Toxin

The limo moved on as two other figures followed the family into the alley. One pulled out a handgun.

The father saw the two, stepped toward the gunman and tried to reason with him. The gunman slammed the pistol across his face, knocking him to the ground. The boy hugged his mother.

“Help me,” she cried. “Help us.”

The thug pushed her to the wall, grabbed her pearl necklace and pulled. The chain broke and the pearls fell to the ground, scattering in all directions.

“No one’s coming to help you, lady. Not in this city. Not anymore.” He turned to the other thug and gestured to the father, still sprawled on the ground. “Take his wallet.”

But then the gunman heard a shriek behind him. It was the woman. He turned and looked up and gasped. The other thug followed his gaze.

He was standing on the roof. A dark silhouette.

“Hey, freak,” the gunman said, laughing, no longer afraid. “Maybe you missed the news, but the Batman’s dead. That costume, it don’t scare us no more.”

The figure on the roof said nothing. But his eyes glowed dark green, two burning fires in the night.

A swarm of bats exploded from his body, forming giant wings, spread wide as their shrieking grew louder and louder. The figure swooped down from the roof, its demonic face snarling with bared fangs and fiery eyes.

The gunman was wrong.

There was something to fear.

Batman: Arkham Knight, Epilogue, Part 2