Batman was created by Bob Kane. This is just a FanFiction based on the characters in the Batman Universe.
Chapter 1
Death
Two were dead. One remained. But he would not kill now. He could not. Having Batman around was his only source of fun. No one else mattered. Well, maybe Harley.
He had previously murdered a Robin. Beloved Robin, and Batman had gone mad – Ruthless. This was bound to push him farther. Bruce Wayne had, now, perhaps lost everyone he cared about. Yes, he knew at last who was behind the tough mask.
Waiting was mundane. He wanted rage, fun. Slowly, he walked over the dark figure lying motionless in the dirt. Part of the mask had come off during the fight and the Billionaire's face was covered in blood. He grazed the face with his crowbar. He should have known it was Wayne all along. All those encounters at the Balls and fancy parties that he had raided, all those fights and bruises that now marked him permanently - they were inseparable. Years and years spent chasing each other and now it felt like he hardly knew the Batman. In fairness, he hardly knew himself so this brought them closer than ever. Yes, Wayne had been clever to keep his identity hidden, but it didn't matter in the end, did it? He got there in the end. He got to him. He let out a cackle.
"Wakey, wakey Batsy," he said. "It's your turn to go mad!"
He kicked the dark mass repeatedly till he could look directly into the face and then smashed the crowbar in it. A faint version of the familiar grunt made its way to his ears.
"That's right Bats, you're here and so am I. Who gets this round? Me? Oh so sweet of you. Hehe .. and what do I get? Hmmm? A prison cell in Arkham? Bleh."
"You know what you get for losing? Another dead Robin, but this time with a girlfriend so he doesn't get too lonely. Two deaths in one night Bats. Ha ha! Now wake up!," he yelled, kicking the body again.
And now did the body shift. Perhaps hearing that there had been another death in the family brought back too many memories? Still sticking to the 'No-Killing' rule Batman? Don't think so.
He waited patiently. Patience was not something he was known for but, in this case he would make an exception. He had finally managed to do the one thing that would push Batman beyond his rules. Stupid rules! Hadn't he told Batman that the only way to live in this world was without rules?
Bruce stirred feebly. The Joker watched as Batman struggled to get up. Watched the horror make it to the orphan's face as realisation of the past hour struck. Yes, pain – a strong sedative.
"Batsy, you're not paying enough attention to me!," cried the Joker making a sour face.
Then came the anger. The rage that he had known and cherished for so long. The Dark Knight growled and threw him against the wall. He then bashed the Joker's head till the Joker gasped for breath. Pain – so addictive. He let out another cackle and spat blood.
"Wickety-Wachety .. hehe .. there he is .. ha .. the Batman of Gotham," spat the clown, looking up. Batman was on his knees again, crawling towards the bodies. Blah .. hope. Just as stupid as rules. Stupider even than trust. And that's why Batman never won. Rules, Trust and Hope – yuck .. he could puke blood. Wait, he already was, bleh-he.
"Robin, wake up! Batgirl! Robin!," cried Bruce, shaking the limp body of the dead sidekick. He felt for a pulse, there was a certain hesitancy and fear. Yes, that had always been Batman's greatness weakness. He pretended not to care, yet he cared so much that it caused physical pain.
"What have you done Joker?," snarled the Bat. He moved faster than Joker anticipated, for a man poisoned and beaten nearly to death.
The clown felt the full blow in his guts, joyfully crying out. Ruthless. He let the punches settle in, and the blood flow out. Always smiling. This was paradise. Ha. Left, face, his ribs – Batman was breaking him, physically, yet in reality he was being put together, in the right way. Almost poetic. No rules. No sense. This was the closet he ever came to Batman, to Bruce – the Orphan.
Yet the punches were slowing down, the force behind them was feeble. Batman was panting. Ah, the poison – ugh – right when things were getting riveting. The Bat was on his knees again, so this was a fast poison. He had the antidote of course. One petite test tube stashed away in his jacket.
The poison had already entered Gotham's water supply by now. In a few hours, deaths would be reported all across the city. Oh wait! Who would report it if everyone was dead – Ga – greasy slime balls who'd be too drunk to care about waking up .. hehe .. But no, he had to save Batman. The antidote would only be for him. Wayne was all that mattered. Wayne would keep him sane. Sane? Hehoha – enshuldigung – Insane. Together they would watch the city burn and die.
The cave was dark, and the sound of rushing water echoed as the Joker got up, feeling his broken ribs, laughing all the while.
"Haha ... that wasn't so bad Batsy ... Heh ... I can almost feel my bones trying to get outside of my skin .. Haha ... now that would be a great trick ..."
