This DCverse is Maddening

There were plenty of cities all around the globe that liked touting itself has the most dangerous or crime ridden city. But alas, if Gotham took second place no other city would dare claim to be first.

In this city of despot and loss hope, a single man no legend kept the darkness from threatening to swallow up it’s citizens like a hungry beast.

“Report Robin.”

A deep voice growled into the built in communicator in his bat shaped cowl.

“We’re good on our side,” A young males voice crackled,” Everyone’s properly contained and the police is on their way.”

“Good.” The Dark Knight ice blue eyes turn more frigid as they looked upon the groaning men around him,” Rendezvous with Batgirl, I will be out soon.”

“Got it, over and out.”

Then he just stood there, a scowl prominent through the open cowl. And as he eyed the incapacitated goons, something just itched at that legendary gut feeling.

‘It was far too easy…’

Sure after being trained by masters all over the globe, taking down some simple thugs SHOULD be that simple. These people were barely skilled enough to wield the guns they owned and despite their tough exterior, still hesitated when they had a clean hit on him.

Not like their bullets would have the effect they hoped, refined kevlar woven expertly into the black material would’ve made child’s play with these low caliber firearms.

‘What is it?’

While finding the location of one his more reluctant informant was no walk in the park, the security itself was laughable. Only ten armed men? He would’ve almost felt insulted if that niggling feel hadn’t been poking at him ever since stepping foot in this warehouse.

‘Bombs?’

The idea of all this being a trap had crossed his mind before he took into account the method in which they received this information. No one untrained would be able to keep the where with all to lie to him, especially not while hanging upside down dozens of stories of the ground. Plus besides, the only flammable material that his sensors picked up were from the remnant gunpowder.

He knew this job could be considered done and that Gordon would be here soon enough but…

‘Something just doesn’t feel right..’

With his mind made up, the large man blurred forward with a twirl of ebony fabric. His figure flickered between the beams of moonlight leaking through crooked windows and with silent footstep, he swung himself up into the rafters overhead. Muscles bugling with effort, looking more like some kind of nocturnal predator than a human in that moment. That iconic bat symbol laid bare as the man glared in one particular direction.

With every passing second, his frustration grew in intensity as he still couldn’t find what was bothering him. Mantras rung endlessly in his mind as he tried to stay focus on the current situation.

‘There!’

With a squint, a series of data overlayed his vision and outlined the square oddity embedded in the concrete floor. Lips quirking up in a cruel approximation of a smile, the legend licked his chops.

‘I knew it…’

Feeling vindicated, he eyed the groaning men in casual street clothes tied up tight before leaping to the side of the oddity. Crouching, the Batman ran gloved fingers over the barely perceptible seal that looked big enough for someone to slip in.

An endless streams of possibilities flashed behind in his inner eye, traps, risks, dangers all of them were not in say put to rest, more set to the side for now as the previously simple looking data slowly filled itself in.

‘Five by Six feet, slightly different cement type, temperature off by around three degrees, surface lowered by around three centimeters. Possibly a cache of sorts?’

After making sure there weren’t any traps to speak of, Batman reached into his iconic golden belt that had a variety of useful gadgets. From more mundane objects like pepper spray, rope and a flashlights to some of the more fantastical like the iconic palm sized metal boomerang cut out into the visage of a bat.

Fingers slid expertly pass these devices until eventual, a small tub found itself in the black gloved palm of the bat. The gray cylinder wasn’t heavily adorned in any fashion and frankly, most people wouldn’t give such a boring item a second glance. Near one end a singular button laid, with flick of the wrist and a series of harsh snaps, a crowbar now laid in it’s place.

With single minded focus, Batman slipped one end of the tactical crowbar in place before grunting with effort. Muscles bulged under the strain, popping further into view under the gray fabric. And finally with an audible pop, the oddity made itself fully know. The sound of a mechanism of sort breaking under the weight would not detour him in the slightest.

Afterall, when a hound catches a scent it’ll follow till the very end.

