Chapter 2: Chapter II – Gotham Thugs

Injustice: The Path to Hell

The End of Black Mask

Chapter II - Gotham Thugs

Monday 12th January 2009, 07:58
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
Gotham Academy.

Esau walked calmly through the corridors of the prestigious academy of Gotham. A school that until recently, only catered to the wealthiest families of Gotham City. That changed when Bruce Wayne had begun supplying a sizable, annual fee to the academy under the condition they offer scholarships and reduce the tuition fee to those from poorer families. Since then, many other schools had been doing the same, receiving similar donations from Bruce Wayne and in turn, leading to many of the aristocrats being forced to do the same to avoid being shown up.

It was a generous offer from the otherwise billionaire playboy, but one thing he had forgotten to consider was the number of assholes that usually took up the vast majority of children that entered Gotham Academy. Many had been told by their parents that they were better than the other children, the money they possessed feeding into that arrogance making them think they were above it all and that would be in just a modern-day society. In a feudal and class-based society such as Gotham, it led to them further looking down upon people, not their equals or their superiors with anything but distaste.

Esau himself ignored the occasional jeer and insult that came his way from a bunch of jocks. That's all they ever did, insult him from afar. They had learned the lesson that you never start a fight or even invade Esau's personal space and insult him at the same time. If you did, we'll let's just say you were more than likely to end up headfirst in a nearby wall.

Fights between Esau and the aristocrats and jocks had been a common occurrence in his first year at the academy. His very presence in the confines of Gotham Academy and position as the only guy that Barbara Gordon had shown an ounce of interest in was a threat to their ego. It had gotten so bad that the teachers had threatened to expel Esau and anyone who got involved in fights on school grounds, but all that did was mean that the fights usually took place outside of them.

However, that all changed when one particular jock had come to the school late having gotten drunk with his recently graduated friends and pulled a knife out on Esau. It was amazing what people try to get away with when their parents had a little bit of money. Though in a place as corrupt as Gotham, getting away with things like that with a slapped wrist was commonplace, too common. That particular fight ended with the boy going to the hospital with numerous broken bones, fractures, and dislocations. The teachers had to practically pry Esau off the unconscious student.

It was safe to say that Esau had sent the students of Gotham Academy a message that had destroyed any attempts him trying to make friends. Not that he was interested in the first place, but the struggle he had with affording everything meant he had barely any spare time. Though Barbara always found a way to make sure that they spent time together, often by ambushing him.

Entering the classroom, Esau sat down at the desk and allowed his head to drop onto his crossed arms, intent on catching up on the sleep he had missed out on last night. The injuries he had suffered on Friday night had been a pain to deal with, but they were mostly healed up now, he always did heal quicker than most.

That was his plan, but it was never to be as a hand slammed down onto his desk jolting him into an upright position.

"Barbara?" He questioned following the hand up to the face of his childhood friend. "What the hell?!"

"Class starts in a minute; be thankful I woke you up before the teacher does." She said haughtily, though both of them knew she was simply doing this as an act, she shared his distaste for the way the young, rich kids acted as much as he did. "Besides, I needed to ask you if you've done the work that was in for today, the work I specifically reminded you to do all week."

"Oh, shit." Esau's head collapsed onto the desk. "Fuck. I forgot." He looked up and saw Barbara staring down at him, one hand on her hip that was cocked to the side, her face set into one of disappointment.

"Why do you do this to yourself, Esau?" She asked. "I mean, we both know you're not the smartest guy in the world, but you sure as hell can be determined and willing to learn. If you put half of the determination you have into beating up guys in a ring, then you sure as hell can be one of the top students in the class. But you don't."

Esau just sighed, rubbing his temples in an attempt to quell the impending headache he knew would come when the teacher came in. "Look, I've just been really busy; haven't had time to do the work."

Barbara shook her head and took a seat at her desk next to Esau's. "He's gonna tear you a new asshole." She snarked and Esau shot her a dirty look, which she returned by maturely sticking out her tongue.

"Yea, well he can shove it for all I care." Esau scoffed while crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back into his chair. "He's a stuck-up prick, maybe if he wasn't such an asshole, I might be willing to learn some of the shit he teaches us." This earned a short laugh from Barbara.

