"Kaio-ken!"
"Stop!" shouted Batman. "You shouldn't need to shout to use that. Again."
"But then how do I-"
"You push harder. Again!"
Goku was standing under an enormous block that was hanging from a large mechanical arm on the ceiling. He braced his arms and the arm started to drop lower and lower. Then it started to push on the top of the box. Goku's arms were shaking.
"Hold steady!" shouted Batman. "Now, on the count of three, like we practiced. One."
Goku's fingers were white.
"Two."
He closed his eyes and tried to concentrate, but something was happening outside. His eyes shot wide open.
"Three!"
Goku's leg snapped and he went down. The box shot down, stopping just a foot above him. Batman quickly pressed several buttons on a control panel in front of him. The mechanical arm lifted, pulling the box with it. He sprinted over to Goku.
"What happened?" he asked as he handed Goku a senzu bean.
Goku chewed and swallowed it. His leg snapped back to normal. "I don't know," he replied. "I felt a huge power spike earlier - but just now it vanished."
Batman frowned. "Lantern," he muttered. He walked back to the control panel again. "Again," he said.
Goku was already on his feet, but something was bothering him. "Hey...Batman-sensei?"
"What?"
Goku turned to look at him. "If I can sense Buu's energy," he said, "then what's to stop him sensing mine?"
"If this works," said Batman, "he shouldn't be able to. Besides, I've been observing you. I chose materials to build these walls whose density matches the vibrations of your ki. Assuming you don't do anything stupid, like find a third Super Saiyan transformation, everything should be filtered out."
Goku laughed nervously. "Actually," he said, scratching the back of his head, "now that you mention it-"
"You've found a third transformation?" Batman said, obviously shocked. "Then how did he manage to kill you so quickly?"
"I don't know. I didn't get a chance to use it. It was like he just...well, he surprised me. He pulled a knife on me and reinforced it with his ki."
"So the Joker made Buu stronger?"
"I suppose. Now that you mention it, he wasn't like Buu anymore. He was smarter."
Batman had already started preparing the controls. "Come on," he said. "We haven't got much time."
"But what if he senses my third Super Saiyan transformation?"
"If that happens," said Batman, "then he'll be the one in trouble."
There was a huge crash as the headquarters of the Gotham City Police Department was turned to rubble. The Joker hovered above, smiling.
"Anyone there?" he yelled. "Commissioner? I have this great joke. Why did the cop car cross the road?"
He scanned the area for signs of life. There, that had to be the Commissioner. He could sense his fear from here.
He laughed. "I don't know the answer!" he continued. "There was never anywhere to run to anyway!"
Commissioner Gordon was strapped into his chair in the back of a police van across from Harvey Bullock. The driver must have been going about a hundred miles an hour and Bullock was looking a bit ill.
"Harvey?" said Gordon.
"Uh huh?"
"Where are we going?"
"Best you don't know, boss," said Bullock. "That's what they said in training." He spoke calmly, but he was gripping his chair so tightly that his knuckles had turned white.
Suddenly the back door of the van was peeled off like paper. The Joker stepped inside and grinned.
"So, tried to run, did we?" he said.
Bullock drew his gun and fired several rounds into the Joker. The holes just closed up. The Joker's grin grew wider and with a breath he knocked Bullock off his feet. He turned to the Commissioner and raised his hand to deal the fatal blow.
Suddenly, in a burst of yellow lightning, the Commissioner was gone.
The Joker spun around, confused. What on earth-?
"Ah," he muttered to himself, "we have another one."
Almost instantaneously there was another burst of lightning and a figure stood in front of the Joker.
"You're not getting near the Commissioner," he said.
"Hmm..." said the Joker. "We'll see what I can do about that...Flash."