Notes:
A simple fanfiction of Batman being involved with The Amazing Digital Circus. And I know that how the 'rules' or 'laws' in the TADC work, involving new people being entered will forget their name and have a different look - as well as no exit (at least, none being known).
But instead of racking my brain to justify why Batman can remember his name and why he still has his batsuit in this digital world, I'm just going to use the same overused joke that everyone in DC knows: BECAUSE HE'S BATMAN!
There, you happy?
Anyway, this specific Batman is from the Arkham games - post Arkham City, which is going to be somewhat important for Batman as it would explain his mood. I would explain why, but it contains a huge spoiler for Batman Arkham City - and I wouldn't want to spoil it for those who would rather see it themselves. So I'm going to keep it as vague as I could, so that only those who played/seen the game will understand.
Also, just need to say this now, Arkham Origins is canon to the other three games - the devs themselves confirmed it the moment Arkham Knight dropped. So you haters have to admit you don't deem it canon because of your nostalgic glasses.
Sorry, I needed to get that off my chest.
Also, a quote that you should keep in mind while reading this story is (this is a heavily modified and put into my words since I can't find the original quote), "if you can't imagine Batman comforting a scared and confused child, then that's not Batman you're thinking of. That's the Punisher wearing a silly hat."
While that won't be present in the first chapter, but it will be present later on (if this story actually continues beyond the pilot).
3rd Person P.O.V.
With a simple pop, a new guest has entered the realm of The Amazing Digital Circus. He drops on the ground and immediately looks around to figure out where he was. But something felt extremely... off for him. Which is very, very hard to do since he's used to the world around him - or what the old world used to be.
Every single digital sentient creature noticed his presence, and immediately raced over to check it out. This new figure stood very tall, estimated to be six feet and four inches tall with two horns at the end of his head raising his height by an additional five or six inches. The entire head is dark black with a bluish tint, except his eyes and clean-shaven jaw were exposed and he appears to be caucasian.
His eyes have a gorgeous blue hue at the pupils, meanwhile the rest of his face looked grim. The rest of the body donned a gray jumpsuit that looks to be made out of spandex, but with an additional coverage around the pelvis and the color on that is black for some reason - it looks like he's wearing underwear on the outside. And on the middle of his chest, laid a strange black symbol that looks oddly similar to a bat.
His hands and feet are covered by black gauntlets and combat boots respectively, which means the only skin on his body that's exposed is his mouth. On his back, and draped on his broad shoulders, is a black cape that matches the cowl on his head - it also looks to be attached to it as well.
Caine, who is a floating humanoid creature but with open dentures and a pair of eyeballs for a head, flies over to greet him. "Hello there!" He magically made a tophat and cane appear out of nowhere. "Welcome to The Amazing Digital Circus! I'm Caine, the ringleader of this entourage!"
The new guest looked around, not saying a word as he tried to figure out where he was.
"You seem confused, little one." Caine took his cane and lightly tapped on the man's head - causing him to look back at the ringleader with an annoyed expression. "Don't worry, I'll show you around. But first, let me introduce you to our performers!"
One by one, Caine made the rest of them teleport in front of him to allow him to meet them in person.
"This is Jax!" Caine gestured at the purple anthropomorphic bunny wearing orange overalls and a permanent grin on his face.
"Hi there." Jax outstretched his hand for a handshake.
The man did not take his hand, he just stood there and stared at the bunny.
Jax lowered his arm and his grin slightly faltered. "Alright then, we got ourselves a sourpuss. Good to know."
Caine made Jax teleport away and replaced him with a literal king pawn from a board game of chess with two eyeballs on the top wearing a purple rope around his body. "This is Kinger!"
The chess piece points at the man. "I don't like the way you're staring at me! GET ME AWAY FROM HIM!"
Caine quickly obeyed that request and replaced him with some... entity made of various colorful shapes with two asymmetrical eyes on the top triangular shape (which is presumed to be her head) with some slim arms and legs. "This is Zooble!"
"Who the [Boink] are you?" She asked, feeling repulsed by the black and gray clad of a human in front of her.
Caine quickly bonks her head with his cane. "Now, now! We mustn't abhor the appearances of others! That would be wrong!"
Before she could say something else, Caine replaced her with someone that looks like one of those old raggedy dolls, with a button eye and then a normal eye on her face and some red hair.
"This is Ragatha!" Caine introduces the alive doll-looking creature.
