Here is Chapter 4 of the Fox of Gotham. Naruto's exploits as the vigilante attract the mob who want retaliation and they will get it. Meanwhile, Gordon's on a quest to find out who this vigilante is and what he wants but that will have to wait as he must face the consequences for his actions. Enjoy!

The Vigilante strikes again

News of the Gotham Vigilante's attack on Evans had spread throughout the city like wildfire and depending on who you were, you reacted differently. To the disenfranchised and victimized of the city, the vigilante looked be their Robin Hood or William Wallace. A man who was doing what it took to stand up to the evil of the city. To the cops and city leadership, the vigilante was a nutcase who was terrorizing the city. Those people tended to be on the mob's payroll and recently took a hit from the vigilante's attacks on Maroni and Falcone.

The Gotham Gazette started calling the vigilante the Fox, based on the amateur drawing, eye witness testimonies and the stories of how he operated and attacked. Naruto wasn't keen on the name but there wasn't exactly a poll he could take for vigilante names.

Falcone had called a meeting with his capos at his secret warehouse to discuss the fallout of the Arkham deal and most recently the actions of the Gotham Vigilante. Falcone's car arrived at the warehouse where Fish, Nikolai and the other heads were waiting. Falcone stepped out of his car and adjusted his jacket as he joined his followers.

"I know your families are upset…but tell them everybody got a piece of the Arkham project. It was a business decision. We didn't lose, Maroni didn't win." Falcone told them.

"Maroni thinks he won. He thinks he won a great battle. We need to hurt him." Nikolai said.

"No." Falcone replied.

"If we don't push back hard, he's going to think— ""Nikolai, that fool with think what I want him to think. No pushback, not yet." Falcone interrupted him.

"In my country, we say, even a fool may bite a king…if he has teeth." Nikolai said.

"Can the folklore, Niko. We're not in your godforsaken country. We are here in Gotham, where we have plumbing, electricity, and Don Falcone is the boss. He's playing that cluck Maroni on a long line. Done!" Fish told him.

"Why so angry, Fish? I speak my mind. Is no crime. And I assure you in my country, we have all modern conveniences. Only difference, ladies. Ladies are in kitchen or in bed…depending on their talents." Nikolai told her.

"I bet your mother was a lousy cook." Fish taunted him.

"Don't speak of my mother!" Nikolai warned her.

"Or what? You gonna hit a lady?" Fish said, taunting him again.

"That's enough! There'll be no bad blood here." Falcone told them.

"My apologies, Don Falcone." Fish replied.

"We need each other. We're family. And right now, our main concern is the Gotham Vigilante, this…Fox that has been attacking our businesses and costing us all our money. And if we lose our money then we lose our influence and then we lose our power." Falcone told them.

"I will handle him, Don Falcone. My men are anxious for payback after his attacks." Nikolai said.

"While I admire your bravado, Nikola, this will be a group effort. His attack on the casino days ago has hampered our business. That combined with his previous attacks means we'll be changing up some of our operations. You'll be contacted and instructed on the change up but our main priority is dealing with this vigilante. Whoever this is, he needs to learn a lesson." Falcone said.

"I heard he also attacked Maroni's operations and took Aldrich Evans for everything he was worth. It seems we have a genuine Robin Hood on our hands." Fish said.

"I don't care if he's Robin Hood or Mother Teresa, no one disrupts my operations and attacks my people and thinks they can get away with it. Use all your contacts and resources to find this man. And spread the word that I'm raising the bounty on this man. $50,000 for him dead, $100,000 for him alive so I can talk with him first." Falcone said as everyone nodded.

Gordon and Bullock were driving through the city to track down a lead on a thief who stole an ATM from a convenience store. Not from the ATM, the thief literally ripped the ATM from the wall and carried it out like it was a bag. They think the guy was on some kind of drug or steroid and they need to find him before he hurts somebody.

They walked up to people asking if they had seen the thief, showing his picture around. "Have you seen this guy?" Gordon asked a woman, who was probably an escort.

"Yeah, I know him. He's Benny, a guitar player. Strung out like a string. What'd he do?" She asked.

"Oh, nothing bad. He came into an inheritance that nobody knew about." Gordon said, playing a game as Bullock followed.

"That's right. A million dollars. Farm, horses, it's real nice. Do you know where we can find him?" Bullock asked.

"20 dollars." She said as Gordon took out a 10-dollar bill.

"Ten." Gordon said and she took it, pointing them in the direction of the old Gotham Shipyard. They drove there and walked into one of the old ship building areas and saw dozens of empty milk containers, candy bars and anything containing dairy.

"Same as the bodega." Gordon said.

"What's with all the dairy products?" Bullock asked as they moved further in and saw their thief, Benny. He was sitting against the ATM with some recently eaten candy bars and looked like crap. They took out their guns and aimed them at him.

"Sir, GCPD let me see those hands!" Gordon said and Benny held his hands up, glad to see them.

"Oh…help me. I need…more." Benny said, in a pained voice.

"More what? What'd you take? What is it?" Gordon asked as Benny struggled to get to his feet.

"It's…it felt so good. But now…now I don't feel so good, something's wrong. I need more. Please…you have to find him." Benny said.

"Find who? The guy who gave you this stuff?" Gordon asked.

"Yeah! The man…with a mangled ear." Benny said as Gordon nodded to Bullock who holstered his gun and took out his handcuffs.

"Stay calm and we'll help you." Gordon said.

"Ok, calm down. We're here to help you." Bullock approached him to put the handcuffs on but Benny pushed back.

"Hey! Sir! Sir, we need you to calm down!" Gordon walked up to help Bullock secure him but Benny pushed them both away and sent them tumbling across the ground.

Benny growled in anger and picked up the ATM and held it over his head like it was a box of toilet paper. "I said no!" Benny shouted as his veins and skin began turning white.

"Put it down!" Gordon shouted, aiming his gun at Benny.

Benny walked forward with the intent to crush the police officers but his bones began to break and he collapsed with the ATM falling on top of him.

"What the hell?" Bullock asked.

"God help us if that drug gets out." Gordon said.

Line Break xxxxx

The next morning, Naruto woke up early to get in some morning training before Diggle arrived. Naruto finished his morning training, took a shower, and got dressed in a suit. He walked to the kitchen but wanted to check on Bruce first. He opened up the room to the study Bruce was using and saw Bruce asleep on the couch with boxes and boxes of files all over the place. The place looked like a mess.

"Geez, mom would kill you if she saw this place." Naruto said as Alfred came by and agreed.

"Quite right, Master Naruto. Look at these shambles. What would you mother say?" Alfred said as he opened the blinds and the sudden burst of light woke up Bruce. "You know, I have half a mind to stick all this lot straight into the bloody fire."

"No fire." Bruce replied as he rubbed his eyes.

"We'll see about that. When was the last time you actually slept in your own bed?" Naruto asked as he moved some files over.

"A few days ago." Bruce replied. Naruto looked at the files and saw they were from Wayne Enterprises.

"And where did you get these files?" Naruto asked, demanding an answer.

"Storage. Dad kept a lot of these things around and I was able to get some from Wayne Enterprises. I am a Wayne, after all." Bruce said.

"What did I say, Bruce? Don't be a smart ass." Naruto said as Bruce nodded. "And I'm not happy with your recent hobby. What you should be doing is focusing on your studies for when you go back to school."

"I'm not going back to school." Bruce said.

"Over my dead body you're not going back." Naruto replied.

"Your brother is right, Master Bruce. School is important and seeing as how Naruto is technically your legal guardian, you will go back to school eventually." Alfred.

"Mom and dad would never forgive me if you didn't finish your education and I'm going to honor their wishes and you will finish school and go off to college." Naruto told him and Bruce nodded as he grabbed a file. "First things first, you're gonna take a shower and get some food in you as well as some proper rest. Wayne Enterprises is hosting a charitable dinner tonight and I think it'd be a good idea for you to go."

"Good. Is there breakfast?" Bruce asked as Alfred and Naruto were shocked he accepted the invitation.

"Yeah, I'll make you an egg. Does that mean you'll go?" Alfred asked.

"Yes, I have some questions and I need to ask the members of the board." Bruce said.

"Or you could ask your big brother, CEO of the company. What kind of questions?" Naruto asked.

"About Arkham. It actually seems that those gangsters were given their shares of Arkham by Wayne Enterprises. Were they?" Bruce asked and Naruto nodded.

"Unfortunately, yes Bruce. The board went over my head and awarded the shares to both members of the Falcone and Maroni family. Most likely in a combination of fear and profit. Fear of being attacked and the board is always looking for ways to advance profits." Naruto said.

"And there isn't anything you can do?" Bruce asked.

"You'll find that the most dangerous things in the world isn't weapons but businessmen and women with an acute knowledge of the law and loopholes." Naruto said.

"A valuable lesson then." Bruce said as he began reading more of the files. Naruto and Alfred shared an uneasy look as they went to the kitchen.

Alfred began preparing Bruce's breakfast so Naruto turned on the TV and drank his coffee while he waited for Diggle when he saw something interesting on the news.

"We are live in downtown Gotham where a deadly new drug has hit the streets, nicknamed Viper. Users of this mystery drug acquire great strength and a euphoric sense of power but only for a few brief hours. Then without exception they die a horrible death." The newswoman said.

"Bloody hell. It seems that this city is tearing itself apart." Alfred said.

"Yeah." Naruto said when he heard Diggle arrive. "Dig. Get some breakfast. We're not heading to Wayne Enterprises yet. We're gonna make a pitstop first."

At the GCPD, the building was riddled with officers pushing and shoving arrested junkies or civilians who has just used the new drug Viper. Unfortunately, handling them was harder than most perps because of the increased strength they possess and their psychotic attitude. Gordon and Bullock were in Captain Essen's officer where Nygma was telling them what he learned about the drug.

"It's really quite remarkable. Viper, somehow, activated unused DNA. The body starts to burn Calcium from the skeletal structure as fuel, hence the victims craving for milk and cheese. They're desperately trying to replace the missing Calcium but they can't consume enough. Essentially, their bones crumble then they suffocate and die." Nygma told them.

"You see anything like this before?" Gordon asked.

"No. Nobody has. Totally new. I can't tell you how thrilled I am to—" "No new reports for a few hours now, maybe they ran out of this stuff." Captain Essen said.

"I doubt it." Gordon said.

"Who would put this on the street? Why? They're not even selling it, they're giving it away." Essen said.

"That's how you create demand." Bullock said.

"For a drug that kills you that fast?" Essen asked.

"Well, first it makes you king of the world. They'll be takers." Gordon said.

"They'll be mayhem, that's for sure. But it's skell on skell mayhem. If we keep the decent citizens indoors for a couple weeks, let the scumbags have at it, voila, the end of crime." Bullock said as Gordon had the look of are you serious.

"Yeah, that's a nice thought. But no." Essen replied.

"This stuff seems hard to make, no?" Gordon asked Nygma.

"Oh, it takes a high level of technical sophistication. A state of the art lab made this stuff." Nygma said.

"Ok, so who has the biggest and best lab in the city?" Gordon asked.

"The best, is WellZyn." Nygma said.

