Paragon

"Word" - spoken sentence or word

'Word' - thoughts

Italics- action or current expression

Gotham

Southside metropolitan area

3/05/2017

13:05

Gotham community project school

General POV

In a classroom with facilities that look like it has seen better days, we see a class in session and in the class we can see the teacher; a muscular causcaian man with neatly combed hair, tired looking eyes and a worn-out suit standing in a slightly raised podium and talking with a bored drawl to students that were either writing down with dull, languid strokes or just plainly inattentive and doing whatever their bored minds told them to do

Scribble

Scribble

"And today's text reading is this very engaging topic: social cannnibalism, and on this topic as an example is the short illustrious promotion of a 1967 General called Vincent Varon. Varon was promoted to the position of General and normally this would be a happy and boisterous occasion, but you see Varon here was fighting in the Afak-Gonas war of 1967, the Afak-Gonas war was a war that involved two neighbouring countries;the Afaks and the Gonas, with the war in question started by the Gonas invading the Afak and by which the General in question was affiliated to, and to both parties surprise the invadors were losing the fight, I mean sure they won a few skirmishes and had the better gear and larger force but eventually they lost, why?", he said directing a question to the dull looking students, then at the front of the class, a tall chestnut haired girl with a bright red cashmere sweater raised her hand,"Yes Madeline"

"They lost because the resistance had 3 important factors; which are, factor 1, the Afik had a unique landscape which constituted a scorching desert with turbulent storms that was mildly difficult to navigate provided you knew the terrian which the natives obviously knew and was extremely skilled in, factor 2, the resistance was also shockingly tenacious and surprisingly well vested in guerilla warfare which the invadors found out the hard way, factor 3, the invadors were obnoxiously arrogant; believing that war was a short assured victory so they didn't bother to stock up on their food supply, bringing only 2 weeks worth of food believing that the invasion won't last more that a week which would turn out to be a grave mistake", then with a nod the teacher replied her,"Thank you Madeline, and I see you read in-depth too" and which she giggled and replied" it's nothing Mr Brad, just a student studying her favourite subject of her favourite teacher"

"Uggghh, teacher's pets are the worst"

"and she was even looking at him with dick sucking eyes, gross", the other students grumbled amongst themselves but both teacher and student ignored them and Mr Brad after a while continues

"Yes and the lack of food brings us to the current dilemma of the recently promoted general on the losing side of war. After waiting in vain for reinforcements it was starting to look bleak for the invadors; food was rapidly depleting,morale was at an all time low,and because of the harsh, unyielding weathers, tempers was flaring. The general knowing that the lack of food was going to make the already low morale lower was contemplating were to find food to feed his army as they couldn't hunt since the inhospitable desert was so barren even Scorpions and snakes where hard to come by,so what was a general to do, his side lost the war, his troops mental faculties were frailing and he had a wife, 12 children, a sick cat and a dog that was denying pregnancy", Laughter "And So he came up with a crazy idea, if the dying was going to die anyway and decompose, why no 'recycle' them for better options"

"Recycle them?, don't burying already compose them", one of the students thought out loud but was corrected by his seatmate, "Dude, it's decompose not compose, and besides he meant cannnibalism"

"Dude he didn't mean that, You're just too dark"

But Mr Brad's next comment buffudled the ignorant students

"So he suggested cannnibalism"

"Da fuck"

"Shit men, that escalated quickly"

"that's hardcore"

"Oh don't look so surprised, you would be befuddled by the extremes the mind can go when pushed, and from Varon's perspective his men were already hungry and they were also carry dead-weight so why not do it now and gain the much needed energy they need and figure out the consequences when on home-soil, so he called a vote among the remaining able-bodied men and as predicted that did not go well"

"His men were obviously enraged that their commanding officer could think of such a disgusting idea, some soldiers even had brothers amongst the injured but Varon already knowing of the outcome after his declaration countered with this statement 'what use do your morality or compassion matter when you already taking a stroll with death, if you do not try your best to survive now, you and your morality would be food for the wild rats by morning' but the men were still adamant about not resorting to that extent and some of the soldiers even questioned him about the soldiers that had family among the injured and in which he simply replied that if they were feeling squeamish, then they should eat only non family members or you can choose not to and become somebody's meal and be reunited with your relatives amongst the flies,and with that; outrage, panic and quiet contemplation became the order of the day and eventually the soldiers rejected the notion and threatened to outst him from authority if he suggested such a thing again", the teacher pause to catch his breath before continuing, "Well if you read the textbook you will later learn that it took them only three days, three days for the soldiers to succumb to the temptation and start devouring their injured brethren and because of that, they made it home. But not without being scarred mentally and emotionally and so the guilt got to some of them and they reported it to their king; Aroaf Attim the 3rd, shocked by such an act the king immediately ordered Varon's appearance and when questioned why he instigated such atrocities, he simply replied 'i never asked for the position of general but when the responsibility was vested on me I stood up and took charge, I simply proposed an idea and called a vote;a vote that was rejected by the way, and when death was knocking on our door we made the hard decision, I simply coordinated the act and besides I don't even blame them because as the leader I shoulder the consequence of my men's actions, but what I won't accept is the blame, you my king, ordered 20000 of my brothers to a war of no return and which we faithfully obeyed as loyal subjects and when we were being cut down like wheat, not only did you not bother to send a rescue team to save any survivors but instead you sat here getting fatter and busy fucking anything with a female genitalia, I might have blood in my hands but you have a stain in your soul and equally accountable in the Goddess sight', then the king outraged by such accusations ordered the immediate execution of the general citing the misuse of authority to plant evil thoughts amongst his men and hosting a cannibal feast amongst other allegations but the general did not refute the claims and was slated for a public execution and at his last hearing before his execution, he saw the angry, resentful and baleful gazes from the crowd and even his own spouse and family but he simply smiled and when asked to plead forgiveness before their deity;a custom held by the Gonas people, instead he boldly told the crowd in a loud voice saying 'everything I did, I did not for my own survival but for my men to make it as was the position and responsibility given to me by the former general so while I do feel great guilt and sadness for resorting to such extremes and feel for the affected and their kin but seeing my brothers that made it home even if not many gives me great satisfaction that I tried my best and I know the goddess will understand" and he was swiftly executed wearing a smile. From this reading we are given prime examples of physical and social cannniblism", at this point most of the students was enraptured with teaching and sat in attentive silence,"So as you could see the general was executed for going to extremes; read 'brink of insanity', to perform the duty allotted to him while the king; Mr Aroaf on the other hand was convienently forgotten in the whole situation even when he was the main cause of the disastrous massacre of his people. So that brings us to today's question class, what was worse, the physical or social cannniblism".

"What!!, the physical of course"

"It was the human eating for me"

"He ate people man"

"The social???"

They answered back with uncertainty but mr Brad just shakes his head and said "and that question was to see the people that did not have or even studied the textbook, if you did you would understand the general was left with no choice but to do things he would not normally do, so he suggested physical cannniblism but what people don't think about is that the ruler that caused them to be involved in that situation and felt no sense of regret or loss but rather continued to indulge his flesh by eating and being merry was involved in 'social cannibalism and while am not advocating cannibalism in any sense but today we are not talking about physical cannibalism but what the book refers to as 'social cannnibalism', human beings are lauded as higher animals and that title grants them ability to think in ways that lower animals can't, you would agree with me that in the present society, a man does not need to do more than lift a finger to cause a family or community somewhere to be annihilated, I mean look at industries like Wayne corp, goth corp, sivana industries etcetera, if today for example, funds is misappropriated or for some other reasons something bad was to happen to the company and the person in question is too high up to punish; say maybe the CEO, they can simply cut off people lower in the ladder to make up for it. Take the 2006 example where approximately 12584 workers was laid off from kalman inc., and immediately after that, plain Anarchy. Families ware on the streets killing and being killed, suicide was rampant, and crime rose 5.26% and when investigations was carried out on the cause, it was traced back mainly to the laid off workers of said company, because according to reports: amongst the laid-off workers, there were some that was supporting 2 to 3 families and so when the source was cut off, it collapsed like a pyramid of cards. The abnormal mass expulsion of workers indirectly affected almost 48 thousand persons, almost quadruple the initial numbers and when the company in question was probed, it was discovered the CEO gambled roughly 26 percent of the company monetary assets away and the company in a bid to run damage control decided to lay off workers and at the end of the whole crisis, the company was only sanctioned and fined a small amount while the CEO was given a 2 months probation in his Hawaii condo.", the teacher stopped to let the information sink in and he then continued,

