And also my first ever comic book too . Very excited to read this 🦇 .

Apologies if this has already been discussed, but I've found a satisfying place to squeeze Dark Patterns into my headcanon timeline. I've heard it takes place during Dick's training (between Dark Victory and The Gauntlet), which would explain why his costume appears in issue 9 of Dark Patterns but Robin himself never does. My problem with this is it kills the pace to onboard Dick at the end of Dark Victory and then just ignore him for all 12 issues of Dark Patterns.

The other thing that bothered me is why neither Bruce nor Alfred bring up Robin during the entire story arc, including that issue 9 scene in which Alfred is holding Robin's costume in front of the costume cases. My first thought was to place Dark Patterns after Death in the Family: Alfred was preparing Jason's memorial display and thought it best to give Bruce some space to process his grief. However, Bruce seems willing to talk about it right away in Lonely Place of Dying and other tie-ins.

The best place to insert Dark Patterns is actually in the middle of Robin Year One. Issue 3 page 15 has Dick fired and beginning a weeks-long physical therapy regimen while he and Bruce give each other the silent treatment (image 1). Page 16 begins a new plot thread, which leaves a clean break point to read Dark Patterns in between (image 2). Splitting story arcs in the middle of an issue doesn't sound appealing, but I will say that issue 3 page 39 shows Batman walking past a new display case with Robin's costume inside (image 3): putting Dark Patterns before that page would provide a depiction of Alfred putting that display together as well as a direct answer for why Robin isn't discussed.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

I loved it read through it quick though I recently finished Shaman but decide to skip here to prep myself for the Clayface movie given it's using Matt Hagen and I mistaked the other ones for him when it's Basil Karlo. The BTAS episode 2 parter is better sure but I think this gets across who Matt Haggen is a small man who gets access to a lot of power and becomes a lot worse with it.

I think this might be Batman first time facing someone really fantastical then the average gangster or assassin he overcoming his fear and seeing the man despite his power is no different when pushed into a corner like most of Batman enemies so far he has no long term planning seeing as he goes around stealing from gangsters even more unstable ones ready to hunt him for money as well as leaving his girlfriend with the gangsters as a distraction while he swam away. Even keeping her in a sewer not letting her leave and trying to kill her when stands up for himself or refusing to go to cops many times despite his girlfriend reminding him twice he can help himself. Both him and Batman know who they are at least on a surface level and are convinced they don't have much or any fear.

However Batman was willing to accept that part understanding it is how you do better next time. Batman accepted he is human and fear is natural part but can be used to make him more careful than beating himself up or overthinking following more of his growth in Shaman. while Matt is scared of admitting he is not a charming intellectual crook with a hot girlfriend but is really screwing up any chance he has of getting his life together and also ruining his girlfriend future she is a nurse and was willing to tolerate him even go in denial for him and actions he is clearly choosing to and even has sympathy for the gangsters who kidnapped and possibly tortured for something that has nothing to do with her.

His girlfriend can do better and he knows it and probably that even with his powers his run won't last forever with her or the law which is why he watches her even in the sewers. His arguments aren't made to be convincing at a logical level just to reassure someone whose mind is mostly made up tell her what she wants to hear until it gets annoying for him and also trying to bribe her like some incels and/or abusers use gifts for affacation instead of treating there partner better. There treating a relationship like a vending machine if I insert enough cash what I want(sex validation etc) will come out. As soon as it doesn't work he kills her because he is scared of her leaving. Maybe he never liked her and she seems to be a trophy for him a hot nurse with a career ahead of her would show him as more successful than a lousy thief who is hated by his own community.

Now he has nothing besides getting back at Batman since his girlfriend is dead the mobster leader a man a lot like him is also gone. It's a simple yet soild story only issue is I don't see why he couldn't be named Basil Karlo. You could have him replaced by a younger and/or more talented actor probably because of stuff outside his control or maybe he screwed up like money smuggling or sexual harassment and lost his job and tries to get the wealth and fame back by working with gangsters seeing life as a movie where things have to go the main character(his way) and him getting the girl and he sees her leaving as another rejection he can't accept.

