes he'll be able to get the girl as well as his new friend out of the area before the storm hits, but they'll be cutting it close. He walks into the bungalow to find its poorly lit and the others are still here. He had left instructions to Jay that he should get Mari out of the area if it seems like he, Clark, wasn't back in time.

"My apologies Clark," confesses Jay.

"What happened?" asks Clark.

"Good and bad news. The bridge is gone, power and phones are no go, we'll have to ride the storm out here," informs Jay.

"What's the good news?" continues Clark.

There is a familiar feeling about the breathing behind him so he looks back just as the lightning flashes overhead.

"That is good the news," responds Miss Lane.

Dan's smile is more sinister than hers, but then again maybe it is just the glow from the lightning flash.

Lane goes to the bar and pops the champagne. Dan put the new power nullifer cuffs on Clark.

"Dead ends upon dead ends – in the end – Mother Nature is the fury to pin you down for me."

She raises the champagne ready to down it in a celebratory gulp. Dan remains behind Jay and Mari.

"Hell hath no fury..."

"Not good for the ulcer..."

"Neither are you..."

"The winds are getting faster..."

"Faster than a speeding bullet?"

"Definitely, but again guns won't work out there."

"What else ya got? This place will crash down on us?"

"It could... so before we possibly die here... who are my parents?"

Both of them remember that she shot the envelope containing information about his past to pieces several 'missions' back when Clark had been posing as a police directorate officer as he was there to expose a cover-up regarding the shooting of a well liked officer.

"Tell me who I am..."

"Maybe try every athletics club in the country, every third rate hotel from here to the Pacific, or any other place I have gone looking for you in the past several months..."

"This is about the Vegas strip search isn't it?"

It did seem like a twist option to have that done to her when she almost prevented him from exposing the show girl killer, but somehow she always still got too close whenever he was almost done with his 'mission' in a certain area.

"You finally caught me so level with me hmm?" presses Clark.

"You shouldn't have wasted yourself on the little people," Miss Lane sneers.

"I haven't wasted my freedom."

"You wrestled gators."

"So you got medical report."

Lane almost sounds happy, but somehow even Clark knows not to underestimate her, he can only try to outmaneuver her by going after the past she is trying to forget and the past that never leaves him alone.

"You're not here for me – you're here for answers."  
"I have all that I need. Daddy will be thrilled."

"But Daddy still doesn't give you what you want most, does he?"

She looks now knowing he found or already felt her suspicions about her father's tale about what led to her mother's death.

"What did he tell you about her suicide?"

The lightning flashes again, then the thunder, and it covers the volume of her raised voice.

"That's enough!"

"I bet it wasn't the truth."

"Truth is you're still a liar after all these years. The medical report is a fake!"

"I wouldn't fake something like that."

She could see it in his eyes, he could never lie to her, because he never lies to her, for once in her life she wishes he wasn't so damn honest, but that was always him, so full of truth, so impeccable she did hate him for that at times, now being one of them.

"I didn't want to have to tell you... but it is not my place to hide a key to your past."

She scoffs at him and downplays his 'performance'.

"You're so in control. Ahead of the curve, aren't you?"

Another lightning flash, another thunder, she seeks control, she can act the part, but he knows she doesn't believe it, all an act though the question in that remains – for who does she do this for? Herself? Her father? Cadmus? He would wager all three deep down still have a hold over her.

"No longer – I make the rules."

Next she thumbs through his latest compact notebook as it contains all that he had found on the little girl over there who looks to be getting worse due to the fever she contracted in recent days after Clark took her out of the facility that would have sent her back. Back to die without knowing if someone still cared enough to help her when someone intentionally left her and her family to die in a storm.

"How many merit badges for this one Boy Scout?"

"You don't think rescuing children is a good idea?"

Lane almost smiles again until he reminds her of how her mother before her death was a crusader for children.

"She's getting worse – please I am the only one with the abilities necessary to take care of her."

Lane physically signals Dan to remove the handcuffs so he can take care of the girl so at least proves that she has some decency to let him do once more what he seems meant to do.. Clark starts talking to girl, trying to get her attention, but the fever has obviously worsened her to the point that she has become unresponsive to verbal contact.

"_No!"_

"_Listen to me!"_

"_Stop!"_

"_I know what you're doing!"_

"_You're hurting me!"_

"_Where are you going?Come back here!"_

_The door creaks open and another lightning flash._

"She's shifting in and out of consciousness – I have to get the fever down."

Clark applies a compress towel to Mari's forehead.

"The infection is spreading meaning she needs penicillin. There are first aid kits at the boathouse."

"Across the island?"

It is a risk, maybe not for Clark, but doing so means he could escape her again. She is ignoring this feeling that he won't abandon the girl because that would make him selfish and little girl.

"Once you're on a chopper back to Cadmus – I'll make sure she gets the best we have."

"This can't wait because if we do she goes into septic shock or a coma. Penicillin is necessary."

His central concern is the feverish little girl on the sofa behind him.

"The eye of the storm will pass here in a few, which gives a 20 minute window."

"You're certain? Well of course you are – you can be anything even a meteorologist."

The girl starts talking again, she however is delirious and mumbling her native tongue, which sounds like French yet not quite.

"What is she talking about?"

"She's looking for the sky. Her mother her before she died that she would after her from the sky... that the sun and the stars were to be her eyes."

Clark gets to his feet since it seems he is getting nowhere with Lane yet then she pulls her sidearm, which is carrying a lead lined cartridge of liquid Kryptonite bullets.

"Put those cuffs back on him Dan."

Dan does as she asks just before she says she is going with him. She takes Clark outside to the car that Dan used to drive her over here.

"You're doing the right thing."

"Call me whatever you want – it doesn't matter you're not getting away this time."

"This pretense of yours – you emulate him, but he's not who you are."

"Business, not personal, Clark. No matter how what you do – it is was it is."

"It's personal to me."

"Then why can't you leave my mother out of it?"

"Because she tried to rescue me from your father."

Both stare at each other for several seconds just before Lane slams the breaks. A tree was torn loose from the ground and had toppled onto the roadway.

"It is less than a mile – move fast beat the eye - it'd be faster without the cuffs."

"You try anything and you'll find out how fast these new bullets are... I'd kneecap you."

"I thought you said it was going to be my foot."

Lane smirks why did he always manage to do something to make her smile when she was least expecting it, leave it to him to do these things, but at least this time he won't get away.

* * *

"What's taking so long?" fumes Miss Lane.

"Plenty of time. I got the medical supplies," assures Clark.

A shotgun fires nearby so it appears Clark's trap for Mills did not work out as he thought it would as evident by the lacerations and the bleeding on Corben's face.

"Hello dear, got delay from the rain," chuckles Corben.

If only for Lane's safety Clark allows Corben to cuff them both to poles inside the boathouse, but as for why Lane is playing along, not even trying to talk her way out of this would work with Corben. The man does what he wants and everyone else be damned so long as he gains from the situation.

"Cadmus will compensate you for your troubles with this man."

"I don't give a damn about Cadmus – you're both going to be sleeping with the fishes when this storm is over."

Corben steps out with supplies for their 'trip'.

"Your mission is backfiring... so how does it feel getting a taste of reality's consequences?"

"I spent years simulating reality."

She looks afraid for her life such is the fear of death.

"Consequences? They feel pretty good."

She sinks to the ground.

"What did you mean when you said my mother tried to save you?" asks Lane softly.

"She was planning on smuggling me out of Cadmus," explains Clark.

"You were one of those children she tried to rescue?" murmurs Lane.

"She was dead before she could reach me or the others," continues Clark.

"Others?" gasps Lane in surprise.

"There was a list of seven children – the unlucky ones," adds Clark flatly.

"And where did you get this list?" insists Lane sharply.

"The medical report wasn't the only thing in the safety deposit box," informs Clark.

"It is real," quivers Lane.

She shudders as the memories of that night finally come together after countless years of repression.

"I remember my parents fighting that night."

Ella Lane gradually had become a shadow of her former self. The depressions worsen with each passing year because of the children she had seen in the Special Projects Division and other units within Cadmus. She even got to the point where she no longer would wear her wedding ring because she couldn't believe the man she married would head such a soulless agency in her opinion. These were signs of troubled times in the Lane household and even little Miss Lane would defend or excuse her father's treatment of her mother. Her mother didn't realize that he seem to have it hard enough at work without coming home to her misgivings so frequently.

"Bad time for my father."

"How can you still trust him?"

"I never saw him hit her – ever."

"People repress memories – particularly traumatic ones. Unless something helps surface them such as sensory triggers like sights or sounds. I can help."

"Thanks for the offer, but I can take care of myself."

During the conversation Lane loosened her way through the cuffs and cut herself just a little, but Clark being Clark ordinary cuffs could never hold him.

Corben returns and elects to do a ladies first on Lane except she knees him in the stomach before following up with a series off hand strikes except unexpectedly Corben hits her the exact spot where her ulcer is causing her to drop to the ground. The pain is excruciating, but then Clark pulls a gun Corben. Corben doesn't think he'll use it probably and Clark doesn't as he in a blur of motions disarms Corben then knocks him out.

Clark locks Corben in a cell box usually used for native creatures, not people, but considering that Corben had bitten his way through the net that Clark snagged him earlier tonight. It would be better to lock him in a metal cell box and as for Miss Lane – he something else in mind.

In a second blur of motions, he ties her up to a pole with such intricacy that she would take a long time to slip out of these knots if at all, but what matters is she is alive if nothing else as of now.

"Why did you save me?" Miss Lane asks.

"Because... I still remember the little girl... who gave me my first kiss," Clark answers sweetly.

Corben is unconscious, but she is wide awake as the loose shutters start banging against the windows. The few seconds that her mind had tucked away for all these years crystallize with her mother coming to the door that connects to the dining room.

"Mama?"says Miss Lane choking on tears.

"Mama's okay, no need to worry my darling," assures Ella.

Ella Lane's nose is bleeding, the skin around one eye is blackened, her makeup is running, but there are other injuries hidden beneath her ripped sweater. The door closes again and young Miss Lane runs to the window as the lightning flashes revealing the departing man in the rain. The 'man' is now known to the older Miss Lane as Mr. Hamilton, but he had once been the oath bound Dr. Hamilton.

As the dawn approaches, Corben starts to stir so Lane makes a deal with him, not that she intends to keep because if Clark had to stick him in a net and a cage then that's where that 'man' belongs even in her mind. The belief in this finally settled into her plan after realizing that neither a net nor a cage would be enough to contain someone like John Corben. After he freed her of her bindings she elbowed him in the face, which knocks him out once again. She grabs the jeep keys and races across the island hoping she'll reach the bungalow before Clark can disappear on her again.

