The Showman's Touch
2:34 AM
[Three Days Until Operation: Knightfall]
Cold. Emptiness. Lost. Regret. Pain. Anguish. Failure.
Bruce felt them all, all the harsh self-reflecting thoughts that roam around his mind, clashing with each other with force. All the emotions swirling up inside of him, all the feelings that haunt him. All the cornucopia of mind-numbing lingering broken memories that flooded his body. He couldn't make sense of all of them, they acted on their own as they defied his own wishes as they made him still, silent and nothing. He stood completely stationary through the ward as he looks into the room where the person that he loved the most died, his most beloved friend, his father as far as he was concerned.
He had no idea how long he stood there, hours maybe? He couldn't tell. Every moment, every second and hour all mish-mashed together in one endless cycle of grief that he suffers. Alfred's body had already been moved, a while back, yet Bruce keeps standing in that one spot in the ward. People had to walk next to the walls to pass by as Bruce did not acknowledge them, he couldn't. A couple wheelchair-bound patients too had tried to cross over him, but they too were forced to go around him.
His ears pick up the sound of someone calling out his name, presumably in a panic "Bruce!" a voice tries to get his attention, but he does not look away from the room. His body refused to listen to him. Selina walks in front of him with watery eyes and tears dripping down her cheeks. She looked to be shaken too, she was jittery, nervous and seemed to be lost in her own storm of thoughts "I came - as soon as I head-..." she struggles to get the words out as she steps forward and wraps her arms around him, bringing him into an embrace and rests her head on his right shoulder.
Her grip around him tightens, it starts to hurt him, but still, Bruce keeps his eyes on that room "Bruce...? What...happened...what...hap-how did this...?" Selina asks, clearly uneasy and saddened. Bruce heard her voice, full of sorrow and pain just like his own thoughts, yet he couldn't gather the strength to respond, his body just wouldn't let him. His mind and body were at odds and they were not finding any common ground between them. One wanted to reach out and bring his arms around Selina and the other part of him wanted to ignore her and drown in his failures.
"Bruce? Can you hear me?" Selina moves back and cups the man's face in her palms as she looks up to her eyes could meet his own "Who did this, Bruce? Who's the bastard that killed Alfred? Please...I need to know...I need to know...please" she pleads with him for an answer, but one never came. Bruce didn't say a thing, he didn't even look at her. He was just still like he has given up, that he is hurt beyond repair. Selina steps on her tip-toes and runs her hand through his hair "BRUCE!" she tries to get him to look at her, but still nothing.
"This isn't funny, Bruce. For the love of god...please say something" she lightly shakes at the man's shoulders "Please..." she begs as she rests her head against his chest "Please...talk to me. I know that you are beating yourself up over this...please don't. This wasn't your fault...please talk to me..." her eyes closed as she wraps her arms around his neck "...Bruce..." she holds him close to her, hoping that he would finally say something. She could feel the pain that he was going through, she knows that Bruce blames himself for it, she knew that Bruce was hurting and that he had just lost the closest thing to family that he had.
She opens her eyes and looks up at him and she sees it. He looked down to her, his eyes meeting her own eyes. Selina steps back as she sees the pure rage in his eyes, pure anguish and more importantly: Nothing. Bruce never had that look in his eyes, no matter how hard things got or what he had lost. The look that he was giving her was not one that belongs to him. It's darker than even Batman's glares, whoever was looking at her right now, it wasn't Bruce, it wasn't Batman...it was something new, something far darker.
"I'm sorry for what happened to Alfred. But I need you to talk to me, please?" she tries to reach him, but still nothing.
"Bruce...?" she tries again.
"...please..." she reaches her hand out to him.
Bruce glares down to her and grabs her wrist. He didn't share a single word with her, but the look in his eyes said it all. It was a warning to her to back off, a look so rage filled that it shook Selina to her very core. This wasn't Bruce. She was sure of it now. He releases his grip on her wrist and turns his back to her and starts to walk off "Bruce!" she calls out his name; he doesn't stop or even acknowledges her voice. He just walks away and leaves her.
Selina softly shakes her head as she knows that she couldn't get through to him. Though all the time that they spent together, Alfred would always mean more to him and was his last safety net from falling into an abyss of pitch black darkness. Alfred was always there to make sure that Bruce never crossed the line, he watched over him as both a father and a mentor. Selina worries over that without Alfred, Bruce may as well end up fading away too.
6: 19 AM
G.C.P.D
Jerome, disguised in an officer uniform casually walks in with his hands in his pockets. He looks around the whole place, it was just as he remembered it: easy to walk into an, even more, easier to walk out. The memories of his last time there brought a grin to his face. He carefully tips his hat to officers who passed him "Good morning" he tells one "How you doing?" he asks another "Don't worry...I hate Mondays too" he says to a third office, all unaware of his identity.
Walking up the steps, Jerome finds himself heading towards the archive room "Bingo" he grins as he pushes open the door and walks into the room which was empty to his liking. He had the time and didn't have to worry about other people looking over his shoulder. He looks around and sees a countless number of filing cabinets "Okay...J...J...J...ah" Jerome steps over to the filing cabinet that caught to his eye. He looks behind him to see if anyone was coming.
Once he was sure that there wasn't. He drags the draw open to be greeted with over a hundred folders "Oh for the love of..." he rolls his eyes as he looks through the names on the folders, looking for his own "Oh...come on. I should be at the front...unless they do it alphabetically, but in this city, It should really be based by sickest" he comments. His eyes spot his folder and pulls it out. He opens it and looks at the papers inside. His look from left to right as he reads them "Let's see...huh...so that's how I came back before...I had a fan club? Hmm...my face... I kidnapped Brucie and took him to a circus and tried to kill him...good. I like that one.
