"Batman: The Animated Series" is copyright Warner Bros

Disclaimer: The Gwendolyn Ingolffson and Lefarge characters and associated situations are copyright S.M. Stirling and may not be used or reproduced commercially without permission.

Disclaimer: This document, its author(s), and any content related to "Batman" are not authorized by Warner Bros.

Batman created by Bob Kane. (C) 1997 DC Comics All Rights Reserved. Batman and all related elements are the trademarks of DC Comics.

"Batman: The Animated Series" is copyright Warner Bros.

http://www.batmantas.com/ Warner Bros. animated series site

http://members.tripod.com/~Master_Luke/ another fanfic site

Title "A Drakon in Gotham" over a background image of the Draka crest (drakon with sword and manacle, shield over chest).

Cut to darkness broken by a door kicked open, a silhouette of a man carrying a Thompson submachine gun jumps in. After a few seconds of peering in, he relaxes and walks inside, pulls a hanging chain to turn on a single light bulb about 8 feet off the floor on a long cable. Other men walk in, among the last is the one with the briefcase. A gravelly voice says "See anything on the way in, anybody?" A chorus of "nope, no, uh-uh." The gravelly voice responds "OK. Spread out and wait for 'em." The figure with the briefcase raises the other hand and points. "You two get up on the roof and let us know when ya see 'em coming. We gonna do this deal with no surprises. Not from these out-a-towners, and not from Batman!" The figures scatter, leaving the figure with the briefcase alone in the light. It reaches out into the gloom, drags a chair and then a table into the circle of light, and positions them between the light and the door, then reaches to take off the hat that's been concealing his features.

Cut to a limousine pulling up outside the warehouse. All the doors except the driver's open simultaneously, and 3 men with guns jump out of them to nervously scan the area. After a few seconds, they relax and a tall thin man gets out of the limousine, followed by a short fat man (think Sergeant Garcia from Zorro) dragging a large suitcase. They all look Hispanic, but the thin and fat men have a family resemblance. The fat man puffs as he struggles to keep up with the thin one walking towards the door of the warehouse. One of the 3 guards rushes over and opens the door to the warehouse as the thin man waits calmly. The guard precedes the thin man into the warehouse. They see the hanging light, with a table placed in front of it. There is a figure, apparently seated in a chair, on the far side of the table, but the light is in back of it, hiding the face. A briefcase is on the table. The view zooms closer, but the figure at the table is still in shadow, revealing no features beyond a coat and hat.

Suddenly, a single gunshot sounds, and the hat flies off to reveal a broomstick. The chair topples over to reveal the coat is empty. Cut to a smoking pistol for a few seconds, then to a view of the thin man's face in extreme close-up as he says "damn." The lips compress into a tight smile. "Didn’t think it would be that easy though…" (a faint Hispanic accent)

Loud clacks and clicks of many guns being cocked in the darkness, and a pistol is pushed into the cone of light, held pointing at the thin man. The gravelly voice from the darkness: "Strike two. Any more tricks and we cut ya down." A pause. "Now, you wanna deal or what?"

The thin man tosses his pistol onto the table; it is stopped by the briefcase. He steps forward into the light, both hands held out empty. "Had to try it. But we came to deal." He snaps his fingers, and the short fat man drags the suitcase into the light towards the table. The thin man continues "You wish to test the merchandise while we count the money?"

The gravelly voice in the darkness says "Doc, get out there and do your stuff. Remember, 97 percent purity is our minimum or the deal's off." A thin mousy man with large spectacles stumbles out into the light, towards the table. "Get ridda that briefcase there, it's empty." The mousy man opens the briefcase and shows that it indeed was empty, then closes it and pushes it across the floor into the darkness. He places a small black bag on the table, but doesn't open it yet. "We got your money right here though, 1 million even." Another briefcase is pushed along the floor a few feet into the light, and the shoe and leg withdraw into the darkness.

