Sidekick - A Batman AU

[griefbeard]

It was a beautiful sunset. The steel and glass buildings were painted in shades of gold and red, gleaming like jewels while shadows stretched down the street. Chris listened with passing interest as Lydia talked about her latest development. Everything she said was important given she was the head of Argent Enterprises Research and Development but he always got a little distracted when the sun set. She was one of the few people who knew why.

Almost a second after the sun finally dipped below the horizon his cell phone buzzed at his elbow. A quick glance at the screen only showed a black screen with a white iron sight in the center. He grabbed his phone, rose smoothly to his feet and gestured for Lydia to follow him.

She took the phone from him without saying anything. She had developed the software that allowed for Commissioner Stilinski to contact the Hunter without ever being able to trace where that text message actually went. It was brilliant exactly like her.

“He wants you to meet him at the Art Institute,” Lydia said once they were in his private office. “He’s waiting in the gallery of masters. There’s a security guard waiting with him. He says don’t beat him up like the last one.”

Chris rolled his eyes and pressed the hidden button behind a picture of a white sand beach with endless blue water stretching out beyond it. “I did that once.”

“Apparently it was memorable.”

The bookshelf on his right slide back to reveal a smaller office with more technology and the suit. It was made of lightweight keval, completely black with the iron sight symbol in the center of the chest. Chris began to strip off his expertly tailored Italian suit and change. Lydia didn’t even give him the illusion of modesty anymore.

“I’ll pull up the security footage while you’re in the air and see if there’s anything worthwhile,” she said still looking over the phone. “Do you want me to send in help with this one?”

“No, I’ll take care of it. Have them patrol tonight and pick up what I can’t get while I’m investigating.”

He much preferred Allison to stay at her day job as a member of the Beacon Hills PD and Isaac studying at the university but they had picked up his habit of vigilantism as well. The three of them kept the city safe from most threats even if the police didn’t approve of their actions.

Except for Commissioner Stilinski who saw the usefulness of The Hunter, Silver Arrow, and Apollo in a crime ridden city like Beacon Hills. The police could deal with the small threats but this city didn’t just have small threats. The crime syndicates and psychopaths who regularly came to take everything and cause mass destruction were for him to deal with.

Chris pulled the cowl up over his mouth and put on the domino mask over his eyes. When he pulled the hood up his face was mostly in shadow and hidden. No one expected the responsible and serious CEO of Argent Enterprises Chris Argent spent almost every night out hunting down criminals.

“Don’t wait up for me,” he said dryly as he moved towards the stairs that led to the roof where his stealth helicopter waited for him.

“Remember, if you die I get your company.”

That was why Chris liked Lydia. She was always practical.

---

The Art Institute was a old stone building along the river that ran through the center of Beacon Hills. It was first built in the twenties and slowly expanded over the years. Argent Enterprises donated regularly.

The Hunter dropped onto the roof for the entry point and moved silently through the various galleries until he came to the Masters. Here they kept the works of Picasso, Monet, and Van Gough that drew hundreds of tourists all year round. It was easy to spot the Commissioner. He stood by a blank spot in the wall, a haggard looking security guard sitting on a bench next to him twisting a hat in his hands.

“Commissioner.” The Hunter moved out of the shadows and approached the two men slowly. Since Stilinski was used to these appearances he didn’t even flinch. The security guard leapt to his feet and almost stumbled backwards over the bench.

“What do you know about classical 17th century painters?” Stilinski said in his usual dry tone.

“They’re worth a lot of money to the right collector.” The Hunter looked over the scene but there wasn’t much to see. Nothing had been disturbed around the heavy glass security frame. None of the other paintings had been touched. The little card next to the frame said “The apostle Paul in Prison, 1627, Rembrandt”.

“We had just closed,” the security guard said, worry heavy in his voice. “I was walking through the galleries, clearing out anyone who might still be hanging around and this one was just gone.”

“How long was it after you closed?”

“Like ten minutes? Fifteen? Not long but the building’s big so there’s four of us to go through. This is part of my section and I swear, sir, no one was in here. I didn’t hear or see anyone. The painting was just gone.”

The Hunter stepped closer to the frame and ran his gloved fingers over the edges. It was a magnetic lock and if he guessed there were only a few people in the museum who had any sort of key to unlocking it. It would take a very skilled, very clever thief to take the painting out, leave no sign, and trigger no alarm in that window of time.

It narrowed the suspects considerably.

“Did you check your security footage?” he asked, his voice a deep rumble of annoyance.

