The sky over Gotham was low and gray when Quentin stepped outside the Arden, coat flapping lightly in the wind. He walked with his hands tucked in his pockets, shoulders hunched against the chill, his eyes scanning alleys, stoops, and underpasses. Word had already started spreading among the city's invisible population that Nolan had acquired a hotel. Now it was time to act on it.
He found the first few huddled near an exhaust vent beside an old fish market—Hank, Rojas, and a woman called Tiff who used to run messages between corners in the Narrows. They looked up with wary eyes that softened slightly when they saw Quentin's face.
"You look like hell," Hank muttered.
"I feel great," Quentin said with a faint smirk. "Come on. Walk with me." He pulled out a pack of cigarettes
They fell into step beside him as he moved through backstreets, picking up more faces as he went. People who remembered what Nolan had done for them. People who had kept secrets. People who had nothing to lose.
Placing a cig between his lips Quentin lit it and took a deep drag.
"I've got a proposition," Quentin said once they reached a quiet corner near the hotel's alley entrance. "We've got staff housing in the building. Rooms. Beds. Showers. Clean water. It's not ready yet, but I want to know who's interested in coming inside being a part of this thing."
"What kind of job we talkin'?" Rojas asked.
Quentin shrugged. "Won't be a normal hotel gig. full time. Not boring. But we'll need maintenance, runners, lookouts. People who know how to keep quiet. People we trust."
"Security?" Tiff asked, eyes narrowing.
"Among other things," Quentin said. "There's uniforms, though no managers breathing down your neck. This place is ours, not theirs. You do your part, you sleep indoors. No rent. No bullshit."
There was silence for a moment. Then Hank nodded. "I'm in."
Rojas spat to the side. "A roof sounds good for once."
Tiff just crossed her arms and muttered, "Long as you don't turn this into some halfway house with cops sniffing around."
Quentin gave a thin smile. "Trust me. That's the last thing it'll be."
By the time the renovation team arrived that afternoon, Kieran had taken the reins. His posture was cleaner, sharper. The coat buttoned, the expression composed. He stood in the main lounge of the Arden with a tablet in one hand and the faintest hint of cologne still lingering from his last public appearance.
Marnie LaSalle led the team through the doors a mix of grizzled contractors and newer hires, all looking at the place like it was a half-buried relic. Kieran offered a nod of acknowledgment.
"We'll set up the main workspace here in the lounge," Marnie said, dropping a rolled-up set of blueprints onto the dusty check-in desk. "There's enough power in the auxiliary grid to get tools running, but we'll need full restoration before the elevators can carry anything heavy."
Kieran motioned toward the plans. "Let's start with the 14th and 15th floors. I've marked the suites we want to combine."
The contractors gathered around as Marnie unrolled the blueprints. Kieran crouched down beside them and pointed to the notes he'd added—rooms to be knocked through, walls to be shifted, expanded closets that were just wide enough to hold something more.
One of the contractors a squat man with thick fingers and a heavy belt grunted. "These hidden partitions? You want 'em soundproof?"
"Preferably," Kieran said. "Insulation, quiet doors. They need to be unobtrusive."
Another man, this one younger with wire-frame glasses, raised a hand. "The wall you want to remove here," he said, tapping a spot between two suites, "might be load-bearing. We can reinforce with a beam, but that'll take a slice out of your budget."
"I'll make it up somewhere else," Kieran said. "Keep it minimal but precise. Every hidden space needs to be obscured. Not visible on standard schematics."
Marnie glanced over at him. "We'll need a separate set of blueprints for these. One for inspection, one for… your actual build."
Kieran smiled faintly. "That's why I hired you."
They worked late into the afternoon, going over electrical lines, bathroom repairs, staircase reinforcement. Marnie had already mapped out a schedule three weeks for repairs, two more for finishing touches. And that was just phase one.
As the meeting wrapped and the team prepared to leave, Marnie lingered.
"You've got something in mind beyond a boutique hotel, don't you?"
Kieran didn't answer right away. He looked up at the mezzanine level, where shadows spilled across the floor like ghosts.
"I'm just building a business," he said with an easy smile, "Let's have some fun."
***
The Batcave was never truly silent.
Even in the early morning hours, when the rest of Gotham still slept beneath the weight of its own shadows, the soft hum of servers, diagnostic pulses, and filtered air moved through the cave like the quiet breath of a beast.
Bruce stood at the center of it all, his eyes narrowed on a large monitor displaying an isometric cutaway of the Arden Hotel. Colored wireframes outlined current renovations—wall removals on the 14th and 15th floors, insulation orders that didn't match the room dimensions, strange floorplan shifts.
He didn't need to guess who was behind it. He already knew.
Nolan.
Or Kieran. Or one of the other personalities that Bruce hadn't fully identified yet.
He tapped the keys with practiced efficiency, pulling up a file labeled simply:
"Subject: Nolan (Confirmed DID – Active Monitoring)
Bruce scrolled through weeks of surveillance: investor meetings, construction permits, burner phone pings from strategic locations. Transcripts from intercepted conversations showed clean, organized operations. Coordinated movements across the city some in high society circles, others deep in Gotham's homeless network.
He wasn't just watching Nolan. He was mapping the influence the man was already beginning to grow.
Nolan hadn't committed a crime at least not one the courts could prove without putting innocent people in danger but he wasn't exactly walking free either.
He was under the lens.
Every move, every outing, every contractor and permit filed was flagged.
Bruce zoomed in on a live security feed from a block away from the Arden. Nolan had been spotted there earlier that morning. Now someone else was meeting with contractors. A different gait. Straighter posture. A sharper smile.
Kieran, probably.
Bruce didn't flinch. Just observed.
Then he opened a different file. The donations ledger.
At first glance, it looked like a community miracle dozens of contributions pouring in after the gala. Anonymous donors. Wire transfers. Checks cut from Gotham's wealthiest foundations.
Bruce scanned the metadata. Tracking numbers. Origin IPs. Sponsorship letters.
Then he saw it.
His name.
Over and over again.
He stood still for a moment, letting the reality settle.
"Donated with the assurance of Bruce Wayne's support…"
"Endorsed by the Wayne Foundation…"
"Trusted associate of Bruce Wayne…"
None of it authorized. None of it true.
Bruce exhaled slowly through his nose and shook his head.
"Bold," he muttered.
Not reckless calculated.
Nolan hadn't even contacted him. Hadn't asked. Just… used the weight of the name like it was another tool in his belt. And it worked. The man had pulled in nearly a quarter million in a matter of days.
Bruce stared at the screen, the shadow of a frown tightening across his face.
"He used my probing at the gala to push for donations," he said under his breath. "He's far to reckless."
He wasn't sure what Nolan wanted the building for yet. A safehouse? A base of operations? A long con with a humanitarian mask?
But he knew this: Nolan wasn't done. Not even close.
A faint chirp sounded in the background an alert from the Justice League systems flashing across the screen.
Bruce gave the monitor one last look. A still image of Nolan or better Kieran mid-handshake with a donor, smiling like a man who already knew how the story would end.
"Noted," Bruce muttered, and turned away.
But the file stayed open.
The feed kept running.
And Nolan stayed under the eyes of Batman.