Chapter 6

"Get down!" Batman spat as he tackled Gordon down to the ground, both men narrowly missing the hail of bullets that Beast fired at them. But the mercenary simply followed their movement and and continued to fire, while the vigilante instinctively grabbed the edge of his cape and covered both himself and his friend with it.

"Ha. That will not save you, Comrade." The Russian chuckled, before noticing that the bullets were just impacting against the cape and not penetrating it, as they just fell to the ground with each and every hit.

"What the?" he added in Russian under his breath, before suddenly stopping as the gun jammed after the last bullet was fired.

'Here's my chance.' The Dark knight thought before throwing back his cape and revealing two Batarangs in his other hand.

"Jim, go!" he spat while throwing the two customised shuriken at their adversary, knocking his weapon out of his hands.

"Okay..." the former Police Commissioner hesitantly replied before getting to his feet and running back to Barbara and his car, while the Vigilante launched himself at the disarmed Assassin, hitting him square in his masked face with a right hook.

But the Beast ignored the hit and returned the favour by striking Batman in his chest, which even though was heavily armoured, knocked him flat on his back.

"You are more than you appear to be, Batman. I will relish killing you..." he began to say while standing over his target, before looking down the alleyway at Gordon, who was nearly at his vehicle.

"...but you are not my only target."

Meanwhile, Barbara sat in the passenger seat of her dad's car, eyes wide and mouth partly agape at what she was witnessing in front of her.

'This is incredible! Come on, Batman!' she thought excitedly, before the car door on the other side from her opened and her Father got in.

"I hope you have your seat belt on, Barbara?" he said in a hurried and alert tone, making her do exactly that, but never taking her eyes off what was happening before her.

"Yeah..." she began to reply, before a worried expression appeared on her face, because she noticed that he was starting the car's engine and the Dark Knight was lying at their attacker's feet.

"...but what about Batman? He needs help."

"He'll be fine, but I need to get you out of..." the Private Investigator then said back, only to stop as his attention was caught by the Beast now pointing a weapon at them, while the Batman laid at his feet.

"...oh crap!" he muttered under his breath before grabbing his daughter, making them both duck as the assassin opened fire and shattered the windshield, making shards of glass rain down on them in return.

"Daddy?!" the young teen exclaimed with fear underlining her voice, making the older man hold her tight as bullets raced over their heads.

"It will be alright, Barb." He replied, trying to sooth his little girl's fear.

But as the Beast had one foot down on the Batman's chest, pinning him to the ground as he continued to fire on the Gordons, the former did not notice that the latter was up to something.

'Got to get his attention back on to me.' The vigilante thought has he took two items from his utility belt, one smoke pellet and one more batarang.

"This will be easier than the Black Mask thought." Beast exclaimed confidently, making Batman's ears burn as he noted the former's words before shattering the pellet on the ground beside him.

"What the...?" the Russian merc spat in his mother tongue as heavy smoke began to surround and envelope him, only for his eyes to widen under his mask as his attention snapped back to his priority target, who smirked at him before stabbing him just above the ankle with the Batarang.

"Arrgh!" Beast cried out as he lifted his foot, freeing Batman who rolled clear and quickly pressed a button on the buckle of his utility belt while getting back to his feet.

Though before the Dark Knight could react any further, he was suddenly grabbed via his cape and yanked back on to his back as the Beast tried to run a machete down into his chest. But the vigilante quickly caught the blade between his own wrist blades.

"You are just full of surprises, aren't you, Batman?" the Russian replied as he gritted his teeth while trying to force his weapon down into his opponent's chest, all while the latter grimaced as he held the tip of his adversary's weapon just a few milimetres from him as it hovered there.

"I am glad that you have put up more of a fight..." the Beast began to say before the Dark Knight gritted his teeth and with all of his strength, broke the former's machete by slicing it in half with his wrist blades.

