December 23, 1990 – It's almost midnight, almost Christmas Eve, and Bruce Wayne sits in front of his fire at Wayne Manor alone. It's been almost a year since Bruce has had the company of a woman or a close friendship. In Bruce's left hand is a half filled glass of red wine, in the other is the mask he dons as the World's Greatest Detective, the Dark Knight, Batman. Bruce's first sidekick, Dick Grayson, hasn't been seen since he left Gotham under the identity of Nightwing, and Tim Drake, the third Robin, has been off with the Teen Titans for some time now. Bruce has become increasingly depressed over the years, ever since Jason Todd's death as Robin and the permanent crippling of Barbara Gordon. Bruce almost fears having a sidekick anymore, and therefore feels as though he must perform twice as much so nobody comes forward to try and take place by his side to fight crime.
Bruce takes another sip of his wine, his head spinning. He decides it's time to take a nap, hoping the criminals of Gotham do not take advantage of the coming holiday. As he slides into bed alone once more, his thoughts wander to the women he hasn't seen in over a year. He still has dreams about the lovely Talia al Ghul, whom he hasn't seen since his last run in with her father, Ra's. He still has a few clippings about himself as both Bruce Wayne and Batman that were written by Vicki Vale, who left him after she couldn't handle the double identity Bruce lived under. He pulls out an article about Batman stopping a runaway train after Catwoman disabled the brakes after she robbed the people on board. Catwoman, better known as Selina Kyle in Bruce's mind, is the woman he thought he would be with for his life when he could give up the pursuit of Batman, but realized long ago that his dream would probably never happen. Bruce has accepted his fate as Batman, as the protector of the city of Gotham. Bruce thought again of the days ahead, hoping this Christmas to be a pleasant one filled with a dinner Bruce Wayne can attend the entire way through.
December 24, 1990 – Bruce woke up to the intruder alert blaring. His initial thought was of Dick Grayson sneaking out, but remembered it's just him and Alfred. He leaps out of bed, wondering where the break-in took place. He quickly puts in his headset device and contacts Alfred, but there is no response. Where could he be?Bruce wonders to himself as he makes his way into the main hall upstairs. When he makes it to the staircase, he looks at the bottom and sees something that frightens him to his very core. It's Jason Todd.
"It can't be…" whispered Bruce as he fell to his knees in disbelief. He buried Jason over two years ago, and still visits his tomb to be reminded just what the Joker is capable of. He looks back to the figure on the steps and wonders if it really Jason. Bruce gets up to his feet and walks down the steps, gripping the railing tightly to make sure he isn't dreaming. When Bruce finally makes it to the ghost of his past, he reaches out for Jason's face to make sure he's real and not just an illusion, and just as he touches his face, Jason cocks back his arm and hits Bruce over the head with enough force to knock him unconscious. Jason's mouth curls into the slightest of smirks, and he grabs Bruce's arms to drag him to the chair by the fireplace.
Jason sets Bruce into the armchair and goes about setting gas bombs throughout the Manor. The bombs don't look like anything Batman would use, but instead look like small clown heads. After Jason sets them all, he walks out of Wayne Manor, and as he reaches the end of the driveway, he hits a detonator in his pocket, setting off the gas. A tremor goes through Jason's body as he walks away into the darkness.
Back inside Wayne Manor, the toxic gas has spread throughout the halls and rooms, and as Bruce sits unconscious in his chair, Alfred lies unconscious in the Batcave, untouched by the gas. Two hours later, Alfred comes to, and sees on the computer monitor the Manor filled with gas. Alfred immediately hits the vent button, clearing the house of gas. After five minutes, the air in the house is safe enough to enter, and Alfred hurries to Bruce's aid.
Alfred finds Bruce groaning in front of the fire, his skin pale, and Alfred gets him up to his feet. "Master Wayne, are you alright?" Alfred asks, concerned greatly for one of the few people left in his life.
Bruce is able to let out a single phrase, "Jason…" before he falls unconscious once more. Alfred carries Bruce to the couch nearest him, and laying him down as gently as possible. He heads for the phone, punching in the number he has had memorized for years. Two rings later, the voice of Lucius Fox came through the speaker, "What seems to be the problem at this time of night, Alfred?" he asks. "There can I assume only be one reason for this lovely chatter?"
"It's Bruce, Lucius. He has been poisoned by some toxic gas, and I can only assume it was the Joker. He is already pale, and I fear the worst," Alfred replied quickly.
A sigh escaped the phone, and Lucius replied, "Get a blood sample and get it sent to me straightaway. I will get it analyzed and attempt to find an antidote. Until then, you need to keep Bruce under watch and let me know of any changes in his behavior."
"I will, Lucius. Thank you," Alfred replied. He hung the phone up and set it back on the table beside the couch. He hurried around to get a tube and syringe to extract Bruce's blood with. He also heads into the kitchen to make Bruce a sandwich and a large glass of water. Just as Alfred left the kitchen, he heard footsteps. In high hopes that Bruce felt well enough to walk around, Alfred hurried towards the room. Once he gets into the room, he notices that Bruce isn't there, and wonders where he could have gone. He decided to yell out, "Master Wayne?" in hopes that he would respond, not knowing of the problems he and all of Gotham would face.
Bruce Wayne was in the Batcave, donning his suit so that he may take the name of Batman once again. This time he has plans to use his name for selfish needs, a need that has recently been lit in his stomach like a fire, and he knows exactly how he wants to take care of this fire. As Batman gets inside of his Batmobile, the Jokers jolts awake 27 miles away.