RECAP:
Suddenly, the sound of a machine gun firing shocked the guests into silence. Calmly striding through the flaming kitchen doors, a man walks into the ballroom, followed by a mass of masked men, all holding weapons similar to the machine gun that the front man wielded. The man smiled at the horrified faces of the guests.
"Now that I have your undivided attention, where is Dr. William Stuart?"
"I repeat," the man asked calmly, "where is Dr. Stuart?"
His dress was peculiar, to say the least. He was wearing a suit, but it was unlike anything Katherine had ever seen. One half was conservative, similar to those the male guests were currently wearing, but the other was an interesting mix of deep red and black, but it wasn't in the traditional tux form (AN: Sorry, but I cannot for the life of me describe clothes. Use your imagination, I guess. Combine blood red and black in any way that you see fit).
But it wasn't his clothing that captured his audience's attention: his face was as schizophrenic as his suit. One half, the side above the polished tux, was handsome and chiseled, making him look almost refined. That is, until he turned his face. The mirror side was badly scarred, destroying any remainder of his attractive other half. A sadistic smile was plain on his face, the one similarity between the two poles.
When his question was met with shocked silence, his lip raised in a snarl. "No? Maybe you think I'm kidding." He grabs the nearest guest, the same large man that had been talking Bruce's ear off earlier. His entire body quivered, eyes clenched shut in fear. "How about you? Where is the benefactor of the evening?"
But the man was too frightened to respond, and he merely shook more violently.
The monster rolled his eyes and exaggerated a yawn. "Oh well." No sooner had the words left his mouth than he pulled the trigger, sending bullets flying through the large man's skull.
That was enough to shock the guests out of their stupor, and they all started screaming, a few burst into hysterical tears. As the man shook the corpse off of his arm, sending it to the floor, his eyes scanned the crowd again, searching for another victim.
But as he reached for another guest, Katherine stood, cursing. "You bastard! They don't know anything! Leave them alone!" She stood, fuming, her hands clenched at her sides.
The man cocked his head to the side, and then smirked. He slowly strode over to her, slinging his weapon over his shoulder, supporting it with one arm and leaving the other hand free to grasp Katherine's hand upon reaching her.
Katherine flinched back, but couldn't pull her hand out of his grasp. Her struggle seemed to amuse him, as he chuckles quietly. "And you are, Miss…?"
Before Katherine could spit out retort telling him where he could go, a look of contemplation came over the man's face for a split second, followed by one of comprehension. He cocked his head to one side, and addressed her in a singsong voice. "Well well, if it isn't his daughter herself! Miss Stuart, all on her own. Where's your daddy, little girl?"
"He isn't here. He left earlier. Wasn't feeling well." Katherine masked her fear to the best of her ability, knowing she had to be strong in order to save her father and the hundreds of other people in the room.
The monster contemplated her biting response, silent for a moment, then shook his head slowly.
"Now why is it that I just don't believe you?" Before Katherine could react, he pulled her close, unslinging his gun at the same time, pushing her chin up with the muzzle.
Her heavy, rapid breathing shook her entire body, and she wished fervently to be anywhere but here. But Dad! I can't let him find Dad. If this bastard kills me, maybe he can escape.
She was torn from her thoughts by his words. "You didn't answer my question, Miss Stuart. Why don't I believe you?"
Katherine tried to silently control herself, but her fury wouldn't be reined in. "How would I know what a psychopath thinks? You're probably too stupid to-"
His grin disappeared, and he backhanded her with his weapon, cutting off her words. She crashed bodily to the floor, and whipped her head up to release a loud expletive, only to find herself face to face with the machine gun's muzzle.
"I have been called many things, psychopath included. But not stupid. At least, not by people who want to live. But you'll learn that, just like your daddy will when I find him."
But even as he moved to pull the trigger, one of the balcony windows exploded in a shower of glass, and Batman swooped in, knocking out two of the masked men in the process.
"Harvey. You decided to have a party without me? I'm hurt," pouted the masked hero, as if scolding a child.
The scarred man's face twisted into an angry scowl, and he jerked his weapon away from Katherine's face towards Batman. "Don't worry- it stops hurting when you die."
Blocking the bullets that flew from the automatic weapon with his cape, Batman spun in a roundhouse kick, taking out two more enemies simultaneously. As he launched himself through the air towards another three, Katherine managed to crawl away unnoticed towards the tables, since the guests were running, or even crawling, towards the exits.
