The Criminal AU Meme

[cerebel]

THE CRIMINAL AU MEME

Warning: This meme will contain violent content and possible triggers.



HOW TO PLAY:
1) Post a comment below, detailing your character and canon. For best results, DO NOT LEAVE THIS COMMENT BLANK; pick a role, or an AU, or write up a little on what you'd like to explore with your character.
2) Tag around and make magic happen.
3) If you get stuck, use RNG to select from the options below.

THE ROLE.
1) Criminal. (The one who committed the act.)
2) Law enforcement. (Cop, FBI, prison guard.)
3) Witness. (What did you see?)
4) Victim. (Probably not applicable in the case of murder. … Probably.)
5) Lawyer, judge, or paralegal. (Participant in the legal system.)
6) Private security. (Unaffiliated, but with an interest in keeping your client safe. Or in getting your target caught.)
7) Other. (Let your imagination go wild.)

THE CRIME.
1) ROBBERY. The crime of stealing via force or threat or fear.
You need the money. You're desperate. You have the gun, the convenience store is right there, and everything will be better once you've finished the job.

Or maybe you've been hired. Provide a little intimidation, and someone else will take care of all your problems.

Or it's a thrill. Rolling across the country, robbing banks as you go. A Bonnie & Clyde crime spree, and it can only end one way.

2) BURGLARY. Illegal entry into a building for the purposes of committing theft.
Non-violence, for you; you're just going to break in, take this one thing. Maybe a television, to sell for the cash. Maybe some jewelry, a computer.

Or maybe you're a master thief, dangling from a wire into a museum. Sliding through the air ducts of a skyscraper in search of a particular little item.

3) GRAND THEFT AUTO. The criminal act of stealing a motor vehicle.
You know your cars. And you can steal one in under 60 seconds. Better hope you don't get tripped up with one of those newfangled security systems.

4) MURDER. The act of killing another.
He had to die. He had to, and the guilt of knowing where you buried the body, of knowing that the police are coming after you -- it's starting to wear down your sanity.

5) SERIAL MURDER. A crime involving the killing of three or more people over a period of more than a month.
You have a drive to kill. Again, and again. Nothing satisfies it, nothing stops it. Maybe you hate yourself. Maybe you hate the human scum who only exist to go under your knife.

Or maybe you're a professional hit man. You've killed dozens, you know how it goes. It's just business.

6) CONSPIRACY. An agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future.
Mafia, Yakuza, crime families who keep their operations quiet under pain of death, dishonor, betrayal of the family. You're part of one of these operations, whether as a patriarch or a peon.

7) FRAUD. Intentional deception made for personal gain.
Blackmail. Cover-ups. Insider trading -- the marks of corporate crime. Perhaps you're a CEO who thinks they can do whatever they want. Perhaps your business is on the rocks and you just need a little time to make your golden parachute before you ditch it.

Or maybe you meant to destroy it. Maybe you're a professional con man, and you're stepping away from your latest conquest with plenty of cash in hand.

8) KIDNAPPING. The false imprisonment of another person against their will.
Do you do it for the ransom? For the money? For revenge?

Or is it a hostage situation, with dozens of prisoners, for some sort of political gain?

9) TERRORISM. The systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion.
For a religion, for a philosophy. But -- are you a terrorist, or are you a freedom fighter? It might just be a matter of point of view.

10) WILD CARD. For any crime not mentioned above.

Comments

[lasiurus]

Batman, of course, never listens to anyone but himself. When night falls, he's on the streets anyway, hunting.

Except now he's looking for John out there, watching to see what he's really into, how dangerous he is.

[newboyontheblock]

That night, he slips out around midnight, wanders through the streets. About ten minutes in, he sees a young girl followed into an alleyway and he frowns, looking both ways before he slips in behind them. She hasn't made a sound, but when he looks up after kneeing the asshole in the groin and delivers a sharp kick to his head, he can see that she's crying. Tears running down her cheeks.

"Hey," he whispers to her, wiping the running makeup away. "It's okay. You don't have to do this unless you want to, okay." Because some of the people he's met do. Because sometimes, John also enjoys his job. But if he can help someone not have to... He presses a small stack of bills into her hand, folded around a business card. "This is a safe place for you to go, at least for tonight. Go get some rest, go get something to eat."

And when she nods tearfully and runs off, John sighs, slumping against the brick. She'll probably pick someone else up tomorrow night, he knows. Give it a few months, maybe a year, and she won't thank him for interfering anymore. Gotham chews up her young and spits them out, brittle and hurting.

He straightens his clothes, runs a few fingers through his hair, and steps out of the alley. If he gets picked up tonight, good. If he doesn't, he'll just keep doing getting in the way of kids too young to be walking the streets.

[lasiurus]

"How many of them take your help?" Batman asks, from just above John and a little further down the alley, on a rusty fire escape.

This wasn't what he'd expected to see. He came here to assess John's threat level, and to take down the johns who were violent. Although he had begun his career as a crime fighter believing that sex work was abhorrent, spending a good chunk of his life in the slums around the world had taught him that it was very complicated.

