Bruce's teeth rattled as the opponent's blade clashed against his. Bruce was thrust into the concrete wall behind him and ducked as the wooden blade swung over his head and the man he was fighting threw an illegal punch, catching Bruce in the throat. He fell to the ground and rubbed his neck as the aggressive man took his sword and slammed it against his back, making the wood crack as Bruce fell.
"What the hell? You can't do that?" Bruce said with a groan as he looked up at the man he was fighting.
"How many rules do you think the enemy will follow when we're in battle?" the opponent responded in a thick British accent.
Bruce groaned in annoyance and got up, seeing the ninja leader toss the man another wooden sword and shook his head, trying to ignore the pain. He stood up quickly and ran at the man, swinging the sword across his head, cracking against the tactical helmet. The man hit the ground hard and Bruce remembered his police training, pressing his knee against the back of his neck, twisting his arm backward and making him drop the sword. He made the man stand up and loosened his grip a fraction, making the man turn around. Bruce screamed as he kicked him hard in the chest. Sand flew up from underneath him and the man threw off his helmet, running at Bruce and tackling him to the ground, putting his hands against his throat.
"Think you can do that to me?" the man said, slobbering on Bruce's chest as he tightened his grip.
He looked around and saw all his comrades backing up from the fighting circle. Bruce looked to the mansion and saw Ra's standing in a ceremonial robe, raising his chin as he watched the struggle. Bruce got enough strength to pull his arms from under his body and slammed his hands against the man's ears, making him back up. The man flipped over and Bruce put him in a headlock, ignoring the painful jabs his elbow threw into Bruce's gut. Bruce couldn't hold up against his strength and let him go, making the man swing heavy punches at Bruce. He blocked a hard swing with the broken piece of wooden sword and winced as wooden splinters flew in his face. The English man punched his head multiple times, the mask doing little to protect him. Bruce became exhausted and attempted a scissor kick, only hitting the giant man's calf, causing no damage. The man punched him repeatedly in the gut and slobber flew from Bruce's mouth. He held back vomit and screamed as he delivered a punch that caught him right between the eyes. The man grunted and fell to the ground, back first. He didn't get up. After five seconds, Bruce leaned down and saw blood pouring from the man's nose.
"Heh! Good job! Now finish me..." the man said through painful gasps.
Bruce looked up at Ra's who nodded his head slowly.
All the men watched as Bruce stood above the giant English man, waiting for him to deliver the final blow. Bruce had been warned by many other members that loss of life would have to be part of the training. Bruce couldn't kill, not after what had happened in Paris. He shook his head at the man and walked away, taking a deep breath.
"No." Bruce said quietly.
"Wha-?" the man said, dumbfounded.
"I won't." Bruce replied, leaving a pause as he lowered his head, facing the man.
"I can't." he continued, walking away and kicking sand as he faced the gang of Shadow members.
"You coward! Finish me! Finish me, dammit!" the man yelled, punching the sand and letting spit fly from his mouth.
Bruce watched as the crowd separated like Moses and the Red Sea. He walked past Ra's and into his quarters. Ra's faced Bruce's back as he walked up the steps with a limp and to his personal room. He took off his mask and collapsed on the bed, crying his eyes out and moaning softly into his pillow. He thought about a lot of things: his parents, Alfred, Wayne Manor, and Paris.
"You girls ready?" Eric asked his team as they headed to the black van parked by the garage door.
They all nodded and climbed into the van, with Kenneth driving and Eric in the passenger seat. All of them were excited and scared beyond belief. They had no idea what awaited them but they all had one thing in mind: money. Except for Bruce. He was going to save the day. He sat in the back and looked at his partners as they all prayed silently or looked out the window as Kenneth did his best to drive like a normal civilian as a small burst of rain began to fall.
"That won't hurt our plans, will it?" Ali asked as raindrops hit his window.
"No. Just a little rain. As long as this thing still has tires, we're invincible." Eric replied, buckling his seat belt as the van stopped at an intersection.
