Chapter 1
GCPD, six months after
'Criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot. The only way to beat them was to give them something to be scared of.'
These words had stuck with James Gordon for years. All through his years of police work, yet it was not his training that had imprinted these beliefs upon him. Despite this he never questioned its logic, especially during his time as Commissioner, or what was left of it.
Gordon jumped as his office phone rang, he had been daydreaming again and not for the first time. Since that night six months ago these instances had become more frequent, as if he was waiting for something or someone to snap him out of it. He kept waiting to see that shadow at his window, which usually grabbed his increasingly wavering attention.
"Gordon," he answered, with a surprising amount of annoyance.
"Commissioner?" Aaron Cash replied. "Jim is everything alright?"
"Sorry Aaron, had another moment I'm afraid."
"Commissioner, Jack Ryder is here for your interview?"
'Oh crap!' Gordon thought. He had been dreading this moment, ever since he was ordered to appear in a profile piece concerning his role in the events three years ago.
"Send him in Aaron," he growled back.
No sooner had the receiver been slammed down, Ryder strode into Gordon's office. He wore the same suit as his last meeting with the commissioner, blue pin striped with a Gotham Herald tie wrapped around a stained white shirt. His classes propped on the end of his nose, which he pushed back to his eyes, something he did every time he walked into a room. An action he claimed made people pay attention when he entered a room. A 20 year-old cassette recorder hung round his neck, now known as one of Gotham's most wanted items.
"Thank you for meeting with me Commissioner," Ryder smirked as he sat down the other side of Gordon's desk.
"Let's get one thing straight Ryder, I'm only doing this because I'm under orders from the Mayor!"
"Come on Jim…"
"Since when did I say you could call me Jim, Ryder?!"
"Come on Commissioner, you and me we're war buddies now. I was there that night too, remember? I helped in the capture of Deacon Blackfire did I not?"
"Let's get on with this," Gordon mumbled.
Ryder set his tape recorder down on the desk right next to Gordon's name plague, not that you could read any of it, as it not been polished for months. A notepad and pen followed out of Ryder's briefcase, clicking the pen Ryder steadied himself ready to begin.
Click!
"So Commissioner…it has been six months since the Scarecrow held Gotham in terror, what can you remember of that night?"
Only one thing had entered Gordon's head, the sight of his daughter Barbara in the grasp of that madman. Jonathan Crane, also known as the Scarecrow, had kidnapped her as part his elaborate plot to control Gordon and bring an end of Gotham's legacy.
"I remember it being the worst night of my life, and that is saying something," Gordon's voiced nearly cracking, those images had haunted him ever since.
Ryder had not noticed the Commissioners change of tone, he merely scribbled into his notepad. Gordon realised that he had written more than the words he had spoken, but at this point he didn't care, he just wanted this out of the way.
"Since those terrible events Commissioner, crime rates have increased by over 50%. Why do you think that is?"
Now Gordon was angry, he now knew Ryder's real intentions, this was no profile piece.
"You listen to me Ryder!" Gordon shouted, jumping up from his chair and slamming his fists into the desk. The tape recorder jumped off the desk and clattered to the floor in front of Ryder, who sat there motionless, he had seen worse in his time.
"Six months ago, Gotham City lost one of its favourite sons to a deluded madman who wished to see normal people quivering in fear of who had sworn to protect them.
One man that dedicated his life to protect this city and its people right up to his dying breath. And I will not let you drag his name through the mud!"
Gordon turned away in disgust and stared out his office window. His face glowed red as the lights of the theatre across the street glowed brightly through the rain.
It never stops raining in Gotham City, it rained that night, it rained the night of the Arkham City raid and it rained on that fretful day on Arkham Island. The night were it really all began.
He had survived all that and more, but it was clear it was taking its toll. The city at its knees as terror filled the streets, a desolate wasteland, just to prove a point! And Barbara out there in the thick of it. In the middle of that danger and insanity. He was strangely proud of his little girl, far flung from the nerdy teenager studying for her doctorate all those years.
"You can quote me Ryder. That night Gotham City lost its identity. This city lost its saviour. It lost a hero.
Now get out!"
Ryder jumped, he had never seen the Commissioner so agitated. He thought it best to beat a hasty retreat, there was nothing else he was going get out of Gordon now.
"Commissioner do you really believe that Batman was a hero?" he asked tentatively.
Gordon continued to stare out the window, this time to the sky his eyes seeming to be scanning, becoming quicker and quicker as they searched the darkness. Ryder stared back, but it seemed his question had fallen upon deaf ears. He turned the door knob and the door creaked open, as he walked out the inscription of Commissioner glared across his glasses. The door closed behind him, casting a shadow of the word along the floor of the now silent office.
"No not Batman…Bruce Wayne."
