Hello everyone! CJzilla here with another chapter. In his update, Peguin and Freeze conspire while Yin and Bennett give good news to Mayor Grange. Enjoy.
As I trash this town, alls CJzilla has to roar is this: R&R! Love... Hate... Review.
AN: CJzilla ownes nothing of Mr. Holmes.
"Insanity is often the logic of an accurate mind overtaxed."
Oliver Wendell Holmes
US author & physician (1809 - 1894)
Chapter 10
Mad Meetings
Victor Fries sat on a throne of ice. The air in his lair had to be at least thirty-two degrees; the freezing point for moisture. Masses of ice were all around him, the byproduct of his cryogenically frosty disposition. Anything and everything Freeze touched instantly became frozen. He worked best in a chilly environment, which made the metal walls and concrete floor of a large cold-warehouse perfect for him. This particular warehouse once supplied flowers for local botanist shops throughout Gotham.
Freeze sat in silence as he examined the diamonds he stole over the past month. It was amazing! He'd show up at a jewelry store, museum or safety deposit building and the guards and people would merely step aside and let him through. He didn't have to flex his ice powers! Gotham was a candy store now that the Batman was on ice. Freeze had heard about this Laughing Bat and was curious to learn that Joker had donned his arch-enemy's cape, though he'd never actually seen him. The icy supervillain estimated that due to the fact that the people he robbed were so frightened of him that they never even bothered to report him until he was out of sight. Freeze wasn't worried.
As he twisted a large, rare pink diamond between his fingers, Victor Fries heard the front door to his warehouse shriek open. The ice manipulator acknowledged the sound but made no move to stand and confront his intruder. Who could possibly pose a threat to the mighty Mr. Freeze? In his mind, the chilly villain counted the seconds his intruder took to reach the door to the cold room. A healthy ten seconds later and the latch on the door opened. Across that long room, Freeze saw an unlikely visitor step into his throne room.
"It smells like old mulch in here." It was Penguin. Freeze felt his eyes narrow in irritation when he saw the bird-based villain shiver at the temperature of the room.
"What are you doing here, Cobblepot?" The icy man hissed, his cold voice sending a wave of frost across the room. The bird-based villain stepped into the cold room and shut the door behind him.
Resting his hands on his umbrella, Penguin looked up at the icy man.
"For a popsicle, you got a pretty hot temper, Freeze." Oswald quipped, giving a small smirk. Freeze dropped the diamond into a large bag next to his throne and stood.
The ice controller began walking across the room, his suit occasionally hissing, releasing the pressure of his ice powers.
"You take me to the edge, Penguin." Freeze growled, his hands frosting up with a delayed attack. "Look at you! You're a mess."
Penguin shrugged, knowing he probably had pizza sauce on his face still.
"Like I want to see your frosty mug anymore than you wanna see me." The portly villain returned. By that time Freeze was standing within attacking distance.
"Then why are you here, you little vulture?" Victor questioned. "I'm a busy man."
"Cool your engines, ice cube." Penguin gestured. "I'm here because we have a problem."
Freeze hissed at the word "we".
"What you've gotten yourself into is no concern of mine, Cobblepot." The ice manipulator breathed in an icy tone. Penguin smirked.
"That ice your head's frozen in must be messing with your hearing." The short man retorted. "I said WE have a problem. You're involved just as much as I am."
Freeze dropped his frosty hands, his red eyes widening slightly.
"What do you mean? Is the Batman is back on the prowl?" The ice controller rushed. "We should have broken that block of ice he was trapped in into pieces-"
"Slow down, Popsicle." Penguin tapped his umbrella on the ground. "Bat-jerk's probably still drinking his meals out of a straw. No, I'm not talking about him, just his replacement."
The ice manipulator blinked at his fellow super criminal. Anger burned through Freeze's body.
"I hope you're not talking about the Batman's two sidekicks, Penguin." The ice manipulator made fists with his hands. "Continue to insult me and I'll turn you into a frozen turkey."
"The Batman's sidekicks couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag." Penguin's eyebrow twitched. "I'm talking about Joker!"
