GOTHAM KNIGHT: YEAR THREE-VOLUME TWO

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: BATMAN RETURNS?

ARKHAM ASYLUM:
"More sightings of 'Batman' have been reported over the city, though non of them have been clear and the only images we have are from a far", the presenter said on the news, "Ha!, took him long enough, don't ya think?", The Joker shouted, sitting at a table, wearing a straight jacket, untied, whilst the security had now been improved, and more armed guards patrolled the Asylum to reduce the risk of any escapes.

TWO WEEKS LATER, GOTHAM CITY MUSEUM:
A small group of thugs were sent to the museum, to steal some artefacts and antiques, however they weren't alone...

"Err..okay, right then, the boss said the others are down that way, that everything ?", a thug asked, wearing a black balaclava, to the others who wore the same. As another thug with a duffel bag, began counting he then responded, "yeah, looks all good to me", as they began to walk down the corridor, suddenly a Batarang went flying at one of the thug's head, knocking him down, and seconds later, a figure leaped at them, knocking the other two into each other. "You guys never learn...", Robin said, as a thug shouted, "it's Robin!", as they reached for their guns, which had been kicked away, Robin questioned, "I'm not gonna ask twice, who sent you?", as he held his staff, aiming at one's head, "Maxie Zeus!", the thug shouted, as the other thug called him an "asshole" for snitching. "Ha...I love it when you guys do that!", Robin laughed, "anyways, I gotta run, save the rest for the cops", as Robin began to run away and stopped, "on and by way, hope your enjoy Blackgate", as he threw a Batarang at them both, knocking them out.

SOMETIME LATER, GOTHAM CITY OLYMPUS:
Robin had made his way to Maxie Zeus's nightclub, where the place was full inside, as bouncer's stood outside by the doors. "Looks like I've gotta find another way in", he thought to himself, as he grappled onto a nearby gargoyle, looking for a way in.

As he reached the back of the building, he caught a man, who worked in the kitchen, as Dick could tell from his white clothes, he used his grapple gun, to descend slowly, and approached him. "Wow, okay, okay...easy, I don't want any trouble, Pal", the man said to Robin, as he walked back slowly, "hey, do me a favour, go and find a new job and don't work for idiots", Robin told him, as he walked through the back doors, leaving the man as he heard the sound of him running.

Robin slowly walked through the kitchen, with people watching him, looking like they didn't want any trouble, "where's Maxie?", Robin asked as a chef told him, "he's in his office, top floor", "appreciated", Robin responded.

After finally reaching the top floor, sneaking past and taking some guards out a long the way, he reached the doors of his office. Robin put his ear to the door, listening in, as he heard the sound of talking, between three people, all male, as he kicked the door's open, throwing a Batarang at the two, and catching it. "Maxie Zeus, nice to finally meet you in person", Robin said, facing Maxie, who stood up at his desk, wearing a gold suit. "Don't bother calling for backup, they won't be coming", Robin told him, as he shut the door.

"What do you want ?!", Maxie shouted, "I could ask you the same thing", Robin responded. Suddenly, Maxie pulled out a pistol, as Robin rolled over, threw another Batarang, knocking the gun out of Maxie's hand, as he then used his grapple gun to pull Maxie forward, over his desk, as he lay on the ground, Robin grabbed onto his jacket and held him against the wall, "you wanted Batman gone, well you got lucky, but you got me...heard you were looking for me anyway", as Maxie had previously set a bounty on Batman and Robin. Robin punched him in side of the cheek, causing him to hit his head into the wall. "What's the deal, why were you stealing art from the museum?!", Robin interrogated him, as Maxie groaned, Robin punched him again, before throwing him onto his desk, pulling his arm back, and kicking him in the back of the leg, "wanna try again ?", Robin asked him, rhetorically. "Place is getting old, needed a makeover", Maxie responded laughing, as Robin slammed his head off of the desk, and kicked him again, "c'mon Maxie, you're being beat up by a kid, surely you can do better. How about we start with the truth?", "Batman's gone, The Joker's locked up, this city needs a kingpin", "if I had a dollar for the amount of times someone's told me this...", Robin joked, as all of a sudden he heard, "freeze!", as he turned to see some of Maxie's guards, who wore black suits. "You're outnumbered kid", a guard told him, as another then asked jokingly, "isn't it past your bedtime?", as Robin smirked, dropping smoke, hitting Maxie in the head with his staff, rolling over the table to make his escape through the smoke.

