The first in a series of Batman stories all set in the same universe that I am planning to tell! Batman is one of my favorite characters, and I've always wanted to try and tell my own version of the legend of the dark knight! So here goes!
Prologue:
If you take a left at Finger boulevard, and ignore the stench wafting from the rafters, you'll begin to see a light rise from the alleyway near The Monarch cinema. It blinds, and for a moment you wonder if perhaps hell and heaven have switched locations.
But instead you find an arbitrary answer, a simple solution to your confusion. You find that the moon shines harder here, and the light reflects off the puddles left over by the seemingly incessant rain. It is not even a real light, simply a copy of what is up above.
An illusion. A trick. A lie.
And you nod as you realize that you were being foolish. Childish, really. Heaven and hell do not exist. Demons and angels do not scatter around our heads.
This is Gotham City, after all. There is no light in Gotham City. There is no break from the rain.
And there are no guardian angels.
No one can break away from the cycle.
No one can bring the dawn.
Chapter 1: I'm Fear
"You think he'll come?"
In a warehouse deep in the industrial district, sandwiched between abandoned apartment buildings and worn down offices, eight armed thugs guarded one box that was more valuable than their lives put together. Under the bright yellow light, The wooden container seemed normal enough, save for a blood red "Fragile" written on it. But the men had been eyeing it nervously since it had arrived.
"Who do you think will come?", One thug, bite marks near his nails, asked in reply. His semi automatic seemed to shake a little. Every footstep echoed, which didn't help to ease the nerves.
The thug who had asked the question, youthful looking and blinking constantly, wiped off a bead of sweat. His voice seemed to shake more than his automatic.
"Y-You know... H-him."
A jacket wearing one let out a chuckle, his bald head covered by a black docker cap. "You really believe in that crap?"
The young looking thug nodded, but with hesitation. Some seemed to agree with him and some sided with the docker cap one, who stepped towards the kid and eyed him. "I mean... you see what they say about the prison occupancy."
"Don't buy what they sell ya. These guys have an interest in keeping you scared of some bogeyman."
"I don't know, Frankie. I know a guy, Joe, works down at the pier?", a thug with scars under his eyes guarding the windows on the east side. He had a skull tattoo on his back that was as black as the night. "He got bailed out one night after a police sting, and said that he saw him. I have never seen fear like I did in his eyes. Said he's never coming back to the game, Maroni only let him go because they go way back."
"Can you imagine Penguin doing that?", a blonde goon joked, but was elbowed by the ginger next to him. "Are you nuts? Don't say that name, he listens to everything. You'll be cut up like a fish in the garbage."
"Yeah, yeah, them scare tactics don't work on me."
"And not on me.", Frankie added, stepping backwards towards the box, a cocky look in his eyes. "Kid, it's all smoke and mirrors, ya know? If he was real, why isn't he here? Boss would have said something about some freak dressed in a Halloween costume coming our way, no?"
The kid slowly shook his head. "I guess you're right, Frankie. Must be my nerves."
"Exactly. Only thing to fear here is how bad this box smells, and if our guest in the back room doesn't co-operate.", Frankie finished, slapping it's top. "There is NO such thing as..."
CRASH!
Out of nowhere, the wooden floor opened beneath their feet. Wood splinters flew in every direction, dust entering some people's eyes. The light was gone thanks to a strange object none caught but all heard, the glass scattering onto the ground. When visions finally cleared, they landed on a dark figure, a shadowy spirit, a monster with white searing eyes that stared into your soul, judging your every sin. Spikes shined on its arms, a flowing cape made it seem even more ghostly, and only when the shadows of the newly cast darkness got used to, did you realize that IT was a man.
A nightmare.
"IT'S HIM!", the kid cried out, and guns began to blaze in every which way, knocking one thug down to the ground already, a grazed skull the least of his problems right now.