She had gotten so close this time, he couldn't get away again.

Clark is already on the chopper with Mari by the time she reaches the bungalow.

Jay like so many others before him made quite a show to expedite the getaway.

Miss Lane, Dan, Perry, Olsen, and the chopper's former pilot had to drive back to the airport once it was safe to use the roads, but Clark had quite a head start on them as usual.

* * *

**Two Days Later**

Miss Lane in another of her figure hugging business suits steps through the double doors of her father's office for the second time this week and as expected Hamilton is there. Both men eye her advance towards them.

"I was close, but I know things now that will get me closer and then I will get him."

"Business as usual then?"

"Not exactly."

Miss Lane turns to Hamilton and squeezes the oxygen tube while glaring at him.

"No more surveillance, no more lie detectors, no more games, are we clear?" hisses Miss Lane.

"Crystal," rasps Mr. Hamilton hoarsely.

She releases her press on the tube.

"I'll see you later Daddy," assures Miss Lane.

"Good to have you back," remarks Director Lane.

She heads out not looking back and pulls both doors towards her as she leaves instead of just the one. She had not felt quite this up around either man, especially not Hamilton since she first got to this level of Cadmus, but she made her demands though as for how she would meet her claim in regards to Clark well only time would tell on that count. At the same time, she could keep letting him tell her whatever he learns about her mother and that sat just fine with her. Between her father's lies and Hamilton's single-mindedness – she had two people who she could say were in a sense of lesser of two evils, but what did that make her or make Clark for that matter?

What happen in the boathouse had left her that much more unsettled about her intentions both towards her job and towards Clark especially his revelations about what her mother tried to do for him as well as the memory of their first kiss. She once more made the first move against her superiors at Cadmus after they began questioning her focus, but truly her first move at least on her way to womanhood was that kiss with Clark.

She thought of it again from time to time because no other kiss she had since then could truly compare or felt even remotely the same – he truly is not of this world yet she couldn't imagine a world without him either. She hunts him and maybe she even loves him.

Something else had come in the mail while she was away.

She gently opens the package to reveal a ring box and inside is a ring she could barely remember yet it seems familiar in some regard as to how or why maybe the card would answer that at least.

* * *

_**My dearest daughter, this ring was your great grandmother's ring. If something should happen to me, I leave it for you. Maybe it will bring you better luck.**_

_**~Mom

* * *

**_

The phone rings somehow it wouldn't surprise her if it were Clark.

"What?"

"Did you get the ring? Did you find your answer?"

"I think I know who killed my mother, but right now I'm more concerned with why she died."

"It was for the children."

"For you, Clark."

Tears start to roll from her eyes as she hears once more that trying to save Clark and the other children is what led to Ella Lane's death.

"The way I see it, she died trying to save you."

"You're angry."

"I won't stop chasing you. And I won't chase my past anymore."

"What if it chases you?"

"I'll ignore it."

"You make the rules."

"The way I like it."

Ella Lane is still dead. Clark is still out there. As for Miss Lane, her heart thaws just a little more.

* * *

A/N 1: Inspired by The Pretender episode Keys. On that note, the mystery behind the death of Ella Lane will be similar to that of what happen to Catherine Parker. I also continued the trend of having Miss Lane like Miss Parker resemble her mother.

A/N 2: An event tied to the death of Ella Lane is Cadmus Special Projects Division (SPD) using children for their operations. Ella like Catherine tried to liberate the children only to apparently fail and eventually die (self-inflicted or murder remains a question). The former is less likely than the latter.

A/N 3: Both Mr. Lane and Mr. Hamilton again closely resemble their Pretender counterparts in terms of personality.

A/N 4: Clark still continues to reach out to Miss Lane especially by trying to get her to see what she's been trying to forget and what he can't help but wonder given her attempt to save him all those years before.


	14. Connections

"I think my mother brought these children to you. She called them the rescues."

"Rescues?"

* * *

"These obsessions– when you were Dr. Hamilton, my colleague, I never saw this in you," asserts Perry.

"Your blindness is yours alone and that oath is no longer mine to follow either," retorts Hamilton.

* * *

"_**Exceptionally done, Clark. You're exceeding expectations by far,**" remarks Perry._

_The corridors of the sublevels of Cadmus are lowly lit all the time yet all who dwell within these depths can see better because their sight is acclimated to the near darkness that surrounds as they walk through here. Perry and Clark are flanked by Cadmus' 'men in black'._

"_**Perry? Who's that? Who's that girl?"** asks Clark quietly._

_Clark's eyes and the girl's eyes meet across the corridor even in the dark._

"_**Another from the SPD sublevel like yourself. She is working with another like myself,"** answers Perry lowly._

"_**What's her name? Can I talk to her?"** exclaims Clark quickly._

"_**No,"** responds Perry firmly._

_He felt a strange connection to a girl and one he could not explain. Decidedly different from the connection he feels to Miss Lane especially after that sudden kiss._

"_**But I don't have any friends,"** groans Clark._

"_**You won't be seeing her again,"** assures Perry._

"_**Perry, where are they taking her?"** queries Clark.

* * *

_

"I never a favor Olsen," implores Miss Lane softly.

"What sort of favor Miss Lane?" responds Olsen cautiously.

"Can you run a search without Cadmus knowing?"

"Being caught equals being dead – sorry no deal."

"Please."

_Damn her and those lavender of hers – don't think I'm ever going to be able to refuse her._

"Okay."

Miss Lane unzips a flat binder

"These are missing children going back 30 to 40 years ago."

Both she and he scan around to make sure no one is watching before she hastily resumes the impromptu briefing on what she is disclosing to him as parameters for his unsanctioned search on her behalf.

"Names, birthdays, physical attributes, some photos. Nobody can see these. Do not scan these pictures and don't transmit them over the Internet."

She is giving him plenty of information, but the restrictions will slow him down, maybe enough to get him caught and if he is caught she probably expects him to keep her name out thus leaving him to take the fall for her errant request.

"You find anything, find me," concludes Miss Lane.

* * *

"_**You need to finish the simulation," **reminds Perry._

"_**I want to see the other girl," **counters Clark._

"_**You know I can't allow you to have contact with anyone," **rebukes Perry._

"_**Then I'm not finishing this simulation because how can I when I have never known friendship?"**_

"_**You simulate much that is unknown to you."**_

"_**I want to see her, Perry."**_

_Perry starts circling and wondering how to resolve this in a way that will satisfy Clark yet not jeopardize his survival in the process, which is how the older man is again given reminder about difficult this assignment can be. As well as how remarkably stubborn his 'subject' can be when he puts his mind to something he is either willing to do or wants from someone._

"_**I want to know what having a friend is like."

* * *

**_

"I have been combing databases for someone with comparable or similar parameters yet all I hit are walls," quips Olsen nervously.

"You can pick up women online yet this stumps you?" snips Miss Lane.

"Your limitations are making this harder," snaps Olsen suddenly.

Lane exhales after taking a lit cigarette out of her mouth.

"Fine – age one photo and send it out."

She starts to walk out of Olsen's tech room.

"I want to know what this about."

She turns to face him with a certain disbelief on her face.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm risking my neck here...and I have a right to know why."

He's beginning to impress her just a little for standing up to her. Not a lot of Cadmus underlings have that kind of nerve, but Olsen had come from a difficult upbringing. The complete opposite of hers in terms of location, of economics yet he persists even with the dangers that working for Cadmus can bring to him.

"It's about my mother. These children are tied to what led to her death," responds Miss Lane coldly.

She walks out and leaves him there to resume his work, after the blood return to his face. This is the first time she spoke of her mother to him like this or even for that matter about her unspoken suspicions about the true nature of the woman's death.

* * *

"_**We found him on the sublevel elevator,"** says Harris._

"_**There's no escape for you Clark,"** reminds Perry._

"_**Escape was not my intention. Finding my friend was,"** counters Clark._

"_**Clark,"** sighs Perry._

"_**See her once, she d be my friend,"** continues Clark._

"_**The authority for that is not mine,"** explains Perry._

"_**I'm tired of loneliness, tired of silence, tired of having no one like myself to talk to. If I had a friend, even her, I'd do anything for that,"** claims Clark._

Clark had spent the past week pretending the part of an FM or a Federal Marshal. The current unresolved case led him back to an all too familiar predicament from his early years at Cadmus. A want that particularly frustrated him and Perry in different ways. Friendship ultimately seem to be a heart of the mystery surrounding Darren Evans because his best friend Raymond Jacobsen took a fatal plunge from 30,000 feet after inflicting a life threatening wound on Marshal Gregory Jurgen. Also Evans is on the run since the death of Jacobsen because he believes that the Marshals cannot guarantee his safety nor can he protect his wife from harm if he remains in contact with her as well. At the same time, Marshall Lon Truman feels responsible for Jacobsen's death and for Jurgen's injury.

What is further confusing to Clark is that Raymond sought a deal that would shift most of the blame for the drug running to him while placing Darren and his wife in a witness protection community. The deal apparently seems to have been agreed upon by all parties.

So what provocation led Raymond to attacking Jurgen before jumping from a plane at 30,000 feet?

Jacobsen's confession and request on behalf of Evans contradicts the behavior Jurgen attributes to Jacobsen prior to the former's demise.

The description of how Jurgen got the knife wound also reveals a high probability that it was self-inflicted despite appearances and further suggests that Jurgen himself might have sent Jacobsen to his death before inflicting said injury upon himself. It didn't surprise Clark much once he saw through the lies surrounding that night, but how does the deception run is another question without an answer.

* * *

"You're positive nobody has been back tracing you?" asks Miss Lane softly.

"As sure as you can be about anything around here," admits Olsen quietly.

She watches as Olsen ages one of the photos of a girl from her mother's 'rescue' files.

"I severed the link to Cadmus' mainframe so should this terminal should be solo," explains Olsen.

"Are those the same clothes you had on yesterday?" queries Miss Lane.

He did smell a little, but then her office is spacious compared to his, hers has windows, his does not, such opposites exist within the whole of Cadmus.

"Yes..."

On one hand she could consider this disgusting yet on the other it could also be a sign of his determination to impress her, which she did feel just a little. It shows he takes his work seriously, that he takes her seriously, and she could respect that though she would not tell him that, at least not now.

"I've been running faces through certain databases across the country...for the last 16 hours..."

"A name perchance and an address too?"

"Alice Rollins, 32, resides in Phoenix, Arizona."

"Hope this finds you answers."

"Thank you Olsen... think about a shower soon."

She seem so different in the moment like it could not be the same Miss Lane who tends to antagonize him constantly while in the presence of others, but maybe in private she is more personable. Either way he made the lady happy and now he could delete everything he had on the computer before hooking it back to the mainframe before say Hamilton appears unnoticed to question his work.

