Hello my dear readers! I hope everything has been going well for you since my last update. I hope everyone will enjoy this chapter.
Thank you all for the thoughtful and extensive reviews and I believe I answered them all personally.
Illusorygentleman has actually done a continuation to my one-shot, Killer Tuna Dream. It is M-rated, so for those not old enough to read that, don't. I fully approve of it and do consider it 'canon' with the rest of my Jedi series.
Fanfic-Reader-88 has also updated his Freddie/Trina story, so you should check it out.
I don't think I've forgotten anyone about updates, so on with the story.
Rating: T Violence, Language
Chapter 9
Mason Thornesmith's Office
Ellsworth Building
Sunday, June 24
Mason sat behind his desk, wearing an impassive expression, but the other two crime bosses sitting on the other side of the desk knew under the expression bubbled a barely contained cold rage.
Mrs. Lee was slightly concerned as she had seen his anger unleashed a few times and it usually ended up with someone dead. She had a particular person in mind that should happen to, but she was slightly concerned that he may not care who he took his rage out on. Quincy on the other hand saw it as an opportunity to manipulate the man to finally act. He plainly stated, "Beck's alive and he has to know you set him up, the Bat looked like she was helping him escape and now 'The Superman' is here. With everything else that's happened, they could bring us down since the D.A. now has the original paperwork in our dealings and whatever was left at Ace Ch—"
Mason dismissively interrupted, "Nothing was at the plant or any of the other front companies. I had them swept clean before I sent Beck out. You have nothing to fear from Shapiro and now the cops will be hunting the Bat and harassing that circus freak. We don't have to worry about them. Beck is my problem now."
The other mob boss glared at his partner and snapped, "It's not just going to work out in the end by not doing anything. Shapiro is going to be looking into the companies anyway and if he turns over enough stones with their help—the Bat had to be the one that broke into your place. The time to act is now while we still have time."
Mason checked his rage as he asked, "What do you propose we do?"
Quincy was about to answer, but Mrs. Lee replied in a sharp tone, "I'm killing the little ragtop. We take him out and no one would dare move against us. It's far more reassuring than your wishful thinking."
"You kill a D.A. and it'll bring too much heat down on us. The Feds couldn't ignore that and Beck would certainly go after you."
Mrs. Lee upturned a corner of her mouth and arrogantly retorted, "Hoover doesn't even believe we exist and as for Beck… he's too busy trying to kill you for setting him up."
The immigrant businessman narrowed his gaze on the Oriental woman, resisting the urge to straggle her for her smartass mouth.
Quincy stated in a resolute tone, "You take care of the D.A.; I'll take care of the Bat."
The two tore their eyes away from each other to look at the fronting music producer. Lee curious asked, "How will you do that?"
"The way I was going to deal with her in the first place instead of that nonsense of hiring the Joker—Beck—in the first place: outsource a more reliable cleaner."
Mason relaxed back in his chair and in a false calmness asked, "So you did go behind my back?"
"Yes."
"So another betrayal in my ranks," Mason stated rather than asked.
"I don't work for you Mason. I don't need your permission in order to protect my interests. I was not going to wait around for him to hit my places. This is a partnership that benefits all of us and when it ceases to be then it's over."
"This partnership is to benefit us all because we all have interests and we're stronger together than apart and peace is preferable to war, but it doesn't work if we are going behind each other's backs."
"I wouldn't have to if you hadn't gone soft Mason. You're afraid to make the tough decisions and for a little blood to spill. You couldn't even take out Beck yourself."
Mason pursed his lips and slightly nodded his head as he glanced down towards the table. The silence was somewhat eerie towards the other two mob bosses until he finally asked after taking a deep breath, "How many campaigns were you in during the Great War?"
Shawn bristled at the question as Mason knew that he was in college at the time of the war.
The titular head of their criminal syndicate continued, "I'm responsible for the deaths of thousands during the war. I've seen death and destruction on a scale that you can't imagine and the sheer waste of it. I am not… weak… I'm prudent with my violence. Neither of you have apparently learned that lesson, but… that's not my concern." He waved off the more muscular man. "Just kill the damn Bat, Batwoman or whatever the bloody hell you want to call her." He looked to Mrs. Lee and was just as dismissive as he stated, "You deal with Shapiro as you see fit, but are on your own if you fail. Now both of you get the bloody hell out of my office."
