A/N: Let's hope for another long one, or longer one!
Thx!
AMM
I slide the envelope towards Jim as he leans over the railing, a cigarette between his fingers. He opens up the envelope and after pulling out only one document, he turns to me and says, "This….this is a silver bullet! And it's gonna put Falcone down once and for all." He takes a drag from his cigarette. "I don't want to even know where you got this." I turn and lean against the railing myself.
"No, you don't," I tell him.
"Still, I gotta know one thing," he says. "Why give this to me? Don't get me wrong-I appreciate the hell outta this. Everyone on the force will too."
I stand up straight. "I heard you were the last honest man on the force."
"No need to blow smoke. I got enough cancer coming my way as it is," he brushes off the compliment. "But thank you, honestly. Knowing this evidence will lock up Falcone….I'll sleep like a goddamn baby for once." He chuckles before turning to me. "You know, as much as I appreciate you callin' me here," I stuff my hands in my pockets. "I gotta make one thing crystal," He stands very close, the smell of his cigarette very strong. "I can't be bought. So you should know this isn't gonna change a thing about the investigation of your family." I have to clench my jaw to keep from turning cold towards him. "The Wayne's always supported the Gotham Police. So I'd like to believe there's no cloaks or daggers hidden in you closet. Until we find nothing, though, I gotta play bad cop."
"The investigation isn't the problem. It's the Wayne family name. Help me clear it."
"If your family's clean, I'll sing it from the rooftops. If they aren't, I'll still sing. You gotta understand-I'm bound to this badge." He takes another drag on his cigarette when his phone dings. "I gotta go," he tells me as he slides his phone in his pocket. "Came straight from a crime scene and I haven't been home yet. " He takes another drag before sighing. "Sometimes I think this whole city's a crime scene. And we're just walking through it." He admits dejectedly.
"What you're holding," I gesture to the envelope. "Will make walking it much safer.
"Thanks, Bruce," he says.
"Well, Lieutenant,"
"Hey, stick to 'Jim'," he says before turning and walking away. I walk away myself and get to the street before I start walking down the sidewalk.
"It's done," I say.
"Good, so is our hunt," Alfred replies through my earpiece. "The drones located Falcone downtown, a place called The Skyline Club." I turn into an alleyway. "Though, you're not dressed for that kind of party."
"Well, I can always change in the car," I tell him before hitting a button on my keys. The Ferrari in front of me darkens, the wheels change, and thrusters are revealed on the back. The batmobile sits in front of me within mere moments. I quickly step inside and rush out of the alleyway.
A/N: Normally, I'd cut it off here but 503 words is inexcusable so I'm gonna go ahead and keep writing.
I glide from a nearby rooftop onto the roof of the Skyline Club. I activate my drones with a few buttons on my control panel.
"The drones cameras and scanning tech are fully functional." Alfred tells me.
"Alright, let's find Falcone," I tap on my Detective vision so I can see from the drone's cameras. Out on the balcony is a door and a guard smoking a cigarette. I maneuver the drone and look through the windows, looking over the patrons inside. I listen in momentarily to hear one of the patrons flirting with one of the guards but I grow bored and move on. I look at the top floor and see two more women talking to each other, one scolding the other for having a boyfriend who seems to be a terrible thug.
More people are sitting at the bar, some are mingling, but then I see a white rose painted on a far wall on the second floor.
"The white rose. Falcone's symbol." Alfred says through my earpiece.
"A red rose after tonight," I mutter before zooming in on a door on the second floor at the end of the hall.
"That's the most heavily guarded door in the building." Alfred remarks.
"It's gotta be Falcone's hide out."
"Well, it won't be as easy as ringing the doorbell."
I use the drone to count the guards in the main room. "Four guards, stealth isn't an option. I'll put together a plan of attack. Stand by."
I zoom in on the guy on the bottom floor, entertaining some women. Couple ways I can take this guy down. I zoom in on him then see the hanging lights just a little above him. A heavy light fixture hanging from the ceiling to take out a man furthest from my entry point. It'll work; I'll just have to throw a batarang at the wire holding up the light.
I move on to the second mobster sitting right under the walkway upstairs. He's sitting rather close to a woman, obviously distracted and unprepared for an attack. I could send the large coffee table in front of them at him it looks solid enough. Or maybe just slam his head down on it, which would work too. Guess we'll see which works better.
I move to the mobster standing next to the staircase. He's close to my entry point, strategically positioned. He should be quickly neutralized. I look around him then realize I could probably send him through the railing on the staircase. Then I go to the last one out on the balcony, smoking.
"This one might be tricky, any ideas?" Alfred asks.
"I've got it covered, Al," He's isolated from guests inside and will be easy to take down by surprise. I'll just jump at him and slam him into the railing on the balcony.
"Bruce, have you formulated your plan of attack?" Alfred asks.
"I'm going in," I tell him as I stand, activating my voice modulator
"Very good, sir." He replies. "Your turn to crash his party." I hadn't thought about it like that, but very true. Let's see if he likes it. I jump off the rooftop and glide around until I'm level with the balcony, coming out of nowhere and knocking the mobster in the head like I'd planned. I grab him, stuffing a smoke bomb in between buttons on his shirt before throwing him into the room through the doors, the smoke beginning to emit from him. I catch the man by the stairs off guard before I grab him by the neck and hurtle him towards the railing on the staircase. He crashes through it then falls down the stairs, unconscious.
