"The End and the Beginning"
Part 4 of 6
Nick Gourley
7 years ago.
"How's the school life for you sir?"
Bruce and Alfred ascended the stairs into his mansion. His father was dead, and he would have to accept it. The Wayne Manor was his, and only his.
"It's fine, but I'm not sure that I'll keep attending."
"Do you not like it?"
"I think I've learned all I can there Alfred."
"So, what's left sir?"
"Time to learn things somewhere else."
Alfred's face grew puzzled, and he cocked an eyebrow. "And where would that be sir?"
"I dunno. France, Africa, Japan, all over the world. But none can know where I've gone, these are things I have to do by myself."
"Very well sir, if asked, I'll suggest that you're on 'extended vacation'."
"Sounds good to me Alfred."
Bruce had grown in both intelligence and physical strength. He was close to achieving physical and mental perfection, but he felt that he was still missing something. He had studied at Wayne Enterprises, and many other various schools in the United States. It was time to go beyond America.
He took his things into his room. It was exactly as he left it. He touched nothing, and looked around the room of his youth. It had been 13 years since he slept in this room. It was all that reminded him of what he was, and what he was going to be. He walked out and entered his brother's room.
"Where ya been bro?"
The voice belonged to a young man, that remarkably resembled Bruce. He had raven-black hair, except for a white streak that went from his forehead to the middle of the back of his head.
"J-Jason!"
"Hey."
Bruce rushed forward to greet his younger sibling and pulled him close. The embrace was more than the two had ever given in their entire lives.
"Wow Jason, you've grown."
"You too bro, you sure got big fast."
"Where've you been?"
Jason stood in silence, and a look of sadness quickly washed over his face. "We need to talk Bruce, we really need to talk."
--
7 years later.
The fist landed directly in Sal's stomach, and another clubbed him in the back of the head.
"What the hell you doin' takin my daughter from me Sal!"
His brothers raced their hands to the handles of their guns, but left them in the holsters. Roman drew his without hesitation, and pointed at Freddie's forehead. Roman wouldn't miss, hell, he wouldn't miss if he was 30 feet away.
Sal picked himself from his bedroom floor, wiping the blood coming from his mouth. "What's the meanin' of this Falcone? Bargin' into my house, my room, and beatin' the crap outta an innocent man."
"You know damn well what you did Sal."
"You can ask my boys, I've been here all night, I never touched your familia. I would never do that."
"How do I know that?"
"How do I know you haven't been robbin' my banks."
Falcone swung his fist with all of his might, and he connected. He hit the right side of Sal's jaw that sent him back onto his bed.
"This ain't over Sal, this ain't over at all."
As Roman and Carmine left the building, Sal sat up in his bed. His face gave a look of complete rage.
"Find the dame . . . then kill her."
--
Selina was shivering. A robe, which the maniac had, somewhat graciously, given to her could only cover so much, and reveal the rest. How big the room was, or even where she was, she had no clue. Darkness was all around her, except for a window, which, conveniantly, only lit up where she sat.
"Is anyone there?"
Selina waited for a few minutes, desperately wanting to hear her father's voice, or her brother's.
"I am, my dear."
The voice belonged to no one she had ever known. And, quite frankly, she never wanted to.
"Are you going to kill me?"
"Only if it's necessary."
"How would it be?"
"Maroni must pay, and if that means killing you to help him know suffering, then it shall be done."
"You're insane."
"You can thank Sal."
As her eyes adjusted, she could see the figure of a man, tall and slender in build. He was wearing some kind of cape and hood.
"What do you have against Sal?"
The voice took awhile to respond to this question.
"Everything."
The figure stepped into the light. The color of the hood and cape was blood red. His clothes were a tuxedo and black gloves.
"Who are you?"
"What does it matter? It's never mattered to anyone before."
Selina heard a hint of sadness and longing in the voice. Whoever it was wasn't a cold-blooded killer, that was for sure. He removed his hood and revealed a teary-eyed, long, solemn face. His ebony-colored hair was damp with sweat.
He spoke again. "Maroni took everything from me. He took my job, my family, and my life. I am gladly returning the favor."
His eyes changed from sadness, to rage. The anger poured forth from his eyes.
"I didn't know."
"LIKE YOU CARE!"
The figure vanished again into the darkness, but Selina knew that he was still in the room. His panting was violent and never-ending.
"What does this have to do with me?"
"Falcone thinks Maroni did this, just like Maroni thinks your daddy robbed his little banks."
"That was you?"
"Guilty as charged, my dear. Maroni will no doubt come looking for you, as well as your father. When your daddy finds you and Maroni at the scene, well then, someone will just absolutely have to die."
He let out a sinister chuckle. Selina cringed, and her stomach twisted at the very sound of it. This man was sick, and she wanted her father to kill him.
"Well, my dear, shall we?"
He came towards her carrying a black bag. All she knew was darkness, and she didn't see again for a few more hours.
--
The window was open, the window's never open.
Sal got out of his bed and closed the window. When he turned to go back, something, or someone was on his bed, crouched, as if ready to pounce.
He grabbed the gun that he always sat on his desk just before he went to bed and pulled the trigger at the creature.
Click.
He pulled it again.
Click.
"It's hopeless."
The creature sure sounded just like that. It's growl seemed to scratch itself out of the thing's throat, sinister, and grotesque.
"You b-b-been robbin' my banks?"
"No," the creature said. "He has."
He floated a red piece of cloth towards him. Sal walked towards the window to get a better light and read the note.
"Red Hood?"
"You know anything about it?"
"No."
"Would you lie to me?"
"Does it matter?"
Sal turned around and was staring at the cross between an Olympian weight-lifter and the devil himself. Hell, for all he knew, it was Satan.
"You ever had any problems with your employees at AXIS Chemicals?"
"No."
The creature's eyes stared a hole into Sal and burnt through his flesh.
"You're lying."
"Alright, there was this one guy, his name was Joe."
"What happened?"
"He worked for me part-time and he was a comedian. Not a very good one, but he made money where he could."
"Get to the point."
"Point is, he was a smart guy. Class-A when it came to chemicals. I wanted him to make somethin' for me, and he wouldn't do it. Said it was against the law, and he wouldn't have none of it. Well, my brothers and I went to his house to pay him a visit. He wasn't there, so we shot his pregnant wife full of holes and left."
"You killed his family. You really are as dumb as you look."
"What?"
"Never kill a man's family without killing him too."
"Why is that?"
"It just gives him a reason to get revenge. Trust me Maroni, he's getting it, right now."
"Well, what the hell am I supposed to do?"
"Go to AXIS, he's taking Selina there."
"This a trap?"
Batman just stared back at Maroni, and he knew the answer. He walked to the window and opened it.
"What are you?"
"I'm Batman."
The Batman dove out of the window and fell into the darkness of the night.