Chapter 13: Torch Song
It had been a week since Loeb was killed and Dick had learned Bruce's secret. Dick still wasn't happy that Bruce wasn't keen on the idea of taking him under his wing and was hoping to eventually convince him otherwise. Meanwhile, Firefly was still on the loose and the entire city of Gotham has been warned to be on high alert and report any cases of arson. Jim Gordon has taken charge of the police force as acting commissioner in light of Loeb's death and isn't resting until Firefly is caught. Harvey called Bruce and Dick to come along with him and Grace to a music festival that was going on down at the old Gotham Steel Mill. It had been abandoned for many years, but the mayor thought it would be a cool spot for special events. Bruce and Dick were meeting Harvey and Grace at the gates right before the first artist was about to come on. "Glad you two could come.", Harvey said. "Yeah, thanks for inviting us. Hey, Grace. Good to see you again.", Bruce said to both of them. "You too. What about him? How's he doing? I can't imagine how terrible it must be for him lately.", Grace asked about Dick. Dick just remained silent without giving them an answer. "Yeah, he's not been doing the greatest despite the therapy. But you can't really blame him. I of all people should know that as I was the exact same way after I lost my family.", Bruce said. "I totally understand, but I hope he knows it will get better. It may take a long time, but he'll get through it.", Harvey said. Dick spoke up after hearing that and said, "Thanks, man.", Dick said. "I'm also really sorry about what happened to the commissioner. Have you found his killer yet?", Bruce asked. "Not yet, but with Jim Gordon as acting Commissioner, this Firefly freak won't be hiding his light for too much longer.", Harvey said. "Plus, there's the Batman.", Grace said. "Yeah, maybe.", Harvey said. "What do you mean by that, hun?", Grace asked. "I mean that I'm starting to wonder if Batman actually is good for Gotham or not.", Harvey said. "But you said before, you thought he was good for this city?", Bruce asked. "Yeah, but after what happened with Loeb, I'm starting to think otherwise. Not saying he's responsible for Loeb's death. I know he tried to save him by putting him out. I mean that I wonder if Gotham's starting to get a new breed of criminal because of him. First it was this Freeze guy, then the calendar killer, and now this Firefly. I'm starting to wonder if all these supervillains I think is the best way to describe them are coming out because Batman came along. But Gordon still speaks highly of him, and I hope he winds up being right.", Harvey said. Bruce thought for a moment and wondered if Harvey might be right. Before it was just common gangsters and muggers who plagued the city, now it's these deranged lunatics with gimmicks all after he first donned the cape and cowl. "Sorry, I don't mean to rant, let's enjoy some good music.", Harvey said. About an hour had passed since the festival began and the entire crowd seemed to be enjoying themselves. The festival couldn't get any serious bands or singers, but instead got some very amazing cover artists that did their own renditions of Nirvana and Alice In Chains songs. Unbeknownst to everyone that disaster was about to strike as Firefly and his gang of firebugs had snuck into the steel mill to grab whatever equipment was leftover there before the festival began and were ready to heat things up. "Alright, gang; grab everything that you can and then let's join in on the festival. I think that crowd just outside will find our little song to be one hot hit if you know what I mean.", Firefly said. "I assume you mean our little song being you shooting your flamethrower at all those people out there.", one dumb guy asked. "Yeah, that's what I mean, dumbass. Let's get our little lightshow started.", Firefly said as he started up his jetpack and took flight. Outside the mill while the music was still going strong, Bruce was the first to take notice to see Firefly flying towards the crowd and began to slip away. Dick took notice to this and asked, "Where are you going?". "Personal business. Just make sure you help get out as many people as you can. Trouble's coming.", Bruce said and then left. Dick looked where Bruce was and saw the maniac with the jetpack closing in and knew Bruce was about to put on his suit. Suddenly, Firefly made his presence known at the festival by spewing hot flames in the sky. Music stopped and people started to scream as well as attempt to run for it. "I gotta say those were some pretty hot tunes being played. But my song is the hottest there is!", Firefly shouted as he kept spewing more flames. "Come on, guys. We gotta get as many people out as we can.", Harvey said to Grace and Dick. As they began to help get others out and as far away from danger as possible, Firefly's arsonists blocked the exit and began using their own flamethrowers to keep people back. "Nobody leaves! If you try, you get roasted!", one arsonist threatened. "What the hell's your problem, you flying freak? You're ruining our gig!", the artist on stage yelled. "Well, it's my gig now! And your music sucks!", Firefly said right before he torched the performer alive. The singer screamed as he was burning to death before the audience which made them all horrified. The singer was dead within seconds as the fire ate him up. "Who's next?", Firefly asked. "I'll take next.", said Batman as he glided towards Firefly. He landed on Firefly's back and immediately began hitting him to try to bring him down. "Get off of me!", he yelled as he tried to shake Batman off. However, Firefly's attempts to shake him off proved successful as he used one of his small pyro devices to burn Batman's arm which made him lose his grip on him. This caused him to glide towards the ground while having a burnt arm. He looked at his wound and knew it had to be tended to back at home. "What are we going to do?", Grace asked Harvey as they were trapped with the other members of the audience. "I don't know. Where's the kid?", Harvey asked as he saw no sign of Dick anywhere. Grace looked around, but didn't see him anywhere either. "He was here a second ago. Maybe he was able to get out.", Grace said. "I hoped this would draw you out. I didn't get a chance to properly burn you last time. At least I was able to take care of the commissioner.", Firefly taunted. "Let these people go, Firefly. This is between you and me.", Batman said while holding his burnt arm in pain. "Oh, no. I'd like to have an audience present for when I snuff you out like a candle.", Firefly said. "I hope you realize you're not going to win. You're going to pay for what you did to Loeb.", Batman said. "Oh, I'll win. Nothing can dim my light, especially not a pointy-eared freak like you. Time to die!", Firefly said as he was getting his flamethrower ready again. But just as he was about to use it on Batman, it was knocked out of his hand by a batarang. Although, it wasn't a batarang, it was something similar but was shaped like a bird instead of a bat. Batman and Firefly looked over to where that came from and saw another costumed man who seemed younger and wore a black domino mask along with a suit similar to Batman's that was red with a black cape, boots, and gloves. He also had his own utility belt, but it didn't have as many places to hold things as Batman's did. In the upper right corner of his chest was branded a yellow R. Batman immediately knew it was Dick Grayson behind that mask and couldn't believe he went so far to go against what he didn't want him to do as to get his own suit and intervene. "Figured you could use some help, friend.", Dick said smugly as he could tell Bruce was angry about him being here. What would happen next is the start of one of the most famous partnerships ever.