Batman: Genesis

Chapter Fifteen - Cases Coming Together

[Jim]

Jim shuffled through various case files while Harvey leaned back in his chair and stared off into space.

"You know what, partner?"

"What, Harvey?" asked Jim.

Harvey had been distracting him all day, and Jim had barely gotten any work done at all.

"There's been no new cases today, and I'm starving, so let's go get dinner somewhere. I mean, we get off work in thirty minutes anyway, and no one will know we're gone."

"No thanks," Jim replied.

"Oh, you're no fun," Harvey said. "Tell me with a straight face that you'd rather look at those files than go get some grub."

"I'd rather look at these files than stuff myself senseless with fast food," Jim said seriously.

"Man, have you ever smiled?"

"Tried it once," Jim said, "didn't seem practical."

"Ah, a joke," Harvey noticed. "See, now we're getting somewhere. Okay, so the next step is making your joke actually funny."

"I really think I'm getting somewhere with this," Jim said.

"What case is it you're on now?" Harvey asked. "Black Mask?"

"No," Jim replied. "Diaz and Johnson."

"Okay, the Johnson case is old news now, and the Diaz case is ancient," Harvey said. "Didn't that happen before you even came on?"

"Yeah," Jim said. "I got the case from Detective Jones."

"Oh, so now you're taking other people's cases," Harvey said, "that is just stupid."

"I think the two cases might be related," said Jim.

"The same person murdered both of them?"

"I thought about that, but no," Jim said. "They were two very different murders. It had to have been a different person."

"Okay," said Harvey, "so did they both work at Wayne Enterprises?"

"Nope," Jim answered. "Johnson did, but not Diaz."

Harvey threw his hands up. "So there's no connection."

"There has to be," said Jim. "I just haven't found the link between them yet."

"If there's no link between the cases, they're not related," Harvey said simply. "I'm sure you're a great detective, but you can't afford to grasp at straws here in Gotham. There's simply no time for that."

A woman in a GCPD uniform ran up to Jim and Harvey's desk.

"We've got a 42 on 25th street!" the woman panted. "I need you two on it now."

Jim and Harvey both hopped up and headed out of the department.

"Thanks, man," Harvey said sarcastically. "I was about to leave!"

"But then you would have been short a case," Jim replied, and they hopped in the cop car.

They flew down to 25th street with their sirens blaring and got there just in time. They stepped out of the car to see a man in an odd looking mask holding a gun to a man in a gray suit. Jim and Harvey pulled out their guns and marched toward the man.

"Lower your weapon and step away from the man!" Jim ordered.

The masked man looked over their direction, but didn't make any effort to point his gun away from the man.

"Do what he says!" Harvey reiterated. "It won't turn out well for you if you don't!"

The masked man started to lower his gun, but before Jim or Harvey could react he raised it again and shot the man in the suit. Then he took off running.

Jim and Harvey started firing at him, but he jumped over some dumpsters and turned the corner.

"Follow him!" Harvey bellowed. "I'll call some medical help for this guy!"

Jim nodded and took off after the masked man. He went around the dumpster and turned into the alleyway. He didn't see the man, so he continued to the end of the alley and looked both ways. In the middle of the street on the left he noticed that a woman was lying on the floor, probably having been pushed over. Jim ran toward her, helped her up, and then continued down that street. He went straight across to the street ahead of it, where he saw the masked man running away wildly.

"Hey!" Jim shouted.

The masked man turned and shoot some bullets back at Jim. Jim ducked into a alcove and peeked his head around it, watching as the masked man ran straight into something and fell. No, not something. Someone. Jim ran closer and saw that the man in the bat suit from the other day was standing before the fallen man. The masked man hadn't noticed him, and when he'd looked back to shoot at Jim, he'd ran straight into the bat man.

"He's a member of Black Mask's team," said the deep voice belonging to the man in the bat suit. "Take him in and see what you can find out about him."

Jim raised his gun and pointed it at the bat man. "Who are you?"

"Don't waste your time with that question, detective," said guy in the suit. "You have more pressing ones to answer. Until then, you can call me Batman. Good luck on the case."

Batman threw something at the ground and a puff of smoke surrounded him. When it cleared, the masked man was still laying on the floor, but Batman was gone.