The Batcomputer was not just a computer. It was a fortress of logic, a monolith of processing power cooled by liquid nitrogen and guarded by encryption protocols that would make the NSA weep in despair.
In the Batcave, Bruce Wayne sat in the glow of the massive screens, his fingers moving rhythmically across the console.
"Oracle," he said, his voice steady. "Status on the trace."
"It's... frustrating," Barbara Gordon's voice came over the comms. "The signal we tracked from the quarry disappeared into the subnet of the city's old transit authority grid. But every time I try to pinpoint the node, it moves. It's like trying to catch a fish with your bare hands."
"He's not just hiding," Batman muttered, narrowing his eyes at a stream of cascading code. "He's active."
On the main screen, a small, pixelated icon appeared. It was a crude 8-bit rendering of a hedgehog's head, winking.
ACCESS DENIED flashed in red. Then, underneath it, in cheerful green text: TRY AGAIN?
"He's mocking us," Batman said. "He's inside the firewall."
The Sewer Hub
Miles away, buried beneath the Narrows, Elias was sitting cross-legged in mid-air, surrounded by four stolen laptops arranged in a semi-circle. His eyes were glowing a faint, data-stream blue.
He wasn't typing. He didn't need to.
One of the lesser-known abilities of the Chaos force—specifically derived from his knowledge of Tails' tech and the cyber-corruption of Frontiers—was the ability to interface with technology. He was Cyber-Space Sonic right now.
"You're good, Bats," Elias murmured, his mind swimming through the digital architecture of the Wayne Enterprises server. "Layered quantum encryption. Biometric keys. Trapdoors."
He visualized the Batcomputer as a massive, brooding castle. He was the blue streak running up the walls.
"But you're thinking in binary. Ones and zeros. I'm thinking in Chaos."
Elias reached out with his mind. He didn't try to break the lock; he tried to glitch through the wall.
Spin Dash.exe.
He launched a packet of data—a chaotic algorithm that constantly rewrote its own file extension. To the Batcomputer, it looked like a virus, then an image file, then a text document, then a system update.
The firewall hesitated.
"Gotcha," Elias grinned.
The Batcave
"Intruder alert!" The automated system blared.
Screens began to pop up rapidly.
System Override: Sector 7.
Camera Feeds: Looping.
Inventory Manifest: Downloading.
"He's bypassing the brute force protection," Oracle said, sounding impressed and terrified. "He's not cracking the codes, Bruce. He's... skipping them. He's exploiting rendering errors in the operating system."
Batman didn't panic. He leaned forward. "Activate the Babel Protocol. Isolate the subnet. Burn the bridge he's standing on."
Batman hit a sequence of keys. He wasn't trying to block Elias anymore; he was trying to trap him. He created a "honeypot"—a fake folder labeled JUSTICE LEAGUE MEMBER IDENTITIES.
He watched the blue code stream rush toward it.
"Got you," Batman growled. "As soon as he opens that file, a tracer worm uploads to his hardware. We'll have his GPS coordinates in three seconds."
The Sewer Hub
Elias saw the folder. It was glowing gold in his mental vision. JUSTICE LEAGUE IDENTITIES.
"Ooh, shiny," Elias laughed. "And obviously a trap."
He recognized the coding style. It was defensive. Aggressive. It screamed 'I want you to look here.'
"Sorry, Bruce. I played Watch Dogs. I know a honeypot when I see one."
Instead of opening the folder, Elias did something unexpected. He surrounded it.
He visualized a Blue Cube wisp.
"Swap."
He took the tracer worm Batman had hidden inside the folder and swapped its target parameters. Instead of tracking Elias, he pointed the worm at Gotham City Public Works.
Then, he downloaded a different file. Not the identities. He didn't care who the Flash was.
He downloaded the Global Geological Anomaly Map.
"Thanks for the map, Bats."
He prepared to disconnect. But before he did, he decided to leave a calling card.
The Batcave
The screens flickered. The red alert silenced.
"He's gone," Oracle said. "Did we get him?"
"No," Batman said, staring at the monitor. "He redirected the worm. According to this, our hacker is currently located in... the Mayor's bathroom."
"He played us," Oracle sighed. "What did he take?"
"Not the identities," Batman checked the logs. "He ignored the personnel files. He ignored the weapon schematics. He took... geological data. Seismic charts. Radiation hotspots."
"He's treasure hunting," Batman realized.
Suddenly, the main screen cleared. A text box appeared.
TO: The World's Greatest Detective
FROM: The Blue Blur
MESSAGE: Nice setup. Needs more RAM. By the way, your Batmobile's suspension is slightly misaligned on the left front tire. You might want to calibrate that before you try to chase me again. - E
Batman stared at the message. His jaw tightened.
Alfred Pennyworth walked up behind him, holding a tray of tea. He looked at the screen and raised an eyebrow.
"Shall I schedule a tune-up for the vehicle, Master Bruce?"
Batman exhaled slowly through his nose. "Do it."
"And the hacker, sir?"
"He's dangerous," Batman said, turning his chair around. "He's faster than Flash. He hits harder than a truck. And now we know he can out-think our security."
Batman picked up a Batarang, turning it over in his gloved fingers.
"He's looking for radiation sources. If he wants a treasure hunt... we're going to make sure he finds exactly what we want him to find."
The Sewer Hub
Elias disconnected, slumping back onto the floor. His head was pounding. Cyber-warfare was mentally exhausting.
"Okay," he rubbed his temples. "I got the map."
He opened the stolen file on one of the laptops. It was a map of the world, dotted with strange energy readings that the Justice League had flagged but hadn't investigated yet.
One dot pulsed brighter than the others. It was located in the middle of the Sahara Desert.
"Energy signature match: 88%," Elias read. "Similar to the 'Chaos' waveform."
He grinned.
"Found you."
He stood up, kicking the laptop shut.
"One Chaos Emerald down. Six to go."
He looked at his red sneakers. They were scuffed.
"Time for a trip to the sandbox."