Merry Christmas
Chapter 2
Gotham
Gotham City, a dark city most of the time; perhaps Bruce imagined wrongly, Gotham has always been dark and remained the same as when he left it those years ago; cloudy and rainy, melancholic, gothic and with a great history, in addition to the high crime rates and the capacity of the people who, in the face of all this, still persist, still try, but no longer believe; hope diminished, that's why Bruce had trained so much, he had come back, he wanted to give that hope again, scare the criminals and corrupt people so that they would hide in their holes and never come out and when they had the courage to come out, he would be there; waiting and ready to show them a world of pain; taking the limousine and driving through the streets of Gotham seeing the dirt and decay bringing the city down more and more:
- As you can see, Master Bruce, you have a lot of work ahead of you! – said Alfred:
- I imagined Alfred! – said Bruce:
- Are you going to start acting tonight? – asked Alfred:
- Not yet, there's a lot to do! – Bruce replied.
Leaving the city and entering the rich part of Gotham, mansions on large plots of land, of the richest and founding families of Gotham, of course the Wayne Family owns the largest share, Bruce smiles as he passes through the gates of his mansion and sees it for the first time in a long time:
- Welcome home, Master Bruce! - Alfred said as he got out of the car and Bruce then went out to look at every aspect of his family's mansion, remembering every detail of the entrance facade. Then the front door opened and a figure that Bruce had wanted to see for a long time came out, still maintaining a fit body, but the wrinkles and short white hair still gave her an even greater beauty than she had in her youth. Dr. Leslie Thompkins Pennyworth, his friend Alfred's wife, came towards him smiling:
- Bruce! – Leslie said, hugging him happily. Bruce smiled, missing the hugs she gave him at the right moments when he needed comfort:
- I missed you, Dr. Pennyworth! – Bruce said, to which Leslie slapped him on the arm:
- It seems I'm still going to have to insist that you call me Leslie! – said Dr. Thompkins smiling – I missed you too Bruce!
The first thing Bruce did when he entered the house was to separate his things, from those that would stay and those that would go to the trash. His clothes would not go to the trash, they would be burned, according to Alfred, but some things remained, in fact, Bruce would still keep them; first he really wanted to take a shower and after a while when he ran his hand over the mirror removing the steam that had remained; it only showed him without any beard and his hair shaved short, passing the towel over his face he went back to his room where he put on his clothes, sneakers, gray sports pants, a white t-shirt and a black sweatshirt, he went down from his room to the kitchens where Alfred de Leslie:
- It looks better this way, sir! – said Alfred when he saw him:
- I've always liked your hair Bruce, why so short now? – asked Leslie:
- I'm tired of long hair! – Bruce replied, gladly receiving a plate of food from Alfred, which he ate politely:
- Mr. Fox will be here soon, Master Bruce; I told him of your return and he wants to talk to you! – said Alfred:
- And me with him Alfred, the sooner we resolve Mr. Earle's situation, the better! – said Bruce:
- I never liked Earle! - said Leslie - Too greedy for my taste, he practically stopped the company's charitable funds and practically put all the efforts into weapons production!
- And the other branches of the company; Wayne Enterprises are formed by these branches! – said Bruce:
- Practically scrapped, Mr. Wayne! – said a new, deep voice that Bruce recognized:
- Mr. Fox! – said Bruce, standing up and extending his hand, which Lucius Fox shook:
- Mr. Wayne, it's a pleasure to have you back in Gotham! – said Lucius Fox; they both sat down – Too bad there are other reasons for this meeting!
- Indeed, Mr. Fox; indeed! – said Bruce. The food was over and they moved to the meeting room that his father had used, his grandfather had used and just like his ancestors since they built the mansion, here Mr. Fox placed a pen drive on the screen placed on the stand and turned on the television and began to access the files:
- Mr. Wayne, in fact, you did the necessary documentation ensuring that only I or Alfred could remove me from the position of president of Wayne Enterprises, but Mr. Earle, along with a good part of the board who are his followers, convinced others; some innocent and others not; they removed me from the presidency and Mr. Earle took over! - explained Mr. Fox - The fact is that Alfred presented the documentation that invalidated what the board did and this allowed me to stay in the company and thus the IRS was able to investigate the board. In my opinion, when he returns to take over the company, Mr. Wayne will have to allow an open investigation!
