Final chapter. All reviews welcome. Happy Christmas and a great New Year to everyone!

Bruce Wayne Checks in – Chapter Six

Tavi was triumphant. At last he had his elusive enemy. Covered in the red tinge of his infrared glasses he could see the Batman.

"Shoot him in the head!"

This was what fighting should be about. Not cowering like a frightened animal in the dark but blowing the brains out of your enemy.

Boom.

A flash grenade went off next to him. "Aaaah!" Screamed Tavi and ripped off his infrared vision. He tried to look but white spots covered his vision. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a black shape leap up the stairs. He fired his M60 rifle at point blank range at where he thought the Batman was, and then the rifle was ripped from his hands and thrown down the stairs with a fearsome clattering sound. He couldn't see properly but he had been trained and was lethal in a fight. He pulled a knife from his belt and tried to look around him but he still couldn't see properly. The air was full of sounds of bones breaking, screams and whines. "Kill him lads, rip his heart out!" He said. His foot felt something soft. He bent down and felt a Kevlar jacket. One of his men. He blinked rapidly; his vision was starting to come back. Batman was disarming and beating his men with awesome speed. He had to do something. He jabbed the knife in Batman's direction. Batman's foot came lancing out of nowhere and broke his wrist, making him drop the knife. Aaaahhh! The real pain hadn't started yet. He knew that. The adrenaline was keeping it from affecting him. Batman was still busy fighting four of his men. His speed and strength was incredible. He had disarmed his men in seconds and his men, masters of a hundred fights, were like snails attacking a tiger. Jeez. The pain was starting. He could feel the splintered bone piercing his flesh. Blackness circled his vision as he struggled to stay conscious. He tucked his arm into his jacket to try and support the arm. That was slightly better. Still he was not down yet. He picked up a pistol from the floor and tried to shoot it at Batman. Whilst fighting the remaining two of his men one handed, Batman's other hand fired a grappling hook at Tavi pulling him down.

"Aaaaah!" Said Tavi as he fell on his broken arm. Tears came to his eyes. God he needed morphine. He tried to fire again at his tormentor when Batman's foot came out of nowhere and connected under his chin…

---

Batman looked at Tavi's men. They were all down. He ignored the whimpering sounds they were making and quickly searched them for weapons. They were very fit, well trained and equipped with serious weaponry. He had to hurt them badly to keep them down. He checked his belt. He was out of handcuffs as well.

"R this is B come in R?" Said Batman. He hadn't heard from Robin in a while and was starting to worry, although characteristically he didn't let it affect his voice.

"B this is R. Do you need help, over?"

"Yes."

"Really?" Said Robin, sounding surprised.

"Bring fifteen handcuffs from the car and the medical kit. Some of these men require morphine."

Batman melted into the shadows of the corridor and just watched the men he had brought down. The whimpering was starting to get louder as some of them woke up to their broken limbs. He felt no pity for them. This scum was sucking the life out of the city. Alfred and Robin came up the stairs and grimaced at the pile of broken bodies. They quickly handcuffed them and after Alfred had asked those that were awake if any of them had any allergies to morphine he gave them a morphine shot. The hospitals could splint them up he just wanted them quiet and docile.

"Where's the Joker?"

"We've got him downstairs," said Robin. "There are still the hostages to release."

"Do we know how many men they have left?"

"Five. I checked it out. There are two exits which they have sealed up."

Tavi's mobile started ringing. Batman reached down and picked it up from the floor. Should he answer it? He might find out something useful. Do they have a code word they use? He didn't know. They might get suspicious if he answered it but they would definitely get suspicious if he didn't. He pressed the green answer button on the phone.

"Yeah?" He said changing his voice to the soft southern drawl that he had heard Tavi use.

An English voice answered. "Tavi, that you? We heard gunfire. You and the boys okay?"

"Yeah, you guys stay cool."

The voice at the other end started to get suspicious. "I thought we were offing hostages Tav? You ain't getting weedy on us are you? We ain't seen Jack of the money yet, I say we bleed a few hostages to hurry 'em up. What's up with you Tavi?"

"Don't start yet, wait for my return."

"What's the code word Tavi?"

Batman jabbed down on the end call button. Damn.

"We don't have much time. Come on Robin!"

---

Torminstein put the phone down. He was shaking. That wasn't Tavi. If they had Tavi's phone that must mean that he was down and if he was down his men must be down with him… They were alone in the building.

"Who was that?"

"Dunno, it sure weren't Tavi, musta been either the cops or the bats."

The hostages were all crowded in one corner of the room, they were tied up and blindfolded. They started murmuring in fear when they heard his voice. Two of his men had a six barrelled rotary mini gun trained on them.

Torminstein tried to think. He usually liked others to do the thinking for him. If Tavi was down and that white-faced nutter was out the picture he was in charge of $30 million dollars of hostages. Still he had to get out of here first. A body bag ain't got no pockets and prisons ain't got no banks.

"Bill," he said talking to the thug aiming the mini gun. "Those people ain't goin' nowhere. Point that thing at the door. The second anyone comes through it empty the whole chamber at 'em."

He picked up the 'phone again scrolled down to Police and clicked on the green button. He needed to talk to the cops. It rang twice then someone picked it up.

"Who's this?" Said Torminstein.

"This is Commissioner Gordon, we need more time to get the money."

