The First Chapter Here: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/PUNISHERMAX/news/?a=29617
Batman: Dark Days
Chapter 2
Cleaning his glasses, Commissioner Jim Gordon, a muscular, grey haired man in his fifties watched the signal continue to glide against the clouds of the night sky. His thoughts traveled from one place to another, until he would focus them once again at the task at hand. Indeed, this task required it heavily.
Harvey Dent, a young, thin, eager district attorney with black parted hair was much more casual as he leaned against the wall near the door leading onto the roof, one hand in the left pocket of his grey suit, the other flipping his lucky two-headed silver dollar about 12 inches from his hand, catching it instinctively.
And Nathan Kessler, a skinny, lanky man in his early twenties with slicked back blonde hair jittered nervously, his shaking hands carrying a brown suitcase, his body adorned in a purple suit with a green tie. He felt much embarrassment wearing such ridiculously colored clothing in the presence of two of Gotham’s most honorable men, with another rather infamous one on the way, but his wife, his Savannah, thought that it would be “funny” to look so colorful in such a serious situation. This was the same outfit he had worn on that failed night at the “In Stitches” comedy club. For the first couple minutes of the show, the audience was indeed laughing. But soon those laughs turned into chuckles, soon downgrading into silence. Before he knew it, the audience was booing him off the stage, embarrassedly driving home in his green camry.
Suddenly, Dent was caught off guard by the grapple at the end of a thin cable punched through the ledge beside him, followed swiftly by the propelled body of the Batman emerging from the side of the building. Kessler was too caught off guard, but Gordon simply acknowledged his impressive arrival with a “You know, you can use the stairs.”
Kessler was not sure how to respond to the Batman. He had heard some supposed “eyewitness accounts” in the newspaper surrounding him, but he was so much scarier in his fearsome attire than he had expected him to be. Savannah was never going to believe this.
Gordon continued. “So what took you so long? We’ve been up here about forty minutes.” “We?” Batman responded in the deep growl. He hadn’t noticed anyone else on the rooftops. In his gruff but stern voice, Gordon responded “Over there in the corner is…” “Harvey Dent.” Harvey stood with his back straight as he gave a stern handshake to the caped crusader. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you, Batman. Gordon’s told me a lot about you.” Harvey was met with a cold silence by Batman, which he disliked, but understood. Batman spoke back to Gordon. “And who’s that?” he said, pointing. “Nathan Kessler,” said Gordon, prompting Kessler to give a nervous wave. He continued. “As I told you a couple nights ago, Harvey, my men and I are going to be moving against Rupert Thorne.” Rupert Thorne, the head of the Gotham mafia, a vicious gangster who showed no remorse in his killings that his “business” involved. “Kessler over there recently witnessed one of Thorne’s criminal activities, and he would like to testify against him in court.” “Promising news, Jim,” said Batman. “But where am I involved in this?” “Later tonight, I’m going to lead a squadron of my most trusted men and raid Thorne’s base of operations. Thanks to one of our undercover officers, we were able to receive some records of his criminal activity and we were able to get a warrant. But we also need to get Kessler over to Harvey’s offices a couple miles outside of town to further discuss the prosecution. But our undercover officer also told us that Thorne is gunning for him, and since I can’t be in two places at once, I need you to secure his safe transportation, in case Thorne decides to have one of his men try and take him out.” “Sounds easy enough,” he responded. Gordon motioned for Kessler to come over to him. “Hi…uh…hi Batman,” Nathan said in his shrill voice, nervously. “Don’t worry about it.” Gordon said calmly. “He only hurts criminals.” Nathan went for a handshake, and Batman took it firmly, hurting Nathan’s thin, bony hand. “Ow! Uh, wow, great grip,” Nathan said with a nervous chuckle. “Come on,” said Batman, and turning to the ledge, mounting one foot on it, he jumped off into the darkness, once again maneuvering his cape for a swift but safe glide down the 9 stories of the Gotham Police Building, landing next to the Batmobile.
