36 Chapter 36 Alice's Performance
"How?" After a long time within the tightening atmosphere, Bruce finally uttered a word, emotionlessly. What one would expect from a normal person who just had his cover blown didn't happen.
The man didn't twitch, flinch, or move so much as a muscle at the revelation. Nevertheless, his tone had gotten visibly colder.
He didn't confirm, nor did he bother to deny it at. He just asked a one word question that was an answer on its own.
This was the outward facade Batman always portrayed. Dark, gloomy, composed, always seeming to adapt to every situation. Worthy of being the man who fought against God's with nothing but his peak human Physique and a bunch of high-tech Bat gear.
Nevertheless, that didn't mean that Bruce wasn't unsettled inwardly.
The situation had spiraled out of his control less than a minute after he arrived. As Batman, he always trained himself not to underestimate anyone. To vigorously prepare for the unknown, to expect the unexpected.
Living in a city with mentally insane and psychologically criminals like Joker and riddler had taught him that and much more.
Especially when it came to the joker, a guy who could take a beating until all the bones in his body were broken and still give off a creepy smile like it was nothing.
You could never guess what the hell was going on within that horror space the mad clown had for a mind.
As for the riddler, well, that was another nutcase that wasn't mentally mad, but was equally troublesome. A depressed, attention-seeking maniac with a goal to show his brilliance to the world in what could be deemed to be the most ridiculous way possible.
I mean, come on! Who still goes on about riddles in the 21st century?
And these two insane freaks were just the regular bad guys that Batman had to face. Then let's add poison ivy, killer croc, Bane, Clay face.... when someone thinks about it carefully, it was a miracle worth testifying about in church that Batman was still alive after all this.
Point being, with all the things he had experienced in the past decade, there were hardly any things in the world that could catch batman off guard.
And strangely, while this was one of them, Bruce was more concerned on something else.
That concern was vividly represented in his question. For Artificial intelligence to clearly call his name, Bruce knew that the Jig was up. What he wanted to know was how high up had it gotten to.
He immediately prioritized what he felt was important.
Seeing that Batman was unmoved by Alice's remarks, Lane nodded inwardly a bit. His evaluation of The Dark Knight just grew a little higher.
"As the famous detective of Gotham, I believe you can deduce the answer to that question yourself". Lane said in a bored tone.
Since Batman didn't give off any exaggerated reactions, his interest had waned considerably.
"This.... AI?" J'onn asked with a bit of surprise. The situation had taken a sudden turn that he didn't expect at all.
"I'm Alice, currently the most advanced artificial intelligence on your planet. Created by the one your species popularly refer to as The Deviant, Amari, and currently under the command and control of General Sam Lane. But you can call me by my original name, The Red Queen". The childish voice of the AI answered the Green Martian.
Bruce, whose face carried no expressions frowned inwardly again. As soon as the holographic AI called him out, he already had his suspicions on her origins.
And now his suspicions were confirmed.
"Please do not be mistaken. Your secret identities were not told to the General by The Deviant, but analyzed by me through the loose ends I uncovered".
The Red queen paused for a moment, placed her holographic hand on her chin effectively making a cute pondering expression, before continuing.
"Or to put it in better terms, the loose ends you failed to properly tie up".
Bruce's eyes narrowed. His brain spun into full gear and deductions came up one after another.
"The sidekick's incident". Bruce said calmly. It wasn't a question but a statement showing that The Dark Knight was a hundred percent confident in his deductions.
"Correct". A holographic picture appeared beside the red Queen.
Bruce stood unmoved.
"But also partially incorrect as well". However, the next words successfully threw him off his game a bit. The identities of the Justice league members were kept secret from everyone except themselves.
There were even some who didn't know the true identities of others within the league.
For example, those new additions who had just newly joined the league. As fresh recruits, they didn't have enough rapport and see trust level with the rest of the Leaguers to fully know their identities.
As although the Justice league liked to treat all members equally, in truth, social hierarchy and relevant status wouldn't change in any organization, no matter how good-natured the founders were.
It was absurd to think a new addition would get the same level of trust and status as the founding seven league members, or even those who came before them.
Unless, of course, you already had a deep enough trust with the originals or had strong enough power to gain their attention.
After all, not everyone could have the same power level as Superman. In the end, the one with the biggest fist always had the highest speaking status.
Even until this moment, no one else among the league knew Shazam's true identity besides Batman, who found out accidentally.
If that weren't the case, how could they let Billy Batson, a teenager, sit on the same level as the other seven? At one point, when his identity was exposed, the league even discussed ejecting him from the league due to his young status.
But that wasn't the point.
All League members knew the risks that accompanied their identities as heroes. So therefore, the number one rule in the Superhero community apart from the famous, strictly implemented No Kill Rule in the DC universe was to guard your secret identity tighter than a security team responsible for the safety of the President.
