Batman: The Dark Knight
#ISS161: On Leather Wings
PLAYROOM, WAYNE MANOR, GOTHAM CITY - NIGHT
Two teenage boys were playing video games late at night. One of the boys had hair as dark as the night sky, and emerald green eyes that glistened like a shiny new car. He was a Caucasian boy with tan skin and had a built physique that would make anyone swoon. He wore rectangular glasses because his sight wasn't the greatest. His name was Dick Grayson.
His friend was well-built, even more so than him. He had smooth, pale white skin and beautiful blue eyes that looked pretty on the outside, but just by staring at them, you could tell there was much more to this boy that made him complex. The unique feature on him though was a strand of hair that was curled and stuck out. His name was Bruce Wayne.
Dick and Bruce had been spending several hours playing video games. It was the last day of summer vacation, and the boys truly wanted to spend their last hours of vacation enjoying each other's company. The boys were deep into the game, hardly ever taking their eyes off the screen and hands off the controllers.
"You should give up, Dick! There's no way you're ever going to beat me!" Bruce teased. Things were getting intense as Bruce bit the bottom of his lip and was swerving back and forth.
"Eat shorts, Bruce." Dick uses his right hand to try and distract Bruce, by covering his eyes. However, Bruce had quick reflexes and dodged his attempts at trying to distract him.
A tall man with a noticeable five o'clock shadow stepped into the room. He was dressed fancy and was wearing a black and white tuxedo outfit with dress trousers and shoes to match. His hair was as silver as a coin and spiked up. He looked young for his age, but still had a few features like crow's feet that gave away his age. "Master Bruce, Master Dick, Mr. and Mrs. Wayne informed me it 's time for the two of you to go to bed." He informed them.
Dick slammed his hands on the controls, making a loud clicking sound. "Hold on Alfred," Dick replied.
Both boys were distracted by the video game and ignored Alfred's warning. A frustrated Alfred stepped behind the television and pulled the plug. He had no hesitation in doing that, as the two teenagers' cries of sorrow made the older man happy.
Dick took a deep breath and released it slowly, "Qué cojones Alfred? I was this close to beating Bruce!"
Bruce shrugged his shoulders. He put the controller down and walked away. Dick hated that Bruce didn't have much of a reaction to his almost claim to fame, and wanted to egg him on. "Brucey, I almost beat you in a video game."
"Okay. Cool."
Dick got angry and stomped his foot on the ground. "BRUCE!" He shouted.
"What?"
"I almost beat you in a video game!"
Bruce shrugged, as he didn't care about what Dick was saying. "Do you want a reward?"
"No, I don't want a reward!" He argued.
Bruce crossed his arms and glared at Dick. "Okay...so then why should I care?"
Smoke came out of Dick's head and ears as his face turned red, boiling from the anger he was feeling on the inside. "Bruce! Why do you have to be anti-social?" He asked his best friend, who seemed more distracted with attempting to go to bed.
Bruce shrugged his shoulders and left the playroom. He needed a good night's rest as he wanted to be up and ready for school tomorrow. But his friend didn't seem to agree with his decision and guessed it was a bit uncomfortable.
Dick wasn't exactly ready to go to bed, mostly because he hated school. "Alfred, why do we have to go to bed early?"
"Because Master Dick, tomorrow is the first day of school," Alfred explained. He was busy dusting off some furniture in the room, struggling to keep himself busy.
"Wait...what?!" A shocked Dick asked. "How has no one told me about this?"
Alfred stopped for a quick second and sighed. "I've been telling both you and Master Bruce every day." Alfred goes back to dusting off the furniture in the room, but that didn't stop Dick from being angry.
Dick tried his best to see if he could remember if Alfred ever tried to remind him, but he could not remember. "I have no recollection of you ever saying that."
Alfred slightly chuckled. "Prat." The old man tried to play it off by moving over to the bookshelf, but the smart teenage boy assumed that what Alfred was saying was an insult, and he felt offended.
"What was that?" Dick asked.
Bruce giggled. He did figure out what Alfred called him because Bruce was clever. "He called you stupid."
Dick figured, but that didn't stop him from being angry. "Shut up Bruce!" Dick slaps Bruce on the shoulder, but it caused no harm to Bruce.
"Never!" Bruce threw some smoke bombs down on the ground and vanished into thin air, as the smoke dissolves.
