Special Disclaimer: Some of the dialogue came from the Highlander episode "End of Innocence" but with some alterations, but the writers of the episode still deserve the credit as well as the people behind Justice League Dark as this is a retelling of both.
Chapter Three. Dark Struck, Bad Luck
Tori was keeping her mind preoccupied by beating on a punching bag to give in to sleep, contrary to what Richie was doing. She had a hard time sleeping because she had been thinking about the whole entire year. It started with Duncan being affected by the Dark Quickening, and it ended with her fighting Zorelda to save her fiance after she kidnapped him.
Richie wasn't faring much better. As a matter of fact, he was the one who was nearly beheaded by his own teacher. He felt betrayed and realized this was a part of the game. Tori managed to keep him together to some extent. He had taken heads of some immortals, but she had managed to cool him off when he was at his worst. After the ordeal with Zorelda, Richie had somehow managed to make amends with Duncan, but still felt he needed to be distant with him.
One final swift kick knocked the bag off the chain, causing it to land on the floor. Tori panted as she looked down at it.
Suddenly, it turned into Ming. She screamed, throwing herself onto him and beating it roughly.
"Go ahead and kill me, but what good will it do for you?"
Tori paused and stepped back. Felicia uttered those words to her before she took her head, leading to her first Quickening.
She had Duncan and the whole situation on her mind, and remembered the conversation she and Richie had with Joe before they left Seacouver for the year long tour, traveling the Earth and the galaxy.
A Year Ago
"He was going to do it," Richie told Joe, "he was going to take my head."
"He probably would have done so had it not been for you," Tori added, "and Mac probably would have taken my head too after that. He was ruthless."
"You knew he couldn't help it," Joe tried assuring them.
Tori took a deep breath, trying to believe it. If this was a Dark Quickening as the myth had it, chances were Duncan was corrupted.
On the other hand, Richie shook his head, "If you weren't there, I'd be dead."
"But that wasn't Duncan MacLeod," Joe insisted.
"You knew the hell it was it," Richie interjected, "where is he now?"
"Yeah Joe," Tori added, "where is MacLeod?"
"He's halfway to Europe," Joe answered. She couldn't make out what he said to them before that, but that was all they needed, especially Richie.
"Look, Richie, Tori," Joe glanced at his two immortal friends, "you guys might want to spend some time on holy ground. Sort all this out."
"Seriously?" Tori slightly scoffed.
"Sort this out," Richie rolled his eyes, "oh man, the guy I trusted..."
"We trusted," Tori added in.
"He tried to kill us," Richie continued.
"Richie," Joe began.
"No," Richie interrupted, "the reason doesn't matter. It was him. It was Duncan MacLeod. You know what's funny? All this time, I've been thinking all this whole 'There can be only one' thing, I'm thinking that's just talk. I'm thinking there's no way MacLeod would ever come for me, or Tori. I didn't believe it. I couldn't believe it."
"A part of me felt the same way," Tori nodded in agreement.
"Now," Richie looked right at Joe, "now we do."
He left the bar moments later. Tori had a plan in mind. She wasn't going to let Richie know just yet, or Joe for that matter.
She handed him a piece of paper.
"What's this?" Joe asked.
"My email," Tori answered, "if Duncan MacLeod does happen to come around, let me know. Maybe then, hopefully, I can bring Richie around."
"If there's anyone that can bring him around," Joe smiled as he accepted the paper, "I'm pretty certain that would be you."
-The-Magic-Within-
Nightwing glanced around as he was having a headache. This had been going on all day since the past morning. He looked up as the Bat Family was talking with the Defenders.
"So, what's up with patrolling tonight?" Signal asked.
"The Defenders are going to help you guys with patrolling tonight," Oracle answered, "and you guys are going to be put into two different groups."
"That sounds like a plan," Mandrake nodded.
"Group one will consist of Batman, Nightwing, Robin, Spoiler, Batwoman, Flash Gordon, Sheila, the Phantom, Rick, Jedda, and LJ," Oracle explained, "and you guys will be patrolling Central Park as you will run into Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn there. They are causing mayhem as usual."
"Like there isn't anything unusual going on in Gotham," LJ scoffed.
"Group two will consist of Red Hood, Signal, Orphan, Batwing, Mandrake, Lothar, April, and Amy," Oracle continued, "and you guys will patrol downtown. You guys are going to run into the Condiment King, as cringy as this might sound, but my father says that's the only other person who's out and about."
"Condiment King?" Amy asked, slightly groaning as Red Hood, Orphan and the Signal were all groaning in disapproval.
"You'll find out about him when we have to deal with him," the Signal answered.
