GOTHAM CITY HALL

District Attorney Harvey Dent, Jr. walked up the lengthy steps leading to the entrance of City Hall. A young blonde haired lady smiled sheepishly at him as she was leaving and stumbled on the top step, nearly taking a disastrous plunge down to the street below.

He caught her before she could fall and gave her his winning smile. "Careful, ma'am. It's a long way down."

"Thank you," she turned bright red with embarrassment. "I'm such a clutz."

"Not at all," he reassured her. "I couldn't count the many times I've nearly stumbled down these steps."

She smiled sweetly at him and then continued on her way. He watched her descend the steps and admired her backside for a moment before continuing on his way.

Harvey Dent, Jr. was accustomed to women behaving that way toward him. He was a solidly built black man with a clean shaven face and he had a smile that tended to make women go weak at the knees. Even at the age of thirty-eight he still didn't look a day over thirty.

He approached the entrance and admired the large poster attached to the door. The poster had a picture of his father on it with emboldened words that read: RE-ELECT MAYOR HARVEY DENT 2019.

He continued through the door and made his way through the throng of people busying along with their day to day routine. He entered the elevator and pushed the button for the top floor. Once on the top floor, he headed toward the office at the far end of the hall.

He approached the beautiful brunette Secretary sitting behind a large mahogany desk in front of the office. "Good evening, Sarah."

She looked up from her paperwork and upon seeing him stood up and gave him a hug, "It's so good to see you. Congratulations on taking down that fiend Sal Maroni. That should definitely put a hole in Falcone's pockets."

"It's a step in the right direction but Maroni will never get linked to Falcone. The old crime boss remains ever so elusive."

Sarah sat back down and sighed, "It's frightening to imagine that Falcone could possibly be our next Mayor."

Harvey, Jr. laughed. "The people love my father, Sarah. It'll be a cold day in hell before Falcone gets elected over him."

"Speaking of your father, he's been under a lot of stress today. Seeing you would probably do him some good."

He nodded and headed into the Mayor's office. His father was speaking angrily to someone on the phone.

"Just find out how that slimy son of a bitch got the file in the first place!"

Mayor Harvey Dent slammed the phone down and ran his fingers through his dark gray hair. He wore a gray suit with a red tie and he still had his signature mustache.

"Dad, you're a little too old to be letting stress get to you like that."

Mayor Dent looked up and noticed his son was in the room. He smiled fondly at him. "It's Gotham City, Junior. If you're not stressing then it's because you're probably dead."

Harvey, Jr. chuckled, "Well you can scratch Sal Maroni off of your list of things to stress about. He is beginning the rest of his life behind bars."

Mayor Dent walked over and squeezed his son's shoulder, "You're proving to be a better D. A. than I could have ever hoped to be."

Harvey, Jr. shook his head, "Not even close. You're the one who inspired me to follow in your footsteps."

"Good, then follow in them again and take over as Mayor. Then your old man can finally retire and move to a warmer climate."

Harvey, Jr. laughed. "Not a chance, pops. You don't see a sign on me saying, 'glutton for punishment'."

Mayor Dent chuckled, "Ouch. Tell me what ya really think, Why don't ya."

Harvey, Jr. took his coat off and hung it up while his father went to a counter and poured them both a drink. "So what brings you all the way to City Hall, Junior?"

Harvey, Jr. accepted the drink and took a sip. "Just wanted to check up on ya and give you the good news about Maroni. From the way it sounded when I came in, you could use some good news."

Mayor Dent nodded as he walked to the balcony and looked out over the city, "You're right about that."

"What was that phone call about?"

Mayor Dent sighed and swallowed the contents of his glass. "Don't worry about it, kiddo. Just a bunch of political b.s."

"Fair enough."

They were both silent for a long moment and then his father spoke while still looking out at the city. "Truth of it is, I'm growing weary of this job. I love this city and have devoted my entire life to trying to make it a better place. Here I am almost eighty years old and it's still just as rotten as it was thirty years ago."

Harvey, Jr. watched his father curiously. "You've done a lot of good, dad. Between you, Commissioner Gordon, and a certain someone who likes bats, y'all gave this city hope again."

Mayor Dent looked at his son, "All we did was place a band aide on a festering wound. Gordon's gone, Batman's gone, and here I am well past retiring age still trying to fight that good fight."

"It's who you are, dad. You don't know how to quit and you're not fighting alone. I've got your back."

Mayor Dent smiled. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Junior. You and your mother have always been the inspiration that kept me going."

Harvey, Jr. shook his head. "You were the inspiration, pops. I don't know where I'd be today if it weren't for you. Especially during those dark times when I had gaps in my memory."

Mayor Dent seemed to tense up and then quickly changed the subject. "How about you treat your old pops to some dinner. It's been a long damn day and I could eat some chinese food."

Harvey, Jr. noticed his father's tension at the mention of his past memory lapses but decided not to pursue the subject at the moment. "Chinese sounds like a great idea."

The streets of Gotham City were rampant with activity. A full moon shone over the city. Hookers lined the streets in search of prospective customers, thieves looted the unsuspecting innocent bystanders, and every other nefarious thing that could come to mind was happening, especially in the darkest places where light was scarce. Gotham City after the sun went down was not a place that a respectable person wanted to be.

One such respectable family was walking down the street, having just left the circus. It was a father with his wife and two sons. His name was Tom and he had an average job with a mediocre wage. He had to save money for months just so that he could take his family to the circus. His sons loved the acrobatic family, "The Flying Graysons" and it had meant the world to them that they finally got to see them perform live.

