Season 2 Episode 4: Masquerade
My name is Bruce Wayne. When I was 8 years old, my parents were killed by an evil. And so I made a promise to fight that evil. I traveled the world for 18 years, and returned to Gotham City to protect it. Now I have new allies, helping me in my crusade, but I also have new enemies. New threats have arrived in my city, and I must stop them. I am vengeance. I am the night. I am the Batman.
Previously on the Batman...
Gordon has a daughter named Barbara Gordon
Selina is packing up to leave Gotham with Holly
Bruce and Dick are after the Mutant Gang
The trail has gone cold
A mysterious man in a militaristic suit, kind of like the Arkham Knight, has confronted Penguin, forcing him to make a deal to kill Batman
A limo drives down the street and stops at a red light. A billionaire looks out the window at the building when the driver then looks down and puts something over his head.
"What're you wearing?" The billionaire asks.
The man turns around with a fox mask over his face.
"No driver of mine is wearing that. You could crash!" The billionaire says.
"I'm not your driver." The masked man states and pulls out a knife.
The billionaire gives a worried look before getting stabbed in the chest. Blood pours out from the wound, and his head falls limp. The limo then drives off it's course.
The Batman
Batman and Robin drops down on a rooftop and Robin looks to Batman. They're both looking down at a warehouse.
"Looks like it's just you and me, old man." Robin says.
"Down there. There's a Mutant, and he's good friends with a couple other Mutants. They know where the Mutant leader is." Batman explains.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Robin says with a smile and hops off the roof.
He crashes through the window and Batman follows with a grumble. They beat up the Mutants inside until only one is left. He gets thrown up against the wall, before getting caught by the chin.
"Christopher." Batman growls. "You know where Gunther Hardwick, Warren Lawford, and Armand Lydecker are. And you are going to tell me."
"Like hell I am." The Mutant spits.
Batman tightens his grip.
"Where?!"
"Fuck you."
Batman slams him to the ground and keeps him on the ground using his foot. The Mutant catches his breath.
"They quit the gang a few months back. Made their own. Terrible Trio or whatever. Said they were going after the richest in Gotham for some reason. I don't know why."
Batman rolls the Mutant over onto his back before punching him hard, knocking him out. Batman turns off his voice changer and sighs.
"The richest in Gotham?" Robin says.
"And recently, I heard Jonathan Lodals was just murdered in his limo, and his driver went missing." Batman explains.
"So there's another small gang running around Gotham, killing billionaires, and they know where the Mutant leader is."
"Looks that way."
"So are we just going to ignore the fact that they might be after YOU next?"
"We can turn that in our favor."
Meanwhile, at another billionaire's mansion, the Terrible Trio burst into the front doors with their guns and gasoline cans, and start running around the house, dripping gasoline everywhere. One of them is the fox man, and the others are wearing a shark and a vulture mask. They run and find Fred Opius in his bedroom.
"What the hell is going on here?!" He demands.
They fire and one bullet hits Fred in the shoulder. They pour gasoline all over the room, and lead a trail of it downstairs. They light a match and throw it behind them, setting the gasoline on fire. Fred gets up and smells the smoke from downstairs. Using some quick thinking, he turns and sees his window. He charges and breaks through it, escaping.
He injures his leg from the fall, but is able to limp away, as the Trio watch the mansion burn from the front yard.
"Fred Opius reported three men. One in a shark mask, one in a fox, and one in a vulture's." Gordon says.
"They're hiding their identity behind animal masks."
"No kidding. How are we supposed to stop them?"
"I hear that Bruce Wayne is holding a Halloween masquerade ball in a couple of days. They don't know Fred survived, which means they don't know that we know which masks to look out there. They'll be there, and we'll be able to catch them."
"So you're suggesting I go undercover with a couple of my guys to investigate the ball?"
"That's exactly what I'm suggesting."
"Should we tell Bruce about our plan?"
"I'll handle it."
Batman glides away from the GCPD, and Gordon turns off the Bat signal.
"So we're holding a Halloween dance? Nice. It'll give me an excuse to dress up as something." Dick says, sitting back in the study of Wayne Manor. "What're you going as?"
"A simple mask will do. Nothing too special." Bruce says.
"Really? How boring. I'm going full costume."
"I need help setting up decorations."
"The things we do to save Gotham city: I must put up the Halloween decorations to save lives!" Dick says, imitating Batman's voice.
Gordon gets home later that night and sees his daughter Barbara, watching TV in the living room.
"Barbara, sweetie, I'm going to need you to get to bed soon. Okay?"
"Fine. Are you sure I can't just stay home this Wednesday? I'm thinking of going out with a couple friends."
