Bodies hit the floor with thuds, and gunfire soon ceased in the bank lobby.
All that remained were the terrified screams of people lying facedown on the ground.
Outside the bank, police cars arrived with piercing sirens and surrounded the building. The vehicles turned sideways to serve as cover while Gotham officers trembled behind them, shouting anxiously through loudspeakers.
"Don't move! Drop your weapons and surrender immediately!"
A string of grating noise followed.
David picked at his ear and looked outside.
Not a single officer looked eager to rescue the hostages. They hid behind their cars like fresh recruits in trenches facing imminent machine-gun fire. Some did not even dare show their heads. A few were slightly better off, pale-faced as they pointed into the bank, their gun-holding hands shaking nonstop as if they had Parkinson's.
"Don't be afraid.
Gotham's elite police officers are here. You're saved."
David picked up the money that had just been withdrawn from the counter and smiled at the terrified people on the floor. A gust of wind rose around him, scattering the smoke, and he vanished from where he stood.
Bruce Wayne's eyes widened at the sight of the vanished figure.
He had studied ninjutsu under the Ninja Master. Ninjas could use light and smoke to create the effect of invisibility, but he had not detected a single flaw in that move.
Seeing the robbers' bodies sprawled across the floor, the officers appeared ready to attempt an assault. He quickly turned and ran upstairs through the bank, smashed through a window, and escaped into the alley behind it.
The surveillance cameras had stopped working before the robbers entered.
After wrapping up that minor interruption while withdrawing money, David left the bank after dealing with the robbers using his fingers. He reached an empty alley