Gotham Untold #1 Dawn of an Age

Chapter 3: Love of a Father

It was a dark stormy night, lightning cracked over head and thunder followed. Daniel jumped up out of bed, tears all over his face. He ran over to the door and gripped the knob tight, trying his hardest to pull the door open. It finally came open so he sprinted out into the hallway and up to the door of his father's bedroom. He pushed open the door but saw that their bed was empty. "Dad?" He asked as he sniffed. Daniel walked back out into the hallway softly sobbing. He just stood there for a moment but then he heard their voices.
"Oswald, calm down you'll wake Daniel." Said Edward as Oswald sighed.
"I just don't understand how these idiots lose an entire case of weapons!"  Oswald growled. Daniel started walking towards the door of Oswald's study which had the light on under the door. Daniel walked over and opened the door but saw them standing there talking. "Someone is stealing from me and I won't have any of it! We need to find whoever did this and make an example of them! Show the world you can't steal from the Penguin!" Said Oswald in a firm tone as Edward nodded but then saw Daniel.
"Daniel?" Asked Edward as he walked over past Oswald and over to the door. Oswald turned and saw the sniveling little boy standing in the doorway. Edward walked over and picked him up. "What are doing up so late?" Asked Edward as Daniel sniffed and wiped his eyes.
"The storm scared me but when I went to look for you guys I couldn't find you so I got even more scared." Daniel mumbled through his tears. Edward rubbed the boy's back as he held him.
"I'll take him back to bed." Said Oswald as Edward handed the boy over to Oswald.
Oswald took Daniel and laid him in bed, he tucked the covers around him and smiled. "You know I used to be scared of thunder and lightning too." Said Oswald as he sat on the edge of the bed.
"Really?" Asked Daniel softly as Oswald nodded.
"Yes, I was but my mother told me that there was no reason to be scared of the storm." Said Oswald as he tried to remember exactly what his mother had told him.
"Why not?" Asked Daniel softly.
"Well she told me that when you hear the thunder and lightning, it's nothing to be afraid of because it's just the gods of Olympus keeping watch over the night." Said Oswald as Daniel's eyes grew wide, he looked out his window and watched the lightning crack across the sky.
"So lightning is a good thing?" Asked Daniel as Oswald smiled and nodded.
"Yes." Said Oswald as he leaned over Daniel and kissed his forehead. "No please go back to sleep." Oswald begged him but Daniel sunk into his shoulders.
"But I'm not tired anymore..." He muttered as Oswald thought about it for a moment.
"My mother read me stories when I couldn't sleep, how does that sound?" Asked Oswald as Daniel nodded. Oswald went over to the bookshelf in Daniel's room and picked out a simple book of fairy tales. He sat back next to Daniel and read to him until he fell asleep. "Good night, Daniel."

That same stormy night young little Vanessa was spending her first night in her father's home. She was sitting in a big bed all by herself in an even bigger room much bigger than the room she had at her mom's apartment. She was a little intimidated by the room mostly because of how big it was but also because it was so unfamiliar, so different. She sat there quietly but decided she wasn't going to sleep so she got out of bed. She stood and wandered around her room until she saw the balcony. She went up to the door but it was locked. "Hmm." She hummed as she walked over to the dresser and grabbed her backpack off the top of it. She looked through her bag pulling out her clothes, her coloring book and crayons, then finally at the bottom of her bag she found a small leather pouch. She unbuckled it and opened it, it was a lock picking kit. She went over to the balcony door and started to pick the lock. She heard a click and smiled. "Best birthday present ever! Thanks Mommy." Said Vanessa as she set the lock pick on a chair and stepped out onto the balcony. She looked out into the garden and saw beautiful flowers glittering under the moonlight. She looked up at the moon then saw the large shadow of a bat swoop over the moon. She grinned and waved. "Hi Daddy!" She called out as she shadow came closer and the figure landed. She ran up to the large man and hugged his leg. "Welcome home Daddy! How was the patrol?" Asked Vanessa as her father leaned down and picked her up holding her on his hip.
"It went well, I stopped Jervis Tetch from killing a woman." He said as he took her back inside and closed the balcony door behind him. He slid off his cowl to reveal his face.
"Did you put that creep in Arkham?" Asked Vanessa as he smiled.
"Yes." Said Bruce as he walked over to her bed and set her down. "It's way past your bedtime." He said as she scoffed.
"Pfft! I don't have a bedtime! Mommy let's me stay up as long as I want." Said Vanessa as her father sighed.
"That sounds like Selina, but that's at your mother's house, when you're in mine you get your rest. Or do you want to miss Alfred cooking you an amazing breakfast?" Bruce asked as he started to tickle her. She giggled then shoved him away.
"But Daddy I'm not tired." Said Vanessa as Bruce sighed.
"Well how about I come and read to you until you're tired?" He asked as she smiled.
"Ok." Said Vanessa as he smiled.
"Ok, I'll be right back." Said Bruce as he left. Moments later he returned with a book in hand. He sat down and read to her until she fell asleep and he was so exhausted that he fell asleep as well.

