The tower cascaded over the dark city. Through its domed windows at the top floor, workers would see the entirety of North Gotham before vision blurred beyond the Pioneer Bridge, designed by Cyrus Pinkney so many years ago. Right below the peak of the tower the white word glowed, stronger than any other artificial light and even the pale moon, it revolved around the building so that all would know the name: WAYNE. Before there was Gotham City there was Wayne, and it was ironic that the name had long since had the power of Gotham's earlier days. Ever since Thomas and Martha Wayne were shot, and their boy gave up the family entitlement, the beacon of hope that was the Wayne Family became forgotten.
Crime grew worse by the day, death tolls became exponentially greater, at least twenty thefts took place every day. Two families rose to power quickly, the Falcones and the Maronis. They were both forces to be reckoned with and any officer who tried to stop them died a horrible death. Eventually the great officers of Gotham gave up, and when Gillian B. Loeb was commissioned corruption tripled. Every part of the police force had more corruption than do gooders. With the powers of Loeb and Falcone united anyone living in Gotham was a victim once or twice a day. That was all about to change.
Not to far from Wayne Tower, in North Gotham, was The Bowery. Of all the dirty places in Gotham City, The Bowery was the worst. Home to many things including the Merchant's Bank of Gotham, the Cyrus Pinkney Museum, Gotham City Light and Power, and the famous Monarch Theatre, adjacent to the district Park Row where the Waynes were gunned down in Crime Alley. It was here in The Bowery that the first act to stop corruption took place.
Two lone men guarded the storage unit as two other men approached. All four had their faces hidden behind a ski mask and their chests covered by heavy jackets. Icy breath exited one of the guards' mouths as he spoke enthusiastically, "Gentlemen! Welcome!" He nodded over to his partner and the two lifted the door to the unit up, revealing a surplus of crates, each labeled; 'DANGER: Automatic Weapons Enclosed'. The guard looked back at the other two, "Shit load of automatics, as promised!" He smiled and walked into the unit, the others followed. "The Boss got these especially for The Roman, a sign of peace if you will."
The other two men looked at each other. "Peace?" One of them questioned, "You brought us out here, in the freezing cold, for us to send a message of peace to our boss?"
The first man continued to smile and pushed the lid off of one of the crates and lifted an automatic rifle out, allowing examination of the good quality. "Not exactly, you see, The Boss' train of thought was that if The Roman knew what arsenal we had, maybe he'd back the hell off." An arousement of anger occurred and the goon pointed the rifle at the two men, "Now you're going to leave, and tell Mr. Falcone what you saw here."
All of a sudden the man was on the floor, he was shaking as electricity from the taser in his chest repeatedly shocked him. Everything darkened as something destroyed the light inside. Screams and groans were fastly ended as three of them fell asleep, passed out from pain. One goon ran out of the storage place, away from the unknown threat, but didn't get far before bolas wrapped around his legs and he fell to the snow covered asphalt. He was turned over by his attacker and looked into its black eyes. In a stern voice, the figure looked at him, and ordered "You listen to me!"
The man looked at his attacker in desperate fear, "What are you?"
"I am the one who will cleanse this city of scum like you. I am the knight that will stop corruption and allow the children of this awful place grow and learn safely. I am the one that will not stop until people like you and your boss are put behind bars. Tell them what you saw tonight, and tell them that I am Batman." And with that the man went into a deep sleep, and the war to end evil in Gotham City had begun.