* * *

Who listens to the listener is the phrase that comes to mind as Perry lies down on the couch.

"So many minds and lives torn apart by Hamilton. Such disregard for living beings."

"Can't someone of authority deal with him?"

"None of them can be trusted to deal with him, he's a survivor by extortion."

"What about Miss Lane?"

"She plumbs into things that could kill her. I warn her, but my pleas are on deaf ears."

"How does all this make you feel Perry?"

"Angry! Helpless!"

"What else?"

Perry pulls out a gun from his jacket and merely holds it before his psychiatrist. It requires no explanation that he contemplates murdering Hamilton regardless of personal consequences. He feels that Hamilton is the greater of two evils and the other being himself.

* * *

Darren felt too tired to push himself any further and making to the one place left untainted by the past year is a dingy motel not far from the Gulf of Mexico. The only unexpected surprise is Clark finding him half asleep in the back of a truck he broke into sleep in for tonight.

"Clark!"

"Easy Darren I'm here to help you."

"Last time I almost took your help my head nearly got blown off!"

"That was not my doing and I tried to call them off."

"I can't trust anyone, not even my wife because she is the only one who knows about this place besides me."

"She needs you, you need her, she wants to help you just as I do so trust us please."

Darren can see Isabel standing outside in front of the truck. He bolts to her in an instant and Clark sighs knowing that he can help him so long as Greg and his partners don't ruin things any further.

"You've should trusted me the way I trusted Ray, the way I trusted you."

"I'm afraid for you, for me, for us."

"So you brought him here?"

"He's not like the others... you can believe him."

The following morning Clark, Darren, and Isabel returns to the Evans' house to find Darren's attorney waiting there along with Gregory though the lawyer looks more happy to see them than the lawman. Clark expects Gregory's indignation yet thinks he has an ally in the lawyer when she attempts to assuage Jurgen that having the witness back is all that matters – not the means by which Clark made it happen.

"Now tomorrow we make the flight as intended and then we nail the cartel."

Gregory goes over to Lon leaving Clark alone with the lawyer.

"Smart move having the wife along for the recovery."

"When you're running the people you love – the people you miss – they're the most important thing to you."

Of course Clark is starting have doubts about the lawyer, the woman acts like she is Darren's side so if Lon is not on Greg's plan then maybe the lawyer is.

* * *

_"What the hell do we pay you for? You're not cheap, Marshal. Both witnesses should have been dealt with already. My employer is satisfied about Jacobsen, but Evans was supposed to be killed during the recovery attempt,"_ says the man.

"There were some unforeseen complications," counters Jurgen.

_"It matters not since the plane will land... in pieces,"_ continues the man.

"That's what this device is for isn't it?" guesses Jurgen.

Clark overheard everything yet at the same time used an eavesdropping method to record the entire conversation so that Jurgen would not be able to lie his way out of this 'accident'.

* * *

Miss Lane went to the address given to her by Olsen after flying out to Arizona. She walks right up to the door, rings the bell, and is met by an older woman.

"Hello. I'm looking for Alice Rollins," informs Miss Lane politely.

"I thought one day you might come.," responds the woman.

"Might come?" replies Miss Lane.

"You're Alice's sister, aren't you?"

"Her sister?"

"You look just the woman who gave Alice up for adoption."

It is a confirmation that her mother had met this woman at some point in the past.

"Her name was Ella," continues the woman.

"Lane," adds Miss Lane.

"Not sure because only the lawyer knew her last name."

"May I speak with Alice?" queries Miss Lane gently.

"I thought you knew," responds the woman sadly.

Miss Lane feels a sinking sensation her chest as if this is about to be another dead end.

"Alice died two months ago."

Mrs. Rollins took her by the hand and led her inside so somehow Miss Lane spent the rest of the day in the older woman's company as she spoke with such pride in her adopted daughter.

"She graduated from university at 17. She loved theater, playing the different roles, Even when she was a little girl...she would make up an entire world...and then lose herself in it."

Lane barely drank any of the tea served to her.

"Sounds like she had a very happy life.

Miss Lane starts walking around the room again looking at the photos spread out in various frames.

"We wanted to give her the best that any child could possibly have," assures Mrs. Rollins.

One thing that made her chuckle inwardly was that Alice had many pet rabbits over the years.

"Do you happen to know the lawyer's name?"

"Malcolm... Malcolm Strayton."

"Where can I find him?"

"He moved away years ago... I don't know."

"And you had no further contact with my mother?"

"No... no, but I remember Mr. Strayton saying she dreamed of moving to Europe... of giving her daughter a better life."

Miss Lane felt her eyes widen at the mention of plans her mother had besides trying to rescue children from Cadmus and it suggests to her mother was indeed far more than she ever suspected or even believed so it would seem Ella Lane would risk all. She risked all for children like Alice, like Clark, and even for her own daughter. The one who had grown up to look so much like her.

"That must have been you."

Lane sees a slight smile appears on Mrs. Rollins face.

"If I may ask...how did Alice -"

"Surgery for an appendix removal. One minute she was fine. And the next minute – "

The older woman quietly cries just a little and Miss Lane spots a rather unusual wristband near a photo of Alice when she was quite little. It had only the name Alice on the outer side of it yet on the inner side there is an imprint belong to the hidden sublevel. A flash of recognition strikes Lane as she knows it because she found out about this hidden sublevel at Cadmus over two months ago. Coincidences involving Cadmus are usually lethal, but it seems best to leave Cadmus out of this mother's life.

* * *

Clark prepares to anonymously mail the taped conversation between Jurgen and his cartel contact. However the phone rings just after he seals the yellow envelope. The caller is Isabel. She is definitely distressed and the cause is that Gregory is stepping up the fly out time to tonight. Clark runs to the airfield just in time to find a way to sneak aboard only mere seconds before takeoff. He already knows that Jurgen intends to sabotage the plane and make the getaway by somehow being the only survivor unless the lady lawyer aboard with them is bailing out with Jurgen.

* * *

"The pilot buzzed me saying someone might be in the cargo area," says Truman.

"I'll check it out. You keep an eye on him," orders Jurgen.

"Not letting you go alone in there," rebukes Truman.

Jurgen hits Truman causing his 'partner' to fall to his knees before a second hit knocks him out cold.

"You never did no one when to let go rookie," grumbles Jurgen.

Jurgen passes both Evans and his lawyer Katya Millers on his way forward only to be met by Clark.

"Give me your piece now!"

Clark turns over his weapon, not that he actually needs it, but all in all the disguises are usually for show.

"This what happen to Raymond Jacobsen? He was going to tell the truth about you so you shoved him out of a plane at 30,000 feet?" asks Clark rhetorically.

Clark already had the time line of events done after working through what happen instead of what Jurgen said happen because he could already tell that Truman is not the one who told lies about that night, rather Truman felt responsible for a failure. However it is not a failure on Truman's part, rather it is all Jurgen's doing in reality.

"Truth doesn't pay so well anymore," claims Jurgen sharply.

Clark sees the controller for the sabotage trigger in Jurgen's left hand while already fully aware of the gun in his right so he have to disarm without using his powers despite how much quicker it could make this face-off end.

"I push this button and in two minutes this plane will become a fireball descending into the countryside," states Jurgen threateningly.

Clark utilizing speed pushes the overhead luggage compartment upward too fast for Jurgen to react in time so he gets a temporary stun and enables Clark to grab him by both wrists in order to disarm whilst also saving the plane from its intended fate. It works until Katya strikes Clark over the back of the head with a fire extinguisher. He thought her behavior odd earlier today yet he thought then that maybe she was complimenting him, which is not something an enemy tends when they have an advantage.

"Why?" groans Clark.

"Economics... no money in defending the likes of Raymond Jacobsen or Darren Evans," asserts Katya.

Katya proceeds to shoot Jurgen in the chest after he gives her the gun and the remote.

Darren despite being handcuffed gets the drop on Katya before she can fire at Clark, but in the fall her finger hits the button controller setting off the sabotage relay command. Clark can hear the pilots calling in a mayday to the nearest airports. Clark recognizes the sabotage protocol because he made the countermeasures for it several years ago while still in Cadmus.

Truman intercepts Clark on the way to the power box so he directs Truman to get to the cockpit with orders to tell the pilot to be ready for a pull up maneuver. The only problem is that power lines have functional router or conductor, but then it occurs to him his badge is made out of a conductive metal so he uses it to channel the power and suddenly the plane is functional again. Triumphant relief can be heard throughout the plane.

* * *

**Cadmus**

"Miss Lane, I'm dropping this 'assignment' of yours. The other results are strikingly similar to what I found out about Alice," whispers Olsen.

_"Don't buckle on me now," _insists Miss Lane.

"No. You don't understand. They all died of sudden, unexplained illnesses – all within the last six months," continues Olsen.

_"Oh, my God,"_ murmurs Miss Lane.

"Yes... This is bad. This is... very... I gotta go."

Olsen knows the squeaking behind him all too well. It belongs to one 'man' and one 'man' only who happens to be the most disturbing character Olsen has ever met while working here.

"You look upset, Mr. Olsen," says Mr. Hamilton dryly.

Hamilton acts the part of the concerned authority figure, but Olsen knows better or so he thinks.

"Is everything all right?"

"Tracking Clark... I mean Overman... is a full-time job, sir."

"And you've been putting in long hours."

Hamilton's next statement reveals he knows that Olsen's terminal has been off the network for more than a day. He can be heard wheezing between that revelation and his next statement.

"It makes me wonder... if your loyalties are to this mission... or some personal endeavor."

"I- I don't have any personal endeavors."

"Perhaps I should reacquaint you... with the consequences of deceiving Cadmus."

A third figure joins and Olsen feels relief to not be facing the likes of Hamilton alone.

"Olsen' activities as of late are under my authority"

"Then I hold you responsible for another wasted day."

"Do what you will because there will be no results until you get out of my way."

Perry's hand holds tightly to a hidden pistol in the outer pocket of his jacket. The two men glare at each other until Hamilton departs on the claim he has business elsewhere and leaves off the discussion that remains unfinished between them for another time. As Hamilton wheels his portable oxygen tank out of the room, Perry almost pulls the pistol out to fire, but now is not the time, if there ever will be a time, it will be another time.