He turned to look at her and raised one eyebrow in questioning. "Please, we both know that you hate school and the only reason you come is that I force you." She responded. "It wouldn't matter if he was a stuck-up prick or not, if I didn't make you come to school, you wouldn't bother learning at all."

Esau simply smirked at her. "Maybe, who knows." It was Barbara who raised one brow at him this time, obviously not convinced.

However, before she could say anything the door opened and in steps the teacher. Something which made Esau give her a smirk at getting the last word before she turned to listen as the teacher did a roll call. Esau, on the other hand, went back to resting his head on the desk intent on catching up on some sleep.

---

Monday 12th January 2009, 15:00.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
Gotham Heights.

It was a surprisingly nice day for January, which resulted in large crowds of people bustling down the streets to get to their intended destinations. For the most part, everything was normal, as if it was a place like Metropolis or Star City, a large change for the people of Gotham who were used to the rampant chaos that plagued them every waking second of every day.

No crime.

No supervillain wreaking havoc upon the city.

It was calm.

Currently, Esau and Barbara were walking through the crowds in their school uniforms and coats to keep warm, making their way toward Barbara's home. A usual routine for the two as Esau would stop by the Gordon household whenever he could, a way for him to spend time with his godfather and best friend. Thankfully, today Esau had no shifts, having been fired from his last job, allowing him to spend time with Barbara, something they were both pleased with.

Laughing, Barbara clutched Esau's left hand tightly in both of hers as he dragged her through the particularly large crowd of people. "Esau! Slow down a bit!" He just shot her a cheeky grin over his shoulder and tugged her out of the crowd into a small backstreet that acted as a shortcut to Barbara's home.

"What's wrong, Barbie? Can't keep up?" He taunted and Barbara smacked him on the arm, getting him to mockingly rub the area as if soothing the pain.

"Don't call me that, asshole." Despite this, neither could wipe the grin off their faces, never once letting go of the other's hand as they came out onto another street. It was still busy, but nowhere near as busy as Gotham Height's main street. "Still can't believe you got detention on your first day back after the Christmas Holidays."

"Yeah, me neither." He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Wasn't even trying to get detention, but that guy was being a dick." Barbara shook her head and stepped a little closer to Esau.

"Yea, well try not to get into trouble anymore." Esau just gave her his signature grin. "I'm being serious, Esau."

"Yeah, yeah." He waved off her concerns. "I'll try my best, mum. No promises though."

"Whatever, not like I care," Barbara replied, sticking her nose in the air.

Seeing this, Esau jabbed her in the side with his free hand making her jump away with a yell of shock, only to slip and fall to the ground. Esau burst out laughing as Barbara stared at him in shock before her eyes narrowed, slowly and menacingly raising to the ground. However, her messy hair, red cheeks and the smile that she strained to suppress greatly diminished that look of intimidation that only made his smile grow wider in response.

"Esau!" Continuing to laugh, Esau raised his hands in mock surrender as the occasional person walking by either smiled or rolled their eyes at the two students. "Stop laughing! This isn't funny, you jerk!" She smacked him hard in the arm, but this only had the opposite effect as they finally continued their walk back to Barbara's home, with the young girl finally joining him in laughing, unable to stop herself any longer.

Finally calming down, Esau wiped a tear from his eye and looked to see his friend smiling while looking ahead. "I'm sorry, how are you feeling?" He finally apologised, reaching over to wrap one arm over her shoulders. At a height of 5"9, Esau was over five inches taller than Barbara's own 5"4 and so her head was quite easily and comfortably tucked into his chest.

"I'm fine, a little sore from where I landed, but nothing life-threatening." Esau nodded his head, and Barbara felt her cheeks darken at the fact Esau showed concern for her over the simplest of things. It was sweet and was just who Esau was, he may not make friends easily, but to those he did have, he was loyal to them to the end.

Slowly, she closed her eyes, trusting Esau to make sure that she didn't walk into something as she leaned closer to him.

