Batman:
Batman:
Confession
By Matthew Fink
Shamus O'Connor hated being out this late at night. If it were up to him he would have been in bed three hours ago dreaming about that sexy blonde at the Ice Pick. But here he was at three o'clock in the morning; in a dark alley, in the worst part of Gotham City. "Just part of being a brother in the O'Connor Crime Family," he thought to himself. Reaching down to the ground he felt the leather bag full of cocaine ready to meet with the local dealers and settle up for the night. Shamus had never actually tried the stuff. He had known people who were addicts and it scared him to death to think of what would happen to him in that state. His cousin Michael had been an addict and it had gotten him killed. "That's what happens when you steal a shipment from the family, you end up dead," he thought to himself. Checking his watch again he wondered what could be taking the dealers so long to meet with him. "They better not have met with the Italians or Russians," he spoke to himself. He checked his watch again and thought, "If they don't get here soon I'm outta here."
Five stories above on a fire escape peering down into the alley a lonely dark figure was thinking something similar. Over the last couple of months the man known to criminals as the Batman had stopped many small time drug dealers. He was tired of dealing with low level thugs and wanted to stop the flow of illegal substance rolling through his city. For the past few weeks he has been interrogating and investigating who it was that smuggled narcotics into his city. There were three major parties that he discovered covering most of Gotham: The Falcone Family, The Russian Mafia, and the O'Connor Crime Family. After much debating he decided to go after the O'Connor's first. They were the weakest link in this deadly trio because they were relatively new to Gotham City and hadn't had a chance to make many connections in the GCPD. So here Batman was crouching five stories up waiting for the local dealers to get their shipment from Shamus O'Connor. While waiting Batman looked around and did some calculations about his descent to the alley floor. He had jumped from much higher buildings but this was a relatively narrow alley with only one way out. He deduced that he could jump out and spread his cape to ¾ of its full length. As he was calculating this a small smile crossed his face. He still couldn't believe that he had a cape. When his faithful butler Alfred had first suggested it the idea made Batman laugh out loud; something he rarely did, and say, "Never in a million years." Finally after much coercing from Alfred, Batman gave in and decided to try it out. He has not regretted it since. The cape added a certain element that had been missing during those first few nights out on patrol. It added to his presence in a way that made him look more demonic towards his adversaries which gave him a psychological edge that helped him persevere over his opponents. Going over the calculations one more time he crouched in silence waiting for the dealers to arrive.
Shamus was just getting ready to leave when the locals started to show. He was waiting on ten dealers all with money for him and for their supply. As he looked now only nine showed up. "Where the hell is Tommy," Shamus asked? The dealers all looked a little nervous and Shamus' face grew red with anger. "WHERE THE HELL IS HE IT'S 3:30 IN THE GODDAMNED MORNING," he yelled. One of the dealers finally got enough courage to speak up stuttering the whole time, "well I heard that The Bat got him." The other dealers nodded in agreement and all it did was piss Shamus off more. For the last few months every criminal in Gotham had been spouting rumors about a giant bat that was running around and kicking the crap out of them. Personally he thought it was an urban legend. Tommy had probably gotten picked up by the cops. "Fine whatever lets just get this done," he stated feeling really tired and aggravated.
