"Better. Not great. I've asked Zatanna to have a chat with her, which was a little awkward. Ah, if you don't mind me asking-?"
"I don't remember my actions under the influence of Starrotech." He switches tools as he continues his detailed examination of the H-Dial. "Other forms of mind control vary greatly in what the subject remembers. I remember clearly what I did under the influence of both Smilex and fear toxin."
Great, two young ladies with crushes on OL commiserating over how that lead to them being zapped by mind-altering energies... And I'm surprised Bats is looking over the dial. Then again, it's probably safer
here than anywhere else on Earth, given the Light's ability to raid other secure sites
"I remember everything the Ophidian and I did. The only reason that I don't remember everything we saw is that there was too much of it." I come to a halt on the other side of the work bench. "Any progress?"
"This technology is centuries ahead of anything native to Earth. But it's designed to look like a child's toy."
Heh. Memories too great for any mortal kind, eh? On the other hand, you would have been seeing all of humanity in all its glory and horrors. And few people can cope with the
latter in its entirety.
"If I had to guess, I'd say that it was a child's toy. The Reach were using humans as metahuman soldiers. Give things like that to a child when they're young, get them used to having their bodies suddenly changing and them needing to work out what they can do…"
"I doubt the Reach established a vast interstellar empire by expending resources unproductively."
...Would go some way to explaining the bizarre
variety of some of the forms. Still, I get the feeling the Reach weren't
responsible for the dial, they merely made
use of it...
"They're rich. They can throw away-" I start taking another look around, then stop myself. "-resources other people can't comprehend if it advances their goals. If a few dozen children die and they get one really useful metahuman out of it, that's well worth it. And they're good enough at social conditioning to make their serfs accept that reasoning."
"I'm more interested in detecting its use."
Yeah, Batman's probably not the best comparison on
that aspect of his work. Ah, good old Bats, always expecting the worst, and being... I won't say pleasantly surprised, he's rarely happy outside of certain circumstances, but... Let's go with '
satisfied' when things go well.
"Why?" I shrug. "That's not our future any more. That comes from what is now an alternate timeline, and there won't be any more."
"The Chinese don't like share intelligence data, but they've been raided by both durlans and dominators. Human biological data is already out in the galaxy."
And probably confusing scientists who look into it. "You say these 'urflings' can manifest all manner of
strange abilities from exposure to things that
should kill them? Not with
this genetic makeup! I just can't explain it!"
"Neither of those races are going to share it. Dominators don't use proxies and.. durlans are severely endangered."
"Social changes happen. Or the durlans might get an offer they can't afford to refuse. Are you sure that the Reach wouldn't pay for information on your homeworld?"
I'm sure they
would. But OL is
kind of relying on 'secrecy through obscurity' here... No-one would look twice at a little blue mudball whose dominant species has
barely left their own atmosphere. I suppose that's the
plan, anyway.
"I suppose they… They probably would. But there's no flow of information from here to there. Local trade networks don't go that far, sensors don't reach that far…"
"You don't believe they could send ships here?"
That kind of move would get them travelling through more than a few Guardian-claimed sectors. Even if their ships are sneaky,
someone's going to notice and take note.
"No, they totally could, but it's a very long way and there's no real reason for them to do so. I've mentioned Earth's name, but I haven't done anything that would lead them here."
"You brought a fleet here. How do you know they weren't monitored?"
That is a good point, but really, do you know how
hard it is to track a fleet in interstellar space, Bats? Once they're out of light-speed contact (whether visual or sensors) they're going to be
hard to spot without near-omniscient tech.
I shrug. "By what? They'd probably know that the ships left, but there's next to no residue to track and they don't have monitoring equipment this far from their space. All communication from the ships are monitored and only the bridge crew get their actual location. And you better believe that the crew are thoroughly vetted."
"Very well."
Well, sounds like his concerns are mollified.. for now. Though you
know he's just itching to throw this in OL's face the
next time an alien fleet turns up...
"Any news on the assassination attempt?"
"I haven't been able to find anyone working on a weapon like the one you described. There's no chatter in the Gotham underworld about what happened."
So it wasn't a local. Not surprising, given the
tech involved.
He carefully runs a miniature vacuum nozzle along the holes in the dial.
"No one saw anything out of the ordinary. No one knows anything. If I were you, I would check to see if any members of the former government of the Alignment hired an assassin from off-world."
...Huh. They would have a motive to have OL killed. We saw the opportunity. Who knows
how long the shooter was waiting around for OL to show his face... But Means?
