Part One: An Uneasy Sunset
Its afternoon over at the Archie Goodwin International Airport as Michael Simms, a former New Scotland Yard detective who's been transferred and his family arrive at the terminal to be greeted by Harvey Bullock, who's holding a sign with Michael's name on it.
"Sorry Jim couldn't be here, but I'm here in his place. I'm Harvey Bullock," he said.
They then shook hands. "Yeah well, it's a pleasure to meet you. Eh Helen, why don't take the kids to our new home," Michael said.
"But daddy, you said you were going to help us unpack," his seven year old daughter said.
"I know pumpkin, but duty calls because daddy says so. Don't worry, I'll see you two later," he said. They both then went in their separate directions. Meanwhile, in a warehouse in the industrial district, I entered the warehouse to find a huge jack-in-a-box standing in the middle of the room.
"Oracle, I found the bomb. The bomb squad wasn't kidding when they said that Joker's handy work is involved," I said.
"So what's the plan?" Oracle asked.
"Dispose of the bomb and find out what the Joker is really after," I said. It took some time to find the timer and I get to work of disposing the bomb. I discovered that the bomb was a ruse, but all for what.
"Batman, what's happened?" Oracle asked.
"The bomb was a ruse, meant to lure me out. While the Joker commits the real crime," I said.
The bomb disposal then enters the building. "Did it go off?" a member of the squad asked.
"No, it was a ruse, to distract us from the real crime," I said. I opened the box to search for any contents. I then found a fake fossilised tyrannosaurus rex with the Joker's graffiti over it. Over at the Gotham National History Museum, Joker, his henchmen and Harley Quinn burst into the museum, causing a panic.
"Okay, settle down," Joker said.
"QUIET!" Everyone in the room then stops panicking. "They're all yours, puddin'," Harley Quinn said.
"Thanks, Harley, now then, time to pick this place clean," he said.
Outside, the police arrived and have surrounded the building, Harvey and Michael arrived on time.
"Harvey, I was wondering where you were," Commissioner Gordon said.
"Ah, went to the station to find you weren't there. Suddenly, dispatch said the Joker and his gang broke into the Gotham National History Museum. This is Michael Simms, by the way," Harvey said.
"I wish this could be under different circumstances. But right now, the Joker, Harley Quinn and the rest of the gang have broken into the museum. No doubt got everyone in there held hostage and probably stealing every known artefact in there. Is there any word from the bomb disposal squad?" Commissioner Gordon asked.
"Yes sir, they said the bomb was a diversion. Designed to lure Batman from the museum," a police officer said.
"He better turn up, or things could get out of hand," he said. Back inside, two of henchmen were exploring one of the exhibitions.
"Its nothing but rocks," one of the henchmen said.
"Joker said this stuff is worth millions on the black market," the other said. I stay up high and wait for one of them walk pass around the corner. I then used an inverted takedown on one of them, causing him to hang from a gargoyle.
"I know when you said that these exhibits are worth millions. How much are we talking about?" He turns around to find his friend has vanished. "Okay, where did you go?" He then finds him tied and hanging from the gargoyle. "Oh my god, I know you're here. Show yourself." He gets his cell phone out and rings the Joker up. "Boss, we got a problem here. He's here, the Batman," he said.
"Why doesn't he just take a day off? Find him, and make sure you bring him here. I don't want him to miss the grand finale," Joker said. The surviving henchman begins to the search the exhibition for me.
"I know you're in here. I'm not afraid of you," he said.
"You're sure about that," I said. He turns around slowly to find hanging from a gargoyle and he panics. In the main hall, the rest of the henchmen placed grenades into the hostage's hands and tapped them.
They heard the scream and panicked. "It's Marty again. Probably got scared while walking through the Egyptian exhibit," one of them chuckled.
"You think? Hmm, sounds like the Bat is heading this way. Let's give him a warm welcome," Joker said. The rest of the henchmen head to the exhibit, when they arrived, I kicked the door down and surprised.
