Batmane Begins

by WakelessAltair

Lowest Point

Batmane Begins Chapter 3: Lowest Point

~6 months pass

It was a regular night in The Beakshine tavern. Located in the small village of Hawker on the griffon side of the border between Equestria and The Griffon Empire, The Beakshine saw many customers come and go. Most of them were griffons looking to escape over to the Equestrian side of the border. The few ponies that came through were either tourists or ponies of the unsavoury type. The former passed through quickly, usually not stopping to partake in services The Beakshine offered. The latter generally stayed, joining up with griffon bandits and going off to terrorize small villages out in the countryside.

It was a lawless place, being too close to the border for either side to keep an active presence, lest it be interpreted as an invasion force. As such honest establishments were hard to come by, which is what made The Beakshine so remarkable. Although while the tavern was an honest business, its customers were anything but, Beakshine, the owner of the tavern had made a deal with some of the big bandit bands in the area, they would leave his business and the village of Hawker alone, and in return he would provide them with all the cheap booze they wanted. It wasn’t much of a living, but he managed to get by, and because of the protection he gave them, he was well loved by most of Hawker.

A little known fact about The Beakshine was that it offered rooms for ponies and griffons alike to rent out, and stay for a while. Though because of the nature of Hawker and its heavy bandit presence, most opted to wait until they were further into griffon or pony territory to find shelter. The few that decided to stay for the night often found that they could not sleep, as bandits and all the untrustworthy sorts drank late into the night and into the small hours of the morning, laughing at stories of atrocities committed and singing songs that would make even the most well worn whore flush red with embarrassment.

It was on one of these nights that Beakshine couldn’t help but wonder about one of his patrons that had been staying for just over a month. As a bartender he learnt over the years not to pry in his customers business, though occasionally one so odd would show up, that it pushed his control to the limit.
The customer in question was a pony, that alone making him a rare sight in those parts. From what Beakshine could see under the dirty brown cloak that the stallion constantly wore, he had a white coat, almost stained beyond recognition, and a blue mane that had forgotten the feel of a comb long ago. The stallion also never showed his eyes, always keeping them hidden under that cloak of his, that coupled his large build, would have made him very intimidating, were it not for the fact that he was constantly drunk off his flank. Even stranger was that he fit neither the tourist nor runaway criminal profile as most ponies coming through would. He’d clearly shown no desire to progress further into the Empire. In fact the only desire he’d ever shown was for alcohol and sleep. And judging by what Beakshine could hear at night (Not that he was eavesdropping of course), the stallion had a strange longing for Fleur de Lis flowers, which hadn’t been seen in griffon lands for well over a century.

“Poor guy must be a nut” Thought Beakshine “Still he seems to have no shortage of bits. Don’t know many crazy people as loaded as him, not around here anyway”

While Beakshine was debating whether to strike up conversation with the mysterious stallion, a group of griffons entered the tavern, almost kicking the door down. Beakshot shot them a look and was on the verge of kicking them out of his bar, but then he saw their mark. Branded onto each griffons flank was a jagged circle, with three talons in the centre of it. This was the mark of the Shadowclaws, a new gang that had quickly gained a reputation around the border for their brutality, especially when dealing with ponies. It was rumored that to enter the Shadowclaws you had to prove yourself by torturing a pony til they begged for death. No doubt the majority of them were psychos. Even more worrying was the fact that the Shadowclaws were one of the few gangs that didn’t have an agreement with The Beakshine. Normally this wouldn’t be much of a problem, since threat of retaliation from other gangs would be all The Beakshine needed to stay safe, but the Shadowclaws were different, a new breed. They had other bandits scared, you could see it easily just by surveying the ones that were sitting in The Beakshine at that moment. The only one unfazed by the Shadowclaws arrival was the stallion, though he probably wasn’t conscious of anything happening around him.

The griffon at the head of the group of Shadowclaws sauntered up to the counter.

“Give us a barrel of your best ale, price isn’t an issue” He tossed a small bag of bits onto the counter. Beakshine couldn’t help but notice the bloodstains on the pouch.

Beakshine gulped “Right away good sir” And he set off into the cellar to retrieve the barrel.

An eerie silence fell over The Beakshine, a rare occurrence. No one wanted to say anything lest it set off the Shadowclaws.

Finally one of the Shadowclaws breaks the silence.

“So, this is The Beakshine? Bit of a shithole isn’t it?” The comment sets off a raucous laugh among his companions, and a wave of nervous laughter across the bar.

Scanning the bars occupants the Shadowclaw spotted a pair of ponies, a Unicorn mare, and a Pegasus stallion. He made his way over to the pair, before sitting down and putting his wing around the mare.

“You know, we don’t really appreciate ponies around these parts” A smile growing across his face. “Well actually we do. Your cries are the most fun to listen to”

The mare was visibly struggling, but she wasn’t strong enough to break free now that the griffon had an arm around her as well. The griffon traced down her chest with a dirty claw.

“You’re a pretty one aren’t you, what’re you doing with a loser like him?” He gestured towards the Pegasus who was clearly terrified out of his wits. “You know, I’ve had a long day, I think I want to wind down a little” He drew the mare closer towards him, who at this point was struggling to escape, looking towards the Pegasus stallion with pleading eyes. He sat motionless.

“He-help” She stammered quietly.

This earned her a punch from the griffon holding her. Leaning forward to taste the blood running from her lip, he whispered to her.

“He won’t help you, right now he just wants to save his own flank.” His eyes flashed as he yelled to the bar. “Ladies and gentlemen! I present to you tonight’s special entertainment, me and three of my buddies getting busy with this fine mare here. All while her coltfriend watches!”

