#cryptid gotham

what if they are completly normal, and the only cryptic one is alfred

do I want this just because I don't want Alfred to die? yeah

so, anyway, let's get to the post:

Chongqing is a city in china that has a really confusing layout. There is buildings on top of buildings. You might think you’re on the ground floor but nope! You go in an elevator and you are on the 12th story. Then you go to the elevator right next to it and it says you are on the 23rd floor.

I think crime alley and the Bowery should be extra confusing by having a bunch of technically illegal construction that no one really reports because it’s a better income source than actual crime.

Only people raised in the area should be able to navigate easily. It’s part of every Robin and bat adjacent’s training to be able to navigate every neighborhood.

Wayne tech offers not only free accessibility features for buildings regardless of legality of its construction but will pay the building owners.

The Bowery in particular is like a hive and only Jason, Steph and Duke are able to navigate it with ease. Everyone else needs to have Alfred or oracle on comms or to reference a map that’s only a couple months old but barely helpful because it’s changed so much.

due to recent changes to the story this rewrite is outdated and can no longer be considered canon

this is my rewrite of Edward Nashton (yes I'm using "nashton") aka the riddler

BACKGROUND:

He grew up with his (alcoholic) father in Gotham being verbally and physically abused by him till he eventually grew up and got out, He would later become a radio show host getting popular enough to become a beloved game show host, but he ultimately got quietly fired after his letters were found by a janitor and later handed over to his boss, he would then enter a deep depression over losing said job and would become riddler once he realized that they took HIS show and replaced HIM just to cancel the show when it stopped doing so well, once he became the riddler in an incident with a bomb he got blown up and had to rebuild himself with rusted outdated technology looking more like some fucked chuck e cheese animatronic

MOTIVATION:

this version of riddler is fueled by his inferiority complex rather than a superiority complex, rather than proving his own intelligence he prefers to tear down everyone else, he feels powerless in his own situation and so he makes sure everyone around him feels worse in a worse situation, and yet he also wishes to preform (more on that in methods) to show that he still has value beyond his inability to escape his situation

METHODS:

as for his methods is rather gruesome even among the other rogues, he prefers to make a show out of his victims, he will research somebody until he gathers every bit of information on them and then he will kidnap them into some warehouse, there he will start a show hijacking radio waves on CCRTVs to show a live preformance of him slowly vivisecting somebody, as he torments them he'll use riddles as a passive aggressive way of making them feel worse, using their guilt, regrets, secrets, and fears as the basis of his riddles and everytime they refuse to tell the audience what they've done then he'll remove a piece from them, he'll vivisect them on live tv removing their skin, organs, limbs, and teeth all for the sake of tormenting them, ultimately they'll be left unable to do anything for themselves, more of a hunk of meat in extreme pain hooked up to so many machines they're barely recognizable as human

TECHNOLOGY:

this version will use his intelligence to torment and cut off, he makes machines that are capable of keeping people alive in extreme scenarios such as missing their heart and lungs, he also uses nano machines to turn inorganic material into cameras in the shape of eyes, you can tell when he's watching when you find eyes lacking irises in the corners of your house or behind furniture

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

I don't really have any problems with Riddler specifically that's not just a certain version so I was going in with making him a horror movie version of himself

sure he's far more "slasher" but I did want to incorperate his obsession with riddles in a threatening manner and yada yada yada

he is obsessed with riddles compulsively using them but he manages it mostly by making it torment others

Where Gotham can change into dragons, and it's like the One thing they all keep secret from Outsiders. Everyone has three forms depending on the secondary sex they are at the time, while children have a form similar to a parent just, more stone-colored for camouflage. If that makes sense.

So normally I'd make world-building from scratch but I'm not drawing dragons from scratch for this. Like three for each character ever? Ehhh, sorry not happening lol. So I'll probably use Flight Rising or something similar to come up with things to base their dragon forms off of.

Anyway if you're here, hope you don't mind ramblings lol.

gotham city is a cryptid and the batfam are Their children.

warnings and tags: blood, injury, fighting, a little angst

Dick was the first to see Them, likely because he was the first Robin. He had only just become Robin, so when he got lost on the streets of Gotham, he didn’t want to admit to Batman that he was lost. So he wandered the streets, looking for something familiar.

Slowly, he became aware of something behind him. Oddly, despite knowing he was being followed, the presence didn’t make him feel unsafe.

Dick wondered if maybe it was a child, or someone who needed help, so he turned around and called out, telling whoever it was that he could help them.

Nobody answered. But the wind blew a bit harder and Dick swore he heard a voice, so he called out again.

This time They answered. “You’re lost, little one, not me.”

Dick jumped. “Who are you?”

“I am no one. But I can help you find the Bat.”

“How?”

“I can find anyone. Come, child, it’s too cold for you.” a breeze nudged at Dick, feeling more like a parent, nudging their child along than wind. So Dick let himself be guided through Gotham, giggling when the wind tickled him.

And then he was deposited behind Batman and Commissioner Gordan.

“Batman!” Dick bound over to Batman, hugging the man's legs.

“Robin. Where were you?”

“I was exploring! The wind brought me home!”

Batman frowned. “Stay close, Robin.”

Tim met Them next. He too, was lost on the streets of Gotham, but unlike Dick, Tim was injured, and badly. He was beginning to think he might die, like Jason had, only he would die because he couldn’t figure out where he was or stop the bleeding.

As Tim was trying to stop the bleeding, a gust of wind tore through the alley he was hiding out in. When Tim looked up, a shadowy figure stood at the entrance.

“Batman?” Tim’s voice shook, because he knew it wasn’t Batman.

