That evening as night fell, Crane and J sat on their respective horses by the bridge, waiting for the Headless Batman to come.
"If this doesn't work, at least we have a quick escape route," said J, nodding at the bridge. "I mean, it's good to be confident in your theory, but you are basically risking your life for it."
"As many people have done by advancing theories before," replied Crane. "Like Galileo, or Copernicus. A deeply held conviction should be worth dying for, I suppose. But as you say, we have a quick escape route just in case. I just don't know where we go from here if this doesn't work."
"Well, I hate to say it, but Nygma's theory about Ivy sounded pretty plausible to me," said J. "We could go talk to her."
"And say what?" asked Crane. "Excuse me, madam, are you perhaps controlling the Headless Batman into murdering anyone who goes out after dark as some twisted, bizarre vengeance for your mother's execution?"
"Something like that, but more insulting and accusatory," said J.
"I doubt she'd admit it even if it was true," replied Crane. "And we can't make her confess."
"I bet Deacon Blackfire could," said J. "He's made several witches confess with the old thumbscrews, plus a lotta other fun torture devices he's collected over the years."
"Even an innocent person would confess under such torture," retorted Crane. "No, I want the truth, and we can't find it that way. What about Nygma? He was very eager to point the finger at Ivy. And he seemed very quick to dismiss my theory, almost as if he knows it won't work."
"I don't really credit Eddie with enough brains to be able to make up a story in order to deflect guilt from himself," replied J. "Trust me, I've read his writing, and he is not that bright. And I can't think of a motive for him – yeah, he's an egotistical jerk who thinks he's above everyone, but that doesn't mean he wants to kill everyone. Who would he look down on then?"
"Well, maybe we just don't have all the information we need yet," said Crane. "Something must have happened the day the Batman died, or some history prior to that, which will explain all this. There just has to be some logical explanation."
"Again, I admire your confidence," said J. "Me, I've given up on things making sense a long time ago. Ever since I came here, in fact. I mean, a headless, murdering ghost haunting the town – the whole premise is ludicrous. Why wouldn't the explanation be as well?"
Crane didn't have a response to that, and he didn't need one, for they both suddenly heard the galloping sound of hoof-beats growing nearer. Crane reached for the head in the bag, while J raised his gun, keeping it trained on the dark, fast-approaching figure.
When the Batman came in sight, Crane held up the head. "Here!" he exclaimed. "I have what you want! You can take it and be at peace now!"
The Batman didn't even pause – he just kept galloping toward them, sword raised. "I don't think it's working," commented J. "I mean, he can't talk, but he's communicating pretty clearly that his head is not what he wants."
Crane was too terrified to respond – he shoved the head back in the bag and then whirled his horse around, galloping toward the bridge. He and J crossed it and then stopped their horses, turning around to see the Headless Batman standing by the entrance to the bridge. Then they watched in horror as he slowly edged his horse across it.
"That's impossible!" gasped Crane, as the Headless Batman came slowly toward them across the bridge. "You said you'd confronted him several times, and he couldn't cross the bridge!"
"Well, apparently he can now!" snapped J. "Things change, I guess! C'mon!" he added, kicking his heels into his horse again.
"Where are we going?" demanded Crane.
"The church," retorted J. "I know for damn sure he can't go in there. Or at least, I'm willing to risk my life to test that theory."
They rode their horses into the grounds of the church and dismounted, hurrying up the steps. The Headless Batman was right behind them, but was forced to stop at the edge of the church's grounds, his horse rearing back in panic from some invisible barrier.
"See? Told you!" exclaimed J. "Nice try, Batmanator, but you can't get us in here!" he said, sticking his tongue out at the apparition.
"Would you not bait him?" demanded Crane.
"Why not? He can't enter the church grounds," retorted J.
The Headless Batman suddenly threw his sword through the air – the blade landed in the church's door just above J's head, and then disappeared, reappearing in the Batman's hand. "But you're right – we should definitely taunt him from a safe distance," added J, as they both raced inside the church and slammed the heavy door shut.
"What is the meaning of this intrusion?" demanded Deacon Blackfire, emerging from his chambers in his nightclothes.