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"Good, good. Wouldn't want that now, would we?" He asked rhetorically as they walked in comfortable silence. That was until Esau tensed up as he noticed two well-dressed men leaning against a building, smoking, and watching him and Barbara intently. He looked down and noticed that Barbara had looked up, having felt him tense up.

"What's wrong?" She asked worriedly, her eyes scanning the area. Instantly her instincts honed as Batgirl picked up on the same two men Esau had. They may not be looking in their direction, having noticed Esau staring right at them, but they may as well have been wearing a neon sign saying, 'We're wannabe gangsters.'

"It's nothing." He gave a reassuring smile, but while Barbara outwardly pretended that she bought it, inwardly she knew that this had to do with the part of Esau's life he kept secret even from her. "Can you, erm." He looked around and his eyes landed on a small coffee shop just a few buildings back the way they came. "Can you wait for me in that coffee shop, while I make sure that I'm not just being paranoid?"

Barbara frowned, wanting nothing more than to help Esau, but at the same time, not willing to give him any clues about her life as Batgirl. "It's probably nothing, I can come with – "

"No!" He quickly interjected, his voice louder and more forceful than he had intended if the look on his face was anything to go by. "No." He repeated much calmer and gentler than before. "No, I'll go myself, it's like you said, probably nothing and I'd like some coffee. So why don't you get us something to drink, while I just settle my nerves?"

"But..." She cut herself off this time as she watched Esau's tense frame become even tenser, his eyes narrowing as his stubborn nature reared its head. Barbara felt her stubborn nature also rise but beat it down into submission and narrowed her eyes right back at him. "Fine."

Crossing her arms, Barbara turned on her heels and stopped at the entrance to the coffee shop, checking the board outside with a list of all the prices. Well, that's what it looked like, but out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Esau stared at her for a few moments before continuing to walk the way they were heading and pulling into a back alley. The guys she had been watching, waited until Esau passed them, putting out their cigarettes and following after her blonde friend.

As they moved, turning her attention away from her, she studied them closer but could find no discernable gang tattoo or anything that would affiliate them to one group or another. Guys like them were a dime a dozen, random people, down on their look and desperate, the starving, the junkies and other guys in desperate need of cash or another fix. They were hired to do tasks that the higher-ups didn't want to be connected to them in any way.

Often meaning that things could get dirty.

Taking in a deep breath, Barbara fought internally with herself about whether she should go and help her childhood friend before deciding to trust him. If it came to a fight, she knew he would be alright, he had taken out bigger and worse guys than those two thugs and from the looks of them, they weren't in a decent shape for a fight either. Neither looked to have any form of training and from their clothing, they belonged to Gotham Heights and not the East End.

---

Monday 12th January 2009, 15:15.
New Jersey,
Gotham City,
Gotham Heights.

Esau came to a stop in a small alleyway, his eyes locked onto the three walls surrounding him, the way out being the way he had just come. Turning around, he faced the two thugs that rounded into the alleyway at the same time, their frames filling the only exit in a poor attempt at intimidation. The suits they wore, while clean, were creased and a little worn in areas, the smell of smoke and alcohol pungent and wafting off them heavily.

"Nowhere to go now, kid." The tall lanky one on the right said, his hands shoved into his pockets. Esau scoffed and folded his hands across his chest and allowed the two thugs to try and poorly invade his personal space. But it was obvious that as they got closer, they realised that he wasn't just some skinny kid. At the height of 5"9 and a build of a professional American Football player, Esau cut a far more intimidating figure than a tall lanky man and his fat partner. And the blonde used this to his advantage by stepping up into their personal space and officially showing them how to intimidate someone.

It was something he had done many times in the past, often needing to cut an intimidating figure just to avoid conflict in the East End.

Reputation helped massively, but it was not always a liberty that he could rely upon. Especially when people got desperate and the East End was filled with the desperate, they would do anything to anyone for whatever it was that they required. So, the only way to ensure things like that didn't happen, one needed to be able to fight, but also be able to ensure it never got to violence in the first place, especially for himself where avoiding injury was essential to ensure he could still fight in his matches.

