Batman With A "The"

It hadn’t took long for the vigilante to do another sweep around the area. He was just about to return to the Batmobile and move onto the next sector of his patrol, when his instincts alerted him to something approaching from behind. He whipped around, cape covering his form but his hand still at his belt.

For a brief period of time Batman followed the shadow through the area, keeping as out of sight as he could manage without losing track of his target. It was hard to get a good look at the shadow, as they moved both swiftly and stealthily, yet Batman had an impression of a tall figure with a long cloak, and long points at the top of their head. Like horns... or like bat ears.

The last time the Batman saw another shadowy figure running through Gotham City, clad in a cape and cowl, Joker had decided to take over Batman’s position. Batman doubted Joker would be interested in trying that again, so who else would be impersonating the Dark Knight? The Joining were gone, so that seemed unlikely as well. The new Clayface seemed more plausible, but subtlety wasn’t exactly Karlo’s strong suit. 

And this guy was good- just as Batman was getting close, he saw his target tense up. It was only a brief moment, but Batman was used to following people and instinctively knew to duck into the shadow of a nearby chimney.

He waited there for the space of a few heartbeats, until he was sure that his target was going to move again, and then took a cautious step out.

Unfortunately, the Batman’s step wasn’t quite cautious enough. The edges of his cape brushed up against the chimney, and the stiff material made a quiet rustling sound. 

The Batman’s target spun around, and he spotted a glimmer of sharp metal in his target’s hand. Batman jumped to the side before his target could potentially take aim, and he raised his fists, but didn’t move to strike just yet.

Now that he could get a good look at his target, the Batman narrowed his eyes at the other Batman.

He focused his eyes down as he maneuvered his jacket around to tie the sleeves around his waist, though he suddenly felt a bit self-conscious about it. Probably looked weird. It was an ugly jacket, and the only people he’d seen do it were girls at school—

He glanced in the direction that Edward had indicated, making a mental note of what Edward had said. Bruce already read several newspapers on a regular basis, and some magazines wouldn’t add much to that.