Batman: Dark Hours

Chapter 8

The Gotham City Orphanage, was a historical landmark in Gotham city. It was first started by Bruce Wayne's grandfather. For all these decades, it had served as the home for hundreds of orphans in Gotham city. Thomas Wayne and after him, Bruce Wayne had managed to fund it enough to keep every orphan safe and comfortable. The kids were all like family. Once they reached fifteen years of age, they were allowed to go out into the world and set up a life for themselves. It was one of the most peaceful places in Gotham city where scum and villainy had never penetrated.

But today they had.

At least ten men with loaded rifles infiltrated the orphanage. The police were already there to evacuate the children under the orders of the commissioner. The ensuing gunfight, however, resulted in a victory to the militants. The children were dragged out of the orphanage into the streets. Their screams and cries brought many of the civilians out of their homes. Most of them just stood and watched with horror, while some others tried to help and got shot at for good measure. The children were bound and gagged with brute force. The ones that tried to escape were grabbed and thrown like a rag doll back into the group.

The militants were headed by a shirtless bald man with a torso full of cuts and scars. It was rumoured that he made a cut to himself every time he killed someone. And there were at least a hundred scars on his body. He smiled toothlessly and watched with sadistic pleasure as the children were bound together on the streets. His hands were busy loading his gun.

People called him Victor Zsasz.

****

The elevated rail system that snaked its way through major sectors of Gotham city also passed through the central point of the city, the Wayne Tower. Several cop cars had pulled up beneath the Wayne tower. Under the orders of Commissioner Gordon, the cops had been asked to stop all the major trains for the next few hours due to emergency reasons. Flights have already been cancelled. Per the order of the mayor, a curfew had been inflicted upon the streets to prevent civilians from travelling by road.

Lieutenant Chris Mason was in charge of the task. The last few hours had been pretty chaotic and weird for him. Several cops had been discharged towards banks and orphanages throughout the city. Many had been sent for Airports, some to ensure curfew. Almost every cop in the GCPD were busy. Never had he seen such an emergency situation in Gotham ever since he joined the force a few months back.

It all started with the mass breakout, he thought bitterly.

He had already talked to the control room atop the Wayne tower. The last train was about to arrive at the Wayne tower in some fifteen minutes. Once it had arrived, they would shut down the entire rail system. And so he stood, beneath the tower, with his unit of twelve cops.

He was not at all ready for what happened next.

WHAM!

Something heavy dropped down to the road ahead of them, with a resounding crash that cracked the earth. The sound of it rivalled a huge explosion. Many of his own men lost their balance and fell down, as the ground shook with the impact. Mason was thrown against his car. Glasses of the vehicles and nearby buildings were shattered. Smoke and dust enveloped the region of the crash.

One his men shouted. "Jesus! Is that a fucking meteor?"

Mason looked at him sternly and he shut his mouth. But he couldn't blame the man. His own body was shivering from the shock. His heart was hammering. He wiped the sweat off his trembling hands and squinted into the smoke. He saw a form walking towards them through the smoke. Something big...something...like a man. Yet he heard the sound of metal as the figure walked on.

Who the hell is that?

The smoke cleared and they had a clear view.

It seemed like a cyborg. Almost nine feet tall and as thick as a gorilla, the body was enveloped of a weird rare metal that Mason had never seen before. The face was made of metal too, but was shaped in the form of a distorted human skull. It looked like someone with a sadistic sense of humour had decided to create a metallic model of a human being.

But the most chilling part of the metallic man walking before him, was the chest.

The central part of the metallic armour had a deep crevice. Within that deep crevice was a rock that emitted a greenish glow. The glow emanated like some sort of radiation from the metal man. And it vibrated every time the metal man made a move, like it was the heart that powered him.

Somewhere in his mind, Mason knew what the green stone was.

The figure kept walking towards them, its skull-like face warping into some kind of a smile. The hair on the back of Mason's neck stood up, watching the horrifying sight before him.

He just looked at his men and screamed. "FIRE!"

The sound of gunfire rented the air as every one of the cops began firing every weapon they had at the metallic figure walking towards them. Bullets screeched against the metal. After sometime, the cops stopped their fire. None of their bullets had caused an effect. There wasn't even a dent on the metal.

The figure charged at them and within minutes, the entire cop squadron was uprooted, limb to limb. With his last breath, Mason managed to get the news to Gordon before he was ripped into half.

******

Miles away, Gordon was at the airport securing the place, as he listened to the news being relayed to him from the other police units. He was wiping the sweat off his bro. It's happening. He warned me and I couldn't stop it.

He looked up at the Bat signal over the clouds. Backup? Where is the goddamn backup?

Another thought entered his mind, something more terrifying. Is he still alive?