Year Eight: The Bruce Wayne Story

Year Eight: The Bruce Wayne Story
Picking up where we left off, after Bruce Wayne has spent seven years travelling the world, learning a variety of skills, he eventually decided to return to his home city of Gotham - only to find it as desperate and bleak as it was when he first left.

'''"Year Eight" follows the twelve months from Bruce's return to Gotham, until he finally realises his destiny and dons the cape and cowl that would dominate the rest of his life, becoming the masked vigilante and hero known as The Batman. Other key plot points in the series include the dawn of the Great War of Gotham, a year-long struggle that would transform the city forever from a thriving (albeit corrupt) metropolis, into the dark and sinister world of costumed vigilantes and psychotic villains that we have all come to know as Gotham City.'''

Part One: The Prince of Gotham
Upon Bruce's return to his home city, he is reunited with his family friends, Dr Leslie Thompkins, a former colleague of his father's and the person to find Bruce immediately after his parent's murder, and his legal guardian throughout his later childhood, Alfred Pennyworth, a stern, ex-military medic with a lifelong duty to his adoptive son. Bruce is initially uncomfortable with returning to Gotham, unable to forget his previous experiences there; suddenly hounded by the Press in regards to his unexplained absence, forcibly reminded of his parent's death, as well as other more traumatic events - Bruce visits the grave of Harvey Harris, his first mentor, for whose death he has always felt responsible, and vows that he will not allow the detective's murder to pass in vain.

Bruce is welcomed reluctantly back into his father's company Wayne Enterprises, by its current CEO Ferris Boyle, eager to use Bruce's fame and status to boost the company's popularity. This is especially important at this point in the company's lifetime, as they are currently in the final months of an ongoing war with a rival company, Sionis Industries, headed by Bruce's childhood friend Roman Sionis.

Bruce learns that the rivalry between the two organisations is due to their competition to win the rights to a large US Military contract to create advanced infantry enhancements, resulting in billions of dollars of revenue and an unprecedented boost in stature. Whilst Wayne Enterprises has developed a variety of armour-based defences and weaponry, Sionis' company has opted for an alternative route, by creating a highly advanced serum that would be able to turn any average troop into an effective "super-soldier" by enhancing their speed, stamina, agility and cognitive operations.

Bruce arranges a meeting with Roman Sionis, to catch up on old times, and to discuss their opposing business ventures. Sionis attends the meeting, feigning to be pleased to see Bruce again after so many years - however as soon as Bruce has left, he curses his former friend for returning to Gotham alive. It transpires that in Bruce's absence, Sionis has enjoyed the lifestyle of the renowned playboy of Gotham, however Bruce's sudden reappearance has stolen his limelight, and he is bitterly jealous, vowing to defeat Wayne Enterprises in their race for the sought-after military contract.

Sionis orders an emergency meeting of his board, and declares that all of the finances in the company will be directed towards the Research and Development division, in an effort to complete their serum development before Wayne Enterprises can finalise their armour and weaponry creations. Despite many complaints from the Board that will could be catastrophic to the company, Sionis insists that the Military Contract is now their highest priority.

Meanwhile, Bruce comes to realise he is struggling to return back to a so-called normal life; after years travelling the world, enjoying relative anonymity, and experiencing the responsibility of a full-scale war, he now finds it impossible to acclimate to his previous playboy image, and his mundane figurehead leadership role. Alfred (unaware of Bruce's activities over the past seven years) grows increasingly distressed with his behaviour - his insomnia and nocturnal habits causing him to grow agitated and paranoid. Alfred calls in a Psychiatrist to provide Bruce with some much-needed therapy, to help him adjust to his "normal" life. The therapist, a young woman named Dr Harleen Quinzel, begins sessions with Bruce, and, due to Bruce's education in Psychology, she finds him a mental match for her own, becoming more and more fascinated with him, leading the two to eventually start a brief romance - despite Dr Quinzel's diagnosis of Bruce as borderline personality disorder, she cannot help feeling attracted to him, stating that she must have "a weakness for dangerous men..".

One day at a garden function at Wayne Manor attended by Gotham's elite social class, Bruce becomes startled by the sound of a champagne cork popping and suffers a severe panic attack. After the guests are ushered away, and Dr Thompkins has tended to him, he is left in bed to rest - however as soon as he is left alone, he leaves his bed to sit on the floor (unable to sit comfortably in a bed after years sleeping on a mountain), and begins to meditate - this being the only source of peace Bruce has in his life. It has become clear that Bruce cannot overcome the trauma of the previous seven years.

Part Two: Apollo
Meanwhile, Sionis Industries profits have plummeted due to its CEO's poor financial strategies. The company is in the brink of bankruptcy, and upon hearing of this, Wayne Enterprises step in with an offer; they will buy out the company, automatically absorbing their Research and Development division, thereby eliminating their competition in the race for the military contract. Roman Sionis is outraged by the offer, instead ordering premature testing of the as-yet un-patented Serum. In order to find a suitable test subject, Sionis orders two of his men to journey to a distant island called Santa Prisca, to find a prison called Peña Duro, where he asserts that the corrupt wardens would easily sell an inmate for the right price. Upon seeing the test rats in the R&D laboratory however, with the side-effect of extreme facial scars and bodily deformities, he instructs them to advise their chosen test subject to wear a mask...

Weeks pass, and Sionis has heard nothing from his men in regards to the chosen test subject. Under immense pressure from his board of directors, Sionis is forced to hand control of the company over to Wayne Enterprises, and to his rival Bruce Wayne. Despite Bruce's apologies for publically humiliating him, Sionis swears vengeance on his former friend.

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Meanwhile, the City has been swept by the excitement of a dynamic election campaign for a new District Attorney - the current D.A. is an aged politician, and former employee of Rupert Thorne, whereas the new, younger challenger for the position has been emerging more and more victorious in the polls, looking increasingly likely to take the title for himself. The challenger goes by the name of Harvey Dent.

At a celebration gala for a recent poll victory of Dent's, Bruce is re-united with the up-and-coming Lawyer, an old friend from College where the two had studied Law and Criminology together. The two spend some time together discussing the state of Gotham City, and Bruce sees that his old friend Harvey has a fierce passion for righting the wrongs of the current system to establish a new order in the city. Harvey in particular has a dedicated stance against Rupert Thorne, the prominent and corrupt councilman that is widely regarded to hold Gotham in his hands, and whom Dent hold responsible for the current dire state of the city. Dent, a working-class man, notes that the class divide on Gotham City is one of the main problems with the social decay, as whilst men like Thorne remain in control of the City, the rich continue to grow richer whilst the poor grow poorer. Dent strives to remove the gap and introduce equality in Gotham City - at any cost.

Meanwhile Bruce, struggling to re-adjust to his "normal" life, starts spending his sleepless nights riding his motorbike into the city, enjoying the isolation of the dark night and the anonymity of blending in with the shadows in a vast city. Slowly, but surely, an idea has begun to form.

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By now having lost the race for the esteemed Military contract, Sionis is publically humiliated by the media. Under scrutiny from his board of directors, who have requested his resignation, Sionis meets in secret with his soon-to-be successor Elliott Reuben, who has gone behind the back of the Board of Directors to try to gain sole control over the leadership of Sionis Industries, rather than have it fall into the hands of anyone else. Reuben provides Sionis with documentation detailing his handover over the business to himself, which Sionis scoffs at. Reuben advises Roman to sign the papers to avoid further degradation when he is overthrown by the Board in the coming few days, to which Sionis replies "Over my dead body." Reuben, a close associate of Rupert Thorne, agrees with this - threatening Sionis that failing to hand over the Company to him will result in his own death, explaining that it would not be difficult to convince a gullible public that the failed business mogul would commit suicide.

As Reuben prepares to leave, Sionis realises his life is in danger, and suddenly explodes at Reuben in a blind fury. Although Reuben tries to defend himself, Sionis beats him to the floor, and eventually kills him with his bare hands.

