Gotham Knight

Book 1: The Legend Begins

Chapter 1: Beware The Bat

Author's Note: Hello readers and welcome to Gotham Knight! This is a "TV show" like Fanfiction so it'll be broken down in arcs (or books if I may) like shows have seasons. If you're an old reader, you're not insane, I deleted all the chapters because I really wasn't happy with what I had and I planned to update all the chapters to my liking but it started at the beginning so I'm just gonna redo Book 1 so it's actually good. To share some information on what Book 1 will be about, think about it like this. I'm taking heavy inspiration from Year One and Arkham Origins. With that being said, don't expect a plethora of classic villains just yet. There will be some familiar faces but not too many. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy and be sure to leave a review and PM me with any questions.

It was a dark and stormy night in Gotham City. Then again, when was it not that way? There was always a dark cloud. A shadow blocking the light. A bat in the belfry. Something was different about tonight though. There was a change in the atmosphere. There was less fear for normal citizens. Worrying about being mugged on the streets in the dark wasn't as much as a concern. It was like there was a guardian watching over Gotham. Her Dark Knight.

Two men in masks rushed out a bank quickly. One with a duffel bag, the other with a AK-47 in hand. The bank exploded and the two robbers rushed down a nearby alleyway. They both climbed on a ladder leading to a rooftop and they began to hop building to building. Sirens echoed throughout Gotham and a sent a chill down some spines. The police actually cared about their job and won't sell out to the occasional crime boss like Rupert Thorne.

Far across Gotham an sleek and smooth engine rumbled. The car hummed to life and a dark figure stepped inside it. Within seconds the car sped off through the woods and into the streets of Gotham. The car swerved in and out of traffic and civilians looked on in awe.

Lieutenant James Gordon and Detective Harvey Bullock chased the two robbers via car and suddenly a fast, black car passed by them and raced away into the shadows.

The robbers ran up the stairs to large building and they rested once they reached the top.

"The hell are we gonna do? There's no getting out of this crap!" One robber blurted out in panicked manner.

"Shut up and calm down damn it! We're going to make it out of this al-"

A dark figure landed on the rooftop and it glared at the both of them. One robber through the duffle bag to the side and took a pistol out it's holster. The other loaded up his AK-47 and aimed it at the figure in front of them. They both fired but they kept on missing as the figure was moving in and out of the shadows. Two bat shaped objects flew at them and hit their wrists, causing them to drop their guns. Suddenly the figure out the shadows and his body contorted into the shape of some type of bat. He quickly took out one the robbers and brought him into the shadows, his scream of fear interrupting the unsettling silence.

The remaining robber took out a knife and looked around. He was sweating like a sinner in church and he feared the dark angel had come for more than to hear his confession. "Why are you chasing me?!"

A shadow crept behind the robber and he quickly snapped around to confront it. "You committed a crime and killed innocents. Why? Who are you working for?"

"I-I can't say. He'll kill me!" The robber began to sob quietly and bitter but salty taste of tears ran into his mouth. He wiped his nose with his sleeve quickly and continued to survey the area.

"What your boss will do is nothing compared to what will happen to you if you don't begin talking."

"He's Rupert Thorne! H-he told us to "rob" a bank owned by Sal Maroni and blow it up I swear that's all I know our conversations are on a burner phone." The robber took out the phone and threw it into the shadows. "W-what are you?" The robber asked in a voice between whispering and whimpering. The figure stepped out the shadows and the robber fainted out of fear.

"I'm Batman."

"And so, the Demons cried out in fear and the Angels sang their foreboding song, for verily, God had given his vengeance a human form."

GCPD Headquarters

Lieutenant Gordon stared at the criminals in lockup who recently had a confrontation with the vigilante known as "Batman". They were scared half to death. Gordon turned to his partner, Detective Bullock who was getting a kick out of the frightened criminals. "You think this is funny Bullock?"

"As a matter of fact, I do think it's funny Jim. I dunno who this Batman is but whoever or whatever it is it's sure as hell making these guys scared." Bullock drank coffee from his "World's Greatest Detective" mug and set it down on his desk. He then reached in the duffle bag that was used in the robbery and set the items down on the desk too. It was a Bat shaped boomarang. "But that don't mean he ain't dangerous."

Jimmy's Family Restaurant

All the crime bosses and gangsters of Gotham City, like The Chechen, Tobias Whale, Matches Malone, Carmine Falcone and others sat a round table, all eyeing each other and glaring intently. The man of the hour, Rupert Thorne entered the room and all the men jeered at him and scoffed. He picked up a champagne glass and tapped it twice.

