Chapter 5

The Black Widow

AN: I'm sorry for the late update. i've been really busy with my new story The Light in The Darkness. But I can assure i have not given up on this story.

"So Black Mask isn't dead? That's not what Harley Quinn would do ordinary." Barbara said still contemplating of what Jericho just said.

"Come on, this is Harley Quinn we're talking about. When does she ever do ordinary?" Jericho reminded of how twisted and sick mind of Harley Quinn,"Besides, she wants him alive so that she could use him to access his vault at his Bank." He put on his long leather trenchcoat and his glasses.

"Good point."

"Ready?" Talia asked as she sheated her sword ready to fight,

"Ready as I'll ever be." Jericho declared as they left and went to the rooftop as the Batwing arrived, they got into the bat wing, they flew to the Gotham Merchant's bank when the bell struck at midnight. It was Christmas Day.

"Jericho, it's midnight. Just wanted to wish you merry Christmas." Barbara said, "

You too beloved." Jericho replied as they stepped out of the batwing on the rooftop of Gotham Merchants Bank where they entered and what they saw before their eyes was disturbing, bodies were hanging together from the roof, their faces was painted in Joker's favorite color, purple, green, white and red.

"Jesus Christ." Jericho breathed, walking down the stairs and to the front entrance that led to the vault but it was locked so they crawled through ventilation system to a elevator shaft. Lucky the floor was weakened enough so that he put on some explosives and detonated it. They landed into the vault where they saw Roman Sionis battered, bloody and bruised but there was no sign of Harley except that the vault was opon. three men surrounded them all armed. Just then an ambulance crashed through and out popped the black widow from the inside of the ambulance.

"Honey! I'm Home!" Harley announced with her men standing next to her from each side.

"Oh, great." Jericho muttered, Roman Sionis spit out some blood from his mouth

"You crazy bitch! You think you can steal from me and get away with it?! You're dead! Dead!" he yelled

"OH will you shut up!" Harley told him as she walked up to him and hit him hard several times with an umbrella.

"It was you wasn't it? You hired the assassins and haven taken over Black Mask's operation." Jericho stated in sickening realization,

"Well, techinally it's my operation now, isn't right, boys?" Harley declared with a giggle, her men picked Black Mask up and tossed him inside the ambulance "But don't worry, I'm not goin' to kill you yet because I have bigger plans up my sleeve." Harley said,"By the way, here's a little Christmas gift stored for you." She tossed the bank manager to that was infected with Joker Toxin. She took out a remote control and pressed the button as the ambulance drove off leaving some of her men behind.

"Get down!" Jericho ordered as he grabbed the bank manager and jumped down as bombs detonated in the vault.

Jericho groaned as he woke up staggering a bit in the vault. The bank manager was already dead before it happened. Talia coughed up as she got up a bit dazed. She shook her head off an aching headache.

"Are you alright?" Jericho asked, she nodded as they heard coughing, they followed the sound and spotted a henchmen that was breathing. Jack grabbed the henchmens' jacket determined to find out Harley's hideout is.

"Where is Harley Quinn going?" Jericho demanded,

"Chick's nuts, man. Killed about half of Black Mask's men when they wouldn't take orders from her." he croaked,

"Unless you want to join them, Talk." Jericho snarled,

"She said something about the Steel Mill." He revealed,

"That's Sionis Mill." Jericho replied, the henchmen laughed darkly.

"It's Harley's Mill now. Ain't no way you're getting there." That caused the siblings to roll their eyes.

"We didn't ask for your opinion." Jericho headbutted the henchmen and left the vault with Talia, they better go and save Black Mask now or otherwise, he's dead.

"Oracle, pull schematics on Sionis Industries steel Mill." Jericho said, "Harley Quinn has taken him there. She's going to kill him if we don't get there first."

"Roman Sionis is still alive?" Barbara asked surprised,

"Yeah, Harley has taken over his operations and killed the men who wouldn't turn. She's the one who hired the assassins."

"Oh my god. She also must be the one who ordered the bombing on the GCPD. The police radio is going crazy. I'll patch you through." Barbara said and then she tuned into Police frequency,

"This is Commissioner Gordon. We've got 10-33. I repeat 10-33. We've been attacked! Multiple casualties. Requesting medical assistance immediately!" Gordon called under what sounded like alarm and commotion.

