There's nothing like the air in Gotham.
Environmental activists, politicians, and any normal civilian would argue that it's just pollution, that it's harmful and toxic to the lungs.
I breathe in deeply. How could you not love the air here? That thickness, that underlying scent of thousands of people working and resting, living and dying.
Hard to believe that I almost wanted to deprive myself of all of it, that I was entirely willing to die the same death Wayne did, lock myself away.
Of course, Wayne didn't really die. He was more on a hiatus from life. That is, until I came along.
I stroll along the rooftops, just taking in the sight of all the stars in the sky, the noise of the city that never really gets quiet no matter how late at night it is.
He'd never have admitted it to me. Oh no, not Wayne. He would never have admitted it, but I saved that old man. He would've just faded away, lost and forgotten, but I came along and I gave him life again. Wayne was only truly alive when he was out here, doing what he loved the most.
I might've chosen this when I was young and still on the hero-worship trip, but I remember that I never questioned it. Not once. Even though the adventure and the excitement are long past, I still feel that sugar high, that intense rush when you're winning or you've won or you know you're not going to fail.
I'm not going to fail, or quit. Ever again.
There's nothing but steady breathing in my ear. You'd think that the kid, Jake, with all his high-and-mighty attitude and his cockiness would be informing me in a authoritative tone exactly what's going on in Gotham and where I'm needed, criticizing me from the comfort and safety of the cave without actually being out here and doing it. But the kid is silent; humbled by his own ignorance and ready to learn whatever I'm willing to let him pull out of me.
He won't touch the suit, and I wouldn't let him anyways. It's mine. This is a right you have to earn, a privilege you have to work for, and a sacrifice you have to be willing to make.
This suit, this job is mine. I don't feel like I live in Wayne's shadow, like I'm just his heir, like I'm constantly measuring up to him anymore. I'm my own kind of Tomorrow Knight.
Sure, it costs lives. And not always in the physical sense.
Sure, it's taxing on the body. Both physically and emotionally.
Sure, you might at times curse it and love it at the same time.
But it's what I'm meant to do. It's what I've chosen to do. I get to save the lives of hundreds. Yes, they're strangers, but we were all strangers at one point. I doubt that if I was just plain Terry McGinnis, I would let someone on the street get hurt just because they were a stranger either.
I've still got years left. I'm damn lucky that I woke up out of my doubts and sorrows before they made me immobile for life.
I step to the edge of building, not unlike Ben did a long time ago. He did what he did to save lives too, the lives most important to him, the lives of his parents. Wayne did this to honor his. I do it so no one who follows me will have to save them or honor their memory.
I spread my arms and take one step forward. I fly.
I'm Batman.
END
******************************************************************* I thank you one last time for all your reviews, feedback, praise, suggestions, and criticisms. I hope you enjoyed this novel, it's my magnum opus to date!
Good luck to all the other writers out there. And I doubt this is the end of me ;-)
Environmental activists, politicians, and any normal civilian would argue that it's just pollution, that it's harmful and toxic to the lungs.
I breathe in deeply. How could you not love the air here? That thickness, that underlying scent of thousands of people working and resting, living and dying.
Hard to believe that I almost wanted to deprive myself of all of it, that I was entirely willing to die the same death Wayne did, lock myself away.
Of course, Wayne didn't really die. He was more on a hiatus from life. That is, until I came along.
I stroll along the rooftops, just taking in the sight of all the stars in the sky, the noise of the city that never really gets quiet no matter how late at night it is.
He'd never have admitted it to me. Oh no, not Wayne. He would never have admitted it, but I saved that old man. He would've just faded away, lost and forgotten, but I came along and I gave him life again. Wayne was only truly alive when he was out here, doing what he loved the most.
I might've chosen this when I was young and still on the hero-worship trip, but I remember that I never questioned it. Not once. Even though the adventure and the excitement are long past, I still feel that sugar high, that intense rush when you're winning or you've won or you know you're not going to fail.
I'm not going to fail, or quit. Ever again.
There's nothing but steady breathing in my ear. You'd think that the kid, Jake, with all his high-and-mighty attitude and his cockiness would be informing me in a authoritative tone exactly what's going on in Gotham and where I'm needed, criticizing me from the comfort and safety of the cave without actually being out here and doing it. But the kid is silent; humbled by his own ignorance and ready to learn whatever I'm willing to let him pull out of me.
He won't touch the suit, and I wouldn't let him anyways. It's mine. This is a right you have to earn, a privilege you have to work for, and a sacrifice you have to be willing to make.
This suit, this job is mine. I don't feel like I live in Wayne's shadow, like I'm just his heir, like I'm constantly measuring up to him anymore. I'm my own kind of Tomorrow Knight.
Sure, it costs lives. And not always in the physical sense.
Sure, it's taxing on the body. Both physically and emotionally.
Sure, you might at times curse it and love it at the same time.
But it's what I'm meant to do. It's what I've chosen to do. I get to save the lives of hundreds. Yes, they're strangers, but we were all strangers at one point. I doubt that if I was just plain Terry McGinnis, I would let someone on the street get hurt just because they were a stranger either.
I've still got years left. I'm damn lucky that I woke up out of my doubts and sorrows before they made me immobile for life.
I step to the edge of building, not unlike Ben did a long time ago. He did what he did to save lives too, the lives most important to him, the lives of his parents. Wayne did this to honor his. I do it so no one who follows me will have to save them or honor their memory.
I spread my arms and take one step forward. I fly.
I'm Batman.
END
******************************************************************* I thank you one last time for all your reviews, feedback, praise, suggestions, and criticisms. I hope you enjoyed this novel, it's my magnum opus to date!
Good luck to all the other writers out there. And I doubt this is the end of me ;-)