Should auld acquaintance be forgot…
Christmas Day is winding to a close, and the family cozies up in the parlor to games and quiet merriment, enjoying each other's company. Haly has been returned to them, Selina is expecting, and it's a peaceful evening for them all.
On December twenty-fifth, no matter the religion, everyone celebrates family and hope. Bruce reflects on the hardship that his family has been through this year, and the challenges they still have to face as they look to the future, but for the moment: silence, begging to be broken.
...and never brought to mind.
The doorbell rang, and Bruce looked up confusedly. It was getting late. Christmas day had dragged on; the paper cleaned up and the presents shown off. They all sat comfortably now in the parlor, snow falling lightly outside to complete the picturesque Christmas scene. As Alfred stood, Tim abandoned his cards.
"Don't worry, Alfred. I'll get it," he said cheerily, walking out into the hall. The old butler smiled and settled back into his chair by the windows, watching the thick white flakes drift from the dark sky. Dick resumed humming to Haly lovingly, pacing in front of the fireplace as she cooed quietly, looking up at him with big blue eyes. He smiled. On the carpet between the sofas, Damian, Stephanie and Harley resumed their game of Go Fish.
"Hey Damian, do you have any-"
Steph was cut off as a gunshot rang out in the foyer, and Barbara screamed. Bruce's eyes widened, and he lurched to his feet. Jason beat him to the door with Stephanie on his heels; another two shots rang out before Bruce had even made it through the door, and Jason fell back against him with bullet wounds torn haphazardly through his torso. Bruce's blood ran cold, rushing in his ears and pounding in his chest.
"Jason!" he shouted, looking up as Stephanie ran past him, and he grabbed her arm as he tried to support his son's weight.
"Tim!?" she cried anxiously, nearly screaming.
Beside the open door, the Joker stood with his gun still raised, Tim bleeding at his feet, his eyes closed. Snow swept in on the moonlight from the open door, and the chill washed over them all, the fiendish clown prince silhouetted in the door frame.
"What Bat-brat is next?" Joker asked quietly, a dark grin cutting across his pale face from one ear to the other. The gash on his cheek left by Dick's hand had barely healed, still stitched closed, and another long, jagged cut ran from the other corner of his mouth to his ear, this one held together with staples. A low laugh escaped his throat.
"Joker," Bruce's jaw was tight, his hands trembling as he held Jason. Stephanie choked back a sob and took a step towards Tim. Cassandra caught her arm, pulling her back as the Joker's steady hand pointed the gun at her.
"Please just let me help him!" she wailed, her eyes fixed on Tim as she covered her mouth. Joker burst into laughter.
"No no, I've learned my lesson. I can tell now that I was being far too theatrical with my past attempts at cooking your geese, Batman. Bruce." He shuddered at the name, a drop of blood streaking down his chin when he spoke. "Gross. Let's stick with Batman." Glaring down the barrel of the gun at Bruce, Joker grinned. His emerald hair was matted with blood on the side where his face had been cut and stapled, one limp curl hanging in front of his forehead. His eyes shone with his insanity, bloodshot, wide and unfocused. His head twitched, and then he glanced down at Tim. "Hmm. Still breathing." Joker fired another shot at Tim's head, narrowly missing as the bullet bit the hardwood floor. Stephanie screamed and burst into sobs, begging him to stop. Joker laughed hysterically. "Damn these shaky hands…" Bruce seemed transfixed, unable to take his eyes off of the Joker in shock. The rest of them were lined up behind him, Stephanie holding onto Cassandra as she stared in horror at the Joker, Barbara over their shoulders. Harley and Dick were right behind her, and Haly was hidden from view as Ivy shoved her way through them to get to Jason. She cradled his face as his fading eyes fluttered, and the Joker laughed.
"Ivy, darling, you look as good as ever. For a traitorous bitch. I'd shoot you, but I know it won't work all that well."
She turned on him furiously, raising a hand. Vines erupted from the floor, smashing the wood as they raced for the Joker, and he fired again at Ivy, hitting her in the chest and the shoulder. She screamed and the vines dropped to the floor with her, falling to her knees with a hand over the holes torn by the bullets. Joker kicked at one of the vines on the polished oak.