It worked as the two men grit their teeth, taking a step back. "If you're gonna try and intimidate someone, make sure that you actually know what you're doing next time." Esau snarked, a smug smirk on his face that disappeared when the fat thug pulled out a gun and pointed it right at Esau's face. His hand was shaking, but his finger was on the trigger as sweat formed upon his brow, the guy was scared.

"You think you intimidate us, you little shit!" He shouted out, spit coming out of his mouth.

"Calm down, T-Dog." The lanky and smarter man of the pair said sternly.

"T-Dog?" Esau questioned with a chuckle, wiping the spit that had landed on his face. "That's a real black name for a white guy. Did you come up with that all by yourself just to make yourself sound gangster? What a fucking joke." This only made 'T-Dog' snarl, even more, his gun pressing against Esau's forehead, but his partner reached out, pushing it down so that it pointed to the ground. "So, what's you want?"

"You know exactly why we're here." T-Dog snarled, and Esau frowned at him before turning to face the more reasonable of the two.

"You're late on your payment." He answered, ignoring his near-rabid partner. "The boss wants payment in full by the end of the day." Esau tensed up. "Or we'll look for other ways to get the money."

"Do you even know who the 'boss' is?" Esau asked, the silence saying that they didn't, but also didn't care.

'Shit!' Esau cursed internally. 'Fuck! I thought I had longer, he usually lets me have an extra week if I'm late. Why the fuck is he changing it up now?! I don't have the cash to pay him yet and there're no fights today, the next ones are tomorrow!' He never allowed any of his internal conflict to show on his face as his blue eyes bore into the lanky man's own brown eyes, who soon began to shift uncomfortably.

"Here that, you little shit!" T-Dog spat out, waving his gun around. "Pay up by the end of the day or maybe we and a few boys might pay a visit to your little girlfriend and break her in a little. Pretty sure the boss would be glad to have a babe like her as a prostitute on his payroll. What do you think, maybe he'll be kind enough and just fuck her himself."

Esau's eyes zeroed in on the fat man, his blood boiling as his heart pounded in his ears. 'This fat fucker dares!' His fists clenched at his side, jaw tensing.

"It'd be unfortunate, but the boss did say we have to make the money up in other ways and there are plenty of guys out there who would love to get a piece of ass like that." The fat one continued, completely oblivious to Esau's rising anger.

'I'll fucking kill him!' His fist shot out quicker than either of the two thugs could react and collided with T-Dog's face and there was a sickening crunching sound that signalled his nose had been broken. Even then, as the fat man fell backwards into the wall clutching his bleeding face and crying out in pain, Esau's leg went with the momentum and smashed the man's head against the wall.

Now, this wasn't the movie where the man's head would split open like a grape. But his skull did cave in, pieces of bone piercing the man's brain and killing him instantly as he slumped to the floor, a bloody stain left behind on the wall.

Meanwhile, the lanky man fumbled to get his gun out, but Esau stepped into the man's guard and landed five consecutive punches to his stomach, followed by a vicious uppercut that sent them to the ground unconscious. When all was said and done, Esau stood there breathing heavily in an attempt to calm his anger.

It took everything he had not to kill the second guy, but he knew that if he killed both of them their boss would take this as an act of rebellion. Even if these guys were just random people picked off the street because they were having a bad day, it didn't change the fact that they were working for him. The saying always was, don't shoot the messenger and while he didn't fire a gun, the statement still holds. He had killed his messengers and he would not be happy about this in the slightest.

Once he had sufficiently calmed down, he exited the street and noticed that no one had stopped to pay attention to what had gone on down in the alley. It was to be expected, even with Batman around, people still followed the old rules put in place by the crime bosses.

Keep your nose out of their business and don't play the hero or you get killed.

"Esau!" He looked to the left and saw Barbara walking toward him with two cups of coffee in her hand.

"Barbara!" He replies and moves towards her, taking his cup of coffee from her hands with a thank you.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just me being paranoid after all." He answered with a smile and a short laugh, Barbara smiled at him. "Shall we cross the street?"

"Okay." She nodded her head, though once Esau turned away her smile grew small as she spared a glance at the alleyway Esau had just come out of.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter and if you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know.

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