Two sides of the same coin

Chapter 17 - Failed Mission

The latter led to a rather small hallway, if the ceiling was any lower Bruce would have had to crouch to get through it. He looked to the right and then the left. He found that to the right was a dead-end so he turned to the left and began to walk down the small hall.

Eventually he was met with another dead end, so for, what he felt like, the millionth time he observed his surroundings for anyway to continue on the path. He spotted a small crack in the wall, instead of it letting in manmade light there was sunlight instead. Bruce crouched down the the crack and placed his fingers in it to get a good grip before he pulled. It didn't take long for the gap to widen, eventually it was large enough to where Bruce could barely crawl through it.

Bruce let go of the metal as he let out small breaths from the amount of effort he had to put into opening the gap. He returned his gaze to the newly found passage way and observed what it led to. If Bruce had to guess it looked like the inside of a vent but why would it be blocked? He shook his head, deciding that was a question for another day.

He placed a hand inside the vent, placing most of his body weight on the hand to see if it would give out on anything that placed too much pressure on it. Once he touched it he quickly realized that it didn't send out any vibrations, he assumed it was either under a floor or on the floor's level.

Bruce silently crawled in, careful not to make any sound as he shifted through the vents hoping to find someway to get to Gordon. Now that he thought about it, he wasn't even sure if Gordon was here. He shook his head again, he kept on getting sidetracked and that fact annoyed him. Was it because he was nervous? Did he subconsciously not want to do this? Either way, he was convinced that he would carry out this mission.

"You. Go see if there's any supplies we can salvage here."

A voice rang throughout the building, not to mention the vents. Bruce quickly realized that it was Gordon's voice. He couldn't help but let the tiniest smirk appear on the corner of his mouth as relief swatted all the doubt away from his mind. He grabbed the cloth out of his pocket that Jeremiah had given him before and unfolded it to discover that it was a mask of sorts. It was more of a mixture of a hood, mask, and scarf. Bruce examined it for a moment before shrugging and putting it on. The mask covered his face up to just above his nose, the hood nearly blinded his view from the side, and the scarf seemed to blend in with the turtleneck sweater he wore. After getting comfortable in the clothing, he continued down the vent looking for a way to get to Gordon.

Eventually he came across a opening in the vent that was built into the top of the vent. He looked up to see if he could spot Gordon anywhere from the view he was given. He looked up just in time to see him cross the vent. Bruce turned to the right, in the direction he was walking. He found another opening and looked up again, this time no one was around. He crawled out of the vent, careful not to let anyone see and quickly ran to a nearby latter that led to a higher level than the people who were in the room. Bruce looked down, counting each and every person he could spot. Gordon was telling everyone which direction they should go and what they should look for. He knew Gordon would eventually be left alone in the room so he waited until that became a reality.

It only took a few minutes for everyone to leave the room, so Bruce began to quietly make his way back to the lower floor. He crouched behind a set of boxes that would provide enough cover, as he was heading towards it he knocked over a glass bottle that had conveniently been placed right by his feet. He put his back to the boxes, almost holding onto them for dear life. He mentally lectured himself at what a stupid mistake he made and hopefully Gordon didn't hear.

"GCPD! Who's there?"

His panic and doubt from before quickly returned as his breathing quickened. He fought the urge to pull off the mask and surrender as Gordon walked closer and closer to the boxes. Bruce waited for Gordon to arrive, most likely pointing a gun at him. The footsteps became louder and more apparent the closer he got. Bruce spotted the gun that Gordon was holding and immediately took it as the time to pounce up, grab the gun, and knock Gordon to the ground. He surprised even himself by how fast he reacted and it took him a moment to realize Gordon was on the ground. His attention quickly went to Gordon as he attempted to get up but Bruce quickly pushed him back to the ground. Although Bruce didn't expect to be able to hold him down he somehow managed to keep him down as he put as much of his body weight as he could on top of Gordon. Bruce quickly grabbed the gun that had fallen to the floor and pointed it at Gordon, he noticed that it had already been set. All he had to do was pull the trigger. He continued to point the gun at him, breath quickening as he did so.

"Why? H-How could you lie to me so easily?"

His voice began to quiver as he tried his best to uphold the calm facade, which he was failing miserably at.

"What?"

Gordon managed to huff out. In a flash of anger Bruce slid the mask off his face and got closer to Gordon's face just to make sure he got a good view of his face.

"Why did you lie to me like that! Just to use me as leverage? For someone you don't even understand?"

"Bruce? What are you talking about?"

Before the either of them could say anything else a yell from one of the people that were sent away pulled Bruce out of his focus on Gordon.

"Captain! Where'd you go!"

That split second of lost focus became an opening for Gordon as he slipped out from under Bruce and quickly got up, somehow grabbing the gun right out of Bruce's hand.

"Over here!"

Bruce looked up at Gordon with a loss of words, that split second of no focusing seemed to spin him in a loop of confusion. Before he could to anything a gunshot rang out and the man that had called out to Gordon fell to the ground. Gordon looked over to the fallen man.

"Ben!"

He began to turn towards him but before he could begin running to him the gun he was holding was kicked out of his hand by someone who was on the other side of the boxes, hidden from Bruce's sight. Gordon looked to the gun on the floor then back to the person who had delivered the kick. They didn't give him much time to process who exactly they were due to the hit to the head that left Gordon unconscious. Bruce's gaze went from Gordon to the person who was now coming out from behind the boxes.

"Ecco...?"

"Come on."

She said as she rushed Bruce to stand up and grabbed his arm, almost dragging him to the exit.
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Words: 1,294
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A/N: posted this one a little earlier than usually because Im trying to keep up a decent sleep schedule for things like testing and stuff.