Batman: Genesis

Chapter Twelve - Hand to Handgun

[Bruce]

Bruce had woken up confined in a dark room. Thankfully, he was accustomed to the dark. He'd managed to untie himself and explore the place a little before hearing voices coming from a nearby room. He had quietly ventured into the room without being seen and stood behind the man who was talking. The first thing he was able to hear was someone saying, "Call me Black Mask." Then the lights had turned on, revealing the detectives, Harvey Bullock and the newbie as the captives.

The newbie, Gordon, had outed Bruce, thinking that he was Black Mask's bodyguard. That's when Bruce punched Black Mask, untied the bonds holding the detectives and advised them to leave. They did so, which left Bruce facing off with Black Mask, who had recovered from the punch.

"I didn't get much of a chance to talk to you," said Black Mask. "Once I tied you up, I left to speak with the detectives. I suppose I should have given my priorities some more thought."

"You're not going to kidnap anyone else," said Bruce, through his deep voice changer.

Bruce grabbed a batarang from his belt and hurled it toward Black Mask, who simply pulled out a handgun and shot it away from himself. It was a hard target for him to hit, but he had nailed it with ease. Bruce got the feeling he was dealing with a professional here.

"What's the matter?" asked Black Mask. "You don't want to talk? No matter, we can do it your way then, if that's what you want."

Black Mask shot the handgun—which turned out to be semi-automatic—at Bruce. Bruce rolled under the line of fire and came up in front of Black Mask, grabbing his wrist and twisting it. Black Mask dropped the handgun and Bruce kicked it out of the way. He then swung at Black Mask, who ducked under it and shoved Bruce away. Bruce tried another swing, but Black Mask grabbed his arm with one hand and punched him across the face with his other. Bruce stumbled back a litter. Okay, he thought. I am definitely dealing with a professional.

Alfred had taught Bruce hand-to-hand combat several years ago, when he was younger. He'd taught him how to defend himself, how to attack, and how to learn the opponents moves. Alfred had even taught him a few tricks that he had learned during his time in the military. Bruce knew how to fight, but he was a little rusty. His opponent, however, was definitely not.

Bruce touched his face in surprise where the man in the white suit had hit him. The white suit man took advantage of this moment of weakness, and kicked Bruce's legs out from under him. Bruce's new suit armor was heavy, and so he landing hard on the floor. Black Mask drew out another handgun from his suit and pulled the trigger. The bullets hit Bruce's armor, though, and did no damage.

"Nice try," said Bruce. "But you can't penetrate my suit with a gun."

"Not your suit perhaps," Black Mask replied, "but your suit doesn't cover your whole body."

Black Mask aimed the handgun at Bruce's mouth and cheek area, where his helmet didn't cover. Before he could pull the trigger,  Bruce rolled away and kicked up at Black Mask, who stumbled over. Bruce stood up quickly and grabbed a batarang from his belt. He was about to throw it when Black Mask spoke.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Black Mask.

"Oh?" said Bruce. "And why not?"

Suddenly over a dozen men came marching through the door, all with masks on. But the masks were different. While Black Mask had on a, well, black mask with holes for eyes and mouth, the other men had on different masks. No two of the new men's masks were alike. Some were big, others small. Some had hair, others bald. They all wore similar black suits, though, in contrast to Black Mask's white one.

Black Mask jumped to his feet. "Leave now... ah..."

"Batman," Bruce introduced.

"Ah, clever," Black Mask nodded at the bat on Bruce's chest. "Leave now, Batman, and do not get in my way again. Think of this meeting as a test. A test of what is to come."

The other men with masks moved and formed an opened toward the door. Bruce walked past them and out of it. He took the stairs up to the main level and found the exit. He would find out who Black Mask was, and he would stop him. But he had to get back to Alfred, and explain what had happened. He'd regroup, and then he'd take Black Mask down.