Bruce Wayne, dark knight of Ponyville

by ultronquake

An ending to madness

"Sir are you absolutely certain of this?" Randolph's words of concern echoed through Bruce's mind. Of course he'd said he was but that was a lie. A lie to the pony who'd raised him and a lie to himself, this was untested technology he was sitting in, never even test flown. But ready or not, regardless of certainty Bruce was now two thousand feet in the air and climbing on his way to the Cloudsdale weather factory.

Assuming the bat shaped jet didn't disintegrate mid flight and assuming that was the location Screwball was in, he'd have his work cut out for him. The plan was simple. Step one, locate Screwball and access the situation. Step two, subdue her. Step three, place the magic null on her, that pretty little piece of bronze rested nicely inside one of the pouches on his utility belt. Step four ... That was the tricky part for Bruce, what to do afterward.

He couldn't very well say, 'Hello Ms. Rich, you don't know me but I'm actually you're adoptive son and you've been in a state of mental unrest for nearly three decades.' That's the kind of speech that's liable to get you slapped, or worse. As the Bat jet continued it's climb through the troposphere he couldn't help but be distracted by the pink clouds on is left. From a certain angle they were quite beautiful, unnatural yet beautiful.

If the plane did survive the flight one of the top priorities was heaters, he hadn't quite realized how cold it got up in the sky and pony fur can only offset minus zero temperatures so much. After a few minutes of ascent with only the sound of jet engines a proximity alarm began blaring. A peek through the view finder revealed he'd arrived, it also betrayed the fact that the factory was surrounded by dozens of uniformed pegasi.

With visuals he counted twenty on the north wall, radar showed many more. Before anypony could spot him Bruce reeled back the turbines and flew in directly underneath the factory. "Damn, no proper place to land this thing." Even if he were to explain his permission from the commissioner to investigate this case he doubted he'd ever gain admission to a building under siege. That left only the option of testing out the jet's most interesting add-on.

"Reverse thrusters engaged, docking clamps deployed and ... Gotcha!" A bright yellow glow began emanating from the metal claws, they were now charged with the same magic found in every Pegasus, the power that makes something as wispy as a cloud like solid mater. The miracles of modern engineering were allowing a one ton personal jet to grasp onto the bottom of a building, hanging upside down just as a bat.

Nimbly he ejected from the cockpit and made his way to what was the floor of the building. "I should have just enough inside my pouch. I just hope I don't hit anything important with this stuff." Silently the Batman did his work, unaware of what was going on inside the room directly above him.

*****

Screwball was getting anxious, she wasn't used to anxiety. Even though the asylum was a dull place it was calm. Her room was nice and soft, just like a pillow, the nurses made good targets for punting around and the nice mare who ran the place even knew daddy. This factory was nothing like the dull room. Nothing but cold steel, sterile machines and screaming hostages, although admittedly those were her addition.

She was growing tired, the waiting was taking a toll on her fragile psyche, it was getting so bad that she was hallucinating little red dots chasing her every time she neared a window, now she completely avoided them out of fear. The fear was dredging up the doubt from the depths of her mind once more. 'What if he's not coming?' 'What will happen if those angry red dots catch me?' 'What if, what if?' Straining her mind always gave her headaches, although she had the vaguest of an inkling that she used to be quite good at it.

"Please miss, I'm sure if you co-operate with the police then nopony will get harmed." Said the brave soul Screwball was currently sitting on. "We're all just engineers, trying to provide for our families. Please, if you must have a hostage then I'll stay, but please let the others go." The stallion's voice was firm but betrayed a hint of terror, he was well past his prime, probably in his fifties or sixties. Despite his age he still had a strong enough back to haul Screwball to and fro.

'Families. Family. Daughter. Husband.' Little flashes came across her mind, not so much pictures or words, but ideas. Mr. Suit and Die Tie, why were they in her thoughts? "S-Shut Up!" Like an unruly child Screwball struck at the stallion, pistol whipping him with the but of the revolver. As he fell unconscious and collapsed onto the floor, bright blood began to stain his rainbow mane. Screwball was stranded, left stationary on an island of flesh in a sea of cloud.

"Well mother b*#@er." Now she'd gone and done it, shot herself in the proverbial hoof. No way to move about the room, no way to fight the big bat, assuming he even was coming. "What's the point anyway?! I did what you wanted daddy, why didn't you take me home?" In frustration she threw the revolver Discord had given her away. She fully expected it to fly through the floor and down to the Sodom bellow, instead something interesting happened.

