A/N: Hey, Everyone. After two years off, which I needed for a break and also to make a start on my own novel, I am back with a new chapter for Batman: Deception. I cannot guarantee regular updates to this story, like one every few weeks for example, but there shouldn't be as long a gap between chapters from now on. Enjoy. :)

CHAPTER 8

Rain began to fall from the now cloudy sky on what appeared to be a normal evening in Gotham, dousing the burning wreck of the GCPD support vehicle that stood outside of the Thorne residence, the atmosphere inside of the mansion was anything but normal.

The Businessman's guests were huddled to one side of the hall as the villain Firefly kept his Flamethrower aimed at them, while his partner Killer Moth began stripping each one of their hostages of their valuables.

"Come on, Miss, I'm sure you have several more back at your fancy home…" the masked criminal said as he gestured at her pearl necklace, while she held her hands to it in a defensive manner.

"…so give me that necklace or I will simply burn it off." He added with a sinister tone, before firing his gun at the wall behind her, spraying it with concentrated acid that quickly dissolved that spot.

"Aggghhh!" she screamed before ripping off the necklace and throwing it into the open bag Killer-Moth was carrying.

"That's better…" he stated before turning his attention to everyone else.

"…Okay, Folks, consider that a warning to anyone else feeling less than charitable to our needs."

Everyone there then quickly removed their valuables and got ready to hand them over as the villain went up to each one, with Firefly watching them all.

"See, it isn't that hard to be charitable, is it." The Firestarter observed with a chuckle.

Meanwhile, two people who looked less than happy to were Bruce and Miranda. The latter was staring at the two costumed criminals with a rebellious disgust, slowly clenching her hands into fists as she watched the pair getting their way with everyone.

"Someone's got to do something, Bruce." She whispered to her date, only to get no reply. So she looked over to the Wayne to see that he was staring at the developing situation with a calm and stoic expression.

"Bruce? How can you be so calm at a time like this?" she then asked while nudging the Billionaire, snapping his attention back to her.

"There's nothing we can do while one them has a flamethrower aimed at everyone, Miranda..." He whispered back, before giving the young lady a curious look as he noticed her behavior.

"…and you're more riled up than I thought you would be, considering what's going on." He questioned, making her turn her attention back to the criminals with a subtle head shake.

"I despise those who threaten innocent people with violence and death." She replied with a tinge of self-righteousness to her words, gaining a curious look from the billionaire in return as glanced back to her.

"We are both on the same page about that, but there isn't much we can do right now." He replied, before one of the two villains noticed Foley.

"Hey, Moth. Look what we have here." Firefly exclaimed as he pointed the man out in the crowd, making people move away and expose him to the pair.

"Why it's the Police Commissioner..." the other costumed crook said in return, before noticing that he still had his phone in his hand.

"...and it looks like he might have called some of his friends to join this party." Killer-Moth added before firing his acid gun at the cop, spraying the corrosive liquid over his phone.

"Arrrgh!" Foley cried out in pain as a little splashed onto his hand as he dropped the device on the floor, which quickly started to dissolve as he cradled his hurt body-part.

"You might want to get some water on that." The villain then said, gesturing to the fancy bucket of ice water on the table nearby. This made one of the guests grab it and take it over to the Commissioner, who then quickly placed his burning hand into it and cried out in pain once more.

"If none of you want to have a similar experience, I suggest that you all behave from now on." The guy's partner then warned, before gesturing back to their half-full bag of riches.

"Fill it up, Folks."

Everyone then fearfully dropped their valuables into the villains' bag, be it watches, phones and jewelry, it all changed hands from Thorne's guests to those of their captors.

"That's good. Keep up the charity, Everyone, and perhaps you will all get to go home tonight." Firefly observed as he watched his partner moved from person to person.

Meanwhile, at the end of the group, Bruce and Miranda remained quiet as they stood there and watched the situation unfold, with the former using a sleight of hand to equip his earpiece before the latter can spot it.

"The Bat-Computer detected you activating your Bat-Com, Master Wayne...do you really need to brand everything? " Alfred's voice then asked, with Bruce the only one who could hear him, making the younger man smirk.

