The Apocalypse Years or The Battle for Eden
DC Comics Elseworlds Novel
Written by: Jeremy Scott
October 8, 2002
Based on the Story idea &Script: The Apocalypse Years by Jeremy Scott
Prologue
We all saw it that day. Warworld, the most awesome force known to the universe looming over our heads. At its helm the dark god Darkseid and his minions finally threatening to destroy Earth and their meager heroes and ruling another planet that would look like his home world of Apokolips. Hell had finally been realized, and Armageddon stared us all straight in the face. The final assault of the heroes of Earth would be made to stop the behemoth planet and it's dark ruler. We all feared how it would end, and as we looked firmly at the battle planet looking at us most knew that this would most likely be our final battleground, but damn it all, we would save this planet. I suppose that's all the world could have asked of us. Or maybe it's all I could have asked of myself.
Alan and I had a long talk about what the possibilities were. The virus wiped out most of the heroes of the Earth then after we managed to get it contained Warworld shows up. Alan lost his son due to the virus. We were able to save Jade, my love and the one that I hope I'm with when this final moment comes. I know it must sound like I've already given up. God knows as I write this it's how I feel, but the truth is that I'm Green Lantern. It's not allowed of me to give up, I've got a world to protect and by God I'll do it. If for nothing else, I am the ring bearer because I fought long and hard to become the hero that I am. Never giving in, never surrendering. Even now I stand with heroes and villains alike that are fighting so that they world may survive. I'm looking at Guy Gardner, Superman, Wonder Woman, Dr. Polaris, Deathstroke the Terminator, and Killer Frost. The latter three are maniacs and yet they are here to try and fight for the planet. I suppose it would do them no good to be under the heel of Darkseid while they themselves want to rule the planet. I suppose war makes strange bedfellows. Even Superman admitted that, even as his face turned grim and elongated. Someone close to him passed on from the virus too. I suppose that sort of thing would change him. Even Captain Marvel is long in the face from it all.
I would like to state here and now for the record that if none of us come back; I hope that our legacy will remain. The world needs us in the worst of ways and if this journal should be found and there is none of us who went to Warworld left I beg of you to keep up the fight and bring down Darkseid. If Darkseid isn't in control and another threat looms keep the peace as best you can. The virus brought some people back from the dead if it does again then they maybe the last hope for this world. I hope that it doesn't come to this, but then with as hard as we've been hit in the past month we don't know how to react. Rumors of a tragedy in Gotham have hit and Batman nowhere to be seen, if he's fallen then one of the best has gone and his worries are over. Unfortunately it also means that we've got problems. Batman's expertise is always valuable, if he's gone we're that much more weak in defenses. Diana is a great tactician though, so I have great hopes there, but I wish very hard that we had the two of them together for this. I suppose though that I'm being irrational about the matter. We've never failed before and the stakes are just as high as they ever are and ever were. I suppose I'll stop being like this and go forth to save the world again.
In the event of my death or all our deaths I leave this, we did what we could. Under no circumstances are you to give up the fight for freedom.
"IN BRIGHTEST DAY, IN BLACKEST NIGHT, NO EVIL SHALL ESCAPE MY SIGHT. LET THOSE WHO WORSHIP EVIL'S MIGHT BEWARE THE POWER OF HUMANITY'S LIGHT."
I leave you this legacy so that you might find a way to do so. My name is Kyle Rayner; I'm the Green Lantern. I'm a member of the Justice League, and I want the world to know above and beyond we care. Let our light burn long after we have gone, so that in the future hope can still be seen. Inspire others to do what they can for their fellow beings, whether that is human, animal, or alien. This is the lesson we all tried to teach, let it be heard if none of our other lessons are to be learned.
I love you Jade,
Kyle Rayner
Chapter 1
It was 100 years ago when the silence was broken. The explosion was heard through the stars as the dread of Warworld exploded in its final attempt to bring down Earth. Darkseid almost beat the heroes of yesteryear, and in his own right he did. There was little left of the heroes but tattered capes and costumes of the Legends that went to save their home. The last thing anyone saw before the tidal wave hit was three fallen stars from the Heavens. The heart of the stars died upon impact. The wave from Warworld hit over the Pacific Ocean wiping out most of the United States, Asia, Europe, Russia, and many other countries. The leveled cities were bad, but not as bad as the mourning in the heart of the people of the world who lost their champions. The only thing left was the Department of Extranormal Operations, which had decided to become the law enforcement of this new world. They had been experimenting on quite a bit of different things just in case of a superhuman war, now they could use them for the job of policing the rest of humanity. Hell had truly come to Earth.
Smallville, Kansas was the home of Clark Kent. The world never knew that this mild mannered reporter was in fact the Man of Steel. Now instead of this little provincial town that stood for heart and morals it was a barren heap used as a junkyard by the D.E.O. for old vehicles and other such scrap. There are still humans that live here, but the most indigenous life form is a "Hybrid." Hybrids are humans that have been altered with animal DNA and changed to better adapt to the environment. The Hybrids of this area are called the Junkyard Dogs. They protect the interests of their creators, but sometimes to no avail.
On the outskirts of the Junkyard a man in a red uniform walks up to the gates. His face cloaked with a hood.
"Ya know, this used to house several people, I'd almost say that this place was happy once," he thought to himself. He looked around the area that resembled more of the Sahara Desert than a town and just shook his head. He continued his walk observing the place with watchful eyes. Then in the corner he noticed the movement of something within the wreckage yard.
"You've come to a bad place Red Death. I think you mean to go back to Arkham City," said the Lead Dog with a snarl.
"Ah...another happy reception committee. I mean to go into this yard and get some supplies so that I can go and help with the Wall."
"You know that I'm not just going to give my valuables over. You know the rules."
Red Death stood there looking at the Leader. He saw 5 more of the Hybrids walk out of the piles and around their leader. He realized that they were fast and agile, but smarts wise they were still as human as could be.
"I figure it won't take Superman to beat the hell out of these guys," he snickered to himself as he looked over the pack. The Leader kept his stance while the others started making their plans of attack. Red Death decided at that moment that he wasn't going to discuss this any further and knew his course of action. He pulled his gun on the Leader. "Yeah I know the rules...if I want it I need to fight first. So let's fight."
Leader looked down the barrel of the gun with the look of a frightened pup. The others saw it and realized that they maybe fast, but the trigger on the gun was faster. If they tried to take him they'd be dead within moments.
"Go right ahead Red Death. I'm sorry to have inconvenienced you."
"Yeah, sure."
Red Death removed his hood and the glint of light off of the silver skull mask shone into the dog's memories. They knew that this man wasn't one to be trifled with. But that wouldn't stop them from trying once his back was turned. He walked past them with confidence and started to go toward the metal piles when the he felt the shadows creeping up on his shoulder.
"Now I could believe that I'm gonna do this without incident, but that would be extremely naïve on me," he thought. He knew that the foolish Hybrids would try to press what they thought as an advantage to take out the red intruder. Foolish of the to consider, but he supposed they thought it was worth the try anyway. He turned around and fired off his gun. The gun was like a cannon when fired. They got the point as they scattered that the gamble didn't pay off.
Leader was on the ground when Red Death walked up. The concussion from the blast of the gun knocked him on his back. His companions decided to leave their Leader to his own devices.
"Tisk tisk...I'd almost think that they don't want to further upset me."
"Heh...Yeah...they don't want to hurt your feelings Red." Red Death looked the dog in the face. Leader realized that he was about to pay for the infringement one way or another. Red Death bent down and grabbed him by the hair of his chest, which made him howl in pain.
"Let's talk a bit about this shall we? I don't know if you've noticed or not, but I'm not Superman. I'm not bright, happy, or in the mood to deal with stupid people. You seem to forget this. I've been here and we've done this dance before. So let me spell this out, next time you die. Alright?"
"Yeah...got it." The dog looked at him with extreme fear. He realized that his life would be spared, but that was little comfort. He knew that Red Death wouldn't leave without the parts that he came for and that maybe too long for his tastes.
Red Death started his walk further into the yard and then stopped to look over his shoulder to see in Leader was still where he left him. "Ya know, maybe I'd like a nice fur tunic. This one's old." Leader cringed as the words hit his ears. Red Death couldn't give any indication of emotion, so it was hard to tell if what he said was an actual thought or just a scare tactic. He was going to take the first option and leave it at that.
"Why start a further fight? I'm just gonna stay here till he's out of sight then I'm going to go and sleep. Yeah that's it, sleep for a long, long time that way I stay out of his sight."
Red Death started looking at the pieces of scrap metal laying about the place. All the while he stood and thought of the ordeal. "Ya know, I'd love it if this wasn't the norm. Ever since Warworld came back to Earth that last time this has been a regular thing. Hope that little incident got him thinking, or maybe I'm too hopeful." He often thought this way. It was tiring to him to keep fighting one battle after the other. The victor was normally the one that walked away alive, but then again that was a relative term to him. He saw the senselessness of it all and he hated what he had to do to get a job done. That was something though he had to get over and quickly. There was no escape from it. There were no heroes left on Earth, just people trying to survive. He wished that there were heroes, but they all died. The nanoprobe virus started the job and Darkseid finished it. God how bleak had these days become.
He looked around for pieces that were big and thick to fit the wall around Arkham City. 100 years ago it was called Gotham City, but that was before Brother Joker came to be. He was the product of religion and the genocidal nature of the psychotic man. The Joker killed a man for reasons that only he truly understood and then picked up the book he was reading. The Bible told him stories about sinners, God, and how God dealt with sin in the days before Jesus. Joker took that as a lesson for himself and killed millions by flooding the city and filling it with his Joker Venom. The rest of the people followed him afterward because he had the only food source in town. Batman tried to stop him only to fall victim to one of the elaborate plans Joker had. No one but the Joker knows what truly happened that day, but speculation has run high. The reality of it all though is that atop the old Gotham City Police Department next to the old Batsignal; the Joker had Batman nailed to a cross and placed there as a martyr to his cause. Red Death saw it; he was one of the lucky individuals to escape Arkham City and helped to erect the Wall around it. He was scared that "The Faithful" as the Joker has called them would escape and reek havoc among those outside. Life has been hell enough; he didn't want them to suffer that much more.
Thoughts of the heroes of yesteryear hit Red Death. He looked up to the sky like so many people do. He looked for any sign that Warworld would be reborn and return to finish the job it started. He looked up farther and thought; "This is ridiculous, anyone that was on Warworld got incinerated in a moment when it exploded...but what if? God, I'm not even alive and I'm worried about it. Suppose they couldn't kill everything human in me."
