The following story takes place in the “Gotham” TV series universe, more or less. This will be mildly important later on.
It started on a Thursday. The Joker was rummaging through the Gotham City Archives when he came across and article from the late 1800s describing a giant cave full of bats, used as a source of guano that was being shut down as the Wayne Family had bought the property and were building their stately manor on the land above the cave. The Joker connected some dots and realized that Bruce Wayne was the Batman, and immediately went to his fellow villains to share the news.
They rejected his theory, as Bruce Wayne had successfully spent tens of millions of dollars on a long running disinformation campaign, creating the completely inoffensive Bruce Wayne persona. The Joker even tried hijacking the nightly news, but was laughed at by pretty much the entire Gotham population. Being laughed at was the worst thing you could do to the Joker, so he set out to take down the Wayne empire one bit at a time.
And that’s how Batman wound up at a small research facility on the outskirts of Gotham late the next night. Inside he found carnage and destruction, as well as a dying scientist. “Oh Bruce, uh, sorry, he just broke in...he killed Marty...” Batman looked across the room and saw the crumpled body of the research assistant, still wearing his distinctive orange vest. “He tortured us Bruce, until we told him what we were making. He said he was going to use it and make you pay over and over. He said he knew who you are.” Batman had known Doc Brown for several years, starting when Brown had shown up in Gotham’s underground looking for plutonium to power some wild experiment. Initially Batman had assumed he was the typical mad scientist that periodically would show up in Gotham, but Doc Brown came across as an honest and sincere person, albeit very eccentric. He also figured out who Batman was from an amazingly small set of clues. Batman, through Wayne Enterprises, funded Doc Brown’s research to keep him out of trouble, setting up a small lab on the edge of town. Brown had brought in his assistant from the coast, and Bruce had taken a liking to the kid, even buying him several Toyota pickups as part of his relocation bonus. Doc Brown told him that one of those trucks had been one of the vehicles in his time travelling vehicle experiment, and now the Joker had stolen it, set to do who knows what sort of carnage. “You’ve got to stop him Bruce, he’s taken the first test vehicle back in time, but he doesn’t know about the other one. I hid it in the old Kane quartz mine outside of town.” Doc Brown pressed a video tape into Batman’s hand. “Here, this explains how it all works...it was a surprise for you. I...” Doc brown let out one last rattling cough and died in Batman’s arms. Calling Jim Gordon to take care of the lab situation, Batman grimly made his way to the abandoned mine.
He was take aback by the appearance of the second time car. Looking like a cross between a 50’s show car and jet fighter, it was long, black and menacing, with a bubble canopy and a lot of chrome trim. The tape explained that Doc brown had obtained it years before from a failed custom car maker, and the heavy construction had proved to be more effective for time travel over the lighter Toyota. The time circuits were linked, as Doc brown hadn’t fully completed calibrations on both cars, so Batman could track when the Joker had travelled...and his blood ran cold when he saw the date. It was in the same month as the murder of his parents 20 years before! The mission to stop the Joker had taken on an even more emotionally charged dimension.
Both vehicles required a speed of 88 miles per hour to achieve temporal displacement, moving the vehicle through time but placing it in the same physical space in the past as it had left in the current day. Batman’s car had been equipped with Doc Brown’s other major invention, lift propulsion, giving Batman an advantage in his search for the Joker, as well as not requiring roads to get up to the required speed. After a quick trip back to the Batcave to pick up some devices, Batman set out to go back in time to face his greatest enemy, and his greatest fears.
Arriving over Gotham City 20 years in the past was jarring for Batman. The city was smaller, less developed, the original bridges were still standing, the clock tower atop City hall was still intact, and it felt more peaceful. “Likely just being selective with my memories.” thought Batman as he headed to Wayne manor to begin his search. He was positive the Joker would target his parents or possibly even his younger self, so he began placing modern surveillance devices around the mansion and the grounds. He’d next set out to cover Wayne Enterprises and the various establishments his family frequented to set up electronic security equipment. He hoped it would be enough, but wasn’t sure if he had figured out the Joker completely. What sort of devious stunts could the sociopath pull off while in the past? Kill the mayor before he is ever elected? Destroy the Stock Exchange? Blow up bridges, banks, hospitals? All the potential targets could be used by the Joker to change things in the future, none for the good. Batman would have his work really cut out for him, and he was operating well outside of his normal base of support.
A stockholder meeting for Wayne Enterprises was coming up in two days, so Batman assumed one of his undercover personas, Adam Conroy, a security specialist with impeccable credentials. He covered the meeting areas with covert cameras and audio pickups, taking great care to avoid encountering his parents. Temporal alterations was of secondary concern, as he was more concerned with the emotional strain it would cause him. He didn’t need to be distracted while chasing the Joker, but he did have an unexpected encounter with the other person who would figure greatly in his life. As he was leaving the security office the next afternoon, he came around a corner to almost run directly in Alfred., the family butler. “Excuse me sir, but do I know you?” Alfred asked, staring intently into Batman’s eyes. Alfred had a gift of noticing people who didn’t belong where they were, and was obviously suspicious of Batman, even though his disguise was impeccable. “No, just setting up security for the meeting tomorrow.” “Very good sir, sorry to bother you, you reminded me of somebody I used to know.” Alfred replied, a skeptical look on his face. Batman noticed that Alfred’s appearance hadn’t really changed much over the years, a small thing but obviously a measure of stability he’d not noticed growing up. Having Alfred watching out for the family gave him a sense of relief.