When Sionis calms down, he slowly comes to terms with what he has done. At first sickened by his own actions, he gradually accepts what he has become, and embraces his darker, more vengeful side. He walks slowly across the room, gazing at a newspaper on the side table, with a picture of Bruce Wayne across the front and a headline declaring "Hero Wayne Saves Dying Company". Sionis scowls deeply, and slams his blood-stained fist down onto the white paper.

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Part Three: The Catalyst
Over the coming days, Sionis resigns from his position as CEO of Sionis Industries, in the wake of the disappearance of one of his board members. Whilst publicly stating that he felt it was the right time to hand leadership of the Organisation over to others, he has secretly been developing a much more sinister plan to enact revenge upon Bruce Wayne and his company.

Firstly Sionis arranges a meeting with a group of street-level drug dealers, a subsidiary of one of Rupert Thorne’s enterprises, under the pretence of forming a business partnership. When he attends the meeting, he does so wearing a black skull mask, lifted from his deceased father’s collection, stating to the drug dealers that it would be more beneficial for them to be unaware of his identity, so that if questioned, they can maintain plausible deniability. They are instructed to refer to him only as The Black Mask.

He lays out the terms of his deal – as a result of a recent crackdown by Dent and his department, a vast proportion of drug dealers have been removed from the streets, leaving the mob desperate, and now waging war on each other to fight for the last few games in town. Sionis explains that he can offer the drug syndicate an array of heavy arms, which he can acquire due to his business contacts – the mob, eager to gain an advantage over the rival Falcone mob, hastily agrees to his prices.

After the meeting however, Sionis makes contact with Johnny Viti– a lower level employee of the Falcone mob – and it transpires that Sionis has made an identical deal with this mob, as well as with the Maroni mob, the Aquista mob, and the Irish mob– although it is not yet clear what his intentions are. From Thorne’s operation, Sionis acquires a small group of five or six men, that he states he will need to complete the job. It now becomes clear that Sionis’ intentions are to steal the weaponry promised to the mob from Wayne Enterprises.

Sionis has learned the date that the research from Sionis Industries is to be moved over to the facilities at Wayne Enterprises, and plans his attack to coincide with this on the very same night. Whilst the goods are loaded into cargo boxes at Sionis Industries, Sionis himself has ventured over to Wayne Enterprises, under the pretence of overseeing the transfer. However, halfway along the journey, the convoy is ambushed by Thorne’s men as Sionis had planned, with the current drivers and guards being killed and replaced by the criminals. Once the swap has been made, Thorne’s men continue the delivery of Sionis’ cargo to the Wayne Enterprises facility.

Once there, Sionis, who had gained access to the building using his well-known status and charm, encourages the Security staff to allow his men access without ID checks. Under pressure, the Wayne Enterprises employees allow the men to enter. As soon as the gates are closed behind them however, Thorne’s men rush the unsuspecting Wayne Enterprises staff and quickly kill them all before they can raise the alarm, leaving them free to access the Wayne Enterprises facility at their leisure.

Thorne’s men, believing Sionis to be nothing more than an acquaintance to Black Mask, quickly follow his orders, and load the empty van with Wayne-tech weaponry and make their silent escape, with no trace that Sionis was ever in the building. Just as they leave, Sionis gives them an order to meet him at an abandoned warehouse downtown in one hour.

Sionis arrives at the warehouse later that night, in the guise of Black Mask once more. Here, he finds Thorne’s men dead across the floor, littered with gunshot wounds, and a group of Maroni’s men waiting for him. It becomes clear that Sionis had arranged for Maroni’s men to lie in wait at the warehouse for Thorne’s men, so that they could kill them and steal their goods. However, what Maroni’s men are not aware of is that before they ambushed Thorne’s men, Sionis had secretly arranged for them to unload the stolen cargo into a hidden underground compartment in the warehouse, and to replace it with identical-looking crates, with unknown content.

Maroni’s men leave with the unidentified cargo, and Sionis makes a call to Luigi Maroni, head of the Maroni crime family, to let him know that the shipment will be delivered to him shortly.

A short while later, the shipment arrives at a dockyard warehouse owned by the Maroni family. Luigi, the head of the crime family sits in the warehouse surrounded by his men, overseeing the delivery of the goods. Upon its arrival, Luigi sends his youngest family member Umberto to check the contents of the crate. Umberto approaches the first crate and orders his men to prise the lid of the crate open. They do so, revealing inside, not an assortment of machine guns as promised, but instead, a large explosive device, rigged to blow as soon as the lid is removed.

The explosion tears half of the warehouse apart, killing the majority of the men inside. Luigi however has survived, and stumbles wounded from the wreckage, with the help of one of his men. Upon realising that the delivery of the “weapons” was in fact a trap, Luigi Maroni swears vengeance on the Black Mask.

Sionis meanwhile pays a visit to Johnny Viti, and explains to him that the shipment theft will be going ahead as planned the following night, but requests a group of five or six men to help him. Viti, entirely unaware of the events of the night, arranges for his best half a dozen men to meet with the mysterious Black Mask stranger the following night to help with the robbery. As he leaves the premises, Sionis pulls a replica of his own Black Mask out from inside his coat, and stashes it into the inside pocket of Viti’s coat without anyone noticing.

In one night, Roman Sionis has managed to spark a vicious Mob war – leaving the Thorne mob thirsty for the blood of the Maroni mob, who in turn are searching for Black Mask – whom Sionis has now framed as Johnny Viti of the Falcone mob. By turning each crime family on each other, Sionis has forced the hand of each vengeance-seeking mob to ultimately destroy each other – leaving space for just one Mob Boss to unite Gotham City under his control; The Black Mask.

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Part Four: War Begins
Sionis’ action have become the catalyst for a war that will change Gotham City forever. With the mob bent on destroying each rival faction, the influence of organised crime in Gotham has weakened, and left room for a new breed of criminal to emerge…

The following day, Bruce Wayne is awaken by a visit from Detectives Bullock and Gordon of the GCPD, with news of the attack and murder of the Wayne Enterprises employees, as well as the theft of the weaponry. Although the visit is made in a relatively professional manner, Gordon lets Bullock know as they are leaving that there is something he does not trust about Bruce Wayne, and they should keep an eye on him in the future.

Bruce heads down to Wayne Enterprises and speaks to other detectives at the scene, under the supervision of Jim Corrigan. Corrigan is flippant about the attack, suggesting that it was merely street thugs and that the weapons were as good as gone. Bruce, untrusting of the corrupt Corrigan, particularly due to his hand in the death of Harvey Harris, and dissatisfied with the final report, takes the attack personally and begins to investigate the case himself.

After overhearing of another killing spree on the same night in the Thorne warehouse, Bruce makes the connection that Corrigan would not pursue, and follows the lead to there.

At the Thorne warehouse, Bruce finds the crime scene from the previous night, and finds out from the police on guard that these are small-time thugs working for the Thorne crime family. Upon discovering that there has also been a similar attack on the harbour, involving the destruction of a warehouse belonging to the Maroni crime family, Bruce deduces that the other main player in town must be responsible: The Falcone crime family.

Bruce heads into the city and tracks down a prominent member of the Falcone family, Johnny Viti. Bruce follows Viti into the nightclub he owns, and scales the fire escape outside, managing to easily break into the upstairs of the venue unnoticed by the security staff. He then picks the lock of the door to Viti’s office, and once inside he finds the black mask replica on Viti’s desk. After being disturbed by people approaching outside, Bruce hides in the shadows of the office and overhears a conversation between Viti and two employees, upon which it transpires that Viti has discovered the mask replica in his jacket that morning.