The thin man orders "Manuel, leave the suitcase with the Doctor and go count the money in the briefcase. 1 million, check all the bundles." The short fat man leaves the suitcase near the table, which the mousy man opens and extracts a white bag from, which he then places on the table next to the small black bag. The short fat man gets the briefcase, looks around, then unhappily sits down on the floor next to the briefcase. He opens it and begins counting quietly, placing bundles of money on the floor next to him in stacks.

Suddenly, there is a light from above and a loud crack like thunder. A horizontal circle with a purple glowing border appears up in the rafters. Some kind of machinery or control panels with colored lights appears momentarily, then several things start falling through the circle just before it all flashes bright white.

Cut to upturned faces of the mousy man, short fat man, and thin man, all staring upwards in shock. A voice yells "Batman?" and gunfire begins. Quick shots of guns firing up in the air.

Off to her side is a Ghouloon, a seven-foot modified baboon. It wears a black helmet with a transparent visor, and carries an evil-looking black weapon in one hand that looks like a large assault rifle with a large dagger sticking out of the muzzle end; in the massive hand it looks like a toy. The body is covered with red-orange fur, except that most of the face and the hands are hairless. Those areas are a dark muddy gray, almost ghoulish. The eyes are set deep in the large skull, but are large, full of malevolence and constantly searching for threats. The mouth juts forward like a gorilla's, but with two fangs sticking up from the lower lip. If it speaks, the voice is deep and raspy. This is obviously something bred with some intelligence but not much. It wears a black belt attached to a black loincloth.

Facing Gwen, and initially bowing with hands at their sides, are a thin man and woman. Their size and appearance are almost identical, about 5'6" with bronzed skin and athletic but not overly muscular bodies. Both wear silvery gray tunics with thin gold sashes, and brown sandals. Only the hips and chest differentiate the male and female servus, their faces show a strong resemblance.

The view initially centers on Gwen, then pans to include the Ghouloon as well, who is constantly looking around the room suspiciously. Green caption letters start appearing in the lower right corner on four lines from top to bottom: “EARTH/1 (DOMINATION TIMELINE)    442 F.S. (2442 A.D.)    NORTH AMERICA   REICHART STATION” and fade after a few seconds. Then it pans back to include the two servus, who straighten up. The male begins "Muhmis Ingolffson…" She holds up a hand and interrupts with "Gwen. We may be working on this project for a while, and I don't want to waste time with formality. You two are twins? That might be interesting… later."

The two servus nod, and the male resumes "Yes, Muhmis Gwen, as you wish. I am Glenr, and this is Tolya.” He gestures at himself and the female servus. “We are the chief researchers here at Reichart Station. My specialty is the power systems, feed lasers, and confinement fields. Tolya’s specialty is the molehole sensors and the fields that manipulate a molehole once it is confined. This is the control room for the Molehole Generator. Although the primary controls and displays are by transducer, Security requires us to be physically in this room to access them. Most of the machinery is below us." He gestures towards the floor.

Tolya adds, "Technical Section only told us that you were arriving to supervise, but not your background. We trust that the data we sent you during your journey here was complete."

Gwen grins, "Almost enough to overload my transducer. I'm more a trouble-shooter than a physicist, doing a favor for my friend Tamarindus, the TechSec Director.” The two servus stiffen, but Gwen continues, “She asked me to look into progress here after the deep-space molehole experiment failed. I'm most concerned about your safety measures. We lost a cruiser when the deep-space one went chaotic, but the damage here could be immense."

Glenr nods, "We are well prepared here, Muhmis. Since this station is on the site of the former Alliance" — Gwen makes a noticeable grimace but doesn't interrupt — "physics research facility called Brookhaven, we have buried as much of the infrastructure and power generators as possible underground, including this room. The Conservation Directorate has all of Long Island, so there are no other drakensis or servus within 30 kilometers besides this station and the surface facility. The station's reactors can generate 3 gigawatts of power, but the heat exchangers offshore can dump over 6 gigawatts into the Atlantic Ocean if feedback occurs. There are 3 orbital battle stations nearby, although none directly overhead, with dedicated recording links to all our telemetry when we run an experiment. There is a Security Directorate detachment down here, including a cohort of Ghouloons" (he indicates the Ghouloon near Gwen) "for site security. There has been no indication of Samothracian activity or special interest in this facility for many years. We believe our cover of an agricultural research station, isolated from the mainland, has fooled them."

