Swallowing The Spider

[After Transition]

Though I'm still a bit miffed about batman ruining the punchline I don't let that stop me from fogging on ahead towards my goal which is to make sure those two sc.u.m of the earth go to jail for the rest of their life (since I can't get revenge with my own two hands and kill them this is the best I can do which will at least satiate the anger inside me). "That's correct, I did live in that orphanage." I tell them trying to bring back a bit of mystery to the story, though batman ruined the ending the journey is sometimes worth more than the final destination. "How did you go from an orphanage in Gotham to running n.a.k.e.d through New York streets while covered in human blood?" Barbara questions to which I'm grateful for as it seems like Gordon was letting Batman have the lead in questioning me but it seems like Batman wasn't gonna play along with me and most likely wait in silence till I continue so I'm thankful that we avoided an awkward silence that ended in me acquiescing to him.

"I'll get to that, ya see I grew up in that orphanage and I don't know where I came from before that place but I sure as hell wish I would've stayed there even if it was a pigsty as it would surely still be a hundred times better than that damned orphanage, till the age of four everything was alright but it wasn't to bad and I didn't know of a better lifestyle than the one I had so I was alright but in that last year before I turned five things got bad, for that year I was beaten, starved and isolated from the rest of the children in order for me to be more malleable in the future." I tell them adding a bit of misdirection to make the story more gripping, maybe I should become an author in this new world as I have yet to decide on a profession, something to think about.

"The staff beat and starved you, that's horrible." Thank you sweet Barbara, if it wasn't for your curious questioning and compassion I wouldn't have half as much fun telling this story as the other two guys are just a couple of stiff boards that aren't being moved by my pity story. "Not directly they didn't, I didn't know this at the time but the matron was telling the other children to not play with me, to beat me up and take my food at mealtimes effectively starving and isolating me without revealing that she was the reason I was suffering, I think she does this to the children that she thinks are bright and clever as once we turn five and we are sufficiently vulnerable she would make a big show out of protecting us from the bullies she set on us as well as feeding us making us believe that she is the only person we can trust and then she'll take advantage of the trust that we placed in her." I continue my story which is all pretty factual but soon I will start to mix some non truths into the story while also making dude yo make some omissions.

"She turned you into a drug mule." Batman states to which I nod and although I'm glad he's getting more interactive with the rest of us I'd rather he wasn't so stoic about my tragic past, I'm glad he's furthering my story though as I would be pretty disappointed if he didn't because he already knows most of what goes down in the orphanage as it was in the file I handed him to look over. "She makes it seem as if we owe it to her to do some little errands for her as well as making it seem that we'll get extra treats and special treatment if we do them and so we go along with her, it used to be back when I was one of them little drug mules that we would just walk across the street to where a specific thug would be leaning against a lamppost and he would drop a bag which we would have to deliver after we gave him some sort of signal that we were the drug mule of the day and we'd deliver it to the place that the matron had told us about before." Wasn't actually as bad as I'm making out to be at least in my memories but then again I did have quite a dark streak in this universe before the merge and I got a thrill out of doing the drug drops and avoiding other rival gangs.

I take a pause to let the soak in and wait for one of them to ask a question or something but they never do and after a second I realise that they just want me to get on with the story, at least this means I've got them hooked. "I was a lot luckier than all the other kids as I managed to actually make it back to the orphanage after the drug drops, I tried to quit once and the matron said that I would no longer be getting special treatment from her which I was fine with as I was confident that my time on the Gotham streets would help me against a few bullies but the next day ten of the older kids got together and beat the crap out of me as well as stealing all of my food at mealtimes and at the end of the day I was begging her to let me do the drug deliveries again which I then did till the age of ten which was a miracle as a lot of the drug mules hardly made it past the first year delivering drugs in the cesspool that is Gotham." I didn't actually try to quit being a drug mule but hopefully this little lie will help make them more sympathetic to my childhood and see that I didn't actually want to be one (child me wasn't really fussed though), it will hopefully also put me into a better light in their eyes.

"Miraculously I wasn't the only drug mule to make it to ten years old as there was another kid that also did and once we had both turned ten the matron took us and put us in the back of a white van which the drug dealer was driving before she hopped up in front with him, the entire inside of the back of the van was soundproofed so we couldn't hear out and nobody else could hear in so we didn't know what was going to happen to us, I think they wanted to get rid of us because we were now old enough that we were wishing up to what was actually going on and we were no longer the obedient little errand boys which they wanted so they took it upon themselves to get rid of us as we were supposed to die during one of our jobs instead of living till the age of ten." I notice that they are all silent and Grimm taking in the situation that children has to deal with such circ.u.mstances.

Of course the other kid isn't actually real though as I just added him to the story to make it more believable and give a reason why I was running n.a.k.e.d covered in blood. "We eventually stopped somewhere and they opened the back of the van to get us out and we both knew what was going to happen to us so when they went to get the other boy out first he sucker punched the matron before kicking the drug dealer in the balls and running away but unfortunately the drug dealer chased after him, while they were doing that I quickly pushed over the matron who was still reeling from the punch and ran away quite easily as she wasn't an athletic woman thought quickly realised that there was nowhere for me to run. I was surrounded on all sides by open land with nothing around and only one road leading away from the little factory where we were but I knew if I followed the road they would find me later and if I venture out into the wilderness than I would definitely die so I chose to hide instead."

I'm a really good story teller, I should be an author or even better an actor. "With the drug dealer running after the other boy the matron decided to look around for me so when she was far away enough from the van I circled around her and climbed onto the van using it as a way to get up to roof of a factory building it was parked next to by climbing on the window edges and pipes and just in time too as the drug dealer had come back with the other boy knocked out and both the drug dealer and the matron looked for me before giving up, I assumed that they though I would die while trying yo run through the wilderness or they would find me later while driving back on the only road out of there. I watched them take the other boy into the inside of the factory whose roof I was on and I looked in on them from the skylight which was on the roof though I wish I hadn't as they- they.." I start to stutter and show some emotion to get some more feels from them and increase the tension and suspense.

"What did they do?" Batman questions to which I start to sputter out my answer. "They- they, they fed the other boy in- into a... A meat grinder..." I am a great story teller, either that or a great bullshitter...

________________________________________________

<AN> I now have a Pa treon up and running and when a chapter is ready it will go up on Pa treon first so please take a look. Some support from you guys would be appreciated and motivate me.

Currently 10+ Chapters.

(pa treon.com/GutsyRipper)

A special thank you to my patrons Tim Brown, Stormrall, Turtle, heller8284, Wanous, Matthew Laird, Sage Honos and Cameron. Thank you for the support.