Jump 377: Batman - The Dark Knight Trilogy

Jump #377: Batman - The Dark Knight Trilogy
>Nine of Pentacles (Gain): Discipline and nobility applied to the maintenance of security and stability.
>Age: 27
>Location: The Bat Cave
IN A CAVE! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS! --wait, no, wrong franchise.
>Identity: League of Shadows
One would hope that the League of Shadows' name sounds more dramatic in an appropriate language.
>Member of the League of Shadows (Free, League)
Worldwide conspiracy, you say? And yet they can't destroy a single city? Not much of a conspiracy if you ask me...
>Jumper The Immortal (900, League)
Oh, so this explains it: Henri Ducard was a mercenary and con artist that got caught up in a bigger mercenary organization and took control... but it was too big to do more than be a figurehead, so he embraced it. That's really the only way it makes sense. He's not truly Ra's al Ghul... because there is no single Ra's al Ghul. Except when he dies, the idiots remaining in the league don't realize how the scam goes, so they actually assume that the figurehead is dead instead of someone else taking the wheel. Yes, I know that's not really true. But this is now my headcanon. It explains so much. Otherwise, why would they reveal themselves to the world and destroy themselves along with Gotham if they supposedly kept themselves secret since before the fall of Rome?
>The Shadows Betray You Because They Belong To Me! (700, League)
Part and parcel of the training package, after all.
>The League of Jumper (400, League)
Well, if it's going to fall apart after Henri dies, I should know how to create such an apparatus of my own, no?
>Jumper Enterprises (0)
Another to roll into my multiversal company. Yes... this will work nicely.

Well... I'll admit, due to the nature of this setting, this is going to be a DC jump where I take a single role instead of several. Still taking the role I'd had before though - Crow still works, but he'll going to need a different name. But then, what does his name matter?

Like Batman, I'm a former member of the League of Shadows, except I had the intelligence to see what they were about and get the hell out while I could.

Unlike Batman I don't care to strike fear into criminals, because that's really not going to do anything in the long run. Applying force in the right places as an otherwise unnamed vigilante has its uses, but frankly if you want Gotham to be a place worth staying in, you need to do as much in the light as you do in the dark. That is Bruce Wayne's failing.

So, let's see how things go.

Batman Begins? I've been out there beating the crap out of idiots before he came around with his fancy tools and armor (which, when he eventually comes across me and tries to fight me, is surprised I lack). I'm not wearing hockey pads - I'm just that good. Short of a trained assassin, I'd have the upper hand in any encounter, and I don't go in blindly.

Bruce Wayne seems to be having a party at his mansion! Lovely. I'll simply have to make sure I show up as well. While Bruce is feigning drunkenness to lose his guests, I'm waltzing over to Ra's in order to have a few words.

"Henri Ducard, you sly dog, is that you?" I put on the insincere charm. And boy, did he ever pick up on it.
>"Who in- ah, it would seem this truly is a small world, isn't it?" Ra's reflects every bit of that insincerity back at me, a polite chat rather than the desired knife fight.
"Oh, you have no idea, old friend. Say, it looks like this party is winding down. I'm sure you brought some friends along with you, plus ones, am I right?"
>"One could say that," he admits, eyes locked on mine, giving away nothing. "In fact, I'm sure they've been looking forward to catching up with you."
"Mm, good," I say, my grin growing genuine. "I suppose I'll be going, I've a date to keep, but do tell Ubu that I've missed him, won't you?" And with that, I slip around the man behind me who was about to grab me and instead make my way to the door, leaving Bruce to his fate.

Later on, after the dust settles... well, it turns out that despite the crazies getting out, nobody was actually hallucinating and Gotham PD did a fine job of taking care of things aside from what Batman had to deal with on the monorail. Sure, damage was done to the water main, but nobody really went crazy - turns out that the company that was contracted by the city to run the water department found some discrepancies, and the water line in Arkham is the main that goes to the water plant for filtration and processing.

When did that get switched around, you might ask. And I might answer, it's magic, I ain't gotta explain shit.

Regardless, the criminal underworld was sent running not long after. And then the Joker popped up, being dramatic and all of that. Things went essentially as they otherwise might have, except ... well, I seem to recall I have a perk or two that can shift the timing of certain events around. That is to say... the Joker's timing was off in several regards.

The cellphone that was sloppily shoved in a man's stomach? Found, and the Joker never got his phone call, though he still escaped. Rachael and Harvey? The bombs never went off, disarmed with time to spare. The ferries? That was the biggest crock and nobody really talked about it other than it being a vague terrorist threat.

The Joker was shot trying to escape from two detectives, Bullock and Montoya, while they were hauling him downtown. He died ignobly and was forgotten. Gordon still got a spot for police commissioner after the dust settled, and a perfectly sane Harvey Dent became mayor two years later. Rachael Dent served as DA. Gotham had seen worse conflicts of interest.

Bruce took it out on the criminals. But as Rachael said, if he hadn't put on so many false personas and actually put forth honest and open effort, she wouldn't have moved on. When you put on a mask and never let anyone see past it, all that the people around you will see is the mask.

In other news, eight years later, a man who said he was CIA took a chartered plane with three captured mercenaries from Uzbekistan. The CIA man was found sedated in a hotel room shortly after the plane disappeared from radar. Transcript from the crashed aircraft's black box follows.

"First one to talk gets to stay on my aircraft. So, who told you to grab Dr. Pavel?"
>"..."
"He didn't fly so good. Who wants to try next? Tell me about Bane. Why did he carry a teddy bear?"
>"Wait--" "What?"
"A teddy bear. Our sources say its name was Osito."
>"How is it that you know this?"
"Oh, it turns out I'm not actually CIA, just very well informed, Mr. Dorrance. The bag on your head won't be necessary any longer."
>"How-?!"
"Irrelevant. The only thing that matters is Henri Ducard's legacy. A petty mercenary-turned-warlord with delusions of grandeur, a gang of fools that believed his lies, and a daughter he abandoned to a prison he controlled and had the means to facilitate her escape. Oh, and her would-be lover, who let himself get caught."
>"You do seem very well informed, whoever you are."
"Quite. So, we've established that you're no genius, but what's the next step in your plan?"
>"Crashing this plane, with no survivors."
"You heard the man! Straight down."
>"What-- WHAT?!"
"You did say we were crashing this plane. At this altitude, we have thirty seconds to impact, and I can guarantee you that there will be no survivors."
>"This isn't..! Are you all crazy?!"
"No, but we do think you're an idiot. Incidentally, we have blue lantern rings and will be perfectly fine. You, however, well... you wanted no survivors, Bane. Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it."

Transcript ends.

Oddly, a group of mercenaries all died of a some sort of parasitical infection while preparing for certain highly illegal activities in Gotham City. Miranda Tate also died of the same tropical parasite, curiously.

Such a pity.