Hello everyone! CJzilla here with another update! In this chapter the Batman joins the fight and finds himself fighting alongside Joker. Enjoy! There is still one more chapter to this story, so hang in there!

As I rampage all over this city, alls CJzilla has to roar is this: R&R! Love... Hate... Review.

AN: I own nothing of Mr. Melville's.

"Where does the violet tint end and the orange tint begins? Distinctly we see the difference of the colors, but where exactly does the one first blending enter into the other. So with sanity and insanity."

Herman Melville
US novelist & sailor (1819 - 1891)

Chapter 13

Foolish Fights

Victor Fries was on his wobbly feet, looking over the quiet street filled with frozen statues. Joker, the chief of police, commissioner of police and the Batman's sidekicks were no match for him. The icy supervillain let out a laugh.

"Gotham is MINE!" Freeze shouted, empowered by his victory. "I am unstoppable!"

The battle-weary ice manipulator took a breath and steadied himself. His suit was full of holes and he was leaking his frosty powers. Freeze cursed; it was beyond repair. Every step he took, he had to pry his feet off of the ground since he would freeze to whatever surface he was on. The ice controller was in the middle of pulling his frozen feet from the asphalt when he heard tire screech. Bringing his eyes up, Freeze saw the high-beams of a car screaming toward him. He'd recognize the sound of that engine anywhere; it was the Batmobile.

Unable to get away, Freeze had time to let out a gasp before the vehicle hit him. In a blow that felt like a wall hitting him in the chest, the ice manipulator found himself on the grill of the Batman's car. As it flew down the street, Freeze clawed to get off of the hood but his suit, still leaking ice, had stuck to the car. The ice controller didn't have time to panic when the Batmobile slammed nose first into a brick building. In a cloud of powdered brick, Freeze and the front half of Batman's car disappeared.

Bruce watched his AI car attack and slam Freeze into a building a block away. Now in his Batman costume, the billionaire emerged from the shadows of an alleyway, a limp noted in his step. His eyes came to Yin and Bennett, frozen solid. The Dark Knight made his way over to them, pulled small devices from his utility belt and placed it on the two frozen cops. Upon contact, the small sonic emitter sent small pulses through the ice. The frozen water began to spider-web and gently break apart. In about five seconds, Yin and Bennett were free.

Bennett took in a breath. His skin felt cold but his core was still pretty normal; he hadn't been in that ice cube for very long. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you all right, Bennett?" The voice was just above a smoky whisper. He immediately knew who it was.

"Peachy, Bats." The chief of police returned, giving a cough before looking up at the crime fighter. "Cut it a little closer next time."

The Batman ignored that.

"Make sure Commissioner Yin is all right." The Caped Crusader voiced before moving off toward Robin and set the same sonic device on his sidekick. Bennett turned his attention to Yin, who had collapsed.

The ice broke from around Dick Greyson's body and he fell to the ground. The teen got to his feet as quickly as he could, blinking the vertigo out of his mind.

"Do you still have feeling in your toes?" Dick heard Bruce ask him. The boy snapped his eyes up to his mentor and he gritted his teeth.

"You shouldn't be here. You're going to get creamed." Dick growled. Bruce's expression didn't even twitch.

"You tell me that after I save you?" The costumed billionaire said dryly. "Since I'm only at fifty percent, we need to work as a team in order to take down Freeze. Where is Barbara?"

Dick looked around before his eyes came to the girl's form; she was frozen too. He gasped.

"There!" The boy pointed. "She's right there!"

Bruce turned his head and saw the red-headed girl frozen. But then he saw something behind her. The man's eyes widened. With Robin at his side, the Batman moved toward Batgirl and the Laughing Bat. The Batman placed a sonic device on Barbara and caught her as the ice cracked off of her.

"Take care of Batgirl, Robin." Bruce instructed Dick. The boy took Barbara from his mentor's arms and eased her to the sidewalk.

The Batman approached Joker, who had gotten free from his icy bonds but was sitting weakly against a mailbox. Bruce crouched in front of the Crime Clown. One look and he knew something was very wrong.