Again Freeze froze and blinked.
"What about that insane harlequin?" Freeze said. "Joker's just running around in a muscle suit; nothing really new with him anyway. He's no threat to us or any other criminal."
"Is he, Popsicle?" The bird-based supervillain quirked a brow. "That's probably what Man-Bat, Bane, Poison Ivy and all the rest thought. But that clown gassed them all. Now they're nothing more than smiling vegetables."
Penguin looked Freeze in the eye.
"We're next." He said as serious as the grave. The ice controller grunted, disagreeing.
"What could Joker possibly do to me?" Freeze gestured toward himself. "His gas will not work on me."
Then the ice manipulator turned, walking back to his throne. Since he became the icy super criminal he is today, Victor Fries was in a sort of undead state in which he was immune to getting sick, poisoned and dying.
"It's an unfortunate shame to be you, Penguin. While you are being hunted down and gassed by a screwy harlequin, I shall sit in my icebox, counting my glorious diamonds." Freeze laughed, rubbing in the fact that Cobblepot was still among the living and could therefore be gassed.
Penguin was silent, but only for a moment.
"You've seen what Jokers capable of, Freeze." The short super criminal folded his arms, his umbrella crook hanging off of his arm. "Including being one very good thief."
Freeze paused in his steps, his icy suit discharging another blast of pressure. The ice controller turned back to Penguin to see a smirk on his face.
"To me, this is a prime opportunity to get rid of some of the stiffest competition we've got going on now." Cobblepot's smirk spread into an evil grin. "Why not get rid of Joker once and for all? One less supervillain means less competition for diamonds and money, Freeze."
Penguin knew he won the ice controller over when he saw that selfish, greedy look come of the icy man's face.
"For the diamonds, then." Freeze agreed giving a nod. Cobblepot's grin turned into a crooked smile.
Joker would get his request; Penguin and Freeze would grant him a rematch.
In the middle of Gotham, Police Commissioner Ellen Yin and Police Chief Ethan Bennett requested a meeting with Mayor Grange on a matter of utmost importance. Though it was late, both officers had just gotten into contact with the Dark Knight himself. They were all relieved to hear the man's voice again. Since the Batman disappeared from his top-secret make-shift intensive care unit about four weeks ago. The two veteran police officers flashed their badges to the security standing outside the penthouse office. Yin and Ethan walked through the doors and up to the secretary's desk. The older woman pressed a button on her intercom.
"Commissioner Ellen Yin and Police Chief Ethan Bennett to see you, sir." The woman said to the small speaker box. There was a short pause.
"Send them in, Joan." Came the calm voice of Mayor Grange. The secretary grinned at the two police officers before she nodded toward the door.
"Thanks." Ethan said. And then he followed his long time friend and superior into the mayor's office.
Once inside, the two officers shut the door and brought their eyes to Mayor Grange, signing papers on his desk near an open window.
"Hello, Mayor." Yin greeted in her normal business-like tone.
"Good evening, sir." Bennett added. Mayor Grange looked up from his paperwork. "Thank you for seeing us so late."
"The only reason Gotham P.D. would request a meeting at such a late hour leads me to believe something is wrong." The grey-headed man quirked a bushy eyebrow. "Please give me some good news to go to bed with."
To his relief, Bennett and Yin nodded.
"We do, sir." Yin voiced. "We have just received news that the Batman is recovering smoothly and shall be returning to Gotham's streets soon. It was necessary to inform you, Mayor."
Mayor Grange gave a big sigh of relief, the stress from an entire month without the Batman clearly showing on his face.
"That's fantastic news." The man clapped a hand on his head as he stood from his chair. "You don't know how much sleep I've lost since this city's been without that vigilante guardian. It never soothed me to know the Joker volunteered to take his place; the last time that clown paraded around as the Dark Knight, he held the city ransom."
Yin and Bennett nodded.
"As wild and unpredictable as Joker is, Arkham Asylum and Gotham State Penitentiary are full of wanted super criminals." Yin voiced, setting her hands on her hips. "Joker is an efficient hero."
