That was when he came. The man in black with a cape and the mask. A sharp projectile shaped like a bat flew through the air and sliced open the bag of loot the Half and Half Masked man was holding, resulting in piles of jewelry pouring out of the severed bag. All four of the robbers raised their guns. The dark clad man revealed himself and fired a grapple claw that pulled Half and Half Mask towards him, causing the criminal to drop his weapon and collapse to the ground. The other three fired their weapons at the attacker who moved like a shadow. The knight took cover behind shelves as the various displays were riddled with bullet holes.

No one had been hurt yet, but it was only a matter of time until one of the cowering civilians hiding in the back were hit by a stray bullet. Due to worrying about the intruder, none of the masked felons noticed a woman in the back reach for her phone and dial 911.

The shadowy man through a bomb that erupted with a quick blinding flash and piercing sound that distracted the armed men long enough Stitched Mouth Mask to realize he was being grabbed by the intruder and was shoved in the wall hard enough to instantly fall, unconscious.

Only Reynard and the Smiling masked man were standing, now. “Get the truck!” Reynard let out. His remaining companion hurried for the door to get heir vehicle while Reynard fired bullet at their nemesis. The knight threw another “Batarang” at Reynard. The fox masked crook cried out in pain as the metal projectile struck his leg like a knife.

“Hey you!” Shouted Half and Half Mask now standing again. Still dazed from before, he held a gun to a civilians head. “Don't move or I’ll… I'll shoot him! We're walking out of here and you won't stop us.” The vigilante stood still while Reynard and Half and Half Mask approached the door with the hostage. In a quick moment, Reynard shoved his companion who still held the hostage but was staggered. Reynard bolted for escape, limping towards the van, now in front of the store with the Smiling Mask at the wheel. Reynard hopped into the open back door and the vehicle started driving away leaving the loot they failed to take, the vigilante, the hostage, and their two other comrades.

Sirens were going off as blue and red lights were nearing. The police force would be there in less than a minute. If the last thug saw them, he might get hasty and kill his prisoner. The knight discretely pulled a small gadget off his belt without his foe noticing. He pressed a gun and started approaching his enemy slowly. “Don't make me shoot him,” warned Half and Half Mask waneed as nervousness became more and more obvious in his voice. “Don't come any closer! Please!” With that he pulled the trigger but no bullet came out. His gun had been hacked and jammed with the click of a button!

The vigilante now lunged at him and gave a crushing fist into the last robber’s face, breaking the mask he wore, Causing him to collapse quickly. The terrified man ran away from his former captor and ran outside where the police where now parking.

The dark figure pulled the bruised and beaten criminal off the floor and held him by the collar of his shirt. In a rasp that would have dropped the mightiest warrior to his knees, the bat started to speak, “Where are those two going? Tell me now!”  The lawbreaker starred with horror, unable to speak. Police men were now aiming their guns through the door and window as the lieutenant, a mature man with greying brown hair and a thick mustache shouted,
  “Put the man down or I swear we will shoot!”

The vigilante turned to glance the police. The dark armored man whispered to his captive, “Are you afraid to tell me because of how scary your boss is? FEAR ME MORE! Last chance…”

At last the terrified crook confessed, “They're going to the Western docks! Oh my… I can't… He's going to kill me. I should never have said anythi-” The vigilante interrupted him with, “If you ever see your buddies again… I want you to tell them their time has come. Tell them these aren't their streets anymore. Tell them that this city belongs to the BATMAN!”
With that, the Dark Knight threw the frightened criminal towards the cops who started handcuffing him to take him away but the rest of the officers kept their guns trained on Batman. Lieutenant Gordon spoke into his loudspeaker, “Surrender! We're taking you in too. Put your hand behind your head and get down, now!” Before the police could do anything about it, Batman dropped a pellet that erupted into clouds of smoke that filled the room. When it cleared, Gordon saw that Gotham’s new vigilante was gone.

