Night Terrors

Chapter 3: Nightfall

New York City, Rooftops, Night

The two would-be combatants faced each other, silent on the roof. Neither was backing down, both ready at a moment's notice. Batman made the first effort to assuage the situation.

"It's illegal to bare military arms in this city." He stated, trying to talk out the situation.

"Isn't it also illegal for humans to play hero without being a policeman?" Demona dryly replied, not in the mood for talk.

"Touché." Batman noted.

The two circled each other slowly, unsure of what to make of the other. Both also knew the other's voice from somewhere, but where…?

"You're one of the gargoyles the Quarrymen mentioned, aren't you?"

"Yes…Call me Demona. It will be the last name you ever hear, human."

The Batman stood his ground, facing the gargoyle Demona. He knew that kind of laser rifle was fast to fire, too fast. He had to make the first move. He threw the batarang at her weapon, and she responded by firing at the batarang, giving him the opportunity to get in close, lunging for her. He anticipated her next move, but not the speed or strength behind it as she swung the laser rifle back around at him, hitting him in the side and knocking him down. He grunted out with the hit, quickly moving to get up. Demona fired the laser rifle at him, barely missing due to his evasiveness, even as he rolled back and threw a batarang at her hand, striking it and causing her talons to reflexively let go of the rifle in pain as she yowled out in pain. Down below on the other roofs, the police heard this yowl.

"What was THAT?" one officer asked.

Elisa knew too well what it was. It was a female gargoyle shrieking out. However, she tried to convince the other officers otherwise.

"Probably just a cat. We're done here, right?"

The other officers agreed, hauling the Quarrymen to the cars to be taken down to the precinct, even as above, the battle continued. Demona lunged at Batman, who rolled back and used both feet to kick her up and over him, onto the roof with a thud. When she hit the ground, he got up quickly, and kicked the laser rifle to the edge of the roof to keep it out of the fight as Demona got up and lashed out at him. He yelled out as her claws raked the front of his chest, the armor taking most of the blow, deforming slightly, as he backed away from the gargoyle. She lunged forward to keep attacking, Batman trying to use his arms to deflect her strikes. This worked, but her strength also caused some damage to his arms in the process, making him wince. She pressed the attack, backing him towards the edge of the roof, where he ended up bending backwards on the parapet as she grabbed at his neck and head, holding him there.

"Why do you hide your face, human? Are you afraid of the police?" Demona inquired, while choking Batman.

Batman didn't answer her question, more concerned with getting her off of him. Demona began reaching to remove his cowl, and that was when he made his move. He drew his legs up and used both feet to kick her in the stomach, catching her off guard and loosening her grip enough for him to wretch her hands off of him as he then followed up by using an uppercut against her jaw to force her back. She growled in anger at this, using her tail to whip at Batman's legs, bringing him down, and then pouncing on top of him to try to rake his face with her claws, as he drew a gas pellet from his utility belt. She noticed too late to stop him, and he shoved the pellet in her mouth and held her jaw shut as it went off. Demona got up off of Batman so she could cough up the pellet and catch her breath, giving Batman the chance to get up and move back away from Demona. By the time Demona had caught her breath and got her laser rifle to keep the fight at a distance to avoid more tricks, Batman was gone, as if he weren't ever there. Demona looked around cautiously, making certain he was gone.

"Now how did he do that…? No matter, he's gone now…whoever he was." She muttered to herself.

"I'm Batman."

Demona quickly spun around to look, just in time to catch a strong right kick to the side of her face, knocking her down and making her groan in pain, dropping the laser rifle.

'Damn, how did he sneak up on me like that?' Demona thought to herself.

She lashed her tail out again at him, but missed as he evaded it this time, while she got to her feet, picking up the laser rifle.

"And here I thought you'd fled." Demona taunted as she opened fire.

"Your disdain for humans is obvious. I can't let you go to hurt innocent people." Stated Batman.

"Humans are far from innocent."

Demona fired at Batman, who managed to dodge the shot by anticipating it, before he ran closer to strike out, kicking the laser rifle out of the gargoyle's hands and over the edge of the roof, sending it falling to the ground. Demona growled in anger, eyes flashing red, before she lunged at her human opponent again. Batman ducked her claw swipe, grabbing her arm and putting a hand to her chest to use leverage to swing her over his head and onto the ground hard, where she hit her wings and back. She groaned out in pain, sitting up, the wind knocked out of her.

