Chapter Twenty-Five: Revenge – Now Served Steaming Hot!
Buffy could not believe her luck. Scratch that – luck had waved to her on its way out the door a long time ago. This was just wrong.
"Oh! Come on," she cried, standing up, still holding Richard. She sat him down on his feet and then gently pushed him behind her, shielding him with her body. "We just survived an explosion. I am cold, wet, and cranky. Can you just give us five minutes?"
The Riddler laughed, twirling his cane in a wide arc at his side, taking a few steps closer to them. "You survived the explosion because you were in the cave the Bat calls home. You are cold because it is late fall. You are wet because it is storming. You are cranky because that is sometimes a symptom of pregnancy. Am I right so far?"
"How - How do you know all of this?" Buffy asked, she herself taking a few steps closer, Richard coming with her.
"A little birdie told me. Well, actually," he said, setting his cane down, point to ground and leaning on it, "a little birdie told the Joker. I just overheard all of it." The cane sank in the mud, and the Joker had to hop and skip to keep from falling over. He yanked the cane out, gave it a dirty look, and then tucked it under his arm.
"A little birdie? Who?"
"A little birdie named Kennedy." The Riddler laughed. Buffy looked shocked.
"I am not surprised, Rah Anne," Richard stated, coming out from behind her. "She was a situata catea for the short time that I knew her."
"A what?" Buffy asked.
"I believe that is Romany for 'lying bitch'," The Riddler stated with a chuckle. "You are a spirited child, aren't you?" He jabbed his finger at the boy in a childish way. Buffy had to give it to this city: they liked their bad guys totally bonkers. "Anyway, she told the Joker all your little secrets. She really does not like you, Slayer. I would say 'hate', but it seems an understatement at this point."
"And so you are here to take us in. What a perfect gift we will make for your boss," Buffy stated, her voice dripping with sarcasm and contempt.
The Riddler shook his head, looking insulted. "No, you have me wrong. Yes, I want to rule Gotham, but I do not want to destroy it. And the Joker is not my boss." He sighed. "Let us get to someplace where it is dry and we are not so out in the open. Then I will explain everything I know to you. Well, not everything I know. We only have so much time."
Buffy was hesitant. There was no way she could trust this guy. But Richard seemed to think otherwise. He took her hand, and tugged on it gently.
"He is telling the truth for now," he told her. He smiled up at her with the face of an innocent boy, but with eyes as wise as the mountains. "We should go with him."
Buffy nodded, unable to believe that she trusted an eight year old boy over her Slayer suspicion. She wondered, as they followed the green clad man out of the rubble and to a waiting car, where Bruce was, and what he was doing. Did he know that his home was destroyed – again? Did he think they were dead? Did he care? Sighing, she climbed into the car, noticing the absence of stooges and lackeys, and prayed that this night would end soon.
Willow watched in abject horror as the large metal slab began lowering from the ceiling. She had no idea what was up there, but it was struggling a great deal. Probably some uncontrollable beast, she thought, and they are going to let it loose and it will eat us all.
The Joker had been playing the broadcast of the Riddler on top of the Police Station over and over again. Willow thought it was because he was pleased with it and what was happening. But the more she watched him, the more aggravated he seemed to become, finally pulling the gun from inside his jacket and firing at the TV.
"Not only has he outed us," the Joker stated in a voice much calmer than his demeanor, "but now he has disappeared." He turned around in a circle, arms stretched out at his sides. "Riddle me this? You never can find good help these days." He smoothed his hair back with the barrel of the gun and smacked his lips. "No matter. If he wants to go gallivanting about, trying to mess up my plans, than he will fall with the rest of this city. Soon Gotham will be a suburb to hell and there will be no place for humans anyway."
Willow could not suppress the gasp when Kennedy came into the room. It was not actually a room in that sense of the word. They were in a large warehouse near water, empty save for the iron poles she and the others were chained to that had been driven into the ground by a great force, and the metal slab descending from above.
"Kennedy, get out of here!" She yelled, remembering what the Joker had said earlier about one Slayer being as good as another for the sacrifice, or something like that.
"Why?" Kennedy snapped, walking over and standing right next to the Joker. "I am his most faithful hound. What do I have to fear?"
Willow could not believe what she was hearing. "You – How could you?"
"Very simply, my dear," The Joker stated, "Slayer envy. For a Potential she has a lot of potential. At least she knew which side to take up with." Kennedy beamed at him in admiration. Willow had thought for a moment that she was bewitched, enspelled, but now she knew that was not true. Kennedy had jumped to the other side of her own free will.
"Buffy is dead, and if Kennedy is working with you," Giles said from beside Willow. "Then what Slayer are you going to sacrifice?"
