DC Gothic – Young Justice
Part 10
Gotham City, one of the United States largest cities, was for the most part sleeping peacefully, however crime never sleeps and tonight was no exception. Down at the docks a group of men were unloading cargo from a pickup truck and moving it into a warehouse. While this wasn't a crime in of itself, what was in the boxes wasn't at all legal.
"We have to be quick" a goon said as he moved one of the crates of boxes "We don't want the Bat to show up".
Everyone knew that these dats Batman was often out of town working with the Justice League, but the crooks could never be quite sure when he was around and when he wasn't. In many ways that made it worse than when he always around.
"It's not the Bat we have to worry about" another law breaker said "Haven't you heard, there's a new masked mad man running around. They say he's the Angel of Death".
Which was one of the nicer names being used.
"Azrael?" another asked ""He's just a myth. It's the Bat and his little sidekick you have to watch out for in this city, everyone knows it".
Little did they know that their conversation was being listened to, however they didn't remain ignorant for wrong.
"I am not a myth" a voice said from above them.
The crooks all dropped the boxes and began reaching for their weapons.
"Hey!" a thug shouted "Come out where we can see you!"
The hooded figure did just that, and when the masked man reached for his two swords that rested on this back the leader of the crooks lost his nerve.
"Shoot him" he shouted.
Gunfire then filled the night.
(Line Break)
Gotham. Docks.
"Is it the same as before?" Commissioner Gordon asked as he walked through the the crime scene "No one's dead, right?".
Bullock as was his habit chewed on the end of a match stick, he'd once smoked cigars, but he'd long since given them up.
"It is Commissioner. All signs point to a fight but no blood." Detective Harvey Bullock said "We've got bullet casings and guns that were fired, but no one has been harmed. Well their bodies haven't been touched, its just that the guys here were definitely damaged in their heads".
Another detective then spoke.
"In my entire career in law enforcement I have never seen something like this" Bullock's partner Ellen Yin said "All we can determine is that they started shooting, at something. Then they just stopped fighting".
"Do we have anything this time?" Commissioner Gordon asks "Someone we can talk to?".
In the past all those effected like these crooks were hadn't been able to talk about anything for a couple of days, and once they could it was all stuff about wanting forgiveness.
"We do Commissioner, we have someone willing to talk" Detective Ellen Yin informed her superior "Very willing"
This was good news as it meant they might finally have a led. Although what they would do if they caught the person behind these incidents was still up for debate.
Sure they could make an arrest, but they hadn't nothing to charge the guy with. It couldn't be called assault because there were no wounds, not even bruises. Yet something had to be done because Gotham really didn't need anymore amateur crime fighters running around.
"Who is he?" Gordon asked eagerly.
This time it was Bullock who answered.
"Small time crook, I guess he was hoping to make it to the big leagues" the overweight cop explained "Which is a little odd, cause most of the crooks here have done some serious time. This one has a juvie record, but he's been clean for a while".
Ellen Yin then lead her boss and partner to a man who was curled up in a ball.
"This is Hank Stevenson" the woman cop told the two men "he's not right in the head, but we can get him to talk".
Gordon listened to Hank and it sounded like the crazy he'd heard before. Other crooks at similar scenes to this one had ranted on about the things they'd done wrong, and they'd all promised not to do anything bad again.
"What the heck's he saying?" Detective Bullock asked "If he's just rambling on about what a bad guy he is then its nothing new".
The law officers listened somemore and then they heard a name: Azrael
"According to his file, Hank Stevenson has never showed any signs being mentally ill" A deep and somewhat familiar voice said behind the three cops "Which means he's been attacked psychology. Perhaps he's been dosed with some sort of drug".
James Gordon didn't need to turn around to know who had spoken, and often when he did the Dark Knight was already gone so this time he didn't bother to look.
"Batman, do you have any idea who could have done this?" the ranking police officer asked.
The Caped Crusader hadn't yet vanished so he was able to give some sort of answer.
"I've already ruled out the Scarecrow" Batman said "Fear gas does have a psychological effect, but these man aren't scared its more like they are consumed by guilt for the things they'd done".
Which in Gordon's view meant they most likely had a new player in town. That was nearly always a terrible thing.
"This person doesn't leave a trace" Bullock was now saying "He's like a ghost, no fingerprints, no footprints, fibers, no blood. Nothing for forensics. Not even a hair. It's like we are chasing a spook".
Gordon was for a moment amused.
"Sounds familiar" he said "If these men had physical injuries I would say they had encountered the Batman"
The Dark Knight often induced terror in Gotham less respectable citizen, but it was never as extreme as this.
"I know which makes this very disturbing" Batman said "This Angel of Death has only been active a few week yet during that time he has raided more than a dozen sites like this. And he has never left any witnesses who gave us an accurate description of their attacker".