* * *

"_**Clark's refusal to complete the simulation without another like himself has prompted me to arrange a meeting between him and the girl he has expressed interest in seeing," **states Perry._

_Perry hand signals someone near young Clark's height to step into the light. It is the girl that passed Clark in the corridor not that long ago. It appears as if the girl is eager to meet him too._

"_**Karen, this is Clark. Clark, Karen," **continues Perry._

_Perry leaves the pair by themselves to join Karen's handler on high. The other handler is a man smoking a cigarette and also has slicked back hair. It is Dr. White's colleague, one Dr. Hamilton._

"_**Hi,"** says Karen shyly._

"_**Hi,"** says Clark excitedly._

_A meeting of like beings is happening yet they know not just how alike they truly are._

"Where did they take you Karen?" mumbles Clark to himself.

Marshal Truman, Darren and Isabel Evans head over to the van that Clark spent the last several hours while the trial is the end of the profiteering days of ex-Marshal Gregory Jurgen and the disbarred Katya Millers. Furthermore one of the cartels operating the Farming Colonies of Midwestern Amerika is no longer in 'business'.

"So who are we going to be now?" asks Darren.

"Need not worry, nobody will find you. Besides I have experience with this," promises Clark.

Karen like Miss Lane is not far from his mind at times, but for today his attention belongs with people he can do something for so it meant escorting the Evans to their new lives whereas for him it means he too will soon be assuming another guise for another mission.

* * *

Nobody appears to know the fate of a girl called Karen, but like all things that go into Cadmus, not everything or everyone leaves Cadmus. Someone would say no one save for Clark ever got away from Cadmus yet truthfully even Clark would have to admit Cadmus would always pursue him so he appears resigned to spend his days as someone on the run not unlike Darren Evans yet now Darren no longer has cause to run. However Clark suspects he always will be running.

As for Karen that remains another brick of mystery in the walls of Cadmus. The organization is full of such mysteries and not everyone can live with the knowledge of unraveling those mysteries.

* * *

A/N 1: This chapter is inspired by The Pretender episode **Unhappy Landings**. Past events referenced occurred before or after what happen in the previous chapter. This one also introduces Karen - another like Clark who has a different slant ingrained into her by Cadmus.

A/N 2: Once more Clark seems better at helping others rather than himself. For those wondering why Clark isn't actively using his powers, its because he's trying to pass himself off as someone that is not more than they appear to be outwardly. When he does use his powers its subtle.

A/N 3: Miss Lane's latest discoveries reveal that even the children her mother did save from Cadmus, still end up dying on the outside and from what appear to be natural causes yet number of deaths in such a short frame of time is too coincidental to be believed at face value.


	15. Last Ones

Prisons, cell blocks, and cells themselves have been around for as long as there has been civilization yet this prison houses something quite different from most others. It houses metahumans, each cell attuned to its occupant and in particular to a blonde woman with shimmering blue eyes.

The warden, the escorts, and a jailer head straight for the woman's cell without so much as a word.

"You know the drill," reminds the warden.

The jailer attaches the belt first, then the ankle bracers, and lastly the wrist bands. All are made specifically to account for the woman's superhuman qualities.

"Triple check all of it," insists the warden.

"She ain't no Houdini or even Zatara," counters the jailer.

A paper clip from the clipboard hits the floor so she gets a little rough so they knock her to the floor and in the process she uses her teeth to grab the paper clip. It is primitive to use such a thing for a pick lock, but as she always known – she must adapt to whatever is available to her.

"Shoulda listened to me."

As they lead her away, she is smiling like a Cheshire cat or maybe just a woman with a secret, a way to have fun without losing her clothes in the process for it.

* * *

_"I'm here at the scene with several prison guards lucky to have survived a surprise breakout attempt aboard a prison van. The Jane Doe escapee is 5'11'', weighs 180 lbs, and has a distinctive scar on her right hand. There are other attributes that witnesses spoke of, but those are irrelevant to a physical profile."_

Clark already holds a suspicion as to the identity of this Jane Doe and her connection to him.

**"**_**You have to talk,"** insists Clark._

**"**_**No,"** retorts Karen._

**"_Why? The anticipation is clearly more effective than the pain itself."_**

_Clark looks to the towering figures near them. Both handlers are present for this simulation as it involves both Clark and Karen._

**"**_**She's on the brink,"** asserts Clark._

**"**_**Don't argue with me, just do it,"** presses Hamilton._

**"_But -"_**

**"_Just do it."_**

_Clark spills the vial on Karen's right hand only to discover it is a real chemical, not a harmless substitute, and so Karen's reaction is genuine._

**"**_**Ow! You burnt my hand!"** screams Karen._

**"**_**It was real, Perry," **shouts Clark._

_Perry looks over to Hamilton._

**"**_**You did this!"** snaps Perry._

**"**_**Cleaners – take her to the infirmary now,"** commands Hamilton._

_As they carry Karen away all Clark can manage is shouting apologies to her, but the problem is as sorry and as terrible as he feels, he can't undo what just happen just as he couldn't reverse the shaping tragedy of Miss Lane's life. She and her mother are a part of his first literal failure. Karen has just become the second._

One that is now back to haunt him in a different way because whatever happen to her after he burnt her hand is in some way his fault or to this day he feels as if it his fault. He can only wonder what she will do now as she flees pursuit by Federal Security. This calls for a rather direct approach so the disguise to get him closer to the woman that Karen has become is that of a criminal psychologist.

* * *

"In all the time that she's been here, did you ever interact with her?"

"Oh, yeah, we interacted, but not necessarily her specifically.."

The warden signs a clipboard before resuming his chat with Clark.

"She always thought she was somebody different every time you see her."

They start to walk down the cell block towards her cell.

"Could talk the talk, walk the walk."

Clark already understood the description because he is doing it right now and the warden is completely believing that he is dealing with the real deal. Clark could be a psychologist, could be anything, but the real him, that him is so rarely glimpsed or even speaks except when he is doing something for someone else.

"What do you call that? Multiple personalities?"

"Something like that."

Clark's experience with a prison type setting were the 'rooms' that he slept in during those decades he spent down in Cadmus' sublevels away from the simple things such as sunshine on his face.

"This dame spends a decade in stir and and nobody knows who she is, where she's from."

"That why she's called Jane Doe?"

"Yeah."

Clark scans the cell walls for clues that Karen might inadvertently left behind before escaping on her way to the other facility.

"She used to tell me there was voices speaking to her in her head all the time.. In this dame's case, them voices were really there."

Clark pulls a drawing off the wall. The detail is remarkable and the drawing is almost entirely monochromatic save for the red on the tongues of what look like dragons.

"And when those voices told her she was somebody different, she made you believe it too."

Several people appear to regularly send mail to Karen aka Jane Doe, which does strike Clark as odd except in the case that one address is not far from where one would find the hidden roadways to Cadmus. Somebody within Cadmus maintains contact with her, but the question remains though his instinct told him he somehow already knows the answer to that one. He just didn't totally like the answer idea himself.

Clark using x-ray vision scans behind the sink and the toiler in the cell only to spot a notebook similar in style to the ones he left for his Cadmus trackers except the cover color is completely yet somehow consistent with Karen's favorite color. Clark reaches behind the fixture and plucks it out.

"Always wondered where she hid that thing."

Clark pulls back the cover to see the same phrase repetitiously written down the length of the page.

**I DECIDE WHO LIVES OR DIES. I DECIDE WHO LIVES OR DIES.**

**I DECIDE WHO LIVES OR DIES. I DECIDE WHO LIVES OR DIES.**

**I DECIDE WHO LIVES OR DIES. I DECIDE WHO LIVES OR DIES.**

**I DECIDE WHO LIVES OR DIES. I DECIDE WHO LIVES OR DIES.**

Clark flips through page after page only to find the self-same phrase on every one.

"She used to sit there, scribbling in that thing like a crazy woman after every session with her doctor."

Clark looks up at the warden as she gradually confirms his suspicion about Karen's 'doctor's' identity.

"The doctor's name?"

"I called him Dr. Wheezy. Impolite yes, but he is funny with breathing in a kind of creepy way,"

It is all too clear that is the one 'man' from Cadmus he saw as one of the worst people in the world, far worst than the kind of troublemakers he went up against from week to week while looking out for ''the little people' as Miss Lane put it more than once to Perry.

"Then he's always dragging around his own oxygen tank too."

No doubt about it now, Karen is still stuck with Hamilton, but how exactly did she manage to land herself in prison, let alone a prison where she would have Hamilton for a doctor especially when Hamilton is no longer bound to the Hippocratic Oath.

* * *

Laura walks out of her kitchen with a recently cooked soup pot firmly in her grip and she picks up the receiver when the phone rings only moments later.

"Hello. This is Laura..."

Her eyes widen when she learns of who the caller is warning her about presently. Laura had not seen Karen in nearly ten years because for the last ten years based on the news broadcasts, Karen or rather Jane Doe was in a maximum security prison far away from where Laura resides at present. She drops the soup pot and it instantly spills onto the rug. She is quick to get into her car and drive away as she suspects this will one of the first places that Karen will search for her.

* * *

"There are no records of any kind for Jane Doe prior to her incarceration. No priors, fingerprints, DNA, or anything else to trace back to her. It is as if she fell out of the sky. She was convicted for a series of violent felonies... including the abduction of one Laura Lang."

The task-force leader is Special Agent King Faraday of the Justice Directorate.

"You are standing in her spilled soup mister."

The rookie on the team steps back

"The commonality in her victims are their fear of her. She stalked Laura for two days before forcing her to drive her across state lines, but somehow Laura manage to crash the vehicle thus knocking out her abductor. Shortly thereafter Jane was put away until today."

Agent Clark Williams presents his credentials to Agent Faraday who by all accounts prefers more on the case as opposed to less given the threat assessment given to this Jane Doe based on her past criminal activities, but Clark didn't totally trust the allegation. Cadmus as usual retains talents for deception and duplicity when rewriting the past or erasing personal history so that it would seem as someone who physically exists also has no records any kind except for those that damn her.

Clark examines a bookmark in one of Laura's older books, but what catches him off guard is who Laura got the book based on something signed to a blank page towards the front of the book. It is in the handwriting of Ella Lane, which meant Laura Lang might have known Ella Lane at some point prior to her death, before she could finish her liberation of the captive children including him.

"Aren't you fellas done yet?" asks Mr. Griffin.

"Who are you?" responds Faraday.

"I'm Mr. Griffin, the manager of this building."

"Williams get his statement."

"I already gave mine to the lady earlier."

"What lady?"

"She had a badge and a look similar to yours."

It could only mean to Faraday that Jane had already been through here and if what Clark suspects is true about Karen then she must be as adept as he is at pretending to be someone else. After they both part of the same division in Cadmus, but the end results were different because Clark had Perry whereas Karen had Hamilton.

