darkknight_ (darkknight_) wrote in newalliance, @ 2015-06-26 22:22:00 |
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Entry tags: | batman |
Who: Batman
When: June 26, 2015
Where: Crime Alley
What: A certain anniversary
If any of his enemies paid attention, they might have deduced his identity years ago, simply based on this ritual. Still, he came without fail. 10:48pm. He'd been allowed to stay up late that night to see the movie. Zorro: The Gay Blade. The movie theater was long gone, though the building that had once housed it was still there, dark and shuttered. The exterior was heavily covered in graffiti, its paint peeling and plaster chipped. Once, it had been beautiful. Magical, even. The neighborhood had been called Park Row, then. Upscale boutiques and restaurants catering to the affluent. Now, well, it wasn't called Crime Row to enhance the atmosphere.
The alley he and his parents had stepped into after their movie thirty-four years ago tonight was more poorly lit than it had been then. It was dirtier, and filled with more debris. Batman sometimes stood in the same spot he and his parents had stood and tried to remember where their murderer, Joe Chill, had first appeared, and if he might have possibly been able to see the man coming sooner. In the dimmer light, and different circumstances, it was impossible to say, but ultimately a futile effort, he knew.
Stooping, Batman placed the two red roses he always brought with him over the place he had said goodbye to his mother and father. He looked at the offering for only a moment - they weren't there, even their bodies rested elsewhere, and he would visit them later - then turned to go.
"I wondered if you'd come," a woman said.
Batman stopped. The woman was older. He hadn't seen her in a while, longer than was probably polite for someone who had been equivalent to a second mother to him, but he knew she understood. To a point. "I always do." The building behind her was a free clinic. Leslie Thompkins, by some twist of irony, had chosen this as the location for her operation once the neighborhood went south. She had been a friend and colleague of his father's of years. "Is everything well?"
"I worry," but she nodded. He knew she meant about him and not the clinic.
"I'm fine." She would disagree. Her expression said so, but this time, today, she didn't argue.
"Come and see me soon," she told him, making it clear it wasn't a request. "When you're feeling like yourself."
He nodded. "Soon," he agreed. "Good night, Leslie." He turned to go, but was stopped by her voice.
"You know, the only thing they ever wanted was for you to be happy." Maybe tonight after all. "Everything they ever did was for you."
Batman didn't turn around. "I'm just returning the favor."
Before she could respond, he was gone.