Shadow of the Bat
In the aftermath of Bane, Gotham needs a reminder of their symbol of hope during the time of rebuilding.
I just saw The Dark Knight Rises today and this idea wouldn't leave me alone. So here it is. It was done pretty quickly, so I can't really guarantee it's quality.
"John Blake."
She checks the packages quickly. "There's nothing here for you, sir."
Nothing here? Surely his faith in Batman – in Bruce Wayne – isn't unfounded. When he heard Wayne Manor was to be turned into an orphanage per Bruce Wayne's will, he was comforted by the fact that Bruce had kept him in mind. When he learned that every former ward of the orphanage that had lived there while Wayne Enterprises funded it was to be given a care package, also courtesy of Bruce's will, he just knew Bruce was trying to give him a message.
So how was it that he didn't have a package for him?
Then it hits him. John Blake isn't his full name.
"Try my legal name." As he hands the woman his driver's license, too embarrassed to say it aloud, he remembered that he can't think of the last time he actually had to use that name. His mother had told him that she insisted they name him that because, she said, his destiny was to "fly far higher than Gotham City".
Great job he's done so far.
"Yeah, here you go." She places the bag on the counter. "You should use your full name more often…Robin."
He can feel the heat in his face as he turns and walks out.
He's not sure what to expect from the bag. He is sure this was something left specifically to him from Bruce, but he has no idea what it could be.
When he decides he's had enough waiting and wondering, he opens it. He finds lots of clothes, probably what everyone else received. But on top…was that one of Batman's scanners?
He turns it on and finds that there is a marker on it. Is he supposed to go there? Then an arrow appears on the screen and a mechanical voice tells him that in so many miles, he should turn right.
Ah. A sort of GPS. Okay, he thinks. We'll play this game, Bruce.
The GPS leads him far from the streets of Gotham to the more rural and natural lower parts. Eventually, it leads to a waterfall, and Blake is confused. A dead end? No, it can't be.
Then he remembers that Batman is analytical, always searching for clues to the bigger picture. This is a test for him, then.
He looks around, and at first glance, nothing seems out of the ordinary. The only things he can see are trees, grass, shrubbery, a couple of low-hanging vines…
Wait. Vines? To the best of his memory, vines are used in nature by plants growing in places that receive little sunshine. They use the vines to branch out into places that get a lot of sunlight.
But this area is plenty bright.
He grabs a vine and quickly realizes that it is a thick rope cleverly disguised as a vine. Now to figure out why it's used. Looking up, nothing is at the top of the tree where the rope is tied, so he's not meant to climb it. He pulls on it, and nothing happens.
Then he looks at the waterfall. Could it be that…no. No way. There is absolutely no way he's supposed the use the vine to swing through the waterfall.
When he gets his bearings, soaking wet and trying to process the fact that there's a cave behind that waterfall, he realizes that in front of him and up a naturally-formed rock wall, he can see where the cave continues. Now how was he supposed to get up there? Climb the rock wall? Probably; after swinging on a rope through a waterfall, not much more will surprise him.
Then the ground beneath him rises like some sort of elevator to take him to the cave's upper level.
He is awestruck when he looks around the cave. So much technology. Lots of cars, motorcycles, even the plane-thing Batman had been flying when he returned to Gotham to fight Bane. There is one computer in the center of the whole cave. A massive thing. It must contain Batman's entire database on it. He starts it up, and the computer brings up a list of commands. On the top of the list: Summon Batsuit.
The Batsuit? Batman's uniform? It was here?
Of course it was here. This was obviously Batman's base of operations. It made sense; bats lived in caves.
He presses the button, and behind him, the suit rises from the ground. He moves to turn towards it.
"It seems I was right."
Quickly, Blake turns towards the voice, startled by the knowledge that he wasn't alone in the cave.
"Alfred?" The butler. He had taken Bruce's death harder than anyone else, and with good reason. He knew Bruce better than anyone else.
"Quite right, sir. I had a feeling you'd be here."
"You knew I would come, Alfred?"
"Well, not really. I just had a feeling Bruce would send a replacement for him, and here you are."
