GOTHAM CITY
March 17, 2:16 EDT
TEAM YEAR 7
"There's only a few more hours until daylight and we've barely dented Joker's army," Tim announced, his glove screen showing him all the events going on across town. He sped down the road on his motorcycle, his hand latched to a canister at his side. He reached one of the hotspots, zombies surrounding him on all side. "Got another," he said into the microphone in his helmet as the canister flew to the center of the swarm, releasing a colorless and odorless gas that knocked the zombies out instantly.
"Are we even sure this is the Joker?" Barbara questioned, once again pointing out the Joker's current status.
"Master Bruce," Alfred's voice buzzed through all the speakers. "We have a problem. A rather large swarm of zombies is heading straight for Wayne Manor." The others stopped instantly, realizing how serious the situation was. If the zombies raided the building and discovered that Bruce Wayne and Batman were one and the same, the person orchestrating the event would have control over some very dangerous information.
"Everyone, report back to the cave immediately," Batman stated bluntly. Robin and Batgirl hesitated due to the swarms of zombies in a number of other locations, but once again did not dare challenge Batman's authority. They turned their bikes around and set a course for Wayne Manor.
ARKHAM ASYLUM
March 17, 2:42 EDT
TEAM YEAR 7
"So, what's the plan, Stan?" Joker asked, laughing like a maniac in the process.
"It's Strange to you, and the plan is already in motion. You've completed your end of the bargain," Strange stated dourly, shooing away Joker.
"Well you're no fun. Why the obsession with Wayne Manor?"
"I have my reasons," he said with a slight grin popping up on his face. "I'm very interested to see how Batman deals with this situation. Maybe he'll break; maybe he'll thwart our plans." The Joker crawled up behind him with a quizzical look on his face.
"So… You gonna let me out?" he asked. Strange's grin quickly faded into a frown as he turned around to see Joker flat on the ground in front of him smiling hopefully.
"I suppose. You held up your end of the bargain. We need a cover story. How would it reflect on me if you just somehow managed to escape?"
"Already got that covered," Joker responded. He rustled around within his straightjacket before pushing a button on a device in his pocket. The entire building shook as if an earthquake occurred, and glass could be seen falling to the ground outside from a cell down the hall. Joker continued to laugh like a hyena before sliding out of his straitjacket with ease. Strange could've restrained him again, but there was no point. Joker threw the straitjacket off, revealing his sharp purple suit, completely intact. He opened up the window to Strange's office, leaping out and tugging a string on his suit. He parachuted down to the pavement, landing in a well-placed getaway car that took him off into the night.
"Idiot," Strange said as he pushed a button underneath his desk. The wall directly in front of it split in two and separated, revealing a set of monitors which showed different angles of Wayne Manor. "Now the fun begins."
WAYNE MANOR
March 17, 3:16 EDT
TEAM YEAR 7
"Batgirl, take the east wing. Robin, west wing. I'll cover the entrance. Don't let anyone near any of the Batcave entrances. That's top priority," Batman commanded, formulating a plan to cover the defenseless Wayne Manor. The zombies rushed from all sides, but the stream didn't seem to stop.
"Where are they all coming from?" Batgirl asked, roundhouse kicking several zombies.
"This was their target all along," Robin deduced. "Whoever orchestrated this plan strategically set this place as the target for some reason. The question is why." His staff waved effortlessly from foe to foe sending them all flying one at a time.
"Didn't we call in reinforcements?" Batgirl asked with an irritated tone.
"We can't count on them. We have to fight as if they're not going to show up, because for all we know, they won't," Batman assured them. They continued to knock zombies around but there was seemingly no end. "Alfred, how's the antidote coming?"
"Slowly, sir," Alfred replied. Batman grunted and pushed the center button on his utility belt, sending a grappling hook flying up to the top of the building. He shot all the way up, and then threw down several capsules which exploded with the same gas as before. The droves of people dropped like flies, granting a temporary reprieve.
"Batman, we can't keep this up," Robin yelled to the others. Batgirl shrugged it off, barely managing to keep up with the army without the others distracting her. Just when all hope seemed lost, a familiar face shot towards Wayne Manor on a motorcycle at top speed, leaping off and doing a triple somersault in the air, landing with ease in front of Batgirl.
"Hey, Babs," Nightwing said, leaning in for a brief kiss before pulling out his two Eskrima sticks from the holster around his thigh. A pulse of blue electricity ran through them, ready to send a shock through anyone it touched. "The voltage is similar to a taser, so it'll only stun them, not kill them," Nightwing reassured Batgirl, who was taken aback when she first saw them.
It was not long before another guest, Spoiler, arrived. Her motorcycle was not nearly as advanced as the rest of the Bat Family's due to her not being an "official" member, so she arrived at a much slower rate and in a much less dramatic fashion than Nightwing, but arrived nonetheless.
"Steph!" Robin shouted to his girlfriend. The two had not seen each other much lately between their crime fighting schedules, so they'd take any chance to see each other, regardless of the situation. He back flipped onto one of the zombies, and then back flipped once again to land right-side-up in front of Spoiler. She lifted her mask briefly to allow him a kiss, and then they began combo moves to subdue the zombies.
"Only one more…" Batman mumbled under his breath, spraying several zombies with antidote.
"Even with reinforcements, how are we supposed to bring down all of these zombies?" Nightwing questioned.
"Alfred's making a large enough batch of the antidote to blanket the entire area and cure all of these people, but there's no telling how long it could take," Batman informed the newcomers. Suddenly, all the people in the area were attacked by a huge, vicious gust and a brutally loud noise. Once they had all recovered from the intense winds, they realized that it was a rather large helicopter, which dropped a lengthy ladder. A figure began climbing down it, but no one could make out who it was until it landed firmly on the ground, revealing herself to be Talia al Ghul. She leaned in to kiss Batman, embracing him for a moment while they ignored the zombies.
