Protector in the Shadows

Disclaimer: refer to previous chapter.

I'm guessing not a lot of people look at one chapter, less than a thousand word stories so I decided to put up this chapter today. Maybe I'll actually get a review this time . . .

Chapter 1

"Your just one man?"

"Now were two."

"We?"

-Batman Begins

"He's here!"

Gunshots shattered the night as the panicked thugs shot at whatever moved. Bullets ricocheted off of the walls, sending sparks into the air. Through it all, the object of their fear never appeared.

The echo of the gunshots faded after several seconds as they waited for something, anything, to move.

Angrily, one of the other thugs hissed softly, "Where is he?"

"I knew I saw something!" the first snapped back, too rattled to take his eyes from the shadows.

"Well, stop seeing things Johnny! The gunshots will have alerted the police by now and it looks like you didn't see nothing, again!" the other thug growled back and the rest of them were glaring at 'Johnny' now as well, "Besides, why would the Bat come after us if he has bigger fish to fry?"

Johnny snarled, "Don't you know? The big crazies are all in Arkham, locked up at the moment. Right now, we are the big fish in the pond!"

There was silence for a moment as the information penetrated their thick heads. It hadn't occurred to them before, but now they were shaking in their boots.

"So," one of the quieter thugs began, his voice trembling slightly, "it's actually very likely that the Bat will come for us?"

"Considering our shipment? Yes," Johnny said, his eyes darting from one patch of shadows to the next.

"Oh."

The thugs looked at each other, wondering what they were going to do now. Should they move out of the protective circle they had formed, even though it would do little good against a foe like the Batman, or should they stay there and wait for something to happen?

The light above them flickered and then shattered into a hundred sparks, leaving the area around them in total darkness, perfect for a bat. Just feet from where they were the peace of metal that had hit the light bulb clattered to the ground, reflecting dimly against the ground in the shape of a bat.

"Oh shoot . . ."

There was a rustle of cloth as something dropped down from the ceiling and landed in the center of their circle. One man screamed as he saw the bright, white eyes of what could only be the Batman turn in his direction. He never saw the punch that knocked him out in the darkness.

The thugs broke from the circle, running in every direction as they tried to escape. When it came to the Batman it was every man for himself. No one was safe from something that couldn't be human.

One by one they fell. The second man went down with a gasp as he felt something heavy wrap around his arms and legs, making him trip and fall, hitting his head and going out cold. Another got slapped across the face with an elbow as he ran the wrong direction, being unable to see in the darkness. The Fourth tried to shoot at where he heard the most sound, but was rewarded for his efforts by getting his gun yanked out of his hand and knocked over the head with it.

In the darkness the bat could not be seen, could not be touched, could not be harmed. In the darkness, the thugs were the prey.

The last thug managed to get partway down a side ally when he realized that he couldn't hear anything from where he had come from. His hands shook with fear as he clutched at his gun, finger twitching on the trigger.

The rustle of fabric had his shooting blindly into the dark. His eyes were wide as he tried to see the one hunting him.

"Where are you!" the thug yelled at the top of his lungs, though he didn't know what good it would do.

"Right here," the rough, gravely growl couldn't belong to a human.

The thug spun around and his eyes met the emotionless white ones belonging to the Batman. It was the last thing he saw before he descended into unconsciousness.

Bruce Wayne, dressed as the Batman, dropped silently to the ground next to the thug and began searching his vest pockets. Finding what he was looking for he pulled out a small slip of paper which he quickly unfolded and scanned.

Pressing his hand to his ear he spoke softly into his communicator, "You getting this Alfred?"

"Yes, Master Bruce, the information is being sent to the Gotham Police right this moment," the accented voice of his butler crackled through the ear piece.

Bruce examined the line of names with a frown, though it was one that rarely left his face now days, "There are more than we thought."

"Aren't there always, Master Bruce?" Alfred retorted from the other end, "It's getting early; are you planning on coming back any time soon, sir?"

Bruce winced slightly at the butlers accusing tone. His late nights were something that exasperated Alfred to no end. The older man would much rather have his charge safely back in the manor, preferably in a nice bed, not out on the streets dressed as a bat and beating up criminals so that they could be taken in by the police.

It made Bruce feel kind of guilty for putting his oldest friend through this, but he knew that he couldn't stop. Gotham needed Batman just as much as he did, and so long as the city needed him then Bruce would be there, ready to protect his home.