Some of the armed men were obviously torn between keeping the guests in the room and fighting the infamous Batman. But the madman quickly ended that decision.
"Let them leave, they aren't important. JUST KILL THE BATMAN!!"
The scarred man's attention was focused on ordering his men towards Batman, while keeping himself at a safe distance.
That perception of safety changed after watching Batman fight, but when he tried to back away from the fight, he found himself pinned below one of his own men, thrown on top of him.
His face turned towards the guests as he struggled to get to his feet. From his vantage point, however, he saw a familiar dark red dress under a table, struggling with something. A grin slowly spread across his face as understanding dawned when he saw the older man that the woman in the dress was helping to his feet. The scarred man fumbled with his belt for a moment before producing a hand gun. Carefully taking aim, he set his sights on the man's face, which was unfortunately blocked by his daughter. Serves her right, insolent brat.
William Stuart looked towards his daughter with tears threatening to fall down her face, but she paid them no mind. His eyes slowly examined his other surroundings, and widened in shock when they met the maniacal gaze of the scarred man.
Feeling as if he was moving in slow motion, through a vat of gelatin or glue, William stretched to push Katherine out of the way, succeeding just before a single shot rang out in the din of the other fight going on.
Katherine felt her father go limp, and looked down to see her hands covered in blood. Emitting a shriek of despair, she gazed into her father's lifeless eyes, the only difference in his face the hole born directly between his eyes.
The madman pushed himself to his feet, all the while grinning his sadistic grin. He hit something on his belt, then turned back to lock gazes with the girl under the table, sobbing and covered in blood. While he was sure she was watching, he blew her a kiss and ran out to another balcony window.
Letting out a scream of rage, Katherine struggled to get out from the table, and sprinted towards her father's murderer. Hate blinded her from seeing the other man come barreling at her from the right at full speed. He knocked her to the ground allowing the man to climb up the ladder.
Katherine kicked herself loose of the man and rose with fire in her eyes. She lunged forward to attack him, thinking herself more powerful than she actually was, and quickly found her back thrown painfully against a nearby table.
Grabbing an overturned wineglass from a place setting, she launched herself at the man again, only to be beaten to the punch by Batman.
The masked man swung her securely in one crook of his arm, while slowly spinning to ensure that no other armed men were in the vicinity. Well, not that were conscious.
Satisfied, he released her, only to see her slump immediately. Before she fell, he helped her to move to the floor, but she only sat, staring at the floor with a vacancy in her eyes.
"Are you alright?" Batman asked.
Well that certainly got a reaction.
Katherine's eyes snapped up to meet his, suddenly bright with angry tears. "Alright? No, no I'm not. A madman just killed my father in front of me and got away unscathed. Hell, I don't even know his fucking name!" A broken sob wrenched from her gut. She whispered, "Why would he kill Dad? Why?"
Tears welled in her eyes as she broke away from her rescuer's embrace and slowly returned to her father's body, now exposed on the ballroom floor, surrounded by debris. She knelt, cradling his head in her lap, his sightless eyes staring up at her.
She didn't hear Batman approach her until she saw his hand reach to close her father's eyes. But Katherine pushed him away, telling him to leave, go save other people, make sure all of the guests got out safely.
Reluctantly, he turned to leave. But as he reached the edge of her earshot, he quietly apologized.
If Katherine heard, she made no movement to indicate it. Batman then hurried down to the street to make sure that no other threats were in the building.
Only when Katherine was left alone with her father did she finally move. She dried her tears with her father's tuxedo handkerchief, ironically a father's day gift from her, kissed both of her father's cheeks, and closed her eyes.
When she opened them a moment later, they had hardened, and the sadness had been replaced with anger. "Daddy. I am going to find out why this happened. And get the guy who did this. I promise."
AN: I guess you're used to random updates. That take forever…. Sorry… but at least this one is a decent length, I think. A lot of information. I don't really do fight scenes either, so watch a kung fu movie if you need more fighting. Also, if you can't tell, I do all of my writing by having the entire scene acted out as a movie/TV show, and then try to write down how it happens in my head, which is why the details kinda suck. Again, sorry about that. If it helps, just picture it as a movie scene.
As always, any questions, concerns, criticisms- REVIEW!!
