Night in Gotham City.
The warehouses were unusually busy at that time of night. Agent Thomas stood on watch, making sure their project wouldn't be interrupted.
He and a few other agents were busy at the warehouses, packing their trucks before taking them to their boss, Tanner. He was a very important man, did lots of business with lots of important people. He called himself the King of persuasion. Others considered him the Mobster King.
It was December and already the town was covered with snow. Thick snow. And it was so cold you couldn't go out without extra layers of clothes.
Thomas turned his attention to his three other agents as they picked up the boxes stacked up and down the alley and push them into the back of the truck. They worked hurriedly, hoping to get finished and out of there before anyone came.
Thomas was new to the city, but he knew what the people were talking about when they said they didn't want him to find them.
Him
was Batman.The dark knight himself.
He heard the stories. Heard that Batman had been around even during the late 1900's. That he had powers, almost like Superman himself. Heard that he was like a monster creeping through the night. Some even said he wasn't human.
But they were all just stories. Never in his life had he ever met this Batman. And despite the doubt, he didn't want to either.
"Come on, hurry up!" He barked, crossing his arms and blowing on his hands to keep them warm. "You don't want Tanner to be disappointed with his investment, do ya?"
The workers muttered a reply and tried to pick up the pace, fighting against the bitter cold and constant snow falling on them. Thomas turned back to the street.
"I just want to get out of here," he muttered to himself, hugging himself, trying to keep warm.
He was head of the project, to pack up Tanner's investment and taking them to the Big Boss himself. This was the first time Tanner had ever come to Gotham. Most of the time he worked in the outskirts of Metropolis, which meant dodging the Justice League.
But here in Gotham, there was no Justice League. At least none that he could see. The Justice League didn't creep up on their enemies.
Batman did, though. You never knew he was there watching you until it was too late.
He turned back around to watch the workers and wasn't pleased to see what little progress they had made.
"Come on, hurry up!" He ordered.
"We're going as fast as we can," one of them argued, "why don't you get over here and give us a hand instead of watching us?"
Thomas opened his mouth to reply, but there was no time for one. He jumped back as he heard something whizzing through the air, brushing right past his face. He yelped as a bat-shaped disk flew into the side of the wall, embedding itself in the brick.
"Batman!" One of the workers shouted, as more batarangs flew through the air, some hitting them, some getting stuck in the crates.
Before any of them could try to run away, they all saw the dark figure drop down from above, legs and arms punching and kicking the movers before he had even touched the ground. Thomas tried to get away, but the dark figure unleashed some sort of whip from his hands, tying itself around his legs tightly. He lost his balance and hit the ground hard. Everything went black.
Batman dropped to the ground and the workers advanced on him, arms out and ready to fight. He fought through them quickly before they could get away, knocking them out with as much strength as he and the suit could do put together so they'd go down right away. In the corner of his eye one of the workers was running away, and he released a bat-whip (what do you cal those things?) on him. It caught him around the legs and the man fell to the ground, not getting up.
Most of the men were now on the ground, moaning in pain. He grabbed the one that was the least hurt and slammed him up against the truck.
"Who are you working for?" the Bat demanded, his voice low and hard.
The worker's eyes widened and tried to fight back. Batman simply held him there, the blows ineffective against the suit.
Finally the man gave in.
"We're working for Mr. Tanner!" he blurted out.
The name was unfamiliar. Batman didn't release his grip.
"Who is he?"
"I told you, Mr. Tanner!"
"What is he doing here?"
"We were picking up his investment from Wayne Powers-"
"Wayne Powers hasn't made any investments with anyone." Batman tightened his grip.
"I don't know nothing! I'm just carrying out Tanner's orders!"
"Who ordered the shipment?"
"I don't know! Some guy by the name of Blite-"
That's when Batman released him. The man lost his balance and fell into the snow. Batman remained where he was, watching them and thinking quickly to himself.
The sound of police sirens erupted somewhere not far away, then, and the workers lying on the ground started shaking, knowing they were caught.
The man Batman had gotten his information from turned to see what the Dark Knight would do, but he was already gone.
"Said he was working for some guy named Tanner," Terry said, pulling off the Bat mask and approaching the main computer. "Working with Blite."
Bruce Wayne, the old and nearly retired owner of Wayne Powers sat in front of the computer in his chair, typed in the name. He sat back, resting his chin in his hand, watching the screen thoughtfully. Beside him lay the black Doberman, watching the screen with an equal expression.
"Tanner…interesting," Bruce finally commented.
Terry had walked away from the computer then, changing out of his clothes. "You know him?"
"No, but the name sounds familiar."
"I'll bet."
The screen stopped on a man's profile, a picture of him on the side of his description. Terry glanced back to take a good look at him. He looked like a middle-aged man with wavy brown hair and a hard looking face. A scar ran down his right cheek, making him look even scarier.
"Whoa, what happened to him?"
"Some accident a long time ago. His name is Matt Tanner, someone you'd call the Mobster King. Very powerful, easy to anger. He's new to Gotham City."
"Said he was investing with Wayne Powers."
"That's where Blite comes in."
"I thought-"
"He's partnering up with him in secret," Bruce answered for him. "I don't know what they're doing, but they have to be stopped. They were taking a shipment of radioactive chemicals from the lab."
"Whoa."
Bruce didn't answer that. He just studied the screen, cane in hand.
"Where can we find him?" Terry finally asked, walking up behind him.
Bruce pressed a key and the profile vanished from the screen, replaced by the map of Gotham City. The screen moved over the city for a moment, and finally rested on the outskirts. Miles and miles of snow.
"There," Bruce pointed his cane at the screen. Sitting right in the middle of the expanse of snow, was a single building.
"How do you know?"
The screen changed again, this time to Wayne Power's investment list. Bruce pointed again.
"Because the shipment was sent to that address."
"Oh. I knew that."
"So you're going to be facing up against a Mobster King?" Max asked. "Sounds good to me."
Terry gave her a withering look. "The only reason I'm telling you this is because you asked. Don't get any ideas."
The two were walking through the mall. Max was the only one carrying bags. She needed to buy some new CD's and had asked Terry to come along.
"Who said anything about ideas?" Max glanced at the shops as they walked by. "I'm just saying that it might be good for you to have some help."
"I don't need any help, Max."
"Sure you do! There was a Batgirl, remember? I can be your Batgirl!"
"Don't even try, it's too dangerous."
"Whatever you say McGinnis. I just think- oh!"
She cut herself off when she saw a bikini hanging off one of the racks at the front of the store. She rushed over to it, handing Terry her bags. He took them reluctantly and followed.
"What do you think of this?" she asked, taking the bikini off the rack and holding it to her body. "Totally shway, right?"
He stared at her, trying to picture her in the suit. She got the feeling that she must have looked pretty good because he started blushing.
"Isn't a little cold to go swimming?" he asked.
"I can always save it for when it gets warmer." She put it back on the rack, remembering how much she had already spent on her cash cards. "But looks like it's going to have to wait." They started walking again. "So, how's Dana doing?"
"She and her family went out of town on some winter trip. Won't be back in a while."
"So's my parents. They wanted me to go too, but I didn't really want to leave wonderful, freezing Gotham for a trip to the Bahamas." She grinned.
"Having second thoughts?"
"Yup. So, where's this Tanner guy…located?"
"Outskirts, west of here. But I don't expect to see you there. If I do-"
"Will you relax? I'll be good, okay? I'll stay home."
He smiled at her and she smiled back.
Terry sometimes loved hanging out with Max.