This takes place about 30 years after Batman first showed his face in Gotham. Henry Pennyworth is the butler, and, uh, copyright DC.
“I’m surprised you came, master Tim.” He said, rolling his wheelchair in closer.
“Of course I’d come, Alfred. How are you doing?”
“Not so well. I was obviously not his butler after that... Heart attack a few years back. My son does that now.” Alfred said.
“You have a son? Wow. I guess I should have kept in touch, but, you know. With Dick passing the very heavy torch of the role of Nightwing, I’ve been busy. How was he before... It happened. Was he happy?” Tim asked.
“He was miserable. He started drinking. He envied you. He wanted so much to be the caretaker of Gotham. But he was just so old. He shouldn’t have gone in that dreary night...”
Batman stands over the city, breathing in the polluted air, and hacking big, awful coughs. He sees the signal, almost seeing the bat shining in the clouds. No. The signal was that of Nightwing’s. Nightwing owns this town now. Batman is just a legend.
Ungrateful little whelps! If it wasn’t for me, this town would have been nothing but a charred piece of flesh by now. There would BE no Nightwing. Bane would have taken over Gotham by now if I hadn’t stopped him! I was the talk of the town. I was on that signal. They even used the bat, and made some changes! . Tim turned on me, taking on the role of Nightwing. What has the world come to? Bruce Wayne thought to himself as he looked at his beer belly.
“Bruce? What’s taking you so long? Henry is at home, waiting to give us a late supper. I’m really hungry.” A female voice said, coming up from the roof door, dressed up in a Bat-Girl costume.
“Yes, Sam. I’m coming.” Bruce replied. Why do I even have a sidekick? It’s stupid, really. There’s no crime to stop. I should tell her we can stop pretending the world needs us now. Bruce thought to himself.
Ever since the incident where Joker committed suicide, Batman’s career has gone downhill. Two face is just too insane to hurt anyone. And Mr. Freeze is... well, he thinks the rubber room is a mansion in heaven. When Batman comes to visit, Freeze thinks it’s his dead wife, coming back from picking roses. Sad, really. There are all new criminals. Before, Batman could get inside their heads, but now, he doesn’t understand them. It’s hard to get inside anyone’s head when you can’t understand them. Gordon... Gordon was shot and killed two days before he retired. The world is a scary place. And Batman is just a simple bystander, forced to stand by and watch the horror that is his world. Batman walks down the stairs, following his sidekick teenager.
Dick, his former sidekick, died as the role of Nightwing. In his will, he left a trunk to Tim. When Tim opened it, he found two pairs of Nightwing costumes and a note. The note said to him “I need you to become Nightwing for me. If you don’t, Gotham will shrivel and die.” That was the basic premise of the letter. Bruce tried to stop Tim, but he ran off, never to speak with Bruce again.
“What’s for dinner?” Bruce asked, getting into the Batmobile.
::Shepherd’s pie, sir. Your favorite.:: Came a voice on the dashboard.
“Thank you, Alfred.” Bruce said, starting to drive.
::I do wish you would stop calling me by my father’s name, sir. It is most confusing.:: Henry said.
“Sorry, Hank.”
::Hrumph.::
“I’ll see you at home, Henry.” Samantha said, pushing a button on the dashboard.
“Sam, we have to talk about this crime fighting thing. It’s just dull. Nothing’s out there for us. You can still live with me as my foster child, but, I’m going to stop this nonsense.”
Samantha was silent. She knew Bruce was doing some serious thinking lately, but this was beyond her thinking range.
“W-What?”
“Let’s just go home.” Bruce said.
The drive was silent all the way back home. Samantha thought long and hard, but came to the conclusion that Bruce was right. Crimefighting just isn’t what the history books say it was. Samantha thought to herself. They entered the Batcave and got out of the car.
“I’m going to clean this place up a bit, then I’m going to shut the power off. There’s a time to keep on going, then there’s a time to quit. The latter counts at this moment.” Bruce said.
He changed into his civilian clothes, or, rather, his ‘Civies’, in Samantha’s terms of saying it, and picked some things up. He found a piece of paper on the floor. It was a free ticket to a carnival. He remembers that day like it was yesterday. The Joker shot Barbara, the former Bat-Girl, and tried to drive Gordon insane. It was a thrilling memory. The rush of adrenaline. The fright of almost being killed.