‘Not a cache.’

He thought, peering into the maw of darkness before him. The cement lid laid off to the side and not even the overhead lights could pierce the veil below. A ladder just barely peeked itself above the ink, calling to that very sense that brought him so far.

“Come in Batgirl.”

Batman called, already prepared to descend into the depths and get his answers.

“Here Batman.”

A feminine voice replied after a beat, boredom evident in her tone. Deciding to get on the girl later on proper com protocol, he rushed on ahead.

“I found something, give me fifteen minutes and come in after. Over and out.”

Without giving the audibly squawking teen a chance to add anything, he proceeded to carefully descend the ladders noticing immediately the oddity.

‘These are new..’

Indeed, the metal ladder and cement hole all seem to be recently dried. Maybe a week or more. But for sure not more than a year.

Growling in annoyance, the large man fluidly slid down the twin ladder support. Feeling the rush of metal against his gloves, he clicked off many possibilities.

‘Far too deep for a cache, more like a bunker.’

On he descended, farther and farther beneath the surface of the concrete ocean. Heavy support beams, wires, plaster and copper flew past his peripheral as he silently slid.

After who knows how many feet, thirty if his overlay was to be believed, the end came quickly into sight. And with a heavy thump, he found himself locking gazes with a rather familiar foe. A metal door with large industrial bolts embedded into its surface.

It was a smart design at least, not only was there barely enough room for someone of his size to be here much less swing a hammer or something but the door itself didn’t have a single seem to grab onto. Whoever designed such a cramp room like this, was at least a little paranoid to say the least.

Hell, Batman’s usually useful broad shoulders was of a detriment here than anything else but alas, a little discomfort wouldn’t cause him to drop this lead. Pulling out another gadget, this one similar in shape of a flat disk with four distinct protrusions along it’s edges.

Setting it on the surface, he backed himself further into the room before activating the device. With an audible thunk, the four protrusions pierced themselves deep into the metal door. Legs digging easily through the material like a hot knife through butter. A whirling sound echoed through the previously silent environment as the disk spun itself at an insane speed.

This was one gadget he particular favored in situation like these. Not being in a cramp room thirty feet underground of course, he wasn’t that paranoid…

Robin affectionately called the device ‘Entry Spider’ and despite the man’s protestations, the name had stuck. To the point where even he had caught himself using that name in his internal musings.

‘That boy..’

The sudden silence brought him out of his thoughts and inching closer, he noticed a series of green lights blinking on its surface. Getting into position, he gently pushed the device and with the simplest of ease it slid into the door surface leaving behind a hand sized hole. An audible plopping noise was all he needed before he gripped the impromptu handle and pulled.

Groaning, the door at first resisted but after putting in some elbow grease and mechanically enhanced strength it popped out of place.

Throwing the door out of the way, he quickly threw a smoke bomb into the room before diving to the side. The man waited and waited but surprisingly enough, panicked bullets hadn’t flown immediately. From his sensors, he could tell there was only one other person in that room. The man’s heat signature stood out like a beacon in his thermal vision.

Heavy hacking and coughing followed as the man tried and failed to speak through the thick smoke. Batman surveyed the cramped room lined with a multitudes of screens, some showing the street outside, others showing the warehouse itself and multiple of them were displaying the metal door from a multitude of angles. But inwardly, he felt a bit vindicated at the fact that despite the obvious crisp quality of the hidden cameras, that his figure was still slightly blurred in them.

“Why are you here Batman?”

The man said as the smoke thinned, voice hoarse with the strain. But despite his question, the crusader didn’t answer. Allowing his large frame and quiet stance to apply subtle pressure on the man. Sweat started to pool on the plump male, brown matted hair taking on a more greasier appearance. Pale skin slowly turned a few shades paler as he was marinaded in the tense air.

Batman eyes flickered to the gun wrapped in the man’s pudgy fingers before dismissing it entirely as a threat, he knew the man way too well. An information broker like him wouldn’t go shooting at potential customers, wasn’t good for business.

