Night Is Gotham

<Marks POV>

The obnoxious beeping was again making its way through my room and right into my head. I sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes, throwing the covers off I walked across the room and to my alarm clock. I slammed the button down making the beeping come to an abrupt stop. I stood there a minute to take in the silence and realized I suddenly had a massive headache.

“The fight” I muttered aloud to myself. I walked into my bathroom and grabbed the bottle of ibuprofen. Before I had gone to Bruce’s house I had gotten into a little scuffle on the way out of Gotham. Which is why Evelyn had told me I looked a mess.

I popped three pills in my mouth and followed it up with a swig of orange juice. Today was a big day for me. Although it wasn’t unlike Bruce not to be in his office for brief periods today he was going to be out of his office for almost the whole day. Which meant that any appointments or clients he had to take would go to me today. I really had to prove myself if I wanted to inherit the company, like Bruce was grooming me for. I sat down in front of the tv with my plate of eggs and turned on the news.

Gotham City is still plagued by yet another victim in the latest string of bank robberies. 22 year old Cynthia Holbrook was pronounced dead at Gotham Hospital during the early hours of the morning after failed attempts to cure her from mysterious ailments. Neither the family nor the staff at the hospital wish to speak at this time
I shook my head in disgust and turned off the tv. Another one, another innocent person dead, and I was just sitting here. I let out a heavy sigh and got up to put my plate in the sink, I felt defeated. We still hadn’t been able to figure out who this person was. The leading crime fighter in all of Gotham, detective even, couldn’t stop this. I knew I was just the sidekick and that there was only so much I could do, but I wouldn’t be sidekick forever. I needed to figure this out before it became worse than it already was. People were already starting to lose faith in the Batman and this wasn’t helping any.

I needed to focus, right now I needed to get ready for work and make sure that I was prepared for the day. I was basically filling in for Bruce today and I needed to impress. I flipped through my closet finding my best shirt, best suit, best tie. I really had to look exceptional today, I was really nervous. I was really young to be heading a company, or at least filling in for him. I checked the alarm display for the time. I was running late, I had a couple phone calls to make before my day started and if I didn’t leave in the next 20 minutes those phone calls would not be made. I ran into the bathroom and turned on the water, studying my face in the mirror while I let the water run warm. I looked tired and worn out, I hadn’t gotten much sleep these past few nights. My nights were spent perched atop buildings watching the streets below, looking for whatever criminal needed to be punished. Alongside the Batman it was a pretty rigorous night job, playing sidekick to Gotham’s famous hero. Although I did have an identity independent of Batman, I was still his shadow. Learning from him all that I needed to know, so when the day came that he could no longer be the Batman, Gotham wouldn’t be enveloped in darkness.