Date: Fri, 7 Oct 1994 19:33:26 CST Reply-To: Highlander TV show stories Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: "Jason R. Tippitt" Subject: Dark of Knight, Part 13 of 13 ************************************************************************ D A R K O F K N I G H T ************************************************************************ Jason R. Tippitt, 1994 A Highlander/Batman Crossover Warning: Carnage, Right Here, Right Now Part 13 ******* Batman heard the sounds of swords crashing. The noise had stopped, then started again. (Good, that should mean no one's dead yet--unless MacLeod or the Joker has Jason tied up in this madness.) ******* The tide of the battle between Jason and the Joker flowed back and forth. On the one hand was a boy who had been in a coffin for 5 years but was being "coached" by the voice of the noble Ithacan Odysseus. The Joker, on the other hand, had little experience in sword-fighting, but was so hopelessly mad as to have the numbness of a berserker. Cuts were exchanged back and forth; blood sprayed the walls of the sewer and made pools atop the sludge-water in which they stood. Sparks from the blades lit the gases around them, flickering will-o-the-wisps casting eerie shadows on the walls and the water. The Joker hopped up onto a ledge, out of of Jason's reach for the moment. "Oh, dear boy, I've *so* missed these little games...I guess it's true what they say about time, it's only so much water under the bridge for us, eh? Get it, bridge? The game Bridge? *The* Game?" Jason wasn't laughing. "That might be, Joker--with you involved, it seems fitting that the water under the bridge would be raw sewage." The Joker jumped down again toward the boy. Jason stepped aside, holding his sword straight out. The blade sliced deep into the Joker's chest. The pain seemed to finally get through to the demented clown, who fell into the water and spun around to block what would have been a killing blow. "Bad form, Boy Blunder--you were going to take my head from behind, weren't you? Don't you know it doesn't work if you do it that way?" /He's lying, trying to throw me off-balance./ Jason looked down at the grinning madman. The fight had carried them into an area of the sewer that apparently received occasional service, and there were lights on the walls. "I don't see why I should play fair with you, Joker--especially not after Garrett." "To show you're better than me--isn't that what Batman would say?" Jason remembered the diplomat's son. He'd killed with no remorse and pled not guilty by means of the allmighty Diplomatic Immunity. When Jason had gone to his apartment to confront him, they'd fought, and the guy had ended up hanging from his balcony. Jason didn't push him--but he sure as hell didn't pull him back up, either. Batman hadn't been too happy about that. Jason grimaced. "That's what Batman would say--but I'm not him." He kicked the Joker's elbow, sending the sword splashing in the water a few feet away. He raised the sword one last time. "There can be--" ******* Batman saw Jason raise the sword. He'd let the kid play this his way up till now, but there was no reason to believe Jason was just going to scare the Joker. Batman leapt from the shadows, kicking Jason in his right kidney, breaking his concentration and making him drop the sword. "Give it up, Jas--Robin; this isn't our way." Jason stepped back away from Batman. "You're right--but you and I might as well not even be on the same planet anymore, Batman. We're in totally different arenas. This is the way it's been for thousands of years--you can't barge in now and expect to change it to fit your narrow rules of right and wrong." Batman punched Jason in the jaw. "You aren't above the law, Robin. I'll take you down if I have to." The Joker relaxed his body and began to float downstream, for the first time in his life happy to see Batman. ******* Duncan fell down in an alley, pursued. [Damn it, Connor, where are you?] He sprang back up, running into an alley. [If Richie hadn't stolen my sword from me...] He turned a corner and saw that the corridor ended with a wall. [Shit!] He spun, looking for a fire escape. [Climb...] Guttural laughter echoed down the hallway. It sounded as though a dragon were yawning as it awoke from a nap, ravenous. Duncan was not quite a virgin maiden, but he felt he was about to be dinner anyway... The Kurgan stood twelve feet tall. About his shoulders was thrown a black cloak with high ears. Safety pins decorated a scar in his neck, Ramirez' attempt to behead the demon. In his right hand he carried a ten-foot blade of steel; in the right, the heads of Amanda, and Richie, and Connor, and Gregor, and Odysseus... Duncan