Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A long time ago in a galaxy far,

far away…

The war between the forces of the Galactic Republic and the Separatist Alliance has spread throughout the galaxy, leaving countless worlds devastated in its wake.

Leading the forces of the Republic are the brave Jedi Knights. With the Jedi occupied with their new military roles in the war, pirates and vicious criminals have taken advantage of their absence, allowing the criminal underworld to fester freely on many planets.

However, a mysterious vigilante known as "The Batman" has emerged, striking fear into the hearts of criminals throughout the galaxy.

Night has fallen on Coruscant, the capital of the Galactic Republic. On the surface, Coruscant is an ecumenopolis, with over billions of living beings inhabiting the city-planet. However, once one delves deeper into the planet, they will know that the "Queen of the Core", as it is commonly referred to as, is anything but perfect. Centuries of peace has allowed the criminal underworld to grow without repent, turning the planet's lower levels into a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Recently, however, it's been much quieter.

While most would believe it to be the stern law enforcement brought on upon by the Supreme Chancellor, Sheev Palpatine, the planet's citizenry knew of the real reason behind it. The reason for it is because of the Batman. While his existence is debated among those within the Republic's territories, most criminals operating on the galactic capital know better. However, some have yet to encounter the dark vigilante and still think of him as nothing more but as an urban myth, a scare tactic conjured up by the Jedi Knights. As such, some have moved their activities to other parts of the planet to profit more from other gangs that are willing to operate under the shroud of darkness.

Currently, a small group of tough-looking thugs was preparing to break into the well-known Dex's Diner in the CoCo District. Since the diner was closed, there were no lights on and this allowed the trio the opportunity to make a score, as most criminals often say, without running into the diner's beefy owner, the rough-looking Dexter Jettster.

"Remember the plan," the human mercenary said, a nervous twinge in his voice. "Stay here, and keep on guard for any sign of the police or the Clones."

"Understood." The Twi'lek mercenary replied coolly, his tone suggesting that he isn't taking the human's paranoia all that seriously. Regardless of the Twi'lek's own personal opinions, he stood guard in front of the door nonetheless.

Nodding slowly, the human crouched down slightly and slowly approached the counter until he disappeared behind it completely.

"What's up with him?" The Weequay asked gruffly, taking a whiff of his cheap-looking death stick.

"Whaddya' think," The Twi'lek grunted. "He's nervous, it's only natural for his kind to be."

"I know that, but how in the Seven Corellian Hells does a member of the Black Sun get nervous? Especially over a job like this?" The Weequay asked.

The Twi'lek snickered to himself. "Get this, he's one of those idiots who actually believes in the whole 'Batman' bantha fodder. Ha! Get real." The Twi'lek snorted, folding his arms over his chest. Watching the Weequay smoke made him yearn for a smoke himself.

"I don't know, man." The Weequay frowned. "From what I heard, some guys from Ziro's old gang was found hanging ten thousand feet in the air and was crying out about some giant bat-creature that attacked them."

"That's bull. Idiots were all probably high on Spice or who knows what else. You know those slugs test their products on some of their guys just for kicks. I say it's the Jedi working with the feds to root out the major syndicates on the planet."

"Like I said, man, I don't know. Hell, even that may not be true what with most of those weirdoes out fighting in the war with those clone freaks."

"Whatever," the Twi'lek waved his hand casually. "Regardless, something's muscling the Hutts off-world and I hear that the Black Sun's next. Little do they know is that we aren't going so easily like those bloated slugs."

The Weequay opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the human power walking towards the two with a large sack slung over his thin shoulder. "We got what we came here for," he said, his beady eyes darting back and forth rapidly. "Let's get outta' here."

"Finally," the Twi'lek grunted, slinging his carbon rifle over his chest. "I was getting sick of this s*** already."

The trio made their way out of the diner and towards their vehicle parked behind within a darkened alley. Suddenly, a projectile was thrown at the nearby streetlamp, shrouding the area in pitch-black darkness.

"What the hell?!" the Twi'lek blurted out, trying to make out his surroundings in the dark.

"Switch on your lights, right now!" the human practically squealed out the command, trembling in his current position.

A second later, the Weequay and Twi'lek had activated their flashlights connected to their blaster rifles, and frantically looked around to find what knocked out the lamp. Out of the corner of his eyes, the Weequay noticed a small object lying on the ground surrounded by several pieces of broken glass. He slowly approached the object, and felt his face pale at what he saw.

The object was sharp as a knife, its color as black as coal, and, most importantly, it was forged in the shape of a bat.

"Guys," he whispered, trying his best to try and stifle his trembling voice. "We have to go. Now!"

