Batman Beyond: Sins of the Saint
Posted: 2008-01-08 06:44pm
Disclaimer: Batman created by Bob Kane, Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Wonder Woman created by William Moulton Marston. All three are owned by DC Comics. I own the story and any original characters. No copyright infringement is intended.
Batman Beyond: Sins of the Saint
Synopsis: The debut of the Tomorrow Knight reveals an old deception and prompts a confrontation between Bruce Wayne and one of his oldest enemies.
Author’s Note: This is a little idea I’ve had since the airing of “Epilogue” and Waller’s cryptic comment about not having had a gentlemen caller in many years.
Historian’s Note: In the DC Animated Universe timeline, this story takes place after the Batman Beyond pilot “Rebirth” and shortly before the episode “Black Out”. It also serves as a, heh, prologue to the Justice League fourth season finale “Epilogue” and is a companion piece to my earlier JLU fanfic, “A Saint in Paradise”.
Enjoy!
***
“Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.”
- Oscar Wilde-
***
It was the belief of many that cooking was as much an art as it was a science. The chef was an artist, the kitchen both his domain and his workshop. Each kitchen was familiar, yet different, a collection and assortment of smells, sounds, and objects instrumental to the crafting of the culinary art. In this instance, the kitchen of Amanda Waller was marked by the distinct whistling of a tea kettle and the rich, crisp scent of freshly baked scones.
“I’m coming, quit your whistling,” Waller muttered good-naturedly as she lifted the kettle from the stove with one hand and poured its contents into a porcelain teapot. With her other, she rummaged into the porcelain jar on the counter and extracted a tea bag. Green tea had remained her favorite. It was her elixir, her balm, and her lifesaver.
Well, other than the Lord, of course.
She had just given the tea bag enough time to steep when a man entered through the kitchen door. He was of good height and build and clothed in a khaki security uniform.
“Evening, Bob.”
“Good evening, Ms. Waller.”
“Bob, how many times do I have to tell you, call me Amanda.”
“Yes, Ms. Waller.”
Waller resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the bodyguards’ no-nonsense attitude as he walked out of the kitchen and back into the adjacent security booth. While President Chatterton was long gone, his successors had continued to insist on Waller having a token bodyguard defense, similar to former heads of state. Waller may not longer have been in the loop, but she knew enough that classified her as a Priority One national security risk, even nearly forty years after Cadmus and its related programs had been shut down.
“Argh!”
Waller’s inner thoughts were interrupted by a cry from the next room.
“Bob? Bob?”
There was no response. Frowning, Waller put down her tea and moved slowly - her bad leg prevented any sudden movments - across the kitchen and into the open hallway. The light from the kitchen spilled out onto the floor and combined with the light from the adjacent security terminal to provide partial illumination. With its assistance Waller could see…
What in the hell?
Bob was lying across the opposite end of the hallway, slumped across the door leading to the main landing and unconscious. The security terminal he had been monitoring was still functioning, but every screen was flickering with static. An expression that mixed amusement with dread spread across Waller’s face. This had happened once before.
Could it be?
“Waller.”
Amanda almost leapt at the sound of the familiar voice. It was raspy and aged, but still the same as it had been half a century earlier. The former director of Cadmus slowly turned towards the shadows as a man detached himself from it.
“Bruce Wayne, as I live and die.
Wayne was in far better shape for a man in his eighties than anyone else alive – well, perhaps save for a certain Kryptonian. But considering that the absorption of solar radiation into his cells slowed down their deterioration and aging, Waller considered that a cheat.
His once sleek, jet-black hair had gone shock white – not to mention receded. His once portrait-esque face was lined and cracked with age and he stood slight hunched over a fine oak cane. Yet, there was no denying the power and physical presence was imbued in the last scion of the Wayne dynasty. His blue eyes, still an icy-blue, projected a commanding authority…and something more.
Waller had worked with the original Dark Knight as the Government’s liaison to the Justice League for years and knew that this look meant one thing.
Bruce Wayne was angry.
Granted, the general opinion of those outside of the Founding Seven had been that Batman was always angry, but Waller knew better. Bruce Wayne was very, very pissed off. And based on the events of the last two weeks, she had a very good idea as to why.
“Can I get you anything?
“You can tell your security guards that I won’t pose a threat to them.”
As if on cure, her communicator beeped.
“Ms. Waller, don’t move. We’re on our—”
She sighed, speaking into her communicator and wishing for a perfect world in which an eighty-year old man was incapable of throwing a man a quarter of his age across a room.
“Mr. Gleason, cancel the alert; our ‘guest’ isn’t going to pose a threat.”
“Ms. Waller…”
“We go back a long time. He’s not going to do anything brash.” At least I hope not, anyway. “Tell Bob that too, when he wakes up.”
Waller switched off the communicator and gestured to the living room door. Wayne followed slowly, albeit reluctantly after a moment. Waller waited until he had entered before moving back into the kitchen and retrieving the pot of tea she had been brewing. Returning to the living room, she closed the door and taking a seat in her favorite armchair.
A tray of teacups, sugar bowls, and lemon juice lay on a table. Wayne remained standing as she poured the tea into two cups. She gestured for Wayne to sit and accepted a glass. After a moment, he took the glass, but he did not drink from it or sit.
Some things never change.
“So, what can an old woman do for an old friend?”
Bruce gave her the ‘we’re not friends’ look which he had often employed against subordinates and other members of the JLU.
“You know why I’m here.”
“I’m afraid I don’t,” she replied. “But please, humor me.”
Wayne surveyed her for a long moment
“Have it your way.”
