Batman #7
The Sons of Batman Part 7
By Ivan Krolo and Jeremy Las Dulce (consultant & editor)
"It is one thing to take the law into your own hands, and enact vigilante justice! But it is another to conscript innocent children into it, against their will no less! Because of this, the mayor and I will be setting up a special task force composed of both our own officers and outside specialists in to finally hunt down this Batman, and make sure he no one else dies for his insane crusade! I promise you, the fine people of Gotham this, by the end of the year Batman will be caught, held accountable for his numerous crimes and will spend the rest of his days in Arkham As-"
Everyone in the room let out a "huh?" when the tab, linking the computer to the TV airwaves and noticed Batman was typing away on the keyboard to continue his investigation on the assassin to pass the time while the blood sample analysis ran in the background, acting as though he completely ignored everything said by both Garcia and Loeb.
Barbara leaned over to Dick and whispered in his ear "He looks mad."
"How can you tell? That's the face, he always makes." He answered.
"Loeb and Garcia couldn't catch me if I drove up to their house's wearing a pink suit in broad daylight. I have absolutely no reason to be angry over their empty threats. My one and only concern now is him."
Pictures of Onomatopoeia popped on the screen as well as several documents detailing some of his known appearances and assassinations. The Dick and Barbara walked closer to the computer and looked at them with great curiosity.
"Onomatopoeia, true name unknown. It says here he's been involved with several high-profile assassinations on masked persona's from the past 10 years. Such as Orpheus, Vigilante, Spider, Red Da-"
"Am I the only one who's never heard of these guys?" Asked a curious Dick.
"And it's rumored he was involved with several recent insurrections such as in Qurac and Bialya, though the validity of these information has yet to be determined. As far as his martial arts skills go, I detected elements kick boxing, taekwondo, aikido, and boxing just to name a few during my battle with him."
Noticing the bar of the blood analysis fill up, Batman put away the documents and pictures to the side and typed in a command for the computer to show him a detailed look into the blood sample. As he went through the list of its components he tried to find something out of the ordinary.
"Hemoglobin, leukocytes, platelets,... Paxil."
Dick and Barbara stood behind Batman and looked at the blood sample results with great interest, Dick couldn't make heads or tails of it, Barbara on the other hand could, and was about to point out the Paxil when she noticed a smirk on Batman's face much to her shock.
"A-are you smiling?"
Turning his head to the left to face Barbara, he glared at the girl, prompting her to gulp and smile nervously as she looked away from him.
"Ahem, If you're done scaring her, how about telling me what all this chemistry stuff means?" Asked Dick.
"It means I know his weakness now, not the one I was hoping to find but *he got out of the chair and turned it in Barbara's direction* it should suffice. You *he looked at Barbara*, I assume you know how to work this computer given your photographic memory?"
"How do yo- Oh, never mind, what do you need me to do?"
Taking a seat in his chair, she placed her hands just above the keyboard, ready to type on it as soon as Batman gave the word.
"I need you to download about 90 sounds for me."
"Uhh, Sounds?" She raised an eyebrow at his request.
"Yes, it can be anything from clapping, to foot steps to knocking on a door. I want you to download these sounds and place them on the computer's hard drive. Can you do that for me?"
With a confident smile she cracked her fingers and began typing away at the keyboard with near inhuman speed. "Piece of cake."
Walking away from Barbara, he turned his attention to Dick who was looking at the computer with a focused look on his face and his arms crossed.
"How well do you know the Narrows?"
"Huh?" Snapping out of his trance, he turned to face Batman while placing his arms casually in his pockets. "Pretty good I'd say. What do you need to know about em?"
"I need the location of either an abandoned warehouse or apartment building for my plan to work."
"Let me think..." He snapped his fingers repeatedly as he tried to remember a place fitting that description, a smirk formed on his face as it finally came to him, prompting him to snap his fingers one last time and pointed his index finger at Batman with a pleased look on his face.
"I got it! There's about a dozen abandoned apartment buildings near the docks stacked right next to each other. Last time I check no one was staying there."
"What's the address?"
