Chapter Five: Year Four (1942-1943)
"You need order in this world in order to survive! The criminals which infest our streets thrive when the police can't do their jobs. The rise of vigilantism is a sign that we need more order! The police are the first and should be the last line of defence against anarchy, not the fake heroes that act outside the law. To avoid chaos, order must have overwhelming strength!"
Sergeant Leona Ozaki, speaking in her controversial campaign for the Japanese Diet in 1996
As American fought overseas against external enemies, Gotham would be torn apart by its own factions and armies as the death of Carmine Falcone opened up a power vacuum like little else. The world outside had the conflict known as World War Two. For Gotham though, this was the period that many referred to as 'The Year of Hell'. This would be the period when chaos almost ruled the city and the madness which Gotham would become infamous for really gained notoriety.
The death of Carmine Falcone was the instigator of the chaos, his presence having held together the mob after the repeated losses it had to endure throughout the last four years. Even before the Joker was taken away in cuffs, ripples were being sent throughout the city as news of the attack on the Falcone mansion was common knowledge by morning. While the fallout of this would lead to the events that would follow, the spark which would light the tinder would be the Joker himself.
Having been the sole survivor of the battle in the mansion (Ballistics would reveal that Joker had killed at least six men on his own side, possibly to claim credit as being the only one left), the Joker offered no resistance when he was taken away by police. Instantly, the station the Joker was being held in was mobbed by the press and by members of the public, all wanting a look at the man who had killed Gotham's most powerful man. After several hours of interrogation, the Joker was quickly charged and prepared for arraignment, Gordon wanting him under secure custody as soon as possible. Walked out of the station, the Joker was seen by the immense crowd around the building, even as the GCPD had tried to prevent this by taking him through the back door.
It was here that Joker showed his art of manipulation as clearly as he ever called out to the reporters, claiming to have stolen $2,000,000 from the Falcone family and would give it to the person or persons who helped him escape from custody. Despite the best efforts of James Gordon, the papers reported the comments and it was spread throughout Gotham by word of mouth anyway. What followed was an eerie peace as the police tried to desperately organise a way to get Joker out of Gotham before those who had heard his call for freedom answered it. The death of Carmine Falcone had left the mob fractured and with its previous difficulties, many rank and file members were hurting for money. The Joker's offer was tempting to even life long Falcone family members and as the police tried to prepare arraigning the Joker out of the city, forces were gathering to stop them.
Despite the best efforts of Gordon, there were still leaks in the GCPD and even though decoy vans were sent out, some gangs managed to get the actual time of the Joker leaving police lock up. On the 11th May, the Joker began his journey from police custody to the jail outside Gotham where he would be waiting for his trial. It was only six blocks from the station when the van and its escort came under attack. A group of six men struck with concentrated fire-power and forced the van to escape while part of the escort dealt with the ambush.
This happened twice more as hardened thugs struck at the van and its remaining escort, forcing the forces guarding the prisoner to weaken as they broke away to deal with the attacks. In the background, the Batman was ever active as the criminals who ambushed the van and its escort were taken down n large part due to his efforts. The attacks that were stopped were done so in large part due to his efforts, witnesses noting that the shoot outs were brought to an end by an unseen force taking out the attackers before a glance being seen of the Dark Knight as he continued to follow the Joker.
But, even Batman could not keep up and the third ambush finally forced the police escort to a halt as a truck crashed into it, killing the driver and injuring the other police in it. Within minutes, the Joker had been broken free and put into a car that sped off into the night. Despite the best efforts of Batman and the GCPD, they were unable to stop the culprits and the Joker escaped. After having the madman in their grasp, the GCPD had been unable to stop him from getting away while rallying the criminal element to his side.