The gun skittered about like a puck on ice until it stopped near the cloud making machine. Tentatively Screwball prodded at the floor with a hoof, it was solid, it was metal. "What the? You there! This is the sky how is there a floor?"

One of the bound up hostages replied, "Well how else could we keep all this vital equipment up here?"

"B-but, how is there a solid floor in the clouds?"

"Oh it's really simple. First the cloud surface is electrically charged and treated with a hardening agent, then-"

"What are you doing? Don't talk to the terrorist! Look where it got Rainbow Blaze!"

"Sorry, I thought I should explain. She was riding around on Rainbow Blaze's back, I thought maybe she was disabled or something."

"Speaking of Rainbow Blaze, you'd better pray he's alright. His daughter is in the Wonderbolts, you'd better believe she's gonna kick your flank four ways from Sunday once she gets gets here."

"Um Clear Skies, don't talk to the terrorist."

"Oh right."

Screwball didn't care about any Wonderbolts or Wondercolts, despite her reservations her only concern was to face the big hairy bat, just like daddy had asked her to. And now she had solid footing to stand on, things were finally turning up Screwball-

*KABOOOM!*

A massive explosion rocked the building, the room filled with dust and airborne debris. Over the terrified screams of the hostages the sound of metal rending filled the air. When the dust settled the massive machine that promised the demise of the engineers was no more, the cloud maker had fallen through the gaping new hole.

"Oh for the love of- Sorry everypony!" With great dexterity the Batman swung himself through the hole and into the room. "I promise I'll pay for any damages I've caused."

"Who gives a crap about damages?! Get us down from here!" Demanded the most temperamental of the hostages.

"Not so fast Bat, I've been waiting for you." To the horror of the hostages and Batman alike, Screwball had her hoof resting on one of the trip wires holding them aloft. Even though the death trap was no longer there, each and every pegasi was still tied up without ability to fly away. "Nopony is going home until we've had our fight."

Bruce didn't have to think twice, he'd made it to his goal and found Screwball. Now his first duty was to the safety of the civilians. "Alright, you'll get you're fight, but first there's something I'll need you to do."

"And that would be?"

"Stay right there." In a blink of an eye Bruce unleashed a batarang from his belt, striking at his adoptive mother's hoof. It didn't draw blood but it stung worse than a bee, in shock she reeled back. Quickly he turned to the hostages with a knife in hoof, "Hold on for just a moment, I'll get you loose." While Bruce worked on the ropes he completely missed her crawling across the floor like a worm, stealthily sneaking towards the fallen gun on the floor.

With a satisfying snap the ropes tore and the wings of all unfurled, "Thank Celestia! You don't know how awful this has been. Oh, you may want to turn around now."

Standing behind him was Screwball, gun raised and ready to fire. "Tell me Batsy, have you ever danced with the-" Bruce didn't even let her finish, in a feat that tested the flexibility of his armor he pulled a backflip closing the distance between them. His rear hooves slammed onto Screwball's shoulders, slamming her to the ground.

"You folks better get out of here and to the police. Take that injured stallion with you as well. I'll hold her down till you're all safe." Bruce shifted his position to a point where he could force her front legs out, keeping her pinned to the floor.

"Thank you sir! But who are you? How did you know to come save us? Are you an actual Bat Pony?" Asked the one of the freed pegasi as he picked up his injured comrade.

"None of that is important right now, but if you must know my name is, Batman."

"Huh."

"What?"

"Oh nothing," The pegasi said as he exited the hole. "You just look like more of a Batmane instead."

Was it the universe playing a cruel joke on Bruce? Or was it gentle prodding to re-brand his moniker? Whatever the case, it served as enough distraction to allow Screwball to throw Batman off her back.

"You filthy flying rodent! I was about to have a catchy catchphrase and you interrupted me!"

"Screwball ... You're coming with me. I'm going to take you to you're family and you're going to get better. But first it's going to hurt." Bruce assumed a griffon fighting stance, preparing for a quick takedown. Unfortunately the fight would be anything but.

"Tell me Batsy, what's this little do-dad do?" In her left hoof she held a small rectangular object with a silver spike on the end.

"Wha- How did you get that?"

Screwball's face curled into a smile, "So it's important then? I got it when you were crushing my face with your thighs, gotta say Batsy, not a great view." She turned it over and found the little red button and pressed it. With great speed the tip shot out, carrying with it a high tension cable. The grapple wasn't aimed at a wall or structure as it was designed to do, rather she had it aimed directly at Bruce himself.

