Katt Girl, Robin, & The Harley-Kidd: Chapter 29: Rebuilding by Chad Sheefel 12/06/19
Mourning had came to Gotham. Bane's reckoning left the city shattered and broken. Those who survived the Joker's deadly toxins were beginning to come out. Ra's al Ghul's plans of destroying the city never completely came to fruition, but he almost pulled it off. The Joker was nowhere to be found. It was as if he didn't want the same kind of power that Bane was looking for. Yet, there was something very insidious about him. The U.S, military finally brought help. The total body count of the dead was nearly a million citizens of Gotham, and it was growing by the hour. Buildings had been destroyed, lives were changed, but this battle was over. It was time for a new beginning.
Bruce, Selina, Alfred, Gordon, Chad, Dick, Gabby, and Lola had become a family. They put together refuge houses, brought in nurses and doctors to care for the sick, and provided as much food as possible. Bruce thought about why Ra's was hellbent on destroying Gotham and why Ra's hated the Wayne family so much. Perhaps the Waynes did take too much. Perhaps they should have given a little more. Maybe Gotham City wouldn't have become so dark and corrupted. Bruce knew that it was time to give as much of it back as he could. That is what a real hero would do. Not only would he jeopardize his stake in the company, he would also sacrifice his mind and body to keep it from becoming what it once was.
The cave was completely clear of rubble. There was nearly sixteen thousand square feet of space. They reinforced the cave so that it could never collapse again. Then, they started rebuilding parts of Wayne Manor. Many secret passageways were installed to lead to the cave. Gordon returned to the police force. He was promoted to Commissioner because of his courage to lead the resistance. Harvey Dent had never regained consciousness. He was kept at Gotham Hospital, which had new leadership by the name of Dr. Hugo Strange. Strange was very good at his job and took it very serious.
Bruce and Selina would train Chad and the children for at least five hours a day. They were all put on strict diets and exercise regimens. Gabby seemed to learn fast. She had the agility of her mother, plus the strength and detective skills of her father. Lola and Dick were constantly sparring against one another, even when there was no training going on. Chad would go out for a couple hours each day in hopes of finding younger Selina Kyle. But, there didn't seem to be any signs that she was out there. He wondered if the Shadow Master would ever try to regain control of his body. Plus, he feared what might happen if he did reappear. Lucius Fox continued to help rebuild Wayne Enterprise. He also continued coming up with better outfit designs and gadgets thanks to older Selina having lived through it once before. Willis and Jason Todd also managed to survive. They lived in a homeless shelter for men.
Gotham City had changed. Somehow, it's rebirth gave the decent people new hope towards the future. The Narrows were getting cleaned up and there was plenty of work to go around. The City elected Aubrey James as Mayor, and they rebuilt their police force. Commissioner Gordon was very thorough during the hiring process. He placed a man named Edward Nygma as the head of forensic sciences. Nygma was an introvert, but seemed to be very good at putting all the pieces together. Arkham Asylum had been reclaimed by the proper authorities, but many patients were unaccounted for. Thousands of bodies were found in the Gotham Harbor. Bruce built a memorial for everyone that never had a chance to go back home.
Bruce setup cameras throughout the city. He had infiltrated many back alley crime scenes during his quest to understand the criminal elements of Gotham. He wanted to be ready for anything the police were unaware of. Every night, Bruce and Selina would take a couple of the children out with them to train. They would work on blending into their surroundings. Every-now-and-then they might encounter a thug, which was good, because it would let other criminals know that someone was watching over the city. Bruce knew that if he wanted to keep Gotham City a safe place, he would have to stay ahead of the curve. Rumors would soon be circulating of the Bat and the Cat protecting the city. Bruce also designed a spotlight that could signal him if there was ever serious problems arising.
The spotlight had never been used until April 7th, which was also Bruce's twenty-fifth birthday. Although Selina and Alfred tried to help Bruce celebrate, Bruce was never much for those types of events. There was always something needing to be done, and there was no holidays that could make him surrender his guard. Batman met up with Commissioner Gordon on the rooftop of the newly constructed Gotham Police Department. Gordon informed Batman that there was a new wave of crimes going around. Something about a man dressed up as a scarecrow. The Scarecrow carried around a scythe. Gordon told Batman where the Scarecrow had been spotted, but Batman hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary on his cameras. So, he decided to check them out first. In doing so, Batman discovered that many cameras had been looped to replay April 1st. (April Fools Day) Obviously, someone had the technical capabilities of discovering Bruce's hidden cameras. Suddenly, a revelation came to him. What if someone had cameras on him?
