THE BATMAN

I AM VENGEANCE

CHAPTER 2: I AM VENGEANCE

Footsteps echoed throughout the empty hall as a pair of black boots made their way to the scene of the massacre. Each footstep increasing the tension in the room. Each step that he took was received by glances screaming, "You are not welcome here." but trivial things as such failed to move the man. People considered him to be a myth. No, a nightmare. Parents would trick their children into falling asleep as even the little ones, the ones who are defined by their innocence, were petrified by the so-called Dark Knight. As he walked into the room, he sensed the shaky base of the untrustworthy alliance for the body in front of him was nothing extraordinary. "Out.", he growled as the seasoned detectives raised their eyebrows. Their eyes turned to their equally surprised captain. "Gordon, I don't enjoy repeating myself." "Oh yeah?" said one of the detectives, one who had nothing to be scared of. "And we don't enjoy the fact that a man dressed as a kink icon is taking our job away from us!" "Donovan! Now is not the time." Spoke Gordon with a stern voice, a very surprising turn of events as people always respected him the same way he respected them but this, this was nothing but a sign that the guy was too old to carry on now. "You're on his side? This is batshit crazy!" "I can write a novel about your money laundering history, Donovan Bairstow. Now, step aside." Growled the knight as an uneasy silence governed the room. Eventually, all of them starting walking out obeying the knight's orders leaving Donovan all alone. Insulted, he spat on the towering man and moved aside but before leaving he had one last thing to say, "My daughter can't sleep at night because of you. She asks my wife if I'm gonna return or if you will end me for doing my job. All you do is convince people that Arkham may not have been a bad idea." The Knight eyed him as he walked through the door and bent down to investigate the scene. "You know, they've been working their asses off for this right? You can't just swoop in and take all the credit-" "Commissioner, you may think that your department is clean and the finest this country has ever seen but traitors are sitting right under your nose and all they need is to push you towards a dead end so that you finally snap and drink yourself to death." Gordon stammered, he had never encountered such disrespect but he had no room to criticize the knight because deep down, he knew this man was right. "How did you know about Donovan?" "I didn't. But his apprehensiveness will be the end of him someday." "So what, they're just accusations? You can't do that!" the Knight growled and held Gordon by the collar as he continued, "Because of me, Gordon, you know that you can get a piece of scum out of your department and I can give you names of hundreds more but the matter at hand is that someone is dead! Maybe, if your men were smart enough, they wouldn't have run away for donut breaks while the Mayor is the primary target on hundreds of hit lists. It's the mayoral election, Gordon. Get some help." Gordon freed himself and shrugged to cover his embarrassment as he observed the Knight treading across the room. Gordon cleared his throat to speak again. He needed to redeem himself in his own eyes by contributing. "I found this stuck inside the Mayor's throat. Thought it might be helpful." Gordon slowly pulled out a greeting card from his coat pocket and handed it to the knight. The knight slowly flipped it open gently as it revealed a riddle. "From your secret friend. Who? Haven't a clue? Let's play a game. Just me and you." Mumbled the knight. "This mean anything to you?" inquired Gordon. The knight flipped the card and stared at it. "It might." He said as he ran his fingers across the writing on the back of the card "TO THE BATMAN", is what it read.

The curtains were drawn apart to bombard the drowsy Wayne with a great deal of light. For a second, he thought he was in Heaven and cracked a little smile in hopes of seeing his parents once again. "Wake up, Master Bruce." The light cleared out to reveal Alfred with a sweet smile spread across his face. "It's 6 AM, Alfred." "Yes, I thought of giving you some extra sleeping time if that's ok." Bruce chuckled weakly at this remark and forced himself up with a slight grunt. "You do remember that you are invited to the Mayor's memorial service, I suppose?" "Oh god." "Look, Master Bruce, we both know that you aren't a fan of his but please, for your parents." Bruce eyed Alfred as he never liked hearing about his parents. To avoid Alfred's proposition, he placed in front of him a more "useful" plan. "ABSOLUTELY NOT, MASTER BRUCE!" yelled Alfred. "What good has mourning ever done, Alfred? We know that Falcone is going to be there this is our chance to expose him. Mayor Douglas was a good friend of his and I assure you that he WILL reveal his true colors." "My God, you are going insane." "No, Alfred. I'm focusing on eradicating his kind and nothing else." "OH, IS THAT WHAT THIS IS? Or are you too disgusted by the thought of being associated with him hmm? Or is it Oswald that you fear?" "Oswald is a thing in the past." "Bruce, I have loved you liked my own child and I cannot allow the darkness in you to get the best of you! Do you understand?" Bruce turned a deaf ear to this, all he could hear was the high pitch noises that rendered him useless against Joe Chill all those years ago but he managed to mumble out one thing, "Master. It's Master Bruce." Leaving Alfred speechless.