"No. The ones who survived the purge know they're being closely monitored, and the ones who didn't… Didn't. But, thank you. It's nice to know that for once no one is throwing weapons at the Gotham underworld and seeing what happens."
"It's certainly a change of pace."
The usual misfits being well-behaved then? Those
not secure in Arkham, Blackgate or Belle Reve...
"Have you tried that yourself?"
"No. I won't be attempting human trials for weeks, if at all. Everyone who used a variant of this device suffered psychological damage from repeated transformations."
That is true. I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't cause some manner of dismorphia. Like, you don't feel
right without the rush of transformation and the
strange new form it brings... Certainly, the few we've seen who used it are... Not exactly the most
stable people.
I nod. Fair enough. Compared to abilities we can already produce… A random low-tier super power each time isn't all that useful. I could check it more myself, but if I'm not planning on spending much time in Gotham…
"Can I ask you a personal question?"
Who knows, maybe Hinon would find it entertaining for a
couple of minutes? If nothing else, you could gauge how well it works away from Earth, and on non-humans.
His eyes flick towards me for an instant before returning to Dial.
"Yes."
...Why do I get the feeling you might
regret agreeing in a few minutes, Bruce...
"Have you ever thought about retiring from superheroism? I mean… When you started, Gotham's police department were mob enforcers in uniforms and Falcone ruled the city. Now the police are actually reasonably good at their jobs, the old crime families are gone, and… Even your supervillains are reasonably under control. You've pretty much won."
"I'm functionally insane, remember?"
...I won't lie, OL
deserved that. Though surely you wouldn't mind having
more time to spend with Talia,
hmm?
"So..?"
"So it doesn't matter. There's always more work to do and I'm always driven to do it."
Just don't feel
comfortable unless you're on a case, huh? I'm reminded of
another great detective. Admittedly,
he didn't run around London dressed like a Bat... Just enjoyed some recreational drug use and fiddling with his violin...
"Even if you could do more good doing something else?"
"Such as?"
"Running for political office, for example."
Batman for mayor! Or rather, Bruce Wayne for mayor... It would be interesting, see him follow in his father's footsteps with a more philanthropic leadership for Gotham.
"It's a little late for an Oval Office bid."
"The mayor's office. Or the governor's. With the disruption to international trade, there's an opportunity to bring industry back to the US; to reverse the events that resulted in it becoming a high crime city in the first place. High employment means less crime. Gotham's problems could be completely solved."
And then what would Bruce Wayne be, without the need to be Batman? I suppose he
could go in a more '
Brave and the Bold' direction, bringing the 'Hammers of Justice' to the world...
"Have you ever thought about retiring?"
"I retire the moment I'm more of an impediment to my objectives than a boon. Not sure what I'd do with my time instead, but I'd be satisfied to see our civilisation improving."
Maybe go dimension-travelling, looking for interesting
potential Lanterns. I mean, we do know he
eventually goes on a walkabout in about a thousand years' time...
"It wouldn't work for me. Without the violence, it doesn't feel like I'm making a difference. The proximate cause of my parents' death was a violent thug, and that association is indelibly linked in my mind. Even if I was completely certain that there was a better way to fight crime, a better way to bring about the world my parents would want for me, I wouldn't be able to do it. That's why it chilled me to hear that you considered becoming more like me a desirable option. To say nothing of what actually happened."
Okay,
who are you and what did you do with the
real Batman?
But seriously, it feels
weird to see him so... Self-aware. I guess marriage and
eventual fatherhood have him being a bit more introspective...
"I guess mentally stable people don't dress up in bright costumes and punch evildoers in the face."
"On the contrary. In my experience the people who take the route I was forced down and you chose for yourself are in the minority."
Hey, you
chose to embark on a lifelong crusade to make sure no-one would suffer the way you did. No-one would have faulted you for deciding to live up to your playboy persona, if not for your own determination. Bit of a 'Character is what you are in the dark' moment, really...
"But if you really think it's that bad for people… Why stay on it? You can change."
For a moment he stops working on the Dial and looks directly at me.
And that's an
armour-piercing question if ever I heard one.
"Just because I realise that it's a bad way to live, that doesn't mean that I actually want to change. I like being Batman in a way that I've never liked being anything else."
I nod, turning away.
"And I'm the last person who'll criticise you for that. Thank you for your help."
Indeed.
That is... an
impressive level of self-actualisation. No wonder the Bat-Dad is so awesome. This is a Batman who knows he
could quit, but keeps on because he
enjoys it... Not necessarily the
horrific parts, but he enjoys the
challenge, the mental and physical challenge of, well, being
Batman.