Red Death was there the day Warworld exploded; Nanomachines resurrected him from the dead. He was programmed to destroy metahumans of any sort and lead other corpses into battle. Unfortunately the superhero community had been able to fend off the virus so that the programmed "Death" faction was given back their free will. The problems really hit when Red Death realized that he couldn't remember who he was in life, all he knew is that he was Red Death. He struggled to remember, but nothing came to his memory. Though his search for his identity had to wait, Warworld arrived and the issue was more important. The Arkham City Faithful were attacking trying to get people to repent and Batman was nowhere to be seen. Red Death led troops to deal with these errant individuals who fell victim to the Joker. Then he saw it, the symbol of the Joker's madness; the Batman nailed on a cross. He fought harder to keep these people out of other cities. He beat them back only to see the massive Warworld explode and the green energies that tried to protect Earth from being destroyed saved the planet the one last time. The Earth survived, but not all the surface did. The shockwave ripped up the surface rather badly. It destroyed most everything, but the East Coast remained intact for the most part. There were areas that were wrecked severely, but then there were those areas still standing proudly, though the people were as savage as those outside the area. Many tales are told to this day of all the heroes that died in battle. Most say that they ascended to their godhood by their final act of courage. Some say that they are out there amongst the stars so far away from home that they haven't gotten back. Others have come to the grim conclusion that they are gone and that the only thing remaining are the bits of their costumes that were left on the fragments of Warworld that did breech the green barrier. Red Death has heard them all; more often than not he goes in search of these tales. He's an encyclopedia of all the tales that have been told thus far about them all. Sometimes he thinks that if circumstances hadn't forced the position he's in on him he'd have been one of them. Reality is grim, and so the idea fades just as quick. Then he thinks about a book that he picked up. The last words in it were "Just Imagine." That's all he could do, but the truth is that reality says he must fight dirty and deadly. Something that every one of the heroes he idolizes avoided every chance they got.
"Overkill? Yeah, but hey, who's gonna stop me? Batman? There was a happy time once. I like the Superman stories. He was a good guy. I think his methods were a bit on the simplistic side, but hey those were simpler times." He knew that they were only human under it all, but his thoughts on the matter were pretty clear. They did what they had to do to lead an example. "He and the other heroes did what they had to do for survival. Thanks to their policies though...it caused one hell of an upheaval. Times were different then, maybe if they'd had some insight that Warworld was coming they would have planned for it. Suppose that's one of those things. It happens, no one can help it, but we do what he have to."
The world is different. The D.E.O. wanted to control the populace after the fall of the world, and almost have. The hybrids are fighting, so are some of the humans, and then the Death Faction, but the D.E.O. is far more powerful. The nanomachine virus was theirs originally. Word got out of the development of these machines and their purpose, which meant that certain groups in the hero community would get interested. In these times the rumors of what happened are varied. Someone said that one of the Bat- family got themselves into D.E.O. headquarters and tried to collect a sample when it infected them and then started using the communications links in the hero's costume to transmit its design to computers that could mass-produce. Others say that the test run of them went horribly awry and what the probes learned ended up corrupting them. No one knows for certain. The only sources of the nano's left is in Arkham, in the Death Faction and in the hands of the D.E.O. No one knows where in Arkham, though no one has the courage to go and face the faithful. There in lies the problem. The detection equipment made to track them hasn't found any traces of them outside those areas, but even though the D.E.O. has them they deny it. It's a frightening prospect to the people of the world; no one wants a repeat of the Nano Virus, but they'd still take it over the loss of all the heroes and places in which to go to seek refuge. Warworld got into range of the planet and then attacked. It hit every government office and church, synagogue, and temple. Darkseid would rule this planet or have it destroyed for its defiance. His message to the people of Earth was clear, he would be their one God or they would no longer have the need of one.
Red Death shook these thoughts away from his head. He had a long journey back to Arkham and the thoughts of the way things were weren't going to change what happened. "Why they choose me? Some say they did DNA analysis and came up with who they wanted, but what good does that do when I don't know who they is." It seemed to him that no matter what he did, he couldn't escape that question either. He didn't know who created him. Why he was created was obvious, cannon fodder, but that didn't answer whose plans it best fit. The D.E.O. was the obvious candidate since they created the nanoprobes, Lex Luthor was an evil genius exposed right about the time that Warworld hit; the Joker had a cruel sense of humor. All these people, no real clue. What good was it to speculate? He needed answers and all he did was ask questions. "I'm gonna find out one day. Until that day though, survival is of the utmost importance. God knows that the faction lines have blurred for the common good, but the truth of the matter is that once the common threat is gone we're gonna start killing ourselves."
He saw a cart and put his parts there into it. He walked around for about two hours filling the cart with all sorts of different odds and ends before coming up to a man working on the engine of one of the broken down vehicles. Just as he walked up to the man he noticed that he'd shifted many towns in the process he was standing firmly in Keystone City. The "newer" old vehicle deposit, and there with the vehicles was Charlie. Charlie was always a busy man; he always was under the hood of a car or truck. Red Death had talked to him several times and while they couldn't claim friendship they could claim friendly acquaintance. In Charlie's case, any sort of "friendly acquaintance" was a welcome thing.
"This is where they started to store the old vehicles. The D.E.O. thought it funny to store here the fastest ways around in the old home of the Flash. Damn comedians in the D.E.O., that's all we need," he thought to himself. "You got a vehicle for me Charlie?"
The mechanic turned around to see who it was that spoke to him. "Hey Red Death...yeah we've got a few ready. Have any troubles getting through the junkyard?"
"Just some of the normal animal control issues. Easily taken care of with the proper incentive. So what kind of fuel source do I need this time."
"Nadda, we got us the latest scrap model. It's electrical and thanks to that little nanotech upgrade that we all know they aren't using, yeah right. They've been able to convert some matter into a nice little source that never burns out. Said they used Black Lightning's DNA and some skin samples to get the power source then they have a brain C.P.U. that controls the output of electricity."
"Makes me wonder why the D.E.O. abandoned this place?" Red Death inspected over some of the vehicles. Some of them were in surprisingly good shape. All they needed was a special power source that was developed by the D.E.O. right after the Warworld attack. Once the power packs get upgraded they discarded the old ones to this vehicle graveyard.
"Are you kidding? They figure that no matter what catching people would be easy. I mean have you seen the tech? They've got a damn model now that clocks 230 in under 20 seconds. I mean my god, why should they worry about an old junker? They've upgraded so much that even if someone decided to make this into a weapon they'd laugh it off and then neutralize the idiot who did it."
"Good point. Still, it's the fastest way I have to get this junk to Arkham."
"You still keeping up repairs on that wall?"
"You want Brother Joker and his faithful coming through here?"
Charlie stared at Red Death for a moment in a look of bewilderment. "Broth...NO...that is that I wouldn't like to have them ruin my business." He grabbed a wrench that Red Death handed him and when back to work on the car sitting in front of them.
"I thought not. I'm gonna take that old truck. It'll suit my needs"
"Wait a minute. Tell me something first," he came out from under the hood of the vehicle. He stood there with a look of worried questioning in his face. "What's it like in Arkham?"
Red Death turned his face slightly as he looked toward the ground. It seemed that the shadow's followed his face. "If it's payment you want, I could find something a lot more worth your while than that."
"I wanna know. I really do."
Red Death took a heavy breath and then looked toward the wrecking yard. "The first time you see the downtown area you see the purple robes. They flow like water down there. They try to convert you and if you don't go along with the plan well they make you a happy man. Joker was on a heist the day that a priest got in his way. The priest tried to convert him, and he successfully gave the Joker the means. Within three months Joker became Brother Joker the Horseman of the Apocalypse named Death. While everyone fought the virus and then fought Warworld, Joker kept going. He flooded Gotham City from the Water Reservoir. The water was filled with his venom. It made people happy. The survivors of that incident all gathered around Joker and banded to him. The man killed all those people, over half the damn city. Then told them if they wanted food and fresh water that they would have to work for him. What happened afterward is purely speculation from this point." Red Death knelt down and started drawing the bat symbol in the dirt with his finger. He looked up at Charlie again, and though his was an expressionless face Charlie could tell how painful this was on him. "Joker was always Batman's nemesis. Always a thorn in the side, like Superman and Luthor. His death though would be the spectacle that Joker always wanted to finish the Dark Knight off with. He wanted Batman brought to him alive. After the detonation of Warworld and the destruction of the fleets of Apokolips he returned home bloodied and bruised. They went out to Wayne Manor on a search for loyal followers and any sort of funds to keep them going. All of the men started looking for anything they could find such as hidden safes and the like, instead they found a door. There it was before him. The cave of wonders that many villains tried to find for years. No one had ever done so to my knowledge. He stared directly into the mouth and looked around. There he saw his faithful laying on the ground unconscious due to security features."
Red Death looked up at the sun overhead and noticed that even in the day he could see the moon rather clearly. "Batman came into the house and was immediately hit with enough volts to fry a cow. Luckily the amps weren't high enough to kill him. Batman was tired and weak after all the fighting he'd been doing. He'd watched everything and everyone he knew fall. It was said that they crucified him, then it was also said that the man they crucified was Nightwing. The rumors that Batman was killed in the nanovirus haven't ever been proven or unproven. The only thing I know is that someone in a Bat Costume is nailed dead to a cross on top of GCPD, if that's how it really got there or if there was another reason for it I don't know. Doesn't matter, he's dead and on the top of that building."
Charlie stood there with tears in his eyes and a look of utter shock. "My God. That's the most disturbing thing I've heard in a long time."
Red Death put his cold gaze back on Charlie. "God has nothing to do with that place, even if the Joker or the Laughing Corpse as he calls himself these days says it does." Red Death turned away and then looked at the vehicles again. For a moment there was nothing but stone silence. Then out of nowhere, "Well, I think that it's time that I start toward Arkham. See ya Charlie."
Stunned and shaken, the only words that Charlie could muster were:
"Yeah...see ya Red Death."
Red Death got into the truck and started it up and then headed out for Arkham. It was going to be a long drive, but it would give him more time to reflect on the conversation with Charlie. "I'm sorry that we had to leave it at that Charlie, but right now I've got too much to do. Oh well, out of the fat and into the fire. Arkham City here I come."
Chapter 2: Arkham City
Gotham City was never Metropolis. That was always the greatest hope of the heroes of Gotham was to make it into that sort of Utopia. If any of its defenders were alive today their hearts would no doubt sink from the sheer horror of what the city has become. Brother Joker and his faithful have turned the city into a massive Holy Land. Their main temple is the old Gotham City Police Department. The faithful go there daily to pray at the site where the Batman was placed to show the new order. Though today, Batman is called by another name.