Parking Lot
District Attorney's Office
Gotham City, NJ
Monday, June 26
The morning was a particularly dreary for the summer day, but no one was particularly complaining since it beat a summer heat wave, when Robbie pulled into his parking spot. The weather matched Robbie's mood as he turned off the ignition and stepped out of his vehicle, briefcase in hand.
He should have been in a good mood that morning with the news from last night that the police had caught several men tentatively working for Mason breaking into the Ace Chemicals factory in an apparent attempt to steal documents, giving credence to the idea that he was attached to the company in a less than legal manner. However, he didn't feel much like celebrating because those men were directly under Beck in his job with Mason and he was spotted along with them during the attempted arrest. The fact that it looked like Beck's apartment had been hastily cleared out and Sam hadn't been seen in her apartment since last night showed conscious of guilt to his longtime friend. Worst yet, Dickers had personally gone to a judge to get an arrest warrant for the long haired young man behind his back.
Robbie's stomach had been twisted in knots the entire night. A part of him couldn't believe it—wouldn't believe that Beck would actually be involved with Mason's illegal activities. The others caught saying they were just legally retrieving documents and it was the cops that just opened fire on them without a chance to surrender allowed that piece of his mind to take refuge in his faith for his friend. It may have been naïveté on his part, but if Robbie and Detective Vega's theory that Mason really did own the business or at least had a significant hand in it then the mob soldiers actually had a credible defense in the court as they could point to the D.A. agreeing with them that they really hadn't committed a crime. Beck really could be innocent and found not guilty in a court of law.
Robbie was so deep in his thoughts that he was startled when a van screeched to a halt right in front of him several yards before he reached the side entrance of the building and the side door in front of him slid open. Two gentleman of Asian descent quickly jumped out.
"Hey! Watch where you're driv—"
He didn't finish as one of them pulled a sack over his head then the pair dragged him inside the van. The non-descript van sped off, wheels spinning and leaving a skid marks in its wake with several witnesses and security watching agape.
West Manor
Freddie knocked on the door and patiently waited for someone to answer, presumably Mister Sikowitz, as the time approached ten that morning.
He had gone to West Tower to meet up with Miss West to continue their investigation and possibly have another conversation, but they had informed him that she called in to say that she wouldn't be in today.
He wondered if she had decided to blow off the investigation and spend the day with Miss Vega, but he seriously doubted that she would be that inconsiderate to him or suddenly stop wanting to get to the bottom of everything after she had invited herself into it in the first place.
There was a slight nagging feeling that he had made her feel awkward with their near kiss and that was the reason for the avoidance. However, there was another part of his mind nagging him that suggested that she was avoiding him because she had recognized him as Superman last night. He had taken hours later that night to finally accept that she was the Bat. She smelled identical to Jade and the look in her eyes screamed to him that she was Jade.
He was still trying to wrap his head around the fact and what that could mean between them, especially with the added complication of him nearly kissing her not more than an hour earlier than their costumed personas meeting. The only reassuring thing about the whole mess was that she looked as if she was moving in to kiss him.
Sikowitz opened the door, pulling him out of his musings. He wore a somewhat concerned expression on his face as he politely greeted the reporter, "I'm sorry Mister Benson, I know you and Madam West were supposed to head out with you and… investigate, but she's not feeling well. I think she overexerted herself and now paying the price this morning. She's staying in for the day."
Freddie didn't bother hiding his concern and quickly stated, "I'm sorry. I didn't realize that our… excursion had been so taxing on her, but she's alright?"
"She's not in any medical danger if that is what you are concerned about."
The reporter nodded then continued, "Okay, I understand. I hope she feels better soon. Would you please let her know I stopped by and that…" He cleared his throat and cryptically finished, "…everything's okay between us?"
Sikowitz sympathetically nodded. "I'll pass along the message."
As he turned and headed back to his rental car, he stated, "I'll call later to inform her of what I find out."
"Thank you, I know she would appreciate it."
Freddie returned to his rental car and took a moment to get lost back in his thoughts. He wasn't sure what to make of being turned away. Did something happen last night he didn't realize or see? Had she hurt herself she had hit him several times? Was she afraid that he really had figured out it was her and now just couldn't face him?