"But this is not them. They're a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises, multi-billion-dollar corporation. Why would they be doing this?" Essen asked.

"Something I'd like to know." They heard as they looked to the door and saw Naruto and Diggle walk in. "I'd like to think that if I did mastermind an evil plan like this, I wouldn't be stupid enough to use my own company." Naruto joked.

"Mr. Wayne, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have even suggesting something like that." Captain Essen said as Naruto smile and nodded.

"It's fine, Captain Essen. You're just doing your job. It's a pleasure to meet you." Naruto said, shaking her hand.

"The pleasure is mine, sir." Essen replied.

"Mr. Nygma. A pleasure." Naruto said as Nygma shook his hand. "James, Harvey, it's good to see you again."

"Likewise, Naruto." Gordon said as he shook Naruto's hand. Then Harvey shook his.

"Looking good, kid." Bullock said.

"Well, power suits will do that to you. This is my head of security, John Diggle." Naruto said as Diggle shook Gordon and Bullock's hand.

"Nice to meet you. I was surprised to see you down here, Naruto. What brings the visit?" Gordon asked.

"Well, I was hoping to offer my company's services to combat this Viper situation and now I think that I definitely will be able to help. I'll contact my assistant and they'll bring over all the information on WellZyn to the GCPD." Naruto said.

"Are you sure about that, Mr. Wayne. Perhaps you'd like to have your lawyers present just in case." Captain Essen said.

"No need, Captain Essen. If my company is behind this then I'm more than happy to help stop this and if not, perhaps the information I can give you may help." Naruto said when the window to Captain Essen's office was smashed in by the body of a police officer. Diggle covered Naruto as he pulled out his gun. Bullock and Gordon pulled out their guns and walked out to see the hooker who helped them find Benny had pushed the officer through the window.

"Let go of me!" She shouted as she struggled when she stopped. Her skin turned white and her veins began to show as she stumbled before dropping to the floor dead.

"Jesus." Naruto said.

"Fascinating. Fascinating." Nygma said.

"I'll get those files here in 30 minutes." Naruto said as Gordon nodded.

"Great. The sooner the better." Gordon replied.

The CSI team came and bagged the body and evidence while everyone got back to work and put the rest of the viper nutcases in lockup while Naruto just finished with his assistant.

"Ok, good news. My assistant's pulling all relevant files from WellZyn for us but it's a lot. Anything you can give me to help narrow this down?" Naruto asked Gordon and Bullock.

"Our prime suspect might be a former worker of WellZyn. A man, maybe 20-30 years of age, and with a mangled ear." Gordon said as that made Naruto remember something.

"That…sounds familiar. I think he might have been a former employee. Uh…bio-division. Stan Petolski." Naruto said and they were surprised that Naruto remembered that.

"How the hell do you remember one guy out of probably a million employees you have?" Bullock asked.

"I have a near eidetic memory. And a report about a guy trying to cut off his own ear makes it memorable." Naruto said.

"Ok, then we'll need everything WellZyn has on him if he is the one behind this." Gordon said as Naruto nodded.

"I'll be back as soon as possible." Naruto said as he and Diggle left.

"I'll call dispatch, put out an APB and try and track him down." Bullock said as he went to call it in.

"All right, I'll check with the desk. See if his name has come up." Gordon walked over when he was stopped by someone working for Maroni and escorted out of the precinct.

Naruto managed to get all the files on Petolski and even his personal items he left at WellZyn and brought them back to the GCPD. He and Dig walked them in as Bullock motioned him over to his desk. "How many boxes?" Bullock asked.

"Three total. Two of files, and the other one is personal. Stan Petolski didn't even clean out his desk when he quit." Naruto said as he put the box down and began to sort through it.

"Why'd he quit?" Bullock asked.

"From what the paperwork said, Petolski was part of the cosmetic section as a bio-chemist. From what the report said, he grew disgruntled that he wasn't doing work more suited to his reputation and in an argument with his supervisor tried to cut off his own ear. After that, he quit and didn't even take his stuff." Naruto began looking over some of the paperwork and files that Stan worked on. "No next of kin or emergency contact. Parents are dead and was an only child. A lonely life."

"Yeah, a tragedy." Bullock said as he began going over the files. Naruto looked around and didn't see detective Gordon.

"Where's detective Gordon?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know. The boy scout left about an hour ago." Bullock said.

"Boy scout?" Naruto asked.

"Oh yeah, Jim's the boy scout of the GCPD. Still not completely with how things work here. He's a stubborn son of a bitch, I'll give him that." Bullock said when Naruto saw Gordon walk in.

"Don't let him hear you say that." Naruto said as Bullock looked over and saw Gordon.

"He's hears me call him worse." Bullock replied to Naruto as Gordon walked over. "There you are. Where the hell have you been?"

"Personal business." Gordon replied.

"You disappear in the middle of a case and you can't even tell me why?" Bullock asked.

"That's what personal means." Gordon told him.

"You in some kind of trouble? Look, forget it. The kid brought over all of the files on Petolski, start combing through." Bullock said.

"Anything useful yet?" Gordon asked.

"Nope. Just old business memos, emails, and stuff. Work driven man, no family or friends from what I can see." Naruto said as he grabbed Stan's yearbook from Gotham University. "Everything ok, detective?"

"It's fine, Naruto." Gordon replied with a small smile.

"It's it Barbara? She get into something?" Bullock asked.

"Who's Barbara?" Naruto asked.

"Boy scout's fiancé." Bullock said as Naruto nodded.

"Uh…yeah, kinda." Gordon replied.

"Figures. No offense. Need any help?" Bullock asked as Gordon smiled.

"No but thanks." Gordon replied as he looked over some files. Naruto looked through the yearbook and found a long message written by one of Petolski's professors about how a great student and friend he was and how he cherished their friendship. Naruto looked at the professor and recognized him from a photo in the box.

Naruto looked for it and saw it was of Stan and Professor Willobrook. "I think I got something." Naruto showed them the photo of Stan and the professor. "Stan's old philosophy professor at Gotham University. From his yearbook they were good friends. Could be a lead."

"Worth a shot." Bullock said as he and Gordon grabbed their coats.

"Mind if I tag along?" Naruto asked but Gordon and Bullock looked at each other.

"Naruto, we appreciate your help, but this could be dangerous." Gordon told him.

"Relax, we're just going to meet an old professor well in his 70's. And I've got Diggle watching my back and two of Gotham's finest." Naruto said as Gordon looked at Bullock who shrugged.

"Kid's old enough to make his own decisions." Bullock said.

"All right. But you can't interfere in our case." Gordon said so Naruto raised his hand.

"Swear across my heart. Besides, what's the worse that can happen." Naruto said as they drove to the professor's apartment.

The Professor let him in and he was very helpful and friendly. "I was just on my way to an appointment, but yes, I know Stan Petolski from his time at Gotham University. He was a student of mine, a very brilliant student." Professor Willobrook said.

"Have you stayed in touch over the years?" Gordon asked.

"Of course. He's a good friend. He may be a bio-chemist, but philosophy is a passion of his." The Professor said.

"What can you tell us about WellZyn firing him?" Bullock asked.

"Research into WellZyn led him into some dark moral corners." The Professor said which confused them.

"That's sounds unlikely. From his employee record, Stan was apart of the cosmetic section as a chemist. What moral corners are there?" Naruto asked.

"And you are, son?" the Professor asked.

"Naruto Uzumaki Wayne." Naruto told him as the Professor nodded.

"Ah, the new Wayne CEO. Well, I can say that you have been bamboozled by your own company and you don't even know it." The professor said with a chuckle. "Stan designed pharmaceutical weapons to be used by combat troops. Drugs that worked on an epigenetic level. Imagine an army made up of soldiers so strong, they could a man to pieces with their bare hands."

"That's impossible. I looked over those files about my company with a fine-tooth comb and WellZyn doesn't make weapons." Naruto said, upset about the fact that his family's company was making bio-weapons under his nose and he didn't even know.

"From what Stan told me, WellZyn and the board of directors are no strangers to making things seem what they aren't. And people like Stan are hurt in the process." The Professor said as he made his way over to his desk.

"How the hell do you know all this when I don't even know?" Naruto asked causing the professor to chuckle.

"Oh, my boy, you have no idea the kind of monsters you're dealing with at your family's company, do you? Stan came to me for advice and counseling from what he was doing with Viper. When WellZyn made their new batch, Venom, Stan had acquired some clarity and appealed to his bosses to end the program. They refused, so he went over their heads to Thomas and Martha Wayne." The Professor said as Naruto absorbed this new information. This must have been what his father was talking about in his message about one of his failures.

"And they did. But when they died, WellZyn immediately revived the program with the blessing of the board of Wayne Enterprises. In the end, there was nothing left for Stan to do but to resort to more radical measures." The Professor said, taking a piece of candy from a dish on his desk.

"Killing people? I'm not hearing a sense of moral outrage, professor." Gordon said.

"If you don't mind I'll reserve my moral outrage for the true villains of this piece." The professor said.

"You mean WellZyn. My company. You and Stan planned this didn't you? This Viper outbreak? All those innocent people dead as apart of your plan." Naruto said as everyone was disgusted and angry.

"Yes." The Professor replied.

"Where is he? Talk fast, bub!" Bullock shouted.

"Oh, what are you doing to do to me? I'm an old man, I'm dying!" The Professor shouted.

"I'll help you die quicker you terrorist!" Bullock threatened him.

"Soon, Stan will issue a statement the world won't be able to ignore." The Professor said.

"Soon? Today?" Gordon asked.

"You're already too late." The professor told him.

"Now you listen here! You better talk or— ""Wait, wait! You said you had an appointment, before. Where were you going?" Naruto asked, stopping Bullock to get some answers.

"Bravo, young man! You asked the right question. The first step to enlightenment!" The Professor said as he grabbed a viper vial from his candy dish, broke it opened and inhaled it.

"Oh, shit!" Naruto said as the Professor's skin and eyes turned white. He shoved Gordon and Bullock across the room and grabbed Naruto and Diggle and threw them against the wall. He picked up Naruto and threw him through his front door.

Naruto hit the ground in pain as he moved some of the broken door off of him and saw the professor bend his metal walker like it was made of rubber. Naruto quickly stood up as the professor grabbed him, held him up against the wall in the hallway and began choking the life out of him.

"Shit!" Naruto shouted. He began punching the professor in the face, but he acted like he didn't feel anything.

"Naruto!" Dig shouted as he and Gordon fired several shots into the professor, causing him to let Naruto go and hit the ground.

"Kid, you ok?" Bullock asked as they ran over. Dig checked on him while Bullock and Gordon kept their guns on the professor.

"I'm fine." Naruto replied, with a little sore throat.

"Where is he?! Where's Petolski?!" Gordon shouted.

"Those hypocrites! Empty altruism will not erase what they've done. They must pay!" The Professor said.

"Who?! Who must pay?!" Gordon asked.

"WellZyn. Wayne Enterprises. Soon, everyone will see them for what they are." The Professor managed to utter before he dropped dead.

"How?! Where's Petolski headed?!" Gordon shouted.

