ISSUE 5

Ryan was terrified. He sat on the sofa in Bruce Wayne's lounge, wearing an expensive grey wig and Bruce's clothing. It felt strange as he stared into the fire, it was like he had already become Bruce Wayne.

30 minutes ago he had broken into Bruce's secret caves were he stored everything Batman related and pieced together Bruce's night life. And then he had blackmailed Bruce into training him to become a creature of the night like himself.

But instead of teaching him how to scare the shit out of common crooks with a simple gaze, he had been put on the path of being bait for hired assassins. So while he could be shot or killed at any moment, Bruce was out there masquerading in the shadows.

He did have body armour under the clothes but if he was shot in the head, there was no going back and the worst bit was he had to sit perfectly still, maybe watch the TV, and show no fear what so ever as Bruce didn't know of the danger on his life; but Ryan Connolly did.

He tried to push the fear out by thinking of the fact that he was going to be trained by the Bat! The mysterious vigilante detective who had practically solved every case Major Crimes had come up against, although Gordon always took the credit.

One day maybe he could be the old man commanding some young police detective to dress up as him and wait to be 'killed' while he was out their running around in a cowl and having all the fun.

He stared into the licking flames in the fire place which were blazing away. That's when he pondered, did Alfred know about the Bat. Since he'd had partners surely Alfred would have seen them, surely Alfred would have been involved somehow.

It made him smile, that crippled old man who sat in an electronic wheelchair, the idea that the man who he'd seen who looked so frail and old would be running about in armour plating, smacking up bad guys with great fury.

That's when he heard a noise. A bullet bounced off the glass window behind him and he instantly ducked down under the couch. He couldn't let them see his face but he couldn't just sit there as if no one was trying to kill him.

That's when he heard at least ten bullets flying straight at the window. Even though the glass was sound proof, Ryan could still hear the assassins outside getting beaten up by Bruce in the Bat costume.

Is that all of them done? He thought to himself. He slowly got up to see the Bat standing behind him. But since he knew his true identity, he didn't seem as threatening.

Ryan expected something like a compliment but as he stood up he got, "Ryan get down!"

The Bat/Bruce's voice echoed through the lounge. Ryan ducked and spun around to see a large burly man dressed in black wearing a metal mask with holes for eyes standing right behind him. In his hand was a large fencing sword and in the other was a large heavy ball on a chain.

The metal masked man swung the chain and the heavy looking ball flew towards Ryan. Ryan dove to the side and the ball smacked into the couch, knocking back and tipping it over. In a second the Bat jumped over the fallen couch and produced a strange, sharp, metal object and threw it.

The sharp black object hit the man and got lodged in his shoulder. The bat made his way towards him as he reached onto his shoulder and yanked out the painful object. The metal masked man dropped the ball and swung the fencing sword at the Bat.

Bruce ducked under the attack and flicked out his wrists, the claw like blades extended from his forearm gauntlets and he then advanced. The two were like graceful dancers, each attacking and blocking at the same time, they worked in perfect coordination. Even though Ryan feared for his life he couldn't help but watch.

The Bat ducked under the sword and swiped across the man's chest, scratching open his black top and leaving a massive cut across his shirt. The masked man brought down the suit and the Bat caught it in his thick gloved hand and brought it to the ground.

He pulled the man off balance and kneed him in the chest. The man grunted, the Bat brought down his hand like hammers and smacked him on the back and pushed him to the ground. As he laid on the floor, the Bat kicked him constantly in the stomach with crippling strength.

Bruce reached into his belt and produced a small device with a clip on the end. He clipped it onto the masked man and moved it around him, rope came out the end and enveloped him. Once he was tied up, Bruce pressed a button; cut the line and sealed the rope into one piece. The assassin wasn't going anywhere.

"What's that?" Ryan asked, realising that he wasn't going to encounter a lot of strange gadgets while he was with Bruce.

"New rope technology developed at Wayne Tech," the Bat said, still speaking like the masked vigilante. He clicked the rope emitter into his utility belt. "Now we'd better get this guy and the rest of them to the Police."

The Bat and Ryan walked towards the bulky man and lifted him off the ground with a grunt of effort each. They slowly walked him out of Wayne manor and dropped him on the steps of the large mansion.

The Bat reached to his cowl and pressed his ear. Ryan watched as he moved his hands about and the stood perfectly still. "Hand motion control technology for the computer inside my cowl." He then stood back. "I've called Gordon in. Now I need back my clothes."