- Alfred told me that they could arrest Mr. Earle at any moment! – said Bruce:
- That's true! - said Mr. Fox - I wish you would make the moment of the announcement of the arrest of Mr. Earle and his companions, so to speak!
Bruce smiled:
- When? – Bruce asked:
- The best time you wish, Mr. Wayne! – replied Mr. Fox:
- I'm sure it will be something we can't miss! - said Dr. Thompkins:
- Of course not, my dear! – said Alfred, smiling smugly:
- Anyway! – Bruce said, interrupting the conversation – What about the other subject?
- I didn't just come to tell you about Mr. Earle, Mr. Wayne! – said Lucius Fox – I also came to show you!
Bruce could only imagine what Lucius wanted to show him, big mistake, of course Bruce knew what Mr. Fox wanted to show him, it took a thought to understand what he was saying, of course Bruce in his travels gave the necessary reason to renovate the mansion and install the most modern things nowadays, this includes security and with the pretext, Bruce can order the construction of a state-of-the-art bunker, the renovation package includes the entrance through the study room and also his father's office, now his, instead of being activated by a specific song since Bruce had no need to camouflage his absence with music, as Lucius showed going towards the fireplace of the office where he placed his hand on top of the sculpture of the Wayne coat of arms above, rested his fingers on the fireplace which shone where they were touched and thus opened to a passage:
- Place the palm of your hand on top of the central symbol, Mr. Wayne, and then place your fingers on it and your fingerprints will be read. At the moment, only mine will be read. Alfred's and the doctor's are in the database, and you can add them in the future! - explained Lucius Fox:
- I think yours are enough, I don't see myself adding to it! - Bruce said:
- I don't know, Master Bruce! – said Alfred – You can't control destiny and it likes to play with the lives of mortals like us!
Alfred was smiling at Bruce as they both entered and began to descend the stairs, the fireplace door had closed and they descended briefly until they reached a steel door:
- Reinforced steel! – said Mr. Fox – It requires reading of the iris and retina, the veins in the palm of the hand to enter and in addition to the fingerprints!
Bruce placed his hand on top of the scanner and brought his eye closer to the other scanner that began to read it and gave the green light opening the door, upon entering, Bruce could see that his father's secret office had in fact been transformed into a panic room, monitors connected to cameras spread throughout the grounds, supplies for weeks, weapons, beds, simple clothes, bathroom, kitchen and an infirmary:
- We had to turn this place into a real panic room to hide what we really wanted to do! - explained Lucius who walked through the room to a space where the cabinets were, going to the first one where he placed his hand on the right door and then shone reading his hand and the veins of his palm and the cabinet opened like a door showing a space, not a room, not a tunnel, just the space - Ladies first!
Leslie smiled and entered first, followed by the others, the space was wide enough for everyone to walk:
- After opening the secret door to Mr. Wayne's room, you must come to the panel where an iris and retina scan will be performed, as well as a reading of your fingerprints, palms and veins! - Lucius explained - This way you can unlock the lever!
Bruce went to the other side of space and did this and then a green light appeared on the panel and Bruce lowered the lever and they began to descend:
- The elevator is reinforced, as is the pit; concrete and steel plate, thick enough to stop the most powerful drilling machines, we also reinforced the foundations of the mansion. It took several construction companies from all over the country willing to do this kind of work! - Lucius Fox explained as they went down, it was fast and then the side wall was rising to reveal the cave Bruce once fell into when he was a boy and now the trauma he suffered here would help him fight the criminals and put fear in each of them, going down a flight of stairs until they entered a well-lit corridor that only went to the right, they walked down the corridor when Bruce looked to his left and realized that the wall was made of glass and that there was a track that led to the other side of the mansion, beyond the large cave where the water from the lake descended in a waterfall and went to the sea and an opening hidden by the waterfall itself and the ceiling full of bats:
- What is this clue? – Bruce asked curiously:
- She finds herself at a door that when opened jumps with her vehicle and lands on a hidden track in the lake and reaches the land where she follows a hidden path until she reaches Gotham! - replied Lucius - Unfortunately I have not found any vehicle that meets your needs Mr. Wayne!
- I don't need it now, but I'd like to see the garage! - Bruce said:
- Of course! - said Mr. Fox. The group reached the end of the corridor entering a large room and on the other side of it was a large computer - This is the computer room, encrypted, manipulable holography, hidden access to the internet network, connected to satellites, easy recognition programs, DNA, chemical, biological and ballistic analysis!
