Earth-22
It was an all-out war between Batman and the Joker. The city of Gotham was on fire, the police defeated, and civilians running scared. Joker looked over the fires and chaos with joy in his heart. At his feet was Batman tied up and beaten. An explosion was suddenly heard in the distance.
"Which one was that, Bats? Mercy Hospital or perhaps Gotham General. Hard to tell this late in the game," Joker mocked.
Batman panted as he tried desperately to free himself of the ropes pinning his arms to his sides. "Aw, come on. You have to get into the spirit of things. My drugs are only interfering with your body, not your mind. I made sure of that," Joker told him.
Batman spat blood on the pavement in response. "There we go. Look, I know this must be hard on you. It's hard for both of us. Do you have any idea how much work goes into the coordination of killing an entire city?" he asked rhetorically.
"I suppose you wouldn't. That's not your thing, is it? You and your pals with your no killing rule. Even good old Jim Gordon, right to the end: By the book, bring him in by the book," Joker mocked with an impersonation of Gordon.
Joker then lifted Gordon's tan coat, his eyeglasses, pipe, and badge as if they were trophies. The badge had a bullet hole in it. "But when I finally got to him, he understood. I saw it in his face, in his eyes, before I dissolved them, of course. He called for his girl, last. Frankly, it was hard to hear...since his jaw was melting off. I saved his pipe for you. It's still warm," Joker said holding it out to him.
Joker placed his foot on Batman as he continued his speech. "You see, Bats, we're running out of time. We have to evolve. We have to find that breaking point, the joke too far. It has to exist, Bruce, I know it does," he said.
He then looked up at the night sky. "So, tonight, I'm going to tell it. I'll shout it from the damn rooftops. Can you hear me, Batman? Can you?" he asked.
Joker then noticed a family approach. "Oh dear, what's this? A lovely family headed back from the theater."
"Duunt," Batman gurggled.
"I know what happens next. It's like poetry, it rhymes," Joker said and then shot the two parents dead leaving a scared shitless little girl behind.
Joker went over to the spooked little girl. "Don't worry, girl. You don't need mommy and daddy anymore. You're the first citizen of a brand new Gotham split between me and him. Doesn't that sound wonderful?" he asked her.
The girl started laughing hysterically and then ran off looking positively ghoulish. More people arrived on the scene "Now, bring on the next family and the next. Keep'em coming," Joker laughed.
"JOKER!" Batman shouted as he suddenly broke.
He tore off the ropes around his body and took hold of Joker. "And here we go," Joker smiled insanely.
"Stop!" Batman demanded of him as he took Joker to the ground.
"I'll never stop," Joker declared.
Batman proceeded to beat the shit out of the Joker punching him repeatedly to the face and knocking teeth out. "You still don't have the guts, do you, Bruce. It's going to be you and me, together, forever," Joker laughed.
Batman pulled Joker up and put him in a headlock. "STOP!" he shouted at him. Finally, Batman snapped Joker's neck releasing a green toxic gas out of his mouth as he died.
Two days later, Batman and Superman casually looked over the chaos of Gotham as people ran around with Joker grins on their faces. Self-absorbed much, the two discussed their feelings on Batman killing Joker. "He was already dying anyway. The chemicals that made him the Joker were eating him from the inside out. That what's pushed him to go this far. That's why he pushed me...," Batman excused.
"Are you alright?" Superman asked concernedly.
"If you're asking me whether I'll slide down a slippery slope and start killing anyone that crosses me or my sense of justice...," Batman said and then let it hang.
There was an awkward silence between them. "Then no. I won't give him that satisfaction," Batman concluded.
"That's all I needed to hear, best buddy," Superman said pleased.
"I've spoken to STAR labs about taking the children in...but they said no," Superman said glumly.
"Well...shit," Batman sighed. "Maybe they are beyond saving."
"No one is beyond saving, Bruce. That's why we have allowed the likes of Joker and Lex Luthor to escape time-and-time again even though they've both caused countless innocents to die," Superman reminded him.
"That's right," Batman nodded.
"I'll be administering the treatment myself. A psychologist spoke to one of them and had her throat nearly bit open," Superman said.
"Ha!" Batman laughed immaturely. "I mean, that's not funny. That's fucked up," he corrected himself.
"In these dark times, we all need a sense of humor even if it's a little twisted," Superman said to him.
Three days later, Nightwing, Red Hood, Batgirl, and Robin engaged lethal-as-fuck training robots in the Bat-Cave. "You have to be fucking kidding me. More robots?" Batgirl asked exasperated. "Since when has a training been three hours long?"
"Quit your bitching. This is nothing compared to what Bruce has given Damien," Dick scolded her.
"I think Bruce increased the difficulty setting. They've never been this dangerous before," Barbara said as a robot Robin with butcher knives sliced at them both.
"Watch out!" Dick said to her as she nearly got sliced.
