Chapter 12 - Differing perspectives
Talia watched with rapt attention how the showdown between the Joker and Batman would play out. There had been many similar battles over the years, but this was the first one she got to witness live and from the comfort of a couch no less.
She had been fully prepared for a reasonably emotional and action-packed showdown where the Dark Knight of Gotham would clash with his greatest rival. (Yes, she admitted it. The Joker and Batman just had more of a... for lack of better term connection than she herself or the League ever did. Of course, this was by all means a good thing, as she didn't exactly want to be pursued by the incredibly lucky and handsome vigilante! There was no reason to be jealous at all!)
Only, instead of what she and probably thousands all across the city had been expecting, there had suddenly been a loud noise and then the Joker fell out of frame! Vanishing into the nothingness beyond the border of the screen.
'What the hell just happened?' Talia had asked herself, bewildered.
Then Harley Quinn had begun to wail like a banshee and she understood. Someone had just shot the Joker dead.
'No way...'
The League had tried to eliminate the mad clown multiple times in the past, but each attempt somehow ended in failure due to either sheer luck or the Joker anticipating an assassination by some mysterious means. Talia had honestly not been able to imagine anyone else but God's chosen Fool finally ending his miserable life, but Batman didn't kill under any circumstances, so it would never come to pass.
If she were to utter those superstitions out loud her father would certainly chastise her for overestimating their enemy, but that was truly how she had felt.
And now? Well, she would have to wait and observe the situation further before casting judgement.
From the grainy darkness of the background stepped a painfully ordinary looking woman. Compared to such colourful and eye-catching personalities like Batgirl or Harley Quinn she seemed to be deliberately suppressed and dull. She wore a jacket and dress pants, appearing like a simple office worker if not for one detail: The mask obscuring her features.
Talia instantly recognized that white Hannya mask.
'Didn't she tell me that she was new to the business?'
Clearly the 'Devil' was neither as inexperienced nor as isolated as she had made herself out to be. Her value to the League had just increased tremendously in the same manner as her risk level had. A more prolific killer would be a more important asset, but also a greater threat should she ever turn on them. However, thinking about possible betrayals was a waste of time when they hadn't even formed a proper business relationship yet...
Maybe Talia could spin the story so that this victory came about by her design? Her new contact was already proving her capacity as a cold-blooded killer. By being the one to introduce this 'Devil' to her father, Talia would be in a position to claim ownership over this particular client, possibly benefiting from her skills far into the future. Any prestige that the woman with the white mask gained would rub off on her as well after all...
While her mind feverishly analyzed the potential benefits she could draw from this scenario, the people on TV did not remain silent by any means.
"You... you killed him!" Batgirl uselessly stated, seemingly shocked by the death of the man who a few seconds ago had held a gun to her head.
That assertion was enough to rip a frozen Harley Quinn from her stupor and drive her into a manic rage.
"Aghhh!"
Wordless hatred bubbled forth from her painted lips as she threw herself at the murderer of her boyfriend. Long, claw-like fingers stretched towards the masked woman's throat, most likely in a frenzied rage to choke the life out of her, but it was for naught. With such speed that the camera could only depict the motion as a grey blur, the self declared Devil twisted to the side and kicked the legs from under Harley. Before the villainess had even a moment to process her new air-born state, she was slammed into the ground. Hard .
Once, twice, thrice thundered the impact of her skull being hammered into the floorboards from behind before her assailant straightened herself out and patted some imaginary dirt off her hands.
"So... Batgirl is secured, right?"
Of all the things to leave Devil's mouth at that moment, Talia had not been expecting that.
Apparently neither had Batman and his two sidekicks.
"What?" asked the woman in question, utterly flabbergasted.
The demon's face seemed to frown as its wearer tilted her head: "Batgirl, do you feel safe and healthy right now?"
"Uhm... actually I don't feel very safe at all..."
"White Lady, cease this mockery!" Batman bellowed, his hand aggressively hovering over his pouch.
"I am not mocking anybody here. I am merely clarifying the facts here in order to establish proper legal grounds."
