Chapter Text
Then
“HEY BAT-GUY! I NEED SOME HELP OVER HERE!”
Exactly the thing you want to hear approximately 2 hours into your shift. Especially as Gotham’s only daytime hero. Yay.
The first thing Duke noticed was his hair. Brightly blond and somehow still spiky beyond belief, only drooping slightly despite being drenched from head to toe. He wore dark baggy pants, a black sleeveless shirt, brown boots, and gauntlets with just one pauldron on his left shoulder. But even more notable than his odd stylistic choices, was his giant-ass sword.
Definitely some kind of broadsword.
Just... huge.
Over five feet, if he had to guess. But even, even more notable was the fact that Duke’s mystery man was glowing. It was a subtle glow, and he quickly surmised that this glow was most likely more so related to Duke’s own abilities rather than the man being part glowstick or something. But still. He was glowing.
Most people don’t do that.
The concerned citizen who’d brought this whole situation upon him in the first place was a member of a local clean-up crew attempting to make something of all the dump sites littered around Gotham and claimed that she had simply found him wandering around when she got to work that day.
So after quickly determining that mystery man was in fact alive and gleaning a net sum of zero information from the citizen’s recollection, he called in reinforcements. He felt a little bad calling in the night team, but he figured they’d probably be more upset if he kept someone this strange a secret. So, night shift crossover it is.
“Hey Cass...”
Now
“So… what do you make of him?”
“Weird.”
Cass has always had a way with words.
“I was thinking of bringing him back to the cave for some tests. His face isn’t sparking anything for me right off the bat, hero or villain, and he’s drenched in something. And I don’t think it’s just water.” Duke said, deciding to take the lead.
“Mm. He’s unknown to me too, but he has that sword.” Cass replied.
“Exactly, with a weapon like that he’s gotta be… something.”
Cass simply nodded and raised her hand to her ear.
“Batgirl to Oracle.”
“Oracle responding. What’s up Batgirl?”
“Signal found an unknown suspected… something,” Cass replied, sending, what Duke assumes is, a small smirk his way. “We need transport.”
That’s when Duke finally decided to cut in: “A mystery man is drenched in something, something that's starting to stink actually, and he’s got a crazy sword. Origin unknown. Unconscious but alive.”
“Got it. I’ll alert Batman and tell him to bring transport.”
In what felt like no time at all, a clearly bat-issued vehicle, though not the more recognizable bat-mobile, was pulling up beside them. Batman stepped out looking all the part of a hardened detective, and Duke and Cass stepped aside to let him have a look.
“Who found him?” Were the first words out of his mouth.
“A member of one of the Gotham dump clean-up crews around here found him wandering around. When she tried to approach him, mystery man collapsed. One of her coworkers mentioned seeing me out here, so she decided to drag him over and have us handle him instead. Especially considering... that.” Duke said, pointing at the humongous broadsword still strapped to the guys back.
Batman crouched beside the blond man seemingly deep in thought.
“What?” Cass suddenly asked.
“He smells like a Lazarus Pit.”
“Those things smell?” Duke asked. He’d read about them in the Bat-computers records and heard snippets about it from other members of the bat-fam, but he’d never seen one in real life.
“Bad. They smell bad.” Cass replied, seeming more solemn, humbled by the same realization Batman just had.
This guy likely just crawled his way out of a Lazarus pit.
Duke decided to stay silent. After all, Cass was one teammate in particular he’d heard a Lazarus pit story from, and it wasn’t a pretty one. She had been revived in one by Lady Shiva, a.k.a. her mom, after her adopted brother killed her. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Cass’s eyes have been an eerie green ever since her revival as a permanent reminder of what happened. Now matching Batman himself, Red Hood, and Batwoman. So, he figured it’s probably best not to accidentally strike a nerve in half of the members of the bat-fam who’d undergone the Lazarus pits effects.
A beat of somber silence passed before anyone moved again.
But, once the moment was done, they moved quickly, loading mystery man into the containment unit at the back of their bat-vehicle(?) apparently designed for special situations like this.
“We’ll debrief back at the cave once we have him secured.” Batman stated firmly as they loaded themselves in, and they rode back in silence.
Well, Duke figured, now is as good a time as any to figure out how to tell everyone that mystery man glows, and that no he doesn’t know why, and yes it’s definitely related to his metahuman abilities, that yes he still doesn’t fully understand, but don’t worry about it cause I’m sure everything's fine, and the glowing’s probably not that important.
...
It’ll probably be best to just rip off the band aid, huh?
So, the second the bat-vehicle(?) was pulled into the bat-cave, and Tim appeared out of nowhere to help transport mystery man to a more secure place as Alfred lingered in the background, observing from afar, Duke ripped off the metaphysical, possibly cosmic in nature, band aid.
