The Batman 2: Imposter
It was April 19th. Bruce Wayne's birthday. It had been nearly six months since the Riddler flooded the city. Several Gothamites moved away- if they had the money to do so. Others stayed behind and helped to rebuild. It was almost getting back to normal- whatever "normal" is for a city like Gotham. The criminal element resurfaced quickly. Several factions fought for territory and the map had been completely redrawn by the likes of Penguin, Sionis, Thorne, and Maroni. Smaller gangs took the leftovers.
Bruce did everything he could to help donate to the less fortunate. He also started the Wayne Foundation, in hopes of giving Gotham citizens the opportunities they would need to develop trade skills and strong mental health, so that they wouldn't have to turn to crime. As much as Gotham City needed a Batman, it needed Bruce Wayne even more in such trying times. This was the first time he started paying close attention to Wayne Enterprises and where the money was going. He had stopped putting money into weapon manufacturing. Instead, he put a lot of the money into rehabilitation programs, which included Blackgate Penitentiary and Arkham Hospital. Some programs were already starting to show positive results, others were going to take a little more time.
11PM
The Dockyard Dogs, a gang known for dealing weapons and controlling the docks on the southwest side of Gotham, had discovered that one of their members was allowing certain shipments to pass through the docks without making their leader aware of it. The leader didn't like feeling betrayed, so he had a few of his gang members take care of the traitor. Minutes later, three gang members pulled the traitor behind a few shipping containers where it was nice and dark. They told the prisoner to get down on his knees. It was far enough away from the main part of town, therefore nobody was going to be able to hear him scream while they tried getting information out of him. However, they didn't see the homeless man sleeping under one of the small boats near the water. The homeless man was lucky enough to stay hidden.
"Is it just the three of us doing this? Where the hell are the other two guys?" One of the gang members asked.
"Right! There were supposed to be five of us! We'll just let the boss know they chickened out! He'll probably have us deal with THEM next." Another one proclaimed.
The main henchman pulled his gun out and pointed it at their disloyal prisoner. "Who else are you working for? What was in the shipments you let slip by?" He demanded to know, pressing the barrel of the gun against the prisoner's forehead.
"You don't want to know. You would have been better off just letting the shipments pass." The prisoner responded.
"What are you trying to say? You don't think this gang can hold their own? I oughta put this bullet in your head right now! But… the boss told us, if we couldn't get any information out of ya, that we were to beat you within an inch of your life beforehand."
"Do your worst pal! It'll feel like a vacation compared to what the other guy would do to me!"
"Other GUY? Are you saying there is only ONE guy? Ha ha ha ha ha!" The main henchman laughed. "I'm going to enjoy doing this! And I can't wait to meet this GUY you are talking about!" He exclaimed, bashing the prisoner in the head with the butt of his gun.
He raised his hand to strike again, WHEN SUDDENLY, a grappling hook wrapped around his wrist, catching him by surprise. The grappling hook then retracted, dragging him several feet on the ground, into a dark area between a couple shipment containers. It happened so fast that the other two gang members weren't even sure of what just happened.
They stared off into the darkness. "Yo man! Are you okay!"
THUD! BASH! It sounded as if a watermelon was being smashed in the shadows.
"Go shine your flashlight over there." One member demanded.
"Why don't YOU go shine YOUR flashlight over there?" The other one retorted with a frightened tone.
They both shined their flashlights over towards the ground. They could see that the main henchman was laying on the ground unconscious. Blood drained out from his head onto the ground. Then they quickly shined the light off to the side, barely getting a glimpse of a dark figure, just before the figure jumped out of sight.
"What the hell was that?"
"I think it was The Batman!"
The other man shined his light back towards the main henchman's body. "Look at our dude's head! It's split open like a cantaloupe! The Batman wouldn't have done that!"
"I saw pointed ears and a cape! Maybe he changed up his style."
