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The Distorted Heart of Gotham City

My Persona drafts are all over the place… so let's add one more!

Fandoms: Batfam x Persona 5 — Reader-Insert

Prominent Characters: The Phantom Thieves, Red Hood, and Robin

Notes: Reader uses They/Them, no use of Y/N, Reader is a member of the Phantom Thieves, Persona 5 Royal spoilers (technically takes place during 3rd semester), Joker goes by Ren Amamiya, This is also technically a double isekai (Reader to Persona then Reader+Thieves to DC), when the font is italicized they're speaking in English

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All you wanted to do was save the thieves some time. Knowing that going into the Science Centre would lead to a dead end that required Mementos intervention, you figured skipping straight to Mementos was a good idea. You had to explore it anyway, so it'd save you all the back and forth!

If you had known the floor would cave in and send you all into Gotham's underbelly, then you would've rather run the marathon instead.

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"Joker!"

"Stop calling him that—Fuck!"

More shadows appear from the ground as soon as that name was uttered. A flood of them poor out from beneath you, knocking you off balance and flinging you into the ferris wheel's car. The thieves cry out your code name, but they're drowned out by the cacophony of cackling emitted by each shadow. You struggle to get to your feet as multiple close in on you. The grins they adorn stretch from ear to ear, making their howling force you to stare into the endless abyss behind their teeth. You can barely get your thoughts together before the one directly in front of you is blasted away by a force of light.

"Ella!"

Violet bounds towards you with grace, flipping over shadows with the help of her rapier and summoning her persona. She wastes no time rushing to you to help you to your feet as Ella slams her leg into the invading shadows. Her steel boots piercing through each of their heads and turning them all to dust. Ella turns to you and bows before vanishing back into Violets heart, but it's not long before more of these abominations are crawling out of the floors and walls.

Seeing the injuries she's currently sustained, you summon your own persona to heal her and cast shields on the entire party. She thanks you mindlessly as her eyes sporadically roam over your body, "Are you okay?"

Of course she's more concerned for you than her own injuries. You get your persona to heal yourself too before they vanish, awaiting another command, "As good as I can be."

Bringing both of your attention back to the fight at hand, you see the rest of the thieves trying to thin the horde, but with more continuously spawning it's a futile endeavor.

Violet gets her persona to throw bless attacks to back the shadows further away, "Any ideas?"

You're eyes flitter across all mass of attacking clowns to take stock of your teammates positions. Oracle is hovering high above the fight providing support where she can, Skull and Panther are fighting back to back a little ahead of you by the roller coasters support beams, to your left Fox is trying his best to freeze the encroaching enemies, with Noir blasting the ones that slip past and gunning down those that get to close with Lucy. Then to your right you notice Joker, Queen, and Crow trying to create an open area on the field and you realize what they're trying to accomplish.

"Yeah," You're eyes scan the battlefield until you finally spot Mona jumping around on heads with Diego, "Run away. This mob is never going to end, so we need to make room for Mona to transform and get us the hell out of here. We need to reach our leader."

"On it."

Violet instantly has Ella by her side again, commanding her to use Brave Step. You both tear through the enemy line, collecting your friends from their fronts and making your way over to the other three. Joker and Queen are happy that everyone's here to help out, but Crow can't be grateful without some snarky remark.

"You all took your sweet time."

"Sorry I got thrown into a ferris wheel!"

"Pay more attention and it wouldn't have happened!"

With everyone finally grouped back together, you're able to create an effective enough wall to keep the shadows away from Mona, allowing him the freedom to transform into his van form. Everyone rushes inside, with Queen taking the wheel, Joker taking shotgun, Panther, Fox, and Noir taking the middle seats, and you, Crow and Violet taking one of the back seats with Skull and Oracle sitting across from you.

Though before Queen can drive off, the shadows encircle Mona and start banging on the hood of the van. There isn't anywhere that they don't cling to, making it a near impossibility to move forward. Noir tries to open the window to throw a grenade, but they nick her cheek and try to crawl inside. Fox kicks it back out the window, giving Noir the opportunity to throw throw the grenade and disperse the enemies to the side of the van.

Using Noir's explosion as a distraction, Joker gets out of Mona and climbs onto the roof of the van, to everyone's shock and confusion.

"What the hell is he doing!?"

"Don't look at me! Why would I know what the hell's going through his mind?"

As he stands there and looks over the endless wave of what he could only consider to be rotting clowns, he utters three words with all the poise and confidence he's gained over the year.

"Die for me."

Teddy bears start crawling out from underneath Mona and swarming the mob of shadows surrounding him. They bite into their legs, latch onto their faces, and scream with glee as they eviscerate everything in their path.

