King of Gotham

Chapter 4

This is gonna be a flashback chapter.

Nico fell from the catwalk into the sulfurous smoke. The fire had spread all around the south end. Nico fell onto a table, with lots of bottles with gas and chemicals inside. The things broke and the glass pierced Nicos skin, causing the gas and liquid to seep into his blood flow. Nicos teeth were all knocked out and he couldn't see the catwalk. He tried to shout but he was starting to see things, weird things. It was like Nico was seeing every particle and atom in everything. And then a wired gray faceless thing drifted by. It had a humanoid shape and life threatening burns. Then Nico realized the thing was dead. His gasp of shock caused him to inhale smoke, chemicals and to his horror, the ghost. Nico began to feel even more strange. He was feeling the shadows sending the footfalls of running people through the ground. And people dying, trapped in rooms ablaze with flame. Nico had been making an effort to stand but his energy suddenly drained. A boy maybe a couple years older than him, with black hair wormed through the fire with a hose, dousing everything in water. But the gas and smoke was sucked into his lounges too as the hose burst, causing him to swallow water with the chemicals. He coughed and coughed before he shakily stood and carried Nico from the building, just as police cars pulled away.

Two years later

The Gotham mob was in a yearly session with all members including several notable super villains. All of a sudden there was a scuffle outside the door, a scream and blood soaked under the door. Everyone was immediately on guard drawing weapons of many kinds. More screaming a "you can't go in there" and the door burst off its hinges and one of the lower level associates, acting as guard flew, through the air, landing on the long black table and sliding down it. Then a teen around thirteen and a seventeen year old boy walked in.

"It's good to see you," said the thirteen year old. He was in an outfit that was blue, purple, red and black. And he had a skull mask and voice modulation device. The seventeen year old was in a chestplate and tan pants as well as a blue hood came in. The younger, strode to the middle of the table and jammed a knife into the associate.

"Kneel before your leader" he said.

"Who are you?" Said a old fat man

"I'm GK, and you are in my chair," he said to the leader at the head of the table.

"I don't know who you think you are, but you need to earn a seat at this table" the old leader said.

"Oh but do I really?" Said the younger teen, holding up his hand to reveal a silver ring with a red ruby in the forehead of a skull carved into it. Everyone's eyes widened and some jumped up to stand behind the boy, literally.

"We think you need some new shoes" said the older boy, menacingly. The two teens advanced to stand on either side of the boss. And all of a sudden they took out a shoe box, giving the boss some fancy loafers.

"Now if you don't get the hell out of here, I'm going to kill you" said skull mask. The boss quickly moved and the boy sat down.

"Call me Ghost King" said the man in the skull mask.

"And I'm Curent," said the other. Now, we all saw Ghost King had forged iron fangs instead of teeth.

"Now, I want more income than ever" "and you, you're the equipment guy right? Well I want you to make these cars, guns and masks, as well as the other..." the Ghost King said. Richard, the equipment manager swallowed and nodded, taking the blue prints Ghost king had thrown at him.

"Gotham is mine, and I'm going to run it like a kingdom, but first we need to kill those who oppose me, we will start with rivals and then slowly move up to the black caped bat. We will not be harming Joker's gang" he said. The teen knew how to run a criminal empire, just like his mom. The Ghost King took off his mask and showed the room his face, the metal fangs were far more pronounced now. He looked just like his mother. Except for his face. Maria had always been kind and merciful when she could, but this boy looked like he had seen horrible things and done them too. He was scowling unlike his mother who had given a sense of moral decency and the aura of home. Even though the Ghost had just arrived the place still seemed cold and sad, more so than before. There would never be a boss like Maria.

One year later

Nico had been a boss for a year and was realizing how much he missed Madre. Joker had been nice and a good godfather, but he would never replace Madre. And Bianca, Nico couldn't remember what she looked like, only a fuzzy happy feeling he hadn't felt since he was six. Madre would do anything for her family. Even if it meant becoming a crime boss. Nico had not even noticed the tears silently trickling down his face. All of a sudden Percy came through the door.

"Someone here to see you death breath"

"Only Joker can call me that" said Nico glowering

"Whatever you say Neeks"

"Only Madre calls me that"

"Well okay then you're lordship"

"That will do nicely," said Nico, smirking before his face became grim. "Who is it"

"They say they have something you really need to know"

"Fine, bring them in" suddenly a girl with dark skin, brown hair and golden eyes walked into the room.

"Hello Nico, I'm your sister" she said in a cheery voice. Nico spluttered and stared.

One year later

The room was a wreck. Dead bodies lay on the ground, glass was shattered and the table was flipped. Nico was shaking his new sister. Obviously she was just sleeping. It was fake blood trickling from her mouth and chest. Those were fake bullet holes. She was pretending. Right. No. She can't die now, she just CAN'T.

"Common Hazel wake up, this isn't funny" said Nico desperately. And a small voice came from her lips. Nico put his ear to her mouth

"Nico, I know who you are and what you do. And I want you to know I love you. But follow your heart. Is what you're doing right? Would your mother approve? You need to answer those questions. Goodbye Nico" she said into his ear. Nico screamed and tried desperately to make her wake up again. Her heart had stopped beating. And where was Batman now. Batman always arrived just in time to save everyone except for Nico's sister. Batman was turning a blind eye. His blood boiled. Batman had broken his life, shattered it into a million pieces. As a child Nico wanted to be a cartoonist, now he was nothing of the sort. It was all Batman's fault. Because if Nico stopped believing that he would snap. If he began to blame it on himself he would snap like a twig. It was Batman's fault, Batman's fault, Batman's fault. And the more he said it the more he believed it until without a doubt he had to kill Batman.

Well, good? or bad? I wanted to show Batman in a different light. Of course this and probably the next chapter is back in time.