Saturday, December 31, 2016 – 11:49 PM – The Batcave, Gotham City, New Jersey, United States – Earth-0
In some ways, Bruce Wayne was one of the most respected men in Gotham. Businessman, philanthropist, even inventor, as he had designed several of Wayne Enterprises' products personally. The fact that these were mostly stripped-down versions of Batman's equipment was disguised by the fact that no one else had ever examined Batman's gear.
However, Wayne was also one of the least respected men in Gotham. Aloof, irresponsible, constantly late for engagements. Especially Gotham's upper classes tended to look down on Wayne as an eccentric and somewhat disturbed playboy, sealed away in a mansion, who owned a successful company built from his parents' money and other people's talent.
In truth, Wayne didn't think of himself as either of these things. He was one thing, and anything else was secondary.
He was Batman.
And at the moment, Batman was absorbed in his work. He was working on the Batcomputer, headphones on, while the steak next to him grew cold. After he exposed Commissioner Loeb, he'd been monitoring police communications. While removing Loeb was a worthwhile end in itself, it had been part of a larger plan.
Loeb's control over the police gave Rupert Thorne one of his strongest weapons. With Loeb out of the way, Thorne was an easy target. The Falcones would probably be worried that the same thing would happen to them, and thus would try to circle the wagons, as it were. That made them less of a problem.
Stromwell and Cobblepot, however, were more aggressive and had less to lose. They would smell blood in the water. Batman's train of thought was interrupted by a police dispatch.
"We've got a silent alarm triggered at ACE Chemicals on Fourth and Finger, no word on the suspects."
Saturday, December 31, 2016 – 11:41 PM – ACE Chemicals, Gotham City, New Jersey, United States – Earth-0
When Rupert Thorne's power was disrupted by Loeb's arrest, the other mobs were quick to respond. One of these was that of Arnold Stromwell. Stromwell's organization was the oldest in Gotham, and Stromwell himself was the second-oldest mob leader. His gang had begun in the 1920s, shortly before the Bertinellis and the Falcones got their start, and had absorbed several other, smaller gangs since then.
When Thorne first came to power in the 1990s, he'd managed to anger Stromwell. The gang wars that ensued had died down in recent years, but the enmity between Stromwell and Thorne was infamous.
The Alexander Carlos Edwards Chemical Company was one of Thorne's biggest assets, and Stromwell wanted it ruined. Now that he had his opportunity, he dispatched some of his most trusted men to deal with it. They were to hit ACE Chemicals' Mixing Plant.
The Red Hood, a professional hitman and Stromwell's most trusted lieutenant, was to lead the operation. Tony Zucco was Stromwell's nephew, whom Stromwell hoped would learn some discipline from the experience. Eel O'Brian was one of the best safecrackers in the city. They were to have two other thugs to back them up, and an inside man, the plant's night watchman, to let them in.
It was about a quarter to midnight when they drove up to the plant. Red Hood pounded on the door. They were already behind schedule, and he wasn't going to let the watchman hold him up. The metal door slid open with a creak to reveal a man with ACE coveralls and a flashlight.
"A-are you R-red-" the man stammered.
"What do you think?" snapped Hood, "You Jim Grant?"
"Yeah, yeah I am."
Zucco leaned against the wall and took out a cigarette. Hood turned to speak to him, but O'Brian beat him to the punch.
"Ain't sure you want to smoke in a building full of flammable chemicals, man."
Zucco's eyes widened and he dropped his lighter.
"If you're done, we've got some chumps to rob," Hood said.
The six filed into the building. Even through his helmet, Hood could smell the chemicals. The sheer variety made for an odd smell, but it reminded Hood of gasoline. The building's interior was almost entirely metallic. The clanking sounds of the group's steps put Hood on edge. He knew the building was supposed to be empty, but he didn't trust it.
They followed Grant down a hallway, up a set of stairs, and into an office. It had been dark outside, but inside the building was almost pitch black. There were no lights on, and the office was not near any windows. The room was fairly plain. There was a desk near one wall, a wastebasket, some shelves with office supplies piled on them, and a few paintings on the walls.
O'Brian moved to hit the light switch, but Hood blocked him.
