Chapter 1: Prologue Rework I
Dying is the easy part. Being dead is the real horror. Alone with nothing. The only thing you can know for sure is that you exist. Everything else is just your mind desperately trying to find some form of stimulation in the Deep Black. Maybe.
Space and time mean nothing in the Deep Black. You can experience yesterday tomorrow but the now, never fully. You can't see or hear or smell or touch, you don't ever move, nothing changes in the Deep Black.
There is a god of death. The Deep Black itself. But it is not the cause of death. It exists because death exists.
Some think the lives they lived were all in their heads. But if that was so, you would have no trouble dreaming up a better life again. They think themselves God, because they cannot see all the other souls who do the same as well.
At least, I'm assuming I'm not alone here.
In all fairness, perhaps I am god. Perhaps it was indeed all a dream of my making, as if I was Azatoth himself. I am blind and maybe even an idiot so that checks. The real self insert was in the cosmic horror we read along the way, eh.
There is no way to know though.
There are things in the Deep Black. Maybe not of my making. Passing words, memories not my own, colors and light I could never know, sensations, all chaos, enough to make a man go mad.
God knows how long I've been in this realm. Assuming such a thing can be quantified in this place or perhaps, state of being.
Came a time when I felt something was wrong. Warmth. Not like the one my mind often tried to emulate. I was feeling a pull, like I was awakening from a dream.
And upon that instant, I awoke from death. I walked out of the black sea where all things that should never see the light reside.
Maybe it was all just a really crazy shroom trip. Because I awoke in a dumpster, covered in shit juice and many other ungodly things. What a way to be reborn. Jesus had it easy, man.
U S A Mother fucker! I am so, so very far from home. No way any kind of drugs can teleport me across the continent, nor do I believe I could have traveled here on a plane if I was tripping balls enough to feel dead. I wouldn't survive a walk here either and I don't think I've been kidnapped.
And I don't do drugs anyways. Except sugar. Does that even count? It is technically possible to be addicted to sugar so, I'd count it.
Is this an Isekai? The hell is my cheat? My system?
Maybe the ROB feels like having actual stakes in the story. Why do they have to want a challenge when I'm the chosen soul?
Or maybe this isn't an Isekai. Whichever case, reading the news should tell me all I need to know.
Where would I be isekaid and there would be a large American city anyways…? Dc, Marvel, Invincible, SCP, The Boys… Halo?… Maybe DMC…? Hopefully it's not a crossover, I'd rather be able to know the future a little, or how to acquire protection from any possible threat.
Maybe I went back in time? I have no idea what to do in that case. Can I even stop 9/11 or anything like that
Or maybe this isn't America. People sure do look American… I wrote a few stories in modern settings… Let's pray it's not in one of those I am.
I walked around a little while, looking for any large recognizable buildings and a police station, in case this wasn't an Isekai… Actually, nope, it is. There's a fucking Gotham a fucking sign written Miagani on it. I'm so dead.
No Kamar taj to learn magic, no way I try getting the speed force, not selling my soul to anyone… Not joining a criminal gang to make ends meet.
I'll be fine if I just beg for money and make my way out of the city, yeah?
As it starts raining, I make my way quickly under the umbrella of a closed restaurant.
I spent a few hours there at last, wallowing in pity, anger, frustration. I tried summoning a gamer window a few times, trying to unlock any sort of power or system. All of it was to no avail. No cheats, no systems, no OP starts... Nothing. Considering what could await me in this world... Maybe the Deep Black wasn't so bad, you know? Maybe this is my hell. To teach me to be grateful for what little I already have and stop complaining to get more...
I called on the name of the Presence, the Specter and nearly tried with Lucifer Morningstar, before remembering one super convenient thing. There's a pure Lazarus pit under Gotham… maybe I can fill a few gallons and run away as far as possible from everything.
Maybe even start an underground secret business healing cancer. It's a huge money opportunity. Plus, with a long life, I can learn science, magic, with all my knowledge, I'll reach Godhood in no time!
