Batman #8
The Sons of Batman Part 8
Written By Ivan Krolo
"Now then, shall we discuss the terms of your surrender?"
Panting and sweating heavily on the floor, Onomatopoeia gulped and nervously looked at the Dark Knight towering over him as his prey now held all the cards by revealing he knew about the assassin's family. Knowing he had no choice but to give in, he gave his answer.
"Y-y-es."
"Good, first things first." He reached out to the killer's throat and grabbed him by it before lifting him off the ground and scowling at him. "Who hired you?!."
He coughed as his breathing became erratic as he closed one of his eyes to look at Batman as he tried to breathe. "O-osi-to. He told me... his n-name is Osito... some rich Hispanic bastard who's got a bone to pick with you... told me to test you..."
His interrogator raised an eyebrow at this under his cowl. "Test me for what?"
"T-too see if you were... worthy... to see if you were as good as everyone says you are... paid me 20 million to get it done..."
"What did this "Osito" look like?" The grip over his neck loosened ever so slightly, allowing the assassin to breathe a bit easier.
"Never saw the guy. He sent his right hand man to set the deal up, some ex military looking creep with a big crow tattoo covering his lower face, besides that you couldn't tell him apart from any of the other middle-aged shaved headed mercs all over the place these days."
"How are you keeping in touch with this Bird?"
"H-he gave me a bird 's whistle in my pocket"
Batman tightened his grip on Onomatopoeia's neck to lessen any incentive he may have of trying to pull a fast one, ignoring the coughs of his prisoner, he found the whistle and noticed its crow like appearance.
"Looks like this Bird's been keeping track of Onomatopoeia's progress with his little pets, they most likely have cameras or some other recording method attached, good thing I activated the disruptors inside the Shuriken to blind anyone who might be watching from the outside or... " He thought when something caught his attention.
Turning his head ever so slightly to the left, he noticed and scowled at a green-eyed crow with a camera attached to its neck standing on the edge of a broken window before it flew off.
"Or the inside in this case."
Onomatopoeia noticed his captor had lowered his guard and attempted to slip a small knife down his sleeve, towards his hand only to receive an electric shock from Batman's gauntlet, a loud yell escaped his lips as he dropped the knife and grabbed the gauntlet to make the pain stop, his wish was granted a few moments later.
"Did you really think that would work?"
The killer let out a small laugh as the pain subsided. "Can't... blame a guy for trying...y'know..."
"Ordinarily I'd give you much worse than that little shock for your little stunt just now, but we don't have much time left to waste."
The smirk on his face vanished as he gave Batman a look of pure disbelief. "W-we?!"
Batman gave him an affirmative grunt before placing a pair of small devices into his ears, and casually dropping him to the ground. He landed on his own knife and yelped in pain as he pulled it out of his arm.
"Yes, you're my only lead to this Osito and I'm in the perfect place to ruin not just your life, but the lives of your children. Help me and I'll show you mercy, oh if you get any more bright ideas, those things I put into your ear are recording devices I put all those noises into, so if you tryanything-"
"You'll fry my brain and blow the whistle on me, I got it boss."
He placed put the knife away before picking up his mask and covering his face with it as he walked over to Batman.
"Bird's been keeping track of you with crows and other pets of his around the city since you arrived, that crow that just flew of was one of his. No doubt here to cover the last battle between us after that city-wide announcement I made."
"If that thing was inside and saw you choking me, isn't your little plan already screwed?"
Batman handed the bird whistle over to Onomatopoeia before continuing.
"The bird had a small camera around its neck, which is sending footage over to Bird, it can't send anything, however if I purposefully jammed any signals besides my own if anyone was watching or listening in. He doesn't have a clue about the outcome of the battle, which is where you come in. You'll give the all clear signal to Bird's... birds, and wait for him to arrive, once his guards down, we'll attack him at together and take him down before he knows what's happening."
He took a pill out of his belt and placed it into his mouth when a loud crunching noise was heard as he chewed on it.
"Whats that supposed to be?" The assassin asked.
"A blood pill, it'll make it look like I'm bleeding out of my mouth after you killed me, tear your clothes up to make it look more convincing while I play dead, I suggest you get cozy while you wait, it could be a while before he shows up."
