New Story: A Necessary Evil (Batman/Nightwing) Part 3
JM
drawers. "This was found in the pocket of Mitch Brannigan, the venture
capitalist. And a message. Written -- well -- tattooed on the man's left
buttocks."
Nightwing paused, his eyes still locked on the back of Batman's head. "Saying?"
This time his former mentor spoke. "Drink me."
*****
Nightwing chuckled. The Joker, or possibly the Riddler, running out of clich�s,
had decided to revisit their tired Alice in Wonderland scripts.
"So why don't you just sweep up the usual suspects and move on?" Nightwing
asked.
"Because none of them could have done this. The usual suspects, Nightwing, are
all in prison or out of the country," Batman responded, still looking out the
window.
"Ok, so did you test it? The bottle, I mean."
A long pause. The doctor grew more animated ? he enjoyed a captive audience
when it came to science. "We tried. We started testing at the University lab,
but the testing ? uh ? had unexpected side effects on some of my graduate
students."
Nightwing finally lost his last shred of patience. The drawn-out drama was too
much. "Look, Doctor ? Tanner ? with all due respect, this is all very
fascinating, but if there is a point to my being here, let's get to it -- I'm
not good with melodrama."
Batman turned to face him, locking eyes with Nightwing for the first time.
"Nightwing, we have an entirely new enemy on our hands. He is moving fast, and
he's not going to be happy with Gotham alone. It's clear he's already moving on
Bludhaven too. Tell him Tanner. Let's get this over with."
The doctor moved quickly now, with new urgency. "Simply put, Nightwing, we have
a person ? or persons ? on our hands who enjoys humiliating the men ? well, up
until now it's been only men ? of Gotham. They don't steal anything. They
don't seem at all interested in financial gain, ransom, control. This fluid,"
he held the bottle up," is a powerful and as yet unknown hallucinogen and, we
now know, an even more powerful aphrodisiac."
The doctor glanced over at Batman, who slowly turned his gaze away from him,
back out the window. Again.
Nightwing stared at the doctor. Another raised eyebrow. A smirk. "You've got
a pervert running loose in Gotham, is that what you're telling me? Really?"
"It's a bit more complicated than that, Nightwing. This ? pervert, as you call
him ? is bringing the power centers of Gotham to a complete standstill. We've
already had the executives of three corporations, including Wayne Industries,
leave the city indefinitely, for fear of further attacks. He strikes randomly,
but always successfully. He's taken out nearly half of Gotham University's
football team. And last night, the Mayor's son was found near his dorm ? gagged
and ? completely naked. All of them showed traces of this substance in their
blood."
"There's more." Batman interrupted, beginning to pace to one corner of the
room, then turning to move to the other. "All of the bank accounts, safety
deposit boxes, passwords ? anything of value, were either raided or hacked
within hours of their disappearances."
"I thought you said he wasn't interested in money?" Nightwing countered,
watching the taller hero sweep back and forth.
"He's not. Any money, valuables ? anything ? that was stolen, was returned,
dropped in random places around the city ? one day later."
"And so far only two of the missing men have been killed. The others ? what
happened to them?" Nightwing asked.
Dr. Tanner responded, "Other than shock, and ? well ? humiliation, nothing."
"So what you're telling me is that you have a sick fuck who likes to take dirty
pictures of Gotham's finest, steals their money ? but then returns it, and
except for a couple heart attacks ? pretty much returns things back to normal?
This is why you called me? You're slipping, Batman."
Batman chose not to take the bait. Dr. Tanner stepped in to respond. "That's
what we thought, until he started again. Taking the same men ? a second time.
In one case, even a third. The mayor is completely terrified and ? the exodus
of some our finest citizens is accelerating."
Batman spoke quietly. "He's taking control of Gotham, Nightwing, and I will not
let him do that."
After a pause, Nightwing asked simply, "Alright. Then where do we start?"
"By doing exactly what he told us to do," the doctor answered.
"And that would be?"
"We're going to drink it. We have no choice," Batman replied quietly.
"You're out of your fucking mind, my friend," Nightwing finally snapped, after
another uncomfortable silence in the room. "You're going to ingest something
that you yourself, doctor, have told us you've been unable to test
successfully?"
"Not entirely so, Nightwing," said Tanner. "We've had several ? successful ?
tests. Enough to know what it does and, more importantly, how to defeat it. We
just don't know exactly what it's made of ? that answer will come with time.
Too much time, I'm afraid. If we don't gain control of it soon, Gotham will be
a ghost town in a matter of weeks. The Mayor's office will not be able to keep
this under wraps for much longer. And, I'm afraid, there's the last message we
received, another tattoo ? to consider."
"Saying?"
"You next, Duo."