Book of the Bat: League of the B.A.T.M.E.N #1
Gotham City, 1953
Babs’ Bakery
It was a pretty slow day at the Bakery, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The steady flow of customers through the building kept coming until the usual slowdown at 4:30.
“Hey Babs? Can you run some inventory for me? Gotta make sure that we have enough for next week, Jake’s leaving the city tonight and I wanna make a supply run after we close up.” Jim asked when suddenly that all familiar bell noise chimed signaling that another customer was on their way through the door. Without looking up from the counter Jim said,
“Cutting it a little close fella, haha. What can I do for y-”, going silent when he saw who it was. His face started to go pale, but he regained his composure. The man then approached the counter and huddled real close to Jim.
“Was it really that urgent it could wait 30 minutes Bruce, Jesus, what is it?” Jim whispered.
“Iceberg Lounge. Be there at 6.” Bruce said sternly, slipping Jim a small scrap of paper.
“S-sure Bruce. Is everything ok?” Jim stammered. Bruce nodded toward the paper and then left without saying anything else. Flipping the paper over, Jim read it, all it said was: He’s Alive.
“You gotta be kidding me”
“Is everything ok dad?” Barbra asked.
“Yeah sweetie, everything’s fine. Do I need to buy anything?”
“Yeah we need some flour but that’s about it. You sure everything’s ok, I don’t want your blood pressure to spike ag-“
“I’m fine. I’m gonna head out a little early, I have some extra errands to run so I’ll be out late. Can you close up shop for me?”
“Sure thing dad, I’ll see you at home.”
“Thanks Babs, see you tonight”
…….
The Iceberg Lounge
Jim rounded the corner of the street, running to try and make it on time even though he knew he was going to be late. He ran up to the bouncer, breathing heavily, and said,
“Hoof, Hey it’s me, Jim Gordon.”
“Go on up to the office, they’re waiting.” The bouncer said. As Jim approached the office he could already hear the bickering from the team.
“It’s BS that’s what it is. No way this guy’s alive, your source has to have some bad info Cobblepot.”
“We’ve got the pictures right here Dent! He’s. Alive.”
“His whole head is bandaged, how can we confirm it’s him? Huh?”
“My guys don’t lie to me, they say they heard his name being thrown around in that meeting; his name was thrown around in that meeting.” After that Jim walked into the meeting.
“Hey Jim glad you could make it” said Harvey, shaking his hand.
“Hey Jim” muttered Oswald.
“Is it true Bruce, is he really back?” Bruce’s face remained entirely emotionless, contemplating all the facts that were laid out onto the table.
“I have no reason to doubt Cobblepot here Jim, I have to say he’s back.” Bruce said solemnly.
“You still haven’t explained who is back and why this is so important to me Mr. Wayne” said a feminine voice from the back of the room. Jim whirled around to see a young red-headed woman in glasses and a bright green dress.
“Jim, this is Pamela. Pamela, Jim. She’s a new recruit here.” said Bruce.
“He’s the guy that cost Jim his job, that’s who.” Smirked Oswald.
“You want to tell her Jim?” asked Dent.
“U-uh. Yeah. His name is Thomas Elliot, child prodigy of one of the richest folks in Gotham. I used to be a detective in the GCPD and we were working a wharehouse owned by the Falconis at the time. Now Thomas, he was in cahoots with the Falconis, on some drug manufacturing job, nothing memorable, but when we busted the operation he got away, but knew I had made him. He kidnapped my daughter and made me meet with him one on one. That’s when I put a bullet in his head. The parent’s sued the city and made it look like I was the bad guy and I was forced out of the job.” Jim detailed.
“And why is this so scary? Just sounds like some kid with issues” Pam remarked.
“Yeah, and a personal vendetta against Jim and Bruce.” replied Harvey, “If he’s back, that could spell bad news for our organization” he continued.
“Well, even if we don’t know for sure, we have to have a plan to get this guy before he makes a move. What’s the situation look like Cobblepot?” Jim asked nervously.
“Well for starters, he’s been building up since he came back. Using fear and money to buy up Falconi thugs and people off the street. I got a guy on the inside who heard that a shipment of weapons is coming into Gotham by sea two days from now. I’m going to spend tomorrow muscling out which port it’s coming in from exactly, but in the meantime, Wayne, Dent, and you need to start hitting the streets and finding out where the higher-ups in the organization reside. Pam will be helping us out with this as well. By tomorrow, we need to have a lock on where they are because as soon as the gun bust goes down, Thommy-boy is gonna know we’re onto him. Does everyone understand? Oswald explained. Everyone nodded in reassurance.
“Meet at the southern meeting-point tomorrow night with the info you have gathered, meeting adjourned.” Bruce said. They all filed out of the office and down the stairs, Jim headed over to grab a drink at the bar. Oswald came and patted him on the back,
“Hey, no need to worry alright, I got surveillance running your house with some of my best guys, if he makes a move on you, we’ll be ready. OK?” he reassured him.
“Thanks Cobblepot, I’ll owe you one.” Jim solemnly replied.
“Ha-ha Hey now, I’m gonna hold you to that.” Oswald chuckled, elbowing Jim in the shoulder, then he left to go attend to the patrons of his lounge. Jim had a few drinks then decided to head home, after all he had to rest up to get ready to work the beat in the morning.
Log in to comment