Batman

Gotham city had been quiet since the breakout at Arkham, the villains that had managed to escape had been laying low. The want to avoid the Bat was high.

But not tonight. Tonight, was loud and sent a message to many of the gangs of Gotham.

The Gotham City docks were lit up with police lights and sirens. The smoke clouds coming from the docks had drawn the attention of many of Gotham's citizens.

Just as he was getting ready to head home from a long night at work, Jim Gordon received a call from a massive fire at the Gotham Docks.

" Get that damn fire out! And get these people back!" Gordon yelled.

* Boom

" Fucking hell!" Gordon yelled.

One of the vehicles that was covered in fire exploded once again.

Firefighters began trying to put out the fire, but the blaze was so huge that it was beginning to seem like no easy task.

" Jesus Christ." Jim muttered. Jim was getting more and more used to the ridiculous shit that happened on this job every day. But sometimes it's hard to forget how difficult something simple as a dock fire could be.

" Long night gym?" Batman asked the man.

Jim felt his heart nearly jump out of his chest, when Batman grabbed his shoulder. His sudden appearances were definitely taking years off of Gordon's life span. " Batman, you have to stop scaring me like that. You're gonna put me in the grave early."

" Hm. What happened?" Batman asked.

" We got a call around one, about a large fire in the Gotham Docks, when we got here, we found the place on fire. We also found about ten bodies; or so we believe. Not gonna lie Batman, besides three of them, the rest have all been chewed up and burnt to a crisp. We're still trying to get the rest of the fires out."

" I see." Batman narrowed his eyes as he stared at the three vans still smoldering with flames. " Were you able to identify the bodies that hadn't been damaged?"

" Yeah. Alonzo Smith, Albert Hall, and Julius Walker. All three of them are Penguin's men."

" How did they die?"

" Each of them suffered one Gun shot wound to the head. Lucky for them, they weren't close to the fire, but it looks like their bodies might have been dragged away. We're still questioning the witness that called in the fire in the first place, but from what he's told us, he just saw the smoke from down the road. All in all, it's not much to go on."

" Nonsense, Penguin obviously had a reason to send armed men to the Docks. If anyone knows what went on here, it'll be him." Batman told Gordon. " I'll take a look around the docks to see what I can find."

" Right."

Batman walked past Gordon, towards one of the three desecrated vans. The smoke that exhaled from the carcasses burned Batman's eyes. " Hm, too much damage in this one. But the blast definitely started here. The way the floor is blown open suggest that it was an explosion from under the van. Likely a small sized C-4 plastic explosive. Whoever did this is used to handling explosives. Gordon was right. There's not much to go off here." Batman muttered to himself. Then he turned his attention to the men who had been shot. Hopefully whoever shot these men, left their shell casings nearby.

But the only problem Batman could think of with that, is that the bodies were dragged, and judging from the trail of burned blood leading further away from the Van, they had been drug quite a distance. But the question is, by who? Was it a passerby trying to save their lives? " Hm, not likely. More likely there was another person here. Probably another one of Penguin's men. If that was the case, why spare him?" These were the questions Batman asked himself as he studied the scene.

Maybe examining the bodies directly will give some kind of clue.

Batman walked over to the three bodies, belonging to Penguin's men, and pulled back the bloody sheets covering their bodies. Batman narrowed his eyes.

" Their heads are missing a giant chunk from them. The gun that did this was powerful." One of the older officers that was on scene said to Batman.

" Did you find any of the bullets?" Batman asked the man.

" Uh, no sir. Picked clean. Looks like whoever did this knew exactly what to do and how to remove the bullets. I've been on this job for some time, and I gotta say Batman, this ain't no street punk job. No, this is someone who knows how to kill and get away with it. I mean we have scoured this entire area of the Docks, and nothing. No gun powder residue, no Shell casings, nothing." The cop told the man.

" What about shoe prints?"

" Couldn't say. They're not that obvious to find. For one the smoke makes it hard to see anything on the ground at all. Maybe when it's finally cleared, we'll be able to get something but then ya gotta think about all the people that walk these docks every day. To go through them all, it would take maybe months, or even a year to track down each and every single print left behind on this dock."

" Not necessarily. But it does seem, I have only one clue." Batman muttered.

" Oh yeah what's that?"

" Officer Munch, tell Gordon to notify me when the fire is out. I'll take another look at the crime scene." Batman pulled out his grapple gun and fired it at the nearest rooftop. It was time to pay the Penguin a visit.

" Alfred."

" Yes, Master Bruce?"

" Alfred, pull up the cameras from the Gotham Docks. I want to know how many people were here from the time the sun went down until about thirty minutes ago."

" Right away, sir. I'll upload the footage directly to your systems sir."

" Thanks Alfred. And while you're at it tell Cassandra I want her to look in David North. Make sure he's in his home. Something tells me our military friend has a hand in this."

........