AN: Hey, please forgive me! I know this update should have come aages ago, but unfortunately not before now. I'll try to update again as soon as I can, but my schedule for Februrary is kind of full, but I'll try. I at least hope you all will enjoy this chapter. It's not so long which is should've been, but again no. Hopefully the next one will be longer. :)
Please review - reviews make me smile! :D
Chapter 28
Batman was driving in his Batmobile, his speed unbelievable fast as he was heading towards Wayne Manor. He was in terrible pain, feeling like his whole body was burning. He let out a gasp of pain as he drove the dark vehicle along the road. His face was bleak as he geared his car straight towards Wayne Manor. He drove and parked in front of Wayne Manor and by the time Bruce had opened the car he was shouting for Alfred.
Hearing the agonizing sound in Bruce's voice Alfred came rushing down. "Master Bruce, what happened?" Alfred hurried over to Bruce and helped him out of the car and inside the doors. His eyes widened as he noticed all the burn marks covering Bruce's suit. He could feel the heat steaming from the Batsuit and he saw that parts of it were melting.
"Master Wayne, we've got to take this bloody suit off of you at once or it will melt into your skin," he said as he grabbed onto the cowl and tried to pull it off.
Bruce grunted in pain when the cowl was removed, leaving a stinging mark on his neck. Soon the rest of the suit was off of him, and feeling that his legs could no longer carry him, he collapsed immediately of exhaustion.
"Alfred…help me." Bruce's voice was weak, barely loud enough to be heard. He felt blood trickling through his skin and running down his back.
Alfred bit his lip from crying and went over to his Master, helping him up on his feet. Having Bruce leaning on him, he helped Bruce upon a couch inside one of the rooms. He then hurried over and into another room nearby with many drawers and a closet. Opening the closet he pulled out the medical kit and rushed back to Bruce.
Bruce was losing his consciousness, his eyelids fluttering.
"Master Wayne, you have to stay awake! Just try to stay awake for a little longer!" Alfred's voice was a little panicked as he got out some bandages and a bottle with liquid content, peroxide. Sitting down on a chair, Alfred gently began to apply the peroxide to the wounds. White bubbles began to appear as the substance began to kill the bacteria that resided in the wounds. He glanced up at Bruce as he heard a slight hiss escape his lips. "My apologies, Master Wayne, I'm afraid it's necessary."
Satisfied with the cleaning, Alfred began to wrap up Bruce's wounds with the bandages and tied it. Bruce moaned in pain and glancing down he met Alfred's eyes, so warm and still so sad.
"Alfred, I don't know what to do anymore," Bruce whispered. "I will never forget this night and neither will I forgive myself for what happened."
"Whatever happened I'm sure it wasn't your fault," Alfred said, trying to comfort Bruce. "We all do mistakes, some might be worse than others, but yet they are only mistakes everyone can do."
"Not this one, Alfred, this is my own personal mistake which only I can do as Batman," Bruce said. "Last night was terrible, death upon more death and blood was spilled. You see that the longer it takes me to find a way to stop the Joker, the more people will suffer. The Joker has already gotten many people killed and last night twenty people more was killed." His voice was calm, though he was clearly in grief.
Alfred's brow furrowed in sadness as he listened to Bruce. "I understand, but you shouldn't blame yourself for what happened last night. All that is the past now."
Bruce turned his head towards his butler. "Why shouldn't I blame myself?" he asked gravely. "All this pain, all this suffering – it's all connected to me. You know as well as I do that the list of deaths because of Batman is long. It's because of me that they are dead, because I couldn't stop the Joker quickly enough. And now – the longer it will take me to stop him, the more lives will be lost."
Bruce grunted slightly, feeling the pain rise and he breathed heavily. Alfred helped him to get laid out straight on the couch and tried to make Bruce as comfortable as possible.
Alfred sighed and rose from the chair. "Even as Batman you can't know everything, you can't predict anything and, even though how much you want, you can't protect everyone. All you can do is to be who you are. And even with your mask, deep down you're still a normal person like everyone else, a human and humans are not perfect. No one can be perfect even though someone tries to be, but usually they fail realizing that they all do mistakes."
With that said Alfred turned, walking out the door and leaving Bruce alone. Closing the door after him, he prayed that Bruce would get a better day tomorrow.
"Hello, my name is Olivia Walden from GCN Tonight and I'm currently standing outside the wreckage that of warehouse where a hostage situation was going on earlier tonight. The police received an anonymous call warning them that something was going to happen during this night," the female reporter explained. "It has been presumed that the hostages were a group of students from Gotham County High School that went missing after they had gone out on a field trip and didn't come back in time. The person behind this crime was said to be no one else than the cruel and evil minded Joker."
