(Davian's P.O.V)

I was back in the graveyard.

Knelt before his grave.

I fell asleep in the real world and when I woke up, my surroundings had changed and I was no longer bound to a chair in the white room. Now it was the mist, the graves and...

"It's times like these that remind me of just crazy the world is."

A voice said from behind me. I turned around warily, my feet spaced out, ready for action.

My hand reached for my hip and I cursed. I had forgotten I wasn't strapped. The man looked at the action and blinked.

"Davian? What are you doing here?"

He questioned, then looked around.

"How...long have I been here?"

He wasn't doing anything so I calmed down. It was easy enough to know who this was. The moustache, brown coat over a generic white suit, glasses and a badge strapped to his hip...

"Commissioner Gordon."

I stated.

My headache. The cause of all this.

"Where are we Davian? The last thing I remember is..."

He looked at me critically before sighing in relief.

"You're you. Thank God."

He said, walking closer to me with an air of familiarity. Seems like he knew the last resident of this body.

"And I'm dead."

He stated, as if discussing the weather.

I said nothing, studying him instead. He did not look hurt in any way. How was he here? Wherever here was anyway. Though I had an idea.

"Yeah. You are." I finally answered, looking away to distract myself from the truth. That his death was in my hands. The mist covered the cemetery just like before, though it seemed a bit thinner. In fact, I could swear that there were a few more graves than before and... something was out there. Watching.

The same feeling of being light and heavy took over.

'Call me...'

"Did you hear that?"

I asked Gordon who was knelt before his grave with a bewildered look on his face.

"I'm dead. Barbs..."

He muttered.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Gordon whispered, leaning on the headstone.

"I remember trying to make my way to you and then..."

He went silent.

"I'm... I'm sorry."

I apologized. This wasn't my fault but...I still felt liable in a way. Davian stole him from his family. How can I ever get past that?

"Hey, are you okay?"

I asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

The instant I did so, the entire world shook and collapsed from underneath my legs. I awoke to a burning building, scalding hot...smoke in my lungs...I can't see anything...

I stumbled as the whole building trembled, the walls around me cracking. I loosened the tie on my neck to catch a breath. 'Gotta stick to the floor, where the air is...' The explosion from above caused the ceiling to cave in but luckily, I survived due to the frames of the metal staircase providing a cover for me.

As a concequence I was stuck under it. I coughed and took a breath while covering my nose with my hand. 'Gotta call it in, get rescue.' My hand went for the radio on my left hip and started patting around. 'Where is it?'

The floor below me begun to splinter, the weight of the collapsed ceiling proving too heavy to handle.

"Help! Help!"

I called out, maybe Davian could hear me. Things were not looking too good. Wait...what?

Davian?

I bit back a scream while trying to extract my foot which was stuck between concrete debris. Then without a second warning, a purple flash lit up the sky, visible from the holes in the building and blowing down more of the roof to crash onto me.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

I saw death, smiling at me, with a promise. I could have sworn she told me,

'Not today'

But those might have been the delusions of a dying man.

The last thing I saw was her face. My sweet Barbara.

"Dad, promise me that you'll always come home."

I could remember her saying that and then, darkness.

The next thing I felt after that, was a chilling breeze.

"Quickly! We're losing the subject."

"They will not be happy."

A few frantic voices spoke up. My body was mostly numb. The only muted feeling being a tightness in my chest. I couldn't see. Something was covering my face. I tried to reach out with my hand and found both of them and my legs bound.

"Wha..."

My throat was scratchy and dry.

"Shit, he's waking up, professor!"

"Shut up! Both of you!"

Light hit my eyes underneath the eyelids as the sheet covering my face was ripped away.

The mask of Professor Pyg revealed itself to me. There were two of his nurses/henchmen with all types of surgical procedures done to them, beside him. My gaze was stuck on Pyg's cruel eyes.

"Besides, our job is not to keep old Gordo alive. A precious waste of prime experiment material? sure. But our job is to collect enough D.N.A samples to create his replacement."

No...

"Batmuh..."

I tried to call out but the pain on my chest increased as laughter escaped Pyg's mouth.

"Get ready Commissioner."

He showed me a hack saw.

"I promise to make your death experience...memorable."

Then he started cutting.

"Gah!"

My shoulder slammed onto the corner of a grave stone as I was thrown away from Gordon.

"Davian!"

Commissioner Gordon called out rushing to my side.

"What...what was that?"

I asked myself, the weird feeling of being light and heavy at the same time gripping me. It was like I was swimming in a pool of murky water.

"You're... you're glowing purple."

Gordon spoke up from close, not quite touching me but hovering over my body in concern.

"Purple?"

I wondered, getting to my feet.

I looked down and saw what he meant. My hands...they were covered with an aura of bright purple that was tinged with silver at the edges.