"Batman and Jayden are investigating the attack and from what I've heard, it's a madhouse out there. Dad is doing everything he can to get the situation under the control."

"Ok. Keep us updated." Jericho said as they exited the bank when they saw a SWAT Team nearby. They hid behind an dumpster in the shadows

"Remember, guys. One of Black mask's men told me personally that the Jericho's is in the bank. Find them and finish them off for good. Then you can go to an early retirement." The swat leader told them as they walked to the bank and went inside. As they were about to leave, they heard someone crying. Sharing confused looks, they listened carefully only to be surprised by a baby wailing.

"Is that… a baby crying?" Jericho asked, who would leave a child in the middle of the winter

"Perhaps." Talia shrugged, Jericho went to check it out, but Talia grabbed his arm, stopping

"Wait. This could be a trap."

"I'm counting on it." Jericho said, as he went to follow the sound anyway, Talia sighed as she left to Sionis Mill without him.

Jericho spotted a baby carriage where the sound was coming from in a nearby alley. He walked up to it and peeked inside only to find out that it was a tape recorder that played a baby crying. He knew that it was trap. Someone tried to kick him from behind, but Jericho caught the leg and pushed the attacker. Getting into fighting stance, he took a good look on the attacker's face and recognized who it was.

"Shiva. Trying to collect the bounty?" Jericho snarled,

"That's just a consolation price in case you fail the test." Shiva stated,

"What test?" Jericho asked confused of this test.

"Somewhere in New Gotham, a innocent man is about to die. We both know you won't allow that. The question is, can you find him, Al Ghul? Can you save him?" she asked, and then she vanished in thin air leaving the vigilante dazed. Wasting little time, Jericho contacted Barbara.

"Oracle. Check out on the police radio of any officer that went missing within 24 hours." Jericho demanded,

"Searching now. Found them. Officer Johnson and Officer Wade didn't come back for report last night. They were investigating a disturbance at the shopping complex in Burnley. I've marked it on your map" Barbara said,

"Ok, did you activate the tracking device I planted on the assailant I encountered?"

"Already did. Who was it by the way?"

"Shiva." Jericho said as the Batplane arrived above him. he got in and drove off to Burnley district. He got off the plane and went inside the shopping complex where he spotted one of the missing officers hanging from the ceiling above the pond that was filled with electric bear traps.

"Oh, shit." Jericho cursed under his breath. Of course the rescue attempt wasn't going to be easy. Jericho sighed as he looked around for any wire leading to a fuse box. He found two wires leading up to each side of a upper floor. Jericho decided to use the remote claw. he took from the firing a claw to the wall firing a line to the other side. He grappled onto it and crawled to the hall where he saw a fuse box as he landed on the floor. He went to destroy it only seconds later to be attacked by three female ninjas. Jericho quickly pulled out his sword and engaged in a sword fight. He blocked most of the attacks and went to take out one of them with a knockout punch. The second ninja tried to attack him from behind but Jericho ducked the sword making it stab her partner in the stomach. She died on the spot he grabbed the ninja that was in shock and put her in a sleeper hold cutting off oxygen. He let go of the ninja who was put into sleep. He went back up to the line climbing to the other side and destroyed the other fuse box cutting off the electric bear traps in the fond. Once he's done, he cut off the rope by using a batarang to free the officer. He walked back to the lower floor.

"Are you all right, officer? What's your name?" Jericho asked as he approached the officer.

"I'm fine. Officer Johnson." He stuttered,

"Who did this?"

"They was dressed like ninjas."

"Shiva." Jericho stated under breath knowing who did this, "Where are they now?"

"I-I don't know, man. My partner shot one of them and split. They finished stringing me up and went right after him." "Call the precinct so that they can a police car. I'll go find your partner."

"No problem. Thanks." Officer Johnson thanked him as he left to call the precinct. Jericho spotted a blood trail on the floor. He scanned it hoping that would help him finding officer Wade. He left the shopping complex and followed the trail to Diamond District where he found the body of Officer Wade covered in blanket. He was too late, another one bites the dust in this damn city.