"Gentlemen, thank you for attending. I know due to... certain circumstances not all of us could attend..." He glanced over at Sal Maroni's empty seat quickly. "... or wanted to. But we now have a common enemy. The Batman. And lucky for us I have a plan."

"Here comes the savior everyone! Our great savior Rupert Thorne!" snarked Falcone.

"I'm sorry, was I interrupting your business Carmine? You know, the ones you have left since the Bat took them out." shot back Thorne.

"And what exactly are you planning to do Rupert? Feed him of us like leeches?" added Matches.

Chechen looked at Matches Malone in an confused manner. "Who the hell are you?"

"What's it to you?" replied Matches.

"I've seen a lot of scumbags in Gotham but none like you...so I'll ask again, who the hell are you?"

"Malone. Matches Malone."

Chechen blew out smoke from his cigar and looked to his "lady friend" to his right who smiled at Chechen before whispering something in his ear. He chuckled as he looked at Matches.

"Something funny?" asked Matches.

"My friend here doesn't entirely trust your..character. You might be a cop."

Matches looked at the black haired woman, in her all black dress with dark red lipstick and hoop earrings. "Is this true little lady?"

"It sure is, hot stuff."

Matches cracked a smile, got up and walked over to her and kissed her hand. "And who may I refer to you as?"

"Selena Kyle. But my friends refer to me as Kitten."

"By friends you must mean wealthy men like the Chechen?"

"What type of gal do you take me for, Mr. Malone?"

"You tell me Ms. Kyle. How does a thief work?"

"A little offensive if you ask me."

"Then you shouldn't have been so sloppy pickpocketing your client.." said Matches.

He then got up and patted Chechen on the back. "Gentlemen if you'll excuse me, I'll be heading out. Seems the meeting was a waste of my time and I'm better off moving my business elsewhere." He looked back at Selena and winked before heading out the door.

They all stared at Matches, who just left then at Selena who slowly rose from her seat.

"The hell are you going?" asked Thorne.

Selina just chuckled and began to walk towards the door. Thorne signaled for two guards to grab her.

They seized her arms and turned her back towards Thorne. "Take her out and teach the little lady who to steal from and who not to steal from."

"Hey! You can't do this!" Selina tried to escape but she struggled greatly.

"Oh, but we really can.."

They dragged Selina out the door and Thorne took a sip of wine from his glass.

"Shall we continue?"

Bruce stood across the street, leaned up against a wall, still listening in on the end of their conversation.

"You're proposing we hire assassins to kill the Bat?"

"Not just any amateurs, the best in the game."

"I don't know about this one Thorne."

"Yeah, might as well relocate to Metropolis like that nobody."

All the men in the room had erupted in laughter.

Bruce then heard a close footsteps in his earpiece before a man with a thick Russian accent whispered in Chechen's ear.

"What do you want us to do with the girl?"

"Take her to one of the warehouses and teach her a lesson. Not too badly, she might be worth a good price."

The man walked away and Bruce clicked off the earpiece and took out his phone and called Alfred.

"Need something sir?"

"Do we still have a spare suit in one of storage facilities?" asked Bruce as he began to walk quickly down the alley.

"Yes, but I believe it's a prototype. Never got around to fully upgrading it."

"Good enough, send the car too."

"Right away, Master Bruce."

Selena woke up in a van next to two Russian men, who held automatic weapons in their hands. One of them looked at her and smiled. Selena then noticed her hands and feet were zip tied.

"Where the hell are you taking me?" she asked.

The driver looked in the rearview mirror and smiled, showing off a silver tooth in the front. "You'll see."

They came to a stop at a warehouse near the docks with shipping containers lined up.

Selena had a mortified look on her face when she realized what was happening.

Batman watched from a short distance as the two vans stopped at the docks. As the car lights turned off, he slipped back into the shadows to wait.

The Russian gangsters turned off the engine and spoke to each other in their foreign language, before looking at Selena. They opened the car door and threw her out. She saw a blinding car light and the Chechen stepped out of a van in back of them. He walked over to her and got down on one knee as she squirmed around. He grabbed ahold of her head and turned it to face him.

"Have fun, kitten." Chechen chuckled before walking away.

Selena spat at him before turning around and seeing one of the gangsters unbuckling his belt. "No...please.." she pleaded.

Suddenly the lights over them had went out. They looked around frantically and the sounds of guns cocking cut through the unnerving silence.

The gangsters circled around the warehouse, searching for someone...or something.