They surprised by my arrival. "It's the Batman!" another shouted. They picked a fight with me, and defeat nearly all of them. One of them crawls back, grabs a gun and aims it at me.
"Yeah right, like that's going to work," I said. He tries to pull the trigger, but I punched him out cold. I then enter the main hall to find the hostages holding grenades tapped to their hands.
"How did you figure it out, Bats?" Joker asked.
"The bomb was diversion to lure me away from here. The fake fossilised tyrannosaurus rex skull indicated you were going to strike at the National History Museum," I said.
"Very clever, Bats. But not clever enough, I still got my trump card to play. If you even make a move." The Joker then shows me the remote detonator. "I'll detonate every single grenade the hostages are holding. You understand?" Joker said.
"This is the police, we got this building surrounded!" Commissioner Gordon yelled.
"Hmm, Commissioner Gordon, not bad timing as usual," Joker said. I then took advantage and was to surprise Joker by taking him down silently. Harley Quinn tries to punch me, but I counteract and handcuffed her to the railing. The police enter the building moments after I defeated the Joker and Harley Quinn.
"You okay?" Commissioner Gordon asked.
"I'm fine, there hostages that need attending. Be careful, Joker's men placed grenades in their hands and tapped them," I said.
"It's no surprise why Joker wanted to strike here. All these artefacts are worth millions," he said.
"So this is Joker," Michael said.
"This is Michael Simms, he's the news transfer from New Scotland Yard," Commissioner Gordon said.
"Jim did mention that a new transfer would arrive this week," I said.
"It wasn't convincing the family to move to Gotham. But they understand why in the end," Michael said.
"I read your profile before you arrived in this country. Jim is a good judge of character and I know you got potential," I said.
"Thanks," he said.
Joker then regains conscience. "So it's over then. I thought this junk would make me rich, but I was wrong. Even Scarecrow would love this museum, because of the mummy exhibit," he said.
I then walked over to him. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen Crane in eight months. Have you seen him lately?" I asked.
"I wish I knew, but I don't," he said. The officers then took him his henchmen and Harley Quinn away.
"This is worrying; no one has seen Dr. Jonathan Crane since he got paroled from Arkham Asylum eight months ago," Commissioner Gordon said.
"This is worrying because?" Michael asked.
"Dr. Jonathan Crane aka the Scarecrow was a former psychiatrist who got kicked out of the university for unorthodox teaching methods. Since then, he turned to a life of crime, using a variety of fear toxins to make people's fears come to reality," I said.
"That bad," he said.
"In any case, I alerted the FBI and Interpol to inform us of his whereabouts," Commissioner Gordon said.
"I'm heading to Arkham to get some answers," I said. I then left the museum, got into the Batmobile and drove up to Arkham Asylum. Outside on the asylum grounds, I parked the Batmobile, got out and walked up to the front door. An orderly opens the door to find me standing on the doorstep.
"Picking up or dropping off?" he asked.
"Neither, I'm here to see the psychiatrist who 'rehabilitated' Dr. Jonathan Crane," I said.
"Hold on, I'll get Dr. Holden for you," he said. Inside the asylum, I enter the asylum and was greeted by Dr. Holden.
"This is a surprise, I thought you were here to drop the Joker off," she said.
"The police should be here with them in a moment. I need to talk to you about Dr. Jonathan Crane," I said.
"We should discuss this in my office." Inside her office, the first thing I noticed was the clutter lying around. "You have to forgive the mess, sometimes the patients can get quite out of control," she said.
"You the one who 'rehabilitated' Dr. Jonathan Crane?" I asked.
"I am, he was a tricky patient to deal with. Given the fact that he himself is also a psychiatrist," she said.
"Have you heard from him lately?" I asked.
"No, I haven't. Not since he got paroled eight months ago. I got the DVD footage of his parole hearing," she said. She then gets the DVD out of her filing cabinet and gives it to me.
"I'll have a look at it and see if I can learn anything," I said.
