"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.
Just as she was beginning to give up hope, she heard the sound of something hitting the nearby bin with enough force to send it tumbling to the ground. She, like her assailants froze, all of them looking at the bin as the rats that had been outside scurried away in fright.
Then she looked around trying to find who had thrown it, only to see that there was no one nearby and her rising hopes crumbled. "Probably just one of the rats." One of her assailants reasoned before he grabbed her top and with one final tug, ripped it clean off her body, revealing her conservative bra. "Wooh, finally." He leered at her, a cruel grin on his face as he licked his lips slowly.
"Come on, boys." Another said, pushing her up against the wall and widening the rip on her skirt. "Lets have some fun."
While she and the men pinning her to the wall where unaware, in those few moments another figure had appeared. Having used the distraction caused by the bin, he entered the alleyway out of sight and moved along, keeping to the shadows as best as he could. Then, with great stealth grabbed the furthest man back, the very same man that had started to undo his trousers and stabbed a knife into his neck. Before the man could even gurgle and grunt, a hand came around and covered his mouth, silencing his death.
In most cases, such a thing would never have gone unnoticed in such a tight space. Yet, the other two thugs were too focused on the half naked, struggling woman in front of them.
And so, the mysterious figure pulled the thug to the ground and gently placed him down as to not make any noise. He then rose up and saw that the man pinning the woman to the floor had nearly freed his manhood and so, stopped sticking to stealth and instead went for surprise.
With a single throw, he launched the knife in his hand straight at the man pinning the woman to the wall and it impaled him directly in the back of his knee.
A scream of pain escaped his lips as he dropped to his knees, looking back to see what had impaled him. He saw the knife and the blood pooling out and then looked to see where it had come from, his other friend having the same idea. Yet it was too late, the mysterious figure was upon him, a roundhouse kick to the knee sent the second figure to the ground, his leg breaking with sickening crunch.
Continuing with the motion, the figure punched the second man in the face before walking to the guy with the knife in his hands, having removed it from his leg. He was on his feet, unable to fully put pressure on the injured limb and with a roar, swung at the figure with a wild swing.
With ease, the figure parried the strike and slammed an elbow into his face, breaking the man's nose and sending his head whipping back. Yet, before the assailant could stumble back in a daze, the figure gripped the back of his head and repeatedly slammed his elbow into the man's face before letting him drop to the ground unconscious.
Releasing a breath, the figure took the knife that had slipped from the thugs fingers and while still on his knees, impaled the man's manhood, instantly waking the unconscious man as he screamed out in pain.
Leaving the thug to curl up in a ball sobbing, he then looked to see the final thug trying to crawl away and walked forwards. As he neared, the thug turned over and looked up at the mysterious figure with tears in his eyes.
"Please, I beg you, let me go." He begged, his eyes wide and his hands interlocked, almost as if he was praying.
"You should have thought about that before trying to rape an innocent woman, scum." He then stomped on the man's head with enough force that when it struck the ground it bounced off, only to be met with a second stomp that knocked the man out for good and simultaneously cracking his head open.
"T-thank you." Turning around, the figure saw the woman covering herself with the scraps of her clothes and gave a nod in her direction. She gave a small, teary eyed smile noticing just how young the figure was. He was no older than a teenager with blonde hair and blue eyes, yet he saved her where none had.
"You're welcome." He said, offering her a hand that she gingerly took, allowing him to pull her to her feet. "Here." Unzipping his jacket, making sure to do it slow noticing how she flinched at his sudden movement and passed it to her. "It'll cover you more than those."
Once again, she hesitantly took the offered article of clothing and after a few seconds of deliberation, put it on. Instantly feeling less vulnerable when not nearly fully naked before a man, even if he was her saviour.
"We should get out of the alleyway, the police will be nearly here." He informed her and she looked at him in confusion.
"Did you call them?" She asked and he shook his head.
"No, but I saw some people doing it." Despite this, the woman couldn't help but still feel bitter and angry at the people who had called the police. Here was a teenager, not even a man and he had jumped into save her life where fully grown men had simply walked by, ignoring what had happened.
It made her wonder who her saviour was and why he saved her?
-X- Line Break -X-
Wednesday 8th, April, 12:00.
New Jersey,
Gotham City
Gotham Heights.
Smiling, Naruto shook his head as he allowed Barbara to lead him through the streets of Gotham. Things had cleared up between the two in the space of the two weeks since they had made up and in fact, it was even rarer to see the two seperated. It was like when they were kids again, always with one another and hardly apart.
Well, except for when Barbara was at school, Naruto having not returned after his trip to the hospital when Black Mask had almost beaten him to death. Mostly because he quit to spend his time training at local gyms and even practising his shooting having not done it since he was a kid with Jim and his father.
Both his father and Jim had been former marines in the US Military and while Jim had later gone on to be a cop in Chicago, Minato had returned home to Gotham to marry his childhood sweetheart, Kushina. Naruto didn't know much about what his dad did besides simply working odd jobs here and there, despite being incredibly smart, it seemed that his father hadn't been able to land a decent job at all.
Jim on the other hand had been transferred from Chicago to Gotham soon after Minato and Kushina's wedding with his niece, Barbara after his wife had left him. There, the two had spent a great deal of time getting together and while both were bogged down with work, Naruto had on more than one occasion been brought to the shooting range with them.
