Batman Log File 001 – Origin

Batman Log File – Master Record
Confidential – Batcomputer Internal Node

File 001 – Origin

I was eight years old when my life ended. Not entirely, of course — that would be impossible. But it ended in the way a normal life ends, shattered in an instant. My parents — Thomas and Martha Wayne — were murdered in an alley behind the theater on Robinson Avenue. A mugger with nothing but a gun and impatience. I watched them die. I could do nothing. I should have done something.

Guilt is a strange companion. It has followed me for decades, quieter than the city, heavier than any armor. That night defined me, though I did not understand it fully at the time. I swore an oath. Not a vow to the world — to myself. I would ensure that no one else would suffer the same helplessness. I would bring justice where the law could not.

My training began in shadows. First, observation — learning every detail of human behavior, every weakness. Then, physical discipline. Gymnasiums, dojos, mountaintops. I traveled the world to learn the forms of combat known and hidden. I studied criminology, forensics, and the human mind. I understood that to fight crime, one must master more than weapons and fists. Fear, intelligence, and discipline are tools as sharp as any blade.

I returned to Gotham a shadow among its shadows. The city had changed while I was gone, though the corruption, the crime, the rot… it remained. I fashioned myself into something larger than a man. A symbol. A deterrent. Something criminals would fear even before they saw me. Batman.

I would not have allies at first. No Robin, no Alfred, no Oracle, no League. The city demanded focus. The nights demanded vigilance. I operated alone, because solitude sharpens the senses in ways companions cannot. Alone, I could think, plan, strike, disappear.

But Gotham is not static. Crime adapts. Criminals evolve. And so must I. This city will never sleep, and neither can I. Every shadow is a potential threat; every mind, a potential target. Every life, a responsibility I bear in ways no one will ever understand.

This is where it began. The path from fear to symbol. From loss to purpose. And the night is long, but it is mine.