"Hello everyone! Hope you enjoy this new chapter of Pandaman~ Here it starts with a few music lyrics from the song "We're killing strangers" by Marilyn Manson. Thought it would be a good fit to Joker and his gang. Happy reading!" –Katmeroo
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Ten
The Raid
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It had been months since the warehouse incident. With Panne fully recovered, the gang had been in full operation. Taking out other gangs who didn't agree with Joker's terms. He figured Black Mask was plotting something in order to overthrown the prince of crime from his throne in Gotham. They had made it a routine to go to each hideout and burn down the buildings after killing everyone in it.
"This world doesn't need no opera. We're here for the operation. We don't need bigger knife, a bigger knife"
Panda kicked open a double door that reveals a group of goons relaxing in their free time. The new Titan and Goatman follow Panda behind with Ak-47's and open fire to the whole room.
"Cuz we got guns, we got guns, we got guns. We got guns, you better run, you better run"
Jonny Frost ties up a struggling man to a chair, while Joker puts on a pair of brass knuckles and gives the scared man a bloody smile.
"We're killing strangers, we're killing strangers"
Panda began to set up a bomb that would spread like wildfire, against a vulnerable wall. She set the timer to 15 minutes. The Titan, Jensen, stood up next to her "All good, lassie?" he asked and she gave him a nod. "Then it's time to go!"
"We're killing strangers, so we don't kill the ones that we love"
The building wraps itself on fire as everyone crawls back on the van and speed off. Panda takes off her helmet and throws it to the side as she takes a deep breath of clean air. She looks at the Joker who was taking off the bloodied brass knuckles and storing them in a backpack Goatman was holding for him.
"Did you managed to get any more information out of anyone?" She asked. His lip twitched as he cleaned the blood from his face with a wet towel. The blood of course, wasn't his.
"It's like we are running around like headless turkeys." He grunted as he threw the rag across the van's floor.
"Maybe if we would've brought the twins we might've had better luck." Jonny said as he sat behind the wheel.
"It's not smart to bring everyone to the missions. I need people back home to take care of the business while we are gone. You know this, Frost!" Joker let out an annoyed grunt.
"Boss!" Eyeball yelled as he pointed out the window "It's the Bat-!" That exact same moment the van flew in the air. The Batman had fired at the van's behind making it flip in midair. Everything went slow motion inside the vehicle. Everyone was floating, right about to hit the roof. Panne saw everyone's scared faces, except Joker, he was laughing. The van landed on its side and slid all across the road with a loud screech. Everybody fell hard and loud against the walls or against each other, hitting their heads in the process. Jonny, who was driving, hit his head against the driver's window hard enough to leave him out of cold.
The Joker ran his hands around her naked body. He planted wet kisses on her fresh tattoos. Suddenly she grabbed his hands and pushed him away and proceeded to dress herself with the scattered clothes on the floor.
"Can I know what the fuck's wrong with ya?" He asked as annoyance could be heard in his words. Panne gave him a cold look and continued to put on her shirt. He hated being ignored, so he leaped and grabbed her by the throat and pushed her against the wall. "Ya better answer to me when I talk to ya." His blue orbs bored into her own. He gave her one more squeeze making her gag for air before releasing her. He then took a deep breath as he rubbed his temples. "Ya see, Panda…" He started.
"Why is it so hard for you to just flow with what I say or do?"
Panne rubbed her neck as she took in heavy breaths. She glared at him slightly.
"Do you know why I did the tattoos on ya?" He asked and she nodded softly.
"It was… my punishment." She answered carefully.
"EHH, wrong!" He imitated the sound of a buzzer and did an "X" with his arms. He continued talking "I want you to see what I see. To detach from your boring goodie self and let out that wild side, that animal instinct that drives us forward." He walked closer to her and placed his hands on both sides of her face, cupping her cheeks. "You and I will never speak the same language unless you open yourself completely to me."
Panne landed on her shoulder with a loud thump. She let out a loud groan as she tried to get on her knees and look around. Mostly everyone was grunting, those who weren't were unconscious. Panne crawled to the back of the driver's seat and saw how Jonny bled from his head.
"J-Jonny? Jonny?!" She shook him lightly with her good arm but got no response from him.
"Fuck!" Spikehead yelled as he tried to stand up and grabbed a hold of his Ak-47 "I'll show that bastard!" He angrily kicked open the back doors of the van as he began opening fire at what seem to be the Batmobile.