'Owww…he's good…' she thought to herself.

Demona had to admit, with all of her thousand+ years of being alive, she hadn't trained to the skill level of fighting as this man apparently had, and she was both resenting it, and strangely allured by the fact she was being dominated in the fight. It reminded her much of what she liked about Goliath.

'Now's not the time for those thoughts, I need to stop him.'

Demona got to her feet, Batman in fighting stance already, before Demona pounced at Batman, knocking him to the ground with her on top of him, snarling at him as she tried to claw his chest again, clawing through it and drawing blood this time. Batman grunted, before headbutting Demona, breaking her nose and making her let up long enough for Batman to get one half of his near-unbreakable handcuffs onto one of her wrists. A normal human would need a diamond edged cutting tool to break the cuffs, and as he tried to get her other wrist in place to secure her, she roared out, kneeing him in the stomach and knocking the wind out of him. Demona then grabbed and pulled at the handcuffs, before getting angry and striking at them, first denting them, then breaking them open. Batman knew he'd need something stronger next time, if there was a next time. Batman used her distraction to get out from under Demona by arming himself with his grapple gun, then firing it into the parapet of the roof, before having it reel him in. This dragged him against the roof, pulling him out from under Demona as she toppled off of him from the force. Batman then disconnected the grapple from the roof wall, putting the grapple gun away as he stood to face Demona, only to be tackled, both of them nearly knocked off the edge. Batman tried to kick Demona in the stomach again, but she stood her ground, her talons on his neck and head.

"You won't catch me off guard again." She told him.

She then began to pull at his cowl, wanting to see the face of the man who had the audacity to fight her.

"Why don't you show your face?" She taunted, slipping the cowl off, and coming to a surprise, "Bruce Wayne?"

She had called his name in surprise, genuinely shocked to see that…that the billionaire playboy, the aloof and busy Bruce Wayne, was the Batman she had been fighting. Her call in surprise also gave Batman the clues he needed to deduce Demona's double identity.

"Dominique." Bruce noted, before kicking Demona off, using her surprise to catch her off guard again.

Demona backed off, and Bruce stood up, pulling the cowl back over his head. He stared Demona down, scowling, as she stood up straight.

"So that's why you hide your face, human…"

"This also explains why Dominique Destine is never seen at night." Batman retorted.

"Then it appears neither of us is at an advantage in defeating the other."

"Yes…"

"We have a problem then. If either of us let the other live, they could reveal our secret…but if we kill them…"

"I'm not a murderer." Batman stated, "And we'd each lose something we couldn't stand to lose if we did. In my case, I'd become like the criminals I've sworn to stop. In your case, you'd lose your business deal with Bruce Wayne."

"Yes…I hadn't thought of that…" Demona noted, "But surely you'd end the deal now, regardless."

"Not necessarily…"

Before any more could be said, Elisa Maza burst onto the roof from the stairs, aiming her gun at the two.

"Freeze Demona!"

"We'll finish this another time…Batman." Said Demona, before running for the edge of the roof and leaping off, howling like a banshee as she glided off.

"Damn it!" Elisa exclaimed, heading to the edge of the roof to watch her leave.

Batman took this opportunity to leave, throwing down a gas pellet, seeming to vanish in the smoke. Elisa turned to see the smoke, then hit the parapet with her fist, infuriated she lost them both. Was Batman working with Demona? Elisa needed time to think and to talk with the Manhattan Clan.

[Story Divide]

New York City, Apartment, Night

Crane had been busy since he fled the Quarrymen, having been looting an illegal gambling operation. True, he had said that petty theft was beneath him, but chemicals were so expensive these days, and he needed a lot of them for his plans in New York, especially since he was running low on the fear chemicals he had brought to New York with him. He had to resort to psychology to terrify the bouncer tonight, and that simply wouldn't do, after all, what if psychology didn't work on the gargoyles? Or if the thug had been too stupid to trick? Even as he poured out the money onto the table of his apartment in New York, a run down one, he took the complimentary phone book and began to thumb through for chemical suppliers.

"Let's see…here we go…"

He then picked up the phone and began to place orders for seemingly innocuous chemicals in bulk, under the company name he used to have, Crane Chemicals. It had been shut down by the Gotham Police in the past, but he wagered he could still use it as a front for his operations in New York. He gave instructions he was to have the chemicals delivered to a warehouse on the pier, and that he'd be waiting there to pick them up. Crane smiled to himself when they said they would do it, willing to take his payment for it there. Apparently businesses in New York cared more about a buck than in Gotham City.