"Bat Buddy!" Joker said softly, smiling weakly. "I didn't expect you for another we-we-w-…"

The harlequin trailed off, laboring through his breathing. Bruce leaned forward and grasped the fabric of Joker's Laughing Bat mask. With a pull, the mask was off. The hero's eyes widened at the dying look on Joker's face. There was frost on Joker's costume, indicating that he too was iced by Freeze. Then the Batman's eyes trailed to the chunks of ice around the harlequin. He saw large amounts of frozen blood melting in the icy water.

"Where are you injured, Joker?" The Batman's tone was business-like; like usual. The clown's smile returned.

"I'm hurt… inside because you didn't let me finish this fight for you, Batsy." Joker returned slowly and then something rolled out of his hand and to his feet. Bruce looked down.

It was Freeze's sonic pulse weapon that he used to break ice.

"You're more of a fool than usual, Joker." The Batman hissed. "You put the lives of my sidekicks and the police in danger."

The clown gave a shallow laugh before he moaned.

"It hurts to laugh…" He peeped, his red eyes fogged over with intense pain. Joker took in the deepest breath he could. "This was MY fight. Everyone else invited themselves."

Bruce frowned and picked up his Bat-Wave as he stood.

"I'm calling in paramedics." The crime fighter turned to his two thawing sidekicks. "Make sure all of you get medical attention."

Then the Batman took a step down the street.

"And where are you going?" Dick called after his mentor. Bruce turned his head and looked at the boy through the corner of his eye.

"To get my car." He answered. The boy's eyes widened.

"On your feet, Batgirl." Dick hauled Barbara to her feet. "We gotta help Batman."

Bruce turned.

"No. You two stay here." The costumed billionaire grumbled. "I don't need two wobbly teens in this fight."

Dick gritted his teeth.

"And you'll fight as a cripple?! Batman! You can't-!" Then, the Batmobile was suddenly blown high into the air. The three ton vehicle soared stories above their heads and landed on it's top in the road behind them.

Then they heard Freeze speak.

"BATMAN!" The street echoed with the fuming roar of the criminal ice manipulator. The crackling of ice resounded through the city block.

Suddenly Mr. Freeze plowed out of the building he was rammed into. He rode on a wave of ice toward everyone.

"Everybody! MOVE!" Batman called out as he grabbed Joker. Dick carried Barbara and Ethan had Yin in his arms.

All six of them ran as fast as they could to an alleyway. Diving between two brick and cement buildings, everyone braced for impact. As soon as Freeze's wave of ice hit the structures, the faces of the buildings were totaled and collapsed. Freeze rode a ribbon of ice above the din and through the dust. He looked furious. Bruce dropped Joker and rushed to a fire-escape, hoping to draw Freeze's fury away from everyone else.

The ice manipulator fired shaft after shaft of ice at the crime fighter, determined to crush him. The Batman tossed a Bat-a-rang at the ribbon of ice Freeze was standing on. The brittle walkway shattered when the metal weapon hit it. Freeze fell to the building top and found himself looking at the Batman.

"Why-!" He brought a hand up and fired a bevy of dagger-like icicles at the Dark Knight. "-won't… you… DIE?!?!"

Bruce dodged the icicles but his old injuries were screaming at him. His back was tired, his leg was numb and his left arm was in searing pain. Freeze slammed a hand to the building's roof, sending a large wave of ice through the structure's all ready crumbling edifices. Right from under the Batman's feet, the building caved in. The Dark Knight shot a grapple to the nearest building and saved himself. Freeze then fired a blast of ice that hit the Batman's tether. The cable shattered and the crime fighter fell. Before he could shoot another grapple, he caught a pillar of ice in the back. He fell, frozen.

Dick, Barbara, Yin, Bennett and Joker were right in the crumbling building's path. They scrambled to get out of the alleyway. Dick, Yin, Barbara and Bennett made it to the street just as the building fell over the alley. Dick did a quick head count and found someone missing.

