Thomas arrives at The Icicle, Cobblepot's tower in Gotham known for its multi-level casino within the upper floors. A little known fact that Tucker enjoys sharing to every new face he sees is how his building is the tallest in Gotham, by one story compared to Wayne Tower. However, what people tend to notice is that unlike the famous Wayne properties, affairs at any Cobblepot establishment never feel inviting, or joyous.
Within moments of stepping out of his car, Thomas is approached by the same men who stood in his courtyard the prior evening. Dressed in a collared cape that drapes over his long sleeved grey shirt, Thomas removes the leather gloves from his hands & places them within a hidden waist pocket. With a gentIe nudge, he is ushered to a side entrance, away from the strobing lights of all of the media types hoping to catch something from any of the many VIP's in attendance.
One of the men uses a hand scanner to search Thomas. After a few moments he is given the okay to enter into another space with a full body scanner similar to an airport.
"Please remove the mask Mr. Wayne and look into that camera." With a slight hesitance Thomas removes the winged domino mask, with its wings reaching up into the sky, and the half balaclava covering the rest of his head. With a sigh of relief, Thomas wipes his brow while remembering just how hot his Zorro-themed bat man get-up kept him. Thankfully, wearing it tonight outside the confines of the cave does not find him covered in a downpour of sweat.
After the final security check, Thomas is led to a single elevator at the end of a door-less corridor. Once the door opens, the man with him enters into the car and turns a key to a select floor. When he exits, Thomas realizes the next leg of this journey would be a solo-affair. As the door closes, Thomas sees the man walk away, talking into a radio indicating his arrival.
The elevator opens up onto a dark floor, vastly open with only pillars furnishing the area. Thomas walks out and follows what sounds like the moans of a bound and gagged man. In the distance, a door is illuminated around its frame with the light from within its room. Thomas approaches it in haste, his mask back on as well as his gloves.
The door to the room opens and Tucker jumps at the sight of Thomas in his costume. Underneath his mask, Thomas' face contorts in shock taking in the entire scene. In addition to a series of monitors showing various floors of the Icicle, the middle of the room houses Nygma, his mask in pieces in his lap and his face bludgeoned and covered in blood.
"Cobblepot! What - what have you done?" Thomas scolds. Tucker squawks back at him, the prosthetic nose pointing in his direction.
"What needed to be done Thomas, what you other fools were to scared to do. This man is nothing but a mere messenger so I figure why not send the Court a message of our own." Nygma's head begins to move as if he is trying to speak. Cobblepot goes to strike him with the handle edge of an umbrella but Thomas stops him.
"Tucker, you fool. How is this going to get us any answers? Whoever killed Hill and Dent is coming for all of us, the Court as well."
"Exactly Thomas! And the Court knows who this red hooded assailant is, isn't that right Nygma?" Cobblepot saddistically needles the umbrella into Nygma's thigh, causing him to scream. With the party roaring just one floor below, no one is able to hear his bellows of pain.
Thomas looks at Nygma briefly before stopping Cobblepot's moment of torture. He leans in close to Nygma, trying his best to hide the hint of joy of seeing their roles reversed as they are.
"Who is coming of us? Why are they coming for us?" Thomas's voice grows gravelly, causing Nygma to smile as he prepares to speak.
"What - what goes in and around a house, but never can come in?" Thomas takes a step back, staring at the now manic eyes of a coughing Nygma. Cobblepot suddenly starts screaming as he hits the monitor screens surveying his party. He screams into a radio for all of his security to get on the party floor. Thomas turns to Cobblepot who is already attempting to leave the room.
"The sun Thomas." Nygma exclaims while coughing up more blood. "But it looks like someone has finally let the sun in to play!" Thomas follows Nygma's gaze to the monitor, where he sees the paste-faced Red Hood standing among the party goers - staring into the camera.
Cobblepot rushes out of the elevator into the bustling party saddled on both sides with his body guards. With a scan of the room it takes a moment for him to find the red hooded figure in the costume filled room, but his heart stops when his eyes find a pair staring right at him.
"There! Grab him - there!" As Tucker points with his umbrella, four of his men rush towards the figure, who in turns approaches the hired bunch. Without provocation, the Red Hood swings at the biggest man and lays him down on the floor. Not breaking stride, he takes a strike to the body, but holds onto that arm and snaps it with no effort. The two remaining men start to measure their moves, hesitating and trying to push away the now screaming horde of party goers trying to move away.
"All I want is Cobblepot. You can see your homes tonight, or never again." The Red Hood raises and lowers his heel with enough force to end the life of one of the men on the floor. The move causes his hood to fall off, revealing a scarred bald head covered in a white powdery mask. The red streak across his mouth, possibly drawn in haste with lipstick, curls up the sides of his cheek. The two remaining men freeze in place as the de-hooded man's red eyes fixate in their directions. As if by command, both men turn to run away as the Red Hood lets out a chilling laugh.
"Cobblepot! You know how much I hate parties, come out and join us. Let's make this quick." The Red Hood puts his hood back on as he approaches the trapped crowd watching in horror. A few snap pictures which causes the Hood to stand alone in the center of the floor, on display. Cobblepot emerges from the crowd, holding a visibly frightened woman close by with his umbrella pointed towards her neck.
