Butcher stared at a blank wall within the subway. It was part of a maintenance service room. The wall, if the records were to be believed, was just a single wall of brick. The wall separated a maintenance room with control over some of the electricity between two stations along the 3-Line from the abandoned tunnel he'd been to before. Where he met the crazy man in the super costume.

Butcher was having second thoughts about going in.

He had already met with the kid whose girlfriend was killed by A-Train. Much to his surprise, after the kid seemed to abandon the idea of planting a bug, he came back. But now was the time to plan how to get a bug into the building.

This is relevant because he felt like this was also the perfect time to get a proper gauge of how serious the costumed freak was about working with him.

But he couldn't go back through the museum, they probably wouldn't fall for the FBI trick twice. Which is why he made the trek and brought a sledgehammer.

He reeled it behind himself from the side, swinging it forward and striking the wall! He swung again, and again even as his hands felt like they were on their way to getting blistered. After half a dozen swings, he finally started to see the wall cracking.

He paused to let himself have a breath of air and to let the sweat drop from his brow. He let out a disgruntled sigh.

He continued to swing. After a few minutes of solid swinging, he finally created a hole. It wasn't huge, as the clearance ended up being just above his waist, which meant he had to crouch and maneuver through. But that meant it was just serviceable.

He ducked down and began moving forward toward his goal. And though the dust collected on his jacket, he was glad when he could finally stand up straight and see the fruits of his labor when he reached the end of the crawlspace. About the distance of four or five train cars from his count was the two train cars the bat guy was hiding in. And he was inside.

"Oi!" Butcher called out, getting the attention of the man. "You couldn't get a place that's easier to get to?"

The man in the train car slid out of the train, making his way towards Butcher until he was at the edge of the passenger platform. He was wearing an outfit that was visibly less armored and looked more foolish to the man in the jacket, but Butcher didn't think much more on it. Butcher met him, reaching for assistance which was given to pull himself on the Bat guy's level.

That was when Butcher got a view of the place again. It was different this time. Now, some of the guts from the power car were taken out. Removed and placed in a pile. But when Butcher looked back to the same train car, there didn't seem to be anything out of place.

Either the man did strip the train for parts, or he replaced them to make it work. But considering the path isn't exactly clear, he really hoped it would be the former.

The bat man replied to Butcher's original comment. "It's easier to get here when you use the third entrance."

"Third entrance?"

"There's a parking garage near the museum that had an undocumented overlap to this station. A sewer cover drops you into a tunnel for a distance along the 3-Line. Once inside, there's a small gap beside where you'll land. It drops you on top of the passenger car." The caped man explained, making his way towards the train again, "What are you doing here?"

"I got a tad lonely, figured I could come see you." Butcher began before giving his serious response, "Saw what you did three nights with Maeve, who tried to take the credit. But me an' you both know she ain't the type to take the high road. It proved to me, for now at least, that you weren't lying about not killing. It at least makes you better than all the other supers out there, not killing. Although, I think you are taking that a bit far with not killing the kiddie swipers. Those assholes are the ones who deserve a ripe killing."

"Are you going to answer my question or keep rambling?"

"I was gettin' to that." Butcher remarked. He began to lean on the train, "I have a plan on infiltrating the Seven Tower, an' considering your experience with the CIA headquarters, I figured you're the right person for the job with some advice or even to help get on with it."

The man in the costume narrowed his gaze. He was interested in what the visitor had to say. At the very least he was giving Butcher the time of day, but he wasn't going to give him too much of an advantage..

"But if you want in on it, I need your word."

The man in the costume had a moment of pause. "There's only two significant events that took place recently. The most recent addition to the Seven's roster in place of Torchlight, 'Starlight,' who grew up in a rural and suburban town in the Midwest and had her official showing yesterday. On the flipside, you have the supposed death of Robin Ward by the hands of A-Train, leaving her distraught boyfriend to mourn while the branding of her killer is placed in front of his face as a hero." The Bat turned back to him, "I can only imagine which path you're taking as an opportunity to get close."

"So what's the issue, then?" Butcher began, getting frustrated with the deductive nature of the other man in the subway line. "We have a chance to get in and we need to take every chance we can get!"

"That's a dangerous road you're on." The costumed man commented.

The man raised his hand between himself and the man in the costume. "None more dangerous than letting them in the ivory tower keep on going as they are, is it?"

"Tell me your plan."