After the two employees leave, Bruce creeps back into the office and subdues Viti, pinning him to his desk and viciously interrogating him. Viti reveals that he had made a deal with the stranger known as the Black Mask to secure a large amount of firearms; The Sionis Industries weapons. However the Black Mask had failed to deliver on his side of the deal, angering the Falcone family. Viti also reveals that he know that the Maroni family has learnt of his possession of the replica mask, incriminating him as the masked man who betrayed the Thorne family and murdered a dozen members of the Maroni family, effectively leading the Gotham mob into civil war.

As Viti pleads his innocence, declaring he had not arranged the heist or the attacks, Bruce demands to know where he can find Luigi Maroni, the survivor of the attack on the Maroni mob, and his son, Salvatore Maroni, a potential suspect in the case. As Bruce flees the building, he is chased by Viti and his men into the street – although Bruce is by now safely perched on the rooftop across the street, using his skills to navigate the drainpipes for his escape. However as he watches Viti and his men give up their search for the mysterious intruder, he sees a car pull out of the shadows and drive full speed at the group, with machine pistols opening fire from the windows. As the mobsters fall under the crossfire, Bruce drops down onto the fire escapes and lands upon the moving vehicle, crashing through the windscreen and causing the car to swerve and come crashing to a halt in a parked truck.

Bruce quickly apprehends the assailants, recognising the lead guy as Salvatore Maroni, the son of the head of the Maroni crime family, Luigi Maroni. As he warns Viti to run for his life, he comes up with a plan to get the attention of Boss Maroni.

At the Maroni residence across town, Luigi Maroni enters his drawing room and makes a call to his security staff, to enquire if Salvatore had returned yet from his “task”. However the line rings dead, with no reply from several of the staff. Baffled, Maroni makes his way into the entrance hall, hearing an engine growing steadily louder in the grounds outside. He approaches a window and looks outside, and sees a car hurtling straight for the window. Moving just in time as the car crashes through the large double windows straight into the drawing room, Boss Maroni falls to the ground into piles of broken glass as the car comes crashing to a halt. Tied to the steering wheel and gagged is the unconscious body of Sal Maroni, his son.

As Maroni rushes to his son’s aid, he is suddenly pinned to the bonnet by a stranger – Bruce, now disguised with a hood and scarf to shield his face. Bruce takes out Maroni’s knees, bringing him to the floor to interrogate him.

Maroni tells Bruce all he needs to move his investigation – that the Black Mask figure approached him with the offer to easily take a shipment of powerful weapons from the Thorne family, by taking out the small men immediately after a heist he had arranged. For the information, Maroni paid Black Mask a large amount of money, believing that this was as far as the deal went. However upon moving the shipment and opening the goods, he found he had been double-crossed and the “deal” was in fact an assassination attempt, causing him to declare a vendetta on the Black Mask.

Bruce now comes to realise that the Black Mask is not in fact a mob member in disguise, but is instead a much more sinister enemy, working independently to remove the highest-ranking mob figures from their perches atop Gotham society.

Bruce relinquishes his arm-lock on Maroni, allowing him to walk free. Maroni, trying to regain his composure, walks to the drinks cabinet and picks up a scotch glass, also offering the intruder a beverage. However when he opens the cabinet door, the cabinet explodes, blasting the dead Boss Maroni across the room. Bruce drags the unconscious Salvatore Maroni onto the porch to safety, and observes the damage. Understanding now that the war of Gotham has begun, Bruce escaped the wrecked Maroni residence and disappears into the night.

Part Five: The False-Face Society
The following day, a group of small-time thugs and guns-for-hire meet in an abandoned warehouse on the Gotham docks, under orders from the mysterious Black Mask. Sionis enter, wearing his mask disguise once more. He introduces himself as their new leader, and provides each member with a different mas to wear from his father’s collection, the idea being that if any member is arrested, they would be unable to testify against any colleagues as they do not know their identities. The masks include a collection of familiar masks to the DC universe, including a “Red Hood” style helmet, and many others.

Sionis declares that Gotham City is in a state of transition – the powers-that-be are falling behind, leaving the wealth of Gotham up for the taking. By ensuring the self-destruction of the existing mob, he and his band of followers are ready to step up and claim Gotham as their own… by any means necessary.

Meanwhile Bruce is working in his study, piecing together clues from the previous night. Taking a look through records of similar attacks in the past, he deduces that the bomb in Maroni’s drinks cabinet was placed by members of Rupert Thorne’s organisation, as retribution for the slaying of their men. Knowing that the GCPD would never make a move on Thorne, and with Luigi Maroni dead and Johnny Viti in hiding, leaving very few leads left to pursue, Bruce decides to once more take matters into his own hands, to identify any possible link between Rupert Thorne and the Black Mask.

As Thorne would be unlikely to consciously give away any significant information, Bruce instead prepares himself for a solo reconnaissance mission – he heads down to the WayneTech armoury and “confiscates” several items – a bullet-proof Kevlar vest, to protect him from any attacks from Thorne’s men, a grapple gun to fire an extendable cable, in case of any need for an emergency escape, lock-picking devices, a smoke grenade, a black cape to allow him to easily hide amongst the shadows, and a motorcycle helmet and balaclava to help protect from any impact.

That night Bruce heads into the city, to Thorne’s skyscraper headquarters, the base of his operations. He scales the security walls with ease and gains access to the building, heading up dozens of storeys to Thorne’s office. Once inside, he finds contact information for his street-level subsidiaries, the drug dealers whom Black Mask first made contact with. As he turns to leave however, he is ambushed by a group of Thorne’s security staff. Bruce manages to quickly take them down, but not before they raise the alarm.

Within minutes the building is surrounded by Police, blocking all exits and escape routes, forcing Bruce up the stairs as armed officers rush to the scene. Bruce is finally cornered on the rooftop as armed cops hold the masked man at gunpoint. Seeing his only possible means of escape, Bruce throws himself over the ledge, firing his grapple gun into the rooftop, dropping down storey after storey – but coming up short when the grapple gun locks, leaving him stranded halfway up the side of the building.

By now the scene has deteriorated into a full-scale situation – Police and News helicopters soar overhead, with floodlights illuminating the man hanging hundreds of feet in the air on the side of Thorne’s building. As the police on the roof organise a winch to hoist the masked man to safety, Bruce concocts a crazy, desperate escape plan. Latching his gauntlets onto the side of the window to support his weight, he unleashes the clamp on the end of the grapple gun and withdraws the cable, takes aim above, and fires the cable into the base of the police helicopter soaring overhead, and releases his grasp on the side of the building.

As the helicopter buckles under the impact of the grapple gun, Bruce uses the leverage to swing himself down, plummeting dozens of feet before soaring in a graceful arc over the heads of the onlookers, his dark cape billowing out behind him, before reaching the end of his curve and releasing the grapple gun’s hold on the helicopter, coming to land safely below on the rooftop of the building opposite. In the panic and commotion, and with the helicopters by now having lost visuals on the suspect, Bruce manages to disappear into the darkness between the adjacent buildings, making a daring and heroic escape into the shadows.

Part Six: Crusader Rising
The following morning the newspaper headlines are all based around the events of the previous night, highlighting the dramatic footage of the mysterious intruder. Bruce meanwhile plans to move forward with the information he has gathered from Thorne’s office, and that night he leaves Wayne Manor once more, under the pretence of going out for the night, instead suiting up in the armour and cape he had worn the previous night.

Bruce tracks down two members of the street thugs working for Thorne, the ones who he believes to have met with the Black Mask stranger. Knowing that is he can prove a link between the street thugs and Thorne, he will then be able to link Thorne with Black Mask and expose Thorne’s corrupt nature to all of Gotham.

Bruce tracks the first thug to a bar in the city, and corners him in the alleyway outside. He beats the thug down and interrogates him, learning that his accomplice was the one to arrange the meeting with Black Mask, and he will be meeting with Thorne himself later that night. He then knocks the thug out cold, and hangs him from his ankles from a streetlamp, before heading off in search of the second thug.

