Dawn.

"C'mon, dammit..." He murmured, a tremor of sound in an ocean of silence. He'd made sure to be one of the first that arrived, before any construction crews or firefighters or whatever the hell the government hoped would help, even though the same government knew fully well that they wouldn't. In a sense, he knew, too. But hope was fickle in this way, the way that ignored reason, that ignored truth. Black coated fingers dug into the dirt, pushing it all aside to look for something. Anything. A sign, a sign of life, of hope, of anything.

A sign that it wasn't real.

A sign that Gothic was just there, not two whole days ago.

Hands dug deeper, gravel and dust coating the fingertips of the gauntlets. With another grunt, he tugged some more dirt away, at peace with the lack of sound. He could almost hear the mockery from the first Dark Vengeance, wherever he may be, dead in a ditch or retired in the tropics. Couldn't keep the cowl for a whole week without letting it go to shit, it said, a sneering voice, the voice of someone that knew what they were doing. You're just a man, Eldrik. Not a strong man, either. A damned impostor, nothing more than one of the dozens of others.

Shaking his head lightly, Dark Vengeance kept digging. There had to be something.

How many people lost their homes?

Their lives?

"Not enough," He snarled to himself, referring to the scum that had remained in the City. But even then, he doubted how true that was. Irredeemable.

Incorrigible.

Irreparable.

Hopeless.

The words rang throughout his mind, and Eldrik grimaced, recognizing not the voice of Dark Vengeance, but the voice of his father. Shaking his head, he punched the hard packed dirt, hardly wincing, even at the expense of his hand.

You let your city die.

CRACK, the hand struck, frustration driving fist into floor.

You let your people die.

CRACK.

You let the Bat die.

The next strike sent blood seeping through the gauntlet, and he yelled out, a guttural roar at the chaos.

For a long while, he did nothing, but sit there, waiting. Looking into the sunrise. By the time he turned back down to the floor, he saw a glint of steel among the dirt. The symbol he'd been waiting for. A sign of hope. Pushing away dirt and ash alike, he revealed one of the manual openings to his cave, one that originally led to the sewer systems. Reaching down, he planted an explosive V on the entrance, fingerprint scanners long since broken in the blast that had been. Blowing open the hatch, he dropped down into the darkness, the pitch black that he once called home.

"Good good aftaftaftaftaftaftermorning, Dark Vengerrrrrrrrrrrrrr..."

"Computer, give me everything on the 'V' File."

As he said the magic words, the Vengeance Computer in front of him flashed brightly, blue screen immediately coming up with several results for 'V'. The notorious projectiles used by Dark Vengeance. If I'm going to save this city, I'm going to have to understand what exactly these do, William pondered, as he raised a lone V to the light above, watching the glistening light as it danced across the edge.

"Computer. Start at 1." He remarked, putting the V down. Sitting down in the arching black chair that stood across from the computer, he crossed his gauntlet covered arms over his chest, analyzing the data before him carefully.

V Type 001

The original V was the first to be designed by Malcolm Press, and first appeared within the first eighteen months as 'Dark Vengeance'. Both light and durable, it was the perfect blend of assault and utility, considered widely to be as 'light as a feather'."

As the words continued, images flashed of various instances where the Vs were actually used, crime sprees coming to abrupt endings as they were intercepted by the flash of steel arcing through the night sky.

The Vs were originally designed to be approximately twenty centimeters long, with a width of half a centimeter. Designed for aerial flight, it is mostly hollow plastics, with a nanochip connected to it's masters cowl, and purely stainless steel blades, refined to a point.

Usually, the V's are thrown in an arcing shape, much like a baseball player throws a curveball. In this way, it can properly activate the natural 'boomerang' functions that come with the shape, making the blades curve back to the wielder. This makes for quick and easy returns, to conserve the amount of V's... The bills do stack after awhile.

V Type 002

The most useful V's in Dark Vengeance's arsenal.

The screen now split across the three monitors, each for a different projectile, all of them alike except for in one striking category. William's unblinking eyes danced across the monitors, brow furrowed as he focused. Memorization of these gadgets were just as important as the memorization of learning to fight. I have to remember that.

The first, the explosive V. Just as big as the first model, this V contains the chemical compound (O₂NNCH₂)₃. It is most commonly used in C4 explosives, but has since been repurposed for the Gothic Bat's leisure. These plastic V's give off an explosive diameter of six feet, with civilians outside of the range being at risk of shrapnel hitting them. Unlike the previous model, there is no blade attached to the ends of the V- instead, it is coated with a thick adhesive.

WARNING- NOT TO BE THROWN IN BOOMERANG FASHION.

The second screen detailed an entirely new version of the V's.

The cryogenic grenade is one of the most advanced explosive weapons of the 21st century, and, luckily, is only available to Dark Vengeance (at least this model). A significantly more complicated process, the V is thicker, and intended for more of a grenade than a boomerang (similar to the explosive). The inside of the cryogenic grenade contains a series of laser emitters and mirrors, each placed to fire at the other. By firing these lasers at each other, they tend to overload the grenade with energy, and cause it to explode.

