The Dark Knight Beyond: Prologue

The Dark Knight Beyond Part 1 Prologue

The Dark Knight Beyond

A fan fiction story combining elements from "The Dark Knight" Trilogy of films and the animated series "Batman Beyond"

By Shayne Workman

"The Dark Knight Beyond" is a fan fiction story, the author does not own any of the rights or characters depicted herein as such this is a non copy right work made from the love of the story and characters by the author strictly for the enjoyment of other like minded fans. That said, Please enjoy the ride and feel free to comment.

Prologue

The building shook from the explosions being felt all around the city. "What the Hell was that?" One of the orderlies asked excitedly. "I don't know but we better put the asylum on lock down just to be safe." Said another orderly, in a tone far more calm than how he felt. It was common knowledge at this point, that the Batman had made his first appearance in over eight years. The whole nation witnessed the footage of Gothams entire police force trying to chase him down. The orderly remembered the sort of thing that happened when Batman was around, whether he was the cause or just there to fight the cause, it was never good and he had no doubt that the explosions happening and the return of Batman were related in some way. A young security guard came running up to them in the hall, his face was a mask of shock and horror. "It's gone! The stadium, it's just gone!" The orderlies looked at the young man with a shocked look of confusion, "What stadium? What do you mean it's gone?" One of them asked. "Our stadium, the game where the mayor was at, I was watching and the whole field just got swallowed by the Earth, players and all." The two orderlies looked at each other with great concern. "What the Hell is going on out there?"

Deep within Arkham a man sat alone in his cell. He felt the building shake too, had caused enough explosions himself to know what it was. "Ahhhh Someone's really shaking things up out there." He said, sending himself into a fit of laughter. The name on the door of his cell read John Doe and always had ever since his arrival because no one had been able to find a real name for him other than the one that he went by, The Joker. Everyone at the asylum feared him over this fact alone. "How in the Hell can it be this hard to find a mans name in this day and age? It's almost like he just appeared one day, like some kind of Antichrist." He had heard one of his keepers say. He laughed at this. He was always laughing. He couldn't help it, the world was a funny place to him. Blow up a few buildings, kill a few people, do less than any government or soldier called heroes and you become the epitome of evil. That was why these "hospital" workers liked to gang up sometimes and take shots at him, it's also why he would get privileges taken, the last of which was being able to watch television through his cell door for two hours a day. That was taken over the footage of the entire Gotham police force giving chase against the Batman. "Something big must be going down to draw you out of that rock you've been hiding under." He said laughing. The guards immediately unplugged the TV and rolled it away and they haven't brought it back since. They justified it as fearing the news of Batman's return might trigger psychotic behavior in the patient. The debate in his own mind of just who had won their last encounter had been a fun way to pass the time. In a way, he actually had turned the Batman into a killer, but only because Batman was willing to take the fall for Harvey and his monstrous actions, keeping his image clean for Gotham and effectively blocking The Joker's last move to break the spirit's of the people of Gotham by turning their legitimate hero into a broken killer. It was an unexpected move, unexpected and brilliant and in The Joker's mind, it had only served to prove him right, that he had found the adversary that completed him. The Batman's sacrifice had allowed officials to pass the Dent Act, which had emptied most of Arkham in transfer to Black Gate Prison. There had been rumors that The Joker was the only remaining patient in Arkham, while there were considerably less now than before the "Exodus of Arkham" He was not the only one. What was fact in that rumor had been that his transfer had been fought in the belief that he would be far too much of a risk in transit. They had eventually won stating the extreme nature of his crimes alone suggested that he was truly insane. People and their stunted vision, it never ceased to amuse him. The building shook again, The Joker laughed.