Chapter 1
Black Gate
After two days of walking, walking endlessly on a road in the middle of winter, all snow constantly snowing on me; I finally made it to the village. I met Talia's servant at a bar and the servant led me to an underground base up at the mountains. She opened a gate to let me in and when I entered the base, I spotted a man in green cloak with Talia standing next to him as several assassins appeared and it seems that they don't take kindly to strangers or intruders for that matter.
"Father?" I asked, was it the man who had been waiting for me all those years. As the assassins went to take me out, Talia intervened.
"Wait" Talia commanded then turned to me. "So, the prodigal son has arrived. Are you the one that will join the League of Assassins and take your side at your fathers?" I nodded which caused my father to twitch a smirk but quickly his face expression remained blank.
He then said something in Arabic witch fortunately for my sister to translate the words.
"What are you seeking?" She asked,
"I seek the ways to fight injustice and to destroy those who prey on fearful." I replied panting from exhaustion. Since my mom died, I made a promise to fight the criminals and the corrupted in Gotham.
"Hmm." My father rose from his chair and walked towards me, "Good answer. But you have to understand that the path to become my successor will not be easy, it will be brutal and merciless. Are you ready to begin?"
"Yes, Father." I answered without hesitation and to my surprise he punched me in the face taking me off guard. I was exhausted, weak. Talia flinched a bit but kept her distance.
"First lesson of war. Death does not wait." Father said as he kicked my ribs while I was crawling,
"Sonofa..." I grumbled as I held my ribs in pain,
"Death is not considerate, or fair; and make no mistake, son- here, you will face death." He went to kick my neck but I managed somehow to grab his foot before it hit. I swept his legs taking down and he went to push me away with both of his legs. I went to a fighting stand and swung timidly punches at him as he blocked them. Father smiled as he recognized my fighting style.
"Ju jutsu, tiger. You're skilled but not skilled enough." Father declared as he punched my chest several times and kicked me in the stomach taking me down hard. I groaned barely moving.
"You're weak, and alone all caused by the injustice of this world. But in the League of Assassins, we will make you stronger so that one day you will command this army." Father stated as he kneeled beside me
"But in order to do so, you have to confront your fears. What are you afraid of, Jericho?" and with that, he left the room and Talia helped me get back on my feet and carried my ass out of there.
"Are you all right?" Talia asked concerned
"Just my pride." I weakly answered; this was going to be interested to say the least.
"All units, all units, Code ten at Black gate Prison Communication is down. Possible 2-11" That was the police radio and by the sound of things, Black Mask made his first move. Me and Bruce moved over to Barb monitoring the comms at the Bat-computer. They were going crazy.
"Want me to care of the call?" I asked Bruce, he nodded giving me permission and I headed to the Bat chamber to change but then something in the police radio caught my attention.
"ALL units at Black Gate. Lieutenant Brndy is being held by Black mask. I repeat, Lieutenant Brady is 701."
"Lieutenant Brady? Why does the name sound familiar?" Bruce asked,
"He used to be the right hand man of Commissioner Loeb. He did all the dirty work for him. Ruthless, aggressive but smart. That was the case until Loeb's death. Then he went underground and haven't been heard ever since." I answered,
"Yeah, I remember. He was charged of bribery, police brutality, obstruction of justice, extortion, murder in the first degree. And the list goes on" Barbara said, "But he escaped the day before his court trial. How did Black Mask find him?"
"Only way to find out is to break in to Black Gate." I answered as I went to put on my suit. Minutes later, I went to the Bat Plane.
"Mind if I borrow your plane?" I grinned,
"Not a chance." Bruce declined,
"Sorry, baby. Not tonight." I said, I went to my pride and Joy, the Impala.
"You do realize that it is Christmas Eve by Midnight?" Barbara reminded,
"I know, sweetheart." I climbed into the Impala and drove off to Blackgate where I sneaked into the prison by the prison yard. Once I got in, I saw one of Black mask's men beating Warden Joseph to death with a baseball bat.
"What is that?! Behind you!" Warden Joseph said as I walked up to the thug who was oblivious that I was here.
"Oh, come on. 'spect me to fall for that? I mean, try somethin' original…" he trailed off as he saw my shadow and tried to attack me but I managed to disarm him and arm dragged him to the floor and punched him in the face knocking him off cold.