“I’ve recently drafted a new apprentice into the…family business. His name…his name is Terry. Terry McGinnis.”
“The name doesn’t ring a bell.”
“Unless you already knew about him.” He let that comment hang for a moment before continuing.
“Three days ago, I ran a DNA test so as to allow him access to certain…features of my home.
By ‘features’, Waller knew that her guest was speaking of the modified series of caverns that ran beneath the Wayne estate. She’d never actually been inside it, of course. It would be his innermost sanctum, his domain and refuge. Only a select handful of allies had been allowed access to the facility and Waller was certainly not on the admittance list. It was, perhaps, somewhat unfortunate; part of her had always wanted to glimpse it.
“Imagine my surprise when the computer retuned the results.”
He leaned forward, hands on his cane and his cold, stern countenance boring into Waller.
“50% of his DNA belongs to Mary McGinnis. The other 50% is mine.”
The quiet, mechanical tik-tok of the grandfather clock off to the side punctuated the silence that followed for a long moment.
“Not to criticize your high-tech,” Waller finally responded, “but did you consider that it might be an anomaly or that you might have, you know…?”
Bruce’s scowl deepened. In the old days, she would have derived a degree of pleasure from it, but not now, not with Bruce knowing or at least suspecting what she had done. Her denials and playfulness were a facade; Waller wasn’t precisely playing for time, but she needed every second to gather and prepare her thoughts. She had always wondered whether or not this kind of conversation would transpire between herself and the original Dark Knight. Despite it being nearly twenty years later, she had never fully prepared herself of that possibility, especially given the fate of the project…
I should have, though. Remember, you’re dealing with Mr. ‘I know everything and I’ve got backup plans for the backup plans of my backup plans...
“In regards to the former, the thought occurred briefly until I cross checked it and re-verified half a dozen times. In regards to the latter, I never even heard of his mother until the murder.”
“So why come to me about this?”
Here it comes, Waller thought.
“There are only a handful of individuals on this planet that both know whom I am and would have the resources and expertise to attempt genetic manipulation like this. But my investigations confirmed what I already knew. They’re either all dead now or imprisoned – except for you, Waller.
“I’m flattered that you think I or any Cadmus alum were complacent in any genetic crime even forty years after it’s –
“Geneticists are like artists, Waller,” interrupted Wayne. “Despite an implementation of a standard technique, they all leave their own unique signature on their work. I know a Cadmus genetic re-sequence when I see one. So, my question is, what did you do? Who or what is Terry McGinnis to you?”
Waller didn’t respond, starring down instead in her swirling tea, as if attempting to pierce the veil of twenty years and what had occurred since then.
“Allow me to rephrase that,” he said after she didn’t respond. “I am not leaving this compound, indeed this room, until you give me a damm good explanation as to what the hell you did.”
Waller squeezed several more drops of lemon juice into the tea and stared into the expanding ripples in the liquid. It was symbolic, as if it represented the ripples of her actions extending into the present. “You have a right to know, I suppose,” she said at last. “Before we get to the why, it’d be best to start with the when.”
“The when would be the Bunny Vreeland incident,” Bruce replied. The incident had seen the daughter of aged debutante Veronica Vreeland ransomed, a kidnapping all the more significant in that it had been the last recorded sighting of the Dark Knight Detective for nearly twenty years.” Waller was startled.
“How did—”
“Even with the advances made in the thirty years after Cadmus, genetic engineering and alteration takes time to put together. And as I found no signs of temporal RNA sequencing, Terry is not a newly activated clone and is a healthy seventeen years of age. And as he was born three years after the…incident, I suspect that served as a catalyst.”
“Your magnificent brain and deductive skills never cease to shine,” she sad.
“Stop stalling, Waller.”
“Fine. As you surmised, Terry is a clone – or rather, more appropriately, your son. The boy is the result of a little operation I dubbed Project Batman Beyond. It was a think tank I began assembling a couple of years before the kidnapping. The purpose was to create a new Batman.”
“A new Batman,” he said in a skeptic tone. Waller nodded
“A new Batman,” she repeated. “Your DNA was collected by one of my agents after a streetside robbery or mugging or firefight; I can’t remember the full details. It’s not my fault you left it all over town; you might want to warn Terry about doing the same,” she added, producing another scowl from Wayne.
“I selected a Neo-Gotham family with identical psychological profiles to Thomas and Martha Wayne. My agents found Mr. and Mrs. McGinnis to be the prime candidates and I approved. During an annual physical examination a month later, Warren McGinnis’ DNA, or rather, his reproductive DNA, was rewritten with yours, courtesy of Cadmus genetic resequencing nanoprobes.”
“And…”
“And what?”
“What else are you not telling me, Waller?”
Waller blinked.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Don’t play coy. To have gone to that much effort, you would never have placed all of your hopes in one child; it is not your style. I know how you think. We’re alike in one respect; we’ve always been big on redundancy and contingencies. Who else, Waller?”
Waller sighed in resignation.
Godammit, couldn’t he forego the Mr. Omniscient act for at least once in his life?
“Terry was not the only candidate. We repeated the procedures several dozen times. Girls were ignored and then left to grow up without interference.”
“And boys?”
While Wayne was motionless, his eyes were burning with a fiery intensity. Waller sighed again. He knew what she was going to say and there was no way to avoid it.
“It’s rather obvious, isn’t it? You can’t attempt to make a Batman without a tragedy.”
The last words hadn’t even left her mouth when Wayne’s porcelain cup flew past her head, missing her ear by centimeters and shattering upon impact with the wall. The fragments were still falling to the floor as Bruce raised himself to his full height and towered over the former head of Cadmus. His hands were clenched and shaking in pure fury.