What unity the Joker had inspired in the criminal element rapidly vanished however. With the one prize keeping several factions together, Joker's millions, having been lost to others, the power vacuum from the death of Carmina Falcone and the blows given to the mob now pushed things over the edge. Divided, beaten and desperate, the remainder of what was once the East Coast's most powerful mafia family turned on itself in a viscous civil war. The first shots were likely fired the night of the Joker's escape, the bodies of the men who rescued him were found the morning after the operation, riddled with bullets, lying beside an empty chest. After his escape, it appears as if the Joker had another laugh at someone else's expense, manipulating those who had helped him to kill each other over a false prize.
Not long after, the actual fighting started between the remnants of the Falcone mob. Shots were being fired in the streets as men struggled over territory and rackets. Within the month after the Joker had escaped, Gotham's streets were soon rife with violence as the police were busy trying to track down the madman and contain the fighting. Whatever attempts there were to stop the gang war were hampered by the threat of the Joker hanging over people's heads like the sword of Damocles. A raid on a chemical factory in early June saw the only clue left behind being a joker playing card, ramping up fears over what he was planning as the summer dragged on as similar raids on other chemical plants took place.
That soon faded into the background as the mob war dragged on, shootings occurred on a weekly basis with the deaths soon mounting and innocents caught in the crossfire. A bloody swathe was cut through the city as the gangs tore themselves apart, June seeing reports of Batman appear constantly to stop what fights he could. It was at this point, on the night of the 20th June, that one of the most iconic elements of the Batman myth was seen. A signal, bearing a bat symbol was seen in the sky, originating from the police headquarters in Tricorner Yards, casting a lone light in a dark sky.
The Signal (Or Bat-Signal as it was dubbed by Gotham residents), was claimed as a technical fault by Commissioner Gordon, who still denied any link between the GCPD and the Batman. His story would change over time, claiming that it had a psychological impact upon Gotham's criminal element. While the Commissioner contradicted himself, there was no doubt that the latter reason was true, the signal certainly had an impact on criminals and other people alike. People claimed that through the summer of 1942, seeing the Signal in the sky, being reminded that Batman was out there and fighting for them. It was a sign of hope over the following months, one that was sorely needed. The Signal appeared on an almost nightly basis throughout June and July, coinciding with increased sightings of Batman as he and the GCPD steadily brought things under control, arrests and prosecutions against the factions happening constantly. The bloodshed began to wane with the pressure being put on the different sides depleted them of enough men and resources to force a lull in the fighting.
By early-August, the claimants of the Falcone throne had been whittled down to two men, Rupert Thorne and Arnold Stromwell. Both had been made men in the Falcone family, but their lack of Italian heritage had prevented them from raising higher in the ranks. The damage done to the Falcone family thanks to the police, the incarceration of Maroni and the death of Carmine Falcone himself meant that their rise from minor roles in the family to leading members of the remains was meteoric and bloody. They had managed to stand tall amid the ruins of Carmine Falcone's former empire, their former comrades all either dead or in custody. After a bloody two months, it looked as if peace would be secured as both men sent out peace feelers to each other before they could be bled white.
The hopes for peace would be shattered with the reappearance of an old enemy of the Falcone family. Harvey Dent had spent nine long months in a hospital bed, in agony, delirious and his mind near breaking point. Just when it seemed as if he was guaranteed his greatest victory and to end organised crime in Gotham, it had been snatched away from him, leaving him a disfigured and broken man, as well as blind in one eye. He had gone through nine surgeries to simply help survive the injuries the acid had done to him, as well as try to repair as much damage as possible. While Dent survived, the damage to one half of his face was irreversible.
The ninth operation, performed in July, had been done in the hopes to deal with the scarring that marred his face. The attempt sadly failed as the worst of the scarring remained and the failure finally caused Dent to snap, breaking out of the hospital and vanishing into the night. Although it wasn't known at the time, it was soon discovered that Harvey Dent had had a history of mental instability stemming from an abusive childhood. Beaten by his father for the tiniest infraction, Dent had done his best to always obey the rules. The anger and resentment he had felt had been repressed over the years, shown only in occasional outbursts when the pressure of dealing with the Falcone family got too much. The repressed emotions finally found a way to show themselves with the scarring as the two, radically separate parts of Dent's personality were now given outlets in the form of his physical appearance. They would duel with each other constantly, Dent resorting to a coin flip to resolve the conflict within him.
