Late at night in the Audiensburg District, a heavy cargo truck rolled through empty streets. Karl held the steering wheel with one hand, a burger in the other. 10:05 p.m. No pedestrians. No cars. Perfect.
He pushed eighty. Gotham drivers learned fast: break rules, make money. Sometimes… break people too. He'd stayed out of GCPD thanks to skill, speed, and friends who cleaned up. Fair was fair his driving was good. He'd only killed a few people over the years.
"Life, uh… finds a way~"
He hummed happily
"WOOHOO—!"
A shrill cheer and a blazing rainbow streak shot past his window. Excitement. Joy. Fear. And relaxation.
Relaxation?!
"What the hell was that?!"
He dropped the burger and leaned forward. Rocket powered ice cream truck? Terrorist bike bomb? Ghost racer? Punk biker? Spandex wearing lunatic?
"No… no way…"
He stared at the distant streak.
"…Was that a glowing wheelchair?"
Meanwhile Marcus Reed was flying. One modification. Full power. Top speed: 80 mph. Wheelchair Driving Intermediate: $300 asset points. You are now the Fujiwara Takumi of wheelchairs.
LED light strips turned him into the brightest thing on the road. Windproof. Rainproof. Seatbelt. Airbags. Suspension.
Seven minutes later, Marcus had already left Audiensburg and was entering the East End. Street criminals took one look and abandoned all robbery plans. Who shoots at something drifting at this speed?
Of course this was Gotham. A few confident lunatics fired anyway. Every bullet missed. The rainbow streak swayed casually, throwing off their aim completely. Only a handful of people managed to seize that fleeting moment, capturing the ghostly wheelchair on their phones and uploading the footage to blogs and forums.
Thankfully, before it ran faster than light itself, those images at least proved that it wasn't merely an urban legend. Marcus tore off the main road and plunged straight into the narrow building clusters of the East District without slowing down in the slightest.
Any alley wide enough for the wheelchair was a viable route. The seven colored ghost flame weaved through the crumbling residential maze with terrifying agility, like some elusive phantom slipping between shadows.
The route was provided by the system's Q&A navigation map. To be fair, its reliability was leagues beyond that of shady navigation apps. At last, he reached a narrow alley. The map indicated that he needed to dismount.
Marcus braked hard, drifted cleanly, and stopped perfectly at the entrance. He stood up, lifted the wheelchair lightly and its sides folded inward instantly, compressing into a single wheel form.
After pushing the unicycle through the tight alley, Drake's place came into view.
"Let me check… 10:12 p.m. Not bad," Marcus muttered. "Another tweak tomorrow this time can still be improved."
It was hard to say whether Gotham would soon gain a new urban legend about a phantom wheelchair race but honestly, the city was already insane. What difference did a 120 km/h wheelchair make?
So he casually carried the "old man's joy chair" into the stairwell.
Somewhere atop a building in the East District, Catwoman watched the young man she had once saved disappear into the darkness, carrying that ghost fire machine. She silently processed what she had just witnessed. For the first time in a long while, she felt regret.
"I really thought Gotham couldn't get any crazier…"
Marcus: Nonsense.
Meanwhile, Karl was still driving one handed, swearing as he went.
"This is f***ing ridiculous… I've never seen anything like that in my life. Gotham's getting more cursed by the day."
Just then, a massive black bat shaped shadow swept across the sky. It engulfed Karl's truck then slid down toward the roof.
"Scarecrow, Penguin, and now that Freeze guy…" he spat. "F*** this city. Freaks everywhere. Oh, and that damn bat monster too."
He spat out the window. "All of them should die."
CRASH!
The windshield shattered. A pitch black figure dropped straight into the cab. Like a ghost. Like a nightmare. Like fear itself. Like something unstoppable calm, and utterly mad.
Staring into those pupil less eyes, those massive black wings, those pointed ears, Karl remembered every urban legend he'd ever heard. They said that when night fell, a terrifying black bat circled Gotham's skies watching every sinner, every criminal bringing them unforgettable fear and merciless punishment.
Trembling in terror and despair, Karl stammered out the name.
"B B Batman!"