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Chapter Text

Off the coast off of a dark and gloomy night in Santa Prisca, a hooded man was entering a dock on a small boat while being concealed under a black coat. On the docks waiting for him were a bunch of strong looking men and women looking to be wearing military grade vests on their body and beige coats.

In the shadows, hid a bigger man between six feet and seven feet tall, also wearing a beige coat and appeared to have a muscular form. The man looked to his crew with his arms crossed.

"What do you know about our client?" The man asked.

"Apparently, he is a mercenary working for the US government." The man with a bald head and a beard replied.

"Not much to go on." A female crony replied. "He's essentially a ghost."

The man on the boat stared at the man he was about to meet with a blank expression since he didn't know about the situation.

"Waller, isn't this a little risky?" The man asked.

"What is it Agent Wilson?" Waller asked through the com.

"We are dealing with a man like him?" Agent Wilson asked. "Waller, do you have any idea who he is?"

"I'm very well aware of what Bane is. Illegal drug manufacturer and weapons dealer."

"Let's not forget over 70 counts of terrorism." Agent Wilson said.

"You've done your fair share, Agent Wilson."

"I blew up a few buildings to eliminate targets." Agent Wilson argued.

"Let's not argue, Wilson. Just retrieve the weapon."

Agent Wilson turned off his coms as the boat made a stop at the dock. He took a step onto the dock and began to approach the man in the shadows.

Two of his goons approached Agent Wilson in an attempt to grab him. That was until he grabbed the first one's wrist and tossed him over his shoulder.

The other goon tried to punch Agent Wilson who just backed away dodging every hit. Agent Wilson then repeatedly punched the goon his chest, abdomen, knee and smacked his hands against his head; Causing a bout of tinnitus to ring in his ear.

Agent Wilson knocked the man to the floor with a spin kick, causing him to crash through the wooden dock and into the cold water.

The other goon stood up and was about to tackle the agent to the wooden dock. But the agent was a lot quicker. He jumped over the goon and grabbed him by the head and then placed his sword on his neck.

During the fight however, the hood fell down to reveal himself as a man in his late thirties with white hair and an eyepatch on his left eye. It was Agent Slade Wilson of Task Force X.

"Enough." The man in the shadows walked out to reveal that he was wearing a black mask with a white patch around the mouth area and red eyes.

Slade gave the man a sly grin. "So, you're the famous Bane?"

Bane began to walk up to Slade. "It will be unnecessary to kill him, let him go."

"Maybe you can tell your men that I'm here for the weapons." Slade said.

"They only wished to frisk you." Bane assured him. "You could be carrying a wire under that coat."

Slade removed the sword from the goon's neck and kicked him to the floor. He took off his coat to reveal that he was wearing some rough padded armour. "No wire I assure you. This meeting is not known by anyone in the government except me and my boss."

Bane growled. "If that's the case, remove every piece of weapon you have on you and place them on that nearby crate."

Slade gave a smug smile. "Believe me, those aren't my deadliest weapons." He removed his swords from his satchel and placed them on the crate. Then, he reached into his holsters to remove his high tech gun and placed them with his swords. Then, he reached into his back to remove a bo staff that he placed with his other weapons.

"So, are we ready to make a trade?" Slade asked.

Bane stared at the man with a glare. "You do have to comprehend that you are making a very hasty decision. Making a deal with me. You know of my reputation, do you not?"

Slade, instead of being intimidated stared down at Bane. "The country is in danger, Bane. Sometimes you have to dig dirty in order to save the world. Do you not?"

Bane looked impressed. "I admire your bravery. I hope that you die with dignity by my hands someday." Slade and Bane stared at each other aggressively. "But that day is not today. You wish to see what I have?"

After a long walk, they arrived at an abandoned lab. As Bane and his crew led Slade down the corridor, he noticed a lot of the people here, who looked like manufacturers, were making something that formed into a green liquid.

Some of them were applying it into some canisters or barrels. On the far end, Slade could see a skinny member of Bane's crew with a bag on his head being having some of the green stuff being injected into his veins via a needle.

"So, to break the straining tension, what could you tell me about your drug?" Slade asked.

"Venom." Bane explained. "Very powerful drug. Think of it as steroids with extra steps. It will make you faster, stronger, depending on your blood type."

"And what happens if your blood doesn't match?" Slade's question was answered when he heard the sound of someone screaming in pain.

There was some silence as Slade felt very startled by the scream of horror and agonising pain. "That better be a sufficient answer, Mr Wilson."

They entered a room filled with a bunch of wooden crates. Slade looked around, impressed with the amount of crates the man had.

"You must have broke into a lot of bases to retrieve these." Slade remarked.

"Some were stolen and others have been provided by generous benefactors." Bane explained. "Carla, retrieve Mr Wilson's weapons of choice."

Bane's goon, a woman with short hair, a tattoo of a tear duct on her face and a tattoo on her left arm of what appeared to be a dragon; Retrieved the said box.

Slade saw that it appeared to be white and square shaped. But one thing that caught his eye, was the distinct logo on the front. It appeared to be an underlined 'W.'

"Wayne Enterprises?" Slade seemed surprised. "Bruce Wayne is your provider? Didn't expect this from him."

"He's a millionaire." Carla pointed out. "They're always shifty behind our backs."

"Well you don't know Bruce Wayne like I do." Slade retorted.

"It came under the name Mockingbird." Bane explained. "Could be Bruce Wayne or could be someone else."

Slade opened the crate to see a bunch of weapons placed gently on some black styrofoam. There was a grenade, a sniper rifle, some sort of pistol and what looked to be some sort of vest.

"This grenade has a blast radius that stretches up to meters." Bane explained. "It's a test model."

"Pass on that one." Slade said. "And the vest. I'm well armoured enough so no thanks to that one. What can you tell me about the rifle and that gun?"

"This rifle..." Bane picked it up to show it off. "…Can take down a target from a very long distance away. For example, if you wanted to assassinate someone like Wayne company employee Lucius Fox in Wayne Tower, you can do it from the roof of Bruce Wayne's Manor." Slade smiled. "And this little gun…" He aimed it at one of his goons and fired a shot, causing a blinding flash that rendered him without the use of his eyes.

"¡No puedo ver! ¡No puedo ver!" He cried out as he ran into a wall.

"He will be blind for a while." Bane explained. "Nothing serious but it could give you time to take down your target."

Slade smiled with sinister intent with what he will do with them. "I will take those weapons."

Later, after reacquiring his weapons and acquiring his new weapons, Slade tossed a black briefcase in the direction of Bane that he caught in his hand.

"How much?" Bane asked.

"Five hundred million from some of our generous taxpayers back in the States." Slade replied.

"If you don't mind me asking, what use do you have for these weapons?" Bane asked.

"It's a government secret but between you and me, I intend to use these to kill Superman." Slade's response made Bane look slightly interested. "Oh, are you?"

"Hopefully I can use these to kill him." Slade said. "Who knows what that man is capable of. So, is five hundred million good?"

"It's a generous amount." Bane replied. "You make your way to your target. And make sure your government stops tracking me."

"Can't make that promise." Slade said before activating the engine and sailing away to get on with his mission.

Once far enough, he contacted Waller again to let her know the good news. "Mission accomplished?"

"Accomplished." Slade replied. "Rest assured, Waller. Superman will be no more." Slade gave a sinister grin as he put on his skull-like mask to prepare for his battle against the Man of Steel.

Back on Santa Prisca, Bane was in his small office staring at a wall with some sort of obsessed intent. He cracked his knuckles as he stared at the pictures that were nailed on to his bulletin board.

Inside his office were a bunch of file cabinets, a bookcase filled with books, a pull up bar, a ginormous lifting weight and dumbbells the size of car engines.

Carla walked in with some papers in her hand. "Jefe, I think we have some people who will be perfect bait."

Bane exhaled. "It's time, Carla."

Carla looked surprised by her boss' statement. "Jefe, you wish to go after him now? But I thought you needed a little longer."

"No." Bane said. "I can't wait any longer. This man is the perfect challenge. I have studied his every move. He isn't a particularly good fighter but he is a strong opponent. I can't wait to break every last bone in his body. I can't have him get in the way of my goal." He narrowed his eyes at what was on the board, which was a ton of photos of Superman and articles of Superman from Dailey Planet to the Gotham Gazette to Central City News. "And I can't stand idly by before the US government's pet kills the perfect competitor. What have you got?"

The crony gave Bane the photographs whom began to stare at them. One was of a tanned skin woman of Korean descent and an African American male all around their mid twenties.

"Who are these people?" Bane asked.

"The woman is Lois Lane." Carla explained. "Reporter for the Daily Planet and is always first to every Superman scene and is always gaining exclusives out of him. Some rumours say that she is romantically involved him. But according to her socials, she has a relationship with her co worker, Clark Kent."

"Cheating on a mortal with a God." Bane remarked. "How interesting. And who's the diminuto one?"

"James Olsen." Carla replied. "Photographer at the Daily Planet and founder of Flamebird."

"Flamebird?" Bane asked.

"It's an app recently brought out by the Daily Planet, jefe." Carla explained. "Sellout if you ask me. Sold it for 5.6 million dollars and is getting a ton of royalty checks. About 47% of the profit. And yet, he still works as a photographer."

Bane looked back at of Jimmy and placed the photo of Lois back in his pocket. "Lois Lane will be our backup just in case. James Olsen is a more realistic target. Kidnapping a photographer is one thing, but kidnapping a millionaire is a different story. Track him down and wait for me to come up with a solution to capture him."

"Yes, Jefe." Carla said before leaving his quarters.

Bane glanced at the photo of Jimmy for one last time before looking back at a photo of Superman flying through the city. "You will soon learn, Superman; Hombre de Acero, that you are mortal." Bane stabbed the photograph of Superman on his board as he prepared to make his leave for Metropolis to kill Superman once and for all.

Chapter Text

Late at night in the Gotham shipping yard, a group of criminals with about 9 members were all lined up waiting for something. Their leader, a skinny Caucasian man with a dark green tank top, black hair and a tattoo of what appeared to be fire going up his arm to his shoulder, was playing with a lighter that he flicked on and off.

He stared at the little dancing fire, almost like he was mesmerised by it. "Don't you just love to look at fire? It's almost hypnotic isn't it?"There was silence from his crew as they all stared at him with no opinion. "It's almost like it represents life. The way it dances like it is conscious and living. Until…" He closes the lighter lid. "…The light goes out." He turned to his crew who all just looked at him with blank stares. "Aren't you going to say anything? I don't like awkward silence either but I would appreciate a little conversation."

They were currently waiting for a client whom was supposedly coming tonight and right now, some of the crew were getting impatient with how long they were taking while their leader was very patient.

"How long are we going to be here?" Asked one of the goons. Specifically, an African American man with a bald head.

"Patient, Walker." The leader said. "She'll be here."

"And what if she isn't?" Walker asked the leader looking more spooked.

"What if she isn't?" The leader huffed in annoyance. "What's gotten you so spooked?"

"I just…Don't like being out at night." Walker replied nervously.

The goons just groaned in annoyance. "What's gotten into you?"

"Come on, man!"

Then, the leader looked ahead to see a speedboat coming in from the distance. It parked without tying a knot on to the cleat.

The mysterious person was wearing a hood and a jacket. As they walked up towards them, the streetlights, landing lights and lights that lit up the shipping yard all began to flicker.

Walker became startled by the flickering lights that he almost screamed. "Oh please…"

"Sorry for startling ya…" The woman removed her hood to reveal herself as Leslie Willis AKA Livewire. "…But I just needed a bit of a recharge."

The leader smiled. "Leslie Willis? Or was it Livewire?"

"Just for the record, call me Livewire and I'll burn you to a crisp and the deal is off." Leslie said aggressively.

The leader approached her. "So, I assume we won't be shaking hands? Think I might get a shock." He laughed which caused his goons to laugh back.

"Okay pal, I just wish to speak to a Garfield Lynns." Leslie requested.

"Well, he's standing in front of you." Garfield said while gesturing to himself.

Livewire instead looked over the guy's shoulder and grinned. "Is it the big muscular guy with grills in his teeth?"

"No, it's me." Garfield responded both confused and insulted.

"Really?" Leslie grinned. "I thought you would have been a bit taller and more manly."

The goons laughed at her insult while Lynns looked mildly insulted. He narrowed his eyes at her and clenched his fists. "Just for the record, I have committed twelve acts of arson in the span of a week."

"Really?" Leslie laughed. "That doesn't impress me. I wish you were made of hotter stuff."

Garfield narrowed his eyes at Livewire and was about to punch her. But before he did, she emitted a spark of electricity from her index finger and thumb just to intimidate him. "Ah. Ah. Ah. Hasn't anyone told it's dangerous to touch electricity?"

Walker, was shaking throughout the confrontation until he couldn't hold it in. "Garfield! Can we please just get the deal started?!"

Garfield and Leslie looked to the man with anxiety issues with baffled looks. "What's his problem?" She asked.

"He's a little jittery." Garfield explained.

"For good reason!" Walker argued. "The Batman."

Leslie groaned in disbelief. "The Batman? Oh give me a break! I don't know what those morons told you, but he doesn't exist!"

Walker looked confused by that statement. "You don't believe in the Batman?! What sense does that make?! You fought Superman and he is something out of a comic book! So, why can't you take the time to think that Batman might exist?!"

Leslie sighed. "Is he always like this?"

"He can't seem to fathom that the Batman doesn't exist." Garfield explained. "You've heard of him and his little buddy right?"

"I'm familiar." Leslie replied. "But I think I'll need some context."

"Uh, Batman is this supposed ghoul who takes out people like us." He explained. "He's this person who beats the snot out of dealers, thieves, killers, that sort of thing. And apparently, he flies with his wings. And he also has this sidekick supposedly. A Bat Boy."

"Robin." Walker corrected him.

Leslie laughed. "Robin? Sure, that strikes fear into the hearts of people like us. A bird." She laughed. "Boy, that story gets more unbelievable the more I hear it."

"What about the signal the police use to alert him?" Walker asked.

Garfield rolled his eyes. "Drury Walker, how many times do I have to repeat myself? There is no Batman. Besides, that signal is just used to scare us not summon him."

"Alright, I have a Superman problem in Metropolis I need to get back to so are we doing this or not?" Leslie asked with impatience.

"Yes, let's begin."

Just as the weapons deal was about to begin, Walker was looking upwards as if he heard something move through the shadows. He looked around the area to catch any sign of anything, but couldn't find anything.

Except, Walker thinks he could see something standing on one of the shipping crates. Some sort of man shaped silhouette. Like one of those shadow apparitions people claim to see in their haunted homes. That was until, one of his buddies broke him out of his terrified trance.

"Hey Walker, come on man. Pay attention."

Walker shuddered. "Yeah…Yeah…Sure Matt."

Leslie walked towards the boat she came on and pulled out a crate with a familiar 'W' logo. Garfield is surprised by the logo being on this crate.

"Wayne Enterprises?" He remarked. "Big guys to steal from."

"Actually, I stole this from Bane." Leslie replied. "Well, some of his goons. But in a way, yes. I stole from Bane and Wayne Enterprises."

Garfield looked impressed. "You stole from Bane? That's gutsy. I like guts."

"I don't know what Wayne Enterprises has to do with this." Leslie explained. "Maybe Bruce Wayne needs a bit of extra cash." She opened the ginormous crate to reveal a flamethrower, a batch of grenades, a wing shaped jet pack and what looked to be an oxygen mask.

Garfield smiled at the supplies delivered by Willis. "Oooh, I like the look of this." He remarked.

He removed the flamethrower from the polyester and strapped it on his back. He aimed it at the ocean and pulled the trigger, causing a stream of fire to shoot out.

As the fire shot out, it emitted a bright light that briefly revealed a cloaked silhouette jumping through the air with their fist raised.

This sight caused Walker to stumble to the ground with fear. "I saw him!"

"Oh there he goes again." One of the goons groaned.

"I'm telling you I saw him!" Walker screamed.

Garfield groaned. "Walker for the last time, there is no Batman!"

"I'm out of here!" Walker raised his hands high. "I'm going to my crib."

"Alright, see ya." Livewire said while Walker began walking back home. "But wouldn't you be bait for that Batman?"

"Shut up!" Walker screamed. "I'm going home!"

"You know moths are common prey for bats?" Livewire asked. "You're essentially selling yourself out to be the moth."

Garfield laughed. "For a man who was very paranoid about this Batman guy, you sure are being stupid enough to be his prey."

"I'm going before he gets me. Good luck to the rest of you!" Walker began running away from the shipping yard while Gar, Leslie and Gar's men stayed behind.

"What a wuss." Matt remarked. "I believe in the Bat but I ain't afraid of him. I could take him on."

Livewire shook her head. "No way you can't. Not even when you're just a slab of clay. You'll lose."

"So, how much for this?" Garfield asked.

"About 27K." Livewire replied.

Meanwhile, Walker was race walking through the dock to avoid the Batman just in case he comes out to get him. "Okay Drury, here's what you gotta do: Get out of the dock, go home, leave Gotham and start a new life." As he walked to his car, a dark and muscular figure was just above him watching him.

But unfortunately, Walker couldn't see him as he was more focused on getting out. But his focus on getting out stopped when he noticed something on the floor. He noticed some sort of metallic bat shaped object with eight sharped sides.

Walker looked at the object a little bit closely and knew instantly that it belonged to the Batman. "No! I'm going! Leave me alone!"

Suddenly, another bat shaped object flew past him and stuck to one of the ginormous crates. Walker shook with fear as he looked around the dock for any sign of Batman. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his gun.

"I'm warning you, I'm loaded!" He aimed his gun upwards, left side, right side, behind him and in front of him, all while shaking. "WHERE ARE YOU?!"

He turned around again and then began shaking. He shook so badly that his gun fell out of his hand as he raised his hands high.

Meanwhile, Garfield and Leslie were still discussing their deal. "How about, 200 for the grenades, 700 for the flamethrower 80 for the oxygen mask and 8K for the jet pack."

"You get the amount you want for the former two and 10K for the latter." Livewire motioned him to hand her, her money.

"Nine thousand for the jet pack and we're done!" Garfield suggested.

"Deal!" Livewire and Garfield shook hands with each other.

All of a sudden, they heard a horrified scream coming from Walker, startling everyone. Then, the lights that lit up the dock all of a sudden all burst, leaving the dock in dim light.

"What was that?!" Matt asked.

"That better not have been you!" Garfield aimed his flamethrower right at her.

Livewire raised her jolted hands high. "I can lie about a lot of things, but that wasn't me."

"Maybe the lights just went out." Matt theorised.

"Well investigate the disturbance just in case that isn't Walker messing about!" Garfield demanded.

The seven criminals all began to split up with their pistols, rifles and knuckle dusters at the ready just in case they have a flying rodent problem while Garfield and Leslie stayed behind to finish the deal.

"Hmm, mind if I consider my decision?" Livewire asked.

"Don't mind if you do." Garfield replied as he picked up one of the grenades and chuckled. "Gives me plenty of time to consider our deal."

Meanwhile, the seven goons were all patrolling the shipping yard to catch any signs of Batman or Drury Walker and so far, nothing to report.

"Find anything?" Matt asked the goons.

"Negative, Hagen." One of them replied.

"Alright, split up." Hagen commanded. "We'll find them faster. Three of you take the left, three of you turn right while I go my way."

"You got it!" Three goons with rifles turned left while others with pistols turned right and Hagen with his brass knuckles walked forward.

"Alright, alright, alright…Show yourself."

As this went on, Garfield had attached the flamethrower to his back to test it out. "It's a little heavy."

"What did you think it wouldn't be?" Livewire asked. "So, you going to pay me?"

"I will, don't worry." Garfield assured her. "Until I find out if these grenades work." He threw the grenade towards the boat she came in. Then, in seven seconds, it blew up.

Livewire looked angered and annoyed by the betrayal of her client. "You weren't going to pay me were you?" She asked angrily as she began to emit electricity.

Garfield put on his helmet and attached jet pack to the flamethrower. "I was intending to have my boys kill you. But now, I wanna see you burn." The pyro loving maniac activated the jet pack, causing him to ascend fast until he got control. "Tonight's forecast, an incoming heatwave." He aimed his flamethrower at Livewire and pulled the trigger, causing some fire to shoot out while Livewire got behind a small hut to cover herself.

Meanwhile, three of the seven crooks who split up were walking down a narrow corridor of shipping crates with their rifles aimed at all locations.

The one in the front lead the other two in the front briefly raised his hand high to stop them which they followed as he though he heard something. "Twelve O'clock." He motioned the crew to aim their guns straight forward where they saw movement.

They fired a few rounds and stopped when they saw that it was just a regular bat. "False alarm, just a bat. Get in front of me." But there was no response from the rest of his men. "I said get in front of…" He turned around to see that both of them were gone from his sight. "…Me." They vanished from thin air, without a single trace of them.

All gone, except for their rifles. The goon began shaking as he began looking around the area for any sign of his men. "This isn't funny guys! What are you playing at?!" All of a sudden, a boot fell right in front of him.

He analysed it and realised it looked like one of the boots his guys were wearing. He looked up and saw that they were hanging from a rope on a railing. They appeared to have someone sort of gag on their mouths that suppressed their screams. All they could do was make muffles as they were suspended up high in the air.

And above them, was a mysterious silhouette with sinister glowing eyes staring back at him. The man began shaking with fear as the mysterious man jumped down to grab him.

Meanwhile, Livewire performed a role and shot a bolt of electricity in the direction of Lynns but he somehow avoided it. Then, he fired a stream of fire straight towards her that she quickly dodged, causing it to set her jacket on fire.

She quickly took it off to reveal her black turtle neck and rubbed her hands before firing another blast of electricity straight up at him again.

He descended, avoiding the blast and gave a laugh. "I heard you can fly. Why won't you fly? It would make an interesting chase."

Livewire narrowed her eyes at the man and began charging towards him as she readied her hands to release an electric shock. Garfield began shooting fire towards the direction of her but before it could hit her, she fired electricity from her hands that she had aimed on the ground, using it as a booster so she could tackle him to the ground.

With a mighty crash, he landed on the ground as Livewire gritted her teeth in anger. She began to punch him in the face repeatedly, causing a bit of a crack in his bug eye like visor. Then, he managed to take off. As he did, he kicked Livewire right in her face.

He ascended in the air and revved up his jet pack and aimed it right at her. He began flying over her while firing a stream of fire and tried to burn her. Livewire quickly jumped out of the way to hide from the fire but Lynns was close.

Meanwhile, the three other goons were all looking around the area. Up, down, high, low, left, right, they couldn't see any signs of Batman or anything else.

As they walked as slowly as they can, one of the goons felt something attached to his ankle. He looked down and saw that a hook had been attached to the hem of his jeans. And with a scream, he was yanked upwards.

"Connor!" One of the goons screamed as they saw their friend being dragged up into the dark.

The goons began shaking with fear as they aimed their weapons up into the night sky. "Come on! Show yourself!"

All of a sudden, a silhouette dived down and grabbed his buddy right next to him with his cape as if he was devouring him before dragging him back up.

"Nooo!" He tried shooting the bat with every round he had in his gun but unfortunately, he missed. He began shaking with fear as he looked into the darkness that creature came from and devoured his comrades. He shuddered with fear as tears began to drip down his face.

And, from the dark came a voice that was rough and chilling. "Run." It said.

The man listened to whoever it was and dropped his gun and began running to the right. But as he ran, he suddenly tripped over a wire that caused a net to shoot out from his left and stick him to one of the shipping containers.

The man screamed as he struggled to escape the bat shaped net. But unfortunately, he couldn't. Then, from the shadows he was hearing footsteps that were slowly approaching him. He tried getting out with every struggle as the footsteps got closer and closer.

Then, from the shadows came a man. A man wearing black boots, dark grey armour around his body, a distinct black bat symbol on his chest, a pair of bat shaped gauntlets on his wrist, a bat shaped mask and a black cape. This man was real. A legend. A boogeyman for the criminals. He was, The Batman.

The man shuddered as Batman closed in on him not knowing what he will do with him. But when he stopped, he just stared at him with a hard glare.

"P-P-Please don't kill me." The man pleaded. "Don't kill me like you did with Walker. I-"

"Walker isn't dead." Batman said. "He's conscious. Petrified. But conscious. If you ask me, I think he is going to need a heavy dose of psychological evaluating." Batman walked closer to the terrified man. "Tell me, Mr Brown, who is in charge of this meeting?"

Brown shook with fear. "I…I…I…I don't know!"

"You're lying." Batman said. "How about I free you so I can make you experience gravity?" He motioned upwards.

Brown shuddered, knowing what he meant. "Okay! Okay! Garfield Lynns. He's buying weapons from that static chick from Metropolis."

"Leslie Willis." Batman said.

"Yeah!" As he began glancing to his side.

"I wasn't asking." He retorted. "I know who you're on about."

"Yeah…Look, I can give you some information regarding what they have." He said as he continued to glance to the side. "They stole it from that terrorist. Bane. Ya know, the one who blew up that football stadium?" Batman stared at the man as he continued to stutter. "I…I…I…Well, he has…"

All of a sudden, Matt came rushing in with his fist raised high and tried to punch Batman, who just dodged the punch. The muscle bound criminal narrowed his eyes at Batman.

"So, you are real?" Matt laughed while Batman stood up not even threatened by the man. "Well, I guess I was stupid into discrediting Walker. Come on Batman, if you're as tough as they say, then take me down."

Batman raised his fists and clenched them hard. Matt walked up to Batman and tried to punch him. But he just ducked and punched him in the abdomen and then an uppercut to the chin. Then, a few punches to the chest, face and then face again, causing him some discombobulation. Just as Matt was about to perform another punch, Batman grabbed him by the wrist and tossed him over his shoulder, slamming him to the ground.

Then, he punched him in the face repeatedly, knocking him out. "How was that?" Batman asked smugly.

Matt groaned in pain while Batman picked him up and forced him up against a container. "Where are Lynns and Willis now?"

Hagen spat in the symbol. "Everywhere!"

"Wrong answer!" Batman tossed Hagen towards the container behind him, causing him to emit a painful groan. "Now, let's do this again." He cracked his knuckles as he walked toward Matt.

Meanwhile, Garfield and Livewire were continuing their fight. Livewire was shooting some electric bolts towards him, but all he was doing was flying about.

But Livewire, due to fighting Garfield for too long and the fire from Lynns' weapon, she was exhausted. Garfield laughed as he cocked his weapon.

"You put up a good fight, Willis." Garfield said. "But it's about time that you experience a lovely slow burn. Maximum heat." He began diving down towards her and began shooting the fire straight towards her.

But when he got closer, Livewire grinned and fired a bolt of electricity that hit the wing of his jet pack, causing him to crash on the ground and to skid across the harbour and into a streetlight.

Garfield tried standing up, but Livewire quickly tore it off of his back and began punching him with a barrage of electrified punches. Garfield groaned in pain as he felt the electricity jolt through his system like he was shocked by a jolt of electricity from a jumper cable.

Livewire then tore off his helmet so she could punch him even harder. Garfield, despite the pain passing through his body, narrowed his eyes at the electrifying merchant whom he had just betrayed.

"So, I assume the deal is off?" Garfield asked.

"Off?" Livewire laughed. "It's more than off, it's been powered down, it's been eviscerated, it's been decimated!"

"A lot of words to describe how screwed the deal is." Garfield remarked.

"Very much." She raised her hand to emit a ball of electricity. "Now, you wanted me to burn, yes?" Garfield nodded his head. "Well, I'm curious as to how bad the burns would have been. Would they have been like this?" She placed her jolted up hand on his chest which caused a serious powerful giga watt of electricity to travel all around his body, causing him to scream in pain.

Meanwhile, Batman, whom had just cuffed Hagen to a pole; Heard the sound of screams coming from the harbour.

He began running toward the source of the scream to investigate it. When he got there, he saw a boat on fire and on the ground was a man covered in severe burns all over his body. Blisters both pulsating and not, smoke emitting from his body hair and twitching fingers.

Batman ran towards the man and began to check up on him. He could hear faint breathing coming from him despite the fact that he should have been dead from burns like these. "She….She…She…Got…."

"Save your breath." Batman said.

Garfield looked at the man standing over him and gave a faint terrified breath once he saw Batman standing over him. In his horror, he realised that all the rumours and eyewitness reports were true. He was real or this was a hallucination as he lay dying.

Batman placed his finger on his mask to communicate with someone. "Contact the police. I have eight suspects secured. And contact an ambulance, the ninth is lying in the harbour with third degree burns all over his body."

"Right away." Said a soft spoken man with an English accent somewhere from the North side. "What of the weapons?"

"Leslie Willis AKA Livewire is the merchant." Batman said.

"Oh dear. Shouldn't she be in Metropolis?"

"Perhaps he tired her out." Batman theorised. "But that's not all. The weapons she was selling were stolen from Bane."

"Oh dear. Well I guess that means we might be getting a few visitors from Santa Prisca crossing our boarders soon. This could be our chance put that madman behind bars once and for all."

"I'll try to be optimistic. But make sure you and Robin keep an eye out for any signs of Livewire." Batman said. "Her way out has been destroyed. So she could be hiding out somewhere in Gotham."

"Of course sir. What was she selling if I'm allowed to inquire?"

Batman looked to the crate Livewire was selling from where he noticed a familiar logo in the front. This caused him to look surprised, rendering him speechless.

"Sir, what were in those crates?" But Batman didn't say anything. "Sir, is everything okay? Answer me sir, silence is not going to help." Batman knew that he had a new mystery right now. Why did Bane have his hands on a bunch of weapons with Wayne Enterprise written all over it? Was he stealing from the company? Or was there someone in the company that was selling them?

Chapter Text

In the early hours of morning at a storage unit, three criminals wearing brown vest jackets were waiting for a delivery. The delivery itself? Some weapons.

And the delivery was none other than a popsicle truck called Cameron's popsicles which had a drawing of a cute ice shaped cartoon character on the giant cargo container, holding different flavours of popsicles.

It stopped once it got near the buyers and the driver and his passenger popped out. The passenger had a bald head, dark blue shades, a blue tank top and black gloves.

"Woo, Metropolis. Didn't expect it to be this hot this time of year." The man said.

"Are you the Ice Man?" The lead crook with a distinct bush of stubble asked.

"Leonard Snart." The man sighed. "And really, Ice Man? Yeah, I get the popsicle truck is on-the-nose but believe me, this was the least conspicuous thing I chose."

"Do you have anything of interest?" The leader asked.

"I do." Leonard replied. "Miller! Open up the cargo."

As Miller opened up the upwards sliding door of the cargo container, two young people in their mid twenties were hiding by the corner of one of the storage garages so they wouldn't be seen. They were Daily Planet reporters, Lois Lane and James 'Jimmy' Olsen whom were investigating a lead on a weapon's deal.

"I knew there was a weapon's deal going on here!" Lois exclaimed. "And all they had to do was find a popsicle truck!"

"Do you think we should have Clark scream 'freeze'?" Jimmy asked.

Lois looked at Jimmy with a raised eyebrow. "I'm sorry. An ice pun?"

"What?" Jimmy reacted. "Thought it would be fun. Speaking of Clark, where is he?"

Lois got a text tone from her phone and pulled it out of her pocket to see that Clark had sent her a text. "Sorry I'm running late. Runaway car." Lois exhaled. "So selfless." She began to write him a message. 'Okay, don't take long. The weapons deal has just begun.' Lois put her phone in her pocket.

As Lois texted Clark, Jimmy got his phone out so he could livestream a live video of what was going on and thankfully, someone in the chat section had information.

"Alright, one of my Flamebird followers has notified me about the one behind the deal." Jimmy informed Lois. "That guy with those cool shades…"

"Jimmy." Lois interjected.

"Unintentional ice pun." Jimmy assured her. "According to RichGrayson2011, that man is Leonard Snart. He's a petty crook from Central City who stole a freeze ray from S.T.A.R Labs during that electric storm. He recently got out of prison and left Central City without a trace. Well, guess they didn't think of looking for a guy who has a freeze ray in a popsicle truck. I mean, a guy like him would most likely not be subtle!"

"Sssh." Lois hushed her co-worker/friend. "Let's listen in."

Leonard reached into the giant cargo container and pulled out a wooden crate. "Now, these weapons were donated by a generous benefactor of mine." Leonard explained as he opened the crate to reveal some rifles placed gently on black styrofoam. "I know it doesn't look much, but trust me, these rounds will put dents in vehicles like my truck." He patted it with his hand.

"They told me you had a freeze ray." The crook said while one his own was admiring the rifle.

"Well, if you want that, then I'm sorry, it's not for sale." Leonard explained. "I stole it, so it's my property."

"Do you have any other weapons?" The lead crook asked.

"Well, I got this weapon from a high tech company in Gotham City." Leonard explained. "Or well, it was delivered to me by an unexpected benefactor." He reached into the container and pulled a white wooden crate with a distinct logo.

The crook leader looked amazed. "Wow. So this guy's selling? Guess breaking up with that Gazette Lady really messed with him. What's in there?"

Leonard opened the crate to reveal some kind of weird shaped gun. The leader picked it up and began to analyse the strange gun.

"Ah, now this is a fabulous piece of tech." Leonard remarked. "Used it on my own gun once. Caused it to be deactivated for two hours. It doesn't just work on high tech gear like mine. Observe. Hey, tank top!" He motioned to the man holding the rifle. "Test your weapon out." He aimed it at him. "NOT AT ME! Aim it at the ocean!"

The man shrugged his shoulders and unleashed an barrage of lead right at the ocean. Lois and Jimmy quickly hid behind the corner in an effort to not be spotted.

"Well, least they've alerted the police." Jimmy remarked.

"Last I check, they won't get there on time." Lois reminded him.

"Oooohhhh…Not good." Jimmy cringed.

They continued to watch the weapon's deal go down where Leonard was continuing his sale. "Now, Mr Eddieson use the weapon on the rifle."

The leader used the weapon on the rifle by pulling the trigger which did nothing for some reason. He looked at it with confusion and like he had been ripped off.

"Tank top, shoot me." He spread his arms out, allowing himself to be a test subject. The talk goon pulled the trigger on the rifle and not a single bullet was shot out.

The tank topped criminal checked the ammunition to see if he had any bullets and he did. He clipped the ammo clip back in and tried shooting Leonard but he couldn't shoot another round.

Eddieson smiled at Leonard, impressed with his sale. "Nice job. With this, you can disable any weapon." The other criminal with long black hair and glasses walked away from the group for some reason.

"It's called Product #107 but I call it, The Disruptor." Leonard said. "It disables any weapon from a 40 metre range. Unfortunately, this is the only one available. I don't know, maybe you have top scientists that could reverse engineer it or perhaps we could capture that Fox guy to…"

"Ten grand." Mr Eddieson interjected.

Leonard looked surprised by that interjection. "I'm sorry?"

"Ten grand. Or you could go higher." He said.

Leonard looked to his driver, who just shrugged his shoulders. Then, Snart cleared his throat to continue the deal. "Well, ten grand is good, but how about thirty?"

"That's outrageous!" Eddieson exclaimed. "Twenty-Five!"

As the deal went on, Lois and Jimmy continued to listen in on the deal. "Where is he?" Lois exhaled. "He isn't this late."

"I don't know. I hope he's okay." Jimmy said. "At this point, this deal could be done any moment."

"We should probably start a distraction to get them to stay." Lois suggested. "I'll make a little noise and we run in two directions."

"That sounds impulsive." Jimmy remarked.

"Well, I'm stumped on decision making." Lois retorted.

"Might I suggest something?" They turned around to see the other criminal of Eddieson's crew holding a pistol right at them. "How about I bring you right out into the open so we can talk?"

Jimmy and Lois in that moment raised their hands in defeat, willing to be escorted to Snart. The spectacled criminal lead the Daily Planet Reporters to Snart and Eddieson, whom both looked at them with raised brows.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Eddieson asked.

"Look, we don't want any trouble." Lois said. "We're just…Looking for our storage unit."

"Oh really?" Leonard asked.

"Yup." Jimmy Olsen said, playing along with the lie. "Just, some childhood stuff of hers. She had a huge hoarding issue when she was 12."

"Hey!" Lois exclaimed.

"The first step into getting better is being self awareness." Jimmy retorted.

Then, the spectacled criminal checked their pockets and pulled out their ID badges. "Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane." He said. "They're reporters from the Daily Planet."

"Journalists?" Leonard snickered. "Hey, here's a quote for you; Make sure you jot it down because I'm only going to say this once; Forget what you saw or else…." Leonard showed off his freeze ray, intimidating Lois and Jimmy a bit.

"What do we do?" Jimmy whispered.

"Stall em." Lois replied quietly. "Hey, Mr Snart was it?"

"Oh, don't you dare start mocking my name." Leonard groaned. "I know, Snart sounds more like a sound effect."

"No, I don't wish to say anything about your name, maybe perhaps we can talk." Lois suggested.

"Yeah! How about we open up a live interview for my followers on Flamebird?" Jimmy suggested.

"How about I freeze every one of your fingers and then sell them off as popsicles." He aimed his weapon at Jimmy's head, causing him to sweat.

"Hang on a minute…" The spectacled criminal squinted his eyes at Jimmy. "…I know him."

"Old class mate?" Leonard asked.

"No. He's the man who created Flamebird and sold it off to the Daily Planet."

Leonard looked impressed. "Really?"

"I can confirm!" Jimmy replied.

"Jimmy!" Lois exclaimed. "What are you doing?!"

"He has a freeze ray!" Jimmy argued.

"We could get good kindling off of this." Mr Eddieson remarked. "He is a millionaire after all. Probably gets a lot of residual checks since he sold his product off to the Daily Planet."

Leonard in that moment had an idea. "You're right." He grabbed the hood of Jimmy's jacket and began pulling him away from the truck.

"Let him go!" Lois demanded.

"Corbet, keep her there while we take Mr Olsen to discuss business plans." Mr Eddieson suggested before he, Leonard, Tank Top and the Driver left to interrogate Jimmy behind another line of storages.

Lois groaned. "Where are you?"

Corbet adjusted his glasses as he cocked his weapon. "You think he'll come for you? Superman is very busy. Do you think he'll have time to save some worthless reporter?" He felt someone tap his shoulder that he just ignored. "Well, you might as well just imagine how he'll save you." He felt someone tap his shoulder again and sighed. "Look, whatever it is I…." When he turned around he was face-to-face with a very distinct symbol.

He took a few step backs in fear as he looked at the man standing before him. Superman was standing in front of him with his arms folded and a bit of a smug grin.

"You know, I believe Superman would most definitely come and save her." Superman retorted while Corbet just shook with fear.

He was about to run away until, Superman grabbed him by his collar and then tossed him in the truck, knocking him out. He quickly closed it and bolted it tight so he wouldn't escape.

Lois smiled seeing her superhero boyfriend coming in the Nick of time to save her. "Just in time."

In that moment, Superman AKA Clark Kent quickly dash towards his girlfriend. "I'm so sorry I'm late! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Lois replied. "Just imagined my rescue a bit differently."

"Where's Jimmy?" Clark asked with concern.

"He's being held hostage. They found out he was the founder of Flamebird." Lois explained with worry in her voice.

"Okay, get out safely and I'll find him." Clark requested.

"Be safe." Lois said while Clark kissed her forehead. Then, he dashed off to find his best friend.

Once he was gone, Lois began running towards the direction Jimmy was taken. "You know me, Clark. Can't stay out of danger."

Clark Kent AKA Superman began to hover upwards to find his best friend behind the lines of storage unites. Thankfully, he found his best friend with the criminals that took him hostage.

On the ground, Jimmy was tossed against one of the unit doors by Tank Top. The muscular criminal cracked his knuckles and grinned while Leonard just rolled his shoulders.

"So, got a fancy name for me?" Leonard asked. "Don't give me anything stupid like, Captain Cold."

"I was thinking Mr Freeze to be honest." Jimmy replied. "I was also spitballing Icicle."

Leonard groaned. "Come on, you gave my ex Rory a cool name. You know what? We'll come back round to that. Raise your hands." He aimed his freeze ray at him.

Jimmy reluctantly raised his hands, only for them to be frozen against the door with a blast from Leonard's gun.

Jimmy struggled to escape from his icy cuffs by trying to yank them out, but his hands were almost frozen solid.

"Alright, how should we do this?" Leonard asked his hostage. "Livestream the situation and then say how much we want out of him."

Suddenly, Superman landed right beside them with his superhero landing pose. He looked up at his opponents with a glare. "How nothing?"

Jimmy gave a cringe yet relived smile, seeing his best friend coming to save him again. "Right on time…Buddy."

"Don't just stand there, shoot him!" Mr Eddieson commanded.

Tank Top aimed his rifle at Superman and began to release a barrage of bullets at him. But instead of hitting him, they were bouncing off of him.

In order to protect his friend from being hit by one of the bullets, he dashed right in front of him while Tank Top continued firing at him.

The bullets themselves almost hit Leonard and the others that they quickly dashed as far away from him as possible. Mr Eddieson made a run to the left while Leonard and the Driver made a run to the right.

Mr Eddieson got far enough to have one of the bullets graze one of the sleeves of his jacket, causing him to yell at Tank Top. "He's bulletproof, you idiot!"

"He better not be immune to my fist!" Tank Top tossed the rifle to the side and raised his fist high. He punched Superman on his back, causing a bone crunching sound to be heard.

Tank Top screamed in pain as he held on to his knuckles while Superman just turned to face him. "Don't worry, they're just bruised." The man of steel placed his hand on his chest and with a mighty push, sent him flying in-between two storage units, knocking him out.

"You alright Jimmy?" Clark asked his best friend.

"I'm a little cold." Jimmy replied, motioning to his hands.

Clark then used his heat vision from to carefully melt the ice on Jimmy's hands, freeing them. Once he was free, Jimmy quickly began blowing on his hands in an effort to warm them.

"Warm those hands up, Jimmy." Clark said before turning to Leonard and his Driver.

"He's all yours." Leonard said to his driver before running out of the line of storage units. The Driver was at first confused before shrugged his shoulders and ran to tackle Superman.

But then, Superman quickly dashed passed him and grabbed him by the hem of his pants and picked him up with one hand. "Really?" Superman shook his head.

The Driver just sighed. "I didn't think this through."

Meanwhile, Mr Eddieson was running towards his car in an effort to escape. He was pressing the unlock button on his car trying to leave with the disruptor.

"Come on! Come on!" Mr Eddieson said. "Forget them! Mr Mannheim will be happy about this regardless."

He was about to enter his car until he got slammed into the car by someone. He got a look at whoever slammed him into his vehicle and saw that it was that reporter, Lois Lane.

"Uh…What?"

Lois shrugged her shoulders. "Believe it or not, my Dad was in the military." She punched him hard in the face, knocking him out.

Despite the fact she knows she should probably get out, she knew that Clark might need help with that freeze ray. She picked up the disruptor and began running to find her boyfriend.

Meanwhile, Clark, after knowing Jimmy was safe and making sure the Driver and Tank Top were accounted for by tying them on a streetlight.

He began dashing to where Leonard ran off to and turned to the left. But as he did, he suddenly slipped on some ice and fell on his rear.

He tried standing up, but then slipped on it again and fell on his rear. He looked up and heard the sound of laughter.

Leonard walked out from around the corner and laughed. "You think you're the first speedster I've dealt with?" He laughed. "It's always amusing seeing them slip. Try and stand up. Because you can't."

Superman just gave the man a deadpan stare before sitting up and using his heat vision to just melt the ice away. The Man of Steel stood up while Leonard looked disappointed.

"Okay, he never thought of that." Then, Leonard tried shooting Superman with his freeze ray again, but he just shot up in the air and began hovering over him.

Leonard quickly began to try and shoot down Superman but he dashed to the left and then dash to the right. He flew forward towards Leonard in an effort to capture him. Just as Superman got close, Leonardo made a front roll and managed to avoid him.

Leonard shot another blast of cold energy towards the direction of Superman, who used his laser vision to stop it coming close towards him. Their respective blasts were now caught in a stream trying to emit as much as power as they could in order to put each other off.

As they continued, Jimmy watched from behind the corner, feeling a tad bit helpless on not helping his friend. "I gotta do something." Jimmy said before noticing a plank of wood right beside him.

Soon, the freeze ray overheated. "Oh, come on! Do you have any idea how long it takes for it to recharge?!"

Superman grinned and was about to tackle Leonard, until he noticed someone coming behind him. It was Jimmy, holding a plank of wood he was about to use to knock out the criminal.

His friend getting in danger was pretty alarming that he flew past Leonard and towards Jimmy. "What the heck are you doing?! You need to recover!"

"I got this, Superman!" Jimmy was about to hit Leonard with the wood until, the freeze ray managed to cool off. He quickly turned around and was about to use it to shoot Jimmy.

Superman dashed in front of the blast, allowing himself to be frozen rock solid in a block of ice. Jimmy stared at his best friend's face which was a scowl like he had prepared for pain.

"What have I done?" Jimmy asked with guilt.

Leonard cocked his weapon and aimed it right towards at Jimmy. "You gave me the perfect opportunity to freeze Superman. You should be proud."

Suddenly, the two of them heard a cracking noise and turned to where it was coming from. They saw that the ice Superman was frozen in was cracking. And then, the Man of Steel burst out of his ice prison while Leonard and Jimmy took cover.

Superman, despite slight disorientation narrowed his eyes at Leonard who proceeded to continue blasting him with his freeze ray. But the Man of Steel used his hands in order to defend himself. Despite his hands getting frozen in the process, he managed to break out of his icy binds. But Leonard kept freezing them and freezing them.

Jimmy could only stand and watch as he watched his best friend struggle to escape the cold energy that kept freezing him.

That was until, the weapon suddenly stopped. It was like it was jammed. "How?"

He heard a cough from behind him and saw Lois Lane holding the Disruptor in her hand. She gave a smug grin before giving him a small wave.

Leonard exhaled. "I should have known I was setting myself up for failure."

After being apprehended by Superman, he was thrown into the popsicle truck along with the other criminals that Superman and Lois managed to apprehend together.

Once Superman bolted the door, he turned to his girlfriend and best friend with a relieved smile. "Okay, that's been taken care of. I'll fly these to Central City in a minute." He then motioned towards Lois. "I thought I told you to get out."

Lois smugly grinned. "Come on, Smallville, you know I laugh in the face of danger."

"I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing, still." Clark remarked while smiling.

"I wouldn't have saved your skin otherwise." Lois said before she and Clark turned to Jimmy, whom was blowing on his hands.

"Man, I wish I could have your inability to feel cold." Jimmy said to Clark with a hint of envy.

"You okay Jimmy?" Clark asked.

"Apart from being cold, I felt useless." Jimmy said.

Lois and Clark both looked at their friend in disbelief. "Why would you say that?" She asked.

"Jimmy, you helped me with The Brain's wormhole so they can find a universe to be accepted, or the Council of Lois Lanes, or when my ship went crazy or that time that crazy blue haired scientist wanted to sue Lois for ripping off The Council of Dicks."

"Even though, I had nothing to do with it." Lois said. "What makes you think you're useless?"

"Hello! You learnt combat skills from your military father and you have superpowers!" Jimmy exclaimed.

"Well, I'm not much of a fighter." Clark said.

"Don't be so modest, Clark." Jimmy said. "All I'm is just a reporter with a lot of money and residual checks from an app I developed."

Clark sighed and walked up to his friend. "Hey Jimmy, I assure you, you're a valued member of the trio." Clark said. "I'm grateful for you being on my side. Don't let it worry you, okay?"

"Okay, I'll try." Jimmy said.

Suddenly, they heard someone banging on the cargo crate. "Hey! Can you either release me or just take me to jail?" Leonard asked. "Because I don't see any air holes!"

Lois banged on the truck. "Not until we get answers. Where did you get those weapons?"

"Somewhere." Leonard replied.

"You have to be more specific than that." Lois retorted.

"Look, I don't know!"

"Leonard, let's make things easy." Superman said. "You don't have any air holes after all."

Leonard groaned. "Okay! Okay! Some of these weapons were sold to us by Bane." Leonard replied.

Superman raised a brow. "Bane?"

"As in the terrorist?" Lois asked.

"No, I meant that old lady who runs that convenience store." Leonard replied sarcastically. "Of course I mean the terrorist!"

Jimmy shuddered with fear. "Oh that's not good. I've heard about him. Let's hope we don't encounter him."

"Oh and not all." Leonard said. "Bruce Wayne."

Superman, Lois and Jimmy froze in shock. "Uh….What?" Lois reacted.

"Oh that's awkward." Jimmy said.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Superman asked. "Bruce Wayne? As in the genius millionaire playboy?"

"Billionaire." Lois corrected him. "You're joking, right?!" She asked Leonard.

"Look at the crate!" Leonard said. "It's the one that you're missing!"

They looked to empty open white crate placed on the ground with the very distinct logo on the side of it. Superman, Lois and Jimmy went wide eyed in surprise over the crate being there.

"That can't be Bruce Wayne, can it?" Jimmy asked.

"I don't know." Lois replied. "But I believe we have a story."

Chapter Text

It was morning at The Daily Planet, and the Flamebird Trio were currently in the office of their boss, Perry White, whom was holding up the latest issue of The Daily Planet. He looked pleased with the trio which is usually rare.

"Firstly you three, I wish to say how I'm pleased at how fast this latest issue sold." Perry said. "One newspaper stand almost went out of stock. And my Mama said print was dead."

The trio smiled. "Thanks Mr White." Lois said.

"But you know why I'm mad as well?" Perry asked.

"Well, I'd like to guess…Ah choo!" Clark sneezed suddenly, blowing some of Perry’s papers away. "Sorry, Mr White." He sniffled.

"Well, I'm a little annoyed that you sneezed on my papers but that's not why I'm mad." Mr White said as he gripped on the corner of his desk.

"Well, I'd like to guess that someone got your coffee order wrong but I assume it's not it is it?" Jimmy asked.

"You bet your keister it isn't!" He slammed his hands on his desk, right on top of the trio’s latest article.

"What's wrong?" Lois asked. "We only told the truth!"

"The truth eh?" Perry asked. "The truth?! Firstly, the headline 'Wayne Criminal Enterprise?' Paragraph 35, 'Could Bruce Wayne have been importing weapons to criminal organisations for some extra money? Or, has he joined the ranks of criminals such as Bane?' Apparently Bruce Wayne's attorney wants to sue us for defamation."

"Ooooh, that's not good." Clark remarked before sneezing again.

"I get you three constantly get in peril to deliver riveting stories and how much you strive for the truth and I appreciate the heck out of you, but this is on you!" Perry said. "Lawsuits are bad for business."

"Wait, could Bruce Wayne be planning to sue us because he's trying to cover his tracks?" Lois asked. "To distract the public from learning of his supposed criminal activity? I mean, people are bound to focus on a billionaire suing a news organisation. It's the kind of news Vicki Vale would come running after!"

Perry sighed. "But….Bruce Wayne, for some reason, is not going to sue us."

Clark, Jimmy and Vicki froze with surprise. "Huh, that's unexpected." Clark remarked before sneezing loud.

"Okay Mr Kent, do you need to go home?" Perry asked. "Because the last thing I need is a flu epidemic in this building."

"No, no sir, just got the sniffles that's all." Clark assured him.

Perry sighed. "Okay. Anyway, Mr Wayne won't sue any of you because he's…I don't know what good graces he has in his body but he mailed me these." He reached into his drawer and retrieved a pair of pamphlets that he handed to Clark and Lois.

They read the pieces of paper and realised that these weren't just regular pamphlets, they were invites to a party hosted by Bruce Wayne himself.

Lois and Clark looked shocked about this revelation. "No way." Clark said before sneezing again.

"So, we write a report about his company importing weapons to dangerous criminals and he…Sends us invites?" Lois asked with mild confusion.

"He wants to partake in an interview to help clear the air and prove his innocence." Perry stated.

Jimmy cringed. "Oh, that's awkward."

"Wait, why doesn't Jimmy have an invite?" Clark asked. "His name's on the article as well."

Perry looked at Jimmy with a hard stare. "You wanna tell me, Olsen?"

Clark and Lois looked to their friend with raised brows. "Jimmy?"

Jimmy chuckled nervously. "Well, I was planning to reveal this after the investigation but…I got invited to Bruce Wayne's party and wanted to bring you as my plus ones."

Clark and Lois were surprised by this revelation. But the silence was ruined when Clark sneezed again.

Later, the trio were walking down the street trying to comprehend what Jimmy was getting at. "Wait, you were invited to a party for millionaires?" Clark asked.

"Millionaires and billionaires." Jimmy corrected him.

"So…Are you two like pals?" Lois asked.

"I mean, it'd be cool to have a rich friend." Jimmy said before noticing Clark and Lois giving him some judgemental stares. "Well, even if I did become friends with Bruce Wayne he would not replicate the experience you two bring."

"Aww." Lois cooed before Clark suddenly sneezed but this time in a tissue he pulled out of a pack.

"But, I am going to partake in my first high class party." Jimmy said. "How should I act? Should I flaunt my wealth? Should I try and stand by a corner looking rich? Or should I pretend to like caviar?"

"Do you not like caviar?" Clark asked.

"I don't know." Jimmy replied. "Never tried it! I could hate it."

"Okay, me and Clark are going to my place to train." Lois declared. "You go ahead and practice acting rich."

"Make sure you go easy." Jimmy said.

"I'll do my best, Jimmy." Clark assured him.

"I was talking to Lois." Jimmy pointed out.

Lois grinned smugly while Clark just chuckled. "I'll go easy on him as well as I can." Lois assured Jimmy. "Good luck with getting your act together. And, probably jot down some ideas for what we should ask Bruce Wayne."

"You got it!" Jimmy responded.

Once Jimmy left, Clark sneezed into his tissue again. Lois looked at her boyfriend with a bit of concern.

"You okay, Clark?" Lois asked her boyfriend. "You've been sneezing quite a lot today."

"I think the effects of Captain Cold's freeze ray are getting to me." He sneezed again. "I've never had a cold before. And oh boy…" Clark sneezed again. "…I feel terrible."

"Maybe we could hold off combat training." Lois suggested.

"A little cold isn't going to stop me." Clark said. "Come on, I'll go easy on ya."

Lois grinned. "Okay, Smallville. You owe me if I win." She and Clark began walking back to her apartment.

"Do you want me to fly to your apartment?" Clark asked.

“Nah, I kind of like this walk." Lois said. "How do you think Wayne is handling the scandal?"

"I'm more concerned about his co workers and employees." Clark said. "I wonder how they're handling it?”

At Gotham, in Wayne Tower, secondary CEO Lucius Fox was walking down a corridor talking with employees over the recent illegal imports of their stuff.

Lucius Fox was a man possibly in his mid to late fifties with greying hair, a grey moustache, freckles, a beige overcoat, a white button shirt, red bow tie, black pants and black shoes.

"Alice, did you check the Brazilian branch?"

"I've checked." Alice replied. "Mr Gujan hasn't been importing any weapons."

"Ishmel, did receive any kind of payments from unknown sources?" Lucius asked.

"I've checked." Ishmel replied. "All of our payments came from business partners and investors."

"Well, how can this get any worse?" Lucius asked.

Then, a man in his late twenties to mid thirties burst through the door, panting. "Mr Fox!"

"What is it, Jack?" Lucius asked. "Please tell me it's good!"

"Vicki Vale is in your office." Jack replied.

Lucius groaned. "I told you to stop the press, Jack."

"I tried stopping her, I tried to get Roger to stop her but she is very persuasive." Jack explained as he walked with Fox.

"Better check the designer department." Lucius said.

"But…"

"Stall her Jack." Lucius said. "Talk to her about our new satellite program that will help us predict when the next hurricane will hit Gotham."

Lucius lead Alice and Ishmel into the designer department which was a small workshop with all sorts of materials and blueprints scattered.

As Lucius entered the lab, he accidentally stood on a green cube with 25 mini squares making up all of the six faces. And in the centre of each face, was a question mark.

Lucius picked it up and placed the cube on a workbench in annoyance. "Edward!"

Behind one of the workbenches, a man in his mid twenties, black hair, glasses, a white lab coat, brown jumper and green neck tie popped out from behind one of the desks.

"Sorry, Mr Fox." Edward said as he approached his boss. "Been working on a latest puzzle. All you have to do is rearrange every square so that all six question marks will align and-"

"Not in the mood, Nashton." Lucius interjected. "Did you check to see if everything is in order?"

"Yes." Edward replied. "I checked everywhere and I never had any word about any of our tech being shipped out to places like Santa Prisca."

"Did Alex find anything?" Lucius asked.

"I didn't." Coming out of a corner, eating a sandwich was a young man in his mid twenties with red messy hair, a pair of glasses and a purple shirt under a white lab coat. "All of our tech seemed to be in order."

"You sure, Lex?" Edward asked.

"I'm sure Mr Nashton." Alex replied. "And don't call me, Lex."

Edward chuckled. "Nah, that's not going to stop me."

Lucius mumbled. "I swear this investigation is going to drive me crazy."

"Mr Fox, I assure you, if things go nowhere, me and Alex will take the fall." Edward said.

"I won't." Alex interjected.

"It's modest of you, but lying is not going to help us find this mole in our system." Lucius said. "Now if you excuse me, The Wicked Witch of the Vale is here and Jack is currently stalling her right now. So if she comes in, just tell her some aspects that she can't use to slander us because you know how much of a cruel mistress she is when it comes to scandals like these." As he spoke, Alex was grinning while Edward was shaking his head and making a zipping mouth gesture. "What's the matter Nashton? You're acting like she's been in the workshop this entire time."

"It's because I have." From one of the corners, Vicki was standing with her little notebook in hand. "It's okay though, Mr Luthor did tell me everything. How are you Lucius?"

Lucius gave Vale a deadpan stare. "Exhausted, Ms Vale. How's editor-in-chief job? Speaking of, shouldn't you be behind a desk flaunting your Pulitzer?"

”Ha!" Vale laughed. "Funny enough, it's been going well. Finding someone who will do everything to expose that caped menace is challenging as he's very liked."

"Not by me." Alex said.

"I was talking about Batman but yeah, Superman as well." Vicki said.

"How about we step into my office, Vale?" Lucius suggested.

"Gladly." Vicki said before departing the lab.

As she and Lucius were doing just that, Jack ran in looking exhausted. "Sorry Mr Fox, I've looked everywhere for Vale but-"

"You did a terrible job." Vicki said before leaving, causing Jack some confusion. Lucius gave him a sigh and shook his head before a sympathetic pat on his shoulder.

Once Alice and Ishmel left, it was just Ed and Alex on their own. "That woman is terrible." Edward remarked. "If she keeps slandering, then she's going to get her comeuppance."

"Slander?" Alex laughed. "She's telling all the harsh truths. Don't tell me you're a Superman supporter. He cost me my job."

Edward groaned. "This again? Alex, you gotta get over it. I mean, your Dad managed to get you a job here at Wayne Enterprises."

"Working for people who are enemies of the Luthors." Alex argued. “He did it out of spite.”

"Don't need to tell me that story." Edward said.

"One day Edward, Superman will pay for what he has done to me." Alex said. "I hope to take everything he has taken from me."

Edward sighed. "You know what, Lex. You need to focus your mind on another topic. For example, Riddle Me This: I am a belt made for a star. What am I? Think hard on this one."

"What?" Alex asked.

"You're smart Alex, you'll figure it out." He patted his back before going back to his computer.

A few floors up, Lucius and Vicki were talking over a cup of tea. Lucius' office itself was huge with a ginormous window for him to look out of. There were colourful paper weights, a giant portrait of Thomas Wayne on the wall, a bookshelf and pictures of Lucius in a photo with his kids.

"So, how are things? Being editor-in-chief?" Lucius asked.

"Things get boring sitting at a desk." Vicki replied. "Sometimes, I like to get back on the field if a story interests me. Such as this one."

Lucius sighed. "Vale, I assure you, Mr Wayne hasn't been in contact with people like Bane."

"Who said it was Bane?" Vicki asked.

"I read The Daily Planet." Lucius flaunted the article by Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Clark Kent to Vicki. "They have a lot more integrity than you do."

Vale sighed. "Come on Lucius, isn't it obvious? Bruce is in a bad spot. His company isn't doing well."

"I can assure you, Wayne Tech is financially stable." Lucius said.

"Really? Then where's Bruce right now?" Vicki asked. "If he's trying to prove his innocence then he should be right at his tower fixing things."

Lucius raised a brow. "He's busy at home right now. He doesn't wish to deal with press junkets. You sure you're not reeling well from the breakup?"

