Secrets

   Bruce frowned as he scanned the local news reports on his computer.  Despite all the chaos across the city, a strange pattern was beginning to emerge.
   He dialed his phone.
   "Hey there," a voice on the other side answered.
   "...Bart. I need you for something. Can you get over here?"
   "Sure. Gimme a second."
   Thirty seconds later, the elevator door opened and Bart stepped out.
   "Man, that elevator is SLOW."
   Bart was suddenly surprised to see Alfred standing on his left, patiently holding a tray of donuts.  If there was anything faster than Bart's feet, it was Alfred's preparedness.  Bart smiled, politely nodded, took a donut, and walked over to Bruce in the living room.
   "So, what's up?"
   "I have a theory about what's been going on with the rise in crime lately."
   "Another one? I thought we decided it was Luthor's thugs goin' crazy."
   "Maybe not."
   "...Okay, so what is it, then?"
   "I'm not sure. But I've been looking through the patterns here, and they're a little too regular.  During every period of three days, the number of major thefts stays between five and six.  Every four days, there's between three and four fires.  Murders are a little more random—probably because it's harder for whoever's controlling this to manage collateral damage—but still close enough that it's almost a pattern."
   "Wait. You said someone's controlling this?"
   "Someone has to be.  Otherwise there'd be a lot more randomness here.  This looks like someone is trying to seem random."
   Bart thought about that for a moment. "So... what does that mean?"
   "It could mean that one of the top-level bosses under Lionel's command has secretly taken control of the entire operation now that Lionel's falling out of favor, but he still wants to make it appear as though there's still no leader."
   "...And why would he do that?"
   "So that Lionel's assassins won't take him out."
   Bart squinted his eyes. "Are you sure you're not overthinking this?"
   Bruce relaxed his shoulders. "I'm not sure.  I might be.  That's why I want to find out what's really going on."
   "Cool. And how're you gonna do that?"
   "That's what I need you for."
   "...How so?"
   Bruce grinned. "It's pretty simple, really."

   Luthorcorp Tower stood like a gleaming pillar of silver dominance.  From where Bart and Bruce were standing—about a block down the street—it looked like a golem, ready to crush trespassers.
   Bart regarded it with unease.  Bruce regarded it with slight amusement, as though he found Lionel Luthor's need to build such a huge headquarters rather funny.
   "We're going in there?" Bart asked incredulously.
   "Nope," Bruce replied.  "We're going in there."
   Bruce pointed to the tower's parking garage.
   Bart nodded as if he understood, but truthfully still wasn't sure what was happening. "Okay... so what's the plan?"
   Bruce subtly tilted his head toward an alleyway to their right and walked in that direction.  Bart followed.  When they were both safely in the alley and out of view of the street, Bruce laid out his plan.

   Bart zoomed down the street towards the parking garage.  Moving at that speed, he appeared to onlookers as nothing more than a flittering shadow.  He jumped the gate at the garage, then ran all the way to the nearest door into the tower.  Looking up, he saw a security camera.  He was essentially invisible to the camera, of course.  But that wasn't the problem.
   Bart had realized something recently: when he moved at super-speed, friction and physical impact didn't affect him the same way.  He could slam face-first into a wall at eight hundred miles an hour and be hurt no worse than if he'd simply stubbed his toe.
   He jumped up, still moving too fast to be seen.  He punched the camera, shattering it into a hundred pieces.  Satisfied with his work, Bart turned around and sped back out of the parking lot.  Two seconds later he returned, carrying Bruce over his shoulder.  Bart slowed out of super-speed crouched behind a car thirty feet away from the door.  Bruce, sitting on the concrete floor, shook off the shock by taking deep breaths.  Bart was just glad that Bruce wasn't throwing up.
   Twenty seconds later, the door opened and an overweight man in a security guard's uniform walked out.  Before the door could slam shut behind him, Bart sped inside—Bruce once again slung over his shoulder.
   On the other side of the door was a long hallway lined with nondescript blue doors.  Without slowing down, Bart quickly moved forward.
   Although he didn't make any effort to show it, Bart was actually smarter than he seemed. He knew quite a bit about how the human body moved; the science of walking and running.  He figured that for the security guard to have gotten to the door in about twenty-two seconds—considering his girth and height—he must have started walking from... there.  A door marked with a "SECURITY ONLY" sticker.
   Bart put his pointer finger to the door lock and pushed.  The circular lock slid inwards slightly and cracked.  Bart winced; he'd almost jammed his finger doing that.  Apparently security door locks were tougher than cheap cameras.  Still, it had worked.  Bart turned the handle and opened the door, swiftly moving inside and shutting the door behind them.
   The room was filled with two dozen security camera screens above a computer desk.  Bart set Bruce down in an empty office chair in front of the desk.  When Bart took his hand off Bruce and shifted out of super-speed, Bruce almost immediately snapped open his eyes and began typing at the computer.
   Bart was beginning to worry that Bruce might be a robot.
   Bruce typed as fast as he could, but stopped when he saw the security guard returning on one of the camera feeds from the hallway behind them.
   Bruce immediately stood up and pulled a sheet of paper out of his pocket, handing it to Bart.
   "Here. Input these commands as fast as the computer will respond."
   Bart nodded in a tenth of a second, then zipped straight into the chair and began typing away.
   The mouse and keyboard were a blur of clicks and taps.  Several screens on the wall filled with static, and a small red light gently flashed on one of them.  On the other side of the hall, the guard's heavy footsteps could be heard tapping the faux-marble floor.  They inched closer and closer, until the sound reverberated off the door itself.
   Bruce looked back at the hallway camera.  He saw the guard's hand reaching for the handle.
   Suddenly, a sharp crackle sounded from the guard's radio.
   "...Silent alarm at the Northeast door; repeat, silent alarm at the Northeast doorway..."
   The guard lowered his hand from the door handle and ran off down the hall towards the other side of the building.
   Bart breathed a sigh of relief.  He looked at Bruce for reciprocation, but Bruce retained his unearthly calm manner.
   Bart rolled his eyes.  "What did you—er... I—just do?"
   "Remotely disabled a few cameras and tripped a silent alarm. Sent them on a wild goose chase."
   Bart rolled his eyes again, standing up to give Bruce back his seat.  "How do you know how to do that, anyway?"
   Bruce sat down and began working again.  "I spent a lot of time last semester learning security systems from the IT guys at Wayne Tower.  Since we have a rival system to Luthorcorp's, it's important that we know their system inside and out, so ours can be better."
   "Huh. Cool."

