Chapter 1
The Calm Before The Storm
AN: Here it is. The first chapter that is way overdue.
Here are the voice cast to the characters that will appear in my final story of the City of Moon Series so everytime a dialogue pops up, imagine the actors interacting with one and another as their characters:
Jensen Ackles: Jericho Brown/Wolverine
Ashley Greene: Barbara Gordon/Oracle
Kevin Conroy: Bruce Wayne/Batman
Laura Bailey: Maggie Sawyer
Stana Katic: Talia Al Ghul/Demoness
Katrina Law: Nyssa Raakto/Al Ghul
Jonathan Banks: James Gordon
Troy Baker: Arkham Knight And Harvey Dent/Two Face
Nolan North: Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin
Scott Porter: Dick Grayson/Nightwing
Matthew Mercer:Tim Drake/Robin
Martin Jarvis: Alfred Pennyworth
Steve Blum: Waylon Jones/Killer Croc
Khary Payton: Azrael
Lara Pulver: Meg Anderton
Brian Bloom: Roman Sionis/Black Mask
Martha Mackintosh: Rebecca Anderton/Cassandra
Dee Bradley Baker: Ra's Al Ghul
Wally Wingert: Edward Enigma/Riddler
John Noble: Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow
Grey DeLisle: Selina Kyle/Catwoman
Tricia Helfer: Serena Whittaker/Alala
Duane Shepard SR: Aaron Cash
David Fennoy: Lucius Fox
Tara Strong: Harley Quinn
Taia Valenza: Pamela Isley/Poison Ivy
Dwight Schultz: Professor Pyg
Sigourney Weaver: Melanie Brown
Cameron Bowen: Jayden Wayne/Shadow
Stephanie Lemelin: Alexandra Kinsley/Breeze
Yvonne Strahovski: Katy Kane/Batwoman
Maurice LaMarche: Mr Freeze
Cissy Jones: Nora Fries
Megalyn Echikunwoke: Mari McCabe/Vixen
Marc Worden: Deacon Blackfire
and Will Friedle as Shawn Anderson/Prophet
Disclaimer: All rights belong to their respective owners. Without further do, Let's get to the chapter.
"I am Jericho Brown. My mother was murdered when i was just sixteen, I left Gotham when I graduated from high school at the age of 18 to train myself with my father the Demon's Head. 4 years later, I return to Gotham to continue my mother's work. Then soon enough I was captured and brought into Arkham City, a Super Maximum Security Prison built to detain the worst of the Gotham's criminals. With a bulls-eye on my back, I was heading into the lion's den in one of the coldest winter nights in a century."
"My first stop was Harvey Dent, the former District Attorney who has a borderline compulsive obsession to pass out judgment by a toss of a coin. I left him hanging above an acid tank in the abandoned Wayne Court House after I rescued Catwoman from her execution. Batman and I had our first encounter outside the courthouse. We were both locked in by the same man, Hugo Strange, the warden of Arkham City, appointed by the Mayor Quincy Sharp. As the night progressed, we spilt up, he went to find the Joker who allegedly was suffering from titan poison back at the incident in Arkham Asylum over two years ago and had been hiding for several months only when he found Joker, he walked into a trap."
"I found the caped crusader outside of the abandoned Sionis Steel Mill after I helped a medic getting out of Arkham City. She was held hostage by Harley Quinn, Joker's psychotic girlfriend. She was attractive for the all wrong reasons. Batman underwent a blood transfusion receiving the same blood disease and what proves that he was a sociopath by nature was that he shipped out most of his tainted blood to all the local hospitals in Gotham. He demanded that we find Mr Freeze in a hurry because he was working on a cure so we had to track him down to the old GCPD building. However he was kidnapped by the Penguin, a underground weapons dealer. After we rescued him from Penguin's slippery hand, he explained to us that the cure was unstable because the formula wasn't complete. It was missing a restorative element that had to be bonded to human DNA and I knew of one man that carry that particular element. Ra's. Al. Ghul. We followed a member of the League who was held captive as a trophy in the Penguins museum to a underground lair underneath Arkham City. Batman had to undergo a set of trials in order to meet him, and Ra's tried to manipulate Batman into taking his place but it only served him into giving him a sample of his blood... forcibly."
