Katt Girl & The Harley Kidd: Chapter 17: Ghost of Christmas Present by Chad Sheefel 11/21/19
Falcone turned around to see where the voice was coming from. He could only see a dark shadowy figure shrouded in a deep purple cloak. "What the Hell are you supposed to be?" Falcone asked.
"I am The Shadow Master!"
"Well, you are about to be a dead Shadow Master." BANG! BANG! Falcone fired his gun.
The Shadow Master disappeared before the bullets could hit him.
"Huh! I guess that was easy enough!" Falcone said in a smartass way.
Suddenly the Shadow Master reappeared behind Falcone, opened up his deep purple cloak, and completely swallowed Falcone, sending him into a 4th dimensional world, the same world that Bullock was sent to. The 4th dimensional world is like an endless pit of darkness.
(SHADOW MASTER ORIGIN: Before Selina, Gabby, and Lola were sent back in time, Bruce Wayne and Ra's al Ghul perish as the world was ending. If Selina and the girls were never sent back, then Bruce Wayne never would have needed to save Gabby and Lola, and he never would have been shot by The Landlord. After that, Gabby and Lola also caused Bruce to come out of his trance that Ra's al Ghul put him in. And, the ripple effect from that, caused the assassin to kill himself, rather than be caught. Ra's al Ghul wouldn't have needed to try to resurrect the slain assassin, because the assassin would still be alive. The Shadow master's spirit became an entity after the slain assassin touched Bruce Wayne during the ritual of his resurrection. During the ritual, in stead of Ra's conjuring the dead assassin's spirit, he conjured Bruce Wayne's spirit from the future timeline. Also, he conjured Ra's al Ghul's spirit from the future timeline. After the spirit wouldn't rejoin the slain assassin's body, Ra's felt there must be a strong reason why. Ra's released the spirit, so it could go find the body it was looking for. The spirit managed to find a body to enter, then became The Shadow Stranger... The Shadow Stranger, being made up of Bruce Wayne and Ra's al Ghul's future spirits, could not remain an entity unless it could find a strong enough host. The Shadow Stranger chose Chad Grayson. Chad drank a potion that the Shadow Stranger gave him after Chad was shot and paralyzed from the waist down. After drinking the potion, Chad miraculously recovered as the spirit was prepping Chad's body to be its perfect host. Then the Shadow Stranger fought against the Executioner. Both perished as the Executioner set off a suicidal bomb. The spirit now had a chance to enter Chad's body... Once the spirit entered Chad's body, Chad started becoming much stronger and quicker. He could heal ten times faster than the average man. The spirit wasn't quite strong enough to take over Chad's mind until Chad was unconscious. Once Chad fell asleep, the spirit would use Chad's body to test his strength. Chad was being molded into a suitable host. After enduring the terrible beating from Jimmy Snipes, the spirit was now able to completely control Chad's body, and then it became, The Shadow Master.)
Meanwhile, Bane ordered his henchmen to search Gotham for Gabby, Lola, and Alfred. He knew where Gabby and Lola lived but he wasn't quite sure who Alfred was. So, Bane sent men house to house, apartment to apartment. Finally, at about 7pm, they arrived at Wayne Manor. Alfred spotted them coming. He secured the girls in a secret place he had been working on for 6 years after discovering a large cave below Wayne Manor. He thought the cave may have been produced during the Storm of the Penguin over sixteen years ago. As they entered the cave, bats flew around, screeching. There was guano droppings everywhere. Over in the corner, Alfred unveiled a computer system, which could show him everything that was going on inside Wayne Manor. The henchmen flooded into the mansion. They began looking around for Alfred and the girls. They searched every room they could possibly find, but they came up empty. The place was so big that they could hardly remember how to get back to the front door. Then, the henchmen left Wayne Manor and headed to the next house to inspect it. Alfred waited for them to be gone for a little while before they decided to come back up.
… Young Selina, now Catwoman, took Richard Grayson to a hideout in the Narrows of Gotham City. Richard doesn't want to stay there. He wanted to go out and look for his brother Chad. After Falcone killed his parents, Chad was the only family that Richard had left. (As we know, Chad is indisposed at the moment.) Catwoman told Richard that she would go out to look for him as soon as Bane's henchmen stop searching places.
"I know what those bastards did to your family. Trust me kid, despite your tragedy, the world hasn't ended." Catwoman said.
"It sure feels like it has. My parents are gone, my brother disappeared, and Bane has hijacked the City. Chad was right, crime really doesn't sleep in this town. Is that why you chose an outfit that looked like a cat?" Richard asked.
"Actually, the cat chose me." Selina replied. "Is there any animal you've ever wished you could be?" She asked.
"My parents always called me their robin bird because I could always fly so high on the trapeze." Richard replied.
"Well, see kid … you got to fly high robin bird … fly high."
