Frozen Knight
Prologue
It was always the same.
An alleyway, the bullet impacting his fathers chest, the pearls gently falling next to his mother's lifeless hands. It was the same thing, over and over again for the past thirteen years but now things had changed, the dream kept going and the alleyway stretched on and on with the monuments to his failures and pain.
Talia was there, looking heartbroken as he abandoned her on the shore of that beach. Alfred was next and he felt the pang on his chest of losing another father figure all because he had been too stubborn to listen, the alleyway grew darker and Bruce could hear the laughter, the insane cackle that he knew all too well, growing stronger and louder as he finally arrived at the end, a green glow beneath him as he desperately tried to catch and save the man in the red hood from falling into the bath of chemicals bellow, he always failed and the laughter threatened to deafen him.
With a gasp Bruce Wayne woke up from his slumber and tried to control his breath as he groaned in pain as his wounds flared up again.
"D-damn…" that was not ideal, he wanted to avoid heading to any doctor even more so now that once more everyone's eyes were on him and trying to catch any slip up from the Batman. Any sign of weakness, every coincidence was threat to his mission. So for now he would simply take a look himself to see how bad it was and then fix it himself.
Bruce stood up from his bed and turned the TV on just to distract himself while he put to use his basic medical skills "… this brutal fight between the leader of the False Face Society, the Black Mask, against an unknow enemy ended with several of his gang members with broken bones and one of his secret warehouses burnt to ash, the battle took place in the Narrows around midnight. The infamous criminal escaped and there's no news of his whereabouts for now. The GCPD says that his capture is their top priority but maybe they should be more concerned about what lurks in the shadows, after all some of the criminals when interrogated said that they had been fighting a demon. It seems that Gotham's monster 'The Batman' has returned"
Roman Sionis had escaped.
The criminals had slowed him down enough for Black Mask to jump into one of his many cars and drive off into the coming dawn, leaving him to save his minions from the burning fire. Surprisingly that's how he had gotten hurt, a falling piece of debris had almost split him in half, had it not been for his suit the Batman myth would have ended with pictures of his dead body all over the news.
Turning up the volume on the TV he began to inspect his wound and nodded to himself "Nothing is broken" he just had to take it easy for now, focus more on his detective work and track down Roman and bring the Black Mask to justice. "In other news, strange lightning was spotted near the ocean and many worry that this may be a bad omen of a powerful storm coming to Gotham, the mayor assures that this is nothing to worry about and instead the people should turn their attention to the coming elections"
Tuning out from the typical political nonsense Bruce opened his curtains to see the waves from the sea splashing against the dock, it was nice here. Away from the center of the city and near the ocean to make it harder for the police to track him down, after all it was hard to follow someone if they sunk beneath the waves.
"Also in the news, Wayne Enterprises is celebrating their yearly gala event later this month. The CEO Robert Bale said that this year they are hosting their biggest event yet with a grand surprise that will shock all Gothamites in attendance" Bruce felt his frown deepen as he stared at the face of Robert, an old friend of his father if he remembered correctly but an absolute snake when it came to running the business.
Not like he had any right to criticize, he had been declared dead long ago. A small pang in chest made him turn off the television as he sat down in his small chair as he remembered how Alfred had asked him to not let his father's company fall into the wrong hands, but he had died and Bruce did not have the strength to take over the company alone so he decided it was best to fade into the shadows and become Batman full time.
A small alarm made him snap himself out of his misery, someone was walking towards his home. Looking at the cameras he relaxed a bit as a familiar figure walked down the wooden dock turning off his security system Bruce did his best to look presentable and not like he had just walked out of a burning warehouse.
Opening the door the tall man nodded at the approaching figure "Lucius" the man snorted as he adjusted his glasses and gave Bruce a fake glare.
"Can't you wait for me to knock. It would be less creepy" Lucius Fox reached into his briefcase and handed him a small envelope.
