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Ono- Vroom vroom.
Wrath- It’s a crime that I'm being arrested! I helped stopped that signal son of a bitch!
Artie- Yes, but you also slaughtered the GCPD in a druken haze.
Wrath- I wasn't drunk! I don’t know what Firefly puts in his hip flask but I know it’s wasn't liquor!
Billings- Gasoline. I speak from past trauma
Ono- Vroom. Vroom
Wrath- Hey, what’s his problem?
Artie- Ono? He only speaks in sound effects
Wrath- Fucking Hell. How long?
Artie- I reckon since birth
Ono- You could just ask me. It’s a life choice you plebeians.
Wrath- Well, could you stop? It’s really irritating
Ono- I could. But I won’t
Wrath- Oh, when I get out of here, you’re a dead man!
Billings- Well, when I’m free, I think I'll going into writing. You, Brown?
Artie- I’m cauterising this wound.
*Artie reveals a bloodied, infected stump to his horrified companions*
Wrath- What the hell happened to your hand?!
Artie- Ratcatcher happened. I’m fortunate he put my hand in ice. If only I knew where he had put it...
Billings- That’s just not right... Those bloody Misfits... all three of you victims of Killer Moth and his crew of incapable invalids. You, Wrath, wouldn’t have been caught if not for Lynns. And you two? Well Ratcatcher really pulled a number on you both...
Artie- Yeah, what I wouldn’t give to finally kill that bastard.
Billings- What if I could help with-
*The van stops suddenly*
Ono- Thud.
Wrath- What’d you just call me?
Artie- Sound effects. Remember?
Wrath-... Right.
Guard- You freaks stay here, I’m checking it out
*The guard is quickly shot in the head*
Ono- Bang
*The doors open and standing outside, is Mr Moth*
Billings- Excuse me, I kinda had a revolution in the works here-
Mr. Moth- Greetings children! I am your saviour, Mr Moth. All I ask in exchange for your freedom is one little thing- The Death of the Misfits!
Wrath- Great. Just what Gotham needed- another lousy bug villain
————————
Mr. Moth-*On phone* Remember Carson, you’re looking for criminals with vendettas against the Misfits. Except for Zodiac. Bring me back Zodiac and I’ll kill you. You know, for what, the sixth time?
Carson- Yeah yeah, I got it. All those has-beens frequent this joint.
Bouncer- Back of the line pal.
Carson- And who are you to command me?
Bouncer- The name’s Bouncer. I’m... the bouncer.
Carson- I guess with that name there weren’t many other careers paths you could take. Tell me ‘Bouncer’, what’s with the line?
Bouncer- Football.
Carson- American or Soccer?
Bouncer- The one with the ball... Look, we're full. How about you find another drinking spot eh?
Carson- I'm not here to drink, I'm-
Bouncer- Then you're not here to pay. Get lost.
Carson- I don't think you're getting this "bud," I'm Ted Carson!
Bouncer- Lovely. Still not letting you in.
Carson- Then I'll have to use- *force*!
*Carson throws Bouncer onto the ground and is about to make his way inside when-*
Bouncer- What have you done?!
Carson- What? I barely touched-
Bouncer- I can’t... control..
noooooooooo!
*Bouncer flies off the ground, bouncing off just about everything before tumbling into the great unknown. Thinking the situation at last over, Carson fails to account for the gun now being cocked behind him*
Eraser- Beat it shithead, before I call the cops. No, wait, bad idea. Beat it or... I’ll shoot your head clean off your shoulders
Carson- Fine! I’m going!
*Carson groans realising that Mr. Moth would likely kill him, if go back empty handed, but as fate would have it, there was a strange faceless man, perfect, thought Carson, though he was rather unnerved by the skinless corpse on the ground. It reminded him of his own fate, after all, not too long ago, the Tiger Shark had gone and skinned him. Used him as a fashion accessory. The man couldn't exactly speak, instead mumbling incoherently*
Dr. No-Face- *Hmm, that’s no good. It’s too fat. And generic. And hairy. I want to be dashing not... perverted*
Carson- Yo man! Want to do your pal Carson a solid?
Dr No-Face- Nw thts uh fc I cn wrk wth.
Carson- Was that a yes? It’s just...you don’t have any lips...
Dr No-Face- Uh ys...
Carson- Huh? Just nod for fucks sake!
*No Face grumbles to no one in particular, and at last nods, giving a longing glance at Carson's partially uncovered face*
*The hotel the Misfits were staying in for Zodiac's funeral*
Jules- Groan! Remind me never to drink again.
*He notices a lump under his covers, he carefully peels it back to be met with a truly horrific site*
Jules- Aaaaaaaaaarghhhhh!
*Down the hallway*
Chancer- Is someone getting murdered? Let me see!
Blake- Let's be careful, eh? My heightened senses detect... rot, blood and an overwhelming sense of regret.
Chancer- So someone is getting murdered?
Blake- Eh, probably.
*Blake and Chancer burst down the door*
Jules- No! Look away!
Blake- Oh, it's ok man, it's 2018. Homosexuality is generally considered acceptable
Jules-...But is necrophilia?
*Zodiac's corpse falls to the floor*
Chancer- Oh my god! That's Zodiac! He's alive!
*Dekker exits the bathroom*
Dekker- No, he's very much dead. But he was one hell of a kisser. Thank you Julian, for a most memorable night.
Blake- Ha! One for the calendars, eh Jules?
...
---------------
*The Mayor's office. Gaige enters to find Drury on the phone*
Gaige- Walker, we have to talk
Drury- Two ticks. Yes Commissioner... An "Empress Penguin"... Yeah, I don't know where they come from either... Uh huh... I heard about a Lady Spellbinder too... Even a Madame Zodiac, would you believe it. Sorry. Something's come up. Yes, I'll watch my back. *Hangs up* Please, take a seat, what did you want to talk about?
Gaige- The Great White Shark is bringing weapons into Dixon Docks.
Drury- Ok, I'll send some GCPD officers to stake out the place.
Gaige- Actually, I was thinking that you should let him bring them in.
Drury- What? Why?
Gaige- I mean with this Joker stuff and what's going on with Nygma... Perhaps it would be best for people to defend themselves.
Drury- No, I'm sorry, I can't stand by as weapons are being sold on my streets. I'm the mayor, you can't expect to turn a blind eye to this. Surely you can understand...?
Gaige- Yes?
Drury- I just realised that I don't know your first name
Gaige- No one knows my first name.
Drury- Come on, you must at least have a birth certificate
Gaige- I was raised by pirates. They didn't care much for birth certificates
Drury- Well that sounds thrilling. Have you seen Simon recently, there's something I wanted to give him
Gaige- Who?
Drury- ...My son
Gaige- The emo one that ran away to Central City?
Drury- That's Axel
Gaige- The icky wickle baby one?
Drury- No, that's Cameron
Gaige- That really shrill squeaky one?
Drury- That's Kitten. And she's a girl. Just, if you see him... let me know
*Drury opens a case beneath his desk and looks at it contently. It contains his Killer Moth suit*
-------------
*The hotel. Firefly's room. He's slightly more burnt than last time*
Gar- ...Oh damn...
Volcana- That was fun. Same time tomorrow eh?
Gar- Wait. It's not that I didn't have a good time, because fuck, I had a good time, it's just- why are you in Gotham?
Volcana- Snow Flame is meeting with the top drug lords in the country. This was the best place for them to meet
Gar- Snow Flame? The cocaine god?
Volcana- Yep.
Gar- Weren't you... together?
Volcana- Not "were", baby, we still are
Gar- But, we just...
Volcana- Yep.
Gar- Why?
Volcana- Because you don't have distracting delusions of grandeur. Yelling "Kneel before your pure white God" is a hell of a turn off.
Gar- But... won't he kill me?
Volcana- Oh no Gar, not if we kill him first
My police minifigs. Check notes.\
This is stage one, incomplete. Stage two they will all be armed.
I am down to trade for these items
BA- colt, m4, and other police weapons.
Brickforge- Tactical helmet, vest, nightstick, and military shield
Lego- any police torso. (NEED AMAP) *Flesh heads*
And I am going to make some military figs, what should I make?
Thanks!
Well, here's the last member of my Clayface Mud Pack -- Detective Ethan Bennett. The customs are pretty simple really. I didn't build any "clay creations" for the pic since I wanted to showcase the figs how they would normally look.
In my ficverse he's pretty similar to his appearance in The Batman series. He is a supporter of the Batman and is Bruce Wayne's old friend within the Gotham City Police Department. He took courses at Gotham U with Bruce, namely Criminology and Forensic Science. He gets the ability to reshape himself like clay from coming into contact with an experimental formula the Joker was cooking up for one of his grand schemes. He takes up the name Clayface, and becomes an outlaw.
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The main picture demonstrate what he mainly looks like. The human version is obviously what he looked like before the accident. The smaller boxed version is what Bennett looks like when he's not all rage'd up and attempts to do good.
Anyhow, let me know what you guys think. C&C are always welcomed an appreciated.
______________________________________________________________________________
The Mud Pack:
============
- Ethan Bennett
New series, occasionally I'll make these posts to expand the Bat Chronicles universe, just with character bios for characters that never appear in the comic. And the pic looks kinda weird, I tried something with lighting, didn't turn out how I wanted, I'll do something more normal for the next one.
From L to R:
Calendar-Man: Julian Day is a criminal of Gotham City, who themes all of their heists and schemes around the day that they're set. For example, on year on Christmas he rode into a mall on a large sleigh, wearing a stolen Santa costume, and making his goons grab everything they could find and throw it onto the sleigh, before attempting to ride back out of the mall into the snow with all of the gang's "gifts". He makes sure to at least plan a crime for every holiday, but occasionally he's still in Arkham, and has to wait until next year. The name "Calendar-Man" was thought of by the GCPD, and Julian hates that name. He finds it demeaning, and not at all threatening. Like most criminals, he wants people to fear him, and he feels he can't exactly do that if everyone sees him as "Calendar-Man". But, he tries his hardest to ignore it, and continues his crime spree on every day he deems appropriate.
Brainiac: Scientists on the planet "Krypton", home of Superman, created a highly advanced cybernetic android. The original purpose of this robot was simply to be created as a sort of mechanical butler. However, these scientists created something far more advanced than they could ever imagine, and they kept adding new things to the android, just to see what they could accomplish. They had the insane idea to create fake memories to put into the robot, including the idea that they are in fact an alien, and the last of their species. And they kept fleshing out this whole artificial intelligence idea, until they got to the point where this android had a 12th level intellect, and believed not only they were the last of their kind, but that the Kryptonians were the ones to kill the rest of their planet. A very idiotic choice on the scientist's part. The android ended up seeking revenge, and killing all of the scientists. They used their laboratory as well as other cybernetic parts to create a ship, which the android used to destroy all the rest of Krypton, along with it's life. And over time, the android began going by the name "Brainiac". Much later in life, Superman discovered Brainiac was an android, and revealed it to him. At first, Brainiac was confused, and angry at the Kryptonians for lying to him, and telling him all of those terrible things. But eventually Brainiac got over this, and realized how stupid those scientists were for accidentally destroying their home, and came to the conclusion that their stupidity came from them being organic. Brainiac went on to create an army of androids like him, to help him destroy all organic life in the universe, but is almost always stopped by his greatest enemy, Superman...
The Flash: Barry Allen was a forensic investigator, who was often made fun of for always being late to work. Long before this job, Barry's mother was murdered by some unknown criminal, who framed his father for the crime. As a result of this, he's often distracted by thinking about it when working on cases. Though one night while working on a case, he failed to realize the wooden container holding vials of chemicals hanging off the edge of his desk, which fell onto him after Barry was struck by lightning. Once he woke up, he later realized that the chemicals combined with the lightning bolt granted him unnatural levels of strength, agility, and most noticeably, speed. He later quit his job of being a forensic investigator, and instead dawned a red spandex suit, with a yellow lightning bolt emblem, and fought crime as the superhero known as "The Flash".
Talia Al Ghul: Many years ago, when Bruce Wayne was only just starting out as Batman, he went all around the world for training. One of the many people he came to was a man named Ra's Al Ghul, the leader of an elite assassin group known as "The League of Shadows". Talia was his daughter, and was romantically involved with Bruce for the time he was being trained by Ra's. Though by the end of Bruce's training, he couldn't go through with killing anyone, so left the League, leaving Talia behind with it. Bruce and Talia haven't seen each other since that point. Though without Bruce, Talia continued her training, and eventually became one of the most skilled assassins in the league, only surpassed by Ra's himself...
~Madam Web
As the annual GCPD Fundraiser Ball draws closer, the mayor chooses Bruce Wayne as the host for this year’s celebration. It has become a tradition for the most important people of the police force along with other influential people to gather at a place each year, and the size of Wayne Manor is perfectly suited for a celebration this big. Although Bruce sees this as a great opportunity to retain his relationships with Gotham’s elite, something doesn’t sit right with him; the amount of messages he has been getting from an anonymous source all containing riddles has been getting worse, leading to his rising paranoia that someone figured out his secret identity. Unable to let his guard down for a single night during the party but not willing to put on the mask for the entire night either, he asks Lucius Fox for a solution. As a precaution, he also informs Barbara of his suspicions and asks her to keep an eye out while he remains vigilant at the party while having Duke present at the party too.
On the night of the party, Lucius drops off a package on the front door of Wayne Manor. As Bruce opens it he finds a specifically made suit that can function as both a regular outfit and a batsuit. The note attached informs him that as long as he doesn’t change from one version to the other within the plain sight of others, he made sure the two are distinct enough so that it's not obvious it's still Bruce in the suit. Before he is able to try out how the suit transforms after putting it on the first guests arrive at the manor, giving him no choice but to figure it out later.
Not long after the mayor, commissioner Gordon and officer Montoya along with most of the other guests have arrived at the manor, Bruce spots Vicki Vale in the crowd. The playboy and the news reporter share a long history together, and have recently started dating again. Being around his romantic partner distracts Bruce for long enough that he doesn't notice some men dressed in dark green suits slipping past the security along with the mayor and her husband suddenly disappearing from the party. It is not until Duke disappears too that Bruce starts suspecting something is going on behind the scenes. Before he can excuse himself from Vicki to go investigate, all of the lights switch out causing a moment of panic in the crowd. He tries to get in contact with Barbara to see if she has spotted anything out of the ordinary, but there is only radio silence on the other side. Along with that, he finds that all doors leading out of the room have been locked making it impossible to leave. Sensing something dangerous is about to happen, Bruce makes use of the darkness and quickly runs to another room to change into his batsuit. Although it takes him a bit of time to figure out how to change the suit from one mode to another, eventually he figures it out. As he takes a quick look in the mirror before heading out again to investigate the disturbance, he notices how with a couple of simple tricks Lucius succeeded in differentiating the two suits and notes how well the dark blue works.
Now fully suited up, Bruce runs to the main hall again and uses his grapple gun to get to the roof, only to find that the lights are still out and that Vicki is nowhere to be seen too now. The sound of a marble statue crashing on the ground and a couple of spotlights going on directs the crowd’s attention to the middle of the room, where a strange figure has climbed on the pedestal. The man is dressed in a dark green suit, is wearing a black helmet with a dark green question mark painted on it and seems to need a cane to walk properly. He introduces himself as the Riddler, and asks if Batman is somewhere in the crowd. He drops down from the ceiling and makes use of his cape to slow down his fall, making sure he doesn't land on any of the guests. Delighted, the Riddler asks him if he wants to play a game with him and answer some riddles. Batman accepts, and suddenly a spotlight pointed at where Riddler is standing gets turned on revealing two figures at the bottom of the pedestal. Upon closer inspection he notices that the two are actually the mayor and her husband, both with dark green helmets with question marks on their heads and with improvised explosive devices strapped to them.
Riddler explains the rules and stakes of his game; Batman simply has to answer three riddles in order to free the two hostages. However, if he does not answer all the questions within three minutes, the bombs will detonate. And to spice things up, he bought one of his friends along; Scarecrow, infamous for his powerful fear toxins. If Batman happens to answer one of the riddles incorrectly or tries to save the hostages before the game is over, he will release enough gas to kill everyone in the room. In order to demonstrate the power of his toxin, he has put Vicki Vale and Robin under the influence of the gas.
As Batman accepts the rules of the game, Riddler starts the countdown and gives him the first riddle he has to solve.
‘’What is something nobody ever wants to have, but nobody ever wants to lose either?’’
While Batman struggles to solve the riddle, he feels a light tap on his shoulder. He looks behind him and sees commissioner Gordon and officer Montoya standing there, wanting to aid him in finding the solution. He whispers to him that he thinks the solution has something to do with a lawsuit. As it's his best bet, he cautiously asks if a lawsuit is the answer to the riddle. It turns out to be the correct answer, and he tells how a lawsuit from Wayne Enterprises led to the bankruptcy of his company. Bruce figures he must be referring to the recent case from his company against NygmaTech, where a former Wayne ENT employer sold some of their confidential prototypes to NygmaTech. When they started producing products made based on the stolen prototypes, his company filed a lawsuit against them for intellectual property infringement. Wayne ENT won the lawsuit, which led to the bankruptcy of NygmaTech and company CEO Edward Nygma disappearing from the public eye.
Seeing how the clock is still ticking, Riddler moves on to the next riddle.
‘’I'm something only used by those too scared to show their real faces to the world. What am i?’’
Another riddle that Batman has trouble solving at first. It isn’t until he remembers what he wears to avoid people finding out his real identity; a mask. He gives that as his answer, and it turns out to be right once more. Riddler starts ranting about how much he despises vigilantes like Batman hiding their true identity to the world so they can't be held responsible for the damage they cause. Batman points out the fact Riddler is wearing a mask as well, but to prove he isn’t afraid to hide his identity he takes it off, showing he is actually Edward Nygma himself.
With 30 seconds left on the counter, Nygma moves on to the next and final riddle Batman has to solve.
“During the day, I pretend to be a regular millionaire in Gotham. But during the night, I show my true colors as a gritty and merciless vigilante. What is my real name?”
The only riddle Batman knows the answer to right away, but answering it might ruin him forever. Nygma sees how he is hesitant to answer, and begins to pressure him by saying he knows about his actual identity and by counting down the seconds left before the bombs explode. Seeing how the lives of everyone in this room depend on how he’ll answer this question, he decides to answer truthfully.
‘’My name is Bru-’’
Just as he is about to answer, he notices something on the window behind the Riddler; Batwoman. Before he can react, she bursts through the window and knocks him off the pedestal. Before she makes sure to defuse the bombs, she throws a respirator mask to Batman so he can face the Scarecrow without succumbing to the gas. Now that Scarecrow’s only real weapon doesn't have an effect on Bruce anymore, he is able to take him out and seal the container with the toxin with ease. Seeing how Batwoman succeeded in taking out the Riddler as well, Bruce throws a small bomb against the blocked off door so the people in the room can leave and call for help. Batman quickly changes back to his regular outfit and comes up with the story that Riddler’s henchmen knocked him out during the event when the authorities arrive. Commissioner Gordon and officer Montoya stay for a short while to gather some evidence before leaving to make sure the two villains arrive at Arkham without any problems.
A couple of days have passed since the events at the GCPD Fundraiser Ball, and Duke is still recovering from being exposed to so much of Scarecrow’s toxins. While Bruce and Barbara try to get some rest after last night’s patrol back in the Batcave, they suddenly find that the hidden entrance back to Wayne Manor is locked. As Bruce runs to the Batcomputer to get access to the security monitors of the Manor, he sees The Riddler still in an Arkham prisoner outfit walking through the halls with Harley Quinn. After switching over to another monitor he sees something even more shocking however: The Joker, having reappeared after months of not committing any crimes, is now standing in the hallway of Wayne Manor.
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The next chapter in my Batman storyline. Enjoy!
I'm ready. I've sorted all the evidence. Everything I've found that ties Falcone to my assassination attempt is ready. All I need to do is give it to the GCPD, then watch Falcone's world come crashing down. Getting my phone, I call James. After two rings he answers.
James: (over the phone) "Hey Harvey. Heard what happened, sorry about your case."
Harvey: "Nothing you can do. Listen, I need-"
James: "You know, I have a question for you. Oh, wait. You go first."
Harvey: "No, you go first. I insist."
James: "You sure?"
Harvey: "Ask away."
James: "So, one of my buddies said he say you talking to Sal Maroni yesterday. Is this true?"
Harvey: "Yes. Now I-"
James: "Listen, he worried. We all are. You haven't been yourself lately. Is everything alright?"
Harvey: (frustrated) "No, that's why I need you to arrest Carmine Falcone."
James: "What? Arrest Falcone? We've been working on that for years, with no avail. We just don't have the evidence. And why do want him arrested anyways?"
Harvey: "He was behind my attacking!"
James: (chuckles) "Harvey..."
Harvey: (Angry) "Listen! I have the evidence! I'll give it to you, and you will see! He did this to me!"
James: "Do you have physical proof, or is it all circumstantial? Because if it's the latter, then there's nothing I can do."
Harvey: "Well, maybe we can-"
James: "I'm sorry Harvey. We can't. Wait, what's that?" (Pause) "Bullock says there's a new masked psycho in Gotham. I have to go. I'm sorry Harv. Just promise me you won't do anything rash until we talk it over. Okay? Harvey?" (Harvey hangs up.)
He can't help. He's useless. Just like Batman. They say they'll help you. Protect you. But they lie. I'm done. Done with James. Done with Batman. I've tried to do this in accordance to the law in which I serve. But no more. You know what? Batman did show me something. Justice must be served. No matter what. And that's exactly what I plan to do.
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I know this isn't the best issue, but I split up the finale into two different parts because it was really long. I hope that's okay. The finale is coming next, after another issue of B:AoS. Sorry about that. Hope you liked it, thanks for reading, and have a stellar day!
November 7, 2042
29 years have passed since Bruce Wayne retired as Batman. He and Selina Kyle moved to Corto Maltese, a country where the ‘’Caped Crusader of Gotham’’ is nothing more than an urban myth, and have led a safe life there. After changing their identities to Matches Malone and Irena Dubrovna respectively to avoid them getting recognized, the two married a few decades earlier and got a daughter named Helena together roughly 17 years ago. Although Bruce sometimes misses the life he lived before this, he wouldn’t trade his current one for anything.
It is a quiet night when Bruce gets awoken by some noise coming from the kitchen. He tries to get back to sleep, but hears something isn’t right when he hears something clattering on the ground. Bruce gets out of bed, puts on a dark red bathrobe and walks downstairs to investigate. Making sure to walk as silently as possible in order to remain unnoticed, he takes a peek around the corner but doesn’t find anything out of the ordinary there. Everything is just as he left it the day before, without any signs of a break-in. He prepares to head back to bed as he notices some sound coming from upstairs now. He hears a window opening in another room, but as he slams open the door he finds another empty room. He takes a look outside the window he heard getting opened which has a view over the wide garden of their house, but he fails to spot anything there either. Bruce decides to leave it be for now and to contact the authorities the next morning as he returns to bed. However, as he enters the bedroom, he is met with a gruesome sight.
