Author's note:
- I hope you guys are enjoying the story. Right now, I'm just gonna some re-editing on some of the chapters and maybe publish some new ones. Enjoy reading!
The Chemical Plant...
Johnny/Batman arrived at the chemical plant that Claridge owns. Instead of entering the front door, Johnny/Batman decided to find an entrance at the rooftop and found an air vent that leads inside the chemical plant.
"Alfred, I'm at the chemical plant. It's too quiet. I'll find a way inside." Johnny/Batman was now inside the chemical plant and what he saw next was one of the horrifying things he's never seen. "Oh god!"
"What is it, Johnny?" Alfred asked in Johnny/Batman's earpiece.
"Bodies everywhere. No survivors. This was a massacre." Johnny/Batman said. There were countless of dead bodies everywhere inside the chemical plant. All of them are surrounded with pool of blood puddles.
"How many?" Alfred asked.
"Like I have to count the pieces. This was a massacre." Johnny/Batman replied.
"Oh god! Who could've done this?" Alfred said in disgust and horrified.
"I don't know, Al. I'm gonna go look around to find Claridge." Johnny/Batman notified.
"IF he's still alive." Alfred said. Johnny/Batman hated to hear that.
Johnny/Batman searched around the place to find Claridge for a couple of minutes. There were still no signs of him being alive. Johnny/Batman decided to check in his office but the door was shut tight. Johnny/Batman kicked the door as it fell on the ground. Claridge was sitting in his chair with multiple bullet wounds around his body.
"Johnathan, any sign of Claridge?" Alfred asked.
"Yeah I've found him alright. Multiple gun fires around his body." Johnny/Batman said.
"Oh, dear." Alfred cringed in disgust.
"Setting up a crime scene now. I'm gonna search for evidence that could tell me what happened here." Johnny/Batman grabbed his high-tech goggles activating his detective mode and set up a crime scene inside the chemical plant.
It took a couple of minutes for Johnny/Batman to put the pieces all together until he finally finished the whole story on what happened here.
"Got it. It started when Claridge secretly set up his chemical plant into a drug operation, and then things started to get grim. A couple of armed men broke in the chemical plant and started shooting the place down but unknown to them, the workers were armed as well. They had a fight. All of the workers died and half of the armed intruders were killed as well. Claridge thought it was safe to hide in his office, that's where he thought wrong. One of the armed men spotted Claridge so he shot him multiple times. The armed intruders took the supply of chemicals and loaded it inside a truck. Looks like they got what they came for." Johnny/Batman explained.
"The only question right now is who sent those armed men?" Alfred asked.
"Claridge was receiving some death threats from someone lately. It could be him." Johnny/Batman still has his detective mode on was surprise to see that there was still ONE survivor left hiding at the very end of the room.
"Hold on, I have something. One of the armed men is still alive. Hiding and injured his leg pretty bad. He could tell me who sent them here." Johnny/Batman turned off his detective mode and activated his voice modulator/changer. "Time to go to work."
Johnny/Batman walked at the very end of the room and removed a rubble where the injured man was hiding. Once the injured man was spotted, he quickly grabbed his gun and pointed it at Johnny/Batman, who quickly dodged the bullet.
Johnny/Batman made his move by grabbing the injured man up and slammed his back against the nearby wall.
"Don't make me add your corpse to this graveyard. What were you doing here at the chemical plant?!" Johnny/Batman demanded.
"Hey I know you! You're that bat-vigilante monster that everyone's been talking about!" The man said showing no fear at all. "I ain't telling you nothing!"
Johnny/Batman slammed the man on the wall once more yelling in pain. Johnny/Batman threw the man down on the floor. The vigilante noticed the injured leg of the thug and slowly stepped on it and deepening it. The man screamed in pain as his fist keeps slamming the floor begging for the torture to stop.
"I'm not going to ask again. TALK! Or I'll keep breaking every bone in your body until you answer!" Johnny/Batman warned.
"Our boss. He had a deal with Claridge to give him the supplies of chemicals he needed but... Claridge refused. So he instructed us to steal it in this chemical plant ourselves. Half of my comrades already loaded the chemicals we needed in a truck and drop it back in our meeting location." The man explained breathing heavily from the screaming.