"Trapped in Arkham...been there, done that. Ohhhhh… took the whole city and fell to my death...seems about right" Jerome closes the folder and his eyes catch the glimpse at another folder in the cabinet "Valeska? Ooooo…was I so much of a bad boy that I need two separate folders? About time they recognized me for my..." Jerome lifts out the folder and lets out a disappointed sigh as it was his brother's name "Oh...great. First, he has the nerve to share my good looks and now he is sharing my legacy, what uh...ugly..." Jerome trails off as he opens the folder and was greeted with several pictures of Jeremiah.
One of him back when he still had ginger hair and unaltered skin, another of his ghost-white face with his died hair and the third that was taken after his time in the chemicals and the fourth and final form when he broke out of Arkham "Yikes, you really, really, really, really, really let yourself go. No wonder mom said that I always had the good looks" Jerome begins to read through the file and with mere moments. His eyes were thrown into a fit of rage "Bastard! Son of a bitch...he brought Gotham back into the dark ages? Wait...Batman? Who the hell is Batman?"
"Hmmm. This...is...curious" Jerome hurries his way towards the second filing cabinet of room and picks out the file that he was looking for "Batman? He dresses up as a bat...and people call me crazy" he comments in an amused tone as he grabs the three files and stuffs them under the police jacket that was zipped up. He exits the room and heads out of the department and out onto the streets. It was still the early hours of the day and without came a soft glimmer of light that he approaching the city of Gotham. The sky wasn't fully black, but a dark blue that was slightly getting lighter as the minutes went by.
He walks away from the station and around the corner with a smirk "I got a lot of time to make up for. I'm not letting my brother get all the spotlight. He should know that the family should share. But what to do? Kill a butler? Nah, I already did that. Kidnap Brucie? Nope...I already did that. And I don't like repeating acts...even if it was...another me. Ah, I got it!" Jerome cheers in his own thoughts "I will kill Brucie. In the most spectacular away! No one is busy doing it at the moment, so I don't have to worry about ruining other people's chances"
"But how? It's not like he has a butler to kill anymore. Hold on...my file said that I had a group of loyal followers? Let's see if they're still around" Jerome cackles.
Wayne Enterprise Tower
"Umm, Mr Fox? You have someone here to see you" a female voice notifies Lucius through the phone on his desk.
Lucius was sat behind a large computer as he types on the keyboard next to it. He was slightly sweating and he looked nervous "I don't have any scheduled appointments for today. Please tell them to leave and make an appointment for another day" Lucius replies, his words coming out weak yet almost robotic as he doesn't take his eyes off of the screen in front of him. That should have solved the problem, but the voice responds. Lucius rolls his eyes.
"I tried telling her that, but she insisted...on…" the woman's voice suddenly became more weighted.
"Oh for crying out loud give that here" Lucius hears some sort of scuffle "It's me, Lucius! Selina Kyle...We know each other and I have to talk to you about something really important" Lucius hears Selina voice almost yelling at him through the call. She wasn't quite aggressive in her tone, but she came across as not being there for a fun time. She sounded like she was demanding him to let her in and to see her. Lucius let out a sigh and rubs his closed eyes.
"Let her in" Lucius instructs, standing up and looks towards the door to his office. He sees Selina barge in with her eyes set on him "Ah, Selina. I heard...I heard...about what happened. I know that Alfred meant a lot to you. He meant a lot to me too. I hope you know that we are all here for-" Lucius was cut off as he sees Selina walk around his desk and look at his computer "You to invade our personal information. I heard that different people deal with grief differently but my personal space is still just as...personal"
"Where's Bruce, Lucius?" Selina glares over to the man who gave her a questionable look "I think Bruce is hurting a lot right now. I'm worried that he went off looking for the bastard to killed Alfred" Selina informs Lucius in a worried tone.
"I'm sure that Bruce is hurting...but you can't possibly think that Bruce Wayne is capable of such action and how would I know where he is?"
"Cut the crap, Lucius. I know that you are his tech guy. If anyone would know what's he up to...it would be you. Now. Tell. Me. Where. Bruce. Is. Before I hurt you" she warns him. Lucius rolls back his shoulders and walks towards her.
"Okay...I have been tracking his movement for the past few hours. I don't know why, but he has been heading towards presumed abandoned buildings all around Gotham, he even went underground a couple times. I can't begin to guess just what his intent is" Lucius explains as he steps next to Selina and taps his keyboard. A map of Gotham appears on the screen in front of them with red dots scattered all around the map "The dots indicate the places that he-"
"Yeah, I got that" Selina stops him. She turns her head to him "Is he *suited up*?"
"I can confirm that. My tech shows that he has accessed the Batcave in the last few hours"
"Hold on. Did you just say *Batcave*…? Like a secret lair?" she raised an eyebrow, thinking that Lucius was making a joke in a very inappropriate time.
"Yes, I did. It's based under Wayne Manner" Lucius adds.
"But that blonde bimbo is staying there, I doubt Bruce would risk exposing it to her" Selina interjects.
"There is another entrance not too far away. in the woods behind the manner. That doesn't matter. I'm sure that Bruce is just trying to clear his mind. The last day has been bad for him. Maybe he just needs some time to himself..."
"Lucius, that's the last thing that he needs. You didn't see the look in his eyes. That wasn't Bruce...it wasn't even Batman. When I saw into his eyes...I saw something much darker than either of them. It was like he was a completely different person. Lucius, he didn't even talk to me, he didn't even look at me. Whatever Bruce is up to...I doubt it will be something that he will be able to live with if he is to go through with it" Selina looks back to the screen "Which is the most recent location on the map?"
"Here" Lucius points to the screen and to one of the blinking dots "This one just came up before you entered the room. Are you thinking of going after him?" Lucius inquires as he turns to her "Maybe you might be able to catch him in time before he runs off"
"Lucius...whoever I'm going to find there, I doubt it is going to be Bruce...but I hope that it is" Selina moves away from the desk until Lucius stops her. He pulls out an earpiece and holds it to her. Selina lifts an eyebrow and slowly reaches for it.
