|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
Times Past, 1979
Batman
Lights Out!
Keys jangled in the lock outside one the apartment doors of a three story brownstone on East Bender Avenue. After some mild cursing under hushed tones and a few attempts to successful navigate the lock with a key, once the right key was used, the dead bolt finally popped to the open. The person out in the hallway was allowed access to the small but tastefully furnished dwelling.
A young woman in her late twenties, with brown curly hair, tossed her black sequined handbag and keys towards the small wood coffee table in the open living room area. She barely noticed them slide off the table's surface for she was busy closing the door and latching the lock once more. She turned away from the door for a second, paused, turned back and eyed the lock. "Yup, got it," she said to herself with a little chuckle.
Maxine Douglas, Maxx to her good friends, slipped off her gray overcoat coat and dropped it casually on the edge of the couch. Underneath she wore a short black shirt and a sparkly red blouse, barely buttoned enough to keep from exposing her amble cleavage. The coat slipped to the floor in a crumpled heap as she made her way, moving slightly side to side, down the hallway towards the bedroom in the back.
A short haired cat met her halfway and greeted her with a meow.
"Simon, there you are!" Maxx squealed with silly delight. She hoisted the pet in the air and twirled him around once. "The New Year's Eve party was wonderful! Maggie and Diane were there too, though I was dressed the best, of course. And I met the nicest of guys. He was really really really really cute!" Maxx stopped her spin when she realized it was only making her even more disoriented.
"I'll tell you about it all in the morning, kitty." She let the cat drop to his feet while she stepped into her darkened bedroom. "Right now, all I want to do is sleep." She stepped out of one black pump as she fell down upon the bed. Her head hit the fluffy down pillow, and her eyes closed immediately. The young woman passed out.
Simon the cat barely dodged as the other black pump fell from Maxx's stocking foot to the floor.
The second hand on the electric clock made its ways around the face, from six up to twelve. At exactly 4:52 am, though, the second hand became frozen in its tracks. For exactly a minute, the clock was as dead to the world as Maxine Douglas. Then, exactly sixty seconds from when it stopped, the clock started up again; the second hand was moving on its way as if nothing had happened.
The upper east side of Manhattan had experienced a one minute power failure on that early Monday morning, the first day of the new year. Very few people in the city-that-doesn't-sleep noticed it or paid it much mind. This happened every now and again. Certainly nothing to concern themselves with.
***
Thursday morning, at a small coffee shop on the corner of 16th and Preston, a talk lanky man in a two tone shirt of off-white and mustard, underneath a brown sports jacket, plopped down at the counter. "Hey, Manny," the man with the unkempt dark haired called out, "let me get a cup o' Joe to go!" He tapped his two hands back and forth on the counter a few times in a drumming sort of way.
The man in the white with the apron turned. "Kramer, what in the name of Sam Hill you doin' up this early?"
"Not up," the angular faced customer said, "just not down yet. Two different states of being entirely."
The shop keep fetched a Styrofoam cup from under the counter and began to pour a large to-go coffee from one of the pots on the burner. He knew the customer well enough to know how he liked it, black and strong. "You're one crazy guy, you know that. I don't how you can be out all night and still manage to work all day." He put the cup on the counter and snapped a lid in place.
"Manny, you just gotta have flexible working hours like I do," the customer said as he pulled a couple bucks from his pocket. He extracted one of the dollars from the pile and laid it on the counter while stuffing the others back into his pants' pocket. "See, that's the key to life: livin' it on your own terms." He made a little click-click sound with his throat and gave the man a wink before grabbing the cup. "Have a good one, Manny."
"See you soo..." Manny started to say, just as the lights in the shop went dark.
Not just the lights though. The burners and everything in the coffee shop went out.
And not just the shop. All the lights in the street, the traffic signals, and in the other buildings around went dark as well.
"Whoa!" the customer said, taken aback with a sudden jerk. He made sure not to spill his coffee in the dark.
"Damn it!" Manny cursed. "Not again! This is the fourth morning in a row!" He fumbled in the dark for the watch on his left wrist and pressed the light on it. In the faint glow, he could read the digits. 4:52. "Same exact time too!"
"That's wild!" the customer said.
"It's annoying is what it is!" Manny griped. "Yesterday it was out for four minutes. Wonder how long it'll be this morning." He slammed his fist down on the counter in frustration. "You'd think this city could afford a little more reliable equipment! If this is any indication, 1979 is not gonna be a good year, I'm tellin' you!"
***
The downtown business district of Gotham City was relatively quiet, as usual, for a Saturday night. In the Wayne Foundation building, however, there was activity but not any related to the publicly known purposes of the foundation. For when Bruce Wayne designed and had built this building, he kept some areas designated for personal use. One was the penthouse living quarters he occupied on the upper floors. The other was for equipment he needed for his war against crime as the Batman.
