Chapter 2

Heading out of the lecture hall I'm still in shock at what just happened. I mean the women who I've admired ever since freshman year just spoke to me for the first time… and it was GREAT!

Barbara, who is the most charismatic and courageous woman I've ever seen, took an interest in me, the depressing, short, anti-social loner. And she was looking forward to meeting me again!

I look around the campus of Gotham's most prestigious school, Gotham University and after three years of attendance, it still shocks me that something like this could be in Gotham. My Ethics class is held on the east side of the campus as are the rest of my classes as the first building on the east side is used by students majoring in criminology. Different buildings in each part of the campus grounds are used by students of varying majors such as the computer science students in the third building located on the south side of the campus.

As far as the eye can see, the campus is filled with life. Something one would never expect in good old crime ridden Gotham. Students from the most prestigious backgrounds walk around the campus interacting with other children of politicians, businessmen, dirty policemen and the occasional mob bosses such as Sofia Falcone. Daughter of Carmine Falcone, a 5'11 brown haired bombshell who carries herself as if she's royalty and with an aura that permeates arrogance.

However it's not all corrupt, there are a few exceptions of the elite children who attend GSU and the mostly normal students are those who spend all their time hitting the books to maintain their scholarships. Such as me, Alec Vanidestine, a 21 year old who spends all of his time either studying or working in order to maintain his full scholarship at GSU.

*FLASHBACK*

Now, some would wonder why someone like me would major in criminology? Simple, Loss and a hunger for truth. I was born to an American father and an Irish mother. Jordan and Lilian Vanidestine were scientists who worked for the government after relocating to Gotham. They were often busy with research but by no means were they neglectful. They did their best to spend time with me and actively raise me to be a good man.

They were my best friends, my biggest supporters. By no means were we wealthy, evident as my parents had moved to Gotham of all places in America. But they did make enough for us to live comfortably and for me to be happy. And I was, from the early years of my life I was a bright child, shy and lacking communication with anyone but my parents, but bright nonetheless.

However, that changed when I was twelve years old. I was waiting in school for my dad to pick me up, noticing he was late. My teacher decided to call my parents' workplace. There was no response on the other end as we waited for what seemed like hours. A man in a suit walked into the office asking to see me.

The man was tall with gray hair cut military style and a thick mustache above his lips. He wore an all black suit and had a general's hat to his side. The man knelt down and placed a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry son, your ma and pa aint coming back" the man said

I was 12, not 5. I knew right away what the man meant. They were dead and my life would never be the same again. Being the son of two scientists had its perks as I was able to still ask questions while my mind raced at a hundred miles an hour. "What happened?" I asked hoping to God this was just some sick joke.

"They died in a lab explosion while working with dangerous substances". The man tried to sound sorrowful and regretful, But I could see a look of indifference in his eyes. As if he was just extending some courtesy by being there and didn't give a shit about the whole situation. I could tell he was lying. The way his eyes seemed indifferent, his body language lax, I could tell he was hiding the truth.

*END FLASHBACK*

I spent the last nine years of my life obsessed with finding out the truth of what happened to my parents. What that man was hiding from me and why their research seemed to just vanish from existence. I went into criminology to build connections and gain access to cases similar to what happened with my parents.

It wasn't easy. I was alone with no family member to take me in. No family friends willing to help out. All I had was my parents' small inheritance and a thirst for truth. I became dejected, neglected my health, studied for hours and hours just to achieve a full scholarship to the most prestigious criminology department in the whole world. All in search of the truth.

I'm brought out of my depression as I hear the bus doors squeak open.

'Great, time for work' I thought as I entered the bus and took a seat towards the back. In Gotham everyone tends to mind their own business. And luckily for me, that includes the delinquents who sit near the back of my bus. After 8 stops I get off and head down from Main st. to Tillary dr. where I entered for work at Lacey's Department Store -"The place you go when you just don't know".

'Yeah when you just don't know how to deal with life anymore' I thought as I read the sign on the window.

I'm greeted by the sound of babies crying and mothers screaming while husbands laugh talking about sports. 'Ah I love Gotham' I thought knowing this would be a long shift.

And I was right. Six angry mothers, seven screaming babies, and twelve agitated drunk men later, I finally got to close and went home.

Luckily I lived within a ten minute walk from the store so I wouldn't need to wait long to touch down on my twin sized mattress. The east end area of Gotham city is not the worst part of town like crime alley. It's the middle class area where the crime is still high because this is Gotham after all, but it's to a more controlled size. One should still worry about their safety at night but not constantly have to turn around to make sure no one is behind them.

I usually walk home without a problem, minus the occasional thug wanting to mess with me. But a rock throw here and a duck there and I'm home free. Getting down to around a five minute distance from my moderately sized apartment here in east end Gotham I hear footsteps behind me and immediately my body tenses up.

