11:50 PM
GCPD Headquarters – Rooftop.

The Commissioner had stepped out of his office to take a smoke of his pipe and was just lighting his pipe when he heard footsteps behind him.

"Nice job getting Montoya and the other hostages out of there, Batman." Jim said as Batman emerged from the shadows.

"Did you get the papers from Montoya?" Batman asked as Jim nodded with a slight chuckle of disbelief.

"Yeah. The whole thing was over a bunch of harmless pranks?" Jim asked.

"Brooks had been tormented by them as a child and even today never took pranks well. Elaine William's starting of the pranking tradition on his camping trips exasperated things and his niece getting injured by one was the last straw. She wanted revenge like he did. He planned to abduct Williams and her three friends that had started the tradition of pranking him during the camping trips, Raymond for injuring Carde, and Montoya for dropping the case. They used the Slender Man meme as an alias to commit their abductions and they deliberately planned for themselves to be abducted on different nights in order to be removed from suspicion." Batman explained.

"They'll try it again though." Jim said, not quite comfortable with the idea.

"They're on the run now. Gotham is no longer safe for them, but even so they won't go far." Batman replied but Jim reached into the pocket of his overcoat.

"Then perhaps you should read this." Jim said as he handed Batman a piece of folded up paper. Batman started reading it as Jim took a drag of his pipe.

"Where did you get this?" Batman asked, looking up from the paper.

"It was in amongst the papers Montoya took from their hideout. They saved the best for last." Jim replied as Batman put a hand to his ear piece.

"Oracle, alert Arkham Security. The Slender Men are going to try and murder the Scarecrow." Batman said as he pressed a button on his utility belt and jumped off the side of the building, gliding his way down as the Batmobile raced into his flight path on the street below, keeping just enough of a pace so that he'd land in the driver's seat. The second he landed and the canopy closed, he was off, racing through the streets of Gotham towards Arkham Island.

"Bruce, I just spoke with the Warden at Arkham! Scarecrow's escaped!" Oracle said as Batman narrowed his eyes.

"Escaped? Or was he broken out?" Batman asked back.


12:11 AM
5th of October
Arkham Island.

"Move it Crane." Brooks ordered as Wilhelmina held a gun trained on the Scarecrow, the three moving out towards the cliffs near the edge of Arkham Island. Brooks had his left arm in a makeshift sling from Batman's previous dislocation of his shoulder. Both were in their Slender Man costumes but Brooks was missing one of the arms and they were both not wearing the masks. Crane was limping forward since he still was ailing from the stab wound from Zsasz.

"Do you honestly think that I fear you, Wilber? You forget that I myself am the master of fear itself." Crane commented. He was playing it very cool for someone who had a gun on him.

"Quiet you!" Wilhelmina ordered as she shoved him forward.

"So what's this about, Wilber? Revenge for my gassing your little niece all those years ago?" Crane asked with a smirk towards Brooks who snarled.

"I said be quiet!" Wilhelmina hissed, pistol whipping Crane across the face, knocking him to the ground. Crane began to laugh in amusement.

"Don't tell me! This is her! How exciting! A former patient that I can examine! Already the facts I've gotten from your mere presence and behavior is enlightening." Crane said as he climbed to his feet.

"You won't be examining anyone, Crane. We're ending you like we should've done a long time ago." Brooks said but Crane chuckled in amusement.

"No…I don't think you will. Right, Batman?" Crane asked, glancing upwards before a Batarang flew in and knocked the gun from Wilhelmina's hand. She immediately grabbed Scarecrow from behind with the flamethrower in her sleeves primed and pointed at Crane's head. Crane merely chuckled in amusement.

"This is so very dull." Crane said with a roll of his eyes before Wilhelmina was suddenly bowled over by a black blur, knocking her to the ground and freeing the Scarecrow. Brooks quickly reached for a gun in his waist belt but not before Crane produced a small metallic capsule and thrust it up towards Brooks' face, releasing a small cloud of Scarecrow's fear toxin. Brooks immediately started shrieking in horror as the Scarecrow leapt up and knocked him over onto the ground, grabbing the gun from Brooks' belt in the process.

