Disclaimer: I do not own Batman, Robin or Gordon. DC does. I'd like to thank everyone who has taken time to read and/or review the story so far. I hope everyone enjoys the next chapter. If there are any bits you like or don't like please let me know! Cheers Rob
Chapter Three – Batman – Murderer
Contrary to popular opinion in Gotham, Tony Bressi neither liked pizza nor was Italian. It didn't stop him being the leader of one of the biggest Mafia gangs in Gotham. He tried to keep out of Batman's way by keeping his activities low key and not running about in fancy dress. He made his money in prostitution, porn, gambling, fencing stolen goods and the protection racket.
He was currently standing on top of the Gotham state hospital. He huddled up in his coat. When he was younger he hadn't seemed to notice the temperature. Now he was getting older he was feeling it more. He had a family now, well children anyway, his wife had been killed; he didn't want to be doing this sort of thing anymore. He just wanted one big job. One real big money making opportunity and then he would quit. Buy a place in Florida, maybe even Bermuda. Get a tan, get drunk and talk about the old times. It didn't used to be this way. He used to enjoy it. When he was younger he loved a fight. He loved to see the fear in his opponent. He loved to see the blood on their faces. Now he had a family. There were new people in the gangster game. People like he used to be. People who had no qualms, no fear and no conscience. When he died he wanted his family round him, not a criminal with one more notch on his gun. All he had to do get that was to make a pact with the devil…
A figure dressed as the Batman climbed to the top of the building and stood there waiting. Tony Bressi picked up a brief case and walked over to meet him. Show no fear. Show no fear, he told himself.
"Bressi," hissed Batman.
"You've done my well friend," said Tony Bressi. "The police are all twitchy looking for the Batman. With any luck if the real Bats turns up the police will shoot his head off."
Batman grinned. "I need more toys. I seem to have left most of mine about."
Tony threw the case at Batman. "If you can give the police the run around for another four hours you'll get your fifty percent."
"What if I don't want money?" Tony paled. "What if I want to see the fear on your face?" Batman pulled a knife from his belt. "What if I want the blood on your face?"
Three shadowy figures emerged from behind an air conditioning unit. There was an ominous clicking sound as they cocked their shotguns.
"Your friends have come to see you die?" Said Batman.
"Drop the knife and back away," said Tony Bressi, he pulled a gun from his belt and waved it at Batman.
Batman grinned. "We're all friends here, Tony. Besides that I've got someone else to kill tonight."
"Who?"
"Gordon."
The streets were full of young people heading to clubs. The police as usual were maintaining a high visibility presence to try and prevent the trouble that young people and alcohol always brought. Alfred slowly drove the Bentley up the street to avoid the crowds and pulled up outside the nightclub. Before he had a chance to go outside and open the passenger door a large lady pulled herself out, dragging Bruce Wayne and Tim Drake out with her. She was bubbling with joy. She had a chance to make someone's life happy! The fact they seemed quite happy without her in their life didn't seem to occur to her.
Bruce talked to Alfred. "Park the car Alfred and wait for a call."
"Come on boys!" Said Aunt Celia.
Bruce pulled Tim to one side. "We've got to get out of here as quickly as possible."
Aunt Celia was busy giving a bemused doorman some money for three people. They didn't normally get people of her age and size in the establishment. Some young women walked past her dressed in, well you would have to say clothes, but saying clothes normally puts people in mind in "items that cover the body". These clothes didn't cover very much of their body and in fact even if one person was to wear all them they would still seem underdressed. Tim's eyes were out on stalks.
"Come on Bruce, I've got the very idea!"
They followed Aunt Celia into the club. "Well there seems to be lots of nice young women about. Come on chaps, I'm sure you can both find a nice young women here?"
Tim whispered to Bruce. "If we can hook up with a women, we can drag her out of the club, ditch her and your Aunt Celia, get our costumes from the back of the Bentley and catch this psycho Batman character."
Bruce looked about worriedly. He didn't normally have to try and hook up with a woman. Being rich and good looking meant he didn't have to any of that normally. This was not a normal night.
Tim looked around. In the corner was one gorgeous red haired girl surrounded by a gaggle of blokes all trying and failing to get her attention. He took a deep breath, sucked his stomach in to make his chest stick out and swaggered over to her.
Tim looked aggrieved and pushed his way to the front. "Would you stop looking at me and lying please?"
She looked over at him with a look of bemusement. "I'm not looking at you or lying?"
"Yes you are you are doing it now! It is really off putting. I'm trying to have a conversation with my friend."
"I'm really sorry," she put a hand on Tim's arm to console him.
"Stop touching me as well! Are you trying to hook up with me? I'm not just a piece of meat you know?"
"I didn't mean to!" She touched him again and went "ah!" when she realised.
"You're doing it again! What's with you? I came down here to have a quiet drink and your trying it on with me. I do have feelings you know?"
"I'm not trying it on at all!"
"I'm not giving you my phone number, that's for sure."
"I didn't ask for it."
Tim took her hand. "Woah! What is with you? If you think I'm going outside with you now?" He dropped her hand. "Please just leave me alone, your too constricting, I need space." He started walking towards the exit.
She ran through the crowd of admirers around her and grabbed his hand. "Well I doubt if you would remember my number anyway hot stuff, it's very long and hard."