Alfred recognized it was time to have a serious conversation with Dick. "Master Dick, why is it you're trying to avoid going to school?"
"I don't wanna go…" Dick closed his eyes and turned to the side. "I find school boring, it's something that's just not for me."
Alfred felt like he wasn't getting to Dick and felt like he needed to try a different way in hopes of trying to get Dick to understand why school is important. "Master Dick, an education is something that all young children need. Education is only the start of securing a better future for both you and your family." As soon as Alfred said, he knew he made a mistake, as Dick's whole demeanor changed.
Dick remembered that his family situation was complicated. Saddened by what happened to his family, Dick just wanted to forget it ever happened. He strolled by the fireplace and stared into the fire. Memories of his parents played like a movie in his head, as he tried to fight off the memories.
But Dick felt like the memories were just an illusion. "If I had a family." He responded. He didn't mean what he said, but at the moment it was what he felt.
Alfred knew that Dick was feeling down about his family situation and tried everything in his power to comfort him. "Master Dick, it's been six months since your parents died, and I know it's been difficult adjusting to living with the Wayne's. But if your parents were still alive, I'm sure they would want you to finish school."
Dick had enough. "I'm leaving." He wandered off and decided he might as well just go to bed.
EXT. GOTHAM CITY HIGH SCHOOL, GOTHAM CITY - MORNING
Dick and Bruce got a good night's rest as the next day sprung upon them. After eating a pleasurable and healthy breakfast made by Alfred and enjoying it with the rest of the family, Bruce and Dick were dropped off at school by their mother, Martha. They headed outside where it was a clear, hot, day. Bruce and Dick stared at the towering school building, as their classmates passed them. Bruce was excited to go, but Dick was reluctant. Dick swallowed his spit and slowly backed away.
Bruce spotted Dick trudging away, and quickly grabbed his arm. "Where are you going?" He asked. "The school is right there." Bruce released Dick's arm as Dick turned his head to the side and crossed his arms.
"I'm not going."
Bruce scratched the back of his head, confused about his friend's behavior. "Why?" He asked.
"Because I don't want to. I'm fourteen years old, I don't have to listen to you." Dick ignored Bruce and started walking away, as he closed his eyes.
"Okay." Bruce shrugged it off.
Dick felt ignored by Bruce and panicked. "What? You don't even care what I'm up to?"
"Not really…" Bruce was being honest and felt no reason to lie.
Dick felt like Bruce was slipping away. Dick wanted to skip and didn't want to be alone. So, he felt like he had to sway his friend into coming along with him. He had to think of something that Bruce loved, so he could persuade him into joining him.
After thinking it over, Dick came up with someone that he knew Bruce would 100% jump in on. "Well..." He started, lingering him in. "Not that I care what you think or whatever...but I'm going to try and find the Man-Bat."
"Okay." Bruce once again shrugged and started walking towards the school.
Dick didn't want to give up. "Not that I need you or anything."
Bruce quickly stopped moving, so he could look at his friend. But he couldn't tell what Dick was trying to do. "Okay." He responded. Bruce marched off.
Dick got frustrated at Bruce's inability to pick up what he was putting down. "Don't ignore me, when I'm talking to you."
"Fine." Bruce rolled his eyes. He had a few seconds to spare and felt he could hear his friend out. "You have three minutes to convince me to skip school, that's not related to binge-watching The Gray Ghost on Netflix." Bruce started using his fingers as a way of counting down.
"First, The Gray Ghost is a terrible show." Dick felt like he needed to tease his friend a little bit. He got a kick out of making Bruce squirm or get angry. "Second, I was thinking about checking out the Gotham Woods."
"Why would we check Gotham Woods?" Bruce asked.
Luckily, Dick had the perfect excuse. "Well...back when I was a part of the Flying Graysons, my parents used to tell me the story of the Man-Bat." He explained. Truth be told, Dick missed his parents a lot. The story of Man-Bat was one of the few remaining memories he had of them.
"Who?" Despite living in Gotham for all his life, Bruce had never heard about the Man-Bat. "The what?" He asked double-checking to make sure he heard that correctly.
