1. Forgive Us Our Trespasses
A cold wind buffeted through the dark alleyways of Gotham City. Christopher Marlowe, a magistrate at the Gotham County Court, was caught up in the relentless onslaught of the gust. As he was walking down, a priest walked alongside him, matching his pace eventually.
"Hello, Father," Christopher yelled above the wind. "Horrid weather, isn't it?"
"Indeed," replied the priest, shouting to be heard above the swirling wind. "I was taking a shortcut back to my parish. Needy people awaiting a confessional, you know how it is."
"I suppose so," agreed Marlowe, though he felt a little apprehensive. "I thought that the church was a block behind us, Father."
"Ah, yes, I am awfully forgetful sometimes," chuckled the Father as his fingers worked around his silver cross necklace. "The wind must have blown me away, I suppose."
Marlowe laughed. "I guess so... Say, don't I know you from-"
That was all he had to say before the priest began strangling him with the necklace. "Father, forgive us our trespasses," he was saying as he wrought the necklace tighter and tighter around the magistrate's neck. "Have mercy on his soul."
"A second man has been strangled to death and had his forehead branded by a former priest known only as Frollo. GCPD officers believe the murder was random, and are offering a reward for his capture..."
"Master Bruce, you may be interested in this," called Alfred Pennyworth.
"Just when I thought Gotham had exhausted its supply of homicidal zealots." Bruce Wayne ambled into the main entertainment area of Wayne Manor, grimly assessing the situation. This was new, he thought. A religious nut. Wayne himself had no qualms with religion: some of the senior officers at the GCPD had Christian faiths, and Alfred's family were mostly Anglican believers. Even so, something seemed a little odd. Gotham wasn't known for religiously motivated violence. Something had to give.
"Alfred, if you need me, I'll be in the Batcave," Bruce said at last. "I'm going to run some checks on this... Frollo. Somehow I don't want to be confessing to him."
"Right you are, sir," Alfred replied. "I should think not."
As it turned out, background analysis on Frollo was filled with unpleasant surprises. A former priest at Gotham Chapel Church, Judas K. Moorworth became dissatisfied with the behind-the-scenes politicking inside the church, and left. He soon became involved with a cult known as 'the Heavenly Avengers'. The cult devoted itself to murdering prominent judicial, political and celebrity 'adversaries'. These 'adversaries' were marked for murder based on whether they had publicly broken one of the Ten Commandments. Christopher Marlowe, the latest victim, was seen in public with a woman who was not his wife: it turned out he had been having an affair. He was thus destined for eternal damnation. The modus operandi of 'Heavenly Avengers' assassins was to brand victims' foreheads with the sign of the Christian fish. This was seen to be 'God's work'.
'God's work, huh?' Bruce wondered aloud. He was able to unencrypt a FTP network owned by the cult, and was able to download its Mission Statement. He printed it off and read it to a stunned Alfred.
"Murdering moral dissidents is an act sanctioned by the Most High. Our work is sanctioned by the Almighty, and by purging such immoral detritus from this Earth, our heavenly rewards will be much greater," Bruce finished.
Alfred didn't say anything for a long time. "I suppose they're... committed to their work, sir?"
"They've murdered dozens of people since the early 2000s," Bruce grimaced. "Every Sunday, a new murder is slated to be committed. Alfred, these people are undermining the good work the church is doing in this city."
"Sanctioned by the Almighty?" snorted Alfred derisively. "One wonders how theologically sound their mission statement is."
"I must stop them," Bruce resolved. "If I don't, who will?"