Prologue: End of the Golden Age
Metropolis continued to burn and shudder three days after the battle. Smoke clogged the air as ash rained down from the sky, even in Gotham miles away from the sight of the last battle. There was no one left to put the fires out. No one to help the innocent as they burned or lay trapped under collapsed sky scrappers. Those who could have or would have where either dead, dying, or otherwise incapacitate. All but one for all Batman knew. Still, he was better than nothing, even with his cracked ribs. Not that there was anyone to rescue out here at what remained of the Metropolis City Harbor.
Sunken ships and mines turned the harbor into a hazardous obstacle course for anyone coming in by sea. Not that any one was. Metropolis was a lost cause, for now.
Batman paused as he heard screaming. It was a woman's voice. He wanted to ignore her, go after the man responsible for this disaster, but his sense of Justice wouldn't let him ignore her. Despite his failures he could still help her though. He was Hero. It was what he did.
Batman ran as fast as he could towards the sound of the woman's screams. Then he heard the laughter, that insane evil laughter. He ran faster than he thought he could in his condition. It was a mad dash, caution thrown to the wind. He was not fueled by his desire to protect the innocent this time, but his hatred of the laughing man. A small part was ashamed at this, but only a small part. He had a good idea of who the woman was.
Batman crested the collapsed roof of a warehouse and sure enough, just as he suspected there his quarry was beating a woman nearly as vile as he with a red and white striped bat.
The Joker with his purple three piece suit stained dark with literal sweat the the blood of others was laughing in maniacal giddiness. His red lips pulled into a rictus smile. Ash stained his porcelain white skin gray and darkened his green hair.
"Aw Bat-fake you came! See Harley, what did I tell you? "Every time a woman screams, a bat comes to clip his wings!"" Joker laughed uproariously at his sick joke.
Harley Quinn, his victim and lover, tried to crawl towards the Dark Knight with tears running down her face, her once sparkly black and red checkered jesters outfit torn and bloodied. Batman could see a femur bone sticking through the cloth.
He couldn't bring himself to feel sympathy for the former psychiatrist.
Without warning the Joker brought the bat down in a powerful overhead swing right on the back of Harley's head. She died instantly with her brain matter splattering the ground around her. She must of questioned Joker one to many times. Or maybe she didn't laugh hard enough at one of her "Mistah J's" jokes. It could have been anything really.
"Well that was fun," Joker said whimsically. Pulling out an old pocket watch from his suit pocket he checked the time. "Would you look at that Bat-fake. It's time for me to go. I have a date with Bat-chick. Have to make sure her belly full of fear toxin doesn't give her any trapped gas. You know women, they really know how to stink up a place am I right?"
The crunch of Batman's foot to the Clowns Prince of Crime almost felt good. With out word or preamble Batman struck hard with an right jab into the Jokers gut causing him to double over. Grabbing the green hair, Batman brought his knee into the broken nose of the mad man. Three times he kneed the villain before Joker was able to fight him off with a hidden knife that he stabbed into the Caped Crusaders thigh.
With a grunt Batman stumbled back as Joker pulled out the knife and punched the wound.
"Ooh Bat-fake, you're almost as good and turning me on as the real Batsy!" Joker stepped back with a laugh, arms thrown wide. "It's almost like I hit a nerve!" Batman threw his last remaining Batarang into the wrist of the hand holding the knife and swept the Jokers feet out from under him. Unfortunately the Joker had quick reflexes and was able to bounce back up to his feet before the Caped Crusader could follow up.
"Hahha ha! Maybe you do take after the flying rat after all! No jokes! No Quips! Just violence and bloodshed." The two opponents blows, each designed to kill or incapacitate. It was difficult for Batman, with his injuries compounded by the fact he hadn't slept in three days nor eaten in four and Joker was relatively unharmed and well rested.
Dodging a swing of large knife, Batman struck hard a left hook to the clown's jaw. Joker dropped like rock. Quickly frisking the Joker and removing his hidden weapons, Batman zip tied the criminal's wrist together. Zip tying his feet together, Batman, began to drag the Joker by his legs.
"Ugh, did anyone get the number of that truck?" Joker asked groggily after a few minutes. Blinking several times to get his bearings. "Are you seriously taking me back to Arkham?" he demanded once he realized his hands were bound. "I kill innocent people, you let me live. I kill your friends, you let me live. I kill your family, you let me live. I kill a city you let me live!" He began laughing. Batman ignored him as he dragged the Joker.
In the distance he could a helicopter, sirens, and even the indistinct sound of a voice on a bull horn. Someone must have finally convinced Congress to send help. That was good, even if it was too little too late.
A weak kick from the Joker brought Batman's attention back to his task at hand. Unceremoniously he dropped his adversaries feet. "Get up!" he demanded, his voice rough from pain, smoke inhalation, and exhaustion. "I said get up." he demanded with a kick this time as Joker dawdled to obey.
"Okay, okay! Jeez. Don't have a cow man." Rising to his feet the Joker smiled at him. " Do you think your pretty little Bat-girlfriend is doing alright?" he laughed.
With a wordless growl Batman punched the Joker in the gut. The force of the blow lifted him off his feet, causing him to stumble back into a wall. Catching his breath, Joker began laughing hard. Gotham's Dark Knight punched his mouth.
"Shut up!" Joker just started laughing harder.
"Seriously, was does it take to get a one way ticket to the undertaker around here? I mean if filling your girlfriends belly full of fear gas and killing your unborn baby doesn't do the trick, what will?" Joker began laughing so hard he cried.
Pausing, Batman stopped. After several seconds of the Jokers laughter filling the air he came to decision, mindless of the now circling news chopper above them. With a cold dead smile that may have stopped Jokers laughter had he seen it, Batman wrapped his hands around Jokers neck.
SNAP!
After eighteen years The Joker laughed no more.
/\/\/\
A/N: So here is the prologue to my story Heroic Renaissance, (Title may Change) and I'm sure you all have a lot of questions. Who is under the cowl? Who is is his girlfriend. WTF happened in Metropolis!? Did Batman really just kill the Joker? How does this tie in with Marvel? The answer to all of these and more will be answered in future chapters!
If you spot any errors please let me know as I want a good story with good grammar and spelling. I have proof-read this chapter twice and fixed any mistakes I have found and even re-written a whole section.
FYI this story is cross-posted on fan under the alias 6tailedninja and Archive of our Own under Otter_Boom.