* * *

Miss Lane decides it is time for a more creative approach by having the resident empath use Clark's calling 'cards' to track him down. Hamilton and his usual Cleaner or rather half assassin/half bodyguard Lawton had already made a visit in an attempt to regain the empath from her. He backs down learning that Director Lane supersedes his authority in Cadmus hierarchy, but as many know Hamilton once his mind is made up can do anything to achieve his intentions regardless of consequences in the means to obtain his obsessive ends as Perry would describe it to anyone even Hamilton has heard a similar assessment in the past.

"Relax, Miss Lane, it will take time for this hypothetical trace to play itself out so be patient."

"Patient? My patience runs short so this better work out."

"He is making progress as he has already gone through almost half of Clark's notebooks."

"Maybe an electrical jolt will speed him up."

There is an aberration because someone left one of Karen's calling 'cards' in a box with a ton of Clark's. The notebook imparts onto the empath the very motivations of its owner and so for the moment the empath is not himself rather he is imitating who the object belongs to. The notebook falls to the floor as the empath gets to his feet. All eyes turn towards him as he phases through the glass door and tackles Miss Lane without hesitation then immediately after begins to choke her.

He does it both with his seemingly literal hands and with his minds. It takes four people to break the empath's grip on Miss Lane's neck. She is gasping for air as Perry and Olsen help her back to her feet.

"A violent reaction to one of the red notebooks it seems."

"Color is wrong Perry. It's not red, the one he was absorbing was blue. This belongs to someone else."

All three recognize the distinction, which could only mean someone put it there on purpose and likely someone who works for Hamilton. It is also likely it was done as an incentive to revoke Lane's permission to use the empath to track Clark's movements.

* * *

Clark once more flips through Karen's blue notebook only to be met by those cold words. An explanation for them seems unlikely to be found by looking for it so instead it would appear the answer or answers would find him as they always tend to do in his experience. Next he moves to a videotape with the broadcast on Laura Lang's first disappearance ten years ago. He slides it into the VCR on his desk.

"_Residents stunned by the assault on Laura Lang, a former farming colony director. Her injuries are said to be minor and she does not seek to press charges."_

Lang is met by another woman and a man. The trio walk away from the camera almost immediately after the second woman realizes she is being taped.

Clark rewinds it back because somewhere in his memory he can vaguely remember a woman just like her only it had been a very long time ago. She belongs to a place and a time before his lifetime spent within the depths of Cadmus under the 'guidance' of Perry. He also remembers a photograph he anonymously received of a woman that he was told is from his past, from before Cadmus stole him. There is no doubt that the woman in a paused scene on the tape is the woman in that photography.

"Mom," whispers Clark hoarsely.

* * *

Miss Lane felt sanctuary and safety under the watchful gaze of Director Lane. They were together in her father's office and not far from either of them is a photograph of Ella Lane.

"Scary barely fits what happen when the empath tried to strangle me."

"Hamilton was quite bothered by me giving you access to the empath, to Omen."

She already suspects that Lawton pulled a fast on behalf of Hamilton in order to stage a convincing cause for her father to rescind her acess to Omen.

"He attacked you thus justifying Hamilton's fears about his violence and concern for your safety should that violence come out again like it had in other times past."

"Concern?"

She shifts in her seat as she knows Hamilton's duplicity when she sees it.

"You are definitely not going to like this, but I think he's working behind your back.."

She gets to her feet by mid-sentence to complete her accusations.

"He wouldn't risk defying me."

Director Lane circles around his desk and looks out to the open windows. His face only half visible to her. She looks downward suspecting she might have gone over her bounds again and made him think less of her somehow.

"Forgive my tone, it is inappropriate."

As he turns to look at her more of his face becomes hidden to her as the light from outside is mostly on his back instead of his front.

"No, no, no. You may be right."

Then he looks away again after making the concession that she could be right about him.

"Never did doubt Hamilton's dedication, but he's been different. Ever since Clark's escape, I've wondered if there is something."

She starts to circle around his desk to stand at his side because it felt like one of those moments when they truly did need to see eye to eye on something critical to their survival within Cadmus' walls.

"Trust me, Daddy, there is."

He turns to face her with the light on his face.

"Tangible proof?"

"No."

Her suspicions, her discoveries, and other things were all done independently during many trips where she was supposedly searching for Clark so that wouldn't do any good to expose her covert activities while making similar accusations about Hamilton.

"If you should find something real, something I could trust -"

"I'll bring it to you immediately."

* * *

Clark went out to the farm owned by the Langs in what used to be called Smallville before the Regime took over what was the United States until the Nazi Invasion back in 1944. It happen only days after the failed offensive at Normandy. The Allies were decimated on land, in the air, and even by sea as there were almost no survivors from the entire deployment.

The only man he met on the Langs property is a caretaker named Pete Ross who had a broken arm that had never healed properly yet he felt like a honest man if only somewhat afraid of what Clark brings to his doorstep this afternoon.

"I was told to keep the place looking pretty, but I haven't seen Miss Laura in ten years. I'm not even sure she is the one who is sending the marks for me to look after this place."

"Do you know how to reach her? Do you know where she is?"

"Like I said, I haven't seen her in a long time."

Clark produces a photograph of the woman identified to him as someone who could be considered his mother.

"Have you ever seen this woman?"

"Lewis said we're not s'pose to talk about them."

"She's my mother. I don't know where she is either."

"Neva knew my mama neither."

Pete simply doesn't want any trouble, but it appears trouble often found the likes of the Langs and his parents since they were friends based on what Pete's telling him.

"They don't live here... not anymore."

"They lived here?"

"Over the barn."

Clark looks up to the window above the barn rafters.

"Almost never came out. Always alone. She had red hair... and he made planes out of wood."

Clark felt a smile forming on his face as this moment is the very first where he could vaguely imagine what his parents were like at least when they were staying here with the Langs many years ago.

"When I was little, Miss Laura taught me how to read good... gooder. These people always seemed like... that book about the little girl who lived in the attic. Her name was Anne."

Clark knows the book, but only because it barely made it to publishing due to its subject matter. It put the Regime and the Nazis in a bad light, which ultimately is true to the early years of their authority when they were condemning millions to death yet that policy went away when Vandal Savage took over.

"Anne Frank?"

Clark's and Pete's eyes meet when he mentions what the Franks had done, which now seem all too analogous to what his parents were forced to do except they were hiding from Cadmus instead of Nazis.

"They left right right after Miss Laura got took."

A strange smile forms on Pete's face.

"Maybe they send the money."

Clark walks towards Pete.

"Pete, do you know where they went?"

"Just left. They left some stuff."

Clark is about to go looking except his phone starts ringing.

"We got a lead on Doe. Faraday wants everyone in now including you Williams."

"On my way."

Clark starts to leave, but promises Pete that he'll be back later.

* * *

"What happen?" asks Clark.

"Cabbie in a psych ward. Found taped up to his driver seat and his eyes taped open. Jane left the cab on a railroad track. If some motorist hadn't spotted him then the cabbie would be dead plus all he would mutter about Jane is 'I decide who lives or dies'."

It implies to anyone that it is better to find 'Jane' before she finds Laura again.

* * *

"The blue notebook belong to a different subject," says Perry flatly.

Perry drops it on the desk next to the stacks of red ones.

"Her name is Karen, she was part of Prometheus, the same program that Overman, that Clark belonged to back then... under the direction of then Dr. Hamilton," continues Perry.

"Makes sense that that you'd have more than one freak in this system," sneers Miss Lane.

She crosses her arms and poses the obvious question about Karen's importance.

"She was 'officially' released from Cadmus before the date of that notebook," replies Perry grimly.

"Are you saying Hamilton kept Karen for his own project? Where?" mumbles Olsen.

Miss Lane found she could scarcely fathom what Hamilton must have done with Karen due to the way that she saw Perry treat Clark throughout those early years that she saw them together at Cadmus. It is also in that moment that occurs to her where Hamilton kept Karen after staging her apparent release.

"The hidden sublevel," gasps Miss Lane quickly.

Olsen reroutes the security systems so that the trio can sneak down to the sublevel to investigate what happen to Karen way down below in what literally could be called hell on earth though in reality it is far worse than that to the senses of anyone with a shred of decency. The initial discovery only months before after learning Clark's perspective on the day of her mother's death is when they first found inklings of its existence, but it was not until Clark more recently sent them architectural charts on Cadmus did they account for a 'missing/hidden' sublevel.

Outwardly it continues to look abandoned, wrecked, and full of signs of demented things done within its walls. A broken birthing table with shackles on it, a turned over tricycle, multiple cracked light fixtures, water damaged walls and ceilings are visual signs that you have come into its true nature.

One door shows obvious signs that someone made serious efforts to breakthrough, but with no apparent success. Miss Lane looks around the room to see ruined furniture, scribbles on the wall of nonsensical phrases including the one from the notebook, and a language she could barely understand in the least. The room seems more like a cell than any of the living spaces given to those in the SPD sublevels.

She and Perry are drawn to Olsen's shouts as he alerts them to finding a relic from the past at least from his technical perspective.

"This is a very old supercomputer."

"Looks exactly like the one I kept my research during the early days of the Prometheus Program. It was before everything was digitally encoded and due to the water leakage these large records are practically useless for decryption."

Perry walks out given this latest sign of Hamilton's depravity and the device that once seem to hold decades old proof of that inhuman behavior in an immoral 'man'.

"Unless the analogs are still intact. These things had primitive hard-drives in them."

"Do whatever you have to do, I want to know whatever I can know about what happen."

* * *

"_**It's me Clark, remember Karen?" **says Clark quietly._

"_**We're not supposed to talk," **counters Karen quickly._

"_**Do you know where you're from?" **continues Clark._

"_**No."**_

"_**Me neither. I can only mostly remember here."**_

_Karen stays silent even when Clark asks if she knows who she is and so it would seem she is as clueless about her identity as he has been from the start.

* * *

_

"Ten million bits of information and mostly relating to Karen. I did recover one simulation entirely."

Olsen initiates a playback.

_A flickering mock hotel sign, an open window, a rather long barrel sniper rifle, and its holder is Karen._

"_**It's been days, I'm hot, I'm tired, and I'm here to close a wound."**_

"_**You don't think your victim is a good man do you?"**_

"_**We had law and order. He divides the country."**_

"_**Maybe its you who is afraid, not the country."**_

"_**No, he's the threat. Our leaders are powerless and clumsy. He must die."**_

"_**Who are you to make that judgment?"**_

"_**I decide who lives or dies. I decide who lives or dies."**_

Both Perry and Miss Lane share mutual stares of disbelief.

"Hamilton was trying to do this from the start. Pump enough negativity into one of the Prometheus subjects and in doing so do away with their morality."

