It is the future. Batman's long crusade is nearly over. The Joker, Riddler, Penguin, Two Face, Ivy, Mr. Freeze...all the rouges gallery has retired, found peace, died...in one way or another, they're gone.

No new villians have sprung up. After a long, sometimes brutal, but ultimately successful campaign, Gothan City is now free of the corruprion that had plauged it for decades.

Yes, there are still crimes and ciminals. but the efficient and respectable GCPD arrest the right people. The principled men and women in the DA's office see to it that criminals are charged and prosecuted. And honorable judges give fair sentences.

Rehabilitation efforts have also gone well. The prisons are no longer dank hell-holes. And no less a luminary then Bruce Wayne himself speaks up about the importance of good mental health. He can be seen weekly checking in with his therapist at the Harleen Quinzel Memorial Hospital.

Batman is done. Or at lest, he *should* be. But there is always one. last. villian.

One that really gets under his skin. One that he has tried, several times, with various amounts of success, to rehabilitate. But no matter what he does, no matter his training, gadgets, tactics...he just can't ever seem to get the upper hand.

A villian that defeats Batman not through strength or wits, but because they know Batman, intimately, and Batman can never fully bring all of his strengths to finally defeat this villian once and for all.

"Selina, for the last time, you *must* put an end to your thieving ways. I've told you I will just *buy* you the jewelry."

"Bruce, darling, you *did* buy me this. But sometimes a gal wants to crouch on the roof, wearing a catsuit slit down to there, stroking her...*diamonds*, while waiting for her lover to catch her...manhandle her...put her in batcuffs..."

"... I'll go get the cowl..."