The glass shattered in a million pieces around him. Some stuck into his arms, chest and face. No time to remove them either now. If he had time to think about it then he would have done so… probably. Jumping onto the roof where he saw the man in black, Kefka grinned at his opponent before dashing right to him. Whatever information he might have gathered from them, whatever things he knew, it didn't matter to him. Nothing ever mattered to him. The shards that stuck into him and pierced far enough to make blood drop onto the rooftops didn't matter. All that mattered was that the man in front of him would die. One way or another.
It didn't take Batman much time to realize that he had been spotted. He wondered how they had been able to see him if they were busy talking to each other. Perhaps one of them had already seen him but didn't find it needed to make a notion until the meeting was adjourned. Turning around Batman sprinted away from the clown. He had seen his face now. Pale, white, just like Joker. Only then that Joker didn't have his smile drawn with blood and in a more sophisticated way than this man. Jumping from roof to roof and grappling onto gargoyles to make his way from the clown he had hoped that he was far enough from him. The shock came next as he saw that his opponent was still following him and catching up. But that wasn't even the worst of things. As Batman looked off he saw the news helicopter of Vickie Vale coming up above them. Cursing under his breath he knew that from here on out things would only be harder.
In Wayne Manor it didn't take them too long to realize that what they were seeing was not the average sight they were used to. Batman being chased by a clown like enemy. It was usually the other way around. Alfred looked troubled, Oracle looked even more troubled then possible. If Batman was being chased around then that meant that this enemy was out to kill him, right there on the spot. As the helicopter arced to get a closer shot at both of the men running the clown drew out a gun, shot at the helicopter and then tossed it away. Clearly he wasn't charmed of being followed by the news or just wanted to have Batman stop running away from him.
The very shots at the helicopter alarmed Batman. Much like the Joker this man seemed to have complete disregard to other human life. He couldn't let Vickie get into trouble even though she should have kept out of this. It was Batman's own fault that he was such a big thing on the news but he rather had his fights in the shadow then having them in bright light. Turning around Batman flew at the clown who kept shooting at the helicopter until he realized for a second too late that Batman was coming back at him. Kicking his knees into the man's stomach Batman was used that it would knock them down on the ground and have them in pain. But another surprise seemed to hit him right there. The man was pushed a few meters away, holding his stomach in pain but didn't show that the blow was serious enough to push him down.
Letting the gun fall from his hand Kefka looked at Batman with a smile. Initially he had just actually been distracted by the helicopter and decided to take his anger out on that but when Batman had turned around to assail him it was something he hadn't expected. He was used to people running away from him in fear, that he was the hunter and that they were the prey. This was the first in a long time that the prey had turned around and come to kick him in the guts. Even though Kefka knew he had enough bullets left in the gun he rather wanted to draw this out as long and painful as possible. The best way to do this? Kicks, punches, knifes, swords, whatever else he would have on him… As long as he could take his sweet time on this man. With a sudden jump forward Kefka hurled himself onto him striking his face in a flurry.
Joker and Harley looked stumped. They couldn't believe what they were watching. Some guy other than the Joker himself, dressed up as a clown as well, was now beating Batman up. To Harley it looked like her average fight with Batman that everyone might have had once with him. Two-Face, Black Mask, Deathstroke, for her there was little difference other than the man who was fighting him. To her it felt every little bit of wrong to see an imposter, a fluke trying to kill the Batman while she knew no one else deserved that glory more than Joker. He was however enraged, angered but also scared. It was like watching a mirror that showed a picture of him and Batman fighting only then that he wasn't fighting him. It felt like a joke, only then a very bad one at that. Even though they wanted to intercept both of them knew that if they would never make it in time. Glued to the television they continued to watch as the two men duked it out, fighting for survival.
Pushing the man down onto the ground, Kefka started to punch him into his face. He didn't stop to look at him, to observe the weird way his enemy was dressed. If he did, he would probably just have laughed his ass off. He didn't care what one looked like as long as they had blood that could be spilled. As long as they cried out in pain when they were hit. In that fact he was slightly disappointed in him. With every punch he did seem to get a slight cry out of him but never enough to really have him crow in pain. Perhaps he was used to this. Having had more fights then this one. But then again, this was going to be his last one. Losing himself into his thought for even a moment Kefka failed to see that the man grabbed something from his belt and had it explode right into his face. As smoke filled his vision Kefka suddenly felt he was yanked down and now he was going to feel the hurt.
Batman grabbed the clown by his neck and then violently turned the tables rolling now on top of him. Instead of hitting him, Batman grabbed him and held him up by his clothes into the air before beginning to punch his stomach. The clown let out only an amused laugh as Batman continued to punch him. It felt every bit like fighting the Joker, though something felt off from it. Joker loved to put up a performance, to bring Batman down, to have him become a killer as much as he was. This man however didn't seem to care for performances and instead seemed to love the fight a lot more. Perhaps he was even more twisted then Joker if that was even possible. The man slipped from his sleeve suddenly a knife and stabbed it right into Batman's arm. With a yelp of pain, he was forced to let him go feeling him kick him off from the building and fall down. Trying to do something to break his fall, he just in time had his grapple gun shoot out to a railing. As he hung there he saw the man suddenly jumping down, right at him.
