"Guess who's back, punks?!" Batgirl said, bringing the Bat-Bot's hands together as if cracking her knuckles. The Batmen, Jokers, and even the GCPD were taken aback by the sight of the ten-foot-tall Bat-Bot.
"I won't ask again! Stand down!" Batman ordered. The Batmen and most of the Jokers appeared to be apprehensive to take on the Batclan especially with the tank-like batmobile and the towering Bat-Bot on their side. Joker and Lane noticed this, Lane cocking his rifle.
"You're not going to get in our way Batman! Joker dies tonight!" Lane yelled, Joker pulling a semi-automatic from his jacket.
"Yes by all means, let's see who fires the first shot!" Joker chuckled. The GCPD had weapons trained on the Batmen and Jokers but neither side was expecting the Joker to suddenly spin around and shoot one of his own men in the head.
"Looks like it's me! Let the party begin!" Joker laughed as Harley and Wild Card released the leashes on the hyenas, Bud and Lou charging towards the Batmen. Lane attempted to fire at the hyenas but his gun was suddenly destroyed from a small explosive charge that Batman threw onto it
"!egac leetS" Magician yelled, the two hyenas quickly becoming trapped in a cage that appeared out of thin air. This was enough for the Batmen and Jokers to charge towards each other. Batman and the rest of his team quickly rushed in between them, the GCPD quickly moving in as well. Batman hit a button on his gauntlet, causing the batmobile to fire off a shower of smoke pellets into the crowd, making it impossible for either side to risk opening fire with their fire arms, practically forcing them into melee combat. The Batclan and team was taking on both Batmen and Jokers, disarming them as swiftly as possible. The helmet on the Bat-Bot had since closed around Batgirl's head as she stepped into the fray, firing off a large plastic disk over the crowd of Jokers, the disk spinning and releasing a rain of tranquilizer darts down on the Jokers, knocking out over half of them. Joker quickly grabbed Harley as a human shield, a dart hitting her in the back.
"OW! You cru~ud! When'd you get all wavy Mista' J? Yes I'll have your chickens." She slurred before falling to the ground, unconscious. Joker merely laughed in amusement.
"Can't hold your chloroform can you kid?!" Joker laughed before charging into the cloud. Bat-bot had fired off another tranq-disc into the crowd of Batmen, knocking out more than half of them. Wild Card was wildly flailing around in the smoke before suddenly smacking something that she hoped was one of the Batclan or Batmen.
"Oh I think I hit something! What was-…huh?" she yelped as she saw the grinning visage of the Creeper staring at her, completely unharmed from the direct hit to the head from her bat.
"Aren't you a little young to be handling a weapon of this size?" Creeper asked, causing Wild Card to backpedal in revulsion.
"Oh you are a creeper!" she screamed.
"I like to think of myself as a yellow skinned wacky man!" Creeper replied, blindly throwing a punch behind him, knocking out a passing Joker thug.
"You're crazy!" she screamed, swinging at him with her bat but Creeper merely spun to the side in a dance pose.
"Come, let us rumba!" Creeper said in a faux-Spanish accent, starting to belt out Danny Boy to the tune of Cuban Pete, dancing strangely, each swing of his hand or kick of his feet landing a hit on one of the nearby Jokers or Batmen as Wild Card started to back away from him.
"Oh yikes!" Wild Card yelped as she started to run away, Creeper dancing after her with an insane giggle. Meanwhile the fight continued to rage within the smoke, Demoness using masterful hand-to-hand combat skills and her sheathed sword to render Batmen, Jokers, and police unconscious. Robin and Nightwing were fighting very close to one another but didn't know the other was there until Robin spun around and punched Nightwing across the face but quickly realized his mistake.
"Oh! Nightwing! Sorry man!" Robin yelped but was quickly smacked in the stomach by one of Nightwing's escrima sticks, causing him to double over, allowing Nightwing to fling one of his escrimas into the face of an approaching Joker thug behind Robin.
"All's forgiven!" Nightwing replied, vaulting over Robin who popped back up in time to punch one of the Batmen upside the jaw.
