Death Comes to Gotham-A Batman story Author: MPhage E-mail: Summary: Batman has faced many enemies over the years and won, but how can he beat the final enemy?

GOTHAM CITY-A SMALL CONVENIENCE STORE ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF TOWN

The chubby store-keeper sits behind the counter puffing on his cigerette. In the back a teenage boy shoves baseball cards into his jacket. The door opens and a man in a long dark trenchcoat walks into the store. His face is obstructed from view by a large brimmed hat, but his eyes can almost be made out through the shadows, they almost appear to be glowing. Walking around to the back of the store he walks up to the boy and reaching around him, he grabs a map from the rack, in doing so he knocks the cards from the boys hands. "Hey! Jerk watch what your doing!" The boy shouts to the figure, the man turns around and stares him in the eyes, the boy backs away. The figure raises his hand and grabs the boy by the throat, strangeling the life from him. After a few minutes the man drops the boy and his lifeless body hits the ground. The dark form walks back to the front and prepares to leave with the map of the city he had taken, when the store-keeper shouts at him, "Hey! You can't take that! You didn't pay for it yet!" The man turns and glares at the store-keeper, the obese store-keeper shrinks back and timidly says, "Or I could just start an account for you. But I need a signature." The man holds up a book and pen, the dark figure approaches him and takes the pen from his hand, looking down at the paper he writes something out. He looks back up at the store-keeper who upon looking into the eyes of the stranger seems to turn ghost white. The figure leaves the store as the man looks down at the paper and screams right before collapsing.

LATER, THE SAME STORE, THE POLICE HAVE ARRIVED AT THE SCENE

Detective Bullock takes a snack cake off the counter and unwraps it, shoving it into his mouth. Officer Montoya gets a disgusted look on her face, "Geez Bullock, this is a crime scene for Pete's sake!" Bullock throws his arms up and with a mouthful of cake says, "I'm hungry, give me a break!" Commisioner Gordon was also on the scene, looking over the body of the young man. He walks over and looks at the store-keeper's body lying on the ground. "The first one seems to have been strangeled, what happened to him?" Gordon says staring at the store-keeper. The coroner answers him, "Heart attack sir. And from that expression on his face I'd say something scared him into it." Gordon looks down at the paper on the table, the account book, the last entry pulled his attention. It was one word written so cleanly it almost looked typed, DEATH.

THE NEXT NIGHT, COMMISIONER GORDON'S OFFICE

Gordon stands over his desk looking over the information on the case. He feels a breeze behind him, turning he sees Batman standing at the open window. "Geez, give an old man a break. I don't know how many more of those entrances I can take!" Gordon says grabbing his chest. Batman smiles for a second, but only a second. "The word on the street is something a bit unusual happened last night." Batman says. Gordon shakes his head holding up the files, and says, "'Unusual' doesn't even come close! We have a store owner who died of a heart attack caused by fright," he drops the folder open to that page a picture of the store-keeper's face shows his expression. He opens to the next page, "We have a 17 year old boy, who it looks like died from being strangeled, but the coroner tells me his death was caused by a lack of electrolytes." Batman looks at the commisioner, and asks him, "electrolytes? You mean the genetic molecule that sends electricity through the human body?" Gordon nods his head. And turns to the next page in the folder, "We have a signature that we can't trace, no finger-prints. And this has got to be the most unusual piece so far," He picks a video up off of his desk and places it into the television in his office, the video starts to play. "Notice anything odd here?" Gordon asks as Batman stares in disbelief, on the video the events from last night take place, the only difference is wherever the figure had been before is now clear. When the boy is lifted off the ground and strangeled he is pulled into mid-air. When the word DEATH is written in the book, the pen seems to be floating. The automatic doors open by themselves. Gordon stops the tape, "And the person who called 911 to begin with is no help either."