"Where's Joker?!" The Boy Wonder was on his feet in a flash.

"He was right behind me!" Barbara spoke, looking over her shoulder. She saw nothing but decimated building. "Oh, no."

Dick ran to the mound of rubble.

"Joker! Joker!" He called out, tossing debris all around. There had to be several tons of brick and rubble here! "C'mon Clown Face! Where are you?!"

Joker was nowhere in sight. Dick felt himself start to panic just as the wail of the paramedics' vehicles reached his ears.

Joker was not in the mass of ruined building. He had grappled to another rooftop. The clown was not going to let the Batman take the fight HE insinuated, mortally wounded or not. Joker saw Batman jump and Freeze jump him. Taking his Batman-like grapple, the harlequin aimed it to where the Caped Crusader fell.

Bruce coughed as he came back to his senses. After being frozen in ice, he had no idea how far he fell. Bringing his eyes upward, Bruce saw towering skyscrapers above him; the same buildings he was swinging from. That meant he fell several stories before his utility belt managed to thaw him. Concern shot through his mind. Did he re-injure himself?

"I left you in a block of ice, in a burning building, Batman." Freeze's voice cut through the air. Bruce heard the crackling of brittle ice as he sat up.

Above him, on the building above him was Mr. Freeze. Bruce could feel the hot anger coming off of the ice manipulator. Freeze jumped to the street that the crime fighter had landed in.

"When I ice someone, it's a common courtesy to stay dead." The ice controller's steps were labored; all that ice leaking from his suit was making him stick to the asphalt. "I am absolutely sickened to see you draw breath, Dark Knight."

Bruce got to his knees and felt his nearly-healed broken leg call out in pain.

"It's going to take a lot more than a twisted crime partnership and some lucky shots to take me out, Freeze." The Batman returned, forcing himself to his feet. His injured leg was screaming.

"Penguin was a joke and I aligned with him only because times were tough." Freeze growled. He made a fist, his ice powers sending a sheet of fog over the ground where he was standing. "The only fun I had while being partnered with that bird-loving buffoon, was to see you burn in a block of ice! But now I'm looking at you again. And I can tell-.."

The ice manipulator paused as his eyes narrowed, indicating he was pleased.

"I can tell that you're still very injured. You wouldn't be able to dodge an insult." Freeze continued. "Allow me to truly send you to your cold grave."

He brought his frosty hand upwards. Freeze shot an explosion of ice at the Batman. Bruce moved as fast as he could, falling to the road in the process. He caught himself with his wrist and he immediately felt a stab of pain. He was doing a fine job of re-injuring himself. He heard Freeze laugh at him.

"This is too easy, Batman." The ice manipulator snickered, walking toward him. "Like freezing a fish in a barrel."

Freeze neared and aimed his finger right between Bruce's eyes. The Batman pressed a container on his utility belt and took a super-heated plasma sphere in hand. Bruce tossed it at Freeze and it struck the icy criminal in the hand. With a shriek of pain, Freeze dropped to his knees, holding his hand.

"You-…" The ice controller fumed. "You'll pay for that!"

With his free hand, Freeze shot a column that hit Bruce in the side. The blunt ice felt like a wrecking ball to the Dark Knight's cracked ribs. Bruce grunted as he rolled with the blow. He came to a stop on his stomach and that's when he could no longer move his injured leg. Rolling to his back, Bruce gritted his teeth in an effort to bite down the stabbing hurt in his body.

Soon, Freeze was back on his feet and pacing toward the injured Batman.

"I hate you." The ice controller growled. "But I will be satisfied when I see your chilly remains."

Freeze let out a heartless chuckle as he placed his hand over Bruce's face. The Batman thrashed as he felt his face get cold and ice move over his forehead.

"Freeze, Batman; for eternity." Freeze laughed and laughed as his ice powers started to cover the Dark Knight's scalp. Just when it looked like curtains for Bruce, someone jumped on Freeze from behind.

The ice manipulator held his hand to the Batman's face, not allowing the prime opportunity to destroy his archenemy to pass him. He knew who was on his back; it was Joker.

