Before the officer/thug could get his gun, however, the back of the van opened and a tall, somewhat older gentleman stepped out as he called, "Gentlemen."
The man who'd been reaching for his gun glanced away from Rebecca and to the mysterious man as the man announced, "Time to spread the word."
A strange, cannon-shaped machine was brought out behind the man and Rebecca's eyes widened as she abruptly realized this man had to be one of the ones working with Crane.
She quickly pulled the boy fully behind her while her hand shot to her own gun, holstered inside her jacket, but the man spotted her and he seemed almost amused as he said, "And the word is-"
He pressed the machine, letting out some kind of wave, while he finished smugly while staring right at Rebecca, "Panic."
Instantly, every manhole in the city blew up as the wave somehow triggered the fear hallucinogen mixed into the city's water supply, and the gas started to flood the streets from every opening. Almost as quickly, people started screaming and crying out in absolute terror, while Rebecca dropped into a crouch as she pulled the boy into her embrace, doing her best to shield him from direct contact with the gas as she held him close to her chest.
"Stop!" Rebecca ordered the mysterious man, coughing as the gas thickened into a fog, but he just smirked at her as he pulled on a gasmask, his team doing the same.
"Try to make me." The man informed her as he walked away into the fog, his men following while Rebecca coughed.
She fired once towards the man's feet, but he dodged – what kind of skills did this guy have? – as he continued to walk away without even looking back at her and his men followed.
Clearly, he thought she was going to hallucinate soon, unaware she'd been inoculated. Unfortunately, Rebecca couldn't follow the man without leaving the boy, who was already starting to gasp as he started to breathe in the toxic gas.
"Hang on, kid, just hang on." Rebecca murmured desperately as she pulled the boy into her arms, starting to move somewhere where the fog wasn't as thick and she could actually see more than a foot in front of her.
She was also desperate to get the boy off the streets, where she could hear people screaming as they turned on each other, driven mad by the toxin and thinking they were facing their worst fears instead of other human beings.
Meanwhile, Gordon managed to jab the antidote Rebecca had given him into his leg right before he inhaled more than one gulp of the gas.
He almost wished what he was seeing was a hallucination as he saw people tearing at each other while others ran about screaming, panicking, if they weren't already curled into convulsing balls on the ground. He spotted Flass about to fire his gun on two innocents, the man clearly also out of it, and Gordon quickly smashed his fist into the man's head.
Flass collapsed, unconscious, and Gordon took some grim satisfaction in cuffing the man onto a nearby steel support beam that ran under the train system that ran through the centre of the whole island.
"-Commissioner Loeb!"
Gordon looked over towards the nearest cop patrol car where the walkie-talkie was blaring as Loeb yelled into it. "Come in. Somebody talk to me. Come on!"
Gordon quickly took the walkie-talkie as he yelled back urgently, "Loeb, go! This is Gordon."
"What the hell is going on in there?" Loeb demanded, and Gordon answered frantically, "We need reinforcements! TAC teams, SWAT, riot cops-!"
"Woah, woah, Gordon!" Loeb interrupted grimly. "All the city's riot police are on the island with you."
"Well, they're completely incapacitated!" Gordon snapped back.
He couldn't see anyone but chaotic people, who were no help, and people knocked out on the ground, who were useless. He couldn't even see Rebecca, whom he assumed was the only sane person left along with him on the entire island.
Rebecca tried to keep the boy calm as she moved them desperately towards the corner of the street, avoiding any people she happened to spy moving in the fog.
The young boy was gasping and starting to hyperventilate in her arms, and Rebecca shushed, "It's okay, just hang on. It's okay."
The boy clung to her like she was his rock – which she probably was for his sanity at the moment – while Rebecca tried to keep him as calm as possible as his eyes darted around fearfully. She didn't blame him – even if he hadn't been drugged, the noises around them were absolutely horrific though Rebecca didn't let anything get close enough for her to actually see anything gruesome.
She could also hear a strange clopping sound, as though a horse was riding closer, and Rebecca looked around warily as she soothed the boy, "It's okay."
He cried out, and Rebecca shushed as calmly as she could, "No-one's going to hurt you-"
At that moment, she heard the distinct sound of a horse charging towards her, and Rebecca turned in time to see the familiar scarecrow mask on the rider's head as Scarecrow rasped through the filter inside his mask, "Of course they are!"
"Crane?!" Rebecca gasped as she stared up at the guy – he was supposed to be in the holding cell at the police station. Then again, someone had managed to organize an entire Arkham breakout – it probably wasn't too hard to get Crane out.
The man pulled the reins on his horse as he stopped before Rebecca, peering down at her to taunt, "No – Scarecrow!"
He reared his horse up then, and Rebecca quickly grabbed the boy and ran as Crane started to chase her.
Gordon stared at his walkie-talkie incredulously as Loeb said despairingly, "There's nobody left to send in."
"So I'm on my own?" Gordon asked in disbelief… just as something came flying over the raised bridges and crashing down behind him.
