The Last Knight

One More Ride 🦇🤬

"Carrie..just leave me alone, okay?" asked Bruce. He forced himself out of the wheelchair, feeling the rough hardwood floor of the manor. He limped painfully to the nearest couch near the campfire.

Carrie then approached Bruce, tears still streaming down her face. "Bruce?...you're suffering," she told him. Bruce was reckless and upset over the loss of another important person in his life.

"I've suffered long enough. It's fucking worthless of me to keep dressing up as the Batman and saving lives. Too many lives are lost, I can't keep up with the crimes in my goddamn age. It's been a shitty year," he explained. 

Bruce sighed of exhaustiveness and laid on the couch. He grunted in soreness to his legs and hips. "You have to give Gotham your all. You need another chance to save them," said Carrie. 

"Leave. Me. Alone," Bruce warned her one more time. She sighed, knowing the old guardian she once knew was different. "I'll leave it to you then," she told him and walked upstairs.

A mere two weeks had passed. The Batman or Robin's sightings were a disappearance to the public eye. Gotham didn't have a savior to protect. Commissioner Yindel's hopeful words were drowned out, as more crimes started happening locally. 

Bruce was growing weaker and weaker. The cancer was puncturing him from the inside slowly. He would often curse, weep, and rest for hours on the couch or in his bed. One night, Carrie had to use all her strength to carry Bruce upstairs to his bedroom. 

He was losing some weight and some of his dignity. Wayne Manor was never visited by citizens, and the GCPD struggled to build a new foundation. The city wasn't safe.

One clear afternoon, Carrie yawned as she woke up from a nap. Even she was catching a fever due to the stress of taking care of her ill guardian. Bruce laid softly and somberly on the couch, coughing.

Carrie walked downstairs to the living room of the manor and decided to take her mind off of some things. 

She decided to turn on the television. The news were suddenly reporting something sinister. The newscasters were saying that an old villain has emerged into Gotham and causing havoc.

"W-what?" wondered Bruce as he sprang and woke up. Then, he and Carrie heard the maniacal laughter coming from the audio of the television screen. It was the Clown Prince of Crime, the Joker himself!!

"Joker has returned from somewhere, police report. He is currently shooting up the streets and is ready to spill out some sort of secret. He says that the secret is worth deserving of Gotham. More to catch on later," reported the newscasters.

"Oh shit..." Carrie whispered under her breath. Bruce looked at her with sunken eyes and knew what the Joker's secret would be. Years ago when Alfred died tragically, Joker found out Bruce's real identity as Batman. 

"Joker's going to reveal our secret because we've been off the grid for weeks. He thinks I'm in retirement and ready to die, so now he can reveal to the world who the Dark Knight really fucking is," explained Bruce.

Carrie shook her head. "Bruce...we've got to suit up. To face him," she told him. Bruce sighed heavily, coughing at the same time. He knew the Joker was the final obstacle.

"I'm sure the clown has aged and will be weak like me," he noted. "Yeah. But how long do you expect to last against him?" asked Carrie. "Long enough," replied Bruce. Carrie didn't want her guardian to lose energy and pass out, because of the cancer.

"Promise me this. You won't convince me anymore to do anything else after tonight. This will be my last ride. My last mission as Batman. I'm too fucking old to be doing this shit anymore but this needs to be taken care of. Joker's been my target for so long and he just steps out of the shadows after so many years of hiding?" Bruce asked with sincerity.

"Promise. This is your last ride," Carrie said softly. Bruce then lifted himself off the couch, drooling a bit. "We've got to suit up then. We'll assemble the plan," he told her.

Carrie put Bruce back into the wheelchair to roll into the elevator. They went down to the dark and cold Batcave, as the lights turned on. Everything was covered in cobwebs, but was breezed away from the wind of the elevator.

Bruce suited up as Batman, wearing heavy padded armor for protection and a darker cowl. Carrie suited up again as Robin, the green and red brightened up to shine the cave.

"Tonight I'm going to maintain order in Gotham City. You're going to help me," Batman ordered Robin. He held the rifles stationed in the armory, but dropped them to the ground.

"But not with those. They're loud and fucking clumsy. They are the weapons of coward scums like the Joker," he said. He then picked up the rifle again to show Robin, and snapped it in half with his might.

"Our weapons tonight will be precise and quiet. In time, I will teach them to you. If we make it out alive. But for tonight, you'll rely on your brains and your fists, Carrie. Tonight, we are the law. I am the law," Batman exclaimed. 

Robin nodded in reply. However, she kept a secret grappling hook underneath her yellow cape, in her back pocket. "Ready to hurt this fucking clown?" Batman asked with sincerity. "Yeah," she replied.

The two drove off in their vehicles out of the Batcave, past the waterfall, and into Gotham City. Citizens who were crying for pleas of help started cheering as soon as they saw Batman and Robin.

Meanwhile in the wreckage site of what used to be the GCPD headquarters, Mayor Stevenson and Commissioner Yindel had a conversation. "I don't know what we're going to do with this police force," uttered Yindel.

"What do you mean? They can handle the Joker," replied Mayor Stevenson. As soon as he finished his sentence, the sounds of gunfire were drowned out by the cheers of citizens. 

The two officers then ran over to see the commotion, spotting a small group of cheerful citizens. "They're here!! The Batman and Robin!!" they exclaimed in happiness. 

Mayor Stevenson's eyebrows widened, as he ran back to the wreckage site. "Where are you going?!" yelled Yindel. "You'll see!!" replied Mayor Stevenson.

He approached a large object hiding under a blanket. "Thank goodness this was never broken," he said to himself. Commissioner Yindel ran up to him, and smiled. "Oh hell yes," she muttered.

Mayor Stevenson brought some police officers to unwrap the object, revealed to be the Batsignal. They then lit it up, illuminating the bat-shadow in the night sky.

The Dark Knight had indeed returned.