Before The Truth

Ch 6

Batman swung through Gotham using his grappling hook. He had veered off of his patrol route after receiving a notification about a possible lead to clayface's location. The criminal had been out of Arkham for a few weeks, and there was no telling what type of mischief he had been up to.

'I should have gone back for the batmobile.' Batman thought to himself as he continued on towards his destination. He had been halfway through his nightly patrol already when he had received the notification about clayface. He hadn't bothered to go back for his car, instead opting for a speedy departure from his pre-planned route to an abandoned factory once owned by Roland Daggett. The location choice was a bit ironic, if Clayface was actually hiding out there. This particular factory was where Dagett used to produce the RenuYou formula that had transformed Matthew Hagen into clayface in the first place.

When Batman arrived at the factory he opted for a stealthy approach, the tip didn't give much information besides the location, and for all he knew it could be a trap.

Batman entered through a large window, and stayed up in the rafters of the building. Once he was inside the Dark Knight moved to a place where he could see the full extent of what was going on in the room below him.

It appeared to Batman that he had a hostage situation on his hands. Clayface seemed to be giving some sort of speech or lecture to a number of thugs who were standing in front of the villain. One of these goons had a black haired boy struggling under a knife.

Batman formulated a quick plan for defeating clayface and rescuing the boy. Once he had the quick details cemented into his brain he swung down towards the thug who was holding the hostage.

By the time any of the thugs noticed his descent he was already halfway to them. One of the thugs that seemed to just be standing around pointed him out to the rest saying, "Hey boss, it's Batman."

After that comment everyone in the room, including the hostage turned their heads to look at him. When the hostage turned his head Batman recognized him immediately, it was Dick.

Batman was so distracted by this that he didn't realize the thug holding his son had moved out of the way until it was too late. Instead of crashing into the thug like he had planned, Batman crashed into the wall.

Now slightly dazed, Batman stood up and took a fighting stance.

"Uh uh uh, I wouldn't do that if I were you." Clayface said, gesturing to the thug who held Dick, who was still struggling slightly.

Batman's immediate thought was that he didn't care whether Dick got hurt or not, but immediately after he realized that despite what Dick had done to Alfred he didn't actually want him to get hurt, much less die. After this thought he reluctantly raised his hands up into the air in a gesture of surrender.

"That's more like it." Clayface replied, shooting out four blobs of clay which attached Batman's arms and legs to the wall and hardened there.

"You're not usually the hostage type Clayface." Batman mused, hoping to get more information from Clayface without it being too obvious.

"You're right, but I need quite a large sum of cash for something, and demanding a ransom from good ol' moneybags Wayne seemed like an easy enough way to get the money I needed."

"What did you need the money for?" Batman asked.

"An acquaintance of mine found a way to turn me back human, but that kind of procedure doesn't come cheap." Clayface responded, looking to Dick and his thugs as he said it. After saying this Clayface stood completely still for a few seconds, deep in thought. Then he looked back and forth between Batman and Dick, a grotesque smile growing on his face.

Batman's first thought was, 'he knows', But he realized that wasn't the case when Clayface spoke again.

"Now that I have you, I don't need Wayne's brat anymore. I'm there are people in Gotham who would pay a hefty sum for you, far more than Wayne would pay." After saying this Clayface turned to the thug who was holding Dick and simply said, "Do it." The thug seemed to understand, and he showed no hesitation as he quickly slashed his knife across the thrashing boy's throat, then dropped Dick's limp body onto the ground.

Batman didn't realize he was screaming until he heard Clayface's cackle.

Tears rolled down Batman's cheeks as he stared at the body of his son.

"I had a foolproof plan... Well, mostly foolproof." Clayface trailed off as he glared at his hired help.

Batman pressed a small record button on his glove when he heard this, whatever Clayface was going to confess to he was going to get evidence so he could put Clayface away for a long time.

"It was going flawlessly at first. I disguised myself as Richard Grayson, did some things that were sure to get the boy kicked out for good, then waited until the chaos ensued. It was the job of my thugs over here to simply catch the boy on his way out, so we could hold him for ransom, but they managed to mess that part up." Clayface sent another harsh look at his thugs after saying this. "Then the thought came to me. I could simply make a replica of the boy out of clay and hold that for ransom. I was about to make a ransom video to send to Wayne before you came, but when I caught you I realized that some of the fine villainous folk of this city would pay pretty pennie for you."

After Clayface finished his little spiel it took a moment for everything that he had said to fully realize in Batman's head. He looked at the body that he had thought belonged to his son to see it slowly dissolving into clay. Batman was simultaneously relieved and horrified. Dick was alive, but he had kicked him out, saying horrible things to him. When Dick had seemed so confused about what had happened to Alfred it was because he really had no idea what had happened. It had all been Clayface.

Batman stopped the recording he had been taking. He had heard enough to know all that he needed.

With a strength powered by his rage and adrenaline Batman managed to break free of the clay cuffs that had been holding him to the wall. He immediately jumped into action, quickly taking down all of the thugs with quick kicks, jabs, and punches. Soon the only one of his enemies left standing was clayface.

Batman threw some exploding disks at Clayface to distract him while he grabbed a handful of small pellets that were filled with a powerful freezing agent from a different compartment in his belt.

Clayface opened his mouth and let out a roar of pain and annoyance. While his mouth was open Batman tossed the pellets inside where they exploded and froze Clayface solidly in place.

After taking them all down Batman pulled out a small burner phone and called commissioner Gordon. Soon enough he could hear sirens closing in. Batman took that as his cue to leave.

Batman waited on a nearby roof as the police loaded up the villains and carted them off. So many thoughts were going through his mind. Most of them were about Dick. Where was he now? Was he alright? And most importantly; would he ever forgive him?

After making sure the criminals were safely on their way to either Arkham or a nearby police station, Batman pressed a button on his belt that would activate the Batmobile and remotely drive it to his location.

When the Batmobile got there Batman pressed another button to open the car, then he jumped into the driver's seat.

There were too many things on Batman's mind for him to feel like he could safely drive home, so he pressed a button on the dashboard of the car and typed in the Batcave's location.

Batman went over the events of the day he had kicked Dick out in his mind. Tears filled his eyes as he realized how cruel he had been. He remembered the look of fear in Dick's eyes as he scrambled away from him and ran to his motorcycle.

The tears in his eyes finally spilled over, making tracks down his face. Batman pulled off his cowl and cried silently as the Batmobile drove him home.