Having escaped from the hospital, only one thing came to Dent's mind, revenge. He wanted to kill all those involved with the Falcone family still alive and cared nothing for those who stood in his way. Gathering what few resources he could, the crooks who had survived the blood letting and weren't affiliated with the remaining factions as Dent looked to get his revenge. His decision on who he would strike at first was decided by the aforementioned coin toss, a double headed silver dollar which Dent had previously kept as a good luck charm. Scarred on one side by a knife, Dent flipped and it was Arnold Stromwell who had the misfortune to be the target.
By the 25th August, a fragile peace had settled over Gotham as Stromwell and Thorne had agreed to a truce while they tried to recover from the arrests and bloodletting. Stromwell had retired to his penthouse in Old Gotham, After a year of climbing up the ranks in the Falcone family and months of being the target of numerous assassination attempts, Stromwell looked to finally be able to relax with his family and regather his strength, unknowing of what was to come. Having investigated Stromwell before the attack at the trial, Dent was well familiar with the man's personal habits and chose to strike just as he was arrived back from a meeting with his lieutenants. Knowing that Stromwell's always smoked outside when at home due to his son's asthma, Dent also knew that the gang leader always stopped for a cigar before going inside his home for the evening.
According to witnesses, the attack came as Dent approached Stromwell himself. Amazed to see Dent alive and in his current state, the gang leader and his men were stunned and focused solely on the man before them. It was this which gave Dent the edge, able to pull out a gun and shoot down Stromwell before he could react, Dent's hired goons soon doing the same to the gang leader's men. In one evening, Dent managed to decapitate one remaining force of the gangs in New York and add another agent of chaos into Gotham's already manic situation.
The aftermath of the attack sent shockwaves throughout Gotham as Harvey Dent, the crusader against crime and leading light for the people, had become a murderer. While there was sympathy for him from various corners of society, his actions had put him beyond the pale. Added to this was the fact that Dent was seen flipping a coin after murdering Stromwell, deciding on whether or not to kill the witnesses as well. Thankfully for those present, the coin came up clean side and Dent and his gang escaped instead. The instability showed by a man previously respected so much by the city unnerved many and he was instantly labelled as too dangerous for regular people to approach. As if to put the cap on Dent's tragedy, the press gave him the nickname 'Two-Face', adding a tone of mockery to his downfall.
Having killed Stromwell, Dent had shown his hand in going after the remains of the Falcone family. It would be obvious that Thorne would be next and he became a priority for the police to bring in. Commissioner Gordon's diaries would reveal later on that he felt some responsibility in what had happened to Dent and that he wanted to bring his former ally in before he fell any further. To that end, Thorne was offered police protection to his surprise and Gordon's own aggravation. An trap was created for Dent with officers lying in wait around Thorne's own compound in the Upper East Side of Gotham, knowing that Dent's singled mindedness would lead to a short wait.
Barely three days after Stromwell's death, Dent indeed struck, going in guns blazing as he and his gang looked to overwhelm the security with sheer fire-power. The police force managed to hold the group man before the Batman interfered, reports saying he jumped into the fray, landing in the middle of Dent's gang as he leapt from a nearby second storey window. The firefight mixed with hand to hand combat as the police and Batman put pressure on Dent's gang, the group being taken out one by one until only Dent himself remained. Shooting until the end, it was a blow from the Batman that sent Dent to the floor, ending his vengeful rampage, for the time being.
Arrested and charged with murder, among other crimes, Dent's capture was tinged with the tragic nature of it all. That this man, who had strove for justice and done so much to clean up Gotham, was now a madman who had to be brought in. Various police officers noted that the Batman, long believed to be nothing if not stoic under the extreme circumstances he placed himself in, appeared to be hit hard by what had happened before quickly vanishing into the night.
