Katt Girl & The Harley Kidd: Chapter 18: Ghost Of Christmas Future by Chad Sheefel 11/22/19
The midnight hour was approaching Gotham City, as dark clouds began forming over the mountain tops in the far distance. Gotham was still rioting, as gang members killed each other over turf wars. Buildings and stores were on fire. Bane and his army could walk around in the streets without any resistance. He was like a God to the criminal outlets. Most of the ordinary citizens of Gotham were allowed to go back to their homes, but that would not save many of them from the purge of Gotham City. Everyone would need to fend for themselves now. The police wasn't coming to save them. The bridges were blown, and there was no way out. You couldn't try to swim because of the toxic waste that still remained in the water. You couldn't fly out because all aircraft was grounded. Citizens had tried escaping on boats, only to be blown out of the water by Bane's army. Inmates and patients at Arkham Asylum were set free. It was complete anarchy. It had become quite a bloody Christmas.
Richard was sleeping as Catwoman began to make her way into the city to look for Chad. She promised Richard she would try to find him once Bane's henchmen were out of sight. Plus, she has had a thing for Chad ever since they met at the cafe just days ago. Little did she know, Richard was only faking sleep, and managed to tail behind her. Catwoman could do some amazing acrobatic moves as she scaled the rooftops in her quest to get a better view. Richard took it as a challenge. "Everything you can do, I can do better." he thought to himself as he reenacted her moves with a couple of his own. Catwoman was able to look over most of the city as she climbed to the top of Wayne Enterprise. She had a pair of binoculars. She could see Bane's army strolling down Main Street. She could see the fires, dead bodies, and gangs fighting in the streets and alleyways. But, there was no sign of Chad. Richard was hiding in the background, watching her body language, trying to get an idea if Catwoman had spotted Chad or not. He looked up at the night sky and watched as the dark clouds moved closer. Suddenly, the doors on the roof busted open. A slew of gang members came running out. They must have spotted Catwoman on the security monitors from inside the building.
"Hey pretty thing, this is our territory, so I guess you are our property now." A heavy set gang members said.
"In your dreams, fat ass!" Catwoman said while preparing to defend herself.
One of the gang members held a gun in her direction.
The leader of the gang said, "We don't need no guns to take this chick!"
She snapped her new whip on the ground, "Let's do this boys. I ain't got all night."
They began approaching her one by one. That was their first mistake. She easily disposed of many of them. There were only four left standing. They began circling her as they figured out that they would need to try a new approach. They all rushed her at the same time. She flipped through the air, and landed perfectly, a few feet from the group.
"You've gotta be quicker than that fellas." She insisted.
Suddenly, another slew of gang members came running out the door. They were all holding guns and wasn't planning on putting them down.
"Oh great!" she thought to herself.
"Time to dance with the devil!" One of the gang members yelled.
Catwoman knew she couldn't possibly fight all of them while dodging bullets at the same time.
"Leave her alone!" screamed Richard, as he flew through the air kicking one of the gang members to the ground. The gang was startled. One of them pointed a gun toward Richard. Bang! The gun went off. Catwoman managed to snap her whip, against the man's wrist, in time to send the bullet flying in a different direction, causing the bullet to hit another gang member. Multiple shots then rang out at Catwoman. She was shot twice and then stumbled off the side of Wayne Enterprise. Richard cringed as he saw her tumble over the side. The gang members rushed over to see if her cat guts were splattered all over the pavement below.
"She ain't down there boss!" One of the men said. "She must have nine lives!"
The gang members began circling Richard. "What are we going to do with this little pipsqueak?" one of the men asked.
"I was hoping to see some guts splattered on the pavement!" The leader said as he grabbed a hold of Richard.
Richard began kicking and punching as the leader tried dragging Richard over to the ledge. Suddenly, the pulling stopped. Richard looked up to see why the man was no longer moving. The leader's head had become detached from his body, then landed at Richard's feet. Richard screamed. All the other gang members tried looking around to see what happened. Then in one fell swoop, all of the gang members heads had been severed and fell to the ground as their bodies fell shortly after. Richard had put his head down, then crouched on the ground, in order to dodge the blood that flew from their necks. Once all the action had stopped, Richard started to slightly peek his head up, although he was afraid of what he might see. It was the shadowy figure that donned a deep purple cloak … It was The Shadow Master. He held a broad sword in his hand, with fresh blood stains spattered across its flawless design. Richard realized that The Shadow Master wasn't there to kill him or he would have been dead by now.
"Thank you for saving me mister." Richard said as he tried to get a closer look at his face.
All Richard could see was purple eyes glowing in a shadowy silhouette. At that moment, more gang members ran through the door. They looked at Richard and The Shadow Master. Then they looked down to see all of the severed heads lying on the ground.
"Yo man! You can have this place! We out!" One of the gang members said as they began running in the opposite direction from which they came.
"Wow! You already have street cred!" Richard said to The Shadow Master. "What is your name?" Richard asked.
