Chpt. XIV: Silhouette

Dick stopped the bike in front of an old apartment building. The building's shadow covered the bike, hiding it from the moonlight. He sighed & turned to Rodrick, who sat on the bike behind Dick, still holding onto him with his arms wrapped around his waist. "Let go of me," Dick grumbled.

Rodrick's arms shot back to his sides. "Sorry," he said softly. "I've just never ridden a motorcycle before. That shit's crazy, man."

Dick swung his leg up from the bike & stood up. "Okay, we're here."

Rodrick stumbled to get off of the bike. He regained his balance and stepped onto the curb. "You ready?"

Dick shrugged. "I have no idea. You just told me to GPS an address & drive there. I don't know what this is."

"Oh, it's my home," Rodrick said, stepping towards the building. He stopped and turned back to Dick, chuckling softly. "Huh. It's been a while since I've said that. 'Home.'"

"Old Gotham was home for a while," Dick pointed out.

Rodrick nodded in agreement. "Hell is home."

The two approached the front door of the old apartment building and opened it. It was dim lit with a desk in front of the small lobby. To the left was a metal wall of mail boxes for each resident. To the right was a bulletin board with pamphlets and newsletters of outdated city events.

Dick approached the desk & rang a rusty bell on the table. "Yo, is anybody here?"

"No," Rodrick answered. "Nobody has been here since the night I left."

Dick looked back at Rodrick. "You never did tell me how you came to Old Gotham."

"You never asked."

"Well, now I am."

Rodrick looked at Dick & sighed. He began walking to the stairs behind the front desk, leading to the upper floors of the building. Dick followed behind. "Well, I was just angry," Rodrick started. "I was walking home from school one day. I came home, went up these stairs & when I went through my front door, my mom starts bitching. 'Where's Tracy? Where the fuck is Tracy? You were supposed to pick her up from school!' I said 'No, you were supposed to get her. You said you'd fix the car yesterday & pick her up today.' She goes nuts, saying I'm lying & I'm a jackass like my father. That pissed me off, especially since the cunt actually DID say she'd fix the car & pick up Tracy.

"Anyway, so it took me an hour after school to get home, another hour to go to Tracy's school, & another hour to get back home. My mom was waiting three hours just so she could bitch at me some more. 'You're fucking useless, Rodrick. You're a piece of shit, just like your father.' Some more bullshit. I told her she was JUST as useless, dealing crack all day & night. She started hitting me. I fought back, defense & all. She cries out 'You're exactly like your dad! You HIT like your dad!' I told her, 'No I don't, because you haven't killed me yet.' Then she gets this crazy eye & runs to the kitchen to look for a knife. At least, I think she's looking for a knife. I heard metal clanking & shit. So I ran to my room & start emptying out my backpack of my notebooks & start packing clothes. Tracy is sitting on her bed with her knees up. 'What's wrong? Why is mommy crying? What are you doing? Are you going somewhere?' After me not saying anything, she goes 'You're leaving.' I told her that she needed to come with me. So I emptied HER backpack & filled it up with clothes too. I didn't know where I'd take us, but I knew I needed to get us the hell out of there.

"I tried to sneak passed my mom with Tracy right behind, but my mom must've heard us. her head shot right from the other side of the kitchen, & she's still got the crazed look. I grabbed Tracy's hand tight & ran to the door. I swung it open, still holding onto Tracy, but my mom had grabbed her hand first. We played tug of war with my baby sister, me yelling as my mom is half pulling my sister back, half swinging a knife at me. I didn't want my sister to get cut, so I let go, & my sister & mom fell back. I remember shouting 'I'll be back for you Tracy, I promise!' Then I ran out of the house.

"After walking a few blocks down, I started hearing sirens. My mom called the cops on me. With what charges, I have no fucking clue. But I ran for what felt like forever. But then I found myself in an abandoned subway. I found Old Gotham. Things looked good at first. The boys invited me in politely, they had all their shops & little civilization looking shit set up. Nolan had asked to see me. We talked, I told him what happened, & I told him I wanted to go back to get my sister. He asked me where she was. I told him, hoping he'd help me. Maybe send someone with me to help get her. He pointed a gun at me, telling me that I had to leave my old life behind. That's when it was all over. That's when I knew I was fucked."