“All the years of our dealings,” he said slowly, “all the actions I saw you commit as the head of Cadmus and the overseer of Task Force X…I never, never thought you would be capable of something like this. How dare you, Waller.”
“It’s not something I’m exactly proud of, Bruce. I know I’ve sinned, but--”
“Don’t hide behind a “born again” façade, Waller.”
“It’s no façade!” Anger was rising in Waller.
“Like hell it isn’t. You spat on my legacy, on my oath, my partners, and upon the very altar of everything I fought for and scarified as Batman. And for what? To create a Batman that would follow the beckoning of Cadmus or another black-ops group? Were Galatea and the Ultimen not enough for you?
“20 years alone in the manor’s done wonders for your paranoia, Bruce,” she responded in a dark tone. “I didn’t do it for the U.S. Government or the DEO or anyone else. I did it to redeem myself and to ensure that the world would have a Batman!”
She had risen to her feet, her anger and passion permitting her to ignore her bad leg.
“For over a decade, I was the head of Project Cadmus in all of its forms. I was in cahoots with General Jack Hardcastle, Lex Luthor, and more, men who I knew to be liars and a thieves and I still did business with them. I oversaw genetic research, illegal testing, and turned a blind eye to it. I ordered opponents to the program, both foreign and domestic, ruined or killed to preserve our existence. I defied a direct presidential order to not attack an orbiting space station because I though the action would save the world. It’s easy to be a saint in paradise, but it’s impossible to not sin. What I did, I did for what I believed.
But then, you knew that. I told you that morning when you broke into my home that I was a patriot. I believed in the United States of America. I believed in my country. I believed that extraterrestrial and super powered demigods represented a threat greater than any terrorist or anarchist or fundamentalist could pose. So, I did my best to prepare for the worst. Files were assembled and tabs were kept on hot spots. Every sighting of an Atlantean monarch or warship or alien incursion or super-powered display across the country and the world was catalogued. “
“It was into such times that, from afar, I began to hear rumors and mocking discussions all emanating from the upper Eastern Seaboard and the great urban center that is Gotham City. All reports referenced a ‘Bat-Man’, all conflicting as to whether he was a supernatural creature or a man in a costume. I leaned towards the latter, had my agents verify, and based on their report, deemed you unworthy of attention.
Then one of the earlier bureaus took on a disgruntled and disgraced Gotham scientist named Hugo Strange and from him, I discovered your true identity. I gave it some further degree of thought, but not much. Aliens and meta-humans were my quarry, not eccentric, psychologically-damaged millionaire playboys. Despite your brief liaisons with Superman in Metropolis, I kept it that way.”
That all changed when the Imperium and its legions invaded and the League was assembled to drive them back into the darkest reaches of space. Despite, multiple alien incursions and two Apokoliptic invasions, I was less concerned with the invaders and more concerned with the League especially your supplying weapons and supplies to this super-human group. I was only slightly curious about your actual membership. After all, what good was a mortal man who walked among the gods and even more startlingly, was considered their equal? The problem bothered me and I simply passed if off as another eccentricity. But as time passed, I began to understand why.
She finally looked up from the still swirling liquid and directly into Bruce Wayne’s face.
“Do you know how many League victories you were the key to winning? Without you, the Imperium would have conquered us, the Joker’s Last Vegas stunt would have killed millions, the Thanagarians would have blown us all to kingdom come, etc. You even fought Darkseid himself head-on during the Third Apokolptic invasion. And it’s not just limited to these select few victories within the League. What about on your own? Without you, Ra’s al Ghul would have enacted his insane Lazarus Protocol or the Near Apocalypse of ’09 would have become a complete apocalypse. The Red Claw and her group would have released their plague or used the United Kingdom’s missile defense system against it. The Penguin, Rupert Thorne, and Carlton Duquesne would have sold terrorist weapons and worsened the Kasnia situation for decades.
“And throughout it all, despite our mutual antagonism, I came to respect and admire you. You were the ultimate man, the true super-man. Gotham didn’t just need you. The League didn’t just need you. The entire world needed you to make it through tomorrow, both as an inspiration and as a savior. And though I knew that old age would someday force you out of the game, I was hopeful that either the second Robin or Batgirl or Nightwing would rise adequately to the challenge and take on the fight for the next generation.
She paused again, knowing that the conversation had moved into dangerous waters. She was about to reference one of the darkest moments in the Dark Knight’s career, a moment that had been a key influence on her decision to initiate the Project.
“But then, of course, the Joker changed all that. And after Tim Drake…retired, I knew you had no intention of passing on the mantle to either your first ward or the Gordon girl. And to be honest, I didn’t blame you or how your stress and anger over the incident contributed to your quitting the League. But after all I had seen, I knew that a world without Batman was unacceptable. So, I began assembling my crew in advance, yet kept them on standby.
More years passed and then the Vreeland kidnapping occurred. After I received word of your heart attack, after your control of Wayne Enterprises was lost, and after the sightings of Batman stopped, I knew in my heart that it was over. And yet, I didn’t want to accept it. I didn’t want to accept that you had given up, that you would find some way to stay on as an advisor to the League or overcome the trauma of Drake’s torture and seek out a new apprentice. So, I waited. But the days turned into weeks, the weeks turned into months, the months turned into years and finally, I knew that I had to stop fooling myself. It was time to put Project Batman Beyond into order.
My teams moved into action as if they had been born to the task. Candidates were selected, profiles determined, and the unlucky children were eliminated. I was prepared to wait, to be as patient as possible so as to insure that someone would arise from the horror I was unleashing, someone who could recreate the Batman or a Batman anew.