Bruce was silent and just took slow breaths. He knew now wasn't the right time to strike. Eric would give him the signal and he would find the alarm. At least that was the way he had planned it.
"Here we are." Eric said with a sigh as the van stopped in the parking lot of the building.
Bruce looked up at the skyscraper and was amazed at the size and immensity of it. He saw the logo on the front of the building and saw it was the Parisan branch of Wayne Enterprises. His jaw dropped and he nearly smacked himself at his ignorance. How did he not know that his own company had branches located all over the world? He gulped slowly and Eric slightly flicked his left ear, bringing him back to the real world.
"Gary. Don't mess this up." Eric said sharply as Ali opened the door and led the way with the rest of the men following.
"I won't." Bruce replied, taking a pistol given to him and sticking it in his back holster.
The two of them ran out from the van and headed to the left side of the Wayne Enterprises building. Eric was prepared. He brought a pair of bolt clippers and saw the chain strapped to the fence that led to the company vehicle parking lot. Barbed wire was rolled across the top of the fence and Bruce looked around, seeing a camera twenty-feet up in a corner, overlooking the parking lot. Bruce tapped Eric's shoulder as he snapped the chain and Eric spotted the camera, nodding and giving a smirk.
"I got it." Eric said, taking a SMG paintball gun and aiming carefully, hitting the pellet right on the lens, covering it in dark blue paint.
Bruce took a deep breath as Eric quickly opened the gate and shoved Bruce inside before they ran fast, Eric sliding across the hood of a convertible, laughing quietly as they saw the custodian's back office door. He nodded his head in the direction of the door and Bruce returned the nod, following him as they sprinted to the door and took a quiet break until they heard the door begin to squeak open. The janitor cleared his throat and spoke to his partner as Bruce and Eric backed up against the wall, hidden in the shadow of the building.
"Etes-vous sûr que vous ne voulez pas une bière? Parlez maintenant ou rester soif, Ben." Are you sure that you don't want a beer? Speak now or stay thirsty, Ben.
"Oui, Lucas, je vais bien. Juste apportez-moi un sac de croustilles ou de quelque chose." Yes, Lucas, I'm fine. Just bring me a bag of chips or something.
As the janitor shut the door, Eric rushed behind him and put him in a headlock, waiting for him to pass out. Bruce watched the door and widened his eyes as he saw the second janitor approach the door window and fling it open. Bruce grabbed his hand before he could grab his radio and used the taser in his belt to shock him with a sharp jolt of pain; immediately sending him to the ground. Eric threw the guy to the ground and flipped out three pairs of handcuffs, tossing a pair to Bruce.
"Cuff one of his arms to the opposite leg. I've got a couple rags we can use for gags. These guys won't be able to contact anyone." Eric said, pulling a red hotel washcloth and stuffing it in Lucas' unconscious mouth.
Bruce spotted the washcloth and saw the name of the hotel on the side. He knew the rag was evidence. If the police were smart enough, they could track the rag back to the hotel and look through records, finding Eric and the rest of the crew leaving the hotel. He stopped himself from talking and shoved the washcloth inside Ben's mouth. After Eric had completely trapped Lucas, he kicked him in the stomach once before taking the keycard from Ben's breast pocket and scanning it across the keypad across from the heavy metal door.
"Let's go. The alarm is three rooms from the top floor. I'm going to silence the guards on the ground level and you head up. Use that pistol if any trouble happens. Not that we don't care about you... but if you or anyone else gets caught, it's your ass, got that?" Eric whispered as the door lock clicked open.
"Yep. I'll see you soon." Bruce said with a fake smile, sprinting through the janitors' office and seeing the staircase entrance a hallway from him.
Here we go. This is it. Bruce thought to himself as he began to ascend the staircase.
I can't wait too long. These guys are smart and if I wait too long, they'll figure out that something ain't right. Shit... why didn't I plan this out better? What if I die? What if I go to jail? Wouldn't that be wonderful... Bruce Wayne Goes To Prison For Robbing Own Company. Oh, great.