Despite the name this Angel of Death had never actually killed anyone. Which suggested this might be the work of a hero, but no hero Batman had ever heard of could do this to people. There was one who might have been able to, but it wasn't his style. Yet Hank Stevenson had used that name, which meant there had to be a connection.
"He's targeting specific people" Gotham's Grim Guardian went of to say "Those with wrap sheets who have committed serious offences. This is the first time a minor criminal has been a target".
And by the looks of things the man had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"This is just guess work" Commissioner Gordon said "We don't have any real answers. We'll get some shrinks to take a look at Hank and see what we can come up with".
James Gordon's words were wasted. Batman was already long gone.
(Line Break)
Mount Justice. Happy Harbour.
"So you think I've been sneaking out a night to chase bad guys?" I asked Batman as he handed the utility belt I had requested "You don't pay me enough for solo missions".
As ever the Dark Knight was not amused.
"I don't think you know you're doing it" the Caped Crusader said "This might be the result of the brainwashing the Order of Dumar. They attempted to make you Azrael, perhaps they did a better job than we thought".
This simply couldn't be the case as if I was Azrael then I'd been off killing bad guys at night and the blood would be on my swords. Plus there was no record of me leaving the base in the middle of the night, and I didn't have the tech skills required to delete the evidence off the computers that controlled the teleporters.
"You have mentioned how tired you've been recently" Batman then said "Your team mates have raised concerns, and over the last few weeks you're performance has been poor, but you've been training along with everyone else. You should be improving".
My fatigue was worrying.
"I did sort of die" I pointed out "Maybe me being tired has to do with me recovering form all that healing I did so quickly when I was in a coma. We still don't know how I managed that, maybe my tiredness is a side effect".
Despite not having as much energy as I used to I was sure I was actually stronger and tougher than I used to be. I'd not broken anything when fighting that AMAZO and Supes had rammed into pretty hard. Although I had been wearing my armour that time, which could explain the lack of any broken ribs.
"I won't rule out any other explanations" the Caped Crusader said "Could there be another Azrael? Did the Order of Dumar ever mention anything that might suggest they had a backup in case they couldn't turn you into the assassin they wanted?".
They hadn't but there was something I needed to tell Bats.
"The armour I wear isn't the only Suit of Sorrows" I mentioned "Mines an updated version, the original was worn by a Crusader. If that suit is still around it could mean that they have been working on another Azrael. Maybe they even had another monastery. I do remember one of the monks mentioning something about a group who called themselves The Order of Purity. They were part of the Order of Dumars, but they went rogue. Maybe those guys made their own Azrael".
Batman just looked at me some more.
"I'll look into it" he promised "For now I want you to stay here. I'll have the teleport put on lockdown just for tonight so you can't leave. Then if Azrael makes a move we'll know it is someone else".
That seemed the best way to clear my name, so I decided to go to my room and have an early night. That way when my name was cleared I'd rested enough to enjoy gloating about it.
(Line Break)
Gotham. Downtown.
That night not far from the docks, Azrael slipped in the shadows of the warehouse. From there he was able to watch a group of men move military grade weapons onto trucks, these guns would be sold to different gangs who would then use those weapons to commit many crimes.
This was not something Azrael could allow, and while he coudn't stop all the shipments he could at least do something about this one. The so called Angel of Death was about to make his move to prevent the weapons leaving when he saw something out of the corner of his eyes. It was a young woman in a purple costume. Azrael watched as she crept towards one of the crooks.
Azrael kept watching as she attacked the thugs, this female crime fighter, he knew to be called the Huntress, attempted to create confusion by throwing a smoke pellet. This worked rather well, however a thug who must have had some experience in this situation managed to sneak up behind her and hit her over the head.
The smoke then faded away and it was clear this young woman was not going to be to defend herself due not being awake. Many of the thugs had nasty grins on their faces and Azrael didn't need to be a mind reader to know what was going on in their minds. Some were already reaching for the woman, while one thug was getting a rope.
"Hey we can have some fun with this broad, but later we have a job to do" one of the crooks told the others "After Black Mask gets his equipment, then we can do whatever we want with her."
A few of the men then dragged the woman over to a pole and tied rope around her. Which meant she was safe, at least for now, however should the Avenging Angel attack the evil men she might be hurt in the crossfire, but Azrael could not stand by stand by knowing she could be violated at any moment.
"Gentlemen" the hooded man then said loud to be heard by all "You are all sinners!".
The crooks had a lot of guns, and many of them knew how to use them, but that wasn't going to matter. You couldn't kill what you could not see, and the Huntress wasn't the only one with smoke bombs. None of them stood a chance.
Later once the dust had settled, the Avenging Angel went to free the captured woman only to find that she had freed herself. Which was to be expected. The Huntresses needed no ones help.
