Night Begins-Part 2
Gotham City-”Old Gotham”
The streets of the lower part of Gotham weren’t as glamorous as the streets of upper Gotham. Always people on street corners. The innocent people of from this area feel much safer to do their business during the day than the night. And whenever a fancy car drives through they can expect that someone important is intown. The black limo drives down the street leaving some of the people to stare in awe. Alfred is driving while Bruce is sitting in the back looking over files. “So what does the good doctor look like Master Wayne?” Alfred asks his brooding boss. “His mother died in childbirth and his father was a research scientist and was rarely home to take care of his son. So he lived with his grandmother most of the time. She was a very strict woman. There was often reports on abuse from the her but they were dismissed. On top of that Crane was being bullied in school.” Bruce says flipping through papers “But whenever Crane was seventeen his grandmother went missing. She was never found. And after that he would stay at with his father permanently.” “And how did that work out?” Alfred asks out of curiosity. Bruce flips to the final two pages. “A few years later Crane’s college let out early and he went to go visit his father at his work at a lab. His father was working on some sort a serum of the government. He didn’t have anyone to test it on so he tried it on himself. Needless to say that went horribly bad and Crane watched his father die. It’s said the serum was destroyed.” Bruce looks at the names of Dr Crane’s patients. “Master Bruce?” Bruce quickly looks up at Alfred staring at him via the rearview mirror. “We’re here.” Bruce looks out the car window to see a bland looking building.
“You can go get some coffee or something while I’m gone Alfred. I’ll call you when I’m done.” Bruce says as he is steps out of the car and walks over toward the building. He enters and looks at the baroness of waiting room. “Can I help you?” asks a raspy voice. Bruce turns his attention to the woman at the front desk. “Oh I have an appointment with Dr. Crane. The name is--” “I know who you are. You can head up.” the woman interrupts “It’s the second door to your right. The doctor is running a bit late but he’ll be with you.” Bruce nods his head politely and heads up a flight of stairs. He gets to the top floor and enters the room marked “Doctor Jonathan Crane.” The room is very simple with two large chairs in the middle of the room and a desk right in front of a window. He slowly walks around the to observe it. Dr Crane has no pictures of his family. There is an eeriness to the room that he can not explain. Bruce walks over to the desk and opens a drawer. There are only pens, loose change, rubber bands, and wrinkled pieces of paper. He then opens one of the bigger drawers to see a giant pile of files. He starts to skim the names on the folders and gets to the bottom to see empty syringes. He takes one and continues looking. He then opens up the bottom drawer to see four individual folders. “Elizabeth Shaw, Daniel Adams, Lily Williams, and Michael Davis.” He starts to open up the Michael Davis folder to find his notes on Michael. There is only one word written everywhere on the page. Spiders. The door starts to open and Bruce quickly puts the folders back and looks out the window casually. “Mr Wayne I keep trying to call the Doctor but he’s not picking up.” The woman at the front desk says “Would you like to just schedule another appointment for some other time?” Bruce face looks irritated while he is facing the window but as he turns around he has a more pleasant look on his face. “That’ll be fine thank you.” Bruce says politely.
Bruce walks out the building with his phone to his face. “Alfred he was a no show. And I think I know who his next target is.” Bruce says in a hurry “We need to find Crane before--” “Bruce is that you?” Bruce looks over to see a well dressed man with spiked black hair and a briefcase. “I’ll see you when you get here.” He hangs up the phone and turns his attention to the man. “Harvey Dent, what are the odds?” They both exchange a firm handshake and friendly smiles. “Of me catching the famous billionaire in Old Gotham? Slim to none I thought.” Harvey says in a chuckle. “Good one. I was just checking out a psychologist office for a friend.” Bruce says with a mysterious smile “What brings you out here?” “I was just going to lunch my niece. Which I’m going to be late to if I keep talking.” He says as he is checking his watch “I gotta go but will I see you at Becca’s benefit next week?” “I’m going to try to.” Bruce says as he is giving his friend a small wave goodbye. Bruce starts to walk down the street. He hears a crash of some kind and looks down one of the alleyways. There is a man randomly beating a metal garbage can with a lead pipe. “Excuse me are you alright sir?” Bruce says as he walks toward the man. The man turns to him. He is breathing heavily “Holy shit a talking spider!” He says as he starts to charge at Bruce with a force. He goes to swing his pipe at Bruce but Bruce isn’t worried. Bruce catches his arms and flips the man over with ease. “GO. AWAY!!!” The man yells in a rage. Bruce is ready to take him down again but something trips him sending him to the ground. But something turns into someone as Bruce looks up.