"Actually, I was thinking you could come with me to Bruce Wayne's Halloween dance."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Why not?"
"That sounds awful."
"Come on, it can't be that bad."
"Dad, if there's one thing I know about you, it's that you're not actually giving me a choice. Is that correct?"
Gordon chuckles.
"Good night, Barb."
Barbara sighs once he goes upstairs.
Alfred helps Bruce set up a couple banners, and blow up a couple of orange and black balloons. Bruce turns and sees Dick setting up a couple of fake skeletons on the walls as Alfred comes into the room with some fake spider webs.
"You know, Halloween is actually my second favorite holiday. Just behind Christmas. Just wait until we hold the Christmas party."
"I don't hold Christmas parties."
"You do now."
Dick finishes hanging up the decorations and hops off the ladder.
"I gotta go get a costume. I'll be back in an hour." Dick walks down the stairs and leaves.
On Halloween night, a huge crowd of people walk in the front door and up the stairs to the ballroom. There are some people in masks, and some people in full out costumes. Gordon walks in with just a simple mask, while Barbara walks in with a half-assed homemade costume.
"We're in Gotham's richest bachelor's house. Enjoy yourself." Gordon says.
"Yeah." Barbara replies and walks away.
Bruce looks out over the party in the ballroom and sees the guests having a good time. He walks through the crowd and bumps into one person. It's a person in a militaristic suit, with phony bat ears at the top, no chin showing, and kind of looks like the Arkham Knight. It's the same person who confronted Penguin, forcing him to make a deal to kill the Batman.
Bruce turns to him and smiles.
"Nice Batman costume." He says and walks off.
The man stares at him before turning and disappearing into the crowd. Gordon looks at Bruce and walks up to him.
"Um, Mr. Wayne, did you happen to get word from, er..." Gordon starts.
"Don't worry, Jim...Mr. Gordon, I know what's going on." Bruce says.
Gordon nods and looks back at the crowd. Back downstairs, three men walk in through the front door, wearing a shark, fox, and vulture mask. They start heading upstairs, but Alfred takes notice. Alfred sends a message using his phone to Bruce. Bruce reads it and walks up to the tables at the end of the room, and sees Dick in a creepy clown costume, stuffing his face with candy.
"Dick, I need you to head into the Batcave and...are you dressed as the Joker?" Bruce asks.
Dick immediately stops eating, and swallows slowly.
"...no."
...
"Anyways, I need you to get your other suit. Alfred just told me that the trio are here. Go."
"On it." The "Joker" takes one last piece of Hershey's and runs into the study.
Bruce goes through the crowd and tries to find Gordon. Barbara takes a sip of her drink before turning and seeing Dick run into the study.
"Hm."
She finishes her drink, picks up her bag, and heads towards the doors. Meanwhile, back down in the cave, Dick gets suited up in his Robin suit. Barbara walks inside and sits on the seat. She looks up at the painting of Thomas Wayne, before returning to typing. She doesn't get any internet connection and so she tries to look through the connections available.
She doesn't find a lot, but she does find one network and tries to access it. It's password protected and so she tries to hack it. But the hacking program doesn't work, and she's still blocked out.
"Hm..."
Her hacking program usually doesn't have any problems. So she goes into the coding of the program and tries it again. This time, the password is accepted and she has access to the network. She decides to investigate the network further, and once she does, the grandfather clock up against the wall suddenly opens.
"What the hell?" She whispers.
A/N: By the way, just in case you haven't figured it out yet, I have no idea how hacking works, but I'm still going to pretend like I do.
She walks through the entrance and finds an elevator. She steps inside and presses the down button, using her phone as a flashlight. When she reaches the bottom, she finds Robin waiting for the elevator.
"Jesus Christ!" She yells. "Who are you? ... Robin?"
"What are you doing down here?" Robin asks.
"I...I went into the n-network...and it, opened up the grandfather...clock..."
Bruce walks up to Gordon upstairs.
"Gordon, my butler has just told me that he's seen a couple of men who apparently fit the description of the suspects you're looking for, just enter the room. I just thought I should tell you-" Bruce starts before a gunshot is fired into the air.
The crowd screams and they turn to see the Terrible Trio standing there with shotguns in their hands.
"Everybody down! On the ground! On the ground!" They yell.
Everyone gets on their knees.
"We only want Bruce Wayne here! Come on! Show yourself!" The Vulture yells.
Bruce turns to Gordon who slowly pulls out a gun from his boot.
"Did you hear that?" Robin asks.
"No, not really." Barbara answers.
"Stay down here. You'll be safe."
Robin pulls Barbara out of the elevator and steps inside himself.
"Wait, why? What's happening?" She asks.