Tolya adds, "The station above is well known for adapted orchids, Muhmis. It houses enough servus and drakensis that the few who travel in and out from this station are easily concealed. Transport tunnels from the old city were used for the equipment that constructed this underground facility."

Gwen muses, "Sounds sufficient. But you never know when a Samo is listening. The only reason we're doing this is that we know they are interested in quantum moleholes. The possibilities for instant transport, even time travel… If the Domination can perfect the technology first, we can jump from Earth to Samothrace, almost 5 light years in an instant, and I'll see the last Yankees die." Her voice takes on a demonic intensity towards the end, and the two servus slightly cringe. She pauses to regain her composure, then orders "However, this is still the experimental phase. Let's see a low-power run."

The two servus nod in unison. They stand rigid, hold hands, close their eyes, and furrow their brows in concentration. Hollow "transducer" voices are used for most of the remainder of this scene, the character's mouths don't move. The Ghouloon says nothing during the exchange, just keeps looking around.

Glenr: "Telemetry uplinks opened… Confirmed that all 3 orbital stations are recording. Initiate generator. Begin searching quantum foam."

Tolya: "Selection criteria, Muhmis Gwen?"

Gwen: "Largest size. Should be the easiest to expand, if I understand the theory."

Tolya: "Scanners locked on. Isolating with resonance fields."

Glenr: "Tracking established. Power ready at standby level."

Tolya: "Polarizing… Pull-apart and twist achieved. Confinement fields stable."

Gwen: "Add minimum power, and stop at least two levels below the highest you've gotten to so far."

Glenr: "Need only one reactor for that. Shunts established. Feed lasers to your control, Tolya."

Tolya: "Test packets acceptable, rerouting beams from test targets to confined molehole. Minimum power impinging. Ramping up."

Gwen: "Hold. What's that fluctuation?"

Glenr: "Minor chaotic surge, Muhmis Gwen. It's a reaction to the initial input. Should dissipate if the molehole doesn't self-polarize and annihilate itself. That's happened before, but not every time. Even with our resonance fields, the molehole actually shifts in and out when the power first hits it. But once we get above minimum power, it always stabilizes."

Gwen: "Ah. It has stabilized. Continue."

Tolya: "Resuming increasing power. 6 10 17 23 30 38 47 50 52. Holding at 52. Previous maximum here is 54. The deep-space installation got to… 60."

Gwen: "Pull it. Lateral displacement on one dimension, keep one end fixed."

Tolya: "Orientation, Muhmis Gwen?"

Gwen: "Does it matter?"

Glenr: "In a gravity field, the equations say it does. That's why the initial experiments were in deep space."

Tolya: "Getting some drift. Shifting the confinement fields to compensate… Centered again. Starting a vertical pull. That's the easiest, gets gravity working in our favor."

Tolya’s voice shifts from a relaxed commentary to concerned. "Input imbalance. Displacement accelerating. Increasing confinement strength and widening laser focus. Fixed end is trying to follow."

Gwen: "Confinement to maximum and cut feed lasers to zero."

Tolya: "Done. It's still there. Confined but self-sustaining. Can't detect any rotation in this orientation yet, but…"

Glenr: "Getting an extra drain on the confinement generator. It's shifted resonance to draw from there!"

Tolya: "The two ends have migrated into the confinement field. Detectable rotation now."

Gwen: "Cut confinement. Let's see if it starves."

Glenr: "Done. No confinement, no feed lasers."

