Each encounter marks a beginning. Each encounter marks an ending. Each encounter can be summarized as the point, the moment where the end of the Batman began.
He pressed his hand against the glass of the skylight, looking down into the building below. Gotham First National Bank, a grand structure with a large lobby, lay below him, several men roving through the area with quickened gaits. It was close to eleven on this Saturday night, well outside of bank operating hours. Given that, and the fact that- despite the lights inside being in use- almost each man carried a flashlight, he could safely assume that they were not there to make a deposit.
“I’m here, Alfred,” Batman informed, raising his other hand to his ear. “The tip was good.”
“Unfortunate, considering the result,” Alfred said back over the radio. The communicator device in Bruce’s ear shifted under the pressure from his fingers, placing the device further into his lobe so that he could better hear. “I was hoping for a quiet evening.”
“Any word on who gave the tip?” Batman asked. He had come here based off of a nameless source who had told Gordon of a potential bank robbery in two weeks. Not wanting to tip off any criminals early, he had asked Batman not thirty minutes ago to see if he could find anyone casing the building ahead of the allotted time.
“No, sir. His identity remains anonymous for now.”
He grunted. “Keep trying. I’m going to see what we’re dealing with.”
“Yes, sir.” Alfred switched off the speaker on his end of the line.
Bruce took his hand down from his ear and lowered it to his gauntlet, activating his detective vision. The colors of the world around him shifted, becoming darker and allowing him to better focus on the people inside.
He counted the humanoid heat signatures roving around the rooms, a difficult task considering their speed. There appeared to be twenty men in the main lobby, but his distance kept him from being able to see into all of the rooms.
The bank had only two floors, but almost everything was on the ground level. Only the bank manager’s office and a pair of restrooms were on the second floor. Nobody appeared to be in either, but he couldn’t rule out the possibility of someone being in there. Everyone appeared to be congregated in the lobby and the security box sections.
Notably, none of the people he could see appeared to be armed. There were no sidearms strapped to their sides nor did he see any knives in their hands. His specialized vision had a detector meant to scan for and identify any hazardous materials or dangerous weapons. Yet, as he looked around at the criminals he could spot, his detective vision could see neither of each.
They were all actively scanning the environment with their flashlights, seemingly oblivious to the lights that were on above their heads. In fact, many of them were pointing their flashlights up at the ceiling in coordinated patterns. Their light beams crossed paths many times as the robbers circled around each other and the various rooms of the building.
They’re expecting me, Batman thought. As he noticed their patterns, he also noticed that none of them seemed to be looting the bank either. They seemed to be singularly focused on patrolling the bank. It was possible that this was a test run at infiltration, but he feared that they weren’t interested in actually robbing the bank. More likely, they wanted to lure him into a trap of some sort.
He removed his hand from the skylight pane and deactivated his detective vision, getting a second look at the bank with his own eyes. Upon a second glance, he absorbed in the layout of the bank. Near the main entrance of the building, the lobby extended all the way to the walls. A large, squared table sat in the center of the lobby, a receptionist’s workstation built to administrate bank visitors all around the table.
Beyond that, there were two rooms at the opposite side of the building from the entrance with security boxes held in the center. Bruce didn’t personally have any money in this bank, but he guessed that these rooms would be the bank’s reserves, holding much of the wealth. Normally, there would be a locked gate between these reserves and the lobby, but these gates had seemingly been opened by use of force, several steel locks around the floor nearby. Without weapons, it was probable that the locks had been picked rather than broken.
Finally, there was the vault, pressed into a tight corner of the walls. The door was spotless, not a single smudge or scratch to indicate any attempt to enter. It was way too far out of range for his detective vision to catch, but it was almost certainly secure.
“Alfred,” Batman said, bringing his hand back up to his ear.
“Yes, sir?”
“Anything to report?”
“Not yet. The police haven’t had any leads… and neither do I, sir.” Alfred paused. “Are you thinking that the informant is a co-conspirator?”
“Or the informant was supposed to tip us off,” Bruce mused. “It doesn’t look like they’re actually robbing the bank. They’re just walking around, looking for me.”
“Then perhaps you won’t need to take them down. Shall I call the police to round them up?”
“Not yet, Alfred. If they’re planning a trap, the police may get hurt.” He turned on his detective vision again. “They don’t look armed, but there’s no telling what they’re planning. I’m going to deal with this myself.”
“I suppose that would be best,” Alfred replied hesitantly. “Very well. I will wait for your word to tell Commissioner Gordon.”
“They seem to be anticipating me coming at them from above,” Batman observed. The refracted light inside the bank would make it impossible for them to see him through the skylight, but the cover would vanish once he made his entrance. “I’m going to need another way inside.”
“I can try to find you one,” the radio transmitted. “Do you have any preference?”
“Something quick,” Bruce answered. He switched off his detective vision again and searched for a route inside on the rooftop.
“Let’s see,” Alfred said slowly. “We have a couple of options.” An image of the bank’s schematics appeared on Bruce’s gauntlet. “The air ducts could get you inside without being seen, and there is a vent that would put you in the manager’s office.”
“They’re watching for an attack from above, Alfred. I need an insertion at the ground floor.” One of the flashlights below shined over the skylight. Batman stared back at the man holding it until the beam moved along. No alarm had been raised.
“Have you considered strolling in through the front door?”
“Not seriously.”
“Well, there is a way in through a side entrance. It’s not much different from the front door.” Alfred pulled a red arrow over the display on his gauntlet to point at a door at leading from the bank to the alley on the northern end of the building. “It’s an employee-only door, though I doubt the employees would mind you entering to stop the bank from being robbed.”
“I don’t think there was ever any intention to rob the bank,” Batman said, standing up straight and walking from the skylight to the northern edge of the roof. “But I intend to find out what it is they want.”
“The door may be locked, sir.”