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Prologue

Prologue

It has been nine months since the initiation of Hugo Strange’s Protocol Ten in Arkham City, the former imprisonment center housing vast assortments of criminals who’d terrorized Gotham’s citizens. Now standing abandoned, left in isolation, the asylum and prison ward served only to spread news at a viral level.

The news of the incident have spread worldwide throughout the United States and other countries, and things has never been the same for Batman. One of the biggest things that has happened in history drew many of the world population's attention, confusion, and interest throughout the planet Earth; mainly the citizens of Gotham.

One of the most interesting things that were involved during the incident were the strange colored horse-like creatures assisting the Dark Knight throughout that night and fighting by his side against the dangerous Gotham Criminals imprisoned in Arkham City, helping him stop Protocol 10 that was activated by Hugo Strange, and helping Batman shut down Arkham City. By the end of that night, when Arkham City had shut down, the ponies mysteriously disappeared. Many reporters throughout the city tried to question the Dark Knight about the identities of the ponies or if he has any connections with them. However, he simply ignored them and made no comment about his thoughts during the incident as well as the ponies. Since that night, nobody has seen the vigilante or heard from him; many has wondered what was going on through his head.

In the present time, it is currently Hallows Eve in Gotham and the United States; the night before Halloween. Ever since the death of one of the most unstable and ruthless criminals, the Joker and Hugo Strange, most of the criminals of Gotham have been declined from the city. The crime rate of the city has highly been dropped, it has been quiet lately in the streets of Gotham over the past 9 months. Gotham police and citizens began to feel less weary when they're walking out at night, they began to feel more safe as of lately. However, Commissioner Gordon doesn't feel the same way as the others; deep down, he knows that its not over yet.

Things have been going on in his life outside as a police commissioner; his daughter Barbara Gordon, unknown as Oracle, has been engaged to Tim Drake, unknown as Robin, for the past few months with their wedding date in a month. So he has the time to help plan out their wedding, which will probably be around Thanksgiving. However, he hasn't seen Batman or gotten in contact with him since the events of Arkham City. So far nothing has happened since then.

Meanwhile Batman himself, as the billionaire Bruce Wayne, standing in his office in the top floor of Wayne Tower, looking over the City of Gotham through the large window behind his desk with his hands behind his back. His expression is that of a stern glare he usually has when fighting against crime as the Dark Knight. He had a similar feeling as Jim Gordon, currently standing behind that glass window for what felt, to him, like hours. The only criminals not seen for 9 months are the Penguin, Poison Ivy, Two-Face, The Riddler, and the Joker's former sidekick Harley Quinn.

CEO of Wayne Enterprises Lucius Fox enters through the doors and noticed Bruce Wayne standing in the same spot he'd seen him ever since he last left the office about an hour ago to check the tower's security. "Good evening, Mr. Wayne. I just dropped by in your office to check how you're doing," he said. Bruce, however, didn't reply. Mr. Fox walked towards the billionaire playboy out of curiosity, inquiring in a calm and friendly tone, "Is there anything troubling you, Mr. Wayne? You've been standing there when I have left to take care of my duties an hour ago."

The silence lasted for a minute longer until the man in subject replied, "It's this city, Lucius. It has been awfully quiet for a long time; I don't like it."

Lucius chuckled in a light-hearted tone, much to Bruce's confusion, "You've been like that for months now, Mr. Wayne. I suggest that you should enjoy life out in Gotham and give your life as a crime-fighter a rest for the time being. As you see, nothing has happened out of the ordinary since the last major incident. Minor problems had only occurred, which the police could handle."

"You don't understand, Lucius," he calmly protested. "Dent, Cobblepot, Nigma, Isley, and Quinzel are nowhere to be spotted since that night I've shut down Arkham City. I know I may sound paranoid, but nobody knows where they are hiding or what they're planning to do in the future."

Lucius sighed and maintained a smile. Although Bruce Wayne is CEO of Wayne Enterprises, Lucius considered him as a close friend of his rather than his boss. Lucius was also one of the few people who knew of Bruce Wayne's secret identity as the Batman. Those others include Bruce's four other close friends, who have helped him throughout his crime-fighting career: Barbara Gordon, Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, and his butler Alfred Pennyworth.

"Whatever you say, Mr. Wayne," he said. "Well, I'm afraid I must get going and continue to work on my duties. Have a good evening, Mr. Wayne."

With that, Lucius began to exit the office to leave Bruce alone in his thoughts. Unlike most people besides Jim Gordon, Bruce felt that a new threat he hadn't faced before might arrive very soon, a scowl has spread across his face. He has faced many dangerous and some of the most mentally insane threats throughout his career as a crime fighting vigilante over the past decade. Deep down he knows war is coming; he is just waiting for someone to pull the trigger.