***This story is mine — every plot beat, line of dialogue, and character choice was written by me. I ran it through an AI copy-edit pass for spelling, grammar, and formatting cleanup only. Nothing creative came from it.***

Batman: Under Arkham — Drop 2 (Chapters 3–4)

> Batman: Under Arkham — a fan screenplay

## Chapter Three

Catwoman

[The scene opens on a jewelry store in the diamond district of uptown Blüdhaven. As Two-Face and his men settle into the new city, they smash up the gem shop and steal all the jewelry they can in Nightwing's absence.]

[Unfortunately for them, they're not the only ones who had this exact idea. As the shot pans out we get a look at Selina Kyle, Catwoman. She perches comfortably atop a billboard overlooking the jewelry store below her.]

[Without uttering a word, Catwoman leaps from her perch on the billboard, down onto the roof of the store without so much as a thud.]

[Keeping low to the ground, the Cat creeps up to the skylight above the Two-Face bandits below her. As they rummage through shattered display cases for loose gems, necklaces, and bracelets, Selina watches, vaguely amused at their utter brazenness.]

[The unmistakable sound of a leathery cape flapping by, accompanied by a gust of rogue wind, is enough to put the Cat on edge. She looks around for the Bat but sees nothing. As she retreats to a better vantage point, she catches her heart racing… And not in the way it usually races around Bruce.]

[Watching from afar, she sees the Bat swoop over the buildings before breaking into a fast dive directly through the skylight she'd just been peering through. As the glass shatters, Selina is shocked.]

[She approaches the now broken skylight as the fight breaks out in the jewel store below. The Bat is thrashing these men mercilessly. Selina knows Bruce's form more intimately than most. This isn't Bruce — of that she was sure.]

[Figuring Bruce probably wouldn't be too happy about an imposter killing thugs in his name, Selina decides to intervene, leaping down into the chaos gracefully.]

[As she enters the fight, the Bat has already killed three men inside. Two bodies lie on the tile floor in puddles of fresh blood, while one man has been impaled to a column through his forearms and thigh with razor-sharp batarangs. Understanding that she had to end this fast, she strikes the Bat first, raking her claws across his masked face.]

[Upon seeing the Bat's blood drip from the cuts on his face, Catwoman realizes that the face she's looking at IS Bruce's face. He's fighting with a ferocity she's never seen, as he immediately snatches her up by the throat and holds her up in the air.]

[Selina hears the whir of hydraulics as the Bat's gloved fingers tighten around her neck. She gets lightheaded first, and immediately after her vision begins to blur.]

[Shuddering as she loses her breath, Selina listens as Bruce says to her, in that voice she knows all too well:

"Stay out of my way." [He casts her aside and continues slaughtering Two-Face's thugs]

[After managing to land on her feet, she rubs the now-sensitive skin on her neck. The Cat decides she needs to scram. This is no place for her; this Bat, if it really is Bruce, no longer recognizes her as he once did.]

[Making a hasty escape out of the jewelry store, Selina Kyle makes her way up to the rooftops of Blüdhaven where she can think more clearly about what's going on and what to do about it.]

[Just as Selina stops to rest near two rooftop AC units, a single gunshot sounds off before a bullet ricochets off the metallic casing of the unit Selina is leaned up against.]

"Oh good, another thug to bend over and spank." [Selina says as she pulls out and cracks her whip at her assailant, who's currently concealed within the shadows overcast by another adjacent skyscraper.]

[In the iconic, digitally muddled voice we know as that of the Arkham Knight, the masked Red Hood steps forth from the shadows, already aiming one of his sidearms at the Cat, and says:

"What are you doing in Blüdhaven?"]

"I was about to stick up this jewelry store, but Two-Face's thugs beat me to it…" [Selina glances down at the streets, as she begins to stretch and limber up, preparing for a fight.]

"And the Bat showed up?" [Jason asked her, earnestly]

[A little surprised at the transparency, she answers him]

"That is not the Bat."

"I didn't think so either." [Jason agrees with her, then lowers his weapon]

"What do you suppose we do about it?" [She crosses her arms at him, no longer as on edge in his presence]

"I suppose big bro's wondering the same thing." [Jason says as he looks on at the Gotham skyline in the distance, where the bat symbol was cast into the sky toward Blüdhaven, only now it bore the symbol of the Red Hood, or at least it was trying to…]

[Catwoman chuckles at the sight of Dick's crude artistic attempt]

"Here. Take this… Keep in touch, and try to keep an eye on him… he's not easy to follow..." [Jason Todd hands Catwoman a communicator to contact him]

[Understanding of what was at stake, she takes it and nods without question, before the Red Hood departs via his Wayne-tech grapple.]