“And then it came down to Terry. Terry changed everything. Terry was as much the turning point for me as he’s become for you. The McGinnis family, save for Terry, was supposed to be killed leaving a viewing of “The Gray Ghost” theatrical film that came out ten years ago. It should have been no different from the previous occasions.
“But it was. The other murders were committed by agents meant to resemble everyday muggers. For reasons I’ll never understand, I chose this time to try something different. I sent the McGinnis' assassin in the guise of a super-villain, Waller said, picking her words carefully. Bringing the Phantasm AKA Andrea Beaumont into the conversation would only further antagonize Wayne. “
“It should have gone off without a hitch. But it didn’t. The assassin refused to pull the trigger. I argued with her and threatened her throughout most of the night, saying that it had to be done. She argued in turn that was I wrong, that people said Batman was cold and obsessive and prepared to do anything to win. But he would never resort to murder.
And I realized then that she was right. I was so desperate to show atonement for my crimes in directing Cadmus, so determined to provide the world with a new super-man, a new champion of the people, that I had failed at the most basic level. I had failed to understand the core of Batman’s life, his values, his very existence. Project: Batman Beyond had been doomed to fail from the very beginning. So, the project was dismantled. The other children were left alone to live out their lives and were well-provided for. But I resolved to personally keep an eye on Terry.”
“I always wondered why you retired to the Gotham suburbs rather than your native St. Louis,” said Bruce, speaking for the first time since Waller had launched into her confession. There was still rage in his voice, but it had become subdued somewhat. “I thought it was to spite me.”
“Perhaps a little. And if you’re wondering why his doctors have never reported that his DNA is shared by you, it’s because his physician’s still on my payroll. But I never directly interfered with Terry’s life. I never tried to muddy the legal waters during his parent’s divorce or commute his time in Juvenile Hall. I never tried to turn him into a Batman just like you never tried to create a new one. And in the interim, look at what came of both of our choices. Crime in Gotham, has reached all-time highs not seen in almost sixty years, the Jokerz roam the streets, the GCPD – as always – is underfunded and outgunned. The head of Gotham’s most respected corporation is using company resources to sell nerve agents to foreign powers.”
Bruce gave her a sharp look.
“I dealt with Luthor, remember? Even though I’ve never met Powers or his son, I know a cultured thug and a snake when I see one. Besides, I still have friends in high places. Like with Lex and Lexoskel 5000, the Feds can’t officially prove the illegalities of his business transactions with Kasnia – or his role in the death of Warren McGinnis, for that matter. Give it time, though. It may take a week, I may take another decade, but Powers will slip up and like Lex, get caught in the act.”
“And look at all the trouble that led to,” Bruce murmured more to himself, recalling all too well that the threat of the former Metropolis tycoon had only increased following the loss of his business empire and eventually culminating in the accidental resurrection of Darkseid.
“My point is that Gotham needs a Batman now more than ever. And you’ve finally done it. Terry sought to wear the mantle when you wouldn’t. He may be rough and unseasoned, but I have faith he will do well as a new Batman and do us both proud.”
“Terry becoming Batman does not absolve you of what you did, Waller.”
“Of course not. I’m not happy of what I’ve done. And I know that there is an afterlife and a higher being. You and your colleagues have effectively proven that, I might add. But I’ll face my judgment for my crimes, judgment before the Lord. So, you can persecute me once again or focus on saving this city again and providing for your son.”
Waller had said her peace and left it at that. For a long time, Wayne did not speak. His eyes bore into Waller, but there was a distance to them. Finally, he spoke.
“Waller?”
“Yes?”
“From this day forward, if you ever, ever, come near him or any of my old associates …”
“I won’t.
He nodded in grim satisfaction and walked towards the living room door.
“Bruce, one more thing.”
He stopped but did not turn to face her.
“If I were you, I wouldn’t tell him. Let him become his own man and make the mantle of Batman his own.”
Wayne spared her one more long look before he turned and closed the living room door. Waller waited several moments before pressing her communicator’s activation switch again.
“You can stand down Bob, Mr. Gleason, and everyone else. And let our guest pass.”
“He already appears to have; my men have all the exits covered and we didn’t see the intruder leave.”
Waller chucked, both bemused and saddened. Some things certainly didn’t change, especially when you tried to be a saint in paradise.
***
The End
***
Author’s Notes Continued
* JLU writer Dwayne McDuffie has stated in interviews that a scene cut from “Epilogue” indicated that Terry was not the only product of Project Batman Beyond and that Waller repeated the process many times ala The Boys from Brazil. It was necessary to make reference to this deleted scene so as to further the dramatic conflict.
* The name of Waller’s bodyguard is a tribute to Bob the Goon from the 1989 Batman film.
* How Waller discovered Batman’s identity was never disclosed onscreen. However, given Hugo Strange’s presence at the Cadmus board in “The Doomsday Sanction” and the events of BTAS’ “The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne”, it’s not hard to guess how she came to learn this.
DCAU Episodes/Movies Referenced
BTAS: “The Cat and the Claw”, “The Lion and the Unicorn”, “The Demon’s Quest”, “The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne”.
STAS: “The Last Son of Krypton”, “World’s Finest”, “A Fish Story”, “The Demon Reborn”
BBeyond: “Rebirth”, “Ascension”, “Out of the Past”, “Big Time”, “The Call”
JL/JLU: “Secret Origins”, “Injustice for All”, “Starcrossed”, “Wild Cards”, “The Doomsday Sanction”, “Panic in the Sky”, “Epilogue”, “Alive!”, “Destroyer”
Movies: “Mask of the Phantasm”, “Return of the Joker”, “Mystery of the Batwoman”
Batman Beyond: Sins of the Saint
Synopsis: The debut of the Tomorrow Knight reveals an old deception and prompts a confrontation between Bruce Wayne and one of his oldest enemies.