Early that next morning little feet could be heard running down the hall of a rather small two bedroom apartment. "Sarah, what are you doing?" Called the girl's mother from her bed. The girl ran over to the front door and opened it, sticking her head out into the hallway. "Sarah!" Called her mother once more so she closed the door and ran to her mother's room.
"I was looking for Daddy! He's gonna come today right, Momma?" Asked Sarah as she climbed up on her mother's bed.
"Yes he'll be here but he won't just magically appear when you check the door." Said her mother as the girl got under the covers.
"I know but I miss Daddy, I haven't seen him in forever!" Said Sarah as she flopped her arms against the covers.
"It's been 4 months, but you understand why you can't seem very often, right?" Asked her mother as she nodded.
"To protect me from the bad people that want to hurt him." Said Sarah as her mother nodded.
"Exactly." Said her mother as she kissed Sarah's forehead. "Why don't I make us some breakfast?" She asked as Sarah nodded.
The two then headed into the kitchen. Her mother started cracking eggs into a pan along with some bacon and sausage links. Sarah sat at the kitchen counter drawing then suddenly a gunshot was heard outside and she flinched then it was like she fell asleep as her body went limp and her eyes closed. She then opened her eyes and sniffed the air. "Mmm! That smells good Mommy!" She said with a smile.
"It's almost done sweetie." Said her mother as she recognized this behavior, it had become quite common for Sarah after an incident at her daycare. "Did the gunshot scare Sarah?" Asked her mother as the girl nodded.
"She's sleeping now." Said the girl as she continued to color in her drawing with her crayons but instead of using her right hand she used her left.
"Well you're a very good sister, Iris." Said her mother as Iris beamed brightly. Suddenly there was a knock at the front door. Piper walked over to the door and checked the peep hole. "Guess who's here!" Said Piper as she unlocked the various locks on the door. Iris leaped up from her seat and ran over to the door as if opened and the smiling face of her father stood behind it. He walked over and knelt down to her.
"There's my little girl!" He said sweetly as he pulled his hands from behind his back and held out a white stuffed bear. "Look what I brought for you." Said her father as she took it and hugged it.
"Thanks Papa!" She said as she hugged it. Joker looked up at Piper and stood.
"Sweetie, why don't you go put your new bear in your room, Papa and I have to talk about grown up things." Said Piper as Iris nodded and ran to her bedroom. Once they heard the bedroom door shut they looked at each other.
"What's with the sudden name change? She usually calls me Daddy." Said Joker as he stood and watched Piper continue to cook breakfast.
"Something happened recently and I'm starting to think that Sarah might also have the same illness you do." Said Piper as Joker looked over.
"Really what makes you say that?" Asked Joker as she sighed.
"According to Sarah's daycare teacher, a kid was bullying her and she politely asked him to stop but he shoved her then something in her just snapped and she attacked him. Only after she was caught did she turn back into herself. I asked Sarah what happened and she doesn't quite remember, she remembers asking the boy to stop and she remembers being shoved to the ground but after she hit the ground she didn't remember anything until she opened her eyes and she had the boy's blood on her hand." Said Piper as she switched off the stove.
"Hmmm." Joker hummed as he wandered about but his hum turned to soft giggles as he muttered to himself.
"Joker?" Asked Piper as he looked up.
"Yes?" He asked with a smile.
"Ever since then Sarah has been switching between herself and someone called Iris. Iris believes she's Sarah's older sister and she has to protect her little sister from harm so from what I've noticed if Sarah gets scared she switches over to Iris as some sort of defense mechanism." Said Piper as she plated some food.
"Why would it be a defensive mechanism?" Asked Joker as Piper placed the plates on the table.
"Joker, we both know Sarah refuses to see violence as an answer and in any other city she'd be perfectly fine but this is Gotham." Said Piper as she sighed.
"True, if you don't fight and kill for what you have or what you want, you'll never get it and you'll lose everything. Even though I hate the sheer idea, she's going to have to learn that eventually." Said Joker as he sat down at the table.
"I know but for now let's accept Iris as a good thing and just try to teach her to be less violent." Said Piper as Joker grinned and giggled.
"That chore is all yours my dear!" He said with a smile. "However, speaking of Sarah's health, what have the doctors said about this mystery condition of hers?" Asked Joker as Piper sighed and shook her head.
"All of their tests come up inconclusive so they've decided to send us to a geneticist to see if her problems are genetic." Said Piper as Joker hummed.
"I won't be much help with that since, I'm not certain of my own origin." Said Joker as he closed his eyes and tried to picture his past but too many memories that didn't match came up, too many blurred faces of family members, too many names crossed his mind.
"Some day you'll remember, Joker." Said Piper as she reached over and held his hand.