Before him he sees his wife Selina reaching for her throat, struggling to breathe as blood spills everywhere. He rushes to help her and notices that her throat has been slit open by a sharp object. Knowing that he can’t do anything to help her himself Bruce grabs the phone on the nightstand and dials 911 hoping that he can save her life that way. He gets connected to an emergency medical dispatcher and gives the necessary information to call an ambulance. After this, he lifts her up out of bed and carries her downstairs to make it easier for the paramedics to get her in the ambulance, trying everything to comfort her as he does so. He lays her on the couch as he hears the sirens of the ambulance approaching in the distance. The paramedics rush inside the house, putting her on a brancard and bringing her into the ambulance as Bruce can only watch. He stands next to the brancard in the ambulance, holding her hand as he hears the heartbeat monitor flatlining.
A week has passed since the murder on Selena. Both Bruce and Helena are still processing the event. Despite the best work from the local police force they did not manage to find any clues as to who did it, leaving them without a single idea as to why it happened. After not having slept for almost a week and refusing to enter the place where his wife got her throat slit, Bruce decides to finally go in there to clean the mess from that night. As he takes the blood-stained sheets off the bed, he sees something weird under the sheets; a playing card with a bloody, golden knife pierced through it. He takes the knife out of it and takes a look at the card, noting a short message written on there in a messy handwriting.
“Why the long face, Bruce? I know this truly puts a smile on my own face.”
He turns over the card, almost losing his balance in shock as he sees the trademark design Joker always used on the front of the card. Despite him finding out his identity years ago and ruining his life shortly after, Bruce hoped that he would leave him alone now that he is retired. He looks up what he has been up to for the past years, and finds out Joker has supposedly been in the highest security wing of Arkham for the past 25 years. Despite his instincts telling him to leave it be and just continue to make the most of his retirement, he can't seem to shake off the urge to return to Gotham to get to the bottom of this.
A couple of days later, Helena gets awoken by her dad early in the morning. She puts on some clothes and steps outside her room as her dad prompts her to follow him to the attic. As they are making their way there, Bruce asks her if she ever heard of the Batman. Although she has read the rumors online of a vigilante dressed as a bat fighting crime in Gotham for several years, she never really believed them to be real. Despite all of the evidence, from pictures in newspapers to blurry videos of somebody in a bat costume flying over Gotham, something about it just seemed weird to her. Knowing that her parents lived in that city for some time she did ask them about it once, but her dad said all the stories were just hoaxes made up by the police force in order to scare off criminals.
After walking up the stairs Bruce turns on a light to illuminate the messy attic. He makes his way over to a wooden closet in the back with a big padlock around the door. As he looks around for something, Helena notices a lot of little trinkets filling up the attic; some kind of jester hat, a glass dome with an old handgun in it, a cane with a weird question mark on it along with a bunch of other items. Bruce finds the key and opens the closet, revealing a suit hanging upside down in it. Helena notices a bat symbol on the chest of the suit as she begins to put together the pieces; her dad was Batman. She picks up a bat-shaped weapon from the ground as Bruce takes the suit out of the closet.
“Pack up your stuff.” Bruce says. “We’re going to Gotham.”
---------------------------
A few days later, after getting on the next flight to Gotham City and after telling Helena of his suspicions, the two arrive in the city. Although Bruce didn’t expect Gotham to look exactly like how it did when he left with Selina almost 30 years ago, he’s still shocked to see how much it changed. As he looks at the skyline of the city through the window of the airport, he sees that the dark and mundane buildings of the city he used to know have all been replaced with tall, futuristic skyscrapers. All personnel on the airport have also been replaced with androids and computer systems. While Bruce struggles to get used to this new and completely different Gotham, Helena guides them to a metro line leading right into the center of the city.
Another hour passes before the two find their way to the center of Gotham, making their way towards the newly rebuilt Wayne Enterprises building; a gigantic black structure, contrasting sharply with the clean lightly colored buildings surrounding it and with a big neon-lit sign on top of the roof. Knowing he left most of the gadgets he used as Batman in one of the floors of the building, Bruce hopes that he can still find and use them. He tries to enter, but he gets halted by a security guard asking him why he wants to enter the building. Bruce directs the guards attention towards the sign on the structure as he pulls out his ID-card, making sure to point out the fact that the name plastered on the building belongs to him. The guard nods and lets the two in, turning on his earpiece and muttering something to the person on the other end as he does so.
As they find themselves in the lobby, a well-dressed young man approaches Bruce and Helena. He introduces himself as Lucius Fox Jr, current CEO of Wayne Enterprises and son of the late Fox Sr, who he used to know back during his prime as a vigilante. He talks about the stories his father used to tell about him before getting to the reason he is here. Fox guides them to one of the elevators in the building and touches in a specific code into the panel after they enter. A fingerprint scanner flips open from the wall as he asks Bruce to put his thumb on it. He does so and feels the elevator descending downwards right after, despite there officially not being any levels below ground in this building. The elevator stops going down after a short while, giving way to a dimly lit storage area filled with items hidden under big pieces of cloth when the doors open. Bruce walks over to one of the bigger items and takes the cloth of it, seeing that someone put the Batmobile under there. He walks around the place and takes a look at more of the items, seeing that most of what he stored in the Batcave when he retired has been put in here. He sees that one of his batarangs, an old prototype for a suit for Robin and even the old Batsignal were brought to this place. As Bruce shows Helena some of the objects, reminiscing about when he was still in his prime, he suddenly hears a female voice behind him.
He turns around and sees Barbara Gordon sitting in a wheelchair behind him. She and him haven’t seen each other since the Joker paralyzed her from the waist down almost thirty years ago, with Barbara cutting off all contact with him shortly after the incident. She begins talking about how after Bruce left Gotham nobody was left to look after Wayne Manor. Roughly 15 years ago, when plans were announced to tear down the vacant house, Lucius Fox took it upon himself to get all of the items left in the Batcave out of there before someone would stumble on them during the demolition. Out of the faint hope that the Dark Knight would one day return to Gotham, he decided to store all of his items right under the Wayne Enterprises building instead of destroying them.
During this time, Barbara had moved back to Gotham and got a position within the GCPD again. She got assigned to lead the investigation behind the addicting, strength-enhancing drug known as Venom which had been becoming more and more popular in Gotham over the past years. Due to it becoming more and more difficult to keep track of all the Venom-related incidents within the city, she reached out to Wayne Enterprises for help. Fox Jr. showed her the storage space and asked her to help him look after the Dark Knight's gadgets. Although she refused at first, wanting nothing to do with Bruce and the Batman after the incident at Wayne Manor, she eventually agreed in case he would ever return to Gotham.
Barbara then shows Bruce something she has been working on in the past years. After the company abandoned their contract to make military equipment years ago, many projects which were still a work in progress got scrapped and left behind in the Applied Science division. One of these projects was a prototype for an exosuit which would give more strength to older or wounded soldiers, allowing them to be more effective in battle despite their handicaps. Seeing how Bruce isn’t as strong as he was in his prime almost 30 years ago, she modified and prepared the prototype for him to use as a new suit. He walks over to the suit, seeing a gun-metal gray suit with a black cowl and purple gloves outfit on display. He contemplates his decision for a moment, doubting if adopting his Dark Knight-persona again is the right choice, but the thought of figuring out who was behind the murder on his wife finally convinces him to do it. Right next to his outfit is an old, red and green-colored suit originally intended for Duke Thomas to which Helena takes a liking. Bruce tries to talk her out of it at first, remembering the guilt he felt after letting the first Robin getting killed, but her insisting on helping solve the murder on her mother persuades him to let his daughter help him out.
A few days have passed when a young man walks down Park Row, now more commonly known as Crime Alley after the murder on the Waynes took place there almost 50 years ago. After finishing his 10-hour shift at LexCorp all he wants to do is go home, but his way gets blocked by a figure emerging from the shadows. He tries to turn around, but two other people are blocking the way there as well. He notices they are all holding some kind of weapon in their hands as one of them asks him to hand over his valuable possessions. The man, paralyzed with fear, finds himself too scared to do anything. Seeing that the man isn’t complying with them, the criminal commands the other two people to beat the man up and to take whatever valuable he has from him after that. They approach the young man, but the two stop in their tracks as the streetlights illuminating the alley suddenly all burst apart. All of the criminals get their phones out of their pockets and turn on the flashlights to investigate as they find a weird, bat-shaped weapon on the ground. Before any of them can react, a shadowy figure drops from the rooftop and lands on top of one of the criminals, knocking him out instantly. The young man drops to the ground in fear while the remaining criminals aim their flashlights at the figure. Before them stands a person with most of his figure hidden behind a completely black cape, wearing a cowl with spikes on top of it. While they can't see the face of the person, the white eyes of his cowl suddenly light up as he looks the two right in the face.
In their youth, every kid in Gotham heard the ghost stories of the Batman from their parents, who would come after them if they ever commit a crime. Most kids always thought this was just a myth told to keep their kids from doing anything stupid, but the two criminals are doubting the legitness of these stories as they lay their eyes upon the figure in front of them.
One of the criminals clenches his fist around the wooden baseball bat he’s holding and charges at the Batman. He swings the weapon at full force in an attempt to hit him, but Batman grabs the bat right before it strikes him and tests out the power of his new suit by breaking it in half with his hands. After throwing away the one half, he uses the other half to beat up the perpetrator. Once he’s done with him, Batman redirects his attention to the other criminal as he slowly approaches him. Out of fear he pulls out a gun from his back pocket, bringing Bruce back to what happened 50 years prior in this exact alley for a short moment. He fires the gun several times, but finds that the Batman is unphased by the bullets as he continues to steadily walk towards him. Before he’s able to run away, the Bat grabs him by the coat and lifts him in the air. He grabs the gun out of his hand and tosses him against the wall, breaking the gun in two and dropping it on the ground.
Then he turns to the young man who is still cowering in fear. He walks towards him as the man tries to get away too, scared that he is going to beat him up too, but stops once he sees that he is just offering him a hand to get up. For the first time since the start of the fight, Batman begins talking and warns him to not go through this alley again as he won't always be there to protect him. He unbuckles the grappling gun from his utility belt, but right before he goes away the man asks him who he is.
‘’Me?’’ He asks. ‘’I’m Batman.’’
Upon returning to the Wayne Enterprises building not too long after, Batman starts the engine of the Batmobile up for the first time in thirty years. Using Barbara’s connections with the Arkham Asylum, she was able to get him and Helena into the high-security wing of the prison in order to meet up with the Joker. After parking the vehicle in front of the gate, the two head inside to investigate the Clown Prince of Crime’s involvement with the murder on Selina. They register themselves at the front desk and have to follow a security guard in order to get to the proper wing. While they are walking through the lower-security wings of the prison Batman notices a lot of people, both inmates and employees of the facility, staring at him in disbelief. As they descend into the higher security levels Batman begins to see some more familiar faces like Edward Nigma, who is scribbling dozens of tiny question marks on the wall of his cell and even the Condiment King who tries to greet him like an old friend.
After making their way through the complex, the guard unlocks the big door leading to the high-security wing. As the gate opens in front of them, Batman and Robin see a long hallway with cells on each side. Despite almost every single cell having their lights on, the one at the end of the wall is completely dark. While Batman avoids any contact with the inmates in this wing, only focused
on the cell at the end of the hall, Helena takes her time to see who is in which cell. Although most of them are empty, she sees one with plants covering every inch of the cell belonging to Pamela Isley and another right next to the one Batman is walking towards containing Mr. Freeze, now not much more than a corpse being kept alive by his own suit. Batman stands in front of the dark room, only being able to make out a vague silhouette in the darkness. He orders the guard to turn on the light, and sees the Joker staring right into his eyes on the other side of the glass when the lights flicker on.
He has changed a lot since their final confrontation which led to the death of Duke Thomas; he abandoned his long tousled, spiked up hairstyle in favor of a shorter swept back one, his permanent white make-up almost seems to have faded from his skin, and his smile has disappeared from his face. While Joker does his best to strike a conversation with him, acting like he’s an old friend of his who he hasn’t seen in years and asking what made him come out of retirement, Batman only responds by taking the playing card out of his pocket and holding it in front of his face. Batman explains his suspicions, showing him the message on the back of the card. Joker becomes genuinely confused, stating that he hasn't used those cards in decades because he lost his motivation to commit crime after he drove the Dark Knight out of Gotham. Along with that he has been on constant supervision within this prison, locked behind bulletproof glass walls 24/7, so someone would’ve noticed if he got out of his cell to deliver the card somehow.
“Listen Bats, I know you don't trust me at all, but for once I'm not making some sick joke. I swear i was not involved with the murder on your wife.”
After this, Joker asks to see it for himself stating that he might be able to figure out some more clues. He manages to slip his fingers through one of the openings in the glass wall, insisting him to hand over the card. Batman hesitates for a moment, but agrees to give it to him in a moment of desperation. He attentively looks at it from all angles, noting how the handwriting is just slightly off from how he actually writes and how the design of the card doesn’t quite match up to what he used as well. As he asks Bruce if he even bothered to check the item for any traces of DNA on it before coming up with this plan, he notices some low beeping coming from the inside of the card. He tears it open without a second thought, discovering that a strange flat device with a blinking light has been sitting in the card this whole time. Joker tosses the torn pieces of the card away to examine the thing, seeing the symbol of an owl embedded on the back of it. Before Joker can comment on it, the device begins beeping louder and louder while the light begins blinking faster as well. Batman realizes he unknowingly gave the Joker an explosive and tries everything he can to prevent it from going off, but it's too late. Joker looks him in the eye for one last time, putting a big smile on his face right before he gets engulfed in a sea of flames.
Batman and Robin manage to get out of the blast zone just in time. After the dust settles, he sees that the entire back of the prison wing has been obliterated. Nothing’s left of Joker and his cell along with the ones holding Freeze and Ivy next to it. Only some smoldering pieces of the playing card remain, floating through the air and burning up before they can be salvaged. Alarms start going off as a group of guards rushes into the wing, forcing Batman and Robin out of the wing. As they get guided out of the building, moving past the chaos which has erupted in the other parts of the facility, Batman is struggling to comprehend what he just witnessed. His head’s filled with burning questions; Why did someone pretend that the Joker was behind the murder? Why was there an explosive hidden in the card? Why was there an owl printed on said explosive? And most importantly, why was it detonated at that exact moment?
The sun has begun to rise when Bruce and Helena return from their trip to Arkham. As they use a hidden entrance to get inside the Wayne Enterprises building, stories about the explosion in the prison start flooding every news station. Almost all of them point towards the Batman having brought an bomb into the facility on purpose in order to finally get rid of his arch nemesis, despite there not being a lot of actual evidence to support this. Bruce parks the Batmobile in the storage facility and steps out, looking around to see if Barbara is around here anywhere. He calls out for her, but as his voice echoes through the place without a response he begins to think something is not right. Bruce spots three figures standing in the distance, but before he can identify them the lights suddenly turn off. A voice echoes through the space, saying something about the ‘’Court of Owls’’ wanting to see the Dynamic Duo. He tries to approach them, but suddenly feels a small dart piercing through his cowl and hitting him in the neck. He falls to the ground, feeling himself getting dragged away towards the Court as his vision turns black.
-----------------------------
This is my representation of an armored truck for My Arkham Asylum project!
The interior is fully detailed and my stretcher can fit inside
Showcase video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-xLg3XDBSQ
The Building Instructions are Available on Rebrickable:
rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-24850/BricksFeeder/armored-truck...
#lego #legoinstagram #legobuilder #ablegobuilders #legomoc #legomocs #legodc #legodccomics #legobatman #batman #dccomics #batverse #arkhamasylum #youtube #update #wip #gcpd #gotham #gothampolice #vehicles #car #truck #animatedseries #batmantheanimatedseries #minifig #minifigures #legominifigs #legocustom #robin #batmobile
Thompson Center appeared to fill in as site of political rally / homeless encampment in City of Gotham's West End. Also filmed along Clark Street, motorcycle stunts featuring what appeared to be stand-ins for Catwoman and Batman.
Chicago, IL
October 16th, 2020
All photos © Joshua Mellin per the guidelines listed under "Owner settings" to the right.
Replacing an earlier scanned photo with a better version 13-Oct-20, plus Topaz DeNoise AI 25-Nov-24.
Fleet No: "902".
This aircraft was delivered to CP Air as C-GCPD in Jul-79. It was leased to VARIG Brasil as PP-VMP the following day and returned to CP Air in Jun-80. In Jan-86 CP Air became Canadian Pacific Airlines once again.
It was renamed Canadian Airlines International in Mar-87. The aircraft was withdrawn from service and stored at Edmonton, AB, Canada in Feb-00. It was sold to a Sapphire Leasing as N541SA in Apr-00 and converted to freighter configuration with a main deck cargo door at Venice, Italy in Oct-00.
The aircraft was leased to World Airways in Nov-00. It was returned to the lessor in 2002 and stored until it was leased to World Airways again in Jun-03. It was returned to the lessor in Feb-04 when it was stored at Goodyear, AZ, USA.
It was due to be leased to ACE All Canada Express as C-FACX but the lease was cancelled. The aircraft was leased to Dairo Air Services, Uganda (trading as DAS Air Cargo) as 5X-DAS in Jul-05.
It returned to the lessor as N65SS in Dec-06 and was stored until it was leased to DAS again, as 5X-DAS in Aug-07. However, DAS ceased operations the following month and the aircraft was stored at Jakarta-CGK, Indonesia. It was last noted still there in Sep-13, without engines, and was subsequently broken up.
The following occurs during The Dark Knight: Knight of Gotham #44-47
————————————————————————————————
With the thought of the attack on Wayne Manor, and the subsequent attempt on Alfred’s life, as well as his inability to rescue his father from his kidnapping teeming in his mind, Tim solemnly landed the Batwing inside of the Batcave. Exiting the craft’s cockpit, he was greeted by the butler, whos first question was,
“…is your father alright?” Tim remained silent, prompting Bruce, who had just walked over to join them, to ask,
“Is he…?”
“Dead? I don’t know. They made a point of making sure I heard the whole thing.” Examining Tim’s tattered suit, and the way he cradled his arm, both Alfred and Bruce began to make statements reassuring him that his father must still be alive. All he heard Bruce say through the angered ringing in his ears was,
“…they couldn’t take the two of us…they had to take the closest thing to father figures we have…”
“Closest thing to father figures? That man IS my dad Bruce!” Tim yelled, cutting Bruce off, “They didn’t take him because they couldn’t take you, they took him because he’s my dad! He might not know it but he’s everything to me. Why do you think I was so angry when he left Gotham in the first place!?” Bruce began to respond, but Tim was feeling something that had been building up inside him since the Cluemaster case: he began to finally understand what Jason had felt for years. The pain of losing everyone and everything, prompting him to cut Bruce’s sentiments off with, “The last thing I’m going to let happen is another innocent die on us. First Steph’s family, now my own family. I swear Bruce, we’re not losing him.” There was a silence, followed by Tim removing his cape and mask while Alfred placed a hand on his shoulder. Then, Tim asked, “How did he know about us?” Bruce’s face turned to disdain as he thought of the Crimson Knight and answered,
“I’m not sure. But he’s known for a while.”
“…He’s known for a while?” Tim asked, his temper rising again. Bruce described how during their altercation in the sewers the Knight had used his name, prompting Tim to respond, “You should’ve told me. You’re Bruce Wayne, one of the most high profile figures in Gotham and you thought that he only knew your identity? Buddy Standler could figure out who Robin is if he knew who Batman was!”
“It wasn’t important to you at the time.”
“WASN’T IMPORTANT?!” Bruce attempted to calm Tim by explaining how it had been during the Film Freak case, after listening to all that he had to say the latter began to walk away, but not before saying, “You should’ve told me, Bruce. If something happens to him…it’s your fault.”
————————————————————————————————
Tim spent most of the next day resting in Wayne Manor. Having connected his laptop to the Batcomputer, he sat with his arm in a sling while attempting each and every approach for fast bone repair. At many points in the day, he considered calling Stephanie on the communicator he had given to her, but deemed no reason he could think up important enough. At other points, he closed his laptop and attempted meditation. It had always been a vital part of training with Bruce to meditate in order to bury the feelings that could potentially make one of family go criminal, and in Tim’s case it seemed to be working. He envisioned his father, safe, and out of Gotham. The Crimson Knight falling into darkness, javelins of light shot through their chest. He envisioned Stephanie. Just Stephanie. Sitting with him, staying with him after all of the time apart-
“For too long this city has allowed itself to be governed by figures in the shadows…” The broadcast had barely started but Tim already recognized the voice coming from all television sets in Wayne Manor, “The Batman, his disciples, the cowards at the GCPD…” Within the minute, Tim had relieved himself of the string and was already in the new elevator that led down into the Batcave, with the Crimson Knight’s broadcast still echoing off the walls upstairs, “They claim to serve the will of the people…” The crate that contained his suit, mask, and cape was in hand, and before he knew it Tim was standing next to Bruce, who has clad in all but his cowl and clenched a sword in his left hand, “…but they seek to control your will.”
“The Knight?” Tim asked sheepishly, having not talked to Bruce since his outburst the night previously.
“He’s finally stepped into the light. He’s at…”
“City Hall. It’s on every channel. Couldn’t shut him up if I wanted to…” Tim went silent, looking into the eyes of the monster on the Batcomputer’s screens, “You think my dad’s with him?”
“Certainly. Suit up.” Dropping the crate, Tim quickly stepped into his suit and cape while Bruce and Alfred talked nearby. After reaching Bruce’s side, the young Robin felt compelled to tell his mentor about Stephanie, and how she could potentially help, but opted instead to remain silent as Bruce said, “Let’s move out. City Hall isn’t about to save itself.” Nodding silently, Tim placed his mask gently on his face and leapt into the Batwing’s passenger seat. Having a sudden epiphany, he turned on his comm and spoke into it quickly,
“You got eyes on a TV?” There was a moment of static before the unforgettable voice of Stephanie Brown replied on the other end,
“Wish I didn’t.” Tim smiled to himself before finishing his message to her in time for Bruce to climb into the driver’s seat,
“City Hall. Twenty minutes. It’s time to end this. Once and for all.”
A special credit to this issue goes to Lord Allo, who contributed to and provided a couple of my favourite Injustice League moments in this issue. Enjoy.
==GCPD. Major Crimes Precinct==
"Yo, Mac, Sarge said you're the go-to for the Kyle case?"
Macdonald looked up from her desk, smirking. "Sure am. Been chasing that one for years. Reports can't seem to decide whether he's dead, alive or something in-between-"
"-Need those files on the Arkham escapees. Crane and Dent may be in custody, but that doesn't mean we get to rest easy. Joker, Day, and a dozen others are still in the wind," Captain Sawyer yelled, drowning them out, as she exited her office.
"Yes, Captain," the bullpen replied in chorus, as the station erupted into a flurry of activity. On the balcony above, a couple more officers talked to one another. The first approaching his superior, report in hand. "Sir, I need a signature on the Radium gear before we can transport it, anyone know where the DA's hiding?"