Sitting at a computer screen in this make-shift Batcave, the handsome, dark haired man was dressed in familiar gray tights with blue boots and gloves. The cowl to his attached blue cape was resting on his back as he watched the data scroll by.
"Excuse me, sir," a soft English voice said from behind him. Bruce Wayne turned to see a tall, thin gentleman with a thin mustache dressed in a dark suit with white shirt and bow tie. In his hands was a small silver tray with a pot and a cup with saucer. "I thought you could use something to drink." He placed the tray down on the counter nearby and began to pour out.
Bruce smiled at the man. "Thank you, Alfred," he said.
Alfred Pennyworth was more than just a servant who catered to the millionaire's every need. He was a confidant, a good friend, and in many ways almost one of the family. Bruce Wayne didn't know what he would do without the man. "Here you are, sir," the butler said, handing Mr. Wayne the cup of steaming coffee.
"Thank you," Bruce said. He sipped the beverage. It warmed him on this chilly night. "We wouldn't happen to have any of those cookies left, would we?"
"I'm afraid Master Dick took a good portion of them when he left for his drive back to Hudson University," Alfred said. "However, I might have another bit stashed away in the pantry. I can go check if you'd like."
Bruce smiled. Good old Alfred, always willing to go the extra mile. "No, that's all right," he said. "Maybe later." He took another sip. "I'm sorry I missed Dick's departure. His break seemed so short this time."
"While his classes do not resume until Monday, I believe he mentioned something about needing to get back early. Something about a social engagement or such."
"It's good that he's making new friends there," Bruce said, turning back to the keyboard. "He worked so hard with his studies to get early admission, as well as all his extra efforts with me as Robin. He deserves to have a little time to be a normal college student."
"And you, sir?" Alfred asked. "You've been awful busy of late. Perhaps you need an evening out as well. I'm sure there are many women just dying to spend an evening on your arm."
"Alfred, Alfred," Bruce chuckled. "You sound like an old matchmaker."
"Me, sir?" the butler said with mock surprise.
"I did the holiday parties a few weeks back, making my token appearances so the society pages could have their gossip," Bruce said. "And, I did that caroling thing with Commissioner Gordon and the police department as Batman on Christmas eve. But since then, its been a busy few weeks. In fact, that's why I'm catching up on some of my files tonight."
"I see," Alfred said. "Well, then, I'll let you get back to it then." He turned and started to walk away.
"Hmmm," Bruce said aloud.
Alfred turned back. "Something of interest, sir?"
"Come see for yourself," Bruce offered.
The butler stepped behind the chair in which his employer was seated and glanced over his shoulder at the computer screen. "My word! When did that jail break occur?"
"Just after Christmas," Bruce said, summing up what he had read in the report. "With all I've been up to, I just realized it had occurred."
"Perhaps the Justice League should be alerted."
"I will alert them just in case its not in our systems," Bruce replied, "though if we had any leads on his whereabouts, I'd certainly know about them by now." He leaned back in the chair and sipped his coffee. "No, I think for the moment we'll just have to keep our eyes open to see where he might strike."
***
Tuesday morning, in the same building, Bruce Wayne was dressed in a blue suit with a matching striped tie and was sitting at the desk in his large office, reviewing some paperwork. The intercom on the corner of his desk buzzed.
"Yes?" he said after pressing the button.
"Mr. Lincoln on line two," the receptionist said.
"Thank you," Bruce said. He picked up the handset and pressed the indicated button. "Edward, good morning. I was just reviewing your proposal."
"Bruce, I'm so sorry," the voice on the other end said. "I know we had our conference call scheduled for nine this morning, but I overslept."
"No need to worry, Edward," Wayne replied. "This gave me some extra time to look over the numbers." He set the report down. "Admittedly, I was surprised when you didn't call right at nine though. You are usually so punctual."
"Sometimes things are just out of one's control," Edward Lincoln explained. "In this case, by the time I woke up, it was nearly eight. My alarm clock didn't go off due to a power failure."
"I hate when that happens."
"Even worse, it wasn't just my place. Looks like the whole city of Manhattan was hit with it. We've been experiencing a lot of them lately since New Year's. Always happens early in the morning too. Near as I can figure, this time it was out for almost four and half hours. Caused severe problems for the morning rush hour with commuters on the trains and buses."
"Hmmm," Bruce said as he grabbed a small sheet of paper from his top drawer and began to scribble a few things on it. "You don't say."
"Anyway, that's the reason I was late," Edward said. "But, if you have about fifteen minutes, we can go over the proposal and iron out any problems."
"Sounds good," Bruce said. He eyed the paper where he wrote NYC, power failures and since 1/1. He folded the paper and put it in his suit jacket breast pocket. He would follow up on this later.