* * *

_The joint simulations were typical for Clark and Karen for a time. One such one involves them being caught by taking a vessel into enemy waters and being caught by said enemy._

"_**We demand you sign an admission of aggression."**_

"_**We would rather die."**_

"_**What about you?"**_

"_**Well.. maybe Clark's right."**_

"_**Damn... abort simulation."**_

"_**What are you doing?"**_

"_**I should have never allowed this."**_

_Hamilton storms off with Perry right behind him leaving Clark alone with Karen._

_Karen always seems to be wearing this necklace with a strange S shaped symbol on it._

"_**What is this?"**_

"_**I have always worn this."**_

"_**Dr. Hamilton lets you?"**_

"_**Dr. Hamilton is my friend."**_

_It almost stung to hear her says that, but then they had opposing opinions about Hamilton. Next Clark pulls out an orgami figure he made to show to Karen._

"_**It's origami. I'll teach you how to make it sometime."**_

_Karen stares at it as if she had never seen such a thing before._

"_**Where do they keep you?"**_

"_**They take me down in an elevator. I'm not sure where, but there's sounds in the ceiling."**_

"_**From the air vents. I hear those sounds too. We must be close to each other."**_

_There is almost a shared secret forming between them._

"_**The speaker they use to talk to us, is there a wire leading from it?"**_

"_**Yeah. Why?"**_

_Karen smiles at Clark seeing where his thinking is leading him._

"_**I know how we can talk without being heard."

* * *

**_

Hamilton wheels his tank into an elevator only to find Perry slipping in at the last second with the blue notebook in hand and realizes what his moral bound counterpart is going to be getting at before the other even opens his mouth to say it.

"What did you do with Karen?"

"Don't commit suicide over secrecy."

"You ignored a Circle directive by keeping her after her release date."

"Quit dwelling on past for your own sake. Clark is your only card at this table so the longer he's 'wild', the weaker your 'hand' will get at this 'table'."

Hamilton reactivates the elevator and gets off at the ground floor.

"If she's alive, I'll find here, I swear it."

* * *

"As of now I'm issuing a S.T.K. On Jane Doe," states Agent Faraday.

"Shoot-To-Kill order? But she hasn't killed anyone," exclaims Clark.

"She put a cigarette out of on a cabbie's tongue, you think she can be reasoned with?"

* * *

Olsen arrives at Perry's office to find it empty and a note from him saying he'll be back in 15. Olsen switches on the television only to have the broadcast switch over to a news bulletin on 'Jane Doe'.

"Federal Security continues its pursuit of escapee Jane Doe... bureau liaisons concede they are at a loss for leads... in their attempt to locate and recapture..."

Olsen leaps out of the chair once aware of Omen's presence behind him.

"What are you doing out here?"

Omen's attention seems drawn to the broadcast and not Olsen.

"Agent Faraday appeals to the public for information that can lead to Doe's arrest and reward is possible should leads prove conclusive as well as decisive."

Omen phases out of the straitjacket and scribbles on the television monitor.

Olsen quickly goes to tell Miss Lane and Perry the news so it can only mean that Clark might be closer to this than they are and so could Hamilton too if he knows Karen's whereabouts.

* * *

Clark heads back to the Langs' farm so that he can look over his parents' 'hiding' place over the barn. It is complete with several beds. One built for two, a bunk bed, and to his surprise a cradle. He could imagine his parents living here because it felt like a home even though it is hidden from prying eyes. He also finds what looks like a bible except from his studies of religion, he only found that most religions are now only suspected to be practiced in secret as they are forbidden in all territories under Regime Authority.

"Under the hand of God, ye little children shall never be lost."

* * *

Miles away at a gas station, a female attendant witnesses a father admonishing his son and in turn nearly breaks his wrist before pulling the litte boy out of the vehicle then she directs him to bathroom before 'borrowing' the man's car. To her, one does not treat children with such disrespect and the boy did ask politely enough in her mind. The female attendant now follows Laura Lang because she is the one that the attendant has been waiting for because she knows that this road is on the way to a secret place that belongs to those who believe as the Langs believe about the future of this land.

The attendant is actually Karen, but in disguise and patiently waiting for her quarry for days after learning she fled from her residence outside Metropolis.

* * *

Another decrypted file from Hamilton's sublevel archives reveals the training of Karen to become an assassin and just how visceral Hamilton's 'lessons' could be on the young woman all those years ago. Olsen, Perry, and Miss Lane watch as Karen fires away at a cutout target prop. Karen's aim is nearly flawless.

"_**Hate dictates reality. The sooner you embrace it and focus it upon your enemy... the sooner total control is realized," **assures Hamilton._

_Karen looks at Hamilton before reacting to his words._

"_**It's more than just a word. Hate is a feeling. I have it in here."**_

_Karen gestures to her chest._

"_**Very good, Karen."**_

_Hamilton then backhands Karen multiple times while pushing her to embrace hate, to feel hate, to let it grow within her._

"_**Tomorrow we go to the House."**_

"_**I feel safe there."**_

"_**It will always be so."**_

_The target cutout prop is that of Ella Lane now riddled with bullet holes._

Miss Lane reels wondering if Hamilton set Karen on her mother as she notices the date from file, which places this simulation as only two months before her mother died.

* * *

A/N 1: Inspired by Pretender episode **The Dragon House**. The true nature of what was done to Karen comes out and what connection it may hold to the death of Ella is something that concerns Miss Lane because of Karen's ties to Mr. Hamilton.

A/N 2: As for Clark, Karen's reappearance offers him redemption for past mistakes with her, but who exactly will he find when he comes face with someone like himself who has instead spent untold years as a prisoner of Hamilton's conditioning as opposed to being mentored by Perry like him.

A/N 3: Also Karen is shown to be not totally severed from her humanity yet it expresses itself in ways perceived as aberrant or criminal.


	16. Shattered

"He was training her to hate my mother, to shoot her," gasps Miss Lane suddenly.

"This explains Omen's attack on you," interjects Perry.

She could feel tears welling in her eyes because it almost seems as Hamilton is responsible for her mother's death by turning another young girl into a killer. Maybe Karen was another that her mother tried to save, but like the others who never got away, Karen became a victim of Hamilton's plots.

"Omen only channeled what Karen was taught to do by Hamilton and due to your strong resemblance to your mother – Omen saw her instead of you and acted on that hatred."

Miss Lane turns to take this discovery to her father only Perry grabs her gently by the arm.

"My father must be told..."

"Unless he already knows... this is Cadmus."

"This is my mother's death."

"All I ask is caution, not just of myself, but you and Olsen too."

He holds her now by both arms.

"All our findings lead back to one place – that hellhole in the deepest depths of this place."

She realizes he is concerned for her safety even though he cares about her emotional well being too. It is a difficult thing to decide despite her instinctual reactions after seeing what she just saw.

"Only your heart can decide how much trust to put in your father."

Perry walks out leaving her alone with Olsen.

"I'm sorry you saw this."

He hands her the disc while she is still buzzing from what Perry just said to her.

"I do respect you despite how I act around or towards you."

Olsen seem at a loss to put together a response so he merely nods ever so slightly.

* * *

Laura Lang arrives at one of the sanctuaries used by the local Resistance. They however pose as clerics and families tied to maintaining archives for the farming colonies throughout the Midwestern territories. As she walks along a woman slightly taller than her and wearing a cleric's hooded robe grabs and drags her back to her. She instantly recognizes the woman and Clark hears her screams just after he arrives at the sanctuary as well.

Karen drives Laura's car straight at Clark and he only narrowly dives out of the way in time. If not for his atypical physiology, his skull would have cracked against pavement, and once back on his feet he starts to go after them only to realize they were already long gone plus he couldn't risk exposing his powers while still posing a Federal Security Agent. He walks towards a parked convertible and sees a blue notebook lying in it as Karen left it to be found like the other one.

A similar series of drawings can be found on the first few pages and then like before the same phrase is back again to haunt him anew like it did in his cell.

**I DECIDE WHO LIVES OR DIES. I DECIDE WHO LIVES OR DIES. I DECIDES WHO LIVES OR DIES. I DECIDE WHO LIVES OR DIES. I DECIDE WHO LIVES OR DIES. I DECIDE WHO LIVES OR DIES. I DECIDE WHO LIVES OR DIES. I DECIDE WHO LIVES OR DIES.**

[+++]

Once again the Lanes meet in the Director's Office atop the visible levels of Cadmus.

"This is a preliminary report on a Prometheus subject called Karen aka Overwoman."

Director Lane scans it and comments on the vague details about her sources.

"Where did these experiments transpire?"

"I don't know presently."

"What was she taught?"

"To hate... to kill."

"Kill? Who?"

"Unclear as of yet."

She learned obfuscation from her father so concealing things from him is a matter of presentation.

"How did you learn all this?"

"I have my sources."

"Another goose chase courtesy of Clark."

"Clark had nothing to do with this."

He seems to be buying it.

"Did you know about this Daddy?"

"Would I let this go on if I did?"

She felt his anger from her subtle accusations and similarly felt badly for accusing like she had done frequently in the past several months because of the things she learned by way of Clark's 'signs'.

"There was a time where nothing went on without me knowing. Perhaps I'm getting too old for this."

"Forgive me, Daddy. Let me handle this."

She leans across his desk to give him full view of her seriousness at nailing Hamilton for his shady operations behind her father's back and get Karen in the process. If only to determine that Hamilton had her kill Ella Lane all those years ago.

* * *

"_**Where are you?" **_

"_**Three doors down."**_

"_**Next to me. I'm four doors."**_

_Clark and Karen were using a crude method of transmitting morse code to each other, but then overhead both hear clattering in the ventilation shafts that run the length of this entire floor._

"_**Did you hear that?"**_

"_**Yes. Maybe they know."**_

_Karen reads as if she is panicking at being found out for maintaining contact with Clark._

"_**Do you think they know we're talking?"**_

"_**Someone does."**_

_Clark can see eyes looking down at him from the shaft grate._

"Perry here."

"What is the House?"

"This is about Karen."

"Karen is loose. Was she sent to kill my parents?"

"My God, Clark! I don't know. I swear it."

Clark can hear the defensive honesty in Perry's voice and again he felt bad accusing his paternal mentor of deception because it seem as much as Cadmus lied to him or about him. They had similarly lied to others who work for them including Perry.

"I'll find answers."

"Quickly, Perry. Please."

* * *

It took doing, but Clark misdirects Faraday to head further east to locate 'Jane Doe' when he knows otherwise. So to be further convincing he acts slightly offended when Faraday sticks him on desk duty. Clark then put in another call to Perry to finally learn the location of the House and it is quite far south of the misdirection he sent Faraday towards with that ploy.

