BATMAN #10
SENDING A MESSAGE
BY IVAN KROLO
*WRITERS NOTE: Due to complications caused by the style used in the previous arc, I've decided to alter it to something more traditional. I apologize for any readers who may find this change jarring.
Gotham
2 weeks after Batman's broadcast, 22:39 EDT
"This is Vicki Vale reporting to you live from Old Gotham where a hostage situation is currently underway."
The cameraman turns the focus to what's behind Vicki to show the watching at home audience a large police barricade comprised of wooden fences and vehicles surrounded by both civilians and other reporters trying to get closer only to be stopped in their tracks by the guarding officers. At the heart of all this commotion is an abandoned three story apartment building with boarded up window, graffiti-ed walls and broken walls.
"15 minutes ago the police received a call from the captors asking for 3 million dollars and safe passage out of the city within the hour or else they will start killing their 4 hostages. As you can see the GCPD has wasted no time in responding to the threat with even Commissioner Loeb himself personally spearheading the operations."
The camera again moves from Vicky and zooms in on Loeb, Gordon and Branden who can just barely be seen planning out a possible pre-emptive strike to free the hostages.
"Have your men spotted him yet Branden?" Loeb whispered to his S.W.A.T. commander who casually sits on the edge of the S.W.A.T. van while placing round after round into the clip of his machine gun with a cigar in his mouth.
"Don't worry boss, before we started this I had the whole place bugged. Once the Bat starts beating up our boys up there we'll move right in and kick his sorry ass." He slams the clip into his weapon and takes the safety off.
"You better be right Branden, because this freaks been kicking our asses ever since we started this manhunt for im! If this doesn't go well, Falcone's gonna have my head on his wall before breakfast!"
Branden merely chuckles and pats his superior on the back. "Relax will ya? Sure we haven't had much luck getting this nutcase so far, but with this foolproof plan there's no way in hell he's gonna get away this time."
Unbeknownst to them, Gordon, who stands a few feet from the two, has been listening in on their conversation since they arrived and smiles while taking out & lighting a cigar.
"This is gonna be one to remember." He exhales the smoke from his mouth, the smile never leaving his face as he waits for what his "partner" has in store for his superior's master plan.
Branden inhales the smoke from his Cuban cigar one last time before spitting it out and stomping on it as he radios the various sniper teams surrounding the building.
"Sniper teams, report, any sight of the Bat?"
"Not yet chief, but we're keepin' our eyes peeled."
"Good." He changes frequencies to the undercover officers in the building. "Status report fellas, how're things up there?"
"Nothin' to report really, sides the guys bein' bored outta their skulls."
Branden curls his lip in anger and ends the call. "Where the hell is he already?"
Suddenly, the radios in the helmets, cars and of the handheld variety along with the phones present there start releasing large amounts of static much to everyone's annoyance. Loeb covers his ears and walks up to Branden who takes his helmet off and drops it to the ground.
"Branden, what the hell is going on here?!" He grabs the S.W.A.T. leader by the throat collar only for Brandon to push him away.
"I don't know alright! Stop blaming me for ev—"
"You think this plan'll work son?"
Everyone stops dead in their tracks upon hearing Branden's voice coming out of all the radios & phones with the latter being coupled with actual footage of the conversation in question.
"I'm telling ya boss its foolproof! If there's one thing the Batman can't resist its one of those street rat morons begging for help. All we gotta do is play it straight and then wham! *she smacks his hands together* the Batman will be ours and mister Falcone's gonna give us a damn good pay day."
Loeb turns around and pours him a bit of whiskey into his bottle. "I hope you're right, the sooner we get this freak in Blackgate the sooner we can take back our rightful place as the rulers of this city."
"Amen to that boss!" Their glasses clang upon impact; they raise them above their heads as a toast in hopes of a successful operation.
The instant the footage & audio end, the group of reporters and people surrounding the building start yelling and throwing things at the two of the ring leaders of the operation while the officers try to hold them back.
"H-how…. How did he get tha- "Before Loeb can finish his muttering, one of the officers posing as a captor comes crashing through the wooden planks covering one of the windows on the third floor and lands right on top of a nearby police car.
His face is bloodied and mangled from the punches coupled with an open fracture on his left leg. Loeb and Branden both walk over to him and help him off the damaged vehicle as paramedics begin treating his injuries.
"Find out what the hell's going on up there, NOW!"
Branden nods and takes a hold of his radio to contact the sniper teams. "All teams! Do you have eyes on the target?" His question is only met with silence; he grits his teeth in anger. "WHERE THE HELL IS EVERYONE?!"
"They're finished Branden, like you will be if you don't stay out of my way."
The S.W.A.T. leader's eyes widen in shock upon hearing his enemy's voice over the radio, he clenches his fist in anger and radios the second team hiding behind the building.
"Ramirez, are your men still in position?"
"Yes sir. What do you want us to do?"
"Get ready to breach the building; I want this son of a bitch in a body bag in the next 10 minutes!"
"Understood!"
