Part Five
A vacation certainly sounded like a good idea, Bruce could use some much-needed rest. He turned the television on and placed the remote next to a wooden stand beside the plush leather seat he laid into.
Could he afford to leave, could the city afford it? Bruce was realty beginning to strike terror into the average thug on the street, they were beginning to flee. If he left now it could give them a chance to regroup.
But on the other hand, Bruce was tired. Working almost day and night was having an effect on both sides of his life. He couldn't patrol as efficiently as he liked, couldn't stay as alert during the board meetings as he would have preferred.
"We're sorry to interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcast but we have breaking news." The anchorman declared interrupting Bruce's brooding. "Once again, terror has struck at the heart of Gotham city. Only one short day after brutally attacking Harvey Dent; Jack Napier, who calls himself the Joker, hijacked a bus full of passengers taking them hostage."
"The Joker…" Bruce murmured. Though their only encounter thus far had been brief the serial killer had proven himself to be an extremely dangerous threat, one that Wayne had not looked forward to running up against any time soon.
"However, Napier did allow one hostage to leave the bus unharmed with a note that was to directly go to the press." The anchorman reported directly to the point wasting no time at all, "In it he says that he has taken the bus to the abandoned site of the Waldo carnival and hidden the passengers somewhere on the grounds. If the police show up they will all die, instead he wants the masked vigilante known as Batman there for what he calls a reckoning. Meanwhile the police have barricaded the entire area around the Waldo carnival allowing nobody to pass that might jeopardize any chance they have to rescue those passengers. Commissioner Gordon has gone on record as saying that no matter what happens Napier will not escape."
A vacation certainly sounded like a good idea, it was really too bad that Bruce couldn't go on one.
----
Bruce drove up the road in one of his many black sports cars. It had been stripped of identification to ensure no link could be established on simply a visual search. The last time they had tangled the Joker had been unprepared for his arrival and even then Bruce only managed to narrowly survive, this time the psychopath was ready.
As he approached the police barricade, Bruce pulled the mask over his face, completing the image of his alter-ego. He came to a slow stop as a large fat officer pulled him over. "I guess you would be Batman." Bullock grumbled, "Why is it, this city got all the freaks?" Bruce sat still, not even moving a muscle. He didn't say a word, he just stared. Eventually, Bullock was unnerved enough that he stood aside, revealing Gordon just a few feet behind him.
"You'd better not mess up in there, people's lives are in the balance, I don't want them dying because of you, got it?" Gordon asked forcefully to which Bruce gave him the same treatment he had given Bullock. "Get in there."
Bruce waiting until the officers had cleared his way and drove past the barricade on a collision course with the clown prince of crime.
---
"He's here!" The Joker exclaimed just as he finished applying the last of his ghastly make-up. "Bat's sure is fast, I'll give him that." He slipped a small pistol into his coat pocket, "I just can't wait to see what color he bleeds."
Taking a comb, Joker wasted no time in pulling his hair back, "I wouldn't want to look like I'd just woken up for my big grand finale."
---
Bruce smashed through the front gates of the abandoned carnival. He punched the acceleration delving in deeper to the maze of empty worn-out display stands. Eventually, Bruce had had enough and slowed his car to a stop, "Napier!" He roared, "I'm here, now you can let the hostages go."
"It's Joker!" A furious roar replied stabbing through the silence of the night. "Napier is dead, the sooner you understand that, the sooner we can get to business." He screamed over the P.A.
"Fine, let the hostages go, Joker." Bruce said gently. He knew that at any moment this madman could go flying off the handle, he had to be diplomatic if only for the moment.
"That's better." Joker's tone had become more jovial, revealing the unbalance warping his mind more and more every second. "I'm in the funhouse, Bats, come and get me." He exclaimed before cackling wildly and then abruptly going silent.
Bruce grimaced, "I don't even know if the hostages are alive." He lowered his shoulders in defeat, "But I don't have any choice…do I."
---
Gordon grimaced at the sight of the mayor exiting his comfortable limo surrounded by body guards for a man that hardly even knew their names. "Hello, sir." The commissioner greeted grimly, "Are you sure that you don't want to be a few miles back, where it's safe?"
The mayor frowned, "Batman is in there?"
"Yes he is." Gordon replied.
"I want SWAT to hit that place and hit it hard." The mayor coldly ordered without the slightest hint of emotion on his face.
The commissioner stood blankly for a moment trying to process what he had heard. "What? Didn't you hear what Napier said? He'll kill the hostages if we approach."
The mayor shook his head side to side, "He'll be busy with Batman, it'll be the perfect chance to save them and arrest both of those lunatics."
"You mean the perfect chance to get them all killed." Gordon responded, "Mr. Mayor, Napier will kill them, he's brutal enough to do that in a heart-beat, and smart enough to have a fail-safe if we do something brash."
The mayor scoffed at his worries, "He'd escape tonight if you had your way, well no longer. Commissioner Gordon you are no longer in control here, Jack Napier is going to be sitting in a jail cell by twelve. Lt. Bullock, you're in charge now."
"Me?" Bullock asked, his face going pale by the sudden thrust of responsibility onto his shoulders.
"Yes you!" The mayor screamed, "That is unless you want to share the long trip downtown with your commissioner."
Bullock gulped, "No, I've got it." He sighed as the SWAT approached from the road behind the barricades, "I've got it."
---
Staring into the entrance of the funhouse Bruce was reminded of the cave, with it treacherous shadows. What shadows awaited him here, in the Joker's lair?
Feeling the rush of fear and adrenaline Bruce felt every inch of reason in his body urging him to turn around and forget this business, but the sound of laughing from within the funhouse denied him that reprieve.
He stood hesitantly unsure of what was in store with him inside the abyss. The hostages were dead, that much was obvious given the Joker's character. But then, Bruce, wondered, why did he still enter?