"Oh, wow, you look... Um..." She fumbles slightly, noticing how deadpan his face looked with his grim demeanor. "Unique?"
The human still doesn't speak, only observe.
Then Ragatha was replaced by another female sentient being, a pile of red ribbon fabric forming a stickman-like body with a tragedy mask for a head.
"This is Gangle." Caine said a little softer, since she is timid.
"..." The pile of ribbons trembles in fear, slithering behind Caine for protection.
"Huh, looks like she's a little shy." Caine said before making her teleport away and replacing her with one last character. "And last, but certainly not least, Pomni!"
A small jester appeared in front of him, consisting of red and blue. Her face, arms and legs were as pale as a sheet of paper; which could confuse people into thinking she's a clown. But her hat is what makes her a jester, and there's little strands of black hair seeping out of her hat.
She looks up and her jaw drops at his mere presence. "Oh, my God..."
She stepped back, causing Caine to slightly frown. "Eh, it seems like everyone's not treating our new guest very well." Then he looks over to the human. "Oh well, they'll come around. Come now, little one, I will show you the entirety of The Amazing Digital Circus and where you stay!"
Caine grabs the human by his arm and both of them fly at great speed away from everyone else.
"Who was that guy?!" Ragatha asked the others now that Caine was out of earshot.
"Some kinda bat-looking thing?" Jax guesses, looking at the ragdoll. "He kinda looked human."
Pomni was tapping her fingers together, wondering if the new guy is going through what she went through. Because Pomni's first day in this realm was disastrous, and she had lost her mind during her escape attempt.
Right around dinner time was when she reluctantly accepted that there was no way out of here, and this is her new home. That was something she wishes no one else would go through.
Ragatha tried making Pomni's first day comfortable, but it didn't quite help since the jester was too busy having anxiety every single second. She hopes that when Caine returns with the new guy, she could help him since he's probably so bewildered and questioning everything right now.
She shook her head when she noticed that Jax was talking to her. "Huh? What?"
"I said, 'what do you think?'" Jax reiterated in his calm, chilled voice. "You seemed pretty spooked when you got to meet the big guy."
"He looked surprisingly human..." Pomni answered, looking down at her feet for some reason. "But he's also very... calm..."
"Yeah, I noticed that too." Ragatha agreed, looking at where Caine had taken him. "I remembered when you were freaking out on day one."
"Maybe he's trying to pull that 'headset' off his face right now." Jax said before chuckling. "Kinda hard to imagine a guy like him losing his [Bonk] like Pomni."
"I hope he's not, you know, scared or anything." Ragatha said in a caring voice, kind of motherly. "Because he could abstract, like Kaufmo."
"We don't know anything about him, 'cause he didn't say a word." Jax dismissed carelessly with his smug grin still present on his purple face. "He's probably fine."
Both Kinger and Gangle didn't partake in the conversation - mostly because they're terrified of the new guy. Zooble doesn't give a [Honk] about him, so she left and went off to do her own thing.
After a while, Caine comes flying back with Bubble - a literal bubble with eyes and teeth - following him like a dog.
"Caine." Pomni quickly raced over to the ringleader. "Caine, where's the new guy?"
"Oh, he's in his room. He's not really a talker." Caine answered kind of uncertainly - which made Pomni worry. "The human mind is such a complicated subject for me to understand. One moment they are terrified beyond comprehension - like you - and the next, they're completely silent and nonchalant; such strange behavior from a peculiar specimen. Anyways, I'm going to do something for a little while. You all behave yourselves."
And then he teleports away, taking Bubble with him.
"Huh, guess we should check him out; see if he's doing alright." Jax suggests, but both of them knew that he wasn't as sincere as he's trying to imply (when it's really him wanting to see the new guy freak out like Pomni).
"You may have a point." Ragatha agrees, looking down the hall. "Well, let's go then."
The three of them stride down to the hallway, passing by the doors with their faces on them. They stopped when they reached the end of the hall and saw a door with the new guy's face on it. His face looks as impassive and grim as he does in person.
"I bet he's a ray of sunshine." Jax said while reaching into his pocket to grab a key that's designed to unlock all doors to everyone's rooms.
But Ragatha stopped his arm from reaching the door. "Let's knock first, sometime tells me he's the type who would prefer you to knock first."