"Impossib..." the Merc then started to exclaim, only to be cut off by Batman's boot as the latter kicked him in the face. This made the Beast fall onto his arse as the vigilante performed a Kip-up and sprung back onto his feet.

"Black Mask should have told you..." the Dark Knight began to reply as he turned round to face his adversary, who was still sitting against the alleyway wall.

"...that I 'am' the impossible."

"Let's see about that." The Beast spat back as he sprung at the Bat with his broken machete and drove it at his head, only for the vigilante to block and deflect it with one hand and punch his enemy inn the face with the other.

But the Russian ignored that hit and swiped his weapon towards the Dark Knight's stomach, making the latter perform a block with both his hands.

The Beast smirked behind his mask as he replied by quickly pulling the blade back, revealing that he had feigned this attack and instead, punched Batman square in his face.

The Vigilante grimaced while he staggered back a few steps, clearly disorientated as the Russian pushed on with his attack and swiped his broken machete at the other's chest once more. But even as he was still reeling from the force of that punch, the Dark Knight still managed to bring his arms up to cover his chest, resulting in the weapon's broken blade slicing through the armour on Batman's right gauntlet.

"Arrgh!" the Vigilante grimaced behind gritted teeth, but the pain was like a shot of Adrenalin as it snapped his attention right back to his opponent, making him spin around in the same direction as Beast's attack and hit the Assassin with his cape, disorientating him.

Batman then continued to spin in that direction, keeping his momentum going as he then performed a 'reverse hook kick', hitting the Russian in the side of the head and knocking him to the ground.

It was the that he could hear the familiar engine growl of the Batmobile as it stopped at the entrance to the alleyway, just behind Gordon's shot-up car.

"Get to my 'car'!" He ordered in his disguised voice, gaining a nod from the former cop as he took his daughter out of their vehicle and headed toward the armoured car.

The Dark Knight then smashed a smoke pellet on the floor next to the Beast, who was recovering as the smoke rose and clouded his view.

"...that was a..." he began to say in a groggy manner while getting back to his feet, revealing his helmet to be cracked down one side as he was cut off by the sight of the now empty alleyway.

"...a mistake." He finished as the smoke faded away, with him hearing the roar of the Batmobile's engine in the distance before looking down at his blooded and broken machete.

'But at least I did not come away empty handed...' the Russian thought as he smirked behind his mask.

"Next time, Batman, you will drown in your own blood."

BATMAN: DECEPTION

Ten minutes and several traffic light violations later, the Batmobile came to a quiet stop in an another alley behind the Gordon residence. The former Police Commissioner climbed out and helped his daughter from the vehicle, while Batman remained in the driver's seat.

"This car is 'so' much better than the plane." Barbara exclaimed like a fan-girl, earning a non reaction from the Dark Knight as he looked over at Gordon.

"Go inside, Sweetheart." The Private-eye then said while the young girl gave the Dark Knight a beaming smile, which instantly changed as she looked up at her father with a shocked expression.

"But, Daddy..." she began to say, only to be cut off by his firm stare.

"Now, Barbara."

This gained a sigh from the teen before she turned back to Batman, giving him an appreciative smile.

"Thanks, Batman...Bye." She then said, before heading inside as he just sat there with an indifferent expression on her face.

As soon as she was gone, Jim let out a sigh as he took off his glasses and cleaned them.

"I tell you, Batman, I don't know what's worse. Either she begins a fan-club for you or tries to fight crime herself..." he then said, before putting his glasses on again.

"...the latter sounds worse." He added, but Batman simply stayed quiet as he looked on with thoughtful expression.

"Batman?" the older man then said, bringing the costumed man out of his thoughts as he glanced back at him, noting the questioning look on the former's face.

"You're being too quiet, which for you is saying something."

"I'm sorry, Jim. I should have checked out the area before meeting you. You and your daughter nearly died tonight. That's on me." The Vigilante said with a apologetic tone, which made Gordon shake his head in return.

