The music in the club was so loud it was almost deafening. The throngs of dancers and clubbers moved in one giant mass, arms waving, bodies in constant motion. Everyone was so into doing what they were doing that they didn't notice the security guards patrolling through the club disappearing one by one.
Four men slowly pushed their way through the crowd, carrying a bright purple colored box. The partygoers all split apart thinking that it would be something of a surprise. The four men put the box down in the center of the dance floor and stood around it reaching into packs and pulling out gas masks, sliding them over their heads. The crowd stared curiously for a moment when suddenly the speakers in the club screeched loudly as the turntable's needle was dragged across the record it was playing. The crowd all groan, holding their ears then turned to face the stage. The DJ lay on the ground of the stage, his leg twitching and a man dressed in a bright purple suit stood in front of the turntable dragging the needle back and forth.
"Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, but your regularly scheduled night of fun and debauchery has been cancelled. Tonight I am proud to announce…"
The Joker smiled as Harley walked up behind him holding an uzi by her side.
"…the Jok-tastic-laughing-scream-death-a-thon!!!"
The Joker laughed as gas mask wearing men throughout the club pulled guns and fired into the air. The clubbers screamed in terror and dropped to their knees, holding their hands above their heads. A few of them tried to run for the exits, but Joker's men stepped out pushing them back into the crowd, keeping them at bay with their guns. A tapping suddenly filled the sound system. Every turned to see the Joker tapping on the microphone.
"I'm afraid to say, that there is no escape tonight. It's like a crappy airline movie. You can't change the channel."
The Joker laughed wildly as the clubbers screamed in terror again.
A distant engine rumble caused rats to scurry away quickly before a single headlight lit up the sewer tunnel. The motorcycle slowly crept through the inch of water that sat on the ground before turning off and stopping to face a solid wall. Climbing off the bike, Lethal moved to the wall and reached for the lever hidden in the pipes overhead. Pulling it down, the wall groaned, then slowly slid open. Pushing the motorcycle in, the wall slowly closed behind Lethal, hiding the entrance once again.
Moving to a small light switch, Lethal flipped it up and a number of bare light bulbs slowly lit up bathing the small hideout in hazy yellow light. Parking the motorcycle, Lethal moved to a table that sat against the far wall. He slowly removed his long leather coat and combat vest, quickly tossing them aside. He then pulled his weapons out, laying them on the table. Above the table sat a number of weapons racks that contained all sorts of firearms. Pulling a stool over to the table, Lethal sat down and started to take apart the two pistols, cleaning them.
Reaching over to a small table next to the one he sat at he flipped the switch on a small police scanner. It hummed to life and was soon squeaking with voices. Reaching up to his head, Lethal touched the edge of his mask, then seemed to pause a moment…then pulled his hand back down without removing the black mask covering his face and continued cleaning his pistols.
The scanner suddenly lit up with frantic voices. Turning to the black electronic device, Lethal turned it up.
"Attention all units, hostage situation at the Heaven and Hell Club. Known assailants, The Joker Gang. Use extreme caution. Do not attempt to intervene, SWAT is in route."
Lethal turned his head back and stared blankly at the table.
"…the clown…"
Standing up, Lethal quickly rearmed himself, pulling two pistols off their holsters in the wall and leaving the unassembled ones on the table. Reaching up he also grabbed an uzi and a few other things from different tables around the hideout. Putting on his combat vest, Lethal turned and pulled his coat up, putting his arms through the sleeves. He moved towards the motorcycle, but suddenly stopped.
Lethal turned and moved over to a small table that sat next to a mattress on the floor. Squatting down he stared at the picture, wrapped in a gold picture frame…the only brightness in the entire shelter. Reaching out, he slowly touched the picture with his gloved hand…whispering quietly.
"...don't look…"
Standing up, Lethal turned and walked to the motorcycle, throwing his leg up over it, then kicked it started. Pulling on a lever on the ceiling the wall moved away again and he revved the motorcycle, tearing out from his hidden hideout, the wall slowly closing back behind him.
Bruce sat on the metal table exposed from the waist up. A large bruise covered his back and right side from where he collided with the concrete column earlier in the night. Alfred walked up to the table, setting down a tray with bandages and other medical supplies.
"I'm afraid you have one or two broken ribs, Master Bruce."
"I'll be okay. Just wrap it up."
Alfred sighed as he lifted a roll of bandages and began wrapping them around Bruce's chest and midsection. Bruce winced as Alfred tightly wrapped around his body.
"I am sorry you were unable to save Mr. Wesker, Master Bruce."
"Yet another victim by the so-called hero."
Alfred moved behind Bruce and started checking his neck and back for further damage. Alarms started going off around the batcave and Bruce quickly jumped from the table and moved to the nearest computer, typing a few keys. Bruce quickly turned back around and started suiting back up.
"It's the Joker."
Alfred stared momentarily at him as Batman moved to the batmobile.
"Do be careful, sir."
"Don't worry, Alfred."
