"Guilty," The Judge's voice boomed across the court room. Harvey looked like he was going to lose it. Harvey Dent, the head of the D.A, had lost against the prosecution. He never lost, especially when he had everything to prove the man was innocent. But all lawyers are liars. So were prosecutors. I, Cebell Lockheart had done it again. I proved another guilty verdict. So far I've had a perfect streak, ever since I moved to Gotham. Ninety Nine guilty verdicts. That perfect streak I plan to keep. I have put away the most fowl of criminals even the Joker himself. 

I packed up my notes and placed them in my bag. I glanced across the room to see Harvey had kept a calm composure, but he looked like he was going to fall apart and crumble any time now. The balled man in the orange jumper then was being taken away. He then glanced at me as the two guards went to escort him. Then he turned his full body towards me. 

"Don't worry! I know people on the outside, and when I get out, your going to be the first one I visit, you just wait!" He pointed at me and started shouting.

I decided to ignore him and hide behind the smile I always use, "Have a wonderful rest of your day, Mr. Lance." I grabbed the messy stack of papers and dropped the bottom of them several times on the wooden table, making a nice clean stack. I then placed my papers into the old, beat-up, leather, briefcase. Finally! It was time for me to go home, after all. . . these heels were killing me!

When walking out of that court room, I passed Harvey, as he gave me a simple nod. I knew I did well, and soon I was going to have an even better number of three digits. One hundred guilty verdicts was going to be mine. 

Every criminal I put behind bars is one step closer to a better Gotham. Even if I have to tear this city apart, peice by peice, it will slowly become better. Soon the day became night, and I started to rounded up my late dry cleaning. As I entered the place to pick up my dress for the party tomorrow, I went straight to the racks and went through the clothing. I stopped for a second and knitted my brows. Something wasn't right. . .

I suddenly pulled the garment bag off of the rack and saw my name on it, but the dress was missing. I felt a sudden boiling feeling in my gut, as this was my Mother's dress. It was the only thing I had left of her besides the necklace she gave me for my seventh birthday. The dress was given to me as a gift from someone unknown that found my Mother's dress. Even though it was stolen long ago. 

I then walked up to the counter, gripping the garment bag like my life depended on it. There was a golden bell on the desk. *Ting* I tapped the little pin in the middle. Out in the background, was an older lady making her way to the front desk. Her fuzzy, white hair, round around her head,  bouncing with every step. I thought it was quiet adorable.

"Oh! Cebell! How may I help you?" She asked in a sweet voice, hopping up on a higher stool just to see me. She was a lot shorter than the desk in general.

"Um. . ." I look down at the garment bag, giving her the hint what happened. 

"Oh gosh! Not this again." She gave me a frown. 

"Wait. This has happened more than once?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. This has never happened me before. Someone must be playing games with me. Yes, I know I put lots of people behind bars, but I must have pist off the wrong person. 

"Yes. Many times before. Mostly female's clothing has went missing, and very rarely. . . the men's clothing." I just kept staring down at the back. I examined the bag seeing if I could catch on any clues. 

"This was my Mother's dress. Is there any records on who came in here today?" I asked her, and placed the bag down on the desk. 

"Yes there is, but people mostly just come and go. I've had a little bit over three hundred costumers today." She pulled out the record book. So I just have to look through the timings, from 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM. Shouldn't be too hard, but I just have to figure out who could be a possible person. . . This is harder than it looks.

"May I take a look?" I asked her. She soon gave me a simple nod and turned around the big, dusty book. I ran my finger down the list of times and people but something seemed a bit off. There is female clothing on the racks, but only male names on the list. 

"Um. . ." I quickly turned around the book and pointed at the list.

"Why is there only male names on here when there are some female clothing on the racks? Isn't it a bit odd since there was no clothing on the racks yesterday?" I asked the woman as she looked down the list. Her eyes suddenly widened.

"Your right! That is a bit odd. . . Oh gosh, I should have never trusted Leonard to keep track of the orders. He must have forgotten to place down the female's names." Shit! Now there was no lead who took it! 

"Man. . ." I let out a long sigh. 

"For your troubles, I can add on a refund?" She offered as I shook my head. 

"Oh, it's fine, Miss Becketts! You've always been there for me, like a second Mother to me. I could never ask you to do such a thing." I gave her a small reassuring smile. 

"Your very sweet girl, Cebell. I am sure you'll find a way to get it back." She then placed the book back under the counter. 

"I might. But it's been stolen before." I shook my head. 

"What a shame. . . Who knows, a certain caped crusader might bring that person to justice." She chuckled. 

"Why would The Batman help me find a dress? He is too busy for that." I couldn't help but laugh. I loved how Miss Becketts always seemed to brighten the mood with something ridiculous. 

"I know, I know. Many people despise the man, but he has more guts than any other man in this city." She wasn't wrong in that sense. 

"But how many people has he killed than saved? How is that justice?" I questioned.

"He might of killed people, and saved people. But it's not how many people he has killed, it matters how many he has saved." The Batman was on my list to put behind bars. But she has made so many good points, that I am starting to reconsider. 

"Oh, look at the time. It is time to close up shop." I suddenly looked at my watch to see it was 8:00 PM. 

"Oh, okay! Well, have a good night Miss Becketts!" I gave her a quick wave before I walked out of the dry cleaning place. I swear. . . I was going to bring that person to their knees, where they beg me to live. 

I suddenly stared up at the dark sky, seeing it was already starting to rain. I soon made my way back to my condo. I loved my home so much! The best part of it was the large windows and the balcony. I turned on the lights and took off my heels. Next, I went to the living room and  turned on the stereo system and played some music. Beautiful white couches, and a pure glass coffee table in the middle of the two couches complemented the room. A beautiful fireplace mantel completed the room. 

I soon walked over to a table that had many fancy alcohols, and I poured myself a light drink. I couldn't help but look at the pictures above the fireplace, pictures of my Mom, my Dad, my little brother, Adrian, and I. We all looked so happy. My parents smiling in the background as we - - little devil's made goofy faces in the pictures. I couldn't help but feel a heartbreaking feeling in my chest. Our time was too little. Life was so short. After staring at the picture I didn't even notice I was crying. I took the back of my hand and quickly wiped away the tears. I looked at the bronze liquid in my glass and drank it all back. Soon, I placed the glass down and walked back to the kitchen. Now, looking in the fridge. I saw some left overs I could make. I dumped the remaining, linguine in the heated pan and started warming it up. I felt like the microwave would just nuke it and make it gross.

After placing it on a plate. I grabbed myself some utensils and walked over to the dinning room. A small, beautiful, chestnut, table made for six guest, sat in the middle of the room, as I turned on the chandelier that hung just above the table. 

I suddenly froze in place when I saw something. There was a black envelope on the table. I then placed my food on the table and picked up the letter. I examined the letter to see no address, nor any sort of writing on it. I opened it up to find a neatly folded paper. 

In regards of your hundredth case, surrender your badge as a prosecutor and drop the case, or you'll meet the same ends as your family. No more lies.

I couldn't help but smirk at the peice of paper. I shook my head, "Not happening." I mumbled, with a small chuckle lacing in between. That chuckle soon turned into a laugh. I had threats before but nothing as extravagant as this. This was just simple motivation way to make me bring this person down.

Thank you so much for reading the first chapter of The Darkest Road We Take |Bruce Wayne|! I do hope you are enjoying it so far! Please feel free to vote, comment, and share! More will be coming soon! Thanks for reading!