The man that'd been sitting with the woman stands and begins shooting, but I jump at him and slam his head into the nice black coffee table. The man under the light fixture also begins shooting at me. I hide behind a column before whipping a batarang out and throwing it at the wire. The man dodges out of the way but it distracts him enough that I can get to him quickly. I kick him solidly in the chest and knock him into the window where he then falls to the ground unconscious.
All of the patrons go running and screaming for the exit, shouting that I'm here and they need to get out of here.
More mobsters burst out of the heavily guarded area at the back of the hallway. Three men come running at me and try to punch me, but I beat them to it, blocking and punching back, mine being far more effective. After knocking one of them unconscious and sending the other two over the railing, two more guys come running upstairs just for Falcone to bust out of the room holding a gun. He goes blazing after me, but as I leap over the edge of the walkway, he shoots his own two guys.
"Show yourself!" he shouts. "You got no goddamn right to be here!" He starts shooting the ceiling when I go under the walkway and grapple into the floor, right under Falcone. I hear him fall over as I burst through the floor. He goes running towards the room at the end of the hall as I throw a batarang into his back. He slams the door shut then I see the camera turn and focus on me.
"How 'bout this one?" I hear him say within the room. I quickly dodge to the side as he shoots a hole right through the door. "You can't sneak up on me!" I hear him shout. I pull an EMP out of my belt.
"EMP armed," Alfred tells me. Falcone then begins shooting along the wall. I quickly dodge and throw the EMP through the whole in the door, hitting Falcone right in the stomach before I hear it go off, shutting down all the power.
Falcone laughs. "Ha! You think that's gonna work?" He continues shooting through the walls. "I'm gonna light up the whole goddamn-" as he was talking, I burst through the window out in the common area and burst in through the window in his office, knocking into Falcone and forcing him to drop his gun. I pick him up by the throat as he threatens, "Get your hand of my suit!" I throw him into the wall.
"Stay down, Falcone," I warn as he drops to the ground but begins to get back up. "We can end this now."
"You got a lot to learn, kid," He tells me as he used a filing cabinet for support. He hits the pin on his lapel and an automatic machine gun drops from the ceiling. I dive down behind Falcone's desk and tap into my remote control. The drone circles around to the windows.
"Explosives armed! Fire when ready!" Alfred tells me.
I move the drone over to be looking at the wall but know when I use infrared that I'm aiming right at the gun. I fire three times, each small missile hitting its target. The drone drops down and out of sight as I get out from my cover.
Falcone is crawling towards his gun but a well-aimed batarang secures it to the floor just before he can reach it.
"Answers!" I order menacingly. "Now! Or you fall!"
"You wouldn't-" I pick him up and shove him towards the gaping hole in the wall. Holding him just on the edge.
"The chemicals! Where are they?!"
"What?"
"I found your calling card at the docks. The white rose."
"You think I wanted to lead you here?" He asks, his arm coming to grip the arm holding him. I bring up my other hand and hold him completely off the ground.
"Something reeks about this whole thing," he gasps out. "And it ain't a dead bat!" he brings his arm up with a knife but I easily knock it out of his grasp and slam my head into his. But then I hear a helicopter and a light is suddenly shining on us.
"Still want to play games?" I demand.
"We're all bein' played here….includin' you! Those chemicals you're so riled up about-they're mine, alright?" I hear the door kick in below and glance over to see GCPD snooping around. "But someone's tryin' to cut me out of the deal, because I did not make that mess at the docks."
"Then who did?!"
"No! We're done!" He defies. "Gotham's watching now! Go ahead! Give 'em a show!" I see a pipe hanging down to my left, perfect for tying him up and hanging him on. Or, there's another pipe to my right, jutting out of the ground. I could end him right here. Keep him from getting back up. "I'll be walkin' free by tomorrow morning!" he brags. "Ha! Gotham!" I can't believe I even considered killing him. I told Alfred I wouldn't become an animal. I'm no murderer. I fling Falcone behind me, sending him rolling across the floor. I quickly jump over him and secure his hands behind his back before picking him up over my shoulder.
"No! No! Wait! Ah!" I push him up and hang him on the pipe coming out of the ceiling. "Ah! Christ almighty!"
"Spill it, Falcone! While you still can," I growl.
"It's….the Wayne's." My eyes widen. "They're behind all this."
"What do you mean?" I demand.
"You wanna save this city? Well, the Wayne's are the biggest gangsters in Gotham!" He nods his head towards a picture singed around the edges of Falcone, a man with his back turned and….my parents and Alfred. Then the door bursts open.
"Thanks for the assist," A woman says from behind. I look over my shoulder. "Now we only have to take one of you down! Open fire!" she shouts. They all begin shooting but I'm quick to run out the window and glide away.
A/N: So, I went against my own rules and combined scenes, but if you read the little authors note about five hundred words through, you'd understand why. That was just too short for a chapter so I added this second scene.
P.S. I'm not going to wait two weeks to post the next chapter. Look forward to it on Thursday!
P.P.S I know we're wanting Diana but Diana won't be around again until the 11th or 12th chapter. Sorry! She doesn't fit in very well until then.
Thx!
AMM