"At least I won't be dealing with him this time," Nightwing stated with a smirk.
"Can I switch places with Dick over here?" Orphan asked.
"No," Oracle answered, "the groups have already been decided before this meeting."
"Great," Orphan rolled her eyes.
"Besides," Batman replied, "we don't need anyone bailing out at the last minute like last time."
"Maybe I should do the same thing," Orphan muttered.
"What about me?" Kshin asked.
"You will be helping me out in case I need help with calling authorities and stuff like that," Oracle answered.
"Great," Kshin rolled his eyes.
"You'll be just fine," Oracle assured him.
-The-Magic-Within-
Red Hood looked around as April, Amy, Mandrake, Lothar, Orphan, the Signal and Batwing were all with him.
"Isn't this lovely?" Red Hood sulked, "Batman and his group get to take on the big leagues being Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy while we get stuck with someone with the likes of the Condiment King!"
"Too bad Nightwing didn't take on this guy when he was supposed to," Orphan muttered, "and the fact that he bailed made it worse."
"But Batman took on the Condiment King that day," the Signal assured the group, "so, it's all bridge under the water."
"What exactly is so bad about taking on the Condiment King?" Mandrake asked.
"That's what I want to know," Lothar glanced at the group.
He staggered back upon something red hitting his backside, "Really?! Ketchup?!"
The group turned to face the man who appeared to be the Condiment King, "Put down your forks and tremble before the might of the Uncanny Condiment King!"
"We're not eating here!" Amy exclaimed.
"What kind of bozo uses condiments for weapons?" April asked, annoyed, "and why did I have the feeling that this guy was going to be as bad as everyone advertised?"
"Just a hunch," Orphan answered.
"The guy seems harmless to us," Mandrake stated, "so, this should be no problem."
"I have relished the moment I get the chance to meet the legendary Defenders of the Earth," the Condiment King told the group.
"How flattering that you know us," Mandrake quipped.
"Enough talk, Condiment King!" Batwing exclaimed, "let's get down to bushiness!"
The Condiment King fired his ketchup/mayo and mustard guns at the group. They mostly dodged with some of the firing hitting Red Hood's jacket among other things.
"Hey!" Red Hood exclaimed, "Ugh! Nightwing is going to owe me big time for this!"
"It could be worse," April assured him. Seconds later, a thing of ketchup hit her hair.
"Correction," April stated angrily, "it just got worse."
She kicked down the Condiment King, causing him to lose balance and fall to the ground. This caused the mustard, mayo and ketchup all to be fired at once, landing on the force fields Mandrake gathered which only deflected on the Condiment King.
"Hit with my own condiments!" the Condiment King exclaimed as he slowly got up.
"Thanks for the help, Mandrake," Orphan glanced at her ally.
"How are you able to do that?" the Signal asked.
"My dear boy," Mandrake answered, adjusting his cap, "a magician never reveals his secrets."
"Fair enough."
Red Hood, Orphan, the Signal, and Batwing pulled off their skills against the Condiment King, with Orphan standing out as the one who was kicking butt the most. April and Lothar helped out the group as well.
Suddenly, the Condiment King started to look panicked about something as he glanced around the group, as if he was seeing something they weren't seeing, "No. No! This can't be! How are there monsters here?!"
"Monsters?" Lothar looked confused.
"What the hell is he even talking about?" Red Hood added in.
"Prepare to relish in your doom, monsters!" the Condiment King shouted before firing his weapons again. This time, Amy stepped forward and the attack reflected back at her opponent and the force of her attack caused the Condiment King to fall to the ground. Batwing managed to get the crazy criminal restrained before he could do anything else.
"You cannot hold me!" the Condiment King shouted, "I will not allow these monsters to ketchup me!"
"Ketchup you?" April stated, "Now you aren't making sense."
"Oracle," the Signal informed their eyes of the team, "you might wanna call up the authorities right away before the Condiment King tries to break free."
"Already on it," Oracle replied, "Kshin has already contacted the authorities to your location."
A few minutes later, the police arrived and took the Condiment King into custody.
"What was that all about?" the Signal asked.
"I have no idea," Orphan answered, "but he was acting more crazier than usual."
"I sure hope they do a psych evaluation on this idiot," April said as she tried getting the ketchup off her hair, "he seriously has issues."
"Why was he going on about monsters and demons?" Amy asked.
"I have no idea," Mandrake answered, "but it sure is puzzling."
-The-Magic-Within-
Nightwing sighed as he was patrolling with Batman, Robin, Spoiler and Batwoman were all flying in the sky with him during patrolling while Flash, Sheila, Rick, Jedda and LJ were in the ship to keep up with them.
