Hello all who are reading this piece o' trash. I don't own the rights to Batman or Diehard. It'd be nice if I did but I don't. If any parties reading this want to sue me go right ahead, I dare ya. Good luck getting any money from my sorry broke a*s. lol. Since all of you probably came here to read this and not my inane rambling, I'll shut up now and leave you alone.
Die Hard: Gotham Knight
Finally he was getting his life back together. He was getting back together with his wife after what seemed like an eternity and was moving back to his family. He did not like to admit it but he could not live without them. It was thee reason why he had become an alcoholic and got suspended from his job at the NYPD. Now he was sobered up and no longer working in New York City, having transferred to another department in another city where his family had moved to. His old department was both glad to see him leave and sad to see him go. Even though he was a major pain in the butt on a regular basis, he had come through on a number of cases, especially one in particular that had made all the headlines. That was behind him now as he put his seat and tray table in an upright position for landing at Gotham International Airport.
"John, over here!" shouted a woman who he knew by heart. Picking up his bags he walked on over and gave her a kiss.
"Its been a while Holly…."
"Yes it has, I've missed you"
"You could have come and saw me in New York, you know." He said, stupidly bringing up a sore subject as usual, starting a fight that he did not want have again.
"I've haven't had the time, I've been working hard to get where I was today." she said, annoyed by his comment. "By the way, I thought you weren't gonna try and bring back old arguments again. You didn't fly all the way out here just to start fighting."
"Sorry…. Its just that old habits are hard to break"
"Ya… I know. We have promised each other that we would try not argue any more." Holly said with a sigh. "I guess we'll just have to try harder then."
"I'm sure we can change things if we try hard enough Holly" John said laying a hand on her shoulder. "Come on its not like our life is scripted by some no talent hack who keeps using the same hackneyed plot over and over…. By the way, where are the kids…?" John said changing the subject.
"It's past their bedtime an you know it."
"Not by much. Couldn't you have extended it a little."
"It's a school night and they need their rest. They will just have to see you tomorrow." She said with a smile. "Speaking of sleep, I bet you're a bit tired after your fight. I already have a room made up back at the house."
"That sounds good." John said as he picked up his bags and walked towards the exit. "Lets go."
"Oh by the way, do you mind if we make a slight detour? I need to pick up some papers I left in my office." Said Holly
"I guess not, its not like were in a hurry." John said looking out the window at the skyscrapers that lined the streets in Gotham. As they drove along the streets he could see the people that walked them. He watched as people went along with their lives. Men, women, businessmen, blue-collar workers, hookers, homeless people… they were all there milling amongst each other. Criminals also walked these streets. This city had some of the highest crime rates in America, even higher than New York City or so the statistics say. He thought about the work that he had ahead of him and watched it play out on the streets, seeing a lowlife snatch a woman's purse and take of running down an ally. This place definitely did not shelter people from the harsh reality of life. It was brutally honest.
"Umm….. Holly, I forgot to ask you. Why did you choose to leave LA anyway?"
"There was many reasons why. One reason was that I got an incredible job offer here but the main reason was because none of us could live in peace after that incident at Nakatomi. I thought that we would get our fifteen minutes of fame and live would get back to normal. Sure the publicity died down a little bit but it was still there. It wouldn't go away. It was kept alive by people trying to milk it for all it was worth. Book deals, TV shows, there was even talk about a movie in the works. It was too much for the kids and me to handle so we decided to leave, and try to put the past behind us."
"So who you working for now?"
"The company is owned by your usual billionaire. Nice guy, a bit odd though."
"Why's that?"
"Well you know, dark, mysterious, always rescheduling meetings, running off and disappearing. Your usual eccentric billionaire behavior. The problem is, he's a bit odd for even a billionaire.
"What do you mean?"
"It has to do with his night life. The thing is that its almost like he's up all night. You should see how much coffee he drinks. He probably drinks a half-dozen pots a day. I'm telling you, it's not healthy."
"You worry to much. Whatever he does at night is his business, that's how I see it.
"Whatever John…….Well anyway were here" Holly Said as she drove into a parking garage next to a tall skyscraper that rose up into the night and displayed its corporate initials, W and E. Not having to look far, due to the fact that most people had gone home already, they found a parking spot. She shut off the car and as she was getting out she said "You can come on in if you want. It might take a couple minutes"
"K" was his response, getting out and following her out of the parking garage while she took the small black object that was attached to her key chain, pointed it over her shoulder an pressing a button. He heard the car honk behind them as they walked exited the garage.