He ascended the stairs quickly and quietly, feeling the sweat in his hand make the gun slippery. Two minutes later, he finally reached the 47th floor and opened the door, holding the pistol behind his back as he quietly walked across the hallway. Bruce sneaked around the rooms, seeing a few men and women still working, one man drinking a bottle of whiskey and a woman beside him yelling in cursing French. Bruce ducked below the window and understood her speech long enough to hear she heard a noise outside. Bruce went prone and quickly crawled on the floor as she opened the door. He barrel-rolled across the hallway and waited behind a wall, hearing her heels hit the tile floor and come closer. He held his breath and got out his taser, ready to shock her.
"What are you doing? I'm not done talking to you damn it!" the man inside the office yelled in broken English.
Bruce heard her turn around and slap the man in the face, slamming the door shut and yelling at the man. He couldn't resist but give a small chuckle and stood up, holding the gun tight and running across the hallway, remembering the blueprint layout and seeing the room number where the alarm box was located. He knew the alarm code. 5-42-92-27-00. He had repeated it multiple times on the way to the building out loud to give the impression that he was going to do it. This was his chance. If he could mess up the alarm box code, the building's security system would automatically call the police and they would arrive within one to three minutes. Now, Bruce had to plan his escape and never see the crew ever again. If they saw him and realized that he blew the entire heist, they would all try to kill him. And most likely, they would succeed.
"Here we go." Bruce said quietly, about to press the emergency button.
Before he could, he heard dozens of gunshots and heard a man scream two floors up. He looked upwards and heard more gunfire from outside. He ran to the nearest window and flew open the shades. He saw three helicopters outside and screamed in fear as one of the snipers spotted him with the searchlight and fired a round, shattering the window and scaring the arguing people in the room. He heard more gunfire traded with the helicopters' occupants and his crew. He ran to the staircase entrance and leaped back when Eric ran down and spotted the two people, shooting them both in the back.
"No! What are you doing?" Bruce yelled, punching Eric in the hand.
Eric gave Bruce a look and nodded to the staircase, talking as they ran up.
"Kenneth... goddamn Kenneth! He was a rat for the Scotland Yard! He killed Ali and nearly got me when I fired an entire mag at him. He's got help! But we can still get away with this! C'mon! Forget repelling down the window; Johnny's already in the office." Eric yelled, running to the top floor and preparing to fire as they both heard windows busting and men yelling.
Bruce heard lots of gunfire and he flinched, holding his gun tight and ready for the worst. Eric kicked open the door and fired three more rounds, hitting the body armor of an agent and making him grunt in pain. Five agents fired near them and Bruce ducked, hiding under a desk, watching ink from printers and bits of paper fly into the air as bullets hit the desk and surrounding area. He crawled underneath the firefight and saw Johnny firing a large machine gun, red-hot rounds hitting the floor and the sheer force of the gun vibrating the room. Bruce screamed in the chaos and panicked when Eric grabbed him by the collar, tossing him into the next hallway.
"Go! I've got them!" Johnny yelled to Eric as he killed six men, bullet rounds hitting the helicopter outside, Bruce seeing a few rounds hitting the pilot, blood shooting on the cockpit glass as the copter hit the building, the blades literally slicing a man in half.
Bruce and Eric ran down the hallway and he spotted the office room.
"What's in that safe exactly?" Bruce yelled through the violent gunfire.
"Aluminum, my friend! 400 mill worth!" Eric replied, stopping at the door and firing his gun twice at the lock, kicking the metal door open and hearing the alarm going off.
"What? The stuff cans are made out of? Are you serious?" Bruce yelled.
"Hell yeah! This group over in the East found a giant deposit of the stuff and the price has gone up. This cargo is pure aluminum, not the flattened shit they make cans out of." Eric explained as he tore all the books off the shelf behind the office computer, finding a lever and slamming it downward, watching the bookcase shift to the left.
Inside looked like a bank vault, a brightly lit room with cameras all around and a giant vault lock that guarded the safe.
"Back up!" Eric said, slamming a piece of explosive gel from a case in his back pocket and running the entrance of the vault, pressing a detonator app on his phone.
