Doors

[It begins early on Tuesday, and it's marked enough to make the evening news by Thursday. For once, it's nothing bad, which is strange for Gotham. Petty crime in the city has dropped drastically, and the booking sheets at local precincts are nearly blank. No petty break-ins, no home robberies, no domestic disputes between hookers and their pimps. Crime Alley is seemingly safe enough to walk down without loss of limb, and no one hears bodies splashing off the docks into the night. Families comment on the new peace over their dinners, and cops linger on their cigarette breaks. The city is declared the New Metropolis! by the newspaper. It is, it would seem, a good night in Gotham.]

[The Friday morning news runs a story about a mugging gone wrong down in Crime Alley. Such attacks are hardly unexpected, particularly in that part of town, so it doesn't make major play among the headlines. The only notable detail is that the assault was stopped in a particularly brutal way. Both of the men were known criminals. One suffered a badly sliced-open hand which he is expected to lose, and the other was killed, his neck broken after being thrown into a brick wall with incredible force. The surviving victim has admitted the pair intended to assault a woman on her own for her purse, though there was no purse found at the scene, so the veracity of this has been questioned. Witnesses recall seeing an individual who matches descriptions of well-known murderous vigilante the Red Hood. A blonde girl was also spotted at the scene, with some witnesses even stating she was the one responsible for killing the man who died. She left with the Hood, but she has yet to be identified. As usual, anyone with information is being asked to step forward.]

[Following this, the Riddler signal lighting up Gotham's sky is destroyed in an explosion. Aside from some additional structural damage, there are no casualties, but outside the building in question are a group of unconscious Blackgate prisoners, all trussed up and waiting for police.]

[As the sun sets and night settles in Old Gotham, a bright, huge spotlight shines over the skyline. Everyone from Wayne Manor to the Narrows can see the elegant question mark riddled into the night. But, the building the signal is coming from is heavily fortified and there doesn't seem to be a way inside. (Or is there?)

Like wildfire, a video circulates around the internet of a woman in a black blazer, miniskirt, violet glasses and fishnets who everyone immediately identifies as The Riddler. The video itself is a little rambling, like someone who isn't used to a sudden wave of knowledge, but she makes the point that since BATMAN can't even protect his own signal, maybe it's time a new kind of celebrity detective to take over for him. She reminds the viewer that it was Riddler who worked tirelessly to keep Old Gotham as plague free as possible while Batman just ran around beating up looters. Even if that's not exactly how things went down, people always love a bad girl gone good and a good guy gone useless.

At the end of the video, she gives the only riddle she can think up to tell Bats how to get into her death trap. If you ask Eddie, it's a pretty goddamned easy one even if you don't use the internet for cheats: Three lives have I. Gentle enough to soothe the skin, Light enough to caress the sky, Hard enough to crack rocks.]

[On Thursday night, gunshots are fired atop Gotham PD's roof. The Batsignal is destroyed in an explosion, and two figures are seen leaving the scene - a female and a male - though neither is clearly identified in the wake of the explosion. Blood on the roof indicates a struggle, and bullets are recovered, along with priceless earrings stolen earlier in the evening from Gotham Museum of Art. Pursuing officers lose track of both individuals within blocks of the police station.]

[Early Sunday morning, a tied up and unconscious Jonathan Crane is dropped on the Arkham doorstep with a note on his chest that simply has a large question mark painted across it. He was tranquilized, but otherwise unharmed and the wanted criminal is quickly ushered into a well protected, padded cell.

Later that night, a local news station receives a call from the newly reformed Riddler who has three different shrinks happy to deem him rehabilitated. When asked what he might do with villainy behind him, he mentions a private detective agency that is free of meddlesome bats.]

[DC Door]
[Very late Friday night, the Batsignal shines bright in Gotham's sky, originating from the roof of the GCPD building.  Police officers are not able to gain access/entry to the roof as Gordon as locked himself up there. It doesn't go out until the sun rises Saturday morning.]

[Jason is conspicuously absent from the comms and journals following the slow decline of the plague.

Coincidentally (or perhaps not at all) the day after the news about Dick's death, a story hits the news about a pair of murder scenes across town from each other. The story is mostly swallowed in the more prominent reports of the plague and the new treatment, but it does make it through as a side story. After so much death, the execution of 16 men seems like a paltry thing indeed.

The men were killed in two groups, separated by just a few hours. Both groups of men appeared to be staying together, the first in a warehouse, the second in a high-end hotel.

At the first scene, some of the men were killed with a knife, slit across the throat. A few were killed with a gun in a firefight that police assume ensued after the first few men were found. The bodies of the gunshot victims were found with their own weapons close by.

At the second scene, a much gorier display awaited police. The men appear to have been expecting the assailant, possibly warned by the group on the opposite side of town. Unlike the neat, execution style murders at scene one, some of the bodies at the second scene are almost torn apart, riddled with bullet holes from a high-caliber weapon. The hotel was mostly deserted due to the shuttered airports and plague, so the killer apparently had no trouble escaping unnoticed.