"The House is located near New Jersey's eastern coast line. You can count on Hamilton already heading that way and I have no way to withhold this information from Miss Lane given what we saw on from that decrypted data file from Hamilton's old supercomputer."

"Thank you Perry. I'm always running from something yet for now the something becomes someone for a time. I'm never alone anymore at least outwardly, but inwardly that's a different story for another time."

"You must also realize Karen is no longer the person you knew then."

"Neither am I."

The conversation as another journey begins with many lives converging on a single place at the same time, but the result of these collisions cannot be foreseen.

* * *

It is not long before he reaches the intended destination and finds Laura's car just outside the House. The weapon he carries is just for show because there are other ways to disarm an opponent instead of just shooting them. Aside from that he had no idea what abilities Karen might possess at her current age too. As he enters, he hears Laura's voice from upstairs. So Clark dashes up the spiral stairwell to the second floor then scans through the walls to pinpoint her location on the upper floor.

Karen is still with her for the moment.

"Tell me where they are!" demands Karen.

"I will not betray their trust!" rebukes Laura.

"I heard once that anticipation of pain is worse than the pain itself," continues Karen.

Clark makes a false noise to confuse Karen or it appears to confuse her. When she steps out onto the balcony. Clark moves in to release Laura from her bindings only to find Karen back inside pointing a lead lined gun at him, which could only mean she was given one of the pistols that carries the liquid bullets that they tested on him several years ago. Bullets that proved lethal to him even under yellow sunlight. He did recover, but it was the first time he felt pain when his skin should have bounced the bullets away from him.

"You're late!" announces Karen defiantly.

Clark also hears the wheeling noise of Hamilton's portable oxygen tank. It meant Cadmus beat him to Laura and Karen.

"Ah, reunions, I love them," chuckles Hamilton.

"Mr. Hamilton," grumbles Clark.

"I knew isolation worked better, which is why I should have never agreed to allow you two to meet."

The 'cleaners' accompanying Hamilton aim their weapons at Clark and Karen.

"Time to go," insists Hamilton.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," retorts Clark sharply.

"Neither am I," adds Karen flatly.

Next Karen shoots the car battery she was using to entice Laura to talk without harming her. It makes a distraction for Clark to slip downstairs with Laura and enable Karen to vault off the balcony. Both Clark and Karen cross paths again only seconds later aiming their weapons at each other.

"Karen, you know me, its Clark."

"They said Clark was dead so now who lives or dies is me."

"Not this time."

Behind them, Miss Lane arrives with Perry and two other 'cleaners'.

Laura blocks Clark's attempt to shoot at Karen then drags him away from the scene just as Karen also attempts to flee except she doesn't get very far as one of the cleaners slaps a specialized collar onto her neck thus de-powering her temporarily. Hamilton is watching in the distance and so now his secret is now hers to show to her father as proof of Hamilton's duplicity.

"We got Karen, but Clark is gone again."

"We'll get him soon enough anyway."

* * *

Clark and Laura flee in Laura's car with Clark at the wheel still processing what just happen back there.

"Why did you do that?" demands Clark scathingly.

"Because Karen... she's your sister," confesses Laura quickly.

He stops the car and then she offers to drive since he seems to have a lot on his mind now. She drives for hours and hours until they finally reach her place outside of Metropolis, which bears a passing resemblance to the one back near what was Smallville.

It is only then that she finally starts to talk more about the relationship between him and Karen.

"I don't remember my parents or a sister," claims Clark.

"You were taken when you were very young so you repressed and forgot about much of your early years."

"So how did you meet my parents?"

"We were neighbors back in Smallville. Your mother always an inspiration to many of us though we would rarely say it especially considering how long she and your father tried to have children."

"So Karen and I are not their biological children?"

"You and her were raised as if you were because your were for all intents purpose orphans. They found you first and she came into their lives after stumbling into the yard."

"How did they find me?"

"Martha, your mother, always said you found them, sort of a way romanticize finding a rocket ship with a baby in it. Of course Karen was no baby when they found her, but rather she was a little girl and nearly the same as my Lana by then."

"Lana?"

"My daughter, she if you can believe still has a crush on you to this day and she's been tracking your movements in her own way. Always telling me about this mysterious man appearing all over the country helping people, nailing crooks, and what's more is that he refuses to take any recognition for it."

"Its my way to make up for all the harm that's been caused by the things I did for Cadmus."

"Atonement is a long road especially for someone who did so much for two people when he was so tiny yet so giving in their eyes. They love you still even though they haven't seen you in years."

Clark felt a kind of relief at Laura's words.

"I am not directly tied to the Resistance anymore, not since Lewis died, but Lana has been shadowing your parents for many years in my place. When Martha told me of the things she saw you do, it had become clear to many of us we were dealing with something or someone who was not an ordinary boy who is now a man. You belong to what he call metahuman or superhuman race."

Clark couldn't exactly believe this part of the story, but these developing powers of his seem to exceed what he thought was merely an enhanced immunity, a remarkable healing factor, and more. However other abilities such as flight, speed, and even this power to melt things seem scary to him now.

"Then when Karen started showing similar abilities, Cadmus made a reappearance to abduct her leaving your parents to cope with another loss of a child. The cradle you saw in the barn that was yours a long time ago and she kept it along with other things that were yours."

He begins to realize his parents truly felt as he did find them and give them something more than just a child.

"So did my parent join the Resistance?"

"No, they kept apart, but there was another woman who briefly served as a double agent for us. Her name was Ella Winters. During one of my meetings with her I lost my footing and fell into freezing water. She dove in after me, breathed life back into me, and never could I duplicate her spirit."

Clark listens to every word despite knowing the ultimate fate of Ella Winters, the eventual Ella Lane, who has been dead for almost two decades from his present perspective.

"She didn't become a full operative because she fell in love and wanted to start her own family after getting married of course. The husband's name was..."

"Lane."

"Yes."

"Did you know her?"

"I know her daughter."

Now that Laura thought back to what happen before they fled the House, she realizes why the face of that dark haired woman felt so familiar because parent-offspring resemblance is extremely rare.

"What did Ella Lane have to do with my parents?"

"My Resistance counterpart in Metropolis at the time relayed a message to me from Ella. I hadn't heard from her since her marriage to Mr. Lane. I agreed to meet with her, but we didn't meet alone."

"So that's how you met them?"

"Yes, a man and a woman... who had their son and daughter taken from them."

"You brought them here?"

"It was safe at least back then. They were inclined to find their children, but they were also hiding from those who took you and Karen."

"Did they ever talk about us?"

"They never said, I never asked, it seem strange they sought to bear this burden alone, but it seems you have some of that yourself because of what Lana told me about your vanishing acts after you help people."

"Your father's health was shaky because he had survived a few mild heart attacks since your abduction, but the first was triggered by a weapon they used to stun him."

Clark felt shock that they had done that to such a man yet it didn't surprise him that Cadmus could break, destroy, or even kill people like his parents.

"After many years, I started hearing from Karen, who to say the least was desperate for answers not unlike you, but with her, there was more of a hunger to it as she still seems far more cut-off from her humanity than you."

"That's Hamilton's fault... the man you saw with the oxygen tubes up his nose back at the House. I can scarcely imagine what he'll do to her if he ever gets her back in his machines at Cadmus."

"Then you are going to have to save her from them because..."

"I know why I must go after her, because she's family and we both already lost enough because of Cadmus."

Laura felt within her heart that wherever they were the Kents would be truly proud of the man that their son had become despite having been a pawn of Cadmus for much of his life though she didn't feel as sure about Karen even if Clark could take her away from that.

* * *

Karen awakens to find herself bound to an elevated metal surface.

"What was your first room inside Cadmus?" asks Hamilton.

"Three doors down from the corridor, but after..." responds Karen.

"What was the Gotham Protocol?" demands Hamilton.

"It fell through. Intended targets escaped termination..." counters Karen.

Hamilton squeezes a button on his hand held controller, which zaps Karen directly at the pain receptors in her skull. The presence of the red solar lamps diminishes her physiology's resilience to torture methods. It is something Hamilton perfected over the years so that he tap into whatever he sought when dealing with Karen, but something in Karen found a way to fight back at the House when refusing to comply with his orders.

"Others lost the nerve, but not me. I decide who lives or dies. I decide who..."

Another surge subdues her.

"You said she would have forgotten almost entirely by now."

"The repression is not selective. She's forgotten enough, but still knows enough to be useful."

Miss Lane storms in with Perry only to find Hamilton there with her father. It is now that she knows her father lied about Karen and if he could lie about this then what other skeletons did her father have in his closet.

"You gave up a chance to capture Clark despite having already caught Karen."

"You said you knew nothing about Karen so why are you here with him?"

"I brought Hamilton in on this because he has experience with her."

Lane ushers her and Perry out of the room.

"Now you two back on Clark because obviously he was following her for some reason."

"So you think he'll come for her... is that what you think Director?"

"Its a possiblity, but will he is the real question."

"The newest security measures are more than a match for Clark."

Director Lane rejoins Mr. Hamilton in the dimly lit chamber where the latter is still working on Karen.

"First time I ever heard you doubt Clark."

"Hope he bought it as much as you."

Miss Lane did not know whether to feel impressed or surprised at Perry's momentary cleverness.

* * *

Perry and Olsen arrive at a dead zone after receiving a cryptic summon by Miss Lane.

"I want you two to help me break Karen out."

Both men look at her as if she were out of her mind to do such a thing.

"She's being held in a sublevel I don't have to access to and further there's high level security tracking her constantly from the Master Tech Room. So it wouldn't do us any good to try this."

Olsen looks like he has something in mind.

"What are you thinking?"

"Not impossible, just tricky, I mean I got into the hidden sublevel twice in the last few months. So here's what to do predetermined camera looping and tricking the sensors for a similar amount of time. All in all should be long enough to break Karen out of there."

* * *

Olsen arrives at the Master Tech Room and makes a beeline for the necessary console. He inputs the appropriate commands and then spills cold coffee on himself only making it sounds like it was hot coffee. Perry comes in distracting the door man by asking for directions to a seemingly unfamiliar and random part of Cadmus' underground sublevels. Miss Lane slips through the door exactly when Olsen initiates the loops in the camera and prays she can do this in time without anyone knowing she help bust Karen out of Cadmus' deepest security areas.

Her eyes and Karen's lock instantly.

"You look just like her."

"That's what they tell me."

Miss Lane sits down on the cots next to shackled Karen.

"You're the one who decides who lives or dies, right?"

"You know my work."

Karen is grinning with an almost sadistic smile for someone who appears to have no kills

"Did you kill my mother?"

Karen looks away as if she remembers something and it seems to drain the transient pride out of her face.

