Chapter twenty nine- Penguin

BRUCE'S POV:

The happiness of my night ended when I watched Harmony disappear into the night, headed to her car. After that there was a very long night ahead, thought the night was not for a food-covered Bruce, it was for Batman.

I went straight back to the mansion, showered, and got into my suit as quickly as I humanly could. The only way I could keep my mind of Harmony is if I tried to forget about her by doing my job. Right now that consisted of trying to find the man who wanted me dead. The mysterious Penguin.

Alfred came rushing after me in the bat cave, he was panting and had to stop to catch his breath before he could speak to me.

"Alfred, what is it?"

"Fox-" he took several large gasps "fox said he found-" gasp "the penguin."

"What?! How! Where is he?"

"Give me a moment, I ran around the whole manor looking for you."

"Sorry to be rash Alfred, but I don't have a moment to spare."

He sighed, his breath back with him "alright, I will try and explain it to you as quickly as I can. Lucious said before that he believed the man who hired someone to kill you might have been Harvey Dent, well it turns out that Harvey had a few under-the-table dealings with a high level crime syndicate, run by a man they call the Penguin, however, the Penguin and Harvey seemed to have gotten closer right after the accident and before he was killed, so the Penguin's real name was written down in transactions made between the two of them."

"What's his name?"

"Cobblepot, Oswald Cobblepot."

"Cobblepot, Slade said that name, where have I heard it before?" I thought aloud.

"I have the answer to that as well, the Cobblepot family invested in a large portion of the new subway system that was going to run through Arkham, however, when your parents were killed the project lost the funding and the subway work was abandoned, it left them penniless."

"So what does all of this have to do with Fox finding him?" I asked.

"The unfinished subway system, it's supposed to be sealed off, however Fox has received news of it being reopened, that's where Cobblepot is hiding, somewhere in that subway tunnel."

Great, now I'm going to be searching a two mile long abandoned subway all night. There was no real way to get the tank down there, that was even if it was working. so what could have took me two minutes is going to take hours. It was worth it though, if I can finally stop looking over my shoulder for hired guns and get back to work.

"Subway, is there any way we can narrow the search area."

"Sir, if I may, I believe Fox has a solution to your ride problem."

Alfred moved aside and behind him was a surprise I certainly wasn't expecting. I was expecting a motorcycle or repaired tank, or even a car like a Lamborghini that was just enough to get me to where I needed to go. Instead I was faced with a dune buggy.

"Fitted with a top of the line stun grenade launcher, and a fully loaded heavy machine gun," Lucious said walking from behind the buggy.

"What is this?"

"Something the national guard hasn't even heard of, the military needed something fast and small to get into hard to reach places, this is what they got. However the military lost funding for the prototype, and that's when I got my hands on it. Made a few modifications of my own."

"And I suppose we are going to call it the bat buggy?"

He smiled "you have to admit the name is catchy."

"I'd better get going, sooner than later I'd like to put this to rest."

"before you go you must know that there's no gps and no bat computer on board, you'll be almost entirely blind on the streets."

I nodded "thanks Lucious."

I opened up the armored door to the buggy and jumped inside, starting it up and pressing down hard on the gas. It was easy to get used to, and it was pretty damn fast, faster than the tank.

In a blink of an eye I was halfway across Gotham, trying as hard as I possibly could to avoid the main roads, but that did not help when I came from a back ally and mistakenly appeared right at the scene of a military checkpoint.

For a second everyone stopped and silently looked at me, and as soon as that second was over I was receiving heavy fire. This was the situation I wanted most of all to avoid. I can't really fight back, especially if it meant hurting the people who've only come here to help, and are only following orders.

"Master Bruce it seems you've run into a bit of trouble," Alfred stated.

"You're going to have to guide me away from them, how did you know I was in trouble, I thought there was no computer on this thing."

"The news, it seems that they were providing coverage of the blockade whist you sped into view."

Just great, not only is the military chasing me, but I'm also going to have to escape the looming shadow of the GCND, who almost always seem to sneak their grubby little cameras into every situation possible. I can't let them find out where I'm going Cobblepot might figure it out and then the element of surprise will be lost.

"Alfred I'm going to need you to give me directions on which way to take."

"Alright then, first direction is a hard left."

I swerved the dune buggy to the side and slammed down on the brake to create a half circle in order to turn. While I was temporarily standing still a military tank went for a shot and I had a missile headed straight for me.

Luckily I made it within inches of the attack and escaped down an alleyway only to have a helicopter with a machine gun above me trying to shoot me into oblivion.

"Might I suggest the stun grenades?"

"they're too high for an accurate launch, and if I try and shoot it down the people inside will die."

I heard Alfred growl with frustration "how about we find you some cover then, take a right and then go straight through the metal gates, into the Gotham airport, try and get inside a hanger."

Alfred was right, after I made the turn I was headed straight for the airport. There was only one problem, a line of hummers with heavy machine guns on top were facing me, all blocking the entrance to the airport gates.

Now was the time to use a stun grenade. As soon as I head the banging of a thousand metal bullets trying to get to me I set off five grenades toward each of the hummers and then used my own guns to take out all of theirs.

