Chapter Text
A young man sat on a couch, watching the fireplace in front of him roar. It crackled and hissed softly, giving light to the dark room, as well as making things warmer. The man sighed, then winced in pain. He looked down at himself. He was shirtless, only wearing slacks and dress shoes, with nearly his entire upper torso being covered in bandages.
“Cutting it rather closely tonight, aren’t you, sir?” an older sharply dressed man spoke from behind the young man, his voice carrying a Cockney accent. He wore a dress shirt, and a black waistcoat, slacks, shoes, and bowtie. He had greying shoulder length hair, as well as a greying anchor beard. He closed the first aid kit, locks clicking in place. “If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought you’re just finding a good excuse to excuse yourself from tonight.”
The young man groaned softly, holding his bandage wrapped stomach. “I’m fine, Alfred. Nothing tonight that I couldn’t handle.”
“I beg to differ, Bruce.” Alfred spoke, picking up a dress shirt, a tie, and a nice suit all folded neatly, and carrying them over to Bruce, now standing in front of Bruce to his left. “Just, what on Earth happened tonight? You’ve had scuffles with criminals in the past that had certainly put bruises on your body, but… Nothing like this.”
Bruce managed to get himself up, still wincing a bit. Luckily, most of the pain seems to be going away. The wonders of pain killers, truly a miracle creation. That’s what Bruce thought to himself. He picked up the clothes from Alfred’s arms, and began to get dressed. As he continued dressing up, he thought over what Alfred had told him. He’s right, he’s faced his fair share of bruises before, but this was different. The scuffle he had earlier this night was different. The criminals he fought tonight were different.
As he continued to put on his clothes, he kept thinking about it over and over. Thinking of the events that happened almost an hour ago. When that was all done, only one question remained in his head, a very important question. What the hell just happened?
It all happened almost two and a half hours ago. It all went down at the Gotham Museum of Antiquities.
There were security guards patrolling the place, with one seated at the front desk and monitoring the cameras. Then, the front doors opened, and what came inside were armed gunmen wearing helmets that looked like a bird’s head and a woman wearing a porcelain bird mask and an odd collar full of metal feathers following closely from behind them. The guard at the front looked up, taken aback from the intruders who came in unannounced.
“Hey, you can’t be here-”
BANG!
The guard hadn’t had the chance to even finish his sentence, before he was promptly shot in the head. Blood splattering on the chair he sat on, and blood pouring from the hole on the middle of his forehead. The other security guards heard the sudden gunshot, and came in to check, only for the armed intruders to just shoot them down anyway.
“Do a sweep, won’t you, dears?” the woman spoke, her voice being haughty and shrill. “Don’t want anyone else to ruin the fun. Or all these pretties.” she said, eyeing the jewels and diamonds on display. “Shiny, shiny.”
“Remember the job, lady.” one of the armed gunmen said, clutching their gun tightly. “The boss told us-”
“I know what he said!” she hissed, putting herself all over the gunman, her hand just inches away from his face. “You, however, should remember who you’re talking to. I’d hate to ruin my nails after all, not after I just cleaned them.” she said, before stepping back. “Now go. All of you.”
A caped figure watches them from afar, standing on the balcony of a nearby building. The lenses of his cowl zoomed in through the museum’s skylight, watching the commotion of the armed gunmen and the woman.
“What’s the commotion, sir?” a voice asked through his coms.
“Five gunmen and a woman stormed the Gotham Museum of Antiquities. Already one guard is dead, Alfred. I don’t think they’re just stopping at one.” he answered, continuing to watch.
“Isn’t that place pocketed by Falcone? Is it Maroni’s men?”
“Hm.” the caped figure muttered, still monitoring them. “No. Maroni and Falcone may have territorial fights, but neither of them are this brazen about their crimes.” he muttered, taking a closer look at the helmets of the gunmen and the mask of the woman. “They’re also wearing bird masks.”
“Do you think they’re an up and coming gang, Bruce?”
“Possibly.” the caped figure muttered, before pressing his throat, activating his voice modulator. “Alert the GCPD, tell them what’s going on at the museum. Make sure they bring an ambulance.” he said, his voice now much deeper and gravelly.
“Already done that, sir.”
“Let’s do this quickly. Don’t want him to show up.” one of the gunmen commented.
Another of the gunmen laughed. “You believe he’s real? What, you also still believe in the boogeyman.”
“Laugh it up, idiot. If you’ve seen what he’s done to the people he’s faced, you’d be sweating bullets too.”
“I heard he put three guys in the hospital. The rest in bodybags. You ever seen him?”
“Yeah, at the Gotham Zoo, right next to the giraffes and the lions. Now shut up.”
“Nobody moves!” a shaky voice yelled out. Another security guard, pointing his gun at the gunmen. “Hands up!”
