BATMAN #9

THE SONS OF BATMAN - AFTERMATH

BY IVAN KROLO


Gotham

2 hours after Batman's city-wide broadcast

Onomatopoeia sat in the tattered cushion chair located in the middle of the room as he waited for Batman to return. Though he was as motionless as a statue on the outside, on the inside his heart was pounding so hard he felt like it was going to explode and his stomach growled as a result of both hunger and nerve racking tension.

Knowing that his observers had already seen his face, he removed his mask and held it tightly in his hand, pondering his actions over his long career while observing the bulls-eye pattern on it.

"15 years… 15 years of wearing this mask. I've travelled all over the world, completed over 90 contracts and earned enough money to keep myself and my family financially secure to for at least 2 lifetimes, so why didn't I quit when I had the chance….?" He thought.

Thus he began recollecting all of the events in his career as Onomatopoeia, all the battles he fought, the people he killed and the thrill of the hunt. That building excitement as he planned it all out, the satisfaction he felt as he carved his knife into their flesh and watched the life fade from their eyes. A small smirk formed on his face as he remembered the sensation of it all.

He lets out a pleased sigh before saying "Good times."

But then he remembered his family, losing the smirk in the process as he realized all the time he wasted lying to them all for these short but now costly bursts of ecstasy.

Thus he began remembering the last time he saw them, his eyes never leaving the bullseye on his mask.


Meanwhile…

"Ach!... god damn it…."

Willis let out a long moan from the agonizing pain after another unsuccessful attempt to get out of the bed. Ever since he woke up several hours ago, he'd tried to get out of it to no avail as he knew Falcone had little patience for anyone who was avoiding the job for any reason.

A patience already stretched to its breaking point with Batman and his new group assaulting their business across the city for over a year now. But his injuries made escape impossible, several of his ribs were cracked and the cuts he received would surely re-open if he wasn't careful.

"Fucking asshole…. when I get my hands on im he's gon-" He muttered in anger when suddenly the lights in the room turned off though the rest of the hospital equipment was operating just fine. A nurse holding a flashlight, entered the room a moment later and pointed it at Willis much to his annoyance.

"The hell's going on here? What happened to the lights?!"

"Its going to be all right, sir, just please calm dow-"

"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN! Ach! *a powerful and sudden jab of pain managed to calm him down somewhat* look lady, I haven't exactly had a good day here. So how about you do me a favor and stop standing there like a moron starin' at me and go do your goddamn job!"

Not wanting to waste any more time arguing with him, the nurse nodded and left the room to check on her other patients. This did little to calm down Willis, who was nervously looking around the room as his paranoia of the sound mimicking killer responsible for putting him here only rose with each passing moment.

Suddenly a black hand reached out of the darkness and grabbed his right arm so he couldn't press on the beeper while another grabbed him over the mouth, preventing him from call out for help.

Willis let out a few muffled grunts and tried to break the hold Batman had on him only for the grip to tighten in response.

"Simmer down or you'll have a few more injuries to deal with."

Gulping in fear upon remembering exactly what Batman was capable of doing to him, Willis nodded and stop resisting entirely.

"First things first, did you use your son to sell drugs on the streets? And don't even think about lying to me, because I'll find out and I will make you suffer for it."

Willis gave him a muffled "Mhm."

"Then here's what we're going to do. I'm going to leave you here in this room, and you're going to call your lawyer and sign off all custody rights you have over Jason to your ex wife Catherine."

Willis' temper flared up and got the better of him, prompting him to start struggling once again. Batman simply ran a current of electricity through his gauntlets for a couple seconds which immediately made Willis stop.

"Now then *he moved his hand away from his mouth* whats your answer?"

"Not a chance in hell you fre-"

He quickly moved back his hand to cover the thug's mouth and ran a longer current of electricity through his system before stopping.

"You're not in any shape to take this kind of abuse Todd. So I suggest you cooperate with me."

Another muffled response came with "I can't!"

"And why not?"He moved his hand away from his mouth again*

You don't get... Falcone will kill me if I lose the kid... our operations are bad enough because of you... losing anymore guys is out of the question!"

" And what will Falcone do to you if I let it slip you were the one to tell me about one of his secret safe-houses which I just so happened to break into a few minutes ago?"

The thug's eyes widened in shock. "You... you wouldn't..."

"If that's what it takes for you to give up the kid then yes, I would. If you showed a shred of concern for his well being I might've been more merciful, but using your own flesh and blood to sell drugs on the most dangerous streets in the country is something I can't forgive."

"Look... I know I've made some bad mistakes with the runt... but I do care about hi—"

This time Batman was the one to lose his temper, he released his hold over Willis' arm and brought his own fist down on top of him, nearly breaking all the bones in his hand. Willis tried to scream, but Batman's glove continued to muffle out any sound.

"If you really care about him you'll give him a chance to get out of this city! So do something good with your worthless life for once, and do the right thing. If you don't, I'll make sure Falcone doesn't let you live long enough to regret it."

