Note: I still own nothing.
Chapter Sixteen: Of Bats and the Magical Uses Thereof.
Once Alfred had cleared the table and brought coffee for everyone, Bruce met Buffy's eyes and nodded to her. She sighed and then turned to her friends.
"Bruce is the Batman."
There were a few moments of stunned silence. During this time, Willow, Kennedy, and Xander spent a lot of time looking at each other, then at Buffy, then at Bruce, and then back to each other. Buffy watched them with a sort of morbid fascination as they absorbed her words. Bruce looked on with a look of amusement on his face.
"So, Bruce," Xander pointed at him, "is Batman."
"Yes," Buffy answered. "There is a demon called Fargre'an who has put a bounty out on the Barman's head. That is why I called you, Will. I need you to not only help protect this house, just in case they find out the truth about Bruce, but also to physically protect him. The Bat's armor is good stuff, but against demons…" She let that hang in the air.
"Yeah. Yeah! I can do that. The house will be no problem. A minor spell really. We can do an Evil Binding Spell and then a Safety Blessing Spell. Both are simple and will take no time at all." She paused, thinking. "I can put wards on his armor to protect him from the demon attacks."
"Demon attacks?" Bruce echoed, saying the first words he had since before dinner.
"A lot of demons have a special ability. Fire demons breath fire. Certain demons can hypnotize, paralyze, put you to sleep," Willow explained.
"There is even one type of demon that has mucus that blinds you," Kennedy piped in.
"But the point is all of this can be neutralized by certain ruins or talismans. With those, we can make your armor practically…well…everything proof." Willow nodded sagely. "What about the dagger?"
"I hid it," Bruce stated. "It's safe." He took a sip of his coffee.
"I need to see it. To see if I can figure out what it is used for exactly," Willow explained. "We can't seem to find any text that states what it does."
"Whatever it is you know it can't be good." Kennedy shook her head. "It never is."
"You said that the demon had put a bounty out on Batman's head?" Willow asked all seriousness and deep thinking. Buffy nodded. "Pardon me for asking this," she said directly to Bruce. He nodded, telling her it was alright. "But is the bounty for the Batman alive or dead?"
"Alive." Buffy wondered where Willow's thoughts would lead them. "He has specifically threatened that if anyone was to kill the Batman, he would hunt them down and make this regret it. Just observe and report. He apparently has a few Molaxuil hunters."
"Molaxuil hunters?" Kennedy shook her head. "Whoa! They are a warrior clan. Hired muscle. They are hired to kill. Not capture."
"Exactly," Willow stated. It was obviously a Eureka! moment. "They are warriors. They honor strength. Batman is the protector of Gotham. He is this city's champion. That is why he put the bounty out. He doesn't just want to kill you himself, he wants to own the city, and the only way to do that is to defeat its defender."
"So, what does this have to do with the dagger?" Bruce asked. Buffy had to admit, he was very cool, calm, and collected.
"Maybe nothing. Maybe whoever is trying to get the dagger and this Fargre'an character are two completely different things." Willow shrugged.
"But the vamps we fought at the museum said something about Fargre'an. They were there to break into the museum." Buffy reasoned, putting her cheek in her hand.
"Or maybe they want the same thing, but for two completely different reasons," Kennedy stated. "I mean, Fargre'an has not only vampires working for him, but Molaxuil demons, so he must be a very powerful demon himself. The other guy who wants the dagger, he's human, right?" Nods. "Demons don't usually work with humans."
"The Riddler is definitely human, but his pal, Mort, wasn't. He looked like a construct of some kind." Buffy thought back. "Yeah, he was definitely a construct of some kind."
They were so involved in their conversation, that no one realized the sun had gone down. When a strange, silvery light suddenly brightened the sky outside, everyone looked out the window.
The Bat signal.
"They fixed it!" Buffy stood from her seat.
"If you will excuse me." He got up and began to leave.
"Wait! I have to do the spells," Willow cried, jumping to her feet. "You have to let me…"
"I have to go."
"I'll keep an eye on him," Buffy stated, going after him. "Just work on the house. I'll call if we need anything."
Willow, Kennedy, and Xander all sat in silence, staring after Buffy and Bruce. Finally, Xander broke the silence.
"So, Bruce is Batman?"
"Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to take a few moments and let Willow do one little spell," Buffy mused as she and Bruce rode the elevator down to the Batcave. "Not a bad idea at all." Next to her, Bruce appeared as if he weren't listening at all. She sighed, folding her arms over her chest.
"It'll be fine," he told her, reaching over and pulling one of her hands free to hold it. "You don't let me out of your sight, and everything will be fine." He smiled at her, the elevator coming to stop. Buffy sighed again, and followed him into the cave.
Several moments later they were parked in an alley not too far from the police station. The bat signal was still illuminating the sky, but they just sat in the car. It was almost as if he didn't want to get out. Buffy looked over at him, and though his face was hard to read due to the mask, the eyes told her that something was bothering him.
"What is it?" She asked in a whisper. Why she felt she needed to whisper while they were still in the Tumbler, she did not know, but she did it anyway.
"Something is not right," he said to her, his eyes glancing over to the police station.
"It wasn't Gordon who had the floodlight fixed, was it?" Buffy watched him shake his head, and she suddenly got a bad feeling. A really bad one. "Listen. I have a bad feeling about this. You shouldn't go in there."
