A/N: Thanks to my awesome new beta reader AussieGal20 for accepting the job.
Chapter 4
The Caped Crusaders are looking to be in bad shape.
The Mad Hatter stands up and looks around the place. "Everyone! Stop what you're doing. I want a count here."
The activity begins to slow down. "We got the Bat here, in front of me. What about the two sidekicks?"
"I just took care of Batgirl," Toomes tells Jervis.
"The Bird is right in front of us," one of the people standing around Robin calls out.
"Looks like we won guys," the Mad Hatter announces. Cheering is heard around the large room. "You know, it's weird," Jervis exclaims. "Although I had this ambush planned out, I never really decided what to do with the Caped Crusaders after we defeated them. Well let's not keep it to myself, how about some ideas on how to kill off Gotham's protectors?"
Robert now begins both laughing and shaking his head as he watches how the villains have now fallen to the trope of talking too much, and taking their eyes off the heroes, thus giving them needed time. As this is happening, Barbara slowly starts to regain consciousness. She looks around, keeping her movements subtle, for a way out.
She spots one of the two dirt bike riders moving around the area, about to approach her direction. She waits until the rider gets near, then Barbara springs back on her feet and punches the rider off his bike.
The rider lets out a grunt, which catches others' attention. "Stop her! She's supposed to die," Johnny points and call out.
Hopping quickly on the dirt bike, Batgirl begins to move just as the crowds all start moving towards her location. Riding around the large room was just as hard as riding in the middle of the forest. Fortunately for Barbara, competing in motorcycle races was something she did a lot growing up, and she was good at it. She rides in one big curve and approaches Robin's location. One of the goons is kicked away as Robin sees her coming. He extends his arm out and Batgirl grabs it.
"Keep going, don't slow down," Robin tells her, disregarding the fact he's being dragged along the floor.
Some of the goons back where the Mad Hatter is, start to open fire on the duo. Batgirl instinctively ducks her head at the sound of the gunshots.
"Watch out!" Robin tells Batgirl as he sees Rhino coming towards them on the other side.
Alex manages to grab Barbara by the back of the cape and Dick by the arm he's holding on by and tosses them both off the bike. Through a combination of using too much strength and the momentum they were picking up, the two sidekicks are launched through the air. The dirt bike skids across the floor as both Robin and Batgirl smash right through the window at the end of the room and plummet off the building.
Outside, the two of them free-fall. They attempt quickly to grab their grappling hooks. The two of them manage to grab onto one another, as Robin's the first to shoot off his grappling hook followed by Batgirl immediately after him.
Back inside the building Johnny is still gazing at the broken window. "Oh well. Guess that settles how we dispose of the sidekicks," he says casually, then turns back to focus on Bruce. "We've still got you. Don't see how you're going to get away from us."
He spoke too soon as a large engine sound is heard outside. Lights shine through the broken window and reflect off of Jervis. He looks outside and sees the Batwing hovering just outside. The machine guns are then fired off.
"Everyone take cover," Jervis instructs, as they all run away from the direction of the bullets.
The Batwing turns, firing at every side of the room as Wonderland starts getting blown apart. Both the hedge wall and hedge animals are shredded apart. The house of cards collapse much like a real house of cards. The trunks of the artificial trees take significant damage and fall to the floor. Bullet holes are breaking all over the artificial castle. The guns go off for a few more moments before finally coming to a stop.
In the brief silence, a balcony from the castle and the Jabberwocky come crashing down in a comedic manner. The cockpit to the Batwing opens up. Robin steps out from the back seat, climbs to the front of the aircraft and leaps back inside the building. He pulls out his grappling hook and fires it towards Bruce. It snags Batman by the cape. Robin retracts the line and pulls Batman towards him. He holds onto Bruce then the two of them leap off the building. Batgirl pulls the Batwing back.
The Mad Hatter gets out from under cover and the rest of his team soon follows. Fortunately not a single one of his teammates were killed. He sees that the Caped Crusaders are gone. "Hey get them back here. I wanted to kill at least one of them."
