Outcast

Part One

"I hate this job." Sam blurted out as he and Mickey traveled down the long dark tunnels of the Gotham sewer system. "Sure the pay is good but what about all of the other stuff."

"I'm not complaining." Mickey responded shining his lamp ahead of them, illuminating the tunnels only a few feet ahead of them.

Sam grimaced, "Well of course you're not complaining, you don't have to deal with a wife who refuses to sleep with you because you smell worse than the little presents our puppy keeps leaving around the house. The kids are afraid to hug me because they think they'll get the smell stuck on their clothes."

"That's why I never married." Mickey replied.

Sam laughed, "No, you never married because you're a lazy bastard." He sighed, "Let's just find the junction, unplug it and get out of here."

"That sounds like a good plan." He shone the light forward and they could see an intersection, he checked the damp map in his hands, "The junction is just to the right. Hey, Sam, what unlucky dummy do you think had the privilege of their waste coming up through the pipes?"

"Probably some rich jerk." Sam answered following Mickey almost religiously, never straying more than a few inches of the lamplight. "Otherwise we wouldn't be down here so quickly." He raised his helmet from his head and put it against his mouth in a vain effort to try and block the almost overpowering aroma. "Wait." The color slowly began to flush out of his face, "Did you hear that?"

Mickey stood motionless for a second turning his ear towards the darkness, "I don't hear a thing."

"I swear I heard something." Sam vowed anxiously, "It sounded like…growling, think there's a dog down here, maybe?"

"Not a chance. It took us a half hour to get down this deep, no dogs down here, man. I think maybe this job really is getting to you."

"Listen!" Sam exclaimed loudly is voice echoing down the vast maze of tunnels. "There's something there, shine the light to your right."

Mickey sighed rather annoyed with his partner, "You are letting this place get to you. I am telling you there is nothing there!" He exclaimed shining the light to where Sam had suggested.

Out of the darkness emerged a figure. It was fast and before Sam could even muster a scream Mickey was taken into the darkness. A moment of silence passed, there were no sounds of a struggle or death, just dripping water and screeching rats.

Sam reached over to the lamplight, "I have to get back upside; we need the army or so-something." The sounds of growling returned, "H-hello?"

----

Bruce tinkered on his boomerang weapons with an almost obsessed level of dedication in the center of the cave. The bats screeched every so often reminding him that he was not alone. But that hardly bothered Bruce, he felt comfortable in their presence. Each kept to themselves, hardly giving their new neighbor any attention at all.

He was supposed to be attending a ball tonight, to help benefit one charity or another. Bruce hadn't really been looking forward to it; he had already experienced the smiles from Gotham's socialites, and the sense of women draped over his arms, and didn't care to relive it anytime soon. Out there, everything was so false, but here in the darkness Bruce hid nothing.

Making slight modifications after hours of conceptualization was fulfilling enough for now. His boomerang weapons were more sleek and stylized, taking on the appearance of a bat. It was almost comical in appearance forcing a grin across Bruce's lips. Nevertheless, it would serve his purposes well.

But the levity of his mood was soon washed away; he rubbed sorely at the wound left by the Joker. People had died, and though it had been entirely out of his hands according to logic, Bruce blamed himself, wondered had he gotten to the scene more quickly could they have been saved?

Yet, he still managed to count his blessings. With the Joker locked away at Arkham Asylum, he wouldn't have to push himself quite so hard.

----

"It never stops." Gordon said with a grimace leaning back into the chair situated so that he could stare out of his window and at the oppressive spires of the city. "Jack Napier is finally placed in a padded cell and then this happens." He exclaimed gesturing towards the newspaper with a bold title: Killer Croc roams sewers?

"It's a crocodile, so what?" Bullock inquired, "Probably escaped from a zoo or something."

Gordon shook his head, "Come on, look at the facts. Six people have vanished, three in the sewer and three in alleys next to manholes. It's deliberate and planned. Whatever this is, I think we've got another serial killer on our hands."

Bullock sighed, "This Goddamned city, it's full of lunatics."

"Start up an investigation, but keep it quiet. I'd rather not the press or the mayor, get a whiff of what's going on."

----

"Please, please, don't hit me!" a punk named Luis, screamed, blood pouring out of his broken nose.

Batman slammed him against the wall of the alley, "You're a degenerate." He declared coldly, his eyes betraying no emotion. "You scumbag, did you think you could rape a woman? Did you think you could commit rape and get away with it, get away from me?" He had seen the aftermath of the crime not five minutes ago.

The criminal collapsed against the side of the alley wearily, "Wait, please, I work for the Boss. You know the boss right, Maroni? Come on, don't hit me, please!"

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" Bruce asked picking up Luis.

"You're not afraid of the Boss?" Luis inquired, "He controls half the entire city. Are you insane?"

Bruce threw the rapist against the side of a dumpster. Was the question even relevant? He moved in and with a quick nerve strike totally incapacitated Luis who crumpled onto the floor, "When you can move again, I want you to go back and tell your 'boss' that things have changed."