Suddenly, the lights that the thugs had on their rifles went out, making the thugs jump before they heard something. As if something was moving fast towards them. The human, practically urinated his pants at this point, began to fire randomly in all directions, ignoring the screams of his escorts.

A scream erupted from the human's mouth, as he felt something slice against his hand, forcing him to drop his rifle from pain. It was then that the human noticed that his escorts had been eerily quiet since his momentary temper tantrum. He turned around and noticed a shape darker than regular shadows standing in front of him, and the human tried to scramble back only to fall flat on his rear end.

Overhead, high in the night's skies, the clouds that blocked the moon fell away and allowed light to shine down on the CoCo District, and the human soiled his trousers for real once he saw what was standing in front of him.

The dark shape looked like it came straight out of a nightmare. It was big, standing around at least 1.9 meters. It had short pointy ears on top of a black cowl. He was wearing gray body armor with the symbol of a black bat on the chest. The most frightening aspect of it was the nasty glare plastered on its face, and it was directed at the human.

This was the Batman, and he was coming for him.

The human pulled out a spare blaster he always kept in the back of his pants, and open fired on the Dark Knight. Dodging the bolts with ease, the Batman threw another sharp projectile at the human's arm, the sharp blade digging deep into his flesh. The human dropped the blaster to the ground and yelled at the top of his lungs in absolute agony.

Meanwhile, the Weequay, who had regained consciousness after the human began shooting at the Batman, got back up and aimed his rifle at the back of the Batman's head. However, as if he had eyes in the back of his cowl, the Batman tossed another projectile at the Weequay only for it to go into the rifle itself and creating a bright explosion of sparks that incited a yell from the Weequay before he was silenced by a quick jab to the face by the Batman, knocking him back down to the ground.

Seeing all opposition no longer a problem, the Batman turned his attention back to the cowardly human, who was shaking in his place. "Don't hurt me, man!" he begged, stammering in fear. "Y-yo-you want some money?! I-I-I've got it! Lots of it!"

Before the mercenary could react, the Batman had his hand wrapped tightly around his throat and began to lift him up. And before he could say anything else, darkness claimed his vision.

"Wake up… wake up!" An angry voice, that sounded utterly demonic, demanded the slowly recovering human who then noticed his interrogator.

Though he didn't believe in any omnipotent god, the human prayed to the Maker that it was a cop, but it was infinitely worse. It was the Dark Knight, who was staring at the human with a fierce scowl on his inhuman face. He then noticed that he was being hung upside down over the ledge of a very, very high skyscraper. He could see the numerous speeders zipping fast down below, and his mind began to play images of what would happen if the Batman were to drop him now. As expected, he began screaming in fear.

He turned to face the silent vigilante who was holding him by his ankle. "Let me go! Please!" the human cried, tears running down his face shamelessly.

"I wouldn't recommend it." Batman said coldly, slowly releasing his grip on the thug's ankle, making the human's eyes bug out in fear and scream that he changed his mind.

"What do you want?!" the human asked, fearing for his life.

The Dark Knight held the thug up to his face so that the human could stare into the Batman's soulless, glowing white eyes. "Your name is Corbenn Minpick," the Batman stated bluntly. "One of the chief enforcers for the Black Sun gang on Coruscant."

"Yeah, so?" Corbenn whimpered nervously.

"A few days ago, you were seen heading towards New Plymto with a group of mercenaries by order of your boss, Xist. Once you arrived, you abducted a young Nosaurian girl by the name of Gaeriel Jae. Where is she?" Batman demanded.

"I-I-I don't know what you're talking about!"

Batman didn't like what he heard. Growling, he let go of the thug's ankle, causing Corbenn to scream like a small child. For a moment, Corbenn saw his life flash before his eyes before he felt himself stop when the Batman grabbed his ankle in the nick of time.

"I won't ask again. WHERE IS GAERIEL JAE?!" Batman yelled furiously.

"Okay! Okay, I'll tell you!" Corbenn screamed, panting desperately for air. "She's still on New Plympto! There's a slave trade there! A big one near the Cadgel Meadows spaceport! If you hurry now, you could still catch her, now please let me go!"

"Sure." Batman said with a sly grin. He let go, and Corbenn screamed. However, he came to a sudden halt a few meters from the ledge that he had been held over. A closer look by any observers could see that there was a tether wrapped around his leg. Regardless, the adrenaline rush wore off and Corbenn fainted.

By the time that people noticed the unconscious thug, the Batman had already vanished into the night.

Chapter Text

New Plymto.

