Powerless - A My Hero Academia/ DC Crossover

Chapter 43: Journey to the Center

Gotham City - three days ago.

Commissioner James Gordon stood on the rooftop of the GCPD building, just as he had done countless nights before, lighting the beacon that called his long-time friend and ally. Gordon's support of Batman had ruffled quite a few feathers in the pro-hero and law enforcement communities over the years. He wasn't surprised. Long before he was appointed commissioner, corruption had spread through Gotham like a malignant tumor. Many cops, judges, and even pro-heroes were taking kickbacks from their mob contacts, such as Carmine Falcone and Sam Maroni, two of Gotham's most notorious criminal Kingpins. They were able to pick and choose who was punished for what crime, usually competitors in their business affairs, and many cops and pro heroes were making bank moonlighting as enforcers. You didn't know who you could trust in this town.

It wasn't until the Batman appeared that things really started to change. Gordon didn't trust him at first. He performed hero work without a license, operating outside the checks and balances of the system, operating outside the law, a law he had sworn to uphold. But on Christmas Eve, around twenty years ago, the Joker, posing as Black Mask at the time, offered a 50 million dollar bounty on Batman's head. Gordon witnessed supercriminals, cops, and even pro-heroes join in the crusade against Batman in an attempt to claim the bounty. But he stopped them all, without killing any of them. It was during this incident that he had gotten to meet Batman face to face for the first time. Despite his feelings towards Batman as a vigilante and criminal, upon their meeting him, something triggered from inside him that he couldn't ignore: his quirk.

For as long as Gordon could remember, he had a particular power of his own that later was identified to be his quirk: a superior gut instinct. It allowed him to have a sort of sixth sense about individuals around him. By simply looking at them, he was able to determine if they were honest with him, lying to him, hiding something, trustworthy or untrustworthy. It had served him well as a police officer, but in a city like Gotham, surrounded by dirty cops and heroes, he had almost forgotten what it felt like to get a positive reading off someone. The last person he expected it to be was Batman.

"Been waiting long, Jim?" Said a voice from behind him.

Gordon turned to see Batman appear from the shadows. As usual, he wasn't able to hear him or see him coming. "Hardly," He replied, shaking Batman's hand. "I saw you on TV fighting off that crazy villain with All Might. Is that where you've been all this time?"

"Among other places," Said Batman.

"Well, while you've been off on vacation, we just had an incident that you might be interested in hearing," Said Gordon, handing Batman a manilla envelope. "Black Mask is dead."

Batman did not visibly react to the news, instead searching through the casefile silently. "He was found lying on the pavement several stories below his office window," continued Gordon. "We got a positive ID on the body matching to Roman Sionas. It's definitely him."

"What did you pull from the crime scene?" Said Batman, not looking up from the folder.

"Not much in terms of physical evidence," Said Gordon. "Whoever did this tried to cover their tracks and lit the building on fire. It took emergency services two hours to put it out. We managed to recover this. I figured if anyone could get something off it, you could." He pulled out a badly damaged laptop computer encased in a plastic evidence bag, charred and burnt from the fire. "We did manage to catch an image of the perp when we pulled the security feed."

Gordon produced a smart phone from his coat pocket and played the video for Batman. The image was only a few frames, but he could clearly see Sionas' men being gunned down before the assailant jumped into view. He was wielding what looked to be two customized M1911 pistols. His movements suggested some sort of military or advanced combat training. His most distinguishing features were a brown leather jacket and chromed bright red helmet obscuring his face.