Date: Fri, 17 Feb 1995 11:05:17 -600 Reply-To: Jason Tippitt Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Jason Tippitt Subject: "In the End..." (HL/Batman) Book I, Chapter 4 (fwd) X-cc: Jonathan Haupt , Marcus Mansfield , Scot Adams , Elizabeth Donald , Haydee Viardo , Orrey Buttram , Brandy Lumpkins ************************************************************************ "I N T H E E N D . . . " ************************************************************************ A Highlander/Batman Crossover Jason R. Tippitt, 1994 Note: This occurs in a future somewhat similar to that portrayed in the graphic novel _The Dark Knight Returns_, by Frank Miller. There are some differences--Catwoman's being an Immortal having been the most notable one so far. Caveat: Not the kindest, gentlest story ever written. Cursing, too. Book One: "The Gathering" Part 4 THUS FAR: Connor MacLeod, using the talents of CIA Special Operative Kent, has rescued the amnesic Immortal formerly known as the Joker from the wreckage of an amusement park tunnel-of-love, where he last fought the original Batman. Connor has since recruited Richard Ryan, who now calls himself Fagin, for his mysterious cause. His attempts to recruit Kevin, an Immortal trapped in adolescence, were spoiled by Robin and Green Arrow. Jason Todd, now operating in New York under the identity of Batman, has just taken the Quickening of Selina Kyle, the Catwoman, after Fagin had chopped off her hands. Duncan and Amanda are living together. Duncan, in a fit of depression after Joe Dawson's death, has been surprised by the arrival of his old friend Gregor, who was living in a monastary until the Immortal Rasputin ordered him to leave and find MacLeod. Just in time, too--Gregor has just seen a news report showing the slaughter at the monastary, which ended with Rasputin's head being taken on holy ground. Duncan, standing on a balcony to cool off from being angry with Amanda, has just been shot by James Horton. ******* Gregor hit the balcony before Amanda did. She was yelling something about the sniper getting him, too, but he didn't care. He looked at his friend; MacLeod was (literally) a bloody mess. Three shots: two to the chest, one to the head. There was no way to sneak him out of this after he awoke. The shooter had done his job well; probably a Hunter, Gregor thought. "You been in Vancouver too long without moving, anyway," he murmured to his "dead" friend. ******* Horton limped quickly toward the building's elevator, hopped inside and hit the button for the first floor. At the tenth floor, the doors opened and an almost impossibly large man stepped inside. He stood well over six feet tall and looked strong enough to carry around a car. Despite his size, he looked meek, with slicked-back brown hair and wire-rimmed glasses. "Say, haven't I seen you before?" the tall man asked. "I doubt it." "You look just like someone I saw on the news once..." The tall man took off his glasses. "A businessman, named Horton. You negotiated the Nepal Treaty." Horton fidgeted. "I've never even heard the name, sorry." He tugged at his collar. It was suddenly very hot in the elevator. It made no sense he was having hot flashes, he was taking all his medications on time. He felt, furthermore, as if he was being stared at. Horton looked over at the tall man. "What?" Then he noticed was the fiery red color of the giant's eyes. ******* A shadow came between the sun and Gregor. The Russian looked up to see a tall, thin man staring intently at him. "I'm a doctor," the mortal said plainly. Gregor almost laughed. That was the standard line in a movie, wasn't it? "You're a doctor, he's a corpse. I don't see anything here to interest you, so why don't you go back inside where it's safe?" The mortal fidgeted. His shifty blue eyes were almost buried alive by his bushy black eyebrows. He rolled his hands together as if trying to warm them. "Well, why don't you let me check his pulse--" "He's been shot through the skull, idiot! What do you expect, you're going to see a resurrection?" Gregor was quite nearly snarling. "There needs to be an offical time of death," the "doctor" whined. Gregor noticed a flash of blue on the man's wrist, a Watcher tattoo. "Fine! Play God if you want," Gregor said, then pushed his way past the Watcher and into the restaurant. "What's going--" Amanda started. Gregor grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to the bar. He barked out an order to the bartender for two shots of whiskey. "Watcher," Gregor hissed. "Most likely a Hunter, at that." "Did he recognize you?" "I don't know, you want me to go ask him?" The bartender set the two glasses down. Without even looking into his wallet, Gregor pulled out a $100 bill and handed it to the barkeeper. "Keep the change." "Great...How do we get out of this?" Picking up his shot glass, Gregor smiled weakly. "You're the thief, I was hoping you'd tell me." ******* Down in the lobby, a man named George Henry Abbot stood waiting for an elevator. With him was his mother, the exquisitely boorish Gertrude Matilda Abbot. They were visiting from Denver, and Gertrude wouldn't even consider not riding to the observation deck atop the building, the place where her dear, departed husband had proposed to her thirty-eight years ago. "Did I ever tell you that this is where your father, Romulus Augustus Abbot, did the only romantic thing of his entire life?" George Henry rolled his eyes. "Many, many times, mother." "It was right up on the observation deck..." The elevator door opened. George Henry and his mother stepped inside. On the floor was a pair of men's eyeglasses; the elevator smelled really foul, and there was a gaping hole in the roof. As the door closed, Gertrude Matilda closed her eyes and sighed. "You know, son, they sure did a better job of upkeep thirty years ago..." ******* =========================================================================