- Amazing! – said Bruce:
- There's room for improvement, Mr. Wayne! - said Lucius - The garage is on the right and with it a passage that leads to the tunnel that your ancestors used to lead the escaped slaves to the north, it's your escape route if things don't work out!
Bruce turned to the right to see a large opening where by going down a few steps or a ramp he could enter a space with lights all over the ceiling where there was nothing, just the ramp to lower the car where he could connect to the track:
- Next to the garage is the closet where you can put on your uniform and have spare parts, as well as store the equipment you will use! - Lucius explained - To the left of the computer is the entrance to the medical wing and the laboratories, training room, gym and next to them, we have this!
Bruce could see a platform where there was a jet, completely black:
- You didn't get me a ground vehicle, Mr. Fox, but you did get me a jet! - Bruce said:
- Wayne Enterprises prototype, actually my creation; a pilot, camouflage, remote control, weapons, silent mode to enter and exit without problems, cargo area to carry equipment and extra material and a few other things! - explained Lucius Fox - It doesn't have a name yet, I hope you can baptize it Mr. Wayne!
- I'll have to familiarize myself with the equipment! – said Bruce:
- Indeed, Master Bruce! – said Alfred – You will make a fool of yourself instead of scaring the criminals, if you don't know how to use the equipment!
Bruce would never admit it, but he missed Alfred's witty comments, anyway, he had a long job ahead of him before he was ready, he looked at the part of the cave where the bats were; his greatest fear right there, right next to him and it came to him:
- I already know what to use! – said Bruce – I just need a drawing!
- Use the computer Mr. Wayne! – said Lucius Fox.
Bruce started using the computer to draw with the digital pen on the graphics tablet and finally came up with a drawing:
- Is that really what you're going to use, Master Bruce? – asked Alfred:
- Yes! – Bruce replied with determination:
- Why bats? – asked Leslie:
- That's my fear! - Bruce replied - I think I should share my greatest fear with my enemies!
- Remarkable Mr. Wayne! – said Mr. Fox – I can get to work!
- Great! – said Bruce:
- I'll expect you tomorrow, Mr. Wayne! – said Lucius Fox – Let's start destroying everything Mr. Earle did and rebuilding!
Bruce smiled, as if a predator was about to ambush its prey:
- You don't know how much I like you, Mr. Fox! – said Bruce.
All set and ready, Bruce was in the car being driven by Alfred on the way to Wayne Tower, after many years he was returning to an environment he knew as a child, there, he would make a difference as Bruce Wayne and for that he would remove Earle from power along with part of the corrupt board that was slowly killing his family's company; Bruce was looking out the window at the day to day life on the streets of Gotham:
- Still realizing how much work you're going to have, Master Bruce? – asked Alfred:
- Yes! – Bruce replied – A lot of work to do, many problems to solve, but today we will take the first step!
- Indeed, Master Bruce! – said Alfred – It will be interesting to see Mr. Earle's face when he realizes he has lost everything!
Alfred parked the car in the company parking lot, they both got out of the car and went to the elevator where they went up to the reception first where they would get the information:
- Is Mr. Earle here? – Alfred asked the receptionist:
- He's in a meeting with the board! – replied the receptionist:
- I can wait for him! - said Alfred who, together with Bruce, went to the elevator and went up to the floor where the meeting was being held; Bruce took off his coat and put it on his left arm when the elevator door opened and they got out, following the secretary who was working, she was an African-American beauty totally focused on her work; Bruce handed his coat to Alfred and putting his right hand in his pocket approached the secretary, she answered the phone:
- Good morning. Mr. Earle's office! – said the secretary, answering the phone, and after a moment – Yes, he will be at the dinner tomorrow!
She hung up the phone to continue her work and Bruce approached:
- Good morning! I came to talk to Mr. Earle! – said Bruce, Alfred was smiling in the background:
- Name? – asked the secretary without looking at Bruce; smiling and positioning herself so she could have a better view of him:
- Bruce Wayne!
The name was enough for the secretary to look up in astonishment and see him, Bruce's smile grew wider; moments later the secretary was entering the meeting interrupting Mr. Earle's conversation:
- Jessica, what's going on? – asked Mr. Earle knowing that she wouldn't interfere in the meeting if it wasn't really important:
- Bruce Wayne is here to see you, sir! - whispered the secretary, but the silence inside the meeting room allowed everyone present to hear and this caused pandemonium with all the councilors talking to each other at the same time, getting up to try to see Bruce, Earle's eyes widened in surprise and he stood up at the same time that Bruce Wayne with an arrogant smile entered the room:
- Bruce; I thought you were dead! – said Earle:
- Sorry to disappoint you! – said Bruce – But I never imagined that a year without regular contact would be enough to declare me dead!
