He Who Laughs Last

CH 10: An Ally

Luke Fox, acting CEO in the wake of his father's heart attack, was still in the office. He would rather be anywhere else, but his father had told the board of directors that, should anything happen to him, his son would take over the vacant position. Objectively, Luke understood that it meant his father had an enormous amount of faith and trust in his son, significantly more than he had in the oft treacherous board, but it was hard to not resent the decision. Luke had always been drawn to action, wanting to be a soldier all throughout his formative years, and despised the thought of spending his days in an office, trying to make sense of all the paperwork and forms placed in front of him. He groaned, scrubbing his eyes with his palms, and laying his head on the oversized desk in front of him. His father had always preferred simplicity to luxury but, as head of an extremely powerful company, he couldn't take a cozy little office somewhere in the back. Luke understood the sentiment, looked around at the intimidating office, and also understood why it was necessary. The company was such a household name, of such worldwide importance, that any business that was conducted in this office was practically politics. It was important to be a force to be reckoned with, an international power all focused behind one man, and that man could do no worse than to appear meek or as a pauper.
A buzzer went off. So dull was the day to day work in this job, that Luke had taken over the duties of the chief of security, in an attempt to add any kind of excitement or action to the endless paperwork and meetings. So far, the extra duties had entailed nothing more than assigning various tech guys to deal with cyber attacks, and more paperwork. Now, though, he finally had something to do. He leapt from behind his father's desk and nearly sprinted to his private elevator. Someone had broken in.

.....

Bruce Wayne needed some stuff. He had already decided that he was going to go about this Knight business properly, and that meant he wasn't going to just go running about through the streets with a gun, like so many others were. He needed to be prepared. He needed gear, and not some junk hockey pads or something, he needed top of the line stuff. Ballistic armor, stuff the military wouldn't even drop the money to buy. And he knew just where to get it. Research and Development, compliments of Fox Tech. He knew what it was he would be grabbing. Hell, he had to sign practically a new non disclosure agreement a day with all the stuff they were working on. He just needed to not get caught. As he looked his boss in the eyes, he knew he really should have thought a bit beyond getting in and grabbing the stuff.

.....

Luke Fox had found the source of the break in. The computer had logged the unauthorized removal of prototype tech, and he assumed a competitor had gotten sick of trying to steal designs and was going directly after the products. Finding a familiar face trying to walk out with some very basic ballistic armor, though, was not at all what he had expected. Now, he sat with Bruce Wayne, trying to figure out why the division's resident wet blanket and antisocial was trying to steal one of the least expensive prototypes they had.
"You're going after the Joker?" Luke couldn't comprehend the words he was hearing. "Bruce, I know- no, I guess I really don't. I've tried to get to know you, and you were so timid and introverted that I could barely get you to meet my gaze. I don't know where you're coming from with this, or where you got this idea, but I have to tell you that it's a horrible one." Bruce opened his mouth to answer, to account for his actions, for his reasoning, but he couldn't. He froze, and couldn't speak. It was one thing to decide to put aside the fear, the terror, and another to do it. He found himself spiraling back into self doubt, wondering why he was doing this in the first place. Luke watched as the man collapsed in on himself, and felt for him. He didn't know what was going on, why he was so miserable, but he understood the fear that Joker had instilled into the city. He reached out and hesitantly placed a hand on the man's shoulder, ignoring the slight flinch when he did so. "Look, I get that you want to do something. I get feeling powerless in the face of all this and wanting to put a stop to it. Hell, with everything this guy's done, I want to go kill him myself sometimes. I really think you should leave this to the police, though. Plus, I've seen you around other people. I really don't think you could hurt someone. Have you thought about getting a therapist or something?"

.....

Bruce stiffened, and remembered why he needed to do this. Why he needed to prove to himself that he was more than he thought he was. He sat up, looked his boss in the eyes. "I have a therapist. I've been going to him for years. Every time I leave his office, I feel worse about myself. I have to do this. I have nothing, no one. I have to prove that I am worth the air I breathe, worth the space I inhabit. You know this city. Better than I do, probably. You've seen the corruption, the power plays, the things people do for money. I have to stop him. No one else will. The mobs in the streets is just more chaos. More fuel for the fire he's lit. I can't just take a gun into the streets and shoot at anything that moves hoping to get him. I have to plan, to research, to have the gear to do so, to train myself to be able to find him, fight through anyone in my way, and beat him. I have to cleanse Gotham of him and all of his people." He sat back, his shoulders squared and his piece said, and waited for a response.

.....

Luke watched as the cringing, fearful man in front of him changed, watched as he summoned up confidence Luke didn't know he had, looked him in the eye and convinced him. And Luke was convinced. In front of him was a broken man who was fixing himself, and he knew the way to do that was to fix Gotham as well. To fill the hole in himself with his city, and heal her alongside himself. And Luke approved. He stood, turned, and led the Bruce he had never met deeper into R&D. The city was thoroughly broken, and would need the best equipment possible to fix. Equipment Fox Tech would provide.

.....

Joker was delighted. Positively giddy with excitement. His announcement had borne fruit and the streets were awash with mobs and violence. Burning, looting, gang wars, all had stemmed from just a few words and a dead weatherman. Police were stretched thinner than they had ever been, trying to keep order, and failing miserably. Everything was going perfectly. The next step? Send his gangs out into the streets, antagonize the people, the police, the other gangs, everybody. He had to have a constant presence so everyone would stay wound up, stay afraid and furious, keep building and building into a crescendo of destruction. This city would burn itself alive to kill him. It was going to be glorious.