Alright, a few notes before I start this up. This fan fiction will be a Batman/Watchmen crossover. It will be taking place for the most part in Gotham city, 1978 (Just a year after the Keen act passed, banning masked superheroes). The watchmen will be defenders of Gotham city rather than New York in this fic; deal with it. This fic will mostly be told from Rorschach's perspective as he tries to take down the Falcone crime family. Batman has not appeared yet, so at the start Rorschach is the only active vigilante. Much like Batman: Year one, this fic will explore Batman's first year as a masked crime fighter, despite the keen act banning super heroes. How will Rorschach and the other Watchmen react to the Dark Knight? Will they form an uneasy alliance or knock heads? How will Gotham city react to Batman's appearance when masked vigilantes are strictly outlawed? Let's find out shall we?
THIS FANFIC IS RATED MATURE; IT CONTAINS SEXUAL THEMES, DRUGS, GRAPHIC VIOLENCE AND TORTURE. Just thought I should warn you :P
Chapter 1
Rorschach's Journal, March 10th 1978…
Gotham City… What some people like to call America's greatest achievement, I prefer to call it a festering boil upon the face of humanity. Thirty million people live in this city, and thirty million people seem to have no problem turning a blind eye towards the corrupted, fat, liberal cows that run this place. It's a disgrace. This city is nothing but a cornerstone for criminals, rapists and killers.
I am all alone. The other Watchmen have rolled over to the whims of the keen act. It makes me sick. I am the only mask still active in Gotham city, and I am a wanted man because of it. Regardless, I will never give in, never compromise. This city needs me, I could care less if they want me or not. Without masks, who is going to bring justice to these whores, these soulless degenerates who fester in the rat infested sewers we call streets? The police? This city uses its police like hired killers for the elite. No, I can never leave. Never…
I got a tip from a hired gun about a drug shipment by the Falcone crime family. I had to pull his fingernails off with a pair of pliers, but I got him to tell me everything he knew. Falcone is getting his cocaine into the city through the sewer systems; he's paid up with the right people, so the police will continue to do nothing. Armed henchmen patrol the sewers, not afraid to take a shot at any unlucky bastard that happens to stumble their way. Falcone has prepared for everything. Everything except me…
Rorschach made his way through the Gotham city sewers cautiously. He should be getting fairly close now. It was very dark down there, his flashlight being the only thing keeping it from being pitch black. The smell of the surrounding sewage would be almost unbearable to most, but it hardly phased Rorschach. In his point of view, the entire city might as well smell like this, for it was just as grotesque.
He had made the Gotham sewers his home for the last couple of days. He had been running on next to no sleep, but he couldn't afford sleep. He was so close, so close to busting Falcone's drug traffic. He had gone fairly unnoticed by Falcone's men who infest these sewers; Rorschach can be fairly invisible when he put his mind to it. A dim light could be seen around the next corner, this must be the place. Rorschach flicked off his flashlight and slowly walked forward, careful not to make much noise. He peered around the corner.
Three men could be seen, two packing crates and one keeping watch. The man on watch seemed to be armed with what looked like a sawed-off shotgun. This was obviously one of Falcone's drug movements; perfect. The last few nights have not been kind to Rorschach; all he has run into so far were a few stragglers. This was good, he was finally making progress.
Rorschach picked up a stone and tossed it into the water, creating a large splash; this got the armed man's attention. Rorschach held himself flat against the wall, perfectly hidden in the shadows. The henchman slowly approached, shotgun at the ready. As soon as he turned the corner, Rorschach was quick to act. He grasped the man's shotgun before he had much time to react, flipped the barrel up and forced the man to pull the trigger, shooting himself in the head. The loud blast from the shotgun echoed throughout the sewers. The body of the henchman fell to the ground, his head being nothing more than red mush. The other two men jumped in shock.
"Holy fuck!" one of the henchmen shouted in pure shock.
Rorschach emerged from the shadows, blood from the dead henchmen splashed across his mask and trench coat.
"It's Rorschach!" The second henchman shouted.
Rorschach charged the two men, emptied shotgun in his hand. He smashed the shotgun against the first man's skull, dropping him in one blow. The last man went to strike Rorschach, but he was met with a swift punch to the throat, followed by a knee to the gut. His body fell like a stone, colliding with the ground. He dropped the empty shotgun to the floor and cracked his knuckles. There would be no doubt more people heard all that. Footsteps could be heard rushing towards Rorschach; he prepared himself for more violence.
"What the hell is going on over there?!" A voice could be heard in the distance.
Rorschach just let out a raspy grunt. He was ready for whoever came to meet him.
Emerging from the shadows, a good dozen mobsters head towards Rorschach, various improvised weapons in tow. Rorschach prepared himself as the mobsters charged him. The first man takes a massive swing at Rorschach with a lead pipe, though Rorschach was able to easily duck under the blow and counter attack with a kick to the stomach. The force sent the man back several feet, crashing into two more mobsters. Rorschach charged forward, attacking the rest of the mobsters. He fought much like a rabid dog, viciously and relentlessly smashing anyone who came within arm's reach of him. Suddenly, Rorschach felt a sharp pain in the back of his leg, causing him to fall to one knee. He just let out an angry grunt.
