It doesn't take long to reach Montoya's location, seeing numerous thugs firing guns upon my arrival. I screech to a halt, my headlights blinding the thugs in front of me until I jump out, their guns moving to point at me. A precise throw and handful of batarangs unarms them but they don't hesitate to come at me, some grabbing knives out of their belts. Let's just say that one of the thugs will never hold a pen correctly again and another will have a splitting headache for at least a week.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see one of my batarangs coming back towards me, a thug holding a hand to his shoulder where the batarang had pierced his armor holds a hand in the air, making it clear that he threw it back. Without hesitating, I put a hand up and catch the batarang when Montoya jumps out of nowhere and knocks the thug to the ground.
"I got this one!" I nod and go to turn when I hear the cocking of a gun. "Batman! Look out!" Montoya yells after I've already begun running. The gunman's eyes widen and he begins to fire but I throw my arm up and let the brace of my arm deflect the bullets, something similar to Diana's arm braces. I reach the guy and grab his arm but his finger doesn't stop pulling the trigger, stray bullets hitting a bunch of barrels off to my right, all of them exploding into flames.
As the flames distract him, I sweep his legs out from under him and slam the butt of his gun into his head before turning to Montoya who's still holding a gun to the head of the thug from earlier.
"It's over. Drop the gun." I tell her.
"Look, I promise I'm not gonna shoot you, okay?" She lets out a big sigh as I cross my arms and stare at her. "I used to think you were a threat. But….I was wrong. We both have much bigger problems right now. I'm sorry." I keep my focus on her for a few more seconds but see she's sincere so I drop my arms. "Do you forgive me? Those guys had me pinned down and-"
"It's okay. It's in the past." What? Like I wouldn't forgive her. I know she shot me, the wound still twinges occasionally, but she's a good cop. Gordon trusts her and I saw how genuinely confused and upset she was the other day in the precinct.
"Thank you….that means a lot coming from you. I don't know what I was thinking, coming out here alone. I nearly blew it. I could be dead. You could be dead. And it'd be on me." Realizing the thug in front of her isn't going to do anything, she kneels down to tuck her gun back into her ankle holder.
"You have good instincts, but you need to think things through. Be patient. Don't rush." She pulls a set of zip ties out of her pocket and ties the thug's hands behind his back. "I may not be there to save you next time."
"Yeah, I owe you big for this one. I still don't understand how they knew I was coming." She approaches me, hands on her hips when I hear someone talking. I glance around before spotting a walkie-talkie on the ground beside one of the trucks.
"Heads up. The cops just sent three black-and-whites to stop guys going after Dent. From the chatter, sounds like Gordon's with 'em." I snatch the radio off the ground and turn toward Montoya, realization dawning on her face.
"Someone's gotta help Gordon. They know he's coming. Go. I'll see what I can find here. I'm not giving up on this." She tells me and I don't argue, knowing Gordon's going to need all the help he can get.
After quickly getting into the Batmobile and rushing off, I dial Alfred.
"Alfred-"
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah, but they knew I was coming. They seem to be getting info on the GCPD's whereabouts. Not sure how. I need an update on Harvey."
"Bringing it up now," Alfred replies before a small beep and Harvey can be heard.
"Deborah, get down!"
"Mr. Dent, what did you do to him?!" the secretary asks in shocked horror.
"I said get back in the car! There's more of them coming!"
"Put down your weapons!" Gordon can be heard yelling over a megaphone. "There's too many of them! Everybody take cover!"
"You better get down there!" Alfred stresses as we lose connection with what's going on with Harvey and Gordon.
"On my way," I assure him, racing down the streets of Gotham before slowing to a stop by a bunch of police cars. Their sirens are off and no gunshots can be heard as I step out and approach the end of the alley when Harvey stands with his arms crossed, a Children of Arkham thug lying dead only a couple of feet away.
"Self-defense, he says," a cop says from beside me. "New mayor's pretty tough, turns out. Killed one of those guys attacking him with his bare hands."
I glance between the dead mercenary and Harvey's bloody hands.
"Dent did that?"
The cop nods before sneering, "Guess the fella's lucky Dent got to him before you did, huh?" I squint my eyes at him, knowing there's more he's wanting to say to me.
"If you have something to say then say it."
The cop fully turns to me and crosses his arms. "We all know how you operate. You've been trying this nice guy routine lately, but I don't buy it." Nice guy routine? I'm acting no different now then I was before all of this. If anything, I'd say I'm a bit worse. More sporadic, more violent. "At least this one died quick." I may be harsh on the beatings but never has anyone died at my hands.
I take a deep breath and walk towards Gordon who sees my shadow approaching.
"We got our asses handed to us." He says over his shoulder.
"They knew you were coming." I reveal.
"How? We've been using a secure channel! You saying we got a leak?" Gordon pulls out his radio and asks for command, the message echoing through the radio clipped to the dead mercs belt.
"Turn that off!" I demand.
"What?"
"It's been compromised. The Children of Arkham are listening in on the GCPD's communications." I pull the radio off the thug and step up beside Gordon, letting him hear the echo as someone calls for him through the communication link. I pull a hard drive from my belt and insert it into the charge port of the radio as I head for my car.
"I'm going to look into this. I'll let you know what I find."
I dial Alfred and find a growl of frustration escaping me as I wait for him to pick up.
"Bruce?"
"The GCPD's been compromised. The Children of Arkham were listening the whole time."
"How?"
"That's what I'm going to find out," I promise him, pulling out the radio before holding it up to the miniature computer in the Batmobile. "Alfred, I'm sending over evidence of….some kind of encrypted communication signal."
A second later, I can hear a chair creak. "It's coming up on my screen now, but I'm afraid it looks like a bunch of gibberish to me." I try not to express my frustration. Alfred's been more then enough help but I need to get this figured out.
"I need to go to Wayne Tower and look into this. Get me Lucius on the line."
"Yes, right away. If the public finds out the police aren't able to communicate…." The line goes silent for a moment.
"It'll cause a panic. Just what the Children of Arkham want." I finish for him.
"Mass chaos. That seems to be how the Penguin does business. I have Lucius on the line now."
"Bruce, are you there? I'm looking at this data Alfred sent me. It's….messy." Lucius admits as he scans through the information.
"I have to know what the Children of Arkham are doing. How fast can you decrypt?"
"It's a tough one….But I should have it cracked soon, if you can meet me at Wayne Tower."
"Already on my way."
A/N: I didn't mean to miss last weeks upload. I kept reminding myself to post it but I was out for most of the day so it was always a reminder to do it later and I, naturally, forgot. So, it's being posted this week! Super sorry!
Thx!
AMM
