The unfamiliar revving of the motorcycle was a jolt to Batman's system. The way the sound bounced around and echoed throughout the rocky tunnel was foreign and strange, presenting a feeling of wrongness within him. Normally he was driving his car through here and was insulated from the noise. Still, it was only a feeling and one he ignored completely.
Bursting out of the tunnel he used for his car, he came to a screeching stop in front of said vehicle. The purple motorcycle he sat on was clearly not suited for his body type since it was a custom-build, creating an uncomfortable feeling between his legs. It had been difficult driving the bike as well as he had maintained one hand on the handle bar for most of the journey here.
The reason why he had gone one-handed was because of Huntress. He had her sitting in front of him on the motorcycle, her body facing his as her head rested on his chest. The vigilante had been in the habit of keeping a hand on her whenever he had made a turn—which he had made more than he would've liked—and had to slow down as well, much to chagrin. They were in the cave though, and presently that was all that mattered.
It wasn't his first choice, not after the last visitor he had here, but there was little choice in the matter. He couldn't take the woman to a hospital, not without compromising her identity. Though he held reservation concerning her involvement in protecting the city, he wasn't going to purposefully give her away. Just the thought railed against his sensibilities.
With every hospital eliminated, he had considered one of the labs at Wayne Enterprises. That held more risk for him though, as it created a connection between Batman and his company should he be discovered. There was no way he would jeopardize all the effort he had put into separating Batman and Bruce Wayne. So, with public medical facilities and the research laboratories of Wayne Enterprises all removed as options, that left only one place he could take her, that being the cave.
Swinging his leg over and off the bike, Batman scooped Huntress up into his arms, one arm against her back and the other behind her her knees. With a singular purpose, he strode away from the vehicles and headed for the medical unit, climbing the metal staircase and up onto the platform. Reaching one of the beds, he placed the purple-clad woman on it, making her as comfortable as he could before doing an about face and taking the stairs back down.
Batman headed to the supercomputer, pulling out his airgun and removing the vial of Huntress' blood from it. After putting the airgun back in its compartment, he called out, "Computer, activate blood analysis program." Instantly, the computer screen came to life, flashing images and windows over it as it opened the program. Reaching his chair, Batman took a seat in it and looked to the right of his keyboard. There was a square, upraised lid lying on the desk within his reach, which he flipped open to reveal a small round circle at its center. Sliding the blood vial into the hole, he closed the lid and ordered, "Computer, run blood analysis diagnostic and toxicology screening."
Again, the screen flashed as it did the analysis, Batman waiting patiently for the program to do its designed work. It took a couple minutes before a window popped up, an image of the blood at its cellular level on one side and a list of data to the left. The red bloods cells and platelets were the most eye-catching part of the image, but they weren't the first thing that caught the vigilante's attention. Mixed with the cells was a greenish fluid, some sort of chemical compound that clearly didn't belong. Looking to the data list, he read the relevant information, making note of various chemical elements and compounds that were listed, ones that he knew were not normally found in the human bloodstream.
"Computer, extract data on foreign chemical compounds." Some more flashing occurred, but it didn't take nearly as long as the initial analysis as a few more windows popped up, each with a different chemical compound in them with their relevant data. That wasn't what he wanted to see, but he was quick to note that each compound had the same elements involved. Apparently his command hadn't been specific enough as the computer had taken all the elements and made multiple potential compounds out of them. It was still a start, however; now he just had to isolate which one was the one used in the Joker Venom.
"Computer, crosscheck blood sample with all potential chemical compounds. Identify most common compound." Once more, the computer went to work, leaving Batman to watch its progress.
"It seems you have a situation, Sir."
Batman nodded his head. So focused was he on his tests he hadn't heard the man enter the cave and walk right up behind him. He chose to see it as a testament to his concern over this latest development rather than the butler successfully sneaking up on him. "Alfred, we have a guest in the cave," he told the older man. "She was poisoned earlier tonight with the same toxin the Joker unleashed at City Hall."
"My word. It must be quite serious if you've brought her here."
"From what I've seen, it's absolutely lethal. Everyone exposed so far has died, brutally I might add." At this, the vigilante typed in a command on the keyboard, a new window appear with several numbered file icons on it. Going to the last icon, he opened it and the video feed from his cowl began playing right from the moment he activated it. Fast forwarding it, he brought the video up to the point where he saw the policemen lying on the ground, their faces twisted into grotesque smiles.
"Dear God," Alfred gasped.
"Everyone there was killed," Batman said bluntly as he stared at the image. "I was lucky enough to administer a sedative to Jim Gordon to slow the process, but there's no known cure for the poison presently."
