Knights and Guardians
Chapter 1
He was one with the darkness and shadows. His form blended with the walls and rooftops of his city. He was a lonely sentinel standing guard against injustice. When evil waged a war, he was vengeance. When enemies of truth drove for destruction, he was a Dark Knight. Lightning flashed, momentarily bringing light to the darkness, revealing the visage of a being whose name or face caused criminals to run in fear. A scowl seemed to be permanently etched on his face, the only thing visible of his face as his mask covered the rest. Horns seemed to rise from his head, but those were just a facsimile of ears of the creature whose name he had adopted. He was no demon; but neither was he a simple mortal man. He is the Batman.
The city seemed silent lately. That might be an odd and inaccurate description to a visitor. Police sirens wailed and echoed off the walls of the concrete jungle that was Gotham City. The occasional thunder cloud would sound off to accompany the lightning. A slight rain was falling and it would soon become a downpour, but Batman kept his vigil. Discomfort meant nothing to him. He had a job to perform and an oath to keep. The city seemed silent lately to him; his usual consortium of super villains were either locked up or keeping a low profile. That wouldn't last; it never did. His mission tonight was tracking a lead for a case of kidnappings that had been plaguing the city. Children of the Gotham affluent had been going missing for the past couple of weeks. They appeared random, with no discernible pattern presenting itself apart from the social status of the victims and their families. Batman was not just a knight and sentinel guarding the innocent; he was also the world's greatest detective.
Gotham wasn't the only city being victimized by the kidnappings. No one else had drawn the connection, but his intuition told him it was part of a larger scheme at work. Other cities around the world had been experiencing the same plague. Batman needed to find the cure. Hopefully tonight would give him a break in the case. His attention was drawn to a delivery truck turning down the alley he had been watching. Its boxed shape slowed as it came under his position. He drew his cape around him and crouched lower against the roof, causing his profile to go from difficult to see to near invisible. The truck parked and the passenger door opened, a man slipping out glancing around to ensure the security and isolation of the area. He nodded to himself content that was the case. "We're clear." He spoke back in the direction of the truck cab. The ignition was turned off and the driver exited on his side. The back door of the truck was pushed up, rolling up along its tracks, and three more men exited from the rear. They weren't alone.
Their newest victims were gagged. Rope tied their wrists, and a longer strand of rope connected their tied hands to a looser strand binding their feet. This enabled them to walk, but they wouldn't be able to run away. Two victims, mid-teens by appearance, a boy and a girl were escorted off the truck and walked toward the hood. Batman resisted the urge to jump down and rescue them immediately. He needed information. Who were the kidnappers? Who did they work for? Where were they taking the children? Those answers would come if he waited for the right time. Other than the gag and bindings, the children appeared to be in no immediate discomfort or threat of harm. The kidnappers obviously didn't want to harm "the merchandise." Ransom demands had been slow in coming, and for some nonexistent. If the situation changed and the children were threatened with harm it would be an easy matter for the Caped Crusader to dispatch the kidnappers, but until then he would wait.
The children and kidnappers alike shivered from the wet cold as they continued their brief walk forward. They walked past windows and doors toward the dead end in the alley. The brick wall rose up before them with no handholds or ladders. Batman silently moved to the far corner of his rooftop and just as silently lowered himself to a fire escape. He had been expecting them to enter one of the buildings. Since they had passed all obvious entrances something was unusual and he had to be ready to adjust his plans. With one last look around, the kidnappers pulled the children forward. One of them reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew something Batman couldn't make out. The kidnapper pointed it at the wall and a flash of light appeared out of nowhere evolving into something which appeared to be a spinning vortex. Batman waited no longer. Plans had changed.
He leapt from his hiding place while simultaneously throwing one of his infamous batarangs, a flat device with the outline of a bat which acted as both boomerang and shuriken (better known by their Western name of ninja throwing stars). The batarang hit the kidnapper closest to batman in the head knocking him cold. His partner was stunned for a second, seeing his co-conspirator fall, but turned in time to give a shout of warning as he saw the dark figure running toward him. It was too late for him. A single punch landed in just the right place landed him beside his partner. Two down, three to go; Batman continued his run toward the remaining kidnappers even as they all withdrew semiautomatic pistols from holsters hidden inside their coats. The lead kidnapper yelled in a language Batman couldn't understand, which in and of itself only deepened the mystery considering his mastery of linguistics. He dove, dodged, and rolled away from the bullets that came from the kidnappers guns. He sprung up at just the right moment delivering a fierce kick to the head of one and a punch to the face of the other.
One kidnapper remained. He held his pistol out pointing it to the head of one of the children. He yelled again in that unknown language. The whirling vortex of light remained open behind him as he walked backwards towards it, grabbing the girl and holding her close to his body with one arm while pointing his gun at her head with the other. Fear was apparent in her eyes. The boy had moved off as quickly as his tied feet would allow, and pressed himself against the wall of one of the alley's buildings.
"Not another step!" the kidnapper yelled at Batman finally speaking English with a slight unknown accent. "I will shoot her." Batman paused, momentarily considering his options. Another batarang was concealed in his hand ready to be delivered at the first opening. The kidnapper inched closer to the vortex and suddenly turned, picking the girl up as if she weighed nothing and began a sprint toward the tunnel of light. That was the opening. Batman threw the batarang. It was right on target connecting with the back of the kidnapper's head. His gun hand had changed directions, away from the girl and had been pointing down, and a bullet discharged into the asphalt. Batman moved with a speed defying his large muscular frame, reaching the kidnapper and victim in seconds. He shoved the girl aside and brought a knee forcefully up into the stomach of the kidnapper, followed by an elbow driving down into his skull. The kidnapper slumped to the ground joining his partners in a loss of consciousness.
