Chapter 11: "We are all Monsters"

Batman could only look in horror as Shriek prepared to end Max's life. They both were near tears at this while Terry kept fighting to get from of the rubble to save her but he knew he wouldn't be fast enough. Shriek was inching his claws and closer and closer to Max. Terry was going to lose his girlfriend, forever. All because he couldn't save her. Max knew she would never again get to be with Terry and tell him how much she loved her. She had the solace of knowing that she had the good sense to say it, at least, once.

Terry knew. That was all that mattered to her. But it wasn't enough for him. He couldn't lose her. Not now, not ever, and certainly not like this. He had to save her. He had to get free. He had to try.

"Say good-bye, Batman," Shriek sneered.

Batman struggled to get free to save his girlfriend. He was the only who could.

Or so he thought.

But Terry and Max both forgot something.

They weren't alone.

Bruce shook off his shock and saw Max was Shriek's claws when he came to. As quietly as he could, he got to his feet, struggling as he did so; he was starting to reach his limit with the suit but he had to hang on a little while longer. He couldn't fail Terry and he wasn't going to fail Max. If he had one chance to save these kids, then that was all he needed. He activated his boosters and tackled Shriek, forcing him to free Max. They both crashed near the base of the machine as Batman got free of the rubble.

The young hero ran over and grabbed Max in a hug, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she replied.

"You are so insane!"

"I know!"

They both ducked down when they heard Shriek used a sound wave to blow the Armor back. Batman looked up to see that the last blast had nearly done Bruce in and he was already on shaky legs, at best.

"GO!" Batman yelled at Max as he moved her away. He flew at Shriek and tackled him, punching him in the gut to temporarily put him on the ground. He looked and saw King was starting to recover and aim his sword at the Armor. The aluminum baseball bat came out of nowhere and clocked him right in the side of the face, sending him to the floor. The Batmen looked and saw Max was the culprit.

Bruce chuckled to himself. 'Not bad.'

Batman looked at his mentor. "You've done all you can do! Get outta here! I can take it from here!" He pointed at Max, "Get her and go!"

Bruce nodded. He got up, jogged over to Max, and offered his hand to her.

"It's you… isn't it?" she asked. She knew better than to just blurt out his name.

"Yes," he replied. "Thank you."

She was shocked to hear a 'thank you' but decided to roll with it for now. "No problem."

"Terrible disguise, by the way."

She hopped into the arms of the armor. "Sorry I don't dress up as well as you. But, at least, no one recognized me."

He started to run out of the tunnel, "He did." He was, of course, referring to Terry.

"He better recognize me in a sorry excuse for a disguise like this." She looked over boyfriend's mentor's armor. She remembered what Terry told her about the last time he used it. "Are you gonna be okay?"

"I should be able to get us to the surface. From there… we'll see."

"Just…"

"You just hang on," He activated the rockets and they flew out of the sewer chamber, "Let me worry about the consequences."

Batman made sure his family was out of sight before he went back to work against his foes. With the Shockwave down, he had a better chance now to finish this. He guessed King was on his last legs, he was the easy fight. Skilled though he may be, King wasn't one for distance fights, probably due to advanced age and that he wasn't used to anyone putting up as much of a fight. As always, Shriek was the more difficult struggle.

On cue, the sound villain got to his feet.

"Just thrown in the towel, Shriek," Batman said. "It's over."

"Is it?" Shriek asked.

Batman was surprised to hear that Shriek didn't sound as angry as the Dark Knight thought he would be. "You know it is! Your machine is done and so are you."

King started to get to his feet behind Batman.

Shriek smirked. "You're right about someone being done, Batman." He aimed his gauntlet at the Dark Knight.

Batman got ready to move. He already had his battle plan well in mind. He just needed Shriek to fire at him and he had him.

Shriek knew that Batman probably had a plan in mind. But, then again, so did he. A fool proof plan that the hero would never see coming. It was guaranteed to leave the Gotham knight stunned and would give Shriek some definite satisfaction tonight.

He took aim and prepared to fire.

Batman could see the sound villain's trigger finger twitching.

Shriek smirked underneath his helmet then swiftly aimed at King and fired a blast so powerful that Batman was knocked away from perimeter of the attack. Batman slammed against the ground and looked to see King look like he was hit by a train of sound.

King flew against the wall and fell to his knees. Batman was stunned, not by the attack but by the action.