The two scenes are tied only by the distinctly similar knife wounds in those victims with their throats slit. No physical evidence has been left behind except bullet casings, and different firearms were used at the two scenes.

In the early hours of Saturday morning, another discovery is made. A young woman on her way home is walking down a side alley in the Narrows when she hears a hoarse voice crying out from the basement of an abandoned building. When the GCPD arrive, they find a man in the advanced stages of the virus, tied to a chair and left to die. He is covered in needle marks. Though he is barely conscious, he is able to tell police enough that they can place him at the scene of the second crime. He remembers a killer with a red mask, and a needle full of the fluids of one of the dead plague victims. He's far enough a long to be beyond help of the cure, now.

In the front pocket of his bloody flannel shirt is a calling card.

"LET THE PUNISHMENT FIT THE CRIME"]

[Following this post and the subsequent passing of information on by Oracle.]

After reception of the data on the cure, the CDC begins testing on what blood samples they already have. By noon they are testing on those willing to be a trial for it. By evening, they distribute the information to other infected cities with the precaution that it is not fully tested and has not passed through the FDA, but it if people are willing to try, it's the best of what they have right now.

It works, as does the vaccine distributed earlier this week, for all but the most advanced cases.

Meanwhile, they continue to caution about leaving homes unless absolutely necessary and urge the public to have their dead cremated if at all possible to further reduce possibilities of infection amongst those not cured and not vaccinated.

Gotham Children's hospital remains unaffected.

By Sunday, those cities able to manufacture the antiserum will have done so and distributed it to those willing. By Wednesday of next week, recovery from the virus seems to be well under way for those infected.

Socioeconomic recovery will take longer. Cities remain amongst the hardest hit, while less population dense areas and those communities that willingly cut themselves off from the world having fewer infected, if any at all. Worldwide, the loss of life is catastrophic.

Ra's al Ghul tops the FBI's Most Wanted list.

As soon as the WHO and the CDC confirm it, this information is shared with the hospitals and clinics of Gotham and affected cities. Looting, riots, and other various acts of violence break out across those cities that are already taxed by trying to maintain quarantines.

The information relayed comes too late to save Johnny Masterson, who dies early in the morning from DIC and multiple organ dysfunction.

Mary Masterson will die this afternoon in ICU, the first healthy adult to die of the virus; John Masterson will die tonight. Within hours of his death, crew and other passengers of both flights he flew on will also expire. It continues to ravage the young, the elderly, and those with compromised immune systems.

A vaccine and/or cure is first priority and currently being researched.

The Army and the National Guard arrive in Gotham to provide assistance. Some are dressed in fatigues, most are dressed in contamination suits like the WHO and CDC, all are carrying weapons.

Looting remains a problem. Some humanitarian aid is being passed out to clearly identified homes in need of help.

The CDC gets the first look at the virus and a new press release is available, urging all but the sickest to remain in their homes, anyone with symptoms are asked to quarantine themselves. A ticker at the bottom of all major stations handled by Gotham repeats the news, symptoms, and a running list of open schools, hospitals, and churches. The public is urged to avoid hospitals, doctor offices, ERs and Urgent Cares unless absolutely necessary.

Gotham General is placed under quarantine and people are turned away at the doors and directed towards Gotham Memorial. Within hours, Gotham Memorial, already dealing with their own burn victims is overrun. Tents and trailers are brought in to help deal with the overflow.

Gotham Children's Hospital, owned by the Wayne Foundation, restricted visitation prior to the outbreak and as the news of an Ebola pandemic is released, they go into full lockdown. No one is allowed in or out, no new patients are admitted, and no signs of the illness are present.

John Masterson remains quarantined at his hotel room in Berlin. Margaret Masterson dies in PICU. Johnny Masterson speaks the last words he will ever say as he tells his nurses that "Nightwing promised him he could be Batman's new Robin" and lapses into a coma (this is not reported to the news, but is mentioned in his chart). In the ICU, Mary Masterson has begun to have seizures.

Amongst immunocompromised patients, the death toll spikes.

Johnny Masterson's buboes have faded, something that is met with some amount of relief until the preliminary blood culture results are back. Negative. His condition is cautiously optimistic until the evening, when he lapses further into respiratory distress and begins to have seizures.

Margaret Masterson is admitted to PICU as well with similar symptoms to her brother. Within a few hours after her admission, she begins coughing blood and asphyxiates on it. She codes, but is successfully revived. Mary Masterson is admitted to the medical floor at the urging of her son's nurses. By nighttime, she will be in the ICU.

The elder John is still in Berlin, but has holed himself up in his hotel room.

Several patients on floors that the Masterson's have visited are showing initial and second stage symptoms. By the end of the day, several immune compromised patients will have died.

