Gotham Knight: Dying of Laughter

Chapters 1-14

Chapter 1: Vigilantes

Gotham City, 2012

The city was in turmoil. The GCPD radio channel was filled with chatter.

Attention, all units, the dangerous criminal known as The Joker is on the loose. I repeat, the Joker has escaped from Arkham.

An ice cream truck sped away from Arkham Island and was being followed by a black vehicle. The car resembled an altered version of a sportscar. The black car opened hatches on the headlights and turrets came out which began to open fire at the truck, but to little effect. As the black car was about to catch up to the truck, the backdoors of the truck were opened and a man wearing a clown mask leaned out with a rocket launcher. The black car swerved to avoid the missile but the missile hit an oil tanker instead which caused a massive explosion and for a second, the driver could only see the flash of the explosion and the smoke that came from it as he drove through. Unfortunately, as the smoke finally cleared enough for the driver to see, the truck was gone.

The driver of the black car sighed. He pressed a button on the dashboard and the image of a young man on a motorbike came up. The young driver wore a black and yellow cape and a red vest with the letter R on it.

"Robin, we lost him."

"I'll get them," Robin said but Batman shook his head.

"No. Let's head back to the Cave."

"But Bruce-" Robin began.

"Now, Dick!"

Bruce sounded frustrated. Dick sighed and headed back home.

After they got back to the Batcave, Bruce pulled off his mask and stepped over to the Batcomputer, ignoring the warm dinner Alfred had prepared for him. All the screens were reporting the prison break from Arkham. Bruce pounded his fist on the table. "Damn it!"

Alfred looked at him. "Master Bruce, is everything okay?"

Bruce sighed and sat down. "Two years. For two goddamn years has this endless cycle been going on. He causes trouble, people die, I show up to stop him and throw him into Arkham. And he just breaks out and more people die. I can't take it. It's like the clown is mocking me."

Dick sighed and hit the shower. His double life as Robin had a really bad impact on his grades at the Gotham Academy. But then again, he wasn't like the other 16 year old kids from rich families. They didn't have to worry about homework, school and getting shot at by violent criminals night after night. After the shower, he let himself drop on the couch in Wayne Manor's main living room, looked at the clock, sighed and turned on the TV.

There was nothing on but another talk show with Jack Ryder and Vicki Vale, who were discussing the rise of vigilantism in the city and the escalation of criminal activity.

"But it's a matter of fact that Dr Crane and this Joker, those kinds of criminals didn't exist before the Batman showed up."

Jack looked at her. "Vicki, how could you possibly think the Batman has anything to do with those lunatics? If anything, Batman and Robin have made this city a better place."

Vicki frowned. "And what about those copycat vigilantes? What about this Bat-Girl? Word is, those people have done more harm than good."

Jack sighed. "Vicki, you can't blame the actions of extremists on the person who unknowingly inspired them. A lot of people have dressed as policemen and caused problems before."

Vicki smirked. "And most of them were GCPD employees."

Jack shook his head. "Look, that's not the point. We need to look at the numbers. Street crime has dropped significantly in the last four years and that is in no small part thanks to Batman. I believe he has paved the way for true heroes like the new district attorney."