As instructed, there was another vault beyond the giant dinosaur. Diana had managed to catch up with J'onn and Flash just as the latter was punching in the entry code onto the keypad. There was a sharp beep! in response before the door opened, a hissing sound being made as air rushed in through the newly-made opening.
The door didn't completely open and J'onn took the time to push it the rest of the way, allowing the three to enter. The first thing Diana saw was rows of black sets of armor. They were all similar to each other save for a few differences here and there. Along with the armor though, was a cape and cowl, the familiar bat ears indicating just what these were. Each set was in its own protective case, separating them from all the others.
"Dude, Bats has a lot of spares," Flash remarked, staring at them all with wide eyes.
That was an accurate statement. Slowly, Diana began walking through the room, her eyes searching through all the Batsuits. The more attention she gave each one, the more she could pick out the differences between them. For instance, there was one that had gloves rather than the gauntlets Batman was known to wear. Also, there was a lack of the Bat emblem on the chest. It was as if it were an early version of the suit.
Next came a few suits that were nearly identical save from a difference in the length of the ears and the design of the plating of the armor. In fact, if the Amazon wasn't wrong, these suits were all the same size, something that caused her eyes to narrow.
Where were the suits Batman had promised? This was where he said to find them and presumably in sizes they could all fit in. None of these could fit Flash, if she weren't mistaken. J'onn could adjust his size without issue and fit the suit, and while she felt that she could wear one, it would be ill-fitting at best.
Something was wrong here.
It was then she came to the end of the room and abruptly came to a stop. Blue eyes widened at what was the distinct remains of a cape and cowl. Half of the mask was missing, the cape torn at places and clearly not fully intact. Singe marks were visible at the edges of the ruined cowl, as if it had survived a fire.
These...these weren't specialized suits for advanced combat as the vigilante hinted at. These were all the Batsuits he had used throughout the years. The one without the Bat symbol must have been the first version Batman had used. There others must have weathered various battles, reaching a point where they were unusable; yet, Batman had some reason for not parting with them, or at the very least destroying them lest someone with ill means got their hands on it.
And the one before the Amazon must have been what remained following the Great Gotham Fire, the one pulled out of the ruins of the destroyed city and announced to the world his supposed death. How the vigilante had recovered this, she had no idea, but a part of her wondered why he would be willing to keep such a memento.
Diana whipped her head around, her hair flying through the air before it collided with her shoulder. The door to the vault was still open. Lifting off the ground, she twisted her body as she flew like a dagger through the air, ignoring Flash as he yelped as she rushed passed him.
She had been a second too late. Faster than she could react, the vault door slammed shut, the Amazon collided with it face first, a loud BANG! echoing throughout the room before she dropped to the floor stunned. Wincing, Diana let the pain in her face subsided before she glanced up, staring at the imposing door.
"What the hell is going on?!" Flash exclaimed, an instant later appearing at the dark-haired woman's side. "Why'd the door close?"
Anger was welling up within Diana. Of all of the chauvinistic actions in Man's World, this had to be right at the top. For some reason, Batman saw it fit to lock them within this vault. She didn't know why, but when she got out of here she would be giving him a piece of her mind.
"Calm yourself, Diana," J'onn spoke, causing her and Flash to look at the Martian. Though she hadn't said anything, it didn't take much to know how he knew of her fury. Unlike the two heroes, he hadn't moved from his spot, instead standing tall and unwavering. His eyes, on the other hand, were glowing orange, no doubt trying to reach Batman's mind. A moment later his eyes returned to their natural hue, though they narrowed in annoyance.
"Batman seems to believe he is protecting us," he reported to them, which only served to increase Diana's ire.
"Wow, great," Flash deadpanned. "Is that all Spooky tried to do, or does he plan on gassing us too so that way we can get a good night's sleep?"
"I was not able to glean much else from his mind. He sensed my intrusion shortly after I made contact and shut me out."
That insufferable man! "The only one who will be needing protection is him when I get out of here," she declared as she forced herself onto her feet. Pulling back a fist, she then slammed it against the door.
A loud BANG! rang out, the very room seeming to shake; yet, there wasn't so much as a scratch or dent from the blow.