Meanwhile in Grand Avenue of Miagani Island, one of the big three islands of Gotham City, many of the citizens seem to be doing their own daily routine, walking around the sidewalks with many driving around. They were getting ready for the next night for Halloween, feeling relieved that the crime rate of Gotham had been declined. They felt much more safer and less wary than before, seemingly forgetting about the past crimes and multiple murders that occurred over the decade. By now they had put all that behind them, but they could not forget that these were the very streets that some of the most dangerous monsters in the world, such as the Joker, used to roam and lurk around during daily nights.

An officer in the area continues his routine, passing by civilians, making sure no trouble occurs or spreads. It's currently his lunch break, so he let one of his coworkers do the street patrolling for the time being. He walked towards the entrance door of Pauli's Diner, gazing around to check for an troublemakers. However, he sees none at the moment, which was a good sign. He casually walked towards the table bar in the back of the cafe.

As he sat down, he saw a woman wearing an orange dress for her employee's uniform walking towards him from the kitchen. She smiled casually at the officer, grabbing a coffee pot and poured some in a mug for him.

"Thanks," he said.

"No problem," she replied. Turning her head towards a man who left a tip in a jar on the table, she responded with gratitude, "Oh, thanks, honey!" She focused her attention back to the officer as she took out a small notebook and a pen out from her pockets, "So what'll it be? Same as usual?"

"Sure," he simply replied.

"Okay, chicken salad with no dressing." She wrote what she said on the order note with her pen, then attempted to take her leave before the cop had a different order in mind.

"No, you know what? Make it waffles with a side of bacon. ... Don't tell my wife."

"Whatever you say, officer," she stated, scratching off the previous order and added in the new one he'd requested. She took her leave towards the kitchen, but she stopped and turned back at the cop, "Oh, if you want some more coffee, just shout."

As he waited for the waitress to finish his order, he spotted a man approaching him with a hint of discomfort in his face, which was much to the officer's interest.

"Hey, I'm sorry to interrupt your dinner, Officer"" he took a peek at his badge, "Owens, but there's a guy smoking over there in the corner booth."

The man pointed towards the far corner in the opposite side of the café. Owens rolled his eyes and sighed, "Wait here, I'll have a word."

The civilian nodded and returned to his seat as Owens grabbed his hat and stood up from the stool. He walked towards the corner booth, when he arrived, he spots a man wearing a red hoodie with his back fully turned and facing the opposite wall, coughing rapidly. Owens roughly patted his back.

"Excuse me, sir, there's no smoking in here," he said, his vision seeming to go strange. The smoking customer fully turn to reveal a demonic face, roaring in Owen's face.

To the stunned Owens, it seems that the world was falling apart. When he turned around, he saw these creatures everywhere. Taking out his pistol, he rapidly fired at and instantly killed random creatures, unaware they were just hallucinations and were simply the customers of the diner running in panic. Owens could've swore he breathed some type of gas through a vent. A creature came out of nowhere and leapt towards him, knocking him to the ground and rapidly beat him up. Owens tried to shoot it off of him, but no prevail. The creature rapidly punching and headbutting his head until it finally knocking him out.

This tragic event was immediately reported to the news all over the city in live television and the radio, showing corpses of those who were involved in that panic attack, clearly disturbing the other citizens who weren't involved. Suddenly, an ear-piercing shrine followed by a dark voice caught everybody's attention and ears through a set of speakers connected to a large screen hanging on the ORB Theater building.

"This demonstration was just five ounces of my latest toxin," the voice said. They glanced towards the giant screen, which was now revealing a dark-hooded figure who admitted to the city that he was the one behind the panic attack from earlier. Reporters and civilians could not see his surroundings as he seems to be hiding in a dark place somewhere in Gotham. Most of his face is covered up by his hood, but his mouth is the only thing exposed. He seemed to be wearing some type of gas mask, which was surgically grafted into his throat.

"Tomorrow, this will seem like child's play. Gotham, this is your only warning," he stated, finally revealing his entire face to the public. His appearance was suddenly highly familiar to the Gotham police.

This mysterious person was Johnathan Crane, otherwise known as the Scarecrow, one of the most dangerous criminal masterminds in Gotham. After the incident when the Joker has taken over the Arkham Asylum, the Scarecrow had been reported missing after Batman witnessed what seemed the Scarecrow was eaten alive by Killer Croc within the sewers of the Asylum. Many thought him to be deceased, but this live feed revealed otherwise.

Scarecrow smirked to himself, imagining the looks on the faces of those who believed him dead.

Fear has risen around the defenseless civilians of Gotham City, police officers immediately started running an evacuation. Every resident in the city gathered up into a panicking crowd, lining up in the streets to get in tour busses and cabs. Many officers struggled to calm down the desperate, frightened civilians seeking a haven from the impending doom.
Scarecrow's threat worked. In that night, there were 6.3 million people in Gotham City. By the next night, not so many. The only people left on the streets were the ones that enjoy the chaos: scum, criminals, thieves, murderers, and rioters. Worse, not enough good people were left to stop them. It took only 24 hours for the GCPD to lose control of the city, however, Gotham was relying on one man to save them all.

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