screamed. He awoke with a rat chewing on his left cheek. He angrily rose from the water, sending the confused rodent off to splash in the water a few yards away, shaken up but with a full belly. He felt for his katana. [Damn it, where's the katana?] ******** Batman was holding a four-foot length of steel piping above his head to block Jason's sword when he spotted the weapon. (A katana? Must be the one MacLeod tried to skewer Bullock with.) He kneed Jason in the groin and dove for the sword, coming up just in time to miss what would have been a fatal attack. "You're messing around in things you don't need to know, Batman!" Jason shouted. "You're not one of us!" He swung again at his former partner. Batman parried the blow. "You've been through a lot, I know--" "--you don't know anything!" Jason backed away to catch his breath. "You left me in a grave for five years without even checking to see if I might still be alive, Bruce." He didn't even look around to see if the Joker was nearby. The tightness of the walls was starting to make it hard for him to breathe. "If you're such a great detective, how the hell does it slip your notice when people are showing up all over the world dead by beheading?" "It's never happened in Gotham--" "And I guess you think it's okay as long as it doesn't happen where the little peasants on the streets are worshipping you, huh? But as soon as it interferes with Gotham City, the all-mighty Church of the Bloody Bat, you gotta stick your nose in it. Is that how it is? You arrogant son of a--" Bruce slugged him. He seemed as surprised as Jason. The kid was losing it--probably claustrophobia just now setting in. That was sure as hell not a good way to calm him down. He looked at his glove, still clenched in a fist. He made his hand relax, laid it on the kid's arm. "Look, Rob--Jason, I'm sor--" "Save it." Jason kicked the dark knight in the chin, sending him sprawling, stunned. "I can't come home again." He grabbed Duncan's katana and headed into the dark, feeling the Buzz getting closer and closer until-- ******* --Duncan and the boy crashed together, and both went into the murky water. MacLeod snatched the katana wildly and sprang up, his hair now falling in every direction. "Richie, you sold us out, you bastard!" He made a crude, wild, clumsy swing, which Jason blocked with almost no effort. He was strong, though--a madman's strength, enough to wear out a smaller warrior like Jason in a very short time. /Maybe I shouldn't have knocked Bruce out, after all./ ******* The Joker swam down the sewer, looking for a way out. He was in the dark part of the tunnel, no light in sight. "Now, wait just one cotton- picking minute!" he yelled to the darkness. "Here I am swimming away from the fight. Wouldn't it be better to kill them both?" He pulled a rubber mallet from under his trenchcoat and slammed it against his fore- head, leaving a big ink mark that said SUCKER. "Now I know I have those laughing-gas grenades here *somewhere*..." He began to search his coat pockets. ******* Batman's first thought was deja vu. He awoke to the sounds of swords crashing. (Must be at it again... Maybe I should just let those idiots...) (Stop it, Bruce, that's not the way you operate, and you know it. That's the coward's way out.) (I guess you're right.) He arose from the sludge, cloak spilling water beneath him. His jaw was quite swollen from Jason's sucker-punch. (Kids these days.) His hand went to his utility belt. He slid a filter mask into place and got a couple of tear gas capsules ready for whoever was dueling. (Sometimes it just doesn't pay to be nice.) ******* Jason and Duncan had been fighting for only five minutes, and Jason was already getting clumsy. The other man was so much taller that it was mamazing he'd lasted this long. If not for Odysseus' prompting... Jason still wished he had access to the belt he used when he was Robin. /Didn't you get mad at the Joker for cheating?/ /Well, *yes*, Garrett, but he's a bad guy./ Duncan kicked the boy in the chest, sending him to the water. /Here it comes, Boy Blunder.../ The grenade exploded between them as Duncan raised his sword. From the darkness, the taunting laughter. "Yep, we havin' us a hoedown in de be-YU-tiful soowahs of Gotcha City." More laughter. Duncan looked around in confusion. [What the hell?] |It's the Joker again. You're hallucinating, Duncan; I've been trying to get through to you for the last few minutes, but this is the first time you've calmed down. The boy isn't Kurgan, and you're both gonna die unless you get under the water NOW.| [You want my body, Michael.] |Well, I definitely *don't* want to be inside the Joker's. Move!