Tim swooped in and gave the robot robin a kick to the head beheading it. "What's our strategy, Jason?" Dick asked him as he avoided a large robot with a flame thrower.
"Beats me. It's bulletproof," Jason said as he fired his pistols at it.
"You're going to need to shut it down manually," Tim said to them.
Dick then leaped up and engaged the robot tearing out its circuitry on its chest disabling it. "Bruce, it's been years since you brought us all in the cave together. What's up?"
"I honestly thought that training session would kill you all," Batman replied.
"Yeah, right," Dick scoffed.
"I brought you all here because the four of you would notice something was wrong with me before anyone else would," Batman said turning his back to them.
"We're all here to help," Barbara said naively.
"I'm sorry. I can't let you do that," Batman said to her.
"Bruce...what the fuck are you doing?" Dick asked finally.
"Something you weren't prepared for," Batman said with a demonic grin. He moved his cape aside to reveal two submachine guns in his hands. With his right hand, he fired into Barbara's head, chest and leg killing her instantly. With his left hand, he fired into Jason's head and chest, through Tim's jaw, and Dick's chest and left arm.
Batman then reloaded and finished off Tim and Dick before they could defend themselves. Batman then sat in his chair and laughed at the dead bodies of his sidekicks before him.
Midvale
Inside the family home, Kara helped Eliza with dinner while Jeremiah cooked steaks on the grill outside. "Something wrong with your eyes, Kara?" Eliza asked concernedly.
"I just got exposed to some nasty Kryptonite...again," Kara said.
"Was it the Luthors?" Eliza asked.
"Yeah," Kara sighed. "Just when I think I'm getting through to Lillian, she backstabs us. It's very frustrating but I have hope she'll turn around eventually," Kara said.
Alex finally arrived. "Work at the DEO was such a cluster-fuck."
"You really should quit and get a normal job, Alex," Eliza advised.
"Mom, I have to save the world. No one else will and J'onn has mysteriously disappeared, so I have to manage the DEO all by myself as acting director," Alex said bitterly.
"J'onn will come back. He always does," Kara said hopefully.
"Steaks are ready," Jeremiah said coming inside with a plate.
"They smell great," Alex approved.
"You know what also smells great? The smell of human flesh after I use my heat vision," Kara said disturbingly.
"Wait...what?" Eliza thought she misheard.
Kara fired heat vision on Jeremiah's right arm blasting off the cybernetic arm. She then quickly grabbed the arm and beat Jeremiah to the face with it sending him to the floor. She proceeded to slam the arm into his face until it was no more.
"Kara!" Eliza screamed.
Kara then advanced on Eliza punching her to the chest and ripped her heart out. Alex took out her pistol and fired on Kara without effect. Kara took hold of Alex and systematically tore her apart limb-from-limb and then beheaded her. Kara looked over the bloody scene and then went to the bathroom. As she looked at herself in the mirror, she noticed her face was pale, her eyes bloodshot, and her veins discolored. She then fired heat vision at the mirror that bounced back and blasted her head off.
Space
A week later, the Watch Tower was a bloody mess. Hawkman was outside the station having suffocated to death, Flash was strangled by Elasticman's body that was now in ribbons, Martian Manhunter's body was in a contorted mess with his gut blasted out and his head stretched out from his body on the floor and the ceiling, Red Tornado's body destroyed with his head lying on the floor, Wonder Woman strangled to death by her own lasso and Superman weakened and infected.
"Bruce...what the freak?" Superman asked him as his eyes were blood-shot.
"I've been thinking a lot these last few days about the man I was. I waltzed into the armory and it struck me how many bad-ass weapons we've collected over the years. I remember how I justified bringing them here. You thought they should have been destroyed but I pushed to know how they worked. And I do, Superman. I know how to use doomsday weapons that can level cities in seconds. Now that my mind is right, I finally understand. It's so simple," Batman said to him from the shadows.
"I wanted to use them, Clark. I wanted to use every single one of them," Batman explained.
"But why?" Superman asked.
"I don't have to hold back anymore. Hell, I'm disappointed I can only do it once. Do you realize how many ways I can kill you?" Batman asked rhetorically.
"The people...the people will see what you are. They'll fight back," Superman said to him.
"They fucking better. What fun would it be if they didn't?" Batman grinned insanely.
Lois and Jon then entered the room. "Holy shit, what has he done this time, Clark," Lois said stunned.
"My eyes. Something's wrong with my eyes. I'm scared," Jon said.
"Go ahead and tell your wife and child it will be alright," Batman mocked. "That the good guys are going to win in the end."
"I won't let you cheapen what I stand for. I won't lie to my family," Superman said as he embraced Lois and Jon.
"Aw, that's okay. You can lie to mine," Batman said revealing three Joker robins and a fucked-up version of Damien.
"Father, can I play with Jon, now?" Damien asked.