"Now let us see which of us knows the meaning of fear!" Crane said with an insane grin as he cocked the gun. He was about to aim it at the Doctor when he was suddenly grabbed from behind by Batman, who punched him in the spot of his wound, and then in the back of the head, knocking him out.

"He's still gonna die Batman!" Wilhelmina yelled as she raised her arms towards him but Batman quickly threw down a smoke bomb. Wilhelmina blindly fired the flamethrowers into the smoke, but only a nearby shrubbery caught on fire. She suddenly felt the stilts get kicked out from under her, causing her to fall to the ground before hearing something snap. She tried to climb back up on the stilts but she could tell by their weight that they had been broken by the Batman. She quickly pulled the black suit pants she wore for the Slender Man costume off, revealing a pair of jeans underneath, and started quickly undoing the attachments to the stilts when she was suddenly shoved down to the ground, a Batarang pinning her arms to the ground and the fuel lines to the flamethrowers severed. Batman stood up off of Wilhelmina and started to turn towards Brooks when he saw that Brooks had recovered and was holding Crane's unconscious form up as a human shield, the gun pointed at Crane's head and backing slowly away from the Batman.

"He forgot who studied his toxin after his initial arrest." Brooks said, tears welling up from fighting the pain in his shoulder, as Batman started to approach but Brooks only pulled back the hammer on the gun.

"This is only ending one way, Batman. Crane dies, I get away. You still can't catch the Slender Man." Brooks said as Batman stood in place.

"You would leave Wilhelmina behind?" Batman asked but Brooks chuckled.

"Her? She's nothing without me. She'll do anything I tell her to without question, so don't try that game Batman! You forget I'm a psychiatrist so I know what you're trying to do." Brooks said, still backing up and not noticing the edge of the Arkham cliffs mere feet behind him due to a thick sea fog that was rolling in.

"Brooks! You're backing towards the cliff! Stop!" Batman yelled.

"What and have you try and keep Crane from dying? I think not!" Brooks replied as he reached the edge of the cliff.

"Brooks!" Batman exclaimed as he reached for his grapple gun.

"UNCLE WATCH OUT!" Wilhelmina shouted as one of Brooks' stilts slipped off the edge, causing him to lose his balance and tumble over the cliff with the unconscious Scarecrow. Wilhelmina let out a horrified scream as Batman leapt forward, firing his grapple gun down towards the two falling villains, snagging Scarecrow by one leg and Brooks by one of his stilts. As Batman started trying to pull them up, Brooks looked up from his upside-down position, confusion on his face as he heard the sound of something metallic breaking. He could feel the stilt caught in Batman's grapple line starting to break.

"You think you've caught me, Batman! But I can still escape!" Brooks shouted as he reached into his shirt but froze and started feeling around frantically for something.

"What? No. Where is it? Where IS IT?!" Brooks freaked before looking back up towards the cliff edge and saw Wilhelmina peering over the edge, a look of dire worry on her face, and a familiar talisman dangling from her neck. As realization dawned on him, he sighed with a smile.

"Willy…be good, kid." Brooks said softly before the stilt finally broke and he plummeted towards the rocky shore below, amidst Wilhelmina's screams of horror as Brooks fell to his death below. Batman had just gotten Crane back up onto the side of the cliff and had just enough time to grab a hold of Wilhelmina before she tried to jump off as well, keeping the anguish blinded teenager from committing suicide, simultaneously ripping the talisman from around her neck. Batman quickly knocked her out to prevent her from doing anything foolish just minutes before Arkham security arrived and recaptured Crane, taking him back to the medical ward. One of the doctors approached Batman and the unconscious Wilhelmina.

"She needs specialized care, doctor, and she'll need to be put on suicide watch." Batman said before turning away, vanishing into thin air before the doctor's eyes.


