Batman: Hero of Gotham

57- Oswald's Secrets

Bruce went down to the Batcave. He turned on the switch that activated the Batcomputer and everything else in the Batcave to turn on. Alfred was with him. "How go the repairs?" Alfred asked Bruce.

"Going offline kept Penguin from finding the batcave, but it also scrambled our system. The Batcomputer barely runs, and worse...most of my tech isn't working. It's going to take time to get everything up and running again. If it gets running again. It's going to make tracking down Lady Arkham a hell of a lot harder." Bruce replied as the Batcomputer tried loading up.

"You've proven that you don't need armor or gadgets to help this city. In the end, Bruce Wayne was the one to stop Penguin. Bruce. These last few weeks...I worry about the toll they've taken on you. Facing off against Harvey and Oswald in a matter of days. I don't mean just the physical toll. Those were men you once trusted. After finding out what you did about your father. People must seem a great disappointment to you. Always letting you down...even those whom you admire."

"Not all people. You've never disappointed me, Alfred."

"But, I have. Everything that happened...I could have stopped it. If I'd done something all those years ago. This is my fault. All of it! I told you I wanted to leave your father's employ. But if only I had the guts to do something instead. Your mother, she wanted that -- wanted to put an end to his crimes. If I'd helped her -- If I'd stopped Thomas -- none of these horrors would have occurred. Lady Arkham, Oswald, even Harvey."

"I don't blame you for what happened, Alfred. You did the best you could in an impossible situation. It helped make me the man I am today."

"Thank you, Bruce."

"Our work isn't done. The Children of Arkham are still out there, and Lady Arkham."

"With both Penguin and Mayor Dent off the board, she's the only remaining piece."

"We need to figure out er next move. The only thing we do know is she moved on from her plan to poison the city. With Penguin gone and my CEO access restored, I can finally log in to Wayne Enterprises. I can see exactly what Oswald was doing during his time in charge. If I cross reference that with all the data we have on Vicki Vale...we might be able to figure out the Children of Arkham's next move." Bruce logged in to Wayne Enterprises.

"Your administrative access to Wayne Enterprises should have been reinstated by now, along with your title of CEO."

"Let's see what Oswald was doing while he sat in my chair." Bruce searched for Oswald Cobblepot on the Wayne Enterprises website. Bruce clicked on the surveillance folder. "Penguin was tapping into surveillance systems across Gotham. Any building using Wayne Tech security could be spied on from the CEO's office."

"How is that any different from the 'backdoor' into the Wayne network that he uncovered."

"It's not. Unless...hold on." Bruce clicked on another folder. A map of an island popped with various other information. "Oswald was trying to buy an island?"

"What on earth for?"

"Looks like he was using his new legal control of Carmine Falcone's assets and likeness to brand the place, make it some kind of tourist attraction. He was planning to call it Falcone Island." Bruce shook his head back and forth. "We need to figure out Lady Arkham's next move."

"Of course."

Bruce clicked on the third folder. "Oswald certainly wasn't very frugal with my money."

"You have a few yachts to return, it appears."

"Also explains how the Children of Arkham had a seemingly endless supply of guns. Oswald was using Wayne money to arm them." Bruce clicked on the fourth folder which had to do with records. "Oswald altered several public records using the Wayne network." There was another folder inside the current folder that Bruce was in. It was named Bruce Wayne. He clicked on it and it opened up his records which were altered as well. "Oswald manipulated my records as well."

"It would appear your degree was in...sociology?"

"And my medical records."

"Those are some colorful diseases."

"Annoying, but not hard to fix." Bruce quickly undid his records.

"That's better."

Bruce exited out of his own files and clicked into Oswald's records. "No surprise here. Oswald wiped away any trace of his criminal records. His background is completely fabricated."

"He was enrolled in...Cambridge?! Ridiculous!"

"Calm down, Alfred. I'm sure the board realizes by now that they were fooled." Bruce then clicked on the last personal record which was of Vicki Vale. 

"All mention of her birth name, 'Victoria Arkham', is completely gone."

"Wait, wait, wait. What's this? He also erased something from Vicki's research at the Gazette. I can't tell what was removed from here but Wayne Tech leaves a trace when it alters data. One the Batcomputer can decode."

"What is it Miss Vale wanted to hide?"

Bruce exited Vicki's records and clicked on a separate folder titled security. "What do we have here? They did more than just look at these schematics. Every building in Gotham with a Wayne Tech security system can be accessed from here, and remotely controlled. If Oswald was the brawn, Vicki is the brains. So, let's check her file. She may have left clues about what she was using Oswald's access for." Bruce pulled up a three-dimensional non-moving hologram of Vicki Vale. Information popped up as well. "Vicki Vale, mid-thirties, reporter for the Gotham Gazette. And not in the public record -- her true name: Victoria Arkham."

"To think she was here in the manor. She gave nothing away of her true nature then."

"Vicki embraced this identity to follow through on her twisted crusade."

"Her mask inspires fear. Not unlike Batman."

"I just need to find her." Bruce read more information from the hologram. "The Children of Arkham. Their symbol dates back much farther than their terrorist attacks. They formed to get justice for those wronged at Arkham Asylum. But, the message fell on deaf ears. Until they found a leader Gotham couldn't ignore." Bruce stopped for a moment and took down the hologram. All of a sudden, Bruce received a phone call from Lucius. 

"Bruce, you there? One of the bat prototypes has been stolen!" Lucius spoke as soon as Bruce answered. 

"By Lady Arkham?" Alfred asked as Bruce put Lucius on speaker phone. 

"Not quite. I'm patching you the feed now." Lucius sent Bruce a photo that was taken. The picture was of Selina with the missing bat prototype.

"She stole from you?!" Alfred was surprised as he viewed the photo. "After we opened our doors to her? After all that you two did. Why would she do this? Is she that cold-hearted? That selfish?"

"She must have her reasons." Bruce said.

"I'm sure she does." Alfred responded.

"The device she stole, it's a prototype. It's an electronic skeleton key. With it, you could bypass any security system made by Wayne Tech." Lucius explained.

"That key is far too dangerous in Ms. Kyle's hands. Especially with Lady Arkham still at large." Alfred replied.

"Get the car ready, Alfred. I'm going to get some answers from Selina." Bruce jumped in his car and drove out of the Batcave.