"Now now - to who do I owe the honor?" taunts Cobblepot. The Red Hood stands unbothered, staring down at the stout man. Cobblepot stands a few feet away as the woman's cries become greater. He angrily tells her to shut up and not to worry.
"I am your end Cobblepot. You and your Court friends." Cobblepot lets out an equally chilling laugh that the Red Hood joins in on.
"I am not in the Court you dolt. Is that what you think? Ha!"
"No, and you never would've been allowed. They only really wanted one of you. The one I've left for last. But they have been with you all this time, haven't you?" The Red Hood shifts his gaze to the crowd, where about twenty faces suddenly don the eerie white mask Cobblepot first saw in Thomas' cave. The same mask worn by Nygma.
With a slow stalk, the Court members in the room move from the crowd and towards the Red Hood. The act, makes him smile.
The Red Hood removes a device from his pocket and swiftly presses a button. In an instant, the lights go dim as a series of balloons around the room pop in loud succession. From each balloon, a green gas projects into the air. Within seconds the room is filled with the gas, and instantly the Court members in the room begin to cough up blood. The twenty on the floor, in addition to some in the crowd who had not yet revealed themselves, including the woman held by Cobblepot.
As the woman drops to the floor, the Red Hood raises his arm and lets loose three shots towards Cobblepot. The room erupts into more screams at the sound of gunfire, and the remaining partygoers rush to any available exit away from where Cobblepot once stood. Thomas spills into the party area from one of the only accessible stairwells and catches sight of Cobblepot falling to the ground. Pushing against the crowd he rushes to his fallen accomplice, who dies instantly in his arms.
Thomas looks around and notices the amount of dying people laying on the ground. He grabs one who is struggling to crawl towards the exit, her face becoming paler by the second. Thomas turns her over and leans in to attempt to get whatever information he could.
"The man in the hood, which way did he go?" he screams at the woman who finally succumbs to the green gas. The party floor becomes silent as the remaining party members have made their way out - the screams and shouting growing faint down the staircase. Thomas notices a gun beside one of the white masked victims on the floor and grabs it before making his way into the stairwell.
Thomas stands for a moment looking down at the people trying to find safety. A new set of screams catch his attention. As he makes his way down, a loud laugh rings from up above and Thomas instead turns to run towards the sound - intent on confronting the hooded assailant. With each flight he checks the door to see if its unlocked and for the first 6, they are. At the 64th floor, Thomas tiredly checks the door, but before grabbing the handle he notices something hanging from it.
A Pearl necklace.
Thomas enters onto the floor, decorated with cubicles and private offices. He cautiously walks, scanning through his mask at the darkness around him. At the corner of his eye he sees the light come on within one of the offices. As he approaches, he hears the sounds of glass shattering from that same room.
Through the broken window, the sounds of sirens and helicopters now fill the darkness. Thomas slowly opens the the door to the lit office, the hooded figure standing at the window with his back to the door.
"I saved you for last Thomas. I wanted you to fully see the error in your ways. How the Court was never what you thought it was." The Hooded figure turns to Thomas, the white powder on his face streaking from sweat - and tears.
"You gave us up for them - for your vision. And in the end you lost it all. This Court, they played your short sighted ignorance. You thought you could join them to make a change in the world and all you ever were to them was access - to Gotham." Thomas hears the words that speak a truth he has felt for far too long.
"Bruce," speaking the name almost hurts as Thomas tries to makes a plea
"I'm sorry for -." The Red Hood raises his gun in anger.
"Don't call me that. You killed Bruce, just like you killed Martha!" The room instantly becomes blindingly bright as a helicopter shines its light. The two men are told to remain still via a megaphone held by Detective Gordan. The Red Hood turns his arm at the helicopter and lets off four quick rounds. The pilot tries to maneuver from the assault, throwing its occupants around and losing control.
Thomas lunges at Bruce, knocking the gun from his hand as both men tumble to the ground. Thomas tries to restrain his unrecognizable son, who only laughs as he tries to break free. He strikes Thomas in the face with his head - who reels back in pain. As the Red Hood stands up, he reveals a knife and plunges it into Thomas. Their faces meet, and within his eyes Thomas finally sees his son.
Red Hood walks away from Thomas, leaving him to bleed out on the floor. As he stands by the broken window he takes in a deep breath and turns to face Thomas. Frantically, Thomas holds the knife while failing to get a handle on his weapon.
"If you survive this, tell Al I'm sorry I didn't write him back." Thomas looks up to witness the Hood lean back to fall out of the window. He rises up with the remaining strength left, ignoring the searing pain and runs to the window. By the time he makes it over, the night's darkness smiles back at him with his son lost.
The helicopter makes another pass at the window, this time instead of words being shot at the room, Gordon returns fire at the remaining figure in sight. Thomas musters the last of his will to run from the window under a hail of bullet fire, towards the closest exit from the floor.
In the street below, a red hooded figure lays broken on the flattened roof of an ambulance, with a frown across what remains of his face.