“N-no p-p-please! Som-somebody help please!” The mare’s cries were getting more and more frantic as several griffons laid claws on her, most of them gripping tightly enough to draw blood. By this point Beakshine had already heard all the commotion, and decided to sit this one out in the cellar.

Beads of sweat rolled down the Pegasus’ face, he shut his eyes tightly, pretending to be in some far away place.
Tears were running down the mares face now, staining her pearly white coat, she’d stopped resisting and accepted that no one would help her.

“Don’t worry we’ll be gentle little mare” One of the griffons proclaimed, positioning himself behind her. “You know what, I think maybe lets not kill this one straight away, I want to take my time”

The mare sobbed, any second now she would be robbed of her innocence forever. The griffon behind her let out a laugh. Then his face exploded with glass and blood and beer. Everyone in the room turned to face the thrower, a stallion in a brown cloak was staggering to his hooves.

He opened his mouth to speak, but it all came out in a slur. “Leaave hhwer alloonne!” He bellowed. “Fleeeeeuurr!” he screamed as he charged the three griffons. He smashed into one of them with his forhead, the bone snapping with an audible crack.

The griffons let go of the mare, who quickly ran out of the bar screaming. “Get him!!”

The remaining two griffons pounced on the stallion. He had tenacity, and alcohol fueled rage, but he was no fighter, within seconds the griffons were knocking him around with ease. He felt several pairs of talons grip him and throw him outside into the mud. The griffon with the broken leg hovered using his wings, and the one he had glassed was back on his feet. His face was a mess, and it looked like one of his eyes was damaged severely.

“I’m going to kill you slowly little pony” He said as he spat blood onto the ground.

Blows rained down onto the stallion, he drifted in and out of consciousness, his eyes swelling and making it difficult to see, cuts opening on his face, allowing blood to flow freely. His body went slack as though he had accepted death long ago.

Then, as if by some divine intervention the blows stopped. The griffon had been kicked away. Through his limited vision the stallion could see an ancient looking griffon standing over him.

The scarred and bleeding griffon got up once more. In a rage now, he growled. “Another one?! Why are there so many idiots in this shithole looking to die?!”

He ran at the old griffon, screaming threats of death. Then without any warning he slumped to the ground. The three remaining Shadowclaws shared a confused look, then quickly rushed the old griffon.

It was all over in a flash, one moment; three maniac thugs rushed an ancient looking griffon. The next, three griffons joined their leader groaning on the ground.

Silently the griffon extended a talon towards the stallion. As the stallion reached out to grab on, there was only one thing he could think to ask.

“Who are you?” The question came out sounding surprisingly meek and pained.

The old griffon locked eyes with the stallion for a brief moment, seemingly searching his very soul through a simple look.

Speaking in a thickly accented voice that seemed to belong to a griffon many years younger, the griffon replied.

“I have many names, but you… You may call me Ra’s”

---

Chapter 3 – End

Third chapter already? Damn this stories coming along. Sorry for the long wait everybody, but chapter 3 is here finally. From now on Im going to try make the chapters longer, but I felt for this chapter I left it at a nice point. Tune in next time for another exciting chapter of Batmane Begins. Same Bat time, same Bat channel i.e FIMfiction

Comments

[wallacethe5]

THE AWESOMENESS.... I shall follow

*clap**clap**clap**clap**clap**clap**clap*

[WakelessAltair]

1028522

Yay !

[RaptorJesus]

Ra's al Ghul? Oo

[WakelessAltair]

1028538

Not quite, I decided to keep the Ra's part, but for legal purposes I will be changing his last name.

You dont get paid very much when you're a fanfic writer. (that is to say I dont get paid at all)

[RaptorJesus]

1028580 Meh, I knew you would probably change the name, but I guess it's supposed to be the same character, therefore...Lazarus Pits!

[WakelessAltair]

1028591

Lazarus Pits? What Lazarus Pits? I uh, dont know what you're talking about (shifty eyes)

[BorderPatrol]

Oh! NOW it;s on!!!

[Account]

Keep 'em coming mr. altair, keep 'em coming.

[SpyroFlame]

Ra's al Ghul by the way what did you think of the new batman movie. I personally didnt like it They Ruined Bane

[WakelessAltair]

1032853

I've never been called Mr. Altair before

1033112

I actually really enjoyed it. Sure in terms of themes and symbolism it wasnt as good as The Dark Knight or Batman Begins, but as a closing to Nolans trilogy it was great.

Tom Hardy did a great job as Bane, he made the film just so enjoyable to watch, and every scene that he was in he just had such presence. He always felt like the biggest guy in the room.

As for Banes character, all I can say is that it was a different interpretation. He was still incredibly smart and was more than a match for Batman physically. The lack of Venom was a little disappointing but I liked the idea of him taking drugs to suppress a great pain. Its sort of like how Nolans films gave Joker a carved on smile rather than just a permanent grin.

Joseph Gordon Levitt was great as Blake, I was wondering about his character being a good fit for the series but he did a great job.

On the whole it was just a great experience for me, there were a few bad points sure, but no movies perfect. I especially applaud the people behind the film for deciding to cut it off at three films, its hard usually to let go of big money makers.

Wow, look at me go, If I spent as much time writing as I did analyzing films we might be up to my Joker secti- whoops, spooooillers

[Avenging-Hobbits]

So far...well played...rgifs.gifbin.com/1233928590_citizen%20kane%20clapping.gif ...well played...

[Paladin Redflare]

Short much?

[WakelessAltair]

1114828

Im trying to improve on the length of my chapters, I'm still pretty new to this "writing for fun" thing.

Ive got a lot to improve on, so any tips or advice, things you did or didnt like would be incredibly helpful

[Paladin Redflare]

1115174 Oh, the making Fancy depressed on the night he asks Fleur to marry him part.... I didn't like, but life isn't perfect. Everything else about the story, I like.