He gestured for the teen to follow him by waving his hand in the direction of the jet's landing pad, a command Dick complied with as he followed Batman to the flying vehicle. "I have an idea how we can stop Onomatopoeia, but to execute it properly I need your help."
A pleased smile formed on Dick's lips as he looked at Batman with a smug expression on his face. "I thought you said this job is too dangerous? Now you're gonna send me out there?"
"Don't get cocky over this kid, I have no intention of letting this partnership last past this small operation. But *he climbed into the jet and reached out to Dick to let him climb into the back seat* you and I both know how dangerous this killer is, and your knowledge of the city streets will be crucial in pulling it off."
Placing himself in the jets back seat, he peeked over Batman's shoulder and watched as the Dark Knight turned the jets engine on and closed the hatch. "So... what do you need me to do?"
17 hours later...
Willis Todd let out another long and loud cough escape his lips as he struggled to get air as the blood still filled his mouth. His left eye had a large, blank pump on it making it impossible for him to see out of it with his other eye's vision quite blurry. His arms and legs were both tied with rope, making it impossible for him escape as he lay there, defenseless on the floor.
The hours upon hours of torture had taken their toll on the mob enforcer as he could barely stay conscious as his entire body ached from the various cuts and bruises given to him by the sound mimicking killer who was sitting in his chair, with the TV turned and going through several notebooks belonging to Jason in hopes of finding further clues of their team and Batman while eating chocolate ice cream.
"plopplopPLOPOPOPOPOPOP" He said as he quickly went through the pages of the note-book before placing it on the nightstand then picked up another.
"plopplopPLOPOPOPOPOPOP" He went through the pages once again before placing the notebook on top of the last, then proceeding to pick up another.
"plopplopPLOPOPOPO-"
"Do you really... Have to do that... every... single time?!" Yelled an annoyed, and tired Willis from the ground.
"Thwack."
He said before kicking the mob enforcer in the chest, causing to Willis to start coughing once again as the sliver of air was knocked out of him. He scowled at the masked killer, and spat on his shoe in anger.
"I hope you choke... on it... you son of AAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
"Cccrrracccckkkkk."
He drove his boot into the side of Willis's chest where his ribs were, and thanks to his enhanced strength, caused one of them to break, leaving the mob enforcer in agonizing pain as he panted heavily, completely helpless on the ground while Onomatopoeia continued inspecting the notes as he devoured more ice cream.
"plopplopPLOPOPOPOPOPOP"
He said as he turned the pages of the last note-book before tossing it casually to the floor upon finding no clue within. Devouring two more spoons of ice cream, he placed the large plastic bowl on the nightstand atop the other note books, then proceeded to let out a long, disappointed sigh before he climbed out of the chair.
"Crack. Crack. Crack"
His bones released these cracking noises as he stretched out for a bit to relax his muscles before covering the bottom of his face, and pulled up the sleeve of his coat to check the time on his wristwatch and noticed it was 7 P.M.
"Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock."
Pulling his sleeve down, he adjusted his coat then turned his attention to the half-dead Willis laying on the floor beneath him. Taking out the army knife out sheath from his belt, he knelt next to Willis's head and slowly approached his one good eye with the blade. Willis felt his heart race and his breath quicken as he could do nothing but watch as the knife inched closer and closer before the TV screen suddenly released a loud static noise followed by a black screen with Batman's emblem on it.
"Onomatopoeia."
The sound mimicking assassin turned his head to face the TV upon hearing his prey's voice call out to him.
"I know you can hear me wherever you're hiding now and I want to offer you a deal. Why don't the two of us end this farce before it drags out anymore, tonight, atop EllsworthBuilding? The mob paid you to take me down, not waste time going after stupid kids who don't know any better. Besides, we never got to finish our last fight properly, and I know how much you enjoy hunting guys like me. I hope you accept my proposal, see you there."
As the bat symbol faded away, the TV screen went static once again before returning to its regularly scheduled program. Onomatopoeia stood there, frozen as he considered his next course of action as his blade was merely an inch away from Willis's eye-ball. The mob enforcer held his breath in anticipation with his heart beating so fast he could hear it in his ears while Batman's comment about kids lingered in his mind.
