Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, etc.

(Thanks for the nice reviews. I know there are many spelling mistake in this story, and the grammar isn't the best. I'm working with it right now – JoBO)


A Way of Life

1. The Heart

The Batmobil cut through the clouds in the sky like a knife and flew high above Gotham's busy streets, where the citizens of the city were ending their long day. He allowed himself to lose control over the car for a second in order to test the new adjustments that Bruce just had installed the same evening, but just seconds before hitting the ground he easily got control over the car again and increased the speed. He loved the car so he was just about to do it again, when his conscience reminded him that his job was to patrol over the sleeping city and not playing around with the car. He was Gotham's protector and the citizens of Gotham counted with him being there for them in time of need. He was Batman.

He hastily typed the all too well known words down on the car's keyboard and a file appeared on the screen next to him. He began to read the file, which was about a minor criminal called Whiz Kid. He had read the file so many times before that he almost could it by heart, but still he really hoped that he had missed something, which could give him a lead to where Whiz Kid was hiding. Normally he wouldn't be that interested in a minor criminal like Whiz Kid, but this minor criminal's fingerprint had appeared on the crime scene of the last kidnapping. Maybe Whiz Kid was the key to end the series of kidnappings that had run through Gotham's wealthy societies for months.

Suddenly a red laser beam flashed through the night air and almost hit Batmobil, but thanks to Batman's quick reflexes it didn't happen. Immediately he turned the car around and flew over the area again. Just as he was over the building, where he believed the beam had been fired from, then he opened the hatch in the floor and jumped out of the car. Silently he landed on the dark roof of the building and quickly he began to look around. It wasn't very easy to move around on the roof because the building was some kind of experimental center, so there was a lot of weird research equipment on the roof.

Batman had just walked past a weird looking tube, which had a big sign saying sulphuretted hydrogen, when he saw two persons running in the opposite direction of him. He instantly began to follow them just as they disappeared behind some kind of drying machine, but in a few leaps he was over by the machine and walked past it. He then almost fell over a man, who was lying unconscious on the floor behind the machine. Batman immediately recognized the man as Whiz Kid, but it was clearly too late to ask him any question about the kidnappings tonight. Instead Batman then called the police, so Whiz Kid could be arrested.

Right away Batman heard the sirens coming so he was just about to walk away, when he saw that there was a card lying on the floor next to Whiz Kid. Carefully he picked the card up, so he wouldn't spoil any possible fingerprints, and read the only word on the card:

"Midnight."

o-

The Batmobil flew through the cave's opening and disturbed the sleeping bats, which had been resting in the cave through the day. Quickly they flew out of the dark cave and vanished in the falling sun as the Batmobil landed on the lighted platform, where Bruce normally would have been waiting for him, but this night Bruce was no where to be seen.

With a worry feeling inside him Batman jumped out of the Batmobil and a shiver ran down his spine as he took the hood off. It was always very dark in the cave and he like it in that way, but today the cave felt even darker that had done ever before and it was so strangely silent.

He was just about to walk over to the dressing room, when suddenly something inside him made him walk over to the Batcomputer. In front of the computer Batman's heart almost stopped beating as he recognized Bruce, who was lying on the floor with the face down and his normally so trustworthy cane broken beside him. Instantly he ran over to Bruce and turned him around as he checked Bruce's heartbeat with shaking hands.

Bruce was still alive, but he was barely holding on to his life.

Carefully Batman took the fragile old man into his arms and carried him up the stairs to the big mansion, where he very cautiously placed Bruce on the couch in the library. He then went over to the phone, where he still with shaking hands called the central after an ambulance. He cast a quick glance back at Bruce before he quickly changed into his normal clothes and put the suit away, so no one would discover their secret. He then walked back to Bruce and checked the heartbeat again just as the ambulance came up the driveway.