"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" Penguin had nearly fallen out of his chair when he heard, and felt, the explosion from the nearby construction site. "Well boss it looks like the construction site across the street was blown up." Penguin shot the thug on the spot with his umbrella. "It was a RHETORICAL QUESTION! Now, considering the current circumstances I suppose we shall have to wrap up our, negotiations, in a timely manner." Penguin gave a wicked smile to the man across the table with his head in a guillotine. "Wait! Wait please, I'll tell you what you want to know."
"Now see how easy that was, one more time. Where is the Riddler?" The man tried to blink the blood out of his eye, sweet dripping from every pore. "I heard some of the guys saying he was gonna set up some riddle death trap for the Bat at the pier. But I swear that's all I know." Penguin let out a satisfied sigh, "Yes that does sound like Ed, all the riddles and stuff. Well good sir, thank you for this valuable information your services are no longer required. Kill him." The man's eyes shot wide open and he barely had time for a light shriek before his head was in a basket on the ground.
"So boss are we gonna head down to the pier to get Riddler?" Penguin glared at his thug, "His name is Ed, and no seeing as that lunatic Jeremiah Valeska is trying to blow up the city again. We'll get Ed another time. For now I'm going to the bunker, just in case that psycho tries to send me sky high." Some of the thugs began to look worried, "But uh boss where are we going?" Penguin looked even more annoyed, "I don't care, but try and make yourself useful while the Bat's busy with Jeremiah."
"Holy Mother of God, what was that!?" Harvey and Jim had barely stepped outside when the construction site exploded. "Holy crap, Jeremiah's trying to blow up the whole city, again."
"He won't get that far." Jim and Harvey looked back at the dark voice to see Batman standing behind them. His suit looked different than when they'd seen him on the rooftop a few months ago.* It was very high military grade material, and he looked a lot scarier than he had before. "What's your take on this, any idea where he might be?" Batman's eyes seemed to have a faint glow to them, "Take this," Batman gave Jim a device. Jim looked down at it and Batman was gone when he looked back up. Suddenly the device vibrated and Batman's voice came through, "I've tracked Jeremiah's vehicle to a warehouse outside of the city. I've been able to locate all the bombs, but don't send the bomb squad to any locations until I've taken care of Jeremiah." Jim looked a little agitated, "Bruce, you are Bruce right, Bruce Wayne? You can't do this alone you'll need help." Jim waited for a response not expecting one, "Wayne is safe and out of the city. I'm sending my partner to meet you at the GCPD rooftop. He'll help with the bombs once I clear you for entry." Jim was about to respond but the device in his handed began to hiss and shorted out. "You know Jim I don't really think he likes talking to you." Jim just walked past and back to the squad car. "Come on Harvey, we've got work to do."
"Lucius have you finished what I asked for?" Bruce was in the Batmobile driving over 150mph towards the warehouse where Jeremiah was. "Not quite yet Bruce. I'll have Dick deliver them to you when I'm done." Bruce stopped the car half a mile away from the warehouse, "No he's not combat trained yet, I'll get them myself, he's only helping Gordon with finding the bombs." Bruce approached the warehouse and grappled onto the roof. "Very well then, I'll tell Alfred that Dick will be late for dinner." Bruce didn't respond.
"So, am I going in the field?" Dick looked almost giddy. Lucius looked proud with his work when he saw Dick wearing the suit they'd made. The armor was made with tri-weave titanium coated armored plating, the same as Bruce's suit. The only difference being Dick chose red and green to match his circus colors. He also chose a small black mask that only covered his eyes and cheek bones. "Not exactly, Bruce doesn't want you in too much harms way since you're not combat trained yet. You'll be helping the commissioner find the bombs once Bruce gives the okay." Dick looked a little disappointed but was still ecstatic to be the Batman's partner. "Sooooo, how exactly am I supposed to get to the GCPD?" Lucius actually did begin to look a bit worried, "Don't worry pint-sized, I'll help you get there." Selina was standing in the windowsill, her hair was cut short again. "Selina, I'm surprised you could make it past the alarms, but yes it would be helpful if you could help get Dick to the GCPD without dying." Selina gave him a sarcastic glare, "It's me, I could break in here whenever I want," Lucius gave her a suspicious look and she quickly backtracked, "Not that I would, I'm just saying I could if I wanted to. I should probably go now, c'mon kid." Dick ran to the window but stopped when he got to it, "Wait so what am I supposed to do?" Selina looked back and rolled her eyes, "Seriously you were practically born on the trapeze, just follow me and you'll get the hang of it." Dick smiled and jumped out the window after Selina.