"Who are you stealing the chemicals for!?" Johnny/Batman yelled for another question.
"I don't know who he is! None of us do! He never tell his name to anyone. He just told us to steal the chemicals he needed and kill everyone who gets in our way!" The thug truthfully confessed.
Johnny/Batman picked the man up by grabbing the collar of his shirt.
"WHERE ARE YOU MEETING HIM!?" Johnny/Batman angrily shouted.
"Okay I'll tell you just stop! We were supposed to meet him at this location." The man finally answered Johnny/Batman's question.
Johnny/Batman tied the injured man up so that he couldn't escape and informed the police about the break in the chemical plant.
"Where are you heading now?" Alfred asked through the other line.
"He gave me their meeting location. If I get there fast, I may able to capture the one who's behind all of this." Johnny/Batman said as grappled away before the police arrives.
6 Armed men were patrolling the rooftop of the building that the man gave to Johnny/Batman, who was already there on top of the gargoyles hiding in the dark. Planning his attacks silently.
"Anyone bored? I'm bored." One of the armed men asked his comrades while patrolling the rooftop but non of them answered.
"6 men are on the rooftop and all armed. This could be the place." Johnny/Batman dropped down from the gargoyle sneaking around the rooftop. Johnny/Batman was able to sneak behind an armed thug and performed a silent takedown knocking him unconscious.
Johnny/Batman fired his grappling gun at another gargoyle pulling him up on top of it. Once Johnny/Batman was on top of the gargoyle, he noticed another armed man was underneath him. Johnny/Batman performed an inverted takedown by quickly grabbing the armed men underneath him zipping them back up on top of the gargoyle.
"What are you doing!" The armed men tried to break free from Johnny/Batman's grip but he let's him go. The armed man screamed from falling but was stopped when a cable was attached on his foot to the gargoyle leaving him hanging there.
"Who's screaming?! Someone get over there!" The remaining 4 armed men ran from where the screaming happened as Johnny/Batman used his grappling gun to switch at the nearest gargoyle.
"What the? How come you're up there?" One of the remaining 4 men shockingly asked at their hanging comrade.
"Help me! Cut me down!" The hanging man yelled while Johnny/Batman, still on top of another gargoyle, threw a batarang cutting the rope attached at the hanging man's leg. The 4 men were startled when their comrade fell down knocking him unconscious.
"I'm sure it came from over there!" They pointed their guns at the gargoyle where the batarang came from but Johnny/Batman was no longer on top of it now. "Is... is that it!? Is that the best you can do!?"
"Leave him! We need to look out for ourselves. What's wrong?! To scared to show yourself!?" The remaining four men walked around to find their intruder. Their bodies were shaking in fear and their heart beating fast.
One armed man went on solo while his other comrades decided to look out for each other. The armed continued walking nervously with his gun loaded but not knowing that he was stepping on floor grates. Johnny/Batman quickly came out from the floor grate and slammed the man's body on the ground knocking him out.
This alerted the remaining 3 armed men to quickly run at where the noise came from. Hearing them coming, Johnny/Batman fired his grappling gun at the gargoyle before they found him.
"Oh no! Not you too!" The armed men tried to wake their comrade up but was unconscious. "I don't like this. Not one little bit."
Johnny/Batman expanded his cape for him to glide and performed a glide kick at the lonely armed man. The kick was so strong that fell on the floor as Johnny/Batman did a ground takedown to finish him off.
Johnny/Batman climbs down at the ledge waiting for the 2 remaining armed men to come. The 2 thugs saw another of their comrade unconscious. The first thug tried to wake him up while the other was right behind him guarding. Not knowing that Johnny/Batman performed a ledge takedown as he grabs the thug and throws him on the ground.
The last thug climbs down to check on his unconscious buddy. Waking him up was no use but little did he know that there was weak wall beside him where the vigilante was hiding. Johnny/Batman smashed that weak wall as he grabs the thug and knocked him down.
"That's last of them taken care of. Time to find a way inside." Johnny/Batman thought to himself.
