It's two in the morning. A man, by the name of Maxwell Allen Arthur, sits at his desk in his dark office in the top of the second largest building in Gotham City. He's reliving memories of the past 50 years he had spent building this company to be one of the top companies in the world. He sits there reliving because it is all over. Tonight was his retirement party; tomorrow his son officially inherits the family business (although it was pretty clear he had been in charge the last few years). Maxwell sat and pondered what there was left for him to do.
"Dad." A beam of light comes in from the hallway as the door opens. The combination of the door opening and the voice startle the man. "What are you doing awake?"
"I don't know. Thinking, I guess."
"Thinking? About what?"
"Life, the past years. I've lived a great life. I've lived the American dream and then some. I built a company from nothing into a super power. I've done almost everything."
"Yeah. That's why we're celebrating Dad. We're celebrating everything you've done. Why do you look so down?"
"Because Ethan, it's over. What the hell am I going to do now?"
"I don't know. What do most old men do when they retire? You move to Florida and golf every day." Ethan said this with a slight smirk on his face. He knew his father and knew golf just wasn't his thing. His father laughed back.
"Actually, you want to know what I've really been thinking about?" Maxwell reached under his desk and pulled out a copy of Time magazine and plopped it on his desk. On the cover was a picture of the bat signal shining high over Gotham City. Maxwell pointed at the signaled and stated "Batman."
"The bat-man?" Ethan exclaimed. "Why the hell are you thinking about the bat-man?"
"I think I'm going to do what no man has ever done. I'm going to kill him."
"Oh come on dad. I think you had too much wine at the party. Let's get you home and go to bed. I'm sure we can think of something for you to do tomorrow."
"No. I'm a little buzzed but most of that has worn off. I'm going to beat him. Think about it. What else do I have to accomplish? Right now, I'm one of the most famous people on the planet. What else can I do? I'll tell you what I can do. I can go down in history as the man who defeated the bat."
"You already are going down in history. You created..."
"I know what I've created."Maxell interrupted. "But I it will be for doing something that many have done before me."
"But dad, if you kill the bat-man you will be infamous. You'll be a criminal; you'll be hated, like Hitler, Mussolini or the Joker. I know you aren't one of them. Plus how would you do it anyways? It's not like you are in peak physical shape."
"Not necessarily. It's not like he's innocent. You mention the Joker, without Batman's creation there would be no Joker. The Joker has killed so many. Batman is responsible for that, or at least it could be spun that way. Not to mention the other lunatics that exist and murder, and then there are the ones who will do so in the future. Sure, he has helped with normal organized crime but he has released something far worse. How great of a story would it be if I, a normal man, who wears no mask, was the one who put an end to the bat? Plus, I'm going to make him snap. If I make him into a criminal, or should I say, make him commit a crime that is something more than vigilantism, then I'd say that would make me a hero in more of a direct way. As far as the physicality part, I have gobs of money and someone will always be willing to do the dirty work for the right price."
"And just how do you plan on pulling any of this off?"
"I don't know just yet. But I have to figure out who he is first. Do whatever I can to break him. I know people have tried to break him before, but they tried to break Batman. I think you have to break the man who is Batman. Or at least break him further, as Batman really can only be the result of a broken man. You have to break him beyond the desperation that is dressing as a bat and fighting criminals. I have to figure out who Batman is."
"I don't know what to say."
"Everyone needs a hobby."
"Yeah, but like I said, most people go to Florida and play golf."
"I'm not most people."
"That's true. Good night dad." Ethan turned around and walked out the door. He didn't take his dad's ramblings too seriously, after all, he saw how many glasses of wine and champagne his dad drank but underneath a part of him thought his dad might actually do it. When a man that has done what his father has done gets an idea, they don't usually let that idea go. They become obsessed with it, obsessed until that idea becomes a reality or until it kills them.