Vicki chuckled. "Bruce is hiding something from the public. The public deserves to know the truth. They need to know what they think of the most eligible bachelor in all of America. Mr Fox, you should know that I don't put relationships over work. There's more to this than him being my ex. Yes, me and Bruce might have had a very controversial relationship but it's all in the past. I-"

Suddenly, Lucius heard a beep coming from his phone. "Hang on, I think I got a message coming in." He changed the settings to speaker and turned to the phone. "Mr Wayne, how's the investigation going?"

"What?"

"That whole weapons importing debacle." Lucius explained. "Ya know the-"

"Bruce, whatever you're hiding I will uncover it!" Vicki interjected. "You think you can hide in the shadows with your secrets? Well, I'm the flashlight that's going to-"

Suddenly, they heard the sound of what sounded like someone kissing a pair of lips. "Huh?"

"Guten Morgen, Bruce." A woman said seductively on the other end of the call. Lucius and Vicki listened on in shocked discomfort as they heard more kissing sounds and Bruce moaning.

"Oh Vicki, is that you?" Bruce asked like he didn't care. "Yeah, I just woke up recently, sorry. I'm with this super attractive model. But I can't remember where she's from. I think it's somewhere from Europe. Sweden, probably. I know it starts with an S and a W."

"Ich komme aus der Schweiz." The woman said on the other end.

"Oh, Vicki, listen, congratulations on being editor-in-chief of The Gazette." Bruce said. "Really big shoes to fill." Vicki narrowed her eyes at the phone. "Oh, and I'm a little busy at my home today so I won't be doing anything today except some video meetings. I will be unable to answer any calls from your journalists. Oh, and Vicki, you should know that I don't put relationships over work. There's more to this than you being my ex. Yes, you and I might have had a controversial relationship, but it's all in the past." Vicki was completely speechless by what Bruce had said. It's was like he was condescending her. She realised she was getting angry and out of her cold composure to ensure professionalism.

"Bruce, I-"

"Oh, did you get my invite? I would have expected an RSVP by now." Bruce explained. "Oliver Queen is coming, so is Harvey Dent and that Jimmy Olsen guy. I don't invite social media founders often, but my Ward is a bit of a fan of Flamebird. Also, those reporters from The Daily Planet are coming. Wasn't one of them, Lois Lane? That fabulous reporter with amazing integrity who made such a fascinating piece on Superman saving Metropolis from some kind of…Kaiju. Didn't you do a piece on Superman not too long ago? Or was it a slander piece?" He chuckled suddenly while kissing noises were heard. "Oooh, is that really appropriate? My ex is on the line. Aren't you going to say, Hallå?"

Vicki quickly pressed the hang up button and inhaled aggressively through her nose while Lucius gave a smug grin.

"He's as shallow as ever." Vicki said in anger.

"Really?" Lucius asked. "But I thought you were a journalist. Aren't relationships and work life meant to be separate?"

Vicki narrowed her eyes at Lucius and got out of her seat. "I will find out the truth. I deserve to know the truth." Vicki stormed out of the office in annoyance while Lucius just stayed sat drinking his tea.

He grinned. "You've done it again, Bruce. You've done it again."

At Lois' apartment, Lois was dressed in her workout gear circling around Clark, whom was dressed in his own. They were each in their own defensive stances getting ready for a training session.

They had moved a lot of the furniture just so they could have plenty of space to train on Clark's combat skills so the next time he's in a fight as Superman, he has less cuts and stitches.

"You ready?" Lois asked her boyfriend.

"I'll go easy on ya." Clark assured her.

Lois grinned. "I don't think so, Smallville." She came charging towards him with her fists raised. She tried punching Clark, but he kept managing to block all of her hits. She tried aiming high and low, but he just kept blocking.

He was so fast, that Lois began to get exhausted. "You better not be using super speed on me."

"I assure you, I'm not." Clark said all while still blocking his girlfriend's hits.

Then, she dropped on the floor and performed a crescent kick that Clark avoided by jumping and going into hover mode.

Lois sat on the floor and panted while playfully narrowing her eyes at her boyfriend. "I thought we said no powers."

"Well, I have to utilise…" He sneezed. "…Them at some point."

Lois sighed. "Alright, I'm gonna make some chicken soup. Clearly that cold isn't doing you any good."

"I assure you Lois, I'm…Ah choo!"

"No arguing, Smallville." Lois demanded as she stood up. "I'm gonna make some soup so you can get better!"

"Lois I-"

"No, arguing." Lois interjected as she began walking to the kitchen.

As Lois began making her boyfriend some soup to calm down that cold, Clark used his super speed to put the training mat away, place the furniture back to where it was positioned before and then a quick shower before coming back down dressed in a shirt and jeans.

Lois looked from the kitchen and groaned in disappointment. "Aww man, you had a shower already?"

"Yeah, why?" Clark asked.

"Never mind." Lois said as she continued cooking the soup. "So tell me, what do you know about Bruce Wayne?"

"Well, not much." Clark replied. "Except the fact that he's a billionaire playboy who inherited his family's business at the right age after his parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne were killed in a mugging. Huh, that's surreal. My Ma is called Martha too. Though, as far as I am aware of, that won't mean anything. I mean, could you imagine me and Bruce Wayne becoming friends all because our Mom's have the same name?"

Lois froze at the thought of the idea. "Yeah, that sounds ridiculous. Anything else?"

"Oh, he's currently CEO of Wayne Enterprises, is Gotham's most eligible bachelor and is considered one of the most generous people in all of America." Clark said. "He has his own charity for orphans called the Thomas Wayne Foundation, gave money to a crumbling neighbourhood in Gotham City and donated funds to finance Gotham's pride parade."

She walked out of the kitchen to leave the soup to boil. "Well, he may look good natured but…" She walked over with a laptop and sat down on the couch with Clark following her lead.

She opened up an article that showed Bruce Wayne partying in a club by an ice sculpture with his shirt off while many women cheered and threw their money at him. While a tiny man with a top hat, monocle, pointy nose and dressed like an elegant gentleman, looked to be yelling at him in annoyance.

"He's known to be very eccentric and rather showy." She then showed another article of Bruce Wayne on a boat with a bunch of women in swimsuits. Then another article of Bruce Wayne in the restaurant fountain fully dressed in his suit while everyone watched him in either disgust or amusement. "Plus, wild antics."

"And this man is supposedly selling weapons to people like Bane?" Clark asked. "Sure he's eccentric and wild but…He might have a good heart."

"I guess you're right." She then turned to the next article which had a tabloid magazine making a headline out of Bruce Wayne in a relationship with an older woman. "Uh, tabloids." But when she got a look at who the older woman was, Lois froze. It was Vicki Vale, her ex idol who slandered Superman and gave journalism a bad name and tricked her.

She narrowed her eyes at the article before moving to the next one which was another tabloid detailing a breakup between her and Bruce Wayne.

"Well, least them two aren't together." Clark remarked.

Then Lois, heard the sound of a ding and quickly went back to being enthusiastic. "That'll be the soup." She jumped off the couch to prepare Clark his soup.

He saw how distressed Lois looked over seeing an article about her ex idol and gave her a sympathetic look. She told him what had happened and since then, he despised that woman.

She returned a few moments later with his bowl and a spoon in hand. "Here. It's perfectly warm." He took the soup from her hand. "Careful, it's…" She saw that his hands seemed to be unaffected by how hot the bowl was and froze. "…Oh, right. Of course."

Clark took a slurp of the soup and smiled at his girlfriend. "Thanks, Lois. This tastes great."

"Come on, just a little something I whipped up." Lois retorted. "By the way, how's your super vision coming along?"

"Still trying to keep control." Clark said. "I mean, last time I was seeing right through you for a few hours."

Lois turned red in the face and covered herself even though she was still wearing clothes. "You mean…"

Clark panicked. "No. Not like that! I mean, I saw your insides. Organs and skeleton."

"But, can you-"

"Yup, I can see through clothes." Clark replied. "But I haven't looked through yours. Honest."

"You could if you want." Lois mumbled.

"What?"

"Still have problems with seeing through lead?" Lois asked.

"Oh yup, big time." Clark replied. "I hope it doesn't cause me any issues in the future. Do you think it was a good idea to mention that in our last interview?"

"Sorry. Needed to fill some lines." Lois stated.

Clark gave Lois a sympathetic stare. "You okay? You seem frustrated seeing that article with Vale."

Lois sighed. "I'm still not over what she did to me and Jimmy. Tricking me just to slander you and all for some editor-in-chief job?! I heard the phrase never meet your heroes, but I thought of it was just some over exaggeration. I guess they were right. I met mine and she turned out to be the worst person I have ever met. Well, besides Professor Ivo, Mxyzptlk or Livewire. Actually you know what? I think I'd rather have a conversation with the last two than be in the same room as Vale!"

Clark looked at his girlfriend with a sympathetic stare. "Hey, just hope we won't encounter her. If you see her again, just pretend she doesn't exist or if she tries to talk to you then just say you can see someone you know."

Lois smiled. "I doubt Bruce Wayne would be stupid enough to invite an ex over to a party. Or maybe he might."

"Well, however this party might go, me and Jimmy will never leave your side." Clark took her hand and began to stare into her eyes. "I promise you. Even during our inevitable interview with Bruce Wayne."

Lois smiled. "Just as long as that cold doesn't get in the way."

"I think it's passed actually." But unfortunately, Clark performed an unexpectedly powerful sneeze that it caused what could be described as a gale blown into Lois' face.

The force of the sneeze was so powerful that it knocked a lamp off the desk and on the floor, the desk to shatter into pieces, a few windows to shatter, the curtains to fly off and into the wind and for the curtain pole to collapse off the wall.

Once the wind stopped, Lois' hair was spiky, one of the straps of her top had snapped and there was shock on her face.

Clark began to panic after he sneezed on his girlfriend. "Oh, Lois! I am so sorry! Do you want me to-"

"What?!" Lois asked. "I think your sneeze gave me tinnitus!"

"Lois! I am so sorry for what I have done!" Clark shouted. "Do you want me to-"

"Super breath?!" Lois asked. "Did you know you had super breath?!"

"No!" Clark yelled.

"What?!"

"NO! JUST FOUND OUT!"

"OH!" Lois yelled loud. "I'M GOING TO SHOWER, OKAY?!"

Clark made an okay gesture just as Lois got off the couch to have a shower. But as she began walking, she was stumbling a bit and almost lost balance. But thankfully, she managed to get upstairs while Clark just sat down taking in his new powers that he had just discovered.

Chapter Text

In Santa Prisca, Carla was walking with a few members of her crew towards what looked to be an abandoned, decrepit building. Looked to be destroyed either due to war or just a gas explosion. The top half was damaged the most, leaving only half of it.

When she arrived, she looked inside to see her boss dressed in a black sleeveless vest that exposed his muscles and more tubes travelling around his body and to the back of his head. He was also wearing what looked to be fingerless gloves, black pants and black boots.

Bane was currently in a fight with two of his men. One had a black mohawk and a tattoo on his bare abdomen. While the other was bald and had a tattoo on his face that looked to be a tear.

They began charging at bane with aggression. One tried landing a hit on the man, but he just slammed his elbow into his face before punching the other one in the chest, rib and abdomen.

The one who got an elbow to the face, now with a nosebleed, grabbed Bane by his waist and began punching his back, causing him to grunt. While the other began hitting Bane in the face while his buddy held him back.

After a few punches, Bane managed to break free by leaning backwards on the opponent behind him and kicking the charging opponent in the face. He then freed himself from the other criminal's grasp and by grabbing their hands and quickly removed them from his waist and snapped the opponent's wrists with a swift movement.

He screamed in pain as he dropped to the floor on his knees. The remaining opponent tried to hit Bane with a barrage of punches, but he only kept dodging them.

They stopped when Bane grabbed his soldier's fist and then tossed him over his shoulder. But before he could get up, Bane stomped him on the chest, causing him to groan.

Bane stood mighty proud and disappointed at the same time. On the one hand, the feeling of winning gave him more power but he was disappointed with his crew.

"You disappoint me." Bane said. "Why do I even have you working with me when you can't even be a worthy challenge?"

The goon he stomped on the chest struggled to catch his breath while the goon with his wrists broken was trying to hold back tears from coming out.

"Point is, you are all too easy!" Carla handed Bane his coat which he put back on. "Envía uno a la enfermería, el otro a la morgue." (Send one to the infirmary, the other to the morgue.)

Bane and Carla began walking out of the abandoned building together, discussing what was going on. "Did you track where the weapons were imported to?" Bane asked.

"The stolen crate was last located in Gotham City." Carla handed Bane a tablet that showed a Gotham Gazette article about what happened on the dock the night before.

Bane began to read the article. Every detail, every sentence, every syllable he memorised. "Cable vivo."

"Si." Carla replied. "She was the one that stole our crates and tried selling them off to a low life named Garfield Lynns. Instead of coming home with a jetpack, he went to the hospital with third degree burns over his body. And what of Superman?"

"I need a little more time to perfect myself." Bane explained. "I shall temporarily move our operations to Gotham. We might find ourselves worthy candidates for Venom and the Meta Compound."

"You think this Meta Compound will work?" Carla asked.

"I was created because they wanted their own Metahumans." Bane explained as he walked to a private jet. "But what they got was much, much, worse."

"Why not test the Meta Compound on one of our own?" Carla asked. "You don't know who could hold the meta gene."

"And I don't know who couldn't." Bane retorted as he entered his jet. "Remember, disguise the tanks of Venom as tanks of helium. They won't be suspicious." He closed the door in front of Carla and sat down on his seat.

Outside the plane, Carla jumped off the step ladder and walked to the abandoned warehouse to make sure everything was in order while her boss' flight took off.

Meanwhile in Gotham, at some rundown apartment, Leslie Willis, dressed in a black sports bra and shorts, was on a burner phone trying to find a way out of Gotham. She missed her way out of Gotham, which was a one way train trip to Central City and she had no other way out.

"Look, Lisa, I'm sorry about your brother getting arrested but I just need a way out….Look, forge me a passport to get on a flight or find me a truck to Central City…I can't stay here while I'm the most wanted fugitive in Gotham. I've got the police searching for me, I'll probably get the government searching for me, or perhaps Bane and who knows, maybe I'll have the Bat chasing me….I know I said I didn't believe in Batman, but after the other night, maybe I do." Leslie collapsed on the filthy and unstable bed with a sigh.

"Look, just get me out of this city ASAP!" Leslie demanded before hanging up and using her electricity based powers to destroy her phone.

As she laid on her bed, all she was hearing were the sounds of what sounded like punches, cars beeping and people yelling. Just above her, she was hearing the sounds of cats and perhaps a whip. She wanted to know what was going on up there but at the same time, she thought it'd be safe if she pretended not to know.

Far off from Gotham, Slade was busy in a hotel doing some push ups while in his white underwear and watching the news on a small TV. As he continued doing push ups, he was sweating profusely and his muscles were aching.

The reason why he was working out right now, was because he was doing everything he could to build up the perfect muscle strength in order to beat and kill Superman. As he continued to work out, a news report on his TV was in progress.

"After bringing Leonard Snart and his associates to the Central City Police, Superman took off, most likely back to Metropolis. If it wasn't for Superman's involvement then Leonard Snart or as the media likes to describe him as, Captain Cold, would not have been brought to justice. In other news, the Wayne scandal, regarding Bruce Wayne's alleged involvement with dealing weapons to criminals such as Bane or the as mentioned Leonard Snart; Right now, Bruce Wayne isn't making any comment regarding his alleged involvement neither Wayne Enterprise's secondary CEO, Lucius Fox, gave any comments regarding the incident. The question that is on everyone's minds right now is, is Bruce Wayne dealing weapons illegally or is there someone at Wayne Enterprises that might not be what they seem?"

As Slade watched the news report, he narrowed his eyes at the report. Specifically, at the image of Bruce Wayne. Whatever he had with him, it was enough for him to smash his fist through the TV in anger. He panted in anger before calming down and sighing.

"No. He means nothing." Slade said to himself. "He means nothing."

"Agent Wilson. Do you read me?"

Slade picked up the ear piece from the desk the destroyed TV is standing and placed it in his ear. "This is Agent Wilson."

"You're meant to be handling Superman."

"Waller, the only reason why I was able to beat Superman was because I had a bunch of traitors working for me." Slade said. "In order to beat him, I have to toughen up. Become faster, stronger, in order to make sure him and his red trunks don’t go interfering with our business."

"Are you sure about that? You're not after Bruce Wayne, are you?"

"No."

"I know what he has done to you and I assure you, you will have your revenge when the time is right. But you have a mission to save this country from a threat. And that threat's name is Superman."

Slade clenched his fist. "Yes, Waller. Superman will be eliminated while Bruce Wayne will wait."

"Very good, soldier. Report when the job is done."

Slade removed the earpiece from his ear and placed it back on the desk. Then, he got back on the floor where he began to perform a series of press ups while reciting some names.

"Superman. Bruce Wayne. Leslie Willis. Sam Lane. Amanda Waller. Superman. Bruce Wayne. Leslie Willis. Sam Lane. Amanda Waller. Superman. Bruce Wayne. Leslie Willis. Sam Lane. Amanda Waller."

The next day in Metropolis, Clark and Lois were walking to his and Jimmy's apartment so they could make sure he packed everything for their trip to Gotham. As they walked, Lois was discussing with Clark about his super breath.

"Of all the ways you could have discovered your super breath, a simple cold unearthed that ability?" Lois asked her boyfriend.

"Well, my powers work in mysterious ways." Clark remarked just as he and her briefly stopped walking to chat.

"Wait, I just realised your super breath could have all sorts of possibilities." Lois said. "Like, how strong is it. I mean, you blew me. Which makes me wonder, how far would you blow a person like me just to find out."

"Uh, Lois?" Clark cringed.

"Yeah, I agree. Probably a bad time to do it here with all these people in their apartments listening in and watching us through our….What?"

Clark glanced his eyes sideways, signalling something. Lois turned to where her boyfriend was glancing and cringed. She saw a Caucasian man with blonde hair in a ponytail, a prosthetic arm, a prosthetic leg, a distinct red jacket, black pants and black boots. He looked annoyed with the two of them as he folded his arms.

"There's a time and a place." He said with his arms folded before walking away from the couple.

"Sorry Ed!" Clark said.

"Okay, maybe not loud." Lois cringed with embarrassment. "Aww man, I'm so sorry." They continued walking to Clark and Jimmy's apartment.

"It's okay. You're excited because I have new powers." Clark said. "I'm a little excited as well. And a little frightened. Makes me worried what will happen next time I get a cold. Will I sneeze so hard I cause a building to crumble?"

Lois held Clark by his arm to comfort him. "Don't worry, Clark. Just think of the pros of having super breath. Like, putting out fires!"

"Will that cause it to spread?"

"Eh bup, pros." Lois interjected.

Meanwhile, Jimmy was standing in his room with his and Clark's suitcases at the ready. Since Jimmy was of course going to a fancy event, he was practicing speaking to party guests.

"My, my, my, the economy is going in a downward spiral." He spoke in a posh voice and pretending he had a monocle on his face by holding his index finger and thumb in-between his eye. He groaned once he realised how stupid that made him look. "No James. That's ridiculous. Okay, okay, okay. Ah, Oliver Queen, nice goatee. What have you purchased with your dough recently?" Jimmy smacked his head. "Dough?!"

Jimmy shook his head and his entire body. "Let's go with that again, Olsen. Bruce Wayne, nice to meet you! Do you wanna talk about your company or your illegal dealings?" Jimmy groaned. "No! No! No! Wait, I got it!" He began to pretend to be someone like Bruce Wayne. "Ah, Jimmy Olsen, a pleasure to meet you." Jimmy moved to another side of the room so he could pretend he was having a conversation with Bruce Wayne. "Mr Wayne, a pleasure to meet you. Might I say, that is a lovely tie." He moved to another side, pretending to be Bruce Wayne. "Well Jimmy, I gotta ask, what are you wearing?" Jimmy moved to another side. "Well it's nothing extravagant just a Majeur." He moved to another side. "Aren't those famously expansive?" Jimmy moved to another side. "Not when you're rich."

Suddenly, he heard a knock on the door and he ran to answer it. When he opened the door he saw his best friends waiting for him and they appeared to have been listing in due to them snickering.

Jimmy sighed in embarrassment. "How much did you hear?"

"I couldn't." Lois said. "But he could."

Clark rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry Jimmy. I couldn't help it."

Jimmy frowned in embarrassment and narrowed his eyes at his best friend.

Around an hour later, after they carried their luggage to the cab, mainly Clark did all the heavy lifting, they were sitting on a train for a one and a half hour journey to the seedy Metropolis that made Bludhaven look like Central City.

Jimmy was looking out of the window looking annoyed from his best friend listening in on him while Clark and Lois were sitting across from him, each having a cup of coffee.

They realised Jimmy hasn't said anything throughout the entire journey and gave each other concerned looks. But then they figured out, what was causing his frustration.

"Jimmy, come on man." Clark said. "Don't be embarrassed."

"Yeah, we're not going to tell Steve or Cat." Lois assured him.

"I'm sorry I listened in." Clark said. "And sorry I told Lois what you were saying."

Jimmy sighed. "I can't stay mad at you, Clark. Super hearing and all. Just, still kind of embarrassed."

"Is there anything we could do to cheer you up?" Lois asked.

Jimmy grinned. "Well, since we're on our way to Gotham City and I like a little bit of conspiracy, how about we talk about…"

Clark realised what his best friend wanted to discuss and groaned. "Jimmy, no."

"What? Who?" Lois asked with mild curiosity.

"The Batman." Suddenly, they heard the sound of lightning striking. Then, they turned to the right and saw a tall man with black hair and large glasses, plugging their earphones into the phone socket.

"Sorry, watching a movie." He said.

"That's okay." Lois assured him before turning back to look at Jimmy. "Batman? Ooooh! I wanted to find a sighting of him ever since I visited Gotham."

"You visited Gotham before?" Jimmy asked.

"Yeah. Not a great time." Lois said. "I visited with a few friends couple of years ago just to see The Lady of Gotham and I almost got robbed by a bunch of goons in clown masks. But me and my friends just outran them. Nevertheless, I tried catching a sight of Batman but alas, failed to do so."

Jimmy was amazed. "Wow. You believe in Batman despite not actually seeing him?"

"Yup."

"Ya know, most outsiders don't believe in him." Jimmy said. "Me and Clark were the only ones in college and him and I would stay up all night debating who he was and his methods."

"And what did you have to say about them?" Lois asked Clark. "You look detested."

Clark inhaled like he was ready to rant. "I just don't like Batman. I think his methods into handling crime are wrong. I mean, we are talking breaking bones and psychologically traumatising them for life. He is constantly scaring not just criminals but the residents. I read that some of them don't feel safe going out at night fearing that Batman will snap and hurt them."

"What about Robin?" Lois asked.

"I…Don't have an opinion on Robin." Clark replied. "But I think Batman's actions influenced him to become his subordinate."

"But, you can't deny the hard work he's done." Jimmy retorted.

"Sure, he's locked up people like the biggest crime families in Gotham, an expert marksman, a human crocodile, a scaremongering scarecrow, a cat burglar and a psychotic clown, but how do we know he isn't as bad as them?" Clark asked. "I mean, no offence but a man dressing up as a nocturnal animal taking their frustrations out on criminals has a lot of issues. Sure, I fight crime, but I don't try and traumatise people. My priority is to protect the innocent and fight for truth and justice the right way not frighten them. Besides, what kind of man does what Batman does?"

"Ya know, that's not a bad mystery." Lois remarked.

"Huh?"

Lois quickly pulled out her laptop from her case, logged on and clicked on her documents file to click on a document titled 'Batman's identity.'

Jimmy got off his seat to look what was on Lois' laptop. "You have a file dedicated to Batman's identity?" Jimmy remarked.

"I had one for Superman." Lois laughed. "Can't believe I thought Bruce Wayne could have been Superman. But in actuality, I was dumb enough to not pretend Clark had glasses. Seriously Clark, how does the glasses thing work? It's not really a subtle disguise."

Clark began to ponder his disguise. "Huh. I never asked myself how it worked."

"So, who have you got on this list?" Jimmy asked.

"Well, since Batman is a man with a bunch of nifty gadgets, I came to the conclusion that only someone rich could be him. And it came down to a billionaire who happens to manufacture a lot of products for well paying customers. Including much speedier internet connection and the very train we are travelling on. I came to the conclusion that, it was none other than Ted Kord." Lois grinned.

"I mean, that makes sense." Jimmy remarked.

"Yeah, but he lives out Palmera City." Clark said.

"Or…That's what he wants us to think." Lois said. "But I also theorised that Batman could be Oliver Queen. I mean, stuck on an unmarked island for five years can do anything to drive anyone mad, he must have had a mental breakdown due to the intense isolation and takes them out on all the scum of Gotham City.”  

"But, Batman does not have a distinct blonde goatee." Superman pointed out.

"But the real question is: Is it a natural blonde?" Lois made a mind blown gesture to emphasise her point.

Clark shrugged his shoulders. "He still lives out in Star City."

"Well, your theories are solid but I think Batman is a member of the Gotham City Police Department." Jimmy said. "A cop who is tired of all the corruption and bribes from the mob and does something to clean up the mess."

"Or it could be someone not important." Clark said.

"But what if it was?" Jimmy asked.

"Look, whoever Batman is, he's just someone who is not on the side of the law." Clark said. "He's just a guy who needs more help than the criminals he puts away."

"You sure you're Clark Kent of the Daily Planet or Clark Kent of the Gotham Gazette?" Jimmy's question got Clark to narrow his eyes at his best friend disapprovingly.

Jimmy saw how insulted Clark looked and quickly defused the insult. "Sorry. Sorry. Didn't mean to."

"Well, now I know there's two people I hope we're not seeing when we arrive." Lois remarked.

When they arrived in Gotham, it was as dreary as it looked. And it was only sunset. Compare that to Metropolis which looked like a very progressive city of the future, the city of Gotham's architecture looked to be something noir and gothic at the same time. Almost something out of a noir movie from the 1940's. Getting out of the train station was easy enough but getting a taxi was the hardest part as they either just drove off or someone else jumped in.

So unfortunately, they had to walk down a bustling yet decrepit street to get to their hotel. Clark was carrying his and Lois' cases, Lois was on her phone trying to get a taxi while Jimmy was carrying his backpack and suitcases.

Jimmy bumped into a guy as they walked. "Watch it!" The person, who happened to be a business man, snapped.

"Sorry." Jimmy said.

"Yeah. Next time I bump into you, you could be on the sidewalk." He said before walking away.

Clark cringed. "I hope he was having a bad day."

"Uh! I can't get a good cab here!" Lois groaned. "Just like last time!"

"You know, I read an online review from an analyst that tourists coming here become a victim of a crime in Gotham approximately every 30 minutes." Clark stated.

"How does that help our situation, Smallville?" Jimmy asked.

"Just felt like sharing some trivia." Clark said while someone began to approach him.

"Okay! Okay! I got us a cab!" Lois exclaimed happily before groaning again. "No! It cancelled us."

"What?! In three seconds?!" Jimmy exclaimed.

"Uh! I should have warned you that getting a cab here is impossible!" Lois exclaimed. "Oh gosh, why didn't I?!"

Suddenly, the scrawny man with a beanie and a long jacket tapped Clark on the shoulder. "Hey buddy, you got the time?"

Clark turned to face the man. "Sure." He pulled his phone out to check at the time. "Okay, so it's 4:17 according to my phone. Unless time zones here are different then-" Suddenly, the man snatched the phone out of Clark's hand. "Hey!" Then, he punched Clark right in the face. But instead of knocking Clark to the ground, he felt a painful crack in his knuckles.

The would-be-mugger's face seethed in pain as he fell on his knees crying in pain. Lois and Jimmy had just turned around to see the incident's aftermath. The man seethed in pain as he dropped Clark's phone on the ground.

The tall outsider picked up his device and put it back in his pocket just as a cop arrived. "What happened?"

"His jaw broke my hand!" The mugger cried.

The cop turned to Clark who just put his phone back in his pocket. "He tried to steal my phone. But…I had no idea my jawline was this dense."

The cop known as Montoya looked at Clark with an impressed look. "Some jaw. I'll book this one back at the station. You go on and have a nice day."

"We will. Thanks." Clark, Jimmy and Lois continued walking to their hotel looking panicked.

"Okay Lois, either you find a a taxi or Clark flies us at the hotel!" Jimmy exclaimed.

"I don't know Jimmy. I prefer to keep a low profile." Clark said.

"Why?" Lois asked.

"Because someone might find it suspicious that Clark Kent and Superman arrived in Gotham on the same day." Clark replied. "If someone was smart enough. I just prefer to not take the risks. Besides, someone smart might figure out that Clark Kent and Superman are one and the same."

"Eh, unlikely." Jimmy said. "I mean, you were gone for four days and not once did Mr White put two and two together."

"Huh, either I'm good at disguising myself or people are not that smart." Clark remarked.

Meanwhile, at the First National Bank of Gotham, a giant building which some would mistaken for a courthouse. Inside, there were people discussing their financial situation, cashing in a cheque or taking some money from their account. It was fine so far. Mundane, nothing interesting going on.

That was until, a group of men burst into the bank wearing sets of insect based masks. One was dressed as a mantis, another as a fly, another as an ant and the other, presumably the leader; Was in a green moth mask.

The moth leader pulled a gun from his pocket and fired a shot in the air, causing everyone to panic. "Alright, listen up!" He forced someone off of a bench by throwing them on the floor before standing on it. "I don't want any resistance from any of you! The Batman isn't coming! In case you forgot, he is a very nocturnal creature!"

Someone tried to run out through the door, but the mantis grabbed her by the sleeve and shoved them to the ground. "Do not move!"

"Check the backs!" The moth commanded to the ant and fly.

The ant and the fly ran towards the back where they managed to find a bunch of people taking cover behinds desks or running into a nearby storage closet. They however, pulled them out and forced them on the ground.

"Okay! I'm gonna make this clear!" The Moth said. "When communicating with me, I want you to refer to me as Killer Moth. You refer to him as Praying Mantis. This one, Psycho Ant. And the other, Murder Fly."

Praying Mantis raised his hand. "Uh…Why do I get Praying Mantis? Everyone else gets a cool name, why do I get the lame name?"

Killer Moth sighed. "Now?! We are robbing a bank and you're discussing names now?!"

"You're right, sorry." Praying Mantis said. "I just…Think Praying Mantis doesn't exactly make me intimidating."

"It actually means praying as in it prays on its prey and not dropping to your knees and begging to some big guy in the sky." A receptionist said.

Killer Moth pointed to the woman with his gun, causing her to flinch. "You see that? She knows what I'm talking about! Okay, everyone, disregarding the name disagreement, where is the bank manager?!" Everyone either cried or just whimpered. "Anyone? Anyone? No?!"

Suddenly, he grabbed a random man wearing square glasses by his collar and tossed him on the floor. "Do you know who the manager is?!"

The man's lips quivered in terror. "I…I….I….I….I…I can't tell!"

"Why?" Killer Moth asked as he pressed the gun to the back of his head. "You the manager? Or do you know who the manager is?"

"HELLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPP!" The man cried in distress.

Outside the bank, Clark, Lois and Jimmy were just walking past the building right at this very moment. Until Clark heard the hostage scream from outside of the building, causing him to stop.

Lois and Jimmy noticed that he had stopped and was looking at the nearby bank like he was listening to what was going on.

"Clark, what's going on?" Lois asked.

"A robbery." Clark used his vision to see what was going on. "Four criminals and a dozen hostages." He placed the suitcases on the sidewalk. "I know I said I should keep a low profile here. But I-"

Lois smiled at her boyfriend. "Go save the day, Smallville."

"You go ahead, we'll try and carry the luggage while you catch up." Jimmy tried dragging the suitcases but he could only get a few inches.

"Be safe, okay?" Lois and Clark shared a quick kiss.

"I will!" Clark assured them before he ran off to get in uniform.

But he needed a discreet place to get changed in his uniform. He ran towards a nearby Photo Booth and opened the curtain to see two teenage girls, one had tanned skin and red hair while the other appeared to be of Asian descent with green hair; Sharing some photos together.

"Hey, wait your turn!" The girl screamed.

"Sorry!" Clark said before closing the curtain and running to where he could find a place to get changed into his uniform. "X-ray vision, Clark. Keep up!"

Then, he found a back ally where he could get changed without anyone knowing. That was until he noticed the nearby CCTV camera which would have exposed his identity.

Then, he ran to a restaurant to see if he could get changed in a bathroom. But he used his vision to see if the stalls were occupied and unfortunately, there wasn't any room.

Then, he found an abandoned house across that he ran inside. But when he got inside, he found something horrifying.

He saw a man wearing a pair of jeans and with what looked to be a green and scaly back. He turned around to face Clark to reveal that he had the features of a crocodile, eating what looked to be some meat off of a bone.

"Leaaaaave." The crocodile man snarled.

Clark was both shocked and terrified by what he was seeing and begrudgingly leave. "Some days, you can't find a place to get changed." Clark remarked before running off to find a place to get changed.

Thankfully, he found an abandoned pay phone that was out of use. He saw his opportunity and quickly dashed into the unoccupied piece of equipment from days of old.

While Clark went to change into Superman, inside the bank, Killer Moth was busy threatening the quivering man. "Are you the bank manager or not?!"

"I…I….I…."

"Look, Walker, we might as well just shoot him!" Mantis groaned.

"You idiot!" Killer Moth exclaimed. "You used my name!"

"Your last name, yes." Mantis said.

Killer Moth screamed. "You idiot! They're obviously gonna trace the name knowing it's a last name!"

"You don't know." The Ant said. "They might think it's a code name."

"It's not a code name!" Killer Moth shouted. "They're going to trace it back to me! And then I'll give all of you up just out of pure spite!"

"I did nothing wrong!" The Fly exclaimed.

"You complained about the whole insect motif!" Killer Moth shouted. "And Psycho Ant brought these masks from a costume shop!"

"Why the insect motif again?" Praying Mantis asked.

Killer Moth groaned. "It's a distinct look! Joker's got one! So I don't see why I shouldn't have one!"

"Yeah, but did it need to be insects?" Psycho Ant asked.

"No! But I wanted it to be insects!" Killer Moth said. "Look, I will think of something else if we get out of this robbery."

"And maybe move to another city?" Murder Fly asked.

Killer Moth punched the wall in frustration. "You idiot! Now they're going to know we'll take a train if this goes wrong!"

"No. That was you. You mentioned the train." Praying Mantis said.

"Can it, Matt!" Killer Moth exclaimed.

"Alright!" The quivering man stood up. "I'm the manager. I'll take you to the vault as long as you stop arguing!"

The criminals looked surprised by what had just transpired. Killer Moth shrugged his shoulder in surprise. "Huh. I guess psychological torture works. Alright, take us to the vault."

"Well, you're not going to like this next part." The bank manager said.

"Why?" Killer Moth asked.

"I don't check on the vaults until Thursday." The Manager said.

"So…."

"I have a piece of paper that tells me the combination lock." He explained. “And I left it at home.”

Mantis groaned. "Oh come on! How did you get a job as a bank manager when you need a piece of paper to remember a combination?!"

"I have a piece of paper that reminds me of my passwords." Murder Fly said with his hand raised bashfully.

Killer Moth groaned. "Can this get any more frustrating?"

Suddenly, Superman dashed into the bank, causing a huge gust of wind to enter the building. "Well, let's hope you don't find me as frustrating." Superman said.

Murder Fly, Psycho Ant, Praying Mantis and Killer Moth all stared at Superman in shock and surprise. Not only was their robbery about to be thwarted but Superman was here in Gotham.

"Superman?!" Murder Fly exclaimed.

"What's he doing here?!" Killer Moth screamed.

"Sorry, something was bugging me." Superman joked just as Killer Moth, Praying Mantis, Psycho Ant and Murder Fly all began firing their weapons at the superhero. But the bullets just bounced off him.

While he knew he was bulletproof, he knew that the hostages weren't and one of the bullets could hurt one of them. So he quickly disposed of Murder Fly by snatching the gun out of his hand and crushing it.

Then, he shoved him to the floor, causing him to slide into a trash can. Psycho Ant was about to shoot Superman close range but then the superhero used his super breath to blow him backwards towards a wall, crashing into it and causing tiles to fall on top of him.

Superman cringed at his actions. "Sorry."

Praying Mantis knew that the bullets were useless against Superman and just tossed the gun aside. He ran up towards Superman and tried punching him in the face.

But he was too fast for the criminal as he either dodged or blocked every punch. "You're only human so hold still!" He exclaimed before hitting Superman hard in the face.

But instead of causing any impact, he screamed in pain and dropped on to his knees while Superman just stood over him.

"You broke my hand!" He screamed.

"No, your knuckles are just bruised." Superman assured him. "Don't worry. Just use an ice pack."

"Don't move!" Killer Moth exclaimed as he held his gun to the bank manager's head. "Or otherwise his brains will be splattered on the floor."

The bank manager screamed. "Oh please! Please help me Superman! I'll cover the damages which are thankfully moderate! But please, don't let me die!"

"What are you going to do about it Superman?" Killer Moth laughed. "If you move, blow me, fly, dash or throw something at me, I will shoot him dead!"

Superman just stared at the manager with an assuring stare. "Sir, everything's going to be okay."

"Yeah. Reassure him." Killer Moth said. "It might give him some form of comfort before he-"

Then, Superman used his heat vision to shoot the gun out of his hand. The criminal stared at Superman with a hint of shock and terror all over his face.

Superman narrowed his eyes at Killer Moth. "Surrender, now."

Instead of running, Killer Moth complied with Superman's commands and got down on his knees. "I'll turn myself in."

The bank manager gave a relived exhale just as Superman pulled the manager back on his feet. "You alright, sir?" Superman asked.

"Yeah, thanks."

"Everyone else?" Everyone either nodded their heads or said 'yeah' as a response to his question.

"Okay, good. The police are on their way. It’s best you stay here so they can get a full report. Additionally, times like these might require you to seek out some professional help from a psychiatrist, so it’s best you see one once you leave the area.”

The bank manager gave Superman a smile. "Thank you, Superman. You really saved my bacon. How can I repay you?"

"No need." He assured him. "Your's and everyone else's safety is my top priority. Just, might I suggest getting more security next time so this doesn't happen again."

"Sure. Yeah." The bank manger responded. "Will do."

"Though, nice job in not giving them the combination." Superman remarked before hovering. "If anyone else is a hero, it's you." And with a dash, Superman was out of the building while everyone applauded him.

Killer Moth noticed that everyone was applauding and tried to make an escape. But then the bank manager grabbed him by the collar and gave him a judgemental stare.

"Yeah, just because he's gone doesn't mean you're out of the woods." He said.

Killer Moth gave a frustrated sigh. "I should have let Hagen lead."

About half an hour later, at a mansion, a lean man in his mid to late 50's with a tiny moustache, a bald head with bits of greying hair sticking out on the side of his head; Dressed in a white shirt and a, a purple waistcoat, black pants and a pair of black shoes; Was walking down the stairs with a laundry basket in hand. "Least there's no blood this time." He mumbled to himself.

Then, the door to the Manor opened and in came a boy in his mid teens with spiky hair, a green shirt, green pants and a red jacket; Looking excited.

"Alfred, you're not going to believe what happened today!" The boy exclaimed.

"Master Grayson? What happened?" Alfred asked. "Did you finally ask Miss Gordon out on a date?"

Dick rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "I'm still working on it."

"What's the exciting news?" Alfred asked. "You know I don't have time for any due to my very tight schedule. And let's not forget the graveyard shift."

Dick chuckled. "Well, I should probably explain the context. Okay, so at the First National Bank of Gotham there was a robbery-"

"Isn’t there always?” Alfred remarked as he began walking to the pantry in order to do some washing.

"Not finished." Dick interrupted. "Okay, they were these insect themed criminals-"

"Everyone needs a gimmick." He entered the pantry with the basket in hand and placed the clothes in the washing machine one by one. "I'll make sure Master Bruce takes a can of pesticide."

"And you know who stopped them?" Dick asked.

"I should hope the police." Alfred replied.

"No, Superman!" Dick excitedly exclaimed. "Superman is here in Gotham! Isn't that incredible?!"

Alfred turned to face the young ward with a shock brow raised. "Superman? Here in Gotham?"

"Uh huh."

"Well, what is he doing here?" Alfred asked.

"I don't know." Dick replied.

Alfred sighed. "If I know one thing, it's that ‘he's’ not going to be happy about it."

Meanwhile, in a dark, gloomy and bat infested cave, Batman was sitting on a chair in front of a giant computer analysing the illegal weapon imports from Wayne Enterprise. As he was analysing, he was watching a news report from Central City news from Iris West.

"Police testimony from Leonard Snart came in saying that the illegal weapons he was selling were imported to him from the continental terrorist known only as Bane. For those who don't know, he was behind the destruction of Nolan Stadium in downtown Star City. The weapons that were imported to him allegedly come from Wayne Enterprises under the alias of Mockingbird. In other news, a bank robbery in downtown Gotham City was thwarted when Superman burst in on the scene and apprehended the suspects. Two of them were identified as Drury Walker and Matt Hagen. Two petty criminals who have been known to associate themselves with known thief and arsonist, Garfield Lynns. But the question on everyone's minds is 'Why is Superman in Gotham? Could he be investigating Bruce Wayne? And is he a threat to Batman?'"

As Batman watched the monitor he clenched his fists before with one swoop of his cape, walked off to do something about this before it gets out of hand.

At the Wayne lab, Alex and Ed were watching the news with very different attitudes. Ed looked to be excited as he munched on his popcorn while Alex looked to be narrowing his attention him with disdain.

At the Gotham Gazette Building, Vicki Vale was watching the report and narrowed her eyes at footage of a nervous Superman giving a wave to a crowd of grateful people.

She shook her head and grinned. "This city is going to bring you down, Superman. You are unprepared for what challenges await."

Elsewhere, Livewire saw the same report and destroyed her television as a result. She attached some of her armour on her and flicked a spark of electricity while grinning. Ready to take on Superman.

Inside an apartment, the same TV report was playing and Slade was already armoured up with his weapons at the ready.

"Waller, I'm going to have to cancel my extraction from this city…Our target came to us. Fate is on our side."

Inside some abandoned building on the Gotham docks, a bunch of Bane's crew were unloading canisters of Venom and equipment for his lab from a bunch of boxes that were shipped over from Santa Prisca.

Carla walked up the stairs with her tablet in her hand into the office where she saw Bane holding one of his goons in a chokehold.

"What is it Carla?" Bane asked.

Carla held out a tablet. "You need to see this."

Bane looked at his second-in-command before letting go of his goon and letting him fall on the floor mat. "Thank you David. Hazlo mejor la próxima vez." He approached Carla and snatched the device from her hand.

What she wanted to show was video footage of Superman's escapade at the bank not too long ago. "Where was this taken?"

"First National Bank of Gotham." Carla replied. "He's here."

Bane stared at Carla with a deadpan yet grateful stare. "Thank you for the information Carla. Prepare the squad. Tomorrow, we are going be tomorrow night's entertainment. In an act I like to call la derrota de Superman." He cracked his knuckles and cracked his neck, ready to take down his biggest challenge yet.

At The Royal Gotham Hotel, a hotel usually arranged for people who could afford it like Jimmy. He and Lois were waiting outside for Clark whom was taking a long time to show up.

"Where is he?" Jimmy asked. "I've been wanting to show him his room."

"Can't I just take these bags while you just wait for Clark?" Lois suggested.

"No!" Jimmy held Lois by her shoulders. "I don't want to ruin the surprise."

"What's the surprise?" Lois chuckled. "You never said anything about a surprise."

Jimmy let's go of Lois' shoulder and chuckled. "Sorry."

"Wait, there he is." Lois smiled as she pointed at Clark running up to them.

"So sorry!" Clark panted as he tried to catch his breath. "There were some problems and I forgot where the hotel was."

"It's okay." Jimmy assured him.

Lois pulled her phone out from her jacket pocket. "Could have used your powers to help fly us over. But then again, so much for a low profile, huh?" She showed her boyfriend footage of him saving the bank not too long ago, specifically, him saving the manager.

Clark chuckled. "Hope that doesn't get me into trouble with some of the seedy residents." They began walking into the hotel. "Oh, and my super breath can incapacitate enemies."

"Nice." Jimmy said. "By the way, did you fight a guy who dressed up as a moth?"

Later, Clark had arrived at his bedroom and it was an amazing room. It had a huge king size bed, huge maroon curtains, a TV, a bathroom, ginormous windows with sliding doors that lead to a balcony and a purple carpet.

"Wow! This is my room?" Clark asked. "It's incredible. How much was it?"

"Five hundred bucks a night." Jimmy replied. "And this is what I believe is called the first class room."

Clark looked at his best friend with an impressed look. "Five hundred dollars? That's ridiculously expensive."

"Not if you have over 5 million in your bank." Jimmy retorted.

"I can't wait to have a room like this." Lois said. "So, where's mine?"

"You're standing in it." Jimmy replied.

Lois looked confused. "I thought this was Clark's room."

"It is." Jimmy said with a mischievous grin on his face.

Both Lois and Clark were confused for a moment until they eventually figured out what their best friend was implying. This wasn't just Clark's room, this was also Lois'. They were in absolute shock over this surprise from their best friend.

"Jimmy!" A blushing Clark and Lois exclaimed in anger.

"We didn't discuss this!" Lois shouted while Jimmy just grinned smugly.

"That defeats the concept of a surprise." Jimmy said. "I wanted to get you two your own room together because I felt like being generous. That, and couples get a discount if they have their own room. The actual first class rooms cost one thousand bucks. Which I've taken."

"But…That means…Me and Lois…Are…" Clark glanced his eyes to Lois and to the bed.

"You stay at her's all the time." Jimmy pointed out.

"I just sleep on the couch, really." Clark informed him. "But sometimes, she does like to sneak in and sleep on my chest."

"Bare?" Jimmy's question got Clark and Lois blushing like mad before narrowing daggers at Jimmy. "Enjoy your stay!" He ran out of the room and slammed the door so he could avoid the wrath of his best friends.

Once he left, Clark and Lois were still staring at the door in annoyance. "I can't believe he would do that! We didn't even talk this through!"

"I swear, I wasn't thinking of this even though, I would have wanted that, I wouldn't have wanted it right now!" Clark assured Lois as he began to nervously sweat.

"Don't worry, I believe you, Smallville." Lois assured her boyfriend. "But the question is, what do you do about the sleeping arrangements?"

"I could sleep on the floor." Clark suggested.

"No! No! No! Clark, I'm not having you sleep on the floor!" Lois protested. "You are going to sleep on a nice and cozy bed." She began to unpack her things.

"Lois, I think you should sleep on the bed." Clark said while checking the texture of the carpet. "It's rough, you could probably get carpet burn or marks all over your body."

"I'm still not having you sleep on the floor." Lois protested.

"Well, I can't exactly get marks on my body." Clark said while Lois walked up to him and pulled him towards the bed.

"Clark, you are sleeping on this bed." Lois demanded.

"I will if you don't sleep on that carpet." Clark said.

Lois exhaled. "You sure? I know we haven't…Ya know, officially slept with each other…Ya know, the way couples do."

"I swear it won't lead to anything." Clark assured Lois. "Besides, I haven't…Well…Had any kind of-"

"Say no more, Smallville." Lois jumped on the bed while Clark closed the curtains. "But seriously, you haven't-"

"Nope!" Clark interjected. "Because, well, due to my powers, I'm worried I might end up crushing something."

There was silent between the two as their cheeks became red at the thought of them two doing the thing that Clark has never done.

That was when Lois had an idea. "Do you want to…Test the waters and find out?"

Clark's face in that moment turned bright red and he rubbed the back of his head. But then, he exhaled from his nose and walked to Lois to test the waters.

Meanwhile in Jimmy's room, which just looked similar to Clark and Lois' except with his fancy suit and tie hung on the door; He was currently going to bed while wearing a pair of headphones that emitted opera music. As a means to make him appear sophisticated and rich. Since he wanted to tap into that high class mindset and not look like a fool in front of other rich people.

He couldn't wait for tomorrow. Not only is he going to a high class party with his two best friends, but he could also be exposing another rich scumbag who might be similar to someone like Professor Ivo.

Chapter Text

It was morning at the Royal Gotham Hotel and Jimmy Olsen had just woke up from a nice sleep of listening to relaxing classical music. Which might have been a good thing considering what was going on in Clark and Lois' room. He removed his headphones and sat up on his bed, gave a big stretch and yawned. "Woo! I am ready!"

He got out of bed, put on his suit and tie, brushed his teeth, shaved the back of his head, washed his face and drank a bottle of the most expensive wine his money could purchase.

But he gagged after drinking the first sip. "Wine! Why do rich people like this crud?"

He exited his room which was right across from Clark and Lois' where he saw something that surprised him. Their door was slightly open and there was what looked like a 'do not disturb' door hanger on the handle.

"Okay, do I come in or do I not come in?" Jimmy asked. He shrugged his shoulders and entered the room where he saw a surprising sight.

There was what looked like a bra on the arm of a chair, a sock thrown against the television, the bed sheets were a mess, a huge glass of water on either side of the bedside desks and the legs of the bed were broken.

"What the heck happened here?" Jimmy asked.

"Clark!" Lois suddenly walked out of the bathroom wearing what looked like one of Clark's oversized shirt that almost covered her entire body like some kind of massive gown and was holding a piece of plastic in her hand. "It's negative!"

Clark followed out of the bathroom wearing nothing but his pyjama pants. "Woo! I was a little worried there!"

"Toss them aside because we are not going to have a ba…" She froze when she realised that Jimmy was standing in their room wearing his tuxedo.

"Uh….Your door was open." Jimmy said.

Clark groaned. "Oh…I knew I forgot something."

"I think some of the screws are on the floor." Jimmy said. "And you broke the bed."

Clark and Lois cringed in embarrassment. "Jimmy, we are so sorry." Clark said.

"Yeah, we just…Ya know, go-"

"I don't want to know the details!" Jimmy interjected. "How am I going to explain this?"

"Uh….Weak carpenting?" Clark suggested.

Jimmy shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, that might work. Seriously guys, I'm happy for you but could you put some clothes on so we can discuss the party?"

Lois smiled. "Not to worry, I was up all night thinking of how to talk to Bruce Wayne." Then she cringed when Jimmy was giving her a judgemental stare. "Well, while I waited for Clark to stop some crocodile man during our…break."

"And I'm out!" Jimmy declared before exiting the room. Once out, he gave a grin. "Good for you two." He whispered.

Once Jimmy left, Clark and Lois were staring at the broken bed with regret. "Perhaps we should have-"

"Yup! Metal foundation." Clark said. "I would have easily bent it back into position."

"Yeah, you would have." Lois said before smirking. "Ya know, Smallville. There's still the show-" she stopped talking when she saw that Clark was fully dressed and drying his hair. She sighed in disappointment while Clark stared at her with confusion.

"Sorry, I had a quick shower." Clark said. "What were you saying?"

Lois sighed in frustration. "Never mind."

Later, Clark and Lois, now fully dressed, knocked on Jimmy's door which he opened, still dressed in his tuxedo.

"Please tell me, you weren't hearing me practice talking to people?" Jimmy asked.

"I swear I wasn't trying to." Clark assured his best friend. "Though, you could talk to them like real people. I don't think they're a different set of species."

"I suppose you're right." Jimmy sighed. "Come in." He motioned his best friends to enter his room which they did.

"Oh, I forgot to ask, why are you dressed in your tux?" Lois asked. "The party is only…" She looked at her phone. "…Nine hours away. You're going to get it creased!"

"I just wanna practice." Jimmy retorted. "First party as a millionaire."

"Jimmy, me and Lois are happy that you are rich, but as your friends, we don't want you to overthink things." Clark suggested. "You tend to go overboard on certain topics."

"Really?" Lois asked.

"One time, he got the role of Macbeth in a college play and he kind of took the role too seriously." Clark explained. "He wanted to get in the mind of the character."

Lois cringed. "I played Lady Macbeth once, did he-"

"No! He didn't…Point is, he got deranged when he started to overthink and started accusing the rest of the cast of deception." Clark explained. "Kind of like the play itself ironically."

"It won't be like Macbeth, Clark." Jimmy assured his best friend. "But practicing my rich lifestyle is not just my main priority when it comes to you guys. Lois, what is your plan? Can you explain it without your board?"

Lois snapped her fingers. "Clark."

Clark sped from Jimmy's room and returned a moment later with a board which had images of Bruce Wayne stuck on and detailed drawings of the plan.

"You brought your murder board with you?" Jimmy asked.

"No. No. I had Clark fly back from Metropolis to get it last night." Lois explained.

"It was during one of our…breaks." Clark explained.

"I don't need to know!" Jimmy exclaimed. "Okay, Lane, proceed."

"Okay, first, we enter the Wayne Penthouse where the party is taking place and you think the first thing we do is get to Bruce Wayne straight away to get information? Wrong! We will mingle with the guests first." Lois explained. "They include Gotham's District Attorney, Harvey Dent; Commissioner James Gordon; Lucius Fox; Oliver Queen; Ted Kord; Vesper Fairchild; Dr Chase Meridian; Detective Harvey Bullock; Rachel Dawes; And many more. While interacting, we will do our best to avoid questions about Bruce Wayne so it will look like we aren't trying to find out the truth."

"But Bruce Wayne wanted us to interview him." Jimmy pointed out.

"Bruce Wayne is probably going to try and avoid us since he likely intends to humiliate us." Lois explained. "So, we are going to wait for the right moment to strike that he will have no choice but to interview us. Perhaps if he's drank too much at the party. Let’s face it, he is well known for that exploit. Then, we get the info we need and leave the party in fabulous fashion and publish our story exposing Bruce Wayne for the corrupt businessman that he most likely is." Lois presented her murder board with an enthusiastic grin.

"That sounds like a plan….That could go wrong!" Jimmy exclaimed. "How do we know if the guy will show up?!"

"Hey, he never misses his parties." Lois explained. "He's just late."

"Well Lois, if I know a few things that have happened these last few months of knowing you, it's that everything unlikely turns out to be likely." Clark said to his girlfriend. "We'll get that exclusive from Mr Wayne because that's what Lois Lane does."

Lois gushed. "Aww! Thanks, Smallville." She pulled herself up his arm and kissed his cheek, causing them to turn red.

"Alright party people, let's get this party started!" Jimmy exclaimed.

"Not right now." Lois said. "It's still 9:30 in the morning."

The Daily Planet trio just stared at each other for a bit before Clark broke the silence. "Breakfast?"

Jimmy shrugged his shoulders. "Sure, why not?"

They walked out of the room to go down to the dining area to have some breakfast. "Oh, I hope they have those blueberry muffins." Lois said.

"Hey Clark, remember that time in college we stayed in Paris and you-"

"Don't." Clark interjected. "Don't remind me, Jimmy."

Later, outside the Wayne Penthouse, which was located on a 24 story building that Clark, Lois and Jimmy stared at judgementally. "If he has a manor, why does he also own a penthouse?" Clark asked. "Is he just showing off?"

The trio were dressed in their evening suits. Clark in a blue jacket, yellow shirt, red tie, blue pants and a black belt. While Lois wore a tucked in yellow blouse with a green jacket and blue pants.

"A guy like him is definitely compensating for something." Lois joked, causing Clark to stifle a laughter while Jimmy spat on some water he was drinking to calm his nerves.

"Sorry, I shouldn't laugh at that." Clark said. "That was immature of me."

"Okay you two!" Jimmy got in front of the two to explain the rules. "I get you two don't exactly know the high class lifestyle…"

"Neither do you, Jimmy." Lois retorted.

"But perhaps no inappropriate jokes." Jimmy said. "I get we're young but we're not high school young and perhaps try their rich delicacies no matter how bad they taste."

"What if you don't like any of their delicacies?" Clark asked.

"Well…I'm just going to have to suck it up!" Jimmy responded. "Come now!"

They entered the penthouse where they saw a male receptionist typing on his computer until he noticed the three.

"Can I help you?" The man asked.

"Hi, we're here for the party." Jimmy handed the man their invites.

He looked at their names and smiled. "Of course. Top floor. Take the elevator. It's tame right now."

After giving him an appreciative nod, Clark, Lois and Jimmy walked towards the elevator and the tall man pushed the button that lead to the top floor.

"Did he say it was tame?" Clark asked.

"I swore he invited a lot of guests." Jimmy said.

"Or maybe he has his own way of using tame." Lois theorised.

Once the elevator door opened, they saw that the party had a huge crowd of guests. They were all laughing at their jokes, drinking their beverages, eating high class treats and talking about topics such as wealth, politics and the economy.

Once they saw how packed the party was, each had a different set of reactions. Clark looked slightly intimidated and experiencing a flashback to Ivo's party, Lois was excited while Jimmy drank another swig of water to calm his nerves.

"Well, on the bright side, it's not as crowded as I thought it was going to be." Lois said, trying to lighten the mood.

They entered the penthouse where they were greeted by a lean English man holding a platter with glasses of champagne. "Ah, the Daily Planet trio."

"And you are?" Lois asked.

"No one important. Just Alfred Pennyworth, the Wayne family butler." Alfred explained. "I'm aware master Bruce is meant to be conducting an interview with the three of you."

"Yes!" Lois exclaimed. "Is he here?! I have a lot of questions I need to ask him."

Alfred sighed. "Unfortunately, Master Wayne has been caught up in a spot of trouble at work. He says it's a minor issue, but they are a lot worse than he lets on." Alfred then put his friendly smile back on.

"Trouble like, what?" Clark asked with suspicion.

"Server troubles or something like that." Alfred replied. "I'm not as caught on with these modern day gadgets and gizmos like other people are. He says that if this continues, we could get another Ivo situation. So, while Master Wayne is finishing up, why don't you have a drink and help yourself to something from our buffet table? Oh, and do mingle with the guests. Don't make things uncomfortable and stand around in silent judgment like our other esteemed guests." He motioned to a nearby corner where Vicki Vale, dressed in a purple dress with the strap attached around her neck, was watching on with a judgemental stare.

The sight of her former idol caused Lois some shock and to narrow at her with disapproval. "That will not happen." Lois assured Alfred with a hint of disdain.

"I would like to be interviewed, but unfortunately I have work that needs tending. And that happens to be, the next mess I need to clean up from Master Wayne." Alfred declared before walking away with the glasses that Jimmy tried to reach out for but he was gone in the crowd of guests.

A few minutes later, Jimmy took a picture of the party with his camera while Lois just continued to narrow her eyes at Vicki. It was clear that she still had not forgave her after what she had done to her and Jimmy and Clark.

Clark got in front of his girlfriend and moved her away from the direction of Vicki. "Let's not focus on her. Let's just try and have a nice evening. Look, if you put a lot of focus on her then it is just going to cause you grief. Can you try and not confront her?"

Lois sighed. "Alright. I'll try. But only because I can't say no to your face." She playfully pinched his cheeks.

"Jimmy, you okay?" Clark asked his best friend as he suddenly noticed him looking anxious.

He wasn't far away, just drinking from a bottle something before gagging. He looked at the bottle and saw it was wine. "Disgusting!" He noticed his friends coming up to him. "I can't stay here. I gotta leave."

"Jimmy!" Lois interjected. "We got a job to do."

"There's so many people here!" Jimmy exclaimed. "How do I start?! What do I say?! Should I say something about the economy? I know nothing about the economic discussions!"

"Like I said Jimmy, just talk to them like you talk to me and Lois." Clark suggested. "Maybe about how Flamebird is doing."

Jimmy sighed. "I guess. Okay, let's go."

"Okay, I'm suggesting we split up." Lois said. "Get some info we can share. I will go to Lucius Fox to talk about Wayne tech while building up to Bruce Wayne, Clark will talk to Commissioner Gordon while Jimmy will talk to Oliver Queen."

"Oliver Queen?!" Jimmy exclaimed.

"I heard he's good at archery." Lois said while walking to talk to Lucius. "Talk to him about that."

"Yeah, you did archery at college." Clark reminded his best friend while walking to talk to Commissioner Gordon.

"And I wasn't good at it!" Jimmy exclaimed before sighing. "Okay, talk to Oliver Queen like a real person. He's just at the buffet table talking to Ted Kord about…Something."

By the buffet table, Oliver was eating from a plate of chicken satays and salad. "So…Ya know, got Malcolm ticked off again." Oliver, a muscular man in his mid 30's and sporting a blonde goatee, blonde hair and a green tuxedo was talking to Ted Kord; A scrawny looking man in his late twenties with brown hair and a pair of glasses that almost looked similar to Clark.