As the smoke cleared, Robin was no where to be seen.

A few more weeks had past, a few sightings of Batman had been reported across Gotham, however no official. No news on The Court Of Owls, at this point it seemed as if they've just gone off the radar.

One Night, Robin had attended a fundraiser for the GCPD, hiding from above, watching through the transparent roof just in case anything was to happen.

Hours had passed, and coincidentally something had, a gang had struck the event, guns blazing, as people dived to the ground, however as Robin was about to crash through the window, someone beat him to it.

Suddenly, a Batarang flew towards a gang members pistol, knocking it out of his hand, Robin was shocked as he watched a cape fly through the glass. "Bruce?", he thought to himself, however as this figure reached the ground, this wasn't Bruce at all...when he taken a proper look at this figure, he looked down on who looked to be a young female, wearing a mask very similar to Batman's with the 'Bat-ears', a purple leather motorcycle suit, yellow leather gloves, a yellow utility belt, along with yellow boots and a yellow Bat-Symbol, with a cape with the inside being yellow, with the outside being black. Other her 'costume', one feature, especially stood out to Dick, she had red hair..."uh..oh...it can't be...", Robin thought to himself, as he dived down as well, as the thugs aimed their guns at the two of them, Dick definitely recognised Barbara, wearing the costume. "Let me guess...Batgirl?", Robin questioned, as he gave her a look, as deep down she thought, "oh...boy", "nice of you to drop in", she responded, as the thugs were very confused at this moment, and Robin rolled over dropping smoke, then used his grapple gun to pull one towards him, kicked him backwards, with Barbara punching him in the face.

The other two thugs began shooting at them, so they both taken cover behind a statue, as bullets flew past them rapidly. "I've got a lot of questions", Robin told Barbara, as she was about to go back out, pulling a Batarang from her belt, however Robin grasped onto her arm, holding her back. "Wait till they stop firing", he told her, "follow my lead", he added as he crouched down, sneaking behind a wall, as she followed. As they both sneaked behind the thugs, Robin nodded at Barbara, as they stood up slowly and Robin faked coughed, then they both punched them in the face. As members of the police, got up off their feet, straight away, rushed to tackle the criminals as Robin and Barbara grappled out of there.

After they had left the scene, and the police had taken in the criminals, Barbara sat on the ledge of a building, watching over the city, whilst Robin leaned against a wall behind her, "so...care to tell me where you got all this ?", Robin questioned, as she turned to respond, "I got the gadgets from the GCPD evidence room", "so you're stealing now?", Robin joked, "I mean..." Barbara wondered what to respond with, but Robin just started laughing, "Dick", she called him as an insult, however he just answered, "yeah?", as she rolled her eyes. "And the costume?", he asked her, "well I bought the suit, but I kinda customised the rest", she answered f "Creative", he said. "Listen, I know you're trying to help and wanna do good, I get it...but the streets aren't safe, yeah I guess we got lucky tonight but believe me, there is more out there than just these low level thugs who want revenge on cops", Robin explained to her, "I'm a black belt and my dad's taught me a few things", she responded, "ahh, I'm scared!", he joked, and then told her, "no seriously, you know about the...", he said, raising his eyes. "The...?", she questioned, raising an eye brow, "you know, speak no word of them...", but she wasn't following, so he whispered, and covered his mouth, "The Court Of Owls", "haven't the GCPD brought them down?", she asked, as he told her, "that's what we think...".

TO BE CONTINUED IN 'CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE: BATGIRL'