Bruce asked Lucius to develop a system that could detect camera signals within a ten mile radius of Gotham. Once he did, the computer revealed thousands of cameras that didn't belong to Bruce. Lucius figured out a way to view there channels, but there was something scrambling the signal. At that point, Bruce knew he would need to be spending more of his time actually going out at night. He left the cameras looped on April 1st so that the criminals behind it wouldn't be let on that he knew about it. Bruce allowed Chad to come along as Nightwing, but he still wouldn't allow the younger ones to go out yet. Selina could tell that Gabby, Lola, and Dick was getting anxious. Every so often, Selina would take them out to patrol the less dangerous side of Gotham City. Unfortunately for them, the less dangerous side was where Scarecrow was hiding out.
One night, as Selina and the kids were out patrolling, they spotted a crowd of citizens acting scared and irate. Selina told the kids to stay put while she went to get a closer look. It looked as if people were trying to kill each other, while some ran around screaming as if something was coming after them. Off in the distance, near Gotham bank, Selina could see men loading things into a van. They were wearing ski masks, and their leader wore the Scarecrow outfit. She snuck over towards where the men were at. It appeared they robbed the bank as they were loading up bags of money. There were three men standing guard as the others loaded the van. She decided to interrupt their fun.
"Hey fellas, where is the party at?" Catwoman asked.
The men turn around. Then they raised their guns towards her. Snap! She quickly knocked one of the guns out of a man's hand, then jumped out of the way as the bullets started flying. The Scarecrow looked over to see that there was a scrum going on between her and the guards.
"Hurry it up fellas! It looks like we've been discovered!" Scarecrow said.
Selina managed to get the best of the three guards just as Scarecrow and the rest of his crew was driving away.
She decided to cut them off at the pass as she swung her way in the direction they were headed to. She landed on top of the van. The men inside the van heard her hit the top of the roof, then began firing bullets through the roof. She was too clever for them. As they were firing through the roof, Catwoman swung her whip around the steering wheel, then she caused them to lose control. She quickly jumped off as the van drove head-on into a tree, and she managed to land on a tree branch. None of the men were buckled, causing them to smash their heads into the windshield. There wasn't anymore gunfire. She jumped down to see if anyone was still alive. As she opened the door, she was suddenly sprayed in the face with some kind of gas. She felt paralyzed and scared.
"Enjoy your trip, you'll be dead soon!" The Scarecrow exclaimed as he grabbed the bags of money, then ran off out of sight.
Selina began having delusions. Flashbacks from the future, of the end of the world, started storming her vision. The fire and brimstone was getting closer and closer. It didn't appear that Bruce would be able to send her and Gabby through the time portal in time. Gabby, Dick, and Lola made their way to her. She wasn't listening to them as they tried to calm her down. She broke out into a terrible cold-sweat. They quickly called Alfred. Alfred got in touch with Lucius. He brought her a stimulant that could stabilize the Scarecrow's gas. They managed to get her home. When Bruce found out that Selina was sneaking out with the kids, he became very irate.
"How could you take them out there! You know they aren't ready! Bruce yelled.
Lola quickly piped up. "Don't yell at my mother!"
"Yeah! We are ready! If you don't want us here, just say so!" Gabby insisted.
Chad quickly got between them, then tried to calm everyone down. "Okay! That's enough guys! We need to let Selina rest!" Chad yelled as everyone went their separate ways.
Chad followed Bruce into the new study. "Can we talk Bruce." Chad asked.
Bruce sat on a chair and yelled, "No!" then pushed a button that allowed him to descend into the Batcave.
Chad could tell that Bruce had changed a lot since he came back from the League of Assassins. Bruce was constantly in a deep state of concentration.
Bruce was down in the Batcave slamming his fists against a punching bag. He wasn't sure how to handle the current situation with Selina and the girls. In a way he felt responsible for them since his future self was supposed to be their father. Obviously, the Wayne blood flowed through their veins. After he wore himself out from swinging at the punching bag, there was only one thing he could think about doing … going after Scarecrow. He jumped in his new vehicle that him and Alfred built from an old corvette he picked up from a junkyard. He made it so that nobody would be able to recognize where it came from. He started it up, then revved the motor as flames fired out the back of the exhaust. He literally took off like a bat out of hell, then headed into the city. A new war has just begun.
Chapter Recap: (Bruce and the gang started rebuilding Wayne Manor and reinforcing the Batcave. Gotham City elected a new Mayor and began rebuilding the city. Jim Gordon became Commissioner of the new police force. A new bad guy named Scarecrow emerged. Catwoman and the kids spotted Scarecrow robbing a bank, then tried to stop him. Scarecrow managed to spray Catwoman with his fear gas. Lucius saved her by neutralizing the fear toxins. Bruce got upset when he found out that Selina and the kids were going out without telling him. Batman jumped in his new Batmobile and went out looking for the Scarecrow.)