Chapter 9 – Epilogue
The Goat
It was like the bottom dropped out of the world. I was falling, falling, plummeting ever deeper into an endless, bottomless pitch black pit. I had come so far only to fail, doubly. First because I underestimated my prey, and second because the Bat himself intervened. I tried to tell him, to make him understand that everything I did was for him. But he couldn't see the truth.
And the longer I sat there, smoldering with frustrated purpose, the more I questioned the Bat. Savior? Hero? No, neither. Half measure, false hope. I had placed my faith in an illusion, and learned through cold, hard experience just how wrong I was. Batman is not the answer to Gotham's sins, he is just another part of the problem; a hollow idol that lulls people into complacency, believing he will save them.
I lost track of time after the night the Bat betrayed me, abandoned me in that cell where there was no sunrise, no sunset, nothing but relentless sameness. They took my suit, my mask, left me exposed and helpless to be tasered, drugged, mocked. But I never forgot my mission. Cobblepot, Nygma… it's not a long list, but quality over quantity. Their deaths were good, necessary, satisfying. Killing them brought me peace; real peace, not false pharmaceutical numbness.
Who knows how many days, weeks, even months passed as I sat there, rotting. Until one day, a group of doctors came to my cell door; at least I assumed they were doctors. They stared in at me, muttered to each other, then one casually tossed a pellet through the small opening in the door. Gas poured out, quickly filling my lungs, and in a matter of seconds I was unconscious.
When I opened my eyes, I was here, in this room; still a cell, but a much more comfortable one with a large plexiglass wall. And on the other side of the wall was a man with a shaved head, circular glasses and a narrow fringe of beard, no moustache. Next to him was my suit, with a newly reconstructed mask.
"Hello, Scapegoat is it?" he said, his voice was powerful but not loud; "My name is Dr. Hugo Strange. I trust these new accommodations are more to your liking?"
"Sure."
"Good, because we have a great deal of work ahead of us."
"Work?"
"Yes, of course. Transformation is never easy, or painless I'm afraid. But I promise, we will make of you something magnificent!"