My Nolanverse Batman story

[Ardent15]

This is basically a story about what could conceivably happen after the events of The Dark Knight. Since the only actor who really nailed the Joker, IMO, is deceased, I'm gonna leave the Joker out of the story. But his legacy remains..heh.

Enjoy my story "Of Chaos and Redemption."!
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Chapter 1

“Today marks the three-year anniversary of the murder of Harvey Dent at the hands of the masked vigilante known as the Batman. The pain is just as raw, just as real today as it was on that day. For, when we lost Mr. Dent, we lost our conscience, our White Knight. He stood up for the people of this city-and paid the ultimate price for doing so.”

There was a pause as the masses of people stood silent, many with tears in their eyes, some sobbing-all of them feeling defeated.

Then, Mayor Anthony Garcia continued. “Harvey was a true crusader for justice, a man of real integrity, and a friend to all of Gotham’s good people. Even in the darkest hours, even in his darkest hours, his courage and faith in people never wavered. I remember telling him that what he was doing was dangerous, and that many people would be angry with him. He just smiled and nodded his head, telling me that he was “up to it.” That was Harvey, and that was who he was as a person.”

“If the life of Harvey Dent teaches us anything, it is that honesty, courage, and vigilance are virtues for achieving a better world. God Bless Harvey Dent.”

The crowd then erupted into applause. The speech was short and sweet, a sad reminder of the hope that Gotham used to have. Gotham’s faith in not just its fallen District Attorney, but the very systems of law and order themselves had been all but shattered in the wake of the horrors of the all-too recent past. The anarchic psychopath known as the Joker, a truly horrifying madman had cut into the psyche of Gotham and had revealed the evil that lurked seemingly in every crevice, on every corner in the city. And though the Joker was dead, killed by vengeful SWAT officers after being captured in a three-way battle between him, the Gotham City Police Department, and the Batman, the terrorist clown had had the last laugh.

For the Batman was now considered a murderer, someone who could no longer covertly work with Police Commissioner Jim Gordon. And ever since then, Gotham had all but descended into what the Joker had predicted would occur: chaos. Murder, rape, corruption, robbery, assault, backstabbing, fraud, vandalism of the worst kind…if Gotham was once the city with a faint hope in good, it was now the city where “good” had become a joke.

However, that didn’t mean everyone accepted defeat and threw in the towel. One exception to the rule was Russ Lundberg. A city councilman who represented a poor, destitute area of Gotham, “Russ the Fuss” (as he was known by detractors and admirers alike) spoke boldly and optimistically about health care, education, relief for the poor and mentally ill, and cleaning up Gotham and restoring law and order. He was considered the biggest political rival to Mayor Garcia, whose approval ratings were slipping as the city descended into anarchy.

But Garcia had a powerful campaign machine, and the support of most of the wealthy in Gotham. However, he was seeing less and less contributions from the wealthiest man in the city: Bruce Wayne. There were many theories as to why, but the most widely accepted one was that Wayne simply didn’t care about politics anymore.

Regardless of what Wayne cared about, most people in Gotham were very carefully watching the mayoral race, for it was to be a referendum on Mayor Garcia’s policies. Pundits predicted it would be “close” and “possibly historical.”

No one, however, could predict what was about to happen to Gotham…

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