3 minutes later...
The leader of the flock himself appeared in the abandoned apartment building with one of his crows standing on his shoulder and a silver briefcase in his hand. The man known as Bird was a bit shorter than either Onomatopoeia or Batman as he stood at 5"4, a foot shorter than former and latter.
As Onomatopoeia stated before, Bird was a middle-aged man in his mid to late 30s with a distinctive crow like a tattoo on the bottom half of his face, giving the impression he had a beard, his head was shaved and a long vertical line running down the left side of his face.
His clothing consisted of a standard military uniform with finger-less black gloves, rolled up sleeves, a pair of pouches attached to his thighs, a black military vest covering his chest equipped with more pouches, a sheath on its right shoulder area where Bird kept a knife and three pieces of red rope wrapped around the vest at a 45 degree angle.
The mercenary looked around the messed up room and noticed Onomatopoeia sitting on a nearby sofa with his legs crossed, his suit tattered in several areas and a bloodied knife in his hand. A few feet away from him laid a motionless Batman on the ground with blood coming out of his lips.
"It seems your reputation is well earned assassin, I was worried the Bat might've defeated you when my pets stopped reporting in."
"He put up a good fight,better than most of his kind I've had the pleasure of dealing with over the years, but in the end he lost just like all the rest. Wwwhhizzzhhh."Onomatopoeia whipped the blood off the blade with a cut off piece of his clothing before placing it back in its sheath, leaping out of the sofa, he walked over to Bird who was crouching next to the body, examining it.
"A shame the same could not be said for him, my master will be very disappointed to hear of this news. He had great hopes for this one, from the way Falcone described him to us its as if he were more demon than man."
"You'd be surprised what a little theatricality is capable of, although I gotta give him props, he does it better than anyone else I've ever met." As Onomatopoeia crossed his arms, Bird raised an eyebrow at what the sound mimicking killer just said.
"Don't you mean did?"
"Pardon?"
Bird turned his head up to see Onomatopoeia. "You said he does it better than most, how is that possible if he's dead?"
"Yyyeeeaaahhhh about that. Crunch"
Before Bird could react, both Onomatopoeia and Batman attacked him at once with the former smashing his nose with a powerful elbow blow, while the former drove a poisoned Shuriken into his femoral artery. Before he could strike the downed Batman, Onomatopoeia followed his last attack up with a kick to the stomach, which sent him off the ground and through a broken wall behind him.
"Pow. Crash"
Bird grunted in anger and frustration as he tried to get back on his feet, but the paralyzing poison was acting quickly, he couldn't feel his legs anymore and his arms were following suite. The last thing he managed to see before the darkness enveloped him was the bottom of Batman's boot as it came crashing down on his face, instantly knocking him out.
"Good team work there partner."
He went to pat Batman on the back only for the Dark Knight to discourage him with a simple scowl. Getting the message, Onomatopoeia backed away from Batman and opted not to bother him while he searched Bird to get more clues about who his employer Osito is.
Turning his face so both he and Alfred, who was watching everything with the Sons from the safety of the cave, could get a better look at it
"Big Al, you know what to do."
The Cave...
"Right away sir, miss Gordon, would you be so kind as to move?"
"Uh yeah sure."
"Thank you."
Taking his place at the seat in front of the caves computer, Alfred opened a second screen on the large monitor and began cross referencing the picture of Bird he received from the camera inside Batman's cowl lenses with people matching his appearance inside what seemed to be a vast database of criminals. Barbara's jaw almost hit the floor when she realized what he was used to figure out Bird's
"Is... is that the NCIC?!" Asked a shocked Barbara.
"In a manner of speaking, we're using it to enter the Global Criminal Database."
"How are you getting into it so easily? I thought you needed to remotely connect to the GCPDs server to... He broke into their headquarters didn't he?"
"One of his first escapades as Batman in fact, now then, lets see what they have on this Bird fellow."
A ping noise was heard upon the search bars completion, followed by the appearance of Bird's page on the network detailing everything from his personal information to his seemingly vast criminal background. Alfred activated his communicator once again to contact his master.
"Sir, I have that information you requested about Bird."
"Good work Al, send me the data right away and I'll review it."