"What'd he mean by kids? Is Jason involved with that freak?! Is that why this whack job is doing this to me?!" Thought Willis as he tried to make sense of the situation.
Then Onomatopoeia turned his attention to Willis once again, and he seemingly just stood there, frozen in place, staring at the injured mob enforcer before him. Little did Willis know Onomatopoeia was playing a game of Eenie,meenie, miney, moe to decide his fate.
"3...2...1! BREACH!"
Brandon kicked open the door at the top of the Ellsworth Building, fully equipped in his SWAT gear and armed with a machine gun as he, in the company of Loeb, Gordon, Bullock and other high-ranking officers and SWAT members as they poured out of the staircase and covered the entire rooftop.
"Batman! You are under arrest for the murder o-"
To Brandon's, and everyone else's shock, there was absolutely no sign of the Dark Knight or this Onomatopoeia he challenged to a duel mere minutes ago across his city wide broadcast. Loeb approached the dumbfounded Brandon from behind, placed his hand on his shoulder, angrily turned him around and looked him right in the eye.
"Where the hell is he?!"
Brandon was taken aback by the Commissioners fury, a feeling only made worse as the older man didn't break eye contact and looked like he was about to tear him to pieces.
"I-I-I d-don't know sir, I-" Brandon mumbled as he tried to figure out what to say to his superior officer.
"Uh sir."
"WHAT?!"Releasing his grip on Brandon, he turned around and noticed Gordon standing behind him with a small, torn piece of paper in his hand. He ripped the paper from Jim's hand in one fast motion, then proceeded to look at it and noticed it only had two letters on it. His left eye twitched in frustration as he slowly lowered the paper and looked at Gordon.
"WHERE'S THE REST?!"
His yell caused several drops of spit to hit Jim's glasses, the Lieutenant casually pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket to clean them as Loeb angrily looked at.
"I guess Onomatopoeia must'v-"
"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU?! THERE IS NO ONOMATOPOEIA!"
"If you say so, sir." He nonchalantly replied to his superior before walking away as he continued to clean his glasses which only made Loeb angrier as his entire police department were made fools out of. Jim merely smirked as he watched Loeb go off on Brandon while he looked on from the sidelines, taking in this wondrous moment while enjoying a good smoke.
"Cccccrrreeeeekkkkkkk."
Whispered the sound mimicking assassin as he slowly, and cautiously walked through the abandoned tenant building with his army knife in one hand, and his pistol in the other. The building's address was given to him by Batman on a letter pinned to the wall with one of his Shuriken atop the EllsworthBuilding. Knowing Batman was a cunning adversary, Onomatopoeia spent about 10 minutes examining the building from afar with his binoculars until he was certain enough to enter it.
The apartment he was in was almost entirely empty with only a few open, and old cans laying on the floor, all the windows were boarded up and the floor was so decrepit it creaked loudly with even the smallest movement on it. The only functioning thing in the entire building was the staircase leading to building's roof.
Still, the lack of any traps or Batman did little to make the assassin feel any less tense as he was well aware of Batman's skill in the art of sneaking, an ability which allowed him to move through the shadows without making so much as a peep and get the jump on him during their last battle. Then he heard a knock come from a nearby wall.
His body instinctively reacted to the noise as he spun around and aimed his gun in the direction of where it came from. But before he could even fire off a shot, the sound of a bird chirping, and the wind howling could be heard as well, prompting him to mimic them.
"Chirp. Chirp. Wwwhhosshhh. Whhhoossh-"
Then a clap, a cough, and a sneeze-
"Smack! Ekhm! Acc-"
Sounds of rain, gunfire, chewing, smacking, yawning, snorting, and coughing followed suit.
"Plop. Ba-"
Soon he was overwhelmed as dozens upon dozens of sounds filled the room, each distinct in its shape and origin, but all equally tantalizing for Onomatopoeia to mimic. He tried his best to do so, but every time he opened his mouth, another sound went off, prompting him to mimic it only for that one to be replaced by the next.