Now it was Robin's turn to confusedly ask: " What? "
"Batman, you promised a fifteen million bounty for information on her whereabouts, didn't you?" Devil accused, pointing towards his still tied up sidekick. "To be fair, you beat me to the punch here when it came to discovering her location, but I think it's more than reasonable to expect the bounty regardless, after I saved her life. Really, it's the least you could do..."
Ha! It seemed besides being an experienced killer; she was a shrewd businesswoman as well!
"You just shot a man in the head in cold blood and then you have the gall to demand money from me!?" Batman pressed out with gritted teeth.
"I can understand that you might be upset, but legally I was in the right here. Joker was threatening your assistant here with lethal action so I saw it necessary to respond with due force. There are dozens of criminals who get shot by police officers every day for-"
"It wasn't necessary!" he heatedly interrupted. "You could have disarmed him nonlethally!"
Silence suffused the stage for a few tense seconds, before Devil shrugged her shoulders and spread her arms wide in the universal 'what can you do' gesture.
"Maybe I could have, maybe I could not have. Would you be comfortable betting Batgirl's life on the assumption that the Joker – Gotham's infamous trickster and escape artist extraordinaire – didn't have a backup plan? For all I knew he would have pulled out a second pistol or a knife and by then I would have already lost the element of surprise."
Batgirl's head swivelled around to stare intently at Batman, visibly gauging his reaction.
Under the weight of that silent accusation, the man's resolve took a visible hit, but nonetheless he continued on: "No matter if you felt justified or not in doing this, White Lady, if you want to earn that bounty money legally , then you will have to face the investigation of the police on this case. Their judgement will ultimately determine if you are in the right or not."
'Oh, so this is how he wants to play it?' Talia thought amusedly. Either Devil would accept and certainly expose her secret identity or she would refuse, 'officially' backing down from her claim on the money. A literal win-win scenario for Batman.
Instead of commenting on that trap however, the masked woman chose to bring up a very different point: "This is the second time you called me that: 'White Lady'. Is that supposed to be a factual description or just a spontaneous nickname?
"It was simply the designation I gave you on our first meeting."
Oh, how interesting... So they had met before and she had walked away unharmed? Yes, Devil or White Lady or whatever her name was, had indeed been selling herself short if this was the case!
Thinking about it now, the fact this was all happening for basically the whole world to see appeared a bit too convenient to Talia's paranoid senses. To have her first major 'villain debut' be in a public space like this basically gave White Lady an instant jump in notoriety as thousands got to see her assassination of what was, perhaps, Gotham's most hated villain.
With that fame came a certain security that she couldn't be disappeared easily due to all the instantaneous good will she had gathered. Questions would be asked and public support would be drummed up to find out where this mysterious wild card went. So Talia had to ask herself...
Was this entire stunt just a precaution before meeting with the League of Shadows in five days? The loudest 'don't mess with me' message ever conceived?
That sounded implausible... but technically so were the odds of them both running into each other inside a random warehouse at the dead of night.
Mmmh... maybe this was a sign from god? She still needed a new right hand after all...
-W-
"So you were profiling me even back then? I was just enjoying a nightly walk and a group of heavily armed thugs ambushed me with – need I remind you – deadly intent. I made an effort to spare their lives, nevermind that I was the victim in that situation. Yet you are giving me a weird villainous title for literally no reason at all! I think I am beginning to see a pattern here!"
Oswald Cobblepot watched the scene unfold on his large extendable monitor with a growing frown on his face. Normally he would be celebrating the embarrassment of Batman and the downfall of the Joker with a nice cigar and some whiskey, but this newcomer... this 'White Lady' was a real problem for him now.
He remembered the failed ambush he had laid for Batman last week. It had been one of many, which was why he hadn't paid too much attention to it. Unfortunately it was more than likely that White Lady had been the one to send his goons to the hospital. Most of them had been shot and descriptions of their assailant had made her out as a blonde, blue-eyed young woman.
Those blue eyes were notably missing from the figure on the screen, but it could also be a result of the video quality. Oswald had bought the best television set money could procure from LexCorp and its colour diversity and resolution were superior to any other model on the market, but sadly the camera on Batman's end was some sort of outdated piece of trash! Oswald made a note to ruin that TV studio if they ever recovered from being used as a staging ground for one of the Joker's plans. People who used such trash to film the news were not worthy or being journalists in his city.
