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Rated M for Mature
Appropriate for readers 18 and over. May contain extreme violence, sexual themes, nudity, or profanity.
Batman: Secret Files- Prologue
It was the darkest night. I had troubles sleeping in my own bedroom and couldn't stop thinking of the same old nightmare. That nightmare always strucked me as a child. But I got over it for quite a long time. Some say that dreams are always meant to show meanings right after a dreadful event. Yes, those events always happen at my very own feet. Sometimes, I used to think that if I had done something to save my parents. But I was only a child back then and never knew what to do. It felt a surprise that such a bad thing would never happen in my life. But it did happen when the mugger named Joe Chill arrived. I also never thought such a person would do it. They were wonderful parents who always loved and cherished me. I was never that kind of a rich brat who always liked to have parties or play such pranks on his friends, cousins, and other kinds of people. I had good memories with my parents. Memories that will always be there deep inside my subconscious mind. It felt real as if I had thrown back into the past and visited my parents again. When I tried to sleep on my bed, I think about them a lot. Because I know that they will always be there for me.
I woke up from my bed and walked silently to the desk. There was a note saying that I have to meet with some man whom I have never met before. The note was brought by Alfred, my butler who took good care of me when I was a child. I always rely on him to do some work for me. Yet, he agrees with myself for being Batman. The darkest knight who flows through the dark reachest corners of Gotham and catch the criminals in one crazy blow. He must have felt guilty for me when I donned the costume in the first place. But he was well aware of why I became Batman. I was grateful for Alfred for not just being my friend, but as well as my guardian angel.
I held the note in my hand and read the message. This message was given to me in an important account of someone whom I had not known. I have asked Alfred about the person who sent the message to me but he doesn't know the exact details. He was actually out to buy some groceries for dinner. At that time, I played the darkest knight who kept the criminals back at the Arkham Asylum. There were also tensions rising among the inmates so I had to stay there for almost an eternity. Even though the Joker must be really happy when I was there. I looked carefully at the note and wonder who would ever wrote it. The note says, "Meet me at 10:00 PM. Gotham Diner." I decided to bring the note with me to the batcave. The batcave was entirely closed down due to the major power failure which occured in the darkest city of Gotham hours ago. Luckily, I managed to setup a power generator to bring new life to the batcave. But the power didn't reach enough to restore the Wayner Manor. When the power was finally restored to the dark city and the manor, I had to turn off the generator just in case of fires that might sprung up like the phoenix from the burning sun.
I asked the computer to analyze the note and it took several seconds to perform the scan. Never in my life that this computer would make a mistake unless it has some kind of error. The computer was still processing the note after the scan. But the computer didn't give any positive confirmation of the actual person who wrote it. I sat on the chair and think for a moment of who would ever send this note to me and why. I stretched my mind out in the open seas. I felt relaxation even though I'm too active to stay focus on the things that I'm doing now. I was venturing myself into the deep subconsious mind and think clearly of the things that were missing on this note. I was slightly distracted when I saw two figures standing in front of me. It was my parents who were watching me and wondering when my crusade will ever end. I told my parents when the time comes, I might see them again on the other side. They were like angels to me and yet Alfred was always there at my side. I lay myself on the deeps sands of the beach where I still focus on the note. Most of the time, I never get much sleep since I was out in the night as many bats would prowl on their victims and drain their blood off. But as Batman, I wouldn't kill any soul on Earth even though if they are still evil such as the Joker, Penguin, Two-Face, and others. I did manage to get some rest but the bad dreams always come to haunt me. I wasn't afraid of that dream. But I might fear the dream will ever occur again in these cold and restless nights.
While I was still relaxing on the dream beach, a shadowy figure came behind me. I didn't know who the person was until I figured it out. It was Alfred who came to see me in the deep undergrounds of the batcave.
"Master Bruce, are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Alfred."
