Cast in Shade and Light

Prologue

Gotham was always a noisy city, at least to Bruce Wayne. The cars on the street below would hum and honk as the day grew and left. The worst noise would always occur when Bruce was surrounded by mountains of paperwork. On these days, he would stare coldly out the window. The bright lights shine back at him. He only took a minute to look. Any longer and he would slowly start to drift from reality.

Rather than focusing on his work, Bruce's mind would wander, recalling meetings he had missed because of trouble in the city. Another new wannabe supervillain makes their grand entrance in Gotham Square. Bruce would see the live stream from The Daily Planet on his watch before sighing and asking his secretary to cancel any plans he had.

To the unwashed eye, Bruce Wayne looked like a man you didn't want to talk to, but wanted to associate with to get the benefits. Bruce had cold brown eyes, slicked-back hair, a black suit and tie, and a stone-cold face ready for any issue that might arise. Under that, Bruce cared about the well-being of the people in Gotham. Which is why he decided to take matters into his own hands, as a superhero and as the CEO of a multinational conglomerate located in Gotham City. Bruce created his persona as Batman.

Bruce liked his life of solitude and minimal interaction with other people. One day, he met an editor from The Daily Planet, Clark Kent. As most editors do, they get into other people's business and post it for the world to see. Bruce Wayne never makes mistakes. He always has a plan, and he follows it, but this time it fell apart. Batman was seen fleeing the scene after a break-through with Joker, Clark Kent, followed Batman to see him turning a corner, taking his mask off. Clark was able to snap a quick photo with his camera. Though the photo was blurry and almost unusable, Kent had his key suspicions about who it could be. This would be the story of the century.