There were at least a hundred people at the temple to hear the words of the Bishop of the Order of Brother Joker. He was to speak of the glorious rise to the words of God to Joker's ears. The people here today have always known Brother Joker, but those of their parents and in most case their grandparents knew what the man behind the Order truly was. Joker was a psychopath, the most classic case of it that there could be. Some people have said that the reasons serial killers kill are 100% understood only by them. In Joker's case that is a truth held very astutely. These days however, Brother Joker is known for being a cleanser of sin. The sick part is that Joker too believes this.
In the 100 years that all the heroes have been dead the Joker remains as ever sick and depraved. The nanovirus resurrected him as well, but he remained different than the rest of resurrected. Joker knew all to well how to manipulate the nanoprobes at his command. It was but another melody to his chaotic symphony. Then, this is the Joker.
The Bishop took the podium in front of the congregation very proudly. The man wore his robe proudly as he started his mass. He looked at each with the grace of a preacher and all the ego of the richest man alive.
"My Brethren, I call you all here today for the 100th anniversary of the Bat Messiah's death. The day we the faithful crucified the Bat Messiah so that his lesson maybe learned for all time," said the Bishop proudly. He stood there with pride in his eyes as he looked at the sheep.
"HAIL THE BAT MESSIAH!!!" Each person screamed it in the streets. They all stood there as proudly as the Bishop.
"Yes, let us remember the day that the wise man came upon our Savior, the Joker, and then told him of the Holy Scriptures. The day that he discovered his true purpose and became our leader in the Holy ways." The masses lapped it up. They were proud to hear the ramblings of the Bishop; they knew that they would be blessed for their obedience to their leader. "We all must revere the day that the Joker realized that he was the Horseman Death and showed all of the city the way of the Scriptures."
"HAIL THE SCRIPTURES!!!"
The Bishop stood over to the side. He stared at the people that were clutching their bibles and crosses. "Now we hear the words of our Savior. We revere him today for his resurrection and his Holy Name he chose upon that day." He raised his arms to the oncoming of the Cardinals with the glass case. The crowd started to pray and give their praise to the case, but the horrific picture inside of it was the Joker. "All give your praise to The Laughing Corpse."
The case slowly opened and the burning eyes of its occupant glared right through the crowd. This was no Savior, but an insane man rose to a place above his actual station. He walked up to the podium in his purple robes, "HI ALL YOU FAITHFUL OUT THERE!!! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!"
The crowd looked up at him with fear and awe, something that the Joker (or the Laughing Corpse by name now) took great enjoyment in. He gave a smug look to his Cardinals then turned back toward the crowd. "We have much to discuss today congregation, like the idea that for the 100th anniversary of the fall of the Bat Messiah and his rise to his true purpose that we make this the time to spread the word to the world. I have heard many reports from the outside that says that there are those that pray to false deity, such as Superman, and the almighty Justice League. Even to what they consider the Elder Gods amongst the Justice Society. I say we must spread the WORD OF GOD TO THESE SINNERS!!! Who wants to spread the Word with me to the sinners? Who wants us to show them the true way of GOD?!! HA HA HA HA HA!!!"
The crowd cheered for their leader. The idea was planted into the heads of those out there and the Laughing Corpse knew that now he could attack the Wall and wreak havoc amongst the world once again. He continued about his plans for the breech of the Wall and his plans for the conversion of the faithless. Behind him two of his Cardinals grumbled about their predicament.
"We hate this Cobblepot, the entire set up. Working for the Joker, we have no freedoms, and our every move is watched," said Two-Face with a look of hatred toward the Laughing Corpse. "Brother Joker our eyes. That man is a maniac; he could care less about brotherly love. He wants to see a body count."
"Yes, Two-Face, I do believe that we all know that. As far as our situation is concerned though I think we're soon to get out of it. Now that the grinning idiot is about to take up in plans of world conquest things may get a bit lax around here. We may be able to set something up with one of our errant Cardinal Brethren."
"They're all loyal to the Joker, Cobblepot. No one questions him but us."
"Oh, not so. There is one other, but luckily he's no longer in the employ of our "Savior." Do you know who I'm talking about?"
"Don't act like we're stupid Cobblepot, we're just not too sure about him. Of course then we aren't sure about you either and we're working with you."
"Yes, hard times and hard situations do make for strange bedfellows."
"Stranger and stranger yet, but we can't stand being in the employ of the Joker any longer. If you have and idea, we're more than willing to listen to it."
"Hold that thought, Two-Face. Soon enough, we're gonna give that man something to rain on his little parade."
Two-Face smiled with hatred and delight at the prospect of being out of Joker's control. It would be the first time in years. Penguin and Two- Face were also dead and resurrected again due to the nanomachines. Joker specially had them brought back for his own dubious planning and so that he could personally torture them. He made them Cardinals in his Order so that he could watch them and they could watch him as he did what none of the criminal element could ever do; rule the Gotham night. Even now under its new name, Arkham was still just Gotham with a new ruler. Batman protected this city, but the Joker brought them together. It was a masterstroke for the Clown Prince of Crime, he brought the city together where none else could and could cause grand scale mayhem in the process. Not that he couldn't have done it on his own, Joker was good at that, but it was all in finesse. Now he had the hordes for one thing while he enacted another. It was the perfect way to make another level of hell in a world full of them.
The sermon ended and the Laughing Corpse turned to his Cardinals. "Come boys, we have plans in the works and a world to make smile." He looked at them with the contempt and smugness of royalty in the presence of a subject. He knew that they hated him and that they would see him dead rather than follow him in his plans for the demise of more people, but he didn't care. He welcomed the attempt, he thought of it as a training mission for the two of them. Joker often wondered if he had any influence on them whatsoever. They always seemed to brood and plot behind his back, but never did anything about it. In his own right, he was disappointed that they did nothing to him. It was a shame that two (or as Two-Face's psychosis would have it three) inferior, but stimulating criminal geniuses like them would do nothing to him but plot.
"Yes Brother Joker. We are here for your service." Two-Face said with gritted teeth.
"Harvey, how many times do I have to tell you, I am the Laughing Corpse now." Joker smiled heavily when saying this to him. Two-Face was less than pleased by the comment however.
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!!! WE ARE TWO-FACE!!!" He got into the Laughing Corpse's face. "Dent is dead, he has been dead a long time now, and especially now that we have been brought back from the grave. The tombstone said 'Harvey Dent' Two-Face came out of that grave. It is his grave now and we're the only people left. Do you understand?"
"Touchy, touchy. You must remember, I am not just some hood you can intimidate Two-Face. I am the spiritual leader of a vast organization, not to mention the fact that I'm responsible for bringing you from the grave. I can further play with your psyche if I so wished it, it wouldn't be hard to do. I'll call you anything I want, and you'll take it, I don't care. I'm in to making people suffer, and you're making yourself a nice scabby target." Joker smiled sadistically at Two-Face. Two-Face knew that the man meant what he said and he'd do it too.
"We hate him, we hate him with a passion. Smile for now you grinning gargoyle, soon we're gonna make you suffer. There won't be a world order of smiling faithful, but a revolution that's gonna bring you down."
Joker walked over to Penguin. Penguin stood there with a cigarette in his mouth and looked at his "leader" striding confidently to him. He knew that the man was looking to make a point that he lorded over him and Two-Face, yet he too took things in stride.
"Well Ozzy, what did you think of my little speech today?"
"It was in the vernacular, a travesty, but as you are so fond of pointing out the sheep followed the herder into hell and never batted an eye."
"I just love warm woolen mittens, don't you? HA HA HA!!!" The Joker laughed endlessly to the skies. Penguin however found the comment less than amusing, but dared not show it to the Joker.
"Keep laughing you buffoon, I'll soon have you sorted out. When I do, oh yes, when I do I'll make you suffer for every last thing you've done to me." The Penguin smiled at the Joker's comment so that all appearances would look good.
Two-Face walked away from Joker on his way to the rectory. Often times he went there when he'd had a run-in with Joker. He had taken no more than three steps when the Laughing Corpse looked his direction. "Oh Cardinal Two-Face, where are you going?"
Two-Face turned his head to look over his shoulder and said, "I'm gonna go pray for awhile...my "Savoir."
"Okie-dokey," the Laughing Corpse said with a pleasing grin. He then darted over to Penguin shoulder. "Man is he a sour puss or what?"
"Perhaps he's a bit on the edgy side at the moment."
"Hope it's something I've done...HA HA HA HA HA!!!!"
Two-Face made it to the rectory and looked toward the wall. He saw the modified cross that hung there, and instead of the face of Jesus stood the face of the Batman. He stared into the eyes of the fallen hero with such disdain that the only thing to rival it was the hatred he had for the Joker.
"You couldn't leave well enough alone could you? We had a life before you, we had it all and you came and ruined it all for Dent. You, Gordon, and him, you could've had Holiday together. The mob would've been gone and then we could've hit the Freaks. We could've had it all, but no, you had to be the hard-ass that wouldn't give an inch. Dent worked hard hours to get Holiday, and for all that you brought down a lot more on top of him. Now you got us, and you still had the gall to call us friend. Bastard." Two-Face picked up the cross and threw it across the room. "BASTARD!!!"
He grabbed the figure off the cross and stared hard into its sunken wooden eyes with killer instinct and contempt. "We have a tortured existence due to you. We finally had peace and because you wouldn't let go we've been awakened. Now look at it, Joker took it all from you. Then that freak brought us back from our rest and quiet to lord over how he did what we couldn't. Damn you, we'll get revenge on you yet. Oh yes we will, and when it happens you'll know what sort of horrors you created. We will make sure that this time you don't get a simple martyrdom on a cross, but an existence of Hell like we've had."
A preacher knocked on the door. "Cardinal Two-Face?" The boy trembled as he called to his Cardinal
"WHAT?!!"
The preacher entered the room nervously. He was terrified of Two- Face and with good reason. In his career as a Gotham power he killed several people on the fate of a coin. A coin that to this day he still has with him. He looked at the preacher in the face with the disfigured eye, which glared deeply into the boy. The heart of the preacher pounded with fear as he stared at the scar on the face of the Cardinal. "Cardinal Penguin would like to see you at your convenience."
"Fine, then be gone from us before we give you a closer look at the scar."
"Cardinal sir may I ask you a question?"
Two-Face stood up and looked over the preacher. He fished in his pocket for a moment and then pulled out his coin. He looked at the preacher for a moment and then flipped it into the air. The preacher heard ever whir of air that it made before it fell back into the Cardinal's hand. His heart pounded harder and harder still until Two-Face looked at him with a somewhat calmer disposition.
"What do you want to know?"
"I'm sorry for intruding upon your prayers and private vigil Cardinal, but I overheard some of your words. I was curious, do you hate the Bat Messiah so much?"