"Smile, frosty!" Joker said into his icy ear. Then the clown brought down sonic pulse weapon onto Freeze's frozen head.

The ice controller howled as the sonic pulse flew through his body, exploding the ice around his head. The access of vibrations came through Freeze's hand and broke the ice around Bruce's head. Then the frosty criminal fell to the ground, unconscious and beaten.

Bruce coughed, spitting out busted ice. Then he saw Joker standing over him. Without his Laughing Bat mask, Bruce saw the harlequin's white face, insane eyes and twisted grin. Though Joker was grinning at him, the Batman could see that he was seriously injured. The Dark Knight grunted as he sat up, pain splitting his sides.

"C'mon, old friend." Bruce heard Joker say to him. When he looked up, he saw the clown's outstretched hand offered to him. "Need a hand?"

The Batman looked away.

"You can barely hold yourself up, Joker." He said as he slowly got to his feet. Joker laughed softly.

Bruce stood and looked his archenemy in the eye. He nearly shook his head at the expression on the clown's face. The crime fighter knew Joker's body was in shock due to his heinous injuries, but the insane harlequin looked at him like a child greeting a long-lost friend. The Batman grabbed his Bat-Wave communicator from his belt.

"I'll radio Robin and Batgirl. You need medical-" WHACK! Joker hauled a fist across Bruce's face and dropped him to the ground.

"First off, Batsy-" Joker was still grinning, "you're outta your gourd! This was MY fight and you had to stick your little nose where it didn't belong!"

Bruce held his chin and glared at the smiling Harlequin of Hate. Joker was still smiling at him.

"Secondly; tell your little police buddies that didn't listen to me, that because they stepped into my fight, I will show them how explosive I can be!" The clown undid his cape and dropped it to the ground. Bruce got a look at the lighter colored bat-based jumpsuit under that fabric; he saw that hole in Joker's shoulder and the wound on his side. "Which brings me to my third point. I've taken the liberty of hiding twenty-six bombs filled with my most potent Joker Gas yet, all over the city; one being under the police station! All set to got off in-…I forgot! Oh, well! So, Batman, have fun on your scavenger hunt! It's my little way of welcoming you back into service after a lengthy month!"

The Batman gritted his teeth as he sat up.

"You're certifiable!" The crime fighter spat. Joker grinned down at him before stumbling to the sidewalk.

He caught his weight on a light pole and looked back at his best friend.

"And my last point of the evening-…" He paused as his grin fell. "Welcome back. Glad to see that you are all right."

Bruce's eyes narrowed. The Joker turned his tired eyes forward and gave a labored wave.

"I'll be seeing you around, Bat Buddy." The harlequin then moved down the street and disappeared in an alleyway. The Batman got to his feet but couldn't follow Joker to handcuff him.

Pulling his Bat-Wave communicator to his mouth, he spoke into it.

"This is Batman. Does anyone copy?" He waited and then he heard Dick's voice.

"Batman! Are you all right?" The teen rushed. Bruce smirked.

"I'm all right. Tell Yin to send over someone to pick up Freeze. He's done like dinner." He responded.

"That's great to hear, Bats." Dick sounded very relieved. "We're trying to dig out Joker. He's inside the rubble of the building."

Bruce sighed.

"No, Joker was with me, Robin." He spoke calmly. "He's hurt pretty bad and on foot; he won't get far. You best send over an ambulance too. Maybe Joker will share the same transportwith Freeze."

There was a short pause from Dick.

"You seriously want to arrest Joker, too? He's been a crime fighter for the last month." The teen questioned. Bruce frowned.

"He's still Joker, Dick." He responded. "Before he ran, he told me that he hid twenty-six bombs full of Joker-Gas all over the city."

Dick sighed.

"Same old Joker." He grumbled. "So… does this mean thing are going back to normal?"

Bruce grinned.

"Yep." He answered. "Grab Babs and bring the car over, would you? We have to foil Joker's latest plot."

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