Batman: The Dark Knight Before Christmas
Part 2: The Lighting of the Christmas Tree By Matthew B. CoatesThe sun had just risen over the horizon, as the citizens of Gotham began to stir during the early morning of Christmas Eve. It was approximately seven o'clock in the morning when Alfred Pennyworth finished preparing a holiday breakfast at Wayne Manor. Alfred had called out to the manor's owner, Bruce Wayne, to inform him that the food was prepared and after a few moments was surprised to hear a response of nothing but silence. Alfred was well-aware that Bruce was known to have a strict, morning exercise routine (to ensure he was in peak physical condition for his late-night vigilante activities as Batman), but even if Bruce had skipped breakfast for a workout, then surely Alfred would have heard noise from the upstairs training room. Puzzled by this rare occurrence, Alfred exited the kitchen to investigate the whereabouts of Bruce. Searching throughout the manor, Alfred had no luck in finding Bruce in the training room, his bedroom, the study, the Batcave (beneath Wayne Manor), or anywhere for that matter. Giving up on this pursuit, Alfred began to make his way back to the kitchen but was interrupted when he had now seen Bruce, who was just walking in through the back-patio door wearing his running hoodie and sweatpants.
"Good morning, Alfred – merry Christmas Eve." said Bruce with a warm smile.
"And a merry Christmas Eve to you as well, Master Bruce," replied Alfred cheerfully. "I have prepared a special holiday breakfast, which is ready to be served in the kitchen whenever you're hungry."
"Thank you, Alfred – could really use something to eat after the morning run," said Bruce as he entered the kitchen. Before Alfred joined him, he then looked out the window of the back-patio door towards the snow-covered grounds of Wayne Manor. Off in the near distance, Alfred could see the small Wayne family mausoleum where Bruce's parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne were buried. In his short glance, Alfred quickly noticed the only footprints in the snow led towards the mausoleum where a new Christmas wreath had just been hung.
The rest of the morning went by fairly quietly for the two old friends. Over breakfast, the two reminisced of the many Christmas Eves that have past in the house of Wayne. The earliest years were the most cheerful, as Bruce's mother would always bake her classic gingerbread cookies and his father would dress as Santa Claus while he placed the last-minute Christmas gifts under the tree. The more recent years were much quieter as the house seemed more empty, but was still decorated to some extent with Christmas trees and ornaments by Alfred as he tried to reinvigorate the house once again with holiday spirit.
Following the holiday breakfast, Bruce excused himself from the kitchen table and adjourned to the study. Passing by his father's old desk, he approached an old grandfather clock that had been in the family for many generations. After putting his finger on a hidden DNA scanner, the grandfather clock opened up and revealed an entrance to the Batcave from which Bruce based his vigilante activities out of. He made his way down the rock steps in the cave, which felt only slightly warmer than the freezing temperatures outside until he reached the Batcomputer where he then sat down and followed up on some leads in his current investigations. After a few hours of research, Bruce then spent the rest of the afternoon exercising in the Batcave's training center until he was interrupted by the return of his friend Alfred.
"Hello, sir – just thought I might remind you that you only have about 2 hours until the Wayne Foundation's annual Christmas Charity Gala," stated Alfred as he entered the room.
"I hadn't forgotten Alfred; was just about to go upstairs and get ready myself," observed Bruce wiping the sweat from his brow with a towel.
"Excellent; I just placed your recently pressed suit in your bedroom and will prepare the car for our departure shortly," said Alfred.
Once Alfred had left, Bruce exited the Batcave and went upstairs to his master bedroom so he could prepare for the charity gala. It did not take long for Bruce to shower, shave, and put on his new suit as he was a man who was used to being in a hurry due to his busy schedule. He then returned back downstairs to the main entrance hall of Wayne Manor to meet with Alfred, and the two got in Bruce's newest luxury sedan and left for downtown Gotham.
