Prologue: The Dishonoured Dead

They were drinking, heavily at that. People like them so often did. They were reveling in their actions from earlier that night as if it were something to be celebrated. But then people like them had no idea about morality, about right and wrong. They were acting as if they were untouchable, some sort of great heroes who could only be rewarded for what they had done and were beyond the reach of the law. People like them so often did. Until they felt the fear. Until they realised that he knew who they were and what they had done.

Until they knew that the Batman was coming for them.

The glass pane smashed as he soared through it as if it weren't even there. From the opposite building, Batman had scouted out the scene. He had watched as the four of them had drunk away their minuscule chance to escape justice. He had them well, studied them, the plan fully formed in his mind to take them out. Now he was about to execute that plan.

He rolled as soon as he landed, enabling him to more with a swiftness that alone would strike fear into their hearts. As soon as he had finished the roll he was on his feet, slamming the palm of his hand into the throat of the nearest thug before any of the four could even fully register what was happening. That first one immediately fell in pain. The second wasn't long before following, a swinging punch catching him right on the temple and sending him sprawling and unconscious.

By then the other two were aware they were in trouble, but like so many who had gone before they were foolish enough to try and fight back. They were both going for guns. A pair of batarangs took care of that, catching both men right on the wrist. The momentary grimace that brought about from both of them gave Batman all the opening he needed. In no time he had dove onto one and then the other, dealing them both the finishing blows.

As silence fell over the scene once again, Batman stood, momentarily surveying the scene. These people had no help, no backup ready to storm into the room to their aide. They had gone to celebrate on their own as opposed to in a public place, so lost had they been in what they had done that they hadn't wanted to share their jubilation. But now they were all down, and Batman was clear to question them.

He had intentionally kept the first thug conscious, merely keeping him hurt enough to stay down and to know not to mess with him. The thug stopped clutching at his neck when he saw Batman coming for him, instead starting to try and crawl away, as if he had a chance of getting away from Batman and to safety. He failed. One stamp of Batman's foot in the guy's spine stopped him getting away. It was then just a case of grabbing him by the collar and lifting him up into the air, before forcefully pinning him up against the wall. With hands dangerously close to the man's throat again, that act alone inspired complete, unconquerable fear to ensure that this man was going to talk. The glare Batman was giving him was just an added bonus.

"Talk, if you know what's good for you," Batman growled at the man who was nothing but a hired goon. A hired goon who had just completed his latest, deadly job. "I know that you four are responsible for the corpses down in the Industrial sector. I suggest you start talking, in full. Tell me who hired you. Now!"

"B... B... B... But I don't know!" the goon protested, stammering like a startled child. He didn't even try to act innocent. They rarely did these days. "We... w... w... w... We were... were hired anonymously. They didn't want us to know who they were! The... There was extra pay in it because of that!"

"Then what do you know?" Batman snarled again. It was entirely possible in Gotham that people like these would kill completely without reason, just because someone was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Especially if there was money on offer for doing it. Still, if there was anything even remotely worthwhile that this man knew, Batman would find it out.

"Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!" the goon repeated desperately. As a result, Batman tightened his grip, clenching his jaw more than before. Sure enough, that worked. "Wait! Wait, wait, wait! Th... th... There might be something! S... something that might help! Th... The dead men. I know why they were targeted!"

"Then tell me," Batman pushed, squeezing the man ever tighter when the man broke off at an awkward time.

"It's because of their family!" the goon erupted. "Well... W... Well, the one they worked for, anyway! The... The one who hired us, they... they wanted us to kill the people in Gotham associated with that crime family!"

"Which family?!" Batman exclaimed. He had had more than enough of this. It was time for the answer, the answer to give him the lead with which to solve the latest of Gotham's line of countless murders. But this crime wasn't like a lot of those murders. This wasn't one of passion. This one was tied to the Mafia, which meant that it could well effect far more lives than just those of the dead in the industrial sector. This murder had to be solved and, if he couldn't be told directly who it was that was responsible, Batman had to know why it had happened. Knowing which crime family it was that had been targeted would help him on the road to the truth, and to making sure more lives weren't lost. Especially the innocent lives.

"The Berinellis!" the goon in Batman's grasp screamed out the promised name at last, as if he had tried and failed one last time to resist his fear. Batman's eyes immediately opened in shock. He knew what that name meant. "The bunch of them, they were practically the last of their family still in Gotham. They were with the Bertinellis!"

A/N:

Yes, this is it, I'm back again. Can't keep a good dog down, you know.

For those of you in the know, this story is set after Justice League: Above and Beyond and the two stories that went before that, all written by myself. But while it is a sequel, newcomers to my series are still welcome, as while those may help in understanding of the bigger picture I'm building post DCAU, none of them are vital to this tale here. Just like how this one won't be vital to the other one I'm going to start posting in a couple of days. That's right, two stories are going to be being posted concurrently, as they're set in the same sort of time frame within my world. This is as promised in my author's note at the end of Above and Beyond, with this one being the Batman "solo" adventure (albeit with use of other heroes) and the other being Wonder Woman's. And just so you know, compared to some of my others these two "Interim stories" as I think of them will only be 10 chapters or so long each, as I am just itching to get on with the other, far larger sequel I promised way back when which will follow both of these...

Anywho, even though I've not given you much yet feel free to review/follow/favourtie away, friends! And look out for story two soon!

And finally, disclaimer: No profit is being sought from this story. All characters, settings, vehicles etc. belong to DC Comics and the folks at Time Warner, bar the ones that I come up with originally. So give them some credit too.