See No Evil: Unseen View (ch. 42) (Patreon)

"Any luck?" Dick questioned, peeking over her shoulder to get a look at her monitor setup. It was no Batcomputer, but between five screens that fed her info, each paired with a beast of a computer, it wasn't too far off. Streams of code scrolled across several screens while Barbara personally worked on hacking Preston Smith's personal computer. He took good precautions for his internet safety, but 'good' wasn't good enough. She had his email, project files that were downloaded into his computer, and access to several layers of Sainthood Enterprises' Entertainment division.

Barbara's lips thinned. She felt Dick lean against her chair. "Nothing incriminating." Barbara answered, scrolling through messages between him and Vergil. It seemed that they were friends despite the age gap — Vergil being sixteen and Preston in his thirties. A friendship born from Preston giving Vergil twenty dollars which would he used to help kickstart an online refurbishing service to sell items, which would then become Sainthood Flowers, which would then become a multimillion-dollar company.

It sounded fake, but Barbara found no evidence to prove that it was just a story. The two were having dinner in a couple of days to prove as much to Preston's wife and daughter.

"Vergil's security is on another level — the Batkey isn't having any luck," Barbara said. The Batkey was an advanced algorithm designed for adapting and cracking alien code. Which made it a good tool to crack human code, especially when you gave it time to work its magic.

"Can't believe you called it that," Dick remarked, his hands going to her shoulders and his hands began working their magic. He was hoping to get lucky, and if he kept it up, he just might.

"You came up with the naming scheme," Barbara pointed out, looking at the screens — Preston was clean as far as she could tell. Bit of a scumbag when it came to monetization schemes, but otherwise clean. She'd keep a finger in his systems to make sure, as well as install a backdoor, but she didn't expect to find much. Though, it might be nice to have the rates on drops for rare items and when events would happen so she could plan around them.

Vergil was a criminal, but he made fun apps.

"When I was nine," Dick pointed out.

"It's cute," Barbara refuted. "Vergil's source code seems to have some kind of cipher on it, so I can't even look at it to start trying to hack his systems." She continued to explain, eying the code. Anything short of working it over with a quantum computer wouldn't cut it. "I'm going to have to-" the words died in Barbara's throat when she saw the code change.

She leaned away from Dick's touch, scrolling through the code as she activated root toolkits, only for each program to be killed. Someone was in the system and knew she had access to Preston's computer. It was looking for her, trying to find her source location which was the only reason why she hadn't been booted out. It was tempting to try to counter hack to return the favor, but it was foolish when you were on their home ground, dealing with an unknown, with code you weren't familiar with.

Barbara pulled out of Preston's system, leaving a backdoor that was quickly closed and deleted. She killed her proxies to make sure that there was no trail leading back to her.

"What just happened?" Dick questioned, looking at her as she glared at the screens.

That was a good question. "Someone was in the system," Barbara answered. Time to take extra steps — she ran a diagnostics on her computer to make sure that she hadn't been slipped some spyware. "Someone good. It took them a minute to kill my programs after detecting me. I don't even have a backdoor anymore…" and it didn't stop there. Barbara was watching other backdoors being purged. Everyone was being forcibly locked out, the passwords being randomized… Sainthood Enterprises did not screw around when it came to security.

One detection to trigger a total lockdown and a purge?

"We knew that already. No one on record has the skill to beat you, though," Dick remarked, his tone getting serious. It made him sound like Batman. Something she would only remark on when they were fighting and she wanted to piss him off. "Either he's picked up new talent, or someone had an Ace hidden in their sleeves."

Either was likely. "Half the people in Lowtown are using false identities, but the odds of a skilled coder finding their way to Lowtown on their own is unlikely." So, it was likely they had been brought in. Still, that reaction time. Identifying her programs… "Let me try something…"

Her diagnostics came back clean. No foreign code on any of her computers, each was isolated from the other. She picked one, created proxies, then went about creating an isolated cloud of data which she cloned her specs into. A stopgap to make the other hacker think they found her real system. She went about creating more proxies… then with her final one, she reached out to a low-level system.

The hacker was the equivalent to a rabid dog with a taste for blood, and her proxies were a wounded animal.

"They're too fast," Barbara remarked, watching as the hacker tore through her proxies. "Does Vergil have a quantum computer?" She questioned — it would be the most obvious answer. A decent IT guy with a quantum computer? That's all he'd need.