Bruce finds the second thug by waiting outside his apartment as he leaves, and follows him to a large warehouse in the industrial district, one Bruce knows to be owned by Rupert Thorne. He makes his way unnoticed into the property, trying to record the men talking so that he can have solid proof of their involvement in the WayneTech heist.

Bruce takes out a security camera to avoid himself being seen – however this alerts the security staff in the warehouse, who come looking for any intruders.

Bruce makes his way through the warehouse, keeping himself hidden amongst the shadows using this cape and dark attire to avoid being seen. Eventually he comes to a large room where he can hear activity inside, and taking a look through the door he sees one lone man working on seemingly hi-tech machinery inside. Bruce attacks the man, and pins him to the desk, demanding answers – but seeing that the man is covered in terrible bruising and wounds, and realising that the man is in fact apparently suffering from learning difficulties, as well as being chained and bound to his desk, Bruce understands that the man in in fact a victim, working for Thorne on what appears to be equipment similar to the WayneTech weaponry.

Bruce unchains the man, just as the security staff enter the room, holding the masked intruder at gunpoint. Bruce, pretending to hold the disabled man as a hostage with one of the weapons, manages to force the thugs to lower their weapons - before launching a rapid attack on the two thugs, knocking one thug out in an instant and using the unconscious head of the first man to knock the second man out.

Knowing that their time is running out, Bruce helps the disabled man to flee the building, but not before starting a fire in the bottom flow or the warehouse, soon engulfing the entire building and destroying all of the weapons Thorne was having manufactured.

Bruce helps the disabled man onto his motorcycle to escape the scene, just as two more cars pull up around them. Thorne himself steps out of the first car, and seeing the masked man assisting his former prisoner, as well as the blaze around them, Thorne orders his men to kill the stranger. They open fire from all angles, just as Bruce throws the man onto the motorcycle in front of him, pulling away at high speed, under a shower of bullets – as one pierces Bruce’s protective armour, tearing a gaping wound in his waist.

Using the outer roads of the city, Bruce manages to navigate his way back to Wayne Manor, with Thorne’s prisoner unharmed on the motorcycle alongside him. Losing a vast amount of blood throughout the journey, Bruce manages to keep himself conscious using the pain ignorance technique taught to him by Tsunetomo whilst in captivity in Japan. Eventually the two reach the safety of Wayne Manor, and Bruce staggers into the hallway, before collapsing onto the dining table, attempting to remove his armour to staunch the bleeding.

Within minutes, Alfred appears, disturbed by the commotion downstairs, and finds the wounded Bruce, clad in the gear of the masked intruder from the news footage, as well as his new acquaintance. Although initially in shock, Alfred springs into action and retrieves his emergency first-aid kit, and rushes to Bruce’s aid, managing to remove the bullet and cauterize the wound, saving Bruce’s life – although being in awe of Bruce’s ability to withstand the pain of cauterisation.

Eventually Bruce is forced to come clean to Alfred, about everything – the seven years he spent away from Gotham were spent in training, and as a prisoner of the Yakuza, and the war he helped to bring to and end with the death of David Cain, as well as his activities since being back in Gotham, investigating the WayneTech heist and the assaults on the mob, resulting in his current wound.

The two learn the identity of Thorne’s prisoner: Harold Allnut, an autistic savant man, with limited social and interpersonal skills, but an incredible mind of technological and electronic brilliance. Thorne had discovered Allnut whilst working as an assistant for Earl Cooper, a Gotham-based engineer, and after paying Cooper handsomely for the savant, Thorne had then reduced Allnut to a prisoner in his warehouse, forcing him to work illegally to create new weapons for him to gain an advantage over his rival mob families.

Until this point, Bruce and Alfred have not been able to see eye-to-eye since Bruce’s return to Gotham, however Alfred now sees Bruce for what he truly is, a heroic, selfless figure, not the reckless playboy he had allowed himself to be seen as, and Alfred gains a newfound respect for his employer. Likewise, Bruce now asks Alfred why he didn’t leave him previously and find a wife and a life of his own – whereas Alfred replies that he had once had a fiancée, a French actress called Marie, until the sudden deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne. Upon being told of his status as the boy’s legal guardian in the Wayne’s will, Alfred had made the difficult decision to leave Marie and come to Bruce’s aid. Bruce, having never known this before, becomes emotional at the sacrifice Alfred had made for him, and when he asks Alfred why he would do that for him, Alfred simply replies that Bruce had needed him more. The two share an emotional embrace, repairing the relationship damaged by years apart, and Bruce now finally coming to realise his long sought-after father figure was indeed Alfred all along.

The following morning, the news is overtaken by the sensational footage of the blaze at the Thorne warehouse, as well as salvaged security footage of the caped intruder rescuing an apparent prisoner. With the masked man now identified as a vigilante rather than a criminal, the media comes to nickname the person “The Crusader.”

Bruce retrieves his grapple gun, and realises it is damaged by the gunfire from the night before. As he makes to throw it away, Harold instead takes it from him, and, helping himself to Alfred’s tools, begins repairing the equipment. Although initially sceptical, Harold soon has the gadget back in fully working order within minutes, to Bruce’s amazement.

As a test, Bruce takes Harold out to their garage, and provides him with the entire tool kit at Wayne Manor, and gives Harold access to his prized possession – a state-of-the-art Formula 1 Car, a present for his 18th Birthday, no longer in working order due to years of inactivity. Harold takes a brief look over the engine, and within minutes has the car purring into life. Bruce begins to plan how he can use this asset best to serve Gotham…

Across town, Roman Sionis stares at the footage of the Crusader on the television screen, his hand balling into a fist of fury, livid that another figure has taken precedence over his antics. A plot begins to form to take his deserved notoriety back from The Crusader…

Part Seven: Apollo Falling
Over the course of the next few months, events go on as they have started; Bruce continues to go out at nights disguised as The Crusader, gathering a growing list of evidence against the mob figures, yet a frustrating lack of information about the Black Mask. The Crusader has become a figure gaining both popularity amongst Gotham citizens, as well as notoriety amongst the GCPD. The mob war continues to escalate, with each faction pushing each other further backwards with a growing list of retaliatory attacks on each other. In time, some of the more influential members of each force are found dead, including the murder of Johnny Viti in a hotel bath. By now Salvatore Maroni has claimed leadership of the Maroni crime family, and in a move much more reckless than that of his father, he has encouraged the revenge attacks in order to finally remove the threats of the Thorne and Falcone families once and for all, resulting in further bloodshed.

The election for the new district attorney arrives, and Harvey Dent wins in a landslide victory. In his first few weeks as DA, Dent enforces several strict reforms of the Gotham judicial system, removing a large list of corrupt members of his organisation, and encourages the GCPD to take similar measures.

However the weakening of the mob, in the wake of the ongoing war and the crackdown by Dent, had led to the Black Mask and the False Face Society growing increasingly more powerful by the day. The False Face Society has also started to become blamed for the gruesome murders and multiple disappearances of several high-profile members of the Gotham elite –including those that are linked to Wayne Enterprises.

Many of these murders have started to take on more sinister methods – corrupt cops and legal officials have turned up with their faces entirely removed, or with intense injuries to their faces, leading to the blame of the False Face Society.

One night Dent is interrupted in his office by the arrival of the mysterious stranger – The Crusader. Dent meets him on the rooftop of his office, and is presented with a file containing a wealth of the information The Crusader has gathered over the course of the year, irrefutable proof of Rupert Thorne’s involvement with the organised crime syndicates in Gotham. Despite Thorne’s Federal protection, once this information is made public, there will be no other option than to prosecute him to the full extent of the law. Dent offers his appreciation to The Crusader, and endorses his methods as although they are illegal, he believes that in this case, the end justifies the means.

Dent approaches Jim Gordon of the GCPD and shares is information with the Major Crimes Unit. Although at first hesitant, they agree to arrest Thorne and dozens of his men on any number of the felonies they have proof of his involvement in.