This was more or less for their own good. If not, the villains you fought last Tuesday could come knocking on your door for a "friendly chat" before you get back home on Sunday afternoon.
Batman was the staunchest supporter of this. He even emphasized it to Robin so much that the boy wonder didn't even let his teammates know his true identity during their initial meeting.
For Superman as well, Batman hit this point harder than a construction worker on a Payday.
So for someone like Batman, it was impossible to leave any so-called loose ends. The others basically had a tight leash on their identities as well.
Clark, who played Superman with an open face, couldn't even be recognized due to a pair of glasses.
The only mistake they had ever made wasn't even theirs to begin with. The Black Ops squad had used their abilities without donning their alter ego's. Effectively exposing the fact that they were the Justice league proteges.
The League didn't blame them for it, nor did they have any plans on doing so. They were young after all, so it was normal for young people to make mistakes.
Only this mistake was starting to look a little more costly.
Alice didn't give the broody bat a chance to voice his doubts, as the holographic projection displayed a video.
The video of the Young Justice team fighting Amari about a month ago.
Only this time, their faces weren't blurred at all.
The video paused, and six pictures appeared alongside various data and information.
"Robin, Aqualad, Kidflash, well-known Justice league Proteges, are famous enough on their own. The other three are relatively unknown since the Justice League made no announcement of their existence nor have they been seen fighting alongside any league members save for the newly emerged Superboy who appeared alongside Superman to save a falling school bus on a collapsing bridge. But, based on the skills and abilities they portrayed, their respective mentors can be easily deduced".
"One of Superman, One of Green arrow and the last from you Mr. J'onzz". The Red Queen stayed towards Martian Manhunter. The later could only give a frank nod.
"I analyzed their pictures without their masks and ran them through facial recognition. After obtaining their identities, it was easier to perform a wider search to gain the identities of their respective mentors. Simply retrieving and filtering through all information on whom they have been in contact with since the day of their birth in their records, numerous things could be easily inferred".
"Combined with using complex algorithms to perform accurate predictions and calculations, the rest came easy. To be honest, it was easier than it sounds". Her voice was plain and contained cold, hard facts.
"And that is where the loose ends of the older generation come in. Barry Allen, a CSI working for the Central City Police Department, has some minor imperfections in his submitted reports on reviewing crime scenes. Almost as if he were actually there the moment the majority of them happened. His close relationship with Kidflash, Wally West added together with the coincidence that Mr. Allen was struck by a bolt of lightning, the striking signature of the flash if I might add, in the Particle accelerator incident of star labs yet mysteriously survives and his awakening after being placed in a coma for nine months also coincidentally matches the time period of the flash's emergence seems too much of a coincidence. I believe you would agree with my perspective, wouldn't you, Mr. Wayne?"
The childish voice sounded in his ears.
Bruce's lips subconsciously twitched. Yes, when explained like that, those were too many coincidences to round off.
Quite frankly, at this point, he didn't like where this was going. And why did this AI give him the same feeling of that bastard alien, who in Bruce's professional opinion would achieve great success if he decided to become a lawyer?
Oh right, this AI came from him. Apparently, even the product has the same aura as its creator.
But Batman's mind barely lingered on that point for a second. A new problem had arisen, The Flash was exposed and so was he.
Still, the Red Queen didn't seem to have finished.
"The situation of the following three actually lead to dead ends, however". Her evaluation of the Junior speedster was over and the pictures of Superboy, Miss Martian and Aqualad enlarged.
"The identity of Superboy has no linkage to Superman apart from his origins, as the latter has not come into contact with anyone else". The Red Queen stated Superboy''s situation candidly.
Unlike the others, Conner was a clone of Superman. One that Clark honestly wanted nothing to do with at this time. Due to this, Superman hadn't contacted the problematic, moody teenager even after Batman's discussion with him and therefore, his identity was temporarily undiscovered.
Bruce also realized this situation and for the first time ever, the Caped crusader felt a little sweaty and breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully, Clark was a resistant to his idea at first and hadn't made contact.
If Superman's identity was exposed, then....
Moving on. The similar situation was emphasized on the other two. Aqualad was the protégé of the Sea king, Aquaman.
The latter's secret identity was no secret to the government at all, so it was useless. Although Martian Manhunter liked to disguise himself as a black guy occasionally, knowing his true identity was also worthless.
J'onn could easily change form to assume another identity anytime, anywhere.
The threat against him wasn't that high. When it finally rested on Robin, Bruce at this point had already deduced how in his mind.
After all, the fact that Dick Grayson was adopted by Bruce Wayne was no secret. Coupled with the situation of Gotham and the means of Batman, it was clear that only someone who had a lot of cash flow could be qualified to become The Dark Knight.
Add that to the billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne suddenly disappearing for five years when he was younger and his tragic origin story, it wouldn't take a genius to put two and two together.
Of course, now Batman had an urge within his heart . One to destroy this artificial intelligence at all costs.