(Line Break)
Downtown. Gotham.
Not so long after meeting the Dark Knight down by the docks Gordon found himself once more talking to the Caped Crusader as his men cleaned up another incident.
"Most of them were small times crooks. Nothing major on them other than drug trafficking." Detective Ellen Yin said as she kneelt down and looked at one of the fallen crooks more closely "The Black Mask must have hired them to replace the men he's lost".
None of them had died, that was important to remember, but the ones who had been able to recover since the first attacks some weeks ago were still in police custody because they'd confessed to all their crimes, and now those crimes had to be investigated. None of the crooks had requested bail either, they seemed to want to be locked up.
"Azrael has never been this sloppy before" Detective Bullock stated "We picked up a guy who ran from this place. He's given us our first real description of this so called Angel".
Both Gordon and the Caped Crusader wondered what was different about this scene.
"Something happened here" Batman said "Something that made him attack more carefully and also more brutally".
In the past Azrael had never left signs of physical injury, but some of the bad guys here had been hurt. Not badly, but they had been hit. Also the Dark Knight suspected his was because the Angel had needed to disarm the crooks very quickly. Until now Azrael had never seemed worried about guns so someone else must have been in danger.
"It won't be easy. This guy moves fast and knows where the bad guys are. He's stopping crimes we don't know are happening." Ellen Yin was now saying "Meaning he has to have an inside source feeding him information about Black Mask's operations".
The Dark Knight was thinking along the same lines, only he was sure that the so called angel had gotten his information from one of two places. Either his own computer, which was impossible since it was in the Batman, or from the League who were aware of many crimes they never had the chance to deal with.
"Batman I may not have the right to ask this" Gordon said but I think the Justice League should get involved. This guy is a pro, but he's been lucky so far. Sooner or later someone will get killed, and when that happens I'll be forced to start a city-wide manhunt".
Again his words weren't heard by the Dark Knight as he was already gone.
"I hate when he does that" the police officer complained.
(Line Break)
Mount Justice. Happy Harbour.
"Okay team, this is the mission" the Batman on the screen said "Your target is Azrael, or as we know him Gothic".
Once the team had calmed down enough to hear him the Dark Knight explained his theory about how the programming created by the Order of Dumar must have somehow activated, and that it was possible that Gothic wasn't even aware that he was running about Gotham at night attacking crooks with magic swords.
"For the past few weeks he has been making serious moves in Gotham" the Caped Crusader went on to explain "So far only Black Mask's organization has been targeted and we suspect that Azrael is using information gathered by the League to plan his attacks".
Some of that information was displayed for the team.
"Last night he hit the docks, a warehouse and a night club" Batman went on to say "These are three locations being used to distribute guns to the different street gangs in Gotham, the guns are unloaded at the docks and then stored a warehouse, then a deal is made at the nightclub. Azrael has followed the trail of these weapons, and if he holds to it then we know where he will be next".
A map was then displayed before the eyes of the team.
"Tonight a shipment will be delivered by truck to an abandoned building in Gotham. Once there the weapons will be finished being paid for and be handed over. But the shipment is not our concern, this is about stopping Azrael before things get out of hand" the Dark Knight said firmly "So far no has been killed so if we can stop Azrael quickly then the GCPD won't trouble themselves investigating someone who isn't taking lives".
Gordon and his officers had other things to deal with, so Batman was sure if Azrael simply faded away that he would be forgotten about. Perhaps sooner rather than later if some of Gotham's more colourful characters started making trouble. Which they so often did.
"What do we do once we have captured him?" Aqualad asked the Dark Knight.
Batman understood the importance of this question and so he shared his full plan with the team.
"My research into the Order of Dumars suggests that while they did have some mystic power its most likely that their brainwashing techniques are based on tried and true methods that they refined over several centuries" the Dark Knight told them "There are plenty of cults and fringe groups around that know how to mess with a person's mind. The good news is that are people who can undo such programming so once we have Azrael I'll have de-programmer I trust go to work, and you'll have your team mate back".
Batman was confident that it wouldn't even take that long, at least not with the de-programming, the real recovery would take longer, but that would be aided by getting Gothic back with his friends.
Most people fell under the influence of cults because they felt their lives had no meaning, but the covert team did have a purpose. Gothic would need that to give him a sense of purpose and belonging.
"There's one more thing" the Caped Crusader went on to say "Azrael met with the Huntress and according to the tracker I placed in his utility belt he's currently at her apartment, or at least the belt is".
Batman at once knew that the team was thinking.
"You can not go after him during the day and I do not want a fight breaking out in residential area" the league member said firmly "You are to wait until dark and intercept him when he goes after the shipment. Is that understood?".
Their agreement was not enthusiastic, but Batman got it.
"Good" he then said "Now go bring him home".