BATMAN AND GORDON WALK OUT OF THE ROOM AND DOWN THE HALL TO THE INTERROGATION ROOM

Bullock is questioning the witness who is curled up on the floor. "What happened? What happened, do you even hear me?" Bullock screams at the man. Gordon comes into the room, "Detective! Thats enough." he says looking at Bullock. Bullock backs off. The man is still laying on the ground clutching a pillow and rocking back and forth, "His eyes. His eyes, they burned, the people! The people in his eyes! They burned!" The man kept screaming. Batman reached down to the man and pulled him up, "What do you mean? What people, you have to tell me." He said to the man. The man seemed to pull himself together for a moment, just long enough to say, "I was walking in as he was walking out. I looked in his eyes, I could see people. My sister, but she's dead, she was in his eyes. His eyes!" The man went back to his curled up position. Batman stood up, "Poor devil." Gordon said shaking his head, "He was a psychologist before last night. Now he's the one who needs help." Batman turned to the commisioner saying, "I'll get to the bottom of this." Gordon looked away at the man again and turned back towards Batman trying to say, "I can get you some information, if I can get it." but when he turns back Batman has already vanished.

THAT SAME NIGHT BATMAN DRIVES DOWN THE STREET IN THE BATMOBILE WHEN SOMETHING CATCHES HIS EYE

Batman pulls over to the side of the road, /Did I just see a pair of glowing red eyes in that alley?/ he asks himself. Deciding that he had better take a look he walks into the alley. Looking around he sees nothing, but then he hears a sound from behind him, turning around he comes face to face with a figure in a dark trenchcoat a black wide brimmed hat, and a pair of burning red eyes. Batman stares at the man, "You. You're the one who killed that boy, aren't you?" He yells. The figure just stands there staring at the costumed vigilanty. Batman's wondering turns to hate, "Don't you have anything to say? Don't you have any guilt over what you've done? What exactly do you want?" He screams. This last question finally gets a response from the figure as he raises a gloved hand and points at Batman. Batman's expression turns to one of shock, as he yells "Me? Your after me?" The figure nods slowly. Batman stands ready to fight. The figure moves towards him too fast for him to block, in an instance the dark man has wrapped a hand around the neck of Batman. Batman struggles desperately to free himself from the grip of this murderer, but finds himself unable to do so. As the man tightens his grip Batman can feel the life draining from him. He looks up, staring directly into the eyes of the man, what he see neerly makes his heart stop. A force causes the figure to drop Batman, who hits the ground with a thud. The man turns around to look at his attacker and sees Robin. "I won't let you hurt my partner, my friend!" Robin yells to the man. The man's eyes seem to darken, as he turns his attention back to Batman, only to find him gone. Spinning his head back around to Robin he turns just in time to see Batman and him run from the alley. His eyes darken yet again, as he turns back to the shadows of the alley.

THE BATMOBILE, ROBIN IS DRIVING AND BATMAN IS IN THE PASSENGER SEAT

"Good thing I was in the area patroling Bruce. But why didn't we stay there and fight?" Robin asks to Batman who is clutching his chest. "In this case it was best to leave." He says. Robin shakes his head and glares at him, "That's it? You're not going to tell me anything else?" He yells at his partner. Batman pulls himself up in the seat, "I don't want to talk about it." Is his response.

WAYNE MANOR, ROBIN IS HELPING BATMAN UP THE STAIRS OUT OF THE BATCAVE

As the secret passageway to the Batcave opens, Robin sees Alfred laying on the ground. His head has a gash on it and a small stream of blood is trickeling from it. "Alfred!" Robin yells running away from Batman who has positioned himself against the stairway. "Alfred! Alfred are you alright? What happened?" Robin asks the aging butler. Alfred leans his head up and looks at Robin, "I tried to fend him off Master Dick, I failed." A puzzeled look comes over Robin's face, "Fend who off?" He asks. Alfred points behind the young man. Robin turns to find himself staring up at the same man that had attacked Batman not more than 10 minutes earlier. "What the devil?" Robin shouts as the man knocks him out of the way, walking back towards Batman. He reaches out towards Batman again to finish what he had begun, but once again Robin interferes. He lunges at the figure knocking him to the ground, as he hits he seems to evaporate, leaving only his tattered clothing behind. Robin turns and helps Batman to his feet, "What exactly is going on?" Robin screams as Batman's eyes grow wide and he pulls Robin to the ground just as a sword from the Wayne family crest hits the wall where they had just been. Robin turns to see the figure on his feet yet again. The figure walks toward the two, Batman pushes Robin off of him and stands up looking the man straight in the face, "I challenge you." Batman says to the figure, the figure stops walking and nods. Batman continues, "Not a game though, a fight." The figure almost seems to be laughing though no sound is heard. "A few rules, one I need a day to recover, 24 hours." The man nods in agreeance. "Two, You may not use your powers." The figure's eyes darken again and finally he nods. The figure turns to the shadows and lightening flashes outside illuminating the house, as the light subsides the man has vanished.

