The shipping yard was silent as a mouse as the clock struck midnight, the men slowly were offloading crates from the bow of a shipping vessel, each crate was slowly being moved as another man stood off to the side with two men from the ship.
"I don't know what you're so scared about, it's not like the cops will be interfering." The man known as the Rhino spoke to two men
The two men, both of Turkish decent, looked at each other than the man on the right, a mustached man by the name of Yusuf looked at Rhino "You have your drugs, all two hundred kilos of it, where is our reward?"
Rhino chuckled and motioned forward as two mercenaries carried two female bodies over their shoulders "They're knocked out and they will be for a little while longer, mild sedatives."
Yusuf shook Rhino's hand with a grin on his face "I'm sure our boss will be happy, tell me how you did this."
"The boss has a friend who handles these kind of things." Rhino smiled
As the two men spoke, one of Rhino's men walked down the harbor line, his rifle pointed forward, his eyes looking at the bay and at the shadows beside him, he didn't expect trouble but he had to be sure.
The mercenary didn't expect something to grab him and pull him into the shadows; his vocal cords gave out a loud yell as his head was slammed against the concrete wall.
Rhino turned his head and drew the pistol from his belt "I would suggest you get going my friends, someone is trying to be a hero."
Yusuf and his associate Ahmet nodded and headed for the boat behind the mercenaries Rhino gave them. He moved and gave orders to his mercenaries, each one moving through the port and going a few feet into shipping complex.
Two more men walked along the pathway, their side arms out, they walked toward the location of their fallen comrade, an open crate was in their direct line of vision.
"Tyler?" The first mercenary called out "Hey come on Ty this crap aien't funny no more!"
The second mercenary was locked in fear; his eyes looked above as he didn't move a single muscle, afraid of what was above him.
The first mercenary, Boone looked at his comrade "What's wrong?"
Boone's comrade, Rocky pointed upwards, as both men looked up, they were met with a figure standing on the underside of a crane looking down, a black mask was held over its face and black armor covered its body as it swooped down and landed on Boone, sending a fist into his head, body hitting concrete and knocking him out.
Rocky grabbed Boone's gun and started to run as fast as his feet could take him, he didn't get very far as the figure moved with a ghoul like stalk and jumped Rocky, slamming him to the ground and met a similar fate to Boone.
Rhino walked to one of his remaining mercenaries who looked at him with fear "Sir, you'd better get going."
"Oh yeah right." Rhino removed the safety from his sidearm "Like as though I'd let Roman have my ass for abounding my post."
Another mercenary, his anxiety on high as he looked around, his machine gun pointed out, the figure moved in front of him, the mercenary fired his gun with a fast precision, as the rounds drove into the area in front of him.
He quickly reloaded and looked up, the figure was there again, as it moved, and he fired again until his second clip was spent.
"Where are you!?" He shouted
The figure was behind him "Here" It grabbed the mercenary from behind
Rhino was now getting scared; his feet gave out as he sprinted to his truck. He quickly climbed into the back seat and slammed the door closed. Rhino reached down and grabbed a double barrel shot gun from the floor, he quickly checked the rounds in the barrel, his hands trembling as he closed the barrel and put his finger on the trigger.
"What the hell are you?" He whispered
A fist broke window to the door and grabbed Rhino by the collar and slammed his head through the door, breaking it off the hinges and sending him to the ground with a thud.
Rhino's vision was starting to blur as the attacker grabbed him by the collar and slammed him into the side of the car that was when the False Facer looked at him, a black cowl with two pointed ears with black eye slits looked at him.
"I'm Batman." The figure growled and slammed his head into Rhino's
The impact from the car and the toughness from the cowl knocked Rhino out. Batman looked at the slumped figure and looked at the boat. He reached into his belt and pulled a small gun out and fired at a nearby lamp post, it shot out and did a ring around the pole and sent Batman up, and he used this as an accelerator to boost himself up into the air.
The cape around his body he used as a support system to fly through the air and land on the deck of the ship, several mercenaries ganged up around him, they were Turkish soldiers, not the ones Roman gave Yusuf.
Batman quickly reacted, dodging several punches by ducking down low, then rising and as one fist drove toward him; he immediately caught it and twisted the arm, slamming his elbow into his face. He slammed his fist or foot into the face of several of the circle members.
Finally there were two, as they attacked, he ducked and dodged, grabbed the second mercenary by the wrist and twisted the arm around toward the shoulder blade, bone cracking emitted into the air as he slammed both men into each other by his boot, sending them over to the edge and into the water. He finally turned his attention to the main part of the ship, the control room.
Yusuf and Ahmet stood in the control room, the women they took, bound and gagged to a set of chairs, both men looked at their prey, there were four of them, two brunettes, one blonde and one red head, each one was still under the effects of the drugs.
Getting back to Istanbul, let alone get these women ready for the slave trading within the cities walls was going to be difficult, once these women were declared missing, the police would be scouting all over.
"Shall we go?" Ahmet asked
Yusuf nodded as Ahmet took the controls of the boat and started the engine.
