A/N: 08.25.2021

Welcome back, all! So, in "Iridescent", I referenced the "Madison Street War" and I intended to do a story about forever ago. But, life happens, as it always does. This also involves Detective Valerie Bancroft, when she was still an officer, and a character named Mike, who we'll see later.

This whole idea was inspired by the movie Punisher: War Zone. I LOVE THAT MOVIE! It is so underrated! It's a great Punisher movie!

What happen on Madison Street? Let's find out! Enjoy!

SYNOPSIS: Terry and Basem recount the night of the Madison Street War to Hayate. Post-"Like a Star."

Killzone

Hayate was sitting in the study, reading case files Bruce had printed out for him. He decided to familiarize himself with Terry's past cases, on the chance he would need to know about a "recurring" villain as Terry explained it. Hayate found himself not worrying about re-reading about any case pertaining to Mad Stan; all of the details of those cases tended to repeat.

As Hayate read, Bruce walked in. "How's it going?"

Hayate looked up and nodded, "Fine, thank you."

Terry and Basem walked in a few seconds later. Basem groaned, "Oh, Lord! Still with the paper, Hayate! Join the rest of us in the modern age!"

"I'm just more comfortable with paper!" Hayate defended.

"Leave him alone!" Terry laughed.

"It's just so…" Basem let out a groan. "If he could, at least, learn how to work a tablet!"

"I can when the occasion calls for it," Hayate shrugged.

Terry laughed again. He looked at Hayate, "Whacha readin' about now?"

"I just finished details about… Fiend."

"Ket Gold," Terry and Basem said, simultaneously, in an enraged tone.

"First-class loser," Basem added.

"I can't but agree." Hayate closed the folder and picked up another one. "The Madison Street War."

"Oooh, that was fun," Terry said, sarcasm dripping off his words.

Hayate opened the folder and studied the page, "Aptly named, the file details a battle between four gangs on Madison Street."

"Five blocks over from Park Row," Terry explained. "Park Row, also known as…"

"Crime alley," Bruce finished.

"Since that area officially became the Historical District, a lot of crime moved over to the surrounding neighborhoods."

"With Madison Street being such a neighborhood," Hayate nodded.

"Yup," Terry confirmed.

Hayate looked at the file again, "The battle took place in just one night, only over the course of a few hours."

"A few hellish hours," Basem added.

"It consisted of a violent clash between…"

"Four gangs," Terry finished.

"The Red Dogs," Basem said.

"Gang bangers who couldn't get any other gang in Gotham."

"The Highballers."

"Bunch of rich kids with nothing better to do," Terry grumbled. "And people they could pay to be in their dumbass gang."

"The Statesmen," Basem continued.

"Former cops who thought I wasn't going far enough! Even helped arrest a few of them before they broke out of prison and formed the gang."

"And, last but not least, the Real Freaks."

"Splicers." Terry groaned. "Stupid. Violent. Crazy. Strong! Splicers."

"Hm." Hayate kept reading. "It… seems like things were heading toward a violent confrontation for a while."

"More or less," Terry shrugged. "We can sum it up for you. See, the Jokerz and the T's were the biggest gangs for a while, until the Yellowjackets. They got big not too long after Basem moved to Gotham. Those other four gangs wanted to make it to that same level, take a section of Gotham for their own. And they all laid claim to Madison Street."

"They had basically been causing trouble for a couple of years, individually," Basem explained.

"It wasn't until a couple of months after me and Max came back from our honeymoon that things got… serious."

"What sparked it?" Hayate asked, setting the file aside.

"The fights escalated," Terry answered. "See… the Highballers were led by this rich guy, Neil Myers." He walked over and pulled a picture of Neil from the file. "That's him. But the leader of the Statesmen…" He searched for another picture, finding it and showing it to Hayate, as well, "this guy, Percival Pemberton, killed Neil on Madison Street."

"Oh, dear," Hayate whispered.