Regardless, the unknown superhuman who had blown apart the hips of his men was now responsible for the death of the Joker. If she could end that man so easily and still held a grudge over what his stupid minions did... Penguin really had more than enough enemies to be worried about already. There was no need for a trigger happy vigilante with superspeed to add onto that list...
"Don't blame me for being cautious when you casually demonstrate abilities beyond human limits. You were a potential danger that I took seriously. And ultimately I was right in that assessment..." Batman replied in a deadly serious tone, nodding to where presumably Joker's cooling corpse was lying off screen.
"Good riddance!" Oswald uttered out loud, wishing that maniac only the worst for wherever he ended up at after his demise.
That bastard had just not been good for business. Many a visitor had cancelled their reservations at his spa when the 'Clown Prince of Crime' became active in Gotham once again. It didn't matter that other villains might have been far more dangerous or even politically interested in attacking the rich and famous attending Oswald's luxury resort; the Joker just had that certain dreadful reputation about him. Nobody else managed to spread uncertainty and terror quite as he did.
With his voice turning softer Batman extended a hand towards White Lady: "You may have stained your hands with blood today, but it doesn't have to continue that way. There is always a better path. No amount of money can wash off the heavy burden of murder, but you could still do so much good by-"
" No! " yelled the masked woman in an uncharacteristic bout of emotion from what Oswald had seen so far.
"No?"
"I will not have this discussion again! I broke no rules and you nonetheless want me to be punished? Laughable! On what authority dare you lecture me about morality? Are you an undercover police officer? No, you are just some corporate henchman!"
"I don't understand what you mean-"
"Oh, don't pretend now! I see how trained you are! You can't learn to perform what you do as a civilian. Let me guess, your trainers and teachers were ex-black ops soldiers or something of that kind? And your gear must have cost millions to make! It's clearly a custom job, so it should be even more expensive! Whatever shadowy organization owns your life is really invested in seeing you succeed. How lucky you must feel to be their mascot here in Gotham City, but that doesn't mean you get to paint me as the villain here."
Oswald froze in his comfy chair. Was that really true? Had his struggle against Batman not been a battle against a lone vigilante, but possibly the US government? He was a criminal mastermind beyond compare, but picking a fight with an entire country was something not even he could win...
"White La-" Batman began before cutting himself off. "Look... what do you want me to call you?"
"I honestly don't care. The media will run with whatever sounds catchy and you already provided them with a name, so it doesn't matter now."
"Well then, White Lady, I can assure you I am not doing this for money or the interests of the elites."
The woman with the demon mask scoffed.
Robin chimed in from the side: "Yeah, Batman isn't like that! You've got it all wrong!"
Following up, Batgirl passionately explained: "He is fighting for justice. When I met him for the first time he saved my life at great danger to his own! I've got to see the man underneath that mask and there is nothing more he cares about than the citizens of Gotham!"
"Then maybe you got deceived! Nobody casually offers fifteen million dollars for a rescue operation. It's obviously not his money or else he would be doing something more pleasurable with his life than fighting crime at night or hunting for the Joker on Christmas Eve. I've seen the news. He is always ready for action when something important happens, literally no day off from work! Nobody does anything for free in this forsaken city, especially not when risking their life! Somebody has to be influencing him to act like this!"
"I think you might just be incapable of conceiving the thought that one could act for something greater than themselves." Batman rumbled, his voice filled with pity.
Putting her hands on her hips in obvious frustration, White Lady shook her head.
"There you are, judging me again. Seriously, what did you expect me to do? Not take up your bounty offer? That's enough money to change someone's life! ...or in this case, end them. " she declared with a sardonic huff.
Yes, he would definitely see about hiring this woman. Money alone should be enough to smooth over a bad first impression on his part. She clearly had a deft hand with firearms and both the guts to stand up to Batman as well as the burning greed required to demand payment from the guy. A few millions were nothing to him; nothing compared to removing some competitors from the greater picture.
Furthermore, by getting her on the Penguin's payroll, he would remove her from somebody else's. No doubt some of his rivals would attempt to gain her loyalty and if he could prevent another assassin from coming after his head by sending her after theirs then that was just good business.
