City of Gotham State District Courthouse
I was turned in my seat talking to Natalie who tried to ignore me as she sat next to Lucius.
"Look, are these your people? Is this like a kind of test or something?" I hiss and she glares at me.
"Can you shut up? And not bring that up." She retorts lowly.
"Ms.Wayne, could we pick up now where we left off? Ms.Wayne. Please." Gotham's district attorney Carl Finch speaks.
"Yes, dear?" I respond while I turn around in my seat to see the council of officials.
"Can I have your attention?" He asks.
"Absolutely." I nod straightening my blazer as I face forward in my seat.
"Do you or do you not possess specialized weapons?" He questions.
"I do not." I shake my head.
"You do not?" He repeats with raised eyebrows.
"I do not. Well, it depends on how you define the word weapon." I tilt my head a bit.
"The Batman weapons." He reiterates.
"My devices do not fit that description." I shake my head.
"Well...How would you describe it?" He furrows his eyebrows.
"I would describe it by defining it as what it is, Mr.Attorney." I shrug.
"As?.." He drags along.
"Well my interpretation of exercising my right of the 2nd amendment of the United States. That is- that is- That's actually the most apt description I can make of it. To protect myself." I explain simply.
"It's not protection. They're weapons. Weapons, Ms.Wayne." He emphasizes.
"Please, if your priority was actually the well-being of the American citizen-
"My priority is to get the Batman weapons turned over to the people of the city of Gotham." He states.
"Well, you can forget it. The suit stays with me. It was my father's. To turn over the Batman suit would be like to turn over a part of me which is tantamount to indentured servitude or prostitution, depending or what state you're in. You can't have it." I shake my head.
"Look, I'm no expert-
"In prostitution? Of course not. You're an Attorney." I say making the people laugh.
I turn back and wave with a smile. I look over at Lucius and Natalie who do not look at all impressed.
"No?" I mouth and he shakes his head making me turn back ahead.
"I'm no expert in weapons. We have somebody here who is an expert on weapons. I'd now like to call Micheal Akins, our current GCPD Commissioner." Finch says and my jaw clenches as I see said man comes in and takes his seat along with the council.
"Let the record reflect that I observed Mr.Akins entering the chamber, and I am wondering if and when any actual expert will also be in attendance." I speak checking my watch.
"Absolutely. I'm no expert. I defer to you, Jaqueline. You're the wonder girl. Mr.Finch, if I may. I may well not be an expert, but you know who was the expert? Your dad. Bruce Wayne. Really a father to us all, and to many technical conglomerates along with Wayne Enterprises. Let's just be clear, he was no flower child. He was a lion. We all know why we're here. In the last 3 months, Jaqueline Wayne has taken over an arsenal with untold possibilities. And yet, she insists it's a shield. She asks us to trust her as we cower behind it. I wish I were comforted, Jaqueline, I really do. I'd love to leave my door unlocked when I leave the house, but this ain't Canada. You know, we live in a world of grave threats, threats that will not always be able to foresee. Thank you. God bless Batman. God bless America." He says and I roll my eyes at the speech.
"That is well said Commissioner Akins. The committee would now like to invite former GCPD Commissioner James Gordon to the chamber." Finch nods and I'm caught off guard, Gordon being the last person I expected to see since I haven't seen him in a long time.
"Gordon? What?" I question as I turn back.
The doors open and Gordon walks in, media cameras flashing along with murmurs. I stand up straightening my clothes and meet him half way to greet him.
"Hey. I didn't expect to see you here...how's retirement?" I greet not knowing what to say.
"Look, it's me, I'm here. Let's get through this." He says.
"I just-"
"Drop it." He tells me.
"Alright, I'll drop it." I mumble going back to take my seat and he takes his.
"I have before me a complete report on the Batman weapon, complied by then Commissioner James Gordon. And, Commissioner, for the record, can you please read page 57, paragraph four?" Finch says.
"You're requesting that I read specific selections from my report, Attorney?" Gordon questions.
"Yes, sir." Finch nods.
"It was my understanding that I was going to be testifying in a much more comprehensive and detailed manner." Gordon defends.
"I understand. A lot of things have changed today. So if you could just read..." Finch insists.
"You do understand that reading a single paragraph out of context does not reflect the summary of my final-"
"Just read it, Commissioner. I do. Thank you." Finch says and my jaw clenches.