"What's altruism?" Bullock asked.

"Charity. Selfless concern for others…" Naruto said and he realized what Petolski was going to do. "I know where he's going. The Wayne Charity dinner at the Gotham Royal Hotel. We've got to stop him."

"Harvey, call it in. We might be in time to stop him." Gordon said and they ran downstairs and got in the car and drove as fast as they could to the event.

Naruto took out his phone and called Alfred, but he didn't pick up, most likely the phone was on silent. Naruto then called the head of the event. "It's Naruto Wayne. Listen to me, you need to clear out the hotel, now! Get everyone out of there immediately!" Naruto said.

"No, you don't understand, everyone there is in danger! You need to get out of there. I don't care what the board has to say, contact the security for the hotel and get everyone out of there!" Naruto shouted. "If a single person is still in the hall by the time the police and I get there, you can be sure you won't have a job by tomorrow!"

Gordon swerved to a stop outside the hotel as the four ran in. "GCPD! The AC Plant is on the roof?!" Gordon asked as the hotel man nodded and they ran in. "I'll get him, evacuate the ball room!"

Gordon ran to the roof as Naruto followed him and Diggle followed Naruto. They ran up the stairs and got to the door to the roof, but Gordon stopped them. "Naruto, wait here!" Gordon told him, before taking out his gun and going out alone.

"You're not waiting, are you?" Diggle asked and Naruto shook his head no. Dig nodded and handed him his spare Glock. "Don't shoot me."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Naruto said as they ran out the door and saw Petolski held at gun point and a gas cannister with the viper symbol on it hooked up to the hotel's ventilation system.

"Turn it off!" Gordon shouted as he slowly moved forward.

"I can't do that." Petolski stood his ground and was just steps away from activating the Viper cannister.

"Petolski! You don't need to do this!" Naruto shouted as Gordon looked at him.

"Naruto, what are you doing here?!" Gordon shouted.

"Stan, my name is Naruto Wayne. I know what WellZyn did. I know about Viper! I can help you! You don't need to do this!" Naruto told him.

"It's too late for that. The only way they'll be stopped is if they suffer the same fate as everyone else!" Stan shouted, clearly not going to stand down.

"Turn it off, or I'll shoot!" Gordon shouted, warning him again.

"Go ahead, my work is already done!" Petolski shouted as Naruto saw the hose. He aimed his gun and shot the cannister, releasing the viper into the air near Stan. Naruto, Dig, and Gordon backed up and covered their mouths as all the viper was released at Stan, saving everyone in the hotel.

Stan fell to his knees and began to feel the euphoric sensation of the viper coursing through his system. He slammed his fist into the gas cannister and it dented it like it was made of putty.

"Turn around, put your hands behind your head, interlock your fingers!" Gordon shouted as he slowly walked forward while Stan slowly stepped to the edge of the roof.

"Your angry and confused, I understand. There's no more need for violence." Stan said when Bullock joined them on the roof, his gun set on Petolski.

"Don't shoot!" Gordon shouted.

"That's considerate of you. I'm leaving now. Go look at warehouse 39!" Stan shouted.

"You're not going anywhere!" Bullock shouted.

"I CAN GO ANYWHERE I WANT!" Petolski shouted, before turning around and falling off the roof.

"NO!" Naruto shouted as they ran to the edge and saw Petolski hit a car, blood staining it red.

"You really can have too much of a good thing." Bullock said.

"Come on. One last thing." Naruto said as they went to check out warehouse 39. They arrived at what looked like an old abandoned warehouse by the water but judging by the high-tech security cameras around the perimeter it wasn't abandoned. Gordon, Naruto, and Diggle went through one door while Bullock went through another entrance. The warehouse had a plaque that read 39, WellZyn.

"This place isn't on WellZyn's official documents." Naruto said as they entered and saw the remains of a lab. Tables, chairs, and cabinets but all empty and wiped clean.

"Nothing." Gordon said.

"What'd you expect, it's Gotham." Bullock said.

"What the hell is going on in my family's company?" Naruto asked as Gordon pat his shoulder and they walked to the car. Naruto walked to the passenger door but stopped, seeing a car parked across the street. Naruto focused his eyes and got the glimpse of Molly Mathis in the car. Naruto got in the car and they drove away while Mathis took out her phone and dialed a number.

"It's Mathis. They found the factory. No, no need. There's nothing for them to find anyway. What should we do? We'll leave them be, there's nothing they can do. The Wayne boy was here though. Tell Bunderslaw it's time to have a talk with him." Mathis said, hanging up with whoever she spoke to.

Naruto went to Wayne Enterprises and stormed into his office, pissed at what happened. He was at his computer, looking over every single WellZyn memo, financial chart, and logistical information about the WellZyn and he found a trail of very clever charades and bookkeeping that would fool the SEC, the FBI and even him. Naruto grit his teeth and clenched his fists in anger that all of this was happening under his very nose and he didn't know. He was pulled out of his thoughts when his intercom beeped.

"Mr. Wayne, Mr. Bunderslaw is here to see you." His assistant told him.

"Send him in." Naruto told him, putting some files in his desk and standing up behind his desk. Naruto activated the surveillance encryption devices that Lucius gave him and put in a drawer so Bunderslaw didn't see it. The door opened and Bunderslaw walked in. "Mr. Bunderslaw, what can I do for you?"

"Ever since you've taken your position as CEO, I've been expecting this conversation, so I cancelled a meeting today for this particular moment. Would you like a cookie?" Bunderslaw asked, taking a cookie out of his jacket pocket. "When I was a boy, I'd always take a cookie when I had the chance."

"I'm fine. What do you want?" Naruto asked.

"I told the board that you were a special case and needed the talk early." Bunderslaw said as he looked at Diggle. "Perhaps we can speak in private."

"It's all right, Dig. Take a break." Naruto told him and he reluctantly nodded and left. "What talk?"

"When members of the Wayne Family reach a certain age some facts of life and business are explained." Bunderslaw said.

"Like one of our subsidiaries creating a drug that nearly destroyed this entire city?" Naruto asked as Bunderslaw sighed.

"That was an unfortunate event but one that cannot be linked back to us." Bunderslaw said and Naruto looked at him.

"Innocent people in this city were killed because of an experiment of ours got loose." Naruto told him.

"Innocent people are dying all over the world…Gotham is no different. And it occurred because a sociopath decided to kill innocent people." Bunderslaw said.

"To make a statement about Wayne Enterprises and it's illegal, unethical projects and research and he's right. WellZyn broke probably dozens of state and federal laws by creating Viper." Naruto told him.

"Oh, my yes. This is a multinational corporation operating in hundreds of jurisdictions. We do our best to subvert all of them if it means profits." Bunderslaw said as he looked at him. "You are just like your father. He came in with his secret files demanding justice at first. Then he changed his mind."

"You're lying." Naruto said, playing the part as if he just learned this when he already knew. Best to let Bunderslaw know he wasn't already aware.

"Your father came to understand the reality of this business. As did his father, and as will you." Bunderslaw said.

"I don't think so." Naruto told him. "I may be like my father in many ways but one thing I won't do is turn a blind eye to what happened here today. Within my power as CEO, I'm shutting down WellZyn effectively immediately and anyone associated with Project Viper is terminated."

"You can't do that." Bunderslaw told him but Naruto smirked.

"I can. Acting CEO gives me that authority. WellZyn is officially shut down and should any of my employees not get the message, then there will be serious legal action. So long as I am CEO of Wayne Enterprises, activities like this won't be tolerated." Naruto told him causing Bunderslaw to sigh.

"The board told me that you would be resilient…as was your father. It was admirable of you to try and take your place in the company. Few people would do so and instead choose to live a life of luxury and extravagance only a few can afford. You have the opportunity to live a blessed life. The life your father would have wanted for you. I beg you to reconsider." Bunderslaw told him.

"I'm sorry but no. WellZyn is shut down. Tell the board it's my fault. Tell them I just don't have the same…vision as they do. And tell Ms. Mathis if I find her following me again, she won't have a job anymore." Naruto said as he motioned Bunderslaw to the door who got up and left. Dig then walked back in.

"So, how was the meeting?" Dig asked.

"Went about as well as you think. A finely worded threat for me to be complacent and back off." Naruto said and Dig nodded.

"You're not going to back off, are you?" Dig asked as Naruto gave him a look.

"You know I won't." Naruto sat down in his chair. "God knows what else is going on here but as CEO I can try and stop it. And my other job might be the key to that."

"So, what's our next move?" Dig asked.

"First, we make sure we have copies of all WellZyn's documents and take them to the bunker to cover our butts. Then we start going after the board." Naruto said and Dig nodded. "But first, we stop by the GCPD."

At the GCPD, Bullock and Gordon were at their desks filing their reports on the whole Viper incident. Most of the uniformed police officers were out rounding up the last of the Viper infected people and keeping the peace in the city.

"Hard at work?" Gordon and Bullock heard as they saw Naruto walk up to them.

"The one part of police work that sucks is the paperwork." Bullock said.

"What are you doing here?" Gordon asked.

"Just here to give you two some peace of mind. WellZyn's been officially shut down and everyone associated with the project is terminated. And under the terms of their contracts, Vipers dies along with it." Naruto told them. "I may not be able to undo what happened but I'll be able to prevent something like this from happening again."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that kid but I admire your optimism." Bullock said as Naruto looked at Gordon.

"Just a barrel of sunshine, isn't he?" Naruto joked and Gordon chuckled.

"On his good days." Gordon commented.

"I just wanted to stop by and let you two know. After all the crap that's transpired I figured you two deserved to know at least something's happened." Naruto said. "And to drop off a gift as well."

Naruto then held up a Macallan 40-year-old whiskey bottle that was easily six thousand dollars. "A Macallan 40-year-old whiskey for your help today. Not a lot of people would have done what you did." Naruto placed it down on the desk.

"We were just doing our job, Naruto. We don't do this for rewards." Gordon told him as Bullock stood up and grabbed the bottle of whiskey.

"Speak for yourself, I'm always one for rewards." Bullock took the whiskey bottle and then shook Naruto's hand. "Thanks, kid. You ever need anything at all, just give us a call and we'll be there. The GCPD is always ready and willing to help the Wayne's."

"Thank you, Detective Bullock." Naruto replied.

"You can call me Harvey, kid. You've earned it. You showed some serious guts today." Harvey said.

"Yup, that's me." Naruto said as Gordon stood up and walked over to Naruto and shook his hand.

"If you or Bruce ever need anything don't hesitate to call." Gordon said as Naruto nodded.

"Likewise. If you or Bullock ever runs into trouble, I'm just a call away. I know what you both must think about the rich and entitled of the city, but I'd like to think I'm different." Naruto said.

"You're starting to prove it, kid." Bullock said as he held up the bottle of whiskey.

"Enjoy it. Something tells me you two are going to need something like that." Naruto said as he tapped the desk. Unbeknownst to Bullock and Gordon, he slipped one of the small audio recording bugs onto the underside of Gordon's desk. He then knelt down to tie his shoe and slipped a bug onto the end of the Gordon's phone line to tap into the police phone network. Luckily, it was the same color of the phone line, so you wouldn't notice it was there. "Thank you again, Detectives. Hopefully the next time we see each other it'll be under better circumstances."