This year, the Christmas Charity Gala was being hosted at Wayne Tower where a large ballroom on the first floor had been fully decorated in Christmas apparel over the last several weeks in preparation. Being the 25th anniversary of the annual holiday event that Bruce's father had founded, it seemed only appropriate that a Wayne should host the event and there was no better venue in downtown for the occasion than Wayne Tower. The gala was the pinnacle event of the holiday season in Gotham and attracted the majority of Gotham's elite. Admittedly, Bruce had grown somewhat tired of the event over the years as it had become more an entertainment spectacle than a humanitarian gathering since the passing of his parents over a decade ago; however, the event was still able to raise significant funds needed for St. Switins Orphanage, so he continued the Wayne Foundation's involvement.
Despite it being Christmas Eve, the streets of Gotham were quite crowded as desperate parents scavenged the few open shops for last-minute gifts and vehicles full of families were leaving their homes to attend holiday gatherings throughout the city. In addition to the flood of Gotham citizens, the city seemed all the more crowded due to the wealth of holiday decorations lining the streets as bright, blinking lights lit up the typically dark and cold sidewalks and alleyways of the outer parts of downtown. Gazing out the backseat windows as Alfred drove them towards Gotham Square, Bruce caught a glimpse of the Johns & Huffam Laboratory where he had thwarted a break-in attempt by Mr. Freeze just the previous night. With nothing better to do, he began to playback the encounter in his mind as he analyzed his performance for anything that could be improved. Lost in thought for several minutes, Bruce was shaken back to reality as the car had finally arrived in front of Wayne Tower.
Exiting the car, Bruce walked by the 75-foot Christmas tree that had been set up outside specifically for the event and admired it briefly before he entered the building. Having arrived an hour early for the gala, Bruce first met with the primary event coordinator, Cindy, to ensure that everything was set up properly for the evening's activities. Luckily, Bruce had just been informed that there were no complications and that all aspects of the gala were ready and accounted for. As their conversation concluded, Bruce was greeted with a handshake by his old friend Lucius Fox, who was the head of Research and Development at Wayne Enterprises.
"Lucius, it's excellent to see you made it out for the gala – although I think you may have gotten here a little early," Bruce said as he looked down at his watch.
"Actually, Bruce, I'm here working late tonight," said Lucius with a mild chuckle. "Just came downstairs for a walk while the latest prototype suit is being finished – should be ready any minute now. It's something you might be interested in…you know, for your next spelunking adventure."
"I'm sure I'll be impressed," said Bruce with a sly smile. "Well, when you finish up – feel free to join us for the gala. Guests should start arriving at eight and we'll start with a tree lighting ceremony at nine, a short speech, and free food for the rest of the night."
After exchanging a few other pleasantries, Lucius exited the ballroom and returned to the Research and Development office upstairs. Not long after this departure, guests began to arrive in slow spurts until the entire ballroom and lobby had become filled with life. Most of the guests were dressed in their proper suits and dresses, naturally designer-made; but a slight few had chosen to adorn themselves with small festive accessories such as snowflake pendants and Santa hats. With the room now full of its high society guests, the small orchestra started to play their music as the sounds of Christmas songs began to fill the air. As the host, Bruce had been making his way around the room for his obligatory greetings to the guests when he suddenly felt a familiar small hand grasp around his shoulder. Turning around, Bruce instantly recognized the slender woman with shoulder-length black hair and jade green eyes.
"Selena, why am I not surprised to see you here?" stated Bruce matter-of-factly.
"Well, Christmas is the time to spend with those you care about and as I haven't seen you lately, this seemed as good an opportunity as any," replied Selina Kyle coolly.
"This is a charity event and the people here will be providing much needed funds to St. Switins – so could you do me a favor and not steal from them until after the gala," said Bruce with a stern demeanor.
"I never said I was here to steal from anyone – maybe all I wanted was just a dance," said Selina coyly as she extended her hand out towards Bruce.