Not that he supported prostitution, particularly not when it meant people could prey on those in poverty. But Bruce Wayne indulged publicly in escort services. Most of the girls he 'dated' were doing it to pay for college; others did it because they were good at it and enjoyed the company.

[newboyontheblock]

He sighs, exasperated and, if he's entirely honest, a bit exhilarated. "Why are you here?" he asks instead. "Don't you have crime rings to be breaking up?"

[lasiurus]

"I am." Because prostitution in the slums of Gotham draws in drug and gun runners. Prostitution is how the mob made the bulk of its start up money.

[newboyontheblock]

John frowns, staring out into the street and ignoring the looming presence behind him. "Well, knock yourself out." A car slows, and the window rolls down. John smirks and saunters over, a swing to his hips and one last word for Batman. "And stay out of my way."

[lasiurus]

He follows, of course. But he ends up sidelined by what turns out to be a child trafficking ring, and taking it out eats up his night. And it's not done--there are vast, sticky nets in trafficking and slavery, and Batman seems to be the only one in Gotham remotely interested in investigating.

Needless to say he's distracted and very quiet at the office the next day. He certainly doesn't expect John to show up for work.

[newboyontheblock]

He almost doesn't go, until he decides to, and knocks on Bruce's door about an hour late.

John's exhausted, the john taking more out of him than he had expected, but he'd paid well and hadn't done anything more than John's clearly outlined limits, which was much better than he could say about some of the other men he'd picked up before.

[lasiurus]

Bruce glances up, about to tell him to go home, get out...but he sees who it is and changes his mind. "Shut the door."

There are papers on his desk, all over it, but it's there as a distraction.

[newboyontheblock]

He does, leaning back against the heavy wood. "More typing?" he sighs, straightening his tie. "Great."

[lasiurus]

"How did you figure it out?" He asks, without seeming to look up.

[newboyontheblock]

"It's what you made me do yesterday," John rolls his eyes.

That's probably not what Wayne's asking, really. John's clever enough for that. But considering the context, it makes more sense this way and is easier to wave off.

He shrugs off his jacket and settles it over the back of his chair, setting down and stretching before resting his fingers over the typewriter keys. "Okay, go."

[lasiurus]

Instead he stands, walks over, and looks down at John.

"Who else knows?"

[newboyontheblock]

"Knows what?" Deceptively bland, subtly hostile.

John has to fight the urge to lean up into Wayne's tantalizing presence. The man is very nearly a force of nature all on his own.

[lasiurus]

"You know what."

His voice is very low, intimate. And if he wasn't Batman, you could easily believe that he was about to snap your neck.

[newboyontheblock]

He swallows, hard, and stares up at him. Not for the first time, he feels somewhat frightened. But John's never been one to let fear motivate him, and he wraps it around himself like a cape, a shield, and uses it to feed his own courage.

"I haven't told anyone about big, dark, and broody, if that's what you're worried about."

[lasiurus]

It's doubtful anyone would believe him anyway, Bruce knows. But he stares at him silently, unwavering and thinking only of what would happen to Alfred if people did find out. He can't imagine losing Alfred after losing Rachel, and his parents.

"And why haven't you?"

[newboyontheblock]

His gaze slides off to the side. "Batman's a symbol," John says, quiet. He remembers feeling braver at night when he had to go out, he remembers the first time he caught a glimpse of the dark cape, like liquid shadows given form. "He's a symbol of hope. Gotham needs him."

[lasiurus]

Bruce tries to disguise the cynicism. He tries hard, but it flickers across his expression.

"Gotham doesn't find hope in him."

[newboyontheblock]

John fights the urge to roll his eyes; of course the self-deprecating asshole would say that. "Maybe not the rich people," he grumbles, "but you really don't spend enough time slumming it. Not...beating up the thugs and pimps," John clarifies sharply, "but just talking and listening."

[lasiurus]

"Don't I?" Bruce scoffs at him. There are a lot of scathing remarks that he isn't saying, but he turns from John and moves away, closer to the window. "Just because you figured out what I do doesn't mean you know who I am, Blake."

[newboyontheblock]

"Then you're talking to the wrong people." John's voice is sharp and unforgiving. "And yeah, you're right, I don't know who you are. But you know what I think?" Wayne probably doesn't care; John barrels on anyway. "I think you're too happy drowning in pity and self-doubt to let anyone know you."

He gets to his feet, lessening the distance between them, even a bit. "Just because you don't see it doesn't mean you get to destroy what some people see as the only hope Gotham has."

[lasiurus]

"The only hope Gotham had was Harvey Dent. They may not realize that, but he did more to clean up the streets than I have in all the years I've been doing this."

He shouldn't talk about this with some punk prostitute, but there is no one else in the world he can talk about Batman with. Alfred prefers to stick to day to day business, and more often than not they fight over it.

[newboyontheblock]

"Dent did good," John says, quiet and agreeing with a nod, "But he's also dead. He was just a man. Batman's not. Batman's a legend."

[lasiurus]

"Batman's the reason your neighbors' pimps are in jail." He reminds him sharply. "You don't want him on the streets, Blake."