The Longest Night

Part One

"Get him up!" Maroni barked furiously holding a desert eagle tightly in between his hands, "I want him standing."

His underlings complied, forcing Bruce up to his feet to which he could only groan in protest. There was no escape from this; that much was obvious. Bruce had pushed himself to the limit of physical brutality that a human being could endure and now would pay for it with his life.

"Pull off his mask." Maroni commanded sternly, "Now."

"Wait." Bruce managed to mumble but the goons took no heed and pulled the sturdy cowl over his head and in what felt almost anti-climatic he was exposed.

Maroni stepped back in surprise, lowering the end of his gun away from Batman's face, "Are you sure this is the right guy?"

"Without a doubt, we found him just a few blocks away from where that police van carrying him crashed." One of the captors responded.

"Do you know what this means? Do you know who this is?" Maroni laughed and pressed his gun against Bruce's temple, "That means Batman is Bruce Wayne."

Maroni's second-in-command who had been largely keeping out of the affair suddenly leapt to his feet from a stool he had pulled out of a corner, "Bruce Wayne, the rich guy, that Wayne? So what now? Do we waste him?"

There was a pause while the Boss thought the situation over. Whatever his solution ended up being there would be no questioning it, no doubt. "Nobody that rich wants to lose what they've got. Get a chair and set him down on it. I have a better idea."

---

Gordon stared at the burning wreckage flanked by officers. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air. He'd be held responsible, his men had lost Killer Croc, his men had lost Batman and now his men were dead.

Bullock sighed writing down notes onto a small pad, "This city never cuts you a break, doesn't it."

"Not now." Gordon replied harshly, "Listen, I want an immediate APB for Batman. Have every unit we got and begin a block by block search. I don't care if they're in the middle of sting, off-duty, whatever, I want them down here within the hour."

The oncoming rush of news vans could be heard down the street, "And keep those people out of my face!" Gordon scornfully demanded.

"Commissioner, you okay?" Bullock asked a little concerned with Gordon's visibly rising temper.

"No, I'm not!" He replied, his eyes now beginning to water up, "Do you have any idea of how many corpses I've seen this month. It's enough, I'm sick of playing games with PR people. If I have to institute martial law or something I will."

Bullock gazed at the surprised expressions of his fellow officers and then pulled Gordon away from the prying eyes of those present for a moment, "Sir. I understand that you are upset, we lost good men today. Just calm down, don't go and do something that'll end up getting you fired."

"Don't do something to jeopardize my job?" Gordon grimaced, "My job is to keep the people of this city safe! That's my job! Now get those barricades set up."

"Wait, sir-."

Gordon's eyes turned icy cold, his breathing was tight but focused, "Do it."

"Yes sir." Bullock replied hesitantly and realized how much attention had now turned their way. Sucking in his pride he faced them, "You heard the man, now get to it!"

---

All of it was his fault. Three policemen had died because directly through his actions. He had committed murder; there was no getting around it. They had died because of his pride, because he was too afraid to face the consequences of his actions. Bruce almost wished Maroni had pulled the trigger.

Instead he was forced to listen to the mobster outline what could only be described as his final humiliation. "You want me to work for you?" Bruce asked pressing against the ropes that bound him to the chair and finding any effort to break free a futile one.

"Yes." The Boss replied with a sly grin on his face.

"You'd be better off shooting me now and getting this all done with." Bruce defiantly declared.

Maroni laughed, "I knew you'd act like this, at first. Hear me out, I don't want you to go shake people down, nothing menial like that, I understand it'd be a violation of your morals." He leaned in closer facing Batman eye-to-eye, "I want you to help me take down my rival, the number one headache in my life, the Roman."

Bruce grimaced. He'd heard the name before. Supposedly was in control of crime in all of upper and west Gotham city, a very dangerous figure, one that if crossed would stop to no ends to have retribution. Word had been that he really was a supposedly honest industrialist by the name of Carmine Falcone.

"Let me get this straight." Bruce began, "You want to turn me loose against the Roman so that you can monopolize your hold on crime in the city." He laughed, trying to hide the very real pain he was suffering from, "And I am to assume that in exchange you won't reveal my alter ego to the entire world?"

Maroni smiled, "That's the idea. I figure a man like you has got to be business savvy. You'll see a good offer when you get it. And the best part is that we're not affiliated. Only a very small circle of men know you're here. If I was to attack Carmine, his successor, his men would rally against me. But if you got rid of him, took away their leader, I could move in like some kind of savior and grab enough power to smudge out anyone that'd be against me. Afterwards, you stay out of my hair, and I'll never so much as sneeze in your direction again. Sound good?"

Bruce grimaced, "The moment I get loose: I am going to beat every single person in this room to a bloody pulp. Sound good?"

Maroni stopped smiling; his toothy grin was now replaced with anger. He punched Bruce across his face, "Don't be stupid. You've got no chance of walking through these doors without my say-so. And from what I've been told you're now wanted for murder, so I'll give you some time to think it over and weigh what few options you have left. You two: stay here and watch him. He so much looks at you wrong I want you to shoot his brains out. Come on, Jimmy, let's go."

As the Boss and his second-in-command left the room to enjoy the women of the club, Bruce was faced with the grim reality. Maroni was right, there seemed to only be a few, two-in-fact options available to him: Do what the crime boss wanted or be killed.