From across the other side of the building there was a guttural scream followed by multiple gunshots before continued silence. Four other gangsters swept in to help out, before being took in by a dark smoke followed by more gunfire and yelling. As the smoke cleared, Batman emerged from it, staring at Chechen. He wore an different costume, the ears being longer and the costume looking more like clothes rather than the previous kevlar look. The white lenses narrowed slightly as the mysterious protector stepped closer to the group, who were paralyzed with fear.

Two men, one with a knife, the other with a metal pipe rushed Batman but he sidestepped the slash and elbowed one in the face, driving him back before catching the metal pipe and kneeing him in the stomach, before driving his head back into the van, creating a dent. The man fell back to Selena, completely out of it, causing her to scream.

The second man continued to slash at Batman but made no contact before Batman grabbed his arm and twisted it back as the man screamed and cursed in pain before flipping him over and stomping on his head. Right as more of them took out their guns, he threw Batarangs at them, knocking guns out their hands before charging at them. He threw one over his shoulder and punched him in the face before avoiding a punch and throwing the attacker into the van's rear light, causing it to smash into pieces.

Chechen slowly backed away before getting into his van and quickly driving away. Batman grimaced before looking at Selena who was right behind him, uncuffed and smiling.

"So you're not helpless." said Batman.

"Hardly. Just looking for his jewels." she said confidently.

Batman looked at the storage containers before looking back at her. "There are hundreds of women inside those containers. Free them and make sure they're safe until the police come and I'll let you go this one time."

She looked back at the containers and nodded. "You got a deal hot stuff..." She turned back around and saw Batman was gone before smiling. "Ooh...I like him."

I started a joke which started the whole world crying

But I didn't see that the joke was on me oh no

I started to cry which started the whole world laughing

Oh If I'd only seen that the joke was on me-

Jack slapped the alarm clock and it went to snooze, ceasing the classic song playing on the radio. "Hate that song..." he muttered.

A giggle came from someone right next to Jack, it was his fiance, Jeannie. "Somebody's grumpy."

"No, it's not that.." He lifted up her hand and kissed her ring finger. "Just you and I have very different tastes in music, Mrs. Napier."

"Oh I'm Mrs. Napier today, hmm?"

Jack let out a weak chuckle. "Soon you will be for the rest of our lives."

Jeannie rose up and they shared a quick kiss.

Jack took a sip of coffee as he watched the news.

"This just in, it seems multiple eyewitnesses are saying the Batman is indeed not a myth and he is the one of supposedly took down multiple Russian mobsters and freed hundreds of slaves from the docks last night. When asked about this Bat vigilante, here is what Commissioner Loeb had to say about this.."

"Commissioner! Commissioner! Vicki Vale from the-"

"I know who you are Ms. Vale, please get to your point."

"Are the rumors true the Batman is the one who stopped the slave trade last night?"

Loeb stopped and sighed.

"Ms. Vale, are you a fool?"

"I'd like to think not."

"Then why the hell are you buying into this Batman BS? If there was a man or woman jumping around in a bat costume, beating criminals to a pulp, I'd know about it. Don't believe in the hype. Instead, how about you believe in our brave men and women actually risking their lives for you-"

Jack muted the TV as his waffles were set down on the table. "You buying any of this Jean?"

"That the Batman is fake? Hardly. Seen him with my own eyes."

"Guess I'll write that one down for the jokebook too. Maybe the crowd will laugh this time."

Jeannie gave Jack a kiss on his forehead before grabbing her keys. "I gotta grab groceries before I come back, don't forget to call the plumber. Love you!"

"Love you too."

Jack then felt himself starting to giggle, so he tried to hold it in. "Not again..n-not..hEhheh-heeheHehheE."

"AHAHAHAHAHHAHAA!" As he laughed, tears rolled down his cheek.

Jack then coughed and spit up as he continued to laugh, before suddenly stopping again.

Jack looked back up and saw another fabled image of Batman before smiling.

"Hehe..heheheh-"

I looked at the skies

Running my hands over my eyes

And I fell out of bed

Hurting my head

From things that I said

'Till I finally died

Which started the whole world living

Oh if I'd only seen that the joke was on me

Oh no that the joke was on me

Author's Note: I hope all of you really enjoyed this chapter, I know I enjoyed writing it, a LOT. As you can see, I'm delving into all types of Batman lore, from Year One, to BTAS to more recently, Joker. If you did enjoy it (or not), please do review it, it's nice to know what my readers are thinking, hopefully the next time I post a chapter it'll be sometime this week, if not Happy Holidays and I'll see you all, same Bat-Time, same Bat-Fic..Peace!