"Give me that," Toomes says as he grabs a bazooka from a nearby goon and slings it over his back. He grabs a Thompson machine from another ally as he rushes towards the window.
Down on the streets, Robin closes the top of the Batmobile with an unconscious Batman in the passenger seat.
Just above them, Toomes jumps out of the hideout's window. He brings the machine gun down his body and grips it with his feet, allowing his wings to move freely. He looks gazes down on the dark city with his enhanced eyes, trying to find the Caped Crusaders. The sound of roaring engines catches his attention as Toomes swoops in the other direction in search of the sound's source. He spots the Batmobile racing down the street, immediately reaches down for the machine gun and begins to open fire.
Inside the Batmobile, Robin notices the bullets ricocheting off the roof and hood. Toomes descends downwards through the air until quickly spreading his wings again, gliding right passed the Batmobile. Toomes continues to fly forward, higher and higher then he swoops around and resumes shooting at the Batmobile.
Robin turns the Batmobile into an alley, hoping to lose the Vulture. He drives forward until he reaches the end of the block then turns the Batman mobile onto a street with a freeway right above it. He wasn't sure if he lost Toomes or not, but hoping the freeway above hinders the Vulture's sight. The plan doesn't work however as more bullets soon start hitting the Batmobile.
"Does this bird never quit?" Robin urgently hits the communicators on the dashboard.
The distress reaches the Batwing. Batgirl answers it, "What's happening?"
"The Vulture is determined to shoot us down. We could really use your help right now," Robin answers from the other end.
"Where are you?"
"We're on Clarke Drive heading towards Venue Street."
"Punching in the coordinates right now. Going to get there as fast as I can." Batgirl turns the Batwing around and heads back to the city.
Over in the city, Toomes continues blasting down on the Batmobile. People on the streets scatter away as not to get hit by the bullets missing the Batmobile. Toomes' machine gun runs dry. The Vulture flies back higher in the sky with one wing holding onto the machine gun. He swoops away from the road temporarily and slings the empty machine gun over one shoulder than pulls out the bazooka off the other shoulder. He grips the bazooka with his feet and swoops back above the road where the Batmobile is.
Inside the Batmobile, Robin is looking at a panel on the dashboard that somehow displays Toomes flying close to them. "15 feet and closing," the panel stated.
Soaring through the night sky with the city's towering buildings behind it, Toomes reaches down and grabs the bazooka from his feet. The Vulture mounts the weapon on his shoulder as he starts descending again then opens fire. Robin quickly swerves to the side as the missile comes rocketing down and crashes into the road in between to cars, letting out a boom and a large explosion that send both cars spiraling into the air.
Toomes grips the bazooka by his feet again and flies higher. He grabs the weapon in one wing and gets ready use it again until he hears a roaring engine sound get closer to him. Toomes look to the side and sees the Batwing. Barbara opens fires with the machine guns as Toomes flies to the side in a series of barrel rolls. The Vulture swoops downwards in between two buildings. Batgirl flies by the area and looks in between the two buildings Toomes headed towards, but doesn't see him. She looks around the skyline then suddenly spots Toomes on the Batwing's monitor, behind the aircraft. Toomes has his rocket launcher on his shoulder, ready to fire. Batgirl quickly swerves the Batwing to the side as Toomes fires. The missile just misses the Batwing and flies underneath the wing as Batgirl tilts the aircraft to the side. Once the Batwing flies out of sight, Toomes turns around in search for the Batmobile down below, but lost sight of it.
More than 2/3 into Batman 5
Elisabeth Hoffman is in front of a crowd, ready to make an announcement about her companion.
Bruce, Dick, Barbara and Alfred all watch on the monitors of the Batcave. Bruce is healed up for the most part from the injuries he sustained in the Wonderland fight.
Using his trusty batsense and knowing when a plot point is coming up, Bruce managed to record Elisabeth on a CD that he loads up into his computer.
"My company will play a big future for the city of Gotham," Elisabeth continues on her speech until the audio recording of her plays over the speakers. "Like anyone in this city of morons will figure out what I've been up to."