“Why are you here?!” The man’s voice cracked under the silence,” I haven’t done anything wrong!”

Still, the Dark Knight didn’t respond. Pressure flew out from the enigma, hammering down endlessly onto the sweating man that could only sink further into the comfy looking seat.

“L-listen,” He stuttered, wiping at his forehead,” I-I don’t have anything!”

‘Lie.’

It was easy enough to notice his tells, especially after all these years. Picking idly that small persistent scab on his left elbow and combine that with refusing to make eye contact, it was like taking candy from a baby.

Taking another step forward, he allow his frame to further eat up more room and simply towered menacingly over the sputtering broker.

“Really!” He scooted back further, trying to keep a semblance of distance from the terror,” I really, really don’t! You gotta believe me!”

“Romario.”

“Huh?”

“Terry.”

“W-what are yo-”

“Ashley.”

If the broker looked nervous before, he now seemed like he wanted to become a snail with all his curling up. His breathes were ragged, eyes shooting around, and the scab finally broke under nervous scratching. Iron. The smell of blood licked at the bat’s senses.

“They’re all dead.”

Batman growled, frigid blue eyes taking up the entirety of the broker’s world. Gulping audibly, he stammered through an explanation.

“I-I can’t!” The broker shivered,” They’ll kill her!”

“Who?”

The man stood deathly still as his eyes widened in terror at his slip up, sweat beaded down his brow.

“I-”

“Enough.” Batman growled, leaning over the sorry man,” Who is killing all the brokers?”

“...n’t” He lowered his head in defeat, voice barely above a whisper,” They’re bad news. Like really bad news. People not even the most idiotic of people would want to mess with.”

“They have my little girl..” The man whispered, tears dripping down his chubby cheeks and the caped crusader finally took in the man’s appearance.

The broker looked to be in his early forties with slowly thinning brown hair. A gut that obviously showed his good living, stretching at the stained white t-shirt. Heavy bags under those beady black eyes.

He smelled awful, deep pit stains and the musky scent of old sweat was more than enough to tell that the man hadn’t showered in a few days.

“Some men approached me with a job offer,” He confessed, slumping,” I didn’t know them so I was skeptical at first but when I refused, they showed me this…”

Leaning back, he pulled out single photo. Taking it from sweat stained fingers, Batman felt his blood boil.

A girl no older than seven, sat in a chair with tears streaking from under an off-white blindfold. Light bruises peaked out from arms tied behind her back. And to make it worse, a single black gloved hand held a set of pristine wire cutters just to the side of the photo. Seeming large enough to completely smother the child.

“They told me,” The man blubbered into the silence,” That if I wanted to see my daughter back in one piece, I had to work for them.”

“And that if I missed a quota,” Now he sobbed, heavy and deep. Fat jiggling under despair,” They would start sending me her toes…”

Batman held firm to the photo, eyes already catching many details. A window here, tree there, a street light peaking out. Fury boiled just beneath his skin, and it took everything he had not to crumple the photo.

“They’ll kill her..” The broker sobbed harder, tears and snort running freely,” I-”

“I’ll handle it,” Batman said brusquely, sliding the picture into his belt,” Tell me, who is it? What work did you do for them?”

“D-did you not hear?!” The man still with mucus on his face, growled out,” I-I can’t!! W-what’s not getting th-”

“I need to know.”

He said in a low voice, reminding the man exactly who and what he represented. Gotham’s thankless protector. An unknown vigilante that has been on a ceaseless crusade against crime since his inception. The thing that went bump in the night. The Dark Knight.

The broker could hear the knight’s unspoken promise, hear the conviction. It was a though he could see the metaphorical sword spinning in place and for the first time since being pressed ganged into providing information all those years ago, he finally see why some people equated the man to an avenging angel. His cape hung over large shoulders, remind him more of a gargoyle of old which was said to be a creature of the night that hunted down evil.

