Part V

Batman released the line and landed softly on the roof overlooking the alley. He wondered how much of his life in the last ten years was spent on rooftops, probably the equivalent of what a normal man spends walking on the ground below. He wasn't a normal man though. He was a man molded in darkness. A man molded for vengeance. Vengeance was what had driven him to perfection. Would he still have that drive if he loved and was loved wholly in return? He didn't know, but now was not the time to be thinking about it though.

Staying to the shadows he crept towards the east side of the run-down building and positioned himself next to the edge. The alley was pitch black, working street lamps were not a common sight in this neighborhood. Below him he heard two distinct voices rising up to him. He reached to his cowl and turned up the audio receptors to better hear the conversation beneath him.

"Get his wallet man!"

"I'm tryin' to. It's all hung up in 'is pants." A younger voice replied.

"Just get it alright!"

He heard another man moan in pain and take a labored breath before trying to speak.

"Susan," he rasped.

One of the thugs struck the man and he was once again silenced. On the roof Batman engaged his night vision. He then rose up and stepped onto the edging.

Under him he saw three men. One standing, and one kneeling over the wounded man. The standing man was carrying what looked like an old .38 revolver and in the other hand what looked like a briefcase. The kneeling man carried nothing, but was digging frantically through the hurt man's pockets. He had thought he heard to different sounding shots earlier, but he saw no other guns.
He stepped off the ledge, grasping the edges of his cape to slow, as well as direct his descent. Not to mention it left quite the impression. Batman landed heavily on the back of the standing man, sending him flying forward into the wall. 'Kneeling man' turned with a confused look on his face. The Batman smiled. If the other man had seen it, most likely he would have run. Given that he did not have the advantage of night vision, he stood there, only barely seeing the looming figure advancing towards him.

"F-Frankie?"

Batman could hear the fear that permeated his voice. He stepped forward quickly and landed a shattering blow to the man's jaw. He was down for the count and Batman noticed the other man getting to his feet behind him. He heard the old pistol's hammer click in to place and gave a perfectly executed spin kick. The gun clattered off in to the refuse of the alley.
Frankie was fast and as the gun was struck from his hand he came back with his left and landed a punch to Batman's temple and then another to his right eye, knocking out his night vision. Batman lashed out with an uppercut to the man's chin.
He was dazed, but still standing, and still dangerous. Batman struck him with a right hand to his throat. Gasping for air Frankie dropped to one knee. Batman was quickly coming to think he was dealing with a low-level meta. Not powerful enough to pose a big threat, but enough to be real dangerous one-on-one. As Batman moved in to finish it he heard the familiar click of a switchblade.
Frankie's arm swung out, a shiny blade slashed him across his mid-section as he hopped back. Any slower he thought and his guts would have been spilled out onto the sidewalk. He focused all the emotions he'd been repressing into the fight before him. Frankie was up on his feet again swinging his blade at Batman's retreating form.
He let him come. Timing and gauging, then his hand's shot out catching Frankie's wrist and brought with a satisfying snap against his knee. The knife dropped and Frankie howled in pain. Taking the opportunity Batman gave punch after punch to his head until he collapsed in a pile at his feet. Batman worked quickly, applying titanium shackles to Frankie's hands and feet, before moving on to the smaller man and binding him in quick-ties.
The wounded man had regained consciousness during all this and was slowly working his way back to his feet. Batman turned as the man started to speak.

"B-Batman, no please don't!" The man backed away, stumbling over the trash littering the alley. Batman stepped towards him. In the darkness he could only see the gleam of the man's white shirt and the spreading red stain from what looked like a single gunshot.

"Get away from me!" He screamed. It was not an unusual reaction so he paid no attention to the hysterical man as he touched his hand to the transmitter in his cowl.

"Oracle, contact GCPD and you might need to send an ambulance….

A loud bang reverberated through Oracle's headset. She halted the transmission she was about to send the police.

"Batman?" She waited half a second before repeating," BATMAN?"

No answer. His location beacon had moved to a slightly higher elevation and Barbara had thought that maybe his communicator was damaged, but now he wasn't moving at all and she realized it wasn't the communicator, it was him that was damaged. She began furiously typing away at her keyboard. The shots had been reported before and units were in route to the location. She couldn't let the police or an ambulance anywhere near there as long as there was a possibility of Batman being down in that alley. She checked the locations of the Batclan. Nightwing was taking care of Bludhaven and the others were nowhere near close enough for an extraction. It was then that she noticed a JLA indicator in the area on her screen. Wonder Woman. Barbara noticed a tightness in her chest and realized she had been holding her breath this entire time.

"Stupid rookie mistake." She muttered to herself before keying up a transmission Batman.

"B. I'm sending Wonder Woman to your location just hold on."

Barbara barely heard him whisper above the static.

"Dian..." Then she heard no more.

" Hold on Bruce." She said as she keyed in the JLA frequency.

Barbara wondered for a moment if this was what he would do. She knew it wasn't, but Wonder Woman was the only one that could help him now.

Whether he liked it or not.