The crowd gets confused and begins looking at one another. Elisabeth checks her microphone to see what that was. The audio recording continues to play, "Or that my company was what created the Vulture, Rhino and Killer Croc." The crowd begins to boo.
Bruce and company are smiling as they watch things play out. Bruce then record scratches the CD.
"Okay I'm calling you DJ Batman from now on," Robert remarks, not even commenting how they did this same scene in Batman Returns.
"Lets get out of here," Elisabeth tells her assistant Noah.
The boos from the crowd gets louder and vegetables are now being thrown. Noah opens fire in the air with a handgun and the crowd takes to the ground in response. Elisabeth and her people get off the stage. Some of the people in the crowd slowly begin to rise up, until Noah fires off some more shots into the air and they duck back down again onto the concrete.
Elisabeth and her people rush into their car. "Drive," she orders the driver.
The black car exits the place amongst the crowd. Police arrives at the scene, and begins opening fire just as the car streaks off.
Batman 5 is near its climax as Robert watches curiously how this movie ends.
The Caped Crusaders are approaching Hoffman's special island. Robin and Batgirl are traveling on the bridge connecting the island to the mainland. Robin is using the batmobile while Batgirl is on the batcycle. Down below the bridge, Batman approaches the island on boat.
A spotlight is centered on the bridge where the batmobile and batcycle are. It's coming from a helicopter the Mad Hatter is riding, shaped like a teacup.
"Oh Tim Burton," Robert sighs at the ridiculousness of the vehicle.
The Mad Hatter takes the helicopter's transmitter and talks into the speakers. "Nice of you to join the party, Caped Crusaders. We'll have people to greet you when you get close to the gates of the island. Though for the boat down in the water, we got an early welcoming committee for it."
Below the surface of the water are multiple sea mines chained down. They begin to detonate. An explosion goes off near the batboat and as a large area of water gushes into the air, Batman looks to the side and keeps driving towards the island.
On land, Jervis and Hoffman's goons are entering a number of vehicles. They open the gates to the island and let out hollers as they drive out onto the bridge.
Robin and Batgirl can see them coming. Both of them punch in buttons to open up compartments on the side of their vehicles. As the enemy cars and motorbikes approach, the machine guns to the Batmobile open up and starts blasting at the enemy vehicles. The enemy cars lose control and begin swerving, then crash into the bridge barricades on the side. Robin sees the bikers and metal balls are launched out of the open compartments of the Batmobile and slammed into the chest of the riders, knocking them off their bikes.
Meanwhile handfuls of devices that looks like miniature sea mines drop out of the open compartments of the batcycle, as the other enemy cars not going for Robin approach her. The villains continue to laugh and holler as the get near. Barbara rides the batcycle up the hood of a crashed car and jumps completely over them. The villains look up then behind them as Batgirl completely passes by, looking dumbfounded as their cars continue on. Their cars run over the miniature sea mine looking devices the batcycle dropped, then explosions emit from them, causing the enemy vehicles to flip through the air, coming down with a rough landing.
Down in the water, sea mines continue to explode near the batboat. Batman looks ahead, and sees a drainage system he can enter the island through. He urgently initiates for the cockpit of the batboat to break off its side. One of the mines detonate right beneath the batboat remains and a big fiery explosions goes off behind Bruce. Skis emerge from underneath the cockpit of the batboat. The batboat, now a skiboat, races into the drainage system of the island as a jet of water fires up into the air behind it as it enters.
The guards at the front gate scatter, as the front gates to the island break open as Robin plows the batmobile through it with Batgirl following close behind.
Both vehicles stop in a courtyard. The top of the batmobile slides open. "Well that was easy," Batgirl comments.
Suddenly an explosion goes off beside them and makes things hectic again. They quickly look around the place, and spot, standing on top of a two story section of one of the surrounding building, is Toomes, with a tactical harness on, holding various weapons.
"I need more practice with my throwing arm," the Vulture comments. "Oh well, I could do that later." Toomes then whips out a shotgun from behind his back and immediately starts firing rapidly in an almost comedic fashion.
