Chapter 13
The cathedral was covered in paint left behind by the joker.
Gun crates, ammo boxes and body armor were scattered around its outer wall; not the kind of thing to be leaving around such a holy building.
Batman walked behind the cathedral to the graveyard.
A sigh of relief, Joker and his clowns were respectful enough to leave them alone.
He stopped in his tracks and took that last thought back
The grave of Thomas and Martha Wayne had balloons tied around it and a few birthday cards with smiling faces of the Joker littered around it.
He kneeled down and opened one
"JUST PAYING MY RESPECTS, BATS"
Batman grunted and scrunched the card up. He ripped the balloons off and tossed every card away from the grave. Anger had quickly built up inside him, he was panting hard and felt like he would collapse, using the gravestone to support him.
"I'm sorry" he cried, a hand over his face. He took his cowl off to reveal a bruised and dry-bloodied Bruce Wayne. "I'm sorry".
The hand slid down his face and he used both to support himself; he sighed.
"I don't know what you think of me, mum and dad" he breathed. "I made vows, rules, not to kill anyone. Anyone, regardless of how terrible their crimes are. I've…I've broken my vows, my promise to you"
He tilted his head.
"I want you to forgive me. For everything; and I don't what has me thinking this but…I'm going to see you very soon" he said, lifting his head back up. "Until then…I want you to be beside me in this battle, my last battle…my last stand"
At those words, he rested his head on the top of the gravestone for a moment, tears running down his cheeks. He took a deep breath, and stood back up. He took two roses out from under his cape and laid them at the gravestone.
After another moment, he slipped his cowl back on, turned, and left the graveyard.
….
The road leading to Wayne Tower was the same as it was a year ago.
Trashed cars, corpses, debris; the same as every other street.
The buildings looked worse than last year though. Last year, graffiti was all the buildings got. This year, they looked as if they were on the verge of collapsing, cracks, burns and giant holes were riddled through them.
At the end of the road, opposite from Wayne Tower; Mr. Freeze, Red Hood and Catwoman all stood and waited for Batman.
They all eyed the towering building ahead of them, not saying a thing. Hood checked his guns and examined his new found katana; Freeze checked his gun as well and Catwoman just stayed quiet.
They turned. Batman arrived on his bike, riding it slowly towards them. He dismounted the bike and joined them; they shared looks, and nodded.
Hood put his hand out in front of him. Freeze put his on top of Hood's and Catwoman on Freezes'. Batman paused, and then put his hand on top of all of them.
"For Hailey" Hood said.
"For Nora" Freeze said.
"For…Bruce" Catwoman said, sharing a glance with Batman.
Batman tilted his head. "For us" He said. "For everyone, for Gotham"
And with that, they broke away and headed for Wayne Tower.
….
Gordon was three blocks away. A safe distance away from the carnage he just knew was about to erupt.
Barbara was beside him, looking nervous; Alfred was too.
"When this fight is over…nothing will be the same" Barbara breathed.
Alfred was quiet, and so was Gordon.
Gordon looked behind him, and saw a familiar face. A few familiar faces in fact.
It was the Justice League.
"Why didn't you help!" he suddenly yelled and charged at Superman. Alfred held him back, the old butler had some fight in him.
"Sir" he grunted. "Please, you have to hear something"
"Dad" Barbara yelled.
Gordon stopped.
"We asked them not to help" she said.
"Why?" Gordon asked.
"Because Batman asked us not to get involved" Superman said.
"What? Why, he needed the help" Gordon half yelled.
"Because" Wonder Woman started. "If we got involved in something such as this, what happened a year ago, every one of our enemies would have come here"
"The rest of our identities would have been at stake" Green Lantern said. "Gotham would have been at the mercy of every super villain in this world"
It was Flash's turn "Metallo, Toyman, Black Adam, Captain Cold…"
"Lex Luthor" Superman spoke again. "And not just from earth, but our enemies from across space like Sinestro and Thanos would of responded. Just imagine, all that chaos erupting in Gotham"
"It would of spread from Gotham to other cities. Eventually, the whole world could have been dragged into this" Barbara told her father.
"I…I don't know what to say" Gordon muttered.
"Batman made a brave sacrifice to fight this alone. We still cannot get involved, but we will stand here and watch a great hero make his stand" Superman reassured Gordon.
The members of the Justice League that had come here looked to the top of Wayne Tower.
They all hoped for Batman to win this fight.