Line Break xxxxx

Night had fallen onto Gotham so Naruto decided to make the first move against the Board of Wayne Enterprises and put a little fear into them and to let them know he was coming after them. One of the board members of Wayne Enterprises, Samuel Mueller was arriving on the roof of his penthouse having just come back from some business meeting in another city that did great for his own personal account but was going to hurt a lot of other people. He was in for a surprise. His helicopter just touched down as Mueller got out followed by his security detail.

"How was the trip, sir?" His guard Anthony asked.

"Very profitable, Anthony. Christmas came early this year." Mueller replied and they walked over to the penthouse door only to see a figure standing there. The way the light shined behind him made it so all you saw was his outline of someone. "Hey, buddy! This is private property! Get the hell out of here!"

The figure didn't move so Anthony motioned one of his men to grab the guy and escort him off the premises. The guard walked over to grab them men but once he got closer, he saw he was wearing a leather jacket and a helmet. The eye slits on the helmet then lit up and the guard realized who it was.

"Shit, it's the Vigilante!" The guard shouted as Naruto unfolded his bo staff and smacked the guard in the face, broke his wrist, punched him in the face three times and tossed him to the ground. He threw some shuriken and knocked the guns out of the three guards who tried to subdue him. He punched the first guard, while ducking under a roundhouse kick from the second and slamming him bo staff in the ankle of the third guard, sending him to the ground in pain. He punched the second guard in the gut before throwing out an oblique kick to the first guard and kicked out the legs of the second guard, knocking him to the ground. He grabbed the punch from the first guard, broke his wrist and elbowed him in the neck before throwing him to the side and sending out a kick behind him to hit the first guard in the face who tried to attack him from behind. He activated his throwing knife launcher and knocked the gun out of another guard's hand before turning and smacking the second guard in the face with his bo staff. Naruto took a kunai and threw it at the leg of the last guard protecting Mueller and he fell to his knees. Naruto walked over to the guard and kneed him in the face before grabbing Mueller by the jacket. (1)

"Whoa, wait! Please! Please!" Mueller begged so Naruto threw him off the helipad and he slammed onto an air conditioning vent. Naruto jumped down next to him and kicked the vent over the air conditioning fan off. He grabbed Mueller and held his face by the spinning fan to scare him. "NO, GOD PLEASE DON'T DO THIS! PLEASE GOD!"

"Samuel Mueller, you have failed this city! Cellphone, inside pocket. Call your partner and tell them to cancel the deal and give back the money! Do it, now! There won't be a second warning!" Naruto shouted as he left and quickly disappeared.

Naruto grappled away from the building and made his way to the alleyway where his bike was located. "A little much but not bad." Kakashi said over the comm link in Naruto's helmet. He and Diggle were back at Naruto's bunker watching everything from Naruto's camera link on his helmet.

"You weren't really going to put his head into the fan, were you?" Dig asked.

"No, but he sure thought so. Best thing with my helmet is that they won't be able to see my face and know if I'm bluffing. Their fear is going to be my best weapon. He was just the first." Naruto said as he started up his bike when his helmet picked up a police call came in about a robbery at a convenience store. "My night's not over yet."

Naruto revved his bike up and quickly sped away to the convenience store. He saw idiots in mask robbing the store at gunpoint, but they were quickly subdued and found hanging upside down from a street lamp for the police. Around 1am, Dig noted that there was report about something suspicious going on at the Adam's draw bridge down by the river, so Naruto made his way there, parking his bike nearby. He walked out onto the bridge and didn't see anything out of the ordinary until it hit him like a freight train.

"Oh my god." Naruto said.

"Naruto, what do you see?" Diggle asked and Naruto turned around, so his helmet camera showed them and they had the same expression. "Oh my god."

It was a woman, strung up on the bridge by her arms. There were dozens of white candles lit around her like some kind of ritualistic killing. He walked over to the victim and checked for a pulse but there wasn't one. "She's dead." Naruto told them as he got a better look at her face and recognized her.

"All right. We'll see if we can try and ID her." Kakashi said.

"Don't bother, I already know who she is." Naruto replied. "Amanda Hastings. I've met her in the past."

Naruto switched his helmet to enhanced sensor and vision mode and began scanning the victim's body and surroundings for any kind of evidence he could get. Based on residue and bruising on the mouth of the victim, she was smothered with some kind of substance. Naruto reached into one of his belt cartridges and pulled out a small vial with a cotton swab. He reached forward to take a sample when he hesitated for a second. It all of a sudden got real. He'd beaten criminals with his hands and dodged gunfire without second thought but dealing with his first dead body gave him pause. This was different…but he needed to press forward if he was going to find who did this and bring them to justice.

He used the cotton swab and dabbed a sample from the victim's mouth before putting it back in the vial. He looked at the surrounding area and noticed some tire track marks on the road of the bridge which meant that the killer must have used a vehicle. Based on the wide pattern of the treading of the tire, Naruto figured it must have been a bigger vehicle like a sedan or van. He took out a small collapsible camera from his belt that Lucius made and snapped a photo to try and identify it later. Based on the treading and the marks, it looks like the killer drove into the area from the north which was a back road that led to a section of Adam's and O'Neil's that didn't have camera coverage.

"Kakashi, Diggle, dig into city records and newspaper reports on any kind of homicides in the past with this same MO." Naruto told him. "We might be dealing with a serial killer."

"What makes you say that?" Dig asked.

"Because no regular killer would stage a body like this. It has to be a serial killer." Naruto replied.

"Right but you know for it to be a serial killer, it has to be a total of three victims." Kakashi told him.

"Let's hope we stop him before he gets there." Naruto said as he left.

Naruto placed an anonymous call with the GCPD about a dead body at the Adam's drawbridge. He left afterward and took care of some more street crime before calling it a night and getting some rest. The next day, Naruto woke up early and told his assistant that he'd be working from home: partly to stay out of the prying eyes of the Board and partly to focus on the serial killer. After he got some rest and showered, he went back out there and decided to shadow the GCPD's investigation. He was in regular clothes which consisted of boots, jeans, a motorcycle jacket and helmet with an earpiece and drove his bike back to the drawbridge. He parked off to the side in the alleyway of an old building where the police and any bystanders wouldn't see him. He took out some binoculars to get a clear view of the police at work and saw Detective Bullock and Gordon were on the case. He reached into his jacket pocket and took out a small parabolic microphone he took from Applied Sciences. He aimed the microphone towards Gordon and Bullock and turned it on, synching it to his earpiece so he could hear everything. He adjusted some of the dials and nobs on the microphone to filter out excessive noise until he got a clear audio signal.

"The Gotham Goat? A wannabe. For a copycat, the copy is uh…downright creepy, is what it is. You moonlighting or something? Huh, me? Yeah, because you're late, and you look like crap warmed over. Write me up if you want. Screw you, Boy Scout. You're in a good mood. I'm in a Déjà vuacid flashback. Someone's hunting the kids of Gotham's top 1 percent so the press will have a field day. City turns upside down and the whole thing's gonna come down on the GCPD like a ton of bricks. Then let's catch him quick. I'm guessing the killer knew the victim, Amanda Hastings, somehow. We'll go see the family, see if we can try to get something we can work with. Hey, Nygma. Let me know when they're set up for the autopsy, all right. Anything in particular you want me to—? Just call me." Naruto overheard the conversation as Bullock and Gordon walked away, probably on their way to speak to The Hastings.

Naruto revved up his bike and drove away, heading to the bunker to do some research on the Gotham Goat. He parked his bike in the secret entrance his dad had put it and sat down at the computers to bring up every single file and record of the Gotham Goat. Naruto began digging and got old reports of the Spirit of the Goat serial killer who was active in Gotham ten years ago. Naruto was 12 then so he doesn't remember hearing about a serial killer, granted his parents would have shielded him from that. The killer was Randall Milkie who thought he was the reincarnation of some kind of ancient goat spirit and killed three people before Detective Bullock put six rounds in his body. That's why he was so agitated at the crime scene…he's dealing with a copycat. Naruto looked over the reports on the killer and the victims and found a pattern. The Goat killed people of influence or who came from money and killed the children, always the first born. Each of the victims was taken from their homes with no sign of a break-in which meant he had access somehow so most likely someone with secondary access to the homes. Problem was that there were dozens of possible targets with plenty of first-born children of rich parents the Goat could target, including Bruce.

Naruto kept working on trying to dig up a lead when he heard the secret entrance open and Dig drove in. He got out of the car with coffee to see Naruto at the computer working on something. "Morning." Dig said as he walked over with coffee. "You know, I'm pretty sure part of the cover of you needing a bodyguard requires said bodyguard to be with the person he's guarding."

"I woke up early to get some work done." Naruto said as Dig handed him his cup to of coffee and took a sip. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it. When I saw you weren't at the mansion, I figured you were going to be here." Dig took a sip of coffee and looked at all the information on the computers and recognized one of the headlines from years ago. "The Spirit of the Goat…I remember that."

"You do?" Naruto asked as Dig nodded.

"Yeah, a serial killer popped up who modeled himself after some ancient goat creature and began killing the children of Gotham's richest. You remember a serial killer with a specific MO. I thought he died." Dig said.

"He did. Killed by Detective Bullock himself. We've got a copycat we're dealing with and so far he seems to follow the same MO. His first victim was Amanda Hastings, 21 years old and daughter of Robert Hastings." Naruto told him.

"You sound like you know her." Dig said.

"Not that well but I have met her dozens of times. My parents did some business with the Hastings and I've seen and talked to her at events. She may have been a bit spoiled, but no one deserved this." Naruto said. "He's out there looking for victim number two, so I need to find him before that happens."

"You sure about that?" Dig asked.

"What do you mean?" Naruto looked at him, wondering what he meant.

"Taking on the criminals of the city and catching the mob enforcers off guard is one thing but a serial killer is another. I know you said you wanted to help the city but are you ready for this?" Dig asked.

"I guess I'll find out when I find this guy." Naruto replied. "Dig, I want you to look after Bruce until I find this guy. If he's going after Gotham's rich first born, then Bruce is a possible target."

"Wouldn't it make more sense for me to protect you? You are older." Dig replied.

"But the Goat targets the first born. I may be older but I'm adopted so I don't fit the pattern." Naruto pointed out and Dig agreed with his logic.

"That's if we're assuming this copycat is going to use the same MO as the original killer and not deviate in some way by going after you first." Dig told him.

"Well, if he tries to come after me than it solves the problem of trying to find him in the first place." Naruto replied.

"Right." Dig said when he noticed it was just the two of them. "Where's Kakashi?"

"He's got a class to teach. The new location for his dojo and apartment gave him some new clients. Granted, they're either kids or people who want to learn how to fight but it's an income for him. It's fine; I can handle this by myself." Naruto said when he saw his computer picked up audio from the bugs he placed at the GCPD. "Gordon and Bullock are back."