Meanwhile, in the Batcave, the Butler sat at the Bat-computer and brought up a layout of the Thorne's mansion on the main screen.

"Anyway, I have already plotted the fastest and most efficient path to your car from your current location, including a shortcut through a most interesting room should you find yourself being followed."

Bruce nodded discreetly before turning his attention back to Miranda who was watching the two costumed criminals with a disgusted and resolute expression, narrowing her eyes at them as they bullied and robbed the others blind.

"Miranda..." he began to say, only for the lady to turn to him and cut him off mid-sentence.

"Okay, Bruce, if I make a distraction, you should be able to get out and get help."

This earned a surprised look from the Billionaire as she stared back with a resolute and determined expression.

"Okay...but I was going to suggest that you go and I make the distraction." Wayne reacted with an unsure tone, gaining a knowing smirk back from his date.

"That's sweet, Bruce, but I'll be fine. This isn't my first time being at a party that was gatecrashed by criminals," the younger woman said, before subtly gesturing for him to go. "Now go."

Bruce smirked and nodded before quietly backing away as Tate started for Killer Moth and FireFly, gaining the others' attention as she did so.

"Are you two idiots finished yet?" She said in a brazen tone, making the pair turn and face her with confused looks though their expressions were masked by their helmets.

"Is she talking to us?" The fire-starter asked in a puzzled tone, making his partner shrug his shoulders before gesturing him to go over to her.

"Are you talking to us, Lady?" He repeated while holding his flamethrower towards the guest, a low flame dancing at the end of the weapon's nozzle as it was held close to her face, though Miranda did not even flinch as she stared him down.

"Well, I don't see any other Halloween-themed clowns at this gathering. So, yes, I am talking to you." She declared in a confident and defiant manner, earning a worried look from Foley as he stood alongside, Thorne, Sionis, Fox and the other hostages behind the two criminals.

"Miss. Tate, don't aggravate them. Just do as they say."

But his warning fell on deaf ears as Miranda stood her ground and stared the two masked men down, leading Fire-fly to spray a flash of flame just past her face, which did not even result in a flinch from the young Tate.

"Huh. I'm impressed, Lady, you've got some brass ones on you there." he acknowledged, making the woman narrow her eyes at him.

"I have more than you..." she replied before glancing down towards his crotch.

"...apparently."

Even though you could not see his face from behind his mask, the fire-starter gritted his teeth as he began to say while raising his hand to her.

"You Bitch!"

But before the criminal could take a swipe at her, Killer-Moth grabbed his wrist and stopped him, all while keeping his own acid gun aimed towards the crowd.

"Hey, no time for that..." he started to say before gesturing to the area just behind Miranda.

"...Wasn't there a guy standing with you back there?"

The lady shrugged in return with a completely bewildered expression on her face, which gained a subtle knowing smirk from Lucius in return.

"Was there? I don't recall anyone with me."

"Yeah, there was. Another rich schmuck." FireFly agreed, before pointing to the corridor in that direction.

"Go take a look. I'll cover everyone here in the meantime," he added while turning his attention to Miranda once more. "Someone should teach these people some manners."

But his chilling words did nothing for the female guest as she simply scoffed in return, making him almost erupt in fury.

"Just go, before I burn this bitch alive!"

Killer Moth nodded back cautiously, quickly leaving the group in the main hall as he went down the poorly lit corridor.

Meanwhile, just further down the corridor. Bruce paced quietly but quickly past numerous rooms as he listened to instructions from his earpiece.

"Okay, Alfred, where now?"

"It's the next door on your right, Master Wayne." the older man's voice replied, with the billionaire walking through the very next door and smiling as he saw it's contents.

"Alfred, you're a genius." he replied with an air of appreciation in his voice, since he could picture how his old friend would look after hearing his words.

"I have my moments, Sir. Now get into position before your pursuer reaches you." the butler then said through Bruce's earpiece, making him move to one of the shadowed areas.

Then only a few seconds later, Killer-Moth entered the room with his acid-gun ready.