"So, the Highballers were then led by Nidia Myers, Neil's cousin," Terry showed her photo, "…and that's when things got bad. The Highballers and the Statesmen fought and it got bad. Eventually, unfortunately… some of their casualties included members of the Red Dogs and the Real Freaks."

"I imagine they took that personally."

"Hayate, you have no idea!" Basem replied.

"So, we found out they called a temporary ceasefire," Terry continued. "Apparently, they tried to negotiate a truce. Grizzly, leader of the Freaks, and Metal Coyote, who ran the Dogs, were about to agree to something. But… Nidia and Pemberton… wouldn't come to a deal. That lead to Grizzly and Coyote insulting each other and… well, they agreed to a war. Once and for all, only one group walked out alive."

"What was Commissioner Gordon's stance on this?" Hayate asked.

Bruce chuckled, lowly. "Barbara wanted to march every officer in the GCPD down to Madison Street. The mayor, however… didn't want to risk cops for 'riff-raff' as he put it."

"But since we and Gordan wanted to prevent as many deaths as possible, we convinced her to stand down and we went in to stop the war." Basem shrugged. "But we… underestimated how badly they wanted this."

"Looking back, I'm glad we convinced the cops, especially the Commissioner, to hang back," Terry said. "Well. Most of them."

"What about the citizens?" Hayate asked.

"Most of the residents of Madison Street are Batman fans," Basem said, causing Hayate to chuckle. "Fortunately, we managed to quietly get almost everyone out about an hour before things kicked off."

"Unfortunately," Terry groaned, "the Statesmen kept some residents in a small grocery store on the street as leverage."

"That we didn't know until we got there," Basem added. "And that was like… five minutes after everything started."

"And the first casualties?" Terry exhaled. "Some of the Red Dogs."

Three Years Ago.

They thought they'd make it in time. But they didn't.

The war had already begun. Weapon fire could be heard from miles away.

Batman and Nightrunner arrived at Madison Street and saw the destruction, disgusted by it all. The Statesmen were standing on the fallen forms of some of the Red Dogs.

"Dear God," Batman whispered.

"How do we stop this?" Runner asked, absentmindedly.

"We jump in and fight. Ready?"

"Let's go!"

Batman and Runner dove down to the ground and attacked the Statesmen that were standing over the Red Dogs. They battled their way into the fray, fighting anything that looked like any of the four gang members who was still able to move. Eventually, they were separated and headed down opposite ends of Madison.

Runner fought his way through a couple of waves of Highballers, before finding a Red Dog bleeding from her side as she sat against a wall.

"Oh, no," Runner groaned. He hurried over and kneeled down next to Red Dog. "Just hang in there. Rescue crews will be here once we secure the area." He reached into his medkit pouch, retrieving some ointment.

"No," she said breathed out shaking her head. "Save… save the people…"

"What people?" Runner applied the ointment.

The Red Dog hissed and she looked down the street, "The… the store. The Statesmen… they've… got some hostages."

Runner looked down the street. He huffed. He looked at the Red Dog.

"Go. You guys are heroes. Save… save the people."

Runner sighed and applied a quick bandage. "Keep pressure on that and stay outta sight until the rescue crews arrive!"

"Go," she pleaded.

Runner took off down the street, sticking to the rooftops. "Did both of you hear that?"

"Yeah," Batman replied. "Take care of that. We'll link up later."

"I'll let the rescue crews know where she is," Bruce replied. "Medivac crews are quietly entering the area."

"Okay!" Runner replied.

An explosion went off, toward the direction Batman was. Runner stopped.

"What the hell was that?!" Runner asked.

"Leave it to Batman, Runner," Bruce ordered. "You handle your end!"

Runner grunted, "Stay alive, Bats!"

"I'll do my best!" Batman replied.

The explosion was caused by Nidia Myers and some of the Highballers arriving with rocket launchers and attacking the Statesmen and Freaks in the area. The Highballers were firing the rockets from a low-flying hovertruck, which Batman hurried toward. When Myers saw Batman coming, she commanded all of the attacks be focused on him. The rocket attacks forced Batman to take cover.