Nathan remained on the roof in amazement. He looked around at the other two men, who were amazingly calm. “Did anyone else just see that?” “Yeah, he’ll do that,” Gordon responded, opening the door to the stairway. “Now are you coming? We have work to do.” “Yeah, yeah, work to do, of course,” Nathan responded, still in amazement.
Rupert Thorne was a muscular man in his early sixties, but still possessing the physique and vitality of a thirty year old, despite his graying hair. Standing in his suit jacket over a cream colored sweater with a glass of whiskey in his hands, he stood looking over the skyline of Gotham city from the view of his suite in the Hotel Gotham, two naked women lying in his bed sleeping. It was these moments that really gave him a sense of power and assurance that Gotham City was his city to own, to conquer. But this informant that the Gotham Police had gotten their hands on gave him a sense of disturbance, a sense he didn’t welcome. He had taken a sip of his whiskey when one of his boys, Doyle, emerged into the room. “Sir?” “Yes?” “We got him. We got the rat.” “Good, bring him in.”
Two more of his boys came in, carrying in an already beaten and bruised undercover policeman on their arms. Thorne approached him, and the officer was overwhelmed with a sense of terror as he looked into the eyes of Gotham’s most powerful gangster. Thorne went to the side and from two hooks on the wall, picked up a rapier that his great-great grandfather had used in the Civil War, a sword that had been constantly restored and sharpened over the years. Unsheathing it, he stared at the marvelous blade in awe of it. He approached the battered lawman and took a look at his badge that Doyle handed to him. It read “CONSTABLE DANIEL MEYER, G.C.P.D.” He spoke in his deceivingly gentleman-like voice. “You know, Daniel,” he said, throwing the badge to the ground, “people often underappreciate the value of a good blade such as this. They are always so quick to go for other, more technologically advanced weapons such as 9 mm popguns and automatic rifles. But, with a blade such as this, it provides almost a sense of beauty to something as grisly as death. The precision, the sleekness… and the power. Oh, god, the power that this blade endows is intoxicating.” He swung the rapier, slicing the air, several times before looking at the officer’s bruised and bloody face.
“Look…I’ll tell you anything. Anything. Just please don’t kill me,” the officer whimpered, tears of fear welling up in his swelled eyes. “Fine, then tell me this,” said Thorne sternly, pointing the rapier so that the tip was mere inches from the officer’s nose. “Where is Gordon hiding that informant of his? Where is he hiding Kessler?” “Okay…I’ll tell you.” Thorne pointed the sword away from him in satisfaction. “Gordon… was planning on arresting you tonight here in the suite, along with all your thugs. At the same time, he was planning on having Batman transport Kessler over to Dent’s offices along the coast of the Gotham Lake in the City Section. Dent’s offices will sure to be under police protection. They’ll most likely take the route off the bridge past the Wayne Enterprises Chemical Factory. Your best bet is to ambush them there. If you can cut them off there, they’ll be sitting ducks.” Thorne pondered this over. “How soon will they be moving out?” “Within the hour.” Thorne threw the glass against the peach-colored wall in anger, shattering it and splashing the wall with whiskey. “Damn it.” He looked with a look of rage at the officer’s eyes, which pleaded for mercy. “Boys. Lay him down on the ground with his arms spread.” “What? But you said I would live if I told you!” “And I will honor my promise. But that is not enough to save you from your punishment for your deception.” Daniel struggled against the hopelessly strong men as they laid him down on his chest and spread his arms apart. Thorne aligned his blade along the officer’s wrists, and savagely swinging the sharp rapier, hacked them off bloodily. His screams of pain filled the room in an instant. Throwing the rapier away in anger he spoke again. “Doyle!” “Yeah boss?” “Get him to the hospital. Say his hands got caught underneath a paper cutter. Make sure he keeps his mouth shut.” “You got it.” Thorne spoke to the other two henchmen. “Nicholas and Fenway, contact Dudley and his men. Tell them to load their guns, and start up the van. We have a flying rodent and an informant to kill.”
That's it for Chapter 2 of Batman: Dark Days! What did you guys think? Leave a comment below with any questions or comments you have below!
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