I'm using my MLK day productively. Ayyy. So you guys are going to hate me. I state that ahead of time, and I want you to know, that this was not an easy choice for me make in terms of story direction. But, uh. Yeah. Don't crucify me pls.
Chapter 3: Terrible Day for Rain...
Ben was currently in his hero suit, swinging through the cityscape on Miagani Island, eyes peeled for any crimes that required his attention. So far, there was nothing. He'd recently added some signal interceptors and triangulation to his suit's onboard AI. He was slightly annoyed at how long it had taken him to get it to sync up properly, but it had been a gift from Jason to celebrate their friendship and partnership in the vigilante business. Anyways, here he was, swinging through Gotham in the pouring rain. He was annoyed because the interceptor was only picking up gossiping housewives and one dude on a phone sex line. Ugh.
Looking at his more personal life, Ben had been on a a lot more dates with Patty since their first coffee date. They'd actually been going really well, which was a departure from the luck that his DNA provider had. Though maybe that stemmed from the fact he was trying to take things slow though. He'd seen first hand how disastrous Peter's relationships were, and he derived them all back to one simple reason: because his father/genetic brother sometimes was guilty of thinking with his dick and not his brain. Though weirdly enough, Ben didn't really like MJ that much. He loved Gwen just as Peter had, but he was totally on team SpiderCat forever. Peter had really screwed up with Felicia in his opinion. The way he just wrote her off because she was unsure of her feelings was kind of shitty.
But he was getting sidetracked by his memories from his progenitor. He actually had a date with Patty that evening, and he was excited. He was finally going to tell her he loved her. By this point in time, they'd been together for about two months. She had caught herself a few times starting to say it(he had as well), but neither had actually said those three magic words to the other. But they'd shown how serious they were about the relationship in both how they'd meet up for lunch during the week on their breaks. How they had lingering touches on the other. She'd stammered rapidly when he'd asked her to officially to be his girlfriend. She'd said yes, naturally. Hell, even his little bastards- Er, darling chemistry students had commented he seemed less broody and lazy. He was shaken from his thoughts by the ringing of his phone. He checked caller ID and saw it was Patty. It was a bit unusual, but she did call him every now and then.
"Hello? Reilly Pizza Delivery. Where all your deliveries are disappointing and overpriced garbage?" He answered jovially. He was really excited to chat with his girlfriend.
"B-Ben..." Patty's voice was very weak, and she was coughing severely. "I-I've been shot. P-Please, *cough* help." Her coughs were wet, which was not a good sign. His blood ran cold.
"Patty! Where are you? I need you to be as descriptive as possible!" He replied frantically. He immediately put her on speak phone and dialed in Derek's number into his phone, and merged the two calls, hoping beyond hope that Derek would answer. It would save precious minutes and seconds in getting Patty emergency medical attention.
"Come on, answer the phone, Derek!" Derek's voicemail kicked in, and his hopes were dashed. "FUCK!" He swore at all the times he could have chosen to be unavailable.
"B-Ben?" Her voice was scared, and his outburst only frightened her more.
"Yes, baby, I'm still here, okay? Stay with me. Talk me through where you are. I'll be there in a few minutes. Though, you're gonna have some questions okay?"
"O-Okay. Just please stay with me. I don't want to die alone." Her insecurity and fear only multiplied as she kept speaking.
"You're not going to die, Patty! Just tell me where you are okay?" He punched in Jason's number, before merging the calls. He answered on the second ring.
"Yeah?" He sounded bored, which he often was when Kara was working as a reporter in Metropolis.
"JASON! I need you to suit up, and trace Patty's call, then meet me there. She's been shot, and I can't carry her to a hospital without hurting her!" He could hear Jason shoot to his feet, and frantically throwing gear on.
"Okay, fuck, hold on, give me two seconds to trace it..." For a moment, the only sounds were Patty's raspy breathing, Jason cursing under his breath, and Ben's hyperventilating at the perceived delay." "Okay! She's in an alley off of 2nd street in downtown Gotham!" Ben heard Jason's motor cycle roar to life in the background. "I'll be there in 4 minutes!"
"Baby, I'm so cold..."