"If we have any uninvited guests to the party, we can't let 'em know we're in here."
"How am I supposed to see what I'm doing?" asked O'Brian.
Grant reached into his pocket, pulled out a flashlight, and handed it to O'Brian.
"Right, that works."
O'Brian turned to Grant
"Where's the safe?" he asked.
"Behind Gotham over there," Grant replied, gesturing to a painting of the Gotham skyline.
"Behind a painting?" said O'Brian, pulling down the picture, "People got no creativity these days."
He set to work on the safe, and Zucco turned to Hood.
"I don't like this. It's all too easy," Zucco said.
There's hope for this guy yet, mused Hood.
"Just be on your guard and it'll be fine," Hood said.
Just then O'Brian spoke up.
"I got it!"
He pulled open the safe. Zucco moved outside to double-check the window in the hall.
"Never knew why the old man kept his dough in cash," said Grant while O'Brian scooped the money into a shoulder bag.
"Probably too paranoid to leave it in a bank," Hood said, "I've robbed a couple like that. Tends to change their tune real quick."
"Ain't it the Roman who owns the banks? Wouldn't it be better not to change their tune?" asked Grant.
"Most of 'em," said Hood, "but it's not like the money's doin' us any good just sittin' around."
"Hey!" Zucco interrupted from outside, "Some kinda crazy car's pullin' up out there."
Hood ran to the window, pushing Zucco out of the way. It was harder to see through the frosted glass, but the car's silhouette was unmistakable.
"Aw, hell, it's the Bat!" Hood exclaimed.
O'Brian quickly scooped the rest of the money into the bag. Grant ran up to Hood while the two henchmen reached for their guns.
"There's a back way. If we go fast, we can get out before the Bat finds us," Grant said.
"Take us to it," Hood ordered.
They fled back down the hallway, making a right just before reaching the stairs they'd come up. Grant pulled open a door, and the other five darted through before he followed. Hood ran down the metal spiral staircase on the other side, stumbling a little as he checked behind him to make sure the others were with him.
They were now in a cavernous room, most of the floor lined with large vats of chemicals, and the six were standing on catwalks running above and between the vats. Some of the chemicals almost seemed to glow in the darkness, giving the area an eerie phosphorescence.
Straight ahead was another staircase leading downward with an exit sign hanging over the top of it.
"Emergency exit's right over there," whispered Grant.
Suddenly, the room was filled with light. Hood threw up a hand to block it out, stumbling for a moment.
"Come on, we've gotta go!" said Zucco.
"Wait, if the bat turned the lights on in here, he probably knows about that entrance too! We've gotta be sure he ain't waitin' for us out there," whispered Hood.
"Screw that!" yelled O'Brian, "I'm getting' out of here!"
O'Brian ran down the steps toward the exit.
"Not with our money you ain't!" said Zucco, pulling a gun and firing.
The shot missed O'Brian, but it hit the vat nearest the stairs and ricocheted into his arm. O'Brian stumbled, and tumbled to the bottom of the steps with a loud thud, where he was soaked by the red liquid now leaking from the vat.
Zucco rushed down the steps.
"Zucco, what the hell are you doing?" Hood shouted.
"Getting' the money!" Zucco replied.
"Screw the money!" said Hood.
"The Red Hood. I guessed Stromwell would send you," growled a third voice.
This last voice did not come from Hood, Zucco, Grant, O'Brian, or either hired thug. Hood turned around. One goon was hanging from the ceiling by his ankles. Another was unconscious, draped over a handrail. Grant was also unconscious, held by the collar by Batman.
"You should've left while you had the chance," Batman said, "but you preferred a confrontation to a trap."
"Oh, did I?" Hood asked, raising his eyebrow even though he knew the Bat couldn't see it.
Batman wasn't entirely wrong, either. Sure, a clean getaway would've been preferable, but Hood thought it would be interesting to test his skills against the Batman.
"You wanted a fight," Batman said, taking a small, sharp-looking object out from his belt, "You've got one."
