Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 21:03:41 EDT Reply-To: Highlander TV show stories Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: "Jason R. Tippitt" Subject: Dark of Knight, Part 12 of 13 ************************************************************************ D A R K O F K N I G H T ************************************************************************ Jason R. Tippitt, 1994 A Highlander/Batman Crossover Part 12 of 13 ******* The helicopter hurtled through the air, about thirty feet above the huddled forms of Batman and Commissioner Gordon, and crashed through the glass windows of the City Mall Of Gotham. It finally exploded there, sending glass and steel raining down onto the streets below. Bruce felt debris bouncing off his cape, but it resisted even the sharpest edges. He would be bruised tomorrow, but that was nothing new. "Are you all right, Jim?" he asked the Commissioner. Gordon coughed. "I'm fine. Let's get away from here before the fire spreads any more." Batman looked up at the comedy club. It was fully ablaze now. Even as he considered what chances of survival he might have inside, another piece of the ceiling collapsed and another chunk of wall fell away from the husk. [Be interesting to see if MacLeod lives through *this*.] ******* The catwalk gave way almost in synch with the charges around the building. Duncan, Jason, and the Joker were thrown off in opposite directions. Duncan looked up just in time to see the floor give way under Jason as a second round of explosions rocked the building--he ran toward the hole and suddenly he was falling, too. He hit the water and came up thirty yards away. He spat the water out of his mouth. He didn't want to think about what was in it. "Are you down here, kid?" he screamed. He heard someone coughing somewhere in the darkness. "Kid! Hold tight, I'm coming!" He checked to make sure his sword was in place, then began paddling toward the sound. ******* Batman and Gordon ran toward the firetrucks, Montoya and Bullock on their heels. Several other police trailed behind. Batman looked in distaste at the assembled media nearby. "Damn it, Jim, can't you do anything about these ghouls?" Gordon ordered his officers to move the police out of the area. A few cried out that their First Amendment rights were being threatened. The cameras kept rolling. Batman looked at the mess and shook his head. (Wonder what kind of harm I'd do if I busted their equipment? If Jim cared more about his ass than justice he'd be hauling me in right now instead of letting me be here. I wonder if they realize this is exactly what the Joker loves?) The firetrucks were spraying water into the blazing buildings with little noticeable effect. "Any other way in or out?" Jim asked. "No--wait, there's the sewer." Batman looked down at the manhole cover under his feet. "The sewer." He dropped to his knees and began working on opening the hole. ******* Unconscious on the waves, Jason dreamed. Odysseus ran out of the bunker with Gregor over his shoulder. He didn't want to leave to leave Eva, but Duncan had told him, "They have to find both bodies or else the people will have no doubt this was a hit, and the war will go on." "We filled Hitler with enough lead to--" "They aren't going to check that, not after a fire." Smoke wafted up to the three Immortals from below them, where Duncan had rigged the bunker's power boxes to short out. "You've lost her, friend--don't let her death be in vain." They rushed outside into the last hour before dawn. The sky was slowly turning from black to purple. "It's all in vain," Odysseus said, laying the now-stirring Gregor on the ground. "We ended the war, yeah, but the war had nothing to do with us. Just the humans." "We are humans." Gregor sat up. His whole body was trembling. "No, we're not. We shouldn't even try to be." A tank rolled up to the bunker. Duncan and Odysseus helped Gregor off the ground. "Well, we can sit on our tails in jail longer than regular humans," Duncan murmured. The top of the tank popped open. Connor MacLeod poked his head out from the turret. "You kept me waitin' long enough, Kinsman!" he yelled, then jumped down with a laugh. He saw their faces and his smile faded. "Bad tricks, eh?" "Just get us out of here," Duncan said quietly. Jason awoke, coughing. "I'm coming, kid!" Duncan called from upstream. In a weak voice he pleaded, "No...I'm all the way up here...trap..." ******* Batman climbed down the ladder into the sewer, mini-flashlight held firmly between his teeth. He shone the light around, but saw nothing but disturbed, confused rats scurrying out of its beam. (When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.) (...) (Stop it, Bruce, you're being morbid.) ******* Duncan swam his way over to the source of the coughing. He could barely make out the figure in the darkness. "You'll be alright, Jason." The Joker's boot slammed into Duncan's chin, knocking him backwards into the water. "Thanks for the warm fuzzies, snookums!" The insane Immortal stood, rubbing his eyes. "Thank goodness there're no lights, love...my makeup must be a *horrible* mess." Duncan struggled to rise from the water. The Joker planted a foot in the Highlander's stomach, pinning him mostly under the rushing water. The Joker reached for his sword. "Seeing as it's just you and me and we don't know where the Brat Wonder has run off to, why don't we get cozy and play house, MacLeod? I'll even chop us some wood!" He buried the blade in Duncan's right shoulder, slicing through flesh and bone. ******* Jason heard the screams and began running through the water as fast as he could toward the source of the sound. Upstream, Batman heard it also. He began sloshing toward what he thought was the origin of the screams. (You killed Jason once, you animal. Not again.) ******* Duncan stared into the eyes of death. The Joker raised his sword for the killing blow. "I imagine they can hear you all the way over in Metropolis, crybaby. But you'll be out of your misery in a second, Mac- Loud my dear...there can be only *me!*" Sparks crackled as the sword collided with steel. Jason parried the blow. The Joker jumped back onto solid footing. MacLeod fainted; his body floated downstream a few yards, until he hit a curve and came to a rest against the concrete walls. "Garrett and I owe you, Joker." "And I owe you, you ungrateful little whelp. I gave you the one thing all men dream of. Now, it's *true* I only meant to kill, you, but it's like I told good old Georgie--before I made him a wall decoration, that is--people just have no courtesy these days. You even stole the Quickening from me..." "You cheated in your fight with Garrett." "Ooh, gonna tell big bad Batmommy on me, boy?" "I was opting more for a schoolyard brawl, myself." Jason swung, and sparks arose from the colliding metal. Sewer gases flared and waned like will-o-the-wisps, lighting the bricks of the sewer walls. ******* To be concluded... =========================================================================