Assuming god is evil and SSKTJL is cannon, I'll also need some way to be safe from Brainiac.
It's been too long since I played the games…
So, sewers near the coast, dig a little, find green goo before crazy ninjas do…
No. I'm fucked…
… Or maybe... Venom!
Yes! Alright. If this is only the games, I'm fucked, if this is a brunch of lore together, that plan could save me. I just have to get my hands on venom, beat ninjas to a pulp, steal Lazarus, get rich by selling it and keeping some.
Steal freeze tech, sell it too!If Darkseid shows up, I can also steal the tech from parademon corpses, which are certain to fill the streets. that too I can sell to some villains or whatever for quick cash. Steal and sell everything!
I guess I am joining a gang. At sixteen years old too... Sorry mom but, sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do...
With my only plan for now, I set off like the moron I am into Gotham's bad part. Which is all of Gotham. What I should have done is walk out, resist the temptation of power, be a reasonable human being and understand that if I was the main character, I wouldn't have such a shitty start. But naturally, I had to walk straight towards my doom.
Many buildings looked old and abandoned in old Gotham. I just had to go check them out, satisfy my curiosity. What do I find? Mutilated corpses. Of course I do, this is Gotham. For all I know it could be Victor Zsasz or some other obscure psycho.
Some canned food, bags and a few other goodies later, I've officially become someone who steals from the dead. Shame they didn't have guns.
Doesn't matter because literally two hours later, in another building I broke into, I found a bunch of mags and guns I couldn't begin to identify. Desert Hawk? M 18? Who cares? I got guns! If anyone wants to complain about their actual proper names, they better have bigger ones than me.
But I never even touched one before. I don't know a thing about guns… wouldn't be easy learning without waking up the people around aswell.
I slept in a small building the same day. Being a thief is easy. I hope Batman doesn't find me, break every bone in my body and then ask me to talk afterwards.
It'd be terrible to be at the other end of a batarang combo. And there's no way I'm shooting .
So for the rest of the week, I went about doing the same thing once every two days or so. I nearly got caught by some old man once, but then I saw him getting mugged.
I couldn't let it slide, I couldn't let the innocent get hurt when I was armed to do something...In the DC universe, a dream like this come true, there's no way I'll spit on that chance had a dream life and ignore this. It's my duty, my calling as a soon to be hero!
Yes. That doesn't change the fact that it's objectively stupid.
"Hey! Fella!" Somehow without stammering.
Poor bum turned around with the knife in his left hand, shaking. Who wouldn't be seeing a kid holding a gun towards you?
"Drop the knife man… This thing's got enough bullets… to turn you into Swiss cheese!" Nailed it.
I thought he was shaking in fear... But he was just having withdrawal symptoms. He was mugging a dealer. Of course he was, in Gotham, shit like that must be common.
He couldn't think straight, he had his eyes on my ass, I tell you!
He ran towards me, yelling like a mad man. I shot. Straight in his knee. I would have felt guilty if he wasn't gonna slice me.
I don't know knife parry combos in real life.
All I know is that guns beat knives.
"You okay, sir?" I asked, not sure what to say.
"... Kid, thanks and all but… I could have dealt with it myself…" He chuckled.
… Wow, that's great. I just put my life at risk for nothing.
"You trying to play the hero in Gotham? You'll get killed! Hey.. tell you what. Come work for Penguin if you really need some gig better than heroing. Cuz I ain't paying you shit."
He turned around when suddenly, I realized the opportunity before me.
"Hey sir!"
He stopped, indicating he was listening.
"Ever heard or… seen about Batman?"
The silence that followed scared me a little. This was perfect. If he said no, it meant I had like, years before shit went south.
"I mean, Falcony's been done in by him, right? I hear he's after all crime lords but I'm sure even I could gun down a bat frea-"
Gargoyle take down. I SWEAR TO GOD. Like in the fucking games.
I was paralyzed.
