The Last Bat

MANEHATTAN. NO POV.

The sounds of a bell ringing from an opening door rang out as a small young filly, no older than thirteen, stepped out from her family's bakery. She had a tan fur coat, long braided brown hair, and dark green eyes, she wore a frog themed satchel on her back.

"I'm not a little filly anymore, stop treating me like one, mama!" The young filly whined to her mother.

"Listen to me, Estrella, go get the flour and come back home quickly, it's not safe out there at night." Another voice, the filly's mother, told her daughter.

"Ugh!" Estrella groaned as she stormed away, walking down the streets of Manehattan, seeing a few ponies out and about. Estrella decided to take a shortcut through an alleyway but soon regretted her decision as she stumbled across some of the local gangsters in her neighborhood beating on someone. She lowered head and looked away as she tried to walk by faster to avoid them, but fate had other ideas

"Hey, Estrella! Where you going?" One of the thugs asked her while walking towards

"Uh... N-No where..." Estrella said softly while avoiding their gaze

"No where is right, Mija." One of the other thugs said as one of them wrapped a hoof around her shoulders and ushered her closer

"How's your family's business? Still good?" He asked as they walked towards the pony they were beating, a young mare who wore fishnet stockings and a short red dress, she had one red lipstick and long eyelashes, but she was covered in bruises and had a black eye, tears streaming down her face. Estrella felt her heart sink and fear wash over her as she saw this poor mare in such a condition

"I-It's good..." Estrella muttered

"Good, but it'll be better if you convince your family to pay us for protection. There's a lot of bad ponies out there." One thug laughed

"I-I really gotta go, I need to buy flour before they close." Estrella tried to get away until one thug snatched her satchel away

"Gonna be hard without any money, chica." They played keep away with her money before shoving her away, running off as a large wagon pulled up and they hopped in, riding away. Estrella groaned and huffed in frustration before rushing over the mare

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" Estrella asked, the mare coughed a bit and sniffled

"I-I'm fine... N-Not the first time, sweetie." The mare gave Estrella a small smile to try and comfort her "I-I'll be fine, you gotta get home. It's not safe here." She tried to warn her. Estrella looked down at the mare with a look of worry

"... You try and get yourself somewhere safe, I hear there's a shelter not too far from here for... U-Um..."

"A prostitute? I've been called worse, kid." The mare said as she tried to stand up "B-But I think I'll sit here for a bit. You get home." She said, Estrella thought about going back home but she didn't want to leave without her money, she took a deep breath and stood up, running off to where the wagon went off to. She ran down the streets and cut through the alleyways, climbing over a wall before looking through a wooden gate and saw the same wagon from before. She stacked some empty crates and used it to climb up over the gate and hopped down on the other side, just as she did so she turned and gasped as she saw the same thug that took her money collapsed right in front of her.

"No! N-No no, Please-" She as the other thugs from before run out from a dark corner only to be dragged back by someone. Or something. Estrella hid behind some trash cans to avoid being spotted.

Over with some more thugs they were loading up the wagon with stuff before one of them ordered three more to check out what was happening. The three thugs set down their crates and walked down the alleyway, a few lights turned on as the street lights were coming on now due to the time. As the thugs walked down the alleyway one of them was suddenly taken away in another alley connecting this one. Only to then be thrown and crashed into a power box, short-circuiting the lights

"The buck was that?!" One thug shouted while picking up a pipe, suddenly a black and red figure appeared behind him and snapped his neck. The last thug screamed in terror before rushing the figure, only to be backhanded across the face and had his head stomped on

"This! Isn't! Your! City! Anymore!" The figure shouted with each heavy stomp on the head. The yelling caught the attention of the thug still loading things up as he dropped the crate he was carrying and whistled loudly, signaling four more thugs that appeared on the rooftops. They fired down steel arrow bolts down to try and kill the Vigilante, Red Hood. Red Hood saw this and quickly rolled off to the side before jumping off a crate, turning around it seemed like time slowed down as the Red Hood whipped around his AK and took aim, pulling the trigger as the bullets flew out, hitting the thugs as their lifeless bodies crashed down to earth. Red Hood got up and glared over at the thugs at the wagon and was about to rush at him until the sound of a bottle rolling over spooked him, turning around with his gun aimed at Estrella

"Ah!" Estrella screamed and fell back, trying to crawl away but was frozen with fear. Red Hood started at her with wide eyes as he almost did the unspeakable.

"Die, asshole!" The thug threw three sticks of dynamite taped together and the landed near Estrella. The fuse was lit and the fuse was short, not having very much time. Red Hood was about to go after the thug until the little filly cried out

"Mama!" Estrella shielded herself as best she could and awaited her fate

KA-BOOM!

