Bruce and Damien were seated at the long dining table in the spacious, almost cavernous room. The varnished wood table had been cleared of everything except a stack of file folders and a roll of paper.

Alfred opened the door, and thirty men followed him into the room along with their leader. The visitors were garbed in black from head to toe, only a small slit for their eyes allowed anything underneath to be seen. Leather armor on the wrists and shins was consistent with close quarters fighters prepared to deflect blows. Short bladed swords were strapped to their outer thighs and throwing knives lined their arms.

Leading the procession, a step behind Alfred, was a man capable of sticking out in almost any crowd. Draped in floor dragging robes of green and trimmed in gold, the man's black hair was only going gray at the temples, and his blue eyed gaze was as hard as the sword he carried in his right hand.

"Good evening, Detective," the leader of the assassins said. He bowed his head with practiced formality. "I've picked out the men as you requested. I must admit, your list of requirements was rather odd. I do hope you will explain."

"I will later," Bruce promised. "I appreciate your assistance, Ra's."

"My followers and I are pleased to be of service, ridding Gotham of its criminal filth," Ra's replied. He looked toward Damien and nodded approvingly.

"Grandfather," Damien said in greeting.

Bruce took the roll of paper and spread it out across the table, using small weights of gleaning brass to hold down the corners and prevent it from curling back up.

"This is the layout of Arkham Asylum," Bruce explained. He pointed out the main areas. "Security stations mark the entrance and exit of every zone. They're usually manned by two guards each, and they're armed with nightsticks and stun batons. Fortunately, they don't allow guns in order to keep them out of the hands of the patients, so we'll have no trouble there."

"What does the security system look like?" Ra's inquired.

"Cameras are everywhere," Bruce answered. "There are crisscrossing fields of view, so you can't take out a single camera without being visible on another. Door locks are both mechanical and electronic. Either keycards or pass codes are used for most of the electronic locks, but the higher security areas also require the use of a handprint scanner."

"Impressive," Ra's said, but his tone was a blend of indifference and boredom. "I assume you have a plan to counter them."

"I do," Bruce confirmed. He gestured to Damien, who began handing out the file folders. "These are the targets, their locations, and the numbers of deaths they're each responsible for. Don't underestimate any of them, or your names could be added to the list."

The assassins looked toward Ra's, and he nodded his agreement with Bruce's assessment of the situation.

"I want this mission done cleanly," Bruce insisted. "There's a good number of innocents in there, doctors and patients alike, people doing their jobs or in need of help. Only the people in these files are authorized kills, so no harm is to come to anyone else."

"We're professionals, Detective," Ra's answered, his voice smooth and unperturbed. "We know how to make a surgical strike. Explain your plan to us, and we'll see it done."

"Alright," Bruce agreed, not used to working with a team of assassins. "This is how we'll break in."

***

After the plan was explained to the assault squads, Bruce led them to the Batcave for equipment. He pulled a lever on the wall to trigger a lift system that raised a massive container from its concealed location in a deep crevice. The container stopped when it reached floor level, and air puffed out as the outer seals were released.

Bruce took a hold of the container's edge and pulled back the front of it, sliding it around and behind the tall and rounded box to show its contents.

"You planned for this day, didn't you?" Damien questioned without a doubt in his mind.

Inside the open container were numerous Batman suits in different sizes.

"Not exactly," Bruce denied. "I actually made these in preparation for the day when through injury or age I'd be unable to be Batman any more. Since I didn't know when you might be taking the mantle, I made enough to accommodate your growing height and muscle mass."

Damien nodded as he realized the thought Bruce had put into keeping the persona of Batman alive, even beyond the span of Bruce Wayne's life. The city needed its protector, now and always.

The assassins quickly picked the Batsuits appropriate for their needs and put them on. Bruce and Damien put on their own suits before distributing the necessary equipment and gear to the team.

"It's strange to see a cave full of myself," Batman commented to Robin. "You could have one of the suits too, if you want."

"Many can wear the suit, but there's only one Batman," Damien replied. "I'm your son, and I'll inherit the job and title when you see fit to hand it to me, until then, I'm fine being Robin."

***

The night was dark, and the moon was hidden from view by a thick layer of clouds.

Bruce parked the battered cargo truck in an alley. A bridge still separated him and his strike team from the facilities on Arkham Island, but he had a reason for stopping here.

Gotham had been built, abandoned, and rebuilt many times over the city's long history. One of the things left over from the last reconstruction was an old sewer tunnel linking the mainland to the island. It had been out of use for nearly seventy years, and off the official records for half as long.

If Bruce and his truck full of Batmen had showed up at the front gate of Arkham, alerts would've gone out, but by using the old tunnel system, they could bypass the entire outer ring of security and enter the facility directly.

Batman took the lead, climbing out of the vehicle, lifting the heavy manhole cover from its place, and quickly descending the metal rungs of the ladder built into the concrete wall of the tunnel. He didn't need a flashlight in the underground passage as the optics of his cowl automatically activated amplification filters, turning the tunnel bright blue as if he'd lit a flare.

The strike team quickly disembarked from the cargo area of the truck and joined him in the tunnel. The musty air reeked of mold and mildew, but the team ignored such trivial things and concentrated on the task at hand. Forming into orderly columns without needing to be told, the thirty assassins prepared for the long march through the dark to Arkham.

Batman and Robin set a brisk pace, and the strike team fell in step behind them.

***

When the team arrived at Arkham, two assassins departed from the main group to secure a primary objective. Batman had already placed a remote controlled explosive charge on the electrical lines leading from the power stations in Gotham to Arkham, but when the electricity was cut off from the facility, backup generators would start up automatically. The two assassins had been sent to disable the emergency generators and keep Arkham in the dark where Batman and the others could do their work most effectively.

A massive explosion shook the concrete tunnel around the strike team, and Batman surmised the power generator building had been destroyed. He readied his remote detonator but waited on pressing the button. The destruction of the generator building would cause a lockdown, and all inmates would be returned to their cells while the hospital staff and guards attempted to discover what had happened. Batman needed to wait long enough for the inmates to be locked away before he shut down the power. When he thought a sufficient amount of time had passed, he pressed the button.

Climbing the rungs built into the wall, Batman shouldered the manhole cover aside and advanced on the primary building of the medical complex. Like delayed shadows, the assassins poured from the sewer tunnel in Batman's wake and spread across the grounds in a dozen different directions to find their designated targets.

Approaching the locked doors, Batman pulled at batarang from his belt and flicked his wrist to snap it open. Inserting the sharpened point of one end behind a security access terminal, Batman pulled down to rip the outer housing of the unit off the wall.

Reaching into a pocket of his utility belt, Batman produced a small rectangle of black plastic the width of his palm. A pair of wires hung down from the device, and Batman clipped them to the exposed wires of the security terminal. Batman's unit powered up the security box, and the built in programming began hacking the software controlling the door locks. When the automatic bypass was complete, the door unlocked.

Batman removed his automated lock pick and entered the building, looking for his first target.