He let go of Willis and immediately left the room via the open window, leaving the injured thug to contemplate his next course of action as the lights started functioning.


Pittsburgh

38 hours earlier….

Onomatopoeia, in his civilian attire, walked around his room, taking various pieces of clothing from the drawers and placing them neatly into his briefcase, as he usually did for his "business trips" to keep up the appearance of a simple travelling salesmen to keep his family in blissful ignorance of his true profession.

Just as he finished placing one last shirt into the briefcase, his phone started vibrating followed up by the sounds of a ticking clock as his ringtone.

"Bbbbzzzzz. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock." He thought before answering "Hello?"

"Have you left for Gotham yet, assassin?"

Onomatopoeia: Almost; just had to finish some last minute packing before heading out. I'll be boarding the next plane to Gotham within the hour.

Bird: Good to hear. I trust you will not waste any time in accomplishing your mission?

He sealed his briefcase shut by pinning it down with his elbow, then proceeded zip it shut.

"Zzzzzziiiiipppppp." He thought. "I'll get it done as fast as I'm able too, although I should probably warn you I do get a bit carried away when dealing with this kind of stuff."

"Discretion matters little to me in this instance. If this "Batman" proves to be a disappointment, then a public display of his humiliation for all of Gotham too see would in fact be greatly appreciated."

"Hmmm, I always did have a flare for the dramatic…*he rubbed his chin as he pondered the idea* I'll try to think of something. In the meantime, don't worry your pretty little head about this, boss. I've never failed a job, and I don't intend to no-"

Without warning his door shot open prompting him to immediately turn around to face the perpetrator only to discover his son Chris was responsible for it as part of a game judging by his police cap and plastic gun he was pointing at his relieved father.

"Should I be concerned about that noise just now?"

"you're under arrest! Put your hands up!"

"Its nothing I can't handle, we'll be in touch."

Ending the call, Onomatopoeia played along and slowly raised his hands as if a real gun was being pointed at him.

"Is there a problem officer?"

He slowly walked forward towards the 7 year old.

"You're under arrest for the pross-possession of nacrotics!"

"Officer, I think this is all just a big mista- gotcha!"

Before his son "gun him down" Onomatopoeia started furiously tickling him, the boy immediately fell on his back and started laughing as he tried to stay in character but to no avail.

"D-dad! Stop! T-this isn't how it's…. supposed to go…"

"Let that be a lesson to you, never let your opponent get the upper hand."

"You should listen to your dad, Chris." Raising his head, he noticed his wife Alana leaning against the door with her arms crossed and a warm smirk on her face as she looked at her two boys having fun.

"He always keeps saying how his jobs full of sharks ready to eat him alive."

Finishing up his tickling session with Chris he smiled at his wife before planting a brief kiss on her lips.

"You don't know the half of it, babe. *he walked away from the two of them and took the briefcase off his bed* But you get used to it after a while."

He exited the room with Allana and Chris right behind as they wanted to see him off. Walking out of the house and towards his car, Onomatopoeia placed his briefcase into its back seat.

"I wish Carol was here. I don't like going anywhere without saying goodbye to everyone."

"I know, dear, but she's been asking for that slumber party for ages now. Would you really want her to be mad at you before you left for a trip?"

" guess you're right. Any time she gets mad at me, I feel like the biggest as- jerk in the world. But at least I got you two here." They embraced each other and shared a deep, long parting kiss before their son broke the moment.

"Eewww."

The two chuckled as they broke the embrace, Onomatopoeia knelt before his son and smiled fondly at him.

"Now why'd you go and do that for?"

"You were grossing me out!"

"Yeah, it probably looks gross now. But trust me. Once you get old enough, you'll be chasing after girls in no time. Now come on, give your old man a hug."

Gladly doing as his father said, Chris hugged him as hard as he could prompting Onomatopoeia to feign being in pain.

"Easy there champ! With strength like that one of these days you're gonna break me like a twig."

He let out a chuckle and proceeded to let go of his father who entered his car and waved at his family from inside the vehicle before leaving the driveway. Taking one last look at them with his rear view mirror, Onomatopoeia smiled to himself before taking his phone out of his pocket and turning on its metronome and imitating the sounds.


"I see you're still here."

Snapping out of his trance upon hearing this voice, the sound mimicking killer looked around and noticed Batman standing a few feet away from him and typing something into a holographic computer coming from inside his left gauntlet.

"Not like I got much choice. So, whats this master plan of yours?"

"By hacking into the National Criminal Database, I can create a fake identity and criminal record for you. Once police apprehend you and take you into custody all they need to do is access the network and you'll be placed in Blackgate."

He finished working on the fake identity via his holographic interface and closed it before taking out a regular phone out of his belt and tossing it to Onomatopoeia.

"That phone has all the information about your new identity, once I leave you have 20 minutes to memorize it all before this room explodes and the police arrive to investigate."

"Right..."

"As for your family, I'll need to get a message out to them to ensure they don't come looking for you. Did you tell them specifically where you were going?"