"This isn't gonna end well!" Batman said over his comms.

"Do what you can!" Bruce replied. "And watch yourself!"

"Roger that!"

Batman activated his cloak and moved as quickly as he could to the truck. Since the Highballers couldn't see Batman, they turned their attention back to the Statesman and the Freaks. Batman hurried to the truck, climbed on top of it, and flipped inside, turning off his cloak while he was in mid-flip. He kicked several Highballers, then used his batarangs to short out a few of the rocket launchers, leaving about three still operational. The Highballers tried fighting Batman but he managed to take them down. He managed to throw a batarang at the wall of the truck that led to the driver's seat. The batarang was electrified, shorting out the truck and causing to crash to the ground with Batman jumping out before it crashed. Batman landed amongst the other gangs and started fighting everything that moved. Batman looked but lost sight of Nidia in the crash.

'Deal with that later!' Batman thought before punching a Statesmen.

Runner arrived on the rooftop across the street from the store where the Statesmen were holding hostages. He sighed, "What a mess!" He descended down, still out of sight, then threw five silver pellets, which landed amongst the Statesmen then exploded into gas. With the Statesmen disoriented, Runner began to knock them all out in rapid succession. Once they were down, he made his way inside the store, taking out a couple of more Statesmen inside. He found the citizens toward the back of the store, all of them looking at Runner in fear.

"Don't worry," Runner reassured. "I'm gonna get you guys outta here." He heard footsteps outside. He looked toward the door, "And, apparently, this is happening now." He looked at the citizens, "Everyone, stay down, and cover your heads!"

Runner hurried back to the front of the store, but he heard the gang members, Runner guessed the Statesmen, distracted by something else. He took advantage of the distraction by throwing a concussive dart that destroyed the window and forcing the gang members backs. Runner jumped out of window, quickly knocking out the remaining Statesmen. He looked to see a police officer, aiming a stun gun.

"Runner!" the office shouted, nervously.

Runner nodded, "Officer." He looked at her perplexed. "The officers were ordered to stay back for a while."

"I know. But I figured you guys would be busy and… I just wanted to help." The officer shrugged, "I want to do my part. It's why I became a cop."

Runner studied her then nodded. "Understood. What's your name, officer?"

"Valerie," the officer said. "Valerie Bancroft."

Runner stared at her, studying her face. "You're the one who Fiend attacked the night he first appeared."

"That's right."

"I thought you'd retire after that."

"No, sir," Valerie replied. "I made a commitment, and I knew Gotham wouldn't be easy."

"Fair enough," Runner nodded. "And please don't call me 'sir'. You're the officer. Not me. Runner is fine."

Valerie smiled and nodded. Runner and Valerie ducked when they heard something crash, down the street.

Runner looked up then at Valerie, "Help all the citizens and the injured. And tell the rescue crews to slowly ease their way in. No sirens, not yet."

"Got it," Valerie replied.

"Be safe, Officer Bancroft. I hope you get a raise and a promotion after this."

Valerie chuckled, "Me, too."

As the citizens began to leave the store, an elderly lady ran up to Runner, "Sir! Sir!"

Runner stopped and looked at the lady, "Yes, ma'am?"

"Sir, my great-nephew! He comes to look after me often! I was on the phone with him right before they grabbed me! He might be out here, looking for me!"

"If he's in the area, ma'am, we'll find him. What's your name, ma'am?"

"Millicent."

"And your great-nephew?"

"Michael."

"I'll make sure he's okay," Runner replied. "I promise. You get somewhere safe!"

"Bless you, young man," Millicent smiled.

Runner nodded and raced back down the street.

While still fighting his way through the street, Batman managed to knock out some of the Dogs and Freaks. He was making his way through when he came across an alley where some of the Statesmen seemed to be harassing another citizen. Batman broke off from continuing down the street to jump in the fray.

