Date: Wed, 7 Sep 1994 19:59:07 EDT Reply-To: Highlander TV show stories Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: "Jason R. Tippitt" Subject: Dark of Knight, Part 9 (At Long Last!) ************************************************************************ D A R K O F K N I G H T ************************************************************************ A Highlander/Batman crossover Jason R. Tippitt, 1994 Thus far: Duncan MacLeod, presenting an exhibit in Tessa's memory for a Wayne Foundation anti-violence fundraiser, was the sole survivor of an attack on the party by the insane criminal known as The Joker. He was held by the police until the Joker's lethal "laughing gas" caused him to become violent, at which time he was held in Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane until Joe Dawson, in response to a call from Watcher James Gordon (Gotham City's Police Commissioner), took Duncan into his "custody." Jason Todd, deceased partner to the crimefighter known as Batman, has return from the dead. His Immortality was explained to him by one of Gotham's homeless, an Immortal whom the other homeless dubbed "Crazy Garrett." This man had, in times past, been known as both Sir Gawain and Odysseus. "Garrett" was killed by the Joker, who has been hired by the renegade Watcher Horton to kill Duncan; Garrett was a test. Before the Joker could take his opponent's Quickening, however, Batman slammed into him with the Batmobile, carrying him out of range. Jason received the Quickening, and, with Duncan's help, has carried Batman to receive medical care in his cave headquarters. The Joker is still loose; Duncan, who has been suffering from hallucinations, is currently under the control of Micheal, a friend he was forced to kill because of a split personality. ************************************************************************ Part Nine: Michael and Jason dueled in the shadow of a giant penny situated beside a Tyrranosaurus Rex. It stuck Michael as incredibly surreal. Jason was good; Odysseus' Quickening was making him quite the swordsman. Not quite good enough, though. Michael tripped the kid, grabbed his sword, and planted his left foot firmly in the kid's back. "There can be only only, Jason. But there's more than one way to die." |You still there, Duncan?| [Yes. I just saw something. You met the Joker when he became one of us.] |What?!?| [Unless I just had another hallucination.] Michael turned his mind inward. He saw himself attending to a dead man whose facial features had been frozen in a twisted smile, whose skin had been bleached white as newfallen snow. He remembered the madman, now. |It should have been obvious.| An image of Duncan appeared next to Michael, sitting on the edge of the makeshift operating table. [Maybe Quentin took control afterwards, and your memory filled in the blanks some other way.] |*I'm* the psychiatrist here, Mac.| Duncan smiled at his friend. [Where do you think I learned it from? I need my body again.] |You sure you're ready?| Duncan nodded. [I have to stop the Joker; I've hidden long enough.] |It's only been four hours.| Duncan winced, not wanting to hurt his friend. [Michael, I...] |Go on, Duncan. It was nice being alive again.| ******** Alfred finished stitching the wound in Bruce's side. He looked at the bottle of IV fluid emptying drop-by-drop into his friend's vein. He had wanted, once, to be a detective. He'd fancied himself quite good at finding logical solutions to complex problems. Here before him, and in the next room, however, lay two mysteries he could not begin to find the keys to. And he had to wonder if both the mysteries were related. How could Master Bruce be alive after these years of nightly abuse as Gotham's protector? The world's protector? There was no counting the times Bruce had stumbled into the cave more or less beaten, yet he always left the cave again the next night. Sometimes the same night. How? How was Jason Todd living and breathing in the next room? How was Duncan MacLeod--and the man definitely *was* Duncan, his different way of walking and different posture couldn't fool even an old man's eyes-- in the cave looking not a day older but a lifetime wearier than when Alfred had last seen the man in the 1960's? He'd looked far too young for his age then, but Alfred had attributed that to good breeding and, possibly, hair dye. These things were going to have to be answered, Alfred thought. He just hoped his heart was strong enough to handle the answers. ******* Michael Long died on stage. His show hadn't been going too well, anyway, proof that the comedian who laughs at his own jokes is obviously the only one finding them funny. There was *one* other person laughing. The comedian before Michael had been a tall, thin man with a dark tan, who had been booed off the stage for telling fetus jokes. Just for kicks he'd shot Michael with his water Uzi as he'd fled the stage. The poison took six minutes to take affect, long enough for several men to discretely take their places at the doors with "real" weapons. When Michael stopped twitching, the thin man took the stage again. "Ooh, I slay me. But I keep coming back." The crowd murmured. "I'm a doctor! Let me through!" shouted a man in his mid-40's. The Joker pulled out a .45 and planted a slug between the good physician's eyes. "You know what they say, physician--heal thyself. But that's no reason to blow your life away!" His coat fell open to reveal several pounds of explosives strapped to his body. The crowd charged toward the doors. Machine-gun fire cut down a few members of the audience. "Nobody leaves without turning in their test!" the Joker shouted. He looked toward the film crew from the local PBS station, which was airing the night's entertainment. "And keep those cameras rolling--I'm going to make you all stars in my new film--The End of Gotham!" ******** To be continued... =========================================================================