His youngest son of about ten years of age exclaimed. "Can you believe it, dad!? The kid does all those death defying stunts and he's my same age! I want to be like "The Flying Graysons" when I grow up!"

Tom had wanted to say something encouraging to his boy about him being whatever he wanted to be when he grew up, but then he noticed something that took his attention off of his excited son.

In front of them about two yards away were a few of the gang members that were calling themselves, "The Mutants". They were generally identified by their different colored Mohawks and bright red sunglasses.

He had three options to take. Option one would be to take his family past the Mutant gang members who were notorious for robbing, raping, maiming, and murder. He decided against that option. Option two consisted of going to his right where traffic was bustling and there were no crosswalks. That option was out. The third and final option was to take a detour down the dark alley to his left which wasn't an ideal scenario either, but it was ultimately the best option available to him.

He turned his family toward the alley, "Let's cut through here."

His wife looked at him curiously and when he motioned toward the Mutant gang she then understood. Each parent took a son and kept them close as they started down the alley at a brisk pace.

The alley was littered with garbage and a couple of homeless people were huddled up trying to keep warm. Some of them glanced at the family, hoping for a hand out, but Tom being broke as he was had nothing to offer them.

Tom glanced behind them and to his horror noticed that the three Mutant members had started walking down the alley and were staring straight at him. Sweat began to bead on his forehead and he moved his family along at a quicker pace. After a few moments he looked back and noticed that their pace had increased as well.

His wife nervously asked, "What is it, Tom?"

Tom bent down and grabbed a broken beer bottle without slowing down. "If I tell you to run, you take our boys and run like hell. I'll try to hold them off long enough for you three to get away."

Her eyes began to water. "Oh, God."

His plans were ripped to shreds when he noticed two other Mutant gang members enter through the front of the alley way. His heart stopped as he realized he and his family were surrounded. One of his boys had started to whimper.

The three from behind had caught up to them. One of them had a purple Mohawk with ring piercings in his lips, eyebrows, and nose. He pulled out a knife and said. "Where you rushin' off ta, square?"

Tom pushed his family against the brick wall and tried to shield them as best he could. "Please just let my family go. I'll give you all that I have."

A member with a pink Mohawk and a tattoo of a knife on the side of his face had a wooden bat and slammed it into Tom's stomach. He fell to the ground coughing.

Pink Mohawk sneered. "Nobody escapes the Mutants, square! Not nobody!"

The oldest son yelled and kicked pink Mohawk in the balls. He went down hard, clutching his crotch. The Mutant's laughed hysterically.

An orange haired Mutant said. "The kid's got gusto, oh yes he does." He grabbed the boy by his hair and stuck a knife to his throat. "But it ain't gonna save ya, little square."

Tom shouted angrily and grabbed the broken bottle he had accrued earlier. He shoved it into orange mohawk's face. "Get away from my son, you bastard!"

Orange Mohawk went down clutching his bloody face and wailing in pain. Tom barely had time to recover before purple Mohawk elbowed him in the side of the jaw. He hit the ground hard.

Purple Mohawk knelt down beside Tom and flashed his knife. "Now you die, square. Slice and dice!"

The wife began to scream, but before purple Mohawk could carry out his threat, a black baton landed upside his head and he crashed to the ground unconscious. Tom looked up to see the wielder of the baton.

It was a young cop with dark hair and piercing dark blue eyes. The other two Mutant members were temporarily stunned by the cop's arrival. The young cop had a gun in the other hand and coldly addressed the standing Mutant's.

"I'd get the hell out of here, if I were you."

They stared at him with malice in their eyes but decided to heed his advice. They collected pink and orange Mohawk but left purple Mohawk unconscious on the ground. The cop watched them until they left the alley and then knelt down to handcuff the unconscious purple haired Mutant member.

Tom got back on his feet. "Thank you, Officer." He glanced at the officer's name on the uniform and it read: Kyle.

Officer Kyle brought the groggy purple Mohawk to his feet. "Just doing my job, sir. Y'all have a good night."

Tom nodded gratefully and left the alley with his family.

Damian Kyle roughly shoved the Mutant gang member with a purple Mohawk against his police cruiser, which was parked just outside the alley. He glared at the punk for a long moment and had to resist the urge to beat him to a bloody pulp.

He'd transferred to GCPD two weeks ago and in those two weeks he had grown to hate the Mutant gang with a passion. They were responsible for at least twenty confirmed homicides and countless other acts of mayhem.

Purple Mohawk spat on the ground by Damian's feet. "You know who we are, Copper?"

Damian nodded, "Yeah. You and your band of turds are scum. What of it?"

Purple Mohawk laughed, "We kill coppers for sport."

"Not this copper," Damian said. "Not tonight."

Purple Mohawk looked at the name plate on his uniform. "Let me go and I'll forget about this night...Kyle. I'll be out shortly anyway. Save yourself the paperwork."

Damian pressed the baton up under the Mutant member's chi. "One chance, turd. Tell me where to find the leader of your gang and I'll forget you just threatened an officer."

Purple Mohawk laughed. "You're a funny, Copper. We don't betray the leader. Not ever."

Damian sighed, "That's too bad."

He opened the back door and roughly shoved purple Mohawk inside the police cruiser. The Mutant member banged his head against the top of the cruiser while going in.

Purple Mohawk hissed, "Police brutality!"

Damian slammed the door shut. "Cry me a river, shit for brains."