Ending contact with Ramirez, Branden takes his helmet off the ground and walks towards his team as he puts it on his head.
"Alright you idiots listen up! The Batman's in there! So get off your lazy asses and get into position, we breach in 2 minutes!"
He checks the ammunition in his riffle one last time and tries to walk towards the front of the building when Loeb gets in his way.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" He yells at the S.W.A.T. leader. "If you kill this bastard now these people'll tear us to pieces as payback!"
"No you idiot, if I kill him right now I'll break these morons moral and then they'll never think to do something like this to us ever again, so get out of my way before I give em what they want." He points the gun directly into Loeb's face, the older man gulps while moving out of Branden's way who gets into breaching position.
He stands on the right side of the door and watches as one of his men stands before it and kicks it down after they exchange nods and rush into the abandoned building, with their flashlights lighting it up.
Within minutes the entire building is swarming with police officers looking through every crack and crevice for any sign of the Batman, though they can find nothing and with over 20 of them walking around a dilapidated building which creaked loudly on every step makes it impossible to find him via sound.
Branden is on the bottom floor with a few other officers when he almost trips over a small metal handle attached to a metal door leading to the apartment's basement. The momentary anger is immediately replaced by satisfaction as he smirks at his discovery and whistles to the other ground floor officers to surround it before radioing in the others.
"Ramirez, this is Branden, I found a large metal door on the ground level of the building. Continue searching for the Batman on the upper levels while we clear it out."
"Understood boss, good luck."
Branden carefully places his hand on to the hatch and looks at his second in command who nods at him to which he promptly forces it open and immediately points his riffle in the direction of the stairs as he methodically goes down them with 3 officers behind him and the last one guarding the entrance.
Before any of them could even reach the end of the wooden and creaking stairway their flashlights and radio stop working causing them all to stumble down into the basement, crashing right on top of one another.
"Ooohhhh….. God damn it…. "He pushes off the other two officers on top of him away and manages to get back on his feet. "Cage… You still there?!" his yell echoes throughout the room.
"Yeah I am, but I can't see sh—"He muffles as a black arm surrounds his neck and closes off the air to his brain, knocking him mere moments later.
"Cage? Cage?!" His hand manages to find a wooden stair in the darkness prompting Branden too look up and see a pair of white, pupil less eyes seemingly floating near the hatch to the basement.
"No, no, no, no, no!" He mutters as he desperately tries to get up the stairs only to slide back down and helplessly watch as Batman closes it shut leaving them trapped while he goes to deal with the other officers.
Almost immediately afterward various noises ranging from gunfire to small explosions to various yells of either pain or terror as Branden could do little but listen to Batman not only beat down and humiliate some of the best officers on the force.
"Where the hell is he?!"
"Jesus Christ he killed Ben!"
"Oh God my arm!"
Shivers were sent down the spines of Branden's trapped and confused officers as they gulped and felt their hearts beat while listening to the chaos above them. Though Branden himself didn't feel even a tinge of sympathy for his fellow officers being assault in such a way.
"You think you can do this to me?! You think can just humiliate ME LIKE THIS?! WE'LL JUST SEE ABOUT THAT!" Branden thinks to himself as his rage consumes him.
"Boss? What're we gonna do?"
With his blood boiling he ignores his subordinates question and manages to get up the stairs even in the pitch black darkness until finally reaching hatch. "Now I gotta you son of a bitch!"He tries to force it open to no avail then immediately proceeds to fire his riffle near the lock until it finally breaks open much to which he lets out a cackling laugh of joy before bursting it open and returning to the ground level of the apartment.
"Branden! What the hell is going on in there?!" Loeb's yell echoes throughout the building now that its fallen deathly silent.
A moment later the lights on their riffles turn back on along with the radios. "This is Branden, report in now!"No response from anyone who wasn't trapped in the basement. "Idiots, gotta do everything myself."
He points his riffle around the room and notices several of his S.W.A.T. members lying on the floor, bloody and unconscious and a large hole in the upper floor indicating Batman used an explosive to send many of them plummeting to the ground floor.
"How the hell did he pull all this off?!" Says one of the other remaining officers as he stares at the large hole in the upper level.
"It doesn't matter how he did it, he made us all look like jackasses and we're going to make him pay. Am I understood?!" Branden scowls at the frightened officer to which he merely nods to before taking one last glance at the hole. A mistake as Batman, hanging off a reinforce rope, silently lowers himself near the man, knocking him out via an electric shock emitting from his cape activated by it coming into contact with the man's skin.
The others hear this and manage to cast a light on Batman for the briefest of moments before the vigilante zips back up the upper level just as they start firing their guns.
Branden, still in a blood thirsty frenzy, rushes to the hole in the upper floor and keeps on firing though one of his subordinates grabs his gun to try and stop him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
"Stopin' you from killing our people up th-" halting his barrage for an instant, Branden head buts the man and proceeds to hit him with the butt of his riffle repeatedly. The remaining S.W.A.T. member tries to stop his boss only to be grabbed by the foot and dragged screaming into the darkness by Batman.