Those were the days. Bruce thought to himself, and headed upstairs.
He sat down on the couch and started watching ‘Nick At Night’, eating chips, and rubbing his bald head.
“Those things are too salty, Bruce.” Samantha sat down next to him.
“Your point is...?” Bruce replied.
“Nevermind. Y’know, I think the Pretender’s on.” Samantha said, grabbing the remote from Bruce’s hands.
“Oh, goody. A show about a guy running around, doing good.” Bruce ‘Hrumph’ed.
“Well, Happy Days isn’t that great either.” Samantha replied.
Bruce looked out the window and saw the signal. Where IS that kid? Bruce asked himself.
“Do you mind changing to the news channel?” Bruce asked Samantha.
“Sure. Which one?” Samantha asked.
“Local. The up-to-the-minute one.” Bruce replied.
She changed it. The lady came on with a grim face. Even though she was obviously faking it, Bruce knew what it meant.
::...The signal is still raging, but Nightwing is nowhere... This just in! Nightwing cannot help us, because... Oh, no.:: Her face turned grim, but she wasn’t faking it. ::Nightwing is on a mission in Florida. Helping The Bug to stop a volcano. Our only hope is Superman. He is the only one that can help us stop this crimewave. But, as we all know... Superman is in space, on a top mission. If you have a burglar break into your house....:: She continued, but Bruce wasn’t listening.
No one to help, huh? No one, except for Batman.
“Sam, I think we should postpone this retirement until a little while later, OK?” Bruce said, already heading for the clock.
“I’m with you.”
They opened up the grandfather clock, went in, and closed it.
“Now,” Bruce said as he got his costume on. “No talking when we’re doing this. Remember? Silence scares them. We get there, beat them up, and ask them where their leader is. Just that. ‘Who do you work for, and where is he?’ is all we say. No quirks. No smart-ass remarks. And, be careful on the Bat-Cycle, OK?”
“I know. You’ve trained me well, Yoda.” Samantha said.
Batman got in the car, and buckled his seatbelt.
“Good luck.” He said to Sam, as she hopped on the bike.
“Same to you.” She replied.
They both buckled up, and shot off into the distance, going past the hologram rock.
“I love this!” She screamed, as she went into hi-speed.
::Don’t waste the gas, Sam. We’ve got a ways to go.:: Bruce said over the radio on her small dashboard.
::Yeah, yeah.:: She replied over the radio.
This is great! Bruce thought to himself. The thrill of going to fight crime. I feel 30, no, 25 again!
They got to the first crime scene. A run-down apartment building. Bruce jumped out of the car, as Sam got off the bike. A man was hassling a woman for her purse.
“Let her go.” A booming voice came from nowhere.
The man looked around, letting the lady go, waving his knife around.
“I thought you said...” A young female voice started.
“Be quiet!” The booming voice said. It was too late, the thug sees them. “Oh, look what you did!”
The thug started to run, but Batman started to run after him. Bat-Girl stayed, and got onto her bike, and chased after the both of them. Soon, she caught up to him. Batman had the thug in a headlock.
“Need any help?” Bat-Girl asked.
Batman was silent.
“Who do you work for?” Batman asked the thug.
“Tommy Short! That’s all I know! I swear!”
“Where?” Batman asked impatiently.
“Tommy’s Odds ‘N’ Ends! Downtown! Leave me alone! Please!!” The thug cried.
Batman knocked him out. He went to a phone booth and found a phone book. He went to the T’s.
“Here it is. Tommy’s Odds ‘n’ Ends. Address....”
“I know you don’t run this crimewave, Tommy. I’ll show leniency if you tell me who you work for. If not, well, you know...” Batman said, holding Tommy Short up by his shirt collar.
“Yeah, you know...” Bat-Girl said.
“A chick by the name of Stacey! Stacey Cruise!”
“You know, I’m getting annoyed of all these names. I want addresses. Now.” Batman said.
“Yeah, now!” Bat-Girl said.
“Shut up.” Batman said.
“Her address is...”
“Knock Knock Knock!” Someone knocked at Stacy Cruises door.
“Yes?” She asked.
“Sorry to wake you ma’am, but we have a lead that you... Are involved in a crimewave hitting Gotham. May we come in?” Batman asked.