8:56 a.m.  “Two armed robbers were arrested last night in a failed robbery attempt in the East End of Gotham last night. Convicts are suspected to have been working for local crime lord, known as “Black Mask”. The GCPD have commented that they are doing all they can to bring in Roman Sionis “Black Mask”. Eye witnesses have also put Batman on the scene, claiming to have been rescued Gotham City's mysterious vigilante. Furthermore, the GCPD have commented on the Batman’s involvement, deeming him an “obstruction of justice” and a “risk to the people”. Lieutenant Gordon has sworn to bring him in at all costs. We will keep you updated on the Gotham Gazette.”

With that the news report ended. Vicki Vale and the Gotham Gazette had always been on top of things. Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent sat in a café as the TV had been going. “That Batman, you ever wonder about him?” Harvey asked. Bruce considered for a moment and answered,
   “What do you mean?”
   “I mean, what is he doing in Gotham? Some people are saying he's a hero.” Harvey explained.
   “He's against everything the law stands for and he's dealing justice out like it's the Wild West. He isn't safe.” Bruce told him.
   “I know, I know, but do you think those jewelry robbers would have been stopped if he hadn't showed up?”

Bruce always hated talking about this with Harvey. Harvey could never know that he was Batman. He would lie to protect his old friend so that he never found out. After a few moments of silence, Bruce changed the subject. “So Harv, how's the election going?” Harvey Dent was the District Attorney and he was running for mayor of Gotham.
   “Thanks to you Bruce, it going well in fact. Local polls are saying I have a 16 percent lead over current Mayor Hill.” Harvey said.
   Bruce told him, “That's great, Harv. It's only a matter of time, now. Maybe when you’re elected, we won't need men like Batman. To a new day for Gotham.” Bruce raised his drink.
  Harvey flipped his favorite coin then raised his drink. “To a new day in Gotham.”

10:24 a.m.  The Cave was dark, damp, and cold. High rocky ceilings overshadowed the large area, with a waterfall gently drifting down the rocks of the back wall. On the ceiling hung hundreds of black beings, all bats hiding in the shadows. It was a lonely place, no sign of light, always being watched by those who could only listen, never to speak.

That wasn't all, though. There was a solemn sense of hope and purpose. In a corner of the cave were lights. They showed off displays, holding batarangs, grapnels, and all sorts of gadgets. Nearby was the car, jet black and shiny , but covered in a white cover. It was unfinished but it's time would come. Bruce had considered calling it the Batmobile.

The most brilliant thing of all in the cave was most likely the suit. On display, was a grey suit with armored padding, black gloves, boots, and a cape. The cowl lay resting on the neck of the outfit, staring into nothingness with empty eyes.

An elevator sat in the corner, a metal box that led up to Bruce’s house, Wayne Manor. It was a large mansion that rested on top of a great hill overlooking Gotham City across the lake. Inside, a cozy yet elegant feel came from the old fashion walls and furniture. Dozens spin dosend of rooms were scattered around the house, a movie theatre, over ten bedrooms, dining halls, so many, but one of them was a library where a secret passage was that allowed access to the hidden elevator. Bruce stepped inside and went down to the Batcave.

Bruce strolled over to the enormous computer in display with many smaller monitors and a large keyboard with far more than a normal amount of key. The various screens glowed with a blue light, all kinds of imagery on each one. Some monitors had news feeds, databases, chemical formulas, and a massive amount of information. Next to the computer was a sizable bulletins board with sticky notes, photos, and red markings connecting it all together. Between the Batcomputer, and hanging notes, he could live up to the name of World's Greatest Detective.

Bruce opened up a tab on the Batcomputer showing a map of the city. Gotham was a decent sized location that stood in New Jersey. In fact, the city was on an island with a handful of bridges leading to the mainland. On a separate screen Bruce pulled up Gotham City camera feeds.

The situation in Gotham was so bad that the GCPD (Gotham City Police Force) had placed surveillance cameras all around the city. Bruce had hacked into them to keep watch over the city but it would take time to break all the encryptions. For now he had limited access to them.