"Well it will do for now," he muttered and then looked up. "Anyway. I just popped by Arkham to see an old friend, my little Alice. Had to give her a gift." Joker waved the gun, smiling at Damian. "Shame. She had so much potential. Her films were… Truly inspired," he laughed maniacally, and Damian shook his head, his eyes wide.
"No, you didn't," he breathed. Dick glanced at Damian, and then worriedly at Bruce. Why isn't he doing something!? Why aren't we all doing something!?
"Oh but I did," he held up Carrie's broken glasses. Damian choked.
"Damian he's just baiting you-" Dick warned. Damian trembled from head to foot with anger, but he didn't move. Another cold gust of wind carried snow into the dark foyer, lit by the moonlight behind the villain framed in the open doorway. He grinned.
"And you know what? She begged me for it," Joker hissed. Damian cried out angrily as he rushed forward. In an instant Bruce had grabbed his arm and yanked him back, pulling him roughly into his chest as the Joker fired the gun again, blood exploding from Bruce's shoulder as he turned, shielding Damian from the single shot. Bruce cried out and dropped to one knee, Damian kneeling below him. Selina cried out furiously.
"Bruce!" She screamed, covering her mouth, before her eyes grew livid. "God damn it, nobody move!" she shouted.
"Father- I-" Damian stuttered, panicked. Bruce shook his head as he handed Damian back to Selina, his lips tight against the pain, and looked up at the Joker.
"Stop this."
"Beg me," Joker snapped, walking forward and shooting Bruce in the leg. He stifled his cry of pain, and Selina covered her mouth, turning away for a moment. The Joker was close enough that they could see the snow on his coat; the texture of his bloodied hair. He beamed down at Bruce knelt in front of him, blood dripping onto the hardwood from his leg. The gun still dangled haphazardly from the Joker's hand, his finger on the trigger. Cassandra glared hatefully at him with Stephanie in her arms, and Barbara looked on in horror over their shoulders. Harley turned her back on the Joker, towards Dick, and wrapped her arms around him, sheltering Haly between them as she trembled with her lips pressed against his shoulder.
"Please," Bruce grit his teeth, staring at the Joker. The smiling villain gazed back.
"Don't move. I don't want to kill you. You have to suffer. But… he waved the gun around at the people behind Bruce. "I'll continue to put bullets through their brains." Bruce tried to stand, and the Joker shot his other leg. Bruce finally let out a cry of pain, dropping to his knees again. Joker yawned. "Don't make the mistake of thinking I won't kill you. I will. I just don't really want to. Unlike you two," Joker fixed menacing eyes on Dick and Harley, so green in the moonlight that they burned with the acidity of the gaze. Selina crawled to Bruce, tears streaking her face.
"This is insane," Dick said hoarsely. "Even for you."
"No, this seems so crazy because it's completely sane," Joker laughed quietly. "When I kill people- I do it with finesse. That's what people call insanity. When others kill people- they shoot up a school. Or a movie theater. Or a bank. This is the ordinary man's psychotic." He let out a wheezing laugh, grinning darkly. "I was taking extraordinary measures to try to kill you as creatively as possible, but oh no, not you. You won't just die. The common man's kill seems to be the only solution. A straight shot is a bit dull, I know. It lacks creativity. Almost too sane, and yet-" Joker raised his gun and fired a shot at Selina. Her eyes went wide, and she stared at Bruce before looking at the blood spilling over her sweater. "-it gets the job done," Joker growled.
"No," Bruce choked. His system seemed to be on shutdown. The pain, the fear- Tim seemed to still be alive, but… Jason. Selina… his jaw tightened. When will it end? It had been so long coming to this point. So much heartache, so much exhaustion, and for what- so it could end like this? The pain in his wounds burned his mind, poisoned his consciousness with a fuzzy haze of sleep, and he wanted to resist. He wanted to stand and fight, and end this, once and for all, but as he looked at Selina bleeding in his arms, Jason and Tim laying on the floor in snow covered pools of scarlet, he knew that if he persevered, he would do so with no one by his side as the Joker's gun eliminated his family. So he knelt as he had when he was eleven; unable to fight to save them, in order to save them.