A temperate terrestrial planet in the Core Worlds region populated by the alien species known as the Nosaurians. Prior to the Clone Wars, around roughly several centuries after the end of the Old Sith Wars, New Plympto was welcomed into the Galactic Republic as a source of rikknit eggs, the Nosaurians' chief export. However, they were denied representation in the Galactic Senate and eventually grew alienated. Soon enough, the market for rikknit eggs evaporated and New Plympto was, for all intents and purposes, abandoned by commercial interests. With the outbreak of the Clone Wars, the Confederacy of Independent Systems recruited New Plympto to their cause with the promise of reviving the rikknit egg market and rebuilding the planet's economy.

However, this wasn't the only reason why the Confederacy recruited New Plympto to their ranks. Secretly, New Plympto was a haven for dealings with the black market; Arms trafficking, illegal drug trade, counterfeit consumer goods are several of the many examples that the markets, set up by the Confederacy, contain. But the most damning of these markets is the horrific ordeals of human trafficking, no matter the gender, race, or age of the person forced into these dark acts.

It was this reason that brought the Dark Knight to New Plympto.

"Slavery…" the Batman thought to himself, crouched down on top of a roof rafter overlooking a shady-looking spaceport. "One of the most disgusting ideas that a living being could have created, even more so than murder. The taking of life, anyone's life, is unforgivable and something that I swore that I would never stoop too, but to take innocent people and sell them like they're nothing but tools is just as unforgivable."

The cool chill of the night softly blew over him, but he paid no heed to it, still lost deep inside his thoughts.

"I still try to stomach the sight of seeing women and children of various species and ages locked up in electric cages like animal, awaiting to be bought by some worthless scum."

Normally, in the sectors of the Republic, it was made highly illegal by the Rights of Sentience clause, but continues to grow, primarily in the Outer Rim Territories owned by the crime syndicates such as the Hutt Cartels or the Black Sun. But New Plympto wasn't a part of the Republic, the Dark Knight mused bitterly to himself. Despite its position in the Core Worlds, the Nosaurian homeworld was one of the few planets close to the galactic capital that was firmly allied to Count Dooku's Confederacy of Independent Systems.

"Or, more appropriately, one of the top contenders for "Biggest Hypocrites" in the galaxy." He thought, scowling fiercely to himself. He had met the Separatist's Head of State a long time ago during one of the many parties he hosted at his manor a few months before the outbreak of the Clone Wars where the former Jedi Master had tried to convince him to let the Separatists make an alliance with Kea'ton Enterprises to increase the production of battle droids for defense against pirates.

When footage of the Battle of Geonosis came to his desk a few months later, he found himself relieved that he didn't make the wrong choice.

He shook his head; There was no time to think about the mistakes that you could've made, but on the current events that contain the life of a young child. Narrowing his gaze at the individuals standing near the dingy-looking freighter, Batman tapped a button on the side of his cowl, activating his Detective Mode and managed to count out how many thugs were guarding the ship.

"Five guards, all armed to the teeth. Easy enough." Batman thought, slowly standing up to avoid notice from any of the five thugs, though there had originally been six of them, but the "hidden" sniper on the roof rafter hadn't noticed the Dark Knight until he saw the gloved fist coming his way.

Glancing above the thugs, he spotted the bright lights, a stark contrast to the dark spaceport, and noticed that they were all connected to a series of wires. He slowly traced the wires back to a fuse box near one of the spaceports entrances, and it just so happens to have no guards standing nearby it.

He smirked to himself. "Good," he thought, pulling out a batarang from his belt. "This'll make things a bit easier for me."

With the speed of a Teek on a sugar-rush, he threw the batarang towards the fuse box, and none of the guards noticed the shiny black weapon making its way to the fusebox, either caught up in small conversations with one another or indulging themselves to a good smoke and drink, until the batarang smashed into the fusebox, destroying almost immediately among contact.

"What the?!" one guard choked out, some ashes from his death stick falling down his windpipe and was now trying to force it out of his system.

"I can't see anything!"

"Fierfrek, is it the Jedi?!"

"Nope… just me."

The Batman jumped down from his position on the balcony, and landed on the ground just a few inches away from a trembling guard. Slowly approaching the guard, the Batman latched onto the mercenary in a chokehold, pulling him to the ground as he slowly prevents the air around them, and the blood in the mercenary's neck, from going to his head. Within moments, he was out like a light.

Dropping the mercenary like he was a sack of mushrooms, the Batman glanced up to see a guard nearby who was trying to find a light on him. But the Dark Knight wasn't having any of it, and immediately sprinted over to the merc to plant a hard kick to the alien's gut. Judging by the loud groans of pain that escaped from the mercenary's mouth, he guessed that he might have broken a few of his ribs. Good.