Undeterred, she pounded her fist over and over, receiving the same result. There was no object created by man that should have been able to withstand her strength, but so far this door was making a very good case for it. Red specks began appearing on the smooth metal surface, growing larger with every punch she landed. It wasn't until Flash grabbed her by the wrist and forced her to stop that she did. She even spared a second to glance at the broken skin of her knuckles, noticing how bloody they appeared.
"I don't think that's going to work, D," the red-clad man said. "Looks like Bats was expecting something like this."
"But why?" she openly seethed. "After all this time, why would he shove us to the side and act like we are the ones that need to be saved?"
"Maybe because we do."
That shocked Diana out of her anger. "You...agree?" she carefully asked.
Flash shrugged his shoulders. "Considering we keep having our butts handed to us by a guy that looks as if a stiff breeze could knock him over, I think I can see where Bats is coming from." His face hardened then. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to quit either."
"Neither am I," J'onn agreed, coming to stand next to them. "If you would wait a moment."
His body went translucent and before the other two could speak, he moved through them and disappeared through the door. A moment later and they heard the Martian in their heads. I'm through.
"Way to go, J'onn!" Flash cheered. Seconds passed by before the door reopened, J'onn standing on the other side patiently.
Instantly, Diana took off into the air again, racing pass the two men as she exited the vault. She blasted into the rest of the cave and came to a stop in midair, her eyes searching frantically throughout the cavern.
Much to her concern, there was no sign of Batman anywhere.
The Dark Knight had said he would be at his Batmobile; floating towards its usual platform, she found the vehicle in question was missing with no sign of it anywhere. This only served to heightened her anxiety. Gone was her initial rage, only for it to be replaced with worry.
Diana felt like she could hit herself over the head for this. She had thought she noticed some hesitation in Batman's body language, how he suddenly had a plan, but was vague on the details. He must've thought that the best way to face the Joker was to do it by himself.
The fool!
"I take it he's gone." Turning her head, Diana saw Flash standing nearby. Nodding, she watched the red-clad hero sigh before he looked to the exit tunnel. "I could catch up with him," he offered, "but I get the feeling he may have something else in that car of his that could knock me out if he wanted to."
"So where does that leave us?" she demanded.
"Finding out where he'll be going to," came J'onn's answer as he stood next to the Batcomputer. He was busy turning it on, the Amazon finding herself surprised that she didn't notice it was off. It was a testament to her state of mind that she wasn't as observant as she normally was.
Unfortunately, it turned out the answers they wanted would not be forthcoming from this avenue either. Even as she landed next to the Martian, she quickly saw that the map tracking Hawkgirl's comm link was no longer active. In fact, all of the windows had been closed, leaving the three Leaguers to be staring at a black screen. It was infuriating to see.
"Is there anyway you can bring up that tracer program?" Diana asked.
"Possibly, but it will take some time to do," J'onn admitted. "If I had the same access to this computer that Batman has, it would be much easier. I'm not sure what program he used to begin with."
"Wouldn't the computer do for you? Batman always told the computer what he wanted it to do."
J'onn shook his head in response. "You're talking of his voice-recognition program. Unfortunately, that requires a higher security access that I do not have. I would have to manually put in what program we would need and I wouldn't know where to begin."
"What about Bats' stuff?" Flash suggested. "Maybe if we searched for his Batmobile or something, we'd have an easier time."
"It is worth a try," the Martian agreed, looking to Diana, to which she nodded her agreement. Reaching out, he began typing on the keyboard, inputting their desired command. "I have found a list of his equipment," he announced, still typing.
"Please tell me he's got a tracer on them. Please, please tell me he's got a tracer on them," Flash urged.
A small smile appeared on J'onn's face. "He does."
Thank Athena for Batman's anal retentiveness. "Can you activate the tracer?" she pressed.
J'onn didn't reply, simply inputting the order. A window appeared on screen, one that was reminiscent of the one they had been using to track Hawkgirl. One difference was the map was of the north side of Gotham, a bat symbol moving into the outer limits of the city.
"We got 'em!" Flash cheered. "Let's head out and catch up with the guy."
That was Diana's first instinct as well, but something else on the monitor caught her attention. Frowning, she then pointed up at the screen and asked, "Why are there two signals?"
That got the attention of the other two. "Well I'll be," Flash remarked as he stared. "He's got someone else with him."