"Are you okay?" I asked, Warden nodded, "Who tore this place apart?" just then I heard a roar echoing from the holding cells.
"I don't know what it is. It's huge." Warden told me,
"Where can I find Black Mask?"
"I-I don't know. He's here for Lieutenant Brady. Maybe one of his men know's he's headed." Wasting no time, I headed to the holding cells as I spotted two black Mask's men trying to set loose some inmates. I took out one of them by putting the first thug in a sleeper hold and then sneak up on the second thug and held him up by the throat
"Where's Black Mask?" I demanded,
"How the hell should I know?" he choked out,
"I'm going to make you talk. How pain will you suffer before that is in your hands." I said,
"Screw… You."
"I don't have time for this." I snarled,
"Ok, ok. He's heading to the execution chamber. With Brady."
"Smart move. Now you're goin' to take a nap." I stated as I knocked him out and threw him away as I went further in Blackgate. I crawled through the vent to Prisoner Processing room where I saw Vicki Vale being held hostage by some prisoners, so I snuck up behind two men and took them out in one move by smashing their heads together. Another inmate went to kick me but I grabbed it and broke it in two. Then I punched the last one left and right repeatetly until I uppercut him. then I went to the bottom of the elevator shaft that had a weak floor on it. So I used the explosive gel to break the floor which made me fall into the floor. I walked up to a window and saw Killer Croc kicking one of the guard's ass while Lieutenant Brady was being dragged to the execution chamber by Black Mask's men with Black Mask himself.
I ripped open the vent knowing that there are armed men guarding the holding cells and crawled out to the edge of Blackgate outside. I shimmed through and saw another vent that was open. I crawled through the vent and then landed on the floor as I made it to execution chamber and watched the action taking place.
"What's going on, Sionis? Haven't I always come through for you with Loeb?" Brady asked as he was being forced to stand up by Killer Croc.
"That may be the case, Marcus but… in case if you haven't noticed, things have… changed. We're about to cut some loose ends and you are it." Black Mask stated,
"What?!" Brady exclaimed as Killer Croc picked him up and threw him into the gas chamber. Some of the men shut the door and activated the gas filling the chamber. Seeing enough, I tried to break the glass but it was reinforced.
"You can't do this! I'm the police Lieutenant, damnit!" Brady yelled as he banged on the door, inhaling the poison.
"Show's over, boys. Time to go." Black Mask said as Croc leveled one of thugs sending him to the window weakling it. Damnit, I'm too late. Lieutenant Brady is dead. Black Mask has a lot to answer for. I left the room and followed them up to the roof only to be stopped by a falling drone crash landing to my feet, literary.
Why is the drone here? it doesn't belong here. I better take the memory card, it will probably be damaged but I think can restore most of the data back at the Bat Cave. So I took it and went up to the helicopter pad where I saw Black Mask taking off in a helicopter leaving Croc behind.
"Thought I caught your scent." He said sniffing the air
"I know I caught yours." I retaliated, he went on lunging at me like a crocodile that was about to eat his prey but I evaded sending him crashing to the gate. I climbed up on him grabbing his head and smashed it into the ground. I punched his head several times before I kneed it.
"So you're Black Mask's bitch? I guess pets really look like their owners." I remarked, that upset him as he slammed his giant fist to the ground pissed so he grabbed a fuel tank and was about to throw it at me but I pulled my gun and shot at the tank making it explode.
"Hehe, that tickles." Croc laughed, I took the opportunity to level him again but he was expecting it as he grabbed my leg and threw me to the ground trying to eat me. Yuck, he has a nasty breath. I punched his ugly face and used all of my leg strength to get him off me. And then again he went for the fuel tank nearby the ocean but I shot it again staggering him and then I did a backflip kicking him in the face, sending him crashing to a gate. He was hanging on for dear life as I walked up to him. his arms was useless at the moment.
"Your boss, where's he going?" I asked,
"Only boss a' me, is me." Croc replied, I punched him for good measure.
"You don't have much time. You want teeth, I want answers." I demanded, punching him again
"Wait 'till assassins get through with you."
"What assassins?"
Croc laughed, "Whoever wins, is gonna be famous and rich."
I knocked him out and dragged him back to the heli pad
"At least we know he won't be ugly." I stated, waiting for the reinforcements to show up.