"Good to know there's no resentment there!" Robin replied. Nearby, Blackbat was nimbly evading two Jokers who were trying to stab her with a pair of fishing knives. She quickly bataranged one in the face, causing him to stagger back, giving her the opportunity to sidestep the second's thrust with the knife, grabbing him by the arm and then proceeding to headbutt him, her armored helmet making a loud crack upon impact, knocking him out. The dazed thug had just come back around and was about to attack Blackbat from behind but she quickly spun around and superkicked him in the jaw, knocking him out cold. Catwoman was using her whip with a fury, lassoing thugs by the neck and yanking them back where she'd kick or punch them in the back of the head. She'd also spin them around and deliver two swipes to the face with her clawed hands. Spoiler was putting up a decent fight, managing to slip through the fog, tripping up goons in her path from behind and bring her still raised leg down for a vicious groin stomp, causing excruciating pain to the thugs. Robin noticed one of these and cringed.
"Remind me never to piss you off!" He said as they got back-to-back.
"Spoiler alert! That would kinda be counterproductive on both sides, huh?!" Spoiler replied.
"Fair point!" Robin commented. Magician was making her way through the crowds, casting magic spells on the goons she could find. One goon came at her from behind but she spotted him and spun to the side, pointing her magic wand at him.
"!uoy htiw egac eht otnI" Magician said, the goon suddenly disappearing in a poof of pink smoke, only to reappear inside one of the hyena cages and then get mauled by the creature. In the meantime, Batman was fighting his way through the Batmen and Jokers, using his detective vision to search for one person in particular. Finally he spotted the person he was after just as the smoke began to clear. Lane was fighting with the broken remnants of his rifle, using them to bludgeon the Jokers and cops that came into his path. What he didn't notice was the Joker, grinning at him as he crept through the remnants of the smoke. Batman spotted Joker's movements and started making his way through the crowd of fighting thugs, cops, and vigilantes. Before he could reach him, Joker started laughing, raising his crowbar. Lane spun around just in time for the Joker to bring his crowbar down on him with an insane laugh. What happened when the crowbar hit though caused Joker to pause with confusion on his face.
"Huh?" The Joker asked as he noticed the crowbar, instead of breaking the skin like normal, had unnaturally sunken into Lane's shoulder at the point of impact. Lane's expression was one of mild panic. The Joker's look of confusion suddenly turned back into a wide grin.
"Now that's funny! Good to see you again, mud-pack!" Joker laughed as Lane's expression turned to full blown panic. Joker managed to pull the crowbar free just as Lane attempted to grab him. Batman had seen the whole thing however and reared back a batarang with cyan-blue edging and threw it at him, the batarang stabbing into Lane's back, causing him to stagger slightly before the batarang suddenly electrified, hitting Lane with a painful amount of electricity, causing him to scream in pain. The entire fight seemed to come to a stop, everyone turning to watch Lane being electrocuted in surprise before he suddenly melted away into a thick brown sludge.
"What the-?! Commish! He killed another one!" Harvey exclaimed but, Gordon, who had seen everything, knew better.
"Take another look detective!" Gordon yelled as everyone started gathering around the sludge but Batman knew better.
"Everyone get back! It's not Robert Lane! It never was!" Batman yelled, confusing everyone.
"Who is it then?!" one of the Batmen asked.
"Want to tell them Karlo or shall I?" Batman asked the sludge which started to move, growing to a large size before a pair of thick and lumpy arms and legs appeared from the sludge followed by a large face which let out a groan.
"I give you one of the two conspirators against me, Commissioner. Bazil Karlo, alias: Clayface." Batman announced as Clayface snarled at him. Batman then turned back towards him.
"It's over Clayface! Your plan failed!" Batman said but Clayface let out a growl.
"That's what you think, Batman! This is the chance I've been waiting for!" he yelled, raising his fist which became a large spiked mace.
"Batgirl! Now!" Batman yelled. Before Clayface could swing his mace-fist, he was struck by a beam of white-blue energy, freezing in place beneath a thick layer of ice. Everyone looked and saw the Bat-Bot standing nearby with one of Mr. Freeze's freeze rays hotwired into a secret compartment on the arm and pointed at Clayface. Only Clayface's head was free but his body was just cold enough he couldn't shapeshift without risk of shattering.
"NRGH! Damn it Batman! You might've caught me, but Tom's plan will still be a success!" Clayface spat.
"Plan? What plan?" Gordon asked but was quickly interrupted by a sudden gunshot in the air.
"Who cares?! Let's get back to the party!" Joker exclaimed but paused when he saw all of the remaining Batmen, the GCPD, and the Batclan all glaring at him. He was suddenly grabbed by Bat-bot and put into a reproduction of Bane's Bat-Breaker move, receiving a metal knee to the back, causing Joker to scream in agony as he flopped to the ground, his back broken by Batgirl.