Alfred always wonder how I was doing at this time of night. He can't imagine that I would go and fly through the Gotham City for longest hours of dark night. He's a man of patience and willing to help me whenever he can. I still looked at the note while Alfred began to continue speaking with his soft British accent.
"I see you're having trouble identifying the writer of the note."
"Yes. But it's strange how these imprints were not able to be scanned properly. The computer did take an amount of time to perform the task."
"Have you ever thought it could be a woman, sir?"
"I don't think it was a woman, Alfred. That won't entirely happen. If a woman did send the note, she would have left her name on it. I'm assuming it's a man who doesn't want any secrets being exposed out of his own reach."
"I see your point. I guess it isn't Valentine's Day yet, sir."
"Valentine's Day?"
"It was a joke, sir. Pardon me."
I did everything I can to identify the note. So I decided to take a trip to the Gotham Diner where I can meet this strange man. My instinct tells me that he doesn't want to tell his name. Most of the time, the informants don't give out their names and it's highly unsual that any person would write this kind of black imprint. Then I knew those imprints were not meant to be revealed and it was tightly closed as if a girl was hiding inside the closet. I told Alfred that we'll have to reach the Gotham Diner by ten'o clock. We went out to the garage where tons of fancy cars were laying around each other. Including motorcycles which I never got the chance to drive at day or night. We took the limo since Alfred was very much comfortable driving in the front seat while I can sit, relax, and enjoy the darkest night. It took an hour to reach the Gotham Diner. There weren't any people coming to the diner as usual. They must have went to sleep or enjoy spending time with their loved ones. We arrived at the front side of the Gotham Diner where a man told Alfred to park on the far left of the parking lot. We reached the parking lot with less amount of cars and people coming and going out of their comfortable seats. I got out of the seat while Alfred had to wait inside his precious limo.
I reached the entrance of the diner and looked at the man who told Alfred to park his limo. The man looked like a thug as if he wanted to rob my valuable items or money deep inside my pockets. He said the man was waiting for me and yet the thug never mentioned his real name. I opened the doors to the vast diner where few people were enjoying their drinks, laughing at their own jokes, and smiling for several minutes. They took a slight notice of me since they know that I always used to come here often. I walked up to the aisle where the man was sitting on a stool and drinking a nice cup of tea. The aroma of the tea brought to my attention and I wonder who would ever drink tea at this time of night. I sat on the stool and ordered a plain glass of milk as Alfred always given to me as a child.
I looked at the man and he was wearing sunglasses which was meant to cover his real eyes. It never occured to me that a man would wear those glasses during the night. He also didn't take a notice of me as I wasn't actually present at the diner. I stared at the mirror to take a good glimpse of the strange man with his black sunglasses. He wore a light brown coat which covered his entire body and half of his face. It must be a tight chill outside the dark city. The waiter gave me the glass of milk and I drank in half. The strange man began to speak in a low tone.
"Bruce Wayne, I assume?"
I looked at him and knew that he was speaking to me. I also knew that this was the man whom I was going to speak with. He has that hard voice that no one could ever recognize. It seems that he had a sore throat of some kind. I guess that's why he's drinking the tea so that his throat can be cleared out of exit. I looked at the mirror facing towards the strange man. I finally replied to his obvious question.
"Yes. That's me. What do you want?"
"I came here just to speak with you, Mr. Wayne."
"About what?"
The strange man finished drinking his last ounce of tea and continued his sore speech.
"I have information that you'll be willing to accept."
"What kind of information?"
The strange man still sat on the stool facing towards the wide mirror as the waiter was passing by and the few people were still enjoying their lovely night. He never turned back and talk to me as a normal person would. He's an informant alright.
"I know who Batman really is", he replied in a slow tone and harsh voice. The guests didn't hear what he was saying because of his slow voice. At that moment, I figured that this man must have find out my secret identity. I stayed relax and focused drinking the rest of my milk while the strange man continued speaking.
