Batman and the associated characters are owned by DC. James Bond and the associated characters were created by Ian Fleming. With thanks to Cmar for beta reading this for me and thanks to all the reviewers and readers so far! All reviews welcome.
Golden Bat – Chapter Three
Bond took his hand off his shoulder holster. He knew he was being a damned fool. These vigilantes probably had the skills and techniques to stop him in his assignment but he did not like cold murder of innocents. Especially not of children and in spite of his obvious strength and skills Robin was still a child.
Robin looked up at him. "Are you calling the ambulance?"
Bond reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a phone. He was going to press "999" when he realised it was "911" in America. That he even had to think about it showed that the fight with the thug had disorientated more than he cared to think about. In seconds he had summoned an ambulance.
He leaned over the thug. Some colour was starting to come back to his face and he was starting to cough violently.
"That's strange," said Robin, looking in the man's wallet.
"What is?" Said Bond.
"Nothing, nothing," said Robin. "I've got to go. You should talk to the police about this guy." The boy aimed a grappling gun at the nearby warehouse and within seconds was on the roof. Bond looked at the warehouse. "Wayne Tech Enterprises." Was written on the side. He could see several police cars around the other side of the building taking away three people. Robin must have caught them breaking into the warehouse.
He could see several police officers running towards him. He quickly picked up the man's wallet and looked at it. It had the identification of Kelvin Russ and according to the id he worked as a security guard for Wayne Tech Enterprises.
Now was the time to leave, he did not want to talk to the local police. He got his phone out again and dialled Leiter.
"Hello Felix. I hate to bother you but I've had a spot of bother at the docks."
He grinned to himself as he heard Felix's idea of why he had been down the docks.
"No, not that. Someone tried to kill me. No. Not a jealous husband or a disgruntled boyfriend a common street thug hired by Wayne Tech Enterprises. They breed them tough in Gotham." He looked at his watch. "I'll meet you in twenty minutes. I'll get another cab."
The ceiling erupted next to Batman as bullets tore through the attic floor. He grabbed hold of a ceiling joist and threw himself at great speed down the end of the attic. The air was full of dust and chunks of tiles started falling down from the roof as the thugs perforated the roof. He saw the attic hatch open and a man pointed a gun at him for two seconds. He would have pointed it at Batman for longer but a batarang was sticking out of his hand. He opened his mouth to scream when a line wrapped around him and dragged him into the attic. Four seconds later he was lying unconscious at Batman's feet.
Batman stamped down on the weakened ceiling and came crashing through into the hallway in a welter of dust and debris. Two men were standing there with guns. Before he had hit the floor they were both knocked out with drug tipped darts in their necks. A door opened the other end of the corridor and he span around and threw a weighted batarang at the man.
Bond walked into the plaza hotel. There sitting in a comfy chair at the reception was Felix Leiter and there was another man standing next to him. Leiter looked like a real rogue especially since his hand had been replaced by a hook after one of his missions. He was busy trying to hold a cigar in his hook and talk to Bennett at the same time. He had sat down in the corner of the reception room so he could see everyone who walked in. He stood up when he saw Bond walk in.
"Jim," said Leiter cracking a smile. "Good to see you again. This is Nicholas Bennett. He's the guy who's been feeding us all the information."
Bennett was a thin pale man with thick glasses. "Hi. You must be the man from England. Gosh. I don't want to be a concern about this. I mean it may be nothing. It probably is nothing. I don't want people to blow things out of all proportion. I mean he is a pillar of the community. He wouldn't be involved in anything bad. Certainly not that bad."
"We're not going to talk here Nick," said Leiter. "Come on Jim. We've got a private hotel room."
Bond indicated Bennett to follow Leiter. Bennett scurried after him. They got in the lift all the while not saying anything. They walked into room 76. Bond and Leiter immediately got out small gadgets from their pockets. They checked every square inch of the room.
"What are you doing?" Asked Bennett, pushing his glasses back up his nose.
"Checking for bugs. Don't you worry about it," said Bond. "Okay, the place is clear. Talk to me."
"Okay first of all," said Leiter, "this Wayne guy is a billionaire playboy. Gets all the women. You'd like him. He keeps himself in trim by the look of him. Doesn't have much to do with the business side, as far as we can see. His parents were killed at an early age. In front of him. That kind of thing has to warp a kid."
"What's this criminal group then? How did they get hold of a nuke?"
"We don't know their origins but we do know they have a nuclear missile. The warhead at any rate. A submarine from Tajikistan sank in the Caspian sea some three weeks ago. When the Russian authorities recovered it they noticed someone had cut into the sub and removed a warhead. They are hopping mad over this. They are wanting to bring Tajikistan back into the fold to get some control over it. The whole region is in turmoil. If we don't return it, preferably intact there could be some serious repercussions. We think Russia might want to bring them back into the fold. To do that they would need to invade Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan just to reach Tajikistan. The whole area would be de-stabilised. We need to put a lid on it fast. The Russian's are understandably furious that this Wayne guy has been interfering. They want their warhead returned and Wayne out of the picture. We want this warhead found and returned. Our government doesn't want to be seen to be dancing to the Russian tune which is why you're here."