"You better, who knows what Jonathan might do next," she said. In the Batcave, I sat at the Batcomputer and analysed the DVD footage of Crane's parole hearing. Alfred enters the cave and walks up to me.
"Watching movies again, sir?" he asked.
"Dr. Crane's parole hearing, Alfred. He hasn't been seen in eight months since he got out," I said.
"It looks like he got a confident look in his face," Alfred said.
"It'll have to wait, I got an opening ceremony to attend at the Gotham India Society's new headquarters," I said.
"I'm glad you finally remembered," he said. Later, at the Gotham India Society's new headquarters, I arrived at the building as Bruce Wayne and I cut the red ribbon to officially open the new building. Inside, I was greeted by Prof. Silas Burton, current chairman of the society.
"Bruce, it's been too long," he said.
"So I see you're the new chairman," I said.
"Well, my former position in Gotham University as Professor of Indian Studies was the reason why they elected me as chairman," he said.
"I'm happy for you," I said.
"If it hasn't been for your mother's contributions. The society might never survive," he said.
"She was a patron of the society and had a fascination with Indian culture," I said. Prof. Silas Burton then shows me around the new building and then takes into the garden.
"It wasn't easy designing the new garden," Prof. Silas Burton said.
"So I heard, so what's the name of the garden?" I asked.
"We recently decided to name it the Martha Wayne Memorial Garden in your mother's memory," he said.
"I like it, I guess she would be proud of it," I said. Commissioner Gordon and his paraplegic daughter Barbara then arrived in the garden.
"I think she would," he said.
"Commissioner Gordon, so you have decided to accept the invitation," Prof. Silas Burton said.
"My daughter kept bragging me to get out of office and attend the ceremony," he said.
"Well, my grandchildren can be like sometimes," Prof. Silas Burton said.
"One would think and it gives him something to learn," Barbara said. We then laughed at the remark, we then went back into the main building.
"It was a pleasure meeting you two again," I said.
"Likewise, Mr. Wayne. Likewise," Commissioner Gordon said. Harvey Bullock enters the building and walks up to the Commissioner, whispers into his ear and is then worried by what he just heard.
"Is something wrong, dad?" Barbara asked.
"I'm going to have to make this short. There's been an incident down twenty yards near the British Embassy," he said.
"I understand, dad," she said. Commissioner Gordon and Harvey then left the building. I was then concerned by this. At the scene of the crime, Commissioner Gordon and Harvey arrived at the scene and looked down at the body.
"Any idea who the victim is?" Commissioner Gordon asked.
"She doesn't carry any form of id on her. From what we gather, she's of Indian origin and in her mid to late twenties," Harvey answered.
"Also, she was stabbed multiple times," a CSI analyst said.
"Have you recovered the murder weapon?" Commissioner Gordon asked.
"We couldn't find the weapon," Harvey answered.
I then arrived at the scene as Batman. "It looks like the murderer fled the scene with the weapon," I said.
"You finally show up, what do you make of it?" Commissioner Gordon said.
"Like your CSI analyst said, she was stabbed multiple times, both in the front and back. Also, it would seem she tried to crawl to the Embassy," I said.
"What makes you so sure?" Harvey asked.
I pointed to the blood trail. "Stay here with body, we'll follow the trail," Commissioner Gordon ordered. I, Harvey and the Commissioner followed the trail to an alleyway to where the stabbing took place.
"We may just found where the stabbing took place," Commissioner Gordon said.
"Hold on, I'm picking up traces of semen," I said.
"She was raped?" Commissioner Gordon asked.
"It's hard to tell which came first," I said.
"We'll get the body to the morgue and inform you of any other developments," he said. I then used the grapple gun to scale to a rooftop. I then notice the sunset as I attempt to contact Oracle, but I realised she back at the Gotham India Society. I make my way back to the Batmobile and drove back to the Batcave. In the cave, I analyse the security camera footage from the British Embassy and noticed the woman crawling to the building and then dies. Alfred then arrives and walks up to me.
"Oh my, she doesn't look so well?" Alfred asked.
