It has been days since Carson told her story to Itachi, days since she released a burden she felt she was carrying for years, and for once in her life she felt liberated. It was like saying it out loud released her from the shackles that bound her. Since that day, she and Itachi have built somewhat of a stronger bond, well in her eyes they have. Itachi listened to her and not once did she ever feel like he judged her for it and for that she would forever be grateful.
Carson was currently in the process of running around the room like a chicken that had just lost its head because she, of course, slept through her alarm and was late for school.
Itachi was in his room in deep thought when he heard a commotion going on outside his door. He walked out and saw Carson dash out of her room. She ran to the kitchen trying to quickly make herself breakfast. Itachi quirked a brow in amusement as he leaned against the door frame, watching as the young bespectacled girl was scrambling for food.
Carson bit her lip searching profusely around through her cabinets for a bowl. She stiffened a bit when she heard the sound of footsteps entering the kitchen. She turned around and saw Itachi heading over to where she was standing. "Hey! Morning Itachi, uh don't mind me I'm just being my normal late self," she said turning away for him as she went back to searching for a clean spoon now.
Itachi nodded at her before smiling slyly. Carson noticed this and started to blush, "W-Why are you smiling like that? Is my hair a mess? Oh jeez where is as mirror when you need one," she continued to rattle off while Itachi shook his head at her.
"Carson, don't always be in such a rush. Sit down and relax," and just like that Carson's frantic mood had stopped and she had calmed down. It's been like that lately. It was something about his voice that took all of her worry away. She sat down with her dry cereal in a bowl and Itachi got out a jug of orange juice for her and he sat down at the opposite side of the table.
"Thanks. I guess it didn't matter anyways since I had already overslept. It's already 9:50 right now. I'm just excited, you know?" She had recently found out that her brother James was going to be coming back to Gotham soon and he would be staying with her. As much as she was excited for his arrival, she was also dreading what else that implied.
"Hey Itachi, I know this is sudden but I need a huge favor of you," she started. Itachi nodded for her to go on with her request. "I need for you to leave when my brother gets here. Now this would only be temporary. I just haven't gotten around to telling him about you and it would be really weird for him to get here and find out that some guy I literally picked up off of the street is staying with me. That would be the definition of awkward."
Itachi nodded his head at her, "If that's what you want then so be it."
Carson smiled at him when she heard that he was cool with it, "Thank you so much! If you want I could ask my neighbors from across the hall if you could stay with them while my brother is in town. I'm cool with their daughter so I bet she could put a good word in for me. You don't have to if you don't want to, but still at least it's an option."
Itachi shook his head, "No, that won't be necessary. I'll be fine on my own for a while, but thanks anyway."
"Are you sure? I just don't like the idea of you being out on the streets homeless again," she pressed.
"It doesn't matter where I am, I'll never be homeless," he replied. Carson smiled and nodded at him. She knew he could take care of himself, she just wished he didn't have to do it by himself. She wanted to be there for him in any way that he needed.
"Okay Itachi. Hey, it's about time for me to head out. I'm already late enough as it is," she rambled as she collected her things. "Did you have anything to do while I'm at school?"
"I'm going to take a stroll through Gotham, just to get familiar with things. I haven't really been out since moving in with you," he answered.
"Oh okay, just be careful please. Gotham isn't a place to just mingle around in. The people here can be despicable and cruel. I'll see you around." She then left out through the door and heading to school.
Itachi stared at the door Carson just left out of and mulled over her parting words. 'The people here can be despicable and cruel.' That was something he was all too familiar with. In the end he knew he could take care of himself, and if something did happen he would defend himself if need be.
While he did plan to take a stroll through Gotham, his true purpose was to find intel on Black Mask. He knew in order to do that he would have to track down one of his subordinates and interrogate him, threaten if he had to, if they did not talk.
His men attacked Carson at her home and her job, and both times Itachi had come to her defense, but now it was time to go on the attack. After hearing Carson's story, Itachi made it a side goal of his to bring down Black Mask and his entire operation. He was going to take the first steps towards that goal by doing as he had said, that being taking a walk around the area.
First, he was going to expand his knowledge of Gotham's landscape. If he was going to fight this battle, he'd have to know everything about the battlefield. Then after that was done he would find a way to hide his identity. He didn't want anything he was doing to go back to Carson. She's been through enough already. After that, he'd go on the attack. He planned on taking them down quietly and swiftly, giving them no time to respond or retaliate.