Robin and Batgirl are already hightailing it before Toomes even started to open fire. The garage shutters to a nearby building opens up and stepping out of it is the 9 foot anthropomorphic rhino Alex. The two sidekicks already turn their vehicles and drive further down the courtyard. Toomes and Alex take chase. Robin and Batgirl see another garage shutter in a building ahead of them. The batmobile machine guns open up again and blast holes across the metal shutters, creating a line of bullet holes. The batmobile knocks down the piece of metal at the bottom of the bullet hole line with Batgirl closely behind. Shortly after a large hole breaks open as Alex rushes through the shutter doors while Toomes swoops underneath it. The Vulture comes down side first then quickly uses the momentum to turn back forward and start flying again. Robin and Batgirl move deeper into the building to make sure the two animals are a good distance away from the doorways.
Robin hits the brakes and turns around the Batmobile until it's facing the entrance way, where Toomes and Alex are coming from. Batgirl does the same on her batcycle. Batgirl pulls out a remote and closes the garage shutters behind the two animals.
"Locking yourselves in with us? I'm more than fine with that," Alex says happily.
Robin punches in buttons on the Batmobile's dash board as the two animals move closer to them. Two canisters fire out from the bottom compartments where the grappling hooks would be. The metal canisters lands near where Toomes and Alex are. Blue coloured gas ejects from the canisters and surround the two anthropomorphic animals. They breathe it in. The dues ex machina gas begins to work its way into their systems. Alex and Toomes start groaning and their bodies begin twitching as they begin to feel the effects.
"It looks to be working," Robin tells Batgirl over the vehicle communicators.
In a state of desperation, Rhino and Vulture start rushing towards Robin and Batgirl.
"Not working fast enough it seems," Batgirl replies back.
Robin attempts to drive past Rhino, but Alex manages to grab the side of the vehicle and tosses it upside down right as it was about to drive by him. Alex rushes over to the turned over Batmobile and starts driving his fists into the bottom (or is it top?) of the vehicle, destroying the engine.
Meanwhile Toomes swoops towards and knocks Batgirl off her Batcycle. He whips out an extendable baton from his weapons harness and attempts to smash the butt into Barbara's head. She manages to move her head in time for her bike helmet to take the force of the blow. A noticeable dent is leftover on the helmet. Batgirl quickly pulls out a taser and shocks Toomes then kicks him off of her.
A huge dent breaks on the side of the Batmobile's top as Alex's foot kicks it. One of the windshields goes out next as the whole thing cracks up and gets knocked out of place, landing inside next to Robin. He kicks it again and again. A large hole breaks into the top where the dent is, and then becomes an even larger hole. He starts punching the bottom of the vehicle again, this time where the driver seat is. His fist goes through and he starts tearing open the bottom.
Robin hits the same buttons again and another canister is launched out and hits Alex. More gas covers Alex as he instinctively panics and steps back from the Batmobile to give himself a breather. Robin has the top slide open and gets out from the other side of the vehicle as quickly as possible. He looks back at Alex's direction and sees past the gas. The Rhino is rushing back at the Batmobile and kicks it. Robin manages to leap out of the way in time just as the Batmobile slides across the floor and slams into the wall.
Batgirl is on the defensive doing everything she can, not to get killed by Toomes. She zaps the Vulture again with her taser as he closes the gap, but he just ignores it and smashes his arm into her face. He grabs the back of Barbara's head and yanks out the taser out of her grasp with his other hand. Toomes tasers her back in the arm, tosses the weapon away and quickly pulls back out his the baton again. The Vulture yanks Batgirl's helmet off her and swings for her unprotected head. She manages to get her forearms up in time to shield her face, but she still felt that impact in her arms. Failing that, Toomes immediately goes for a body shot. Barbara doesn't block it in time and the blow sends her flying back until she hits against one of the garage pillars. She still manages to maintain consciousness, enough to see Toomes not stopping his assault. She quickly pulls out some capsules and throws them at the Vulture. They break upon impact and more of the blue gas blankets Toomes.
