This is my first attempt at writing a Batman storyline. Basically, pretend TDKR never happened, although, there will be spoilers if you have yet to see it. I took a little artistic license with Barbara's character, although I tried my best to base her off how she's been portrayed in movies, shows and the comics. It does involve Bane, but not in the way he was used in the TDKR.
The only character I own is Hanna von Krieg. Everything else belongs to DC and Christopher Nolan.
Berlin, Germany.
The sound of gravel crushing beneath boots echoed through the vast empty alleyway as a figure in a thick fur hooded coat made their way into a large building. It looked worn down and abandoned to the naked eye, but as the figure approached, a small part of the door slid open and an eye appeared, followed by a muffled whisper.
The figure snapped back something in response in German, and after a brief moment, the heavy iron door slid open, revealing a large empty floor with only a man dressed head to toe in black, completed with a black beanie.
"He has been waiting for you, dumme Schlampe."
The figure tilted their head to one side and pulled off their ushanka, revealing long pale blond hair. The girl smirked devilishly at the guard.
"Now, no need for language." she cooed wickedly. Her eyes took in the emptiness with curious interest. The man muttered something in German that made her chuckle, and she fixed him with a gleeful leer.
"As entertaining as this is, Austerlitz is not a patient man. Take me to the doctor."
The guard stiffened at the German name and told her to follow him as he quickly led her to a metal gate at the end of the room. He slid it open. It was a small elevator.
Neither spoke as the elevator creaked and moaned, dropping down floor after floor. The building hadn't been used in years; once an old factory that was left to ruins during the second World War. But beneath the ground revealed a colossal laboratory. In the middle of several tables was a tiny man in a white lab coat with graying hair and thin, round glasses.
When the elevator doors slid open, the woman strutted out, but the man stayed in, quickly shutting the doors and returning upstairs.
The woman glanced behind her and then smirked, looking back forward.
"You have done quite a nice job with the place, Doctor Azarov. He must be pleased."
The doctor looked up at her and gave her a tired smile. "Miss von Krieg, welcome."
Hanna von Krieg walked out to join the doctor in the middle of his lab. Surrounding him, several others in similar lab coats worked quickly and diligently on their projects, ignoring the exchange going on.
"I doubt I need to tell you why I am here." she said, placing her hat on the table behind the doctor. He nodded gravely and motioned toward the conglomerate of tubes and bottles of chemicals on the table.
"This is the project," his English was phenomenal, though his Russian brogue was thick. Hanna eyed a spread of papers with details about the project the doctor had been working on. She grasped one off the desk and read through the information quickly.
"And does it work?" she whispered excitedly.
The doctor paused for a moment, contemplating his words. He'd been working with the organization long enough to know who he was talking to. Words would have to be chosen careful around people like Hanna von Krieg.
"It is not completely finished, but the results so far have been satisfactory."
"How long till it can be used?" Hanna asked, glancing up at the doctor. He smiled.
"Two, perhaps three weeks. It is most pertinent that we get the chemical balance right."
Hanna nodded understandingly and fixed the doctor with a smile of her own. "You've done quite well, Doctor. I will give my reports to Austerlitz that I am pleased."
Hearing this, the doctor seemed to visibly relax. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
"My sincerest gratefulness, Fraulein von Krieg."
Hanna's smile widened. "But, of course, doctor."
Gotham City, USA
John Blake woke up in a cold sweat.
He'd had the dream again; the one where his father looked up at him, his eyes cold and empty, filling him only one question: why? Why had it been him? Why had his mother been taken from him? Why was there so much injustice in the world?
It had been the main reason he'd chosen to become a cop. Even as a child, he'd understood that the world was an ugly, unfair place, littered with crime and malfeasance. His mother had been killed because a man broke the law and got behind the wheel drunk. His father had been shot by some thugs due to a gambling debt – another breach of the law.
Gotham was a city full of crime. He wanted to make things right, fix things in Gotham. And when the Batman had appeared, he knew that it was his calling. He was meant to save Gotham from its downward spiral into darkness, however he could.
He pulled himself out of bed and decided that a shower was exactly what he needed. As the water cascaded down his back he closed his eyes and tried to relax. He'd achieved his dreams. He was a proud member of the Gotham City Police Department now. Just like Bruce Wayne, he, the lowly orphan, was now one of Gotham's finest. He was making a change.