In the far corner of the spaceport, a light suddenly turned on, and reflected off the rusty plating of the freighter. Scowling, Batman then whips out his grappling gun, and shoots it up to one of the nearby rafters. Within seconds, he finds himself on the aged rafter, silently overlooking the small group of thugs that were now crowding around the thug with the cracked ribs.

"Jirag!" Ah. So that was his name.

"Oh man," one of the guards muttered out. "Zeke's out too!" He indicated to the first merc that the Batman had dispose of, trying to shake him awake only to realize that he was out cold by the pile of drool forming underneath his cheek

"This is it!" Another guard exclaimed in fear. "We're caught, man. We're done for, it's game over!" The Batman couldn't help but be impressed by this. At this point, most scum would be shooting at the corners to draw him out, but this group instead dissolved into panicking among themselves. He was getting better at this gig. This did little to stop him from swinging to another rafter nearby, while the mercs yelled among one another.

"Where the hell is our sniper at?!" the head guard, the Batman's true target, inquired in frustration.

An idea then popped in the vigilante's head. Careful enough to not make any sort of noise, he quickly made his way back to the area of the unconscious sniper to find said merc's deadly looking sniper rifle. Perfect, he thought as he pulled out a rifle-disrupter prototype model, straight out of the labs of Kea'ton Enterprises through the help of its top scientist. Lucien, don't fail me now.

Peering over the ledge, he spotted a Quarren guard without a blaster on him, but held a dulled vibroblade in his trembling, leathery hands. With a tiny smirk, Batman chucked the rifle over the ledge and immediately begin grappling to the other across from his vicinity. By the time he landed on the rafter, the thug heard the rifle hit the ground behind him and shined a light around to find the source of that noise, as the tentacles on its squid-like head began to wiggle around violently. A nervous reaction among its kind, Batman noted.

As the Quarren slowly inched his way forward, his foot brushed up against the rifle, causing the Quarren to jump violently in his place before glancing down to see the rifle sitting there, almost innocently, as it silently beckoned for the mercenary to take it up into the Quarren's meaty arms so that it could protect him from certain harm.

Without hesitation, the Quarren obeyed the rifle's silent command.

"Hey!" a Quermian thug, easily distinguishable by its long elongated neck, approached the Quarren with two other thugs, Batman's target and a Sullustan female, jogged over to investigate the Quermian's yell. "Where'd ya find that?"

"It was right here on the ground, and I found it first!" the Quarren snapped, clutching the rifle to his chest as if it were a small child. "If you want one of your own, pick it off one of the others, yah long-necked freak!"

The Quermian sneered. "What the hell did you call me, ya frakkin'—!"

"Wait a minute," the Sullustan female suddenly spoke out, her soft, alien voice echoing in the spaceport's condensed area as she placed a gloved hand on the rifle. "Isn't that Ben's rifle?"

As realization begun to set in, Batman saw this as his moment to strike and triggered the disrupter which immediately sent over a thousand volts into both the Quarren and the Sullustan, sending them flying back onto the ground, immediately unconscious the moment they hit the earth. The Quermian and Batman's target jumped backwards away from the rifle, staring at it in shock as they slowly began to realize that they were the other two conscious beings left in their group. "Circle up," the target snapped, his blaster rifle humming quietly with the safety off. "Back-to-back now!"

Gulping, the Quermian complied without complaint. But as he did this, a smoke pellet suddenly landed on the ground next to the two, and it took them only a microsecond to realize what it was before the area around them became shrouded in smoke. The two criminals began coughing loudly, their lungs quickly filling up with the dense smoke, as they tried to make their way out of the haze to get some fresh air. Using this to his advantage, the Dark Knight leaped from his hiding spot and straight into the heart of the smoke cloud. Landing without a sound, Batman used his Detective Mode to find where the Quermian was at, and caught sight of the long-necked alien on his knees outside the smoke cloud, his eyes watering from the intense smoke.

Bingo. The Dark Knight's sight aimed on his new target, he took off running at the alien, who heard the rapidly approaching footsteps and managed to turn around to see a dark blur lung for him and he barely had anytime to scream before darkness claimed his vision. With the Quermian knocked, Batman turned his full attention to his target—

-and froze when he saw the target holding the blaster rifle, and was now aiming the weapon right at him. Kriff.

"DIE, YOU FREAK—" whatever vulgar talk the criminal had in mind for his attacker was silenced over the sounds of repetitive blaster bolts being shot at towards Batman, who immediately ducks from the first several bolts before leaping to one of the nearby crates as the target changes his aim. He silently thanked whatever made these crates durable as the blaster bolts smashed relentlessly into them, showering the Dark Knight in bright sparks that caused a hiss of pain to sneak out of his lips as they made contact with his exposed skin. Dammit, he thought darkly to himself, crouching down to avoid being shot. I don't have time for this.