"Why do you think Wayne has this?"
"One of the divers who cut into the sub died. His body was caught in one of the pressure doors as they removed the warhead. He was wearing the latest Wayne Tech equipment."
"He might have bought it from somewhere?"
"And he was on the Wayne Tech payrole. I think that warhead is in Gotham, Jim. I don't trust Wayne. He's hiding something, I think he's dirty. I think Wayne Tech is the front for this group."
"If I might interject," said Bennett. "I have known Bruce for some years. The death of his parents at such a young age hit him hard. He always has a barely hidden anger and resentment hidden beneath the surface. I think he has finally gone," Bennett licked his lips nervously, "mad. To coin a phrase. My company does auditing for a lot of companies including his. We noticed some serious high tech gadgets going missing over the years including enough hardware to build a tank, or at the very least an armoured car. We had to do some serious 'cooking' of the books to get it past the taxman. Now this bomb has gone missing. A lot of the Wayne Tech equipment has yet to turn up. It has to be him."
"How do I get to him?"
"There's a big society function tomorrow night. A charity affair. Save the rainforests or something. I want you to go there. Lean on Wayne, find out where that warhead is and kill him if you have to."
"You can get me a ticket?"
Leiter got a ticket out of his pocket and showed it to Bond. "Bennett can be your date. He can show you around."
"Okay. I might pay a visit on Wayne Tech first though…"
Batman kicked the door down and immediately ducked as a bullet whistled past him. He dived into the room, a bullet knocking a huge splinter out of the doorframe behind him. In front of him was Tony Abretti pointing a huge beretta at the doorway. He fired again twice but Batman twisted away from the bullets and threw a drugged tipped dart at Abretti's neck knocking him out.
He opened the window of the third floor apartment, picked up Tony Abretti with one arm and leapt out of the window. Only a grappling hook released at the last possible second prevented him crashing to his doom.
In the street below were Gordon and a catch wagon. He handed over Abretti to Gordon.
"Thanks," said Gordon. "We've had a busy night here."
"What else has been going on?" growled Batman.
"You're boy Robin caught a gang breaking into a Wayne Tech warehouse and he saved a thug who tried to kill this other guy as well. Well we think he did. We are still trying to track down the guy he tried to kill. Anyway…" He carried on talking and looked around. Batman had gone.
The next day Bruce Wayne was in a meeting with Lucius Fox, the Managing Director of Wayne Corp.
"I hate to bother you over small matters Bruce…"
"Go ahead," said Bruce whilst studying some of the latest accountancy projections for the next quarter.
"As you know we have been steadily losing equipment from our Wayne Tech arm for some years. We haven't investigated the losses because of your say so."
Bruce looked up at this and stared at Lucius. "Sit down Lucius. I'll get us some coffee in." He pressed a button on the desk intercom. "Miranda, two coffees please. White with one sugar? That right?"
"No sugar. My wife is on at me to lose weight. Anyway Bruce, these losses have been building up steadily. Bennett Accountancy Systems has brought it up time and time again. We cannot keep hiding it. Look at what has been going missing recently." He handed over a piece of paper to Bruce.
Bruce quickly scanned the paper. Teflon. Body armour. Sheets of titanium steel. Jet engines. All what every good vigilante needs. He tensed as he carried on looking. Three man submersibles. Underwater cutting equipment. Explosives. Missile technology for launching weather satellites.
"We would have told you sooner but you always have some excuse for them…"
Bruce tried to relax. "I don't think it is anything to worry about."
"That's just it, sir. Robin captured a group of men stealing from the warehouse last night. The police have them now. We might be able to find out who is responsible…" He trailed off.
"What is it Lucius?"
"I have spoken to Gordon. He is the Commissioner of …"
"I know who Gordon is."
"Of course you do. Of course you do. Anyway he says the men have not told him anything."
"They might not tell him anything," said Bruce and allowed the sentence to trail off. "Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Lucius," he said and stood up. Miranda, a rather plump brown haired woman, came bustling in with two steaming cups of coffee and a selection of short bread biscuits. "Thanks Miranda. I've got to go out. I've got my hair cut scheduled shortly."
She looked at him strangely. "You had a hair cut yesterday, Mr Wayne."
He gave her a touch of the Bat glare and she giggled. It just didn't work without the mask and especially not with Miranda. She tended to treat him like a small boy who needed looking after. When she wasn't telling him to eat his greens she was telling him he should find a nice girl to settle down with. "Just cancel my meetings this afternoon and hold my calls."
"What should I tell anyone who calls you?"
Bruce picked up his jacket from the back of his chair. "Make it up."
"Errm you are visiting the zoo with your mistress and your three illegitimate children?"
"That'll do. I'll see you tomorrow."