"As we were heading back to Freeze, I received a message that the Mayor Quincy Sharp has been brought in into Arkham City. I put the fear in him after putting an end to his welcoming party and he was scared enough to spill the beans as to why he had been arrested. Strange came to him at the Asylum offering an unlimited amount of cash to support his campaign and the plan to build Arkham City with the assurance he would win the election only for him to realize that he was just a pawn in the grand schemes. I headed back to Mr. Freeze only to find him and his suit heavily damaged. He and The Dark Knight had an argument and ever the opportunist Harley Quinn snuck past them and stole the completed cure. I was heading back to the Steel Mill when choppers that had been monitoring the entire prison facility started to fire missiles. Protocol 10 had been initiated which was Strange's ultimate plan to get rid of all the criminals in Arkham City. Fortunately Batman and I deactivated Protocol 10 at the Wonder Tower, the home of the Warden of Arkham City. Strange was infuriated, his grand plan going up in smoke. But as soon as the attempted genocide was over, my father Ra's appeared behind the deranged Warden stabbing him in the back, literary."
"Ra's then revealed to be the master mind behind it all: Sharpe's fast road to the Mayor's office, The City Council's approval of the building plans of Arkham City and putting Strange in charge. Strange came to him months ago with the identity of Batman as Bruce Wayne and my location. He was widely impressed by how Strange deduced Bruce's identity and also the location of my operations, he gave Strange endless resources giving him a chance to prove himself worthy. But once Strange had failed, he threw him away like yesterdays trash."
"Betrayed, Strange used his last moments of life to activate Protocol 11 which was a self-destructing Plan B. Batman and I charged at the enraged Ra's bursting through the window as the Wonder Tower went up in flames, taking Hugo Strange along with it. Ra's tried to kill both of us but failed which led to killing himself in the process. But the night wasn't over, when Joker appeared on the big screen outside of Monarch Theatre, he had my sister Talia at knifepoint. Before we confronted Strange, Batman informed me that Talia had The Joker spare him in exchange for the Lazarus Pit. I cursed myself for believing the lie she told me after the Dark Knight had beaten the Demon's head that she would not do anything irrational."
"We headed to the Monarch Theatre to see him holding a knife to her throat, his trademark grin and that sadistic glee. We tried to reason with him but it fell on deaf ears as he demanded the curse confusing the two of us. Talia took advantage of the confusion getting out of his grip and proceeded to retrieve her sword stabbing him through the chest in the same manner as Ra's did to Strange. It was she who stole the actual cure from Harley Quinn just minutes before Protocol 10 had commenced at the Steel Mill. However we noticed that there was no blood on the sword and by the time we made the discovery that it wasn't the joker, it was too late. Talia was shot in the back by the real Joker. the Joker impostor transformed into Clayface who absorbed the vial in process. We sliced him up like a thanksgiving turkey during the fight and thus regaining the cure. Batman took it and he was free from the poison that was killing him from the inside."
"But there was only one left. Batman contemplated of whether giving it to Joker knowing the chaos and the deaths that would ensue each time he'd spared him."
"But he didn't have to make it as karma was at its finest when an rather impatient Joker got the jump on him and it caused the Dark Knight to drop the vial that contained the remains of the cure shattered into pieces, ending whatever chance Joker had to survive. We were there to witness the last laugh of the Clown Prince of Crime as he succumbed to the titan poison with a smile on his face."
"As we left the theatre, carrying the body that was once the Joker out of Arkham City, a single thought came into my mind. The Joker and Ra's Al Ghul was dead. I was still alive, but I had a feeling it was not over. It wasn't over."