He pulled open a feed coming from the Gotham City Docks surveillance and was met with a dark and poorly rendered video of the Western Docks. Remind me to fund Gordon’s camera overlay. This is too cheap to function properly. After gazing into the live footage of the seemingly peaceful edge of Gotham, he heard footsteps behind him.

“I figured you would be down here,” Alfred said. He was a kind old man who currently was the only one to know Bruce’s secret. Alfred had not been very thrilled about Bruce’s idea to bring justice to the city but after Bruce’s decision to go through with his vendetta, he would support him one hundred percent.
  “Where else would I be?” Bruce asked him. Alfred started,
   “There are theatres, study halls, pool tables, basketball courts, and so much more in your home… And you spend all of your time in a wet cave.”

Without taking his eyes off the camera feed, Bruce responded, “It's the one room that matters. This city won't save itself and playing Pool isn't going to help it.”
   “Well I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to take a night off from time to time.”

“Does this look funny to you?” Bruce inquired, deep in thought. Alfred gazed the screen and proceeded,
   “Funny? No. Beautiful quality? Painfully so.” Alfred answered with sarcasm.
   Bruce pointed to a certain spot in the water on the screen showing the live footage, there's been ripples in the water on this exact spot every eight seconds…” On screen after a few beats of waiting, both Alfred and Bruce watched a ripple summon in that particular spot.

“You think someone is looping the surveillance feed?” Alfred inquired. Bruce answered,
“It would seem so. Besides, look at the sky. Those seem to be clouds.” Alfred peered into the video,
“Bloody image is so poorly rendered… Yes those appear to be clouds the night sky.”
“Alfred, pull up a broadcast of Gotham right  now.”
The old man typed on one of the keyboards and pulled up live feed. “Your right, it's a bright night, no clouds in sight. Someone is hiding something on those docks. It appears the intel you got from that crook was at least somewhat correct.”
“Someone’s hiding something there. They wouldn’t be looped if everything was ok there.

“This means I’m on my way to check it out,” Bruce said as he approached his Batsuit. “And not as Bruce Wayne.”

11:31 p.m.  In the starlight of Gotham, a small amount of people were lounging at the Western Docks. All of them wore frightening masks of varying colors and designs and each member held a weapon of kind, guns, knives, crowbars… A small warehouse stood by the water where most of them were inside standing around discussing among each other.

A guy in a red skeleton mask started to speak, “You guys hear about the vigilante in Gotham? I heard he took out some of our guys a week ago.”
A woman in a white mask pulled a cigarette out of here mouth and said, “Yeah, I heard about him. Rumor is that Reynard was there himself and ended up running for his life. “Bozo” was there too but you know how he is about talking and all. No one's gotten him to say zip about it.

The red masked man talked again, ominously, “They're calling him the Batman. Word is on the street that he knows where everyone is at all times. People say good can't hide from him and that he hunts lawbreakers like a shadow.”

“Shut up,” said a third man in a crying mask, slightly nervous. “The Bat ain't real. He's just an urban myth to scare us. It was the cops that almost caught Reynard, that's all.” The woman snickered,
“Scared of him?”
“Not at all, just don't believe in fairy tales,” Crying Mask reassured.
“Oh boo hoo, you’re literally shaking. He's just a freak in a costume, if you were to see him, all it takes is one bullet!” She mocked.
Crying mask, returned, “Well I know better than to believe some kids story, after a few more months and we'll never hear about this guy again. Even if he is rea-”

A mildly noisy thump! could be heard coming from the docks. “I'll check it out,” volunteered Red Mask. He raised his gun and slowly exited the warehouse and wandered the poorly lit dock. Wooden crates were resting all over the place, full of fishing supplies. Unfortunately for the red masked man, they provided cover for anyone that would try to sneak around the place.

“Jinxx, was that you?” He questioned, warily. “This ain't funny man,” he shook. When he turned around he thought he saw a slight movement. When he checked his back again, he saw shadow slam him into a pile of crates, leaving a nice dent into the wood. A loud noise came from this as the sound of breaking wood emerged. The lightest of terrified cries left his lips but before he saw dark and was knocked out cold from the injury the intruder gave him. The dark figure proceeded to to the warehouse.

