Gotham Potion

As Bruce Wayne surveys Gotham traffic and works with Jim Gordon to assess the developing criminality in the city, an ambitious young secretary named Selina Kyle is interested in becoming a vigilante. Bruce is of course secretly the caped crusader Batman by night, disguised in a bat-suit, complete with mask and cape and power-belt. Selina is experimenting with prowling the rooftops of Gotham City by night disguised in a cat-suit and mask and calling herself Catwoman.

Meanwhile, a somewhat insane scientist named Jonathan Crane is considering wearing a mask of his own and becoming Gotham's worst nightmare --- a terrorist named Scarecrow. Dr. Crane intends to contaminate Gotham's water reservoir with a potent hallucinogen. Once the people of Gotham are in a daze, Crane/Scarecrow plans to create a loudspeaker broadcast of an obedience chant: "Obey the Scarecrow and dump your money into my trucks, and you will be supplied with the antidote to the hallucinogen."

Crane is walking down the street one late night and recording this plan into his voice-recorder when Selina Kyle happens to walk by him unnoticed and gets wind of his schemes. She hurries back to her apartment and considers contacting Batman for help. She decides to put on her Catwoman outfit and break into Wayne Manor and ask Bruce Wayne for the whereabouts of Batman.

Catwoman breaks in to Wayne Manor and finds Bruce Wayne talking to himself: "Should I tell the people of Gotham City that I am Batman?" Selina/Catwoman is shocked and bursts in and tells Bruce, "If you're Batman, you have to stop Jonathan Crane's scheme." She tells Bruce of Crane's plans, and Bruce reassures her: "I was just brooding to myself and considering what if someone wealthy like was Batman. However, I can get in touch with Batman, so I will tell him of Crane's plan."

Bruce goes into the bat-cave and puts on his bat-suit once he escorts Selina/Catwoman out. He zooms out in the bat-mobile in search of Crane/Scarecrow. Bruce/Batman heads to Gotham's water reservoir and plants traps and cameras there so as to monitor it from home. Once home, he watches every night to see when Crane/Scarecrow will strike with his dangerous hallucinogen. Bruce's camera set-up picks up on Crane's break-in to the Gotham reservoir, and Bruce immediately heads to the reservoir in the bat-mobile as Batman. Once there, he wrestles Scarecrow to the ground and hauls him off to Arkham Asylum.

Selina hears of Crane's detention in Arkham on Gotham TV. She still wonders though if Bruce Wayne is really Batman.

Cop-World

Mad Hatter Hell-Tale

Here's a re-working of this same story with the Batman nemesis Jervis Tetch (aka, the Mad Hatter) rather than Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow:

"Selina/Catwoman considers teaming up with Batman (aka, the Dark Knight) to contend with the nefarious Mad Hatter. However, Selina is not sure exactly who Batman is but has hypothesized that he might be Gotham City's prominent princely socialite and businessman Bruce Wayne. Selina attends a special charity event dinner hosted at the Wayne Mansion in the hopes of talking with Bruce and obtaining clues about Batman's 'normal world' identity.

Selina dresses up for the event in a great black dress and approaches the host, Bruce Wayne and asks him, 'Well, Mr. Wayne, all of your resources are glimmering tonight at this impressive charity shin-dig, which actually makes me wonder if someone like you would actually want to be an urban agent such as the Dark Knight (Batman).' Bruce coolly replies, 'Well, if I was Batman, I'd certainly want people to think positively about both me and the Dark Knight...after all, Gotham could use a little optimism.' Selina is frustrated and says to Bruce, 'Well, if you do know who Batman is, you could pass the message to him for me that I have reports from good sources that Catwoman may be pursuing the Mad Hatter (Jervis Tetch) in some odd scheme involving the Gotham Observatory.'

Bruce bids Selina good evening and after the charity event, he begins investigating what Selina may have been alluding to in regards to the Mad Hatter's plan with the Gotham Observatory. Bruce discovers that scientists are planning a gala public event for school children at the Observatory involving the surveying of various supernova. Bruce wonders if the diabolical and bizarre Jervis Tetch (Mad Hatter) may be scheming to hi-jack the event and hold the guests hostage. He decides he will stake out the event as Batman.

The day of the Observatory event arrives, and Batman is there staking it out. He notices that one of the attendees is an odd-looking fellow in a long white beard. He wonders if this person may be the Mad Hatter in disguise. Batman is inside the Observatory watching from a perch-position on the roof. The event hosts are lining up the school children at the large telescope and preparing them to view the stellar supernova event. Suddenly, the old man in the white beard, claiming to be a journalist, reveals that he is the Mad Hatter (Jervis Tetch). He tells everyone that his goons are outside making sure the police can not enter easily. He then says that if the Gotham mayor does not pay him a handsome ransom, he will release a deadly hallucinogenic gas which he has implanted in the Observatory ventilation ducts. The gas will induce sleep and bizarre dream-sleep hallucinations. Everyone is frightened, and Batman quickly lunges down and wrestles the Mad Hatter to the ground. He realizes Tetch has the detonation button for the gas release connected to his arm, and Batman rips it off him. He is carrying the Mad Hatter away and towards the bat-mobile in which he will drive Tetch to Arkham Asylum.

When he gets outside the Observatory with Tetch in hand-cuffs, he realizes Catwoman is outside and has tied all of Tetch's goons (six men armed with machine guns in all) and is ready to haul them off to jail. Catwoman says to Batman, 'Well, Dark Knight, since you're here, I suppose you can carry these goons off in your bat-mobile for me. I figured you'd be here today and you would take care of Tetch for me but need help with these goons. So, since I helped you, maybe you can help me. I'm interested in uncovering your true identity. After all, shouldn't Gothamites know who you are under that mask?' Batman realizes Catwoman may be Selina Kyle, since Selina asked Bruce the same sort of question at the Wayne Mansion charity event. Batman says to Catwoman, 'My identity has to remain secret for now and for good reasons. In the meantime, I have a theory that you may be actually Selina Kyle.' Catwoman coolly laughs and says, 'Good guess, but no.' Batman says to Catwoman, 'Well then, we both have our secrets for now.'

Tetch has obviously heard this conversation between Batman and Catwoman, and while riding to Arkham Asylum in the bat-mobile with Batman, he says to Batman, 'If you do find out that Catwoman is Selina Kyle, will you be more protective of her? I ask, because I've been developing a special romance perfume for Batman and Catwoman, which many Gothamites might find heroic.' Batman is troubled by this odd proposition and thinks this hypothetical perfume invention may be some cunning dagger about Batman's paranoia. Could this perfume be something Tetch's goons are working on somewhere?"

Mad Hatter