Those questions began to run through his mind over and over again as he started the vehicle. The radio turned back on just as the station was interrupted with breaking news. His eyes grew wide at hearing them report that Robbie had been kidnapped in full view of the public just before he walked into the district attorney's office. Only one thought ran through the man from Kansas's mind: 'This looks like a job for Superman'.
Back in the expensive mansion in Jade's bedroom, the millionaire was receiving a phone call from a nearly hysterical Cat about what had happened. Any self-loathing or other negative emotion was swept aside as she tried to reassure her friend on the other end of the phone as she got out of bed and nearly ran to head downstairs and to the study.
District Attorney's Office
Cat sat on a couch in Robbie's office, gently rocking back and forth as Tori sat to her left and held her. The redhead had cried to the point that she had run out of tears and her eyes were a bloodshot red.
Tori softly attempted to reassure her, "Cat, it's going to be alright. Everyone is looking for him and my dad will find him. Jade and André are using everything and anything at West Enterprises to find him. Jade has a lot of money and power and that gets people's attention… whether it is entirely legal or not."
"Tori… I don't know what I'd do if I lost him. It took so long for us to get it right… for me to get it right with him and just let him love me and now that we're happy…" She ironically laughed, "I think he was going to ask me to marry him soon. The campaign was behind us and he was going to get all the mobsters and we'd have a spring wedding."
The brunette brushed some of Cat's red locks behind her left ear and whispered, "You're going to. You're going to be happy and you'll be a beautiful bride. Everything's going to be alright."
Cat desperately wanted to believe her friend, but the ache in her heart wouldn't relent. She bowed her head on Tori's shoulder and buried her face into the crook of her neck.
Tori gently rubbed her hand up and down the redhead's right arm, praying a silent prayer that Robbie would be alight. Hopefully the dark dame would find him in time. However, she'd be surprised who else was on the case to find the one time ventriloquist.
Non-Descript Warehouse
Industrial District, Gotham, NJ
The young man of Asian decent slumped in the plain wooden chair in which his hands were tied behind his back. His head was slumped over as he was bleeding from his nose and mouth. He looked like he had went through a twelve round fight, but the harlequin dressed young woman had only worked him over for the last fifteen minutes.
The white face painted and green dyed hair mobster stood off to the side with his arms crossed over his chest and lazily rested against the edge of the desk, quickly losing patience with the Asian mobster soldier. Beck may have been in hiding with the plan to skip the country for a while and taking refuge in Havana (after paying Mason a visit), but that didn't mean he was cut off from the outside world. On the contrary, he had to keep abreast of what was going on to hear if the cops had any leads on his location, but when he heard about Robbie's kidnapping…
Sam grabbed Mrs. Lee's soldier by the collar and slightly lifting him up from the chair so he would have to look at her and hissed, "Where is he?!"
He looked up and spat in her face then laughed, "He's probably dead and fish food in the West River."
She closed her eyes just in time to prevent any from getting in her eyes, but her white painted cheek was covered in the crimson liquid. She slowly opened her eyes then answered with a right cross that knocked out a few of his front teeth.
She was about to hit him again, but her partner softly called out, "Harley dear…"
The blonde stayed her hand then took a step back. She turned to go wash her face and reapply her makeup.
In the meantime, the Joker pushed off the edge of the table and pulled out his M1911A from a shoulder holster under his purple long coat. He pulled back the slide to double check that there was a round in the chamber then cocked the hammer back. He gripped Mrs. Lee's soldier by the crown of his head man's to lift his face up to meet look up at the white painted face criminal just as he placed the barrel of the .45 under his chin.
Mrs. Lee's soldier definitely stared back and whispered out through bloody and a few missing teeth, "I'm not afraid to die for my mistress."
The devilish clown stared back and the man suddenly felt he was staring into the eyes of the Christian Devil then he spoke… "I don't care. What I care about is you just used 'probably'. Where would your boys take him?"
"I won't betray my mist—性交!"
He cursed in his native language as the Joker rudely interrupted him from going on a self-righteousness tirade by taking the man's right pointer finger and bending it all the way to the back of his hand with the expected breaking sound of bone.