"Again?" Ted asked while Jimmy approached the buffet table awkwardly and sweating from his face.

"Oh yeah. And your uncle?" Oliver asked.

"Trying to steal my business with my sister." Ted sighed.

"Why can't they just leave you alone?" Oliver asked while Jimmy just stared at the two nervously. "You were handed the business fair and square."

Jimmy took a plate and took a spoonful of caviar and placed it on his plate and ate a bit. But the taste was awful that he coughed and then tried to drown the taste with a nearby bottle. But the bottle turned out to be wine which made him gag.

"It's okay." Oliver said to Jimmy. "I reacted the same way when I tried caviar at one of my parent's fundraisers."

"I actually like caviar." Ted said.

"No you don't, Ted." Oliver retorted. "We only have caviar to make us look fancy." Oliver then began to look at Jimmy with intrigue. "Hey, you're that guy aren't you?"

"Uh…."

"Jimmy Olsen." Oliver shook his hand. "Oliver Queen. CEO of Queen Enterprises. And yes, we had that little issue with that little scandal but I'm doing my best to clear that up. Anyway, unimportant, have you met Ted?" He pulled Ted next to him and introduced him to Jimmy.

Ted waved nervously. "I like Flamebird. I really think it's a thrilling app for amazing news sources."

Jimmy quickly placed his plate on the table. "Well…Thanks. I never expected it to get far."

"So, let me understand this, you're a millionaire yet you still work at the Daily Planet?" Oliver asked, looking impressed. "I have to say, that is some modesty."

Jimmy, flattered by the compliment, began to rub the back of his head. "Well, I didn't want to leave my friends all because I had a lot of money."

"Wow. And all I do is spend mine on therapy sessions." Oliver remarked. "Oh, and donations and…Other activities."

"Ohhhh, archery." Jimmy then mimed shooting a bow and arrow. After he did that action, he froze in embarrassment.

But instead of humiliating him, Oliver just mimed the same action Jimmy did. "Yes! I am keen on archery!"

Jimmy smiled at how well this interaction was going. He really thought he was going to mess this up, but surprisingly, he was doing well.

Meanwhile, further down the table, a tanned skin man with greying hair and a grey moustache was looking at the assortment of cakes that were on display. He was dressed in a black suit with a red bow tie.

Next to him, was a dark skinned man with black hair and a black moustache dressed in a white suit with a black shirt underneath, looking at him judgementally.

"Come on, Jim, just pick a cake." The man said.

"I can't decide Harv." Commissioner Jim Gordon said. "I promised my daughter I'd cut down. I only gained a little weight! Uh, I tell ya Dent, she's as demanding as her mother was."

"Well, what cake do you want?" Gotham's District Attorney, Harvey Dent asked.

"I feel like red velvet or chocolate." He replied. "But I'm only meant to have one."

In that moment, Harvey pulled what looked to be a silver coin from his right breast pocket. "Okay Jim, heads for chocolate cake and tales for red velvet."

"What if I want tales for chocolate cake and heads for red velvet cake?" Gordon asked.

"Too late." Harvey flipped his coin and caught it in the palm of his hand and placed it on the back of the other hand, just as Clark Kent arrived.

"Excuse me…"

Harvey, startled by Clark's sudden appearance, shook. "Woah! Jim, we got a quarterback."

"Actually…I'm Clark Kent." The tall journalist said.

"Of the Dailey Planet?" Gordon asked. "Let me guess, you're here to discuss about Bruce Wayne's alleged involvement in importing weapons to criminals?"

"No. No. No." Clark assured the Commissioner. "I'm just here to interview you on-"

"No comment." Gordon interjected.

Harvey approached Clark. "Mr Kent, James Gordon is not available for interviews right now. He is busy debating on what cake he should consume."

"Shut up, Harvey!" Gordon retorted.

Harvey offered Clark a handshake. "Harvey Dent, District Attorney. I'm available for an interview if you please."

"Sure." Clark pulled his tape recorder to record the conversation he was about to have with Harvey Dent.

"I assume you're an outsider?" Harvey asked.

"Yeah, just an outsider." Clark replied. "First time in Gotham."

"And how are you liking it?" Harvey asked. "Too gothic? Too noir? Or did you get mugged?" He chuckled at his joke.

"Thankfully I haven’t. I am aware, statistically, Gotham has the highest crime rate than any other city in the United States." Clark said. "How do you feel about that?"

"Flattered." Harvey joked. "But in all seriousness, me and Commissioner Gordon are doing our best to add more control to our city instead of leaving it to people like Falcone, Maroni or Sionis."

"And there's rumours you got 'other people' on the force." Clark said. “Let’s say a-“

"Yes!" Gordon interjected as he ate a slice of red velvet cake and placing a chocolate cake on the plate for later. "We have our best cops on the payroll. Detective Bullock."

He motioned to an overweight detective with stubble all over his face and terribly slick backed hair, complaining about the food options. "What?! No pigs in a blanket?! What kind of party doesn't have pigs in a blanket for the taking?! Ooh, chicken satay!" Harvey began to eat the satay like a bit of a pig while Clark looked disgusted, Gordon looked embarrassed while Harvey just chuckled.

"Well, he might look like a slob." Gordon said. "But, he is one of the most loyal people on the force despite his less than stellar reputation."

"I was referring to your other people." Clark said. "The Batman."

The District Attorney chuckled while Gordon just sighed in annoyance. "Look, Mr Kent, whatever eyewitness reports you've read about, ignore them. There is no such thing as a Batman."

"How do you explain the signal?" Clark asked.

"Signal?"

"The bat shaped signal that shows up at night that allegedly alerts Batman."

"We use it to scare the scum of the streets." Gordon said.

"Mr Dent, what do you have to say about the Batman myths?" Clark asked.

Harvey smiled. "Batman is the equivalent of Bigfoot and the multiverse. Just a concept. A myth."

"I wish I could say that's untrue." Clark mumbled to himself. "And if Batman was real would you…"

"Find him and unmask him." Gordon said. "Despite the fact he isn't as real as Superman, his legends get the job done."

"And what are your thoughts on Superman's actions yesterday when he prevented a robbery at the First National Bank of Gotham?" Clark asked.

"Superman?" Gordon scoffed. "I admire his bravery but he did cause property damage." Clark, despite feeling insulted, managed to keep his composure.

"I'm pretty sure he did everything he could to stop those criminals." Clark said.

"And he did." Harvey interjected. "Superman did manage to get Drury Walker and Matt Hagen imprisoned. Until, they vanished from their cells at Arkham Penitentiary."

"Bullock's still looking for leads." Gordon said. "But we will find out what happened to those two."

"What makes you see Superman as a bigger problem than the criminals he puts away?" Clark asked.

"He isn't a problem." Gordon said. "At least not yet. But who knows how long he will keep up this whole hero gig before he snaps and turns on us?"

Harvey smiled. "Ya know, I wish we had a Superman. Could give Gotham a little hope and optimism. You're friends with Superman aren't you? Could you give him the good word from me?"

Clark smiled, feeling some appreciation. "I'll let him know." Even though he wasn't in Metropolis, he felt grateful that there were other places where he was loved and appreciated. But still mixed on still being a tad bit criticised.

Meanwhile, Lucius was busy talking on the phone to someone. "You're just arriving….Okay…." He looked behind him when he saw Lois Lane approaching him. "….Chopper?" Lucius smiled. "…Of course. Fancy entrance for the party boy…See you in a moment Mr Wayne….Oh, and please stop damaging your suits. They're not cheap." He hung up his phone and turned to face Lois Lane where he did a mock arrest. "Don't worry, I don't have a super suit."

Lois chuckled. "Don't worry, I wasn't going to ask anything about that."

"Just a little joke." Lucius said as he offered his hand out. "Lucius Fox. Secondary CEO and overseer of all the departments in the Gotham branch." He and Lois shared a handshake.

"Lois Lane-"

"I know." Lucius said. "I'm a bit of admirer of your journalistic work."

"Even though I was one of writers who published a scathing article about your company?" Lois asked.

"Not to worry." Lucius assured her. "If you didn't publish that article we wouldn't be working our butts off to find out what the heck is going on."

Lois pulled out her tape recorder and began recording. "Mr Fox, do you have any idea as to how this technology ended up in the hands of someone like Bane?"

"That's what we're trying to find out."

"Do you think there might be a mole in the company?"

"That is our main theory." Lucius replied.

"Do you have any theories on who it could be?"

"Paragraph 35, 'Could Bruce Wayne have been importing weapons to criminal organisations for some extra money? Or, has he joined the ranks of criminals such as Bane?'" Vicki Vale interjected, causing Lois to turn to face her while Lucius just mumbled to himself. "That's what you wrote on your article. Makes me ponder if you want Bruce Wayne to be the main suspect on this investigation."

Lois narrowed her eyes at Vicki as she stopped recording. "Oh, hi Vicki."

"Miss Lane, I'm surprised you were invited." Vicki remarked. "Why would Bruce Wayne invite some…Sub par journalist?"

"Well, he only invited me, Jimmy and Clark to clear up on some things." Lois said.

"I see you're going down my path." Vicki remarked. "The right way to success."

"No. I'm looking for the truth." Lois argued.

"Miss Vale, I think Bullock has something to say about the ongoing case on finding those convicts from Arkham." Lucius said.

"Tempting. But I don't interview slobs." Vicki retorted. "What makes you think Bruce Wayne is going to be honest?"

"I don't expect him to lie or tell the truth." Lois said while narrowing her eyes at Vicki. "I prefer to take the subjective approach rather than the objective. Besides, you only wish to see Bruce Wayne get taken down because you and him had a rather controversial relationship."

"Yes, I am a lot older than he is." Vicki stated with smugness while putting some pressure on her wine glass she was gripping in frustration. "What's the problem? Think Bruce Wayne is too immature to date me?"

"No, I was referring to a slob." She pointed to her bare shoulder which had a spot of red wine on her skin.

Vale narrowed her eyes at Lane while Lucius tried his best to stifle his laughter. "Why you little-"

"Hey Lois!" Thankfully, Clark had came just in the nick of time to get Lois out of the situation. "I think I got an exclusive with Vesper Fairchild!"

Lois smiled in relief. "Thanks, Clark! Miss Vale, nice seeing you."

Lois walked to rejoin her boyfriend. As they walked away, Vicki narrowed her eyes at the couple while Lucius chuckled and handing her a napkin. "Your napkin, Miss Vale." Vale was about to take the napkin when she noticed that it had a 'W' emblem that looked similar to Wayne Enterprise. She grumbled in annoyance and walked away out of spite.

Meanwhile, Clark and Lois were walking around the party. "Thanks for getting that exclusive. You have no idea you saved me back there."

"I sort of lied about getting an exclusive with Vesper Fairchild." Clark said as he adjusted his glasses. "I had to find an excuse to get you away from her."

Lois, though feeling she could have handled the situation herself, was still grateful for the save and wrapped her arm around Clark. "What did I do to deserve you?"

"You did it by being amazing." Clark replied before checking his watch. "Is the host usually this late? Mr Wayne's taking his sweet time to show up."

"Yeah. Unless he is being fashionably late." Lois theorised.

"He is a businessman." Clark stated.

"Or, weapons dealer." Lois groaned. "I swear if this ends up being another Professor Ivo situation I'm going to be mad."

"Hey, we'll know if he's trouble." Clark said. "Besides, how much worse can he be?"

Suddenly, the sound of a chopper approaching was heard which put the party to a bit of a stop as everyone had turned to the noise of the incoming vehicle.

The chopper landed on the landing pad and out came three passengers. Two of them were a pair of blonde twins wearing blue dresses and then came a tall man in his late twenties to mid thirties around Clark's height with raven hair, a muscular build, a stylish tuxedo and an electric watch on his right wrist.

This was him, the man of the hour, Bruce Wayne. The handsome, genius billionaire playboy philanthropist and Gotham's most eligible bachelor. He wrapped his arms around the pair of twins as they made their way across the platform towards the party.

Lois looked to be impressed with the entrance but had a bad feeling about the man, Clark just narrowed his eyes as he was already having Ivo flashbacks due to his showy personality while Jimmy was nervous since Bruce Wayne was the richest man in all of Gotham and one false move could cause him to embarrass himself.

Once Bruce entered his penthouse, the guests applauded his entrance which the billionaire took with a bit of a smug smile on his face. His escorts dispersed to enjoy the night while Bruce Wayne clapped his hand to get everyone's attention.

"Sorry I am late for my own party, I was off selling weapons to clean clients like The Joker." Bruce's joke got everyone laughing except for the Daily Planet trio.

"He might have." Lois whispered.

Bruce motioned everyone to hold their laughter. "No! No! In all seriousness, work was a nightmare. Had to deal with a very shifty client. Sly as a cat they were." Alfred and Lucius slightly chuckled at Bruce's joke. "Right! Right! Let's see who we've got tonight. I should know who's there because I sent the invites but some might have had other matters to tend with. Like Vicki Vale." Vicki tried her best to hide from the spotlight that Bruce Wayne had placed on her. "For those who don't know, me and Vale used to be to be an item."

"How's that floozy from Sweden?" Vicki asked, causing Oliver to almost choke on his drink.

"I heard that, right?" He asked Ted, who looked equally as shocked.

Bruce didn't seem insulted however, he kept a bit of a smug composure and continued to talk about Vicki. "During our relationship, she was very intelligent and bright. But just recently, I found out she couldn't figure out that my 'Floozy' was from Switzerland not Sweden." There was a sound of chuckling from a few of the attendees. "And I thought you had a Pulitzer."

Vicki inhaled angrily through her nose and marched towards the table to have a drink.

"Let's see who else. Ah, our fine detective Harvey Bullock." Bruce pointed to Harvey whom was eating a chicken leg like a pig. He stopped eating and put the chicken back on the plate. Then, he wiped his face with a napkin and smiled.

"I sure am a fine, detective." Bullock responded proudly while the Daily Planet trio gave a doubtful look right toward him.

"Yeah, he looks like a fine detective." Lois remarked sarcastically.

"Solved any cases recently?" Bruce asked Bullock.

Bullock gave a mighty pose. "Eh, a few cases here and there."

"How about the case of who was the scumbag that stole your last donut?" The joke got a majority of guests to laugh including Gordon and Dent while Bullock just looked insulted.

"Why I oughta arrest you Wayne!" Bullock exclaimed. "The slob cop is a demeaning stereotype."

Bruce raised his hands in defence. "Okay, okay, Mr Detective. By the way, you got a bit of chicken right here." He pointed at his right breast which made the detective look at the part Wayne was pointing ant and saw that he did have a bit of chicken, causing the guests to laugh at his predicament.

"Who else have we got?" Bruce asked as he looked around. Then, he looked at Oliver and pointed at him. "Oliver Queen."

Oliver playfully pulled Ted in front of him to defend himself. "Don't shoot an insult at me." Everyone laughed at Oliver's quirky behaviour.

"Now, as we know about dear Oliver Queen. He spent five years on an unmarked island. And let me tell ya, he had quite an ugly beard when he was found, but I admit he is pulling it off right now!"

Oliver pretended to be offended as he stroked his blonde goatee. "Excuse me, Dinah likes the goatee."

"But did she like the wizard beard?" Bruce's question got everyone to laugh including Oliver.

"Careful Wayne, I might be able to cast a spell on you." The crowd laughed while the Daily Planet Trio stared at Bruce Wayne with a judgemental look, not liking the joke.

"Kind of insensitive." Clark remarked.

"Yeah." Lois remarked. "Is he really a criminal mastermind? An insensitive jerk, but a criminal mastermind? Unlikely."

"I've seen amazing actors." Jimmy remarked. "He's putting on a mask. I bet deep down in that insensitive, eccentric, smug, jerky yet kindhearted show, he is in fact another clever mastermind with a nefarious scheme."

"He's Bane?" Clark asked.

"You don't know." Jimmy replied.

"…And don't get me started on your little scarab project, Ted." Bruce then looked to the Daily Planet trio and smiled. "Well, well, well, the Daily Planet trio." He approached the trio who looked at Bruce Wayne with either intimidation, a narrow glare or just an unamused look. "I knew it was you. Your star quarterback stuck out like a sore thumb." He backhand slapped Clark on his shoulder. "Seriously though, were you a quarterback?"

"Actually, I was part of the chess club." Clark replied.

Bruce laughed not exactly buying his story. "Riiiiight." He turned to his guests. "Enjoy the rest of the party. I promised the Daily Planet their next slander piece." Everyone but the Daily Planet trio laughed at his joke.

Lois especially felt more insulted by Bruce's comment since she fought for truth not slander. And the gall on Bruce Wayne to call their report a slander piece just annoyed her.

And so, they began to follow Wayne whom was leading them to the drinks table where he took a glass of wine and took a sip from it.

Clark began whispering to his girlfriend. "He isn't avoiding us. Wasn't the plan-"

"Well, one phase of the plan didn't work." Lois said. "But perhaps the next one will." She cleared her throat and stared at Bruce. "Mr Wayne, are we going to start this inter-"

"Hang on." Bruce interjected before freezing like he was trying to remember their names. "Clark Kent, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen." As he listed their names, he pointed to the correct people.

"You're correct." Jimmy responded. "You invited me before you invited my friends."

"Yes, my ward's a fan of your app." Bruce replied. "Unfortunately, he can't be here tonight due to it being a school night and an adult party. Though, he does wish he could meet you."

"Listen Mr Wayne, you wanted us to interview you, so why don't we start now?" Lois asked.

"Why should we?" Bruce asked as he took another sip of wine. "Why can't we just have a pleasant conversation? Get to know me a little. Get to know each other. I mean, we've got plenty of time, why don't you have a drink?" He offered Lois a glass of wine that she narrowed her eyes at before flicking her hand, implying she was rejecting it.

"I see what you're doing Mr Wayne." Lois said. "But we're not falling for it. Why don't you have a drink?"

Bruce coughed. "Nah." He placed his wine on the table and grinned. "Don't wanna do this intoxicated, do we?"

"No, we do not." Clark responded just as Lucius approached him

"Very unprofessional." Lois said while narrowing her eyes at Bruce. She had noticed that the very important details of her plan were not going the way she anticipated. It was almost like, he was just a step ahead of them.

"I could take a sip." Lois nudged Jimmy on the side. "But I don't like wine very much."

"Any leads, Lucius?" Bruce asked his second-in-command.

"Still looking, Mr Wayne." Lucius replied. "But I came to inform you that we have been making progress on product #78 and it's ready to be taken for a test drive."

Bruce nodded his head. "Of course, Lucius. Thank you. Enjoy the rest of the party." Lucius bowed his head before walking away to join the rest of the party.

"What is there to talk about exactly?" Clark asked, already getting annoyed with his behaviour.

"Oh ya know, I kind of wish to talk about Superman." Bruce replied. "Something I wish to get off my chest."

"Um….Yeah, sure." Jimmy agreed. "After all, that's how the app got popular."

"Do you like him?" Clark asked. "Because, ya know, everyone in Metropolis loves Superman."

"Please tell me, you don't think he's evil." Lois pleaded.

"Oh no. I'm not Vicki Vale." Bruce assured him. "I mean, I can admire what he does for the city but he just rubs me the wrong way."

Meanwhile, downstairs in the reception area, the receptionist was on his phone about to call someone called Fiancé. Then, a bunch of people wearing heavy armour were entered the building and straight towards the receptionist.

He looked up from his phone. "Can I help-"

But before he could ask, Carla grabbed him by the head and slammed it on the desk before shoving him to the floor.

She then vaulted over the desk and began punching him repeatedly to ensure that he wouldn't be speaking to anyone. That was until, her arm was grabbed by a hand, which happened to belong to her boss.

"Enough!" Bane demanded. "I think he got the message. Come, we must let our presence be known."

Back in the penthouse, Clark was still looking insulted by what Bruce had said about Superman rubbing him the wrong way. Even Lois and Jimmy looked worried because they knew that Clark, while selfless doesn't like it when people just assume he's a menace. Like Vicki Vale.

"But, Superman did save the city." Clark pointed out.

"Yeah, he saved it from a Kaiju." Bruce agreed. "But what has he done about that giant ever since? It must be a statue. Surely it's causing all sorts of terrible traffic."

"Well, perhaps he's a little preoccupied to deal with that." Clark began sweating.

"Or is he just lazy?" Bruce asked while staring daggers at Clark.

"Okay! How about we start the interview?!" Lois interjected.

"I heard that the city planner is planning to make the Parasite suit a landmark." Clark said.

Bruce chuckled. "The thing that almost destroyed the city because Professor Ivo just couldn't let go of a petty grudge?" He laughed. "That's like making a statue dedicated for The Joker. Whom, last year, shot Mayor Hamilton Hill and put him in a coma."

"And Batman does better?" Clark asked.

"Ooooh boy." Jimmy cringed.

"No, there's the difference between the two." Bruce said. "They do great things but come on, guy who dresses up like a bat has a lot of problems that need psychoanalysing. While Superman, well, every villain that has attacked the city, from what I heard, they were all for him. Especially that guy with the skull mask that caused severe damage to the bridge that leads to Bludhaven from Metropolis."

"But Superman saved those people." Clark argued while narrowing his eyes at Bruce. "It's not his fault he's got people after him."

"Do you wanna know why they're after him?" Bruce asked. "Guys like him with so much power, they're afraid. They're attacking because they're afraid. If they don't want him attacking, he should…I don't know, live a little normal, human life without anyone coming up with a contingency plan to eliminate him."

Clark knew he was getting angry at Bruce Wayne. Thought indirect, those comments about him felt like firing rounds of bullets right into him and each one feeling more painful than the last. Lois could see the anger in Clark's eyes that she almost swore he was about to snap that she took his hand to calm him down.

"Mr Wayne, perhaps we should start with the interview." Jimmy said.

Bruce looked to Jimmy and smiled. "Your friend's right. Let's begin the interview, Mr Kent."

Bruce began walking with Jimmy while Clark stayed behind to catch his breath while Lois just stroked his arm to calm his nerves.

"I'm sorry Lois. I almost blew it by getting personal." Clark said.

Lois sighed. "I wanted to yell at him as well. He doesn't know what you're going through right now."

"He thinks he knows what I go through trying to blend in." Clark complained.

"He doesn't!" Lois argued. "He doesn't know that Clark Kent and Superman are one in the same. I hope he doesn't anyway."

Clark exhaled. "I hope he doesn't. He really doesn't seem like the Sherlock Holmes type." Then, he began to hear the distinct sound of what sounded like helicopters thanks to his super hearing.

"Come on, let's go and expose Bruce Wayne for the scumbag that he is." Lois suggested.

Meanwhile with Jimmy and Clark, they were just talking. "…So, you haven't spent all that money on a fancy condo?"

"Nope! Still living in a two person apartment." Jimmy confirmed just as Alfred approached the two.

"Sir, Master Grayson took the car." Alfred informed his boss.

"Which car?" Bruce asked.

"'The Car.'" Alfred replied while putting emphasis on the word.

Bruce looked alarmed. "What for? Don't tell me it's for a joyride."

"The penthouse." Alfred replied. "He's heading for the penthouse."

Bruce, now majorly alarmed by this news, began to look around like he was thinking of a plan. As he did, Lois and the attentive Clark approached him.

Lois, looking determined forced her tape recorder into his face. "You promised us an exclusive Mr Wayne, and we are not leaving until we get that exclusive."

"Miss Lane, I know I did." Bruce said with a calm yet stern expression. "But I promise tomorrow."

"No, Wayne, you're doing it now." Lois argued.

"Miss Lane, this is important." Bruce said. "I need to leave, now."

"Oh, got some weapons that need importing?" Lois asked with a hint of accusation.

"Lois! I need to leave!" Bruce exclaimed. "Believe me when I say, we have a problem!"

"Lois, I think he might be right." Clark whispered to her.

Lois turned to face Clark and could tell from his face that he did indeed know that something was wrong.

Just then, a bunch of armed soldiers abseiled down the window and crashed through, startling everyone in attendance.

They aimed their weapons at the guests just as the door to the elevator dinged and out came the party crashers. Out of the elevator came a few more armed goons, Carla and Bane.

Upon seeing Bane, everyone got down on their knees in fear. Gordon, Dent and Bullock even got down to their knees to ensure that no one got hurt.

Bruce, Clark, Lois and Jimmy got down on their knees as well as they watched as Bane walked around the floor, surveying the area.

"Buenas noches, damas y caballeros!" Bane exclaimed. "We are tonight's entertainment. Let's call it a quiz night." As he spoke, the armed forces grabbed Oliver Queen and Harvey Dent as hostages. "All you have to do is answer my question. Where, is Jimmy Olsen?"

Upon hearing his name, Jimmy's heart sank in fear. Not only was he in the presence of the most feared worldwide terrorist, but he was his apparent target.

Chapter Text

It had only been a few short minutes as Bane had taken the entire penthouse hostage and Jimmy was one of the intended targets. He already had Harvey Dent and Oliver Queen, all he needed was Jimmy Olsen.

He was already in the crowd of hostages with his best friend, Clark and Lois. Plus, the guy they wanted to interview who could be a criminal mastermind, Bruce Wayne.

There was silence as no one wanted to give out information regarding where Jimmy Olsen was. This was something that Bane found slightly annoying.

"No one?" Bane asked. "Where is Jimmy Olsen?" He walked up to James Gordon and tapped his face. "Jimmy Olsen?"

Gordon narrowed his eyes at Bane in disgust while Bane searched his pockets. He pulled out a pistol and a police badge. He analysed what the badge represented and raised a brow under the mask. "James Gordon. Commissioner. You might be a James, but you are not the one I'm looking for." He walked around the room and turned to his crew. "Search the guests. We have cops here."

As Bane's crew searched the guests for any weapons or badges, Bane stood in the centre of the penthouse and turned to the guests.

"You're probably not taking me seriously right now." Bane said. "Do you know who I am?" He heard some people making sobbing noises as he walked around analysing every guest here. "Some of you of course, know me as Bane. I am the most wanted fugitive in the FBI and Interpol. I have killed people and committed acts you refer to as terrorism. But don't you worry, I have not placed bombs in or out of these buildings. But I am willing to take certain actions if James Olsen does not reveal himself. For example, a hostage will be executed if James Olsen does not reveal himself."

As this went on, Vicki was recording the entire incident on her phone not for any kind of evidence, but just for some kind of scoop.

"Carla!" Carla walked up to her boss and handed a folder. He opened it up to reveal a piece of paper. "You don't know who Jimmy Olsen is. Well…I shall share to you. See if it rings any bells." He began to read from the piece of paper. "James Ishmel Olsen. Born October 3rd, 2000, Yonkers, New York, to Jake and Sarah Olsen. Father vanished, April 30th 2000 when he went on a mission in the Southeast Asian seas, mere months before he was born. Graduated from Siegel College in Smallville, Kansas with high honours. Occupation: Daily Planet journalist and founder of Flamebird…."

As Bane continued to explain things about Jimmy, the man himself looked to be sweating buckets and looked fearful of what Bane had planned.

Clark placed a hand on his shoulder to help him calm down. "Don't worry, you're going to be okay."

"Clark, he's after me!" Jimmy whispered aggressively.

"Jimmy, you're going to get out." Lois assured him. "We just gotta think of a plan."

As this went on, Bruce looked like he was staring at Bane with suspicion. For some strange reason, he felt that there was something off about this hostage situation. He had to find out why.

Thankfully though, Clark had a plan. "Lois, I'm going to be a willing hostage." Clark whispered to her. "When the time comes, I'll incapacitate them and run out to turn into Superman."

Lois gave her boyfriend a concerned look. "Clark, will this work?"

Clark smiled. "I can't see it going wrong."

Lois took his hand. "Be safe."

"You know, I will." Clark kissed her on the lips to give her reassurance that he will be fine. "Jimmy."

"Yeah?" Jimmy responded.

"I'm going to make sure you're okay. You'll be safe, I promise."

Just before he stood up, he inhaled through his nose to prepare himself. "Take me!" Clark and some other person yelled out at the same time.

He looked to where the other voice came from and saw Bruce Wayne standing up as well. This act surprised him. Was he doing this for attention? Was he protecting Jimmy? Or was he just mad?

Bane looked at the sight of Clark and Bruce Wayne with an amused expression. "Well, two willing hostages. Bring them over."

Two of his crew shoved Bruce and Clark towards Bane, whom began to analyse them. First, he looked at Clark while narrowing his eyes.

"Hey, you punks better let go of Mr Wayne or else I'll come over and-" Then, Harvey Bullock was knocked to the ground by Carla with powerful punch.

"What a pig." Carla remarked.

"Brave of you, hombre joven." Bane remarked as Clark was forced to stand in front of him. "Sacrificing yourself to protect your best friend?"

Clark looked surprised. "You know me?"

"Course I do." Bane replied before laughing. "I took the time to study you." Instead of feeling threatened, Clark looked baffled. If he knew what he looked like, then shouldn't he know what Jimmy looked like?

Bane then narrowed his eyes at Bruce Wayne. "And you, Bruce Wayne? Even after your generous donations under your alias of Mockingbird?" Bruce narrowed her eyes at Bane as a response which made him interested. "So, you're not Mockingbird?"

"Why don't you execute me and find out?" Bruce suggested while narrowing his eyes at him.

Bane laughed. "Bold action to take, chico rico. Take them out to the corridor. Make sure it's loud enough for everyone to hear."

Two of his crew used the tips of their assault rifles to force them out of the room and into the corridor to execute them.

As they watched the two be forced into the corridor, Jimmy and Lois looked worried. "Oh no, how's Clark going to get out of this one?" Lois asked. “His identity could be compromised.”

"Uh…He lets Bruce Wayne die?" Jimmy's suggestion got Lois to narrow her eyes at him with disapproval. "I know Clark, he wouldn't do that."

"Mr Olsen, the more you delay your inevitable appointment with me, the more hostages will be executed." Bane said.

"You won't get away with this, Bane!" Gordon shouted. "You're going to be locked in Arkham Penitentiary without a trial."

"And I will break out." Bane assured the Commissioner. "Or, to prevent such a waste of time, how about I execute you?"

Harvey Bullock stood up and raised his fists. "If you wish to execute the Commissioner, you go through me!"

Bane nodded his head. "Very well. The fat one and the Commissioner are next!"

"Alright!" Jimmy said while standing up. "I am Jimmy Olsen."

Lois looked at Jimmy with terror on her face, worried for what Bane had for her friend. Even every guest in attendance was mumbling with both confusion and worry.

Bane on the other hand, looked pleased. "Couldn't save the life of your best friend, yet you saved the life of some cops. I don't know what your personality is Olsen, but it's intriguing."

Jimmy marched towards Bane with determination. "You can have me and anyone else you want. Just, let everyone else go and make sure no one else is killed."

As soon as Jimmy got close to him, Bane placed his hand on Jimmy's shoulder. "Wise decision."

Lois looked on with fear, worry and desperation. She pleaded to herself that Clark was thinking of a plan right now to save their friend.

Outside of the room, two of Bane's henchman dressed in heavily armoured vests were forcing Bruce and Clark down the corridor.

"Muévete, chico rico y periodista." One of the henchman said while tapping the back of Bruce's neck with the tip of his gun.

"Don't worry, I'm moving." Bruce assured them.

Clark was a little annoyed by what had transpired. He had planned to be a willing hostage in order to escape and change into Superman. But for whatever reason, Bruce Wayne had tagged along and was getting ready to be executed. Or perhaps, make a poor escape.

"Mr Wayne, this is ridiculous." Clark whispered to him angrily. "Are you really risking your life for this?"

Bruce gave a smug stare at Clark. "Would make for an enticing headline."

Clark narrowed his eyes at the billionaire. "Still thinking about yourself? Okay, Mr Wayne, as much as I'd like for you to not be around me, just watch out for me."

"Don't worry, I am." Bruce said to himself.

The goons forced Clark and Bruce on their knees by shoving them to the ground by grabbing them by their shoulders.

"Watch the glasses!" Clark exclaimed.

"¡Silencio tú!" He raised his hand high, ready to smack Clark.

Clark narrowed his eyes at the goon. "No me golpearía si fuera también." (I wouldn't smack me if it were too.)

The henchmen looked baffled by Clark's broken Spanish. "What?" The other henchman said.

Bruce groaned in disappointment. "So that's how it is."

"Quiet!" The henchman smacked Bruce on the back of his head. "That threat was terrible, hombre joven." He looked at Clark and the henchman that was pointing the rifle to his head. "Kill him first."

"Di adiós, tonto analfabeto." The henchman said before cocking his weapon.

In the few short seconds, Clark inhaled deeply through his nose just as he heard the henchman close to pulling the trigger that would end his life. Not Clark, the henchman.

While Bruce, took a brief glance at Clark before facing forward with a determined look, as if he was waiting for something. Like a chance to strike back.

Then, in one swift motion, Clark moved from the tip of the rifle and then grabbed it before, grabbing the crook by the collar of their shirt and shoving them against the wall.

During that moment, the other henchman was briefly distracted which gave Bruce Wayne the perfect opportunity to grab the tip of the rifle and then disarm him of his weapon.

"What?!" The henchman screamed in shock.

Then, he tried to punch Bruce Wayne, but he just grabbed him by the wrist and tossed him over his shoulder and onto the floor.

After the men had defeated their respective opponents, they each gave each other some baffled and confused stares. As Clark stared at Bruce in confusion, the goon he slammed against the wall, slid down onto the floor.

"Uh….Where did you learn those moves?" Clark asked.

"Private self defence classes." Bruce replied as he adjusted his tie. "I can't be oblivious to the dangers of being rich all the time. I thought you said you weren't a quarterback." He slowly approached Clark with a bit of a hard stare.

Clark shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, ya know, working out. Plus, my girlfriend's dad was in the military and taught her some moves she-"

"I get it, Mr Kent." Bruce assured him. "I need you to listen to me and listen to me good, leave everything to me. Dash down to the station and get help." He began walking to a red telephone on a table and turned the dial a few times to open a secret hatch in the wall.

"Where are you going?!" Clark asked in shock.

"My panic room." Bruce replied as he entered the hatch and quickly closed it so he wouldn't get a lecture from Clark.

Clark was gobsmacked from what he was seeing. He wanted to tear down the door to give Bruce Wayne a piece of his mind. But he knew that his best friend needed saving.

He super dashed down the corridor, down the multiple flight of stairs, through the reception area and out of the penthouse. As he dashed, he quickly changed into his Superman costume until he was fully dressed once he was outside.

He looked up at the building he came out of. Inside, Bane was in there about to take his best friend to who knows where.

He began to fly up towards the top floor, but just as he got close, he was suddenly tackled out of the sky by a bolt of electricity.

The bolt of electricity had just came out of nowhere, almost like a bolt of lightning. They crashed onto the ground where Superman was thankfully free from its grasp.

He quickly stood up and held on to his head to get himself together after that disorienting experience. As soon as the smoke cleared, he saw whom had tackled him out of the air.

It was none other than the Electrokinesis wielding crook, Leslie Willis AKA Livewire. She cracked her neck as the electricity traveled through her body.

"Should have stayed in Metropolis, Superman." She said as she began circling him. "You and I have unfinished business."

"I don't have time for this." Superman tried flying back to the penthouse, but Livewire began following behind.

As she flew up after Superman, she used her electric powers to control a car from below her and tossed it towards him.

He quickly turned around and caught it with his hands before Livewire fired a bolt of electricity that caused the car to blow up. The power of the blast made Superman crash on to the street with a massive thud.

As he pulled himself up, he saw that Livewire was about to perform a powerful electric slam. But before she could have the chance, Superman used his heat vision to try and stop her, but somehow, her powers got her to deflect it at a neon sign, causing it to explode into sparks of electricity.

Before she slammed down, Superman quickly dashed out of the way so she could land on the ground, and releasing a surge of electricity that caused all the power in street to flicker.

Back up in the penthouse, the lights in the whole building began to flicker. Which meant of course, everyone whom was being held hostage on the top floor could see that the lights were flickering on and off which only made their fear and panic worse. 

"What is happening out there?" Harvey Dent asked as he, Oliver and Jimmy were being forced into grey metal boxes.

"That shouldn't concern you, Mr Attorney." Bane replied. "Right now, you're our prisoner." Then, he was shoved into the box and had the lid closed on him.

Instead of being afraid, Oliver Queen was just chuckling. "I should be afraid, but I've been in tighter situations than this."

"Be afraid, Mr Queen, be very afraid." Bane retorted just as he slammed the lid shut on him.

As Lois watched helplessly at her friend being forced into the box, she began to get worried about Clark and his whereabouts.

Jimmy tried to struggle to escape, but unfortunately, Bane's crew were far too strong for his lean body. "You can't get away with this!" Jimmy cried. "SUPERMAN!"

Bane laughed. "Yes, cry for him. But make sure he can hear you." He shoved Jimmy into the grey box and slammed the lid shut. "Take them to the truck once the lights stop flickering. They're putting me off." He saw Carla looking out of the window and raised a brow. "Carla? Can you see what's causing this?"

"I can hardly see anything, Jefe." Carla replied. "I can barely make out anything from up here. I think I see….Bolts of electricity?"

"Let it play out." Bane replied. "It doesn't concern us."

Then, for some reason, the lights stopped flickering. "Finally!" Carla exclaimed as she began to step away from the window. "I swear I was going to get a seizure. Shall we wheel them out?"

"Give it five minutes." Bane replied. "I want to see if Superman will come."

"He's a little late, don't you think?" Carla remarked.

"He'll come." Bane assured his second-in-command. "Just give it some time. Believe me, he'll make his presence known."

Then, someone from the party screamed a high pitch scream and pointed to whatever was behind Bane.

Bane and every one of his crew turned around to face whatever they were screaming at and didn't see Superman, but Batman instead.

He stood by the balcony, wind blowing on his cape. There were murmurs of either fear or relief as Batman stood before the crowd of guests.

Vicki on the other hand, was recording everything with her phone and giving a small grin at the story she was about to publish for her followers.

Bane looked disappointed that this wasn't Superman, but he did look forward to what this could lead to. "Saca el murciélago!"

His crew began charging toward the Batman with their fists raised. They tried to punch Batman, but he managed to dodge the punches and then he blocked both of the attacks. He kicked their kneecaps before one of them tried to hit him in the face but the Batman just blocked it and punched the goon in the face.

The other goon punched Batman in the chest, but he just fumbled backwards and punched the goon, in the face, knocking him to the ground. Another goon, pulled out a knife from her holster and spun it in her hand.

She began running up towards Batman just as he finished incapacitating the other goon and stabbed him in the gut. But for whatever reason, he didn't budge or feel any kind of pain.

That's when she got a look at what his armour had done to her knife and saw that it was bent. Batman tilted his neck before grabbing her by the wrist and tossing her into the wall.

Some of Bane's goons pulled out a pair of rifles that they loaded and cocked them, preparing to shoot them. Then, they tried  shooting at him, but he just dived out of the way and tipped over a table so he could protect himself from the bullets.

Just as they were going to reload, Batman popped back out and threw a pair of two bat shaped boomerang like objects at their hands, causing them to drop the weapons from their hands.

Then, he jumped from over the table and tackled the goon to the floor before jumping back up and getting into a fist fight with the other goon.

They tried to punch Batman, but he just dodged every punch before punching him with a powerful uppercut to their face.

Bane saw how incompetent his crew was doing to take out Batman and cracked his knuckles. He looked to Carla and the boxes. "Carla, llévalos a los camiones." (Carla, take them to the trucks.)

"¿Qué pasa contigo?" (What about you?)

"Necesito romper este bate." (I need to break this bat.)

Carla nodded at her boss and snapped her fingers to get her crew to wheel the boxes out of the room which they complied in. As they wheeled them out, Lois saw what was going on and became worried.

Clark would tend to be here by now, but for whatever reason, he was taking his time. Something must be holding him and she needs to take things into her own hands.

Without letting anyone see her, she began to shimmy through the crowd all while still taking small glances at what was going on.

Bane began to approach Batman while cracking his neck. "You want these rich scumbags? You fight me, first."

"Why are you here, Bane?" Batman asked.

"They shouldn't matter to you." Bane replied. "But rest assured, you were never my target until now." They stood their ground for a moment, just staring at each other with their fists raised, waiting for their opponent to strike.

Batman clenched his fists tight and squinted his eyes with Bane doing the same thing. After a few more seconds, Batman threw the first punch that Bane managed to deflect.

Batman managed to get a few punches to Bane's face but didn't get far as he just stumbled a few steps backwards. Before Batman could land another punch, Bane grabbed him by the wrist.

"Tacky costume." He managed to kick Batman in his chest, causing him to stumble a bit.

Then, the two got back to exchanging random punches and kicks with each other. Both of them either blocked or managed to get a punch in, but unfortunately for both of them, they wouldn't get knocked down.

Batman tried to perform a crescent kick but the criminal mastermind just jumped backwards and tackled Batman to the floor. Just as he was about to punch him, the Batmam raised his wrist and fired a bunch of spikes from his gauntlets, causing Bane to stumble off of him which gave Batman the opportunity to kick him in the abdomen.

Meanwhile, Lois was close to exiting the room and was just close to leaving. But she couldn't keep her eyes off of the fight between Batman and Bane.

She had heard of Batman, but seeing him this close and in action was just something that needed to be seen to be believed.

Just as she was this close to escaping, she accidentally bumped into something. And that something, was Carla.

She grinned smugly. "Going somewhere, pequeña dama?"

Lois grinned. "Yeah!" She raised her fist high and punched Carla right in the jaw. But unfortunately, she didn't react to the punch, not even a flinch.

Carla smiled while Lois gave a nervous chuckle. "Could you be a pal and let me pass?"

Outside, there were five similar looking white trucks with five drivers and five passengers awaiting outside of the vehicles.

From out of the building entrance, came the subordinates carrying the three prisoners in box carriers. "Superman!" Jimmy cried. "Superman!"

"Keep screaming!" The criminal laughed. "I don't think he can hear you." He looked up, to see Superman still fighting with Livewire, not high above the ground. "He's a little preoccupied."

Above from the ground, Superman and Livewire were exchanging projectiles with each other. Superman was busy blasting his heat vision while Livewire just blocked every one of his hits.

She then shot some electricity from her fingers and that tried to hit Superman. But he just blocked the bolts of lighting by raising his arms. Despite the fact that they hurt like heck, he managed to block them for long enough to see a car coming towards him.

He caught it before dashing back down to the ground and placing it next to a parking meter where the parking had just expired.

He dashed back up to get back to fighting Livewire, who just laughed at the poor owner's misfortune. "Wow, that was super evil. He wasn't even parked near a parking meter." She remarked.

Superman cringed at his mistake before being tackled by Livewire. As she held Superman in a bear hug, she released a surge of electricity that caused him to scream. He pushed her off however, causing her to crash into a building and destroying a window.

Back in the penthouse, Batman and Bane were still in a fistfight that all the hostages have been watching for the last few minutes.

Batman tried to punch Bane in the chest, but he just deflected it. Then, Bane tried grabbing Batman by his shoulder, but the bat just kicked him in the chest, causing him to stumble backwards.

Bane grabbed him with both of his hands by the shoulders but Batman freed himself by head butting him repeatedly until he let him go.

He tried to do a spin kick, but Bane caught him by the ankle and slammed him on the floor. In that moment, Bane tried to stomp on him, but he just rolled to the right and kicked him on the leg, causing him to drop to his knee.

Then, Batman punched him in the face. Just as he was about to perform another hit, Bane grabbed him by the wrist and tried to twist it in an effort to break it but Batman responded with a kick to his face.

Bane smiled under his mask and shook his wrist. "You're putting up a good fight, camarada. I expected this from you."

"Why are you here in Gotham, Bane?" Batman asked. "Why are you kidnapping people like Oliver Queen, Harvey Dent and James Olsen? What use do they have for you?"

"Understand, I came here for business." Bane replied. "But then that business became something I needed to do. Now, a caped demonio that I have dreamt of fighting is here."

Batman narrowed his eyes at Bane as a response. "Well, I hope I lived up to your expectations."

Bane however just laughed. "Who said it was you, Batman?"

"Hey boss!" Carla interjected as she entered the room while holding a struggling Lois by her wrist. "This one was trying to get away."

"Keep her here, she could be important for later." Bane responded.

"If you're not after me, who are you after?" Batman asked.

"Hey, it's Superman!" Someone shouted out.

"What?"

"Where?"

"Who is he fighting?"

"Is that Silver Banshee?"

"No, she screams!"

From out of the window, everyone could see that Superman was in a fight with Livewire. She was currently shooting sparks of electricity from her hands that he kept avoiding.

Bane narrowed his eyes angrily at Livewire fighting Superman while Batman was looking on in astonishment among the other Gotham residents.

"First she steals my weapons and now she steals my target." Bane whispered to himself in anger.

Batman turned around to get back into the fight with Bane. There were a few punches that Batman deflected until he punched him so hard, he caused a tear in his mask.

Bane touched the small little cut on his mask, realising a bit of his cheek was exposed. "You left me no choice, Batman."

Bane took off his coat to reveal he was wearing some sort of rubber suit that covered his whole body and had tubes sticking in his arms, back and neck. He pushed a button on his wrist, causing him to cringe in pain, his eyes to glow green and to let out a mighty scream that made Batman's eyes widened in surprise.

Batman had his fists raised, ready to fight Bane again but then, unexpectedly, he punched him so hard in the chest, he flew into the wall, causing the vigilante to be rendered unconscious and for debris from the wall to collapse on top of him.

Everyone looked on in shock and terror at how easily incapacitated Bane had just rendered Batman.

Bane marched up towards Carla whom was still holding Lois by her wrist in her arm while the journalist looked at the terrorist in fear. She had heard plenty of stories about Bane, but seeing him in person was absolutely terrifying for her.

"Give her to me and get to the trucks." Bane commanded.

Carla handed the journalist to Bane who held her by the wrist with an aggressive hold. Lois tried punching her way out of his grasp but Bane just gripped her wrist a little harder, causing her to seethe in pain as she felt like the bones in her body were turning to dust.

Back outside, Superman and Livewire were busy in their fight. She was currently firing more bolts of lightning at the Kryptonian that he just kept dodging.

Then, she tried grabbing Superman by his shoulder but he grabbed her wrists and began to push them away from him so he wouldn't get electrocuted.

He was so focused on making sure he wasn't electrocuted, that he didn't hear the sound of a window shattering.

"Superman!" He heard the sound of someone crying out for him. "Superman!"

The familiar voice caused Livewire to freeze in fear. She turned to face where the voice was coming from and stared at what looked to be Bane dangling Lois Lane from the shattered window of the penthouse.

Superman froze in fear to see his girlfriend in this situation that he immediately grabbed Livewire by her collar, tossed her aside and blowing her backwards onto the roof of a nearby building and crashing into a chimney.

Superman narrowed his eyes at Bane. "Let her go!"

Bane looked at Superman with a mocking stare. "Muy mala elección de palabras." Then, he let go of Lois, causing her to begin falling to her supposed demise.

In an instant, Superman dashed down and caught her in his arms. He quickly hovered down and placed her on the streets.

"You okay?" Superman asked his girlfriend, whom was holding her wrist due to the tough grip left to her by Bane. She looked at her wrist and saw that there was a massive mark.

"Little bruised by the works but I'll be fine." Lois replied.

"I'm sorry I was taking forever." Superman said. "Livewire came out of nowhere and amb-"

"They got Jimmy." Lois interjected.

"What?" Superman reacted.

"They took Jimmy." Lois explained. "They put him, Harvey Dent and Oliver Queen in grey boxes and I think Bane said something about putting them in trucks."

"What trucks?" Superman asked before Bane landed on the ground just right behind him. But instead of Bane being hurt by the ginormous fall, he was standing like he barley had any kind of scratch on him.

He moved his shoulders round and then patted himself down. "That barely gave me a scratch."

Superman stared down at his new rival with a narrow glare. "Go find Mr Kent, Miss Lane." Superman commanded to Lois. "I'll handle him." She nodded her head and began running to find some safety while Superman went to handle Bane.

Bane cracked his neck while Superman just hovered off the ground. "Understand Superman, I consider it an honour to fight you."

"Honour or not, I'm taking you in!" Superman assured him.

Bane laughed. "That remains to be seen." Bane screamed and began charging towards Superman so he could build up the momentum to jump up and punch him. But before he could he could get a hit, Superman just flew upwards before landing back down again.

Bane tried to punch Superman, but he was a lot faster than he had anticipated as he just dodged every punch. That was until, he finally got a punch in by punching him right where his logo was, causing him to skid backwards.

Superman coughed as he did not expect a powerful punch coming from his foe. But before he had time to dodge, he was hit with a barrage of punches from the terrorist.

But before Bane could land another one, Superman managed to grab him by the wrist and shoved him into a streetlight.

Bane just laughed. "What's wrong Superman? Can't punch me?"

"You think I wish to do that?" Superman asked.

"I think you should!" Bane cracked his neck. "Because the last regret you will have before I end you, is you should have fought back."

Bane charged for Superman who just grabbed him by the collar of his suit and tossed him over his shoulder and smashed him on the ground. 

Before Superman could get up, Bane stomped him on his stomach, causing the Man of Steel to gag. Then, Bane placed his foot on Superman's neck, ready to crush it.

"Funny, I thought you would have put up more of a fight."

But before Bane could deliver a killing blow, he was suddenly tackled to the ground by Livewire. Before she could get an electric shock in him, he managed to kick her off and got back off his feet. But before he could have a chance to finish Superman, Livewire used her powers to toss a ginormous dumpster, causing him to get knocked over but still managing to land on his feet.

Bane growled at his new opponent coming towards him, hair blowing in the wind and sparks flying around her.

"Leave, Bane." Livewire warned him. "You might be strong enough to take down Superman, but I'm another story."

Bane laughed. "Don't be so naive, Willis."

Livewire grinned. "Alright, I'll believe you."

Bane took one quick glance to where Superman was standing and saw that he was gone from his peripheral vision.

Livewire began charging towards him with her fists raised. She tried punching him, but he kept avoiding every punch for some reason. That was until, Livewire grabbed him by the shoulder and began to release a surge of electricity out of her body.

Bane squirmed in what looked like agonising pain until Livewire stopped. She grinned, feeling proud for taking out the legend himself. That was until, his head shot back up and his green eyes shined right in her face.

Livewire was surprised and terrified by the sudden awakening that she didn't have time to see the punch to the gut that Bane had gave her, sending her flying backwards into a trash can.

Bane began to walk up to her while cracking his neck and shuffling his shoulders. "How?!" Livewire asked as she got back up.

"My suit is made from an alloy designed to protect me from electrical attacks just like yours." Bane explained. "I knew I would have to fight you, so I came prepared."

Livewire snarled in anger and began charging towards Bane. They began to exchange punches with each other with every gigawatt of electricity rendering him unaffected.

Bane smacked his hands against Livewire's ears, causing her to be affected with temporary tinnitus before being hit with a pummel of punches in the stomach, face, leg, arm and chest. Before shoving her against the wall.

Livewire narrowed her eyes at Bane as she wiped away some blood dripping from her mouth. "Alright, it's going to take a lot of my energy to beat you."

Bane laughed. "Surprise me, bruja."

Meanwhile, Superman was flying around Gotham in an attempt to find a truck that had Jimmy. He began hovering over the city to see if he can see the distinct truck. As he looked around the city all he saw were cop cars, civilian cars, oil trucks and vans.

Until, he finally found a distinct white truck just turning past the Iceberg Lounge. He used his X-Ray vision to look at what was in the background which was a distinct grey box made from lead. He couldn't see what was inside the box but he could hear someone banging against the box, meaning someone was inside.

He quickly flew towards the truck and landed in front of it so he could grab it by the head lights, crushing it so hard that it caused a few dents.

The driver and the passenger jumped out of the vehicle with their rifles at the ready and aimed them at their target. Superman disarmed the first one and shoved them to the road.

While the other punched him in the back of his shoulder, causing his knuckles to crack. The Man of Steal turned to face them and threw him toward a nearby cop car that had just parked up.

A couple of police officers jumped out of the vehicle and began to apprehend the unconscious goons that Superman had knocked to the ground before they had the chance to escape.

"Superman, what's going on?" One of the cops asked.

Superman, in desperation, tore through the door of the ginormous crate and pulled the box out. He tore it open with a brief smile on his face that quickly vanished when he realised it wasn't Jimmy he rescued, but Harvey Dent.

Harvey, dazed and confused popped out of the box while holding on to his head. "Thank you, Superman." He said. "I was getting a little worried."

"Mr Dent, I need you to tell me, where were they taking you?" Superman asked.

"I have no idea." Harvey replied. "Did you beat Bane?"

"Working on that." Superman replied as he began to desperately look around the city for any sign of the truck that might have Jimmy inside.

"Hey, you probably didn't get the message from your pal Clark Kent." Harvey said as he adjusted his tie and not acknowledging his saviour's desperation on his face. "I appreciate the work you do to help save your city and I'm glad you've taken the time to give some assistance to Batman. Whom, between you and me, is indeed real." Superman looked back at Dent and realised there was a red dot pointed on the right side of his cheek.

"Mr Dent!" Superman quickly grabbed a hold of Harvey and used his back as a shield to protect the DA from a bullet which deflected off of him.

He looked to where the bullet came from which was down an ally. But the way the bullet flew towards him, made it look like it was coming from an upwards angle.

He used his X-Ray vision to look far ahead where he saw what looked to be a familiar someone. It was a member of Task Force X. Specifically, the one with the orange mask and high tech body armour.

He was lying on his stomach wielding a sniper in his hands and cocking it. He gave a wave towards Superman and motioned him to come toward him.

Superman narrowed his eyes at Slade. He knew he should go after his best friend, but the DA was almost killed and he had to stop this assailant.

He quickly flew to where Slade was which was on top of some old decrepit building known as The Kane & Finger.

Superman narrowed his eyes at the mercenary whom had just got his swords out and pointing one of them at the Man of Steel.

"Thought that would get your attention." Slade remarked.

"Risking the life of Gotham's DA just to get my attention?" Superman remarked. "I don't have time to deal with your nonsense and accusations."

"After that incident on some farm on Kansas, you're worth my own." Slade retorted before wrapping Superman in a grapple around his waist.

Superman tried to break out of the tight bondage, but then an electric shock ran through his entire system, causing him to scream in pain.

Slade tried to hit him with his red sun charged swords but thankfully, Superman managed to get out of the rope just in time and quickly dodged the incoming attack by dashing to the side.

Slade tried to hit Superman with some of his swords but he just dodged every hit by either dashing, ducking or just jumping over him.

The mercenary then tried slicing him lengthways, but then the Man of Steel got on his knees and performed a crescent kick that Slade somehow jumped over and kicked him in the face.

He tried to stab Superman, but then, the hero grabbed the blade with his hands and then kicked the mercenary backwards into a chimney.

Slade stood up and cracked his neck. "Impressive, your fighting's gotten better. But it doesn't hold a candle to mine."

Slade put away his swords and began doing small jumps while his fists were raised, ready to take down his opponent.

Superman narrowed his eyes at Slade before dashing forward towards him and tried to grab the mercenary. But then, Slade grabbed his wrist and tossed him over his shoulder.

Before the mercenary could stomp on his face, Superman knocked his knee, causing him to fall to the floor. That was until, Superman jumped up and manhandled him.

He began flying upwards still carrying his opponent, until he felt a shock on the back of his shoulder. That was because, Slade had placed the palm of his hand on the back of his shoulder and was currently electrocuting him.

Then, the Man of Steel tossed Slade on a nearby roof of an apartment complex. The mercenary looked at his armour and noticed that there were some sparks sparking on his arm.

Slade jumped back and saw Superman was attempting to fly away. "Oh no you don't!"

Slade fired his grappling hook and attached it around Superman's ankle. He tried pulling himself off of the rope but then he felt another surge of electricity pass through him, causing him to scream in pain.

Then, the mercenary began spinning him over his head, causing the Man of Steel to get very dizzy from the wind and blurry images passing around him. Then, Slade slammed him on the roof, causing a small crater to appear around him.

Back outside the tower, Livewire wasn't doing so well. She was being pummelled to high heavens by Bane. He punched her, kneed her, elbowed her, slammed her head against the wall and tossed her against the trash can.

Livewire coughed and spat out some saliva as the heavy beating from Bane finally took a toll on her. She felt bruised, cut and broken from all the hits she had taken.

"Look at you, all that power and yet all you got out of me was a scratch." Bane remarked as Livewire tried to stand up but couldn't do so for how weak she was. "Don't you have any kind of fight in you?"

She growled before firing a voltage of electricity straight at him, but due to the suit, it did absolutely nothing to slow him down.

"Come on, you can do better than that." Bane said as she stood up.

She tried to punch him, but then he grabbed her wrist and dislocated it, causing her to scream in pain. "You have to be powerful if you want to beat me. I will let what you did to me slide." Livewire dropped on her knees and coughed.

"Why?" Livewire asked.

"I need something from you." Bane replied. "I need you to be a test subject."

Livewire scoffed. "Just snap my neck."

"I wasn't asking." He retorted before he heard the sound of sirens coming toward him and her. "Oh, the cavalry." He looked up to the night sky and cracked his neck. "Nos vemos pronto, Superman." Before opening up a nearby sewer grate, picking up Livewire, tossing her in and climbing down the ladder.

Before he closed it, he looked at the night sky for the last time. "Nos vemos pronto." He closed the lid so he could avoid the police.

Back inside the tower, Gordon was taking the lead in making sure everyone was safe. "Nobody leaves the penthouse until we are sure that it's safe to leave." Bullock then approached Gordon. "Detective Bullock, I want you to search the tower for any sign of Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent."

Then, from out the rubble Batman burst out, covered in dust. He coughed just as the crowd stared at him in awe and horror all except for Gordon, Bullock, Alfred and Lucius.

"Don't worry Gordon, Mr Wayne and Kent are safe." Batman assured the commissioner. "Mr Wayne's hiding in his panic room while Mr Kent should have been dashing to the station."

Gordon noted the crowd of people whom were all staring at Batman, as they realised that this urban myth was in fact real and in front of their very eyes.

Gordon saw what was going on and looked worried while Batman looked absolutely calm. Bullock on the other hand, was doing his best.

"Alright, nothing to see here!" Bullock exclaimed. "No man in a bat suit. It's just a stunt performer not the actual Batman!"

Gordon pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "I don't believe it."

"What happened?" Batman asked. "What of Bane?"

"Well, according to eyewitness reports, he was fighting Leslie Willis and somehow beating her to a pulp." Gordon replied. "Earlier, he was somehow kicking the snot out of Superman before he flew away."

"Where is he now?" Batman asked.

"Who?"

"Both." Batman replied.

"Bane disappeared into a sewer grate while Superman-" Before he was about to inform the vigilante, Gordon heard some chatter on his radio com attached to his chest.

"All units, Superman has been sighted on top of Dark Hill Apartments fighting a masked assailant in a tech suit. Do you have any responders close by?"

"This is Gordon, sending someone over now." Gordon replied. "Hey, think you could-" But before he could finish asking, Gordon realised that Batman was gone. He looked around the penthouse for any sign, but none whatsoever. He sighed in annoyance. "Every time."

Back at the apartment complex, Superman was still busy fighting Slade. He slid across the across the roof while Slade just did small jumps on the spot since he felt pumped.

"Have to say Superman, you still disappoint me." He remarked. "For a man from another world, you sure are good at losing to mere mortals like us."

"I don't have time for this." Superman tried to hit Slade with his heat vision, but he quickly summoned a shield gauntlet and managed to deflect it back at Superman, causing him to be hit in the stomach.

He got knocked to the floor just as Slade jumped in the air, preparing to slice him with his sword. The Man of Steel dashed out of the way and shoved Slade off of the roof.

He was about to save his life, until he saw a grappling hook attach to the ledge and Slade jumped back up.

Slade narrowed his eyes at Superman before pulling his dual wield swords out and charging towards his target.

He tried to dodge the blades, but unfortunately they managed to hit him around his body causing some distinct slashes on his stomach and face.

Superman quickly managed to deflect the next hit, before the mercenary kicked the superhero in the face, knocking him to the floor.

He tried to get back up, but Slade just used the handle of his sword to knock him down to the floor. Slade laughed as he placed the tip of his sword on Superman's neck.

"Ah, I finally got you at last." Slade remarked. "How about we make this painful enough so you know what it's like to be one of us?"

