A Bat Out of Time

Chapter 1

July 4, 2010
Happy Harbor
Mount Justice

Talking

SHOUTING

(Thinking)

Whispering

3rd. Person POV:

Jack has been here in this new world for a while now. It's been more difficult to make his way here than he expected. With no record of even existing here he couldn't go get a job, and couldn't go on patrol because there is no history of him as Batman here so most people would just assume that he's some wannabe or a new villain. A week or two after he got here he noticed that there was something different about him, it only took one good look in the mirror to confirm his suspicions. He was sixteen again. Though he was annoyed that he was sixteen again a nice little fringe benefit of this was that he was back in peak physical shape. After his world's Bruce died, he started to sink deeper into his work as the Batman to try and ignore the pain of Bruce being gone. He was on patrol almost 24/7, barely taking time off to eat or rest. He was able to cover with most people by saying Bruce had left most of his personal things including the manor to Jack in his will which was true, though he barely spent any time in the actual manor itself. Bruce also left Jack a massive amount of money and set it up that he would get a salary from Wayne-Powers so he would always have the funds to carry on being Batman even after his passing. As a result his body had deteriorated to a noticeable extent, he was slower, less agile and weaker, it wasn't obvious to most people because the suit could cover some of it but it was there. Luckily he had gotten into peak physical shape at age sixteen after being Batman for less than a year, so he was actually better off now than he was before physically. He had considered trying to contact this world's Bruce to reveal himself to him and maybe get some help supporting himself but he had never been able to muster up the courage to do it. However it looks like the choice would soon be out of his hands.

Jack: (I've been living in Happy Harbor for six months now. The cave has been decently livable but needing to buy food for me and Ace has been a challenge. With no prior record of existing here I couldn't just go get a job for money so I've been working odd jobs for cash around town using fake names when I've had to. Thankfully, cash is still common in this world so staying under the radar has been pretty easy; with no electronic trail to follow no one would be finding me anytime soon. I've been keeping to myself aside from working odd jobs in town for money; it's been difficult to keep busy, but I've managed. I've been tinkering with my suit and the car a lot just trying to keep busy since I got here. I've also tried to figure what the zeta tubes listed on the schematics are; the only thing that lines up on the schematics are two massive tubes in the walls but they don't go anywhere and have what looks like a closed metal iris at the back of them. )

Jack was just entering the main room to try to figure out what the seta tubes were and how they worked when one began to light up and began to sound like it was charging up.

Jack: (Ah hell, what now?)

The tube on the left began to emit a bright yellow glow from within it before the computer spoke.

Computer: Recognized Batman, zero two

Jack: (Oh no, no no no no! I didn't plan on encountering Bruce for a long while, not until I was ready and had come up with a good way to encounter him without seeming like a threat. I've got to hide.)

Jack quickly throughs the switch for the lights, activates his suit cloaking tech and fires one of the grappling hooks that extends from the wrists of the suit. Bruce installed the grapples in the suit for if the wings and jets were ever damaged or if he ever needed a grapple hook instead of needing a way to hide one on the suits belt.