FM November - Best gift
(OOC thanks to the Batman the Animated Series episode "I am the Night" for the inspiration, still the best Batman show ever done imo)
He went there every year to leave the roses in memory of his parents.
They called it Crime alley now. They called it that partly because Martha and Thomas Wayne had bled out their lives there leaving their broken son behind. The name had grown from that incident but it was as if dubbing it had opened the way for a flood of bad things to happen. Muggings and beatings occured there almost every night, it was as if innocents were drawn to it and couldn't stay away leaving a history of violence in the very stones of the alley.
And on the anniversary of that night every year he leaves two roses the color of blood in the alley to remember what started it all.
Tonight when he left his roses there was a thump that carried clear to where he stood followed by a cry of pain. How dare they? On this night how dare they bring their violence to this spot?
It was a small time crook being shaken down for money by two of the darker kind. The 'lessons' of this sort usually ended in their being one less small time crook on the streets and one more unsolvable killing in the files of the police. But tonight they'd picked the wrong place and time for their games.
In the end the two were unconcious and waiting on the police while the small timer was given over to the mission for a meal and a bed. They would offer him hope and a way out but Bruce knew that he wouldn't take it and tomorrow there would be one more petty thief on a street corner slowly sliding down a path into darkness again.
He fought and won battles, put out fires here and there and saved lives but the war went on every night and Bruce wasn't sure he made a difference at all. For every life he saved it felt like one more was given up willingly for the idea of making a few dollars at the expense of others. He was just so tired that somedays he wasn't sure he could go on.
It was that exhaustion that made him assume the small timer was stealing the suitcase he was carrying at the bus stop. It was a good place to rob people while they tried to get their bearings and Bruce had lost all faith in people being able to change. But when he slammed the young man against the wall he hadn't acted scared, instead he laughed and said he'd hoped to see Batman again.
"You saved me you know, I'm sure you hear that a lot but you really did."
He had made a difference. Hope was the best gift Bruce had ever received.
He went there every year to leave the roses in memory of his parents.
They called it Crime alley now. They called it that partly because Martha and Thomas Wayne had bled out their lives there leaving their broken son behind. The name had grown from that incident but it was as if dubbing it had opened the way for a flood of bad things to happen. Muggings and beatings occured there almost every night, it was as if innocents were drawn to it and couldn't stay away leaving a history of violence in the very stones of the alley.
And on the anniversary of that night every year he leaves two roses the color of blood in the alley to remember what started it all.
Tonight when he left his roses there was a thump that carried clear to where he stood followed by a cry of pain. How dare they? On this night how dare they bring their violence to this spot?
It was a small time crook being shaken down for money by two of the darker kind. The 'lessons' of this sort usually ended in their being one less small time crook on the streets and one more unsolvable killing in the files of the police. But tonight they'd picked the wrong place and time for their games.
In the end the two were unconcious and waiting on the police while the small timer was given over to the mission for a meal and a bed. They would offer him hope and a way out but Bruce knew that he wouldn't take it and tomorrow there would be one more petty thief on a street corner slowly sliding down a path into darkness again.
He fought and won battles, put out fires here and there and saved lives but the war went on every night and Bruce wasn't sure he made a difference at all. For every life he saved it felt like one more was given up willingly for the idea of making a few dollars at the expense of others. He was just so tired that somedays he wasn't sure he could go on.
It was that exhaustion that made him assume the small timer was stealing the suitcase he was carrying at the bus stop. It was a good place to rob people while they tried to get their bearings and Bruce had lost all faith in people being able to change. But when he slammed the young man against the wall he hadn't acted scared, instead he laughed and said he'd hoped to see Batman again.
"You saved me you know, I'm sure you hear that a lot but you really did."
He had made a difference. Hope was the best gift Bruce had ever received.