These lasers manage to perform cryogenic abilities, as they manage to emit just the right frequency of photon, which is then absorbed by individual atoms that head in the opposite direction of the laser, decreasing motion (and heat). These rays then manage to flash freeze anything they hit once outside of the grenade, completely entrapping any man in ice, until thawed out by the local authorities. Since the lasers tend to be unreliable, these grenades are hardly used by Dark Vengeance, unless he has cover/civilian casualties are at a minimum.

Now, his attention diverted to the third and final screen, the last elemental V.

This electrically charged V is much simpler than the other two. As it is thrown, Dark Vengeance presses a button on the center of the V, allowing electrical energy stored within to charge up the steel coated ends. The number of uses for this electrical boomerang are almost endless, as it is able to short-circuit fuse boxes, stuns enemies, etc. It carries up to 75,000 volts, considerably more than the average taser, making it the perfect takedown for unsuspecting goons.

Nodding, the third Dark Vengeance stood up, pulling his cowl down over his head. Good, he thought, as he picked up the V from the countertop. Raising it up into the light, he witnessed the sparkle of light once more, a piece of light among the darkness in the cave. Let's try them out.

Monday Night in Gothic City. 4:12 A.M.

It was always darkest before dawn.

At least, that's what everyone said.

Walking under the bright lights of Gothic City, it was hard for Will Eldrik to even see the sky, let alone see how dark it was. Coming off of his night shift at the local gas station, the man's mind traveled as he wandered, eyes downcast to the cracked concrete below. Dark Vengeance. The name rang in his head like a bell, and a sort of disgusted grimace formed on his lip. The demon. With a slight shake of his head, he dispelled the thought from his mind, continuing his path. His obsession with Dark Vengeance had become a nuisance, now. Nothing more. After all, it was clear that the man was nowhere to be found...

And Will had checked.

Over the past decade, any source of the masked vigilante was hunted down and unveiled, only to reveal it to be another dead end. Curve's men told him nothing he didn't know. The government certainly was as clueless as everyone else. Even trying to follow the bat-symbol that occasionally lit up the night sky came to no avail. The hunt was dead, and as years went by, it seemed as if Vengeance was, too.

Suddenly, a loud bang resonated through the night air. Gunshots in Gothic were not uncommon, but still, the sound of it made Will jump slightly, whirling his head around to see what had caused the noise. To his left, a narrow street led to an underpass, stained in graffiti and piss stains. In the middle, two thugs, one with a gun, standing over the corpse of some drug dealer. The man without the gun was busy searching the druggie's pockets, and the other looked around carefully, finger quivering on the trigger. Damn. Blood on his work uniform was always frowned upon, but the personal opinion of a Saudi Arabian gas station owner mattered little to Eldrik.

Dropping his lunch pail with a clang, he attracted the attention of the two, and the man with the gun swiftly pulled the trigger for the last time in his miserable life.

To Will, it was not justice. As he proceeded to run over and headbutt the gunman in the mouth, he realized as much. Raising a cinder block over his head, he found a certain joy to come about the task, like he was the emulation of Dark Vengeance himself, doing the things that the caped crusader could no longer do due to whatever reason. This type of thought process was probably sadistic. Twisted. Sick. Whatever the news stations would say about the true vigilantes. But it wasn't that, not really. It was a fundamental force. It was universal.

It was war.

After the scuffle, William stood up, wiping a bit of blood from the side of his mouth. Lucky shot, he thought, as he turned his head. Huddled under the underpass, the Swedish warrior spotted a homeless man, trying to stay warm on a cold night. With a curt nod, he fished out the wallets of all three dead men, tossing them each to the elder. Only then did his eyes flicker up, to the graffiti beyond.

GOTHIC KING, the words screamed, furious and bold in their dialect. Walking over, Will recognized the symbol, something from one of the many gangs in Gothic City. But as he got closer, he spied something... off. Narrowing his eyes, Will looked in the middle of the first O, an insignificant speck of black among the grey. Reaching up, he rubbed the patch of black that jutted out to him, in an attempt to remove it. Instead, it flashed red, the miniature switch activating. Land mine? he thought, taking a bewildered step back. But the button did not explode as he had previously believed, his studies of military equipment falling short. The concrete graffiti pushed out at him, separating from the rest of the wall, and opened, a staircase sliding down from the wall of the underpass.

"Welcome, Dark Vengeance," A robotic voice mused, as lights came on throughout the underground bunker, stainless steel floorboards and shelves and gadgetry sliding onto the walls, the cave literally building itself as Will walked inside. A box arose from the metal plating in front of him, the iconic suit of the man known as Dark Vengeance opening out to him. "An estimated report of over two hundred and thirty four unsolved police cases reside in the GCPD."

"I- I-" Will stuttered at first, before clearing his throat, taking in everything before him. Despite the man's cold demeanor, this was overwhelming. The actual lair of Dark Vengeance, ripe for the taking, cowl and everything. "Pull up the case files," He murmured, concrete walls closing behind him.

A new Gothic King would arise.