“Oh, I mentioned he glows right?”
Duke glanced over to see Cass radiating the most deeply unimpressed energy he’s ever felt. But at least by looking at her he could avoid seeing a frown to match on the uncovered part of Batman’s face. A frown he could already tell must be in place judging by the small smirk he could see making its way onto Tim’s face.
“Debrief once he’s secure.” Batman simply repeated.
Perfect. Totally nailed that delivery, Duke.
With the four of them working together mystery man was quickly secured in a medical containment unit. They took basic vitals, took some pictures for Oracle, prepared some tests, and began divesting him of everything on his person.
In his pockets they found a few odd crystals, perfectly round in a small range of colors, other various small vials, and some feathers. The crystals were placed in special containers made to hold potentially hazardous materials, and the vials set aside for individual testing alongside the feathers. His clothes were handed off to Alfred who put them in a separate container to be analyzed.
As Tim and Batman began to get a couple tests going the debrief and Alfred got mystery man re-dressed, Cass and Duke each held an end of the broadsword, carefully hefting it onto a table for analysis having noticed more of the strange, and potentially hazardous crystals, embedded within it.
And damn, it was heavy. Now don’t get it twisted, as vigilantes they are both strong individuals, but the sheer unexpected weight, plus the crazy length and width. It was simply too awkward for one person to carry carefully.
Before Duke could begin to think too hard about how one guy could possibly carry this thing around, nonetheless, use it like a normal sword, the others began to gather by the bat-computer seemingly ready for the debrief.
“So, this guy was just wandering around some dump?” Tim asked, clearly eager to get in on whatever the hell is going on with mystery man.
So, Duke recounted all the basics of the story once again. Mystery man was found wandering a dump site. He collapsed. Concerned citizen brought him over. Dude has a giant sword and looks like he just went swimming. Apparently, the place he was swimming was a Lazarus pit. And, oh yeah, he’s glowing.
“What do you mean? Glowing?” Cass asked.
“I don’t know how else to say it,” Duke replied, putting his arms out in defense. “Dude’s glowing.”
“You’re aware he’s not glowing for us, right?” Tim questioned tentatively.
“No shit,” Duke said flatly, shooting Tim an unimpressed look. “Look. Clearly, it’s related to my unique physiology, but I’m gonna be honest here. I have no idea what it means. I don’t think there’s anyone around who fully understands my abilities, at least no one willing or able to share. So really, he could be glowing for any number of reasons. Maybe it’s related to the Lazarus pits?”
“How so?” Batman questioned.
“Well, I’ve never seen anyone fresh out of the pits before. Maybe it’s just some kind of weird... afterglow?” Duke could see Tim’s face scrunch up in his peripheral vision.
Before Duke could ramble himself into a hole any further, Cass swooped in to rescue him, “You may not know now, but we can find out.”
The “together” was silent, but Duke still felt the effect of it all the same and smiled at Cass in appreciation.
The moment was interrupted by Oracle’s voice suddenly ringing out through the bat-computer’s speakers, “You get nothing too?”
“Mm.” Batman, kind-of, replied disgruntledly.
“Seriously? Nothing?” Tim asked, quickly pulling out a chair to seemingly join the search online for traces of the mystery man.
“Seriously nothing. Facial recognition is pulling a blank, and he doesn’t already exist in anyone else’s records, hero or villain. The sword doesn’t seem to match the style of any group we’ve dealt with before either. And, if there’s any particular manufacturer who makes swords like that, I bet you they’d be advertising it. But nope. Nothing. Not getting a hit on the crystals, vials, or feathers either. You’ll have to test those some other sciencey way, figure out what they’re made of.”
“Not all hope is lost though. His clothing appeared to have a brand. It had a logo with the word Shinra inside. I took a photo.” Alfred chimed in from the back of the group.
“Oh, Alfred, I could kiss you. Send the pic over asap. I’ll run it through every program we’ve got,” Oracle said, sounding relieved to finally have a lead. “Send me any updates on mystery man as soon as you get them. I wanna know the second he wakes up. Oracle out.”
Alfred opened his mouth to say something when suddenly Duke noticed Cass’s face drop, and Batman and Tim perk up from where they’d been focused at the bat-computer. She quickly turned towards the containment unit where they’d left mystery man right as a loud crash rang out.
Before any of them could get even ten steps towards the sound blondie was right in front of them sword somehow located and now in hand. His chest heaving with the adrenaline of someone ready to take on an army on their turf, but as he seemingly processed the group at the bat-computer, their suits, and the cave itself his face twisted into confusion.
And before anyone could say a word to calm him down, he simply stated:
“You’re not Hojo.”