"As you could see the company directly or indirectly caused so many deaths with so much blood on their hands and 'devoured' so much flesh but was let off with nothing but a slap on the wrist, now am not saying you should pick up arms or anything, am just tryna point out the fact that the higher you are up the social ladder the more likely you are to get away with 'social cannibalism' and it don't even have to be about eating people. Take an example if a man was to today, go around and kill 50 mentally ill people like convicted pedophiles and the like around his community because maybe his family does not feel safe, he would be called 'psycholopath of the century' and given the death sentence almost instantly, but big corporations could make 'mistakes' on their products and could kill 50 such innocent people, either their sanctioned or ordered to pay money to the deceased relatives and let me tell you kids, no matter how much the money you should NEVER equate that to human life. Crime is crime no matter who you are, but as you can see in our present 'evolved society' when you are high up on the ladder in society you have leeway and special privileges, society is like 'if you're rich and gonna do a crime be subtle about it, cause if we didn't see it you probably didn't do it', silence, so any questions before we move on. Yes Jacob"

"Where the soldiers from the earlier text boiled or roasted, Silence, what??"

"Fucck, what kind of question is that"

"I hate this class"

"Wait hold on guys,I read it somewhere that roasting it emits a scent that tricks your mind into thinking it animal meat"

Silence

"Damn you one sick twisted fuck, who fucking research about that specific topic"

"Wait hol'on I never said I res...."

"Fatso, So that why you are the only child, you probably swallowed all your siblings in your mother's belly" , with that the students broke out in laughter, and after it started getting rowdy the teacher stepped in

"Okay settle down, and no Jacob they wasn't boiled or cooked, as I was sayi..."

Adam POV

Sigh

Scribble, Scribble

'Gotta pay rent..$730....gonna get raped in the streets...$730 men...what to do... sigh, can't believe I lost it...fffuucccckk.... exhales ...need to think about how to get the money...buuuttt...if I was the commander I would probably get a few trusted men for the job,take the injured to a far away private burial site to be "honourably discharged" and slowly distribute the new found inventory over the next few days as enemy inventory, chuckles, I can just imagine the resulting conversation, 'sir, the enemy troops meat is of good type, pity my brother couldnt be here to taste it, by the way what type of meat is this', and I replying with a smile, 'your brother's', and booom you completely destroyed morale and caused PTSD;cannibal style edition, wait..... wasn't I suppose to hide the fact so as not to reduce my soldiers morale and prevent my execution...hmm....whatever I guess.., Exhales, I got sidetracked again, didn't i'

With a sigh I continued to scribble away in on my notepad, on the note I wrote

~~The Gun-fucker comes to try and gun fuck my brain for rent~~

Sigh

'Rent. the bane of every non-house owner, it like the monetary line that determines if you live in the street or if you live on the streets, and what is worst is that this is freaking Gotham, you know the place that if you fall once you either lay there or die; no middle ground, assuming if it were any other city maybe with hard work, dedication and good luck you might pick your self up but here you have three options join the mob or any supervillain that is hiring at that time and die, sell your ass and die, or lay there and you guessed it, die!!'

"Mr Lazarus, you look distracted.."

'fuck and here I keep having the foolish thought that life only fucks adults, well Gotham's fucks everyone no matter your age group, whether you are a young adult, teenager, and/or child, It Doesn't Care, it just sits there like a fat,sweaty, heavy breathing uncle,staring into your eyes like 'you dropping your pants or am I gonna have to teach you again', what a paedophile' shivers

"Mr Lazarus"

'...that was weird and oddly very specific....do i need therapy?'

"Mr LAZARUS!"

Sighs

With dull eyes I finally looked at the teacher who at some point was watching him intently.

"Yes Sir, any problem?"

"Do you know how long I was calling your name"

"No clue Sir, just you know distracted from reasoning some important life questions"

"Ohh Mr Lazarus, and what life questions were you reasoning"

"Nothing much, just my due rent"

"And what conclusion did you arrive at after all your pondering?"

"That am probably gonna die in the streets in 2..3.. yes in 3 days tops"

"While I don't wish that for any of my students no matter how ignorant and slow they are, that does not justify not listening to my lecture"

"I never said it did"

"Your due rent must really be getting to you because you are normally quiet and easily forgotten, I don't mind if you think about that but can you not do that in my class"

"Well sorry i can't stop my stress levels from rising but thinking about it at home is not helping and today was school so..."

"And you thought my class was the best place to ponder about something that you were too lazy to solve before it came knocking at the door"

'Too lazy?!, the fucking asshole didn't even ask why I was stressing about something so important now, he just assumes I procrastinated till the last moment.....you know what...his subtle cheap shots is getting on my nerves today, if he tries to use me as an example, shit is gonna hit the fan quick'

"You see students this is the prime example and effect of procrastination, something you could have done and save time and energy, you'd rather do other meaningless things, frolicking around and losing time for important things. It's.."

"Important things??, but am doing nothing important as of now"

"Nothing important?" He then shakes his head with a chuckle and continued "well seeing as you are in my class shouldn't that classify as 'important' "

I don't know why, if it's the stress getting to me or it was the self-importance he attached to himself and his subject but I suddenly burst out laughting; and mind you not mocking or provocative laughter but pure unadulterated laughter. And the more my laughter continued the more his expression darkened and after a while when I finally calmed down and was composed I replied,"Sir in all sincerity, you and your subject is not in anyway classified as 'important'. Your subject is like fat-slimming tea, only fooling dumb people and useless in the long run"

"Damn"

"What da fuck"

"Haaa, shit"

My classmates sat in baited breath to see the next shot fired and when the teacher tried to talk I cut him off again,"No offense sir but in a real life situation like a job interview, I think the last thing am gonna be thinking of or going to be asked about is 'social cannibalism' and am sorry but your subject can never meanfully help me in any real life situation, again No offense" and now the teacher was now visibly fuming and a student sitting next to me was gesturing under his desk for me to shut up but I ignored him and continued anyway,

"I mean if I was getting robbed at gunpoint;like in my everyday life, I don't think the robber is gonna be interested either, I mean if he was planning to just rob me and leave but because of this nonsensical rambling shooting out my mouth, he might just drop the gun and find a rusty old nail to kill my dumbass, why, just because. So if you can teach me anything meaningful it would be appreciated."

The teacher was so mad that he looked like he wanna jump my ass so that's when little mrs asshole-licker a.k.a teachers pet tried to jump in, she scoffs and said,"You idiot, what's your point? That his courses is irrelevant in everyday life?"

"Yeah but I don't discriminate, I think all subjects and/or courses are somewhat irrelevant in our current society but the shit am hearing is hhhmmm what's the word..retarded?.. redundant?...blamtly useless?..you know what? Whatever word that synonym with useless, that's probably it."

She then dramatically rubs her eyes in 'exhaustion'

'Bitch', I thought to myself with narrowed eyes and she then proceeded to talk in a tone you use when talking to a stupid child

"First of all, if every course in human history is as 'irrelevant' as you say then wouldn't the world be full of idiots like you?, if it was all irrelevant the why do you audiously sit confidently on a product of carpentry, confidently school in a product of engineering, I could go on and on but for the sake of everyone's time i well tell you straight, You are a fucking bigoted idiot with obviously little to no parental care who is angry that others are living content with their lives"

Silence

"You done?, first of all, all the things you mentioned is a product of human intelligence and initiative, even a fucking monkey, yes I mean a literal fucking monkey can learn to communicate in English if properly train but you won't want a monkey to teach you English now would you?. If you're stupid, no matter how many degrees you get, you're still a fucking idiot. But in all honesty, even if irrelevant, other courses are still useful in some way much more than this shit"

"So you think mathematics or English or even biology is gonna get you out of an everyday Gotham situation?."