Superman, narrowed his eyes at Slade while using his hand to grab a nearby fuse box he was about to use as a weapon to knock him to the ground. But he looked it as he heard something coming close towards them.

"Any last words, Superman?"

Before Superman could respond, a black shadow tackled Slade to the ground. The mercenary managed to kick him off and jumped back up with his swords still in hand as he looked at his assailant.

In front of him was none other than Batman in all his glory. Superman, quickly sat up to stare at his saviour with shock on his face. Seeing him in person really was something unbelievable to him. He heard the stories. Seeing him in person was essentially like seeing a superhero from a comic book popping up from the panels. 

Slade cracked his neck as he narrowed his eyes at Batman. "Do you mind? I'm trying to save the planet."

"Your fight belongs in Metropolis, not here." Batman retorted. "Or simply put…" Batman cracked his knuckles. "…Get out of my city, or I will make you."

"I can take it from here." Superman said.

"Stand aside." Batman demanded. "He's mine."

Superman grabbed his shoulder in an effort to stop him. "No. I cannot have a vigilante interfere."

Batman grinned. "I thought you'd say that." He then tossed a smoke grenade to Superman's face, causing him to be blinded. He groaned as he held his hands to his face due to the intense blinding flash.

Slade aimed his sword at Batman. "He is mine, Batman."

"I wasn't here for him." Batman retorted before charging towards his opponent.

Slade tried to hit Batman with his swords, but the masked vigilante just raised his gauntlets and snapped the blades in two.

Slade was in shock by what had transpired and tossed his broken blades aside. "Very well. You might have disarmed me, but you don't know what I am capable of."

"Give me your best shot." Batman said.

Slade charged towards Batman to try and punch him. But the Caped Crusader managed to block every one of his punches and kicks without even trying.

Slade did punch him a few times, but the Batman just parried his hits back to him. The mercenary tried to hit him with his wrist mounted blaster, but the vigilante just threw one of his Batarangs at the tip, causing it to blow up in his face.

Slade was shocked by how quickly Batman was beating him in their first fight. But he quickly jumped back up and performed a drop kick, causing the Batman to fall to the ground.

Before Slade could beat him up, the Batman kicked him in the stomach and then kicked him in the ankle, causing him to fall on the ground.

The mercenary quickly bounced back up and pulled out his bo-staff and tried to hit Batman with it. However, the crusader managed to deflect every one of the hits. Then, he disarmed the mercenary of his weapon and snapped it in two with his knee.

Slade quickly pulled out what looked to be a gun, before Batman snatched it out of his hand and disassembled it.

Slade punched Batman in the face before trying another one which he stopped by grabbing his wrist and using it to hit him in the face. Then, Batman jumped in the air and kicked him in the mask before going at him with a barrage of punches to his face.

Slade tried to punch Batman, but the Caped Crusader just jumped over him and kicked him in his back, causing him to crash on to the ledge, causing a loud shatter.

Slade stood up to reveal that the right side of his mask had shattered, revealing his working eye. Slade stared at Batman with an intrigued and terrified look on his face. He was impressed at how a man, he had somehow met managed to somehow best him in their first fight. It was almost like, they had fought before.

"How?" Slade asked. "How did you best me? It's almost like, you know me. Have we met before? Your combat seems familiar. I haven't seen something like this since…." He froze with realisation as he realised who Batman was. "…Tibet. No. It can't be."

"Good to see you again, Slade." Batman retorted.

Slade narrowed his eyes in anger at Batman and gave a vengeful growl at him. The stare he gave the Bat was one of vengeance and a grudge that had yet to be rid of.

Once Superman got his vision back, he saw Batman and Slade just staring at each other. He looked between Batman and Slade just as he stood up.

"Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse." Slade narrowed his eye at Batman. "I will take what you took from me." He then stared at Superman, who looked like he was about to attack. "And don't think you're off the hook. You're a priority. See you soon." He tossed a smoke grenade to the roof, causing a large burst of smoke to surround him.

Superman quickly used his super breath to blow the smoke away in an effort to stop him. But once he cleared the smoke, the mercenary was gone.

Superman looked frustrated whilst Batman seemed to be giving off a deadpan look. "He got away!"

"He'll be back." Batman retorted just as he began walking to the ledge. But he stopped once Superman dashed in front of him, blocking his path.

"I've had many fails tonight, but you're coming with me." Superman protested.

"Go back to Metropolis." Batman commanded. "This isn't your playground." The Caped Crusader just casually walked past Batman like he wasn't a threat, surprising Superman.

Before he could jump off, Superman grabbed him by the shoulder in an attempt to stop him. "You're a vigilante! I'm taking you in!"

"Go ahead." Batman quickly flashed his cape to Superman's face, causing the superhero to become disoriented.

Then Batman did a roll before tossing a couple of his bat shaped boomerangs at Superman, that just shattered upon impact with his body.

Superman dashed towards Batman and grabbed him by the arm. But somehow, Batman managed to free himself from his grasp and placed a small device on Superman's chest.

That device, happened to be a bat shaped thruster that sent Superman skidding backwards toward the ledge before he was able to fall off.

Superman stood back up and narrowed his eyes at Batman. "Who are you?!"

"Why don't you find out?" Batman asked.

Superman used his x-ray vision to look at Batman and his mask. He looked through what was under Batman's mask and was in for a shock of his life. Under that mask was none other than Bruce Wayne.

Superman gasped and took a few step back. "Bruce Wayne?"

"You shouldn't have peeked." Batman said. "Believe me, that was your biggest mistake. I shall see you later…" He began walking backwards towards the ledge. "….Superman. Or, would you prefer, Clark Kent?"

Superman gasped in horror and disbelief as he felt his heart race. He found out who Batman was and vice versa.

He had always worried what would happen if people thought about his identity. But his last few minutes with Batman have taught him not to underestimate him.

Just as Superman was close to getting answers out of him, Batman jumped off the ledge. He ran towards the ledge and looked down to catch a sign of him. But unfortunately, Batman was not anywhere to be seen. He was gone.

Superman wanted to come after Batman, but he knew he had an important matter that needed attending to. "Jimmy!" He jumped up into the air and began to hover up in the city.

He looked at the dark, dimly lit city that he searched at with desperation and worry. He had a lot of problems right now. Bane, Livewire, Slade and now Batman. But there was one issue that he wanted to sort out first, and that was to find Jimmy.

He flew out into the night sky to find his best friend, no matter how long it would take.

Chapter Text

It was morning in the Royal Gotham Hotel and Lois was sitting on her and Clark's bed, wide awake and looking out the window that lead to the balcony.

She had spent all night in the hotel after the party for safety. She was worried about Clark, whom had been out as Superman for so long that she was worried if Bane or someone else had gotten to him.

She had tried calling him but he wasn't answering her messages. She didn't want anything bad happening to Clark but Gotham was new territory for them, who knows what could have happened?

But not just him, Jimmy as well. Captured by a notorious criminal and terrorist: Bane. She was worried for his safety and hoped that Clark would find him as soon as possible.

She grabbed her phone to check if he had left any messages overnight, but she couldn't see any. "Clark, where are you?"

Then, she heard the sound of the door opening and sat up to see Clark, dressed in his evening wear and looking tired.

"Clark!" Lois ran towards her boyfriend and tackled him in a hug that he returned.

She pulled out to look at his face and saw that he had bags under his eyes. "Clark?"

Clark sighed sadly. "I couldn't find him."

"Clark…."

Clark marched towards the bed and groaned in defeat. "I searched the city from top to bottom! I even checked the Bludhaven border and I couldn't find him! It's like he disappeared." Lois sat next to Clark and took his hand into her's so he knew that she was here for him. "I tried listening for him, I tried finding Bane, but there was nothing that could lead me to him."

"We're going to find him." Lois assured him.

"I should have tried harder!" Clark exclaimed before standing up and walking around the room. "If I just, did more then I would have found him!"

"Clark…"

"I shouldn't have got into that fight with Livewire and Bane and instead, do everything I could to save Jimmy!" Clark held his hands by his head. "He's probably wondering where I am! Thinking I'm not going to-"

"Clark!" Lois interjected as she took his jacket. "Don't beat yourself! We are going to find him! You did all you could to find him! We will rescue him and he will be okay!" Lois calmed down. "I promise."

Clark stared at Lois just as tears fell from his eyes that she wiped away with her hands. "It'll be okay." Lois assured him. She then kissed his hands to comfort him.

Clark sighed and sat down on the bed with Lois to calm down, talk and perhaps come up with a plan to find Jimmy.

"Did anything else happen?" Lois asked.

"One of the Task Force X guys is here." Clark explained. "The one with swords."

Lois narrowed her eyes. "Dad."

"I don't think he's behind it." Clark assured her. "I hope not anyway. But that sword guy was there and tried to kill the District Attorney to get my attention."

"That's…A very impulsive and dangerous risk to get your attention." Lois remarked. "Attempting to kill someone who is doing something about the city."

"But then, Batman tackled that Agent and fought him." Clark explained. "He unfortunately got away and I fought Batman."

"You fought Batman?!" Lois exclaimed. "What happened?!"

"Well, somehow, he was able to fight back against me." Clark explained. "I couldn't even take him in. But the most baffling part is, he evaded me by jumping off a building. Then, when I looked down, he was suddenly gone. Like, he just vanished from existence."

Lois gasped. "So that means, Batman is a supernatural being?"

"No." Clark responded. "I saw who Batman was through his mask."

Lois looked surprised. "What? You saw who he was?"

"Yes."

Lois placed her hand on her mouth. "Oh…My gosh…That's huge. Who is it?"

"I know this may seem hard to believe, but Batman is-"

"Bruce Wayne?" Lois reacted as she looked at the door.

Standing in the doorway was none other than Bruce Wayne. Clark gasped in shock over his sudden appearance in their room, knowing who he really was.

"What are you doing here?" Clark asked as he stood up off the bed looking angry at him for being here.

"Sorry, I didn't know if you wanted me to come in due to the door being open." Bruce said. "But if it's too…" He noticed that the legs of the bed were broken and sighed. "Okay." Then he walked in the room and shut the door. "We still have that interview we need to do."

Lois stood up and put on a professional face. "Oh yes! Me and Clark are going to interview you. Jimmy can't make it…Because…"

"It's okay." Bruce stared at Clark. "I believe Superman has the situation under control, though I think Batman could handle a bit more efficiently."

Clark narrowed his eyes at Bruce. "I believe Superman can do just as fine."

"And how's he going?" Bruce asked, causing Clark to clench his fist.

"So, what do you wish to start with Mr Wayne?" Lois asked. "Actually, I should start with the first question, how did you know what room we were in?"

"I own this hotel." Bruce replied as he closed the curtains. "Asking your whereabouts from Carol was easy."

"Uh….What's going on?" Lois chuckled nervously.

"It's okay." Bruce assured them as he turned on a nearby lamp. "Nothing bad is going to happen. Well, I hope not anyway."

Clark briefly got into a defence position just in case Bruce had something up his sleeve to hurt him or Lois. He used his x-ray vision to look through Bruce's suit and saw that he had one of those bat boomerangs up his sleeve that he looked like he was getting ready to throw.

"Listen Clark, I just need to ask you a question: Does she know?"

Lois became worried at what Bruce was implying and looked at him nervously. "What don't I know?"

"Mr Wayne, what do you think she might not know?" Clark asked.

"I don't know." Bruce replied. "Have you showed her your cape?"

Lois instantly knew what Bruce was implying and began to sweat. "Uh…Are you saying that, my boyfriend is…Batman?"

Clark looked at Lois with a surprised expression on his face. "Really?"

"What?" Lois reacted.

Bruce laughed. "Him? Batman? Sure. I can believe that."

Clark and Lois looked surprised. "Huh?"

"Oh yeah, big build, similar height, anyone could think that." Bruce said. "Except we have a problem. He's not Batman, he's Superman."

Lois and Clark froze in fear until over that revelation. Then, the silence broke when Lois just began laughing. "My boyfriend, Superman?!" Lois wiped a stray tear from her eye which Clark noticed as either a nice touch or her being very anxious. "Yeah! And I'm Catwoman. Mr Wayne, I know Clark, we have a bond I can rely on. If he was Superman then, let's face it, I probably wouldn't survive mating with him." Bruce exhaled and began walking around the room. "I mean, could you imagine what would happen if Superman was in a relationship with anyone? I don't know if it could work. Granted, it might work. I mean, who knows if Superman has a girlfriend?" Lois and Clark took nervous glances at each other. "Or maybe he might have a boyfriend? Or…Perhaps another kind of partner? But, I am flattered you think I am Superman's girlfriend but I am very much happy with-"

Suddenly, Bruce tossed the bat boomerang from his sleeve and it hit Clark in the chest. This action caused Lois to freeze in terror while chuckling nervously. Whereas Clark was put off by the sudden action despite knowing what he was about to do.

"….Clark?" Lois looked to her boyfriend with a concerned look on her face.

Clark took off his glasses and placed them on a nearby counter. "Yes Mr Wayne, she knows. But you also revealed your secret."

Lois picked up one of the broken pieces of the little gizmo that Bruce threw at Clark. Despite it being shattered in two, by analysing at the piece she was holding and the one on the floor and mentally piecing them back together, she figured it resembled a bat.

Lois gasped and dropped it to the floor. "Oh my….God!" Lois exclaimed. "You're Batman?!"

"I am." Bruce replied bluntly.

Lois was in complete shock. "I…I…I don't believe it!" She narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you want? I know you don't like Superman!"

"I never said I disliked him." Bruce retorted.

"So, what is this Bruce Wayne persona?" Lois asked. "Do you just….Pretend to be some kind of eccentric and wild billionaire to hide the fact that you're a violent vigilante?!" She crossed her arms. "Very clever."

"Violent might be a stretch." Bruce retorted as he began walking around the room.

"Wait, how did you manage to figure out my identity?" Clark asked.

Bruce picked up Clark's glasses and began to analyse them. "These glasses might fool people like Gordon and Bullock, but not me." He began to tap the lenses and raised a brow, surprised that they were real, before putting them back on the mantle piece. He turned to face the couple. "Listen, I know we might not agree with each other…"

"You're a vigilante." Clark said. "I should take you in!"

Bruce crossed his arms. "I wouldn't do that."

"Why not?!" Lois grinned as she picked up one of the pieces of his bat boomerang. "These have your fingerprints on them! Plus, two eyewitnesses who have seen you throw that Batarang-"

"Batarang?" Bruce asked.

"Boomerang and bat…Like it?" Lois remarked. "People will know that Bruce Wayne and Batman are the same person and you got no leverage against us!"

Bruce instead of feeling threatened just smiled. "Impressive, but your fingerprints are on them as well."

Lois tossed the first half on the floor and just pointed at the other piece. "That one doesn't."

"Let's face it Mr Wayne, we can expose you." Clark said with a smug grin.

Bruce gave a small applaud. "You're right. You could."

Clark and Lois instantly became alarmed by how calm he was acting about this situation. "Uh…Mr Wayne?"

"You got your leverage against me…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folder. "….I got mine." He handed the folder to Lois.

She opened it and pulled out a few pieces of paper. Clark looked over Lois' shoulder to see what she was looking at. What they saw was shocking.

There were pictures of Clark and Superman side-by-side, some pictures of Clark changing into Superman and an overhead picture of buildings in Metropolis with lines drawn around that looked like trails.

They looked at where these trails lead, most of them ending in either The Daily Planet, Lois' apartment or Clark and Jimmy's apartment.

It was at this moment they knew that Bruce Wayne had all the evidence to expose Clark Kent as Superman to the world.

"It's amazing what a satellite can achieve." Bruce remarked. "I have evidence to expose you. If my secret gets out, the world will know Clark Kent and Superman are the same person."

"Hey Lois, could I see that?" Clark took the papers from Lois' hand and then used his heat vision to burn the papers into ash. "What evidence?" Clark and Lois gave Bruce a smug grin.

Bruce sighed. "Well, I got copies, USB sticks, folders I have enlisted to trusted allies…." He noted the shocked faces on Clark and Lois. "…I got almost a contingency plan for anything."

"What do you want?!" Clark asked. "If you want us out of Gotham, that's out of the question! Because I'm not leaving without Jimmy!"

"And we're not leaving without knowing if you're Mockingbird!" Lois protested. "I don't care if you have evidence on my boyfriend, we will not-"

"I know." Bruce said.

"Huh?" Clark and Lois were shocked.

"I know you're too stubborn." Bruce said. "You did try to take me on after all." Bruce noted to Clark, whom just had his arms folded. "I know you won't leave Gotham no matter what I do. But unfortunately, I think I need your help on this."

"What makes you think we wanna help you?!" Lois asked accusingly. "You just blackmailed us!"

"Exactly." Bruce said. "But, you do need my help. I know you have a problem with seeing through lead."

Clark looked to one side with embarrassment. "That's….A problem."

"The point is, we might need to team up to deal with finding Jimmy, stopping Bane, exposing Mockingbird and bringing in Slade." Bruce suggested.

"Who?" Lois and Clark asked.

"Perhaps I need to explain the adversaries we are facing." Bruce placed a small bat shaped device on the desk and activated it, causing it to project a holographic image of Bane. "Pretty sure you know of Bane. One of the most wanted terrorists in the entire world."

"Doesn't he know about 13 languages?" Lois asked.

"Fifteen." Bruce replied. "Committed around 24 acts of terrorism in the span of three years ever since he made his presence known. Additionally, 36 kidnapping charges, 22 assassinations, drug manufacturing and 122 assault charges. The only reason why people haven't taken him down, is because they're afraid of him. He has handed them death threats, bomb threats, killed their friends, families, their families friends; even if someone comes this close to getting him. Not even the US government wanna lay their hands on him."

"So, he's essentially the modern day Al Capone?" Clark asked.

"I wouldn't compare him to Al Capone." Bruce retorted. "Not even Al Capone would do the stuff he did. But the question on our minds is, why is Bane here?"

"Well, kidnapping I assume." Clark theorised.

"Correct, but why did he kidnap Jimmy Olsen of all people?" Bruce asked.

"Because he's rich." Lois stated. "I thought that would have been obvious."

"Bane has held billionaires for ransom." Bruce replied. "So why did he not kidnap people like Ted Kord or me? He got Oliver Queen and Harvey Dent, why didn't he capture anyone else? He wanted Jimmy Olsen specifically because he called him out at the party."

"I don't know." Clark shrugged his shoulders. "Turn his app into Pro-Bane propaganda?"

"I heard Bane tell Jimmy to cry out for you." Lois informed her boyfriend. "And he said it like he wanted it."

"Then it's clear, you're the target, not Jimmy." Bruce said.

Clark gave a guilty look as he realised that his actions as Superman has put his best friend in jeopardy. “I’m sorry, Jimmy.” Lois took his arm to comfort him, but she could tell that it wasn’t really doing much to deal with his guilt. 

"Additionally, Bane has captured Leslie Willis, Drury Walker and Matt Hagen." Bruce informed them while showing projections of the criminals he listed. "Whatever his intentions are with them, I intend to find out."

"Was there any information about his whereabouts?" Clark asked.

Bruce swiped the projection of the criminals to show live footage of Harvey Bullock interrogating two of Bane's criminals.

"Check for yourself."

"Alright you scumbags, how's about you tell me everything you can about where Bane and Oliver Queen are? Or otherwise I'll give you a taste of my prized weapons, Bill & Bob?”Harvey showed the goons his knuckles.

"No revelaremos nuestros secretos a los cerdos gordos, sólo a Bane." They responded simultaneously.

Harvey just froze in wide eyed confusion. "Que?"

"They won't spill secrets about Bane." Bruce replied. "Every interview that has been conducted with anyone with an affiliation to Bane won't reveal anything about him. It's almost like they're a part of a cult. I don't think breaking a few bones will help."

"It won't." Clark narrowed his eyes at Bruce.

"It tends to have positive results." Bruce retorted. "Moving on, there's still that Mockingbird problem. We still don't know who they are. So I hope your suspicions about me being Mockingbird have been put to rest."

"Pretty much so." Clark replied. "What about everyone else?"

"Well…." Bruce swiped to some footage of Vicki Vale on a desk reporting for the Gotham Gazette.

"As you can see from this footage, Bruce Wayne and Bane appear to be talking to each other. Professional lip readers have come to the conclusion that the two of were talking about Mockingbird. The weapons dealer importing weapons to criminals such as the as mentioned Bane and Leonard Snart. It looked like Mr Wayne was about to be executed along with Daily Planet journalist Clark Kent. But for some reason, they weren't executed and instead saved by Batman whom incapacitated their would-be executioners. Or so Bruce Wayne says. But how do we know those criminals weren't just playing along with the con and Bruce Wayne is indeed Mockingbird? He is the head CEO! He is the one who is authorising everything! He is clearly the one dealing these weapons as they have his logo! They're his weapons! He knows what he is doing!"

Lois looked baffled. "That's the problem? Vicki slandering you?"

"She's just an annoying nuisance, not a problem." Bruce replied. "But, within the next few weeks, she could be. The more people listen to her slandering conspiracy theories about me, the more likely police will search every property I occupy and find out that Bruce Wayne and Batman are the same person. That's why I need to find Mockingbird and bring them to the police and fast."

"And what of this Slade?" Clark asked.

"What kind of name is Slade?" Lois asked. "I mean, that name sounds super fake. His name's probably Wade." She seemed slightly amused by the name.

"I don't think so." Clark said.

"Laugh at his name all you want, but he is one of the most dangerous mercenaries in the world." Bruce explained before swiping to a picture of Slade in some other getup. One that appeared to be made from a rough material compared to his high tech suit with orange on one side and blue on the other. "You now know him as Slade, but he's known by another name, Deathstroke. He takes contracts from anybody and he doesn't care who. Dictators, billionaires, governments, he doesn't care just as long as he has a job to complete."

"Have you encountered him before?" Clark asked. "Sounds like you have."

Bruce gave a long pause that looked like he was reminiscing. "….Yeah. I've met him a few times. You're lucky to be alive."

"But is he a threat?" Lois asked. "Will he get in our way?"

"He will be a distraction." Bruce replied. "But as far as I'm aware of, he has little connection to Bane or Mockingbird and is just a dog on the US government's leash."

"Well, that's a way to put it." Clark remarked.

"So, now we know who we're dealing with, what's the plan?" Lois asked.

"Clark and I will find Bane at night. Because when we find Bane, we find Jimmy and Oliver Queen." Bruce replied.

"But why night?!" Clark asked.

"I work better at night." Bruce replied. "I understand you work 24 hours a day. But going out in the day would be too much of a risk. Especially with Slade having his sights set on you."

"And what of him?" Clark asked.

"If he attacks, let me worry about him." Bruce replied. "You don't know him like I do."

"And what about me?" Lois asked. "You don't expect me to stay in the hotel and do nothing, right?"

"I would suggest you'd stay here for your safety." Bruce replied. "But reading your assessment, I know that you're impulsive, you like to commit trespassing, you get into dangerous situations even when people tell you not to…"

Lois looked insulted by his analysis. "Why don't you tell me what fragrance I was wearing last night while you're at it?"

"You tend to apply a Vanilla flavoured perfume on your neck, according to the scent I got out of you from last night." Bruce replied.

Lois narrowed her eyes at him. "What are you?! A detective as well?!"

"I do a lot of detective work." Bruce replied. "But what I'm asking you is to find out when the latest weapon's deal is happening. That way you can find the proof that I'm not Mockingbird and publish it to the Planet."

"Yeaaah, that's going to be an issue." Lois said. "Gotham is a very dangerous place." Lois gave a smug grin. "But I can handle myself."

"Yeah, her Dad was in the military." Clark informed him.

"Yes, I know that." Bruce replied. "I'm aware of your father's military background. But, you can never be too sure, so I'm sending someone to assist you."

Lois chortled. "The butler?"

"No. Alfred helps in the Batcave." Bruce responded as he picked up the holographic projection device.

Clark and Lois stared at Bruce in shock. "The butler knows?!"

"Since day one." Bruce replied as he opened the curtains. "Remember Clark, night, we meet. Top of Ace Chemicals. Make sure you're in costume."

"Hey Clark, can we talk?" Lois pulled Clark aside so they could talk. "Can we trust him?"

"I'm not sure." Clark replied. "But he seems to know things."

"But he has dirt on you!" Lois exclaimed. "If he sends this out then you will be hunted relentlessly! Maybe we should find Jimmy on our-"

"No. Something tells me that Bruce might be right about Slade." Clark said. "If I just go out there in the city looking for Jimmy then there's a chance I'll get into another fight with him."

"But what do we do during the day?!" Lois asked. "We can't just stay in our room and wait for sunset."

"We should investigate." Clark suggested. "We might find some information about Bane, Mockingbird and Slade that we don't know."

Lois sighed. "Okay. I still don't trust Bruce, but at this rate, I will do everything I can to help you find Jimmy."

Clark gave his girlfriend a grateful smile. "Thank you, Lois." He kissed her forehead and turned to where Bruce was standing. "Mr Wayne, I-" He stopped talking when he suddenly realised that Bruce was no longer standing where he was.

Lois looked at where Clark was looking and stared at the empty room with a baffled expression. "Uh…."

"How did he do that without opening the door?" Clark began walking to the balcony. "And the doors to the balcony are closed." He looked at his girlfriend, who just shrugged her shoulders as a response to Bruce's inexplicable exit.

Chapter Text

Somewhere in Gotham, in some rundown apartment, Slade, wearing nothing but a pair of shorts, was busy doing aggressive push ups on the floor. He was currently trying to build up strength after his scuffle with Batman. After each push up he performed, he added a clap to it.

Then, he heard the sound of his communication device going off and jumped back up on his feet to answer it. He walked to his desk and placed the device in his ear.

"Agent Wilson."

"Agent Wilson, what happened last night?"

He groaned upon hearing the voice of his boss. "I had the target. He's gotten better at combat. But I was still able to almost stop him."

"Until your efforts were halted by Batman?" Slade did not respond to the question and looked at his reflection in a mirror, reflecting on his failure. "Agent Wilson. Were your efforts into eliminating Superman terminated by Batman. Can you confirm it, or not?"

"I confirm." Slade replied.

"You were close to getting rid of the problem and yet you retreated like a deserter."

"Well we can't have the Gotham police force after us." Slade replied. "If Batman finds out about this, who knows what investigations will be implemented on us."

"You make a compelling case."

"I will need to double my efforts and make sure that Batman does not get in my way." Slade said.

"And what if he does?"

"Then I shall leave him to die, just like he did to me." Slade replied.

"What?"

Slade removed the ear piece and placed it in a drawer so that way he wouldn't be able to listen to his boss.

Then, he got back to working out by jumping back into doing push ups. As he did, he began to list the names of the people he wanted to kill.

"Superman. Waller. Sam Lane. Bruce Wayne. Superman. Waller. Sam Lane. Bruce Wayne. Superman. Waller. Bruce Wayne. Superman. Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne! Bruce Wayne!" He clenched his floor in anger, leaving some scratches.

Elsewhere in some dark underground bunker, Jimmy, now shirtless, was hanging from the ceiling by his wrists on a pair of chains in some sort of chamber that looked to be a dungeon.

He stirred himself awake. "Uh….Where…Where…" He looked around the location he was in and saw that it was dimly lit. There were stone cobbles cemented to the ground, chains on the wall and water dripping from the ceiling. He then looked down and noticed that he was shirtless. "What?! Where's my tux?!"

"Do you feel cold?" Bane walked out of the shadows to reveal himself to the millionaire. "Perhaps that's why I got rid of that terrible getup."

"Do you have any idea how much that cost?!"

"Eight hundred and seventy-two dollars." Bane replied. "A poor child raised in prison wouldn't eliminate someone in the shower for something so tacky." He walked up towards Jimmy and punched him in the chest, causing him to cough up spit.

"Consider yourself lucky, I could have destroyed a vital organ." Bane said.

"Where am I?" Jimmy asked.

"Remnants of older Gotham." Bane replied. "A ruined city buried by progression. It thought itself powerful until something stronger, brought it down to a new reality."

"What do you want?" Jimmy asked. "You want money?"

"Money is worthless." Bane replied. "But if things go in a way I won't anticipate, then I guess I will transfer every money in your bank into my own deposit. It'd be a waste of good money."

Jimmy looked afraid as to what Bane had planned. "Well what?"

"I could explain my plan here and there, but then there is a chance he might hear you and all that I had formulated will be for nothing." Bane said.

"You want to lure Superman into some kind of trap?" Jimmy theorised.

Bane chortled. "No wonder you're a journalist. You're incredibly astute."

"Why though?" Jimmy asked. "Are you working for the government?"

Bane punched Jimmy in the face. "Your intelligence lacks compared to others. Do you think I'd work for the government? I’m wanted by the FBI. They would have to be desperate to recruit me. So stay here Mr Olsen. Enjoy the cold. Because that's all you'll feel."

Jimmy watched as Bane walked toward what looked to be an elevator. He walked through the sliding doors and pushed the button.

"I suggest you stay here for a while." Bane suggested.

"How about hang around?" Jimmy suggested. "It's like you're missing an opportunity for a good joke."

Bane stopped the door from sliding and laughed. "You are a funny young man, Mr Olsen. I hope Carla will have a sense of humour like I have." He let go of the door so it closed.

Jimmy gulped in fear, worrying what ever Bane's second-in-command will have planned for him. He looked up to the ceiling and exhaled. "Come on, Superman. Please hurry."

Many floors above, the elevator stopped and Bane walked out. He cracked his shoulders as he looked at his new base of operations.

It looked to be some kind of warehouse that looked to be built with a ton of money, perhaps stolen. One section was dedicated to a lab which appeared to be manufacturing all sorts of drugs, another manufacturing weapons and bombs and another was a fighting circle dedicated to training exercises.

There were countless henchpeople all over the bunker, around hundreds or a dozen. But needless to say, there were countless members all willing to die for Bane.

Carla approached Bane holding what appeared to be a duffle bag. "What's in those?"

"Blow torches, jumper cables, knives, brass knuckles, whips, bats, canes, hammers, nail clippers-"

"Carla." Bane interjected. "Torture him. Bruise him, give him small cuts. Don't break any bone, don't make him bleed severely. I want him alive and stable for when he witnesses the death of Superman."

Carla bowed her head. "As you wish." She began walking toward the elevator with her duffel bag in hand while Bane walked to a door.

Standing on guard, there were two guards ready to guard whatever might be in there. "¿Ellos estan listos?" (Are they ready?)

"No." The guard replied.

"Ellos nunca son." (They never are.) Bane walked through the door to be greeted by three people strapped to chairs in what looked to be three separate glass chambers.

One of them was Drury Walker, the other was Matt Hagen and the other was Leslie Willis. "Good afternoon."

"Screw you!" Hagen exclaimed.

"They say that all the time." Bane sat down on a chair placed in front of the chambers. "How do you feel?"

"Like I wanna fry you!" Livewire replied.

"Like you did with our boss?!" Hagen asked angrily to Livewire. "You know he's in a coma, right?"

Leslie rolled her eyes as a response. "He should be lucky to be alive."

"Well because of you, I got stuck with Killer Moth over here!" Hagen shouted.

"If it weren't for you, then Superman wouldn't have found us!" Walker shouted.

"My fault?!" Hagen argued. "He was just there at the wrong time!"

As they argued Bane, picked up a canister placed nearby the chair. "Perhaps if you listened to what I had to say then maybe-" Bane crushed the canister in anger with his inhumane strength, silencing the three of them.

"You want to defeat Superman, correct?" Bane asked.

"Correct." The three replied.

"I want to defeat Superman." Bane replied. "Personally."

Matt and Drury looked at each other before chuckling. "You?" Drury asked.

"You think you can defeat Superman?" Matt asked. "I gotta say, that's impossible."

"Unless you have my gift." Livewire remarked.

"Unless you have your gift." Matt said to Livewire. "Good point."

"Or unless you're him." Livewire motioned to Bane. "I saw him. He was beating the living snot out of Superman."

Matt and Drury looked surprised. "What?!" Drury exclaimed. "That's not fair!"

"You three, I need you to understand that I want to face Superman personally." Bane explained.

"What for?" Matt asked. "Are you trying to prove something to him?"

"I want to prove that a God isn't as powerful as they think they are." Bane replied.

Livewire however, did not believe him. "That's not the reason. You must have a reason for doing this."

"Is a man not allowed to like a challenge?" Bane asked.

"I'm not saying it's wrong, I just think there's a deeper reason I'm not getting." Livewire said. "Compensating for something, Bane?" Livewire laughed at her joke as well as Bane.

"Big talk for someone who was captured and imprisoned by someone with lesser power than you." Bane's retort caused Livewire to narrow her eyes angrily at Bane. "You might not believe I could beat Superman, but I assure you, you will be placing bets on who would win."

Matt, Drury and Livewire thought about Bane's offer for a moment before they all simultaneously shrugged their shoulders and pulled sinister grins.

"Alright, we're in." Matt said. "Mainly so I can see Superman get his butt beaten."

Bane walked to a nearby drawer and it open to reveal three syringes placed on some styrofoam. He gently removed the first one and began walking towards the chamber.

"But there's a problem, how are we going to claim him?" Drury asked.

Bane entered Walker's chamber with his syringe in hand. "A little something I call the Meta Compound. You probably don't know this, but the green substance I insert into my system, Venom, was something I was tested with. To create their own Metahumans. Like the first Flash from the 1940’s. I was an experiment, tested by some dogs in lab coats. But now, those so-called scientists have created something far worse than what they had intended."

"What's that got to do with me?" Walker asked.

"Let's refresh your memory. Remember that lightning storm that hit Central City?" Bane asked.

"Yeah."

"Around 3 percent of the population were affected. And in turn, they were granted abilities, locked in deep within their DNA." Bane explained. "It's not a big number, but regardless, they were still a challenge for the police and their mascot."

"So, you think I got a gene inside me?" Drury asked before Bane inserted the needle into Walker's skin.

"You do." Bane responded as he removed the syringe from his skin. Then, he retreated from the chamber and slammed the door shut so that way Walker wouldn't escape.

Bane watched in fascination while Matt and Livewire watched in horror over what was happening to Walker. At first, his body was jolting like he was having a seizure for a few moments until he screamed.

Then, his body began to extend with bone crunching noises being emitted. His body began to turn all brown and crusty. His fingers extended longer and his nails turned into claws.

His legs extended and his toenails turned into sharp claws. His eyes began to extend and turn bright red.

Then, some grey and white fur began to sprout all over his body and a pair of mandibles formed from his mouth.

He pulled himself from his straps and fell from the chair he was strapped on and with a hard hit on the floor. Then, a pair of antennas sprouted from his head and then a pair of wings from his back.

Once the transformation was done, Drury Walker growled to reveal himself as a monstrous insect creature.

Livewire look of horror turned into a look of admiration. "Woah. That is horrific."

Hagen on the other hand looked horrified at what had become of his partner. "Drury? Is that you?"

Walker looked at what had become of him with horror over his face. "What…What happened to me?!" He spoke in a high pitched raspy voice that he noticed which made him hold his neck. "My voice! What's happened to my voice?"

"You have been granted your gift." Bane replied.

"No!" Walker screamed in horror. "Change me back!" Walker punched the glass, causing a crack to form.

"That change is permanent." Bane explained. "You cannot be Drury Walker ever again. You shall be whatever Flamebird will name you." Walker growled angrily. "Be grateful you are strong enough to beat 8 members of my crew."

Bane entered Hagen's chamber with a syringe in hand. The strapped up man began to struggle to escape his confinement. "Hey! I'm not being transformed into that!"

"You don't know if you'll be changed into an insect." Bane retorted. "Who knows? Maybe you could be transformed into a bat?" He inserts the syringe into Matt's skin. "Or perhaps you could control all the plants around you." He exited the chamber and locked the door all while Matt began to seizure himself. "Or maybe you might gain an immunity to all the known poison on the planet."

Then, Matt screamed in pain as his hands turned into some sort of mud-like brown substance that began to drip off of him. Then, more of the substance began to ooze out of his pants and his shoes. Soon, his hands melted into strange muddy clay, his clothes sunk as each body part melted away before his head melted into a brown puddle.

Livewire looked shocked by what had transpired, Walker looked on with a traumatised expression while Bane looked disappointed.

"I expected something else entirely." Bane remarked at his disappointment. "Perhaps this is a sign that he was not-" Then, he saw the substance began to twitch, causing him to stop talking. "Hmmm…"

"Well, I never really liked Matt." Drury remarked. "I guess the plus side of being…" He began to look at his body. "….What would you say this was, Leslie?"

"I think you look like a moth." Livewire remarked.

The substance on the floor in Hagen's chamber began to move slowly. It began to slowly stick to another piece of the substance next to it, forming a bigger piece.

Walker smiled at being compared to a moth. "A moth, eh? Well, I guess you could call me….The Mothman!"

"Unless you wanna be sued by the Mothman of West Virginia." Livewire joked.

"He's not real!" Walker argued. "But…To be fair, I could be mistaken for the Mothman. How about, Killer Moth? Oh and Bane, tell that Olsen man that!" He noticed that the substance that Matt was right now, began to grow bigger with every piece attaching itself back on.

Every bit of clay continued to reattach itself to an ever growing form. Eventually, it grew to about eight foot tall with its head bashing into the ceiling.

Soon, the head formed into a face with sunken eyes, a large mouth and a pair nostrils. Then, the form grew a pair of arms, fingers, toes, legs, a torso, abdominals and shoulders.

The creature that was formerly Matt Hagen growled like a sinister monster. Bane was surprised by the outcome that he slightly backed away a bit to admire his work.

"Mr Hagen, how do you feel?" Bane asked.

Matt began to look at his new form, doing his best to take in all the change that had happened to his body. "Hmm, I feel sticky…"

"That's what he said." Livewire chuckled to herself.

"…I also don't feel any kind of feeling. I can't exactly breathe, but I smell what I am, I can taste what I am, it's almost like I am entirely clay." Then Matt had an idea. "If I am made of clay and I managed to form myself together…" He looked at his hand and thought hard to turn his hand into a mallet. He grinned at his gift. "Huh, I think I like this."

Walker tapped on the glass. "You're the lucky one. I'm just a giant insect."

"Hmm, but if I am clay…I wonder…" Matt closed his eyes like he was focusing on becoming something. Then, he began to shrink. His sticky limbs began to look like skin, his hair returned, he also managed to form a fancy suit. And soon, he managed to mould himself into his human form.

He smiled at his reflection while Walker groaned. "I don't believe it! You just moulded your body!"

Matt shape changed into Walker's human form. "I honestly think that what I'm seeing right now is an improvement from this." He motioned to the form he was currently taking and laughed.

"Why you…."

Matt then moulded into his human persona and shook himself off. "Best part is, I can change the size about everything in my body."

"Does that include a special asset?" Livewire laughed just as Bane entered her chamber, causing her alarm. "Hey, what are you doing?! I already got my powers!"

"I know." Bane replied. "I have query about people who have already unlocked their meta gene. What will happen to the Metahumans if they're infected with the Meta Compound? Will they mutate? Or will it be too overwhelming for them?"

For the first time, Livewire looked fearful of what Bane had planned out for her. "I don't wanna find out."

"I do." Bane retorted before inserting a syringe into her neck, causing her to scream. He ran out of the chamber and quickly slammed the door as a means to not be hit with the electricity.

He, Matt and Walker watched as they watched Livewire seizure on her chair. They saw her veins began to glow a light blue as sparks of electricity began to shoot out of her body.

"Uh….I think she's having an overcurrent." Killer Moth remarked.

Then, Livewire screamed louder than before as her eyes glowed a light blue and then the clothes that she was wearing fried away into nothing.

"WHAT IS HAPPENING?!" Livewire screamed.

Then, Livewire gave a gut wrenching scream that became distorted that it flung her chamber door open. Bane stood back and pulled out a hose from underneath a table and aimed it at her.

Then, the straps that were strapped to her burnt away into nothing. Then, the Metahuamn's screams become distorted once again as her body began to disappear into sparks that traveled into a nearby computer.

Bane dropped the hose and ran to turn the computer on to see if he could find her. But all he saw was a desktop with nothing on it.

"Where did she go?" Killer Moth asked.

"Is she….In the computer?" Matt asked. "Try searching for her."

Killer Moth narrowed his eyes at his partner. "Really?"

"You used an electrical pun earlier." Matt retorted.

Bane looked at the lights that hung above the ceiling and noticed that they were flickering. He stared at them with intrigue for a moment before saying, "It appears that Livewire won't be joining us for a while. So it will be you two who will take care of Superman and our little bat problem."

Matt and Walker gave each other knowing nods and raised their fists. "When do go out?" Matt asked.

Meanwhile at Wayne Enterprises, Lucius Fox was on a phone call to someone. "Yeah. Yeah…I saw….Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if she blames you for a tornado in Tennessee…It's getting ridiculous…" Lucius laughed. "….Anyway, I'm still checking the armoury and the labs. I wish you the best of luck Mr Wayne on your end….Alright, I'll see you later."

Later, Lucius had arrived in the designer department where he noticed Edward playing around with what looked to be a finger trap. "How are things going?" He asked.

"Still nothing." Edward stopped playing and typed on his computer. "I don't know how these weapons keep going in and out without any kind of jurisdiction. Been trying to figure it out. But, every blueprint has been accounted for and so have the components for the weapons."

"What about our boxes?" Lucius asked.

"Oh I've been trying to find that out…None of our boxes have been taken." Edward replied. "What do the customers do to our boxes once they've been delivered?"

Lucius shrugged his shoulders. "Some return them, some just use em for firewood. I got no clue."

Alex walked into the lab with what looked to be a bag of takeout. "Hey Ed, I got some Thai."

Edward span on his chair to turn to his partner. "Ah! Splendid."

Then, an African American man with black poofy hair, a black moustache and appeared to be in his late thirties; Ran into the room.

"Is it here?!" The man asked.

"Yes Gus!" Alex handed the man his container.

"Thank you, Luthor." Gus said. "Is it lactose intolerant?"

Alex sighed. "You know, a lot of Thai food is dairy free, right?"

"Of course." Gus responded. "Sure, why not? Why is that a lot of foods in other countries seem to have milk in their dishes? Whereas Thailand always use coconut milk? I mean, do they just hate cows?"

Alex stared at Gus with an unimpressed look, Ed on the other hand was shaking his head while Lucius just gave an unamused exhale.

"I don't think humour is your forte Mr Gorman." Alex remarked. "So if you wish to make friends, don't make any useless attempts to-"

"Luthor." Lucius interjected. "Your Dad might be a powerful man, but in my lab, you're not anyone's boss. Understand?"

Luthor exhaled. "Very well."

Lucius clapped his hands. "Okay. I will be going back to business. You three enjoy your Thai and be careful to not get any of that chicken on the equipment."

"Thank you, Mr Fox." Edward said while Lucius left the lab.

Alex handed Edward his container of food which he began to consume. "So, any idea who this Mockingbird is? I have a few theories…"

"It's Bruce Wayne." Alex said. "Come on Ed, I get he's your boss but even you must realise that."

Gus slurped his noodles. "I mean, if you think about it, he is rich."

"So?" Edward responded. "Have you seen Basil Karlo? He's rich and he hasn't committed any crimes."

"Mediocre theatre actor." Alex remarked. "Honestly, who could blame him if he turned to a life of crime. Bruce Wayne is rich. He's just testing the waters on what he can get away with. Ya know, with all that money, who wouldn't start trying?"

"Yeah! Plus, he's an orphan." Gus remarked. "You know what happens to the head when you don’t have any guidance."

Edward narrowed his eyes at Gus. "I'm an orphan, Gus. You think I got something wrong with my head?"

Gus began to panic. "No! No! No! Ed, I assure you, it's not like that! I-" He stood up and accidentally dropped his container of noodles on his shirt. "Ooooh, my shirt! My shirt! Oh man!"

Alex laughed at Gus' misfortune. "See Gus, that's how you do funny!"

"Oh, darn, shoot." Gus groaned. "I'm going to change my shirt. Sorry about what I said, Ed."

"It's fine, Gus." Edward assured him. "Really."

Gus left the lab to change his shirt while Alex and Ed just continued to eat their food. "You know, Alex, I feel sorry for the guy. He's trying to fit in even after going through a hectic divorce with his wife."

"Uh huh." Alex continued eating his food without any sympathy.

"Oh, could you imagine this, Gus Gorman is actually Mockingbird?" Edward continued eating his food.

"Too weak and pathetic." Alex replied as he continued to stare at him. "Not a decent actor."

Meanwhile, in a locker room, Gus had managed to change into a nice clean shirt which happened to be a Superman shirt.

He looked at his reflection and sighed. "Oh man, I hope Alex doesn't shoot me for wearing this. Oh who cares at this point? His Daddy will get him out of jail. Rich people." Gus exhaled. "Mama always said, 'If you wanna make a good impression, make em' laugh'. Well Mama, how do you think that's working out?" He groaned. "Now you're just rambling, Gus." He sighed. "I hope Ed will let me share his chicken."

He began to walk out of the locker room when all of sudden, he noticed something that caught his eye. There appeared to be a locker that looked slightly unlocked. "Huh? Oh, someone's locker's unlocked." He then noticed that there was a piece of blue paper sticking out.

He knew that he shouldn't let curiosity get the best of him as it was someone's private property. But he wanted to know what these blueprints were for and wanted to check them out for himself. When he opened the locker, he got a look at what these blueprints were.

They were WayneTech blueprints. But, that's impossible. All of the blueprints were accounted for. Unless, someone copied them.

That was when, Gus heard someone approach him. "Oh hey, it's you! What are these blueprints doing in your locker?" He laughed. "You're not Mockingbird are you?" The person he was talking to gave a heavy breath.

Then, Gus' laugh got more nervous. "You're not Mockingbird, right?" Then, the person began to approach Gus. "Wait, you are Mockingbird aren't you?!" Gus became panicked as he dropped the blueprint. "Oh my God! You are Mockingbird! Wait until Mr Fox, finds out! Wait, what are you doing with that wrench?! Oh, no! No!" He tried running away but the unknown assailant got ahold of his wrist and knocked him in the head with one hit, knocking him out cold.

Chapter Text

It was nighttime in Gotham, and Clark, now dressed as Superman was just getting ready to go out to meet up with Bruce Wayne, whom he found out was Batman just last night.

While Lois was checking she had everything in her satchel for her night with Batman's assistance. Camera, tape recorder, notepad and phone in case she needs to contact Clark.

"Alright, I'm ready." Superman declared.

Lois walked up to her boyfriend with a worried look on her face. "Are you sure he is able to help?"

"I feel alienated in Gotham." Superman replied. "And Bruce might be the only person I need to trust in order to find Jimmy."

"I hope so." Lois took his hand. "Just be safe out there tonight, Clark."

"If you need me just call me or shout for me." He said. "And I'll be there lickety-split."

Lois chuckled. "Lickety-split? That's a word. For middle aged men.”

"I know, it's old timey." Superman looked embarrassed over using it.

Lois just smiled and took his face in her hand. "Don't die on me, big guy."

He smiled. "I'll do my best." Him and his girlfriend leaned in slowly to share a kiss with each other. They soon pulled out and Superman began hovering out of the room. "Just don't die on me as well." He flew out of the open window into the dark Gotham night sky.

As he began flying around the city, he began to think about what sort of torture could be going on with Jimmy. How he could be wondering where he was, and what was taking him.

As he flew around Gotham, he could see a ton of police sirens going off all at once. They were close beside him, just close by or far away in the distance.

Compared to Mertropolis, this wasn't as bad. But here in Gotham, it was far worse with the amount of crimes that go on.

As he flew toward the Ace Chemicals, he could see Batman waiting. He also noticed a green portal that was open in front of him. Then, he could make out what was a young adult in some yellow superhero suit flying through it.

Then, the portal closed just as Superman arrived. He stared at Batman with a baffled expression on his face.

"Uh…What was that?" Superman asked.

"Nothing important." Batman replied. "A teenage superhero from a parallel universe just arrived and we got to talking. He criticised my name."

"Oooookay." Superman said, unsure of what to make of it.

"He also said your name is ironic." Batman remarked. "Your name is Superman yet you get injured almost on a weekly basis."

Superman groaned. "First off, Lois gave me that name, not me. I mean, you're honestly one to talk. The media gave you that name.”

"Are we going to discuss names?" Batman asked. "Or are we going to find some worthwhile information?" He pointed to the night sky toward the bat shaped signal illuminating in the sky. "Commissioner Gordon needs me."

Superman looked to the signal with a bit of awe. "I thought that was a warning."

"It was mainly used as a means for Gordon wanting to exchange information." Batman began walking towards the edge of the building.

"Do you need assistance in getting there quicker?" Superman asked before getting an answer from his partner. Batman pulled out his grappling gun and aimed towards a nearby building. The hook attached itself on the ledge which was the signal for Batman to jump off the building so it could reel him in.

Superman just took that as a sign and began to follow him. As he followed Batman, the caped crusader jumped on the roof and began running along the roof while the Man of Steel followed.

Superman couldn't help but watch on as he saw his temporary partner traverse through the skyscraper infested Gotham.

He jumped from the building he was on, spread his cape out and began gliding to the incoming building. He landed safely on the roof and continued running.

He vaulted over a chimney, slid under a tv satellite before jumping off the building. Then, he began diving down towards the busy streets below.

Superman was tempted to save him until his ally opened his cape and glided over the city skylines, as if he was flying over them.

Batman safely landed on another building and continued running. "Now, you're just showing off." Superman joked to his ally, whom only just continued running before summoning his grappling gun and shooting it towards a water tower that reeled him in.

Once he was on the roof, he continued running with Superman following behind. "So, how did you get past me and Lois?"

"I walked out the front door." Batman replied.

"No, I mean without making a sound." Superman said, desperate to figure out a logical answer.

"You weren't paying attention." Batman replied.

"I….Do you always do this?" Superman asked. Batman didn't respond to that and grappled to another location. He just exhaled in annoyance. "I take it you're quite the chatterbox." He remarked sarcastically.

At the GCPD building, Gordon was on the phone with his daughter. "I'm fine Barbara…Don't worry about me. I'm at the police station so you don't have to panic…I'm fine, I'm fine. You know I got my best man to cover it." He laughed. "I get scared too Barbara, but I always try and remain optimistic and to put on a brave face." He turned around and screamed when he saw Batman and Superman standing next to the signal. "…Barb! Barb! I'm fine! Batman just scared me, that's all. I'll be home as soon as I can. Just make sure you're in bed young lady. And no boys! Or girls! Or whatever you're in to!" He hung up and sighed in annoyance.

"Must you do that every time?" He asked Batman as he approached him. "My daughter thought I died of fright for a second." He then noticed Superman was with Batman and seemed surprised. "Superman?"

Superman gave Gordon a nod. "Commissioner."

Gordon was speechless for a moment before shrugging his shoulders. "Well…I guess Metropolis can't be for everyone."

"Actually, he's here until this current crisis is dealt with." Batman explained. "It's a temporary partnership, nothing permanent."

"Very well." Gordon sighed. "Might as well give you the rundown. We're still looking in on the whole Mockingbird situation which is getting me worried."

"Why's that?" Batman asked.

"If this keeps going on, soon we might have a search warrant to ransack Bruce Wayne's home." Gordon said. "Sure, he's a little eccentric and wild but I doubt he's a criminal."

"I know he isn't." Superman said while narrowing his eyes at Batman. "He isn't as terrible as some make him out to be."

"Well, least you think so." Gordon said. "I might not be as trusting with you, but I admire your core beliefs."

"We have someone working the Mockingbird situation, don't worry." Batman assured Gordon.

"That's not all." Gordon said. "There's been a reported break-in at the Iceberg Lounge. I think Cobblepot might have a cat burglar in his cage."

Batman just gave a blank stare. "That issue will resolve itself."

Superman seemed shocked. "What?"

"Trust me, I know." Batman said. "They can handle themselves for a bit."

"What-Who’s they?" Superman reacted.

"Also, we're still trying to keep an eye out for that assassin that tried to kill the District Attorney." Gordon explained. "But, it's like they suddenly disappeared off the face of the Earth."

"His name is Slade Wilson." Batman explained. "He's a mercenary for hire. He's after Superman for clients."

"They call themselves Task Force X." Superman explained.

"Task Force X?" Gordon reacted.

"Yeah." Superman replied. “Government task force sent out to kill me. That’s all I know about them. But if you can, keep an eye out on someone named Sam Lane. He’s been missing for a while.”

"Well, we might get information about this Task Force X once we get ahold of him." Gordon said as he turned to face the city. "And don’t worry Superman. We will look for this Sam Lane if he has been sighted in Gotham. Oh, and we managed to track down where Bane's forces are holding Oliver Queen. That old warehouse on the Keaton dock. We were about to send a squadron, but I thought of it as too much of a risk, think you can handle it?" As he turned around to face Batman, he was gone while Superman was still there.

Superman looked around him to catch any sign of his temporary partner. "Huh? What? Wha…" He began to stare at Gordon and noted his deadpan look. "…I assume this is a habit?"

Gordon sighed. "Unfortunately. Wait a minute, you're faster than him. How did he get past you?"

Superman sighed. "I don't know." Then, he dashed away to find his temporary partner, leaving a gust of wind to blow in Gordon's face.

Gordon sighed. "This is going to feel like a long night."

Later, Superman, managed to find Keaton dock even though it took him some time to find it due to not being in Gotham for long.

When he arrived, he found Batman on top of a ginormous shipping crate, knees perched, binoculars in hand staring at a nearby warehouse.

He flew towards Batman and cleared his throat to get his attention. "He wasn't finished."

"I got all the details." Batman retorted. "You took your time."

"You dispersed without warning." Superman argued.

"I thought you were fast." Batman retorted.

Superman was about to argue, but just gave up. "Forget it."

"Can you see through the warehouse?" Batman asked.

Superman squinted his eyes to see if he could see anything, but he couldn't see through the warehouse for some reason. "I can't see. I think most of the infrastructure is made from lead."

"Ah, they know you." Batman remarked. "I knew you were bound to face the consequences of revealing your weaknesses in the papers."

"Yeeaaah." Superman looked guilty. "That was a big mistake."

"Not to worry, there's an open skylight." Batman assured him.

"Great, a way for us to sneak in." Superman remarked before he was about to float to the open skylight.

"Wait!" Batman stood up and summoned a batarang that he tossed into the sky.

Superman just watched on with befuddlement as he saw the batarang fly to the open skylight while Batman's eyes appeared to be glowing blue while tapping on his gauntlet.

"What are you doing with the batarang?" Superman asked.

"Still not calling it that." Batman retorted.

"What are you doing with the…Bat shaped….Boomerang then?" Superman asked.

"Scanning the area. I’m seeing fourteen cartel members." Batman replied. "Two on two separate railings looking over eight armed targets playing poker. The last two, are guarding a door. Perhaps guarding Mr Queen."

"What about the ones outside the warehouse?" Superman asked.

"They won't be a problem once we free Oliver." Batman replied before summoning his grappling gun and fired it towards the warehouse.

Superman sighed before following Batman by flying. "I assume you know something that I don't."

They land carefully on the roof, close to the skylight. But before Batman could enter, Superman placed his hand on his chest, stopping him.

"I know we have different methods when it comes to handling business." Superman said. "So, could you perhaps go a little easy on them?"

Batman narrowed his eyes at Superman before looking back at the skylight. "I'll do my best."

Inside the warehouse, two of the four criminals on the high ground, were walking along the platform, keeping an eye out.

One of them looked down to one of the poker players and gave them a thumbs up, letting them know that they were all clear.

That was before him and his partner, disappeared in blurry flash that was noticed by the other two across from them.

They were about to call out, until one of them was knocked out by a batarang before the other one was punched in the back by Batman, causing him to fall off the railing. Thankfully, Batman had tied a rope around his ankle, so he wouldn't fall to the floor.

The other goon got back up and aimed his pistol at Batman. Thankfully, the Caped Crusader pounced forward and disarmed him of his gun before pressing his hands on his face.

The goon struggled to breathe as he tried to free himself from Batman's grasp. And in a few seconds, he was rendered unconscious.

Superman flew in through the skylight, looking angry with Batman. "I thought you agreed to go easy on them." He whispered.

Batman placed his hand on Superman's shoulder. "I did." He retorted before looking over the railing.

Superman pointed to the guy hanging over the railing. "And him? His blood is going to his brain." He exclaimed quietly.

"He'll be down once we're done." Batman assured him. "Besides, he has twenty eight hours until he either suffers from asphyxiation due to his organs compressing the lungs, heart failure from increased strain, stroke from increased blood pressure in the brain, or a brain hemorrhage." Superman looked alarmed that Batman knew this sort of information. Batman noticed his discomfort. "Ever heard of medical books?" Superman just went quiet after that retort.

"You rescue Oliver. I'll take on the poker players." Batman climbed on the railing.

"Are you sure, you don't need help?" Superman asked. "I mean, you can't do this alone. There's eight of them and one of you."

"Exactly." Batman just glided down towards his eight targets while Superman just sighed before flying down towards the two guards that were guarding Oliver.

The two armed guards stood by the lead door ready to shoot any enemy threat that comes their way. Then, one of them yawned.

"Here, why don't you take a nap?"

"That would be nice." The guard said before realising who was standing next to him. He and his partner aimed their respective weapons at Superman, who just quickly disarmed them before shoving them out of an exit door with a mighty push.

The poker players heard the commotion and were just about to check it out. Until, one of them got tackled by Batman, crashing to the ground.

"It's him!" One of them screamed.

They were just about to shoot him, but then, he pulled a grapple from his belt and shot it at the criminal's weapon and pulling it off his grasp.

The other soldiers pulled out their guns and began firing them at the Caped Crusader who managed to dodge them by diving to the right and pulling the table they were playing poker on, to use as a shield.

Once they were out of bullets, Batman took the opportunity to pounce on one of the criminals like a predator and engaged in a fist fight with two of the soldiers.

Despite, the odds stacked against him, Batman managed to deflect the punches, before grabbing one of the goons by one arm and tossing him towards his ally, knocking them to the floor.

Then, he punched a few more goons until, he was knocked to the floor by another with a kick to the abdomen. One of them, picked up a lead pipe and began to wail Batman with the blunt object, but the caped crusader managed to disarm him of his weapon by grabbing it and punching his attacker in the leg.

Two of the goons got back up and began to kick Batman just as he tried to get back up off the floor.

Meanwhile, Superman tore the door from the wall where he was greeted by six armed soldiers with assault rifles.

And in between three out of the six was a man with a sack on his head, a white tank top and black pants; Tied to a chair.

"Someone better be here to rescue me." Oliver said.

The goons all began to shoot their weapons at Superman, but the bullets that managed to hit him, deflected back at the targets. Worried for the safety of the hostage getting hit by the bullets, he dashed out of the room and hid behind the corner of the door.

"I hope they were here to rescue me." Oliver said.

Meanwhile, Batman was still being pummelled in. That was until, he shot some spikes from his gauntlets, causing the goons to be rendered disoriented, which gave him the perfect opportunity to jump back up.

He grabbed one of them by the back of their collar and slammed them to the floor. Then, he elbowed another one in the face before punching one very hard in the chest, that they flew backwards into some crates.

One of the goons pulled out a knife from their pocket and managed to stab Batman in the stomach. But fortunately for him, his suit was heavily armoured which caused his knife to bend.

Batman in retaliation, punched the man really hard in the face, knocking him to the floor.

Meanwhile, the armed goons that were guarding Oliver, were out of ammo and just as they were about to reload, Superman dashed in and slammed three of them into a wall, knocking them out.

Two of them tried to fight Superman by punching him in the chest, but they all screamed in pain, simultaneously.

Superman sighed. "Don't you read the papers? Why do you always think the punches work?" He picked them by grabbing them by the collars of their shirts and began hovering upwards. Then, he tossed them on the floor, knocking them out.

The last goon had managed to reload his weapon and was just about to shoot Superman, until he got hit on the head with a batarang, knocking them to the floor.

Superman looked to the door he came through and saw Batman standing outside. "You did go easy on them, did you?" Superman asked.

"I did my best." Batman replied as he approached Oliver.

"Batman, is that you?" Oliver asked before the caped crusader removed the bag from his head. He looked at Batman before chuckling to himself. "Oh yeah, it's you." He then noticed Superman. "Superman? Is this a partnership?"

"Temporary." Batman replied.

"We're here to rescue you, Mr Queen." Superman informed the billionaire.

However, instead of being relived, Oliver just sighed in annoyance. "Well, this is going to be embarrassing for the both of you. You're also going to find this whole rescue operation redundant." He lifted his hands to reveal that they had been untied. "But I finished plan A."

