The Dark Knight Beyond: Prologue

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Selina watched as Bruce went into the airport, she questioned what she was even doing there. He wanted to go chase his demons, clearly they mattered more to him than you, that's why he didn't want you tagging along. She thought to herself. It's not the first time, you've been left to fend for yourself...... "Then why am I here?" She asked herself. She had told him that she was coming too and for the first time ever since she had known him, he flat out told her no, which caused things to blow up into a huge fight. She remembered the first time she had ever met him. At the time he had just been a mark, another job. She took him for just another spoiled rich boy, oddly reclusive, but still just playing king of the hill locked away in his tower. His resourcefulness however did manage to impress her a little bit, as did his willingness to handle her himself, without running to the law. He was an odd one, little by little she had found more about him that flew in the face of her assumptions. Still just a spoiled rich boy that cared more about himself than anyone else, she thought, until the night she betrayed the Batman to save herself from Bane. The night she found out the truth behind that mask of a spoiled rich boy and saw the man who had sacrificed so much for everyone in the city. His constant faith in her as a person in the face of everything that she had shown him of who she was. Selina Kyle rolled her eyes and huffed. There is that. She thought. a slight smirk formed on her lips, there's also the fact that you have never let anyone tell you what you could and could not do. "That's reason enough." She said as she got out of the car and went to get her own ticket for a later flight to Gotham.

Bruce could not feel anything but hot, burning anger, the fight with Selina had barely registered with him. She did not know, he had never told her about Rachel, could not tell her that the reason he wanted her to stay out of this was because he knew in his heart, that he could not take another blow like that and as soon as the Batman came back, all who were nearest to him would become a target for that maniac. He thought of The Joker and their last encounter. "You and I are destined to do this forever." He had told him. Was he right? Bruce wondered. thirteen years later and here he was leaving behind a life of peace to match wits with the most destructive human being he had ever encountered. Bane was precise and bore the singlemindedness of Talia Al Ghul's vision. The Joker was random, unpredictable, clever at psychologically whittling away at people, individually and in large numbers. You knew what he was and you still gave him this chance to come back all these years later, when you aren't what you used to be and he almost destroyed you the first time. "Because you lack the courage to do what is necessary." Said the voice of Ras Al Ghul in Bruce's mind, as it often did when he was angry with himself. Another ghost from his past, this one of his former mentor, there to taunt him at every set back, to play on his own doubts that what he had to offer was not enough to protect people. The soon to be born again Bruce Wayne spent the rest of the flight in the same state of inner torment.

He got off the plane and made his way to the outer entrance of the Batcave. He had to admit that seeing it again, being here again, made him feel a little better . He had languished in helpless self loathing and burning anger without an outlet since watching the video of Blake's murder. Now, he was back in the place that would ensure that he could actually do something about it. Looking around, he noticed that Blake had taken good care of the cave, here and there he even saw things that were added, like a training area, for the most part though, it was still the same Batcave as he remembered it. He activated a hidden pressure pad and a platform rose out of the water, followed by a clear glass case the rose from the platform. Bruce stared at it, one of his old bat suits that he never thought he would ever have to see again. He hoped that he could still call on the man who wore it, at least enough for one last time.