" No, but atleast with a major in those, you might get a job and buy your car, live in central Gotham and won't causally be in that situation"

"You idiot, what guarrentee that with your job you'll buy a car"

Shrugs "None actually but atleast I can guarantee at least I will get a job no matter how small"

Ok now, she looked offended,"What does that mean"

"That history won't get you a job"

"Now you just lying and spewing out hot nonsense."

"Madeline am sorry, but selling fried chicken isn't a job"

"Damn"

But Madeline suddenly looked smug and with extra smugness replied,"Then let me tell you, you idiotic ignorant inconsistency, of a man called Louis throux, or a woman called Ellen barkin, or even the famous Steve Carell from award winning TV show 'the office' who've gone on to make millions and contributed heavily to society and are now forever etched into the fabric of history, so if you imbecilic monkey was to think before talking maybe you might not open your mouth to sprout such nonsense"

"Hmm, Well technically you are right, they did benefit directly or indirectly from studying history, I guess?"

"???..we'll that was ea.."

"But let's be real and let me tell you about the people that didn't benefit in any sense, 1, obviously you since you are schooling here, 2, your father; yes I know your father is a historian, and why him? Cause duhh you are schooling in this shit hole, 3, your father's coursemates obviously, 4, your father's coursemates families, 5, your father's history teacher's, your father's history teacher's family, your father's history teacher's teacher and his family, and let's not forget our beloved teacher himself, who not only did not benefit it but is now stuck in the hell hole of a place and can only struggle to survive by selling cheap point paper with nonsensical topics and calling them 'school recommended texts', I mean I could go on..."

At every reference Madeline mouth starts quivering and tears starts building up in her eyes while Mr Brad face continually darkened, the class was now quiet and Mr brad in a retrained tone said.

"Mr Lazarus, I see and pity at your plight that the weight and pressure of your current situation is affecting your perception, but that does not give you the right to bully your classmate and disrupt my class, now apologize at this instance"

'What's with this guy and false pity'

" Well sincerely sir, fuck you, I don't need your false pity, you are out here spewing hot garbage and twisting people mind to fit your views which in the long course won't help them at all."

"ADAM!, leave my class and head to the principal office before I do something you and I will regret"

With a scoff I get up and start to pack my bag,

"Well won't want to go to jail for murder and assault, I mean won't want all your hard-earned points to waste now would we?"

After packing my bag, i stared at the teacher dead in the eyes and said,"And besides what do you think would happen to your dear Madeline all alone in Gotham, nothing good I imagine"

"Are you threatening HER!"

"What??, nooo sir, but am starting to really worry for your mental health, all this anger must be making you irrational because you are suspiciously too emotionally invested in your student, i won't want anybody maybe I don't know the points officer to think your relationship with said students extendes past the school settings", and I ended the dialogue with a smirk. Mr brad face suddenly paled but i just just ignored him and walked passed him, on the way to the exit I stop and say,

"And you're here preaching the injustice and wickedness of social cannniblism but yet you do nothing to stop it except trying to brainwash young malleable students to use an ideology you don't follow while systematic pressuring them to buying your books even knowing they have struggling families, bro if you are gonna teach a failing subject atleast practice what you preach ma boi"

With that I left the quiet class

Principal office

Adam POV

'Gotham. the place where you are actively committing suicide just by existing'

Sigh

"Adam, are you listening"

"Unfortunately yes", I said to the man sitting across from me: Principal Jonathan: a man in his early fifties with signs of gray hair but had large built with a weathered face that had semi-permanent 'frown lines'

Sighs "What am I gonna do with you Adam"

Stares

"Look Adam, I get arguing with the teacher with school stress and the like, hell I even understand fist to face contact, but threatening your female class mate, that's just wrong"

I raised my eyebrow and replied,

"So you think because you add the word 'female' that it will unconsciously make me regretfully, Scoffs, sorry but I don't discriminate gender"

"What no, that not what I... Sighs, Adam why do you make it so hard to communicate"

I just continued to stare at him with a blank expression so he continues saying,

"Adam,look am trying to help you but you are making it difficult and I'm sure the board will be on my ass as your guarrentor. I mean look, I get you're stressed with living alone and all but that does not give you the right to have you..."

"Can I stop you there sir, sincerely I don't agree with that statement, I am stressed I agree and am working to fix that, but that you say you understand doesn't help because believe me you don't understand half of it"

"Then tell me let me help you, is it about the rent Adam"

"Haaa, help he says, and by that you mean paying my rent, well 'Sir' if you really want to 'help' you can start by telling my slut of neighbour that maybe 1am isnt a good time to start business, especially with paper thin walls"

"Adam"

Ignoring him I continued my rant, "Ohhhh I know, maybe telling my psycholopath of a landlord that pointing guns to people face because he believes no one will do shit isn't helping or maybe advising our budding neighbourhood gangsters that constantly terrorising people isn't good for mental health, but let me guess you can't do that can you?"

"Adam, Sighs, I didn't know it was that bad, am really sorry, but you can run the total cost and I will see what I can do....or you could come and st.."

"Let me stop you there Sir, I don't need your money or the 'privilege' to accommodate with you seeing as it won't be good for my breaking mental fortitude"

"Adam am sorr.."

"Bro stop saying you're sorry, it ain't gonna fix shit, because we all know that at the end of the day pity and regret only occur when the damage is already done, and you repeating it every other week is annoying"

Silence

"Will there anything else sir"

"....no"

"Then I will take my leave Sir"

And with that statement I got up, turned around and left the office.

General POV

The principal just sat in the office in silence, with a sigh he opened and reached into his drawer and brought out a cigarette, in the drawer a photo frame was there with a photo of a man and a little girl

'Scene break'

Adam POV

Walking through Gotham even in a freaking full blown afternoon; which means murky and soot filled weather was dangerous, I had to evade 3 differnt muggings in the same block, 'living in this place is a different hell on its own, Sigh , am really gonna die here ain't I....ok enough with the emo-thoughts, can't worry on an empty stomach' and with that though I finally arrive at my destination, looking across the street I sighted a burger joint with a huge sign that read 'Wankers fast burgers' but I stood there calculating my current asset; read $26, Shrug 'well can't plan evil with an empty stomach' and with that i crossed the road, align the joint and stepped in, and as I entered I noticed a short line of people forming in front of a counter and with another sigh; which I noticed am doing a lot this week, joined the queue

"Can I get 2 burgers and a large milkshake to go"

"Will that be all sir"

The customer at the front just stared at the waiter with deadpan eyes that said 'bro what else do you think I was gonna get', and which the waiter just chuckled and replied,

"Just wait, when it's done good sir, it will be promptly handed on to thee by me, Sir Hambugee Mcshake"

'Oh a joker?? That's new' and with that statement I assessed the Cashier from where I was standing at the back of the line; He was a Caucasian with blond hair, kinda good looking guy I guess, had an average height and build and he looked like all those fresh outta school ivy-college frat boys that the TV try to portray, I mean he even has those cool looking red jacket hoodies, but must importantly he looked clean and happy

'Ok now I was confused, A new Cashier?? What happened to the other guy and is he smiling?? Da fuck. In Gotham nobody smiles around this parts; even criminals living in this side of hell, well maybe he's all those killers that look nice but eats people hair and shit' and I guess the woman behind the man at the front was curious too cause she asked him,"You new here, you look like you are not from around this parts of the wood"

" You mean to this establishment??,I mean I jus..."

"No, she means to Gotham in general, of course everybody can see you're new here"

"Of course, yes sirre, born and breed full-blooded gothamite"

"Which part of Gotham and why did you sound proud??"

"Hmm,ehh on the north coast??"

'Ok now am sure that something is wrong here, only rich assholes frolicked in the north coast, so either his lying or he's lying', and I didn't believe his mouth and so did the other people in my front cause it must have showed on their face because the waiter hurriedly continued,

"I know I know, people always look at me like that when I say that, but is true, I am from the north coast"

Still disbelieving the woman said, "And you are here because of??"

