Batman stood his ground taking a fighting stance. A figure slowly entered the circle of
light. He was dressed in purple slacks,
yellow shirt unbuttoned dress shirt, green tie untied and draped around his
neck and bare feet. His hair was a
shimmering emerald green, his face bone white and his lips blood red. A wicked smile crossed his face. He was so much younger than before, but it
was him. His skin was wet with something,
like he’d just stepped out of a shower.
He pulled off the bow tie and examined it for a moment, then tossed it
aside and started buttoning up his shirt as he chuckled “Boy does it feel great
to be back. Be anywhere for that matter,
but to be back among the upright and vertical is really just a treat you cannot
beat.
Croc stood and looked to Harvey. Duela stood up and opened her good arm “Daddy!”
she cried. The Joker stopped short and
turned to her. “Just a minute fellas…”
he walked to her and touched the mask she wore.
“You’re a special kinda sick, ain’t cha kid?” He pulled the mask off her face. “I…just wanted to look like you, daddy.” She whispered
childishly. He reached out and placed
his hands on her face “Oh…baby girl…I ain’t your daddy.” He slapped her face a
few times, not powerfully so, but hard enough to jar her. “Tell you what, you go to the back, wait this
thing out, and we’ll talk about it all later.”
She smiled nervously and walked towards the shadows where he’d
emerged. Joker looked at his face in his
hands. When she was about ten yards away
he said “Hey baby girl…” He pulled a gun from his waist “You ever…”
She spun, jutting her chin out “Dance with the devil by the
pale moon light? Not yet, but the band’s
warming up.”
He looked at her and smiled broadly. “Well aren’t you a little buttercup.” He
uncocked the weapon “Now, go find a shady spot.
This is going to get messy.” He looked back at the office “NOW EDDIE!”
Joe looked up at Eddie “What does he mean?”
“Now that’s an interesting question. You might think that I’m working for him…but
I’m not. So the real question is…” he
slip on a pair of sunglasses with question marks etched into the frames “Who
does the Riddler work for? Answer is…not
you.” He stood abruptly and fired two rounds into Chill’s chest and one into
his head.
Joker looked to Batman “Well that’s one loose end tied
up. I never liked that guy…never really
had the stomach for the job, ya know?
Always quivering and hemming and hawing.
Mr. We Weren’t Paid to Kill Them…you know how it goes. Some people don’t have the guts to do what
they need to do.”
Killer Croc roared and charged Joker, causing the clown to
run and fire wildly occasionally striking the leathery titan in the chest. Harvey and Batman pulled back “Why is Croc
attacking him?” Harvey asked.
“Fight or flight.
Same thing that makes you want to run, he’s so scared of what the Joker
could do he’s willing to kill him before he can do it.”
“Think he’ll win?” Harvey asked as he turned to aim his
weapon “Doesn’t matter.” Batman caught the weapon’s barrel and closed the gap,
striking Dent on his temple knocking him cold.
Police and FBI poured in in aiming in all directions but not knowing who
or wear to shoot. Joker cackled madly
stepping lightly across a trap door.
Croc hit the trap door and fell through into the bay below. Joker doubled over laughing, but Batman leapt
on him, tackling him to the ground.
Joker rolled to his back and pulled out a small device “Now now, old
man, let’s not blow thing out of proportion.
Its inelegant, I’ll give you that, but it will do. Whole place, rigged to blow. Somebody thought of everything. Batman backed off “Clear out!” he yelled “He’s
going to blow the warehouse!”
The police officers back out and returned to their vehicles,
two carrying Harvey Dent. As soon as
they were gone, Joker closed the distance between himself and Batman “Fitting,
isn’t? I get to come back young and
spry, and look at you, old and decrepit.
It’d be funny if it weren’t so sad.
Oh what the heck I’ll laugh anyway!” and he let out a peel of
laughter. Batman closed on him again, struggling
for the detonator “Do you have some kind of bat-death-wish!” Joker yelled.