"No, Batman, don't do that. You hold enough responsibility on your shoulders. For all we know, that Russian had followed me here or even Montoya earlier today. So don't assume that this is all on you, because we are all in this together, right?"

This gained an appreciative smile back from Batman, who nodded in response.

"Yes, Jim, we are. Thank you."

"You're welcome. So, Black Mask thinks we are a big enough threat to him now that he hires assassins to take us out." Gordon replied with knowing look to his face.

"Yes. So, perhaps you should consider moving your family to a safer location until the situation with Black Mask and Penguin is resolved." The vigilante said back with a concerned tone, which made the older man shake his head.

"I appreciate the advice, Batman. But this situation with these two has been going on for too long now. And anyway, if I had to hide my family away every time a maniac showed up, then they would never leave the house..." he began to say, earning an understanding look from the Dark Knight as he listened.

"...No. I won't do that. Because if there was always one certainty, it was that there is always a risk when carrying a badge. Be it to the person carrying it, or to that person's family and luckily my kids understand that risk. In fact, after leaving the force, Barbara told me that she would never forgive me if I just gave up on helping people...on helping you. So here I am, standing with you against the chaos that continues to blight our city, no matter what/who it is and what happens?"

"And I appreciate that, Jim." The Vigilante replied as the two smiled at each other, before a curious expression then appeared on the latter's face.

"So, I take it that this is Black Mask's attempt to raise the stakes, hiring mercs to take us out?" he asked, gaining a nod from the Dark Knight.

"It would seem so. You should know, Jim, that the Penguin has also brought an assassin into his operation."

"Yes. It was Black Spider, right? Police have had encounters with him in Coast City, Metropolis and Starling City in recent years. Eye witnesses said that you took him on while chasing down a lorry being run by Penguin's men..." Gordon started to say, which the vigilante acknowledged with another nod, before a knowing expression appeared on the former's face.

"...before being attacked by what looked like...a ninja, who was dressed like those who attacked the city with Scarecrow's fear gas years back."

That last sentence brought the Batman's gaze back to Gordon as his masked face mirrored the other's.

"Yes, it appears that this ninja is all that is left of the League of Shadows and is here to take their revenge on me. But there is no connection with either Penquin or Black Mask."

"How can you be sure, Batman? I mean, you did say that Ra's Al Ghul was the League and with him gone, it was no more. But perhaps there are still some members out there." Jim said back, making Batman look away with a thoughtful expression.

'There is at least one other person...' he began to think, remembering that the female ninja was in contact with someone the previous night, before he saw the time on dashboard in front of him.

"I will look into it, Jim, and let you know what I find. But now, I must be going." The vigilante then said.

"Okay...but there is one more thing." The older man then replied, as he remembered something that he wanted to discuss before the Russian hitman appeared, earning a curious but stoic look from the vigilante.

"There was someone else at Blackgate when I visited my contact with Montoya. Just after laying eyes on him, I had a gut feeling that he was someone that should be on the other side of visitor's booths."

"What did he look like?"

"He was Caucasian, around 6'4 with silver grey hair and a trimmed beard. He was also missing his right eye." Gordon then said, remembering the details of the stranger.

"Okay then, I will take a look at the Prison's security footage and see if I can match his face to a name."

"I appreciate that, Batman. Good night." The former cop then said as he stepped away from the heavily customised motor.

"Good night, Jim." The Dark Knight replied, before the vehicle's canopy slid back into place and the Batmobile sped away, leaving Gordon standing there in the now empty alleyway.

"Good luck out there." He then muttered before turning around and heading in the direction of his house.

Back in the Batmobile, the masked vigilante tapped a button on the dashboard, which made his Butler's face appear on the small monitor beside the steering wheel.

"Yes, Master Wayne?"

"Have you been monitoring my situation, Alfred?" Bruce asked, earning a nod from the old man.