"Stop this, now," Dick said suddenly, his voice forceful as he gave Haly to Harley. Joker stared at the baby, spellbound, and then his eyes focused on Dick. Bruce looked up as well.
"This isn't about you, brat," he snarled, grinning. The staples in his cheek pulled.
"You're right. It's not. It's about him. And we were always in the way, weren't we? The Robins. We always got in the way." Dick took a step forward, towards the Joker.
Towards the gun.
Harley's arms tightened around their baby, and Bruce opened his mouth to stop him, but no words came out. His vision was tunneling on his greatest enemy and his eldest son.
"This is about Batman. This is about him." Dick looked down at Bruce.
"Dick- don't-" Bruce begged, finding his voice, holding Selina in his arms.
Ivy's hand crept toward Jason's, and she took it. His dim eyes focused on her as he swallowed the blood in his mouth.
Cassandra knelt near them, her arms around Stephanie as she watched Tim's motionless form across the room. Damian fixed a hateful glare on the Joker.
"Well well. You always were the bird boy with the brains. Or did she rat on me?" Joker looked over Dick's shoulder at Harley. "You were both supposed to die. See how it tortures him so." Joker looked down at Bruce, still watching Dick in anticipation and fear. "Here you see that the Batman is just that- a man. Nothing more than a man, and nothing less. He bleeds, as he always has. The mask can't make him invulnerable. But you." Joker pressed the gun to Dick's forehead. Dick's eyes narrowed, his lip trembling slightly.
"We gave him hope."
"You gave him purpose. If he had someone to lead, he couldn't fall. Batman would have died long ago if not for the Robins. Especially you, Dick Grayson. I know all about you," Joker spat. "I know your birthday, who your mummy and daddy were, how you failed your first semester of college and then told everyone you dropped out, the secrets you've kept even from Batman- the places you've lived, the names you've held, the games you play- the women you've bedded," he glanced at Barbara. Dick looked pale, his jaw set tight.
"All this preparation, all this chipping away- it was all a show. And Harley and I were supposed to be the grand finale." Dick whispered, pained. He didn't move, the Joker's finger twitching on the trigger.
"And look at him now," Joker snapped, waving the gun towards Bruce. Dick stepped in front of the gun again, between the Joker and his father. "A few well placed shots- no, not to his person- but his sons, his daughters- his wife- that's a bullet to the heart. And you. The favorite son. I was this- Close-" Joker jabbed the gun against his forehead with each word- "To destroying you. But you're strong. You truly are the original Boy Wonder." Joker twitched, his head jerking to the side. He grinned and jabbed the gun into Dick's chest, hesitated, and then pistol whipped him across the face. Dick cried out and fell to the side. Blood dripped from his lip.
"Dick!" Harley cried, stepping toward him. Haly started crying at the commotion, drawing the Joker's murderous glare, and Harley stepped back as she watched Dick desperately.
"This was all for you, Bats. From the beginning. I only wanted your attention!" Joker wailed dramatically and laughed as Dick stood again, wiping his mouth. He inhaled slowly, and the Joker smiled the way he always had. "That's right. Straighten up. Stand tall as I blow you away in front of your father. What can the Batman do? He's failed for so long, why stop now? Failed you, failed them, failed his poor parents..." Joker cackled as Dick's jaw pushed forward in anger. Selina choked and spit blood. Bruce tried to put pressure on the hole through her stomach.
Jason looked at Ivy. "Not- healing fast enough-" he gasped, squeezing her hand where he lay on the floor.
Everyone please just hold on, Dick begged silently.