“Get off him!” Duela yelled, aiming Two-Face’s discarded
assault rifle in her good arm. Batman
backed away arms raised. “Let’s see how
good that armor is!” she shouted, and the report of a gunshot echoed in the
warehouse.
Carrie stood, weapon aimed, barrel smoking. Duela slumped to the ground and
collapse. Batman looked on with
horror. Joker let out an ear splitting
laugh and pushed the detonator. The
walls around them erupted into flame.
Batman charged at Carrie and used his cape to cover her from flaming
planks of wood at the building began to collapse around them.
The gutted corpse of the warehouse belched out fire and
shattered windows of the patrol cars still nearby. Agent Todd pulled himself from the rubble, shoving
off a piece of a crate that said “Nanda Parbat” in black etched letters, his
body badly wracked by the explosion. He
looked up and saw Joker standing over him, crow bar in hand. “Well, you’ll do.”
He poised the crowbar above his head when gun shots ricocheted
near him. “Some other time.” He said as
he ran off into the night.
Batman
stood in the cave, images of Jack Napier spread across the computer’s
screen. Selina Kyle stood with her mask
in her hand while Carrie leaned against the console, arms folded. “I’m sorry…” she said finally. “I’m sorry that I felt I had to kill her, but
I’m not sorry I killed her. Even if she
didn’t kill you, she would have teamed with Joker and killed a lot more people.”
“I know that, Carrie.
But there is a good reason I didn’t want you in the field.”
“I know you are afraid I’d get hurt…”
“No.” Selena interjected.
“What Mr. Feelings is trying to say is he’s worried you’ll get lost in
all this, this crazy. You go into the
abyss Carrie, you don’t come out the same.”
She looked at Bruce “If you come out at all.”
Bruce looked down at his feet “Thank you. Thank you for coming for me. Both of you…”
Selena shook her head “One more time in the suit…wouldn’t have
missed it for the world. Besides…” she
tapped on the keyboard and brought up footage.
A man in a red cape was fighting a strange, nuclear monster. “Superman isn’t alone anymore. Others are popping up like him, and now the
Joker is back.” She looked at Bruce “We
need the Batman now more than ever.” She
pulled his face towards her and kissed him deeply.
Jason
Todd laid in his hospital bed nursing his broken ribs and severe burns. Grayson and Drake were in there talking with
him when Bruce Wayne appeared at the door “Agent Todd, I’m glad to see you’re
recovering.”
Todd nodded his head “Yeah turns out those suits you gave us
help when you get blown up.”
“So how long before you return to the bureau?”
Todd shook his head “No…no I don’t think I’ll be going
back. I have some stuff I want to do,
nearly dying gives you a profound perspective on life.”
“I can imagine.” He turned to Grayson “So what about
you? Are you taking over the Gotham
branch?”
“No, I’ve been assigned to the National Security Agency’s
Metahuman Taskforce. Speaking of which,
I have a flight I need to catch. Tim,
drop the car off at the bureau before you go.”
“I will sir. Thank
you. Mr. Wayne, if I can speak to you
outside?”
“That’s fine guys, I need some rest.” Jason said, laying
back down in his bed.”
Tim and Bruce walked out into the hospital. “Are you
thinking of taking me up on that offer, working for Wayne Enterprises?”
“The thought crossed my mind, Mr. Wayne. Frankly though I think my services would be
better used working for Batman.” Tim looked him square in the eyes. Bruce smiled “I will see what we can do.”
Jason Todd pretended to sleep as he listened; reaching under
his blanket he pulled out the tattered and charred mask of the red hood.
Eddie stood
on the bridge overlooking Metropolis Sound.
A tall man in a black overcoat and cleanly shaven head came up to his
side. “You did very well.” He said. “I did what I was paid to do.” Eddie said,
sipping a cup of coffee. “Perhaps I can
retain the Riddler’s services for another project…a much bigger project.”
“What’d you have in mind Lex?”