Author’s Note: This is a little idea I’ve had since the airing of “Epilogue” and Waller’s cryptic comment about not having had a gentlemen caller in many years.
Historian’s Note: In the DC Animated Universe timeline, this story takes place after the Batman Beyond pilot “Rebirth” and shortly before the episode “Black Out”. It also serves as a, heh, prologue to the Justice League fourth season finale “Epilogue” and is a companion piece to my earlier JLU fanfic, “A Saint in Paradise”.
Enjoy!
***
“Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.”
- Oscar Wilde-
***
It was the belief of many that cooking was as much an art as it was a science. The chef was an artist, the kitchen both his domain and his workshop. Each kitchen was familiar, yet different, a collection and assortment of smells, sounds, and objects instrumental to the crafting of the culinary art. In this instance, the kitchen of Amanda Waller was marked by the distinct whistling of a tea kettle and the rich, crisp scent of freshly baked scones.
“I’m coming, quit your whistling,” Waller muttered good-naturedly as she lifted the kettle from the stove with one hand and poured its contents into a porcelain teapot. With her other, she rummaged into the porcelain jar on the counter and extracted a tea bag. Green tea had remained her favorite. It was her elixir, her balm, and her lifesaver.
Well, other than the Lord, of course.
She had just given the tea bag enough time to steep when a man entered through the kitchen door. He was of good height and build and clothed in a khaki security uniform.
“Evening, Bob.”
“Good evening, Ms. Waller.”
“Bob, how many times do I have to tell you, call me Amanda.”
“Yes, Ms. Waller.”
Waller resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the bodyguards’ no-nonsense attitude as he walked out of the kitchen and back into the adjacent security booth. While President Chatterton was long gone, his successors had continued to insist on Waller having a token bodyguard defense, similar to former heads of state. Waller may not longer have been in the loop, but she knew enough that classified her as a Priority One national security risk, even nearly forty years after Cadmus and its related programs had been shut down.
“Argh!”
Waller’s inner thoughts were interrupted by a cry from the next room.
“Bob? Bob?”
There was no response. Frowning, Waller put down her tea and moved slowly - her bad leg prevented any sudden movments - across the kitchen and into the open hallway. The light from the kitchen spilled out onto the floor and combined with the light from the adjacent security terminal to provide partial illumination. With its assistance Waller could see…
What in the hell?
Bob was lying across the opposite end of the hallway, slumped across the door leading to the main landing and unconscious. The security terminal he had been monitoring was still functioning, but every screen was flickering with static. An expression that mixed amusement with dread spread across Waller’s face. This had happened once before.
Could it be?
“Waller.”
Amanda almost leapt at the sound of the familiar voice. It was raspy and aged, but still the same as it had been half a century earlier. The former director of Cadmus slowly turned towards the shadows as a man detached himself from it.
“Bruce Wayne, as I live and die.
Wayne was in far better shape for a man in his eighties than anyone else alive – well, perhaps save for a certain Kryptonian. But considering that the absorption of solar radiation into his cells slowed down their deterioration and aging, Waller considered that a cheat.
His once sleek, jet-black hair had gone shock white – not to mention receded. His once portrait-esque face was lined and cracked with age and he stood slight hunched over a fine oak cane. Yet, there was no denying the power and physical presence was imbued in the last scion of the Wayne dynasty. His blue eyes, still an icy-blue, projected a commanding authority…and something more.
Waller had worked with the original Dark Knight as the Government’s liaison to the Justice League for years and knew that this look meant one thing.
Bruce Wayne was angry.
Granted, the general opinion of those outside of the Founding Seven had been that Batman was always angry, but Waller knew better. Bruce Wayne was very, very pissed off. And based on the events of the last two weeks, she had a very good idea as to why.
“Can I get you anything?
“You can tell your security guards that I won’t pose a threat to them.”
As if on cure, her communicator beeped.
“Ms. Waller, don’t move. We’re on our—”
She sighed, speaking into her communicator and wishing for a perfect world in which an eighty-year old man was incapable of throwing a man a quarter of his age across a room.
“Mr. Gleason, cancel the alert; our ‘guest’ isn’t going to pose a threat.”
“Ms. Waller…”
“We go back a long time. He’s not going to do anything brash.” At least I hope not, anyway. “Tell Bob that too, when he wakes up.”
Waller switched off the communicator and gestured to the living room door. Wayne followed slowly, albeit reluctantly after a moment. Waller waited until he had entered before moving back into the kitchen and retrieving the pot of tea she had been brewing. Returning to the living room, she closed the door and taking a seat in her favorite armchair.
A tray of teacups, sugar bowls, and lemon juice lay on a table. Wayne remained standing as she poured the tea into two cups. She gestured for Wayne to sit and accepted a glass. After a moment, he took the glass, but he did not drink from it or sit.
Some things never change.
“So, what can an old woman do for an old friend?”
Bruce gave her the ‘we’re not friends’ look which he had often employed against subordinates and other members of the JLU.
“You know why I’m here.”
“I’m afraid I don’t,” she replied. “But please, humor me.”
Wayne surveyed her for a long moment
“Have it your way.”
“I’ve recently drafted a new apprentice into the…family business. His name…his name is Terry. Terry McGinnis.”
“The name doesn’t ring a bell.”
