Darper Riddlebat AU ♡

Chapter One 💕

It was late at night when Harper finished his rounds. He was exhausted, the sleepless nights and early morning meetings were catching up to him. It took all his power to not simply crash and burn, falling to the ground and setting himself into a deep sleep. Trying to clear his thoughts, he shook his head. It wasn't like him to give into his body's needs, and either way, with an increase of crime around Gotham, he was needed.

A ping from Harper's phone snapped him out of his daze, jerking him back to reality just in time to catch himself from nearly falling off the building he was perched on. He winced subtly and pulled out the device in question to see who would be contacting him so late.

It was the group chat he had joined a couple years ago. Harper vaguely remembered download the game, Roblox, at his therapists' urges. Something about "spreading his wings" and "getting out there in a different way, suffice to say, he was no longer seeing her. In all honesty, Harper had forgotten about the chat, since none of the members really talked anymore.

The message read, "hey guys, we rlly don't talk anymore lol, want 2 play sum mm2?". It was from Danny, who had always been horrifically bad at spelling. It irked Harper at first, but he had gotten used to it. The spelling mistakes began to blend in with Danny's clumsy personality. It was cute, honestly.

Typing to a quick "no, fuck you", Harper made his way to the Wayne manner for a well-deserved shower. As much as he hated the act, Tsumugi, his childhood butler, would beat his ass if he didn't at least somewhat take care of himself. Being Batman was a challenge, but Harper knew that when he took upon the name and decided it was his time to rid the vermin of the streets who haunted it.

As he reached the Batcave, his phone pinged again. It was from the group chat, but this time the message came from Lilah, who he also used to play with. "lol danny is right tbh, we should play sometime." Harper decided not to respond, instead focusing on taking off his gear. When the last piece of armor fell off, he moved to his desk, pulling out his lenses holder and painstakingly removing the contacts from his eyes. As usual, it was disorienting to see the raw, non-digitally enhanced world, and Harper didn't know if he'd ever get used to it.

Harper dragged himself into the shower, groaning and huffing as the cold water hit his sore body. He never let himself take a warm shower, not wanting to become soft at the comfort that the heat would provide him. As usual, he finished quickly, glancing at the clock to find out it was twelve in the morning, meaning he had taken a six minute shower. Longer than usual, but not bad.

"Ah, Master Wayne, sorry to interrupt, but it appears your bat signal is up." Tsumugi peeked his head into the room, keeping his eyes on the ground as to not intrude too much on Harper's privacy. Harper appreciated it, really. The butler turned to leave, but stopped halfway, placing the suit he had next to him in the bathroom. "To spare the trip." Tsumugi smiled slightly, and exited the room, shutting the door gently behind him.

Putting on his armor was always a chore, one that never got easier nor more enjoyable as time went by. However, the contacts were his least favorite part. Harper had sensitive eyes, and even the delicate contact lenses irritated them slightly. It took him a good while to get used to it, and even then there was always the occasional itch or sting.

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Harper loved his grappling hook. He'd never say it out loud, but it was his favorite tool, making him feel like he was flying wherever he went. Traveling with it was easy, and almost rivaled the adrenaline rush he got when he pressed the gas in the Batmobile. His trip was interrupted however, when he heard a shrill scream from nearby, causing him to change his course.

Snapping into action, he grappled towards the noise, dropping to the ground into the shadows in order to find who needed his help. It didn't take long to find the source, it being a woman surrounded on all sides by tall, burly men who were clearly looking for a fight. The woman was crouched into what Harper thought was a particularly cat-like stance, her bag slung over her shoulder.

One of the men made a move as if he was going to attack her, leaving the woman's side open for another man to grab her bag. Harper rolled out of the shadows, knocking the first man out with a rough kick and tackling the second one. They wrestled on the ground together until Harper was able to give the man a clean knife hand to his pressure point, allowing him to roll off the mans now limp body. Before he could react, the man had the lady pressed to his chest, knife against her throat.

"Don't come any closer, or I-I'll kill her!"

Harper shut him up with a batarang to the leg. While the man was crouched over, groaning in pain, he approached the woman, helping her up.

"Are you alright miss?" He asked cautiously, not knowing how she would react to his presence. To his surprise, she pushed him away angrily, muttering something along the lines of "I didn't need your help, but whatever" while walking away, her pointy high heels clicking against the concrete as she disappeared into the night.

Harper was incredibly confused. He had no clue why this random woman was so upset with him, but as he looked up again to see the bat signal still shining, he realized he had no time to ponder the topic. Quickly tying the men on the ground up, he told himself to remember to move them later as he grappled up to the top of the building he was besides, and made his way to the signal, curious as to what Gordon needed.