"It would be best not to rush into any judgements," J'onn said. "We cannot make any assumptions without being out there. He could be activating a weapon on the Batmobile, or releasing a drone of some sort."
While that was possible, Diana was not in the mood for any more hypothesizing. She wanted to get out there and put an end to this entire sorry state of affairs. It had gone on for too long and it was stretching the League out in ways it hadn't imagined. The sooner this was over, the better.
And then she would make sure she and Batman had a very long talk.
He had felt the presence seconds after it had appeared. J'onn. The others were out of the vault and they weren't happy about it.
Clearing his mind, Batman slowed his breathing down as he began the preliminary preparations for meditation. While it was a bad idea to go into a trance while driving, he had no intent on falling asleep at the wheel. Envisioning a wall, he shoved it between his and J'onn's conscious and pushed it against the intruding Martian until he could no long feel him in his head.
This was just one of many techniques he had learned following the Kalanorian Invasion. No way was he going to find himself at the mercy of a telepath again, even one he considered an ally. Even with his reduced personal time, he had scheduled mandatory meditation sessions, not only with himself, but with Cassandra. The girl had needed another outlet to control her growing restlessness and using the calming tantra had served to temper her.
It was during these sessions he had developed what he liked to refer to as "the wall." This had been the first time he had actually put it to action against an unwanted presence and the results were very satisfactory. Unfortunately, he was positive J'onn had at least scanned his surface thoughts, so that was a clue for the Martian to use should he and the others follow him.
The vigilante felt certain that they would.
All the more reason he needed to finish off the Joker and recover the other Justice League members before the rest of them bumbled their way in. He would have to review the security footage to see how they had escaped the vault considering he had given them a passcode that would seal them inside. That would have to be done at a later time; he was just about to arrive at his destination.
Spotting an alleyway up ahead, the dark-clad man began to slow his car down, turning into the alley and coming to a complete stop. Turning off the engine, he waited for the canopy to slide open before he climbed out. He used his grapple to climb the building next to him, the canopy shut beneath him and locked an instant later.
The moment he was on the roof, he stared right at the building he just knew housed the Joker. It was a rather ingenious place to go considering it was considered abandoned and not even the local degenerates approached the place.
The Sionis Steel Mill.
There had been repairs made to the building following the helicopter's crash into the side of the steel mill. What was left of Roman Sionis' business empire had all but abandoned the place following the October 27th Attacks. It had initially been cordoned off by the GCPD, eventually repaired by Sionis' people, and then subsequently forgotten. Any hopes of using the building had been dashed the moment its notoriety had spread throughout the city.
And now it was the residence for the Joker. He did prefer taking over Mob Bosses' headquarters, so this shouldn't have been so surprising.
Pulling out his binoculars, he peered through them and began searching the facility for any signs of life. Moving from right to left and back to right, he was quick to note that every window was either dark or boarded up. Looking to the front gate, it was chained up, though there happened to be a large puddle lying beneath the bars. On either side of the puddle were wet tire tracks that faded away the further they reached out, indicating someone had driven through the water recently. A check of the courtyard in front of the building revealed a distinct lack of vehicles though.
However, there were two sliding metal doors in front and if the wet tire tracks were any indications, that's where any entering vehicle would have ended up. There would be time to check on that possibility later. Putting his binoculars away, Batman began traversing the rooftops, using his grapple when needed until he had a good look at the back of the steel mill.
Like the front, there was no sign of usage here either. To the casual eye it was like no one ever came here. It was possible that if the Joker was holed up here, he'd only be using a select area that served his needs rather than the entire complex. If that was the case, then as long as he was in a relatively unused area, he could sneak in undetected.
Eyeing one of the unboarded windows, the vigilante aimed his grapple gun just above it and fired it. The grapple claw flew through the air until it hit its target, the claws digging into the wall. The moment the line went taut, Batman hit the retraction button and leaped off the roof, his cape billowing out behind him as he sailed through the air. The wind bit at him, but he largely ignored it as he closed in on the window.
Swinging his legs out in front of him, his feet hit the glass and shattered it upon impact. His momentum carried him into the room, where he landed with a dull thud. His cape falling over his body, the vigilante scanned the room he was in, finding it to be empty of everything, including furniture and trash. Placing his grapple back into his belt, the Dark Knight moved to the door and opened it, entering a hallway soon after.