Batman threw the object, and Hood sidestepped as it went spinning past him. Batman charged Hood. Hood reached into his jacket and withdrew a razor playing card, the Jack of Spades. Hood prepared to throw it, but Batman closed the distance and grabbed Hood's arm, pushing him backwards. Hood's helmet was dented against the railing and he dropped the card through one of the holes in the catwalk, but he was able to jump to his feet before Batman's next punch could make contact.
Hood rolled past Batman, taking a few more steps back and throwing the Ace of Diamonds at him. Batman was still off-balance from his missed punch, and the card made contact, leaving a deep cut in Batman's left arm. Batman grimaced, and turned to face Hood, who was already throwing another card, the Two of Clubs.
"That's enough," said Batman.
He reached up and snatched the card out of the air with his right hand. Tossing it over the side of the catwalk, Batman rushed forward. Before Hood could react, Batman had taken hold of him and slammed his head into the handrail again.
Hood's helmet worked something like a one-way mirror. On the outside it appeared to be plain red metal, but on the inside, he would have had a three-hundred-sixty-degree field of vision if he could turn his neck that far. Thus, the dents in his helmet reflected the light that was passing in differently, making it much harder to see.
At the moment, all that was really visible was the drainage pipe, running along the room's floor and connecting to a vat of chemicals. It looked just big enough to be a viable escape route.
Hood twisted free of Batman's grip, flipping over the handrails of the catwalk. Reacting surprisingly quickly, Batman drew a grapnel gun and fired, the hook taking hold of Hood's ankle.
Blood rushing to his head, Hood withdrew the Six of Hearts from his deck of cards and threw it at Batman. Batman leaned to the side, and the card zoomed harmlessly past his ear.
"Stop, Hood, those chemicals are toxic!" Batman urged.
Hood shook his leg vigorously, trying to get loose. Suddenly, his cards slipped and fell out of his jacket. He desperately grabbed for them, but only caught one. He curled up into a ball so that he could reach the cable. He wouldn't let Batman catch him. He had to do this.
Batman started to reel in the cable. Hood raised the card, and sliced at the cable with it it. It cut straight through. The last thing the Red Hood saw was Batman standing over him as he fell into the abyss, still holding onto the Joker.
Author's note: This is not important information, so feel free to skip it if you don't care. That's why I'm sticking it down here in the author's note rather than babbling about it in the main text. Anyway, I love superhero costumes, so I'm going to talk about how I'm imagining the costumed guys we've seen so far to look.
Batman: Alright, so the best colors for urban stealth are dark blue and dark grey, so his main costume is going to be a rather dark grey, and his cape and cowl are navy blue. From here, I'll go top-down. He's got Batman: Arkham-style ears. They not only look more like actual bat ears than other designs, but they look like he could pack some gadgets and functions in there.
Over his eyes, he's got white lenses, which are mostly there for protection right now, but will later be able to do detective mode and stuff. The face opening has the little cheek-points like he's got in The Batman and Young Justice. The cape goes down almost to the ground, but doesn't trail, and is black on the inside.
The suit itself is padded, but he's not running around in stormtrooper armor. It's mostly leather and Kevlar. He does have some harder plates on his chest, hands, feet, and, let's be realistic here, his crotch. I'm going to use that as an excuse for his having the classic trunks, even though there's no real reason for that particular armor plate to be a different color from the rest of the costume.
Anyway, his symbol is small, but has the yellow oval behind it. His belt is yellow, too. Why? Because it looks better. That's really my only explanation. The belt, I should add, has pouches (Rob Liefeld, eat your heart out) and not the cylindrical capsules, because seriously, what are you even going to fit into those? Lipstick?
His boots, gauntlets, and trunk-armor-things are black as well, to match his symbol. He also looks a bit more like a bat that way, and the blue on the cape and cowl is just for stealth purposes.
In other words, a blend of classic, modern, and practical looks.
Red Hood I: The Red Hood's gear is a lot more like his comic look. The tuxedo's not a real one, it's a cheap costume that's easy to replace, but it is still a tuxedo. Underneath, he wears some bulletproof armor.
He's got a short (goes about to his knees), dark red cape, and the "hood" is the same dome-shaped helmet he's got in the comics, which I explained in the chapter.
Haven't brought up any other costumed characters yet, so this should be it for now.