Alfred quickly assumed his stoic demeanor. "And the person you've brought to the cave has also been sedated?"
"Yes. She's the vigilante I confronted a few nights ago. Calls herself the Huntress. She's in the med bay right now and I'm currently running a toxicology test on her blood to isolate the chemical compound the Joker used. I can then reverse engineer it and see if I can develop an antidote."
He then turned his chair to face the butler. "There's something I need for you to do. I need you to make sure that Huntress remains sedated for the duration of her stay in the cave. Use Propofol if you have to, but I want her knocked out."
Alfred looked alarmed at that. "Are you sure, Sir? That's—"
"Extreme, yes; but we are not having a repeat of Lois Lane, especially with Huntress. She's too reckless and violent to trust with our identities. Lane was one thing and easily controlled with the right persuasion; Huntress, on the other hand, doesn't have those same strings."
"Very well, Sir. I will see to it that she is cared for." Alfred turned on his heels and made for the med bay. In the meantime, Batman stood up and walked towards a table set a short distance away from the computer—his lab. Once he got there he began organizing his supplies, placing open vials in tube racks, petri dishes in small stacks, and microscope slides next to the microscope, along with droppers, beakers, and various chemicals. A glance back at the computer told him it was still running its analysis. One compound had been ruled out, so there was some progress being made.
Alfred soon returned, his suit jacket off and the sleeves of his white, button-up shirt rolled up to his elbows. "Ms. Huntress has just been given a second dose of the sedative," the older man informed him. "I also went to the trouble of inserting an IV catheter, setting up a heart monitor and pulse ox."
Batman nodded his acknowledgement. "When the computer analysis is over, I'm going to need you to take another blood sample. I want to confirm what sort of half-life this toxin has. We'll also want to determine if there's any organ damage occurring presently, specifically heart, brain, and liver."
There was a moment of silence before he heard Alfred carefully comment, "You're taking on a great burden, Master Bruce." Those words caused him to halt his preparations. "But it is not one you should carry on your own. There are many doctors currently running their own research on this toxin, the same as you. You may want to compare notes."
"I know that, but none of those doctors have access to the technology I have. I can run multiple tox screenings at once while they're limited to what their blood labs use. I have countless diagnostic programs that can run simultaneously and cross-reference each other to determine commonalities; those kind of tests would take them hours, if not days to fully complete. Right now, I'm the best hope at finding an antidote while there's still time before Joker unleashes more of this poison."
Batman had felt in control as he had said this. His posture has been straight with nothing to give away that he was bothered by this latest development. Yet, Alfred could see right through it, as if he had seen this story before. Perhaps he even had. "Master Bruce, you seem quite on edge," he spoke as if he were speaking about the weather. "Is there something troubling you?"
It should have been obvious what was "troubling" him. The frozen image on the computer screen was clearly the reason. It was self-explanatory and Batman was quite sure the butler knew this. He did have a set of eyes in his head after all. But there was something the older man was trying to get at and he wouldn't ask such a blatantly obvious question unless he had a point to make. At any other time, he would've ignored such inquiry, shrugging off it off as inconsequential; this time he decided to humor the old man.
"I know nothing about this," he admitted, much calmer, softer than he felt. "This man, this gas, it's all a mystery. I don't even know what he's doing this for. With Fries, it was anger with the city; Hush wanted revenge, plain and simple; and Cobblepot just wanted to rule Gotham. This...Joker just appeared out of nowhere and just started killing people with no clear reason why."
"Which makes him a frightening opponent," Alfred summed up.
"Frightening," the younger man agreed, "deadly, unpredictable. Those people out there tonight, there was nothing I could do for them. Absolutely nothing. The best I've come up with is knocking them out and hoping on the off-chance their body metabolizes the poison out of their body, which doesn't include what other damage it could be causing. There are two people who have currently survived the initial gassing and I have no assurance as to if they'll recover. For all I know when they wake up, they'll start laughing again and I'll just have to keep sedating them to prevent further damage."
"You're clearly frustrated with this, but may I remind you this isn't the first time people have died under such an attack. Gotham has weathered difficult times such as this before."
Batman shook his head, disgust written on his face. Not at Alfred, but just the thought of the incident earlier tonight. "This is different. With Fries, I managed to stop him in mid-attack. Hush had already killed his board members before I even got to him. There was nothing I could do to help the people already harmed in either of those cases. This time...this time I was there when it happened. I was there. And I couldn't stop it—didn't know how to stop it. And now there's so many people lying out there as twisted and deformed corpses."