"Patty, I know, just hang on, I'll be there in 2 minutes okay?" He shot off the roof he'd been sitting on and frantically began swinging towards Patty's location. The moments in between his point A and point B were nerve-wracking. Her raspy breathing was getting weaker, and she was crying. Finally, after a minute and thirty seconds of swinging, he landed at the mouth of the alley. He spotted her crumpled form on the ground, and the blood...there was so much blood. Too much. A weight settled in Ben's stomach. This...this didn't look good. Her blond hair was covered in her blood from the ground, and she was covering a hole that was much too close to her lungs for his comfort. Her glasses were a few feet away, shattered to pieces. Her make up was runny, and she was so pale...
"B-Ben? Is that you?" Patty's weak voice called out, frantically hoping her boyfriend would show up for her. It shook him out of his shock, and he sprinted over to her. He ripped his mask off as he grasped her, and cradled her in his arms, before fumbling on his belt for something help with the bleeding.
"Baby, I'm here. I know you want to know-"
"I know you're the Arachnid. It's okay. I was proud of you." Her voice was soft, but conveyed her unspoken love for him.
"You- You do?" He was shocked.
"Of course. You would bail on dates just to catch photos of the Arachnid? It wasn't hard." Her voice tried to sound amused, but she was wracked with coughs again.
"Baby, don't talk so much, please! Just hold on. Jason is on his way! Just hang on a little longer-"
"Ben, I don't think I'm going to make it." She coughed and this time her entire form shook violently, before she cried out in pain. The rain was oppressive by this point, and Ben was going crazy. Where the fuck was Jason at?!
"Patty, you can't say that-"
"I've lost so much blood..."
"What's your blood type? I can do a tranfusion-!"
"Oh, Ben...I saw us getting married, you know?" Her voice was warm as it could be given the circumstances. "I saw us raising little blonde kids, who'd grow up to be just as awkward as we are." She was smiling, which was offset by the blood dribbling from the corner of her mouth.
"Patty, please, don't talk like you're dying-" She ignored him, and pressed on unperturbed.
"I saw us getting older, and worrying about their futures, while all the while being proud of what they'd done. "I saw us getting old together, and I saw us laughing at each other as our kids gave us gray hairs much sooner than we'd hoped." Ben said nothing, tears welling up in his eyes.
"I...I love you, Ben. I'm sorry I said it so late and in such awful circumstances."
"I love you too, Patty. Please...don't leave me." He was crying now, sobs wracking his body as he cradled her bloody form. She slowly reached a hand up to his face, which he covered with one of his own.
"I don't want to...but I don't have a choice, dear." Tears flowed from her eyes. "I'm sorry. He caught me off guard. She shot me before I could do anything." Ben's blood ran cold. He was going to kill the fucker who hurt her.
"Who? Who did this to you?" His fury was causing everything to slow down.
"The Joker." She coughed violently, before she had to remove her hand from his face. "Ben?"
"Yes, Patty?" He didn't know what else to say or do. He couldn't move her. If he tried to carry her on his own, he'd hurt her more. He checked her pulse. It was slowing...Goddamnit it was so slow. "Please...Kiss me...one..last..time." Her words were starting to get weaker, and began to slur together. Gently as he could, he lowered his lips to her, the metallic taste of blood dominating their kiss. As they pulled away, she spoke one final time "Ben? Please tell me you love me...The dark doesn't seem so scary...when I hear you say it..."
"I love you, Patty Spivot. And I always will." The light was fading in her eyes. "I love you. I love you. I love you..." He repeated over and over again, until her pulse and breathing finally stopped. He chocked back a sob, before he closed her eyes. He kissed her one last time, before he gently laid her down. He stood motionless a moment, still as a statue, before the he screamed out in anger, picking up a dumpster and slamming it against the wall repeatedly.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Over and over, he slammed it before he threw it down the alley. He continued in a blind rage for about a minute. Memories of what he'd just experienced mixed with Gwen's death in his head, leaving him unsure of where he was in the moment. His rage was interrupted when a motorcycle suddenly screeched to a halt and a figure shot forward, guns drawn, before it looked in around in confusion.