“I am not the Bat, child. I can help you, though.”

“Who are you?”

“I am no one.”

“Okay, well why should I trust you?”

This seemed to stump Them for a moment. Then They answered. “The first little bird did. I took him home one night.”

“Can you fix a bullet wound?” Tim didn’t want to die here and No One seemed nice enough.

“I can. I can also take you to the Bat, if you’d like.”

“I’d appreciate it, yeah.” The figure moved towards him and seemed to stoop down in front of Tim, reaching out a shadowy limb. They pressed it to his wound, ignoring his wince.

Then, the pain was gone, and They were standing, offering Tim a hand. Tim took it, and was gently pulled up and off the ground.

“Come, little one.” They turned away and walked off, leaving Tim to follow, and he did, partially out of curiosity.

After a while, They turned a corner, and vanished, but Tim was standing at a crime scene. Then he saw Batman and went over to him.

Tim didn’t mention Them.

Jason didn’t meet Them until after he came back from the dead. He had just killed off a room full of drug dealers that were selling to kids when the doors flew open, wind pushing them open.

“What the fuck?” he muttered, going to close the doors. When he turned back around, his eyes landed on a shadowy figure in the corner that hadn’t been there before.

“Who the hell are you?”

“I am no one.” Their voice echoed around the room, Jason’s hair standing up on end.

“Well you must be someone. And if you don’t tell me, I’ll shoot ya.”

“I am no one and shooting me will do you no good.

“Then what the fuck do ya want?”

“I am here to help.”

Jason scoffed. “Help? Help with what?”

“You are lost, little one. I can take you home.”

“I ain’t lost.”

“Not physically, no.”

“Kay, this is weird. I don’t need your help, I ain’t lost, physically or otherwise, so fuck off.” oddly enough, They did, and Jason didn’t see Them until he asked to.

He really was lost and he just wanted to go home, wanted his dad, wanted to see Alfred and Dick and maybe the new kid. So he called out.

“No One? You there?”

“I am always here, child.” Their voice echoed less this time.

“I wanna go home.” Jason was crying.

“Then I shall take you home. Come, little child.”

A warm breeze guided him to his bike and when he climbed on and started it up, it was like someone else was driving, guiding him though the streets and eventually, to the manor.

The breeze came back, nudging him up the stairs and knocking on the door for him. It stayed, wrapped around him, until Alfred answered the door, then They were gone.

Damian met Them when Dick was Batman. Dick had been injured, and the comms were out. The two of them were stranded in a field outside of Gotham’s city limits, a fight with Scarecrow leading them out there.

Damian didn’t notice the wind picking up, but he did notice the figure that stood just a few feet from him.

“Leave us alone!” he had cried, knowing that if they were attacked, more than likely they would die.

“I am here to help, little one. Do not be afraid.” They said, which historically, has never worked well.

“Who are you?”

“I am no one, and your brothers have trusted me. Let me save this one again.”

“Okay.” Damian was tired and he knew Dick was dying. So he sat back, watching Them approach and kneel next to Dick.

They placed a hand on his chest, and after a few seconds, Dick’s eyes flew open and he gasped. When he saw Them, he smiled.

“You’re here.”

“I am always there, child. Let me take you home now.”

“Yeah, okay. Damian,” Dick turned to Damian, and frowned when he saw that the boy was crying silently. “Come here, bud, it’s okay.” Damian hugged Dick tightly while Dick carried them home, a warm breeze swirling around them.

None of them knew exactly what or who They were, but if they asked for help, or got lost, They were always there when needed.

Strangely, or maybe not, they never appeared when Batman was around. Maybe they knew he would help them and that he could save them, but even when having Them help would be good, if Batman was there, They never appeared.

Until one day. One day, when a new rogue appeared, this one with deadly intent. When It went after all of them, taking out one member at a time, It saved Batman for last.

Except the wind kept picking up, giving them all slight advantages, making them hard to beat, but still, It eventually was able to take them all down.

And when It turned to lunge at Batman, It found a shadowy figure standing next to him.

A voice echoed. “I will not allow this. You will not hurt them.” as They spoke, every vigilante it had taken down, had killed, even, stood up, uninjured, full of energy.

And the rouge started and then started to attack again, only this time, They were there, They were fighting it, and They were angry. It had hurt Their children and this was an unforgivable crime.

They would kill It and Their children would be safe. And that is exactly what They did. They made Themself into a weapon, a killer, took all the pain It had inflicted and then, They killed It.

When They were done, when It was dead, Batman approached. “What are you?” he asked quietly, somehow knowing that They were not a who, but a what.

“I am Gotham City, and you are all my children. You were created by my hand and I am always there.” and then, They were gone.

so, I wanna talk about one of this WIP wich is an AU where Alfred it's a cryptid, a eldritch being, kinda

in this au Alfred isn't the only eldritch being, and apart from Lady Gotham my beloved guess who's also one of them, or to better say was

The Lazarous pit!

to be exact the lazarous pit it's the "corpse" of a heldritch being, and I'm not gonna say much

even if I could because all of this is like in chapter 1 of the fic...

ok so uh my version of batman isn't actually all too different from the normal batman all I did was emphasize the compassion and detective part of the character

and the cryptid

my batman looks like some shadow demon doctor nowhere version of batman

that does include elongating like a shadow, appearing out of shadows, and over all not obeying the laws of biology

in the suit

if he's in the suit then it's full on weird cryptid bullshit but out of the suit he's entirely human

like literally just Bruce Wayne

but because of the nature of the au he looks like SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIT

I am also using the series to explore some of his mental problems such as ptsd from his time as a vigilante and depression