On the stage, the eyes of the man with the coin, Two-Face, travelled from left to right overlooking the crowd.
“All the elites of Gotham are gathered here,” Two-Face said, his voice echoing through the hall.
“The rich.
The politicians.
The so-called pillars of society.
Even criminals hiding among you under the guise of culture.” He slowly paced across the stage, the coin glinting between his fingers.
“This… is the perfect moment for judgment.” He stopped at the center, raising his hand.
“The corruption, the crimes, the failures and inaction.
You are all of what has plunged Gotham into darkness and caused it to rot.” A brief pause.
“Tonight, each one of you will be judged.” The crowd remained frozen.
“Those the coin spares,” he continued, “will live… to bear witness those who fall.” His voice hardened.
“Live knowing the consequences of your actions.
And understand this, fate does not forget.” At the back of the hall, Sebastian leaned toward Barbara, lowering his voice to avoid drawing attention.
“Is that lunatic planning to flip the coin for every single person here?” he asked.
Barbara kept her eyes forward.
“probably,” she whispered.
“He sees himself as the arbiter of fate.
The coin decides everything.” Sebastian nodded faintly.
“So the coin is absolute in his eyes.” “Yes.” Sebastian’s gaze shifted forward, studying the stage.
“How likely do you think Batman will step out to stop this ridiculous performance?” he asked.
Barbara’s eye twitched slightly.
“I don’t know,” she said.
Then, quieter, “No.
I don’t even know if he’s here.” Sebastian leaned back in his seat.
“He probably won’t reveal himself immediately,” he murmured.
“He’ll wait, looking for an opening to sneak out.
Or maybe he won’t expose himself no matter what happens.” Barbara kept silent listening to him.
For a moment, she wanted to say Bruce won’t sit idle waiting while people get hurt.
He will find a way.
“Hypothetically,” Sebastian continued, “What would happen if someone were to insult the coin?
Or remove fate from the equation entirely?” Barbara immediately had a bad feeling about this.
“What are you thinking?” “He wants to judge everyone,” he said.
“So imagine I draw a gun and point it to your head, taking you hostage from him.
That would be taking control away from his coin.” He tilted his head.
“What would he do?” Barbara stared at him.
“You have a gun?
And you want to point it to my head?” “Focus,” Sebastian said.
“You’re the Gotham expert here.
What would he do?” “He loses control,” Barbara replied quickly.
“He gets angry.
He’ll kill us both.” “So that’s a no go,” Sebastian said.
“And outside?
How likely is it filled with his men?” Barbara said.
“They’re everywhere.” Sebastian nodded slowly and turned his attention back to the stage.
Two-Face’s men were already moving props into position, transforming the stage into something resembling a courtroom.
Sebastian’s gaze shifted behind him.
One man was stationed at the rear, armed with a machine gun.
The man was just two meters away from his seat.
He remained still for a moment, calculating.
He couldn’t use anything tied to Alfred.
Only what was believable: A gun and trained human capability and nothing else.
He could just sit it out and wait but he didn’t feel like allowing Two-Face any moments of euphoria for succeeding if even a little.
[Worst case scenario, I will act as if I am a meta human or an experiment gone wrong] Sebastian thought.
Barbara nudged him.
“What are you thinking?” Sebastian answered without looking at her.
“How to fuck him up for ruining a peaceful night,” he said casually.
“And how to force our watchbat to act.” He watched a moment longer.
Then spoke again.
“No matter what happens,” he said quietly, “stay where you are, you will be completely safe.
I won’t allow them to carry on with this madman show.” Barbara’s expression tightened.
“Are you insane?
Stay still.” Sebastian replied.
“I dislike remaining passive when I am annoyed.
And realistically, our turn will come eventually.
Either that, or this becomes complete bloody chaos.
And I told you before, I prefer if the news said a citizen shooting the gang” Before she could respond, he stood and turned around, rushing toward the man at the back.
The guard noticed, but it was too late.
Sebastian’s hand moved, drawing his gun and firing.
A single shot to the head, the man dropped instantly.
In the same motion, Sebastian moved forward, catching the machine gun before it hit the ground.
Without breaking stride, he continued to exit the hall.
Outside, two men stood nearby, their expressions shifting from confusion to alarm.
Sebastian did not hesitate.
His pistol fired again at one of them, while the machine gun rose in his other hand aimed at the second.
Inside the hall, the moment the gunfire sounded, Two-Face turned to look for the source and so did his men.
Their attention snapped toward the back, just in time to see one of their own collapse.
And a figure, leaving the hall.
Then more gun fire sounded outside.
Two-Face stared toward the back of the hall for a brief second, processing what had just happened.
Then his expression twisted.
“A guilty coward has run,” he said coldly.
He turned to the men beside him.
“Call the others.
Tell them one has run and he has forfeited the mercy of the coin.” His gaze shifted to two nearby gunmen.
“You two go follow…” The sentence was interrupted by gunfire.
A bullet tore into the stage with one grazing his shoulder, forcing him to step back.
At the entrance, Sebastian stood, relaxed, a faint smile on his face.
“Ugly face,” he called out, “fuck you and fuck your coin.” He raised his hand and flipped a middle finger.
“Bye.” Then he turned and disappeared again.
Two-Face’s expression snapped into fury.
