Gallows

Introduction – 'Everything I do, I do for you'

(Apartment building inside of the Burrows section of Gotham's Slums)

Charles Nelson wasn't the kind of thug that took things laying down. Hell after all he had went up against the bat before. Sure he got the ever living shit kicked out of him, but damn it he stood against the bat and didn't rat out his friends. Course he knew that the Bat had rules. The bat couldn't kill. But this new guy scared the shit out of him. Especially since this new guy had placed a noose around his neck and had him perched on the edge of the apartment building.

"Charles Nelson, you are found guilty of rape, murder, theft, arson, and willful destruction of both private and public property. You are sentenced to hang by the neck until dead. Any last words?" The stranger asked.

Charles looked at the man. He was dressed as if he was out of a Clint Eastwood western. He wore a long canvas duster, wide brimmed cowboy hat, and he wore a bandanna over his mouth to conceal his identity. He was by every strip of clothing a bad old west stereotype.

"Take me to Jail man! Just take me to Jail! Look I need help! It's society not me!" Charles begged as he felt the stone under his feet shift a little.

"You've been to jail before Charles. Time to get help is gone. Time to pay the piper." The stranger said.

"Who the fuck are you that you think you can just come in here and do this huh? Who the fuck do you think you are?" Charles shouted knowing that he was going to die he might as well try to sound brave before he did.

"They call me Gallows, and your time is up." Gallows said as he pulled an old colt 45 revolver out from its holster and fired at the stone at Charles' feet.

The thug felt his feet move and suddenly he was falling. He tried to move some way to get out of the grip of the noose, but it was no use. Suddenly his body stopped, jerked and everything went black.

Gallows pulled the body up and took out a long nail. He grabbed a piece of paper and wrote a message on it before driving the nail through the paper and into Charles' head. He kicked the body back over and started to walk away.

(Gotham PD - Two hours later)

Jim Gordon heard the window open and turned to see Batman crouched on the window seal.

"It's the third one this week. This vigilante has been picking off low lifes. It's only a matter of time before he starts going after bigger fish." Gordon said as he looked at the Batman.

"The last one Charles Nelson, his convictions matched the other two perfectly didn't they." Batman said.

"Now that you mention it yeah. All three were convicted of rape, murder, and several other offensives. You thinking that there is a connection?" Gordon asked.

"We both know there is Jim. The question is where does the connection lie." Batman said as he looked at the file on Gordon's desk.

The crime scene photo of Charles showed a note nailed to his forehead with the word 'Guilty' written on it.

"I know that Nelson's last conviction was on a sixteen year old jane doe. She was raped and murdered. We tried to track down where she came from, but it was a dead end." Gordon said as he turned and got a cup of coffee.

"Maybe we should look back into that." Gordon said as he turned back toward the window and saw the room was now empty.

"Never going to get use to that." Gordon mumbled as he sipped his coffee.

(Saint Patrick's weekly apartments - Gotham - burrows)

Gallows sets down his gun belt on a table and checks to see that his pistol grip twelve gauge is able to be grasped from under the bed easily. He pulls down the bandana and looks into the mirror. A long scar from his father who beat him and his sister sticks out. God showed a bit of mercy when the old drunk bastard walked out in front of a delivery truck. But that was too late for Janey. She had run away from home a year before. Gallows tried to protect her from their father, but he couldn't be home all of the time, and the old man would get drunk and beat on the poor girl. He understood why she ran, but when he came searching for her he found out what happened.

Some bastards had convinced her that they wanted to help her out. They tried to drug her, but she fought them. So the cut her up and raped her. Then the yellow pieces of shit left her there to die in an alley way. Nelson, Barker, Riley all three of them was the muscle, but the source was still out there. He sat on a throne of untold power, and by god he was going to pay. Every mark on Janey was going to be paid in blood.

The only thing that might stand in his way was the Batman. He didn't hate the vigilante, but he didn't respect him either. Janey needed help, and the vigilante wasn't there. Still he was killing those responsible and that meant that the Batman would be after him. He laid down and let his eyes close. Tomorrow night he was going after information on where Anthony Malone was at, and he was going to get it by God.