"Spike, don't!" Eyeball shouted at Spike to hear but right after he did the gunfire had stopped and nothing could be heard. "Shit, shit, shit!" Eyeball started to grab remaining grenades that were scattered all over the van.
The Joker grabbed a hold of his head as he felt it throb. He had a wound and was bleeding all over his face. He looked at Panne who was repeatedly saying Jonny's name with a cracked voice. Was Jonny dead? He felt his chest heavy at the thought.
"Damn it Panda, leave him and grab a gun. We have a Bat to take care off!"
"Jonny is not responding! We have to take him to a hospital!" She felt her tears build up at the corner of her eyes.
Joker's lip twitched "I'll shoot him in the head if you don't do as I say, then there be no Jonny to take anywhere." He did not mean that, of course, but it was the only way she would listen to him at such critical moment. He turned to the rest of the men, even kicking some awake. "Up! All of you! Out!"
Panne searched Jonny's pocket and found his phone and wrote a text as quickly as she could "Clay & Coop, it's Panne! Jonny is hurt bad, pick us up as fast as you can now!" She hit send then followed by their location.
The gang emerged with their guns pointing at everywhere, some even shaking in fear. Then it happened, he was quick and stealthy as a shadow. Everyone started shooting at him but his armor deflected all the bullets. Panda saw how he used one of his gadgets and threw it at Crybaby exploding as it touched him and covering him in a goo like gum that made him fall to the ground and stick to it.
He then quickly moved towards the Goatman and evaded his gunfire and punched him straight in the gut, then another hard punch on his mask following by the activation of a rope like device that automatically tied around Goatman's body restraining his movements.
Eyeball threw a small grenade at the Batman, but he threw back a batarang that made the bomb explode in the air before reaching to him. He used the leftover smoke to his advantage and threw two other batarangs stabbing Eyeball on the shoulder and on his leg. Batman proceeded to run forward and use that same force he created to knee Eyeball on the stomach followed by a blow with his elbow on his back, leaving him without any air, then covering him with the same gum substance he threw at Crybaby.
Panda knew it was futile to avoid Batman at this point. He was going to catch the Joker and there was nothing to do about it. She saw how he knocked Titan out with one single blow effortlessly. She could tell he was furious, he was determined to bring justice for his deceased partner and Joker could tell as well. Robin's last broken smile before she left the warehouse flashed through her eyes and it sunk her heart. Joker made his appearance as all his men were defeated, Panda following behind him.
"Joker…" Batman's low voice broke the atmosphere "It ends here."
"Oh, really? Reminds me what I told your birdie friend HAHAHA-" He got caught off as Batman lounged at him throwing him at the ground and landing some solid punches on his face. The Joker took one of his pocket knives and stabbed Batman's left shoulder right in between the seams of his armor where the blade could go through. Then quickly Joker brought both knees up to his chest and kicked Batman's torso to get him off of him. As Batman staggered to get up, Panda aimed her assault rifle to him but couldn't bring herself to open fire. The Joker saw the resistance on her look and it angered him.
"Must I do everything myself?!" He ran towards her to try to take away her rifle but before he did she aimed it at him instead.
Panne looked straight into his eyes as he cupped her face. She saw something in his eyes that she hadn't seen before. Why did he wanted her to change so much? Why not just get rid of her? She wasn't what he wanted her to be, yet he seem to be trying so hard. Could he really feel something for her, or was she making it all up?
She brought her own hand up and touched his lips with the tip of her fingers. He flinched at the touch and took a step back, confused as to what was she trying to do. He suddenly grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer and with his other hand he grabbed a fistful of her hair and claimed her lips vigorously. He forced his tongue in her mouth and dominated her own with ease. She wrapped her arms around his neck as they continued kissing. He ran his hands down her body and then crouched down a little to lift her up against the wall. Without separating their lips she did a small hop and wrapped her legs around him as he pinned her against the wall.
She liked the danger he brought with him, how volatile he was, she loved all of it. The problem was how he'd been trying so hard to make her like him. She never wanted to be Panda. She only wanted to bust some noses on the ring at the pit fights.
She broke the kiss and stared at his eyes "Do you love me?" Of course he didn't but she had to ask. He slowly placed her back in the floor keeping no distance between them. He leaned in to the side of her head and inhaled the scent of her dark hair.
"Hmmm…Do you? I recall hearing you say the contrary back at the club." he said in a raspy tone as he gripped the side of her hips.
