Earlier

Bruce stood by the bar of the Iceberg Lounge, scanning the crowd covertly while trying to act indifferent to the chill. The bar was a good vantage point, and so far, everyone had been too drunk to notice Bruce Wayne in their midst. His eyes fought to detect anything through the neon light and deep shadows, while his ears strained against the pounding music and caw of the African penguins that flapped in their pen. For some this place meant a night of music and drinking and fun, but it was perilous. Especially for the Batman.

"Something to drink, sir?" asked the bartender, finally noticing his presence.

Bruce looked up. "No thank you, I'm just waiting for somebody."

"Not a fan of a good drink, Mr. Wayne?"

He looked over to see a woman next to him, sitting with her back to the bar and a martini in her hand. She was surprisingly beautiful, with short dark hair, blue eyes, and a graceful black dress accented with silver earrings shaped like cats. She surveyed him over the rim of her glass with a playful glint in her eyes.

"I'm not planning on staying long, Miss…?"

"Bywater. But you can call me Amanda. And please, let me buy you a drink."

Seeing as it would be impolite to refuse, he didn't object as she ordered a glass of champagne for him, instead scanning the life of the lounge for either Maroni or Cobblepot. He'd probably hear Cobblepot before he saw him—his voice carried, and was distinctly squawk-like. Noticing his drink hovering by his shoulder, he took it and looked back at the woman. "How can I help you, Miss Bywater?"

"Amanda," she pressed. "And I'm not looking for anything, Bruce, it's just that you're not the most common man to meet. Any girl's dream, really."

In another life, at another time, Bruce might've considered taking more interest in her. He tried to keep up his appearance as billionaire playboy after all, even if he'd toned it down after the acquisition of a foster son. But that's not what he was there for. He pretended to sip his champagne as his eyes darted from the corners of the lounge to the woman's face.

"You seem jumpy, Bruce," she purred, leaning closer to him. "Do you need someone to help you relax?"

Bruce was uncomfortably aware of how close she was, but it was at that moment that he noticed Maroni edge into the bar with one of his bodyguards, taking a moment to look around before making his way towards the private rooms in the back of the lounge. Bruce disguised the moment by pretending to continue to search for a few seconds, before setting his drink back on the granite of the bartop, untouched. "Excuse me, Amanda, I have to go. But I'll, uh—call you."

Watching the billionaire turn away, Selina Kyle sighed and turned back to her martini. Bruce Wayne was a long shot, to be sure, but she could only imagine what she might find up in his penthouse, or in his mansion. Anyway. There were plenty of other rich men in the lounge to seduce.

Bruce saw one of the lounge staff escorting Maroni behind a heavy curtain and wandered his way past it, dropping a bug in the planter directly outside it as he pretended to examine the plant. Another of the staff asked him what he was doing back there, and he said he was looking for a restroom, which the man directed him to. Once he was in the stall, Bruce took the time to put in his earpiece. He'd encased it in his cellphone to get it through security.

As he reentered the lounge, he tapped a few buttons on his watch to aim where the bug was listening, until he picked up faint snatches of Cobblepot's nasally voice and homed in on them. He knew that this was the point at which he had to be careful. He'd told everyone at the bar that he was waiting for someone, and now had to exit the place inconspicuously. There would be cameras watching. As the sound from his earpiece began to clear, he pretended to make one last sweep of the lounge, before shrugging, checking his watch, and making his way to the door. No one stopped him, but he got a few odd looks, and he sincerely hoped that Alfred was doing his job. Even more so when one of the security officers nudged his partner and they started to make their way towards him.

Bruce took out his cellphone as if he were receiving a call, in case one of them noticed his earpiece. He'd had to put it in up here, to make sure the bug was in a good enough position, and it was too small for a camera to see, but there was always a chance that a person might notice. Now would be a good time, Alfred.

One of the security guards tapped him on the shoulder. "Sir? Do you require assistance?"

"One moment please," Bruce said, brushing off his arm and listening intently to his silent phone.

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to—" The guard looked down at the floor as it trembled, but everyone in the room turned to the window as Batman went sprinting up the glass.

The guards immediately disregarded Bruce, the taller one taking out his walkie-talkie. "Code Seven, we're under attack by the Batman!"

"Copy that, main floor, this is floor twenty-three, Batman is loose in the building! I repeat, Batman is loose!"

They both sprinted off, and Bruce was left to walk peacefully out of the building. Once he was back in his car, he took a moment to look up, and see Batman gliding out of a hole he'd made in the lounge's upper floors. He opened a new communication channel in his earpiece. "Many thanks, Alfred."

"Don't expect that too often sir. My legs are not what they used to be."

"In any case, I got what we needed. Are you going to go to the mansion, or visit Jackson?"

"Probably return to the mansion. He should be preoccupied with meeting Tana. Good night, sir."

Bruce switched back to the feed coming from his bug. "He's gone? You sure?"

"Yes, Mr. Maroni. He tried to enter the twenty-third floor, where we were originally supposed to meet. But that's why I had the meeting moved. He left when he could not find you. Nothing to fear."

"This is why I didn't want to try none of that stuff in the first place, Cobblepot. It ain't worth the risk, and nothin' you've suggested so far has worked. Me'n my men want to cut ties."

"You say he destroyed the entire facility?"

"Yeah." Maroni sounded furious. "Now I gotta finda 'nother place. Messin' with friends of the Batman is dangerous, and I don't want to be a part of it. Yes, I'm angry at Wayne, but not angry enough to try anythin' else."

There was a pause in Cobblepot's nasally dialogue. "One last thing. I'll help refinance you if you change targets. Set out a sniper to kill Robin if he appears in the city before the night of the election."

Maroni now sounded borderline terrified. "No way. You saw what Batman did just for taking the kid hostage—"

"Yes. I did. It made him anxious, temperamental. He's not a destructive man—if you can call him that—but he was willing to send your entire establishment down in flames. Why? Love for his accomplice. If you kill Robin, he'll be easier to defeat. What's more, the threat'll most likely allow my plans to continue unhindered."

"You found a way to get the election in the bag?"

"I'm… confident in the abilities of the people to choose the… correct mayoral candidate. But in the meantime, Batman might think I'm involved in some questionable activities, and when he brings out his sidekick, to stop me, he will pay. And you know what—let's make this fun. If the Grayson appears first, shoot him and leave Robin alone. If Robin appears, have him killed and leave Grayson be."

"But then he'll know it's us. Cobblepot, there's a reason I asked for this meeting to happen before dark, and there's a reason we haven't tried going after the kid before—"

"And the reason flies around the city at night pulling off picking off your men like flies. Once I'm mayor, I'll make sure you're safe. But I don't want to see either boy in this city without a bullet in his skull. In fact, he may not even have to be in the city…if what I do goes according to plan, he shouldn't even make it out of his house, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't keep your men on guard."

"Got your own assassin, Cobblepot?"

"Maybe. But the deal is solid: I pay you for damages. You have either Robin or Grayson killed if they show their face between now and the time of the election. Any objections?"

"I expect to be paid in full."

"You will be, and more, for the trouble. A pleasure doing business with you, as always." Bruce heard Cobblepot lean forward, and raise his voice. "And if the Batman's planted a listening device and has heard this conversation, I hope he knows that I mean every word."

Bruce waited a few more seconds before triggering the bug's self-destruct mechanism , and didn't even bother taking off his tie before shooting away through the streets of Gotham to find Tana and Dick.