We got more snow in my area. So that's as good an excuse as any to put up another chapter! Enjoy!
As always, my thanks to all of you who were kind enough to review my work.
Batman & Benson
Seven
"Deadly Encounters"
"Fowl play," Olivia said again, as she backed away from Moiré.
"I hear you, Benson," Batman's voice said in her earpiece. "I'm coming! Just hold on!"
In the phone that Olivia held up to her other ear, she heard Elliot say to someone: "Liv's with somebody, and she keeps saying 'foul play'. I don't think she's able to speak freely." After a pause, he added, "We're tracing this call, Liv! I'm at Gotham City Police Headquarters and they're tracing you right now! Just hang on, and we'll be right there!"
"Foul play indeed," Moiré said. She stared in fascination at Olivia. "My, my, what a gorgeous looking woman you are! But that's only fitting, since you look just like me!"
"Ok, listen to me," Olivia calmly told Moiré. "The police are on their way here right now."
She merely grinned at that. "Guess that means I'd better kill you right away, luv."
When Moiré reached for something in her pocket book, Olivia realized she was going for a gun.
'Can't let her do that!' Olivia thought. She dropped the phone as she picked up the laptop and flung it at Moiré. The assassin effortlessly sidestepped the flying computer, but in doing so, she dropped her pocket book.
Olivia kicked off her heels and dove at Moiré before she could reach for the pocketbook once again. Both women went crashing to the floor, where Moiré grabbed Olivia by the throat with both hands.
"I don't need a piece to kill a sissy little bitch like you," Moiré taunted, as she proceeded to choke the life out of Olivia.
"Benson, whatever you do, don't engage her in combat," Batman warned in her ear, "she's just as deadly with her hands as she is with a gun! Try and keep your distance from her!"
'Oh yeah, NOW he frigging tells me!' Olivia thought with disgust. She brought up her leg and kneed her assailant hard in the stomach.
Moiré's smug smile was replaced by a wide-eyed expression of pain from the blow to her stomach. Olivia took advantage of the momentary lull in her assault to ball her hand up into a fist and belt Moiré hard in the face.
The blow knocked Moiré off of Olivia, but it didn't knock the fight out of her. Moiré quickly got to her feet and with an enraged cry, ran right at Olivia once more.
By this time, Olivia had gotten to her feet and placed a hand behind a bookcase unit. Once Moiré was within range, Olivia abruptly pulled the bookcase down right on top of her. Moiré let out a surprised yelp as the unit struck her, pinning her on the floor.
Olivia bent down and felt the prone woman's pulse—it was steady. Moiré would live to see justice served to her. Olivia then picked up the phone and said, "Elliot?"
"LIV! Are you ok?"
"Yeah," Olivia said as she wearily leaned up against the desk. "Listen, when the cops get here, they'll find an unconscious woman underneath a bookcase. Her name's Moiré Detune, and she's a professional assassin who's wanted by INTERPOL. Make sure the cops on the scene know that, all right?"
"All right, got it." There was a pause. "Good God, Liv, what the hell's going on!"
"It's not over yet, El," Olivia said, as she looked up and saw Batman standing in the doorway. "Tell Gotham PD to get units over to 313 Merlin Lane. It's an old umbrella factory that's being used to house women who are being sold off as slaves. The man behind this ring is Oswald Cobblepott, A.K.A. the Penguin."
She removed the phone from her face and said, "The police traced this call, they're be here soon."
"I know," Batman said. "I saw them pulling up on the street below. Are you all right?"
Olivia nodded. "A little roughed up, but none worse for wear."
"Good. Why don't you stay and wait for the police, Benson. You've done more than enough. Thanks for the help."
"You're going to the umbrella factory, aren't you?"
Batman gazed at her. "Yes. The Batplane will get me there well ahead of the police."
"Let me come with you," Olivia said. "Please? It's Alex. She's still—"
Before she could even finish, Batman gestured out the doorway with one hand. "Then let's go, Detective."
Olivia brought the phone up to her mouth and said, "El, I'll see you later."
"What? Liv, wait, what are you—?"
'Sorry, Elliot,' Olivia thought, as the Batman led her out to the balcony. Olivia gazed in puzzlement at the empty air before them. "Where's the Batplane?"
Batman raised the wrist of his right gauntlet to his mouth and said, "Come here."
Once he said that, the Batplane obediently rose up in front of the balcony all by itself, without a pilot inside. Its port wing even hung over the balcony railing, allowing them to step aboard.