"No. I told them I was heading to Bludhaven."

"Good, tell them a client of yours inadvertently got you involved with the wrong people, dangerous people who are threatening to hurt your family unless you do as they say and leave the country."

The assassin gulped and looked at the phone in his hand with a somber look on his face before looking back at Batman.

"Look, is there any way we can—"

"No. This is the only way you can keep your family's good memory of you intact and don't think I won't rat you out if you fail to cooperate. If the peaceful method doesn't work I'll simply lock you in the deepest, darkest bunker I can build and leave you there to be perpetually tormented by thousands of sounds going on and on until the day you die. Now tell me where you keep the information about your assassinations."

"Its... its on a laptop I take with me during jobs. The passwords 3122002. You can find it on top of the old abandoned church near Park Row."

Memorizing the code, Batman proceeded to press several buttons on his holographic interface.

"The Shuriken here are armed to explode in 20 minutes, I suggest you aren't in here when it happens. The ear pieces I put in are still being controlled by my people, so don't try anything after I leave."

The assassin wanted to say more, but gave up quickly as he knew Batman had no intent of letting him squirm out of this. Thus he watched the Dark Knight fade into the shadows before memorizing this fake identity given to him.


3 days later...

Batman stood on top a rooftop overlooking the building where Willis and Jason live and watched from afar as the still wounded boy, now using a temporary walking crutches, helped his mother put his things in the car with some aditional help from Barbara, Dick and Larry. He even let himself smile upon seeing the boy and his mother embrace each other in a hug.

"I'm very proud of you master Bruce. Giving that boy a proper home and chance away from this terrible city, its times like these that truly make me proud of the man you've become."

"That means a lot coming from you old friend."

"Though I'm curious sir, how did you know Willis had bribed the judge during their divorce?"

"After discovering the identities of the Sons, I did a thorough background check on them and noticed the sudden shift in the judge's decision to give Willis full custody. Upon further investigation, I noticed something. Willis was a known alcoholic and his violent outbursts were even used as evidence of two witnesses, everything was going in Catherines favor until the witnesses who agreed to testify stopped and the judge became much more inclined to take his side. Needless to say it didn't take much thought to figure out he bribed the judge and threatened the witnesses to keep their mouths shut."

"And then he sent his 8 year old boy on to the streets to work as a drug dealer for the Falcone's... How, differently he would've turned out had he not met you or the Sons."

"I just hope he can recover from it all. This city... it takes its toll on you, and most don't realize its broken them before it's far too late."

"Are we just talking about Jason now sir?"

"I'm not in the mood for being psychoanalyzed tonight Alfred, for now... just let me enjoy this while it lasts."

The two of them packed the last of their bags with Catherine slamming the trunk shut and entering the driver's seat of the car with. Barbara was the first to say her goodbye and hugged the boy while planting a kiss on his cheek, Larry and Dick followed suit with each of them giving Jason something to remember them by.

Barbara gave him an old laptop, Dick gave him his Sons mask and Larry gave him a couple of their make shift „batarangs". Just as he opened the door to enter the car, Jason noticed Batman's silhouette on the rooftop as the low full moon behind him made his hero easier to notice.

He smiled at him before entering the car and waving his friends goodbye as he, and Catherine drove away from the dilapidated building which served as the boys home all this time and happily awaited to begin a new, and hopefully better phase of their lives in Chicago.


Unknown location...

"Why did it take you so long to contact me of this incident?"

A shadowy figure, sat in a dimly lit room before a large computer monitor with dozens of pictures of Bruce Wayne and Batman all over it, along with photos of documents detailing Batman sightings throughout all of Gotham over the past year.

"Well you see, sir, I didn't want to bother you with this kind of stuff so I thought—" Stated Carmine over the phone.

"You thought wrong engañar. One of my few trusted advisers being drugged and tossed aside at your front door is a matter I should've been informed of."

"O-of course sir! It won't happen aga—"

"No!... It won't because I am taking care of this Batman myself."

"Personally? You mean you're coming to Got-"

Sick of listening to the sniveling Carmine Falcone, the shadowy figure rose from his chair, revealing that he stood at over six feet tall and had the body of a professional body builder and turned off his phone, his eyes never leaving the comparison picture of Batman & Bruce Wayne.

A smile formed on his face and he proceeded to call his other lieutenant, Trogg.

"How may I serve you lord Bane?"

"Prepare our planes for the journey ahead. I want you and your elite forces to be the first ones in Gotham before our main force arrives. You are leaving first thing tomorrow morning."

"Of course lord Bane! We will not fail you!"

He gave his other lieutenant an affirmative grunt before ending the call and putting his phone away on the desk.

"If what this fool Carmine said is true, then you have truly proven yourself a worthy adversary for me Batman. I look forward to finally meeting you face to face in the coming weeks... I hope you do not disappoint me, dear brother."


TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT ARC OF DC PRIMES BATMAN! BANE OF THE KNIGHT!