Two-Face turned away from the boy and stood there with the figure of Batman in his hand. He stared at it hard, but not with the same look he had previously given it. The question mulled in his mind for a moment and then he looked over his shoulder at the boy. "Yes."
"How can it be that you believe so heavily in the works of the Savior and not in the Messiah? They are a unity that many have never dreamed of achieving."
"We believe what we've seen. The "Savior" brought us back from a certain death, the Messiah damned me to it. You know peace because you were born into a world that has known the faithful to be a way of life. We've known more than that, and we can tell you that if it weren't for the Messiah, we could have been better off. So could you. The myth of the exploding star being a sign of righteousness is a load. The only thing righteous about all of it is that we're finally rid of the people that ruined our lives. But balance said that while we're rid of them that we also have to clean up the mess they left."
"I've never heard of it that way."
"You've never had a reason to. You're brainwashed since birth to believe that the Savior and the Messiah brought you out of a sinful existence on this planet. What they brought you into was a city trapped inside of a wall with people that have to be hunted due to the fact they won't conform. The Savior killed most of them and the Killer Croc Sect is eating the others. You hear the beautiful part about how we are changing the sinners to faithful by cleansing. Foolish boy."
The shocked look on the preachers face said it all, the realities that Two-Face was giving him were sinking in. That left him with very few words, but he managed to find a few. "I'll take these words into advisement, thank you Cardinal Two-Face."
The preacher turned to walk out the door when two bullets found their way into the boys back. Two-Face stood there with the pistol and his coin. "Make sure that you do in what ever life you have next." He walked up to the communications box on the wall and pushed the button. "Laughing Corpse?"
"Yes Cardinal? Have you got a Happy Meal in the box for me?"
"We have a traitor. He was slandering your purpose. He broke the cross in the rectory. We had to cleanse him of his sins."
"Ooh...well at least you got to have some fun. Oh well, we have a few hundred more to counteract that, I'll start a citywide search for more non- believers in our midst. HA HA HA!!!"
"Yeah, we got plenty more for the meat wagon. Cardinal Two-Face out."
He walked to the door intent on making his meeting with Penguin then he stopped and looked back at the preacher on the floor. "Price of knowledge these days." He threw the figure of Batman at him and walked off leaving the body for the cleanup crew.
Penguin poured himself a glass of Brandy and sat in his chair awaiting Two-Face's company. He sat there and looked at the picture on the wall, it was a depiction of the battle between the Joker and Batman. It was painted at the Laughing Corpse's behest. He stared long at it wondering how much more of it was an exaggeration than just the layers of paint showed him. He often thanked God (albeit as more of a phrase than actual belief) that he wasn't a telepath. He knew that if he got into the Joker's head that it would be a nail that would drive him utterly insane in the end. He looked at some of the other adornments that were around the walls of his office. Such as the case file pictures of Mr. Zasz, Killer Moth, Killer Croc, and several others. He looked with quiet laughter at the fools that tried so hard to end the Batman. Often times Penguin laughed at the way Batman was brought down. All the villains that you could ask for, several different psychosis problems, and even some that were as sane as the next man. Out of all these the one to take him down was a man in a robe, with a cross, and a bible in hand.
"Is this how you imagined your fall Batman? At the hands of a madman with religious zealot written all over him? You know, I always thought that you were too good to be brought down by the likes of the insane individuals. Bane, Ra's Al Ghul, Me, someone like that could bring the Batman to his knees, and it was the Joker that got you in the end. Many people in the underworld took the bet that is how it would happen. All of us that got to be your betters at times took the bet that Joker would be dead due to you finally snapping. We were wondering when you would finally fold underneath the pressure. Damn if you didn't do it, no you held on and fell under the man's boot heel. Now you're his symbol. I couldn't have thought of a better ending for you, but I might yet you pointed eared freak." The Penguin took another drink from his Brandy when he heard the door open.
"You sent for us?" Two-Face stared at the drink and then went to go pour himself a glass.
"Quite my friend. I have found our missing Cardinal, and better than that he's in familiar territory for us both."
"Oh? Where would he be at?"
The Penguin lit a cigarette and blew the smoke from his nostrils as he smiled. "Would you believe in old Gotham?"
"The Waterfront? That's perfect, so when do we meet with him."
"We make the arrangements. Some of my personal preachers went to the Waterfront and tried to convert some of the faithless today, they came back with reports of someone that struck fear among a few of them. He called himself the God of Fear. When they tried to cleanse him he ended up dousing them in some sort of mist. They ran back here to tell me. What I plan to do is to send one of them back with a note and then we meet with him to discuss plans to show the Savior a new path."
"We will be sure to keep up with this. We're rather excited to be rid of the clown finally. Hopefully we can bring him closer to his Messiah than he is now."
"Perhaps, but only time will tell. I'll send one of my preachers first thing."
Two-Face got up and finished the Brandy in a swallow and left the room with a smile on his face. Penguin sat back and thought about the words that his uneasy partner left him with. "Hopefully we can bring him closer to his Messiah than he is now."
Penguin turned his chair back to the Batman/Joker depiction. He looked over the picture in extreme measure thinking that maybe Two-Face had something in what he said. He thought long and hard about what they could do to bring Joker to his knees. Whatever it was he knew it to be in the picture and in the words of Two-Face. What though could it be? Then after an hour of deliberation with himself he looked at the picture with a new vigor. "HA! This is a plan worthy of the Joker himself."
The Laughing Corpse sat on his throne in the office of the former Commissioner, James Gordon. He was in a mood to bring in the masses and allow them to ask their feeble questions and allow them the answers that he knew that only he could give them. He did this every so often so that he could show the lowly people what it was like at the top.
One man walked in very slowly and knelt before the throne of the Laughing Corpse. He looked up at him with reverence and gave a kiss at the feet of his Savior. "Oh my blessed Savior, I ask of you that you give my family food to eat. We are but humble people and have not much for food."
"Food? OF COURSE I WILL!!! The Laughing Corpse looked over to his bodyguard and nodded his head and then the guard shot the man. "See how kind I am? You'll be home in time for dinner, as the main course. HA HA HA HA HA!!!! See to it that this man is trimmed into nice steaks and roasts for his family would you Gil?"
"As it pleases you Laughing Corpse," said the man with full respect. He murdered a man in cold blood yet he acted as if he did something as normal as shaking the man's hand. The Laughing Corpse saw this and knew that he was as loyal a guard as any he'd seen. That had to mean some sort of trouble. Though he didn't think that just any death would do, it had to be something along the lines of protection, then the thought of he Croc Sect. He knew that the likelihood of conversion was nil, but what would it hurt to try? He couldn't after all be killed by conventional ways and though he knew it he still acted as humble in his mind as to any other religious leader.
"Thus proving without a doubt, there's one born every minute. HA HA HA HA!!!" The Laughing Corpse shook the thought from his head. He looked at the far wall at the cross that hung from his wall. He well remembered the day when he had all the crosses changed to look like the scene atop the Holy Orders Temple. He looked deep into the eyes of the cross with that smile on his face.
"100 years later and you're still beaten Bats. Hee hee heh...I got you. No one else could and I got you and you never ever suspected it. You knew that the Horsemen of the Apocalypse came into town and smiled the deaths head grin that you came to despise of me. Not that I cared, I had my laughs and no matter what, no matter the ending we always knew it would be you and me." Joker turned his back on the cross for a moment. He walked around the room for a second. In the midst of the silence he looked over to the cross.
"DON'T MOCK ME BATMAN!!! You know I hate that silent treatment you always gave me. You knew I was your better from the moment you laid your beady little white all over eyes at me. You laughed with me once; at that moment I knew that you could understand the joke. I knew you could, but no, you wouldn't get the others that I told. None of them, NONE!!! I hated it when I tried so hard to make you get the joke, to laugh again and you stared at me the same way you are now, silent and cold. You think that because you're a wooden statue that I would miss the signs that you were actually in this room staring at me with those blank eyes? DID YOU?!!"
He calmed down for a moment and looked out the window at the people praying at the building and pointing at the body that was nailed to the cross above them. He smiled the sinister smile and laughed the sinister laugh that had been his trademark for more than a century.
"Stare all you want Batsy, I got your flock. All of them, and soon just in the name of making the world realize your failure I'll take the others as well. All those little friends of yours in the other cities of the world will have faithful just bursting to join. What? Yes, I've heard about the Holy Order of the Justice League and the Church of the JSA. I know them all, and they will all fall before the Order of Brother Joker. What of St. Dumas? Ra's Al Ghul owns the Order of St. Dumas; they're protecting Eden. Don't you know anything? But soon I'll have my own Eden and the world will have nothing but a smile."
Joker looked out the window again and then grabbed a glass of water and threw it at the cross. The glass shattered into pieces and soaked the wooden icon. "LEX LUTHOR HELPED ME GET ARKHAM CITY!!! Though taking over Santa Prisca is a point I have thought about, but Lexy would be cross. On the other hand Lexy could help me again, and I know he'd love to get his hands on Eden. Yes, YES WE COULD HAVE EDEN!!! But how to get to Santa Prisca to ask him? Well, what's a spiritual leader for if not for visiting places to give hope? HA HA HA HA HA!!!"
"There is a week long celebration being held in honor of our greatest battle and your death. The plans to run the Wall is at the end of the final day, but we're gonna make the faithful real zealots by the that time. HA HA HA HA HA!!! I'm gonna resurrect your little friend on the roof Batsy. Oh yes, I'm going to bring Nightwing back for a presentation to the faithful that'll make them march through the hell that's outside and we're gonna have a barbecue after to celebrate! Or is that to commiserate? Either way when the fires start he'll suffer your fate again and again. And all this because you wouldn't laugh." The Laughing Corpse turned to the city and looked at the crowd outside the building. "You really didn't think I was fooled did you Batman? DID YOU THINK YOU COULD HIDE THAT YOU WEREN'T THE ONE CRUCIFIED ON MY TEMPLE FROM ME?!! DID YOU?!! Sorry to disappoint you Batsy, but I knew too well I didn't get you. I knew it the entire time, but no one out there does. HA HA HA!!! They think you're rotting body is on top of the world looking down on them as a symbol of the great coming. It's wonderful that they're so blind."
There on the wall in his office stared back the cross. Batman's face cold and unfeeling. The man that was depicted on it wasn't always like that, but when it came to defeating the evil that loomed in his city he had to be. If for a moment he showed the unwavering look of fear the criminal element wouldn't have taken him seriously. Today though he is dead. Things have changed, and with the times he might have too. For today in the eye of the wooden representation stands a single drop of water. As if it had heard every single word that the maniac in front of him spewed he shed one tear to denote his feeling of failure. He always tried to remain the proud protector of Gotham, but now his worst nightmare stands before him the leader of the people.