'Oh wow,' Olivia thought with wonderment. 'Now that's cool….'
Batman lent Olivia a steady hand as she climbed into the passenger seat, which was directly behind the pilot's.
Once they were both inside, and the cockpit canopy sealed, Batman took the manual controls and the Batplane veered off into the night.
"This may turn out to be a fool's errand on our part," Olivia said. "I mean the cops will be there in no time."
"I hope you're right, Benson," Batman said. "But knowing the Penguin, he'll be listening in on the police band."
"Which will give him plenty of advance warning the cops are coming," Olivia said, horrified. "And by calling the cops, I practically helped the Penguin! Oh, God, what have I done?"
"What every good cop is supposed to do: you called in a crime," Batman assured her. "The Penguin may have the drop on the police, but he still doesn't know we're coming."
'Which means there may be more fun in store for us,' Olivia thought. 'And if there's more excitement to come, I want to be properly dressed for it.' She quickly changed out of the coat and skimpy dress and back into her jeans, turtleneck shirt, and boots.
Batman brought the Batplane to a perfect landing on the roof of the umbrella factory, just underneath the huge neon sign, which was unlit. When the cockpit canopy lifted up, Olivia jumped out right along with the Batman.
He held up a hand. "No, wait here. I'm going to do a bit of reconnaissance. I'll be right back. If anything happens, just stay in the Batplane, it's armored."
He stabbed a hand in the air and shot a rope into the grid works of the neon sign above them. Olivia watched in awe as Batman abruptly shot into the air, his cape flowing behind him like the wings of a great bat.
'He even knows how to make a great exit,' Olivia marveled.
Her amazement was abruptly shattered when the giant neon sign suddenly switched on, glowing as bright as the sun. Olivia saw a squad of Penguin's goons on the roof before her all raise their automatic weapons and open fire.
"NO!" Olivia cried, as she frantically climbed off the Batplane. She was about to break into a mad dash towards the armed thug that was nearest to her—until somebody pointed a gun right at the side of her head.
"Don't do anything stupid," the man, who was one of Penguin's goons, said, "and I won't ventilate your head, ok?"
'Shit,' Olivia thought, as she slowly raised her hands in surrender.
The other men ceased firing and stared up into the grid works behind the sign. "Did we get the Bat?" one of them asked.
"I dunno," another replied. "I don't see him! Maybe he fell over the side of the building."
"Well, we got her!" the man who captured Olivia called to his comrades. "C'mon, let's bring her to the Penguin!"
As Olivia was hustled downstairs, she anxiously hoped that the Batman managed to get away without being shot. The thugs brought her to a large attic room where the Penguin paced back and forth. They shoved Olivia to the floor at his feet. The Penguin thrust the tip of his umbrella under Olivia's chin, forcing her to get up into a kneeling position before him.
"You're becoming just as much of a persistent pest to me as the Batman, Detective Benson," the Penguin said in a dangerous tone of voice.
"You don't know how happy it makes me to hear that," Olivia said, giving him a defiant smile.
"Ever discourteous, straight to the bitter end," the Penguin said. He glanced up at his men and asked, "And what of the Batman?"
"We think we got him, boss," one of them replied.
"You think? You THINK!" Penguin roared. "I don't pay you imbeciles to THINK, I pay you to DO! And you don't THINK anything until you see Batman's rotting corpse on the ground! Then you KNOW you've got him! Arrrggghhh, what a bunch of IDIOTS I have working for me!"
"Life's a bitch," Olivia said coldly. "Ain't it?"
The Penguin just glared murderously at her. "West, get in here!"
When Detective West anxiously entered the room, he did a double take when he saw Olivia. "Yeah, Penguin?"
"Put her in the cell with the other troublemaker," Penguin ordered. "I shall enjoy watching them both squirm and writhe in pain later. Their excruciating torture will be the one bright spot for me on an otherwise dark night of despair."
"You got it, Penguin," West replied, as he pulled out his gun. "Let's go, Benson."
As West was escorting Olivia out of the room, the Penguin raised his umbrella like a general brandishing a sword before his troops. "Gotham City's Finest will soon be here, my boys! Let's prepare a little welcome for them, shall we? Waugh! Waugh! Waugh!"
"So, West, tell me," Olivia said. "What does it take to turn into a dirty cop?"
West, who walked right behind her, gave Olivia a rough shove in the back. "Just shut up and keep moving, Benson."
"Oh, that's right," Olivia said, sarcasm dripping with every word, "it doesn't take all that much to turn you, because you're already a whore."