"To keep in contact, keep me updated" Lucius sees Selina grab the earpiece and slides it over her ear "Selina, I hate to that guy. But if when you find him...he's...he's...you know. Not the Bruce that we know" he asks her "Maybe we should get Talia involved. She's the only person that I know who can hold her own against him"
"Yeah, sure! Get the woman who wants Bruce to start killing go after him when he's in a really dark place! Great idea, Lucius! I can't see that possibly backfiring" Selina sarcastically replies "And...how do you know about her?" was Selina's next concern.
"Bruce didn't tell you?" Lucius asks, slightly nervous.
"Didn't tell me what?" she shrugs.
"Doesn't matter. Bruce needs our help...even if he doesn't need it. I tried to talk to him through his communicator, but he hasn't said a single thing. I know that he can hear me, but he's not responding. Please, you need to get to him before he makes a massive mistake" Lucius tells her. Selina could see the worry in his eyes, she then realized that the man cared about Bruce a whole lot more than even she thought. It made her hopeful that they could somehow pull it off and bring Bruce back.
Selina nods and begins to head out of the room "Getting my equipment from my apartment will take too long. Looks like I'm going as casual" she thinks to herself. She walks towards the elevator as the secretary glares at her from their earlier interaction. She presses the button on the panel and the elevator stops on the floor. Selina steps in it as the doors slide open. She stands against the wall in the back with her arms crossed "Bruce...please don't do anything stupid...more so than normal"
Wayne Manner
Harleen stares at the television in front of her. She is seated on the couch with a bowl of popcorn in her lap which she picks out handfuls every minute or two. With the remote in hand, she switches between the channels which mostly consist of melodramatic soap operas, a couple crime shows and a few game shows. Harleen was always perplexed by how boring TV could be in a city such as Gotham. She would have thought that there wouldn't be a minute going by without a couple breaking news stories.
Even the News Channels were a bore. Sure there were a couple murders reported on, but most of it was just politics about the dead mayor and Harvey Dent who was supposed to be held in the Gotham City Police Department "For a billionaire you woulda thought that he could afford better channels" she grumbles as she switches the channel again "I'm lonely" she sighs as she takes another mouthful of popcorn "Seriously. I hope Bruce is okay, and Alfred too. I'm way too bored without them" she says while her mouth was still full, almost choking. She fists her chest and spits out one of the pieces of popcorn that's stuck in her throat. She leans her head back as she listens to the TV.
"Batman is a criminal, no better than those other freaks! What gives him the right to go around and act above the law?"
"These people are sick. The last thing they need in some costumed lunatic beating the hell out of 'em"
"Hey! Batman saved my son. I owe him"
"To combat the crime of Gotham. We have to be better than the criminals, not have Batman threaten them with physical violence! What example would that be setting for our children?"
"Those monsters deserve every beating that they get. They are murderers, sex traffickers, rapists! If we really wanted the best for our children, we should let Batman have free rein and actually kill those irredeemable psychos!" Batman is fine in my book!"
"Those were just a few comments on the masked vigilante, known as Batman. The divisive figure has been subject to both praise and criticism by various members of the public. Mayor James was a known detractor of Batman but was praised by the man believed to be his murderer: Harvey Dent. We tried reaching out to Commissioner James Gordon about what actions he and his department will be taking towards the vigilante. No comment has been made at the time of this broadcast, stay tuned for any updates - This is Vicki Vale signing off, back to you, Jack"
"Boring" Harleen groans as two hands place themselves on her shoulders from behind. Startled, Harleen jumps up out of her seat with a gasp. She turns to see Joker stood behind the couch. Dressed in a purple shirt and green waistcoat and purple pants. Harleen's eyes widen as she rests her hand over her chest. She points down to her ankle which the monitoring device was placed which drew his eyes to it. Joker shrugs his shoulders.
"Oh Harley, it's a dud. Just a piece of plastic with an LED light. I had people in the right place make sure of that. It's just for show to make them think that you are being a good girl" Joker reveals as he circles around Harleen.
"Al, puddin' you scared the heck outa me. Please don' go around sneakin' up on a gal like that. You coulda got hurt" Harleen breaths heavily.
"That's half the fun, Harley" Joker looks around the room, noticing just how similar it was to the previous one "Tell me, Harley. How are you enjoying your stay? I hope that you are on your best behaviour, after all, you are their guest" he hums as he sees a chessboard placed on its own table.
"I'm even better now that you're here!" she wraps her arms around him from behind "This place is fantastic. It has a pool, like seventeen bedrooms and over eight bathrooms. A greenhouse and a large garden. This place is amazin'. You're plan worked like a charm!" she chirps as she tightens her arms around his chest. Joker rolls his eyes and forcefully pulls her arms away from him; causing Harleen to nearly trip over. Joker walks towards the chess board that caught his interest.
"Of course it worked, it was my plan. People often look at my madness and disregard my intelligence, they think that I am just simply a mad man. Which is not inaccurate , but I do like to spice thing up every now and then. Bruce, Gordon...they are easy to read and even more easy to manipulate. Bruce's loyalty to his friends has always been his weakness. He is so quick to believe in his friends even when they don't believe in themselves. I always loved that about him"
Umm, Puddin'? Did you know that you dead brother came here last night and kidnapped Bruce's butler? Bruce seemed extremely distraught about it...you don't think that Bruce is going to get himself killed do you? He has no way of fighting someone like him" Harleen worries.
"My peers and I thought that Batman was getting too close to stopping operation: Knightfall before it could begin. So I did the most un-logical thing that I could think off. I set loose my brother to distract Gotham so we would have all the time we needed to get the final pieces in place. The fact that Jerome has already taken Alfred proves that I made the right call" Joker tells Harleen as he now stands next to the table with the chess board "The Knight" he thinks to himself as he sees the Knight chess piece in the middle of the board unlike all the other pieces that were lined up at the corners "Curious"
"Mistah J? If you don't mind me asking, just what is so important about Bruce Wayne to you? I thought that your sights were set on The Batman. I read up on Bruce and your history, but I never thought of you as being one as lingering on the past? I would have thought that your main goal would be to take down Batman. So what makes Bruce so special?" Harleen inquires. Joker slowly twists his head to look at her. A smile creeps on his red-stained lips that creases his white painted face.
