Chereads / A Hollow in DC and Beyond. / Chapter 48 - Batman's musings and prep file for when Lorde goes "Rogue".

Chapter 48 - Batman's musings and prep file for when Lorde goes "Rogue".

Batman, no, at this moment, it was Bruce Wayne sitting in his after-workout casual clothes perusing the mountain of information quickly scrolling past his hard eyes being displayed on the massive computer monitor overlooking him.

"Master Bruce, you have been staring at that profile of. I suppose a changed, young man is the nicest way to look at the boy, for the past hour. Such obstinance on one subject that isn't Superman is out of the norm." Alfred said as he carefully came out of the elevator leading from the Wayne manor above the Batcave with a tray of high-caffeine coffee and some nutrient bars.

"This one is different from Superman... He is willing to kill for one, not that such measures at all seem to be his first response but the way he crippled Cheshire for the next couple years clearly state his sense of humanity is suspect in terms of his willingness in dealing with foes of import." Bruce grumbled as he took the large mug of coffee from his loyal butler and didn't even flinch as he drank the scalding hot, bitter black as tar, ambrosia.

"And? Miss, Wonder Woman is much the same in how she apprehends some of her gallery." Alfred spoke with one of his greying eyebrows rising as Bruce didn't respond to that particular sentence and instead, the masked crusader droned on.

"He is already absurdly powerful in his niche. Having already shown of killing or banishing supernatural entities with forms of conceptual immortality such as the Chaos Lord Klarion, Alfred... I don't know what to do with the kid. He has fought off monsters that can destroy worlds and with his magic resistance buffing his already absurd physical strength and durability I don't know how the League can deal with him once he turns rogue when he can literally open a portal to hell at will for actual demons to invade." Batman muttered softly.

"Master Bruce!" Alfred's voice rose shocking Batman from his reverie in trying to find a weakness for Lorde. "You are looking at the young man, as someone who will inevitably become an enemy of the world. Such thoughts should it be discovered will only alienate him. He is a lost soul in a very hostile world, help guide him like the troubled youths you have taken in."

Then Alfred's expression softened as he patted Batman on the shoulder as he retreated from the tray of snacks and drinks he had brought down. "And if you can control Master Todd's disrespectful attitude then from the psyche files I have seen, I know you can keep a good relationship with the young man with how reasonable his files make him out to be."

Batman could only sigh as he dropped his coffee mug on the Bat Coaster that heated up to keep his coffee at the perfect temperature. "I will try to encourage Tim to invite Jake over for dinner or something... Sharing my identity to bring him closer in order to earn the trust of someone capable of being a potential heavy hitter in the league that can even keep the Greek and other gods in check will be worth the risk." Batman mused with Alfred scoffing.

"Bah, perhaps the young lad will not be a godless heathen and will appreciate my cooking and tea... Unlike a certain family obsessed with black tar of coffee that even. My lord, Bruce put that down this instant!" Alfred yelled, seeing Batman reach into one of the small drawers beside his Bat computer pull out some caffeine tablets, and break them down, adding the dust to his coffee.

-

After Batman succeeded in distracting Alfred into harassing him about his health and managed to send the overly concerned butler back into the manor proper after promising no more coffee and that he would be within the bed in the hour, he pulled back up the single file that was filled with more sensitive details about Lorde's actions and tells.

"Lorde, just as any teenager is susceptible to a honey pot mission. With Wonder Woman and now Galatea having firmly inserted themselves into his life, it's highly unlikely a villainess like Poison Ivy or Circe will be able to approach him to make him into a thrall with their abilities or simply play upon his lust with their bodies during a longer con." Batman mused as he wrote further details into the files about how from recordings Black Canary who Jake had opened up to and obviously appreciated could be given a mission to seduce him and impale and either kill or subdue the teenager with the recovered Longinus or a similar magical weapon like an Arch Angel Blade.

"Due to his power increase in the Land of Fae, he is seemingly no longer capable of being bound by Wonder Woman's lasso after satellite videos captured the trio of Galatea, and Lorde fighting so with that in knowledge, a full net made out of Nth metal has been prepared to capture him or possibly to be used in capturing other high mobility and powerful targets of interest."

Then Batman shifted as he folded his hands across his face as his computer paused its speech-to-text program before continuing as Batman finished collecting his thoughts. "Yet despite only Captain Marvel having an equal powerset with high physical abilities and matching magical capabilities, Lorde has one major aspect to him that represents something of note. He has no alternate identity, nor does he seem interested in one. Despite how he has expressed great joy in being able to rejoin humanity in mundane things as simple as going into a supermarket and not being ignored by the automatic door sensors, he still has seemingly no inclination in getting a citizenship or likewise further integrating with the world." Batman then drank some more coffee to wet his throat before finishing off his file.

"Whether his disdain to completely join the world as a natural citizen is something due to him being a form of higher-level life form, or possibly with how he is simply not from this particular earth or even with his ability to freely walk between dimensions, he showed no interested in taking the US citizenship test... Maybe he was already an illegal alien to the nation in his prior world?" Batman wondered before scoffing and deleting his last bit of musing before with a grunt he grabbed the tray of stuff that Alfred brought down and as the elevator took him back up into Wayne Manor, the Batcave went completely dark...

Except for the Bat computer's power and other analog lights was blinking rapidly as though something was wrong before quickly resuming normal operation.