Injustice Book 1: A Journeys Beginning (Naruto + Batman Comics crossover)

Chapter XV - The Fearless

"Normal Speech."

'Normal Thought.'

"Demon Speech."

'Demon Thought.'

"Other Speech variants."

Location/Time.

-X- Line Break -X-

Tuesday 7th, April, 14:00.

New Jersey,

Gotham City,

East End.

Gotham, like always was a dark and dingy place, even by the usual standards it looked no different. Yet despite this, the city seemed to be lighter or the people were anyway. In the space of two weeks, Gotham had changed after the death of Black Mask and the rise of Black Hood.

The people felt safer.

After all, despite Black Masks death creating a power vacuum that the other crime lords capitalised on, it did not result in all out war like many had expected and feared. In fact, things had been quieter, maybe it was because the crime lords didn't want to incur the wrath of both the Batman and Black Hood, or maybe it was for some other unknown reason.

Either way, things had changed and while some thought it was for the better. Ultimately, many believed that this peace, was currently the calm before the storm.

The many denizens of Gotham were just waiting for the next spark to light the fuse. A fuse that would bring about the deaths of many innocent lives before it was eventually stopped. It was this fear that caused many to start feeling more paranoid, just waiting for something bad to happen.

It didn't take a genius to see that despite all the good Batman had done, the fight against crime was still ongoing and while victory actually seemed possible, it was a long way away from now. Many feared that it would get far worse than it already was before it would get better, that it would be their children or their children's children that would live through the worst of it.

Even the smarter criminals could see this and even they were terrified. They knew that their actions had brought about both Batman and now Black Hood. If they continued, what other monsters would they create? The thought terrified them all, most into hiding as they tried to figure out their next move.

Of course, not every criminal was afraid of the heroes and vigilantes of Gotham.

"Help! Pleuumgh..." A woman screams for help quickly became muffled as cloth was stuffed into her mouth to silence her. She desperately tried to escape the grasp of her offenders as they laughed mockingly.

"Shut the fuck up, bitch!" One of the men sneered as he held her hands behind her back, his two friends groping her clothed body. "Hurry up, dickheads. I can't wait to get a piece of this ass." He laughed cruelly, while the woman struggled, tears streaming down her face as she screamed into her gag. Her eyes panned to the exit of the alleyway to see if she could find anyone that could help her, yet every time someone looked to see what the noise was, they quickly walked away, their heads quickly turning to the floor.

The old rules still applied, even now. Don't interfere or you and your family were next. It was an ingrained rule that everyone at Gotham had learned in order to survive, a rule they still followed to this day.

As the moments passed by, the sound of her clothes tearing as her assailants grew impatient, she realised that it was hopeless.

No one was coming to help her.