Batman: Equilibrium

CHAPTER THREE

  Later that night, the restless Commissioner Gordon waited patiently at the roof of the GCPD. The Bat-Signal had been turned on. He silently pases around, holding a small notepad and reading some of the notes in it over and over. "Gordon," a deep voice behind him said. Jim turned around to see the batman looking right at him. It was fairly dark, so he could only see his silhouette, that long cape and those pointy ears that scared him for years. Eventually, he stopped wondering if the bat was going to kill one day, if it was really human, if it could be hurt. After all those years, he finally got to a conclusion. Batman isn't a monster, and he's not human either, it's a force to be reckoned with. A force that just so happens to watch over the people of this city.

  "You got here quick." Said Gordon.

  "I was investigating the crashed vehicles from the bank robbery from earlier tonight. Seems like it's connected to the heist at the Van Cleer building." The Batman replied.

  "Okay, do you have something I don't?"

  "I managed to track down one of the robbers, he gave away the others. But when I asked him about their getaway and the cop cars, he only said that he was 'scared of it,' and 'it didn't take their money.' He was scared. He also didn't know anything about the Van Cleer building heist. Meaning, the person behind the Van Cleer–"

  "Isn't interested in money. So we have another wacko out there, great!" Gordon interrupted. He sighed, looked down at his feet, and up again. "Well, four people didn't show up at the Van Cleer building yesterday, two of them were engineers, they worked on some of the prototypes that got stolen. Another one that didn't show up was a janitor, and lastly, Cameron Van Cleer, the CEO."

  "Wasn't he in Arkham Asylum?" Batman asked.

  "He got out almost three years ago. His parents died in a car accident two months after that, and he now owns the company and their fortune. I suspected foul play but there wasn't enough evidence to prove that, he's been keeping a low profile ever since."

  "I'll investigate him. Keep an eye on the others, Van Cleer is mine." Batman said before turning his back and walking away. He got to the edge of the roof and jumped off. Gordon walked towards the edge and looked down, no sign of him.

  The following morning, a grey, 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia stopped at the gates of a mansion outside the city. From the intercom to the left of the car, the voice of a woman asked, "Who is it?" The man in the car, who was wearing a black suit with a blue tie replied, "Bruce Wayne, I'm here to talk to Mr. Van Cleer about a business project."

  "Sorry, but Mr. Van Cleer is a little b–" the voice cut out. "Mr. Wayne, come on in!" The voice of a man said. The gates opened and as Bruce entered the property, he could see a garden, with a few people taking care of the plants in it, they were all dressed in white. He passed by the fountain at the entrance and parked in front of the steps to the front door. As he got out of his car, he saw a man in a red and black silk robe, looking back at him. He had brown hair, bright-green eyes, and was holding a glass of wine in one hand.

  "I wonder, what brings Bruce Wayne to my humble home at 10 in the morning?" He asked.

  "Mr. Van Cleer, I thought we needed to discuss possible business ventures." Bruce replied with a smirk.

  "Well, I'm always open to discuss such things, usually in my office though, later in the day. You an early bird, Bruce?" Van Cleer asked.

  "No, I actually plan to take a big nap after this." Bruce smiled.

  The men stepped inside. Van Cleer led Bruce to a huge living room, with a fireplace, and a mostly red and brown rug with a small table on top. There was a brown leather sofa to the left and right of the fireplace. Van Cleer went up to the windows to open the curtains. "Please, take a seat," he said. Bruce sat down. Van Cleer squinted his eyes for a bit because of the sunlight, before sitting down himself.

  "So, what is this business venture you'd like to discuss?"

  "Well, I've been keeping an eye out on your company's development of implosion fabrication technology. I hear you've been even working on multiple weapon prototypes."

  "Yes, as a matter of fact, some of them were stolen last night! Can you believe that? It's crazy, we had this huge steel door that led to a storage room, and you know what they did? They put a 6 inch hole in it! Apparently they used some gadget my own company makes to do that, and I had no idea such a thing existed! You know what? Maybe I should buy security systems from your company! They went in and out of my building like it was nothing!" Van Cleer said between chuckles. "And, can you believe it? The FBI isn't even investigating it! There are powerful weapons on the streets threatening civilians and they're not lifting a finger. Sure, leave it to the batman and his crooked cop factory to take care of it! It's like the rest of the world abandoned this city." He added with a concerned look on his face.

  "Yeah, it's a shame, really. But, as I was saying, my company has some of the best engineers in the country. With my company's engineering and your company's new technology, we could create powerful, and most importantly, cheap weapons. We could be looking at one of the biggest military contracts of the century!" Bruce explained.

  Bruce noticed a maid passing by, she had a scar across the left side of her face, it was thin, as if it was done with a blade. This concerned him.

  "You know what? It's an intriguing idea. I think we should discuss this in a proper meeting." Van Cleer replied.

  "Yes, of course, and I'm sorry I had to barge in here for this. I tried to meet with you the other day but you weren't in your office. I tried again yesterday and you weren't there either. Where have you been?" Bruce asked.

  "Oh, well, you might have heard that I was institutionalized. I have this condition, a rare case of OCD. I always thought I could keep it under control. But one day, I just lost it, so I checked into Arkham Asylum. Just imagine what it's like to be locked away with a bunch of demented criminals. All those freaks and homicidal nutcases. It drains away your spirit. But I met someone there. Her name's Margaret, Margaret Pye. She had trouble keeping control as well. So we bonded. We talked a lot about our issues and we helped each other. Unfortunately, only I completely recovered. So the other day, I visited my old friend at the asylum, and spent the rest of the day reflecting, I guess. That also happened to be the day someone decided to steal from my building." Van Cleer explained.

  "And what about yesterday? Where were you then?"

  "I had a cold," Van Cleer replied while grinning.

  "Really? You seem just fine."

  Van Cleer's grin disappeared. He snapped his fingers four times. His eyes left Bruce for a moment, then fixated on him again.

  "You said that you tried talking to me the other day, that I wasn't in my office. Then tell me why my secretary didn't mention it when she called me yesterday." Van Cleer asked.

  Bruce got tense, he clenched his fists and put on a fake smile to say, "Okay, truth is–"

  "Actually, no. I don't know what you're trying to do or why, but I don't care. You're a really bold businessman, Bruce. But you missed, and I'm no longer interested. Now, get the hell out of my house." Van Cleer raised his voice.

  Bruce went out the front door, got in his car, and left the mansion. As Bruce was entering the city, he heard his ringtone coming from his earpiece. He clicked on it's button and said, "Hey, Alfred."

  "Good morning, Master Bruce. How did the meeting go?" Alfred replied.

  "It could've gone better, but I underestimated him. I'm not sure if it's him or not. He seems like just another millionaire sleazeball. Though, he seemed off, and was admitted into Arkham Asylum. I'll definitely keep investigating him."

  "Perhaps you should look into the other possible suspects before continuing with Van Cleer."

  "He did mention he was friends with our old friend Margaret Pye. After I look at the others, I'll give her a visit." Bruce said.

  In that very moment, back at Van Cleer's mansion, Cameron was sitting in a red armchair across from the fireplace in his living room. He was staring at the fire, almost as if he was enchanted by it. The fire then started to get weak, and Cameron frowned. "Throw another one in!" He said as he snapped his fingers four times. A maid was standing next to the fireplace, she grabbed a piece of wood from a pile next to her and threw it in the fire. Cameron snapped his fingers four times again as he stared at the slowly growing fire. The fire got bigger, and he smiled.