Now I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I'm 5 '8, scrawny and walk with a slouch not to mention my magnifying lenses for glasses. I can't fight.

My body tenses up as my breathing increases. My chest is heaving up and down as my legs begin to move faster. Sweat starts to form on my forehead as my eyes dart left and right looking for a possible escape route. My fight or flight response is acting up and big shocker… it chose flight.

I notice that I'm close to an alley that I know is brightly lit as I usually cross it on my way home from work. Turning into the alley as quickly as I can I immediately stop and regret making that turn. The usually brightly lit small alley just happened to be pitch dark today as the overlight was busted. 'Fuck you murphy' I thought while turning as quick as I can to run home.

As I turn and begin heading out of the alley, my head bumps into something hard causing me to stumble back a few steps. Rubbing my head I look up to see what I hit.

'Fuck'

What was in front of me was a 6'4 giant of a man with the most ridiculous body proportions ive ever seen. He was wearing black leather boots and blue tight ripped jeans that wrapped around scrawny legs that seemed to belong to a child. He had on black leather fingerless gloves with spikes at the knuckles and a black leather jacket with a hood covering his face. The man's upper body was like a damn grizzly bear and had arms the size of my head.

Thanks to the dark environment I couldn't see his face but I could make out a scar that brown down from his right cheek to his neck. 'Im gonna fucking die' I thought as I slowly start to move backwards only to take two steps and trip over a bag of trash.

'Seriously?' I thought with anger at how cliché that was

"Well look what we have here" The man shaped like the letter 'Y' said with a dangerous grin on his face.

Despite his comedic build, the setting and the sheer size of this man's upper body coupled with the gun in his hand really did wonders in scaring me shitless.

"Give me your wallet and anything valuable and I might let you live" He said while looking at me like I was a piece of meat

"O-okay I-I'll give you my wallet just please… please don't shoot me" I said while knowing this guy had shot people before just from how utterly calm the man was. He is definitely a man with multiple robberies and murders under his belt.

I took out my wallet from my bag and tossed it to the man.

The man opened the wallet with his left hand while the right hand with the gun was still trained on me. The man opened the flap only to stop and turn to me. "Seriously, $65?" The man asked with a growing scowl on his face.

"I-I'm a college student with no parents and I work to pay bills. That's the best I can do" I say with my hands in the air trying my best not to anger him any further or else I would have a hole in me.

"Disappointing, give me your bag" the man says after emptying the cash from my wallet and stuffing it into his pockets.

"I d-don't have anything valuable in the bag i-its just school work and w-work clothes " I said with my voice shaking

"Shut up and give me the bag!" The man says while moving closer to me and snatching the bag from my hands. After dumping out the contents of the bag, his frown grows deeper and he turns to me.

"Tch, what a disappointing hit" The man says while turning around to leave

I see him about to leave 'Thank you God' I think in relief that this is over.

However, right when I was about to get up to leave, the man turned around and grinned.

"W-what?" I asked fearing the worst

"I got some cash off of you but You were disappointing and ruined my fun" he said while his grin grew even more savage, making me fear the worst as my heart started pumping and my legs seemed to be bolted to the ground from fear as I couldn't move.

"So you're gonna have to pay for ruining my fun" He says with an amused glint in his eyes.

The man raises his right hand and at that moment the world comes to a stop. Everything happened so fast yet so slow. A million thoughts race through my head at the same time. 'Am I going to die?', 'This is it I'm about to die', 'Mom, Dad I'm sorry I couldn't find out the truth before I died'.

*BANG*

I was confused for a moment. Nothing happened. And just as quick as I was confused, the pain came.

Pain, horrible horrible pain in my stomach. It feels as if someone was cutting open my stomach and constantly pushing their hand inside while I was awake.

Tears ran down my eyes as I struggled to find my breath. My body was convulsing as it went into shock. My mind was racing yet it was still. I can feel it. I'm about to die.

I caught sight of the man smiling down at me before running away.

'Why?' i thought 'why me?'

My vision was blurring, my body getting colder by the second. 'It's time' I thought. I could feel death approaching to grab me with its cold dark claws and drag me into the cold abyss.

I could practically hear the call of sweet death and honestly I wished to answer as it would relieve me of this never ending pain.

Before I could answer the call I saw a woman approach me. A tall slender woman wearing a white dress, with white skin, white hair and green eyes that seemed to glow with life.

'Is this death?' I thought hoping she would claim me soon to end my suffering

"Finally, I've waited years to meet you," The woman said. I didn't know what she meant nor did I care. I was focused on her voice. Her voice seemed to resonate with my very being. Like I wanted to reach out and grab onto it.

"We can finally begin young Alec" the woman said

And with that the world went dark.