"You did this to your own son?" Superman asked stunned.
"It only took a little push and he did it to himself. Gave me an idea for what I'm going to do to you. This is modified Black Kryptonite. When I tested it on Supergirl, she ripped her family apart before it killed her," Batman revealed.
"Bruce, you don't have to do this," Lois said to him.
"I know, catch," Batman said tossing the Black Kryptonite towards her.
"Lois, stand back," Superman said as he started to lose control.
"What's happening...," Jon said distressed.
"Clark, Jon, stand back, get back," Lois said to them as they advanced on her. Superman and Jon then proceeded to rip her apart as Batman laughed.
On the window of the Watch Tower, Batman used Lois's blood to make a happy face with a big smile on the moon.
Gotham
The new Batman Who Laughs got himself a new outfit with black boots, pants, bulletproof vest, trenchcoat, hood, and a shiny metal visor over his eyes that had spikes on it all around his head. He no longer needed to see in the visual spectrum. He could now see the souls of man in order to know who to corrupt and who to destroy. In short order, the Batman Who Laughs destroyed his world and felt content but then something gnawed at him.
A hooded creature named Barbatos came before the Batman Who Laughs. "There are universes beyond this one, infinite universes. In each of these universes, there is a Batman just like you. There is one particular universe where Batman is the most formidable, the Batman. I can bring you to these worlds, to drag them kicking and screaming into the dark," he said to him.
"You had my curiosity," Batman Who Laughs smiled wickedly. "Now, you have my attention."
Earth-23
As a child, Bruce saw his parents gunned down in the street. In the darkness, Joe Chill tripped over a garbage can, his gun fell out of his hands as he fell. "Where are those damn pearls?" he said looking around in the dark.
The still shell-shocked Bruce stared at the gun on the ground. "Run, kid, just run," Joe Chill yelled at him. "You hear me, kid?"
"No!" Bruce shouted and grabbed the gun from the ground.
"The hell you think you're doing?" Joe Chill asked outraged. "Fuck," he realized as Bruce held the weapon at him. "Kid, you don't have to," he held his hand out defensively.
"Shut up and die," Bruce said as he fired at him. The bullet went through Joe Chill's hand and into his head killing him instantly.
Years later, Bruce trained himself with training and discipline. He traveled the world and learned from every mercenary and assassin he could, but he needed weapons, and training wouldn't be enough. He needed a symbol to strike fear into his enemies. Finally, it came to him when a bat crashed into a window at Wayne Manor. Bruce instinctively shot the bat dead with a pistol as it entered the living room.
"I shall become...a bat," he realized.
As his official act as Batman, Bruce went to a rich party and shut off the power inside. Grim Knight then gunned down the security outside the mansion and went inside. "Ladies and gentlemen, you have eaten well. You have eaten Gotham's wealth. It's spirit. Your feast is over."
"From this moment on, no one is safe," Grim Knight said to them and then opened fire.
The mansion was set ablaze as Grim Knight systematically gunned down every elite and then allowed the fire to burn their bodies to ash.
Soon thereafter, Batman Who Laughs and Grim Knight met in the Bat-Cave. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't blow your head off, mother-fucker," Grim Knight said as Batman Who Laughs emerged from the shadows.
"There's something you should see, something that will shake you to your core," Batman Who Laughs grinned.
"Tall order," Grim Knight doubted.
Batman Who Laughs extended out his pale, diseased-looking hand to him with a smartphone. "Play it," he offered.
Grim Knight kept his pistol on Batman Who Laughs and took the phone. He then saw a video of various clips put together in a trailer. "Batman gave up on us," Catherine Kane declared.
"The fuck is this shit?" Grim Knight wondered.
Grim Knight then watched Kate Kane kissing Sophie Moore from their Airforce days. "Nice," he smiled.
"So, I have this thing about rules," Kate said as she used the elevator.
Grim Knight frowned not liking where this was going. "It will be...when it fits a woman," Kate said of the bat-suit. Grim Knight put the phone down as the phone screamed, "I am a WOMYNNN!"
"This bitch needs to die a slow death," Grim Knight said outraged.
"It's not that simple. She's under the protection of Supergirl," Batman Who Laughs informed him. "We must work together if we hope to destroy this imposter."
"Too easy," Grim Knight said confidently.
Batman Who Laughs activated his portal device allowing the two of them to arrive on Earth-38.
Author's Notes: Kate Kane will not be returning as Batwoman in Season 2 and will be replaced by some random Lesbian street rat. I feel rather vindicated with Adventures Kate quitting and riding off into the sunset never to come back after Kara is unable to truly train her for the role. I'm a bit peeved that Kate Kane has been retired and will not reconcile with Alice/Beth nor her father. I mean, what was the point of Season 1? It's cool, though. Adventures will make it right. This episode was a filler based off the comics to get some background on the main antagonists.