Naruto pressed a few buttons and isolated the audio feed he was receiving to get a cleaner signal and filter out any background noise he didn't need. "Ten years ago Randall Milkie took an 1813 Liberty penny just like this one and sewed it into the heads of each of his victims. Why? How the hell do I know? He bum-rushed me wearing animal horns. I shot him. We didn't talk coin collecting. You're sure no one else could have found this out? Milkie was the definition of a loner. He didn't tell anybody. We left it out of the file intentionally. You suppressed evidence. We Easter-egged it. We figured a killer like the Goat had a good chance of drawing admirers. Yeah, it's copycat porn. We left out this one detail, the coins. It never hit the papers so how the hell did this copy-Goat know about this? Okay, so you hit it, but the medical examiner, he had to know. Ed Hayes, yeah, sure but he died of cirrhosis. That just leaves me. And Dix. Captain, please, there's no reason—Go talk to him. Make sure he didn't tell anyone about the coins. Hell, see if he's got any ideas." They heard the conversation between Gordon, Bullock, and Captain Essen.

"And the plot thickens. So, it's a very intuitive copycat." Naruto leaned back in his chair to think.

"What are you thinking?" Dig asked.

"I'm thinking that I need to find this guy before he strikes again. And to do that, I need to figure out how he got the first victim." Naruto began to look into Hastings building and the people who worked there. Dig watched Naruto somehow hack into the city's civil database.

"When did you learn to computer hack?" Dig asked.

"Computer hacking is a generous term. My dad's computer is a beast. Whoever built this thing made it so that it does all the work. I've spent my free time with the computer, so I've gotten the hang of it but the computer's doing all the hacking. Whatever programs are built into this thing enable it to breakdown whatever firewall it encounters with enough time. Lucky for us, the city's cyber security system is still crap." Naruto said as the computer finished hacking into the Hasting's back accounts, email threads, and the building records. He then went through the list and there were dozens of people who worked for the Hastings and who worked for the building who could have had access, so he'd have to go through the list one by one until he found a red flag. "I'll be fine, Dig. Go look after Bruce."

"Got it. Call me if you need me or get into trouble." Dig told him.

"If I'm in trouble or I don't respond there's a tracer in my boot." Naruto told him and Dig nodded and left.

Naruto spent hours going over the files on the dozens of people to look for any kind of abnormalities like past records of violence or criminal activities or any kind of connection to Randall Milkie. He took a break every now and then to do some training and eat some food. He finished up a workout and was wiping his forehead with a towel when the bug he put on Gordon's police phone went off again so he activated it.

"Ember Copley was supposed to meet her parents tonight at 9:00 at the marina. When she didn't show, they came back, found the maid out cold, Ember gone. You think it's our guy? It's our guy. He slips in, chloroforms the maid, grabs Ember. No sign of B and E, nothing, like a ghost. Like he had keys. Randall Milkie had a ritual. He'd dress the victims, kill them, do his coin trick. Whole thing took about eight hours. If our copy-Goat's doing the same thing, we're running out of time. I pulled the employee list from the agencies that do maintenance on Ember Copley's building. Looking for an employee that had access to both victims' apartments. That's a hell of a lot of people. Yeah, but our guy's been really busy. He had to have called in sick the last couple of days. Get Nygma in there. He's freaky good with puzzles. You got it." The conversation ended so Naruto quickly sat down and began digging into the same information he got from Amanda Hastings' building and with that he began narrowing down potential suspects. If the Goat targeted Ember Copley and there was no sign of a break-in like with Amanda Hastings then he had to have had access and with a second victim, it gave him more information to go off of and if Detective Bullock was right he had less than eight hours to find the guy.

With the new information, He now had only a dozen of people who were connected to both buildings but Gordon's suggestion that Goat would have needed time off to do everything he's been doing narrowed it down to four guys. Two had solid alibies in the city while the other was out of state leaving the last one, Raymond Earl. Naruto looked over the file and saw Earl was squatting at a place near Cannery Park around 1100 which rang a bell in Naruto's head. He double checked the old files on the Goat from ten years ago and saw that Bullock killed the Goat at that same address. That had to be it. Naruto got suited up when the bug went off again and it was a conversation between Gordon, their forensics guy Nygma and then Bullock and were going over the same data he did and came to the same conclusion he did about Raymond Earl. Naruto put on his helmet and activated the HUD system, got on his bike and drove there as fast as he could.

Gordon and Bullock drove to 1100 Cannery Park and came to an abandoned theater and Bullock recognized it at the one Randall Milkie used ten years ago. They parked outside and saw a van parked by the fence and once Bullock saw the building, he knew they were in the right place. "Déjà vu all day long." Bullock said as he looked at the building. "This is where we got Randall Milkie 10 years ago. This is where Dix fell."

"Bullock." Gordon called to him. "Gotta go in. Come on."

"Yeah, yeah." Bullock replied as they entered through the main door, unknown to them that Naruto entered through the broken window on a roof. Naruto slowly and carefully moved through the second floor of the building when he saw a faint glow in the distance where Raymond Earl had Ember Copley dressed up in a white dress, strung up on some kind of arch with lit white candles all around her for whatever sick reason he had.

"We're going to put you to sleep for good now." Earl uncapped a bottle of chloroform and soaked a rag in it when all of a sudden a shuriken flew through the air and shattered it into pieces. Earl turned and saw a dark figure with glowing eyes looming on the second-floor balcony overlooking the stage he and Ember Copley were on.

"Raymond Earl, you have failed this city!" Naruto shouted and Earl ran away. Naruto threw another shuriken which missed and Earl scurried off the stage and ran through some plastic dust sheets, disappearing somewhere in the theater. Naruto shot the grapple line from his gauntlet at the ceiling and rappelled down to the first floor. He disconnected the line and ran over to Ember Copley and saw her eyes flutter open and closed, probably still reeling from the chloroform. He took the kunai from his boot and cut her hands free. He caught her so she didn't fall and gently put her on the ground. "It's all right. You're safe now. The police are here."

"T-thank…you." She managed to utter and Naruto nodded at her, taking a tarp off the stage and put it around her to keep her warm.

Bullock and Gordon made noise as they had opened the side door by the ground floor theater seats with their guns and flashlights out. They moved into the area together and saw the small light source of the candles on the stage and rushed over to see Ember Copley on the ground beside the candles with a tarp covering her body.

"Something's wrong. This isn't right." Bullock said. Gordon knelt down to check on Ember and saw her eyes flutter open and closed.

"She's alive." Gordon looked and saw the ropes on the archway had been cut. "Someone saved her."

"Another good Samaritan or your vigilante?" Bullock asked when they heard some fluttering and turned to see Earl standing on the second-floor balcony. "Stay with her."

Bullock ran after Earl, making his way to the stairs while Gordon called in for backup and looked over Ember. Once he was confident that she was fine, he went to go back up Bullock. Bullock walked out onto the second floor and held his flashlight up, illuminating old furniture, renovation equipment and a lot of darkness trying to catch a glimpse of Earl. He kept moving when he heard shouting and Earl rushed him from the side with a hammer and pushed him up against a railing. The two struggled as Earl had the momentum and slammed Bullock up against a wall and then threw him down some stairs. Bullock tumbled down the stairs and was wrapped up in some plastic tarp, obscuring his vision.

He ripped off the tarp over his face and saw Earl walked up to him, wearing the mask. "You'll never stop the Goat." Earl told him. "I will always come back."

"Quit saying that!" Bullock tackled Earl and they tumbled down the stairs again. Bullock groaned in pain as Earl managed to stand up with a hammer in hand and was ready to drive it into Bullock's skull. Gordon raced down the stairs to help his partner when all of a sudden, the Vigilante dropped down from the ceiling and landed with a thud. He raised his face as his helmet's glowing eye slits stared straight at them. He plucked out his grappled gun and pressed the trigger, firing the grapple hook around Earl's arm. He pulled on the wire and yanked Earl away from Bullock. Earl flew through the air and smashed into some old furniture. The Vigilante holstered his grapple gun as Gordon ran over and helped Bullock up while Earl got back to his feet and held his hammer at the ready.

"No one stops the Goat! NO ONE!" Earl charged at the Vigilante and swung his hammer at his head, but he missed as the Vigilante ducked, grabbed Earl's arm, twisted and broke his wrist, kicked out his left knee, punched him in the throat, and kneed him in the face before knocking him out with a vicious round-house kick to the back of the head. Raymond Earl dropped to the ground like a ton of bricks as Gordon and Bullock held their guns forward and shined their lights on Earl and the Vigilante. With the light, they got a better look at him and noticed the dark red insignia of a fox's face on the back of the jacket.

The Vigilante turned his head slightly towards the two as Bullock and Gordon kept their guns set on him. "Like I told you before, Detective. I'm not your enemy." Naruto told him and then pulled out his grapple gun, fired it at the ceiling and grappled away.

"I have officially seen everything." Bullock said, holstering his gun.

"He was here earlier. He saved Ember Copley." Gordon told him.

"Well, he saved an innocent girl, stopped a psycho copy-cat, and saved my ass. He's all right in my book." Bullock said as he took out a pair of handcuffs and arrested Raymond Earl while the backup soon arrived.

Line Break xxxxx

Stopping the Goat was a nice moral boost for Naruto, and it felt good to save Ember Copley. He started this whole thing to stop the mob and the corrupt individuals from controlling the city, but this part of his vigilante work was just as important the other. The people of the city needed to know that he was there to help, and this was another good sign to the city that he was on their side. Kakashi was concerned that Naruto went after him by himself without backup and scolded him like he used to do when Naruto was younger. He thought it was rash and idiotic. Naruto's been through this kind of thing before and took it. Still, Kakashi was somewhat glad Naruto didn't get himself killed and that the Goat was off the streets.

"I honestly thought I trained you better than that, Naruto. All the lessons and you still go off half-cocked without back up." Kakashi said.

"I was perfectly in control of the situation." Naruto told him.

"Never underestimate any situation you find yourself in." Kakashi warned him.

"And I don't. I surveyed every inch of that old theater like you taught me to and it was just the Goat Killer and I took him down. One less serial killer on the streets is a good thing in my book." Naruto replied and Kakashi shook his head in exhaustion.

"You still have much to learn, Naruto." Kakashi told him.

"You just love telling me that, don't you?" Naruto asked but Kakashi kept as neutral faced as possible.

"I hate to put an end to this little back and forth but I think you should hear this." Dig pressed a few buttons on the computer and the audio feed in the police station came up. They listened and it appears that Gordon was being arrested for murdering someone named Oswald Cobblepot under the orders of Carmine Falcone. The Major Crimes Unit arrested Bullock as well and there was a lot of chest bumping and arm waving until Oswald Cobblepot walked back in.

"What was all that?" Kakashi asked.

"I'm not sure but I think Gordon must have pulled one over on Carmine Falcone." Naruto said, making an educated guess. "Who's Oswald Cobblepot?"

Dig typed in the computer and began digging up police files and city records on Oswald Cobblepot but it was noticeably taking him longer than Naruto. "Any time, Diggle." Kakashi said.