Batman finished off the last mercenary in the stairwell with a punch to the face, this job was getting easier and easier by the mercenary. He went to his belt and moved the dial buckle, his suit changed to the same color as his background and immediately his moved, reaching the bridge of the boat in record time.
Yusuf and Ahmet were not aware of his presence, nor would they ever know. He immediately dove through one of the windows, and struck Ahmet while his back was turned, a fist to his spine and an elbow to his temple.
As Yusuf turned to face their attacker, Batman deactivated his cloaking, exposing himself.
"What the hell are you?" Yusuf whispered as Batman approached
"I'm Gotham's reckoning." Batman replied as he struck
Rhino slowly came to, he felt himself to be lighter than before, like he was hanging off of something. That was when he realized he was being hung by his ankle by what appeared to be a wire. He looked down as the ocean was below him, and near his face was a man, this Batman.
Batman stood in front of Rhino, his black armor was stainless after all of the fights he had just endured, a two layered collar rested on his shoulders as his cape dangled down beneath him and it seemed to meet at his knee caps, his black cowl gave a sense of fright, at first Rhino didn't think it could be Batman, but that was when he saw the small bat symbol on his chest.
"Who are you and who are you working for?" Batman growled
"Heh," Rhino chuckled "I aien't gonna tell you shi…"
Batman moved his head and raised his foot, Rhino felt the cord go lower and his body along with it, he almost screamed until he was pulled back up, face to face with Batman.
"Okay, I go by Rhino, as for my boss…I work for Roman Sionis." His voice began to show fear
"Black Mask?"
"That would be his street name."
"How many people does he have?"
"That all depends." Rhino smirked with his black skull mask "How much are you willing to."
Batman moved his foot again, and Rhino's eyes went wide "Okay, okay, there are six of us, we call ourselves the False Facers."
"What does Roman want with Gotham?" Batman's raspy voice replied
"I don't know, he contacted us, we False Facers come from all over, Metropolis, Starling City, Bludhaven, Gotham, you name it, we're from it."
"Why recruit you?"
"I have no idea, why don't you ask the big man himself."
"I'm counting on it." Batman sneered "Who drugged those women on the boat? Where were they going?"
"Istanbul and I have no idea; all I know was that I was supposed to deliver them to our Turkish friends and be on my way with the drugs."
Batman sighed "Well, who else works for Black Mask?"
"I don't have any freakin' idea, but I'm sure you'll find out eventually."
"I'm counting on it." Batman smiled as he drew Rhino back
Commissioner Akins met with Detective Gordon and his partner Detective Harvey Bullock and several other GCPD members who sealed off the surrounding area, several officers walked off with a few women who were crying their eyes out.
Akins looked over to several men bound by their wrists "Black Mask's men?"
Gordon nodded "They claim they were attacked…."
"By who?"
"By a giant bat."
Akins' eyes went wide, he was a young cop back when he was around, but it was impossible, he died years ago "It's impossible, Batman cannot be back."
As Gordon spoke with the Commissioner, Bullock looked up at the surrounding area and his eyes caught on something "Guys, you found your proof."
Akins looked up at a floodlight shooting into the sky; the symbol of a black bat was captured in the interior.
"This is impossible."
Batman sat in the driver's seat of the Bat, his eyes looked down at the police scene and a smile spread on his face, as he looked at the internal clock, it just hit one in the morning, he shook his head and removed his cowl.
Damian Wayne smiled and ran a gloved hand through his sweat covered locks, now it begins.
Black Mask felt the floodlight hit him even from behind his skull mask, he felt the sweat drip as the four mercenaries he hired stood in all four corners of the room, his hands folded together on the table.
"Look, I've got a bit of a problem, and you are the only woman with the skills who can handle this problem."
The female figure looked at Black Mask, her own face was covered by a white mask, no markings on it aside from two eye holes, her body was covered in a black leather suit, her blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail and a set of guns nested on her belt and a bow and arrow was held near her
"What's the job?"
"I need you to kill the Batman, rumor has it he's returned, one of my guys is already in the GCPD's hands and I want to make sure none more get in. So, do we have a deal?"
The masked female looked at the four men around her "And if I refuse?"
The men began to move in "Then I'm afraid I will no longer be in need of your services."
"Pity."
"For who?" Roman asked
"Your men."
She immediately dove for her bow and arrow, held two arrows in her hands, aimed and fired them from her bow. The arrows dove into the chest of the two men, each one being impaled by a single arrow, blood stained at their feet and continued to leak from the corpses.
"So, am I still allowed?"
"The money will be wired to you." Black Mask stood "Same procedure as usual."
"No need to worry Roman." The pair shook hands "The Black Rose is your assassin."
Alright, so Batman has returned! For those of you who are wondering, I combined certain aspects from Damian's Batsuit from the alternate ending from Batsuit #666, the main suit is basically the Dark Knight and the Dark Knight Rises just remade in my image and the belt is a combination of Earth One and Batman Beyond.
Also The Black Rose is an original character of mine and I know this is called The Coldest Knight but don't worry, the reason I call it this will be unveiled soon! And some more familiar faces will be coming around in chapters to come.