Suddenly they heard another noise coming from the containers behind them. Without thinking, they both started firing their guns in that direction.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Bullets could be heard ricocheting off of the metal containers.
"Did you hear that? I think we got him! I heard a groaning noise!"
The two men walked closer to that area and shined their flashlights. Their eyes widened when they discovered what the results of their gunfire produced.
"Is that the other two guys that were supposed to be helping us tonight?" One member asked.
"That's them alright, explains why they never showed up. Apparently they were here the whole time."
The two men that were supposed to help were tied up to one of the shipping containers. They both now had several bullet holes in them thanks to the reckless shooting.
"That sonuvabitch knew we would shoot! Come out, you bastard!"
"Yeah! We know what you look like! We saw you working with FEMA after the dams blew!"
POP! Suddenly a gas pellet exploded against the ground near their feet, causing the area to fill up with a thick cloud of smoke.
Within seconds of the men breathing in the smokey fumes, they began seeing hallucinations. One of them saw a fire breathing dragon. The other one saw a huge bat with knight's armor.
Before they could fire another bullet, an object flew through the air, knocking the guns out of both of their hands.
One of the men tried shining their flashlight in the direction where the object came from, but just as he did, his hand was severed from his wrist, cut off with a samurai sword, causing the flashlight to fall to the ground. From that moment on, the only things the flashlight would shine a light on were the falling body parts of both men.
Midnight
Gotham City's new commissioner, James Gordon, had shown up to the scene, along with several other officers. They found the two men that had been shot to death, still tied up to the shipping container. They also found what was left of the other three men.
Moments later, as the police officers huddled to discuss what must have happened at the crime scene, a dark figure emerged from out of the shadows. It was Batman. He walked up to the main henchman's dead body and studied the way he was murdered. He noticed how the man's head was bashed in with a large blunt object. Gordon and the other police officers were willing to let him proceed with his investigation. He then walked over towards Gordon. The police officers stepped aside.
"Two of them were cut up with a sharp object- the other victim was killed with a rock. What do you think his motives were?" Gordon asked.
Batman looked over at the water. "Perhaps someone wanted to get a shipment through these docks and the Dockyard Dogs wouldn't allow it. This was a message."
"What message? What could have been so important that it would have made someone do something like this?" Gordon asked.
Batman looked down near one of the shipping containers. "Someone else was here. These footprints don't match any of the others."
"The killer's footprints maybe?" Gordon suggested.
"No. They had a prisoner here. This was meant to be an execution."
"What do you mean?"
"Look at the markings on the ground. They had someone out here on their knees. I'm guessing it was a disloyal member of the gang. Perhaps he was taking money, trying to make a side hustle, and got caught. It's the only thing that would explain why they were back here."
"So, do you think our missing man is the killer? Maybe the prisoner got the jump on them somehow?" Gordon suggested.
"No. Whoever did this was taller, six-foot, maybe even taller. He did a pretty good job covering his footprints, but he missed one of the scuff marks that he left on one of the shipping containers."
Suddenly they heard a noise coming from the spare boats near the water. They shined their flashlights and pointed their guns in the same direction.
"Come out, whoever you are! Show yourself, or we will have to shoot!" Gordon demanded as he slowly approached the small boat.
A homeless man put his hands up and slowly proceeded to show himself. The police officers ran over to the homeless man and pulled him out into the light. Then, they brought him over to Gordon and Batman.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Gordon asked.
The man was nervous. He didn't want to speak and he kept staring at Batman as if Batman was the Devil.
"I asked you a question. What are you doing here? Did you see what happened?" Gordon demanded to know.
The homeless man nodded his head as if to say "yes."
"Well, what did you see? Do you know who did this?"
The homeless man nodded, yes, again.
"Who? Who did this?"
The homeless man then pointed his finger at Batman. "Him." he replied.
"Him? Him who?" Gordon asked.
The man was shaking nervously as he stared at Batman. "It was him. It was Batman."
2AM
9-1-1 dispatcher sends out an all points bulletin.
