A Man With Two Masks// Bruce Wayne Love Story

Swamped

Bruce's P.O.V.

Ella and I were down in the cave, looking over the cases of a sudden crime spree.

"Gotham has a sudden burst of nine seemingly unrelated heights," I muttered. "With stolen goods ranging from explosives to jet skis. There has to be a link between these crimes."

"Maybe they're all just warm up for something bigger?" Ella suggested.

"Maybe."

A creaking sound caught my attention and we turned to see the big Scar Face head from his machine being lowered down. We walked over to the ledge to find Alfred was working the machine.

"Apologies Master Bruce, Miss Ella," Alfred said. "Just doing a bit of spring cleaning."

Ella and I went down to the floor Alfred was on to find a collection of evidence from the cases I'd solved.

"Uh, Alfred," I said. "Where are you taking the evidence?"

"These cases are closed," Alfred stated. "They're now history, in every sense of the word. It would be criminal to not preserve these items for prosperity. So I've chosen to archive them. A private museum, if you will. After all, the Batman may someday enjoy a more favorable place in society's view."

"Yeah, I won't hold my breath," I said sarcastically.

"Come on, have a little faith," Ella said with a smile. Both of our eyes widened and we looked at each other.

"Water," I said.

"Actually I'd prefer a spot of ice tea if you're heading to the kitchen," Alfred said.

"No, the link between the robberies! Water. A half dozen within spitting distance of a canal. And three on Gotham Bay."

"Perfect!" Ella said. "Now it'll be much easier to find his next target."

Later that night I headed to the docks, scouting for the thieves to see if they'd show up. I saw some men unloading equipment from one large ship to their boat. I found it suspicious and went to check it out. I grabbed onto their cable as they were pulling it up.

"Boss wants this swag loaded, pronto!" One of the men exclaimed. I came into view and jumped down from the cable.

"The Batman!" One of the men exclaimed.

"I'd like to have a word with this 'boss' you fellas mentioned," I said.

The three goons approached me, one of them drawing two knives. They ran at me and I knocked them all down quickly, none of them having much fighting experience. I heard hissing, looking around but not seeing anything.

"My daddy used to say, you want something done right best to do it yourself."

I looked over to find a large crocodile man, my eyes widening. No wonder the robberies were all near water. He slashed the cap to a container of oxygen and it rushed towards me, but I avoided it. He slashed a few more that I avoided.

"You look to be this Batman legend I keep hearing about," the croc said, approaching. "Well folks are gonna start hearing about how Killer Croc stopped you good."

I rushed forward, but Killer Croc was fast and avoided my punches. After a few hits I brought up my cape so his view was blocked and nailed a punch to his gut, causing him to cower over. I went for another punch but he came up and punched my fist, sending me back. He charged at me and we both fell off the boat and into the water. The swam us deeper and deeper, I knew I was going to run out of air fast. We hit the bottom of the bay and he raised a hand to swipe at me. I kicked him in the chest, knocking out some of his air. I swam for an unused oxygen tank that had fallen over, poking one end of it and it sent me shooting up to the surface. I took in a deep breath, thankful for air, and looked over to see Croc escaping with his goons in their boat.