Quickly formulating a plan in his intelligent brain, the Dark Knight reached into his utility belt and pulled out one of his signature weapons; the Batarang. However, this was a special variation of the Batarang. This version of the Batarang was useful for hitting objects that are out of reach, built with brakes and acceleration, and allows fine control over its movements.

Lucien called it the Remote Control Batarang.

Taking a deep breath, the Batman chucked the batarang over the crate and waited for a moment as the blaster bolts stopped and the spaceport was soon echoing with the sound of the target's toxic laughter. "Are you kidding me?!" he guffawed. "That's gotta be the most pathe—"

The target's laughter soon turned into cries of pain as the Remote Batarang slammed into the back of his head with the speed of a freight train. Instinctively dropping the rifle from pain, the target stumbled around, his vision going dizzy, and making him defenseless to the dark shadow who leapt at the thug and firmly planted a right hook into his jaw. A couple of teeth immediately flew out of his mouth from the sheer force of the blow, along with several huge globs of blood that stained the dirty ground beneath his boots. Before his back could hit the ground, he felt something grab him by the throat, causing the target to cry out in pain and immediately looked up to lock eyes with the glowing, pure-white ones of the Batman.

And suddenly, he wished that he had been the one who found that rifle first.

"N-n-no! NO!" he cried out in fear, trying to pry himself free of the Batman's iron grip, but quickly learned that trying to do so was impossible to accomplish.

"Be quiet," the growl that emerged from Batman's lips nearly made the target soil his trousers from fear. "Now I'm going to ask you one question, and if you fail to comply, you'll be walking out of here with more than just a bruise on the back of your head. Understood?"

With sweat forming at the brow of his head, the target rapidly nodded his head in silent compliance to the Dark Knight's demands.

"Good." the Dark Knight said in satisfaction. "Now, who bought Gaeriel Jae?"

A look of confusion replaced the fear on his face. "Wh-who?" he whimpered, only to regret his question when the Dark Knight's visage grew angrier and he felt the grip on his windpipe slowly tighten even further. The action forced him to close his eyes in displeasure, and when he opened his eyes, he came face-to-face to a holographic projection of a smiling Nosaurian girl that was projecting from Batman's left arm. Staring into the innocent child's face suddenly made something click into the target's brain. "Wa-wait… yeah. Yeah, I saw her here! In one of the markets." Licking his lips, he rasped out. "Sh-she was just sold to someone today."

"Who?"

"I… I don't know." Judging by the rapidly darkening expression on Batman's face, the target knew that pain was soon to follow from his timid response. "Bu-but I do know the name of the guys who took her to the buyer."

"Who?!" Batman snapped, his patience on the verge of snapping in two.

"Dengar!" the target squealed out, his feet quaking in fear. "An-and his Rodian pal, uhm… Zeebo? Uh… n-n-no, Greedo! Yeah, if I'm not mistaken, they should be at Holdfast's about now."

The look of anger fell away to a stoic, emotionless look. "Thank you for the cooperation. Have a nice nap."

"…huh?" He uttered completely confused.

Before he could react, the Batman launched a quick left hook straight into the target's temple, instantly knocking him out. Tossing the worthless garbage to the ground, the Dark Knight spun on his heel and began marching to the freighter's open hatch with a determined look in his eyes. As he does this, a sharp beeping began to ring inside his cowl, and he raised a head to activate the secret commlink imbedded into the cowl. "Yes, Alfred?"

"Ah, Master Kea'ton," the soft voice of his aged caretaker echoed inside his cowl. "It's good to hear your voice again. I was afraid that you had gotten lost on your first adventure outside Coruscant's borders. Tell me, have you behaved properly?"

With a smirk, Batman glanced at the unconscious mercs. "Of course."

His boots echoed loudly through the freighter's corridors as he walked about, eyeing each corner that he came up with a cautious eye. True to his Detective Mode's sensors, there were no living lifeforms inside the vessel, but he still felt an odd chill crawl up his spine; Months of experience had made him learn to trust that instinct as a sort of warning for any kind of danger. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks when his audio-sensors picked up something from one of the many rooms in the freighter. Narrowing his eyes, he slowly approached the source of the sound and placed his head next to the door to get a clearer sense of what he heard. For a moment, he heard nothing inside the room, and was about to brush off the sound as nothing more but the wind until he heard it; a whimper.

He reached for his belt, and pulled out a batarang, taking a moment to admire the polished surface of the weapon and making a mental note to thank Alfred for how clean the blade looked. The Dark Knight pushed the button that then opened the door before him, and he raised the batarang to throw until he froze at what laid before him.