Tolya: "It's expanding. Momentum is carrying the ends further apart. Theory says it should collapse, but…”

Gwen: "If we can't starve it, try one big pulse to push it out of existence."

Glenr: "Theory is ambiguous on that. But it’s expanding towards the edge of our sensors, so it's worth a try. Bringing up all reactors, charging for an overload on both confinement field and feed lasers."

Tolya: "Still expanding. It’s reached macrocosmic levels. Only a short time before the ends get out of the sensors."

Gwen: "You two get out of here, I'll trigger the pulse."

Glenr: "Muhmis!"

Gwen: "That's not a request. You two are the physicists, anyone can push the button."

Tolya: "Yes, Muhmis Gwen. Uploading to orbitals continuing."

The two servus open their eyes and start running towards a door beyond the Ghouloon. The Ghouloon tenses and begins growling. Something is happening that he doesn't understand, but he wants to do something besides just stand there.

Gwen: "Centering on the middle. Ends leaving sensor range. 73% charged. Fire!"

The room dims momentarily and there is a dull boom sound. Gwen begins moving towards the door herself. "It didn't break. Everyone out!" Time slows during her speech; Gwen’s movement starts out much faster than humanly possible, but slows down to a mid-air slow-motion jump across the room as her voice slows and drops towards a bass. The Ghouloon steps towards the door, then turns around and sluggishly reaches out a hand to Gwen. There is suddenly a rapidly expanding hemisphere of white light coming out of the middle of the floor while Gwen is frozen in mid-air with the Ghouloon reaching for her. It expands to fill the room and all details are lost in the brightness.
Blackness broken by pinpoints of stars, and large tumbling rocks. A long outside view of a spaceship in an asteroid field, at rest. Green caption letters start appearing in the lower right corner on four lines from top to bottom: “SOL SYSTEM/1   2442 A.D. (442 F.S.)    ASTEROID BELT   SAMOTHRACIAN S.F.S. SHIP SANDIA” and fade after a few seconds. Cut to an extreme close-up of a flashing red light behind a flat panel, accompanied by an annoying hooting sound guaranteed to wake the dead. A hand slaps the panel, and the hooting stops. Pull back to show this is the arm of a military uniform. It's khaki, reminiscent of the U.S. Navy. A male voice calls out "Captain here. What have you got?"

A young female voice muffled by an intercom, responds "Lieutenant Richardson at Sensors, Sir. Passive detectors have a molehole incident on Earth's surface at their Reichart Station. Getting some massive energy output too, looks like it went chaotic and took out all of Long Island!"

The view has pulled back enough during the speech to see the Captain, a middle-aged man, scowling at this news. Another figure leans in towards the panel, a shorter man with rotund features, wearing a darker uniform. "Senior Agent Menendez here with the Captain. Did anything translate?" The female voice responds, "Something at the very beginning, Sir. About a 3 meter radius of coherency before it went chaotic and just started destroying things. Event track coming up… Looks like minimal physical displacement, a few hundred kilometers at most, constrained within 50 meters of sea level because of the gravity field. Temporal is 400 to 500 years, almost certainly into the past. We'll have more resolution when we integrate all these readings. Lots of Draka orbital and high-altitude activity. They’re moving a lot of stuff around, they might think it was a nuke strike, but nothing looking out this way or heading in our direction. Damage on the surface equivalent to a 36-megaton sun-bomb. Sensors out."

Menendez turns to the Captain. "Whew! We knew they wouldn't get it right the first time, especially after they fouled up their first try in deep space. But the snakes got too close to figuring it out this time. Even an uncontrolled transit is dangerous. Especially if it was made to Earth. Samothrace is uninhabited in most alternate universes, but a drakensis on another Earth? Humans would be unable to stop it unless we helped."