"I don't care about your Far East honor bullchizz. I want to know where he is and it better be the truth. If it isn't, I'm going to make you suffer for a very long time…"
He placed his gun on top of the man's left hand and grabbed him by the back of his to hold him steady as he brought his lips to his left ear. He whispered so quietly, it sent another chill down the man's spin, "I've read snippets about what your people are doing to the Chinese in your little war with them, so how about we try a few of those things out on you?"
His heart nearly froze and answered, "He's alive… she'd want to kill him personally."
"Okay, we're getting somewhere. What would they drive to get him to her or would she go to them? Everyone knows the van they drove when they kidnapped him."
"They'd hide him in one of her catering trucks for Nozu with an escort from our armored cars. We'd take him to her. It would look too suspicious if she left the restaurant right now."
"When would they take him to her?"
"Whenever she'd call. They're waiting for her to decide. We were just guessing that it would be tonight after the restaurant closed."
The Joker quickly stood up then turned to walk towards the exit, his crew looking to him with confused expressions under their makeup. He turned and fired back into the mobster, putting the forty-five round into the man's chest without a second thought. As one of his subordinates followed behind him, the Joker explained, "That's how we'll get him: they'll move him for us right into our hands. Tell Dopey to cut into the telephone line to make it look like the call is coming from Nozu and use the numbers from his wireless phone."
Happy replied slightly incredulous, "But he doesn't sound Japanese or Chinese or whatever they're pretending to be this week."
Just as Harley was returning from the restroom, the Joker suggested, "Harley can fake the accent."
Harley asked as she returned from the restroom, "What accent?"
Joker nodded his head to Happy and replied, "Happy, fill her in." He continued walking past the blonde, leaving her a little confused with the henchman.
He called out, "What are you going to do?"
"Getting the truck ready." He motioned for the rest to follow and called out, "Come on!"
His subordinates don't hesitate to follow his instructions even if they are still confused why they are trying to rescue the D.A. because to them, friendship doesn't seem like the only reason.
Mason Thornesmith's Office
GCN played on a television in the corner of Mason office their continuing coverage of Robbie's kidnapping while the businessman went about his paperwork in managing his legitimate business. He occasionally glanced at the television to see if there was any update to possibly link to him. He knew that there wouldn't be any of his fingerprints on the crime, but he couldn't be too cautious as Mrs. Lee might want to try to pin it on him if anything went wrong. Carson was smart enough to attempt to blame the Joker on his attempted hit, so he wouldn't discount Mrs. Lee from trying to do the same.
His assistant Chelsea casually entered the office to drop off some paperwork, but she stopped halfway through the office and her face fell along with the papers in her arms.
Mason looked up in mild confusion at seeing her simply dropping the documents and standing frozen in place. "What?"
She pointed past his shoulder.
His eyes narrowed as he turned his swivel seat to look behind him and his face looked on with as much shock as his assistant's at seeing the blue and red young man hovering on the other side of the window… thirty stories above the ground.
Superman had his arms crossed over his chest and looked to the businessman with an impatient expression. He spoke loud enough over the passing wind and through the window. "Open the window."
Mason stood up from his seat and reached over and opened the specially designed window in case there was a fire. He opened the window then took a step back while the young man floated inside.
Superman asked in a curt tone, "Where is Robbie Shapiro?"
The businessman awkwardly laughed, "What makes you think I would know where he was?"
The 'Man of Tomorrow' stated in a flat tone, "You're the crime boss of Gotham. You either explicit ordered it or you gave them permission to do it."
Mason rolled his eyes and tried to laugh off, "Those are baseless accusations made by my failing competi—"
Superman grabbed Mason by the collar and picked him off his feet, shocking the mob boss. "Don't feed me that line. I know you run this city through my own investigation and the D.A. is closing in on you or you wouldn't have sent Mister Oliver and his guys to try to cleanup any connection you had to Ace Chemicals. If he links you to it or… links you to Carson's death… you're finished. Getting him out of the way solves a lot of your problems."
Mason grabbed the kryptonian's wrist and hissed out, "I don't know anything about Ace Chemicals and what Beck did was entirely of his own doing. Steven committed suicide."
"I've seen the video where you visited him and left at the time of his death. I know you were there and I know you or one of your bodyguards did it."
The gray haired gentleman spat, "There is no tape. I wasn't there and you can't prove anything."
"Yes I can…" He turned in place, continuing to hold Mason until Superman was hanging him outside the window.