"After all this hardship, after all this pain, when his sons are dead, Batman will fall. And she-" he looked at Haly- "Is coming with me. I've worked too hard for anything less." He laughed breathlessly and shook his head, talking through his teeth as he grinned. "The only damn reason I kept that stupid tracer you put on me, was so that you'd have an easy time finding your fiancee's mangled corpse. I worked too hard... Her daughter would have been mine. She should have. I can't have any of my own, so why not take one and break a few hearts along the way? Raise her in my image." He smiled and gestured to the gory grin on his face, laughing. "After all," Joker grit his teeth and beamed horribly, pushing the gun against Dick's forehead. He turned shining eyes on Harley. "Any child born of a slave belongs to the same master as the mother. It's simple, really, choose your fiancee or your daughter. And in the spirit of the yuletide, I suggest you sacrifice your only child so that he- well there's no eternal involved, but so that he will have the rest of his life," Joker pressed the gun harder against Dick's forehead, laughing, as he watched Harley. Her jaw tightened, and she shook her head no as tears burned down her cheeks. She felt ill. Dick closed his eyes, trying not to tremble at the cold barrel of the weapon pressed to his forehead. Good, Harley. Keep her safe. Save our daughter. Harley stifled a sob.
"It's okay, Harley," he whispered. "It's gonna be okay." he knew it was clichéd, and he knew it wouldn't help, but it was all he could think to say. He felt numb.
"Dick," she cried, hot tears blurring her vision. She furiously rubbed them away, terrified that in his last moments, she wouldn't be able to see him.
"Last chance, Puddin!" Joker shouted, and Dick jumped. Harley's jaw tightened, and she looked him dead in the eye as she shook her head again.
Joker's smile seemed to waver a bit, but then he grinned and shrugged his shoulders indifferently. "No matter. I'll just take her once you're all dead. Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals."
Staring her dead in the eye, he pulled the trigger.
Harley screamed as the explosive sound of the shot echoed in the foyer. She recoiled away from the sound. No, no, no. She held Haly close to her chest as the baby wailed, the sound filling her stomach with the horrifying ache of panic, her eyes wide in shock. She couldn't bear to turn and look.
The Joker's smile faltered, and his eyebrows knit in mild confusion. Dick stood face to face with him, staring at him in shock; the villain's finger tugged at the trigger over and over, and the gun clicked empty with each attempt, still raised to Dick's face. They looked down.
Blood blossomed over the Joker's chest and he stared at it, dropping the pistol. It clattered heavily on the oak floor in the silence. He choked on his laughter and looked up at Dick before stumbling back.
For a moment, Dick couldn't figure out what had happened.
The shock hung in the silence as the Joker grew paler than ever, his blood draining from his chest. He remained on his feet a moment longer before collapsing to his knees, still wheezing; laughing dryly as he knelt in front of Dick. Wide, fading green eyes turned up, and Dick spun to follow the Joker's line of sight to where Alfred stood on the stairs, a shotgun bent over his elbow.
The butler walked straight past them, all still frozen in numb disbelief, and they watched him pause only for a moment to fire another shot into the Joker's grinning face before he dropped the shotgun, and it hit the ground in unison with the dull thump of the Joker's body falling back on the hardwood. The moment was suspended in the snowy air, flakes drifting onto the gore laid out in the foyer in front of them.
Alfred moved quickly towards Tim, kneeling and checking his pulse.
"Stephanie. Get him to the Batcave, please. Dick, take Jason. Cassandra, if you would take Selina, please, and Damian if it isn't too much trouble, help Miss Ivy. Miss Gordon, if you would call your father." Alfred walked back towards the group and heaved Bruce's arm over his shoulders, dragging him toward the library. Stephanie ran to Tim, dragging him up into her arms, and Damian grasped Ivy's hand, pulling her to her feet. Dick hefted Jason onto his back and Cassandra dragged Selina after Alfred. Everyone scrambled to get the wounded to the Batcave, the silence hanging heavy over them all. "Master Bruce, I know you've been shot, but it's never stopped you before. I'm old, dammit, pick up your feet," Alfred snapped, struggling under Bruce's weight as they crossed the library. He turned the hands on the clock and ushered a few of them in at a time.