With a short pause, Bruce took Selina's hand and led her to the main dance floor. The lights above provided a dim white glow as the two danced slowly to the soft beat of the holiday classic being played to perfection by the live orchestra. It was true that the couple had shared a deep connection over recent times, but due to Selina's criminal activities as Catwoman, the two could never reconcile their differences into a real relationship – making moments like this few and far between. At the conclusion of the song, it was now time for Bruce's speech so he said a short goodbye to Selina, walked towards the stage at the center of the ballroom, and grabbed the microphone.
"Good evening everyone – merry Christmas and thank you all for coming," began Bruce. "This year marks the 25th anniversary of Gotham's annual Christmas Charity Gala – an event that my father, Thomas Wayne, had started through the Wayne Foundation. My father was a very generous man who greatly loved this city and firmly believed in the holiday values of giving and helping your fellow man. It was for these reasons that he worked hard to first organize this gala all those years ago, and why he continued that dedication for the rest of his life to make this the holiday event of the season and the most successful fundraiser of the year. I gladly thank you for your donations that you have provided this evening, and would like to continue this year's event with the annual lighting of Gotham's largest Christmas tree."
Bruce gestured his hand out towards the large glass windows at the back of the ballroom towards the 75-foot tree standing just outside by the main entrance to the tower. The tree had yet to be lit, as the tree had just arrived specifically for this event and was decorated last week – the tree-lighting ceremony was an annual tradition that the event had become known for over the years. All of the guests in the ballroom turned around and watched out the window with anticipation of the shimmering lights soon to come. Standing adjacent to the window, the event coordinator, Cindy, flicked the switch in her hand and the tree's lights burst into a festive glow. The guests all raised their drink glasses and applauded the occasion with true holiday cheer. Just as Bruce was stepping down from the stage, there was then a large burst of fire outside that completely engulfed the recently-lit tree. The crowd quickly began to scramble in a panic for the nearest exits as a flying figure then descended from the sky in front of the back windows.
"Merry Christmas, Gotham!" shouted the metallic voice. "So glad that you could all make it to tonight's event – it made it so easy to gather all of Gotham's elite in one place!"
As the figure moved closer to the windows, and out of the smoke, Bruce immediately recognized him as Firefly. Firefly was a constant nuisance in Gotham who used his own custom-made suit, jetpack, and flamethrower to wreak havoc in the city – mostly known for arson and burglary charges. As Batman, Bruce had previously had Firefly locked up in Arkham Asylum a few months ago but evidently, he had escaped just in time for Christmas.
"Every year, you hold this pathetic little event where Gotham's richest and most powerful come to celebrate and 'give back' to their city!" continued Firefly from outside, while he raised his flamethrower to the window. "364 days a year you take and take from Gotham, and 1 day you choose to give back so little what you have taken – well this year, I'm taking everything you have and I'm turning it to coal and ash!"
Firefly then shot a continuous flame into the thick, bullet-proof windows of Wayne Tower which slowly began to melt under the intense heat. Wasting no time, Bruce had already rushed through the crowd and made his way towards the main lobby elevators. Once inside, he entered his emergency code into the keypad below the floor buttons and the elevator zoomed upwards to the Research and Development wing. Exiting the elevator, Bruce was instantly greeted by Lucius Fox.
"I could see the smoke rising from up here, the new prototype suit has just been finished and is ready to go," stated Lucius.
"Thanks Lucius; anything new I need to know about right now?" inquired Bruce.
