Usual disclaimer. No money exchanged hands, and I have no legal right to Batman or affiliated characters from DC Comics. The slight mention of a Marvel character does not mean I have rights to that character, nor does this make this story into a crossover. Read on!
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Chapter Nine – Fall
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Alfred stood in the darkness for a few moments without moving, taking the time to calm his racing heart. What he had seen was beyond anything he could have imagined or dreaded in his life. Finally, he shakily found the emergency lighting switch, and clicked it on. The Bat Cave was filled with low level green lighting. Noting crazily that Bruce had insisted on green as it was less disturbing to the resident bats that shared his cave, he headed over the the land line phone, and dialed a number by memory.
It rang a few times, and Alfred was worried that an answering machine would pick up the call, considering the late hour, but instead a half asleep voice came over the line. "Hello?"
He let out a sigh of relief, and started talking. "This is Alfred, Master Grayson. I implore you, get to the mansion as fast as you can. I am not sure whom else to call at this moment, and to be honest, I do not wish to remain alone here tonight."
The voice was suddenly a lot more awake than a moment ago. "Is there something in the cave? Or is there something wrong with Bruce? Is he hurt or something?"
"Something would be the proper answer, if I had any clue what I saw here. Please, arrive in a hurry, this is something that I have no clue what to do about."
"I'll be there as fast as my bike can get me there, but remember, the roads are nothing but ice. My street bike can only go so fast. Do you need to call Dr. Thompson? Can she help?"
"I think we need something more along the lines of a priest."
"I'll be there soon. Hold the fort down until I arrive."
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Batman soared through the icy winds over Gotham City, looking down on the lights and people with eyes that seemed to be carved out of rubies. He could hear each breath of the shoppers that were still out on the streets and going from store to store. Coming to a rest on an outcropping on the side of a building, he looked over the little people below him. Something told him that this was the right place, the place to begin his cleansing of the city.
Batman was rewarded with the sound of breaking glass, around a corner. Not bothering with a line to hold his weight, he once again took to the air, the freezing wind cold enough to kill parting in front of him. When his feet hit the dirty concrete, the lights around him started to fizzle, overloading from some power surge. Not bothering with the flashing lights, he entered the building that he had heard the breaking glass come from. The door in the back of the building opened in front of him with a thought, and he walked into the darkness that was only illuminated by emergency lamps faintly glowing.
It was one of the numerous antique glassware shops in this district, where the rich could spend a few thousand dollars on curios from around the world. Batman also knew that the vault housed pieces of antiquity that no amount of money could purchase, but could be borrowed for an evening's display if enough money was offered. Voices could be heard from the front of the display, one voice in particular standing out. Baring his fangs, Batman continued his measured walk to the front of the store. Once again as he passed them, the emergency lights flickered, then went dead.
"What is your intelligence, if you keep cutting the wrong lines to the cases? I want into the cases, not into the darkness. Did you, perchance, set of the silent alarm in your stupidity?"
A young voice answered from behind a counter. "Look, I've not cut a thing back here. I didn't kill the lights, not from here. It's probably from the ice load on the power lines outside. You did notice that it's freezing out there, and sleeting?"
There was a bang on a counter. "No more excuses, you moron. Open the cases, before Batman shows up and causes a ruckus. He seems to have a second sense in moments like this, and I don't care to have to leave town in a hurry yet again."
Batman chose that moment to speak up, from behind the figure doing all of the complaining. "Hello, Nygma. It's your lucky night, I didn't know you were back in town. Time to face the music. Time to face vengeance."
The man who coined himself as the Riddler turned around, and looked up. He had to look a bit more up than usual, even when facing off with Batman. As the criminal got a good look at Batman's visage, the blood fled from his face and left him with a leaden stomach. Trying to think clearly, he took a few steps backwards out of sheer terror.