"Did you kill her?"

"No."

"Then who did?"

Karen's silence resumes again.

"Was it Mr. Hamilton?"

Karen looks right at her as if neither confirming or denying that accusation. In the distance both can hear eerie familiar squeak of the wheels on Hamilton's oxygen tank. In haste, Miss Lane slides under the cot and Karen resumes a prone position with the cover blocking the view of the underside of the cot. Karen said nothing as she is led away from the cell by one of the 'cleaners' and once clear she makes her way out hoping the loop in the cameras hides her escape from the detention area.

* * *

"I must go alone to make contact with someone who can arrange a meeting between you and your parents, but only I alone can make this journey, you can't shadow me Clark."

"Too dangerous for you to by yourself."

"Ella never thought of that when she dove in after me that night."

"It seems she imparted that selflessness onto to me as well because I won't be here. I'm going back to Cadmus for my sister, a piece of my past is her and I can't abandon her to that place."

* * *

Perry arrives at his office to find a familiar word spelled out with pieces of candy. Something only he would do both out there in the world and years ago when he was still a somewhat willing 'student'. Perry resumes walking to find the room behind his office pitch black, but an all too familiar outline emerges from the dark.

"Hello Perry."

"My God."

Perry walks over to Clark.

"How did you get in?"

"Same way I got out."

This time he felt justified to demand answers from Perry after everything he heard from Laura.

"Why didn't you tell me about my family? About my sister?"

"Your sister?"

Perry's tone suggests disbelief and surprise, but this doesn't totally phase Clark.

"Karen, if that is her real name."

The silence is brief and the air quite tense.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know."

Perry's body shows no signs of deception for Perry is not a practiced liar and usually his honesty is only overtaken by his being kept in the dark by Cadmus.

"All I know about Karen is... what David told me."

David as Clark found out is Perry's brother, most think David is dead, which is almost true with David being comatose for nearly thirty years since the car accident that left Perry injured, but David remains unconscious almost to this day. However an experimental drug briefly 'reignited' the pathways in David's brain, but even then he was barely understandable. It is from David that they all got their first snippet about the hidden sublevel, but before long he lapsed back into unconsciousness then an order was made to put David out of his misery.. The order had come from Hamilton and Miss Lane technically carried out, but in reality it was Perry who stood in for David because David is Perry's twin brother.

Both Clark and Perry sense someone is approaching so Clark goes back into the dark leaving Perry to face Hamilton alone.

"Am I interrupting something?"

"Just going over notes."

"Conscientious as always."

Hamilton always had a tendency to mock Perry at times or denounce his methodology.

"You will inform me if Clark makes contact," commands Hamilton.

"What if he contacts you first?" quips Perry.

* * *

Clark experiences an onslaught old memories of this cell room yet does not find the medal left behind the sink basin yet again it appears dangling from the ventilation grate so he gently pulls it down. Next the grate pops open and out comes someone else from the past.

"Omen!"

Clark goes over to hug Omen and then stepping back he spots a box of Oreos lying on the floor..

"You're Rao... aren't you?"

Omen smiles at him with a kind knowing grin.

"You've been in contact with me and Karen... haven't you?"

* * *

"Prepare for surgery. The only way to peace is this procedure on her frontal lobe."

"The Circle hasn't given clearance yet."

"I have made the diagnosis... so unless you intend to dispute begin immediately."

"Prepping anesthesia now."

Hamilton and the 'doctor' leave Karen bound to the elevated operating table.

Someone kicks in the nearby ventilation grate and out comes someone who looks vaguely familiar.

The man pulls the gag restraint off her mouth.

"Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Clark."

Clark does a rapid tap Morse code sequence on Karen's hands. Karen remembers this.

"Hamilton said that Clark was dead."

"Not hardly."

As Clark removes the other restraints Karen doesn't believe what she is seeing before her.

"Why help me?"

"Because... I'm your brother."

"I have no family."

"Yes. You do."

Clark shows her the medal that apparently belong to the man who is their father out there.

Karen attacks the 'doctor' after he reappears except Clark pulls her off and they are about to go up into the vents again except Omen having been in contact with Karen now hits the alarm button.

Together the siblings flee into the body size vents while Cadmus Security scrambles to track them down under the direction of Miss Lane only to find Omen where they thought they would find Clark and Karen.

* * *

"Hamilton was going to do invasive surgery to ensure that Karen would never reveal what she knows about him. He has his own way for far too long Daddy."

"He'll be dealt with, but for now you get those two back here."

Director Lane walks off leaving her alone in another of Hamilton's horror rooms.

* * *

Karen somehow slept most of the drive back to Laura's safe house outside Metropolis. She awakes like someone coming out of night terrors yet Clark is there to ease her back into the reality that she is with her brother once more.

"I am not that Karen anymore. I have her memories, but I'm not her," asserts Karen.

"I remember that Karen and that Clark yet like you I'm not that Clark anymore."

"No, you're still more him than I am her."

He believes Karen can be saved even when she doubts she'll ever undo what's been done to her. Together they go upstairs to the living space above the rafters in the barn.

"I can feel them here, but no faces."

"Either we forgot or Cadmus made us forget."

Down below, Laura is returning from her meeting with her anonymous contact who appears to have given her the go-ahead to direct Clark to a meeting with someone close to his past.

However someone else is coming up the road so the trio in haste flee in the van except along the way someone shoots out one of the backtires sending the van careening off the road. Clark manages to shield Laura from the brunt of the crash yet it appears that Karen's healing factor not fully restored has left her vulnerable to breaking her leg. She is also bleeding from her lip.

"I'm not leaving without you Karen."

"Go Clark... find our parents... they mustn't known what I am now."

"Come on, Clark, we have to getting moving. I'm sorry."

Laura almost must drag Clark away after both witness the van exploding in the distance.

Faraday and the other Federal Security agents close in on the flaming wreck to confirm 'Jane Doe's' death.

Laura gives him directions to the meeting place with his parents then tells him they must part ways.

* * *

Clark is only steps away from the cafe in Boston when a taxi passes him with a woman riding in it that looks almost exactly like the photograph he has of his mother. The taxi comes to a stop and the woman climbs out looking about for someone. Clark nearly paralyzed by excitement finally manages to shout the word mom. It gets her attention to his direction, she puts her hands over her mouth as she cries happily as he walks towards her and the other passenger in the taxi is a younger woman who slightly resembles Laura so that must make her Laura's daughter Lana.

However nearly half a block further, Clark catches sight of Perry who head nods towards a black car in an alleyway across the street. Four people get out of the vehicle, all carrying weapons, and thinking again of others Clark yells for her to get back in the taxi. It takes such courage for her to leave after coming this far and waiting this long to be reunited with her little boy, her Clark. Lana looks torn by sadness as well yet she recognizes the danger as he does. The taxi speeds away once Martha is back inside of it.

There is a faint look of recognition on Martha's face when she sees who is among those coming for her son this time around as one of them is again the woman known to her all those years ago as Waller. As the taxi turns the corner, Waller and the others race to return to their car to pursue the wayward Martha and her protector Lana. However before they can effectively follow Perry puts himself in the path of the pursuing vehicle only for Miss Lane to pull him aside.

Miss Lane's shouting isn't necessary to warn him that Lawton has a weapon aimed at the back of his head and in one swift motion he twists Lawton's wrist while taking his gun from him. Next he bolts into the alleyway to find Hamilton waiting for him at the other end.

"You stole me from my parents. You had Federal Security murder my sister. And now you're trying to kill my family. What have I ever done to you?" yells Clark angrily.

Those dark pits for eyes reveal little except that Hamilton does as he pleases and all those in his way either serve or die. It makes little difference to him in the long run or so it appears in the moment.

"You exist," replies Hamilton acidly.

They stare at each other while Clark presses Lawton's pistol to Hamilton's chest yet Clark's hand is trembling while he aims at where Hamilton's shriveled heart would be if it exists at all aside from being a part of his tobacco ruined body.

Clark pulls back and tosses the gun aside.

"You won't do to me, what you did to her," retorts Clark.

Clark starts walking away knowing that someone would still try to shoot him, but someone fires at Hamilton first igniting his oxygen tank. It sets the old man's back on fire and he loses his balance falling to the ground. Lawton rushes over to put the fire out while Miss Lane, Perryn and Olsen watch from a short distance.

"Thought he gave up smoking," comments Miss Lane dryly.

* * *

"He got away for that you have my deepest regrets for Mr. Luthor. However we got closer than we ever got before to Clark and aside from Hamilton's accident we still kept Clark from learning too much."

Miss Lane enters just as the phone conversation ends.

"Our work continues even with Hamilton out of action, possibly permanently as skin grafting might not save him."

"How did he know where to find Clark yesterday?"

"Hard for someone like Hamilton to be taken out sitting behind a desk."

"You also said we would talk about what happen that day."

She grabs her father's arm.

"Did Hamilton kill Mother?"

"Darling. No easy explanations."

"Yes or no?"

"One day you'll understand why I..."

She tires of her father's diverting her in what should be a honest conversation between daughter and father.

"Did he kill her?"

"There are still great repercussions from your mother's death. When I can tell you more, I will."

Two 'cleaners' she had never seen before come for her father and lead him out of the office.

It took a lot out of her to confront him like this. Her mascara is almost running down her face, her eyes feel so wet, and she collapses into one of the chairs in his office. She sits there sobbing for a time.

* * *

Perry picks up his phone only to hear silence on the line for a time.

"_Nothing will stop me from finding them again."_

"I'd expect nothing less from you. You were closer to them than I ever was – believe me."

"_If you want faith – where is my sister's body?"_

"There was no body – the wreck burned for hours."

"_Nothing as usual."_

"Cadmus will pursue harder than ever."

"_Expect nothing less from you either."_

"Where will you go now?"

"_Ideas aplenty... catch me... if you can."_

Clark hangs up and reflecting on his sunglasses is a rocket ship heading for space.

"For someone not from this world, I think I should like to see it from space if only to see what someone else must when looking down from on high."

* * *

A/N 1: Also inspired by The Dragon House episode. Both Clark and Karen can remember their Earth parents because they were looked after by the same people until Cadmus took them away.

A/N 2: Rao is an obvious reference to Superman lore. As for Omen that's an anagram for Nemo which means no one. I'm not settled on who Omen is a time line counterpart for at present.

A/N 3: As for Karen, she is based on Power Girl, not Supergirl and given the way that Power Girl arrived on Earth in the comics, it fit better with this story's continuity. The only change made to her history is that she is a sibling of Kal-El instead being something that almost makes her a cousin.

A/N 4: For those expecting the gun shot-exploding oxygen tank moment - it happen.


End file.