"Reiryoku..."

I muttered in realization.

Which meant... I looked at Gordon as the memory of the burning building replayed itself in my mind. Except, it wasn't my memory was it? They were Gordon's. Somehow I had experienced his memories as if they were mine.

"That was an ability."

I added with confidence.

This...this could be good or disastrous. I wasn't 100 percent sure but, the fact that the previous host could apparently turn into a vizard and rampage meant...I might have the same abilities. If my speculation was true though...how did the abilities transfer? Reiryoku or Spiritual Energy comes from the soul. His soul was gone from what I could tell, so how?

"An ability?"

Gordon broke through my thoughts and asked.

"Yeah."

"You mean like the other...guy?"

He asked and I narrowed my eyes in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

I wondered.

"Come on Davian. 2 years ago, Joker's factory. He used it to produce his laughing gas, with plans to release it on the city."

He begun, frowning upon noticing the blank look on my face.

"You went after a few orphan kids that his henchmen were using to threaten Batman. The whole Factory went up in flames. By the time I arrived, you were crouching on the ground, holding onto..."

He looked away.

"Holding onto three lifeless bodies."

My lips thinned. Seems like the me from this world hadn't had it easy either. I wanted to learn more about him but...not something like that.

"I...huh... I'm sorry about all this, Commissioner."

I told him, changing the subject.

"Don't worry about it Kid."

He smiled at me, turning around to face his gravestone.

"We all gotta go sometime."

He added with melancholy.

"I'll just...sit here for a while, glow stick."

He joked, referencing my aura covered body.

Problem is, I did not know how to turn it off.

I was still glowing and each passing second more of my stamina was being drained. Tapping into my Reiryoku for the first time was taking a toll on my body and I couldn't keep it going for long.

What was it that that Triad dude told me back in prison? I sat on the ground and closed my eyes.

"Visualize the body, it's place in the universe. Visualize the mind, it's place in the body, visualize the intent, it's place in the mind. Visualize until they become one."

Or something like that.

Going in, I had no idea if it would work. The first few minutes were spent with me trying hard not to let my mind wander. Getting control of whatever this was, would help me survive better. Maybe even escape Batman. Only 2 minutes in, I felt something new inside me. Something... different and then...

Nothing. The feeling went away and I opened my eyes with a little frustration.

"You're thinking too hard on it."

Gordon spoke up.

"If you have an idea, share it."

I shot back, annoyed.

"Whoa, first of all, curb the attitude. Secondly, those are your powers. Just turn them off."

"You think I'm not...?"

I visualized flipping a switch and locking the Reiryoku away and immediately turned back to normal. Whoa...wait.

"I can't believe that actually worked."

I said dumbly, staring at the bare skin of my palms.

"You deactivated them. Good work, son."

Gordon congratulated. I recalled the feeling and tried to recreate it.

So, flipping a switch works but it's more like pressing or pushing down on something. The opposite to that would be pulling. My body lit up with purple once again. I laughed in disbelief, the exhaustion was still there but...I had powers.

I had honest to God powers.

...'not ready...'

I turned my face around, 'that voice again...'

"Someone's happy."

Gordon commented.

"Yeah."

I couldn't keep the smile off my face.

"If I learn how to control them, no one else needs to get hurt due to my carelessness."

Gordon looked at me weirdly.

"You really are different."

How do I tell a guy that I apparently killed, I had no memory of our past encounters? Nothing.

"After everything that has happened, It would be weird if I wasn't."

I told him, deactivating the Reiryoku cloak. My shoulders sagged at the exhaustion I was feeling.

"I guess you're right."

He walked over and patted my shoulder.

"For what it's worth kid, I don't blame ya."

My eyes widened slightly. Growing up where I had, Cops were no better than criminals, so my trust in them had always been low but...Gordon was one of the good ones. That much was certain.

"Thanks."

I responded, meaning it. Right there, I decided I needed to make things right. Not just to clear my name but to also reunite Gordon with his family.

"And...I don't actually think you're dead."

The statement surprised him just as I was sure it would.

"I've been thinking about it, Commissioner and something doesn't add up."

I couldn't tell him that I had no memories but even with what I knew so far, a lot of it was odd.

What had Davian been doing on that particular building?

Why would he wait to attack? The clip had played for 2 whole minutes before he had made his move. If he was as unhinged as Batman tried to make it seem then he would have attacked almost immediately.

And third, someone had taken away Gordon's body. Professor Pyg. One of the worst villains in Batman's Rogues gallery. This was DC. The chances that someone was behind all this was very high.

"If I'm not dead...then where are we?"

He asked, looking around.

"This...is my inner world."

I replied and the instance the words left my mouth, I knew it to be true.

"I think I intercepted your soul."

Gordon blinked.

"Which means...its likely didn't kill me, hell, you might have even saved me."