… Back in the mountains, Bruce had managed to free himself from the shackles around his ankle. It was nearly 8pm. Bruce must save future Selina from Ra's al Ghul, while at the same time, try to stop Ra's from opening a portal which would allow a menacing demon to come through. Bruce told Dr. Crane to start making noises as if he was being attacked by Bruce.
"Help! He's gone mad! Help me please." Crane cried.
The guards heard the noise. They opened the door, entered the room, and looked over in the direction of Dr. Crane. Bruce was nowhere to be found. Dr. Crane looked up at the ceiling. Suddenly, Bruce dropped down with all his weight onto both of the guards, instantly knocking them out. Bruce took the guards' swords and shut them in the prison cell with Dr. Crane. The noise had alerted some other guards in the distance. They drew their swords and ran toward the room. Bruce was waiting for them around the corner. He quickly knocked one of the guards out. He had to fight off the other guard in a short sword battle. Bruce managed to get the best of him, then took off through the tunnel. Bruce quickly realized that the tunnels were like a maze. There are so many different directions to go and surely there would be more guards waiting for him as he tried to make his way through the winding tunnels. He is running out of time.
Anarchy became the new law of Gotham City. Bane was allowing criminals to rule the streets. Rioting had ensued as businesses got robbed and burned down. Multiple rounds of gunfire was a constant sound that could be heard every other second. Rival gangs were killing each other for turf. No police officers were willing to cross Bane. Officer Gordon even stayed away while the madness was going on. Local Gothamite, Harleen Quinzel managed to escape from Bane's henchmen. She found her way to the Axis Chemical cleanup site and used it to hide out. Harleen became depressed after she quit The Gotham Laugh House because her life seemed to be going nowhere. She tried stealing from a few local department stores just to stay afloat. She managed to steal a few high end suits from a men's department store owned by Falcone. The suits were a perfect color of purple. Harleen loved purple. She also stole from many cosmetic stores and women's clothing stores. She converted a couple sets of colorful tights into a jester's outfit, and when dressed up in it, called herself Harley Quinn. She had fun with it all, but still couldn't figure out how to make ends meet. She was going to college to be a doctor of psychology, but now that Bane had caused the schools to close down, she was left with no hope at all. Here it was, Christmas night, and Harleen had nowhere to work, no money, no home, and nobody to love. She made her way to the toxic waste cleanup containers. It smelled nasty. She sat down contemplating whether or not to jump in. She would start to tiptoe up to the edge, then go through the motions of jumping, but she just couldn't do it. She turned around, as she started walking away, she was suddenly grabbed by somebody. It was Jack Napier. He stood there on the edge of the container, as the green toxic waste dripped from his nude body. He somehow managed to survive his suicide attempt, when he purposely fell into the toxic chemicals. His entire body had become pure white. All of his hair and eyebrows were bright green. His lips were ruby red, and the scars still left his lips holding a perpetual smile. As menacing as he appeared, she still thought he was cute. She imagined what he might look like in one of those purple suits she managed to steal.
"Hey toots! What's your name?" Harleen asked while trembling a bit.
Jack gave Harleen a tug toward him, almost causing her to fall in. He stood there holding her against his body, smelling her hair, as if he was planning on doing some naughty things to her. She was scared and excited at the same time. He could tell that Harleen was attracted to him because she put up very little resistance.
Suddenly, he backed away from her as if she wasn't his type. Then he did a flip off the side of the container and made a splash in the toxic waste. The splash from the toxic waste caused drops to fly through the air and land on Harleen. She shook it off of her as it began to sizzle on her arms. She was confused and looked down toward the container. Jack popped his head out of the water laughing.
Then he said, "You could never be with me because you will never understand what it is like to be me. I am committed to my new found madness. Now run along little girl. Before I kick you out on your ass!"
Harleen's face turned angry. She never liked it when someone thought they could emotionally get the best of her. Her father was a very abusive man, both physically and mentally. She acted like she was about to walk away, but then she turned around, took off her clothes, yelled out a battle cry, and dove head first into the green ooze. Jack was totally caught off guard. He didn't think she had the guts to do it. She suddenly arose from the bottom of the container. She was screaming from the pain, but also felt free at the same time. She realized that death didn't seem so scary to her anymore. Her skin was turning pale. Her hair began changing to green. She reached out to Jack, gave him a kiss, then fell over in his arms dead. Jack got out of the container and pulled Harleen out of the waste. He laid her down on the ledge and stared at her perfect silhouette.
He bent down and gave her a kiss. "Come back to me darling. Let's create madness together."
Suddenly her eyes opened. She gave a deep cough, spitting up green saliva. Then she grabbed Jack, gave him another kiss, as they both fell back into the toxic waste container together.
Chapter Recap: (We are introduced to The Shadow Master. We find out that the Shadow Master has taken over Chad Grayson's body. Jack Napier and Harley Quinn share a loving moment together.)