"It's a little weird but am here because of The Batman"

'Damnit I knew he had to be a psycho but I didn't know he was those budding supervillain type' and from the corner of my eye I notice people trying to discreetly head to the door

"Why y'all looking at me li...Oh...ohhh, no don't misunderstand,I didn't mean like those nutjobs in Arkham asylum. I mean like Batman is my role model, and while I can't go into the night and fight crime like a badass at least I can come here and put a smile on people's faces"

'Whhhaàt, that's one crappy origin story, poor kid is gonna get stabbed soon I can feel it, and stupid mistake, you should have kept that part of where you came from to your self' I could already feel the greed that was starting to permeate the air.

"Hmm okayy?, can I get my order to go"

"Oh sorry, here it is"

"Thanks, I guess??"

Then the man stepped out of the line and when it was the woman's turn, the waiter received a phone call and excused himself and while talking into it, picked up the remote control and changed the current program on the television to a news channel

'...ther young girl's body was found disfigured and brutally butchered, police are still investigating into this and trying to uncover the people or person behind this continually gruesome killings. Since the first grisly murder 2 months ago, the police have after persistent investigation linked the killings to cult demented sacrifices and while the police aren't sure which cult or the motive, the general public is advised to keep a close eye and to promptly report any suspicious activities in their immediate environment. The police is also asking parents or guardians that have filed missing child reports in the past week to come forward as to help identify the body, and als...'

Then a disgruntled customer loudly spoke," Hiss, like Gotham didn't have enough psychopaths already, but whatever I guess", what he said got grunts of agreement from his fellow customers but the cashier tried to;for some reason, invoke empathetic feelings and hope in the indifferent crowd and told them,

"Damn that so horrifying and scary, Sighs, what kinda animal does that to innocent children, I just hope that one day Batman will clean the streets anf Gotham will be a place where people can walk around freely and happily"

'yeah, he is sooo getting stabbed'

But all he got for his declaration was cold, indifferent looks from the customers then a man looking lackadaisical to the news said with a bored tone,"Look boy, enough with the nonsense, personally if you want me to be 'happy and free', then change the god-damned channel, the game is about to start and I have stakes in it"

"Sir can't you wait a little longer, the news might release more information so as to.."

"And so??"

"Si.. sir can't... Don't you feel anything about this news, not even empathy or sympathy?"

"No actually, I don't actually care as from my tone, I'd rather watch the game and hope that I gain atleast a few bucks to find a warm body for the night. Scoffs, and kid leave empathy for rich and dead people, I already listen to enough shit today and I don't need no extra shit as I'm currently digesting my food because just hearing the word Gotham is enough bad news to last a lifetime and aren't you 'born and bred gothamite' so am confused as why you are shocked to our 'normal gothamly indifference'"

The waiter was saddened by that statement and stares ahead with a gloomy expression, which must annoyed the customer behind the woman at the front;a quite frankly heavily tattooed man ('we will call him "Mr Tattoos"', because he started yelling,"Look kid, that shit on the news is gonna look like child's play if you don't give me my lunch". But the waiter appeared to be lost in thought so the man was ignored and when the man looked ready to carry through with his threat that's when the waiter finally snapped out of it, exhales slowly and smiles at the man, "okay Sir what will you be having" and after getting his order turns around and heads into the kitchen. He comes back out after like 2 minutes with a packed meal, "Here you go sir, one deluxe burger and a cold milkshake to go"

"Finally bitch....you know what?, for ruining my mood I ain't gonna pay shit."

"No worries, it's on me"

Mr Tattoos scoffs and reaches for it but the woman at the front of the line was not having it so she said,"yo dumbass, am at the front why did you give it to this guy behind me", so waiter replied,"ohh that, grins mischievous, that's because I made it 'very special' and extra creamy", with that statement everyone in hearing range including me had a bewilded expression, but no one was more perplexed as the man reaching for the meal who had to stop and ask the waiter,"What do you mean by that?"

"Nothing I just add something 'extra', that's all"

Mr Tattoos still looked at him with an unconvinced look questioned him further,"What's inside this burgers men"

"Nothing just lettuce, meat, mayonnaise, mayonnaise chuckles, tomatoes, cu..."

"Hol on, why did you repeat mayonnaise twice and did you chuckle"

"No" the waiter replied with a smile, Mr Tattoos now looking increasingly enraged told him,"Look men, I don't feel safe with the meal, so if you could you walk me through the process of this burgers creation I will be happy, punk"

At this point the manager; a well built middle age man, came out of his office because of the ensuring commotion and ask the waiter,"Is there any problem" but it was Mr Tattoos that replied,"Let's hope not for his sake"

"Hmm okk, I don't see the problem here but seeing as I have to satisfy the customer, firstly when the seamen wa...."

"WHAT!! Semen, are you fucking with me you bitch"

He the smack the food from the counter and tried to jump over it to get to the retreating cashier but was quickly restrained by the manager and other customers.

"LET Me GO, Amma KILL this FUCKER!"

So now the manager and two customer and the chef; who at some point came out from the kitchen and was actively trying to restrain the enrageed man, and so after what felt like hours of grunting and sweaty arms rubbing each other, the walking human pictograph finally ran out of steam before settling down. "Sir, am very very sorry for my employee behaviour, he is very stupid but is a good person who won't do such a thing",said the manager in a calming tone in a bid to placate his disgruntled customer

"Did you motherfuckers hear the shit he said, he was serving me ffffuuucvckkinng c.." but the cook quickly cut him off before he exploded again saying,"Sir sorry it's just a joke, he's new here, and I can promise and vouch that it was me that cooked and prepared the meal and i was fully aware if any other activities was going on, so i can guarantee that he is just lying", but the restrained man was still looking unconvinced so the cook continued, "Sir if you're still not convinced i can take you to the kitchen and let you watch me prepare another burger for you and even give you a one month coupon for 50% off of anything bought by you"

After hearing that the man finally stops and just stood there watching the semi-unconcerned looking cashier, he just grins nastily and told the waiter.

"Oh a jokester I see,be careful kid they don't last long out here"

With that said he shrugs off the cautious, retreating manager-cook duo, and after telling the manager he won't be needing neither the coupon nor the meal on counts of no appetite, turns around and heads for the exit, but as he was reaching for the handle he stops and turns to the unbothered cashier and with another dark smirk and told him loudly,"Be careful when you move the next few days" and which waiter still looking unfazed replied,"Hmmmm okay?, weird much"

'yeah, he's totally getting stabbed but whatever, have to go home now' and with the incidence having past, calm returned and the line moves till it finally reaches my turn, I ordered and got my meal to go but the stress must really be bothering me today cause I broke out of my usual character and tried to advise him,

"Do not walk alone when you get off and don't try to be a hero no matter in any situation and maybe we might meet again in the future" and without waiting for him to reply I turned around and left.

'Scene break'

After carefully navigating the streets of hell, I finally arrive at a building that looked like it was on the government list of soon to be demolished sites;which am sure it was,the building had the word 'unsafe' in its name and after carefully walking through the rusty and bullet ridden gate and I saw a man resting? on an old mat taking in the sunlight;does Gotham have sunlight,I think the default weather is dreary and depressed, and why was he; who till this day I do not know his name, always laying there looking half-dead, I mean you could come in at any time even in the middle of the freaking night and you will always without fail find him here and weird fact nobody has ever seen him eat but everyone just chalk it up to 'normal gothamite behaviour'.

"He is looking for you" the man in question said out loudly and I am still confused to this day cause he always seem to know when somebody enters the vicinity no matter how quiet you are; trust me, I've tried.

Sigh, and the 'HE' in question is the landlord:Mr Croba;no last name, a middle-aged black man is a bear sized vague humanoid with a twisted looking hunchback, had a mouth with teeth that had more holes in it than conspiracy theories and an even uglier leer that made anything feel unsafe even inanimated objects and let's no forget about his love for shooting people with his 'old Betty', a gun that look as crocked as the owner, rumours has it he and Betty have many moments, apparently any hole works I guess

Shrug

"Thanks?"

