The sight that met the three warriors when they reached the center of town wasn't pretty to say the least. The square had five living figures in it, but for of them were being held by demonic figures based off of people Xander recognized through his fathers memories.
"On three," said Wonder Woman as she and Batgirl tensed.
"Wait," said Xander as he put a restraining hand on both of them. "If we attack from the same place there's no way we'll be able to win. We need to attack from different angles and split his attention."
"He's torturing my family," snarled Batgirl even as Batman was put on some kind of spinning wheel so the person that was causing all this trouble could throw knives at him.
"I know, and that's even more reason to take this guy out right the first time," said Xander.
"The man has a point," said Wonder Woman in a pained voice.
"If one of them dies, I'm holding you responsible," said Batgirl right before she went off towards Xanders' right.
"Because you are able to see us from great distances we will take our lead from you, just be sure not to move before both of us are in a position to attack," said Wonder Woman as she moved towards Xanders left.
Xander didn't say any of the comments that were in his mind and simply let Batgirl and Wonder Woman get into position. He would either talk to them about respecting teammates later, or they would all be dead, either way now was not the time.
As soon as both Wonder Woman and Batgirl were in place Xander let loose a blast of heat vision powerful enough to vaporize a building. Of course the blast had no effect what so ever on the fifth figure, but it was flashy enough to alert the others to move.
Even as the figure focused on the more present threat Xander provided Wonder Woman pierced his heart with her wooden javelin, and Batgirl put a wooden batarang into the mans head. Unfortunately these attacks proved to be just about as effective as Xanders heat vision.
"It tickles," said the Joker as he pulled the wooden weapons from his tattered flesh while laughing like a maniac.
"I hate being right," said Xander just before he and his allies were engulfed in a green haze.
When Xander awoke he found himself restrained with the others. Usually that wouldn't be a problem, but with the magical nature of the ring combined with what appeared to be an un-killable Joker made this situation worrisome.
"Oh good you're all awake. I've been waiting to do this for years and it just wouldn't be fun without an audience," said the Zombie Joker.
"Yeah I bet you've just been dying to do this," said Xander before he could help himself.
"Nice one," said a laughing Joker right before he broke Xanders right arm, "but you really shouldn't try to upstage the main act, it just isn't polite.
"Now as I was saying I've waited a long time for this family reunion. Batgirl come on down and give your daddy a hug," said Joker as a bout of green flame destroyed Batgirls uniform leaving her dressed like some kind of female clown.
"You're not her father," spat Batgirls mother from where a demonic Batman and Batgirl constructs were holding her.
"I may as well be. After all I was the one that convinced young David to slip you those pills and do what he wanted to with you. If not for my prodding this little bundle of aggression and rage never would have come into this world," said the undead clown.
"You did that to me! You sick bastard, I'll kill you!" raged Batgirls mother as she struggled against her restraints. "Now that's the rage I wanted to bring out!" crowed Zombie Joker. "It was such a delight to find out that the bats I killed had a brat like you. I knew with just the right pushes you could be just a funny as me, such a shame I never got to finish working on you."
"So you knew she was the Batmans kid and singled her out?" asked Xander through clenched teeth.
"That wasn't the Batman, just some punk kid playing dress up! Robin must have decided to carry on after I killed the real thing without knowing about it," reasoned Joker.
"That so?" asked Xander.
"Listen kid, there is no way Bats would stop while I was around, he just wasn't built that way," stated Joker.
"So what now," asked Wonder Woman.
"Now the bats die, and Gotham is ruled by the Joker family," said Joker as he made a clown holding a sword appear in front of each of them.
"Hey Joker, want to hear a joke?" asked Xander.
The Joker seemed to think about it for a while, then dispersed the sword wielding clowns with a wave of his hand just as they were about to kill every one and said, "Sure, you seem to be the only one here with a sense of humor so you may have some good ones. But make sure they're good, or I'll start dunking the patriotic blond in acid."
"What do you get when you cross Superman with a Dalmatian?" asked Xander.
"I don't know, what?" responded Joker.
"The only dog in the world that will use a fire instead of a fire hydrant when it goes on its walk," said Xander while desperately hoping this worked. The Joker cracked up laughing, and the constructs Xander could see beyond the town center looked just a little more ghostly then they did a moment ago.
"Hey Joker, when Hourman was thinking up a name what did his wife suggest?" asked Xander.
"I don't know, what?" asked Joker between bouts of laughter.
"Five minute man, after all that's the longest he ever lasted with her," said Xander. The Joker laughed even harder, and Xander could see that the dome around Gotham was almost gone so it was time to deliver the final joke.
"Hey Joker listen really close because this one is a real killer. Don't think about Batman for five minutes," said Xander with a smile on his face despite the pain he was in.
"Huh?" asked Joker in confusion, just before he was hit by a dark green fist and the restraints holding Xander, Wonder Woman, and the Bat-clan vanished.
"I love that joke," said Xander as he set the bone in his arm, and turned his cape into a makeshift sling.
"I would hardly classify anything you said to entertain that madman as a joke, but the last one seems to be distracting him," said Wonder Woman as she picked herself off of the ground.
"The Zebra joke combined with a weapon that reads thoughts, I should have thought of that," said Batman as he and his family made their way over to Xander and Wonder Woman.
"It won't last for long, but it should give us enough time to figure out a plan of attack, minus Batgirl," said Xander as he caught sight of the now nude female crime fighter. "Um, could someone lend her their cape?"
"As if that is much of a deterrent for one with your abilities," commented Wonder Woman, causing Xander to break out in a fierce blush.
"Act like a farm boy later, right now we need to figure out what to do once Joker stops fighting the Batman construct he made," said Batgirl as she wrapped herself in Batmans cape.
"If we can remove the ring I can take care of Joker," said Xander.
"Great and just how are we supposed to do that? Not all of us can move faster than a speeding bullet," said the Huntress.
"Maybe he'll have an idea," said Robin as he pointed to a point in the sky where a figure was walking out of a portal.
"Doctor Fate," said Xander as he recognized the helmet the figure wore.
"Can I help?" asked a figure that suddenly appeared next to Batman.
The red and blue body suit the newcomer wore showed that he was fit, and the sparks of witchfire that followed him every time he made the slightest move showed that he had some kind of power. The golden lightning design running across his chest, and the wings on the metallic colored motorcycle helmet were dead giveaways, but Xander had to ask, "Who are you?"
"I'm the new Flash," said the newcomer just before the Joker let out a cry of rage and victory as he absorbed the Batman construct back into his ring.
"Round two," quipped Robin.
"Lets go for a TKO," said Xander as he shifted his weight and positioned himself so his injured arm wouldn't be facing the constructs Joker was about to send at them.