Batman jumped into the black vehicle and turned it on, its engine roaring to life, and then punched it, roaring it out from the cave.
Joker stood on the stage, walking back and forth looking at the watch on his hand. A constant ring of a phone at the bar suddenly cause him to spin around.
"Will one of you idiots get that phone already?"
One of his men shrugged and lifted the shotgun he was carrying, putting it on his shoulder, then walked over to the bar lifting the phone up after pulling his gas mask off to talk.
"Uh…hello?"
The man quickly turned back to the Joker.
"It's the cops, boss. They want to know if we have any demands."
Joker smiled, grabbing the uzi from Harley, firing it into the air wildly. The crowd screamed as the bullets impacted in a group of lights above the stage showering sparks down on top of the Joker. Tossing the gun back to Harley, he looked back at the thug who stared at him confused for a second then lifted the receiver backup to his head.
"Guess not…"
"Hang up the phone!"
"Uh…ok…"
The thug quickly hung the phone up, pulling his gas mask back over his head. The Joker looked back at his watch.
"Screw it…ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please."
The crowd all looked up at the Joker.
"Since our esteemed pointy headed guest has apparently decided to not respond to my invitation, I have decided to cancel the party."
One of the clubbers spoke up.
"So are you letting us go?"
The Joker started to chuckle, then broke out into a long laugh, pulling out a small remote.
"Not quite!"
Clicking the button on the remote, the box in the center of the club suddenly started to play jack in the box music…slowly speeding up. Harley pulled a gas mask over her own head as the Joker stared on smiling. The giant jack in the box suddenly popped open revealing a giant Joker head. The crowd simply remained silent for a moment…then suddenly purple gas began spraying out from the head.
"But look at it this way…at least you'll all die with a smile on your face!"
The crowd shrieked in terror as some started to try to go for the exits only for Joker's men to start firing, killing some of them. The Joker let off a long laugh, but was cut off suddenly as the massive skylight overhead exploded. Batman flew straight down, gas mask covering his face. While falling he whipped out batarangs in all directions, knocking the guns out of the Joker's thug's hands. Smashing onto the jack in the box, he pushed it back into its container, then leapt off and shut the lid back, cutting off the gas. The purple gas that had escaped quickly vented out through the broken skylight overhead. Joker smiled as he looked down at Batman.
"Bout time, Bats."
Joker's men rushed forward at Batman, but in a blur Batman began moving through them taking them down. Harley moved up next to the Joker aiming her uzi down at Batman and the men around him preparing to fire. A sudden explosion tore through the wall of the club shower debris out over the mass of people. Joker, Harley, and Batman all turned to look as a single figure walked through the flaming hole in the wall, uzi in his hand. Turning, Lethal looked up at the Joker, pointing his finger.
"You are a dead man."
The hostages in the club quickly started running out from the hole just made, spilling out into the alley beside the club. Some of Joker's men ran up and tried to attack Lethal, but Lethal whipped out a baton, slamming it into each of them, the electricity running on full strength through it knocking out or killing each man he hit with it.
Batman turned and started to move towards Lethal, but was cut off as Harley started firing her uzi at him. Batman quickly jumped back, cartwheeling over a table, pulling it over to provide cover.
Lethal knocked another thug's legs out from under him before slamming the baton down and smashing his face. Standing up Lethal aimed his uzi at the Joker and pulled the trigger. Joker jumped to the side, grabbing Harley and pulling her behind the DJ's station with him. Bullets tore into the electronics as Lethal emptied a clip out.
"C'mon, Joker!"
Joker laughed as he pulled a small bag out of his jacket pocket.
Batman, freed from the fire Harley had put him under, jumped up from the table and whipped out another batarang, sending it through the air and knocking Lethal's uzi out of his hand. Lethal spun to look at Batman.
"What are you doing?!?"
Lethal and Batman started to charge at each other when a small brown bag came flying up from Joker's cover landing in between the two men. The bag opened and what looked like marbles rolled out onto the dance floor. Batman slid to a stop and dove behind cover as the marbles began exploding one by one, plumes of fire erupting instantly across the floor.
Lethal quickly backed up, leaping up and over the bar as a marble ran into a table, turning it into small wooden shrapnel. Moving behind the cover of the bar, Lethal leapt over the end of it and jumped up onto the stage, pulling one of his pistols he aimed at the DJ station and quickly moved to it, but both the Joker and Harley were gone, the empty uzi laying on the ground next to the dead DJ.
"Damn it…"
Looking back, Lethal saw that Batman was once again embroiled in a fight with some of Joker's men. Lethal quickly turned and ran into the back of the club, bursting out through the employee entrance door. He looked down the alley and saw a purple car rocket away.
"No!!! You are not going to get away from me!!!"
Running down the alley, Lethal quickly shoved back the dumpster that hid his motorcycle. Lethal gunned the bike, roaring after the Joker's car. Pulling out from the alley, he slid the bike around the corner, keeping the purple car in view.
Harley glanced up at the rearview mirror of the car as she swerved in and out of the traffic.
