Disclaimer: I own nothing of Batman, Bruce Wayne, or Christian Bale. (Though I wish I did. (Sigh) They all belong to their respective owners.

Chapter Three

In the Dark

Chapter Quote: "We don't belong here Chapman... remember... no one gets hurt?."

I always enjoyed going to Dr. Grahm's house, he lived on the good part of town. The part of towm where good people, however rare, still existed. Mrs. Grahm was the sort of woman who I believed everyone wants for a grandmother. She was a wispy lady, who looked as though one, good hard wind would blow her right off her feet. Her eyes were a merry brown and her hair, once as dark a chocolate as a Hershey's bar, was now streaked generously with grey. She liked to make cookies and to take care of her pretty flowers. Her only child, Mark, had died fighting overseas when he was only nineteen. She never had any other children, which made her a perfect foster mom for many of the misfit local children searching for an escape from their dreary lives.

Even me, on the dawn of womanhood, sought to be one of those children who would frequent her house for hours...even days before returning home. We were all looking for something from Mrs. Grahm...I thought it might be the feeling of safety... maybe even love.

With this knowledge, I had never dreaded visiting her, not ever and certainly not now as Ben drove me to the Grahm's old, white-washed home. Flowers bursting from every inch of the small yard in every shape, color, and size: just like the children who came for help. The Grahm house looked like something from those fairy-tales that my mother used to read to me. I felt like I was seeing a candle in a horribly dark room. For the Grahms didn't just give me love...they gave me hope.

Ben pulled into their drive way, stopping and turning off the car before he looked over at me. "You sure you'll be ok Riley?"

I nodded, not willing myself to speak, as though the fear might creep in after I spoke any words of confidence. Ben smiled encouragingly at me and stepped out of the car, a movement I quickly followed. My straight, dark hair, nearly black, was pulled into a loose pony-tail that brushed the tips of my shoulder-blades. Lots of people back home used to day that me and Ben looked like twins...maybe we did. I have his hair, his eyes: we share the same deep hazel color. Like wheat not yet fully grown. But he never had the fears that I do...he is always so brave. I envy my brother sometimes, he does not see the world as I do...he does not fear it as I do. I cross my arms across my black, hooded sweatshirt and I look down at my flared, navy blue jeans, and then down to my work-boots.

He was ahead of me and I quickly caught up, seeking his hand as we walked up the Grahm's steps...two...three...four...five...six...and then he knocked on the door. Mrs. Grahm answered it, a smile decorating her jovial features.

"Benjamin! Riley! I'm so happy you could come." She was dressed in a pale, plaid blue blouse and overalls that were better suited for a much larger person.

"Riley was excited, Mrs. Grahm, she couldn't pass up such an offer."

Mrs. Grahm beamed at me and I gave her a hesitant smile. "Well, won't you both come in? I've just finished making some cookies and-"

"With all respect, ma'am, I'd best be going. I'll be late for work." Ben interrupted quickly.

"Of course, of course. Well, be here around six o'clock for supper, Benjamin. You can pick Riley up after you eat."

Ben looked ready to protest but Mrs. Grahm held up her hand to stop him. "I insist. Now get along now Benjamin- we wouldn't want to be getting you into any trouble."

Ben smiled at her, and then glanced at me. "You be good, Riley. Try not to have too much fun without me." I gave him an almost-smile, that's what he liked to call them. He squeezed my hand and kissed my forehead. "See you later."

I waved good-bye as he got into his car and he waved back before he pulled away from the Grahms' driveway and drove back towards the darker parts of the city. I drummed my fingers against my thigh and turned back to Mrs. Grahm, she was smiling. "He's a good man, your brother."

"Yes." I whispered affectionately as I fingered the gold necklace he had given to me for my birthday.

"Well, come on then. What's you favorite cookie Riley, dear?"

"Chocolate Chip." I answered hesitantly.

"Brilliant!" She said happily, encircling a thin arm around my shoulder and gesturing inside. "That's just what I took out of the oven. Fate wouldn't you say? Let's go in and fill your stomach, you look entirely too thin my dear. Then perhaps we'll start with the flowers..."

I flinched, only slightly, at Mrs. Grahm's touch, and I smiled inside when I thought of her telling me that I needed to fatten up. I followed her inside all the same, hoping that this would be indeed a good day...I hadn't had one of her cookies in a while.

Riley never knew much about what exactly Benjamin did for a living. She knew he held a modest position and received even more modest paychecks. She knew he always did his best to take care of her, and she knew his best was sometimes everything he had. But that was all. She never knew what exactly it was that he did to pay for all her medical bills and get food on the table. And what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

He drove his car further away from the Grahms' and descended deeper into the pit people still had the nerve to call, 'Gotham'. Riley never called it anything...mostly because Riley didn't like to talk about the hell-hole she was forced to call home. Home. Ben winced as the word came unbidden to his mind. No, this place would never be the home that Riley deserved. But then again, they were never supposed to be living in Gotham anyway.