"*GWAR*" The bat suited pony howled in pain, that hook was designed to embed itself in the toughest of materials, it had no trouble making it through the half inch of Kevlar. True the grapple was never meant to be a weapon but it made for one helluva improvised one. Bruce was stunned, he would recover but for the moment he was open to attack. But Screwball didn't attack, she didn't follow up or go in for a killing blow. She just slowly meandered across the room with the other end of the grapple in hoof.

"What are you doing?" Bruce asked through pained gasps.

Screwball remained oddly silent, her eyes transfixed on the gaping hole and the blue abyss outside. "I have an idea Batsy. Something that'll make daddy happy. But there's something you're going to have to do first."

With great trepidation Bruce asked, "And that is?"

"Take a dive." Without warning the pink mare walked out the hole while still holding tight to the grapple. Despite being roughly a hundred pounds heavier than Screwball Bruce was still being dragged to maw. In a last ditch effort mere inches from free fall he scraped one of his batarangs across the floor hoping to catch some groove, unfortunately in the end it only delayed the inevitable.

At well over a hundred miles an hour they fell, Bruce was frantically trying to deploy the glider function of his cape, meanwhile Screwball was laying back as if she were on some invisible recliner. "What took you so long? I was getting bored just hanging by a thread for so long."

"Are you out of your mind?! Wait let me rephrase that, you're out of your mind!"

"True, true."

"Why would you do that?!"

"It's the big finish to this lackluster rivalry."

"Wha?"

"It's really simple, as long as you don't think about it at all." There was no mania in her voice, only the dulcet tone of somepony who's at wits end. "When daddy and your fanatic let me go from the dull room they asked me to be a rival to you, I was supposed to fight you even beat you to a pulp but let you win in the end. Problem is, I'm kind of bad at following directions. I think instead it would be better if I just killed you now."

Bruce could feel his own blood seeping throughout the inside of his armor, the little voice inside his mind that told it as it is was screaming demise. "You always talk about your daddy and how you want to please him, wouldn't disobeying him make him angry with you?" He didn't really expect this line of reasoning to work, but he had to try.

"I know my daddy, I'm sure this is what he really wanted. It was you're fanatic who made him put up those silly restrictions."

Two thoughts occurred to Bruce, who was this fanatic? And more importantly, who was 'Daddy'? On the later point he had an inkling of an idea. "Tell me, your daddy, does he have two horns?"

"Oh yes, he has an antler like an elk's and a twisted horn like a goat's."

"I think I met you're daddy."

"Really?!"

"Oh yes, charming fellow. He even offered to take me straight to you so I could defeat you then and there."

*BANG*

"Liar! B*$#ing liar! Daddy would never do that!" With smoking gun in hoof Screwball panted heavily, her bullet had missed but just barely. "Hold still bat, let me take that lying head right off your body!"

*BANG*

Nimbly Bruce dodged the second round, he grabbed hold of the cable tethering them together and pulled. Against her will Screwball was dragged only a few feet away, a problem considering the length of her piece. "It's true you know, he also showed me where to find this."

*BANG*

Bruce opened up his pouch and retrieved the bronze amulet and held it out for her to see. "He said this will cure you, make you just the way you were before he changed you."

*BANG*

"No your lying! Daddy made me perfect just the way I am, he'd never do anything like that!" That last shot ended up sailing safely between Bruce's legs off to land somewhere in the oceans bellow.

*BANG*

"Believe or not Screwball, it doesn't matter to me. I made a promise, a promise to your daughter, I'm going to save you whether you want it or not." As Bruce moved in to place the necklace around her neck Screwball planted her hooves against his chest and pushed with all her might. The force sent her flying in the opposite direction and when she hit the end of the length it tugged on the steel spike embedded in Bruce's chest, the pain caused was so great he fainted.

In this stunned state he was completely open and defenseless, she didn't hesitate to take aim for her final shot. "Goodbye bat. While it was brief, I can't say I didn't enjoy playing with you."

*BANG*

Bruce wasn't sure how long he'd been out for, maybe half a minute given that the ground was now coming into clearer view. He also wasn't sure why he was still alive. He had no wounds other than that caused by the grapple hook, by all rights he was a sitting duck and he knew Screwball had one shot left. Nervously he looked around, to start out with she was nowhere in sight. A terrifying thought, she hadn't killed herself had she?

But no, after finding the grapple cable was leading above himself Bruce looked heavenward to find Screwball curled into a ball, weeping profusely. Being a kind pony at heart Bruce dared to ask what was the matter. "*Sniff* You win alright. You were telling the truth."

