Batman: Chase - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Graduating was only the beginning… 

The ink on my diploma didn't have the time to dry before the Gotham City Police Department rang me up. Important work, they said—they needed my help to understand one of the city's most complicated criminals. During that time, I achieved my dream of working in Arkham Asylum through this connection with the GCPD. 

When that work was done, I considered leaving Gotham, but something held me back…

That something was a purpose. It was a calling.

The cave was dark, as it always was. Speaking of dreams, standing here in the cave was one just as big as working in Arkham, except it was a purple dream—an entirely different kind of dream. Here, the cave was rocky. The surrounding walls were rocky and there were bats everywhere. The different installations throughout the cave made of iron were more impressive than the last. Several computers were installed all over the place with high-tech radars and scanners keeping an eye on the crime level in the city.       

I pushed my arm through the sleeve of my black jacket, beginning to dress up for going out that night. 

The back of my jacket came down and covered my rear end. It even came all the way down to my knees. 

Still, with my jacket, I adjusted my belt to have it as tight as possible on me.      

My outfit was still pretty open at the top where my cleavage was, and I showed a lot of it. It wasn’t on purpose that I did, however, several reasons went into this such as—first: I didn’t particularly enjoy feeling too hot—and second: More often than not, they were too large to be contained inside this jacket. 

I didn’t need to take anything else with me to go out.   

Well, after lifting my hair after it had been caught on the inside of my jacket, I looked over my shoulder and noticed that I was not the only one who was getting ready to go out tonight… 

The next one who followed me after me was Dick Grayson…

However, Dick wasn’t the same as he was before. 

He was no longer known as Robin…

Instead, he was now…

Nightwing. 

Gone was his cape. 

From the corner of my eye, I observed him suiting up… 

First, I saw him put on his dark gloves.

Then, he adjusted the chest piece of his new outfit and I saw the new bird-shaped cobalt blue emblem that splashed all across his suit. Quite a departure from the red and green Robin suit he wrote for several years before. 

Click! 

His belt came on and he buckled it. He adjusted one of his boots and then the other, as well.  Finally, his mask was placed over his face, covering his identity. Now, the last thing that was needed was for him to grab his tools… Batarangs… Grappling hooks… However, most important of all, for him, his electric escrima sticks. He had two of those.  

He was all done. 

Nightwing stepped closer to me on the platform in the cave, and he gave him a confident look. I gazed back at him, and we didn’t say a single word. 

Soon, we heard loud and echoing footsteps in the distance behind us… It was him… We both knew that it was no other than The Dark Knight coming this way… He still had to suit up just like Dick and I just did… 

His dark gloves with the bat fins came on. 

The protective bat armor he wore was perfectly adjusted onto his chest, and his bat circular emblem shield with the dark yellow-orange background was the first thing I noticed from a distance as I caught glimpses of him suiting up in the armory.      

Click! 

He buckled his bat utility belt.                                                

Thump! Thump!

He strapped his black leather boots to his legs. Finally, the bat cowl came on. That was the part that truly differentiated the man from the bat. Next up, The Dark Knight finished everything up by picking his arsenal to go to work. Batarangs. Bat-grappling hooks. Bat grenades, and more… 

Step…

Step…

Step… 

The detective came our way at a slow and steady pace. Batman was ready to delve into the night. 

I gazed at him with a guilty smile. I tried to keep it cool and under control as much as possible, it was too hard for me to resist. Seeing him all suited up like this in his empowering and dominating Batman suit. Speaking of which, this particular black suit he wore at that moment was known internally as the “panther suit”. This was something that Alfred, the sophisticated British butler, told me at one point. It was called that because of the animalistic aspect of the suit with all those exposed and leathery muscles, designed in the armor itself. This included the nipples on this bat suit, which I secretly found both intriguing and beautiful, personally.            

“About time,” Nightwing wryly declared as Batman joined us on the entrance platform where the Batmobile raised from the ground. 

I lifted an eyebrow and frowned as I heard what Dick had to say.    

“...” Batman didn’t say a word, but he peered upon his acolyte, who stood on the other side of the platform with me.

“Hot entrance,” I commented, dismissing what Nightwing had just said. 

Batman turned to me. He still didn’t say a word. How typical of him?

…

I cleared my throat as I finally began to understand that he wasn’t feeling like opening up too much tonight… 

It was… Understandable…    

“Time to go to work.”

However, he then finally spoke—as shocking as that was. 

I gave him another look, a different one and once again, I couldn’t help, but smile again. 

Thud! 

There was a loud noise behind both Nightwing and I. We turned and saw the Batmobile slowly rising from the black void. 

The Batmobile had been rebuilt since it had been destroyed by Edward Nygma during the invasion of Wayne Manor and of the Bat cave four years ago. 

It was reborn the same way as it was before, with a few minor tweaks and changes to it to make it more modern and technically advanced. 

I couldn't remember all the details of the changes Alfred said he made, but there was a much more powerful motor to go much faster, fire- and blast-resistant shielding on the outer material of the vehicle to make it tougher, as well as improved wall-driving technologies for the wheels and much more… 

Now, when the Batmobile activated its blinding light (which wasn’t the case right now), it wasn’t blue anymore, it was a bright red light instead.

Appearance-wise, it was the same overall model as before with the black circular front window, the one giant bat wing on the back, two additional smaller bat wings on the sides, and the “rib-cage” pattern all over the body of the vehicle.          

“It’s finished,” I commented, realizing. 

After using a specific version for several years, Batman had decided to bring an older design back, upgrading it and breathing new vitality into its form. 

The other incarnation of the Batmobile he used during those last few years was the original model—one that had different bat wings on the side and a more curvy and rounded look to it. That original version also possessed an oval black nose at the front and two burnt orange lights. 

Without saying a word, Nightwing circled the reforged Batmobile and hopped onto his black and blue motorcycle. 

He ignited his vehicle and revved it before leaving us behind. 

Still, with a slow, steady, and controlled step, the prince of darkness walked toward his Batmobile as the top of it opened up. 

He elegantly jumped inside the vehicle and waited for me to come inside, as well.