The GCPD swarm Thorne’s offices, and Thorne is subsequently arrested and subpoenaed to Court on charges of extortion, racketeering, murder, drug dealing, assault and battery and many more.

Thorne of course makes bail, but during the middle of the prosecution, Dent is approached by Thorne and his men on his way out of the office one night. Fearing for his life, Dent attacks the group, but is quickly subdued and taken away for a conversation.

Thorne tells Dent he has a deal for him. At first Dent argues bravely, swearing to destroy Thorne and all he stands for, until Thorne reveals his leverage; He has procured documents from Dent’s childhood psychiatrist, with evidence of Dent’s dormant psychiatric condition, a split-personality disorder. Dent had previously believed the documents to have been destroyed, and Thorne points out how Dent’s attempted cover-up of his condition would look very badly to the Gotham press, likely resulting in the end of the prosecution of Thorne and his men. Knowing it would look suspicious for Dent to suddenly drop any charges without warning, and intending to use Dent in the future to prosecute his own enemies, Thorne offers Dent two options: He can either pursue the prosecution against Thorne, and ruin his reputation when his past is revealed, or he can simply prosecute a large number of Thorne’s small-time thugs, with little consequence to Thorne’s activities. Knowing Thorne has him against the ropes, Dent reluctantly agrees to Thorne’s offer.

The prosecution goes ahead around Halloween time, and despite Dent’s evidence, he allows Thorne to walk free, instead sentencing dozens of small-time thugs to jail terms. Bruce catches up with Dent one night, and questions him as to the outcome of the highly publicised trial, and as to why Thorne could simply walk free. Dent, by now despondent, questions the purpose of his life fighting crime, and if he would be better suited to another profession. Bruce dismisses the idea, telling Dent he is the sole hope of Gotham City, and warns him never to give up his hope.

By now Sionis has heard the details of Dent’s deal with Thorne. Intending to prove a point to the masses, Sionis arranges for Dent’s assistant Vernon Fields to lure Dent into a trap. Fields, angry with Dent’s apparent lack of resolve in the trial, agrees to help The False Face Society.

After a night time celebration gala, Fields offers to drive Dent home. However, he instead brings the DA to the factory of Janus Cosmetics, the subsidiary company of Sionis Enterprises. Dent firstly questions why he has been brought here, before the Society members swarm the car and bring Dent into the factory as a hostage.

Once inside, Dent is strapped to a chair by the Society members, as Black Mask enters. Fields, believing himself to be a partner in the scheme, attempts to order Black Mask around – so Sionis abruptly executes Fields in front of Dent.

With Dent defenceless, Sionis goads Dent about the deal he has made with Thorne. As it turns out, Black Mask had been quite banking on Dent removing Thorne from the equation, thereby eliminating one rival – however in Black Mask’s eyes, Dent has failed his purpose. Sionis declares that Gotham’s “Apollo” is in fact just as corrupt as the City which he serves, saying that he is now as “Two-Faced” as the rest of Gotham – and so the City deserves to know the nature of their saviour.

On Sionis’ orders, two of the Society members force Dent’s head back, and using a blade and a toxic chemical compound from Janus Cosmetics chemicals, they mutilate the left side of Dent’s face, slicing and burning the flesh from his face. Despite Dent’s terrified screams of agony and his vicious wrestling, they succeed in removing half of his face, as blood cascades down the left side of his suit, forever changing the face of the White Knight of Gotham.

Later that night, Bruce is trying to track down Dent. Knowing that Dent left with Fields, he manages to track Fields’ car to Janus cosmetics. He breaks into the building, and discovers Dent’s barely conscious body upstairs, witnessing the true horror of the False Face Society’s attack on Harvey Dent.

Part Eight: The Darkest Night
Dent is committed to hospital, and retires from public service following his terrible disfigurement. The weeks go by, and Bruce becomes intensely focused on tracking down the Black Mask organisation. Using an advanced computer system from WayneTech, Bruce creates a supercomputer in his study – a combination of FBI and GCPD databases, a program to hack into CCTV throughout the City, as well as links to a variety of satellites overlooking various parts of the Globe, and an intelligent processor capable of instantly handling multiple advanced equations and analysis’ that would be far beyond the capabilities of any person.

Using his newfound technology, Bruce manages to deduce the identities of several members of the False Face Society, by using data and profiles gained from GCPD and Arkham Asylum records. Rather than take these men out individually however, Bruce comes up with an alternative plan – to infiltrate the False Face Society in order to get closer to their leader, the elusive Black Mask.

In the meantime, Black Mask and his Society members have stormed the newsroom at GCN and sent out a broadcast to the whole city, in which Black Mask publicly accepts the entire responsibility for all of his crimes, as well as all of the action perpetrated by the Crusader, declaring that the media was wrong about the vigilante, and stating that it was in fact all one and the same person. He also calls for more volunteers to join his cause, offering rewards beyond imagination once the city has been taken for their own.

In response, Mayor Hamilton Hill and Commissioner Loeb publicly denounce the actions of both the Black Mask, as well as the Crusader, with the majority of the public now believing these to be one and the same. They declare a crackdown on illegal and terrorist activities effective immediately, and announce the formation of a crack team to tackle these criminals with the full force of the law.

Bruce tracks down one of the members of the False Face Society; a previous Arkham inmate called Victor Zsasz, and he manages to subdue the felon, relieving him of his mask and gathering information about the next Society meeting, as the information is only passed on using word of mouth from one member to the next.

Bruce attends the meeting wearing Zsasz’s mask, and witnesses Black Mask for the first time. Black Mask provides each member of the group with a specific, often random, target, assigning some small groups of thugs to the larger tasks. Black Mask then asks for a volunteer for a higher responsibility job – and Bruce quickly takes up the offer.

Black Mask takes Bruce aside, and instructs him to take a group of men to kill Rupert Thorne, as the DA had failed in his duty to remove the opponent. Being unable to refuse openly, Bruce is forced to lead several of the False Face members to Thorne’s house in the middle of the night.

Having been unable to stop the mission at any point up until they reach Thorne’s house, Bruce leads the men inside, and advises each man to split up to maximise their efficiency. He then makes it his priority to find Thorne first, to save the mobster’s life.

The Society members take down Thorne’s security staff, with the commotion waking Thorne and causing him to run for his life. Bruce eventually finds another Society member having already discovered Thorne cowering in a wardrobe, and instinctively knocks the Society member out in one swift move. Thorne, confused by his actions, pulls a gun on Bruce, but Bruce manages to deflect the pistol and avoid the shot, threatening Thorne to escape now or die.

As Thorne turns to leave however, the doorway is blocked by Black Mask himself. Observing the scene before him, he questions the masked Bruce why he would deliberately stop the most important mission of the False Face Society, before understanding flashes into his eyes, as he realises he is talking to The Crusader. Black Mask congratulates Bruce on his expert intrusion into his operation, and offers him the choice – to kill Thorne, or die himself.

Bruce attempts to delay the inevitable, and engages in a lengthy discussion with Black Mask as to his motives, as Black Mask explains his desire to expose the corruption of the wealthy and the hypocrisy of the legal systems within their City, as well as his aim to ultimately transform the face of Gotham forever.

“Many years from now, they will look back and ask… “Where were you, when the lights went out on Gotham City?” “

- Black Mask

Bruce accepts the pistol from Black Mask’s henchmen, as they hold him at gunpoint, anticipating any move. Bruce pauses for a moment, his gun pointing at Thorne cowering on the floor in front of him. He raises his pistol to Thorne’s head, as the mobster quietly pleads for his life – and pulls the trigger.

The barrel clicks empty. As Thorne gasps in shock and relief, Black Mask gives the simple order to kill them both. The Society thugs cock their guns, as Bruce grabs Thorne and drags the older man through the window, as they fall under a hail of gunfire from the group of men in the room above.