He got up and left out of the apartment once he finished laying out his plan. He was locking the door when he heard a voice come from behind him, "Who are you and what are you doing outside of my neighbor's door?"
He turned and saw a beautiful blond teen. She had olive-toned skin and dark gray eyes. She was slender in stature, yet also had an athletic build to her. She was wearing a white collared shirt underneath a navy blue blazer and skirt, with a red necktie loose around the collar of her shirt, and a pair of shin length white socks and brown leather shoes. Her book bag hung over her left shoulder by one both straps. He gave her a kind smile and began to explain himself.
"Carson was kind enough to allow me to stay with her. I just moved here recently so that's why you haven't seen me too often. Since she just left for school I was just leaving to go for a walk and I didn't want to leave her apartment unlocked," he explained.
It looked like she was accepting his explanation-after a few seconds of giving him a scrutinizing look- because her body language shifted from hostile to relaxed, "Oh okay. Well it's nice to meet you then. What's your name?"
"My name is Itachi, and you?" She gave him a smile back, "Artemis. I'm Carson's friend and her neighbor. I live across the hall with my mom."
"Well Artemis, it was nice to meet you but I must be on my way and by the looks of it so should you," he said giving the pack on her back a pointed look.
"Yeah you're right. Catch you later Itachi," she said while walking away. As she was walking she started thinking to herself how cute Itachi was. Carson sure is lucky to have eye candy like him to look at. I just might have to accidentally run into him more. She then started chuckle at the thought.
Itachi set off to start his crusade against Black Mask. And if everything goes according to plan, Carson will never have to feel oppressed by him again.
It was about an hour past noon as Itachi was currently walking in Robinson Park. It was a desolate area to say the least. In fact, he thought more than a few places in Gotham could be described that way. There really was no middle ground here. It either looked new aged or war torn.
From the signs up all over the place Itachi figured this was a respiration project. People walking by him looked defeated and seemed to have given up on hope. He could see and hear people openly breaking the law as if there would be no consequences. That's probably because the police stopped venturing out to this part of the city. Why worry about the law when its protectors can't seem to be bothered to uphold it?
As time went by the skies started to get gloomier and a downpour started soon afterwards. It didn't seem to bother any of the Gothamites; they just acted like everything was normal. He leapt up on top of a nearby rooftop and got a better view of Gotham as a whole.
"This place looks just like the hidden rain village. It's like someone made a nightmare of metal and dread," he noted out loud. He looked down at his watch that Carson gave him and sighed. Carson will be getting done with her classes soon and I still haven't found one of Black Mask's thugs.
He only had two places left on the list to check out; Chinatown and Park Row, aka Crime Alley. He decided to speed over to Chinatown first. As thrilling as it is to visit a place that is nicknamed Crime Alley, he wanted to check out Chinatown because Carson told him that it is the closest Gotham will ever come to being considered multicultural and festive.
He quickly dashed away towards his destination hoping to scout everything and be back before Carson started to worry.
"Itachi! I'm home! You won't believe the day I had..." Carson had just made it back to her apartment. She set her things down on the couch and looked around. She blinked a few times when she heard no one answer.
"That's weird, he usually would have come out by now. He must still be gone on his little one man field trip across Gotham," she mused to herself. Personally, she thought this whole trip he was taking was a bad idea. Gotham isn't the place for that. Why couldn't he have just stayed inside like normal people who fear getting mugged?
She shrugged her shoulders. If he wasn't back before 5 she would go out to look for him. For now she decided to start doing some homework when she heard a knock on her door. She excitingly went and checked the peephole with the hopes of seeing Itachi or even her brother James, but she saw it was none other than Artemis her neighbor.
She unlocked the door and let her friend in, "Hey Artemis. I see you must be out of school too. Don't you have work right afterwards though?"
"My boss called and said they didn't need me today so I thought why not spend my free afternoon with you," she answered with a smile.
"Well would you look at that, I'm touched." Carson replied with a giggle. They moved to sit down on the couch and told each other about their day. Artemis shared how much she hated Gotham Academy because of all of the stuck-up, rich snobs that inhabited that school. Carson told her about how some guy was hitting on her and she had to let him down easy by telling him she was happily single which made Artemis laugh out loud.
"Hey, what's so funny," Carson asked.