Dick was in awe, feeling incredibly empathetic towards Rodrick. Rodrick didn't seem like someone fazed by anything. It just goes to show that you don't survive in Old Gotham without any sort of guise. Dick knew that. Apparently so did Rodrick.

After climbing 6 flights of stairs, Rodrick stepped down the hallway, followed by Dick. "I adjusted kind of quickly, I guess," Rodrick continued. "After I realized what kind of sick hell Nolan had created, it didn't feel much different than what it was like at home. I guess the only difference was in Old Gotham, I only had to look after myself. It was a little easier. But there still wasn't a day that went by that I regretted not being able to take Tracy away from her sick hell."

Dick stepped closer to Rodrick. "Tracy wouldn't have survived there, man."

Rodrick shook his head. "With me around, nobody would've laid a hand on my little princess," Rodrick remarked with a tone of defiance.

Dick smiled, almost admiring Rodrick's care for his little sister. Rodrick & Dick stopped in front of door 6B. Part of the B had fallen off the door at some point, making it look like a lower case B. The door was cracked slightly open. Rodrick took a deep breath before pushing the door open.

Dick followed behind Rodrick cautiously. The first room they stepped into was in front of a wall with a gap, revealing the kitchen behind it. Dick noticed the entire apartment being wrecked. The furniture had been tossed around & out of place. The seat cushions of the couch had been tossed around & ripped open. Some wooden tables had been smashed in half. There was broken glass around the living room to the left, along with glass pipes & bongs & beer bottles. There was a glass sliding door that led to a balcony. The glass door had been cracked, causing the moonlight from the night sky to shine through in a fractured ray.

"Shit," Rodrick mumbled. He stood in between the living room & the hallway to the bedrooms, near the kitchen. He stretched his arms open & chuckled. "It literally doesn't look much different."

Dick let out a sigh. "It smells."

"That's the burnt meth & pot," Rodrick said.

"Ew," Dick mumbled.

"What, did you think I had fucking fragrant candles around here?"

Dick shrugged. "So what do you think?"

Rodrick scratched his bald head. "Honestly, I dunno. I know Drake's men had their eye here. Drake could've easily had his men come in here & kill my family."

"Damn," Dick mumbled, unsure what to say. He watched Rodrick, eying his movements. He was half concerned for Rodrick, half untrusting of Rodrick.

Rodrick sighed. "I'll go check the bedrooms."

Dick watched Rodrick step into the dark hallway. After disappearing down into the black abyss, Rodrick yelped. "Fuck, something bit me!"

Dick tried hard to contain his laughter, but he ended up snorting. He calmed himself down and began surveying the kitchen. He stepped away from the living room & into the small kitchen. It was basically a fridge, stove & a microwave inside of one wall & a sink & dishwasher under the gap in the wall facing the front door. Dick looked into the sink. There was piles upon piles of unwashed dishes. A few cockroaches scuttled out from under the plates & up onto the kitchen counter. Dick stepped back, feeling disgusted by the sight. Dick glanced away from the sink towards the balcony. There was a silhouette on the balcony.

Dick got down on his knees & crept behind the stove, avoiding being seen. The figure was tall & entirely black. He looked as though he wore a long cloak over his body. His shoulders were broad and wide. His face was covered with something, like a mask. There was two sharp points emerging from the top of his head. Dick couldn't tell if they were supposed to be ears like an animal or horns like a monster.

The figure slid the glass door open and stepped through. The figure walked through the living room. Glass crunched under the slow footsteps. The figure looked down at the ground, then kneeled down. The figure began examining the shattered glass pieces, removing them from the ground and holding them up in the moonlight to see clearly. Dick watched as the figure raised a hand toward their face. Suddenly, their eyes began to glow. The figure's eyes shone like a white light. The eyes shone at the glass for a few moments, then the lights blinked off.