"That's a negative, kid. Forensics wanted to go over the toxicity levels one last time before they let them go. No stone unturned kinda deal-" Sarge explains, as he makes his way towards the break room.
Down the hall, three more cops stood outside the interview room, coffees in hand. Behind the glass, the inmate, had been yammering all morning, a high pitched melody echoing throughout the room. "Frabjous Day, callooh callay! The time is now, the world shall pay.
Societies are on the move with leagues in hot pursuit! Their armies dream of winning, with a world beneath their boot!
Other factions chart a course- the base atop the hill. Men once filled with honour, care only who they kill."
"What's his problem?" a cop asks, peering into the interview room. Inside, the small, red haired man taps his fingers on the table, singing tunelessly to himself.
"Who, Tetch? Some rookie forgot to take his hat off when he booked him. The wee bastard mind controlled him into raiding the kitchens. Stole all our teabags. Think he got a sugar rush, or something," a second cop explains.
"Teabags? Why not the armoury? Why not free himself?"
"Paranoid schizo, Tom. I'll sleep easy when they open another loony bin," the third cop mutters.
"Like that'll happen, Nate. Their last one nearly killed all the inmates."
"If it works, it works," Nate mutters as he walks past the interview room. "Chandler, let me know if you need some back-up in there," he calls back to his partner.
"He's four foot tall, Nate, I think I'll manage," she smiles back, opening the door. Hatter gazes up at her, and joyfully bursts into song once more.
"Assassins! Misfits! Knights and Thugs, across Earth far and wide! But no one could forever live, and many of them died!
Darkness grew in hearts of men, promises were made! The bug, now just a widower knew vengeance must be paid.
The Caped Crusader, pointed ears, remembered his first vow. Though evil's power grew and grew, never would he bow.
The Merc to once have broke the bat, had a heart now snapped in two. He thought about the daughter, and his attempts to woo.
Disaster rose, his powers grew, forgotten he may be. But now he yearned for his own seat, and, just in time for tea."
Outside, the main door opens, pushed inwards by an invisible hand. Making their way past cop after cop, the unseen figure arrives at the evidence room, a home run, he thinks. But just as he steps through the doorframe, the metal detector sets off, and a loud, ear piercing siren erupts throughout the precinct. He looks down to the ground, and mutters under his breath, as the cops swarm his way.
"Shit."
=====Star City====
Far from the hustle and bussle of the Financial District, Starling Court Drive is situated in the middle of suburbia. The people are kind, honest, unassuming and unsuspecting. The perfect cover for any supervillain hoping to maintain a low profile.
William Tockman was one such man. He exits his house at 10:30 exactly- as he did every day, his red dressing gown draped around his shoulders, a cup of hot cocoa in his hand. He walks down the driveway and opens his mailbox, wrapping the contents under his free arm: bills, bills and the newest issue of his favourite clock magazine (His newest German antique was coming along wonderfully).
Across the road, exiting a shabby old ford, three gaudily dressed men slam the car door closed, and proceed to bicker with each other.
"Hey King," their leader, Disaster, yells cheerily.
Tockman looks at the trio, then at his watch- waving, then promptly running back inside.
“Cmon man, let us in! We just wanna talk!” Disaster calls out, rapping at the door impatiently.
“I haven’t the time!” Tockman exclaims, now barricading the door with whatever he can find.
“Of course you do, man, you always have the time, it’s your thing!” Disaster fires back indignantly.
“Right right, I’m looking at the clock now, it says it’s time to leave me the fuck alone o’clock!” Tockman bellows.
Cluemaster pauses, letting go off the doorknob. “He said ‘o’clock’, Maj., that’s solid proof of the time. Let’s go get a burger or something,” he mutters sheepishly.
“Shut up Artie, and help me kick this idiot’s door in.”
With a single strike the door falls off it's hinges. Big Sir beams at Disaster proudly. It's not returned. Tockman sighs to himself, just add that to the list of repairs... The trio push him aside, track dirt across the floor, and make themselves comfortable on his coach. The group finally static, he gets a good look at Cluemaster.
"Good god, Arthur, what happened to your face?"
"Plane crash," he mutters.
"Ah. Again?"
"No, no, this time it was Black Adam."
Tockman lowers his glasses, confused. "What was he doing flying a plane? The man can fly!"
"No, really- Did you text Multi Man?" Cluemaster asks Disaster, desperate to change the subject to something other than his latest embarrassment.
"I did he hasn't- Wait, hang on that's him now."
"Give me that, it's... a YouTube link."
"Well, dammit man, spit it out, what did he want?" Disaster yells expectantly.
Cluemaster braces himself, clicks the link, and the noise of Rick Astley fills the room.
-----
Disaster sits down in the kitchen, now a makeshift confessional, camera aimed at his face. "Multi-Man... Has been getting into memes. Old memes. It's harmless, really. Well, physically. Mentally, it's very, very draining."
------
"You brought a camera crew..." Tockman scowls.
"I *bought* a camera crew! You remember Bruce don't you? Bruce is heavy into cinematography!"
"I, uh, I wouldn't say "heavy," I mean, I dabble, I guess-" The once mighty Bruce stammers.
"Sure he is! Don't you get it, King, I want the final, brilliant downfall of the JLI to be televised. Live! On Netflix."
...
"Major, the JLI has been disbanded for years."
...
"I... I did not know that," Disaster pauses, as he returns to the kitchen confessional.
"Well how was I supposed to know, Bruce? I was in community service! Big Sir traded my TV for some magic beans Queen of Fables gave him, and- What? Oh, no, I don't know how Netflix works. Ironically it's the one thing Big Sir's good at. His password's pasword. With one "S" "
=The Headquarters of the Secret Society=
"The armies are ready," Kuttler says, as he struggles to keep up with Bane. He's wearing his costume- *that* he hadn't worn in a while. It was heavier than he remembered.
"Good, we depart in an hour. First, I need to make a stop in Gotham," he replies, as they enter his quarters. It's sparse, filled mainly with training equipment, books, a couple of chairs, and a small television.
"An hour? What could we possibly need now?" Kuttler asks, as the two sit down.
"Who. A useful distraction."
With that, Kuttler immediately knows who he's talking about. He sighs, and places his glasses on the desk. "Bane, I'm all for power, control, order. But I also want to *live.* You've seen the files, after what he pulled with the Walker kids-on our watch I might add-"
Bane raises a hand to stop him. "Walker will come for Ra's. When he does, with his band of Outcasts-"
"-Misfits."
"-Rejects... we will need someone to occupy them," he mutters calmly.
"Zod's in the brig, guarded by Corben and Jones. I can fetch him. He could rip them *all* in half," Noah interjects
"Excessive."
"From you, Bane, that's a compliment. I'll inform the council. But, by now, The Justice League will be right on our tails... I'd like to be free, too, when this is all said and done. I'd say unharmed, but I suppose that's an... impossibility." Kuttler trails off, as he looks at the TV screen, and reaches for the remote.
"-interrupt this broadcast to bring you to the GCPD Cauldron Precinct, where, just ten minutes ago, a hail of gunfire was reported from within- No reported casualties yet, but-"
A frown appears on Bane's face. His confidence falters. "Get me Tetch on the line."
======GCPD=======
"I need a run down on everything that was in that evidence room, understand? Guns, gizmos, you name it. This skel thinks they can bust into our house, they've got another thing coming."
"One for every freak in Gotham, ma'am," a young cop yells feverishly. "Freeze rays, shock gloves, think we've got one of Quakemaster's drills in there. But ain't none of them got any juice in them."
"Not good enough officer, we need a list, and we need it now. Sooner we know what we're up against, the... better." She runs her hand against the wall where Pinkey'd been shot. Webs-?
"Listen up people, we've reason to believe that Black Spider, aka Johnny LaMonica has infiltrated our precinct. Already, six of our brothers have been incapacitated. Let's not let him get anyone else."
Blam. Blam. Another two down.
"Boss, I just got off my cell. Blackgate says he's been in isolation for months."
"Call him again. Could be a shape-shifter. Probson, I want the files on Needham. Webs, knives, all of it. Probson-?"
Sawyer turns around. Strung up against the wall.
"They're not webs... They're cocoons," the voice mutters, as he pins her to the wall.
====Star City====
Disaster sits at Tockman's computer, trying to break the dozens of firewalls Netflix has set up. All around him, King's clocks tick, making it hard for him to concentrate. "Could you maybe turn those clocks down? Do you even have to have so many?"
Sir nods in agreement. "Big Sir stop the ticker," he smiles, as he rips a clock off the wall, and tries taking the battery out without breaking it. At this, King leaps from his armchair, and starts wrestling it out of Sir's enormous fist.
"No, you brute, if even one of those clocks is a second out of place, the entire space time equilibrium will become imbalanced!"
...
Cluemaster leans back in his chair. "You're shitting us," he remarks tiredly.
"Time is my life, dammit!" yells King in-between screams of exertion.
"Ach, Sir, leave King alone and give me a hand, will you?" Disaster calls back, agitated.
"Coming Major," Sir replies cheerily, as he marches towards the computer, clock still in his hand.
"Give me that," Tockman hisses, successfully snatching it from Sir's hands now that his attention has been diverted.
“Big Sir also has YouTube. Free to upload. Maybe easier?”
“Shut up, Big Sir, let me think!” Disaster screams, battling with Netflix *and* Tockman's poor WiFi.
“Perhaps it *is* time we gave YouTube our consideration. It would only take five minutes and twenty three seconds," Tockman suggests, still panting, as he examines his clock.
“Now we’re talking. Good idea, King, now the world will see the Justice League brought to its knees! And we won’t even have to wait for a submission process!”
Artie turns to Big Sir, his massive arms now wrapped around him passionately. “What’s the password to your YouTube account, Biggie?”
“Pasword. One S”
--------
Once more, Disaster takes a seat at the kitchen, Artie at his side- their work done for now. "Sir said that the Society was rendezvousing at this place called "Panda or Rat." I think it's Chinese or something."
Artie turns to him, defeated. "Nanda Parbat... I told you, he means *Nanda* Parbat."
Disaster looks away from the camera, as the cogs turn in his head. "That, makes a little bit more sense. Here, I thought it was a Takeaway."
=======GCPD=====
One cop left... The cloaking tech did wonders, it must be said, the figure thought. The kid was young, no older than... Simon. His breath trickled down the boy's neck. Though he couldn't see him, the kid knew he was right behind him, an invisible gun pressed into the back on his head.
"I want everything you have on the Dan Twag case, his gear, his assets, everything he stole."
The boy stammered, as he turned around. "Y-you mean the moth gear? Why... Why would anyone want that."
The voice sighed, as it deactivated the cloaking tech. "Call it, uh, personal reasons. Where are they?"
The boy fell out of his seat, backing slowly away from the purple clad assailant. "Oh, jeez, I didn't mean, I- The impound lot, it's by Port Addams!"
"Thanks."
...
"Are you going to kill me?" The cop stuttered suddenly.
Drury was taken aback. He'd not... He'd never... He looked at the bullpen, dozens of incapacitated officers. In one corner, The Mad Hatter squealed in delight, a phone in one hand, a cup of tea in the other. He lowered the gun, and whispered, maybe to the kid, maybe to himself, in reassurance.
"I- no. Never."
The cop had closed his eyes as soon as he'd seen Drury. When he felt safe enough to open them again, Killer Moth was gone, leaving just him and Tetch, singing to himself.
====Van Cleer Manor, later====
"You can't go in there."
Gar stood guard at the door, flamethrower in hand. In the basement, Drury remained hard at work. Though he'd not told him where he'd got the new gear, to Gar it didn't matter. He had a drive, something he'd not had in weeks. That had to mean something.
Gaige stared at him for a moment, then, with alarming strength, he flung him- and the door aside. "Fuck off Freddy. Walker, I'm coming in. Put down your hankie, zip up your trousers and turn off A Bug's Life!"
"Ah, Gaige," Drury murmured, blowtorch in hand, a large piece of metal propped up by Rigger.
"I don't care what you've been told, an AC/DC montage isn't going to make you a badass. That requires training, perseverance and an attention span longer than your namesake- Is that kinetic armour?" Gaige pauses, as he examines his son in-laws' handiwork.
"I mastered in electrical engineering, how do you think I built the car?"
"To be frank, I thought you had it commissioned," Gaige murmurs.
Drury turns around, as he rests the metal against the wall. "Oh, and who'd I commission to slap a big Moth face and half a dozen stripes of pink and yellow to a Roll's Royce? ...Don't answer that."
"Lady Gaga?"
"I said don't answer that, Gar."
...
Gaige stammers- a rarity, as he ponders Drury's words. "Wait, fuck... A Royce? That mother fucking eyesore was once a Roll's Royce? ...I've seen a Doll-o-Tron in progress... But that, that's the most disgusting transformation I've ever heard of! Fuck! How the hell did you even get a Roll's Royce?!"
"Probably the same place he got the house."
"*Cough* The Mob *Cough*" Chancer interjects, as he finishes loading their guns onto a cart.
"I got the house for dirt cheap really, the money was just for refurbishments," Drury says, trying to ignore Gaige's shrieks of utter disbelief.
"Hang on, you had the chance to make a spy car and you didn't choose an Aston Martin? Shame," Sharpe muses.
"I've told you, not all Aston Martins come equipped with machine guns and scuba gear," Chuck adds, as he finishes sketching some new kite designs.
"How'd you know, Working Class, you've never set foot in one," Chancer shoots back, as The Misfits start bickering with one another. The last to arrive, Ten, taps Drury on the shoulder, as he glances at the various guns, swords and kites.
"Drury, can I talk to you?"
"Ten, we can re-enact Riverdale later, right now I'm kinda busy," Drury mutters.
"It's important, please. Riverdale-?"
"Oh, right, prison. Best you don't know."
Ten cocks his head to one side, confused. "Right. Anyway, Drury, what I wanted to say was... I know what it's like. The allure of vengeance, to hurt those who hurt you.
When Deacon Blackfire had me drink his elixir, each word he spoke made it seem oh so... appealing. Beautiful. I had Harry Simms at my mercy, and if I hadn't fought his programming... He'd be dead, and I'd be left with nothing. Are you *sure* this is what you want?"
Drury looks at him, and whispers coldly "More than anything."
Needham's the next to speak. "Revenge... Ha. Revenge doesn't make it better. I tried. Had Sionis dead to rights. But the thing is, killing him wouldn't bring my family back, and killing Ra's won't bring back yours,"
"Ra's is staying alive somehow, if I find that machine, I don't know, maybe I could."
Ten places his hand on his shoulder, the Misfits are all looking at them now. "Drury! She's gone."
...
"I can save Norbert, I have to save Norbert," Drury repeats to himself.
"Then save him for god's sake! You don't need to fight Ra's to do that," Reardon pleads.
...
Drury nudges past Ten, and stares Needham dead in the eye. "You. You should've killed Roman. Think about all the other families he's killed. Think of everyone Simms will keep hurting. Tell me, how did mercy work out for Roman? He threw Chuck off a building."
At this Needham, punches Drury in the face, blood pouring from his nose. As he tries to get up, he trips him over again. "Bam. Punch to the gut. You're disorientated, barely on your feet. Bam. Strike to the throat, you can't breathe, you're choking. Bam. Sword in your chest, blood on the floor. Miranda was a fighter, trained by Ra's himself. You aren't. She couldn't have lasted, what, three minutes? You won't even last one. It doesn't matter how vengeful you are, you fight the Demon's Head and you're done."
"You got a point to this-?" Drury wheezes, as Gar rushes to his aid.
"Yeah. Your path of self-destruction only ends one way. I know, I lived it. You want to save your brother? Avenge your wife? Then you'll need all of us."
Drury looked up at Needham. At Chancer and Rigger. Chuck and Gar. Gaige... The Misfits, his Misfits stood assembled... Maybe Ten was right. Maybe this was a suicide mission, but they, *they* believed in him, just like she did. And that, that was all he needed.
~
"The game was set, the players poised, the battle had begun!
The Moth sat with his Misfits, for his colleagues, this was fun.
The Bat prepared to fight a war he'd prepped for like the rest.
The Luchador stood in the sun, his armies were the best.
The Major led his underlings, though folly was his quest
The Demon in his quarters smirked, and so began the test."
Years Ago.
===GCPD- Interrogation Room===
Gordon- Name?
Drury- Seriously?
Gordon- Name. For the record
Drury- Killer Mot- Drury, it's Drury Walker. I didn't do it.
Gordon- Is that so? Funny, the report says that a man, in your costume-
Drury- Well, anyone can wear a costume
Gordon- The costume you yourself called irreplaceable?
....
Drury- Maybe.
Gordon- So, a man, in your costume robbed two thousands dollars worth in rare moth samples from the Gotham University Biology Lab?
Drury- I would say that that's the action of a very disturbed individual.
Gordon- And another man, clearly not Lynns-
Drury- Clearly.
Gordon- Torched the lab in an attempt to cover your tracks. Is that right?
Drury- See, if it was Gar, not saying it is- The whole university would be torched. He really likes fire.
*Gordon looks at the scorch marks across the walls. The GCPD is still feeling the effects of last year's attack*
Gordon- I noticed.
Drury- Batgirl... Fucken' Batgirl...
Gordon- What was that, Walker?
Drury- Finally be respected if she didn't get in our way.
Gordon- You dress like a disco moth, Walker, I don't think she's the issue.
Drury- The Gala, Bressi, the Precinct... the damn lab. You know I wouldn't have to resort to robbing schools if she hadn't set me back!
Gordon- You're in luck. She's retired. Nobody has seen her in weeks. A good thing too. The last thing we need is a kid getting killed doing what he does.
Drury- What-?
Gordon- Sorry, I'll have to cut this short, Arkham's got a cell prepped for you, and I've a dinner planned with my daughter.
...
Drury- Your daughter? The daughter who-
Gordon- Goodnight Walker.
===Gotham Clocktower. Now===
*It's like nothing I've ever seen before. I've not been in the Cave, but I imagine it's something like this. Computer monitors set up everywhere, a selection of old costumes, newspaper clippings of past glories and even... A Moth mask*
Drury- You kept it?
Babs- You were my first supervillain. It's kinda a thing. Heh. We don't get official superhero trophies or medals you know
Drury- Yeah, I guess I never figured that. Must be weird right, Killer Moth chilling with Bat-People?
Babs- It's funny. It's not even in the top ten. Now, if Scarecrow was hanging out, *that'd* be weird.
Drury- So Robin, Tim I mean, says you're good at computers- better than he is by far. I was wondering, if you could decrypt this?
*I hand her the book from the library, and she rolls on over to the central monitor*
Babs- What is it?
Drury- Found it in a City Lawbook, there's some symbols in here I don't really understand.
Babs- (smiling) You stole it
...
Drury- I stole it.
Babs- I'll see what I can do.
*She types on the keypad, scanning the symbols, doing it so effortlessly. I swallow, then speak*
Drury- Listen, I am really sorry.
Babs- For what?
Drury- Everything. When I put the pieces together... when I realised you were Batgirl... it made me think. It was my fault.
Babs- Fault?
Drury- That you were fighting crime in the first place. That's what happened right? I tried to abduct Bruce and you came to his rescue... God I'm an idiot. It made you official... put a target on you, so that he came and he-
*She turns around*
Babs- That's not what happened.
Drury- Yeah. Yeah it is.
Babs- No, it's not. Do you know what I wanted to be all my life? A cop. Like my dad. Maybe I wouldn't have become Batgirl good and proper, but I would have fought crime with or without you, or Firefly, or even Batman. It's in my blood. Joker didn't shoot me because I was Batgirl. That's not what happened and you need to know that. He did it to prove a point, to drive my dad mad. It was him who did it, and him alone. He would have shot anyone else to get his point across, to send his twisted, screwed up message
*She's right. Probably*
Babs- And, if he hadn't done that, I wouldn't be here. Yes, I've got the chair, but I've also got this job. Oracle. It feels like I've helped so much more people from here than I ever did as Batgirl. Beyond Burnside, beyond Gotham.
*Yeah. She's probably right*
Drury- I have a daughter, few years younger than you. It wasn't until... that, that I realised you were a kid too, that you have a father who loves you just as much as I love her.
Babs- Kitten. I fought her way back when... think I embarrassed her.
Drury- Heh. Really?
Babs- Oh yeah, she was jealous, about me and Dick.
Drury- Ha! That sounds like my kitten.
Babs- I'll send you what I've got on this book later. Take care.
*I walk back to the lift. Then I stop. I don't know why*
Drury- They haven't forgotten, y'know. Gar, heh, he still hates you. I think that this is great- you are great. But y'know what I also think? Gotham needs a Batgirl too, just as much as Oracle. The hope you inspired... It's something that this City needs.
*She nods*
Babs- We're working on it.
Alias: Lightning Bug
Real Name: N/A
Gender: Male
Alignment: Villain
Backstory: A mercenary for hire, that has tried and failed to kill the Batman on multiple occasions. Not having any success there, the Lightning Bug would instead decide to target Robin/Jason Todd. It's not known whether he made his flight suit himself, or that he stole it. One would presume the latter, but you never know with these unpredictable rogues of Gotham City. His real name is unknown, as he has managed to somehow evade capture by the GCPD. Some theorize Lightning Bug may be related to Drury Walker, aka Killer Moth, but there's zero proof to back up said claims.
Alias: Ventriloquist
Real Name: Arnold Wesker
Gender: Male
Alignment: N/A
Backstory: Arnold Wesker is a meek, mild mannered individual, that has never really spoken up for himself. Arnold developed a fear for albatrosses early in his childhood, even demanding for his father to take him home. A few weeks later, Arnold would lose his parents in a hit and run. Arnold blamed the albatross he saw weeks beforehand for the death of his parents. His anger would be bottled up for years to come. It was only when he was a young adult that he would finally snap. While in a bar, he would make a smart remark, that would anger two of the men there, leading to them attacking Wesker. In a moment of rage, Arnold's frustrations/hostility towards his parents death would come out that night, ending with both of the men, dead. He'd be sent to Blackgate Prison for the next few years. During his time in prison, he'd become enamored with his cellmates puppet, simply named Woody. This is where his interest in Ventriloquism started. But Donnegan wasn't a fan of Wesker being around Woody, and would threaten him constantly. It got to the point where Arnold wanted to die. But Woody wouldn't allow it, and would inform Wesker of the escape route Donnegan was making. Woody wanted Wesker to escape with him, instead of committing suicide. Wesker thought he was crazy at first, but would eventually give in to his demands, and they would escape. Sick of the name that Donnegan gave him, Woody would ask for a new name, befitting of his image. Wesker would give him the name Scarface. That was the day that Ventriloquist and Scarface were born. Through Scarface, Wesker can release his pent up emotions. He would be controlled by Scarface into doing things that he wouldn't necessarily do beforehand. They would eventually encounter the Batman for the first time. Unfortunately for the pair of them, they'd lose the encounter, being sent to Arkham Asylum shortly after. The staff at Arkham are currently trying to rehabilitate Wesker into not needing Scarface anymore.