THE BATCAVE, BRUCE AND DICK ARE IN FRONT OF THE COMPUTER

Dick is puzzeled at the events that had just happened. "Okay, Bruce. Why did that guy leave?" Dick asks. Bruce looks at Dick and says, "When I looked into his eyes I saw the faces of my parents. Then I realized that the name he had written was Death. Dick, do you believe in the Grim Reaper?" Dick Grayson's face turned to an expression of shock. "Wait a second, are you trying to tell me that guy out there was the Grim Reaper? Cause I don't believe that." He says doubting what Bruce had just said. Bruce Wayne shakes his head, and says, "I wouldn't have believed it either, but when I looked in his eyes I knew it was the truth. That's why he excepted my challenge. According to the 'Rules of the Dead' any challenge made to the Grim Reaper for a contest cannot be refused." Dick shook his head in disbelief. "Okay, lets say for a second, that this guy is Death, okay? How exactly do you plan on stopping him?" Dick said to the still weakened Batman. "I don't know." was his only response.

THE NEXT MORNING, BRUCE WAYNE WAKES UP IN HIS BEDROOM

Looking over to his nightstand he sees a map of Gotham City laying there, the same map that had been taken from the convirnance store two days before. Bruce picks it up, In dark black ink Wayne Manor has been circled, a line draws a path to a constuction site in town. On the top of the page in perfectly written letters is the word ALONE. Bruce clenches the paper in his fist.

EVENING, BATMAN IS PREPARING TO LEAVE

A voice from behind him stops his trip, "Where do you think you're going, by yourself?" Batman turns to see Dick Grayson standing in full Robin costume. "I have to do this alone." Batman says in response. "Oh, no you don't. If your going out there to get yourself killed so am I!" Dick shoots back. Batman shakes his head, "The directions say 'alone' you go and he might break the agreement, which means he'll have free use of his powers. Its more dangerous for me if you go than if you don't." Robin didn't like it, but still he had to agree. Batman got into the Batmobile and prepared to leave. "Be careful out there Bruce." Robin said as the Batmobile sped away.

AN EMPTY CONSTRUCTION SITE

Batman walks into the open site and looks around, it is dark now and the site is not very well lit. he screams into the night, "I'm here! Will you face me or not?" A figure emerges from the shadows and glares at Batman. Batman's eyes fill with hate, "I remember you. you were there in the shadows when my parents died, you are the reason they are dead! And now you wish to take me too, well I won't let you!" He screams lunging at the form, as he does the clothing falls to the ground and batman goes straight through them. As Batman hits the ground the clothes rise up and take the form of Death once again. "Do you really call that not using your powers?" Batman yells to Death. Death spreads his arms as if apologizing. Batman stands up and runs toward the darkened figure. As he does Death raises his hand knocking Batman to the ground. Batman realizes that when the two of them hit, he lost some of his life force. "Your cheating." He says to Death, who again seems to laugh without a sound. Death plunges down onto Batman anchoring him to the ground. He lifts his hand and places it over the face of Batman, Batman screams as the energy is drained from his body. Managing to get his legs up, he kicks the form off of him. Death stands to his feet and charges Batman, as he approaches Batman musters what little remaining strength he has to jjump the approaching form. As Death turns to grab hold of Batman he finds him no where to be seen. He turns several times trying to locate him, but cannot. Suddenly he hears a sound behind him, turning swiftly he looks right into a forklift plowing straight for him, connecting with Death Batman continues to drive, Death trying to reach the masked man, and plows the forklift into a wall. Death now stuck between the two blades of the machine and the wall behind him struggles to break free, but is unable to. Batman gets out of the forklift, barely able to stand up at all he yells to the Death, "I've beaten you! I am free, now leave!" Death struggles for a few seconds longer before looking up at Batman, his eyes growing dark. And then he nods and vanishes. Batman had won, he had beaten Death. Stumbling out of the construction site he headed toward the Batmobile, in doing so he accidently ended up in the Highway. Turning he looks, and stares right into the headlights of a semi. You see, win or lose, right or wrong, Death always gets his man. THE END (and I do mean the end!)