Gotham City

East Side, Metro Apartments, 9:30 AM

It had been months since Jonathan Crane had taken up the mask as Scarecrow in an attempt to gas the narrows. Months since Rä's Al Ghul had died in the Gotham Monorail. And Harvey Dent had just been elected Defense Attorney of Gotham City.

Dent was one of those idealists. He couldn't be bought out. At least Crane would be protected by the Druggie Crime Lords, or at least, what was left of them after Dent's crusade against the underworld. Crane was sheer genius! A brilliant young success! But of course, the entire academic world had to see the egotistic side of him, and his forged thesis paper. But forging a thesis paper meant nothing did it? That's why Arkham didn't care when he applied there. Soon he made it to a managing position among the psychotherapy-and-psychopharmacology department. His favorite subject: fear.

Why did he care so much about fear? He thought he could create an antidote to fear, a way for everyone to be afraid no longer. And when that was possible, he would rule over them, as leader. Such childish dreams, but they meant something. They meant something when he discovered the proper elements of the rare blue flower. It acted like Opium, except it produced a certain chemical that triggered the hormones responsible for reacting to fear. And if he could just find the right dose of it, test enough people, he would be able to create the perfect antidote.

But no, that Batman had to get involved… Foolish. Crane had the opportunity to test among millions! And then… and then the legal mess, courtesy of A.D.A. Rachel Dawes. If it weren't for that, he would have solved the problem. As Jonathan Crane, he could do nothing. But as Scarecrow…

He sat at his desk. Here he lived under the name of "Jackson Court." No one could know… His phone rang. He picked up.

Gotham City

Maroni Estate, 9:30 AM

It was true, this place was once called the Falcone estate. But the man was locked inside a cell at Arkham, murmuring something to himself about Scarecrow… Scarecrow… And to be quite frank, Salvatore Maroni was very well all right with that. He was the new Don, he was the new leader, and now he had all the money he ever wanted.

Billions.

Enough to retire this business. But no, he wanted to keep going. Own an infinite stock of money! And, of course, get rid of opposition. Harvey Dent was one of these annoying little – he even managed to make GCN's very own Mike Engel call him down for an interview. "Yeah, yeah, we'll do it tonight. I'm just a regular guy, like you and your camera guy!" And so on and so forth.

What he had on his mind, at the very least, was something different. After Falcone's fall, it was evident that the other crime lords were willing to shoot each other in the backs until one of them got up to the top of the list. And the new "Batman" was making things even worse for the drug world. Maroni proposed a simple solution: join forces. Already it had begun to work.

In Russia, there was a small place called Chechenya, where a man who called himself the Chechen became a powerful leader in the breaking away from the Mother Land. Because Chicago, Metropolis, and New York City, among other places, were stuffed with enough drug lords, he came to Gotham City in it's earliest. And when Falcone nosedived into insanity, he decided to shake arms with Maroni. A joint venture, he called it, of the Underworld. And so it worked.

Maroni also made deals with other Crime Lords, such as Gambol and Marquard.

When the Chechen came to Maroni's door that morning with a certain lackey named Burton, he told him about a man with drugs that would really send customers into orbit. This man called himself the Scarecrow.

Maroni was hesitant, but sure, why not? They made the call. They knew a junkie. His name was Tim Otis. That was enough to set them up.

Gotham City

Wayne Penthouse, 9:57AM

The penthouse wasn't even completely settled. If only the mansion hadn't burned down a couple of months ago… Not all of the new furniture had come. At least the bed was there. Bruce Wayne rolled over and woke up.

"Ah, Master Wayne," said his butler, Alfred. "Bloody early, innit?"

"Well," said Bruce. "I wasn't off on any black-masked charade last night." He stood up, stretched, and grabbed the coffee off of the tray on his end table. "Batman got to rest last night. Thank goodness for me."

"I had rather hoped you'd given him up," said Alfred. "Are you…"

"Going to continue being Batman?" Bruce looked at him, took a sip, and continued. "Yeah. Crime has definitely not ended. Most certainly not ended. There's no way that it has. And as long as there's this huge crime… this underworld mess… then there's gonna be a Batman."

"Or until someone else takes that off your chest, eh?" Alfred walked a little closer to Bruce. "You've been like a son to me, Master Wayne. Seeing you do this is like watching you put yourself through torture."

"But it isn't torture," said Bruce. "It's the only way. After… after their deaths, I made a promise. I made a promise that I would end all of this."

"You can't end crime," said Alfred. "As long as there are people, there are crimes. Look, we've already got a changing society. You've seen that! Harvey Dent, newly appointed D.A. You saw that, didn't you?"

"Wrong," said Bruce. "I fell asleep as soon as I saw his face." As soon as I saw Rachel, actually, he thought.

"Never mind that," Alfred said. "What I want to say is this: he's the one who'll help you with this, don't you think?"

"I'm keeping tabs on him. Maybe so. I really hope so." Bruce finished his coffee and stuffed a bagel into his mouth. "I think I'm gonna go down to Wayne Enterprises…"

"So soon, sir?"

"Yes," he said. "There's some deal with a company called GothCorp. I don't trust it. That's why I had them make it. I think some lawyer named Parker is going to review files with Fox, and Fox said he wanted me there."

"All right. Be a little late. Won't hurt you."

"I already am late, Alfred," Bruce said, patting his back. "I hope the Porsche is ready."

(A/N: Thanks for the single review :P I really want to ask for more reviews. I generally do with each fanfiction that I write. This way I know what to write, how to make things better...yadiyadiyadi... and if you give me a review, with each review comes a new plot twist. No, I do not jest. I'm being quite honest with you. Please, please, PLEASE review! I promise I won't let you down ;) And as for the question I recieved, yes the story STARTS between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. But it's going further. REVIEW!)