Batman tackled the Statesmen, tossing two of them away then punching another hard enough to knock a few teeth out. He used his cable to tie up the two he threw back. Once they were down, Batman hurried over to the man they had assaulted, who lying on the ground. The man seemed to be in his mid to late thirties; he was Caucasian and clean shaven with a short buzz haircut. He also seemed to be in pretty good shape.

"Hey!" Batman tapped the man, "Hey, buddy!"

The man groaned and looked up, "Bat…man?"

"Yeah. Can you get up?"

The man grunted then nodded, "I… I think so."

"What's your name, man?" Batman asked.

"Uhh, Mike," the man replied. He rubbed his head, "Mike Orsini."

"Okay, Mike. What are you doing here? This place is dangerous!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Mike groaned. "But… my great-aunt lives around here. She was on her way out but… I think somebody grabbed her. I came to get her!"

"Is his name Michael?" Runner asked, over the comms. "His great-aunt Millicent is safe! Tell him she's with another officer, heading out of the area."

Batman nodded. "Nightrunner saw her. Millicent's safe."

Mike looked at Batman, relieved. "Oh, thank God." He exhaled. "I just… wanted to make sure she was okay."

Batman studied him. "You came in here… just to make sure she was okay?"

"Great-aunt Millie's one of the best. And I'm here only family in town. I had to try."

Batman looked him over a moment longer. "That's good, man. You're a real hero."

Mike blinked in surprise. "Uhhhh… wow! Thanks, Batman."

"You're welcome." Batman looked down the street, hearing more shouting. "Mike, get outta here! Your aunt's probably on the other end of the street. Stick to the alleys and the other streets and get outta here. We got this."

"Thanks, Batman." Mike got to his feet. He started to leave but stopped. "Hey. They're armor and weapons are old tech. Probably got the stuff on the black market. Cheap and useful but… easy to break. Shouldn't be too hard for you to get around."

Batman paused and stared at Mike. "How do you know that?"

"I used to be in the Marines. I remember that old stuff. It was decommissioned right before I retired."

Batman nodded, "Got it. Thanks, Mike. Get somewhere safe!" After Mike ran off, he got on the comms, "You guys get that?"

"Yeah," Runner replied.

"He's right," Bruce confirmed. "I did a scan on what I've seen so far. All of the gangs are using tech that was decommission over a decade ago."

"The strength of the armor hasn't been the problem," Batman admitted. "It's the number of jackasses using it."

"Agreed. Still, it's an advantage."

"True enough. Back to work."

"Almost to you," Runner stated. "Just ran into some trouble."

"Theme of the night!" Batman hurried back to the street.

Batman and Runner battled on Madison Street for another hour. Runner still hadn't made it to Batman yet but was getting closer.

After clearing out a group of Dogs and Highballers, Batman stopped to get his breath back. He heard footsteps approaching through the smoke. He looked up to find himself surrounded by an approaching group of twenty-plus Freaks.

The Freaks were snarling and laughing at Batman.

"Oh, you've gotta be kiddin' me!" Batman groaned.

The Freaks surrounded Batman like a pack of hyenas.

Batman glared at the gang members as they began to circle him.

Batman growled then roared, "Well! I haven't got all damn night! C'MON! TAKE YOUR SHOT!"

The Freaks rushed at him and Batman began to fight them, ferociously. As he battled, the Freaks were joined by a few more Dogs and they all began to restrain Batman, everyone grabbing any limb they could. Before the gang members could do any real damage to Batman, Runner headed toward the scene on his Nightbike. Once he was close enough, Runner launched tear gas canisters into the crowd.

As he got closer, Runner shouted, "BATMAN!"

While being choked by one of the Freaks, Batman looked up and saw Runner approached. Elbowing and punching the Freaks to loosen their grips, Batman stretched his hand out and Runner flew low enough to grab him, yanking out of the grasp of the gang members.