"Dear me, my sweet Harley, my naïve Harley. Harley oh what will I do with you? That is for me to know and for you to never ask again...my sweet Harley. This game of ours is between me and him, sure there will be pawns, our castles, our queens" Joker grabs Harleen's hand and brings her closer to him "And Knights" he holds her close to him. She looks her to greet his gaze with a smile of her own "But this is all a game between me and Bruce. It has always been, it's the only thing we both know and deep down he wants that" Joker's grin widens "I have already taken most of his players off the board. He's not beating me this time, but it will be fun to watch him try..."
"Does that mean that I am your queen?" Harleen asks in a flirtatious tone.
"I was going for a chess analogy, but sure, why not?" Joker replies with a hint of sarcasm as he wraps his right arm around her lower back and lowers her down so that he could stare down at her "You have one job, Harley. Use your psychology degree and good looks to keep Bruce and his friends at bay. I doubt Jerome has in him to last three whole days, especially with his survival rate, plus as we are speaking. He is slowly rotting from the inside. Even if he doesn't do himself in, he is bound to die anyway" Joker tells Harleen.
"I saw one of the women that he have a thing for: Selina Kyle, I think her name was. I could see in her body language that she cares deeply for Bruce, and from what I have seen from Bruce. He is not someone that gets touchy any woman that he is attracted to. He only goes out with women that he cares deeply for, ones that he knows that he loves..." Harleen tells Joker as she smiles up at him "There's more..." she coos as Joker pulls her up and takes her hand, lifting it up and twirling her on the spot until she was facing him again. He pulls her in closer until her chest was against his.
"Do tell, my sweet Harley" the man grins.
"There's another woman that Bruce loves. From what I gathered, she works at Wayne Enterprise. She must be quite the contender for Bruce's little heart because poor Selina seems to be jealous of her. Bruce's butler gave me all I needed to know by the look on his face" Harleen bites her bottom lip and lifts an eyebrow, she sees the man's eyes narrow and tilt his head "Give me more time and I can find out who she is. She could be perfect to get Bruce's attention" Harleen wagers.
"Oh Harley, oh Harley..." Joker cups Harleen's chin with his gloved hand "You sure do know how to put a smile on my face" Joker voiced his approval. Harleen repeatedly nods, smiling as she sees the joy in the man's eyes.
A black boot presses itself on the unclean floor and into a small pool of blood as it leaves behind red footprints along his way. Walking forward a cape attached to the man slides across the ground, as it too leaves behind small trails of fin lies of red, swaying from side to side with each step that he takes. The shadowed figure slowly walks through a path of over ten unconscious men, bloodied and bruised as they lie in pools of their own blood. The men were weakly groaning in pain and steadily trying to move, but they had too many broken bones to make a single worthwhile movement. The man lurking in the shadows approaches a workbench with a laptop on it.
He slowly brings his bloodstained black armour-gloved hands to the laptop's keyboard and presses on a few keys; causing multiple taps to pop up on its screen. His chest was reflected on the screen, including the bat symbol that was most prominent on his chest. His eyes look through the new files, all encrypted, heavily. It was clear that someone didn't want him to be looking throw them, and made sure to make it as difficult as possible for him to do so.
"I'm here," Selina tells Lucius through her earpiece as she enters what looks like an abounded Wearhouse, one covered in dust and rust, possibly mould too. Selina had to cover her mouth due to the amount of dust that pollutes the air around her "I think I finally found somewhere even more disgusting than the narrows. If Bruce is here, then I really want to find him soon, before I drown in the dirt" she sees that the shutter to the next room was opened halfway with a trail of blood leading out of it "Ugh...gross"
"The tracker says that he should still be here" Lucius informs her.
"Good, cuz I would hate to be doing this for no reason" Selina kneels down and manoeuvres to the other side of the half-open shutter, while avoiding the blood on the floor the best that she could, but she still got a red stains on the sides of her jeans "I really shouldn't have brought my best jacket" she stands back up once she was on the other side. The place was dark, not pitch black, but the only source of light came from the few and far between small windows on the sides and some from the entrance.
Her ears were overblown by the sounds of dripping water from a number of pipes all around her that resulted in large puddles of dirty water that makes the floor slippery, not to the mention the trails of blood that mixes with the water to create an even more foul smell that burns her nose. The dirt, mould and mix of stained liquids made the whole place look unsettling, accompanied by the lack of a decent light source only made it look even worse.
"Any sign of him?" Lucius asks suddenly which almost made Selina jump.
"I'll tell you when I see him" she hisses. She reaches behind her waist and pulls out a small flashlight which she turns on. The flashlight added some much-needed light, but still not enough to give a decent view of her surroundings, only having a clear view in front of her. After around thirty seconds of walking, she spots something on the floor in the corner of her eye. She focuses her eyes and walks towards the point of interest. She sees a man lying on his front, lying in a puddle of blood.
Her green eyes narrow as she sees a metal bat-shaped object stuck in the man's upper back. Selina sees a couple loose teeth around him, his left arm looks slanted and was bent in the wrong way. Selina bats her eyes in shock at the man's current state "Lucius, I found something, or someone I guess" she notifies the man on the other end. She shines her flashlight over the man's body. Spotting even more cuts across his legs. From behind, there was a trail of blood that looked like the man dragged himself away from whatever attacked him.
"Is it Bruce?" Lucius abruptly asks in a worried tone.
"No..., but I found his handy work. Some poor schmuck found himself on the receiving end on him. He looks in quite a bad shape" Selina answers.
