The Son of Bat - 1. A Dark Day in Gotham

"HUNTING DOWN THE BOY WONDER"

“Is there something wrong on my face, Pennyworth?” I grumbled. The butler was just about to place a cup of my evening tea on the table beside. In front of me was a huge screen and I was almost done searching for the group of thugs who thought it was best to hide from me. But that was useless, of course. After all, I was the one looking for them. “If you don’t say something useful then I might have to find a better butler for this Manor.”

“Nothing, Master Damian.” The butler replied. His brows were always raised high as if he was about to question my authority. I am Bruce Wayne’s son. His very own blood. No one could ever challenge that. No one should. “But you’ve been there all night. You might want to try this thing called sleep.”

“Pennyworth, for every second that passes, those guys would be able to get away and they could pose a threat to Gotham.” I explained. Then I tap a few more commands on the module and downloaded the map on my device. It contained the possible escape routes my enemies were going to take. Besides, that was my 11^th back-up plan in case they got away from the pursuit. “What they have stolen was a potential bomb that could destroy half the city. Losing a few of hours of sleep would be worth it.”

“No, they won’t be able to escape from you.” Pennyworth admonished me. I almost grumbled at how he gracefully used a compliment against me. “After all, you are supposed to be the best.”

“It’s because I am the best that I will be able to catch them before midnight.” I shot back without a bit of gentleness in my voice. If this gets out of hand, Dick Grayson will be involved. Or worse, my father will. “I’ll go get them myself. Don’t even attempt to alert my father. I am more than enough, Pennyworth.”

“Take care now, Master Damian.” Alfred stated nonchalantly. He seemed to have fun watching me try solving it on my own. But I wasn’t amused. “If you need me to patch you up, I will just be right here.”

I grabbed my bike and started it up. The engine roared to life as it the noise was released inside the Batcave. If my calculation was right, I should be hot on their tail within the next twenty minutes. I connected my device to my helmet and it showed a map I can follow to where I expected them to be.

The road was silent. It was almost midnight. And the breeze was icy cold. Based on my device, father was still away with the JLA and that would have meant that I have more than enough time to catch those people.

But then I have three older ‘brothers’ who could screw things up for me. At least I knew that Dick would have been with Koriand’r and Jason wouldn’t be really caring enough for such things. And Tim was out of town. Barbara wouldn’t be really be able to do much on her wheelchair. Which means, the prize was all mine.

The device alarmed and notified me that the target was already within range. It was already time. I grabbed my hood and put it on. This was a sure win and they will be inside the GCPD’s jail cell by midnight. The tracking chip that I placed under their van was synchronized again back to my device.

A few seconds later, a couple of moving vans turned up right in front me. The driver saw me and he knew that they were in trouble. From the looks of it, they were about to make a desperate move. And that was what I wanted them to feel. Because I was not going to make things easy for them. Crime should be abolished. Ruthlessly, if possible. These thugs should learn a proper lesson.

I drew a couple of Birdarangs from my utility belt and threw them in one swing of my hands. They were small One of them hit the rear wheel of one of the vans, and the second Birdarang popped the front tire of the other van. The sound of exploding tires erupted through the streets. Some people must have noticed it. But I didn’t care. The fight would be over before they could even check their windows.

Then I grabbed another set of Birdarangs with a couple of it in each hand. I drifted my bike and immediately kicked the stand and used the vehicle as a launching pad. I expected that they were about come out any second so I went for it. I jumped and did a double somersault in midair before throwing the projectiles between my fingers.

As expected, the went out with guns at the ready. But my throwing weapons had already found their hands just how I calculated it. Before they could even squeeze the trigger, the Birdarangs hit the guns in their hands and forced them to let go of it. I was able to throw a couple of smoke bombs before I landed on the ground so I could conceal myself.

The smoke dispersed with a loud pop. Combined with injured hands, it must have dazed them because they didn’t even know where I was going to hit them. One kick to the back of the head of the first guy and a back hand to the neck of the other. Two were already down behind the first van.

The distinct sound of a gun being cocked was picked up by my sensitive ears. So I drew another couple of Birdarangs and jumped above the van while throwing both of them. Based on my spatial recognition and a bit of my imagination, they were just a few feet behind the first van. The weapons found its way flying directly towards the guns, disarming both of them. I heard a nasty crack as one of guns was jolted away from the thug’s hand. It flew right over my feet.

And then I saw another guy coming out of the second van’s driver seat. He was armed and loaded. I didn’t have the luxury of time to draw another one from my utility belt. So as hard as I could, I kicked the gun in front of me and it struck the head of the armed thug. It completely knocked him out. And a couple of teeth along with it.

“Well, that was a piece of cake.” I muttered to myself. “I didn’t even break a sweat.”