Bruce comes crashing down onto a canopy below, and sees that Thorne has sustained a gunshot wound to his forehead, killed instantly. Releasing his grip on the mobster’s body, Bruce runs for his life, escaping under the storm of bullets raining down upon him.

Black Mask investigates the scene below around Thorne’s body, and sees a second pool of blood several inches away from Thorne – the Crusader’s blood. He orders his men to take a sample of the blood to Corrigan at the GCPD for analysis.

The results come back to Sionis within a matter of days – the blood belongs to Bruce Wayne.

Alfred coaxes Bruce into throwing a Christmas party – a tradition for the Wayne family, which Bruce reluctantly agrees to. Dozens of guests arrive at Wayne Manor, including Roman Sionis.

Having not spoken to Bruce for months since the Sionis Industries buyout, Sionis approaches Bruce on the pretence of striking up their friendship. Although Bruce is a little wary at first, he eventually comes to appreciate the gesture.

Later on during the party however, Sionis leaves the main function room and begins exploring the Wayne Manor. His investigations lead him into the garage space behind Wayne Manor, where he discovers Harold Allnut working away on Bruce’s new car.

Sionis enters the garage, much to the discomfort of Harold, and observes the dozens of new weapons and gadgets Harold has created for him – various lock-picking devices, smoke and tear gas grenades, modified grapple guns, and steel throwing stars, and much, much more.

In amazement, Sionis begins experimenting with the tools. Harold becomes extremely uneasy, and Sionis turns on him, threatening him, and forces him to sit down. Suddenly Harold attempts to make a break for the open door, but Sionis pulls a silenced pistol and fires a single shot into Harold’s head, killing him instantly.

Back upstairs at the party, Bruce is suddenly interrupted by Alfred, informing him that the Police have been called to investigate an anonymous call. Bruce escorts the officers into the garage, unaware of what awaits him – only to lead the officers into the scene of Harold’s murder.

Upon discovering the body of the disabled man, the police officers pull their weapons on Bruce, forcing him to surrender. Bruce is subsequently arrested, and taken into the GCPD to await questioning in regards to Harold’s murder.

Detectives Gordon and Bullock are assigned to the case, and begin their interrogation of Bruce. Gordon is at first distrusting of the young billionaire, suspicious about his absence from Gotham for so long, and makes inquiries about Bruce’s whereabouts on the nights of the Black Mask’s crimes. Realising he is being set up for the crimes, and with no legitimate alibi as he was out in force as the “Crusader”, Bruce stays quiet, raising more suspicion.

By this point Sionis, having taken full control over the City as the Black Mask, has acquainted Thorne's old contacts in high plaes, such as the corrupt Mayor Hamilton Hill, and officers in the GCPD such as Jim Corrigan. Black Mask summons Corrigan and orders him to keep him updated on the Bruce Wayne case.

Bruce is eventually charged with the murders of dozens of victims throughout that year, and sentenced to several life sentences in Blackgate Penitentiary. As he is being transferred however, Corrigan makes a snide remark that the Black Mask is still at large, and that he is happy to see the innocent Bruce go to jail for another man’s crimes. Bruce flies into a rage, and using the skills taught to him by Zatara, he slips free of his handcuffs and knocks Corrigan out, escaping the Police car and disappearing into the night.

Corrigan is forced to report back to Black Mask of Bruce’s escape. Sionis, enraged at Corrigan’s ineptitude, kills him instantly, and assigns for two of his men to track down the billionaire.

Bruce is forced to go on the run, fighting to uncover enough evidence as to the true identity of the Black Mask to clear his name of the charges and to apprehend the real culprit. He returns to Wayne Manor in the dead of the night and enlists the help of Alfred to prove his innocence. Alfred suggests a convenient hiding place for him; the vast network of caves beneath the grounds of Wayne Manor, where he would be able to hide easily in the event of the GCPD searching for him.

The weeks go by, and Alfred arranges for the equipment in the garage to be moved into the cave, and provides Bruce with a large generator to power the computer system so that he can continue his investigation. Bruce manages to disguise himself and break into the Wayne Enterprises building, and accesses the Research and Development labs. Here he takes the software used to remotely hack into computer systems across the city, which he then takes and installs onto his own computer, thereby creating a supercomputer with which he can access the criminal records in the GCPD and federal databases to further assist his investigation.

Bruce struggles to make any significant progress with deducing the Black Mask’s identity, only managing to identify a few of the False Face Society members, leading him continually into dead ends. It is not until he mentions to Alfred that he has accounted for almost all of the known criminals in Gotham and ruled them out that Alfred suggests the Black Mask is not a criminal, but perhaps an ally or even a friend. Bruce initially asks which of his friends could hold such a vendetta against him, and then it occurs to him; Roman Sionis.

Bruce pushes his investigation forward with his main suspect in mind, and uncovers enough evidence to incriminate his former friend, such as that he had accessed the Wayne Enterprises building with his security pass on the night of the robbery of the WayneTech weaponry.

Shocked with this new revelation, Bruce questions whether to confront Sionis, and Alfred urges him to go forward with it to clear his name, as well as the name of The Crusader. Bruce responds that the identity of The Crusader has now been damaged beyond repair, and that he will need a new identity to continue his anonymous war on crime. Alfred ponders this, and agrees, but states that Bruce will have to determine his new persona on his own, and that Alfred is only his “batman”.

Bruce becomes startled at Alfred’s choice of words and asks what he meant by this – Alfred responds that a “batman” is simply an archaic military term for an assistant to a higher-ranking officer, a servant of sorts. . . but Bruce has now become inspired. Reminded of his time in the mountains with The Brotherhood and the mythical identity given to him, he goes forward and remodels the Crusader costumer accordingly, adding scalloped fins onto the black cape, gauntlets onto the gloves, incorporating large ear-style high-frequency receivers onto the cowl and moulding a large “Bat” symbol onto the chest plate to draw attention to the most reinforced part of the armour.

Bruce and Alfred stand back and take a look at the completed costume in all its glory; The Batman has been born.

The following night is New Year’s Eve, and Bruce decides to confront Roman Sionis at his home during his annual end-of-year party. Knowing that any sign of his presence would cause alarm, he instead sneaks into the mansion unnoticed, and waits until Sionis leaves the party momentarily and corners him in his study.

Sionis is initially shocked to see Bruce standing before him. Bruce declares that he knows what Sionis has done, and reveals that he has sent a copy of all of his evidence anonymously to the GCPD. Sionis scoffs at the idea, and tells Bruce that he knew his time was coming, but that he does not intend to go down without a fight. Bruce demands to know what Sionis’ plan is, and Sionis reveals that he intends to irreparably damage the face of Gotham, so that by the start of the New Year, Gotham City will have been changed beyond recognition forever.

Bruce guesses correctly what Sionis’ plan must be – the City square celebrations, where hundreds of Gotham citizens gather to bring in the New Year. Sionis explains that he has taken advantage of the corruption of the City to arrange for the members of the False Face Society to replace the Police Officers on duty to guard the event, as part of his plan to launch a deadly attack on the captive citizens below.

Bruce threatens Sionis, warning him that he will do anything in his power to stop him harming innocent civilians. Sionis tells him that there is nothing he can do to stop him now, and that the plan is already in place. As Bruce steps forward to attack his enemy, Sionis pulls a gun from his drawer and fires a shot into Bruce’s stomach.

Bruce is blown backwards, coming crashing through a glass table and dropping to the floor, blood soaking the floor below him. Sionis steps over his unconscious victim, pulling his Black Mask over his face, ready to unleash hell on Gotham City.

Minutes pass, and Bruce wakes up, having feigned his death to lure his enemy into a false sense of security. He pulls the punctured blood packs from under his shirt, and calls Alfred on his mobile, ordering him to prepare the suit and the vehicle. When Alfred asks what they need to be prepared for, Bruce replies with “Battle”…

Part Nine: The Battle of Gotham
Bruce, now fully clad for the first time in the grey and black Batman costume, drives his fully armed and modified car into the city on New Year’s Eve, just as the False Face Society prepare for their final offensive on the elite of Gotham’s society.

