(The Twins, Jimmie Morretti, and Mandy Stone are original characters created by me)
(I have no such claim on Batman, Alfred, or any of the other beloved characters in the Batman Universe. They are owned by DC Comics/Warner Bros. Studios)
It is a little past midnight. The storm has been raging for hours now. There seems no end to the constant barrage of thunder and lightning filling the dark sky. No one in their right mind would be caught outside in this weather. But this city has more than its fair share of people who are not in their right mind and that is why he braves the wind and rain and continues his nightly duties. Perched atop a stone gargoyle hanging off the side of a building, Batman's cape snaps about in accordance with the wind. As unmoving as the gargoyle under him, Batman's eyes survey the city below. Gotham's streets are bare, it seems he is alone in this great city tonight.
He decides to call it a night when blocks away he sees a lone car traveling down an alley. It comes out of the alley and speeds down the street in the opposite direction. Something strikes him odd about the car, standing up he reaches into his cape and takes out his grappling hook. Extending his arm, he aims for the rooftop across the street and shoots. Before the hook even reaches the other side and secures itself, he propels himself off the building, timing it just right so as he is in his downward decent the hook catches and he swings across.
Keeping his focus on his objective he goes from rooftop to rooftop trailing the speeding car.
The car finally enters the warehouse district and stops in front of an abandoned warehouse. Still some blocks away Batman stops his pursuit and pulls out his night vision binoculars and watches as a dark figure gets out of the car and enters the warehouse.
Batman emerges from the shadows of the alley across the street from where the dark figure entered and immediately notices something that could not possibly be. He crosses the street and walks up to a hunk of metal that at one time could have passed for a car. Rusted and missing large pieces from its body the car looks like it has sat in a junkyard for the last decade. Batman knows that in Gotham nothing is what it seems, he places his gloved hand on the hood, its cold. Could this be the same car that just pulled up here?
His curiosity is now at an all time high and he decides to enter the warehouse when he notices that the handles are chained and locked. A quick inspection of the lock and chain tells him that it has been that way for some time. Batman grabs the pen shaped laser cutter from his belt and goes to work on the chain.
The doors creaks open; Batman's imposing silhouette glides inside, his cape wrapped around his body. His keen senses reach out in an attempt to detect any movement. Rain slowly drips down from the holes in the roof. Looking out the tall windows at the other end of the warehouse he sees that the stars have made their first appearance of the night as the storm is finally passing. Out over the ocean tiny flashes of lightning dance across the sky.
A noise grabs his attention, he moves from around the empty shelves peering down a hallway to an office in the back. A light in the office is on. Just as he is about to move toward the office a rat scurries out of the way and screeches in fear, the light quickly goes out, Batman rushes down the hall and throws open the door. The office is empty. He walks over to the desk lamp and turns the switch, it does not turn on. He inspects the lamp and finds there is no bulb inside of it. A car's engine kicking over and tires squealing fill the night air. By the time Batman is back outside, the car and any sign of it are gone.
Batman returns to the office, the glow from the full moon spills in from the window behind the desk. From his belt he removes his spectral analyzer and places it to his eye searching the desk and lamp. No fresh fingerprints can be found. The desk's drawers only divulge cobwebs and dust balls. With the aid of his flashlight he notices that the dust on the shelf of a bookcase seems to have been manipulated recently, as if someone wiped the dust away. Probing the area he runs his hand underneath the shelf and finds a switch. Pushing it in causes the framed artwork on the opposite wall to slide down revealing an old safe embedded inside the wall.