Dick was surprised. He believed that Bruce knew everything, so he felt positive that he knew something that Dick didn't know. Dick raised his eyebrow up and paid closer attention to Bruce. "The Man-Bat. It's a bat creature that's the size of a human." He explained to his friend. Dick took out his smartphone and presented a picture of the Man-Bat to Bruce. Dick's smartphone was an attractive mix between purple and green, and had an enormous K at the back of it.
Bruce stared at the picture and was struggling to care. Nothing about the Man-Bat interests him, but instead causes him to shiver in fear. "Please explain to me why I should care about going to search for this creature…?" He asked. But he quickly went back to normal, not wanting Dick to see him show any type of weakness.
"Because we get to try out that Batman and Robin thing you came up with a week ago."
Bruce got excited and smiled for the first time today. "Ooo! You actually want to try that out and be superhero detectives?"
"Yes."
"But you said it was a stupid idea."
Bruce had caught a nervous Dick, but Dick had to play it off one again. "There are many things that are stupid ideas, like school." He let out a sigh, hoping he found a way to dig himself out of this hole. Dick tried really hard to hide his smile.
Bruce caught what Dick had just said and inspected his friend. "What was that?"
Dick knew that Bruce caught him yet again and started sweating. He began whistling as he turned his head over to the side, and both of his hands behind his head. "Oh, nothing."
"No, I heard that!" "You're trying to get out of going to school, Dick."
"I'm not trying to get out of school."
"Yeah, you are." Bruce felt a little cocky knowing that he was right. He had his hands on his hips as he eagerly waited for Dick to confess.
Dick could tell Bruce knew. He sighed and decided to give in, given that he knew no one could outsmart Bruce Wayne. "Alright fine, I am..." He confessed. Bruce did a little dance, showboating his ignorance, and left Dick standing there annoyed with Bruce.
EXT. GOTHAM WOODS, GOTHAM CITY - MORNING
Bruce and Dick headed to the Gotham Woods. The Gotham Woods sure was...scary. It was a generic forest setting, but the twist with the Gotham Woods was that a thick, mysterious fog surrounded it. No one knew where the fog came from, but the people in Gotham simply accepted its existence.
Due to the heavy amount of fog, the woods developed a reputation of being a spooky place full of supernatural occurrences. Rather, or not, if true, had yet to be understood. Due to the vast amount of conspiracy theorists that ran rampant around the city.
Bruce and Dick had dressed up into their superhero attire. Their Superhero names were Batman and Robin. Batman and Robin tiptoed in the forest. They were stepping on tree branches and leaves that had fallen on the floor. The Dynamic Duo was trying to be stealthy, as they didn't want to make a distraction.
Batman was a tad bit confused as he felt Robin didn't give him enough information. "Why are we in the Gotham Woods?" Batman asked.
"To look for the Man-Bat," Robin explained. Batman nodded and decided to hear Robin out, so he could get more intel on the situation at hand. "Now in-between shows, my mother used to tell me the story about the Man-bat, Gotham's most vile creature." Robin started to tell the story.
"Kirk Langston was a zoologist at the Gotham City Zoo who loved working with the animals, especially bats. His fascination with bats reigned supreme over his mind, so much so that he ended up turning himself into a bat. But since the townsfolk weren't a fan of a monster living in their city, they rallied together and protested him. Man-Bat got so scared he hid away in Gotham's Woods, never to be seen again."
Batman got scared of Robin's story. He realized that sooner or later he would have to be facing the bat-like creature, and he didn't wanna do that, mostly because he had a deep-rooted fear of bats. Bruce swallowed his spit.
Robin heard a gulp and looked at Batman. "Wait… Why did you swallow your spit?" He asked.
"Nothing." Batman looked to the side, so he wouldn't be noticed.
Robin felt like he wasn't getting anywhere and demanded he get answers. "No, come on, tell me." He egged on.
As the two boys were in the middle of their discussion, an immense shadow flew from tree to tree in the background. The most distinct feature of the bulky shadow was it had glowing red eyes. Robin started to shake the frightened Batman, hoping he would give him some answers.
The shadow then creeps up behind Robin. Batman noticed the shadow popping up and shivered in fear. As the figure got closer into the light, the identity of the creature revealed itself. It was Man-Bat. Man-Bat was a gigantic black bat creature that was very humanoid. But it still had glowing red eyes.
"Be-be-be-be-be-behind you!" Batman attempted to point at Man-Bat, but Robin was too busy checking himself out.