Slaves.

His throat clenched with emotion as he studied them. They were all Nosaurians, but their age limit seemed to be in the area before their pubescent years. The small cell that housed them was old, covered in all sorts of dark blotches that were probably either blood or vomit of some sort with rusty bolts, and jagged edges that were sure to draw out blood. They all wore dirty, torn rags for clothes and stared up at the dark stranger with fear in their eyes and tears falling rapidly.

He was sure that there were tears gathering in the corners of his eyes as well.

"Sir, your heartbeat just spiked immensely. Are you all right?" Alfred's worried voice echoed dimly to the Dark Knight.

"Children." Batman mumbled.

"What?"

"The slaves, Alfred, they're all children."

Alfred's gasp could be heard from the cowl's speakers. "Mother of Moons," the aged butler breathed out, his voice thick with emotion. "What barbaric creatures would do such an act?"

His horror suddenly gave away to cold, hard fury as he clenched his fists so hard that the rancor-leather gloves themselves made a harsh creaking sound. "Dengar." he snarled.

The flinching of the children made Batman snap out of the dark thoughts circulating in his head, each promising all sorts of unspeakable pain saved for the Bounty Hunter, and his face softened. He walked over to the cage, and crouched down in front of it so that he could make eye-contact with what appeared to be the oldest among the group. "Are you all right?" Batman asked, speaking in the Nosaurian's alien language; one of many that he learned during his many years of training across the galaxy.

The child still looked at the stranger in fear, but managed to stammer out. "Wh-who are you?"

"My name is Batman, and I'm here to help you." With that statement, he stood up from his crouched state, and looked around for any kind of console connected to the cell's door. His eyes soon befell upon a small red button in the wall next to him, and pressed a finger to it, holding in the button for approximately three seconds before the door finally opened, allowing the children to emerge from their horrendous living conditions.

One-by-one, the children exited with the cell, twitching and squirming in discomfort as the Batman's eyes scoured over their tiny bodies, and felt his disgust rise with each passing second. All of them had several bruises and scratches on their skins, and some of them were even cradling a limb in pain—an obvious indicator for broken bones in desperate need of a bacta treatment—and even one of them covered with cigarette burns. He felt tears beginning to form in the corner of his eyes, and quickly blinked them away; the mission comes first.

Kneeling down, he continuing speaking in the same tone of voice. "Do you know where your parents are?"

Their quiet sobs spoke more than words ever could.

He let out a shaky, enraged breath as his dark thoughts suddenly allowed a memory, one burned into his skull, to resurface again. A distant memory of a cold night on Coruscant, of a family so happily engrossed in their own joy that they were blind to the creeping danger that was waiting for them right at the end of the alleyway behind the theater they had just walked out of. He forced that nightmare back into the back of his mind, focusing on the ones who have lost the people they loved... just like him.

He shook his head; this wasn't the time to stir up old wounds. Pressing a gloved finger to his comlink, he spoke quietly, "Alfred, send out an anonymous call to the Nosaurian authorities. Tell them I've found children in the freighter at the spaceport, and I'm on my way to apprehend the suspects behind this." He paused for a moment, staring at the small group as his cowl captured a holo-pic of them before transferring it to Alfred. "Did you get it?"

"Mother of moons," Alfred whispered, his voice quavering abit. "What vile creature could do such a thing?"

"Attach the picture to the call, and tell them to check the homes of each children for their parents. They may still be there." He spun on his heel, and walked out of the room in a silent fury. "Have you found Dengar's location yet?"

"Indeed," The warm voice of his caretaker fell away to a tone as cold as the vacuum of space. "I've tracked the bounty hunter and his accomplice to a bar in the western regions. Be on your guard, Dengar's armed with a variety of weapons; blaster rifles, a few grenades, and a vibroblade."

Good, he may be intoxicated. Despite his reputation through the Outer Rim, the few beings lucky enough to escape Dengar's wrath often remarked about the bounty hunter's over-confidence, and how easily angered he could be. But he was a brutal fighter, trained in the fighting style of the k'Jtari martial arts during his initiation in the Bounty Hunters' Guild. It's been many years since Batman fought a bounty hunter, the last one being a Gen'Dai that he miraculously managed to escape from before the brute could smash in his skull. But Dengar was human, not an alien or a droid, real flesh-and-blood like the Dark Knight.

A bitter smile grew on his face, it was time for Dengar and his associates to answer for his crimes.

Chapter Text

Traversing across the rooftops, Batman scanned the area looking for Dengar. Alfred had been helpful, having found where the Bounty Hunter's last known location was on New Plympton.