"Oh! That is an easy one."
And he pointed up to the slab that was descending. And then they all knew.
Somehow, someway, they had gotten to Faith.
One minute she had been at the tarmac hailing a cab.
And the next she was chained down to this stupid slab.
Faith was starting to regret her decision to leave Germany and come to Gotham.
And now she was about to be sacrificed by some freaky clown with a demon piggy backing his soul. It was getting better.
And above her in the rafters, she saw a shadow. And then this giant bat was flying down at her, landing next to her. No, it was a guy dressed as a bat. What the hell was going on?
"I'm going to get you out of here," he told her in a gravelly voice.
"Who are you?" She asked in a harsh whisper.
"Batman."
Figures, she thought. "Why are you helping me?"
"Because Buffy would want me to," he stated, surprising her. "And I need your help."
He knew Buffy and that was good enough for her. Though he could be lying, but a tall guy with deep eyes, all that black, and a little broody by Faith's guess: yeah, he knew Buffy all right. He was right up B's alley.
"Then get me out of here, Bats, and let's shake up this party."
"Now. Let's get this show on the road." The Joker shouted. Kennedy laughed beside him.
She didn't laugh long however. Not when Faith landed in front of her and sent her flying across the room with a right hook that made Willow wince. Not out of concern for her ex, but because it was such a fantastic punch and she was wincing in glee. Yes, it was possible.
The Joker jumped up and down, laughing like a loon, and then began to run for the exit. But the door was blocked.
"About time you showed up," he snarled at the Batman. "You know I admire a man who sacrifices the woman he loves to save the city that despises him." He laughed again, a kind of whooping cackle as he waved the gun at Batman. "But it takes a special kind of man to sacrifice his unborn child for the city that despises him."
The hand that closed around the Joker's throat was iron tight, and the cold fire of anger in the eyes of the Batman was enough to make even him cringe. "Go ahead, but this won't stop anything. Fargre'an has vacated the premises. In fact, who do you think is standing in the center of the police station at this moment, keeping the spell of the lifeless working? As long as that spell is in action, no one can get in there to touch him." The hand around his throat was getting tighter and tighter. It was getting harder to breath, but he had to let out a breathless laugh. Because if the Batman killed him, right here, and right now, than he had won. The Joker may die, but he had forced the Dark Knight down to his level before he did, and that was good enough for him.
It was all coming back to Faith now. Kennedy had met her at the airport. Kennedy had chained her to the slab. Kennedy had bragged about killing Buffy and about being able to watch Faith die too.
Oh yeah! She was toast.
Potential with awakened powers she may have been, but Faith had been a Slayer, kickin' demon butt and taking names while this girl was still playing with dolls and having imagined tea parties. She was just stupid to think that a pissed off Faith was going to let her get one good hit in.
Ok. Maybe just one. Then it would be game on.
Kennedy had spunk, she had to give her that, but she wasn't spunky enough. Faith pummeled her repeatedly, hearing bone crack and blood splatter. She wanted to do nothing more than end her life, but she could not. Slayer or no, she was still human and Faith had already been down that road once before. She would not go down it again.
Once Kennedy was down and out, Faith ran over and freed Willow and the others. Xander looked like he was about to throw up, and he did, once he was free. Giles' glasses were missing and he couldn't see his hand in front of his face. Only Willow seemed to have any sense about her.
"Where's the bat guy?" Faith asked. "Interesting choice for entertainment on Buffy's part."
Willow turned to the door and gasped, running forward. "No! Wait! Bruce, don't do it!"
Batman had the Joker suspended in the air by the hand around his neck, such a look of cold fury on his face. The Joker was kicking, no longer even trying to laugh, his death only moments away.
"Why?" The Bat asked, his voice different than it had been before. "Why didn't she tell me?"
"She didn't want to distract you from what you had to do," Willow answered, her voice full of sadness. "She thought…believed…that she would have time."
"What is going on?" Faith asked Giles, who shrugged.
"Later!" Willow snapped. To Batman she said, "Just put him down. She wouldn't want you to do this."
She didn't think he was going to, but finally he dropped the Joker to the ground. He pulled the cape around him and backed away. The Joker gasped and once he could, he began to laugh again.
"None of it matters. She is dead. That is all Fargre'an needs to create the hell mouth. It's over. You both lost." And then the gun was in his hand and pointing at the Batman.
The blast of fire that hit him sent him flying into the wall with such force that it shattered every bone in his body.
Everyone turned to Willow. The fire still danced on her finger tips. She shrugged. "I said you couldn't do it. Didn't mean I couldn't."