“Unless you already knew about him.” He let that comment hang for a moment before continuing.
“Three days ago, I ran a DNA test so as to allow him access to certain…features of my home.
By ‘features’, Waller knew that her guest was speaking of the modified series of caverns that ran beneath the Wayne estate. She’d never actually been inside it, of course. It would be his innermost sanctum, his domain and refuge. Only a select handful of allies had been allowed access to the facility and Waller was certainly not on the admittance list. It was, perhaps, somewhat unfortunate; part of her had always wanted to glimpse it.
“Imagine my surprise when the computer retuned the results.”
He leaned forward, hands on his cane and his cold, stern countenance boring into Waller.
“50% of his DNA belongs to Mary McGinnis. The other 50% is mine.”
The quiet, mechanical tik-tok of the grandfather clock off to the side punctuated the silence that followed for a long moment.
“Not to criticize your high-tech,” Waller finally responded, “but did you consider that it might be an anomaly or that you might have, you know…?”
Bruce’s scowl deepened. In the old days, she would have derived a degree of pleasure from it, but not now, not with Bruce knowing or at least suspecting what she had done. Her denials and playfulness were a facade; Waller wasn’t precisely playing for time, but she needed every second to gather and prepare her thoughts. She had always wondered whether or not this kind of conversation would transpire between herself and the original Dark Knight. Despite it being nearly twenty years later, she had never fully prepared herself of that possibility, especially given the fate of the project…
I should have, though. Remember, you’re dealing with Mr. ‘I know everything and I’ve got backup plans for the backup plans of my backup plans...
“In regards to the former, the thought occurred briefly until I cross checked it and re-verified half a dozen times. In regards to the latter, I never even heard of his mother until the murder.”
“So why come to me about this?”
Here it comes, Waller thought.
“There are only a handful of individuals on this planet that both know whom I am and would have the resources and expertise to attempt genetic manipulation like this. But my investigations confirmed what I already knew. They’re either all dead now or imprisoned – except for you, Waller.
“I’m flattered that you think I or any Cadmus alum were complacent in any genetic crime even forty years after it’s –
“Geneticists are like artists, Waller,” interrupted Wayne. “Despite an implementation of a standard technique, they all leave their own unique signature on their work. I know a Cadmus genetic re-sequence when I see one. So, my question is, what did you do? Who or what is Terry McGinnis to you?”
Waller didn’t respond, starring down instead in her swirling tea, as if attempting to pierce the veil of twenty years and what had occurred since then.
“Allow me to rephrase that,” he said after she didn’t respond. “I am not leaving this compound, indeed this room, until you give me a damm good explanation as to what the hell you did.”
Waller squeezed several more drops of lemon juice into the tea and stared into the expanding ripples in the liquid. It was symbolic, as if it represented the ripples of her actions extending into the present. “You have a right to know, I suppose,” she said at last. “Before we get to the why, it’d be best to start with the when.”
“The when would be the Bunny Vreeland incident,” Bruce replied. The incident had seen the daughter of aged debutante Veronica Vreeland ransomed, a kidnapping all the more significant in that it had been the last recorded sighting of the Dark Knight Detective for nearly twenty years.” Waller was startled.
“How did—”
“Even with the advances made in the thirty years after Cadmus, genetic engineering and alteration takes time to put together. And as I found no signs of temporal RNA sequencing, Terry is not a newly activated clone and is a healthy seventeen years of age. And as he was born three years after the…incident, I suspect that served as a catalyst.”
“Your magnificent brain and deductive skills never cease to shine,” she sad.
“Stop stalling, Waller.”
“Fine. As you surmised, Terry is a clone – or rather, more appropriately, your son. The boy is the result of a little operation I dubbed Project Batman Beyond. It was a think tank I began assembling a couple of years before the kidnapping. The purpose was to create a new Batman.”
“A new Batman,” he said in a skeptic tone. Waller nodded
“A new Batman,” she repeated. “Your DNA was collected by one of my agents after a streetside robbery or mugging or firefight; I can’t remember the full details. It’s not my fault you left it all over town; you might want to warn Terry about doing the same,” she added, producing another scowl from Wayne.
“I selected a Neo-Gotham family with identical psychological profiles to Thomas and Martha Wayne. My agents found Mr. and Mrs. McGinnis to be the prime candidates and I approved. During an annual physical examination a month later, Warren McGinnis’ DNA, or rather, his reproductive DNA, was rewritten with yours, courtesy of Cadmus genetic resequencing nanoprobes.”
“And…”
“And what?”
“What else are you not telling me, Waller?”
Waller blinked.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Don’t play coy. To have gone to that much effort, you would never have placed all of your hopes in one child; it is not your style. I know how you think. We’re alike in one respect; we’ve always been big on redundancy and contingencies. Who else, Waller?”
Waller sighed in resignation.
Godammit, couldn’t he forego the Mr. Omniscient act for at least once in his life?
“Terry was not the only candidate. We repeated the procedures several dozen times. Girls were ignored and then left to grow up without interference.”
“And boys?”
While Wayne was motionless, his eyes were burning with a fiery intensity. Waller sighed again. He knew what she was going to say and there was no way to avoid it.
“It’s rather obvious, isn’t it? You can’t attempt to make a Batman without a tragedy.”
The last words hadn’t even left her mouth when Wayne’s porcelain cup flew past her head, missing her ear by centimeters and shattering upon impact with the wall. The fragments were still falling to the floor as Bruce raised himself to his full height and towered over the former head of Cadmus. His hands were clenched and shaking in pure fury.