"Of course, Sir. I take it that you have seen the time?"

"Yes, so I need you to meet me at the Penthouse bunker, because I need a little medical attention before I go out to meet Miranda."

"I see. Though, I thought that you had now learnt basic field medicine?" Alfred asked with a curious tone.

"Yes, that is true. But nothing beats your perfect work, old friend."

This made the confidante roll his eyes and sigh in return at his end in the Bat-cave.

"Very well, Master Bruce. I will meet you there and patch you up."

"Good. Also, before you leave. Have the Bat-computer access the security footage at Blackgate Prison for the time that Jim Gordon was visiting. There is a person of interest that he wants me to look into." The Dark Knight added, gaining a nod from the Butler on his end of the call.

"Will do, Sir. See you soon." He said back before ending the call, while the vigilante glanced down at his bloodied gauntlet as he had both hands on the wheel.

'There aren't many blades that can cut through my armor.' He thought while returning his attention back to the road ahead of him, while his Batmobile continued further into Gotham.

BATMAN: DECEPTION

An hour later and the party had already started at the Thorne residence, home to Gotham City Councilman - Rupert Thorne, with guests still arriving as they filled out the mansion's large ball-room.

The man himself, who was an overweight man with silver swept back hair, was in the middle of the masses, meeting and greeting them all one at a time with his wife by side.

"Hello, nice to see you again." was just one of three same three sentences he used while greeting his guests, or as many as Lucius had noticed as he watched the party's host make his way towards him.

"Lucius Fox, welcome. It's nice to finally meet you..." Rupert then said as he approached the Wayne Enterprises Chairman, his left hand extended toward the latter who took it in his left.

"...though please forgive me. I have had little contact with Wayne Enterprises since you replaced William Earle as it's CEO." He added as they shook hands, gaining a polite smile from the guest in return.

"Not a problem, Mr. Thorne. I do think you will find that many things have changed since the company's chief share holder returned to Gotham though."

"Yes, I read about young Bruce Wayne's return eight years ago. I was hoping that he would make an appearance tonight." the Councilman replied with a disappointed tone to his voice, earning a knowing smirk from the Wayne CEO.

"I would like to say that Mr. Wayne considered accepting your invitation, but he is both young and wealthy. A combination that rarely ever conforms to the things that we older and wiser folk believe are important."

"Unfortunately, that is true. Driving fast cars, dating beautiful women and generally being reckless with one's fortune. That is what the younger generation of millionaires and billionaires like to focus on."

"I did say 'rarely', Mr. Thorne. And while Mr. Wayne does like to buy fast cars and date supermodels, he does care an awful lot about his family's company." Lucius said back before taking a sip of his wine.

"Well, since I have relocated back to Gotham to take my place on the city council, perhaps I will finally get a chance to meet him." Rupert replied with a hopeful smile, which brought a curious look to Fox's face.

"It's bound to happen, Mr. Thorne. Though, can I ask how you have come to be on the city council? Because the last time I checked, you were a business man and not a politician."

This brought a sly smile to the other man's face in return.

"It's funny that you should ask, Mr. Fox..." he began to say, before stopping mid-sentence as he looked past the Wayne CEO.

"...but that will have to wait. Please, excuse me." he finished while walking past Fox, who turned around to see him welcome a short and chubby, but well dressed Caucasian man in a posh suit with slicked-back hair.

"Mayor Cobblepot, welcome." Rupert Thorne then said as the two men shook hands, with the shorter man looking up at him with an appreciative smile.

"Rupert, please call me Oswald and thank you for invitation."

"Like I am not going to invite the Mayor of Gotham to my first event back in the city, especially when he is now my boss." The host joked, gaining some light laughs from the people around the pair, while the Mayor simply smiled back.

'That wasn't awkward.' Fox thought as he took a sip from his glass, before his glance caught Cobblepot's.

"Lucius Fox!" he exclaimed while waling up to the surprised man, offering him his hand.

