batman: tribulation and revelation

[Catwoman]

this story is what was catwoman returns. a good bit of the storyline has been changed but i kept a lot of of the elements and moved them around. i changed the title since batsy is the main focus. selina plays almost as big a role though, like a lot of things are still seen from her point of view.

the story takes place in the year 2000, except for the prologue which was in the summer of 1998.

[Catwoman]

and the prologue is really f***ing long, just to warn you guys. lol.

not that anyone is going to read it anyway outside of my stalker.

[Catwoman]

okay actualy the prologue is summer 1998 up to right before the story begins, which is fall-winter 2000.

[Catwoman]

ok i promise the chapters will be much much shorter than this. this is just setting up the story, all the dialogue and sh*t starts after this. HOPE SOMEONE ENJOYS IT!!!!!!!






they better cause it's such a f***ing bitch to try to write it.










the prologue

"robin, look out!" batman shouted. "behind you!" robin spun around, kicking away the gun one of the south american drug smugglers had aimed at him. then with a right-left combination of punches, the young boy wonder laid the cartel member out cold with the other smugglers he and batman had disposed of.

"you were saying?" he arrogantly smirked. batman grunted.

the two caped crusaders made their way out of the large warehouse where the drugs had been dropped off. "they're at the dock," batman said of the cartel leaders he and robin had come for. unfortunately, the dock was blocked by rows of large crates. like a mice navigating a maze in order to reach a block of cheese, batman and robin would have to run through these crates in order to get to the dock before the cartel bosses escaped.

as they rounded a corner, to their shock, another group of smugglers stood waiting. fortunately the smugglers were just as shocked to see the costumed heroes standing before them, buying batman and robin a little time before they opened fire. they lept into the air, dodging the gunfire and came down atop the men. disarmed, the smugglers stood little chance as batman and robin beat them to a pulp.

that set of smugglers no longer an issue, batman and robin looked around. there were two potential pathways the bosses might have taken. "that way," batman said, pointing to the one on the right. "why that way?" robin protested. "i think it was THAT way," he said, pointing to the right. "don't argue with me, DICK," batman growled. "now come on."

disregarding batman's order, robin took to the left pathway, while batman, his chagrin towards his junior partner building, took the right. "he's due for an attitude adjustment," the dark knight thought. "if we make it out of this."

after a bit of winding, the duo literally ran into each other as the paths rejoined. "ug," robin grunted. "well mr. great leader, looks like i was right." "enough of your mouth," batman shot back. "we're almost there.

once they finally reached the dock, just as they expected, the boss and his right hand man were busy throwing suitcases of money into a speedboat. their former business partners, a frenchman and his cuban refugee wife, lay shot dead on the pier.

"here goes nothing," robin said. "no, wait!" batman called out, but it was too late. robin had already begun somersaulting towards the boat. seeing him coming, the men pulled out their pistols and began firing. robin acrobatically dodged the bullets and landed between them, kicking away one gun and knocking the other away with his fist. another kick sent the cartel leader's lieutenent sprawling. his focus on the drug lord, robin began throwing punches and kicks towards him.

batman was just about to the boat when he saw the second man stand back up, holding a machine gun. "ROBIN!" he screamed. robin turned towards the man just as he opened fire. batman could only look on in horror as the spray of bullets exploded through his young partner's torso, shredding his cape as they exited his back. robin stumbled backwards as  choked gargles left his lips. then he fell backwards out of the boat into the water.

the man turned his gun to batman, but the drug lord shouted something in spanish to him, apparantly an order to get them out of there for he sat down at the controls of the boat. starting the engine, he hit the gas, pulling away and leaving the dynamic duo behind.

batman bounded down to the edge of the pier. he reached into the water, taking hold of robin's body with both hands, and pulled him out. he couldn't believe his eyes. robin's breathing was so heavy that his chest seemed to rise and fall a foot within a split second. the contless bloody bullet wounds on his chest seeped life. blood ran from his mouth, mixing with the seawater on his cheek and causing it to run in several different directions down his face.

knowing there was no hope, batman pulled away robin's mask and looked down into his eyes. he clutched his hand tightly, trying to comfort him as best as possible in his last moments.

an hour later, in the batcave, bruce wayne looked on as barbara wilson, the former batgirl, grieved over dick grayson's body. she pulled away his glove and, just as bruce had before, gripped his cold hand to her chest as she wept hysterically. she glanced up, noticing bruce's emotionless, stone-faced expression.

"you son of a bitch!" she screamed through her sobs. "he died and you can't even shed a tear for him? i thought you loved him!" bruce looked at her for a moment.