Name: Doctor Simon Hurt
Gender: Male
Alignment: Villain
Backstory: An immortal wealthy satanist who would form the group Black Glove during his time at Willowood Asylum as a psychiatrist. Simon, and the rest of Black Glove would serve Barbatos, even offering human sacrifices as offerings. The group even places bets on deaths of various citizens of Gotham City. Simon claims that Barbatos is the one who gave him his own immortality, but there's no substantial evidence to support the claim. He uses a combination of his background in psychiatry, and his hypnosis technology as his weapons against Batman, rather than physical firearms. He will only use a gun as a final resort, but even then, he's not a fan of using them. Upon learning Batman and Bruce Wayne were one in the same, Simon Hurt would do everything in his power to tarnish the Wayne name.
Alias: Lock-Up
Real Name: Lyle Bolton
Gender: Male
Alignment: Antihero/Villain
Backstory: Former head of security at Wayne Enterprises, before being hired as Arkham's chief of security, thanks to Bruce Wayne's recommendation. Bolton promised that no one would escape on his watch. Though it was quickly seen that his methods were rather harsh. His hatred for the prisoners ran so deep, that he wouldn't allow them basic necessities, even when they were cooperating. After months of investigating, a court hearing would be held. Most of the villains stayed silent. However, Bruce Wayne would be able to provoke a reaction, which lead to Lyle Bolton lashing out. Immediately his position at Arkham was gone. His mind would snap that day, as he blamed everyone involved for being "too nice" to the villains who had murdered so many innocent people. He would become Lock-Up, and would dish out his own brand of justice. He'd eventually be welcomed with open arms into the Supreme Court of Gotham alongside White Knight, Judge, Rumor, and Executioner.
Alias: Madame Crow
Real Name: Abigail O' Shay
Gender: Female
Alignment: Villain
Backstory: Abigail was a student at Gotham University, under the tutelage of Doctor Jonathan Crane, who was fascinated by Batman, and the other vigilantes of Gotham City. So much so that she wrote her doctoral thesis on them. She referred to them as the "cape and cowl' crowd. The most intriguing thing for her was why the vigilantes did what they did, and what sort of trauma would mold them into these vigilantes. Unfortunately her interest in these heroes would lead her straight into Crane's clutches as the Scarecrow. He would test different variations of his fear toxin on her, and it would take years before the Batman and Robin would rescue her. Unfortunately the damage to her psyche was already done. The first of many victims, at the hands of Scarecrow. While stuck in Arkham Asylum, her hatred towards Batman grew, as she blamed him for having to endure so much trauma in those years held captive by Scarecrow. Eventually, she would be released from Arkham, and would join up with the Victim Syndicate, vowing that no one would ever have to feel the trauma/fear she did ever again. Now equipped with an "anti fear toxin" her dream may become a reality.
In the nineties, a twelve-year-old Drury Walker finds himself caught up in a bank heist performed by the charismatic costumed villain Mr Moth (Donald Glover). Drury is inspired by the villain after he gives him his jacket, and watches as he escapes on his motorbike into the sunset, only to crash into a gas station and die in the explosion.
In the present day, Drury (Dave Franco) has become a supervillain, calling himself The Killer Moth, though finds himself overshadowed by many more prominent villains. After a bank heist gone wrong, Drury is arrested by the GCPD and thrown into Blackgate Prison but is bailed out by his girlfriend Miranda Gaige (Alison Brie), the daughter of a high-ranking mob boss known as Tiger Shark (Eric Roberts). Miranda confronts him about his obsession with costumed villainy, saying that he isn’t cut out for it, and offers him a job as a plainclothes henchman for her father. Drury refuses however, and Miranda offers to get him a place on a crew of villains her father is forming for a heist but states she will leave him if he screws it up.
Drury arrives at Tiger Shark’s compound and, after an awkward lie about his relationship with the mobster’s daughter (claiming to be her gay best friend), is introduced to the rest of the crew: Garfield Lynns AKA Firefly (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), an arsonist and professional safe-cracker; Leonard Fiasko AKA the Eraser (Joe Thomas), the clean-up guy; Noah Kuttler AKA the Calculator (Ed Helms), the information gatherer and hacker and Paul Dekker AKA Crazy Quilt (Matt Berry), Gaige’s best friend and a ‘Master of Seduction’. After being introduced, with Gar displaying an intense distain towards Drury, the group sets off in a crudely armoured camper van which Drury dubs the Moth Mobile.
The crew attempts to begin the job, robbing a Wayne enterprises storage facility (Mr Wayne is on a business trip) on the outskirts of Gotham. The job seemingly goes well, but an argument between Drury and Gar causes security to catch wind of their presence, and the crew are forced to flee from the police, managing to get hold of an experimental bomb (though they don’t know this), eventually escaping by driving into the Badlands.
The police, led by deputy chief Clancy O’Hara (Ardal O’Hanlon) (Jim Gordon is out of town, alongside his daughter Barbara, her boyfriend Dick and pretty much all of his brothers), begin a manhunt for the crew of misfits, but the case is poached by Argus agents Katarina Armstrong (Mia Rudolph) and King Faraday (Will Arnett). Hoping to spite the agents, O’Hara activates the Bat Signal, and alerts Cassandra Cain AKA Orphan (Jing Tian) to the situation.
Meanwhile, in the Badlands, the moth-mobile breaks down, and Drury and Gar venture out to try and find supplies. The two begin to put aside their differences after learning of their respective differences, before siphoning gas from a nearby vehicle, before returning and discovering millions of dollars in stolen money hidden in a camper van brought by Dekker. Dekker reveals that he stole the money from Tiger Shark and had planned to frame the rest of the crew for it. The group restrains Dekker and plans to return to Gaige and expose him, only to be surrounded by men working for the gangster black mask (Gaige’s arch-nemesis), whom the vehicle they stole from belonged to. Dekker convinces them to let him go by alerting them to the stolen money, and he gets away while Black Mask’s men get away with the cash. Before they can kill Drury and his crew, Orphan arrives, giving the crew an opportunity to escape.
Meanwhile, Tiger Shark is alerted to the stolen money situation, and assumes that Drury had betrayed him and joined forces with Black Mask. Having also discovered Drury’s relationship with Miranda, he decides to form an alliance with Warren White AKA the Great White Shark (Doug Jones) to get the money back and hires Catalina Flores AKA Tarantula (Stephanie Beatriz) to kill Drury.
Drury and the crew arrive back in Gotham City, and prepare to go their separate ways to escape the wrath of Tiger Shark. Drury, however, refuses to give up, and decides to make up for the lost money by robbing Bruce Wayne’s personal vault. The group arrive at Wayne Manor, where a charity gala is being held, Drury having stolen the identity and invite of socialite Cameron Van Cleer (Dan Aykroyd), while Gar, Lenny and Noah pose as staff. At the same party, Miranda attends with her father, who is using it to meet with GWS. Upon seeing Drury Miranda confronts him, and after he explains everything she warns him to get out of there. Lenny, Noah and Gar successfully make away with half of the vaults contents but are spotted while trying to get away, resulting in Tiger Shark and his men attacking him. Drury, Miranda and Gar escape while Lenny is left behind tending to a shot Noah.
Drury, Miranda and Gar take off in the moth mobile, pursued by Tiger Shark and GWS’s men, a bloodthirsty Tarantula and a hijacked police helicopter piloted by Dekker. After an intense car chase, Drury seemingly escapes the swarm of mobsters, only to be forced to swerve to avoid a blockade of police officers and ARGUS agents (though it had broken down into a riot incited by O’Hara, Armstrong and King). The Moth Mobile crashes into the same gas station Mr Moth was killed in. Drury is knocked unconscious and sees the ghost of Mr Moth, who makes some bizarre ramblings about a croque monsieur which somehow motivates him. Drury wakes up and saves Miranda and Gar from the flames, while Dekker makes off with what he thinks is the bounty of the heist, but is actually the stolen bomb, which detonates killing him and causing the police blockade to collapse. Orphan confronts Drury, but upon hearing his codename bursts into uproarious laughter and runs off. The next day Killer Moth is deemed the greatest villain in Gotham, fulfilling Drury’s childhood dream, and, with Tiger Shark’s begrudging blessing, the incident with the money having been cleared up, he proposes to Miranda, as the ghost of Mr Moth watches over.
In a mid-credits scene, Cameron Van Cleer sits tied up, still mocking Drury’s codename by yelling ‘I’m a Bug!’.
In a post credits scene, a mysterious figures watches Drury’s exploits on the news. Disgusted that such an incompetent villain is getting so much praise, Larry Loman AKA the Squid (Tommy Wiseau) declares that Killer Moth should ‘wait until he gets a load of me’.
"So, Gordon pulled us into his office.Went over the specifics, wanted me to go over it with my wife."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"So, you still haven't told me, why the fancy dinner?"
"Well, I got an assignment coming up, and it's gonna require a lot field work..."
"Oh, shit..."
"I'm not going to be home a lot..."
"You're not putting us in danger? I can't have you away from the house and some psycho attack us. You're gonna be done before the move?"
"Calm down, calm down. It'll all be fine. I'll be set up in a GCPD safe house, I won't use my name. You will both be safe. I'll come and visit every few days."
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely. It'll only be a few weeks, and you won't even notice I'm gone. It'll be like nothing happened."
April 1st
It’s 3:04 in the afternoon
Joker just attacked Riddler’s gang 6 minutes ago with a combination of fear toxin and laughing gas. I attempted to remain out of it, but old habits die hard they say.
This gives me the small window to ask Kuttler about what he knows of Tockman, though based on what Kingor told me, I won’t get much. Perhaps I need to find Nygma.
I shot Scarecrow in the leg 5 seconds ago. He’s writhing on the floor. I should go before the rest of Joker’s lieutenants find me. While Moth doesn’t pose that much of a threat, he’s mad at me already. That cocoon fluid of his can do a lot of damage if it winds up in my lungs.
Kuttler should be at the top of the old GCPD headquarters. Nygma claimed it as his turf after the earthquake. The commissioner didn’t seem to care. Mr. Luther gave the GCPD a brand new state-of-the-art HQ in the Diamond District. It’ll take 2 minutes to get to the top of the building based on what floor I’m on. This all depends on if Scarecrow can successfully resist the pain and call for backup.
I’m a man of time. I’ll take my chances
====GCPD====
"Jim, we came as soon as we could. What's the situation?"
"We've got a body in the Coventry district- vic's mistress found the body. Detective Driver from Major Crimes figured you might be interested..." Gordon says, handing him a set of photos.
"Judge Aickerman... He was one of the names on Grange's tapes."
"Yeah, that makes the fifth victim so far, all headshots, all-"
"Two shots to the head... Dent? You said there were others?"
"Here. All members of the Court, all names on Grange's list. And that doesn't even go into the mess in Arkham. 40 bodies recovered, all burnt beyond recognition, only thing identifiable-"
"Are the owl masks fused to their faces. Chemical analysis?"
"Make-up seems to match Lynns' portfolio, and the napalm there's a staple of Joey Rigger. And though I can't condone them, I can't blame them either. After Walker-"
Gordon trails off, and takes his cigarette out of his mouth- after Arkham, he'd relapsed, and looks at Batman's partner. Catwoman
"Well, I'm just glad to see you're on speaking terms again."
Bruce looks at him inquisitively
"Give me some credit, I am a detective too, you know."
...
"Don't worry, Jim, I'll find Dent, before they do."
====The Slab====
"Gar put you up to this, didn't he?"
No response... Drury sighed. He couldn't go anywhere these days without someone else tagging along, acting like his self important babysitters. He didn't much like Flannegan, not these days, not since he started to question things, question people. The man was cruel and irritable, and the only things he cared for were his rats, who he insisted be brought along with them on their flight. "Can't trust those Antarctic rats," he'd declared loudly at the airport, waving his government badge at the security guard trying to pry the rodent-filled suitcase away from him. Even now he was dodging questions, cigarette in mouth, his right hand stuffed in his pocket.
Drury had been to a lot of prisons; Blackgate, Arkham, Stryker's, even spent a night in Iron Heights. Slabside was a different breed entirely. Located in the middle of Antarctica, it's home to some of the world's worst criminals. Following the City of Fear incident, many of the Society's most dangerous member's were relocated here. Many still are. Doomsday. Mongul. Amazo. Just one of them free would be catastrophic, all of them, and even the Justice League might not stand a chance.
In one cell, a masked man punches the wall, blood spurting from his knuckles. With each punch his voice grows louder. "Pow. Pow. Pow." Drury takes one look at him, then hurries after Flannegan.
"Do I know you?" a timid voice asks. A frail man sits housed in the adjacent cell, fumbling with a broken clock.
Drury stared. His name is David Clinton. In this reality, he was never trapped in the void, in this reality he never had an epiphany of any kind, or really any original thought. But, in his cell, he knew there was something missing. A purpose. Memories that he shouldn't have flashed in his head regularly.
In one world, Drury knew him as Chronos, a sociopathic monster. But here, Clinton was just another C-Lister locked in a cage.
"Sir, we've got her down here," the guard said.
"Good," Drury muttered. "Good, I'll be there soon," passing by Chronos.
"Tick tock," the other man murmurs. "Tick tock."
Drury sat down in the visitor centre, a small, dark, smelly room. Opposite sat Marion Grange.
"What do you want?"
Grange shifted in her seat. "I heard about your wife, I want you to know that-"
"No. No, what do you want?"
She sighed. "I don't... I don't want to die. I want that on the record. Any record. I don't want to die."
"I travelled halfway across the world-!"
"Then you know I'm serious. They're coming. They're coming, and when they get here, they'll do whatever they can to make it look like an accident, a suicide."
"I don't-"
"They're going to kill me!" Grange yelled suddenly.
Drury shifted his eyes around the room, and in a harsh whisper asked "The Owls?"
Grange nodded.
"I needed you here, because I know you'll believe me. Because you know how- You know how dangerous they are."
"This is the most secure prison on the planet, they aren't getting in here."
"And what if they're already here? What if they've already bribed, extorted and blackmailed their way in?"
Drury paused. "You didn't bring me here to talk. Or to apologise. You wanted me here, so you'd have a human shield to hide behind. Didn't you?" Grange looks down at the desk, ashamed. "I'm sorry."
"I said, didn't you! My wife is dead. My brother was abducted, and one of my best friend's went missing two days ago."
A rat crawls into the room, and is scooped up by Flannegan. He whispers to it, then addresses Drury. "Shut it."
"Oh, he speaks!" Drury snapped at Flannegan.
"Let's talk about your screwed up little world some other time. Rodriguez just sent word. Someone's infiltrated the security systems."
"Who the hell's Rodriguez?!"
"The rat. Do keep up. Up you get, ma'am."
"Not now, Otis..." Drury murmured. "Did your... rat tell you who it is?"
"It's a rat, you idiot. Not the criminal database," he scowled, as he pulled a knife out of his sock and stormed out. "Oh, you again."
====Keystone City====
"Your turn, Rory. You were saying?"
"Right, right. Wit was ah aboot to say? Oh, aye. The auld guard! Scudder, Scudder wis a daft wee bampot who dragged Lisa doon wi' 'im. And dinnae get me started on that Top bastard. What a pretentious auld cunt he wis. Aw brains an no fookin' human decency..."
"-Don't forget about that Chillblaine loser," Mick muttered, as he put his lighter down.
"Och aye, Chillblaine tae. Ach, the poor lassie sure kent how ta choose 'em. As fer Piper-"
Mardon paused. "Piper? He's gay, McCulloch."
"Wit? The wee rat boy? He didnae ever come across as one a' them."
"One of them"? 'Hell does that mean?" Mick started.
"Ach, I dinnae mean nothing by it, Rory, I'm jus' saying. I mean, I cannae believe it. Hartley bloody Rathaway, and wit, Flannegan? They're a bloody couple?"
"When Flannegan feels like it, that is," Mardon added, checking his watch. "Snart was supposed to be here by now."
Rory growled.
"Oh, don't start," Mardon began.
"He comes and goes as he pleases," he snarls.
"Well, he's the big man, ain't he? He's allowed tae do that."
Mick slouches into his seat. "That's all well and good, I just wish we didn't have to work with *him* to do it."
McCulloch groans. "Aye, I hear ya, he makes Dillon sound like Girder."
As if on cue, a signature smug, booming voice calls out to the assembled trio. "Gentlemen, when is a door not a door?"
"Ach, that's fooking ancient that is..."
"When it's ajar..." Mardon sighed.
Riddler smiled, but he was clearly annoyed. "Quite. So tell me, which one of you three dimwitted numbskulls left the door open *this* time? Need I remind you the importance of what we're trying to accomplish here. If Bane were to discover-"
"Bane's all drugs and bravado. I could summon a hurricane in his gut, and suck his flunkies into a tornado."
"Ah, yes, because Kryptonians are well known for being easily sucked into tornados..."
McCulloch leaps out his chair. "Ach, fook this, ya think that because yer in good wit' Luthor yer better than us?"
"Hardly. I think I'm better than you, because I am."
====ACE Chemicals====
"Hello Charles. I apologise for the hostile greeting, but, you weren't coming quietly."
"That ring, those things, how did you-"
"All in good time, I assure you. Are you angry with me, Charles? You've every reason to be. Day betrayed you, Penguin betrayed you, Sionis too. And now, Mr Dent. All that hurt in so short a time... Any other man may have succumbed to violence, but not you. You're afraid. Afraid that if you were to retaliate, the consequences for your friends would be dire. Why those, those are powerful men. And Calendar Man, heh.
But what, what if something wasn't holding you back, what if you didn't have to be afraid? Fear, fear is what tells us no. Fear holds us back. It controls us, manipulates us. Fear is a weapon, harnessed by me, and harnessed by The Batman. It's funny, when I began this newest experiment of mine, Penguin commissioned me to deliver a weapon, a drug that could help his armies conquer fear, and thus, their enemies. The Court of Owls, The Batman, Joker if the need ever arose, without fear, they'd be easy marks, so he said. I hear he's in hiding now.
But, I never let a good toxin go to waste, and now, one year later, I have the answer! I can cure fear! It took various chemicals, some herbs in Blackfire's garden and the blood of a few murdered Talons, but I have my chemicals, and you will be my guinea pig."
"You could've had the pick of the city, why me?"
"Yes. Why you? Not even remotely special. Because, Charles, the fact is, you're a good man. You've got a moral compass, a strong one, you help people at every turn, even those who don't deserve it. You've never killed without remorse, not even that creature, Salinger, was it? I bet you grieved for days... For many men, the easiest path to breaking them, is fear. And it's gotten so... boring. Cliché. This time, I'll break you, and men of your ilk by destroying you, from the inside out." A yellow claw fills a nearby syringe with red liquid and hands it to a grinning Crane. "Shall we begin?"
====Nanda Parbat====
"Where is he?!" Batman yelled, as he slung Gaige against the wall. Beside them, Ra's body lay still, grey blood trickling from his nose, mouth, and stab wounds, his eyes glazed over.
The pirate let out a low cackle. "Fuck you, you airborne asshole."
Bruce had enough. He picked Gaige up, and hurled him against the ground. "Where?!"
"You know what, Batman, he deserved more!" Gaige roared. "If I had the option, I'd have let him live, in a broken shell of a body, paralysed, mute. Able to think, able to *feel,* of course, but unable to act. I'd want him screaming internally, every minute of every fucking day until the end of time, and when he got a little too close to death, I'd dunk him in a Lazarus Pit, and start again."
As Batman raised his fist to hit him, his eyes were drawn to the door. "Talia..."
Caught off guard, he loosened his grip, Gaige sliding back onto the floor.
"Father, the dionesium has been destroyed, we must be careful, if- Father...." she gasped, as she ran past Bruce and Gaige, kneeling at her father's corpse, blood staining her trousers. She looked up at the men in horror.
"You killed him, didn't you?"
"Talia, wait-" Bruce began.
"Yep," Gaige smiled. "Yes, I did. He makes the new look work though, don't you think?"
As Talia, leapt to her feet, Bruce caught her arm. "Enough! Talia, it wasn't him! There's been enough senseless killing."
"Then, beloved," Talia scowled, handing Bruce her blade. "You know what you must do."
~
"No!" Manta bellowed, sand slapping against his visor, disorientating him. The sandstorm had picked up again, and in the confusion, Aquaman had vanished. This was Orm's doing, he was sure of it. And he was going to gut him for it. Gut him, and Bane, for playing him yet again.
"Where are you murderer?!"
His helmet's telemetry wasn't picking up anything- to anyone else, they would assume Curry was long gone. But Manta knew better. The murderer was still here lying in wait, somewhere. Drawing his knife, he leaped at the closest silhouette, and stabbed deep, he didn't care who he hit. The figure fell to the ground, dead. Not Aquaman, but one of the Talons, free from their crucifix. But who-
"Manta!"
Leaping behind him, Arthur cracks Manta's helmet on a large rock, damaging the circuitry. As red sparks of plasma spit out at him, Manta discards the helmet, and kicks his rival in the shin, picking the knife out of the Talon's corpse, and swinging it at Aquaman, wildly, unfocused. As he plunges it towards Aquaman's heart, Curry blocks it with his hook, and in a fit of rage, slashes at Manta's wrist, a gloved hand falling to the ground, blood splurting from the disembodied stump.
"You animal!" Manta snarled between cries of pain. "Half breed murderer!"
"No, Manta," Aquaman lamented, "Just an eye for an eye."
~
Tockman, Pramble and the Mighty Bruce struggled through the desert, alone. With Ratcatcher dealt with, and thoroughly embarrassed, Brown had fled to the palace, mumbling something about revenge and airplanes. As soon as Zod had taken to the skies, half the Justice League in pursuit, Big Sir had instinctively slung Disaster over his shoulder, and fled to safely. Without their leader or their muscle, the remaining members of the Injustice League thought it was best to relieve themselves from the battle. Knowing that Polaris had to have left at least one Javelin spaceship alone, that was their best bet. But just as they approached a parked jet, a woman lept down in front of them, her crossbow aimed at them.
"Didn't think we'd forgotten about you losers?" the woman laughed, winking at Tockman. "Hey Billy."
She was dressed all in red, a bizarre mohawk atop her head, and a leather jacket draped around her shoulders. One of the Society's goons. But before she could open fire, she fell to the ground at Pramble's feet. A Talon's sword in her gut, she just managed a feeble "Uh oh," before she bled out.
"She called herself Red Dart," Tockman murmurs, "Good riddance, I say."
Multi Man smirked, as he kicked the body. "F," he chuckled, as they marched into the ship.
~
"Cyborg, this is Wonder Woman, tell me you can defuse the device."
Vic looked at Miracle nervously. For the past half hour they'd been trying to defuse the device, all to no avail. He put his mouth to his wrist communicator, and sighed. "Wish I could, Diana. It's not every day you defuse a Kryptonian Phantom Bomb."
"Phantom *Drive,*" Miracle adds.
"Yeah, that."
"Just hurry, I don't know how long we can restrain Zod for. Wonder Woman over and out."
"You can't do it," a voice calls out to the pair. "But I can."
Cyborg turned around, as Noah Kuttler sat down beside them. "What? I rather like this world as it is."
