Chapter 14 - Missed goals

Like two fat drunkards wearing opposite gang colours in a seedy alleyway, they advanced towards each other slowly and with clear violent intent. The ground was slippery and unstable, full of sharp edges and hollow pockets of air which made their steps seem ridiculous and random because they were both as focused on their footing as each other; a careful dance where one wrong slip could spell their doom.

Tanya would ordinarily not have much of a problem navigating the icy minefield, but her manifold heightened pain response blasted her nervous system with fresh waves of agony at every step. Meanwhile Mr. Freeze had to simultaneously fight against his own considerable weight and the remnants of his crushed powersuit digging into his frosty flesh.

Only a few short arms' lengths before they entered striking distance, Tanya took the initiative in an attempt to dictate the pace of the battle. Kicking at an exposed ice spike with her boot, she punted the splintering shards at her opponent's face.

Mr. Freeze instinctively raised his arm even though he wore protective goggles. Such was human nature when confronted with a multitude of tiny, pointy objects flying at one's face. She used this opportunity to dash in – the ground exploding behind her in a shower of ice – and slam her body's weight against his broken leg which gave away completely under her foot with a wet crack and a sharp scream of pain.

This manoeuvre however was not without costs for herself. For one, her vision was swimming and the only reason she was not throwing up from her own pain was that her esophageal muscle was clenched tightly shut. For another, she was now in melee range of the giant, armoured supervillain.

With wordless rage on his lips, his fists lashed out, narrowly missing her crouched form. Try as she might, her jittery limbs were too weak to exploit the opening he presented her and ram her blade under his chin. Instead Tanya was forced to back off, protectively cradling her wounded hand.

Swinging with his built up momentum, Mr. Freeze tried to follow up with a lower flurry of punches, but those were easily evaded with a hop backwards, seeing as he was now effectively rooted to the spot with his leg entirely out of commission... Immobilized, he had lost the advantage of his greater height and mass and Mr. Freeze knew that too, judging from his frustrated expression.

No words were exchanged between the two crippled fighters as Tanya began to circle his armoured form, akin to a starved wolf sizing up a trapped bear in the dead of winter.

Lightly testing his defences, she feinted a leap forward, only to be forced to tilt out of the way of a sharp piece of scrap he threw her way. She repeated her trick, aiming to lure him into unbalancing himself, but the villain surprised her by intentionally throwing his weight her way. Tanya tried to dodge, however the slippery ground decided to prevent that by tripping her at the worst moment.

Blinding pain tore through her body as she was slammed onto the ice and her injured palm got squished by the force. Her lungs desperately sucked in air as her back bounced off the ground, but her animal instinct made her bare her teeth in defiance anyway. Wildly kicking the muscular arms that attempted to grab ahold of her, Tanya managed to evade Mr. Freeze's grip and slither a short distance away.

This ridiculous fight was getting nowhere... She needed an edge!

Somewhere, underneath the stifling haze of enraged nerves screaming at her that they were hurt, she found it. Deep inside her gut, she could feel her kidneys toiling away at filtering and regulating her blood. Like a regular human could tell the directions of up and down, Tanya simply knew the state and function of her organs.

Commanding them to amplify their activity, Tanya intimately registered how their energy consumption increased. It felt natural, intuitive even to order her adrenal glands to release stress hormones into her veins. And why wouldn't it? They were part of her body, part of her very being.

One second later the flood of adrenaline hit her brain, making her exhale in relief as the pain in her limb dimmed somewhat. More and more blissful calmness washed over her as the biochemicals in her bloodstream were finally able to partially suppress her sensations. It still hurt, but there were more important things than her own wellbeing at the moment. She needed to fight!

Tanya smiled tightly as she flipped to her feet, relishing the feeling of control with newfound fondness. Mr. Freeze was still in the process of getting up and thus she struck out with absolute prejudice. Her heel hammered into his bald head, catering the ice underneath as he was pushed back down like the filth he was. For some reason she really wanted to laugh about that...

Flipping around, she nimbly climbed over his prone torso and buried her knife in his exposed side where the armour had been peeled away. Her blade shot out and sank into his gut with a satisfying thump. She drew back, exposing the slick red steel to the light before burying it in his body again. Repeating that process a few more times to be sure (and because it was cathartic) she happily hopped off and turned him around with some effort.

She wanted to see his face when he died.

Blood leaked from the villain's lips and there was a kind of primal terror in his eyes. He knew that he was done for. His short, pathetic life was coming to an end and there was nothing he could do about it. All because of her...

Wait... why did she kill him? Hadn't she wanted to disable him nonlethally earlier?

Oh, well... It was probably better this way! Else he would possibly go after her later. That would be annoying. Yes, this was definitely the better way. Tanya nodded her head in agreement.