"Come on now, Mr. Suit. Let's make this easy. You quit hiding and show yourself, and I promise I will not burn your face off.

But the only answer the criminal got in return was silence as he looked around the room, which looked like some kind of multi-media center though most of the devices were shrouded in shadow.

"Okay then. I guess I will enjoy melting your face off when I find you..." the masked villain then said while closing in on a shadowed spot behind what looked like a large screen TV.

"...and I will enjoy it." he added, only to be cut off by a gravelly voice speaking out from the darkness.

"No, you won't."

This made Killer-Moth turn around in time to see Batman suddenly standing there, making him freeze on the spot.

"What the...?!" he started to exclaim, only to be cut off as the Dark Knight knocked the weapon out of his hands and followed through with a punch to his chest and then a roundhouse kick to his masked-face, sending the criminal to unconsiousness as he fell back onto the floor.

"Is it done, Sir?" Alfred then asked, earning a nod from the Vigilante in return.

"Yes, Penny-One. You can turn it off now."

Suddenly, the Batsuit began to flicker before disintegrating and revealing that Bruce Wayne was still in his tux.

"Lucius and his tech guys have outdone themselves with these new holographic emitters." the young man then stated as he gestured to the hardware, whose red lights blinked off, which then deactivated.

"Perhaps you can give Mr. Fox and his team a bonus in their upcoming salary payment, Sir." the butler responded, earning a nod back Wayne.

"I'll take that under advisement..." he acknowledged while walking.

"...so, where's the nearest exit to my Jaguar?"

"You should find an unlocked window in the bathroom fifteen meters towards the west end of the house."

"Thanks. I'm getting my 'other formal wear' now..." he started to say before stopping as he gave his old friend a questioning look.

"Wait, Alfred,...you did put my suit in the Jaguar's boot?" Bruce asked, which he could swear would put a smile on the old man's face back in the Batcave.

"Master Bruce, I have placed a Batsuit in every one of your cars, from the Bentley to the Lamborghini."

This made the young billionaire smirk as he exited the room and started heading down the corridor towards the bathroom.

"I should give you a vacation, Alfred." he responded with an appreciative tone, earning a chuckle over the radio.

"And who would keep the Manor in perfect working order, Sir? Now get going. Those hostages are counting on you."

"No, Alfred. They're counting on us." Bruce said back with a smile as his disappeared into the shadowed end of the corridor, leaving Killer-Moth where he lay.

BATMAN: DECEPTION

A few minutes later back in the main hall with the rest of the hostages, Fox was busy attending to Foley's injury as he wrapped up the latter's acid burned hand with helpf from Miranda.

"This should help until we can get out of here." the Wayne Ent. CEO assured, earning an uncertain look from Foley in return.

"Whenever that will be, Mr. Fox. Before they killed my phone, I did manage to get a message out..." he began to explain, earning disgruntled looks from Cobblepot and Sionis as the pair looked over at him.

"And where are the Police, Foley?" the short fat one demanded, mincing his words which gained a nod of agreement from the Janus CEO.

"Yeah. That was a good 10 minutes ago. Surely the nearest patrol would have been here by now." Sionis replied in an exasperated tone, with a look of dumbfoundedness being the only answer that the Police Commissioner could give in return.

"I...don't know. They should be..." he began to stutter while holding the cloth of his wounded hand, only to cut off by Miranda as she gestured back to their captor.

"Shush! Look." she whispered back as they looked back to FireFly as his attention was caught by the sight of Killer Moth limping towards him from the darkness of the hallway behind him.

"What happened?! Don't tell me that suit got the better of you!" he blasted at his partner who grunted as he rejoined the other's side and shook his head in response.

"No, Fly. It was the Bat..." Moth started to explain, taking his friend aback.

But as the two talked, the mention of the Dark Knight had not gone unnoticed by the others there.

"Did you hear that? The Bat is here. We're saved." one of the guests effused, earning looks of relief on the faces of the rest.

This even caught the attention of both Fox and Miranda, who had finished attending to Foley and had turned their attention to what was going on with the others.