"Marco Zucchini, where is Cobblepot?" I heard Batman yell.
I tried to run away, only to get hit in the legs, I was tied down and fell to the floor, hit my forehead. I was better off staying down.
"I-i don't know! Please, wait!"
"I'll break every finger in your hands until you speak." CRACK. "One. Now talk."
"A boat! He's got a huge boat at the port, you can't miss it! That's where we meet up, sell stuff, everything... Please..."
Poor guy, how did he not die of a heart attack? Batman is fucking brutal. If not for comic book rules, the amount of people he would have killed on accident during a fight or due to the wounds he inflicts on them with his physics defying shock guns and ice grenades...
I heard the bat glide off… and a few minutes later, the sounds of police.
I had to crawl into a corner to hide. I managed to undo the cord and run away with all my goods intact.
Ah, the thrill of being chased. It's great when those doing the chasing are girls and not cops. At least it's not Batman.
So. I know that I'm very early in the timeline. I don't know for sure if it's just the Arkham verse but I'll assume it isn't. I mean, it doesn't seem like the events of Origins can happen considering the shape of Gotham.
If I get my hands on a computer, I'll check for what's going on in Metropolice and Central city. I also have to check for the existence of made up countries like kahndaq, Bihalia or whatever the place of queen bee rules, Terra's country... Also check if Jump city is a thing.
And also naturally people of great importance. Victor Stone and his father, Billy Batson, Ray Palmer or whoever is the Atom… Constantine, Jason Blood and the Zatara family might be an idea that wouldn't require me being a criminal. Assuming this isn't a world where Bane sells venom.
For now, all I can do, as I finally reach the small building I've made my home, is thank No One but myself. The Presence clearly has something against me, so there.
So. Found a computer. Can't log in, great. But what's even better is there are freaking books in this guy's home. I'm sure he won't mind losing his history book and his computer theory books… Besides, I'll give them back in like, a month, after using his own notebooks as my own as well.
I guess I was just bored.
Eventually, I learned that Superman is a thing in this universe, they were just talking about him on the radio I stole, he just stopped a bank robbery. People think he's a god, some an alien, others, the second coming of Jesus, etc. Of course, no one really knows how to feel about a super human actually existing.
I might be getting a bit too comfortable in this little basement… I'm lazy. If I don't have to do something, I wont. If I have to, I'm likely to wait right before its too late before doing it. But hunger, fear, lust for power... All these things can make a man like me work.
I can't keep living like this, rationing myself… It's crazy. I didn't wanna say it but, maybe I really should join some gang or something, this is getting pathetic. At least I'm losing weight.
No matter what, one can't escape work.
But how does one so young join a group of tough men that work for evil men and women?
Simple. You just ask. I'm not even kidding.
"...Yeah man, times haven't been easy you know? I mean, it's Gotham and all but, I was thinking I land him a hand, he lends me a few bucks an hour…"
"Shut up, I get it. You're like the fifth this week, kid. Just go talk to Ronnie, he's gonna get you situated. We can always use a few hands to replace the folk the bat's been picking off."
So that's how I got in with Penguin. It's not gonna last. The moment he shows up, I'm joining bane. In the meantime, Ronnie asked me where I lived and stuff.
Told them I'd do whatever they'd ask and I started selling weed. I'm ashamed of myself. But it turns out not every gang member is a terrible human. Who could have known? Not Batman with how he beats them, us, down.
I met a bunch of chill guys, a lot of them never went to school and it showed. They took pleasure in mocking me for going to school and still ending up with them.
Actually saw the fucking Batmobile one night. Not the tank but still. Damn epic. I feel like it could only ever make sense to use it in old Gotham, the only place where the streets aren't full.
So that's how my new life started. Poorly, riddled with crime and drugs, nothing to be proud of. Don't worry though. It gets so, so much worse.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
zee_begener
zee_begener Forgive me Father for I have commited one of the capital sins of Fan Fictions... Self inserts.
First rework of this chapter, probably the last, unto the other first few!
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