Superman looked surprised while Batman looked slightly annoyed. "So this was pointless?" Batman asked.

"Hey, I'm not as fast as you when it comes to that brain of yours." Oliver retorted while standing up and pointing at Batman's symbol. "Also, you know what I've been hearing whilst I was stuck with these guys? A lot of Spanish and I couldn't make a word of it. Dinah always did say I needed to branch out for more healthy hobbies."

Superman looked kind of befuddled by how Oliver was talking to Batman so casually as if he knew him and raised a brow. "I'm sorry, do you two know each other?"

"Yup." Oliver replied before realising something important. Then, he began whispering to Batman. "Hey, does he know?"

"It's fine Oliver." Batman replied. "He knows about me."

Oliver picked a batarang and began to fiddle with it. "Getting a little too trustworthy. First came that Robin kid, then me and now Superman. By the way, does he know about how I utilise my archery skills?"

As they spoke, one of the unconscious goons outside of the room began to slowly stand up. He looked at the three of them and a nearby assault rifle.

"Listen Oliver, do you have any idea what they did with Jimmy Olsen?" Superman asked.

Oliver sighed. "I'm sorry Superman, I don't know. He can't have left Gotham, not with Bane's crew running around the bend. Oh, but I do have something that might help. I did overhear a conversation that was in English."

The goon picked up the assault rifle and aimed it at the trio, ready to blast them to kingdom come.

"Apparently, Bane had captured some lowlifes named Matt Hagen and Drury Walker and had them experimented on." Oliver explained. "They're now mutants working for him."

"Mutants?" Batman asked.

"Or more, Metahumans." Oliver explained. "They unlocked the metagenes within their system. I also heard they enhanced the metagene of Livewire. By the way, move aside."

Superman moved aside and Oliver threw a batarang at the goon with the assault rifle, knocking him out cold.

Superman looked surprised by Oliver's skill while Batman just gave a deadpan stare. "I knew he was waking up."

"Did you?" Oliver retorted smugly.

Superman on the other hand was still trying to wrap his head around things. "Wait, you know how to work a Batarang?"

"A Batarang?" Oliver remarked, mildly impressed.

"It's not going to catch on." Batman responded.

"You never know." He began stretching. "Oh yeah, apparently her genes were further enhanced and she suddenly vanished."

Batman and Superman looked intrigued. "Thank you for the tip, Oliver."

"Do you need my help?" Oliver asked. "I can get back to Star City to retrieve my quiver."

"We're fine Oliver." Batman assured him. "Wait outside for the police."

”There are extra cartel members outside.” Superman said. “You sure it’s safe?”

Oliver gave him a grin. "Superman, there is more to me than meets the eye.” Oliver noticed a nearby bow and a bag of arrows and ran to it. He picked them up and attached them to his back. “Hey, let me in on your super team at some point, okay?" He ran out of the room leaving the duo alone.

Superman seemed fascinated by Oliver's attitude and words that he knew he had to ask further questions. Batman began walking out of the room with Superman following.

"Wait a minute, quiver, archery, Star City." Superman put the pieces together and gasped. "Batman, is he…"

"Your first thoughts are correct." Batman responded.

"Where are we going now?" Superman asked. "All we have are names and descriptions of what happened at Bane's lair. Should we be concerned? Is he going to hurt Jimmy by unlocking his meta gene?"

"That won't happen." Batman said. "Trust me, I know."

"So where are we going now?" Superman asked.

"We're going to get in contact with my informant." Batman pulled out his grappling hook.

"Where are they?"

"Remember that break in at the Iceberg Lounge, Gordon told us about?" Superman nodded his head. "Well, we're going there to get her out of her mess."

Chapter Text

She watched as Clark hovered from their hotel room to outside the hotel in just a few seconds. Once she saw that Clark was out of sight, her smile turned to a bit of a frown. "Be safe." She mumbled.

Despite having a superhero boyfriend whom was practically invincible, Lois still worried for Clark. She understood that he needed to help people, but what if one day he goes out to help someone and he doesn't come back?

That thought always did worry Lois as she began to walk downstairs to the lobby. She heard that Superman couldn't handle Bane in a one-on-one fight, so who knows what could happen to him even with Batman to help.

As she made it to the reception, the receptionist gave Lois a wave to get her attention. "Miss Lane?"

Lois approached the receptionist. "What is it?"

"There's someone on the phone wanting to speak to you." She handed the desk phone to Lois, whom took it and reluctantly placed it against her ear. "I think it's some kid."

"Hello?" Lois asked.

"Listen up Miss Lane, you are going to be taken." Lois gasped in shock. "Kidding! Don't worry! But seriously, pay close attention. I'm Batman's contact he has sent to take care of the Mockingbird situation with you. And no, I'm not the butler. But you can tell. I don't have that very distinct English accent." He said while doing a mock English accent. "I need you to walk out of the hotel, turn to the direction on your left, walk along the sidewalk for a few minutes before turning right and there, you'll see me. Okay?"

"Okay." Lois, though reluctant, said.

She put the phone back where it belonged and began to walk out the hotel. "Will Mr Kent be joining you?" The receptionist asked. "I didn't see him leave."

Lois had to come up with a quick lie. "Huh…Oh yeah, he caught some bad food poisoning. Think it might have been from the tuna and he wishes to not be disturbed."

"Very well, Miss Lane." The woman said.

Once Lois walked out of the hotel, she was now alone in the streets of Gotham, satchel in hand and phone in her jacket pocket.

As she walked down the sidewalk, she was beginning to see how bad the streets of Gotham looked without Clark or Jimmy by her side.

As she walked, she saw some intoxicated people getting into fights, someone near her giving her a look that had sinister intent, a ton of cop cars drove past pursuing a vehicle and she swore she saw a green portal open up and some muscular young adult wearing a full bodied spandex costume and mask. But it could have been her imagination.

She made it down the ally where the mysterious contact said to meet. When she arrived, she noticed a white 'R' right in front of her feet on the ground.

She wondered what that was there for. Was it a trap? Or was this meant to be a clue for her to stop? She felt tempted to stand on it, but she was very cautious.

Lois smiled. "Ha! You think I'm stupid to step on that?! Is this meant to be a trap?!" There was no response from anyone except the sounds of cans being tossed about in the wind.

"Hello?" Lois yelled out, getting creeped out. "Mysterious ally? Is anyone here?" She walked deeper down the ally, past the R and further down the dark and sinister path that appeared to have no light in sight.

Just as she was about to get closer away from the light, she heard the sound of something knocking over a can and turned around, ready to fight whoever was trying to jump up on her.

But instead, it turned out to be a cat with a diamond pearl necklace in its teeth. Lois was baffled by this sight, pondering what it was. Then, the cat hissed at the reporter and ran away, pearls still in its mouth.

Lois chuckled after a few moments of getting her breath together. "I wonder if that was a cat burglar?"

"Oh, Cleo is a little cat burglar."

The sudden voice behind Lois, made her scream and to retaliate with a spin kick. But, it was blocked by an arm that appeared to be small but appeared to have muscle in it.

She looked down at whom she was about to attack and was shocked to see a young boy around 13 years old with smooth raven hair, a mask, a red suit, black pants, dark green boots, a dark green cape, a yellow utility belt, dark green rubber gloves, a distinct yellow 'R' by his right breast and a black mask covering his eyes.

"Not bad." The kid remarked. "Little faster though."

Lois briefly backed away, surprised by what she would have done had the kid not stopped her. "Oh my gosh! I almost hit a kid!"

"Hey, I came out of nowhere, sorry." The kid said. "Just a bit of a habit I picked up from my old man."

Lois analysed the kid from head to toe a bit more and realised who he was. "Wait, you're Robin aren’t you?"

"What did you think the R stood for?" Robin retorted. "Raven?"

Lois groaned in disappointment. "I think I would have preferred the butler."

Robin looked offended. "Hey! That hurts!"

"Look kid, I appreciate the help, but I'm not going to partake in child endangerment." Lois argued.

"Lady, I have been tossed out of an airplane over the Atlantic. This is just another Saturday for me." Robin retorted.

Lois sighed. "I have no choice do I?"

"Batman says you're impulsive and reckless." Robin's comment made her narrow her eyes at the kid. "Just like little ol' me. Which might explain why he got me to babysit you."

Lois looked even more offended. "Well look who's talking."

"You're in Gotham, you need someone who knows the streets and scumbags better." Robin said. "And…" He pointed at himself. "…This little birdie knows a thing or two."

Lois narrowed her eyes at Robin. "You're kind of obnoxiously smug."

"Yeah, I do need to work on that a bit better." Robin said. "Anyway, I hope you got your notepad and the camera at the ready, because I have just found out about a weapon's deal happening tonight under the Kingston Bridge."

"That's quite a walk, kid." Lois remarked. "We're probably going to miss it."

"Walk?" Robin stood behind the dark ally. "Who said we need to walk?"

Then, from the darkness a pair of headlights shined brightly, causing her to almost be blinded. The lights revealed what looked to be a dark black car with bat shaped wings sticking on the back, a huge thruster in the back, tinted windows, armour plating, exit points for guns and wheels with a bat logo at the centre.

Robin smugly smiled at Lois. "Get in, we're going to stop a weapon's deal." He briefly stopped and turned to Lois. "Oh, between you and me, it's best you refer to me as something else when you're writing this down."

"You wish to be anonymous?" Lois asked. "Okay, I understand. But…Would it make sense if I…"

"Look, just call me Renegade when you're writing this down." Robin suggested.

"I mean, I'm not gonna use your real name." Lois said. "Because let's face it, Robin is not your real name."

Robin just gave Lois a deadpan stare. "Just go with Renegade." He motioned Lois to follow him.

Lois reluctantly began to follow Robin towards the bat shaped car. He climbed up to the roof where an entry point slowly opened. The kid jumped in while Lois followed behind.

She looked inside the vehicle and saw dark black leather seats, seatbelts and at the front seat, a lot of buttons. She then saw that Robin was the one in the front seat and became immediately concerned.

"Wait! Are you driving?" Lois asked.

"What? You think this car drives itself?" Robin asked.

Lois shrugged her shoulders. "I mean…."

"It goes on autopilot." Robin interjected. "But I prefer the testosterone inducing feel of driving a military grade sports car."

"I'm not getting in." Lois argued.

"Look, do you want to solve this Mockingbird thing?" Robin asked.

"I just…Don't feel comfortable being the passenger of a kid." She argued.

"Is this going to be a habit all night?" Robin asked. "I can't do this or that because the assistant to Batman, is just a kid. Lady, I understand your concerns, but trust me on this, okay?"

Lois, though reluctant, eventually sighed and jumped in the car and landed on the passenger seat, next to the driver. "You are too young to drive."

"Last I checked this kind of car doesn't have any kind of insurance." Robin said as he pushed a button that closed the roof. He began to push some buttons just as Lois began to take in what she was seeing inside the vehicle. There was a bat shaped steering wheel, very subtle; A bunch of light up buttons, a small tv screen and what looked to be a small seat right behind them.

She watched as Robin began to flick some switches and pushing some buttons. "Powering the atomic batteries, adjusting the turbines to speed." Robin mumbled to himself while Lois fastened her seatbelt. "And we're ready to move out."

Then, Robin hit the accelerator and began driving the car at top speed around the city. Lois, having not anticipated the speed of the vehicle began screaming while holding on to one of the handles.

The vehicle moved around the mostly crowded streets, avoiding cop cars, street lights and residents. He made a few turns left, right and up a bridge.

"So, is this your first time in Gotham?" Robin asked as if he was having a casual conversation with her. Lois didn't respond to the question as she was just taking in how fast the vehicle was going. "You know, it's very rude to not respond to a question."

"I…I…I need a minute." Lois said. "This vehicle is way too fast."

"You let your alien boyfriend fly you around Metropolis." Robin pointed out.

"At least he doesn't try to give me whiplash." Lois retorted.

"Believe it or not, this is how slow I would take it for first time passengers." Robin said.

"This vehicle goes faster?!" Lois screamed.

"Okay, okay, I'll slow it down for you." Robin managed to slow the vehicle down to a speed Lois could tolerate. "Happy?"

Lois exhaled. "Yeah, okay." As Lois got a look at the kid that was currently driving her to the location of a serious weapon's deal, she couldn't help but realise something.

If Bruce Wayne is Batman and Robin is his sidekick then would that possibly mean…. "Wait a minute!" Lois exclaimed. "If Bruce Wayne is Batman then does that mean…You're Richard Grayson?"

Robin smiled. "Well, you catch on quickly. But please, call me Dick. Everyone does."

"I wonder why?" Lois retorted sarcastically.

Robin narrowed his eyes at Lois, looking offended. "Hey!"

"I just…I can't believe that we are trusting this guy." Lois complained. "Vigilante, assaulting a ton of criminals and now child endangerment??”

"Oh, you think so, Mom?" Robin retorted.

"Hey! I'm old enough to be your sister!" Lois argued.

"Alright! Alright!" Robin said, trying to defuse the situation. "Right. You think so, sis?"

Lois really felt the urge to punch the kid for being so obnoxious, but she knew that would be wrong and he might break her wrist if he had the chance.

"Okay! How did he convince you to do this?" Lois asked while emphasising the Robin thing.

"Correction, how did I manage to convince him?"

"Huh?"

"Yeah, he didn't want me to be Robin at first." Robin explained.

"Why?" Lois asked.

"That part doesn't matter." Robin replied with a bit of a sad frown before going back to a smug grin. "Point is, I saved his life one time and now I'm his sidekick."

"And let me guess, you convinced him to drive the….What do you even call this vehicle anyway?" Lois asked.

"We just call it the car." Robin replied. "Nothing fancy or on the nose."

"But still, you got him to let you drive this?!" Lois asked.

"Not for joy rides." Robin replied. "Only for emergencies or babysitting missions."

Lois groaned. "Again, older than you."

Suddenly, she felt the car stop, causing the reporter to jolt forward, almost hitting her head on the dashboard.

"Sorry." Robin said. "But we're here."

Instantly, Lois jumped out of the car and ran towards the nearest trash can that she threw up in. The Boy Wonder exited the vehicle and stood behind her to pat her back to get it all out.

"Yeah. Yeah. First timers can't handle the first drive." Robin said.

The queasy Lois pulled her head out of the trash can and wiped a bit of drool from her mouth. "I don't think I wanna go for a second."

"Well, you can't glide across the city or do parkour like I can." Robin retorted. "I hope you got your stuff, because we're here."

He motioned Lois to follow him beside the corner of a building. When they peaked their heads from around the wall, they saw a white van under the bridge.

"A white van?" Lois asked as she took a picture with her camera.

"Yup." Robin replied. "It's selling weapons, supposedly."

"How can we be sure?" She asked.

"Just watch." Robin cracked his knuckles and began to approach the vehicle. "And don't take my picture.

Once Robin got to the back door, he placed a little device on the door handle before knocking against it.

The door swung open to reveal a huge criminal, wearing a black skull mask, who became instantly alarmed when Robin was the one who knocked on the door.

"Hi! Do you have any bat themed weapons I can buy?" He asked.

"Go! Go! Go! Go!" The black masked criminal called to the driver. "Move out!"

And instantly, the driver drove off in the van leaving Robin behind. "Or…Do you have any bird themed weapons?"

Robin returned to Lois, who looked annoyed by what he had done. "Kid! What the heck? You let them get away?!"

"That's what they think." Robin retorted before pressing his finger against his ear. "Alfred, I've placed a tracking device on a white coloured van. Is it showing up on the system?"

"I see it, Master Grayson. Ah, it's driving through Otisberg. Oh, additionally, I was not amused by that impression of me."

Robin looked kind of guilty. "Ooooh, you heard it? Sorry, Al."

"Apology accepted. By the way, how is our guest?"

"Well, she doesn't think I'm charming so far." Robin replied.

"Who are you talking to?" Lois asked.

"Hang on, Miss Lane." Robin said before getting back to talking to Alfred. "Yeah, I can tell she thinks I'm obnoxious."

"I say that is one of your biggest strengths and weaknesses, young master."

"Ah, you flatter me and hurt me." Robin did a mock coo.

"Hang on, I just got an update on that vehicle you're tracking…" Alfred pushes a few buttons. "…Ah, it appears that they have stopped at the Sionis Steel Mill. Do you think Mr Sionis is up to his old tricks, again?"

"Most likely. Thank you Alfred." Robin removed his finger from his ear and turned to Lois. "Get in."

"Did you find its location?" Lois asked.

"Sionis Steel Mill." Robin replied. "Looks like Sionis is at it again."

They entered the car and sat back down on their previous seats. "Sionis? I think I read an article about him. Isn't he…Also known as Black Mask?"

"Yup." Robin replied. "Last I checked, he was in Arkham Penitentiary. But of course, gangsters need to have the best lawyers, a coerced judge, a rigged jury, etcetera, etcetera; In order to get a minimal sentence."

"So…"

"If Roman Sionis is dealing weapons out, then he might know where he is getting his shipments of weapons from." Robin theorised before punching a few buttons and driving towards the Steel Mill.

Lois, again, held on to the handle as to not hit her face on the dashboard. "Warn me!"

"I did the first time." Robin retorted. "Alright, so the plan is, you get pictures of Sionis' weapons deal." Robin commanded. "Once you're done, I'll go in and take him out."

"Will we be trespassing?" Lois asked.

"Uh…How much of that have you done to get information?" Robin retorted.

Lois was about to argue, but then exhaled. "Touché."

Later, at the Steel Mill, Robin and Lois snuck in through a hole just behind the fence and got a look at the ginormous steel mill that stood before them. It look abandoned, unkempt, unclean and covered in graffiti.

Robin looked at the building and noticed some flicking orange lights coming from the window. "That will be where Sionis is having his meeting or beating the living snot out of one of his goons."

He then looked at the height of the building and Lois. "Hey question, how much do you weigh?"

"Uh….140. I think. Why?" She asked.

Robin sighed. "You good at climbing?"

"Uh…."

Later, Lois and Robin were climbing up the steel mill by holding on to the line from Robin's grappling hook. Lois was in the front while Robin followed behind, holding her around her hips as to not fall off.

"This feels a little goofy." Lois remarked.

"Campy." Robin said. "If you want expand your vocabulary a bit."

As they continued to climb up the wall, Lois suddenly slipped, almost causing her to fall to her death. But thankfully, she held on to the cable and pressed her feet hard against the wall.

"I thought you said you could climb." Robin groaned.

"Up a wooden barrack, not a steel mill." Lois retorted.

They eventually made it to the top and Lois held on to her knees and took a few deep breaths. She did her best to not look down at how high she and the kid were but it was very tempting to say the least.

They walked towards the windows to listen in on the conversation Black Mask was having with his crew.

Roman Sionis AKA Black Mask was a well toned man with a white suit with a red rose in his right breast pocket, black shoes, a pair of black gloves and a distinct skull shaped black mask.

They were currently in the smelting chamber of the steel mill. And around the area where the metal was melted, there were giant buckets of molten metal, a huge platform that also had an office, sparks flying everywhere and lights that were perfect for perching on.

The gangster walked about, staring down at the criminals he had hired for the deal. "So…As soon as you saw the kid you instantly took off?" He spoke in a stereotypical gangster tone and infliction that some might say is just an act to make himself look scary.

"Of course Mr Sionis." The criminal laughed. "We looked everywhere but that kid never caught up with us."

A slightly taller goon with a white tank top and multiple tattoos across his arm walked forward. "Yeah! Never saw the bird. Guess he had struggle flying."

Black Mask looked pleased. "Oh really?" He laughed. "You sure about that?"

"Of course we are boss." Another criminal assured him. "That kid can't handle things without Batman."

Black Mask shrugged his shoulders. "Really?" Then, he clenched one of his fists in anger. "Well, how come one of my guys found a little bat shaped device on the back of the van?!" He screamed in anger as he showed his goons the bat shaped device. "You think that kid is dumb?! He learnt from Batman! He is obviously going to think like him! This is kind of stunt he would pull off! Scaring you right to our base of operation! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

The goon shivered despite being in a very heat inducing location. "Um…Sorry?"

Black Mask looked shocked. "Sorry? Sorry? Is this what you think this starts with? Sorry?" Black Mask punched him in the face, causing the mask he was currently wearing to shatter. "NOW APOLOGISE!"

The gangster began to walk around the two standing criminals pondering what he should do to them. "Anyone else wanna say something dumb to my face? Or do I need to throw the both of you into that pot of molten steel? Mockingbird is taking too much of a risk to be doing this! Sure, great idea, let's sell weapons out in Gotham! Why don't you sell them in Metropolis, Central City, Star City or Coast City; Where a ton of meta scums are flying or running about!"

"Um…I don't know if Green Arrow is a Metahuman." One of the goons said, leading Black Mask to kick him in his stomach.

"Anyone else?!" Black Mask screamed.

Meanwhile, Lois was taking pictures with her camera and recording the conversation with her tape recorder. She stopped recording to stare at Black Mask, feeling intimidated.

"Woah, that guy is scary." Lois said.

"Eh, you haven't dealt with Jonathan Crane." Robin said.

"Who?" Lois asked.

"Keep doing what you're doing." Robin said.

Lois continued to record the conversation with her recorder while taking some pictures.

Inside, Black Mask pulled the goon up and began pacing about. "Pack up! We're leaving! It's only a matter of time before that kid gets here with Batman. Disguise our trucks and vehicles. I need to make a call to Mockingbird." He pulled out a flip phone from his pocket and began to dial a number.

In that moment, Robin quickly entered the building through the window. Lois was about to stop him, but she needed to record the conversation.

Inside the building, Robin was perched on a nearby railing, close to where Black Mask was dialling a number. He placed his finger on his ear to get into contact with Alfred.

"Alfred, I'm about to intercept a call with Black Mask, do your best to trace the signal." Robin said.

"On it, sir."

Then, Robin pulled his sleeve up and tapped on a device on his wrist before his eyes lit up a light blue. The device in Robin's mask, made him scan the phone that Black Mask had finished dialling on.

He took off his mask to reveal a Caucasian man in his mid to late forties with a chin like a brick, black under his eyes, black hair, brown eyes and a few wrinkles. 

Soon, the phone stopped dialling and Roman Sionis was now on the phone with Mockingbird. "Mockingbird, we're switching locations again!"

"That is a shame. What for?"

"Because of your careless business strategies, the bat is on his way." Roman explained. "I appreciate the weapons you handed out. Armour piercing bullets, correct?"

"Can burst through any solid object. Not even a wall will protect you. Hell, the bat's armour will be very penetrable."

Roman smiled. "That's going to make his defeat a lot easier."

"Where do you intend to move operations?"

"I'll think of something. I have a lot of properties in my name or names of relatives." Roman explained. "I just gotta make sure they sign the property over to me, permanently."

"Let me know soon enough. You are a top client, after all."

Roman hung up on the phone before tossing it perfectly into a giant pot of molten steel, melting it into nothing.

Roman looked impressed with what he did and smiled. "Ah, I should not have quit basketball." Then, he saw someone perched on a railing and froze.

He saw Robin staring at him whom instantly realised he had been caught. "Oh shoot!"

Sionis quickly began firing his gun at the boy, causing him to jump off the railing and landing on his feet. Then, he tossed one of his own batarangs at Roman's hand, disarming him of his weapon.

"Ah!"

Robin gave a smug smile. "Caught you in the act, Roman."

"Knew it was a matter of time when you and him would show." Roman said.

Robin looked disappointed. "Again? Always assuming he's here because I'm here! You do realise I took out the Zucco crime family, right?"

"With Batman's help." Roman retorted.

"Mainly me." Robin argued.

"You want to know about Mockingbird?" Roman asked. "I hate to tell ya, kid. I know nothing about them. Except that they might be Bruce Wayne. We just collect the stuff from various locations. Last time we collected was outside some dingy apartment. The kind of location a bunch of young college graduates can afford with their limited budget."

Robin looked confused. "I'm a little confused. You're telling me everything right now saving your butt from interrogation when moments before you clearly underestimated me? Little consistency, please."

"You say the bat's not here." Roman said as he put on his mask. "Correct?"

Robin began to reach into his utility belt for an item he could use to protect himself from enemy fire. While Lois looked on, worried for the young boy's safety.

Robin in that moment was in an intense stare down with the gangster whom was just reaching into his pocket for another pistol.

"Wait a minute. Are you…"

Soon, they began to hear the sounds of heavy footprints coming towards them. This lead Robin to be alarmed while Black Mask gave a smug pose.

"Stalling?" Black Mask stated just as a bunch of armed criminals burst in and began firing rounds at Robin.

The Boy Wonder thankfully performed a cartwheel out of the way of the blasts and got behind one of the legs of the platform.

Lois watched on feeling helpless for the kid since he was down there and she was up there. "I can't stay up here." Lois said. "I gotta get down there and quick!" She then looked to her right and saw a ladder just right beside her and began to think of a plan.

Meanwhile, Robin was still hiding behind the leg to avoid the barrage of bullets coming towards him. He thought he was safe, until he saw one of the bullets fly through the metal. Leading him to realise that these were the armour piercing bullets he was talking about.

"Kill him! Kill him!" Black Mask cried.

Robin knew the situation was screwed since the bullets would kill him instantly. He reached into his utility belt and pulled out a small ball.

He quickly performed a cartwheel and then changed it into a front flip to get behind a box, all while they still kept shooting. He knew he had to throw this in order to put them off of their weapons, but he didn't have time to think of a distraction.

That was until, he heard the sound of some metal clanging that caught everyone's attention. "Hey! There's someone here!"

Everyone stopped firing their weapons and turned to where the sound came from. They saw Lois dangling from a ladder that was dangling from an another platform.

One of them was about to shoot but Black Mask lowered their weapon while he looked amused by this. "This is…Funny."

Robin on the other hand just shook his head in embarrassment. "Stay up here, Lois. It's four simple words. Just stay up here. But nooo…You had to burst in and…Give me a window." He smiled. 

He quickly pushed a button on the circular device and tossed it towards Black Mask and his goons.

"Explosive!" One of the goons exclaimed as quick as he could.

But it was too late, because the device exploded, causing a wave of electricity to hit the criminals. But for some reason, they were unaffected by the blast. Almost like, it was nothing to them.

"What happened?" Black Mask asked.

Robin walked out of his hiding place giving off a smug confident grin. "So…Anyone wanna start firing off rounds?"

Black Mask laughed. "You heard the kid, open fire!"

They pulled their triggers but instead of there being rounds of bullets, there were just sounds of clicks that lead them to realise that they had been rendered disarmed.

Robin cracked his neck and clenched his fists. "Now, we can have fun."

He charged towards the goons and engaged in a fight with them. He knocked the first two to the floor by jumping in the air and kicking them simultaneously.

When one tried to grab him, he vaulted over them and managed to use both of his feet to injure another one in the face.

One tried to punch Robin, but the Boy Wonder dodged every punch before punching him in the chest and gave him an uppercut.

A few more came running up towards him. But then, Robin summoned a staff from his utility belt and hit all of them in the face with it, causing them to back up a bit and holding to their jaws.

Robin then, began to hit them all over their bodies with his staff, causing them to get knocked to the floor, with a few bruises.

Suddenly, one of the goons summoned a small knife from his pocket and aimed it at Robin. The Boy Wonder just sighed.

"Seriously dude?" Robin reacted. "I have a staff, you have a knife. How do you think this is going to end?"

The goon looked at his knife with embarrassment before tossing it towards Robin, who then deflected it. Then, he ran towards the man and jump kicked him in the chest.

"Anyone got anyone worthy of fighting me?!"

Suddenly, he felt a wind coming towards him and ducked as fast as he could. A machete flew past him, cutting a bit of his hair.

The kid did a backflip and landed with a cool pose to look at his opponent. His opponent was a tall man with no shirt, revealing his bulging muscles. His face was covered in black paint that resmbled Roman's black mask.

Robin grinned at his opponent. "Ha! That is more like it!"

The black faced goon charged at Robin, machete in hand and tried to stab him with it. But instead, he was now in a duel with Robin, the two of them deflecting every one of their hits.

The goon tried hitting the Boy Wonder in every direction but he fortunately missed since Robin either dodged or was just good at deflecting.

At one point, while clashing their weapons at each other, the goon saw an opportunity to incapacitate his foe. The goon kicked Robin in the chest, causing him to be disarmed of his weapon and to crash against the wall.

The goon grinned as he saw his opportunity to take down his kid opponent. He began charging towards him, just as he was getting up.

Thankfully, Robin saw him coming and saw a fire extinguisher latched on the rigs of the leg. In that moment, he pulled a batarang from his belt and tossed it straight towards the goon as he got close towards him.

The impact of the batarang caused smoke to burst from the extinguisher, blinding the criminal into swinging his machete around like a madman.

Robin quickly charged towards the goon and kicked him in the knee, punched him in the face, judo chopped him in the ear before a spin kick straight to his chest.

Robin landed while doing a fighting stance and grinned at the criminals he took down single handedly. "Alright, who's next?"

Suddenly, he felt the cold steel of the muzzle of a pistol. Turns out, Black Mask had somehow found a spare pistol to make up for his old one.

"Nice moves kid." Black Mask cocked his weapon. "But you got too cocky."

Instead of being afraid, Robin just shrugged his shoulders. "What can I say? I'm just a kid, I like to have my fun."

"You think just because you're a kid I won't have it in my heart to shoot you?" Black Mask laughed.

"Well, it would show you have a bit of a soft side."

"Do I look like someone like Oswald Cobblepot?" Black Mask asked.

"Well, you're a lot shorter than I imagined you being." Robin retorted.

"Careful Boy Wonder. The more you mock me, the quicker my finger will put pressure on this little trigger." Black Mask chided him.

"Hey, since I'm gonna die soon, do you know anything about Mockingbird?" Robin asked.

"What else is there to say?" Black Mask asked. "They showed up out of the blue one day and started to sell some high tech gear from Wayne Enterprises. Could be Bruce Wayne? Who knows? Miss Vale seems to think so."

"Well, she thinks anyone who is charitable is evil." Robin shrugged his shoulders.

Black Mask chuckled. "What would she think of me if I took you out now? I could get an exclusive with her."

"Be sure to dress up nicely." Robin said.

"Thank you." Black Mask said. "Or perhaps it's not Bruce Wayne. Perhaps it's that Wayne Enterprise employee who went missing. Russ Goreman, was it? I don't know, I got no time to remember names. So, Boy Wonder any last words?"

Robin grinned. "By the way, have you seen my staff?"

In that moment, Black Mask had realised something. The staff that Robin had carried was missing. Then, he looked to where it would have landed and saw that it wasn't there.

This made Sionis come to a conclusion. "Wait a minute. Are you…."

Before he could ask the question, Lois charged behind him and hit him in the back with Robin's staff. Causing him to drop his gun.

Then, Lois hit him in the back of the leg, causing him to lose balance. Then, she performed a roundhouse kick to his head. Knocking not only his mask off, but himself as well.

She tossed the staff at Robin, who caught it with one hand. "Stalling?" The Boy Wonder retorted. He looked towards Lois, who looked like she was waiting for a thank you from him. "I told you to stay back."

"You're welcome." Lois retorted.

"I was going to say thank you." Robin assured her. "I see why Mr Kent likes to keep you around. Besides, make out sessions."

Lois looked offended by the comment. "Hey!"

"I'm kidding!" Robin assured her. "Still…Really appreciate the help."

"I'm impressed by how you single handedly took out a ton of these guys." Lois remarked.

But Robin looked regretful. "But I got sloppy in the end. Too confident in myself."

Lois smiled. "Hey kid, not everyone is perfect. I would have gotten sloppy as well if I was in your boots."

He was about to argue when all of a sudden, he was getting a call from Alfred. "Master Grayson, I have some information about the address of the supposed Mockingbird."

"Yes, Alfred?" Robin asked.

"Unfortunately, due to the limited duration of the phone call, I wasn't able to get an address."

"Son of a-"

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Master Grayson." Alfred said. "We will get that Mockingbird soon enough. Oh, perhaps you should look into the disappearance of Augustus Goreman. The Wayne Enterprise employee who vanished without a trace just a few hours ago. Police say that he probably punched his card, but…You have a hunch he wasn’t clocking off?"

"You know me." Robin remarked. "How are Batman and Superman doing?"

"Master Wayne and Mister Kent are currently getting information out of his informant. And knowing her, you know how that might go."

Chapter Text

Somewhere in Gotham, at the Iceberg Lounge, which was a ginormous building with two huge doors with penguins carved on to the handles and a ginormous glass dome on top of it, there was a ton of commotion going on the inside of the establishment.

Inside the club area, there were a bunch of goons firing at a chandelier hanging over a ginormous fish bowl with an assortment of fishes.

Hanging from the decoration, was some kind of black slender figure that every one of the goons could not seem to hit. But they did manage to hit the glass droplets hanging from the chandelier.

"Shoot her!" One of them commanded.

"I'm trying."

Then, a short man with a monocle on his right eye, a black top hat, a long pointy nose, a tucked in white button shirt, a small purple waist coat, black shoes and a purple overcoat, waddled in angrily.

"What are you clodpolls doing?!" The short man yelled in a rough cockney accent.

"She's on the chandelier, Mr Cobblepot." The goon replied.

"I can see that!" Cobblepot replied. "But why are you SHOOTING MY CHANDELIER?! It cost me a great quantity of my wealth and I'm not misspending every penny just to have you halfwitted dullards misuse every round of ammunition just to miss this yegg."

The slender person jumped off the chandelier and onto the floor above the ground floor. "There she goes!" The goon exclaimed. "She's getting away."

Oswald however, looked confident. "Now, wait a moment. She will not get the chance to perform her little moonlight flit. Whilst you were busy playing havoc with my exorbitant decoration, I have initiated my newfangled security system. All the windows have been barred, the doors have been automatically secured and the vents have been obstructed with a highly virulent gas."

"Wow, that is clever boss." One of the goons remarked.

"Thank you for your laudation." Oswald said before getting frustrated. "Now, don't just stand there like a bunch of taxidermic creatures, scatter out and find that DETESTABLE CAT!"

Soon, all the armed soldiers of Oswald Cobblepot, AKA The Penguin, dispersed in order to find their thief.

Elsewhere, the thief was busy trying to burst out of the door. The thief herself was a Caucasian woman with black boots, a cat like leather mask, a black belt filled with an assortment of gadgets, a pair of red goggles and a leather body suit with a zipper going up to her neck.

This was Selina Kyle AKA Catwoman, Gotham's most notorious cat burglar.

She stared at the locked door and sighed. "Well, Ozzie appears to have upped security since last time." She said to herself. "Aww, I'm very flattered. He knows I love a challenge." She noted the barred windows and sighed. "Okay, you're not making things easy. Plus, I can smell that putrid toxic from here. Okay, guess I better fight my way out of here."

She then heard the sound of people coming towards her location and jumped on the ceiling. There, she began to hear the goons having a conversation to themselves about their boss.

"Why does he even do that?" The muscular female criminal asked the average sized male criminal.

"Do what?"

"Talk like that?"

"You mean the Cockney accent?" He asked.

"No! Using all these fancy words." She responded.

"I don't think he knows what they mean." He theorised. "I think he uses them to sound like he comes from the upper class. Believe me, I once tried to steal from Bruce Wayne and nobody ever uses these Victorian sounding phrases."

As they spoke, Catwoman was still on the ceiling following the criminals and listening in to their conversation.

"Perhaps he wants to sound sophisticated." She remarked.

"Or maybe he wants to sound annoying."

"Or, perhaps pretentious." Catwoman's statement got the goons to turn around and begin to unload their ammo to an empty corridor.

But they were surprised to see that she wasn't there whatsoever. "What?"

Then, Catwoman gently de-attached herself from the ceiling and landed on her feet like a cat. She tapped on their shoulders and before they could take in who was in front of them, she managed to beat them up with an array of punches and kicks that knocked them to the floor.

At one point, there was another criminal walking down a corridor looking for the thief. He noticed how dark the corridor was and looked up to see a shattered lightbulb and some glass on the carpet which looked recent.

That was until, he saw what looked like a slender silhouette running from left to right further down the corridor.

"There she is!" He began running down the corridor. But at one point, he accidentally stood on some scattered caltrops, puncturing his feet. He fell and landed on the remaining caltrops, puncturing his entire skin and to scream in pain.

Elsewhere, a goon was walking next to the railing, looking down on the dance floor on the ground floor. He saw that it was clear after a few moments and went back to patrolling.

As he walked, he scratched his right cheek due to an irritable itch. "Need a scratch?" He looked to who talked to him and it was Catwoman. But before he could react, she scratched where he scratched his cheek, leaving three distinct cat claws, causing him to fall off the railing and to land on a table, shattering not only the piece of furniture, but a few bones as well.

Meanwhile, a female goon was walking down the corridor with her rifle raised high, ready to shoot whoever comes her way.

That was when, she saw Catwoman just casually skipping from left to right, in front of her. Just as she was about to shoot her, Catwoman suddenly removed her whip from her belt and with a powerful strike, she managed to strike the weapon out of her hand.

The goon in retaliation just pulled a knife from her pocket and showed it off to the thief. However, she just stretched, whip still in her hand and sighed.

"I can't believe you made that mistake." Catwoman remarked. "Bringing a knife to a whip fight." She once again, struck the goon, knocking the knife from her hand before whipping her in the face.

Then, she charged towards the goon and performed a jump kick to her chest, knocking her to the floor. After performing that jump kick, she landed perfectly on her feet and struck a pose.

"Woo, I honestly don't want this to stop." She remarked.

All of a sudden, she felt the cold barrel of a rifle to the back of her head. "Well, I'm afraid that you're going to have to."

Catwoman sighed in defeat, knowing that this was going to take forever. That was until she noticed a familiar silhouette, gliding outside the barred window. She smiled just as Cobblepot arrived.

"Well, well, well…" The Penguin grinned. "Looks like this little pursuit had unfortunately arrived towards an early conclusion."

"Well, it's not always the end." Catwoman said before the tip of a blade was placed on her stomach. She saw that the Penguin had a blade pressed there which was disguised as The Penguin’s distinct umbrella. "Or perhaps…"

"If you dare hightail it from this very venue, I shall perforate your skin. And in turn, your departure from life would inexorable." The Penguin said.

"Huh?" The big goon asked.

The Penguin looked annoyed. "Another word for inevitable. Honestly, this is why you're a just a frenzied beast working for me. If you mugged up on a few topics as opposed to wallets, you might have had an illustrious intelligence quotient. That's why I studied English literature at Cambridge."

"Your thesaurus says otherwise." Catwoman's retort caused Penguin to slice a bit of her costume on the abdominal region. She gave a mocking groan. "Oh, Ozzie, no need to get umbrageous over it."

The Penguin began to get annoyed. "Oh, now you're starting to idle my patience. Did you think I'd let you evade me with my possessions in your hands?"

"Yeah." Catwoman replied bluntly.

The Penguin laughed. "Don't make me bust a gut. What makes you think you will make your ostentatious escape?"

"Shoot her and find out."

The sudden voice caused Penguin and his last standing goon to flinch in terror. The goon holding Catwoman turned around to see Batman standing behind the railing that lead to the dance floor, looking as intimidating as ever.

Penguin moved to a position to look at Batman and began to panic. "Oh….Oh…Bo….Shoot her! He's tempting you!"

The goon pulled the trigger, but instead of bullets, he heard a click sound. A sound to emphasise his empty chamber.

Batman grinned and tapped on a Disruptor gun attached to his belt. Then, he tossed a batarang to the tall goon's head, knocking him to the floor, unconscious.

"Thank you." Catwoman said.

Penguin was about to run away from Batman and Catwoman, but instead, bumped into someone far more worse than Batman and Catwoman combined. Superman.

Penguin dropped his umbrella while Superman just hovered in place with his arms folded. "Evening Mr Cobblepot." Superman said. "Superman, I'm pretty sure you read the papers."

Superman picked up Penguin by his collar, causing the little man to panic. Then, Superman hung him by the back collar on a nearby tiny chandelier, suspending him off the ground.

"Why don't you stay and hang around for a while?" Superman suggested.

Catwoman herself looked surprised by Superman's appearance and grinned. "Superman? Well, this is very surprising."

Superman narrowed his eyes at Catwoman. "Of course I am. Now, I believe you acquired property from Oswald Cobblepot?"

Catwoman approached Superman seductively, causing him some discomfort and his cheeks to blemish. "What makes you think that? Is it instincts?"

"Uh…Well…I…I….I hope you're not uncomfortable…"

"The leather. I feel adds to the look." She pressed her hands on Superman's chest, causing his eyes to go wide. "Mmmm, what is that material?"

"Uh….Batman?" Instead of helping, Batman was looking on in what could only be described as amusement.

"Hush, hush." She looked back towards Batman and exhaled. "This changes nothing between us."

"I'm well aware." Batman said. "Superman, what has Selina stole?"

Superman removed himself from Catwoman and began to walk backwards while looking at her. Catwoman on the other hand, turned to Batman.

"Oh dear, do we need to do this? What makes you think I'm stealing from Ozzie again?" Catwoman asked. "Could it be that I, like you, enjoy going out after hours?"

"She has an expensive necklace, a box filled with pearls, a red diamond and…A thesaurus?" Superman seemed baffled.

"That's my property!" Penguin cried in anger. "All that belongs to…" Superman stopped him from speaking by grabbing the chandelier and with a tiny bit of his strength, span the decoration with the stout man still hanging on. "…Stop…Stop…"

Catwoman sighed. "You peaked. This is embarrassing. I wasn't even wearing any underwear."

Superman looked uncomfortable. "Yeah…I know."

"Selina…" Batman just narrowed his eyes at her.

Catwoman, though reluctant, gave in. "Fine. No peaking, boys." She looked at Superman with a grin. "Or…Maybe you can."

Superman just gave an uncomfortable stare before turning around to face the wall. Whereas Superman did it, Batman was busy staring at Catwoman.

"Wanting to catch a peek?" Catwoman asked flirtatiously.

"Just making sure you don't escape." Batman replied.

Catwoman sighed. "Always the boring responses from you. Nothing fun from you whatsoever."

While Superman kept his back turned, Catwoman's zipper was heard and the contents of her one piece suit were being emptied on a nearby mantle piece which included a thesaurus.

Catwoman had finished emptying her suit of items and zipped her costume back up. "Alright, Superman, you can turn around."

Superman turned around. "Alright, thanks. But I will find out if you've kept anymore items."

"Yeah, yeah, X ray vision." Catwoman said.

"We need to leave." Batman declared. "We have things to discuss."

Batman summoned his grappling gun and aimed it at the open skylight, flying out. Superman soon followed by flying out the same open skylight.

Catwoman just sighed. "You know, I can't fly. Additionally, I don't have a grappling hook. All I have is a whip and some claws. Boys and their toys." Catwoman began to perform some parkour skills that lead to her climbing out of the skylight.

But she of course, left the Penguin behind. "Hey! Hey! Is someone going to unfetter me?! Don't leave me suspending off the floor! Get your despicable keister's back here!"

Up on the roof of the Iceberg Lounge, Catwoman was stretching her hands high while Batman and Superman watched on with serious deadpan stares.

"So, what's this?" Catwoman asked. "Is this some partnership?"

"Temporary." Batman replied.

"I was about to ask if this was a double date, but I don't see a Superwoman anywhere." Catwoman remarked.

"She's thankfully elsewhere." Superman mumbled to himself, grateful that Lois is elsewhere and not here.

"Selina, we need information." Batman explained. "It's about Bane."

"What can I say?" Catwoman asked. "He attacked Bruce Wayne's party and kidnapped the DA, Oliver Queen and that Olsen guy. Honestly, if I was Bane, I would have kidnapped Bruce Wayne."

"He has been prone to be difficult." Superman said, leading Batman to narrow his eyes at the alien.

"Anyway, I think it's some sort of rues." Catwoman explained. "Rumour has it that Bane just wants to fight Superman."

Superman looked alarmed. "Why me?" He was in disbelief since this could mean, he was solely the reason why Jimmy was captured. To get to him.

"Well, at least we know why he's after you." Batman remarked.

"Why does he wanna fight me?" Superman asked. "I've never met him."

"Superiority complex." Catwoman explained. "Some…Hidden insecurity most likely. Ya know, typical alpha male behaviour."

"What of his location?" Batman asked.

"I don't know." She replied. "I know nothing about that. But one person I know is Leslie Willis. She's currently a neighbour of mine just a floor above my apartment. I think she might have come back, who knows? The electricity is going crazy. Well, that's all about everything I have so I wish you the best of-" She turned around to face the two but Superman was the only one standing.

He looked around and groaned in annoyance. "You have got to be kidding me!"

Catwoman chuckled. "You get used to it." She perched the edge of the rooftop. "Oh, and I hope I see you and your skintight costumes soon."

Superman coughed. "Sorry, I don't think it would work out between us."

Catwoman chortled. "In a relationship already? I won't pry on who she is, but I envy her." As she walked away Superman looked worried. Did she figure it out?

But before he could ask her, she jumped off the ledge and used her whip to swing off of a streetlight before landing on her feet on the ground like a cat.

Superman wanted to make chase to her to find out what she knew, but he had to find Jimmy and stop Bane. So he took off to find Batman. Again.

Chapter Text

Elsewhere in Gotham, Robin and Lois were back in the car with the Boy Wonder still at the wheel of the vehicle. Lois on the other hand, was still holding on to a handle, due to the speed of the vehicle.

"So, what have you found out about this Augustus Goreman?" Lois asked.

Robin typed on a desktop computer on the dashboard with one hand still on the wheel. The screen showed the status report on the missing Wayne Enterprise employee. "Augustus Goreman. Born December 1st 1985, two time divorcee and father of two. Before he worked at Wayne Enterprises, he was working the few odd jobs. Telephone repair man, nuclear safety advisor, waiter and currently is the safety advisor at Wayne Enterprises."

"Diverse job list." Lois remarked.

"Yup." Robin replied. "He has been working with the company for three months until he was reported missing by his boyfriend. But of course, there's that 48 hour window before the police do anything to find them. Unless you're me or Batman."

"Do you think this Gus guy could be Mockingbird and just faked his disappearance?" Lois asked. "I mean, two divorces. That's a lot of alimony to pay off."

"He might not be doing well financially, but his job is well payed." Robin explained. "Fifty grand a year."

"Oh wow." Lois remarked. "No way a guy like him is Mockingbird."

"Yeah, that's what I'm thinking." Robin said.

As they continued to drive through Gotham, they drove past the Iceberg Lounge which looked to be under intense lockdown. Robin would have investigated, but he knew Bruce had it covered.

Then, Robin decided to break the silence between him and his new partner. "So, what's it like having an alien for a boyfriend?"

Lois almost choked by the suddenness of the question. "Excuse me?!"

"Hey, it's cool that you have an alien for a boyfriend." Robin said. "I mean, if I had an alien girlfriend, that would be the coolest thing! I mean, it would probably depend on the type of species, but still."

"Honestly, Clark isn't really comfortable being referred to as an alien." Lois explained. "He doesn't know what he is."

"Okay, how do you feel about having an extra terrestrial for a boyfriend?" Robin asked.

"You know, I never thought about it." Lois explained. "Coming out of your mouth now, I realise I'm in an inter species relationship with someone not of this planet! Not that there's anything wrong with it! I mean, he's a lot better than my last relationships. They were almost inhumane with how big of jerks they were."

"So…Ironically, your boyfriend from outer space is more human than either of us?" Robin remarked. "Huh, that's deep."

"Clark, he's just so kind, loyal and caring." Lois gushed a little before sighing. "But, when your boyfriend happens to be a superhero, it's kind of worrying. He's invincible sure, but he takes a lot of hits. One time, he vanished for four days because he was captured by a team called Task Force X and was tortured. And do you wanna know who tortured him?!"

Robin chuckled. "Don't tell me, your Dad?” He looked at Lois with a jokey smile. But then, it vanished once she saw how serious she looked. "Wait, your Dad?!"

"Yup. Turns out, Dad was so set in believing that Superman was a threat that he captured him and tortured him." Lois explained.

Robin was indeed surprised. "I mean, I hear of Dads being judgey about who their daughters are dating, but he took it to another level."

"He doesn't know that Superman and Clark are the same person!" Lois exclaimed. "I hope not anyway. I don't know. I haven't seen him since that Thanksgiving incident."

"Yeah, big spaceship almost entering small rural town in Kansas was going to get media coverage." Robin said. "Shame they went with the ambitious special effects response. Like, what kind of person would try and make an effect that unfilmable and ambitious?"

Robin began to ponder who could and shrugged his shoulders. "Christopher Nolan?”

Lois exhaled. "Sure, him. I still worry for Clark. Bane could stand against him in a fight. What if he does something to him? What if he breaks his back? What if he captures him? I love Clark, but even I think this relationship is gonna have some risks."

"Hey, it's not like he's disappearing months on end leaving you alone." Robin remarked.

"Is that a reference to something?" Lois asked.

"Bruce told me about some kid from another universe who essentially told him his life story as he waited for a portal to open." Robin explained. "Also mentioned how his Dad screwed him over, how he screwed over his girlfriend and how his name is very ironic."

"What was his name?" Lois asked.

"I think his name was….I don't know if I wanna say it, it's so stupid." Robin replied. "Oh, we're here!"

He stopped the car a couple of blocks away from Wayne Tower. Once the duo got out, Lois instantly ran to a nearby trash can and threw up in it.

"Are you gonna keep doing that every time we get out of the car?" Robin asked.

"Kid, the sooner we leave the Batmobile the better." Lois replied as she wiped away her bit of saliva on her sleeve.

"Batmobile?" Robin asked. "Did you just call the car Batmobile?"

"Were you really gonna keep calling that hunk of junk The Car?" Lois asked.

"Well….It just sounds ridiculous." Robin protested.

"You're named after a red bellied bird and that's where you draw the line?" Lois retorted.

"Yeah." Robin replied bluntly.

"Well, come on then, we got a supposed kidnapping to solve." Lois was about to walk to the tower when all of a sudden, Robin used his staff to stop her.

"Hang on, we have to take a few precautions first." Robin said. "Wayne Enterprises has a lot active cameras, so you'd be making additional progress to your criminal record if you were caught."

"So…Do I wear a ski mask?" Lois asked. "Or are you going to erase the footage?"

"It's fun, but it's more nifty when you have a guy on the inside." Robin explained as he tapped on some buttons on his wrist. "Lucius, I'm gonna need you to take the security down."

"Of course, Mr Grayson. I'm on it." Lucius said.

Inside Wayne Enterprise tower, in the monitor room, a lone security guard was watching the various monitors filming all the areas in the building.

He appeared to be a man of Asian descent whom appeared to be bored at staring at nothing all night. Just as he dipped his donut in a cup of coffee, he suddenly heard the sound of the desk phone ringing. He put it on speaker.

"Calnan speaking." The guard said.

"Lenny, this is Lucius Fox. Listen, you've done enough, why don't you take the night off? And that's not a suggestion, that is a direct order."

The guard, instead of arguing, instantly jumped off his seat, turned off all feeds, locked the security room, exited the building and locked the door to the tower.

Once the guard left, he jumped into his car and drove off, all while Robin and Lois watched on from the shadows of an ally. "Okay, we're in." Lois was about to walk over to the building when Robin stopped her.

"Sit down on that bench." Robin commanded.

"Uh…." Lois, despite being baffled by the request, sat on the nearby bench.

"Okay, now I need you to stretch your feet out." Lois did as the kid complied.

Robin got on his knees and pulled what appeared to be a two pieces of sticky Saran wrap that he stuck on the sole of Lois' left foot.

"What are you putting on my foot?" Lois asked.

"A little device Lucius made." Robin replied. "Helps us go anywhere without leaving a trace of footprints."

"So, wait, Lucius Fox is with you?" Lois asked.

"Who do you think manufactures our gadgets?" Robin retorted.

"Uh…Someone who's good at robotics and mechanics?" Lois responded.

"Definition of Lucius." Robin remarked. "Also, you'll definitely need these." He handed a pair of disposable gloves for Lois.

"And did he invent these?" Lois asked.

Robin gave her a deadpan stare. "No, these were invented by William Stewart Halstead."

Lois, embarrassed by her comment, just took them and out them on. "Right, of course."

Later, the cocky duo were closing in on the building and stopped by in front of the sliding doors. Robin tapped on his wrist and in a few seconds, the sliding doors opened automatically.

Robin and Lois entered the building and found the monitor room. The journalist tried opening it, but it was locked. However, the Boy Wonder noticed that there was a device on the wall that scanned ID cards.

Unfortunately, they didn't have any forms of identification to get in. But thankfully, Robin managed to hack through that, causing the door to be unlocked.

They entered the monitor room, with Lois looking at Robin with admiration. "Seriously kid, how do you know so much about hacking?"

"I just happen to be good at it." Robin replied. "Believe it or not, I actually managed to hack a Russian satellite one time."

Lois looked worried by that statement. "Well, that's worrying."

Robin switched on the monitor, causing every camera to activate all at once. They turned all the screens on and began to look at the current feed. One of them happened to be showing live footage of the duo in the very room they were standing in.

Lois turned around to look at the camera that was filming them and gave a nervous grin. "Uh…Robin, should we be concerned about that?" Lois asked.

"We shouldn't." Robin replied. "Lucius will just delete this."

"Oh Robin, I should warn you, that there might be a few blind spots. We've been trying to get them repaired and I've had a ton of technicians working on them. But there appears to be a very bad glitch in the system."

"I should hope they won't stop me from getting the information I need." Robin said.

Lois sighed. "If I knew we were breaking and entering, I should have brought my own mask."

"We have a spare bat mask at the cave." Robin said. "You could have pretended to be my sidekick. Batgirl."

Lois looked insulted. "Batgirl?!"

"Or Batwoman. Or, if you wanna be very PC, Bat Person." Robin joked before typing on the computer. "Alright, alright, so, let's go through the footage." Robin began to rewind the footage. "Let me know if you see anything strange."

As Lois watched the footage she was noticing a lot of blind spots flashing on screen which did cause her to feel a little surprised. Then, she saw footage of what looked like a couple making out before entering the janitor's closet.

Another, she saw Alexander making notes on some random weapons. She grimaced about seeing him again after what he had been saying to Superman.

Thankfully, she felt better when she saw there was footage of Vicki Vale being dragged out by security.

"See anything interesting?" Robin asked.

"Very." Lois smiled.

"Besides Vicki Vale getting what was coming." Robin said.

"Right, sorry." Lois said. "Where was Gus' last known location?"

Robin smiled. "Ah. Now that, is a place to start. Reports say he was last seen heading to the locker room to acquire a change of clothing and he allegedly never returned."

Robin began to look at the live footage of the locker room and began to rewind it. So far, there was nothing, then male workers changing out of their clothes, Edward throwing something wrapped in a napkin in a trash can before a blind spot that went on for two minutes and then Gus entering the locker room.

Robin paused before fast forwarding. But after Gus' locker entrance, the footage went out. Robin reversed the footage and then fast forward the footage repeatedly but all he got was the same results.

"Huh. That's convenient luck." Robin remarked.

"Yeah." Lois replied. "Hang on, look at this monitor." She pointed to another one that appeared to be covered in static.

"So?" Robin asked.

"Reverse it." He accepted Lois' request and reversed the footage so now they were seeing what appeared to be the armoury.

She pointed to what looked like someone placing a handle for a gun on the table. "Fast forward." He fast forward the footage and soon it was covered in static. Then, he fast forward the footage to reveal that the handle was gone.

"Huh."

Then, he investigated the back ally and noticed that footage seemed to static. Then, he looked at the shipping area and saw a bunch of shipping crates ready to be used. But then, after the static, there were only a couple of crates missing.

"I don't think it's the system that's the problem." Robin said. "I think, someone is tampering with it. That's why Mockingbird has been difficult to track down! They've been tampering with the system!"

"How that security guard didn't see anything is a bit of a problem." Lois remarked.

"Yeah. Hope he isn't fired." Robin said. "He's kind of a nice guy."

"Let's go through some more of the footage." Lois suggested. "There's gotta be something we missed."

For the last few minutes, the duo went through the footage and so far found nothing. But then, Robin stopped at a certain spot.

"What?" Lois asked.

"Look at that." Robin pointed to footage of what appeared to be a nervous Wayne Enterprise employee disposing of something wrapped in a napkin. As he did, he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Okay, either he coughed up something he shouldn't have or he must have murdered someone." Lois remarked.

"Hmmm, I should get the employee list up." Robin scanned the image of the lean suspect and about 12 seconds later, he got a profile. "Ah, Edward Nashton. Born October 14th, 2000. Graduated in science and engineering with high degrees from Gotham University and has been working as a top engineer and scientist for a couple of years. Orphaned at birth, diagnosed with autism at 4 and wasn't adopted into the Nashton family until 6."

"What does that have to do with this?" Lois asked.

"Don't know." Robin replied. "Perhaps he wants to ruin Bruce Wayne because he feels envious of him getting everything while he didn't. Perhaps the family wasn't too good to him as thirteen years after adopting him. Charles and Clare Nashton were arrested for money laundering, assault and conspiracy to murder, messing with his psyche. Or since Edward is intelligent, he thinks he has a superior intellect and wishes to show it off. Or maybe he felt belittled for being different and wanted to take his anger out on the world."

Lois stared at the kid with a blank stare. "Those are some far fetched theories."

Robin shrugged his shoulders. "Fun to guess. But, in order to see if my theories are correct, we need to start where Gus was most likely taken from."

Later, the two of them had entered the male locker room to find any clues that might explain what could have happened to Gus.

Lois was grinning. "You know, this is my second time in a guy's locker room."

Robin froze at that statement. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Oh ya, know." Lois blew a raspberry. "High school mischief.

Robin just stared at the woman in disappointment. "Unbelievable."

They walked to the trash can where Edward disposed of the napkin which was thankfully still there. Robin picked it up and felt something in it. He unwrapped whatever was wrapped inside of it and found what appeared to be a wrench.

The Boy Wonder analysed the blunt tool and looked to Lois. "Well, least we know what tool he used."

"Is Gus, dead?" Lois asked.

"Hopefully with a head concussion that might need treatment." Robin said.

Then, they noticed what appeared to be writing on the napkin. And these weren't any kind of writing, they were three sets of numbers. 0-6-9.

"0-6-9?" Lois remarked. "What is that?"

"Not sure." Robin replied. He removed the weapon from the napkin and noticed another bit of writing under the numbers that read 'Look in my locker (45) and the other numbers will be right in front of your face.'

"Is that a threat or a clue?" Lois asked.

"Both most likely." Robin replied. "You go ahead and unlock his locker while I analyse the napkin. You've unlocked lockers before, haven't you?"

Lois laughed. "Believe me, if I had a nickel for every time they changed my combination, I would probably have enough to buy a laboratory for myself."

She got off the floor and began to survey the locker room while Robin began to analyse the napkin. As he did, he noticed there was a bit of dried blood on it, implying the hit must have been hard.

Then, he turned the napkin around and found some more pieces of writing.

Meanwhile, Lois found the locker that had 45 engraved on it. "Bingo." She saw that the locker had a padlock attached to the door.

"Ah, it's one of those." Thankfully, she found what looked to be a bobby pin placed on the floor as opposed to just being scattered. She picked it up with a raised brow. "Awfully convenient." She walked towards Nashton’s locker and began fiddling with the lock with the pin to get the locker open.

While she did that, Robin flipped the napkin on the other side where he found another message written on it. 'Riddle me this: I am a bird that has done heinous things. Yet I am the symbol of innocence. What am I?'

Robin looked baffled by the riddle. "Innocence? A bird that symbolises innocence?"

Back with Lois, she was busy wiggling the pin in the lock trying her best to unlock it. "Come on. I know I almost have it."

Robin, feeling like he should cheat, tapped into his wrist to go on the worldwide web to search up what it meant. But he wished the results didn't come up. Because the results were directed at a mockingbird.

It was at this moment, Robin came to the realisation on what was being said. Edward Nashton wasn't just the main suspect in the disappearance of Augustus Goreman, but he was Mockingbird.

Robin was about to call out for Lois when he suddenly heard a bang and Lois screaming. The Boy Wonder ran to the location of Lois and was shocked by what he saw.

Lois, had her hands covered against her face and green paint splattered all over her white shirt and dark green coat.

"Lois?!" Robin yelled.

"Robin, is that you?!" Lois removed her hands from her face to reveal that she had green paint all over her face and her eyes were squinted.

"What happened?!" Robin asked.

Lois, due to the sudden blindness tripped and fell on her rear to the floor. "Uh!"