“Oh, look, speaking of bodybags.” a gunman chuckled, aiming his gun at the guard, ready to pull the trigger.
Having seen enough, the caped figure reached for his belt, grabbing something by his side that looked like a staple gun with a three fingered claw at the end of the barrel. He aimed the grapple gun directly at the skylight, then fired. The claw shot out, a wire connecting it to the grapple gun, and the claw landed on the ground near the skylight.
“Good hunting, sir.”
As the gunman was about to pull the trigger, he was interrupted.
“What the hell is that?” one of them muttered, looking at the skylight.
The gunman, who was once focused on the guard he was about to shoot, took his eyes away from him to look at the skylight.
There was a shape. Something zipping towards it. Fast. Then, it unfurled, the cape stretched out and looking like large leathery wings. It began to slow down. It aimed its foot at the glass, then it shattered upon impact. It grabbed something from its pocket, two small discs with a button on the center. It pressed the button, then the two discs unfurled its blades, looking like a pair of wings, and the once two regular discs now looked more like sharp boomerangs. It threw the two bladed boomerangs at two gunmen, one hit the gun that a gunman held and made it clatter to the floor, and one hit the shoulder of a gunman and made him cry out in pain as it dug into his flesh. Then, the figure landed in the middle of all the broken glass, his cape draped all over his entire body, covering everything as it reached and dragged on the floor, making him look more of a horrifying shape than a man.
“It’s… It’s him.” one of the gunmen muttered in fear, his body completely paralyzed. “It’s the Batman."
And there he was, standing there. Surrounded by armored men with guns, and yet he was still the most terrifying thing in the room. A man in black and gray, his glowing white lenses making his gaze much more piercing, and the bat ears on his head standing long and sharp that made him look demonic.
“Boo.” was all he said to them. And that was all it took for the gunmen to flinch and immediately aim their guns at him.
“Open fire! Shoot the bat!”
Batman grabbed something from his belt, letting it drop to the floor. It looked like a small metallic 20 sided dice. Moments before the gunmen could open fire, it flashed brightly, blinding the gunmen from the unexpected flash grenade. After the bang, bullets went flying, gunmen shooting wildly.
“Where is he?” one of the gunmen yelled, his vision slowly coming back to normal. “Where did he go!?”
“Here.”
The gunman quickly turned around, only to see Batman standing in front of him. The vigilante grabbed him by the neck, then he and the criminal zipped upwards with Batman’s grapple gun. Then, a few moments later, the criminal was thrown from above and landed on another, knocking both of them out.
Batman pulled out another of his discs, clicking the button, and turning it into his batarang. He threw it at another gunman, with the batarang landing in the barrel of his firing gun and causing it to explode. The gunman dropped the gun, and Batman went and closed the distance, grabbing him by the chest and delivering a strong punch to the face, knocking them out.
Another gunman aimed their weapon at Batman, firing. Batman leapt out of the way, but not before grabbing the dropped gun. Then, he threw the gun to the firing gunman’s face and the gun bounced off after impact, and as he staggered, Batman grabbed the gun again before it fell to the floor, and then he used it to hit the gunman on the left side of his head.
“Bruce,” Alfred spoke softly behind him. “This mission of yours… As much as I believe in it, believe in you, I’m still concerned for your wellbeing.”
“I’m fine, Alfred.” Bruce muttered, continuing to put on his dress shirt and nearly collapsing from the sudden surge of pain coming from his abdomen. Luckily, he caught himself before he fell to the floor, holding onto the mantle above the fireplace, and holding himself up. “See. Fine.”
“Hm.” Alfred muttered. “ Forgive me if I don’t believe it, sir.” he sighed, before looking at the painting hanging above the fireplace. It was a painting of the Wayne family. Thomas, Martha, and a young ten year old Bruce. “You know that I’m proud of the man you’ve become, Bruce. And I’m sure, if you’re parents we’re still around, they would also be proud of you. But at the same time, this fight, this crusade, this war against monsters… It eats at you, Bruce. Don’t let it turn you into a monster yourself.”
“This city is full of monsters, Al.” Bruce muttered, making himself stand up straighter, fighting back the still aching pain all over his body. “Sometimes, the only way to beat the monsters is to be the bigger monster around.”
All of the gunmen were now knocked out. All but one. Batman turned his head at the one who was still conscious, the one who still had a batarang lodged in their shoulder. Batman began to march his way over to him.
“S- Stay back!” the gunman stammered, voice shaking in complete fear. “Don’t get any closer to me! Don’t get-!”
Batman cut him off by lifting him up by the neckline of his bulletproof vest with two hands. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
“I- We work for Maroni and-!”
“Stop lying!” Batman growled, shaking him. “Falcone and Maroni are a lot of things, but doing things this bold isn’t one of them. So tell me who you are!”