With Dent's arrest, the city was allowed a short period of peace. Rupert Thorne was now head of what remained of the crime syndicates, although the chaos had crippled the resources and forces available to them. Despite the fact that organised crime was now in the descent, there was still fear in Gotham. Outside of the wartime fears of a sneak German attack across the Atlantic Ocean, it was the Joker who was the subject of the worries of Gotham's inhabitants. In the months since his escape, the madman had kept himself to limited raids on chemical plants or even pharmacies. The raids took what were apparently unconnected substances that very few could find a way to put together.
One of those who could however, was Dr. Jonathan Crane.
A professor of both psychology and chemistry, Crane was a Gotham native who had excelled in academic pursuits throughout his entire life. He had published papers on phobias, becoming the leading expert in the US on the subject. He had also looked into how chemistry could effect the brain, changing perceptions and whether they could induce or remove the feelings of fear with the uses of hallucinogenics. While hired by the Canadian military for consultation on such a project at the outbreak of World War II, Crane's willingness to go to extremes for his experiments saw his projects shut down within months and he narrowly escaped prosecution.
Upon returning to Gotham in mid-1940, Crane found his career languishing as his methods were highly criticised for their extreme measures. He eventually took a job at Arkham Asylum, Gotham's local mental health institute after being rejected for a position at the local university. There, he continued his experiments with chemistry, using the asylum's inmates as guinea pigs. In late 1941, he perfected a gas that could cause anyone who breathed it to suffer from violent hallucinations, centred around their greatest fears as it stimulated the amygdala. Long term intake of the gas resulted in irreversible insanity, causing Crane's victims to fall into an almost catatonic state as the constant terror broke their minds.
Crane's obsession for terror went even further in Gotham's 'Year of Hell', the chaos in the city and Batman's increased sightings inspired him to mimic the crime fighter. First, he needed greater resources though, using one of his patients, a former lackey to the Joker, to contact the criminal after his escape from the GCPD. In return for Crane giving the Joker a place to hide from the law, the Joker would raid various chemical plants and stores so that Crane could build up a large supply of his gas. With no one knowing why the Joker was making these raids, it was impossible to see what items he was stealing until it was too late.
Less than two weeks after Dent was arrested, on the 10th September, Crane made his first mark on the city. Carrying on with his theme of fear, he donned a straw mask and rough hewn outfit, later claiming to have been inspired by the Batman with his own costume as a way to strike terror into others. Walking the streets of Gotham's Battergate, the worst for dangerous crime, Crane must have struck an almost comical figure, at least at first. Dressed as if he was early for Halloween, gangly limbs and straw hair poking out from under his hat, it's no surprise it took some time for people to approach him, perhaps thinking it was some kind of prank. When someone did approach him though, they would be the first victim of the Scarecrow.
Whether it was to mock, to steal or simply talk, the man who approached Crane only received a face full of his terror gas for his troubles. The effect was instant as the man was reduced to a screaming wreck within seconds, Crane's field test of the gas on an unrestrained subject a complete success. Having fled the scene, Crane's role in the crime was suspected due to his past, but unable to be proven as police records show. Had he left it there, Crane almost certainly would have remained a free man until his experiments in Arkham were revealed. But he couldn't stop himself and a week after the first attack, Crane struck again, this time using his gas on a restaurant full of people by throwing a grenade through the window.
Out of the thirty people in the restaurant at the time, eight people died due to the wave of panic gripping them, one of them a child. The rest had to undergo extensive treatment with some suffering from life long after effects of the gas. The attack caused a wave of panic throughout the city, which Crane had hoped for and although the police tried to close in on him, it seemed that the doctor had managed to escape from their grasp as no direct evidence could be found linking him to the crime. That was, at least, until the Joker resurfaced.