Selina was right, Dick was a natural at it, granted he had the cape and grapple gun as a cushion. But that didn't stop him from being a show off, doing flips and tricks as he swung and jumped from roof to roof. "Hey kid, what's with the bright colors? I figured Bruce would want you to wear something a bit darker for this whole vigilante thing. "I thought that too, but he said I could design my own suit. This one reminds me of my parents." Dick began to feel sad at the thought of his parents and missed the next roof. "Dick!" Selina dove after him grabbing a fire escape with her left hand and using her whip to catch him with the right. She was able to catch him but the jolt from the whip catching him dislocated her left shoulder and she lost her grip. Dick who was woken up by this did a somersault mid air and shot the grapple gun at a ledge. Selina grabbed onto Dick with her right arm as he was going up.
Once they reached the roof Selina stood up her left arm slack. "Damnit." She meant to say it to herself but Dick still heard it. "I can help get that back in place, shoulders would dislocate all the time at the circus. I can pop mine in and out with ease at this point." Selina looked surprised but at the end of the day, she just wanted to get her shoulder working again. "Ya ok just make it quick, we've gotta hurry." Dick walked over to her and grabbed her shoulder. With one very quick pop it was back in place and Selina looked immensely better. "That should still be sore for a bit but it'll be mostly functional." Selina let out a small laugh, "Look kid, I've been shot through the stomach before, this is nothing." Dick started to gape a bit but quickly snapped out of it when Selina took off towards the GCPD again.
"When are we gonna blow up another one puddin, I want to see the people go, BOOM." Jeremiah turned to Harley with a big smile. She was now in full makeup wearing a red and black clown suit. "Not yet Harley, first we have to wait for, him, to get here and then you can blow up as many buildings as you want. Well at least until we run out of buildings to blow up." They both broke out into hysterical laughter. Suddenly all the lights in the warehouse went out and one by one each of the thugs heartbeat monitors spiked to 170 and then dropped to a steady 40. "Oh Mr. J he's here." Jeremiah put on a wicked smile, "That he his puddin, so sorry to leave the party so soon but I have places to be and people to slay. Hold him off will you?" Jeremiah ran towards an open window and jumped out onto a ladder hanging from a helicopter. "Anything for you puddin!" Harley screamed after him as he flew away laughing.
Before Harley could even turn around a hand much larger than her face closed around her throat and raised her off the ground. "Where's Jeremiah going." Bruce shoved her into the nearby wall his hand still wrapped around her throat, but loose enough that she could talk. "Who's Jeremiah?" Bruce punched the wall next to her head leaving a large dent, "The next time you make me ask again, it'll be your head." Harley managed to crack a smile, "My puddin changed his name, and I'll never tell you that he's going to his secret base at the top of the building across from the clock tower." Bruce wore the ghost of a grin, "Oh crap! Well you'll never catch him he's already replaced the bombs with puppies and put the real bombs under the police station, and DAMNIT!" Bruce elbowed Harley in the face, knocking her out, and then cuffed her to a pole on the wall. "Dick tell Gordon to evacuate the GCPD. Jeremiah moved all the bombs beneath the station." Bruce was barely back at the Batmobile when he saw the explosion in the distance, and no response on the coms. "DICK!" Bruce got in the Batmobile and floored it
"HAHAHHA! THAT JOKE REALLY BLEW AWAY THE COMPETITION! HAHHAHHA!" Jeremiah was standing at the top floor of a nearby tower watching the destruction take place. "Boss we've got a problem." Jeremiah spun around glaring at the thug and shot him. "You should all learn that the only funny jokes are mine. Seeing as the Bat is here ahead of schedule I want you to get down there, and take him out. AND I DONT MEAN IN THE NICE FIRST DATE KINDA WAY!" The thugs stumbled out of the room almost falling on each other as they grabbed rifles.