XXXXXX
He groaned as he woke up on their shared bed at their apartment in Gotham Heights. It was a cold October morning, the rain was drenching the windows and the clouds were covering the sky. It's been over two years since the death of the Clown Prince of Crime and things were surprisingly normal, if you could put it. The crimes that used to plague Gotham for decades were at an all time low and there was some sort of peace, calmness if you will. It was something that Jericho hadn't felt in a long time. There was a huge power struggle amongst the criminal elite which was good news for the law enforcement in Gotham. The former Mayor Quincy Sharp was found hanged in his cell just a month before the anniversary of his imprisonment following the shutdown of Arkham City. He may not liked the man but still he couldn't help to but feel a little sympathy. The former Warden of Arkham and Mayor had the best intentions but in the end he ended up being a public figure of death and misery as the others before him.
However he knew from experience that peace wouldn't last for long and he couldn't help but have a sneaky feeling that something big was about to happen soon. Very soon. Barbara who was sleeping soundly turned to put her arm on his chest. "Five more minutes." She grumbled with her eyes still closed.
"Well, I hate to ruin the morning for ya. But we got jobs to attend to. He got out of the bed and went to get her wheel chair that was by the bathroom door. He pushed it to the edge of the bed so it would be easy for her to climb out of it. Jericho went to the answering machine to see if there were any new messages and dialed it in.
Beep! "You have one new message." The answering machine started to play the recent recorded message and a female voice spoke through the speaker.
"Jericho, it's Kate. Just wanted to remind you about Maggie and I's engagement party next week. I hope that you'll show up with Talia and Bruce. Tell Barbara I said hi."
"Katherine Rebecca Kane, she got into the game few months after Arkham City was promptly shut down and Sharp was sentenced to life. She grew up most living from base to base with family contained of her, a twin sister Elizabeth and their parents. A typical military family. That was until the terrorist attacks in Brussels where the group abducted the twins and their mother. They were rescued fortunately by their father General Jacob Kane but that can't be said the same for their mother, she died protecting them. They moved to Gotham when Jacob eventually got remarried with a wealthy socialite. But just as they were settling into their new life, Kate was attacked by some lowlife thugs but thanks to her military training, she took her attackers down easily and that was when she saw the Bat signal. That was the moment she joined in the ranks. My impression of her when we first met was she's very devoted to the cause... to a fault."
Jericho sighed as the recorded message ended. Ah yes, the invitation to her engagement party. She and Maggie met at the GCPD precinct a few years back when the latter was transferred to ICU from Metropolis. One night led to another and a few years down the line, they were set to marry each other. It's amazing to think how you can find love in this city no matter how long or short it may be especially in this day and age.
With a sigh, he headed to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the day by starting brewing some coffee as Barbara rolled into kitchen still in her nightgown. Something told him that it was going to be a long day for them.
"It's been over two years since Joker was cremated. Hell, I was there when I saw them burning that bastard myself. Almost all of Gotham's citizens and law enforcements braced themselves for the inevitable power struggle within the criminal underworld but it'd never come. Crime actually fell. Of course I knew there was only matter of time before it happened. I was wondering of just who would be the one to pull the trigger."
XXXXXX
"You're late." Jericho noted as his nephew walked into a coffee shop downtown and sat across him on the seat that were reserved for him. It was Sunday afternoon, rain was still pouring outside of the shop and to prove it, Jayden shrugged the umbrella off the rain drops onto the floor before placing it under the table as he took his seat.
"You don't wanna know what held me up." Jayden said,
"Ally?" Jericho guessed, Jayden scrunched his face in grimace at the mention of his long time girlfriend in confirmation. Jericho nodded in understanding, he'd figured that would be his answer. "You're right." He sipped his coffee quietly enjoying the taste.
"Jayden. How can I describe my nephew? Jerk? Check. Jackass? Check. Playboy? Check. Arrogant and cocky? Double check. But that is to be expected considering the childhood he had. Moving from foster family to another not knowing his biological parents and then of course being rich tends to get a ego. But overall he's a nice guy. Almost."
"How's the old hag?" Jayden asked as he took a sip of his own from the coffee his uncle ordered for him.
Jericho inhaled thinking of how to describe his redheaded fiance. Ever since Arkham City was shut down and of course Sharp's suicide a year apart, things had been hectic for the Gordon Family. With the mayor election coming up real soon now empty, Many people considered the police commissioner as a favorite for the job. Gordon initially didn't want to considering the amount of corrupt mayors that were in the Mayor's office in the past like Hamliton Hill, Aubrey James, etc. Basically he told them to piss off. But it took some convincing from his daughter and Bruce to get him starting his campaign. and so far, it was going in his favor.