Having to wait in the shadows in the months after his escape, the Joker had finally grown tired of people taking away his limelight. With Crane making headlines as the Scarecrow, the Joker decided to remind people why he was feared with his own attack on Gotham. It was infuriating to some that little is known about the Joker's past as his expertise in various fields hint at numerous possibilities, but it's impossible to confirm any of them. Chemistry is one such field as the Joker revealed that it wasn't just Crane he had been stealing chemicals for. The Joker had been trying his hand at his own experiments and had come up with a concoction even more horrifying than the Scarecrow.
With the city still fearing what the Scarecrow could do next, the Joker added his own brand of chaos into the mix by striking at the police themselves a week after Crane's second attack. Wishing to upset the order that appeared to be settling over Gotham, the Joker hit a police station with his own brand of nerve gas. Nicknamed 'Smiley' by the press, the gas had the effect of poisoning people, forcing the muscles in their face to contort into a rictus grin as the fast acting gas poisoned them. Death was painful and victims languished for several minutes as many would later tragically discover.
Twenty people died in the gas attack by Joker, two of them were people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time as opposed to being actual officers and it had the effect of putting him back in the headlines. It also had the effect of giving the police the evidence they needed to track down Crane for his crimes. In the attempt to escape notice from the police, the Joker abandoned his car in the back streets of Gotham, leaving behind the canister which contained some of his Smiley gas. Whether by accident or design, the Joker had left behind a canister stamped with 'Property of Arkham Asylum' on the side, giving the police all the reason needed to investigate the institute.
They were not alone in doing so as the Batman accompanied them, which turned out to be a blessing. Crane had become aware of the police closing in on him and had taken action to counter this, rigging the asylum with bombs that would have let off his terror gas in such quantities that would have rendered the police, patients and orderlies in the facility incurably insane. Crane hadn't even allowed a hostage situation to develop, instead donning a gas mask and waiting for the police to come into the facility so he could set off the gas attack. He was stopped in this attempt as Batman had arrived earlier than the police, infiltrating the facility and breaking into Crane's office. One punch which led to a broken jaw for Crane and his scheme was hastily stopped as he was quickly arrested.
The revelation of Crane's actions brought Arkham Asylum under great scrutiny from the public, with Mayor Reeves forced to start a committee looking into conditions there. The full horror of Crane's actions would come to be known over the next year, with the evidence exposing him as the monster he really was. Desperate to appear to be doing something of value, Reeves turned the Arkham issue into a major part of his campaign to reassess his image in the aftermath of the Falcone family's downfall. Forever worried that Gordon would finally be able to find evidence to arrest him as well, Reeves did whatever he could to distance himself from the mob wars and corrupt goings on in Gotham's government.
September gave way to October with the Joker still at large and Gotham frightened for his next big scheme. While the war overseas slowly managed to dominate the headlines once more, there was still the fear that the Joker would strike again, even with the police and Batman searching for him constantly. With the Joker's absence however, another kind of evil struck the city with the discovery of the body of a teenage girl in the streets of Tricorner.
The girl was a homeless runaway, one of many in Gotham itself and her death may have caused little comment if not for people's hysteria over what the Joker's continued liberty. Any crime that could be linked to the madman, was and Mayor Reeves instantly ordered a high profile investigation into the girl's death. This wouldn't lead to the Joker himself, but an evil that still sent shockwaves through the city. The runaway had been known as Alice, with witnesses having seen her as a nuisance and minor thief in the markets of Gotham. Investigation by the police revealed that she had been part of a larger group that was seen around the city, acting as one in taking small valuables.
While Commissioner Gordon quickly concluded that the Joker wasn't behind this, he still poured resources into the investigation, no doubt helped by the Batman. Gordon's suspicions were all but confirmed when the Joker, having read an editorial accusing him of the crime, broke into the home of the editor of the Gotham Gazette and forced him to write a full retraction before cutting off eight of his fingers. As the Joker would put it, he didn't commit his crimes and hide from them, he did them in full view of people where they'd know it was him. Killing off a single teenager and dumping their body lacked his own sense of macabre and attempt to grab the limelight.