He quickly washed his face, hair and body before the water could turn cold. As glorious as it was to be one of Gotham's defenders, he was till a rookie beat cop, and cops in Gotham just didn't get paid that great. He made just enough for his small, simple one bedroom apartment, a used car that was at least ten years old, with just enough left over for frozen dinners and Ramen noodles.
John changed into his uniform, admiring the way it made him look...tougher, more dangerous. He'd never been that big of a guy, and even when he was in the Academy, he wasn't ever at the top of his class. He wasn't that good of a marksman, and he wasn't that fast. But, he'd always been quick on his feet, and sharper than most of his peers. He could deduce more than even the highest placed students could. And he had more determination than most.
Nodding once at his reflection, he left his room, grabbed his keys and headed down the stairs to his car.
Gotham was one of those cities that never slept.
Barbara Gordon remembered that from when she was a child. She used to look out her window, see how the lights of the city lit up the sky, and pretend that she was part of it all.
As she got older, she started understanding it more. She realized that Gotham wasn't nearly as light and happy as she'd imagined. Crime in Gotham was nothing new; there was always something sinister about. It was really a dark place, littered with crime and chaos. It wasn't something she could easily ignore, not as a police officer's daughter, and as she stared up at the bright lights blinking about the city for the first time in almost three years, she was eerily reminded of being a child.
Being back in Gotham was strange. She'd spent the past three years in Massachusetts, working on a degree in Criminal Forensics at Clark University, and had returned upon hearing about her parents' separation.
She was still angry with her mother. How could she pack her bags and leave her father alone in the big city? And to drag her little brother along. Barbara knew all the pains that came with having a cop in the family. She, too, spent countless nights tossing and turning when he wouldn't come home till early in the morning, wondering if something had happened to him. She understood her mother's heartache, how angry and tired she must have been after that madman had kidnapped her mother and brother to bait her father. But she couldn't see justification in her actions. Her father was a hero, and it seemed like no one ever appreciated him for that.
Strange as it was, she was happy to be back. Her father hadn't wanted her to come, but she'd assured him that she could easily finish her education at Gotham University, and she was already offered a job working on computers at the Wayne Technical Research Center in the city.
Glancing down at her watch, she realized that it was almost time to leave for her first day of classes. Her family's modest little home was nearly across the city, and if she wanted to beat traffic, she'd need to leave immediately.
As she went to drop her empty mug of coffee in the sink, her father strolled in, fixing the collar of his dress shirt.
"I've got to run, but there's some coffee in the pot if you want some." Barbara said, motioning toward the coffee pot. She knew her father could never turn down a cup in the morning, just like she knew he couldn't turn down a beer in the evening. The two had always got along swimmingly. She'd always been a daddy's girl, and the two easily fell into place when she moved back in.
"I'll definitely need it. Today they're making the arrangements for Harvey Dent day. There's a board meeting for all the city's officials and for some reason they need me there." Her father grumbled, walking over to the cabinet to pull out his favorite black and yellow mug.
Barbara grimaced. Harvey Dent had always been a sore spot for her father, and she didn't blame him. She didn't much like the guy either, knowing what so few of other Gotham citizens knew. He'd been there, the night her mother and brother had been kidnapped. And everyone thought he'd tried to help them.
Unease pooled in her stomach as she remembered that night eight years ago. She had been fifteen, away at a slumber party at the time. She often imagined that she had been the one home that night. Would her feelings about her mother's departure be different?
"Comes with the territory of being the Commissioner, I suppose. You've got to kiss a lot of ass."
Her father rolled his eyes sardonically, but cracked a smile. "Its pure politics."
Barbara grinned back at him and leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek. As she pulled her coat over her shoulders, she told him to behave and not to work too hard at pleasing the big, bad businessmen, and strode out the door.
"Dammit," Barbara cursed as she slammed on her breaks for the third time. Gotham had always been a busy place, but she hadn't remembered there being so much traffic at eight in the morning. She'd have to figure out a back route or something, or else commuting to and from school would be a major pain.
A bus pulled out further down the road, and another car had to slam on their breaks to avoid hitting it. What is with this city?, she wondered exasperatedly. No one seemed to be paying attention to where they were going, everyone was absorbed in their own little worlds.
