Free Batman by Alex Irvine Page B

information like that, but the next murder—of Brian Isaacson, a contractor who engineered extensive renovations on the Ace Chemical plant—occurred exactly one hour later. Tick, tock.
    “Isaacson was reported to have been shot with a rifle. The source of the shot and the position of the killer have not been determined. Police are scouring nearby rooftops and the upper floors of abandoned buildings in the area, and believe they’re narrowing down the possible locations the sniper could have chosen.
    “It is not known at this point whether the same person is responsible for both killings. Nor is it known whether they have any relation to the sighting of Batman at Gotham City police headquarters, earlier this morning.
    “We’ve had reports that Batman was at the Gotham Merchant’s Bank building—not the new one in Middleton, but the old landmark in Arkham City. It was partially destroyed by the Joker during the riots that led to the downfall of Hugo Strange, and if Batman was indeed there, you have to wonder if that means some organized criminal activity is occurring. Since Batman’s visit, there have been reports of a four-alarm fire, with four engine companies and two ladder companies responding. We’re staying on that story, as well as new developments in the sniper case.
    “These have been pretty quiet months in Gotham City, since the Joker died, but it looks like things might start to get lively again. From the corner of Broadway and Hamm Alley, this is Vicki Vale,
Eye on Gotham
.”

9
    On the other side of door number one, a stairway led down to a junction room with two hallways feeding out of it at right angles. As Robin understood the layout of the steel mill, one of them would travel under the length of the building, and the other would cut across the corner closest to the furnace, potentially leading to another part of Arkham City.
    Or
, he thought,
Wonder City
. The old ruin underlaid much of Arkham City, and it seemed like a natural place for the Riddler to concoct his schemes.
    He chose the one on the left, running perpendicular to the long axis of the steel mill.
    Question marks lit his way as he continued to the end of the passage. He estimated he’d gone a hundred yards or so, at a noticeable downward angle. He was probably forty or fifty feet below street level at this point, and somewhere to the west-northwest of the steel mill. If he kept going this way, he would run into either the Bowery subway station and terminal, or the sewer infrastructure underneath it. Something to keep in mind as he tried to anticipate what the Riddler had in store.
    The hallway ended on a catwalk overlooking a giant cistern, lit by a few bare bulbs. The sockets looked old, but the bulbs were new.
    There were dozens of these in Gotham City, designed originally to hold drinking water and later repurposed for storm water overflow. They were huge cylinders with pumping machinery built into the walls near the bottom. The catwalk ran around the entire circumference of the cistern, about eight feet below its ceiling. He didn’t see a door other than the one he’d used to enter.
    As Robin paused on the catwalk to take this all in, the door clanged shut behind him. He didn’t bother checking to see if he could open it. Whatever the Riddler had in store for him, it had begun. Looking back would just waste time.
    Below the catwalk, inflow tunnels ringed the cistern wall. He counted six of them, and a blank video screen had been placed over each one. While the cistern itself was old stone, covered in stains and slime, the screens were brand new. At the bottom of the cistern, thirty feet or so below the catwalk, lay a drain ringed with brick. Seeing it set off the first alarm bell in Robin’s head. Usually they were kept closed to hold water. This one was open.
    He heard a roar, and water burst out of one of the inflow pipes. The flow arced down into the cistern, forming a small whirlpool over the drain. A moment later, a second