It took barely a minute for Bruce to clear the room and make his way to Jeremiah. Jeremiah turned around and faced Bruce with a wide smile, "Hello Batman, I didn't expect you to get here so soon." Bruce charged towards him and threw his entire body into punching Jeremiah's face. What he didn't expect to happen was for his hand to go through Jeremiah's face when he punched it. "Basil Karlo." Bruce pulled his fist out, clay oozing off as he did so. Clayface backed away and fell into a puddle of clay that seeped into the floor vents. "The clown said to tell you to look at the screen on the right when the hour changes." Bruce looked at the monitor and then at the clock. The hour was about to change, he quickly changed his view back to the screen. "Joker here, now you may be wondering how I came up with that name. Oh no you don't Bats, if you try to leave before this video ends I'll kill all your little friends from the GCPD and that new sidekick of yours. You know back in the day I shot the cat through the spine but no one likes to repeat a joke, and then she got away before I could decide where to shoot her. I'll have to find her later and shoot her in the face just for Bruce. Anyway I have no idea why I chose the name Joker, it just felt right like how you chose the name Batman. I'm sure you're just as looney as the rest of us, plus I had to waste a bunch of time so our old friend Clayface could do this."
The screen faded into black with laughter as Bruce turned around to see Clayface, much larger and quite literally a giant human shaped pile of clay. Clayface shot his arm at Bruce, firing him through the window. Bruce struggled to get through the clay as it seeped around his arms and body. Bruce was about to hit the pavement when something caught him and got enough clay off for him to break free. "Holy crap Bruce, you've gotten a lot heavier. But seriously what is it with you and Dick making me jump off buildings to catch you." Bruce was already on his feat and calling the Batmobile , "Where are they?" Selina almost looked a little frightened. She'd seen Bruce get extremely mad before but she'd never seen him this angry. "He was in the narrows, but he was putting everyone in trucks to move them to his best friend's house. Wherever that is." The Batmobile came to a stop right in front of Bruce and he jumped in about to drive off, "Bruce wait, I'm coming too. We both know what he's done to me." She moved to get in but Bruce closed the hatch. "No, he wants me not you. This is my job." Selina looked both angry and a little worried, "Fine Bruce go by yourself again," she stopped when Bruce drove off, "Just please, be careful." She knew he wouldn't be and that he might die. What's worse, she knew that he didn't care. She made to leave and go rob some museum while everyone was occupied, but she'd barely made it down the block when she stopped and turned around. "Damnit Selina, since when did you grow a conscience." She bolted towards Wayne Tower. Hopefully Lucius could help her get to Bruce in time before he got himself killed.
"Alfred get out of the manor." Bruce waited for a reply, "ALFRED!" Bruce's foot threatened breaking through the pedal. "Helloooo, who's on the other end of this thing? Bats is that you? Hmm probably not, even if Brucey boy is Batsy there's no way the butler could help him. Oh well no use killing him without Bruce here to watch. Throw him in with the others. Bruce will be here I know it, and then I'll finally have my bestest friend in the whole world back with me." Bruce grit his teeth, it was everything he had to stay quiet and not let the Joker find out he was Batman. But he couldn't just sit here and listen to this, so he changed coms channels. "Redirect Wayne Tower coms to the secure channel." There was a beep and the dashboard in the Batmobile confirmed that the action had succeeded. "Lucius I need those gadgets now, send a bat pod to the location I've marked." There were a few seconds of silence and Bruce began to worry that even Lucius had been taken. "They're already on their way Bruce, they should arrive not long after you." Bruce was immediately confused, "I'm still a few minutes out, in a bat pod they should arrive before me." There was another long pause in the coms, "That's what I was trying to say, they're not in a bat pod. Selina is taking them to you and-" Bruce's blood began to boil hotter than it already was. He had specifically told her not to come and to stay away until Joker was dealt with. "Tell her to turn around!" This time there was no pause in the coms the voice came through almost before Bruce had finished, "Damnit, some things you can't do alone Bruce." Bruce disconnected all coms and unmarked the location Selina was following. "And some things you have to."