"Hey, Mr. J...we got company!"
The Joker looked out the back of the car and saw the motorcycle roaring around cars steadily catching up to them. Joker cursed as he popped open the glove box, removing an pair of handguns out.
"Move it, Harley!!"
Harley put the gas pedal down to the floor, swerving the car out and pulling it into oncoming traffic. The cars driving towards them blared their horns as they swerved to miss the brightly colored car driving straight at them. The Joker leaned from the passenger's window and aimed the guns behind them.
Lethal swerved the bike around another car and immediately dodged back to the left as a strafe of gunfire flew past him. Quickly reaching under his coat, Lethal pulled a pistol out and returned fire as he guided the motorcycle in between two cars just before they sideswiped each other.
Joker ducked back into the car as the rear window exploded as bullets impacted on it. Harley screamed and pushed herself down in the driver's seat, just barely able to look over the steering wheel as Lethal continued to fire.
"This guy is getting on my nerves!"
The Joker leaned back out of the car firing the guns again at Lethal as Harley slid it back into the correct lane, guiding it through the traffic.
Lethal glanced into his side mirrors and saw that red and blue flashing lights were behind him, looking back to see that four cop cars had joined the chase. Lethal turned back to the Joker's car, swerving just in time to miss a car that had braked to a stop.
The Joker saw the police cars join the chase and yelled in frustration. The Bat was sure to be close behind as well. The Joker quickly acted leaning out from the car, but instead of firing at Lethal, he unloaded the rest of the two gun's magazines into two cars, killing their drivers. The two cars swerved hard colliding into each other before rolling over and flipping.
Lethal throttled the motorcycle, ducking down and driving underneath one of the cars as it flipped up into the air before crashing down behind him. Looking behind him the police cars swerved to try to avoid crashing, but they smashed into the rolling cars, one of them exploding in a fireball that lit up the sky. Turning back, he dropped the empty clip in his pistol out and popped a new one in, continuing to fire at the Joker.
The Joker watched as Lethal was able to avoid the crash and resulting big boom.
"Damn it!!! Why can't this guy take a joke?"
Bullets exploded the headrest of the Joker's seat as he quickly pulled another fresh clip out from the glovebox and slammed a new one home, chambering a round. Joker yelled at Harley as he leaned back out from the window, opening up with the gun.
"Pull onto the freeway!"
Harley slammed the car hard to the right, cutting off a number of other cars and driving up onto an onramp for the freeway. She suddenly screamed as a pair of legs slammed down onto the hood of the car. Joker spun around and came face to face with Batman. Joker quickly aimed the guns at Batman, but they both clicked empty. Joker quickly tried to pull another clip out, but Batman smashed through the windshield, punching him back into the seat.
Lethal quickly went up the onramp following the Joker. He saw as a shadow jumped from the roof of a building, landing on the car he was chasing.
"No!!! He's mine!!"
Pushing the motorcycle harder, Lethal quickly closed the gap between him and the car.
Joker kicked out from the car, knocking Batman's legs out from under him. Batman landed flat on the car hood and held on as Harley swerved hard from side to side trying to get him off from the car.
"Get off my car, Bats!! You're screwing up the paint job!"
Joker leaned out from the car and swung at Batman, but Batman blocked the shot. The car suddenly rocked again.
Lethal drove straight up behind the car, and then leapt off his bike, landing on the roof of the car causing the car to rock. He reached down through the passenger's side window and punched Joker across the face. Joker quickly leaned back out of the reach of the hand, trying to grab at one of the pistols that had fallen to the backseat in the tumble with Batman.
"What am I? The flavor of the month? What is with the masked guys trying to get me?"
Harley gunned the car forward, slamming into the car in front of them, jarring Batman's grip loose. But before he slid completely off of the car, Batman grabbed onto a side mirror and was able to sling himself up and onto the roof of the car with Lethal. Lethal swung at Batman, but Batman blocked the shot.
"He's mine, Batman!"
Both men suddenly rolled to the sides of the roof as holes were blown up through the roof by the Joker. The barrel of Joker's pistol suddenly appeared over the side of the car, but before he could fire, Batman pulled a gas bomb out of his belt and through it into the car. Black smoke enveloped the interior of the car causing Joker and Harley to both cough uncontrollably.
"I think we need to clear the air, Harley!"
Reaching in between the seat, Joker pulled a lever and the roof of the car suddenly broke free, flying up into the air and off the car. Lethal and Batman slammed into the asphalt, rolling to a stop. Lethal looked up and watched as the Joker and Harley drove away, the laughter of the Joker echoing out. Batman and Lethal both stood up, staring at each other.
"Why?...why did you do it? I could have finished him once and for all!!"
Batman just stared at Lethal. Raising a finger at Batman, Lethal's eyes stared cold at him.
"Stay out of my way or I will kill you...Wayne."
Batman was stunned, but quickly turned his head as sirens slowly began to filter through the air. Seeing the flashing red and blue lights pulling closer down the freeway, Batman turned his head back around, but Lethal was gone.