"Oh sorry, it's just hard picturing you doing anything the easy way. You probably said something super sassy to him that made him dash away in tears."
"I'm not that bad am I?" Carson said now curious.
"Um let me think about that, yes! I remember when you kneed some boy in the groin for insinuating that Marvels Agents of Shield was a bad show." Artemis recalled.
"Hey, I wouldn't have done that if the guy wasn't acting like such a know it all. You know you wanted to knee him too." She retorted.
"Yes, I wanted to, but you actually did it. Just stop denying it." They both started laughing after Carson conceded in defeat. When they stopped laughing, Artemis took the opportunity to tease her friend about what she discovered earlier.
"So a little birdie told me that you have a new roommate, a very attractive roommate," she teased while wiggling her eyebrows.
Carson's face flushed bright pink from embarrassment. She must have seen him when he left this morning. This is so embarrassing! She quickly tried to come up with an explanation but Artemis beat her to the punch.
"Oh don't worry your pretty little head. Itachi told me that you were kind enough to let him stay with you. Unlike you, when I confronted him he was cool, calm, and collected about it," she teased.
"Yeah, Itachi has that way about him that makes it seem like nothing ever gets to him. He's not much of a talker like you or I, but I truly enjoy his company," Carson said. Even though she was having a good time with Artemis, she would be lying if she said she wouldn't prefer it to be Itachi.
"Yeah with a guy as good looking as Itachi, I bet you do enjoy his company. I was only talking to him for a brief moment and I know for a fact I enjoyed every second of it," she added. Her comment gave Carson a funny feeling in her gut but she decided to keep it inside since that genuinely confused her.
Carson then remembered that her brother James was coming back into town and how she needed a huge favor out of Artemis. She grew nervous as she thought of a way to ask her friend this request. It's not every day you get asked to house a complete stranger but she really didn't want to leave Itachi in the streets because she worried for his safety and that if he left he might never come back.
"Is there something you want to ask me? You seem to be having this great internal struggle or something. I won't bite your head off so just ask," she said jokingly.
Carson then took a breath and made her request, "I need you to do me a huge favor and let Itachi stay with you while my brother James is back in town. I normally wouldn't do this but it just doesn't really sit well with me letting my friend out into the streets with nowhere to sleep. He'll just try to play it off, but please Artemis just until I can tell James about him."
Artemis put a soothing hand on her friend and gave her a kind smile, "Don't worry. He can stay with my mom and I Carson."
Carson was so ready to be rejected that when she actually registered her friend's words, she leapt up in joy, "Thank you! Thank you so much! You are so awesome for this!"
Artemis laughed and tried to calm her friend down, "Okay, okay. Stop jumping before you hurt yourself. I mean honestly, you would have thought I got on one knee and proposed to you. Itachi seems like a sensible and decent guy, plus you vouched for him so of course I'll let him stay."
Carson then stopped jumping and settled for hugging her friend, "This really means a lot. Seriously, thank you for this Artemis."
"No problem. That's what friends are for," she replied. "Besides, it's not every day a girl gets to rent her home out to the hot guy next door. I should be the one thanking you." They then both burst out laughing.
As time went by they went over the details of when James would be coming over and Carson described Itachi to her friend in more detail. She really wished he was here himself but it seems this trip of his would be an all-day affair. All she could do is hope he was alright and would come back safely.
Itachi was walking through Chinatown trying to get to gouge the sights Gotham had to offer. There were plenty of people out despite the fact that it was well into the night and still down pouring rain from earlier. He had to admit it; this part of the city was a lot livelier than any of the others he had visited today, but that wasn't saying much considering how gloomy every other part of the city was. As he looked around he saw the people of Gotham mingling and socializing as if it weren't raining.
There were carts that contained food, souvenirs, and clothes. People held markets, activity stands, and restaurants all over that Itachi took note of. In some weird way, it reminded him of the Leaf Village at night. He was walking over by himself when a woman, with short black hair who looked to be in her late 50's, in a stand full of masks called him over.
"Young man, can I interest you in buying one of my masks," she asked. Itachi didn't want to be rude but he had no money to buy a mask even if he wanted one. He walked over to her and was about to politely refuse when she reached out and grabbed his hand with both of hers. He eyed her weirdly and found this whole situation strange while she had a grip on him.