The figure stood up from the ground, dropping the shard of glass onto the ground, then began walking towards the center of the apartment. As the figure passed the kitchen, the looked down & saw Dick crouched on the ground.

"Shit," Dick cursed under his breath.

The figure approached Dick & grabbed him by the wrist. Up close, Dick could see the figure's black armor under his long black cloak. He wore a mask that covered everything but his mouth & chiseled chin. The figure dragged Dick out of the kitchen & into the light shining in the living room. Dick was too frazzled by the encounter to react.

The cloaked figure swung Dick around to face him and shook him by his shoulders ferociously. "What are you here?" the figure growled.

Dick stared up at the masked figure. He looked up & down the figure's armor. He could make out an emblem on the chest of the arm. Dick made it out to be a bat.

Dick looked back up at the masked figure. "Oh, god," he stuttered.

"Hey!" Rodrick called out from the doorway of the hall. He ran towards the masked figure, reaching down for a shard of glass on the ground, & lunged towards the stranger.

The masked figure slapped Rodrick's armed hand, smacking the glass out of his hand, and bent his wrist in an angle, forcing Rodrick back against the wall with his hand bent behind his back. Rodrick screamed as he was pressed against the wall. He tried kicking & freeing himself from the stranger's grip, but the masked man was bigger & stronger than him.

Dick watched as Rodrick struggled to escape the attacker. Dick looked down at the ground & noticed a wooden plank from a broken piece of furniture & ran towards it. He swung down to grab the plank & ran towards the masked man, whose back was towards Dick. He brought the plank down onto the attacker's head. The plank broke apart as an explosion of wood, leaving almost no damage on the masked figure.

The masked figure turned back to Dick, still pressing Rodrick against the wall. Dick leaped up in the air and swung his leg out, but was countered when the masked figure grabbed Dick's leg, throwing him off balance. Dick adjusted himself, setting himself back up on one foot. He then leaped up again, one leg still gripped by the masked figure, swinging the other leg up at the masked figure's face. The masked figure doubled over, releasing Rodrick from his grasp.

"Dick, run!" Rodrick cried, reaching for Dick's wrist. Before he made contact, Rodrick fell to the ground. A small blade stuck out from the back of his neck.

Dick looked back up at the masked figure, who stood in the corner of the apartment. Dick turned and ran to the front door. He was reaching for the doorknob when he felt something fly right past his hand, slicing into the metal doorknob.

Dick stared down at the doorknob, then turned back to face the masked figure. Within the few moments Dick had turned away, he had moved from the corner of the apartment to the center of the apartment, past Rodrick.

"What are you doing here?" the masked figure asked in a low gruff voice.

Dick stared back. He opened his mouth to speak, but then shut it. He was in shock. He felt as though he knew who the figure was, but he was afraid to say. He rounded up all the confidence he had left & spoke. "I could ask you the same thing."

"I asked first," the masked figure replied, his voice indistinguishable.

Dick looked up & down the masked figure. He stepped closer to get a better look at the figure. He stepped slowly and cautiously, but with more ease. He knew the man would have killed Dick if he wanted to. He killed Rodrick without hesitation & threw a blade at Dick, barely missing him. The man needed Dick alive. He decided to take advantage of the man & try to ease some answers out of him.

"I heard stories about you," Dick started. He began circling the man, who stood without shifting or turning. "A creature of the night. People used to cry about you. They were afraid of you. They thought you would kill them. The guy you just killed cried about it too, praying he'd never have to face you. I also heard things other than murder. I heard you've saved people. I found newspapers about you, even though I wasn't allowed to read them. You saved people from fires, from muggings. You also busted drug lords & mafias. You took down all the inmates in Arkham when they had that one breach a few years ago. You're like a myth, man. People fear you, & people love you. The creature of the night."