The dynamite detonated and caused a massive crater to form, Red Hood could be seen being sent flying back, his armor protecting him. He groaned in pain as he slowly stood up... And Estrella was seen to have been in his arms. Red Hood gently sat her down as she didn't have a scratch on her. Estrella slowly opened her eyes to see she was still alive, looking up to see Red Hood clutching his side as he panted heavily

"Y... You saved me... Why?" Estrella asked, Red Hood turned down to look at her and Estrella yelped in fear seeing his gaze

".... Old habits die hard, I guess...." Was all Red Hood said as he turned to walk away, picking up his AK to leave

"You're a hero!... Y-You know that?" Estrella called out

".... Not anymore, kid. Go home, it's not safe out here." Red Hood tossed Estrella back her satchel that she had stolen from the thugs and gasped

"Thank... You?" She looked up to see he had vanished.

Estrella panted as she was carrying a bag of flours in one hoof while running back home, she opened the door to her home

"Estrella! Where have you been, you have any idea how late it is?" Her mother could be heard shouting at her but it was all because she was worried

"I'm so sorry, mama! But you will not believe what happened!" Estrella began to retell the tale of what had happened to her mother as she shut the door, over on a rooftop across from her home stood the Red Hood. Looking down at her. He had followed Estrella to make sure nothing happened to her until she got home

"You're still a hero." Batman said as he stood next to Red Hood "You can fight and deny it all you want but you still care for the innocent. You are still a hero."

"I was never a fucking hero, Batman. So zip it." Red Hood said harshly before using his grappling hook to swing across from building to building

"You need rest, hell, you need to eat."

"Fuck off."

"If you don't get any rest then you're just gonna drop dead."

"I said fuck off." Red Hood growled as he landed on a rooftop, he looked down and watched as a family was walking down the street before turning into an alleyway, the son playing and acting as if he was fighting against some bad guys. Then Red saw a man step out from the shadows and aim a small handheld, or in their case hoofheld, crossbow

"Scream and you all die. Satchels, empty them, now!" The muggers demanded as the family cowered in fear, the father slowly removing his satchel to hand it to the mugger, but before the muggers could grab it Red Hood grabbed him with his grappling hook and hoisted him up in the air, the muggers screamed in terror before he was silenced by having his head bashed against the roof. Red Hood looked down and the family gasped as they could see his white eyes staring down at them

"T-Thank you..." The father said, Red Hood said nothing as he then left, leaving the bloodied mugger on the roof as he patrolled the city. Stopping a few muggers and thieves until the sun started to rise, racing back to his current residence at the moment. An old building that seemed to have been an office at one point in time but was abandoned. Climbing in through an open window Jason dropped inside and walked towards the Batmobile that was parked in the center of what looked to be an old lobby. The building itself wasn't all too big, about two stories tall and big as a warehouse, but it was decent enough to stay at. Jason climbed inside the Batmobile and opened a bag containing some fruits. Grabbing a banana he peeled it and started eating

"There's an ape joke here somewhere." Jason muttered to himself

"Well, you are a human, the last human, eating a banana." Tim stated

"Smartass." Jason groaned as he yawned, taking another bite of his banana. This was Jason's routine so far. During the day he usually just eats, work out, and looks over information on the criminals of the city from the newspaper and some files he steals from the police station. Since they didn't have computers everything was on paper, which made things a little more difficult but not impossible. Currently Jason was looking over a certain family, the Lit Fuse family.

"Lit Fuse senior. Owner of the Fuse foundation. Multiple construction sites under their name, considerable donations to numerous charities, elected pony of the year four times in a row. But has been accused of a few business scandals and forcing other businesses out. Although the cases were dropped due to lack of evidence. And witnesses." Jason read the file of Lit Fuse Senior, a stallion with a red fur coat and black mane and tail.

"Hot Lit Fuse, wife of Lit Fuse Senior, she was the owner of a small shipping company until her marriage which grew her business to travel overseas." A photo showing an older mare with long blonde mane and tail, light orange coat, and wore heavy makeup to hide any wrinkles on her face. Next was a photo that showed the two sons "Short Lit Fuse, 21, eldest son of the Lit Fuse company. Goes to Manehattan university, top of his class, honor student, Corporal of the JROTC, and volunteers at the soup kitchen. Was caught in a rape scandal of multiple mares and young fillies, but charges were dropped due to lack of evidence." The photo showed a young stallion with a dark red coat and blonde mane and tail wearing a military uniform.

"Lit Fuse Junior, 16, youngest son of the Lit Fuse company. Goes to Markland High School, known to be a troublemaker at his school for numerous pranks, fights, and disruptive behavior. Was arrested for the death of a fellow student but charges were dropped due to lack of evidence." Jason looked at the photo of a young stallion with an orange coat and blonde and black mane and tail. Jason put the files away as he held up his helmet to make a holographic blueprint of the Lit Fuse company building, blueprints he stole and copied by following one of the maintenance workers of the building.