Robin tosses the fourth electric batarang at Alex. Much like Toomes, he doesn't slow down. The Rhino goes for a left hook, Robin barely jumps out of the way, but then Alex then turns the punch into a backhand and knocks Robin into a nearby parked car. Robin quickly ducks as Alex comes in with a right punch and shatters one of the front windows. Robin attempts to get out of there, but Alex manages to grab him with his other hand and slams him down on the car roof, caving in the side Robin hit and causing the other car window in front of them to shatter. Before Alex can deliver any more punishment however, he lets out a groan and holds onto his body as he feels the gas mutating his body more.
Toomes grabs Batgirl with one of his wings then tosses her back into the pillar. He goes for a swing, but Batgirl ducks underneath the shot as the baton breaks a piece of concrete off the pillar. Toomes lets out a groan as he reacts to the side of his body mutating. Barbara capitalizes on the opening and delivers several punches to Toomes's face. He ignores the hits and kicks Barbara back, followed by a swing at the legs that knocks Batgirl's legs off the ground and she falls on her side. A grappling hook suddenly wraps itself around Toomes' wing with the baton before he can do anything else.
It's Robin, a distance away from them. He yanks on the wire and budges Toomes away from Barbara. The Vulture turns around to face Robin but before he can fly off, Batgirl fires off her own grappling hook and wraps it around one of Toomes' feet and trips him with a yank. Toomes tries to get back up, but gas is putting his body through too much agony for him to recover back.
Robin quickly turns his head around and sees Alex stumbling towards him. Robin jumps back as Alex attempts to pound his fists down on Robin, but instead cracks the concrete underneath him. He attempts to chase Robin, but is stumbling too much.
Batgirl takes out two of her own electric batarangs. She hurls them at the Rhino, both hitting him in the face. They affect Alex enough that he is, for the most part, just standing there. Robin then tosses one of the gas canisters at Alex and he then collapses on the floor. Robin and Batgirl stagger towards one another and regroups. They watch as the gas clears and both Alex and Toomes are lying on the ground, unconscious and in their original animal forms.
"Hmm? They didn't kill Rhino and Vulture... Tim Burton's Batman would usually kill off the villains," Robert comments on the scene.
The batskiboat drives through the watery passageways and comes to a halt in an area that has a nearby platform with a ladder and hatch. The top opens and Bruce steps out. He quickly looks around, believing he heard something. Only rushing water in sight. A loud roar emerges as Killer Croc suddenly burst out of the water and leaps onto the platform with the ladder.
"If you're thinking of reaching the surface, you're going to have to get through me first," Waylon tells Bruce.
Batman simply smirks back. Waylon pounces towards Batman. Bruce counters by tossing a stun batarang at Waylon. The shock slows down Waylon and causes him to fall to his knees. However it doesn't do more than that and he's right back up on his feet going after Batman again. Batman hits him with another stun batarang then immediately gives him a side kick to the face. He goes for a series of body shots, which seem to be having some effect. It doesn't last for long however, as Waylon starts throwing punches of his own. These blows have more of an effect on Batman and as he staggers tremendously from them, an incoming blow to the face causes Bruce to fall over. Batman collapses to the ground, blood pouring from his nose from that last punch.
Batman quickly pulls out his grappling hook and fires it at Killer Croc. Waylon turns his head to the side as the hook misses Waylon's face by a few inches and hits a concrete pillar behind him. Waylon ignores it and look back at Batman who then proceeds to give the wire a quick yank. The yank breaks off a piece of the concrete and slams into the back of Waylon's head.
The human crocodile falls forward with a grunt. Batman fires the wire over a pipe. He quickly wedges the handle end against some pipes, and then rushes back to the hook end of the wire and wraps it around Waylon's neck. Bruce moves back to the pipes with the handle end and hits the button. The wire starts to retract, slowly lifting Waylon off the ground.
Robert looks on with a hysterical smile on his face like he's containing both disbelief and laughter. "Strangling an enemy, I think that's a first for DJ Batman. Oh wait, did he do that to one of Joker's people in the chemical plant before Jack Nicholson fell into the chemicals?" he asks himself.