"Ben?" Ben turned quickly, looking at the figure, anger and anguish evident on his face. "Ben, what the fuck happened?"
"The Joker." Jason's blood ran cold. Of course it had to be the Joker. "I'm going to kill him. If you're going to try to stop me, now would be the time." At that, Ben stopped talking, before he yanked his mask back on and stalked past Jason.
"Ben." Jason began, but paused a moment when Ben turned his head just enough that the lens on the right side of his face was visible. "Ben, you do this, Batman is going to be upset-"
"I DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT BATMAN'S FEELINGS!" Ben roared in anger, spinning on his foot to grab Jason by the collar of his leather jacket. "As far as I'm concerned, he's as culpable for everyone the Joker has killed as the clown is. So unless you plan to rat me out to him, don't get in my way."
"Ben, you're my friend. If you honestly think I'm going to let you do this alone, you're an idiot." Jason put a hand on Ben's shoulder, before continuing, " You forget. He took me from Kara before I was brought back from the dead." Ben froze at that.
"Jason, is there a way to-" Jason cut him off immediately.
"NO! God, no. The way I came back...it was hell, Ben. Patty...wouldn't be the same after. The pit changes you." Just then, Jason's phone began to ring, which he then answered. " Hello, Batman. Yes, I'm with him. Yes, he's going to kill the Joker. Yes, you're damn right I'm going to help him do it. Don't try to stop us. If you want to help, then arrange a funeral service for the body. Because I don't think Ben is going to be able to. Thanks."
"The flying rat not approve of what I'm about to do?"
"No, he doesn't. But he's not going to stop you. I think he realizes the Joker can't be saved. He said he'll handle the fallout of whatever happens. He knows how I handle things by now."
"Whatever. Less people I have to fight tonight, I guess. Let's go."
With that , they set off to track down the Joker. Come what may, the Joker's reign of terror ended tonight.
Xxxxxxxxxx
The Clown Prince of Crime sat in his thrown. He'd become almost feral since Harley had left. But he had a new 'pet', though she was defiant and did not fawn over him, which was annoying. He stood in front of a chamber filled with red sun light, holding a lone female in it. She was muscular and lithe, with blond hair in a bob cut and her feminine curves accentuated by a white leotard. Her extreme beauty was marred by the defiant scowl on her face, as well as several purple bruises that spread over her body.
"The fuck do you want clown? I have nothing to say to you." The blonde woman spoke with hate dripping from her voice. This just made the clown laugh, as if her attempts at threats were funny.
"Oh come now dear! Is that anyway to treat your puddin'?! Especially after I took care of you after your run in with the Justice Losers?!"
"My puddin'? All you do is come down and beat me like a fucking dog. If it weren't for these fucking lamps, I'd have turned you into smear on the wall."
"Galatea, Galatea. You're a clone, and one regarded as evil at that. No one cares about you except me, don't you see that?" The Joker walked up to her, and backhanded her across the face. "And frankly, I'm the only chance you have at getting revenge on the Justice League. So you better just get any defiant thoughts out of your head right now." He looked at her a moment, before he turned around and walked out of the room. Galatea tried to keep up her facade, but she broke down shortly after he left. All she'd known since she woke up after the fight with the Justice League was the beatings the Joker put her through. She had used her hate for the clown as her reason why she wouldn't break, but she was at her wits end. She didn't know how much more she could take. Just when her thoughts were about to take a darker turn, the compound was rocked with explosions, and the screams of henchmen echoed through the chambers. She dared not hope for rescue, but she knew that hope was really the only thing she had left.
Xxxxxxxxxxx
"You know how to make an entrance, Arachnid." The voice of the Joker called out from the building. Jason and Ben had used remote charges to blast holes in several places on the building. They were currently standing on the roof of ACE Chemical, looking down at one of the holes they'd made. Neither Jason nor Ben responded to the Joker's taunts. "You know, I only killed that cute little CSI girl because you were upsetting the wrong people in Gotham right? Well, that and because I thought it would be funny. You know she was two timing you? She cried out for someone named Ben. I figured I'd do you a favor and end the little trollop. So, really, you should be thanking me."