"You stinking bitch," West growled, as he grabbed Olivia by the back of the neck, pulling her hair. It hurt like hell, but it was worth it for Olivia just to get West's goat.
He shoved her up against the wall where another of Penguin's goons stood guarding a door. "What's up, West?"
"Put this bitch in with the other one," West ordered. "Penguin wants to have some fun with them later, after we've evacuated to the new hideout."
"I hope we can get to watch!" The man smiled as he manhandled Olivia and tossed her into the cell. Olivia tripped and fell on the concrete floor.
When she wearily sat up on the floor Olivia glanced over and saw her cellmate, who sat on a cot by the wall.
It was Alex.
"Oh thank God," Alex said with a stifled sob as she came over to Olivia and embraced her tightly. "I thought you were dead when I saw you being grabbed by that Bat-creature!"
"I'm all right, sweetie." Olivia just held her tightly, gently rubbing her hand up and down Alex's trembling back. She wished that this moment would go on forever. Olivia never wanted to let Alex go again.
The moment was disrupted by the sound of men shouting in the hallway outside. "Let's go, let's go…move!" a man shouted. "Anderson, you and your crew take the south gun!"
'South gun?' Olivia thought with anxiety. 'Good Christ, what are they planning?'
"What's going on, Liv?" Alex asked, when they broke their embrace.
"The Gotham City Police are coming," Olivia replied, "and the Penguin knows all about it. He's ordered his men to get ready for them. How did you wind up in her alone? Where are the other girls?"
"They're fine…well, as fine as they can be, I suppose," Alex said. "Penguin transported all of us over here in a massive cage on a barge. When one of the girls got sick, he ordered one of his men to get rid of her. I stepped in to help her, and…" Alex let out a weary sigh. "Well, the good news is they didn't take her away."
"But they took you, instead," Olivia said.
"The Penguin said he was getting fed up with me." Alex smiled wanly. "Can you believe that, Liv? I was actually getting on the poor guy's nerves."
"You always had that effect on scumbags," Olivia replied with a smile.
Their conversation was cut short when they overheard West speaking outside of their cell: "I'm gonna get some rope. These two will be easier to handle on the trip over to the new place if they're tied up. I'll be right back."
Olivia and Alex were both startled when the guard opened the door and grinned at them in an oily manner. "You two broads are gonna wish you'd behaved yourselves," he said. "Because now you're gonna get some of the Penguin's 'special attention' if you know what I mean."
Olivia's eyes grew wide as she noticed a large ominous shadow rise up in the hallway directly behind the guard.
"Oh yeah, you babes had better look scared!" the guard said, as he chortled with laughter. He never noticed the shadowy arms that stretched out behind him, reaching for him like some dark phantom. "Hey, maybe the Penguin will do the both of you at the same—AHHHH!"
The man screamed in terror as he was abruptly pulled backwards into the darkness.
"What the—?" Alex cried, her voice shrill with fear. "What just happened?"
Olivia placed an armed over Alex's shoulders and whispered, "He's here."
"Who?" Alex breathed, her eyes wide.
"The Batman."
West suddenly appeared in the doorway with a length of rope in his hand. He stared at the women in a dumbfounded manner and said, "Where's Phil?"
"He left suddenly," Olivia told him, deadpan.
"What the hell?" West said, annoyed. He shut the door to their cell and went down the hallway. "Phil! God damn it, you can't just leave them like this! Phil? Where are you?"
Olivia and Alex went up to the door and peered out the bars. They both watched as West strode into the darkness that lay beyond the last lamp in the hallway.
And then they saw West come running like a madman out of the dark, his face as white as a ghost, his eyes wide with horror. Olivia gasped when she saw the Batman leap out of the shadows right behind him, his arms outstretched, his hands like claws, his cape spread out like wings. He looked like a nightmarish, hell-born apparition come to life. Batman tackled Detective West to the floor, and then effortlessly dragged the man back into the dark by his feet.
"Mommy! West hysterically cried, as he was hauled off into the cold, unforgiving blackness. "MOOOOMMMIEEE!"
And then there was utter silence.
'Whoa, he's good,' Olivia thought, as she rubbed the goosebumps on her arms. Although she knew full well that Batman was all too human, Olivia still couldn't help but be impressed seeing him in action. 'He's really, really good!'
"Oh God," Alex whimpered, as she fearfully backed away from the door. "You know, Liv, when I first moved here, I heard about the Batman, but I never thought anything about it because I thought he was just an urban legend, you know? Like the killer crocodile in the sewer, or that flying guy they're always talking about in Metropolis, b-but I never…I never…oh God!"