"Lucius I've lost the tracker, where the hell am I supposed to be going?" Lucius tried to remain calm, "Go to the manor, that's where he's heading right? Go to the manor and hopefully you'll make it in time to help him." Selina stopped and changed direction. She'd gone to the manor a million times before, why should this time be any different. 'Well there is the fact that Jeremiah or Joker or whatever he's calling himself is there. Although he has been there before. I also got shot and paralyzed last time he was there. Plus there's these things that I have to take with me to give to Bruce.' She let out a deep breath and drove faster, "Calm down Selina he went away for 10 years to prepare for this crap. Honestly he probably doesn't even need me." Selina pulled over and stopped the car. 'What if I don't help Bruce. He has been training for this for 10 years. He did say that he didn't want my help. Besides it's just that crazy clown, he'll be fine right? Right? Damnit why does everything I do revolve around Bruce freakin Wayne?' Selina just let her head fall on the top of the wheel and sat there unable to decide what to do.
"Jimbo! Buddy old pal, you look a little glum, don't tell me you're still upset that I tried to drop your daughter in a vat of acid. Personally I find that acid baths are very liberating, but that could just be me. Hm still not the talkative type I see, oh well I know our friend Bullock here will keep me entertained." Bullock spit at Joker's feet. "Up your ass you crazy bastard." Joker laughed, kicked Harvey a few times and then laughed some more. "See what I mean, very entertaining. How about you tiny man how do you know the bat?" Dick looked joker straight in the eyes without fear. "Hmm you're not much of a talker either, shame well I'd take the mask off but where's the fun in that, right? You know it's really disappointing that no one's turned up yet, maybe if I try to shoot one of you he'll magically appear right before I pull the trigger." Joker sent one of his men to get a random cop from the other room and bring them to the study. "Now you are a fine looking copper. I've always had problems with those uniforms, too much blue." Joker shot the cop several times in the body before finally between the eyes, laughing hysterically the entire time he did it. "Well that's much better. I think the red really compliments the guts spilling out your front." Joker looked around but just frowned, "Now that's not funny, I go through all of this trouble and he doesn't even show up. Bring me the man servant, maybe that'll motivate Bruce to hurry up his pretty little ass." One of the thugs brought Alfred over to Joker. "Well I don't wanna kill you without Bruce here, buuuuut since he's not showing up I'll have to speed things up." Joker put the gun to Alfred's head and nearly pulled the trigger. Then suddenly he maked a confused face as if trying to figure something out. Then he moved the gun down to Alfred's groin and gave him a huge wink. But once again he wore a confused look and waved the gun around. Then he "accidentally" shot two of his men. Finally he put the gun to Alfred's strong leg and pulled the trigger. The bullet passed straight through without hitting the bone. "Much better, now your legs are even. Well mostly I think that one might be a bit worse than the other one." Joker once again looked around but didn't see a thing. "WHERE ARE YOU!? I'VE GONE THROUGH ALL THIS TROUBLE AND YOU DON'T EVEN BOTHER TO SHOW! I WAITED TEN YEARS FOR YOU TO COME BACK AND YOU DIDN'T SHOW YOURSELF THEN. BUT THIS, THIS IS LOW EVEN FOR YOU!"
"You don't deserve me Joker." Bruce came walking into the room in his normal suit and coat. Well as normal as a bulletproof suit and coat are. Joker's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. "Bruce! It's great to see you again. Please take a seat with your friends, or I'll kill them. You there clean up the man slave and stop this bleeding. It's ruining the carpet. Now Bruce like I was saying, you'll take a seat right over there." Bruce stood his ground and just stared at Joker. "Hellooooo Bruuuuce, Bruuuuce can you hear, Bruce?" Bruce continued to just stand there without changing his expression. Then Bruce faded into nothing and disappeared. "What the hell?" Joker walked over to the doorway where Bruce was standing and looked down to see some sort of device. Before anyone could even blink Joker had been thrown into the wall and all the armed thugs had been disarmed and knocked out. "Hey bats! I was expecting Bruce but I should've expected you. So what'd you do with Clayface? I really expected you to be delayed a bit longer, but you are full of surprises." Bruce made his way towards Joker, "Wayne sends his regards, but you're not important enough for him to show up. Commissioner get everyone out of here." Bruce picked up Joker by the collar and slammed him into the floor. Joker began to laugh maniacally, and only laughed harder once everyone had left the room. Bruce punched him repeatedly in the face. A left and then a right back and forth Joker's blood staining the carpet and getting on Bruce's face. When Bruce stopped Joker looked up at him his eyes as wide as his smile and laughed harder than he'd ever laughed before. "I see now, I don't need Bruce, I have you. You're just as crazy as the rest of us. I'll bet that all it took was one bad day. I had a bad day once too." Bruce began punching Joker again, "I don't care." Bruce nearly killed joker but stopped when something caught his hand. It wasn't able to stop the next punch but it was enough to make him stop.
