Batman heads to the Iceberg Lounge in Mark Wooden’s continuing Batman fanfiction.
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Leon Singleton liked his job at the Iceberg Lounge.
He was a Gotham beat cop, but that never paid the bills. He’d taken off-duty work as security at some of Gotham’s other nightclubs, but this one paid top dollar. Leon chalked it up to the high-end clientele.
The place was only open two nights of the week — and those nights rotated. But Gotham’s elite always figured it out, keeping the place packed.
Hell, tonight they had Tony frickin’ Stark D-jaying.
Tony Stark!
Iron Man!
Leon was going to try to get an autograph for his kid later, but Stark was neck-deep in booze and boobs. He may have to get one of the other guys to get it for him, especially since he was stuck on the fifth floor guarding the VIP level.
Sure, there were some occasional great sights here, but it was nothing like being down on the floor.
Hell of a lot warmer up here, though. Secluded as it was from the rest of the space, you didn’t have to freeze it out to keep the penguins in the central ice flow/ pool cold.
It occurred to Leon that the other reason the Lounge paid so well was to keep its employees quiet. Sure, there was the celebrity factor. TMZ or Vicki Vale’s ezine would pay top dollar for some of the dirt that comes outta this place.
Then again, so would Gotham PD.
The Penguin ran the joint, and he had some interesting guests from time to time. The cop in Leon would love to get just five minutes on Penguin’s computer or his file cabinet.
Mr. Cobblepot (if you wanted to keep your head on your shoulders) made out like a nice guy. Charming, shared the wealth and seemed to care if you were doing all right.
But he was still the Penguin, one of Gotham’s top mob bosses. He didn’t get there being nice. Leon hadn’t seen anything himself, but he’d heard stories.
None of them ended well for those on the wrong side of the Penguin.
Best to let Batman deal with him, should it come to that.
Leon brought his wrist up to his mouth and spoke into the small microphone there. “Charlie! Cover for me, would ya? I wanna get a smoke in.”
Charlie didn’t answer.
Leon called his name again over the mic.
Still no reply.
Leon frowned. He moved down the hall toward the bridge that crossed above the main floor and to the other side of the VIP level.
Charlie was supposed to be on the other side. When one of them had to piss or smoke, the other would take up a vantage on the bridge.
Like the rest of the level, it glass enclosed the bridge; one could see the rest of the floor and the levels below with muted noise or cold from those levels.
That was the idea, anyway. But Mr. Cobblepot kept the lights down low up here, killing the ability to see much of anything. Floor lights helped a bit and the occasional burst from the light display below.
Leon couldn’t see across, so he couldn’t tell where Charlie was.
Reaching the bridge, Leon rounded the corner to walk across.
…and walked into a wall of Kevlar body armor.
Leon felt a gloved hand push him backward and to the floor. Before he could recover, that same gloved hand grabbed the front of his shirt and hoisted him up, so he was just off the ground. He looked at his attacker —
…and right into the cowl of the Batman.
“Where’s Penguin?” Batman growled at Leon.
“I don’t know!” Leon shouted over the thudding din from the music downstairs.
Batman grabbed Leon’s shirt with both hands now, lifted him up and slammed him against the wall. Leon cried out as his head hit the glass.
“Leon Singleton.”
He knows my name! Batman had Leon’s full attention.
“You work out of the two two,” Batman continued. “Spotless record, compared to most who were on the force under Loeb. Working for the Penguin isn’t your style.”
“B-b-bills, man,” was all Leon could muster. He was still trying to find the floor with his feet and failing miserably.
“Find Penguin. Send him to his office.” Batman dropped Leon to the floor. “And find another way to pay those bills,” he added before disappearing into the shadows.
It took Leon a moment to process what had happened had happened. He’d been roughed up by the Batman. He fared better than a criminal. Thank God for that!
But after tonight, he may have to go back to more off-duty hours for lower pay.
To be continued…
While writing this fanfiction, I used Green Ronin’s Mutants and Masterminds, 3rd Edition RPG, to leave some things to chance. Check it out!
Like this fanfiction? Check out Mark’s original “Shadowdance” saga books!
Copyright Info
DC Adventures, Copyright 2011, Green Ronin Publishing; Author Steve Kenson. Now it’s Mutants and Masterminds, 3rd Edition
Advanced Player’s Manual, Copyright 2005, Green Ronin Publishing: Author Skip Williams.
The characters Iron Man, Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, Vanko, Black Widow and Nick Fury are Copyright Marvel Comics
The characters Batman/ Bruce Wayne, Batgirl/ Barbara Gordon, Black Mask, the Penguin/ Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, Renee Montoya, Commissioner Gordon, Alfred Pennyworth, Robin/ Dick Grayson, KGBeast and Bane are Copyright DC Comics
The character Juri Han is Copyright Capcom
None of the characters belong to me as this is fanfiction, done for fun, and as a creative exercise.
