Swallowing The Spider

[After Transition]

"Who is selling human meat..?" Without thinking about it and reacting on pure instinct I quickly spin around (though no faster than a normal human would be able to) to see who is behind me although I'm pretty sure I already know and once I get a look at the person behind me my suspicions are easily confirmed as standing before me is none other than the Batman, making sure to act like a regular person I start to back away from him (unstably I might add to make it seem as if I'm startled) while trying to get a closer look at him to see what I can see but unfortunately it's not much, I can see that he is 6'2", that he is a white man with a big jaw and a square chin but that is pretty much all I can tell about him as it's pretty hard to guess his weight with how he standing.

He is standing tall and straight but more importantly he is standing with his black cape/cloak completely covering his body from the shoulders down so it's hard to get a full description of him, his cape is pitch black with a jagged edge which I guess when fully extended when gliding looks like a bat, his chin is clean shaven, the pitch black cowl he has on is designed to look like a bat with dull white eyes and two iconic pointed horns going straight up at the back of his head which are meant to resemble a bats ears, I can tell that his cowl is metallic which probably means that his suit underneath the cape has some metal components and isn't without protection, I can't tell with the cape in the way what the suit underneath looks like, if it is completely fabric which is unlikely, if it is completely metal like an armour, or what's most likely which is that it is made of some resistant fabric with some armour plating systematically placed to protect him.

I can't tell what kind of Batman this is yet as I can't see what colour his suit is underneath the cape (hell I can't even see his boots) whether it is dark black or grey, you might think that that doesn't mean shit but it can actually indicate a lot, the Batmen of the multiverse that have pitch black bat suits are more gritty, bitter and hard laced with some of them even being outright evil versions, those with grey/light black bat suits although still strict and straight laced can show humanity and humility, often showing some compassion and even doing some light jokes as well when they feel that the situation isn't too dire, these conclusions I've come to from the meta-knowledge I had used and retained although there are probably some anomalies out there that disprove my theory but for now I'm gonna stick to it.

"Who Is Selling Human Meat?" Batman voices out again but this time with a hard edge to his voice that seems to say that if I don't talk he's gonna dangle me off of a rooftop ledge though that won't work on me and it's at this moment that I realise that I'd spent a bit too long for his liking not saying anything and I'm about to get on his bad side so I decide to speak up. "There's an orphanage in town that's been up to criminal activities for which you are definitely gonna want to bust some heads tonight.." I speak out to him getting straight to business wanting to get this over with as soon as possible, I reach into my jacket pocket, to which I notice Batman slightly narrow his eyes at though I can't see the reaction of Gordon or Barbara as they are right behind me, and I pull out a folder which contains all the findings and evidence I have on the orphanage though I've made sure to have a copy made incase this one is destroyed.

"Here, this is all the evidence and information I've collected so far." I hand it out for Batman to take but he takes a moment to look at it before he swiftly takes it from my hand but from the movement he made I can tell that his costume underneath the cape is definitely grey, for a few minutes we just stand in silence as he reads through the file but I can see that his teeth are definitely tightly gritted together are the papers in his hand are crumpling slightly from his tight grip, he's definitely angry about this and I doubt he's gonna calm down after I tell him some other crucial information that I haven't been able to get any evidence on.

After finishing reading through my file he silently hands it out for Gordon to read through (Barbara begins to slyly look over his shoulder to read) before he asks me a question through his tightly clenched jaw. "Where do the children go in the van after they reach ten years of age?" He questions, thankfully during the time that I've been investigating the orphanage they didn't have any drug mules older then 9 though unfortunately that must mean that they got rid of the ten year old drug mules before I started investigating and the merge. "After the ten year old drug mules are put in a van they are driven somewhere where they are fed to a meat grinder before being sold later on to some rich assholes that want 'Exotic' meat." I voice with some derision in my voice and I can hear Barbara's gasp and Gordon slight mutter of 'Christ' while batman stays strangely silent.

I notice that his jaw is seriously clenched as are his fists and I can tell that it's taking his all to not grab me and beat the shit out of me right now. "And you just watched them do it?" His voices out his frustration and I can tell why he's angry at me, he thinks that I just watched them put the kids through a meat grinder without trying to stop them and I can understand that but I immediately try to calm his anger at me by speaking out about how I gained that information. "I'm afraid that I didn't gain that information through observation but through personal experience." I can see that his anger has been abated but it has just been replaced with confusion though he only shows it by tightening his lips. "Explain." He speaks out wanting an answer.

Thankfully I've already come up with an explanation for this part and it starts with telling them my name and my history. "My name is Nicholas James and I-" though before I can start my story I'm cut off by the Batman. "Nicholas 'Nick' James. Blood type, AB+. Height, 6'2". Weight, 185lb. Graduated from Metropolis University with PhDs in Biology, Chemistry and Computer Science. Currently unemployed and living at an apartment in Park Row, did I miss anything?" Batman speaks out stoically though I can feel some sass in his last few words, he's probably got Alfred or Lucius Fox to run some facial recognition on me and is reading out the information they've put on the HUD on the inside of his cowl, bloody cheater. "Tell whatever 'Man in the Chair' you've got in your ear to look further back into my history, maybe you'll find out something interesting." Batman stays silent and doesn't outwardly react to my comment though I can tell he's doing just what I said he should.

I decide to just let them discover what I was going to tell them, it'll save me some breath at least and add a bit more mystery to myself which might appear more enticing to Barbara, we wait while batman goes through my history provided to him by his partner before he decides to speak. "The earliest information on you is 13 years ago.. You were found running n.a.k.e.d in the night through the streets of New York while covered in blood, human blood... You were ten at the time and the report says you were practically a mute..." He speaks out stoically and I'm not able to tell what he's thinking but that doesn't matter, with him setting me up with the facts it's time for me to knock it out of the park with my awesome story.

"You used to live at the orphanage..." He states with certainty and I can hear the sharp intake of air from both Gordon and Barbara but that doesn't matter, this asshole just ruined my f.u.c.k.i.n.g story and my fun...

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<AN> I now have a Pa treon up and running and when a chapter is ready it will go up on Pa treon first so please take a look. Some support from you guys would be appreciated and motivate me.

Currently 10+ Chapters.

(pa treon.com/GutsyRipper)