"Ah, um, Batman. New costume? I must admit, the new cowl is rather disturbing." As Batman stepped further into the failing light, Nygma saw that, much to his unbelievable horror, it was more than a costume change that was facing him in that dark showroom floor. Batman's uniform fabric seemed more like a second skin than ever, with slight ridges that were similar to the texture of some sort of snake or reptile. The surface rippled in the dim illumination as Batman breathed, and the hands clenching inside the gauntlets were tipped with claws that absorbed the light.
The new cowl was the real shocker though. The cloth was even more like a reptile's skin than the new uniform, with eyes that had to be behind LED lights to get that shade of red to glow from the eye holes. There also had to be some sort of mouthpiece in place, that gave the illusion of a mouth full of fangs. Part of the Riddler wondered if that mouthpiece was the reason that Batman's voice was deeper than usual, until the man looming above him smiled. That was no mouthpiece, the Riddler's shocked eyes tried to tell him. Thankfully, the remaining light from inside the store took that moment to finish going out, saving Nygma from trying to understand what he was seeing in front of him.
"You've broken the law. You've evaded justice far too many times, Nygma, hurt too many people with your schemes and riddles. It's time to face the night. It's time to face vengeance." The thing that vaguely looked like Batman reached out, grabbing the Riddler by the coat front, and spread it's wings. Nygma had a moment of sheer terror, when he realized that yes, those were wings, not the usual cape, before his mind could no longer take what was going on. He passed out in the merciless grip, and did not even feel the bitter cold that was rising from Batman.
Batman took to the air, dodging out of sight of the coming police vehicles that were heading to the sight of the silent alarm by simply swinging around the side of a handy building. Heading up and out of the heart of the city, he knew where he was going unerringly. Heading for the east docks and the icy waters off those docks, Batman headed out a few miles before dropping the unconscious Nygma into the deathly cold waters. Then he turned his flight back to the city proper. There was bound to be others that were in need of a little corrective action, he mused to himself, not even bothering to watch the Riddler's plunge into the waters far below.
The shocking cold was enough to wake Nygma as he hit the surface, though he was more than a bit disoriented and swallowed more than a few mouthfuls of salt water. One of the dock workers had heard the splash, and was quickly on the radio, calling shore patrol for what he crazily thought was a ploy for some reality show. As he explained to the shore patrol what he heard and saw, he kept looking for the video cameras that he was sure were covering the area.
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Robin took one more listen to the recording, not believing what he was hearing. The Bat Cave was set to record any voice within reach of the various microphones that were set around work stations and computers, so that Batman would not need to tote around a recorder for his studies or experiments.
"That's Bruce talking alright, but there's no reply. Even the best filter on the computer can't find an answering voice." Robin moved to another point on the recording, and ran that part through the computer as well. "And the voice you heard, after that god awful scream, and seeing that thing from the deep, that's Bruce as well. Your voice shows up there, in the recording. But I can understand why you thought it might to be someone else, or something else. It's his stress pattern, but if that's a normal Bruce, then I'll eat my cape."
Alfred was sitting off to one side, letting Robin work on the computer. He sighed, and wiped off his face from the combination of chill from the cave and sweat from nerves. "Was there anything on the video recording? Something anything like what I saw climb up the ledge?"
Robin fiddled with a menu on the computer for a moment, then pulled up the video feed. As it came into focus, the lights could be seen blowing out, sending shards of glass and flickers of light over the cavern. The video showed Alfred clearly with the night vision setting, but...
"That's it, just a blur in the vague shape of a man. I could run this through a few filters as well, but I don't think we're going to get a clear picture, no matter what I do."
At that moment, the phone line that connected to the police precinct started ringing. Alfred looked at Robin, who answered the call. "Robin here. What? No, Batman is not in that area. Yes, I will let him know as soon as I can. Yeah, I know. Goodbye." He looked over to Alfred, as he hung up the phone. "Something just dropped the Riddler into the waters off east dock. Something that can fly. They don't know if he'll recover from the hypothermia."
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