A string of hope filled his tired heart before the image of his daughter’s capture and nightmares of her treatment came flooding back into his mind. Pliers tearing away a flesh, breaking through bone leaving bleeding stumps. Her screams of torment, her cursing his name for being involved in the work he is in. Wailing cries begging for him to saver her, unseen devils mocking laughte-

“Fine.”

He sighed, slumping further in defeat and reached into a nearby bin before pulling out the flash drive from the flashing laptop before him. His fingers gripped tighter around the drive as he looked into the cold eyes of the avenger before him.

Batman nodded slightly, before easily slipping the device out of his hand and into the golden utility belt. With everything done, he spun around and stalked out of the room under the despair inducing gaze of the father.

“Make sure you get her safe,” The man said desperately,” Right to her mother! And get them both out of Gotham!”

Hearing those words, a bad feeling started to well up within him. His cape became a whirlwind as the knight turned and leapt at man.

“BANG!”

Only to witness the right left side of the room be completely covered in a mixture of blood, brain matter, hair and skull fragments. The body slumped in it’s seat, gun still smoking as it tumbled through suddenly slack fingers.

*********************************************************************************

“I don’t know,” A teen sighed while leaning up against a sleek looking vehicle,” I just feel like he doesn’t really trust me with anything..”

“I’m sure he does,” A red haired woman said, rubbing at the back length cape between two fingers,” I just think he’s taking his job as mentor seriously.”

“Come back when you spend every waking minute with him,” He snorted, spinning the metal bo-staff absentmindedly,” You saw? He left me with a babysitter when he left town..”

“Hey,” She chastised playfully,” I was that babysitter! But in all seriousness, I don’t think you realize how out of touch you really are.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re sixteen.” She rolled her eyes behind a black bat themed cowl,” I wouldn’t have trusted my past self with a car, let alone an entire city.”

“Are you calling me irresponsible?” He scowled, squinting behind a domino mask,”Because I’ll ha-”

“No.” Batgirl denied quickly,” I’m just saying, that even with all three of us here we’re still running ourselves ragged. Hell with even the two of us, it was torture. I can’t even imagine how stressful it would’ve been to doing all this alone.”

“I’m going to have to eventually,” Robin sighed, seeing the point,” It’s only a matter of time.”

“Do you plan on staying in Gotham?”

The red head asked, noticing the teen’s suddenly soar look.

“I don’t know.” He said, correctly a possible mistake in his technique,” I do know I want to join the League but as for staying here…?”

She knew one of his all times dreams was to join the Justice League, and honestly couldn’t blame him. There were some insanely interesting and awe inspiring members there. The Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and Aquaman to keep the list short. She was shocked to find out that Bruce was a founding member, especially when the red speedster himself came out of nowhere for a visit.

“They have other stations you know?” Batgirl said after a beat, shaking away from the exhausting memory of fastest man alive,” If you don’t want to stay here, then don’t. There’s an entire world out there without heroes to help.”

“I know that!” Robin exclaimed, shooting the staff out in a blur sending a can skittering down the alley,” But-”

“Get in.”

The familiar voice ordered before a large black blur slipped into the vehicles besides them. They blinked in unison at one another. It wasn’t hard to hear how tense the man had become.

“What hap-”

Robin asked only to be cut off before he could continue.

“Not now.” Batman barked, hands gripping tightly on the steering wheel,” Either get in or walk. There’s still more work to do tonight.”

(A/N: I know this chapter got...incredibly dark near the end. But honestly, that's just how I saw Gotham in general. Whenever I pick up a Batman comic, movie or TV show, it's usually gritty in comparison to the other heroes in the League. And some might be a bit confused as to why Bruce didn't just take away the info brokers gun? In simplest terms; he was arrogant and careless. This isn't the uber experienced man who faced down Darkseid or anyone other planetary threat, he's still very early on in the field (maximum of 4 years) and is prone to make mistakes. But he's not a man to make the same mistake twice. I hope you all enjoyed and I'll see you guys next week!)