~
The lasso wrapped its' self around Zod's arm, restraining him so that Superman could hit him. Grabbing the lasso, Zod pulls it tight, dragging Diana off the ground, while John Stewart and Kyle Rayner flew in to wrap chains around the rest of Zod's body. "Unhand me," he growled, blasting a ray of heat vision at them, scorching John's shoulder. "You, should all be kneeling. A new Krypton will be born here, today. And it will be my people, the ones who take action, the ones unafraid to act for the greater good that shall rule."
"Perhaps you're not that familiar with Earth, Zod. People here don't take kindly to dictators," Superman called out, as he punched him in the face. "J'onn now!"
Now immobile, J'onn had the opportunity to reach over into Zod's mind and subdue him, once and for all. As he placed his hands over his head, and began the process, Zod mumbled a few final words.
"If that were the case, those dictators of yours would *never* have risen to power. But time and time again, you ignore the signs. Even now your precious humans imprison those who disagree with them. Kill those who are different than them. And you? You fight thieves and robbers, because deep down, you know, when it comes to true evil, you'd never stand... a chance..."
As Zod's eyes drifted into unconsciousness, Clark floated over to him. "Maybe. But maybe that's enough. If we can prove we can be better, that we can *do* better, I'm positive others will too."
"Naïve fool..." Zod trailed off, as his body slumped over.
The League smiled at each other. It'd been long, it'd been hard, but it was finally over.
"Bruce, this is Clark. We're about done here, how about you? Bruce?"
~
Sat alone in Ra's' palace, Bane knew that it was over. Ra's was dead, Zod's treachery exposed, and now the League would be coming for him. There wasn't enough venom in his tank to take on Superman, let alone the entire Justice League. Two hours ago, he had everything. An army wholly devoted to his mission, revenge on the Demon who'd rejected him, victory over the Bat. And now... nothing.
A society in tatters, and a plan in ruins. So lost in thought, he'd barely even noticed the door opening behind him.
"Bane! We've unfinished business! Bane!"
He turned his head. It was... Cluemaster. Burned, bloodied, a knife in his hand, but, unmistakably Cluemaster.
Bane stood up slowly, looking at him for a moment, before saying softly “I thought you were dead."
Is this what it had come to? He couldn't even kill *Cluemaster*? No. This wasn't going to be his legacy. He refused to let it end like this.
"I would've done anything for you," Brown sighed. "Anything to be part of the big boys, and for once, for once- be respected by anyone other than Big fucking Sir! And then you crashed my plane into the Atlantic Ocean."
"You look well, all things considered," Bane muttered.
"I had something to look forward to," Brown smirked, as Bane placed a hand on his shoulder, and headbutted him. As Arthur stumbles backwards, blood splurting from his skull, his knife clatters to the ground.
"You should have stayed dead.”
~
Harvey Dent. Thomas Elliot. Lincoln March. Bruce had lost far too many friends to rage and madness. No more. It ended, tonight.
Walker was heading towards a purple helicopter, his Mothcopter, presumably. In the cockpit, he could just make out Chuck and Lynns turning on the engine.
'No more,' Bruce promised to himself. 'No more.'
He leapt off the cliff, and wrestled Drury to the ground, taking a blood sample while he struggled. "Why?" he called out, desperate to know why, why he'd throw it all away, give in to his darkness after everything they'd been through. Together.
"Why?! You betrayed everything you ever stood for!"
"No!" Drury called out, as he reached for a button on his wrist, electrifying his suit. As Bruce fell backwards, Drury rose to his feet, his face contorted with rage. "Only what *you* stood for. Look after my people, look after my family. That's what *I* am. Not Gotham, not the fucking world. Just them," he paused, his eyes growing heavy with tears, as he thought back to Miranda, dying underground to save *his* sorry ass.
"... And I can't even do that right," he sighed, as fell to his knees.
"You were supposed to save the world," he yelled at Bruce, pointing a finger at him. "That's what you do! But Arkham City's rubble. Nanda Parbat is rubble. And the people? There are no people left standing. I joined Bane because I knew, I fuckin' knew! You'd have stopped me. And if not you, one of your sidekicks"
"You're damn right I would-" Bruce yelled back, as he flung a batarang at Drury, causing his suit's countermeasures to fry him instead.
"But I had no choice!" he grunts, as Batman punches him to the ground, and leaps onto him.
"Computer, search for trace elements of Fearless."
The computer's voice in his ear replied. "Blood toxicity 0%."
Bruce paused. 'It's not... It can't be...'
"Run scan again."
"Blood toxicity 0%"
"No..." he gasped, as Drury suddenly kicked him in the crotch, and flung him off of him.
"That's what this is?! You thought I'd taken Crane's crazy juice?" he cries indignantly, as he fires his cocoon gun at him.
"You... You said you'd been bitten, that a bird-" Bruce yells between dodging his fire.
"It was a fucking pigeon! Drake invited Pigeon Person to the fucking funeral!" Drury blasts back.
"No..." Batman pauses. "No that's not- Killing Ra's, helping Bane, the attack on GCPD."
In his moment's hesitation, Drury punches him in the face, stepping on his harpoon wound.
"Ra's killed hundreds and hundreds of people! Thousands, even! And... And he killed her! Do you understand? Do you even grieve?!"
"Yes," Bruce grunts bitterly.
"I bet, in your stoic "oh my dead parents" way. Well, I'm not some emotionless robot Bruce! He killed my wife! He killed... Oh god, he killed my wife..." Drury trails off, as he drops his gun.
Forlorn, Bruce reaches down, and attaches a pair of handcuffs onto Drury's wrists.
"I know, Drury. I know," Bruce muses, as he pulls him to his feet.
"Bruce..." Drury whispers, not daring to look at him. "I need to... were we ever friends-?"
The question catches Bruce off guard. As much as he wanted to answer it, he couldn't. "I-," Bruce begins. "I don't know."
"That's what I thought, Bats. It's why I called them."
Bruce looks up. In front of them, the Misfits had assembled. Leading the charge, Fiasco, drew a pistol from his holster, and pointed it at Bruce's face. "That's enough, Bat Freak," he hisses. At either side of him, The Misfits; Dekker, Sharpe, Mayo, Rigger, Needham, even Reardon, Chuck and Norbert had guns drawn at Batman.
"Lynns..." Bruce begins, turning back to Gar, now also holding a drawn flamethrower.
"Sorry, Bats. We're going to have to ask you to let him go," Gar sighed.
Bruce bowed his head. "You know I can't do that."
"Yeah, I figured. But, I reckon that harpoon wound isn't gonna do you any favours."
Bruce glared at Lynns, then back at Drury.
"He stays out of Gotham."
Gar nods reluctantly. "Agreed."
Bruce drops the handcuff key on the ground, pushes Drury into Gar's waiting arms, and walks off, planting his sword in Drury's fallen mask.
Once he's finally out of earshot, Chancer smiles. "Hey, it's not every day you beat Batman."
"I didn't, Sharpe," Gar groaned. "I meant every word."
===The Pacific Ocean===
Drifting alone on a piece of driftwood, using their arms as oars, Disaster and Big Sir sailed off, hoping somewhere, somehow, they'd come across a piece of land. Ratchett didn't seem to mind much.
“Big Sir is just glad to be stuck with one of his best friends”
Glum, and defeated, Booker turned to his cohort. “Shut up, Big Sir. You don’t want to be eaten, do you?”
Dufus pauses for a second, leaning backwards so that the raft capsizes. "Big Sir bet he tastes great!"
"You... You really don't know what you're saying." Disaster grumbles, as he emerges from the sea, now completely drenched.
"Like bacon, Big Sir bets."
====The Arkham Manor====
Joker finishes painting a moustache over the last of the family portraits, and smiles, turning to Arkham. "Honestly Jerry, love what you've done to the place. Very gothic, gloomy. Oh wow, your uncle *really* liked his torture implements didn't he? Not that I'm complaining, mind you. Here, hold this," he chuckles, as he stabs a knife into his hand.
As he does so, the lights flicker on and off, a red crackling fills the air, and Joker sighs, and he looks over his shoulder. A yellow figure, phasing in and out, as though it's struggling to even stay visible, whispers in a static voice.
"Yes, I was wondering when I'd be seeing you," Joker smirks.
"Sssssssssociiiiiiety gooone," the figure says. "Youuuuuuuweren't there."
"Sure I was!" Joker grins, gesturing to the TV. "Well, for the highlights anyway."
"Yousawthe neeeeeeeeewwwwws?" the figure inquiries.
"Oh, bits and pieces. The transmission ended when a blind man started to fist the camera man."
The figure lunges at him, but Joker sticks a finger up at him. "I knew this would happen! But I told Bane I couldn't make it on Tuesday. He just refused to reschedule."
"Whaaaaaatsssssss moreimportant thaaaaaanmaking heroesbetter?" the voice crackles. "Moreimportant thanmakingthem strooooooonger?" It raises a gloved hand, poised to snap it's fingers.
At this, Joker's tone changes, the danger that much more apparent. "What indeed! Heh. Why don't you sit down, Hunter? I've got a hell of a story for you."
===Keystone City===
"And, finally, the trial of Doctor Gaige concluded this afternoon. Doctor Gaige, alias Tiger Shark, a key player in the Battle of Nanda Parbat two months ago, confessed to the murder of Ra's Al Ghul. Gaige is expected to be transferred to Blackgate Prison tomorrow morning. This is Iris West, Twin City News, signing off."
"Fuck that Necrophiliac!" Girder laughed. "The Pirate did us all a public service!"
"Hear! Hear!" Alchemy chimed in cheerily.
Drury looked over at them glumly. Funny. A year or two ago, he'd have loved to have gotten that kind of respect. These days, he didn't know *what* he wanted. Adapting to Keystone had been hard, the kids enjoyed it well enough, but, well, stupid as it sounded, it just wasn't home. The Misfits, meanwhile, seemed to be doing well for themselves- Gar was currently working on a show based on the Injustice League's film reel (Big Sir playing himself) while Sharpe had started to reconnect with his sister and grandfather, bonding over their love of crime, mostly. Rigger and Reardon had gone into business together, undertaking a building redevelopment scheme over the ruins of Arkham, providing safe, affordable housing for all, and Chuck, cured from Fearless had been helping Mayo with his stand-up comedy. Even Needham had become a slightly less murderous vigilante, apparently with Cass' guidance.
Drury just wished he could be there to see them.
"Sorry, what I was saying?" he asks, as he turned back to the man beside him, dressed in a white and blue costume, and continued talking. About Miranda. And Gar. And Gaige. About Batman. The Suit nods. It doesn't say a word, but instead, it slides a card along the table. Drury looks down. On it, rests a poorly drawn frowny face. He looks back up, and The Suit wipes an imaginary tear from it's mask
"I guess, what I'm asking is, don't you ever wish you could start again?"
The Suit pauses and nods slowly. It turns away, and starts scrawling on a new piece of card, handing it back to Drury. On it, a rather feeble looking stick man with a pair of clock hands on its' face. Below it, scrawled on the bottom, the word "Slabside."
====Gotham====
"Come in," a squeaky voice whispered. "You weren't followed were you?"
"Across the multiverse? I don't fuckin' think so." The door creaked open, and a group of three men enter. The first, Abner Krill, looks at the desk, atop it a series of unsent love letters, most of them addressed to Poison Ivy of all people. On the wall, a large campaign banner reading "Cobblepot for Mayor: Make Gotham Safe Again," was hung proudly with a few measly pieces of twine. "Like, uh, like what you've done with the place, Jumbo, you fuckin' slob," he mumbles, as he passes by the squeaky voiced man.
"Is... That him?" a girl's voice asks. She's sitting on the sofa, twitching uncomfortable.
"Aye, luv," Krill proclaims as he takes a beer from the fridge. The second guest, Psycho Pirate, hurries in excitedly, singing cheerily. The third and final one however, walks in more slowly. Cautiously. "Jacob?" he asks, as his eyes focus on Jumbo, and then on the girl on the sofa. "Bridget? Is that you?"
The girl, Bridget, looks up at him. Dressed in a red and yellow suit, a mop of sleek grey hair on his head, the man looked a little disorientated. But, it was him. Unmistakably him! As she runs up to hug him, he raises a hand to stop her.
"Daddy, what is it?" she asks, her brow furrowing.
Carson pauses. "Time for a cozy catch up later, kitten. First, there's someone I need to kill."
====Gotham National Bank====
"Master Bruce, how is the suit treating you?"
"It'll have to do."
The fight with Metalhead damaged my last suit beyond repair. Though I had Lucius's newest prototype ready to go, Alfred was insistent I use an older model, reminding me yet again who has to clean my suit each night... It has it's benefits- for one, it's more padded, but it's at the expense of other aspects. It's slower, clunkier, but with my injuries perhaps that's for the best. From what I've heard, Flannegan is hardly a fighter...
Four men with guns. One dead guard, five hostages in the back. On any other day, this'd be over in seconds, but I'm still recovering.
I fire the claw, mooring a fire extinguisher to the thugs in the back, masking my movements. That's two down. Two to go.
"What the hell was that?"
"Sounds like the vault... Sid, check it out."
"What, why me?!"
"Because if you don't, you'll have to explain to Mr Falcone that Penguin's men stole our score. Again."
The man sighs, but reluctantly, heads my way. Sidney Debris, goes by the Squid. It's his partner I'm really after- Slugsy Kyle, the first criminal I ever put away... That's Gotham's justice system on show- so long as the mob has power, men like Kyle spend, at most, one night in Gotham lockup.
I make quick work of Sid, but he won't be out long, just long enough to secure some one on one time with Kyle.
"I'm warning you, I'm armed I- you! What the hell are you doing here?!" Kyle jolts back, and I grab the gun from his hand, emptying the clip.
"Otis Flannegan."
"Don't know what you-"
I twist his arm behind back, pinning him to the vault walls
"Last time we met, you wore an arm cast for two months. Don't test me. Tell me about Flannegan"
"Please, I don't-"
"The Ratcatcher! Talk!"
=====One Hour Later====
"Master Bruce, your vitals are spiking, are you sure you won't just come home-"
"Not now Penny-One, I've almost found him"
My investigation has brought me here, The Henry Cobblepot Subway Station, disused ever since the roof caved in on it's opening day. 200 hundred people dead, just like that... They never did recover all the bodies. It took some... convincing, but Slugsy Kyle told me exactly where he'd be. Said he seen Flannegan sending rats out of the sewer grate here almost daily.
"Penny One, I'm hearing noises, 100 yards north."
"The children?"
"Could be. Switching to thermal imaging."
"Yes," Alfred murmurs. "I see them too. Four, six, ten, no, twenty of them."
Twenty? But GCPD said that no more than ten were missing...
"Orphans and runaways, I'd assume. Master Bruce... Your heart rate... you're spiking again-"
"I'll be fine... I just need to."
"Master Bruce! Master Bruce are you there?! Bruce! Bruce!"
Head's spinning... Can't walk straight, it's Flannegan. Gassed... I've been... Rats, rats everywhere... Biting, chewing... Eating. They're eating me!
"Babies! Babies, what have you caught for me this time?"
That voice... Muffled, nasally... Has to be him. He's holding an oil lamp in his hand, his breathing's heavy... Excited.
"The Batman! You aren't supposed to be real... Heck, you aren't even supposed to be human!"
"Flannegan... Where are the children?"
"The children? The children! There ain't anyone here but us rodents!" he says, winking.
"I saw... I saw their vitals... Now bring me to them!"
"You ain't in no state to give orders," Flannegan grins. "You're barely the full shilling."
"If you've drugged me-!"
A second voice... Singing... "Bah bah black sheep have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir. Three bags full." Older, maturer...
"It's quite alright, Mr Flannegan... The Batman, isn't it? Apologies for the smell... Can't be helped..."
It looks... it looks like a scarecrow, must be the ringleader.
"We pump the toxins through the boiler here, but we never imagined it would bring *you* here! What a day... You're resisting it aren't you? Fascinating! But it's too late, those toxins are in your lungs, they're in your blood and they're in your soul."
What... What has he-?
"The children... Where are the children?"
"My little *lab rats*? Of course, you'll want to see the full effect... Flannegan, strap him to that gurney, we might have to increase the dosage by 50%, he must be kept secure."
No... The screaming... The screaming... Not frightened, angry!
"You maniac!"
I grab his noose and pull. Hard... but my hands... Hands... Hands slipping.
"That's -urk- hardly necessary... We're quite alike you know. The fear tactics, the scare mongering... The flair for dramatics... And the power... Oh the power...
And yet, you what? You use it to help people... How banal."
Arming himself... Needles, syringes... Have to get free, have to- nrng!
"Don't. You. See. We're at a turning point Batman. Gang wars, hijackings, cultists in the sewers, and it all sprang from you. Their *fear* of you. If the police escalate, so must they, and naturally, the opposite is true. You've caused uproar, panic on a scale even I'm impressed by."
"So you kidnap children? Torture children?!"
"All in the name of innovation! Science doesn't develop from hypothesises and theory alone. A practical approach is needed. So I take the outcasts, the weak and alone and I give them purpose. Just like organ donors, these people give themselves, their bodies, to my research, in service of fear.
This one, Batman, suffers from acrophobia- the fear of heights! This one, astraphobia- fear of thunder, fear of lightning!
And this one... Little Chloe Marsh, an amputee at one year old... she suffers from chiroptophobia, which I'm sure you're familiar with...
Say hello child."
She's screaming... Always screaming... Like... Like that night.
The pearls... I see the pearls... Mother... Father...
"You failed me Bruce... You took us to that film, that godforsaken film, and it killed me! Killed your mother!"
"Father, please," I beg. "Mother, don't listen-"
"You failed us Bruce... You said you wouldn't, said you would never again... But you have. You were supposed to save Gotham, save the world."
"I still can," I plead. "I still can!"
"Deacon Blackfire? Deadshot? The Penguin? Punch? Zodiac Master? That Blackgate Bug? What about their victims, Bruce, did you save them?"
"I... No. No I didn't."
==The Gotham Subway Station==
I open the car door, and call back to my "date"
"Thanks for the lift."
The man, Ted something or other, holds my hand back. Great Kate, just great, why do you always choose the clingy ones...
"Hey, we can still stay a few minutes longer, can't we?"
I smile the nicest smile I can muster, (any longer and I might just have to punch him) and pry his hand away "Yeah... Sorry, you're not my type."
"Not your-? What the hell are you wearing?"
"Got to go." Police scanners said Batman entered the tunnels somewhere around here, I just have to find him.
Is the suit too tacky? Probably... But I did always like red.
'Not a bad turn out!'
'So, is everyone ready? The items lying on the floor are all things you can use for the upcoming task.'
'It's simple, you take a weapon, and take out the targets I give you. Now, the more lethal the item you choose, the more targets you need to take out. Finish your number of targets first, and you get a spot on my select team.'
'Now, to make things more fun, if you don't win, I'll give you another chance. However, if you want that chance, you will have to phone the GCPD on yourself during your spree. Fun, right!'
'Your targets, are people wearing blue hats, or anyone with a two toned shirt. Go nuts!'
______________________
Joker moves from 8: Old Psychiatric Facility to secure neutral zone 15: Otisburg.
I still can't find my Joker figure, which mean's I'm trying to find ways not to show the characters face in the mean time. This particular attempt is rather stupid.
6:32 pm
The car door slams shut. Gordon turns the key and the engine starts up. He backs up out of the parking lot and presses on the gas pedal, heading towards City Hall. Gordon is almost there when he notices a strange car beside him. The driver is wearing a grey suit and is easily going over the speed limit. He looks at his watch, it reads 7:20. Gordon wants to pull over the strange car, but he has no time. Gordon cusses and keeps driving.
7:25 pm
Gordon locks his car and runs in City Hall. Mayor Hill is waiting for him.
Hill: “Where have you been, the crowd is getting bored.”
Gordon: “Commissioner Loeb handed me some extra papers and-”
Hill: “You know what, I don’t care. Let's get on with the award.”
7:30
Gordon and HIll go up to the platform in front of hundreds of people. Hill waves as Gordon analyzes the crowd; He sees no signs of threat or any danger. He also sees that the security officers are walking around the perimeter. Gordon sighs in relief.
Hill: “Thank you for coming today, before we continue on with the award I want to apologize for the late start....”
Gordon sits and relaxes in his seat. He thinks about how he should’ve pulled over that car earlier. Then he notices someone in the crowd. The man in the car, wearing the exact same grey suit. The man walks over to the door and bolts out of it. Gordon scans the crowd looking for any officer. He sees one of his; Officer Bilbao. Gordon pulls out his phone and opens up his messages.
Gordon: Hey Bilbao, there's a man in a grey suit that just bolted out of the door, can you see what he is up to?
Bilbao: Any reason why?
Gordon: He went over the speed limit
Bilbao: You want me to spy on a guy just because he broke the speed limit
Gordon: I suspect that this guy is up to no good.
Gordon: Just do as I say
Bilbao: Yes sure Lieutenant
Gordon sees Bilbao get out of his seat and walks out the door.
7:35
Officer Bilbao sees the man go to the bathroom. Bilbao walks in the bathroom; hands on his holster. Bilbao walks into the man talking on his cell phone. The man speaks with a German accent.
Man: “I know eliminate him at 7:45 so…”
The man sees Bilbao walk in.
Man: “I’ll call you back.”
Bilbao goes straight up to the man.
Bilbao: “Hello sir, Officer Bilbao of the GCPD, I would like to ask you you a few questions.”
Man: “In the Bathroom officer? Not really the most private and cleanest place to answer some questions-”
Bilbao: “I don’t care. What’s your name sir.”
Man: “Falsches Gesicht.”
Bilbao: “How do you spell that.”
The man punches Bilbao smack in the face. Bilbao grabs his gun out of his holster but the man immediately knocks the gun right out of it. The two men struggle and go in an all out brawl.
7:40
Hill: “Now it will be an honor to present the Gotham Award of Bravery to Lieutenant James Gordon for stopping The Riddler from blowing up half the city on his own. Let's hear it.
The audience applauds as Gordon stands up to receive the medal. Hill drapes it over his shoulders and he bows.
Hill: “Now I’ve known Gordon for a long time now, and…”
Hill continues on with his speech.
7:43
The man punches Balboa in the stomach and Balboa goes down. He then goes into the stall and pulls out a gun and a mask.
Man: “Now I would love to kill you but I’ll do this instead. Don’t worry it won’t hurt…”
7:44
The man walks out the door with the mask on and his gun ready.
Man: “Hey I’m in position.”
Unknown: “Good, what time is it?”
The man looks at his watch.
Man: “Right on time…”
He walks through the side doors and hides behind a pillar.
7:45
Hill: “After all that, Gordon is still a hero to me and the citizens of Gotham.”
The audience stands up and applaud to Gordon. He scans the crowd for Officer Balboa but instead sees The man in the grey suit, with a mask and a gun aiming towards the mayor. He fires his gun as Gordon runs and pushes Hill out of the way.
BAM
The gunshot startles everyone. Mayor Hill lays there...alive. Gordon gets up and pulls out his pistol and shoots the man in the leg, making him fumble onto the ground. Gordon holsters his gun and looks at the man’s mask. He then picks it up at looks at the tag, it reads Sionis Industries.
