Ian's Return to Medicine

Within that mysterious dimension.

The atmosphere was somewhat grave.

"Originally, Gotham's 'madness' was an ordered madness, a mirror beneath Batman's shadow, an extreme manifestation of human depravity and chaos, but it still remained within the scope of 'humanity' and 'story.'"

Destiny's voice sank lower.

Lady Death fell silent.

She understood what Destiny meant. Ian had not merely returned as the Joker. That boy was fundamentally rewriting part of the source code of the DC Universe's core narrative elements concerning "madness," "chaos," "villains," and the like! He had welded his own influence into one of the universe's basic "character settings"!

"What does that mean?"

Though Lady Death already had an ominous premonition in her heart, she still asked.

To this, Destiny merely responded like Riddler, "The multiverse's original structure is being completely rewritten—

Starting with Gotham's Joker."

He took one last look toward Earth. The purple, lunatic "curse" that had originally belonged to the Joker and shrouded Gotham in the unseen was now darkening in color, changing in texture, gradually becoming stained with the splendor of amber gold and the eerie strangeness of ghostly green, turning into an unsettling mixture that even Destiny found somewhat unfamiliar.

"Prepare to deal with even greater chaos, Death."

Destiny's figure began to fade.

"Because the 'story' is no longer the same 'story' it once was. And the new author—doesn't seem to care much for the old rules."

Destiny left those words behind.

Then vanished.

Lady Death sat there alone, saying nothing for a long, long while. She looked toward the busy purple figure in the Batcave. This storm, which she had personally helped set in motion, seemed only now to have begun sounding its horn.

Under Lady Death's silent gaze that transcended time and space.

Inside the Batcave, a "medical" farce was unfolding, one that