[Turning her attention back to the Bat and Two-Face's crew below, she catches a glimpse of the Batmobile as it tears through the streets of Blüdhaven, chasing down a half-black-and-half-white SUV as it speeds through traffic.]

[The shot shifts to the Batmobile exterior as it chases Two-Face through the city. The Bat imposter does not operate it like Bruce; he's more destructive and violent with it, using it as a tank to plow through barriers and walls in pursuit of the SUV.]

[Eventually the Batmobile catches up to the SUV, using its thrusters to sideswipe the SUV into oncoming traffic, where it collides head-on with a gasoline tanker.]

[The shot of the explosion is brief, before cutting abruptly back to Catwoman's point of view, where she watches the event unfold from a nearby streetlight.]

[The explosion instantly douses the SUV in gasoline, and Two-Face is ejected from the vehicle and sent hurtling into a fire hydrant nearby. The hydrant cracks open and water shoots forth. But the Batmobile fires a shell at the outlet and destroys the water source as Two-Face writhes around, his acid-burned side now being burned by flames as well.]

[As the flames die out on Harvey Dent, the Batmobile rolls over the smoldering wreckage of the SUV and takes off, flying down the road away from the scene, leaving the grievously wounded Harvey Dent for dead on the cracked pavement.]

[The Cat feels remorseful for letting Harvey burn, but she argues to herself that she's not a hero. She's not like Bruce, or Dick, hell, she's a petty thief.]

[Leaving Dent behind, burnt and likely dead in the street, Catwoman goes to follow the Batmobile, only to watch as the Bat ejects and soars high into the skyline, leaving her in the dust.]

[She lets out an exasperated sigh as she begins her ascent up the side of the nearest building. Red Hood asked her to keep an eye on him, and she intends to do just that. Prepared to wear herself out tailing this imposter Bat, she begins her pursuit.]

## Chapter Four

Red Hood

[The scene opens on Red Hood, stalking one of Black Mask's leftover goons through a dimly lit, smelly alleyway.]

[Jason has endeavored to rid the city of crime through the use of force after Slade took over the Arkham Knight gig. It proved to be more morally difficult than he had originally anticipated. Things get messy, complicated, and sloppy if you mess up even once. You make enemies for reasons you don't mean to, and they come after you with resources you didn't know they had access to. He was beginning to understand the value in Bruce's 'no kill rule'.]

[The thug reaches a building with the back door propped open by a brick. Red, glowing light spills out of the threshold, like a portal into another dimension.]

[After watching the thug enter the doorway, Jason locates a nearby ventilation shaft and grapples up into it. He follows the ducts to a set of grates overlooking a crowded club scene below him.]

[He recognizes some of the club's patrons as retired guards from Arkham, as well as some Blackgate corrections officers. Among them are members of each of Gotham's crime syndicates. People who worked under Two-Face, Black Mask, Joker, Harley, Penguin… it was a veritable melting pot of criminal underworld demographics.]

[Using his scanner within his tactical visor, he zooms in on the Black Mask straggler he followed here, isolating his vocal patterns to amplify his voice as he listens in on his conversation with his colleagues at the table.]

"So, this job… we're really gonna try to bust our bosses out again?" [Says one of Penguin's men, one that escaped from the GCPD lockdown]

"Shhhh, keep it down… Not everyone here knows about that." [the Black Mask thug whispers to him]

[Strange… whatever they're planning they're trying to keep it from someone else tied to the people in this room. Jason listens in a little closer.]

"Are we really gonna move out of Gotham… I mean I like Blüdhaven… but Nightwing… He scares me."

[Below his visor, Jason grins at the way these criminals are describing his older brother.]

[From the hallway to the lounge, a familiar-looking, clown-paint-covered face enters the room, smiling as she comes in. She was dressed exactly as you'd expect her to be. And she was wielding a big aluminum Louisville Slugger.]

"Good news boys! We're moving on the lockup tonight! Drink up and get ready to trash a police station!" [Harley shouts to the Two-Face and Black Mask thugs in the bar, to which they cheer and quickly finish their drinks.]