"What is this, a zombie romance movie?" A final figure appeared from the shadows, a gun in each hand. His entire head was covered by a red helmet and he wore a blood-red bat symbol on his chest.
"Uh, who is this?" Robin asked. Everyone remained silent, unable to make out who was behind the helmet. They all stopped to ponder who could possibly be inside, but no one could reach any logical conclusions, other than Talia, who simply smirked. Tim was the only one who noticed, but didn't say anything.
"I'm the Red Hood," he stated simply, spinning his gun and shooting two of the zombies in their legs. Without hesitation, Batman pounced on him, prepared to take him down, but his adversary was well trained and dodged any advances on him. "I'm not your enemy."
"Prove it," Batman grunted angrily. Drop the guns and fight by yourself.
"I don't need to prove anything to you," he retorted. After a few seconds of thought, he realized it would be best not to make an enemy out of Batman, and dropped the guns before knocking out a handful of zombies.
"Aw, it's a family reunion." Batman recognized the voice instantly but could not make out where it came from until he realized the voice was buzzing over the loudspeakers of the manor. "Sorry I'm late, Bats. Got a little held up," he joked before revealing himself as the Joker. His obnoxious purple and green car shot out from over the hill, knocking many of the zombies out of the way with a path to Batman. Just as the car was about to run him over, Batman rolled over the windshield, gripping the back of the car as it was brought to a stop.
"Joker!" Batman shouted, trying to regain his composure. Before anyone could get their hands on the Joker, he threw an open canister of Joker gas into the air. Spoiler and Red Hood had filters built into their masks to protect them, Talia had built up immunity to such poisons, and Batman immediately pulled a single syringe from his belt, driving it into his arm immediately to counteract the venom. Nightwing was able to back flip out of the way before it could reach him and put a gas mask on, but Robin and Batgirl were both left vulnerable and inhaled a lethal dose of the gas.
"Take that, Bats," Joker taunted, jumping out of the way and pulling a gun. Red Hood dove for his gun too, but by the time he reached it, two gunshots had already been fired.
"Tim…" Spoiler said, catching Robin as he fell to his knees, a bullet through his chest.
"Barbara…" Nightwing said, similarly catching the injured Batgirl. Their shocked overcame them, and in the heat of the moment, they'd forgotten Batman's code to never reveal your secret identity. Fortunately for them, Joker was too distracted to notice anything.
"Get them inside, now!" Batman thundered as Nightwing and Spoiler carried their fallen lovers inside the manor. "Alfred, release all of the antidote we have immediately!" Within seconds, the colorless gas was dispersed throughout the grounds of Wayne Manor, curing the zombies and knocking them all out instantly. Joker bolted for his car, hopping in and immediately taking off, with the Batmobile not far behind.
"You'll never catch me, Bats," Joker shouted, flicking switches and pushing buttons on his dashboard. Ink, marbles, and other prank-like obstacles were released from his car, severely slowing down Batman and even temporarily knocking him off course. He swerve the car, but this only gave the Joker an advantage. Once the Joker's car had run out of supplies, Joker sped off into the distance, leaving Batman in the dust. Once he had passed the remaining obstructions, he corrected his course, but not in time to see where the Joker had gone. Looking into the horizon, he noticed a ferris wheel, and deduced that it could only mean one thing.
GOTHAM CITY CARNIVAL
March 17, 5:32 EDT
TEAM YEAR 7
As he entered the carnival grounds, Batman sped past the abandoned, broken-down carnival rides before finally seeing the Joker in front of the House of Mirrors. Joker began howling with laughter, then bolted into the House of Mirrors with Batman trailing him.
"All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy," Joker taunted, vanishing into the hall of mirrors. "That's how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day. You had a bad day once, am I right? I know I am. I can tell. You had a bad day and everything changed. Why else would you dress up like a flying rat? You had a bad day, and it drove you as crazy as everybody else… Only you won't admit it! You have to keep pretending that life makes sense. That there's some point to all this struggling." The entire time Joker was speaking, Batman was chasing him through the house of mirrors. Each time he thought he spotted the Joker, it turned out to be nothing more than a reflection. Finally, with his eyes closed, he focused on Joker's voice and was able to deduce where it was coming from, crashing through the mirrors and grabbing him by his collar.
"It doesn't have to end like this. I don't know what it was that bent your life out of shape, but who knows? Maybe I've been there too. Maybe I can help," Batman offered.
"No. It's too late for that. Far too late. Y'know, it's funny… this situation. It reminds me of a joke. See, there were these two guys in a lunatic asylum… And one night, they decide they don't like living in an asylum any more. They decide they're going to escape! So, like, they get up onto the roof, and there, just across this narrow gap, they see the rooftops of the town, stretching away in the moonlight… Stretching away to freedom.
"Now, the first guy, he jumps right across with no problem. But his friend, his friend daren't make the leap. Y'see… Y'see, he's afraid of falling. So then, the first guy has an idea… He says "Hey! I have my flashlight with me! I'll shine it across the gap between the buildings. You can walk along the beam and join me!" B-but the second guy just shakes his head. He suh-says… He says "Wh-what do you think I am? Crazy? You'd turn it off when I was halfway across!" The Joker spiraled into a deep laugh, falling to his knees and howling like a hyena.
Batman first grinned, then followed the Joker and began laughing along with him. Batman's laugh quickly turned from humored to maniacal however, and he reached his hand out to grab Joker by the collar, pulling him into the shadows.