The following is a non-profit, fan work based off the respective works of Rei Hiroe and Christopher Nolan

All rights belong to the original creators, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., and Madhouse Inc.

The Bluefire Phoenix presents...

A File from Operation Dusk Hour...

Chapter X: Dark Victory

This was it. This was victory. Everything had worked out. The Batman was a captive of the Russian mob and Revy was clinging to life in the infirmary all thanks to my scheming.

Yet here I was leaning against the railing outside the bridge, empty and hollow. Was this how she felt all the time?

My cigarette was nearly done. I put it out and tossed the butt down. Even surrounded by so many people I knew, I felt alone. They gave me props and adulations from the men, but that was it. What more did I do than capture

The sun was setting. Creatures of the night were starting to stir. Perhaps one on board the ship was one such beast. I stood up and took a breath.

I never imagined the end of my journey to Gotham. Sure prison and death cropped up, but never victory. Win first then battle, as I've read. But now the battle was won and victory obtained: why did I feel compelled to speak with Wayne?

The question followed me down to the heart of the ship. The guard opened the door and I entered the cell. It was set up as a cruel mockery of an asylum cell. The white walls were just painted sheet metal.

Wayne was chained to the far wall with his arms spread out. His legs were also held apart. The only clothing he had was a pair of ratty black shorts. His hands were looking even more mangled now.

He looked up to me as I entered, eyeing me with suspicion. "You're the one who did all this," he growled. Even after what Balalaika did to him, he was still defiant. It probably explained the various scars on his body.

I sat down on the wall to his left. "I only planned for your capture. I never planned for what Balalaika did," I said. Wayne looked me over with a suspicious glance. He turned the ceiling.

"You're not like them. You certainly act like them, but you're not one of them. You seem…like a good person," Wayne mused. I remained silent. There wasn't anything hostile about his tone.

"With your intellect, you could have done something great. Instead you waste your life working for scum," he added with viscous contempt. I slammed my fist against the metal wall behind me. He had no right to judge me.

"You act like I simply chose this path," I growled back.

Wayne looked unimpressed with my answer. "There is always a choice between doing good and doing evil," he countered.

I started menacing, throaty laugh. There was nothing funny, but his comment was so naïve and childish. "That's your problem, Mr. Wayne. You had a choice. You were born into money and influence. The world is as open as your wallet allows. I was born a disposable middle class nobody and grew into disposable middle class nobody salaryman doomed to be abandoned by my corporate masters and left to die in a foreign land. Do you think I had enough control to make a choice? Do you think if I did that this is the life I'd choose? I wasn't cut out for gunfights and gangsters and high speed chases. Maybe in your world I'm evil because of the actions I've committed, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm still alive."

"And what about Cynthia Redding. Did she need to die? What about Alfred? Were they so critical that you had to sacrifice for your survival?" Wayne barked back.

"Maybe, maybe not. But their blood will haunt me to the end. However I'm at least thinking of survival. You don't give a damn about your life."

"Of course I do!"

"No, you don't. Look at you, you preformed dozens dangerous missions on a whim. Your body is a battered wreck."

"My body and life are a small price in order to keep the city safe!"

"Obviously not because you never asked a very basic: why were the streets unsafe in the first place? With your resources you could have provided all those people you deem criminals with an education or a job instead of sending them into an overcrowded and terribly underfunded prison system giving them nothing but bitter resentment. Instead you spend your wealth on body armor and tanks in an effort to protect the sacred image of your precious parents."

"Don't you dare bring them into this!"

He really didn't realize, did he? I walked right up to Wayne. "Are you really so fucking enamored with your ideals that you refuse to see reality?"

"I see reality fine. It is cold and cruel and unfair," Wayne coldly stated. I moved back to my wall.

"Unfair, Wayne? You lost your parents when you were a kid, big. Fucking. Deal. It happens every day all over the world. That's not a tragedy, it's a damn statistic. And then you decide the best reaction is to dress up as a bat and beat up people you deem criminals?"

"You are a criminal, they are criminals. You've all broke the law!"

I shook my head. "And what makes you such an arbiter of justice?" I countered.

"Batman is a symbol. He can make the tough calls. He can endure, be incorruptible," Wayne announced.

"News flash Bats, symbols can be corrupted. What if some nut decided to don your cowl and cape and go on a killing spree?"

"I already have."

"No Wayne, you didn't. Everybody has figured it out to some degree. You merely used it as an excuse to go away."

