Batman Origins: Part 5 of 8

Batman Origins: Part 5 of 8

Fox, Alfred, and Lucius reveal to Bruce the "inheritance" Thomas has left for him.

By aaronversch - Aug 29, 2013 06:08 AM EST
Filed Under: Fan Fic

Falcone calls Chill to inform him of the 30th floor story. Chill confides that he wasn’t able to keep Freeze within 10 ft of him so he figured that’s why security showed up. Chill lets Falcone know about Freeze’s gun and the dead security guards. Falcone is irate but admits it will conveniently work out with their current plan as long as they bring the guards’ bodies to the 30th floor. With the help of Falcone’s dirty cops, Chill brings the bodies up. They use a silenced .40 gun to shoot up the office.

Freeze enters the cytogenetic lab and quickly analyzes his wife’s blood. The analysis soon prints out along with what Freeze needs to treat her. He steals what he needs to work on the next step of her treatment. Freeze and Chill both leave the building undetected.

After Bullock says he was not able contact anyone on the 30th floor, the cops search the 30th and adjacent floors but cant find anyone. Vito confirms that he is not picking up any activity on the cameras. They resign to the fact that the disgruntled employee got away.

Jim, Alfred, and Lucius are in Bruce's home office when Lucius gets a call from his friend, Ben Westphal, the head of Wayne Securities. Ben started to get suspicious of his second hand man, Frank Vito. Westphal placed spy software on his computer and phone to alert Westphal if Vito does anything suspicious. Nothing came of it until a few minutes ago when Vito’s program crashed. Westphal’s spy software sent him the video of a robot looking man and what facial recognition software deems to be Joe. In a matter of seconds, new footage of Chill, the infamous Killer Croc they all heard of, and the Frieses were sent to Gordon’s smartphone.

They turn on the TV to see that GNN is running a story that shots were fired somewhere high up in Wayne Enterprises and it is believed that guards have been taken hostage. The camera then shows Loeb’s face outside of his home. Loeb says “A Wayne Enterprise employee was spotted trying to get inside a lab he clearly didn’t have access to. When he was approached by guards he proceeded to shoot them and flee the scene. He also managed to shoot one of the surveillance consoles so unfortunately, we lost footage. Our top technicians are working with Frank Vito, Wayne Enterprises’ and the world’s best video technician to obtain the lost video.”

The three men in Bruce’s office know Loeb is lying but decide to publically go along with Loeb’s account. As of now Loeb and Bullock have no idea that they are suspicious of them.
Fox puts a call into Vito to make sure he is ok. Fox does a good job in pretending he is concerned for Vito and the other guards. Fox mentions that an employee approached him earlier that week about an idea but Fox politely brushed him off. Fox says he forgot about the incident and didn’t get a chance to look at the man’s badge. A relieved Vito things Fox is duped and let’s Falcone know.

Jim, Alfred, and Lucius realize they must tell Bruce everything tonight. Bruce then walks in and sees the broadcast. He feels horrible that something like that happened on his watch. He tells the men they must update their security. They sit him down behind his desk. Lucius reminds Bruce of his state of the art computer with the keyboard that only works when Bruce is typing and doesn't leave his fingerprints. The computer also scans Bruce's vitals so if he is under stress from being forced to use the computer he keyboard won't work. Bruce acknowledges this but can’t understand why they are going through this right now instead of focusing on finding the employee who killed his guards.

Alfred reminds Bruce of his dad's two lessons. Jim adds we will now bring you to that defining fork in the road. Alfred calmly tells Bruce that his dad and grandfather made preparations and created a legacy for Bruce to take on; an inheritance. They all sensed when Bruce became a man crime would be at an all-time, unstoppable high. The money they pour into GCPD will not be enough. Their charity work will not be enough. Something bigger than the Wayne name must ascend to defend the masses. Bruce feels the responsibility of what is to come and is ready for it, no matter what will happen next.

Alfred tells Bruce to make sure he is calm, then type in "inheritance" and brace himself. Bruce takes a breath and as he is typing in the word he vividly recalls his dad's last words to him. As soon as Bruce types the "e" the floor directly under his chair opens up and Bruce's chair disappears into the hole for a fraction of a second and then reappears as the hole is covered up again. The three men left remaining chuckle to themselves before sitting themselves in the three chairs on the other side of the desk. The each smile at each other and take turns saying their respective code words: "Jimbo", "Foxy" and "Freddy" before they each disappear exactly how Bruce did.

