With thanks to Cmar for beta reading this for me, also thanks to Cmar, DragonFlame27, Excel, Superfan, Rabbit of Iron, Anonymousfog, Nikoru-chan, Speed Reader, thames and Louie Pastiche for the reviews so far!
All greatly appreciated thanks! All reviews welcome!
Chapter Ten - Batman – Invasion
"So who is this Bruce Wayne?" asked Rose.
The taxi driver, his eyes narrowed, surveyed her through the mirror. "You kiddin', right?"
"No, just a question."
"Richest man in Gotham, that's him, and believe me he has some competition. I don't normally take people outta town but not many people go to Wayne Manor. You English?"
"Yeah, so tell us about Bruce Wayne."
"Guys a loser." He cracked a smile at Rose. "You can do better than him, babe!"
"Whatever," said Rose and rolled her eyes. She turned to Jack. "We're seeing a millionaire. I haven't done my hair, I haven't got any new clothes. I haven't had a manicure in weeks. The Tardis has more labs than you can shake a stick at and has a mirror that somehow reflects things five minutes in the past. What use is that?"
"You look great, Rose." Jack peered out of the window as a strange car that looked like two cars welded together roared past them. "That driver looked strangely familiar. Not in aspect, in attitude."
Joker.
The Joker is a great many things. And great at many things. But he is not a great hero.
When the Dalek started exterminating his gang a hero would have saved somebody, he would have pushed himself in front of the death ray and died rather than see someone else die in his place.
The Joker pushed Katelyn Brinson in front of himself as the energy shot around him. Katelyn had been in his gang since she won a competition for best joke writer that he had set up on the back of a cereal box a few years ago on a dull Sunday afternoon.
She had potential.
She was also a good bodyguard. Now she was just a good body. The Joker shuddered as he could, for a brief second, see her skeleton glow in front of him before she collapsed. He rolled to the ground and felt in his pocket for a good comeback.
He threw a small squeaky purple ball at the Dalek. It bounced around randomly, the Dalek's eyestalk following its haphazard moves while the Joker scampered towards the door, nearly tripping up over one of his gang.
The ball exploded in a shower of purple razors. They bounced harmlessly off the Dalek's shell. It focussed on the Joker again and fired. The Joker's purple coat smouldered and crackled as it was hit and it fell to the ground in a sad pile, smoke pouring out of the sleeves.
The Joker was not in it. Two small remote control cars hurtled towards the Dalek, the engines buzzing in a high pitch. They exploded at its base, hurtling the Dalek back three feet.
The Master's Tardis behind the Dalek faded out of existence. The Joker tried a window and cursed as a small electric charge burnt a small hole in his purple gloves.
Trapped.
The Joker grinned as he turned to face his enemy. "Well, it looks like it's just you and me, chuckles. Let's see if you can crack a smile. Or let's just see if you can crack!"
The top of the tower block where the Batman stood was covered in weeds, moss and grass. The vegetation had drifted up from the countryside around Gotham as if the country was trying to reclaim the city. The far edge of the building was an impossibly straight cliff and the Batman stood at the edge of the void. His cloak eddying around him in the breeze like wings, he was like a dark angel ready to fall into the void or fly to salvation.
He could see his protégé fighting Diablo in the streets. It would take a highly trained psychologist and body language expert to see approval in his visage, but it was there.
The boy was doing well against an opponent twice his size. Batman's attention was drawn to one of the windows of the building. Flashes of light and the muffled crump of explosions showed a battle was going on.
Had the gang had a falling out? The Batman was old and wise enough to know that there was no honour among thieves. Only money. If you can't keep the money flowing, the gang will be going.
He had no idea what the situation was in the building, but he wouldn't find out staying where he was.
He fell into the void.
Wayne Manor. A jewel in the crown of Gotham. Owned by Gotham's elite for centuries. Now a rather strange car was parked outside the gate.
The Doctor looked at the gate with approval. It looked like a normal steel gate but it wasn't. He ran his sonic screwdriver over the outside of it briefly and looked at the readings he got back.
Titanium!
You would need a tank to get through this gate, and not just one but several. There was also an electric current running through it that would not just fry an elephant but have enough juice left over to sizzle a hippo.