"Oooh!" Said Tim, raising his eyebrows to Bruce on the way out. Aunt Celia poked him in the stomach with her stick. "See that's all you have to do young man."
Bruce looked about. There was a woman his sort of age perched on a chair by the bar. He took a deep breath, pulled his stomach in and walked over to her. "Would you stop looking at me and lying please?"
She turned around, gave him a long slow appraising look, that took in the black eye, swollen lip and crudely applied makeup and said "okay," and turned back to talk to her friend.
Gordon was at his desk. He sighed and put his gun on the desk. Like most things Gordon owned it was not standard issue. He had a Walter P99. Not because he had a James Bond fetish but because it was light, easy to conceal and had a sixteen round capacity. Some of the other officers carried a Magnum Desert Eagle gun but that was a heavy cannon in his eyes. As he had done every night he lowered the decocking mechanism, removed the magazine and started cleaning it. When he eventually died he didn't want the last thing he heard to be a misfire.
He looked at his watch. It was late but he knew he had to get the paperwork done. He had arrested a criminal for conning a blind old woman of her life savings earlier today and he didn't want him getting let off on a technicality involving probable cause. What was that noise?
He looked up. The door was creaking open? He was normally the first in and the last to leave. He picked up his gun, put the magazine in, took the safety off and aimed it. Jeez it was the cleaner. He quickly aimed it at the ceiling and put it back on the desk.
"Hello Maggie," he said.
"You frightened the life out of me, duck," she said. She was a small fat woman pushing a green carpet cleaner behind her. "Ooh! You aren't still smoking are you? You know we have a no smoking policy now. My girls won't work in a smoky office Jim."
Jim smiled and stubbed out the cigarette. "Sorry Maggie."
Maggie waddled over to the window. "I'll just open the window, get in some fresh air."
With a creaking sound she pushed the window open and was suddenly pushed back into the room by a black clad figure, which leapt through the window.
"Gordon," Batman hissed. Gordon picked up the gun and Batman threw a small silvery dart into Jim's hand.
"Aaaah!" Gordon dropped his gun, which Batman kicked off the table. He licked the small wound in his hand and tried not to keep his eyes off the Batman. He hoped to God the dart wasn't drugged. He couldn't feel any numbness so he had to assume it wasn't. He started warily going round the desk, trying to keep as much distance from this psycho as possible.
"Gordon! Gordon! Gordon!" He slowly, so he could see the look on Gordon's face, pulled a knife from his belt. Still looking at Gordon's face he licked the knife. "You don't know how long I've wanted to put you into my skin." He pulled down his sleeve. It was covered in scratches, looking like a prisoners wall. All in batches of five. Each scratch lovingly etched. Each scratch showing a life ripped from a body in a welter of blood and pain. Maggie, the cleaner, was coughing and trying to get to her feet.
Gordon recognised him at at last. It was Zsasz. A cold-blooded killer who had murdered hundreds of people. Everytime he killed someone he scratched a mark on his body. The only thing Gordon wanted to scratch was Zsasz's tombstone.
"Don't get up, please?" Said Zsasz and pushedMaggie back down.
"Ooh careful dear," said Maggie, looking up her assailant. "You must be Batman! I've been working here for years and I've never seen you! My little boy will be so thrilled, although to be honest he prefers Harry Potter. He thinks you would be better if you could fly or had magic powers. Have you thought of doing that? My husband thinks you are some sort of sick fetishist who probably dresses in black because he is a peeping tom and who gets a kick out of wearing tight underwear, but I think you are a hero. Besides which I think we women are safe with you about as you are probably gay. I mean, lets be honest, no man in tights is safe with you around?" She sent a big elbow into Zsasz's side and gave him a broad wink. Zsasz was just gaping at her. Normally his victims were pleading for their lives not accusing him of having a homoerotic fetish.
"You will be my next victim, bitch," said Zsasz, trying to recover his composure. "After I kill Gordon here."
"You are so rude Mr Batman, but then again you should see what some of the girls have written about you in the staff toilets. To be honest most of them prefer Robin," she peered at the knife he was holding. "Have you stolen that from the staff canteen? You haven't been eating in the office have you?"
"I will use it to cut your heart out."
"You'd better not do, we need to clean them every night."
Gordon at last spotted a window in the conversation. "If you could leave now please Maggie. Batman and I have some business to attend to." He had managed to work his way round to his gun in-between Maggie's conversational barrage.
"Don't touch that Mr Policeman," said Zsasz. He leapt onto the desk and aimed a kick at Gordon's chin. Gordon went flying back and crashed into a bookcase full of files that tipped lazily over the room, covering the floor with old case notes. Maggie, who was just waddling out, turned around in amazement. This was how the offices got so messy! She picked up her carpet cleaner and clouted Zsasz over the head.
"Do you know how long it takes us to get this place tidy. Batman? Crapman more like," she said and aimed another hit at Zsasz's head. Zsasz caught it with one hand and threw it out the window with a horrendous crashing sound. He picked up the stunned looking Gordon by the belt and collar and threw him out the window after it.
Authors note - Thanks to the comments from Cmar about the British phrases dropping in. I have changed "pulling a women". Common phrase where I come from, to "hooking up with". I'm trying to avoid the Britishisms but if there are any phrases dropping in you don't recognise or know, please let me know. All the best. Rob