Note: written for the Free-For-All-Fic-For-All at the AskTheSquishykins tumblr.
Prompt: Batman nearly breaks his one rule on Jonathan?
All glory to the Techie for for inspiring the very literal direction of this ficlet.
When on the run from Batman, a man took shelter where he could. Even if it wasn't somewhere he construed as "safe."
Lots of people took comfort in the church. Took strength in their faith. Jonathan Crane was not one of those people.
But he didn't want to be thrown off a building, be dunked in the river, or end up with a punctured lung from another boot to the ribs, so he slipped through the unlocked door of the Sunday school classroom and pressed himself tight against the wall, under a display of ten wooden plaques proclaiming each of the Ten Commandments.
If he were a praying man, he would have prayed that Batman hadn't seen him. But he wasn't. And Batman had.
The door slammed open with enough force to knock one of the plaques off the wall. It glanced off the top of Crane's head and dropped right into his hand.
It was heavy. He threw it at Batman, readying his toxin with his other hand, but he hadn't counted on Batman being able to catch it.
The Dark Knight swung the object back at Crane's head, hard enough to knock him into the wall, then to the floor. He was out cold.
Batman tossed the plaque aside and knelt to cuff the criminal's hands behind his back. When Crane stayed limp, he cursed and took his glove off to feel for a pulse. Not because he wanted to, but because he had to.
The piece of wood was split down the middle, but the words were still intact, gleaming faintly in the light from the window.
Thou shalt not kill.