[Story Divide]

New York City, Destine Manor, Night

Demona was fuming over the fact a human had kept up with her in battle so easily. True, she suspected nothing was normal with this human, but still…it was a human being, not a gargoyle. Yet why wasn't she mad enough at him to have killed him now that she knew who he was? She had the upper hand after all. She could circulate the rumor that Bruce Wayne was Batman, and who would believe that Dominique Destine was a gargoyle? Yet…she had no plans to do so. Partially because she didn't want to risk it, but it was something more as well, a trust that she hadn't had since her initial alliance with Macbeth all those years ago. Why did she have this trust though…?

"Destine."

Demona turned to face Batman, who had somehow had sneaked up on her, in her own home, without her noticing. He was very good…

"It's Demona. I am a Gargoyle first, human by day only due to a magic spell."

"I'm familiar with magic myself." Batman told her, "I've had encounters with it. We need to talk."

Demona shrugged, turning to face away from Batman.

"If it's about your business deal, Wayne…"

"No. It's about gargoyles. Are all of you this hateful of humans?" Batman inquired.

Demona sighed, frustrated with the question.

"I don't have to answer that, you know. And how did you find me?"

Batman strode over to her quietly, putting a hand on her shoulder. Demona turned her head to look back at him. Was this human touching her? And why didn't she attack him immediately? Batman quietly removed a tiny, bat-shaped device from her shoulder, pocketing it in his utility belt.

"So you used a tracking device, I should have guessed." Demona mused.

"I don't see any other gargoyles here. You're alone, aren't you? They don't share your hatred do they? I can assume there is more than one of you in New York."

Demona sighed, knowing she was beaten there.

"Yes…I have been betrayed by my clan, as they choose to protect the humans who betrayed us many years ago."

"Or you betrayed them." Batman noted.

"How would you know these things?" Demona asked, shocked.

"I'm good at reading people."

"I'm not a human." Demona remarked.

"Humans and Gargoyles seem to think and act similarly. I don't see a difference between the two that's not physical or a result of physical difference."

"There are MANY differences!" Demona shouted, turning fully to face Batman.

"The only differences I see are the ones that the Quarrymen target your kind for. Not all humans think like them."

Demona growled in anger. She didn't like where this conversation was going.

"Why don't you go back to Gotham where you belong?" Demona demanded.

"I'm here because a dangerous criminal from Gotham has come to New York. He goes by Scarecrow."

"I haven't seen any scarecrows." Demona remarked sardonically.

"I want to ask you to keep an eye out for him. His real name is Jonathan Crane. He might try to buy chemicals from Nightstone Unlimited under his company, Crane Chemicals. If he does…I want to know about it."

"And why should I help you?" Demona demanded, "Indeed, why shouldn't I tell the world you're a famous man under that mask? No one would believe you if you said Dominique Destine was a gargoyle."

"You won't. You don't take risks with your plans." Batman said, calling her bluff.

Demona scowled, knowing he was right. A man with physical prowess, and a sharp mind to match it…was quite rare, she thought to herself.

"Now about the business deal…" Demona said, trying to change the subject.

"Is intact. The employment alone would help a lot of poor families. The medical and technological advances only send that number higher." Batman stated, moving to the window to leave.

"The profit doesn't hurt either, does it human?" Demona added.

Batman turned back to look to her, with a glare in his eyes at her insinuation.

"This isn't about profit."

"Then what is it about? Tell me, why do you endanger yourself and play the hero? Why wear the mask? What is it about?" Demona asked him, "I know it's not for fame and glory, you have that as Bruce Wayne. And I can assume it costs you money to supply your actions."

"My parents were gunned down by a punk with a gun when I was a child. I've sworn to protect others from the same fate." Batman told her, opening the window to leave.

"You can't win that war you know."

Batman paused to give thought to his answer to that statement.

"Maybe not. But I make a difference."

Batman then leapt out the window, into the calm, cold night. Demona sat down on her bed, a trivial thing to her when she doesn't sleep. She had never met someone who was so determined to fight a lost cause, except for Goliath and the Manhattan Clan.

'It's a shame he's a human,' Demona thought to herself, 'He would have made an excellent gargoyle.'