“You take care of this, I'll get the others,” the masked female ordered Crying Mask With a shove. The frightened henchman stood in co fusion for a moment, finally asking, “Wait, why me?” Before he could react a black gloved fist crashed into his chin and knocked the wind out him. He collapsed to the ground in pain and eventually lay still, unconscious.

Batman continued through the warehouse before a masked person jumped at him with a lead pipe. The Dark Knight ducked and returned a brutal elbow knocking his attacker into the wall and putting them on the ground. He turned to see a group of similar masked attackers, but started by tackling a thug with a knife. The weapon fell out of the criminal’s hand and he passed out from the sheer force. The vigilantes threw a Batarang at an armed man that knocked the gun out of his hand just before Batman kicked him in the face. The shadowy warrior stood in a combat ready stance assessing the remaining foes.

The brawl was quick but violent as the feared warrior dealt out of pain to his attackers. None could stop the Batman. The same woman lunged at him with a crowbar but was stopped when her enemy slapped it out of her hands. She sent a punch then a forward kick at him but he deflected both before using a single foot to knock her off balance and crashing into the floor. He grabbed one of the two remaining enemies and shoved him into a comrade, the two both colliding with a cringe worthy thump! None left standing stood to oppose the Dark Knight who observed a truck that was parked in the back of the neat empty warehouse.

He considered his options before deciding to crouch down and look at the wheels. He let out a gloved hand and touched the tire with two hands. On his fingers appeared a dust like material. He activated his Detective Vision by pressing a button on the side of his cowl. The two lenses in his mask shimmered with a glow and gave him sight similar to infrared vision and studied the compound on his finger. It appears to have traces of some sort of compound. I've seen this residue before. “Alfred,” he said in his cowl’s comlink. “Analyse this in the Batcomputer.”

“Right away, sir” Alfred said over the radio. After a moment he called back, “I've scanned your mystery substance and it seems to have originated from a particular compound that could only have originated from Sionis Steel Industry.” Of course. Black Mask took back his old steel mill. That's where this truck of goons had come from and chances are that's where Black Mask is.

Batman spoke into his mask’s comm, “That's where Black Mask will be. I'm on my way to shut him down.”
   “Sir,” Alfred started. Bruce never cared for the title but it gave Alfred pride to call him that. “I'm afraid to inform you that your press conference with Mr. Dent is today. It is quite early in the morning, you'll need some sleep before that.”

  “I’m on my way back, I'll deal with this when I get the chance.”

7:16 a.m  “Welcome people of Gotham! As you already know, I am Harvey Dent and hopefully your future mayor. Thank you for coming to this press conference.” Everyone in the audience clapped for a moment. “I'd like to give thanks to my buddy, Bruce over here for hosting this conference.” Again everyone clapped, this time for Bruce Wayne who calmly stood next to Harvey. Dozens of reporters stood recording and journalists sat taking notes already. “I'd like to give the mike to Mr. Wayne for a moment,” Harvey told everyone.

“Thank you Mr. Dent,” Bruce started, stepping over to the podium to speak into the mike. “It is no secret that Gotham is in peril. Men in masks are running around trying to steal from our home! What is being done to stop this? The GCPD are being overwhelmed and prisoners are escaping bars. I can guarantee, Harvey is what we need to make a difference. We can properly fund the GCPD, but not just that. Arkham Asylum is a corrupt facility that is doing the opposite that we need. The criminally insane aren't getting the help they need. Arkham is not only unsanitary, but it is making the ones who end up there, worse than before. Every day there are fights, breakouts, and worse. We can do better!”

Bruce watched the audience for a moment taking a breath of air. After a second if delay, his voice turned tragic as he continued, “Around twenty years ago, my family made the ultimate sacrifice to give their lives for me, to a twisted man in an alleyway. All he asked for was jewelry and money. Every one of you here knows we could have gotten him what he wanted but he pulled the trigger any way. People like him need help. The kind Arkham isn't giving. Perhaps… If he had gotten the support we should have given him, my parents would still be alive today. Down with Arkham Asylum, it's time we have a new, safer, and more effective facility that gives those in need the treatment they require. It is my dream that something like what happened to my family never happens again. It is my hope that Gotham can rise from the ashes of what it is become something beautiful. Vote for Harvey Dent for Gotham City Mayor and that dream can become a reality! Thank you!”