I then proceeded to sneak up the crocked stairs with proper precaution; which was removing my sneakers and creeping upstairs barefooted. After careful tiptoeing I finally arrive on my floor, but before I could insert my key and thank miss Gotham for not being on her period today, she then showed me that I didn't know jack shit about women or their periods, and that came in the form of our 'favourite and well liked landlord'; who for the life of mine wondered where the fuck he spawned out from, decided to 'warmly' welcome me with,"Where's my money nigga".

With a internal sigh, i turned to him with a polite smile and with a questioning tone asked him,"like bro where did you spawn from?, don't tell you were standing there all day waiting for me to come back"

"No, I just decided to wait here when I was sure your school have closed for the day"

"But I actually came home early, I still have like..3 hours till my school closes"

"I Know but today my gut told me to wait for you ahead of time, Laughs Gotham must be really tryna fuck your ass today"

"Haha funny (insert sarcastic laughter) but really just wow, I mean that's what I call dedication"

"Trying to lick my asshole won't allow you to excape lil bro.." and I was just confused, 'lil bro? Who da fuck is his lil bro?', "so I repeat, where is my money"

And with that I held up my shoes,"Would you believe me if I said I was robbed and I had to run so hard I forgot to wear my shoe" and by which he replies with an unconvinced look," first of all, I don't really care neither do I give a shit and second don't pull that 'i was totally not sneaking barefooted' it doesn't work and thirdly I don't give a flying fuck cause you could have kept it under your bed or something shithead"

"Well that will be stupid seeing as there's that underlying issue such as you having my apartment key and ehh you know, the fact that you might rob me", and he then smacked his head in sarcastic 'realization',"ohhh sorry, how could I forget about that underlying issue, I mean it even keeps me up at night but anyways, Clears throat I don't give a single fuck"

"Of course you don't"

"Look get me my money by tomorrow or your pretty ass is in the streets for any crack-head to bust a nut"

"Okay Mr landlord Sir"

" I mean won't want you to become my new live target for my shooting practice" he ended with a dark look but I just replied with nonchalance,"I thought you had a club of like minded individuals"

"Well I was suspended for being too air quotes 'rough with the targets', Sighs they just aren't as sturdy as they used to be", he finished with bashful look, 'euhhg disgusting' I thought to myself trying my best to not shiver in disgust.

"Come when you either have my money or have a bullseye printed on your back and I promise to only use rubber, just ask Mr Clement"

And with that sentence he walked away

"You mean the same Mr Clement that got a live bullet to his brain"

And then he stopped and turned to me saying after a short while,

"Mr Clement was an accident, you know am old, I mistakenly switched up the real and fake bullets and besides the police have been over this, and they have properly investigated and found the truth"

"I don't think you paying for them to use my neighbor's service as 'investigation'"

"Whatever, besides he signed a contract"

"A contract that was signed after his accident"

" Laughs Well, the court didn't think so"

And with that he left and I just stood there for a while deep in thought but with another internal sigh I turned to open my door and when I was entering, the landlord head suddenly popped out the corner again and asked,

*Ohh and by the way whatever happened to Mr Cement"

I then stopped and corrected him, "Clement"

" Chuckles Sorry, old age, I mean Mr Clement"

"Why do you ask"

"Just wanna be a good landlord and ask after a former tenant"

"Well after you kicked him out I didn't bother to ask around"

And I promptly entered my apartment and shut my door leaving him in the hallway and slowly slid down against the down with my back till I was sitting on the floor and put my head in my hands and dully stared at the floor

'He died'

After he was taken to the hospital and declared brain dead, he was returned with treatment that looks like it was done by children and heaps of debt, and on the grounds of him being brain dead and no longer being able to continue paying for rent the landlord kicked him out without compensation whatsoever and his crack head of a son came and took him away, a few hours later that day his body was found sans his organs, forensics said his sons fingerprints was the only one found at the scene and let's say it painted a grim picture

Sigh

The only reason our 'forgetful' landlord would ask me that question was to remind me of the series of events that led to that and to psychological intimidate me

'Ahhh fuck' I thought while looking at my shaky hand

Scoffs 

It worked

'Fuck, but I have been pondering about what to do for the past week, should I just sell drugs??, too slippery of a road and no street cred, sell organs??... Na too grim, while I won't even puke if I killed somebody or saw a dead body, I won't adventure through their body for a couple a hundred bucks.... and besides no street cred, home invading?....na this is Gotham, where everybody and their dying grandma has a double Glock tucked somewhere, and even if I do escape I would probably be shot down by the neighbours, hell for all I know the owner or the neighbours could capture me and sell my parts and or be raped and I don't have enough street cred to get me out of any rough patch, so noooooooo, fuck I just noticed that am lacking street cred to run a lotta shit, after all this amma join a gang or something, so am outta options which means....'

"Fuck I gotta rob a bank", I said out-loud.

After glaring at my bag for like 20 minutes straight I just end up laughing in self mockery

"I guess there goes my appetite"

I then picked up my bag and left my apartment

'Scene Break'

For hours I was just wandering about, thinking of how to go about it, and like every tenant living in the building controlled by the devil in Fortnite human skin I just considered killing the guy but like every other tenant I knew it was just implausible, the madman was as crafty as they come, he doesn't leave the house to buy anything even groceries but rather send local gangbangers, and if he does leave for his usual bi-weekly shooting practice, he's will be in an entourage of the local thugs

Sigh 'Oh Gotham. For you to make a teenager think about robbing his own landlord, you really do dispise the weak, but what am I gonna do, if I rob a bank, I might be fucked but if I don't I WILL be fucked, and last time that I checked MIGHT is a probability while WILL is not'

'Gee, planning to rob a bank is hard, why can't it be like those movies where my friends comes in my time of need and devise a plan that looked crazy but worked'

And while I was in thought I unconsciously wondered back to the burger joint vicinity and when walking by an alley and i heard some dull sounds

Sluchh

Sluchh

I stopped because I and every gothamite know that sound anywhere; that is the sound of metal penetrating flesh and so I look around and notice people lowering their heads and hurrying past the alley so I shrugged and continued on my way

'Hmmm, well not my probl...'

But then I heard footsteps coming from the alley behind me and I discretely turn my head around to see a man casually walk out the alley with blood blochs over his shirt with confidence and nonchalance trying to see anybody that would stop him but people just lowered their heads and walked by faster and at that time a patrolling policeman saw this but in that moment chose to be partially blind and took off with an extra spring to his steps, the man seeing this just smirks and walks away while whistling a jousty tone, normally I would have Ignored the incidence and continue my journey but my mind told me that I knew the man so then I tried to place his face then it came to me, 'Wait,isn't that guy from the burger joint....wait could it mean that.... Nahh I warned the kid...but he did look stupid..... You know what... Doesn't even concern me'

Then i briskly walk away and after walking for a while I come by a colourful looking poster, I could have just Ignored it and walk away but for some reason my legs won't move and I was standing there just fixated at it

~~Do you want guaranteed Gotham city balance points, then worry no more, work with us at struas and sons. today and we can guarantee that you would be awarded a balance point at the end of every session, come and stand a chance to get up to 50 POINTS, call 341...~~

'Balance points....that word is awfully triggering'

Flashback

"I had to.."

"HAD TO!!!, you fucking bastard, you destroyed my life, for what that stupid BITCH"

"Adam shut your fucking mouth, you will no talk abou..."

"Spare me the bullshit William fuckspeare, FUCK you and everyone of you Motherfuckers"

"Adam you should calm..."

"NOOOO!, you destroyed my life for her...why...I thought you were helping me"

"Adam I was.."

"Then why then, why will do this you fu..."

"OK you want the truth, Well it's Because you are a bad person Adam"

I just stood there in shock and bewildment and to my eternal disgrace start stammering like an idiot,

"I..I..but...am not.."

"This place has already infected you like a tumor, don't you see that, your mindset has already being twisted radically from normal people and they did not need that"

Silence

"So when it came down between you or her....I did the right thing"

.....