"Br- Batman, he's had enough. You can stop now, everyone's safe and out of the manor. An ambulance just arrived and is treating Alfred." Bruce turned to Selina the rage still in his eyes "I told you to stay away." Selina didn't look surprised, "Ya well I brought you these." Selina gave Bruce the explosive gel and remote batarang. Bruce took them without a word and picked up Joker turning his back on Selina. "How about, a thank you for stopping you from killing him or bringing you your stupid things, or even just for showing up and showing that I care." Bruce continued to walk out of the room. "I told you to stay away, you should do that now before I give you over to Gordon for theft and destruction of property." Selina was shocked, mad but most of all she was hurt. She'd actually been trying to help make things better between them and now he's just shutting her out entirely. "Ya well screw you, and don't come looking for me. I never want to see you again." Bruce stopped when he got to the doorway but didn't turn around. "The next time I see you I'm bringing you in. Goodbye Selina." He continued out of the room and disappeared down the hall. Selina ran out the window and disappeared into the night.
Bruce walked out of the manor with Joker over his shoulder. Dick who wasn't hurt much at all ran over to him. "Don't worry Batman I made sure that the commissioner didn't recognize me. I even came up with a name, R-" Bruce walked right past Dick barely acknowledging him. Dick's face fell and he went inside holding back tears. Bruce called the Batwing to above his location. Jim walked over to him about to ask something but Bruce cut him off, "I'm taking the Joker to Black Gate myself, Arkham is in no condition to hold him." Bruce walked past and Jim moved to catch up, "Hold on Batman, where's Bruce Wayne? You said he was safe but you never said where." Bruce turned to Jim, "He's on his way here now." There was a loud sound from above and Bruce grappled into the Batwing. He threw Joker in the back of the plane and Bruce ejected as soon as he was far enough away from the Manor where he wouldn't be seen. He glided down to where he'd left the Batmobile got changed into his regular clothes and got in a different car to drive back to the Manor in.
"Bruce! Hey Bruce, where the hell have you been I thought you would've come even if some vigilante told you to stay." Bruce gave Jim a cold look, "Why would I come, he clearly had it handled and I would've just gotten people killed." Bruce began to walk off but Jim stopped him. "You're not the Bruce Wayne I know, the one who stayed in Gotham even when it became a war zone, the one who put his life on the line for this city and his friends countless times, the one who wouldn't let anyone tell him what to do no matter who they are or what they seem like they can do." Bruce pushed away from Jim, "Maybe I was 10 years ago, but I'm not that person anymore. I'm done putting my life on the line so a few crime lords can live in towers a couple days longer. I'm only here because of my family's business." Bruce walked away before Jim could stop him. Harvey came over to Jim, "Still think he's Batman?" Jim turned to Harvey looking a bit worried. "No, but I know something else happened, one thing's for sure, he's hiding something." Harvey saw the look on Jim's face and got worried, "Oh no partner, we're not doing this. I know you're worried about him but we're not opening a file on Bruce freakin Wayne." Jim wasn't even listening, "Whatever he's hiding, whatever happened to him over the last 10 years, I wanna know." Harvey let out deep sigh, "Alright but this is your case, I'm not getting roped into any of it." The crowd outside the manor was starting to thin so Jim and Harvey left before they were the only ones left.
