Katt Girl, Robin, & The Harley-Kidd: Chapter 36: Mad Hatter Takes Control by Chad Sheefel 12/25/19
After Selina, Gabby, and Lola's identities were exposed by Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne knew Selina and the girls would never be safe again. So, from this day on, he would need to keep their identities hidden. Lucius Fox managed to create new identification cards, then set them up in a neighborhood close to Wayne Manor. Selina had to continue homeschooling the girls under their new identities of Elizabeth and Cheyenne. Bruce realized that Gabby and Lola were determined to be crime fighters, so he allowed Lucius to set them up with everything they would need to help them in their endeavors. He made the suggestion to them that they should go out dressed like normal citizens of Gotham, but stay concealed as much as possible by wearing hoods and thick clothing. He didn't want anyone recognizing their old costumes. They wore bullet-proof armor under their clothes to protect them. Bruce also allowed Selina to secretly come back to work at Wayne Enterprise. Although, Selina would have to stay off the grid because he feared Roman Sionis may still be out to get revenge on Bruce's company and didn't want Selina to be a casualty.
Lex called to let Bruce know that he was dropping out of any investments that he and Bruce had made in the past. Despite the fact that Bruce knew exactly what Lex tried to do to Selina and the girls, Bruce had to play it off as if he was shocked to hear the news. Bruce wasn't concerned about Lex's plans at the moment because Bruce had the weapon which Lex was planning to use on Superman. Surely, Lex would plan to obtain another one soon.
Boss Moxi and Bruno Mannheim was finally going to prison, but they weren't willing to rat out Lex Luthor for his involvement in the crime. Selina wanted revenge for what Lex had done, but she also understood that Lex would play a major role in future events, during which he becomes a great asset in their fight against Darkseid. Lex wasn't about destroying the world, he only wanted to see a fair fight, and Darkseid wasn't a fair fight for anyone, not even Superman.
A couple weeks later, Batman went out patrolling the Narrows. He left his Batmobile parked in a dark alley, then swung his way to the top of a tall building. As he looked down, surveilling the view from above, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary … until he made his way back to the Batmobile. He noticed a mob of people in the alleyway surrounding his car. There must have been at least thirty people standing there. Due to the way they were dressed, the people looked like some of the homeless citizens that slept in the Narrows. None of them were moving and they were standing there like zombies. Batman approached the scene slowly, not knowing what to expect. There was so many of them, he could barely see the Batmobile. He decided to create a diversion to try to scare them away by setting off a loud alarm on the car. Even though the sound was loud and irritating, the homeless people never budged. They continued standing there with their eyes closed as if they were under a sleep spell. Batman decided to walk closer to them while heading towards his car. Nobody moved as he made his way past them. He tried shaking a couple of them to see if they would wake up, but that didn't seem to do anything. Suddenly, all of their eyes opened at the same time, then they began trying to attack Batman. Batman managed to shrug a couple of them off, but he didn't want to hurt them because he realized they must be under some kind of hypnotic control. He shot out a grappling hook, then tried to ascend into the air, but he wasn't able to go anywhere because a few of them managed to grab onto him. He tried shaking them off, but there were too many of them. They managed to pull him down, then completely surrounded him. They were relentless in their attacks. He knew the only way he could survive was to fight his way out. He threw his arms into the air knocking five men off of him at once, then he started punching and kicking his way through the crowd until he finally made it to an opening. He quickly climbed part of a building to higher ground, but that didn't stop the possessed homeless people as they began climbing up the building chasing after him. Some of them lost their grip while trying to climb up which caused them to fall to the ground. Batman realized they were in danger if he tried making his way any higher. He looked off into the distance, then he noticed there was a car parked close to the scene. It didn't look like a car someone would own in the Narrows. Someone was sitting in the car with a device in their hands. He realized they must be the person responsible for controlling all the other people that was attacking him. He shot out a grappling hook towards a building in the cars direction. The man in the car realized Batman had spotted him, then tried to drive away. He thought he managed to get away clean, then suddenly, he heard a loud thud on the top of the car. Batman threw his cape over the windshield not allowing the driver to see the road. The driver began swerving side to side trying to shake Batman from the vehicle. Then, the driver noticed something hit the ground as he looked in his rearview mirror. Finally, he thought he had gotten away. Suddenly, Batman's fist came through the driver's side window, then grabbed the steering wheel causing the car to lose control. The object that the driver saw hit the ground was only Batman's cape. The car was heading directly towards a light pole, so Batman quickly yanked the driver out of his seat, then jumped off of the car just before it hit the pole. Batman and the driver hit the ground hard. Batman managed to tuck and roll, but the driver wasn't so lucky, and he laid there on the ground unconscious. Batman suddenly heard a noise, it was the angry hypnotized mob running towards the scene, still trying to kill Batman. He looked around for the device that the driver was using to control them. There was some kind of passcode he would need to enter to make them stop, but he wasn't sure what the passcode was and he certainly wasn't getting any information from the driver. As the mob got closer, Batman decided the best approach would be to destroy the device. The mob was about to reach out to attack Batman, but Batman smashed the device, then suddenly they stopped. They were slowly starting to come out of their trance, and they were looking around as if they didn't understand why they were there. Batman noticed they all had small earbuds in their ears. He told them to remove the earbuds and smash them on the ground. Batman quickly grabbed a set from one of them before they could smash them because he wanted to take the device back to Lucius to see if he could find out where it was made. But, the earbuds began heating up in his hand. He threw the earbuds into the air just before they exploded. He realized the other earbuds on the ground were about to explode, so he quickly told everyone to run. Just as they all made it out of the way, the earbuds started blowing up one by one. Batman covered himself with his cape, then he tried making it back towards the driver to pull him away, but just before he made it to him, the driver blew up. It was raining body parts. Batman looked around in anger. He had no idea who was behind this. He tried asking some of the homeless people what they remembered before they were put into a trance, but none of them could remember anything. Police sirens began sounding in the background. Batman quickly made an exit, then headed back towards the Batmobile.