“Yes sir. The hallways looks empty. All the really important paintings have their own cameras but there’s nothing there. The paintings is there and then gone. Just gone.”

Commissioner Stilinski reached out and squeezed the guard’s shoulder. “It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”

The guard laughed bitterly. “I’m not sure my boss will see it that way.”

The Hunter left Stilinski to smooth the guard’s nerves while he moved back into the shadows. It wouldn’t take much investigating to figure out the suspect. The only thief who was skilled enough to steal a painting like that without a single alarm was the Black Wolf, a long time nemesis of the Hunter’s.

Typically, the Black Wolf wasn’t dangerous. He was clever and out for personal gain, not violence and chaos like some of the others in Beacon Hills but he could be. Sometimes, depending on the situation the Black Wolf could be rapid and hurt a lot of people. This didn’t feel like one of those dangerous times. This was a cry for attention if The Hunter had ever seen one.

Back in his helicopter The Hunter set it on autopilot to circle the city while he worked on the computer. He pulled up a listing of all the luxury hotels in Beacon Hills and began scanning their guest lists. The Black Wolf had a few known aliases and often reused them with slight changes. The Hunter knew what to look for and within five minutes he had a reservation for a Mr. Harold van Rijn. Using Rembrandt’s last name seemed very obvious and confirmed his original thought that this was a cry for attention.

Taking control of the helicopter again The Hunter raced towards the The Beacon, the most expensive luxury hotel in Beacon Hills.

There was dinner laid out on the balcony. The table was set for two with candles in the center and a bottle of champagne chilling in an ice bucket. The Black Wolf sat at one of the chairs but he stood when The Hunter landed on the balcony after a quick drop from the helicopter.

“You’re late,” he said casually, walking around the table to stand in front of The Hunter. “I thought you might have forgotten about our anniversary.”

He held still while the Black Wolf reached up and pulled the cowl down from his face. He paused only a moment before putting a hand on the back of the Hunter’s neck and pulling him down for a slow kiss.

The Hunter put his hands on the Black Wolf’s hips and pulled until they were flush against each other.

They had a complicated history.

---

Chris had never set out to become a vigilante. As the first born son of Gerard Argent it was always assumed he would take over Argent Enterprises one day but that had been a distant future when he first met Peter Hale.

Their family were friendly business rivals. Hale Incorporated was the only tech company to come close to rivally Argent Enterprises in terms of customer base but they were more generous and innovative. The future would have been Hale’s except for a string of tragedies that struck the family.

The first happened while Chris and Peter were in Ibiza, Spain at the time having a wild week together of partying and debauchery. They were both free of their family’s expectations there and could be together without worrying about either family calling them traitors and looking at them with suspicion. It had been an incredible week completely destroyed by the news that Talia Hale and her husband had been murdered as they left the theater that night.

Then Laura Hale died in a car accident. One by one by one Hales died in seemingly horrible and random accidents until only three of them remained. Peter, Derek, and Cora Hale. They rallied around each other and well, Peter stopped calling him.

That was fine because Gerard shipped Chris off to a military style boarding school in England for his own good and when he came back years later Kate was in charge and there wasn’t really a place for Chris.

The tragedy of the Hales haunted him though. All that death so suddenly was just too much of a coincidence. He started looking into it and what he found was not good. There was a trail, a very hard to find trail, of Gerard paying for the accidents to happen. His family was responsible for the deaths and even Kate had helped.

People he loved and admired were murderers. Instead of burying the truth or confronting his father Chris went straight to the police with the evidence he gathered. They took over the case and arrested his father but Kate escaped. A lot of the people involved escaped.

Soon, Chris began looking for them in an effort to ease the guilt he felt. He found them and left them on the Beacon Hills PD’s front door. At first the press called the unknown vigilante The Bounty Hunter because they assumed he was after the rewards. They went unclaimed and so the press shortened the name to The Hunter. He could have stopped after that but it felt right to keep going.

The Hunter and the Black Wolf first met when a priceless jewel was stolen from the Natural History museum. He had chased the Wolf all across Beacon Hills but every time he came close to capturing him the Black Wolf slipped away and vanished. For years they went back and forth until finally the Wolf was cornered and then…

Of course Peter recognized him even with all the effort to hide his identity Peter was just too smart. He called Chris out and things were complicated again. He couldn’t turn Peter in because Peter would turn him in. While he helped the BHPD he was still a vigilante and Commissioner Stilinski would have to arrest him and charge him and a lot of bad guys would go free.

So, here they were on a balcony with a stolen painting between them and years of lust. Peter hadn’t been kidding about it being their anniversary. It was five years to the day that they had that standoff.

