Batman: Genesis

Chapter Fourteen - The Bait Gets Set

Bruce sat at a table in his massive library. He had a computer in front of him and several large books laying around him. He'd been researching for hours, trying to find a lead on the Black Mask person. So far, he'd come up with nothing. He'd looked in all of the Wayne Enterprises Archives of information. He'd even looked into events that had happened before he was born. But no one that had been fired or mistreated by Wayne Enterprises fit the M.O. of Black Mask. Not many of them were even living in Gotham any more.

"Have you found anything, Master Bruce?" asked Alfred, coming into the library and dusting off some of the books.

"No," replied Bruce glumly. "Hey Alfred, do you know of anyone that had unfinished business with my parents?"

Alfred stopped in his tracks. "You don't think that this man..."

"Killed my parents?" finished Bruce. "I have no idea. I'm not ruling the option out, though. What if it is the same person, and now their coming after me?"

Alfred paused before responding. "Master Bruce, your parents were people of business. Naturally, they had rivals and perhaps even enemies. I wouldn't jump to any conclusions."

"Yeah, but I've looked at every single person that's been discharged from the company since I've taken over, and it's none of them. I'm sure of it. I've looked through records of when my dad owned the company, but maybe there was something that was never put into the system."

"Or maybe you're looking at it wrong, sir," said Alfred. "As I recall, Black Mask said he had unfinished business with you, not necessarily your company. And even if it is with your company, it doesn't mean he necessarily worked there."

Bruce thought about this, and was about to dismiss it when he thought of something. "Janus Cosmetics. That's it. Wayne Enterprises bailed them out of the lawsuits for their hazardous product, but we insisted that their president resign from the company. I was the one that made that call. Which would give the former president the perfect motive to be out for my head. Thanks, Alfred. I've got to do some research on this guy."

And he did. He spent the next half hour learning all he could about Janus Cosmetics and their former president Roman Sionis. Sure enough, Sionis was still in Gotham, though he had disappeared off the radar. That would make sense, Bruce thought. Janus Cosmetics had done much better since the resignation of Sionis, and it was prospering as a no-longer-family-owned-business. Bruce also found a tidbit saying that Sionis had traveled around collecting masks. If that wasn't proof enough, he didn't know what was.

"Alfred!" he called. "I found him."

Alfred poked his head in. "Excellent work, Master Bruce. I don't assume you'll be passing on this information to the GCPD?"

"No," Bruce admitted. "I've got other plans."

Bruce got to work. While he had been doing research, he'd formulated the perfect plan to trap this guy once he found him. Instead of canceling the event at Wayne Manor, he was going to send Black Mask a personal invite to it. Or at least the person he suspected of being Black Mask. If Sionis really wanted revenge on him, he would accept the invitation, and use it as a perfect opportunity to make his move against Bruce.

Bruce punched a key on his computer, and the invitation was sent to Sionis through email. The easy part of the plan was over. The bait was set. The interesting part would come tomorrow, during the event at Wayne Manor.