He drove slowly over to the dark building in the more run-down parts of the city. This was where rats and men ran on the same level for survival. He fought a shudder as he sidled out of his car, locked it, then hurriedly walked over to a small door and slipped inside. He worked at a sort of factory...a strange factory really. It specialized in the production of drugs- almost any kind you could think of. Ben's job was to deliver what was produced in the dimly lit factory to various places in Gotham and to the harbor where men in dark jackets waited to load the unlabeled boxes onto expectant ships- unaware of their lethal cargo.

And though it twinged somewhere in the back of his mind, food needed to get on the table and who else would hire a high-school drop-out who called the slums of Gotham home? When you hit rock-bottom you didn't have the luxury of morals. He had no other choice, this was the life that he lived.

The truck seemed exceptionally slow tonight... or is it just me? Every time they rounded a corner, or stopped, or did much of anything he felt like the van would, at last, break down. Perhaps it was just the fact that, like most nights, he hated what he did for a living.

"You wanna move it along, Ben?" Snapped the man seated next to him. Chapman was his last name... no one bothered to call him his first which Ben happened to know to be 'Seymour'. Chapman had come from a great, meaning wealthy, family once. But his parents had lost everything in the depression years ago.

His father shot himself and his mother was mugged and murdered a short time later- leaving their two sons and daughter parentless, alone, and poor as dirt. 'That is hell.' Chapman liked to joke. 'You can't hit a much deeper bottom then here.' But despite the tough facade and the wise-crack jokes... Ben knew his friend hated this job as much as he did. But what else could he do? There was no moving up when you hit rock-bottom in a place like Gotham.

"I don't like driving fast." Ben grumbled, glancing in his rear-view mirror at the streets as they drove passed. Most people were huddled around trash can fires... trying to get warm. Others made themselves comfortable in the shelters they had made. Every so often you saw people getting mugged or watched as some girl got dragged -kicking and screaming- into a dark alley. But you never interfered... that was just the way things were. Chapman glared at him from his seat.

"Yeah I know... but you ain't driving fast... I think a turtle with a busted head could move quicker then you're driving."

Ben remained sullenly silent.

"Come on Ben. I gotta get home. Jake and Lou are waiting up for me tonight."

Ben scowled. "I don't like this business anymore then you do." He half-growled. "Hell... if Riley knew what I've been doing..."

Chapman snorted. "What... she think you're a clerk at some bank or something?"

Ben shot him a warning glare and Chapman threw up his hands in defeat. "Geez- sorry. I know she's a mite touched in the head..." He shook his head and then snorted again- this time in disgust. "Besides... what have you been doing Ben?" He asked, cutting him off before Ben could reply. "Think about it. You've kept yourself and your sister from starving. You got a roof over your heads. You take care of her... that's what you're doing. And you're doing what you hafta to keep at it."

Chapman's green eyes glinted as he slicked back blond hair and cracked his neck. "Let's just get this over with... all right?"

Ben didn't reply... he merely grunted. They were supposed to be delivering this shipment to an abandoned warehouse about a half-hour away from the factory. Usually they helped pack up the boxes but this time their boss, a fella called Seth, had nervously snapped at them to load up and had rushed them out of the factory. Neither Ben nor Chapman knew exactly what they were shipping tonight... which was unusual. But Seth had been so upset neither had felt like braving his anger either.

So they were supposed to drop it, no questions asked, and then leave. Simple. He'd done similar drop-offs hundreds of times before. This one was no different... right? "You just make sure no one gets hurt, Chapman." He said gruffly.

"Dammit Ben- I told you, you do what you got to do. No limits."

Ben sighed. Yeah... he knew. He turned the van into an old parking lot and headed for the garage. There were six men there waiting for them- just as Seth had said there would be. "See... I told you. Just like clock work." Chapman said triumphantly.

Ben stopped the van and Chapman pulled on a black cap, an effort to protect his ears from the approaching winter's chill. There never seemed to be any warmth down here. It was easy sometimes to forget the sun even existed. Rubbing his gloved hands together, he slipped out the door and gave the waiting men a friendly wave. None of them returned it. "Stiffs... the lot of them." He grumbled good-naturedly, "No questions Ben." He repeated to him as Ben slipped out onto the broken pavement.

Ben shook his head ruefully. "There never has been, Chapman... never will be."

Gotham was dark at night... not the kind of dark before you switch on a light. It was the kind when you wake up in a cold sweat from a nightmare and the blackness around you makes you relive you worst fears. It was the kind of darkness that bit at the very interior of a being... at a person's very soul. Perhaps that was one of the attributes to the horror the masked crusader brought to the villains of Gotham.