With that, Bruce stepped down from the podium as the crowd who was previously quietly comprehending, now roared in cheers for Bruce and Harvey. Hands furiously came together in applause in honor of Gotham’s heroes who stood before them. As Harvey stepped back up to the mike to answer the onslaught of questions from the press, Bruce switched back to his playboy persona casually. He spoke to the crowd, “Now if you'll excuse me, I’ve got a spa treatment in fifteen minutes and I can't be late. I'll catch you guys later.”

8:45 p.m.  Jim Gordon sighed in exhaustion. It had been a long night for the Police. The GCPD had just wrapped up a case about a psychopath named Victor Zsasz. Of course the vigilante had to get involved. At least Zsasz was behind bars now. Jim would be heading home now and Cash would take over for the night. His daughter, Barbara would probably be asleep by now. Greeting a good night to his fellow officers, he started for his car, but before he could start driving home, he noticed graffiti on the building on the other side of the street. The words spray painted read, “Hand over Harvey Dent or bombs start going off!” Gordon muttered a handful of curse words when he saw a mask, resembling crime lord, Black Mask’s signature mask. No one could have replicated it except for someone in his gang. If the threat was from Black Mask, the threat would be truly genuine. Reluctantly, Gordon went back inside the GCPD Headquarters to inform the other officers.

A group of Policemen and women stood around arguing over the news. A  pale officer, Officer Owens wondered out loud, “Shouldn’t we risk one life for the sake of many?” Everyone looked at him.
“Of course not!” Gordon responded. “We can’t just hand over criminals what they want. The day we give in to their demands is the day where I place my gun down and hang up my badge. We still have a city worth saving, if we give up now, there will never be anything left for us to live in. We will find this man, and I swear he will spend a sentence behind bars!” All of the officers in the precinct cheered at Gordon’s words. All but the pale man who cowered away in shame.

1:34 p.m.  Everyone in the crowd gave applause at Harvey’s entrance. Harvey Dent and Bruce were holding a fundraiser for Dent’s mayoral campaign. Despite the Police’s warnings, Harvey had refused to cancel. Multiple officers were stationed around the area keeping an eye on Harvey Dent. Harvey started giving a speech with Bruce by his side. Bruce was watching like a hawk as well. He had tried to persuade Harvey from sitting this one out, but Dent had been persistent. Bruce had his Batsuit statched away where he could quickly suit up out of sight if trouble arosse. So focused on scanning the area for anything suspicious, he barely paid any attention to Harvey’s words to his audience. 

“-because I know we can prevail through these dark times. I promise all of you, if I get elected, I will represent a new face for Gotham. Thank you, all!” Again, everyone present thunderously applauded.

The hopeful cries were cut short when the sound of a gun sent everyone running in panic. A few masked men could be seen in gunfights with the various officers. Bruce hurried for the room where he had hidden his Batsuit as quickly as possible.

Officer Owens scurried over to Harvey to escort him out of the building. When the two of them were alone near an exit, Owens started to speak, “You should be safe, Mr. Dent. Unfortunately, I’m sorry to say, you won’t be going home…” Owens pointed his gun at Harvey.

“What is this?” demanded Harvey.
“Black Mask wants you. If he doesn’t get you, he’ll set off bombs. I can’t let that happen.” stated Owens.
“The GCPD represents hope for Gotham. We can’t let corruption prevail. If the lieutenant saw you now, he would be ashamed of you,” Harvey accused. With that, Owens escorted Harvey off the scene with a gun pointed at him.

Batman search the scene but couldn’t find Havey. He tried to scan for Harvey’s DNA but found no sign of him. He turned into Police Frequencies, hearing they had no idea where Dent was. Where is Harvey Dent?