Author's Note: Hope you all liked chapter one. I really enjoyed writing it, and I hope the reviews I get tell me you guys loved reading it too. I didn't put any legal stuff in the first chapter, so just pretend I did. I don't own Batman, or Montoya or Gotham. I guess I own the Reviewer as I like to call him, but I'm not sure anyone would want that sick freak. I'm trying to continue this in the spirit in which it was started, uncomplicated Batman kicks ass, takes names, solves creepy crimes. To start with I was going to write this as a six or seven chapter story but it feels like it's going to end in the next chapter or so, but I'm having so much fun I may write another. Oh, and if you haven't, go see Batman Begins. That's got nothing to do with this story or even the next one, I just like the film. Anyone wondering why Batman and Montoya have long conversations I've read many different versions of Batman, mine speaks minimally and cooperates with the police as they could have a different view on the case and solve it before he does. He only speaks to her when she's alone as he's trying to keep the urban legend reputation going, and being seen by a huge crime scene team isn't helping that. And yes, I am alive. So after another lengthy note, let us begin.
Batman:
Four Star
Part 2
Montoya sat down on an expensive and comfortable chair in the Wayne Tower executive penthouse, belonging to a Mr. Bruce Wayne. Opposite her on another coffee table similar to the one she'd been staring at last night was a naked dead body, and another quote. This time there were three stars, and underneath the word "Mediocre" was written in blood. Montoya sat and gathered her thoughts and theories together as she waited, slowly the room seemed to revolve around her as the time passed and the investigation of the body wound its way to the conclusion. Soon she was alone in the apartment, she heard the door swing shut and a dark figure came in and leaned on the doorframe to the room she sat in. Detective Gates, her temporary partner, was smoking again and had a wicked grin on his face. He looked like a teenager after sex, if it wasn't for the gravity of the situation Montoya would've laughed. Gates was a tall man, just under six foot, with receding reddish-blonde hair swept back away from his face. He had a slightly freckled face and seemed his features were set in a permanent grin, one hand was in his brown trench-coat pocket whilst the other gestured as he spoke.
"Pretty creepy huh?" Gates pointed at the body, Montoya didn't reply so he moved from his position leaning against the doorframe and moved to the body, getting his face only inches away from the body to examine it. "They do all look uncannily like Wayne don't they?"
Montoya nodded and made an affirmative grunt, she was simply waiting. She didn't feel the need to engage the slightly smarmy detective in conversation.
Gates grinned around his cigarette, his voice given a strange quality by having to talk around it, "Okay, I can see you want to be left alone. I'll let you meditate or whatever," he called over his shoulder as he left.
The door slamming was accompanied by the sound she'd been awaiting, a quiet clearing of the throat. She turned to see the Batman stood behind her right shoulder.
"I thought he'd never leave," she said with a smile, "my boys said they saw you come in here, what happened?"
"Came in through the window." the Batman replied, sweeping silently across the floor to the body, "Saw the killer writing his message, he'd been here less than ten minutes. I engaged him, he fought using an old form of stage combat used in theatre. He out-manoeuvred me and leapt out of the window and down into the level below before I could catch up with him. The trail was cold by the time I followed him, I think the carpets are under-heated and I couldn't follow his heat signature."
"So even the Batman isn't infallible…" Montoya mumbled to herself.
The Batman ignored this remark and continued to look the body over.
"Spot anything?" Montoya asked, she already found a few things but she was waiting to see what the Batman could come up with.
Batman grunted and pointed to the position of the body on the table, "From my encounter with him, and the way the body was dropped onto the table the killer is a normal man, with average strength for somebody who engages in regular exercise. He's also Caucasian, I saw the bottom half of his face uncovered. He has acrobatic skills, similar to that of a skilled circus performer. He is definitely male. He is middle-aged and clean shaven. My earlier suspicions about his height were correct. From the state of the body's decomposition it was killed at roughly the same time as the first, most likely shortly after."
"Thanks." Montoya said expecting to see the Batman disappear, but he didn't. "Something else?"
"Don't worry about Wayne. I have one of my people looking after him."
"I wondered why there was nobody home when my people went to look for him," Montoya replied, "his butler said he'd been called away on urgent business."
The little of Bruce that was left in him after his parent's death smiled inwardly at that. The Batman nodded in understanding and handed a small black bat-shaped device, "If you need me press in the wings. As long as you have it I'll always be able to find you."
Montoya put the device carefully into her pocket, ignoring the silent question in her mind of where these fantastic toys he had came from. Probably the JLA, they had an immense budget from somewhere. The Batman nodded, an almost imperceptible movement, before turning in a swirl of cape and leaping out through the window.
Montoya moved to watch him go as the vigilante grabbed the edges of his cape to slow his descent as he landed on the nearby clock tower. Landing his black cape fell about him and he disappeared, a shadow at night amongst all the others that haunted the gothic architecture of Gotham. Montoya thought for a moment that it seemed she had earned the Batman's trust and respect, it was a reassuring thought. She pulled her radio out of her belt and up to her mouth, "Gates, I think I know where we have to start looking. Meet me in the lobby and we'll go back to Central."
-
The secret entrance to Oracle's workroom in the face of the clock tower slid aside and the Batman entered. He sat down heavily in Oracle's spare chair and rubbed the bridge of his nose through the cowl. Even though Oracle was one of the few privileged enough to know the identity of the man behind the mask he didn't take it off, that didn't happen until he got back to the morning at sunrise. The night was Batman's time.