The Captain holds up a hand in negation "Our first priority is to observe without being detected. That's critical to the safety of this ship. I know you spooks are always looking for an opportunity to infiltrate, but this news is more important to Samothrace than a cloak-and-dagger stunt. The Sandia here is the only ship that I know about that's cleared to be in this close, and it took us months to coast in from the Oort cloud to avoid detection. The Draka are sure to detect us if we light up any active systems, or try to run for home. And it could have been nothing, or just a servus that went through."

Menendez counters, "I know your responsibility is the ship. But I have to look at the worst case. I'm not asking us to send anything massive, just a single agent. We have a second molehole generator as a backup, so we could send off a stealth capsule just before we fire up the transit hole back to the Centauri system. Anything larger than that, and the snakes will resolve it as a second transit, even with their crude sensors, and get suspicious. I'll take responsibility for initiating moleholes within Domination sensor range. After all, they've been experimenting for months now, and this one just happened to go somewhere before we have our long-range sensors ready to implement disrupting molehole formation remotely. All I ask is that we pin down what went through and exactly where in the alternates it got to."

The Captain sighs in acquiescence. "OK. Get one of your agents ready. It'll take time for us to resolve the readings better, but we'll figure out exactly where that transit went. Don't know how close we can get in the time dimension though."

Menendez responds, "Ken Lefarge is our best agent on board. He was prepped for an insertion on the Domination's Earth, now, so anything earlier should be a piece of cake. Just get him on that alternate, and up to 10 years on the early side, and he'll do what he can when he gets there."

The Captain nods, slaps the intercom panel. "Now hear this. This is the Captain speaking. Prepare a stealth capsule for space deployment. Agent Ken Lefarge, report for mission equipment. Captain enroute to Bridge, out."

Menendez whispers, "Good luck Ken."

Cut to a point of view stalking through the warehouse. The scene is artificially bright reddish with some flickering symbols including a blinking "NO WEB CONTACT", and a large knife enters the field of view, held by the right hand of the viewer. The view swings around to spot the short fat man, holding onto the half-closed briefcase spilling money, as he tries to push himself back along the floor into a dead end of wooden crates. He holds up a hand, pleading "No, no! Por favor!" The knife disappears from view as it is pulled back, then suddenly appears in the middle of the briefcase covering the man's chest. He slumps, and blood trickles down from behind the briefcase onto the floor. After a short pause with silence, a slim hand reaches up and catches the swinging light, stopping it delicately. Gwen muses "Yankee and Hispanic gangsters, hmmm... Pity about the Ghouloon. Hope those servus uploaded the data before the molehole blew the facility. Oh well, let's go get cleaned up." The filament suddenly burns out, and the scene is dark for a few seconds until the creak of the door to the street is heard.

Cut to the exit door, with a female silhouette (wearing a form-fitting outfit and boots) in the opening for a second. Two long braids, some devices strapped to the legs and hips, a flash of green cat-like eyes as the head swings back for a last look inside. A briefcase is visible in one hand, just before it ducks out. Footsteps are heard walking away. A small stream of red liquid flows into the lit field of view, illuminated from the street outside.
Cut to a long arm and hand, with red-orange hair and a non-human ape-like hand, lit brightly on a gray surface. Back off to reveal this is the warehouse floor, the arm is sliced short of an elbow, but is about 3 feet long. A shoe enters the view and carefully kicks at it. Cut to the face of Detective Harvey Bullock of the Gotham City Police, and back off. He is a large, slovenly man with a toothpick sticking out of one corner of his mouth. "Criminy! What's this? That Bat-creep let a monster loose in here?"

Cut to the face of Commissioner Gordon walking in scowling; slowly back off during his speech. "Jumping to conclusions again, Bullock. We have a drug deal that turned into a massacre. Not Batman's style. Something or someone else did this. Collect that for evidence." He raises an arm and points to two locations while talking. "Him too. Some of these guys aren’t from Gotham. The fat guy over in the corner with the blood-soaked money looks like Manuel Cardenza, and he was too stupid to go anywhere without his boss brother José. There's a good chance this thin guy with no head was José."