Chris hadn’t forgotten but he hadn’t known Peter was in town. He was hard to contact now that he was living on the run. Lots of people thought Peter Hale had gone insane after the deaths of his family. Not true. He just felt the world owed him and so he took what he wanted.

Tonight, he wanted Chris.

The balcony was too exposed. Chris crowded Peter back into the hotel room and towards the bed. In between kisses Peter pulled the domino mask off his eyes and pushed the hood back. They had fucked in costume before but Peter wasn’t in the mood for that. Chris understood. He preferred it when they were themselves.

Once they fell onto the bed Chris lost himself in Peter. They weren’t the wild and reckless youths they had once been, testing the waters and experimenting. They were experienced and knew each other well. There was no fumbling as they yanked at each other’s clothes which were tossed to corners of the room and completely forgotten.

Peter came out on top and shoved Chris’ shoulders hard against the bed his blue eyes so bright they looked like they were flashing. “Stay,” he growled, dragging his nails along Chris’ stomach.

Chris wasn’t about to go anywhere. He knew what was coming. He grabbed the bed with one hand and waited until Peter wrapped his mouth around his cock then his fingers were in Peter’s hair and he held on tightly.

His mouth and hand worked together to tease Chris right to the edge. He knew from the way Chris moved and the sounds he made just when to back off. He nuzzled his cheek against his cock, looking up at Chris from where he knelt between his legs. “Being late did give me some time, Christopher. Left me time thinking about exactly what I’m going to do to you.”

With surprising tenderness Peter kissed the head of his dick and began a slow crawl up the length of Chris’ body. More of that tenderness came when Peter pressed a kiss over his thundering heart then dragged his teeth over his collar bone.

“You are mine tonight.” Peter nipped at his ear. “The city can burn. We’ll watch it from here.”

Chris grabbed Peter’s hips as he lowered himself onto his cock. He was already stretched and lubed. Stealing things always did get Peter worked up. In that time it took Chris to catch up to him he must have gotten himself ready and satisfied himself. Chris moaned just imagining it.

“Peter…”

Fully seated Peter rolled his hips slowly as he leaned over Chris to kiss him again. “Keep up, Hunter.”

And Peter started to ride him.

---

At sunrise Chris rolled over and found the other side of the bed empty. When he listened there was no sound from the shower so he opened his eyes. Everything was neatly in place except for the bed sheets. Chris sat up, scanned the room and sighed softly. Peter was gone.

There was a note left on top of his neatly folded costume that read ‘until next time’ with a little black wolf paw print on the corner.

“Until next time,” he said softly before getting dressed.

The Hunter left the hotel suite that morning. By the time the cleaning staff came to fix the room it was clearly abandoned after being used. The management would be mildly annoyed but there wasn’t anything they could do.

The Argent mansion was on the edge of town, right by the forest preserve which made it perfect for hiding a somewhat military style base underground where no one was likely to stumble upon it. The helicopter disappeared into the woods and then even further underground.

Allison and Isaac were waiting at the central computer, half out of their uniforms and flirting once again. Chris scowled at Isaac but he knew it was pointless. As much as he tried to keep them from developing a romantic relationship. They were technically siblings since Chris had adopted Isaac but they were also young adults and full of hormones. He would have an easier time stopping tides.

“Did you find the stolen Rembrandt?” Allison asked, getting to her feet as he approached.

“No. What did you two find?” He pushed his hood back put kept the cowl over his mouth and neck. Peter had left marks behind. He didn’t want questions from either of his young wards about where he had gotten those. They were clearly hickies and not bruises.

“Just the usual stuff.” Isaac shrugged a shoulder. “Busted a meth lab on the south side and a chop shop to the west. Small stuff.”

“You should let us help you find the painting tonight. We’re good at this, dad.”

“I know.” He reached out and squeezed Allison’s shoulder. “We’ll talk about it tonight. Go get ready for work. And you probably have studying to do.”

He kicked Isaac’s chair and sent it rolling towards the elevator that would take them up to the mansion level. Chris took a seat in front of the computers, ready to send a message to Commissioner Stilinski to say that he would need another night to get the painting back while listening to Allison and Isaac tease each other back and forth as they went.

There was a message waiting for him when he opened his private server. It was from Commissioner Stilinski and simply said thanks. Confused, Chris didn’t understand at first until a second screen started running the morning headlines.

One read: Priceless Painting Returned Overnight thanks to The Hunter.

Chris sat back in his hair and rubbed a hand over his face.

Peter had done it to only get his attention.