"Nothing on record, but who knows? If he doesn't?" Dick asked as the counter hacker reached the cloud in less than a minute. It took control of her systems, blasting through her firewall… less than a minute.

Barbara killed the proxies, erasing the trail that she had laid out while the hacker ravaged the clone system and was rewarded with no data. Less than a minute. That was fast. Incredibly so. When it reached the clone of her system, it took all of eight seconds to breach them. Her systems were better than Batman's. They were better than the Leagues.

When it came to hacking and web networking, she was one of the best. It wasn't arrogance or hubris. Simply fact. It's why Batman had taken her under his wing when she started going out in a handmade costume, with some pepper spray and handcuffs in her utility belt and only ballet and rudimentary martial arts skills to her name. Her skills as a hacker were the reason why Batman didn't drop her off in her room and inform her dad what she was trying to do.

She had gone the extra mile with her systems. She could hack them in ten seconds if she didn't mind leaving a trace. That was knowing their weaknesses.

A theory formed in the back of her mind, "Vergil might have an AI," Barbara muttered to herself. She took further precautions — she killed her connection to the web, rebooted with a shuffler. Her systems were connected to spy satellites that Batman sent up to remain anonymous on the web. She booted into those, then bounced her signal off of other spy satellites -- CIA, British, French, Chinese, before setting up proxies that would have anyone looking through the entire world before they found her.

It was going to take all day to set up. Then she would have to upgrade her firewall by analyzing how the potential AI had breached it. She had been planning to integrate alien systems into hers, so no time like the present…

"Okay. From a Red Tornado to Skynet?" Red Tornado was the base because despite being a true AI, his system ran off of vacuum tubes. T.O. Morrow had been incredibly advanced for his time, but he had been limited by what he had to work with.

"I'm going to be stuck for the next three days upgrading our security. Mine, the cave, the team, and the League's," she answered, killing any hope for Dick to get lucky any time in the near future. "Make that four days if I find evidence of someone breaching our systems."

Dick, proving that he was the best boyfriend ever, continued to massage her shoulders even though there was no hope of sex. "Alright. I'll cover your patrols. Things have been quiet since the Arkham breakout… either the rogues are all doing their own thing, or they've been picked up by the Light."

That was the working theory at the moment — that the Light orchestrated the breakout to distract Batman. The gang war in East End was a very unfortunate byproduct. Some rogues popped their heads up, leading Batman on a chase before they went back to ground. The only good news on that front was that all of the mundane escapees had been caught. Beyond that, it was a waiting game for the Light to make their move.

"In the meantime, make yourself busy and analyze the recordings from the bugs Jason installed," Barbara ordered. Work came before massages. Sadly. Dick's hands lingered for a moment before he obeyed, taking a seat next to her as he turned on another set of computers.

"There won't be anything," Dick remarked. "Either Vergil really is trying to walk the straight and narrow as much as he can, or Jason's been made." There was a distinct lack of alarm in his voice.

"You think he's clean?" Barbara questioned, glancing at Dick to see him shrug. The computer would flag anything that stood out, but it had to be listened to manually for code. She had watched the footage from the contacts he wore — high-level tech, that was. The blinking gave their location away. Which had also served as a point to cut footage -- though to cut what out was unknown. To save time seemed the most likely, as well as to prevent embarrassment by seeing accidental nudity or Vergil using the restroom.

What he had left in the footage was rather incriminating to say the least. But it was also the first time they had undeniable proof that Cobblepot was the Penguin. It wasn't ironclad, but it was solid.

"He's not clean, but… I met the guy. He's a bit of a smooth talker, but he didn't strike me as a bad guy. Talked down a crowd that was going to lynch me and Jason," he added. "I think he's telling the truth about going clean when he gets the Penguin's boot off of his neck. Seems to be what he wants too." That was the impression that he gave.

Barbara was inclined to agree. Mostly because of that night at the Gala — she had watched Vergil through the night. He had held himself well, but it was clear that he felt like he didn't belong. Small things have away his anxiety — posture, microexpressions, the fact that he didn't eat or drink anything out of fear of throwing it up. It reminded her of Jason's first outing, except it hadn't ended with Vergil telling the guests to eat shit and die.

The video evidence supported it as well. Whenever he spoke to Revy or Tifa, he spoke of subversion. Or his limited options. Or the consequences for failure. Those bits were included to generate sympathy, and it had worked to a degree. It revealed that Vergil was flying by the seat of his pants, completely in over his head, and it was only by thinking on his feet that everything had worked out so far.