Gotham County High School, Lori repeated in a low voice, her eyes stuck on the TV. My school…
The young and blonde reporter walked closer to the still burning building as she spoke. "It is with deep regret that I must inform you that tonight's episode caused the lives of about twenty young teenagers, leaving Gotham in sorrow."
Lori had been awake all night, worrying about Bruce and wondering about what was happening in the darkness. She yawned. Indeed she was tired, but sleep was the last thing on her mind. She couldn't go to bed without knowing if Bruce was okay, unharmed.
For just a few minutes ago she had turned on the TV and started watching the news. Now she was sitting there completely shocked. What she heard was painful, knowing that one of the victims could be one she knew. Lori glanced back at the screen and saw that the reporter was now eagerly pacing after a man Lori knew too well. Commissioner Jim Gordon.
"Commissioner Gordon, what do you have to say about tonight's episode?" Olivia Walden, the reporter, seemed a little anxious when asking the question.
"I've absolutely nothing to tell you," Gordon murmured as he rushed towards his car.
"The whole town is filled with horror after yet more murders. When is this madness going to stop?" Olivia kept pushing on with her questions. "People are expecting that something will be done."
"We're doing everything we are capable of doing," Gordon replied, unlocking the car door.
"Really?" she said in a suspicious tone, raising an eyebrow. "Then what about the Batman? Rumors say that he was lurking around this place and that everything was under control until he came, that he was the reason why this bloodbath happened in the first place."
Irritated by the reporter's questions, Gordon shook his head and turned around. "Hey listen – I have no idea what Batman was doing here this night. All I know right now is that I will have to tell the sad news to the victims' families and tell them if their kid is alive or not. All that happened tonight will bring sorrow to every citizen of Gotham for a long time."
Gordon sniveled. His eyes made it clear that he was upset about the whole thing. "When it comes to Batman I don't believe he was the reason for all the killing after all. Yes, it's true that he was here, but when I spotted him leaving this place I found four of the students, alive."
"Are you assuming that he rescued them?" Olivia sounded totally shocked.
Gordon shrugged. "Well, that's just one of my theories, it's not sure that's the right one, but yet not impossible. Good night," he said as climbed into his car.
Olivia turned facing the camera. "And that was all from our commissioner, wishing everyone a good night. Most definitely it won't be after all that have happened. I'm Olivia Walden and thank you for watching."
The news ended, followed by the weather. Lori shut off the television, but her eyes kept staring at the black screen. Without blinking, she shot up from the chair and spun out of the room. She continued running down the long hallway till she got to the stairs.
"Alfred?" she called out glancing around at her surroundings. When she received no response she continued running down the stairs and into the kitchen. She found Alfred standing by the sink. "Oh, Alfred," she whispered and ran to him.
Alfred glanced up to see the young girl coming towards him, nearly in tears. "What's the matter, honey?" he whispered and stroked her hair trying to calm her down. She was breathing rapidly and sobbing in between.
When she finally calmed down a bit she stared at Alfred, her eyes still filled with tears of horror and sadness. "I just watched the news… Oh Alfred, it was horrible." she whispered, still sobbing a bit. "They were all talking about death, blood and more death."
She sobbed once more, but Alfred wiped away a tear from her eyes with his thumb. "Yes, I know. I watched it earlier." He was speaking slowly.
"But the hostage episode ended for many hours ago… Bruce should've come back by now if, if…" She paused, not really wanting to finish the sentence, "if he was okay," she said after a moment of silence. "But what if he's not? We should go out and look for him!" Lori spun around heading for the front door.
"Wait!" Alfred shouted.
Lori glanced over her shoulder to see Alfred coming after her. "What? We can't just stay here without knowing if Bruce's okay!" she said, all traces of being sad gone.
"Master Bruce is fine, he came back a few hours ago," Alfred said. "I assumed you were asleep and I didn't bother to wake you up, since Master Bruce was not in a condition of speaking at that moment."
A small smile curved Lori's lips. "It's okay, now I know that Bruce's alive I can breathe normally again. Thank you Alfred." She was overwhelmed with relief and joy. "Can I see him?" she asked after a moment.
Alfred shook his head slowly. "I'm afraid Master Bruce is still too weak to be waking up tonight. He needs rest and I believe someone else do too," Alfred said, smiling, as he saw that Lori yawned heavily.
"Nah, I will stay up till Bruce wakes up," Lori protested. She yawned again.
"Go to sleep, Lori. Go to sleep. Things will be better tomorrow."
Lori rubbed her eyes and smirked. "Yeah, I suppose so. But if he wakes up again, will you please tell me?" She glanced at Alfred, smiling.
"Of course, although it may be against my rule of getting at least 8 hours of sleep," the old man said smiling and wishing her a good night sleep.
"Thanks Alfred," she said and headed up the stairs. When she reached the top she turned. Good night, Alfred," she whispered with a smile. Then she was gone.