Gordon whirled around in shock before feeling hope break out like the sun over the sea at dawn as he saw the Batmobile swerving sharply to come to a halt just behind him. The second the tank stopped moving, the lid opened to reveal Batman inside.
Gordon hurried over as Batman stepped out of his vehicle, and the harried officer quickly informed the taller man, "The Narrows is tearing itself to pieces."
"This is just the beginning." Batman cut in grimly in his strange but now comforting deep voice. "If they hit the whole city with the toxin, there's nothing to stop Gotham from tearing itself apart."
Gordon frowned as he asked, "How are they gonna do that?"
"They'll be using the train." Batman answered and Gordon's jaw dropped. "The monorail follows the water mains to the central hub, beneath Wayne Tower. If they get their machine into Wayne Station, it'll cause a chain reaction that'll vaporize the entire city's water supply."
Gordon's jaw clenched as he realized, "Covering Gotham in this poison."
He gestured at the thick fog around them, mostly out of frustration, but he paused as Batman continued firmly, "I'm gonna stop him from loading that train, but I may need your help."
Gordon didn't even skip a beat as he asked, "What do you need?"
"Can you drive stick?" Batman asked, lifting the sensor key to his Batmobile, and Gordon blinked.
Meanwhile, Rachel sped down the street, racing away from Scarecrow as the madman followed her on his horse. He was gaining on her, despite the cover the fog and the other panicking people provided, but Rachel quickly turned around an alley corner.
She quickly dropped the boy as she drew her taser-gun, standing ready as the sound of the horse's feet clopping on the pavement got closer.
The boy watched with wide eyes as, the second Scarecrow turned the corner after them, Rebecca fired her taser. The end hit the man in the face, making Scarecrow scream before he slumped over, knocked unconscious.
Rebecca breathed in relief as the horse galloped off wildly now that its rider wasn't in control, but her relief was very short-lasted.
Rebecca's eyes widened as she saw movement in the fog, and she backed slowly into the alley with the boy in her arms as an entire line of Arkham's inmates appeared before them.
The boy was gasping, though his eyes were wide and focused with growing terror on the approaching men, as Rebecca pulled him behind her back. Keeping herself as a human shield between the boy and the inmates, Rebecca quickly lifted her gun once more, aiming it warily at the inmates.
She couldn't actually fire at them without risking killing them, but she was also aware that if she didn't do something soon she was signing her death warrant. And that meant the boy behind her was dead too.
"Stay back!" Rebecca warned as the inmates slowly edged closer, barely even noticing the gun in her hand.
Rebecca fired a warning shot above their heads, making the inmates pause as she ordered, "I said, stay back!"
The boy whimpered in terror, the gunshot having frightened him even more but Rebecca figured, at this point, a little more scared was better than gruesomely killed.
Unfortunately, the latter was still looking to be a very large possibility as the Arkham prisoners slowly started to approach them once more.
"Batman will save us." The boy whispered shakily as he hugged Rebecca's back and her heart tugged. "He'll come."
Rebecca didn't have time to reply as one of the Arkham inmates lifted a knife menacingly towards them, and she called sharply, "Come any closer and I will fire."
The man barely reacted, and Rebecca fired another warning shot. The inmates paused again, but perhaps sensing her hesitation to actually fire on them, they started closing in again much faster than they had before.
Rebecca's jaw clenched while the boy whispered like a mantra, "He'll come. He'll come."
Rebecca hugged the boy tightly against her back as she aimed her gun for the approaching man's leg.
But before she could fire, a black-cad figure dropped down before them, landing with a crash on top of the prisoner wielding the knife.
Rebecca jumped in shock before sheer relief almost made her collapse as Batman quickly turned and grabbed her and the boy into his arms. Rebecca buried herself into his arms as Batman pulled them up, inhaling the calming scent of aftershave and pine as she calmed her racing heart.
The second they were safely on the roof, he let them go and Rebecca quickly checked the boy, feeling his face and taking his pulse. The boy appeared to be fairing rather well, perhaps because she'd kept his nose and mouth as covered as possible the entire time. The boy let her check him over, his wide blue eyes fixed on Batman almost reverently.
As Rebecca let him go, satisfied, the boy finally turned to her as he said with a wobbly smile, "I told you he'd come."
"Yes, you did." Rebecca agreed, giving the boy an encouraging smile. "And you were a very brave boy."
The boy looked back at Batman, who was watching silently. As the boy stared at him, Batman nodded once both to show agreement with Rebecca's statement and to show that he recognized and remembered the boy from their chance meeting a few days before.
The boy smiled again, before his face relaxed completely. Exhausted, he fell asleep, and Rebecca carefully covered him with her coat before she stood up and turned to Batman… who was about to leave.
"Wait!" She called, hurrying over to him and Bruce paused where he was perched on the roof ledge.
"What are you going to do?" Rebecca asked as she stopped beside him, and Bruce turned to her as he explained, "I have to stop that monorail."