When the side door is finally free of shadows, Joker was quick to open it and swing in from the top. Once he was seated, Queen slammed her foot on the gas, taking off and running over any of the shadows far enough away to not get hit by the flying teddy bears.

Once you manage to get far away, enough so that you have to strain your ears to hear the shrill laughter from far behind you, do some of you finally release the tension you were holding. None of you fully relax, how could anyone when the city itself wants to set you ablaze and see you thrown to the dogs.

You were all keenly aware, that this Mementos didn't want you there. That was made clear almost the very moment you were thrown in here without any say.

It reacted as soon as you touched the floor, it rippled outwards as if trying to get away from you, willing to break itself to do so. Eyes started forming on buildings, and the few that were already littered around from the park decorations followed your every move. It wasn't long after that when someone had said Joker's code name, only wanting his opinion on their next steps when shadows began to crowd around you.

This city was alive, and it was watching. Waiting for a chance to remove you from itself entirely.

Skull sinks into the chair, his knees bumping into yours as he nearly slides off the seat in front of you, "Jok—"

You kick his foot before he could finish, causing him to yelp in surprise

"What was that for!?"

"What have I been saying? Don't call him that!"

"What am I supposed to call him then!"

"I don't know, Wild? Zero? Fool? Hell even just leader! Really anything but that!"

Violet cuts in before you can get off track from the main issue, "Uhm, why is saying his name a problem exactly? I assume this was never an issue before."

Oracle responds to her first, looking over the scans she got during the fight, "Any time someone said his name, everything went totally haywire. It's almost like they got rage boosted without any of the side affects and it multiplied each time."

You groan upon hearing that and lean onto Crow's shoulder, "Yeah, that's sounds about right. I hate the clowns here."

Crow gives you a side eye, but doesn't move to push you off or even uncross his arms, "You said you had an idea of our current location when we landed, so spill. Where are we, and what does it have to do with his code name?"

You don't want to think about it, the thought of having travelled through universes against your will again irritates you. Though, given the fact you all landed in a rundown amusement park where the walls are covered in laughing graffiti, and you were overrun by shadows dressed in bizzare purple and green clothes while laughing their asses off—Yeah there was no denying it.

"I think we're in DC—Gotham to be more specific. It's a fictional city made for DC Comics in my original universe."

You can feel Crow tense underneath you and the irritation coming off him in waves. The conversation going on at the front of the van ceases as Panther drapes herself over the back of her seat, "Wait—you're not serious right?"

Skull slumps further in his chair again, "Please say sike right now."

"Believe me I wish I was lying."

You then tell them everything you could remember about DC, which frankly wasn't much. You don't even know what continuity you've fallen into, so there's a lot of information that potentially doesn't matter. Not that you're able to remember enough of any story line to separate what happened where. The others grow more despondent and irritated when you get to Gotham in particular. It's bad enough to have somehow fallen into another universe and have to find a way back, but even worse when you know the city is regarded as "one of the worst fictional cities in media".

You're in the middle of explaining Bruce Wayne and his gaggle of kids when a thought comes across your mind, "Maybe if we could find Batman—"

You don't get to finish voicing it though, since the instant you said his name, the world around you went silent. The buzzing of the neon lights ceased and the few shadows lurking around the corners vanished. Not even the wind continued to blow. The oppressive atmosphere of this Mementos was lifted, but the quiet that followed wasn't comforting in the slightest.

Queen stops the van and all of you tensed up, expecting something to jump out at you at a moments notice. A shadow, maybe even a palace ruler. You don't think you'd even be surprised if it was Batman himself to rush at you from the darkness—coming at you like a demon just from calling his name. From what you could remember, that's how the citizens and criminals alike viewed him in Gotham. But nothing happened.

After a few minutes of sitting in anticipation, the atmosphere slowly shifts back to how it was before. With the threat of the Bat dying down, it goes back to viewing you as public enemy number one. If anything, the oppressiveness of the city has only doubled, as if it was offended you had the gal to warn them about a threat that wasn't actually there.

Oracle uncurls herself to check the readings of the surrounding area, "Note to self, don't say his name either. That seemed to make the shadows around here act up."

Noir rests her launcher in her lap, not letting go incase a shadow still jumps out at them, "Is this the same as saying our leader's name, or something different?"

"Like we activated hardcore mode. Unless we want to grind boss level enemies I think we should get out of here stat."

"Brilliant." Queen starts driving again then calls out you name to catch your attention, "Do you know the safest the safest place to exit the Metaverse?"

"Not many places are safe in Gotham, if any at all. We might just have to pick a spot and pray." You look through the window and grimace when you see nearly every alley filled to the brim with different types of shadows, "Though I recommend leaving this area first, unless you want to appear next to a mugger."