"You don't know how long I've waited to do that, Joker." Batgirl said in a low murderous tone. Joker's cries of pain turned to laughter.
"Was…it something I said?" Joker wheezed as Gordon approached Batman.
"You mentioned some kind of a plan?" Gordon asked. Before Batman could answer, he heard a beeping sound in his earpiece.
"Just a moment. Go ahead." He said into his radio.
"Terribly sorry to disturb you, sir, but your uninvited guest has arrived. As ordered, I've engaged the internal security and locked him inside. Oh please do come and deal with him as soon as you can. He's throwing quite the tantrum. He's already destroyed a priceless Ming vase." Alfred reported.
"I'm on my way. Stay put." Batman said, turning and running for the batmobile.
"Batman! Wait! Where are you going?!" Gordon asked.
"Wayne Manor!" Batman replied, leaping into the driver's seat and tearing off into Gotham. Nightwing, Robin, and Blackbat wasted no time in rushing to their vehicles, Blackbat riding with Nightwing.
"Wayne Manor?" Montoya asked, confused.
"Don't ask questions! Someone get me a squad car and a SWAT team!" Gordon barked, leaving the GCPD and the remaining Batclan to round up the defeated Batmen and Jokers.
11:21 PM
Wayne Manor
A man in a brown overcoat, black turtleneck, black pants, hiking boots, black gloves, and with his head wrapped completely in bandages, stormed his way through the halls of Wayne Manor, overturning furniture, trying to smash the windows with the butt of an AK-47 he carried, but found a metal security door dropping over the window whenever he got close, preventing his escape.
"WAYNE! Show yourself Wayne! Where are you!" the man yelled into the apparently empty mansion. He entered into the main hall, stalking around and raising his gun when the lights suddenly went out, only a few emergency lights kicking on.
"What?! What's going on?!" the man asked.
"Your plan's failed, Hush." Batman's voice echoed through the hall, causing the man to freeze in disbelief.
"Batman! No, it's not possible! You're not supposed to be here! Karlo was supposed to kill you!" Hush, the criminal identity of Dr. Thomas Eliot, exclaimed in shock, staggering around in search of Batman.
"I figured out your plan, Hush. For weeks, you'd arranged jewelry store heists in the hopes that I would intervene and help the GCPD arrest the suspects. You'd be hiding from the shadows, watching and waiting with Clayface. Then once I'd made the arrest, you moved in and murdered the suspect, stabbing him in the neck with a batarang you retrieved years ago. The evidence would point to me as being the suspect, forcing the GCPD to begin a manhunt. During the chaos, to insure I stayed away, you had Clayface impersonate Robert Lane and organize the Batmen Militia, knowing that I wouldn't allow innocents to get thrust into danger so easily. You even hired Catwoman to steal the batarang murder weapon from the police in the hopes that its absence would further the appearance of my guilt." Batman explained, Hush beginning to sweat beneath his bandages. Batman then continued.
"With the Batmen keeping me occupied and the GCPD busy looking for me, you were free to move in and attempt to assassinate your target: Bruce Wayne. But you didn't expect him to be out of the country on vacation, so you had to do something to bring him back to Gotham. You attacked one of the Wayne Enterprises Research Labs, killing two of his guards, knowing that it would be enough to force his return. And it worked. Problem is, I discovered your plan and warned Wayne ahead of time. By the time he returned here from the lab, the trap was set and you walked right into it, Eliot." Batman said, causing Hush to tremble.
"It's impossible! You couldn't have found that information!" Hush yelled into the room as he backed away towards the door only to bump into something, he spun around to come face to face with the Batman. Batman promptly punched him across the face. Hush staggered back but recovered with a growl, pointing the gun at the Batman, firing and forcing Batman to rush into cover.
"I may not be able to get to Wayne, but I'll at least be able to do Karlo's job for him!" Hush yelled, emptying his clip. He threw the empty rifle away and pulled a knife from inside his jacket just as Batman came rushing in, the two men beginning to grapple over the knife. Hush managed to shove back the Batman but as he reared back the knife, there was a loud gunshot that echoed through the manor, Hush collapsing to the ground with a cry of pain, a painful gunshot wound to the left side. Batman quickly kicked the knife away from Hush's hand before turning with a batarang primed but froze when he saw the gunman, cocking the pump-action shotgun in his hand.