Looking down at the scene playing out before him Batman got ready to strike. He poised himself and made ready to jump. Shamus O'Connor opened the leather bag and pulled out smaller zip lock bags filled with what Batman suspected was cocaine. As soon as the first dealer pulled out a wad of hundreds Batman leaped from his position extending his cape to ¾ capacity falling five stories to hit the ground. He rolled with the impact and before anyone knew what was happening he came to the first dealer immediately knocked him out with an open palm strike. He then simultaneously kicked dealer two in the chest while flinging a bolo at Shamus effectively trapping him in the alley. Dealer three pulled a knife and was ready to attack. Batman saw him coming and as dealer three stabbed at him Batman sidestepped. He caught dealer three's arm and broke it. Dealer three hollered in pain as Batman threw dealer four on top of him knocking them both out. Dealer five now having a clear shot pulled his 357. Magnum out and took aim, but Batman was already in action throwing a bat shaped shuriken into dealer five's hand while jumping at him with a flying side kick. Dealer five hit the alley wall with the impact of a tree falling and was immediately knocked out. Dealer six wanting no part of the Batman tried to run passed only to be knocked unconscious from a clothesline sending him into a three-sixty before landing on the alley floor. Batman looked at the last three dealers who were almost soiling themselves with fear. "He aint human," dealer seven said. Dealer eight nodded in agreement but dealer nine wasn't listening, he was too busy praying for his soul and promising to change his ways if God saved him from the demon he thought the Batman was. Speaking in a low primal voice Batman spoke to the three men, "Surrender to the police and testify against the O'Connor's or you'll regret it." Both men listening nodded in agreement and as Dealer nine finished his prayers so did he. With that Batman turned to the still bound Shamus O'Connor.
Shamus looked at the carnage around him. Nine men taken out in a matter of seconds by one man, only as he looked towards the horned silhouette of the Batman he decided that no human being could have done what he did. All the rumors were true, the Batman was a demon sent from Hell to collect the souls Satan was ready for. As Batman approached all Shamus decided he could do was go out with dignity and not help Batman to get to his family. Batman was nearly on top of Shamus now and as he bent over Shamus could swear he smelt death itself. He had half heard what Batman had said before due to the shock of what had occurred but now when he spoke it sounded as though Hell itself were speaking to him. "Tell me how and to whom your family is smuggling drugs into Gotham," Batman demanded. All that Shamus had the strength to say was, "you'll get nothing from me ya demon." Then there was nothing but blackness.
Batman grabbed the unconscious Shamus and lifted him onto his shoulders. He knew that the dealer's testimony would not be enough to get a conviction for the O'Connor Family. The only way that would happen would be if one of their own rolled on them. Batman shot a grapple from his gas powered gun and raised both himself and Shamus on an adjoining building. He took out a palm pilot from his belt and looked up Shamus rap sheet. Glancing through it he saw a short stint in New York's Bellevue Mental Hospital. Reading on he discovered that Shamus had been in a near fatal plane crash and was now deathly afraid of heights. According to his file after the accident he couldn't even look out the window of a two story building without having an episode. Batman now knew what he had to do.
When Shamus awoke he found that he was still tied up, it took a couple of seconds for him to realize where he was. He was hanging upside down from the top of Gotham Tower, the tallest building in the whole city. He screamed as loud as he could looking around wildly and finally setting his eyes on the demonic form of the Batman. The Batman seemed so calm and cool even at this height as though he wasn't afraid of falling off at all. Batman looked at Shamus with hate in his eyes and spoke once again with the voice of Satan, "Are you ready to talk?" Shamus tried to close his eyes and think of his family, he found the strength he needed deep inside himself it wasn't much but it was all he could muster. "Go to Hell," he screamed. The Batman turned to him and smiled, "you first." The next thing Shamus knew he was falling. He screamed for as long and as loud he could crying and screaming until he realized he wasn't falling anymore.
Batman only let Shamus fall four of the tower's ninety-five floors but to Shamus it must have seemed like an eternity. Batman hated this part of this work. He didn't enjoy scaring people but he realized it was a necessary part of his life as Batman. Criminals were more likely to confess and to make mistakes if they were terrified of him. So he readied his voice for another volley at Shamus hoping that this time he would crack.As he looked into the face of Shamus O'Connor he knew that Shamus was ready to confess to killing President Kennedy or to whatever it was Batman wanted, and Batman wanted the O'Connor Crime Family.
Two hours later Shamus O'Connor awoke to see a police badge right in his face. The Id on the badge read Lt. James Gordon. He overheard Gordon talking to someone behind him and then he turned to face Shamus. "Looks like you've been through Hell son," Gordon said. Shamus thought for a second and said to Lt. Gordon, "Sir I would like to make a confession."