The act, appalling as it was, allowed Gordon to focus police resources on chasing up the children, finally getting a lead when a second body turned up of another teenage girl. The second death spurred on efforts with mid-October finding a break in the case when the old sewers of Gotham yielded a terrible secret. A gang of children, having runaway from broken homes, had come under the influence of one Michael Ruegger, later known as the 'Sewer King'. Ruegger used the children as his own personal army of thieves and slaves, setting them to work stealing from the well off of Gotham and brutally punishing those who failed to meet his standards.
The police had managed to find one of the children so abused by Ruegger who claimed to have been found by Batman before being handed over to the police. With the information the child had given them, the police found the remaining gang and Ruegger himself, who was in a sorry state. According to the testimony of the children, Batman arrived before the police and confronted Ruegger, instigating a fight that left the Sewer King battered and bloodied. So badly was Ruegger beaten by the Batman that he wasn't able to walk for a month after the fight. It amounted to a brutal attack on a man that was running what amounted to a modern day slave ring and frequently abused children mentally and physically. Vigilantism reared its uglier side at that moment as Ruegger was almost certainly lucky not to have been killed.
Taken into police custody, Ruegger was the prime suspect in the murders, although his tale still had a dark turn. While the children under his control had lived in awful conditions and barely had enough to eat, Ruegger had lived while in private rooms with money taken from the stolen goods, as well as another, lucrative side line. In return for an increased amount of money coming in, Ruegger would find suitable girls to send to his patron, Professor Jervis Tetch of Gotham University.
To anyone who knew him, Tetch was a polite, timid man who had a talent for chemistry and a love for the works of Lewis Carroll. What was behind the appearance was a man with a dark obsession for playing out the role of the Mad Hatter at a tea party, young girls taking on the role of Alice only to be disposed of afterwards. Tetch had been targeted by one of Ruegger's thieves, but had managed to keep the child, a young girl, coincidentally named Alice, as his first victim. An expert on drugs, Tetch had acted out his twisted fantasies by using the chemicals he crafted to make her open to suggestion. After getting the truth from Alice, Tetch killed her and made contact with Ruegger, making an offer for more girls in return for money.
Having accepted, Ruegger was quick to sell Tetch out rather than shoulder the blame for the crimes. By the time the police had managed to get Ruegger's testimony though, Tetch had heard of the arrest and quickly fled, going underground as he turned to his expertise in chemistry in order to make a living. His drugs, able to make people highly open to suggestion of any kind while proving them with a strong high, proved to be something he was able to sell via Rupert Thorne, who himself was eager for any kind of income revenue while trying to rebuild the Falcone empire.
The crime shocked even hardened Gotham to its core. An apparently respectable man like Tetch had shown that evil didn't come in the form of the mob or a madman like Joker. The city had been battered throughout the year and as thoughts turned to Christmas, Tetch's continued freedom and the threat of the Joker put a damper on any celebrations. The fact that the Joker had once more started to raid chemical plants ratcheted up the fear incredibly. Considering that the Joker simply smashed into the plants and grabbed everything not nailed down or on fire, actually finding out the chemical products that he used for his Smiley gas was a hard task. Along with other small strikes such as the attack on the editor of the Gotham Gazette, the Joker kept the city on the brink of panic.
The Joker finally did make his move on New Year's Eve, having stole a truck and loading it with his Smiley gas, he started towards Gotham's city centre where a New Years party was taking place. Thankfully, the alarm had been raised over the stolen truck and the police pursued, a dark, armoured car soon joining them. From the outskirts of the city, it became a desperate race against time to stop the Joker before he could unleash an attack that would kill hundreds of people.
A police barrier was hastily erected, forcing the Joker off the main streets where he was hastily boxed in by various cars, forcing him to crash into a building. By no small miracle, the gas didn't go off and the Joker himself was alive and largely unharmed. This only allowed the Batman to get close though, driving past the police rapidly surrounding the crashed truck and being first to confront the Joker. No words were exchanged this time, it simply being a case of the Batman getting in close to put the Joker down with several well aimed blows. The New Year rang in with the Joker once more being taken into custody, a sense of triumph and relief being felt throughout the city as the news spread.