Bruce quickly reached for it and opened it "More money here today"-"Your machines proved to be very popular, the patents are making quite a bit of money… but it's getting harder to explain why no one has seen me working on a prototype before showing it to the public. People are starting to ask questions Bruce and I don't know how long we can keep this act up"
Right, it was bound to happen eventually "I will send you the schematics of some of my prototypes you can build them yourself, you are a genius in your field after all" Lucius chuckled, the middle-aged man shook his head.
"My specialty is running a business not inventing gadget Bruce, but I guess I can give it a go. You saved my job after all and I owe it to your father" turning his gaze from the tall boy to the bay Lucius felt himself frown. It reeked of fish and rotten wood, the house that the heir to Wayne fortune lived in was diminutive and other than the clothes he had on, Bruce owned a fishing boat. A front certainly just like the other boats that crowded the place, all owned by Bruce but no longer fit to sail but it tricked people into thinking that this place was crowded so the entire dock was deserted "You know Bruce… never mind. I will be out of your hair Mr. Wayne please feel free to reach out to me if you require anything"
Bruce simply nodded as he closed the door and Lucius let out a long sigh. When the young man had come to him requesting assistance he had begun to help him out of pity, but the twenty one year old had proven himself to be a valuable ally. Saving his career at Wayne Enterprises by airing out some dirt on a man that wanted him gone and handing him various gadgets to mass produce to keep his place secure in the company.
The boat roared to life as the old engine struggled to move the hunk of metal into the ocean, Lucious simply watched on as the boat sailed deeper into the murky waters of Gotham.
"Scanning" Bruce nodded to himself as he anchored himself near Founders Island and began his search for Black Mask. The police radio chatter was proving to be useless, so he decided to switch tactics, he had taken one of the phones from the masked thugs and was trying to break into it for any useful information.
Stepping out he winced as the sun almost blinded him but he continued onwards letting his eyes slowly adjust to the light, it was an unusually sunny day in Gotham and for one he was happy that this was the case people where less tense when the darkness around them faded and when they relaxed they made mistakes.
And criminals made mistakes like no other.
Still that did not mean that his body liked it, his eyes had become better adjusted to the night now his real job as the Batman had turned him into a creature of the night, but sadly he still needed to work under the sun.
Thanks to fishing at odd hours he usually was left alone by the other fishers who saw him as this weird young man that somehow managed to make a living on his piece of crap boat, sonar scanners helped him when he needed to keep the lie going and he just showed the catch he had managed to gather to the authorities. "Warning, anomaly detected" Bruce raised an eyebrow at the warning his sonar gave him.
That was new.
Looking around he saw that the sky around him had begun to darken, the air around him grew colder and Bruce realized that this was no normal storm "…fuck" lightning began to rain down near him as the water became electrified and his alarms all came to life. Almost blinded by an upcoming storm of ice Bruce felt his body be pierced by icicles as he felt how even his own breath began to freeze. Then it stopped everything faded into black as even the sun disappeared and all that remained where the sound of bats and a red symbol being burnt into his brain.
Ω
Bruce gasped as he could finally see again and a splash near his boat made him turn around to look. Someone was floating on the water gasping for air as she desperately tired not to drown jumping into the water without a second thought Bruce caught them and dragged them towards his boat "Stay still don't struggle!"
Some muffled coughs reached his ears as he used the ladder to pull both of them into the deck, dropping the girl on the floor Bruce went to check on her vitals "W-what? Who are you were am I?"
Pale, white hair and with multiple bruises all over her body "Easy you fell into the water… did the storm hurt you?" a ruined white dress and a ridiculous looking sword by her side, his internal alarm blared as he realized that he might be dealing with a meta-human or something related to the supernatural.
"Storm? No I was just in… wait no this is wrong where did you take me who are you?!" Pushing him away the girl looked alarmed as she looked around her like nothing made sense she looked up as if trying to see a building and then her eyes widened as she stared at the ocean and then the city in the distance. Her wounds began to heal themselves and Bruce frowned, she was not human.
Raising her rapier at him Bruce was glared at by a woman half his size "Who are you?" Bruce opened his hands letting the cuts on his hands show as blood dripped down on the floor of his ship he played the part of the humble fisherman "Just a fisherman, this giant ice storm appeared and almost cut me in pieces" the girl began to lower her weapon as she looked around in distress.