He opened a nearby door that leads inside the building and there were dead bodies hanging on the ceiling dripping in blood and dead bodies laying down at the side of the walls. There were also green graffitis painted on the wall. A message was also written on the wall with green ink that says:
One by one they'll hear my call, then this wicked town will follow my fall.
"I've never seen anything like this before." Johnny/Batman gasped in such horror that he witnessed tonight. First, it was the victims at the chemical plant, and now this. Who is this man behind all of these killings and what does he want?
"Memories can be vail," Johnny/Batman was startled when he heard a voice came out from the speaker. "Repulsive little brutes. Like children, I suppose." Johnny/Batman kept walking straight until he finds the man responsible for these killings while the speaker kept going. "But can we live without them? Memories are what our reason is based upon. If we can't face them, we deny reason itself. Although, why not? We aren't contractually tied down to rationality! There is NO sanity clause! So when you find yourself locked onto an unpleasant train of thought, heading for the places in your past where the screaming is unbearable. Remember, there's always madness... you can just step outside and close the door on all those dreadful things that happened. You can lock them... away. Madness... is the emergency exit."
"Who are you?" Johnny/Batman asked while looking at the dead bodies around him and the poor people in the television.
Johnny/Batman found a locked door. He grabbed his high-tech goggles from his belt and turned on his detective mode. He saw a room with 5 armed men with 3 hostages behind the door. He quickly removed the goggles to save the hostages. Instead of opening the door gently, Johnny/Batman kicked the door so hard that it fell on the floor.
"Don't move, freak! Unless you want us to blow their heads off!" Three of the thugs pointed their guns at the vigilante while the other two thugs pointed their gun at the hostages.
"No please! I don't want to die!" The man cried.
"Please just let us go!" The woman cried
Johnny/Batman just stayed where he was standing so that the goons wouldn't hurt the hostages. One of the thugs aiming at Johnny/Batman grabbed his walkie talkie from his pocket.
"Boss, the bat is here. Just like you said." The thug said on his walkie talkie.
"Good! I'll be right there." The boss said through the walkie talkie. Johnny/Batman thought if their boss was the man responsible for the killings.
Just a few seconds later, another door opened revealing an unarmed man wearing a purple suit, dark purple pants, black shoes, a green buttoned shirt, a purple necktie, and purple gloves. He has a long chin, the color of his skin was very pale white, his hair color was green and his lips was blood-red.
"Well, look what the bat dragged in!" The man said with an evil smile and laughing sinisterly. "You know, these poor people would've been dead by now but luckily, you got here just in time, Batsy!" The man laughed menacingly.
Johnny/Batman's eyes winded and dropped his jaw after witnessing the physical appearance and behavior of this man while the hostages were terrified not wanting to get closer to this maniac.
"It's been you this whole time. You were the one who's been blackmailing Claridge. You killed those innocent people!" Johnny/Batman asked still disturbed at the man's face.
"Well that's what you get from not following deals with me! I already decided to let that filthy Claridge to live just before he started backing out from our deal. Guess he got what he deserved and I got what I need! Too bad he didn't live long enough to see what I've got planned. Isn't that right boys?" The man asked smiling.
The goons grabbed their clown mask and wore them signifying for the man that they're working for.
"You got me. Now let the hostages go!" Johnny/Batman said.
"What? Leaving so soon already? But we were just having so much fun together. Why end now, Batsy? I haven't seen you since... how long has it again? 2 or 3 months ago? You know what who cares! I forget something about myself sometimes. If you're going to ask me about my past, It'd better be in multiple choices." The man laughed menacingly. "And speaking of fun..." He turned his attention to hostages. "Who should I kill first?"
"No! Please!" The hostages cried.
Johnny/Batman was about to stop this man from hurting the hostages but unfortunately he quickly grabbed a gun from his purple suit and aimed it Johnny/Batman. The goons strictly pointed their guns at Johnny/Batman as well.
"Let's see. Eni." He pointed his gun at the man hostage. "Mini." Pointed his gun at the woman hostage. "Mine." Pointed his gun at another man hostage. "Mo." He pointed his gun at the first man hostage and smiled. "Looks we have our winner!"