The corridor went in either direction, doors placed at even intervals, all of which were shut. Moving to his right, Batman traveled down the hall until he reached a left turn he had to take, which he did. There were no lights on, making the corridor dark; thankfully there was enough ambient light that allowed the night vision setting in his cowl work. Seeing the world as an eerie green, he continued his search.
Eventually he came to an intersection, one that went either left or right. Peering down each hallway, he paused when he noticed one of the doors to his left was cracked open, a soft glowing light pouring out into the hall. A hand went to his belt, prepared to pull out one of his shuriken at a moment's notice while Batman slowly crept to the door, coming to a stop next to it. Deactivating his night vision, he then reached out with his free hand and slipped it between the door and the door frame, easing the door open.
When there was enough space, he then peeked into the room. Much to his surprise, this room was very different from the one he had used to enter the steel mill. It was definitely out of place, especially when you took the hallway into consideration.
The room itself looked, dare he say, homely. There was a comfortable-looking chair with a small table next to it. There was a fireplace as well, the remains of a recently-burning fire being the source of the light he saw, the coals glowing brightly. There was no one in the room, though.
However, as he took a step into the room, it was then he noticed the pile of bodies. His nose was assaulted with the smell of decaying flesh, something that made him twist his face from disgust. Glancing at the bodies, he was quick to note that they were all smiling, their faces bone white, and their eyes bulging out of their sockets.
The Joker's handiwork.
Despite his sense of smell telling him not to, Batman approached the pile. The closer he came, the more detail he was able to pick out. One such detail was the fact that many of the bodies had their throats slashed, giving them a second bloody smile from ear to ear. Oddly enough though, there were blood stains on their necks that went up towards their heads rather than down to their bodies.
Reaching out, Batman grabbed one of the hands and check the wrist, seeing rope burns from when the victim was struggling against their bindings. Moving down the body, he then checked the ankles and found rope burns there as well. It was likely the same for the rest of the victims as well.
Glancing back to the slit through, it was then the vigilante noted that the cut seemed off. The ends of the cut seemed to be pointed down rather than up. Holding his hand in the form of a fist in front of the victim's neck, he made a few slashing motions, trying to determine how the wound was made. The more he did this, the more he came to the conclusion that the victim was upside down when their throat was slashed, which explained why the blood stains were angled towards the head. The Joker wanted these men's blood for some reason.
Standing up, the Dark Knight turned away from the bodies, only to freeze where he stood. Across the room, on the wall the chair was facing, was a large Bat Symbol, encircled by an even larger heart. It was startling to say the least.
Hesitantly, the vigilante approached the symbols until he stood in front of it. There was also a smell coming from it, one he was quick to identify: dried blood. Staring at the color, it was a dull red, almost brown.
Glancing back to the bodies and then back to the dried blood, he wondered if this had been painted on the wall using the victims' blood. While he doubted the gallons Joker had collected would be used for this sole purpose, he may have used what was left to make this.
The biggest question was why? Why make this? Why attack the League? Was there some other motive at play here? The systematic attacks were clearly directed at each Leaguer's physical and mental weak points; yet—now that he thought about it—there had been no motive that he nor the rest of the League could unearth that explained why the Joker was targeting them.
There was something seriously wrong here.
The engine to the Batmobile had gone cold. With her hand pressed onto the hood, Diana could feel the last remanence dissipate, indicating that the vehicle had been sitting here for quite some time.
Tearing her eyes away, the dark-haired woman looked at the building that proudly proclaimed itself to be the Sionis Steel Mill. From what she could see, it appeared abandoned with some sort of repairs done to its outer walls. Aside from the sound of wind and the occasional honking of a car horn elsewhere in the city, this place was quiet. In fact, she hadn't seen a single person within blocks of this area.
Standing at the entrance to the alleyway they were in, J'onn was facing the steel mill, his face a mask of stoicism that it usual was. His cape ruffled with the wind whenever it passed, yet the Martian seemed oblivious to it.
Approaching him, Diana came to a stop at his side. "You're sure this is where Batman came?" she asked.
"I am," was the green man's response. He then held up a handheld device, one with a screen with a red dot blinking from it. They had found the tracking device in a draw next to the Batcomputer and activated it. It wasn't as accurate as the supercomputer, but it allowed them to not wait until the Batmobile had come to a stop.