King looked up, beginning to cough from not being able to breathe normally. "Wh…why?"

"Think it over on the other side," Shriek mused. He fired again, an even more powerful blast this time.

King was sent against the wall again, almost going through it. He stayed there, pinned against it for a second, before his body weight dislodged him. But he didn't feel himself hit the ground. He was dead the second the sound hit him. The former leader of the Royal Flush Gang was gone.

"NO!" Batman shouted.

Shriek looked at Batman. He laughed.

Batman just stared at King's corpse as Shriek's laughter continued on. He couldn't believe it. King is dead. Shriek just killed his own partner. In a sick way, their plan made sense. Heck, he even understood their evil behind killing Tai Ji but this. This was way too much. It didn't make any sense at all; no rhyme or reason to it.

Batman got to his feet and shook his head. He looked over at Shriek and could only utter one thing: "Why?"

Shriek just laughed. "No one was supposed to live through this, Batman. Not you, not me, not Gotham, and certainly not King. If I can't kill Gotham, I gotta take someone out who was meant to die tonight."

Terry felt like his head was going to explode to comprehend this evil. "Why'd you even bring him into this?!"

"I needed someone to help me level the playing field against you. I didn't think you had a little infantry. He thought we'd turn on the machine and leave and let Gotham crumble to the ground. I, even, let him believe that the whole time. But this was my plan." He laughed, "It was always my plan. He was dead to me the second I broke him out of Blackgate."

Batman squinted his eyes at him. He still couldn't fathom this. "What kind of monster are you?"

Shriek chuckled. "Are you serious?" He laughed. "We are all monsters. All of us, Batman. You, me, King, that guy in the armor, anyone who you have taken down, all of us. All of us in this game. There is not one of us who isn't a monster."

Batman just stared at him as Shriek's insanity was starting to become clear. "You've really lost it, haven't you?"

"Don't act so high and mighty, Batman. You know good and well you would've killed King someday." He chuckled. "That's why we're monsters. Now…" He spread his arms out, "come on."

Batman raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"You have to kill me. I mean… I killed King… Tai Ji… and I nearly killed your little friend. So, to stop me… you have to do it. Because we both know… if you put me away again… I'll get out again. And we will do this dance… all. Over. Again."

Batman just stared at him. He knew he had a point. He could arrest him, lock him down, throw him in the darkest hole on Earth, but he'd somehow get out. He'd always get out. How much easier would his life be if he was gone? Answer: infinitely.

"That's it! I can hear the little pinwheels of your mind turning. You hate me… despise me… and you're going to kill me… or at least try. So, come on."

Batman did nothing.

"Come on."

Still, the Dark Knight just stood staring at him.

He started shaking in anger. "COME ON!"

Batman finally broke his silence, "I do hate you, Shriek. I hate everything about you. I can't stand the sight of you. I can't stand what you've done… to this city… what you did to Tai Ji… you even killed your own partner." He sighed. "So, yeah, you're right: I hate you."

Shriek smiled under his helmet. He had Batman right where he…

"But I'm bringing you in." The Dark Knight stood tall.

Shriek's smile and feeling of victory wavered… no… it was destroyed. "What?"

Batman smirked. "Your helmet's still on. You're supposed to be able to hear."

"Why?! Whywhywhywhywhywhy?! WHY?!"

"Because you're wrong. We all might be monsters… but not all monsters are the same."

"No… no, no, NO! You're supposed to kill me, you fool!"

"Sorry. Not my policy. You lose."

"No… NO, YOU LOSE!"

He charged at Batman, swinging at him with everything he had. He was very erratic with his fighting style this time around. Batman found it to be nothing but predictable. This was an easy Shriek to beat; he let him swing himself silly for a few minutes before getting a few punches in. Shriek tried to mount a counterattack but he wasn't thinking clearly. He wasn't even using his sound blasters. He just kept swinging like the madman he had become. Batman got a hold of one of Shriek's arms and threw him against far wall.

Shriek grumbled, shaking violently with anger. He looked up at the Dark Knight and screamed a primal scream. He hit a hidden button on his suit, causing a huge explosion. "IF YOU WON'T KILL ME, BATMAN, THEN WE BOTH DIE!"

The explosion rocked the tunnels. Batman looked back at the way where Bruce and Max had escaped and prayed they weren't caught in that explosion. He looked at Shriek.