Robin looked in the locker and found what was in Nashton's locker. There was a spring trap covered in paint which gave Robin the clue as to how Lois got paint on herself. Additionally, there was another message stuck on the left side of the locker. 'Hai, diddle diddle, second fiddle.'

Robin didn't have time to decipher this message and just ran to help Lois whom was panting on the floor, her eyes still squinted.

As he got a closer look at the paint on Lois' head, he saw that there were marks on her forehead. They were numbers. And they were 4, 8 and 4.

Robin decided to put focus on those numbers later and felt obligated to help Lois. "Lois!"

Lois just cringed in intense pain by the paint stinging her eyes and face. "Lois, I'm gonna need you to open your eyes as slow as possible."

Lois, despite the intense pain, slowly opened her eyes. Her eyesight was slightly blurry but thankfully she wasn't blind, just struggling to see a bit.

"Lois!" Robin held up two fingers to her face. "How many fingers am I holding?"

Lois cringed. "Two….Two…"

"Okay, good to know you aren't blind." Robin said as he pulled her on her feet. "Let's get you cleaned up."

"What about the numbers?" Lois asked.

"I got them." Robin assured her as he pushed his finger against his ear. "Alfred, I need you to decipher these numbers. They're most likely radio frequencies."

"On it, sir." Alfred said. "Is this the location of our mysterious Mockingbird?"

"Most likely." Robin replied.

"Master Grayson, might I suggest you wait and have Master Wayne and Mr Kent help you two out?" Alfred suggested.

"Look, I can handle this." Robin said. "I appreciate the concern. But Edward Nashton is a lean geek who likes riddles and childish pranks. What can go wrong?"

Robin, despite his height, was still able to carry Lois in order to wash the paint off her face. Once they were done, they were going to find Edward Nashton.

Elsewhere, Lucius Fox was leaving his house in a very suburban neighbourhood. "I won't be home until this afternoon!" Lucius yelled out.

"Be safe, dear!" Yelled out a female voice.

Lucius began walking towards his small  red car, while carrying his briefcase. He was about to go to work and he was always up in the early hours of the morning so he could have time to make sure all systems were in order.

He entered the driver's side of the car and sat down. He put on his seatbelt and pushed his key into the ignition. When all of a sudden, he felt someone pressing what felt like a gun on his back.

"Don't scream." In the backseat of his side of the car, was none other than Carla. "All I need you to do is drive."

Lucius, despite being scared and reluctant, went with Carla's request and began to drive his vehicle. "May I inquire on where you want to take me?"

"You're going to meet Bane." Carla replied. "And perhaps, Mockingbird if we get the chance."

Chapter Text

Somewhere in Gotham, Batman was busy brooding over the ledge of a building looking down at something below. Turns out, he was currently staring at the ground of a small ally. He stared at the ground with a look on his face that looked like sadness and sorrow.

Then, Superman arrived by flying towards him with a bit of an annoyed scowl on his face. "Why?"

"Why what?" Batman retorted.

"Why do you always do that?" Superman asked.

"You mean go to where I'm supposed go?"

"I mean vanish without a trace."

"I wasn't exactly stealthy back there." Batman retorted.

Superman groaned in frustration before pressing his hands against his face and screaming into them. He was reluctant to team up with him in the first place but this was ridiculous. Was he just being difficult? Or honest in his own way?

"Better?" Batman asked after Superman finished venting his frustrations in his hands.

"I'm okay." Clark sighed. "Are we at the right place?" Batman nodded his head. "So…Where's the apartment?"

"Right in front of you." Batman replied.

Superman, curious as to what Batman was staring at before he arrived on time, looked down from the roof he and him were standing on and saw what looked like a random street called Crime Ally.

"Crime Ally?" Superman remarked.

"Name's not subtle." Batman replied. “But that’s not important right now. Our current objective, is Livewire.”

"Do we have a plan on how we should apprehend her?" Superman asked while using his X-Ray vision to see inside the building. "She isn't here right now."

"We wait." Batman replied. "It's a stakeout."

"Alright." Superman remarked. "Should be fun."

"They're tiresome at best." Batman said. "Nothing much happens for a while."

"Yeah, I know how stakeouts work." Superman said. "This will be fun, imagine all the diverse conversations we will not get into." Batman said nothing and pulled a pair of bat shaped binoculars from his utility belt. "Bat binoculars? How many bat based gadgets do you have?" Batman said nothing and instead just began to look through the binoculars of a nearby almost rundown apartment complex. "Um…You know, being Superman gets me hungry sometimes. Do you want me to get us a sandwich or anything?" Batman once again said nothing, leaving Superman in an awkward position.

He just began to stare at the complex to see if there were any signs of her coming in. But so far, there wasn't any at all.

As he waited, Superman just began to whistle in order to pass the time. He even decided to take the time to start writing on his phone in his notes. It was titled: Poem For Lois. "Can you read my mind?"

"You wanna talk?" Batman asked.

"Uh…Yeah, but if you don't want to-"

"I'm not listening to you write a poem out loud." Batman said. "By the way, it sounds terrible so far."

"I haven't even got to the second paragraph yet." Superman said. "I'm writing it for Lois for Valentines Day which is coming up shortly and-"

"I want us to talk about our methods." Batman interjected. "But more specifically, our methods into enforcing law."

Superman put his phone away and narrowed his eyes at him. "I thought we were never going to discuss this but I'm glad we are. I don't like your methods into fighting crime. Sure, I fight crime despite my strength but I don't leave broken bones or psychological trauma in their way. I care more about being a symbol of hope, you care more about terrorising people. Heck, you even got a child on your violent crusade! Sure, my girlfriend and my best friend are with me all the time, but I don't force them to tag along. They just happen to be there. I just want to know what goes on in that head of yours."

Batman was silent for a moment as he stared at his reluctant partner with a deadpan stare. Then after a moment, he inhaled through his nose before exhaling.

"Look down, Mr Kent." Batman said. "Look down at that ally below us. Twenty-two years ago there was a little boy. A little boy who thought he was on top of the world because of his parent's wealth, who thought Gotham was the perfect city with amazing people and didn’t live his life worrying about anything except the bats in his well. A little boy who got terrified after seeing an opera that he insisted to his parents that they leave early. They decide to take a shortcut through Crime Ally and waiting for them there, was a random mugger who noticed how rich they were and held them at gunpoint. And without a second thought, that same mugger fired his gun at the boy’s parents, killing them! He left that boy alive for God knows what reason. However, he left him orphaned and traumatised. In that moment, he realised he was powerless, he was afraid and he realised he was terrified. In that moment, he saw Gotham for what it truly was. An ugly city with the highest crime rate in all of America. A city ran by scum as opposed to any good politicians!" As he continued his speech, he began to approach Superman. "And that's why I do what I do! I go out there and deal with these mobsters and dishonourable politicians because no one else will! No matter how much money I throw into a campaign, it still doesn't improve what goes down here!"

"But how does this explain your morals?" Superman asked. "Why go out there and hurt people?! They might be criminals, sure, but they don't deserve your treatment!"

"You don't know Gotham like I do!" Batman raised his voice. "Metropolis is just a playground compared to Gotham! It's a war zone here! Crime is relatively moderate in Metropolis but out here in this city, everyone could be a killer, a thief or a drug dealer! I go after these criminals not because I enjoy hurting them, I do this, so another child won't be left alone in an ally surrounded by the bodies of their parents right in front of them! That's why I do this! That's why I am rough on them!"

After Superman finished hearing the man's speech, he began to see through his story. He understood who the kid was in that story. It was Bruce Wayne. Even with his mask both metaphorical and literal, Superman could see a man broken down by the city and what it has done to him.

"Even if you move here to try and fix things, it will tear you apart psychologically that you might become one with this city! So next time you wanna lecture me on how I do my role to protect this city, just fly around and see if it would be better off without me!"

He marched away from Superman and got back to watching the apartment with keen eyes. Whereas Superman began to take in what Batman had just said.

In that moment, he began to look at the city he was currently standing in. It was rather beautiful and gothic from his point of view. Almost like some kind of goth person's art project came to life.

He closed his eyes and began to listen. Everywhere he listened, he was hearing screams, mugging, people being hurt and even homes being robbed.

He knew things were bad in Metropolis, but Gotham was an entirely different story. It was so bad that even he was horrified by what he was hearing. He backed away in horror while Batman just looked at him.

"You hear it don't you?" Batman asked.

Before Superman could respond, the man of steel noticed that a nearby light source had began to flicker. He looked to the apartment and noticed one of the lights on the second floor had began to flicker.

"What's going on?" Superman asked. "Is it Livewire?"

"Either her or they're cutting power off." Batman replied. "What can you see?"

Superman used his X-Ray vision to see what looked to be a lightbulb and a TV flickering simultaneously. "Lightbulb and TV flickering….Wait a minute…" Then, Superman saw what looked to be a beam of electricity burst out of the lightbulb that formed into a silhouette of a woman. "I don't know what I'm looking at."

Then the silhouette raised her arms out and looked to be absorbing a lot of energy from somewhere. That's when Batman and Superman saw the entire apartment and street around it, flickering.

Batman put his binoculars away and narrowed his eyes at the building. "We're going in."

"And how do you intend to handle her?" Superman asked.

"She hates water, right?" Superman nodded his head while a nearby streetlight began to flicker. "There must be a sprinkler system inside that building. So, if things get rough, start a small fire so that way…"

Then all of a sudden, a skeleton glowing a light blue suddenly shot out from the streetlight and blasted Superman and Batman off of the roof.

Superman landed on his back on top of a car while Batman landed gracefully on his feet. The man of steel sat up to understand what had transpired in the last 7 seconds.

"What the…"

Suddenly, the skeleton popped out of a nearby streetlight and punched Superman, causing him to crash into a car.

Batman tried fighting back by throwing a Batarang, but then, the skeleton popped out from a light stuck on a wall and punched him to Superman's location.

"Uh…" Superman groaned as he sat up. "Did you plan for this?"

"No, not at all."

Then, all the lights in the surrounding block began to flicker, as if they were having their powers drained away from them.

Superman and Batman looked at the all the buildings, streetlights, vehicles and all forms of light sources flickering. Both of them with their own set of expressions. Superman looked worried while Batman looked to be analysing the situation.

Soon, the skeleton reappeared in front of the two, only this time, it appeared to be forming muscles around their body.

"What is that?" Superman asked.

"I think it's clear what she is." Batman retorted.

Then, the figure used their power to make nearby cars levitate in the air and aim them at the dynamic duo.

Then, more muscled formed from the skeletons and soon, the figure began to talk. "Hello, Superman."

Superman was shocked. "Leslie? What happened to you?"

"Had myself a power up!" She tossed a car straight towards a nearby apartment that Superman quickly flew up and caught in his hands.

Then, the electronic criminal popped out of the car and punched Superman in the face, sending him flying to the ground.

Batman tried to get involved in the action by quickly trying to grapple up towards her. Then, she popped out of nowhere and tackled him against a building.

"You know before I got into this gig, I used to be quite the admirer of yours." Livewire remarked. "Now, meeting you face-to-face is quite…shocking." She pressed her hands against his head and began to electrocute him, causing him to scream in pain.

He stopped when all of a sudden, Superman popped out of nowhere and blasted Livewire with his heat vision, freeing Batman from her grasp.

Superman managed to catch Batman before he could hit the ground and placed him on his feet. Then, dark knight dropped to his knees and groaned.

"Could she do that before?" Batman asked.

"Not really." Superman replied. "Bane must have done something far worse than I had anticipated."

"Didn't I just say this was an improvement?" Livewire retorted as some skin began to grow back on her body since she was absorbing more and more energy. "Look at me, Superman. I've become more powerful."

Batman was about to toss another batarang until, Livewire shot him in the stomach with a strong blast, causing him to fall on the ground.

"Batman!"

Before Superman had a chance to fight back, Livewire hit Superman with a powerful surge of electricity. Then, she used her powers to lift the man of steel up in the air, still electrocuting him. After that, she slammed him in the middle of the road.

He was about to get up, but then, Livewire hit him again with more electricity, causing his skeleton to flicker in and out all while screaming in agonising pain.

"You know, I was thinking, just before Bane has his way with you, I should have my own fun." She continued to blast Superman with her powers straight from her fingers.

She stopped, just to watch him struggle with amusement on her face. "What's the matter Superman? Not feeling super enough?" She then shot more electricity from her fingers, causing Superman to scream in pain.

She eventually stopped and approached Superman with a smug grin plastered on her face. "I'd kill ya, but Bane needs you alive and well enough to fight." As she continued talking, she got all of her skin back. But unfortunately, it left her in a state of undress as she wasn't wearing anything. But that didn't bother her.

"Anything you wish to say."

Superman looked behind her and grinned. "You're not wearing anything at all."

Livewire looked shocked and disgusted. "Superman? More like Supercreep! Why make that remark?"

Superman grinned. "Because I was just going to suggest you put on a raincoat."

Before Livewire could react, she was hit by a blast of water that sent her flying straight towards a wall. Turns out Batman had managed to get up and burst a fire hydrant with his Batarang so Livewire could struggle against the water.

Superman managed to stand up and weakly approached his ally. Batman weakly stood up on his feet and groaned as he held his side. While Superman weakly walked up to tend to his ally, Livewire stood up back on her feet as soon as the water died down.

She looked at her arm and saw that her skin was vanishing and it was showing muscle instead. In that moment, she began to panic and quickly had to think of an escape plan.

She used what bit of power she had in her system and quickly jumped into a nearby cable, vanishing from sight.

"How bad is it?" Batman asked as he held on to his side.

Superman used his X-Ray vision to look through Batman's suit and saw that one of his hardened muscles were burnt a bit.

"Slightly burned." Superman replied. "Cold water and some disinfectant will help handle that."

"That's a relief." Batman stood up as he held his side.

Superman gave Batman a slight smile. "Hey, I just wish to say thanks for saving my life back there."

Batman looked at Superman unsure of what he should say after his grateful comment. "I had to stop Livewire somehow."

Superman looked at Batman with a disappointed look on his face. "Not even a you're welcome?"

Then, they heard the sounds of sirens coming towards them. A small, squadron of cop cars had arrived. They parked up and the one who lead the squad was Detective Harvey Bullock.

Superman sighed. "That slob detective from your party?"

"Slob; Yes. Good Detective; Yes." Batman responded.

"So, do you wanna explain why I got reports of you two fighting that electric lady from Metropolis all while the power around the block was going cuckoo bananas?" Harvey asked.

"I had an informer notifying me of her presence." Batman explained.

"She got away." Superman stated. "She escaped by jumping in an electric cable."

Harvey looked at Superman in disbelief. "I'm sorry, she jumped into an electric cable?"

"I know this might seem hard to believe, but I think she is travelling through the electricity." Superman informed the detective.

"With all these Metahuman chumps popping up all over the country, I am bound to believe such a wacko ability." Harvey retorted.

"On an additional note: She was in a state of undress." Batman explained. "If that will help further your search."

"You mean naked?" Harvey asked with a sly grin on his face. "Oh it will." He then turned to his squadron. "Alright people, I want an APB for that Leslie Willis AKA Livewire. She is travelling through the electricity. I repeat, travelling through the electricity. Additionally, she is in a state of undress. You can't miss her."

"I'm sorry, what is this I'm hearing?"

Harvey, Superman and Batman turned to face the voice and saw none other than Vicki Vale approaching them.

"Oh great." Harvey groaned. "Vale. She called me a dim witted slob in one of her articles."

"Detective, if you could repeat what I'm hearing, I…." She froze upon seeing Superman right in front of her. "…Superman? Of course you're the one behind this mess."

Superman knew he needed help with this and looked to his right to see if Batman could help. But once again, to his surprise, he wasn't there.

"Of course." Superman mumbled.

"Listen Superman, I wish to ask you a few questions." Vicki said as she pulled out her tape recorder and pointed it to Superman's face.

"Hey, hey, lady. Last thing he needs is another slander piece out of you." Harvey said.

"It's okay, detective, I can handle her." Superman assured the detective.

"Believe me Superman, you'd rather be dealing with that Kaiju again." Harvey retorted before regrouping with his squadron.

Superman, despite not wanting to, decided to partake in the interview between Vicki. "Alright Superman, unlike your number one fan, Miss Lane, I shall be asking the difficult questions. So I hope you're prepared."

"I am." Superman responded.

"Okay, firstly, what went on here?" Vicki asked. "Reports were coming in that you and Batman were fighting a bolt of electricity."

"Leslie Wllis specifically." Superman stated.

"And somehow your fight with her was causing the power all around this block to lose power."

"She was stealing electricity to charge herself up just like a battery." Superman informed her. "Me and Batman were able to defeat her."

"So why wasn't she apprehended?" Vicki asked.

"Well, she got away. We were-"

"So you let her get away?" Vicki interjected.

"No, that was not our intention." Superman said. "We were-"

"Yet, she still got away." Vicki remarked. "And left quite some property damaged which included a burst hydrant."

"Batman did it-"

"So you confess to Batman causing property damage?"

"It was to prevent Livewire from causing anymore damage."

"You do realise that those firefighters need those fire hydrants, right?"

"Look Vicki, if Livewire were to-"

"What about the supposed rumour that the reason why Bane is here in Gotham just for you?" Vicki asked.

"How did you hear about this?" Superman asked.

"I have my sources." Vicki replied. "What do you have to say about the fact that you could be putting a lot of people in danger?"

"What does this have to do with what recently happened?" Superman asked, already getting angry with Vicki's questions.

"Lucius Fox was recently reported as kidnapped by Bane's second-in-command, Carla Demonio. According to eyewitnesses who last saw him, he was driving a car with her sitting in the back seat just behind him." Vicki informed him.

"Look, I will do my best to find him." Superman stated strictly.

"You will or otherwise there will be blood on your hands." Vicki said before her tape recorder got sliced in half by a Batarang.

Vicki gasped in shock just as Superman looked at the destroyed recorder with surprise. Then, he looked up and saw that Batman was perched on the edge of a nearby building.

"I will not tolerate this!" Vicki shouted. "Detective!"

While Vicki went on to report to Bullock, Superman hovered upwards towards Batman to check on him.

"Bullock! Bullock!" Vicki shouted. "Batman just attacked me by destroying my tape recorder!"

Harvey just narrowed his eyes at Vicki while eating a donut. "Hmmm, I'd help. But then again, I'm just a dim witted slob." Harvey got back into the car, leaving Vicki disappointed and frustrated with what had transpired.

Up on the roof, Batman had taken off his mask and removed the armour from his torso to expose his burnt muscles.

Superman arrived and approached him. "You didn't need to destroy her tape recorder."

"I was aiming for her hand." Bruce retorted.

"Well, gotta thank you for saving my life again." Superman said. "That's twice I owe ya."

Bruce smirked. "I do compliment on you keeping her distracted while I got up."

"I wouldn't exactly call it disturbing, it was more getting my butt zapped." Superman retorted.

"Well, it worked didn't it?" Bruce retorted.

Superman sat on the roof. "I guess. Do you need help?"

"Nah, I'm having my supplies delivered." Bruce replied before looking upwards. "It's arriving right now. Just watch yourself."

Superman looked up and saw a bat shaped arial vehicle coming straight towards them. As it flew over them, it shot a little pod out from under it, crashing down on the roof.

"They're here." Bruce walked up to the pod, looked into an eye scanning device and then the pod opened.

"Well, that's gonna get you caught." Superman remarked. "If they find that, they will trace it."

Bruce removed the items and sat back down. "I programmed a self destruct sequence in order to prevent that outcome."

"And how long does that last?" There was a disintegrating sound behind the Man of Steel and he turned around to see what it was. The pod that was there before, was now gone.

"About ten seconds." Bruce replied as he began dabbing some water on his abdomen.

"Right."

"You know Clark, I gotta say, I think your adversaries are a lot worse than mine." Bruce remarked.

"Come on Bruce, let's not make this a competition." Superman said.

"Oh I'm serious." Bruce cringed. "You've dealt with technically advanced criminals, government task forces and even a Kaiju. All I get are scarecrows, crocs and clowns."

"That's….A very diverse group of criminals." Superman remarked, unsure of how to take that statement. "I guess I kind of have the more difficult threats."

"Still, you get better sleep than I do." Bruce remarked as he began to dab the cloth of disinfectant on his body.

"Ya know, I've been meaning to ask, why Batman?" Superman asked.

"Well, I needed to give criminals something to fear." Bruce replied. "Bats scared me, so I thought I'd share what I fear."

Superman seemed legit surprised. "Wow, really? Well, I was honestly referring to the name. Little on the nose don't you think?"

"It wasn't my idea." Bruce replied. "The media and the public just gave me that name and it…Just stuck. I don't use it but people still refer to me by that name."

"I mean, I don't, 100% support your methods of striking fear, but Batman is a cool name.” Superman suggested.

"It’s cheesy.”

"It’s effective." Superman retorted.

Bruce smirked as he put his armour back on. "Do you expect to go around the city saying, I’m Batman?"

"Well, might terrify the criminals." Superman explained.

Bruce put his cape and cowl back on, becoming Batman once again. "Is that meant to be a catchphrase?"

"No, not really." Superman said.

"Sounds like a catchphrase." Suddenly, Batman heard the sound of what sounded like a beeping noise coming from his mask. He pressed his finger to his ear. "Speaking."

"Batman, it's Gordon. I got information regarding the whereabouts of Mr Olsen."

"Where?" Superman asked, having heard the conversation.

Batman raised his hand. "Where, Jim?"

"An old mannequin factory over at Founders Island. Be careful, it might be a trap."

"Will do, Jim." Batman hung up and turned to Superman. "Looks like we're getting your friend back."

Superman smiled. "Oh, great. What are we waiting for?" Superman flew off while Batman stayed behind to ponder. It was over almost like that. He didn't like it. There was something suspicious about it.

Meanwhile, at the warehouse by the dock, Bane was in his office lifting weights over his head to build up the strength he will need to face off against Superman in their inevitable duel.

That was when, he began to notice the nearby desk lamp flickering. This made him stop lifting the weight and toss it to the floor like it was nothing.

And out of the desk lamp, came Livewire landing not so gracefully on the floor, now with her skin back but still naked.

Bane looked surprised by what had happened. "Well, that is unexpected."

Livewire stood up and held her hand against her head as she groaned. "Uh….Took me a while to find you. I traveled through all over Gotham, popping up at locations where I weren't needed. I even ran into that Daily Planet reporter and the Batman's little sidekick."

"I heard the reports." Bane stated. "You appeared to have had fun."

He turned a TV a on his desk around to show footage of a news report of the Gotham Gazette by Vicki Vale. "In other news, Superman and Batman were reported to be fighting some blue static causing some property damage. And like in Metropolis, Superman can't help but damage a lot of public property. Destroying roads, buildings and a fire hydrant."

Livewire looked alarmed. "That's a lie! Batman did that!"

"She will be…Tested when I get the chance to see her." Bane assured her.

"So what now?" Livewire asked. "Are you just going to stand here and pretend that I'm not naked?!"

"Don't worry, I am already finishing on a suit that will help with your powers." Bane assured her. "I know that you need power in order to keep your skin. The suit will work as a sort of infinite battery."

Livewire grinned. "How smart are you?"

"Smarter than you realise." Bane replied. "For now, I need you to stay in my office."

Then, he heard the sound of his speaker phone going off. "Bane, I have him. And Batman and Superman are heading into your trap."

Bane answered the call. "Thank you, Carla." He walked towards a giant screen nailed on a wall to look at some live footage. "I wish for you to stay in the office because my crew can get a little wild."

Livewire grinned. "And with you…"

"Doesn't exactly give me any kind of feeling." Bane assured her as he looked at the monitor. "I need you with me anyway. We are soon going to pay a visit to Miss Vale. But first, I need to file a report to the Commissioner." Bane looked at the live footage to watch as Commissioner Gordon being forced into the compound by Carla, tied with his hands behind his back and a roll of duct tape stuck on to his mouth.

Chapter Text

After leaving Wayne Tower and managing to clean her face up, Lois had returned to the Batmobile with Robin in tow. The Boy Wonder was taking the wheel while Lois tried to clean the paint that was staining her shirt.

She groaned in annoyance. "This is my favourite shirt! I can't believe I did that!"

"Be lucky you weren't blinded." Robin said. "Otherwise that would be problematic." Robin grinned. "Just like Bruce's relationship with St Cloud."

Just then, they stopped when they saw a naked Leslie Willis standing behind a trashcan, conveniently covering her shame. She took notice of the two and just zipped into a nearby lamp post, leaving the two confused.

”I hope that isn’t gonna cause complications.” Robin said before continuing their journey to the next location.

"How messy was St Cloud?" Lois asked.

"She was more interested in Batman than Bruce Wayne." Robin replied. "She's got a thing for guys in capes. So ya know, keep an eye on your super boyfriend."

Lois chuckled. "I doubt that will happen."

"You seem unsure." Robin said.

"What will happen? I get jealous due to a lot of emotional stress and I end up indirectly breaking up with Clark?" There was a hint of awkward silence between the two.

The silence only lasted for about 3 minutes before Robin broke the silence. "Okay. Really specific possible outcome. If that does happen, you better fix things. I got a strange feeling a lot of people will be very upset about it."

Lois looked perplexed. "What people?"

Robin shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. People?"

There was another awkward silence between the two until Robin pulled a relieved look. "Ah, we are close to our location!" Robin parked the Batmobile outside of what looked to be an abandoned TV studio known as BW Studios.

Lois instantly ran out of the vehicle and ran to a nearby bush to throw up. Robin just gave her a deadpan stare. "Again?"

Lois wiped some saliva from her mouth. "I'll get used to it."

"Just promise you don't throw up on the leather." Robin said. "And more importantly, never eat a meatball sub in the car."

Lois chuckled as she approached the kid. "Has that happened to you?"

Robin just looked from side to side. "No. A friend."

"So tell me about this place." Lois requested.

"BW Studios was a huge public access channel in Gotham." Robin explained. "It was home to a variety of content. Game shows, soap operas and reruns of classic movies like Casablanca."

Lois looked intrigued. "Game shows?"

"Yes. Stuff like Extreme Board Games, Bringing Down The House and Truth Or Dare." Robin explained.

"Sounds cool." Lois remarked. "Are we really going in there? What if it's a trap?"

"Well let's spring it." Robin said with a grin.

They climbed over the wall and landed on their feet. But before they could move, Robin surveyed the area and saw that there weren't any traps for them to slip up in.

They approached the front entrance that was marked with a green question mark. "Trap?" Robin and Lois asked each other simultaneously. "Trap."

Robin carefully opened the door to see a string attached to the handle. He looked up to see that the strings were attached to three shotguns attached to the ceiling, the barrels pointing downwards.

Robin looked up. "Yup."

"Why?" Lois asked. "What is it?"

"You ever play Mouse Trap?" Robin asked.

"No." Lois replied.

"Or seen horror movies?"

"Oh! There's shotguns hanging from the ceiling?!" Lois exclaimed.

Robin looked surprised. "Huh. Well done." The Boy Wonder reached into his utility belt to pull out a pair of wire pliers that he used to carefully cut the wire.

"That was easy." Lois remarked as she and Robin entered the corridor.

"Way too easy." Robin remarked. "Too easy for me anyway."

Lois pulled a smug look. "Are you boasting?"

"You have never played with these types of crooks before." Robin said. "Believe me, I'm bound to know what happens next." Then, Robin accidentally stands on a pressure pad, causing some bars to block the entrance and some bars shot out from left, to right, back and front of the duo.

Lois shrugged her shoulders. "And what happens after that?"

All of a sudden, a static filled TV screen attached to a stick descended from the ceiling. Then, the static cleared to reveal Edward now wearing a green tuxedo with a brown tie filled with distinct purple question marks all over his body.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome, to Riddle Me This. With your talented and esteemed host, yours's truly, Edward Nashton AKA The Riddler! We have a great show tonight folks. A lot of questions, fun games to play and let's not forget our grand prize!"

The footage cut to that of Alex and Gus trapped on their own respective chairs with restraints around their wrists and ankles respectively.

"Two wastes of human breath!" Riddler exclaimed as the footage cut back to him. "A lot of this is riding on our two players! So, let's get their names. First up, what's your name young man?"

Robin narrowed his eyes at the man. "You think I'm gonna play your games?"

Riddler laughed. "Like me, you don't have a choice. You have to play or otherwise the cold breath of death will take effect." He cut to footage of Alex and Gus being electrocuted while in their seats. "So play along with my game or else we'll all die!"

Robin look reluctant. "Looks like we have no choice."

Lois exhaled. "I hope my viewings of game shows have prepared me for this."

"Weird thing to say, but okay." Robin turned back to the screen.

"So players, give us your names, where you're from and what you will intend to do with that prize."

"My name is Robin, I'm from Gotham and I'm going to make sure these men are okay before making sure you're locked up."

Lois narrowed her eyes at the Riddler. "My name is Lois Lane, I'm from Metropolis and I'm going to stop you and prove Bruce Wayne is innocent."

Riddler smiled. "Ambitious goals! Lets see if you can achieve them. Here is the summary: There are three games, similar to the traditional way of playing a game. Best of three. Each game is different and in order to get to the next game you will need to answer a riddle. Do you understand the rules?" The duo just stared at the Riddler with deadpan stares. "Hmmm, I'm not hearing a response. Do you understand the rules?"

"Loud and clear." Lois replied.

"Likewise." Robin said.

"Here is your first riddle which is a clue about what game you are about to play." Riddler cleared his throat. "I am a ship and your aim is to sink me, yet I don't sink. What am I? Think hard."

Lois and Robin began to think about the riddle that was shared with them. Both looking confused. "A ship that sinks yet doesn't." Lois began pacing around the shield. "What is that?"

"It could mean anything." Robin said.

"Our aim is to sink it yet it doesn't?!" Lois said. "It could mean anything. A toy ship."

"It depends on the model." Robin said. "A paper boat?"

"No, he said ship." Lois said. "We have to sink it yet it doesn't sink."

"And we have to play it." Robin said.

"We have to sink it, yet it doesn't."

"Could you stop repeating that?" Asked the annoyed Robin.

"I'm trying!" Lois argued. "But what can I say?! This riddle doesn't make sense!"

"It's a clue to our next game." Robin said. "We have to sink it…Yet it doesn't." Robin in that moment realised what it implied. "It's Battleship!"

Riddler smiled. "Well done, bird boy. Gotta say, I'm mighty impressed." The shields deactivate and then the floor was lit up with green arrows pointing down the corridor.

"Let's move!" Robin and Lois began to follow the arrows down the corridor that lead to a door marked round one.

When they entered the room they saw right in front of them a Battleship board with all the nine little plastic ships in position.

"You ready to play Battleship?" Riddler asked on a TV screen across from the both of them.

"We have no choice." Lois said as she and Robin took their seats.

"Now, I should warn you that there is a twist to this game." Riddler explained. "You know what happens when you win Battleship. When you sink all the rival player's Battleship."

"Of course, played that on a ton of board game nights." Lois said.

Riddler smiled. "But to be fair, it sounds like there are no stakes, correct? Well…How about this?" Suddenly, Robin and Lois had a pair of metal restrains on their wrists and ankles respectively, causing them to panic. They tried to struggle out of them but unfortunately, they wouldn't budge. "Sorry you two, but you're in a bit of a tight situation. So, if you beat me then you will move to the next round. But if I beat you…." He snapped his fingers and the wooden tiles on the floor separated to reveal that the chairs the two of them were sitting on were floating on some platforms floating on the surface of water. "….Then I've sunk you."

Robin and Lois looked at each other with concern and worry. "Were you ever good at Battleship?" Robin asked.

"My Dad was a military strategist." Lois replied. "So he kind of had the unfair advantage."

"Wow, he is sounding more fun and fun the more I hear about him." Robin remarked sarcastically.

Lois then realised something. "Wait a minute! You set this up! That means you know where our pieces are!"

"No, no, I had Alex and Gus do it." Riddler explained. "I may be forcing you to play a game with life or death consequences but I'm no cheat. Now, let us play. B6."

Robin and Lois looked at their board. "Miss." Robin said.

"J5." Lois said.

Riddler smiled. "Hit. Beginner's luck. H7."

Robin sighed. "Hit."

"I5." Lois said.

"Miss!" Riddler smiled. "H8."

Robin groaned. "You have sunk my battleship."

"Alright!" Lois cracked her neck. "J4."

Riddler looked disappointed. "You have sunk my battleship."

"Yes!" Lois exclaimed. "Take that, Dad!"

Robin just stared at Lois with a surprised expression. "Unchecked generational trauma much?."

"H9."

"And you have sunk our battleship." Robin said.

"This is going to be a very long game." Lois groaned.

And so, after such a long game the respective teams only had one piece left. Riddler had a piece that went three squares while Lois and Robin had one that went two.

Lois and Robin looked worried when they saw the piece they had. "We're going to be screwed if this sinks."

"You think this is the first time I've been in a drowning situation?" Robin asked.

"I haven't!" Lois exclaimed.

"Alright, fair." Robin said. "F9."

"Hit!" Riddler said. "E9."

Lois smiled. "Miss."

"F8." Robin said.

"Hit." Riddler smiled. "F5."

Robin and Lois looked worried. "Hit." Lois said.

"One more hit and we're out." Robin said.

"I can see that, kid!" Lois said. "Okay, F9."

"Hit." Riddler smiled. "You have one more battleship don't you? Don't lie, or otherwise things will not just be bad for you. So, I'm gonna guess…" Robin and Lois began to sweat. "F….6."

Lois and Robin looked at their board and smiled. "Miss."

Riddler grumbled. "So close!"

"I'm confident about this one." Lois said. "F7."

Riddler narrowed his eyes at Lois. "You have sunk my battleship. You've won!"

Robin and Lois cheered. "Yes!"

"I bet your dad will be proud of you for that." Robin remarked.

Riddler wiped some sweat from his face. "In order to move on to the next round, you will have to solve this riddle. But here's the twist, Robin will have to answer it."

Lois looked confused. "Why?"

Riddler grinned. "Because Robin has all the gadgets."

"Meaning?" Lois asked before the platform she was on began to descend slowly into the water below. This made Lois panic as she struggled to get out.

"If Robin doesn't answer the riddle, then Lois will sink to the water below and will miss the sensation of breathing oxygen." Riddler explained.

"You're insane!" Robin exclaimed. "You're insane!"

"I have to be." Riddler retorted. "Riddle me this: I am something you own yet I am actually owned by a greater power that you need to abide by. What am I?"

Robin knew that this riddle had a limit as Lois was slowly being submerged underwater. "Robin, hurry up! I don't know how long I can hold my breath for!"

"You seem healthy, so I say 3-5 minutes." Robin said.

"Oh, that's really comforting." Lois remarked sarcastically as her knees became submerged.

"Sorry, I'll think!" Robin argued.

All while Robin slowly thought about the riddle, Lois was slowly sinking into the water. Because right now, her stomach was submerged.

"What is it?" Robin asked in desperation. "Uh. I owe it but a higher power owes it. What is it?" Lois' chest was now submerged underwater. "If I own it, then how does the higher power have the top?" Now, Lois' neck was submerged and she was panicking. "Something like…an apartment. My property yet the landlord owns it and I need to abide by paying rent. It can't just be an apartment, it could apply to….A house as well!" Lois took a deep breath as her head became submerged.

Robin's eyes widened as he finally figured out what this meant. "A home! The answer is a home!"

After a few seconds of silence, a green dinging was heard and suddenly, Robin fell through the water. Next thing he knew, him and a soaked Lois had fell from what looked to be the ceiling along with a wave of water.

And soon, they crash landed through a roof and landed on a safety mat in the middle of a living room.

Lois stood up and tried shaking herself off due to how soaked she was. "First I got paint and now I'm soaked! This is not a good day for me!"

Robin stood up and smiled. "Thankfully, my gadgets are waterproof."

"My phone is." Lois said. "But just to be safe." When she got her phone out, she saw it was thankfully waterproof. But unfortunately, the signal wasn't working. "No signal."

"You know, I'm beginning to realise, there is no way Edward could afford this." Robin remarked. "As far as I'm aware of, he isn't rich at all."

"He must have some kind of benefactor." Lois theorised. "By the way, where are we?"

All of a sudden, the TV in the living room flickered on to reveal the Riddler. "Well…Well…Nice of you two to drop in. Though, could you at least take your shoes, coats and capes off? You're soaking the carpet!"

"What is your game this time, Riddler?" Robin asked.

"That door on your right is your exit and to your prize if you win." Riddler explained. "You have three minutes to find the key that unlocks the door before they become deadlocked and this house will be your tomb. So, hurry up."

"Hey! Is there a clue as to where the key is?!" Lois asked.

"That would be cheating." Riddler replied. "Do me a favour and follow your heart. Start now."

And so, the three minute timer started and Robin and Lois were now in a race against the clock. They had to find the key or else they will be trapped in this house forever.

"I'll search upstairs, you search downstairs." Robin said.

"Got it!"

And so, Robin ran upstairs to find the key while Lois began looking under the couch. Upstairs, Robin was in the master bedroom looking through every drawer.

2:45 remaining.

Lois began ransacking the kitchen by tearing drawers off their hinges and even emptying the fridge of all its food.

Upstairs, Robin was in the bathroom going through the bathroom cabinets, searching through every capsule of medicine.

2:08 remaining.

Lois began to tear the couch to shreds thinking the key might be inside the cushions. But all she found was a bunch of fluff.

Robin then searched in what looked to be a girl's bedroom and looked in the closet. But all he found were Princess outfits and what looked to be that of a warrior Princess.

1:32 remaining.

They didn't have long and they will be stuck in this house forever. Lois was now digging her hand through the downstairs toilet to see if it's in the water somewhere.

Meanwhile, Robin was tearing the mattress inside the family bedroom to find the key. That was when, he suddenly noticed something.

There was a portrait above the bed. And that portrait, was of a heart.

0:59 remaining.

Robin quickly removed the picture and found nothing. Then, he looked at the portrait and tore it to shreds. There, he finally found the key.

0:30 remaining.

"I found it! Get to the door!" Robin shouted as he ran down the stairs as fast as he could.

Lois did as she was told and ran for the door. Robin quickly arrived with the key in hand.

0:20 remaining.

"Hurry!" A desperate Lois commanded.

Robin quickly inserted the key into the lock and began to turn it.

0:14 remaining.

Robin quickly turned the key fast enough and heard the click.

"Let's go!"

0:09 remaining.

Robin quickly opened the door where he and Lois dived out into a corridor with a thud. They looked at the door they jumped out of and saw a metal door appear, locking itself tight. Some bars showed up on the windows.

Lois and Robin panted, realising how close they were to almost being trapped forever underground. "You know, I just realised, even if we ended up trapped, Superman could just come rescue us." Robin remarked.

They walked down the corridor with determination where they come across a locked door with a green question mark.

Then, a tv ascended from the ground and live footage of the Riddler began to play. "Hello, dynamic duo, welcome to the final riddle. You need to answer this riddle before claiming your prize."

"Fine. But make it quick." Lois said.

"They say honesty is the best policy. But what if it's daring?"

Lois looked befuddled. "Huh?"

"Oh, I think I get it." Robin said with a smile. "Honesty, daring, it's truth or dare."

The door they stood in front of opened up to reveal a room with what looked to be a floor with ten tiles. And above the tiles was a platform.

Standing on that platform was none other than The Riddler, holding what appeared to be a question mark cane. The rest of his wardrobe consisted of black shoes and green pants with black question marks on each leg.

And behind him, on two electric chairs were Alex and Gus respectively with gags on their mouths. Riddler smiled with joy as he looked at his opponents.

"Well, well, well, welcome to the final round." Riddler said.

"We did it, Edward!" Lois chided. "Best of three."

"You have to honour that." Robin said. "Let them go."

Riddler spun his cane. "Well, there has been a change of plans. You've gotten so far, I wanna see how good you are at the final round."

"Edward, you can't dishonour that!" Lois yelled.

Riddler tapped his cane on the platform. "You're right, I can't. But….I set this all up, it would be very disappointing and anticlimactic if I didn't. You need to play a game of truth or dare!"

"What makes you think we will play this game?!" Robin exclaimed. "We almost died playing the other games!"

"Well, you're going to not play for your lives, but them two." He pointed to Alex and Gus. The former looked deadpan while the latter, wearing a band aid on his head, looked afraid. "You see, in order to play my version of truth or dare you will need to play it like you always do. You will decide on what you do. Truth or dare. And don't keep picking one thing or otherwise that won't be fair. Just go two truths, one dare and vice versa. And every time you either don't do either of these things, then I will charge up a little fuse box underground that connects to these electric chairs that our esteemed prizes are resting their comfortable touches on. Then…" He pulled a taser from his pocket and used it to zap Alex. "…So either you save these two by humiliating yourselves or these two will be fried!"

Lois and Robin looked reluctant to play. But they knew, that the lives of two men were in their hands. They gave each other some reluctant stares before standing on the first platform.

"For every truth or dare you complete, you move a space." Riddler explained. "But be careful what you pick. They might ruin your relationships. So, Miss Lane, truth or dare?"

"Alright, dare." Lois said.

Riddler smiled. "Bold move. Lois Lane, I dare you to send a bizarre message to your boyfriend, Clark Kent." Lois went wide eyed in horror. "Oh yes, I know who you are. Here's what you need to write…"

Meanwhile, Superman and Batman were travelling through the city towards a location. Superman was flying while Batman was running across the rooftops. When all of a sudden, the Man of Steel received a text notification from his phone.

He opened it up and looked at the message. "It's a message from Lois."

"It could be important, read it aloud." Batman requested.

Superman opened it up and read the message. He looked at it in confusion. "Uh…Rub a baby, buggy bumpers?"

Batman looked at Superman with a look of what could only be described as fascinated and confused. "Some girlfriend you got there, Kent. Don't screw it up."

"Was that sarcasm?!" Superman asked while Batman jumped over a roof.

Back at the studio, Riddler smiled. "So, Boy Wonder, truth or dare?"

"Truth." Robin said.

"You're a young boy, aren't you?" Riddler asked. "Do you have a crush on a special someone?"

Robin's cheeks turned red with embarrassment before getting serious. "Why should I tell you? You just might hold her hostage."

"Oh, it's a her?" Riddler remarked.

Robin grumbled. "I won't say anything detailed."

"Oh, don't worry, just say her name." Riddler explained. "Doesn't have to be a full name."

"Fine…Her name is Barb."

"Barb as in Barbara?" Riddler asked.

"Enough!" Robin demanded. "That will be all."

Riddler smiled. "Very well, you move a space."

Lois and Robin moved a space. "So, Lois, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Do you have a romantic interest in Superman?" Riddler asked. "One that is superior to Clark Kent? For example, shall we say, you had physical interactions with the man?"

Lois smiled. "I do have romantic interest in Superman. But not as strong as the feelings I have for Clark."

"Well, no wonder!" Riddler remarked. "Wish I got my hands on him!" He hit Alex in the face with the cane. "Alright, Robin, truth or dare?"

"Why aren't you playing?" Robin asked.

"Huh?"

"Aren't the rules of truth or dare tailored to those who are playing as opposed to just excluding a select few?" Robin asked.

Riddler narrowed his eyes at Robin. "This is my version. You play along or they die."

"Alright then, dare." Robin said.

"I dare you to remove your boots." Riddler said. "So you can walk without them on."

Robin shrugged his shoulders. "Okay." He removed his boots to reveal he had a spare pair on, annoying the Riddler.

"Never know if they're gonna get damaged." Robin said.

Riddler's eye twitched. "I suppose you did take off your boots. Move a space."

The two moved a space. "Lois, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Where would you rather work? Gotham Gazette with your idol, Vicki Vale; or the Daily Planet?"

"After seeing the kind of person Vicki is, The Planet." Lois replied.

"This truth or dare game is less intense than I thought it would be." Robin remarked.

They moved a space. "Yeah. I guess it depends on what we pick."

"Lois, truth or dare?" Riddler asked.

"Dare."

Riddler smiled. "I dare you, to punch Robin in the face, really hard."

Lois was in shock. "What? I can't do that, he's just a kid!"

"This game has no time for morality, Lois, you need to hit Robin in the face or otherwise they will die." Riddler warned her.

Robin didn't look worried as he looked at Lois. "Miss Lane, just punch me in the face."

"But…But…"

"I took on worst." Robin assured her. "Believe me."

Lois slowly walked up to Robin, reluctantly clenching her fist. With one reassuring nod from The Boy Wonder, Lois decided to take a hit.

Then, with one mighty swing, she hit Robin in the face. He panted in pain over how hard it him that she swore he was holding back tears.

When he looked at her, she saw that there was a small little cut on his lip. Lois knew she hit hard, but she didn't know it was that hard.

She gasped in shock while Riddler grinned. "Robin?"

"Dare." Robin said.

"To make things fair, how about I dare you to hit Lois wherever you like with your staff."

Robin went wide eyed in surprise. "What?"

"Come on, it's fair." Riddler said. "Right, Lex?!" He hit Alex in the chest with his cane. "See, like so."

"Robin, you might as well do it." Lois suggested.

Robin looked reluctant but knew some lives were on the line. So, he removed his staff from his belt and began to analyse Lois to see which parts of the body he could cause less pain to. Face? Legs? Chest? Arms?

"Lois, I'm about to hit you in your stomach." Robin said.

"Alright." Lois spread her arms out as a means to make sure she didn't fight back with her reflexes. Robin, though reluctant, raised his staff high, ready to hit Lois.

Then, with a deep breath he swung his staff right into Lois' abdomen, causing her to drop to her knees as she held to where the pain was coming from.

"I'm sorry, Lois." Robin said.

Lois had a smile despite the stinging pain. "It's okay. You did good, kid."

They moved another space, despite the fact Lois was still in pain over the stinging. "Truth! Give me truth!"

"Have you ever kissed Superman before, Lois? On the lips, specifically?" Riddler asked.

"I have, yes." Lois replied with no hesitation.

"Wow, no hesitation." Riddler remarked. "Two timer ain't ya?"

"Shut up or otherwise I will turn every question mark into an exclamation mark!" Lois' threat was met with a various reactions. Riddler looked shocked, Alex was stone faced, Gus was shaking his head while Robin cringed. Lois took the time to analyse what she said. "What did I just say?"

Riddler smiled. "Alright Robin, truth or dare."

Robin grinned back. "How about dare?"

"I dare you to remove your mask." Riddler said. "Let everyone see who you really are."

Lois quickly came to Robin's defence. "Do you have any idea what this could mean?"

"Yes. They will know, I will know and you will know." Riddler explained. "So come on Robin, will you remove your mask or make sure these people die?"

"Riddler, I have something for you." Robin said. "A riddle."

Riddler seemed surprised that he gave a nervous smile. "A riddle for me? Well, I am flattered…But…"

"It's a good one, trust me." Robin assured him.

Riddler glanced at Alex before glancing back at the Boy Wonder. "Fire away, kid."

"Riddle me this: Do you have an escape plan?" Robin asked.

Riddler looked confused before Robin did something he should have expected. The Boy Wonder removed a batarang from his belt and tossed it at the wires that connected to the electric chairs, knocking the chairs of their power.

And this put Riddler in a rough spot as he did not plan for this outcome, at all. "Oh, I have a dare for you Riddler, I dare you to run."

Riddler grinned. "Already way ahead." He fell backwards through a window. Robin quickly grappled up onto the platform to look at the hole in the window to see if he just ended his life. 

He saw what looked like an elevator zooming up faster than any other elevator he has seen. On top of it, was The Riddler himself with his feet hanging from the ledge.

Robin, knowing he wouldn't be able to catch up with him, tossed a tracking device on the back of his black shoes.

After he did that, he walked towards Alex and removed his gag. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." Alex said. "My father will hear about this and he won't be pleased."

Robin walked towards Gus and removed his gag. "Mr Goreman?"

"Oh…Oh…..Oh man, I got hit on the head by a wrench." He said. "I think I need a hospital. I could be dying." He looked at Lois, whom was on her knees over the stinging pain. "Oh, is it just me or did Batman get shorter?"

Lois groaned either in pain or frustration while Robin shook his head.

Some good time later, the police and a team of paramedics had arrived. Gus was taken away in an ambulance while Alex was reporting to the police.

"I don't know how it happened." Alex said. "Edward just seemed like a chill guy. It's like he suddenly snapped and went insane for no reason."

Up on the roof of the TV station, Lois had her back rested against the leg holding the sign while Robin was calling on Alfred. "Yeah…Yeah…Okay." He approached Lois whom was still holding her abdomen.

"It can't be that bad." Lois said. "Right?"

Robin got down on his knee, grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it up to look at the mark he had left her. It was a huge gash that stretched sideways and went over her navel.

Robin cringed along with Lois. "Will that leave a scar?" She asked.

"Don't worry." Robin said. "I've had a mark like that before. It won't scar. Just have to worry about infection. Luckily, medical supplies will arrive shortly." He looked up and saw a bat shaped jet coming over towards them.

It then shot out a pod that landed right in front of them.

"Is that a bomb?" Lois asked.

"No, medical supplies." Robin walked towards the pod and removed his mask so the machine could scan his eye. Then the pod opened up and Robin removed the supplies he needed.

As he walked towards the reporter, his eyes exposed for her to see. He was no longer Robin, but Dick Grayson. "Watch out, here comes the best part."

Lois looked over Dick's shoulder to see the pod completely disintegrate into nothing but dust. "Oh, I guess that's cool."

The boy poured a bottle of what looked to be disinfectant on a white cloth before gently dabbing it on Lois' gash, causing the woman to cringe.

"It's okay." Robin said.

"I know." Lois said. "My Dad used to use this stuff on me every time I had a fall when I was training."

"Listen, Lois, I'm sorry about, ya know, the gash." Robin said.

Lois looked alarmed. "Why are you apologising?! I punched you in the face! And you're just a kid!"

"So? I've been through worse." Robin said. "I once tried chasing after a giant humanoid bat and fell through a glass stain window of Gotham's oldest cathedral. Worst of all, there was a funeral taking place."

Lois gave a slight chuckle before cringing due to the pain. "But…I did hit you."

"If you didn't, then those two men would have ended up dead." Robin said. "Batman would have done the same. Or maybe slap me."

"Do you get the feeling that this was mainly designed for you and Batman?" Lois asked.

"He knew there would be two." Robin said. "So maybe."

"So, we lost him, huh?" Lois asked, looking disappointed.

Robin grinned. "Not quite. I placed a tracking device on him while he was riding that elevator." Robin tapped on his glove to project a holographic of a map of Gotham. At a certain point on the map, there was a blinking bat symbol. "And here we are, the Kilmer Docks. That's where he is. Probably getting cozy with Bane if that's where he is hiding out."

"I hope we can get him." Lois said. "I wanna give him a punch and a gash on his own belly to see how it feels!"

Robin smiled. "You handle a staff well. I saw you wield it well when you took on Sionis."

Lois smiled. "Thanks. How long will this take?"

"Just a few more minutes." Robin replied.

Lois smiled. "So, who's this Barb person you mentioned?" Robin narrowed his eyes at the woman before roughly dabbing the cloth on her scratch. "Ow!"

Meanwhile, at the Gazette, Vicki had arrived back in her office looking annoyed over recent events between her, Superman and Batman.

"Stupid costumed vigilantes!" She removed her jacket off her body and tossed it aside. "I'd sue them if I could! Uh….But public opinion might sway the jury." She sat on her office chair and groaned in frustration. Then, she smiled. "Hey, at least my previous reports about Superman and Batman sell well. I should probably write a report on this recent encounter." That was when she felt a breeze coming from her right.

"Did I forget to shut the window?" She looked towards the window and saw that there was a ginormous hole that looked like someone smashed through it. Or someone threw something through it.

Nervously, she walked towards the window to investigate the hole. "How did that get there?" She asked herself.

"You can ask your security guard, Todd." She gasped and turned to face a shadowy corner where Bane walked out. "He was quite persistent I leave. Unfortunately, I had other plans."

Vicki ran towards her desk and pushed a button under it that called security. "You'll regret this!"

"I won't." Bane retorted. "Try calling for your security because they aren't coming." She tried calling for security but for some reason, the power to call had been cut off. As if, a super powered metahuman tampered with the electricity.

Vicki, in a rare moment of fear, was face-to-face with Bane himself. "Wh…Wh…What do you want from me?"

Bane slowly walked to Vicki, his feet almost echoing as he did. "I came here to tell you how much I despise you. In the beginning, I admit, I admired you. Your ambition to hunt for the truth was alluring. But somewhere along the line, you became something else. A woman who only cares about slander than truth."

Vicki gave a nervous grin. "What have I ever said about you to deserve this?"

"I allow the world call me what they please." Bane said. "But this isn't about your opinions on me, or Superman, or Batman, or Green Arrow or that Wonder Woman or that Aqua Man. It's about what you and Superman are going to do for me."

Vicki began to sweat. "What?"

Bane held her by the shoulder. "A test of Superman's morality."

Chapter Text

A few minutes after getting the information they needed, Superman was flying to the location while Batman was jumping from rooftop to rooftop in order to get to the location Gordon had called from. 

Superman was clearly ecstatic to be rescuing his best friend while Batman looked cautious. "I hope Jimmy's okay." Superman said. "When we arrive we get Bane as well, right?"

"That's the plan." Batman replied.

"You look cautious." Superman remarked.

"This is all starting to feel too easy, I don't like it." Batman replied.

"Like how too easy?" Superman asked.

"I don't know." Batman replied. "It’s a hunch."

"So, you're assuming that this is a trap because of a hunch?" Superman asked with a raised brow.

"I'm hoping I'm wrong, but something just doesn't add up." Batman replied. "Remember, remain cautious."

When they arrived outside the mannequin factory in Founder's Island, they were greeted by Gordon, whom had hung up on his phone.

"Have you managed to figure how many abandoned buildings we have in this city?" Gordon asked. "It's ridiculous."

"This the right place, Commissioner?" Superman asked.

"I'm sure." Gordon replied. "Trapped and sealed in a lead vault so you wouldn't see him."

"How did you find him?" Batman asked.

"You wouldn't believe it, a tip from Matt Hagen." Gordon replied. "He says that Olsen is being held here. Not sure what the theme is for this place, but a good place to hide a hostage. If you want to turn them to mannequins. Come on." Gordon opened the door to the factory and walked in.

Superman was about to follow until Batman stopped him. "Wait."

"What?" Superman asked.

"Gordon is usually more cautious." Batman replied. "I don't like it."

"Perhaps he's too eager and wants to go home?" Superman theorised.

"Check the building." Batman requested. "There could be something hiding."

All of a sudden, they heard the sound of shots fired and someone slamming against the wall. They saw Gordon tumble to the floor with a mighty thud.

"I think we just found it." Superman dashed to Gordon with Batman following behind.

"Commissioner, are you okay?" The Kryptonian asked the decommissioned commissioner.

"I'm fine." Gordon replied. "Just a few bruises, no need to check on me."

"What attacked you, Jim?" Batman asked.

All of a sudden, a strange creature appeared in front of them. Tall, insect-like and ginormous wings, it was Drury Walker.

"Hello Superman, does this bug you?" Walker asked.

It didn't take long for Superman to figure out what he was getting at. "You again?" Superman asked.

"That's right!" Walker responded. "Like it?! Now, I think I feel just a bit stronger to kick your a-" He dashed to punch Superman, but when his fist came into contact with his chest, it caused a loud crunching sound. "AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! AAAAHHHHH! THAT REALLY HURT!"

As Killer Moth screamed in pain, Superman just watched on with an unimpressed look, Gordon just shook his head with pity while Batman gave a deadpan stare.

"Was that the only guard on duty?" Batman asked.

"Unfortunately." Gordon said. "I thought there would have been more. Could have used some leg work."

Batman stared at Gordon with suspicion he wasn't so sure, but he had a feeling that there was something off about him.

"Let's go." Gordon stood up. "He's right around that corner. And don't touch the liquid nitrogen along the way."

But before Superman could follow, Batman placed his hand on his shoulder. "Superman, I need you to look for Barbara Gordon." Batman said.

"Huh?”

”His daughter. Trust me.”

Reluctantly, Superman began to listen to hear any sign of Barbara Gordon. "Barb, your Dad will be fine. He's got Batman. Plus, he's got Superman. And let me tells ya, he is a looker. Is it just me, or does he have a great butt?"

"Alysia, you're getting off topic."

"Sorry, I wish to talk about hot guys. Hey, don't you have a crush on that Dick Grayson?"

"She's with a friend." Superman replied. "Alysia is her name."

Batman and Superman walked in front of Gordon. "Hey Jim, how's your daughter, Barb? Where is she tonight?"

Gordon sighed. "Last I check, she's with her mother. Why? What's wrong?” He noticed something. “Hey Superman, you got a little something on your chest."

On Superman's chest, there was a glowing red dot that he didn't seem to notice, only Gordon and Batman did.

"Get down!" Batman suddenly grabbed Gordon by the shoulders and used him as a shield to stop a bullet.

"Commissioner!" Superman exclaimed. "What the hell were you doing?!"

Batman placed Gordon on the floor and stared at the body. One thing Superman did notice, was the fact that he didn't appear to be bleeding.

"You might have fooled everyone else with your acting skills, but you're no Basil Karlo." Batman stated.

Superman couldn't comprehend what was happening right now. There was a sniper that tried to kill him and now, Gordon might not be what he seems.

"You deal with whoever is impersonating Gordon, I'll handle the sniper." Batman requested. He summoned his grappling hook and grappled his way out of the factory to deal with the sniper.

After Batman left, Superman looked to the body of Gordon and saw that it was shaking. He then began to stand up and there, his body began to shift. He grew taller, his skin was melting, he grew wider and his body began to form in what Superman could only describe as mud.

Soon, he was no longer looking at Commissioner James Gordon, he was looking at a monster made from what could be described as clay.

"Like the new look, Superman?" Hagen asked.

Meanwhile, Batman traced the location of the sniper to a building about three miles away from the factory. The building itself was a small housing complex with four floors.

When he jumped on the roof, Batman narrowed his eyes at the would-be-assassin. "Thought it would have been you."

It was none other than Slade himself. He stood up from his sniping position and looked at Batman. "Nice costume. Not too keen on the ears."

"Slade." Batman said. "Is this really worth it? Trying to kill Superman?"

"Let's not fight, Bruce. Let's talk." Slade suggested. "I haven't seen you for seven years." He removed his skull mask to reveal his one eye and the patch he was wearing. "Come on Bruce, take off the mask. I promise you that your secret will be safe with me."

"I'll pass." Batman said. "Don't know who could be watching."

Slade grinned. "Your intuition hasn't changed. I always admired that about you."

"How did you survive?" Batman asked.

"My own intuition and my rage against you thrived." Slade replied. "I would have hunted you down but I thought I could move on. Took up contracts from everyone. Gangsters, world leaders, military operatives and now, I work full time for the government."

"To try and take out Superman?" Batman asked.

"To protect Earth." Slade retorted.

Meanwhile in the abandoned factory, Superman stared at his new opponent with a determined stare before he made the first hit. He dashed into the clay monster, but he unfortunately crashed through, covered in clay.

"Uh…" Superman cringed as he tried shaking it off.

He then heard laughter. He turned around to see Hagen's Superman shaped hole in his stomach, reassemble itself back to a full regenerated form.

"My turn!" Hagen roared before he outstretched his arm to attack his opponent. Superman dodged the arm but was hit by a clay wall on the other side.

The wall shape changed into a huge fist that managed to smack Superman into a wall. He pulled himself back up and tried to blast him with his heat vision.

Hagen formed his arms into a shield that was fruitless however, as it just melted through. Matt screamed in pain just as Superman dashed towards him.

He turned his hands into mallets that he tried hitting Superman with. But the clay monster couldn't get a hit out of him since he was hovering far too fast.

Superman hovered to a higher point, right below the ceiling so him and the clay monster could stare down at each other.

Superman wiped some of the substance off his shoulder and flicked it off his hand. "Hagen, I assume?"

Hagen grinned. "And I thought Batman was the detective."

"I never answered your question, I have to say, it's not an improvement." Superman retorted.

Hagen laughed. "Mainly because…" He shifted into his human form. "…I was this." He then shifted back into his clay monster form. "But now, Matt Hagen has been reborn as Clayface." He inhaled through his mouth and began spitting clay at Superman like bullets.

He managed to dodge them, but still got splatters of clay over his costume.

Outside the factory, Batman and Slade were still staring each other down. "Protecting Earth from Superman? Last I check he's doing more to protect this planet than either of us."

"He has ulterior motives." Slade said. "You don't get it, Bruce. Superman has the power to destroy us all."

