Scars & Hearts: The Batman Fanfiction

Chapter Eighteen

Jim Gordon had been a member of the Gotham Police Department for decades, and it had been decades since he truly trusted someone. It had been decades since he could sleep comfortably without worrying someone was going to stab him in the back.

The Batman was the first person Gordon trusted indefinitely. He could finally sleep comfortably knowing that the vigilante, whether through fists or fear, was slowing the rate of crime.

But it was Gotham. And just like there'd always be fish in Gotham Bay, there'd always be vermin in the streets.

"Got the DNA back from the crime scene. All the students, janitor, and professor's. None from our guy. Not a big shock."

He handed the man another folder.

The Batman opened it, revealing CCTV footage screenshots.

Two men, but they weren't the man in question. Bruce recognized them as the two goons he'd seen at the bank.

"Anthony and Benjamin Palmero." Gordon said. The Batman flipped the page to see the men's mugshots. "Wanted for armed robbery, arson, murder, attempted murder, and a few overdue parking tickets, which is the real crime here."

"I thought they disabled all the cameras?"

"They did. Just not the ones from the sandwich shop across the street." He continued. "They've been off our radar a good three years or so. I'm not sure why they'd show their face now, but we've got an alert out for 'em. Just thought you should know. Added a few people they were buddies with back in the day. See if you can talk to any of 'em. Get some info on who they're working for."

Bruce nodded. "I'll look into it."

Gordon nodded, turning to power off the large light.

The Batman was gone when he turned around.

Gordon sighed. "I'm getting to old for this job."

***

There were many clubs in Gotham that catered to the underground world of criminals, but following the Penguin's arrest, none were more notorious than the Black Mask Club. Roman Sionis, heir to the Sionis crime fortune, was a man Bruce would love to put behind bars, but like the Penguin, he hardly got his own hands dirty.

He had his right-hand man, Victor Zsasz do his dirty work.

When he knocked on the lounge door, he was met by a surprised usher.

The usher slammed the door shut, and several minutes later, another appeared.

His face was scarred and from what Bruce could see from his mostly opened button up designer shirt, so was the rest of his body. His bleached blond hair was neatly cut as was his black beard.

Victor Szasz smirked, leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed.

"Well if it ain't the Batman. What can I do for you, Batsy?"

"I need to speak to Roman Sionis. Now."

"Tsk. Tsk Tsk." He shook his head. "No can do, Batman. You see, Roman's a sensitive guy, and it's my job to protect him, and I just think seeing you," he gave him a once over. "In his club, it would just really upset the guy."

"I wasn't asking." The Batman stepped forward.

Zsasz straightened. His hand reached in his back pocket, and he produced a knife, holding it near his face.

"Let's not get hasty, Batsy. What do you wanna talk about?"

He hesitated. "The Palmero Brothers. Used to be friends of yours."

"Oh." Zsasz seemed surprised. "Those losers? I fired 'em myself. A few months back."

"What?"

"Yeah." Zsasz waved the knife around while he talked, much too casually for Bruce's liking. "This ain't a confession, by the way, Batsy. This is all hypotheticals. So, let's just say hypothetically they forgot to disable the CCTV footage at a hypothetical crime scene and lost us one of our best hypothetical employees. Would have killed 'em, but Roman was feeling generous that day. Hypothetically, of course."

The Batman pursed his lips. "Know where they are now?"

Zsasz shrugged. "Beats me. But nobody respectable would hire 'em. They've got one brain cell between 'em. God help 'em. That it? I really gotta go check on Roman."

The Batman nodded, but just as Zsasz began to close the door. "Why do you have those scars?"

"Hypothetically?"

He nodded.

"Hypothetically, they're for every." He brought the knife to his neck, imitating a cut.

"Know anybody else who does that?"

Zsasz shrugged. "I like to think it's a pretty original concept. Why, you know anybody?"

"No."

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Author's Note: Hey, guys. So, I just did my first final yesterday. Honestly, going by the outline I made, we're definitely about halfway through this fanfiction already which is so crazy to me. Also The Batman sequel was green lit by Warner Bros! So exciting. I'll upload soon. Still need three more finals. - C