The Owlman stood in the park, feeding ducks.

He stood like some tall, dark scarecrow jutting out of the landscape, the gentle wind ruffling the feathers of the nightmarish head emerging from the neckline of his finely tailored tailsuit. Carefully stepping forward in his well shined shoes he took the bread loaf he grasped in one of his ghastly talons and scraped a small rain of crumbs into the water with the other one. Then he dutifully stepped back so the ducks would feel safe enough to eat, whereupon they swarmed up and began to gorge themselves. Off to the side he heard a distinct beep, and he turned slowly to take a look at what he knew would already be there.

Two young girls, teenagers by the look of it, one with her phone out and pointed at him. They froze when he looked over, like rabbits, but if he could have smiled he would have. This was an opportunity to use his favorite move. He brought his hand slowly up to the brim of his tophat, gripped it between his thumb and index talon, and silently doffed in in their direction. There was another beep, then the girls ran off down the path. Giggling.

That made his day. That was the whole point of everything. The suit, the hat, the ducks, the cartoonist french bread. Combined with his big ol' head it was a downright comical scene. It made people laugh, and if they were laughing they didn't have time to scream. He hoped they posted those pictures on the internet.

Be public, that was the first thing he'd decided to do when he set out on this path. Walk around. Attend parties. Let them see you in broad daylight. Be silly. He could be a brooding terror stalking the night in search of crime to thwart. Some unholy thing spoken about in hushed whispers by criminals, always a superstitious and cowardly lot. He would be good at it, too. He was built for it. He was made to be Batman. However, Batman wouldn't help other like him. Becoming a symbol of fear would only drive him into the dark. What he needed to be was a symbol of normality. If he was going to be helping others whose power had turned them into monsters he would have to normalize being a monster.

He was already Batman. When he put on his costume he became Bruce Wayne.