Gotham: City of the Dead #3 (of 4)

Washington, DC

President Maxwell Lord entered the briefing room puffing a Cuban cigar; the smoke followed him as he walked. Looking around at the computer and television screens, he took a deep breath and spoke to those assembled. “I want all possible scenarios calculated and brought directly to me. I said it before and I’ll say it again people, this thing: Does. Not. Leave. Gotham. Am I making myself perfectly clear?” His staff nodded in agreement and a chorus of “Yes sirs” rang through the room. The president turned to one of his men, a tall man, well built and wearing his army stripes with pride. “Good. General Lane? I need to see you in private.” The silver haired soldier nodded and followed the president into a private conference room deep below the White House.

Lord paused for a moment as he sat at the head of the long table. "Presidents come here in times of great difficulties in the country. Kennedy during the Cuban crisis..." He took another puff of his cigar. "Clinton with the stain..." He smiled slyly for a moment. "And I've been here twice before, one not so long ago, when an alien armada tried to conquer the world. This is a room where great change is instituted, where we make a difference and make our stand. Lane, In my time as president the world has…changed, Metropolis completely disappeared last year, there are new heroes popping up all over the place and now the forming of this Justice League in response to what happened those weeks ago... Despite many of the heroes playing a part in my becoming president (knowingly or otherwise) I can’t let all of this go anymore. The D.E.O has been extremely successful in keeping up with everything. But now, zombies are infesting what was once one of the greatest American cities. As president, I have a job to do and part of that job is making our people feel safe to lie down and go to sleep at night. Do you think anyone is sleeping out there tonight with a fellow city being swamped with zombies?”

“No sir, but what can we do?” Sam Lane grimaced. He remembered when Lois was lost to him for those hours last year, when Metropolis was gone.

“Between you and me I want to know the worst possible scenario we’re looking at if Gotham were to be lost to us.”

“I don’t think I understand, Sir. Are you talking about--”

“General, I'm talking about a small range, low yield tactical nuclear bomb. That’s what I am talking about. I need to know what damage would be caused in the surrounding areas and if there’s any way we can contain and minimize it.”

“I’ll look into it sir, but we have to keep other options in mind. Not to mention the political fallout … ”

Lord kicked himself away from the table and stood up, pointing his cigar at Lane, causing the General to be surprised for the first time since he joined this Presidents staff. “I'M NOT CONCERNED ABOUT THE POLITICAL FALLOUT, SAM! We are talking about walking dead here, if people can accept that, they sure as hell will believe anything we say afterwards." The President took a deep breath and regained his composure, taking a long drag off the cigar. "I just want to look at all angles. I can’t imagine if this were to spread further than one city. Gotham can be rebuilt; God knows we were doing it anyway... Rebuilding the entire state or God forbid the entire country, especially with all the damage from the invasion would prove nearly impossible. There'd be no morale, no funds, and no manpower. America would be lost.”

General Sam Lane looked at his hands and then clenched them, looked up at his President and thought of his daughters once more. “I understand, sir.”

Just outside of Gotham, the military cordon sealing in the city was busied by a special army contingent. People were trying to enter the city, but the soldiers stood in a hard line, holding them back from entering the city. Vic Sage approached with press credentials on hand, a sly smile on his face.

He met one of the MPs, who looked at him curiously. The hard traveling hero smiled and begins to speak. “Sir, Vic Sage Daily Planet. I need to get into the city.”

The MP looked him up and down and then tilted his head, looking at the red head, trying to recognize him. “Daily Planet huh?”

“Yes.” He nodded, smiling still.

The MP tightened his grip on his rifle. “Well, I’ve never read your stuff and I love the Planet.”

“Really.” Vic rolled his eyes.

The MP nodded slowly, his fingers playing over the butt of his gun. “Yeah, really.”

Vic shrugged. “Hmm. Well, I’m in there. I write the Q and A column.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Vic pointed his finger at the MP suddenly, making the man jump. “I don’t believe YOU, but that doesn’t change the fact.”

“You are not getting in there.” The MP answered sternly, his fingers gripping his weapon ready.

“Okay. Suit yourself.” Vic replied matter-of-factly.

Another MP officer walked over to check things out, he was holding his weapon ready too, the sense of chaos behind the quarantine zone almost tangible. “Problem over here?”

The other officer looked up at him and then looked to where Vic had been standing. He was gone. The officer looked around for a second and then looked back at his fellow MP

“No, it’s nothing.” He answered scratching his head. What the hell had just happened?

The shadows receded as light flooded the darkness beneath the city. Dick Grayson, once Robin, now Nightwing, drove his motorcycle swiftly through the forgotten underground tunnels that lead into Gotham City. When he was still Robin, Dick witnessed Bruce meticulously mapping them all out, and when he had done that he had begun his building of dozens of satellite caves at discreet locations around the city.

