I know it has been a bit folks but hopefully this makes up for it! Enjoy the read, trying to get things back to usual soon...ish.
- The Fallen Sun
There was something wrong with the Grin and Bare It as soon as he entered. Jonny didn't know why, but it felt like there was this unnatural gloom in the main lobby. It was clear Marcus, Lou and Micah all felt the same thing when they entered. They all shared a look and they went off in pairs. Marcus and Micah went around one way and he and Lou went towards the bar. The 'tender was a tall man, broad shouldered, one eye swollen shut and had a fresh cut on his lower lip. The rest of him looked spotless though. Jonny slunk into a seat while Lou took his time chatting out a few women hanging out at the end of it, not surprising Jonny in the least.
"So… what happened to you?"
Jonny was given a one eyed glare before he grunted. "Some stupid tourist thought it'd be fun to mess with the girls," his accent was thick and Czech, but Jonny got the bulk of it, "so I stomped on his head until he stopped. His friend smashed by face with a bottle in kind and he got stomped too."
"Ah, gives a bit of the doom and gloom vibe when I walked in."
"Fights in usually quiet bars do that." He shrugged a shoulder in a uncaring manner. "Drink, comrade?"
"Strongest whiskey you have on tap" mulled over a thought, "two fingers worth."
He could smell it before it was even poured into his glass. He sipped at it, taking a look around the room. There weren't as many bodies as he hoped for potential recruitment. Marcus and Micah were chatting up a couple of toughs playing pool and Lou seemed to be getting some luck with some information from the two tipsy women. Marcus was fist bumping the two toughs while they had a laugh before they started to make their way over. Going from four to eight in one stop? Jonny figured it would be more then enough to get this smash and grab done ahead of schedule.
"Jonny this is Rick, Neil, Wes and Terrance, folks call him Terry. They seem eager to help us with our little gig. How goes the whole greased palm?"
Jonny offered a small smile. "Not quite yet but I'll get my hands dirty with that particular part of the job."
Lou came over, a woman on either shoulder. "I think these two can help, J."
He gripped his glass a bit tighter, the only J was a 'Mr. J' and that made him take a heavier swallow of the potent booze. He hissed out his frustration. "Other then morale support, how do you mean, Lou?"
"Well, Marietta here actually shags one of the scientists working for WayneTech on the reg' often brings her friend Linda here. She has an appointment with him tonight."
The hair on the back of his neck went up. Finding muscle was one thing, but getting information for a particular raid requiring a scientist from WayneTech to get access? He wasn't one to enjoy convenience, made it too easy, less fun and made him way more suspicious. When he opened his mouth to tell Lou to ditch the ladies smoke went up in the room, he heard glass breaking, and all hell broke loose.
There was something to be said about being on the job again, the wound on his flank ached something fierce, but Gregory couldn't be bedridden any longer. He needed to do something and Bruce reached out for his help on a raid on the ones that got away from the Wayne Security. He enjoyed his red, white and blue get-up but Gregory found himself enjoying the way the Batsuit felt on him. Of course he wasn't the only Batman on patrol tonight. Bruce and his upgraded suit lead the warpath, crashing through a window on a swung grapple before Gregory leapt through to follow. The large man at the bar stormed in front and went toe to toe with Batman and even with his suit Batman was pressed for a moment. Gregory swooped in, curled around Batman's hip and slammed his elbow into his knee. The large man buckled and Batman took him out with a flying knee to his chest and a quick strike along the jaw, splattering blood along the wall. The smoke obscured the vision of most of the other patrons in the Grin but Gregory's suit, and he assumed Bruce's, both had thermal version in their cowls. Gregory had to adjust for a moment when he first entered but quickly adjusted. Another thug tried to bring down a bat on his elbow but Gregory stood, tucked inside of the strike to ram his shoulder into the man's chest. A spinning roundhouse kick later the man was sprawled on the ground.
"Fuck, fuck call the boss!" he heard one of them cry out.
Two women were cowering by the bar. Four men were running out the front door and the other three seemed to stand their ground. Gregory had to commend them for their bravery.
"Go after them," he muttered to Bruce over the comms, "these three will be a nice warm up."
Bruce rotated with him, putting him in front. Gregory launched into them, both legs outstretched to either side of him in a dual kick before he tucked into the air and slammed his heel into the third man's chest. He landed and spun on his wrist, letting his leg lead to trip the three of them up. The man he then faced, in the process of being tripped, was grabbed by him hauled onto his shoulders and with a grunt of effort he slammed the man's back onto the ground. The other two thugs recovered and Gregory leapt back into them. Both swung, punched and kicked with fair basic training but he had a better teacher and many years of field experience while he served. He caught a swinging arm and with a hard tug down onto his shoulder he heard the bone crack and the man squeal in agony. The other man landed a blow on his armored chest, but not with enough force to bother him. Gregory caught the next blow, sent an elbow led uppercut into his chin before he palm struck along his chin and jabbed him hard into his nose sending the man on the ground. Gregory was panting quietly, but he could feel the grin under his mask. Now it was time to catch up with Batman.
They didn't even get to their car.
