White Queen to Black Knight
Chapter 18
I'm all alone tonight,
No stars are shining on me
I'm thinkin' I'd be alright
If somebody would just call me, yeah
Save Me
I need somebody's help here
Thought it would be alright but
I'm not pullin' through on my own
Is anyone around who can Save Me
I'm fallin' down it's crazy
If this is the pain God gave me,
I'm cool with that,
But wont somebody Save Me
Cause I'm human after all
And I could not catch my fall
And nobody ever came around my way
to check up on me and see if I was doin' alright
Nobody came to Save Me
Save me, Jordon Sparks (edited)
Two weeks went by while Bruce healed and Lucius modified the suits to protect against invasion of any kind, including powerful needles and syringes. He extended the life of the power packs as well. The White Queen made brief appearances leaving food and blankets to families and the homeless, but she felt relatively safe doing this small bit for the besieged city. The TV news and papers were all wondering what had happened to Batman after his trial. Had he been killed, executed? Had the White Queen shown up to defend him? The police had eventually arrived at the alleged courtroom and arrested the 'jury' and 'gallery', and found Two-face's body lying face down in the sewage as seemed fitting to many. There was no body of Batman, although they did find a room where he had obviously been beaten and burned. The evidence was all gathered, tagged, and filed to be permanently lost in the never-ending file boxes in the evidence locker. How Two-face was killed seemed to be of little concern, and since there was no bullet to work with, that investigation got dropped as well.
Soon Batman reappeared on the scene staying close to the White Queen, but hidden from view. She was deliberately baiting the Joker, following the same schedule and the same route on the same nights. She seemingly was his for the taking. On one of her sojourns into the slums of the city, leaving food and comfort items, she came upon one of the houses she always left food for. She had even come into their home once when they found her delivering her gifts. The father was out of work due to a downturn in the economy. The manufacturing plant he worked for was shipping their business overseas and he was a casualty of the change. The mother stayed home with their two young children, piece sewing when she could find the work. There was a baby girl less than a year old, and a small skinny boy of four named Henry. The White Queen was quite taken with the family and the children and often brought toys, formula, and diapers for them.
When she found the box of food still outside the door she immediately knew something was dreadfully wrong. They did not have the resources to leave town, and would have left her a message even if they had. She slid her night vision goggles down so she could see into the darkness better, looking for heat signatures and traps. This was definitely a trap. Every instinct she had screamed 'TRAP,' but she would not leave the children behind if they were still here.
Alina spoke in her head to Batman, "They have set a trap for me. I'm in the slum district on Fry Street, brownstone C. I can't leave until I know what happened to the children. You need to get here fast."
"Do not go in until I am in position." Bruce urged her to please listen to him this time.
"I'll wait, but hurry. The children might be dead already, but they might still be alive inside." Alina reached out with all her mind power, trying to sense where people might be, where the children might hide, any clue at all.
She heard a slight rustle by the overflowing trashcans, probably a rat, maybe a big rat she shivered, but maybe a child. She walked closer to the sound, picking up a small heat signature, a child. She had her gun out and her knife palmed just in case. She rounded the trashcan and saw a dirty, barely clothed Henry staring back at her. His eyes were huge against his much to thin face, and his lips were cracked from a lack of water.
She opened her mind so Bruce could hear her as well as Henry hearing her words. "Hi, Henry. What are you doing out here? What has happened? The food and stuff I left last night are still on the porch."
He whispered to her, shivering now. "The bad men came. They killed my mom and dad. I heard them talk about hurting you too. I'm scared."
Alina almost cried at his concern for her, "I know baby, I know. We have to get your sister. Where is the baby? Did they kill her too?" She sent a message to Batman, her pain and anguish overwhelming her message, "Batman, Joker dies for this. If you can't kill him, I will."
Bruce responded to her, "Alina, go cold. I am in place. I can see you and the boy. Do not get emotional right now. It is not the time. And I will kill the Joker. He will not haunt you anymore. I promise baby."
Henry was answering Alina's question, "When the bad men came, my mom pushed me out the back door and told me to leave. She put Natasha in the secret place. I heard her cry for a long time. But she's been quiet now."
"It's ok, Henry. We are going to go get her. Is there anyone in there that you know of?"
Henry shook his head. "I don't think so. I've been hiding here the whole time."
That didn't do much to allay Alina's fears of a trap. "I don't know what it is like it there, so I want you to promise me to keep your eyes closed, and you have to tell me where the secret hiding place is so I can get Natasha. Can you promise me you won't look?" Alina was terrified of what the child might see inside.
"I won't look, but can't I stay out here? Do I have to go in?" Henry was terrified of the same thing. He didn't want to see what happened to his parents. It had not been a quiet death, but one of screaming, begging, and pleading. And he had heard it all. It would be on a recorder in his head forever.
"Henry, I don't want you to go in anymore than you do. But if I leave you here, someone might take you and use you to get to me. Neither of us want that either, do we?"
Henry shook his head violently, "One of them wants to do bad things to you. I didn't understand it all, but I knew it was bad."
Alina very gently said to Henry, "So Henry you are going to be the bravest you have ever been and go inside your apartment with me, keeping your eyes closed, and help me find your sister. If she is still alive, she needs our help right away. Can you do that for me Henry? Can you be really really brave? Batman kind of brave?"
He smiled at her slightly, "For you, I will be brave. For Natasha, I will be even braver."
Alina gave him a kiss on his dirty forehead, "That's my boy. I need you to be extra quiet alright? I can hear things in the night, and see things too. So if you are extra quiet, I can hear if someone is trying to trick us."
Henry nodded his head in understanding and didn't say another word.