The Iceberg lounge had gone completely silent. All of the thugs looked on to the screen above the bar. It was as if everything else didn't matter anymore. Two men, one being Batman, the other being some degenerate freak. Penguin couldn't believe his eyes. Standing next of the man in armour he took a good smoke from his cigar and growled low. Whoever was fighting the bat wasn't Joker. That much was at least clear. But then who was it? These strangers could possibly know who it was. Turning around and poking one of his man with his umbrella, Penguin gestured that he talked to one of them. Taking a deep breath the man tried to talk to the armoured man who only turned his head slowly but didn't let out a single sound other than a slow sigh. The other two didn't prove to be too helpful either, as if they rather didn't speak about it. So it was that Penguin thought that whoever this new challenger was against Batman, he was a threat. Not only to him but perhaps to everyone else.
Batman fell again. He had just escaped his first fall barely but then that idiot went right after him. Losing the grip on his grappling gun, he tumbled down, all the while the two of them were exchanging punches and kicks trying to decide who was going to land the hardest. Batman tried to grab a railing that flashed by him once more but his hands slipped and he landed on his back, on the concrete. With a few tries he once more slowly came up. Probably a few fractures, a few broken bones, but at least he could still stand. Walking hurt, breathing hurt, even looking in front of him seemed to hurt in some way. As Batman was trying to once more make up where he was it seemed to flash by him in front of his eyes. He knew the place all too well. They had landed just behind the Monarch Theatre. Here, were his childhood was ripped away from him, where the actual foundation of his crime fighting career had begun… he never had imagined that they ended up falling here. Shaking his head he suddenly heard the crooked laughter of his enemy. He had taken the fall probably even worse but as he looked in front of him he saw that he was just as much struggling to get up.
Kefka smacked with his face right onto the concrete. He laughed at the pain. Laughing it away perhaps? No, he was used to pain and this pain was nothing new to him. Struggling to get up he was immediately punched down by Batman again who was already up. Feeling his jaw shuffling around, his bones ache inside his body and the air inside his lungs being taken in with a giant amount of pain he just continued to laugh. What if he was going to die? Would it really matter? Looking up to the man that punched him down again he grinned. Knowing what goody two shoes this man was he wasn't going to be much of a threat. But something in him was different. Kefka was nearly inviting him to kill him but he refused and simply kept punching him. As Kefka started to gurgle, with his mouth filling up with blood he smiled. The man's eyes suddenly widened but it was too late. From behind two tentacles flew up to him grabbing his arms and smashing him into the wall.
Assassins had seen the entire ordeal, the judge and the samurai had been looking from a distance as well. Inside his training room, the wrestler had turned up the volume of his radio and listened in silence. Under Gotham City, Ra's looked troubled hearing the news as it came rushing in. Everywhere inside Gotham silence had fallen at that very moment. No one was far away from either a tv or a radio. At other places silence hang thick as well. Metropolis had followed the news in shocking detail as it had been rushing in at them. Everywhere around the world, everyone kept his breath for what was coming next.
Standing up again, Kefka wiped the blood from his face and straightened himself. The cracking of bones was enough indication of how much he had been through and how much pain he had taken. The woman that had come to his aid had walked over to him, only to smile when she saw that he was alive. No doubt she was afraid someone else had killed him off other than her. He looked at her as if asking her to help him but she denied him that. Kefka stumbled around a bit trying to get himself back in order, whatever order that was. Suddenly looking above he still saw the helicopter moving around. Smirking he took a gracious bow only to find out that he shouldn't have done that. Trying to get himself straight again it evoked a chuckle from the woman. He glared at her intent on killing her for such behaviour… but instead he would be directing his anger at the man who had caused all this trouble and didn't want to die easily.
Batman saw the man walking up to him, taking another knife as he signalled the woman suddenly to fetch the helicopter. Nodding only to him she disappeared as swift as she had appeared. Batman was beaten at his own game. Usually he was the one that snuck upon his enemies, that knew to strike them down with distractions. This time however he had been distracted and thus easy prey for the woman… if it was a woman at all. The two tentacles from her body suggested she was something more... His head started to spin as he was beginning to lose consciousness. A sudden beating from the man was what shook him awake again. Staring at those green eyes, Batman saw nothing more but a hungry predator that was going to take his sweet time with him.
Forced down by the woman that had intercepted them, Vickie Vale and her camera man were pulled down onto the ground. Looking scared she looked at the clown that smiled at her and then struck her rather violently. He wasn't interested in her as he looked at the camera. "Greetings citizens of this little cesspool. Bow before the creator of your ending!" the man yelled. It evoked a sigh from the woman with her tentacles. They were rather strong if they had managed to pull a helicopter down onto the ground. Miss Vale looked at the very performance of the clown as he rambled on how he was going to murder their babies, drown their kittens and break every last bone in her body. Suddenly then he presented a knife at the throat of Batman and smiled. "Since you think this is all just a joke… allow me to show you how serious I am!"
At that moment… somewhere a star sparked and vanished, swallowed into the darkness. Joker and Harley held their breath, not able to believe what they saw. Penguin's cigar dropped from his mouth, the armoured man looked away in disgust, Ra's eyes opened wide and in Wayne Manor Alfred dropped to the ground in pain. After all this time… after everything that had happened… this was the true killing joke.