"I hope there are no hard feelings about my cancelling our meeting the other day? Though you were not the only one that I had to do that too." the Mayor added with a apologetic tone and smile, while Lucius accepted his hand in return.

"Of course not, Mayor Cobblepot. I understand that you are an extremely busy man." he replied as Cobblepot's blonde male aide handed his boss a drink from the nearby waiter, who took a sip as Thorne hovered around the pair.

"Well, we should set up a new date then, since I am very interested in knowing how Wayne Enterprises can further improve our fair city..." Oswald started to say, only to stop and turn to his Aide.

"Carmichael, please set up a date for...how's does tomorrow afternoon sound, Mr. Fox?" he continued, turning his attention back to the Wayne CEO.

"Sounds good, Mayor Cobblepot..." he answered, before noticing how agitated Thorne was becoming.

"...but we can go through the details later."

"Yes, that would be preferable, since there are a number of people who would like to see you now, Oswald." Rupert then said as he stayed at Cobblepot's side like a shadow.

"Very well, Rupert. But Mr. Fox shall accompany us." Cobblepot replied, earning a silent nod back from the Host as Fox looked at them both.

"I don't want to feel like I am inpede..." he began to say back, only for Mayor to brush it off as he gestured Lucius to follow them.

"Nonsense. Now please, come..." the smaller man replied with a smile, before looking back to Thorne.

"So, Rupert, who are we going to see?"

"Well, not only are the rest of the City's Councillors here, but so is the Police Commissioner and Roman Sionis, owner of Sionis Industries."

"Sionis? They're our biggest Competitor at the moment." Lucius said back after hearing the name, earning a curious expression from Thorne and Cobblepot.

"I hope that this isn't going to be awkward for you, Mr. Fox?" the latter asked with a show of conern in his voice, which made Fox shake his head in return as they saw the smartly dressed Sionis up ahead, talking with Peter Foley. The former had slicked-back black hair and was wearing a black suit and white bowtie over his medium build, who noticed the group heading towards them and smirked back.

But before they could join him and the Police Commissioner, everyone's attention was drawn back to the Mansion's entrance as two more people walked in.

"Who is that?" Cobblepot asked, before noticing that a wide smile appeared on Fox's face.

'I'll be damned...' he thought, before turning his attention back to the Mayor.

"Mr. Thorne, Mayor Cobblepot, I would like to introduce Bruce Wayne." he said as the young man and Miss. Tate joined the party.

BATMAN: DECEPTION

Meanwhile at Blackgate Prison, Abbas was lying down on the bunk in his cell whilst reading a book. The prison-guards were down at the other end of the corridor of cells, finishing off their rounds in that particular cell-block, though this did not concern the former League of Shadows member as he kept his focused on his reading.

But then the light's just outside of the cell began to flicker off and then back on, though this still did not disturb Abbas as he remained unchanged.

"You do know that since I too was trained by the great Ra's Al-Ghul..." he then started to say out loud, before looking over the book to find Slade standing beside the bed in his armour.

"...that no-one can sneak up on me." he added with a confident smile, though he could not see the other man's reaction due to his masked helmet covering his face.

"I was not trying, Abbas. But since I am here, you know that we are going to continue our 'little' chat from earlier." the assassin replied in a stoic manner, earning a sigh from the prisoner in return.

"Yeah...I guess we are." he said back, before a moment of silence passed between the pair as Slade clenched his hands into fists.

Suddenly, Abbas throws the book at the armoured assassin, making the latter knock it away before quickly blocking a punch from the prisoner, who had sprung off the bed at him. The orange and black armoured fighter quickly tried to counter with an elbow to his face, but Abbas ducked under it and shoulder-barged his attacker into the wall.

"Urgh..." Slade grimaced as his back slammed against the concrete, but he didn't have time to get his bearings as his enemy continued his attack, performing a roundhouse kick to his side. But the assassin caught the prisoner's attack and flung the guy against the wall next to him, earning a painful grunt from him as he fell onto the floor.