"That's Gotham for you." she grumbled as the light finally turned green. Glancing down at her car's clock, she cursed when she realized she was going to be late. Barbara Gordon was a very punctual person. She'd never slept through and alarm clock, and she'd never been tardy from a class, even when she was away at school. She was the type of kid who showed up to class early, who was awarded employee of the month for her great punctuality and behavior at work. Being late was like failure – it wasn't an option. That was the Gordon way.
Thoroughly annoyed at the slugging traffic, Barbara pressed down on her gas, until her car was speeding down a less busy road. She was easily breaking the speed limit, probably a few other laws, so she was more annoyed than surprised when a flash of blue and red lit up behind her.
Pulling over, she mentally berated herself for being silly enough to speed just to make it to class. Now, not only was she going to be late, but she was going to have a ticket, as well.
Way to go, Commissioner's daughter.
As the officer slammed his door shut and sauntered over to her car, Barbara reached over to her glove compartment to pull out her registration, and grabbed her wallet from her purse.
She rolled down the window just as the officer approached.
"Good morning, officer." She said with the politeness and respect that one expected from a cop's daughter.
The officer was a grim faced man with a port belly and graying hair. He fixed Barbara with a commanding look, the type of expression cops wore in movies and television shows, a look that meant business.
"Good morning, ma'am. Did you realize that you were going twenty miles over the speed limit?" He asked gruffly, puffing up like a cheesy interpretation of a 'bad cop' on Law & Order. His eyes glanced over to the side, and that was when she noticed the other officer standing a few feet behind him.
"No, sir." she half-lied. She hadn't exactly been looking down at her speedometer.
The cop wrinkled his nose disgruntled, and shook his head. "We take speeding seriously here in Gotham, young lady."
Barbara refrained from rolling her eyes, and noticed that the cop behind – Officer Sanderson – was trying to do the same.
"Yes, sir. Its my first time back in the city. I'll try to mind my speed." She kept her tone polite, but saw a small smile appear on the younger officer's face.
Officer Sanderson eyed her wearily before asking for her license and registration. He grabbed them from her in a grubby hand and marched back to his vehicle, not before stopping to mutter something to the other officer.
Once he was gone, the younger cop stepped forward. He gave her a warm, friendly smile.
"You'll have to excuse him. He hasn't exactly mastered his bad cop routine."
Barbara shuddered. "He's not exactly a morning person, is he?" She glanced in her rear-view mirror. "He's not gonna find anything. I don't have any warrants out for my arrest."
The officer laughed heartily, and Barbara noticed how his eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled. His name tag read Blake, and she'd been around the GCPD long enough to know that the little silver star with the broad points meant he was a regular patrolman.
"Are you new into town?" He asked.
"No, but its the first time I've been back in three years. I was a student at Clark University. I transferred here to be closer to my dad." She said by ways of explanation. He nodded and glanced back at Officer Sanderson, who was already getting out of his car and stalking back toward them.
This time, his expression was less foreboding, a touch friendlier.
"Sorry about that, Miss Gordon. We're obligated to stop anyone going over the speed limit. You understand."
Officer Blake's eyes widened a fraction as he looked back to her.
She had grown accustomed to that kind of reaction when people found out her father was Commissioner Gordon. Kids at school knew her as 'the daughter of that Police Commissioner, from the dangerous city'. She'd learned to shrug it off. But, suddenly, she felt very out of place.
"It's-it's fine," she responded. "I'm glad to know that GCPD is doing their job. I'm a cop's daughter, I should have known better."
Officer Blake flashed another smile. Sanderson looked proud.
"Of course, ma'am." He tipped his hat and sent Barbara on her way. She waved at the younger cop who smiled back, and rolled up her window, sighing in relief.
Today was not her day.
Well, there. The first chapter. I hope that everyone likes it as much as I do so far. It picks up, I promise. We'll get to see what we only got a snippet of in TDKR. Sort of what we got in Batman & Robin (with Chris O'Donnel.) When writing this, I had an image of Emma Stone as Barbara Gordon. I know a lot of people see her in that role as well (despite her being in Spiderman.) Anyway, reviews would be most appreciated.