On that note, he should remember to pay Mr. Freeze the rewards for taking out the Joker. Oswald Cobblepot gave away his money only begrudgingly, especially if the receiver hadn't done anything to earn it, but he also didn't want an angry snowman freezing his business in revenge. Naturally, such an insult wouldn't end well for the old man, but it would still be annoying to deal with. Desperate men were prone to cause foolish messes like that.
No matter, one way or another he would rule this city that was rightfully his and everyone in it...
-W-
Waylon found himself surprised by his own actions sometimes. Often it would be in a negative way when the burning haze of white-hot rage took over and he came to his senses afterwards, his arms splattered in gore and his mouth stuffed with meat. In the last week however there had also been some positive experiences mixed in with the bad.
For example right now he was genuinely chuckling along to the stupid gags of a cartoon full of sentient animals. At first he had resented the kids program for its obnoxiously cheery movies, but the painfully fake action movies or depressing dramas on the other channels weren't doing it for him either. So, in the end he switched back to the carefree animated shorts of adorable little goofballs having fun adventures together.
They weren't hated by humans for being different for some reason. Maybe because they were fictional and didn't really exist? If that big, human-shaped tiger there was walking around outside, people would probably be as afraid of it as they were of him...
Man , how long had it been since he last watched television like a normal person!?
Well, 'normal' in this case was pretty relative. He was strapped to a hospital bed with steel manacles and hooked up to an array of monitoring devices to not only observe the condition of his still healing lung, but also ensure that he didn't try to escape. If some unusually nice nurse had not slipped a TV remote underneath his shackled hand then he would be bored out of his mind right now, staring at a white wall. As thanks to that woman he tried to not scratch up the buttons on it too badly.
Waylon chortled again as the funny rabbit kicked the tiger upside the head and sent him tumbling down a flight of stairs. Totally deserved in his opinion. Nobody messed with her carrot pie!
"Hey Scaly, can you go to channel fifty-three?"
He shot the cop at the door a dirty look from behind his full-face muzzle.
"Why?" he croaked out.
"Apparently the bloody Joker is at it again. Kidnapped Batgirl or some rubbish. Jimmy says it's insane."
Sighing in frustration, Waylon interrupted his movie and complied with the order of the officer. He didn't cuss him out for it because he knew that the cop would doubtlessly confiscate his remote to punish him for his disobedience.
It took him a while to navigate to the right program, because his fingers were a bit too big for the buttons, but eventually he managed it. By the time he got to watch the madman get shot in the head, another two bulls had snuck into his hospital room and one was peeking through the open door.
"Woohoo! Gottem!" cheered the fat, tasty looking officer to the right.
"Oh my sweet L-lord..." stuttered the one with the glasses, his mouth gaping like a dead fish.
"I'm gonna kiss Samantha sooo good tonight..." absentmindedly grinned his original minder, smiling like a loon.
Wayland wasn't too interested in what happened to the clown. He was just another bastard among many. In contrast, who he cared very much about was the masked woman who had gunned him down.
He recognized that white mask.
She bickered with Batman about reward money, but honestly why would she? Sure, money was nice and all, but she had what mattered most already: Power.
That 'White Lady' was a predator. Someone who could do what they wanted, because they were strong enough to make it a reality. When they fought, Waylon hadn't been able to land a single hit on her. She had disabled him so effortlessly and without all that moral pussyfooting that Batman was so fond of. It was just a straightforward fight to the death. If he got her, he would have ripped her apart. White Lady got him instead and made him drown in his own blood. Sure, it sucked, but it was fair. He could understand the logic behind it. This world was fundamentally cruel and so they had to be as well.
Yet in the end she had saved him. He understood that only days afterwards. She could have left him to suffocate, but for some reason she didn't. Even attacked that stupid asshole cop who shot at him. And why? Because she could.
Now she just assassinated the Joker and was trading barbs with Batman. Why bother when she could simply kill him as well and take the money?
"Just end him already!" he yelled in irritation at the screen, though the words were somewhat muffled by his muzzle.
Sadly, his message did not reach her.