"Fine, but if I get no answer, I'm opening that door." Jax said as his knuckles gently tap the wooden door. "Hey, new guy? You mind letting us in? You really don't have a choice, 'cause I can just unlock your door if I really wanted to."
...
There was no response, making them wonder if he's in there.
"Caine did say he's in there." Pomni spoke up, ensuring them that there's confirmation that someone is in there.
"Well, I'm opening this door." Jax said as he stuffed the key into the keyhole to unlock the door.
When he opened the door, the three of them noticed that the room was very empty - there's literally nothing in it besides the person inhabiting it. The new guy they were talking about is sitting down in the middle of the room with his legs crossed and his hands by his sides.
His head is leaning down and his eyes are closed.
"What's he doing?" Ragatha inquired, still staying outside of the room.
Meanwhile Jax just casually steps inside and Pomni reluctantly follows him since she's curious. The ragdoll eventually steps inside in the room with them.
"Maybe he's praying?" Pomni guesses, looking at him closely. "Meditating?"
"Maybe he's trying to wake up from this dream, right Pomni?" Jax nudges while still smugly smiling at her.
Pomni briefly scowled at him before looking back at the new human.
"What do you think his name is?" Jax questioned while boldly stepping closer to him. "'Cause Caine never said his name, and he didn't spin that little slot machine like he did for you, Pomni. So maybe it's up to us to give him a name."
"Maybe something bat-related, since he kinda looks like a bat." Ragatha suggests, actually entertaining the idea.
"Man-Bat?" Jax guesses, lightly tapping his foot on the ground. "Nah, that name sounds stupid."
"The human bat?" Ragatha comments, wondering if that would work.
"No, too straightforward." Jax denied with a wave of his hand.
"Batman...?" Pomni said, out of the blue; like the name just came to her.
"Hmm... Batman sounds good, for some odd reason." Jax looked down at the human. "But I'm gonna call him Bats, since he obviously looks like a bat." Then he proceeds to circle the Batman while looking down at him. "So, Bats, whaddya doin' down there?"
He did not move or respond to Jax's question, only softly breathing through his nose.
"Hey Bats, wake up." Jax waved a hand in front of the Batman's face, then he started snapping his fingers. "Hey, I'm talking to you."
"Maybe he's a heavy sleeper?" Ragatha jokes, mostly because she's worried about what happens when Jax pushes the Batman in the wrong way. "Or maybe he's not wanting to talk to us right now."
"Oh wow, what a unit he is." Jax comments in exclamation upon noticing the Batman's physique while being close to him. "He's definitely been eating his greens. Look at those abs, he could cut meat on them."
"Okay, Jax, I don't think he would like us talking about his body - especially when we're right in front of him." Ragatha said as she grabbed his arm and pulled the rabbit away.
"Why? I would consider it a compliment. He definitely has a girlfriend... or he would, if he actually knows how to talk." Jax commented while briefly looking at the Batman, kind of annoyed by his lack of words.
Pomni stepped closer, still keeping enough distance from him in case she needed to run, and tried looking at his face.
"Eh, let's go do something else." Jax said while walking to the door, not waiting for the other two. "If he ain't gonna talk, then I'm not wasting more time on this guy."
"Maybe he'll gain the confidence to talk to us eventually... at least, I hope that's what this is..." Ragatha softly walks to the exit, but looks back at the jester. "Are you coming, Pomni?
"In a minute..." She answered, perplexed at the Batman's behavior.
Ragatha leaves - although a bit reluctant since Pomni doesn't do very well on her own and she doesn't quite trust the Batman yet. The small jester stepped a little closer than before, still making sure she didn't get too close to him.
She isn't sure why she's doing this, maybe it's her curiosity.
She waves her hand in front of his face, wondering if he's even aware that she's just inches away from him.
"H-Hey..." She utters so softly, that she barely heard herself; so she cleared her throat and tried again. "Hey..."
He doesn't answer or move, just remaining motionless. Then she sighed and gave up, it's obvious that trying to talk to him isn't going to work. She walks over to the door and–
"I'm awake."
She stopped dead in her tracks and froze. She doesn't recognize that voice. Not Jax, not Kinger, and definitely not Caine.
It sounded deep, but not too deep. Like a natural kind of deep that's assertive and firm.
She looked back and saw that his eyes were open, and staring right at her -making her paralyzed with tension and apprehension.
End of Chapter 1.
November 27th, 2023. 10:24 PM.