As for Barb, the wedding was all but set, the venue and that all was left was the date. the reason why she hasn't found a date that was because of their night lives. That can be expected although he had a sneaky feeling that there was more to it than it meets the eye.
"Well let's say she's spending nowadays planning our wedding and lemme tell ya, she can be quite demanding."
The blue green eyed nephew agreed to the assessment. "Ain't that the truth. she's stubborn as her old man."
"Or her mother." They chuckled in unison for a moment or two before going silent.
"I gotta admit, Gotham has improved in the last 11 months." Jericho observed, taking in the scenery that was becoming the norm in his hometown that had one of the most highest mortality rate in the country. "Crimes are down."
"People not shooting each other on regular basis." Jayden added.
"The amount of deaths that occurred everyday."
"No Laughing gas."
"Remember when Vicki had the balls to confront Sharpe after his trial with a ship manifest containing weapons that had his approval on it?" Jericho recalled,
"How could I forget? That look on his face. It looked like he was about to blow a gasket." That brought out a light hearted chuckle out of both of them remembering the look of horror on the former mayor's face when he was presented a requisition form with his signature regarding the illegal weapons shipment.
Jericho sighed, changing the subject. "How's your dad? Still not wanting to talk about what happened in Arkham City?"
"Not wanting?" Jayden scoffed, drumming his fingers on the table. "Not going to is more like it. He's as stubborn as always. Not even Mother can even persuade him. Hell, even I told him that clown got what he deserved."
Even though he didn't say it out loud, Jericho worried from time to time of how much Joker's death affected Bruce in a negative way. He'd become more ruthless, more aggressive. It seemed as if he had stepped away from his humanity. He recalled a conversation he had with his sister Talia at the wayne Manor a while ago.
"Yes, I feared you would mention it. I too noticed a change in beloved's behavior as of late. Since the Joker's demise at that theatre in Arkham City, he has been more... distant." Talia remarked after listening to the expressed concern from her brother. "I fear that someday the tragedies he'd suffered will eventually overwhelm him."
The former League of Assassins member took a sip from his coffee glancing at a spot outside of the café where a brown haired teenager was being handcuffed by GPCD officers before being led into their squad car and then a memory hit him faster than a baseball player hitting a fast ball.
XXXXXX
11 years ago.
This wasn't a good day. It really wasn't, for Jericho that it is. First off, he'd arrived to school two minutes late. Two minutes late. It's not the end of the world but no, Mr Terry did not like his late arrival to his first class. he went on a rant like children of today don't have any respect for their elders blah blah blah, the usual. And to top it off he got a detention. A detention. for arriving late.
Musing about how unfair the school system was, Jericho bumped into a short haired boy few years younger than him who was few inches short than him. his clothing consisted of a red shirt, short brown pants and pair of worn out sneakers that were riddled with mud. Needless to say, he was an orphan.
"Watch it kid!" he yelled as he watched the kid running past him, turning left to the corner of the street as he left out of his sight. Jericho could only shake his head at the amount of children that were homeless and parentless. Gotham has really sunk deep into the abyss. He headed to the bus stop only for when he was about to take out his wallet from his jack pocket, he noticed it was empty. His wallet was missing.
"What the..." It took only a second for him to realize that what happened. the kid who he bumped into earlier must've pick pocketed him on the way. It angered him because he was having a really bad day. "Son of a bitch!"
Meanwhile the kid was in a alley, counting the money he took from the teenager. Like taking a candy from a baby as they say.
"Forty? that's decent." he muttered, pocketing the cash into his pants pocket.
"Freeze!" he froze in place as the firm voice of a police officer appeared from out of nowhere. Damn, the cops. how the hell did they get here? "Lay down the wallet and put your hands up."
Thinking fast, the boy tried to come up with a somewhat convincing explanation and considering the reputation that the GCPD has, it's fair to say he had to think fast. "I think you got the wrong guy officer. I was about return this."
