The Batman (Reader Insert)

Drive

Your first night as a consultant was a long and rough one. Much more mentally taxing than you had initially prepared for. You knew it would be bad but this, this was something different. You returned back to your penthouse at around 3 AM that day and went straight to bed and passed out in the deepest, stone-like slumber you have ever had. You woke up late in the afternoon, extremely groggy and disoriented. You went to the kitchen and chugged down two whole glasses of water and decided a shower would be best before you head out again.

You left at around 6 heading to the morgue since you were asked to perform the official autopsy on the late Mayor, making sure there was nothing more hidden for you to discover further about our killer. Unfortunately, you came up empty-handed after hours of careful searching. You were about to close Mitchell back into the mortuary cooler but had gotten interrupted by Gordon coming in with a plastic bag. He and Batman had found Mitchell's missing thumb that night. You took it out of the bag to assess it, you saw something metal dangling off of it, attached to the end looked like a USB. You look curiously at it before Gordon bitterly scoffs.

"Thumb...Drive...." He says simply. Your confusion drops and you look back at him with a look of 'Are you serious?' He puts his hands up in surrender and nods in agreement of just how ridiculous this is.

"Must think he's hilarious" You say with a disapproving shake of your head.

"Yeah, think you can separate the thumb from the drive without damaging it and then send it back to evidence for me?"

"Yep, no problem."

Gordon leaves, leaving you alone yet again to try to reattach this thumb to where it belongs. You really wish you could have someone to talk to right now. It would make the hours go by so much faster instead of having to focus in silence on a dead body the entire time. Gordon seemed to be in a rush to get out of there so you didn't bother with trying to strike up to deep of a conversation with him earlier. You looked down at your phone and looked at the time. It was almost 10PM, you scrolled through your list of phone numbers. There was no one there you would feel comfortable bothering this late. You had tried reaching out a few times when you got to Gotham to an old friend of yours, but he didn't return any of your messages. You sighed as you finished what you were doing and locked up. You had a sudden craving for something chocolate. Nothing could convince you to not indulge in this craving and you pulled up your GPS to search for the nearest diner. There was one not too far away, just a 20 or so minute walk, which was very much needed to clear your head and get some fresh air. You started walking taking in the scenery and architecture Gotham had to offer. So Gothic and historical with a splash of modernity shoved in here and there. Its ambiance always consisted of police or ambulance sirens that seemed to echo through the city on an endless loop. What you would give to hear the peace of a bird song, or the whisper of rustling leaves as the wind glides through. You pass by what seems to be a club "The Iceberg Lounge" you read as you pick up the pace. Whatever is going on in that place you don't know, but you definitely don't vibe with the energy it's giving off. You turn a corner and the diner is right there, you smile to yourself as you start to imagine the Chocolate cake you are about to devour with zero guilt.

You head inside pleasantly greeted by a nearly empty diner. A man sits hunched over in the middle seat of the counter scribbling on a piece of paper while sipping a small cup of coffee; he is the only one in here. The waitress greets you and tells you to sit anywhere. You take a seat just a few seats away from the man, closer to the door, and grab a menu searching immediately for the dessert options. The waitress a few moments later takes your order of a chocolate cake and bottled water and leaves. You pull out your phone and start scrolling through news articles til you finally give in and send your father a quick text message, 'How's mom?' since you haven't contacted him in a few weeks. You sigh and go back to reading a research article that piqued your interest. You hear the bell to the diners door ding as a new person entered. To engrossed in what you were reading, you didn't bother to look up. You didn't bother to look up as you heard the voices of the waitress and the new person start talking. In fact, you didn't even bother to look up as the voices started to get into a heated conversation. It wasn't until you felt something pressed to your head that you finally bothered to look up and meet eye-to-eye with the end of a gun barrel.

"Put the money in the bag or I will blow her head off." The masked man said in a trembling voice to the waitress. You couldn't move a single muscle. You looked at the waitress as she shook in fear shaking her head and crying.

"Please I need this money for my family, please please" She tried to plead with the man but he wasn't having it. He forcefully pressed the gun even further into your head forcing you to painfully bend your neck to the side.

"I'm not playing lady! You've got 30 seconds to give me what I want or I will shoot!" He screams at her. You look her dead in the eyes and she looks back at you. She says nothing, does nothing, and just cries harder as he starts to count down. As he realizes that she isn't making any moves to comply he stops counting. "I guess you still don't get it huh," He says darkly and clicks the safety off.

'Oh,' is all you can think as a tear escapes your eye. You suddenly feel a forceful weight launch you to the ground causing you to let out a shocked scream as you hear the gunshot ring through the tiny diner. Your ears are ringing but you can still make out a commotion going on. Screaming, the ground vibrating, the bell of the door, the weight still holding you down. Is this what it feels like to be shot in the head? You wonder as you stare up at the ceiling. Wait...no.

A face comes into view suddenly peering down at you through clear-framed glasses. You look back at him and regain your bearings, lifting yourself up onto your elbows slightly. You're fine, you're not shot! You suddenly realized the weight still on you was him, the man that was sitting at the diner counter just a few seats away from you had pushed you out of the way of the bullet. You both just stared heavily breathing for just a few moments, processing the situation. He finally made a slow movement off of you standing, and you soon followed gripping the counter as you steady yourself on your feet.

"Are you ok?" He asks looking down at the ground. You hear police sirens making their way toward, what you would hope, was your location.

"Yeah, I think so. Thank you..."

He just silently nods. The cops soon enter causing the waitress to crawl off the ground and run into the arms of one of the cops sobbing and incoherently explaining the situation. One of the cops comes up to you. "Ms. Y/L/N? Are you alright?"

You nod in surprise, not expecting him to recognize you. You were about to give him your statement before you were cut off by a quiet voice beside you.

"Y/L/N? As in Y/L/N Laboratories?"

You look over at the man that had saved you. He was looking you in the eyes this time and it made you feel uneasy but you still answered with a simple "Yes."

"Didn't know you were back in Gotham..." His tone had taken a shift that you couldn't quite understand, it felt...dark.

"Yeah..." You reply sounding guilty, thrown off by his sudden shift in demeanor. The cop quickly goes through the standard in a situation like this and then they soon let you know you're free to go. You walk out of the diner feeling too shaken up to walk back to your car. You start to dial to call a driver to pick you up and take you home but you see the man that saved you walk out of the diner sparing you a quick glance before he starts to walk away from you. "Hey wait!" you call out to him and walk a bit towards him, he turns facing you fully "I wanted to say thank you, again."

He just nods saying nothing as he stares you down, is he....angry? He turns to leave again.

"I'm sorry do I know you?" You quickly ask. He stops dead in his tracks but doesn't turn around this time.

"No... but I think soon you will." He leaves you with that as he disappears into the darkness of the night. A chill runs through you like ice through your veins. You quickly make a call to get picked up by a driver and with very little shame ask them to stay on the phone with you til they get here.