"You're gonna kill them." Jason sighed as he glanced over his shoulder and looked at Batman. The silence was deafening as they glared at one another. It wasn't until Nightwing broke the silence

"You can find real, concrete evidence. Have them be prosecuted and be put on trial."

"For what? So that they kill even more witnesses? Pay off the judge or threaten the jury so they can walk?" Jason argued

"So you plan on just murdering every single person who breaks the law? Have you forgotten what father has taught you?"

"Says the little shit who murdered people the second he came out of the damn tube he grew up in." Jason snapped at Damian as the two glared at one another "Don't act all high and mighty, that includes all of you! Our code, our rules, all of it means nothing anymore! Gotham is gone! Humanity is gone! Our home is gone! But the scum of this earth? The murderers, rapists, pedophiles, sex traffickers, they're all still here! Beating them up and locking them away won't do any one any good! I'm doing what you're all too scared and too weak to do! I'm putting real fear into their hearts! Showing them that someone will punish them! Will end them!" Jason shouted as he glared at them all. Silence filled the room as Batman placed a hand on Jason's shoulder

"Just because we're gone doesn't mean you have to lose your humanity."

".... I already lost it." Jason said, looking back only to find himself alone, as always. Jason would spend the rest of the day looking over his files and planning as he waited for nightfall to come.

NEXT DAY. NO POV.

It was the afternoon and all over the city was in a buzz after the events that transpired last night

"Extra! Extra! Shootout in alleyway! Ganger members being hunted? Read all about it!" A young colt shouted while handing out news papers. A pony, a stallion earth pony with light brown fur, five'o'clock shadow facial hair, and a slick black mane combed back wearing a trench coat paid for one of the papers and proceeded to read it

"Another day another Goddamn massacre. This guy been here for what, a week, and already he's been taking down nearly every big name player in the damn game and we haven't gotten so much as a clear picture of him." The pony said as he turned to another stallion, a unicorn with green fur, blonde mane in a buzz cut, and wore a white button up shirt

"They say that he's the spirit of all the ponies that have been killed, their vengeance taken physical form." The unicorn said

"These murders aren't fucking fairy tales or bullshit folklore. A real thing is killing all these ponies, Twitch, not some spooky ghost ponies made up."

"But you have to admit, Bullhorn, the way this pony-"

"Or whatever the hell he is."

"Is unlike anything we've dealt with before." Twitch, the unicorn, said as the two ponies was walking down the street as they made their way towards the scene of last night's shootout. Seeing officers all blocking citizens and reports away. Bullhorn and Twitch both showed their badges and moved through the yellow tape as they walked over to one of the forensics at the scene

"What do we go?" Bullhorn asked

"Same as all the others. Mysterious metal casings with black powder, known gangmembers, all dead. From he looks of things they were ambushed, some even fell from the rooftops filled with exit wounds on their bodies." The forensics explained

"What about this? Did a bomb go off?" Bullhorn asked while looking at the small crater in the alleyway, seeing blood and ash on the walls

"Yes, sir. Dynamite, but something we found interesting was the skid marks from the blast. Seemed that whoever it was must've been blown back from the explosion."

"So they must be injured." Twitch hypothesize

"That's right, we even found what appear to be hoofprints."

"Hoofprints?" Bullhorn asked "Was it one of the scumbags here?"

"From what we gathered no, they're too small to belongs to any of these ponies and from our reports on this vigilante they don't belong to him. They appear to belong to a filly."

"A filly? What would a filly be doing here?" Twitch asked out loud

"Well, some gang members try to recruit young colts and fillies into their gangs, but here's the interesting part." The forensics used his magic to light up some of the blast radius and started to play what appeared here with their current knowledge, Showing a small filly "The explosion went off here, if the filly was here then we would've had a more gruesome scene here. But that's not rh case, instead it seemed that something, or somepony, shielded the filly from the blast, causing the skidmarks." The magic showed a play-by-play image of how things may have gone down

"So we have a live witness who was face to face with this thing?" Bullhorn smirked "We may have finally caught a break in this damn case. Someone send a letter to the Princesses. Tell them that we may have gotten a lead on this. In the meantime Twitch go and try to find any other witnesses, see if they saw any pony that saw the filly or the creature."

"Yes, sir." Twitch said as he and some other officers all went off to question any pony they could find. Bullhorn looked around at the scene as he reached into his coat and pulled out a small box of cigarettes, taking one out and a match, swiping it across his chin as the match lit up and then used it to light his cigarette

"We're on to you, whatever the hell you are."