Legends of the Batman #1

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Legends of the Batman #1
Knight Over Gotham

Written an edited by Daniel Dyer

"I was running. Fleeing for my life. Nothing seemed to stop it. It was blood thirsty and wanted me. I think it could have smelled my sweat. And suddenly it swooped down from the air straight for me. There was nothing I coulda done. I hit the ground hard. I musta hit my head, because I don't remember what happened next."

"And what about the woman who says you tried mugging her, mack?" says a heavy set cop, smoking a cigar. Harvey Bullock may be a little rough around the edges, but he's a good man. A good cop.

"It ain't me! I ain't do nothing! You should look for the Bat!"

"What do you think, Jim?" asks Distract Attorney Harvey Dent on the other side of a two-way mirror.

"Sounds like the hoodlum's on something to me, Harvey."

"You don't believe him? He's not the first to come in with a story similar to this."

"Yeah, of some weird...Batman, hunting the streets of Gotham. I don't believe in the Boogeyman, myself. How about you?"

"Not a monster, Jim, but possibly a vigilante. There must be something to this myth."

"Oh, now you're talking. I have very little doubt that there is a vigilante in Gotham. Someone who thinks he's above the law. This won't be tolerated under my watch."

"Naturally. If you'll excuse me, I've got some paperwork in my office," leaving the observation room, to his dark office.

"Well...?" comes a voice from the shadows.

"Not good. Jim isn't too keen on vigilantism."

"Gordon's a good cop, he'll come around."

"Not too sure about that. Jim can be kind of hard headed at times. He's not too happy you're in this city. So, what's the plan for the night? The night's still young for you, right?"

His question is met with only silence.

"Right?" turning on the light to see he's alone. "Right," smiling to himself as he sits at his desk.

***

[Spider-Man Beyond]

"And our shipment will go off without a hitch, right, Officer?" asks a short, round man, with a pointy nose, wearing a tux and a top hat.

"Yes, Mr. Cobbleopot. All other units will be elsewhere as your men deliver the merchandise."

"Excellent," giving the cop a wad of twenties, and begins his waddle back through the door to his club, the Iceberg Lounge.

***

[Spider-Man Beyond]

"Damn car," a woman cusses to herself as she walks alone in the dark Gotham night, her car having broken down.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," a guy says as he walks out of an alley in front of the woman.

As the young woman turns away, she runs into another man.

"Is that any way for a sexy thing like you to talk?"

Backing away, she manages to get out, "What...? What do you want?"

"You, sweet thing," a third man answers as he approaches.

And a fourth comes out, "Yeah, we're gonna have lots of fun with you."

Surrounded, fear engulfs the young woman. What will happen to me? Please, God, help me...

Just then, as if God was answering her unspoken prayer, a dark figure swoops down, landing on one of the men, knocking him hard to the ground, tucking and rolling off the thug. In one swift motion, this dark figure let's fly a disc in the shape of a bat, hitting two of the men's hands, knocking their knives from their grips. The fourth guy slashes at this... Dark Knight, only to have him dodge and land a punch square to the punk's jaw. One of the other two leaps at the Batman, only to have the hero use his own momentum against him, tossing the mugger into his accomplice. Hearing sirens, and without a word uttered, the Dark Knight pulls out a grappler gun and fires it, lifting himself up and away.

"Who...?" asks the young woman named Vikki Vale.

***

[Spider-Man Beyond]

The long, sleek, black car comes to a halt in the center of the enormous cave. Bats fly and screech above as the canopy opens and a man emerges from the car. The man wears black boots, with matching gloves, a black cape with jagged points along the bottom, that meet right at the cowl which has two points at the top, dark grey leggings, and a dark grey tunic with a big black bat on his chest. The Batman walks to his computer console and sits. He pulls back his cowl, revealing the face of millionaire playboy, Bruce Wayne, and begins to log in his activities for this night's work.

"Sir?" a voice comes over the intercom.

"Yes, Alfred?" not looking away from the monitor.

"Oh, good. You are home, and a few minutes till dawn at that."

"You wanted something?"

"Just to confirm your activities for this weekend with... Bambi, I believe it was? Or was it Tammi? Really, sir, it is a chore to keep your escorts straight."

"Saturday. Haly's Circus. And it's Mandi, Alfred."

"Yes, very good, sir."

***

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Arkham Asylum, a home for the criminally insane. This is where the worst of Gotham City reside. The mentally unstable, the freaks, the weirdos, "The Joker?"

"That's what he called himself, Dr. Arkham," a police officer tells a thin, rail of a man with glasses.

"No other name? What about finger prints to I.D. him?"

"No good, Doctor. The accident... the doctors say the chemicals... burned his prints... changed them."

"And he has no memory of who he was?"

"He could, but it appears he's just too gone to tell anyone."

Jeremiah Arkham then begins to hear something coming from the corridor outside his office. Opening his door, it becomes clearer.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"

The end