𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙃𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 (𝙈𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧)

Message from the Dead

"If you're watching this, I'm dead. This is Code Black. This message was automatically triggered when the cave detected my life signs fade. We all know it won't take long for Gotham's criminals to realise that the Batman is gone. The GCPD will be overrun, they don't have the man-power to deal with the underworld. Gotham will need a protector more than ever. I'm leaving you the Cave and Belfry as bases of operations. While the Belfry might have out of date technology, it should suffice as an outpost within Gotham. You've always had my back when I needed you, and I know you'll keep Gotham Safe. Good Luck"

2 Months,  2 months since Bruce Wayne had passed away. At the age go 66, Bruce Wayne, Billionaire Playboy and Gotham's Elite suffered a heart attack en route to a Wayne Enterprises board meeting. Time of death 19:30, all of Gotham had felt his death, the billionaire had impacted them all, in more ways than they could possibly imagine. The man was a beacon of hope for all, a shining signal in Gotham, uses his fame and family fortune to better what he could. But one secret that only few in this world know, is that Bruce Wayne helped the city in an additional way.

Bruce Wayne, was The Batman.

Starting out in his early twenties, Bruce Wayne had did his best to defend his fair city from what criminals he could. Bruce always said that criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot, and they needed something to fear. So he gave something. The very creature that had tormented him as a boy was transformed into a sigil that all who dared break the law face.

Bruce did not act alone however, his legacy lives on in the form of his adopted son Y/N L/N. The vigilante had taken the boy in at a young age, and trained him in the form of every martial art that Bruce knew. Before long, Y/N had become his own hero, the Robin. A Dynamic Duo, working in tangent with one another, and Y/N in his early twenties had left Gotham, to become his own person away from the Robin persona.

But now, Y/N found himself back in Gotham, looking over a newly assembled suit that was on display in the Belfry. The Belfry was an old clock tower, it served as a miniature Batcave to an extent. Small training area, one of the first Batcomputer models was operational with many monitors displaying maps of the city.

Y/N waved a hand through his messy h/c hair, he looked at the makeshift Batsuit he had compelled together a few weeks ago. His previous vigilante identity wouldn't strike fear in the criminals at the Bat does, and they needed to be afraid. Fear is a weapon, the most powerful weapon the human race has ever conceived, and fear is a deterrence. Criminals wouldn't dare try and go out at night if they knew the Bat still stalked the night sky. Y/N wouldn't dare wear one of Bruce's suits, he wasn't worthy. He couldn't, even if he wanted to, his prime Batsuit was designed and scans the DNA of the wearer in an attempt, so if anyone would get their hands on it, it couldn't be used against the City.

Y/N stood at 6.1, a lean body, not the bulky look that Bruce had in his latter days, late twenties, taking in a deep breath as he looked over the displayed map of the city. And a dozen open case files that Bruce was working on. Ranging from small time gangs such as Roman Sionis to bigger fish like Sal Maroni. The one perp Bruce could never lay a finger on, Carmine Falcone. He and Maroni practically run 50% of the organised crime in Gotham, and the Roman's control has been diminishing for some time.

Maroni has always embraced what the media called the 'new wave of crime', Solomon Grundy, Mad Hatter, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Crazy Quilt were all seen as these new, better criminals. Super-villain activity and metahuman related crimes had been been on the rise. And Falcone always saw them as second tier criminals. Maroni on the other hand, always used them to bolster his forces, power shifting between the two crime families for decades now.