Alina messaged to Batman, "Henry and I are going into the apartment. I don't hear anything from inside. They may try to take me from the outside, more maneuverability. Coming out with the baby, assuming she is alive, my hands will be full and I won't be able to fight. THAT is the trap. I just know it."
"Alina, you are probably right. That is what I would do. But stay on your toes inside as well. Keep talking to me so I know what is going on."
Alina and Henry approached the door of the tiny brownstone. Even though the family was poor, the mother had worked hard to make their home inviting and comfortable. The porch was decorated with potted plants, and even a small flag still hung there from the last Fourth of July. Alina listened for sounds through the door and heard nothing. "Batman, I don't hear anything inside. I don't see any trigger wires either. We are going in."
"Copy that, White Queen." Batman messaged back to her.
She entered the main room and stuffed her gasp into silence. She would grieve and deal with shock later. She quickly glanced at Henry and his eyes were squeezed tight. Alina was sure he could smell the stench of blood that coated everything. "Bruce, my God. These people were savages. They couldn't just kill them. They tortured them as well and then ripped them to shreds. This is evil of the worst kind. These people were good and kind and generous. And sure as hell did not deserve this. There is a message written on the wall across from the door. It says, 'Alina Witter turns herself over to me within two days or more shall die just like this. Then he leaves a quote from Shakespeare, I never figured the Joker for the literary type. 'When shall we three meet again, In thunder, lightning, or in rain? When the hurly-burly's done, When the battle's lost and won. That will be ere the set of sun.' It's from MacBeth with the three witches. It sounds like he knows this is the showdown."
Moving Henry and her rapidly yet carefully, watching for booby traps, she listened to Henry's whispered words leading her to the floorboards where the baby had been stashed. He still had his eyes tightly shut, but was holding his breath, terrified his baby sister had died because of his inability to act. The White Queen carefully used her sensors in her gloves to seek out smaller traps, and not finding any lifted the boards silently, finding the sweet baby Natasha laying quietly in her blanket sucking on the corner. Alina, knowing the baby could not understand, still put her finger to her lips motioning her to stay quiet. The baby never made a sound. She was clearly dehydrated and hungry, her eyes were sunken, and she desperately needed a diaper change. None of which she could do anything about at the moment.
"Bruce, the baby is alive and quiet at this point. I'm going to gather a couple of bottles and diapers and the kids and I are out of here. I'm taking them to the Batcaves and then the house. This is going to be the time they will strike."
"I have your back, baby." Batman exuded confidence, just as Bruce Wayne always did. It made Alina feel his strength and know she could do this. She would have both arms full, and a diaper bag. Her movement would be extremely limited.
With Henry's eyes squeezed shut, and Natasha silently observing, Alina led them quietly out into the alleyway. She idly thought it was considered a street, but with all the trash filling it, it seemed more of an alley.
Bruce came in her mind, "I see five men in formation coming around the corner. They're big, definitely Joker's goons. And Joker is walking to the other end of the alley, taking position right in the middle of the ally. It makes your escape from either end impossible."
"Batman, I'm going up with the children, get them to safety on the roof and then I'll be back."
"Alina! No!! Go up, take the kids to your car, and leave. I can handle this." His fear for her capture outweighed any of his other concerns.
"It is six against one, and one of those is Joker. What if I snipe them from up there? I'll let you do Joker since you need to do that, and your need is greater than mine, but I can take out the gorillas."
"Fine Alina, but you are running out of time. Get up on the roof NOW!"
"We're gone." She extended her arm, told Henry to hang on to her neck for dear life, while she clung to both Henry and the baby and with a flick of her hand they rocketed on the line launcher to the top of the opposite building.
She sat Henry down in an Indian style position, laid his sister in his lap, handed him a bottle and formula, and then ran to block the entrance to the roof. She ran back to the children, checking that Henry was indeed feeding his sister while she took up a quick sniper position. She aimed her cross-hairs at the middle gorilla and took him down, right between the eyes. She saw movement from across the other roof, another sniper. She quickly nailed him between the eyes and he went down. Her night vision goggles allowed her to quickly search the other rooftops and find no other snipers. Snipers for hire were hard to find, so it was not surprising there was only one. She returned her attention to the advancing goons, looking like they planned to enter the mano a mano fight between Batman and Joker. She ducked low and moved positions so she could once again shoot at the goons and not into Batman. As she picked them off one by one, others ran away. She followed their path from the rooftop, and took them out before they could enter the main street where she was sure to lose them. All that was left in the battle was the Joker and Batman.
Their fight was intense and very personal. Both in love with the same woman, if one could call Joker's feelings for Alina love. Punches flew, grappling ensued, and guns were kicked out and away from the other. It was very intense and there were several times when Alina just wanted to shoot Joker and end it. But this had to be done by Batman, by Bruce Wayne. He had to be able to kill someone as evil and vicious as the Joker.
Batman reached behind his back and brought out something small looking. Alina had never seen it before. With a quick snap of his wrist it slid into a full sized golden scythe. Joker froze for a moment, realizing maybe for the first time, that Batman fully intended to kill him, not just arrest him and put him back in the asylum. It was no longer a game, no longer a big joke, no longer a source for his sick laughter. In that frozen second, Batman swung his powerful arm, slicing cleanly through the Joker's neck, causing blood to spray up in a geyser from the Joker's body. Batman stood silently listening for the thud as Joker's head hit the ground before his body dropped beside it.
Batman wiped the blood off of the scythe onto Joker's clothing and folded it back up. Alina whispered in his mind, in his heart, "I love you more than life itself."
Tears formed in Batman's eyes, as his picked up his own discarded weapons and retrieved her bullets from the dead, "As I do you. Now get those kids home safely. I think we have some adoption paperwork to get started."
Batman, or rather Bruce, could feel her smile warm him all over.