A woman with long black hair that covers one side of her face. She dusts off her short black dress. “You know Bruce I really would’ve liked if you called. I was beginning to miss you.” She says swaying her hips side to side as she walks toward Bruce. “I just got back.” Bruce says walking toward the woman “I had to go take care of some business.” “For five weeks? What was important that you should be gone that long?” She says sliding her hands from Bruce’s stomach up to his chest. But Bruce pushes her away and turns his attention to the unconscious man. “Work first as always. That five weeks didn’t change you.” She says placing her hands on her hips. “His name is Michael Davis.” Bruce says as he turns the man’s face toward him “I was hoping to get to him sooner. Here make an anonymous call to the police.” He takes his phone out of his pocket and tosses it to Selina. “Meow. And you’re still as bossy.”
Gotham City Police Department-
Commissioner James Gordon is sitting in his giant office just covered with police reports you can barely see the floor. He is writing down on some important documents but is interrupted as there is a knocking on the door. “Come in.” He says in a mumbled voice. “I hope the commissioner is hungry.” Says a very feminine voice. A woman with long blonde hair walks in with a large coffee in one hand and a large bag that says “Tami’s Diner” in the other hand. A young boy with hair matching his mother runs past her to Jim and gives him a large huge. “Hey there champ!” Gordon says as he rubs his son on his head. “We got you your favorite. Thought we’d surprise you honey.” Mrs Gordon says walking over to her husband giving him a kiss on the lips. “So Commissioner what are we working on today?” says a quirky voice from the door. A teenaged girl sharing Jim’s dark ginger hair walks in. “I am working on something that is none of your business young lady.” He says rolling his eyes at his daughter. “Oh come on! I’m getting really good at this stuff!” She says bouncing up and down in front of the desk. A man with buzzed dark hair knocks on the open door and leans in. ‘What is it Drake?” Jim asks the man. “You know Michelle Davis’ husband who she said went missing last night? Well we got a call saying he’s in an alleyway in Old Gotham al drugged up.” He says in a hurry “Hey maybe if we hurry up we’ll see the Bat again.” He gives a little wink before exiting the doorway. Jim’s daughter’s jaw drops to the floor and her jumping increases as if she will hit the ceiling. “He’s back! I knew he would be! In your face Junior I told you! Wooooo!” She stops jumping and angrily turns to her father “And you didn’t tell me!?” Jim’s wife leans toward him. “Jim I tried my best not to let her figure out.” Gordon lets a large sigh out and leans back in his swivel chair “She’s Barbara Gordon. She would have figured it out eventually.”
20 minutes later-
There are only a few cop cars and an ambulance surrounding the alleyway. Two buff cops are trying their best to restrain the man. “Get off me you eight legged freaks!” He says shouting and kicking. Harvey Bullock just stands there eating a donut not even attempting to help the men. Detective’s Montoya and Drake walk over to Harvey. “Wow eating that donut must take a lot out of you Bullock.” Drake says with a cheesy smirk. Harvey just gives him a nasty glare but continues eating his donut. “Be nice Jack he’s been at this a lot longer than you.” Renee tells her partner “So what’s this guys deal?” Bullock finishes his donut and pats his hands off. “Guy was found here like this calling everyone he saw a spider. He almost clocked a Stevenson over the head with a lead pipe when we got here.” The two cops manage to get Micael on a stretcher and one of the ambulance crew members injects the him with a syringe and he falls asleep. Jim who has been observing Michael from the side walks over to his colleagues. “So how much do you want to bet that this has to do with the recent murders?” He says with a questioning look on his face. “One after another? That’s not this guys m.o. He usually started off a weeks apart.” Renee says “And by the time we get there they are already dead and are done at night.” “Maybe we should go over that psychologist guys again. I don’t like how we brushed him off that quickly.” Jack quickly throws in. “Well the guy didn’t seem fishy and we had the guy followed and--” “Ok you and Montoya go check him out again. Harv, you and I are going to the hospital to see what the hell is going on with Mr Davis.” Jim says interrupting Bullock. Little do they know there is a small device placed on the emergency staircase. Just two blocks away Bruce is listening in to the police’s conversation. Selina is leaning up against a wall with her arms crossed. “So Brucey are you going to finally tell me what they are talking about?” She says with a lot of sass kicked behind her question. Bruce takes out his headphone and turns to Selina. “What are you doing tonight? Selina stands up straight with an interest in what he is saying.