| Duncan sheathed his sword and pounced on Jason. The kid had no idea what was going on, and fought back as the Highlander shoved his head underwater. [Odysseus will understand...] Jason stopped struggling, dead again. MacLeod realized he wasn't laughing. [Maybe I'm immune?] He dragged Jason's body to one side and stood over him, a wolf guarding a cub. ******* The Joker took aim with a blowgun. He hated having to go against tradition, but if MacLeod wasn't going to be a good little boy and die, he supposed it was inevitable. He launched the poison dart toward the Immortal, watching it find its way to MacLeod's neck, near the jugular. MacLeod flinched, pulled the dart out. [Bastard's *worse* than St. Cloud.] He began to sweat. [Going to pass out...easy pickings...wait, maybe I can light this place up.] He pulled out a book of matches, lit the book, dropped it in the water. Sewage, motor oil, all ignited, light and smoke rising up from the water. ******* Up the way, Bruce had to jump up onto a concrete walk to avoid a jet of flame that shot its way across the water's surface. (They could blow the entire city...what do they care, they think they're immortal.) He sprinted down the breezeway, cape trailing behind him. (Somehow, the fact this is making me think of Dante isn't doing much to set my mind at ease.) MacLeod was engaged in battle with the Joker when Batman arrived in the chamber. Jason lay to one side, not moving. Time would tell if his death would be any more permanent than the last time. At least he still had his head. MacLeod didn't seem to be doing too well--Batman figured the chances were at least 50/50 that he'd been poisoned again. The site was shrouded in smoke--Batman couldn't tell if there was a green tint to the air or if the lighting was tricking his eyes. He felt no particular urge to remove his filter mask and find out. (Good thing Alfred refilled the belt. I have a feeling I'll need help here.) He reached for the knock-out gas capsules. (Only one way to make sure these work--get up close and personal.) Batman dove at the dueling swordsmen as they stepped back to catch their breaths before renewing the attack. He dove down, grabbing Duncan in a headlock, his face covered by the cloak. He slammed the heel of his hand into the Immortal's face, knocking him cold, then whirled just in time to duck away from the Joker's swing. "You're buying into this immortality thing, too, Joker? I thought you were smarter than to believe in fairy tales." "You're one of us, too, Batdude. You just don't know it yet." "Well, then, that means we can keep dancing around like this forever and never win. Won't that be fun?" "This buzzing...I feel it every time I get near you...you're going to be the One..." "It's all in your head, Joker. All a part of the sick little world you live in. You're going back to Arkham now--I'm not letting you get away to kill any more homeless people or take any more folks hostage." The Joker laughed and hit Batman in the head with the hilt of his sword. The dark knight fell into the water. "Now I can be the master of our destiny. Tottles, Batman my sweet--you can't say we didn't have a lot of laughs!" He raised his sword up, then lowered it. "But I want to see your face, just once." Batman's form lay still on the ground. In the water, face-down, lay MacLeod. The boy was almost incidental. The Joker fell to one knee, like a cavalier asking his lover's hand in marriage, his sword laying by the way. He gently, reached one hand out to touch the cloth of his foe, the one man who understood him-- --and was shocked when that hand was grapsed by a dark glove. "Wh?" Batman looked at the Joker and almost smiled. Almost. "I guess two can play the joke game." He smashed his head into the Joker's, then reahed toward the Joker's gaping mouth with the other, thrust a handful of capsules into the Joker's maw. "Take your medicine like a good boy." The Joker bit at Batman's hand. He pulled it back, feeling a sting. The fingers of his glove were dissolving away. He pulled the glove off as the Joker began to cough blood. (Acid?) The Joker's hands went around Batman's throat. "Kill me! The pain! Kill me, you sick bastard!" Half-laughing, half-screaming, the Joker plunged away from the Batman and into the darkness. Moments later, the sound of an explosion filled the sewer. (He's...dead? I've thought that before...) A piece of the ceiling fell down, landing in the water next to the detective. A detective who, at this moment, felt absolutely without a clue. Batman looked over to the other two men's still forms and sighed. (Now to get them out of here...) ******* To be Epilogued... =========================================================================