“I ain’t tellin’ you nothing, you freak son of a-!”
Batman threw him to the wall with full force. The criminal landed with a loud thud and an audible groan of pain. Then, Batman pinned him to the wall by pinning his entire lower right arm to the criminal’s neck. With his left hand, Batman then held the batarang that was still lodged in the gunman’s shoulder.
“Talk now or I will dig this deeper into your shoulder.” Batman warned.
“You- You wouldn’t!”
Batman merely narrowed his eyes. Then, he applied pressure, digging the blade just a little bit more. The gunman howled in pain in response.
“Stop! Stop! Alright, we’re not with Maroni! We were sent here to make Falcone think we are with Maroni! Let me go, please!”
Batman then let go of the batarang, still pinning the gunman to the wall. “Who do you work for?”
“I can’t tell you that! He’ll kill me!”
“And I can make you wish you were dead.” Batman replied immediately. “So who do you work for?”
“I… I… I work for the-” the criminal’s sentence was cut short, as something was thrown and it hit him at his right temple, killing him instantly. The killing weapon was a sharp needle that also looked like a metal feather.
“And here I thought we found some actual professionals.” a voice said. Batman turned to his right, looking at the woman wearing a porcelain bird mask. “But no, just a bunch of deadweights and a blabbermouth. Oh, well what can you do now?”
Batman glared at the woman, standing up and facing her.
“Oh, and I almost forgot my manners.” she chuckled, before bowing. “Magpie, at your service, my lovely. And you are?”
Batman only stared at her in silence.
Magpie scoffed in annoyance. She was practically rolling her eyes under her mask. “You know, dear, it’s common manners to tell your name after someone tells you theirs.”
“And it’s common decency not to kill people.” Batman replied, before grabbing a batrang from his belt and throwing it at her.
Magpie grabbed a feather from her collar, throwing one to deflect the batrang that was thrown at her. “First being rude, now throwing things. Your parents must be ashamed of you. Time to teach you some manners!” she said before running towards Batman, her hands outstretched.
Batman put his arm up, deflecting one of her hands. Then, he heard her chuckle. He heard something, a popping shimmer. He saw her gloved hands and saw what popped out from the ends of each fingers, it was claws, long razor sharp claws. He couldn’t react in time to deflect her other hand, when she dug her claws into his side. Batman yelled in pain, before grabbing her arm, and then throwing her over him and into the ground.
Batman ran his hand down to his side, and lifted his hand back up. Blood. He was bleeding. She punctured his suit. Most bullets couldn’t even do that. Then he heard steps, steps of running, moving fast towards him. He lifted his head back up and saw Magpie running towards him, her claws outstretched and ready to strike again. She swung one hand down and Batman blocked it, then she moved her other hand to strike and Batman managed to stop it this time.
“Don’t get distracted now.” Magpie taunted. “Remember, it’s rude to look away when people are talking to you, dear.” she said, backing away with a jump and throwing three metal feathers at Batman.
Batman rolled out of the way. Before he could even come to a stop, Magpie was immediately running towards him again. When Batman finally came to a stop, crouching on the ground, Magpie was already in striking distance again and he wasn’t ready to block her again. So, Batman moved to sweep her legs, knocking her to the ground. Batman got back up, so did Magpie, and she was quicker. She swung both of her hands down on Batman’s chest, creating a nasty gash on his chest. It wasn’t as deep as when she stabbed him on his side, but it’ll still leave a wound on him.
As Batman staggered, Magpie jumped on top of him, locking her legs around Batman’s neck. With a laugh, she raised both of her hands up, and plunged all ten of her claws deeply on Batman’s back. Batman yelled out, pain running all over his entire body. He dug into his belt quickly, and pulled out the first thing he grabbed, a flat small hexagonal looking disc, which he then stuck onto Magpie’s hip. Then, it activated, sending an electric shock all over Magpie, making her howl in pain, as well as loosening her leg lock around his neck. As that happened, Batman grabbed hold of her leg, and immediately yanked her off of him and slammed her into the ground.
Before she could even have the chance to get back up again, Batman immediately went and pinned her to the floor, pinning her neck with his lower right arm and putting his entire body weight against her. This time she’s not going anywhere, and Batman was right about that. As much as Magpie struggled, she couldn’t get Batman off of her, now he can ask her questions.
“Talk, now.” Batman growled. “Before I crush your windpipe entirely.”
“Threatening a lady like me, dear?” Magpie muttered. “And here I was holding on to hope that you’d be a gentleman. Instead, I get another brute-”
Batman pushed his lower arm further down onto her neck, making her choke. “Talk. I know you’re not with Maroni, so why are you and your men pretending like you all are? Who do you work for?”