"Hey, hey, hey, easy," Olivia soothed her, as she gently pulled Alex into an embrace. "Alex, it's all right. It's ok. He's on our side."
Alex broke out of their hug as she let out a startled yelp and pointed frantically at the door. "He's here! He's here!"
Olivia turned and saw the door burst open and the Batman entered the cell. "Detective Benson," he said by way of greeting. "Are you two all right?"
"Yeah, we're fine," Olivia said with great relief. "Thanks."
"Didn't I say something to you about staying in the Batplane?" Batman asked sarcastically.
"Uh, yeah, well, when I saw them shooting at you I, um, I thought you needed help," Olivia said with a weak smile. "Guess I should have known better. Sorry."
"It's the thought that counts," Batman said. "Come on, we've got to get going."
"You were right, Penguin knows the police are coming," Olivia said, as they ran out of the cell and down the hall. She and Alex ran hand in hand. "He's planning some kind of a welcome for them!"
"I know," Batman replied. "He's got machine gun nests set up all over this floor. I just took three of them out, and there's one more to go. It's down this way."
They ran until they all heard a man speaking loudly, carefully giving directions, through a doorway ahead of them. Batman gestured for the women to stay behind him as he slowly crept through the doorway.
"You actually know this guy?" Alex whispered. "Where did you meet him?"
"Speed dating," Olivia said jokingly.
When Alex gave her a puzzled look, Olivia simply shrugged. Then she gestured for Alex to be quiet as she grabbed her hand and led her through the doorway.
The doorway led to a catwalk that ran along the wall. Batman was nowhere to be seen here. When Olivia and Alex carefully peered over the railing, they saw a massive machine gun that was manned by a crew of four of Penguin's goons. One of the men was giving instructions to the other three.
"Now just remember," the leader of the machine gun crew said to the others, "no matter what happens, just stay calm. No matter how many cops you see out there, just remain calm, master your fear, and you will be—OHMIGOD!"
The leader had seen something above him, and when Olivia glanced up, she saw the Batman swooping down on the machine gun nest. He landed on the leader, knocking him to the floor, while the other men scattered in panic.
Alex looked horrified at the sight of the hand-to-hand battle that ensued, but she still watched in morbid fascination. Olivia understood full well. There was something lyrical, something poetic, in the way that Batman moved. One of the goons tried to take a swing at him with a metal bar, only Batman ducked at the last second, and the man wound up striking one of his comrades. As he reacted in horror at what he done, Batman belted him across the face with a hook that put him down for good.
When the whole machine gun crew was out cold on the floor, Batman took something from his belt and stuck it down the muzzle of the machine gun. Pretty soon, smoke began to issue from the muzzle.
'The gun's also out of commission,' Olivia realized with a nod.
Batman glanced up at them and gestured for Olivia and Alex to come down. As they did so, a two-way radio that was dropped on the floor during the melee began to squawk with the voice of the Penguin. "The police are here! Fire! Fire!" he ordered. "Why aren't you nitwits up there shooting at them! Aaarrrrrr!"
"Now to take down the birdman," Batman said grimly.
"He said 'up there'," Olivia told him. "He must be downstairs."
"It's through there," Alex said, as she pointed at the door at the far end of the room. "It's where they brought me when I was separated from the other women."
"Show us," Batman said.
Alex led Batman and Olivia through the door, which opened onto a platform that overlooked a water-filled canal that ran through the old factory. Olivia was startled to see all of the captured women were inside a massive cage that hung over the water by a steel cable. The women within the cage were frightened and huddled together in a tight group in the center.
The Penguin glanced up at them with a broad smile. "Ah, Batman! I was setting this up for the police, but it's just as well that you shall be the beneficiary of my labors."
"Give it up, Oswald!" Batman called to him. "This place is now surrounded by the police. Surrender yourself!"
"Surrender?" the Penguin asked. "Never!"
With that he aimed his umbrella at a section of the steel cable and squirted something on it. Olivia's eyes grew wide with horror when she saw the cable starting to smoke. "He sprayed acid on it!"
"Once the acid eats through the cable, these little girls go for a swim," the Penguin said, gesturing at the women in the massive cage. "Of course the cage will sink straight to the bottom, which won't give these ladies much time to take a breath, much less do the doggy paddle. The choice is yours, Batman; you can either chase me, or save these poor ladies from the drink. Waugh! Waugh! Waugh!"
To Be Continued...