"Hey, this is not my strong suit." Dig replied and finally brought up the file and according to the GCPD, Cobblepot was a former associate of Fish Mooney who worked for Carmine Falcone and was presumed dead for a while. According to the police records, Cobblepot was a suspected CI and the Major Crimes Unit was investigating his death and James Gordon was their prime suspect. But it turns out he didn't actually kill him. Gordon's morality won but now it was out in the open and Falcone wasn't going to be happy.

"Detective Gordon just put a massive target on his back. Falcone won't be happy about this." Dig said.

"Or not? We have no idea what actually was supposed to happen. Falcone could have wanted him dead or it could have been this Fish person." Kakashi pointed out.

"Kakashi has a point. Either way Gordon is one of the few good cops in Gotham. The city needs him and if we're gonna continue this, then having an ally with the police is a good idea." Naruto said.

"Ok, then that means we need to watch after Gordon. If Falcone or anyone is going after him, he'll need help." Dig said.

"Ok, there are three of us so we divide and conquer. Kakashi, think you can go tail this Fish Mooney? If Cobblepot really did work for her then she's going to want his head. Any info is going to help us." Naruto said.

"She won't even know I'm there." Kakashi replied.

"Dig, stake out the police station. More than half of the cops there are on Falcone's payroll so let me know if they're up to something. And see if you can plant one of our video surveillance bugs there as well." Naruto said.

"Roger that." Dig replied with a nod. "What about you?"

"I'm gonna tail Gordon and his fiancé. She could be in danger too." Naruto said and they nodded in agreement. "All right, stay on comms and no one does anything stupid. This is the mob we're dealing with so we can't make any drastic moves here. Our main focus now is keeping Gordon safe and alive."

"Naruto, you know the only way that will happen is if Falcone wants to keep him alive. But like you said, he's got dozens of cops and probably the commissioner on his payroll. One good cop is nothing to him unless he's persuaded otherwise." Kakashi told him and he had a point. They could protect Gordon and beat up every single mom enforcer who went after him but with Falcone controlling the police, they were fighting an uphill battle.

"One step at a time." Naruto said and they got to work. Naruto walked over to a mannequin that had his gear and got dressed, missing his cellphone go off with a call from Laurel.

Gordon was at the GCPD locker room, grabbing his off-duty weapon and everything he could. He grabbed his bag and called Barbara but got her machine.

"Barbara, if you're at home, listen to me. I need you to get out right now." He told her. He closed his locker only to get sucker punched by Harvey. Gordon hit the ground hard as Harvey took out his revolver and cocked the hammer back, pointing it right at his head.

"I thought we were friends." Harvey said.

"Harvey." Gordon pleaded.

"Shut up! Game's over. Now I gotta kill you, take your body back to Falcone and beg—BEG him for mercy!" Harvey shouted.

"Listen to me. I screwed up. But I have a plan to make things right. Don't kill me. Help me." Gordon told him.

"You think I'm an idiot?" Harvey asked when he heard some uniformed officers walking into the locker room. "Walk away! Walk away."

Gordon shot up, grabbed the revolver, and kicked out Harvey's leg and knocked him on his ass. "Help me." Gordon told him. "We don't have to go out like this."

"You better hope you never see me again." Harvey warned him. Gordon nodded and left, calling Barbara who still wasn't picking up.

Naruto had gotten changed and managed to make his way Barbara Keen's penthouse where he saw her being held hostage by two men. One he recognized from the day he rescued Gordon and Bullock from the meat house and the other he didn't. The large guy was called Butch if he recalled correctly and he worked for Fish. She must have wanted Gordon. Naruto used his helmet's new upgraded backscatter capabilities to survey the environment and began to figure out where he should make is entry.

Barbara sat on the couch, completely terrified out of her mind with Butch and his goon watching over her. "Wow! What a place, huh? A beautiful home…for a beautiful lady." Butch said, leaning close to her ear.

"Please tell me what you want." She said, doing her best to stay as calm as possible but her voice was trembling.

"I guess there's no harm in the truth. See, your boyfriend was supposed to kill a certain person for somebody, only he didn't. And now that somebody is real mad. Heh." Butch told her.

"Cobblepot." Barbara muttered.

"Huh?" Butch asked.

"He didn't kill Cobblepot." Barbara said.

"There you go!" Butch shouted, punching the couch and causing her to jump out of reflex. "You're hip. You are hip. That Jim Gordon is one lucky son of a gun." Butch walked over and sat down next to her. "What are you, like a hundred pounds? One-ten?" Butch got ever creepier and sniffed her hair. "I bet that's your real hair color too."

"What a-are you gonna do to Jim?" She asked.

"You ever been with a criminal?" He asked, and she began to tear up in fear at what might happen. "Some ladies find it a turn on."

A gun click was heard and Gordon stepped out from the hallway so Butch and his goon could see him. "Hey! Speak of the devil. I was just getting to know your lovely lady." Butch said, standing up while his friend aimed his gun at Gordon.

"You're trespassing. Get out." Gordon told him.

"Whoa. Slow down, hoss. You're misreading the situation. I'm the shot-caller here." Butch told him.

"You're situation is you've been told to bring me in alive or I'd be dead already. But I'm happy to kill you right here and now." Gordon said.

"Don't be such a hard ass. Come on, you know the rules. You play nice. You take your lumps. Nobody else gets hurt." Butch said, motioning to Barbara.

"Tell your friend to drop his gun or I'll blow his brains out." Gordon said. He spared a glance and saw Barbara was scared. "It's ok, Barbara. It's under control."

"Drop your gun." Butch said and his friend did. "Ok, have it your way. But now, after we kill you, we're gonna kill blondie too. Nice and slow."

Before Gordon could raise his gun, a figure crashed through the balcony window and sent glass flying through the air. Barbara shouted and hit the ground, covering her head while Gordon covered his head to protect himself from the glass. Said figure was Naruto who had swung through the window from grapple line he shot into the roof. He swung through the glass and kicked Butch into his friend, knocking them to the ground. Gordon looked and saw the Vigilante had swooped in. Butch got up and grabbed his gun but Naruto quickly closed the distance with a touchdown raiz flip kick to Butch's head, knocking him to the ground and his gun away while Gordon ran to check on Barbara. Butch's friend pulled out a knife and tried to stab Naruto but Will grabbed his hand, broke his wrist, punched him in the gut, kicked out his leg and punched him across the face and smacked him to the ground. Butch got back up and tackled Naruto into the wall and attempted to strangle him. Butch's friend saw his gun on the ground so he rushed over and grabbed it. He aimed at the Vigilante's head only for Gordon to shoot him with two bullets to the chest. Naruto kneed Butch in the stomach three times before grabbing his arm and dislocated it, causing Butch to scream in pain. Naruto kneed Butch in the face, kicked him back and then knocked him out with a spin kick to the face.

Gordon looked at the Vigilante and nodded in appreciation and he nodded back. Gordon looked back at Barbara and holstered his gun. "We need to go. Now." Gordon said. He turned back and saw the Vigilante was gone.

"Who was that?" Barbara asked and Gordon thought for a second.

"Someone on my side." Gordon said. Barbara quickly packed a bag and they left for the train station. Gordon told her to get out of town for her own safety while he dealt with the fallout of his decision to go against Falcone. He'd take them down even if he had to face them alone.

Gordon pulled up to the GCPD and Dig saw him enter the station. Dig was parked in a van across the street. Dig pulled out his phone and called Naruto's helmet. "Naruto, Gordon just showed up at the GCPD."

"Keep watch and let me know if something happens. I'm on my way." Naruto replied. "Do you have the sniper in the van?"

"Yeah." Dig replied, looking in the back of the van to the large case that held a sniper rifle with a laser attachment and silencer.

"Head to a building and get a sniper view inside the GCPD. I might need some sniper support." Naruto told him.

"Please don't tell me you're thinking of doing what I think?" Dig asked.

"If you don't want to know, why do you ask?" Naruto replied with a chuckle. Dig shook his head and drove the van to an adjacent building.

Gordon stepped into the GCPD and as soon as he did, every single officer stopped what they were doing and looked at him. They looked at him like he was crazy. If he had any sense, he would have skipped down yesterday but here he was strolling right into the station. He strolled right into the station over to Alvarez's desk.

"Hey, Alvarez. Do you have any of those blank checks that Judge Bam Bam signed?" Gordon asked in front of the whole station.

"Uh…yeah." Alvarez reached into his desk and took out a few. He gave them to Gordon who walked over to his desk like nothing was wrong. Naruto managed to make his way to the GCPD and got himself situated on the roof by the skylight and watched over Gordon.

Kakashi had tailed Fish Mooney to a meeting with Nikolai and Falcone at a warehouse. Falcone and the mob had sentries but Kakashi easily slipped past all of them. He was hidden along the ceiling and used the surveillance equipment to record and listen to everything they were saying. Falcone was inspecting chickens and was as calm as can be while Mooney was beyond angry.

"This cannot stand. Gordon must die. Bullock must die. Penguin must die. Today." She told him but he didn't seem to care and was more focused on his chickens.

"And Maroni too, I suppose." Falcone said.

"If need be." Mooney replied.

"You're overreacting, my dear. This Penguin's a nobody. You want to start a war over the guy that carried your umbrella?" Falcone asked.

"He was on my hip everywhere with me. He knows." Fish told him.

"Like what?" He asked and she paused for a second. Falcone didn't seem to notice but Kakashi did.

"Too much. He knows too much." She replied.

"So my suspicions were right. Mooney is hiding something." Kakashi thought to himself. "Then again, Falcone is being oddly calm about this. Something else is going on here."

"Go to Maroni and ask him politely to hand over your little man. Politely. If he refuses, we can talk about stronger measures." Falcone told her when Nikolai stepped forward.

"Boss, this is weak response. I hate to agree with Fish but we need to show strength now." Nikolai said and Kakashi noticed the faintest smirk on her face. Falcone missed it and as quickly as it was there, it disappeared. "We need to hit back hard. No talk. Penguin dead. Gordon dead. Done."

"Relax, Niko. I know what I'm doing." Falcone told him. "Where is Gordon? I thought you were bringing him with you?"

"That was the plan but Butch tells me the Vigilante showed up. It would see that the Fox has a soft spot for cops." Fish said. "Or maybe he's working with Gordon?"

"That's ridiculous. Gordon is as straight and narrow as they get. He'd never work with a Vigilante." Falcone replied. He knew Gordon and he knew he'd never work with the Fox.

"Then perhaps desperate time's calls for desperate measures or maybe the Fox is looking to exploit what he can get against us. I don't know but I heard Gordon just showed up at work like nothing's wrong." Fish told him.

"I'll send Victor to fetch him." Falcone said.

"No need. My guys can handle it." Mooney replied but Falcone didn't deter.

"Evidently not. I'll send Victor." Falcone told her. He picked up a chicken and looked it over. "That's a nice handsome bird, isn't it?"

"I don't know chickens." She replied. She and Nikolai left when Kakashi noticed how close they were. "Fall back. The old man is right there."

"Screw him. He's done. Now is the time to strike." Nikolai told her.

"Not yet." She replied.

"Not yet? If not now, then when? Look at him. Maroni clan are laughing at us and he plays with chickens." Nikolai said.

"That's what has me worried. The chickens. He's happy, relaxed as if he doesn't have a care in the world." Mooney said.

