An Injust Sentence

Chapter 4

Hi! It's my birthday today and I will be posting the next chapter today! Let me know what you all think of it, this is a stock chapter from the original story with minor alterations.

The Present

Bruce walked into Belle Reve Penitentiary quietly, grouchier than usual. The Court of Owls had once again reared their ugly heads to cause trouble in Gotham, and it had proven quite a challenge to take on the organization  that had been around almost since Gotham's inception. He had refused help from anyone, stating that they were needed to help maintain security since they were so understaffed. Then, once he had captured the leadership of the Court, the Dark Knight learned another group of villains was rumored to be forming. They called themselves the Society, so the World's Greatest Detective had begun trying to discern who they were. Everything kept leading to a dead end, so finally after a two month span Batman tasked Selina with the task of going undercover to see if she could yield better results.

Moving silently through the prison's hallways, Batman passed the staff and guards withiut uttering a word to them, and they could just feel the tense air about him and avoided him as best as they could. He stalked to the door of Belle Reve's warden. Cash knew right away as he exited his office just by looking at Batman, he was in no mood for jokes today. Wordlessly they made their way to the command center, but the kind hearted warden couldn't take seeing his friend like this and asked, "Everything OK? You're quieter than usual" The Caped Crusader made a move to go past him and activate the security clearance but Cash wouldn't budge. "I'm serious man. You know you can tell me what's on your mind." Batman decided that the quickest way through this little hold up would be to reply with a modicum of honesty. "I've had a large caseload the last couple months, on top of the fact I'm trying to get back into the swing of being a billionaire entrepreneur and feared vigilante while those who are supposed to fear me know my aforementioned background. Sorry if I seem… testy."

Cash said then with a sympathetic tone, "Hey, we all have those days. Even the very best of us. Just know you got basically the whole world round you boss. I'm here for ya whenever you need." Satisfied, the warden accessed the security controls and they entered the room to sit at their usual station.

"Anything new happened since I've been gone?" inquired Batman.

"Not really, although Bane has begun to show severe withdrawal symptoms from his time away from Venom," answered Cash. "Despite what he did though, I gotta feel sorry for the bloke. He's been sitting" Cash points to the monitor which shows Bane's cell, "in that corner for the past week. He refuses to eat despite our efforts to help the poor bastard."

"He'll be fine in another two weeks. Until then, try to force his food down his throat if you have to. I'm not in the mood to tell the new President that one of our inmates has died of neglect," said Batman.

"Right you are Bats," muttered Cash.

"What else have you got for me?"

"Hold on let me check." Cash started to comb through some files of the past month's inmate activity. Finally he stopped at one file. "Here we are. The Flash has decided that he's ready to return to the real world, help rebuild," he said.

Not looking away from the screens in front of him, Batman said, "Good. Have your guards on standby, I'll go talk to him soon to explain the conditions of his release."

"Ok then," replied Cash. "Oh, and another thing, Wonder Woman's been asking for you." At this, Batman's eyes quickly darted to where Cash was standing, then he turned and asked, "What did she want with me?"

"No idea, all she said is that she wants to talk to you about some stuff," answered Cash.

Batman thought for a moment. What would she want with me now? Making his way to the room's exit, Batman opened the door but not before thanking Cash for his time.