Still, things were looking better for Barbara and Naruto. Whereas their friendship had become a little strained what with their difference in opinions about how Black Hood operated, they had decided to push that to one side and avoid bringing it up. It worked for the most part, especially with Naruto deciding to put aside his double life as Black Hood seen as though his desire to get revenge against Black Mask was over.
He had considered continuing his crusade for true justice after Black Masks death, but his near death at the hands of Deadshot had made him rethink his decision. Or at least stopped him from being too rash about it. His fights against Robin and Deadshot showed that right now, he was outclassed and that if he was going to stand a chance in hell at surviving, he needed to be stronger.
For now, he would stop being Black Hood and at least train himself some more and then he would make a decision. He had more than enough money anyway, generously provided by Black Mask that enabled Naruto to at least live comfortably for months without needing to work any jobs.
One thing Naruto knew was that while he may have been raised in the criminal underworld, he didn't understand it fully. He had simply grasped the basics of how it worked, not all of its facets. And one of those facets had struck him in the face and almost killed him.
His near death at the hands of Black Mask had been a terrifying experience and he had vowed to never experience it again. It was why he started training himself in local gyms and martial arts clubs all across Gotham to build up his repertoire. And it had worked, everything he had planned had worked, except for a minor hiccup and his own arrogance getting in the way here and there, but it was nothing he hadn't managed to deal with.
Then came the ending and with it came his second near death experience at the hands of – what he later came to know after some research – was the world's greatest sharpshooter. The things Naruto had read about Deadshot painted a picture of a guy who only missed when he wanted too.
The fact that he came out of that fight alive and only a few bruises and a few bullet wounds was a miracle in of itself. All because he got lucky and that terrified Naruto more than anything, he could have died and it was only due to luck that he survived.
Hell, if it wasn't for David, one of the Black Hood growing supporters, Naruto was sure that he would have been caught by Batman and that was not something he wanted. The man had provided him with a getaway truck and driver as well as getting a surgeon to help Naruto with his injuries, turns out Black Hood's list of supporters were quite extensive.
So after getting patched up, he had kept his head down and instead allowed Black Hood to fade into obscurity for now. Many of the people of Gotham speculated that Black Hood was planning something big, but to be honest, Naruto was unsure on whether to continue.
Death was very real and as he watched Barbara walk through the streets a smile on her face and her fingers interlocked with his, he couldn't help but wonder if Gotham needed his help. It was safe, the crime lords where keeping their heads down and sure, from time to time he stopped a few rapists and robbers, but he didn't really want to go for big crime lords again.
Not just yet anyway.
Black Mask had shown him how dangerous they could be when pushed up against a wall and he didn't really want to risk his life based solely on luck. Despite many acting like civil servants and even attempting to pass off as kindly individuals, when threatened they were animals that would tear apart anyone in their way. He didn't want to experience the feeling of death again, never again.
"Hey, Naruto!" Blinking, Naruto looked up and saw Barbara staring at him with one hand on her hip. "You've been quite for the last few minutes, are you ignoring me?" She asked.
Naruto gave her an apologetic smile and squeezed her hand. "Sorry, I didn't mean to get so distracted, what were you saying?" Barbara studied him for a bit longer before the two once again beginning to walk down the street.
"So what had you so distracted?" She asked and Naruto looked at her with a smile.
"You."
It took a few moments for Barbara to register what he said and her face instantly turned a dark shade of red and she shyly looked to one side a small smile on her face. This made Naruto chuckle lightly making her smack his arm in mock anger.
"Don't do that." She muttered.
"Do what?" Her asked.
Barbara looked at him exasperatedly. "You know exactly what I mean, don't come out with random stuff like that just to distract me." She explained making Naruto smile this time.
"So it's you that's getting distracted this time, huh?" Shaking her head, Barbara didn't answer his question instead continuing to pull him through Gotham, it was a nice, warm day and he was glad that Barbara had asked him to come into Gotham. They had done it a few times here and there and they were always the highlights of his week.
"Shut up." Barbara replied, effectively shutting down his attempts at flustering her further. To think that she could listen to her fellow students, thugs and even everyday civilians describe what they'd like to do to her, well Batgirl but that was still her and she could shrug it off without feeling flustered. Yet, Naruto could make her blush like a schoolgirl like it was nothing and no one else could do that to her, it was honestly a wonder he hadn't figured out how she felt but then again, he had always being a little oblivious.
"Did you hear that?" Naruto asked breaking Barbara out of her thoughts and bringing her back to reality. She, like Naruto strained their hearing as they attempted to figure out what exactly Naruto had heard and that's when they heard the bangs.
This wasn't just any bang like some firework or something along those lines, this was gunfire.
And that's when the panic set in.
People ran screaming, rushing down the streets and even onto the road as more and more gunfire was heard from further down the street. They both watched as people clambered out of their cars to see what was going only to duck as if they were getting shot at when they heard gunfire and then join the horde of people.
"Naruto...?" She went to speak as she felt him drag her towards a shop.
"Stay here. Don't come out, if you do you'll get caught in that crowd of people. Stay here and hide." With that said, Naruto rushed out of the shop and instead of running left like the crowd of people, he instead fought against the flow and started moving right, pushing himself through the crowd of people and directly towards where the gunfire had been heard.
'Fuck! What the hell does he think he's doing?!' Barbara questioned, rushing out through the fire exit at the back of the shop and hid behind the nearby dumpster. The smell was awful but she hadn't come here to hide and instead pulled out her Batgirl costume from her purse. 'What the hell are you doing, Naruto?'