However, what had clinched it was his conversation with Bruce. Vergil was brutally honest with Bruce about Batman and his motivations. His microexpressions all came back as truthful. He had meant every single word he had said.

Vergil was deeply terrified of Batman. He was afraid of the Penguin, but he was terrified of Batman. Vergil didn't care about justice or the law. He did care about Lowtown, though. The recording of his Christmas speech had confirmed that as well. In the end, Vergil seemed to be a young man doing his absolute best in a tough situation. He was just desperate to avoid the consequences for the actions he had to take when his hand was forced.

"Think it'll work with Bruce?" Barbara questioned, resuming her work.

"Maybe. It's been a week and he hasn't dropped in on Vergil yet. I think he's taking what he said kinda hard," Dick said, looking to her. "I mean… I don't think it's ever been thrown in his face like that before. I'm sure he's known, but hearing it like that?" Dick shook his head, a deep frown on his face. Because that applied to them as well.

It had been very uncomfortable hearing what Vergil said. That if Batman had been there during one of his illegal dealings… that would be a death sentence for him.

"Jason didn't help much," Barbara added. Jason was from the streets just like Vergil, so naturally, they turned to him for confirmation.

His response was, 'Duh.' That had been salt in the wound. Barbara didn't think Bruce had stopped brooding about it since.

"No, he didn't, but the truth hurts sometimes. What we do isn't perfect and we try to stick to appropriate levels of force, but actions have consequences. For us and them," Dick said. "It's just the question of if the good outweighs the bad. The same is true in Vergil's case."

Barbara pondered that for a moment, "It might be worth bringing in the Team. Or at least Megan," Barbara pointed out. So far, Vergil was an in-house case. But, with everything going on, it might be worth outsourcing the case to investigate further. "She might have better luck than us."

Dick shook his head, "I… don't think so," He said. "It's a good idea, but… You know how she and Conner just broke up?" Of course. Being a superhero didn't make you immune to gossip, and Conner and Megan had been the cutest, most perfect couple that had broken up out of nowhere. "Conner told me why they did. She tried to tamper with his memories to make him forget about a fight."

Oh. "How bad was the fight?" Barbara questioned, taken back. It was a nice idea to erase a fight from memory. Sometimes you just said things when you were mad and you wished to take them back. But to enter someone's mind and tamper with memories…?

"It was about how she used her powers. More than a couple of times, she reduced a bad guy to a catatonic state for information. It's always been when there wasn't much choice, but… it's been happening more frequently. And he hasn't been the only one to notice," Dick explained. "No action is being taken because it always works out for the better. So, Conner confronted her about it. Then she tampered with his memories. He couldn't even tell me what had been said during the fight, only that it had happened."

That was dangerous and worrying. "So, she's on watch?" Barbara asked, earning a nod. The moment she crossed the line, she would be reeled in. It also made her too dangerous to be used on a target like Vergil. Despite the things he'd done, he had also helped a lot of people. He didn't deserve to be driven into a catatonic state. That, and if it was ever revealed why he was reduced to that, the Penguin would undoubtedly take measures to kill him.

"Yeah. Hopefully Conner breaking up with her will snap her out of it, and that's all that needs to be done." Dick said, his tone grim. It wasn't often that heroes came into conflict with other heroes. What Megan was doing… they shouldn't be turning a blind eye to it as much as they were, but they were because she was a hero and a friend. It was hypocrisy and saying the ends justified the means… Barbara really just hoped that Megan snapped out of it. "But you might be right about getting the Team involved. Bee would be a good fit."

Bumblebee — Karen Beecher, a relatively recent member of the team. Similar to Atom, she could shrink down to microscopic size. Perfect for subverting defenses and planting listening devices.

"We should run it by Batman first," Barbara ventured. They wanted to investigate to make sure and do their due diligence. They knew that Vergil had committed crimes, he had admitted as much, but they needed to know how deep that rabbit hole went. When they had all of the information, then they… or, rather, Batman, would decide whether to pursue the investigation. The cops would launch their own, and from there Vergil would likely face charges.

If he went to jail or not would be out of the Batfamily's hands. They just gave evidence. The court decided what to do with it.

