July 29th, 2006. Nearly 9 years ago.

It was a decent morning in Bellevue, Washington. The weather was not too hot, and there weren't any rain clouds as usual. Just a nice summer day as the sun rose up. Andrea Beaumont was in her house, thinking to herself. Today was her son Kevin's birthday, he was now 10 years old. Andrea had been wanting to tell Kevin who his father was for awhile, and now felt like the perfect time. She knew it would be risky, telling a now 10-year-old that his father was Batman, and this also meant she would have to mention her past as The Phantasm. But she knew her son had to know the truth if it meant he could grow up to be a responsible man who wouldn't make the same mistakes she made. She didn't want Kevin to be with the wrong crowd the same way her father did. "I'm gonna tell him," she said to herself, "Warts and all..."

Andrea then wandered over to Kevin's bedroom and knocked on the door, and then she entered her son's room to see if he was awake. "Kevin? You up?" Andrea asked, turning on his light. Right on cue, Kevin sitting up while opening his eyes. "Yeah, I'm awake..." Kevin yawned, rubbing his eyes. Andrea couldn't help but smile at her son. "Happy birthday Kevin," she said wandering over and tussling her son's light brown hair. Kevin smiled and said, "thanks Mom. Morning." Andrea sat on Kevin's mattress and asked, "remember when I promised you that I would tell you about who your father was when I felt you were ready?" Kevin nodded and replied, "yeah, I remember."

"Well, since you're 10 years old now, I think now is the perfect time to tell you who your father is," said Andrea, "here's the catch, once I tell you, you cannot tell anyone else. Do you understand?" At first, Kevin was confused as to why he couldn't tell anyone else about his father, but this seemed important to his mom, so Kevin nodded and said, "I understand..." Andrea breathed in and said, "okay then. Kevin, Bruce Wayne is your biological father." Kevin listened to what his mother said, and he was surprised. "Bruce Wayne? That billionaire from Gotham City? Don't you have newspaper pictures of him from the Gotham Gazette?" Andrea nodded and said, "that's right. You see, when I was younger, I met your father at the Gotham Cemetery. We fell in love, and I was Bruce's first girlfriend. We were very serious. So serious, your father actually asked me to marry him, and believe me, I wanted to..."

"How come you and Dad didn't marry?" Kevin asked. Andrea held Kevin's hand and replied, "it has something to do with the man who would've been your grandfather, Carl. You see, my father did money business with a mob triad run by Castro Valestra. Valestra wasn't exactly as big as the Falcones and the Maronis but still just as dangerous. Your grandpa Carl stole money from Castro, and because of that, Castro and his goons wanted to kill him if he didn't pay them back. They were even willing to hurt me if your grandpa didn't comply. Because of that, I was forced to end my relationship with your father, which is one of the reasons why he and I aren't married... It broke my heart having to call off the marriage, because you have to understand Kevin, I loved your father." Kevin looked at Andrea sadly and said, "It's not fair what those criminals forced you to do... Wait, did you say one of the reasons?"

"I agree, it is unfair," replied Andrea, "and yes, I did say one of the reasons. You see, your grandfather and I fled to Europe to avoid Castro and his men, Grandpa Carl paying back pieces of the debt he owed to Castro. We took refuge in Europe for years. But even when your grandfather paid back what he owed, it didn't matter... You see, we had a family friend who was a lawyer to my father, his name was Arthur Reeves. When Arthur ran out of funds for his campaign as Gotham's councilman, he tried to ask your grandpa for funds. When Grandpa Carl declined, Arthur retaliated by telling Valestra where your grandfather and I were. They sent an enforcer known as the Red Hood to personally kill my father... And that's how I found your grandfather dead..." She choked up, trying her hardest not to cry. Andrea wondered to herself if telling her young son about these personal wounds was a good idea. "That's awful." Kevin said, looking at his mom sadly. Andrea wiped a tear from her left eye and replied, "I agree, it is awful... And what I did next, I'm not proud of... I let anger and hate consume me, and I wanted revenge against the people responsible for my father's death. And so I built a new persona to exact my revenge against Castro and his cronies... I became a dark figure known as The Phantasm... And, as The Phantasm, I went back to Gotham to hunt down the men I believed were responsible for my father's death, Buzz Bronski, Chuckie Sol, Castro, and of course the Red Hood, who was now going by the alias Joker. I killed Bronski and Sol, Joker killed Valestra before I could though... While I was out in Gotham, I met up with your father Bruce, and I found out a shocking truth about your father... It turns out that your father is the superhero vigilante known as Batman..."

"My dad's THE Batman!?!?!?!" Kevin asked, his eyes were almost growing to the size of dinner plates at this bombshell! Andrea almost wanted to break her straight face from Kevin's reaction. "Yes," confirmed Andrea, "Your father Bruce Wayne is Batman. Because of me, Arthur Reeves manipulated everyone into thinking that your father responsible for the deaths of Bronski and Sol. Before anyone could kill him, I rescued your father and well, let's just say we did the birds and the bees, and that's how I became pregnant with you..." Kevin nodded, understanding. "Anyway, your father eventually found out I was The Phantasm," continued Andrea, "I confronted Joker and was ready to kill him, but your father tried to stop me. I could've let him save me, but I foolishly chose vengeance over your father and left him again..."

"And what about Joker?" Kevin asked. "It no longer mattered with Joker," explained Andrea, "before I could do anything, I lost the damn clown to the exploding debris, and he got away... I swear, The Devil has a restraining order against The Joker which explains why he just won't die... But I digress... After I left your father, I eventually found out I was pregnant with you, and that's how I started a new life with you in Bellevue..." Kevin looked at his mother, feeling bad for her, even if some of the things she had done were horrible. "Does it still hurt after what happened?" Kevin asked, holding her hand. "It does," admitted a regretful Andrea, "I've done a lot of things that I'm not proud of, and I regret that I left your father... Oh Kevin, when you get older and reach our age, please promise me that you'll never make the same mistakes I made..." Kevin hugged Andrea and said, "I promise, I won't." Andrea then looked Kevin in the eye and said, "and I want to reiterate that you cannot tell anyone what I just told you. Do you understand? I raised you here by myself because I wanted you to live as normal as a life as possible without having to suffer the cruelty of the media... Please promise me you won't tell anyone else what I just told you." Kevin nodded and said, "I promise, I won't." Andrea kissed Kevin's forehead and said, "That's my boy... Come on, let's get dressed, I'll take you out for breakfast."