"he knew the risks." he said cooly.

stunned, barbara stood up and walked right up to him, slapping him across the face. before she had a chance to criticize him further, he returned the favor, knocking her to the ground. "you bastard!" she screamed. bruce said nothing as he looked down at her sternly. finally, without another word, barbara stood up and hastily scampered to the batcave's exit.

once she was gone, bruce turned to dick's body. he sighed as his expression softened into one of pain and heartache. memories of the day he took dick in following the murder of his parents and of the times they had spent together outside of their crusade against injustice and the times they had fought crime side-by-side flooded his mind.

he reached for a lenin sheet and pulled it over dick's body as a single tear ran down his face.

bruce and barbara soon reconciled. they mutually agreed that for the sake of batman's never-ending mission for gotham city that dick's death had to be covered up. the truth would have meant his unmasking as robin and no doubt led in short order to bruce's own outing. therefore, dick was reported missing after going on a boating trip. a two-week search for a body that was never in the water to begin with led to dick being declared dead, with everyone outside of bruce, barbara, and alfred resigned to the fact that the brash, ambitious young man's body was lost forever.

in reality it was buried in the batcave, far enough from the computers and lab equipment that it could rest peacefully but close enough that a single spotlight cast a faint glow onto the grave marker - a wooden cross - and reminded bruce forever of the true risks of this crusade.

soon therafter, alfred took ill once again. resigned to the fact that the end was probably near, alfred and barbara returned to his native england. bruce hoped to manage to travel there to see his friend and near-lifelong caretaker one last time, but his responsibilities both as president and ceo of wayne enterprises and as batman left him no opportunity.

just days before christmas, he recieved a letter from barbara confirming that alfred had peacefully departed this life in his sleep. according to his wishes but to bruce's dismay, the old butler had been buried almost immediately afterwards.

for nearly two years, wayne manor was stone silent. bruce desired no accompanyment, hiring no replacements for alfred and never taking visitors, not friends from his company, not the models he had previously always been a companied by, not even those from charitable organizations that had once always been welcome. without bruce uttering a single word while above ground and no one else there to say anything, the magnificantly morbid mansion was locked in a seemingly unbreakable silence.

beneath the manor, in the batcave, the only sounds were bruces grunts and groans as he trained or nursed injuries or simply felt the effects of his heavy workload. working alongside dick had eased the stress on his body, helping him ward off the effects of increasing age. now, after over two years of going it alone, and at the age of 45, the aches and pains he had once shrugged off with little more than a grimace made even getting out of bed in the mornings a chore. a stringent training regimen helped him keep in shame, and at some points he would almost be back to full strength.

it took only one night of moderate activity as batman, however, to move him right back to square one.

the burden of mixing his double lives as a wealthy, successful business man and gotham's dark savior seemed much more pronounced now that he no longer had anyone, even alfred who had always been there. the two years of near-complete solitude away from his put-on public image had had an enourmous effect upon him. though his facade as a millionare playboy who hammed it up with his coworkers and other gotham elite remained solid, in private he had grown so distant and detached from the world around him that he wondered if his ability to feel true compassion for his fellow man and to feel love for a woman hadn't been lost forever, rather than slumbering in the depths of his stone-encased heart.

[Catwoman]

surprise surprise not one damn post.

[The Joker]

surprise surprise not one damn post.

Relax. Everyone is probably recovering from last night, Catwoman. 

As for this re-write/2nd draft, it's starting out really dark, but that makes for a interesting opening. As everyone in the Bat-Family has really been thru the ringer right at the very start of the story itself. Kinda has that "A lonely place of Dying" aspect to the story, but only because it deals with the fallout of the death of Robin. In this case, Dick Grayson.

[Catwoman]

i forgot about how everyone but me gets smashed on new years lol.

and its supposed to be really dark so i'm glad thats how you think it started. idk if there'll be any comic relief at all. i'm a very depressed person so i'm going to write maybe not a depressing story but one that has no humor. hopeful in places but humorless. thats my motto for writing this.

[The Joker]

i forgot about how everyone but me gets smashed on new years lol.

and its supposed to be really dark so i'm glad thats how you think it started. idk if there'll be any comic relief at all. i'm a very depressed person so i'm going to write maybe not a depressing story but one that has no humor. hopeful in places but humorless. thats my motto for writing this.

Although I did kinda like the direction you took Dick Grayson with your first effort at this ... cocky, arrogant, almost un-likable, and his interactions with Selina ... I also like this version as well where he proved himself to be a bit too "froggy" and paid the ultimate price as a result. It certainly opens up the possibility for a dark turn, and I'm looking forward to reading how this plays out.

P.S. I've never been smashed either, so don't feel bad. I'm always Mr. DD (Designated Driver), or I just stick to an occasional mixed drink.

[johnnygobbs]

I didn't go out this New Years.  All my mates were either ill, abroad or doing something else.  Plus I didn't really have the cash to do anything.  Instead I went out the night before for a couple of drinks with my friends, though none of us got 'smashed'.  LOL.

Back to the story.  Great work Catwoman.  Your writing seems to improve with every new draft.  Robin is such an expendable character so it's cool to have him 'bumped off'.  I prefer the naive, 'green' Dick Grayson to the borderline a-hole Grayson of your earlier drafts.  That version was too unlikeable for a 'hero' IMHO.

[Catwoman]

he wasn't an asshole. he was just the typical guy who thinks as much with his penis as he does with his brain. young n dumb.