A weak cough made her refocus her blurry vision on the man currently bleeding out beneath her.

That dread in his gaze had given way to acceptance. To understanding. And... concern?

"Please..." he rasped out.

"Mh?" she questioned, tilting her head in puzzlement.

"Save... her..."

Weakly reaching underneath the rim of his breast plate, he produced a tiny golden pendant. He ripped it free of its chain with what seemed like a herculean effort and desperately shakily held it out for Tanya to take.

The thing looked worn, but well cared for. It might still fetch a few hundred dollars at the right pawn shop. Shrugging, she accepted the soon-to-be dead man's jewellery, pocketing it and passively watched his eyelids close one final time.

He looked kind of… peaceful like that... Oh, were those police sirens?

She should get out of here then. The money might be a bust, but she still had a prisoner whose bounty she could cash in. Everything was alright. Distractedly, Tanya took off her mask and dragged herself back through the city.

Pamela still sat where they parted ways, dully staring at her hands as if they held the secrets of the universe. Maybe they did? Tanya found herself giggling again. Distantly she noted the lack of prisoners in the room. Where was Harley Quinn?

She shot Pamela a questioning look and the answer she received actually managed to shake her unnaturally good mood.

"I'm sorry, but... she escaped."

"Shit."

-W-

The Joker was actually dead.

It was a hard pill to swallow. After years of advocating for reforms to the mental health treatment of the criminally insane and trying to show the world that every human life had intrinsic worth, someone had just come up and shot him.

Batman wasn't sure what he should feel about that. Naturally, he condemned murder of any kind, but White Lady had undeniably acted with the best interests of Barbara in mind, twisted as her intention might have been by monetary greed. He checked Joker's weapon personally and found that the bullet in the chamber had indeed been lethal.

Now, he was quite sure that the mad clown hadn't actually intended to simply kill Batgirl without a proper show. Putting a gun to her head had most likely been an act to scare him more than anything else. However, he would never be sure of that thanks to White Lady's interference.

He would also never know what Mr. Freeze had been doing in the abandoned amusement park. The villain had been found dead later in the afternoon on top of a small glacier that had suddenly appeared. While the rather unhinged stabbing wounds in his side were not typical of her profile, Batman was certain that White Lady was behind that murder as well.

No concrete evidence connected her to the crime scene, but the pistol he detected underneath the ice had the same calibre as the weapon that ended the Joker's life. Unfortunately, no identifiable fingerprints remained on the pistol after he excavated it with a laser cutter. His best bet on why Mr. Freeze had been killed was the ripped bag of money near where the man had crawled out of the ice and at the direct centre of whatever phenomenon had caused the glacier.

Money seemed to be a common theme for the emerging villainess...

Thinking back on it, something about White Lady's demeanour and tone seemed very familiar to him; though he could not say why. The person she reminded him the most off was the woman he had to regrettably fire last week: Tanya Degurechaff.

They were both blondes with a near manic focus on results over the means it took to get to them, but the skin tone was off and he was sure that Miss Degurechaff didn't have superpowers during any of their meetings. She had mostly been a model employee from a reputable family. Furthermore her ocular pigmentation appeared to fluctuate between day and night. It all didn't add up, but he nonetheless checked the company database for a possible hint.

What he found further confirmed that he was on the wrong path here. Normally his intuition was quite good, but not even Batman was infallible. Miss Degurechaff's height, eye colour and shoe size didn't match up with White Lady's, although he could have sworn that she had been taller than what her file said. Whatever...

With that avenue of research now closed, he examined the second clue on the masked woman's identity: The mysterious blood at the site of Mr. Freeze's death.

Somebody – presumably White Lady – had grabbed ahold of a billboard framework in order to escape the rising masses of ice, impaling their hand on some nails in the process. While the DNA material was quite diluted by dirt and rust, Batman would have normally been able to tell a lot about any given suspect with its help.

Unfortunately, this sample seemed to actively resist observation. First he had tried sequencing its genetic material for anomalies, but the DNA refused to split into parts no matter what he did. It would either stay whole or get destroyed entirely. Then, when he looked at the blood cells under a microscope, they appeared to always stay out of focus or evade the light of the illuminator with uncanny frequency. Finally, he removed the solution in which they were suspended to immobilize them and as a result each cell deconstructed itself in a matter of seconds.

That was a troubling discovery.

Simple building blocks of life should not possess such intelligence... Was this the product of genetic engineering? Or of something more… sinister?

Batman was reasonably confident that the green skinned woman who had accompanied White Lady and tranquilized Barbara was Poison Ivy. After many years hiding underground and vanishing from the public eye, could this organism be the result? Had the once strictly plant-controlling villain expanded her repertoire to a general control over biology?

