Chapter 16: Pioneer's Bridge
James Gordon was meeting with Mayor Aubrey James about something which immediately turned into being all about the kidnapping of Dent and Firefly's threat. "Damn it, Jim! I want Dent found and safe and I want this flying menace brought in and thrown in the asylum where he belongs!", James yelled. "I have all the officers looking all over the city to find Harvey and Firefly.", Jim said. "Well, they better not come up empty! This freak is threatening to set all of Gotham on fire! He has to be found!", James yelled. "If everything turns out okay after this, I guarantee you that you'll be the official new Commissioner of Gotham Central.", James said. "I appreciate that, Mr. Mayor, but I'm not doing this for a promotion, I'm doing this for the sake of our city!", Gordon said. "Just like we do, Jim.", came Batman's voice who appeared out of thin air with Robin right beside him. "Oh, great! It's bad enough the city's district attorney is abducted and a madman threatening to burn the city down, but you have to show your face tonight also, and with a new friend.", James said as he wasn't entirely positive about Batman. "I thought you said this kid wasn't your partner?", Gordon asked. "Well, he is for tonight at least.", Batman answered. "Well, good for you, but we don't have time for you to make a show with your new partner! We have to find Dent!", James said. "Except we already know where Dent is.", Robin said. "What do you mean? How do you know that?", Gordon asked. "Simple, there was a GPS tracking app on Dent's phone and I was able to trace it from inside Pioneer's Bridge.", Batman explained. "Well, if you know where he is, then why did you stop here instead of getting your asses to Pioneer's Bridge?", James asked angrily. "Because we wanted to tell Gordon to bring all his men to the bridge. It's gonna take all of us to bring down Firefly.", Robin said. "Duly noted. I'll get all my officers down to the bridge asap.", Gordon said. Batman and Robin then grappled out of the room to get there first. "Ok, Jim. Get down to the bridge and keep me posted.", James said. "If I may request sir, I think I may know someone who might be able to help us out even more.", Jim said. "What are you talking about? Who?", James asked. "I think Mr. Freeze will be able to help us if we tack some time off his sentence. His freezing tech could really be beneficial in putting out any big fires Lynns might dish out.", Gordon suggested. "I don't like that idea one bit. Even though that whole debacle with him ended up exposing GothCorp's corrupt CEO and I know he only did what he did to help his wife, I still don't trust that lunatic.", James said. "Batman told me he is good at heart. I'd say we let him help.", Gordon said. James thought for a moment before caving in. "Fine, I'll call Arkham and arrange something.", James said. Meanwhile, Firefly's men were patrolling the boiler room where Dent was bound and gagged in front of what appeared to be a large bomb capable of blowing up the whole room and leave a large hole in the bridge's structure. "You know a lot of my buddies are rotting away in jail cause of you, Dent!", one arsonist said as he was mocking the bound Dent. "That's a fitting last name you have seeing as you're about to have a dent in your skull!", another guy said as he hit Harvey across the face with his gun. Batman and Robin had managed to sneak their way into the room without being detected. "There's Harvey.", Batman said. "I can distract them while you save him.", Robin suggested. "No, we take out everyone in the room first and then save him.", Batman said. "Ok, have it your way. I'm still gonna have some fun with these guys.", Robin said. "Dick, don't. This isn't about having fun. This is about saving Harvey and stopping these animals.", Batman said. "I know, I'm just trying to do things in a more optimistic style as opposed to yours. And it's Robin.", Robin said as he jumped down in front of the thugs. "That's no way to treat an unarmed man. Especially one that's in this position.", Robin said. "It's that kid from the festival! Kill him!", the criminals said as they began firing at Robin. But Robin got out his shield which protected him from bullets. They kept firing but it was no use and didn't pay attention to the fact that Robin was close enough to bash them and knock them both out. This caught the attention of the other men in the room who went to investigate. Robin tried to grapple away, but the bad guys still saw him up above. "I see you up there!", one guy said as he was shooting at Robin. Eventually, Robin disappeared out of sight. "He's gone, I lost him!", the guy said. "What's going on? I heard gunshots.", Firefly asked over an intercom. "That kid in the red suit is here, boss. Probably Batman too.", he said. "Flush out both of them. You can do what you want with the kid, but leave the Bat to me.", Firefly said. "Yes, sir.", he said. "Why should we bother listening to flying Darth Vader anyway? He's crazy! If I see the Bat, I'm killing him without question.", another guy said. "But if we don't listen to him, he'll probably roast our asses.", the first guy said. "I'm not afraid of him. I can kill the Bat no problem.", the second guy boasted. "Is that so?", came Batman's voice from above. Both men looked up and screamed as Batman descended down and did an inverted takedown on both of them. They both hung down unconscious from the vantage point Batman was just on. It didn't take long before Batman and Robin had successfully cleared out the room from the rest of the criminals in it. Batman and Robin then went to Harvey to cut him free of his bindings. Batman was cutting him free with a batarang while Robin removed what was in his mouth. "Wait, don't!", Harvey said as Robin ungagged him and Batman had cut him free. Just as he was free, the bomb behind began to count down. "I was trying to say those maniacs set a bomb behind me and it would go off if I were cut loose.", Harvey explained. "Oh, crap! What do we do?", Robin asked frantically. "You two, stay back. I'll disarm it with my cryptographic sequencer.", Batman said. "Your what?", Harvey asked. Batman got down on his knees and took out a small handheld device that managed to hack into the bomb which was less than 20 seconds before detonating. Batman kept scrolling until he found the right password which ended up being INCENDIARY and the bomb was immediately deactivated. "That was a close one.", Robin said as he breathed a sigh of relief. "That's a pretty cool tool you got there. I guess I owe you one for saving me.", Harvey said. "You don't owe me anything, Dent. Let's get you out of here.", Batman said. "Wait, I should let you know that I overheard these punks saying something about there being more bombs on the bridge and that Firefly plans to detonate them soon.", Harvey said. "How many did they say are there?", Batman asked. "I'm pretty sure they said four. One of them being this one, so there are three more.", Harvey said. "Did they mention where?", Batman asked. "One in the bridge sublevel, and one more at each end of the bridge is what they said.", Harvey said. "Alright, we'll take care of it. Gordon and the GCPD should be on their way, so you can meet up with them. Do you know you're way out?", Batman asked. "Yeah, I do. Thanks again for saving my hide.", Harvey said as he left to get out. "So, what's the plan?", Robin asked. "I think it's best if we split up to take care of the rest of these bombs. I'll take care of the one at the sublevel and you can take the one at the north end for now. And then get to Lynns and take him down.", Batman said. "Sounds like a plan.", Robin said as he and Batman parted ways to go take care of all the bombs before they even had a chance of going off and destroying this bridge.