Black Mask and his men assemble on the rooftops above the city square, with hundreds of revellers below enjoying the festivities, unaware of the massacre planned for them in mere minute’s time.

By now, the Gotham Police Department has become weakened over the previous month’s onslaught at the hands of the False Face Society. With an already depleted force stretched to maximum to cover the city on New Year’s Eve, the hundreds of civilians are particularly vulnerable to The Society’s planned slaughter.

Bruce reveals himself to the small band of good cops gathered by Jim Gordon – the first time The Batman has been seen in full by any person in Gotham City. He declares himself not a threat, and the cops eventually grow to trust him. When he tells them of Black Mask’s plan and the planned massacre in the city square, Gordon decides to ally with The Batman for the first time to save the innocent civilians.

Knowing that it would take too long to evacuate the square, as well as needing to raise the alarm without alerting the watching Society members, Bruce takes command of the GCPD Officers, placing them at strategic locations around the square, and at the base of the Wayne Enterprises Tower, the tallest skyscraper overlooking the square, where he believes The Black Mask is watching from. He takes Gordon and another young Officer aside, nominating them to lead the assault on Wayne Tower at the right moment, when he gives them his signal- though they do not yet know what the signal will be.

Bruce uses the modified car to firstly attack the Society’s trucks at the base of the Wayne Tower. Catching Black Mask off-guard after believing that Bruce was dead, he manages to destroy their largest truck of weaponry, leading Black Mask to send the order to his men to destroy Bruce’s armoured car.

The False Face Society sends a fleet of vehicles forwards opening fire at Bruce’s car using the advanced fire-power of the WayneTech weapons – but Bruce uses the speed of his vehicle to flee the scene, luring the Society vehicles into a high-speed chase through the Gotham streets.

Bruce uses Allnut's in-built technology inside the car to destroy several of the Society vehicles (in a non-lethal manner) reducing the threat with each blow, but causing masses of damage to the surrounding infrastructure.

Eventually the chase comes to an end on the bridge over the Gotham River, when the Society use their advantage of manpower to surround Bruce’s vehicle. As they close in ready to destroy Batman’s car, Bruce unleashes his trap – he detonates explosives inside his own car, destroying the bridge and trapping the Society vehicles, as the GCPD swarm in from all sides, cornering the False Face Society members at gunpoint, bringing the chase to an end with a victory for the Batman and the Police Force.

By now the news helicopters covering the New Year’s Eve celebrations have begun broadcasting the events of the chase. Across Gotham, lying in a hospital bed with the television showing the battle is Harvey Dent, his face still burned and swathed in bandages, begins to stir…

By now, Black Mask has grown furious with the loss of dozens of his best men, but believing Bruce to be dead, orders his men still perched around the rooftops to begin their massacre. However Bruce suddenly reappears in Wayne Tower, having never actually been inside his car throughout the duration of the chase, instead operating the vehicle remotely from his base in Wayne Enterprises – allowing him to remove dozens of Black Mask’s men by luring them into the chase, leaving Black Mask now more vulnerable.

As the False Face Society prepare to open fire with their machine-guns and explosives, Bruce unleashes his signal to Gordon and the Police Officer below – the large “W” beacon on the top of Wayne Tower has been converted into a large Bat symbol, becoming the first Bat signal for Gotham to see.

The police forces on the ground push forward immediately, catching the Society members off guard, as well as enforcing an emergency evacuation of the square, just as the Society members begin their assault.

Dozens of civilians and Police officers fall in the gunfire – as Bruce begins taking out Society members in and around Wayne Tower. Knowing it would take too long to remove each armed thug individually, Bruce uses the same explosive weaponry the Society were using to open fire on the walls of Wayne Tower, causing the Society members to fall back from their attacks, and forcing Black Mask himself to run for his life.

With the Society now subdued and on the run for their lives, the GCPD swarm the building, removing the hostages and capturing the Society thugs, as Bruce grapples down the side of Wayne Tower, swinging in through the shattered windows to come face to face with Black Mask.

At the last moment, Black Mask has managed to take one final hostage for bargaining – Harleen Quinzel, Bruce’s former love interest. Knowing a full attack on Sionis would surely result in Quinzel’s death, Bruce attempts to reason with Sionis, to persuade him to surrender, or die, whilst secretly arming a Batarang beneath his cape. As Sionis tries to back out of the room, Bruce throws the Batarang perfectly, slicing through Sionis’ mask and into his face, half-blinding him and causing him to fall backwards, releasing his grip on Quinzel, but causing his machine pistol to fire blindly around the room. Bruce charges forward and pushes Quinzel to safety, shielding her from the gunfire, as Sionis drops his weapon and escapes into the stairwell.

As Bruce ensures Quinzel is unharmed, they share a brief moment where Quinzel looks into his eyes, vaguely showing an expression of recognition… before Bruce is once more on his feet and disappeared through the door after Sionis.

As the police surge up the stairs blocking off any possible escape for Black Mask, Bruce follows the only possible escape route Sionis could have taken – and corners him on the rooftops of Wayne Tower.

The wounded Sionis stands in the wreckage of the Bat symbol, overlooking the Gotham skyline now filled with thick black smoke, and overhearing the sounds of screams and gunfire from below, and slowly begins to laugh to himself, realising he is no longer alone on the rooftop.

Bruce warns Sionis to surrender now, telling him his war has failed – but Sionis retorts that he has in fact already won, by managing to destroy the soul of Gotham, permanently scarring the face of the city and rendering both the Police and the Crusader powerless to protect the dozens of innocent lives he has taken in the war, changing Gotham forever. Bruce, knowing deep down that Sionis is right, advances furiously upon his enemy, and Sionis, now armed with a steel pipe from the wreckage around them, rushes back at Bruce. The two become locked in a vicious battle, as Police and News helicopters soar above, illuminating the scene on the rooftop.

The news coverage serves to show that the mysterious Batman stands as a figure for good, fighting the recognisable Black Mask on the behalf of Gotham. Bruce manages to destroy Sionis’ mask in the duel, unveiling the villain to the world, and thereby clearing the name of Bruce Wayne to all of Gotham.

Eventually Bruce manages to get the better of Sionis, who collapses back on the ledge of the building. However Sionis has one final attack to make – as Bruce backs away, believing his enemy to be beaten, Sionis pulls himself to his feet and charges several feet away, where one of the WayneTech rocket launchers lies unattended.

Bruce spins and sees Sionis ready the weapon, bringing it about to face the helicopter above, and in a split second he rushes Sionis in a furious charge, tackling him over the ledge of the building, bringing both of the men plummeting hundreds of feet downwards towards the streets.

As Bruce falls, he manages to take hold of Sionis around the arm and pulls out his grapple gun, firing the clamp into the side of the Wayne Tower building. The clamp latches onto the side of the building, and the cable unravels to its full extent, becoming taut and bringing both Bruce and Sionis to a sharp but safe hang alongside the building.

Sionis struggles with Bruce for a moment, almost willing him to let go, but the clamp begins to buckle under the weight of the two men, and suddenly drops from the side of the building, bringing the two men plummeting downwards once more. Bruce throws his body around Sionis in an attempt to protect him from the fall, as they both come crashing through the glass roof of a disused subway vestibule, landing roughly on a tall set of scaffolding, which collapses under the impact, bringing both men spilling out onto the stone steps below.

For several moments, neither man moves a muscle, in awe at having survived the fall. Eventually, Bruce coughs and splutters through the thick dust, and pulls himself wearily to his knees, pushing the wrecked scaffolding aside observing the damage around him. He sees Sionis lying several feet away at the base of the steps, twitching slightly, barely conscious after the fall.

Bruce makes his way over to Sionis, placing him in the recovery position, before walking around the atrium, looking for a safe exit for the two men, and awaiting the imminent arrival of the Police. However after a minute or two, Bruce hears the sounds of a faint struggle behind him, and turns around to see his newest enemy.

