49 Contingency #49

Gotham City

The Batcave

"Did you find the person you were looking for, Bruce?" Batgirl asked, her tone exhausted and expression haggard as she looked away from the Batcomputer, turning to her mentor, to which the latter silently nodded in confirmation.

"What do you think?" Batgirl asked, raising an eyebrow as she noticed something off regarding the caped crusader's demeanor. Had it been anyone else, they might have failed to notice the subtle change, including the current and former Robin.

However, Barbra was more attentive, and after spending so much time with her mentor, it was only natural for her to notice even the most subtle changes in his mood.

"It doesn't matter. I have other things to worry about right now," Batman replied, much to Batgirl's increasing confusion. However, she didn't broach the subject as the caped crusader's tone brokered no argument.

"You've been in the cave for a few hours now. Head home and take a break," Batman blankly instructed as he put a hand on the redhead's shoulder, causing her to stop working and turn to him with a confused expression.

"If you say so..." Batgirl replied, slowly nodding as she realized her mentor wasn't asking. She sighed, messaging her stiff shoulders as she began walking away without another word.

Batgirl didn't know what happened to cause Batman to act this way, but if it was something that concerned even her mentor, it was way beyond her level, and she knew better than to interfere.

Batman waited for the redhead to leave before taking off his cowl, taking a deep breath as he held his forehead, sat in front of the supercomputer, and got to work.

"Batman, security level; omega. Password; Delta-Charly-27-5-1939," he calmly said as he turned to the Batcomputer's giant screen. "Add a new entry to the database; superhuman threats," he remarked, momentarily pausing to think.

"File name; Grayson Whitlock. Affiliation; unknown, possibly none. Threat level; unknown. Further investigation is required," he stated, watching as the Batcomputer began registering the information.

"The target seems to be mentally unstable. Possible conditions may include; borderline-personality-disorder, disassociation with reality, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Further investigation is required."

"The target is a possible meta-human with enhanced intellect, strength, and access to a pocket dimension used to store a number of technologically advanced gadgets (source of power and technology; unknown). Further investigation required."

"The target does not appear to be hostile. However, that might change with time because of the target's unstable mental condition. Caution is advised. Entry end."

Batman let out a tired breath after he finished the new entry, hesitating for a second before he firmed his resolve.

"Entries codenamed; Atom (Ray Palmer), Green Arrow, Hawkman, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), The Flash, Zatanna, and several others have acted in discordance with the League imposed code of heroic conduct."

"Activation of contingency protocol, Brother Eye is required to make sure something like this will not happen again. Authorization to activate protocol, effective immediately."

The caped crusader concluded, his expression turning gloomy for a second. However, it quickly turned to a solemn one after a second as he stood up and walked away from the computer.

"Batman out."

...

I sighed, rubbing my eyes in exhaustion as I turned to the ceiling, finding it more appealing than the computer screen I'd been staring at for the past two days.

I told Selina I could find the culprit in a week. But it was a bluff to get her to help me get a new powerful computer because even though I could do it, acting on the culprit's location and identity would take several more days.

I'd intended to leave myself some wiggle room and take the occasional break from grinding since staring into a computer screen was not exactly my idea of fun.

However, Batman was not to be put on hold, so I decided to forgo sleep and pour all my time into my grinding to finish leveling up the Computers skill as soon as possible.

"Whatcha doin'?" Harley asked as she stood behind me, shoving her face in front of mine, making me palm my forehead in frustration as I looked away from her foolishly grinning visage.

"For the thousandth time, I'm trying to track down the culprit, so stop bothering me and go be crazy somewhere else," I replied, sighing as I felt my shoulders slump, a mixture of irritation, exhaustion, and exasperation washing over me.

Because of the deal with Batman, I had to keep Harley under my watch to make sure she wouldn't go out and get us both sent to prison or worse, so I let her stay in my apartment.

And let me tell you, the crazy blonde hasn't made it easy with her constant questions, constantly nagging me to go out and do something at every chance she got while I was trying to concentrate on my work.

I honestly didn't think Batman would decide to leave her here, even though I demanded it. At worst, I thought I'd get a beating before the caped crusader took her and left.

Sure, I'd get my ass beaten, but I'll have an excuse to extend the amount of time I have to find the culprit because of injury, and I'd still make my point and get that I won't give in without a fight across to the dark knight, which was the main reason for my actions.

But no, the brooding son of a bitch had to choose this moment to be reasonable, much to my chagrin and dismay, leaving me to suffer at the hands of the demented blonde doctor.

Honestly, a beating would have been much better than this shit.

"Gladly," Harley replied, grinning as she turned around, making her way to the apartment's door, and looking at her, I had the urge to bang my head against the desk.

"Somewhere else in the apartment!" I exclaimed, standing up and racing towards the door before the crazy blonde could reach it, causing her to click her tongue in annoyance.

"I'm bored! If ya keep me cooped up in this dingy apartment, I'll die of boredom!" Harley exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips as she regarded me with a scowl.

"Then please do! You'll be saving me a lot of trouble!" I replied, gnashing my teeth in frustration and punching a hole in the wall as the accumulated exhaustion and irritation from staring at a computer screen for two days without sleep finally caused me to snap.

Harley looked incredibly offended at my words and opened her mouth to reply, but nothing other than her stutterings came out as she kept pointing at me with an outraged expression.

"Hey! That's fucking rude! Ya can't just open yer mouth an' tell someone to die, Mistah!" Harley exclaimed, finally regaining composure as she sent me another offended scowl.

I turned to the hole in the wall, getting a full view of the fortunately vacant apartment next door, and took a deep breath to calm myself before breaking something else in my anger.

'Calm down... deep breaths....' I closed my eyes and took another deep breath, and finally felt myself calm down. 'Harley might have a point... I need to get out and blow up steam before I blow up instead...' I sighed and turned to my character screen to see my progress so far.

...

Name: Grayson Whitlock

Race: Human

Gender: Male

Age: 17

Archetype: (The Mad Scientist level 0)

Class: [Thief (level MAX)] [Fighter (level MAX)] [Acrobat (Level MAX)] [Programmer Level 14]

...

Stats:

Body: 50

Mind: 50

Spirit: 50

Stat Points: 27

.....

Skills:

[Brawling (level 35)]

[Crime (level 25)]

[Acrobatics (level 12)]

[Computers (level 13)]

....

Perks:

[Dormant Metahuman]

[Silent Step]

[Eidetic Kinesthesia]

[Superhuman Stamina]

[Perfect Recall]

[Accelerated Healing]

[Energy Detector]

[Energy Concentration]

...

Archetype powers:

[Network Crash]

...

'So I've gained eight levels in the Computers skill... not bad... maybe I do have some time to waste after all...' I let out a drawn breath and opened my eyes to look at the crazy blonde.

"I won't apologize. You've been an absolute menace and a pain in my ass for the past two days," I calmly remarked, much to the crazy blonde's bemusement as she raised an eyebrow. I might have snapped, but she had it coming, and I refuse to apologise for speaking the truth.

"But if you want to go out that badly, then there's an Integang hideout at the docks that we can attack," I added, gesturing to the side, to which her expression considerably relaxed, but she still looked offended. Not that I cared anyway.

"Then what are we waitin' for?!" Harley asked, grinning as she walked past me towards the door.

...

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