The mobster grabbed Superman's wrists by both hands to desperately hang on while his feet dangled freely.
"…but if anything happens to him… you will answer to me. No lawyers, no judge, no jury… just me." He tossed Mason back into the office and looked down in disgust to the older man.
Mason rolled to a sitting position and looked back with a hateful expression. "Answer to you?"
"Yes, you'll answer to me."
Superman turned and was about to fly away when he heard Mason mumble, "And who do you answer to?"
He stopped and cracked a smile before he turned in place and confidently answered, "I answer to truth and justice." He turned again and flew away just as Mason's bodyguards burst into the room.
Somewhere on the docks of Gotham City
The Bat impatiently waited in her armored vehicle that looked more like one of Jade West's sports cars than a standard armored car. The vehicle was parked on top of a specially designed elevator and hidden inside two attached rectangular shipping containers. She wanted to bust into Nozu and ring Robbie's location out of the owner of the Japanese restaurant, but it was broad daylight even on the overcast day and lose the element of surprise. She knew the kidnappers had to be Lee's men (one could not be blind to their ethnicity and worry about any PC nonsense in this situation) and the woman never liked Robbie when they had gone to the restaurant when they were in high school and she was on his list to take down after Mason.
However, she wasn't sitting idly by as there were several individuals provided by West Enterprises' in-house security watching the restaurant and she had all of the phone lines, ground and wireless, being monitored from the restaurant and Mrs. Lee's home in the hopes of picking up anything.
As she waited, she couldn't help but blame herself for not doing more to take the fight to the Mob instead of just taking down the low level guys to try to cut off their money supply. It was too slow to try to bleed them out and she knew the Mob would start to fight back, but she never thought they were actually go this far and target Robbie. The Mob did have a few rules and purposely targeting public officials was against one of them.
Her brooding was interrupted with Sikowitz call through one of the speakers on the instrument panel, "Ma'am, I think we have something."
"What?"
"The line from Nozu just called out to a wireless number and said to bring Robbie to her."
"Could you trace the number to where they were located?"
"No, not enough time, but I figured out a general area from the tower they were using. I'm sending it to you now."
The tower with the radius of its reception appeared on her map on her screen. She typed underneath the control panel to instruct the computer to calculate all the possible direct routes to Nozu from that circle. She shook her head at seeing there were too many routes to cover, but it wouldn't do any good as she didn't know what they were driving.
"Was there any mention of what they would be driving?"
"No."
She whispered to herself, "Okay… if they're heading to Nozu's then that must mean they have to be driving something that wouldn't look suspicious driving up to the restaurant and give them cover to get him inside or they could drive any car around the back…" She recalled the time that Robbie had two 'Hambone' competitions behind the restaurant with Tori having to win the second one.
Sikowitz suggested, "They cater."
"What?"
"They cater. We had them deliver some sushi for the fundraiser because you knew Cat would love it. They could put him in one of their trucks and drive there without anyone giving them a second thought."
"Okay, that sounds right, but how would we intercept them? There's too many routes to cover and if I guess wrong… and I'd draw more attention down the road then the cops looking for Robbie in broad daylight."
Sikowitz remained silent as he couldn't come up with an answer. A nocturnal creature didn't have much place in the light of the day.
The armored car led the catering van at a leisurely speed down the road towards their boss' restaurant. Some of the mob soldiers were nervous while others were pretty cocky in hiding in plain sight with the D.A. tied up in the back of the catering van.
They approached a traffic light and the three vehicles in succession stopped and patiently waited for the light to change. They watched as a few cars pass back and forth until an odd thing happened: an eighteen-wheeler slowly crossed the intersection from the left, but suddenly stopped the block the intersection.
The men in the armored car in front of the catering truck looked with curious expressions then looked to one another at the trailer that was iconographed with the circus. They looked back to the truck as the side door of the tracker trailer opened, revealing the purple dressed criminal clown holding a Browning Automatic Rifle along with two of his crew holding Thompson submachine guns. He squeezed the trigger along with his companions, firing off several shots in quick succession into the driver's side of the front windshield.
The bulletproof glass stopped the subsonic forty-five caliber rounds, but the .30-06 rounds of the Joker's rifle tore through the glass and the bodies of the drive and passenger, their blood splattering all inside the car and insides of the windows as he emptied the twenty round magazine.
