A Fair Price
by TwinEnigma
Warnings for chapter: none
5.
Many years passed and the prince was forgotten. But in those years, he learned many things of his curse and the power he now held over the darkness. He found that he could use those powers to take his vengeance upon all those that had destroyed his kingdom and it made him happy, for now his parents would truly be avenged.
He left the mountain and, one-by-one, hunted them down, turning all the powers of the darkness upon them until they begged for mercy and returned his kingdom to him. But when all those men had finally paid for their treason, the prince found that he was not satisfied.
Saddened, he left the palace and wandered through every street, until he came to tavern. Inside, there were many men crowded to one side and but one single man on the other.
"What ho, who is that?" the prince asked.
"Leave him be, master. He is a murderer and thief," one man said.
"How do you know this?" the prince asked.
A second man said, "Oh, but we have all seen it with our own eyes."
"Then should he not be punished?" the prince asked.
"Aye," the first man said. "But the guards will not do it, for he took their sons and daughters, and were they to act, he'd do them harm."
"That is not fair," the prince said.
"Aye," the men said, "but that is the way of things."
"That way is no more, men. You shall have justice," the prince said and, at once, threw off his cloak. He cursed the villain then and there with a terrible fate befitting his crimes, but it did not satisfy him longer than a single moment. He immediately hungered for more.
And so he went into the world, seeking out all those that had been wronged and left without justice.
As Batman, Bruce finds a sort of strange peace with himself. He cannot erase what has happened, but he can make amends and, perhaps more importantly, prevent another child from going through what he had.
Joe Chill has paid for his crime, a fact which leaves him with no satisfaction.
Vengeance and justice, as he has come to learn, are two very different things and Batman must be more justice than vengeance if he is ever to change this city. Gotham has more than its fair share of criminals left unpunished and it is easy enough to soon find a comfortable medium between extremes, one that criminals will not forget and the police will forgive him for employing.
Always, though, he embraces terror and uses it as his ally in the night, bearing down and crushing his enemies in spirit. It thrills him, sometimes, in the way they react, screaming and running from him, as if he were their personal fury come to devour them.
As Bruce, he was a powerless child. As Batman, he is powerful, and it is becoming harder and harder to separate himself from the cowl.
"Master Bruce, your arm," Alfred warns him. "You should be resting."
"I can't," Bruce says, even as he watches the monitors in the cave. "Someone needs to protect these people."
"I believe the police can handle this for one night," Alfred says, sternly.
Bruce ignores him.
Batman is needed.