- Of course! – said Earle smiling and approaching Bruce – What can I do for you?
- First of all! I'm going to take over the company! – Bruce replied – Just as I intended to do three years ago!
Earle's smile disappeared to give way to a look of displeasure.
- For that you will have to get a majority of the board and even then we can't do that given how close we are to taking Wayne Enterprises public! - replied Earle:
- That's not going to happen! – said Bruce, leaving his happy face and assuming a serious and intimidating pose:
- Why not? – asked Earle:
- You, along with parts of the council, overrode my father's will in which he placed Lucius Fox in charge until I was ready to take over! - Bruce replied - They overrode completely legal documents in which only Alfred Pennyworth could declare me dead!
- I was wrong! - Earle said - But you don't have the majority of the board to remove me from command and no one is going to put faith in someone who just returned from an extended vacation when he should be here, running this company! You can't remove me!
- Who said I'm going to take you out? - Bruce asked, looking genuinely confused. At that moment, Alfred, arm in arm with Leslie, and Lucius Fox entered the room:
- Will it be them? – asks Earle smiling arrogantly:
- Of course! – Bruce replied, smiling – With the help of the IRS!
At that moment, men from the IRS and the FBI enter the meeting room causing a commotion among the board members; William Earle, surprised, does not listen to what they say nor react when they handcuff him, he just looks at Bruce, his reaction happens when he begins to be dragged from the room:
- This isn't going to stay like this Wayne! - said Earle as he was dragged from the room and the company building:
- Yes, it will! – Bruce said smiling and turning to Alfred who, along with Leslie and Lucius, were smiling – Is the press outside?
- Yes! – replied Alfred – Ready to put on a show!
- Let the show go on! – said Bruce.
Bruce's moments passed quickly that day. He gave a press conference that same day in an attempt to cushion the impact that the arrest of Earle and part of the board was causing. Although he had reassured investors, the company's stock prices took a big drop and Bruce struggled to avoid losing everything at once. Perhaps the confidence that Bruce had conveyed in his press conference gave his family's company the strength it needed to weather this storm. After that, Bruce allowed a complete audit of his company, causing the dismissal of corrupt and incompetent employees, and thus a complete restructuring took place. He spent that year of 2009 rebuilding the company to what it was before and thus paving the way for it to become bigger. It was during these works at the company that Bruce received the equipment prepared from his idea.
Between the company's work and the studies on the equipment he would use; each aspect, each part, each operation he learned, in addition to the training with the equipment to get used to it, the fact is, he still hadn't come up with a name, but nothing complicated could replace the simplicity of how things work and so Bruce was left with the name Batman, he would be the symbol that Gotham would need so much, but, even with everything ready, he wouldn't start, not yet, there was the company to look after, investments to be made and in the midst of all this he had to worry about his friends. Bruce always had time for them, Alfred wouldn't let him get bogged down in his symbol, Leslie was there, always around to make sure of that, but the fact is that the year came to an end, Bruce and his board and Wayne Enterprises had a lot to celebrate, they had recovered and become even better than before, the prospects were for growth, what had become a difficult start for the company at the beginning was showing a promising future and Bruce showed the business community and anyone who was interested in him, his competence, in addition to his commitment to work, for that reason alone he generated some good business in this year of 2009, the charity segment of the company was back and increasingly helping the people of Gotham as his parents wanted.
But Bruce could not forget the other side of Gotham, the crime and corruption. In that year, he had investigated Gotham's gangs and the mafia families that had settled in the city. Bruce intended to fight each of them. He took the first step. He began investigating each criminal power in Gotham's underworld. He went to the streets. He accessed the database of each government agency that investigated the actions of each gang and mafia family. A year of work and he had done a lot to begin with. He would start where he would cause the most pain to these mafia members and gang members, in their businesses. Bruce had investigated them all, each mafia family, each gang. He identified their leaders, their trusted men, their contacts and business alliances. Black Mask, also known as Roman Sionis, was monitoring Black Mask's business meetings, using data, height, weight and a voice identifier, which he identified as Roman Albert Sionis. He did not disguise his voice. only the face, but even so, untouchable by the police, bribery and acts against police officers and judges to escape convictions and in addition to the mask that completely hid his face that practically prevented them from making the connection with each other, but, at one point he would slip and Bruce would be close by to catch him and he would have no way of escaping the police, but, unfortunately he had his own gang, armed with superior firepower and capable of acquiring military equipment, the False Faces Gang would be a thorn in Bruce's side if he wanted to get to Black Mask and even stop a gang fight.