"That girl of yours is doing her job then." He said.

"No. She says he hasn't even touched her. She cooks and she cleans for him. He likes to watch her do chores." She told him.

"Weird. But if that's his thing—""No. He's acting as if he knows something important that no one else knows." Fish said.

"So Falcone has some internal conflict and Fish Mooney is at its center. But what the hell could Falcone know?" Kakashi asked himself as he quietly made his way out of the warehouse and informed Naruto of what he learned.

Line Break xxxxx

Gordon was at his desk at the GCPD typing up the arrest warrants like nothing was wrong. Everyone in the station couldn't believe what they were seeing and the ones in the mob's pocket had already contacts Fish or whoever to let them know about Gordon. Captain Essen saw him and walked over.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She asked.

"I work here. It's my shift. Where else should I be?" Gordon asked.

"How about Alaska?" She suggested when she noticed the arrest warrants on his desk. "Arrest warrants? For who?"

The two moved into her office to speak in private as Gordon explained his warrants. "Mayor Aubrey James, Carmine Falcone, and their close associates. On charges of conspiracy and perversion of justice in the Wayne Case."

"Are you insane?" Essen asked.

"No." Gordon replied before shrugging. "Maybe a little. It feels good. They're gonna try and kill me anyway. Might as well make them pay a price for it."

"You're gonna arrest the mayor and Don Falcone. How?" She asked.

"My testimony is attached to the warrants. That's enough to indict on them a dozen counts." Gordon said.

"True, if you could execute the warrants, which you can't. If the DA would prosecute, which he won't. There's not a single cop or lawyer in the city who'll help you." Essen told him but Gordon disagreed.

"I think there are plenty of people willing to help me once they see it's possible to fight back." Gordon said.

"You're dreaming. Nobody will help you. I won't help you. You don't think I want change, just like you do? I have a family." She told him.

"I understand." He replied, understanding why she wouldn't help him.

"Gordon…get out of the city." She begged him.

"This is my home. It was my father's home. I'm not leaving." He told her.

Naruto overhead everything and liked Gordon standing his ground. He heard some commotion by the front door and saw Victor Zsasz along with two of his associates walk into the GCPD. Once everyone saw Zsasz walk in, their attention was turned to him like if the Mayor walked in. When Falcone's deadliest assassin and hitman enters the police station in broad daylight, you listen. Zsasz stood up on a desk so everyone could see him.

"Hello everyone. My name if Victor Zsasz. I'm sent here personally by Don Carmine Falcone himself on a matter of deep concern to him, so please be respectful. I'm here for Jim Gordon. Only him. Everybody else, mind your business and we're cool. So where's Jim at?" Everyone looked at the captain's office and Zsasz saw him there with Captain Essen. "Thank you. Hey Jim! Jim!"

Gordon walked out of the Captain's office to see Zsasz. "Hi, Jim. Relax. I'm supposed to take you in alive. Don Falcone wants to talk." Zsasz told him.

"Tell Falcone we'll talk but not today." Gordon told him, standing his ground.

"Don't be that way. Alive is a very broad category. A man with no hands can still be alive." Zsasz warned him.

"There are fifty cops in here. Try something." Gordon taunted him.

"Everybody out." Zsasz ordered. All the officers and clerks took a second to look at Gordon, Zsasz and at each other. "Please!"

They all started to file out when four shuriken flew through the air and hit the front door, stopping them in their tracks. Everyone froze when they heard the shurikens hit the door and began looking around to see who threw them. "I have another suggestion!" They heard a deep, disguised voice say through the entire station. Gordon turned and saw the Vigilante crouched on the second floor balcony above the Captain's office. He looked and saw the windows by the balcony were open but the how the hell did he get in with no one noticing. "How about they stick around a second longer."

Captain Essen, the other officers, and Zsasz looked to see the Vigilante crouched on second floor balcony. "If I wasn't wearing a helmet, I'd be throwing up at the sight of cowardice by the GCPD. You should all be ashamed to have those badges. You have all failed this city and you'll be getting visits by me soon." He warned them.

"Too bad you'll be dead before you can do that. Don Falcone didn't say anything about needing you alive." Zsasz took out a pistol and was ready to shoot Naruto in the head.

"Dig, fire a warning shot." Naruto whispered and immediately after, a silenced gunshot knocked Zsasz's gun out of his hand. Zsasz looked in wonder as his two associates drew their guns and all the police officers could feel the tension in the room and slowly moved their hands to their guns. "Look down."

Zsasz did and saw a red dot set right on his heart. "You make another move like that and it'll be the last mistake you ever make. Everyone else out!" Naruto shouted.

"You heard him!" Zsasz said as everyone left.

"Go boss. Get out of here." Gordon told her.

"Jim—Go. I can handle this." He told her and she left. "Like I said before, I'll talk to Falcone but not today."

"Today, tomorrow, it doesn't matter. You see, he wants to talk to you and he will get you. And your friend in the helmet won't change that." Zsasz said before looking at Naruto dead in the eyes. "I've heard a lot about you and I must say I admire your work. Granted, not the money and grief you've been causing my employer but the bodies you've left. Still, you never finish your job."

"I'm not a killer like you, Zsasz." Naruto told him and Zsasz raised an eyebrow. "That's right, I know who you are and I know what you are. You're nothing but a killer. You and your boss will get what's coming I can promise you that."

Gordon glanced up and saw the Vigilante motion him to the side door so he took a few steps. "Uh ah." Zsasz waved his finger as his associates kept their guns on Gordon. "You don't want to let this get out of hand, do you?"

Naruto reached into his belt and took out four flashbang pellets. "I do." Naruto threw them forward and they erupted in a blinding flash of light and sound that concussed Zsasz and his associates. Zsasz rolled over a desk for cover so when Diggle fired a shot it missed a hit a desk. Naruto vanished and Gordon made a break for the door to the stairwell and ran as fast as they could for the parking lot.

"Shit." Diggle chambered another round and took aim through his scope to see Zsasz and his associates run after Gordon. He got Zsasz in his sights and fired another round which grazed his left arm. Dig quickly chambered another and fired another shot but missed. "Naruto, Zsasz is heading right after Gordon!"

"Roger that. Bug out to the van." Naruto whispered. Gordon made his way down the stairs and out to the parking lot where all the police cruisers and vans were parked. He made his way over to one of the cruisers when the Zsasz and his associates burst through the door and fired at him with their guns. Gordon quickly gook cover behind a police cruiser and fired back with his pistol causing Zsasz and his associates to quickly moved to cover. Gordon ran to another police cruiser for cover and popped his head up to fire three shots that made Zsasz duck. Zsasz quickly got back out from the car and advanced forward, firing more bullets from his gun as his two associates moved to the side to try and flank him. They fired at Gordon and pinned him down behind a car. Gordon blind fired a few rounds before his clip was empty and quickly loaded a new clip. One of Zsasz's associates came up on the left and had a clear shot so she aimed but before she could pull the trigger, Naruto vaulted over a police cruiser kneed her in the chest. The impact slammed her into the police cruiser door, denting it and breaking the glass. She pulled out a knife to try and stab him but he grabbed her wrist, punched her twice in the face and then grabbed her and slammed her onto the hood of the car.

Zsasz and his other associate fired at the Vigilante who dove over a car when Gordon fired two bullets that whizzed past Zsasz. A car drove into the lot at full speed and swerved to a stop by the entrance and MCU detectives Montoya and Allen got out and fired at Zsasz and her associate to give Gordon cover. "Get in the car!" Montoya shouted.

Gordon bolted from the cover and got in the car as Zsasz and his associate tried to gun him down. "GO!" Allen shouted and Montoya drove them away as fast as possible.

Zsasz and his associate fired their guns at the fleeing car but they were gone. He looked around and didn't see the Vigilante anywhere. "Don Falcone will not be happy." Zsasz said.

Naruto returned to the bunker so he could talk everything out with Kakashi and Diggle and figure out their next move. "Thanks for the backup, Dig. Sorry we didn't get Zsasz." Naruto said and Dig nodded. He had a chance to kill his brother's killer today and he missed. "I promise you we'll get him someday."

"I hope so." Dig said before taking a breath. "Ok, so what's our next move?"

"I'm not sure. You saw what happened today. The police abandoned Gordon in the middle of the precinct so we're all he has." Naruto told them, running his hand through his hair to figure out what to do. "The only thing I can think of is to keep an eye on him as best we can."

"That's a half measure at best, Naruto." Kakashi informed his former student with a sage-like tone in his voice. "It's just going to be us three against whomever Falcone and Fish Mooney send after Gordon and it might not be just the mob. Falcone could send the police after us as well and then we'll have a whole new issue, especially given your little warning at the station."

"Then what do you suggest?" Naruto asked.

"I'm with you through this thing to the end. But this might one of those circumstances I always told you about that can't be solved by conventional means. Sometimes you have to look underneath the underneath to solve a situation." Kakashi said to him. "This isn't a problem we just punch our way out of to solve."

"If we can even solve it." Dig added. "Falcone is the one who wants him dead and he's the only one who can let him live. We can go after him but nothing we do will stop him."

"You're right." Naruto admitted. "Falcone's entire life is violence so nothing I do to beat him will make a difference and even if I try and arrest him he has so many judges and cops on his payroll that he'd never be in jail for more than a second."

"Maybe we could do something with the information Kakashi learned. Falcone has some internal strife and if we let him know what's going on, maybe he'd agree to lift the kill/capture order on Gordon?" Dig suggested.

"Not a bad plan but how would we even tell him let alone not tip our hand that I'm the Vigilante? Falcone has no reason to trust me and he'll wonder how a 22-year old CEO found out information about his organization that he didn't even know." Naruto pointed out. Naruto would have gone on but got a call from Alfred. "What is it, Alfred?"

"It's Detective Gordon, sir. He's here at the manor with two other detectives. He needs to speak with you and Master Bruce rather urgently." Alfred told him.

"I'm on my way." Naruto replied, hanging up. "I need to head to the mansion. Kakashi, can you tail Mooney for a bit longer."

"I'll handle it." Kakashi said with a nod.

Dig drove Naruto back to Wayne Manor where he met with Bruce, Alfred, Gordon, and detectives Allen and Montoya in his study. "Naruto, thanks for coming. There are some people I'd like to introduce to you. This is Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen." Gordon introduced them as Naruto nodded to them.

"Pleased to meet you." Bruce said.

"Bruce, I promised you and your brother I would find your parents' killer. I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to keep that promise. It's a long story but I'm kind of in a tight spot. I've upset some powerful people." Gordon told them.

"Stop treating me like a child." Bruce told him. "Explain."

"Bruce, you are a child and I can't—""You expect to die!" Bruce shouted. "I'd like to know why. Is it connected to my parents' murder?"

"Yes, it's all connected. Somehow. Bruce, Naruto…I will do my best to work this thing out, but if I don't Montoya and Allen here will take over your parents' case. I've told them everything I know. You can trust them. 100 percent." Gordon said.

"100 percent." Allen told them.

"Bruce, these are good detectives. If anyone can find the truth, it's them." Gordon said as Bruce looked at them.