Ben twitched, before he roared and threw himself into the hole. Jason sighed, before he took aim and shot all the goons he could see from his position, killing about 7 of them in the span of 8 seconds. He quickly tried to find Ben, only to find several people sized smears on the walls from where Ben had clearly been. He wasn't holding his powers back today, that was for sure. They had agreed to stop killing goons eventually, but tonight wasn't that night. Jason heard a few shouts of fear, followed by gunshots, and bones snapped and flesh breaking. He casually walked through the hallways, shooting any stragglers stupid enough to come out before he'd left.
"Ha...hahah...HAHAHAHAHA-URK!" The sound of the Joker, followed by a grunt and crunching bones drew Jason's attention to his left. He found the Joker webbed to a wall in a crucifixion position. The Joker's left leg was dangling loosely, having been shattered at the knee.
"We both know how this goes, do gooders. You get close to killing me, then Bats swings in for the family reunion, and I go to jail, I break out of jail, kill 1 or 20 people, then repeat. Honestly, it's getting somewhat monotonous at this point-ARGHH!" Ben slammed his fist into the Joker's shoulder, turning the ball and socket joint into powder.
"Congratulations, you just lost use of your right arm permanently. Not like it'll matter much to a dead man, though..." The Joker stopped laughing here, an uncharacterristically serious looking on his face.
"You can't kill me. You guys have a code." Ben was silent a moment, before he punched the Joker in the face, shattering his jaw.
"Good. Now I don't have to listen to anymore of your fucking jokes." Ben shook his hand a bit, before picked up a metal stake that had broken off of one of the rails, and jammed it through the Joker's ankle. He tried to scream but the fact he had a broken jaw made that difficult. Ben was about do something else, when he felt Jason's hand on his shoulder.
"You've done enough." Seeing Ben was about to go off on him, he held up a hand "I know this sick fuck deserves all this and more, but I ran a scan on the building. He's got someone stored up in the basement. Go let them out. I want a turn with this prick." At this, Jason cracked his knuckles, before walking over to a bench where he picked up a solid looking crowbar. The Joker's eyes widened, before his form wracked with sobs...or was it laughter? Who could tell with that psychopath.
Ben shook his head. He had someone to save. It would take his mind off of what was happening.
Xxxxxxxxxx
He carefully walked down the stairs, which were illuminated by eery red light,. As he got to the door at the bottom of the stair that lead to the dingy basement, he was apprehensive at what he would find. He was running on autopilot at the moment, trying not to think about Patty. He knew he would breakdown later, and he didn't know how he would handle tomorrow or the day after that. All he knew was that someone was down here, and they needed his help. He heard a woman sobbing on the other side of the door. He kicked it off the hinges, and rushed inside, looking for the person who needed his help. He was surprised to find a woman who looked like Jason's girlfriend, albeit a bit more...mature. She looked up at him, with a mixture of fear and apprehension.
"So he hired another costumed freak to hurt me? He get bored of torturing me himself?" Her voice attempted to sound defiant, but it was clear she was at her wits ends. How long had he kept her down here? Ben shook his head in refutation of her assumption.
"No, miss. I'm not with the Joker. In fact, my associate and I are going to be responsible for his death, actually." Her expression went from shocked, back to apprehensive, then settled on respect. He walked over to her which made her flinch. "I'm sorry, I'm not going to hurt you. See?" He removed his mask. He was handsome, but his face was marked with tear tracks, and his eyes were red. His blonde hair was somehow still flawless after having that tightfitting mask on his head for so long. Galatea couldn't help but blush a bit at how gallant he seemed in that moment.
"O-okay..." She nodded, but didn't get up to move.
"You're hurt." It wasn't a question. "Okay, here, I have two things for you." At this, he pulled two things from his belt. One looked like a needle, which made her shift into a defensive position, while the other was...chocolate?
"What's the big idea? You gonna drug me up so you can hurt me like the clown did?" At her reversal in attitude, Ben realized his mistake. He put his hands up in surrender.
"Sorry, it's a non-opiod painkiller for Kryptonians." Her posture stiffened even more. " I told Jason I'd carry some in case Kara got hurt and I was the only one nearby to help. And since you look similar to her...should I assume your her clone? I promise...I won't hurt you. So trust me?" She didn't say anything, but she slowly nodded her head.
