| abstract | - Approximately 100 years later, Thomas Wayne teamed up with Vandal Savage and the two conspired to resurrect Barbatos, hoping to gain further blessings from the creature. They sent their flunkies to harrass a family that had inherited a wooden container believed to be the vessel of the beast. Wayne drugged the daughter and had a shaman try to coax the secret of the box out of her, but to no avail. At that moment, Bruce Wayne appeared-having been sent back though time-and chased both Thomas and Vandal Savage. The two were incapacitated and presumably arrested. Thomas Wayne lived through until the present day, when he was taken in by Batman's parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne. Wishing to help him, the Waynes send him to Willowood Asylum claiming that he was their son Thomas Wayne Jr. After the deaths of both Thomas and Martha, he renamed himself Simon Hurt, who soon became a doctor connected in some way with the American military, eventually seeking out the destruction of his descendent, Bruce Wayne caused by the influence of the weapon. When Bruce Wayne arrived in the 20th century, he assumed the guise of an anonymous detective hired to investigate the murders of the Wayne family. When he stumbled upon Hurt and his sect of devil-worshippers he realised the awful truth: he was to be their sacrifice to Barbatos. Hurt had Bruce pinned to an altar, wearing the masquerade costume of his father, then set him aflame in the hopes of summoning Barbatos. Bruce, however, was sent forward though time, once again stalling his plans. Over 20 years later, Batman would encounter Dr Hurt, mistakenly beliving him to be someone he could trust with his sanity. Batman, under Hurt's influence, was held in an isolation chamber for several days and forced to confront his worst nightmares, all under the assumption that he was training his mind. In truth, Hurt was using this opportunity to get under Batman's psyche and find a way to secretly manipulate him later on...
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