Lucius then gave Bruce a brief run-through of this Batsuit's latest modifications, as Bruce changed hurriedly in the adjacent room. Emerging from the room, Bruce had now taken on the suit and identity of vigilante hero, Batman. Walking swiftly through the hangar, Batman approached the largest glass window that looked out over Gotham from many stories above. He turned back to face Lucius and gave an assertive nod, as Lucius then flicked the switch on the nearby wall. The glass window slowly began to rise and cold air hurriedly filled into the warm hangar, brushing papers off desks and ruffling tarps covering Lucius' other current projects. As the ceiling-to-ceiling window had fully opened up, Batman rushed headfirst and leaped heroically outside into the night – falling downwards through the rising smoke and battling the raging winds. At approximately 30 stories to the ground, Batman pressed his finger against the trigger upon his left forearm gauntlet. A set of mechanical wings then extended from his shoulders and reached out to be just longer than his arms. In mere moments, several small engines opened up from the bottom of the wings and created just enough force for Batman to tilt back upright and hover in mid-air. Having quickly gained control of Lucius' latest jetpack design on the Batsuit, Batman then flew downwards to approach his latest foe, Firefly. Firefly had just finished melted through the window when he looked up and saw the Batman bursting through the cloud of smoke that his fire had created.
"I see you made it out of Arkham again," calmly stated Batman as he descended to be face-to-face with Firefly a few feet off the ground.
"Good to see you too, Batman," said Firefly with a tone of confidence. "Just thought I'd stop by and assist with the Christmas tree lighting ceremony – figured it would really fire up the party."
"Enough with the small talk Firefly – who hired you for this job?" questioned Batman. "Surely, an arsonist like yourself has no real interest in the class struggles of Gotham."
"Oh, that's where you're wrong Batman," began Firefly, "this was a plan of my own design. Gotham's rich and powerful feed off all the lowly citizens of this city, then justify their wealth by having their small little charity galas… This will stand no more; for tonight, I will burn them and everything they have to the ground."
Firefly then dipped down and shot off into the newly opened window – without hesitation, Batman followed in pursuit. By now, the majority of guests had flooded out of the ballroom and into the main lobby, afraid to move for the front exit while Firefly was outside. With the room now being nearly empty, Firefly first set ablaze the center stage and Christmas decorations surrounding it. Having set a sufficient flame to begin spreading throughout the room, Firefly turned toward the lobby entranceway but was instantly pulled back to the ground by the hook from Batman's Grapple Gun, which was twisting around his ankle. Furious, Firefly angled his flamethrower and burned the rope to separate the hook from the gun. Batman flew at the recently grounded Firefly and in mid-route, threw some pellets from his utility belt into the flames of the ballroom stage. Once the pellets hit the flames, puffs of chemical gel burst and began to mask the flames as they slowly died down. Firefly now aimed his flamethrower at the rapidly approaching Batman and fired a blast right at him. Batman dipped below the bulk of the flame, but his newly designed jetpack had taken a severe hit and his flight pattern started to waver slightly side-to-side. Back to his feet, Firefly too leaped into flight and collided into Batman. At the point of collision, Batman made sure to take out the most dangerous weapon by knocking the flamethrower out of Firefly's hands. The two then exchanged punches back and forth as they flew about the ceiling of the ballroom. The aerial fight was fairly even until Batman landed a perfect punch to the jaw of Firefly's helmet, and he went falling back to the ground. Landing himself back to the floor, Batman walked towards Firefly, who seemed quite weak and exhausted. As Batman drew nearer, he noticed a small trigger grasped in Firefly's hand and he pushed down on the button. A large explosion happened outside the front entrance of Wayne Tower, and created a line of fire blocking anyone from exiting the building.
"As I said Batman, no one's getting out of here without a burn…" said Firefly quietly as fell unconscious.