But the door of the second van suddenly opened. With a quick flick of my fingers, I had a smoke bomb ready to use on my left and a couple of Birdarangs on my right. A couple of people came out, both of them were wearing a hood like mine to avoid their faces from being seen. The bigger one quickly ran away from me with a huge briefcase in his arms. Then the smaller one who was only as tall as me stood between us.

I swung my arm and threw the weapon towards the guy that was running away. But suddenly, the Birdarang stopped in mid-air. That was when I knew that it was a big miscalculation. It started spinning again and was headed for me, I used the smoke bomb and took cover.

I grabbed another set of throwing weapons, three on my left hand and three on my right. In one go, I threw all of those one my left and as expected, the person was able to stop it. So I threw the ones on my right this time and the person tried to avoid it. It seemed that the ability can’t be used in quick succession.

I used the opportunity to run towards the enemy with another weapons being used and thrown. But the person suddenly produced a knife from the sleeves of the jacket and deflected the Birdarang successfully with an outward swing. However, I did it on purpose and grabbed the person’s weapon hand and delivered a palm strike to the person’s chin. The hood was removed and I saw a boy younger than I am. But it was not an invitation for mercy. I struck the weapon arm, causing him to let go of his weapon. And delivered a front kick square to his chest.

The boy was knocked on his back. But before I can make another move, his eyes suddenly started glowing and he snapped his fingers. Out of nowhere, an explosion erupted right in front of me. The blast rung my ears badly and disoriented my sight almost completely. And worse, it was a flash of light and partially blinded me. I felt a foot ramming through my ribs and I was thrown backwards on the ground. I rolled backwards with the use of my momentum and gain back my ground.

I grunted in pain as grabbed for my grappling hook and shot the boy’s foot. The hook wrapped around his shins and pulled hard which caused him to be dragged right in front of me. I delivered a strong back-hand blow to the face based on my intuition because I was still half-blind from whatever trick he used against me. The boy winced in pain as his eyes glowed again. I quickly threw the first Birdarang I could get from my belt and his hands dispersed a bolt of lightning. But my weapon was made of metal and it attracted the lightning strike. It exploded between us and I had to back down a few steps.

“What the hell are you?” I demanded. The boy didn’t speak. He tried to stand up but had a hard time. Blood was drawn and my back-hand had bloodied his mouth. And I saw fear in his eyes. “I know you can talk, so spill it out. If you don’t, I’m gonna make you talk and it won’t be pretty.”

The man was getting away and I was wasting precious time on this damn kid.

“I never wanted to be part of this.” His voice quivered. I saw the dirt that covered his sandy blonde hair and his sullen blue eyes looked sad. But it just made me more pissed. “I was just following orders. They told me to stop anyone who would try to steal the Reiss Reactor.”

“You entered the wrong neighborhood, kid!” I roared as I dashed towards him. The best thing I could do was to knock that kid out so I can give that delinquent to a proper place. But for now, the Reactor was my priority. “It would have been easier for you stand aside than fight me!”

But the boy suddenly pointed one of his fingers at me. Without warning, a white laser shot out from his fingers and almost hit me. I was able to duck just in time and roll on the ground. The laser grazed me my shoulder and but the wound was very light. As soon as he was within range, I swept his feet, causing him to fall on the ground. At least he wasn’t up for fighting in close range.

He tried to roll back but I had a Birdarang in my hand and stabbed his jacket to the floor so he won’t be able to move easily. Then I delivered a kick to his back which caused him to groan in pain. I was about to give him the knock out blow when the lights suddenly went out. And out of nowhere, I felt something connected to my jaw and I was thrown backwards.

Then my sight was back. It was confusing. I got blinded by light a few moments back and I was blinded by darkness this time around. The kid has a lot of tricks under his sleeve. But I also have such arsenal. A beep sounded on my alarm which meant that the enemy just passed by one of the checkpoints I have installed within Gotham. At the very least, I knew where to go next.

“Please, let’s just stop this.” The boy pleaded. But he was holding a glowing orb of light and the area around him was a lot dimmer. It was as if light was absorbed into whatever he was holding. “I don’t want to hurt you, please.”

“That’s actually my line.” I snapped back. Then I quickly threw a couple of detonating Birdarangs at him. But a pulse was released from the orb of light and my bombs exploded in mid-air. It created the perfect smoke-screen so I ran towards him. Then the orb of light suddenly jolted towards me without warning, hitting me squarely on the chest, air was knocked out of me as I landed hard on the ground. I heaved for air but my lungs were probably bruised from the impact. “What the heck.”

My vision started to blur fast. I saw the boy approaching me with a hand-cuff in his hands. Before I could even press the distress signal, my consciousness had left me completely.

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