Gotham's Descent

Chapter One: It's the Bat!

 Seeing a group of men huddled in an alleyway wasn't unusual in this city. Most would just walk away for their own sakes, if they even noticed. Most of those working for gangs were glad for that, it meant less mess to deal with, less attention drawn to them.

Except in the past few years... something had changed. Something was after them nearly every night, leaving behind no trace other than the bodies to be taken away. To prison? To be buried? They weren't sure yet. Most hadn't come back from when-

Uh oh.

Thud. Thud. A scream. Thud.

After a minute, a dark figure glided away from a rooftop, leaving behind a few dozen unconscious men in ski masks behind in the alley below... along with their guns and drugs.

The Batman landed about a block away, pushing his cape out of the way of his legs so he could walk to the edge of the building. His car was still in the more secluded alley where he'd left it, good. He clicked a button on his belt, and the top of the car opened so he could glide in, land on the seat, and close it up to head home for the night.

The car silently shot out into the streets, passing by rundown buildings, shops, overgrown and dried out gardens. A few passerby spared the strange black vehicle a glance before continuing on with their days, somewhat used to odd things like that.

As it approached the entrance to the secret cave behind the Mansion, a part of the wall opened up behind a waterfall. Batman drove through it and over the bridge, slowing to a stop.

"There you are, sir. Had a pleasant night of breaking bones and making grown men wet themselves?" The German butler asked, a bit sarcastically. Batman snorted as he crawled out of his car, his footsteps against the metal below him echoing around the cave.

"Very funny, Zloy." He spoke with an accent similar to Zloy's, but a wider smile. "Anyone tried to call Doc while the Batman was out?"

"Just an invite to a gala in a few weeks." Zloy watched Doc slip off his cowl and go to sit down in front of the large computer. "Any wounds I should be worried about?"

"Nope. You were right about being more stealthy. The darker suit made it way harder for those guys to see me." The young hero sighed in relief. Maybe he'd be shot at less. Even with bulletproof material, it was hard to hide the bruises from the impact.

"It's almost like I know what I'm saying." Zloy teased, walking over while Doc made one last scan of Gotham and its gangs. No recent activity... "I insist you rest for the night, sir. You've been up for several nights straight."

"I know- just doing one last check." Doc promised. Zloy watched him anyway, until he changed out of his costume, headed upstairs, and collapsed in bed.

The news the next morning wouldn't shut up about what the terrified goons were babbling about. A giant man bat demon thing? Sure, Gotham was weird, but not that weird. Right?

Doc chuckled as he ate his late breakfast. "It's still so funny to see myself on the news like this. Seeing them try to guess what the hell the Batman is."

"It is quite amusing to watch a grown man run around in a bat costume and still have so many take him seriously." Zloy teased dryly, getting some water for himself and Doc.

"Well, the 'grown man running around in a bat costume' has lowered crime at record rates over only two years." The younger German defended with a smile.

"Three, by tomorrow." His butler corrected, to his surprise.

"Really?" Doc paused, going to check the date on his phone. Sure enough, three years ago by tomorrow was the first day Batman was officially on the streets. (He didn't really count his first attempt at being a vigilante... it didn't go well.) "Huh... maybe we should celebrate."

"By you staying home, I hope?"

"H a h." 

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Short one first chapter but :D 

This is the same Gotham AU we've written about in the Multiverse oneshot book with Scarecrow!Marra and Riddler!Tango. We share this AU with Kit (we'll tag them whenever they help with the writing /pos), and they've made some fun art of it! Speaking of, the doodle above was done by us :D (we're practicing our drawing skills more and more.)

I hope you like our interpretations of these characters, I know some people get a little huffy when things aren't exactly like canon (you can take those opinions over there *Points to a trash can* /j /lh)

Anyway- hope you all enjoyed, and have an amazing day, evening, and night! Good bye! :D

- CinnabonSys (is happy to finally get this out)