"Look now Batman, I rule the night. HA HA HA HA HA!!!"
October 8, 2002
Based on the Story idea &Script: The Apocalypse Years by Jeremy Scott
Prologue
We all saw it that day. Warworld, the most awesome force known to the universe looming over our heads. At its helm the dark god Darkseid and his minions finally threatening to destroy Earth and their meager heroes and ruling another planet that would look like his home world of Apokolips. Hell had finally been realized, and Armageddon stared us all straight in the face. The final assault of the heroes of Earth would be made to stop the behemoth planet and it's dark ruler. We all feared how it would end, and as we looked firmly at the battle planet looking at us most knew that this would most likely be our final battleground, but damn it all, we would save this planet. I suppose that's all the world could have asked of us. Or maybe it's all I could have asked of myself.
Alan and I had a long talk about what the possibilities were. The virus wiped out most of the heroes of the Earth then after we managed to get it contained Warworld shows up. Alan lost his son due to the virus. We were able to save Jade, my love and the one that I hope I'm with when this final moment comes. I know it must sound like I've already given up. God knows as I write this it's how I feel, but the truth is that I'm Green Lantern. It's not allowed of me to give up, I've got a world to protect and by God I'll do it. If for nothing else, I am the ring bearer because I fought long and hard to become the hero that I am. Never giving in, never surrendering. Even now I stand with heroes and villains alike that are fighting so that they world may survive. I'm looking at Guy Gardner, Superman, Wonder Woman, Dr. Polaris, Deathstroke the Terminator, and Killer Frost. The latter three are maniacs and yet they are here to try and fight for the planet. I suppose it would do them no good to be under the heel of Darkseid while they themselves want to rule the planet. I suppose war makes strange bedfellows. Even Superman admitted that, even as his face turned grim and elongated. Someone close to him passed on from the virus too. I suppose that sort of thing would change him. Even Captain Marvel is long in the face from it all.
I would like to state here and now for the record that if none of us come back; I hope that our legacy will remain. The world needs us in the worst of ways and if this journal should be found and there is none of us who went to Warworld left I beg of you to keep up the fight and bring down Darkseid. If Darkseid isn't in control and another threat looms keep the peace as best you can. The virus brought some people back from the dead if it does again then they maybe the last hope for this world. I hope that it doesn't come to this, but then with as hard as we've been hit in the past month we don't know how to react. Rumors of a tragedy in Gotham have hit and Batman nowhere to be seen, if he's fallen then one of the best has gone and his worries are over. Unfortunately it also means that we've got problems. Batman's expertise is always valuable, if he's gone we're that much more weak in defenses. Diana is a great tactician though, so I have great hopes there, but I wish very hard that we had the two of them together for this. I suppose though that I'm being irrational about the matter. We've never failed before and the stakes are just as high as they ever are and ever were. I suppose I'll stop being like this and go forth to save the world again.
In the event of my death or all our deaths I leave this, we did what we could. Under no circumstances are you to give up the fight for freedom.
"IN BRIGHTEST DAY, IN BLACKEST NIGHT, NO EVIL SHALL ESCAPE MY SIGHT. LET THOSE WHO WORSHIP EVIL'S MIGHT BEWARE THE POWER OF HUMANITY'S LIGHT."
I leave you this legacy so that you might find a way to do so. My name is Kyle Rayner; I'm the Green Lantern. I'm a member of the Justice League, and I want the world to know above and beyond we care. Let our light burn long after we have gone, so that in the future hope can still be seen. Inspire others to do what they can for their fellow beings, whether that is human, animal, or alien. This is the lesson we all tried to teach, let it be heard if none of our other lessons are to be learned.
I love you Jade,
Kyle Rayner
Chapter 1
It was 100 years ago when the silence was broken. The explosion was heard through the stars as the dread of Warworld exploded in its final attempt to bring down Earth. Darkseid almost beat the heroes of yesteryear, and in his own right he did. There was little left of the heroes but tattered capes and costumes of the Legends that went to save their home. The last thing anyone saw before the tidal wave hit was three fallen stars from the Heavens. The heart of the stars died upon impact. The wave from Warworld hit over the Pacific Ocean wiping out most of the United States, Asia, Europe, Russia, and many other countries. The leveled cities were bad, but not as bad as the mourning in the heart of the people of the world who lost their champions. The only thing left was the Department of Extranormal Operations, which had decided to become the law enforcement of this new world. They had been experimenting on quite a bit of different things just in case of a superhuman war, now they could use them for the job of policing the rest of humanity. Hell had truly come to Earth.
Smallville, Kansas was the home of Clark Kent. The world never knew that this mild mannered reporter was in fact the Man of Steel. Now instead of this little provincial town that stood for heart and morals it was a barren heap used as a junkyard by the D.E.O. for old vehicles and other such scrap. There are still humans that live here, but the most indigenous life form is a "Hybrid." Hybrids are humans that have been altered with animal DNA and changed to better adapt to the environment. The Hybrids of this area are called the Junkyard Dogs. They protect the interests of their creators, but sometimes to no avail.
On the outskirts of the Junkyard a man in a red uniform walks up to the gates. His face cloaked with a hood.
"Ya know, this used to house several people, I'd almost say that this place was happy once," he thought to himself. He looked around the area that resembled more of the Sahara Desert than a town and just shook his head. He continued his walk observing the place with watchful eyes. Then in the corner he noticed the movement of something within the wreckage yard.
"You've come to a bad place Red Death. I think you mean to go back to Arkham City," said the Lead Dog with a snarl.
"Ah...another happy reception committee. I mean to go into this yard and get some supplies so that I can go and help with the Wall."
"You know that I'm not just going to give my valuables over. You know the rules."
Red Death stood there looking at the Leader. He saw 5 more of the Hybrids walk out of the piles and around their leader. He realized that they were fast and agile, but smarts wise they were still as human as could be.
"I figure it won't take Superman to beat the hell out of these guys," he snickered to himself as he looked over the pack. The Leader kept his stance while the others started making their plans of attack. Red Death decided at that moment that he wasn't going to discuss this any further and knew his course of action. He pulled his gun on the Leader. "Yeah I know the rules...if I want it I need to fight first. So let's fight."
Leader looked down the barrel of the gun with the look of a frightened pup. The others saw it and realized that they maybe fast, but the trigger on the gun was faster. If they tried to take him they'd be dead within moments.
"Go right ahead Red Death. I'm sorry to have inconvenienced you."
"Yeah, sure."
Red Death removed his hood and the glint of light off of the silver skull mask shone into the dog's memories. They knew that this man wasn't one to be trifled with. But that wouldn't stop them from trying once his back was turned. He walked past them with confidence and started to go toward the metal piles when the he felt the shadows creeping up on his shoulder.
"Now I could believe that I'm gonna do this without incident, but that would be extremely naïve on me," he thought. He knew that the foolish Hybrids would try to press what they thought as an advantage to take out the red intruder. Foolish of the to consider, but he supposed they thought it was worth the try anyway. He turned around and fired off his gun. The gun was like a cannon when fired. They got the point as they scattered that the gamble didn't pay off.
Leader was on the ground when Red Death walked up. The concussion from the blast of the gun knocked him on his back. His companions decided to leave their Leader to his own devices.
"Tisk tisk...I'd almost think that they don't want to further upset me."
"Heh...Yeah...they don't want to hurt your feelings Red." Red Death looked the dog in the face. Leader realized that he was about to pay for the infringement one way or another. Red Death bent down and grabbed him by the hair of his chest, which made him howl in pain.
"Let's talk a bit about this shall we? I don't know if you've noticed or not, but I'm not Superman. I'm not bright, happy, or in the mood to deal with stupid people. You seem to forget this. I've been here and we've done this dance before. So let me spell this out, next time you die. Alright?"
"Yeah...got it." The dog looked at him with extreme fear. He realized that his life would be spared, but that was little comfort. He knew that Red Death wouldn't leave without the parts that he came for and that maybe too long for his tastes.
Red Death started his walk further into the yard and then stopped to look over his shoulder to see in Leader was still where he left him. "Ya know, maybe I'd like a nice fur tunic. This one's old." Leader cringed as the words hit his ears. Red Death couldn't give any indication of emotion, so it was hard to tell if what he said was an actual thought or just a scare tactic. He was going to take the first option and leave it at that.
"Why start a further fight? I'm just gonna stay here till he's out of sight then I'm going to go and sleep. Yeah that's it, sleep for a long, long time that way I stay out of his sight."
Red Death started looking at the pieces of scrap metal laying about the place. All the while he stood and thought of the ordeal. "Ya know, I'd love it if this wasn't the norm. Ever since Warworld came back to Earth that last time this has been a regular thing. Hope that little incident got him thinking, or maybe I'm too hopeful." He often thought this way. It was tiring to him to keep fighting one battle after the other. The victor was normally the one that walked away alive, but then again that was a relative term to him. He saw the senselessness of it all and he hated what he had to do to get a job done. That was something though he had to get over and quickly. There was no escape from it. There were no heroes left on Earth, just people trying to survive. He wished that there were heroes, but they all died. The nanoprobe virus started the job and Darkseid finished it. God how bleak had these days become.
He looked around for pieces that were big and thick to fit the wall around Arkham City. 100 years ago it was called Gotham City, but that was before Brother Joker came to be. He was the product of religion and the genocidal nature of the psychotic man. The Joker killed a man for reasons that only he truly understood and then picked up the book he was reading. The Bible told him stories about sinners, God, and how God dealt with sin in the days before Jesus. Joker took that as a lesson for himself and killed millions by flooding the city and filling it with his Joker Venom. The rest of the people followed him afterward because he had the only food source in town. Batman tried to stop him only to fall victim to one of the elaborate plans Joker had. No one but the Joker knows what truly happened that day, but speculation has run high. The reality of it all though is that atop the old Gotham City Police Department next to the old Batsignal; the Joker had Batman nailed to a cross and placed there as a martyr to his cause. Red Death saw it; he was one of the lucky individuals to escape Arkham City and helped to erect the Wall around it. He was scared that "The Faithful" as the Joker has called them would escape and reek havoc among those outside. Life has been hell enough; he didn't want them to suffer that much more.
Thoughts of the heroes of yesteryear hit Red Death. He looked up to the sky like so many people do. He looked for any sign that Warworld would be reborn and return to finish the job it started. He looked up farther and thought; "This is ridiculous, anyone that was on Warworld got incinerated in a moment when it exploded...but what if? God, I'm not even alive and I'm worried about it. Suppose they couldn't kill everything human in me."
