Titans Clash

"Let them go, Joker!"

Bebe and Jimmy Gordon cowered in terror behind the two purple legs of the Joker, who held a knife to their mother's throat. When he had brought them to the rooftop of the skyscraper, he had quietly instructed them to remain behind him no matter what happened. With their mommy's neck laid bare against the razor, there was little they could do to protest.

Joker's eyes lighted upon his enemy, and flashed his signature wicked grin. "Only if you make me, Bats!"

Batman stood at the opposite edge of the roof, tensed for the maniac's next move. If he attacked too quickly, the clown's eager blade would tear into Barbara's throat before he got halfway across the roof. Once again, he had given the Joker the upper hand. Unless…

"Maybe the cops will make you first," he warned, silently fingering the control pad on his belt. At the flick of a switch, the Tumbler inched its way forward on the street below, preparing its weapons.

"Oh, please, Batsy, that's the oldest trick in the book!" the madman taunted, hitching the razor closer to Barbara's jugular. "You fly solo; you wouldn't bring the cops here!"

"Maybe I did," he bluffed. It was a gambit, but all he had to do was distract the clown long enough to get the Tumbler into position. Just a few more seconds... "They're all on their way here, choppers and all; ready to take you back to your cell in Arkham. Is that a risk you're willing to take for a single life?"

Joker glared at him delightfully, fingering the razor handle with nervous impatience. "You're a god-awful liar, Bats. I don't hear any sirens…"

At that moment, the Tumbler issued a wailing screech, imitating a police car to a tee. At the same time, it fired a few rounds into the side of the building, as if cops were shooting at them. The two seconds' hesitation that flicked across Joker's face was all Batman needed; with silent precision, he leapt across the building, knocking the Joker to the edge. The clown swiveled his arms wildly as he teetered on the edge, then fell to the streets below.

Batman immediately turned to the three Gordons, who had met each other in a hurried embrace, as tears flowed from the children's eyes while their mother soothingly comforted them. "Are you alright?" he asked.

Barbara nodded quickly, never tearing her arms away from her two children. She had lived through enough traumas this past year; they all had, and had toughened out for it. She never cried anymore, for all her tears had dried up after the last time they had been taken hostage by Two Face. Bebe, however, was shiny-eyed and staring behind Batman, at the place where Joker had just fallen from, horror spread across her face.

Batman met her gaze, confused at what she was suddenly getting so terrified over, when he felt a hand jerk down on his leg, pulling him off the building. He grabbed onto the edge fiercely, and Barbara rushed forward to hold onto him, Jimmy and Bebe close behind.

"Get yourselves out of here!" Batman yelled, straining against Joker's death grip that pulled him down like quicksand.

"No!" Jimmy cried out. "You just saved us! We're not leaving you!"

His mother shook her head in agreement. "Just hold on a little longer!"

"Go find Jim," Batman rasped out. "Get yourselves somewhere safe…"

And with that he was gone.

xxx

He fell into space, the Joker not too far behind him. With a snarl, he made to fan out his cape to slow the fall, but at that moment Joker launched a boomerang at him, tearing his cape to shreds as it spread before him. The slowed descent was all Joker needed to catch up with him, and he careened into the Batman, sending them both into the railing on the outside of the building.

Joker righted himself first, and withdrew a machete from his jacket, lunging at the Batman with it brandished wildly behind him. But before he could slice into the armor, a sudden flash of silver glinted in his eye, and the next thing he knew a searing pain burned across his whiplashed face. He felt blood drip down his nose and over his scars, and turning his eyes back to the Bat he saw the bloodied batarang in the knight's grasp.

Snarling with rage, he swung with the machete at him again, this time meeting the spike gauntlets on the Kevlar-encrusted arms. Batman grabbed his arm and shoved him to the side again, dangerously close to the edge for the second time. He let loose a wild cry as they leapt towards each other, machete and batarang clutched to the point of strangulation, trying to gain the upper hand with a flurry of blades and fists.

They twisted and weaved around each other, swallowing each other whole in their unadulterated fury, smashing through armor and cleaving through flesh with each deadly stroke that contained enough force to topple a man. But these two were more than just men; they were gods, titans warring over something so fundamental, so primordially engraved in their bones, they couldn't remember its cause anymore, only its meaning. Hate fueled the fight now; a hatred so imbued with passion that thunder sounded in the distance, signaling that the two warriors were at it again.

Finally, they forced the battle to the edge of the stairs, and Joker, attempting to throttle the Batman, lurched forward and grabbed his throat, sending them both tumbling through empty space again.

Barbara and the kids ran down the last flight of stairs and away from the building, just as Jim screeched to a halt in the distance and bolted out of the car towards them.

"Are you alright?" he asked quickly, embracing his wife and catching the tops of his kids' heads in his hands.

"Yes, but Batman…" Barbara began, but trailed off as she noticed the two falling figures above them.

"Daddy!" Bebe screamed, clutching his leg in panic, urging him to do something to stop the galactic meteor that was about to meet the unsuspecting Earth again.

But the family could only watch in horror as the two dragons clawed and snarled at each other, breathing fire around them all the while, as they fell with their wings tangled together, and plummeted to the soggy street below in an explosion of ash and smoke.

Once again, no idea where I'm going with this (if anywhere), I just felt I needed to get myself back on track with some grounded-in-canon stuff, my imagination's been taking me down some very ooc/fluff paths lately. So voila. The world is puddle-wonderful when I get reviews. ;D

Inspired from the song "Foundations of Stone" from The Two Towers soundtrack. Gandalf vs. Balrog = Batman vs. Joker. Nothing else to it.