The meeting went by uneventfully, but shortly afterwards there were a series of explosions in garbage cans located around the downtown core. Quickly Batman noticed they were following a pattern, leading to an abandoned warehouse by the docks. He made his way in via an open skylight, expecting to find he was being lured there by the Joker. He was partially right. Instead of a boobytrap, he found a TV and a long cable leading from it. As he warily approached it, the TV sprang to life and a horribly familiar maniacal laughter began emanating from the speakers. “Well well well, Brucie, looks like you came back to stop me. Yes, that fool thought I didn’t know about the other vehicle and the tracker, but I’m really just too smart sometimes. So you know when I am, but not WHY I’m here, do you? Well, I’m going to tell you. In 3 days, your parents are going to be gunned down.” Batman’s blood ran cold...this couldn’t be happening... “Now, I’m going to do you a huge favor Brucie, I’m going to kill the man who does the deed before he does the act. I’m going to save your parents, Brucie. Doesn’t that make you happy? Yes, they will get to live, and without that terrible event, little Brucie Wayne won’t grow up to become Batman, will he? So you see, I get to kill YOU, and yet I get to have you around to play with for the rest of my life. I’m going to make Bruce Wayne my very special project when I get back to the future, a future without Batman, a future where nobody can stop me!”
Batman was horrified, this was something out of his worst nightmare. If he stopped the Joker, he’d be sentencing his parents to death, an act that determined his entire future, if he didn’t stop the Joker, he’d save his parents but doom the future to being dominated by a psychopath. Neither option was desirable! The video feed continued: “Okay, loved this little chat, got to go, things to do, people to kill!” The screen went blank, and Batman quickly returned to his car, where the tracker was happily showing him the current location of the time travelling pickup. Activating the flight abilities, Batman climbed several thousand feet and began following the truck as it wound through Gotham’s streets. It passed into an open area in front of City Hall, and that’s when Batman made his move. While the truck was in the open it gave him a chance to destroy the truck, trapping the Joker in the past. At least he’d prevent him returning to the present day. As Batman began descending, warning alarms went off in the cockpit of the car, and his eyes flitted to the threat monitor. “Stinger missiles?” he thought, just as the automated countermeasures deployed. He frantically threw the car around the sky, with one missile missing and impacting the clock face above City Hall. “Well now I know the source of the mysterious explosion that destroyed the clock all those years ago.” Batman mused, as he kept trying to avoid the second missile. It detonated against the left side of the car, causing fire to spread rapidly. Batman knew his time left to keep flying was rapidly running out, so he aimed directly at the time travelling Toyota. As he was about to slam into it at high speed, he ejected the bubble canopy and leapt out, narrowly missing fireball of both exploding vehicles. “Looks like I’m trapped back here with the Joker.” as he’d seen the Joker rolled out of the truck moments before the impact. Both time machines were burnt twisted wreckage.
The next couple days were a series of battles with the Joker, of the mind and as well of the physical nature. It all culminated high atop the Monarch Theatre, where the Joker had set up a sniper’s nest to take out the assassin hired by Ra’s al Ghul to kill Bruce Wayne’s parents. Batman had tracked Joker to the final spot where he could hopefully finally defeat the clown prince of crime, and keep the timeline intact. “Now Brucie, where’s the fun in that?” Joker whined, as he threw a riot gas grenade at Batman. The ensuing clouds of stinging smoke made the ensuing fight disjointed and confusing, but Batman was slowly driving Joker closer and closer to the edge of the theatre, overlooking the alley below. “Bruce, you aren’t any fun!” Joker complained, as Batman closed the distance and grabbed the Joker by his lapels. “Give it up, you can’t win this.” Batman grunted, to which the Joker shrugged, and poisoned gasses shot out of his vest buttons directly into Batman’s eyes. The Joker ran back to his sniper’s nest and hoisted the rifle to his shoulder, but Batman flung a can of shark repellant in desperation at him. Despite the odds of hitting a target the size of the Joker across a rooftop in the dark with highly impacted vision, Batman could see he hit the Joker right in the face. The Joker stumbled and tripped, and with a scream of “NOOOOOOOO” he fell off the roof into the alley below. Batman heard a sickening thud and the rifle discharge at the same time. He rushed to the edge to see the Joker laying behind a dumpster, his neck broken, and another man clutching his chest and staggering away, to fall behind some cargo crates. The gun had accidentally discharged when it hit the ground and killed the man sent to kill his parents.
Batman stood overlooking the alleyway, frozen in shock and horror. He could see his parents and a young Bruce Wayne, laughing and smiling all, round the corner and proceed down the alley. Batman began to cry, all his life he was fighting to avenge his parent’s death, it had become his entire reason to exist, to avenge his parents, and now they were saved. He didn’t care about the repercussions, that he was likely to fade out of existence any moment, all he could feel was joy and happiness, likely for the first time since that horrible October day. His parents would live, it was actually happening right before his eyes. And then a second man stepped out of the shadows, raised a pistol, and killed his parents as he stood there, unable to do anything to stop it. “NOOOOOOOOOOOO! he screamed, his rage and anger replacing the joy he’d experienced a moment before. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” He couldn’t understand, how...why? As he was trying to process the events that had just played out, a wheezing, groaning sound started behind him. He couldn’t turn away from the alleyway scene, he’d just experienced the murder of his parents a second time, and it was draining him of all ability to process anything he was seeing or hearing. Behind him, a large blue box materialized and a door opened in it. A hand closed on his shoulder and a familiar voice spoke to him. “I’m so sorry Master Bruce, but it’s as my father always told me, it’s a fixed point in time, the events are inevitable. Ra’s al Ghul doesn’t take chances, he had a backup plan, and there was nothing you could have done to change that. Let’s get you home.” Batman turned sadly and went with Alfred, back to his future.
The End.
* In the TV series “Gotham” the role of Alfred is played by Sean Pertwee, the son of the actor John Pertwee, who played the third Dr. On Dr Who.