"What's with the sudden change?"

"You said my daddy wanted me to fail. That he wanted you to win. Well, this is the proof." In her hooves she held the gun, the gift from daddy Discord, meant to end the Batman. Except instead of a smoking barrel a little red flag with the word BANG written in comic sans was sticking out the end. "I was never meant to win, never even given a chance. Daddy was going to throw me out from the start, like a bag of moldy tangerines."

While she mourned and the two neared the rapidly approaching ground he once again searched for the amulet. It was safe, stuck on one of the spikes of his costume. "Screwball ... I can help you, if you'll just let me."

She tried to speak but her throat was choked up, instead she just motioned to him to give over the amulet. With great pain Bruce pulled on the cable once more removing any distance between them. The clasp came undone and the ornate chain wrapped her neck, the null itself shone like it never had before or since and for the briefest of moments the creature that was the daughter of Discord shrieked in pain before leaving the mind of Screwball.

It was done, it had been accomplished, Bruce had finished what he'd set out to do.

It was an odd sensation, holding this unconscious mare in his hooves. Much like how Filthy Rich was his father, she was his mother, though not by choice. Would she like him? Would she accept him as family? They were all questions for a later time, such as when they were safe at home and not falling at terminal velocity.

Carefully Bruce opened the pouch holding his spare parachute and strapped it onto her, pulled the strings and watched her fly right past him. Bruce to deployed his own bat parachute, which was just a normal parachute with his logo printed on the fabric. With only a few hundred feet to go a creeping feeling of paranoia began pressing upon him, he was forgetting something very important.

"Let's see, I saved the hostages, stopped Screwball, saved Screwball... All that's left is.. Oh s*#@ the jet!"

*****

Commissioner Oats was suffering from his third migraine headache this day. He'd already downed more aspirin than his doctor's said he should take in a week in the course of five hours, but it wasn't helping. Neither was the ringing telephone that nopony was bothering to pick up, just letting it ring on endlessly. He was about to tell off every desk jockey for it when he realized it was his own phone that was ringing.

"Oats here, what'ya want?"

"Commissioner sir, this is the chief of Cloudsdale security detail. You asked to be informed how the situation was progressing."

This perked Oats right up, "Has something happened?"

"I'm happy to report sir, that the situation here is now resolved and every hostage has been rescued with only one injury sustained, zero casualties."

"Really now! That's pretty impressive captain. Does that mean you had to take the shot then?"

"Negative sir, an unidentified fourth party intervened allowing the hostages to escape. We're still trying to track him down and the witness testimony from the hostages is sketchy at best."

"Let me guess, they aren't describing a pony dressed up as a bat are they?"

"W-why yes, but how did you know that sir? We've kept a tight lid on all information regarding the kidnapper and the case as per your instructions."

"Never you mind, let's just say Batman is an ally and leave it at that."

"Sir. Did you authorize this 'ally' to use explosives or destroy Cloudsdale public property?"

"He did what now?"

"Don't get me wrong commissioner, I trust your judgement. But I'd get this Bat fellow in line. Two points left to discuss now, still no sign of Screwball. Odds are she either left with this other pony or jumped out the hole he created."

"And the last thing?"

"We've impounded a certain, 'vehicle.' You won't believe where we found it, hanging upside down on the floor of the factory."

Author's Note:

I know it might be kind of obvious but a super hero's job is to protect civilians first. It's a shame that a certain unnamed film about an uber man forgot that.

Sorry for the very long hiatus. It was never my intention to be away from writing this long. As some of you may know I took a vacation shortly after the last chapter was published. After that I ran into some trouble with my editor and we decided to part ways. Once that happened I found it hard to sit down and write, but I promise to try and keep a weekly or at the very least twice monthly update schedule.

Comments

[badninja]

Yea that uberman movie was a bit of a disappointment. Not looking forward to the team up movie because it has far to many heroes to develop to make the plot work. Just hope it does not delay the Big Red Cheese movie.

Good chapter now Bruce needs to learn to take better care of his toys!

[ultronquake]

6650979 I can imagine it now, Batman having to go to the impound lot to pay off parking tickets so he can get his jet back

[Chapelseed]

Bruce... Year one, boy. YEAR ONE.

that jet better have a remote recall feature

[Arhrark]

Awesome chapter ! Can't wait for the next one !!

[ultronquake]

6653185 Thanks! I'll try to have it out ASAP, it'll be more of a slice of life chapter which I have a much easier time writing than action.

[Arhrark]

6653516
A good way to build the univers around the character. Sound great.