Dick eventually circled back to face the man. He pointed at his head. "I can't tell if those are ears or horns." Dick then looked down at the man's armor. He stepped closer to him & tapped the armored chest. "This is, like, military grade material or something." Dick noticed a symbol on the man's chest. "That looks like a bird," Dick started. "I wanna say it's a bird. Because if it is, then I know everything I just told you is wrong, & you're not the person I thought you were. But if it's not a bird, I'm fucking screwed & need to get the hell out of here."

The masked man looked down at Dick. "Is it a bird?" he asked in a slightly softer, more humane voice.

Dick looked up at the man. Behind the masked, his eyes were darkened with facepaint. Dick took a deep breath. "It's a bat," he said. "It's a fucking bat. You're the Bat."

The masked figure made the most slightest grin. "I've been called the Batman by a few."

Dick walked around the Bat once more, taking more notice to his black cloak. "So I heard you can fly," he said. "I assume this helps, huh?"

"It's a military nylon material modified to withstand bullets, hot & cold temperatures, toxic chemicals, & can be used to paraglide," the Bat said. "I'm still adapting it."

Dick nodded, still making his way around the Bat. He gestured to the blade on the door. "So what the hell is that, then?"

"Batarang," he answered.

Dick blinked. "Boomerang?"

"Batarang," he repeated.

Dick shook his head. He stepped towards Rodrick. "And you killed him with one."

The Bat kneeled down next to Rodrick's body & removed the blade sticking out from behind his neck. No blood was spilt. "It's a non-lethal batarang tipped with chloroform."

Dick let out a chuckle. "I can't fucking believe it," he said. He kneeled down next to the body, taking the batarang from Batman's hand. "I'm having a conversation with the fucking Bat."

The Bat looked down at Dick. "Richard, what were you two doing here?"

Dick looked up at the Bat with a raised eyebrow. He stood up and backed away from him. "I never told you my name. Where did you hear that name?"

The Bat stood up & tapped his mask. "There's a wireless video feed, it's used for uploading and accessing data, police records, files, & in some cases, adoption records filed deep into the city archives."

Dick stared at him. The Bat stood up & continued. "Richard Grayson, son of acrobats John & Mary Grayson. Orphaned at 8, ran away from the Gotham City Orphanage, & recently arrested for a breaking & entering in a home in the suburbs."

"Yeah," Dick mumbled.

The Bat went on. "You were also a suspect in a bombing in Old Gotham."

"If you know that much, you know it wasn't me," Dick spat back.

"No, that was Nolan Drake."

Dick stared back at him. "Okay, dude. You got me. You've interrogated me & cracked the case, Mr. Holmes."

"No," the Bat growled. "After that explosion, the GCPD attempted to raid the underground subway, but almost everyone managed to escape. These street kids are out on the loose, & their ringleader is prepping up a new plan. We have to find out what's his next move."

"We?"

"Yes, Dick, you & I."

Dick scoffed. "Why the hell should I help you?"

"You tell me," the Bat responded. "You escaped Old Gotham, you're free from the accusations. You could easily leave town, leave all of this. Yet, you were here with this young man. Why?"

Dick felt his heart pound. His mind drifted to Halloween. He thought of how he begged Cheyenne to leave with him to Metropolis. She didn't want to, though. Just at that moment, Dick began to wonder why she didn't want to. He thought she would want to leave with him, considering all that had happened to her. She didn't want to leave her friends, the two girls. Wasn't Dick enough for her to want to leave, knowing her life was at stake? If the roles were reversed, Dick would've dropped everything to leave with her.

Dick sighed, shaking the painful truth from his mind. He nodded to the limp body on the ground. "Rodrick, he was down there with me & Nolan. Nolan had Rodrick in the palm of his hand. He manipulated him, threatened his mother and sister's life. Rodrick thought he'd be able to cooperate with the GCPD to have them put into police custody, but they haven't done anything. So Rodrick & I tried to track them down here, but I guess Nolan's guys already took them out."

"You think they were murdered?" Batman asked.

