Chapter 7
City Park Hotel, Gotham City, same night
The Corinthian was taking it easy for the evening, choosing to abstain from the activities some narrow-minded human might refer to as "vices".
He was pleased with the results of his trip so far. He was sure that Nicky and Brad would be proud of the publicity they attracted, even if they hadn't put a name to Brad yet.
There was one fly in the ointment though, Gotham wasn't like any other city he'd been to before, they had a resistance to horror which bordered on the supernatural, the citizenry having faith, not in their police force, but in this mysterious Batman.
He'd started the ball rolling gently, and fear and tension were on the upswing, he could sense that just walking down the street, he could taste the anxiety on the wind. His style of killing was always good tabloid media fodder.
Rumours had begun to spread, and rumours were always more powerful than facts, since they didn't need to be proven. He'd need something impressive to get the attention of this town, but to push things too far now would things peak too soon. He had thought about having some more fun tonight, and had actually picked out his target when he had realised that it might seem greedy or, worse, repetitive, and that would never do.
He was glad he had overcome that impulse, because tonight was a perfect night to relax, sit back, and enjoy the nightmares.
Even now, human nature being what it was, older siblings were scaring little brothers and sisters with tales of the "thing" that would come slithering into their bedrooms in the night, and eat their eyes out of their heads. They were gleefully conjuring life into the shadows of bedrooms with their words. Parents berating said older siblings and then trying to pacify the scared children would only reinforce the images. The storytellers would even be scaring themselves, by adding depth to horrors that should never have been voiced. And the parents would have troubled sleep too, worrying about what would happen if one of their children were a victim. It was a marvellous self-perpetuating cycle. It was almost too easy to exploit, but it was what he excelled at.
So tonight he would settle back and savour the joys of fresh minted nightmares spreading through the city like a plague, and watch for some glimpse of the mysterious vigilante that Brad had mentioned and people all but prayed to. He had chosen this penthouse especially for the purpose. He had a magnificent view of the city, including Police Headquarters. Whilst normal vision or even binoculars might not be enough to see anything clearly at this range, well, that wasn't exactly the way the Corinthian looked at the world, he just needed line of sight, ina manner of speaking.
And whilst he was waiting, and basking in the growing aura of horror, he could plan for tomorrow, because tomorrow would be a different affair. He had to think of something special.
Sudden movement drew his attention towards Police Headquarters. That fancy spotlight, which the Corinthian frankly thought rather overblown, had been turned on a short time before, so he was hoping to see something soon.
And sure enough, he was not disappointed. One minute the roof was empty, apart from Gordon, whom the Corinthian recognised from his terse "No comment" soundbites on the news. The next moment, HE was there, tall, imposing, impossibly dark, his long scalloped cloak seeming to draw the shadows both around him and into him. It was a remarkable effect and the Corinthian slowly clapped in appreciation, now _this_ was a man who knew the value of darkness.
But admiration went clean out of his mind when he saw someone else beside the Batman on the roof, someone who had clearly arrived WITH the Batman. It was a dark-haired young boy in a mask and a rightly coloured costume. And a _perfect_ boy too, he could have seen that from the moon, never mind this range. Who was he? Why hadn't Brad mentioned him?
The Corinthian literally had to tear his gaze away from the boy to watch the Batman again. Their body language spoke volumes. If this pair weren't father and son then he'd crawl back to the Dreaming on his hands and knees!
The Corinthian smiled, from ear to ear and all the way to his eyes. The possibilities that presented themselves were… glorious.
His only concern now, was that this was almost TOO perfect, and he would have to work hard to avoid cliché, but what was true art without a challenge to ones creativity?
There was a knock at the door, and the Corinthian, swiftly donning his dark glasses, opened the door to a positively adorable young waiter in spotless white shirt and black bow tie, arrived carrying a club sandwich and a soda. He had been the intended victim for tonight, hence the meal order but…
The Corinthian paused… maybe he could fit in a _little_ entertainment this evening. After all, the night was young, and so was the waiter.
He took a quick glance around the room, the curtains were held in place with some stout cord, and he'd never dream of going anywhere without his knife, so it wasn't like he'd need to get any equipment ready… Of course, it meant he'd need to leave the hotel almost immediately, staff would be missed more quickly than visitors, but he did have the most gorgeous grey eyes and it would be such a shame to let them go to waste, to spoil and become cynical as he saw more of the real world…
_No_, he chided himself. He had promised himself a night off for aesthetic reasons and besides, he had a feeling he wanted to be where Batman was on such a night. Now he had seen the "Dark Knight", now he had a sense of him, it wouldn't be difficult for someone with his abilities to follow him, and his companion was so full of life that he all but glowed in the dark to someone with the right vision.
With a silent sigh the Corinthian took the sandwich, tipped the waiter and watched him leave (in blissful ignorance of his narrow escape). Well, he was booked in for two nights, so there was always tomorrow he thought to himself.
As soon as the waiter was safely out of sight, the Corinthian threw on a jacket and headed out into the night.
Gotham Police HQ Roof, same night.