Batman's voice comes from the shadows behind Commissioner Gordon, and he does his usual "step out of the shadows" routine. "It was José Cardenza, but he wasn't killed by any weapon I know of. That arm isn't a normal ape either. I'll run some tests and let you know what I find out."

Detective Bullock bristles and steps up to Batman, shaking his fist. "Tampering with evidence?"

Batman holds up two small vials in his hand, "Nothing you'll miss."

Bullock turns to Gordon, "But still tampering. He admits it. Lemme slap the cuffs on 'im!" But when he turns back, Batman is gone. Bullock goggles in shock, then tears off his hat and slams it to the floor. "Not again!"

Gordon smirks and turns away, calling out "I want a preliminary report on my desk in twenty-four hours." He walks out of the warehouse.

He stops outside, facing away from a dark alley, and lights his pipe. He quietly says "Something's wrong with this picture."

Batman steps partially out of the alley and responds "The money. One empty briefcase probably used as a decoy, but aside from some scattered bills, somebody took the rest. I'd guess about a million, judging from the drugs left behind. Although why take the money and not the drugs?"

Gordon shrugs. "At least we agree that it's a somebody. Don't know what that arm is from, though. Let me know what you get, and I'll give you our results too. This is too strange."

Batman nods, "Agreed. This fits none of the usual MOs. I'd say somebody nasty just dropped into Gotham."

Gordon smiles grimly. "Just passing through, I hope."

"Maybe. But those were people killed back there, even if they were criminals. I can't be sure about what killed them yet, but I'll find out. What or who, I'll find out and stop it. The next time there may be innocent people…"

"Pessimist. If there is a next time."

"Realist. I'll be in touch." Batman pulls back into the darkness.

The camera starts to pull away. Gordon waits a second, then walks to his car, smoking his pipe. Behind him, Batman's silhouette appears on the warehouse roof after a few seconds, then slips away.

She pulls the TV cable a few feet out of the wall and examines the end. Then picks up a CD case, opens it, removes the silver disk, and tilts it back and forth in the light. Inserts it into the CD player, and presses buttons until a few seconds of speed metal come out of the speakers. She winces, then smashes the player with a fist to stop it. "Noise." she growls.

She walks back to the sofa, reaches behind it to lift up the body one-handed again. She digs in the pockets and removes the wallet, drops the body back behind the sofa. Spreads out the wallet contents on the kitchen table, continues eating while poking at the papers and money. Gets up and retrieves the briefcase from the fire escape outside the window. There are holes on both sides from the knife thrown through it earlier. She opens the briefcase, drops handfuls of torn or bloody bills on the floor. Then walks over to the closet, opens the door, and removes a zippered gym bag, a jacket, and a cap. Sitting down and eating the last of the food, she stuffs the remaining money from the briefcase into the gym bag, then puts on the jacket and cap. She pats the bag, gun and knife on her hips, and nods. She picks up the bag, climbs onto the windowsill, and then jumps out the window, leaving it open behind her.
A TV reporter says, "Late last night, a vigilante killer broke up a drug deal and slaughtered over 12 armed men at this waterfront warehouse. Police will only confirm that the drugs were found at the scene, along with the bodies of local and out-of-town gangsters. But there are rumors that a million dollars in cash is missing. Is Batman now killing for money, or if not him, who?"

Bruce Wayne, wearing his Batman costume with the hood pulled down, snorts and turns off the TV. Alfred comments "I'd think one million would be petty cash for you, sir. Although I could use a raise." Bruce turns to him and says, "You deserve one. But for anyone to even consider that Batman would do that…" He shakes his head in disgust, and returns his attention to the Batcave computers, which are busy analyzing the two samples from the warehouse.