"Give me your word that you'll help."

"That depends on the plan."

The open palm Butcher had raised turned into a single finger in the Bat's direction. "Your word!"

The two had a stare down, which now landed them inches away from each other. The man in the costume was not happy by any stretch of the imagination, but the hesitation at least proved this was in his own interest, as well.

"Fine."

Butcher smiled, reaching towards the Bat and patting his shoulder with his already outstretched hand. "Was that so hard?"

Butcher reached into his pocket with his other hand, pulling out an index card. He motioned it towards the other man who took it. Butcher took to pointing to the card with his free hand, "Meet me here tonight, and I'll tell you all about it."

He pulled away from the costumed man with a nod.

Butcher found himself sitting at the bar. He had done some light drinking while he waited. It wasn't as if he had much else to do and there was no harm in it. Besides all that, he wasn't sure how this meeting was going to go. But if they were going to work together, everyone needed to be in the loop.

There was no word from the nutcase. He checked his phone repeatedly, only seeing the preview of the last message the two had exchanged from their conversation. A reminder to stay on this task.

The boy showed up with nervous hands in his pockets as he gave Butcher an inverse pucker of the lips as a greeting with a nod. He moved to sit down. "Uh, hey. Everything, y'know, in place?"

Butcher frowned and tilted his head to the young man. He was tall, thin, and pale. Sandy hair that fit into a simple shape sat on top of his head. He had a t-shirt that had some pop-culture icon on it that Butcher wasn't aware of and a green jacket over it with two horizontal white stripes on the right sleeve. A set of basic jeans and sneakers was the rest of the description. Overall, an average younger man without many ounces of outside experiences.

Butcher shook his head, "What are you on about?"

The boy turned to him like a deer looking at headlights for a half-second. He collected himself partially with a shake of his head, "Uh, no- I mean!" He closed his eyes, recentered his thinking, and opened them back Butcher. "Why are we here?"

"We're meeting someone." Butcher said, downing the last of the drink in front of him and picking himself off the bar.

He began to walk as the kid followed behind. "I thought this was just, like, a you and me thing, though?"

"Just c'mon with it." The man answered as the two made their way out of the front of the bar.

They walked around the sidewalk where they met and entered into an alleyway. Both of them were taken in by the darkness, where the distance between the walls had them feeling they were brushing against it despite no contact being made. This lasted until they were back behind the bar where it opened up into a larger area where the owners of all the establishments had storage units and cellars they could access. Hidden from the rest of the streets and hard to get a vehicle into to prevent theft of these items they held dear.

There were only two light sources, one greenish light from the back of the bar and another orange light from another one of the buildings. Both were only bright enough to offer a little illumination; neither of them were truly fighting to occupy the space. The chilled air, at least, was now being blocked almost entirely due to the lack of access.

Butcher turned to the boy, with a frown on his face. He pulled out his phone so he could check one more time if he had received word.

The boy had his hands in his pockets, leaning his hips forward and backwards and he nervously took in his surroundings. "O-o-okay… What are we waiting for, again?"

The man glanced up, his frown still on his face. He was about to say something, but was interrupted.

From above, the sound of cloth whipped in the wind and a dark, shadowy figure slammed against the ground on the opposite side of the alley to the two men already in place. He landed on one knee, waiting for his cape to hit the ground before he slowly made his way into a standing position. He took a few steps forward, fully separating himself from the darkness on the edges of the alley. He was still wearing his sillier outfit, but the effect was still there.

The boy had remained in a recoiled position, looking back and forth between the dark figure and Butcher himself.

"You're the one." The Bat stated flatly.

"What?!" The boy stammered. He began shaking his head and moving his arms between different positions. "You've gotta be kidding me! What the fuck is this? W-was this some sort of trick?" He pointed to Butcher, his face now full of the same uncertainty of what to do as his arms, "Did you set me up or something?"

Butcher motioned to him with an open palm and a cocked smile, "Easy now. He's one of us, I think."

The boy moved his attention back and forth again, but this time settled back on the dark figure.

Butcher turned to the figure, too, but moved on to introductions. "Hughie Campbell, meet…" He gestured to the caped man.

"Batman."

That was the first time he'd heard the not-a-supe say his own name. A bit on the nose, in Butcher's opinion, but a better name than others.

"Batman," Butcher mimicked, "Batman, meet Hughie Campbell! Now that we're all present and accounted for, let's-!"

