Return of the Dark Knight

Introduction 'Blue'

(Batcave - Trophy area)

The automated lights in the cave lit up the moment the body of the aging man stepped in front of the motion sensor. Dozens of cases, suits, weapons, and crime studying equipment lay covered by tarps and dust. The aging man looked at a single case he had come down to look at time and time again. It haunted him, tugged at him, and dared him to remove the tarp and look into the face of madness. He breathed out a sigh and instead walked toward the computer in the cave. He removed the tarp and took a seat. The case which seemed to beckon to him had cost him so much. His relationship with Diana had been strained to the point that she finally left taking their three children with her. Dick had long since stopped checking in regularly and instead only came by once ever three months to ensure he hadn't died. Dick's wife, Galatea - the clone of Kara and a former weapon of CADMUS - seemed to have far more patience than Dick had. Still even she seemed to have a limit to which she could deal with his moods. Tim... Tim who had been captured by the Joker, who had been brainwashed, driven insane, and finally returned to them only for him to send him off... Tim had all but pushed him out of his life. He had been invited to Tim's wedding to Kara Kent. Kara... Clark's cousin couldn't stand it in the future and came back with a child. She started the relationship with Tim and the two of them seemed bond well. He wished both of his son's well, but they should realize that their wives would long outlive them. Like Diana their wives were, no are the embodiment of immortality. Eventually Dick would grow old, unable to take care of himself, and Galatea would have to tend to him. The way she looked at him he knew she would. It was the way Diana had looked when they first married. Diana had a look of love that was hard to describe. It had took pushing her away to the point where she was nothing more than a welcomed distraction. It had been stupid, and he admitted it now, but it didn't matter. Finally he stood and walked toward the case and pulled the tarp from it.

There before him was a single knife. It's edge caked in what a layman would consider rust, but he knew better. It was blood. Over seventeen children's worth of blood. Blood he shouldn't had allowed to spill. Blood that he should have been able to keep from being spilled. Each life, every child that had died by Gotham Bay Slasher's hand had been a life he was responcible for.

(twenty years ago - Gotham Bay - Thompson's cannery)

Bruce stood on the top of the canning factory. Every single lead he had didn't pan out. It had all ended in a dead in. People had heard of the Gotham Bay Slasher, but no one had actually seen him. He was like a ghost, and it was getting to the underworld. Criminals who had once told Joker stories to scare each other had began to tell Gotham Bay Slasher stories. Stories about a mad man who could sneak up on anyone and slit their throat and then take the time to carefully place them in poses as if they where alive. It had been madding to track the serial killer down, but finally a real break had happened. Mary Dahl, the former child actress who never grew, had been attacked, but somehow she had managed to escape. She had told the police what she could remember, but when Bruce came to her room she told him everything without hesitation. She let him know what she told the police and then she told him the thing she had forgotten. How he smelled. She told him the man smelled like canned tuna. He had staked out every single cannery in the bay area and finally he got his first glimpse.

The man stood well over seven foot tall. His arms and legs weren't bulging with muscle, but it was easy to see how he could overpower someone. His face had a long scar which ran down the right side and across his right eye, and his mouth had received a Glasgow smile at sometime. His hair was cut short, but Bruce could tell it was sort of salt and pepper. He moved into the building and neared the room where the man was at. Using his years of study he stealth fully moved into the room as the man propped the head of the child into position. He turned and smiled at Bruce. The smile wasn't one of malice, but rather it was one joy.

"I've made more art. See how peaceful he looks? He won't ever experience the bad. His dad won't beat him, his uncle won't do things to him and say no one will care. He will always be innocent. I've kept them innocent. I'm like you Batman. I've saved them. I've saved the children from their lives," The Gotham Bay Slasher said.