"Is he alive? Check for a pulse"
"Got it" Selina kicks the man in the sides with her heels; causing the man to groan. Selina shrugs her shoulders "Yep, still breathing. Good, that means Bruce hasn't crossed that line yet...*yet* being the point of focus here" Selina steps over the man and carries on her way "Still...I haven't seen Bruce rough up anyone that badly in my time knowing him"
"Do you think that Bruce could actually take a life? The Bruce that I know could never do such a vicious act" Lucius comments.
"You didn't see what I did. When I looked into his eyes, I saw many things, but Bruce was not one of them" Selina gently adjusts her flashlight as she sees a rat scuttle past the corner of her eyes. The dark-haired woman looks around, focusing her vision from left and right. She sees a few more men that were on the ground, bleeding and beaten all the same as each other, she could count that there were around eight or nine men, but the limited light source may have thrown off her count "Oh...Bruce..." she whispers to herself, not disheartened by the sight before her, but by the fact that the man she knew was responsible for it.
Selina quickly looks to up to the next level as she hears loud, heavy steps that echo throughout the whole place "He's still here" she confirms. She slowly and quietly makes her way to the stairs that take up to the next level of the Wearhouse. The constant leakage of the pipes sure didn't help to calm her nerves, she couldn't believe it, but she was actually scared of Bruce. She must be, that is the only to explain the reason behind her tip-toeing up the stairs, being quiet as a mouse.
"Selina, from my tracker; he should be on top of you" Lucius warns her.
"Why is that never meant in a fun way," she says under her breath. She holds the railings with her hand to guide her upward "It's way too dark; I can't see a thing, even with the flashlight" she notes as she notices that though she was indeed much closer to the light coming from the windows, the upper floor was much more dangerous place with missing parts of the floor and much more creaky wooden floor, every step that she took could make him aware of her presence.
Her ears prick as she hears the sound of a cape flap from up high, she slightly shudders as she knows all too well the origin of that sound. Now she knew that he knows that she was there. Selina gulps as she finally stands on the second floor "Please, I know that you are hurting. He meant a lot to me too but doing this...doing this won't change that he's gone! Please...he wouldn't want you to be doing this! Talk to me, I'm here for you. You have me and your friends...we can get the guy who killed him, but Alfred wouldn't want you to do it this way. He would be ashamed of-" Selina's eyes widen as a metal bat-shaped object was thrown at her and knocked the flashlight right out of her hand and onto the floor on the lower level.
"What the hell is your problem!? I'm trying to help you! Lucius and I are worried sick about you" Selina, now drenched in the darkness of the room and was practically blind. She took her steps more carefully and agilely, trying to avoid the weak parts of the floor which she stood on "You have always been overdramatic , but this is a whole new level. I saw those men down there, that was brutal, even for you. I'm begging you, you haven't killed yet, but if keep at this...this..., it will only be a matter of time and I know what can happen to you when you take a life..." Selina trips over a piece of wood hanging out from the floor. She falls onto her front and looks ahead of her.
"I know how tempting that it can be, but do not give in to the darkness...you were already on the verge before, but if you go through with this...you will fall into the abyss...And I'm scared that I won't be able to get you back..." she stands back up as she holds her shoulder "Please..." she whispers on the verge of tears. She hears the sound of the cape flapping again and turns her head. Standing in front of the windows was him. He had his back to her as he faces the window.
Selina was shown the sight of his long cape and the back of his cowl, he stood with his arms by his sides. Selina takes one single step towards him. It was hard to tell, but she would guess that they were just under five away from each other "I am asking you to stop this and come back with me. You need omeone to talk to...going on your own after losing him. You are going to lose yourself, please, please. You shouldn't be out doing this when you have so much anger..." she takes another step and notices that didn't even budge at the sound of her voice like he didn't care that she was trying to reach him.
Selina knew that she only had one last card to play. She takes a deep breath as she witnesses the man's silhouette overlapping over the window "BRUCE, comes back!" she cries. She sees the figure slightly move as his head inches to the side. But it was all futile. She tries to run towards him, but the shadowed figure jumps forward and dives right out of the window; shattering it. Selina runs to the now broken window. She looks out to the ground and sees that he was nowhere to be seen.
"...Bruce..." she sighs, lowering her head.
"How's Bruce? Please tell me that you managed to reach him" Lucius asks.
"No, I couldn't. Because I doubt that Bruce is even in there, it's Batman. He's in control" Selina closes her eyes.
Gotham Graveyard
"This can't be happening," Jim Gordon says as he stands in front of a recently dug up gravestone, but not just any gravestone. One that belonged to one of the city's most infamous murderers: Jerome Valeska. In all these years since the moment he witnessed him fall to his death, he never thought for a second that he would ever see him again, but he should have known that it would happen eventually. Dressed in a black suit under a brown trench coat, the commissioner was still in disbelief at the whole ordeal. Right now, both of the Valeska brothers were free and presumably in the city, waiting to make their move.
"Unbelievable" Harvey Bullock makes his way beside him with a coffee in hand "I'm really hoping that it is just the actions of his whack-a-do followers. I heard that there are a few of them left around the city. Kids these days, am I right?" Harvey tried to use a humorous tone, but the face on the commissioner's face clearly shows that he was in no laughing mood. Bullock sighs as he too looks at the empty grave "I guy can dream, can't he?"
"Believe me, I want that to be true more than anyone, but why would what is left of his loyalists choose now to desecrate his grave? Can't be to bring him back as he would just be a pile of bones by now and his brain was sliced up the last time he died. There must be a reason behind this, there is no way that Jerome just forced his way out of his grave. It's impossible" Jim kneels down as he overlooks the grave "The last time we thought Jerome to be alive, Jeremiah was behind it. He could be using this as a distraction to keep off of the trail of the escapees and whatever they are planning"
"There's a but coming, isn't there?" Harvey sighs, already knowing his partner's answer.
"But..." Gordon replies "...This is Gotham, and it wouldn't be the first time someone came back from beyond the grave, despite the circumstance. At this moment, we will have to operate under the assumption that Jerome does indeed...live again" Jim looks to Harvey.