"Thank you." Bruce said and Montoya and Allen nodded.

"Jim, there has to be something we can do to help you." Naruto said.

"No, there's not. From here on in, I have to go it alone. I don't want anyone else caught up in this. I have to go." Gordon said.

"You'll get yourself killed." Naruto told him.

"I'll be fine." Gordon replied. He held his hand towards Bruce who instead hugged him and Gordon hugged back.

Naruto hugged Gordon too and he left soon after. Naruto spoke with Montoya and Allen for a bit about what would happen and what they needed before they left to the Major Crimes Unit. Alfred looked after Bruce while Naruto and Dig stayed in his study.

"It seems like Gordon has made up his mind." Dig said.

"He's ready to see this through to the end even if it means the end of his life." Naruto said. "I've never felt more useless in my entire life. There has to be something I can do."

"He seems dead set on this, Naruto." Dig told him when Naruto's phone went off and it was Kakashi. Naruto motioned Dig to close all the doors and when he did, Naruto put Kakashi on speaker.

"Hey, Kakashi, what is it?" Naruto asked.

"I just followed Mooney to a meeting between Maroni and Falcone. Apparently, there was some kind of conflict." Kakashi said.

"Did you manage to get any information?" Naruto asked.

"With the surveillance and audio equipment we got from Lucius, I did. I didn't get the specifics but it ended with causalities on both sides. Nikolai was one of them." Kakashi said.

"Well, there goes our plan to use that information against Falcone." Dig said.

"What else happened?" Naruto asked.

"Falcone let Maroni keep Cobblepot and Maroni gave Falcone the Indian Hill territory and he took it without any barter attempts." Kakashi said which confused Naruto.

"That's weird." Naruto said.

"Why's that weird?" Dig asked.

"Indian Hill is in the Arkham territory and is a hazardous waste dump built on an old Indian burial ground. Not exactly prime real estate for the mob." Naruto explained. "What else?"

"That's about it. Maroni did mention something about Gordon and handling the situation and then they left. What about you?" Kakashi asked.

"Gordon pretty much came to deliver his last message to us and plans to confront Falcone soon." Naruto said.

"I'm sorry, Naruto but I honestly don't have an idea what we can do to stop Falcone." Kakashi said and Naruto got an idea…whether or not it was a good one or a bad one is a matter of opinion.

"I might have an idea." Naruto said.

"What is it?" Diggle asked.

"Something that might work…but it doesn't involve the Gotham Vigilante whatsoever." Naruto told them. "It's a long shot but that's all we have at the moment. I need to speak to Falcone."

"And do what?" Diggle asked.

"I'm about to make a deal with the devil." Naruto told him.

"Why do I have a feeling I'm not going to like this." Dig said. Naruto grabbed his jacket and instructed Dig to drive him…to Falcone's mansion. They arrived at the gate where seven men armed with guns were stationed. One of the men walked up to the window so Naruto rolled it down. Once the man saw Naruto's face, he instantly lowered his guard and acted more dignified.

"Is Mr. Falcone in?" Naruto asked and the man nodded. "If it's possible, I would like a word."

"One moment." The guard said, before getting on the phone and calling the house. Naruto waited a few moments before the guard walked back over. "Mr. Falcone is in. He's more than happy to have a word with you. Someone will be waiting for you by the front door."

The guard signaled everyone to let the car through and Dig drove down the long driveway. "You sure about this, Naruto?" Dig asked.

"No, but it's one of the few plays I have left to help Gordon. I just pray it works." Naruto said, looking at Falcone Manor. He never expected to be here unless it was to break in for information or take down Falcone. "I've had to do some hard things ever since I started this mission…and this will be the toughest."

Dig pulled up to the front, got out of the car and opened Naruto's door. Naruto and Dig walked in where they were greeted by a young woman in a very lovely dress. "Hello. Mr. Falcone is this way." She said, leading them through the manor until they entered Falcone's study where he was sitting at a desk, having just put down a book. "Mr. Falcone, Mr. Wayne is here to see you."

Falcone looked at Naruto and smiled before standing up and walking over to him. "Mr. Wayne, pleasure to have you in my humble abode." Falcone said, holding his hand out. Dig glanced at Naruto and wondered if he could go through it but saw Naruto shake his hand and put up his best actor face with a smile.

"Thank you for seeing me on such short notice. I'm sorry if I'm interrupting any plans you have." Naruto said in a delightful tone.

"No, I was just in the middle of a good book but I'm always open to speak to the Waynes if they should need me." Falcone said. "Can I get you anything?"

"No, I'm fine." Naruto replied. "If it's possible, I'd like to speak in confidence…and in private."

"Of course." Falcone looked at his men in the room. "Gentlemen, if you wouldn't mind giving Mr. Wayne and myself the room, please? You as well, Liza."

His men and Liza nodded and filed out of the room. Naruto looked back at Dig and nodded. "You too, Dig."

"You sure?" Diggle asked, not wanting to leave Naruto alone with him.

"I'll be ok. It's just a talk." Naruto told him and Dig nodded, leaving with the others. Falcone's men closed the door so it was just the two of them.

"A very impressive bodyguard. So, what brings you all the way to my humble abode so suddenly?" Falcone asked.

"A conversation and a plea to help someone very close." Naruto told him.

"If I had to wager, I imagine this has to do Detective Gordon and that ordeal. He must have gone to you and explained what he knew." Falcone said, walking around and sat at his desk. He gestured for Naruto to sit down in a chair and he did. "The fact that you're willing to come here to me of all people at this hour suggests you truly care for him."

"Detective Gordon stands for something he believes in. My father taught me that believing and standing for something when others don't shows true character." Naruto told him and Falcone nodded.

"And I agree. James Gordon is a good man and we need men like him in Gotham." Falcone said. "I truly am sorry if the information he told you upset in any way. Your parents death was tragic and having you relive the trauma with all of this could have been avoided."

"Why do all of this? Why the cover up for my parents murder?" Naruto asked.

"The city needed a patsy so I gave them one." Falcone told him. "You'll understand soon that the world is a complicated place and that right and wrong aren't mutually exclusive. After all, it's why you're here…to try and plead for James Gordon."

"I am." Naruto told him. "Jim is a good friend and someone who the city needs now. He helps a lot of people."

"That he does. I like him but it'll take more than that to let him live." Falcone told him. "You understand that the situation is much more complicated but the fact that you're here means you want to barter to spare his life."

"I do. Two things: first, I'll stop any attempts to disrupt and end the Arkham deal. You, your associates, and the Wayne Board can continue on with business as usual and I'll cease any and all executive orders that have stopped your progress." Naruto told him. Falcone seemed to like that idea. Ever since the Mayor had announced the changes to the Arkham Plan, Naruto had halted any progress with the plan using his power at Wayne Enterprises and it was costing Falcone and Maroni money. If Naruto ended his interruptions, then business could continue.

"A very tempting offer. And second?" Falcone asked as Naruto took a deep breath and steadied himself.

"I'll owe you a favor." Naruto told him and that made Falcone widen his eyes in shock.

"A favor?" Falcone asked and Naruto nodded.

"Yes. I'll owe you a favor." Naruto said again. "If you need something…I'll honor the favor to the best of my ability."

"I see." Falcone said, liking the idea of the Wayne CEO owing him a favor. "You have yourself a deal."

Falcone stood up and shook Naruto's hand. "So, you'll spar Detective Gordon's life?" Naruto asked.

"I will." Falcone said as he looked at Naruto. "It says a lot about your character that you're willing to go this far for a friend. I admire that. I hope you'll see this partnership as an opportunity for me to show you that I'm not the bad guy you and the detective think I am, Mr. Wayne. I'm not the dissimilar from yourself. You're doing everything you can to help the city, as am I. The real bad guy is anarchy and everything I do keeps the city running as smooth as it can. Without me, there'd be anarchy. Your father understood that. I hope one day you will to."

Falcone smiled at him. "You should stay for dinner. Liza makes a delicious red sauce." Falcone offered.

"Thank you, Mr. Falcone but I have to head back and have dinner with Bruce." Naruto said and Falcone nodded. "And one more thing if it's not too much trouble…if you speak to Detective Gordon, don't tell him I did this."

Falcone smiled when he heard this. "Of course. I'll be seeing you soon, Mr. Wayne." Falcone bid him farewell. Naruto left the study and he and Diggle walked back to the car.

"Everything ok?" Dig asked.

"I need to punch something." Naruto said as Dig drove them out of there as fast as he could. Naruto was pissed that he just made a deal with Carmine Falcone for a favor…a completely unknown favor that the Don could call in at any time, but it would save Detective Gordon's life and the city needed a good cop like him. Naruto reveled in the small victory he had, not knowing that it was all for naught as another small force in the city close to Falcone had taken measures to safekeep Detective Gordon. Naruto thought that this was a crucial loss in his war against the mob, but little did he know the war had barely begun.

End of Chapter 4

1). Opening fight scene to Arrow season 1 episode 2 on the helipad.

I hoped you guys like this chapter. It was kind of filler, but Naruto learns that his family's company really is doing horrible things and it'll happen right under his nose. Naruto will have to up his efforts to stop them, but he's also begun his reputation within the city as the Vigilante. He put the fear in one of the city's corrupted elite and took down the Spirit of the Goat while finally showing that he stands with Gordon and having his first interaction with Zsasz. Naruto has suffered a bit of a personal lost by owing Don Falcone a favor, but he'll soon learn how little he knows about what's going on with the mob.

Sorry if this chapter took so long. April was kind of a writer's block month for me and I couldn't really write anything, but I managed to get past it. In May, I plan to update my Arrow, my Arrow-Spiderman, and hopefully one more story. Hopefully, I'll update my Naruto/Game of thrones story at the end of May as well.

Next chapter, Naruto finally decides to meet with Gordon and let him know he's here to help and Gordon will need it. He's all alone and has to deal with Black Mask and dive deeper into his war with the mob. Until next time.

Naruto Uzumaki Wayne-Age 22

· Moniker: The Gotham Vigilante or The Fox

· Uniform: Black steel-toed combat boots, with black pants, utility belt, Black long sleeve shirt with body armor stitched on chest, black leather jacket, carbon polymer all-purpose defense gauntlets, and exo-suit helmet. (Red Hood helmet and appearance from Arkham Knight DLC/ basic black and dark crimson color scheme with dark red fox insignia on the shirt and back of the jacket)

· Skills: Boxing training from Alfred Pennyworth, master of multiple martial arts/training from Kakashi Hatake, training in ninjutsu, aikido, karate, taekwondo, kung fu, Taiichi, MMA, escrima, bo-staff fighting, sword fighting, Krav Maga, wing chun, Muay Thai, Silat, and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, expert thrower and marksman with throwing knives and shuriken, basic firearms and special forces combat training from John Diggle.

· Weapons: All-purpose defense gauntlets with knock-out dart, throwing knife launcher and mini-grapple hook, grappling hook gun, carbon polymer taser escrima sticks and staff, explosive gel, multiple kunai and shuriken, smoke pellets, flashbang pellets, thermite bombs.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Gotham, all rights belong to their respective owners. I'm just a fan.