"She was recently murdered and raped. The footage was taken at 5:49 pm, moments before the sunset," I said.
"Whatever it is, it'll cause a panic within the Indian community," he said.
"It'll be the least of my worries," I said.
The Oracle then contacts me. "You were to get hold of me, what happened?" she asked.
"An Indian woman was murdered and raped near the British Embassy," I answered.
"It'll create panic within the Indian community," she said.
"I know, I'm e-mailing you the footage to see if you can notice anything out of the ordinary," I said.
"Will do," she said. The Oracle then hangs up as I sent her the e-mail containing the footage. I then get back to analysing the footage of Dr. Crane's parole hearing.
"So Dr. Crane, what makes you eligible for parole?" one of the board members asked.
"When I came back again here, my first thought was how can keep going through this. I mean, I'm getting tired of being defeated by the Dark Knight. So I then thought, why am I wasting my time with him where I should be moving on with my life," he said.
"Is that the only reason?" another parole board member asked.
"Not only that, but also I looked at the possibility of reconnecting with my roots as a psychiatrist," he said. The board members then confer among themselves for two minutes and they made their decision.
""This board has made a decision. Parole granted," the other board member said. The footage finishes playing. I then played an audio file of the Scarecrow threatening to expose the people in the Dini International Stadium with his fear toxin eighteen months ago.
"I will release my toxin into the stadium unless the city pays fifteen million dollars by midnight tonight," he threatened. I stopped the audio file and compared the vocal to the one in the footage and the audio file. I deduced that he was lying in his parole hearing, the question is why.
"It would that Crane was lying in his parole hearing," Alfred said.
"Indeed, the question is why? I'm going back to Arkham," I said. I left the Batcomputer, got into Batmobile and drove back to Arkham Asylum. In the asylum, I was again greeted by Dr. Holden and we both walked along the hallway.
"I take it you weren't able to find Dr. Crane?" she asked.
"No, but I did find something else. He lied in his parole hearing," I answered.
"If he lied in that hearing, the board would've turned down his parole," she said.
"Exactly, someone with a through a lot of trouble to tamper with the parole board. The question now is who and why," I said.
"There's something I forgot to mention during your last visit here. Dr. Crane did get a lot of phone calls from an anonymous source. However, when we tried to trace where the calls were coming from, we were locked out and the source was encrypted," she said.
"Whoever this is person is, they did a good job of covering their tracks," I said.
"I'm more concern about what he might do next," she said. I then get phone call from Commissioner Gordon.
"Batman, we got some new developments regarding the homicide. Meet me at the morgue," he said.
"I'll be there." He then hangs up. "I'm going to put our conversation on hold. I'm needed at the morgue," I said.
"I understand," she said. I then left the asylum, got back into the Batmobile and drove up to the morgue. In the morgue, Commissioner Gordon along with Harvey arrived at the morgue before I did. I arrived on time like always.
"So you finally made, what took you so long?" Commissioner Gordon asked.
"I made a stop at Arkham regarding Dr. Crane," I answered.
"Anything?" he asked.
"I'll explain later once we deal with the reason why we're in the morgue," I said.
"Just for your information, gentlemen. The coroner couldn't be here tonight because his wife fell down the stairs, so he's at the hospital with her. I'm taking his place, tonight," a mysterious voice said. He comes out of the corner and reveals himself to be the intern.
"You got to be kidding me, the coroner's intern is the one who called us?" Harvey asked.
"Well now, Columbo, ain't you the smart one," the intern said.
"And he's a wisecrack at the same time," Harvey said.
"We want to know why you called us?" Commissioner Gordon asked.
"Right, when you lot brought the body in here a couple of hours ago. The first thing I observed was the multiple stabs, thirteen of them to be precise. Six at the front and seven at the back, the ones at the front were made first and then back. The biggest discovery of this so far is when I tried to analyse her blood sample. In your typical autopsy, you expect to find the blood either normal or some drug flowing in there," he said.