There was some movement in the cave. Scuffling of feet. For a moment he wondered if the sidekick and the girl weren't dead after all. But the two bodies didn't seem to have moved at all. He looked around slowly, automatically bending down to retrieve his crowbar on the ground. Someone had decided to join the party.
"Right through here, Mr. Cobblepot sir," said a deep voice from somewhere in the dark.
Joker moved quickly, reaching for Batman – he had to save him before they got here. Penguin would ruin everything. Bruce caught him by the collar before the Joker could reach him, and looking into the vigilante's face, the Joker saw – not the anger that kept the scowl in place, but the fear that he had never seen before. All this for a bunch of street thugs Batman? Perhaps he thought his beloved sidekick was in trouble? Haha their deaths are real Bats, the sooner you accept it, the sooner you can get us out of here. Away from the fat balding prick Cobblebot.
"Save them!," pleaded the Batman, before falling limply back to the ground. His hand twitched for a moment but then everything went still.
Before the Joker could take out the vial of antidote however, something hard hit the back of his head, his vision going all fuzzy.
"Sleepy, sleepy," he fell, head first on to the damp floor.
"Gordon won't be livin' no more, ya hear me? If he's breathin' t'morrow morning, you ain't gonna," barked a slimy, high pitched voice.
There were footsteps. The Joker could hear the Penguin talk and then there was someone answering him back. His head hurt. He turned looking around, there were the two dead bodies by the stream, untouched. Of course they wouldn't be interested in anyone but Batman. Poor souls didn't know what was coming for them – haha. And there he was – Batman. Tied upside down by the legs with his face about an average man's height above ground. Easier to talk to. He wasn't moving, and the antidote was still in Joker's left jacket pocket. He had to reach the Bat – to keep him alive. He couldn't feel his gun. They had obviously stripped him of weapons before tying him up. Cobblepot turned to look at him.
"Quite the nap ya had t'ere clown boy, gave the ol' me a scare. How ya feeling? Good, eh? The mob's been tryin to kill Batman fer over a decade, yet ya is the o'ly one gettin' so close. What's yo secret laafy?"
"Did ya search him up maggots? 'lways has a trick up 'is sleeve this one," said the Penguin, moving towards the Joker and laughing at him.
"Always poking your stout belly where it doesn't belong, aren't you Penguin? One of these days it's gonna get you killed. I might do it myself, but you're far from dangerous. You're pathetic Cobblepot. Haha, half yer enemies die of laughter," jeered the Joker, laughing and coughing up blood all over.
Penguin slapped him, right across the face. Was that a molar? Maybe two? He laughed.
"Never did knew when ter shut yer damn 'outh, clown" said Penguin. "Always talkin, an' laughin. They told me ter shut ya up for good a lon' time ago. I waited. And now yer given me the Batman, who's laugin' now eh?"
The mob boss looked around, a couple of his thugs guffawed stupidly. Bleh, that was a Joke?
"Batman is going to get you to jail, Cobbly and then we'll continue this later. Haven't you learnt your lesson by now? There is no beating the Batman. Haha .. hasn't he proven that enough times already? And all your goons here? What are they? Replacements? Sure some of them are still in the medical room paying their bills," chortled the Joker trying to breathe in properly.
"Hmm .. yes .. " smiled Cobblepot, ".. yes .. ", starting to laugh.
".. heh .. but he wan't poisoned with yer li'l new invention all t'ose ot'er times, now was he? Hehe. Very cleva Joker. I was gettin' worried about ar masked friend until I found this, " he took a pink vial out of his fur coat and held it for the Joker to see.
"You recognise it, eh? Good. It's the antidote?," and he laughed at the disbelief in Joker's face.
"Now, wha' can be done with it? Surely, ya didn plan to giv' it ter the Bat? Maybe, yer jus' as insane as they say ya ar'. Ya ar. Lemme see. Down the drain it goes."
And to Joker's horror, he removed the cork and went to the stream flowing down to the river beyond. The one vial of antidote he had would be gone forever leaving Batman to die. He couldn't let that happen. Not now. Blindly he struggled against the ropes before one of the fat boss' goons knocked his head hard with a gun.
"NO! NO PENGUIN! KEEP THAT WHERE IT BELONGS! YOU'LL PAY FOR IT WITH MORE THAN YOUR LIFE IF YOU DON'T LIST-"
There was another blow to his forehead, making things almost unrecognizable, but he must stay conscious, he must fight the exhaustion. Or everything would be lost.
