Batman Beyond: Trials - Part 1

Part 1

         Buildings of glass and steel reached high into the purple sky, as the last bit of sunlight left the day to be replaced by the artificial glow of the light filled buildings. The great city of Gotham stretched for as far as the eye could see in each direction. It had stood the test of time, destruction and conflict for centuries. The city's greatest test of endurance though isn't against time, but one against crime. Though things are better now and the future seems as bright and innovative for the citizens as the technological advancements that surround them suggests it is. The cancer is still present, and it's taxing the Gotham Police Department still to hold it at bay. Luckily as in the past, they have some help.

"Is this going to happen or what?" Said the slightly nervous man, whose business suit was shockingly out of place among the outlandishly dressed gang members around him. They mostly wore greens or purple, their faces painted like or covered in clown masks. Some members went to the extremes of using altering their own skin to resemble the white skin the Joker had. In his honor they called themselves the Jokerz, though they hardly lived up to the madness capable of their fallen idle. The business man's eyes moved over the half dozen men illuminated by the street light above them that flickered slightly anytime the wind that blew down the alley caught it the wrong way. He was very much out of his comfort area of the sprawling city. Many blocks from the luxurious high-rise apartments is where much of the old city still lived, splashed with the random mega complex of low income housing that reached into the sky to accommodate the cities booming population. 

"...Easy there buddy..." The one Jokerz member who stood out from the crowd answered to the man. "...sounds like you're getting nervous....which that could make my boys nervous....and we don't really want that." He turned and motioned with a smile that brought his red stained lips tight and caused the white paint smeared over his face to crackle with the effort, to the group behind him. Many of them were armed, a few with small caliber automatic guns and others with metal pipes or bats. The man in the black suit shifted uncomfortably and reached back placing his hand on the car behind him as for reassurance he had a way out. "I've brought the money you wanted...I just want this to go smoothly." The man answered with a gulp. The gang's leader turned back to the man quickly and held up a metal briefcase and swayed it back in forth. 

 "We have what you want as well..." The spokesman for the Jokerz answered and tapped the briefcase. "But like all good businessmen... such as you... we want to see the payment first." 

 The Jokerz' gang member dropped the briefcase with a loud yell of pain, and bend over grabbing his hand. The other members looked on in shock at the actions of their leader. The business man stepped back pressing himself against his car fumbling for the door handle. His eyes looked at the briefcase laying on the ground and contemplated grabbing it and running...until he noticed the object sticking out from the metal casing... he felt himself grown cold, despite the sweat that spread over him. The objet was in the shape of a bat.

"It's the BAT!" Shouted several of the gang members as they readied their weapons and looked around franticly. Then all was black as the street light above them shattered. The business man turned fumbling with the handle to the car door as he heard several gun shots behind him, the sound of metal being struck by metal, and the cold hard packing thud that came from flesh being hit. He finally swung the car door wide and flung himself inside his hands searching in his pockets finding his keys. He glanced out the window to see the outlines of bodies illuminated by the muzzle flashes of the guns. His eyes widened as in one of the flashes he saw the figure in the middle of the fallen bodies, the two pointed horn like ears sticking from the head. It was the Batman, he knew better than to come here, get involved with the Jokerz... he grew up hearing the legends of the Batman, and now he was fixing to run from him. He fumbled with his keys in the ignition and dared another glance out to the pitch black alley way, there was no sound from outside, the only thing he could hear was his heartbeat pounding in his ears and the chiming of his keys as they slid in the ignition. He turned the key... and nothing... his eyes swept over the gauges... nothing was registering. He turned the key over again, still nothing. He exhaled slowly fighting further panic and looked out the window again. The alley was still... quiet. Maybe the Batman left after dealing with the Jokerz, maybe he was going to leave me alone, the man thought to himself. He tried the key again in the ignition his eyes still on the darkened alley way. Two angular eyes flashed white in the dark causing the man's panic to double.