He tried to control his compulsion, but it was no use, his hands started shaking so badly he unintentionally let go off his weapons, letting them drop to the ground, in an act of desperation to gain a reprieve from this assault on his senses. He drove his fingers into his ears, and managed to shatter his ears drums in the process.
As the sounds went away Onomatopoeia fell on his knees and let out a relieved sigh as he removed his blood stained fingers out of his ear tubes. But, just a few moments later, the sounds returned in full force causing his entire body to shake as he simply couldn't keep up with his sound mimicking, then he remembered his healing factor.
And for the first time since he received it, he cursed this ability as it now left him a shaking, broken, and vulnerable target as he fell to the ground and continued his hopeless mission to imitate the various sounds.
Lying there on the ground, he felt sick to his stomach as he couldn't ease his compulsion, the room started to spin in every possible direction making him feel even more uneasy. Just as he thought things couldn't possibly get any worse, Batman appeared from the shadows with a stern expression on his face, and his black cape covering most of his body, and approached the incapacitated assassin.
"Fancy meeting you here."
The assassin tried to reach out to his pistol only to get his hand pinned to the ground by Batman's foot just as he was about to reach it, not wanting to take any chances Batman knocked them to the other side of the room with a kick of his foot then turned his attention back on his prey.
"Cl- Sma-Ch-Pl-Dri-!"
The Dark Knight knelt in front of Onomatopoeia, and glared at him with his pupil less white eyes with a grim look on his face as he slowly extended his right towards his face.
"Bz- Dri-!"
The sound mimicking assassin could do nothing as Batman placed his hand on his face, and removed his mask, exposing his face for Batman, and all his allies to see. He had the appearance of a man in his mid 30s with neatly cut brown-hair, green eyes, and a small scar on his cheek. Placing his index finger on his right ear, Batman turned on his communication device, and contacted his allies inside the cave.
"Are you getting all of this?"
Back in the cave, Alfred (still wearing his mask) sat in front of the main computer with Barbara at his side as the two of them tried to find out the assassin's identity based on his recently revealed face, while the other teens looked at the live stream of Batman's ongoing "battle" with Onomatopoeia before their eyes. All of the teens, especially Jason, watched with satisfied looks on their faces as the assassin responsible for all their recent troubles was about to get what was coming to him.
"Every second of it, sir. Miss Gordon, would you be so kind?"
"Gladly."
With a pleased smile on her face, Barbara started searching for a description or other possible photograph with Onomatopoeia's facial parameters placed in. A search which proved fruitful when she found an article where a man with the same face as Onomatopoeia smiling with a blond woman about the same age as him, and two twin children, a boy and a girl who were no more than 7 or 8 years old in what was apparently a family photo the mothers Facebook profile.
"Bingo."
Onomatopoeia continued shaking on the floor as he continued trying to imitate the sounds being produced around him, he felt his heart race and the sweat cover his entire body as he had no idea how to escape his current situation. But then he heard a sound which sent chills down his spine, a small yet deep laugh coming from a smiling, and obviously pleased Batman.
"Interesting... Yes I think it'll be more than enough. (he moved his index finger away from his right ear). So, lets discuss the terms of your surrender, shall we?"
"Sc-Chi-Bzz-Ew-Whh-Yo-u-Cl-Pl-"
"I'll let that one slide, though you should try to be more cooperative moving forward. Otherwise I'll have to tell Alana, Chris, and Carol about your real job."
His heart skipped a beat upon hearing the names of his wife, son, and daughter leave Batman's lips. With that one sentence, any hope of him achieving victory in this fight was gone. Just from the look on his face Batman knew he had struck a nerve, but better yet, he effectively broke his enemies will to fight with just a few words. With the press of a button, he decreased the volume of the sounds almost completely as he knew Onomatopoeia wouldn't dare to attack him now.
The killer panted heavily as he finally got a reprieve from the assault on his senses, though the relief was short-lived as upon seeing Batman's shadow fall over his face, he gulped and nervously looked at the Dark Knight whose stone cold expression was back.
"Now then, shall we discuss the terms of your surrender?"
"Y-yes."
To be continued...