To call the clearly sentient and sapient White Lady an artificial creation sounded like a stretch, but not one that he could dismiss outright.

This whole conundrum affirmed his decision to keep watch on Barbara. She was staying at the manor for the moment, to get checked for possible after effects of the pollen that she had been exposed to. From their analysis of the narcotic substance it seemed unlikely, but Bruce wanted to be one hundred percent sure that Poison Ivy hadn't left any nasty surprises in there.

Eager as Commissioner Gordon was to reunite with his daughter he understood the reasoning. He was a reasonable man like that. Batman could only hope that same level-headedness would carry on to the inevitable talk they were going to have about Barbara's secret identity. That was going to be a difficult conversation...

Bruce already knew that she was not going to be thrilled about giving up on her nightly fights but, at least for the time being, she shouldn't needlessly worry her father. There were other, safer ways to support him in fighting crime then sneaking out of her bedroom window. She was still a teenager, who – while mentally and physically gifted – should not yet be traumatized by near death experiences.

Oh, she hid it well, but the feeling of total helplessness as Harley Quinn and the Joker threatened her with torture and death had left its marks. He had failed her in this regard. Until he caught Poison Ivy and White Lady Barbara would not risk her life again. Maybe longer.

Idly he wondered how she might be feeling at the moment, isolated in her room?

-W-

In the morning newsletters and broadcasts were all filled with an avalanche of gossip about the Joker's demise and the mysterious woman responsible for it. Who was she? What were her goals?

And most importantly... Was she right about Batman?

Popular conspiracy theorist John Alexon was raving on the radio about Batman being a government PSY-OP that had now strategically been revealed by a Chinese secret agent in order to destabilize America. He didn't seem to realize that the White Lady's mask was Japanese in origin and that she had spoken with an American accent.

Others proposed that he could be Lex Luthor's alternative to Superman. The billionaire had warned multiple times of the dangers of relying on one man to save everybody. Some even connected Batman to the well known philanthropist Bruce Wayne, theorising about him being his secret pet project to circumvent the corrupt police force.

Yet, it came to Barbara's great relief that most journalists would simply dismiss White Lady's wild claims as too outlandish to be true. Batman fought for the people and not some corporation. A bit of slander by an unknown person was not enough to undo a decade of good deeds...

Opening one of her favourite websites, she logged in to try and gauge the reaction of the public.

Welcome to Super-Crime Online:

You are currently logged in as: BeatingHeart23 (Cops are Heroes too)

Thread: JOKER is DEAD – killed by new HERO on live TV

Yes, you read that right. THE JOKER has tried to kidnap and torture Batgirl and Robin today on live TV. Batman arrived just on time to stop them, but an until now unknown masked woman (who also defeated Killer Croc on Monday) wounded him lethally with a pistol! The Joker is finally DEAD!

She did this apparently because of the fifteen million dollar reward for Batgirl posted in the newspapers. Batman refused to pay her the money. (He has not denied his involvement in setting up the prize money, but technically speaking also not confirmed.) In response the vigilante - referred to by Batman as White Lady – took an unconscious Harley Quinn with her! What is she gonna do with her?

Stuff is moving in Gotham that's for sure. No official statement by the police has been made yet other than that they are investigating. Poor dudes have to serve even on Christmas. I wish them best of luck!

Link to video recording of the event: /vid/euzholnfvzuu1223

EDIT: Typos. Also thanks for the awards guys J

EDIT 2: Mr. Freeze also found dead in the abandoned amusement park. Possible connection since he was apparently responsible for the Arkham breakout?

In: News ► Gotham City

Posted by: ILoveKitesHellYEAH1 (Superman Fanboy)

Approval Rating: 94%

Page: 10 of 13

►StansislavOlgiri wrote:

Finally! I have been begging for years for someone to put this animal down! Now I can visit my grandma without fearing for my life again. Wouldn't have dared to otherwise, lol

►CCChamealeanXX (Catwoman enthusiast) wrote:

The title of this thread is the worst clickbait I've seen in a long time. WL isn't a hero and Joker's death is UNCONFIRMED. This could have been a body double or whatever. Regardless, stop celebrating because you think someone died. I'm sure that is against the rules somehow.

►SuckMyAvocado (Flight is the best Power) wrote:

Is honestly nobody going to mention that she killed Mr. Freezer a few hours later?
Saving Batgirl's life is one thing, but that seems like straight up murder to me. The site has been sectioned off, but here are some pictures someone managed to snap from on top of the old Ferris wheel: /pic/col/bdcjhvvjftk73849

►Firrre2311 wrote:

His name is Mr. Freeze u idiot
And literally what is your official source on that bro. those blurry pics are fake as hell
Stop making shit up!