"Did I hear that right? The Batman is here?" the Wayne CEO quizzed, gaining nods back from the others.

"You heard right, Fox." Thorne verified with an almost anxious tone to his voice, bringing a subtle smirk to the former's face while his female friend had a cautious frown.

"Forget Batman. We have an opportunity here." she replied while staring daggers at the two costumed criminals, something that did not go unnoticed by Lucius who stopped her as she moved closer to their captors.

"Miss Tate, please don't..." he started to say, only to be cut off by Fire-Fly.

The firestarter, having too noticed that their hostages were not staying quiet, quickly turned around and opened fire on the area surrounding the group, circling them in a ring of fire and stopping Miranda in her tracks as she felt the heat of the flames on her skin, making her retreat back to the others.

"Don't even think about it." he warned, giving Miranda a narrow glare through the lenses of his mask before returning his attention to his partner.

"Now, did you say...Batman?!"

"Oh yeah. It was the Bat. He's here." Killer Moth fretted, with the other noticing that he had the shakes as his acid gun rattled in his hand.

"Just relax. There's two of us and one of him." FireFly snapped, making his partner shake his head in return.

"Two against one? Did you not hear about the time he took out the Whisper gang that tried to take over the Gotham Central Station a few months back? They were twenty men strong." Killer Moth replied with a worried tone, earning a cynical head shake in return.

"I'm not worried. We can..." the other started to say before something suddenly flew past one of the large windows in the hall, catching everyone's attention as it blocked out the light from the street lights outside for a second.

"Did you see that?" One of the guests asked with a wide-eyed expression, earning similar reactions from others around him as they nodded back.

But as many in the room looked around in an ambivalent way, with both fear and hope etched on their faces, Miranda remained calm as she quietly observed the situation.

"Miss Tate, please contain yourself. You're making the rest of us look bad." Lucius requested with a teasing undertone, making her smirk back ever so slightly.

"As I told Bruce earlier, this kind of situation is nothing new to me."

"Nor to me. In fact, I was present when the Joker gatecrashed an Election party that Mr. Wayne held for Harvey Dent several years back." He replied, gaining a knowing look from the young woman in response.

"I heard about that. The Batman was present there as well, wasn't he?"

"Yes..." the Wayne CEO began to answer, making Miranda turn away and look back at the windows as another one was blacked out for a second as something passed by, blanketing in the room in darkness for a fast moment as her expression changed to one of cold determination.

"...and I highly doubt that this could be anyone else. We're in good hands, Miss Tate." He continued unknowingly as her look changed to one of concern.

"What about Bruce? Do you think he's alright?" she asked while returning her attention to him, bringing a reassuring smirk to the older man's face.

"I'm sure he's fine. It's these two who should be worrying right now." Fox responded while gesturing to the two costumed thugs that were frantically looking around, following the dark shape that kept snatching the outside light away as it quickly passed the various large windows of the hall every other moment.

"He's toying with us." Killer Moth stated as the pair went back to back, all while their hostages remained trapped behind the wall of fire.

"Just be ready. He'll..." FireFly started to reply back before being cut off by the sound of something small breaking through the window.

"What is...that?!" The latter then said as he felt something snag against his gun at the same time as the window break, making the former look up at the window and notice the small hole in it's pane.

"He threw something in, maybe..."

But before the masked man could say any more, the fire-starter's flamethrower shut down.

"What the hell?!" FireFly spat while his friend noticed that his fuel tank was leaking, creating a puddle on the ground behind his feet.

"He cut your fuel line." He pointed out, making the other unsheathe what looked like a machete whose blade suddenly ignited as it was suddenly enveloped in fire.

"Come and get us, Batman! Quit hiding!" He needled while spinning around and looking at each window in the hall, hoping to see some trace of the Dark Knight.

"Is your acid-gun still working?" The fire-starter

then asked with a more calm and focused tone to his voice, which was followed by Killer Moth firing his weapon at a nearby statue and covering it in a corrosive liquid that immediately began to eat through the object.

"Yeah." The other answered, earning a smirk from behind Fire Fly's helmet.

"Be ready."