As the smoke cleared after an explosion, Johnny entered the office room, blood streaks across his body armor and a bloody wound across the left side of his face. He laughed in excitement and hurried into the vault, trying to grab a sheet of aluminum before turning to Eric.
"What is this? I thought this was about money?" Johnny asked, hearing Eric load another magazine into his pistol.
"It is. It's always about money." Eric said coldly before firing four bullets into Johnny's back, killing him nearly instantly.
The sheet of aluminum hit the vault floor and blood quickly covered it. Bruce's mouth dropped and he began to back up, watching Eric turn his head sideways and sniff unapologetically. He turned around and smiled at Bruce.
"What's wrong, Gary?" Eric asked.
"That's not my name. My name is Bruce Wayne. My family owns this building, Eric. I was trying to stop you but it looks like Kenneth beat me to it." Bruce revealed, stalling for time as he saw agents begin to enter the damaged room destroyed by Johnny.
This was how it was going to end. He would have to turn himself in and watch Eric go to jail. No matter what his motive was, Bruce would be convicted of armed robbery and assault. No matter how great the Waynes' lawyer was, Bruce would get jail time. It was all over.
"What? You're a rat too!" Eric stammered, pointing the gun at Bruce and aiming for his head.
Bruce held on tight to the gun and raised his arms, seeing the agents kick through the door and immediately start firing their machine guns at both of them through the glass office window. Bruce ducked and dodged gunfire from both Eric and the agents, darting down the hallway and heading down the stairs, watching two agents follow him. They fired their weapons and sparks flew in Bruce's direction, making him flinch. He leaped down five steps and flew into the wall, busting his nose and groaning in pain. He quickly got up and felt the sharp pain of a bullet as it shot through his left arm. He screamed in pain and tripped down an entire flight of stairs, feeling the two men tackle him and force his hands behind his back.
"You're under arrest, you bastard! Getting my men killed? I don't think so!" the man to the left said, punching Bruce in the head and feeling warm blood pouring down his head.
"Gary!" Bruce heard Eric yell.
"Shit." Bruce whimpered, elbowing both men and running down the flight of stairs, his gun airtight in his right hand.
He turned behind him and saw Eric shoot them both brutally with a newly-acquired machine gun. Blood shot on the wall and Bruce screamed, dodging bullets as he felt them whizz by his head.
"I hate rats!" Eric yelled, dropping the gun and jumping on top of Bruce; the both of them falling down the giant and painful flight of steps.
"Stop it!" Bruce yelled, punching Eric as hard as he could in the face, trying to pull him off of him.
"You ruined all of this! What was the point, Gary? Or should I say Bruce?" Eric yelled, standing up and slamming him against the wall, repeatedly kicking him in the stomach.
"I was trying to do the right thing!" Bruce yelled, clotheslining Eric and throwing him down the steps.
"Look where that got you!" Eric laughed, spitting blood in his face.
Bruce groaned and he choked Eric by grabbing his throat from behind, hearing Eric gasp for breath. Bruce punched him in the back and took his gun, whacking him in the back of the head with it. Eric was unconscious and fell down more steps while Bruce took the gun and watched as more agents began to pour down the staircase. He watched as the leader came down first and aimed his machine gun at his chest.
"Put your gun down!" the agent yelled through his ski mask.
Bruce narrowed his eyes and aimed the pistol to the agent's head. He heard the many agents coming down fast and the leader reaimed his rifle, giving him another warning. Bruce could feel the threat imposing on him and he took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he pulled the trigger. He didn't hear a gunshot and saw that the gun had jammed. He sighed in shock and jumped down the flight of stairs, the leading agent on his tail. He screamed in shock, anger, and confusion as he rushed out of the building, spotting a man on a speed bike and tackling him to the ground, getting on his bike before the man could recover and driving off into the night; a helicopter and two patrol cars right behind him.
"Shit. Shit. Shit. What was that? You tried to kill him!" Bruce said to himself as he drove towards a giant highway tunnel, the helicopter losing sight of the bike.
"Never again!" Bruce continued as he shook his head, driving off into the night.