"That's right. You must be wondering how I knew the secret. But I can't tell you."
"Who are you?" I asked while drinking the last drops of white cold milk. The strange man didn't answer right away as he still stared at the wide mirror. His face turned gradually towards the side of my face.
"Just call me the "Stranger."
I wondered why he had used that name. It was a clever idea not to reveal his true identity just I used to conceal it on my own. I didn't like the looks of this situation. Even if I asked him so many questions, he still wouldn't give me the answers. Instead, I asked about the information.
"What's this information that you want to tell me?"
The Stranger took out a large file from the side of his light-brown coat. He slid the file through the counter until I caught it. I looked at the file and begin to examine it. But the Stranger stopped me before I would do anything else.
"Don't open it now. Once you go to your precious headquarters. You will know what I'm talking about."
I was fully surprised and kinda shocked to hear what he was saying to me. Did he really know the true location of the batcave? It's highly impossible to find out. I didn't want to make a scene since these few guests were not to be disturbed by the possible outcome. I gradually said and asked in a well-positive manner.
"Ok. But tell me. Why me?"
The Stranger didn't answer that question. He stepped out from his stool and walked passing me. He stopped for a second and replied to me in a low whisper as the cold wind.
"All the information is there. You will do as I say. If not, your other self will be perished."
The Stranger then walked outside the diner with his fellow thug. I finally looked back at the Stranger and see where he's going. But at this point, I couldn't follow him and his thug. I left the cash on the counter and walked out of the quiet diner. I saw that they were gone, nowhere to be seen. It seems to me that they were highly trained for this kind of mission. I bet they're working for someone who likes me to do some dirty job. I walked to the limo where my dear Alfred was waiting for me. I went inside the limo as Alfred asked me what was going on.
"What did he say?"
"Nothing much, Alfred. But I got a gift from him."
"I see."
Alfred didn't ask or say anything further as he gave me full respects most of the time. He turned on the limo engine and we went out into the dark, silent night.
The next morning, I looked at the large file on the desk and try to find out what the Stranger was trying to tell me. All the details were in this file. I had to take the file down to the Batcave just in case if it were that dangerous for Alfred to find out. Because he's really good at finding things. I opened the file and it contained some kind of slight-thin booklet of some kind. I turned over the pages and it had names which I never heard before. There were amount of details on separate pages and most of them were referring to the insane criminals whom they appeared in Gotham City and different parts of the world. There was a symbol on the back cover of the booklet. It had an unsual shape which looks like a dragon and a lion mixed in between. I began to think it was some kind of organization that had this symbol but with no name. I flipped through the pages to see if the organization had a name. But it didn't tell anything. Instead, I looked at various criminals and their profiles but with no pictures on them. There was also a note which was hidden on the booklet. I took the note and glanced it for seconds. The note says, "Pictures of these criminals will be sent to you. One at a time." Then I heard a loud noise coming from the computer. It felt like the computer was still processing the information. Yet, I haven't given out any of the items including the note. A few seconds later, a nice screened photo just came out of the computer slid. I took the photo and saw a man with a pale face who looks much like the Joker himself. But this man didn't had any clown-make up on. I checked his profile in order to do a quick match of who and what he was. I began to think that this Stranger knows how to get hold of me. Whoever he is, I have to find out for sure. But it looks like this Stranger wanted me to catch these criminals. But why? Why not put them back at the Arkham Asylum? I tried to come up with some clues to find out the Stranger's true purpose. It seems that I have no choice but to catch these criminals for the Stranger or....the organization that he's working for.
To be continued in Batman: Secret Files, Chapter 1- Dark Blood.
Does the Stranger know who Batman really is? But how? What is his true purpose here? And what about the secret files which were given to Bruce? What is this all mean? Well, all of these questions will be answered in the upcoming chapters. Now Batman has to find his first target and this one might bite your necks. =P Stay tuned for the next chapter of....BATMAN!
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