For a time, it seemed as if that things would finally calm down and Gotham could settle after the upheavals of the last year. January remained rather quiet even with the manhunt for Tetch continuing although other developments occurred. Mayor Reeves, the last leftover of Falcone power in the city, tried to make himself know throughout the peace, claiming what credit he could as 1944 was the year of Gotham's mayoral elections and without the Falcone family backing him up, Reeves knew he had little chance of re-election.
Reeves had offered little in the way of leadership as the Year of Hell had unfolded. He had hidden in his office while Jim Gordon had taken the lead in putting an end to the violence as best he could. Reeves only tried to limit the damage after the worst of the violence was over and was derided by both press and public for his actions, or lack thereof. As he floundered throughout the first half of the year, Reeves tried to think of anything that would counter his bad public image, leading to utter disasters for the city.
As Reeves held back, the trial of the Joker was starting to be prepared with the madman being placed under lock and key in Gotham's own Blackgate maximum security prison. Gordon took no chances as he and those around him were determined there were to be no other escapes until the Joker was sent to the chair. A flurry of interest focused on the Joker as he was held in prison. His unknown background, crimes and the thought that he might pull off another escape aroused the curiosity of many people and caused numerous headaches for Gordon himself.
The spectacle of the Joker's detainment and upcoming trial lasted until the 20th March, when the body of Rupert Thorne was found washed up on the east shore of Gotham River. The crime lord's death came as a complete shock to the city and most expected another round of gang war to break out almost instantly. To the relief of many, this didn't come around as Thorne's death was the result of a swift and merciless coup from an unexpected source.
Oswald Cobblepot was the last of the Cobblepot line. An only child, his parents had died with the rise of the Falcone family, leaving him with a much diminished estate. From once running Gotham as their own personal fiefdom, the last Cobblepot had been left with old and tattered estates and several serious debts. Short, stout and with a prominent nose, Oswald had been bullied as a child and given the moniker 'Penguin' by his schoolmates. What was once a term of mockery soon became one to fear however.
After his parents' death, Cobblepot sold off what estates he could to manage the debts and then turned to other means to support himself. He entered into a deal with Carmine Falcone in 1937, allowing one of his remaining properties to become a front for their cash, an abandoned up scale house being converted into a night club and restaurant called 'The Iceberg Lounge'. Showing good business acumen, Cobblepot actually ran the Lounge as a legitimate business, managing to earn a tidy profit on it along with the laundered money.
When the GCPD stepped up their attacks on the Carmine family, Cobblepot made sure to keep his business as legitimate looking as possible, keeping his profits steady while refusing to put Falcone money through his club. Using his new found wealth, Cobblepot put together his own gang, breaking from Carmina Falcone completely during his trial and having the force to prevent the mob boss from trying to claw back his former business front. After Carmine Falcone's death and during the Year of Hell, Cobblepot continued to gain in wealth and influence by edging into the rackets that the gang wars had left alone.
Rupert Thorne had spent the months after his taking over of the remains of the Falcone family to try and reclaim what had been lost. In his efforts to do so, he had offered an alliance to Cobblepot. Remaining on the fence over whether or not he would become an outright crime lord, Cobblepot invited Thorne to the Iceberg Lounge to discuss terms. Believing that Cobblepot still wanted to remain as legitimate as possible and not expecting any danger, Throne went to the club after hours and he, and his bodyguards, were swiftly killed off.
The rest of Cobblepot's forces then struck, using leverage and money to sway or kill any remaining Thorne loyalists, although there were few of them. Within one evening, Cobblepot had killed off a rival and secured his position as leader of the remaining crime family in Gotham City. To all outside appearances, he was still Oswald Cobblepot, businessman and owner of Gotham's most popular nightclub. Behind the front however, was a man determined to eclipse Carmine Falcone's influence. In this, he had an advantage in the form of Jervis Tetch and his own dark brilliance.
