Chapter 1

Prologue

The black sky was too heavy tonight. That was what he thought when his foot touched the pavement of the port. He had just arrived to his old city. A city notorious for its crime and corruption. The truth was that he didn't like the idea of being there, but he was gone for too long. He needed to return, to reclaim what was his and to put an end to all the things he hated for all these years. He crossed the wide paved area of the port and headed to a payphone nearby. He opened the glass door and entered the one square fit long chamber. He let his heavy back pack fall to the ground and picked up the phone, he dialled a number that hadn't use for years and waited.

"Hallo?" a man's voice answered, he sounded tired.

"Alfred…" the man managed to say but to his surprise he chocked.

"Master Bruce?" Alfred shouted astonished. Bruce lifted his head back happy to hear his trusted friend's voice again, his eyes fell on the inscription above him "Gotham City Payphone". He was back.

A few days after his arrival Bruce Wayne was still behind in catching up everything that has happened during his absence. The problems of the city were piling up by the day with no hope of improvement. As far as Wayne Industries were concerned things were good economically but the head of the company had a troubling interest in weapons development. He had a lot of work to do, but first he need to deal with one pressing issue, Alfred.

"Good morning master Bruce? Did you sleep well?" Alfred asked with his British accent as he entered the bedroom.

"Very well Alfred thank you." Bruce answered and sat on the bed. He hadn't sleep very good last night. He had the usual nightmares that were troubling him for the last year, but Alfred didn't know any of these and the question was, should he know?

"I've brought you your breakfast, I hope you still like orange marmalade, and here is the newspaper."

"Yes, thank you."

"Master Bruce, I am sorry for asking but I wanted to ask you since you called that night, why? What happened? Why now?" Alfred's eyes where full of worry and something else that Bruce could translate only as longing.

"I…" He didn't know what he was going to answer. He came back with a goal but he hadn't had a plan yet.

"Master Bruce?" Alfred's voice took him out of his thoughts. He had spaced out.

"I came back because I need to make things right Alfred, I want to." He said finally not certain that these were the right words for what he wanted to say.

"To make things right sir? I'm sorry I don't understand what you mean." Alfred looked puzzled and worried, the exact expression Bruce didn't want to see.

"I need to stop running Alfred, from my past, from who I am and from reality, Gotham's reality." He answered and with each word he became surer for his cause.

"So you want to stay here again?" Alfred asked but know he looked rather happy.

"Not just stay, I want to fix things for this city Alfred, I want to correct the wrongs that have happened and prevent new ones from ever occur." Bruce explained and stood up from the bed. As he walked up and down the room, Alfred saw for the first time his masters back. The shock was great. Every inch of Bruce's back was covered with scar tissue. Some scars looked like they were from a whip, others looked like deep cuts. Alfred opened his mouth to speak but no voice came out of his throat. Bruce was looking out of the window when he continued talking.

"But I can't do that with any conventional method. The rot of this city is too deep. I never imagined that things were going to be like this. If I try to take a stand as Bruce Wayne, the best case scenario is that I'm going to be ignored, but as something new and radical I can be heard, as a symbol I can be respected and as a shadow I can be feared by those I seek to destroy." Bruce said more to himself than to Alfred who was overwhelmed by what he was hearing and seeing. The boy he once loved was not there any more. After a brief pause Bruce turned and looked at Alfred and saw his expression of total fear, fear for the person that was not only his master but also his child, his son.

"I know how I must seem to you, a crazy man talking of things that you can't possibly understand. But I assure you I have thought about this a lot and if I am to go on I need to do this." Bruce's words seemed to Alfred insane but he spend a life time supporting this kid he wasn't going to stop now. "How?" he manage to say at the end. "How are you going to achieve that?"

"I don't know!" Bruce answered and started pacing again.

"Maybe this will give you an idea." Alfred said and picked up the newspaper. Bruce looked at him puzzled and took the newspaper. The front page had an article about a double homicide in the narrows. The killer had escaped from Arkham Asylum and was considered delusional and insane.

"Go to page seventeen." Alfred said. Bruce looked at him and with a perplexed look but did what his butler said. When he reached the page and saw the title of the article his heart skipped a bit. He had found it, the solution of how he can succeed.

VIGILANTE TEARING THROUGH STARLING CITY

Last night Adam Hunt, a highly successful business man of Starling City was found dead with an arrow in his heart. This is not the first incident that involves the notorious Vigilante of Starling City, who uses arrows to kill his pray. The people of Starling are both scared and baffled by this person who dresses up in a green hood and kills people. Many believe that he also stops crime as witnesses say that have seen him stop a robbery two nights ago. Starling P.D has unleashed a manhunt for the man in the hood.

"That's it Alfred! A symbol!"

"Yes master Bruce, but please tell me that you are not going to dress up only to kill people!"

"No Alfred, of course not. This Vigilante is clearly disturbed it won't be long until he is apprehended." Bruce said and tossed the paper on the bed.

"What are you going to do then?"

"I'm going to show Gotham that all is not lost yet, I'm going to give the city back to its people."

A few hours ago in Central City…

The train had just arrived to the station. People were running to get in since there wouldn't be another one for at list an hour. All those people had a long journey ahead of them till they could reach the East Coast. One of them wasn't very anxious though. The person was walking slowly and heavily. Everyone who looked at the person couldn't make out whether was a woman or a man, the only thing they could see was a large trench coat, too large for that body and a hood that covered the total of the face. The person entered the train constantly looking down. Took a seat and exhaled heavily. Only one thought crossed that troubled mind, Gotham City.

So that was the prologue... hope you enjoy it! I'm looking forward to our next meeting in chapter two!