Runner hauled Batman up and sat Batman behind him on the bike. "You okay?" Runner asked.

Batman coughed. "No." He coughed once more and cleared his throat. "I'm pissed!"

They looked down to see the gangs, who were all staring up at them.

"Ready?" Runner asked.

"Hell yeah!" Batman declared.

Batman and Runner flew above the rioters. They launched a series of exploding gas pellets into the gang members, which disoriented them and caused them to cough profusely. With the gas doing its job, Batman and Runner dove down into the crowd, attacking everything that was remotely moving. They used every bit of their expertise to fight their way through the gang members, going from the most flawless of fighting styles to down-and-dirty street fighting tactics.

After nearly an hour of fighting, Batman and Runner were standing on top of a car, both struggling to catch their breath, with a seemingly unending number of unconscious bodies spread around them.

"Is that everyone?" Batman asked, breathlessly, on the comms.

"Almost," Bruce replied. "The leaders are back down the street, having a shootout."

"On our way!" Runner said.

They rushed back down the street on Runner's Nightbike to see Nidia, Pemberton, Grizzly, and Coyote fighting. They were each wearing their own riot gear body armor, tailor-made for each leader; the armor seemed to be stronger than what the rest of their gang members were wearing. The gang leaders also seemed to be fatigued, running on pure adrenaline.

"We could just let them kill each other," Runner shrugged.

"As much as that plan appeals to me after tonight, we can't," Batman replied.

"Yeah, I know." Runner sighed. "Ready?"

"Let's finish this."

Batman and Runner jumped from the Nightbike and landed in the middle of the four of them, bringing their brawl to a halt.

"Look, your gangs are done," Runner informed. "And you dregs are all that's left. Ya sure you still wanna do this? Here's some advice: don't."

"Make this easy on yourselves," Batman ordered, "and just surrender!"

Coyote laughed. "Are you kidding me?! When we can take out both of you right now? That'll make our reps forever!"

"Really? Think so?" Batman looked over at Nidia and Pemberton. "You guys are gonna worry about us… when you've got each other in your sights?"

Nidia and Pemberton glared at each other, with all the rage they had left, and immediately opened fire on one another.

"I GOT THEM!" Batman shouted as he flew at Pemberton, tackling him.

Runner rushed at Coyote, kicking him across the face, before dodging a claw swipe from Grizzly. Batman threw Pemberton against a car then kicked Nidia in the chest, sending her back. Batman launched himself at Pemberton, tackling him over the car. Batman punched Pemberton until he heard footsteps approached; Batman rolled himself and Pemberton over, dodging gun fire from Nidia.

"I HAVE HAD IT WITH THIS SHIT!" Batman threw a bola at Nidia, which wrapped her arms and abdomen almost instantly. He rushed at her and punched her with a lot of power, knocking her out in one shot. He then deployed an electrified batarang at Pemberton, shocking him into unconsciousness. Batman took a second to catch his breath. "Assholes…"

Dodging a swipe from Grizzly, Runner ducked down, grabbed Grizzly's leg, lifted him up, and threw Grizzly into Coyote, sending them both crashing into the ground. Runner hurriedly threw all of the gas pellets he had left at the duo. The pellets exploded into knockout gas, which rendered Grizzly and Coyote unconscious within seconds.

Confirming they were down, Runner struggled to catch his breath and fell against a turned over car. "We… better not… ever… have to do this… AGAIN!"

Bent over and clutching his knees, Batman gave a thumbs-up, "Couldn't… agree… more!" He got on his comms, "Please tell us THAT was everybody!"

"Yes," Bruce confirmed. "I've called Barbara. The GCPD is making their way onto the street now. They've already arresting the gang members. Hang around, just in case."

"Roger that," Runner replied, exhaustedly.

A couple of hours later, the cops had carted off most of the gang members to prison, and the rescue and repair crews were working their way down Madison Street. Both still exhausted and bruised, Batman and Runner sat on a wrecked car, noticing the sun was starting to rise.

