The Dark Knight Returns

Chapter 6

    After his meeting with the Joker at Arkham, John Blake did a few rounds of the city before returning to the cave to collect his thoughts and seek some advice. Thankfully, when he returned Alfred was still there, however upon close inspection the cave looked a lot better then how he left it. The place looked… cleaner. "Old habits die hard?" John asked as he hopped out of the tumbler.

     "I'm afraid so." Alfred replied as he never looked up. The former butler was inspecting pieces of the spare bat-suits to make sure none of the amour was chipped or damaged. "What dare I ask is going on in Gotham tonight?"

     "I spoke with the Joker." John replied.

     "Dear lord." Alfred said as he suddenly became dizzy. Just the though of that madman seemed to flood him with so many painful memories.

     John could tell the butler had become weak at the knees and rushed over to catch him and carry him over to the chair in front of the main computer. "Take it easy, Alfred. He's still locked up at Arkham."

     "Something's still wrong if you even had to share even a single word with him." Alfred replied.

     "He has someone on the outside doing things for him. He called her his protégé." John said as he removed his helmet and placed it on the table.

     "Even someone trained by that loony is bound to be a handful." Alfred said as he thought about it. "How did he manage to train her? Hasn't be been locked up all this time?"

     "That's what we need to figure out." John replied as he paced around the platform trying to think about it.

     "We?" Alfred said as he turned the chair around to face the new Batman.

     "Well, you're here." John said as he raised his hands. "Any help I could get to figure what's going on here would be greatly appreciated."

     Alfred took a deep breathe. "Master Bruce was a stubborn man, but even he knew when to follow my advice. If you do the same I will do what I can to be of assistance."

     "Thanks Al." John replied.

     "Alfred will suffice." The butler said as he swiveled back to face the main computer. "We can use the computer to hack into the city records, see who was staying at Arkham with the Joker prior to being transferred to Blackgate."

     "Do you really think it was an inmate that the Joker took on as his protégé?" John asked.

     "Well, if nothing pops we'll have to look check staff records." Alfred said as he kept his eyes on the screen. "That will be a little more difficult to get access to."

     "It's a good thing we have someone in the police force that will help us out with that." Blake said as he started to remove his armor.

    "It's a shame the Joker wasn't nice enough to give us a name." Alfred sarcastically said to himself.

    "Actually, he did." John called back. "Said her name was Harley Quinn and that she'd been studying under him for at least four years."

     "I doubt that's her real name." Alfred replied. "At least we have a timeline to work with."

     "You keep working on that." John said as he changed into something more casual. "I'm going to get some sleep and then meet with Lucius Fox in the morning."

    "Not a problem." Alfred called back. "I'll be all right. What are you going to be seeing Lucius about?"

     "He wants me to go over some ideas for expanding Batman's arsenal." John replied.