The driver of the catering truck shifted the truck into reverse and slammed on the accelerator as he watched his front escort being slaughtered. However, the armored car behind him wasn't quick enough and it was hit. The front bumper was crushed just before the back end of the truck was popped up on it, bringing the back wheels off the floor.
The second armor car was thrown into reverse and pulled away, allowing the catering truck's back wheels to slam onto the pavement and regain traction. The escort only backed up a few feet when it was rear ended by a dump truck and sent it skidding forward, just missing the Nozu truck as it wheeled around to head into the other direction of the intersection.
Harley put the dump truck into reverse and quickly backed up before wheeling the truck nearly in place to start to following the catering truck. The eighteen-wheeler started up and started down the road to wheel around at the next intersection in the hopes of paralleling the catering truck.
The Nozu truck accelerated surprisingly quickly and blew the red light of the first intersection it crossed, barely missing a few passing cars as the occupants were desperate to get away. After seeing the clown and his crew merciless slaughter their companions, they wanted to get just far enough away and ditch the truck. They'd rather take their chances with their mistress than with the crazy clown.
The dump truck ignored the stop light as well, but slammed into the front side of a car trying to cross the intersection. The truck barely slowed down and kept going while the car went spinning away.
The eighteen-wheeler continued down the parallel road, honking the horn the entire way down to signal any oncoming car not to dare try to cross an intersection in front of them.
The second armored car's rear may have been damaged, but it hadn't been disabled, so it was able to catch up behind the dump truck. The passenger stuck out most of his upper body and brandishing a German MP-38 submachine gun and started firing at the back of the dump truck.
The 9mm rounds harmlessly bounced off the heavy metal door.
The blonde in the driver's seat looked to the side mirror to see their company and a wicked smile formed on her face. It was a risk in losing the catering truck, but she didn't want to get trapped between whoever had Robbie and the goons in the following truck so… she slammed on her brakes.
Mrs. Lee's mob soldier wasn't quick enough to slam on the breaks as he had been too desperate to keep up with the dump truck. He paid for it as the car crashed into the back of the truck, crushing the front with his head slamming into the steering wheel and the goon in the passenger seat being thrown out of the window and head long into the back door of the dump truck. At the speed the armored car had been going to keep pace with the dump truck, he became a bloody mess on the door before his broken and smashed body slopped onto the pavement.
Harley slammed down on the accelerated and sped up to catch up with the fleeing catering truck.
Kneeling down and behind held secured by one of his shoulders from one of his men, the Joker shoulder and steadied his BAR to take the first clear shot at the armored car the next time it was seen in the next intersection as he had previously spotted it behind the dump truck from the parallel route. He was hoping his driver could actually get ahead of them and cut them off, but he wasn't naïve to the fact that the eighteen-wheeler wouldn't have the acceleration ability of the catering truck.
The car disappeared from behind the dump truck when it came back into view and was replaced with a sleek armored vehicle that looked like a cross between a Lamborghini and a tank catching up with the dump truck. The Joker felt in an instant that it had to be the Bat.
One of the clown face painted mobster opened fired on the black vehicle, but the rounds harmlessly bounced off. The clown mobster lifted his arm up and grabbed his soldier's forearm to stop him. He looked down at his boss stunned.
Joker shouted, "The Bat's off limits. She's trying to help. Pass the word!"
The sleek armored vehicle wheeled around the dump truck and accelerated in front of the truck before the black vehicle could head on an oncoming car.
The blonde behind the wheel of the dump truck frowned at being cutoff just as the passenger of the catering truck opened the window and started firing at the black 'tank'.
The road merged into a four lane highway, giving all those involved in the chase a little more room to maneuver.
The truck turned hard to the left to try to go in the opposite way up an exit ramp to the approaching overhead bridge in an attempt to lose the following vehicles. Of course that meant crossing over two opposing lanes. The vehicle wasn't fast enough to cross the lane and an oncoming car hit the right side of the truck's engine block. The oncoming car's front became an accordion and sent the truck spinning until too much weight shifted in the back and sent the vehicle to roll onto its side and skidded several yards.
It stopped to show at an angle towards the traffic that once was behind it. The fuel tank ruptured and started spilling its contents onto the road.