That was when a gust of wind blew by and Flash appeared out of thin air in front of them. "I've done a perimeter check," he informed then. "There's not much of anything out here. It's like people are avoiding this place."
Diana nodded. She had come to the same conclusion when they had arrived.
"Strange though, I did find this motorcycle. Top of the line too. There weren't any markings on it, unfortunately, so there's no telling who's it belongs to." The speedster became wistful. "I'd like to get one myself."
That caused the Amazon to frown. "What need of you for a motorcycle?"
"Oh, absolutely none. That still doesn't mean I can't appreciate them," Flash answered her, a smirk appearing on his face.
"I believe we need to find an entryway into this steel mill," J'onn spoke up, interrupting the exchange. "Were you able to locate any entrances?"
"Tons. There's obviously the front door, but considering who we're going up against, I think it'd be a good idea not to use it—probably boobytrapped. There is a back door, though. Doesn't look like anyone's used it in ages."
"That will do."
"Great, follow me."
In a blur, Flash raced off, Diana and J'onn taking to the air as they flew after him. It wasn't a long journey before the three of them stood in front of the back door, albeit several feet away. The first thing the Amazon took note of was the security camera that was pointed right down at the door, watching for any trespassers.
"The camera's dead," Flash spoke. "When I was doing my recon, I checked it. Wires were cut and any batteries inside were dead."
"Is the door locked?" Diana asked.
"Probably. Didn't check it to be honest."
"Then now would be a good time to—"
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"
The three heroes froze. Diana's eyes darted to her left and right, searching for the source of the voice. "It looks like I have some visitors. Oh dear me, and I haven't even cleaned up the house yet!"
Head swinging from side to side until she finally turned around, Diana finally spotted where the Joker's voice was coming from. There was a nearby tower—it's purpose she wasn't sure about—and on it was another security camera, this one obviously working as it stared right down at her. Below the camera was a speaker that was clearly where the voice was coming from.
"Now, I hope you all will give me some time to freshen up! I'm expecting guests, ya know, so come on inside and make yourselves at home! Here, let me play you some relaxing music."
Suddenly, an ear-piercing wailing rang out. Instantly, Diana's hands flew up to her ears and pressed down on them in an attempt to block it out. Her teeth clenched tightly as the high frequency tore at her eardrums. J'onn and Flash mirrored her pose, the two of them joining her in a cry of pained surprise.
Unconsciously, the Amazon took a step back to try and keep her balance, but that was quickly becoming the least of her worries. The longer that sound carried on, the more it sent jolts of pain throughout her head. Her body began to waver and before she knew it, she dropped to one knee, her head bending low as she vainly tried to keep the scream out.
J'onn was somehow managing to stay on his feet, though he too had taken a step or two to maintain his balance. His face was twisted with agony, his orange eyes for once squeezed shut. Flash hadn't handled the sound well at all, the red-clad man having collapsed onto the ground as his body curled into the fetal position.
Soon, all Diana could hear was the high-frequency sound. If the Joker mocked them through the intercom, she didn't hear a word of it—a small mercy if there was ever one. Any grunts or cries from Flash or J'onn were drowned out as well.
That was when the ground beneath Diana's feet dropped out from under here. The next thing she knew, she was falling, the same with Flash and J'onn. Due to the ear-splitting pain in her head, however, she found herself unable to call upon her power of flight to stop her descent into darkness.
And some time during her fall, she lost consciousness, a blessing she was more than willing to accept.
The Steel Mill is being modeled off of the one in the Arkham Games. Seemed a fitting choice considering the Joker does use that place as a base at one point.
As mentioned in the previous chapter, the glitch with the reviews is still going on, so I'll be leaving my replies at the end of chapters. And without further ado:
To Anonymous Void: Well, I think this chapter answered some of your musings.
To Link0011: Thanks. Glad you're enjoying it.
To guest: Nightwing's relationship to Batman is much different in this series. I would recommend checking out a couple of the previous stories in the series to get a better idea of it. For now though, there won't be any Nightwing appearances.
To Jackalope89: It'd be ironic if that was part of a sitcom.
To LOTSlover: Guilty? Hmm, not sure if I do. I'll need to do some testing on that.
To Guest: Ask and you may receive. Most likely. More than probable.