After an hour or so, Batman found him walking outside a bar. A good sign, Dengar was noted for being overconfident, but a brutal fighter nonetheless. It had been some time since Batman had fought a bounty hunter after all.

The Dark Knight began to stalk the bounty hunter from above, using Detective mode he found out that Dengar was heavily armed. Carrying a DLT-19 strapped to his back and had several explosives on his chest.

"I need to be careful," Batman thought. "Intoxicated or not, Dengar's carrying quite the arsenal. One false move and someone could die." He analyzed the situation. "I'll need to get him above the streets, fight him on the rooftops." The Dark Knight concluded.

The problem was that Dengar was walking with a crowd, the last thing the vigilante needed was any attention from the public or police force.

"I need to lure him into the alleyways." Batman thought. "And I think I know how."

As a Bounty Hunter, Dengar would have to be wearing a communication piece, it wasn't uncommon for Bounty Hunters to work together and share their prize. They'd need to keep in touch with one another while on the job.

Taking out a Sonic Batarang he threw it into the nearby alleyway. Batman turned towards Dengar who was walking down the street until he fell to his knees in pain. The Bounty Hunter took out his earpiece and shoved off any nearby civilian who was willing to help him back up. The Bounty Hunter rubbed his ear and began to head towards the alley. Taking his blaster out the moment he entered.

"Alright funny man!" Dengar shouted. "Show yourself!" He called out.

At that moment, Batman shot a cable that wrapped around the Corellian's left leg. Dengar looked down at his leg and pulled out a knife to cut the line to no avail.

Batman pressed a button and Dengar was being pulled up the rooftop. Dengar screamed in fear before being silenced as Batman put a boot on the Bounty Hunter's head.

"If you want to keep any teeth, I'd suggest you talk." Batman threatened.

"Well I'll be damned, you really do exist." Dengar said sounding mildly astounded.

Batman pressed down a little harder eliciting a pained groan from the Corellian.

"Yes, I am, now talk!" The vigilante threatened once more.

"About what?" Dengar questioned. "What exactly did I do to get your attention?" He accused.

"Gaeriel Jae." Batman responded his voice emanating fury.

"Who?" Dengar asked completely oblivious.

At that moment, Batman grabbed the Bounty Hunter by the collar and hoisted him up.

"You know exactly who I…" Batman said, but was cut off by a head-butt from Dengar, staggering both men briefly.

Dengar grabbed his blaster and fired at Batman's chest. Hitting the bat-shaped emblem. Knocking the Vigilante to the ground.

"Looks like, I'll be the one to get that five thousand credit bounty." Dengar said walking up to Batman. "But first let's see who you really are." He said looming over the fallen Dark Knight preparing to unmask him.

As Dengar was about to touch the cowl, he was answered to a powerful kick in the gut by Batman. Dengar fell down and dropped his weapon; he clutched his gut trying to ease the pain.

Batman, likewise, struggled to get up. A blaster of that caliber at that range could have killed him even with the suit.

"Idiot." Batman scolded himself. "Now is not the time to get too angry." He thought, the incident with enslaved children had affected him much more than he thought.

It was fortunate Dengar aimed for the emblem which was where the strongest layer of armor was located.

Batman remembered how both Alfred and Lucien believed that it was suicide, suggesting that the head would be much more suitable. They were smart men, but none of them understood the general psychology of these low lives as much as he did.

Batman got up and began to walk towards Dengar. Unfortunately, Dengar recovered and began to open fire blindly with the semi-automatic. Batman dodged his fire and hid behind an Air Conditioner all the while keeping note.

"He's dazed, those were warning shots." He noted.

"Alright, fine!" Dengar shouted. "You want a fight then let's do it, you pointy-eared freak!" He challenged.

Dengar removed a thermal detonator from its holster and threw it over the AC. Batman quickly threw a smoke pellet at the Bounty Hunter covering him in smoke. Dengar's ragged coughing could be heard as Batman approached the smoke cloud at breakneck pace. He activated Detective Mode and entered the smoke cloud. Dengar had resulted in using his blaster like it was a club, trying to smack anything close to him.

"I need to be smart," Batman thought as he began to attack.

The first target was Dengar's arm with a swift jab to the nerve bundle in his deltoid, paralyzing his arm. Even with someone as fit and skilled as Dengar, it would be impossible to use that blaster with only one good arm.

Finally, Batman got low and kicked Dengar's kneecap, dislocating it entirely. Unlike the last blow, this was entirely painful, as Dengar screamed and collapsed.

The smoke cleared and Dengar was knocked down. The Bounty Hunter tried to crawl away as fast as possible only for Batman to put his foot down on Dengar's chest.