Gordon: “Their back.”
===Gotham City===
Dragonfly- Karaoke? Yes please! Let’s go in Gar!
Gar- Ok. Woo. Karaoke.
Dragonfly- And then, we’ll burn some homeless folk.
Gar- OKAY! Woo! Karaoke!
Miranda- Come on Drury, it could be fun
Drury- Ok. Why not?
=My Alibi- The Eraser's Bar=
*While his usual clientele is on the lower end of notoriety, Len Fiasko's revamp of his bar has attracted all manners of guests- A pair of corrupt cops chug pint glasses in one corner; in his private booth, Roman Sionis cuts lines with his favourite ornate knife and the irregular tapping of footsteps signals the arrival of Two-Face, who, upon flipping his coin to determine where to sit, makes a beeline towards the bar, to Fiasko's chagrin*
Dent- Your finest wine, barkeep.
Eraser- Yeah, I see how it is. You fuck up your face and then, what? You forget all about your pal, Len...
Two-Face- Oh, heh heh, we remember. You’re just as pathetic now as you were in your GCPD days. A seedy bar doesn't change that... Better make that whiskey a double.
Eraser- Hang on, you said-
Two-Face- *He* wants the wine. *I* want the whiskey.
*Two-Face's left eye bulges furiously, and, surveying him, Len nods*
Eraser- Great. Now, do you want me to mix that up for you?
Two-Face- Why aren't you listening to *us*?! Wine for him, whiskey for me!
Eraser- Alright! Alright!
------------
Drury- Fine wines? Dark walls? I can’t believe Len’s gone hipster
Gar- Uh Oh. Don’t look now Drury
Drury- Why?
*Drury looks up at the karaoke stage. Stood there, singing, is his step father- Onomatopoeia,*
Ono- 🎵Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. Boom!🎵
Drury- Urgh, I have the sudden urge to vomit
Miranda- Drury Wait!
Dragonfly- Forget him. Let’s just get drunk, eh hen?
Miranda- Sure... I mean, I suppose the Crazy Cosmopolitan sounds nice
Gar- Not you. You’ve got a bug baby in your stomach. You’re bloated already.
Miranda- Thanks Gar.
Dragonfly- You’ve got to look on the bright side pet. No Rigger for nine months.
Miranda- I wonder which poor woman he’ll stalk now...
Gar- Speaking of:
*Drunk, Rigger is making passes at any woman in his path, including one in particular, a Latino woman in a bright orange vest, adorned with a black spider. She appears to be the only woman not repulsed by the man before her*
Rigger- Hey baby. Wanna swing my web?
Tarantula- Ok.
Rigger- Ok? Ok? Okay! Let’s do this!
*A spring in his step and rosy cheeked, Rigger and his new partner leave the bar, to the shock of most patrons, and the apparent horror of Gar*
Tiger Moth- Oh. He’s a dead man.
Tiger Shark- Listen “gang”, if my daughter wants a drink, then she’ll get a drink.
Gar- I’m no doctor but that’ll probably give a baby brain damage.
Tiger Shark- It’s Walker’s kid. It already has brain damage.
Miranda- Thanks Dad?
Tiger Shark- No problem kiddo. Have fun.
*Job done. Gaige waves over at Sionis' table, joining him and his men for another shot. Dragonfly meanwhile tugs on Gar's arm, still confused over Rigger's luck with Tarantula*
Dragonfly- Gar. Come on! Ono’s finished!
Gar- Yeah, yeah.
Eraser- Give it up for Onomatopoeia!
Ono- Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap.
Eraser- Yeah... Next up- Gar and Meghan’s rendition of “Relight my Fire”
*In the crowd, The Blaze can't help smiling*
====The Bathroom====
Drury- Spider! Good to see you!
*Readjusting his zipper, Needham sighs, not quite ready for another conversation with the ever enthusiastic Drury*
Spider- Drury.
Drury- Love your new costume by the way. It used to confuse the heck out of me when you first showed up. I said to myself “Is he colourblind? Cos, purple isn’t black, orange isn’t black!” Unless orange is the new black? Nah that’s dumb. So, while I don’t wanna be that guy, I gotta know: Was it a race thing, Eric?
Spider-....
Drury- Ah. Not to worry. Your secret is safe with me. Bye man.
—————
Drury- I’m back. Where did Gar and Meghan go?
Miranda- Some soup kitchen. You missed their rendition of “Relight my Fire”
Eraser- Sssh! It’s magical
Drury- What the-
Dent- 🎵Cause you're hot then you're cold
You're yes then you're no
You're in then you're out
You're up then you're down
You're wrong when it's right
It's black and it's white
We fight, we break up
We kiss, we make up
(You) You don't really want to stay, no
(You) But you don't really want to go-o
You're hot then you're cold
You're yes then you're no
You're in then you're out
You're up then you're down🎵
Drury- I’m in the toilet for five minutes. I come out and suddenly Dent’s singing Katy Perry? What’s going on?
Eraser- Chemical science. Let that be a lesson for all of you: Don’t fuck with the Eraser. That means paying your fucking tab Artie! How’s that for a clue?
First order of business: He works to prevent the GCPD from answering the call, on the robbery he's planning. By knocking everyone out..
I really wanted to play this as Batgirl, but the instructions for that mod were too confusing and I think the provided save was a troll =/
=Outside Wayne Tower, 12 Years Ago=
Gar- Len! Where's your costume?!
Len- (?) I'm wearing my costume.
Gar- No, you're wearing your suit. Do you even have other clothes?
Len- I changed my shoes...
Gar- That makes all the difference then?
Len- Eh.
Gar- What are we supposed to call you anyway, out in the field? Pencil Man?
Len- I'm not a pencil!
Drury- He could be a Bumblebee. It'd fit with the bug motiff we've got going on here.
Gar- Dear god Drury- there is no bug motiff! I'm wearing these antennae as an obligation not because I like it!
Drury- I thought you liked the suits.
Gar- No, no one does. ... Twag might but he's our boss, frankly he can do what he wants so long as he pays us!
Drury- Alright! Fine, he's Pencil Man...
Len- I'm not a pencil! I just like the fucking pattern!
*In the midst of their argument, Dekker runs down the street, clutching something under his arms*
Dekker- Leonard! Leonard, my dear old Pencil Man, put this on won't you!
*Dekker forcibly puts some kind of helmet on Len's head*
Drury- Haha! Oh man!
Len- What, what's on my head?
Dekker- The final touch- the eraser to your HB Pencil.
Len- I can't see out of it!
Dekker- That's because it's a trash can. I had a sudden surge of inspiration where I decided what had to get done
Len- A trash can? A trash can! Get it off, it's mank!
Dekker- It's alright darling, it's but a minor snag, I'll just cut some eye holes out, then you'll be right as rain!
Len- What, are you crazy?!
Dekker- No, just colourblind and slightly blind-blind. Stay still now.
Len- No you don't! Not when I'm still wearing it!
Gar- For Godsake, if you're gonna complain, then take it off!
Len- I... I can't!
Gar- What?
Len- I'm trapped! Pull it off!
*Drury looks through the window of Wayne Tower, and see's Twag fighting off the GCPD- clutching a money bag and wearing his bugsuit*
Drury- Guys?
Gar- Not now Drury!
Drury- But guys!
*Twag exits the building and makes a run for it*
Twag- And remember you were robbed by me! The Killer Moth!
Drury- Hey, that was my name...
Gar- Dick move. Dick move. Let's just go.
Drury- ... You'd think he would've waited for us first
Dekker- I've seen it- well heard it, many a times, the same story- both man and woman. Alas, that is simply how the world works
*the trio exit, leaving a still disoriented Len*
Len- Gar-? Drury-? Are you still here? Oh god, it's so cold. Mr Dekker? Mr Dekker?
Drury- Whoops! Almost forgot you!
Gar- 'Almost'?
Drury- Ok, we did forget you.
*Nora. My sunflower. I pray that you can hear me. I made you a promise, the day I put you in cryo-stasis. It was the day that Boyle took you from me, and the day he drowned me in a chemical elixir that left me in a permanent sub-zero state. That day, I promised I wouldn't let anyone hurt us Nora, but I have failed. First they took you, those "guards", then I was shot. The pain the bullet left is fleeting compared to the pain I feel without your soothing presence. I promised you once, and I promise again. I will not be weak. I will find you, protect you and I *will* cure you. But first, my Sunflower, I will find that sniper, and anyone else who tries to stand between us. This promise, my Nora, I will not break*
Freeze- You. Eli Nables. A total of twenty one people purchased guns from The Penguin last week.
Nables- Yeah, so?
Freeze- Only four of those were sniper rifles. Only one is powerful enough to shatter *this* glass. You, Eli, bought that gun.
Nables- Lots of people sell guns in this town. A lot of people buy 'em too. But there aren't a lot who now how to use them. Shattered your dome, huh?
*Idiot. I know what's he's thinking. He thinks he can make his reputation by killing "Mister Freeze." He reaches for the gun, but just as he's got it, his arm shatters and breaks*
Nables- Aargh-! Son of a bitch!
*A second ice blast freezes his lips together, muffling his screams of agony*
Freeze- I am not angered easily. Well done.
====
*They call themselves Mutants but I see them for what they truly are. Zombies. Mindless zombies like all the rest. Only good for one thing, and that's cutting*
Mutant- Ooh, hehe. Little man walk into our territory, little man get shanked.
Leader- Scumwad! Trespassers make Leader billy beserk!
Zsasz- The Mutants. You're one of the few gangs not under Penguin's control. You refused his offer, refused to join his Pact.
*The biggest, their leader stands up. His eyes are crimson. His mouth is lined with rows of sharp teeth. Like.... knives*
Zsasz- Say, I like your scars. Would you like to see mine?
====
*Arkham City continues to surprise me. From the passion of its people, to the opportunities aplenty and to those who act like they've never encountered a ghostly apparition like myself*
Roth- Aaaah! Aaaah! Monster!
Craddock- How uncouth. I just wanted some information. Won't you comply?
Roth- Stay, stay back!
*They're an earnest people. I admire their efforts, even if they should probably realise guns won't work. Oh well*
Craddock- Oh dear, however will I get out of this pickle?
*Should I fly through him? Oh maybe I will*
Roth- Uhnn!
Craddock- Now, you wouldn't happen to know anything about the Iceberg Incident would you, dear fellow?
====
*It seems like yesterday that I was teaching at Gotham University. Some might say I went too far, I argue to this day that I didn't go far enough. I missed it, teaching, and, had Doctor Long listened, my research could have changed the world. In some ways, it has*
Crane- Now pay attention. Gaze into the victim's dilating pupils. Smell that sweat, soaking out of every pore. Listen to the sounds of those oh so satisfying shrieks of abject terror. Feel your own heart race, the joy of bringing about one's destruction, and lastly, taste the success of driving one to madness!
*There's a flurry of activity as the Sons of Scarecrow scrawl down notes. If only my previous classes shared their passion*
Stevens- Please! Please, I don't know anything about the attack, I-
Crane- Sssshh. I know. But I've a lecture to conduct.
*Music. Music to my ears*
====The GCPD====
If there's one thing that the GCPD has Chicago beat on, it's the number of repeat offenders. Every time they leave, or escape even, I hope that they'll never walk back here in cuffs. Just once would be nice. Things have been quiet in Gotham since the prison opened. A powder keg like that, it's a surprise no one's broken in or out before. That we know of, that is. I'm an old fashioned cop. I don't exactly trust the new task force. It's not the first group that have marched in here, it won't be the last. I put my gum in the bin, and walk into the interrogation room. He nods. Our prisoner lets out a chuckle that takes me back. Arthur Brown. Cluemaster.*
Artie- James Gordon! It's been years! How's the wife and kids?
*I share a look with Him. It takes a lot of self restraint on both our parts not to hit Brown for that. I take out another stick of gum, and place a very heavy binder on the table*
Gordon- Let's get this over with, huh, Artie? What do you know?
Artie- What, about the Iceberg shooting? Nothing. I was with Batman the whole time, wasn't I Bats?
Batman- Hmn.
Gordon- That doesn't mean you couldn't have hired someone to carry it out, now does it?
Artie- Course not. But I didn't.
Gordon- Let's go back to the begining then. What were you doing in Arkham City? We've got enough to have you thrown in here for trespassing, tell us anything and we might be lenient.
Batman- Might.
Artie- And where would you take me? Arkham City? That would defeat the purpose, no?
Gordon- I'm sure Black Mask would like to know who told Batman where his men were holed up.
Artie- Well now... That was Dekker!
Gordon- Do you want to tell *him* that?
Artie- What do you want?
Batman- What does Bane want?
Artie- I'd sooner spend a night with Croc before I talk.
*Again, him and I share a look, and turn away from Brown, who perks up*
Batman- He's a lost cause. We should throw him in Arkham.
Gordon- You sure?
Batman- If he can't help...
Gordon- You're right... One less headache.
Artie- Wait! I can't tell you about Bane, but maybe we can help each other?
Gordon- How so?
Artie- I can help you find your shooter.
*Good cop, bad cop. I told him the old ways still work*
Is there anything more ubiquitous on the streets of Gotham than a GothCorp delivery vehicle? Perfect for delivering an ice-cold surprise direct to the GCPD loading dock!
=Ten minutes earlier. Warehouse Six=
*Above them, the moth signal flashes, and then... Poof. The image fades. Ten turns to Chuck, to Rigger, to their injured and to Zeiss, tied to a post. Drury came for them, to save them, he was certain of that, and now he was in danger. The signal was just a omen*
Ten- This has to end.
*Charles stuffs a makeshift kite into his backpack, and nods "I know..." he mutters. "He needs us." Rigger perks up. "I'll go!" "We'll go," Ten corrects him. "Drury saved my life once, I owe him this." Chuck smiles faintly. This was the brotherhood he missed, what he once had with Julian, Blake, Drake. This was what made the Misfits what it was. Once. He motions to Zeiss*
Chuck- Dekker, can you watch him?
Dekker- With cheekbones like those? Absolutely, darling.
Chuck- ... Good, good.
Needham- You didn't say. Where *you're* going.
...
Chuck- No, I didn't.
====
*Halfway across the city, Garfield Lynns hurls Joker through a coffee table. He responds by throwing a smoke bomb Gar's way, laughing gas pouring out of it. He grabs his firefly mask, and activates the filters, but by then Joker's on his feet, and swinging a crowbar about. He takes the helmet off with the rod, as though he were playing golf, and stands on Gar's arm*
Joker- Tut tut, you call yourself firefly, but you're not bright at all! I asked you a question Fireguy.
Gar- And I told you- Drury isn't here you goon! He's in Arkham City!
Joker- Well speak up next time! Arkham. Dear oh dear oh dear. I was just there! That's... annoying. Ah, like passing ships in the night.
*Gar takes his keys out his pocket and rams it through the clown's black and white spats and into his feet. He chuckles. And then he hits him with the crowbar, and tightens his flower, spraying acid that starts to eat through what's left of Gar's skin*
Joker- Wake up and smell the rooooooses Garfield! Sidekicks, are my speciality! Why... they're my bread. And. Batter. How's that for a side splitter? Ha!
*Gar spits up blood, pulls Joker off of him, and wipes the acid with his sleeve*
Gar- The blaze fried my nerve endings the first time. Volcano did it all over again. This? Didn't hurt, and sure hasn't done any more damage than what I already got
Joker- Well, you *are* missing an eye. But, you know what they say- an eye for a-
Gar- Leave, while you can still walk.
Joker- You little rascal! So hostile! Why it's almost like... Heh. Where's the little munchkin, eh?
*Gar takes a fire extinguisher off of the ground, and smashes it into Joker's face*
=====GCPD====
*The two groups brought each up to speed. It was a lot to take in, but it the stories were not entirely unfamiliar to either parties. This was still Gotham after all.*
Ten- Ninjas.
Chancer- Undead ninjas too!
Selina- I'm sure that was implied.
Rigger- Heh, Jeez... I'm going to need a lot of napalm...
*Ten stands up*
Ten- What do you want us to do?
Miranda- Get out.
Rigger- Ha! That's... Something.
Miranda- I'm serious
...
*Rigger looked down at his makeshift splint, the only thing holding his leg together*
Rigger- Easier said than done, y'know? Not for lack of trying.
Ten- And we're staying regardless, Miranda. Do you know where this ninja cult is now?
Miranda- I can't let you two- I mean, look at you!
Ten- We may not be superman. We may not be metahumans. But when I was in Blackgate, Drury saved my life. I would've bled out if-
Rigger- -If he hadn't convinced me to help him. I'd still be blowing up buildings if Drury hadn't helped me out. If the Misfits hadn't brought me out of that hole I was living in. I'm in too.
Miranda- On your head's... When the Society attacked, and Drury and I went to the Belfry, we accessed it through a series of tunnels Batman installed. Their bomb disturbed one of the Court's burrows, and we arrived to find them fighting off Manta, Billings and half a dozen others. We didn't know it at the time, but somewhere down there, that's their lair.
Selina- They always liked Wayne buildings, didn't they?
*Ten and Rigger give her confused glances*
Selina- Nevermind.
Miranda- We go down there, we find where the owls came from, we find Ra's.
Ten- See, I might be able to help. When I was living in Blackfire's church, Sionis noted that his men stationed in the sewers were being picked off. He accused the deacon, but it's more likely that the perpetrators were these... bird people. Blackfire claimed he was immortal. Maybe he was, partially. It's possible that he was tied into all this somehow, using that... what did you call it?
Miranda- Dionesium.
Ten- That. When he captured me, I couldn't take much notice of my surroundings, but I knew I was underground, in those same tunnels. We can access them from the church.
Miranda- Thank you.
Ten- You're welcome. Now who did you say took Drury?
Miranda- Krill, Abner-
* "Slade Wilson" a deep, commanding voice replies. And Selina spins around*
======
Slade- Toys, Walker?
*With the slash of his sword, Deathstroke is free from his metallic bonds- another gizmo courtesy of Twag.*
Slade- The Court upgraded your suit, bug boy. You didn't think that maybe they'd have failsafes for every one of those gadgets?
Drury- Naw, I figured.
*The ties now wrapped around his foot, crackle with electricity, and Slade falls backwards, before coming to his feet.*
Slade- Not bad. Just not good enough.
*Norbert tackles him, throwing punch after punch, but Slade blocks each one. Norbert turns to his brother "You should run" *
Slade- Yes, you should.
Drury- You know The Court's involved, you *have* to know they'll kill us all!
Slade- Oh, they'll try, most likely. But what can I say, they paid me in advance, and it'd be a shame to let them down.
*Norbert fires a blast of energy from his fist, and Slade is hit. Like the pain of a wasp's sting increased tenfold, and coursing through his entire body*
Slade- There we go.
*Norbert fires another blast, now blocked by Slade's sword. Drury goes invisible, and attacks him from behind, but Slade's ready, and rams his sword into Drury's side, the suit sparking due to it's damaged circuitry*
Slade- It doesn't take infra red vision to see you Walker. Not when you're sweating so much.
*Incensed, Norbert grabs Slade by the throat and smashes his head onto the ground. A crack forms in the terminator's mask, revealing the hollow socket which housed The Terminator's left eye. In return, Slade grabs the knife strapped to his boot, and stabs him in the chest. The wound heals immediately*
Norbert- I heal now.
Slade- Oh I know. Who do you think *gave* you that blood transfusion?
*A whip wraps around Slade's arm. A napalm cocktail douses him in flames, as the others rally behind Catwoman, helping to hold him in place. He cuts the whip with his sword; They tumble. Slade then looks to the sky and sees the Dark Knight looking back- kicking him in the face and knocking his mask off. Slade holds a hand to his bloody nose, and smiles, before a gaudy coloured portal swallows him "Next time" *
Drury- And just where the hell have you been?
========
"We found him trying to fly in."
"Fly?"
"With this."
*Freeze hands him the tattered remains of a kite. Sionis snorts, holding an ice pack to his bruised flesh, and looks down at Brown*
Sionis- Well, isn't this convenient. I *just* sent my people out to get you. Hoping to finish the job, were you?
Chuck- No. I need your help.
Sionis- Ha! That's funny.
Chuck- I'm serious.
Sionis- That, is not.
Chuck- I couldn't tell you, before. I gave him my word but... Things are different now..
Sionis- What... What are you blabbing about?
Chuck- I'm not the man Eric Needham wanted me to be. Someone with answers. I wish I was, but I'm not. So I'm here now, to ask you to help us. End this.
*Sionis stretches his legs out onto the table*
Sionis- And how am I supposed to believe anything you say?
Chuck- I saved your life didn't I?
Sionis- Don't remind me. You also punched me in the face.
Chuck- - When I could've killed you. If I wanted to, yeah. But I'm not you Sionis. It's like you said. I'm just a man who flies kites.
====The Iceberg Lounge====
We shut up shop early tonight. Didn't take a genius to understand why. It was half four when we mopped Sionis off of the floor. Five when we heard the rumble of his goons outside, five thirty when we pulled the metal shutters down, and six when we posted snipers on the outside balconies. Believe me, the usual patrons were none too pleased... Neither am I really. Chuck... The hell were you thinking? I rarely drink myself- the toxins alone are usually enough to keep me off the stuff (never stopped me with the smokes, mind) but tonight's different. I drank the brandy in a oner- helped to remind me why I don't drink in the first place, and took a glance at those two floozies. They hadn't taken their grey eyes off of me since Chuck decked Sionis. Just my luck. Heh, can't believe I'm missing Mag's singing... I brush past the gruesome gals, and put my hand on the jukebox. I could do with a song. No money, but...
*He begrudgingly pulls a button off of his jacket, and places it in the coin slot*
Needed a new coat anyway...
*He selects a record, and the familiar tune of Sweet Caroline plays, a favourite of his. For three minutes, at the cost of a button, all is right with the world, it's tunes muffle gunfire outside. And, when it's finished, he places it gently back into the cabinet. He nods to the Kabuki, drapes his overcoat over his shoulders, and unlocks the front door. Twelve men, armed, stand outside. He walks past them, avoiding eye contact, and mutters under his breath "He's upstairs." And just like that, war came to Arkham*
Damian: “Father? What are your thoughts?”
Bruce: “Rooting out the problem quickly. That could mean interrogating every problem who’s a potential assassin on the hunt for Jason...Oracle, I downloaded the recording for you.”
Oracle: “Positive. There were no interceptions in this. I will get the Birds of Prey to patrol if have to.”
Bruce: “Good. I have a lead after they just left the meeting. Call your dad to cleanup the mess here...”
***
The Batmobile speeds up again. I don’t know if I’m overthinking too much, but it is not certainly what I’d expect to be good when my former ward is at large. Among the protégés....why Jason? Was it because of him wrecking Sionis’ operations?
I’m intent on finding out more, but not for long if we talk to Gordon first at the GCPD
Gordon: “Y’know, I miss the old days where we and Harv had a trinity of an alliance...”
Bruce: “That’s long ago. The burden still exists, but now I wouldn’t be concerned about it.”
Gordon: “Brought the Boy Wonder this time eh?”