“All the years of our dealings,” he said slowly, “all the actions I saw you commit as the head of Cadmus and the overseer of Task Force X…I never, never thought you would be capable of something like this. How dare you, Waller.”
“It’s not something I’m exactly proud of, Bruce. I know I’ve sinned, but--”
“Don’t hide behind a “born again” façade, Waller.”
“It’s no façade!” Anger was rising in Waller.
“Like hell it isn’t. You spat on my legacy, on my oath, my partners, and upon the very altar of everything I fought for and scarified as Batman. And for what? To create a Batman that would follow the beckoning of Cadmus or another black-ops group? Were Galatea and the Ultimen not enough for you?
“20 years alone in the manor’s done wonders for your paranoia, Bruce,” she responded in a dark tone. “I didn’t do it for the U.S. Government or the DEO or anyone else. I did it to redeem myself and to ensure that the world would have a Batman!”
She had risen to her feet, her anger and passion permitting her to ignore her bad leg.
“For over a decade, I was the head of Project Cadmus in all of its forms. I was in cahoots with General Jack Hardcastle, Lex Luthor, and more, men who I knew to be liars and a thieves and I still did business with them. I oversaw genetic research, illegal testing, and turned a blind eye to it. I ordered opponents to the program, both foreign and domestic, ruined or killed to preserve our existence. I defied a direct presidential order to not attack an orbiting space station because I though the action would save the world. It’s easy to be a saint in paradise, but it’s impossible to not sin. What I did, I did for what I believed.
But then, you knew that. I told you that morning when you broke into my home that I was a patriot. I believed in the United States of America. I believed in my country. I believed that extraterrestrial and super powered demigods represented a threat greater than any terrorist or anarchist or fundamentalist could pose. So, I did my best to prepare for the worst. Files were assembled and tabs were kept on hot spots. Every sighting of an Atlantean monarch or warship or alien incursion or super-powered display across the country and the world was catalogued. “
“It was into such times that, from afar, I began to hear rumors and mocking discussions all emanating from the upper Eastern Seaboard and the great urban center that is Gotham City. All reports referenced a ‘Bat-Man’, all conflicting as to whether he was a supernatural creature or a man in a costume. I leaned towards the latter, had my agents verify, and based on their report, deemed you unworthy of attention.
Then one of the earlier bureaus took on a disgruntled and disgraced Gotham scientist named Hugo Strange and from him, I discovered your true identity. I gave it some further degree of thought, but not much. Aliens and meta-humans were my quarry, not eccentric, psychologically-damaged millionaire playboys. Despite your brief liaisons with Superman in Metropolis, I kept it that way.”
That all changed when the Imperium and its legions invaded and the League was assembled to drive them back into the darkest reaches of space. Despite, multiple alien incursions and two Apokoliptic invasions, I was less concerned with the invaders and more concerned with the League especially your supplying weapons and supplies to this super-human group. I was only slightly curious about your actual membership. After all, what good was a mortal man who walked among the gods and even more startlingly, was considered their equal? The problem bothered me and I simply passed if off as another eccentricity. But as time passed, I began to understand why.
She finally looked up from the still swirling liquid and directly into Bruce Wayne’s face.
“Do you know how many League victories you were the key to winning? Without you, the Imperium would have conquered us, the Joker’s Last Vegas stunt would have killed millions, the Thanagarians would have blown us all to kingdom come, etc. You even fought Darkseid himself head-on during the Third Apokolptic invasion. And it’s not just limited to these select few victories within the League. What about on your own? Without you, Ra’s al Ghul would have enacted his insane Lazarus Protocol or the Near Apocalypse of ’09 would have become a complete apocalypse. The Red Claw and her group would have released their plague or used the United Kingdom’s missile defense system against it. The Penguin, Rupert Thorne, and Carlton Duquesne would have sold terrorist weapons and worsened the Kasnia situation for decades.
“And throughout it all, despite our mutual antagonism, I came to respect and admire you. You were the ultimate man, the true super-man. Gotham didn’t just need you. The League didn’t just need you. The entire world needed you to make it through tomorrow, both as an inspiration and as a savior. And though I knew that old age would someday force you out of the game, I was hopeful that either the second Robin or Batgirl or Nightwing would rise adequately to the challenge and take on the fight for the next generation.
She paused again, knowing that the conversation had moved into dangerous waters. She was about to reference one of the darkest moments in the Dark Knight’s career, a moment that had been a key influence on her decision to initiate the Project.
“But then, of course, the Joker changed all that. And after Tim Drake…retired, I knew you had no intention of passing on the mantle to either your first ward or the Gordon girl. And to be honest, I didn’t blame you or how your stress and anger over the incident contributed to your quitting the League. But after all I had seen, I knew that a world without Batman was unacceptable. So, I began assembling my crew in advance, yet kept them on standby.
More years passed and then the Vreeland kidnapping occurred. After I received word of your heart attack, after your control of Wayne Enterprises was lost, and after the sightings of Batman stopped, I knew in my heart that it was over. And yet, I didn’t want to accept it. I didn’t want to accept that you had given up, that you would find some way to stay on as an advisor to the League or overcome the trauma of Drake’s torture and seek out a new apprentice. So, I waited. But the days turned into weeks, the weeks turned into months, the months turned into years and finally, I knew that I had to stop fooling myself. It was time to put Project Batman Beyond into order.
My teams moved into action as if they had been born to the task. Candidates were selected, profiles determined, and the unlucky children were eliminated. I was prepared to wait, to be as patient as possible so as to insure that someone would arise from the horror I was unleashing, someone who could recreate the Batman or a Batman anew.