Harley was left alone in the foyer, standing stock-still as she stared down at the Joker's body. The shotgun, at such close range, had mangled his face, but his jaw seemed twisted in a smile, grinning even in death. Haly still screamed in her arms, tears rolling down her cheeks, mirroring Harley's as her lip trembled a bit. Harley held her close, stroking her hair as she tried to comfort her. She was afraid to move closer to the body, afraid to be near him. It didn't feel real. She couldn't tell herself she didn't need to feel afraid anymore, and couldn't stop the flood of old emotions at the sight of him. She closed her eyes, pressing her lips against Haly's forehead before skirting around the body and hurrying into the library.
"Alfred we should get Tim some antitoxin," Harley said as she got onto the elevator and the doors closed. She was trembling slightly. Alfred nodded, his face pale, his jaw set tight.
"Master Bruce-" he snapped a bit, pulling Bruce up from where he'd slumped against the wall. The elevator doors opened.
Dick was working hurriedly to help Jason, and Damian rushed out of the cavernous room to get more medical supplies. Stephanie was cradling Tim's head, his face white and hollow from the blood loss. Alfred heaved Bruce onto one of the medical tables and yanked his shirt off of him, examining the bullet hole in his shoulder.
"Alfred," Jason coughed, "I'm not forgiving you for killing him before I could."
"How about you worry about that when you're not dying," Harley offered, digging the bullet out of Ivy's shoulder. As soon as it was out, she carefully gave Haly back to Harley and went to check on Jason.
"If you die, I'm never going to forgive you," she told him quietly, pushing his hair back from his face.
"No way I'm getting on your bad side." He gasped for air, looking up at her and grasping her other hand. For a moment, they both dropped their hard facades and savored the touch. Jason cried out as Dick finally pulled the second bullet out of his chest. "You know, I thought that antitoxin would be doing a better job." he stuttered.
"At least you're breathing," Damian snapped as he ran past him, handing Stephanie a bag of Tim's blood; all of them had extra for when they'd need it in situations like these. Damian glanced across the room, blood splattered on his sharp face.
"I'm sorry, Father," he breathed, sounding terrified as he walked towards Bruce on the medical table. Alfred pulled another stitch through the freshly cleaned bullet wound in Bruce's leg, his face set coolly.
"You did nothing wrong." Bruce acknowledged him quietly, and then turned his head to look at Alfred. "Were any bones shattered?"
"Clean hits," he answered.
"Good, then if they're not bleeding..." He sat up, his eyes fixed on Selina. Alfred supported his weight as he crossed to her, stopping beside the table where she lay. She turned pale green eyes on him in an even whiter face.
"Bruce," she choked, smiling weakly. Cassandra worked to clean the bullet wound in her stomach, having already dug it out. Selina closed her eyes and winced as she pulled the needle through to sew it shut. "I'm sorry," she whimpered, touching his face. Her fingerprints marked his cheek in blood, and she pulled her hand away in shock. "I don't think…" Selina turned her head as she started to cry, and Dick looked over his shoulder at her. She bawled into Bruce's side, his hand in her hair as he looked down at her numbly. There was no way their baby could have survived. Dick looked away, returning his attention to Tim, unable to expel the thought of how happy Selina had been when she'd announced her pregnancy. Her cries of anguish now brought back feelings that Dick only recalled in his nightmares. With a glance at Harley, he knew that she was thinking the same.
Tim was white as a sheet and barely breathing, but at least the wounds had been dressed, and he was stable for now. Dick brushed his brother's dark hair away from his face. Steph was still clinging to Tim's hand. Haly had stopped crying for now, and aside from Selina's quiet mourning, it was eerily quiet in the dimly lit cave.
Harley moved to Dick's side, checking the wound on his face as she cradled Haly in the other arm. She looked over at Selina and then down at Haly; she hadn't stopped crying since the Joker shot Jason. Dick glanced at her, his pale eyes grim as he did so. Jason cleared his throat and sat up. The wounds in his chest were healing already, stitched up to aid the process. Alfred hurried around, checking that each of them had done well, and that everyone was well cared for. Damian stood away from Bruce, watching Selina cry with hollow eyes.
"I'm sorry, Father," he said weakly, crossing his arms.