"I take it you found something in her blood?" I asked.
"I did, but what that something is, now that is sixty four thousand dollar question. I sent a blood sample over for a toxicology test to see if they can identify what this mystery substance is," the intern said.
"Have you indentified the woman yet?" Commissioner Gordon asked.
"Now that's even a bigger mystery. I took her fingerprints and ran it through AFIS, but it didn't with a match. I put in a call to the police forces outside Gotham to see if any of them has a missing person's report on her," he said.
"Can I take a blood sample and a copy of the case file?" I asked.
"Is he allowed to do this?" the intern asked.
"Every police officer should know that they can trust Batman," Commissioner Gordon said.
"Very well," the intern said. He then gives a blood sample and a copy of the case file.
"I'll let you know if I find anything," I said.
"You better do it fast. I don't know how long it takes the media to figure out there's a dead Indian woman on our hands," They then notices that I vanished into thin air. "Something's never change," he said. I got back outside, get into the Batmobile and drove back to the Batcave. In the cave, I analysed the blood sample under a microscope and notice there's something in there. Alfred then enters the cave and walks up to me.
"Playing with your chemistry kit, sir?" Alfred asked.
"It's a blood sample from the victim and there's unknown substance in there. I better run through the Batcomputer to see if can indentify it." I ran the sample through the Batcomputer and it came up with a chemical makeup I'm too familiar with. "This is the chemical makeup for Scarecrow's fear toxin," I said.
"How did something like that get into her blood stream?" Alfred asked.
"Good question, Alfred, I better let the Commissioner know of this," I said. I then phone Commissioner Gordon up and he answers it.
"Gordon here," he said.
"Its Batman, I just finished analysing the blood sample and you're not going to like what I discovered," I said.
"Try me," he said.
"The unknown substance is actually Dr. Crane's fear toxin," I said.
"It would've been easy for the intern to detect. Why didn't it identify it in the first place?" he asked.
"This version has been modified to make it undetectable and designed to be a designer drug," I said.
"This can't be good, remember what you said about your recent visit to Arkham. What to know what is it you discovered?" he asked.
"Oh that, it turns out that Jonathan lied throughout his parole hearing," I said.
"But that's impossible, the parole board would've turned down his request if he lied," he said.
"Exactly, but someone tampered with the board and it wasn't Crane," I said.
"Someone is pulling the strings, do you think the victim and Crane are connected?" he asked.
"Right now, anything is possible, I'll keep in touch and goodnight," I said. I then hang up on him, got changed out of costume and into nightwear. I and Alfred then left the Batcave and back into Wayne Manor. Next day over at Wayne Enterprises, I'm in a meeting with the board directors to discuss our current business.
"Thanks to Bruce's appearance yesterday at the Gotham India Society. We were able to contribute to the war effort in Afghanistan by providing aid to the citizens," Lucius Fox said.
"That's good news, what the opening ceremony of the new European headquarters in Canary Wharf, London? Is that still going ahead as scheduled?" I asked.
"It is, but there have doubts about it because of our recent court appearance in the European Parliament," he said.
"Fair enough, that'll be all today. I'll be in my office if you lot need me," I said. I left the board room and enter my office. I sat down on the chair and turned on the TV to watch the news. The first I saw was the murder it occurred last night.
"A woman was murdered twenty yards the British Embassy last night in what they call a frenzy attack. So far, Commissioner Gordon has refused to comment whether the murder was racially motivated and now for stock exchange with our business correspondent," the news anchorwoman said. I then turned the TV off and heard the intercom going off.
"Sir, Dick Grayson is here to see you," my secretary said.
"Send him in," I ordered.
Dick enters the office and sits down on a chair. "I heard there's been a murder here recently," he said.
"Yes, it looks like Dr. Jonathan Crane might be involved," I said.
"You should've seen Blüdhaven, protests have broken out near the police station. I just came here to warn this might happen to Gotham," he said.
"I guess that's the reason why Jim declined to comment to the media," I said.
