#daniel martinez

Summary:

Daniel Martinez was a train wreck of a child.

He was the second youngest of seven kids growing up in a shitty apartment in Gotham. He was only twelve, too young to be taken seriously but old enough to recognize issues. He followed his older siblings like a lost puppy, watching them follow their determination to crawl out of Gotham and be worth something. They had aspirations, and then there was Daniel.

Daniel didn’t really have goals. He liked watching movies about cowboys and played great street hockey, but he didn’t care much for looking towards the future. Gotham was a shit hole, and he knew that.

Still, he ran through the streets like the hellion he was, known by everyone, tolerated by everyone. He was old enough for gang recruitment, but nobody ever tried to bring him in him and he didn’t volunteer. He thought gangs were stupid and added to the cities problems, and his brother was an idiot for being in one.

“Daniel, what are you doing?” Daniel was a sassy child who hated being scolded, but he wilted under the stare of the police officer.

Officer Bradshaw was an older guy, a gringo with a cool mustache who got to carry a real gun! He was nice, he played basketball at the community center and sometimes brought a few pizzas by. All the teens liked him, he was nice for a pig.

Daniel dropped the can of spray paint, kicking it away like that would solve anything. Officer Bradshaw wasn’t an idiot, and Daniel was still covered in flecks of spray paint.

“Uh… painting?”

“What even is that?” The officer squinted at the mess of colour on the brick wall. It was a derelict building so Daniel really didn’t think it was a big deal.

“I dunno, I wasn’t trying to make nothin.” He didn’t admit he’d stolen the cans from his brother as payback for the gili stealing his skateboard last week.

The officer sighed, a long sigh that adults always did around Daniel. He was pretty sure it meant ‘I’m done with your shit kid’ but when he asked they always just sighed again.

“Alright Martinez, I’m driving you home. Pick it up, I’m confiscating all of it.” Bradshaw pointed at the beat up backpack full of multicolor cans of spray paint. Daniel went to protest knowing his brother would kill him, but shut his mouth at the officer’s glare.

He gathered his brothers crap and heaved it into the back of the car with the cop watching with folded arms.

“You gonna cuff me?” He asked, a little quieter. Bradshaw was a nice cop, but he was still a cop.

Bradshaw raised a bushy eyebrow and opened the door to the backseat. “You want me to?”

“No.”

“Then no, get in.” He got in, sitting on the hard plastic with his hands in his lap. Bradshaw got in the front and started off.

Daniel hated silence and the police radio was fuckin boring.

“Why are the seats plastic?” He pulled his legs up to sit criss cross, leaning forward to peer through the cage.

“Easier cleanup.” Was the clipped reply.

“Of what? Blood? Vomit? Piss?” He pulled his bare hand off the sets with a wince. “Oh ew! Someone’s totally pissed here!”

Bradshaw gave another long suffering sigh and went to say something when he was distracted. A kid, around Martinez’ age and wearing a black hoodie, was skulking down a rather empty stretch of street. No one good frequented this area.

Bradshaw stopped the car and got out to talk to the teenager. Daniel could probably make a run for it, but the fact the cop hadn’t locked him in said something, and he didn’t quite want to ruin that something. He was regretting that as Bradshaw gently took the kid by the arm and led him to the car. Dammit! Him and his gentle niceness with kids! Daniel didn’t want some random kid locked in the back with him! What if the guy was a psycho!

He glared at the cop as he opened the door and the teen slid in.

Okay, definitely not a psycho. The kid looked like he wanted to be anywhere else, hands fidgeting in his lap and stringy hair hanging over his eyes. He looked like a lot of the teens Daniel met at the community center, lost. He didn’t have the false bravado of a gang member or the twitchiness of an addict, he was just a kid, maybe not even a teen yet. Tall and skinny though, and very white.

“I found him, I’m bringing him home.” Bradshaw spoke into his radio, making Daniel look at the other boy in interest.

“You a runaway?” He looked at the kids clothes, all high end stuff that was tattered and dirty. If Daniel let his clothes get like that his momma would beat his ass, and his clothes were hand me downs! “You look like a rich kid. You a rich kid? What the hell you doing in this area?”