10:42 AM

"In local news, Gotham Police have confirmed the death of Dr. Wilberforce Brooks, a student counselor at Gotham Academy. Dr. Brooks has been posthumously declared one of the perpetrators of the Slender Man abductions that have taken place over the past few days. Police Commissioner Jim Gordon added in an official statement that Dr. Brooks' niece, Wilhelmina Carde, aged fifteen and a student at Gotham Academy, has been charged with three counts abduction and four counts conspiracy to commit murder as part of the Slender Man abductions. She has been admitted to Arkham Asylum following the death of her uncle at the hands of Dr. Jonathan Crane, a.k.a. the Scarecrow who is also still in custody." The image of Jack Ryder of the Gotham News said before Bruce closed out the live-stream of the broadcast on the Batcave computer.

"So that wraps up the Slender Man case huh?" Tim asked as Bruce nodded but said nothing.

"Pity he left Willy to take the fall for it." Dick said as he checked his eskrima sticks for damage.

"She was just as much a victim as the people she kidnapped. Brooks used her as one would a tool." Bruce said as he looked at the talisman in his hand.

"What R U going 2 do w/the talisman?" Cass tapped out as Bruce walked over to a display case in the "museum" section of the Batcave where numerous trophies and mementos of some of Batman's previous cases were stored, along with some of the older costumes including Bruce's original Batman costume along with the original Robin costume and Barbara Gordon's Batgirl costume, even Jason Todd's memorial. He then proceeded to place the talisman inside of a glass display that had a top hat on it that belonged to Zatanna's father, who had taught Bruce to become an escape artist. He then turned and started to return to his chair.

"One question though. What use did the pages have?" Tim asked.

"Brooks intended for the cops to learn the location of their hideout after all of their victims had been abducted, giving them time to murder them then leave and be long gone with new identities to sustain them. The pages, when put together in the right configuration and when warmed enough, revealed the logo for Gotham Academy drawn in disappearing ink. They didn't count on my being able to recognize the logo even when it was half missing." Bruce replied.

"Oh well that makes sense." Tim said.

"Well, I best be going. Can't say this wasn't fun but crime doesn't rest in Blüdhaven and the criminals tend to go a little crazy if they hear that I've been in Gotham." Dick said as he put his eskrima sticks in the sidecar of his motorcycle.

"Feel free to drop by again soon." Tim said, Cass nodding and smiling in agreement, as Dick smiled to his family.

"You bet. And if you're in Blüdhaven, even for a friendly visit, just give me a call." Dick said, hopping onto his bike and roaring off out of the Batcave. Bruce watched him leave silently before turning to Tim and Cass who were staring at him curiously.

"What?" Bruce asked.

"We've been talking it over and we think you should dress up for Halloween this year." Tim suggested, Cass nodding in agreement.

"You could go as Bruce Wayne!" Cass said with a smile.

"Very funny." Bruce said as he leaned back in his chair.

"Or, you could go as John Wayne. See if people get the pun." Tim suggested.

"I don't do westerns." Bruce replied, smiling slightly.

"Okay then, who are you going to go as, Batman? Real original." Tim said, sarcastically.

"We'll see, won't we?" Bruce asked back with a smirk as he turned back towards the computer.

"I give up. Alfred's right. There's not a funny bone in his body!" Tim groaned as he headed for the elevator back upstairs, leaving Cass with Bruce.

"What is it, Cassandra?" Bruce asked. Cass reached over him and pointed to the icon for "Slender: The Eight Pages," with a curious smirk on her face.

"What about it?" Bruce asked back as she reached for the keyboard, opening an empty notepad file and typing her response.

"Wasn't there before. I didn't put it there. Tim?" Cass typed. Bruce smiled back and immediately opened a web browser before bringing up the webpage to the Gotham Gaming Clan and using the cursor to point at a line of text that read…

"Gotham Gaming Club – Founder: Bruce Wayne."

"You and Tim aren't the only ones who play computer games to unwind now and then." Bruce said as Cass snickered and ran off, leaving Bruce as he clicked the icon to the game, yet in the back of his mind, he knew that he'd be seeing the Slender Man again…and not in the game.


End Chapter 7.