"Now where is Gaeriel Jae?" He asked this time in a more eerily composed tone.

"C-count Christo!" The Bounty Hunter blurted out, his cocky façade having been broken. "His castle is not far from here!" Dengar said.

The Bounty Hunter took out his holopad which had a series of coordinates which most likely was where Christo was.

"Thank you." Batman said before punching Dengar in the mouth, knocking out a few teeth in the process.

"Okay, Christo. Time to pay you a visit." Batman thought.

It took some time, but Batman had now snuck his way into the Count's castle. Dispatching all of his guards, and freeing all of the slaves. He was now facing to face with the Count in his bedroom. The count was shorter and lighter than most Nosaurians. Batman figured this was most likely because of old age. He threw the count against a wall, which caused a massive hole. He tried to crawl away, but Gaeriel kicked him in the head

"You think you can barge in my home and assault me. I don't know who you are, but I'll have you know I have important friends and you will pay dearly for this." The count declared.

"Let them come because no amount of money or power can ever save them. In fact, as of right now you'll have to make some new friends in prison." Batman replied before punching the count a couple of times in the head.

Batman threw him through the door. The count tried to get up, but couldn't. Batman started to drag him to the balcony.

"In fact, I want you to tell them who did this to you." Batman threatened, holding the count by the neck.

"Who are you?" The count replied fearing for his life.

"Batman." Batman simply replied. Batman punched him in the face.

Batman began to call his ship.

"Sir, I regret to inform you, but law enforcement will be on its way." Alfred informed Batman.

"I know." Batman said. The batwing came into view; he put Gaeriel in the containment unit. Gaeriel went to Batman.

"Thank you." The young Nosaurian said.

The ship began to take off. It took a couple of minutes, but New Plymptons' finest had arrived once they were in space.

"This is the New Plympton Royal Guard, we demand that you turn your vessel around immediately." One of the ships ordered.

Batman paid no heed and flew past them. Effortlessly dodging their hits, one of them attempted to fire a concussion missile, but the Batwing's missile jammer prevented it from locking on.

The Batwing was designed to keep up against the ships that even the Jedi used. In fact, the ships' afterburner had more power than any of the Jedi starfighters. Its shielding was also more powerful too. After punching in the coordinates, the Batwing began its way back towards Coruscant at hyper speed.

"I cannot tell you how grateful I am," Gaeriel said as Batman dropped the ship not far from her home.

"No words are necessary, be safe." Batman stoically replied as the girl got out of the ship. Batman watched as she knocked on the door and was greeted by her parents who quickly embraced her in a tearful hug.

Batman watched on at the moment a deep sense of longing emerged as memories of that night began to come back to him. Blaster fire echoed in his mind as the sound of a young boy screaming came back to him.

"Master Bale!" Alfred called out breaking Batman out of his thoughts. By the tone in Alfred's voice, he had been trying to get his attention too long.

"Alfred?" Batman asked.

"I think it's high time you came back home." Alfred suggested feeling highly concerned.

"Just one more stop." Batman replied as he looked back to the ships containment unit.

Count Christo woke up to a cold sweat and hyperventilation.

"It was just a nightmare…" He thought relieved.

The Count tried to move his arms, but couldn't. They felt bound by something, he looked around and realized that he was no longer in his bedroom with his new slave. He was strung up to a streetlight in his undergarments not far from the Coruscant Police Department. Outside and far away from where he held authority.

He looked around for an answer until the light disappeared and was now surrounded by shadows. He heard a frightening whisper echo in his ear.

"I have given all evidence of your actions to the police. You are going away for a long time." The voice said. "Remember what I said to you, Count…" it said.

Needless to say, the Count barely got a wink of sleep that night.

Batman had returned home, he figured his work was over. For now at least... The ship was in Coruscant's orbit and was heading towards the western hemisphere. In a matter of minutes, the Batwing was now flying towards Coruscant. It went straight into a waterfall. The Batwing went through with no problems. It landed on its landing pad. Batman stepped out; awaiting him was an elderly human male.

"Welcome back Master Bale." Alfred said.

"Thank you, Alfred." Batman responded. He took off his mask revealing his face.

He was in his mid to late twenties with black hair and blue eyes.

"Wake me up in a couple of hours." Bale said.

"Will do. Also, I'd like you to know that Mr. Foxx wishes to meet with you at the Kea'ton enterprises building at one. He kindly gave you an extra hour because he figured what with all your nocturnal activities you could use it. It seems to be rather important." Alfred said.

"I will." Bale said with the batsuit completely off and back in its case. He stretched and headed towards the elevator to the mansion about to get some well-deserved sleep.