Batman felt himself choke up, silencing his ramblings. Soon, he felt a gentle hand touch his shoulder, Alfred giving him a comforting squeeze. "Sometimes we are unable to do what we wish too. It is not anyone's fault as it is simply out of their hands, much like tonight with you." He paused to let those words sink it. "The computer will take some time in processing this toxin. Now would be a good time to rest yourself and allow your mind time to adjust to this situation."
It sounded good. In fact, that was probably the best course of action the vigilante could take. Yet, there was something deep inside of him that rebelled at the thought. No! You have to work! You have to figure this out! You can't let this man get away with this! And it was because of this, that he shrugged Alfred's hand off his shoulder. "There's no time for that," he growled lowly. "There's too much to do and too little time to do it in. I have to do this."
Batman went back to organizing his lab supplies, never taking a look at Alfred's sympathetic look. "Very well, Sir," he responded after a time. "I will take watch over the young woman in our care and report to you any change in her condition."
The vigilante nodded his acknowledgement, ignoring the fading footsteps that left him in a world all of his own.
It was all over the news networks.
Zatanna sat on the foot of her bed and stared at the grisly images on the television. News teams were scouring the streets around City Hall, men in hazmat suits running around as they removed the bodies of so many people. A reporter off screen was narrating the scene, describing the carnage to the viewers.
"As you can see, the police and medical teams are working as quickly as possible to cleanse the area, removing the bodies of the deceased as they do so." At this, the camera zoomed in on two men carrying a stretch, a dead body on it with its face staring right at news team. The pale face and twisted smile nearly caused Zatanna to retch at the sight of it. It was horrible to look at.
"Jesus, son of Mary," Jane breathed next to the dark-haired woman. She too was sitting on the bed, a pillow clutched in her arms as she leaned on top of it, pushing it down onto her thighs. She was just as captivated with the scene as Zatanna. "That looks just like the creep that attacked us."
Zatanna nodded her head, but didn't say anything. What could she say? Jane was right and she was having the flashbacks to prove it. Though unlike the Joker's animated face, these were just flat-out unnatural. They looked stiff, petrified even. No way did a normal face look like that, even in death.
There was a shift somewhere behind her, alerting her to Jeff's presence in the room as well. He was currently standing next to the bed out of her sight, but he too was focused on the TV, and there was no telling what he was thinking, though Zatanna felt that he was in agreement with them.
"While the police aren't commenting about the incident, sources say this was an attack by a man simply known as the Joker. He first appeared last week in connection with dozens of robberies across the city. It is unknown as to how he managed to take over City Hall, or what he intends to do following last night's incident, but he is currently believed to be roaming the city, armed, and highly dangerous.
"For viewers just turning in, we are just across the street from City Hall. Early counts of the death toll have exceeded over 300 people, with more to come as the police investigate the scene. There are some believe that we are looking at a death toll estimates upwards to over 400 people."
There was a pause in the reporter's story. "The station has just informed me that footage does exist of last night's attack, but the GCPD has asked that we not release it to the public due to its graphic nature. For now, all we can do is look at the carnage and ask ourselves: what is next?"
"More dead people, that's what," Jane answered the rhetorical question. "This Joker guy is gonna keep killin' and killin' and killin' until someone stops him."
"You're right," Jeff agreed. "This is getting very dangerous."
Suddenly, the screen cut away from the horrific scene to the news station, where an anchorman sat behind the news desk. The banner at the bottom of the screen scrolled across with the words BREAKING NEWS, soon followed with the name of the anchorman JACK RYDER on it. "This just in," Ryder spoke, a piece of paper in his hand as he looked at the the televised audience. "The GCPD has released an official count of the number of victims from last night's attack at City Hall, which claimed the lives of policemen, SWAT team members, and local protesters."
He cleared this throat then and looked at the paper in his hand. "The official body count has been totaled at...574 people…"
Even Ryder looked at that number in undisguised shock, which said nothing about Zatanna and her friends as they gaped at the television set. "I repeat, the official body count is 574," the anchorman repeated as if that would someone make the number any less shocking. After staring at the paper for several moments, he placed it down on the desk, looking at the next sheet and read what was on it.
He then perked his head up and looked right at the camera. "There does appear to be some good news in this tragic event. We have just received word that Commissioner James Gordon of the GCPD was found unconscious at the scene. He has been transported to Gotham Mercy Hospital, where he is recovering from last night's attack. Our prayers go out to the commissioner and his family at this devastating time."
