Chapter eighteen: hair nets and mercenaries

Chapter eighteen: hair nets and mercenaries


Bruce's POV:


I was at my building nearing my office where Fox said he was meeting me. I came straight to the Wayne Enterprises Building within seconds of receiving his text, which read 'I know who's trying to kill you'.


I burst through my glass office doors rudely ignoring the people saying hi and smiling at me. Lucious was standing firm with his hands behind his back looking out of the windows and onto Gotham City.


"Is it Harvey?" was the first thing I said.


Fox didn't turn away from the window "no, he's dead."


"Then who? Joker?"


"They call him the Penguin, that's all I know, he's some sort of drug dealer slash old school mob guy who bends corporate rules to his own likeness. Nobody knows what the guy looks like because he has a bunch lower people working for him, men like Roman Sionis."


"Sionis? The Black Mask?"


Fox nodded "he's got his name working the streets, but he still answers to Penguin."


"So I'm guessing the Joker and the Penguin don't get along too well then."


"You'd be right again Bruce, they have beef, but I guess Penguin has to take it out on someone, I just want to know why it's Batman."


I shrugged "you've got me, I've never even heard of the guy, I'm the one working the streets."


"He's in hiding, has over people do his business, for instance Slade."


I was a little relieved that Harvey wasn't the one trying to kill me, but still this unknown threat bothered me, Batman will have to take a trip around town to find out about this guy, maybe Gordon will have something.


"Is that it?"


"No, I've got some potentially worse news."


"What could be worse than what you've just told me."


"Happy juice, the sample that the commissioner got, they've been destroyed, the lab blew up, so there is no cure and no leads into what is in this stuff."


"Is there any chance I can get my hands on it, maybe have you work with it in confidence."


"He's bound to have it somewhere, I suggest you go to where our Commissioner found the stuff in the first place, there can be something missed by the police, because you know how well they do their jobs."


I sat down in one of my lounge chairs to process what he was telling me. Someone I've never heard of has put a hit on me and the Joker's new horrifying weapon is still without a cure. It was scary enough to not know when he was going to attack, but that we had no resistance to it, I mean he could kill hundreds with this bomb, but a bio-chemical warfare could kill thousands, what if he tried to pull a Crane and poison the sewer system. Even worse, the water system.


"Why are you wearing a hairnet?" Fox said in disbelief as he turned to see me.


I pulled the mesh off my head and looked at it in my hands, that's why so many people were smiling and laughing when I walked in.


"It was a long night, and it was Christmas."


"Let me take a wild guess, you were out with your new girl, and she made you get a job as her personal chef after you took her for a ride in the tank."


"I was about to hand sandwiches out to homeless people when I got your message."


"Vigilante by night, and by day a sweet loving billionaire boyfriend, you just have the best of both worlds don't you."


I threw the hairnet in the trash "apparently not, seeing as I have the weight of the city resting on my shoulders both day and night."


It was true, when I'm Bruce I lead the political world of Gotham, the white collar, but when I'm hiding in the shadows I work blue collar, the dangerous stuff. In any other situation someone like Bruce Wayne wouldn't have to worry about getting poisoned or being killed by a mercenary.


"Is there anything else I should know?"


"No, I'm still looking into the hacker that got the Jokers face on almost all screens connected to the Internet, some of the hardest stuff I've ever tried to crack, this guy is so good that he covers up his bread crumbs with more bread crumbs."


"I'm sure you'll find a way to get through it, you always do."


Fox nodded, and without another word, he waved at me casually and left the room to myself. I turned around in my chair and looked out into the city, my city, out covered with clouds of rain or snow.


As a small sliver of curiously grew as I examined the dangerous looking clouds I turned around and flicked on the tv in my office.


"In other news the citizens in Gotham had better watch out for the violent rain storm, and possible snow storm headed our way."


Rain, great, just what I needed for a night out on the town.


---------------------


I guess you could say I was flying, across the city, before it could start pouring with rain. My goal for tonight was hunt down Commissioner Gordon, and ask him a few things, like what the hell happened to the happy juice sample and if he has any leads at all that I should know about.


In the beginning Gordon was anything but willing to help me, but we've warmed up to each other, him more than me.


I found our city's great commissioner walking out of the empty front police headquarters alone, no security detail, no extra officers. Perfect. To think the rain was going to ruin my night.


I swooped down behind Gordon, covering my body in a shroud of darkness. Gordon looked at me seemingly unfazed, and continued to unlock his car door.


"You don't seem surprised to see me," I said in my gravelly voice.


Gordon almost smiled "I was actually hoping that I'd see you."


"And why would that be?"


"I don't know, reassurance that you are doing something about anything."


"I heard you lost the happy juice sample, care to explain?"


"Like usual we here at the GCPD have a rat, and despite me having kept this transfer air tight, after we collected the sample, it just vanished."


"How do you expect to have this not happen again."


Gordon shrugged "I bombed my opportunity already, what I got was all we had, and it was already a long shot, however, I sent someone I trust to go to the location and see if she could find anything, feel free to check it out yourself, I think you were there a few weeks ago, when that ship exploded."


"I don't recall being anywhere near the harbor."


"Sure," he scoffed, then tried to get in his car, but I stopped him.


Gordon looked at me through the top of his glasses, looking rather exhausted, and let out a deep growling sigh. I could see the pain in his face, the toll which he took so personally on the city's reputation, his longing attempts to keep the streets clean.


"I need to know if you know anything about the Penguin."


"He's a ghost, not many people actually meet the guy, only a few people know who he is, ironically enough the criminals in this city have more loyalty from their gangs, than from what I get from any officer in this city."


"you can trust me."


Gordon let out a deep breath "then I'd like to see that be equally balanced, if I'm supposed to trust you, then how come you don't trust me with your identity."


"Don't take it personally commissioner, there's only two people who know about me other than me, maybe one day you can be three. It's not loyalty that keep criminals afloat, it's the people they keep in small circles that matter."


Gordon finally got into his car and began to drive off, and I got my grapple ready to leave, when suddenly Gordon screeched to a halt and rolled down his window. I stood waiting in my same position.


"The warehouse at the harbor, the girl I sent there, she's a little timid, go easy on her."


"Who is it?"


"Harmony Jackson, you might know her as Bruce Wayne's new beau, I don't think he'd be too happy if he found out you were scaring his girlfriend, and he's a nice guy."


My heart sunk down to my feet as Gordon drove away into the distance, rain just starting to sprinkle around me. Of all the people in the city, of all the people who were in Gordon's circle of trust, he had to choose her.

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