The oriental beauty looked across to her partner. Ethan smirked back at her. Gotham Police Department had to send a few criminals out of state just because the local penitentiary and asylum were full.
"Hero? Not in the strictest definition." Mayor Grange snorted. "I've seen the reports. Joker gassed every one of these criminals; only someone who is twisted to the core would subdue people like that."
"Understood, sir." Ethan voiced. "But you have to understand the man power he saved us. Gassing, while cruel and inhumane, left Joker's victims immobile and easy to arrest. With characters like Bane and Killer Croc, who are super powerful, the department has appreciated their smiley dispositions. They would not have gone so quietly had they not been gassed."
That got the toned black man a venom glare from the mayor.
"I am wholeheartedly against Joker's feeble attempt to be a hero." Grange's frown deepened. "As soon as the Batman is back in his rightful place as this city's guardian, I expect the police department to step up efforts to capture him and get that insane harlequin off of the streets."
Yin and Bennett gave an immediate nod.
"Our exact thoughts, Mayor." Yin answered. Grange nodded and stacked a pile of papers.
The mayor was just about to dismiss Ethan and Yin when suddenly a gust of wind made the curtains dance and another member joined the meeting. Just like a whisper of a breeze, the Laughing Bat moved through the open window and hopped to the floor. Grange gasped as Ethan and Yin's hands went instinctively to their weapons. Joker merely looked at them; quiet and firm, just like the Batman.
Joker had most of the Batman's little method-isms down surprisingly well. From the graceful yet ghostly stalking in the shadows to the pre-battle banter, Joker had his rival's style dead right. It was spooky, how identical Joker could mimic the Batman. Sometimes, even just for the blink of an eye, they could see the Batman inside Joker. But Ethan and Yin were always reminded that Joker was Joker as soon as he smiled.
"Why so serious, everyone?" And there was a glimpse of the Clown Prince of Crime as a Joker smile suddenly brightened his face.
"What are you doing here, Joker?" Yin growled, lowering her weapon. "This is a private meeting."
"I beg to differ, Commissioner." The Laughing Bat maintained his smile. "Anything happening with my Bat-Buddy, I wanna know about it. So tisk, tisk."
He wagged his finger at the three officials in the room as he took another step forward. Grange moved quickly and stepped behind Yin and Bennett, keeping clean out of reach from the madman.
"Which reminds me!" Joker snapped his fingers theatrically. "Tell me how ol' Basty's doing! Last I saw of him, he was in the hospital with tubes in his head!"
Ethan too dropped his aim once he knew the mayor was far enough away from Joker.
"We just got word from Bats himself that he's nearly healed. In a few more days, you're going to have to give the Batman his superhero gig back." The chief of police stated, husking his gun.
Joker's smile tripled, looking genuinely happy to hear the news.
"No problem chiefy!" The Laughing Bat returned, opening his arms to show he was in full agreement. "After a month in bat-tights, I'm getting tired of the cape and constant spandex rashes."
Everyone cringed as Joker guffawed.
"And here's some more good news!" The Laughing Bat looked over at three of Gotham's most outstanding officials. "I'm going to fight Penguin and Freeze!"
The mayor, chief of police and commissioner of police gasped; the harlequin merely smiled.
"It's going to be the ultimate get-well present to my bestest best fri-enemy, the Batman!" Joker hugged himself and laughed. The flabbergasted police officers finally came to their senses.
"Joker! You're crazy! Batman himself couldn't beat Penguin and Freeze together!" Yin stepped forward. The Laughing Bat shrugged.
"That may be true, but unless you've missed out on the last month, Commissioner…" He cupped his mouth and whispered. "I'm not THE Batman. Shocking, I know. So I'd say the odds of kicking major birdie and ice cube butt are in my favor."
Then he laughed.
"And if I lose, what do you people care? It's not like you're going to lose a hero, just a clown in bat-tights and muscle suit." Joker remarked, his evil smile returning. That was true, seeing that Joker was more of a menace than idol.
"Don't be a fool, Joker." Ethan shook his head. "You're going to rush head-long into something you can't finish."
The Laughing Bat grimaced, the look of pensive astonishment crossing his masked face.