"I knew you would not go down easy, Abbas..." the masked man said as he stood over the prisoner, who rolled onto his front by the bed.

"...tell me the identity of the man who killed Ra's and I will kill you quickly." he added, which made Abbas chuckle.

"You already know that it was Batman. I saw the news, Talia failed to kill him last night." he replied while slowly getting closer to the underside of the bed, which made Slade reach for one of the two swords that were on his back.

"Yes, but we also know that he was trained by Ra's before becoming the Bat, so we want his real name."

"Well, I am not sorry to keep disappointing you, Slade. Because I like watching you flounder in the dark, unable to see what is right in front of you." the prisoner said back, before grabbing a concealed knife from under the bed and quickly rising on to his knees and slashing out at his opponent, only for the masked assassin to draw his blade in blink of an eye and deflected the attack, then following through by slicing Abbas's hand off in one flawless and swift action.

This gained a pained gasp from the now one-armed man as he clutched at his handless arm, the shock of what had just happened freezing him in place. But he did not get much time to dwell as his hand lay on the ground in front of him, because Slade then ran his blade through the former League member's torso, missing all the major organs as it broke through his back.

"Arrgh!" Abbas cried out in pain, gaining the attention of the other inmates residing in the cell-block, while the orange and black armoured assassin knelt down next to him.

"What's going on in there?" one of Abbas's neighbours called out, which Slade ignored as he looked at his beaten foe.

"You are beaten, Abbas. I can ease your passing, but only if you are honest with me..." he began to explain, keeping his grip on the hilt of his blade steady and tight, while blood started to trickle down from the prisoner's mouth.

"...because I have this blade nestled right between some of your internal organs and with one twist, I can make sure that you die in absolute agony. So, what will it be?"

The sounds of Abbas's suspicious neighbours began to get louder as he started coughing up blood onto the floor, grabbing hold of Slade's shoulder to steady himself as he looked into Slade's only eye, which was exposed through the assassin's mask.

"You win...Slade. It's...Wa...Wayne, Bruce...Wayne." he replied between pants and coughs, which made Slade's eye widen in surprise.

"Th...thank you, Abbas. You may rest now." Wilson replied as he regained his composure while the sounds of the approaching prison-guards got closer, before effortlessly sliding the sword out of his opponent's torso and quickly decapitating him.

"...Bruce Wayne is...Batman." the assassin then muttered under his breath, before getting back to his feet, standing over Abbas's headless corpse. But then the sound of approaching guards caught his attention and the Assassin threw a smoke pellet down on to the ground and enveloped him and the whole room in a cloud of smoke.

"What's going on in there?" one of three guards exclaimed as they rushed into the cell-block, just as the smoke began to dissipate.

"The hell...?" another said with a dumbfounded expression as they all looked in to see both Abbas's corpse and head, while the third guard unlocked the cell door.

" Who? How?" the guard asked as he entered the cell, stepping around the prisoner's headless corpse, with said head lying next to the now open door. But the other two could not answer, simply staring down at the mess while the first activated his radio.

"Get the Warden and lock down the prison." he said in a panicked tone, while the surrounding prisoners yelled and shouted from their cells.

Meanwhile outside of the prison, Slade slipped through a cut in the perimeter fencing and dropped onto his front just as a searchlight from the nearby tower passed by.

'That was too close.' he thought before springing back to his feet and sprinting into the cover of a nearby group of trees, while more prison-guards continued to rush around on their side of the fence.

Once in the the clear, the assassin stopped behind one of the large trees to and removed his mask as a thoughtful smile appeared on his face.

"Bruce Wayne...is Batman." he muttered in a surprised tone while turning his attention to Gotham which was just a few miles away and lit up like a Christmas tree against the black of night.

'This certainly makes things more interesting.'

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading it. :)