With the distraction in place I easily slipped past and broke through the flimsy metal gates and drove with my tires squealing onto one of the runways. The helicopter was fortunately stopped as a plane came in right in front of it, allowing me to lose the chase.

"Alright find me a way to that subway, and make sure the GCND isn't still on my tail."

"You lost them when the national guard called in an air strike on you, they're chasing another story already."

Within the next ten minutes I had much more stealthily slid through the back alleys of gotham and found my way to the entrance of a subway station. There was a small tag of a stenciled penguin and the words ICEBERG LOUNGE on the sign above the entrance, I had to be in the right place.

The buggy was agile enough to make its way down the wide steps of the entrance and down to the pitch black subway station below. Uncoincidentally the station was called Cobblepot station. Yet there was still no sign of the man or anyone else for that matter.

"Alfred, do you have any idea where they could be down here?"

All I got in return was a muffled sound of his voice and the coms breaking up.

"Alfred?"

The coms don't work this far underground I guessed. There was only one way to search now, by sight, and so I turned on the high beams and dropped down on the track. I went full speed down the tunnel that lead deeper into the more unfinished area of the subway, and for a while there was still no sign of life.

Until.

Out of nowhere a large beam of light came around a dark corner and was headed straight at me going full speed ahead. I jumped out of the buggy as quickly as I could and grabbled to the side of the speeding train.

I was at the very front and inside there was three guys. Breaking the window I jumped right on top of one of them as they were caught off guard after just hitting the buggy.

"Get him!" One of them yelled.

I easily took down two of the thugs while one drove the train, and when I finished him as well I pulled the emergency brake and stopped the train in the middle of the tunnel.

The next thing I know the door behind me leading into another one of the train cars opens up and in steps ten more guys, five on each side of a heavier man with snow-white colored hair and a bow tie. All of the men pulled up rifles and pointed them at me.

I studied the white haired man as he got closer and closer to me. From behind his back he pulled out what I first believed to be a cane, and turned out to be a black umbrella.

"I did send someone to kill you but this is just as easy, you walked right into my waiting arms and now your fate is sealed. Batman."

"Penguin," I growled.

"I see you've done your homework, it's too bad really, such a shame to waste talent like yours."

"Then why kill me," I questioned.

He sneered "because your in my way! With you out ruining all my income in the ground  and stopping my men from taking a hold of this city I can't for fill my sweet mothers dream of ruling a firm hand over gotham! And with you out of the way I can get to that thieving bastard Bruce Wayne!"

Oh I get it. He hates the other me, because his family went bankrupt because my parents died. I see, and somehow I'm the bastard. Thieving bastard.

"Oh well, won't matter to you much longer anyway because you'll be dead."

All of his men cocked their guns at once. There was honestly no real way out of this. I was planning to maybe duck hard and fast while tackling Cobblepot, which would still give a pretty big window for me to be riddled with bullets.

Just as I braced for impact a smoke pellet hit the ground and I took the miracle opportunity to take out as many guys as possible. The strange thing was that I heard people grunting and hitting the ground even thought I wasn't touching them. Which could only mean one thing, someone was helping me.

I'd been in this game long enough and there was always something certain of it, I was alone on the streets. Never once did I depend on backup or expect it. So how possible is it that I got what I needed at the most unexpected time.   

The smoke began to clear and the face of my aid was revealed, to be frank I really wasn't expecting to see what I did. It was the one and only Slade Wilson, holding a squirming Penguin by his bow tie.

"Slade! I hired you to kill him you imbecile!"

"Contracts up, no refunds."

"We'll see about that!" Penguin yelled swinging his umbrella toward Slade's face.

I grabbed the umbrella out of his hand just as he got ready to pull the trigger into Slade's good eye. After that I knocked him out and threw him to the ground.

"What are you doing here!" I demanded Slade.

"You'd better be a bit more thankful Batman, or should I say Bruce Wayne?" He said.

My heart skipped a beat "what are you-"

"Cut the act, I know who you are, even Batman wouldn't break into some strangers house if they didn't know who it was, and I put two and two together. Your dating my daughter."

"I don't think you understand-"

"Just shut up Bruce, I don't give a rats ass who you are, I was hired to kill you not to be enemy, and because my daughter is in love with you, I'm giving you this ONE free pass."

"Then why help me, I get you not wanting to kill me, but Penguin could have easily done the job for you," I said in an undisguised voice.

He instantly became paler and looked down to the floor "because of your dead that means that you won't be able to save my daughters life."

"What!" I yelled.

"your best friend the Joker, he...took her."

It felt like I just took a bullet to my gut. The world seemed like it was spinning out of control and for the first time in my life I had to hold onto the side of the wall so I wouldn't pass out. That feeling only lasted seconds because right after a feeling of unparalleled rage filled my blood stream and I grabbed hold of Slade's shoulders, pushing him up against one of the walls.

"Why did he do it, how do you know!"

"While you were down here he made a broadcast much like the one where he killed Roman Sionis, except Harmony was in it."

I was sick to my stomach, I felt physically ill. If anything happens to her I don't know what would become of me. I couldn't let what happened to Rachel happen all over again. I can't survive without her.

"Show me the video."