Lady luck was not on his side today as the officers did not buy that feeble excuse. "Nice try, kid. the caller gave us a pretty good description of what you looked like so don't try playin' that samaritan card." The officer that spoke to produced a pair of handcuffs and slapped them on both of his wrists forcefully while his partner frisked the boy. It didn't take long for him to find the heap of cash inside his pants pocket.
"Wow, you actually remembered how i looked. I'm surprised, given that you take bribes to look the other way." he quipped,
The law enforcers were not too pleased by the insult as that seemed to hit a nerve. "A funny guy eh?" One of the officers punched the kid in the stomach, taking the breath out of him. The brunette got down on both knees coughing as he tried to regain his breath. "We don't tolerate those types around these parts."
Still trying to regain his breath that had left his lungs, the kid still had a few quips up his sleeve. "Gee what a surprise. Didn't your wifes give you guys enough blowjobs?" he croaked, gasping for air.
"And for that you just earned a night in jail. C'mon." One of the officers picked the young boy up by the arm dragging him to squad car before being shoved into the backseat. "Can we get at least your name Mr. funny guy?"
"Todd. Jason Todd. Want me to spell it for ya?"
Unbeknownst to them, Jericho watched the whole thing from a distance. He was embarrassed by the display of police brutality he'd seen but that was norm in Gotham. So he took out his cellphone and pressed the number for speed dial to make the call. After a few moments of waiting, the recipient accepted the call.
"Hi Mom, it's me. Listen I need a favor."
XXXXXX
Jericho's trip down the memory lane about his adolescent years was interrupted by a screeching sound coming from the speakers outside. he looked past his nephew to see the costumers leaving the shop. looking around for an explanation, he saw the news report of a chemical attack at a diner in Migani Island on a big screen TV at the counter and then at a giant projector on the building across the coffee shop. his eyes widened as he recognized the person. It can't be him. It was impossible. "Oh, no."
Confused, Jayden watched his uncle getting from his seat and exited the shop in a hurry. "What's going on Uncle?" The former didn't reply an answer to his nephew's question. However just mere moments later, he had the same reaction as his uncle. You gotta be fuckin' kiddin' me." he muttered as he followed pursuit.
On the projector, a man dressed in a twisted and darker suit of the Scarecrow that struck fear into the Gotham citizens. he was sitting on a chair in a darkened room with his head hung. It was Jonathan Crane aka the Scarecrow who hasn't been seen since the Arkham Asylum Incident where he was supposedly killed by Killer Croc. According to Bruce that it is.
"This demonstration used just five ounces of my latest toxin." His voice sounded nothing like the scarecrow they'd come to know. It was complete devoid of emotion, the jovial tone he'd usually had was gone and replaced by a calm and eerily tone."Tomorrow, this will seem like child's play."
Crane looked up showing his mutilated face, his mask looked like it had been surgically grafted into his face. his eyes were completely dull white and had no emotion in its irises. "Gotham, this is your only warning: Abandon the city, or I will unleash your greatest fears."
Not soon after the broadcast of the former Arkham psychiatrist's ominous threat had ended, the citizens of Gotham started to panic; the chattering amongst the frightful citizens increased in volumes. The only ones that were not taken by fear or worry were the two members of the Al Ghul Family. Jayden and his uncle Jericho. They knew that they had a long night a head of them and it was gonna be one of those nights.
"Jayden, call your parents. Tell them Scarecrow's back in town." Jericho ordered.
Not taking his eyes of the public projector, Jayden obliged to the command. "My fuckin' pleasure."
"It didn't take long for Scarecrow's threat to take affect. The evacuation order was issued by the city council and nearly 6.3 million people were evacuated within 24 hours. the only ones who hadn't left were the ones of criminal element. The scum who relished in chaos that followed. Once again Gotham had to rely on one man and his allies to save them. but what they didn't know was on that night was the night the Batman died and the Wolverine rose from its ashes."
XXXXXX
Now this was the foundation that will set the tone for the story. Keep in mind I won't update as quickly as possible.
