Before The Truth

Ch 10

The batwing shot across the night sky, Batman in the pilot's seat pushing the plane to the limit of it's speed. Batman slowed the plane as he approached Gotham's shipping area known to most simply as 'the docks'.

When Batman had gotten as close as he dared he came in for a landing on the roof of one of the many abandoned warehouses that lined the docks. Batman was out of the batwing and on the ground almost as soon as the plane landed.

Taking no time to lock the plane Batman leapt off of the building and landed in a roll. He quickly jumped to his feet and set off toward the specific address Bane had left for him on the CD case.

It didn't take long for Batman to come to the meeting place. He immediately tried to melt into the shadows, watching and listening for Bane and his men.

Less than a minute passed before Bane made himself known. Bane walked out into the open area in front of Batman with a scowl on his face. His body was pumped full of venom, and his hired thugs were trailing behind him like a group of lost puppies.

Seeing Bane there Batman stepped out of the shadows and revealed his presence when he cleared his throat loudly.

Bane was startled when he heard the noise and looked over to see Batman, but his surprise was short-lived. Soon after, an evil smile replaced the look of surprise on his face.

"Took you long enough. I was beginning to think you actually didn't care about the little brat." Bane said with a chuckle.

"Where is Nightwing?" Batman growled.

Bane let out another laugh. "I will only tell you that if you can defeat me. One on one batman, without your toys."

Batman's only response was to reach into a holster at his waist and pull out what looked like a small gun.

"Go ahead, I know you won't shoot." Bane said, spreading his arms out wide as he faced Batman head on. "I know you don't use guns Batman." He said confidently.

"I guess you don't know me as well as you thought." Batman replied, lifting up the gun and aiming at Bane's chest.

Bane only stood there, arms still outstretched, calling Batman's bluff. At least he believed it to be a bluff, until Batman inhaled deeply and pulled the trigger.

What shot out of the gun was not what anyone expected, except for Batman.

Bane looked down at his bare chest, and the empty tranquilizer dart sticking neatly out of it. He staggered as the strong dosage of drugs Batman had just given him started to dull his senses and lull him into a foggy dream like state.

It only took a few minutes for Bane to drop to the ground, fully unconscious.

At the sight of this, all of Bane's thugs scattered and fled. Batman chased after one of the closer ones and managed to grab him by the back of the shirt. He hauled the struggling man back to where Bane was laying.

Batman quickly tied the man and moved on to Bane. He retrieved two special pairs of handcuffs from his utility belt and put them on Bane's wrists and ankles. With the amount of sedative Bane had received he should be asleep for about an hour or so, plenty of time for the cops to pick him up and take him to Arkham.

When he was finished with Bane Batman turned back to the captured thug. Lifting the man high off of the ground Batman glared at him and mustered his most threatening voice. "If you want to live, tell me where Nightwing is." To make it seem like his empty threat had more substance Batman moved the man out to hang over the water.

The man immediately began sputtering, "Please! Don't kill me!"

Batman raised the man a bit higher and yelled again, "Tell me where Nightwing is!"

"He's in a warehouse a few blocks away!" The man said with a squeal of terror. When Batman only narrowed his eyes he gave a more specific address.

After getting the address from the man Batman's eyes widened in shock. He carried the thug back over to where Bane was and dropped him by the other man's side. Batman then pulled out a flip phone from his belt and dialed the three digit emergency number 911. The police would easily be able to track the number and would arrive shortly.

Before leaving Batman grabbed Bane's venom pump from his wrist and pulled the attached tube from Bane's mask. He turned and threw the pump into the bay before turning and running towards the location of his son.

Batman mentally cursed himself as he ran up to the warehouse. This was the warehouse he had been about to enter earlier that same day. If Nightwing really was here he could have saved him earlier.

Guilt weighed Batman down, but as he got closer to the warehouse he tried to push all of those thoughts away so he could focus on the matter at hand.

Batman quickly made a loop around the building, looking for the best place to enter the building. As he walked around he noticed there was a window open. Seeing that as the best place of entry Batman shot his grappling hook up to the small ledge underneath the window and pulled himself up.

Once he was standing on the ledge he noticed that the ledge had some dried blood on it. Another disturbing thing was the bloody handprint on the wall.

Looking down into the main room of the warehouse Batman's eyes widened in fear.

Batman used his grappling hook to lower himself down into the room. When he was finally on the floor he looked around the room, taking in every detail.

There was so much blood. Most of it was in the same general area, but there was a smeared trail from the middle of the room to a small table, then a steady trail of drips that came towards the window Batman had just entered through.

Batman assumed the main puddle of blood was relatively fresh, because it still had yet to dry fully. 'If this is Dick's blood... That means...' Batman shoved the thought out of his mind almost as soon as it entered. He had to keep going. He couldn't afford to break down here.

Panic began to set in after Batman started looking around the warehouse. There was no sign of Dick anywhere, except for the blood that was smeared across the floor...

There was a single handcuff on the floor. One end was locked to a metal loop that was embedded in the concrete floor, the other end was open with a small bobby pin next to it.

Batman had to stop himself from having a full on panic attack, he needed to remain calm and collected. Batman looked at the time on a small wrist computer. It was 11:00PM, Dick didn't have much time left.