ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀᴛᴍᴀɴ.

19.

I clench my hand as my fingers bent in towards the palm and held there tightly in frustration. I dig into it deeper till my knuckles turns a little white.

"Why is he writing to you?" Alfred immediately burst out as Daisy disappears from our sight. He turns around and looks at me with confusion, but a mix of irritation as he narrows his eyebrow at me.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out." I grab the letter and proceed to the elevator, in which Alfred joins along. The doors open to the main garage as my feet instantly lead towards my computers and throw the convolute on the table. I grab a pen I have left in the counter and scribble the sentence on the cryptic code "HE LIES STILL." Alfred inches to the edge of the table, shrugging a little.

"Dear god," he mutters. I didn't notice the TV is on until Alfred turns the volume up. The news is spread everywhere.

"Tom Crawford is found murdered yesterday night,"

The news-lady says clearly. I tilt my head towards the tv as she explains further about the incident; until she mentioned my father.

"It's a similar case to Thomas Wayne who was also murdered but haven't been solved. This could potentially be a huge loss for Gotham, since the murder hasn't been revealed yet, and could potentially be Tom Crawford's killed."

Alfred turns down the volume and clears his throat for a second. "The cathedral is finally open. The last one we mourn, the police officer who worked with your father, left a huge impact on people. But yet, he wasn't on the news compare to Tom Crawford, who did human trafficking and allowed him to compete with Bella Reàl." He shrugs in disbelief. "Gotham do needs you."

I look at him for a quick second with no remorse, trailing my eyes back to the convolute. "I know." My tone lowers as my fingers slides towards the letter.

I open the rest of the convolute, noticing a scripted paper with a bunch of numbers. I place it on the edge of the table towards Alfred. His eyes quickly darts to the material, grabbing a hold of it.

"Figure it out for me, there might be something on it." My body quickly motion towards the elevator, calculating everything about the new killer.

The darkness swallow the entire sky from any glimpses of the sun, revealing the moon again. My mind is occupied from going to bed with stress consuming my brain.

My mind trailed off to Tom, feeling a sudden relief he wouldn't be able to hurt Daisy anymore. However, he didn't deserve to die, not according to how I want it to be. You deserve to rot in jail for all that matters, but it wasn't that simple when it comes to Tom. He wants what he can't have, and I know Carmine was the one who taught him all these schemes. But this time, Tom is dead. Leaving me with no other choice but to figure out who it is and why the killer left me a letter.

I decide to check up on Daisy who's effortlessly laying on my bed. She roll over towards the window, exposing her naked back. The blanket is covering underneath her waist as her body is leaning towards the glass. I press the side of my arms against the doorway, watching her for a couple of minutes.

My thoughts travels deeper about my feelings for her. I didn't have any, I'm sure I didn't but I had the urge to keep her safe around me. I know she wouldn't get the protection that she needs if I'm not with her, but now that Tom is dead, she isn't walking around with a threat on top of her head. She could easily go home by now.

I shrug a little thinking about it for a second, but I choose to not say anything. Instead, I rather want her to stay.

No, I don't have feelings for her but I need her to be protected. I am not sure from what any longer, but there was no point of leaving her alone.

My feet slowly motion backwards till I narrow the attention to the glass window, exposing a bright light in the sky; the bat symbol.

It's a warning.

The rusty elevator comes to a stop in the highest building with the bat symbol attached to it, revealing the officer standing on the edge of the end, glancing at the city. My eyes squint a little, slowly motioning my feet towards him till I realize it's James Gordon.

I been working with him for two years, capable of trusting him but not enough to reveal myself. He isn't corrupt compare to the entire D.A.

His beard is messy along with his hair, almost noticeable how much stress is releasing through this facial expression. James pushes his glasses, staring at the city ahead of him.

"Tom Crawford," James mutter in frustration. "I never liked that man to begin with, but he left a mark on Gotham."

I slowly walk towards him, listening to everything he has to say.

"But whoever did it, is asking for Batman," he turns his attention to me. "Whoever did it released a statement, an anonymous. It's all over the news. He is talking about some bullshit in regarding to Tom's death, but that his next victim will be a big price for 'Batman' to puzzle." James scoffs in disbelief. I look at him, lowering my head.

James grabs a file he has hidden under his coat, revealing it to me and quickly he folds it open. He shows each photos of how Tom's death. His skull is open as his jar is hanging off his head, tapes around his eyes with red graffiti written "NO MORE LIES".

James shakes his head. "Which sick fuck does this?"

I take a look at the sky and tries to puzzle it together; It couldn't be Carmine, he needed to use Tom for his own benefit, but now that Tom is out of the picture, it left him with a huge problem. However, Penguin is worried about his dirty money and his female crews to sell drops around the club and to the D.A.

I shrug a little from frustration.

James folds the paper back in the files and takes a deep breath from the images. "Well Batman, happy halloween. We got a lot of work to do."