"Son of a bitch." Jericho cursed, just then Shiva appeared with attempted kick from behind. He blocked it and delivered a spin kick to the stomach, sending her a few feet before the counter attack.

"Why?" Jericho asked simply

"Because you wouldn't. He was corrupt. A murder."

"But there's no justice in this." Jericho argued,

Shiva huffed, "You of all should understand, that Gotham will be forever stained as long as the criminals and the corrupted exist here. Even behind bars or beyond these people never change." Shiva shook her head in disappointment, "Given your history with your father, I thought that you might understand. Still, the test will continue. Meet me at Sheldon Park." she vanished into thin air, making Jericho a bit frustrated.

"Damnit." Jericho swore, he called the batwing and it took him to Sheldon Park in seconds. He dropped off and landed on the ground. He followed the GPS tracker he planted on her to Wonder Tower lobby. He entered and saw her stepping out of the elevator.

"Don't you have a city to save?" she asked curious, not surprised just curious of why he would go all through this trouble.

"You killed a man." Jericho stated,

"Yes. A lesson that seems be lost on you." She replied, "And many will die if you do not learn it."

"Then you will stand trial for all of them." Jericho stated getting into a fighting stance,

Shiva chuckled at the statement. "I admire your passion though the cause is flawed. Now, let us fight." She declared as she dropped a smoke pellet taking him by surprise as she tried to attack with a punch but Jericho countered into a arm drag before went for a thrust kick to the jaw but she blocked it and swift his legs out with a heel kick, taking him down. As she went to kill him, he grabbed both of her wrists and delivered a headbutt. She stepped away as blood came down from her nose, she tried to kick him in the stomach but he caught her leg, flipping her over and kicked her in the back, sending her a few feet away.

"You cannot hope to match me." Shiva taunted as she kicked up back on her feet.

"Oh, I was just getting started." He countered back, she tried to deliver a spinning heel kick but Jericho blocked it and went for a clothesline she dodged the clothesline and elbowed him in the back. But unfortunately, he grabbed her elbow from behind and went for a STO. she recovered quickly by kicking him in the face while lying down. She kicked herself back up again and went for a butterfly kick, Jericho evaded by a back flip and went for spin kick. She ducked her head from that spin kick and kicked both of her legs right into the stomach. Staggered, he went down a bit but recuperated quickly. he used a jumping spin kick but she went down to punch the thigh. He landed rough on the floor. He slowly got back up not bowing down in defeat.

"Well fought." She stated a bit impressed, he learned his lessons well from his father. "Now let's see if you can handle this." she brought out her sword, Jericho did the same as they circled around each other, expecting one of them to strike. Shiva struck first but Jericho blocked it as they engaged in an intense sword fight. Shiva had the upper hand first showing age and experience of sword's training but Jericho wasn't no slouch either as he slowly and surely turned things around, suddenly the hunter became the hunted. They locked eyes as they blocked their attacks staring at each other for a few moments before returning to the fight. then in the last moments of their fight, Jericho went for a spin kick but Shiva ducked it and did a forward attack but he blocked it with his own sword. They had a battle of the wills struggling for control but then surprisingly Shiva stepped back and sheathed her sword back to its place.

"Enough! The Test has ended!" she declared,

"Skilled. Honorable. Devoted." She observed, "I can see why your father saw so much potential in you. It seems we both have learned something today"

"I am nothing like my father." He stated with conviction, "And I don't care about your wisdom and that hogus test crap. I'm still taking you in."

"No, you're not." She declined,"But you have earn a reprieve. I hope in time, you've come to realize how wrong you are about Gotham. It cannot be saved. It is not meant to saved, only cleansed. And from the ashes, reborn." With that she vanished, leaving Jericho contemplating of what she said, it sounded like she was predicting the fate of Gotham. He sighed shaking his head off that thought as he went to contact Oracle.

"Oracle, I'm sending you two sets of coordinates. One is for a body; the other is for a survivor. Make sure they get to GCPD." Jericho said,

"Not a problem. Should we consider Shiva's case closed?" Barbara asked,

"For now. I get the feeling though that tonight won't be the last time I'll be seeing Shiva." Jericho replied as he left the Wonder Tower. Next stop, Sionis Mill.