"T-then how… I have to help Ruby and the others Beacon is under attack!" Bruce raised an eyebrow at the word "Beacon? Did you hit your head lady?"
This seemed to exasperate the girl as she shook her head "It's Weiss and… gah this is useless, out of my way!" Using her glyphs she began to enchant her steps and propelled herself at great speeds freezing the water as she ran towards Gotham. Bruce slapped the few bits of ice off him that remained and returned to his computer, he had lost the signal on Black Mask but that did not matter right now. A meta-human was on its way to Gotham.
But like all the rest that had tried before she would be stopped by the shadow that haunted the city.
Weiss jumped from the water and into the pavement as she arrived at a small forest near the city breathing heavy she felt herself look around for anything that looked familiar. But this was no Emerald Forest, the trees dark leaves seemed to consume all the light from the sun as small branches seemed to be weeping from the trees themselves as if nature was crying.
"This… t-this can't be" running as fast as her legs would allow her Weiss Schnee ran towards the city, or where she thought where the city was. From the corner of her eye she spotted something in the distance, a boat was getting closer to her "The fisherman from before?" she wondered as the sounds of a city reached her ears.
Traffic, people going on about their day.
Civilization was just around the corner and she could warn them about what was to come, if the Grimm had hit Vale then they would surely hit whatever city was close too! Pushing herself out of the bushes she took a couple of steps before she realized that there was something wrong here this city was nothing like any she had seen on the kingdoms before.
Tall buildings stretched towards the sky but instead of inspiring awe and admiration they felt oppressive and the shadows that they cast seemed to hide monsters on the darkness that engulfed the city, large gargoyles glared down on the citizens that constantly looked from side to side as if expecting something or someone to jump from the shadows, this did not look like any of the kingdoms… "Where am I?" Weiss felt a growing anxiety grow in her chest as she began to walk with no destination. The people around her gave her odd looks as they moved out of her way, as if waiting for something to happen to her.
Looking back at the forest she paused for a second as she felt that something was off, there was something hiding around that forest. Weiss took some steps back as she tried to narrow her eyes, cold sweat formed on her brow as she wondered if a Grimm had followed her here it was brief but she saw it, red eyes stalking in the shadows before they disappeared. Slowly reaching for her rapier she wondered if she should face the creature head on… or maybe it was simply a hallucination.
"There was an explosion and…" had she hit her head? Was she in a dream, nothing here made sense. Turning on her heel she ventured deeper into the city trying to find anything that resembled home, but she found nothing.
The cars seemed to be old, the people all used tiny scrolls and even the sky looked wrong. Weiss let out a shaky breath as she wandered around there had to be something that she could recognize right? Something that would wake her up from this nightmare.
Lost and confused Weiss wandered into an alleyway trying to get away from all the noise and just think for a second, her heel echoed in the damp floor as the marking on the walls all seemed to beg her to run away. But then the marking stopped and she saw something written down on green and some purple, before she could read it she felt as if she was being watched. Looking above she spotted the same red eyes glaring down at her blinking the beast disappeared, something was following her this "Hey there pretty. Did you come here to party with the Clowns?"
Jumping in fright Weiss took out her weapon as three hulking brutes came out of secret door, covered up in clown mas and with some make up the heiress simply glared at them "Back away, I'm a huntress in training I will hurt you if needed"
"You aint in purple to be Huntress and we don't take no for an answer, so put your little toothpick away before we pluck your eyes out with it" Weiss clicked her tongue as she shook her head "I did warn you stupid brute"
Myrtenaster moved faster than they could see and the man that had spoke rudely to her found himself with a frozen mouth, the other two cursed as they slammed the door to let the others know that there was trouble. Weiss jumped towards them and kicked the closest one to her on the knee making him fall down to the ground, the other tried to stab her but she masterfully deflected it sending sparks everywhere as she shattered the knife.
A gunshot echoed in the alley as Weiss was shot in the head making her stumble back "That… hurt" her aura flared a bit but it was nothing she could not handle, this startled the thugs as they looked at one another and then back at the door that they had come out of "Now I will give you one chance to leave or…" Weiss felt her head being yanked as a massive hand gripped her hair and then slammed her against the wall.
