ISSUE 2

He woke up to hear the sound of the heart rate monitor beeping next to him. He slowly turned his head, feeling the pain in his shoulder, to see that he was indeed in a hospital bed and hooked up to tonnes of machinery.

He groaned as he tried to sit up in his bed. He saw that the window was wide open and the breeze was blowing at the curtains. His eyes saw that his suit shirt, tie, gun and holster, trousers were lying on a chair next to him.

The door swung open and a tall thin man dressed in a pale blue shirt walked in.

"Ah Mr Connolly you're awake," the man smiled, showing his dazzling white teeth.

"How long was out?" Ryan asked, feeling his mouth was parched.

"Not that long," he said, already pouring him a glass of water. He handed to him with a steady hand. "We found you out front of the hospital but the weirdest bit was that someone had already operated on you."

"What?"

"Mr Connolly, last night, you were shot in the shoulder," the man explained, checking his chart at the bottom of the bed. "The bullet was stuck in you but when we found you, the bullet had been removed and the wound had been cleaned and dressed."

"What?" Ryan asked again.

"You were brought here by someone who had already done our work for us," the man replied, trying to answer Ryan's constant questions. "It means your bill will be a lot less," he joked, putting the chart back. "And he was clearly an expert, he's done it so well that you can leave today."

"Well...thank you; I guess."

"Just doing, well partially, doing my job."

The Doctor turned and left the room, leaving Ryan behind on his own. He closed the door and Ryan let out a sigh.

"You did good," a dark, deep, brooding voice said from somewhere in the room.

Ryan slowly turned his head to the Bat crouching in his open window. "What the fuck!" he shouted as the Bat touched onto the ground and completely enveloped himself in, what Ryan thought, was a cape and stood perfectly still.

"How did you get in here?" Ryan asked. "Wait, I just saw you in the window but how? Why?"

"I came to check up on you," the Bat said, staring at him with his white piercing eyes. "You did good last night."

"Thanks," Ryan smiled. "What are you?"

"I've not come to answer questions," the Bat said. Suddenly smoke appeared and enveloped him. Ryan shielded his eyes and when the smog cleared the Bat was gone.

"What the hell?"

Ryan's shoulder was stiff as he exited the hospital, it was drizzling now and normally he would pull up his collar at this point but his shoulder ached too much.

He walked down the steps and out onto the streets. First things first he needed to get to work and speak to Gordon, he needed answers.

As he walked off in the direction of the station, a car pulled up beside him. He looked in to see Lieutenant Jim Gordon, his superior and long time mentor, sitting in the driver's seat. Gordon rolled down the window and said, "Get in." His thick sandy brown moustache moved as he spoke.

Ryan opened the door and jumped in next to Gordon. "I was coming to see you," Gordon said, putting the car into gear and driving off. "But it seems your all better."

"Jim we need to talk," Ryan said. "Last night I was saved by the Bat."

"What?"

"I know where you've been getting all this information from," Ryan sighed. "The whole of Major Crimes knows you've been working with the Bat, the one thing that the Commissioner hates more than being a criminal."

"How did you?"

"We just do Jim," Ryan sighed, buckling up his seatbelt. "And last night he saved me, he operated on my shoulder and put me up in hospital."

"That's not like him," Gordon sighed, contemplating silently. "Since you know you might as well come to the meeting we're having."

"What, with the Bat?"

"Yes, we're meeting on the rooftop of the Station in ten minutes."

Ryan grinned to himself. He was going to understand the bat, crack the puzzle of his identity, he had to; it was his mission.