"Tough night?" Oracle asked.
"I should've got him." There was no clarification necessary as Oracle knew exactly who he meant, "the second body was Walker, two men have died this week because of their association with Bruce Wayne, or the Batman. He was one step ahead of me. I wasn't ready for that."
Oracle, who was really Barbara Gordon, the first Batgirl, wheeled herself over to him. She had been confined to a wheelchair for the past few years after losing the use of her legs to a bullet from the Joker. She put a hand out on his arm, "You're not omniscient Bruce, even you can be tricked or out-manoeuvred."
The Batman shot up to standing again and the emotion was gone from the lower half of his face, his mask had truly come back up even though his cowl had never moved. Being called Bruce whilst in costume always did that, because at his heart he didn't think of himself as Bruce. He cleared his throat, the signal that the conversation was over and he wanted to get back on the job.
"I want you to cross-check actors with circus or acrobatic experience, then pick out the ones with criminal records." Batman stepped over to the secret exit, "Also try and see if any of our suspects have a connection to Wayne Industries or to Bruce Wayne in particular. Call me as soon as you have anything." He said, and like that he was gone. The sound of a jump-line being fired even as the last sounds came from his mouth.
"Will do." Oracle replied, over the cowl radio this time, as Batman was long out of earshot. She wheeled herself back to her computer array and brought up a website she didn't often have to look at, the IMDB.
-
The Batman found himself winding his way through the city to all the apartments owned by Bruce Wayne and resolved to sell a few and give the money to charity, even with his dual identity he didn't need nearly twenty apartments. All of them were luxurious and seldom used, the Batman preferred the solitude of his family mansion. One of the reasons he had so many is that the paparazzi who tried to catch him with the latest hot young starlet couldn't cover them all, so there was never any concrete evidence he was out every night. That was another reason he'd hired the actors. Now not only Church was dead, but Walker as well. Both of them were almost spitting images of Bruce Wayne, and both of them were found dead in an apartment he owned. As he made his way between his apartments he rigged them all with tamper-proof cameras, hopefully these would resist whatever dampening technology the killer had with him. If they worked then the next time he tried his body drop act, the Batman would be there waiting for him.
-
A tall black man walked into Montoya's office wearing a white shirt with a red tie and brown braces, he threw a newspaper onto Montoya's desk and slumped into the chair opposite her.
"How did this stuff get out?" Commissioner Akins demanded from Montoya, obviously exasperated, "I'm pretty sure only the top brass knew the details of this case. Especially nobody knew these guys were all body doubles hired by Wayne, or at least nobody used to know. Now the whole freaking city is alive with fear for its favourite son."
Montoya picked up the paper and looked at a picture they had of the bloody words, "What I'm wondering is how they got that picture. I certainly don't remember letting anyone in with a camera. Except Gates of course, his photos are different from these though." She pointed to the various crime scene photos arrayed on the desk.
"Says the photographs and info came from an anonymous source," Akins replied, "anything stand out to you detective? Anything weird aside from the case itself?"
"Batman." Montoya replied and saw the commissioner's face fall, "he's been at every crime scene either before or shortly after the drop, and he told me to stay away from Wayne himself."
"Wayne?" Akins asked curiously.
"Yeah, he said he had Wayne protected by one of his people. Not to interfere."
Akins sat back in the chair and thought, "Send two uniforms over to guard Wayne. Have two on him at all times, tell them to report anything whatsoever." He saw Montoya's reluctance to abuse the recently-acquired trust of the Batman and strengthened his resolve, "That's an order detective."
"Yes sir," Montoya said with a note of resignation as Akins left her office. She returned to perusing the newspaper, reading the headline aloud, "The Reviewer kills two Wayne Hired Impersonators." she paused and laughed a little to herself, "The Reviewer? Sounds kinda lame."
-
The killer carefully cut out the newspaper article about him, front page too. He stood up and with a self-satisfied smile pinned it to the board he had all his photos on.
"Oh my god!" the man shouted at him, "How are you still free? This is the worst serial killer cliché I have ever seen."
"Shut up," the killer said quietly.
"I can't believe you just pinned up the newspaper clipping. What's next, obsessively photographing the detective involved?" This was followed by a short laugh from both men in the room. One of them more ironic than the other.
The killer picked up a camera he had on a nearby table and brought it up in front of his face, "I always did like photographs. The one of number two I took was fantastic." He clicked the shutter and a flash illuminated his face for a moment, he lowered the camera and slowly went over and picked up a syringe full of death from the table, "now say cheese."
-
Author's Note: Okay, so these are becoming a nasty habit I'm going to try and break next chapter. No more lengthy author's notes. But anyway, I deviated a little from my formula this chapter as I didn't think how it was done really merited an action scene. If any of you want to get in the mood I'm in whilst writing it I suggest you listen to the Reanimation album by Linkin Park as that goes really well with it. Thanks for the review (singular), and I hope to get more as the story goes on. Also, it'd be cool to know who people's favourite Batman villains are, personally mine's Two-Face and I fully intend to do a decent story on him at some point. Although I do like the Riddler as well, and Joker. This is a very un-subtle hint that I really want to do a sequel if you guys want to read it! It'll hopefully be in the spirit of this, just a decent Bat-yarn. Please read and review.