"Lord God our Father, You hold all creation in Your hands, caring for the birds in the air and clothing the lilies in the field. Watch over and protect us in all things. Frustrate the evil intentions of those who would harm us. Grant safety to all those who travel, especially those who must fly. Bless our efforts to increase our security, but in all things teach us to place the safety of ourselves and our loved ones into Your hands, confident that in Your wisdom You will work all things for our good; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen." I prayed in my mind as I admired the winter at the mountains, the training was killing me, 24/7 of ass kicking and they didn't hold back anything at all. I clutched my Celtic cross as my sister joined me.
"Praying, brother?" She asked slyly, I turned around to see her.
"It's good for the soul." I replied, then sighed sadly as I looked back to the mountains.
"Are you still blaming yourself for your mother's death?" Talia asked,
"My anger strangles my guilt."
"Come. It's time for your first test." She motioned me to follow her to one of the room in HQ.
"You've learned to control your anger with your fist, but you must understand anger alone will not win your battles. An ninja is thought to invisible but invincibility is matter of patience and distraction." Talia explained to me as we saw three assassins in respective hallways, "attack one of the assassins before you. Show me that you have the wisdom to be ruthless." I nodded and went to climb up the ladder to the roof to scan the possibilities of attack. One of the assassins had a sword while the other two were weaponless. I walked up and hanged on the edge making sure that she doesn't notice my presence before I grabbed her head leaving the roof and knocked her out.
"Excellent. Destroy the strongest of your opponents first and others will fear you in fall of the mercy you've denied them. We'll carry on." she motioned me to follow her.
As I arrived at the Batcave I kept thinking about what Croc said back at Blackgate, the assassins. If it's true, that Roman Sionis hired assassins, then Talia and I are in for a long night tomorrow.
"Good evening, Sir. Are you done for tonight?" Alfred greeted as I stepped out of the car.
"Yeah for the night. But I'm afraid that Christmas Eve is gonna be a long night." I answered as I met up with my love at the Batcomputer "I had a run in with Croc, one of the assassins that Black Mask has hired in an attempt to kill me and Talia." I gave the memory card to Barb who less than a second recovered the data that was not damaged .
"Assassins? As in more than one?" Barb asked,
"That's right." I replied,
"And you heard this from Croc?"
"Yep and don't worry about him. He's already behind bars."
"Oh, I feel sorry for the guy who'll be sharing his cell." Barb said grimacing a bit,
"I don't. Let's see what's else is on the drone's hard drive." I stated as the Batcomputer showed Black Mask having a meeting with his men on the screen.
"Each of them gets one of these envelopes and I need them delivered tonight." Black Mask demanded as he gave his men eight envelopes but that's not got me interested, it was eight pictures of the most wanted hired killers in the world on the wall behind him.
"They're all hired killers. The best in the business. Roman Sionis isn't playin' around." I said as we ID them,
"Slade Wilson, Deathstroke. Ex-military. Subject of a failed experiment." Barb identified the first assassin.
"Garfield Lynns, aka Firefly. Burns on 90% of his body. His obsession is going to be the end of him." I continued,
"How unlike anyone I know." Alfred commented,
"Here's a face I don't recognize; Copperhead. That's strange, report references were male not a female." I said,
"They are a part of a south American group in Guatemala." Bruce explained as he joined "I encountered Copperhead several years ago and been following their activity since then. They're extremely dangerous."
"Right. Now the fourth assassin is Floyd Lawton aka Deadshot." I said, "Huh, can't say I'm not surprised. Wants to settle the score with me."
"Street tough named Lester Buchinsky. Calls himself the Electrocutioner." Bruce picked up where i left off,
"Shocking." Alfred said sarcastically as an familiar face showed up on the screen.
"Shiva." I announced, "Her skills is unmatched."
"Well, this is interesting. Bane, why would he taking it as a hired killer?" Barb asked,
"Revenge." I answered, everyone looked at me, "I destroyed the remaining Titan Containers that he secrectly hidden back in Arkham City a few months ago. Bane tired to trick me but of course it failed." then the data showed Warden Joseph being dragged by Black Mask's men.
"Is that Warden Joseph?" Alfred asked,
"Yeah, that's how Black Mask's gone in to Black Gate Prison. He uses torture for intimation and entertainment."
"Hmm. Eight assassins after you and Talia. What are you going to do?" Alfred asked,
"We're going to find whoever was running that drone and then we're going to find Black Mask and put an end to this." I stated,