The drugs Tetch had developed were the sort of thing Cobblepot saw great potential in using them for business and keeping his own ranks away from the more routine crimes. Slipping them into the drink of a patron at his nightclub allowed them to become drowsy and easily swayed to do things such trafficking stolen goods to Cobblepot's agents. Those who were caught were unable to mount much of a defence as their memories were clouded by the effects of the drugs themselves. Although initially sceptical, Commissioner Gordon soon changed his opinion after enough people told the same story with similar details. At that point, the Signal was shone in the skies above Gotham, bringing Batman into the case.
As ever with Batman's roles in these matters, it's hard to determine how much influence he had in investigating and tracking down those responsible. Certainly, he was free of the rules and regulations that ordinary police have to go by, but even he must have had his limits. Gordon's diaries make little reference to what help he gave to Batman over the years, but through the obfuscation, it's possible to see hints that case files and information were given to the Batman on a regular basis for such cases. From this, we can surmise that his skills in deduction certainly matched his fighting prowess.
The reports of people being turned to crime against their wills soon spread throughout Gotham as another panic started, paranoia growing as rumours spread that the concoction could be found in foods. Needing a result, Gordon amped up the manhunt for the source of the drugs, trying to find the connection between them and Cobblepot. Although nothing concrete was initially found, the 2nd April saw Gordon order police units to converge on an address beside the Amusement Mile pier. A small apartment was raided and in it, Tetch was found, battered and bruised with lab equipment intact around him. Two more men, hired thugs, were also in the apartment and the police quickly took everything as evidence, ending the supply of drugs to the city.
Tetch and the men quickly turned to lawyers to help them, being able to get some of the most expensive in the city. Cobblepot was eager to keep his men quiet and loyal, even using his influence to get Waylon Jones released with his lawyer claiming that he had been acting in self defence against the Batman's attack. Jones then became one of Cobblepot's most brutal lieutenants with those around him reporting he was eager to have another crack at the Batman.
The Year of Hell was the worst in Gotham's history as far as fear and death toll went. Those who died as a direct cause of the gang warfare or the actions of the Joker and other such extreme personalities totalled at 634 people with a further 413 injured. This total was almost triple the annual murder rate of the city and had a long term impact on how Gotham was perceived as a lawless hive of criminals. While the amount of crime would drop significantly over the next year, the reputation took a long time to shift.
With such death and destruction, it's not surprising that many within Gotham remember this year as the worst in the city's long and storied history. Throughout it, many citizens claimed it was the thought of the Batman that helped them keep hope that things would turn out alright. The madness that consumed the city was countered by Batman's role as a silent avenger of those who had been done wrong and bringer of hope. As dark and obsessed as Batman must have been to carry out his mission, the positive impact he had in this year alone shows that he was a force for good in the city.
With the drug supply halted, it looked as if Gotham may finally enjoy some peace. That was until Mayor Reeves tried to step in and focus his time in office on one factor, that the Batman had brought all these criminals to Gotham. In a speech condemning the recent outbreak of 'freak-ish crime', Reeves promised to bring down the one responsible for it all and that he had contacted an expert to guide the GCPD in their efforts to do so.
On the 1st May, the expert arrived after having been out of Gotham for over fifteen years. Out of all of Batman's foes, Edward Nygma would be one whose rivalry was most well documented, and intriguing.
A lengthier chapter this time around and hope everyone enjoys it as we get to see more of Batman's more iconic villains in this piece. To those who commented:
6tailedninja: Thanks for your words and it was quite fun to go through how Batman and Joker might first meet. Sadly, there will be some big names missing from this story as I couldn't quite put them in and leave it as grounded as I wanted.
YoKoChi150: Thanks for your review and hope you continue to enjoy it.
As ever, a big thanks to all those who've faved and followed and hope you continue to enjoy the story.