"I'm aware of that." Batman replied. "I know Superman has the power to wipe all of us out."

"Then join me." Slade said. "Help me destroy him so we can save this planet."

"That's not the way I work Slade." Batman protested. "I am aware of the power Superman possesses and what he might do to us if he snaps. But right now, the only thing I see of him is very contradictory to yours."

Slade narrowed his eyes at Batman. "Then he has you fooled as well. That is going to get everyone killed."

"You weren't always the brightest, Slade." Batman said.

In that moment, Slade's tolerance for Batman's stubbornness had run its core. "I have waited too long to kill Superman, but I suppose I have waited longer for this." Slade put his mask back on and summoned his swords. "When you get to hell, Bruce, say hi to Talia for me."

The mere mention of the name, Talia, caused Batman to clench his fists and to narrow his eyes at Slade. They each got in their own defensive positions, ready to attack.

But Slade, being the most impatient, struck first. He tried hitting Batman with various swings from his swords, but the caped crusader managed to dodge them.

One did manage to hit him, but only on his wrist gauntlet with a loud metallic clang. Batman took the opportunity to hit Slade in the stomach while the mercenary, kneed him in the chin.

But the disorientation was brief as Batman managed to dodge a series ariel spin kicks to the face. He managed to catch his opponent's sword and elbowed Slade in the face, causing him to stumble.

Back in the factory, Clayface had changed his hands into axes that swung at Superman. The alien superhero managed to dodge the axes before punching into Clayface's eye.

However, his fist got stuck in its sticky skin and he couldn't get it out. Clayface laughed sinisterly as his own eye began to devour Superman. The Kryptonian, despite his strength, struggled to get his arm out of him.

Thankfully, after a moment of struggle, Superman managed to free his arm by pressing his feet against his chest and yanking it really hard.

Evidently, his feet got stuck to the monster's chest. Clayface slammed Superman to the floor and kicked him against a wall. Then, just as he was about to get up, the clay Metahuman picked him up by his cape.

"Hope you got a vomit bag prepared, Superman."

He began to swing Superman around like a doll before slamming him to the floor on one side and another. Then, he tossed The Man of Steel against the wall. He fell on top of a container that he accidentally knocked over, causing liquid to pour out.

Clayface began to slowly walk up to Superman. He laughed as he shifted one of his hands into a mallet. "Fortunately for you Superman, Bane wants you alive. I bet Walker that it would take at least a few rounds for Bane to pummel you."

However, when Clayface took one step on the liquid, his foot began to freeze up. Soon the ice began to travel up his leg.

He panicked and instantly pulled his leg off, leaving him with only one clay leg. He roared in pain while Superman watched on intrigued yet baffled. What had just happened?

Then, Clayface turned himself into a puddle and retreated into the next room through the small gap in the doors.

Superman looked at Clayface's missing leg and the liquid he stood in. He began hovering and instantly pieced together what had happened. "Liquid nitrogen. What the heck is it doing at a mannequin factory?" He shrugged his shoulders and hovered towards the door Clayface slithered through.

Outside, Slade and Batman were continuing their duel with each other. The merc was repeatedly slamming his swords against the caped crusader. However, he was using his gauntlets to deflect the blades.

Batman kicked Slade in the stomach, causing him to slide backwards. In that moment, the merc only stood up and stared at Batman with an impressed gesture.

"You impress me, Bruce." Slade remarked. "You really have outdone yourself in terms of combat skills."

"And your training from Ra's Al Ghul shows." Batman's retort caused Slade some anger.

"Your arrogance is as prominent as ever." Slade put his swords away. "I suppose I should fight a little fair."

Slade charged up against Batman with a series of aerial kicks that he managed to avoid. However, when Slade landed on the roof, he performed a spin kick that caused Batman to fall on his rear.

Before Batman could stand up, Slade kicked him on his side, causing him to be knocked to the roof again. But before Slade could perform that same action, Batman grabbed his foot and with all his strength, managed to flip him over.

However, Slade landed on his hands and performed a backflip. He charged at Batman again where they began to exchange punches with one another.

Batman and Slade each deflected their punches and even managed to get some to their faces, chest, and stomachs.

Just as Batman was about to punch him again, he grabbed him by the wrist and tossed him against the chimney. Slade tossed a knife that happened to attach through the cape and into the bricks of the chimney.

Before Batman could make an attempt to move it, Slade slammed his head against the bricks and then began to repeatedly punch him in the stomach. Batman didn't expect Slade to be this fast since he was struggling to deflect every punch coming from him.

Eventually, Batman did manage to release himself by his his gauntlets to his face and shooting bat shaped shurikins from them, causing them to hit Slade in his mask. He kicked Slade in the chest, causing him to be knocked to the roof.

He removed the knife from his cape and tossed it away like it was nothing. Despite a wide array of punches to his gut, Batman did manage to stand up straight and get into a fighting position.

Back in the factory, Superman kicked the door off its hinges to find Clayface. But all he managed to find was something that he himself was creeped out.

Behind those doors were a bunch of mannequins. They appeared to have been left behind after the factory's closure. Legless, armless, headless & legless, some standing and some lying on the floor. And some were even covered in cobwebs and had bugs crawling all over them.

Superman looked freaked out by the fact that there were so many mannequins all over the place. It was almost something out of a horror movie Lois and Jimmy make him watch.

He began to look around every mannequin to spot any kind of sign of one of them being Clayface in disguise. It would seem to make sense.

He began to use his supervision to find out which mannequin was which. He carefully scanned every mannequin in the room. He scanned them back and forth for anything, but he couldn't find any of them that could have been Hagen.

"I can't see any skeleton." Superman said. "Any of these could be him."

Suddenly, he was attacked from behind by Clayface. He grabbed him by his back and stuck him against the wall.

He leered sinisterly at Superman and laughed. "Did you really think I'd take the mannequins? Would have been too easy for you to find me."

Superman grinned. "You also forgot one thing. Your weakness is ice."

Clayface smiled. "Last I check, you don't have any ice powers."

"You're right, I don't." Superman then began to blow on Clayface's arm, causing his arm to freeze. In a panic, Clayface removed his frozen arm off of Superman.

"No!" Clayface reacted in horror.

Superman then used his ice breath to blow Clayface in an attempt to freeze him. It was thankfully working as the ice traveled all over his body. And soon, Clayface couldn't stop it as he became a frozen ice sculpture.

Due to using too much of his breath, Superman dropped to the floor and began gently inhaling in order to get his breath back. "Okay, okay. That exhausted me a little." He looked to the frozen opponent with a deadpan stare. He was tempted to make an ice pun, but he knew it would be embarrassing so he flew off to find Jimmy.

Back on the roof, Batman and Slade were still fighting. They were deflecting every one of their punches once again.

Then, Batman performed a jump kick to Slade's face, causing him to stumble backwards. The merc retaliated by firing a blast from a wrist mounted cannon.

Batman dodged the beams and tossed one of his batarangs. It pierced the bore of the weapon, causing it to explode in his face.

Slade and Batman continued their fistfight. At one point, while clashing their fists against one another, Slade took the opportunity to headbutt Batman in the face, causing him to be disoriented. Then, Slade grabbed Batman by his wrist and tossed him over his shoulder.

He stomped on his chest just as he was about to stand up. In that instant, Slade unsheathed his sword and pointed it right at Batman's mouth.

"I always wondered what Talia saw in you, but I guess you're about to find out." He was about to stab Batman in the mouth. That was when, a blast from two red beams shot the weapon out of his hand.

Slade looked at his weapon and then towards his attacker, whom turned out to be none other than Superman.

"I think it's time you leave." Superman said.

Slade narrowed his eyes at Superman and Batman before he summoned a pellet from his wrist. "Not right now, Superman. You're not my priority for now." He tossed the pellet on the roof, releasing a cloud of smoke.

Superman dashed through the smoke in an attempt to catch him. However, Slade was gone. Superman cursed himself for not catching Slade in time, but knew Batman was his priority right now.

He dashed to him to see if he was okay. "Are you alright?" Superman asked.

Batman groaned as he sat up. "I'm fine." He held his chest. "Bruised chest, but it will pass."

"I was overhearing a conversation you two were having. Who's Talia?" Superman asked.

"Not important." Batman replied. "Did you find Jimmy?"

"I checked the warehouse from top to bottom." Superman replied. "He's not here. I don't know about you, but I think it was a trap."

"I knew from the beginning." Batman stated.

"And you didn't say anything because…"

"We wouldn't have our information." Batman replied.

Later, Batman tossed Killer Moth on the roof, whom was still reeling from the pain of having his hand broken. He looked at his opponents and cringed.

"I won't talk!" Killer Moth said. "No matter how much pain you put me through."

"Actually, it's not me you need to worry about." Superman said. "I won't put you through pain."

"And I won't." Batman stated. "That is if you give me an answer I don't like. So Walker, where is Bane?"

Killer Moth laughed. "My tendrils are sealed, bats. I won't tell you anything." He laughed while Batman just grinned.

"I will make you." Batman said as he began reaching into his belt. "And I think I might have a way." As Batman began reaching into his belt, Superman took a glance at what the gadget was and raised a brow.

That gadget turned out to be nothing but a penlight. "Okay, Walker. Look here." Batman activated the penlight, emitting a blinding flash.

And in an instant, Killer Moth was instantly hypnotised by the device. "The light. The light." He tried reaching for the light but Batman just pulled it away from him. "Give! Give me the light!"

Superman could only watch with befuddlement and amusement. Not only did Walker mutate into a moth, he also developed a moth's affinity with light.

"Give me the light!" Killer Moth pleaded.

Batman turned the penlight off. "Not until you tell me where Bane is."

Killer Moth, looking desperate for the light, got on his knees. "Kilmer Docks. His base of operations are there."

"Thank you." Batman turned the penlight on and handed it to the mutated moth. He snatched it out of his hand and began to stare at it and caress it.

"Beautiful, light." Killer Moth cried. "Beautiful light."

Just as Batman and Superman were about to leave for the docks, The Caped Crusader was getting a call from the communication piece in his mask.

"Talk to me." Batman said.

"Hey Bruce, hope I'm not bothering ya. But me and Lois have found out that Mockingbird is actually a Wayne Enterprise employee named Edward Nashton. And on top of that, we might have found the location of Bane's base of operations. It's actually the…Wait, you know don't you?"

"Thank you, Robin." Batman stated. "Me and Superman will meet you there. Anything else I need to know?"

"Gus Goreman and Alexander Luthor are safe." Lois replied. "Is Clark okay?"

"Going to need a shower but he's fine." Batman replied.

Superman sniffed the clay that was all over his body and gagged. He then dashed away to clean himself up.

"And Bruce, I got a call from Alfred. Lucius, Vicki and Gordon have gone missing. I think Bane might have had something to do with this."

"My same exact thoughts." Batman said. "Thanks, Robin and Miss Lane. We'll rendezvous with you in a few minutes."

Superman returned as soon as Batman hung up. "I heard your conversation from the shower." He stated. "I got a plan how we can get this Nashton to confess."

"Record a confrontation with Batman." Batman said as he walked towards the ledge of the roof.

"You coming with me?" Superman asked. "Or shall you catch up?"

"Go and meet Robin and Lois." Batman turned to Superman and smirked. "And tell me how Robin reacts to meeting you. He's quite a fan."

Superman smiled back. "Will do." He flew away to leave Batman to himself.

Batman was currently staring off into the distance, thinking. Fighting Slade again brought up some old memories he wish he had forgotten. And that name, Talia.

Chapter Text

Meanwhile, at Kilmer dock, Jimmy was being tortured by Carla. He was still being suspended by his arms with rope attached to the ceiling. Bane’s second-in-command was repeatedly punching him in the gut and face. So far, he had scratches, bruises, a bloody nose, a cut on his lip and a swelled up left eye.

Carla stopped punching Jimmy and grinned. "You know, if Bane didn't want you alive, I would have done a lot worse." Jimmy said nothing and instead, just coughed. "If you're worried about broken bones, don't worry, I made sure not a piece was shattered into dust."

"You're….You're…You're going to be sorry." Jimmy managed to say.

Carla gave a smug smile. "I bet. Stick around Olsen, you got no choice anyway." Carla walked toward the elevator and left him alone.

Once Carla left, Jimmy looked up to the ceiling with a pleading stare. "Come on, Superman. Where are you?"

Up on the surface, Carla exited the elevator to see Bane walking past looking annoyed. Seeing him this angry got her to follow him.

"Jefe, what troubles you?" Carla asked.

"Hagen and Walker have returned." Bane replied. "David informed how Batman and Superman gained the upper hand."

Bane entered a recovery room where Killer Moth was wearing a cast on his broken hand while Clayface was walking around.

Upon seeing Bane enter, Clayface walked backwards to make sure he wasn't in his way while Killer Moth flinched in terror.

"B-b-Bane!" Killer Moth exclaimed. "Listen, we failed to capture Superman…Bat-Bat-Batman was there."

Bane raised a brow. "Batman? Are they in allegiance with each other?"

"I think so." Killer Moth replied. "He allowed Batman to trick me with the penlight. Also, they spoke like they were working together."

"That's not all." Clayface said. "I think someone is after Superman as well. He tried to shoot him but the Batman used me as a human shield." He removed the bullet from his skin and handed it to Bane.

The terrorist/arms dealer began to analyse the bullet he had lodged in him. "I recognise this bullet." Bane said. "It comes from a sniper I recently sold to a merc. Mr Wilson. I was worried he'd get in my way. Luckily I anticipated this." Bane didn't look concerned, instead, he looked to be analysing the situation. "Hmmm. But Batman on the other hand….Well, that is another story."

"What do we do now, Jefe?" Carla asked.

Before Bane could explain, Livewire, now wearing a full body black leather suit with a lighting bolt symbol on the chest; Burst in the room, dragging someone in. The static villain coughed into her hands repeatedly.

"Willis, what is the meaning of this disruption?" Bane asked.

"I found this little twerp out front." She lifted him up for Bane to see and it was none other than Edward Nashton AKA The Riddler. The young crook seemed nervous to come face-to-face with the terrorist. "He claims to be Mockingbird." She tossed him on the floor.

When Edward looked at Bane, he began to scurry backwards but was blocked by Livewire. Carla looked down at Riddler with a raised brow.

"This twerp is Mockingbird?" Carla asked.

Killer Moth and Clayface looked at him with their own curious expressions. "This is the guy who is causing Bruce Wayne so much trouble?" Killer Moth asked.

"He looks like a Wayne Enterprise employee." Clayface asked.

Edward adjusted his glasses and chuckled. "Well, at this point, I'm going to be former. And yes, it seems I am Mockingbird."

Livewire laughed. "I don't believe it."

Edward seemed nervous. "What are you talking about?! I am so, Mockingbird!” He stood up and got into a gloating pose.” I, Edward Nashton AKA Mockingbird AKA The Riddler is indeed the one who has…"

Livewire grinned. "And the whole question mark motif is related to this Riddler persona?"

Clayface placed his sticky hand on Edward's shoulder. "He looks like a crummy game show host."

"Do not underestimate him." Bane marched towards him. "He might not be physically capable of taking on Batman or Superman, but he has provided us with weapons we need. For now, he has my respect. Additionally, he will have the front row seat for when I will fight Superman."

Edward smiled nervously. "Ooooh, yippeee!" He responded nervously.

"I'm glad you're excited." Bane stated. "Right now, I must prepare. Superman will be here soon. Carla, with me." She nodded her head and began to follow her boss.

Once Bane left, Killer Moth and Clayface give each other some baffled expression. "He was about to scold us, right?" Killer Moth asked.

"You were the one who told Batman the location so he should have been." Clayface said.

"You two really don't know Bane, do you?" Livewire coughed. "He's a master of improvising. Every new obstacle to him is a golden window of opportunity."

Edward looked worried about the mess he got himself in. "Oh Edward, you should have worked at Queen Industries."

Outside the room, Bane and Carla were walking together where the terrorist was talking about his plan. "Carla, cuando Batman llegue aquí, asegúrate de que Edward sea detenido por él." (Carla, when the Batman gets here, make sure that Edward is apprehended by him.)

"¿Por qué? el es ruiseñor." (Why? He is Mockingbird.)

"Dudo. El ruiseñor con el que hablé tenía esta aura que proyectaba confianza y habilidad con las palabras. ¿Cómo sabemos que no nos están engañando?" (I doubt it. The Mockingbird I spoke to had this aura that projected confidence and skilled with words. How do we know they are not deceiving us?)

"Por lo que sabemos, el aura que proyectaba era una artimaña para disfrazar el hecho de que no es más que un ratoncito nervioso." (For all we know, the aura he projected was a ruse to disguise the fact that he is nothing more than a nervous little mouse.)

Bane cracked his neck. "Pronto. Pronto. Superman estará aquí pronto. Prepárate para su llegada. (Soon. Soon. Superman will arrive soon. Be prepared for his arrival.)

"Si, Jefe." Carla bowed her head in respect.

Outside the building and the main entrance, Superman had arrived. He hovered over the harbour to analyse his surroundings. He noted how the main building was made from lead so Bane chose his venue wisely.

He also noted a cargo ship known only as The Mullesc docked near the building. Perhaps that might be of something Bane could be planning.

"Hey, Superman!" Superman heard the sound of someone calling his name and looked down. There, he saw Robin giving him a wave.

The Man of Steel hovered down to greet The Boy Wonder and gently landed on his feet. "You must be Robin."

Robin looked kind of nervous to be standing face-to-face with someone he admires. He couldn't even come up with a good sentence.

"Well, I pictured how our first meeting would go but I didn't expect it to be like this." Robin offered Superman a handshake that he pulled back because it felt awkward to him. "Sorry."

Superman offered Robin a handshake. "Don't be."

The Boy Wonder briefly became giddy but then put his stoic composure back on. "It's a privilege to meet you Superman." He shook his hand, his arm still shaking.

"Where's Lois?" Superman asked.

"She's okay!" Superman saw that his girlfriend had just come out from a bush wiping her mouth with her sleeve. "And she spent the last three minutes throwing up!" She exclaimed.

Superman and Lois approached each other and shared a hug. "Glad you're okay." Superman said. "Did you get hurt?"

"Staff to the stomach never stopped me, Smallville." Lois said.

Robin froze once he realised he hit Superman's girlfriend in the gut. He cringed with embarrassment. "Oh…Dang."

"I also knocked out one of the head crime families." Lois stated.

Superman chuckled. "Yup, that definitely sounds like a you thing to do."

"Where's Bruce?" Lois asked.

"He'll be here." Superman replied. "By the way Robin, has Bruce ever mentioned someone named Talia?"

Robin just froze. "I'm just going to assume she is one of Bruce's many exes. He doesn't get into any details about all of them. But while we wait, I could probably list them. Vicki Vale, Silver St Cloud, Rachel Dawes, Chase Meridian, Selina Kyle, Julie Madison, Vesper Fairchild-"

"That one never went anywhere." Batman's sudden appearance behind her and Superman caused Lois to scream.

"Don't do that!" Lois demanded.

"Did you survey the area, Clark?" Batman asked.

"And what were you doing?" Superman asked.

"Never mind that." Batman replied. "Give me your status."

"There is a cargo ship known as The Mullesc." Superman replied. "There is nothing in there besides some weapons. But that building over there is made from lead. I think Bane could be hiding something in there or perhaps this is his base of operations."

Batman pulled a batarang from his utility belt and tossed it in the air. The projectile began spinning upwards before descending down and into the building. Once inside said building, it was recording live footage that relayed into Batman's mask so he was seeing everything.

He saw a ton of armed soldiers surveying the area, Clayface throwing up in a bucket, Killer Moth holding on to his head like he was having a migraine, Livewire was coughing in a napkin, there was a small laboratory with the Meta compound and Venom, Carla walking in an elevator, Edward drinking a cup of water while rubbing the back of his neck nervously while Bane was in his office working out.

Unbeknown to them four, Catwoman was perched on top of a roof, watching them with keen interest. "Well, what do we have here?" She pondered.

Once the batarang returned, Batman placed it back in his utility belt. "Well?" Robin asked. "What did the Batarang show?"

Batman gave his sidekick a hard stare then he narrowed his eyes at Lois. "No. Just no."

"What?" Lois reacted.

He knew there were more important matters so he focused on that instead. "Okay, around 32 armed soldiers, Willis, Hagen, Walker, Edward Nashton, Carla and Bane." Batman explained.

Superman seemed confused. "Wait? How did they get here before us?"

"I wish I knew." Batman replied. "I don't see any sign of Jimmy, Vicki, Lucius or Gordon. But there is an elevator I believe leads to their location. Additionally, there is a small lab with Bane's drug being manufactured. As well as a substance I can only assume is the compound used to mutate Walker and Hagen. If I could get a sample, I could probably reverse the effects it causes and administer a cure. Alright, here's the-"

"OKAY! Here's the plan!" Lois interjected. "Batman and Robin will cause some mayhem outside the building in order to get Bane's attention away from the lab and the elevator. They kick some butt! Pow! Kapow! Wham! While the dynamic duo cause chaos, me and Superman will sneak into the building where I will retrieve a sample of the Meta compound, Superman will take the elevator to rescue the hostages and Jimmy, I get a confession out of Edward and soon, we rendezvous to take out Bane and the rest. Then, once that's over, Batman administers a cure; Clark, Jimmy and I publish the article exonerating Bruce Wayne and putting this chaos behind us!"

Batman cleared his throat, causing Lois to feel a cold shiver behind her back. She turned around to stare at her reluctant ally with fear.

"I have one question: Who put you in charge?" Batman asked.

Superman stood beside Lois and narrowed his eyes at him. "Bruce, I think Lois is just contributing-" Batman just gave him a stare, causing him to be rendered silent. "Alright. Alright. Gotham is your city, it's your call."

"Thank you." Batman said. He took some time to analyse the situation but then looked back at Clark and Lois. "Let's go with Lois' plan."

Superman, Lois and Robin seemed surprised by his declaration. "Am I going mad here?" Robin asked.

"I see why you like to have her around, Superman." Batman gave him a small grin. "I'll give you the signal to enter. Robin, with me." Batman and Robin summoned their hooks and grappled up the wall.

"How will we know what the signal is?" Lois asked.

"At this point, I should just stop questioning him." Superman replied.

Inside the building, Bane was making a phone call to someone. "I don't have a nuclear bomb. If I did, I would have used it right now. If you want a bomb, I suggest you invade a military base." All of a sudden, he was seeing his crew running out of the base with their guns out and firing rounds at whatever was outside the building. He raised a brow behind his mask with curiosity. "I'll call you back, clown." Bane hung up and snapped the phone in two.

When he exited the office, he was greeted by Livewire and Edward. "What is going on?" Edward asked.

"Batman and Robin are attacking the base." Livewire replied as she absorbed energy from a nearby desk lamp.

Edward was alarmed by this piece of information. "Batman?! Oh forget this, I'm leaving! I'm leaving!" Bane grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and began carrying him.

"They're here for you." Bane replied.

Once they exited the warehouse, Bane smiled at the intruders, whom were beating up a few of his men. Batman incapacitating one by lifting him by his collar and punching him in the face.

Robin jumped high in the air and tossed a barrage of batarangs to three criminals, knocking them on their backs.

Batman attacked another one with a his cape, disorienting him. He punched him in the face and elbowed a female soldier coming behind him in the face.

"¡Suficiente!" Bane's command made every one of his crew stop fighting and to stand by. The injured ones stood aside while the armed forces aimed their rifles at the duo. But not just the armed forces, Livewire as well had her hands out to emit something shocking.

"Bane." Batman stated.

"The Batman." Bane said.

There was some silence as Robin was expecting someone to say his name soon. "And Robin." Robin mumbled.

"Yes, everyone knows who you are, kid." Livewire stated.

Inside the building, once Bane was distracted, Lois and Superman snuck in at the back knowing that the place was unguarded.

"All clear." Superman declared.

"Uh…But no Edward." Lois whispered. "It's okay, we can deal with that when we can.

We probably have a limited window, so let's make the most of it."

"I got it." Superman held on to Lois and dashed towards the small lab.

Lois quickly grabbed a syringe of the meta compound and put it in her coat pocket. Then, Superman held on to her again and dashed towards the elevator.

He and Lois entered the contraption where he pushed the down button. Once the doors closed, he and her were on their own.

"Okay, I need to understand, how is it you don't throw up when I'm using super speed yet the car is what causes you to throw your guts out?" Superman asked.

Lois shrugged her shoulders. "I don't understand that either. Maybe me and the Batmobile are different."

Superman looked amused by the name. "Batmobile?"

Lois grinned. "Come on Smallville, you know I'm great with names."

Back outside, Batman and Robin were still staring Bane down. The terrorist/arms dealer raised Edward high by the back of his collar. "If you're here for him, Mockingbird is yours."

Edward suddenly became nervous. "Batman! Robin! Listen, I'm not with these guys! You can listen to me and maybe cherry pick my brain, you'll see I'm actually the victim here!"

"You won't have us fooled, Nashton!" Robin retorted.

"Let him go Bane." Batman demanded. "It's you I want."

Bane looked at a device mounted on his wrist and sighed. "Really?" He let go of Edward and turned to face him. "Go back inside. Don't you dare run away from me."

Instead of arguing, Edward surprisingly complied with his command and ran back inside of the building to await further instructions.

"I suppose you expect me to fight you and Robin?" Bane queried as he stood up straight.

"It would be a challenging fight, wouldn't it?" Robin asked with a cocky grin.

"Seeing as to how easily I beat your boss, you won't be as much as a challenge." Bane replied.

"Well, why don't you find out?" Batman suggested.

Bane raised a brow. "If I recall Batman, you are much more coordinated. You wouldn't go in guns blazing unless you have a plan. And from what I gathered from Walker, Willis, Hagen and Nashton, you're in league with Superman and that Daily Planet reporter. Which was the confirmation I needed to know that one of my predictions had come to fruition."

Robin instantly became worried while Batman kept his composure. "What are you trying to get at, Bane?" Batman asked.

Bane began to walk away. "You're nothing but the distraction. I predicted Superman wouldn't want to fight me in order to save Olsen. So instead, he'd send you as a distraction while he…" In that moment, Batman instantly figured out what Bane was getting at.

"You knew?!" Robin exclaimed.

"No. He lead us here." Batman explained. "He was setting Superman up for a trap from the beginning! SUPERMAN! If you can hear me, it's a-" Before he could shout, Livewire electrocuted him. Once she stopped, he dropped to his knees as smoke escaped his body.

"Ah ah ah." Livewire said.

Bane grinned under his mask. "I wish you would enjoy the show, Batman. Maybe next time. If you make it out alive anyway. Willis, Walker, Hagen, do your worst."

Clayface and Killer Moth walked out from the crowd. "With pleasure." Clayface said as he turned his hand into a mallet.

Robin summoned his staff from his belt and got into fighting position while Batman got back up on his feet.

"You can't beat us, Batman." Clayface said. "You don't even have a freeze ray."

"Where's your fire hydrant now, Batman?" Livewire asked.

"You can't let the light hypnotise me this time." Killer Moth said. Then, he cringed and held on to his head. "Uh…My head. Too much light."

Clayface made the first attack and charged towards the duo. He tried to smash the two, but they managed to jump out of the way.

Killer Moth began flying towards the duo with his claws out, in an attempt scratch one of them. He tried scratching Robin, but he quickly hit him in the face with his staff in retaliation.

Clayface turned his hands to blades that he tried to use in an attempt to cut Batman. But the caped crusader was dodging every blade by doing front flips, backflips and air spins.

Livewire tried shooting Robin with electricity, but he began spinning his staff which caused her power to deflect back to her.

But instead of knocking her down, she just absorbed it. "I'm powered by electricity, kid."

"But my gloves are made from rubber." Robin managed to punch Livewire in the face due to his gloves. "I know I'm not supposed to hit a woman, but in my defence, you tried to kill me."

Clayface widened his hand size and tried to crush Batman with it. Then, the Caped Crusader tossed an explosive device in his muddy face. This caused him to be almost blinded by the blast, but he eventually pulled himself together.

Back inside the building, Carla had placed duct tape on the beaten Jimmy's mouth. "There. So that way no one will hear you." Carla began punching Jimmy's abdomen again, causing him to grunt.

Then, Carla heard the sound of the elevator ding and turned around. When the doors opened up, it revealed Superman and Lois Lane.

"Hey!" Carla exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

Upon seeing their best friend bloodied and beaten like that, it caused Superman intense levels of anger. Then, without thinking, he dashed towards Carla and flicked her on the head, causing her to pass out.

"Jimmy!" Lois cried out happily.

Instead of being relieved, Jimmy was looking alarmed by their presence. He tried to muffle something in order to get their attention, but they ignored his cries since they were so happy to see him again.

Superman burnt the ropes that bind him with his laser vision, freeing him. Just as he fell, Superman caught him and gently placed him on the floor just as Lois arrived.

The two of them had tears falling from their eyes, relieved and absolutely happy that he was okay. "What did they do to you, Jimmy?!" Superman asked once he saw the bruises. "Don't worry, you can answer that later." But Jimmy kept on muffling something.

"Once we get you out of here, we'll get you to a hospital and get the heck out of this city and never return!" Lois declared. "Even if I get a job offer here, I will decline."

But Jimmy just continued to keep muffling. "Let's get this off of you." Superman removed the duct tape from his mouth.

"You shouldn't have tried to find me!" Jimmy exclaimed.

Superman and Lois seemed surprised. "What?!" Lois exclaimed.

"Bane wanted you here!" Jimmy replied. "Capturing me was just his attempt for you to find me which in turn would lead you to him."

Superman and Lois looked alarmed by this piece of information. "How do you know this?" Lois asked.

"Carla, she bragged about it." Jimmy replied. "Apparently, Bane has been studying not just your physical capabilities, but your emotional as well."

"That may be so, but we're going to get you out." Superman assured his best friend.

"Not unless you get past me." Superman and Lois turned to face the corridor they ran down from to see Bane standing there.

Superman stood up and narrowed his eyes at the man who captured his best friend. "Bane." Superman clenched his fists.

"Let's not stand unceremoniously, Mr Kent."

Upon the mention of his last name, Superman, Lois and Jimmy instantly became alarmed. "How?" Superman asked, genuinely afraid of Bane for the first time.

"It took time." Bane replied. "But the glasses are a terrible disguise. You really think the capture of Jimmy Olsen as coincidental? It was the perfect bait. Oh, and give my regards to your parents in Smallville."

Superman's anger finally boiled over and he dashed towards Bane. But what he didn't take account for, was the fact Bane had activated the Venom in his blood stream.

Just as Superman's fist was about to collide with his face, Bane grabbed the wrist and punched him in his own face to the ground.

Superman quickly got back up and managed to block a series of punches from Bane. When he felt his punches collide with his body, Superman felt that he was getting hit by a large semi trucks. Or, what he thinks getting hit by a semi truck felt like.

Superman retaliated by shoving Bane so hard, he ended up flying backwards into a wall. Then, Bane jumped back up and roared with anger. He was close to tackling Superman, but he grabbed him by the straps and tossed him over his shoulder.

Lois and Jimmy thankfully ducked before the terrorist could hit them. Bane crashed into the wall. But somehow, Bane was still standing as he jumped back up like it was nothing.

Bane grinned under his mask. "So far, you're not disappointing me."

Superman narrowed his eyes at Bane. "I don't wish to fight."

"You will fight or otherwise, your best friend and the woman you love, will die!" Bane stated.

The mention of his girlfriend and best friend being threatened caused Superman, to try and blast him with laser vision. Bane dodged the blasts and tossed a brick at his direction.

When it impacted its chest, it shattered, but the dust did irritate his eye a little. Then, Bane came towards him with a punch towards his face. Superman caught the fist. Then, Bane tried the other which Superman caught.

Then, while they wrestled over Bane's freedom from the Kryptonian's grasp, they were aggressively pressing their heads against one another's. Due to the intense tension, the ground collapsed around them, creating a small crater.

Back on the surface, Livewire absorbed the energy from a nearby streetlight and projected that energy towards Batman. He dodged the blast and tossed a batarang at her head, causing her to be disoriented.

Killer Moth tried to catch Batman by swooping down, but the Caped Crusader retaliated by punching Killer Moth on his scalp, causing him to slam his face on the concrete.

Clayface tried to hit Robin by stretching his fists toward him, but the boy wonder kept dodging by performing areole jumps and flips.

"Missed me!" Robin said before Clayface tried to hit him again. "Missed me!"

Clayface tried to swing an axe downwards, but Robin jumped backwards. "Are you trying to hit me, Hagen?" He swung his axe hand sideways which Robin dodged by arching his back downwards.

Then, Robin performed a backwards roll and tossed two explosive marbles at Clayface's face, causing him to stumble backwards.

Batman on the other hand was avoiding some electrified punches from Livewire. She then knocked him to the ground by punching his chest.

She electrified her hand, ready to deliver a finishing blow. But for some reason, she began a coughing fit. Batman raised a brow with fascination and intrigue over what he was seeing.

Clayface was about to smash him with his bare hands, but he quickly rolled away and tossed another batarang to his face, causing it to blow up.

"Stop blowing explosives in my face!" Clayface demanded.

Batman and Robin eventually regrouped with each other. The Boy Wonder smacked Killer Moth away with his staff.

"What do we do?" Robin asked.

"I need you to get Walker away from me." Batman said. "There's something up with them, look." He looked at Clayface, who threw up on the ground. Killer Moth on the other hand, was holding on to his head while his eye twitched. While Livewire was in another coughing fit. "I have to take a blood sample from Willis."

Robin nodded his head. "And Hagen?"

"Let me worry about him." Batman replied before pulling out two Batarangs and charging forward.

Killer Moth was about to tackle the Caped Crusader until Robin hit him with his staff. Killer Moth flashed his sharp claws and tried to slice the Boy Wonder with them, but he either dodged them or deflected them with his staff.

Robin tried to hit back, but then, the mutant grabbed the staff and kicked him in the stomach, disarming him of his weapon.

Clayface roared again and tried to smash Batman with his hand, which had shape changed into a mallet.

Batman tossed an explosive Batarang at Clayface's face, but he clay monster turned his hand into a shield and managed to block the explosive.

"Cheap trick." Clayface remarked before getting hit in the face with another explosive.

Livewire tried to blast Batman, but he dodged her blast and pulled his grapple gun from his belt and shot it at her, hitting her shoulder. He yanked her forward and punched her in the face.

She retaliated with a punch, but he blocked the electrified hit with his gauntlet. While Batman duelled Livewire, Killer Moth was sneaking up on him.

He was intending to pounce on him in order to incapacitate him. He flashed his claws, clicked his mandibles and cracked his neck.

"How ironic, the moth is about to catch a bat." Killer Moth remarked.

"You know robins eat moths as well, right?" Robin retorted before using his grappling hook to attach it to Walker's leg.

Instead of being alarmed, Killer Moth just grinned with glee before flashing his wings and then taking off, his leg still attached to the grappling gun.

Unfortunately, Robin took a long time to realise what was going on. He saw that the rope attached to his grappling gun was following the direction Killer Moth was going.

"Oh, not good." Robin said before he was yanked upwards and was now being dragged through the air by Killer Moth.

Batman punched Livewire in the face before noticing Robin being dragged through the air towards the city by the insect Metahuman.

"Robin!" Batman cried out before being hit by Clayface's mallet.

Back underground, Superman and Bane were still engaging one on one with their fistfight. Superman punched Bane in the stomach, face and chest, yet somehow, Bane was still invincible against his strength.

Bane retaliated by performing a 360 crescent kick, causing Superman to fall on the floor. Then, Bane performed a body slam on his stomach like a wrestler. The terrorist then got up and was about to stomp on his face. Superman however, grabbed his foot and flipped Bane backwards, causing him to land face first in the floor.

Lois and Jimmy could only watch on, rooting for Clark to beat Bane in the fight. "Come on Superman, you can do it!" Jimmy exclaimed.

"Lois, get Jimmy out of here, I'll follow." Superman commanded.

Lois, instead of arguing, gave her boyfriend a nod and began to carry the weak Jimmy out of the chamber.

While the two out of the Daily Planet trio were escaping, Bane got back up and charged right towards Superman.

He didn't have enough time to react to Bane tackling him to the floor. Superman kicked him off of him straight to the ceiling. Before he could hit the floor, Superman caught him and tossed him to the floor.

Bane stood up and cracked his neck. "You don't disappoint. This is the fight I have been waiting for, Mr Kent."

Superman narrowed his eyes at Bane. "Whether you wanted it or not, I'm still taking you in."

"You're strong and I know why, your love for your girlfriend and friend make you stronger." Bane said.

Superman clenched his fists in anger. "Don't you dare bring up their names."

"When I was growing up in that Peña Duro in Santa Prisca, the prisoners there educated me that love is both a strength and a weakness." Bane took a glance at the unconscious Carla. "Love motivates you to protect but it can also make you vulnerable."

At the corridor, Lois and Jimmy were closing in on the elevator. "We're almost there, Jim."

"Lois…The elevator…"

"What?" Lois asked.

Back with the fight, Bane pulled a cell phone from his pocket. "What is that?" Superman asked.

"A cell phone, Mr Kent." Bane replied. "I thought you'd have known what it was." He began to dial a number. "You know, what is the worst thing about loving someone? They leave such an impression, that it is a legit shock when they die."

In that moment, Superman heard the sound of beeping coming from underneath the elevator, which was where Jimmy and Lois were heading.

In that moment, Superman dashed to save his best friend and girlfriend. When he got there, he grabbed the both of them and shot out of the ceiling just as the elevator blew up.

When he got to the surface, he landed near the Batmobile and placed them next to it. They turned when they heard the sound of the elevator exploding.

"Well, now he's stuck down there." Lois remarked.

"But the other hostages." Superman said. "Bane still knows where they are."

"Please be safe." Lois said. "Bane was giving you a real beating."

Superman kissed Lois on the forehead. "I will."

He dashed back inside the building right to where the destroyed elevator was. He was hoping Bane knew where the other hostages were because he couldn't find them either.

Just as he was about to hover down the hole to the chamber, Bane suddenly burst out of the hole, hitting Superman under his chin with his head.

The terrorist appeared to be holding on to the unconscious Carla as he jumped out. When he got to the surface, he gently placed her on a chair for her to rest.

Superman composed himself after that unexpected hit to the face, he narrowed his eyes at Bane. "Alright Bane, where are the other hostages?"

"I'll tell you if you beat me." Bane responded.

"I prefer we don't." Superman said.

"I prefer we do." Bane retorted. "Or they will die."

Superman, already getting sick of Bane, began to glare at his opponent with his fists raised. Bane grinned under his mask and raised his fists as well.

After a brief stare down, Superman and Bane charged at each other with their fists raised.

Elsewhere in the city, Killer Moth was flying through downtown trying his best to shake Robin off of his leg. He made turns beside buildings in an attempt to knock him off.

He made a turn past Wayne tower, causing Robin to hit his elbow against the glass, but he still held on. Then, he made a turn past Elliot Memorial Hospital, Causing Robin to hit a TV dish antenna, but still managing to hold on.

"Let go of me!" Killer Moth demanded.

"Never." Robin said.

Killer Moth tried shaking him off with his leg as fast as he could, but Robin was still managing to hold on.

Then, he made a turn right past Boyle industries. But instead of hitting his arm against something, Robin just ran along the building plus the windows.

Inside the building, there were two security guards talking to each other. "So, you heard about that fundraiser Mr Boyle is starting next week?" One of the guards asked.

"Sure." The other guard replied. "But let's remember to keep him safe from a bullet. Remember that Deadshot guy?"

"Oh yeah. Poor guy almost got killed." The guard remarked.

"Well, he won't have to worry." The other guard folded his arms. "Because I have a keen eye on when things are out of the ordinary." However, he failed to notice Robin running along the window right behind him.

Back outside, Robin was busy still trying to hold on to the grappling gun. Killer Moth growled angrily and dived downwards in order to knock him off.

He flew down to the ground so he could probably knock Robin off by hitting some very active heavy traffic. However, his attempt had failed since Robin just ran along either by running in-between vehicles, jumping on the bonnet of cars, roof of cars or just running along vehicles and jumping from one to another.

Inside one of the vehicles, which just so happened to be the car belonging to detective Harvey Bullock, the detective was busy drinking some coffee while answering a call on his radio.

"I'm sorry, what do you mean there's reports of a flying creature in Gotham?" Bullock asked before the said flying creature flew over his car.

Bullock was in disbelief over what he saw that he failed to notice Robin running past his car, still holding on to Walker. The detective grabbed his radio and responded to the call. "Found it."

Killer Moth began to fly upwards with Robin still holding on for dear life. He tried swinging Robin against more buildings again to try and shake him off.

He flew towards more building where Robin crashed against wall and windows. Despite the pain, he was still managing to hold on.

Inside one of the buildings, Barbara Gordon and her best friend, Alysia Yeoh were busy discussing on other topics to take Barbara's mind off the fact her Dad was missing.

"Come on Babs, your Dad's gonna be okay." Alysia assured her best friend. "Batman and Superman have got it."

Barbara sighed. "I guess."

"Okay, okay, let's start a debate." Alysia suggested. "Who is cuter? Robin or Dick Grayson?"

Barbara blushed and hid her head behind a pillow. "Alysia!" She cringed.

"Come on girl. I know you got a thing for the both of them." Alysia said. "And I admit, they're kind of cute. Not as hot as Silver St Cloud, but still hot. But on a scale from one to ten, how would you rate them?"

"I don't know…" Barbara admitted. "…Robin's dynamic, I guess."

All of a sudden, Robin crashed through the bedroom window, causing Barbara and Alysia to scream in shock.

Robin looked around the area he was in. He saw Alysia and gave her a grin. Then, he saw Barbara and blushed at being in front of her. He felt like he was about to be yanked by Killer Moth soon and just gave them a departing nod. "Excuse me." He said before he was yanked out of the room and out the window.

Alysia and Barbara looked at the broken window with wide eyed shock. "Well, that was kind of cool." Alysia remarked.

"Ooooh, Dad better not kill me." Barbara said.

Back with the fight between Batman, Clayface and Livewire. Batman was doing everything he could to try and take a sample of Livewire's blood. But he was having some struggle since Livewire kept zipping from left to right, back and forth. While Clayface was busy trying to squish him under his hands.

Batman however, just kept avoiding his hits and tossed random explosives in his face. Livewire was eventually beginning to find Batman's antics annoying and growled as bursts of electricity traveled around her body.

"Enough!" She used her newfound electric powers to do something that neither one of Bane's goons expected. She disarmed every one of their goons of their rifles, pistols and shotguns and began controlling them herself.

The barrage of guns hovered behind her as they aimed at Batman. The Caped Crusader noticed what Livewire was doing and looked surprised. "Oh sh-"

But before Batman could mutter anything else, Livewire pulled the triggers on all the guns and they each began blasting unprecedented amounts of bullets at him. He thankfully had a smoke grenade at the ready and used it to disorient them while he grappled to a nearby streetlight.

Once the smoke cleared, it was revealed to Livewire that Batman was gone. She angrily shattered the guns into pieces as she looked around the dock to find him. However, she couldn't find a sign.

"Come out and fight!" She demanded. "Come on! You were bold enough to fight Bane, so why won't you fight me and Hagen?!"

Batman reached into his belt and pulled out a handful of smoke pellets. He tossed them in the vicinity of Livewire and Clayface.

Upon hearing them make impact to the ground, Livewire shot them, causing them to blow up and releasing smoke all around them.

Soon, the two of them were surrounded by smoke. They looked around the smoke to try and catch a glimpse of him.

Livewire briefly saw a shadow flash past and was about to blast it, but the shadow was gone. She felt some kind of fabric brush up against her shoulder, causing her to flinch.

"Come out and fight you coward!" Livewire demanded. "Clayface, do you see anything?!"

"Smoke?"

Livewire sighed. "Anything but smoke?"

"No…I…."

Livewire gasped. "Stand back, I see him!"

She fired a jolt of electricity at the bat shaped shadow, but instead of hitting Batman, she accidentally hit Clayface. The huge clay mutant collapsed due to the electrical jolt moving through his body.

"Hagen, you alright?!" Livewire asked.

"Not for a while." Batman suddenly appeared behind the electrical crook and grabbed her by the stomach and inserted a strange gun-like device in her neck.

As she struggled to escape his grasp, he began to extract a portion of her blood out of her body. Once he got an appropriate amount, he put the device back in his utility belt.

Livewire held on to her neck in anger. Then, she had more coughing fits while Clayface threw up a puddle of clay from his mouth.

After a brief fit, Livewire's eyes began to glow a light blue as she narrowed her eyes at Batman. "You shouldn't have done that!"

"You'll be thankful if my theory is correct." Batman retorted.

Livewire grinned as bolts of electricity shot out of her body and her skin began to turn blue. But not just her skin changed, her haircut turned into a spiky look that looked similar to a bolt of electricity.

Instead of being intimidated like last time, Batman grinned at Livewire as he prepared to face a new challenge.

Back inside the building, Superman was tossed from one side of the room to another. Bane charged towards the alien but before he could land a hit, Superman kicked him in the chest, causing him to fly into the laboratory, destroying much of the compound that was being synthesised.

Bane narrowed his eyes angrily at Superman. "You're starting to frustrate me, Superman." Bane remarked. "Nashton!"

Edward stuttered. "Yes?"

"Get everything you can and take them to the ship." Bane commanded.

Edward, fearing for his life, followed his commands and grabbed everything he could find and began to run towards the ship.

Just as Bane turned back to Superman, the Man of Steel flew towards the terorist and tackled him up against the wall.

He flicked his fingers against his head. Unlike Carla, this didn't knock him out. Superman looked at his fingers with surprise before he tried again.

However, Bane just glared at Superman, before kicking him so hard, he crashed into another wall. Bane charged towards Superman and was about to kick him in the head. But then, the Man of Steel, grabbed him by his foot and jammed it in the ground, causing it to be stuck.

This gave Superman the opportunity to fight Bane. He began to exchange punches towards him, however, the terrorist kept blocked the hits and managed to punch him in the face.

Superman managed to block him before he began punching him in the chest, stomach and face. Bane punched Superman back and kicked him with his free foot in the torso. He tried again, but Superman caught it and jammed it right in the ground.

Meanwhile, Edward was running through the back exit with a lot of the supplies Bane wanted. "Why did you get involved Edward?!" He asked himself. "You should have never gotten that job at Wayne Enterprise."

However, when he got to the exit, he was greeted by a stranger. But not just any kind of stranger, it was Slade. He narrowed his eyes at Nashton, who only stared at the merc in fear.

"Are you working for Bane?" Edward asked.

"I was a client, Mr Nashton." Slade replied as he walked past him. "You're of no concern for me." He removed a gun from his belt and began walking towards Superman and Bane. "You can leave."

Edward nodded at Slade before running off to deliver the shipments to the ship. Slade looked to his intended target and cracked his knuckles. "I can't have you in my way anymore, Superman."

Back with the fight, Bane tried to punch Superman again, but then he blocked it and pushed Bane out of the ground.

Bane, already getting exhausted from the fight, felt something oozing out of his mask. He touched whatever was coming out of his head and analysed his finger. Right there, it was some green ooze.

"No one has made me bleed in a good while." Bane said.

"I'm not here to please you Bane, I'm here for the hostages." Superman said.

"Regardless, once it is over, it will still be the most honourable fight I have ever had." Bane said.

Superman just glared at Bane, intending to finally take him in after the long fight. "You're in my way, Superman."

Superman turned around right behind to see Slade standing right in front of him. But before Superman could react to the gun Slade had in his hand, he was hit by a blinding flash.

Superman screamed in pain as he held to his eyes and dropped to the floor. Bane having recognised what the weapon was, instantly went wide eyed.

He narrowed his eyes at Slade in anger. "You government pet! Do you realise what you did to him you idiota trastornado!"

"I got rid of an obstacle." Slade retorted as he looked at Batman, whom was busy fighting Livewire and Clayface. Then, the government mercenary began walking towards him.

The disappointed Bane walked towards Superman, who looked to be patting his hand everywhere on the floor until he found a table he used to help lift himself up.

But before he could carefully look to find an exit, Bane placed a hand on his shoulder. He grabbed Superman by his face and began to inspect his eyes.

His eyes were blank white, implying that Superman had been blinded by the flash. "You have not to worry Mr Kent, the blindness will only be temporary." Bane sighed. "I was so looking forward for this fight. Only for it to end so anti climatically. But, you did make me bleed. I suppose, I can get some enjoyment." Bane smashed Superman face-first on the floor.

Meanwhile, Killer Moth was still trying to shake Robin off of his foot as he flew around the city but he was as stubborn as he looked. "Come on, man, just come down!" Robin demanded.

"Get off of me!" Killer Moth demanded as he hovered over the Kilmer Dock.

"Yeah, well I don't think I will." Robin retorted. "You are an escaped convict after all. Hey, I wonder if they'll put you in a petting zoo just for kicks?"

Killer Moth grinned. "Yeah, sounds funny. But they'll have to warn them about my claws." He flashed them at Robin, leading the Boy Wonder to realise what he was about to do.

"Oh come on, man!" Robin said before Walker used his claws to slash the rope that held on to his grappling hook, causing him to fall.

"I thought Robins could fly!" Killer Moth laughed before flying away.

As Robin fell, he looked at his broken grappling hook and sighed. Before he could make contact with the ground however, someone grabbed his cape.

He looked to the ground he was hovering over and saw that he was mere feet away from breaking his ankles. He looked up as to who saved him. And on top of the roof of the building where Superman and Bane had their fight, was Catwoman.

She grinned at the Boy Wonder. "Well, looks like the cat caught herself a little birdie."

Robin crossed his arms and sighed. "You just had to use that analogy didn't you?"

"You're welcome, I suppose." Catwoman retorted as she pulled him up.

"What are you doing here?" Robin asked.

"A girl's gotta make her living." Catwoman replied.

"Trying to steal from Bane?" Robin asked. "Very risky."

"That's what makes it so alluring." Catwoman retorted just before she and Robin were hearing some noises.

They looked through the sunroof window to see something neither one of them expected. Bane was pummelling on Superman. He was punching him in the face, stomach and back. Throwing him around like a doll. And even was holding on to his cape while smashing him on the floor and wall.

From what Robin was seeing, Superman looked badly beaten. There were cuts, bruises and his own lip had swollen up from all the beating.

"Oh my god." Catwoman said, in a rare moment of legit shock. "He's killing him. Where's Bruce?"

"He's got it handled. I hope." Robin replied.

However, Batman was being hit by bolts of electricity from Livewire. Instead of going down, Batman just tossed a Batarang in her face, disorienting her.

Clayface was about to strike with his mallet hands, but then, the Caped Crusader tossed an explosive right in his face. Just as he was about to toss another, he realised he had ran out.

Clayface grinned sinisterly as his hands turned to blades. "You're out of explosives."

"Wanna bet?" Batman retorted before he tossed a Batarang in his eye.

Clayface laughed. "That barely hurt." All of a sudden, the batarang began to beep and then, an explosive electrical burst surrounded Clayface's body.

Killer Moth landed behind him and just as he was about to grab him, Batman just elbowed him in the face without even looking. Then, the neck, chest and performing a back kick to the knee.

Batman, began panting since this fight had been going for too long and was doing a number on him. He had never fought threats like this before and he was very exhausted.

However, this brief moment of exhaustion gave Slade the opportunity to jump up high and barge through the crowd of soldiers with his sword at the ready.

In that moment, Batman did see Slade coming and did everything he could to dodge the blade, but the blade pierced through his left shoulder, causing Batman to scream in pain.

Upon getting up from their attack, Livewire, Clayface and Killer Moth were in shock from what they were seeing in front of them.

"Wilson?!" Livewire exclaimed.

"Surprised, Willis?!" Slade retorted before turning back to Batman, whom was struggling to get the sword out of his shoulder, however, Slade's strength was keeping it in. "Imagine all the pain you caused me. Leaving me to die, ruining my chance of becoming the Demon's Head and killing the woman we loved." He pulled the sound out, causing Batman to drop to his knees while he held to his shoulder wound.

Slade put his sword away while all the opponents Batman fought began to surround him. "Bane's crew and Metahumans, tonight, you are about to bear witness to the death of Batman."

Livewire grinned. "I guess this makes up for the torture you subjected me to."

"I don't know where you came from but I'm glad you made things easier for us." Clayface said.

"Dibs on first blow!" Killer Moth said before kicking Batman on his back, causing him to fall on his face. Clayface smashed his clay mallet on Batman's back before Livewire electrocuted him by shooting bolts of lighting from her fingers. Slade just kicked him in the face as he struggled to get up.

On the building, Robin and Catwoman were in shock over what had transpired. Batman is being beaten to a bloody pulp and it didn't look like he was getting out unless something was done. Robin was in complete shock and horror that tears almost fell from his eyes. Then, he wiped his tears and put on a more stern expression.

"Okay, we don't have long." Robin said. "We gotta rescue Bruce and Superman."

"I'd argue kid, but even I have to help sometimes." Catwoman said.

"I'll rescue Superman while you rescue Batman." Robin commanded.

"That is an insane idea." Catwoman retorted.

"That's because you're gonna need to armour up." Robin handed Catwoman what looked to be some keys. More specifically, the keys to the Batmobile.

Catwoman looked confused. "How do you know I just won't steal your ride?"

"Because I know you care for Bruce." Robin retorted as he jumped off the building. "But first, I'm gonna get some help."

Standing beside the Batmobile, Lois had placed her jacket around Jimmy since he was feeling very cold. They had been out of the docks for the last seven minutes awaiting for the return of Clark and Bruce.

"I hope Clark's okay." Jimmy said.

"He will be." Lois said, looking at the building with worry.

All of a sudden, Robin showed up in front of Lois and Jimmy. "Lois, Clark is in danger. He's getting handed by Bane."

"What?!" Lois exclaimed. "How bad is it?!"

"Not sure." Robin replied. "But it could be worse if we just stand here. Mr Olsen, you get in the car when you get the chance."

"How?!" Jimmy exclaimed. "Lois doesn't have the keys!"

"You'll see when our…On again, off again ally arrives." Robin said before he and Lois ran off to help Clark. Once they left, Jimmy was left confused.

"I'm sorry, what?" He asked himself.

Just then, Catwoman landed in front of Jimmy, causing him to scream. "Mr Olsen, get in the car." Catwoman commanded as the hood opened and she got in the driver's seat.

Jimmy reluctantly jumped in the backseat while Catwoman fiddled with the controls. "Aren't you Catwoman?" Jimmy asked.

"Yes." She responded as the hood closed.

Upon hearing the confirmation, Jimmy became nervous. "You can drop me off here."

"Believe me, if I wanted to capture you, I wouldn't be stealing Batman's car." Catwoman retorted.

"Should I be concerned how you know how to work these?" Jimmy asked.

"I stole it one time." She responded as the car activated.

Back in the building, the still blinded Superman coughed up some blood that splattered all over his hand. Bane slammed his head through the desk and then tossed him up on the ceiling and coming back down again.

"This would be more satisfying if you were fighting back." Bane said. "But I suppose I'm having too much fun showing how weak you truly are."

Superman struggled to cough up a sentence due to the intense beating he was getting from Bane. But before he could react again, Bane had kicked him on his back.

"Not going to stand up Superman?" Bane asked. "Not even if I have intentions of killing your parents on their farm? You know, a crop fire is an awful way to go."

Superman tried to stand, but Bane kicked him in the face. "Too slow."

All of a sudden, Robin leapt in front of him and hit him in the face with his staff. The Boy Wonder grinned with smugness as he got into a pose. "Slow indeed." Robin retorted.

Bane seemed surprised by the appearance of Robin but then, he smiled. "Your presence is a surprise. But very much a welcome one. Though, I fail to see how a bunch of grown men seem to be beaten by you."

"Wanna find out?" Robin asked.

"Gladly." Bane charged towards Robin, who quickly performed a back flip and tossed an explosive in his chest, however, Bane was unaffected.

Bane tried to hit the Boy Wonder with his fists but he kept dodging them by performing backflips. He performed a somersault over the table and flipped it over so it hit Bane in the head.

Bane held on to the table and tried to smash Robin with it. However, the table snapped against the floor.

"Missed me again!" Robin said before tossing a Batarang toward Bane's direction. The terrorist caught the Batarang in-between his thumb and finger and crushed it.

Robin jumped high to hit Bane in the face with his staff, but then he smacked him to the floor.

While this went on, Superman was trying to make an escape by crawling towards the exit. However, he had no idea where the exit was. He had to rely on his super hearing, but all he could hear were the sounds of Robin laughing and Bane grunting.

Then, he heard the sounds of footsteps coming towards him. "Who's there?" Superman asked.

"I got you, don't worry." He heard the voice of Lois.

"Lois?! Is that you?! I can't see." Superman said as quietly as he could.

Lois looked at her boyfriend's face to analyse the injuries, but she felt her stomach sink upon seeing her boyfriend's eyes completely pitch white.

"It's okay…" She held his head close to her chest as a means to comfort him. "…I'm gonna get you out of here. But I'm gonna need your help as well. I'm gonna lift you up and I need your assistance. Okay?"

Superman gave a weak groan that sounded close to a 'Yeah.'

"Alright, three, two, one." And with a mighty lift and with help from Superman, Lois managed to lift up her alien boyfriend with his arm wrapped around her shoulder. With the help of her Superman, she managed to help lead him out of the building. However, as she was leading him through the back exit, the syringe of the meta compound she took, fell out of her pocket.

Robin saw Lois escape with Superman and gave a small grin. Bane grabbed him by his collar and lifted him off his feet.

"Did you really think you could face off against me, Boy Wonder?" Bane asked.

"Well, I'm the distraction aren't I?" Robin glanced at where Superman was lying before.

Bane looked at where Robin was looking and exhaled. "No matter. I was saving up for a rematch anyway." He slammed Robin on the floor. Then, The Boy Wonder kicked him in the face as he lied on the ground.

Robin hit Bane in the face with his staff. However, when he saw the damage the staff took after hitting Bane, he saw that it was dented.

"Oh come on!" Robin exclaimed before dodging another punch from Bane.

Outside the building, Batman was lying on the ground completely motionless from the heavy beating he took from his opponents. Slade, Clayface, Livewire and Killer Moth stood over his motionless body over their achievements.

"Is he…Dead?" Killer Moth asked.

"You know, a man with his legendary status, you'd think he'd go out more heroically." Livewire remarked.

"He's not dead." Slade replied. "I can still hear him breathing." Slade span his sword and placed the tip on the edge of Batman's mask. "Before he dies, how would you three like to know Batman's secret identity?"

Clayface grinned. "What a way for him to go."

"If he turns out to be Harvey Dent then Rory owes me a romantic getaway." Livewire said.

"Sounds like a lucky guy." Killer Moth remarked.

"She sure is." Livewire retorted.

Just as Slade was close to lifting Batman's mask off, the flash of headlights suddenly stopped him. "Oh, now what?!"

"The light!" Killer Moth exclaimed. "The light." He tried reaching out for the headlights, leading Livewire and Clayface to stare at him with baffled expressions. "The light."

"What in the name of sanity?" Livewire asked.

Slade looked to Bane's crew and everyone else. "Well don't just stand there, shoot it!"

"We follow Bane." One of them said. "Also, we were going to do it." They each began firing rounds of bullets at the car. However, to their surprise, it was bulletproof.

Then, two pairs of guns poked out of the hood of the car and began firing rounds at the opponents. They hit Killer Moth and a ton of Bane's goons. However, Livewire had formed a protective shield to defend herself against the bullets while Slade performed a ton of backflips to avoid the bullets.

Clayface however stood proud and strong since the bullets weren't doing anything to take him down. He looked at Killer Moth and all the other goons, whom were groaning in pain. Meaning the projectiles were nothing more than rubber bullets.

Clayface grinned as all the bullets went right through him. "You think bullets will stop me?" Then, a muzzle stuck out of the bonnet of the car.

It fired some kind of round into Clayface's chest. As opposed to going through him, it stuck right in him. Clayface wasn't worried until he heard the sound of a sizzling noise. He went wide eyed as he realised what the projectile was. "Oh."

Suddenly, Clayface blew up into pieces of clay. Causing it to splatter all over Slade, Livewire, Batman, the Batmobile and all the other unconscious goons.

Batman groaned weakly as he looked at the vehicle that had just saved his life. "Rob…Robin." Batman grumbled.

The car opened to reveal Catwoman. "You better get in or die." She got out of the car and pulled her whip out from her bodysuit and began whipping it towards Slade, Livewire and the remaining Bane goons. So that way, Batman can get into his car.

