He felt hallow. He felt nothing. He was empty.
They were gone. Mom, Dad, Jazz, Tucker and Sam.
He was too late. His obsession is to protect. He has no one to protect. The town? No, they spit on his existence.
No one wants him, and he wants no one.
So in the dead of night he ran away.
…..
This was the 64th city he stopped in. He's still 14, in body at least. Though it has been 11 years since….
Well, that.
It was 2005, five years after the start of a new millennium. He was in Gotham City, infamous for its crime and caped crusader. He used to be a hero, but he soon became a hired hand. For killing.
He is infamous as well, known as Reaper due to the cloak and scythe he was fond of. He came here because he heard there was plenty of work. And sure enough, on the first day he was hired by the Joker. Homicidal fella, tends to kill many of his own men. Due to his 'gifts' though, he'll be fine.
So the Joker today wants to do a cliché, rob a bank, and he needs a couple of men to come with him. Besides him there will be 7 of his goons, all wearing clown makeup.
His sense of style was better. Whenever he was doing a job, he would change to his ghost form. The suit he used to wear was replaced by a black turtle neck and baggy, black pants. On top of that he wore a cloak with a hood. He always felt that shoes were prisons for feet, so he was bare footed. And to finish his look he had Thantos' Scythe, an object that he was given at his coronation of being king of the ghost zone. Apparently it was the weapon of the first king, Thantos, who later became Death.
It was a weapon, 6 feet 6 in long (2m), with a black stick and blade, but where the pole and the blade meet there is 4 in (10cm) red jewel.
So he was guarding the Joker while he was stuffing money into a sack when a boomerang thing went for the Joker. Using his scythe he blocked it from hitting the clown.
From the shadows stepped out Batman.
"Put down the cash and come with me, Joker." The Dark Knight ordered the Prince of Clowns. The Joker grinned and motioned for Reaper to take care of the bat. Sighing, Reaper charged at Batman, the hero took a swing at the boy but he ducked bringing the blade to the weak spot in the hero's amour, located at the man's throat. The Joker clapped, swinging the sack of money over his shoulder.
"Good job, kid! Now bye." The Joker said taking out a gun and shooting Reaper. Reaper, using his scythe blocked the bullet and stepped away from the bat.
"I'm not going to get my money am I?" He asked, to nobody really. He teleported to the Joker and with a blow to his head, knocked him out. He within 5 seconds took care of Joker's goons. He bended down to take the sack of money from the Joker when a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned around to see that the hand belonged to Batman.
"I don't think you should do that." The Caped Crusader said, glancing at the sack of money.
"I need to get food and clothes from somewhere." Reaper replied, glaring at the man.
"You could get an honest job."
"Heh, there are no jobs to sustain a teen living alone, except the one I have now."
"With your abilities, I could recommend you to the Justice League." Reaper thought about it honestly, he could get a stable home and a safer life, but they would probably reject him. Because let's face it, he's a freak, and nobody wants to know a freak.
"Sorry, no." He said before teleporting out of the bank.
The next day he was out of Gotham altogether.
….
(2012, Jump City)
Danny or Reaper as previously known, looked at the suit he stole from Batman's ex-apprentice and with no hesitation began putting it on.
An honest job? Who needs that?