"Very well..."As he does not operate within any definable branch of government, Batman presents a potential threat to the security of both Gotham and to her interests." I did however, go on to summarize that the benefits of Batman far outweighed three liabilities and that it would be in our interest-
"That's enough, Commissioner." Finch raises up a hand cutting Gordon off.
I cover my hand over my face slightly. This wasn't going well.
"To fold Mr.Wayne-
"That's enough." Finch repeats.
"Into the existing chain of command, Attorney." Gordon stops.
"Well I'm not a joiner, but I'll consider taking a seat up there with you guys, if you ask nice." I smile receiving laughs from the crowd.
"We can amend the hours a little bit." I motion with my fingers.
"Everything is a joke to you isn't it, Wayne?" Akins asks.
"Well actually-
I stop when my watch gets a ping, cutting me short.
"Hold on a second buddy. Let me see something here." I say holding up a finger seeing it's a notification from W.E.S.S.
I set up my device to connect with the screens they had available.
"Boy, I'm good. I commandeered your screens. I need them. Time for a little transparency. Now, let's see what's really going on." I continue as I bring up some videos.
"What is she doing?" I hear Finch ask.
"If you will direct your attention to said screens, I believe that's the GCPD Headquarters." I announce to the whole room.
We see videos in which a type of black suit was seen being tested, along with weapons that were obviously Batman knock offs.
"Can you turn that off? Take it off." Akins commands.
We see Micheal Akins himself testing out the suit.
"Mikey, you're on TV. Focus up." I say pointing at one of the screens.
"Oh, shit. Oh, shit." We hear as he obviously fails while getting stabbed in the shoulder and it penetrates.
Akins then pulls the plug, shutting the screens off.
"Wow. Yeah, I won't allow you guys to take my stuff for you guys to make an army of walking weapons." I tilt my head sucking air through my teeth.
"Gotham's crime rate is going up-
"Well who's fault is that?" I scoff.
"Your father's!" Akins snaps and my jaw clenches really hard now, a piece of paper that was under my hand on the desk being crumpled as it becomes a fist.
"Jackie.." Lucius mumbles to himself cautiously so soft only Natasha could hear, hoping things don't go really South from here.
"This masked vigilante hobby. Batman, then Batman and Robin- what ever happened to Robin?" Akins asks with a scoff.
Gordon looks over to Jackie. Lucius looking at the back of Jackie's head more intently, Natasha notices but doesn't understand.
My eyes flicker down as I swallow the lump in my throat before I look back up.
"They died." I say lick my lips.
"This is why I made masked vigilantes illegal in Gotham. They cause more harm than good. Bringing out more criminals-
"My dad defended Gotham! It's people!" I emphasize.
"And what did it get him?" He raises a brow.
"An alien who was among us living a normal life killed him. A member of the Justice League. A group-
"The Justice League has been disbanded-
"And how many had to pay the price before it was? We're trying to do the greater good so something like that won't happen again. To be prepared for greater crimes or an attack from out of this world that is very plausible to happen apparently!" He exclaims.
"You want my property? You can't have it. But you know what, I will accept a 'Thank you' on his behalf." I tell them ready to wrap this up.
"And why the hell should we thank you?" Akins scoffs.
"Because he defended Gotham when you didn't have the balls too." I state before turning around towards the crowd and extend my arm.
"I tried to play ball with these ass-clowns!" I add with a shrug and media cameras flash.
"Fuck you, Wayne. Fuck you, buddy. We're adjourned. We're adjourned for today." Akins says waving off with his hand.
"Okay." I nod putting on my sunglasses and walk away.
Lucius and Gordon share a look.
"You've been a delight." Finch says.
~
I was a block away sitting on a curb looking down, lost in my thoughts when a shadow is cast over me making me look up.
"That was a very brave thing you did. Stupid. But brave." James says looking down at me.
I get up and stand before him.
"It's good to see you again, Jackie." He extends a hand for me to shake.
Instead, I extend my arms and give him a hug clearly catching him off guard.
"Your father wasn't much of a hugger." He says as he hugs me back and I chuckle a bit.
"Good to see you too, James." I tell him sincerely.
"I think it's time for us to catch up." He says making me nod in agreement.