Despite being bruised and beaten, he got in the passenger seat right next to the driver's seat. Catwoman returned to the vehicle and began reversing out of the dock.

"Where…Where's Robin?" Batman asked.

"Don't worry, he's rescuing Superman." Catwoman assured him. "We're just about to pick them up."

Batman heard coughing coming from the backseat and turned around to see whom it was. He saw Jimmy Olsen, still beaten, bruised and wearing Lois' coat.

Jimmy smiled. "I'm in a lot of pain, but trust me, meeting you is an honour." Batman gave him a weak nod as a response since had no other way of responding to his comment.

Outside the dock, Lois and Superman had just exited the building. At one point, Superman fell to his knees due to how heavily beaten he was.

Lois briefly struggled to stand him up until the Batmobile parked right in front of her. The hatch opened to reveal Catwoman.

"Miss Lane, get in if you want Superman to live." Catwoman said as she got out of the vehicle. She and Lois helped get Superman in the backseat, placing him next to the window on the driver's side. Lois soon followed and seated in-between the both of them.

"Robin?" Batman groaned.

"He'll be out." Catwoman said. "He had to fight Bane so that way Miss Lane could get Superman."

"What?!" Batman exclaimed.

"He'll be fine." Catwoman said.

"Fine?!" Lois exclaimed. "Look what they did to Superman!"

"Keep calm, Miss Lane." Catwoman demanded before the sound of the monitor beating was heard.

Batman pushed the button, getting a message coming from Robin. "Robin?"

"Hey Batman, listen…" He heard the sound of grunts coming from the radio. "…Listen, I can't make it."

"Robin?"

"Bane's beating me real bad." He heard the sound of someone crashing into a wall. "I don't think I can make it without him coming to you guys. Selina, I need you to drive them to the cave."

"Robin!" Batman exclaimed. "I'm coming!"

"Go! You're badly beaten! I'm going to be fine!"

Batman tried arguing by climbing out, but he felt his sides ache from the pain caused by everyone. "Robin! I'm not leaving you behind!"

"I'll be alright." Robin said before the sound of crashing is heard.

"Found you, Pájaro." The voice of Bane was heard before the feed was cut off.

Lois, Batman and Catwoman were in shock and horror, imaging what Bane was about to do to them. Though reluctant, Catwoman eventually hit the ignition and began driving the car to the location. Regrettably leaving Robin behind.

Back in the docks, Carla had woken from her slumber and groaned. The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes, was her boss picking up the lifeless body of the Boy Wonder.

She stood up off her chair and cracked her neck. "Jefe, what happened?"

"My fight with Superman ended rather disappointingly." Bane explained. "No matter, we move on to Operation Live Show."

Carla seemed surprised. "Live show?"

"We have Vicki Vale of the Gazette don't we?" Bane retorted. "Now, take him with the other prisoners..." He looked at Slade, whom was coming in the building looking smug as ever. "…I have a new obstacle to deal with."

Bane began to approach Slade, whom appeared to pick up something off of the floor. "Mr Bane, is it?" Slade grinned. "I hope you'll be glad to know that Batman is out of your way. He won't be troublesome for you much longer."

"Oh…He won't be?" Bane retorted just as Livewire, Clayface and Killer Moth arrived behind the merc.

Clayface, having repaired most of himself, absorbed the clay stuck on Slade's armour and reformed his arm. "It's days like these I don't miss my human body."

"I hope you're also satisfied with me helping you make defeating Superman much easier." Slade said. "He was my mission, but, perhaps I can persuade my boss to pay you handsomely."

Bane folded his arms. "Oh really? Could they give me anything?"

"Anything you desire." Slade replied.

Bane snapped his fingers and suddenly, Livewire placed her hand on Slade's shoulder causing him to be electrocuted. He dropped to his knees as he seethed in pain.

Then, Bane grabbed Slade by his back and torso and raised him high over his head. "I want you out of my way you hijo de puta." He smashed Slade on his knee, causing the merc's back to shatter with a loud crack.

Slade screamed in pain as he felt Bane's knee come in contact with his back, breaking it in the process. The terrorist tossed him on the floor all while he screamed in pain.

Bane looked over him as he continued screaming. "I knew you would come after him. That's why I chose to fight Superman. I had no plan to get you out of my way, but I suppose it was fate that planned this moment. I will leave you to die, screaming in pain. Livewire, Killer Moth, Clayface, if these are the names you prefer to be referred to; I command you to watch the labs. Batman and Superman might return once they recover and you three are more powerful than my men."

"Yes, boss." Livewire said before she, Killer Moth and Clayface departed.

Bane narrowed his eyes at the screaming merc with a scowl behind his mask. "Nos vemos en el infierno, mercenario."

Bane left the mercenary to scream in agonising pain from the broken back of his.

Slade had no idea what to do, he could barely crawl, he could barely stand and he could barley even bring out a coherent sentence. He could call Waller, but who's to say she wouldn't reprimand him and abandon him due to going rogue.

He did hear about a certain compound. He managed to reach into his pocket and pulled out the syringe of meta compound dropped by Lois Lane.

Not knowing what it would do to him, he reluctantly injected it into his neck. He screamed in pain as he felt the effects of the compound take over. He had no idea what it was about to do to him, but it was a risk he was willing to take.

Then, he felt pain coming from his back. Only this time, it felt like every bone was repairing itself.

Chapter Text

They had only been in the vehicle for around three minutes as Catwoman was hectically driving the Batmobile as fast as she could to a location where Superman, Batman and Jimmy can recover.

Superman was lying unconscious on the backseat while Lois held on to him for comfort. Jimmy, despite being beaten himself, looked to his best friend with worry in his eyes.

"Is he okay?" Jimmy asked.

"I think he's passed out." Lois replied. She looked to her unconscious boyfriend with plea on her face. "Please stay with me." She took his hand as worried tears began to fall from her eyes. "Please."

Catwoman pushed a few buttons on the car's deck to make a call. "Alfred."

"Miss Kyle? Did you steal the car again?"

"Alfred, as much as I love your sense of humour, this is serious." Catwoman said. "I need you to prepare your kit! Batman, Superman and a Jimmy Olsen are injured. They'll need your assistance."

"I'm sorry, are you insinuating that you're bringing Mr Olsen and Superman to the batcave?"

"I think I am." Catwoman retorted.

"Miss Kyle, I'm sure that the hospital can handle Mr Olsen just fine."

"Alfred, according to Lois…" Batman coughed, still feeling weak from the beating he received. "…Bane knows Superman's identity. If we take Olsen to the hospital…" Batman coughed again.

"Save your breath, I understand. Be there as soon as you can."

"Will do, Alfred." Catwoman hung up.

In that moment, Jimmy raised his hand. "Excuse me, Miss Kyle, wasn't it? I have two questions. Did you say batcave? And was that guy on the other end Bruce Wayne's butler?"

"Save your questions for later." Catwoman replied as she continued to drive the car.

She drove the car through the city, managing to avoid hitting cars, pedestrians, lamp posts, fire hydrants and other stuff.

Soon, she was driving the vehicle outside of the city vicinities and through a dark forest, the only source of light being the headlights of the Batmobile, the light coming from the moon and the city lights poking through the tree.

As Catwoman drove further through the forest, it only seemed to keep getting darker and misty. But Lois and Jimmy weren’t focused on that, they were more focused on the greatest person who has ever existed in their lives still passed out. And he had been for the last 12 minutes. Lois kept checking his pulse to see if it was still there and thankfully it was.

"Is he…" Jimmy asked.

"Alive." Lois responded.

Batman however, despite all the pain, had one thing focused on his mind. "Robin…Robin…Dick." He mumbled.

Soon, Catwoman veered off the road down a what looked to be a footpath. "Hey! You're veering off the road!" Jimmy noted.

"I know!" Catwoman said.

"You could hit someone!" Jimmy argued.

"I….Know!" Catwoman retorted.

Soon, she drove the Batmobile off the path and towards what looked like a waterfall. "Are we crashing through the waterfall?" Jimmy asked.

"No, we're going through the other side." Catwoman replied.

"And crashing against the rocks behind it?!" Lois exclaimed. "Superman will survive that, we won't!"

"I might be a cat burglar in my spare time, but I need you to trust me." Catwoman said.

"Wait, what?!" Lois exclaimed.

"Do you want Superman to die or not?!" Catwoman shouted.

But before either Lois or Jimmy could respond, they saw that they were close to hitting the waterfall. They shield themselves to brace for impact, but instead of hitting a wall and feeling the weight of being crushed by pressure, they felt like they were still in the back of a moving vehicle.

They reluctantly opened their eyes and looked out the window to see that Catwoman was driving down a tunnel.

Lois and Jimmy looked at each other with blank stares over how they reacted. Soon, Catwoman parked the car right on a platform.

The batcave itself was a huge base. There was a ginormous computer with multiple screens flickering on, long spiral stairs that lead upwards, iterations of bat suits in display cases, a red telephone on display, a ginormous dinosaur, a giant joker card, a marble penguin statue and a ginormous penny.

They however, didn't have time to admire the batcave as they were more focused on getting Batman and Superman to an operating table.

Alfred appeared from the stairs, dressed in a surgical gown, a face mask, a cap and surgical gloves. "Get them in, quickly!"

Catwoman helped Batman get out of the Batmobile and began to assist him towards the operating table; While Jimmy and Lois were helping the unconscious Superman get to his own by having his arms wrapped around them and using the best of their weight.

"Please carefully place them on the table." Alfred requested as he put on a pair of goggles. "I might not know anything about Superman's biology, but I do suggest it'd be best that we be not so reckless."

"Bruce Wayne's butler is a medic?" Jimmy remarked while he and Lois placed Superman on his operating table.

Alfred approached Jimmy. "I was a medic for 12 years at the SAS before I became the Wayne family butler and Batman's criminal accomplice."

Catwoman chuckled as she placed Batman on the table. "Still know how to hit those jokes, Al."

"How bad does it look, Mr Pennyworth?" Lois asked.

"I'm about to take a look." Alfred replied. "But first, I wish to check Master Olsen."

Alfred tapped the goggles attached to his eyes and used them to analyse Jimmy's wounds. It didn't take long for the butler to come to a conclusion.

"Surprisingly, no damaged organs or broken bones, but those bruises and cuts could do some work." Alfred then looked to Catwoman. "Where's Robin?"

Catwoman sighed sadly. "I'm sorry, Al. He fought Bane while Miss Lane got Superman out."

Alfred became alarmed. "No! Don't say it, Miss Kyle."

"I'm hoping he isn't dead, but at this point it's wishful thinking." Catwoman replied. "Who knows what that monster is doing to him."

Alfred sighed sadly. "Oh no.” He looked like he was close to crying, but then he put on a composure even while wearing a pair of goggles and a mask. “Mourning will have to wait. I need to get to work. Miss Lane, there is a first aid kit in the cabinet in the kitchen. It's up the spiral staircase, out of the grand clock, take a left past the portrait of Silas Wayne, then a right turn down the corridor and on the left is the kitchen where the first aid kit is located on the second cabinet on the left."

"Alright." Lois said. "Please take care of Superman."

Alfred placed a hand on Lois' shoulder and exhaled. "He is an alien so I don't know if I'll be able to do everything, but I will try my best to make sure he recovers safely."

Lois, despite knowing the risks, gave the butler a thankful smile. "Thanks, Mr Pennyworth."

"Please, Miss Lane, I insist you call me Alfred." The butler said.

"Thanks Alfred." Jimmy said. "Me and Lois will get out of your hair." He and Lois began walking out of the batcave together. With Catwoman following them from behind.

Once they left, Alfred approached Batman's body and began to analyse him. All Batman could muster through all his pain was muttering. "Dick…Dick…."

In that moment, Alfred injected something into Batman's neck. "Don't worry Master Bruce, a little anaesthetic. I will do everything I can."

A few minutes after leaving the cave, Jimmy was sitting on the breakfast bar while Lois was searching for the first aid kit. But due to her height, she had to use a chair help reach to the cabinet.

"So…It appears you and Clark had an interesting adventure while I was missing." Jimmy remarked.

"Yeah. We had to team up with Batman to find you." Lois explained.

"I know it's kind of wrong for me to say since I was captured, but I'm jealous." Jimmy said.

Lois smiled. "To be honest, it was kind of fun. I knocked out Roman Sionis of the Sionis crime family." She eventually found the first aid kit.

Jimmy looked amazed. "I'm sorry, you did what?"

"Just to save Robin's life." Lois instantly became saddened upon mentioning his name. She felt guilty about not doing anything to save Robin's life. Sure, she did save her boyfriend's life, but she could have at least done something to save his as well.

"You seem sad." Jimmy said.

Lois sighed sadly as she closed the cabinet. "I got to work with Batman's sidekick, Robin. And, I think him and I grew this sort of big sister and little brother bond. This is going to hurt a little." She poured a little bit of disinfectant on a cotton ball before gently dabbing it on one of Jimmy's cuts, causing him to cringe.

"That hurt." Jimmy said.

"I warned you." Lois retorted.

"I know." Jimmy said.

"And how are you doing?" Lois asked.

Jimmy sighed. "Still in a lot of pain. Bane's second-in-command did a number on me. She kept hitting me all over my body." She dabbed a piece of cotton on his lip. "Knowing I was just a trap for Clark, I suppose it was entertainment for her." He sighed sadly. "It's my fault he got hurt."

"Jimmy, you had no-"

"I should have stayed in Metropolis and rejected that invitation." Jimmy looked like he was about to burst into tears over his guilt. "Clark wouldn't be hurt, neither would Batman and Robin wouldn't be captured."

"Jimmy!" Lois interjected. "It wasn't your fault! We were just at the wrong place at the wrong time! Besides, Perry would have sent us anyway."

"I guess you're right." Jimmy exhaled after a moment to think. "Sometimes I feel so useless. Clark has powers and you have military training. Me? I'm just a guy with a camera and an-Ow!"

Turns out, Lois had dabbed a cotton ball on Jimmy's stomach, without warning. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Jimmy said.

"Jimmy, don't you dare think you're useless, cause you aren't." Lois said. "You got your followers attention so I could plead with them to turn off their lights so Clark could beat Parasite and you found out those robots were weakened by the green space rock which Clark would use to stop that spaceship from destroying Earth." Lois placed her hand on Jimmy's shoulder. "You’re more useful than you realise, Jimmy Olsen. Don't forget that."

Jimmy gave a slight smile. "I wish I could do more to help Clark."

Just then, Catwoman walked in, wearing a gown and a towel on her head. "You could help by calling him. I'm sure he's worried for you."

"And…Why are you still here?" Jimmy asked with a deadpan stare. "I am grateful you saved me, but aren't you still Catwoman?"

"A girl's gotta make a living." She retorted while digging through the fridge for a carton of milk. "I'm a thief with standards. Depending on who's who, I wouldn't leave them to die. Not even a nosy journalist."

"Hey!" Jimmy exclaimed.

"No offence." Selina said as she began drinking from the carton.

"So, are you like, an ally of Batman from time to time?" Lois asked.

"Like all good relationships, on again and off again." Selina replied. "Speaking of relationships, Miss Lane, I couldn't help but notice that you seemed a little close to Superman."

Lois laughed. "What?! No! What are you talking about?!"

"Like I said, close." Selina said.

"Close as in….Close friends?" Lois asked as she began to get more nervous.

"Come on, you know what I'm implying." Selina said. "Are you cheating on Clark Kent on Superman?"

Lois, knowing that Clark's identity was at risk and the fact that Catwoman was a criminal, didn't wish to share his identity. "What? No! Are you kidding me?! I'm not cheating on my boyfriend with Superman! What a stupid accusation!"

Selina laughed. "I don't know what kind of idiot you play me for, but I know that Superman just has something that Mr Kent doesn't. If I knew you were dating Superman, I wouldn't have hit on him."

Lois narrowed her eyes at the cat burglar. "What?!"

Jimmy grabbed her shoulder and gritted his teeth. "Lois!"

Selina exhaled. "I knew it. I knew you and Superman were an item. A secret item. Hmmm, knowing this information, I could tell Clark Kent himself. Perhaps a little blackmail to get you to get your Daddy to spill military secrets." Lois gasped. "Oh sweetie, when you're part of the Gotham underworld, you essentially know everything about everyone. I know your Dad is a part of the military. Went missing after some alien invasion in Smallville, Kansas; Perhaps going rogue like he's Jason Bourne or maybe….dead."

Lois narrowed her eyes at the woman as she continued to get under her skin. "So Miss Lane, what's it gonna be? Telling Clark Kent or calling Daddy?”

Getting angry with her pestering, Lois tried to punch her, but Selina managed to catch her wrist in her hand and performed a cartwheel, causing her to knock her to the marble floor.

"LOIS!" Jimmy exclaimed.

Selina grinned at Lois as she groaned from the hard impact. "I'm kidding, Miss Lane. I just wanted to get a reaction out of you. And it worked." She let go of Lois' wrist and began walking out of the kitchen with her milk in hand. "I'm going to get some shuteye. Goodnight. See you in the morning."

Lois got off the floor, still groaning from the impact. She cracked her back and narrowed her eyes at the cat burglar as she walked away.

"I don't know what he sees in her." Lois said.

"Who?" Jimmy asked.

"Never mind." Lois responded. "I'll patch you up while I brew some soup." As Lois began to apply some band aids on Jimmy's cuts, the photographer began to look around the mansion with a curious expression.

"Hang on Lois, Bruce Wayne's butler is tending to Batman and Clark." Jimmy said.

"And?"

"We are in Wayne Manor." Jimmy gasped. "I just realised something! All the expensive gadgets, the fact Wayne's butler is working with him and his secret base is under Wayne Manor! I know what this means!"

Lois was surprised she didn't have to tell Jimmy that Bruce Wayne is Batman. Let’s hope the big man trusts him enough with that secret. "What?" Lois asked.

"It means, that Bruce Wayne is definitely…Funding Batman's crusade against crime!" Jimmy exclaimed. "I mean, I guessed Batman lived in a cave, but a cave in Bruce Wayne's basement?!"

Lois gave a cringed smile. "Well…You're right in a way."

Upstairs, Catwoman shook her head in disappointment, having heard Jimmy's theory. "And this guy is a journalist. I thought they were clever."

Later, about half an hour later, Lois and Jimmy were sitting in the living room in front of the monstrous, roaring fireplace. Lois was sitting in a ginormous chair eating some chicken soup. While Jimmy, wearing Lois' jacket, was eating his soup, standing up.

Just above the fireplace was a huge portrait of a young boy around eight years old, standing beside his parents. His father had a greying hair and a greying moustache; While his mother had short blonde hair.

"Why don't you sit down Jimmy?" Lois suggested. "You probably need it."

"I don't feel comfortable sitting on that chair." Jimmy said. "I feel the eyes on that portrait are watching me."

Lois looked at the portrait. "Yeah, you do have a point. But, it's just a portrait. It's definitely not watching us."

Then, the duo heard footsteps coming towards them. They turned around to see Alfred approaching, removing the surgical gloves from his hands.

"How is he, Alfred?" Jimmy asked.

"Is he…Okay?" Lois asked, looking worried.

"I did everything I could." Alfred replied as he removed the goggles and mask. "His alien biology is similar to our own besides his skin being rather impenetrable. Luckily, I think he will be able to make a stable recovery."

Lois gave Alfred a grateful smile. "Thank you so much. And what of Batman?"

"He's been through worse." Alfred replied. "I am however surprised how a sword through his shoulder managed to miss every artery."

"Can we see them?" Jimmy asked.

"I'm afraid it will be best you leave them alone for a brief period of time as they recover." Alfred suggested. "But if you wish to stay the night in order to be close to Mr Kent, there are spare pairs of sleepwear in your size. As for you Master Olsen…I might have something that is just your size."

Lois smiled. "You're incredible, Mr Pennyworth."

"Alfred." The butler smiled back. "Please. Let's not keep things formal while we're here. We are in the manor, not a gala." He began to walk away but then stopped. "Oh, Miss Lane, if you're going to eat anywhere I suggest it not be on the armchairs. They were imported from Switzerland and cost Master Wayne a sum total of 43 thousand dollars. And on a reporter's salary, I doubt you'd be able to pay the bill." He began to walk away, surprising Lois as to how he knew.

While Jimmy was pointing at the portrait like crazy. "He was watching us!"

Later, Lois had managed to find a pair of pyjamas that managed to fit her. They were a pair of grey shorts with a plain white crop top combo. She did question why there was a pair of these in her size, but she then remembered Bruce was essentially a lady's man and probably had a pair in every size.

The guest room itself was rather lavish. It had a ginormous bed, a desk, a flatscreen TV, a maroon red carpet, a huge window looking out to the sea and a maroon red bed.

She lied on the large and comfortable bed staring at the ceiling, thinking about Clark and what had happened to him. She had never seen Clark this broken and beaten before. Of all the people to almost kill him, a human terrorist on mutated steroids took him out.

She sighed sadly. "Please be okay, Clark."

Elsewhere, on the Mullusc, Bane was in the Captain's deck writing something down. He had been sitting on this chair for a while detailing the events of what had happened whilst Carla had snitched up his cut.

"For years I have trained and built up my body to be strong enough to take on a god. I did take on a god, but some form of intervention interjected. The government agent known as Slade Wilson blinded my opponent leading to a fight I consider underwhelming. I did end up getting a tad bit carried away. Who wouldn't when come face-to-face with Superman? I shall give him the time Mr Kent needs to recover and we will finish our fight with one of us as the victor."

Upon finishing his entry, Bane closed his journal where he saw Carla standing beside the door frame with her arms folded. "I just got words from Miss Willis, Slade is gone."

"Deceased?"

"Gone." Carla emphasised the word. "They don't know where he could have gone."

"It doesn't matter." Bane replied. "He has no where to go with a broken spine." Bane stood up off his chair and approached her. "He won't be able to swim for us."

Carla grinned. "He'd be food for the sharks that's for sure. You still dissatisfied?"

"Of course I am." Bane replied. "There would have been a clear victor if it wasn't for him."

Carla held Bane by his mask. "You need some cheering up Jefe. Allow me."

Bane held Carla by the back. "Perhaps. I am due for some company after a long time."

Carla lifted Bane's mask up to reveal his mouth. There appeared to be a scar under his chin, a scar located over his lip and what looked to be a stitch on his cheek that looked recent.

Then, she and Bane began to share an intense kiss with one another, their hands rubbing all over their entire bodies. Carla, being careful to not tear one of Bane's tubes from his body since he needed them for his strength. Plus, it makes passionate moments like these more sensual.

Bane then slammed his second in command on his office table and removed his vest, revealing his muscular and heavily scarred body.

While Bane and Carla were tending to their own business, his crew were surveying the prisoners in the lower deck. Currently, the prisoners were Robin, Vicki Vale, Gordon and Lucius Fox; Whom were all stuck in a shipping container together with only a single lightbulb as their light source.

Vicki was trying to get reception on her phone, Gordon had his back rested against the wall, Lucius was sitting on the floor while the bruised Robin was currently pacing.

"So Bane of all people took down Superman?" Gordon queried.

"I can confirm." Robin replied. "And Batman was beaten badly by Livewire, Hagen, Walker and some other guy who I'm not sure was a part of Bane's crew."

"Just what we need." Gordon sighed. "By the way, what was that part about you crashing into my daughter's bedroom?"

Vicki groaned. "I can't get a signal!"

"We are trapped in a container, of course we aren't going to get signal." Lucius stated with annoyance towards the journalist.

"Well it's still worth a try!" Vicki retorted.

"I'm going to try and get us out." Robin said as he began to touch the doors. "Clearly it's locked from the outside, I could try and cut us out…" Robin sighed. "…But they took my belt."

"Well, just great!" Vicki exclaimed. "Just when I actually need help, you got no gadgets, Batman is out of commission and Superman is most likely dead!"

Lucius grinned. "I know I'm imprisoned, but I can't help but see the irony of the situation. You discredited Batman and Superman. Now, you're relying on their presence to get you out."

"Mr Fox, I think I understood the irony. You did not need to explain it!" Vicki argued.

Robin sighed as he paced around the container, wondering if Batman will ever come to his aid or if he would have to try and find his own way out with two of his most trusted allies and one of Bruce's exes. But so far, his hopes of getting out were fruitless.

Outside the container, two of Bane's goons were looking up to stare at the captain's cabin where they saw the lights were dimly lit and there was noise coming from there. What sounded like equipment being smashed specifically.

"Jefe y Carla están en ello otra vez." (Boss and Carla are at it again.) The goon said to another.

"Cómo consiguió un hombre como él, nunca lo entenderé." (How she got a man like him, I'll never understand.)

"Deberíamos irnos antes de que nos vean." (We should leave before they see us.)

"Suena como un plan." (Sounds like a plan.) They turned around upon hearing the unfamiliar voice to see none other than an unexpected stowaway.

And that stowaway turned out to be none other than Slade himself. Standing on his two legs and holding his swords with no kind of support. He didn't wear his mask, revealing his eye patch and smirk.

The armed men aimed their rifles at him. "Lay down your weapons or we will shoot!"

"Well, go ahead and shoot!" Slade said.

The armed men just took a glance at one another with confusion. "Did he…"

"We might miss, but we wanna tell Bane we tried." The two armed men began firing their rounds at Slade, managing to hit him, blood bursting and leaking through his suit and a cut on his cheek.

They grinned with glee having hit their target. However, Slade wasn't even limping or shaking or even showing signs of collapsing. Then, all the bullets that they managed to hit Slade with, all jumped out of his body and landed on the deck. Even the cut from his cheek managed to heal up.

"¿Qué carajo?"

"It's amazing what the compound has unlocked." Slade grinned and charged towards the armed men. He used his swords to slice the muzzle of their rifles and kicked their chests with a pair of kicks.

Two more armed guards showed up with pistols this time. They began to shoot at Slade, hitting him. However, all the bullets popped out of him.

Then, they dropped their weapons and pulled out their knives. Slade ram up to the female guard and began holding her by her neck, choking her. Her male ally, stabbed Slade in the back with his weapon. However, Slade seemed unaffected by the attack.

He activated an electrical device embedded on his palm and placed it on his chest, launching him backwards. He tossed the other one in the water.

However, a few more came in with cattle prods and managed to get some hits on him. They began to jab at him, causing the electrical shock that was coursing through his body to make him drop to his knees and to drop his swords.

They kept shocking him until he grabbed one of the prods and used it against one of them. He kicked the other two in their legs before using the prod to shock the two remaining ones.

Once he was finished, he tossed it aside and picked up his swords. "Who wants to bring me to Bane?!" Slade asked.

Suddenly, Bane's remaining soldiers all arrived on the deck Slade was on and aimed their weapons at him. Rifles, pistols, shotguns, knives, cattle prods and even grenade launchers.

Instead of being intimidated, Slade just gave a smirk. "A little excessive don't you think?"

"There's too many of us." A female soldier with a shotgun said.

"I don't think you seem to understand the situation." Slade said. "I'm not surrounded by you, you're surrounded by me." He spread his arms out, tempting the soldiers to attack him.

But before either of them could, the sound of a shotgun blast was heard. Everyone lowered their weapons to look up at what caused the noise.

There, standing outside the captain's cabin, wearing nothing but his mask and holding a shotgun, was Bane. "If anyone is willing to explain the noise, speak now or the next shot is going through someone's head."

"Bane!" Slade yelled. "Sorry to catch you at an inconvenient time."

Bane seemed surprised by Slade's presence. "Wilson. You healed quicker than the average human."

Slade sheathed his swords and pulled a pocket knife from his shoe. He used the knife to cut his cheek. Then, the cut on his cheek healed up.

Bane seemed intrigued by this reveal. "You've unlocked your meta gene. How did you get your hands on one of the compounds?"

"One was on the floor." Slade replied. "You'd ought to be careful someone could have stepped on it."

"What do you want?" Bane asked. "Want me to break your spine again? Or tear you in two to see if you can put yourself back together again?"

Slade laughed. "No. No. I want something from you. I want one of the prisoners you have."

Bane seemed baffled. "Prisoners?"

"Yes. In exchange, I will leave Superman to you." Slade explained. "I only wanted him out of my way to get to my actual goal. The Batman."

Bane lowered his gun. "You want his sidekick don't you?"

Slade grinned. "They were right about you being clever. So, what's it going to be? I have Robin, I leave Superman to you."

Bane began pondering the deal but came to a conclusion after about 25 seconds. "Hmmm, your deal will suffice. First, let me robe myself." He returned to the captain's quarters to get dressed while Slade grinned with glee.

He was pleased that his plan for his revenge on Bruce was going as smoothly as it was. Then, blood began to drip from his nose that he wiped away with his hand like it was nothing. If only he knew what this meant.

Chapter Text

Lois woke up feeling like she was buried under a heavy sheet not wanting to wake up at the moment. She could remember the events of yesterday. She remembered that a little bit too much happened. Jimmy being captured, Bruce Wayne's huge secret is that he is Batman, her boyfriend teaming up with him, teaming up with Robin, knocking out Roman 'Black Mask' Sionis, Mockingbird is just some inventor at Wayne Enterprise, knowing that Bane knows who Clark Kent is and seeing her boyfriend knocked to a pulp. The last thing she remembered was going to bed in a king sized bed.

But before she could get out, the curtains of the bedroom were drawn open by Alfred, blasting the piercing sunlight into her face. "Rise and shine, Miss Lane!"

Lois used her hands to shield herself from the sunlight. "Uhhhhh…" She groaned. "…What time is it?"

"It's nine-fifteen AM in the morning." Alfred replied. "Did you have a good night sleep?"

Lois sighed. "I forgot I was sleeping in a mansion. How's Clark?"

"Still resting." Alfred replied. "But he is still breathing. I had no idea how I could have mess up the treatment, but I think I did well despite the fact his anatomy is different."

Lois smiled. "You have no idea how grateful I am for your help."

Alfred smiled. "You are most welcome, Miss Lane. Now, I hope you have saved up an appetite because I'm making breakfast."

Later, Alfred was busy grilling some sausage on the stove while Lois was sitting by the breakfast bar, awaiting her meal. "You know, I should probably help." Lois said.

"Miss Lane, I admire your generosity, but you are the manor's guest, so I insist on making you your breakfast." Alfred said.

"Come on, Al, I feel I owe you." Lois insisted. "I mean, the hospitality and helping me out; Is there anything I can do?"

Alfred smiled. "Well, you are rather encouraging, so if you must insist, how about you make yourself some morning coffee?"

Later, after Lois brewed herself come coffee, she was greeted to the meal Alfred had prepared for her. On her plate was a slice of toast, a tomatoes, baked beans, grilled sausages, mushrooms, fried eggs and bacon. Prepared for her was a traditional; Full English Breakfast.

"I hope this breakfast is to your liking." Alfred replied. "I tend to serve guests Full English Breakfast."

"This looks delicious, Al." Lois said before looking at her meal with intrigue. "Don't you Brits usually have some black stuff?"

"Blood pudding or black pudding." Alfred replied.

"Huh?" Lois asked.

"It is made from pork or occasionally beef blood, with pork fat or beef suet, and a cereal, usually oatmeal, oat groats, or barley groats. Unfortunately, this stuff can't be imported into the states." Alfred explained.

Lois gave Alfred a cringed smile. "Wow, that's, interesting."

Alfred sighed. "I'll be honest, the blood pudding was always my least favourite part of this breakfast. So, can't say I'm sad about it."

A few minutes later, Lois was eating her breakfast that Alfred had prepared for her. She was quite surprised how amazing the breakfast ended up being. For a brief moment, she felt like she was living the high life of being a guest in a mansion and being served by a butler.

However, reality hit when she got an unexpected phone call from her boss, Perry. "Mr White…Listen about the article…"

"I read the gazette, Lane." Perry responded on the other end. "Grant was mourning for Olsen. How is he? You and Kent doing alright?"

"We're fine Mr White, just a lot of stuff has happened." Lois said. "If I told you, you wouldn't believe me."

"At this point, I'll believe in anything." Perry retorted."Including Vicki Vale being related to Kuchisake Onna."

"What?"

"It's a Japanese urban legend. Look Lane, I want an article out of you, Olsen and Kent on Sunday that includes whether or not Bruce Wayne is Mockingbird and whatever is going on between Batman and Superman. Am I clear?!"

Lois sighed. "Sure, Mr White. You need not worry, we have got this one in the bag! I now know for a fact that Bruce Wayne is innocent!"

Perry sighed on the other end. "That better be a fact, Lane and not because you slept over at his house."

Lois looked around the manor. "Uh…Totally a fact! Anyway, me, Clark and Jimmy will deliver the deadline before you know it!" Once hanging up, Lois groaned. "Great, just what I need. A deadline."

At that moment, Lois realised that Bane still knew that Clark was Superman. Which meant he probably knows about his family, her family and Jimmy's family.

She got her phone out and searched through her contacts to call some people in order to find out if they were okay. First, she tried the Kent's. Although they weren't a family, after Thanksgiving, she felt like she was a part of it.

After about 12 seconds, the other line picked up."Hello?"

"Ma, it's me Lois."

"Lois, dear, is everything okay?"

"Are you and your husband okay?" Lois asked.

"Oh, we're fine deary. Why? Is something wrong? Is Clark okay? Me and Jonathan have seen on the news that he fought that Bane and Livewire, was it?"

"We just got into some altercations in Gotham." Lois replied. "Clark is okay and so is Jimmy."

"Oh, thank the Heavens. I had faith Clark would rescue James."

"But unfortunately, Bane knows that Clark is Superman and I'm worried he might come after you and Jon." Lois said.

"Lois, worry all you want, but me and Jon have survived six tornados, we won't be going down without a fight. Just let me know if Clark is okay if you can."

Lois was surprised that the sweet old lady she met on Thanksgiving had so much tenacity in her and smiled. "You take care of yourselves."

"And I hope you and Clark visit soon."

"We will." Lois said before hanging up.

She decided to try and call up her Aunt Lucy to give her a warning. She hadn't spoken to her for a while. But as she was swiping upwards to call her, it stopped at the contact of her Dad. Her heart sank. She hadn't seen him since the Thanksgiving where he tried to kill Superman. And he didn't know he was her boyfriend’s double life. Boy, this was going to be inevitable awkward conversation. 

But, since Bane knows of Clark's identity, her family would most likely be targets. Sure they're not related to Clark, but Bane would do anything to draw either of them out. She should contact her Dad but…Would that mean she'd have to tell him that Clark is Superman?

But before she could think about this, something surprising came into her view. Jimmy had walked in the kitchen wearing a purple nightshirt and a cap.

Lois almost choked on her coffee upon seeing him in this outfit. "Don't laugh." Jimmy pleaded.

Lois stifled a laughter and turned around to face the stove. "I'm not!"

"Lois, I just saw you stifle a laugh." Jimmy said.

Lois tried as hard as she could to stifle her laugh, but she couldn't hold it in any longer and gave a gut bursting laugh. "What the heck are you wearing?!"

"It's a nightshirt." Jimmy replied. "It was the only thing Alfred had that came in my size."

Lois chuckled. "And who wore that? Ebenezer Scrooge?"

Alfred walked in the kitchen. "It was mine."

Lois looked at Alfred with regret and exhaled. "Oh sorry."

"Thanks for the outfit, Al." Jimmy said. "It's somehow very comfortable."

"Yes. Oh, and I forgot to remind you, but you had appointments with the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet To Come at 1, 2 and 3AM respectively." Alfred's reference to A Christmas Carol caused Lois to laugh so hard that she accidentally spat out her coffee while Jimmy was mumbling.

"It's yours anyway." Jimmy retorted as he sat next to Lois, whom was wiping the coffee off of the counter with a napkin. "What's for breakfast?"

"Full English." Alfred replied as he began cooking some bacon.

"Oooh, never had one before." Jimmy remarked. "I am curious about the black stuff. Don't you Brits usually have that?"

"It's illegal here." Lois replied. "Did you sleep alright?"

Jimmy sighed. "Honestly, soon as I got in bed I went straight to sleep. But, I had nightmares about dangling off the ground and getting beaten by Carla. However, I'm perfectly fine."

Lois looked doubtful about her friend being fine. He must be feeling something about this. He looked fine on the outside, but she knew he wasn't on the inside.

"Is Clark okay?" Jimmy asked Alfred.

"Oh, I forgot to mention this." Alfred said as he put a slice of toast in the toaster. "He seems to be okay. Up on his feet."

"Where is he?" Lois asked.

"He seems to have taken a stroll through the batcave and out of it." Alfred replied. "As I speak, he is standing on the rocks looking out to sea."

Way down Wayne Manor, Clark stood on the rocks outside of the cave, wearing nothing but a pair of jeans exposing him to the sunlight and the droplets of water hitting him.

He had been standing there for the last five minutes. He had no idea what motivated him to do it, but this was the first thing he did when he could stand up.

Behind him, Lois had walked carefully along the rocks to check on him. She walked slowly towards him while he stared out into the ocean.

"Clark?" Lois said.

Then, he turned around to face her. And to Lois' shock, all of his scratches and bruises were gone and his shiny blue eyes had returned. He gave Lois a smile. "Good morning."

Lois gave a small smile. "You uh…Looking at an amazing view?"

"Oh yeah. Black hair, brown eyes and a wonderful smile."

Lois gushed at Clark's words and without a second thought, completely disregarding the rocks, she ran towards her superhero boyfriend and leapt into his arms. And without a second thought, she and him shared a passionate kiss on the lips just as the next wave of water splashed against the rocks; Looking like something out of the cover of a romance novel.

Lois and Clark soon removed their lips from one another and pressed their heads against each other's. They didn't have anything to say to each other, the fact that they were okay was enough for them.

Then, all of a sudden, they heard the sound of footsteps approaching them. "Oh come on! One night away from each other and you're already making out!"

They turned around to see who had come to greet them. And to Clark's relief, it was his best friend. Jimmy stood a few feet away from his closest friends with a grin on his face as Clark smiled back.

Instead of saying anything about him being okay, Clark dashed towards Jimmy and lifted him in a massive hug that the latter returned. Lois smiled at the display of masculine affection.

"You okay?" Jimmy asked.

"I am now." Clark replied. "Bane did say that the blindness would be temporary however, I am confused how my cuts got healed up. And, where I am."

"We're under Wayne Manor." Lois explained. "We stayed the night."

"Yeah, I was wondering why Jimmy was dressed as Ebenezer Scrooge."

"You too?!" Jimmy groaned.

Clark laughed at his reaction before pulling his concerned face. "Are you, okay, Jimmy?"

Jimmy exhaled. "I'm fine. But, I don't think I'm gonna forget what she did to me."

Clark exhaled. "Don't worry Jimmy, we will make sure Bane and everyone that was associated with him is locked away for good."

"Thanks, Clark." Jimmy said. "Oh, and you guys are not going to believe what I found out!"

Later, Jimmy was standing over the unconscious Bruce Wayne, whom was patched up with band aids, bandages and stitches where he had been stabbed; Looking like a mixture of excitement, surprise and happiness. "Guys! I am freaking out! Bruce Wayne is Batman!" Instead of looking surprised, Clark and Lois were smirking, knowing that Jimmy doesn't know that they know.

"Should we tell him?" Lois asked.

"Let's wait till he figures out." Clark suggested.

"I mean it makes sense!" Jimmy exclaimed. "All the expensive gadgets only a billionaire could afford! It could tie into his company! Wait a minute, if Bruce Wayne is Batman then that means his ward is Robin! This is making too much sense?! Why hasn’t anyone made theories on this?! Why haven’t I made theories on this?!” He noticed that his friends were smirking and looked at them with suspicion. “Wait, why are you two smirking at me like that?"

Lois stifled a laugh. "Jimmy, we already know."

"Yeah, sorry." Clark said. "We found out yesterday."

"Wait a minute, then that means, Superman and Batman are working together!" Jimmy gasped. "This is a team up that shouldn't work, but does."

"Uh…Jimmy, it's only temporary." Clark informed him. "We teamed up to find you and takedown Bane. And so far, we've done one out of the two objectives."

They heard the sound of groaning and saw that Bruce was just waking up. "He's waking up!" Lois exclaimed. "Alfred! Can you hear me?!"

Running down the stairs, Alfred was rushing with his first aid kit in hand. He ran towards Bruce, whom was about to stand up off the operating table. "Take it slowly Master Bruce." Alfred said as he held him by his back and shoulder. "Take it easy. You have taken quite a few punches."

Bruce carefully stood up. "Thanks Alfred." He began walking to the big computer. "But there's work that needs to be done."

"Bruce, maybe you should take it easy." Clark suggested. "You have taken a few hits."

"I have to find Dick." Bruce argued.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Clark asked as he realised something. "Wait, where is Dick?"

"He was captured by Bane." Lois replied.

"Trying to save you." Bruce interjected as he narrowed his eyes at Clark. "Meanwhile, Bane and Slade got away."

"And who helped us out?" Clark asked.

"I did." Walking down the stairs, was Selina, dressed in a dressing gown. "You're welcome. I would have left you to die after peaking through my costume earlier…" Superman cringed while Lois looked like she could drop dead after learning this piece of information. "…But I was feeling generous."

"You what?!" Lois narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend.

"She stole some items from Oswald Cobblepot!" Clark protested.

Jimmy leaned into Clark. "Does she know you're Superman?" He whispered.

"Well, she doesn't know Clark Kent and Superman are the same person." Clark explained quietly. "I prefer to keep this under wraps until I know I can fully trust her."

"I hope you slept well, Superman." Selina approached Clark, whom began to gently back away.

"Uh Miss Kyle, I just got up and I could go for some breakfast." Clark began sweating nervously.

"You sure?" Selina asked as she got close to him and began to admire his body. "Body like yours needs its protein."

"Excuse me!" Lois said while narrowing her eyes at the woman with her arms folded.

Selina exhaled. “Don't look at me like that. You got a boyfriend named Clark, don't you? Well, if you do, then you don't mind if I try and have my chance with Superman. He is very handsome."

Clark began sweating as he looked between Lois and Selina. "Uh…Miss Kyle, I'm flattered that you think that of me, but I don't think I'm interested in a relationship right now."

"Who said it was a relationship?" Selina grabbed Clark by his belt causing Lois' eyes to widen in anger. "Perhaps, we could put on our costumes and go for a late night ride on my motorcycle."

"Miss Kyle, if you could leave Superman be, he just got up." Alfred suggested. "So, why don't you go and rest by the pool?"

Selina smiled as she let go of his belt. "Was going to anyway. Don't worry Alfred, just wanted to say hi to him." She stroked him under the chin before she began walking out of the batcave. "I hope you can join me for a swim Superman. Because just a heads up…" She removed her dressing gown to reveal that she was wearing a black bikini. This sight caused Lois' anger to rise up, Clark to look away, Alfred just gave a deadpan stare while Jimmy was blushing. She looked back at them and grinned. "…I look pretty good in a swimsuit."

Selina departed the batcave, slowly walking up the stairs in an attempt to seduce Superman. However, since Clark doesn't concede to this types of advances and the fact that he had a girlfriend, he didn't.

"Lois…I swear that-"

"I know!" Lois interjected. "I know, Smallville."

Alfred took a glance at Clark. "I must say you are doing a great job at keeping things under wraps." He remarked sarcastically.

"I gotta find Dick." Bruce said. "His tracking device should still be active."

"I don't doubt he will be found, Master Bruce." Alfred said. "Bane might be smart but he doesn't know anything about you or how you think."

"Once I find him, Bane will be brought to justice." Bruce said.

"You mean, we, right?" Clark asked.

"If you want to stop Bane on your own then be my guest." Bruce said.

"Wait, what are you talking about Bruce?" Clark asked.

Before Bruce could respond, there was a signal coming from the computer. "It's Dick!" Bruce exclaimed. "I think I found him! He's located at Founders Church!"

"I think he might wish to message you." Alfred said.

"I'll patch him through." Bruce typed on a few buttons in order to answer his ward. But instead of Dick being patched on screen, it was Slade.

"Hello, Bruce."

Everyone was shocked by the sudden appearance of the government agent/mercenary on the screen. "You were expecting your ward, weren't you?"

Bruce seethed his teeth. "Slade."

"Sorry to disappoint you."

"Where is he Slade?" Bruce asked.

"Last you saw, he was a prisoner of my dear dealer, Bane. I wanted the boy and Bane and I came to very cooperating terms. I have the boy while he gets the chance to fight the alien without my interference. So Superman, if you're listening and I know you are, I have no interest in eliminating you right now, just Bruce. So Batman, come meet me at Founders Church at any time and I will be waiting. If you don't come, then…" He moved the camera to Dick lying on the floor face first with his mask on the floor. He was still alive due to him tapping his fingers against the surface.

"RICHARD!" Bruce cried in anguish.

"I've been showing him what I know. He's predictable. I mean, of course he would be since he learnt from you. Come on down Bruce so we can engage in our final duel. And one more thing, if Talia were alive, who do you think she would have been rooting for? I'll leave you to think. Come find me, or else." Slade demanded before crushing the camera in his hand, causing it to static.

Bruce stood up from his chair in horror, Alfred dropped his tray while the Daily Planet trio were just in the same amount of shock, horror and worry Bruce was.

"Oh my god!" Jimmy said.

All of a sudden, Selina came running down the batcave, wearing a towel. "Bruce, you need to see this. It's Vicki!"

Later, everyone had arrived to the living room to what looked like a report from the Gotham Gazette, only it was on pause. Selina played the play button the remote.

"We interrupt this programme to bring you a special announcement from the Gazette."

The bulletin cut to footage of Vicki Vale, standing behind the railing of a ship holding pieces of paper while a gun was pointed to her head. She appeared to be shedding tears which was something that was rarely seen in the eyes of Bruce and Lois.

"This is Vicki Vale…Reporting live from the Mullesc far out of Gotham with a message from Bane I have to read out for you." Vicki cleared her throat, ready to read Bane's message. "Superman, this is Bane talking, as this disgrace of a reporter reads out my message, I am working to build and improve my body so I can beat you in our climatic battle. I don't need to share my coordinates, you will just find me regardless. And you will fight me because I am holding the commissioner, Lucius Fox and this walking embarrassment for reliable facts as leverage. And I know, you will not let them stay under my hospitality no matter how much you want this very one to just fade away from the world of journalism. I will give you seven days to heal yourself. If you don't show up, the hostages…" Vickie sniffled. "…Will be sleeping with the fishes. Show up with anyone then I will put the hostages heads on a stick and deliver them to everyone you love as a warning. But if you give me a disappointing fight…I’m sure you assumed correctly the same thing will happen. So, what's it going to be Superman? Make your choice."

The footage cut to what was playing originally. Which was some generic cartoon about a human in a witch world asking a girl out. However, everyone in the living room were in shock with what had been reported.

Not only is Slade a huge issue, but Bane is planning to kill a lot of people if Superman doesn't do as he says. Who knows what will happen today if things don't go well? But the real question right now is, will Batman and Superman do something together? Or will this partnership fall

Chapter Text

A short time later, Clark had dashed out of the manor to get his, Lois' and Jimmy's luggage from the hotel and making sure they check out of the establishment. Everyone eventually got dressed in their causal gear and walked back down to the batcave to come up with a plan.

"Okay, just to refresh, Slade has Robin and probably intends to kill him in order to get Bruce and Bane has people, including Vicki Vale; As hostages in order to fight you. On top of that, we have three dangerous Metahumans whom have aligned themselves with Bane who previously beat the snot out of Clark and Bruce." Lois said.

"Yup, I think we've got it." Jimmy remarked.

"We gotta think of a plan." Clark said. "I obviously have to fight Bane in order to save these people. How I'm going to do it, I don't know. He beat me real good last time."

"But you were beat because of Slade interfering." Jimmy pointed out.

"Even I felt I couldn't keep up with him." Clark said. "He was unstoppable. He refused to be kept down."

"And I assume that this Clayface, Killer Moth and the upgraded Leslie are worse?" Jimmy asked.

"Unless you have enough money to pay for a giant lightbulb for Walker, that's our shot for defeating him. But the three of them together are dangerous." Clark explained. "Lois? You're good with plans."

Lois sighed. "Sorry Smallville. I'm doing my best to come up with a plan that Bane won't see coming a mile away."

"How about you, Bruce?" Clark asked. "Do you have a plan?"

Bruce however, didn't say anything, he was sitting in front of his computer staring at the message left to him by Slade. He had been replaying the footage, narrowing his eyes at his rival in anger.

"Bruce?" Clark asked.

Bruce took a brief glance at Clark and co before back to the screen. "Do you what you want with Bane. He isn't my problem." Bruce stood up off the chair and began walking away, surprising Clark and the rest.

"Bruce, what are you doing?" Clark asked as he began following him. "Where are you going?"

Bruce began marching up the stairs. "I'm going to my dojo."

Clark flew around Bruce so he was in front of him. "You're not telling me anything. We need a plan to stop them and you're-"

"We?" Bruce interjected. "There is no we, Clark. This partnership is over!"

"Over?!" Clark exclaimed. "Bruce, we can't stop right here! Gotham is in danger!"

"Gotham is not in danger, you're in danger!" Bruce argued. "Everything that has happened in these last two days, happened because of you! You are the catalyst for everything going wrong! Slade was after you, and your presence in Gotham convinced him to stay which in turn lead to me. And Bane probably would have left Gotham if you didn't arrive to stop that bank robbery. Maybe the Government and Lois' Dad have every right to come after you! Because wherever you go, destruction follows! It's like every enemy you made was specifically, by some coincidence, designed or had orders to kill you! And what's worse, you drag your girlfriend and best friend into danger and the latter ended up captured!" Clark had no words to say to Bruce at that moment, he just stood there taking in everything the billionaire had said about him.

The Kryptonian hung his head down in regret for a moment. His words really sunk in. Sure, some of it was harsh, but maybe some form of it was true. Then, he realised something about Bruce and why he might have been angry. He forced his way past the Man of Steel and began walking back up the stairs.

"You know, yelling at me isn't going to bring Talia back." Clark's words caused Bruce to stop partway. Lois and Jimmy could only watch on, anticipating what he was about to do.

He turned to face Clark and did something that he should have regretted for the rest of his life. He punched Clark in the face with one punch. However, due to being super strong, Clark barely flinched while Bruce cringed in pain from that the attack he inflicted on him.

He held on to his wrist as he seethed in pain. "If you're wondering about your knuckles, they're bruised."

Bruce just narrowed his eyes at Clark before walking back up the stairs to the manor. Once he was gone, Clark just stood on the stairs completely in shock over the harsh words Bruce had said to him.

Lois knowing how much those kinds of words hurt him, walked up to her boyfriend and took his hand in hers.

"Ignore him Clark, he's just a jerk." Lois said.

"I know he might seem it…" They turned around to see that Alfred was standing by the computer, dusting it. "…But Bruce isn't that good at controlling his emotions when it comes to people he cares about."

"Sorry Al." Clark said. "I should have been more sensitive around Bruce when it came to Talia."

Jimmy raised his hand. "Hi, who is Talia?"

"It's a very sensitive topic around Master Bruce." Alfred said. "She was someone very close to him. He hasn't told Master Grayson about it."

"Well, I think I get where this is going but, would you tell us?" Lois asked.

Alfred looked reluctant to tell them. However, he needed the three to understand the gravity of the situation. "I shouldn't but, I will. You see, before Bruce became The Batman, he disappeared for three years."

"I had theories about that!" Jimmy exclaimed. "I said he was abducted by a yeti!" Clark, Lois and Alfred looked at him, each with deadpan expressions on their faces. "Well, he was last seen in Tibet."

"You are correct Master Olsen, he did disappear in Tibet." Alfred said. "But he wasn't captured by a yeti. Though, he claimed he fought one and won. He was actually training to become a crime fighter. And he wasn't being trained by anyone, he was being trained by an organisation longed to be a myth. Tell me, Master Olsen, have you ever heard of The League of Assassins?"

Jimmy's eyes went wide. "No way!"

Lois laughed. "Come on Alfred, the League of Assassins? They're not real. It's such an outlandish idea."

Alfred gave the journalist a deadpan stare. "Your boyfriend is from another planet and that is where you draw the line in terms of outlandishness?"

Lois was about to argue but then snapped her finger, realising the butler had a point. "Touché."

"And since you know of The League of Assassins, then I assume you know of The Demon's Head?" Alfred poured himself a cup of tea. "Ra's Al Ghul."

"Didn't he die like a thousand years ago?" Clark queried.

"I'm pushing 60 and I wish to know of his secrets." Alfred said. "Bruce came to Ra's to know of his secrets and his skills. Ra's accepted him after he made Bruce stroll through the mountains of Tibet in the cold for four hours wearing nothing but loincloth to test his resilience and strength. However, what Bruce did not expect was the fact he wasn't the only student. There were other students with Ra's as well. There was a man named David Cain, a woman who went by the name of Shiva, a young man named Ben Turner, Paula Brooks and you know of Slade Wilson pretty well I assume. Each student endured hours, days, months and three years of physical and emotional tasks made to push themselves to the limits no other human can muster. Breaking a wall of ice with their bare fists, surviving a week in a cage with a Serbian tiger, fighting twenty trained assassins with nothing but their fists, identifying which cup is poison, confronting fears and sparring fights on thin ice."

As Alfred spoke to the trio, Clark had sat down on the ginormous chair by the computer, Lois had taken a seat on the step while Jimmy was sitting close to Alfred, listening to his story.

"According to Bruce, he became a top student. Which of course, lead to competition with other students." Alfred explained. "All except one, Slade. Him and Mr Wilson somehow managed to grow a bond. They became partners during group exercises and even snuck out during late nights to spar with each other. Of course, one thing Bruce never expected to happen on this very long trip, was falling in love. And not just with any woman, Ra's Al Ghul's daughter, Talia. She was mainly there to keep an eye on the students. Analysing who would be a worthy fit for the League and to take her father’s place as the Demon’s Head. However, Bruce and her became smitten for one another. So, you can guess that there was some sign of her favouring Bruce. They spent many nights sparring, taking strolls in the snow and even went ice skating at one point."

"So, Bruce Wayne fell in love with the Demon Head's daughter?!" Jimmy exclaimed. "Is there anything else he's done?!"

"He is quite acquainted with the Crocodile Man of Gotham." Alfred said.

"He's real?!" Jimmy exclaimed in surprise.

"Bruce and Talia, from my interpretation, did fall in love. What Bruce did not know, was the fact that Slade pined for her as well. From what I understand, Talia had rejected Slade multiple times. Over and over again, he'd try and fail. Because, Talia wanted Bruce."

"Did Ra's know?" Lois asked.

"I'm not sure if he did, but if he did, he must have been real quiet about it." Alfred replied. "One night before the big initiation, Bruce overheard Ra's talking with one of his associates about what would entail at this initiation. Their big initiation into the League would be to take the life of someone. More specifically, scum, according to Ra's. A criminal, so to speak. A thief, murderer, could be anything. However, Bruce did not like it and informed Slade of his find. They made a promise to leave Tibet together just before the initiation and go their separate ways. But Slade, being the jealous type, informed Ra's of his discretion which lead to early morning ambush. According to Bruce, every student of the league captured him whilst he slept and forced him to be in the main hall where, in front of him stood Ra's and Talia. The Demon's Head reprimanded him for his attempted escape, even Talia herself was disappointed in him."

"So I assume, that's when the relationship went downhill?" Lois asked.

"You assume?" Alfred retorted. "Master Bruce was being forced by Ra's to kill a hapless criminal. A man whom had killed an old man with his bare heads, supposedly. Many wanted to kill him, however, it was Bruce's test. Master Wayne said to Ra's 'This man is a murderer, but I will not kill him. That is for justice to decide.' That's when, Ra's threatened Bruce with the destruction of Gotham if he did not kill the man. However, Bruce managed to break out of his restraints and engaged every member in a duel. Cain, Brooks, Shiva, Turner, Ra's, Slade and Talia; He fought every last one with fists and blades. Somehow, he only came out with a scratch. One thing lead to another and the temple he was training at, caught fire. In that fire, Ra's was lost; Along with Brooks, Turner, Cain and Shiva. Bruce managed to save Talia by carrying her through a passage which lead to a cave that would eventually lead to an exit. She eventually awoken to Bruce nursing her back to health. Somehow, she didn't try and stab him for her father supposedly being killed by his hands; She did try and strangle him however. Instead of fighting they agreed to leave the cave together and decide what they should do from there. They traversed the cave for two days straight, that the hope of the two getting out was beginning to dwindle. Until, they were close to a light. They were close to the exit when all of a sudden, Slade arrived. He tried to kill Master Bruce with a knife, but instead, it hit Talia, who jumped in front of him."

Lois looked shocked. "Oh my god!"

"Then, he did something I never want to see him do, he went into a blind rage." Alfred said. "Before Slade could have a chance to attack, Bruce began punching him, smashing his face against the ground and strangling him. But then, lord knows how long he went on for, but he stopped. Master Bruce realised what he was doing and stopped his attempt to kill him. Instead, he decided to spare him. Lord knows why, but he did. So, he left him and went to tend to Talia. However, the damage had been done. Talia, had died from her injuries, not even the local medic could heal her. I'm sure you saw news footage of him coming back to Gotham in high spirits."

"Yeah. You couldn't escape the reports about it." Clark said.

"Well, he might have been happy on the outside, but what I saw from him, was a broken young man. Filled with remorse and grief. So, you see, that is why Slade is personal to him. I know what he said about you was cruel, Master Kent; But he is worried he will lose someone whom is like a son to him." Alfred said.

Clark looked down on the floor with an empathetic stare and looked upwards at the ceiling. He could see with his vision that Bruce was standing on the balcony, looking to be deep in thought.

With a determined glance, Clark dashed out of the cave, leaving a gust of wind to blow in everyone's faces.

Bruce stood on the balcony deep in thought over the last few hours. He had been pondering every decision he had made in the last seven years. Meeting Slade, falling for Talia, beating Slade to a pulp, letting him live, becoming Batman, taking Dick in as his ward and allowing him to be his sidekick.

He was pondering if these were the right choices he made. Especially letting Slade live. He should have just killed him right then and there. But that would have gone against everything he stands for.

That's when, he felt a gust of wind blow in his face. He looked up to see Superman hovering in front of him.

They just stared at each other saying nothing. But judging by Superman's empathetic stare, Bruce knew what he had heard. And judging by Bruce's stare, he wasn't so sure if he wanted him hovering in front of him.

"You're still here?" Bruce just asked.

"Yeah." Superman said.

"Even after everything I said about you?"

"It did hurt." Superman replied. "I…Know why you feel this way."

"Alfred told you?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah."

Bruce stood in silence for a few moments. "I wanted to kill him." Superman, seemed surprised by this statement coming from the man who in actuality is Batman. "After Slade killed Talia, I wanted to stop him from taking another breath. I wanted to wrap my hands around his neck until all the life out of him drained away. And I did. I got real close to plugging up his airways, permanently. And I was actually enjoying it. But at the last minute, I spared him. Because I knew if I killed Slade in that moment with this level of glee, I wouldn't have stopped when I got back to Gotham. And I would have killed a lot of the criminals in the city and enjoyed it. I know my limits, Clark. I know all the ways to kill a six foot two man if I could, but I never will. No matter how much they deserve it. That symbol I have on my chest, it doesn't just represent what I dress up as, it doesn’t just represent my fear, it represents justice and no matter how hard they try and dismantle it, I will always be the only one willing to fight for it."

"I know you won’t back down from justice." Superman said. "Because, believe it or not, I do trust you. I know it's a struggle trusting me for who I am. Lois struggled as well once she found out my secret."

"Why do you trust me?" Bruce asked.

"You helped me find Jimmy." Superman replied. "I promise Bruce, we will rescue Dick. But, we also have to stop Bane. My family are going to be killed if we don't stop him. And who knows what Livewire, Clayface and Killer Moth will accomplish with their mutations. What do you think?"

Bruce stared at Superman for a brief moment, pondering his offer. "Did you have a plan to stop them?"

Superman sighed. "Honestly, I was just gonna fly in to Bane and see what happens."

Bruce just seemed indifferent. "Hmm. Then you're going to need someone with a plan." He gave a grin at the Man of Steel, leading the superhero to smile back. This was the confirmation both of the, needed that their temporary partnership had been fixed.

"So, do you have a plan?" Superman asked.

"I do." Bruce began walked back inside. "I'm going to find Selina. We will need her help."

Upon hearing that she will be involved, Superman just sighed. "Oh great. Lois is going to be happy about this." He said with a sarcastic remark before flying back down to the cave.