"...Is she perverted like me? Would she go down on you in a theater?"

Dick turned the corner onto the old monorail system that he and Bruce had recently used to bus invasion survivors to the grounds of Wayne Manor and suddenly heard quiet singing. His hand slipped from the handle of his bike to his belt, where a batarang was strapped.

"...Does she speak eloquently and would she have your baby?
I'm sure she'd make a really excellent mother..."

“Vic?” He whispered to himself as he came to a stop, and stepped off the bike. "What the hell man? Are you singing?"

Vic turned around and looked in Nightwing’s direction smiling. "I think you'll find you were singing. I don't sing. I'm tall, dark and brooding and wear a cape." He motioned to his back and then his eyes widened, a solemn look on his face. "Which I seem to have misplaced."

Dick grimaced. Yeah, last time he had seen him he helped him escape Arkham Asylum. And you wonder why he acts crazy? Because he is crazy. “Did Bruce call you?”

“Ha!” Vic responded, “No, I saw zombies on television and couldn’t resist.”

Nightwing looked him over and rolled his eyes. “ Right. Where are you headed now?”

“I've... I've got something to take care of.”

“What’s that?”

“Richard..." Vic paused, realizing he'd used the ex-sidekick's real first name. "Dick." He reaffirmed himself, gathering his confidence. "Bruce is smart, but there’s something I’m betting he hasn’t considered yet...." Vic trailed off, and then looked up at the teen hero. "Or at least hasn’t wanted to consider.”

“What’s that?” Nightwing asked, intrigued by the eccentric vigilante's sudden lack of enthusiasm.

Vic clenched his gloved fist and then pointed upwards, to the city that rested above their heads. “The dead are walking, Dick. What do you think that means for Gotham’s most famous dead couple?” Vic answered, his eyes dark and his face suddenly looking like he hadn't slept for days.

Nightwing’s eyes widened at the thought as it dawned on him. “My God.”

“Yeah, that’s a problem.” Vic answered as he fiddled with his belt, and removed his black gloves, biting his bottom lip as he did so. "So here's me, traveling 'round America, tryin' to find some peace and what not, and I always find myself dragged back here... Here or the... Hub." He trailed off once more. "But now I'm back with good reason." He smiled as smoke began to hiss out of his belt. "A damn good reason."

“How can I help?” Nightwing asked as the bedraggled red head held a small flesh colored piece of something in his hand.

Vic covered his face with the material and then the smoke began to thicken, the spray intensified, and he was engulfed. Dick had seen this before. It was the time for action. As the smoke began to dissipate and the red head was now guised in different colored clothes as before, his face blank and his hair sleek and black. The Question began to put his gloves back on, and then pointed to Nightwing. “Just tell me how to get to the Gotham Heights Cemetery from here.”

The group of heroes back at the satellite bat cave prepared to head out into the storm that was currently Gotham City. Ollie steadily sharpened arrows as Barbara Gordon typed away at a nearby computer. They were trying to preoccupy themselves; it was all they could do until one of them came up with a plan. Finally, someone broke the silence between them all.

“Batman, have you heard from my Dad?” She asked.

Bruce looked up from his console and then paused as he thought back to when he'd last seen his old friend. “We saw him when this thing first started, but not since.” His jaw clicked as he grinded his teeth. He could tell Baarbara was worried about her father and it finally clicked that that would be her main reason for returning after all this time. “Don’t worry. We’ll find him soon enough.” He was trying to be reassuring, but he could tell it wasn't working. Babs' was too clever for that but she gave a small smile for his attempt and started to say something else, but thought better of it. There was no time for that conversation now. Even now she still couldn’t help thinking about the circumstances in which she had left Gotham in the first place.

Bruce gave her a knowing glance and wanted to say something as well, but he had never been one for the Boy Scout routine. That was Clark, not him. Ollie had been watching them all the while and decided to break the tension. “So, are we ready? We got a lot to do out there and people are still dying.”

Batgirl gave him a grateful look for the distraction, but Ollie was right. The longer they sat there the more this thing was spreading. Ollie stood ready to give out orders, something he had gotten used to leading the New Outsiders but caught himself and left the floor open for Batman.

“Ollie, Batgirl and I will get out there and start looking for Crane and Dee. Blue Beetle, you keep looking for a lead on their location, and any ideas on how to take them down. You know what we’re looking for, anything we can use to shut down that dream tech. You're our best chance to end this cleanly, without resorting to...” Bruce looked to Ollie and smiled grimly. "Extreme prejudice."

Ted nodded and turned back to the computer screen mumbling to himself. “Okay, here we go.”

Babs, finally consumed with worry for Dad, spoke up. “Br-- Batman. I'm sorry, but I have to go find him.”

Bruce and Ollie looked at each other for a moment when a voice came from behind them.