Bruce: “He’s my official partner now.”
Damian: “Wow. That’s rather new.”
Gordon: “Anyways, you got something for me don’t you? My boys are already looking at the socialite deaths. Black Mask, isn’t it?”
Bruce: “Oracle has conformation when I spied in on them.”
Gordon: “I’d assume Barbara told Montoya as well. If the Riddler pleaded for being reformed, that means he had big plans when he escaped Arkham.”
Bruce: “That’s why there’s a missing link in his alliance with Sionis.
Damian: “We think there’s so much criminals around, every one of them can be a potential suspect. Maybe even connections to Arkham itself.”
Gordon: “Arkham? I haven’t checked Blackgate yet. There’s been no breakout except for the Riddler. Nor the Joker has anything to do with this.”
Bruce: “He’s dead. Monarch Theatre. Harley, take her off the list. Scarecrow, he’s insane.”
Damian: “What about Maxie Zeus? Or the low tier villains like Crazy Quilt or Polka Dot Man?”
Bruce: “If they have a turf, they’re likely enforcers hired to work for Black Mask….”
Gordon: “hold on….I gotta take this phone call….yes Bullock….yes, I get you…alright, urgent right? I have available units as of now. Ace Chemicals? I’ll see if I can send a team there. But I gotta check out Crime Alley first—“
(Gordon turns his head around and sees the Dynamic Duo gone. He sighs and takes a cigarette.)
Gordon: “Just gotta be mysterious, don’t you both?”
***
Thanks to Bullock’s call, we would strike out as soon as possible. Ace Chemicals….the clues seem to be more vague. Experiences at these locations certainly have brought such an effect on me. First Crime Alley, then this. I wonder what’s it gonna be next.
We enter the building silently, as Oracle monitors us close through the Batcomputer. Like the building we had encountered, it seems like a potential meeting could occur here. Whether it’s the Scarecrow making fear toxins, or experiments conducted by mad scientists, it was always a shady place.
Damian flickers his light on again as we pass the bubbly boilers. The pathway leads to a certain point— I recognize the rail where the Joker fell into this vat of chemicals…
Voice: “Looking for something, Batman?”
Bruce: “I knew something was not right.”
Voice: “Yes indeed. And you have been very brave to stumble upon here.”
Bruce: “Victor.”
Freeze: “I could have transformed this place into something…icier. It would be nice to see this as a facility for my wife to recover.”
Bruce: “Among the many places, you choose here?”
Damian: “Were the others too hot for you, Freeze? Heat going up?”
Freeze: “If you say so. Black Mask has offered me such a sum of money to rehabilitate her condition…and you…are unwelcome here.”
The lights flicker on suddenly as gases spread all across the building. Damian, being enraged, pulls his sword out and tries to engage Freeze, who manages to take a few hits before the latter reaches for his gauntlet and sprays him with some gas in a transparent blue colour.
Bruce: “Robin! No!.”
Freeze: “Too late, Batman. You will enjoy seeing your partner going down….and you won’t last too long either. Run, run while you still can.”
Damian: “Father….help me….I can’t breathe….”
Bruce: “What have you done with him?”
Freeze: “Advanced form of fear toxin. Go figure.”
He proceeds to disappear in a gist of blue smoke, as everything around us starts to blow up, including the rail I’m standing on. I throw a remote control Batarang at the nearest window, as I grab my grappling gun when it returns to my pocket. I carry my son’s unconscious body as we escape the building that could engulf us in seconds.
Bruce: “Emergency! I need the Batwing now!”
The last thing I can remember is that I was calling Alfred for help.
***
The Midtown Precinct. 0900 hrs.
Back to business as usual. 'Least I don't have to walk a beat anymore.
Yeah, must be comfortable being Commissioner.
You got that right, Dan.
Still haven't got the place cleaned up, have they? God it must have been...
Jeesh. The last time I was here was 2007, with the reservoir riots. You remember, Foley?
Course I do. Not something anybodies gonna be forgetting, lemme tell ya.
God. The gangs are gonna be at it again soon; I can feel it. And it's not a nice feeling. You know what we found at the docks yesterday, Dan? Two hundred assault rifles, 50 RPGs, and god knows how many submachine guns. Leats we know whose they were though; guess what they had in their pockets?
Ummm...Joker cards?
No, thank god. But they had coins, defaced on both sides.
Ah, shit. Good thing we got that.
Yeah. Also a good thing we've got more Men, and more SWAT. We're gonna need them...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GCPD takes area #54, the GCPD Midtown Precinct.
*Codpiece's Bedroom. He's woken up by the arrival of Zodiac*
Codpiece- Who's there?
Zodiac- Your destiny.
Codpiece- Can my destiny wait? It's 5:30
Zodiac- No. Get up. It's time for a busy day of body swapping
Codpiece- Urgh. Fine
*Codpiece gets out of bed. Zodiac looks down at his crotch in dismay*
Codpiece- What?
Zodiac- Where's your dick?
Codpiece- Eh?
Zodiac- You heard. You're supposed to have a giant dick! A great, floppy phallus!
Codpiece- Oh, I see what's happened... This happens quite often, actually. Truth is, I get my giant dong from the suit. You can have that if you want.
Zodiac- I don't want your super suit. I'd look ridiculous. What I wanted was a giant dick. Your giant dick. To impress Magpie
Codpiece- Well, I'm sorry, dicks don't grow that big. Not naturally. Look, I don't like wasting anyone's time. So take these. I was recommended them through a Pornhub ad.
Zodiac- Um. Thanks.
*Zodiac shoots Codpiece in the stomach*
Codpiece- Why?!
Zodiac- I'm sorry! I'm not used to people just giving me things!
--------------------------------
*The Gotham Royal Hotel. President Trump enters his room to discover Tiger Shark waiting for him*
Gaige- Donald Trump. We meet at last
Trump- Who the hell are you? Why do have a towel wrapped around your head?
Gaige- It's not a towel. And the name's Tiger Shark. Now, I'm asking you for help. Because I'm nice, generous and an all round decent guy, I'm going to give you the opportunity to decide for yourself. But here's what I want- Drury Walker to remain in office
Trump- Uh huh. Why shouldn't I send in a few of Gotham's fine, patriotic officers of the law in here to send you off to a nice comfy prison cell?
Gaige- Because then I will ensure that you will never see Melanie again
Trump- Who?
Gaige- ... Your wife...
Trump- Oh you mean Melania, darling Melania. She's great, just great. The greatest first lady this country has ever had, true fact. What were you saying?
Gaige- I'm saying I captured her
Trump- I have the best security in the world, nay the universe. Whole wide universe, can you imagine that? How could you do that?
Gaige- Well, I got a cardboard box, a ruler, a piece of string and an issue of Woman's Monthly
Trump- I don't believe you. You're a liar. I hate liars.
Gaige- Believe what you want but I encourage you to check your phone
*Trump grabs his phone. There is a video message. Melania is in the clutches of Electrocutioner and Cypher*
Melania- Trumpikins? Is that you Donnie?
Trump- It's me hot stuff.
Gaige- So now you know I'm not bluffing, I take it we have a deal
Trump- No.
Gaige- No?! I captured your wife! The First Fucking Lady!
Trump- And she'll be missed. Honestly, I'll miss her. But I think it's time to move on. I'm a handsome man. I'll find love again
Lester- Does this mean ve kill her?
Trump- Excuse me, you Russian dog, I'm talking. Mr Shark, I'm the kind of man who stands by his principles. Call me stubborn, call me cruel, I don't care. It's the only way to stop you ISIS scumbags
Gaige- I'm not from- Ok. Cypher? Plan B. See, I also have a hacker working to clear your bank accounts.
Trump- What did you want again?
Gaige- What I want is for you to keep Walker as Mayor, ok?
Trump- Fine. Why should I care?
Gaige- Because he killed a man. Nevermind, you said yes. Let's just move on
*Gaige opens the door to be met with several GCPD officers*
Gaige- Oh shit. This better work
GCPD #1- He's reaching for a backpack!
GCPD #2- Hands in the air
*Gaige presses a button on his backpack*
Trump- He's a bomber you fuckwits!
Gaige- Thank you Charlie
*The backpack expands into a kite*
Gaige- Hell yeah.
*Gaige soars out the window*
=====Wayne Manor====
Bruce- Selina. What have you-?
Selina- Bruce, let me talk first. I *don't* regret killing him. He's hurt us both a hundred times over, he's cut out my heart before for the love of God. He was going for me, and I shot him in self defense.
Bruce- The bullet went *right* through his heart Selina. You didn't just kill him. You shot him.
Selina- He deserved it. I know you don't believe in killing, I don't even blame you. But he had to die. How long before he killed Alfred, or Dick or-
Bruce- Don't. Just... don't.
Selina- It was hard for me too you know. I look at that corpse on the ground and that's you. That's your face, eyes open, lifeless, killed by a bullet *I* fired
Bruce- I- I know Selina.
Selina- Then you know what has to happen don't you?
...
Bruce- Yes
====Arkham Asylum====
*David Cain has been in custody for a while now, ever since he botched an assassination six months ago. When Blackgate Prison fell at the hands of the Music Meister, presumed dead in the riots, Cain was transferred to a high security cell in the lower levels of Arkham Asylum. With those unwitting pawns keeping the police occupied, tricking the GCPD into thinking Jonathan Crane is the intended target, I can strike undisturbed and retrieve him*
Cain- Hn. Shiva. Of course, those hicks upstairs were your doing. *sigh* He *would* send you, wouldn't he?
Shiva- Come now Cain, we both know you could escape anytime.
Cain- I needed an up close look at the inner workings of this place.
Shiva- And?
Cain- The doctor, Strange, is hiding something. But, I'll give him this- he is as devoted as ever to the project. The inmates on the other hand- they're depraved, vicious animals. The guards- no better. The conditions they keep that scarecrow in rival even Penã Duro.
Shiva- And... what of the child?
...
Cain- I never took you as the sentimental "my love"
Shiva- Don't be absurd Cain. You know well enough what I meant.
Cain- She fought well. More than well. She was excellent. A performance to be proud of.
...
Shiva- I would expect no less from her
.
==The Batcave. A Week Later==
*He's buried himself in his work again. I know the signs all too well. He was the same after he lost Jason. He's grown out his stubble, he's reading through his case files again and from the way he's hunched over I can tell he hasn't slept in days. He handed Captain Stingeree- a pirate themed C-Lister of his over to the GCPD last night, his arm broken. That was when Lois said it was time for us to step in. Diana has come with me, despite my reservations, I hope we can help him, even if by now I realise that the only person who can help Bruce is himself. Even though he's grieving he doesn't miss a beat*
Bruce- Alfred let you in?
Clark- Tim actually.
Bruce- Hnm.
Diana- Bruce, are you ok?
Bruce- Just. Fine.
*He says it through gritted teeth, his heart rate tells more of the story. I whisper to Diana*
Clark- You were right, we should have given him some space. Bruce, are you sure-
Bruce- I oversaw the autopsy myself. It was Tommy. Not Clayface, not this time. Hagen's good but he was never Karlo... I *need* a case. Something I can-
Clark- Listen Bruce, if you need space we can go, I understand that- Tommy Elliot-
Bruce- Was a murderer. He murdered his father. He murdered his mother. He tried to kill me and Selina more than once. Believe me, I don't blame her, I just-
*He sighs heavily, and finally turns around to us*
Bruce- Whatever he became Tommy was one of the last remnants of a better time. Even after my parents died, I could still take comfort knowing that my... friend was out there. Somewhere.
...
Bruce- I can't even pretend that there's a mastermind to punch. It's simple- Elliot took advantage of the riot to come here, to kill Selina. His Bruce Wayne face having fully healed. Maybe he hoped he could steal my wealth- it doesn't matter. Any scheming died with him, and a part of me too. His final cruel act? Driving me and Selina apart.
*He rises, and pulls his cowl back on. I try to put a comforting arm on his shoulder, but he rejects it*
Batman- I have to go. Gordon says there's a gang meeting somewhere in the Bowery.
Diana- Perhaps we can help Bruce.
Bruce- No, I- Thank you.
*And so the three of us fly into the night. Hurt. But together*
The Penguin, Poison Ivy, Mr Freeze, Harley Quinn, The Joker, The Riddler, Bane, Deathstroke, Catwoman and Two Face storming GCPD's headquarters
"Lord, forgive me. I almost killed a man, tonight. I'm beginning to feel overcome with bloodlust, and I don't know how much longer I can hold it back. I just--I'm so angry that Bruce is dead and that I can't bring him back. I want Joker to pay for what he's done... I ask that You help me to fight my bloodlust and keep myself in check. In Jesus' name, amen."
I'm in the Gotham Cathedral. I get up from kneeling on the steps leading up to altar in the front of the church. I pick up my damaged helmet, put it back over my head, and turn around to find Scarecrow spraying fear toxin out of the back of his scythe.
"'And the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid.'' Well...I'm not an angel. And you SHOULD be afraid."
"I think I'm gonna stick with the angel on this one."
"In a couple seconds you'll have nO cHoIcE...dIcK gRaYsOn."
That voice...
"Huh?! No, no, no it can't be kicking in this fast!"
"EvErYoNe KnOwS yOu'Re ThE bAtMaN, dIcK. nObOdY wAnTs YoUr HeLp! YoU'rE uSeLeSs To Us AlL."
The toxin is stronger than it was when Bruce was still alive. I guess Crane has been doing some experimenting, lately. I can't differentiate Scarecrow from the Joker, anymore.
"SHUT UP, JOKER!!! No, I won't give in, Scarecrow. I dont believe you."
"I sEe YoUr AfRaId Of ThE jOkEr."
I pull out two batarangs and start charging towards Scarecrow, but he steps out of the way, trips me, and I fall to the floor. I begin to feel the cold, sharp tip of his blade slowly rip through the back of my suit and skin, taking his time as he slices a giant gash across my back. I scream in pure agony as I lay on the floor of this church, beginning to bleed.
"H-h-how d-did you even f-find me?"
"wOrD sPrEaDs FaSt, AnD wHeRe ElSe WoUlD a HeRo Go AfTeR ALMOST kIlLiNg A mAn, ThAn ChUrCh?"
"And if I wasn't religious?"
"ThEn, I'd Go HoMe SaD tOnIgHt. BuT, tHaT dOeSn'T sEeM tO bE tHe CaSe NoW dOeS iT?"
He steps on the gash, and I let out another wail of pain. I can't take much more of this torture. I have to fight him, somehow... or just escape.
"W-was your family r-religious growing up?"
"gOoD qUeStIoN. nOt ReAlLy, My DaD aLwAyS hAd A hOrRoR mOvIe Or SoMeThInG oN oN tHe Tv, AnD mY mOm..."
Good, he's distracted. I pull out flash bangs and smoke bombs, close my eyes, cover my ears, and drop them both. While he is incapacitated and confused, I stab his feet with my two batarangs and pull out my grapple gun, fire it through the glass window, and pull myself out. As I'm swept through the air, the pain in my back is almost too much to bear. I almost fall back down to the ground, but manage to hold on long enough to get to the roof. From the roof, I drop more smoke pellets along with some sleeping gas, and summon the batjet and GCPD, who should've been just about finished at the docks.
Both get here at almost exactly the same time. When I get in the Batjet, I look down at the cops, and I don't see relief, like I normally do. I see...fear
________________________________
So I hope you enjoyed this issue of Batman, and I hope you all think I did a good job with Scarecrow!What did you think? Critiques? Compliments? Theories? I wanna hear your feedback! So please, comment down below! Stay frosty, bros and broditas!
-FANTXTIK
Real Name: Unknown
Current Alias: Chancer
Attributes: Claims to possess the power of “luck”.
Inventory: 1 White Coat, 1 pair of red slacks, 1 red cotton dress shirt, 1 white sport coat, 1 white tie, 1 pair of red gloves, 1 pair of white shoes, 1 white piece of facial covering, 1 pair of sunglasses, a set of red and white dice, a deck of cheap playing cards.
Blackgate Prison File: Prisoner 7137137 “Chancer” is another story of rags to riches. His real name is unknown, though he claims the alias of Montgomery Sharp as his favorite of many false identities. He began his criminal career in Gotham city working under Drury Walker Aka Killer Moth and The Misfits. During this time he commuted acts of arson, theft, armed robbery, assault, breaking and entering, and murder in the first, second and third degree. He eventually left the group, though statements from Walker himself claimed Chancer was let go for crossing lines. After his time he began a career as a professional gambler, going as far to best men like Oswald Cobblepot. He was a sensation to criminals and common patrons. Rumors began to spread that the games were rigged, he proved himself worthy when he won against professional gambler Victor Zsasz in the nude. Chancer’s stardom continued to rise, but his past was littered with bodies. Dean Hunter, a photographer from Texas was one of Chancer’s Victims from his days with the Misfits. Chancer murdered his family and burned his house down. He returned during Chancer’s rise with a vengeance, stole an experimental military suit and pursued Chancer under the guise of an unnamed vigilante. The GCPD pursued Hunter, but he allied himself with The Batman and brought Chancer to Justice. Chancer knows nothing about Hunter, but he has described his captor as a nimrod. We know little of his past, we however found a pair of dice and a deck of cheap playing cards. Some guards question if he did cheat or not, although they’re empty wallets seemed to answer that question. The dice are thought to be a memento, we however have no idea what they remind him of. The prisoner has not attempted to escape, although he is to be kept under constant watch. He claims to have the power of “luck”, while we’ve yet to prove this claim, he’s been able to avoid confrontation with most prisoners. When he however comes into contact he is universally unscathed. More information will follow if further progression is made.
== Markovia- Five Months Ago==
Slade Wilson. If anyone asked who was the best killer in the business, chances are, his name would be the first to come up every time. Trained in the US army, he was the only one in his squad to volunteer for the experiments that would grant him enhanced strength, intellect and a healing factor. When Strange recruited him in Markovia, toppling a monarchy of some kind, he was quick to suss out his true agenda (or one of them at least). The only member to know the truth about Arkham City, Strange was adamant he be put in charge, the only one he was sure he could trust. So long as the money didn't run out, which was never going to be an issue with the Court of Owls.
====Today====
*The fire basks them in an orange glow.*
Talia- Tea?
Miranda- Yes.
*She pours a stream of Chinese tea from the teapot, and they drink*
Talia- Your father was once a powerful man, and a friend of the League. He must be proud of you.
* "He is." she replies, not taking her eyes off the tea, sipping it slowly in case it's poisoned. Talia watches her curiously, it was ten years ago when they first drank tea together, and she had been just as suspicious then*
Talia- Good. I'm glad.
Miranda- Still with *your* dad, I presume?
*Talia stokes the flames with a wooden stick*
Talia I work with him, yes. But, I am here now, not as your enemy, but as an old friend, and as a sister, warning you. Turn back.
*Miranda rises*
Miranda- Yeah, no, I don't think so. Thanks for the tea. And, uh, knocking out Chancer for a bit.
Talia- Please. There is no safe space for your family. Ra's Al Ghul is a man of great resources, you know this. If The Demon's Head has decided that your family must be punished, that your husband must pay, you must understand that there is no place on earth where they can go where they can't reach them. But it is not too late for you. My father is still fond of you, if you would only-
Miranda- I'm not going back Talia. You should be the one joining *me.* Help us stop him, before he destroys Gotham, or whatever it is he's planning.
...
Talia- My father has sired hundreds of children, many of whom have perished in the name of his cause. In spite of his fondness for myself and for you, he will not hesitate to sacrifice either of us, if we were to stand in his way. He may be a man of honour, but even he has his limits. And he is tired of betrayal. Unfortunately for you, neither Hugo Strange nor The Court of Owls follow those same principles. Do you truly believe your husband has any hope in completing the Trials?
*Miranda had no intention of killing her. But in that moment, she was contemplating slapping her across the face*
Talia- I mean no disrespect, but he is not you, he is not my beloved, nor is he my father. You know that toys or not, he is but one man who's "training" has been conducted solely by arsonists and drug addicts in asylums and prisons, and when he challenges him, my father will draw his sword through his chest, and end him.
==San Francisco- Four Months Ago==
Alcatraz Island has changed a lot in the last year. The present home of the Suicide Squad, it has been completely renovated to accommodate the task force, and the scores of potential members and prisoners. One such inmate caught the attention of Senator Wade Eilling four years ago, when he fought the entire Justice League to a standstill. His real name may be purged from any computer database in the world, but his alias is well known by every government agency from Washington to Louisiana. Prometheus. He would become the second recruit of Task Force XI, much to the protests of Amanda Waller, who's warnings went unheeded. He didn't need to be a team player, Eilling thought, he didn't need to like the feds. He just needed to wear that helmet, and wear it well.
==========
*Those were Black Mask's men they'd past. Preparing for a siege of some kind. Armour, guns, makeshift tanks. Selina growled. Roman Sionis was far from a friend of hers, and she'd very much like to keep out of his territory*
Selina- Just where are we going?
Drury- The old GCPD precinct. About a hundred yards that way
Selina- The one you burnt down?
Drury- The one Gar- Yeah, that was us. We can set up a camp there, meet up with Miranda, and contact Chuck, Chuck Brown. He'll know what's going on.
Norbert- If he's alive.
Drury- Don't think like that Norbert.
*And yet, amidst the ruins and gunfire, it was hard for either of them not to rule it out. If only they knew all the Misfits had been through, and all which was still to come.*
==Brazil- Three Months Ago==
The Copperhead Gang was born out of poverty, living in the slums of Rio, quickly taking over the favellas and establishing a vicious syndicate of drugs, murder, and occasionally cannibalism. Only two ever left for the States, the most talented out of all of them. One, Larissa Diaz, specialised in poisons, and acrobatics, currently resides in Central City, as one of the city's biggest crime bosses. The other, a John Doe, a body contortionist, was deported to a Brazilian jail after Edward Nygma sent out an anonymous tip when a previous team-up saw him throttled one too many times. This Copperhead's skills are just as great as his unpredictability, but there was no doubt in Strange's mind he'd come in handy.
========
She brought him to an old warehouse, filled with C-Listers. A few glared at him. The Iceberg Shooting, and the ensuing hunt had hurt them badly. They didn't quite like Needham. He didn't blame them. But of course, they liked Penguin even less. Rigger offers a handshake, and Needham takes it, addressing the assembly.
Needham- None of you shoulda come here. You don't know what Penguin's capable of.
Rigger- We knew what we signed on for. Didn't we lads? We're getting you out of here, and we're doing it tonight.
*A pair of gloved hands clap, and from behind Zeiss emerges*
"Actually, I don't think you do. Penguin isn't the one you have to worry about. It's me"
Rigger- And who the hell are you, Mohawk Man?
*Dragonfly spits on the ground*
Meghan- Zeiss. His name is Zeiss.