Slowly, as if he wanted the Joker's wobbly mind to witness the loss, Penguin poured the contents of the vial into the stream, the very stream Joker had poisoned moments before. The city's main water supply. The antidote supposed to revive Batman...gone.
"NOOOO..." Joker's cry of fury never left him. He struggled harder than ever. Bad joke. This was not happening. Maybe he could get the water to Batman. Cobblepot seemed to read his mind.
"Close tha' thing off, could use some quiet 'round here. I need some answers. An' then we'll kill both these clowns."
The man by the stream closed off the opening to the river, and suddenly the cave was as silent as a church, except for Penguin's half leg making the soft knocks now and again as he walked about between the doors.
"Ickle li'l Brucie Wayne is the Batman. Who'd haf thought it? I 'lways 'ssumed that t'is was a spoiled prick runnin around in a Mazerati. Ya have caused me so much trouble Batman, ofer the years and t'is ma time to pay you back," said Penguin, before stretching his hand out for a gun from one of his men.
The Joker looked around in desperation, spotting a Batarang lying near to the guard by him. He tried to reach it. Pretending to reach it of course and the guard came by to stop him, as expected. They never did learn – haha. He slipped the silver blade out of his sleeve, holding it with his gloved hand, and slashed the guard right across the face as he came nearer. Oops. At least the goon had a smile in death. He quickly picked the gun from his quarry, aiming for the other two irrelevants. One moved, quickly ducking behind the stone column but the other one wasn't so lucky. He put two in the man's chest before turning the Maverick on Penguin who stood rooted to the spot, eyes wide with a .95 mil in his outstretched hand.
"Move it Penguin and tell your goon to drop his gun," said the Joker, finally breaking himself free and keeping a close eye on the stone column where the only other thug remained hidden.
Penguin moved away from the Batman, dropping his gun. He gestured wordlessly to the other guard, who came out with his hands behind his head. No weapon. No visible weapon.
"Oooh just like old times eh Penguin? But we don't need him," said the Joker nodding frantically towards the guard, he then promptly turned the gun on him.
"Keep good company. Didn't anyone teach you that? Haha"
The shots fired echoed through the cave, and then there was a mild thud.
"Let's get you comfortable," said the Joker, gesturing the Penguin to move towards the opening that had been closed moments before. "Open it"
Penguin limped towards the doors, with one hand still in the air and the other holding his beady old umbrella for support. He managed to open the doors with a single hand, turning swiftly for a man of his size, he held the closed umbrella up with the pin pointing towards the Joker, a wide smile on his face. In one cursory moment, the Joker understood. And then he dived.
It was a machine gun, no doubt. The umbrella opened up, providing a perfect shield for the mobster's stout belly, his legs remained exposed. But the Joker remained ducked, hidden. Penguin was firing up and down the cave, with no regard for bullets. He didn't care what he hit. And then the firing stopped as soon as it had started. The Joker lay still, he knew it wasn't over by a long shot.
"Where is the BAT?," yelled Penguin. Firing at the spots near the place where the rope used to tie Batman up still hung – loose.
The Joker smiled.
The firing continued, Penguin was relentless. Once or twice, the Joker thought he heard the Batman grunt, but it was too hard to tell with the water running. Perhaps a couple of bullets found their mark? He edged slowly towards Penguin, with the knife in his other sleeve still intact. Batman needed the water to neutralise the effects of the poison. It had been a concentrated doze.
A shadow shifted, like something falling from the skies. Something huge. There was a scream, and a large amount of inconsistent shots fired. Now would be the time to move, he could just kill the Penguin while Batman tried to subdue him. He turned toward the gushing water, only to see the last of the cape fade away. Away from him, into the water. The weapon umbrella was left beyond the opening, bearing scratch marks and still open. Batman was gone, and so was the Penguin. The Joker blinked. Was he dead? Heh .. Would Batman know that the antidote would now have joined the river? He had to come out at one of the city's water posts. He would need water after a while. But he did not have a while. The poison was really strong, so Batman would have to act fast.
The Joker prepared to dive in, he needed the Bat to be alive. He had to be sure. He glanced around to look at the corpses one last time, admiring his handiwork. Bleh .. kids. So small and vulnerable. Yet they caused so much trouble and hardships. Their deaths would unleash the real Bat on Gotham. On him. He laughed, a cruel joke – what the low lives didn't understand was that all jokes needn't be just funny.
He turned, stuffing the gun in his back, as a severe bright light that almost blinded his eyes filled the entire cave. He tried to look through the light at the new, uninvited guests.
"GCPD! Put your hands in the air and turn around slowly!"