Gordon stood by the signal. He had resisted snorting when the "Dynamic Duo" (Damn but he hated that term) had appeared in their usual mysterious way. He'd seen it so often that he'd stopped even analysing it.
Batman held out a folder (And how had he managed to carry that when swinging on those ropes of his?)
"Here are the results I promised you. Not exactly permissible in court, but they might help your team. Some of the tests will require longer, you can't hurry chemistry, but when I have them, so will you."
Gordon took the envelope and nodded his appreciation. In turn he pulled out a somewhat smaller folder.
"And in case _you_ missed anything. The preliminary findings from _my_ team."
It was Batman's turn to nod, and he started reading immediately, blocking out the rest of the world.
Robin and the Commissioner found themselves looking at each other in a somewhat awkward silence, the generation gap yawning between them.
"Evening son… Keeping well?"
"Yes Commissioner. You?"
"The usual. Should cut down on the pipe, but you know how it goes."
Robin nodded as if he completely understood and the awkwardness engulfed them both again..
Gordon found small talk with Robin difficult and kept it to a minimum when he had to, which always seemed slightly unfair to the boy. But he had a hard enough time with Barbara, and he saw her every day on a family basis.
From his own observations Robin was easy enough to talk to, a hell of a lot easier than his mentor, but Gordon had so little in common with modern youth, and he had a feeling the same was probably true of the boy at some level, that he had no idea what to talk about. Gordon flatly refused to discuss the weather or politics with a kid in a cape, talking about a case seemed like encouraging him, which he felt bad about, and he silently dreaded the day he would be forced to resort to asking "How 'bout them Knights?" simply for something to say.
"How's Barbara doing?" Robin ventured.
Gordon smiled "She's fine. STILL out of your league of course…" Robin might have started to blush at this, but in the shadows of the roof it was hard to tell.
Knowing it had been a slightly cruel thing to say Gordon changed the subject slightly. "How's HE doing?"
He didn't need to say whom he meant.
"Oh, you know, obsessive as ever…"
"And still listening thank you very much…." came The Voice "And WE have somewhere else to be Robin."
Robin smiled and shrugged as if that explained everything, which it did. Gordon turned to look at where Batman was to discover what he meant, and noted with no surprise whatsoever that there was nobody there anymore, he turned back to find that Robin was gone too.
He could have tried to track them as they swung away, but he had long since grown out of that habit. They came they went, that was enough. Tucking the folder Batman had given him tightly under his arm, he went back inside. He needed a strong coffee and he needed it now. They may be the best crime-fighters he had ever known who weren't cops, but they were damned hard on the nerves.
City Park Hotel, Gotham City, same night
The Corinthian was taking it easy for the evening, choosing to abstain from the activities some narrow-minded human might refer to as "vices".
He was pleased with the results of his trip so far. He was sure that Nicky and Brad would be proud of the publicity they attracted, even if they hadn't put a name to Brad yet.
There was one fly in the ointment though, Gotham wasn't like any other city he'd been to before, they had a resistance to horror which bordered on the supernatural, the citizenry having faith, not in their police force, but in this mysterious Batman.
He'd started the ball rolling gently, and fear and tension were on the upswing, he could sense that just walking down the street, he could taste the anxiety on the wind. His style of killing was always good tabloid media fodder.
Rumours had begun to spread, and rumours were always more powerful than facts, since they didn't need to be proven. He'd need something impressive to get the attention of this town, but to push things too far now would things peak too soon. He had thought about having some more fun tonight, and had actually picked out his target when he had realised that it might seem greedy or, worse, repetitive, and that would never do.
He was glad he had overcome that impulse, because tonight was a perfect night to relax, sit back, and enjoy the nightmares.
Even now, human nature being what it was, older siblings were scaring little brothers and sisters with tales of the "thing" that would come slithering into their bedrooms in the night, and eat their eyes out of their heads. They were gleefully conjuring life into the shadows of bedrooms with their words. Parents berating said older siblings and then trying to pacify the scared children would only reinforce the images. The storytellers would even be scaring themselves, by adding depth to horrors that should never have been voiced. And the parents would have troubled sleep too, worrying about what would happen if one of their children were a victim. It was a marvellous self-perpetuating cycle. It was almost too easy to exploit, but it was what he excelled at.
So tonight he would settle back and savour the joys of fresh minted nightmares spreading through the city like a plague, and watch for some glimpse of the mysterious vigilante that Brad had mentioned and people all but prayed to. He had chosen this penthouse especially for the purpose. He had a magnificent view of the city, including Police Headquarters. Whilst normal vision or even binoculars might not be enough to see anything clearly at this range, well, that wasn't exactly the way the Corinthian looked at the world, he just needed line of sight, ina manner of speaking.
And whilst he was waiting, and basking in the growing aura of horror, he could plan for tomorrow, because tomorrow would be a different affair. He had to think of something special.
Sudden movement drew his attention towards Police Headquarters. That fancy spotlight, which the Corinthian frankly thought rather overblown, had been turned on a short time before, so he was hoping to see something soon.