A growing sense of dread began to work its way into Zatanna's stomach at that moment. So far, none of the news stations had reported on the presence of the Batman at the scene, which the dark-haired woman knew he was going to. There wasn't anything, not even a "Where was Batman when this happened?" For all she knew, he never made it, or got caught up in whatever happened and was lying dead in a gutter somewhere, his face twisted into that sickening smile.
That very image flooded her mind and she had to shake her head to rid herself of it. No, if Bruce had gotten caught up last night, he would be lying out there with all those dead people. And even if he had managed to drag his dying body away, someone would've found him by now and the news story wouldn't be 574 people died last night, it would be the death of Batman. So in this case, no news had to be good news, it just had to be.
It had to be.
Swallowing, Zatanna looked to Jane on her left and Jeff to her right. It seemed they needed to make some decisions now. "Guys, I think its time the troupe left Gotham."
"Agreed," Jeff immediately responded. "I'll inform everyone to pack their things and leave. Be out of the city before sundown. I have to say, it was fortunate we've already packed up all of our equipment at Jezebel, so that's one less thing."
Zatanna nodded her head. "Good. I'll leave that to you."
"What do you need me to do?" Jane asked.
"Help Jeff if he needs it, but the important thing is that everyone gets out. Like you said, this is going to keep going until this freak is caught and I don't want anymore of us getting caught in the crossfire."
"Okay, where do you want to meet up? Our next show listing?"
Zatanna shook her head. "Go home. Once there we'll figure out what to do."
She heard Jeff stiffen behind her. "Zee, you sound like you're not coming with us," he said in a low, accusing tone.
The dark-haired woman sighed. Well, there was no use hiding it. "That's because I'm not."
She saw Jane jerk back, her eyes wide in amazement. "What? Why?" she demanded.
"I have a couple things I need to do here. It shouldn't take long and I'll be gone as soon as they're done."
Jeff stepped around the bed so that he could face her, his face growing angrier with every passing second. "You're thinking about doing something reckless, aren't you?"
"Maybe."
"There's no maybes about it!" her manager shouted at her. He stuck out a finger and began jabbing it to emphasize his points. "You're going to get yourself in trouble with this Joker guy. Do you realize just how stupid that is? He's already killed Don and half the city's police department and he's going to do the same to you if you provoke him, which I'd bet 10-to-1 odds that's exactly what you're gonna do!"
"Zee, I really think you should really reconsider that," Jane said softly, a stark contrast to Jeff's angry tone. "This doesn't concern us."
"I know this sounds dumb, but I have to do this." Zatanna looked to Jeff, taking in his simmering rage. "You remember when I hired you? Back when I took over the troupe?"
Her manager continued to glower at her, but nodded his head in answer. "Yeah, what about it?"
"You told me that there were going to be times where we had to do thing that everyone was better off not knowing, including between each other. Well, this is one of those times."
Jeff's eyes widened at that while Jane just looked curiously between the two of them. Zatanna knew that the brown-haired man was about to protest again, so she cut him off before he could. "I'm asking, just this once, to turn around and do as I say. Please."
Jeff clenched his hands tightly into fists. It was clear he was not happy with her as he scowled. "Fine, have it your way," he finally said. "But don't get yourself killed, okay?"
Zatanna gave him a cocky smirk. "This is me we're talking about."
"I know, that's why I said it." Jeff then began walking to the door, never looking back at the dark-haired woman as he opened the room door and stepped out.
There was a moment of silence before Zatanna added, "You too, Jane."
Her friend seemed taken back by that, but then reached out and wrapped an arm around the magician's shoulders. "You take care of yourself, you hear me?" Jane said before releasing her, standing up and following Jeff out of the room.
Once the door closed, Zatanna sucked in a deep breath before looking at the television once more. Grabbing the remote, she turned the set off before she got to work, grabbing her performance costume and lying it on the bed. Stripping out of her pajamas, she began putting the costume on, first her blouse, her nimble fingers buttoning it up quickly. She then sat on the bed and painstakingly pulled on her fishnet stockings one leg at a time, which was then followed by her bottoms. Soon after, she had her shoes, gloves, bowtie, and suit jacket on in quick fashion. She ran a brush through her hair to make it the least bit presentable before she carefully placed her father's top hat on her head.
She briefly considered some make-up, but decided this wasn't the time for it. Well, maybe a quick application of lip stick. She picked up the small tube and open it, rubbing it on her lips and pressing them together.
There, now she was ready. Grabbing her room key, she stuffed it into a pocket on her jacket and strode out of her hotel room. Next stop, Wayne Manor.