Introduction
The State of the World
The glass of the skylight blew inward, the sound of the breaking window shattering the silence of the night. Dropping down came a caped crusader, a dark knight... the Batman! He landed in the middle of the unlit warehouse floor, searching in the shadows for any signs of his foe when, out of the darkness came his voice. "Batman... so kind of you to... drop by! HA HA HA HA!" The lights flashed on, momentarily blinding the hero of Gotham. His eyes quickly adjusted, allowing him to see the monster that he had been hunting for the past 3 weeks. The Joker stood across the room from Batman, holding what appeared to be a squirt gun to the head of a gagged and, seemingly unconscious, Commissioner Gordon.
Batman waited for the Joker's laughing to subside before saying, "Stand down Joker, you'll never win!" The Joker let out a giggle, saying, "Oh my dear, delusional Dark Knight, don't you see," He let go of Gordon, letting him fall to the floor, revealing a large hole in the back of Gordon's skull, as if it had been melted through. The Joker let out a laugh, screaming, "I'VE ALREADY WON!" Batman's eyes widened with shock, and he let out a cry, "NO!" He rushed at the Joker, throwing a trio of batarangs. The Joker giggled, ducking around the batarangs and pointed the squirt gun at Batman, firing a stream of green liquid that sizzled as it traveled through the air. Batman leaped up and over the acidic stream, coming down with a crushing elbow to the Joker's shoulder, causing a loud crack and a piercing scream from the clown. Batman followed it with a trio of punches, sending the Joker back with each blow, the third causing a few teeth and blood to fly out of his mouth. The Joker stumbled back until he was leaning against the warehouse wall, wheezing as blood and spit dripped from his mouth. Batman, breathing deeply walked up to him, simply staring at Joker with rage in his eyes, as he said in a quiet whisper, "How... how did I not get here in time?" The Joker let out a wheezing laugh, looking up with a broken, bloody smile as he said, "Aww, poor Batsy. I don't know why you're so shocked though... it isn't like this is the first time you've come too late for a friend, eh? Without Gordon, this city is one, very large step closer to becoming as dark and twisted as we are. All that's left is to take care of their other big hero!" Pulling out a switchblade, Joker lunged at Batman, who grabbed the Joker's arm, twisting it and delivering a punch to the elbow, causing another loud crack. The Joker let out a scream that was quickly cut off as Batman grabbed him by the throat, lifting him up and saying, "You may have killed Gordon, but you won't kill me, you won't win!"
The Joker continued to smile, chocking out, "Then make sure of it! Finish me off once and for all, ensure your victory! Do it! C'mon Batman, I double dare ya! All you have to do is keep squeezing... and I can tell that you want to." Batman's grip tightened for a few seconds, completely depriving the Joker of breath for a few moments. However, Batman let go, turning away saying, "I may want to... but I won't. If I did... then you would still win." The Joker gasped for breath before saying, "True... so, so true. But that's the plus side to tonight! Whether or not you killed me, tonight is a win/win situation!" Batman turned to look at the Joker, before glancing around the warehouse, saying, "You're done clown, you have a broken right shoulder and a broken arm, you can't do anything, and I don't see Quinn or any of your goons around." Joker nodded, saying, "True, all true, but do you really think, after the mountains of photo albums worth of time together, I wouldn't want to kill you with my bare hands?" The Joker managed to push himself up and stared at Batman, a smile on his face. "You're going to die tonight, Bats... and I will be the one choking the life out of you, since you won't do the same for me!" The killer clown and the dark knight charged each other, the Joker, laughing maniacally into the darkness of the night.
It has been 23 years since that day, and it is a day that no one will forget… the day that Batman died. That morning, people in the warehouse district area were horrified when they saw the Joker leaving the area in a torn suit with a bloody grin, carrying Commissioner Gordon's head in one hand, and the bloody and torn cowl of Batman following the explosion of the building where they had had their battle in the shadows. After that, the Joker and his gang roamed the streets, virtually unchallenged. Nightwing, a.k.a Dick Grayson, was found hanging by a string of handkerchiefs from the top of City Hall with a smile carved onto his face a few weeks later. After that, the Oracle, a.k.a. Barbara Gordon, was found by police officers hanging by marionette strings with rusted hooks on the ends at her home with slit throat and a smile carved onto her face as well. Following that incident, witnesses recall seeing the Man of Steel, Superman, flying overhead in the direction of the abandoned toy factory believed to be the Joker's base of operations. However… he was never seen again. However, on a high-jacked TV station of his very own, the Joker addressed Gotham's populace sitting upon a throne of bones placed upon the torn cape of Superman like a bearskin rug with Harley Quinn on his right side, and a massive, masked figure dressed in a Jester outfit with a black and red color scheme. The Joker notified the people of Gotham, all while absent-mindedly toying with Commissioner Gordon's rotted skull, that he had placed a toxin in their food and water supplies called 'Giggle Juice.' The Giggle Juice would cause the same deadly effect as Happy Gas unless they continued to ingest his poison which he would only provide if they crowned him the king of Gotham.
With the other heroes, such as the Justice League, too preoccupied with 'greater' threats who sought to take advantage of the double loss of both Batman and Superman, the people of Gotham had no choice but to bow down to his demands. It has been 23 years since the death of Batman, and the world has become a much darker place. It seems that, now, there are none that call themselves a hero who are capable of making a difference. With powerful, global dictators, such as Lex Luthor, Ra's Al Ghul, or, most feared, the Joker, at the reins, hunting down heroes and resistant criminals alike, some fear that things will only ever get worse.
However, there are some who continue to resist, some who battle the world's darkness from the same darkness. In the city of Gotham, there are two rebel groups who battle against King Joker and those who sustain his dark kingdom. One group, calling itself the New Justice League, is led by the former Robin, Tim Drake, now with the alias of Red Robin, and battles in the same manner as Drake's former mentor, the Batman, leaving the Joker's troops, called 'Silly Soldiers,' left tied up and beaten, hoping to show Gotham's people that they can stand up for themselves. However, the other group is led by the resurrected Jason Todd, the Red Hood, and his group known as the League of Vengeance who simply kill the Joker's troops, and who's one true goal is to mount the Joker's head on a stick. Each group mainly consists of new heroes, some descendants of former heroes or villains, but also possesses surviving heroes and reformed villains from the old days. Each of these groups operate in numerous locations, but both focus mainly in Gotham, hoping that if they can save this city, it will serve as a beacon of hope to the rest of the world. That's the lie that Red Robin and Red Hood would like their allies to believe, but that is not the case. What they are truly after, is vengeance, a personal and relentless need to take vengeance upon the Joker for killing the man that they viewed as a father, and though Drake would like to believe otherwise, not even he's sure that he could keep himself from killing the Joker if he got the opportunity. The world has become so bleak, that not even the leaders of heroes are capable of being truly heroic, for what made Batman so unique, what used to make the former Robins unique, was that they possessed a need for vengeance against crime, but it wasn't a personal one against any particular man. That has changed.
The world has become so bleak, that not even the leaders of heroes are capable of being truly heroic, for what made Batman so unique, what used to make the former Robins unique, was that they possessed a need for vengeance against crime, but it wasn't a personal one against any particular man. That has changed, and that is why they cannot win against the Joker, and that is why Batman used to be able to win, until his death. This is a world where the Joker has won, a world without Batman, a world without hope… until now.