Chapter 137 - [AT] Wardrobe Malfunction...

[After Transition]

"Your right, I did know your identity back on that rooftop and I did try to manipulate you by making the situation as personal for you as it was for me in the hopes that you would endeavour to shut down the operation at the orphanage as fate and as hard as possible but I'm afraid I didn't take into account how much you loved your parents which resulted in you trying to preserve something your father left behind, I wouldn't know what that's like since I never had any parents and since I couldn't understand the love someone could have for their parents I didn't realise how that might affect your actions. While I do feel bad for doing that and because of that four children were put in danger I don't regret doing what I did since at the time I thought it was the best way to shut down the orphanage, I just didn't realise that party animal, carefree Bruce Wayne and cold, callous Batman could possibly feel that way about anyone which was my mistake." I tell him telling the complete truth maybe even a little bit too much but I don't regret it since this is probably the first time I've actually told the truth and it feels pretty nice though I don't think it'd be something I'd do regularly and maybe I should just save it for Christmas or something but during that moment of hard truth though I do have to admit I snuck in a part about myself to try and see if I could mute his reaction by reminding him of my orphan status and the fact that I don't have parents to see if maybe that could resonance him and maybe lessen his reaction to the truth I just told him, Batman stays still for a moment with his arms by his side and I worry for a moment that it's just him holding back his immense rage for me which is why he's staying stock still but I'm relieved when I see his face twitch into a frown and his eyes narrow at me a little. "How did you figure out my identity?" He asks and I'm frozen because I can't exactly say I know his secret identity since it's sort of some of the meta-knowledge that wasn't ripped out of my head by one of the most powerful beings in the universe so that means the truth is out of the question and just when I was starting as well, I guess I can just do some rational bullshiting because since I know his true identity it isn't hard to spot some things that can point to his alter ego and when combined they paint a pretty picture and while maybe that picture wouldn't be enough it would be easy to just say I went with a hunch or something.

"I wouldn't have been able to deduce your identity if I was in anyway aware of the goings on of the world or payed attention to the media or world in anyway whatsoever but unfortunately for you I was in a dark place and was trying to run from my past so during high school and especially during my time at Metropolis University I indulged myself in endless amounts or drugs, alcohol and women but because of my healing factor alcohol and drugs were only momentary highs and so I found myself mostly indulging myself in women but even then that wasn't enough and so I started to get involved in underground fight clubs and even made so money while doing it but I mainly did it to forget about my past which I was running away from as well as the high I got from it and because of my healing factor I didn't have to worry about getting hurt and could just lose myself in the ring and it's because of this that I didn't pay any attention to the news or situation in the world, when I was a kid I was more focused on delivering drugs to get fed and after that I spent all of my time running from my past and the guilt of me letting those two sc.u.mbags continue to do what they did to me to other kids and so I indulged myself in whatever I could find though they were just momentary highs and so I had no time to see or even hear about Bruce Wayne and his party ways and so I had absolutely no idea about you outside of some small talk that I occasionally heard but didn't care too much about." I finish telling the absolute truth as my DC self before the merge truly felt like this and did these things and while he didn't feel quite as much guilt as I am portraying and mostly did what he did out of trauma now that we have merged together we are a seamless blend of each other and while he might not felt as much guilt at letting kids have the same fate as him I definitely do after the merge and so this is all kinda true and everyone knows truth is the foundation of a good lie, Batman clearly doesn't seem to think so as he is still narrowing his eyes at me and I can tell he is getting impatient as while he might not usually be as irritable he's just had me admit to him that I know his identity and I tried and semi succeeded in emotionally manipulating him.