"I...I used it to cover to hide that it was Harvey Dent who committed them."

That caught my attention. I mean talk about a bombshell. "Well then, I guess Hotel Moscow did you all a favor getting rid of the Dent Act early," I mused.

Batman didn't believe my point. "Be realistic, a secret that huge could only stay below the radar for so long. Say in eight years that became public knowledge. Who knows what would happen?" I added. "But back to my original question. Do you think it's your wealth? Do you think that you are just superior to the rest of us and thus capable of being the one to determine justice? What gives you the right?"

We fell silent for a minute. "One final question, Wayne: what did you expect to accomplish on your damn fool idealistic crusade?" I finally asked.

Wayne looked at his feet. "I wanted to create a hero that the people of Gotham could look up to, a symbol in the night to let them know that they were safe. I wanted Gotham back the way it was."

I stood up. "You were fighting a losing battle, Wayne. Anyone who thinks they can fight to regain the past as it was is just delusional. And that delusion has certainly cost you. It started with your parents, Rachel, Dent, and now your butler," I said. I walked to the door.

Wayne just sat there. Probably mulling over

"Good-bye Wayne and good luck," I whispered. I opened the door and walked out. I stuffed my hands into my pockets. I wasn't sure what just happened back there or why it had to happen. My steps echoed around the hold as I made my way topside. Even as my heels clicked, I could still feel Wayne's presence. I turned around, feeling the control I had now over his life. It was all I could think about as I watched his door from afar.

Maybe I could even save him.

We wouldn't get far, sure.

But for all my criticism,

he was a hero.

This wasn't a hero's fate.

Even in such dark times.

And if this world is so dark...

...it still needs such a hero.

Maybe not now.

But one day we will need someone to hold back the...

Nightfall

A/N: Yay, done. Ah...music...hmm...oh!

Take me high and I'll sing
Oh you make everything okay (okay, okay)
We are one in the same
Oh you take all of the pain away (away, away)
Save me if I become
My demons

(From the song "My Demons" by Starset, all rights belong to them and their label company)

They were in town earlier this month. I'm kind of sad that I couldn't afford a ticket to go see them. Oh well.

So yeah, this was what I was waiting for. Just Rock and Batman speaking. In this case mostly Rock. I had no intention of a climatic final show down, always a calm and meditative scene.

Rock's sentiments I do actually agree with. But mostly on a meta-textual level. I'm not a total asshole who rejects suspension of disbelief. However I also like reminding people that Bruce Wayne could do way more long term good in Gotham than Batman could.

I loved writing Nightfall and I look forward to writing Knighthood. I hope all my fans come back for the continuation.

Extra Special Thanks to demonicDRAMAqueen, who provided excellent feedback and hours of interesting discussion.

Special Thanks to Jo for reminding me why I do this.

Thanks to John and Jouaint for reviewing while it was in progress.

And Thanks to everyone who has read Nightfall.

Until next time, what did you read upon the Ruined Wall {that now there is a god}

The Bluefire Phoenix presents...

A Sneak Peak at: Operation Dusk Hour: Knighthood...

The morning fog lifts from a large rural village somewhere in Thailand where the people are in the midst of their morning routines. A white America with dark hair in a black leather jacket with a blue stripe across its chest watches the scene from atop a hill. He plays with a rusting Batarang in his hands. He adjusts his backpack before descending towards the village.

"What is left of us..."

On a wind swept plain in central Asia, a graying man boards a plane filled with American agents. He is missing his right eye.

"...when we are nothing more..."

Lagoon Company headquarters is in its usual mess. A tired Benny is reading a book in the main room when the front door bursts open. Revy enters, clutching a bleeding arm. Her hair is frazzled and far longer, lacking her usual burgundy coloring. Her eyes are bloodshot and weighted down by dark bags.

"...than dust and dirt?"

The Bluefire Phoenix presents...

A Sneak Peak at: Project: Life Spark

"Mikoto Misaka..."

A brown haired girl in a peach girl's uniform bearing the badge of Tokiwadai Middle School walks along the busy streets of Academy City with her book bag in front of her.

"...our third ranked Level 5 esper."

The brown haired girl sees a confused girl with an odd asymmetrical haircut sitting on the ground. The strange girl wears a black uniform.

"Did she come in contact with Lain?"

Mikoto holds out her hand to the strange girl.

"We believe so."

The strange girl takes Mikoto's hand. Strange sparks begin to fly around them.

"Then the wall is already collapsing."