As they entered the main lobby, John saw a long desk with surveillance monitors on it and watching those monitors there was a security guard watching them. Looking up from the screens, he looked up to greet the people who had arrived. The guard, who John determined was Robert by the nametag, had a pastry well know to the police force and had obviously packed away quite a bit of them due to his build. The guard put down the donut he was eating next to his coffee that was resting nearby and rose from his chair.
"What are you doing here this late, working late again?" He said
"Not really, just getting some stuff that I left in my office. Oh by the way… I'd like you to meet my husband John."
"Nice to meet you." the man said extending his hand
"Likewise" John said shaking it.
"He'll be coming with me up to the office if that's alright."
"Shouldn't be much of a problem"
"Thanks a lot Bob" She said and turned to walk towards the elevators.
It was a pitch black in the room up on the 83rd floor until the doorknob started turning and the door swung open casting light into it. Two silhouettes could be seen in the doorway as they entered and one reached over to the wall and flipped the light switch.
"Well, this is my office"
"Really, I though we were just breaking in to someone else's."
"Funny John, you should do stand up." Holly said dryly.
"Well excuse me for trying to bring a little humor into your life"
"A little good humor I appreciate, bad jokes on the other hand…"
"Ha ha, now where's that stuff you came here to get." He said looking around.
"Oh yeah, its over here." She said walking over and pulling one of the drawers of the filing cabinet open. Flipping through it she stopped and pulled a file out. "Got it" Turning around she saw that John was looking at her desk.
"What's this?" He said, pointing to the nameplate that read Holly Gennero.
"Oh that……" Holly said a bit ashamed. "I was meaning to change it, I just never got around to it with everything that has been happening as of late. I promise that I will put on the top of my list of things to do though. Now can we go" she said turning to leave.
Two people came walking up to the security guard taking his attention away from a basket ball game on TV that he switched his monitor to.
"Oh hi, what can I…" Bob said.
He was cut short as the unmistakable noise of a silencer was heard and Bob the security guard fell over in his seat with a with a fresh opening in his forehead. While one man went behind the desk to inspect the monitors, the other one lifted up a walkie talkie and spoke into it.
"The guard has been dealt with, the lobby is secure."
A few seconds later a van pulled up and a bunch of armed thugs poured out followed by disfigured man who appeared to be the ring leader. Opening the front doors they entered the building.
"There's still a few people working here right now, what should we do with them Two-face" said the man behind the security desk.
"Round up as much as you can, we might need them for hostages if things go awry. But we have to stick to our main goal which is their research lab though."
"And if we don't need the hostages….."
"We'll just have to let fate decide that one" Two-face said with a malicious grin, rolling a coin over in his hand.
"No we can't" he said. "We should make sure we get this all out here and now."
"But why can't we talk about this later John, we've gone over it already before" Holly said.
"Yes, but if we don't want to have this discussion again were gonna have to finish this now."
"Ok, fine" she said. "Truthfully I kept it for many reasons. I kept it because it was easier during the moving process, that and I didn't think we would be living under the same roof again. I wasn't gonna let my pride be hurt by you failing to commit to our relationship once more."
Letting out a sigh, John let her know that he understood. "I know what ya mean, with pride and all. Were both too much alike you and I. We both have too much pride. Neither one of us is willing to give in to the other. This is what it has been for so many years, neither side giving in to the other because of pride. Maybe this time we can somehow meet midway if our pride permits it."
"Ya have a point there and I'm sorry. Ill try to get my pride to wave the white flag but truthfully, but there's no guarantees. I'm not sure if It will work out this time but Ill try to make it work."
"Thanks, that's all I'm asking" John said with a grin. He wasn't expecting for this to be easy but he felt a little better that knowing that they had a chance.
Deciding that it was time they headed out, John and Holly set out to the elevator. Coming to a stop in front of it, and pushing the down button, they made idle chit chat waiting for the small electronic display to rise from 1 to 83.
"So how do you like it here, get to meet any annoying coworkers yet?"
"It's too early to tell right now but there seems to be a couple of pricks working here. Then again, its sort of expected. There's always somebody."
"Maybe you could introduce me to them and I can straiten them out for ya" he said giving a fake evil grin.
"We'll see John, but I think I can take care of them myself. I have my own ways" Holly said laughing.
"Just letting you know I'm always here to help….." John said cut of by the ding of the elevator.
As they turned there attention to the elevator doors opening they froze as they saw a man dressed in black ski mask aiming a shotgun at them and who proceeded to cock it to fire.