Branden, panting and sweating, stops beating the officer and reloads his riffle. "You see what you've made me do... HUH?! YOU SEE WHAT YOU'VE MADE ME DO!" He fires gun randomly all over the place, shooting through the wooden walls and hitting several officers and civilians outside.
Gordon, who is almost shot himself, clenches his fist and runs towards the building. "Branden you lunatic! You've got to stop before some one gets killed!"
Branden turns to around and points his riffle at Gordon, firing the last couple shots in his clip near his feet and stopping him dead in his tracks. "Don't get in my way Gordon! I'm gonna get this guy no matter what it takes!"
Loeb and Gordon both watch him as he struggles to place a new clip in his riffle, then a small, black gloved hand reaches from the darkness and taps him on the shoulder. In an instant he freezes in place as his rage vanished only to be replaced by an overwhelming sense of dread.
Slowly turning his head, Branden gulps upon making eye contact with Batman and starts screaming in terror as the vigilante grabs him by the throat and drags him into the darkness.
"No! No! Please! PleasAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Branden's screams of terror send chills down the spines of the observing officers while the crowd merely look on to see what will happen next. Their answer is given when Batman smashes a bloodied and beaten Branden through the wooden wall and stands near the hole, allowing a small part of the light to illuminate his body while his face remains shrouded in darkness.
"Loeb." He growls at the older man. "Your time has come to an end old man. The days of people like you, Branden and Falcone bleeding this city dry are over. All of Gotham has seen just how pathetic and weak all of you truly are. You will never control Gotham ever again, no matter what. So make it easier for yourself and everyone working for you, call off this man hunt and I might show you all mercy. If you don't the beatings I've given to your officers tonight will pale in comparison to what I'll do to you once everything comes crashing down very, very soon."
Loeb's anger flares up and he grabs the gun out of Gordon's holster and points it at Batman. "All officers! Fire on im!"
The officers protecting the barricade try to get their guns out only for the gathered crowd behind them to break through the barricade and pounce on them.
"You're not gonna hurt him!"
"Get out of here Bats! We got this!"
Loeb twitches his left eye in frustration at the sight of his men being swarmed by the citizens hes helped keep under the mobs boot for 20 years. He looks back at Batman and tries to fire the gun only for a swarm of bats to emerge from Batman's cape and spread throughout the surrounding area, causing mass hysteria as the people try to escape the small creatures.
The swarm quickly dissipates however, revealing that Batman had vanished during the brief opening they afforded him. The officers continue to look on in disbelief, while the crowds begin cheering at their heroes dramatic escape. Gordon who is watching the whole thing, smiles at the sight before taking out another cigar to celebrate.
10 minutes later...
"That was quite the stunt you just pulled." Says Gordon while driving back to his home.
"A necessary one. Loeb and his goons have been making my work difficult lately so I had to send a message to deter him from doing it anymore. The blow I've dealt to his S.W.A.T. teams alone should make things easier." Say Batman while flying his jet back to the Cave.
"No, it was more than just that. You've given people something they've needed for a while now, real proof of just how vulnerable the mob are now. Keep this up and we'll have this city cleaned up before the end of the year."
"I hope so Jim, but still, after this business with Onomatopoeia I'm not sure the mob is the only thing we have to worry about now."
"You really think this Osito is gonna try to make a play for Gotham? Could he even pull it off if he tried?"
"I'm not sure Jim, Loeb's made it hard for me to properly investigate into it, but one thins for sure...
"...We have to be read for the worst."
Meanwhile...
Frank Boles, one of the higher ranking security guards of Blackgate stands on the foggy shore of the small island where the prison is located with three other men accompanying him as they wait for their daily package to arrive. His cigar only slightly illuminating the surrounding area.
"Is he gonna show up or what?" Asks one of his enforcers.
"Relax, he'll be here. This fog ain't exactly easy to get through y'know."
He exhales the last bit of smoke from the cigar and tosses it into the ocean, and notices several boats approaching the shore to which he smiles. "Told ya."
The boats reach the shore with several larges containers on them guarded by over a dozen men wearing what could be described as special forces grade equipment and weaponry. Though their leader is quite the opposite wearing a simple brown undershirt, green army pants and a pair of wrists bands with his graying hair tied into a pony tail.
He steps off the boot, and walks over to Boles who shakes his hand. "The boys were starting to get worried Trogg."
"For a moment there I didn't think we'd arrive either, this fog was an... unexpected problem. Is everything proceeding as planned inside the prison?"
"Pretty much, all the inmates have been given that special water you've been handing out and after a couple more days we should have enough guns to start the party. "
"Excellent, my master will be very pleased by this news. You will be rewarded quite handsomely for assisting in the creation of the new order in Gotham."
Boles smiles. "As long as I get some payback at Falcone for ruining my left eye, I don't care what you do to this town."
"Oh believe me mister Boles, the coming storm will be truly something to behold."
To be continued...