Bullock face-palms "Why can't a good guy come back for once? I'll do anything for someone like Marilyn Monroe come back, now she a resurrection that I can behind" he looks to his side as the commissioner stands back up "How are we going to go about this one?"
"Hard to say" Jim confesses "If we alert the public, that could send Jerome's followers out looking for him or make it easy for him to find them. We need to keep this on the down-low. We can't risk scaring the public even more than they already are" Jim places a hand over Harvey's shoulder "Send out a BOLO for Jerome Valeska to the G.C.P.D" Jim's blinks in confusion as he feels the man's shoulders, it felt way too rough to be normal, even though Bullock's uniform.
"Uh...Jim. You okay, pal?" Harvey questions.
"Yeah, sorry...I'm just one edge lately" he removes his hand from the man's shoulder "I finally got permission to move Dent out of the precinct. I just need to tell him, Bruce already said that he was more than welcome to stay at his place for now. Once I'm done with the papers; I'll be escorting him there" The commissioner nods as he walks away from Harvey, sliding his hands into the pockets of his overcoat. Bullock's eyes narrow, and his face shows an annoyed expression.
"Damn it, the boss ain't going to like this" he spits.
The commissioner looks down to his sides as he hears his phone ring. Thinking that it was Lee, he pulls out his phone and flips it open and answers it. Seeing that is was an unknown number told him that it wasn't anyone that he knew "This is Commissioner James Gordon. Who may I ask that I am speaking to?"
"Greetings, Commissioner. I work at Gotham General and I have found something quite peculiar about one of the deceased patients. I know that you don't really get involved in matters like these, but I feel that you need to see this" an unfamiliar voice tells him.
"How peculiar?" James couldn't help but ask. With the looming dread of Jerome back, he had to take any lead that he could "What's the patient's name? And how did you get my personal number" he asks the man on the other end of the call.
"Please excuse the sudden intrusion. It was too important to wait around, I asked your wife and she gave me your direct number. The patient's name is an Alfred Pennyworth. He was brought in last night, but died during the operation"
"Alfred?" Jim whispers.
Selina kneels down in the middle of what seemed like an endless route in the woods "Are you sure about this, Lucius? Are sure that came back to this lair of his?" she brushes the dirt off what looked like a mental door planted in the ground. The sky over Gotham has darkened as time passed, what once was a light grey sky was now an almost black sky, full of clouds. The moon shines brightly over the night, it was made even more prevalent by the lack of starts in the sky.
"The Batcave houses all of his important utilities, his belt can only hold so much. The only other entrance is in Wayne Manner and with his constant company there, he couldn't risk using the entrance there. Bruce was smart and thought ahead to install a second entrance here out back. It's so far out that no one could possibly stumble across it" Lucius replies on the other end. Selina rolls her eyes as she brushes away the remaining layer of dirt that conceal that hatch.
"I honestly don't care about that. Did Bruce come back here?" she sees a keypad on the corner of the hatch, which looked like it was built into it "I need the access code" the dark-haired woman informs Lucius as she moves her hand close to it "The sooner we find out what Bruce is doing, the sooner we know how to prevent him from making a terrible mistake" she adds.
"Of course, I want to make sure that he is alright too. Listen, Bruce is a very paranoid man when it comes to security, especially the *bat* kind. The passcode rotates on a twelve-hour basis. If the wrong code is entered, the hatch is welded closed. Going by today's date and time, the code should be...ah: 11,25,05, 12 " Lucius replies.
"11,25,05, 12 ? What are they supposed to make a word or something?" she enters the code on the lock. The lock flashes green as it bleeps. Selina hears the sound of something moving from below, something on the lines of gears turning. She brings her hand down and grabs the handle and presses it down. hearing a click, she pulls up the handle and the hatch along with it. She stands back up and looks the stone steps that lead down into a narrow hallway that was lit up by blue lights going all the way down it. Unbeknownst to her before the hatch had time to close, a yellow-gloved hand takes hold of the handle and small chuckle escapes the lips of its wearer.
"The numbers when converted in corresponding letters of the alphabet make the names of his most trust allies" Lucius replies.
"Oh, let me guess. The code was *Dent*, right?" Selina walks down the steps and into the dimly lit corridor "Huh...didn't I already walk enough today?" she comments as she makes her way down the undergrounds. She has never been a fan of tight spaces, they made her feel so enclosed and that's something that cats dislike a lot. She needed enough space to be free, able to move how she liked. But traversing the narrow undergrounds put her in such a vulnerable position like she was trapped in a cage. Her movements were severely limited which means her options were too.
"Actually the name is yours"
"Oh...I'm one his most trusted friends? Cool" Selina keeps on track for almost five whole minutes. Her feet were starting to ache and the claustrophobia was starting to get the best of her, as hard as she tried to conceal her panicked state, she still found it harder to breathe, which was in her head as the oxygen around the place hasn't declined, it was just the same as when she first entered. She figured that Bruce would have fitted the underground.
She stops when she sees that the one long narrow hallway that she has been walking around splits into three separate paths. She lets out a loud sigh "I should've gone to the Manner and knocked out blondie. This whole thing is taking forever..." she groans, tapping her earpiece she looks back to the three diverging paths "Lucius, you could've told me about the maze down here. I know you told me that Bruce apricates his privacy, but this is getting ridiculous" her unbridled tone did wonders to express her discomfort.
"Apologies, Bruce really is a perfectionist. Keep going straight, after a few minutes. You should run into another set of paths, this time take a right" Lucius guides her.
"If I wasn't doing this for Bruce, I would turn back right this second" Selina takes the straight ahead and walks down the path "I'm lucky to have you talking in my ear like Jiminy Cricket, I would get completely lost without you" the dark-haired woman continues down the narrow hallway.
A few minutes later, and once Selina was out of sight. Joker walks down the narrow undergrounds with a blood-red smirk formed by his lips. He approaches the diverging paths. He slowly shakes his head and holds a cell phone to his ears "Which one is the true way?" he gives a light chuckle as awaits a response.