Weiss recovered quickly looking up to the hulking beast of a man that slammed down a hammer next to him, his arms was missing a nasty scar running down his torso as if he had been cut in half "Mr. Hammer! Break her legs!" one of the thugs screamed as the man nodded to the gathering crowd and ran towards her with his blunt weapon. Weiss jumped to avoid the strike and struck his side, but Myrtenaster seemed to bounce off him even if the ice did remain on his skin. Mr. Hammer seemed to frown as the ice slowed him down for a second but then surprised everyone by jumping into the air and kicking Weiss back into the crowd of goons.
A metal bat slammed against the back of her head making her stumble as the other tried to stab her or shoot her, Weiss knew that her aura was barely holding up. Summoning one her glyphs she shot a storm of ice from beneath everyone making them let her go.
Groaning she looked up as Mr. Hammer walked towards her slowly ready to smash her head in but then there was movement from one of the rooftops she saw a winged creature coming down towards them at alarming speed. Her blood ran cold as the winged Grimm slammed into Mr. Hammer and also grabbed her by the collar pulling them inside the clown hide out.
Weiss slammed down against the floor and prepared herself to battle against the enemy of man but the Grimm was nowhere to be found. Mr. Hammer stood up as he began to look around only stopping when he noticed a pair of red eyes staring from the darkness. The rest of the thugs had returned and tried to turn on the lights "What the hell?! Someone check the generator! And some one else grab that bitch we need a hostage!"
Weiss felt something fly past her ear and strike the first man that tried to approach her, a small metal object broke his nose and then fell on the ground near Weiss "A bat?" she whispered to herself as the room grew cold. "ShitshitSHITSHIT… everyone arm yourselves now!"
Broken bottles, metal bats, guns and the massive hammer. Weiss briefly wondered if she should prepare herself too to her right a man reached for a flash light but before he could use it a hand reached out and dragged him into the shadows, a faint scream made them all jump as carnival returned to life and all the lights made it easier to tell where the hell she was.
An underground circus covered in bright lights and dead bodies. Like a macabre show from scary movies the laughter of a demon echoed across the circus "You're dead! YOU HEAR ME FREAK!"
Another scream as the people on the far edges of their group began to be picked off "Damn it all, doesn't the freak only come out at night?! Stick to Mr. Hammer and grab the girl hostage" before anyone could move the last man holding a gun was crushed underneath a monster.
Tall, covered head to toe in black armor, the masked warrior glared at the criminals with his red eyes. The blood red symbol on his chest made it obvious to see who it was "It's the freaking bat!" Batman moved slowly towards them daring them to be the first one to strike, Mr. Hammer snorted as he walked towards the smaller creature.
They met halfway as the rides from hell finally stopped making noise and blood red eyes looked up at the massive beast that was Mr. Hammer "You… don't scare me… Batman"
"Not yet" the distorted voice from the Batman replied as he dodged the first strike and slammed his fist onto the scar on Mr. Hammer's side. Groaning the man tried to match the speed and strength of the smaller warrior but he was being pushed back and each punch felt like a ton of brick slammed into his skin.
Surrounding the fight the rest of the criminals prepared themselves as they tried to surprise the bat but in a flash of white Weiss jumped in to cover the back of the creature of the night "Thanks for the help… almost mistook you for a Grimm. I got you covered you take care of the big one"
He had saved her and she needed answers, so why not try her luck with the creepy warrior right? Batman on the other hand simply added the word Grimm to his mental notes of things to check later, but now "GAAH!" Mr. Hammer screamed as Batman landed an elbow strike to his liver almost sending him to his knees not letting up he hit a strike with his knee that sent the man stumbling back and then finished him with a brutal strike to the face that knocked him out cold.