Then, as if to speak of the devil, Barbara got an alert. "Batman?" She questioned, bringing up a video call. Something Batman never used. However, instead of the Dark Knight, she came face to face with Jason. "Jason? Did you seriously steal one of Batman's communicators?" Just so he could listen in on League business calls?

"No," Jason replied a little too quickly, "But you have to look at this." He said, his tone serious. He flipped the camera feed so instead of a close in on his face, she saw a vast tunnel. There were some floodlights at the entrance, pushing back the darkness a good hundred feet, but the light only made the blackness of the tunnel stand out more. It was simple enough to guess what she was seeing.

One of the tunnels in Lowtown. They had a digital map of the tunnel system beneath Gotham — four tunnels that ran the length and width of Gotham with 7th Heaven serving as a convergence point. Only one of which had seen any level of construction, while the other three served as temporary housing for squatters.

"More tunnels are being made," Jason informed, making Barbara go still. "Here, this is what I've mapped out so far." A data packet was sent her way. The computer scanned it for malware before downloading it — the moment it did, the digital map of Lowtown became much more fleshed out. A grid pattern made itself known as the edge of the tunnel system was laid out, nearly tracing Gotham city.

Huge swathes were missing, but it was enough for her systems to generate an estimate of the tunnel system that had appeared underneath Gotham, some of which came dangerously close to the cave system that connected to the Batcave. The four main tunnels served as highways, as did the tunnel that connected all four main tunnels. Additional main streets were being made. The entire pattern was… efficient. It was designed with the expectation of heavy traffic… and a large population.

"When?" Dick asked, standing up.

"Apparently it started a few days ago. But it just completed today. I just found out about it. Seems like no one knew," Jason said, switching the camera back to his face to reveal a deep scowl on his face. "I have no clue why he'd do this. The first tunnel wasn't even close to being completed."

Vergil had blamed the Penguin for Lowtown's first expansion. Had he been lying or was the Penguin planning for something? It wasn't like him to make a move like this. He moved through proxies and layers… which Vergil was. So, what did the Penguin get from a move like this other than attention?

"There's something we're missing here. Where's Vergil now?" Dick questioned while Barbara forwarded the information to Batman.

"I asked Tifa that — apparently, Vergil is in a business meeting. Didn't say with who, though." Given the timing…

Barbara pulled up Vergil's very packed schedule, "There's nothing on here about a business meeting today. He's meeting with the Penguin." The timing was just too perfect for it to be anything else. And they needed to listen to that conversation rather than hear Vergil or the Penguin's version of it.

"We-" Barbara began, only to cut herself off when she received a reply from Batman.

"Batman is on his way to the Iceberg Lounge."

…

The kid almost looked like a man now, Oswald Cobblepot thought to himself. Vergil sat across from him, with an easy smile on his face. He was sharply dressed in a black suit, wine red dress shirt, and a back tie. Black gloves on his hand, matching the black dress shoes that had a polished sheen to them. In appearance, he couldn't be more different from the ragged kid that had walked into the Lounge half a year ago.

Even the look in his eyes was different. The kid's eyes had been filled with desperation hidden under a thin layer of confidence. Now the kid's gaze was a lot like a sharp knife pointed in his direction. Sharp and dangerous.

Oswald had taken a diamond in the rough, gave it a bit of polish, and now it shined beautifully.

"Twenty-five million, as promised," Vergil said, making a show of flicking the card to the side of his chair and unsealing it. In response, twenty-five million appeared. Oswald knew his money. He knew exactly what twenty-five million looked like stacked up nice and proper. Vergil had packaged it up -- wrapped it up in plastic and vacuum sealed it.

Oswald leaned back in his chair, puffing a cigar as Tracy and Candy collected the money. All the while he basked in the fact that he had been right. The moment Vergil had walked through his doors, Oswald had sized him up, and every step of the way, Vergil had proven him right.

The kid was hungry. The kind of hungry that could never be satisfied. He built up his support base beautifully — those bums in Lowtown worshiped the ground he walked on. He might as well be their god. Sainthood Enterprises was getting the attention of the Old Money in Gotham, but Vergil understood the card that he had up his sleeve. Something that went beyond an Ace.

"I don't say this often kid, and when I do, I usually don't mean it — I'm impressed," Oswald admitted, earning a blink of surprise from Vergil. "Six months. In six months, you went from a bum with nothing to your name to paying twenty-five million like it's nothing. I knew you were something special." A little praise never hurt. Especially when they were at a crossroads.

