exceptfebruary | Mask or Menace: IC Contact

[ That Bane turned up and the events of the long Hallowe'en hadn't - everything about Crane's universe was wrong.

Scarecrow's actions and Carmine's fate make sense in terms of actions taken, even if the events were out of order. And a part of him approves. He has no love lost for Falcones. ]

A different fate, but not one I would mourn. They tried to keep up, the mob. But they were eclipsed by those of us who were more. The ones who gave ourselves new names and fought the Bat.

[ Pause. He's afraid to confirm his suspicion, but he needs to know - ] But "we" as... colleagues never happened for you, did it? You haven't met me.

[There's a pause on Crane's end. He's not afraid of telling it like it is, brutally, truthfully, but he has to manage Julian at the same time. Plus there is a fellowship between those from Gotham who are... more, as Julian puts it. Even for those from a Gotham where everything was evidently wrong.]

No. Not yet. Yet, much as I hate my present confinement, it seems here there is semblance of family. I am not as ignorant as to believe our emotions and feelings are the same, but the symbols, well, they speak for themselves, don't they? The Batman is a constant, indelible presence in all our lives.

[ The use of the word family hit him hard. Julian's family, his real one, was never much to speak of. Neglect would be an understatement. And unfortunately, it had been quite some time since any of the Rogues felt like family to him. If they ever did.

Perhaps he craved it. Perhaps that's why he joined the Misfits, why he put together the Time Foes.

He pauses again, chewing his lip. ] It must be dire, if the few of us that are here are a semblance of family. There's so many of us. A gallery of symbols.

But yes, we will always have a Batman. Our sun. [ Which decides the length of the year, the seasons. It is integral to the existence of the calendar, like how the Batman is integral to his rogues. ]

[Crane falls silent. If the use of "family" had hit Julian hard, the word "always" was ruminating inside his own mind. His answer doesn't come for a long while. The Batman was a constant present in Julian's life. He was like the sun, yes.

And unfortunately he could be quite angry when reminded of what others possess, and of what he lacks.

He speaks, finally, controlling himself.]

Julian. Have you ever wondered what the moon would look like without the sun?

[There's a firm point to this. The moon only shines because it reflects the sun's light. Take out the sun - take away the Bat - and what happens? Does the moon become nothing? It still exists. But still...]

[ Julian had met other bats in the City. Other men (and women, for that matter) who had taken on the mantle. He had met people from his future who had said they'd fought the Batman. Julian didn't particularly care about who wore the mask. The symbol, as it were, was more important.

Cycles. The calendar was one big cycle, and everything would come around again in some form or another. Spring would always follow winter, January 1st would always follow December 31st, and - ]

Though the new moon is dark, eventually the sun will return and it will become full again. [ Nightwing will become Batman, and the cycle will continue.

But more worryingly is that Crane wouldn't ask without reason. Julian had noted that reaction. Whatever reason Crane was asking for, it was important. To Crane, but also to him; the Batman in this world was part of Crane's matching pair. If something happened, what would that mean if Batman ever ported out? ]

Tell me. Where did the sun go?

[Crane manages to merge disbelief with scorn in his voice seamlessly.]

It exploded.

[He had heard about the plane flying out to sea. How it had exploded in a final sacrifice to save the city. He didn't particularly believe it. The problem, as it were, was that ~~the real~~ Batman had never shown his face afterward.]

What? [ His reaction is incredulous, losing his composure for a second.

There's a pause as he regains it. ] Explain.

[An immediate response, though his voice is calm and controlled and more detached, as though he's separating himself from the loss.]

Gotham lived under the threat of nuclear winter. For five months people withered; surviving till tomorrow became less of a guarantee. Bane isolated Gotham from the world and kept its people hostage by wielding the threat of nuclear detonation. But if winter comes, can spring be far behind?

[Percy Bysshe Shelley. Crane clears his throat and his voice is slightly higher.]

Batman sacrificed his life for Gotham.

Are you certain?

The clouds or the sunset may hide the Sun from our eyes, but it will always rise again. One way or another. There can be no spring or summer without the Sun, after all.

[ There will always be a Batman. There has to be. ]

The people erected a memorial.

[He says matter-of-factly, like he's giving expert testimony.

But underneath it he's regarding their conversation with a cold, detached interest.]

Yet they believed he murdered Harvey Dent. You can calculate the movements of the calendar, Julian, but not the madness of people.

[No guns. No killing. He inhales deeply.]

I am certain he is alive.

[Might even have seen the sun again, personally. But it's not the same.]

I believe you're right.

[ He pauses, something that Crane said just sinking in. What is this about Harvey Dent being murdered? Maybe Harvey wasn't really dead? That sounds about right for Gotham.

Still, it was unsettling. The implications. ]

He wouldn't have murdered Harvey Dent. Why would they think he did?

[He presses his lips together. His tone is blank and emotionless. The disappointment.]

Conspiracy. The Batman took the blame for Harvey's appalling crimes so that Gordon could, to his shame, build a lie around his fallen idol. Both concealed Dent's madness from the public, and presented Dent as the shining example of justice.

They lied to the people of Gotham.

[A beat. His tone almost hides the fact he's full of glee. Almost.]

It wasn't accepted well.

So Harvey died. And no one knew him as Two-Face. [ A Gotham where Two-Face was kept secret. Begrudgingly, Julian can see how that can make the timeline skew off from how it was supposed to go. ]

But you knew the truth?

Of course I did.

My perspective and experience told me that Batman was not guilty of the killing those ignorant fools accused him of.

[He sounds proud of his intellect, of course. He had instantly spotted those fakes in the parking lot. Batman didn't use guns like a thug.]

But truth is different from fact, Julian. The knowledge of Harvey's crimes were revealed when Bane stormed Blackgate. He broadcast Gordon's...resignation speech, shall we say, to the entire city. Gave its people a new political perspective. You should have seen it.

What happened was not forgotten. I see.

You enjoyed it.

Yes. Though the oxymoron of controlled chaos we were able to control and shape events at will. Conditions became ripe for innovation. Naturally I placed the people under great scrutiny.

[He sounds proud of that, too.]

Mask or Menace: IC Contact

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