“I don’t let strange people in Bat-costumes come through this door.” She said.
“That’s too bad, miss. Because we... Are coming... Oh, God! Sam, Run!!!!” Batman saw a whole bunch of people ready to shoot very big guns.
“Wha...” Sam looked, and started to run.
BLAM! Bat-Girl was shot. Stacy grabbed Batman’s arm, but he evaded it, and pushed her face back into the crowd of angry gun holders. Batman ran out, getting shot in the shoulder, and again through the back. he kept walking, though.
“He won’t go down!” Someone said.
“Oh, yes he will.” Someone else said, and all of them went after him.
Batman held Sam over his shoulders, and went over near the bridge. The others were following him, so Batman propped Sam up by the rail.
“Y-You wanna fight? Let’s fight.” He grabbed his grappling hook, and shot it at one of the gun-wielders’ face, and pulled.
“Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
“That’s right. Nightwing’s been soft to you bastards all these years. It’s time you learned how to fight a PRO!” Batman said, touching something on his belt. “Let’s FIGHT!”
Batman threw the object from his belt, and held his ears. A sonic scream cried out, making the others dazed, but not for long. When he was thinking of what to do, someone came running, and put a knife in his arm. Batman grabbed the person, and threw him over the bridge.
“One down, 12 to go.” He said, to keep his spirits up, when he was caught off guard.
One of the gun-wielders shot him in his right leg, again and again and again. Batman couldn’t stand on it anymore. He wobbled a bit, when the one who shot him in the leg punched him over the bridge.
WHUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMP
Batman hit a car. he rolled off of it, less than gracefully, and crawled to away from the road, almost being hit, until passing out.
“Yeah, well....” Tim said.
“Tim? Are we going soon? I want to get out of this creepy place.” Someone came in the door.
“Oh, Alfred. I’d like you to meet my sidekick, Kyle, you know him as the new Robin.” Tim said.
“Have you trained him?” Alfred asked.
“Yeah... we should really be going to the hospital.” Tim said, trying to avoid that topic.
“Very(cough)... Very well.” Alfred said.
Tim rolled Alfred over to the van, and put him in it. It was sad, seeing Alfred so old. When Tim first became Bruce’s sidekick, Alfred was so... OK, so he was a jerk most of the time, but he wasn’t old. At least not in Tim’s eyes. In Tim’s eyes, Alfred looked as young as him, or even younger. How he remembers those days of running around with Alfred, while Bruce said ‘It’s not your mission. You’ll have your day. Trust me. You’re not ready.’. Even though Bruce was right, Tim despised him for it. Tim fumbled with the map until they finally reached the place.
“Here we are.” Tim said, and they all got out.
Tim unfolded the wheelchair, and put Alfred in it.
“Now, which room did the nurse say it was?” Tim asked, going through the halls of the hospital.
“I(cough)... I think it was room 305. On floor 3.” Alfred said.
“Well, we’re on the third floor.... Here we are!” Tim said.
They went in, and the room was separated by drapes into two. They went behind the fist set of drapes, and found who they were looking for.
“Are you doing well, Ms. Franx?” Alfred asked Samantha.
“I have the biggest headache. Where’s Bruce? Is he here? He saved my life.” Sam said, rubbing her eyes.
“He’s...” Tim started.
“Ms. Franx, Master Bruce is...(cough)...Master Bruce is... well...” Alfred started.
“What? Oh, god! He’s dead, isn’t he?” Sam asked. “It’s all my fault! I should have been more careful! Oh, god!!”
“No. He’s in surgery. He might make it, but chances are, he won’t. I’m sorry. He was really busted up.”
“.... What?”
“I’m sorry.” Tim said, lowering his head.
“It’s not your fault. I guess I just wasn’t good enough.” Sam said.
“I’m glad you got out of surgery all right, Bruce. I'm terribly sorry about your leg being amputated.” Tim said.
“I guess so. Where’s Alfred? I would have thought he would have come.” Bruce said.
“Alfred... Alfred died last night, Bruce.” Tim said.
“What? He can't be dead.”
Later that night, Bruce died also. In the will, Bruce left Tim a trunk......
The End!
Whew! That’s done. How’d you like it? I always love criticism.
Havok