"And I stand on that"

Flashback ends

'Hmmm, weird, snorts, what a stupid memory'

'... whatever'

With a scoff I continued my journey but stops once again

' Sorry, I did the best....radically.... mindset'

Sigh

And with a demeaning chuckle I turned around and headed back to the alley and on the way I felt around my backpack for my 'instrument' and after confirming it's presence I reached in to retrieve and wear my glove, and with that I was set, so on nearing the alleyway I heard some barely audible sound and got closer and hear low rambling,

"Should we...gonna fetch a fine price.... breathing...not gonna matter anyways... suffering"

As i quietly walk into the alleyway and peered ahead I saw grimly looking people; perhaps beggars gathered around something, muttering and mumbling amongst themself

"France where's the knife"

"I don't know Jupiter, nickel was the last.."

"Hey don't be lying on me when am here men"

"Well it doesn't matter, the knife was rusty anyway"

"You fucking asshole, that was the group knife"

"Look guys, calm down, France is right the knife was rusty and they told us harvesting organs with it might ruin the product"

And that particular statement brought a grimace to my face

'Harvesters'

Gotham has 3 main businesses; Drugs, Guns and last but not in anyway the least:human trafficking and Body farming; commonly known as organ selling or harvesting, and it was so bad and rampant that research was made into it and in 2016, the department of statistics showed that no less than 500 organs are collected or traded per-week therefore making Gotham the world's foremost organ trader, the business makes 420 million dollars annually which is 40.2% of the global organ trafficking revenue, and 60% of said stock inventory comes from Gotham being the storage point of other organ trafficking states which was aptly called 'Organ laundering' while the other 40% is 'locally sourced'.

"O fuck off man, you just defending him cause he is giving you ass"

And that statement escalated the argument to a scruffle but ended when one of them, a huge woman with a jagged scar on her face wearing a dirty suit shirt got up from her crouching position and leered down at her cohorts,

"Ohh shut up everybody, if we are too loud, others gonna try to investigate, and we don't want falcone's men to find a fresh body now do we?"

With grimaces on their faces, they reluctantly stopped arguing and so she continued,

"Just use mine, but know if we start dividing up the body, I get first pick on the organs, and before y'all start arguing again, y'all know am the only one that the clinic allows to bring the organs, and I am also the only one that has a clean knife, and if one of you decide that you still not gonna comply, let's just say hearts are gonna double by the end of the day, capeishe"

With that the others reluctantly bowed their head in submission, the woman; who I can only assume is the leader, satisfied brought out a clean dagger then one of the grumbled,"Damn backbone, you being extra greedy tonight" but she just ignored him and instructed them,

"Now kill the kid and put him outta his misery."

When I saw them moving with murderous intent that was when I decided to make myself known

"You know tryna harvest a body is frowned at in every culture right"

"Da fuck!!!"

"Wha??"

"Hmm, shit"

They stopped and all turned to stare at me with dull,dead eyes

"Well maybe not those ancient tribes, shit was bloody back then but modernized cultures...wait... would it still be classified as a culture if it was modernized..hmm. food for thought"

"What's he yammering about"

"Look kid, walk away and maybe you'll live till 20" but I just smirked and replied,

"Why go when I got fresh organs all gathered in one place"

POV Change

'Who is this kid..he feels.... dangerous... maybe he is just mind fucking us'

Malory Connor aka backbone was an experienced woman, when she was thrown into this cultists gathering called Gotham, she was scared and naive; well as naive as a convicted serial killer could be, so like every human in a modern society when entering a foreign hostile environment she tried to find a peer group to hopefully survive this dark side of hell, blissfully and ignorantly thinking that she was part of the small group of people in the world that has seen and done the worst evil known to human but she discovered gothamites can't even be considered humans anymore and so she got aids and a scarred face as a welcome bonus, so she like any animal finding themselves in a hostile environment, she adapted and evolved, and o boy did she evolved. She evolved from being human to being part of the devil's far cousins, she went from being psychopathic serial killer of a closed community to the devil's errand girl, she killed so much that even she was disgusted, the things she did killed her mental state every fucking moment but she had hope, because a points officer working for Romero's mob said if she can raise $35k he might be able to grant her enough points and give her a chance to enter the waiting list to leave this hell hole even if not to other American states but at this point she'd even accept the dirtiest parts of Africa as long as she got out,

'I know he said just a chance but I didn't fucking care, I would even go to fucking Iraq and it would still make me happy' normally if other people heard they had to raise 35k without any source of income they would have been bothered and worried but not gothamites, getting money was not an issue as long as you know you might have to lick the devil's anus and know full well that you might die from it, so for 6 months she killed 5 times as hard, havested twice as fast and buried her consciousness in the shambles of her torn psyche because she had done it....because finally tonight is the night

"Why go when I go fresh organs all gathered in one place"

'This kid...who is he anyways and why is he smirking....I have a bad feeling about this, in Gotham when a young person sees full grown people with a knife and smirks, they're either crazy strong or messed up in the head, and besides he had no scars that were visible which is a major red flag because in Gotham everybody has visible or semi-visible scars so those that don't are either living in the elite coast or so good that others can't leave a scar on them,'but then again he is a kid so maybe I am just worrying over nothing and besides I ain't picking a fight for no reason when freedom is so close'.

"Look kid just go and nobody gets hurts gotta"

"Ya go and we won't get dangerous"

But instead the kid just sighs and drops his bags, and start popping his neck and stretching his shoulders before replying,

"I was looking for rent, but who knew rent was also waiting for me, so you see, it's super hard and stressful to try and corner people in an isolated alley cause you homeless gang-bangers are getting smarter and parents are more mindful of their children"

With every word outta his mouth, my blood chilled faster; sure in my years as a gothamite I've heard crazier shit than that but the way he said it in a calm and slow tone I could feel something bad about to happen so I continued threatening him,

"Look kid, we don't want to murder a stupid kid"

Then he stopped and reaches into his bag and I narrow my eyes,

'Hmmm, don't tell me he has a gun, no guns aren't allowed to Gotham citizens for public use; no matter your status, unless you are in a mob or with a big baddie and this kid does not look like a gangster unless he is a probe.....wait is this a gangwar...shit...nooo...my luck can't be that bad, right??'

But to my shock he brought out a.... A fucking hamburger and started eating it.. infront of us,

"Sorry, I didn't eat from the crib, you Know contemplating who to kill and all, well can't harvest on an empty stomach, and you people are Tony's men right"

'OOokkk now am pissed', and so was my comrades cause they start clenching their various weapons with dark expressions,

"Yeh and what of it"

"Nothing really and besides it won't matter anyways cause the others are coming so I gotta rack up the points before boss gets here"

'Fffuuukkck this is a gangwar, fffuuuuckkk, buutt there was no signs of a war, is he falcone's or capi's, fuck is it black mask, that bastard', as i was inwardly hyperventilating and planning my next move, the ever slow Nickel questioned him,

"Wait, who are you, what is this about more of you"

But he just smirks and quietly continues to eat his sandwich, 'he's fucking with us and I ain't gonna lie my nerves are taut with tension right now', as i look out the corner of my eye I notice the others are starting to fidget. And so there we were, tensed and ready to attack this seemingly unconcerned looking kid and after what felt like hours, he finally finishes his sandwich and reaches into his bag to retrieve his hammer, that's when I know shit was about to reach fan level and Venus discreetly mouthed to me if we should run and I really wanted to just leave and avoid unnecessary trouble cause logic dictates that we shouldn't leave chance to probability.... but as I looked around and saw the reluctance in their eyes because of the fact that didn't want to abandon this ripe fruit, I then turned and looked at the kid on the he floor who was getting closer to the reaper

'I just need 5k and am out of this hell hole....just 5k....',I clenched my fist around my knife, 'and this kid looks worth more than 5k..the problem is if I leave his body,...will i get another healthy one like this next time...'

There's a theory that says every gothamite knows the day they will die, it like a 6th sense they get from surviving everyday in this living hell.

'and I.. can feel....that I don't have to the end of the week...'