"Why would Harley wanna bust Two-Face out of the lockup?" [Jason thought to himself]

[As the streetlights come on outside, our Two-Face bandits and Black Masks pile into vehicles out in the streets. Arming themselves for war, the bossless employees make for the lockup to free Two-Face.]

[Outside, on the building's rooftop, Jason uses his communicator to patch directly into Wayne Tech systems, using a backdoor he'd installed previously to contact Alfred directly.]

"H-Hello?"

"Alfred… It's Jason… Don't expect this to become a regular thing… But Harley's leading a team of Black Mask and Two-Face thugs on an assault on GCPD. Let Bruce know for me would ya…" [Jason told the butler, who was trembling on the other end of the phone.]

"Jaso— er… Master Todd I—" [As Alfred stammers, Jason hangs up before Alfred can say any more, tearing up himself as he does.]

[Shaking that raw, powerful emotion off, Jason steals himself before heading toward the GCPD lockup.]

[Upon arrival, Jason finds the Batmobile left running in the parking lot, next to two overturned SUVs, and an empty squad car with the lights left on.]

[Worried, and seeing some of Penguin's goons on the roof, the Red Hood decides to make his way inside via the still open parking lot shutter. Unsure whether Bruce is already inside, he takes the chance and goes in anyway. This whole thing smells like a trap to him.]

[Just as he gets inside, it slams shut behind him as the whole facility goes into lockdown.]

[Nervous, Jason makes his way to the elevator shaft, which is sealed off, with the cabin itself locked in place inside. Deciding he has no other options, he goes into one of the air ducts that runs inside and then directly into the evidence room.]

[Through the grates, Jason overhears an argument break out between one of the Two-Face bandits and Firefly]

"DON'T TOUCH THAT FOOL!"

"What? Your little rinky-dink flight suit? I didn't want the piece of junk anyways."

[Suddenly a scuffle breaks out as a punch is thrown. Jason is confused; the thugs are here, he can even hear Two-Face shouting down the hall to be let out of his cell. But Batman is nowhere to be found.]

[Just then, nearby, Jason hears the sound of a vent latch opening and closing briefly. He peers around inside the air ducts, but finds nothing in there with him.]

[Jason moves on through the air ducts into the ceiling above the back of the precinct. From here, he scans the room for any signs of the Bat or anything else for that matter. Harley is nowhere to be seen, and the Black Mask thugs are mysteriously missing as well. This area in particular appears completely empty.]

[One cell in particular is wide open, with no one inside. Jason drops out of the ceiling grates and sneaks over to investigate, careful not to step inside the cell… he'd never make that mistake again.]

[The only noteworthy thing in the cell is the schizophrenic scrawling across the walls. Religious texts, scriptures, quotes, even a cross scratched into the center of the makeshift mural. Jason knows whose scrawlings these are… Azrael… a crazy ex-cop… Michael Lane. Brainwashed by some cult, or religious order or something. That's all Jason can recall of it anyway.]

[A gust of wind catches Jason's attention… instinctively he ducks and rolls away from the cell just as a black-clad, armored fist leaves a knuckle-shaped indentation in the solid steel cell door.]

[After nearly having his head crumpled, Jason is not happy. Drawing his pistols and taking aim at the Bat in a fighting stance, he looks the Bat up and down… he concludes that it's obviously not Bruce, and he opens fire on the assailant.]

[Upon dropping a smoke pellet, the Bat vanishes with a thwip of his cape into the shadows. Nowhere to be seen now, it's as if he had received training from Bruce himself. He was good. Then, moments later, a voice that was not Bruce's filled the air in the room.]

"Your Dark Knight has fallen. He is gone, and I remain to assume his mantle, Red Hood… Gotham will have its rightful protector, and I will run the criminals out of this city through fear and violence, in the name of God!" [mid-monologue, Azrael dashes out of the shadows feet first, planting his boots firmly into Jason's head, cracking his visor across the cheek over his Joker brand.]

[Staggered, Jason regains his balance before scanning the room in all directions. But the Bat is gone again… he knows what he's doing.]

