chapter 3: Face to face...

Bruce barely waited for the front gates of Wayne manor to open. The moment there was enough space for his car to go through he was on the pedal.

Bruce parked the car with a drift in front of the manor and almost immediately exited the vehicle. As he was walking towards the big doors he noticed Alfred coming out of them carrying a plate of chocolate cupcakes.

"I saw you coming through the window, Master Bruce!" the worried butler said when he got close enough "Thank goodness you are finally here!"

"Where is he?!" Bruce asked with his "Batman" voice.

"Still in the living room." Alfred replied. He then noticed the way his master was eyeing the plate with sweets "He...asked for more cupcakes."

Bruce didn't have time for this. He stormed into the manor ready to confront Death. But before he enter the living room Bruce stopped and prepared himself to get into his "rich playboy" personality. He didn't know if Death was aware that he is Batman so Bruce decided to play it safe.

With his two hands Bruce opened the doors and entered into the living room "I am back!" he said with his act "The party ca- hey, who is this gentleman?"

All eyes were at Bruce. Death was still sitting in a chair and Tim, Stephanie and Damian were still sitting on the couch.

"Normally I would have been mad that it took you so long to come " the "gentleman" in question said "but considering the fact that I am in your home I would keep it for myself..."

He then went to Alfred (who had come in the same moment as Bruce) and took one of the cupcakes.

"...also I want more of those cupcakes!" Death added as he bit of the cupcake "Mmmm,even my brother isn't that good at baking... don't tell him I said that!"

Now face to face Bruce started analyzing Death's appearance. He was about 6.3 feet tall ( roughly 190 cm.) and well-built. He wore an old-looking dark blue jacket with a hood. A hood that was hiding most of Death's face (Bruce could only see his chin and mouth and it was apparent that Death was beardless ). The jacket itself had holes at the edges of the hood and at the ends of the sleeves. The sleeves were showing only Death's hands, which were covered by fingerless gloves. Under the jacket a white shirt could be seen with a belt going from Death's left shoulder to the right side of his waist. Three empty-looking flasks were placed on the belt. Their purpose was still unknown to Bruce. Going down it could be seen that Death was wearing dark blue jeans and dark blue cowboy boots. If you see him on the street you could mistake him for a hobo (and Bruce was suspecting that it was intentional).

But Bruce had no time to think. He had an act to preform.

"If you are here for the party then you are early." Bruce said with his playboy manner "Also I don't think you are in the li-"

"Oh, cut the garbage!" Death said roundly "Everyone in Gotham may buy it, but not me...Batman."

Everyone in the room froze. How did Death find out? What is he going to do now? What is BRUCE going to do now?

Despite the shock Bruce didn't let his mask slip and continued with the act.

"Oh I wish I was Batman!" Bruce said with a fake laugh "I heard he once had a four-way with Catwoman, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy."

Death smirked "Yeah I heard that too. Is it true, Batman?"

Bruce wasn't going to give up easily though. He was about to deny again, but Death interrupted him.

"Please, stop with the act!" he said "You are insulting both me and my intelligence! So back to the question: Is it true?"

Bruce saw that there was no point of denying it anymor.

"Yes!" He said with a slight blush on his cheeks.

"Nice!" Death said, smiling under his hood "How was it?"

"That doesn't matter!" Bruce quickly avoided the question "Now it's my turn to ask: How did you find out?"

"It wasn't that hard." Death answered with confidence "Who in this shithole is rich enough and has enough free time to do what you do? And the fact that your parents were killed by a criminal gives you a motiv. Honestly I am surprised more people haven't figured it out yet!"

"Kyle did, yet Gordon still hasn't." Damian invited himself into the conversation.

"He has a point..." Stephanie added.

"Guys, shut up!" Tim hissed.

"You shut up!" Damian hissed back.

"No you!" Tim then hissed back.

"ENOUGH!" Bruce interrupted his sons. Tim and Damian immediately stopped.

"It's like watching War and Madness argue," Death said while looking at the two boys "but with less curses."

Bruce was once again puzzled by Death's words, but his had other things in mind.

"Well, you saw my face," Burce said with his "Batman" voice "now show me yours!"

There were a few moments of silence. No one dared to say anything. Finally Death broke the silence.

"Okey." he simply said and grabbed the edges of his hood.

He then took it down and revealed his face.

Bruce once again started analyzing. Death was a relatively handsome man in his early or mid thirties. He was beardless and had short hair. And it was the hair that caught his attention. Its color was light blue. Bruce was not sure if it was natural, but at this point he wouldn't have been surprised if it was naturally blue. Another odd thing about Death was his skin- it was as white as the skin of a deadman. At least his eyes were colored normally- they were brown. Death's skin had a few notable scars on it. One was located on the left side of his upper lip. There was another one that was crossing his right eye. But perhaps the biggest one was spreading from his right cheek to his left one, across his straight nose between his nose and eyes, indicating that his nose had been brokenat at some point in the past. There were more scars, but they weren't as noticeable. Bruce would have to ask him about them later.