Fox stares out the window, trying to capture the scene of the city, "With this world's Mementos actively more depraved than ours, I wonder the depth of this cities turpitude."

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You ended up exiting on top of some abandoned warehouse overlooking the waterside. It had the least amount of shadows in the area, and considering there was enough criminals in this place to actually have tangible effects on Mementos, Goro thought it would be relatively safe.

The feel of exiting the Metaverse is completely different here. Almost as if you're walking out of a wall of sludge, each limb heavy and barely able to move until you finally breach the surface. A few shiver at the feeling, and you see Morgana shaking around wildly. It also doesn't help that the air is still slightly chilly, but now that you're out of the Metaverse you're all equipped in your winter clothes. Despite the unideal conditions, no one speaks up to voice their complaints. It would be unwise to without making sure there isn't some underground deal going on around somewhere. Everyone splits in pairs to cover the roof and to overlook the surroundings, while Morgana takes the stairs down to see if there's anyone in the warehouse.

You slowly slide over to the edge of the building with Ann, avoiding stepping on any metal objects, broken glass, and generally just trying to leave as little of a mark as possible. Near the edge is the doorway to the stairs, and past that are air vents protruding from the wall and floor. This side of the roof is a complete mess of paper waste, plastic bags, and broken bottles, but there's at least no people here. Looking over the edge towards the city, it's hard to see much beyond the highway besides a few rooftops of taller buildings. To the right you can just see the top of a ferries wheel, it's clearly rotted and no doubt doesn't function—at least well—but now you know where you started.

"You see anything Ann?"

Her pigtails sway as she shakes her head, "Not really," she sounds disappointed as she walks over to you from where she was looking over the edge, "There's a park underneath the highway, and it looks pretty empty. It's in the direction of that creepy amusement park though, so I don't think going there's a good idea."

Her eyes suddenly dart to look behind you and she freezes. Her entire stance tenses as her eyes never looking away from whatever caught her attention, making you look back yourself and flinch.

Red Hood stands barely a meter away. His hands half-shoved into his pockets, with his dual pistols visibly holstered. Of course you run into a member of the Bat Family as soon as the opportunity presents itself, and of course he's one the the more violent of the bunch. If you didn't know any better you'd think the real city was still trying to evict you.

"Evening. Mind if I ask why a group of kids are hangin' around this empty building at the dead of night?"

The helmet distorts his voice so it sounds more mechanical, throwing you for a loop and unable to understand what he said before your brain catches up.

He's speaking in English.

You're almost embarrassed that you couldn't recognize it, but you'll blame that on speaking only in Japanese for more than a year and the awful audio distortion he has going on.

"We're just spending time together. When did hanging out become illegal?"

"Okay, better question," He leans towards you slightly, and you get the feeling he's glaring beneath that mask of his, "How'd you get on this roof in the first place?"

Ann steps in this time with an overly enthusiastic voice, "We uhh… took the stairs! How else would we have got up here?"

Of all the times you wished she could pull the miracle acting that she showed during Sae's Palace out of her ass, now is definitely one of those times… Not that it would help much since Red Hood is one of the best detectives in the world, but you might be able to survive the encounter.

He takes a step back to lean against the wall behind him and crosses his arms over his chest. It gives you both more room to breath, but despite his lax stance you know you wouldn't get anywhere if you tried to run.

Hood cocks his head to the side, humming before responding to Ann's earlier evasion, "Try again."

You and Ann share a glance, lost on what either of you should say. You're not about to tell him that you landed here from a different universe, drove your cat from the amusement park to here in a different reality, and used an app on your phones to switch to the normal world. Though you don't think he's going to leave you alone until he gets a more truthful answer.

Then he looks over to his right and holds his arm out as if beckoning someone closer, "If any of you can provide answers too, I'm all ears. It's not every day people appear out of thin air on deserted property."

You and Ann follow his line of sight to see Ren and Goro standing a few meters away. Both looking completely unaffected by his presence, with Ren acting completely laid back and Goro falling back into his prince persona. You assume the rest are close by and just out of sight.

Goro smiles, and speaks in a tone as light as air, perfectly tailored to be as inviting as possible, "We're just a little lost, and don't have the internet to check maps on our phones. We hoped coming to the roof would give us a better view to find something we'd remember"

He has a slight accent when he speaks, enough to make Red Hood's head tilt, but he still manages to capture enough charm that it shouldn't matter. It still unsettles you how easily he's able to slip back into this performance like a second skin, and how equally good Ren has gotten at acting indifferent to everything around him. Though as good as they are, Red Hood is still a world class detective.

It's a stare down for a while, and you're not entirely sure what to do about it. Red Hood only said "Is that so?" in reply to Goro's statement, before leaning against the wall and doing nothing. None of you know what you should do in this situation. Ann is about to say something despite the silent protests from everyone when the door suddenly swings open.