"To the right, boss" Lucius replies.
"Thank you, Mr Fox" Joker gives takes the right path "That chip in your head did you real good"
Gotham General
Jim Gordon walks through the ward, a barren area that was almost void of people, with the exception of a handful of patients and an even less number of nurses. He looks ahead as he sees a man walk towards him. He figures that he must be one of the doctors and the one who told him to come here. The Doctor was old, not near retirement old, but his hair was grey and he had his few shares of wrinkles. Dressed in a white lab coat over a dark-blue shirt.
The doctor holds out his hand towards the commissioner. Jim reaches out and shakes the man's hand "Thank you for coming, Commissioner. I know how busy you can be in a city like this. I'm Kirk Langstrom, I'm the head doctor on this floor. I hope you will understand that I would not have called you here if it wasn't important" Kirk lifts his hands towards one of the empty rooms "Please come with me" he and Jim walk into the room. Gordon slightly becomes nervous as he sees Langstrum lock the door and close the blinds to conceal them from the outside.
"Doctor?" Jim asks, slightly unnerved by the man's desire for such privacy.
"Sorry, but you are the only person that I can trust. You have a history of never giving into those criminals" Langstrum walks around Jim and stands next to one of the tables in the room with a folder on it "Listen, Commissioner. I know that you have had your fair share of...unusual happenings in your times, but I hope that you will pay this with that learned trust of the strange and unknown" Kirk opens the folder and takes out two x-ray scans.
"Doctor Langstrom, you told me that this has to do with Alfred Pennyworth? He was a good friend of mine, did you find anything that can lead to a suspect in his murder? Have you seen Bruce Wayne? I thought he would have been the one to tell me himself" Jim asks.
"Bruce Wayne was here, but I off shift. He was gone by the time that I clocked in, and for the death of Alfred Pennyworth...it wasn't a murder" Kirk answers as he places both of the X-Ray images under a lamp "During the operation, the staff noticed something unusual about him" Langstrom grabs Jim's arm and leads him closer to the pictures. Kirk points between them "So we decided to take a couple X-Rays to see if we could find out the problem, do you see the difference?"
Jim leans down at the two pictures, they both look to be an X-ray of someone's spine, one was slightly misshaped and slanted with a metal plate, but the other looked perfectly fine "One looks fractured" he comments as he looks over his shoulder to Kirk "Who does the second one belong to?"
"They were both taken from Alfred Pennyworth, one month apart. I usual had appointments with his every few months to check on his recovery, I would check his vitals and his spine. I took that one when I last saw him" Kirk points to the image of the fractured spine "I checked on how he was and how his movements were. Though he recovered greatly from his back injury, his movement was still halted. He couldn't run or compete in any activities that include sudden movements" the doctor looks back to Jim.
"What are you saying?" Gordon was slightly mistrustful of him.
"This one was taken a couple hours ago" Kirk points at the X-Ray of the perfectly looking spine "His spine was back to normal, perfect even. The metal plating for support is gone and looks like it was never planted there in the first place" the grey-haired man stresses "I thought that it was a body double, so I checked his fingerprints and it was Alfred's" Langstrom takes out another sheet from the folder and rests it over the X-Rays "A nearly perfect match"
"Nearly?" Gordon lifts an eyebrow.
Langstrom nods "On the surface, they are a perfect match, but looking more into it, the DNA almost comes off as corrupted. Some parts match Alfred's perfect, other parts are completely different" he points to the sheet which draws the commissioner's attention "Knowing the irregularities in this case we rushed to the post-mortem examination and found that several of his organs were heavily decayed, which was not the case when I last met with Mr Pennyworth, this kind of dissipation of one's organs is impossible in that time frame"
"What are you trying to say, Doctor?" Jim questions.
"This wasn't Alfred, it is impossible"
Undergrounds
Selina rolls her eyes as she looks at a dead end that was in front of her "Lucius...I'm at the end of the path. Are you sure that this is even the right way? I felt like I was walking away from Wayne Manner" she stresses, turning on her heels as she holds her earpiece "Hello? Lucius, I'm at a dead end. I have been walking for over thirty minutes for nothing...you best hope that I don't run into you while I'm mad" she retreads her steps as she heads towards the starting point of the undergrounds.
"Sorry for the delay, Selina. I had to deal with a couple people at Wayne Enterprise; Balancing my role of head of Research and Development and helping out Bruce can really be quite daunting at the time. You said that the path led to a dead end? Oh, that's right..." Lucius replies in a strange tone "Apologies, I have been so worried about everything that I only went at the read the blueprints backwards. Go back to the first divergence and take the right, then go straight ahead"
"Don't sweat it, Lucius. I'm worried about Bruce too" Selina understood the reason for Lucius' blunder. He is going through a lot with the loss of Alfred and the thought of losing Bruce too. Selina was under the same strain. Her thoughts were often clouded too, what should be easy to make decisions suddenly turn to looming calls of her own judgment that feels like she is carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. Every thought she had suddenly felt heavier which weighed down her spirit "Just please try and keep yourself on track, I need all the help that I can get when it comes to getting Bruce back"
"Don't worry. I'm here for you"
Selina makes her way back and takes the path which she was told to. It felt like nearly an hour passes by as she keeps at it and eventually lands at another dead end, but this time, she could tell that there was something different about the wall. It looked way too clean, too new. She was sure that she had found the entrance to Bruce's supposed secret lair. She still had a hard time taking that seriously, it was hard for her to imagine that the man that she knew would have a hidden lair like in the movies.
She gently moves her hand over the surface of the wall "Lucius, I'm here, I think. If you would be so kind and tell me how to open it, it would be greatly apricated" she requests from the man on the other end of the line as she waits for him to answer.
