ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀᴛᴍᴀɴ. ɪɪ

11

The sounds of mumbling echo through my ears, slowly bringing me back to my consciousness. I slipped out a couple of groans as I felt my head pounding and the rhythm of blood throbbing in my temple. A bright light flashes in my eyes while somebody checks if I'm still alive. My vision slowly appears back, witnessing cops hovering over me.

"Take that off. Don't you wanna know who is under there?" My brain restored my hearing once I heard an unknown thick voice.

The cop slides his two-finger underneath my mask until my eyes shot open with adrenaline awakening from the interior and quickly grasp onto his vest, pushing him backward as I swiftly bring myself up from the table I was apparently lying on, ready to pounce whoever tried to unmask me. It quickly hits me that I'm in G.C.P.D.'s headquarters, brawling with cops around me. I clench onto one of the cops faster than my brain could comprehend and press him against the glass window; each cop near me tries to slip in-between my grasp until James Gordon quickly stands behind me and grip my shoulder, forcing me against the wall as my arm releases the officer. I quickly tilt my head to him and squint my eyes in disbelief. James points his finger at me with rage crossing his expression while the other cops stand behind him.

"What the hell are you doing!" James spat loudly at me as he presses me against the wall. My nostrils flare in annoyance.

"Now you're against me?"

Chief Mackenzie Brock is one of the cops standing beside James. "He thinks he can do whatever the fuck he wants and put hands on a cop! I say we put him down!"

"No!" James quickly peeks at him, furrowing his brows. "He's mine. Leave it to me!"

He takes a deep breath in frustration and glances back at James till he focuses on the officers. Chief slightly nods, and each cop walks out of the interrogation room and him, shutting the metallic gate to prevent me from running away. The cops sit outside the gate, waiting for him to finish it up and lock me behind bars. James grabs me by the neck and pulls me to the other gate that's also locked. He quickly removed his arm and motioned closer to me with his nose wrinkling and brows narrowing. James bobs his head closer and contains the same expression. The cops sit outside the gate, waiting for him to finish it up and lock me behind bars.

"I have a key in my pocket," James whispers with a low vibration of his voice. "what you are going to do is, you going to throw a punch and take the keys from me. Open the door beside us and run out."

My head slowly peeks at the officers behind the other gate. "Don't you think you will get in trouble?" I lower my voice. James nods in response.

"Like I give a damn, I don't trust any of them."

I slowly nod and ball my hand into a fist before smashing it against his skull and quickly clutching onto his keys. All the cops raise from their chairs and run towards the other gate once I exit it, locking the door from letting them take me away as I run off the hallway and towards the staircase. The sounds of yelling occur in each hallway, race right behind me. I grab onto my grapple gun and aim it on the roof before pulling the trigger. It quickly carries my weight to the roof as cops lean over the stairs to the open view, shooting their guns at me. Once I reached the top part of the building above the city, I didn't realize how tall the building was. My feet quickly take a step back, with fear replacing my fearlessness until the sounds of gun-toting cops roaming closer to the roof. I grab onto the clutch attached to my gears and deploy my wingsuit before stretching each arm. The sound of the officers' footsteps appears behind me as I leap. My arms quickly swing to the left above the city of Gotham, swaying towards a soft landing. My eyes catch the bus driving under the bridge as I rock my body to land on top of it until I hit my chest plate against the bus, fly up against the bridge, pass to the ground roughly, and roll-over on the sidewalk. The pain stretches through my lower body and wrecks the nerve around my leg—a loud groan parts my lips, with distress racking all over me. I quickly get up but feels a violent stretch on my leg, having to limp in a black alley.

I shut the door behind me and encountered the familiar stillness of the hallway until the sound of heels echoed through the main entrance. My eyes quickly peek down the corridor to expose Daisy walking out of the opening doorframe. Her emotions have ranged from neutral to sadness in a few seconds.

"Bruce, are you okay? I saw what happened in the news." Daisy says worryingly and paces over to me.

A small smile creeps upon my lips as I kneel to the ground; my breathing is shallowing at this point, with dizziness hitting me with a brick. She quickly seats herself on the ground beside me and twirls her arms around my body, forcefully carrying me down with her as my body collapse. Another groan slips out of me, with my muscles constricting the area of my leg. Daisy gently grabs my face and rests it on top of her tight as her fingers stretch beneath my chin and tilt it up before pulling the cowl off my head. My eyelids shut tightly, maintaining my breath.

"This is exactly what I'm talking about," Daisy's voice shifts unsteady, and she gently slides her finger underneath my jawline. "I could've lost you."

My eyes slowly shot open, peeking up at her. Daisy's drooping eyelids, lower lip corners, and slanting inner eyebrows reveals her sadness to me.

I take a deep breath through my nostrils and exhale it. "I'm sorry."

Daisy shakes her head swiftly. "Not right now."

Alfred appears with Davion in his arms, catching a glimpse of them as I peek down the hallway. He slowly releases Davion to the ground and lets his small legs run toward us.

"Daddy!" Davion yells with his brows shot up. A small smile appears back on my lips, hearing the sound of his voice drill into my ears. He tumbles to his knees beside me with a sad face emerging on his countenance.

Daisy gently strokes my cheeks and glances at Alfred. "We need to get him up. "

"No," I quickly respond with a raspy voice. "Let me lay here with you both, just for a couple of seconds."