Gordon motions at a larger pile of papers on the other side of his desk. He informs Batman "A single male body was discovered this morning in an apartment several blocks from the warehouse. The intruder bent some security bars, pushed an air conditioner in a third-story window, and then killed the occupant with a single chop to the throat. Time of death is estimated at about 30 minutes after the warehouse killings. The intruder removed a bullet with some nail clippers, ate practically everything in the refrigerator, pulled the phone out of the wall then smashed it and threw the pieces out the window wrapped in a newspaper, took the air conditioner to pieces and threw them out the window too, smashed a CD player while it was running, and pulled the TV cable out from the wall. Apparently left through the same window. Left behind a spent bullet, several bloody bills that match Manuel Cardenza's blood, and a briefcase with knife holes through it, linking this to the warehouse. Prints don't match anybody in the files but appear human. Blood on the bullet and nail clippers comes up as female but not human, lots of antibodies to all kinds of diseases and viruses, chemical differences, and different number of chromosomes. Some of the bodies at the warehouse indicate a knife about 18" long that can cut through a submachine gun or bones without going dull, a very thin yet extremely strong blade. Our analysis of the arm confirms what you found. Also, the arm had some kind of circuitry in it that's too complicated to analyze, and the bone was extremely difficult to cut or break. People near the warehouse report hearing a noise like thunder for several seconds just before a lot of gunfire started. There was another loud boom, then the gunfire started to die out with lots of screams. There's lots of spent bullets and cartridges, but apparently no weapons missing from the warehouse except what killed them all."

Batman surmises, "What happened at the warehouse was the entry of something strong and violent, with advanced technology. How it got here is unknown, but it dropped in on the drug deal and got shot at, so it killed everybody and took the money. So it knows about how to kill humans, it knows about guns and drugs and money, but it took only the money. It found the apartment and used that location to clean up, eat, and learn some more about Gotham. And now it's been here for a day with no sightings of strange beings, or other mass killings, so it must be able to pass as human. But whatever it is, it can't be human with that strength or the genetic differences, and it's committed 15 murders already. That arm, if it isn't from another one, is from something else that didn't quite make it to Gotham. One is bad enough. And female?" Batman shakes his head and sighs. "The only good news is that it bleeds, but all that shooting and it only got hit once for a flesh wound."
A young man wakes up in a bed, and listens to clicking and page-turning noises coming from the next room. He feels the other side of the bed, but there's nobody there. He gets up, puts on a bathrobe, and walks into the other room. Gwen, wearing a light robe, is sitting in front of a computer with a pile of books stacked on the table. She's got one in her hand, and is flipping a page every few seconds, then glancing at the computer screen as it scrolls. She turns away from both, and there's a quick glimpse of green cat eyes as her face is in shadow.

"Stephen, you were watching me, weren't you?" Her accent is much less noticeable now.

The man nods, "You're… reading? That fast?"

"Call me gifted. You ready for some more?"

The man gulps and shakes his head, "uhhh… not just yet. But what are you doing?"

Gwen stands and stretches. She responds "Research. When do you expect somebody to call?"

"This weekend, probably nobody unless something happens in the oriental markets. And 'research' isn't a good enough answer."

"I'm sorry to hear that." The view cuts to an oblique overhead view of the whole room. Suddenly, she lashes out with a fist, and Stephen crashes into the wall and slumps to the floor.

Gwen looks down and says "A pity. I've got to stop leaving a trail like this."

She lugs the body off screen to the kitchen, and there are noises while she says, "Good thing there's a big freezer here. I'll just have to make some of these 'TV dinners'."

Gwen leaves Gotham for a while (to make a fortune in the Caribbean as in the book) and returns only when she buys the warehouse. It is about 3 years after she arrived. She meets Bruce Wayne, and tries to charm him into joining her circle of followers. She easily assesses him as an extremely fit individual, although still a human. His acute senses allow him to detect Gwen's pheromones, and his willpower lets him avoid completely giving in to them. Even without them, she's attractive, but Bruce is wary. Bruce agrees to listen to her pitch about advanced technology and how the world can be saved from humanity. He gets suspicious when she displays some holographic images from Luna, terraformed Mars, and Final Society Earth that look too real to be artist's concepts (they are real, from her transducer). When he investigates her assets (watch that dirty mind!), he finds she recently purchased the warehouse (which is still flagged in the Bat computer), and is installing advanced high-energy physics equipment inside without disturbing the outside appearance.