"I have to," he answered, and triggered the mechanism that opened the top of the Tumbler and raised the seat.
Buffy jumped out and ran around the front of the Tumbler, blocking his path to the Police Station. They both knew he could go around her, or over her, but she was determined not to let him go, even if she did have to chase him over the rooftops. She may not have a gas-powered magnetic grappling gun (and she wondered why she did not), but she could climb really fast. She was also stronger than him and faster, and they both knew that also.
"Just stop and listen to me for twenty seconds," she hissed, glaring at him. He just stood there, his eyes focused on her, waiting. "I am the Slayer and I have a very bad feeling. Me plus bad feeling equals something that is very dangerous." Suddenly, her spine began to tingle, and gooseflesh rose up on her arms. "NO!" She shouted, and with a full burst of Slayer speed grabbed him and threw him over the car.
The gunshot echoed in the alleyway. Buffy didn't even feel it thanks to the suit she wore (she would have to get Bruce to buy something special for Mr. Fox). It did, however, force her back a step or two.
Batman was back up and over to the side of the Tumbler she stood on in a flash. He gripped her shoulders and spun her around. He was checking to make sure she was okay, but she could see the anger in his eyes, feel it radiating off of him in waves.
"Sorry I had to shoot your girlfriend," said a voice out of the darkness. Buffy's senses were going full scale crazy, and the way that Batman stiffened, his eyes turning hard, she realized he recognized the voice.
"I was wondering when you would show yourself again," Batman said, his voice colder than she had ever heard it before.
"It is so nice to be wanted."
The figure that stepped out of the shadows gave Buffy pause. In fact, she wanted to run from him, and that made her mad because there wasn't a lot of things these days that could make her want to run. He wore a green suit, and his hair was partial colored green. His face was covered in white make up, thick black around the eyes, and red on the lips which were exaggerated and wider than normal. She could see the scars in the corners of the mouth. IN his hand, he held a dagger which he was tapping against the side of his head.
"Joker," Batman growled. Buffy could feel the adrenaline rushing through his body, getting ready for the fight.
"No," she whispered, looking at the strange clown guy. "He was human. This is a demon in a human shell."
"Slayer." The word slid out of his mouth. "It is a pleasure and an honor to finally meet the girl that I have heard so much about. Dove and destroyer. The beauty of a rose. The prick of a thorn." He produced the gun from inside his jacket and pointed it at her. Batman jumped in front of her. Buffy glared at his back, but said nothing. "Oh, don't worry. I only shot her because I knew it wouldn't hurt her." He chuckled. At first it sounded normal, a little crazy but normal, but then it took on a strange echo sound, as if he was not laughing alone. Buffy understood at that instant that he wasn't.
"You're possessed," she stated, stepping around the side of the Bat. "Let me guess: Fargre'an."
"Lovely and smart. I understand now why you have managed to outlive every other Slayer in history." He clapped causing the knife and gun to bang together in his hands. "It is such a rare combination to find in a woman these days. Do you want to know how I got these scars?"
"No, she doesn't," Batman rejoined, his hands clenching at his sides. "What do you want?"
"Besides your head on a platter?" The Joker/Fargre'an shook his head. "The same thing I have wanted since Fargre'an made himself home inside my head: I want this city to burn." He waved his hands around and then shrugged. "I want to watch it melt and hear the people scream. All I need is my dagger. Where is it?"
"You really think we would tell you that?" Buffy huffed. The feeling she had had to run was gone, replaced with the one that so wanted to bash this guy's face in.
"No, but Fargre'an will be able to read your mind," the Joker suddenly stopped all movement, and his eyes began to glow orange. When he spoke next, it was not with the human voice, but with the demons. "Once I break open your skulls and eat your brains."
Buffy's senses tingled. Reaching over, she took one of the bat-shaped projectiles from Batman's belt and tossed it at the Joker. It hit him right in the eye, lodging there. He screamed, a high-pitched sound of pain: apparently the demon was only visiting and had not taken over the body completely, otherwise he would have brushed the damage off and came at them.
"That… really hurts!" He dropped the gun, reaching up with his now free hand to touch the metal bat in his eye. He gasped, his hand shaking violently. "Get them!" He croaked out, turning and running down the alley and into the darkness.
Batman went to follow him, but Buffy pulled him back. She turned him around with her and there stood two of the ugliest things she had ever seen.
"Molaxuil hunters," Buffy told him. She motioned behind them. "We need room to fight."
She heard beeping and looked down to see a small sphere with silver rises on it in Batman's hand. He tossed it at the Molaxuil hunters, and it exploded. They roared in anger.
"Come on," he told her and they both darted down the alleyway, the same way the Joker had gone, but not in pursuit of him.
"I am really wishing you had taken five minutes to let Will cast at least one protection spell on you," she hissed out of the corner of her mouth. They had made it out to the street, the neighborhood around them seemed abandoned, and Buffy turned to see the hunters coming toward them, swords raised. She took her battle stance and waited.
Batman glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "You can scold me later."
"Oh, I plan to," Buffy stated as the first Molaxuil came into striking range, hissing in anger. "And not in the good way either."
And then, they were fighting for their lives.