The group arrived at Central Park where Ivy was creating her evil garden with Harley keeping an eye out on things. Flash, Sheila, Rick, Jedda and LJ met up with Batman, Nightwing, Robin, Spoiler and Batwoman seconds afterwards.
"Well," Batman stated, "look who it is."
"Red!" Harley called out to her partner in crime, "we have company!"
"The Bat Family," Ivy stated as she stepped down from her vines, "why am I not surprised?"
"So," Flash glared at the opponents, "you must be the Queen of the plants and Joker's lover."
"Hey," Harley replied, "listen here, blondie! What goes on between me and Mistah J is none of your business!"
"Here we go again," Ivy groaned.
"Are we going to fight," Spoiler asked, "or are we going to just stand here and chat?"
"We fight!" Sheila exclaimed before she suddenly turned invisible.
"Hey! Where did she go?!" Ivy exclaimed.
"Time to make our move guys," Sheila told her friends and allies.
"Works for me," Flash replied.
LJ used his skills to take down both Harley and barely Ivy. Jedda pulled off some martial arts skills of her own and beaten down both of her opponents. Nightwing and Batwoman doubled teamed against Harley and Ivy, and even Rick managed to fight them, but not without Ivy kissing him.
"Now, dear boy," Ivy told Rick, "go and attack your father."
Rick nodded before he lunged towards his father, and at one point disarmed his weapon.
"Rick, come on now," Flash tried reasoning with his son, "let's think about this now!"
He tried dodging his son's blows and ends up being hit square in the jaw. Suddenly, Batman grabbed Rick and injected him with something.
"What did you do?" Jedda asked.
"It's a serum for Ivy's poison kiss," Batman answered, "he should be all right now."
"I'll take him back to the ship," Flash informed the group before he carried his weakened son to the ship.
"By Jungle Law, the Ghost Who Walks calls forth the strength of ten tigers!" the Phantom called upon his power.
"Uh oh," Harley quipped.
"I don't like the sound of that," Ivy added.
The Phantom knocked down the strong vines Ivy was sitting on, causing her to fall to the ground.
Batman ended up apprehending Harley and Ivy and Sheila, using her invisibility, beaten them down to where Harley ended up being knocked down and out for the count.
"That was unexpected," Batman stated as he tied up Harley, followed by Ivy.
"How dare you?!" Ivy exclaimed. Sheila appeared again, "I get that a lot."
"Oracle, inform Commissioner at once," Batman ordered.
"He's on his way to Central Park right now," Oracle replied.
Commissioner Gordon arrived at Central Park and was talking to Batman and the Phantom as the police arrived to take Harley and Ivy into custody.
"Looks like those ladies are going back to Arkham," Robin stated, crossing his arms.
"Very much so," Nightwing nodded in agreement. Suddenly, he started feeling strange. He tried to make a move, but he couldn't.
"We should get going," Batwoman suggested.
"I agree with that," Jedda nodded in agreement, "I need to know if Rick's okay."
"I agree with that sentiment," LJ nodded as the group prepared to leave Central Park.
"Dick, are you coming?" Spoiler asked.
No answer. Nightwing tried to answer her but he found that he couldn't.
"Hello?" Spoiler called out, "World to Nightwing! Can you hear me?!"
Again, no answer. It was scaring him that he couldn't even speak Spoiler's civilian name.
"Nightwing!" Robin called out this time.
Suddenly, Nightwing blacked out.
-The-Magic-Within-
Batman watched as the police were taking Harley and Ivy into the police car as he was talking to Gordon.
"Things are getting quite weird lately," Gordon stated, "from what Orphan and Mandrake mentioned the Condiment King was hallucinating about demons."
"I'm surprised Harley and Ivy didn't hallucinate about these demons," Batman noted.
"Maybe it's just an isolated incident."
Suddenly, the two men heard a loud scream from across the room. They hurried to the area to find that Spoiler had screamed and Flash, Sheila, the Phantom, Rick, Jedda and LJ looked on in shock. Batman paled in horror at what they were all looking at. Nightwing was on the ground having a seizure.
"Nightwing!" Robin cried out.
"Call an ambulance!" Gordon called out.
"Kshin has already done that!" Oracle replied via Batman's communicator as her voice was slightly panicked, "An ambulance is on it's way! In the meantime, do what you can to keep Nightwing comfortable, quickly!"
Batman quickly removed his cape and used it as a make shift pillow then, he placed Nightwing's head on it. Batwoman helped place Nightwing on his side.
"Don't worry," Batman assured Nightwing, "you're going to be okay. You have to be okay."