Bruce slammed down on the hood of it as he landed from three floors up. The weight of his exoskeleton suit made his armored appearance all more intimidating. The four men drew pistols and opened up on him but the shots all pinged off his suit as he approached. He needed to scare them, they were more keen to spill the truth scared out of their minds. Three of them were indeed terrified but the fourth looked familiar. The scar along his jaw and the dead look in his eye took him a moment but Bruce was surprised to see Jonny Frost up and alive. All of his sources said he was dead. He didn't dwell too hard on it though as he launched into the thick of them. He grabbed the hand and gun of one of the thugs, crushing it and making the man buckle. He kicked him in his leg and tossed him aside into a wall. The others drew knives, the first marred his armor and the second dug into a joint in the elbow but he yanked it out and let it drop to the ground. Jonny just stood there, reloading his pistol at a casual pace. He was waiting for something. Or someone.
He quickly dispatched the other two thugs. A forearm caved in part of the first man's cheek and jaw and the second's arm was broken with a quick pull and fist meeting the joint before he struck the elbow to ruin the arm entirely with a sickening crunch. He tossed them both aside as he approached. He grabbed Jonny by the tie he wore and lifted him. Jonny made a choking sound before Batman used his arm to pin him against the wall.
"Where have you been Jonny?" his warbled voice snarled. "I was told you were dead."
"Doesn't matter who brought me back, Bat. It matters who I called."
"And who is-"
He stumbled to the side as he was struck suddenly. Jonny scrambled from his grip and fled to the other car in the alleyway pulling his gun up again. The man in front of him was taller then he expected, his hair was cut short. His eyes were covered by a pair of odd looking goggles while he wore a leather jacket, dark dress shirt and a blood red tie. He reached his hands up to adjust his gloves. Batman could see the disturbing looking grin on his lips.
"Thankfully I decided to stay close, Jonny. I had a feeling with such a high profile robbery the Grin may be watched."
Jonny mutely nodded.
He didn't know the face all too well, but the voice sounded vaguely Italian. A scowl pulled beneath the metallic helm and he rushed forward. The small man rushed to meet him and when Batman punched forward he found his blow deflected and one ringing out against his chest. He em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"felt the blow beneath the metallic layering and he stumbled back. That grin on the goggled man was still there, taunting him.
"You'll find that I'm not like most of your fickle foes, Batman. I've waited for this for so long!"
The smaller man launched forward, leading with a spinning roundhouse that Batman weaved back from but he saw a fist curling beneath the spin. The blow against his helm rang out and he stumbled back again, shaking his head. He blocked and dodged the man's quick, sure strikes. He had fought many people before but this man seemed to be better trained then them all, suspiciously so. He blocked a forearm with his own and his kick was matched. The man didn't seem bothered by the bulky metal meeting his practically bared legs. His punched was deflected away and he batted aside the counter elbow.
He saw over the man's shoulder Gregory leap on Jonny from behind. The two were trading blows themselves but he couldn't move to help. Each movement he and his foe made were matched, traded, or one getting a brief advantage before they recovered. The shorter man leaned back from his next cross and then jabbed twice beneath his arm. The metal absorbed the blow but he felt it pinch his arm. He scowled and his knee bulled forward, briefly stumbling the man back while he let the arm reset itself with a painful pop.
Jonny was caught, subdued by Gregory and his associate leapt at the man from behind. The sudden snap kick back caught him off guard, but his arms were brought up in a cross to absorb some of the force. He was sprawled on his back and the goggled man leapt up and tried to bring his knee down onto his head. Gregory rolled aside and he went into a handstand, kicking out. The man caught the blow but didn't catch the boot that caught him in the chest. He went into a roll and stood up, tearing the cuffs off of
Jonny before the pair of them stood up together.
"…Boss, all due respect, we need an out."
"Thankfully I have it."
When he and Gregory leapt forward again and swung at them both they both ducked out of the way and disappeared beneath the bar. They both were on the run now and when Gregory gave pursuit Batman grasped his shoulder, nearly forcing him off his feet with the sudden weight.
"Let them go. We have plenty of others to get information out of. We have their faces now, rest will fall into place soon."
Philo cursed beneath his breath as Jonny drove his personal car back to his headquarters. He slammed the seat once and again. He had him! He had the Bat dead to rights! If it wasn't for Jonny and the stand in he may have gotten him. His enhancements could focus on one target at a time effectively, but split the attention too much and it became problematic. Jonny knew this as well. He reached up and his hands combed through his sweat soaked hair as a shaky breath was forced from him.
"You had him. Didn't know there were two Bats."
"There's only one," Philo grated out, "the original was in the armor and the stand in is that, a stand in. A copy. Pales in comparison to the real prize."
"Yet he still beat me handedly."
Philo didn't consider that. Jonny was a fair hand in a brawl, more then a couple of street fights and he and Jonny cleaned up. The stand in then had training. Was it from the Bat himself? Elsewhere? Either case it would be dangerous. That meant he needed more allies and soon. He rubbed at his chin in thought, repressing the grin that was still on his lip.
"Implies military training when it comes to hand to hand at least," he murmured, "not too many of those left in Gotham I think. We'll put that on the back burner for now though right now we need to regroup. The Bats have seen us and our faces. We're going to need allies and I think I know just the man to help."
Jonny looked over at him, letting his eyes narrow.
"Not him, no, that sort of desperation hasn't been achieved yet. Black Mask I think will be best. He has the excess money, power, and men to throw at the Bats until we can take them out permanently."
"Fair. I hope he's open to talks."
He grinned at Jonny. "Oh don't worry. He will."