Oswald meant it. He really did. The kid was made for this. It wouldn't be long until Vergil became his right-hand man. Together, they could take this city over. They could be the new Wayne's of Gotham, because that moron Bruce was going to lose his fortune to them.

However, that marvelous future all hinged on this little exchange.

"Thank you, Mr. Cobblepot. The gang war helped a great deal," Vergil replied. "And the tape?" He requested, his tone even. It seemed he was prepared for this meeting to go south. Smart of him.

Oswald gestured to Candy, who retrieved the memory card that stored video of Vergil murdering a man. "And since I know you'll want verification…" Candy slid the card into a laptop, the screen displaying the footage. Short, sweet, and damning. Just how Oswald liked it. He watched Vergil carefully as the video played and Vergil proved to be a fast learner. He didn't flinch or look uncomfortable at watching himself commit cold-blooded murder.

Good.

"And is that the only copy?" Vergil asked, accepting the card from Candy before sealing it away in a card.

"Of course," Oswald lied with a smile on his face. Of course he made an extra copy. He didn't get this far in this line of business by being trusting, much less keeping his promises. He liked Vergil. He really did. And that was exactly why he had a copy made. He wanted Vergil to be his right-hand man, but that didn't mean he trusted Vergil in the slightest.

Why would he ever give up leverage over him?

“That’s a relief to hear,” Vergil said, a smile on his face. Oh, the kid knew that he was lying. He wouldn’t be sitting there if he didn’t understand the value of the leverage Oswald had over him and the sheer stupidity needed to willingly give that up. Meaning it all came down to how Vergil accepted that fact.

To that point, his smile grew a fraction. “Business as usual then?” He questioned, earning an equally sharp grin from Oswald. That had been the response he was looking for. He would have to be on guard for Vergil trying to slip out from under his thumb, but so far, the kid understood that he was flourishing under Oswald’s wing. He just had to be prepared for when Vergil inevitably thought that he was big enough to leave the nest, so to speak.

“That favor you called in is progressing nicely. No hold-ups on my end. How soon are you looking to push this through?” Oswald questioned as Vergil tucked the card of incriminating evidence into his pocket. He had to pull some strings. Some serious ones. Called in a few favors, threatened to break a few knees — the works.

Vergil looked right at home in his seat, “I’m thinking soon. Some things need some preparation on my end, but nothing that will take long. If you’re open to it… how does the end of the week sound to you?” Vergil questioned and Oswald had to fight to keep an eyebrow from rising.

The end of the week? As on Sunday? Two days from now?

“That’s an aggressive timeline. How’d you manage that?” Oswald thought it would take Vergil months to prepare his end. The fact his expectations had been off so much worried him a bit. It would seem Vergil had made more friends at the Wayne Gala than expected.

“Old Money wants to carve up Sainthood Enterprises. When they understood the proposal, they were very agreeable on acting on my behalf,” Vergil responded, giving the barebones amount of detail. Still, it made sense. And Vergil wasn’t stupid enough to let his company go publically traded or sell a majority share. If he thought he had it handled, then Oswald would believe that he had it handled. And if he didn’t, then Vergil would be the first to look to him, and that was more leverage.

“Then Sunday it is,” Oswald agreed. He almost couldn’t wait. Gotham City would be shitting itself. “How are things in East End?” He asked, suspecting things were going nicely based on the pile of money.

“My proxy is doing good work in East End. They call themselves the Old Guard, or OG for short,” Vergil answered. That gang had come out the gate swinging in every direction. They carved out a nice chunk of territory for themselves, bringing them from a no-name gang to middle of the pack. Time would tell if they would retain that position.

In all, so far, this little arrangement of theirs was working wonderfully. It might take a little time, but East End would fall to Vergil’s control. Oswald already controlled the Docks. That was a solid tenth of the city firmly under his control. The only risk was Vergil getting too big for his boots.

“To that end, if it wouldn’t be any trouble, could you have some of your contacts reach out to Becca and Ann? They’ve made good progress so far, but they could always use something of an edge over the competition,” Vergil requested.

Oswald nodded, that was smart thinking. They controlled who reached out, so they would control who the Old Guard did business with. He opened his mouth to respond with a confirmation, only for the sound of breaking glass to catch him off guard. He didn’t even need to look up as glass shards rained down from the ceiling.

He knew who it was.

Seems like Batman finally sought to pay him a visit.