Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham

Saint Bay, do you copy?

Come in, Saint Bay.

Argo to Saint Bay station.

Argo to Saint Bay station. Come in, Saint Bay.

This is Saint Bay station. Come in, Argo.

This is Kai Li Cain from the Wayne expedition.

We've found the Cobblepot base camp...

or what's left of it.

Mr. Wayne is with Grayson and Tawde looking for survivors.

Dick, Sanjay, report.

It's bad, sir. Nothing but dead bodies.

Yeah. Heaps of 'em.

We found the ship's manifest, sir.

We're still two short. Someone named Grendon,

and then Cobblepot himself.

Not to go grummy, Mr. Wayne,

but the odds of anyone surviving out here...

We keep looking.

Professor Cobblepot's journal?

'Expedition day three.

Men are on edge.

The dogs will still not leave the ship.

It's this place.

They fear it.

And I must confess...

I don't blame them.

Day seven...

Things are worse.

Could not calm the dogs.

Forced to kill them all.

Grendon has disappeared.

Has gone mad, I fear.

And the others, they won't speak.

They refuse to even move.

Day ten, just me now.

When I close my eyes...

I hear it calling.

From the ice.'

Cobblepot?

'It tells me it's coming.'

Professor Cobblepot! Oswald!

'It tells me...

I have come home.'

Cobblepot?

Cobblepot is no more.

He's something else now.

He's become what he was always meant to be.

I take it you're Grendon.

Was Grendon. Once.

Now I'm chosen by him

to be his messenger to the world.

I see. And who is 'him', exactly?

Him is he who bays and slavers forever outside time and space,

who shambled down out of the stars

when Earth new and spawned abominations in the seas and blights upon the land.

Woe to man when he comes again.

To gaze upon his form is to invite madness.

That is why, in order to serve him, I chose to make...

adjustments.

You're gonna come with me.

Now!

No. No!

- I'm not finished yet. - (creature screeching overhead)

- (creature screeching) - (grunting)

Hark...

The lurker is on the threshold.

And behold...

It...

Is...

Coming.

Shore party to Argo.

This is Argo. Go ahead.

Kai Li, ready the explosives.

Uh, did you say explosives?

I mean, sure, Mr. Wayne. How many?

All of them.

Whoo! Hot dog!

Nothing'll get into or out of that cave ever again.

You sure sealing it off was wise?

The scientific value of a prehistoric creature like the one you described...

Is far less than the danger it posed.

That thing has infected the surrounding wildlife here

with some sort of mutational agent.

A virus that must've lain dormant for millennia.

And it's quite possible,

it infected some of the Cobblepot party as well.

So, whatever that creature was, Dick,

it was meant to stay buried.

Sir, what about Cobblepot?

Did you ever find him?

Cobblepot's gone.

Heavens, what is that ghastly smell?

That would be your friend, Grendon.

Once we warmed him up, he started to spoil.

Spoil?

The old palooka's dead as a donkey.

Right, Dicky?

The tissue samples I took from him appear to be dead,

- but I'm sure there's a logical... - Logical explanation.

You know, ace, you're starting to sound more like the big cheese every day.

May I ask where this rather loquacious cadaver is, presently?

Until Dick can whip up something to keep the body frozen,

Mr. Wayne had us put him on ice.

He instructed me to put Mr. Grendon in the meat freezer, Alfred.

I do so look forward to fetching this evening's roast.

'Though I am strayed,

my Testament shall remain in Gotham.

-Forever in my keep.' -(door opens)

Master Bruce, about this Grendon.

- Perhaps it's time for another... - Gotham is in danger.

You gleaned that from Cobblepot's journal, sir?

I'm sure of it now.

But from what you told me,

the professor was not of sound mind.

Believe me, Alfred, I took that into consideration.

Unhinged rantings aside, his journal confirms much of what I've uncovered

about the existence of an ancient cult.

And if any of what he writes is true,

it's a cult that has long ties to Gotham.

Then should I take this to mean...

It's been 20 years since we left, Alfred.

Twenty years preparing.

And now...

It's time.

We're going home.

How long you figure we'll be in Gotham?

We're here for good, kid.

Horsefeathers!

In the two years I've been with you

we haven't stayed in any city for more than a few weeks.

Come to think of it...

I've never stayed in any city for more than a few weeks.

I've been traveling with Bruce coming on a decade now, Kai Li.

And it's always been about returning to Gotham.

Okay, but returning for what?

- (chuckles) - (groans)

Doom.

You return for your doom.

Nuts to you, ya rank spud.

It appears Gotham has become a bit more...

Untended than we remember it.

Let's hope it's nothing like I remember it, Alfred.

Gotham's history is our history, son.

Wayne family history.

The Waynes built this city, Bruce.

That makes you part of a long legacy.

What's a legacy?

It means, one day, you'll have very big shoes to fill.

Come now, Martha.

It's more important a man learn to stand on his own feet

before cramming them into someone else's shoes.

Isn't that right, son?

We have brought this curse upon us!

Thomas!

Bruce, run! Just... (groans)

Grendon's secure, sir.

You sure you want us to just leave him here?

For now.

If he was exposed to that virus...

I don't trust the Gotham Police to use the same precautions we have.

Understood.

But I'll need one of you to stay back and keep an eye on him.

Tough luck, Sanjay.

Damn it.

Aye aye, Cap.

And why not?

After months at sea, what's a few more days on this fine vessel?

It'll give me a chance to cozy up with the nutso diseased corpse.

Hear that? Just you and me now, Mr. Zero.

Lucius.

So good to see you.

You as well, son.

Nice work, Alfred. You brought him home in one piece.

Not for his lack of trying, old friend.

How's business, Lucius?

Copacetic.

So long as the board believes

all executive directives are coming from you, that is.

For some reason,

they just don't seem quite comfortable taking orders from me.

Well then,

I guess you'll just have to continue making sure that all my directives are...

Copacetic.

I plan to.

And you received my last consignment?

Like all your shipments over the years,

I had everything situated in the wine cellar

to your precise specifications.

Thank you, Lucius.

One thing...

Wine cellar?

Let's not romanticize it.

It's a cave.