"Guys! One of the people we have to watch out for is in the building! He snuck up on me and tried to pick me up while—"

It's Morgana that busts through the door behind Red Hood, speaking irritably about something that happened while he was scouting, before coming to a full stop when he sees you're not alone up here.

"This your cat?"

Red Hood kneels to the floor with an outstretched arm, but Morgana only pins his ears against his head and backs away, jumping onto Ren's shoulder with a hiss.

"Pretty smart for one." He comes to his full height again, forgoing leaning against the wall to stand there with his hands in his pockets, "How'd you train him to do scouting missions for you?"

That makes all of you and Ann hesitate, and Morgana nearly pierces Ren's skin with how tightly he's holding onto him, but Goro doesn't falter. He rapidly blinks his eyes a few times before responding in the same tone he used earlier.

"Pardon me?"

That's when someone else walks through the door. His shorter stature and permanent scowl instantly recognizable as the Bat's latest—and most likely last Robin.

It's just your luck to get both of the incredibly violent ones on your ass isn't it?

His eyes lock onto Morgana and takes in his stance before directing his attention to Ren, "What training did your cat require to become as skilled as he is? I watched him open closed doors, lock picking one of them, and survey each room with intimate knowledge of stealth above that of a basic cats instincts."

Morgana face falls the longer Robin goes on, and Ren has to keep him still so he doesn't fall off or pounce on the kid. He struggles to come up with a reply though, as he's had much less use for memorizing much English outside of exams.

"… He's different?"

You let out a sigh and fight the urge to pinch the bridge of your nose, "This has gotten ridiculous."

Ann's in a very similar position to you, "Tell me about it."

It seems Robin heard your complaining, and snaps his head in your direction to retort in perfect Japanese, "If any of you could stop lying and evading our questions then we wouldn't still be here."

You're not surprised he can speak the language so fluently, with barely any hint of an accent as well, but his attitude is annoying.

Red Hood sighs, muttering under his breath about not taking the time to learn Japanese then addressing Robin, "Just tell me what they said afterwards."

There's no point in trying to avoid answering them any longer. If they're together, then who knows if the others are nearby. It wouldn't be hard for them to share information either if their own Oracle is currently on duty.

There goes any potential plan to lay low.

"You wouldn't believe us even if we told you."

Robin scoffs, thoroughly offended in the lack of faith but still tampering his anger, "We'll be the judge of that."

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All anyone really wanted to divulge was that you were from another universe. Having the Bats help you get back was one of the best things you could hope for while in Gotham. Red Hood and Robin didn't exactly believe you though. They didn't not believe you, but they needed a little more evidence or to do their own investigation. You didn't want to give all of them your entire hand, but them going to the Bat and put you under surveillance wasn't ideal, so you silently agreed to bring them to the Metaverse. Doing it this way you could tell these two more info without it immediately going to anyone else in their coms.

Explaining the Metaverse was a more… difficult matter. With this being a different universe there's a lot of "at least, that's how it worked in our world" and firmly reiterating there's certain names they can't say, but it obvious you've caught their interest. Especially Red Hood's.

"Tell you what. We won't tell B-Man about this or how all of this works. In return," Red Hood's voice lowers and octave, his next words coming out in a growl, "We're using this to take down the clown."

To be honest, you want nothing to do with this universes Joker. In his head or not, you're convinced you're not leaving without adding more trauma if you even look in his general direction.

"There's no way we'd be able to keep this a secret from Sir. Vengeance."

"You're right," He's quick to agree, but doesn't change his stance, "That don't mean we gotta tell him what we're doing."

"He's gonna flip his lid."

"Who cares. He's always got a stick up his ass."

"We don't want any trouble with him."

"I won't let him give you shit."

You sigh and turn to the rest of your team, "The clown's a maniac. He's probably committed every crime under the sun, excluding becoming a Nazi 'cause that's where his line is apparently. The world would be better if he changed, but… you've seen what Gotham thinks of that man's crew, you can imagine how much worse his palace would be." You look away, lost, "He's scum, and I don't really want to be close enough to even look at him, but if you want to, I stand by you no matter what."

The rest of the thieves all think it over before turning to Joker. Not wanting to make a hasty decision, he gestures to Robin for his opinion.

He shrugs his shoulders and replies with an almost bored tone, "I'm willing to go along with this plan. If what you say is true it's one pest forever off the streets. If not, then it's not like anyone would miss him."

Joker contemplates for a while before looking to Crow for his own opinion. He only receives an eye roll in return, so he holds out his hand towards Red Hood deciding to take up his offer.

Hood grasps Joker's hand in his before pulling him towards himself and holding him under his arm with a laugh, "Lookin forward to working with you."

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