And then for what felt like an age, the two costumed criminals remained back to back as they turned around on the spot and watched each and every one of the large windows in that hall, all while being watched by their captive audience.

"Well, where is he?" Thorne inquired with anger and annoyance underlining his words, gaining curious looks from Sionis and Cobblepot.

"You'd rather that costumed clown deals with this and not our police force, Rupert?" The latter questioned with a tinge of hostility on his tongue, bringing a similar look to the host's face as he glared back.

"What I want, Mr. Mayor, is this freak-show to be over. And if the Bat is the only way to end it, then so be it," he spat back, before glancing over to Foley who was still cradling his burnt hands. "It's not like the Police are being much help now, are they?"

This made both Cobblepot and Sionis exchange awkward glances to each other before another guest then regained their attention as she pointed at one of the windows above them.

"Batman!" the lady exclaimed in an exhilarated yet fearful tone as the Dark Knight crashed through the window and spread out his cape like a bat's wings, creating a shadow that engulfed the two masked criminals where they stood while dropping down to them.

Killer Moth quickly attempted to raise his weapon but was too slow as the vigilante glide-kicked him in the chest, sending the former into a wall as the latter landed perfectly next to FireFly as everyone else watched.

"You're fucking dead, Bat!" The fire-starter spat as he lunged at Batman, only for the costumed crime-fighter to easily block his strike and counter with a punch directly at his helmet.

This shattered it's visor and revealed Firefly's true identity as Alfred's voice spoke into Batman's ear via the cowl's com-link as the criminal fell back against the wall.

"The Cowl's camera in conjunction with the Bat-computer's F.R.S has identified Firefly as Garfield Lynns, Sir."

"Stay down, Garfield, or you'll be taking all future meals via an IV drip." The vigilante warned through his disguised voice as the latter slipped down onto his arse in shaken state, before turning his attention to Killer Moth who had recovered and was reaching for his acid gun that lay just aways from him.

"And that makes you 'Drury Walker'," he said which stunned the masked man as the latter grabbed his gun and aimed it at the Bat. "Though I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Screw you, Batman!" Moth spat back before turning his weapon in the direction of Fox and Miranda.

"NO!" Batman shouted as he leaped between the pair and the acid, pulling up his cape to shield the two from the attack as Killer Moth fired a shot at them.

"Nothing can stop my acid, Batm..." the criminal began to gloat with a smirk behind his mask, only to stop as the Dark Knight's cape looked undamaged apart from a little smoke rising from it's fabric.

"...How?!"

But before he could get an answer, Batman pulled back his cape, showing that the guests were completely unharmed, and quickly threw a batarang into the acid gun.

"No! My gun!" Killer Moth began to bellow, only to be cut short as he looked up just in time to see Batman's fist hit him directly in the stomach, winding him.

"Because I'm Batman." The Dark Knight added before hitting the man again in his helmet, cracking it as the force of the hit knocked the man out as he fell to the ground.

This brought cheers from the guests as the Batman stood over the two defeated crooks, turning his attention to the guests.

"You're all safe now."

"Thank you, Batman," Lucius Fox then said with an appreciative smile, one that was shared by several of the other guests except for Cobblepot and Sionis who simply looked back with disdain as sirens could suddenly be heard outside. "But I think it's time for you to leave."

"I agree," the Dark Knight replied before noticing that Foley was still cradling his burnt hand, so he took an item out of one of the pouches on his utility belt. "though you should use this spray on the Commissioner's injury."

Foley heard this and looked up to see Batman hand the Wayne CEO the small canister, which made him look at the former and give him a reluctant smile in return, gaining a nod back from the vigilante.

Batman then equipped his grapple gun and was about to aim it at the open window only to find his attention caught by Miranda, who was looking at him with the same disdain that he saw in the Mayor's eyes.

'Miranda?' the Dark Knight thought before firing his grapple-gun and launched himself out of the window, leaving the guests alone with the two beaten criminals as the police then burst into the mansion, while Miranda simply looked up at the window Batman had disappeared through.

"...soon." she muttered to herself with a determined expression on her face.