"I'm quite alright thank you very much, now I really must be getting back." Alfred tried to sit up but the doctor made him stay in bed. "I'm sorry sir but you really can't be walking right now. You'll have to stay here at least until that leg can give some support." Alfred tried to reason with the doctor but it was no use. He wasn't gonna be leaving any time soon. "Mr. Pennyworth you have a visitor." Alfred sat up straight, "Master Bruce I didn't expect you here so-" Alfred was surprised to see that it wasn't Bruce in the doorway. Standing there looking lost, with dried out red eyes was Selina. "Ms. Kyle I certainly didn't expect to see you here. Have you seen Bruce, is he with Dick?" Selina sat down in one of the chairs. "Oh I've seen Bruce alright, we even had a nice conversation about how I was terrible and should sleep with one eye open cause next time he sees me he's gonna arrest me." Alfred looked shocked, "That's very funny Selina, but seriously I would like to know if Dick is safe at the manor with Bruce." Selina sighed, "No Alfred I'm serious, something happened to Bruce. He had his back turned the entire time we were talking and he acted as if he didn't even know me. I don't know what happened but whatever did you'd better fix that arrogant asshole, cause of all the insufferable douchebags in this city... he's our insufferable douchebag and I won't lose him, not again." Alfred looked down, "Oh I see, I promise Selina I'll make sure that he does the right thing. I'm sure that a few nights off and he'll be back to his old self." Selina scoffed and crossed the room to open the window, "Sure he will, goodbye Alfred." Selina jumped out the window. Alfred just laid there thinking through how he could possibly help Bruce, he couldn't do much from the hospital bed he knew that for sure.
Dick, in his suit, was sitting in the study staring at the mask in his hands. 'What does this even mean, I thought it was a symbol of hope and justice for those who can't protect themselves. Maybe it is but not for the one who wears it. Maybe putting on this mask means a life of pain and loneliness. Maybe if I sacrifice my happiness, the people of this city won't have to feel that pain that I felt.' Dick looked up, "They won't feel like they're alone, they'll know that there's someone there to protect them."
"It took me a lot longer to figure that out you know, and I was much older than you." Dick looked to the doorway to see Bruce standing there. "Not to mention I had a considerably good life when I left. I had friends, and family who loves and cares for me." Dick stood up and walked over to Bruce. "But none of that mattered if they weren't safe. So you left to protect them and didn't come back until you'd become the symbol of hope that this city needs. You gave yourself to a life of pain so that no one would feel that pain you carried and still do carry." Bruce nodded, "As long as this city stands there will be crime and the corrupt, and as long as there is crime there will be the need for hope. In a city so set on tearing itself apart, we need to be the symbol of hope that keeps it safe. So if you still want to be that symbol, the night isn't over yet and you need to properly see the field." Dick grinned and put on the mask, "Let's get out there, partner."
"You still need an alias, I have one if you don't." Dick smiled, "I have I was think, the Ranger." Bruce looked up in thought, "That's not bad but how do you like, Robin." Dick frowned, "You mean like the bird?" Bruce shook his head, "No like Robin Hood, plus Batman and the Ranger doesn't flow as well as Batman and Robin." Dick thought about it for a second and then agreed. "Batman and Robin it is, I kinda like that." Bruce smiled but then became very serious. "Dick I chose Robin Hood not because of his heroic stories or his symbol of hope. I chose him because he is a light in the darkness, as you shall be the light in my darkness. Batman is a symbol of fear, I won't, no I can't allow you to lose your childhood as I lost mine. As I am hope to Gotham, you are hope for me. Do you understand, this job takes everything from a man, you can't let it do that to you." Dick looked up at Bruce, "I understand Bruce, and don't worry I'm far too handsome to let this job get to me." Bruce smiled, "I'm glad you think so because starting tomorrow, you're going to school." Dicks jaw fell, "Now hold on a minute, that's not part of the agreement." Bruce laughed, "Now Dick if you're handsome enough to fight crime school shouldn't be a problem. Clearly you'll have all of the girls flocking you asking to touch that flow you've got going."
Dick tried to argue more as he followed Bruce and walked out of the room, but it was obviously no use. As the days changed and midnight passed, the two partners disappeared into the night. The future of Gotham was now in the hands of the dynamic duo.
*Bruce's new suit is very similar to the starting suit in Arkham Knight.