Red Death was there the day Warworld exploded; Nanomachines resurrected him from the dead. He was programmed to destroy metahumans of any sort and lead other corpses into battle. Unfortunately the superhero community had been able to fend off the virus so that the programmed "Death" faction was given back their free will. The problems really hit when Red Death realized that he couldn't remember who he was in life, all he knew is that he was Red Death. He struggled to remember, but nothing came to his memory. Though his search for his identity had to wait, Warworld arrived and the issue was more important. The Arkham City Faithful were attacking trying to get people to repent and Batman was nowhere to be seen. Red Death led troops to deal with these errant individuals who fell victim to the Joker. Then he saw it, the symbol of the Joker's madness; the Batman nailed on a cross. He fought harder to keep these people out of other cities. He beat them back only to see the massive Warworld explode and the green energies that tried to protect Earth from being destroyed saved the planet the one last time. The Earth survived, but not all the surface did. The shockwave ripped up the surface rather badly. It destroyed most everything, but the East Coast remained intact for the most part. There were areas that were wrecked severely, but then there were those areas still standing proudly, though the people were as savage as those outside the area. Many tales are told to this day of all the heroes that died in battle. Most say that they ascended to their godhood by their final act of courage. Some say that they are out there amongst the stars so far away from home that they haven't gotten back. Others have come to the grim conclusion that they are gone and that the only thing remaining are the bits of their costumes that were left on the fragments of Warworld that did breech the green barrier. Red Death has heard them all; more often than not he goes in search of these tales. He's an encyclopedia of all the tales that have been told thus far about them all. Sometimes he thinks that if circumstances hadn't forced the position he's in on him he'd have been one of them. Reality is grim, and so the idea fades just as quick. Then he thinks about a book that he picked up. The last words in it were "Just Imagine." That's all he could do, but the truth is that reality says he must fight dirty and deadly. Something that every one of the heroes he idolizes avoided every chance they got.
"Overkill? Yeah, but hey, who's gonna stop me? Batman? There was a happy time once. I like the Superman stories. He was a good guy. I think his methods were a bit on the simplistic side, but hey those were simpler times." He knew that they were only human under it all, but his thoughts on the matter were pretty clear. They did what they had to do to lead an example. "He and the other heroes did what they had to do for survival. Thanks to their policies though...it caused one hell of an upheaval. Times were different then, maybe if they'd had some insight that Warworld was coming they would have planned for it. Suppose that's one of those things. It happens, no one can help it, but we do what he have to."
The world is different. The D.E.O. wanted to control the populace after the fall of the world, and almost have. The hybrids are fighting, so are some of the humans, and then the Death Faction, but the D.E.O. is far more powerful. The nanomachine virus was theirs originally. Word got out of the development of these machines and their purpose, which meant that certain groups in the hero community would get interested. In these times the rumors of what happened are varied. Someone said that one of the Bat- family got themselves into D.E.O. headquarters and tried to collect a sample when it infected them and then started using the communications links in the hero's costume to transmit its design to computers that could mass-produce. Others say that the test run of them went horribly awry and what the probes learned ended up corrupting them. No one knows for certain. The only sources of the nano's left is in Arkham, in the Death Faction and in the hands of the D.E.O. No one knows where in Arkham, though no one has the courage to go and face the faithful. There in lies the problem. The detection equipment made to track them hasn't found any traces of them outside those areas, but even though the D.E.O. has them they deny it. It's a frightening prospect to the people of the world; no one wants a repeat of the Nano Virus, but they'd still take it over the loss of all the heroes and places in which to go to seek refuge. Warworld got into range of the planet and then attacked. It hit every government office and church, synagogue, and temple. Darkseid would rule this planet or have it destroyed for its defiance. His message to the people of Earth was clear, he would be their one God or they would no longer have the need of one.
Red Death shook these thoughts away from his head. He had a long journey back to Arkham and the thoughts of the way things were weren't going to change what happened. "Why they choose me? Some say they did DNA analysis and came up with who they wanted, but what good does that do when I don't know who they is." It seemed to him that no matter what he did, he couldn't escape that question either. He didn't know who created him. Why he was created was obvious, cannon fodder, but that didn't answer whose plans it best fit. The D.E.O. was the obvious candidate since they created the nanoprobes, Lex Luthor was an evil genius exposed right about the time that Warworld hit; the Joker had a cruel sense of humor. All these people, no real clue. What good was it to speculate? He needed answers and all he did was ask questions. "I'm gonna find out one day. Until that day though, survival is of the utmost importance. God knows that the faction lines have blurred for the common good, but the truth of the matter is that once the common threat is gone we're gonna start killing ourselves."
He saw a cart and put his parts there into it. He walked around for about two hours filling the cart with all sorts of different odds and ends before coming up to a man working on the engine of one of the broken down vehicles. Just as he walked up to the man he noticed that he'd shifted many towns in the process he was standing firmly in Keystone City. The "newer" old vehicle deposit, and there with the vehicles was Charlie. Charlie was always a busy man; he always was under the hood of a car or truck. Red Death had talked to him several times and while they couldn't claim friendship they could claim friendly acquaintance. In Charlie's case, any sort of "friendly acquaintance" was a welcome thing.
"This is where they started to store the old vehicles. The D.E.O. thought it funny to store here the fastest ways around in the old home of the Flash. Damn comedians in the D.E.O., that's all we need," he thought to himself. "You got a vehicle for me Charlie?"
The mechanic turned around to see who it was that spoke to him. "Hey Red Death...yeah we've got a few ready. Have any troubles getting through the junkyard?"
"Just some of the normal animal control issues. Easily taken care of with the proper incentive. So what kind of fuel source do I need this time."
"Nadda, we got us the latest scrap model. It's electrical and thanks to that little nanotech upgrade that we all know they aren't using, yeah right. They've been able to convert some matter into a nice little source that never burns out. Said they used Black Lightning's DNA and some skin samples to get the power source then they have a brain C.P.U. that controls the output of electricity."
"Makes me wonder why the D.E.O. abandoned this place?" Red Death inspected over some of the vehicles. Some of them were in surprisingly good shape. All they needed was a special power source that was developed by the D.E.O. right after the Warworld attack. Once the power packs get upgraded they discarded the old ones to this vehicle graveyard.
"Are you kidding? They figure that no matter what catching people would be easy. I mean have you seen the tech? They've got a damn model now that clocks 230 in under 20 seconds. I mean my god, why should they worry about an old junker? They've upgraded so much that even if someone decided to make this into a weapon they'd laugh it off and then neutralize the idiot who did it."
"Good point. Still, it's the fastest way I have to get this junk to Arkham."
"You still keeping up repairs on that wall?"
"You want Brother Joker and his faithful coming through here?"
Charlie stared at Red Death for a moment in a look of bewilderment. "Broth...NO...that is that I wouldn't like to have them ruin my business." He grabbed a wrench that Red Death handed him and when back to work on the car sitting in front of them.
"I thought not. I'm gonna take that old truck. It'll suit my needs"
"Wait a minute. Tell me something first," he came out from under the hood of the vehicle. He stood there with a look of worried questioning in his face. "What's it like in Arkham?"
Red Death turned his face slightly as he looked toward the ground. It seemed that the shadow's followed his face. "If it's payment you want, I could find something a lot more worth your while than that."
"I wanna know. I really do."
Red Death took a heavy breath and then looked toward the wrecking yard. "The first time you see the downtown area you see the purple robes. They flow like water down there. They try to convert you and if you don't go along with the plan well they make you a happy man. Joker was on a heist the day that a priest got in his way. The priest tried to convert him, and he successfully gave the Joker the means. Within three months Joker became Brother Joker the Horseman of the Apocalypse named Death. While everyone fought the virus and then fought Warworld, Joker kept going. He flooded Gotham City from the Water Reservoir. The water was filled with his venom. It made people happy. The survivors of that incident all gathered around Joker and banded to him. The man killed all those people, over half the damn city. Then told them if they wanted food and fresh water that they would have to work for him. What happened afterward is purely speculation from this point." Red Death knelt down and started drawing the bat symbol in the dirt with his finger. He looked up at Charlie again, and though his was an expressionless face Charlie could tell how painful this was on him. "Joker was always Batman's nemesis. Always a thorn in the side, like Superman and Luthor. His death though would be the spectacle that Joker always wanted to finish the Dark Knight off with. He wanted Batman brought to him alive. After the detonation of Warworld and the destruction of the fleets of Apokolips he returned home bloodied and bruised. They went out to Wayne Manor on a search for loyal followers and any sort of funds to keep them going. All of the men started looking for anything they could find such as hidden safes and the like, instead they found a door. There it was before him. The cave of wonders that many villains tried to find for years. No one had ever done so to my knowledge. He stared directly into the mouth and looked around. There he saw his faithful laying on the ground unconscious due to security features."
Red Death looked up at the sun overhead and noticed that even in the day he could see the moon rather clearly. "Batman came into the house and was immediately hit with enough volts to fry a cow. Luckily the amps weren't high enough to kill him. Batman was tired and weak after all the fighting he'd been doing. He'd watched everything and everyone he knew fall. It was said that they crucified him, then it was also said that the man they crucified was Nightwing. The rumors that Batman was killed in the nanovirus haven't ever been proven or unproven. The only thing I know is that someone in a Bat Costume is nailed dead to a cross on top of GCPD, if that's how it really got there or if there was another reason for it I don't know. Doesn't matter, he's dead and on the top of that building."
Charlie stood there with tears in his eyes and a look of utter shock. "My God. That's the most disturbing thing I've heard in a long time."
Red Death put his cold gaze back on Charlie. "God has nothing to do with that place, even if the Joker or the Laughing Corpse as he calls himself these days says it does." Red Death turned away and then looked at the vehicles again. For a moment there was nothing but stone silence. Then out of nowhere, "Well, I think that it's time that I start toward Arkham. See ya Charlie."
Stunned and shaken, the only words that Charlie could muster were:
"Yeah...see ya Red Death."
Red Death got into the truck and started it up and then headed out for Arkham. It was going to be a long drive, but it would give him more time to reflect on the conversation with Charlie. "I'm sorry that we had to leave it at that Charlie, but right now I've got too much to do. Oh well, out of the fat and into the fire. Arkham City here I come."
Chapter 2: Arkham City
Gotham City was never Metropolis. That was always the greatest hope of the heroes of Gotham was to make it into that sort of Utopia. If any of its defenders were alive today their hearts would no doubt sink from the sheer horror of what the city has become. Brother Joker and his faithful have turned the city into a massive Holy Land. Their main temple is the old Gotham City Police Department. The faithful go there daily to pray at the site where the Batman was placed to show the new order. Though today, Batman is called by another name.