No words were spoken by the monster, who ran at the men with no fear. He didn't flinch from the guns he couldn't see. In fact, he seemed comfortable in the inky night.
"I've got him, I've got...", Blonde goon stated, before getting interrupted by a sharp strike to the mouth. As he felt the blood run out, he got a kick for good measure that sent him flying back onto a wall.
"Tommy!", Ginger cried, striking blindly at the figure with his gun. "Take this you..."
Pressure points. Two in his neck. He wouldn't be awake for a while now.
"Don't let him get to the box!", Frankie shouted out, and Skull tattoo with two others stood their ground near the box, waiting for a sign of the creature.
"One step and we'll fill you with holes, man!", one threatened, but he sounded more like he was begging than anything.
The figure didn't move. But a strange rolling sound could be heard.
FSHHHHHH
Three more down thanks to the knockout gas. He'd need to get more from Fox soon.
Now there were only five to go.
"He's on the ground! Just fire!", a goon with a voice like nails growled, but he was soon proven wrong. The sound of a cape whooshing in the air was followed by the crack of the shadow landing on the goon's back. That sharp, whistle like sound went through the air again, but instead of breaking glass, broke a shoulder. The thug went down with whimpers of pain.
The nail biter, seeing where this was going, began to flee, scrambling for safety. A grapple pulled him right back, and he was hit hard in the right ear.
"Okay, that's it. Kid, behind me.", Frankie put his foot down, and he blasted again and again with his gun. "You think you scare me, freak? Stop hiding and fight me like a man!"
Suddenly, he saw a glint. Spikes flew in the air and the gun was knocked out of his hands, cuts on his arms now. "Damn it!", Frankie cursed, feeling blood leak out.
But that wasn't the end of it.
Like a hurricane, punches and kicks came at him. A hook to the chin, a drive to the stomach, a sharp kick to the nose. An elbow knocked the air out of him.
Three punches to the bottom of Frankie's left eye, and it was over. He was out of the fight.
"What... What are ya?", Frankie choked out, vision blurry. All he could see was some bat like creature hovering above him.
"I'm Fear.", an inhuman growl replied.
Frankie then closed his eyes as darkness took over his vision.
The kid, trembling, put his gun down raised his arms up. "I give up, man, I give up!"
The figure wasn't gonna let him off so easy yet, though.
Up now onto a wall, the kid was shaking as he felt the air beginning to leave him, his heart racing like it was in a marathon.
"Tell me who's behind this! Now!"
"I don't know! Only Frankie knew!"
"Not good enough!", the voice roared, punching a hole in the wall to send his message. "You have a shipment of toxins that involved the death of an entire hospital wing. They have beds to fill."
The eyes narrowed, adding to the kid's terror. "And I'm running out of patience."
"I don't know! I swear! I swear on my mother's life!"
The kid was practically crying now. The figure paused for a moment. This thug was barely out of college. Who knew how he got in this mess? He felt his grip on him. Was it too hard?
He shook his head. No time to think about that. The toxin had to be dealt with.
Letting the kid down, the figure didn't glance at him at all. He just moved towards the box, while the doors opened and GCPD officers finally came into the premises.
"Cuff all of them! And get the HMU guys in here, stat!", the tired but steady voice of Captain Jim Gordon sounded itself, bringing order into the chaos. He was headed straight for the guest, a doctor held hostage by the thugs.
"Are you all right, doctor?", Gordon asked the woman, who rubbed her previously bound wrists as she left the back room with him.
"I heard these horrible screams. What made those men so afraid?", she asked, nervously eyeing the crate that was now being taken by the HMU.
Gordon turned away to look at the figure that was departing the scene, not looking back for a moment.
The captain sighed quietly. "A friend... I hope."
Somewhere else, somewhere secret, an all together different man smiled, knowing it was all just getting started.
"Soon... Soon you will be here..."
His eyes burned with the power of fear. The words left his mouth in an anticipating whisper.
"The Batman..."