Dick looked blankly at the masked man. "Well, yeah, am I right?" Dick began gesturing to the broken furniture. "Clearly there was a struggle. The blood stains show that there was a loser, & I think the woman & little girl lost."

The Bat nodded. "What else?"

Dick looked back at the Bat with a raised eyebrow. He wanted more clues? "Um…" Dick started. He looked back at the door and stepped closer to it. He noticed the door wasn't shut closed. Dick pushed it back, but the door slowly swung open still. Dick glanced at the doorknob, then at the doorway. There was a cracked split in the wooden frame. "The door was kicked in," Dick noticed. "Forced entry."

The Bat stepped closer to Dick. "Good job, Dr. Watson," he said jokingly, his hoarse voice still low. "Can you fit the pieces together?"

Dick shrugged. "I dunno, I know the two were in this apartment. Apparently the men had been watching these two for a while." Dick glanced out the glass balcony door. "Across the street is another building. I'm thinking there was a few men over there with a vantage point. They hid out there, & when called upon, they were sent up here. They busted through the door & beat the lady & her daughter to death. That could explain the damaged furniture & blood stains on the ground."

The Bat nodded slowly. "Okay," he said. "You're wrong."

"Wait, what?" Dick asked.

The Bat bent down to the ground. "Your entire theory would be valid except for one crucial detail."

"What?"

The Bat looked up at Dick. "You said the police never made it up here?"

Dick shook his head. "No, otherwise there would be police tape & we would actually have evidence."

The Bat nodded. "You're right. If forensics came in, they could examine this blood which could tell two things: whose blood it is & how long it's been here."

"Sure," Dick agreed. "Isn't it the mom & girl's blood?"

The Bat rose a hand to his temple. Suddenly his eyes began to glow through the mask. He shifted his head down. His shining eyes projected a small screen onto the ground. On it was a photo of two men with data & small information out to each side. It looked as though it were accessed through a computer screen. "This is Nikolai Yudkoff & Dimitri Rasnov. They're Russian mercenaries that were found here breaking into the apartment, attempting to kill Janet & Tracy Farmer. This is their blood. It's been here for only a few hours."

Dick looked at the blood on the ground with wide eyes. He bent down and touched the stain with his index finger. "Damn," he mumbled. "But that doesn't make sense."

The Bat nodded. "I got word from the GCPD that they were looking into sending a unit out here, but they never did. I began watching this apartment myself. Nothing was suspicious. Then tonight, two men drove up in a black van & raced up here. I snuck in right before anything happened. Dimitri kicked the door open, & I began to fight the two. I took them both out. Janet & little Tracy were so confused. They had no idea what was going on. I explained to them that they needed to get to the GCPD & brought them, along with the two men."

"You took two limp Russian men & a woman & her daughter across town?"

"I have space in my vehicle."

Dick fought hard not to chuckle. "Wow, what kind of car does the Bat drive?"

The Bat didn't answer for a moment. He began walking to the sliding glass door. "Tell your friend what I told you when he wakes up."

"Wait, you're leaving?" Dick cried.

The Bat turned back to Dick. "I was only here because I doing surveillance, hoping to catch Nolan Drake here & now. Instead I found you two. Your friend's mother & sister are safe, but this boy is still out there & is plotting something. I could genuinely use your help finding this guy."

"Why me?"

"You've escaped Old Gotham. You've lived there. You've seen Drake manage the subway like a twisted clock. He had everything working in his own selfish ways. You know how it works the best."

Dick scoffed. "You'd have a better shot knowing how Drake thinks with this dumbass," Dick said, gesturing to Rodrick.

The Bat shook his head. He began to make his way back to the glass door. He opened the door and glanced back at Dick. "Stay away from this apartment. More may come back." The Bat then spun around, his black cape swinging like a dark wave in the air. He leaped off of the railing of the balcony and jumped down.

"No!" Dick cried as he ran towards the balcony, almost stumbling on the flat ground. He threw his head over the railing, but saw nothing but the empty street down below.