Chapter 1: Awakening in Gotham
Connor Baxter's eyes flew open, his heart pounding with a desperation he didn't fully understand. He lay on his back, staring up at a crumbling ceiling, trying to process why the world felt so wrong. For a second, he was convinced he'd been in a terrible car accident—the flash of headlights, the blaring horn, the unyielding impact of steel. But he was lying on something hard and unyielding, not a hospital bed. The sound of dripping water echoed in the silence, and the air was cold, stale, carrying the faint tang of mold.
With a groan, he pushed himself up, his muscles feeling heavy, achy, as if he'd been asleep for days. Taking a deep breath, Connor shook off the lingering feeling of shock, and a thought struck him. I'm alive. I should be dead, but I'm alive. The memories of the accident were sharp and unshakable, yet here he was, breathing, moving, thinking. Heart racing, he took in his surroundings with growing confusion.
The room was dim, but enough light seeped through a grime-covered window for him to make out his surroundings. A cracked mirror hung on the opposite wall, reflecting dingy, peeling wallpaper and a worn-out bed that looked as if it had seen better decades. This wasn't anywhere he recognized. Certainly not his apartment back in Boston.
He staggered to his feet, feeling the strange disorientation that came with being in an unfamiliar place. His body felt foreign, as though every movement required a conscious effort. This isn't just a new place; it feels like… a new life. He tried to shake off the eerie sensation as he shuffled over to the mirror, wiping away the dust with his sleeve.
The face that stared back wasn't his own. The hair, the eyes—they were close enough to his old appearance, but the finer details were wrong. He looked younger by at least a decade, maybe in his early twenties. His skin was clear, no signs of the scars he remembered from his old life. Panic set in, and he gripped the edge of the sink to steady himself.
This isn't my face. This isn't me.
A shiver of realization began to settle in, and he stumbled backward, clutching his head. He remembered every detail of his past life—his name, his job as a software engineer, his love for comic books and anime. It all felt like it was still part of him, yet his body and face were a stranger's. He took several deep breaths, fighting the rising wave of dread. The panic was real, as was the bizarre sensation that he didn't belong here.
With a shaky step, he approached the window and looked out. Gray skyscrapers loomed above a dark, sprawling city. He could make out flashing neon lights and distant billboards, some flashing ads, others warning of curfews. As his gaze adjusted to the misty, dull glow, he spotted a sign in the distance: Wayne Enterprises. Connor's breath caught in his throat, his heart beating even faster. He knew that name—everyone did.
"Wayne Enterprises? Like… Bruce Wayne? Batman?" The words slipped from his lips in disbelief.
He forced himself to look away, feeling an almost sick curiosity urging him forward. He stumbled down a narrow hallway, his footfalls echoing in the silence, and found an old newspaper lying in the corner. With hands that shook slightly, he picked it up, scanning the headline. The date was irrelevant—what mattered was the city name: Gotham City.
An anxious laugh escaped him as he dropped the paper. This wasn't possible. Yet here he was, holding physical proof. He was in Gotham, a fictional city from a fictional world that had lived only in the pages of comics and on the screens of movies and TV shows.
Connor slumped to the floor, his mind racing. I've been reincarnated into Gotham. His thoughts felt surreal, disjointed. Had he gone insane? Was this some kind of elaborate prank?
For hours, Connor wandered the streets in a daze, his mind struggling to keep up with the flood of new information. The world around him was dark, gritty, filled with the shadows of alleyways and the quiet menace of a city that had seen too much crime, too much suffering. It's real, he thought, repeating the phrase like a mantra. Gotham was real.
But as days turned into weeks, reality slowly sank in, and Connor realized he had a choice. He could spend the rest of his life hiding from the horrors lurking in the shadows, pretending he was still the man he'd once been. Or he could survive—use his knowledge of the DC Universe to navigate Gotham's underworld, perhaps even thrive in a way he never had before. The thought of standing on the same ground as Batman, Superman, and other legends filled him with a strange mixture of dread and thrill.
In his past life, Connor had been ordinary. A computer science graduate working a dead-end job as a software engineer. Most of his time outside work had been spent diving into comics, anime, and video games. He'd been a walking encyclopedia of superhero lore and anime trivia. Marvel, DC, Naruto, One Piece, My Hero Academia, One Punch Man—he knew them all by heart. His escapism had bordered on obsession, his knowledge so deep that he could recite events, battles, and even dialogue from memory.
And now, he realized with a strange thrill, that knowledge was his most valuable weapon.
---
Learning to Survive in Gotham
At first, Connor's life in Gotham was a series of near-misses and narrow escapes. He lived in the shadows, using his skills to hack into local systems for food and money, careful not to draw attention. In Gotham, the slightest misstep could mean disaster. He saw it daily: people crushed beneath the weight of crime, of corrupt politicians, and the unchecked power of the city's elite. But he was careful, always staying one step ahead.
As he navigated the city's hidden underbelly, he took on odd jobs—mostly digital work and hacking gigs. With his background in computer science, it wasn't long before he built a reputation in certain circles as a discreet, highly skilled freelancer. Over time, he began studying more advanced techniques, expanding his hacking skills with the kind of vigor he had once reserved for memorizing comic book plots.
Bit by bit, he began mapping out the Gotham he had once only read about. This was a dangerous world filled with heroes and villains alike, a city with alliances as fleeting as shadows and loyalties as fragile as glass. Connor understood the risks better than anyone. The Batman was out there, watching from the rooftops, just as dangerous to those he deemed a threat as any villain.
---
A Plan Begins to Form
As the years passed, Connor grew bolder. With a carefully constructed alias, he began probing deeper into Gotham's criminal networks, his curiosity leading him to information most people would have thought impossible to access. He dug into police files, encrypted databases, secret chat rooms where Gotham's lowlifes traded information.
In his spare time, he kept an eye on the heroes and villains he had once idolized. Sometimes, he'd catch a glimpse of Batman on the news, a shadowy figure stopping yet another of Gotham's criminals. Other times, he'd hear whispers about the Joker, Ra's al Ghul, or other iconic names that sent chills down his spine. This was his world now, and he intended to master it.
But he knew that skill alone wouldn't be enough. In a world where metahumans and demigods roamed, he was only a man—a skilled one, but still, a man. If he wanted to truly make his mark, he'd need more than hacking skills and insider knowledge. He'd need power.
---
The Beginning of a New Era
One evening, Connor sat in his dingy apartment, staring at his cracked laptop screen, pondering what he'd do with his life in the long run. He couldn't hide forever; Gotham's secrets were too tantalizing to ignore. He needed a way to influence events, to keep heroes and villains off balance, to make his name one that both sides would come to respect—or at least fear.
He thought about what he could accomplish if he took a more active role in shaping the world. Heroes, villains, and anti-heroes alike—they all operated based on secrets. Batman's true identity was known only to a handful, the Justice League's plans and secrets concealed within the halls of the Watchtower. If he could start exposing these secrets, peeling back the layers one by one, he could hold the entire world in his grasp.
And as the thought took root in his mind, a familiar thrill ran through him. It was like a game—one he'd played in countless video games and role-playing fantasies. But this was real. He would become a shadow, a puppeteer pulling the strings from behind the scenes.
But just as he was about to shut down for the night, his vision went dark, and he felt something strange, something foreign, begin to seep into his mind. It was as though a new presence had awakened within him, a gentle yet overwhelming hum of power.
He stared as a bright, translucent screen appeared before his eyes, a notification hovering in the air.
[Welcome to the Balance System!]
---
To Be Continued...