October 16, 2003.
The whole mess with Gordon, Atkins and McGuinness has all been wrapped up. James Gordon is now able to take his deserved place as Acting Commissioner until one can be elected next month. He's running, although with what happened recently, Tony Zucco is sure to oppose him vehemently.
Thanks to my failure in stopping Nick Atkins from killing McGuinness, Zucco got off squeeky-clean. Without McGuinness to testify against him, Zucco just claimed that he had nothing to do with it, that he voted to make McGuinness Acting Commissioner because three other council members lied to him about McGuinness' qualifications. Those three are under investigation now. It's probably just as well; it's likely they were working for him anyway. I'm sure he wouldn't hesitate to crucify three of his puppets to save himself. He'll probably get three more. Of course, I have recorded proof that Zucco was involved with McGuinness, but even if I gave it to Acting Commissioner Gordon, nobody would accept Batman's word. After all, it is getting easier to forge audio conversations these days.
Despite the fact that I did fail to some extent in the McGuinness matter, I'm glad that it's over, and that I can get back to the Old Gotham section of town. That's been my main concern since coming back to Gotham City. As much as other things become a necessity, cleaning up the rat-infesting, rusting-over streets of Old Gotham is more important to me.
When I was nine years old, my father started a relief program to help bring Old Gotham back to its former glory. The tall spires and grand Victorian architecture speak to the fact that this large chunk of the city was once its crowning jewel, and my father wished that it could be brought back up, if only a little, from the waste-dump that it is now.
But he was killed before he could realize that dream, and when budget cuts came around, Lucius Fox got rid of the program, not understanding its importance. But Thomas Wayne had a son, and maybe I can do something for this tired old beat-up section of town.
Batman was perched on a gargoyle statue, jutting out from a rooftop in Old Gotham. Listening intently, he heard a noise. Batman identified the sound as that of a van; the kind of van that he had heard regularly in his three and a half months patrolling Old Gotham. The kind of van someone might use to load stolen goods, or illegal weapons. Batman threw a batarang, catching the edge of a higher building's roof, and swung away.
Landing on another dark rooftop, Batman sited in his night-vision lenses the van that he had heard, as well as three burly men loading large boxes into it. He had seen this too many times before to even question whether this was an honest business; honest businesses don't load merchandise in the middle of the night into a nondescript van.
Batman turned on the bat-howl device and swung down. The criminals looked up to see the shadowy crimefighter flying toward them.
"Look!" The frightened thugs said, "It's him!"
"The Batman! He's real!"
Batman landed on the ground and stood surveying the toughs. It appeared as if they might give up without a fight, but then a shot sounded behind him, and impacted against Batman's Kevlar-laced costume. The hit propelled him forward, and into a pile of thick boxes.
"Maybe he ain't so inhuman after all," the fourth thug said, coming out of his hiding place. "Come on, everyone in the van, let's go."
"What
if he wakes up? Shouldn't we make sure
he's dead?"
"If he wakes up, I don't want to be around for it. Let's get while the getting's good!" The four men piled into the van, but as they did, Batman rose
with a groan and leapt onto the back of the van, hanging on fiercely as the
vehicle sped forward.
Gripping the van's back door handle with only one hand, Batman reached into his utility belt and grabbed a batarang. He threw it at a tire, piercing it, and causing the van to slow down. Not until he threw a second batarang at the other rear tire did the van come to a stop. Batman flipped back off of the van, and stood ready for the oncoming fight.
The two thugs who had gotten in the back of the van came out lazily, annoyed at what they thought was bad luck in getting a flat tire. Batman took them out easily with the element of surprise on his side. The driver and passenger heard the noise, and came out with their guns raised. Batman ducked and threw a batarang at one as he rolled out of the way of the fire. Withdrawing into a pitch-dark part of the poorly lit street, Batman waited, patiently.
The thug also waited, not wanting to go into the darkness and challenge the Batman. Finally he decided that Batman had left, so he turned his back toward the van. Instantly Batman reemerged. The thug swung around as Batman leapt at him, growling like an angry beast, and took the frightened thug down quickly.
Continued…
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