"Sorry, padre, but we gotta seek sanctuary in the church seeing as it's the only place safe from the Headless Batman out there," retorted J.
"What are you talking about?" asked Blackfire. "He can't cross the bridge."
"See for yourself," said J, gesturing to the window.
The Deacon looked out the window to see the Headless Batman standing at the church's edge, pacing his horse back and forth along the picket fence. "How?" demanded Blackfire, turning to glare at them. "What have you done to give him the power to cross the bridge when he has been forbidden from doing so for twenty-five years? What powers beyond your understanding have you meddled with and will pay the price for?"
"Nothing," retorted J, innocently.
"I…I did find his head," said Crane, reaching into the bag. "I thought it would make him go away once he was reunited with it…"
"You disturbed the dead from its resting place?" demanded Blackfire, his eyes flashing. "Where did it lie?"
"In the stream by the battlefield…" began Crane.
"Foolish man!" exclaimed Blackfire. "Don't you know that the stream feeds Gotham Brook, which the bridge crosses? Evidently, as long as the Batman's head rested there, he was unable to cross it, but now nowhere in town is safe from him! This is what happens when you meddle with powers beyond your comprehension, powers you cannot hope to understand!"
"But you do?" asked Crane. "Were you here when the Headless Batman first began haunting the village?"
"I was," said Deacon Blackfire, nodding. "And I knew why. The Lord told me as clearly as if he had sent an angel down from heaven to trumpet the reason. It was Godlessness. This town is a swirling cesspit of sin and sinners – the witch Ivy, the prideful Nygma, the two-faced Dent, the greedy Van Tetch and his shameless daughter, driven to uncontrollable lust by the sight of you…"
"Hey, how do you know about that?" demanded J. "Did you tell him?" he asked, rounding on Crane.
"No, but you two were being fairly obvious in the cemetery during the service!" snapped Crane.
"Yeah, true," admitted J. "Anyway, you can't really blame her – who wouldn't be driven to uncontrollable lust by the sight of me?"
"And then you, violent and arrogant men, trying to kill that which cannot be killed, which is God's rightful judgement upon this town!" continued Blackfire. "No, from the beginning, Gotham has been damned, and it will be damned for all time! It is true, divine justice for what happened here, for why the Batman came here in the first place!"
"Why did he come here in the first place?" asked Crane. "Van Tetch mentioned something about wanting to make the Americans pay for their treachery…"
"Yes, treachery!" exclaimed Blackfire. "The darkest of all sins, the sin that condemns you to the deepest circle of hell! That is what drove the Batman here!"
"It just seems odd that he focuses solely on Gotham if that is the reason – after all, the entirety of the American colonies rebelled against the crown," said Crane. "You'd think his haunting would be more broad, and extend to the rest of the country rather than just be confined to this sleepy little village…"
"You don't know?" demanded Blackfire. "You don't know what went on here, what treachery took place that was deeper, and more personal than the rebellion against the crown of England?"
"No, but I would very much like to be enlightened," said Crane.
"And so you will be," said Deacon Blackfire, climbing the pulpit as if about to give a sermon. "Listen well, for you are about to bear witness to horrors which have lain sleeping for twenty-five years, dark secrets of treachery and betrayal which will now be brought into the light of God's judgment! A damnable plot, a reckless conspiracy, and a horrible betrayal whose ghost lingers to this day, exacting payment from the citizens of Gotham for the payment he did not receive, for the true justice he desired to bring, a desire which could not be stemmed by the grave itself! Steel your soul, and prepare yourself for the ultimate horror…"
He was cut off by something suddenly bursting through the window and impaling him through the heart. It was a stake from the picket fence out front, attached to a rope which suddenly ripped the Deacon out of the window. J and Crane stared as the body was dragged out of the church grounds, and then the Headless Batman dropped the rope and raised his sword, chopping off the Deacon's head.
He impaled it on his sword and then raised it, turning to face them and rearing his horse up. Then he turned and rode off into the night.
"Ok, but you gotta admit, that was pretty cool," said J at last.
Crane said nothing, staring open-mouthed and transfixed with horror. Then he fainted senseless on the floor.