"What a night," Runner whispered.

"Tell me about it," Batman replied.

Barbara, who was on the scene with the first round of police, approached the two, "You both… did… really well tonight."

"Thanks, Commish."

Barbara looked around, making sure they were alone. "Tomorrow night. You and the ladies. Dinner. On me."

"You're buying?" Batman asked. "I am so absolutely there!"

"Me, too," Runner said, wearily.

Barbara nodded and started to walk off.

"Hey, Commish!" Batman said. She stopped and looked at him. "There was a guy. Mike Orsini."

"We got him," Barbara replied. "His great-aunt, too. He's doing okay." She looked at Runner, "So's the member of the Red Dogs you patched up."

"And the officer," Runner added. "Valerie Bancroft. I think she deserves a promotion."

Barbara paused then thought for a second. "Hm. She's known for going above and beyond. I'll consider it." She walked off. "Stay out of trouble, gentlemen."

Batman laughed but grabbed his ribs, "Ow." He leaned back on the hood of the car, causing Runner to laugh and shake his head.

"I'm gonna sleep this entire day away," Batman said.

"Until dinner," Runner replied.

"Until dinner. But that's tomorrow. Today… we sleep, brother."

"I like that plan."

"Actually…" Bruce said.

"Oh, come on!" Batman groaned.

"Are you serious?!" Runner exhaled.

"Break-in," Bruce informed. "Diamond district."

"Ohhhhhhhh, whoever it is can go to hell!" Batman yelled.

"Get moving. Then you can call it a night."

"IT'S MORNING!"

"And?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Batman pushed himself up. "Let's go."

"It never ends," Runner said.

"Actually…" Bruce said, "…it does. I was joking."

Batman and Runner paused. "You were what?" Runner asked.

"Joking," Batman said, incredulously. "You. You were joking?"

"Go home, boys," Bruce ordered. "You earned it."

"I'm so grateful, I'm not even mad! Thanks!"

"We're headed out," Runner declared.

"Roger that," Bruce replied.

Present Day.

After the recount, Hayate sat back, astonished. "Amazing," he said.

"Yeah," Terry said. "Valerie got a promotion. She's a detective now."

"What about Mr. Orsini?"

"He showed real bravery and tenacity," Bruce admitted. "I was impressed. I arranged for him to get a job at Wayne Enterprises. He's one of the higher ups in Security. He lives in a new apartment and his great-aunt has a house now, I believe." He shrugged, "He makes enough, now, anyway."

"That's very good," Hayate said. "What an interesting case."

"It turned out to be," Terry said. "But, for pain-related reasons, I enjoy the non-interesting ones."

Hayate chuckled, "I can understand that!" He picked another file. "Oh! One about Inque." He opened it and read for a second. "She tried to drown you, Basem?"

"WITH HERSELF!" Basem shouted.

"Oh, sweet Jesus!" Terry groaned. "Not this again!"

"Oh, let me tell you that story, Hayate!"

"I'm leaving!"

"SIT YOUR ASS DOWN!"

Terry groaned and sat down, defeatedly dropping his hand over his face.

"You're not going ANYWHERE until Hayate hears this whole story!" Basem declared.

"I, on the other hand, am going to bed," Bruce, calmly, got up.

Terry looked, desperately, at Bruce and cried out, "Don't you leave me here!"

"Well, Hayate, it all started when SOMEBODY was late showing up!" Basem shouted, while glaring at Terry.

"Oh, dear…" Hayate said, nervously. "I fear I've unearthed… lingering bad feelings."

"YOU DON'T KNOW THE HALF OF IT! OH BUT YOU'RE GONNA FIND OUT!"

"BRUCE!" Terry shouted. "Get back here!"

"Good night, boys," Bruce exited the room, a smile forming on his face. He had to keep from laughing as Basem, angrily, told the story and Terry fell suspiciously, and guiltily, silent.

A/N: And there you have it! What did you all think? Let me know! See you all soon!