Leroy Westwood, aka You (2nd Person Story)

Your name is Leroy Westwood. You were born and raised in Gotham City. You grew up an orphan, often getting bullied by the other children. Upon graduating high school you enrolled in the police academy with hopes of putting bullies in their place. Only you came to find out that things aren’t as black and white as they were when you were a kid.

While working as a rookie cop in Gotham, you encountered your fair share of freaks. Lunatics that idolized the Joker, brutes that swore allegiance to the Penguin, thugs working for Two-Face, and even some corrupt cops with ties to the Falcone family. You really didn’t know what you were expecting being a narc in the most crime ridden city on the planet.

You were unrelenting, however. You were inspired by the heroic deeds of the Dark Knight and his sidekicks along with all the other vigilantes operating out of Gotham. The bat signal reminded you that there was still hope to save this city for all its flaws.

Your life changed forever when you pulled a semi truck over for a seemingly routine traffic stop. You and your partner were directed to pull over any trucks with the ACE Chemicals logo on the side. It was believed that these vehicles weren’t affiliated with ACE at all and were being used as a front to move narcotics in and out of the city. If only it was that simple.

You had the driver open the back of his truck only for some armed mercenary types to pop out. Just as you reached for your gun, both you and your partner were littered with bullets. As you collapsed, you saw your partner already before his body could reach the concrete.

You wanted to radio dispatch but you were disoriented by the fog of war. The adrenaline flowing through your veins combined with the loss of blood put you in a state of fight or flight. And with the gun now in your hand, you were about to retaliate despite being outnumbered five to one.

Just then, the decision was made for you. A puff of smoke erupted from the feet of the mercs. You couldn’t believe your eyes. A grown man in a dark cape and a cowl dropped down and heaved one of them into the darkness as he screamed. The others tried to fire at him but he was unfazed, disposing of them in seconds and quickly rushing over to assess your condition.

“Alfred, I have a wounded officer here. He’s bleeding out.”

You didn’t know who Alfred was but you looked down and saw the blood staining the blue of your uniform. You believed you were going to die.

“There’s no time to wait for an ambulance.”

He stepped away and entered the truck.

“The healing properties of this serum can save his life—I know the risk.”

He crouched next to you and injected a cylindrical device into your neck. The pain subsided instantly. You breathed heavily as you felt the metal fragments get pushed out of your chest and clatter on the street. Your skin closed up nicely as if you were never even shot.

“I just injected you with a special serum. You’re going to be fine.”

Miraculously, you survived and lived to tell the tale. You were placed on paid leave after the incident due to the trauma you experienced. But something just didn’t feel right after you got injected. You healed up quick, sure, but you felt... stronger. You nearly tore the door to your apartment off its hinges on your way home from your debrief. And that was only the tip of the iceberg.

Your senses tripled. You could see and hear farther. You felt like you had too much energy. You couldn’t just waste your time lying around doing nothing all day. You became a cop to protect your city not lounge around in your apartment on paid leave. You felt the need to take action. So the next time you saw the bat signal go up you threw on a black hoodie and a bandanna.

That was your first patrol as a vigilante. You stopped a mugging and only got stabbed a little bit thanks to your police training. You healed right up though and were back out the next night. You kept it up for weeks. You became known as one of the bat’s copycats and there were plenty of them. It was only a matter of time before you got in over your head and started digging into what exactly you were injected with.

You went after Two-Face and encountered Batman a second time. He easily identified you from your first encounter with him. He pulled you aside and explained that you were injected with a serum made to replicate the one that gave Deathstroke his powers. He also tried to dissuade you from being a vigilante, saying that it was too dangerous. You argued that you were ready and asked him to teach you which he outright denied at first.

It took a couple more encounters to wear him down. He grew to accept that you were stubborn and you weren't going to cease your crime fighting. He reluctantly agreed to train you mainly because he'd feel guilty if you wound up getting yourself killed. He was the one that gave you your powers in the first place anyway.

Ever since then, he took you under his wing for training and eventually showed you the Batcave once he trusted you enough.

Now that you have a basic understanding of your origins story, it is time for your most difficult challenge thus far.