Rebecca frowned as she looked up at the tracks that ran across the whole city as she asked, "The one your father built?"
Bruce nodded as he explained, "Ra's al Ghul, the one who was behind this whole thing, has his machine in the train. If it gets to the city-"
"It'll run right through Wayne Tower, and the central water hub." Rebecca realized.
"I have to stop it before that happens." Bruce said grimly, and Rebecca hesitated.
"You sound like you know this Ra's al Ghul." She noted, and Bruce confirmed, "I did once; I met him in the time I was away."
"Is he stronger than you?" Rebecca asked quietly, and Bruce answered grimly, "We'll have to see."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" She asked, concerned for his safety, and Bruce paused again.
"Yeah, there is." He answered shortly.
Suddenly, Bruce grabbed her, turning them so his cape shielded them from view while he placed his lips over hers.
Rebecca froze, unable to move as Bruce placed a relatively soft, chaste kiss on her, his lips moving gently against hers for a brief moment before he pulled back slightly.
"Give me a reason to come back alive." Bruce murmured, his breath caressing Rebecca's cheek as he remained so close their lips could almost still be touching.
She stared up at him with wide blue eyes as he let her go, turning and finally leaping down. Rebecca hurried to the roof edge to watch as Bruce spread his cape wide behind him, letting the stiffened cloth catch the wind and acting as wings as he swept across the city towards the monorail.
"That's cheating, Bruce." Rebecca whispered as she watched him go, her heart clenching with fear for his life even as her stomach did flips after the kiss he'd given her.
Bruce meanwhile soared high across the Narrows, even as people screamed in utter terror as they spotted his dark form in the sky. The fear gas was probably making them see things, too – maybe breathing fire or something.
Either way, Bruce ignored the noise as he sped his way to the train tracks, searching along the rail for Ra's. He soon spotted a figure moving on the maintenance walkways below the railroad, and Bruce sped his way over to see Ra's and two of his men pulling the microwave emitter up onto the waiting monorail.
Ra's naturally spotted him coming, and the leader of the League of Shadows turned to face him as Bruce dropped down onto the walkway before his former mentor.
"Well, well." Ra's noted dryly as he stared at Bruce from above his own gas mask. "You too my advice about theatricality a bit… literally."
"It ends here." Bruce growled in his Batman voice, and Ra's replied darkly, "For you and the police, maybe."
His eyes narrowed and his gaze was cold as he continued, "My fight, however, lies with the rest of Gotham. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a city to destroy."
Ra's turned to leave, and Bruce asked sarcastically, "I can't beat two of your pawns?"
Ra's raised a brow as he grabbed one of the ropes leading up onto the monorail, and he shrugged, "As you wish."
Two more of his ninjas dropped down from where they had been hiding, lying flat on the underside of the railway above, while Ra's wrapped his hand around his rope and tugged. Instantly, he was pulled up, leaving Bruce to face his four men alone.
The men before him took aim, but Bruce's eyes narrowed as he sensed an added presence behind him.
Before any of his opponents could react, Bruce leapt back at the man who had been trying to sneak up behind him, throwing them both over the side of the walkway. The others followed quickly behind as Bruce and the one ninja landed on the roof below, Bruce using the other man as a cushion beneath him.
He then quickly rolled onto his feet, standing up to meet his other opponents as the first man lay unconscious on the ground.
It took all of Bruce's training under Ra's himself to take on the remaining four League of Shadows members, spinning and twisting as he punched, kicked, and blocked blows. A sword came close to his neck, but Bruce managed to swiftly block it with the scallops on the forearms of his metal gauntlets before he shoved the attacker off as he punched another.
Bruce continued to fight hard, ignoring any blows that fell on his own body as he retaliated ten times over for every hit he received. He finally kicked one man off the side of the building, before shooting a small grapple at another man as the ninja drew a gun.
The grapple wrapped around the gun and Bruce jerked, causing the gun to go flying harmlessly over the side of the roof as well while he tackled the owner, knocking the man out at last. The last ninja came running at him but Bruce twisted, grabbing the man and throwing him over the edge of the roof. The man grabbed onto him, pulling him with, but Bruce easily overcame the other man as he forced the man to roll so that they landed with Bruce on top.
His armour and protective cowl took the blow for Bruce, allowing him to maintain full function of his body while the ninja lay knocked out and probably with a few broken bones beside him. Bruce rolled back up onto his feet, looking around warily as he saw the dark shadowy figures in the fog as the regular residents of the Narrows slowly turned towards him.
The fear toxin still in full affect, the residents started to slowly move towards him, their eyes wild as they started to mob him. Bruce pulled away quickly, his eyes picking up on his grapple gun lying not two five away, but before he could reach for it, the mob was back.
Bruce grunted as they started to converge on him, pulling him back, while above he could hear the monorail starting to move away.
'No.' Bruce thought desperately as he struggled towards the grapple gun, but it was still too far away. 'No!'