"Of course sir, and what will you be-"
Suddenly communication between the cave ceased much to everyone's confusion.
"Hey guys! What just happened?!" Jason yelled as he still lay on the metal bed and watched from afar.
"He's cut the connection between us and him, strange, the camera in his cowl and in the room is still intact and his vitals aren't showing anything out of the ordinary. Strange..."
"Does he usually do this kind of thing?"
"Only to your father miss Gordon.
"Yeah, so I've been told."
Placing a titanium pair of handcuffs on the unconscious Bird, Batman then turned his attention to Onomatopoeia who was busy counting the money inside the briefcase. As he walked towards the sound mimicking killer, he clenched his fist as he remembered hearing the police dispatcher speak about a Willis Todd being found nearly beaten to death in his own home while he and Dick were busy setting up the Shuriken around the apartment.
Knowing that the stress and shock could result in complications for Jason, he opted to not tell anyone until the boy had more time to recover, which is why he decided to silence what came next to his allies back at the cave. Upon reaching Onomatopoeia he swung his at his target's head, hitting him from behind before grabbing him by the throat and tossing him across the room and into that sofa.
Moaning as the splitting pain in his head healed, Onomatopoeia clumsily got back on his feet and walked a few steps towards Batman.
"What the he-"
Another punch, this time to the gut, interrupted him while the next sent him crashing to the ground below, followed up by Batman pinning his head to the floor with the bottom of his boot. The assassin grabbed on to the boot to try and get it off, but the harder he struggled, the more pressure Batman applied to it.
"Willis Todd! He was found nearly beaten to death earlier today in his apartment and he's fighting for his life. Before that, you nearly killed his son when you shot him at the clock tower, you butchered Diane and Bobby Lane! Good people who've done nothing to you, and despite having a family of your own, you ruthlessly did those things to them anyway, and now I intend to make you pay dearly for it."
He tapped into the data stored about Onomatopoeia, his family and his long list of victims by accessing it through the a holographic keypad emitting from his gauntlet, the still struggling killer tried to make out what he was doing to no avail.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
"Sending the data about your real job to your wife."
Almost immediately Onomatopoeia started to struggle harder than ever before as he clawed and pounded on Batman's leg to try and escape.
"You can't! Do you hear me?! You can't! Their live'll be ruined! Please, you can't tell them! I'll give you anything you want, money, weapons, information on all my contacts and employers, just please don't blow the whistle on me!"
"Is this how Willis and Diane begged you too while you tortured for your own sick pleasure? Why should I be any more merciful then you were with them?!"
"Look... lets just... calm down alright, I can still help you. I've got money, weapons, equi-"
"Not interested!" Proclaimed an angry Batman.
"Information! I've saved all the names and info on the guys that've hired me over the years. You're a smart guy, you could get that info to the right people no problem and help cripple entire criminal empires in a matter of days all over the world! Think of all the good you could do!"
He halted the sending of the information.
"Good, but not good enough."
"What else do you want?! I've already offered you everything I have!"
"What I want is for you to rot in a cell for the rest of your life so all the people you've hurt and murdered can finally get the justice they deserve. Which is why I'm offering you this: turn yourself in to the police and spend your appointed sentence in prison and I promise I won't tell your family anything."
"Are you nuts?! If I just up and leave my family like this, they'll hate me for the rest of their lives!"
He removed his boot away from Onomatopoeia's face. "You've got until I come back here to make up your mind. I suggest you use that time wisely. Rest assured that my people will be keeping an eye on everything, so don't try anything or you'll regret it."
"I'm already regretting this whole job..."
Walking away from the sound mimicking killer, he re-established contact with the cave as he put the still unconscious Bird over his shoulder.
"Sir? Is everything alright? We lost con-"
"Everything's fine Al *he turned around and cast a glance at Onomatopoeia* I've done all I needed to here."
"But... what about the assassin?"
"He's no threat to us anymore, right now I have more pressing matters to attend to elsewhere. I want you to keep an eye on Onomatopoeia while I go run an errand. You know how to deal with him should he try anything."
"Indeed I do sir."