Several sensors. Some not of Earth design? Who was this man? They were not obvious and to the untrained earthling it would see like nothing more than a gate. Still, he had broken into more buildings than Methuselah had had hot dinners. I wonder how Methuselah is? I haven't bumped into him for several centuries.
"Can I help you, sir?"
"What?" The Doctor stopped playing around with the settings on his sonic screwdriver.
"Can I help you, sir?"
"I was looking for the party?" The Doctor looked around for the source of the noise. It was a small speaker and camera that was pointing directly at him. It was so low tech he hadn't really paid it any attention.
"The party finished yesterday, sir."
"Right, yes, finished of course. Four-day parties haven't really hit Earth, have they? Need another century for that. You haven't seen a short blonde girl, have you? Very noisy? Always getting in the way."
"No sir. Forgive me a moment, sir, I just need to speak to Mr Wayne."
There was silence for a few moments.
The gate clanked open. "If you could come up to the house, please, sir. Mr Wayne is in an important business meeting at the moment but he has expressed a desire to meet you, in person."
"But I haven't given you my name yet?"
"Believe me, Doctor, we know your name."
A taxi roared up behind the Doctor's containing Captain Jack Harkness and Rose Tyler.
The gate clanged shut behind them, the boom having a worrying air of finality about it.
The glass in the window shattered inwards in a lethal shower of splinters. It was like a demon of hell had entered his domain. The floor was littered with bodies and smoke and flames were everywhere. And there in the centre. The Batman.
The flames cast his face into a strange half-light, his eyes glittered through the darkness. He could see his arch foe the Joker hiding behind a pillar to his right and in front of him…
A foe who could not be frightened by parlour tricks. One of those strange robots again. He threw a batarang at his enemy, at the same time ducking down. An energy bolt sizzled overhead and through the broken window, where it exploded harmlessly against the opposite building.
"Batman!" cried the Joker, his hands held up to his chin and fluttering his eyelashes flirtatiously. "My hero! You're here to rescue me! Oh save me, you hunky muscular hunk of man! Save me!"
The batarang exploded, pushing the Dalek backwards through a thin adjoining wall. A strange flapping purple bird followed the Dalek through the hole and exploded as well, this time covering the room, as well as the Dalek, with a layer of thick glutinous purple paint.
A strange acrid smell filled the room as it started to eat through the walls and whatever it touched.
Acid paint.
Damned ebay, thought the Batman as the paint dissolved part of his cloak. When he got out of here the first thing he would do is cancel the Joker's account.
With almost a casual throw he threw a pair of bolas at the Joker. This was two small balls with a long wire between them. They wrapped the Joker up to the pillar tighter than a Christmas turkey.
"Oooh! Tied up!" said the Joker. "I'm not that kind of girl! Not on a first date, anyway!"
"Keep your hands to yourself," said the Batman, stalking towards the now purple Dalek. "I'll be back."
The Dalek glowed for a few seconds as it ran a current through its outer shell. It then sizzled for a few seconds and the paint evaporated off the creature.
There was not a creature breathing the Batman could not beat.
But was this a creature and was it breathing?
With a swirl of his cloak he followed the Dalek into the darkness that it had been blown into.
"Show off," muttered the Joker under his breath.
Both cars pulled up outside Wayne Manor at about the same time. Rose leapt out of the car and ran towards the Doctor.
"Doctor!" she cried. She then tried to compose herself. "Hey, long time no see! What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you, of course. That's not Jack with you, is it?"
Captain Jack Harkness was a tall imposing good looking man. For a moment he didn't smile as he looked at the Doctor. Then whatever emotion he had left him as he grinned at him. "Doctor? You've changed. And not just your coat. I miss the big ears, but that's not a bad look for you."
"We can't hang around here," said the Doctor. "This place is chock full of Daleks. Jack, great to see you, we'll chat later."
"Not planning on abandoning me again?"
"Long story for another time," said the Doctor. "You don't seem to have changed since we last met. How long have you been here?"
"Long story for another time," said Jack. "So what are you trying to beat this time? Daleks, Cybermen, fashion sense?"
Whilst they were busy talking to each other they hadn't noticed the door to Wayne Manor had opened and Alfred Pennyworth was standing in it. "If you could wait in the foyer, please, lady and gentlemen. Mr Wayne will be back shortly." With a small curl of his lip he surveyed the Doctor's car (a stolen Two-face vehicle still with bullet holes in it). He glided over to the taxi driver and paid him off.