'This ain't fair.... didn't I try....i am so close....No...Noooo.. NOOO...you know what...fuck this kid, fuck his boss, fuck Gotham,I AIN'T STAYING HERE FOR ONE MORE FUCKING DAY.'

Adam POV

I tried to mindfuck them and get them to leave peacefully by implying I was in a gang and war was imminent and it was working, but then the the leader who was already on the brink of losing her resolve all of sudden looked angry before staring at me with steely, dead eyes and then I knew shit was about to get rough and then she said with a smirk,

"Nah, we good, besides if we cut you up the boss might just reward us", she finally replied after firming her resolve and then indicated for her men to approach me.

"Ohhh"

'Well looks like Gotham is still using my luck as an assplug, well sigh whatever I guess'

The situation was very tense so much that all it needed was a slight movement to trigger every participating individual's animalistic instincts but then Suddenly I notice movement out of the corner of my left eye and promptly crouched, dodging an overhead strike aimed at my skull and in a fluid motion viciously swung my hammer in a wide arc backwards, the attack was however skillfully dodged by my sneak-attacker; a rough looking man with an oversized coat wielding a rusty pair of scissors, who then tried to quickly backtrack away

'A lookout, tryna stab me are ya Glare, you picked the wrong guy'

While still crouching I twisted my body to balance myself and launched my hammer at full speed aimed at his chest, my would-be attacker was not expecting this and didnt have time to react before he had a hammer lodged in his ribcage and already i could hear his associates running at me so I grabbed my bag and lunged at the man, before he could recover from the trauma to his chest I used my open bagpack to wrap his head and pivoted myself while exerting force and threw him at his incoming associates, one unlucky fellow couldn't get out of the way in time before the makeshift missile crashed against his face and with a sickening crunch of broken bones tumbled to the ground with his projectile of a friend and both of them rolled up into a mess of limbs and groaning sounds. The others were quick to recover and tried to attack me while I was weaponless but I was already near my hammer so I ducked when the first guy that ran up to me swung his rusty wrench and picked up my hammer and making sure it was the sharp end thrusted it into his thigh before viciously dragging it upwards till I lodged it in his chest area, ignoring the spurting blood and his violent screams I rapidly push him backwards against his partner using him as a meat-shield against his partners knife attacks;who for some reason or just in plain nervous response continued to stab his partners' body trying to cut through him to get to me?, and after pushing them to a choke-point, I waited till I heard him stab his partner deeply i then dislodged my hammer and grabbed the miserable man's head and rammed it against his partners' head that was behind him before bending him forward and smashing his dazed partner in the throat with the blunt side of the hammer. While all this was happening one of them climbed a garbage bin to get over the choke-point I created and initiate an aerial attack but I was already one-step ahead and removed the knife that was in the body of man I was holding and stab the foot of the man on the garbage bin and dragged it downwards splitting his foot in two and when he scream and involuntary bent over I used the knife to stab his throat, and yet all this while their leader just stood there looking dazed and lost.

'Hmmm weird, she looked professional and hardboiled so what caused her to freeze up like this'

"Monster" I heard her say in a tiny voice.

POV change {Malory Connor}

'What just happened??....is this real??...this wasn't a street fight th..this was like a training exercise with moving dummies...this wasn't how it was supposed to go....our lookout was suppose to sneak behind him and kill him or even just injure him...then the others will finish him off...b...but...but he killed all of them without a SINGLE FUVVCCKINNG SCRATCHHHH...and all it took was 20 to 30 fucking seconds...the time itself had me, me an experienced fighter, me a bonafide gothamite rooted to the floor in disbelief...I knew this kid was dangerous but this is ridiculous...what is he....is he a meta like Batman.....or is he a demon from the pits of Gotham???'

"Monster", I said in a soft, shaky tone and he must have heard me because he stopped and looked at me before.... smiling.

"Monster", I said again but this time more audible and yet still shaky, my heartbeat was racing, my palms were sweaty and itchy, and my adrenaline was pumping but yet....i knew....this wasn't excitement or normal fear...this was more...I could feel tears prickle my eyes ducts...this was an instinctive fear of death.

'Am gonna die here ain't i'

Chuckles

" I don't believe there still room for dialogue, is there??", I said in a forlorn and bitter tone but he just casually walked over to our lookout body and remove the bag over his head before replying me in a bored tone, "Sorry,am on a winstreak and if I stop here lady Gotham is gonna get mad and use me as a dildo"

"She really is a bitch ain't she" I replied with a mocking laughter

"Hey", he said while shrugging,"what can you do right?".

If someone was to pass by and hear our conversation their would think it's two friends complaining about the average Gotham life.... that's if they ignored the gurgling sounds of blood clogged throats and groans of pain.

"So shall we?", he said while gesturing with his hammer

"Let's", I replied while raising my knife in a attack position before rushing forward yelling,"AAAARRRRRHHHHHGGG"

'I.....I.....am not making it out alive....am I??...'

Adam POV

'Damn, that woman was tough', I thought to myself while lightly limping to my objective that brought me into this situation, 'she fought like a mad beast, bitch was crazy as fuck', I reach the body on the floor before crouching down and turning him over before trying to check if he still had a pulse

'Woah', I thought in mid-suprise as I saw the macabre sight before me, he had so many knife holes in his chest and stomach area that it was awe-inspiring like he had went into a knife parade in a chest first position, 'Am already too late, Sigh, Damn, the man sure did a number on him, it's almost like the man was releasing all his childhood sexual tension on him so it makes me wonder how the harvesters were gonna sell his organs...I mean i don't think anyone will buy a liver full of holes?? Right?'

Cough Cough

I was stupified as the human pincushion was still alive, 'they turned lil bro into a stapler sharpness test dummy and yet he's still hanging on to life, damn....what a cockroach'

Cough" I knn..I know you..you are that kid from earlier today...hehehe.. cough... guess your advice as meaningful" he said while coughing and shaking violently

"But yet you didn't heed it", I shot back with a raised eyebrow but moved back and rested my back against the dirty wall near me

"Yeah yeah I know", he replies with a bashful tone while struggling to pick himself up and lean against the wall in a sitting position, I just looked on with a dispassionate expression and after a while he managed to lean his back in a semi-sitting position, "you know my boss told me that i should leave immediately after I was threatened and never come back but you know... youthful ignorance and whatnot and so I decided to say fuck it and continue my job and which he just shook his head and left" Cough Cough, he stops and starts coughing violently for a while before finally spitting out a large wad of blood,"as i was saying, i continued on and when it was closing time I confidently matched to my bus-stop, confident that shit can't happen in broad daylight and if shit did happen i could react in time and just run"

"Am sensing a But"

"Yeah apparently am not that smart because as I was almost to my destination, a young girl suddenly appeared out of nowhere screaming and yelling and running like grasshopper on steroids, you should have seen her; mascara running, clothes torn, blood leaking from her forehead, it was chaos and yet nobody cared... everyone just walked faster and a little voice told me to walk faster too... But as you can see" he said gesturing to himself," I ignored it and wanted to be the hero, long story short, she somehow led me to this alley and then I heard a chilling voice at the alley opening then before i knew it,1 stab, then 2, then 3 and I just stopped counting after that....the worst part was that the first stab was to my back...the very back I turned to look at the voice....heheh...Bitch", he ended the statement in a bitter tone and then pointed to an inconspicuous bloody pen under a trashcan," but i couldn't go out without getting my ones in so i made sure here I used little ole pen there to write my initials on her eyeball", and he then bursted out with laughter which caused a chuckle to escape my mouth too but I heard another pain-filled laughter and when I turned to look I saw it was the woman leader I just fought, apparently she was still alive if barely and at some point was leaning against a wall too and listening to the cashier's' story and decided to add her two cents, "yeah kid, you a true gothamite Chuckles you made sure the bitch received a life long gift that will make her remember this day fondly", and then ended that statement with another chuckle,

"You bet I did", the waiter replied, " I may like good but I ain't no bitch"

So there I was, hearing 2 individuals talk to each-other like they were discussing sports or everyday life like one of them didn't try to harvest the others' organs

"So Mam am curious, are you working for the guy that stabbed me?", the Cashier asked the woman and which she replied,"Why"