"I do believe there is a degree of irony to this as Doctor Eliot is now in need of a doctor." Alfred said, keeping the gun trained on the injured Hush who kept his hands raised while breathing heavily.
…
Nightwing, Robin, and Blackbat had arrived ahead of the police and were stood on the second floor walkway overlooking the main hall as the GCPD and paramedics carted off the wounded and unmasked Hush. Batman stood nearby as Commissioner Gordon took Alfred's statement.
"Well Mr. Pennyworth, that was a brave thing you did. Thanks to you and the Batman we've apprehended the guy who tried to kill your boss. He'll be facing an attempted murder charge for sure." Gordon said but Batman gave a shake of his head.
"Don't forget to add three murder charges as well." Batman added, surprising Gordon.
"Murder?" Gordon asked.
"The two guards at Wayne Enterprises. Check the ballistics on that AK and I believe you'll find that they're a match to the gun used against the guards. And then there's the man I was accused of killing. It might be more difficult to prove but I believe Clayface can verify that it was Hush that murdered the man. You will also note that the batarang stabbed the victim in the carotid artery. Only a surgeon or medical professional would think to stab there." Batman explained as Gordon gave a nod.
"I'm inclined to accept the new evidence. Of course, Clayface will be going back to Arkham and Eliot, well, we'll see about him. There's just a couple of things you haven't answered." Gordon said, Batman arching a curious eyebrow.
"And that is?" he asked.
"Where does the Joker fit into all of this?" Gordon asked.
"The Joker wasn't involved, not directly. He only raised an army for the sole purpose of countering the Batmen. He had no prior knowledge of Clayface or Hush's plan. He just saw an excuse to create chaos." Batman explained, Gordon nodding in agreement.
"It makes sense, kinda. Hard to believe Joker's actually the pawn in this but it does fit the evidence. So now for my other question: Where's Bruce Wayne?" Gordon asked. Blackbat, Nightwing, and Robin all froze, looking amongst each other with worry. Batman's identity could be exposed because of this.
"I'm right here commissioner." A familiar voice said. They all turned to see, emerging from one of the side rooms, was none other than Bruce Wayne himself, his hands behind his back and dressed in his best suit. The three sidekicks were slack jawed at the sight of the Playboy and Billionaire standing right next to his crime fighting alter ego.
"I was returning to the mansion from the lab when Batman contacted me. He warned me that there was a plot against my life and asked if I'd be willing to use Wayne Manor to set a trap for the would-be assassin. I hid in my panic room with Alfred while Tom trashed the manor looking for me. We engaged the security lockouts to trap him inside for the Batman. When Batman arrived, Alfred took a shotgun and went to assist." Bruce explained.
"Well I suppose then that you owe Batman your life. I'll be advising the DA to drop the charges against you Batman. Please accept my humblest of apologies." Gordon said, extending his hand which Batman shook.
"Apology accepted, Jim. But you know that you did exactly as I expected you to." Batman said as Gordon gave a slight nod.
"Thank you. Mr. Wayne if I could get you to come by the station in the morning, give a more formal statement. Oh and you can pick up your passport from my office while we're at it." Gordon said, Bruce giving a cordial nod.
"Of course, Commissioner." Bruce said as Gordon turned and started to leave along with the rest of the GCPD. Once they had left, the Batclan gathered around Batman and "Bruce Wayne."
"Okay, how the hell did you pull this off?" Nightwing asked. Batman motioned to wait as he turned towards Alfred.
"Alfred, my briefcase please." Batman said as Alfred gave a nod and walked away towards the kitchen.
"I told you, I was innocent." Batman said to "Bruce."
"We never doubted that but as per your request, we did take the 'wait and see' approach. We're just glad to know your innocence has been proven and your charges are cleared." "Bruce replied.
"There's already an uptick in the crime rate here in Gotham. I'll need to focus on that for the time being before I can focus on anything else. I also have a prior commitment." Batman replied as "Bruce" gave a nod.
"Of course." He replied as Alfred returned with an attaché case which he promptly opened to reveal two family sized cases of Oreo cookies inside. "Bruce" arched a curious eyebrow with a smile.
"With my thanks." Batman replied as "Bruce" took the cases, tucking them under one arm before smiling towards Batman and disappearing into thin air.
"What the-…Wait was that-...?!" Nightwing asked but Batman simply walked away.
"Alfred, disengage the security lockdown. We're all clear." Batman said.
End Chapter 9