"I just came here to warn you that this might happen in Gotham. Have a nice day," he said. He then leaves the office and the building. Several hours later, I stood on the rooftop as Batman and talking to Oracle.
"Dick wasn't kidding about the protests in Blüdhaven. I finished analysing the security footage from the British Embassy like you asked," she said.
"Did you find anything?" I asked.
"Unfortunately no," she answered.
"In that case, I was wondering if you can look into something," I said.
"Sure name it?" she asked.
"Can you do a background check on the current Arkham parole board members?" I asked.
"It's not going to be easy, but I'll try. You think Scarecrow might be in involved in her murder?" she asked.
"Maybe, but I'm not sure. I know someone who may be able to identify her," I said.
"All right, keep in touch," she said. She then hangs up on me and head down to the ground. Outside the Old Patriot tavern, a regular walks outside, gets his cigarette out, lights it up and begins to smoke it.
"You do have a funny way of showing up, Bats," he said.
"I guess the MI6 training paid off back in the day, Grant," I said.
"We were trained to detect anything out of the obvious, mate. That and its bad habit of mine," he said.
"I see you been making a living for yourself lately," I said.
"Even though I'm semi-retired, but have other ways to making money. So what is it you want?" Grant asked.
"I was hoping if you can help me with something," I said.
"You know I'm out of that line of work. The last time I supplied a super criminal with that type of information, it cost Barbara Gordon the use of her legs. Once Jim Old Boy figured out who supplied the Joker with the information. He threatened to deport me back to the UK if I tried something like that again. Even though I'm in exile in this country because of the botched operation I conducted years ago," he said.
"That's not important, I was wondering if you can help identify this woman," I said. I handed a photograph of the victim.
"Hmm, I'll see what I can do and Bats. Does Jim know that you saw me tonight?" he asked.
"What he doesn't know, won't hurt you," I said.
"Fair enough," he said.
The Oracle then contacts me as I left the tavern. "I've done the background check on the current Arkham parole board members. And you're not going to like what I discovered," I said.
"Go on?" I asked.
"One of the members, Matthew Bell, current CEO of Taka Pharmaceuticals has recently received an amount of money around ten million dollars from anonymous source," she said.
"So he was bribed. Did any of the other board members know about this?" I asked.
"I checked and there wasn't any indication that they knew. So they went along and one more thing, Matthew is also the current chairman of the Arkham parole board. Also, his company also supplies the medication to the facility," she said.
"Thanks for the information," I said. I walked up to the Batmobile, got into it and drove up to Matthew Bell's penthouse suite. In the suite, Matthew pours himself a glass of whisky and heads into the lounge. I enter the penthouse through the balcony and it scared him.
"You, don't you ever knock?" he asked.
"No and you got some explaining to do," I said.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he said.
"You been recently taking bribes from a mysterious benefactor," I said.
"It's illegal," he said.
"I know you're smarter than this. The benefactor bribed you to release Dr. Crane from Arkham eight months ago," I said.
"I admit, I was bribed, Taka Pharmaceuticals has been having financial trouble recently. When our Japan branch went bankrupt after the outbreak in which at least ten thousand children fell sick because of a product error. Since then, our profits are falling and we're losing points on the stock market. One day, a benefactor offered me a ten million dollar bribe if I can release Dr. Crane from Arkham," he said.
"And you did, how many more Arkham patients have released because of a cash bribe?" I asked.
"Now you mention it, there's another. Two months later after Dr. Crane was paroled, the same benefactor offered me another bribe. Same amount, but this time, I was bribed to release Pamela Isley, aka Poison Ivy," he said.
"And they let you?" I asked.
"I owe Taka a lot, I am willing to do anything to keep the company alive. Even it means committing a couple of acts of evil. What would you do if you discover if your company is failing?" I asked.
"That's a question I will not answer." I then looked out the window to find the Bat-Signal lit up in the night sky. "It looks like I'm needed somewhere else," I said. I then jumped off the balcony and glide down into the Batmobile and drove to the police station.