What if Bruce Wayne was never wealthy?

Thomas and Martha Wayne were part of Gotham City's upper crust. Both scions of wealthy families, their senseless **** in Crime Alley shocked every aspect of Gotham society, from boardrooms and high society galas, to the everyday populace. A witness to this chilling crime, their only son, Bruce would devote the family's billions to travelling the world, learning every skill and technique under the sun, only to return decades later, and take up the mantle of Batman.

In this reality however, one small change would have repercussions in every part of the would-be hero's life.

The Waynes were a working-class family from the East End.

Thomas had taken over his father's struggling auto repair shop. He had also inherited his dad's "obligation" to the Falcone Crime Family. Every week, a sizeable chunk of his earnings, money he would've preferred to put into a college fund for young Bruce, would go to the mob for "protection".

Martha had been a stay at home mom for most of Bruce's childhood. Of course, the Waynes had been feeling the squeeze more and more the last couple of years, so she had begun working part time in a convenience store and attending night classes recently, hoping to become a nurse.

The fateful night, the one that changed the course of Bruce's entire life, played out much the same way. There had been a late showing of The Mark of Zorro at the Monarch Theater, and Bruce had insisted on going to see it. Given it was his birthday, Thomas had eventually relented. They would just have to tighten their belts somewhere else, to amortise the cost of the tickets, not to mention the popcorn.

Without the money for even a taxi, Thomas had had **** but to guide his family on a shortcut, round the back of the theater, into a bad neighborhood.

It was there that they had encountered Joe Chill, the hood sticking them up. Thomas, reluctantly, handed over his wallet and watch, but when the twitchy criminal noticed it was light, his attention turned to Martha.

"Not a chance, buddy!" Thomas exclaimed, as the criminal's hand went to Martha's necklace. Not a string of priceless pearls, but a understated silver necklace, one of the only pieces of home Martha's grandmother had taken through the immigration station at the Lady of Gotham.

Things escalated, and two frantically fired gunshots later, Bruce's parents were bleeding out at his feet.

"Fuck!" Chill screamed, unable to believe what he had done. "I... I... didn't mean ta. You never saw my face, kid!"

Chill turned tail and bolted out the alleyway, disappearing into the inky black of night.

But Bruce would never forget any detail of the man's face. Devastated, the child sank to his knees, howling in anguish as the light left his parents eyes.

-

The Wayne double homicide was never solved. In truth, it was never truly investigated. Either it was lost in the shuffle, the next day bringing crimes more vicious and headline-grabbing, or, as some of the braver uniforms within GCPD whispered to one another, the killer had been connected to one of Gotham's bigger crime outfits, the kind that paid the Commissioner's second, and more substantial salary. Just a word from one of those kingpins had been enough to get Loeb ordering everyone to look the other way. When it came to two nobodies getting iced in a stick-up gone wrong, no one was losing any sleep.

Well, except for Bruce. He had spent 36 hours in the police station, being offloaded from one badge to another, until Child Services had gotten involved. He'd quickly gone into Gotham's adoption system, spending the remainder of his adolescence being shuffled from one group home, to another, one uninterested foster parent to another.

Unlike a lot of boys, Bruce made it to eighteen without being broken by the foster system, without ever having been to Juvie. He'd had scrapes with the cops, sure, but no charges had ever been brought.

And all the while, he never, ever forgot. Never forgot the face of his parents' killer. Never forgot the desperation Gotham's criminals had instilled in the city's poor. Never forgot the corruption and apathy that allowed the law to look away, to make a mockery of justice.

It was a little after his twenty fifth birthday, seventeen years after seeing his parents killed, the Bruce Wayne had finally had enough.