"The Terrible Trio are here. I have to stop them."
The elevator rises up the shaft. Meanwhile, Gordon stands up and aims his pistol at the Trio.
"FREEZE!" He commands.
They don't listen the Fox fires one shell.
He misses but Gordon fires back. One shot misses, but the next shot hits the Vulture in the arm. The next one gives the Fox a flesh wound, but the Shark ducks and misses. He cocks his shotgun and takes aim at Gordon. That's when Robin grapples across the room, and lets go when he's in the middle. He throws a shuriken in mid air and it knocks the shotgun out of the Shark's hands.
Everyone gets up and runs. Some people run down the hall, some people hide under the tables, some people stay in place, but most people run down the stairs and out the doors. Bruce runs into the study and locks the doors. He heads down to the Batcave as the Trio tries to blend in with the crowd while also looking for Bruce Wayne.
Gordon and his group of cops meet up in the middle of the ballroom with Robin.
"The Trio is in this mansion somewhere. Montoya, guard the exit, Bullock, try to find them in the halls." Gordon orders.
"I'll hunt outside for them just in case they escaped." Robin says.
"Where are you going, Commissioner?" Montoya asks.
"To find my daughter. GO!"
Bruce suits up and turns to the elevator, only to see Barbara Gordon there.
"Barbara Gordon."
"How do you know my-"
"Your father is a good friend of mine. What are you doing down here?"
"Long story. But I think you have something to deal with upstairs.
Batman squints at her.
"I can pretend that I saw Bruce Wayne hide in the study once the Trio showed up. I didn't see anything."
"Stay here."
Batman moves onto the elevator. The Fox moves down the hall and then enters the study.
"Where the hell did you go?" He mutters to himself.
"Don't look behind you."
The Fox of course looks behind him, only to get punched in the face so hard, he gets knocked out after it. The Vulture bursts into Bruce's room and looks around. He then turns and sees Harvey Bullock aiming at him from outside. He fires but misses as the Vulture goes behind cover. He pops out from behind cover to shoot down the hall, but no one's there. His feet then get tied and he gets dragged down the hall.
Meanwhile, the Shark runs down the stairs, into the dining room. He bursts into the kitchen, only to see it empty, and so he enters the dining room again. The lights then go out.
"What the fuck?"
He hears a whoosh from the darkness behind him and he fires his shotgun. The shot lights up the darkness for less than half a second, showing Batman standing there, menacingly. Shark keeps firing into the darkness trying to see and only hitting the wall. He keeps shooting until he's out of bullets. The shotgun then gets pulled away from him by a rope and it slides into the darkness.
"You can never escape me. Bullets don't harm me. Nothing harms me. But I know pain. I know pain. Sometimes I share it. With someone like you."
Shark starts shaking and backing up in fear. It's pitch black and he can't see anything. He then stops in his tracks and hears a voice from behind him.
"Boo."
Shark screams in fear and drops down to his knees, cowering. All Batman has to do is place some cuffs on him. The Terrible Trio is arrested and sent to the GCPD. Bruce Wayne is outside watching, along with Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, and Alfred Pennyworth.
"Thanks for the help, Mr. Wayne." Gordon says.
"No problem."
Gordon and Barbara drive away with the police, but Barbara looks back at them.
Dick leans over to Bruce.
"So..." He starts.
"She knows I'm the Batman." Bruce states.
"Wait, really?" Dick asks.
"Yes. But she'll keep it a secret. I know she will."
"Pretty good hacker too, to be able to make it down to the Batcave."
"We have to reinforce security."
"Maybe she could do it for us."
"...maybe."
"Wow, you'll consider it? That's more then I expected from you."
The next night, Batman appears on the roof of the GCPD with Gordon.
"I've tried talking with the guys. But they won't talk. Probably don't even know in the first place." Gordon states.
"I'll know if they know something or not. Let me speak with Shark."
The interrogation room doors open and Batman steps in. Shark looks up at him. Batman leaves a few seconds later.
"I've got what I need."
Meanwhile, back at the penthouse, Catwoman stands atop the roof of it and looks out over Gotham. She secures her bag. She leaps and grabs a flagpole to propel herself forward and uses her whip to swing down the street. As she does this, a figure is watching her from a block away. The mysterious figure who was at the ball and made a deal with Penguin. He stands there watching Selina.
Waiting.
The Batman
Next Time on the Batman: Dr. Elliot (2x5)
Bruce and Dick get closer to the Mutant leader then they've ever been before. But at the worst possible time, Batman receives a horrible injury. He's put out of commission, leaving Robin alone to face the criminals of Gotham.
KDSSB KDOORZHHQ!