And sure enough, he was not disappointed. One minute the roof was empty, apart from Gordon, whom the Corinthian recognised from his terse "No comment" soundbites on the news. The next moment, HE was there, tall, imposing, impossibly dark, his long scalloped cloak seeming to draw the shadows both around him and into him. It was a remarkable effect and the Corinthian slowly clapped in appreciation, now _this_ was a man who knew the value of darkness.
But admiration went clean out of his mind when he saw someone else beside the Batman on the roof, someone who had clearly arrived WITH the Batman. It was a dark-haired young boy in a mask and a rightly coloured costume. And a _perfect_ boy too, he could have seen that from the moon, never mind this range. Who was he? Why hadn't Brad mentioned him?
The Corinthian literally had to tear his gaze away from the boy to watch the Batman again. Their body language spoke volumes. If this pair weren't father and son then he'd crawl back to the Dreaming on his hands and knees!
The Corinthian smiled, from ear to ear and all the way to his eyes. The possibilities that presented themselves were… glorious.
His only concern now, was that this was almost TOO perfect, and he would have to work hard to avoid cliché, but what was true art without a challenge to ones creativity?
There was a knock at the door, and the Corinthian, swiftly donning his dark glasses, opened the door to a positively adorable young waiter in spotless white shirt and black bow tie, arrived carrying a club sandwich and a soda. He had been the intended victim for tonight, hence the meal order but…
The Corinthian paused… maybe he could fit in a _little_ entertainment this evening. After all, the night was young, and so was the waiter.
He took a quick glance around the room, the curtains were held in place with some stout cord, and he'd never dream of going anywhere without his knife, so it wasn't like he'd need to get any equipment ready… Of course, it meant he'd need to leave the hotel almost immediately, staff would be missed more quickly than visitors, but he did have the most gorgeous grey eyes and it would be such a shame to let them go to waste, to spoil and become cynical as he saw more of the real world…
_No_, he chided himself. He had promised himself a night off for aesthetic reasons and besides, he had a feeling he wanted to be where Batman was on such a night. Now he had seen the "Dark Knight", now he had a sense of him, it wouldn't be difficult for someone with his abilities to follow him, and his companion was so full of life that he all but glowed in the dark to someone with the right vision.
With a silent sigh the Corinthian took the sandwich, tipped the waiter and watched him leave (in blissful ignorance of his narrow escape). Well, he was booked in for two nights, so there was always tomorrow he thought to himself.
As soon as the waiter was safely out of sight, the Corinthian threw on a jacket and headed out into the night.
Gotham Police HQ Roof, same night.
Gordon stood by the signal. He had resisted snorting when the "Dynamic Duo" (Damn but he hated that term) had appeared in their usual mysterious way. He'd seen it so often that he'd stopped even analysing it.
Batman held out a folder (And how had he managed to carry that when swinging on those ropes of his?)
"Here are the results I promised you. Not exactly permissible in court, but they might help your team. Some of the tests will require longer, you can't hurry chemistry, but when I have them, so will you."
Gordon took the envelope and nodded his appreciation. In turn he pulled out a somewhat smaller folder.
"And in case _you_ missed anything. The preliminary findings from _my_ team."
It was Batman's turn to nod, and he started reading immediately, blocking out the rest of the world.
Robin and the Commissioner found themselves looking at each other in a somewhat awkward silence, the generation gap yawning between them.
"Evening son… Keeping well?"
"Yes Commissioner. You?"
"The usual. Should cut down on the pipe, but you know how it goes."
Robin nodded as if he completely understood and the awkwardness engulfed them both again..
Gordon found small talk with Robin difficult and kept it to a minimum when he had to, which always seemed slightly unfair to the boy. But he had a hard enough time with Barbara, and he saw her every day on a family basis.
From his own observations Robin was easy enough to talk to, a hell of a lot easier than his mentor, but Gordon had so little in common with modern youth, and he had a feeling the same was probably true of the boy at some level, that he had no idea what to talk about. Gordon flatly refused to discuss the weather or politics with a kid in a cape, talking about a case seemed like encouraging him, which he felt bad about, and he silently dreaded the day he would be forced to resort to asking "How 'bout them Knights?" simply for something to say.
"How's Barbara doing?" Robin ventured.
Gordon smiled "She's fine. STILL out of your league of course…" Robin might have started to blush at this, but in the shadows of the roof it was hard to tell.
Knowing it had been a slightly cruel thing to say Gordon changed the subject slightly. "How's HE doing?"
He didn't need to say whom he meant.
"Oh, you know, obsessive as ever…"
"And still listening thank you very much…." came The Voice "And WE have somewhere else to be Robin."
Robin smiled and shrugged as if that explained everything, which it did. Gordon turned to look at where Batman was to discover what he meant, and noted with no surprise whatsoever that there was nobody there anymore, he turned back to find that Robin was gone too.
He could have tried to track them as they swung away, but he had long since grown out of that habit. They came they went, that was enough. Tucking the folder Batman had given him tightly under his arm, he went back inside. He needed a strong coffee and he needed it now. They may be the best crime-fighters he had ever known who weren't cops, but they were damned hard on the nerves.