From the introduction: Apathy, greed, corruption, power, these are the ideals that still seem to rule Gotham in the late 21st century, even after Batman dedicated his life to bettering the city crime still runs rampant here. But there is another ideal, an ideal that many people hold onto in order to live their lives and at least attempt to make things decent for others, hope. Unbeknownst to the world at large one of the world's greatest heroes is about to return to inspire hope in the innocent and strike fear in the corrupt. It has been 20 years since Bruce Wayne retired from his role as Batman and sold his company. In that time Gotham has become a towering metropolis filled with advanced technology, corporate corruption, and rampant crime. While the threat of supervillains has rampantly declined in the past two decades, mainly thanks to the deaths of the Joker and several other key figures, enhanced criminal threats still exist and without a Batman such threats have mainly been dealt with by highly aggressive police and military forces.