"What are you talking about?" He asked. "Are you trying to get out of confessing your fear of bats?"
Batman got tired of Robin ignoring him and turned him around, so he could see that creature. Robin swallowed his spit too and became afraid. "Holy bat, Batman!"
"Rawr!" Man-Bat screamed and glared at the two humans.
Batman and Robin both peed their pants and hugged each other in fear, before running away. Man-Bat chases after the two of them by flying in the air. The Man-Bat flew swiftly. He didn't care about the damage he was causing, knocking down trees in the woods.
Batman and Robin find an abandoned nearby rock and decide to hide behind it. Both boys were worried, Batman more than Robin because of his fear. Robin stared at his partner to learn what they're going to do. "Batman, what are we going to do?"
"I don't know! This is our first mission as Batman and Robin, don't you forget."
Robin was surprised. "Wait...you don't have a plan? That sounds so out of character."
"I don't know... I'm scared of Bats."
Batman was freaking out and Robin was trying to keep calm. Robin felt guilty about bringing both him and reflecting on his past. "I'm sorry Batman, this is all my fault." Batman didn't say anything and just stared at Robin. "I've been feeling pretty out of it, and I'm not so sure how I'm supposed to react to my parents dying…"
Batman let out a rare smile. "There's no proper way to react to grief," Batman explained. "Besides, you have a new family, you're a member of the Wayne's now Robin."
Robin choked up and fiddled with his collar. "Thanks for that." Robin hugs Batman, but this hug annoyed Batman on the outside, but on the inside, he was glad to call Robin a brother.
Batman glared at him. "No time to cry, we need to get going."
Batman and Robin face up to get a quick peek at the Man-Bat. Bruce examined the Man-Bat and all the possible solutions he could use to beat it, before thinking of one that he liked. Batman didn't like what he was thinking, as that meant he had to interact with the Bat and so he swallowed his spit.
Batman looked at his ally. "If we're going to beat Man-Bat, then we need to jump on it," Batman explained.
"Jump on it?!"
Batman shivered. "Yes, we need to jump on it... I have a plan." Batman whispers the plan into Robin's ear. Once Batman was finished, Robin got a clear idea of what he wanted and gave his ally a thumbs up.
Batman does a flip and lands on the rock. "Hey Man-Bat, I have steak." Batman grabbed some steak from his utility belt and dangled it at Man-bat.
Man-Bat sniffs and could get a correct sense of the meat. Man-Bat's stomach starts to growl and chases after the piece of meat in a rage. As Man-Bat was charging after Batman, Batman tried to calm himself down, but quickly got over it as needed to complete the mission, but he still had his hesitations.
"Eww…" He shivered once again. But as soon as the Man-Bat came close, Batman did a flip and threw the piece of meat up into the air as he landed on the Man-Bat, but was still freaked out by touching a bat. "Hurry up Robin! I don't know how much longer I can take this!"
Man-Bat jumps up to get the piece of meat as Robin takes out the grappling hook and shoots it at Man-Bat. The wires of the grappling hook swirl around Man-Bat and tie him up. Man-Bat struggles to move as Batman and Robin high-five. "Got Em'"
INT. BRUCE'S ROOM, WAYNE MANOR, GOTHAM CITY – EVENING
The police took Man-Bat into custody at the Arkham Asylum. Batman and Robin had waited and watched, but from the shadows. After they were finished with the mission, Bruce and Dick went back home, since school was essentially over with. Bruce was reading a book as Dick was talking to Martha and Thomas Wayne, Bruce's parents.
Dick stepped into the room, and didn't look so happy. "What did they say?" Bruce asked.
"I'm grounded for the next two weeks and I have to have Alfred escort me to school to make sure that I actually go inside and walk into the classroom." Dick sighed.
Bruce chuckled. "That's what you get for getting in trouble."
"I know, I know, I learned my lesson."
"So, are you coming to school tomorrow?"
"Yes... I have no other choice." Dick still couldn't get over his harsh punishment from his new parents. "How do you and Thomas Wayne Jr. deal with getting in trouble? Because this is torture."
Bruce chuckled yet again. "I won't get in trouble...because I'm the goddamn Batman." Bruce winked as Dick threw a pillow at him, but Bruce quickly caught it.