2 Chapter 2

I stood up from the couch where I was lying down.

I am currently in a mansion owned by the butler who inherited it from his deceased boss, Bruce Wayne. Alfred Pennyworth.

Not many people may remember him but I sure do. Not only do I have good memory but I also specifically remember reading the article in the news and wishing that that guy was me.

Just imagine being a billionaire overnight.

I started walking towards the piano where I last saw Alfred standing.

I couldn't help but be uncomfortable while I was walking. I got a large bruise from blocking Don's kick.

Looking around while walking, I noticed that every portrait here is from the Wayne family. They even have a picture of a decorated soldier. Probably from the civil war based on the uniform.

I stopped at my destination in front of the piano.

Humming the notes in my head, I tried to remember what I heard before I lost Alfred.

C#5 D5/ C#6 D6/ G#5 A5

I entered the keys after figuring them out.

Suddenly, a part of the bookcase next to the piano agape.

I was dumbfounded.

"...who knew all those piano lessons my mom used to force me into would be useful like this." i chuckled nervously.

I stared at the passageway that appeared to me and hesitated before ultimately deciding to go in.

When I pushed the part of the bookcase that functioned as a door, I found a staircase that was dimly lit.

I swallowed my saliva before deciding to walk down the stairs.

It's like an underground dungeon.

"I hope I don't find out that that butler is a serial killer or something."

My mind was formulating all these kinds of possibilites that I may discover once I reach the end of the staircase.

I started hearing noise as I advanced further. It was the noise of rushing water. It could just be an underground sewage.

Then my mind went to the stories that used to circulate when I was a kid. There were also news articles of people claiming to have seen it. Killer Croc.

No one had evidence of the monster's existence that's why it was passed of as some urban legend. But a member of the mutants said he saw it once when he was a kid. I just overheard it when I was leading a division of the gang. The division that I fought earlier.

I didn't imagine the staircase would go down deep. I might have gone three stories down already. It was a winding staircase. A meter wide with closed walls. Someone with claustrophobia probably wouldn't be able to take these stairs.

Suddenly, I finally saw the end of the staircase.

I was taken aback. The place the stairs led to was so big. I finally found the source of the noise while I was walking down. It was a waterfall. And I was probably inside a cave.

My eyes wandered and it fell on something covered a few meters away from the waterfall. It was something big veiled underneath a huge cloth.

I drew near it and lifted a part of the veil.

It was some kind of machinery. I still couldn't tell what it was so I uncovered more of it until I saw a window and finally recognized what it was.

"Hell...Isn't this that batmobile?" I muttered to myself in shock.

I looked around again and had my jaws dropped.

Near the entrance of this place where I just was, was a line of clothing, all of which, contained in glass cases. No. And it couldn't be called costumes either. Suits might be the best term to call them because it resembled tactical suits from the military more than normal clothing. The only difference was the head piece being made to look like the head of a monster or an angry beast.

I walked to it and observed it carefully.

There's only one person or thing that comes to mind. The symbol on the chest confirms it.

"Batman..." I muttered to myself.

But someone heard me and asked..

"What about the batman?"

Startled, I spun my heel to quickly turn around. The geriatric that let me into his home was there.

"Y-you are!...You're the batman!" I stuttered before eking the words out of me.

And as if to confirm my accusation, he smiled.

But his next words contradicted my thoughts.

"No. I am not batman." He said.

All these evidences of being the batman and he still denies it. I scoffed at his pointless remark to try and fool me.

"Stop playing around. You are the batman! That also explains how good you are at fighting. Plus, how do you explain all of this?" I said, extending my arm out waving it to point out the place we are in.

"Taking all of what you said to account, your argument that I am the batman would be valid. But you see, you are forgetting one piece of information and that is that I did not use to own all of this and it used to belong to my late master, Bruce Wayne."

I fell deep in thought. My mind was so confused. It made sense and at the same time it didn't. I took a step back and almost fell. I caught myself from falling by placing my hand on the glass case just behind me to support my weight. I looked at the glass cases again and found other suits that were either batman's or his other partners in crime fighting. The red and green suit most notably drew my eyes in.

"Are you okay, Terry?"

I looked at Alfred Pennyworth with wide eyes. His face shows that he is genuinely concerned about my well-being. But what he just said made my head hurt more.

"How do you know my real name?" I never told him my real name and had introduced myself with the same name my former gang called me.

"Because I told him."

Another voice popped out just near me. It was a familiar voice that belonged to someone I have a complicated relationship with.