7 hours later-
“This is not what I had in mind.” Selina says pouting in the back seat of the batmoble. Both are in their “night job” cloths. Selina fixes her headband with cat ears that pushes back her hair. “You know one day I want to go on a real date. You know to one of those fancy restaurants you get to all the time.” She says adjusting her long black gloves. Bruce rolls his eyes while he is driving. “You do know that we were never dating right?” “Mhmm whatever you say.” She says admiring small sharp nails on her gloves. The car comes to an immediate stop and Selina jerks forward. “We’re here.” The hatch on top opens and Bruce jumps out.
As Selina gets out she sees they are in front of a large abandoned building. “Where the hell are we?” “An old government facility. No one knew about it because it it near the edge of Gotham. I believe this is where he is taking his victims.” Bruce says as he breaks open a side door and walks in. Selina follows behind him. Bruce takes a small flashlight out of his utility belt and turns it on to show how sinister the place is looking now. They continue down a hallway and end up at a open lab area. Bruce walks over to a table where the is a bunch of notes scattered all over the table. Selina turns her attention to a ripped curtain. She pulls it aside but as she looks forward a look of horror flushes her face. “Bats we got a problem!” Bruce rushes over to Selina. There is a row of two teenagers tide to hospital beds with oxygen masks on. Tears are rapidly falling from their eyes. Bruce and Selina rush to get the masks of of the kids. “You’re going to be ok.” Bruce tells the young girl. “When need to get them out of here now!” Selina tells Bruce. But mysterious shadow emerges behind the curtain Selina is in front of. Bruce quickly grabs his grappling gun from his belt, launches it at Selina sending her flying over the beds and into Bruce’s arms. Just in time as a pitch fork stabs right through the curtain.
The curtain swips open revealing the man with the burlap sack as a mask is standing there. He is breathing heavily. “I was helping them!” He says in a rage. Selina jumps out out of Bruce’s arms and grabs the whip from her side. “Ok crazy whatever you say.” She lets out a lash at him but he quickly dodges it. He charges at them with his pitchfork but they quickly scatter. Bruce manages to get the pitchfork off of him and break it in half. He tosses it aside and starts to throws punches at Batman. But he easily avoids them and tackles Scarecrow to the ground. “After I’m done with you I’m going to make sure you’ll stay locked up in Arkham.” Bruce says as he prepares his knockout punch. But Scarecrow puts his hand toward Bruce’s face and a gas spews out of his sleeve. Bruce starts to violently cough and gets off the Scarecrow. He tries to get up but falls to the ground again. Bruce looks over to Scarecrow but only sees a giant blur. “What did you do to me?” Scarecrow starts to get up and lets out a sinister laugh. “I exposed you fear Batman. Even you must fear something.” He says circling Bruce. “I wanted to help people conquer their fear but I was going at it in all of the wrong ways. Some people just aren’t strong enough to face it. The weak ones die. But the strong, the ones who survive will be the one’s who rule the city. Sadly for you, I can’t have you ruining any of my plans so you have to go.” Scarecrow pulls out a butcher knife and prepares to stab Bruce. But he drops the knife and screams in pain.
