Chapter 64

"God..." Carrie just entered the police headquarters and was dumbfounded. "... why are there so many people here?"

Every police station in Gotham right now are filled with arrested crooks and complainants...

"Tell me about it..." The Commissioner approached while holding a cup of hot coffee. "I've been here all weekend..." She looked at the detective who couldn't believe what she was seeing. "This was what you wanted, right? More criminals to bag? Be careful what you wish for, Detective." She patted her shoulder before walking away."

Carrie shook her head to clear her mind before heading to her desk.

----

"Don! You're up!" The newspaper editor approached the journalist. "No more galas for you. It's like a renaissance for crime out there... bring back a good story."

"Did something happen?"

"All you need to know right now is every cop in Gotham is busy with something. I was complaining about them doing nothing since a large cut of the budget goes to them, but now I regret it."

"Hmmm..." Don looked at the picture on his desk as he pondered. It was a picture of him, Terry, Carrie, Cedric, and the other members of the outsiders without their costumes.

----

"Damn... I can't say I'm happy about these halls being noisy again..." A large man in a suit said.

"It's a job, Cedric... when are people ever happy about their jobs..." Another large man in a large suit replied.

They were monitoring the prison cells in the control room through live camera feed.

"Big boy junior is finally gonna see some real action, right, Boss Ed?" A blonde-haired woman with pale white skin teased with a wide grin.

"I told you, don't call him that, Harleen..." Warden Dorrance said.

"What~? You two really look like Father and son."

Cedric and Eduardo Dorrance have the same built and demeanor. A person that wouldn't know they aren't related would probably think so.

The warden sighed and tried to ignore Harley Quinn's comments about him and Cedric.

Cedric scratched his cheek. He couldn't deny that he really does see the Warden as some father figure.

----

-...The crime rate in Gotham is at an all-time high. Police stations are currently filled with complainants. Some were even asked to go home because of the lack of space and personnel...

"What are you doing here so early?" Alfred asked.

"I took a sick leave." Terry replied as he continued to watch the news in the batcomputer.

"I have some leftover breakfast. Would you like some?"

"No, thank you, Alfred." He replied without taking his eyes off the screen.

Alfred watched the back of Terry, his figure resembled Bruce more now than when he was younger. Sometimes, he almost calls him by his biological father's name. "... can you fill me in on what's happening?"

"This is all Talia's doing..." He picked up the remote and the screen split into multiple cells. "All of these guys..." He maximized each cell one by one. "They aren't from here... they're criminals from other cities... other countries even... and they don't tell anything to the police... I don't know what she's up to, but it's to distract the police from whatever she's planning."

"Do you think she's trying to make the omega bomb again? Is that why she's going after that gem?"

"I don't know... and I don't care either... I just want her out of Gotham."

-This just in! There has been a bank robbery but Wonder Woman swooped in and was able to stop it.

-Wow! With two superheroes now in Gotham, we can be sure that all this will pass eventually.

Terry narrowed his eyes at the news. He should be happy about the extra pair of hands especially now that stuff like this is happening, but he can't help but feel that Diana hadn't been telling them everything.

He's decided to talk with Diana again about the eye of anubis when she comes home and why is Talia after it.

And another problem was with another person suddenly appearing.

Damian Wayne. The teenager who claims to be the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia. Alfred made sure to check his DNA when he came in.

His sudden appearance confirms that Talia is somewhere in Gotham right now.

"Where's Damian?" Terry asked Alfred.

"He's currently at school."

----

Damian was staring at the window while he was taking classes. Classes that he already finished when he was twelve.

"Huaaam..." He yawned out of boredom. 'Why do I have to be here with these..." He looked at the other schoolers his age with despise. "...these neanderthals."

He was watching a group of boys sitting from the back row picking on someone with his hood on in front of them. The person that was being picked on was silently holding his head down as he endured the things they were throwing at the back of his head.

Damian sighed. He couldn't care less if they were picking on a helpless boy. It was only natural for the strong to prey on the weak. Rather, the weak should aim to be strong and be able to fight back. In fact, he despised the kid more.

"What are you looking at, new kid?"

