Goodbye free will. Goodbye identity.

[give_me_an_amen]

"People of Gotham, I salute you!" It has been a long time coming, but the Deacon Joseph Blackfire is once again on a podium in Gotham square, masses around him, and being played to televisions and radios across the city. All have heard of how the holy man has cleaned up the streets in a violent yet effective pogrom of the colourful psychopaths that

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[aflyinggrayson]

Dick rubs his eyes tiredly as he watches Blackfire whip his audience into a frenzy, then he puts down his empty milk glass beside an equally empty cookie plate and stands up from the Cave's bank of monitors. "Shit. So much for a few hours off," he sighs, drawing the cowl over his head.

He dislikes having to kick the ass of an old guy.

[jla_villains]

A message comes through on the secure line Victor Fries had helped set up. "Batman, this is Freeze. If you are watching what I am watching then you may be feeling the feelings I am feeling, and-"

The line goes dead. There's a crackling, and then the voice starts again. "-Anti-life justifies my hatred, Batman. For you, for Gotham, for all of those people who caused Nora's death and led to my life as it is now. Anti-"

The line goes quite again. "What happened? Batman? Are you there?"

[aflyinggrayson]

Dick is sitting in the Batmobile, checking everything out (because really, the thing is awesome but one big WMD on wheels, so being safe is Job 1) when Freeze's message comes over. He listens to the message, then to the silence, and sighs softly in relief when Freeze's voice comes back. "I'm here. Line might not be secure. You safe?"

[jla_villains]

"I.. No. Batman, I am on a roof in downtown, not far from where Blackfire made his speech. People are going insane, even those who weren't here..." He trails off.

"It's like Sodom and Gomorrah down there, Batman. Gotham has finally given in to its devils." Freeze plugs a cold cartridge into his rifle, and stops himself before just blasting the entire crowd to put them out of their deviant misery.

[aflyinggrayson]

"Don't do anything rash, Victor. I mean that. I'll be there in ten. Batman out."

[jla_villains]

It's on Batman's route to the city that the first example of the strangeness in Gotham hits.

There's a man, stood in the middle of the road. He's holding a placard that reads 'Join the purification pyre', and is pointing at a large bonfire to the side of the road where people seem to be throwing books and various other items.

"Repent! REPENT!! GOTHAM DOES NOT NEED YOUR WORDS OF FREEDOM!!!"

[aflyinggrayson]

Crap. On a stick.

Dick halts the Batmobile, pushes back the canopy and stands up, glaring at the man and at the people...and at the books being burned. "What the HELL are you doing?" he growls.

Book burning. Are you shitting me?

[jla_blackgate]

Eric Needham, known as the violent vigilante Black Spider, recently escaped from Black Penitentary came upon the scene. He could hear the Deacon's words in his head, but he sure as hell wasn't going to give in to them. He spent years kicking his heroin addiction, he would not allow himself to be controlled by some old crackpot.

He raised one of his wrist guns at the crowd, but kept it low towards their legs, not wanting to kill innocent victims.

"Burning books? You people think this is a Salem witch-hunt!? The Black Spider then turned toward Dick as if just noticing him. "Hello Batman. Let me spare you a potential confrontation. I know you don't like my me or my methods and that's fine, but right now I'm trying to save my city. I promise you I'm not under his control and I won't kill anybody."

[aflyinggrayson]

"Then put the damned guns away and help douse that fire," Batman snaps in return as he reaches into one of his belt's pouches for a foam grenade. The thing probably isn't powerful enough to snuff the blaze, but it's a start.

Burning books. Dick is furious.

[jla_blackgate]

Black Spider doesn't respond verbally, but reaches into his own belt for a CO2 capsule. He'd burned down enough crackhouses in his line of work to keep a means of putting a fire out on hand. Hopefully combined with Batman's foam grenade it'd be enough to put the fire out.

[aflyinggrayson]

As the flames diminish, Batman gives a curt nod of acknowledgment to Black Spider - no love lost, but hey, doesn't hurt to tell someone he did well - and then glares at those responsible for the flame.

"I never thought I'd see Gotham's citizens acting like sheep," he snarls, the disgust in his voice plain. "A man feeds you fear and anger and this is your response? Blackfire is just using you to try to take over the city, and you're doing just what he wants. You're better than this."

He stares a dark hole into each man and woman brave enough to meet his eyes. "Don't do this again."

[jla_blackgate]

Black Spider returns the nod. He and Batman had had their fair share of conflicts over ideology and how to properly defend Gotham in the past. He'd killed people he felt deserved it, people who he felt would make Gotham a better place if they were gone, he made no apologies for it. Batman had his own beliefs on how to protect Gotham, the Spider din't agree, but he still respected the man. Even though their disagreements had often turned physical.

"Any idea how that whack-job is doing this? It doesn't seem natural, even by Gotham's standards."

[aflyinggrayson]

Batman shakes his head, a frown carving deep lines in his features below the cowl while he keeps surveying the environment. Something bad is going to happen.

People are going to die.

"No," he grunts, "but I know someone who will."

He sits in the Batmobile and activates the JLA comm line. "Batman to Watchtower. I need Martian Manhunter. Now."

[jla_blackgate]

Eric kept a discreet distance from the Batmobile, certain Batman would not appreciate him listening in on his conversation. He kept his eyes on the people still hovering around the former pyre. If these people were truly innocent, as he suspected they were, taking them down if they proved hostile could be a challenge. Admittedly he wasn't used to handling potential combatants that weren't hardened criminals.

He could shoot a few in the legs, use his knives to cut a few tendons, easily fixed stuff in any hospital, let alone Gotham Medical. He walked towards the pile of books, the former rioters, seemingly scared by the Batman backed off.

"Hmm, King James Bible, Sir Francis Conan Doyle's 'Lost World', Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein', ooooh, hey Batman, they got Playboys over here. Wanna see the October issue, I think that got that one model featured, can't remember the name..hey, put the match down or I'll shoot off your big toe."

[mistahjay]

"...you can't repress our right to self-destruction!" A voice in the crowd roars, as a brick goes flying at the Black Spider's head. Lurid figures in clown make up scuttle from the alleys and hidden corners of Gotham, swelling the crowd.

"The Batman's just protecting himself! Without Anti-Life, we need him!" Another clown masked thug finds a rock, hurling it at the Batman himself. "Liberate yourselves from the tyranny of freedom! Anti-Life justifies our hate!"

Looks like the Joker's henchmen have been watching tv....

[jla_blackgate]

Black Spider turns to the sound of the voice, and just barely moves head in time as the brick whirls by.

"Batman, look out!"

Joker. Great, just great. He picked now of all times to promise not to kill anybody. He glanced at the gathering of clown figure.

'Six, eight..a dozen, damn. Oh well, in for a penny..."

"Hey guys, check out this year's issues!"

Needham flings the stack of Playboys he'd been looking at at the gathered clowns. Intending to momentarily distract them, he rolls on to his right leg and attempts to shoot the Joker's henchmen in the knees.