As the day progresses, more people arrive with buboes. The CDC and the WHO are both called and will arrive by late afternoon. At midday, the hospital holds a press conference to discuss the possibility of an outbreak of bubonic plague. (News sources report on this most of the day and include the history of bubonic plague and likely transmission source: rats. There is a huge upswing in the number of cats adopted from local shelters and rescues following this news.)

Employees of Bruce Wayne's lab continue to work on the suit.

Morning news reports arrive from London, Berlin, and several other major cities of a particularly virulent flu as people flood to ERs and clinics. By tonight and under the urging of the WHO, quarantine procedures of those cities begin.

The virus has passed into the Marvel door.

Gotham Elementary school is voluntarily evacuated shortly after lunch today and all students are sent home.

Adults and children have begun to flock to the city's ERs and Urgent Care centers, all with the same general flu-like symptoms. The worst cases are admitted to medical floors.

Johnny Masterson is brought to Gotham General ER and admitted to the Pediatric Intermediate Care Unit (PIMCU) with severe flu. Overnight he will be transferred to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) when his vital signs continue to deteriorate and buboes appear on his body. Prophylactic IV antibiotics will be administered while the hospital waits for results on a blood culture to see if he does have the Bubonic plague.

John Masterson is safely landed in Berlin and prepares for a day of meetings and conferences. Everyone on both planes he flew on are infected.

Police are visibly present to help control panic and to direct people towards available ERs.

[As a result of the fires which broke out simultaneously Friday night, it takes the Gotham City Police Department most of the weekend to mobilize and begin locking down the city. Bridges and tunnels leading out of Gotham are the first to be closed down, with vague mentions of structural provided as explanation, while certain flights (including John Masterson's) are still allowed to leave well into Sunday morning.

By Sunday evening, however, all loose ends have been tied. No flights are permitted in or out of the city, and the airports have closed. Vehicular traffic has also come to a standstill. Police patrol all exits, and it soon becomes clear that no one is permitted to leave or enter Gotham. Annoyance and irritation at perceived inconveniences turn to suspicion as rumors of the Batman's involvement with GCPD, and an increase in presence of the Caped Crusader's allies, spread. Unrest lurks beneath the surface, and while the city is quiet as night falls, it's the calm before the storm.]

[Door Update: Gotham City]
[Per his conversation with Batman, Gordon has stepped up police presence in Gotham. He does his best to make it unobtrusive as possible, upping the number of patrols in key locations like the worst parts of Gotham as well as hospitals, chemical and water plants. Police officers are working around the clock, paid overtime and this heavy schedule is put forth through to the end of next week at minimum. EMS and other emergency response teams are put on alert that a drill will be happening in the coming days and it's all hands on deck, but no one is alarmed. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Jim Gordon doesn't know that it's the last time he'll be able to cross for a long while.]

[News: Gotham City]

Police Comissioner Jim Gordon called a press conference earlier this afternoon to address the lack of police presence lately in Gotham.  He assures the public that the GCPD are getting themselves back on track.  He has promised to increase the number of patrols in the worse parts of Gotham.  He notes the presence of masked vigilantes and cautions people against such actions.  There's no mention of arrest warrants for those vigilantes, but he does go through the "Most Wanted" list in Gotham.  The Joker is prominent, as is Jonathan Crane aka Scarecrow.  Ra's al Guhl is mentioned though there's no picture for him.  Bane is also listed, and he notes that there is an anonymous tip line right to Major Crimes for any information on those individuals.  As a side note, he commends the police department for cleaning up the gangs on the streets.

[Public; as Jim G]

Christmas is a crazy holiday in some ways, but Black Friday and Halloween are worse.  I'm just glad we don't have a St Patrick's Day Parade like they do in Hoboken.  [...] This'll be the first Christmas I'm working both days in a long while.  Is anyone else working on Christmas?

[There's no warning when it happens, the attack that wasn't an attack. The gas that fills the Batcave is as harmless as these sort of things go, causing only a moment of hysteria and nothing more. It's a message. I'm still here. I can get to you. There's no place safe. It is a reminder that a certain Scarecrow is on the loose once more and he has not forgotten. And he wants all to remember that he can get to the Bat Man whenever he cares to.]

[Batfamily Update]

Tim's things have been removed from the Manor, all of his Red Robin things are gone from the Cave as well.  Drake Manor - which can be seen from the back of Wayne Manor - has had an increase in activity in and around it, but there's no note or the like.  He's just up and left.

[Locked: Anon: T/B]

You around? I could use someone to talk to.

[During the chaos of Batman & Red Hood]

Harley Quinzel becomes a new intern at Arkham Asylum and goes largely unnoticed.  Two hyenas are found after an anonymous phone call reports their location.  Animal control finds them chained up with bones which is odd and earns a filler news piece on the late night news.

[Police bands and military channels light up like Christmas when Tony casually announces on every audio he can reach (aside from common public channels) that he's here to help with the impostor and please don't shoot him out of the sky.]