"No reason, just curious that's all" the waiter said with nonchalance and the woman was quiet for a while and I even thought she had died but then spoke up again, "No, Shrugs I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time and besides who ever stabbed you was a genuine psycho cause Sheesh he sure did a number on you"

'and what about you that harvests organs?', I thought to myself with an internal sneer

"Yeah right, I mean this is just too much, I mean if I got 2 stabs I'd be done for, the rest was just excessive", he then stops to breathe, "you don't sound like a local gangbanger sooo what about a little get to know about each-other, I'll go first. My name is Adrian Save, grew up on the sub-north coast;you know, kinda like the main north coast but for (air quotes)'ordinary citizens', I was living a normal life; going to school, helping the elderly, being a good sibling and being a good son to my parents, you know normal life...But yet...it was so normal...I knew life was good to me..but was it good for others?", he then paused and took a deep breath before continuing, "I lived a normal life..but yet I had an empty space in my life.....But all that changed the day I saw him. Him the Batman...I saw him stop an armed robbery...can you imagine it...one man ..five to six armed men...and yet came out ontop, it was epic." Cough Cough, he started coughing more violently than before then settled down after awhile, "it wasn't the fact that he took down the robbers, no, it was the zeal in his movement...after all this years he still fought with passion...no matter how futile he was told it was...he still tried his best to help in anyway he can", he ended the statement with a smile, "so I tried my best to emulate him and I couldn't fight for shit; trust me I tried and so i packed my shit and moved to this part of hell to see if I can help in anyway I can", and he finished his rant with a bittersweet smile on his face.

Silence

So we just sat there in silence, each contemplating their own thoughts until the woman decided to participate in the conversation, "well since am dead anyways, My name is Malory Connor, a convicted woman dumped into Gotham, and what was I convicted for, you know just the usual; brutally knifing local gangsters because I didn't think my family was safe, Shrugs, you know the usual. Anyway I was dumped here got a welcome package of scars; both internal and external, and every fucking day for the rest of my miserable life barely able to eat, Chuckles, barely surviving but never brave to end it ...but it was alright when I was given the good news of being able to escape this hell hole..."

"Balance Points?", the Cashier said interrupting her.

"Yeah balance points", she nodded, "one of my contacts said if I was able raise 35k thousand dollars...35 THOUSAND DOLLARS in 5 months, something i thought was not possible But yet....but yet I did it, I killed what little conscience I had left and did...things i will never forgive myself for", Silence, and she then continued in soft voice, "all for the chance to leave and maybe start a new life and mayb...maybe I don't know.. become a nun or something to work for forgiveness or something annnd..and", at this point she starts to tear up and start choking on her own tears but yet she continued,"maybe...maybe contact my family and even if I can't see them.. just to hear them and find out how they are doing", she ended her words in a low, mournful tone.

'hmm interesting backstory, well what do you expect from anyone living in Gotham", I thought to myself.

"Wow that sucks" Adrian replied but even he was moved to tears and in a bid to lighten the mood said, "now I feel kinda bad that you didn't take my kidneys or whatever you needed", he finished with a light-hearted laugh and the woman chuckled too

"But it doesn't matter anyways I chose this life and this is the predetermined end" she said somberly and so we sat in silence yet again. Then she suddenly yawned and told us, "well if you'd excuse me, am gonna take a quick nap"

"Ohh don't worry, after all am gonna join you soon", he said nonchalantly, "Goodnight"

"Goodnight", the woman...Malory replied before exhaling, "and thanks for hearing my story..I needed that", she said with a smile before slowly closing her eyes and noticeably slumping and then it was just me and Adrian now.

'Personally I don't know why am still here, I feel like a movie-goer watching a sad scene but unlike a normal movie-goer I feel no true empathy...I am just watching'

"So", Adrian started,"I never really got your name", but I just shaked my head and replied,"it won't matter" but he just continued anyway saying,"ok Mr it won't matter, before i sleep off could you...reach into my pants, I have secret pocket inside it, in the pocket there is a gold watch;it's like a heirloom and shit so could..... could you mail it to the address written in it", he said while looking at me which I ignored and stared at the garbage can opposite me,"if you can, even if my parents don't see my body atleast they know it was me and i died peacefully, Silence, thanks", and he ended the statement with a soft smile on his face before closing his eyes and taking his last laboured breath

Silence

Now it was just me.

I didn't know how long I sat there but I eventually got up with another sigh and just stood there, watching them, before eventually walking away to the alley opening and looking around for the target that I had in mind who I spotted some distance away patrolling, I then looked around and found a brick on the ground, picked it up and casually walk to my target

POV change(Officer ?)

'Today was a shitty day, first my bastard of a son was asking me for his 'fees for school', Scoff, like the bastard can ever gain anything from going to that crackhouse and when I was on patrol through this hell-hole I ran into a live-stabbing but I was smart, yes I was, and minded my business before i ended up on the evening news, now all I need to do is wait and if anybody comes out of there or come in contact with the obviously deceased body or I hope bodies I could pin it on them and 'coerce' them into paying a 'silence fee' and who knows I could gather evidence and continue blackmailing them and if they are harvesters, even better', I finished my internal rant with a frankly evil smile but then I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned around ready to unleash my buried fury on the idiot that dared to touch me, "who the fuck?? Do you think you can touch an officer and go sc.." but all I saw a flash of red and then I felt BLINDING, SEARING PAIN in my forehead and found myself on the floor, ignoring the ringing in my head I strained to see my attacker and all I saw was an apathetic looking kid holding a blood-covered brick staring down at me,"DID YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID!! YOU ARE ATTAC.." and while I was saying all this I was stealthily reaching for my gun but he ignored me and quickly bent down and pinned my arms with his knees and raised his hand with the brick high above his head, "Wait!!!, I can...." But he just ignored me again and brought the brick down.

BBHHIMM

And I saw darkness.

Adam POV

I dragged the officer to the alley ignoring the agitated onlookers,'the police will be here soon' and when I entered the alley I dumped his body against one of the harvesters' body on the ground, 'now they can't sweep this under the carpet and maybe by tomorrow, Adrian's parents will be able to bury his full body' and with that I walked away but then I stopped.... and turn around to look at Adrian's corpse

.

Sigh

.

'Scene break'

'Humans are not meant to be good..it's what we get for being intelligent....we traded innocence for intelligence...we traded free-life for conscience....we traded solitude and freedom for socialism and restraint....are we even supposed to be happy'

"Sir...hat...ra.."

'Every Human walks around with a mask...a mask of restraint...a mask of humanly norm...a mask of hidden desires....nobody is really free, we know it and hate it...but yet we still want it... nobody is born good... society tells you what is good and forge your mindset to accept it.... nobody is born bad.... society tell you what is bad and try to mold your mindset to deter from it....the similarities between good and bad people is the lack of choice...human society dictates what is good and bad and while sometimes humanity can be bad, there will still be good in it...'

"Sir,I s.....ar..no"

'.....but like everything in life there is always an exception.....Gotham is an exception.... because...'

"SIR, ARE you taking it or not, you are holding up the line", I finally concentrate as I heard dull angry noises behind me and my dull eyes took in the person talking to me; a gothic girl standing behind a counter looking at me with a angry and annoyed expresstion

"....yes, I will"...then handed her a.....gold watch.

I walked out of the pawn shop holding a hundred dollar bill and cleanly fold it into my pocket and walked into the cold, gloomy Gotham night

'.....but like everything in life there is always an exception.....Gotham is an exception.... because...' I thought to my self in slight remorse as I was trudging through the cold dark streets hearing dull gunshots and general mayhem but I came to a lightpost and came to a stop as I saw a word that always catches my attention

~~ BALANCE POINTS ~~

' Sorry, I did the best....radically.... mindset'

But I just shook my head after awhile and walked away

'.....but like everything in life there is always an exception.....Gotham is an exception.... because...there is no good nor humanity in Gotham'.

And yet all this while I could feel the cold heat from the dollar bill in my pocket but I just ignored it

.....

Maybe...

I'm a bad person

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FIN

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