There were at least a hundred people at the temple to hear the words of the Bishop of the Order of Brother Joker. He was to speak of the glorious rise to the words of God to Joker's ears. The people here today have always known Brother Joker, but those of their parents and in most case their grandparents knew what the man behind the Order truly was. Joker was a psychopath, the most classic case of it that there could be. Some people have said that the reasons serial killers kill are 100% understood only by them. In Joker's case that is a truth held very astutely. These days however, Brother Joker is known for being a cleanser of sin. The sick part is that Joker too believes this.
In the 100 years that all the heroes have been dead the Joker remains as ever sick and depraved. The nanovirus resurrected him as well, but he remained different than the rest of resurrected. Joker knew all to well how to manipulate the nanoprobes at his command. It was but another melody to his chaotic symphony. Then, this is the Joker.
The Bishop took the podium in front of the congregation very proudly. The man wore his robe proudly as he started his mass. He looked at each with the grace of a preacher and all the ego of the richest man alive.
"My Brethren, I call you all here today for the 100th anniversary of the Bat Messiah's death. The day we the faithful crucified the Bat Messiah so that his lesson maybe learned for all time," said the Bishop proudly. He stood there with pride in his eyes as he looked at the sheep.
"HAIL THE BAT MESSIAH!!!" Each person screamed it in the streets. They all stood there as proudly as the Bishop.
"Yes, let us remember the day that the wise man came upon our Savior, the Joker, and then told him of the Holy Scriptures. The day that he discovered his true purpose and became our leader in the Holy ways." The masses lapped it up. They were proud to hear the ramblings of the Bishop; they knew that they would be blessed for their obedience to their leader. "We all must revere the day that the Joker realized that he was the Horseman Death and showed all of the city the way of the Scriptures."
"HAIL THE SCRIPTURES!!!"
The Bishop stood over to the side. He stared at the people that were clutching their bibles and crosses. "Now we hear the words of our Savior. We revere him today for his resurrection and his Holy Name he chose upon that day." He raised his arms to the oncoming of the Cardinals with the glass case. The crowd started to pray and give their praise to the case, but the horrific picture inside of it was the Joker. "All give your praise to The Laughing Corpse."
The case slowly opened and the burning eyes of its occupant glared right through the crowd. This was no Savior, but an insane man rose to a place above his actual station. He walked up to the podium in his purple robes, "HI ALL YOU FAITHFUL OUT THERE!!! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!"
The crowd looked up at him with fear and awe, something that the Joker (or the Laughing Corpse by name now) took great enjoyment in. He gave a smug look to his Cardinals then turned back toward the crowd. "We have much to discuss today congregation, like the idea that for the 100th anniversary of the fall of the Bat Messiah and his rise to his true purpose that we make this the time to spread the word to the world. I have heard many reports from the outside that says that there are those that pray to false deity, such as Superman, and the almighty Justice League. Even to what they consider the Elder Gods amongst the Justice Society. I say we must spread the WORD OF GOD TO THESE SINNERS!!! Who wants to spread the Word with me to the sinners? Who wants us to show them the true way of GOD?!! HA HA HA HA HA!!!"
The crowd cheered for their leader. The idea was planted into the heads of those out there and the Laughing Corpse knew that now he could attack the Wall and wreak havoc amongst the world once again. He continued about his plans for the breech of the Wall and his plans for the conversion of the faithless. Behind him two of his Cardinals grumbled about their predicament.
"We hate this Cobblepot, the entire set up. Working for the Joker, we have no freedoms, and our every move is watched," said Two-Face with a look of hatred toward the Laughing Corpse. "Brother Joker our eyes. That man is a maniac; he could care less about brotherly love. He wants to see a body count."
"Yes, Two-Face, I do believe that we all know that. As far as our situation is concerned though I think we're soon to get out of it. Now that the grinning idiot is about to take up in plans of world conquest things may get a bit lax around here. We may be able to set something up with one of our errant Cardinal Brethren."
"They're all loyal to the Joker, Cobblepot. No one questions him but us."
"Oh, not so. There is one other, but luckily he's no longer in the employ of our "Savior." Do you know who I'm talking about?"
"Don't act like we're stupid Cobblepot, we're just not too sure about him. Of course then we aren't sure about you either and we're working with you."
"Yes, hard times and hard situations do make for strange bedfellows."
"Stranger and stranger yet, but we can't stand being in the employ of the Joker any longer. If you have and idea, we're more than willing to listen to it."
"Hold that thought, Two-Face. Soon enough, we're gonna give that man something to rain on his little parade."
Two-Face smiled with hatred and delight at the prospect of being out of Joker's control. It would be the first time in years. Penguin and Two- Face were also dead and resurrected again due to the nanomachines. Joker specially had them brought back for his own dubious planning and so that he could personally torture them. He made them Cardinals in his Order so that he could watch them and they could watch him as he did what none of the criminal element could ever do; rule the Gotham night. Even now under its new name, Arkham was still just Gotham with a new ruler. Batman protected this city, but the Joker brought them together. It was a masterstroke for the Clown Prince of Crime, he brought the city together where none else could and could cause grand scale mayhem in the process. Not that he couldn't have done it on his own, Joker was good at that, but it was all in finesse. Now he had the hordes for one thing while he enacted another. It was the perfect way to make another level of hell in a world full of them.
The sermon ended and the Laughing Corpse turned to his Cardinals. "Come boys, we have plans in the works and a world to make smile." He looked at them with the contempt and smugness of royalty in the presence of a subject. He knew that they hated him and that they would see him dead rather than follow him in his plans for the demise of more people, but he didn't care. He welcomed the attempt, he thought of it as a training mission for the two of them. Joker often wondered if he had any influence on them whatsoever. They always seemed to brood and plot behind his back, but never did anything about it. In his own right, he was disappointed that they did nothing to him. It was a shame that two (or as Two-Face's psychosis would have it three) inferior, but stimulating criminal geniuses like them would do nothing to him but plot.
"Yes Brother Joker. We are here for your service." Two-Face said with gritted teeth.
"Harvey, how many times do I have to tell you, I am the Laughing Corpse now." Joker smiled heavily when saying this to him. Two-Face was less than pleased by the comment however.
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!!! WE ARE TWO-FACE!!!" He got into the Laughing Corpse's face. "Dent is dead, he has been dead a long time now, and especially now that we have been brought back from the grave. The tombstone said 'Harvey Dent' Two-Face came out of that grave. It is his grave now and we're the only people left. Do you understand?"
"Touchy, touchy. You must remember, I am not just some hood you can intimidate Two-Face. I am the spiritual leader of a vast organization, not to mention the fact that I'm responsible for bringing you from the grave. I can further play with your psyche if I so wished it, it wouldn't be hard to do. I'll call you anything I want, and you'll take it, I don't care. I'm in to making people suffer, and you're making yourself a nice scabby target." Joker smiled sadistically at Two-Face. Two-Face knew that the man meant what he said and he'd do it too.
"We hate him, we hate him with a passion. Smile for now you grinning gargoyle, soon we're gonna make you suffer. There won't be a world order of smiling faithful, but a revolution that's gonna bring you down."
Joker walked over to Penguin. Penguin stood there with a cigarette in his mouth and looked at his "leader" striding confidently to him. He knew that the man was looking to make a point that he lorded over him and Two-Face, yet he too took things in stride.
"Well Ozzy, what did you think of my little speech today?"
"It was in the vernacular, a travesty, but as you are so fond of pointing out the sheep followed the herder into hell and never batted an eye."
"I just love warm woolen mittens, don't you? HA HA HA!!!" The Joker laughed endlessly to the skies. Penguin however found the comment less than amusing, but dared not show it to the Joker.
"Keep laughing you buffoon, I'll soon have you sorted out. When I do, oh yes, when I do I'll make you suffer for every last thing you've done to me." The Penguin smiled at the Joker's comment so that all appearances would look good.
Two-Face walked away from Joker on his way to the rectory. Often times he went there when he'd had a run-in with Joker. He had taken no more than three steps when the Laughing Corpse looked his direction. "Oh Cardinal Two-Face, where are you going?"
Two-Face turned his head to look over his shoulder and said, "I'm gonna go pray for awhile...my "Savoir."
"Okie-dokey," the Laughing Corpse said with a pleasing grin. He then darted over to Penguin shoulder. "Man is he a sour puss or what?"
"Perhaps he's a bit on the edgy side at the moment."
"Hope it's something I've done...HA HA HA HA HA!!!!"
Two-Face made it to the rectory and looked toward the wall. He saw the modified cross that hung there, and instead of the face of Jesus stood the face of the Batman. He stared into the eyes of the fallen hero with such disdain that the only thing to rival it was the hatred he had for the Joker.
"You couldn't leave well enough alone could you? We had a life before you, we had it all and you came and ruined it all for Dent. You, Gordon, and him, you could've had Holiday together. The mob would've been gone and then we could've hit the Freaks. We could've had it all, but no, you had to be the hard-ass that wouldn't give an inch. Dent worked hard hours to get Holiday, and for all that you brought down a lot more on top of him. Now you got us, and you still had the gall to call us friend. Bastard." Two-Face picked up the cross and threw it across the room. "BASTARD!!!"
He grabbed the figure off the cross and stared hard into its sunken wooden eyes with killer instinct and contempt. "We have a tortured existence due to you. We finally had peace and because you wouldn't let go we've been awakened. Now look at it, Joker took it all from you. Then that freak brought us back from our rest and quiet to lord over how he did what we couldn't. Damn you, we'll get revenge on you yet. Oh yes we will, and when it happens you'll know what sort of horrors you created. We will make sure that this time you don't get a simple martyrdom on a cross, but an existence of Hell like we've had."
A preacher knocked on the door. "Cardinal Two-Face?" The boy trembled as he called to his Cardinal
"WHAT?!!"
The preacher entered the room nervously. He was terrified of Two- Face and with good reason. In his career as a Gotham power he killed several people on the fate of a coin. A coin that to this day he still has with him. He looked at the preacher in the face with the disfigured eye, which glared deeply into the boy. The heart of the preacher pounded with fear as he stared at the scar on the face of the Cardinal. "Cardinal Penguin would like to see you at your convenience."
"Fine, then be gone from us before we give you a closer look at the scar."
"Cardinal sir may I ask you a question?"
Two-Face stood up and looked over the preacher. He fished in his pocket for a moment and then pulled out his coin. He looked at the preacher for a moment and then flipped it into the air. The preacher heard ever whir of air that it made before it fell back into the Cardinal's hand. His heart pounded harder and harder still until Two-Face looked at him with a somewhat calmer disposition.
"What do you want to know?"
"I'm sorry for intruding upon your prayers and private vigil Cardinal, but I overheard some of your words. I was curious, do you hate the Bat Messiah so much?"
Two-Face turned away from the boy and stood there with the figure of Batman in his hand. He stared at it hard, but not with the same look he had previously given it. The question mulled in his mind for a moment and then he looked over his shoulder at the boy. "Yes."