***
That evening, as the sleek Batmobile zoomed down the streets of Gotham, the Caped Crusader spoke to someone over the in-dash communications system. "I just wanted to let you know, Commissioner, that I'll be out of town working a case," the costumed Batman said as he drove.
"Out of town?" Jim Gordon said on the other end of the line. "For how long?"
"Not sure yet," Batman replied. "Still in the investigative stage. Hopefully it's something I can get to the bottom to in a night or two tops."
"And if I need to reach you?"
"Just use the usual means. The message will get to me."
"If I can ask, where are you going?" inquired Gordon.
"Just across the way to the Big Apple," Batman said as he turned the vehicle onto the bridge that crossed the waterway. "There's a worm that I need to ferret out."
"Good luck," Gordon said.
"Thanks. Batman out." With a finger, he switched off the communications system and then punched up the onboard computer. While he focused on his driving, he would let the systems pull up relevant data pertaining to the New York Electric's power grids and transformer stations as well as any reported crime instances that had happened over the last week in the wee hours of the morning. After awhile, the Manhattan skyline could be seen in the distance.
***
At one of the power substations, two night technicians congregated outside near the back door for a smoking break. "I tell you, Larry, if we don't figure out what's going on, the boss will have our hides!" one of the guys said.
"I know, Danny!" replied the other. "He's getting a lot of pressure from the mayor's office due to so many complaints. Then he goes and chews us out and makes us stay on-site until the problem is located and fixed."
"Perhaps I can be of assistance," a voice called from above.
The two men turned as a figure dropped down from the trees above the yard, a cape flowing in the midnight air. The startled men relaxed as the figure stepped into light, revealing a costume with a yellow oval and bat-emblem that was easy to recognize. "It's him!" Larry exclaimed. "The Batman!"
"Doesn't he usually do his thing in Gotham City?" asked Danny.
"I do," Batman said, "but sometimes I'm needed in other places. I might have a lead on who is behind the recent rashes of power losses. My analysis indicated that this substation is the likely source of the sabotage."
"Yeah?" said Larry.
"But first I need to check your systems inside, if that's all right with you," the hero said.
The two men considered for a moment, talking amongst themselves. After going back and forth, they concluded that it couldn't hurt to let the man take a look. After all, this was Batman, a man known for saving the world a number of times both alone and with the Justice League. Besides, if he was able to solve the problem, that meant they'd get to go home a lot quicker. It was a win-win situation all the way around. They escorted the guest inside.
Batman took about an hour or so, checking out every aspect of the transformers and generators. He had familiarized himself a bit with their workings before arriving on the scene, yet he wanted to insure he had covered all possible angles. Finally, he let out an exclamation of sorts. "Aha!"
"You got something?" asked Danny.
"Indeed," he said, stepping back a bit. With a thin penlight on his utility belt, Batman shone a beam up along one of the units. "See that tiny mechanism up there, in the corner?"
The two men strained, getting the right angle and then said, "yeah!"
"That appears to be the cause of your little problem," Batman said. "It's a disrupter that's causing a rerouting of the output electricity."
"Huh?" Larry said. "So, if its there, how come everything's running fine right now?"
"It must have some kind of remote activation system," Batman explained. "Triggered by a signal that enables it's functioning. A second signal then disables it. While it is disabled, everything runs just fine."
"But when its enabled..." Danny said, getting the idea.
"Exactly. Instant blackout!" Batman completed the thought.
"So, if we remove it, then the problem's solved!" Larry beamed.
"Yes," Batman said, "but the person behind all this gets away Scott-free." He put away his tools and started to cross the room to leave. "I need you gentlemen to sit tight until I contact you. I believe that in a few hours, our criminal will activate the device once more. And when he does, I'll track him down."
"How can you be so sure?" Danny asked.
"This man is greedy and overconfident," Batman said. "That and he has continued his actions for the last nine nights. I can't see any reason why he would quit now, especially when he thinks that so far no one is on to him. Please keep this to yourselves until I contact you later. If all goes well, you'll be out of here in time for breakfast." And with that, the hero turned and hurried out of the plant.
Larry turned to Danny. "I guess we're stuck here," he said. "Got any cards in your locker?"
***
At 4:52 am exactly, Manhattan was hit with yet another power failure.
And in a hidden lab within the city, a tall man with a wisp of a black beard, dressed in a white costume with black highlights, gloated as the machine in the center of the room began to hum once more. "Excellent!" His grin was wide, and his eyes danced with excitement.
He walked over to the control panel, his white cape trailing behind him. "Just a few more adjustments on the coordinates," he said aloud to no one in particular as his white gloves worked the knobs, "and then we'll see if tonight's power-up cycle can get me all the way to the Vegan system and back!"