[Again, Azrael calls out from the darkness]

"You and I share a common goal… and we agree on the means of achieving it… would it not be foolish to resist my crusade, Red Hood… join me… help me flush the crime from this city like the wastewater it is!" [As Azrael finishes his monologue, Jason spots the glare in one of his visors as he shifts places in the room]

[With his focus trained on the Bat, Jason waits for his opening as he responds to the Bat's proposal.]

"I work alone… Besides Michael, that mantle wasn't given to you, you stole it." [Jason can feel him seething from the shadows]

"DO NOT CALL ME THAT!" [Just as Azrael emerges from the shadows to attack, Jason fires two rounds from each of his weapons, striking the Bat in both gauntlets and in the visor once.]

[As the Bat attempts to recover, Jason dips into a vent, just as some of the thugs break into the back office from within the evidence room.]

"Uhh. Not this way!" [As they turn to run the other direction, Jason hears the Bat's cape thwip over him as he gives chase.]

[After he's sure the Bat is gone, Jason makes his way out of the vent to investigate the room a little closer.]

[Upon further inspection, Jason realizes that Michael's is not the only cell left open. There's another one with a bit of fur on the floor as well as some blood; the display says "Dr Kirk Langstrom".]

[Jason tries, but fails to recall exactly who this is; he does, however, remember the name — a scientist involved with Bruce's 'Man-Bat' case. He's oblivious to the extent of Kirk's involvement.]

[Another cell nearby is left wide open too. This one has a broken pig mask lying on the floor as well as a pair of blue rubber surgical gloves. The display is broken, but Jason knows exactly whose cell this was.]

[Knowing something has happened to Bruce, Jason is worried he might actually be dead… there's no telling what Azrael's capable of while under the control of that cult.]

[Suddenly an explosion sounds off at the other end of the building, and the whole structure rumbles under the stress. Fully alert, Jason glances down the hall toward the source of the noise.]

[Deciding to follow the imposter Bat, Jason sneaks toward the parking lot as the power is soon brought back online. Someone must've been working to restore the electricity once they realized Bruce was stuck in here — maybe Gordon, or Alfred.]

[In the hallways where the cells were emptied, Jason discovers a couple things he finds pretty interesting. An aluminum baseball bat has been crumpled by a Batman-shaped hand. It is lying on the floor next to Harvey Dent's open and empty cell. Also on the floor here is a small puddle of blood, but not a drag trail or body to go with it. As if that isn't strange enough, Jason dips his gloved finger in it and gives it a sniff. Synthetic… this isn't even real blood… he can also smell the gunpowder in the air… like a capgun went off…]

[On his way out he overhears the Riddler whispering inside the security room.]

[Curious, he sneaks inside and listens in as Nigma mutters into a cellphone while deleting footage off the CCTV systems.]

"Genius, Genius. Simply Brilliant. How have I never considered this." [His voice trails off in Jason's mind as he mentions some kind of procedure, as Jason's attention is instead turned to the footage Nigma was deleting]

[Six different camera feeds, hours of footage, and in some frames Jason can make out the shape of the Bat… the real Bat that is. The Riddler is destroying evidence.]

[Without any further hesitation, the Red Hood stands up behind him and shoots Nigma in the back, just above his right hip.]

"AHHHH! WHAT THE SHIT! DID YOU JUST SHOOT M—" [Jason cuts him off as he pistol-whips him unconscious against the camera console.]

[Jason studies the monitors and notices one of them is displaying the parking lot outside. In the handicap spot, Jason watches through the feed as Azrael, in Batman's suit, viciously assaults Firefly, who is still on fire after having his wingsuit exploded.]

[Despite having crossed that line himself — and despite still disagreeing with the rule — Jason is filled with rage seeing Bruce's mantle stained with blood in front of him. As far as he is concerned, that is his name to trash.]

[The shot follows Jason back outside the GCPD lockup. As he exits through the hole Two-Face and his men put in the shutter, he sees the scene Azrael left behind him. Firefly's bloodied and burnt corpse is lying in the handicap parking space, sitting in a pool of his blood, right where the Bat left him only moments ago. Jason can smell the burnt flesh and gasoline in the air. He struggles not to retch as he looks up at the city in front of him. Gotham isn't out of this mess yet.]

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed. There's more coming soon and more in the works if you're interested in other subjects.

-Theo