The Shadow Master was reluctant to speak at first. He stood up on the ledge, and as he jumped off, he yelled, "I am The Shadow Master."
Richard couldn't believe his ears, then ran to the ledge and looked over the side. "Chad!?"
Richard had no doubt in his mind that it was Chad's voice he heard. He put his head down for a few moments and then looked up at the sky.
The dark clouds hovering over the League of Assassins' training camp began to give off a roar of Thunder, as lightning pierced the sky. It was only a few minutes from midnight. Bruce was exhausted. He had finally made it out of the tunnel of mazes, fighting many assassins on his way. Now he must make it to the Pit of Lazarus and try to stop Ra's al Ghul from opening the Hell-mouth. Bruce makes his way to the hidden passage, still hurting from his battle wounds. He could hear chanting as he made it closer to the entrance that would lead to the pit of Lazarus. Five assassins stood guard. He figured he had only seconds left before the clock would strike midnight. He took a forward approach and barreled through them all. He quickly punched one, then smashed another one's head against the wall. A roundhouse kick would take out another. One of the assassins managed to stab Bruce near the side of his stomach. It did not slow Bruce down. There was no time left for the pain, as he could hear the chanting and the roar of thunder getting louder.
He jumped up and hooked his legs around one of the assassin's neck, flinging him into the only other assassin left standing. As the two assassins hit the ground, Bruce leapt into the air and came down and dropped an elbow directly to the head of one, immediately back-fisting the other. He jumped up and ran to the entryway. He saw Ra's al Ghul in the pit standing over future Selina, holding his spiritual dagger in the air. Selina was laying on a table in the center of the pit. He could also see slain assassins floating in the liquid of the pit. They must have sacrificed themselves to allow entry way for the demon. Ra's suddenly stopped chanting, then thrust the dagger into Selina's chest.
"Noooooo!" Bruce cried out as he tried running toward Ra's.
Ra's released the dagger, put his hands up into the air and began chanting again. The Hell-mouth had begun to open. Once Bruce made it to the pit, he tried punching Ra's. His fists were bouncing off of Ra's as if he was trying to punch a brick wall. Ra's wasn't even phased one bit and continued chanting, as the thunder and lightning crashed just overhead. Bruce quickly turned to Selina and tried to help her, as her blood was spilling over into the liquid of the pit. He was about to pull out the dagger and use it on Ra's, just like Dr. Crane told him he would have to do.
Suddenly Selina spoke, in a frail voice, "Don't … don't remove the dagger."
Bruce didn't understand why she said that. He looked down at her to ask why, but she was already gone. Bruce became infuriated. Ra's al Ghul had managed to get the Hell-mouth to open up. The colors, that resembled the Northern Lights, streamed through and spread across the night sky. Bruce realized that this could be his last chance to stop the demon from entering. He took hold of the dagger and pulled it out of Selina's chest. Just as he was about to thrust the dagger into Ra's al Ghul's body, he realized that Ra's wasn't trying to resist. Not even in the slightest.
"Do it!" Ra's demanded. "I killed your parents, and I will continue to kill everyone you will ever love!"
Bruce gritted his teeth. He was about to stab Ra's, but at the last second Bruce stopped. Then he dropped the dagger.
"No! I won't do it! That would make me no different than you!" Bruce exclaimed.
"What!? You must!" You must!" Ra's screamed.
At that moment, the Hell-mouth began to close shut. Ra's couldn't believe it. He needed Bruce to stab him in order for the ritual to go as planned. He grabbed ahold of Bruce and threw him into the table that Selina laid dead on. Selina's body fell over into the liquid. Then, Ra's grabbed Bruce in a choke hold. His strength was uncanny and Bruce could not break free. Suddenly, Ra's al Ghul's hands started crumbling. Then his arms, shoulders, and soon his entire body would fall apart like powdered rubble. Bruce managed to catch his breath as he watched the crumbled pieces of Ra's al Ghul get sucked up into the Hell-mouth. Then the Hell-mouth was gone. Bruce quickly pulled Selina out of the Lazarus Pit and held her in his arms. He was somehow hoping that the Lazarus Pit would bring her back to life, but it wouldn't appear so. Moments later, the entire structure of the place was starting to implode. He picked Selina up over his shoulder and ran as quickly as he could, watching the ground getting sucked in below his feet. Bruce made it to the entrance of the compound, kicked open the main gates, and hurled his way down the side of the mountain. He didn't stop falling until he hit the side of a boulder that was on the edge of a cavern. Selina's body wasn't so lucky. It continued to fall until a splash sounded below. Bruce sobbed while in great pain. Even though his body felt like it just got ran over by a truck, the sadness in his heart for Gabby and Lola hurt the most. His vision began to fade as he was diminished and beaten. The future of Earth was safe for now.
Chapter Recap: (Catwoman was shot while trying to save Richard Grayson. Richard realized Chad was The Shadow Master. Bruce stopped Ra's al Ghul from allowing Darkseid to come through the Hell-mouth, but not in time to save future Selina. Bruce barely escaped, as the mountain top imploded.)