"What does this have to do with you knowing my identity? How does it relate?" He all but growls out at me probably thinking that if I know his identity how many other people also do and that might be because he's worrying I told others or others took my avenue in discovering his identity, either way he doesn't really have to worry about it that much as I'm not gonna tell anyone and I only know his identity because of the remnants of my meta-knowledge and even then I don't think many people actually discovered his identity in the comics except from Tim Drake who becomes one of the Robins, Ra's Al Ghul, Dr Hugo Strange and maybe the Joker but he just didn't care about his true identity or something, either way he's doing a good job of keeping his identity a secret and so I have to play to that and basically show my working out like I would on an exam and to do that I could just do some good old plagiarising and explain my knowledge of his identity by taking inspiration from the people who actually did discover his identity for themselves. "Basically what I'm getting at is that I had no actual impression of you at all and so I hadn't been spoon fed the dialogue and image you were cultivating as Bruce Wayne for other people to see and so I got to have fresh eyes on you and I didn't even pay any attention to you until I started to try and work out the Batman's identity to see if I could trust him to take down that orphanage as I couldn't trust myself and so I began to try and work out just who the Batman was and so I had to do as the great Sherlock Holmes once said 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth' and that's exactly what I did, I merely looked at the Batman's appearances and estimated his height, his weight and his build and then I began to think of just who had the resources to be the Batman because he definitely wouldn't work for anybody's organisation since he's so secretive and he didn't even coordinate with the police when he first began and even now he only contacts Commissioner Gordon so it must be someone who doesn't take orders from anyone and since having benefactors would basically equate to having a boss and someone who could possibly give him so orders in return for funding the Batman must be someone who either got funding with no string attached which is probably impossible or all the resources he uses are his own and so he must be incredibly wealthy to afford the toys and gadgets he uses."

I take a moment to catch my breath and see what Batman is thinking of my explanation so far but it seems he has calmed down a bit since I started talking and doesn't seem to be showing any expression or emotion on his face at my words, I wait for another second or so to see if he's going to say anything but he seems content to simply listen and let me finish my explanation so that's exactly what I do. "Using everything I had found out so far and so elementary deductions it wasn't hard to narrow down my search because I was looking for a wealthy athletic white man who was at least under or around the age of 30 and since most wealthy people in the world came into it they never really exercised so it wasn't hard to narrow down the results to rich people who actually exercised and looked after themselves while also having enough wealth to afford the toys Batman uses and I could narrow down my result even more since Batman was based in Gotham so too must his real identity and since Batman is a hero his true identity must at least take a neutral position in public and must try not to cause harm in his public persona which cut down the results immensely since nearly every rich athletic white person in Gotham looked out for only themselves not caring about who was in there way, having only a few candidates left I decided to look at anything else that might lead to his identity and so I took a look at your companions and it was as pretty easy to deduce that one was a lot closer than the other since Batgirl was mostly seen on her own and Batman and Robin are mostly seen together being known as the 'Dynamic Duo' so I focused on Robin and when I looked at my candidates who had any connection to children/teens around Robins age I came upon you since you had become the ward to one Richard 'D.i.c.k' Grayson and normally at this point anyone else would have refuted the idea and thought it impossible because of your carefully crafted public persona but I didn't pay much attention to that or give it much weight and so I ignored it where others would have disregarded it thinking that a playboy, idiot, naive rich boy like Bruce Wayne couldn't possibly be more than he looked but I learned long ago never to trust how others portray themselves and so I focused my research on you as you had become my primary suspect."

"From there it was pretty easy as once I was 70% sure you were the Batman I invested all my time into investigating you and Richard Grayson (where is he by the way, I haven't seen him yet) and I discovered that D.i.c.k before he became your ward was part of the Flying Graysons with his parents before their untimely death and when I saw the similarities between Robins suit and the outfit used by the performers in the Flying Graysons act it wants all that hard to connect the dots and come to an answer, Bruce Wayne was Batman and while I was almost certain I couldn't fully trust my conclusion as while I may have disregarded your public persona mask that didn't mean it was actually you as there was still some doubt and so upon the rooftop I tried to subtly manipulate you by using Thomas Wayne and either it worked or it didn't and I wouldn't lose anything either way so when I saw that it worked it was all but confirmed that you were the Batman." I finish and I can see Batman drinking it all in and while most of my dialogue right now was bullshit I just made up none of it was false and pretty much all of it was fact so there would be no way for him to disprove that, everything I said was correct and plausible especially the similarity between Robins costume and D.i.c.k Grayson's outfit when he was in the circus with his parents.

"I see." Batman simply says after my speech and after taking it all in, that's all he has to say which I'm surprised at and the atmosphere is getting pretty stale so I decide to try and continue the conversation while also adding some advice. "If I might, you should really see about changing Robin's costume. Seeing the similarities between it and the one D.i.c.k Grayson wore in the the circus was definitive, it was pretty much the nail in the coffin..."

________________________________________________

<AN> I now have a Pa treon up and running and when a chapter is ready it will go up on Pa treon first so please take a look. Some support from you guys would be appreciated and motivate me.

Currently 34+ Chapters.

A special thank you to my patrons Stormrall, Turtle, Matthew Laird, Sage Honos, Derrick Porter, Manuel Arauio, Darth Bane, napier Crawford, Marcus Lane and Arun. Thank you for the support.