Batman: Knight of the Hunt

Issue 2

The Man Who Broke the Bat

They're traveling south, following the river and the faint trail left by the mysterious parachutist. The river had widened out gradually in the afternoon, and the terrain had slowly begun sloping downhill. The trees are even thicker here, which had made it more difficult for the parachutist to move forward without leaving traces.

Every once in a while, as they move forward through the thick growth, Batman begins to think they are simply tracking an animal. Surely a human couldn't be this cautious. Then, in a place where the earth is softer, he spots the slightest indent of a man's boot heel, and so the search continues.

At one such imprint, Batman – who is in the lead – stops abruptly. Bane immediately draws one of his pistols and scans the greenery around them.

"What is it?"

This imprint is deeper than the others, as if their quarry allowed his weight to rest fully in a standing position. He had stopped here, stood for a moment, watching or perhaps listening for something. After this print, the trail veers abruptly off-course. Batman takes a few cautious steps to the left, alternating between scanning the trees and studying the ground. Weapon at the ready, Bane follows. After moving a few yards through the undergrowth, Batman halts again and kneels to study the ground more carefully.

"Something made him wander off-course," he explains. He looked around for a moment. "There's someone else out here."

Still crouching, Batman moves forward again. Bane follows close behind. The trail is suddenly much easier to follow, as if the parachutist wasn't bothering to hide anymore. And there's a second set of prints. Smaller and shallower, but still boot treads. Someone else had joined him here, someone lighter, a woman or more likely a teenager. There is no evidence of a struggle, either. Instead, it seems as if they stopped and talked for a moment, then continued forward together.

Bane's tracking skills aren't on par with Batman's, but even he can read the scene here. "So there's two of them now."

"Right." Batman nods. "They met up here and..." he points off parallel to the river... "started moving south again."

"So, we keep following the river."

"Looks like it."

They resume their tracking, walking in silence for a while. Still focusing on the trail in front of him, Batman can't help wondering what lies ahead. Whoever they are following may not be friendly, and now they are potentially twice as dangerous. The possibility of combat makes him think of his own unexpected partner, the brutal giant stalking along behind him. Last night, he had entered Arkham confidently, knowing Robin would do everything he could to help him. He can't be as sure of Bane. That's not so say that Bane isn't a capable fighter, in fact he far surpasses Robin in that respect. And Bane seems more at home here in the jungle than he ever did in the dirty streets of Gotham. He's more animal than man, with a savage nobility that Batman begrudgingly admires. Even so, he never expected to find himself allied with the brutal gangster who nearly took over Gotham's underworld.

Batman remembers well the events that led to his first meeting with Bane. The city was finally enjoying a period of relative peace. It had taken him years, but he had wrested control of the city from the powerful crime families that had ruled Gotham for generations. Falcone, Maroni, and Cobblepot had all been put in their place. Then the League of Assassins, feeling he hadn't gone far enough in eradicating crime, stepped in to destroy Gotham.