Young Justice: Darkfall

Chapter 9, The Not So Great Escape Part 4

A/N: I feel like I need to apologize for my absence, Covid 19 has been frustrating lately and it's been making me paranoid of getting sick. Right now I'm self isolating, but I'm afraid that one of my friends and family will bring into the house. If this chapter seems half-baked let me know in the comments below, Im planning on updating again today hopefully.

Charles Finch had gone to the Heavens.

Well at least he thought he did, Charles was far from being a religious man, he lost his faith in god a long time ago. His grandfather was a pastor in Gotham's cathedral.  He remembered his mother bringing him there every Sunday morning to pray and catch up with his granddad. One he'd go there is because  the church staff would cook breakfast for the kids, it wasn't a gourmet meal but it had this certain taste to it and he could never describe it in one word. Except for 'calories', that Summer was full of exercising and protein shakes. They were a model community in a wicked city, a family not bonded by blood but by faith in a higher power that watches over them. However, others don't have faith and they condemn people who do as easy prey, Carmine Falcone is one of those people, but he's more of a devil masquerading as  a man. Compare to the bigger crime lords in Gotham the Falcones are a school of fish swimming in a tank of sharks. Although they still tried to make Gotham their playground, starting with the defenseless.

One day, Carmine and his goons came to the church during service hours, walking in like he already owned the joint. He offered them a 'simple deal' he called it, to pay protection money to supply his men with guns and ammunition. If Charles remembered correctly The Falcones were trapped in a losing gang war with the Penguin and were desperate to find an upper hand, Charles didn't know much about the Penguin but he knew the man was powerful enough to overtake Gotham City's crime network . His grip on Gotham's underworld was firm while his ability to maintain his public image was flawless. Charles' Grandfather was many things but a doormat wasn't one of them, the Mafia boss didn't expect a couple of generous church folk would have the backbone to refuse a well known crime lord. Surprisingly Carmine was more disappointed than angry, Charles expected an immediate hostile reaction to say the least.

That came later.

The Next Sunday, Charles caught a cold so his mother stayed home from Church to take care of him. That morning the news reported a horrible accident took place at the Gotham City Cathedral where the roof collapsed on the citizens, killing over twenty people including his Grandfather.

The News knew it wasn't an accident , the Police knew it wasn't an accident, Gotham knew it wasn't an accident.

But no one could act upon it, Carmine knew how to clean up his messes

Charles was at a lost on who to blame, Carmine for killing his Grandfather or God for allowing his atrocities to go unpunished. After turning twenty and enlisting in the Academy, he spent half of his life serving on the GCPD, hunting down Falcone and dismantling his operations. He caused enough of an uproar in the underworld to be granted the position detective.

However, causing an uproar in the underworld wasn't always a good thing, it placed a target on your back for low time criminals trying to make a name or crime bosses looking to get rid of a nat. Charles experienced it firsthand when one of Carmine's hitmen shot him in the back when he was leaving work one night. Doctors said the bullet was close to hitting his spine. The fact of almost being rendered paralyzed scared him out of his childish fantasies of bringing his Grandfather's killers to justice, life wasn't an action movie with a happy ending. Charles gave up on his crusade for Falcone, requesting a transfer to the NYPD where he started his family.

Did he regret giving up? No, the past can not be changed or forgotten, the Future should be our only objective.

Although the future isn't looking to good. He could barely tolerate the super powered freaks on Earth, now there were aliens invading the world? Why was he always dealt a bad hand in life?