"The plan." Batman practically groaned.

"Right." Butcher nodded, somewhat jaded at the shadowed man's to-the-point attitude already. "It's a simple one, all things considered. Just a bit of reconnaissance, in and out, then we wait for the next thing."

The man pulled out a small device from his pocket. "Hughie here has already scheduled a meeting with A-Train to receive an apology and a small amount of money from Vought International. He goes in, the device firmly placed in his phone to get by the detectors, goes to the royal throne to get the device out, plants it right at the Seven's war room table, then walks out with a check and our dirt will come up shortly thereafter."

The shadow man marched over to Butcher, where even up close it was hard to discern his facial features where they were visible. He took hold of the device, examining it. He turned to the boy, who was watching the figure's movements very closely.

"You're confident in the plan, Campbell?"

The boy was going to speak, but Butcher's hair raised on the back of his neck. He stood between the two of them.

"He's right as rain! It's the easiest job in the world; practically bulletproof." Butcher responded to Batman's question.

This earned no attention from the masked man. Instead, he motioned past Butcher and stood a healthy three feet from him. He leaned his head back so one eye was visible to the boy. It wasn't angry, it wasn't dark, but it looked soft. Especially in comparison to the treatment Butcher himself was getting.

"Why do this?" This question was also asked with a smooth tone. One that was trying to understand.

The boy averted his attention from the masked man for a few moments. But he was eventually brought back after he found his confidence. He looked him straight in his exposed eye.

"I need to do this. He killed someone I cared about, took them from me and there was nothing I could do about it. Then he laughed at it. He laughed while I held her hands, the only two parts of her that were…" Hughie shook his head, "This is something I can do about it here and now and right now it is the only thing I can do. If that means I stop anyone else from suffering, too, then… I can't just do nothing!"

The moments between the three dragged on. Tension was in the air, as the only thing filling the space was the sounds of cars throughout New York City echoing and polluting the air. The man in the cape lowered his head so the sounds of the cloth he wore could interrupt the noise. But both Butcher and Hughie didn't turn away from him.

Batman dropped the device on the ground, stepping on it and crushing the plastic and copper.

"Oi, what the hell!" Butcher sounded out. He reached out to grab Batman's shoulder, but was stopped when his wrist was grabbed in the time it took him to blink.

The man's raised hand was offered something else instead. Butcher and Hughie looked at the device which was small, plastic, and shaped like the man's symbol on his chest – albeit more circular. Both of them looked back up to the caped man.

"Hughie's inexperience will almost certainly get him caught somehow. Your bug requires it to be hidden between other circuitry to avoid detection outside a metal detector, mine won't trip them at all. There's a switch in the center of the device. Push the switch until you can feel the tactile bump against your finger, and it will stick." Batman explained. "I'll let you know how to listen in on the night of – you will need to have a bleeding edge radio for it. I'll let Raynor know what you will need."

Butcher took a deep breath, crouching down and gathering as much of his device as he could. "You didn't have to be such a cunt about it."

He looked back up, meeting Batman with a new device in his hand that looked like a gun with a claw at the end. He turned over to look at Hughie again.

"Good luck."

He leaned his head back again, this time pointing the gun into the air and pulling the trigger. A rope of some kind shot from the gun. Not soon after, the man was lifted up and into the air, his cape opening wide and making it look like he was flying into the dark sky. In an instant, he was absorbed into the darkness and was going on to wherever he was going next.

He was gone, with the only evidence of him being there at all in Butcher's hand.

Hughie was still looking up into the air, a nervous smile on his face. "Wow, he was… terrifying."

The two shared a look, but soon they parted ways.

The mission had begun, which on Butcher's part was simply waiting in the car for an hour or so and hoping for the best. Much to his surprise, it only took roughly half an hour before Hughie was walking down the steps of Seven Tower, hands in his jacket pockets and for the now-setting Sun to hit the Big Apple. He swung the car door open, sat down, then closed the door.

Relief visibly washed over him like a wave. He held his hands up so his palms were visible.

"Got the job done, did ya?" Butcher asked, an eyebrow cocked towards the boy.

He nodded, smiling and laughing, "Yeah, I mean, yes! It really was as easy as that Batman said. Just- Click! And it was stuck under the table!"

The man in the trench coat smirked, shifting the car into drive and beginning the drive back. "Maybe that fella ain't so bad after all, then."

