Chapter Six: The Bank Robbery
Third Bank of Gotham
Inside the massive building that held millions of dollars, a large contingent of men was inside and they had taken control. Given the time of night, there were only four employees, two bank employees and two guards were either gagged or unconscious and placed in a corner.
With minimal resistance, several men smashed their way through the massive glass partitions and were stealing money from several of the tills. While another group were working on burning off the massive metal lock of the safe in the back. The group all wore designers suits or dark sweaters and pants. Most of them held high-powered weapons and even some knives and blunt instruments.
"We're almost down boss." Yelled out a thug wearing a protective visor, he had a massive bag slung over his shoulder. "Another five minutes!"
"Well, hurry up, youse morons!" Yelled out the wooden puppet, Scarface, dressed in a pinstripe suit with his bowler hat, he held his favorite tommy gun in his right hand. "The police will be here soon! And so will Batman! And his bitch might show up too!"
"Don't worry, Mr. Scarface." Called out another thug holding the large battery while his partner continued slicing the lock with the laser cutter. "We'll be done soon!"
"Um, Mr. Scarface…" The Ventriloquist, Arnold Wesker said, holding Scarface with his right hand. "Are you sure you want all that money, I would think we have enough…"
Scarface turned and looked at the Wesker. "What do you mean, enough?!" He leaned into the face of his caretaker. "You can never have enough! Don't say anything stupid like that again, dummy!" He head-butted Wesker and his head snapped back.
"Y-y-yes, Mr. Scarface." Came the reply from the bald-headed man as rubbed the spot where he was hit.
After a few more minutes of waiting, the lock finally broke. Three of the men, slowly pulled open the massive metal safe open and felt an incredible wall of air blew in their faces. After letting the circulation work itself out, the men turned and smiled at Scarface.
"We did it, boss!" Yelled one clad in a dark blue sweater and black khais. He slipped his mask off and pulled his beanie back on.
"I see that you moron!" Scarface exclaimed. "Now grab the damn money and let's get outta here!" He pointed his tommy gun at his men in a threatening manner.
All three felt beads of sweat drop down their foreheads and gulped, then picked up the massive bags and ran inside. Neither of them wanted to challenge Scarface, even if he was a wooden puppet. The sick and twisted nature of the puppet was too great a risk to not take lightly.
"S-s-sure, boss. Right away."
Scarface shook his little wooden head. "It's so hard to find good help these days."
As he watched his men grab the money as quick as possible, he heard a sudden crash and turned with Wesker and looked up at the ceiling behind him. The rectangular glass ceiling above broke into small pieces and a dark figure dropped down and landed on top of two thugs.
"Batman!" Scarface cried out.
Batman glared at Scarface and his handler. "It's been a while Scarface."
"Well, Bats!" Scarface yelled aiming his tommy gun at Batman. "This'll be the last time! Get him!"
Batman heard two guns cocked and he jumped into the air. He flipped and threw out three batarangs to knock the guns out before landing back on the ground. He quickly pulled out his Batclaw and pulled one thug that was 20 feet from him with the claws grapple. The man cried out as his legs were taken out from him and he flew feet first towards Batman.
He moved forward and clotheslined and merged his fists together and slammed the thug into the ground, knocking him out cold. He then slid forward and slapped one thug in the head with both his palms and shoved him aside. Batman quickly countered a right hand and did a sweep kick that sent the man flying, quickly standing, the Dark Knight bashed the man in the abdomen to slam him down.
"Whatcha standing for youse morons, get him!" Scarface shouted, motioning with his tommy gun for his men to join in the fight.
The other men nodded and ran quickly to stop Batman. Even though they all knew it they had no chance against him. It was still worth a shot to be the man that said they took Batman down.
Rolling to his right, he got in another thugs face and delivered a vicious headbutt that sent one thug flying, he then slid under another knocking him into the air and in the same spot where Batman stood he planted a small concussion batarang that knocked the thug up in the air and out cold on the floor. Standing straight, he was surrounded by six other men who charged him.
With Batman distracted Scarface and the Ventriloquist led the three remaining men away from the safe and to the front entrance where the getaway cars were located. Two men were carrying large bags of cash and the other a smaller one, plus the tools they used. However, given how heavy everything was, it made it harder to move faster than they needed.
"Hurry, youse idiots!" Scarface yelled. "The Bat ain't gonna be distracted for long!"
"Right, boss!" The man who cut open the safe said, carrying the smaller bag and the tools, he was breathing heavily.
"Move it dummy!" Scarface said, his handler was breathing hard and sweating. "Can't you run any faster?!"
"I'm trying, sir." Wesker told him, already exhausted.
Suddenly, the five felt a loud and quick movement to their right and stopped in their tracks. Wonder Woman had landed in front of them and had her hands on her hips and was smirking.
"Gentlemen." Wonder Woman began. "Did you really think you'd get away?"
"Shoot her!" Scarface yelled.
His men dropped their bags and pulled out their handguns and an automatic rifle and fired, but Wonder Woman lifted her arms and deflected the bullets with her bracelets and jumped into the air and flew towards the three firing men.
"Watch out!" Yelled one thug. He was too late to take cover as the Amazon had him left lying tackled him onto the floor, small cracks on the tile appeared around him.