"I can't say I expected this reaction out of the head honchos of the knights in blue." He cocked a brow. Then he laughed. "I expected a slap on the back and a push out the window!"
Yin and Bennett gritted their teeth in frustration.
"Don't insult us like that. We are trying to prevent you from walking into something that you will never walk out of again." The oriental beauty grimaced. Joker placed his hand dramatically on his heart.
"Why, Commissioner! I knew you cared!" He then laughed. Suddenly his laughter faded. "But I didn't visit so that you could convince me otherwise. I'm here to issue a warning. Gotham P.D. better stay out of my way as I take down Penguin and Freeze. If I find so much as police tape, I'll make sure that Gotham's finest knows how explosively angry I can be."
"You're a maniac!" Mayor Grange accused. "Sustaining order is what the police are here for! How dare you think that you can order Gotham P.D. around!"
The Laughing Bat's grimace grew tighter on his face. He chose to ignore the mayor.
"I am giving a warning, Commissioner and Chief." Joker looked at Yin and Bennett. "I want no interference as I get revenge on bird-brain and the ice cube."
"Revenge?" Ethan echoed. Then his eyes widened when he realized what the Joker was talking about. "Joker… you can't be serious."
"As serious as I've ever been, chief." The Laughing Bat returned. "Those two put my best friend into intensive care. Both are seriously overdue for some karma."
They saw Joker's fists tighten and his frown grow into a scowl at the thought.
"Don't do it, Joker." Yin stepped forward. "Let the Law take care of those two. They will pay for what they've done; don't get yourself killed."
The Laughing Bat narrowed his eyes at the oriental beauty.
"I am the Law, Commissioner; have been for the last month." Joker's face went straight, mimicking the Batman. Then he cracked a smile. "What better force to stop two supervillains than one of 'em? Please, don't shed any tears for me, kiddies. Joker always laughs last."
With that, the Laughing Bat turned to the window and hopped up on the window-ceil.
"Heed my warning. I want no obstacle in my way as I dish out some justice… for my friend." And then the city breeze blew the curtains over the masked harlequin. When the wind subsided, the Laughing Bat was gone, out of sight.
Bennett and Yin ran to the window. There was no sign of the Clown Prince of Crime. Lumps formed in the pits of the officers' stomachs. There was a battle on the horizon; a battle that promised more casualties than victory.
"We need to contact Batman." The oriental beauty looked up at her long time friend. "Joker's going to get himself killed."
The bald black man nodded and pulled a Bat-Wave communicator out of his suit pocket.
A sudden ring awoke Bruce Wayne. A second passed before he recognized what was ringing. Floundering for his nightstand, Bruce opened the drawer and retrieved a Bat-Wave communicator. He looked at the ID. It was Ethan Bennett. Bruce sat up in his big bed and put the communicator to his ear.
"Chief?" The man spoke, his tone going down in order to disguise his voice. He heard Bennett panting.
"Bats, this is Ethan Bennett. Yin and I were just meeting with Mayor Grange-" Bruce heard a door to a car shut, "and then Joker showed up. He threatened us and told the police department that he does not want us involved in his revenge."
Bruce's eyes went wide.
"What? Revenge?" Then the man's expression dropped to the look of unease. Bruce's pause was met by a silence from the police chief.
"You know exactly what Joker's aiming at, Batman." Ethan said.
"Did he say when and where?" Bruce swung his good leg over the side of the bed.
"No." Ethan returned. "He gave no other details than that."
Bruce growled.
"The idiot. Freeze and Penguin will be too much for him!" The man said into the communicator, cursing at the Joker's madness.
"Bats, he said he was doing this as revenge for what they've done to you." Bennett voiced. "Can you think of his next move?"
Joker was one to always be unpredictable. But there were a few things he took seriously enough to form into intricate plans. So far, Bruce knew only that Joker was doing this out an act of revenge for what Mr. Freeze and Penguin had done to his "friend".
"I'll let you know once I have an idea." Bruce said. "Keep this line open. We will have to work together on this, Bennett."
"Like always, Bats. Whether Joker wants us to or not." Ethan responded.
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