Batman: Hero of Gotham

64- Demise

Batman reached the bottom after a few seconds. Vicki landed next to him. Batman immediately got up to assault her but was surprised to not see her. "Vicki!" Batman shouted. He heard laughs coming from Vicki and yelps and moans coming from what sounded like Alfred. "You're not well, Vicki. You need professional help."

"Says the man dressed as a bat." Vicki chuckled. Batman followed her voice. Alfred's yells got louder. "Let him go!"

"The butler has to die, Batman! Payment for Thomas Wayne's sins! He took away my family, so I'll take away his son's. If you really want to save the butler, bring me Bruce Wayne! If anyone can find him, it's you. He's probably cowering behind a twelve-inch thick wall and a hundred bodyguards right now." Batman stayed silent. "Ooh! Too squeamish to get your hands dirty, Batman? You must be thinking about everything I'd do to Wayne if he were here. The same thing I'll do to his butler. You're doing so much for one old man!"

"Vicki! Stop playing games!"

"This isn't a game to me." Batman followed her voice again. "You know, Batman, I really don't understand. Why are you fighting me? I've done great things for Gotham! Falcone and Hill deserved to die! If anything, I did you a favor! We're fighting the same fight, Batman. Can't you see that? We want the same things!"

"We are nothing alike, Vicki! I fight to save lives. You're a cold-blooded killer."

"You shouldn't be here. You shouldn't be defending him! You think Bruce Wayne is any better than his father? He hides behind his status and wealth! He's a coward who leaves other men to carry his burdens." Batman finally found a narrow hall where Vicki was at the end of it. "I'm curious, Batman. I know why I wear the mask. It's who I am, who I was always meant to be. What about you? Do you wear the mask to hide? Or to become who you really are? Are you the man? Or the mask?"

"Batman is who I am. Who I need to be, to do what must be done."

"If that's what you believe, you're lying to yourself. You wear the mask so that you can't be held accountable. And once you're dead, I'm going to mount that mask on my wall! But first, I'll see the man beneath." Batman charged towards Vicki. Vicki moved out of the way and ran down another hall. Batman got up and chased her. He stumbled across a church like room that had a statue of what looked like Vicki's suit and a type of bird mixed. Vicki was nowhere to be found though. It looked as if Vicki was plotting some sort of ritual. A table with pictures and skulls and candles was placed in front of the statue. It took Batman a while to realize that Alfred had been tied up to a casket that was stood up on the side. He had been badly beaten but looked alive. Batman ran over to him. 

"Hold on, Alfred." Batman said, shaking Alfred awake.

"You...you came. You came for me." Alfred spoke. "After what you said, I knew you'd come."

"Just hold on, Alfred. Did you see where she went?" Batman took out a bat-a-rang to slice off the bearings that held Alfred's hands together.

"She just disappeared."

"I'm getting you out of here."

"Above you!" Vicki landed directly behind Batman. She swung her staff at him and he ducked. Batman backed up. Vicki then pointed the staff at Alfred, ready to fatally injure him. 

"Interesting how you speak to him. So familiar? 'Alfred'. Such concern. For someone you've never met before. I just find it odd." Batman clenched his fists. "It just makes me wonder...do you really care? Only one way to find out." Vicki whacked Alfred across the face with her staff, making his eye bleed. Batman took a step forward.

"Batman, don't!" Alfred whimpered. Vicki hit Alfred again, worsening his right eye.

"Shut up, old man!" Vicki yelled at him. She turned to Batman. "You've seen my true self. Your turn. Prove that you care. Take off your mask. Let me see the man you really are."

"If that's what it will take to save him, then I will." Batman began to remove his cowl.

"No!" Alfred shouted. Batman removed his cowl and dropped it on the ground. Vicki's eyes widened as she saw the true face of Batman. Bruce Wayne."No, Bruce."

"This must be some kind of trick. Bruce Wayne--he'd never be the man Batman is. He only looks out for himself. Ah, but of course...now I understand. As Batman, you can prey upon the weak, the defenseless. Just like your father did! A true Wayne! There's nothing heroic about you!" Vicki spat.

"I can't change what happened in the past. I would have fought for you, Vicki. No one should have to suffer the way that you did." Bruce replied.

"You don't know how I've suffered! But you will. I'll show you what Thomas Wayne did to me, to my family!" Vicki hit Alfred in his damaged eye again. 

"No! Alfred!!" Bruce shouted at Vicki. Vicki laughed uncontrollably. She pushed Alfred to the ground, letting him bleed out from his eye. Bruce ran forward and picked up Vicki and threw her across the room. She took her staff and shot it at Bruce, sending him to slam against the wall, injuring his back. Vicki walked over to Alfred. 

"Time to finish the job. Say goodbye to your butler, Bruce." Vicki aimed her staff at Alfred, ready to crush his skull with it. She raised it up. Bruce, barely able to stand up, took out a bat-a-rang and threw it at Vicki. The blade hit Vicki's arm, causing her to drop her staff. Batman pushed Vicki to the ground and picked up her staff before she could. "Give it back. Now. Please. I'm nothing without it." Vicki got up and tackled Bruce to the ground, snatching the staff from him. "I am going to destroy this place and leave you in the wreckage!" Vicki pointed the staff at the ceiling and shot it with her staff, causing debris to fall. Bruce moved out of the way. Vicki shot again and again at the ceiling. While she was distracted, Bruce tackled Vicki and took the staff from her. 

"If you are nothing without this, then what are you with it?" Bruce asked Vicki.

"I am more than what I am without it. That's what I am with it." 

"Then so be it." Bruce broke the staff in half with his knee and threw the useless pieces to the side. 

"You really are a monster. Just like your father was. I hope you die in this destruction that I have caused." Bruce ran over to Alfred to release him. Once he did, he covered Alfred's eye with a bandage that he had with him. "I have failed. You have beaten me and I have failed." Vicki said from behind Bruce. Bruce turned around to see Vicki. "Leave me here. Just go. I already have made my mistakes and they can't be fixed."

"You can fix this by coming with us and making this right. Vicki, please listen to me. There's always a way, no matter how bad you think you are." Bruce tried to help Vicki.

"There's never a way. Never." Vicki said, turning her back to Bruce. "Just go. Go and never come back."

"Bruce, we have to...go." Alfred said, wearily. Bruce hoisted Alfred up and helped him escape the wreckage, leaving Vicki behind to die.