As Bruce’s short ride underground ends and he steps out into a giant cave, he still has no clue what is about to happen. He does know that if great men believe in him and this inheritance, he must repay them and take this on. He walks over to a giant computer setup and when he sits down and goes to type something, his father’s face appears on the screens. He looks the same as he did before he was taken away from Bruce.

As Fox, Gordon, and Alfred make it to Bruce, they see him stare in amazement at the giant monitor that has started playing a video of Thomas. "Hello son, I trust you chose the right road. Your reactions to what life threw at you has made you an honorable man. I hope I am standing right next to you watching this but if I cannot be there I know at least Alfred, Jim, and Lucius are there with you. As you look around you at this cave you will see the latest technology and weaponry. This is needed to fight back against the spirits of greed, violence and corruption. Always realize you will not fight against men, but the spirits inside of them that made them ruthless criminals that prey on the innocent and the weak. Yes, these men made decisions. They chose to take the road you didn't. Their road led them to crime and selfishness but if we defeat the demons inside of them, maybe, just maybe the men can be saved. As you are sparing the lives of the innocent, try to spare the lives of the guilty. Redemption is more powerful then vengeance. If a man can't change his ways, let the law determine his fate, but at least you gave him the chance to change.

I don't know what obstacles you faced in your road here. Maybe I underestimated the greed and corruption that you have faced before you came down here. Your mother and I have tried to do a lot of good but good is always met with evil. I hope evil hasn't caught up with us but if it has, I understand if you will be tormented with decisions you will be forced to take because of the power this inheritance will give you. Your version of justice might be killing those that kill but don't let yourself be a murder. Don't become what you kill. Your city needs you to stand up for them. Maybe other citizens in other cities will rise up like you will to be a hero but as for you and this city, make us proud, son. I love you son."

As the Thomas once again vanishes before Bruce's eyes, Bruce can't help but think about Chill, the man who took Thomas and Martha from Bruce. What happened right after his parents died has since been locked inside Bruce's memory. Although Bruce hasn’t seen Dr. Strange for years, he does remember that Strange did tell him one day a trigger will go off in Bruce’s mind that will open up the locked memories of what happened right after his parents died. When that happens, Strange said let the memories resurface.

Bruce concentrates and does remember Gordon coming to his side and Chill being taken away. How much time went by before Chill killed his parents and Gordon running out the door? Was it enough for Chill to get away? All he remembers is the siren, he doesn't remember the ambulance taking Chill away. He assumed Gordon cuffed him before running to Bruce but now he is not so sure. What happened to Chill? Why would he need an ambulance? Did Gordon beat him up? Did Bruce somehow retrieve the gun and shoot Chill? Why does Bruce now recall Chill crying? Bruce remembers his own crying but why does he know hear Chill's cries? And most of all why does he feel like Chill is not in jail?

Bruce comes back to the moment. "Chill is out there, isn't he?" Gordon confirms. Lucius steps in and tells Bruce he knows this is a lot to take in but he needs to see what happened earlier that night at Wayne Enterprises. With his own eyes, Bruce sees Chill Lucius uses this inquiry to show off the computer's abilities. The computer tracks any individual in Gotham that has done anything questionable in public. The GCPD cameras all around the city are linked to this computer and archive any questionable citizen. It then cues any private company's security cameras to send it footage of the individual. Sure enough it finds Fries in Wayne Enterprises a few weeks ago. Fries has been caught many times creating a scene due to his temper, so the cave’s computer tracks his every move in case he blows up and put others in danger.

Bruce inquires why they weren’t alerted. Lucius gives a brief summary of Frank Vito’s software. They focus on a key video of what happens in cytogenetics lab. They see Nora Fries locked up and standing by Croc. Alfred cautions Bruce to brace himself. Off camera a voice barks at Victor and his wife. The same voice that barked at the Waynes a fateful night long ago. Bruce becomes defiant as Chill shows up on the screen in front of him. He holds his gun with more confidence pointing at Nora then he did at Martha. The men witness Victor and Chill fighting and the accident that altered Nora's life forever.