"I don't want to explain fully here...but I'm actually a clone too." Galatea's eyebrows shot up into her bangs and her face morphed to shock, before looking apprehensive once more.
"And what's the chocolate for?" Her tone was accusatory, but it just got a humorless chuckle from Ben.
"It helps with trauma victims. Helps to ground them by giving them something good after such horrific experiences. I usually give it to kids I rescue...but you looked like you could use some good in your life right about now."
Galatea was moved by this...strange spider-like man's kindness. She slowly took the offered chocolate and the pills from his outstretched hand. Just then, Jason walked into the room with his helmet off. His expression morphed to shock when he saw Galatea's face. She beat him to the punch first.
"I know you from Kara's memories. She loves you a lot, and I did too, or at least I thought I did."
Jason, for his part, just dragged a hand down his face. "Fuck me, the crazy clone is alive?"
Her expression morphed into a sneer. "I didn't ask to be born. And I didn't ask for the fucking Joker to kidnap me and take my powers from me!" Her eyes were alight with righteous anger and tears. She crumpled back to her knees, before sobs wracked her form. "The fucked up thing? I didn't have anyone who would come looking for me or try to rescue me. I was so sure I was going to die here. And even if I had somehow escaped, it's not like I had anywhere to go." She wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to comfort herself. Ben cursed his Parker genetics, and walked over to her, and pulled the woman into a hug. She stiffened at first, before she broke down, the memories of her ordeal hitting her all at once, and overwhelmed her.
Jason looked on, and mouthed 'She's bad news.' Ben just shrugged a bit.
He pulled back, but Galatea held onto his shirt.
"Please, don't go yet. I don't want to be back on my own again."
Ben was not sure what prompted him to open his mouth or even utter the words that caught him by surprise, considering . "Look, if you don't have anywhere to go...you can stay with me. I have a spare guestroom in my apartment, and it's yours if you want it." Galatea's expression was filled with emotions she wasn't used to feeling. This guy offered her a home, and he didn't even know her name...or she didn't know his, either. No one except her sole family member had been this kind to her.
"So what do you say, miss? You can leave any time you want, okay? Nothing will happen to you while I'm around. I promise." She wanted to scoff at his proclamation, but she knew it would be rude. It was...nice that offered to protect her.
"Stop calling me miss. It makes me sound old." She couldn't bite back the sarcastic remark before it left her tongue.
"Well I don't know your name so..."
"It's Galatea...but you can call me Tea...Him?" She gestured to Jason, who was playing a game on his phone. "Not so much. You better explain that clone shit sometime, Mister...?"
"Well, my super hero name is Arachnid... but friends call me Ben." She nodded, satisfied that she had gotten the name of this strange man who had saved her. She would not destroy him at all, no matter what. She was still unsure of what she wanted from life, but at least now she was free to explore it on her own. Ben helped her to her feet, before he whistled to get Jason's attention.
"I'm sick of being here. Let's go."
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Two days later...
Batman stood before the corpse of the Joker, unsure of what to feel. His son had finally killed the Joker, had finally obtained the closure he needed to move on. One thing was certain. He needed to have a chat with the Arachnid soon, to make sure he didn't exacerbate Jason's violent tendencies any further.
To Be continued...
Oh my god, I can only imagine the backlash I'm going to get from this. But I had the thought of "What if Ben went through what Peter did with Gwen?" and I couldn't get it out of my head. And then my buddy mentioned Galatea, or evil supergirl clone, and then he suggested a romance between Ben and Tea because they understand each other...and I was sold. I loved Patty's character, and I actually cried like a bitch while I wrote this. And Do not mistake me. No romance is going to happen between Ben and Galatea for a while. Ben needs time to grieve and move on. Will that stop Tea from making passes at him? Probably not. But my Ben is a bit old fashioned, so no need to worry.
I will state that between chapters, there's more or less a one and a half month gap as a general rule. It'll help the story to feel less like some crisis happens in Gotham every Tuesday, and it will allow me to progress things quicker that way. What happens in between will be touched on, though, don't worry.
Until next time. Raizen out.