"Thanks for the invite but we can't really stay," said the Doctor.
"Just for thirty minutes, please sir," said Alfred.
"Come on Doctor?" said Rose. "We get to meet an American millionaire!"
"Okay, just for thirty minutes," said the Doctor as they followed Alfred into the mansion. "I wouldn't mind meeting the owner of this place myself."
"So what's a young guy like you doing in an old place like this?" Jack wrapped an arm around Alfred's shoulder, which the butler managed to shake off with uncanny skill.
"If you could wait here, please sirs," said Alfred, pointing at some comfy chairs in a small reception room. The window looked out over the Gotham hills. "Can I get you some tea or coffee while you wait?"
"Tea, please," said the Doctor.
"Milk?"
"Abyssinian goat," said the Doctor, whilst looking at the paintings.
Alfred stopped. "Abyssinian goat's milk in your tea?"
"No, that's an Abyssinian goat," he said, looking at a painting of some farm animals. "Cow's milk for me, please."
"I'll get the tray," said Alfred and walked out of the room. He closed the door behind him and there was a subtle click as the door closed.
Jack tried it out. "Locked! He's locked us in. Never trust an Englishman! No offence." He pointed at the Doctor.
"I'm not English, I'm Gallifreyan; it's just a common accent."
"Nothing common about you," said Jack.
"You're making me blush!"
"Will you two stop flirting and sit down?" said Rose. "I'm sure Bruce Wayne won't be long. I mean he is hardly out saving the world like us, is he?"
The Batman leapt through the gap in the wall to his foe, firing at him. He spun in midair to avoid the bolts whilst simultaneously sending two more explosive batarangs at him.
All the while he was studying his prey. It had some kind of energy shield over it. Its eyestalk should reduce its peripheral vision, giving him more leeway. It was fast, but not that fast.
Best option is to get in close. Take out its gun.
With a dizzying display of skill he leapt to the ceiling and pirouetted over the Dalek landing behind it. It had to be a machine, he reasoned. Some kind of remote control tank. The stalk at the top must be a camera, but the weapon? Some kind of light maser. It would need a serious power source to maintain. How many megawatts would it take to fire? How was it powered? Is there is some kind of exhaust vent; he might be able to disable it that way. And possibly more importantly, who was running these machines? Intergang? Luthor? None of the gangs in Gotham had access to this kind of technology, that he knew of.
He knew the Latino gang Mara Salvatrucha had a foothold in this neighbourhood. Or at least had until the Joker had carved his trademark face on the leader's forehead. They now kept a low profile here. Any higher and they would attract the Joker's attention. Higher still and they would attract him. When he had time he would take their gang out, and not socially.
He jammed some plastique explosive in the Dalek's gun and leapt back. The Dalek tried to fire at him and the resulting feedback explosion took the top off the Dalek as cleanly as an egg being cut by a knife.
He should get out of here now.
The last one he had taken out had levelled a city block when it self-destructed. What if this one did the same?
A pile of ash would teach him nothing.
The Batman held a hand to his face as the stench of burning fat hit him. Dropping a small air filter in front of his mouth he approached the machine cautiously. Small plink sounds started as it started cooling down. He peered down into it.
It was like nothing on earth he had ever seen before. No obvious microchips or servo motors. Just for once he would like an honest to God clue. Like the detectives always found on TV. A match case with a nightclub name and a phone number scrawled on it. A driver's licence with the perp's name on it. In this case some kind of manufacturer's warranty would be helpful.
He could see some tentacles and claws. Some kind of organic component? DNA computer? He had read about such things. Unless…
Was that an occupant? Had he killed? A cold sick feeling clutched his heart. Had he stepped over the line? A grey-green thing reared out of the Dalek and lashed out at the Batman. It was a twisted claw. Veins pulsed on the creature's arm as its claw attempted to throttle the life out of the Batman. He struggled with the creature but it had an unnatural strength belying its thin arm. Red spots appeared in the Batman's vision as he was slowly suffocated. A voice came out of the ruined, cracked shell of the Dalek. "I have failed. Will self terminate now, wide area spread to eradicate witnesses confirmed."