Chapter 17: The Fight in the Mansion
"My my my!" Joker said, giggling like a schoolgirl as he paced back and forth in front of the trio, "Who would have thought that the Batman was really Bruce Wayne! Gotham's richest man-whore! Then again, it does make sense. Only you could afford all those fancy gadgets that the Bat has. Kinda kicking myself for not thinking of it sooner."
"Talia what on earth are you doing here!? And with this clown no less!" Bruce asked coldly, ignoring the Joker completely as he turned to his once-upon-time lover.
"Believe me darling. I wouldn't have in a million years, in fact, I was wanting to kill him." Talia replied, which caused Joker to fake pout, "Until he told me about you and his ex-punching bag hooking up. I gotta say Bruce, I'm surprised you would lower yourself so much."
At that statement Harley was enraged. She could feel her blood boiling as she stared daggers into this Talia girl, and was wishing she had real daggers in her hands. She was about to give the bitch a piece of her mind when Bruce stepped in front of her, blocking her view of the woman.
"Don't you dare talk about like that." Bruce said, unnervingly calm, " She is a wonderful woman who I love very much. She has changed her ways and not only that, but has changed me as well. Now I'm only going to ask this once: Get out of my house and take the Joker with you."
"Tsk tsk tsk."Joker stated, shaking his head, "Come on Bruce. You should treat your guests better than that. Can we at least stay for tea?"
"We're not leaving Bruce. Not without her."Talia answered, pointing her chin to Harley behind him.
"Wrong answer Talia." Bruce replied, grabbing both Alfred and Harley.
The minute the trio moved Talia's men sprung into action, descending upon them. Bruce dragged the pair to the side of the wall, quickly reaching under a nearby table and pressing a button. The wall in front of them opened backwards, revealing a staircase going down into nothing but darkness, well as far as they could tell. Bruce pushed the two into the staircase in front of him and came in behind them just as the wall closed back up. He reached up on either side of the wall and broke the mechanisms of the wall, making sure Talia's men couldn't follow them...at least for now.
"Master Wayne what are we going to do?" Alfred asked, strangely calm. It kinda freaked Harley out at how much he acted like how Bruce acts as Batman. Always calm, even if he's in a fight with one of the many people out for his cowl.
"Down to the Batcave. We need to suit up and push these people out of the mansion." Bruce answered as they ran down the steps. They could already hear the screeches and fluttering of the many bats down below in the Batcave.
"That's not what I mean sir. They pretty much know who you really are now. Even that awful Joker fellow." Alfred said as they came to the bottom of the staircase and into the cave. Instantly the lights came on, causing the bats to go berserk and fly around. This still spooked Harley a bit, but she was slowly getting use to the gloomy side of things here.
"We will worry about that later. We have bigger problems. Like surviving this."Bruce retorted as he raced over to the glass display containing his batsuit. Harley followed suit and ran over to the Batgirl display. Quick as lightning, like they had done so many times before, they have their costumes on and their weapons in a matter of seconds.
It seems like they were ready for battle just in time, because suddenly a loud explosion rang out. Talia,her men, and the Joker must have broken through the wall. They could already hear the sounds of dozens of footsteps as they rushed down the staircase. As soon as the first couple of men exited the stairway, Batman threw five baterangs in less than five seconds, each one hitting a target in the head. Five of Talia's goons went down, but were instantly replaced as more and more of them exited the stairway.
As the assassins swarmed the Batcave and circled around the trio, the success of them all coming out of the fight alive was growing slimmer. Batman fended off his attackers using his martial arts, Harley using her metal staff, and Alfred surprisingly using a silver platter used for carrying food. However, not even Batman could hold so many goons at one time. And these were not just your run of the mill goons either, but highly-trained killers. Even with his two allies Batman knew this battle wouldn't end in their favor, but he had no plan to escape, at least not a plan that involved all three of them escaping.
"You might as well just hand her over love."Talia said cooly as she slowly exited the stairway, with Joker close behind, "If you do you and your butler won't be harmed...and perhaps we can be together again."
"Not a chance Talia."Batman answered, punching a nearby assassin that got too close.
"Either way I don't care if you two makeup or not."Joker inputted, grinning, "As long as I get back what's mine."
"I don't belong to you Joker!"Harley spat, smashing her staff against the skull of a goon.
"You sure? I thought I wrote Property of Joker somewhere on your-"Joker continued, but was cut off by Harley.
"Shutup!"Harley growled, "I'm so sick of your awful sense of humor!"
"Should I go back to knock-knock jokes then?"Joker asked, but never received an answer because the three were too busy trying to push away the horde of asssassins, closing in more and more on them, until finally Batman, Harley, and Alfred were back to back. They were completely surrounded.
"What are we going to do now Master Wayne?"Alfred asked, using the platter as a shield as a throwing knife bounced off the serving tray.
"You are outnumbered Brucie-Boy. Better give it up!" Joker commanded, cackling madly.
"I won't be outnumbered for long."the Dark Knight replied, smirking slightly.
"What do you-"Talia was about to asked, but got the answer to her own question as a motorcycle surged into the Batcave from a nearby tunnel.
The driver of the motorcycle leaped from it as it still continued to go. The bike surged forward, forcing some of Talia's men to jump out of way while others weren't so lucky. The driver landed gracefully on his feet and pulled off his helmet to reveal none other than Nightwing. He gave a cocky grin, surveying the cave around him.
"Seems you're in a bit of trouble boss." Nightwing said, pulling out his nunchucks.
"Just a bit. Glad you could make it." Batman said, turning his attention back to their enemies as Nightwingran up beside him and the others.
"The others should be here soon. I was lucky enough to be in the area when you sent out the S.O.S." Nightwing said.
"Wait when on earth did you call in the calvery?"Harley asked, puzzled. Batman reached into his belt and pulled out a small remote control, with a bright light in the center blinking.
"As soon as we entered the mansion. I never leave home without it. Just in case." Batman answered, winking to her.
"I use to think you were a little too paranoid sir."Alfred inputed, in his calm British tone, "but now I overjoyed that you are."
"Enough talk!"Batman yelled, pulling out brass knuckles from his belt and putting them on his fists, "It's time to clear out this cave!"