Just when he was about to question what she was doing she spoke up, "I see you're here to do something important, but in order to do so you have to become the man you hate. You know from firsthand experience I understand that certain measures have to be taken in order to protect the one's you love. It might require you to become someone that they hate. In order to fight darkness you must become darkness. Just from feeling your hand I know you have experienced great tragedy and pain, I can see it in your eyes."
She then let go of him and went into the back of her shop. Itachi kept his face impartial but internally this woman really piqued his interest. When she returned she brought out a dark red box with her. She presented the box to him and told him that it was on the house.
Itachi politely tried to refuse, "I'm sorry ma'am, but I just can't accept your gift-"
She shook her head and pointed towards Itachi's heart, "The gift isn't mine, it has always belonged to you young man. You just didn't know it until now. You're here for a reason, a cause. What's in this box will help to progress that cause and shield not only you, but those who you call friend as well. Take it and do what you came here to do."
He reluctantly accepted the gift from the old lady and stood there confused. She smiled one last time before retreating towards back of her stand. Itachi didn't really know what to think of what just happened. He just turned and walked away with his gift in his hand.
As time passed Itachi went to the rooftops to do his traveling. He still had one more stop before his night was over; Crime Alley. From the eavesdropping that he's been doing throughout the day, this is pretty much a breeding ground for all of the crime in Gotham. He could tell why just from seeing it from afar. It was the very definition of desolation. The buildings were closed off, broken down, or used to conduct illegal activities. Cars were riddled with bullet holes, windows to establishments were broken, and the people here were either criminals or victims.
He shook his head at the sight he was witnessing, "It's no wonder Carson has gone through so much, this city is filled with darkness." He then remembered the words of the woman who gave him the box he was carrying, 'In order to fight darkness you must become darkness.' He then got a vision of him in his anbu gear the night he massacred his family. The more time he spent in this city, the more he had the ugly feeling that he would need to become that killer once more in order to save it.
He had had enough of this depressing place and was about to leave when he heard a scream coming from a nearby alley. He went to investigate and saw three men ganging up on a teenage boy. The three men really got Itachi's attention when he saw what they were wearing; each had on a black mask akin to the one's worn by the thugs who raided Carla's Café.
This is my chance, by the end of the night one of these men will tell me everything I want to know about Black Mask.
He then looked down at the box he was carrying and decided to open his gift. Inside of the box was a black mask that was made to look like a crow. He put it on and was surprised on how well it fit his face. It only covered the upper half of his face leaving his mouth and jaw exposed. The eye sockets had glass openings that were just big enough so that his eyes were barely visible. The beak of the crow mask was a darker shade of black than the rest of the mask, which made it even more ominous looking. He put his hood over his head, activated his sharingan, and leapt from the rooftop down into the alley behind Black Masks thugs.
When he landed the thugs stopped attacking the young man and put their focus on him. In the dark all they could see was his sharingan. As he stepped forward he issued them a warning, "Leave him alone, or else." They got nervous now. In Gotham, whenever a figure fell from rooftops and issued out threats it was usually either the Batman or his associates/sidekicks of his. But they have never seen one with red eyes before which made them wonder who this guy really was.
The teenager saw his opportunity and made a dash towards freedom. The thugs tried to shoot him but Itachi rushed at them, causing them all to miss. Itachi started with a strong running jab first and it knocked out the first thug instantly. The other two tried to retaliate but Itachi threw a low sweep tripping them and causing them to fall to the wet cemented ground. Now that they were both on the ground he sprung back to his feet and threw one of them to the wall rendering him unconscious. The other saw this as his chance to strike but Itachi gave him one glance and placed him under a genjutsu.
The black mask thug now stood there in a look of stupor. Itachi removed the thug's mask and wrapped his hand around his throat tightly. He even started to lift the man up a few inches off the ground. He released the genjutsu so that the thug was aware of what was happening to him.
"You are going to tell me everything you know about your boss and I'll know if you are lying so I suggest against it unless you want to go back to that nightmare you were just having. Now we can do this one way or the other. I suggest you choose wisely," Itachi threatened. The man was so scared he would have told his whole life story if Itachi had asked.
"Sure! W-Whatever you want! Where d-do I start," he said while struggling to breathe because Itachi's grip was so tight. Itachi grinned internally. He lowered him so that they were face to face with one another and he spoke, "Just start from the beginning and I'll let you know when to stop. And remember…you lie, you die."
