DC Adventures presents: The Batman, Vol. 1

Issue 5: White Knight

In a house within downtown Gotham City, Jack Reas laid in a nice bed. He lifted up his shirt, revealing a bloody bandage on his side. “Fuck.”

“Language,” someone said. He entered the bedroom and it was revealed to be John Stacy.

“We’re the only ones here.”

“Still, you don’t have to curse all the time.”

“Thanks for patching me up.”

“I told you that you’d get shot in this line of work.”

“We both grew up in the worst part of Gotham. I wasn’t gifted with genius intelligence as a kid that got me employed at Lexcorp, then with Wayne Enterprises.”

“I know. I know.”

“I got where I was with skills.”

“You set of skills got you shot.”

“You didn’t seem to mind bullets when it came to Marv.”

That name seemed to make John a little angry. He appeared more stern. “Marvin was a monster. He deserved what he got.” He leaves the room.

Meanwhile, the batmobile drives into the Batcave and comes to a stop. Batman exits the vehicle and takes off his cowl. He throws it to the ground

Alfred approaches and asks, “Rough night, sir?”

“Harvey Dent might be connected to the Falcone massacre.”

“That is definitely not good.”

“I need to find out if it’s true.”

“I believe I have an answer.” He hands Bruce an envelope with his name on it. “Bruce Wayne was invited to the birthday of Marion Grange.”

The following night, the party was being held at Kipp Manor. It was a large home located deep within Gotham Woods. Alfred drove the car down the road, parking in front of the manor. There were paparazzi out front. Bruce got out of the car and passed through many people with flashing cameras. One of them caught his eye. It was a cameraman with an eyepatch over his right eye. He brushed it off and entered the building. The first person he came upon was Jared Kipp, whom he had met before.

“Welcome, Bruce.” He shook his hand.

“Jared. How’ve you been?”

“Been better.”

“This is a nice home.”

“You’d have to tell my dad that. I live with my girlfriend, Harley.”

“Jared!” A man yelled angrily. He was in his late sixties. Once he saw Bruce, he shifted his expression from anger to a smile. “Mister Wayne. How nice to meet you.” He shook his hand. “I’m Samson Kipp.”

“The owner of Ace Chemicals. I know you.”

“I’ve heard about you. I knew your dad.”

“Really?”

“You look just like him.” He grabs Jared by the arm. “Excuse us.” He takes his son into one room.

Bruce looks around for Harvey Dent. One person came over to him. He wore a grey suit vest and pants, a white button-up shirt, and a purple tie. “Greetings, Mister Wayne.”

“Do I know you?”

“No. I’m Elijah Strange.”

“Well, nice meeting you.” He keeps looking across the room.
“I find parties intriguing. So many personalities. Mister Zeus has a god complex. Miss Kyle his a kleptomaniac. Mister Dent can’t make decisions without a quarter.”

“Did you say, Dent? As in Harvey Dent?”

Strange points to Harvey. He was laughing with Mayor Grange. Bruce took a few steps toward them. Suddenly, he was stopped by the muffled sound of shouting. Instead of completing his objective, he goes to the door where the shouting was originating from. Once he slightly opened the door, he found the Samson was mercilessly shouting at Jared, who was fearful of his father.

“You pathetic waste of human flesh,” Samson screamed at his son. “I told you never to come back here.”

“Your butler…” Before Jared could finish, Samson backhand slapped him.

Bruce had enough and walked in. “How dare you.”

Samson looked a bit surprised. “M-Mister Wayne. You’re not supposed to be in here.”

He goes to Jared. “Are you okay?”

Jared smiles. “Yeah.”

Bruce looks back at Samson. “You should be ashamed.”

Now Samson looked at Bruce with the same anger as he had shown Jared. “Listen to me, you rich piece of shit. You can’t come into my home and tell me how to treat my son!”

“Well, I can give him a job at Wayne Enterprises, so he doesn’t have to work for a monster like you.” He escorts Jared out of the room. “Go home Jared,” he said softly.

Meanwhile, Harvey Dent was having a nice talk with Mayor Grange. One of the servants approached.

“Mister Dent, a Mister Dane Lisslow wants to see you in the study.”

Harvey smiled. “Sure. I’ll be there in a second.”

Soon enough, Harvey walked into the room he was directed to. It was completely dark. He wandered around. Someone then closed the door and flipped on the lights. Now Harvey could see he was standing with a desk to his left. Then, without warning, someone slammed the side of his head against the desk. He got up, however, he was disoriented. Harvey looked up at the assailant. It was the cameraman with the eyepatch.

“Mister Lisslow,” Harvey asked. When he wiped his face, he found that it was covered in a liquid that had been poured on the desk. “What is this?”

“You asked me to scare the Falcone family away from Gotham,” Dane Lisslow stated. “You didn’t say it was to make you the next mayor.”

“Does that matter?”

Dane slammed Harvey’s head against the desk again. “You are corrupt. Time for Gotham City to see the true face of their district attorney.”

Slade threw a lighter on the desk. It caught fire incredibly fast. Soon the fire alerted those attending the party. Bruce Wayne and Jared Kipp in and found Harvey screaming in pain. The left side of his head was being burned away. They tried to put out the fire. Bruce only caught a glance of the assailant before Dane jumped out the window.

Across town, Jonathan Crane sat in a cell. What stirred him from his boredom was the sound of gunfire. Two thugs come to the cell.

“Black Mask wants you to tell him everything about the Falcone family.”