“And then it came down to Terry. Terry changed everything. Terry was as much the turning point for me as he’s become for you. The McGinnis family, save for Terry, was supposed to be killed leaving a viewing of “The Gray Ghost” theatrical film that came out ten years ago. It should have been no different from the previous occasions.
“But it was. The other murders were committed by agents meant to resemble everyday muggers. For reasons I’ll never understand, I chose this time to try something different. I sent the McGinnis' assassin in the guise of a super-villain, Waller said, picking her words carefully. Bringing the Phantasm AKA Andrea Beaumont into the conversation would only further antagonize Wayne. “
“It should have gone off without a hitch. But it didn’t. The assassin refused to pull the trigger. I argued with her and threatened her throughout most of the night, saying that it had to be done. She argued in turn that was I wrong, that people said Batman was cold and obsessive and prepared to do anything to win. But he would never resort to murder.
And I realized then that she was right. I was so desperate to show atonement for my crimes in directing Cadmus, so determined to provide the world with a new super-man, a new champion of the people, that I had failed at the most basic level. I had failed to understand the core of Batman’s life, his values, his very existence. Project: Batman Beyond had been doomed to fail from the very beginning. So, the project was dismantled. The other children were left alone to live out their lives and were well-provided for. But I resolved to personally keep an eye on Terry.”
“I always wondered why you retired to the Gotham suburbs rather than your native St. Louis,” said Bruce, speaking for the first time since Waller had launched into her confession. There was still rage in his voice, but it had become subdued somewhat. “I thought it was to spite me.”
“Perhaps a little. And if you’re wondering why his doctors have never reported that his DNA is shared by you, it’s because his physician’s still on my payroll. But I never directly interfered with Terry’s life. I never tried to muddy the legal waters during his parent’s divorce or commute his time in Juvenile Hall. I never tried to turn him into a Batman just like you never tried to create a new one. And in the interim, look at what came of both of our choices. Crime in Gotham, has reached all-time highs not seen in almost sixty years, the Jokerz roam the streets, the GCPD – as always – is underfunded and outgunned. The head of Gotham’s most respected corporation is using company resources to sell nerve agents to foreign powers.”
Bruce gave her a sharp look.
“I dealt with Luthor, remember? Even though I’ve never met Powers or his son, I know a cultured thug and a snake when I see one. Besides, I still have friends in high places. Like with Lex and Lexoskel 5000, the Feds can’t officially prove the illegalities of his business transactions with Kasnia – or his role in the death of Warren McGinnis, for that matter. Give it time, though. It may take a week, I may take another decade, but Powers will slip up and like Lex, get caught in the act.”
“And look at all the trouble that led to,” Bruce murmured more to himself, recalling all too well that the threat of the former Metropolis tycoon had only increased following the loss of his business empire and eventually culminating in the accidental resurrection of Darkseid.
“My point is that Gotham needs a Batman now more than ever. And you’ve finally done it. Terry sought to wear the mantle when you wouldn’t. He may be rough and unseasoned, but I have faith he will do well as a new Batman and do us both proud.”
“Terry becoming Batman does not absolve you of what you did, Waller.”
“Of course not. I’m not happy of what I’ve done. And I know that there is an afterlife and a higher being. You and your colleagues have effectively proven that, I might add. But I’ll face my judgment for my crimes, judgment before the Lord. So, you can persecute me once again or focus on saving this city again and providing for your son.”
Waller had said her peace and left it at that. For a long time, Wayne did not speak. His eyes bore into Waller, but there was a distance to them. Finally, he spoke.
“Waller?”
“Yes?”
“From this day forward, if you ever, ever, come near him or any of my old associates …”
“I won’t.
He nodded in grim satisfaction and walked towards the living room door.
“Bruce, one more thing.”
He stopped but did not turn to face her.
“If I were you, I wouldn’t tell him. Let him become his own man and make the mantle of Batman his own.”
Wayne spared her one more long look before he turned and closed the living room door. Waller waited several moments before pressing her communicator’s activation switch again.
“You can stand down Bob, Mr. Gleason, and everyone else. And let our guest pass.”
“He already appears to have; my men have all the exits covered and we didn’t see the intruder leave.”
Waller chucked, both bemused and saddened. Some things certainly didn’t change, especially when you tried to be a saint in paradise.
***
The End
***
Author’s Notes Continued
* JLU writer Dwayne McDuffie has stated in interviews that a scene cut from “Epilogue” indicated that Terry was not the only product of Project Batman Beyond and that Waller repeated the process many times ala The Boys from Brazil. It was necessary to make reference to this deleted scene so as to further the dramatic conflict.
* The name of Waller’s bodyguard is a tribute to Bob the Goon from the 1989 Batman film.
* How Waller discovered Batman’s identity was never disclosed onscreen. However, given Hugo Strange’s presence at the Cadmus board in “The Doomsday Sanction” and the events of BTAS’ “The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne”, it’s not hard to guess how she came to learn this.
DCAU Episodes/Movies Referenced
BTAS: “The Cat and the Claw”, “The Lion and the Unicorn”, “The Demon’s Quest”, “The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne”.
STAS: “The Last Son of Krypton”, “World’s Finest”, “A Fish Story”, “The Demon Reborn”
BBeyond: “Rebirth”, “Ascension”, “Out of the Past”, “Big Time”, “The Call”
JL/JLU: “Secret Origins”, “Injustice for All”, “Starcrossed”, “Wild Cards”, “The Doomsday Sanction”, “Panic in the Sky”, “Epilogue”, “Alive!”, “Destroyer”
Movies: “Mask of the Phantasm”, “Return of the Joker”, “Mystery of the Batwoman”