Night fell over Gotham, the city that could never seem to catch a break. Commissioner Gordon stood atop police headquarters at MCU looking out on the city. A memory bubbled up from the depth's of five years ago. On the day the city unveiled the statue to honor The Batman, James Gordon had another fight with the city council on the importance of a body count from the fallen Arkham Asylum. He reminded them that the facility still held one of the worst terrorist's in American history, one with the capacity to do just as much damage to the city as Bane had. "Commissioner we appreciate your steadfastness to your duty of protecting the people of Gotham City. Your record in being able to do so speaks for itself, but with all due respect, the city has just been through an assassination of nearly all of it's elected representatives. It has suffered an unprecedented act of terrorist occupation and was nearly destroyed by a nuclear blast, even in avoiding that blast billions of dollars in damages have left it in a very delicate position. We do not think it wise to further promote fear among our people with a man hunt for a person who is in all likelihood a casualty of Arkham Asylum's destruction. You must understand where we are coming from in making this decision." It was more politics and Gordon had learned in all his years in law enforcement, that those who make the law can't be argued with, not with any real degree of success. "Of course. We all just want what's actually best for the people." He was too old and too tired and had lost too much over the years to be able to hide the disdain he felt over this constant wall politicians put up that only ended up doing more harm than good in the long run. "I thought you could use this." Gordon turned to see one of his young detectives standing there handing him a cup of coffee. The boy, well boy by the Commissioners timeline, reminded him of Blake. He supposed that was a thought that was now destined to haunt him until the day he died. "Thank you. Any word yet on our search?" The young detective shook his head. "Commissioner, why did you light it? I didn't think there was anyone left to answer it." He asked referring to the bat signal which now lit up the night sky over Gotham. "Comfort, it was never just a communication tool, but also a symbol of hope for the decent people of the city reminding them, they had a guardian looking out for them, reminding the criminals that he was out there. The Jokers whole point was to strip the people of that hope. We know there is no one left to answer it, they don't and they are going to need all the strength they can muster to survive, whatever comes next." The detective stood next to him looking out over the city. "You don't think they can take comfort in knowing that the National Guard is here, the FBI, that we are doing everything we can to catch this guy? You really think we need more help than that?" Gordon looked at the naïve face before him, the department was getting more like him, ones that didn't understand that there was the common thug, gangster, nut job, and then there were the "special" cases Ras Al Ghul, Bane, The Joker, and against them, you had to use whatever tactic you had at your disposal, or they would end everything you have fought for. "Against anyone else, I would say those were valid questions, but since this is not just anyone else we are dealing with here.....unfortunately, it's going to have to be enough, because I don't know of anywhere else help can come from." "THE SAME PLACE IT ALWAYS HAS." Came the very familiar gravelly voice from behind them. The young detective jumped, both he and Gordon turned. There standing beside the bat-signal, was Batman himself. The young detective stood in awe of the dark figure, he had never seen Batman before, only heard the tales, but now seeing him up close and alive, alive when he was supposed to be dead. The young detective was speechless. "Detective, I need you to do something for me. I need you to keep this quiet. We just got reinforcements that could give us a tactical edge in our situation. I want to play this close to the vest, Do you understand? Now go down stairs and act like nothing is any different, can you do that? ." Gordon asked the young detective, who took a moment to compose himself before nodding his understanding and heading to the access door. The Commissioner himself was shocked as well, but between his years of experience and the fact that he had drawn the parallels between the billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne's public antics against what he knew he was really doing at night and honestly, nothing about this man surprised James Gordon anymore. "I'm sorry your retirement didn't pan out the way you had hoped, but I can't say as I'm not glad to see you back." Batman stepped forward. "What's the situation so far?" Gordon could not hide the fact that he was relieved The Batman was back, He wasn't as quick to announce his return to the world like The Joker had been, this really did give them a tactical advantage. "National Guard is mobilized and have taken position around targets of interest, The FBI are present, but don't really have anything to contribute yet, we have no leads on The Joker's whereabouts, or what he might be planning." Batman stood by his old friend and stared out at the city. When will it ever be enough? He wondered. "Did you find Blake?" Commissioner Gordon looked like he wanted to vomit. "We found...what was le.............I promoted that kid you know? Obviously so did you. I had to go to the orphanage, had to be the one to, explain to it's staff what had become of one of their most well known and well loved volunteers. The look on the kids faces when the news spread, it reminded me of you, sitting alone at the precinct. I couldn't help but think back to the night we caught that son of a bitch, if I had it to do again, I would've pulled the trigger on that shot gun, without a seconds hesitation." Batman looked at Gordon. "There's a price for being the hero and choosing to do it the right way." All Gordon could do was shake his head, he had dealt with politics enough to know, the right way had it's moments when it didn't seem so right. "Sometimes the price tag that comes with the right way is just too expensive, for everybody in the long run, there is talk in the Mayors office right now, in light of the Bane incident to put Gotham under martial law." Batman nodded. "That's why I have to find him and end this, soon, we both know how he works, last time he almost had your swat teams shooting hostages, I don't want that much artillery in the city when he makes his move, whatever that's going to be." Gordon looked hard at Batman. "When you say, end this?" Batman clenched his jaw "I mean, he won't be coming back to murder anyone else." Gordon nodded. "Good, that may not be what a cop would or should say even, but good."