"You don't do anything, Selina. I'm opening it from my end, a moment please"
"You can do that?" Selina says as she waits for him to do it,
"The Batcave's systems are also run through me at Wayne Enterprise, they are just as mine as they are Bruce's" the wall slowly splits apart and reveals another flight of stars which worked wonders to increase Selina's blood pressure. She coins a frown as she drags herself up to the metal stairs. Hearing the small clanks with each step that she took. Her feet were killing her, she wouldn't be surprised if she had a few blisters from today due to the amount of constant walking that she did, worse of all half of it wasn't even needed and only wasted her time.
"Oh, Lucius...how the hell does Bruce use that entrance on a daily basis?" Selina sighs.
"He uses the Batcycle which the undergrounds were designed for" Lucius replies as he hears a loud groan come from Selina.
"Why couldn't I use it? That would have this a cake walk" Selina wines as she reaches the top of the stairs and finds herself standing in a dimly lit room with blue lights surrounded the place. True to its name, Selina could see parts of a cave that intercepts the man-made metal platforms "Okay...this is actually cool. I will give him that" she thinks to herself. Her eyes look at a small laptop residing on a metal workbench a few metres from her.
"The Batcycle was built to only work with the Batsuit. We didn't want a grant theft bat on our hands, especially with the amount that the thing costs" Selina hears Lucius explain as she walks over to the laptop. She looks at its screen as sees a number of files, all open and they looked important. Selina looks around her, at any other point of interest. But at the moment the only thing that caught her eye was the laptop. She couldn't help but notice how low tech it was compared to the rest of everything in the lair.
"I think I found why Bruce was at that rundown Wearhouse, I'm guessing that he took this, which means he must have come back here at some point" Selina informs Lucius. She brings her hands to the keyboard as she looks through the files "Huh, these files look like they have something to do with that Black Mask fellow, Sophia Falcone...even stranger, there are files named: Operation: Knightfall, do you know what that is?" she inquires as she scrolls through the multiple tabs until she saw all of them.
"Knightfall? Bruce told that it is a plan formed to kill him"
"That would have been something useful to know beforehand" Selina walks over to a large screen that looked like to be built into the wall. Her green eyes look at the screen and she sees something that she was not expecting. It a cornucopia of pictures, all of Jerome Valeska which drew her suspicion as she knew that he has been dead for quite some time. For a split second, she thought that they could be pictures of his brother, but she quickly dismisses the idea as she sees Jerome's name on the pictures.
"I think I found something...I think that Bruce is looking for Jerome Valeska...which is impossible..." Selina hears footsteps from behind her "Bruce, I am so glad that you-" she turns her head only to be whacked across the face with a handgun. Selina was knocked to the ground as she looks up ghoulish-looking man with grins at her "Jeremiah? How the hell did you-" she was knocked to the ground again by the handgun. Joker stands over her and lets loose a small chuckle.
"Oh sweetie, oh poor little sweetie...I have my ways" Joker kneels down and softly brushes the handgun across Selina's right cheek "I wasn't planning on having company, but I guess poor little Bruce must have finally gone batty. See, I was just coming here to see to business, but I then found out that my brother kidnapped Bruce's butler and killed him. That bastard stole my thunder" Joker shrugs as he looks behind him "...That would be the case...if that was really Bruce's pristine butler, luckily for me I made sure to make a switch so none of the others could outdo me"
"What the hell are you talking about? Lucius! Jeremiah is-" Selina screams. Joker raises an eyebrow as he brings his left hand around her neck and squeezes. Joker grins as he lifts the handgun in his other hand and gently waves it around. Selina's face reddened by the lack of oxygen.
"I could kill you right and now, but Bruce won't be able to see it...so you should count yourself lucky. So here's the deal, Bruce thinks that my dear brother killed his butler and has gone on the path of revenge. If we don't hurry, he will end up breaking his golden rule and may kill Jerome" Joker slants his head as he moves the gun under the woman's cheek "And we can't have that. The game hasn't even started and Bruce is already losing it" he relaxes his grip on her neck, giving Selina enough air to talk.
"Why should I trust a single word that you say after all that you have done, all the sick and twisted things, you shot me in the spine, crippled me! You would want to break Bruce the most, you would love for Bruce is break his rule and start killing" she spits.
"Of course I would, but only if I am responsible for it, that's our special bond...and I will not let anyone take that away from us" Joker leans closer to Selina "I remember you...well I think I do. Everything before the chemical bath is...all a blur. Some parts are as clear as day but other parts are outright gone from my mind" he licks his lips "It's hard to tell just what is real and what isn't? As this Jeremiah that I was once...I don't recall him, was he even real? Am I even real?" Joker rolls his eyes to the side "Does it even matter? In the grand schemes of things, will we even matter? I rather not wait to find out...I will make my own mark on history"
"You're crazy..." Selina hisses.
"Oh dear, flattery will not get you anywhere" Joker tilts his head "As I was saying before you rudely interrupted, Bruce is going to go and try and kill my brother, so here's the plan. You are going to stop him, we can't have Bruce breaking his golden before the main event, can we?" he grins "Jerome should only have a couple more days in him at most, so you can be damn sure that he will want to go out with a bang, and knowing him, he'll try to outclass me. Go...and stop him, stop Bruce and go off into the sunset for your happy ever after...until I come and kill you..."
"What's to stop me from killing you right now? I will tell Bruce about you..., where is the real Alfred? You better tell me if you know what is good for you" Selina narrows her eyes.
"In due time...once I take my turn. You will see, and you won't be telling Bruce about this little encounter...since you won't remember it. I have already rigged the board to my favour, now I can take Bruce's luscious queen...oh yes...you will do quite nicely..." Joker turns his head "Oh...Mr Tetch would you please introduce yourself to the lovely lady?" Joker chuckles. Selina looks as she sees another man step out from the cover in front of her.
"Callooh callay, a new friend to play! Oh dear, I hope you can withstand my little game as you will soon enter wonderland" The Mad Hatter rubs his palms together. He reaches into his front pocket and pulls out a metal stopwatch "Oh please do pay attention, as we reform you to your reinvention! Tick Tock, keep your eyes on the clock, I will tell you when to stop!" Jervis cheers.