"Don't kill me! I beg you!" The hostage closed his waiting for his death while the man pulled the trigger of his gun but all it came was a flag that says 'BANG!' The hostage opened his eyes and released a sigh of relief that he's still alive.
"I swear this gun was loaded with bullets!" The man said in disappointment and threw his fake gun away. "Good thing I brought an extra!" The man quickly grabbed another loaded gun from his suit and shot the hostage two times right at the eyes.
The hostages screamed in horror as the dead man's body fell on the floor.
"NO!" Johnny/Batman yelled failing to save one of the hostage.
"I bet he didn't SEE that one coming! Get it!?" The man laughed menacingly from his evil joke and killing the hostage.
"You're insane!" The man hostage yelled in anger. The man gave an evil glare at the hostage so he shot him at the head. The woman screamed in horror witnessing her two friends getting killed in front of her.
"Insane is a little bit too harsh. I'd prefer the word, visionary. I've got so many plans for this town! Humans and monsters running for their lives crying for mommy and daddy!" The man stated and laughed.
"I will break you apart!" Johnny/Batman shouted in anger for threatening the lives of innocents.
"Oh, bats. Why do you take things so seriously? Do you have any idea how many people I've killed just to get your attention? The night is still young you know." The man smiled at Johnny/Batman.
"Boss, The truck is set to go!" One of The goons informed his boss.
"Wonderful. I'd like to stay and chat with you all night long, Batsy. But me and my boys have a pretty tight schedule right in front of us." The man and his goons headed to the door where he came out leaving Johnny/Batman and the surviving hostage in the room. "Oh and I almost forgot! In case of you following us, don't bother." The man pulled a detonator from his pocket and pushed the button. Johnny/Batman turned his head to the other side of the room where the bomb was placed and had a timer set on 10 seconds. "By the way, the name's Joker in case if you were wondering."
The Joker laughed while he and his men made their escape.
Without waisting any time, Johnny/Batman grabbed the hostage escape by breaking through the window just in for the room to explode. Johnny/Batman just held the screaming hostage while falling until he used his free hand to grab his grappling gun and fired it on a rooftop of another building zipping them up.
The humans on the ground have witnessed the explosion occur while Johnny/Batman and hostage were able to get out safely and now resting at the rooftop but the hostage was still shaken from what happened.
"That... man... he killed... my friends." The girl sobbed in tears as she hugged her legs and buried her face.
"I'm sorry about your friends." Johnny/Batman lowered his head feeling guilty for not able to stop The Joker. "I promise you that I won't rest until I put that madman who killed your friends behind bars." Johnny/Batman assured with his fist clenching.
The girl kept sobbing in tears and did not even replied to Johnny/Batman. The girl was in very shocked.
A couple of minutes later when the hostage was now safe with the police, Johnny/Batman remained at the rooftop making sure the hostage gets to safety. He turned off his voice modulator/changer in his cowl.
"Johnny, are you there?! I heard an explosion occurred! Are you alright!?" Alfred surprisingly asked through his earbud.
"Not now, Alfred!" Johnny/Batman yelled. He was really pissed from earlier.
"Johnny, are... are you alright? Your voice..." Alfred worriedly.
"I'm sorry, Al. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I'm so sorry." Johnny/Batman was now able to calm himself down but still regretted on yelling at Alfred.
"What happened back there?" Alfred asked.
"It was all a setup. I went to their meeting place and they knew I was coming. They killed hostages. Calls himself The Joker." Johnny/Batman explained. "I've dealt criminals before but this... This one was a psychopath who kills people just for laughs."
"Oh dear!" Alfred was shocked from what Johnny/Batman said. "And what about this 'Joker' character? Did you capture him?"
"The Joker got away. Along with the chemicals he stole from Claridge's chemical plant." Johnny/Batman said.
"So what are you going to do now?" Alfred asked but it took too long for Johnny/Batman to answer. "Johnny?" Alfred asked again if Johnny was still in the line.
"I don't know, Alfred." Johnny/Batman ended the call. This was the worst night for both Johnny and Batman yet.
To be continued...