“Now, now, dear. A lady like me has the right not to tell-” Magpie was cut off again by Batman putting more pressure, her neck starting to hurt and the air from her lungs dropping lower and lower. “But if you insist, here’s a little hint. I work for Gotham’s new criminal emperor.”
“Who are they?” Batman snarled.
“FREEZE!” a voice yelled out, flashing their light at him and Magpie.
“Holy shit, he’s real.” one of the newcomers muttered in shock.
“Hands up!” another voice shouted.
Batman looked to his left and saw them. GCPD officers, and one dark skinned bald Police Chief with a short boxed beard. One Chief James W. “Jim” Gordon Sr. All of them aimed their guns at Batman, all but Gordon though one of his hands hovered just a few inches away from the gun on his holster.
“Don’t shoot! No one fires without my say!” Gordon barked at his officers, holding his other arm out to signal them to stop. Then, he looked straight ahead at Batman and Magpie. “Batman, by the order of the GCPD, you’re under arrest. Hands up now, we’re taking you in along with these people.”
Batman only narrowed his eyes in response, then looked again at Magpie, ignoring the officers. “Who are they, Magpie?” he asked again, his voice clearly running out of patience. He pressed further, it would just be so easy to crush her throat.
“I’ll tell you. Only if you say, "pretty please.” she said teasingly and mockingly through her choking. Batman met her with silence in response. “Ugh, you’re so utterly rude, aren’t you, dear. Oh well, at least I had fun, but I’m leaving now. You might want to tell our friends to move.” she laughed loudly.
Batman tilted his head in response, confused. Then he looked at her hand. 3 fingers. 3, 2… She’s counting down.
“GET DOWN!” Batman yelled out, jumping off of Magpie and onto Gordon, both men falling to the floor.
The wall had burst open as an armored truck came crashing through. Debris and dust flew everywhere. Batman was the first to get up, seeing Magpie walk over to the truck, then she leapt and hung on to the car’s side-view mirror.
“It’s been a blast, dearies! But I really have to go now.” Magpie said, looking at the GCPD officers, and blowing out a kiss to them. “Maroni says hi.” she said as the truck backpedalled and then drove off. Officers began shooting, but she had already escaped.
Batman cursed internally, then winced. He was starting to really feel the amount of pain that was radiating all over him. Just what the hell was that.
“Dammit, she got away.” Gordon muttered as he got back up. “Well, at least we have you.” he said as he looked at Batman, the two staring at each other down intensely. “You’re still under arrest. Give yourself up, now.”
Batman only stared, then he grabbed hold of his grapple gun, aiming at the broken skylight, then firing.
“Stop him now, but don’t shoot!” Gordon yelled out.
Two of the nearest officers jumped at Batman, trying to tackle him and drag him before he could zip away. They were unsuccessful. As Batman was almost halfway to the skylight, he heard a gun shot, and felt a sharp pain at his back. A bullet had him through one of the stab wounds on his back. But luckily, Batman had made it to the skylight, and he ran off after his boots hit the rooftop.
“God damn it, I said don’t shoot!” Gordon shouted in frustration at the officer near him, yanking their gun away.
“How do I look, Alfred?” Bruce said, presenting himself in front of Alfred.
Alfred looked over at Bruce’s attire. A black dress shirt, yellow tie, navy blue suit and pair of slacks, and black dress shoes. “Like someone no one would expect to be a beaten up vigilante.”
“Good, that’s what I’m going for anyways.” Bruce said in response. The two shared a short soft laugh amongst themselves, before it quickly died off.
Alfred sighed. “Bruce, tonight has been, well, eventful seems to be putting it too lightly. I don’t think it’s quite a good idea for you to do this after what just happened a few hours ago. You’re clearly still in a lot of pain.”
“Nothing a few pain killers can’t handle, Al.”
“Hm, yes. Should I also start preparing myself for when you get addicted to them or has that bridge already been crossed?”
Bruce only looked at him in response.
“Sorry, sir.” Alfred replied. “Old habits die hard. But you know I’m just worried for you.”
Bruce smiled warmly. It almost made him feel a little bit better, like his entire body wasn’t still in a lot of pain. “I know, Al. But Batman has already done his part. Now, it’s Bruce Wayne’s turn. Besides,” he said, walking over to the doors. “I made a promise to a friend.”
Alfred looked at Bruce. Still concerned, but he still managed to smile warmly back to him. “Very well then, sir. Good luck, Bruce.”
“Thanks, Alfred.” Bruce said, before turning back to the two doors, letting out a sigh of anticipation and slight fatigue. “I’m really gonna need it.” he muttered softly to himself, as he pushed both doors open.
Tonight, Batman can rest now. Tonight, Bruce Wayne can go to his most dangerous job yet. Hosting a gala, attended by many of Gotham’s biggest and most influential people, in honor of a friend. A friend running for Gotham’s new mayor for this election. A friend by the name of Harvey Dent.