Unexpectedly, he got unwanted attention from the group of boys.

"I'm looking at a bunch of boys annoying another boy." Not that Damian was worried about the attention.

"Are you gonna snitch?" One of them leaned forward to Damian and slammed his fist on his desk.

"What's a snitch?" Damian furrowed his brows.

They all looked at him in confusion before looking at each other and snickered. They thought Damian was playing ignorant about what they were doing because he got scared of them when it was really an honest question.

They left Damian alone and it just made Damian confused about what happened.

Damian just shook his head and went onto his own business again. "I want to go home and watch the next episode of Assault on Giant."

He was really more interested in the world of Anime that he was just introduced to a couple of days ago. He's finished multiple series by watching it every time he can. He was even watching it during his self-training and other activities like eating.

"That world makes much more sense to me than this place..."

After school, he didn't have anything planned other than going home.

Damian was really questioning why he is being required to go to school.

His mind was preoccupied by Anime since the time that he got introduced to it that it made him forget what his goal was going to school in the first place.

"Right!" He just remembered, but it was already too late. Classes were over and everybody was leaving. "Tsk!" He began to curse at himself. "I haven't made a single friend..."

He contemplated about his error as he walked on home.

On his way home, he found the kids from his class going into an alley.

Damian figured that he might as well make friends with them. How hard could it be?

He sneaked from behind them and didn't reveal himself yet. He wants to know what they were doing there to start a conversation.

"I'm so sick of how you look at us. Do you think you're better than us?"

The five boys were encircling the boy they were picking on in the classroom earlier.

"Is that why you don't hang out with us anymore? Huh? Because you're suddenly above us?" One of them started pushing the boy's elbow.

"Hmmm..." Damian decided to watch the scene unfold from the fire exit that he climbed up to. "Is this some kind of initiation?" He muttered to himself.

"I don't hang around with you anymore because I have something better to do now."

"So, you do think you're better than us!"

"No..."

"I'm sick of you..." The guys mumbled before cocking his fist and throwing it.

The boy saw it from a mile away and dodged it.

"Ngh!" The boy threw another punch and he dodged it as well along with a punch from another kid.

He was bobbing and weaving through both of their punches.

"Oh~" Damian was impressed. "Not bad...what was his name again? Nate Murtaugh?" He muttered as he looked at the boy that was skillfully dodging the attacks if his former friends.

It was going well until another one came in to attack him with a kick to the stomach.

"Gugh..." He clutched his stomach and got punched on his face. That was when he fell down and the other kids beat him up until they were satisfied.

Damian furrowed his brows in frustration as he watched.

"Ngh..." He groaned on the floor as the other kids left.

That's when Damian decided to approach him.

Nate and Damian locked eyes. Both of them, curious with each other's agenda.

"Why didn't you retaliate? I saw how you were dodging earlier. You've been trained. Boxing? You could have won if you took them down one by one. Why didn't you?"

Murt lifter his upper body from the floor to sit. "You've been watching?"

"The whole time."

He heaved out a sigh. "I can't fight back... my coach says I shouldn't use my fists outside the gym."

"Hmmm..." Damian stroked his chin. "What a coincidence. I was told something similar..." He held out his hand to Nate.

Nate accepted it and pulled himself up with Damian's help. "You're boxing too?"

"No..." Damian raised his brow and thought of an excuse. "Mixed Martial Arts." He said with a proud smile.

"Damian, right?"

"Yup. And I believe, you are Nate."

"Why do you talk like that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like that."

Damian furrowed his brows.

"Nevermind..."

"Say, Nate..." Damian felt like it was the right time to ask him to be his friend. "Why don't we become friends? I'm new and you probably need a friend yourself."

Nate looked at Damian from top to bottom before he said, "No."

Damian was dumbfounded. He surely thought that it would work. The motorcycle that Terry cherished was soon to be his. He had already planned riding it around Terry to gloat.

"Wha-wha-"

"Those guys will come after you too if we hang out together. I can't."

"You must be mistaken, I can handle them very-"

"No." Nate cut him off with a firm rejection and started walking away.

Damian bit his lip as he tried to deny what just happened.