"So Bruce really does want me to be the next Batman."
"No, not quite. Gotham still needs that symbol, that ray of hope, but it no longer needs Batman. I think if Master Bruce felt that Gotham would still need Batman after his sacrifice, he wouldn't let himself die like that. He'd try to find a way to survive and come back. He always did. But now he's gone, and he's leaving the cave to you. If I may, I think that's his way of saying it's time for something new. Look behind you."
When he turns, he expects to see Batman's signature suit. Instead, it is to his surprise that he sees something different entirely.
There is no cape. The cowl has been traded for a mask covering just his eyes and nose. It look s to him like something worn at a masquerade. Sounds like something someone as rich and famous as Bruce would come up with. The chest and back are as protected as he imagines Batman's suit was, but the bat insignia in the middle is traded for a blue bird whose wings stretch out across the shoulders and down the arms and middle two fingers. A tribute to his legal name, Blake is sure.
"It looks like Bruce really thought this one out."
"Everything but a name, sir. What will it be?"
A name…Bruce had already made reference to John's real name twice; was he to use Robin as his name? No; he remembers that Bruce had told him that the next time he tried to fight crime he needed a mask. A mask not for his own protection, but for the protection of others. Using Robin is too risky. Although he didn't use that name much, it was still his legal name and anyone with access to that and half a mind could figure out the connection.
Besides, Robin isn't a name any Gotham criminal would be scared of. He needed something darker, something that still had enough connection to Batman for the common criminal to see the link and be scared and for the average citizen to know that the symbol of Batman lived on.
"Come on, get in the car!"
"Calm down, we're not going to get caught! The cops are too busy and everyone knows the Bat's gone!"
"I'm not taking any chances! In the car, now!"
He looks down at them. Small-time criminals. In the chaos of Bane's aftermath, many Gotham citizens were still displaced. Many of these criminals had taken the opportunity to relieve said citizens of some of their possessions. These crooks were no exceptions.
It's been months since Bane nearly destroyed the city, and the only problem Gotham's had are small-time thieves, carjackers, gangbangers. Murders, too, but that's nothing really out of the ordinary in a city like Gotham. No Ra's al Ghul, no Joker, no Harvey Dent. No Bane.
He is happy. No big-time criminals meant no big-time casualties, and if he were completely honest with himself, he probably wasn't ready for anything like that yet.
His attention is drawn back to the thieves below him. He decides it's time he did something about them. The police are fully capable of taking care of things like this, but that thief was right; the cops are spread far too thin right now trying to help the city rebuild. Something like what happened with Bane wasn't easily fixed. There was much to be done. If he could do something, anything, to try and keep Gotham's scum in line, even a little, it'd make the police's job easier.
He jumps from his rooftop perch with little sound. They don't see him until he's already on the ground, but by that point he's already taken down the one closest to him with a sweep and then a throw as he's coming down. Three left. All have drawn guns. Pistols. Two surprisingly well-placed projectiles take care of the weapons of the two in front of him. Lucius Fox does good work. Meanwhile, he's turned and grabbed the gun of the one behind him, bends his arm up as to avoid the gun should the thief fire it, then continues the movement until his hand is behind his back and his elbow is beside his head. A leg behind the crook's sets up the sweep, and soon the man is unconscious on the concrete.
Luckily, this was all part of his training as an officer; he couldn't afford to wait for proper training. But his moves aren't perfect; they aren't nearly as smooth as Batman's, nor are they as good. There's no way he could do anything like Batman could. He'll have to find a way to get real training while still taking down criminals. Lawbreakers wouldn't wait until he's good enough to take care of them before they made their move.
The two in front of him come after him, opting to use the time they could be searching for their guns to instead fight him head-on, thinking that they had the advantage with numbers. Smart, he admits, but it won't work. Dodge, counter, block, block, dodge, counter. He is lucky that for these guys, his officer training is enough. They fall, but one of them is conscious enough to speak. "You…you ain't him. You ain't the Bat. Who are you?"
He grins. He'd been waiting for this moment. He put a lot of thought into this, and it is with pride that he responds:
"Nightwing."