Batman turned to face the two victims ready to offer any medical aid immediately necessary. The vortex shimmered as out of it walked three more beings, not human. They raised devices at Batman, which he correctly took as weapons, and fired. Batman quickly dodged the pulsing light belching from the new weapons. They had plasma weapons. More tools in Batman's inventory were quickly drawn from the ever present utility belt worn around his waist. The gas and smoke pellets would serve to momentarily disorient his newest opponents as they exploded in pops of vapor. They didn't serve their purpose as efficiently as he hoped. One of the aliens was able to reach the girl and grab her, raising her to his shoulder as he retreated to the vortex; while his comrades maintained cover fire keeping Batman from being able to reach them.
The three aliens retreated into the vortex, carrying their victim with them. Batman had no choice. He had to pursue. He spoke into the air, knowing the open channel of his communication device would pick up his voice and transmit to the receiver on the other end, while running at full sprint toward the vortex which was quickly growing smaller. He needed help with this one, a rare occurrence and even rarer admission.
"Alfred. National City. D-E-O. Get J'onn Jones." Those were the last words he spoke without bothering to wait for an acknowledgment of his order. He jumped feet first into the closing vortex. Within seconds, the alley was once again dark; the vortex had closed taking Batman, the kidnapped girl, and the unknown aliens with it. The alley was dark and silent only for a minute. Gotham City Police were quickly on the scene with lights and sirens blaring as their patrol vehicles pulled up behind the abandoned kidnappers' truck. The unconscious kidnappers were quickly handcuffed with their hands behind their back, while a couple officers attended to the boy whose eyes were wide with shock and his body trembling from both the shock of this evenings events as well as the cold rain which continued to pour.
A gray haired man in a trench coat stepped out of another arriving patrol vehicle and surveyed the scene. He was James Gordon, Gotham City Police Commissioner. While the other officers busied themselves with securing the crime scene, taking criminals into custody, and attempting to comfort the boy; Commissioner Gordon's attention was on the rooftops. He looked at every rooftop corner, wall window, and fire escape visible to him. He knew what he was looking for, or rather for whom. Usually Batman would stick around just for a moment to ensure all was safely being wrapped up, but Gordon could see no sign of his longtime friend and ally against crime. He sighed and tightened his coat closer to try and keep out some of the wet cold. His officers had things handled here. He got back into his car and pulled away from the alley, passing an ambulance whose EMTs would see to the medical needs of the boy and transport him to a hospital where he would be reunited with his parents. It was a small victory, very small, but one he would take. It was the first time any of the kidnappings had been foiled in the act, and now they had some suspects to question. Hopefully, new leads would be brought to light and this kidnapping ring brought to justice. He hoped Batman was already on the scent. He didn't know how close to the truth that hope actually was.
* * * * * * *
Alfred Pennyworth was a man of distinguished bearing and service. His job as butler to the richest family in Gotham had brought a life of joy and challenges. He had first served under Dr. Thomas Wayne, M.D. and helped raise Dr. Wayne's only son, Bruce. That aspect of his job had taken a sudden turn when one night Dr. Wayne and his wife, Martha, had been gunned down in an alley. Bruce had been accompanying them that night and was left as a witness to his parent's murder. That incident had changed the course of young Bruce's life. He grew up not as normal boys do with hopeful dreams and ambitions, but with dreams and ambitions of dark justice. Bruce decided to avenge his parents' death and do his best to ensure no one else had to suffer as he did. Bruce Wayne used his family fortune, and physical and mental skill to become The Batman. Alfred was not only Bruce's butler, but his first confidant. He had known the secret of The Batman since the beginning; and served in whatever capacity he was needed, whether as medic, mechanic, inventor, and on the list went. Tonight he was in Bruce's secret lair, the Bat Cave—hidden in a natural cave beneath the family estate of Wayne Manor, monitoring the computers and communications for tonight's operation.
He had been following Batman's progress throughout the night, and his coordinates via encrypted Global Positioning System courtesy of a Wayne Enterprise satellite. Alfred had placed an anonymous call to the Gotham City Police alerting them of the situation in the alley. That was the reason they had arrived so quickly. Unfortunately, that GPS could not provide a location to Batman's current position. He frowned as he attempted to reboot the system and circumnavigate any errors which might be present. Everything came back clear and operational. The satellite was functioning perfectly. Where then was Master Bruce? He played back the last communication he had received. "Alfred. National City. D-E-O. Get…." The feed had abruptly ended, cutting off what the Dark Knight had been about to say. That was the only lead, and one he had to follow. Well, not he himself exactly; there were others for that job. Batman didn't always work alone. Through the years he had worked alongside several partners. They were the ones who would do the actual leg work for this mission. They were guardians of Gotham just as Batman was. If the Bat Cave could be considered a Camelot of justice in this dark city; they, like Batman, were Gotham's Knights.
Alfred pushed one of the multitude of buttons on the keyboard which served the mammoth Bat Computer. His British accent punctuated the stillness of the silent cave. "Nightwing, I am in need of your assistance."