Chapter One:
Click
…Today rumors of Wayne Enterprises's takeover of Rockwaller Industries was confirmed today when…
Click
…After rescuing several scientists, Superman then…
Click
…It's a show, about nothing!
A painted finger hits the 'Off' button angrily.
Click!
"God, there's nothing ON!"
The woman connected to the finger gets up and starts to pace, "God, six months, SIX MONTHS of hard work. Gone, in one night. All thanks to…"
A knock on the door spins the irate woman around with a angry "WHAT?!"
A older one-eyed woman cock a eyebrow, "Officer Bonnie Rockwaller?"
Bonnie starting, "Com-Commissioner Director! I-I'm so sorry! I didn't…"
She holds up a hand, "It's quite alright, you've had a stressful night."
She then shoots a hard look at the younger woman, "Although, talk that way to me again and you will regret it, understood?"
Bonnie nods frantically, "Understood, Commissioner."
The hard look disappears, "Good," she gestures to the table, "Then why don't we have a talk about what happened tonight?"
They both sit at the table & the Commissioner pulled out a recorder, "Would you mind if I recorded this? For unofficial reasons?"
Bonnie nodded, "No, I don't Commissioner."
"Alright."
Beep
"This is Commissioner Betty Director & Undercover Officer Bonnie NMI Rockwaller,"
Beep
"Rockwaller, any relationship to…"
"Rockwaller Industries? Hopefully Wayne Enterprises is better for this city then what my family was."
An eyebrow raised at the bitterness of her tone, "That seems…"
"Bitter, Commissioner?" Bonnie takes a swig of water, "They disowned me, at age eighteen, because I refused to go to some camp to get my 'Lesbian Tendencies' cured. CURED! Like being a lesbian was… a disease or something…" She sighed, "I'm sorry Commissioner, it's just…"
Betty smiles, "I understand, my girlfriend has had the same rant. Now, back to the matter at hand…" She gestures to the recorder.
Bonnie blushes, "O-of course, Commissioner…"
Beep
"Date is February 18, 2008. Time is," She looks at her watch, "2344*"
"Officer Rockwaller, you have the right to have a FOP** union representative present, do you like one?"
"Do I need one, ma'am?"
"No, this is unofficial, for my private use only. I'd just like to have this so I don't forget anything."
"Then no ma'am."
"Officer Rockwaller has waved her right to have a union representative present. Now Officer Rockwaller, in your own words, what happened at," Betty opened a folder, "The Lucky Strike gentlemen's club at 1946***"
"Well, at first it was a normal night…"
[break]
"…Brick, the bouncer there, had thrown an drunk out when two heavies of the Señor Family walked in."
"Heavies, Officer Rockwaller?"
"Higher ups in the Señor Family, Commissioner."
"Did you recognize either one, Officer?"
"Just one. I know him simply as 'Mickey', Commissioner."
"I see. Then what happened, Officer?"
"Another three men joined them about a half-hour later."
"Do you know what they were talking about?"
"Not at first, they would shut up whenever someone would walk nearby but after a few rounds of shots I overheard enough to figured out that someone had jumped them and had stolen their 'Insurance' money."
"'Insurance' money, Officer?"
"The Señors tend to stick to the 'Victimless' crimes. Insurance scams, protection rackets, prostitution, that kind of thing. But there's rumors that the son, Señor Jr, was starting to move into drugs and that there was going to be a big sale that night at the club."
"So who had jumped them?"
"All I overheard was that 'Some Loco in a red helmet and leather jacket' dowsed his car in gas and threaten to light it if he didn't give him the money."
"A red helmet?"
"Yes ma'am. A few minutes later, Señor Jr entered with four asian men, one with a large briefcase, all heavily armed. Mickey walked over and whisper something in Jr's ear, they talked for a moment then Mickey left. Jr and the asian man with the briefcase sat at the owner's booth, I don't what they were talking about but Jr was sweating. I mean, when Mickey showed up with a briefcase I swear I saw tears on Jr's face. Jr and the asian guy traded briefcases. But when the asian guy opened the briefcase, a flash-bang went off and that 'Loco in a red helmet and leather jacket' appeared out of nowhere and started taking everyone out."
"Taking everybody out, Officer?"
"Yes ma'am, I mean, he tore though Jr and the muscle…"
"And what happened to the fourth asian?"
Bonnie squirmed, "He, ah, managed to take a hostage…"
"And the hostage was…"
Bonnie sighed, "Me, Commissioner. He put a gun to my head and told the helmet-guy to drop the staff."
"Did he?"
"Yes."
"What happened next?"
"When the boss asian grabbed it, he looked like he'd just been tazered. After he'd dropped his pistol I grabbed it and identified myself as Tri-City PD, that I had backup on the way, and to put his hands up."
Then what happened?
"A flash-bang went off and he disappeared, I fired a round but I don't think I hit him…"
[break]
(Elsewhere)
"…Then my backup arrived, I filled out my after-action reports, got told to wait in the break-room, and talked to you, Commissioner…"
A slim, unpainted fingernail tapped the 'Pause' button, "Hello, Bruce."
"So I still can't sneak up on you, Kim."
The redhead turned from the supercomputer she had been sitting at, "How long have you been here?"
He bent over and picked up the distinctive red helmet of the redhead's alter-ego, examining the damage on the left side of the helmet, "Long enough to hear that you threaten to burn a man alive."
Kim sighed and pinched her nose, "Migel Ramos, age 31, arrested seven times, three times for violence crimes, suffers from Pyrophobia, I suspect due to abuse by his mother, who was sent to a state mental health hospital after she was seen attempting to 'burn the sins' out of her son with a blowtorch… Do you want me to go on, Bruce?"
He sighed, "No, you had it under control…"
"Sooo, how's Selina?"
The only indication that he had heard her was a half-second pause of him checking the integrity of her helmet, "What do you mean, Kim?"
She stood and circled the world's greatest detective, "Well, let's see… A: a fresh scrape on your left cheek, too thin for even a knife wound, done by something beyond the sharpness of steel, so claws with hardness of diamonds."
She takes a sniff of Bruce, "B: You're freshly showered but I can still faintly smell the inner liner of our suits on you, that only happens when we sweat in it and it takes about four, five hours for it to fade, so you were running around somewhere."
She walks back to the computer and touches a button, bringing up a picture of a marble cat, "C: A hand-carved, one-of-a-kind, marble cat, recovered from a recently discovered Egyptian tomb, arrived today, believed to be worth millions to the right buyer. At 2257**** someone set a alarm off in the same exhibit as the statue but nothing is believed missing."
She rests an finger on an different button, "And finally…" she pushes, bringing up a picture of Bruce and Selina kissing, "Photographic proof."
She gives her larger cousin a goodnatured shove, "Now go get back into bed with your pretty kitty."
Bruce gives the closest thing he has to a laugh, and heads back upstairs. Kim turns back to the computer screen but her eyes no-longer sees the present, she sees the past and the twists and turns that brought her here…
* 11:44 pm
** Fraternal Order of Police
***7:46 pm
****10:57 pm