"Come here," came Bruce's only reply. Damian reluctantly did so, and Bruce pulled him into his arms. "You don't have to apologize. You didn't do anything wrong." Damian froze for a moment, but only for a moment; he quickly wrapped his arms around Bruce, burying his face in his shirt and stifling a sob. His small hands clenched into fists against his father's back, and only then did he realize that Damian was still clutching the broken glasses in his hand so tightly that the shattered lense cut into his palm. "We'll have the Commissioner get someone to check out the situation at Arkham," he assured him. Harley glanced at the elevator.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but someone is going to have to be upstairs when the cops get here, and it can't be me." She said quietly. Dick nodded slowly.
"I'll go." He wiped Tim's blood off of his hands and kissed Harley's head, his lips lingering for a moment, and then he walked to the elevator. Alfred sighed, content that everyone was alive, at least.
"Don't want to seem ungrateful or slow or anything," Jason spoke up after a pause, "but did Alfred just shoot the Joker in the face?"
"Yes, he did," Bruce sat up a bit and looked at him. Alfred narrowed his eyes.
"Don't look so surprised, Master Bruce, I did have a life before I worked for you parents. That life happened to be in the British Secret Service and her Majesty's Royal Air Force. I killed men who had done less than him, and were still slated for termination. They had families. He did not. I do." Alfred said it simply. "There was no choice, and I am not bound by Batman's morals." He watched for Bruce's reaction. Bruce looked around at his family, his eyes coming to rest on Selina.
"I know," he finally answered.
Alfred nodded curtly, checked on Tim, Jason, and Selina, and then looked around at all of them. "I'm going to go upstairs and take Master Dick's place. I suggest you all get some rest, after tonight." He walked to the elevator without another word, and sent Dick down once he'd reached the first floor. When Dick returned, he went straight to Harley.
"Are you alright?" he examined her and Haly, a hand on her cheek.
"I'm not sure," she whispered. She stroked her thumb along Haly's cheek as the baby blinked sleepily up at her. Dick watched her finger move, biting his lip. He nodded slowly.
"Yeah, me neither," he said hoarsely, not taking his eyes off of the baby.
"I'm just-" the tears in her throat choked off her words for a moment. "I'm just trying to remind myself that she's safe now."
"She's safe. We're all safe," Dick wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his arms suddenly, holding her and Haly tight.
"It feels like a dream," she mumbled, resting her head on his shoulder. "It doesn't feel real."
"It is," Dick whispered, holding her tight as he looked at Alfred. His hand smoothed Harley's hair away from her forehead as he took a shaky breath; all the while he was counting bullets, he was only half sure. His hope lay in an empty chamber, but he hadn't been completely positive that he wasn't about to take a bullet for his family. Coming down off of the adrenaline, his hands trembled as he closed his eyes. Her free hand balled in his shirt.
"Don't you ever do that to me again," she warned. "Don't you ever…"
"I was counting," he breathed. "The odds were in my favor," Dick chuckled anxiously and held her tighter, and Haly nosed her face into his chest.
"I don't care." She shook her head. "I thought I was going to lose you. Please," she tucked her head against his shoulder, "don't do that again."
"I will never do that again," he promised, his voice cracking as his hands shook in her hair. "I'll never leave you."
"Thank you." She closed her eyes. "And I'm so sorry." She didn't know what she was apologizing for. That she knew this is how he'd felt when she left him. That it was her relationship with the Joker that had caused this. That she hadn't been able to choose, to do anything. She squeezed her eyes tighter shut, trying to hold in the tears. Dick took her face in his hands, making her look at him.
"Harley, we're ok. We're all ok. And... And he can't hurt us anymore," Dick breathed, looking in her eyes. "You're ok, I'm ok, and our baby... She's ok. It's all gonna be alright," Dick smiled a little, and then leaned his head against her's, their lips brushing for a moment before he leaned away. His thumb trailed over her cheek, and Haly snuggled into her chest. "We're gonna be alright."
"Yeah," Harley looked down at Haly, "I think so." She closed her eyes, sniffling a little. "He's gone. He's really gone." Dick nodded in agreement.
"He's finally gone."