Batman goes to investigate, but finds the place is heavily guarded. He notices another figure spying on the warehouse. This turns out to be Lefarge, and the two actually have a short scuffle before they realize neither is actually trying to kill the other (although Lefarge is pulling his punches only after he knows this isn't a drakensis).

Batman and Lefarge discuss the situation in Lefarge's nearby small warehouse, which is set up as a combat training range and manufacturing plant for advanced weapons. Lefarge arrived in a stealth capsule about 3 months ago; his molehole coordinates weren't shifted far enough to get him here before Gwen. He figured out Gwen's location in the Caribbean by IngolfTech's introduction of advanced technology (holographic displays and advanced water purifiers), but had an inconclusive result when trying to attack her base there by himself. All he managed to do is kill some guards, and reveal his presence on the planet to her. He's been using a small fabricator to replicate advanced weapons that can kill a drakensis even in "blacks," and he plans to recruit a small mercenary force to attack the facility soon. Unfortunately, all Lefarge has to work with is advanced weapons and himself; he hasn't set up a company to do anything comparable to IngolfTech. Batman can't condone this sort of activity, even in a good cause, so he agrees to help Lefarge if it will keep advanced weapons off the street. The two of them will pool their resources, determine the best time to attack the warehouse.

Batman and Lefarge attack the warehouse separately. Lefarge boldly drives up in an armored vehicle, announces over a loudspeaker that he will destroy the building, gives the occupants time to evacuate (Batman insisted), and then begins shooting. Unfortunately, Gwen has reinforced the building so it doesn't immediately collapse. When the vehicle is destroyed by a counterattack, it's revealed Lefarge was controlling it remotely. He now attacks in person, fighting with the guards. Batman uses the diversion and delay to infiltrate the warehouse. He discovers that Gwen is almost ready to open a molehole to the Draka, and places one of Lefarge's computer devices in the controls. The Samothracian computer probe begins fighting the Draka hardware, and havoc starts inside the molehole controls. Gwen rushes the opening of the molehole to the Domination, and actually gets through to the Draka for communication. However, the controls and the building have been compromised, and the molehole collapses after no more than an exchange of data and the start of sending a vehicle from the Domination. The molehole system and the building start falling apart, and Gwen ends up in a hand-to-hand battle with Lefarge. Both apparently die when the molehole system explodes, destroying the building.
Batman watches the flames from a nearby rooftop, then turns towards the rising sun. "I hope that's over with." Sirens are heard approaching.

Still in the shadows of night, a periscope in the nearby river lowers and disappears. A man inside a small submarine turns away from the periscope controls and says to a woman holding a baby, "Looks like she failed. The fire engines are arriving." The woman nods calmly, "Muhmis wasn't always reckless. If she hadn't told us to be out here just in case, we might have died too." The baby wakes at the voices, and opens her eyes. She has short red hair, and green cat-like eyes. She cries aloud, and flails her arms. The woman croons, "Now, now little Yolande. Muhmis Gwen told us to look after you. You're going to grow up big and strong. You're going to be just like her someday." She begins humming and rocking, and the baby closes her eyes and falls asleep.

The man shrugs and continues in a quiet voice, "Well, it’s just us now. Let's get this sub out of here, and find a place we can raise Yolande quietly. When the transducer uploads kick in, Gwen's clone will have her knowledge, and she'll tell us what to do. It’s going to be a long twelve or thirteen years until puberty though…"

The camera zooms away from the small submarine underwater as it makes its way down-river to the ocean. Shifting to above the water, the periscope pops up again, leaving a wake leading into the rising sun.

"The End" appears, then after a few seconds a "?" is added. Fade to black.

Peter Karsanow