"You've had 45 minutes. Anyway I don't give a stuff about the money now. I want a helicopter and a pilot outside in ten minutes; it's gotta be big enough for ten people, we're taking hostages with us. If you follow the copter you'll be peeling some of Gotham's finest off the pavement. You call your pet bat off as well you hear. We've got enough explosives here to level half of Gotham. If I even see a shadow I'll blow this joint."

"You'll get your helicopter and you'll get your money. I'll personally guarantee you safe passage if you leave the hostages unharmed."

"Well that depends don't it."

"Depends on what?"

"Batman and you lot keeping your nose outa our business." He pressed the button to end the call. He picked up the spare detonator. It was wired to about half a tonne of semtex wired round various support struts of the building. They had put it in place last week whilst working on a maintenance contract. His finger stroked the button. One touch of this button, just to complete the circuit and this building and everyone in it will be blown to pieces. He started to calm down and feel in control again. Let them come.

---

Batman had picked up a spare utility belt from his car. He also picked up a small monitoring device and fibre optic cable. He was crouched down the door looking at a small screen. He poked the small cable under the door and looked around. The hostages were all in one corner. Good. The five hostage takers were scattered around the room. Not so good. He liked to fight thugs in groups. They would inevitably get in each other's way. Scattered around the room they would take longer to take out and one of them might get a shot on target. Robin was sitting next to him looking at the screen.

"One of them has a detonator and one has a mini gun," said Robin.

"We need to take out the man with the detonator first, then the man with the M134 mini gun. It fires 4000 rounds per minute. If we let him get one finger on the trigger he could cut either the hostages or us to pieces in seconds." The mini gun was mounted and fixed on a table. Cables attached it to the battery. Batman looked at the ammunition box next to it. They only had enough ammunition for twelve seconds of firing. Still more than enough to cut them all to pieces.

"What's the plan?"

---

Torminstein was looking at his watch. The police had five minutes left. He should never have left England. Tavi said he had one sure fire way to make some serious folding. Sure he'd been unemployed since leaving the SAS. That foot wound he picked up in Bosnia meant he couldn't even get a job as a body guard anymore and his wife and kids were always bleating for something new. Just look after a few hostages; maybe shoot a couple of cops, it would be easy said Tavi. He had it all worked out. The Joker would take care of any costume freaks about the place and they'd take care of the police. He didn't care anymore about anything. If he were going to go down then he would take the hotel with him. He fingered the detonator. Maybe they would put a memorial garden where the hotel was? No, he hoped they would put a casino, the last chance saloon or something like it? He chuckled as he thought of it. Ouch. Something hit his hand. A small dart? Right that's it this hotel is going to be… Arm feels frozen. Press that button! Hand won't work. Detonator falling from hand…

---

Batman burst through the door. His first dart had taken out the thug with the detonator. The detonator was falling! He kicked a chair in front of him, which skidded across the floor and caught the detonator just before it fell on the floor. That two seconds meant that the man with the mini gun had time to train the gun on the door he had come through. Batman kicked the wall next to him and used the force to propel himself into the air. The door behind him disintegrated as the bullets ripped it to pieces. He grabbed hold of the light fitting and span himself across the ceiling upside down pulling himself forward with each effort. The gun was trailing him. The ceiling behind him was being torn to shreds and plaster was coming down in a constant rain. His cloak was being peppered with shot. With one hand he threw a batarang to knock out the man with the mini gun. He dropped to the floor from the ceiling, landing on his feet, a batarang in each hand. There were no targets left. Robin had knocked them all out.

Robin started untying the hostages, starting with Mayor Krol.

Mayor Krol walked over to Batman, rubbing his wrists where the ropes had been. "Thank god you came Batman."

"No problem your honour," said Batman. He started to walk out the door. He had been talking to the Mayor not two hours previously as Bruce Wayne and didn't want to be recognised.

"Before you go!" Shouted the Mayor. "They also took Bruce Wayne and Elaine Roville. They said they were going to put them on ice!"

"I'll take care of them," said Batman, "come on Robin, the mayor can release the rest,"and he stalked out the door, followed by Robin.

"The Mayor and those hostages are expecting to see Bruce Wayne aren't they?" Said Robin as they walked through the hotel corridor.

"Yes."

"The police are expecting to see Batman drive out of here aren't they?"

"You have a talent for stating the obvious."

"So what are we going to do?"

---

Bruce Wayne walked into the Hotel dining room carrying Elaine Roville. She was just starting to wake up again. When he left her she had been awake. For some reason Alfred went red when he mentioned this? He didn't need his detective skills to work out why. The hostages started cheering when they saw Bruce. He put her down gently on a chair.

Mayor Krol came running up to see him. "Thank god you're well Bruce." He looked over Bruce's shoulder. "Ooh is that Batman going! I'd better go and thank him."

"I'd leave him alone mayor, he's had a tough evening."

"Batman! Batman! Stop Batman!" Shouted several of the hostages. "We just want to thank you!"

Oh no. Thought Bruce. He tried to stop the stampede through the door, but he might as well try and stop a flood. "Ladies, please, calm down." He looked up the corridor to see a shadowy black cowled man clamber into the Batmobile, that Alfred had parked in the hotel foyer. Robin had leapt into the seat next to him. The door of the Batmobile slid shut just before the hostages reached it.

"Batman! Please stay Batman!"

Alfred reversed the Batmobile out of the hotel lobby at great speed, put the handbrake on to turn it and roared off up the road. Well he was certainly getting the hang of driving his car.

Bruce turned to face some of the subdued looking women as they walked back into the lobby. "Batman's not as hunky in real life is he?" Said one.

"No, I didn't know he had a moustache either?"