The sun was setting now, casting crimson and shadows all over Wayne Manor. Usually there was an elderly, though fit butler to tend to the place, but all was silent and unmoving. Each hall and room had an empty feel to it now, despite the fact that each of them was completely furnished. There was nobody here to occupy them, not even the master bedroom.
Deep beneath the foundation of the large, secluded house stood a lone figure shrouded in darkness. Few people had ever seen this place, the cavernous dwelling of a mighty protector, and he knew that next to nobody outside of himself would ever see this place again. The house above him had been forever silenced by five acts of cruelty. As always, Batman found solace in standing in front of one of the black pits of the cave, but this time it was different - his shoulders were heavy with the burden of defeat and his eyes were devoid of the iron determination that once fueled him.
The Joker had found out his secret after torturing it out of Tim, but he hadn't stopped there. Instead, he learned every aspect of his secret and, being the maniacal individual he was, went after everyone he held dear. And so, here he stood, contemplating what he should do next. He turned away from the pit, vaguely aware of an alarm going off on his computer. Bruce pulled his mask over his face, numbly approaching the huge screen under the guise of Batman.
He typed a few commands ointo the keyboard, and a news report appeared in front of him, hosted by that redheaded journalist Summer something - her name escaped him at the moment. What interested him was the story she was reporting on. A huge, almost grotesquely so, man clad in leather was destroying everything he could get his massive hands on, while Summer watched from a circling helicopter out of harm's way. The mangled, bloody bodies of the police were littered through the streets, some having been thrown through windows, others sprawled across broken cars.
The masked man looked up, directly into the camera with blazing, crimson eyes and bellowed in a voice that could be heard even over the sound of the choppers' blades:
"BATMAN! This will not end until you personally do it yourself!" In one massive arm was, undoubtedly choking to death judging from the bulging eyes and the panicked scrambling, a uniformed SWAT officer, sans helmet.
"Bane." With that single word, he walked over to the Batmobile and hopped in. Joker would have to wait for now. The engine roared to life after receiving the code to do so and the dark car left the cave with increasing speed.