"No one could love you even if they tried. You are just an idea…a state of mind even…"
"Have you tried?"
"Yes…"
"I don't believe you."
"I killed Robin because of you. I have tried."
A smile curled on his faint red lips "Maybe not enough, doll."
He leaned in and kissed her one more time. She wished this moment would last forever, but she knew that sooner or later, she will break those pretty white teeth off his smile.
"Don't you dare!" Panne yelled at him as her rifle shook in her hands. The Batman took a stance a few feet behind the Joker, cornering him between himself and Panne.
"Are you turning against me, Panda? After all I've done for you…" He clenched his jaw tightly as anger over took him. He turned around to face the Batman "You see, Bats, I didn't kill your bird boy…SHE was the one who pressed the button, not me." He gave Batman a wide smile with a laugh but then noticed the man sprinted forward, not to attack him, but as to stop something. He then quickly looked back to receive a blow from Panda with the butt of her rifle right on his teeth. He fell back on the ground and she got on him and hit him again with her rifle as hard as she could before Batman threw her back and disarmed her.
"I'll kill him, let me go!" She fought back against Batman but it was in vain, she was no match for him.
"That's precisely why I'm stopping you." He said sternly, as he quickly turned around towards Joker who was on his knees with his hands on the ground as he spat the blood to the pavement. Pieces of teeth also spilled with the blood and his eyes widened when he ran his tongue along his sharp shattered remaining teeth. The bitch had just destroyed his impeccable smile. Batman took the opportunity to quickly tie him with his metal rope so he wouldn't go anywhere. He grabbed him by the collar and brought him to his face to look at him straight in his eyes.
The Joker smiled weakly showing his broken bloody teeth and said "I'm still handsome right, Bats?" but that only earned him a solid punch straight on his nose, breaking it too. He grunted and hissed at the pain.
Suddenly a black car approached and stopped right next to the van. Batman quickly grabbed on to his belt as he held onto Joker with his other hand. Panne brought up her hands and spoke out "They are my friends, we are gonna help one that's unconscious inside the van, if you don't mind."
"Holy Hell is the bloody Bat! What do we do?" Clayton spoke to his twin brother who was on the passenger seat.
"He has the boss too! Shit."
Batman looked sternly at Panda "What makes you think I'll let you escape?"
"I was the one that sent you the signal with Robin's location. Just take him and let us go."
The police sirens could be heard in the distance. The Joker began to struggle and Batman punched him across the face one more time. The Bat looked back at Panne and said "You have 5 minutes before the police gets here. Save your friend and leave, the rest are being turned in." He pointed to the men he had immobilized and that were unconscious on the floor.
She nodded and ran back to where the twins were. They both got out of the car with guns on their hands but she quickly told them to put them away.
"No guys!" She said as she ran closer, her voice getting lower and lower as she reached them "Just let him have the Boss. We will break him out later." She then pointed at the van "Jonny is stuck there, come on before the police arrive!"
The Joker was being dragged by Batman back to the Batmobile. He looked back with hazy eyes and saw as they grabbed Jonny out of the van and carried him inside their car. Panne gave him one last look before getting in with the twins as they drove away as fast as they could.
She betrayed me. She turned me in. She damaged me. She never loved you, you ol' joke. This is why I have trust issues.
The Joker thought as he was pushed inside the Batmobile as the cops surrounded them. He was restraint against the seat and all he could do was rest his head back. His mouth was slightly opened as the blood dripped all the way down to his chest. He couldn't breathe from his broken nose and his head was also throbbing and bleeding. As he started drifting away from the loss of blood all he could think of was Panne. He wanted to strangle her, end her petty little life, and see the light leave her eyes. But then he imagined the rest of his days without her. Without her squinted almond eyes, without her rare pretty smile, without her warm little body resting against his own. He hated it. He had grown soft for this girl. She clearly had grown to hate him enough to turn him in, so why couldn't he do the same?
Desire becomes surrender. Surrender becomes power. Desire becomes surrender. Surrender becomes power.
He repeatedly chanted inside his head over and over again, as he drifted far far away into unconscious land.
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"Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please let me know in the comments what you think so far. Reviews help me know what you guys want out of this story and it really helps me upload faster. Please forgive me for updating so slowly but I've been having quite a hard time with life. I've been very depressed lately and this story helps me escape from all of it for a while. Thank you all again for taking your time to be up to date with my first story ever. Really means a lot to me. Thank you~" -Katmeroo