Xander flew through the air at ten times the speed of sound. His arms weren't stretched out in front of him like they usually where when he flew, but wrapped around him, holding a weapon against the whipping wind.
At one hundred miles from Gotham Xander no longer needed to use his enhanced vision to see the tower of green flames the city had become.
It took Xander a bit over two minutes to reach the wall of green flame after he slowed down to below the speed of sound to avoid shattering every window, and doing more harm than good. For two minutes he had to watch members of the National Guard being killed by a tendril of green flame to prevent innocent people from being impaled by falling shards of glass.
At a speed of over six hundred miles per hour Xander unfolded his arms and put a simple wooden sword in front of him. Such a simple, everyday material cut through something the National Guard had spent hours attempting to penetrate for hours.
The path he had made in the flames patched itself up almost instantly, not giving anyone else a chance to follow Xander through. That was fine as far as Xander was concerned, because the inside looked even worse than the outside and he didn't want to see any more people needlessly slaughtered.
Everywhere Xander turned there were solid green constructs. Most seemed to simply be restraining people in their homes, but the ones on the street truly frightened Xander.
Each green construct was a deformed clown carving up the faces of those that were outside when the insanity started. The victims had their upper and lower eyelids removed, and the area around their mouth mutilated into a grin so vile it would make death shudder.
Xander was my no means a detective like the Batman was, but he also wasn't stupid. Given everything he had seen there was only person that could have the ring and cause all this destruction.
"Joker," hissed Xander just before his world got covered in green.
As the green light faded from his eyes Xander saw two demented versions of Joker standing over him in doctor scrubs, one of whom was holding a scalpel.
"So serious," said one of the Joker constructs.
"Don't worry Doctor, we can fix it," said the second Joker construct.
"Oh? Tell me Doctor, how can we save this poor soul," said the first Joker construct, completely ignoring the fact that Xander was using his heat vision on its face.
"With this," said the second Joker construct as it held up the Greek mask of comedy.
As soon as Xander saw the mask his body lit up in pain. The ring could create anything, and right now it was apparent that Joker really wanted a Greek mask of comedy made out of Kryptonite.
"Look at the way he's moving, I think he's getting funnier already," said the second Joker construct.
"In that case lest finish the operation, I got a tea break in ten minutes," said the first Joker construct as it changed its scalpel into a drill and some screws.
"But Doctor, that won't leave any time for pain killers," said the second construct, its grin becoming inhumanly large.
"Don't worry I have malpractice insurance," said the first construct as it placed the drill on Xanders head. "Now you may feel a slight discomfort. Don't worry it won't last long, but feel free to scream."
Just as the construct was about to put a drill through Xanders brain a piece of wood shaped like a bat, cut through the drill.
Looking up with some effort Xander saw on extremely pissed off woman, and for the first time in his life he was happy to see it. Of course the fact that the woman was hot, dressed head to tow in black leather, and wasn't currently mad had him had very little to do with it; really.
Batgirl tore through the constructs like a woman possessed. Every now and then she would send a wooden batarang his direction, but Xander soon realized that was simply a side effect of aiming at the Joker constructs.
As soon as enough batarangs had passed through to free him Xander grabbed his wooden sword and helped Batgirl destroy the rest of the constructs. A feat soon accomplished due to the use of super-speed.
Soon only one Joker construct was left within a one block radius. The construct didn't last long and soon disappeared into nothingness after Batgirl punched it and Xander cut off its head.
"Wow, who knew a member of the Bat-clan could deliver a better punch line than a guy calling himself the Joker," said Xander with a smile.
Batgirl quickly turned around and gave him a glare that every woman in the world would envy and said, "Make another joke like that and I'll personally shove the old mans hunk of Kryptonite so far up your butt you'll cough it up."
"Hey," said Xander in a more serious tone. "At times like this a joke can help, and you really need help. You didn't even try to free me back there; you were way too focused on destroying the Joker constructs."
"If you can't take care of yourself you should go home and put that S back where you found it," said Batgirl as she started to walk away.
"Listen I don't know what I did to piss you off, but this ends now," growled Xander. "I have all of my fathers' memories, including the ones where he fought the Joker alongside the Batman, so that puts me about ten steps ahead of you. Add to that all the powers that I have and a good understanding just how much the ring can do and you get someone who would be pretty dang useful in this situation wouldn't you agree?"
"Maybe," admitted Batgirl. "I guess I could use you after loosing contact with the old man."
"Fine," said Xander. "The ring constructs are more dense towards the center of town. I can't see through them like I can the buildings, but chances are we'll find the Joker there."
"You mean we'll find whoever is impersonating the Joker there. The Joker has been dead for years, all this has to be the work of a copy cat," said Batgirl as they walked to the center of the city.
"Could be a copy cat, but I wouldn't count the original Joker out. In my home town I fight dead people at least once a night," said Xander.
"Thanks, the thought that the worst person ever to walk the streets of Gotham could have risen from the grave to wreak unholy terror is so comforting," said Batgirl in a flat tone.
"Hey, it's what I do," said Xander as he followed Batgirl to the heart of the city.
In a dark shadow a figure sat and watched the two costumed figures in discuss. This was a time for war, not a time to flirt.
No matter they would be easier to follow this way. The easer they were to follow the quicker she could reach her destination, and the quicker she reached her destination the quicker she could go home.
In a city far removed from Gotham an old man looked from the news coverage and up to the night stars. He hadn't wanted to do this, but the time had come, the stars were telling him so.
Rising from his chair with a groan Theodore Knight walked over to his telephone and began to dial a number from memory. Night had come and it was time for the stars to once again shine.