"Take this son of a bitch down!" One of the men shouted.
The mobsters rained down kicks, punches and hits from various blunt objects. Rorschach tried his best to defend himself from the attack coming from all sides, but to no avail. In a fit of rage, Rorschach leapt at the man directly in front of him, knocking him to the ground. Rorschach climbed on top of him and proceeded to rain down punches, viciously assaulting the henchman. In a fit of almost animalistic fury, Rorschach jammed both of his thumbs into the man's eye sockets. The man screamed in pain, the other men tried desperately to pry Rorschach off of the man.
Then, a gunshot could be heard. Rorschach was flung off the man, blood now all over his trench coat. Rorschach began to clench his shoulder in pain, blood was flowing freely. He looked up only to see one of the men overtop him, pistol ready to finish him off.
"Sayonara asshole…" The man said coldly.
"Hold up! The boss will want to deal with him." One of the other men protested.
The man with the gun hesitated, but he eventually nodded and turned away. Another burly looking man approached Rorschach, clenching his own face. It would appear Rorschach managed to gash open his face in his fury.
"Goodnight freak!" The man said angrily before booting Rorschach in the face, knocking him out cold.
"Christ he smells worse than the sewers!" a faint voice seemed to be talking to another.
"Wake up!" an angry voice could be heard.
Everything was black. Rorschach felt an unbearable pain in his right shoulder; it had only just sunken in that he had been shot. He could feel dried up blood on the inside of his mask, mostly coming from his nose. It didn't feel broken, but it was obviously bleeding earlier. It would appear that they have not unmasked him yet; good.
"I said wake your ass up!" the raised voice barked.
A thunderous punch crashed against Rorschach's face. His vision began to clear up a bit. He looked up only to see four large men in front of him. He didn't quite know where he was, though the room seemed to be grimy. They were probably still in the sewers, but there was no way to be sure. The room was dimly lit, he could barely make out the faces of the men interrogating him. He tried to move his limbs, but it became clear that he was tied up to a foldaway chair. He began to feel woozy, he looked over to his shoulder only to see it was still bleeding.
Out from the shadows, a silhouette of an even larger man approached Rorschach.
"You have some balls for a mask Rorschach, I'll give you that. You killed two of my men tonight, several more over the last couple of days." The man said In a thick Sicilian accent.
Rorschach just smiled under his mask.
"Only two? I'll be sure to try harder next time." Rorschach said in a raspy voice.
One of the henchmen stepped forward, ready to lay another beating on the masked hero, but the supposed leader of the group stopped him. He simply chuckled.
"That's funny. I didn't think you were the fucking Comedian." He said with a hint of anger in his voice.
Rorschach could barely concentrate at this point; he was losing blood too fast. The man just chuckled.
"Oh no, I'm not letting you just bleed out. You're death is going to be much slower, and a fuck of a lot more painful! Cauterize the wound! No need to be gentle with him." The man said out of pure spite.
One of the men appeared to be holding a glowing hot iron bar, a sinister look trickled across his face. Without hesitation, he jammed the bar violently into Rorschach's shoulder, burning the skin and stopping the bleeding. As much as Rorschach resisted, he couldn't help but let out some subtle cries of pain. The bullet was still in his shoulder, the skin now formed around it.
"How did that feel you son of a bitch?" The leader asked him.
Rorschach felt weak, but he refused to give in. He wouldn't give him the satisfaction of breaking him.
"I've seen better torture come from a child!" Rorschach barked.
The man was not pleased with this comment.
"Unmask him, I want to cut his damn eyes out" He said angrily.
One of the henchmen approached Rorschach and began to pull his mask off. This infuriated him beyond belief. Before he could get the mask all the way off his face, Rorschach bit down as hard as he could; catching the man's index finger. The man howled in pain as Rorschach drew blood. One of the other men intervened and booted Rorschach in the testicles, forcing him to release the man's finger. The man continues to scream in pain, tightly gripping his finger. Rorschach just gave a bloody smile.
The leader stepped forward and pulled a pistol out of his suit jacket. He placed the barrel against Rorschach's forehead.
"That was the last straw you freak! I want you to beg for your life before I put a bullet through your worthless skull!" He said enraged.
Rorschach just chuckled to himself.
"You're trash. I wouldn't give a scumbag like you the pleasure of watching me beg" He said calmly. He spat out the blood in his mouth at him, catching him on the cheek.
He was quick to wipe the blood from his check and aim the gun back at Rorschach.
"You son of a-" He was cut off as the light bulb suddenly shattered, extinguishing nearly all light in the room.
"What the hell was that?" One of the henchmen asked.
The leader turned away from Rorschach.
"Search the room! Nobody gets in here, you got that?" He barked.
The other men scrambled to grab and firearms or blunt weaponry they could find and began to search the room. The leader turned back to face Rorschach.
"Who the hell did you call?" He barked.
Unfortunately Rorschach was just as confused as he was. A scream could be head at the other end of the room, followed by gunshots. He flipped around in the direction of the noise, pistol in tow.