Meanwhile, off in a secluded hideout, Roman Sionis, Hugo Strange, and Jervis Tetch watched on a monitor as Batman got back into his Batmobile.
"Damnit! Batman is getting away!" Roman exclaimed. "I told you to let me handle this my way! Now he knows someone is after him! We will not be able to execute our plan while Batman is still alive!"
"Calm down, Roman. I had a contingency plan, just in case Batman managed to make it back to his car." Hugo declared while pulling out a remote control. "Do you know what is easier than controlling thirty people? ... it's being able to control only one car."
"You better hope so, Doc!" Roman blurted out in a menacing voice.
Batman started the Batmobile, then began driving away. Suddenly, he realized he was no longer in control of the car. The Batmobile wasn't responding to anything Batman tried to do. Even the top wouldn't open up so that he could get out. He seemed to be trapped. The Batmobile began heading towards the scene where the police were investigating the homeless people and the explosions. The police noticed the car heading in their direction. They weren't sure what to do because Batman had never harmed a police officer unless the police officer was working for a bad guy. Suddenly, weapons emerged from the Batmobile, then began firing towards the crowd. Police officers and homeless people began dropping to the ground as the bullets hit them. The police that were still standing began firing bullets back at the Batmobile, but the Batmobile continued heading straight for them. Finally, the police officers realized the car wasn't going to stop, then they jumped out of the way just as the Batmobile crashed through the scene causing one of the police cars to blow up. The Batmobile turned back around, then started heading back towards the crowd. Batman tried looking for the device that was controlling the car. He took out a small blow torch, then fired it towards the floor of the car. He looked up to notice that the Batmobile was about to hit another police car, then he braced himself for impact. The Batmobile smashed through the scene, then headed towards the Gotham Harbor while at the same time picking up speed. The Batmobile was only seconds away from the harbor, when Batman finally managed to cut through the floor and find the device. He quickly destroyed it, but as he looked up, he noticed the Batmobile was about to crash into a concrete wall of the bridge, overlooking the harbor. He managed to eject himself from the car just before the car crashed, exploding as it flew over the side of the bridge, then splashing down into the water. Batman had to dive into the water head first.
Moments later, the police showed up to the crash site. They looked around, but all they could see were the smoldering pieces of the Batmobile floating in the harbor. News crews began showing up to the scene. Vicky Vale jumped out of a news van, ran past a couple police officers, then looked out into the harbor. She could see the fragments from the car floating around. Police officers began escorting her off the premises.
"Is Batman dead? Is it true that he fired shots at the police? Vicky asked while resisting the police's grip on her arms as they pulled her away. "I have a right to know!"
"They were rubber!" One of the police officers said.
"What? I don't know what that means." Vicky proclaimed.
"The bullets … they were rubber. Nobody died … well, other than Batman and the poor stiff that was blown to pieces back at the other accident." The officer declared.
"So, you are confirming that Batman is dead?" Vicky asked.
"Sure, you can quote me on that!" he answered.
Commissioner Gordon pulled up to the site. He saw Vicky Vale heading his way, but she put her face down as if she was sad when she passed by him. He realized something was wrong.
After Vicky Vale made it back to her van she gave the announcement. "I'm Vicky Vale and I am bringing you an exclusive report near 6th Street and the Gotham Harbor bridge. It appears as if Batman has died this evening after a shootout with the police, colliding into the bridge, exploding, then landing into the Gotham Harbor. Police are interviewing the victims and they currently have no understanding as to why Batman would have done something like this."
Back at the hideout, Roman, Hugo, and Jervis stood there watching the news. Suddenly, BANG! the television screen was shot out with a bullet.
"I want to see a body, GOD DAMNIT!" Roman exclaimed as smoke still lingered from the barrel of his gun.
"There's no way he could have survived that crash! The car exploded on impact!" Jervis declared.
"Calm down Roman." Hugo said in a calming voice. "Batman is out of the way. Now we can move onto phase two of our plan."
Chapter Recap: (Batman was attacked by an angry mob who were being hypnotized and controlled by Jervis Tetch. Batman managed to figure out who was controlling them, then gave chase to the car in which the villain was driving. He caused the car to crash, then figured out how to make the crazed mob stop attacking him. After getting back into his Batmobile, Hugo managed take control of the car. Batman was led into a shootout with the police, then crashed over the side of a bridge, splashing into the Gotham Harbor. Batman managed to find the device that was controlling the car, then ejected himself just before impact. Vicky Vale showed up to the scene to confirm whether or not Batman was dead.)