The boy looked at him, he was nervous, but there was an undertone of rage in his eyes. Daniel kinda wanted to push it, just out of curiosity.

“Daniel leave him alone.” Officer Bradshaw gave him a look through the rear view, a look that said shut up.

“C’mon man, just making friends.” Daniel leaned a little closer, tilting his head in curiosity. The kid had a cut on his chin and his knuckles were bruised. Daniel grinned, remembering all the fights he’d gotten into himself.

“You get in a fight? You win?” The kid continued to glare, and Danny had a feeling that he did win, even if he got a little thrashed around himself.

“Martinez!” The cop snapped.

“Fiiiine.” He whined, slumping back against the seats with crossed arms. Boring cop, not letting him ask innocent questions.

The radio crackled to life again, reporting a 10-59 nearby. Bradshaw cursed quietly, reporting that he had two civilians but he’d check it out. Daniel rolled his eyes, he just wanted to go home already.

“Don’t get shot!” He yelled after the cop as he shut them in and walked off towards some building. He did hope Bradshaw didn’t get shot, he was good people. Interestingly they were locked in this time. Whatever faith Bradshaw had in Daniel he didn’t have in mystery kid, interesting.

As if to prove that point, the kid immediately tried opening the door, making Daniel laugh.

“Sorry, you stuck with me pretty boy. What’s your name? I’m Daniel, named after the guy who didn’t get eaten by lions.” He gave a cheeky grin, offering a hand. He didn’t do handshakes much, but his momma had insisted he knew how to give a proper handshake.

The kid slowly took his hand and gave it a weak shake. He had the grip, but his form was shit.

“…Bruce.” The kid said hesitantly, eyes flicking to Daniel as if that meant something.

“Hi Bruce! First time in a cop car? It’s my second, but my brother gets arrested a lot. You have brothers? No? That’s fine, they suck ass.” Daniel was a force to be reckoned with once he started talking, and Bruce just watched him with wide eyes.

“Sorry, I talk a lot. I had a friend who used to call me Motormouth Martinez.” That guy was dead now, killed in a drive by targeted at one of his friends. He wasn’t the nicest, but he missed the guy.

“…it’s fine.” Bruce mumbled. He wondered if the kid had any volume higher than a whisper. Daniel beamed at him, knocking the boy’s shoulder with his own. Not too hard, lest he break the guy. Kid looked a stiff wind away from falling apart.

“So what you think of cops?” He looked around the cop car with amusement. His first time in one hadn’t been particularly pleasant and was a case of mistaken identity and wrong place at wrong time, but Bradshaw was different. He’d spent that first trip cussing and spitting things his momma would hang him out of the line for, this time he was being behaved.

Bruce shrugged, looking resigned.

“Fair. I don’t like every cop, but I like Bradshaw. I could be a cop, damn good one too.” He puffed out his chest. Admitting he wanted to be a pig wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but Bruce didn’t seem the gang affiliated type.

“…cool.”

“Damn right! I like to think I’m pretty brave.”

“..what about that guy behind you.”

“WHAT-“ Daniel jumped, leaning as far from the window as he could and practically shoving himself against Bruce before registering the view of an empty street. “Huh? Theres no… You bitch!”

He pulled away and crossed his arms with what was definitely not a pout.

Bruce snickered briefly before his mask of indifference was back in his face. There was a tiny quirk to his mouth though. Daniel wanted to be mad, but he didn’t think the kid smiled much.

“Very brave.” Bruce teased softly.

“Yeah yeah, laugh it up cabrón. I’m working on it, you trying being this short and intimidating people.”

“..no thank you.” Daniel snorted, getting another tiny lip quirk for his trouble.

“Smart ass. Hey look, Bradshaw!” He pressed his face against the window, trying to get a good look. His favorite cop seemed fine, if winded.

“Hi pig!” He greeted the cop cheerily as Bradshaw opened the driver door and got it. He was sweaty and gross, probably chased some perp. Bruce gave him a nervous stare, but the cop just waved off the insult. He was used to Daniel’s shit.