Everyone in Gotham knew that bats like darkness most of all and that the Batman was no different. His kingdom was veiled in darkness... a kingdom over which he ruled supreme. And, standing, on the rooftops of the city, and surveying the activities going on below- it was not likely to think that this night would be different from any others.

But it was. Mused the dark knight. Every single one is different.

Always.

The men at the warehouse unloaded their precious cargo quickly. No one cared much for the late night drop offs anymore- it had become too dangerous with the oversized rodent flying about.

"Ten more to go." Chapman called out softly to the men who scrambled to get the boxes into the building under the watchful eyes of their employer who stood only a little ways from them- conveniently hidden in the darkness beneath the eaves of the warehouse roof. The words, however softly spoken, made Ben grimace and the rest of them glared daggers at him before glancing nervously up into the sky.

"Move it along." Said a gravelly voice coming from the lone figure watching the progress of his merchandise. Ben glared at him- but said nothing. Riley would be at the Grahm's still... would be wondering why he wasn't back yet. The shipment had taken longer then usual and he was impatient to leave. Riley would be worried... and Mrs. Grahm had probably switched on her favorite TV show, Little House on the Prairie, to ease her nerves. She'd need her bandages changed... Damn! He grimaced again as he realized his error. Dinner at the Grahms... he'd completely forgotten.

She would be furious with him now. Would probably be too upset to sleep that night. With a groan of frustration he pounded the side of the van with his fists. The sudden noise made the others jump and the lone figure called out sharply, "Do we have a problem?"

"No sir." Ben answered quickly, cursing himself for not reigning in his temper. Mistakes like that could get him fired... or worse.

He felt Chapman's glare. "What the hell was that Ben?" His friend hissed, walking over to him as he handed off a box to a waiting man. "You want to get us both killed? These guys are jumpy... they'll train their guns on you in a second!"

"Sorry man." Ben replied. "I was supposed to be somewhere tonight..."

"Yeah well... keep your cool Ben! All we need is someone willing to rat us out and we won't be helping anyone if we're in jail."

Ben grunted again but didn't argue. With him gone Riley could be locked up in a mental asylum for her problems... he shuddered at the thought of his sister in a place like Arkham. But he was knocked from his thoughts as something loud hit his the truck.

"What the hell was that?"Called one of the others, turning to glare at them.

"Wasn't us." Said Chapman quickly.

There was no time to react afterwards. He came soundlessly... take out each man one by one. No one had time to even fire a shot... except for the lone figure watching from within the safety of the shadows.

It was painfully simple... but there was no boastful pride in his mind as each man he felled dropped to the pavement. Darkness. That was the key. There were only two left now... one trying to aim a gun at him while the other looked on helplessly with fear etched into his shadowed features. The unarmed one backed into the dull light emitted from a flickering street light.

"Don't shoot!" The unarmed one hissed to the other as Batman waited for the right moment to take them out. "Let him take the drugs... we don't need to do this-"

"Shove it Ben." Said the other, wiping sweat from his eyes as he searched for the terror of the night. "You know what happens to us if we bail."

"We don't belong here Chapman... remember... no one gets hurt?"

Chapman never answered... just before he could take them out, two shots rang out and both fell to the pavement. He turned to find the shooter and saw a pale, white hand extend from the shadows. The figure didn't emerge as he neared his hiding spot, stealthily avoiding the light as he crept along.

"Clean work, Batty." The voice hissed mockingly. "Leaves less of a mess for me."

Batman leapt into the shadows- ready to strike. But there was no sign of the white hand or of the smoking gun. He scanned the area for a minute or two then, satisfied that there was nobody there, he returned to the two wounded men.

One, Chapman, was dead. A clean shot straight through the skull... he stared up at Batman through sightless eyes. But the other... he was still alive. He was wounded in the shoulder, centimeters away from his heart. And he gasped in horror as Batman descended upon him. But he didn't suffer much longer- he injected him with a tranquilizer and the man soon fell limp against the pavement. Batman stood up, surveying the scene once more.

Whatever had been in the shipment was now gone... there was no doubt of that. But who had taken them... and who had fired the shots was the real question. He dialed quickly for Gordon, relayed the message and quickly explained that there was a wounded man in need of medical assistance.

Gordon said they were on their way. Quick work- but it had been messy. And there had been casualties... let alone the fact that the answers he had sought had fled into the night.

No... not good at all.

A/N: Finally an update. I'm obsessed with Superman right now due to the new movie, Superman Returns, and seeing it rekindled my love and fascination with my other favorite Super-hero. Hence this update. I won't be updating regularly as school will be starting up again and I'm working on writing an original novel... but this story is finally coming out if its hiatus... which should please people... I hope. :) Thanks for the reviews and I hope I get some more:)

TO BE CONTINUED...