The Cosa Nostra had power and influence in Gotham, formed by the Five Families; Bruce went after and investigated all five families, he knew it would be a years' work to dismantle Gotham's Cosa Nostra, the unified command and its current commander is Junior Galante of the Galante Family, but what stands out the most is the Bertinelli Family, its rise and fall, they who came to lead the Five Families and accumulated excellent leadership and high profits, putting Cosa Nostra in the spotlight in the city and now they were dead with their only daughter, Helena Bertinelli surviving and far from Gotham, in the city of Starling City; Bruce knew that Cosa Nostra has total control and command of Stefano Mandragora and for what happened to the Bertinelli Family to happen, it had to have Mandragora's order, in any case, Bruce if he wanted to would have to delve deeper to discover all the details and he secretly made rumors in fact that Mandragora was afraid of the rise of the Bertinelli and ordered them to be killed, Santo Cassamento planned everything and was executed by the assassin Ormeta, Bruce would still have to get a record of this assassin.
Bruce now had in his hands the file of one of the oldest mafia families operating in Gotham, the Falcone Family, which can be said, with certainty, to have had total control over Gotham, only the Maroni Family challenged him and its members were considered untouchable by justice; commanded by Carmine Mario Falcone, also recognized by The Roman for his inflexible cruelty and expansionism, with his domain being the Roman Empire; after the death of his parents, Bruce could identify that there was a beginning of decline of the empire, threats from outside and even from within his empire, even now, with Carmine in a kind of semi-retirement delegating to his children some kind of control over the family business, this was perhaps the best moment that Bruce could explore to put an end to the Falcone Family once and for all and thus weaken the connections that the family had outside Gotham, the Viti Family of Chicago, the Gazzo Family in Metropolis, the Sullivan Family and the Skeevers Brothers. The Maroni Family, the Falcone Family's great rival, also had great control over Gotham as a city and its justice system. Although it could not be said that they had absolute control in the same way as Carmine Falcone, they still made their presence felt in Gotham, gaining great power and influence. The Sabatino Family; Gotham's first mafia family, old and powerful, but lost power and influence with the arrival of Falcone and Maroni, joined the Riley Family through marriage as a form of truce between the Irish and Italian factions, which gave the Sabatino Family a great dose of power that it so desperately needed.
Gambol who commands his own gang and a vast fortune, the Chechen Obschina, its leader who seems to be very fond of dogs, Fish Mooney, Penguin, Butch "Steel Hand" Gilzean and his wife Tabitha "Lady Iron" Galavan, Barbara "Queen Siren" Kean, the Yakuza were also present, as well as the Chinese Triad, the South Korean kangpae, the Russian Bratva, the Ibanescu Family of the Romanian mafia, the Odessa of the Ukrainian mafia, the Moxon Empire, the Mexican cartel; the Gulf Cartel, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Escabedo Cartel, smaller than the other two, and in addition to the gangs that infest the streets of Gotham with blood and fear, the oldest ones that emerged around the 1800s; the All-Americans, the Free Man Gang, the Irish Wound Ravens, Italian East and Jewish Sons Of David; other more recent gangs, the Blue Flu Gang, Dragon's Claw from Korea, East Side Dragons; an Asian gang, Ghost Dragons, a Chinese gang, Golden Dragons from Hong Kong, Hanoi Ten, also from Hong Kong and rival of the Golden Dragons.
All these mobsters, gangs and common criminals fighting over Gotham, their city, their parents' city and now it was up to Bruce to end them all and only then recover, heal and rebuild; Gotham deserved sunnier days, deserved more peace and it would be Bruce who would take the first step, bring hope to the people of Gotham, it was time to work. Little did these mobsters and gang members know that they would face their greatest enemy, the one who would work tirelessly to stop every criminal action they commit; in time they would learn to fear a ghost that has its heavy presence upon them; in time he would say his name to them and whisper in fear and dread of what would happen if he caught them; in time, they would fear Batman.