From The Smoke (Marvel)

Chapter 14

Disclaimer: If you recognise it, surprise, I don't own it.

Chapter 14– I AM BATMAN.

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The city isn't what it used to be. It all happened so fast. Everything went to crap. It's like... everyone's sense of morals just... disappeared. Bad economy made things worse. The jobs started drying up. Then the stores had to shut down. Hundreds of people losing their jobs, and their livelihoods, all so a couple of evil men could make a couple of bucks. I leap across the sky, a literal shadow that remains unseen, my cape fluttering behind me.

I hop over an alley and look towards the street. A giant billboard lighting up the night, a billboard that says change is coming, a big bald man's bid to become this city's Mayor. However, the word liar is spray-painted over the word, an accurate assessment.

If there is one thing that shows this city is very nearly beyond saving, that the corruption has spread too far, then it would be the fact that a mob boss is very close to being elected the Mayor. I pull out my grapple gun, and it connects to the ledge of a building, zipping me up into the air. Opening my cape, I glide through the dark sky, completely unseen.

This city is dying, and no matter how many try to stem the wounds, its lifeblood continues to drain, evil men continually sucking it dry. I look down at the street, where a young man and women crowd together under a single umbrella on this stormy night, hurrying home, scared to stay out on the roads. As more and more people turn to crime and violence, the town becomes gripped in fear.

Dark times. The city needs protection. I step off the ledge of the building, plummeting down towards the grimy alley below, opening my cape at the last moment, slowing my plunge into a float, and allowing me to land softly on the hard pavement.

The white chalk outline of a man and a woman defaces the ground, the scene of a crime wholly forgotten by the denizens of this city, ignored by those who should be resolving despicable crimes like this. I quickly move on, sickened by the sight of it, to know two lives were cut down in this place, and so close to the busy road nearby where traffic constantly flows, where somebody could have helped them.

There is an animal that lives by night, that swoops through the air and streaks across the sky. It strikes fear in all those who see it, scared of the danger this animal represents. And an animal is what this city needs, something that will terrify those who take advantage of the night, a symbol to be afraid of, a symbol of fear.

I run through the night, jumping across the city skyline, traversing through this city's many shadows, shadows where usually only evil lurks, but now something else hides within those shadows as well. Finally, spotting something from the city rooftops, I leap down from a great height and glide down to rest on top of a parked car.

The scum that taints this city has spread too far and festers in every alleyway, in every brick, on every asphalt pavement. To clean out the gutters of society, I have chosen to become that something, to become more than a man. I am not the hero this city deserves, nor am I the one it needs. But, I am the hero this town cannot survive without. I am... the Batman!