The video now changes to what happened at GothCorp explaining why Victor's body changed. Bruce asks why this video was not uploaded to GCPD. Fox pauses the video and tells Bruce that he just learned that Frank Vito is on Falcone’s payroll. Who knows how much crime is covered up by Vito. Fox explains what Westphal just alerted him to. Bruce asks if Westphal was able to unfilter Vito’s video, how come the cave was able to hunt for altered video being sent to GCPD or other security companies? Bruce acknowledges that Fox is better than Westphal and Vito combined so the cave should be up to date with the latest hacking technology so it can send GCPD the correct video while making it seem like it’s coming from the original source.

Fox explains they have tried their best to keep the cave up to date but never knew when Bruce would take over. They weren’t comfortable in determining how advanced to make the surveillance software since theoretically Fox can hack into any security network. Bruce says that is something they will have to figure out together. Bruce tells Gordon he can keep him out of the loop for certain things so Gordon won’t be associated with any illegal activity.

They skim through the weeks of video. The video ends weeks ago. There is no footage of Fries making the suit, so the next footage Bruce sees of him is earlier that night, in his suit, talking to Chill outside of Wayne Enterprises. They now know to call him Mr Freeze. They watch everything that happened that night. They inform Bruce that just before he came into his office they agreed that they go along with everything Falcone and Loeb want them to believe. Bruce is conflicted because he really wants to take down Fries now but understands this inheritance is not about him, it’s about the safety of the city. Him bringing down Fries and Chill just because of what happened to his parents won’t stop other young children’s parents from being killed by Falcone.

Bruce gets a tour of the cave. He asked to customize the body armor, vehicles and weapons to represent what he wants to become. The criminals he will encounter need to know what is coming at them is more than a man dressed up in body armor but a symbol of something that will ultimately bring a balance to the their city. They need to see Justice coming at them, not Bruce Wayne. They emphasize that Bruce needs to have everything ready to go so when they know what Mr Freeze next moves are; Bruce will be ready to go after him. Bruce asks about Chill, or Killer Croc, or this Penguin individual. Gordon assures them that his men are going after those criminals but Bruce needs to protect Wayne Enterprises from whatever Mr Freeze has planned or else Bruce could lose everything, even this new inheritance.

Fox, Gordon, and Alfred are all on edge. There aren't sure if Bruce will take this on or not. Alfred asks Bruce what he thinks of all us this. Bruce answers by saying "Heck, of a man cave you guys built down here. But what are we going to do about these pesky bats?" Alfred mentions Bruce always knows how to defuse a tension filled moment with humor. Lucius adds that the bats will be gone at night which probably will be the time Bruce will be in the cave. But maybe when he exits the cave to prey on criminals he will fly alongside of his cave-mates who will be going on hunting.

Bruce asks Alfred for how long has he and Bruce’s dad working on this. Alfred divulges as soon as Martha and Thomas found out she was pregnant with Bruce. The Waynes have always known the estate was built on caves and they build secret passageways and elevators down to the caves to hide valuables and money if the economy was bad like the Great Depression. They built safe rooms in the caves as far back as the civil war to protect themselves and be used later for the Underground Railroads.

They call it a night and Bruce spends all night pondering his new life. He wants to choose a symbol that strikes fear. He suspects he will do most of his work at night so he began thinking about a night predator. What animal hunts at night? Lucius mentioned bats hunt at night but do they really drive fear into humans? Who screams from seeing a bat? Something seemed too eerie about that last thought. Something deep in his subconscious was trying to surface.

He recalled Dr Strange telling him when suppressed memories try to surface, let them, not fight them. So he lets the memory surface knowing it had something to do with his parents’ death. He allows the events in the allow relive themselves in his mind without fear. If he needs to inflict fear on criminals he needs to stop being afraid of Chill. But he remember Chill, the one with the gun being afraid of something. Was it Gordon? No, it happened before Gordon. Gordon found Chill in a bloody mess. He remembers Chill screaming but someone or something was screaming before he did. Chill looked up. Something attacked him from above. Something swooped down and attacked him. Suddenly Bruce's eyes open.

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