When Itachi put him under the genjutsu, even though it was only for a short while, he got all the information he needed out of this thug. This interrogation was just so he could see scum like him suffer. Once the man was finally done and Itachi confirmed that everything he said was true, he delivered a body kick that broke ribs and knocked him out cold.
He walked out of the alley satisfied with how everything went and prepared to return home to Carson. As he was about to dash away he saw that the boy he saved was still there watching him. The kid walked over to Itachi and thanked him for saving his life. The money they were trying to take was so that he could pay for his sister's medicine. If he lost that, his sister was as good as dead. Itachi gave him a silent nod before jetting away. The boy was in awe of what he just witnessed, "That's way cooler than Robin or the Batman; I have to tell my friends about this at school tomorrow."
On his way to the apartment Itachi only had one thought going through his mind. Roman Sionis, your plan to reign over this city has just come to a screeching halt, and that halt has a name; Itachi Uchiha.
Carla was in her kitchen making coffee at the moment. Even though it was well past midnight she enjoyed the taste and she needed to unwind. Ever since her store was ransacked she was placed under the care of her husband not that she was complaining about it. She just hated not working and lying around the house all day. She just liked working and how it made her feel.
Her husband is a lieutenant for the GCPD and one of the best officers there. She was so proud of him because of how he was brought up, it was very easy for him to be corrupt but he rose above it to be a decent and honest man.
Her husband Phil was currently in the back having a meeting with associates. Carla always tried to let him do his work in peace, so, she never interferes. His associates though were subordinates of Black Mask, unbeknownst to Carla. They were here to give Phil his payment for helping out their cause.
"There you go Phil, there's all of it," the thug said smugly. Phil counted it and noticed he was short a substantial amount of money. He called them on it, "What do you mean all of it? This is only half of what you owe me!"
The crooks laughed at him, "What exactly do you mean? That is the payment we owe you. Oh the boss man deducted a chunk of it out because of the whole fiasco at your wife's café when she interfered with our business and stopped us from doing what we came to do. That pissed the boss off and you're lucky as hell money is all you lose because if it were me, I would have taken your wife away from you too."
Phil got scared for his and his wife's safety, "But I made sure the police were preoccupied and even got most of your men back on the streets, I can't control what she does when her store gets broken into."
The thug punched him hard in the gut and made Phil keel over in pain, "Well you better learn how to muzzle your wife soon because if something like that happens again…well it can't be helped what you might come home to. It could be your wife dead or even your house on fire. It just depends on what the boss feels like doing on that particular day…understand?"
Phil vigorously nodded his head at the menacing men, "I-I understand. It won't happen again, I promise." The masked gangsters started laughing again before leaving. As they were heading out of the back fence, the thug in charge left with one final statement, "Oh I'll hold you to that promise, count on that."
Phil stayed keeled over both in pain and in fear of what could happen to him and his wife. He knew he shouldn't be doing business with thugs but he needed the money and was already in way too deep to get out. He was stuck and had no way out.
Unbeknownst anyone, Batman was a few rooftops away watching the scene with some binoculars that he had. He had a funny feeling about Carla and his gut told him to stakeout her place and now he knows why. Her husband is working under Black Mask and it's a pretty good bet she doesn't know a thing about it.
He could bust her husband right now, using that to easily catch Sionis, but for now he would settle for just monitoring the situation. Now all he needs to do is find this Carson girl and see why Sionis is so interested in her.
"Master Bruce," his butler called.
"Go ahead Alfred," he answered.
"It seems the batcomputer has found the match on our person of interest."
"What's the name," he demanded.
"Her full name is Carson Collins sir. May I ask what your next plan of action is?"
"I plan to find her and have a talk with her. The sooner, the better."
"Very well sir. Will you be coming back to the cave soon?"
"It's barely past midnight Alfred. Gotham still has crimes for me to stop." He then grappled away from the rooftop to go on patrol.
This whole situation needed to be resolved soon before this gets worse. He already had enough on his plate with teaching Robin, leading his company, and handling the Justice League. But despite all of that he knew deep down that Gotham would always be his number one priority and nothing will change that.
That's the end of this chapter! We got the first glimpse of Itachi as he starts his new journey as The Crow! Sorry for the long update yet again but I hoped you enjoyed it. From here on out there's no more guideline material so we can all enjoy the twists and turns of this story together as they unfold. Get ready for a wild ride guys and gals! Till next time!