Harvey Dent stands behind Sionis, holding him around the throat, a gun pressed against his head. Sionis, who is barely conscious and can hardly stand, offers no fight to the wounded DA. As Bruce steps forward in shock, he sees the full extent of Dent’s injuries – the skin peeled away from the left side of his face, exposing the dark, charred flesh beneath.

Dent forces Bruce to stop by cocking the gun pressed against Sionis’ face. Bruce tries to talk Dent out of his revenge, telling him as District Attorney he cannot bring himself to kill another man, but Dent replies that it is too late for him. Bruce refuses to allow Dent to kill Sionis due to his duty as the moral figurehead of an otherwise corrupted city.

In a desperate bid to prevent Dent from killing Sionis, Bruce tells him he is asking him as a friend, and removes his mask, revealing his true face to his friend. Dent lowers his gun at first, in shock, and then raises it again, demanding to know how Bruce can stop a friend from taking the vengeance he deserves.

Dent, seeing the choice he has to make, pulls his double-headed coin from inside his suit, one side now stained in his own dried blood. Dent flips the coin and catches it in his open palm, although Bruce cannot see how it comes out. After observing the result, Dent pushes Sionis to his knees… and fires a shot through the villains head.

Bruce steps forward to rush at Dent, but Dent quickly cocks the gun and points it at Bruce. Bruce tells Dent that the bullet won’t hurt him due to his armour, to which Dent replies that he doesn't need a gun to destroy him, and flips the coin.

Dent gazes at the coin in his hand for a time, before whispering to Bruce to leave. At first Bruce is reluctant to go, but as the voices of the Police officers draw nearer, he realises he has to escape the scene as fast as possible, pulling his mask back over his head as he disappears into the shadows.

The police officers gather around Dent, their guns raised, as Dent drops his own pistol and falls to his knees, arms in the air in surrender. Bullock makes the arrest, and, having seen that Batman was momentarily unmasked in front of Dent, demands to know the identity of the vigilante. Dent glances down on his coin on the floor, now seen to be Good side up, and simply replies: “I don’t know.”

Part Ten: The Legend of the Batman
The following morning Bruce pays a visit to the city and witnesses the devastation first-hand – buildings completely reduced to rubble, fires continuing to burn in the wreckages, and bodies of the fallen civilians and officers lined up in the streets.

Bruce goes to see Detective Gordon at the GCPD, to offer himself for help. When Gordon says that what they need is manpower and money, Bruce arranges for the employees of Wayne Enterprises to relinquish their day-to-day activities, and to assist for as long as necessary with the salvaging of survivors from the wreckage and relief help in the aftermath of the battle of Gotham, as well as promising to donate as many millions of his personal fortune into the rebuilding of Gotham city over the coming months and years.

While at the GCPD, Bruce sees Gordon caring for a small boy, no more than eight years old. Bruce asks Gordon who the boy is, and Gordon introduces him to the child: Richard Grayson, and tells him that both of his parents were Officers of the GCPD, who have been identified as killed in action following the battle the previous night. Bruce realises that the boy’s father John was the officer he placed in charge of the assault on Wayne Tower, and realises that he is the one responsible for the boy becoming an orphan.

When Bruce asks Gordon what is to become of the boy, Gordon replies that as of yet, they have failed to find any relatives who could take the boy into care, and so he will likely end up in the City orphanages. Knowing that this lifestyle for such a young boy will likely result in the boy’s deterioration into a life of anger and crime, Bruce instead comes up with an alternative: He offers to take the boy in himself, to care for him personally in Wayne Manor, at least until a suitable replacement can be found. Gordon considers the offer, and replies that in the dire circumstances, that is one thing that at least makes a shred of sense.

As Bruce makes his way to leave, Gordon offers his appreciation for everything Bruce has done for Gotham – at first Bruce thinks that he is referring to his offer of donations, but the sincerity of Gordon’s acknowledgement makes Bruce realise that Gordon is in fact referring to his actions as Batman the previous night. Bruce now sees that Gordon knows the true identity of the Batman, yet is content remain silent about the truth, as long as Batman continues to be a force for good in Gotham City.

Back at Wayne Manor, Bruce meets once again with Alfred, and introduces him to Richard Grayson. Leslie Thompkins escorts the boy into the house to prepare a room for him, whilst Bruce and Alfred engage in a discussion, whilst walking through the grounds and halls of the house.

When Alfred asks Bruce what his future now holds for him, Bruce replies that Gotham is wounded – the City has been damaged beyond repair, but that in time, it will heal. However for the meantime, the wounded city is vulnerable to a new breed of predators, ones that will seek to take advantage of the weakened infrastructure to create a new world of criminal activity – and with the threat of masked criminals on the rise in a post-Black Mask era of Gotham, as well as working with a still corrupt and significantly weakened Police Force and Legal System, the City will need all the help it can get. Bruce states that he intends to continue his war, as a soldier of justice, for as long as Gotham needs him.

When Alfred asks what will become of Richard Grayson, Bruce tells him of his idea – the boy reminds Bruce so much of himself as a youngster; confused, lost and angry. These traits are a combination for disaster, for a fate that Bruce himself so narrowly avoided, and he feels that as the man responsible for the boy’s situation, he himself must be the one to raise the child to become a force for good, rather than evil. He will educate him just as he was educated himself, train him in all the skills he will need to become another soldier – but with one difference: Whereas the figure of Batman is a symbol of fear to strike terror into the heart of the criminal element, Bruce feels that one day, the City will need a new breed of hero, a symbol of hope, to help heal the City into the glorious place it once was – and that is the hero Bruce dreams the boy can become.

Bruce asks Alfred to prepare a room for the boy, and Alfred obliges – finally, for the first time in Eight years, referring to Bruce as “Master Wayne”. Bruce is pleasantly surprised, and nods his acceptance to Alfred.

Alfred leaves, leaving Bruce alone to consider his future. We now see where Bruce is standing – the new Batcave, complete with a fully functioning computer, a new lighting rig illuminating the entirety of the cave, a large walk-in unit housing a variety of the costumes and gadgets Bruce will use in his war on crime, and the framework for a new and improved Batmobile.

Epilogue
Two weeks later, Dr Harleen Quinzel enters the Gotham General Hospital with a fellow psychiatrist from Arkham Asylum. As they walk through the hallways, her colleague asks her if she is sure she is ready to return to work after her ordeal at the hands of Black Mask, stating that she had been advised to take several months leave of absence to recover from her trauma. Quinzel replies that although the experience still affects her, she is better off coming back to work to help others recover from their own experiences.

She is brought to a new patient in the intensive care unit, another victim of the False Face Society’s crime wave who also suffered severe facial mutilation. He has been kept in a medically-induced coma until now to help recover from his injuries, however his doctor’s believe his sanity has been affected due to the shock of his trauma, as they are unable to find any trace of his identity on his person, and the patient seems unable to provide any clues as to his identity.

Quinzel sits down with the patient, and starts her session, attempting to get him to reply. After some encouragement, the patient allows her to remove his facial bandages, revealing the extent of his injuries – His face a ghostly pale due to extensive blood loss, dark circles around his eyes made of thick, heavy bruising, and a deep grin carved into his cheeks from the corners of his mouth, stained red with dried blood and scarlet from the soreness around his stitches – Giving him the appearance of a terrifying clown.

Quinzel asks what she should refer to him as, suggesting perhaps “John Doe”, “Johnny” or “Mr. J”. The patient chuckles slightly at this last suggestion, but Quinzel notices discomfort in his expression. She asks how the pain is for him at the moment, to which the patient simply replies:

“You know, it’s funny… It only hurts… When I laugh…”

At this, he begins to cackle maniacally, despite groans of agony, his demonic laughter echoing throughout the halls of the hospital into the streets of Gotham.