The alarm woke him at exactly 10 PM. Bruce sat up, instantly alert. No grogginess, no disorientation. Peak human physiology meant waking fully operational.
He made his way down to the lab. NEXUS was already running final systems checks.
"All equipment operational," the AI reported. "Weather conditions remain favorable. Mannheim's organization is active tonight. Intelligence suggests he will be personally present at the warehouse between midnight and 2 AM. Optimal window for operation."
Bruce walked to the suit. His hands were steady as he began putting it on. Each piece of armor settled into place with familiar weight. The utility belt with all its tools. The cape that would let him glide between buildings. The boots designed for silent movement and maximum grip.
Finally, the cowl.
Bruce picked it up and looked at his reflection one last time as Bruce Wayne. Seventeen years old. Billionaire heir. High school senior. Friend. Student. Son of murdered parents.
Tomorrow he'd still be all those things. But tonight, he was something else.
He pulled on the cowl. The integrated systems activated. His vision shifted as the tactical display came online. NEXUS's voice spoke directly into his ear through the communications system.
"All systems green. You are Batman."
Bruce looked at himself in the mirror. The figure staring back was barely recognizable as human. All black. Armored. Menacing. A living shadow.
He turned away from the mirror and walked to the Batmobile. The vehicle's systems activated as he approached, the canopy sliding open smoothly.
Bruce climbed in. The seat molded to his body perfectly. Controls responded to the lightest touch. Heads-up display showed navigation, communications, and tactical data.
"Route programmed," NEXUS said. "Estimated travel time to insertion point: 47 minutes. Recommend departing now to maintain optimal operation timeline."
Bruce's hand hovered over the ignition. This was the last moment he could turn back. The last chance to decide that this was too dangerous, too reckless, too soon.
But his mind went to the statistics. Three hundred and sixteen preventable deaths per year. Families destroyed. Lives ruined. All because no one with the capability to help had been willing to act.
No more waiting.
Bruce engaged the ignition. The Batmobile's engine came to life with a deep, powerful rumble.
"Let's go."
The secret exit from Wayne Manor's basement opened, revealing a tunnel that led to an abandoned section of Gotham's old subway system. Bruce drove into the darkness, the Batmobile's lights cutting through the gloom.
The tunnel stretched for three miles, eventually emerging at a concealed exit point in Gotham's industrial district. Bruce navigated through the shadows, avoiding main streets, using the route NEXUS had mapped out weeks ago.
The city looked different from inside the Batmobile. More dangerous. More real. Every dark alley could hide a mugging. Every flickering streetlight marked territory where the police rarely patrolled.
'This is my city,' Bruce thought. 'And I'm going to save it. One criminal at a time if I have to.'
The East End appeared ahead. One of Gotham's poorest neighborhoods, plagued by crime and abandoned by the city's power structure. Bruno Mannheim's warehouse-nightclub sat in the heart of it, a converted industrial building where drugs were distributed, money was laundered, and violence was dispensed to anyone who challenged his authority.
Not anymore.
Bruce parked the Batmobile three blocks away in a location NEXUS had identified as having minimal surveillance coverage. He exited the vehicle and triggered its security systems. The car would be invisible to casual observation, and lethal to anyone who tried to tamper with it.
Then Batman melted into the shadows and began moving toward his target.
His enhanced physique made urban navigation effortless. He scaled a fire escape in seconds, muscles barely straining. The rooftop became his highway. He jumped from building to building with perfect precision, cape billowing behind him.
The warehouse came into view. Four stories tall, converted from its industrial origins into a nightclub on the ground floor with illegal operations on the upper levels. Lights blazed from the windows. Music thumped into the night. People lined up outside, unaware of the violence and corruption happening above them.
Batman crouched on a rooftop across the street and observed. NEXUS's intelligence had been accurate. Two guards on the roof of the target building. Three at the ground-level entrance. Unknown number inside.
"Thermal scan shows seventeen people inside the building," NEXUS reported through his cowl. "Eleven appear to be armed based on heat signatures near likely weapon storage areas. Mannheim is on the third floor, northeast corner. Two bodyguards with him."
"Acknowledged. Beginning approach."
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