"How can it be that you believe so heavily in the works of the Savior and not in the Messiah? They are a unity that many have never dreamed of achieving."
"We believe what we've seen. The "Savior" brought us back from a certain death, the Messiah damned me to it. You know peace because you were born into a world that has known the faithful to be a way of life. We've known more than that, and we can tell you that if it weren't for the Messiah, we could have been better off. So could you. The myth of the exploding star being a sign of righteousness is a load. The only thing righteous about all of it is that we're finally rid of the people that ruined our lives. But balance said that while we're rid of them that we also have to clean up the mess they left."
"I've never heard of it that way."
"You've never had a reason to. You're brainwashed since birth to believe that the Savior and the Messiah brought you out of a sinful existence on this planet. What they brought you into was a city trapped inside of a wall with people that have to be hunted due to the fact they won't conform. The Savior killed most of them and the Killer Croc Sect is eating the others. You hear the beautiful part about how we are changing the sinners to faithful by cleansing. Foolish boy."
The shocked look on the preachers face said it all, the realities that Two-Face was giving him were sinking in. That left him with very few words, but he managed to find a few. "I'll take these words into advisement, thank you Cardinal Two-Face."
The preacher turned to walk out the door when two bullets found their way into the boys back. Two-Face stood there with the pistol and his coin. "Make sure that you do in what ever life you have next." He walked up to the communications box on the wall and pushed the button. "Laughing Corpse?"
"Yes Cardinal? Have you got a Happy Meal in the box for me?"
"We have a traitor. He was slandering your purpose. He broke the cross in the rectory. We had to cleanse him of his sins."
"Ooh...well at least you got to have some fun. Oh well, we have a few hundred more to counteract that, I'll start a citywide search for more non- believers in our midst. HA HA HA!!!"
"Yeah, we got plenty more for the meat wagon. Cardinal Two-Face out."
He walked to the door intent on making his meeting with Penguin then he stopped and looked back at the preacher on the floor. "Price of knowledge these days." He threw the figure of Batman at him and walked off leaving the body for the cleanup crew.
Penguin poured himself a glass of Brandy and sat in his chair awaiting Two-Face's company. He sat there and looked at the picture on the wall, it was a depiction of the battle between the Joker and Batman. It was painted at the Laughing Corpse's behest. He stared long at it wondering how much more of it was an exaggeration than just the layers of paint showed him. He often thanked God (albeit as more of a phrase than actual belief) that he wasn't a telepath. He knew that if he got into the Joker's head that it would be a nail that would drive him utterly insane in the end. He looked at some of the other adornments that were around the walls of his office. Such as the case file pictures of Mr. Zasz, Killer Moth, Killer Croc, and several others. He looked with quiet laughter at the fools that tried so hard to end the Batman. Often times Penguin laughed at the way Batman was brought down. All the villains that you could ask for, several different psychosis problems, and even some that were as sane as the next man. Out of all these the one to take him down was a man in a robe, with a cross, and a bible in hand.
"Is this how you imagined your fall Batman? At the hands of a madman with religious zealot written all over him? You know, I always thought that you were too good to be brought down by the likes of the insane individuals. Bane, Ra's Al Ghul, Me, someone like that could bring the Batman to his knees, and it was the Joker that got you in the end. Many people in the underworld took the bet that is how it would happen. All of us that got to be your betters at times took the bet that Joker would be dead due to you finally snapping. We were wondering when you would finally fold underneath the pressure. Damn if you didn't do it, no you held on and fell under the man's boot heel. Now you're his symbol. I couldn't have thought of a better ending for you, but I might yet you pointed eared freak." The Penguin took another drink from his Brandy when he heard the door open.
"You sent for us?" Two-Face stared at the drink and then went to go pour himself a glass.
"Quite my friend. I have found our missing Cardinal, and better than that he's in familiar territory for us both."
"Oh? Where would he be at?"
The Penguin lit a cigarette and blew the smoke from his nostrils as he smiled. "Would you believe in old Gotham?"
"The Waterfront? That's perfect, so when do we meet with him."
"We make the arrangements. Some of my personal preachers went to the Waterfront and tried to convert some of the faithless today, they came back with reports of someone that struck fear among a few of them. He called himself the God of Fear. When they tried to cleanse him he ended up dousing them in some sort of mist. They ran back here to tell me. What I plan to do is to send one of them back with a note and then we meet with him to discuss plans to show the Savior a new path."
"We will be sure to keep up with this. We're rather excited to be rid of the clown finally. Hopefully we can bring him closer to his Messiah than he is now."
"Perhaps, but only time will tell. I'll send one of my preachers first thing."
Two-Face got up and finished the Brandy in a swallow and left the room with a smile on his face. Penguin sat back and thought about the words that his uneasy partner left him with. "Hopefully we can bring him closer to his Messiah than he is now."
Penguin turned his chair back to the Batman/Joker depiction. He looked over the picture in extreme measure thinking that maybe Two-Face had something in what he said. He thought long and hard about what they could do to bring Joker to his knees. Whatever it was he knew it to be in the picture and in the words of Two-Face. What though could it be? Then after an hour of deliberation with himself he looked at the picture with a new vigor. "HA! This is a plan worthy of the Joker himself."
The Laughing Corpse sat on his throne in the office of the former Commissioner, James Gordon. He was in a mood to bring in the masses and allow them to ask their feeble questions and allow them the answers that he knew that only he could give them. He did this every so often so that he could show the lowly people what it was like at the top.
One man walked in very slowly and knelt before the throne of the Laughing Corpse. He looked up at him with reverence and gave a kiss at the feet of his Savior. "Oh my blessed Savior, I ask of you that you give my family food to eat. We are but humble people and have not much for food."
"Food? OF COURSE I WILL!!! The Laughing Corpse looked over to his bodyguard and nodded his head and then the guard shot the man. "See how kind I am? You'll be home in time for dinner, as the main course. HA HA HA HA HA!!!! See to it that this man is trimmed into nice steaks and roasts for his family would you Gil?"
"As it pleases you Laughing Corpse," said the man with full respect. He murdered a man in cold blood yet he acted as if he did something as normal as shaking the man's hand. The Laughing Corpse saw this and knew that he was as loyal a guard as any he'd seen. That had to mean some sort of trouble. Though he didn't think that just any death would do, it had to be something along the lines of protection, then the thought of he Croc Sect. He knew that the likelihood of conversion was nil, but what would it hurt to try? He couldn't after all be killed by conventional ways and though he knew it he still acted as humble in his mind as to any other religious leader.
"Thus proving without a doubt, there's one born every minute. HA HA HA HA!!!" The Laughing Corpse shook the thought from his head. He looked at the far wall at the cross that hung from his wall. He well remembered the day when he had all the crosses changed to look like the scene atop the Holy Orders Temple. He looked deep into the eyes of the cross with that smile on his face.
"100 years later and you're still beaten Bats. Hee hee heh...I got you. No one else could and I got you and you never ever suspected it. You knew that the Horsemen of the Apocalypse came into town and smiled the deaths head grin that you came to despise of me. Not that I cared, I had my laughs and no matter what, no matter the ending we always knew it would be you and me." Joker turned his back on the cross for a moment. He walked around the room for a second. In the midst of the silence he looked over to the cross.
"DON'T MOCK ME BATMAN!!! You know I hate that silent treatment you always gave me. You knew I was your better from the moment you laid your beady little white all over eyes at me. You laughed with me once; at that moment I knew that you could understand the joke. I knew you could, but no, you wouldn't get the others that I told. None of them, NONE!!! I hated it when I tried so hard to make you get the joke, to laugh again and you stared at me the same way you are now, silent and cold. You think that because you're a wooden statue that I would miss the signs that you were actually in this room staring at me with those blank eyes? DID YOU?!!"
He calmed down for a moment and looked out the window at the people praying at the building and pointing at the body that was nailed to the cross above them. He smiled the sinister smile and laughed the sinister laugh that had been his trademark for more than a century.
"Stare all you want Batsy, I got your flock. All of them, and soon just in the name of making the world realize your failure I'll take the others as well. All those little friends of yours in the other cities of the world will have faithful just bursting to join. What? Yes, I've heard about the Holy Order of the Justice League and the Church of the JSA. I know them all, and they will all fall before the Order of Brother Joker. What of St. Dumas? Ra's Al Ghul owns the Order of St. Dumas; they're protecting Eden. Don't you know anything? But soon I'll have my own Eden and the world will have nothing but a smile."
Joker looked out the window again and then grabbed a glass of water and threw it at the cross. The glass shattered into pieces and soaked the wooden icon. "LEX LUTHOR HELPED ME GET ARKHAM CITY!!! Though taking over Santa Prisca is a point I have thought about, but Lexy would be cross. On the other hand Lexy could help me again, and I know he'd love to get his hands on Eden. Yes, YES WE COULD HAVE EDEN!!! But how to get to Santa Prisca to ask him? Well, what's a spiritual leader for if not for visiting places to give hope? HA HA HA HA HA!!!"
"There is a week long celebration being held in honor of our greatest battle and your death. The plans to run the Wall is at the end of the final day, but we're gonna make the faithful real zealots by the that time. HA HA HA HA HA!!! I'm gonna resurrect your little friend on the roof Batsy. Oh yes, I'm going to bring Nightwing back for a presentation to the faithful that'll make them march through the hell that's outside and we're gonna have a barbecue after to celebrate! Or is that to commiserate? Either way when the fires start he'll suffer your fate again and again. And all this because you wouldn't laugh." The Laughing Corpse turned to the city and looked at the crowd outside the building. "You really didn't think I was fooled did you Batman? DID YOU THINK YOU COULD HIDE THAT YOU WEREN'T THE ONE CRUCIFIED ON MY TEMPLE FROM ME?!! DID YOU?!! Sorry to disappoint you Batsy, but I knew too well I didn't get you. I knew it the entire time, but no one out there does. HA HA HA!!! They think you're rotting body is on top of the world looking down on them as a symbol of the great coming. It's wonderful that they're so blind."
There on the wall in his office stared back the cross. Batman's face cold and unfeeling. The man that was depicted on it wasn't always like that, but when it came to defeating the evil that loomed in his city he had to be. If for a moment he showed the unwavering look of fear the criminal element wouldn't have taken him seriously. Today though he is dead. Things have changed, and with the times he might have too. For today in the eye of the wooden representation stands a single drop of water. As if it had heard every single word that the maniac in front of him spewed he shed one tear to denote his feeling of failure. He always tried to remain the proud protector of Gotham, but now his worst nightmare stands before him the leader of the people.
"Look now Batman, I rule the night. HA HA HA HA HA!!!"