“Don't let it get in the way of a team up adventure. I’ll go with her.” It was Nightwing standing at the cave entrance, a smile on his face as Barbara eyes lit up at his appearance.

Bruce turned and looked at him for a second, nodded in appreciation, and then looked back at Ollie. “That...” He began, “Is how you sneak in a bat cave. I’m glad you came back, Dick.”

"Wouldn't miss this for the world." The young hero smiled, knowing who he had just pointed in the direction of the graves of his mentors’ parents. The night, the darkness, the evil brought on by Crane and Dee. It was only just beginning.

Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock barreled onward to the morgue. What would normally be a short drive had turned into quite the trip. The roadways were still nearly impassable from the damage caused by the invasion. The car screeched around a corner as something started to stir in the back seat. Gordon looked at his rearview mirror and saw it. The zombie had sat up, righted itself, and snarled in his direction. He cut the wheel of the car sharply veering onto a sidewalk. The zombie was thrown to one side and Jim slammed the breaks, but it was too late. The car slammed into the wall of the morgue.

Jim and Bullock staggered out of the car to find themselves surrounded by the undead denizens of Gotham! Jim’s eyes widened and he quickly motioned to Bullock to get down behind the car. They wedged themselves between the wrecked car and the cracked wall of the building with their weapons drawn. They fired rapidly at the zombies and many of them started to fall. There were simply too many of them for the two men to handle alone. Jim tried desperately to come up with a plan. As he thought about it, he looked down at the ground and noticed a stream of fluid leaking from underneath the car. He cursed under his breath, grabbed Bullock and pulled him back down behind the car.

“Hey! What gives?” Bullock asked annoyed.

“Look, you idiot!” He said pointing at the stream of gasoline.

“Oh.” Bullock said under his breath, seeing what Jim was talking about. “Now what?”

Jim looked back behind him at the building. “There, the window.” He said pointing at a shattered window.

The two took one last look at the oncoming horde of zombies that were getting uncomfortably close to them. They then ran toward the shattered window. The cracked glass was still intact and as they closed in on it Jim raised his gun and fired at it. The glass fell to the wayside and they swept the rest aside. Bullock climbed through first with Jim still facing away from the window, firing at the zombies who were following them. Bullock put a hand out to him and Jim took it. He was almost inside the window just his feet sticking out. A zombie latched on to his foot causing a desperate tug of war between Bullock and the Zombies with the winner getting the Police Lieutenant. Bullock grunted and groaned in a very similar fashion to the zombies. Jim continued, with his free arm to fire on the zombies. As one fell another took it’s place. Jim looked over at his car and saw that the puddle had grown even larger. Time seemed to stand still around him as amidst the chaotic moment he steadily trained his firearm in the direction of the car. He closed his eyes and squeezed the trigger.

The exploding car rocked the whole area, but it had done the trick. The violent shake of the ground caused by the explosion threw the zombies off kilter and they lost their grip on Gordon. As quickly as Bullock had pulled him the rest of the way through the building the zombies were reaching in. Gordon grabbed a table and tried feverously to cover the window to hold them off. As soon as the table was up, it gave way. Cracked in half under the growing number of zombies pushing in on it. Gordon and Bullock scrambled for another alternative. Gordon’s ears perked up when he heard the somewhat familiar sound of batarangs zipping through the air. The pair of officers turned and looked at the window. The zombies started falling one by one.

“What’s going on?” Bullock asked.

“Back up just arrived.” Jim said smiling.

Ollie and Batman sped through the tunnels beneath Gotham towards Cranes last known hideout. Ollie sat shotgun in the batmobile.

“Ya’know, I’m impressed with the way you handled that back there.”

“What are you talking about Oliver?” Batman asked in a tone that told Ollie he didn’t want to talk about it.

“Nothing…you really think Crane would be stupid enough to be at a known hideout?” The emerald archer asked.

“No, I’m hoping he was stupid enough to leave a lead behind. He likely left some sort of trap.”

“Then what are we looking for there?” Ollie inquired.

“I’ll tell you when I find it.” Batman replied.

“I had a feeling you’d say that.” Ollie smiled.

At that time Nightwing came onto the com link.” Batman, Gordon isn’t here. Any other suggestions?”

“Try the morgue. He may be having one of the bodies examined.” Batman answered.

“He’s a damn good kid, y’know Bruce. I wish Roy…” He started to say something when another voice came on the com link.

It was Blue Beetle. “Batman, you should get back here right away. I think I found--”

There was a loud popping noise over the line and Blue Beetle screamed. Batman and Ollie looked at each other as Batman whipped the car around.

Dick came back on line, “Bruce! What happened?” He asked urgently.

“We got it Nightwing. Just find Gordon and continue helping as many people as you can.”

“Okay, boss. Nightwing out.”