"WE DIE TOGETHER, BATMAN! GOTHAM IS OUR GRAVE!"

"You dug your own grave," Batman replied. He swiftly threw a charged batarang at Shriek and it connected, lodging deep in the hand of his suit.

Shriek screamed in pain, Batman used his rockets and tackled him into the wall. He grabbed Shriek's helmet and slammed it as hard as he could against the wall. He stepped back and saw Shriek was out.

"But you're going to prison." He took off the madman's armor and tossed it aside before picking the sound villain up. He boosted up and grabbed Ollie, packing him under his arm. Batman looked down at King's fallen body. He didn't know why but he didn't have it in him to leave his body in this place. He was reasonably sure he could carry him, too.

The explosion rocked the street where the cops had gathered. Gordon looked in shock as the abandoned Fields building detonated and sank into the ground. With 2AM still a little bit off, the sight of the building falling must've meant that Gotham's Dark Knight had succeeded. After all, who else would win a fight and collapse a building at the same time? She looked around for any sign of Batman but saw none.

"Come on, kid…" she whispered. She hoped that the kid saved the city but not at the cost of his own life. She'd never say it but that was her greatest fear when it came to Terry being Batman.

Another explosion went off and she saw something fly into the air. It wasn't any debris because it was going straight up. She smiled when she saw wings. Batman.

He descended down and landed in front of her, unpacking his cargo.

"Is it over?" she asked the teen hero.

He stood up and exhaled. "Yeah…"

She looked down and saw none of the three men were moving. "Are they…"

"Just King." He felt the need to defend himself. "It was Shriek."

"Kid… I know better," she assured. "I know who trained you. More to the point… I know you."

He nodded. "Thanks, Commish."

Gordon became melancholy. "He called me." She was referring to Bruce. "Was he…"

"Yeah. He used the armor."

Gordon became wide eyed. "Where…"

"I don't know." He shook his head. "She…" meaning Max, "was here, too." He looked back at the devastated building, "I told them to get out. But I don't know if…" He couldn't even think about it. "I don't know where they… or if they even…"

"Stop being so dramatic," Bruce's voice came over the com. "We're down the street near the Batmobile if you'd hurry up. I wanna go home."

Terry smiled. He chuckled in relief. "He's just fine."

Gordon smiled in joy and relief. "You better get going then. He gets pretty strict about curfew."

"Preaching to the choir."

"Sure, that reference you get," Bruce remarked.

"Have a good night, Commissioner."

"Right back at you, kid," Gordon replied.

Batman flew off. He got to the Batmobile to see Bruce sitting inside of it with Max making sure he was okay. The armor was open next to the Dark Knight's vehicle; Terry was very thankful Bruce was still alive. The second he landed, Max looked at him and smiled. She looked at Bruce to make sure he was okay. He just smirked and waved her on.

She ran at her boyfriend and hugged him with all the force she had. He returned the favor, though he made sure not to hurt her.

They released the embrace. He pulled his mask back and he looked at her. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, "Yeah."

He chuckled in relief. "You're crazy. You know that, right?"

"Duh," she smiled, a tear in her eye.

Bruce grunted. "That's what I told her."

They walked over to his mentor. "Are you okay?" Terry asked.

The old man shrugged. "Felt better… but felt worse, too."

"No surprise there."

"By the way," Bruce looked at Max, "what were you doing here?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. I couldn't stop myself. After your phone call… I just had to help… I had to…" She sighed. "I could tell you were going to do something… and if I could help… I had to try."

Bruce kept staring at her. He couldn't help but admire that a little. She really did remind him of Barbara. "Terry, your girlfriend…" He looked at his apprentice. "Good choice."

Words neither of them thought they'd ever hear but they were grateful all the same. The three looked over the city; maybe it was a little broken but it was still standing, just like its protectors. They took a moment to enjoy this. Not necessarily the victory but the fact that they were still here. It was quite the thing to celebrate right now and they were going to take every second they could to enjoy it.

A/N: VICTORY! WE HAVE VICTORY!

We have one more chapter and the Epilogue, my friends. Thank you all so much for following me through this journey. I am so proud of this one and the response it has garnered. It has made me smile so much to see all the reviews pour in! Thank you all so much!

Next Chapter: Aftershock

The fallout from Shriek and King's plan are still felt even after the war is over. This will lead to heart to heart talks and a surprise guest that will change things forever.

You can't miss this one!