"Fuck!" He shouted as he ran in that direction to meet the intruder.
Rorschach decided to take advantage of this distraction. He began to rock back and forth in his chair until he fell to the ground. A sharp pain shot from his shoulder once he hit the ground, Rorschach grunted in pain. He began to move his arms around; he had to get out of this bondage. Rorschach has been through similar situations in the past, he knew how to get out of most knots. After a bit of work, his arms came free; he began to work on his legs. Gunshots and screams continued to fill the room, but Rorschach was still concentrated on getting free. Just before he finished up, he noticed something on the ground. A small metallic device, almost like a Shrunken, in the shape of… A bat? No time to think about it now. He grabbed the bat shaped object and put it in his pocket; he would have to study it later. He finally freed his legs and rolled away from the chair. He tried to pick himself up off the floor, but he was having a difficult time. He managed to get onto his hand and knees before he took a quick look around. It was dark, and though it was loud a moment ago, it was now dead silent. Rorschach quickly pulls his mask back down over his face and gets to his feet as fast as he is able.
To Rorschach's surprise, the unconscious bodies of all the mobsters littered the floor. Rorschach began to scan the room, looking for the man responsible for taking them out. Then, a dark figure, mostly veiled in shadow stepped forward. Horns protruded from the top of his head, his cold white eyes pierced the darkness and stared down Rorschach.
"Who are you?" Rorschach demanded. He didn't know what to expect from this man. He was obviously dangerous, considering he single handily took down several armed henchmen. Rorschach did his best to take a defensive stance, while still clenching his shoulder.
The white eyes in the darkness only narrowed, not moving away from Rorschach for a second.
"I am like you. I am a silent guardian, Gotham is under my protection." The mysterious figure said in a deep voice.
Rorschach simply grunted. His attention turned towards the unconscious mob boss on the floor. Rorschach slowly made his way over to him and picked up the hot iron used to burn him. He was just about ready to use it on the mob boss when the dark figure spoke up.
"What are you doing?" He questioned.
Rorschach's head turned to meet the figure.
"This man's name is Joseph Maroni. He's a front man in Gotham for the Falcone crime syndicate. Without him the east quarter drug trade in Gotham will be severely hindered." Rorschach explained.
"I know who he is; Now put the iron down." The figure ordered.
"He is a criminal. Pure scum. He must be punished." Rorschach responded.
Rorschach was about to kill Joseph Maroni when a hand reached out and intervened. Whoever this man was, he was fast. Rorschach spun his arm around and stood up in a battle ready position.
"Don't touch me again!" Rorschach warned him angrily.
The dark figure was not intimidated in the least. He kept his composure, his glare continued to stay fixed on Rorschach.
"I won't warn you again. Put the iron down and walk away." The man demanded.
Rorschach's patience had run out. He swung the red hot Iron at the figure, but he was slower than he would usually be because of his shoulder wound. The figure blocked the iron with ease with some sort of bladed gauntlet. Before Rorschach could even react, he had been disarmed and shoved into the wall. The Dark figure held Rorschach by the collar and stared him down.
"You belong in Arkham Asylum as much as the next crazy, Rorschach. The only reason I'm not taking you in right now is because of your prior service in the Watchmen. You have been shown to be capable of good things, but this is your only warning. Clean up your act, or I will hunt you down. I better not see you active in Gotham again." He said coldly.
Rorschach was not even able to respond before he was tossed out a nearby window. He landed in the water; it was clear now that he was in a warehouse near the Gotham harbor. Rorschach swam to the surface as quickly as he could, grabbing his trademark fedora before it floated away. He could barely breathe now that his mask had soaked up some water; he was forced to pull his mask up over his nose. From the window, the dark figure was watching him. With a quick puff of smoke, he seemed to disappear.
Rorschach's Journal, March 11th 1979…
Last night did not go as planned, to say the least. I arrived back at my apartment after having to nearly drag myself for ten blocks. The bullet wound I received had seriously hindered my movement. The bullet was still in my shoulder when they cauterized the wound, so when I got back to my hideout I had to dig it out with a kitchen knife and re cauterize the wound. I made a serious mistake when I engaged those mobsters, it was amateurish and I have paid for my mistake. More pressing however was this dark figure that incapacitated Maroni and tossed me out the window.
He threatened to take me out If I showed my face in Gotham again, I cannot sit idly by. I must find out who this man is. He was quite large, If I had to guess I would say he had to be over two-hundred pounds of muscle. Despite his size he was very fast. His reflexes would make Adrian Veidt blush. That isn't the only thing that I noticed, he had an arsenal. On top of the bat shaped throwing object I collected, he also seemed to be equipped with high tech combat armor and smokebombs. The only man in Gotham I know who could have access to that kind of technology would be Daniel. I have not spoken to him since his retirement a year ago. We may have our differences, but I still consider Daniel a friend and ally. I will go to him and find out what he knows.
Alright, That was Chapter one. If you liked it, please comment! Reviews are very important to me, they help me improve my writing. I'll get chapter 2 up as soon as I can.