Selina is standing behind him with her claws covered in him blood. “Sorry Scarecrow. The only one who can play with the Bat, is me!” Scarecrow quickly grabs his knife, gets up, and starts madly swinging it a Selina. She is quick to dodge all of his attempts to cut her. Bruce ties to get up to help her but cannot find the strength to get up. All of a sudden he starts to hear laughter. He looks up to see that he is an alleyway. He turns around to see a family walking down it. A father, mother, and son. “That was the best movie ever, Dad!” says the son. “I thought it was a little too violent for my taste.” the mother says. “No no no!” Bruce starts to yell. Suddenly a man pops out from the shadows putting the family at gunpoint. The father gives the man his wallet and pushes his son behind him. The man then points the gun at the mother. She goes to take off the pearl necklace she has on. BANG. BANG. All Bruce stares at in the pearls scattering on the ground. Tears start to fall from Bruce’s eye. Then a look of hate starts to flood them. He reaches into his belt and pulls out one of his batarangs. He then violently stabs his hand with it. He closes his eyes while he endure the pain. He opens his eyes to see that Scarecrow has cornered Selina and she is barely holding the knife back. Bruce with force throws his batarang at scarecrow knocking the knife out of his hand. Selina then kicks him away from her. Batman then lunges at Scarecrow and punches him in the gut. He then violently throws punches at his face or stomach. Selina just stands aside and watches. Bruce then throws Scarecrow into a wall. “Go ahead. You know you want to.” Scarecrow says taunting Bruce. “End it. Dark Knight.” Tightens his fist and glares at him. “You’re not worth it.” Scarecrow in a rage starts to go after Bruce but is suddenly struck by Selina’s whip. Bruce turns to Selina who is winding her whip back up in her hands. “Well if you weren’t going to do it might as well be me.”
20 minutes later-
At the front of the facility the police violently break down the door and storm the place. They get to the open lab area to find that the two teenager are unharmed and Scarecrow hanging upside down from the ceiling. Outside of the building Bruce and Selina watch from afar watching then bring Crane out unmasked and in a straightjacket. They force him in the back of a police truck. They also bring out the two teenagers wrapped in blankets and the area starts to clear. “Bruce, are sure ok?” Selina gently asks him. “I should be fine. If not I have a portion of the serum to make a antidote.” He coldly says to her. Bruce starts to walk over to the batmoble and turns to her. “Thank you. I appreciated your help tonight.” He then continues to walk. Selina sweetly smiles at him. “You still owe me that date handsome.”
Arkham Asylum (Hours later)-
A dark and horrible place to be at. Off on an isolated island in the middle of Gotham Bay Arkham Asylum is the darkest place in Gotham and haunted by it’s own patients screams. Even the guards feel uneasy there. The only nice room is the wardens room. In there sits an bald older looking gentleman filling out papers. He scratches at his grey beard and pushes his circular glasses up on his face. There a soft knock on the door. “Come in.” The man says in his deep voice. A short blonde woman walks in. “I’m sorry if I’m disturbing you this late Warden Strange but a new inmate just came in and needs evaluation. Oh also you haven’t had any sessions with inmate 524.” She says stumbling through her papers. Strange stacks the papers on his desk and stands. “I’ll go visit our newest inmate and evaluate him.” He says as he walks over and takes the files from and starts for the door. But he stops and turns to the young woman. “Listen ummm...Haley?” He says snapping his finger. “Harleen.” she says pointing to her name badge. “Oh right listen I really can’t find any time to have those session so could you be a sport and do it for me?” He says passing the one file to her. “I promise you will be paid extra for it.” “But..but you do know who that is r-right?” She says as she starts to rapidly shake. “I know. But what’s the worst he could do to you? Tell a joke? Thanks Hannah for being a sport.” He pats her on the shoulder and walks out of the room. “Harleen.” She says as her eyes start to water.
In a empty white room that only has a door, table, two chairs and one light hanging from the ceiling, Crane sits in one of the chairs now sporting a bright orange jumpsuit. His hands are handcuffed behind his back and are looped around the chair. The door opens and Warden Strange walks in. “Doctor Jonathan Crane. Under the belief that he was helping his patient by kidnapping them, influencing them with a chemical which would either kill them or drive them insane, and you’ve been calling yourself Dr Scarecrow. Now that either sounds like a psychopath or you’re just plane mentally unstable.” Crane starts to chuckle in his seat. “What are you trying to say warden? That there’s a slight chance that I might be unhealthy? I think you’re insane.” Stange drops the files on the table and takes a seat. “I know for a fact you know what you were doing. I also know that you should be transferred to Blackgate. But I think you have potentiel.” Crane’s grin starts to disappear from his face. “Potentiel for what?” Crane asks pecking his curiosity. “Well first Mr Crane I need to know that I have your trust. Because when i’m done with Gotham, you won’t even recognize it.” Stranges says sinisterly leaning in. Crane stares at the in thought. But turns back to Strange and his smile has returned. “I’m listening.”
Next: After a series of mysterious robberies, Bruce finds himself teaming up with Catwoman again to find the thief
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