   After a few minutes, Bruce finally found what he was looking for.  With a few more keystrokes, he combined the myriad of side-by-side security monitors into one giant display—showing one massive image of Lionel Luthor's office.  Bruce inserted a flashdrive into the computer, and clicked through a few folders.
   "What are you doing?"
   "Copying all of the footage from Lionel's office over the last three weeks."
   "Does it have sound?"
   "Yes. Why?"
   "Can you turn it on right now?"
   "Yes... why?"
   Bruce looked up to the giant screen and saw what Bart was referring to.  About a dozen well-dressed men had all just walked into Lionel's office.  "They must be Lionel's twelve crime lords..." Bruce said with surprise.  He clicked on the audio, and Lionel's voice filled the room.
   "...want you all to keep following the plan. I understand this is unusual, but it is of the utmost importance."
   "Mister Luthor..." one of the other men began. "Some of my men are... uneasy with all of this.  I mean, this is Gotham-level insanity we're causin' here.  No one wants to just go torch warehouses an' off people for no reason. What's the point?"
   The other eleven bosses uncomfortably shifted in their places. A few of them shot him looks of bewilderment.  Clearly, no one was supposed to question Lionel's judgment. Ever.
   Lionel met the man's gaze for a few silent moments, then cracked a satisfied grin.  "Very prudent of you, William," Lionel said.
   "Just Bill, sir," William said.
   "Nonsense," Lionel responded. "William is a far more... authoritative name.  You are quite justified in your concerns, and I appreciate your honesty.  After all, a king cannot rule without first addressing the needs of the commoners."
   The other bosses all tossed each other silent awkward glances. Lionel's royal arrogance, although perhaps justified considering his position, was still very off-putting for most.
   "We are creating chaos," Lionel said, "in order to show those in supposed positions of power that our control of Metropolis' underworld is, in fact, the lesser of two evils.  That if they wish to unravel our identities as leaders of the criminal element, and take us into custody, they should beware of the consequences.  They should see a criminal world without us. They should see the true chaos that they will unleash."
   The bosses nodded in understanding.
   "Is that sufficient for you, William?"
   William nodded. "Yes, Mister Luthor."
   "Good."
   Lionel's face turned terribly grave. "I trust your curiosity does not extend into disloyalty?"
   William began to stutter in fear. "N-no, sir. Absolutely not."
   "See that it doesn't."

   Bruce switched off the video, and sunk his face into his hands.
   "He's the one doing it," Bruce said. "He's still in control. He just wants the police to think he's not, so they'll be scared into not arresting him."
   "Woah..." Bart said incredulously.  "He's burning the city and having people killed just to prove a point?"
   "Yes. That's exactly what he's doing."
   Bruce switched the normal camera screens back on, and checked the hallway.  The guard was about fifty feet away, and walking closer.
   "Looks like our ruse is over."
   Bruce shut down the file transfer and yanked his flashdrive before inputting a single command that completely reset the entire system back the way it was before they'd arrived.
   He stood up. "Alright; let's get out of here."
   Bart firmly grabbed Bruce's arm. A tenth of a second later, they were gone.