Waylon's arms and legs flail around as he gasps for air. The wire pulls him upright enough that Waylon manages to stand on his feet again. Waylon disconnects the noose around his neck and lets out a roar at Bruce as he frees himself. He runs at Batman who attempts to leap out of the way, but Waylon manages to grab onto his ankle. He swings Batman off the ground and slams him into a concrete pillar. He picks him off the ground again by the leg and swings him towards another concrete pillar.
Down, but not out, Bruce manages to reach into his utility and pull out a circular device once he fell to the ground after hitting another pillar. He tosses it at Killer Croc once Waylon swings his body off the ground again. Waylon quickly lets go of Batman when he saw the device attach to his body, meanwhile Batman himself flies across the air and hits the concrete ground. The devices is beeping. Not wanting to take any chances, Waylon pulls it off him and tosses it into the water. An explosion goes off from the device and water gushes out from the drainage canals.
Batman moves quickly back towards the batskiboat while Killer Croc is distracted. He's already at the skiboat when Waylon turns around to look back at him. Waylon lets out another roar and leaps towards Batman, but he already got his body inside the vehicle. The top closes down as Killer Croc jumps onto the hood. Batman hits the thrusters and the batskiboat jets away.
The vehicle rushes through the dark passage-ways. Despite the speed, Killer Croc holds on then starts pounding on the windshield. Batman sees the passage dividing into two ahead. He looks at the radar on the dashboard and sees the right turn is sealed off and leads to the surface. Batman aims for the right turn once the passage begins to get wider. The batskiboat hops onto the right passageway.
The passageway slopes upwards towards the surface. Killer Croc looks behind him and his eyes widen when he sees there's a wooden barricade sealing off this passageway. Batman doesn't slow down the vehicle. The batskiboat breaks through the barricade and soars through the air. Killer Croc lets out a yell when he sees they're about to crash into the side of a building. Bricks crash down as they break through the side of the building. The batskiboat comes to a halt shortly after it collides into a large metallic machine connected to the bottom of the ventilation system.
The top to the batskiboat opens up and Batman climbs out. Just as he's about to stroll away in his typical bat manner, a sound startles him and he turns around. Movement in the front of the batskiboat, Waylon isn't quite dead yet. His green arm is then seen emerging from being wedged in between the vehicle and machinery. However shortly after the arm slumps down dead. Bruce turns back around and proceeds forward.
"Now that's more like the Tim Burton Batman I know," Robert says with a more confident tone.
The climax is almost over in the way we would expect it to end, with the enemy base sparking and destruction going off around the place.
The Mad Hatter is injured on the ground, while the catwalk Miss Hoffman's on collapses. One of the pieces of metal on the catwalk impales the Mad Hatter through the stomach as Hoffman falls off and hits the metal ground. The fall injures her, and she's unable to get back up. She's still conscious enough however to see the Mad Hatter is breathing his last moments of life.
Outside the base the caped crusaders are getting inside their vehicles, ready to evacuate.
Hoffman manages to rise herself up on her knees. The large containers behind her start exploding like everything else around her. The explosion spreads out and immerses over Hoffman and Jervis's body.
The Caped Crusaders are driving away while the whole island base goes off in a huge explosion.
The film comes to an end with the camera shot going up higher on one of Gotham's high buildings as Danny Elfman's infamous closing Batman theme plays in the background. The bat symbol is up in the sky as Batman, Robin and Batgirl all watch it, standing on one of the buildings the camera panned up to. The events of Batman 5 have come to a close.
"That was... kind of what I expected actually," Robert says to himself after trying to think of what his feelings are after seeing Batman 5 play out. "Well fortunately for the villains, they'll all get a second chance at life."
Robert has the view screens in front of him pause on the final image of the caped crusaders watching the bat signal. Concentrating more of his powers, he makes the three of them disappear in a bright flash. He has the other view screens pause on images of the villain characters too. The Mad Hatter, Killer Croc, Rhino, Vulture, even Elisabeth Hoffman and all their many variations of goons are on screen before they all disappear in a bright flash too.
"Time to carry on," Robert says to himself. The view screens disappear then he concentrates until a portal similar to the one he came in through begins to materialize then opens up. Robert flies through it. He disappears through it, leaving the old Batman movie universe of the 90s behind him.