Mrs. Lee's mob soldiers climbed out from the side door and on top of the vehicle just as the dump truck and black armored vehicle pulled up behind them. They immediately and desperately fired at the dump truck's windshield.
Harley and the passenger ducked just in time as the windshield was filled with holes.
The Bat had a variety of weapons that she could have unleashed on them, but they were lethal and Robbie was in the truck and didn't want him caught in her line of fire.
One of Mrs. Lee's soldiers dropped from the upturned side of the truck straight into the puddle of gasoline. He didn't give it a second thought as he blasted away with his MP-38 at the dump truck.
The eighteen-wheeler arrived from a side street to pull up along to the left of the one-sided gun battle. The side door was still open and the Joker raised a submachine gun and cut loose with burst at the soldier standing on top of the truck, snuffing out the man's life and sending him tumbling off the truck.
The other two opened fire on the second Lee mobster. One of the shots, whether it was from Joker's crew or Mrs. Lee, it was unknown, ricocheted off the gasoline covered pavement, setting it ablaze and the flame quickly traveled to the underside of the truck and burst out into flames, nearly incinerating the mob soldier. He died instantly from the consuming flame and dropped to the asphalt.
The front/top hatch of the armored car opened and the Bat jumped out then ran to the back of the burning vehicle. She hit the locked handles to the back door with her armored gauntlet, desperately trying to break them. Her heart froze when she heard Robbie's screams from inside of the vehicle.
The Joker jumped out of the side of the tracker trailer and attempted to approach the vehicle, but from his and the rest of his crew's vantage point, it was too hot to approach and couldn't get around the flames to assist the vigilante.
The Bat wasn't much for praying, but she begged for a miracle as she continued to hear his screams while she tried to pull the locked and bent doors open to get inside.
Her prayer was answered as the next moment a chilly wind blew against the burning underside of the vehicle, freezing the wrecked underside in visible ice and extinguishing the flames. She turned to see up in astonishment 'The Man of Tomorrow' hovering in place for a moment before he landed on the side of the truck and punched through the side of the truck and tore open a gaping hole in the side of it. He jumped inside and in a blink, he was outside of it holding an unconscious and smoldering Robbie.
The Bat cupped her mouth as she could see that one side of Robbie was burned, his left side of his face nearly black. She was snapped out of her horror when Superman yelled, "Where's the nearest hospital?!"
The Joker having cautiously approached from behind Metropolis' adopted son and didn't hesitate to point past him and shout, "Gotham Community General! It's about five miles that way!"
The red cape wearing young man slightly bent his knees then soared into the air with a crack of air.
The costumed criminals and the vigilante looked up at him in awe as he flew faster than a speeding bullet towards the hospital then the group turned to one another, a potential standoff about to take place, but the approaching sirens interrupted them.
The Bat struggled to maintain an intimidating stare and the clown criminal was having the same trouble. She turned and dashed towards her vehicle while Harley had caught up from the dump truck and raised her Tommy gun ready to shoot her in the back. The Joker was quicker and pushed down the barrel towards the ground before she could get off a shot.
The blonde shouted in an accusatory tone, "What are you doing?!"
"You really want to shoot someone that was trying to save Robbie?"
The blonde slightly frowned, apparently partially shamed at his point.
He nodded to their getaway car and muttered, "Let's get out of here before the cops show up."
Gotham Community General
The hospital had the usual busyness to it with patients and visitors coming and going in a peaceful manner. The peacefulness was interrupted when Superman landed in front of the ER entrance with such force that the concrete cracked and partially fractured the concrete. He walked through the opening entrance and shouted, "I need a doctor!"
The staff and some of the waiting patients looked at him dumbfounded, never having seen the costumed hero other than in the newspapers and on television. The staff's shock was quickly dismissed when they saw the injured man in his arms.
One of the nurses quickly rolled a bed to him and he placed Robbie onto it. He stepped aside and let the nurses and doctors begin their work as they shouted for various things and rolled him deeper into the ER.
As the D.A. was rolled out of sight, the red cape wearing man's shoulders slumped and for the first time since his father died, he felt defeated.
Author's Note: Things have changed and there is no going back… the next chapter will be some fall out for a lot of people. Also, I decided that the Bat's ride would be the Tumbler from Nolan's films.