Another thug dropped his gun and grabbed a lamp post and started screaming and swinging rapidly. Wonder Woman chuckled and ducked all the swings before making a fist and smashing it the post in two with her left hand. She then spun around and kicked the man and he wailed as was spinning and flying into a wall, collapsing into a heap.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the last remaining man raise his gun and tried to hit her with the butt of it, but she raised hands up and yanked the gun out of his hands. She ripped it in two and tossed the pieces aside before spinning around him with her back to his and reached over with her left arm, wrapping it around his throat and slamming him chest first with a snap mare.
Have to thank Bruce for showing me that one. She thought with satisfaction as she stood up.
She turned and saw Scarface and Wesker standing alone. "Now, now, Scarface, I think you're done now." She wagged her finger at him as if he was a child behaving badly.
"It ain't over!" Scarface yelled at her and aimed his gun at her.
"Uh, Mr. Scarface." The Ventriloquist shuttered out. "I think she's right. Perhaps we should give up?"
"SHAD UP, DUMMY!" Scarface screamed, he shook violently and pointed his tommy gun at his handler. "You want one in the face?!"
"N-n-n-no, Mr. Scarface." Wesker said in fear.
Wonder Woman gave a look of utter disbelief at the sight in front of her. She had heard about Scarface many times, but never in her wildest dreams thought she'd see a puppet this maniacal, however, all she saw was a little bald man holding a wooden puppet. She already knew Gotham was beyond any sense of normalcy, but sometimes she was caught by surprise by what she saw.
Wonder Woman shook herself from her thoughts and glared at the pair. "Give up." She ordered. "Don't make me turn you into firewood." She said with a smirk and some mild humor.
"You wouldn't dare, you crazy bitch!" Scarface snapped back.
"Excuse me?!" Wonder Woman growled. She leaned forward with the side of her head and cupped a hand around her ear. "Say that again? I didn't quite catch that."
While waiting for the reply, she saw Batman finishing the last two thugs. He grabbed an ACR and disassembled the weapon with ease before slamming him against a wall and knocking him out cold. He then turned and delivered a devastating roundhouse kick to the solar plexus that took the second thug out.
After surveying the room, he caught Wonder Woman staring down Scarface and Arnold Wesker.
"Need help, Princess?"
Wonder Woman eyed her partner and chuckled. "No, thanks." She took a step forward. "I can handle a wooden dummy."
"WHAT?!" Scarface shouted. "How dare…"
He aimed his gun, but quickly hand it taking from him by Wonder Woman's lasso, she caught the gun with one hand and examined it giving the puppet a funny look.
"A toy?" She said, she shrugged her shoulder and tossed the little gun behind her and then quickly tied up the Ventriloquist and he fell with a loud thud. Scarface went flying forward and in front of the Amazon with a few clanks.
"Mr. Scarface!" Wesker shouted in horror. He watched as Wonder Woman picked the little puppet up and examined it with mock disgust.
"So, you let a puppet tell you what to do?" She said while turning Scarface every which way. Examining the puppet with curiosity, she was impressed by the craftsmanship and the little detail that went into the suit.
"That's right, bitch!" Scarface said angrily. "Now put me down!"
"Excuse me?!" Wonder Woman turned Scarface upside down and stared into the wooden face. "Did you call me a bitch again?" His mouth wasn't moving? Magic? No, that story can't be true.
"Damn right!" The puppet spat out.
She shook her head, grinning evilly and gently reached up and grabbed his right arm and squeezed, crushing the little wooden arm.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Scarface cried in pain. "Stop!"
"Mr. Scarface!" Wesker cried in horror. "Please stop!" He begged.
Wonder Woman turned and stared the man lying on the floor. "Is this puppet that important to you?"
"Yes." Came the weak reply, Wesker scooted a bit to try in a futile attempt to stop anymore harm from his creation and boss. "Please, just stop, show mercy."
Wonder Woman turned back and made eye contact with Scarface "Don't call me a bitch again and I won't do anymore harm."
"Ow, ow, ow, okay." Scarface relented quickly.
Wonder Woman smiled triumphantly and carried the Scarface in one hand and walked towards Wesker. Batman approached her after he was finished tying up all the thugs and looked at the Amazon.
"Are you finished?" He asked annoyed.
She nodded and quickly wound up her lasso and hooked to her belt. "Yes, I'd say we're done." She placed Scarface down on the floor and tied up the Ventriloquist and placed him in a sitting position and, just for fun, picked up Scarface and placed him stomach first on top of the bald man's head. Scarface and Wesker were making eye contact with each other. Wesker's sweat quickly made Scarface's small gray suit damp.
She giggled and pulled out her iPhone. She quickly took two pictures and tried not to laugh anymore. She knew Batman was not happy with what he was witnessing, but it couldn't be helped.
Underneath the white lenses, Batman rolled his eyes. He'd have to have a chat with Wonder Woman about that later. Then again, Nightwing would probably have done the same years ago when he was Robin. Thankfully, he never did.
"I'll meet you outside." Batman said as he fired his grapple and shot up.
Wonder Woman watched her partner disappear from sight. She knew that he didn't find any humor in her little fun pose, but then again, it wasn't often you took pictures of a wooden puppet sitting on top of a man's head.
She took one last look at all the craziness and shrugged a shoulder. "I thought it was funny." Putting her phone back in her pocket. She quickly flew up and through the broken ceiling window.
"Um, Mr. Scarface." Wesker began after she left. He could hear police sirens getting closer.
"Shut up, dummy." Scarface sighed looking at his handler while still upside down. "Just shut up…"
Next: There's some slight out-of-character moments in the the next chapter. And some continuation from the conversation that Bruce and Dick had in chapter two.