He smirked. "My reputation precedes me. Let's make this interesting." He slicks back his hair, and he tosses his guns to the side, and empties his pocket. "Now we've leveled the playing level... Let's begin"
Ten was first. He ran at Zeiss with everything he had, but was thrown to the ground almost instantaneously. Rigger was next, firing blasts of Napalm from his gun, none landing their mark. He was grabbed from behind and pushed into the dirt. To add insult to injury, Zeiss jumped on his leg, snapping it in two. A perfect compound fracture. Dragonfly flew in furiously, trading blows, but he sweeped her off her feet, knocking off balance, leaving her vunerable enough for him to take her out next. Then came the Spiders. Eric Needham was done letting people get hurt because of him- he and Violet rushed Zeiss, and for a while it looked like they might just beat him. Then he pinned Needham's arm behind his back, and dislocated it. Then he did it again with the other arm. Distracted, and rushing to Needham's aid, Silken Spider was the last to fall.
Zeiss- What a disappointment. Oh we-
A squirt of ketchup covers his face. And he snarls. "Almost forgot about you." Mitchel Mayo, bottle in hand stands defia- he stands. "I... I should've used the peanut oil." Zeiss nods mockingly. "Well, it'd be a shame to break up the set."
==Manchester- Two Months Ago==
And lastly, the wildcard. Ever since he was a boy Abner Krill had an obsession with the round, the dotted and the circular. Some blamed it on autism, others claimed it was a form of OCD. But, whatever the case, as he drank from a perfectly round coconut, atop a bar stool in the middle of his living room, one thing was certain- it was one hell of a quirk, and manifested itself in nearly aspect of his life. His latest in a long line of girlfriends was a Geordie called Dot.
With a gimmick like his, many wrote him off as a C-Lister. He let them believe that, kept the attention away from him. If they took a second to think about exactly how much power he has, he'd never get a moment's peace from the idiots wanting to have a go with his tech. He turns to his visitors, a bald man with a pair of dark glasses and a beard that couldn't possibly be real and his equally bald colleague with a spruce moustache, and reached into his pocket.
"Skittle?"
"No," Strange replies. Abner shrugs, and pours the whole packet into his mouth, washing it down with some more coconut milk straight from the source
"Sorry about that, was a bit peckish. So what's this job anyhow?"
==========
Len- Chuck.
Chuck- Len.
Len- You look like shit.
*"You don't. Soda please" he replies faintly. Len nods, and fills the glass with something that's definitely not cola.*
Chuck- You shouldn't be here. Bartending. Not here.
Len- Neither should you. Needham escapes, you were the last one to see him... If I can connect the dots, then so can-
Chuck- I can't explain it, not now, not-
"Well, you better explain it. Fast."
Sionis- Where's my Spider, Charlie?
==Arkham City- Four Days Ago==
"I want in."
Strange turned to the bearded, shaggy haired imbecile behind the glass. He'd stop scratching the walls. That was some progress, though they'd still spot him pacing about on all fours every now and again. They'd caught him nine months prior, when he'd broken into Julian Day's cell with a kitchen knife, and he had been hissing at the guards ever since. Strange, the file said he had brown eyes, but it was green ones staring at him now.
Strange- Absolutely not.
"I'm a wild animal Doc. Need to feel the wind on my face, need to kiss a girl or two. Need a cell that's not two meters big!"
Strange- And how can you assure me you won't simply kill me or Mr Day?
"Can't. But you're a shrink. Admit it, you're curious"
Strange- Very well Thomas. I will see what I can do.
He kicked his lips. Then spat out a hairball.
"What?"
JD: "....nothin' like being at a party full of folks you don't know."
"s'why I hate them."
JD: "The people? Everyone here seems nice."
"Nah, parties. Not big on people either, though."
JD: "Why throw one this big, then?"
"Because I try to be a good friend."
JD: "How long have you known my boy?"
"Not sure. That should really say everything though, shouldn't it?"
JD: "I guess. You know these people, though? I mean obviously their Tim's friends--"
"Nope. Family."
JD: "...what?"
"Well, most of 'em. Nearly everyone here's lived with Wayne at one point. The fruity-lookin' guy in the jacket there? That's actually the acrobat you had Tim take a pic with. Don't think he likes me."
JD: "A Flying Grayson? Explains what happened to their boy...."
"Uhh-huh. That skinny Asain girl Tim's talking to?....eh, dunno her story. Tim's called her "Sis" a couple times before. Don't think she likes me, either."
JD: "Seriously?"
"Yep. There are some friends here, though. The redhead Grayson's tryin' to feel up there? That's the GCPD Commissioner's daughter. I know she doesn't like me. I can tell."
JD: "Guess you make friends in high places when you have an income of a small country's GDP...."
"Heh, no shit. No idea who the suit with the anime hair is. Think he's a detective or something. I doubt he'll like me."
JD: "Hopefully they'll like me better, huh? Hehehehe...."
"Heh."
JD: "Well, thanks for being there. For my boy. Probably needed a friend after what went down at the Dragon's Triangle."
"No prob, man. Y'know, Tim told me the whole story. Sorry about your wife. That had to hurt...."
JD: "Gotta move on, y'know?..."
"I hear ya. Cultists, though? That had to be pretty scary."
JD: "Still have nightmares sometimes. Red-hooded creeps with spears."
"Wait, red hoods, and spears? Robes, too?"
JD: "Yeah. Should've seen the two bigshots dragging them around. Killed the old guy, looked like an ancient priest or something....."
"Did these guys have a name?"
JD: "Yeah. Think is was "Cobra" or something."
"......oh god."
JD: "What?"
"Tell me, the other bigshot. Was he like 6-foot, receding hairline, scar on the left eye, and oh yeah, a total piece of shit?"
JD: "Y-yes! I'll never forget his face! He was the bastard that killed Janet!"
"....are. You. Shitting me?"
JD: "No, really? Why, what do you know?"
" ...pppftffttf....ha..."
JD: "No really, you know anything?"
"...hahahahaha! Hahahahahaha!!!"
JD: "W-what's so funny? Hey!"
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!! AAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"
PLEASE COMMENT IF YOU FAVORITE.
A police officer escorted Slade Wilson to a telephone in GCPD office. "One call Wilson make it quick." The officer snapped as he grabbed his coffee off his desk.
Wilson dialed a number and picked up the phone. "Hello. It's Slade. Do you remember our agreement, Mr. Lawton. Yes, that agreement. Now don't forget to send Mr. Drake his 'package'. Thank you." Slade hung up the phone and grinned.
Lego 70912
The Batman Movie
Arkham Asylum
My review : www.hellobricks.com/2017/01/review-lego-70912-lego-batman...
Chuck- Hey, where's Crane?
Two-Face- Busy.
*The meeting took place at Elliot Heights, per Chuck's suggestion. The attendees- three of the four heads of Penguin's new Pact, and each of their lieutenants, arrived later then Brown expected, with none of them the wiser regarding the whereabouts of Deacon Blackfire. The last to arrive, Black Mask and his allies knocked on the door with an air of impatience*
Sionis- The elevator's busted.
Chuck- We know.
*Sionis grumbles, but sits down, waiting for Chuck to start talking*
Freeze- So. Talk. You said you had information.
Chuck- Yes, um, first of all I'm glad you all came. But before we start, do we know where Blackfire-
Two-Face- Get on with it.
Chuck- Right. We've identified the sniper. It was Black Spider.
*The assembly is silent. Then Roman groans*
Sionis- Oh, of course it is... What's the bastard even doing in Arkham?
Two-Face- It's not rocket science Sionis. He's probably a prisoner like the rest of us.
Sionis- No, I don't buy it. Didn't he get a pardon for that Society crap?
*Li, who has been staring at the uncharacteristically quiet Penguin, leans over and mutters to Sionis, gesturing at Firebug*
Li- Yes sir, he did. But, so did Mr Rigger. Clearly, the government cares little about their promises.
Sionis- Yeah. Suppose I shouldn't be surprised...
Freeze- Answer this, Kite-Man isn't it?
Chuck- Just call me Chuck...
Freeze- How on earth did you find this information?
Chuck- Ah, well this is Mitch.
*At this, Mayo, still wearing the bloodied vest from last night, and far from looking his best, stands in front of this audience of hardened killers and gangsters, and they can barely contain their laughter*
Sionis- Is this a joke?
*It didn't take long. Despite their initial... "apprehension," they all listened to Mayo's story in full. When he was done, they set out in search of Needham. Dent went to the old GCPD building, in search of Needham's arrest reports, anything that would give them any insight to his whereabouts. Sionis returned to his factory, alerting his men of the news. Cobblepot sent his assistant, Lark, away, as he talked with Zebra Man as they made their way back to the Iceberg Lounge*
Zebra- So. What are you going to do? Kill them?
*Cobblepot sighed, handing him his top hat, Zebra peers inside, and takes out a note taped inside*
Penguin- Nothing so brash. You've spent far too much time with Kobra... They'll start hunting soon enough, and they'll want you with them, for the extra manpower of course. When they find him, however long that takes, you will do whatever you can to stop him talking.
That note, is all I have on him, his family, friends, past relationships and pain. Use it, and eliminate him. You'll be the hero.
Zebra- All that talk of loyalty.
Penguin- I meant it all. Do you understand how hard I've worked to keep this hellhole together? If the Monarch had to die, so be it. If Needham must join him, very well. You of all people should understand that...
=====
*Philip lost his hands, his sight, to this man. Mr Camera. His time in Blackgate, away from photos had driven the man mad, or maybe it was Meister's voice in his ear. No matter the reason, Harry Simms severed Ten's hand over a single photograph. Now Reardon relied on mechanical limbs to hold the very gun in his hand he was pointing at his head. The same gun Blackfire offered him. "Was it even Simms?" he wondered. Without his sight, he couldn't know for sure that it *wasn't* some other captive of Blackfire, an innocent man who's life now rested in his hands. All he knew was that there was something dark creeping around inside his body, a voice telling him that the vengeance he craved was finally here. All he had to do, was pull the trigger. The worst part? He didn't know if it was Blackfire's toxins, or his own anger*
Blackfire- Christ died for *our* sins, but what of theirs? Those who commit atrocities far worse than God can forgive? That is our duty my children! Our time is now. We will slay first these common mongrels, then we will make our way to the top. Divine justice comes to all!
Simms- I didn't do anything!
Blackfire- Enough! Harold Simms, you threaten and extort innocents, you collect incriminating evidence that you lust over like a man possessed. No more!
*They cheered. They all cheered for Blackfire. Yet, while Philip was coerced by drugs, these people needed only the spoken word to jeer at Simms*
Ten- Then... it's true, you've been using the tunnels to hunt people down. Kill them.
...
Blackfire- My boy, I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about.
=======
*Cobblepot returned to the Iceberg Lounge three hours ago, just thinking in his office. Eventually, he left his sanctuary and sat down at the bar. With a flick of his wrist, the two people previously sitting there, got up and left*
Penguin- Long day Leonard?
Len- It is what it is. Those two tried to trade their socks for some beer. Socks I tell you.
Penguin- Ah, well, it can't be helped.
Len- Well what are they meant to tip? Their knickers?
*Penguin laughed in a manner not dissimilar to his namesake, producing a noise that sounded something like a "Waugh." Behind them, Magpie tapped on the microphone, on top of the stage*
Magpie- I'd like to sing a song. Perhaps you know it.
*Len muttered something under his breath that unfortunately, David Wist, Magpie's husband, happened to hear*
Len- Urgh, Moon River. It's always Moon River.
Wist- Hey, she sings it very well!
Penguin- Oh it's lovely, David, absolutely lovely, but you have to understand it gets repetitive.
Wist- Of course Mr Cobblepot, I didn't mean, I-
Len- I'm just asking, why's it always Moon River...
*Roman takes another seat up at the bar beside Oswald*
Penguin- Roman! My friend!
Sionis- If, when we get out, and I hear that song, that damn song, on the radio... Someone's dying. I hate it.
Wist- Look, the moon is really shiny. She likes it
*And with that, Wist brushes past Li, offering a comforting smile to Mags as he heads off towards the stage*
Sionis- You. I'll have a Vodka Martini, Li here will have a, rum and coke was it?
Li- Just the Cola please. I don't drink.
Sionis- Throw in the rum anyway. I might drink it. We've got him.
Oswald- You can't have found him already surely?
Len- What's this?
*Sionis glances at Len and back at Oswald*
Sionis- Is he good?
Oswald- Certainly.
Sionis- The guy that shot this place up, your pal identified him as Black Spider.
Len- Shit...
Sionis- Exactly. Dent went to get some files from the GCPD database, the computers there are still connected to the server. Don't know what he found, but he said best bet, he's at the cemetery. Got Freeze, Zsasz and your guy down there already.
Oswald- Then, it's just a matter of waiting.
====
*The Gotham Cemetery is sprawling. One of the biggest controversies behind Arkham, was separating loved ones from those buried there. Of course, with Strange's connections, it didn't take the government long to overrule the City Council. With all of Gotham's tragedies- the breakouts, the earthquake, the crises, the Signal Man incident and the City of Fear, there's no bigger graveyard in the entire state. It's a labyrinth of headstones and crypts. It takes a lot of manpower to cover the area. The glow from Freeze's goggles, are about the only thing lighting up the area*
Freeze- Spread out. Firebug, take the east. Zsasz, cover the west. I will search the South Quadrant, leaving you, Zebra Man, with-
Zebra- The North. Da.
*Rigger lit a match so he could see. Doing so caused a flock of birds to burst out from the nearest crypt. He cursed himself as he sucked the blood from his scratch marks. Owls. Zsasz wandered around the headstones, and grinned. So many bodies... So many put there because of him. And Freeze saw the graves of those husbands and wives buried together, and his blood boiled. He would find his Nora. It was Zsasz that found him first, a bouquet in his hand. He fired a shot, startling Needham*
Zsasz- I prefer the knife Mr Needham. More personal... Guns end it quickly, and, I don't want to end this quickly after all... you know the blade too, don't you?
*He fired again, but this time Needham was quick, and he disappeared into the trees*
Zsasz- Two-Face was right. He's here.
*Freeze was the next to see him, a blast of ice firing from his gun*
Freeze- I made a promise to my wife Needham. I don't break my promises, not to her.
*The ice stream follows Spider all the way into Rigger's quarter*
Rigger- You don't have to do this Spider. You can come quietly.
Needham- I go and I'm as good as dead.
*He shoots at him, knocking Rigger off balance, and then- Blam! The shot sends him down the hill. Landing with a thud, Zebra Man follows him*
Needham- I know your kind... I know you won't stop but *Urgh* My girlfriend and my son were buried in two unmarked graves here. Her family didn't want me visiting them, her brother especially, blamed me for what happened. They overdosed you see... But I knew the truth. It was the drug business that got them killed, and I wasn't gonna rest until every last one of them was gone. When I was sent to kill Sionis... Couldn't wait. *Cough* I didn't want Penguin's money, you hear me? What's the use in this place? Nah. I just wanted to know where my family was buried. I just wanted to lay some flowers on my kid's grave.
*Pinned against a gravestone, Needham coughs up blood, placing a hand over his wound. He ought to be dead. He can't move. *
Needham- So... Go ahead. Do it. But you take these, and you put them there.
Zebra- Your family were junkies. Weak. They deserve nothing. Neither do you.
*And yet, just behind him, Zebra hears the quiet chink of a piece of metal, and as he turns back-
Blam. Blam. Two bullets to the head bring Zebra Man's life to an end. A hand grabs Needham and carries him up to the waiting group- Freeze, Zsasz and Rigger*
====Cobblepot Subway Station====
"Get away from him."
Flannegan smirks, admiring her makeshift costume. "Hello gorgeous, A for effort, F for execution. Oh boys!" He lets out a whistle, and on cue, rats come pouring through the walls towards her. Kate fires a warning shot, but, realising it's a waste of ammo, sets her sights back on Flannegan, shooting him squarely in the chest. The connection severed, the rats squeek away, back into the sewers where they came from. Flannegan mumbles "Come back, come-" before trailing off into unconsciousness.
Kate rushes to Batman's side, trying to silence his crying, then plunges a needle of adrenaline into his arm, jolting him awake. "Sorry."
Bruce sits up, back to business immediately. He doesn't know who this woman is, but, he also doesn't have the time for introductions. "Where are they-?"
"The guy in the rags? Must've gone before I got here"
"The children, he's got-"
"I know, I know. Just hold still," she says, applying antiseptic cream to his bite marks.
Bruce mutters in protest, before finally asking "Who are you?"
"I don't know yet, trial and error I suppose. But I'm here to help," she replies
"If you really want to help, you can start by ditching that," he responds, now on his feet.
Confused, Kate looks at her holster.
"I don't like guns." he explains, as he handcuffs Flannegan to a pipe.
"That gun just saved your life."
"And it could've just as easily taken his. You're an soldier, aren't you?"
"Was. Sargent Kate Ka-"
"No. I don't need your identity, that's how we end up with-"
"End up with what?" she asks.
Could it be? "Kate *Kane*?"
"Yes, why?"
Bruce smiles weakly to himself. Of course it'd be her. "Nothing," he responds, as he examines the Scarecrow's laboratory... The children, who took the children? He looks at the walls, across them are various formulas, essays and theories all linked to fear. On the table, there lies a shipping manifest Paris, it's cargo? A hundred wild mushrooms. Strange.
He opens a drawer, inside a letter. The recipient's name has been marked out, but it's been written by...
"Hellfern."
"Who's Hellfern?" Kate inquires.
"A Nazi. Figures... A master chemist, run into him before. Whoever this... Scarecrow is, he's learned from the very best..." He moves the letter away, and jolts back. "No."
It's a blueprint of Gotham General's ventilation systems... The kidnappings were only a teaser of what's to come. He pulls a camera from his belt, and hands it to Kate. "Send these to the GCPD. That madman's going to hit the maternity ward. Hundreds of newborns!"
"Wait, where the hell are you going?"
"To see if I can't get there first."
Batmobile's parked outside, must be how she found me. Clumsy... I jump in, and go over the files. "Master Bruce! Thank goodness you're alright. I've been trying to reach you all night!"
"I'm fine, Alfred. Had a run in with our kidnappers. I'm fine, but the ringleader escaped. Goes by Scarecrow. Don't worry, I know where he's going..."
"That's all well and good sir, but your vitals, they're still far too high... Can't you let the police handle this? We wouldn't want you to faaaaaaaail aaaaaaaagain wooooullllld weeeee?"
I pause. "Alfred, what did you say?"
"I said, surely the police can take care of this?"
I'm still not at my best, still hearing things...
"No, this maniac's got some kind of hallucinogen. I've seen it, Alfred, it's able to bring anyone's darkest fears and phobias to life. Anyone's."
I turn the corner.
"Now a scarecrow... He chose a scarecrow for a reason. Alfred, bring me up a list of families living in the rural areas of Gotham, cross referenced with students of Karl Hellfern... Any psychologists who specialise in fear."
Alfred sighs. He knows something's wrong. "One moment, sir. Here we are, one Doctor Crane, Jonathan Crane. Rather troubled upbringing, orphaned at birth, raised by his aunt. She died when he was a teenager- a rather grisly end at that..."
"Go on."
"She was pecked to death, by hundreds of... Crows. They never linked it to him, but later evidence seemed to suggest she beat him on a regular basis... A neighbor of theirs claimed she locked him in their family's aviary, on a nightly basis. She said she could hear the screams almost a mile away."
"So what happened next?"
"Crane left for college a day later, and, upon graduating, took up a role as a professor in psychology at Gotham University up until... One year ago. Reason for dismissal... ah. "Unorthodox and dangerous teaching methods."
"So he was testing his toxins on his own students..."
====Gotham General====
"Who are you, you can't be here!" an orderly yells, as the Scarecrow enters the maternity ward, smiling his Glasgow smile, and stretches out a bony finger. "Earl, stop him-"
"Hush little baby, don't say a word," he cackles, spraying the doctor, Earl with gas. "Momma's going to buy you a mockingbird..."
"Spiders! Spiders everywhere!" he screams, rolling on the ground, trying desperately to scratch them off.
"Arachnophobia. How... Boring," Crane says, disappointed, as he approaches the now cowering orderly. "How about you, my dear," he asks, a vial of toxins in his hand.
"Please," she's begging. "Please don't."
"Oh don't worry, there's nothing to fe-"
A batarang knocks the vial out of Crane's grip, and it falls to the floor.
"Get away from her."
Scarecrow laughs. "You're too late, Batman. My work is done. All that separates the newborns from their nightmares is this detonator."
Alfred's right... The GCPD *can* deal with the gas, but leaves me with Scarecrow. Have to keep stalling. "Don't."
"You know, we never finished our talk. So, tell me, what nightmares keep the Batman awake?"
The gas... I'm still... Keep focused on him, keep focused on-
-----------------
I'm here. Crime Alley. Dirty, damp, dark... My parents' blood runs along the ground, in the centre, is him. The gunman... Their killer.
No. No, it's not. I'm not in the alleyway, I'm in Gotham General.
He has a gun. A revolver. Mother is dead, Father is dead.
No. It's not him, it's the Scarecrow. They're gone, he's gone, I have to move past it. I need to move past it.
"You've failed us, Bruce," my father calls. "You killed us..."
It's just the toxin... Not in the alley, I'm in the hospital... Remember Bruce, it happened, they're gone, now fight it! Remember what you promised them, that's how you honour them, not by surrendering to these... Ghosts.
Remember. Remember. "By the spirits of my parents-"
"Bruce, this is your father!" the ghost screams.
"I will avenge their deaths-"
"Bruce, stop it now! You're too late," Mother echoes.
"by spending the rest of my life-"
"Stop it, I command you, I-"
"warring on all criminals."
-----------
The hospital. I'm in the hospital.
"Now... tell me, Batman, what did you see?" Scarecrow asks again.
So I tell him. "I see... A boy."
"A child-?" he inquires.
"An orphan. His parents, dead."
"Of course... Yes, of course it'd be your childhood... What do you see now? Failure, is that it? The fear of failing, of disappointing them?"
"Yes, I... I see bats, and alleyways, and I see birds."
For a second, Scarecrow falters. "Birds?!"
"An aviary. Filled with them, all of them angry, and hungry, pecking and knawing at this poor little boy... He calls for help, but no one listens... What do you suppose that means, Doctor?"
He's on edge... Push him too hard and he might press the detonator.
"How do you... How could you possibly-?"
"Because I'll tell you what I think-"
"Enough!" he cries.
"I see a sad, broken man, a man who shuts himself off from everyone else, a man burries himself in his work, all to find that final, pressing answer, the question that's followed him all his life... What drove his aunt to beat him?"
"I said enough-!" he bellows. "How... How are you doing this? How are you resisting my toxins!" His finger's on the detonator.
"I'm not."
His lip's trembling. "Impossible. Impossible!" With a click, he presses the detonator and... Nothing. Gordon... Gordon's done it. Realisation dawns on Crane's face, he runs at me, and then, a crunch. He's stepped on the vial, breaking it.
"No," he whispers, as he falls to his knees. Whatever he's seeing... It's too good for him.
"Now," I ask, pulling him up. "Where are the children?"
"T-the mushrooms... I needed the mushrooms for my research..." he stutters.
"The children, Crane, where are they?"
"S-so, s-so I gave him the children..."
"I need a name!"
"The Monk! The m-mad m-monk," he shrieks, as he returns to his nightmares.