"One more round Alfred," he compromised, "then I'll go straight to the Bat Cave."

"Oh, very well sir," Alfred sighed, "but do be careful, I don't want to be stitching up any more knife wounds today."

Again, Bruce felt guilty, but pushed it down and tucked the piece of paper into a small plastic bag for evidence, placing it in one pocket of his utility belt. The thug was quickly dragged back to the others and tied up with them where the police could easily find them.

Seconds later there was a whoosh as the grappling gun shot up into the sky, taking Bruce with it. The police would arrive ten minutes later to a bunch of terrified, tied up criminals and several boxes of illegal weapons, no sign of the Batman.

Bruce swept from rooftop to rooftop, unseen by anyone below. The darkness was his element and it was in the darkness that he felt the safest. It was strange, he reflected, as a child he had been terrified of both bats and the darkness, now he couldn't seem to get enough.

There was one block left before he had to head back. It was quiet, something that Bruce was grateful for. He needed his sleep as he had a big meeting early the next day that he couldn't miss.

Bruce leaped from the building down toward the ally, opening his cape and feeling it stiffen into the custom made wings that slowed his fall into a gentle glide. He cast one last glance at the ground, an uneasy feeling shivering up his spine, though he could not pinpoint why. All of the extremely insane criminals had been locked away and there had been no report of a break out, the streets were clear for the moment, and it was nearing morning. By all means he should be done for the night.

But the feeling persisted.

"Master Bruce," Alfred's voice suddenly spoke into his ear, sounding worried, "I've detected an unknown energy signature just ahead of you."

Bruce narrowed his eyes, looking at the empty air in front of him, angling his wings to slow him further. He couldn't see anything but that didn't mean that something wasn't there.

"What kind of signature, Alfred?" Bruce asked, waiting for Alfred to give him more information.

Only static answered him.

"Alfred? Alfred!" Bruce called urgently.

Something wasn't right.

There was a crackle as the air around him was suddenly full with the hissing of energy. Bruce felt his eyes widen as he tried to swerve out of the way of whatever it was. It looked almost like he was in the middle of a lightning storm. Several bolts of energy hit his wings, but didn't seem to do more than send zaps of light over them.

The ball of light pulsed as he tried to get out of the way, becoming much larger than he could avoid, and he was sent spiraling head first into it.

Seconds later it vanished, leaving no trace that the Batman had ever been there.

0~o~0

"Are you sure this will work?" Commissioner Gordon asked, his voice tiered and defeated.

Jackson Howl, a world renowned scientist, shook his head slightly, "This has never been tested before, we have no idea if it will do what we want or not."

"So we could just be summoning someone worse than the one we have?" Gordon sighed.

Jackson frowned as he punched in a few more numbers. The watching police felt shivers go up their spines as the machine hummed to life, "Yes and no. This machine is designed to pull someone who has the power to defeat Joker from a parallel universe, and who possibly already has; whether that person is on the police force or someone worse than the Joker that we already have is undetermined."

"Remind me why we are doing this again," one of the police muttered and Jackson shot him a glare.

"Do you want to be Joker Bait, Richards?" Jackson asked politely, his eyes hard, "No? Well, there you go. We can't outsmart the Joker, so we can only hope that this other person will be able to help."

Gordon nodded, taking in a steadying breath, "Do it, Doctor Howl."

Jackson glanced in the commissioner's direction for a moment, hesitating slightly, and then pulled the switch.

Immediately the machine began humming louder, almost rattling as, between the three arms of metal, a glow began to pulse. Mutters echoed through those watching as the police shifted nervously. The power built until everyone there could feel their hair standing on end from the amount of electricity in the air.

The controls began to spark as the ball grew larger, a pulse of light against the darkness of the night. Several of the police stepped back, the pressure building. With one final pulse the ball flashed so bright that it left all of them temporarily blinded.

Commissioner Gordon was the first to recover. Looking in the direction where the ball of light had been he could only see darkness. He frowned, stepping closer, and wondered if something had gone wrong.

And then something shifted, groaning slightly. A shadow which a moment before had seemed to be a part of the ground shifted and stood. The figure was tall and imposing, something that could strike fear in even the most hardened of hearts. A black cloak wrapped around and even darker, humanoid body.

Narrowed, inhuman, white eyes turned in his direction as a gravely voice growled, "You'd better have a good explanation for this, Gordon."

Review? Pretty please with longer chapters on top?