“GO KILL THAT BASTARD!” he roared.
The two men he had pointed at rushed toward the back, weapons ready.
Two-Face watched the men running then turned to the others “Call everyone to drop everything and hunt the bastard down, and the rest of you…” Again, gunfire.
Two-Face turned again.
The two men had barely made it half the way to the back before collapsing, their bodies hitting the ground almost in sync.
At the back, Sebastian stood once more, gun raised, still smiling.
“Idiot and ugly,” he said.
“Coin my ass.” He turned and vanished again.
Two-Face clenched his jaw so hard it seemed his teeth might crack.
He snapped.
“I WANT THAT BASTARD DEAD!!” He stepped off the stage, grabbing a machine gun as he moved.
His men followed immediately, leaving only two behind to keep their weapons trained on the terrified crowd.
——— Barbara didn’t move.
She saw three people die, their blood pooling under them.
Her stomach turned, and she forced herself to look away.
She barely knew Sebastian, he had his quirks but in truth, he was not that bad of a person and didn’t sound like someone brutal.
So for him to kill so decisively was unexpected and horrifying.
At the same time, she couldn’t help but acknowledge his thoughts.
He already decided Bruce is Batman and believed Bruce won’t be able to move in such a situation and he was right.
Bruce would find a way eventually to stop Two-Face.
Sebastian doesn’t know that or trust him that much.
Going by that, the logical thing is to act if he can instead of waiting, but the fact that his first choice was to kill is what truly disturbed her.
If he chose to injure and run, then she wouldn’t have seen it as bad, in fact, she might have thought of him as a hero.
A little over two minutes passed in silence.
Then gunfire again.
This time from the front.
She looked up.
Sebastian stood near the stage, walking casually as two more men dropped in front of him.
His movements were steady.
His gaze moved across the crowd and landed on Gordon.
He lifted a hand and waved.
“Commissioner,” he said, as if greeting him “the gang of the ugly face went upstairs.
They should be rushing back shortly.” He pointed toward the left side of the hall.
“I suggest you lead people out through that side, then proceed to the main entrance.” He paused, then added casually, “I’ll keep the idiots busy on the right.” He bent, picked up a machine gun, and tossed it toward Gordon.
“Take it,” he said.
“Just in case.” Without waiting for a response, Sebastian turned and walked off to the right while saying “Now onto the scary pain in the ass part.” The crowd erupted.
People stood, panicked, rushing toward the left exit.
No one waited for instruction.
They pushed, shoved, desperation overriding any sense of order.
Seconds later, gunfire exploded again.
This time was louder, multiple weapons firing at once.
The crowd panicked further.
Then an explosion.
Followed by another.
Gordon looked toward the source, his expression tightening.
He tried to manage the situation, but his voice barely carried over the noise.
And the people’s frenzy was growing.
In the end, he gave up on that and now was gathering his resolve.
“Dad!” He turned to see Barbara had reached him.
“Barbara,” Gordon said immediately, “you need to get out of here.” She nodded, but hesitated.
“What about you?” “I need to help him,” Gordon replied.
Another explosion shook the building.
He glanced toward the right side of the hall.
“What the hell are they doing?” he muttered.
“That sounds like a war zone.” “Dad, don’t,” Barbara said quickly.
“Please don’t get involved in whatever that lunatic started.” Gordon said.
“As reckless as he is, he did this to save the people here.
What kind of cop would I be if I didn’t go to help and chose to run away?” A voice came from behind “The smart kind.
The kind that wants to live with his daughter.
Trust me, you don’t want to be anywhere near them right now.
I pissed them off too much.” They both turned.
Sebastian stood there.
He was holding his left bleeding shoulder.
His suit jacket was gone.
His glasses were broken.
His shirt was darkened with dust and soot.
His face was smudged, his hair disheveled with some tips burned.
It was as if he had walked through hell and came back.
“These idiots have grenades and bazookas,” he said.
“I strongly advise leaving while you still can.
I, for one, am going to do just that” Another explosion reinforced his point.
Gordon frowned.
“Are you okay, what is going on?” Sebastian answered.
“I am fine… I think.
I recorded myself insulting the coin and left it in a room upstairs.
I believe they just discovered it, truthfully I didn’t have much hope for it to work.” Gordon replied “How did you manage to come back here?” Sebastian said “There is a tree close to the window of the room upstairs, I jumped back down and came here through a window in this floor twice and these idiots still didn’t figure it out.
Surprisingly, they move like a group of rabid dogs rather than thinking humans.
Anyway, we really don’t have much time to wait around.” Another explosion.
Sebastian paused.
“If I am not wrong, that’s Batman,” he added.
Gordon stared at him.
“What?
How do you know?” Sebastian was already moving to the back.
“Educated guess… I’ve got enough scare to last me a lifetime,” he said.
“I’ll leave the rest to the bat and the incoming police.
And I really need to go to the hospital before I die from blood loss.” He paused briefly, looking at Gordon.
“Please don’t tell me I have to visit the police station again.
I didn’t ask a question this time.” Gordon was silent for a moment then said.
“You’re insane.” “No,” Sebastian replied calmly.
“I am quite sane.
This city is filled with lunatics and idiots.” “Sometimes, I feel like I am the only one in this city with basic common sense,” he added.