"We need every unit available to go to Arkham Hospital. Four Arkham employees are dead. Patients have escaped on foot. I repeat, all available units please respond to the breakout at Arkham Hospital."
Just like the scene at the shipping docks, police officers, along with Gordon, showed up at Arkham Hospital to investigate the crime scene. Except this time, Batman was already there.
2:30AM
Dr. Hugo Strange showed up to Arkham Hospital wearing a robe. He must have gotten out of bed and headed straight to the place. Hugo Strange was the lead psychologist for the hospital. He had only been working there for a few weeks. Psychologists didn't last very long at Arkham Hospital.
He walked in and noticed the trail of blood that was left in the wake. "What happened here?"
"We were hoping you could help shed some light on the situation." Gordon replied. "We are going to need to look at the security footage."
Strange looked over towards the corner of the lobby and noticed Batman was standing there studying the crime scene. "Is that him? Is that The Batman?" He inquired, amazed at the sight of him.
"The one and only." Gordon replied.
Strange approached Batman. "I've heard so much about you from our inmates. Your reputation precedes you. And now, here you are- before my very eyes. I have so many questions for you."
Batman didn't say a word. He simply allowed Strange to continue talking.
"I believe I can help you." Strange added.
"Ahem... The security footage?" Gordon butted in. "You can psychoanalyze Batman later."
"Of course. Right this way." Strange politely insisted.
After making it to the security room, Strange began rewinding the footage back to when the inmates escaped. The video shows Edward Nashton and John Doe breaking out of the visiting cell and killing the four employees before making their escape.
"That's the Riddler and the John Doe that you caught nearly a year and a half ago." Gordon made mention.
"Joker." Hugo Strange muttered.
"Excuse me?" Gordon retorted.
"The John Doe you mentioned… Since nobody knows his real name, the inmates and staff call him Joker… because of his crazy uncontrollable laughter." Strange replied.
"What were they doing in the visitor's holding cell?" Gordon asked.
Strange tried rewinding back to the moments that showed the exchange between them and the visitor, but the footage was scrambled and blurry. Finally, he was able to rewind all the way back to the point of the film where the guards came to take Edward and Joker to the visitor's holding cell, just before everything went blurry.
It was hard to make out what the guards were saying. "... is here to ask you guys a few questions."
"Wait. Rewind that back. What does he say right there?" Gordon asked.
Strange rewound it back. "B….. is here to ask you guys a few questions."
"Rewind it again."
Strange rewound it back again and turned up the volume as loud as it could get. "Batman is here to ask you guys a few questions." The video sounded much clearer and louder.
The other police officers in the room started muttering under their breath. Gordon turned to look at Batman. "What is this all about?" He asked Batman.
"I don't know." Batman replied, feeling just as puzzled as Gordon.
The other officers began surrounding Batman.
"Look. I hate to ask you this, Batman, but where did you go after leaving the docks earlier?" Gordon interrogated.
"I went to ask the leader of the Dockyard Dogs a few questions." Batman replied.
"And how did that go? Is he still-"
"Alive?" Batman finished Gordon's sentence. "Are you saying you don't trust me?"
"I'm just doing my job. Where can we find this leader of the Dockyard Dogs? I'm going to need to have my men do a follow up."
"He runs his operation from an abandoned warehouse about a mile from the docks."
Gordon got on his walkie-talkie and sent a couple police units to go check out the warehouse.
"It's an imposter." Batman said. "He probably got details of my suit when I was helping the National Guard, during the flood."
Gordon looked around and noticed the other officers weren't going to remain patient for much longer. He leaned in to whisper to Batman. "You better get out of here. After the homeless man pointed to you at the shipping docks, and now this, it won't be long before the natives get restless. Especially once the new Lieutenant, Bullock, hears about this. He won't let it go. I'll walk you to the car and make it look as if I am taking you in for questioning. You can do whatever it is you do from there. Don't make me regret this."