Jumping back in to assist the white clad girl Batman felt a small sense of relief to notice how none of the criminals seemed to be seriously injured only knocked out… or frozen to the wall. Weiss jumped a bit as Batman flanked her knocked out the last of the criminals to the ground with a brutal left hook that sent the man to the ground like he was a sack of potatoes "Thank you, those brutes tried to rob me"
"Or worse" Batman said as he walked towards one of the frozen criminals, the man was scared he could tell by his heartbeat "S-screw you!" a strike to his torso shattered the ice and with one hand grasped around his throat Batman lifted the criminal up form the ground "Where is HE?!"
The criminal gasped for air as he shook his head "I-I don't know… no one knows!" Batman closed his hand tighter around his throat threatening to break his neck as Weiss wondered if she should intervene "It's true! I swear… The Joker disappeared, said he was going to do something that would be… greater than the First Christmas!"
Batman let go of the criminal for a second "I believe you" he then slammed his head against the wall knocking him out, Batman let out a sigh as he remembered that he still had to deal with HIM eventually. First Christmas, he meant the night they met… the night the city changed. "Well, I suppose I should thank you for your assistance"
The meta-human said as Batman put another mental note to tackle the clown later, turning on his heel his shadow fell on top of the smaller girl as he looked at her up and down "I saw your fight, not bad. How did you make the ice" Weiss took a step back, it was weird how intimidating the man was, garbed in a red and black he almost felt like a Grimm but Grimm could not possess people… could they?
"It's my semblance" now both wary of each other the Batman simply narrowed his eyes at the term that he had never heard before. As if noticing his distrust Weiss made her Aura glow for a bit "You know like Aura, the shield that has kept us alive?... you do know what it is right?"
Batman simply stared down at her, the safest bet was to just throw her into Arkham Asylum. She sounded like an insane person speaking of magic and aura, but he was no fool he knew that magic was real and worse of all that it had power over the mortal realm. Zatanna had taught him much about what it meant to interact with that part of the world so instead of leaping into action the detective part of him began to try and piece together the puzzle before him.
"No, I don't know what Aura is" Batman began to walk towards the exit "You're not from Gotham, so where are you from?"-"Beacon Academy, city of Vale… one of the four remaining Kingdoms?" Batman paused as he looked at her again "Are you playing with me?"
Weiss frowned "I should be the one asking YOU that question. Where are we? What is Gotham?" Batman continued to walk as they returned to the alleyway pressing a couple of buttons on his wrist he sent an anonymous tip to the police letting them know of criminal activity.
"Hey! I was talking to you"
Batman reached into his belt and reached for his grappling hook not bothering to ask her he grabbed Weiss by the waist and pulled her up towards the top of the building. Letting out a small scream Weiss clung to the bat man for dear life as everything passed her by in a blur finally landing Batman let her go and waited for her to catch her breath "This is Gotham, my city" Weiss looked up and saw a metropolis built out of black stone, the sky was covered with dark clouds. Lightning erupted from the sky as the clouds seemed to almost burn, it was early in the morning and the world was already surrounded in darkness.
"B-but… no this doesn't make any sense… the sun was about to set" Weiss weakly mumbled out as she tried to not fall to her knees. Batman stared ahead but kept a close eye on her vitals, her heart was beating too fast and if she did not control herself she might pass out. "What do you remember?"
Snapping her out of her thoughts Weiss shook her head "We were fighting a battle and then my head began to hurt, everything went dark I could only see… something like a symbol" Bruce held his tongue as he remembered what had transpired in the morning and added it to the evolving theory he had on this girl.
Batman stared at the city as soft rain began to fall onto the city bellow, his sunny day seemed to have ended earlier than he thought "Can you help me?" a soft request, Batman turned to look at the girl only a couple of years younger than him and nodded. He had made a promise to help after all.
A/N: Hope you liked the prologue of this adventure, I had this idea on my head after reading Absolute Batman # 1 and some other stories. For this story the Batman has already been active for quite some time but Bruce Wayne is yet to appear on the scene, something the multiversal traveler will assist him. As for the other members of team RWBY I was thinking about writing companion pieces for this story, Yang with Wonder Woman, Ruby with Superman and maybe Blake with the Green Lanterns not sure on that one yet, let me know if you would be interested on something like that, thank you for reading and see you (hopefully) soon!