"There are no more masks." Death said "Now can we move to the subject?"

Bruce decided to give his guest speak first "Okey, tell me what you are here to say!"

"Okey." Death said "As you probably already know I have been here for a week."

"Yes, killing criminals and policemen!" Bruce said venomously.

"CORRUPT policemen." Death added "You probably know that most of the bad stuff happening in the Narrows are because of the dirty cops."

"Yes, I am!" Bruce responded.

"Isn't it enough that I don't kill them?" Death asked "Believe me, it's very tempting for me to kill them."

"I have a problem with you killing as a whole!" the millionaire/vigilante said firmly.

"Eh, It's not big deal for me." Death said as if he was talking about his everyday job "I suspect you've already heard from your sidekick about last night."

"Yes, I have" Bruce said while crossing arms "And I don't like it at all!"

Death chuckled a little "Surprisingly, I don't care whether you like it or not."

There was another minute of silence and once again Death broke the silence.

"Aren't you curious about my wepon?" he asked.

Death didn't wait for Bruce to answer. He reached to his back and pulled out his weapon. His scythe. It was folded on three with the scythe's blade pressed against one side of the middle part of the weapon and its end pressed against the other side. Once pulled out the scythe unfolded and revealed it in all of its glory.

It was almost as long as Death was tall. It was made of some sort of black and blue metal. The blade was about as long as adult man's arm from the shoulder to the fingers. The blade itself was also dark-blue and apparently was very sharp. Its connection to the scythe's "body" was through the open mouth of a skull, which had blue crystals for eyes. Going down the scythe was decorated with what looked like vines with spikes on them. The only places where those vines were absent were the handles. One was located on the upper part of the scythe and the other was in the bottom part. They were both covered in what looked like to be black skin. The very end of the scythe was a small globe with holes all over it. Bruce suspected that spike would come out of those holes. The scythe definitely was beautiful and very well-made.

"This is my wepon." Death said "If I cause a fatal wound on somebody their body will be consumed by blue flames and will disappear."

"Where did you get this from?" Bruce asked.

"That I will not tell!" Death answered "But I will reveal to you why the bullets of those crooks last night didn't bother me."

With that Death took a knife out of his belt and sliced his hand. His blood started coming out of the wound, but it soon stopped bleeding. After cleaning his hand, Death showed it to Bruce. There was nothing there.

"Healing abilities." Bruce said with narrowed eyes.

"Exactly." Death responded.

After another pause Bruce said "You didn't answer my question: Why are you in my home?"

Death quickly answered "To assure you that I am not one of the maniacs you chace. I am just here to kill and harm those that hurt defenseless people."

"That sounds like the maniacs I usually deal with!" Bruce responded firmly.

Death rolled his eyes "Whatever, I said what I came here to say, now I will be on my way."

With that he put his hood back on his head and started walking towards the door, the scythe on his shoulder "Thank you for the hospitality and the cupcakes, speaking of which..."

Death went back to Alfred and took three cupcakes. He then made his way to the door and opened it. "I am not your enemy, Batman. But I can be. Don't mess with me and I won't mess with you. Goodbye."

With those words Death closed the doors.

The Bat family remained in the living room. Bruce placed himself on the chair Death was previously on. Non of his children was saying anything. Finally Tim spoke up.

"So...what are we going to do now?"

Bruce thought for a second then responded "For now it will be best if we watch and learn. We still don't know much about Death. We know of his weapon and his powers, but there are still many mysteries surrounding him. For now we will continue to watch over Gotham and open our eyes for Death. He is not our ally, but he is not our enemy either."

And with that Bruce ended the discussion. This was his only option now. Watch and learn.

(Elsewhere in Gotham)

A woman with a golden owl mask was sitting in a big chair. She looked at her right where an assassin with an owl-like mask and many weapons all over his body stood.

"Report!" the woman with the golden mask said.

"One of the Bat clan was injured the last night!" the assassin said.

"Are they captured?" asked the woman.

"No, Grandmaster."

"And why is that?" the Grandmaster asked, a note of anger in her voice.

"The bat was saved by some new vigilante."

"What new vigilante?"

"Some man I didn't recognize" the assassin replied "He was dressed in blue jacket with a hood and wielded a scythe."

Upon hearing that, the Grandmaster froze.

After a few moments the assassin finally spoke up "Grandmaster, are you al-"

"Gather the members of the court who are loyal to me NOW! Tell them it's urgent!"

"Yes, Grandmaster!" the assassin said and disappeared into the shadows.

Now alone the woman with the golden owl mask said to herself "So he is back in Gotham, huh. Looks like the fateful day is upon us. We must be prepared for it! Just because the elders have said that this will be the end of The Court of Owls doesn't mean I will let it happen!"

The End (for now)

So this is the end of this story, but stay alert for the continuation. Thanks for reading and I will see you next time!

(I don't own any of the characters (besides my OCs). They belong to DC and Warner Brothers. )