He got back to driving them home, ignoring Daniel’s attempts to weasel out information.

“..you got paint on me.” Bruce said softly, cutting off Daniel’s rant about something stupid.

Sure enough, on the cuff of a button up that looks very stiff and uncomfortable, only half hidden by the ratty hoodie, were smears of paint. It was mostly dry, spray paint dried fast, but it definitely was gonna stain.

Danial looked at it, looked up at the boy, then back down at the paint.

“So? It’s just clothes.” Hopefully the kid wouldn’t get in trouble with his mama for it, but maybe he should have paid attention and not touched the kid covered in paint.

“Ya look like shit anyway.” Daniel nudged his knee against Bruce’s. Both boys had scuffed and torn knees. Daniel’s was just from overuse, Bruce looked like he had a grudge match with a strip of asphalt.

Bradshaw talked at him again, face red and eyes talking Daniel to shut the fuck up, but Bruce startled them both by laughing. It was quiet and it seemed to startle Bruce too if his abrupt silence was any indication. Weird kid.

They pulled up to a big estate, all old and made of stone. It reminded Daniel of the church in it’s old grandness.

The patrol car parked and Bradshaw got out, meeting an older man and pointing to the car. Daniel gave a cheeky wave at the man’s confused face, but Bruce leaned around him and the man’s face immediately relaxed. He marched over to gently but firmly pull Bruce from the car.

“Bye Brucie! Stay outa trouble or I might arrest you some day!” Daniel yelled after him, waving a paint covered hand forlornly. Bruce looked back, still being dragged and looking resigned, but Daniel swore he saw a smile!

Bradshaw got back in the car and started off towards the area of town Daniel was from, a far dirtier and poorer area.

“Martinez you’ll be the death of me. Do you have any idea who that was?” The officer bit out, looking very done with Daniel.

“Should I? You better not ave put me in a car with some crazy!” Bruce didn’t give him that vibe, but the kid did have a dangerous sort of rage to him.

“That was Bruce Wayne.” Bradshaw looked at him like that should mean something.

It sounded familiar. Wayne, that was the name of some corporation. Didn’t the owners of that place die a few years ago? He remembered the news vaguely, how his mama fretted over the tv about some poor kid. Poor Bruce Wayne.

Oh.

Huh.

“You tellin me that dirty kid was Bruce Wayne?”

“Yes, the billionaire, and you told him- what was it? That he looked like shit and you’d arrest him?”

“He did! I was being honest!” Apparently his honesty wasn’t appreciated. The Wayne kid seemed to like him. No wonder the guy was such a head case, if his parents died in front of him like that.

“You have things to learn about the world Martinez. Come on, let’s get you home.”

Eventually Martinez would learn more about the world. He’d get arrested and go to clubs and make mistakes a few more times before he finally got his head out of his ass, he’d join the academy find he was actually good at something even though people doubted him. He’d follow in Bardshaw’s footsteps of playing ball with troubled teens and keeping the community center alive after Bradshaw died in the line of duty.

One by one his siblings would leave and become people, a surgeon, a singer, an artist, following their passions right out of Gotham and it’s filth. Even his ma would leave, too old and tired for the chaos of that city. Daniel couldn’t leave, he knew what he did was important, that if a cop hadn’t decided to treat him like a human being he’d probably be in jail with his brother, or a deadbeat like his dad. He would stay because Gotham mattered to him, and he liked to thing he mattered to Gotham too.

And he watched Bruce Wayne grow up too, through articles and the media. He never saw the kid again, but watched as a silent observer while Bruce grew up hidden from the world. The prince of Gotham, who had once shared a police car with a dirty preteen from the ghetto. Bruce probably didn’t remember him, but he hoped he’d see him again one day.

For now he had bigger problems like a freak in a bat costume and a new serial killer.

——

@waynebat

Martinez may seem out of character, but preteens rarely act the same as their adult selves. I imagine he was once brash and a delinquent trying to be seen befriend he grew up a little more.

I liked officer Martínez so much in this movie, i mean he likes so much Bruce and hate Batman ( its soo comic)

And CHICA he is latin.Girl u got me there. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Year Zero

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