"Not so bad?" Hughie chuckled, "Yeah, maybe not. What was his deal anyways?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, he's a superhero, right? I mean, he wears the outfits and all. Why go after other supes? What does he gain from it?"

Butcher clicked the roof of his mouth, "You know, I only just met the bloke earlier this week. Wouldn't have a clue about it. But he claims he's not a supe, so…"

"Him? Not a supe?" Hughie shook his head, "How is he not?"

Butcher made a left turn, taking some time to answer the question.

"Like I said, only just met him earlier this week." Butcher explained, clearly annoyed by the straining of his voice. "Barely know the fucker!"

Hughie frowned, and eventually tilted his head. "You worked with him, but don't know anything about him?"

"It's complicated." Butcher remarked. "When I told my boss about my first encounter with him, with no knowledge of him, I got orders to take him up on his offer to help. He seemed resourceful enough when I met him, too, so I did."

"Your boss, huh. Was that the name he mentioned the night before?" Hughie gestured with his finger once the name came to him, "Raynor, right? He's your boss, and he – Batman – knew him well enough to contact him?"

"That's none of your concern right now. But, for the record, he shouldn't know her well enough to be able to contact her. But because of a prior incident, he knows how to." Butcher replied. "Now… let's just keep it down until we're where we need to go."

The Sun was down entirely by the time they reached their destination. The A/V store he originally met the kid at.

He looked around him, watching as they pulled up to the curb. "What are we doing back here? I thought…"

"This is the end of the line, kid. You did your job, and it was a damn good run. Now it's time for some real work to begin!" Butcher replied. He unlocked the car doors with the button on the door's console.

"But, wait…" Hughie started, frowning and turning back to Butcher, "I- I just thought that we were going to figure out what was going on at Vought? Stop A-Train, y'know?"

"Yeah, well, you see…" Butcher winced, cocking his head to the side and turning back to Hughie. "Look, you're a good kid. You did something right and you even got a little bonus for it. I know this seems a bit anticlimactic, but you'll see the good you've done in no time. Guarantee it."

"Oh… Yeah, I guess so. Well, maybe I could be your tech guy! I know a thing or two about it all, I could be a real big help." His enthusiasm was blinding to the driver to say the least.

He could only manage to pull out an, "If something comes up, I'll think about it."

Hughie looked back to the A/V store. Then he looked back down, pulling the check from his pocket for $45,000. With a look of defeat in his eyes as he looked at it. He shook his head and began to parse his lips, "You know what?"

He lifted the check, grabbed the top of it with both hands in the same spot, and ripped it right in half. He tore it again, and again, and then again! Whatever he had left, he crumbled together and pushed into a wad of scraps.

He turned back to Butcher, with a smile on his face and energized, yet somber fire in his eyes. "Fuck those assholes and their money!"

Butcher let a smirk run on his face as the young man pushed open the passenger-side door. He lifted himself off the seat of the car and closed it. Skipping up to the sidewalk and tossing the paper scraps into the nearest trash can.

The driver shifted gears once again so he could begin driving to his next destination. He watched from his side mirror as the young man that just threw away that money. Not out of spite, but out of a principled gesture. Butcher couldn't help but respect it. Some part of him even thought he had the kid figured wrong the whole time.

From a rooftop above, the Batman watched as the car sped off. A young man with a desire to set things right was cut loose into the world. He was safe – but he had a taste of something greater. None of this was enough for him. That desire was a fire that would not be put out so easily. He would return to that life and it would eat him alive.

It was for the best that he was alone now. William Butcher would only lead him down a path of destruction. This was not a journey someone like Hughie Campbell should take.

Not unprepared.

Author's Note:

Thanks for tuning in to this chapter! For those here either just for this story or who used to follow my work in general, I've done this song and dance before so I'll skip being so melancholic about it. I'm doing fine, I still want to write a few of these stories I have running already and hopefully I'll get to posting the chapters for them soon. The main ones I'm focusing on in descending order of priority is: The New Generation, the Bat, and Quintessential Spider-Man. I only posted this chapter first because generally this story has small chapters compared to what I usually do. These chapters are around the 4k mark for words each and the other stories average anywhere between 8k-11k typically. This is the same reason why it's higher priority than Quintessential Spider-Man, it's more bite-sized in terms of writing.

P.S.: This version of Batman is something of a comic book-esque, although nothing specific. Since there were multiple reviews where people asked about it.

THANKS FOR READING, AS ALWAYS