I narrowed my eyes as I faced towards the owner of the voice.

"Commissioner Gordon..."

She was just instated as the new police commissioner about a week ago. The youngest police commisioner ever in Gotham's history, Barbara Gordon. Her father was also commissioner. The commissioner that replaced her father was removed from his position because of having ties to the mafia which Barbara Gordon uncovered herself.

"Not so thrilled to see me, McGinnis?" She said with a sly smile.

"Of course not." I replied with a smile of my own.

We don't exactly have a great relationship because she's the reason why I'm in this situation in the first place. Four days ago, I was suddenly released from my cell just after three weeks when I was supposed to be in for a year. I was doing time for theft. I was caught because I had to distract the police away from my crew. The police were surprisingly eager to catch us unlike the times they weren't. It turns out the punk that we stole from belonged to a "well-connected" family.

Anyways, I was the only one that got locked up and two weeks later, the new commisioner specially requested for me. I went to her office and was surprised to see my mother there. She had a worried look on her face which made my heart sink. No child would ever want to make their mother sad about them.

My mom surprisingly knew the commisioner. It turns out that her and dad used to work at a crime lab for the late Commisioner James Gordon before they got recruited by A.R.G.U.S., a government agency handling metahumans and research. Similar to S.T.A.R. Labs but under the management of the government. Then my father died and a month later, my mother got fired. She couldn't get another job that required her skills and so she applied for a normal office job that paid less than her jobs before.

That series of events led us to acquire a more conservative lifestyle where money was always a problem for us. Growing up without a father led to many fights. I couldn't go to college because of it. Even though my grades were great, no one offered me a scholarship. But it didn't matter even if I could go because I couldn't leave my Mom and my kid brother here in Gotham alone. If I could take them with me, I would.

Thus leading me to join the mutants. Of course, I didn't plan on doing this forever so I didn't want anyone knowing my background and so I changed my name to Gary.

Surprisingly, I was good at it. Every job we did, as long as I planned it, it would work out perfectly. I would say that I'm very careful and meticulous with it and that's why we didn't get caught until now. I would have done honest manual labor if it paid good but it didn't and I admit that I am also ambitious.

Anyways, after my mother and I talked with the commish, she let my mother go first because she said that she needed to talk with me alone. When we were finally alone, commissioner Barbara Gordon said that even if I go out now, even if I wanted to have a normal job or make a business of my own, I wouldn't be able to because of my criminal record. She offered me a job in exchange for a clean police record. I would be her eyes and ears in the mutants gang. She got info that the head of the mutants was being offered a job by the Maroni family. She wanted me to spy on them.

Earlier, I was found out and almost got lynched by my own crew and now we're here.

"Did you even get anything, McGinnis?" Barbara Gordon asked me.

"I did but you better keep your end of the bargain." I shrugged and replied.

"Good. I will. Don't worry. Alfred here can attest to that." she said with a faint smile.

My gaze went to Alfred who was nodding.

"But I want answers first. What is this place?" I said as I finally calmed down.

"Come on, Terry. You're smarter than that. You already know what this is."

"I am aware of my intellect but I still need to hear it from you. Something like this isn't a normal occurence, you know."

"Well, as you can see, this is the lair of the batman. The batcave."

"So, Bruce Wayne was batman."

"Yes." Barbara said.

"But what about the photos of them together." I asked.

"That was Superman in Batman's suit."

"Huh?"

Barbara laughed before continuing.

"You see, back then there was someone who suspected Bruce of being batman. The truth of that is something he couldn't keep a secret for long. Luckily, he had friends that would "save" him while wearing his suit."

"That makes sense. But what about him?" I pointed at the old man that was with us.

"He was MI5 before he met Thomas Wayne and got hired as a butler."

MI5. A british spy.

I looked at Alfred and he was smiling and waving. It's hard to imagine this sweet looking old man being a trained killer but everything that I found out tonight is also hard to swallow.

"What about you? How are you related to all of this?" I asked her.

She looked at Alfred and they both smiled at each other before looking back at me and calmly saying "Follow me".

She started walking. Then, not far from where we were, she stopped before a glass case.

Something odd happened. She stared at the case and walked towards it. No. Through it.

"Hey w-wait!" I reached out and tried to grab her arm before she fully walked through the case but my hands phased through her.

"...what?" I uttered confused before looking at the glass case that she just walked through.

She now appears to be wearing one of the suits in the encasement.

She smiled and said...

"I'm batgirl"