►Leberpastete9 wrote:

Batman should be forced to pay her! White Lady deserves a fat paycheck for her service! She is da bomb

►GreatOverlordGreg (Hobby Detective) wrote:

I'm not saying its fake, but look at the facts guys. This is super sketchy. Batman just so "happens" to show up right on time and White Lady waits for the "exact" moment to justifiably put a bullet in him?
This whole thing was planned out! It was an execution!
Joker went too far this time and Batman found a way around his no killing rule. He hired someone else to do it for him.
But that's just a theory guys. No hate pls J

►LoogreKevinBusiness88 wrote:

Leberpastete9 If she has a public donation account I will definitely send some funding her way. Idk how much I can spare, but at least 20k dollars should go some way for telling her that her work is appreciated.
Hopefully she will continue, but if Mr. Freeze's fate is anything to go by then we won't have to merely hope for that XD #CleanGothamUp

►TheWeakShallInheritTheEar (Superman Fanboy) wrote:

Come on people this is messed up... White Lady is a criminal and a murderer. If Batman doesn't like her then there is probably something wrong with her. She should just go to police if she wants to prove her innocene but she won't. Instead she is smearing Batman's good name and you all are losing your minds over it like rabid animals. SO disappointed in you all L

►PenniesForPennies wrote:

TheWeakShallInheritTheEar Everything she did was legal or at least should be legal. I've lived in Slavtown my entire life and it always was a shithole. And when Batman came? He didn't make it any better. If anything, when the bloody Scarecrow gassed our district with his poison he didn't even go to prison for it. Had the cops gotten to him first I guarantee they would have shot the bastard.
They call Arkham a clinic or a rehabilitation centre or some nonsense like that, but did they ever really cure anyone there? No! Batman sends these nutcases there where they get treated all nice and cozy and get a warm, padded cell to relax in and plan their next escape attempt. Meanwhile me and my brothers have to plunder f*cking garbage containers because my Ma got put into a coma by Scarecrow's stupid f*cking gas and the hospital is robbing us blind every damn month!
So I say f*ck them! F*ck those stupid supervillains! They're not above consequences. When we street rats make a mistake we die. Why do they only get a slap on the f*cking wrist, huh!? WHY?

(Edited by Moderator for profanity.)

►ArchDemonsAreTheBestGang wrote:

Fully agree. Been running heroin since I was 8 yrs old and got snatched by the pigs once. The officer beat me black and blue and then took my money. Would have bled out if not for my buddy. He later got shot for escaping arrest after he stole a jacket. It was winter! We didn't have electricity back then, so we would have frozen to death. I don't even know where his grave is. The pigs took him away and I never heard what happened to the body.
Jerome was the best brother I ever had. Just thinking about him I'm tearing up again. Nobody cares about us blacks. We're just vermin to you all. I've never seen someone care about what the pigs or the gangs do to us. And now some of y'all have the mother*cking gall to cry about the Joker? F*cking pathetic. I hate this city.

(Edited by Moderator for profanity.)

►GreatOverlordGreg (Hobby Detective) wrote:

Another thought I had while watching the footage again: Are we really sure WL is a woman? I mean shouldn't she dress more… openly? Like Harley Quinn! She is super hot (real crazy tho) Or how about that one time Catwoman posed on top of the Richards Building…. Like wow she has some curves you know? Female villains are expected to show off their bodies a bit.
I don' make the rules! It's just facts. Heroes too now that I think about it. Batgirl's body is just divine~

(Barbara experienced a full-body shudder when she read that.)

Anyways, White Lady is dressed kinda boring. And that chest is looking awfully flat as well. That could just be body armor there. Maybe she is secretly a guy? But hey that's just a theory! No hate pls

►5DimensionalImp (Superman Fanboy) wrote:

Hehe, this is too funny. Excited to see where this goes…

►Coockiesbeuponye wrote:

Not gonna lie Joker's death has given me hope again. What Batman does? That's good and all, but I could never do that. I could never be Batman. But pulling a White Lady? Just pulling out a glock and nailing one of those bastards in the head? Yeah, I can do that. I could do what she did. She just showed that they are not invincible to us regular folks. Anyone could take the supers down.
I swear if I ever get my sights on that monster Killer Croc I'm gonna-

(Edited by Moderator for deadly threats.)

►Burnt-Feline (Moderator) wrote:

Stop it with encouraging real life violence or you will be suspended. I am serious. Gotham doesn't need more hotshots with weapons running around.

-w-

After this point the discussions dissolved even further into unhinged rants, multiple bans and generally unpleasant behaviour. Barbara decided to stop reading for the sake of her own mental health, choosing instead to test her hacking skills by infiltrating the surrounding sensor network monitoring her condition.

Everything was within normal parameters. She felt as fit as always. All systems showed green.

And yet, why wouldn't her knee stop shaking when she thought of going outside her room, alone?