Carmine Falcone, leader of the once proud and mighty Falcone crime family sat in his darkly lit office with a glass of expensive wine circa 1945 in one hand a lit Cuban cigar in his other as he sat in his expensive leather chair with two body guards on each side and his nephew, Carl Falcone, sat in-front of him playing a game of Angry Birds with an idiotic smile on his face as if he was a 5 year old child.
"Yes! High-score baby!" Exclaimed a please Carl, not realizing his uncle angry gaze upon him.
"Will you stop playing that piece of shit game already?!"
His fiery yell sent shivers down everyone's spine, which was not helped by the fact he tossed the glass of wine at his nephew who narrowly dodged at as he jumped out of the chair.
"Sheesh uncle Carmine, why'd you do thAAAGGHHH"
Grabbing his nephew angrily by the collar, he lifted him off the ground and gritted his teeth in anger.
"Why'd I do that? BECAUSE YOU'RE SITTING THERE PLAYING THAT STUPID BIRD GAME LIKE A MORON WHEN OUR FUTURES ON THE LINE HERE!"
"But... I thought you... said the Bat can't hurt us..."
"WAKE UP AND SMELL THE FUCKIN ROSES!"
He threw his nephew to the ground and sat back in his chair as he tried to calm himself down.
"If the assassin doesn't off the Bat, he's gonna come after us harder and faster than ever before. Pretty soon I won't be able to bail anyone out, not with self righteous pricks like Dent and Gordon getting more and more supporters. What happens in these next few days will determine our very fut-"
The sound of the room's skylight shattering followed by a loud thump on the ground cut his speech short, Falcone and Carl took cover behind the desk while the two guards backed away and pulled out their pieces and aimed them forward.
"Don't just stand there you morons! Go see what crashed through there!"
The guard to his right nervously nodded and the two made their way to the place where an object, which crashed through the skylight came from, upon reaching the center of the room where it was, they saw a bloodied, disoriented and beaten Bird lying on the ground, moaning in a mix of pain and confusion.
"What the hell is it?!" Asked a furious Carmine.
"Its... some weird lookin' merc guy boAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
He scream of terror from the body guard frightened the people in the room far worse than Carmines yell did earlier as something dragged him into the shadows, silencing him moments later. The other body guard looked around nervously as he tried to figure out where the person responsible was hiding, his hands shook and his eyes were playing tricks on him as he peered into the darkness which surrounded him.
Before he knew what hit him, Batman struck him with a well placed karate chop to the neck, which knocked him out instantly and sent him crashing face first into the floor. Carl gulped in fear as he finally got a good look at the infamous Batman, and felt his heart beating ferociously beat as he stared into those white, pupil less eyes. Carmine noticed this and grabbed his nephew by the shoulders and pushed him over the desk.
"Don't just stand there like an idiot! Stop him!"
Clumsily getting back on his, Carl tried to get his own pistol out only for Batman to effortlessly knock it out of his hand, he then tried to get his knife out but that was also taken away from him by the Bat. With nothing left to defend himself with, Carl helplessly stood there as he waited for what terrible thing The Batman would do to him next.
"P-please... don't hurt me!"
Moving his head a bit closer to Carl's, he scowled at the young Falcone family member and simply said.
"Boo."
Like a man possessed, Carl ran out of the room yelling at the top of his lungs leaving his uncle alone with the Bat. Carmine clenched his fist in anger and made a mental note to punish Carl severely for this display of cowardice, but now he had more pressing matters.
"If you think you can bully me, you've got ano-"
His rage vanished and was immediately replaced by intense fear as he looked at the imposing figure before him, eyes as cold and lifeless as a corpse and a cape seemingly made from the darkness itself, he gulped and cautiously sat in his chair.
"Wh-what do you want...?"
Lifting the semi-concious Bird with a single arm, he tossed the mercenary on to Falcone's desk and scowled at the mob boss.
"I want you to give your partner Osito a message, I want you to tell him his assassins has failed miserably, I want you to show him the sorry state his right hand man is in, and most importantly, I want you to tell him to stay the hell out of my city, Gotham doesn't belong to you, your mob partners or to him, Gotham belongs only to The Batman!"
Witness the aftermath to "The Sons of Batman" and the true beginning of the following arc, Bane of the Knight, next issue!