"Whatever, if you won't see reason then I will no longer waste my time arguing. I'll be taking Harley Quinn to the police. There should still be a finder's fee for delivering a wanted criminal to the authorities." White Lady stated flatly.
Her opponent objected: "I am afraid I can't let you do that. As she has already been pacified, you taking Harley Quinn with you would constitute kidnapping. Leave her here for law enforcement to collect."
"And why should I entrust her to your care in particular? Last time I checked, you were not officially associated with the GCPD." She asked challengingly.
"Less words, more fighting!" Waylon roared much to the displeasure of the cops.
"Shut up, Scaly!" "Quiet down Croc or I'll make you quiet."
Cowards! The whole lot of them! They wouldn't have the guts to say that to him if he wasn't shackled to the bed...
"I think you know why." Batman said with a raised brow.
"Oh sure, I am not the special, multi-million super-soldier embroiled in some shady PR scheme, but somehow I am the untrustworthy one here. Anyway, let's not escalate this and things won't have to get ugly. I will be taking her where she belongs; now ."
Batman stepped forwards, his posture quickly turning threatening again and Waylon's heart began to race in excitement.
"Stop it before I have to stop you ."
In a flash White Lady's gun was back in her hand, though pointed at the floor.
"If you attempt to harm me, be warned: I will defend myself. You are a dangerous, non-government sanctioned vigilante and as an American citizen I will exercise my right for bodily autonomy."
Waylon's blood was pumping loudly in his ears. The cops were equally transfixed to the events on the monitor, sporting every expression – from worried frown to approving smirk.
"You still haven't freed your lackeys by the way. Maybe you should worry about them first?" she added after a tense pause in the conversation.
Batman's gaze flickered over to where the red haired girl and the green boy were still tied up on their chairs. That brief distraction was enough for White Lady to rip an unconscious Harley Quinn off the ground and hold her by the neck in front of her like a meat shield.
"Don't follow me!" she warned before jumping backwards to somewhere the camera couldn't see.
Frozen in indecision, Batman stood his ground for a few seconds until he pointedly turned around and began to free his underlings from their bindings.
Huffing in disappointment, Waylon sank back into his pillow. No fight. But at least White Lady had stuck it to the Bat one last time. Like a true predator she had secured her prey and escaped unharmed. He could respect that.
-W-
Together, they watched the three of them drop off the rooftop and vanish somewhere in the concrete jungle of Gotham's backstreets. One of them was White Lady, with the bloodied form of Harley Quinn clearly thrown over her shoulder. The other appeared to be a tall red-head with... green skin?
Bruce wasn't sure he got that right from the brief glimpse he had caught of the escaping woman. He would have had a chance to catch up to her had it not been for the strange trap that forced them all to take the long way around.
"Damn it!" cursed Robin, but he didn't bother to correct his language this time.
"Do you think they're really bringing her to the police?" Barbara asked concerned.
It was a good question and not one he was sure of the answer.
"We can only hope. What matters is that we have many more clues now about White Lady's motivation and abilities that will help us in the future. The big unknown is her accomplice."
Most likely she was the source of the coiling vines that had tried to ensnare them as well as the flowers which produced a tear-gas like cloud of irritants upon contact. He hadn't encountered anyone with chlorokinesis in a long time...
Barbara hesitantly chimed in: "I... I think I may recognize that woman."
"What do you mean?" Dick voiced what they were both thinking.
"Before I was knocked out... there was a woman... She had vibrant red hair like that." Barbara slowly recalled.
Robin was quick to draw a connection: "The pollen that knocked you out came from a plant and that lady had some form of control over plants! Her skin was all green and stuff, what if she even is part plant or something? But if she was with White Lady, why would she..."
That was indeed a troubling revelation. What if...
His adopted son concluded: "You think this could be part of the Joker's plan? That he faked his own death?"
Bruce silently shook his head in disagreement, but Barbara only shrugged helplessly.
"It seems like an outlandish idea, but... everything went by so fast ... I honestly couldn't tell you what's even real anymore."
He would be lying if he said he didn't feel a similar way. So many conflicting clues painted a very convoluted picture. It seemed this case was far from solved yet...