With the immediate threat of Firefly neutralized, Batman began to formulate his plan for getting all the gala guests safely out of the building – as he had used all his fire extinguishing pellets on the ballroom stage. There were fire extinguishers placed around the ballroom, but due to the immense size of the fire wall outside, they would be minimally effective. There was also the possibility of redirecting the building's fire suppressant system so that it could reach the flames; however, it was clear that Firefly had already tampered with the system as it was not activated to stop the ballroom fire. Running out of options and time, as the flames grew in height and slowly approached the front lobby entrance, Batman had to determine his solution quickly. Seeing out the recently melted ballroom window, he saw that the flames still did not quite reach high enough to block him from flying out the above the flames. He took a running start and hoped his damaged wings could hold on a little while longer, as he successfully leaped up and over the flames just as the flight engines gave out. Rolling out into the slightly snow-covered streets, Batman turned his attention to a nearby fire hydrant. He ran over and reached into his utility belt to pull out his Acetylene Torch, with which he used its laser to remove the side cap of the fire hydrant. Water spewed out of control from the hydrant before Batman tilted his flight wings down and angled them so the water could deflect from them onto the flames leading into the doorway of Wayne Tower. Just as the most lethal part of the flame was being doused, the Gotham City Fire Department pulled up around the corner. The brave men and women of the fire department swiftly exited their vehicles and pitched in to help Batman completely eradicate the flame in a matter of minutes.
Not long after the fire was put out, the Gotham City police showed up to the scene as well. Unlike last night, the crew was led by Detective Harvey Bullock who said that Commissioner Gordon had the night off to spend with his family. Batman filled the detective in on the events that transpired at tonight's gala and hung around to ensure that Firefly had been properly taken into custody. While walking away from the crime scene, he overheard a few of the gala guests in an outrage telling some police officers that their jewelry had been stolen during the chaos. A cop tried to calm them down by telling them that it was likely that they just dropped them while they were fleeing to the exit, but Batman knew the truth – it was just like Selina to take advantage of this kind of situation and steal as much as she could without getting noticed during the mass panic.
After Batman had turned a corner and was out of view, he then grappled to the top of a nearby building. From there, he was able to zip-line back into the open window of the Research and Development wing he had originally leapt out of, without being noticed by the people below. Once back in Wayne Tower, Batman changed back into his civilian clothes to head back downstairs as Bruce Wayne – no doubt, the police will be curious as to where the gala's host had gone off to during the commotion.
Exiting the elevator into the lobby, Bruce was approached by a few officers who (as expected) questioned his whereabouts. To cover his tracks as Batman, Bruce claimed that he panicked and went upstairs to his executive office to hide until the police had arrived to handle the situation. The officers accepted the lie, but made no effort in hiding their disappointment at his "cowardice" behavior as the gala's host. After the officers dismissed him, Bruce met with Alfred by the main lobby doors – the two then returned to the car and made their way back home to Wayne Manor for the evening. Having returned to Wayne Manor, Bruce headed directly for the study as he made himself a drink and sat down at his father's old desk. Sensing that Bruce was feeling troubled, Alfred followed him into the room moments later.
"I must say sir, that after thwarting two major crimes in the last two nights – you do seem quite down on yourself," said Alfred taking a seat across the room in an armchair.
"Tonight, was the 25th anniversary of my father's favorite charity that he worked so had to develop," said Bruce somberly. "This was supposed to be a night to honor my father's legacy and what he had given to Gotham…instead, the night just went up in smoke."
"Yes, the involvement of that wicked arsonist certainly did put a damper on the night's social festivities," said Alfred, "but I wouldn't go so far as to say that the night was a failure."
"Firefly flew in and ended the gala as soon as it started; and the journalists are going to have a field day with the story of how Bruce Wayne abandoned his father's treasured event and its guests to the fate of a dangerous criminal," said Bruce frustrated.
"Sir, I know you're still new to this vigilante act, but you need to see the bigger picture here," began Alfred. "From talking with the police, they told me that no guests were injured with more than a few scratches – incredibly lucky considering the size of the fires. Additionally, I was talking with the event coordinator just before your speech and she informed me that this year's gala set a new record for donations, as many donated prior to their arrival. I can assure you, Master Bruce, that your father would have been proud of you for what you've done – saving many lives and still getting immense donations to help those children at the orphanage."
"Thank you, Alfred – all I ever wanted was to be just like him by helping people and making this city a better place…thank you my friend and merry Christmas," said Bruce warmly as his father's clock struck 12, marking the end of a busy Christmas Eve.