The machine in the center of the room was a more advanced model of the one he had developed a number of years ago. Back then, the scientist was trying to find a device that could use light waves to warp through space. In one of his test runs, he was able to open a portal to a planet he would later learn was called Thanagar. Once there, the Earth man discovered other light based devices. Fascinated by them, he stole them, only to be pursued on Earth later by one of that world's winged law enforcement officers. This first interstellar theft changed the scientist's view of the world. No longer was he content in exploring the principals of tachyons, holograms and other light constructs for the good of mankind. No, from that moment on, the world would know him only as Dr. Light, lord and master of all things luminescent.
Unfortunately, the man had a number of encounters with the Justice League of America; each time the group of do-gooders managed to foil his plots. Just thinking about it upset the man greatly.
"Not this time," he grumbled to himself. "This time, no one suspects what I'm up to. And by tapping into the electrical grid of one of the largest cities in the country, I can get all the juice I need to power my device. My interstellar crime wave can continue unnoticed by any of this world's authorities." He started to chuckle to himself as he entered the sequence.
"The joke's on you, Light!" a commanding voice called from the doorway.
Just as the archway on the platform attached to the device began to surge with energy, the villain spun around. "Batman!" he spat as he reached for the holster on his hip. "What are you doing here?"
"As my sidekick might be inclined to say, I'm here to pull the plug on your little scheme! Now, surrender."
"In your dreams, Bats!" Dr. Light said as he fired his gun like weapon at the hero. A beam of energy seared through the air. Batman dove out of the way with acrobatic skill, barely avoiding the fast moving blast.
Dr. Light continued to fire away with the weapon at the moving target. "You're just delaying the inevitable!" the villain said. "Not even your buddy the Flash with all his super-speed can't outrun the speed of light forever."
"I have other tricks in lieu super-speed," Batman said as he rolled across the room in a tumble. As he did so, one gloved hand reached into his utility belt. Extracting something small, he then tossed it into the center of the room.
A cloud of darkness enveloped the main portion of the lab, including the weapon-wielding villain and his machine.
"Got the formula for those little blackout pellets from a friend of mine on another Earth," Batman said, rising to his feet. "That should keep you in the dark long enough for me to stop you!" As he moved, he slipped two infrared lens into the eye slits of his cowl; they would allow him an advantage in the darkness.
He wouldn't get the chance to use them.
The cloud of darkness exploded outward and dissipated in a blinding flash of light!
Batman was caught off guard by it; and the combination of the flash and the lens left him with spots in his eyes. He tried to steady himself.
Dr. Light stood in the center of the room, a brilliance emitting from his costume. "Ha ha ha!" he laughed heartily. "Light dispels your little smokescreen!" He took aim at his quarry. "And it looks like I got an added bonus." He watched for a second as the hero was hesitant. "What do you know? You're blind as a bat, literally!"
Light's finger started to squeeze the trigger. "Is that poetic justice or what?"
Batman's hand moved underneath his cape and then flicked outward. A metal object whizzed through the air and imbedded into the barrel of the weapon.
"Gaaaah!" Light exclaimed, realizing that the energy discharge was building.
Batman was on the move, his eyes still blurry. "Did anyone ever tell you that you talk too much, Light?" he said as he charged up. He swung back his fist, having relied on his hearing to target the villain. The punch was good, but not good enough.
Light managed to dodge but barely. An indicator on his weapon illuminated, warning of an overload. "What? No!" The surprise caused him to falter, his foot slipped out from under him and the jammed weapon went flying through the air.
Batman's vision was nearly restored. "Looks like you're through, Light!" He started to reach for the villain.
Light managed to slip out of his grasp. "Nooo!" With no weapon and Batman almost back to normal sight, the scientist turned villain realized he was running out of options. He needed to get away and fast.
The platform!
The villain darted for the platform where a shimmering portal had opened. As he dove for it, there was a sound. The discarded blaster had hit the floor and skidded to a stop at the base of the control panel for the device at the side of the room.
Batman heard the clicks and realized what would happen next. He dove for cover as the weapon exploded.
There was a chain reaction, and the gun's explosion caused the space warp device to be damaged as well. Batman was about to rise up from cover when a second explosion, a louder one, happened!
When he rose up, the whole lab was ablaze.
He glanced to the platform, the last place he'd seen Dr. Light before the explosions occurred. The portal faded out of view, its power supply cut. Light was gone!
Even a guy like Light didn't deserve to go out like that, the Caped Crusader thought to himself as he tended to the flames. But, even if he managed to transport himself away somehow at the last second, there's no way to trail him right now. He somehow knew, in the back of his mind, that when you least expect it an old enemy would turn up alive again. Such was the nature of the business.
Batman had to at least be satisfied with the fact that he had gotten to the bottom of New York's chain of power outages. That and that he foiled Dr. Light's plans.
And, as to what happened to Dr. Light, click here..