Date: Wed, 27 Jul 1994 17:36:06 EDT Reply-To: Highlander TV show stories Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: "Jason R. Tippitt" Subject: Dark of Knight, Part 7 (Revised and Reposted) ************************************************************************ D A R K O F K N I G H T ************************************************************************ Jason R. Tippitt, 1994 ** This is a reposting. The flashback sequence in this story is much longer than in the original, with the pretense and setting altered quite substantially. ** Note: This story occurs between "Under Color Of Authority" and "Unholy Alliance." [But most of you already knew that.] Part 7 Duncan looked down at the site of the battle. He'd seen a young man cradling the headless body, but the boy had run within seconds of their appearance. "I'm going down to see if he's there. I can feel the presence of another nearby, but the boy may have been his pupil." He jumped out of the helicopter, rolling when he hit the ground in the alley. There was no sign of the kid. Whoever he was, he was good. The head lay to one side, face frozen in a fatal smile. [Definitely the Joker's work.] The beard was a new addition, but the face was one Duncan knew well. ======================================================================= 1945. Back in Berlin. The war was drawing to a close. Duncan and Odysseus intended to see it ended as quickly as possible. They had to; the man with the goatee had made it perfectly clear that if they were to refuse his assignment, he would make it his point to give their names and locations to every Immortal he could find. Even if they were to try killing him before he could carry out his threat, he had hundreds of agents ready to carry out the orders. Duncan had been working with British intelligence, Odysseus with an agency the American government claimed did not exist, Gregor on his own. He was originally from Eastern Europe, so his stake was personal. The three Immortals worked their way through the corridors of the bunker, subduing when possible, killing when necessary, letting nothing stand between them and Der Fuhrer. All three had been filled with enough lead to wipe out a regiment. They'd finally broken into the bunker when one of the door guards had left his post to mark a wall as his territory. Morale was obviously very low. All the better for the three Immortals. "Gee, MacLeod, we're gonna set of mine detectors for miles around when we get out," Gregor joked. His face showed how amused he *actually* was; he'd never been much of a fighter, and Duncan feared the doctor might never be the same. They heard Hitler's voice before they actually saw him. His wife, the actress Eva Braun, speaking to him softly, crying. A double agent, she had helped set up one attempt to kill Hitler, but it had failed. An Immortal would be better suited, it seemed, and here they were. [Dangerous to leave her here as long as we have. He's insane, he's paranoid, but he's not stupid. If he figures it out...] Four stormtroopers stood guard outside the door to Hitler's inner sanctum, calmly smoking. Odysseus looked at Duncan. "Incompetence never dies; it is one of the few traditions these mortals have kept over the centuries. I lost God only knows how many men because of it." Gregor tapped Duncan on the shoulder. "Some guards are coming the other way, MacLeod..." He was twitching, sweating profusely, hands trembling. "They're gonna *spot* us." Mac smiled at him, trying to look calm and reassuring. "What're they going to do? Shoot us?" Actually, they did. The noise drew their attention, and Gregor fell back, blood streaming from his head. "Up to us," Odysseus said, taking the safety off his gun. The two Immortals shot their way into the room, a few of the German guards who'd been drinking hitting each other. Duncan went in low, Odysseus high, taking out the last two guards even as they were hit themselves. Odysseus gasped. Eva appeared to have aged several years in the time since she'd last been seen in public. Hitler looked at her, then at the Immortals. "I... understand," he said in English. "*You* have been their informant all along, haven't you? All along, it was *you*!" "No, Adolf, it--" "Just as well." He looked at her with a smug sneer. "Just as well. The poison should be taking effect any moment." Odysseus screamed and filled Hitler's body with all the ammunition in his rifle. MacLeod's ear drums ruptured from that much sound in this small an area. No one talked on the way to their rendezvous point. They'd stolen a Nazi jeep and some uniforms, and no one bothered them except a few bold German citizens who pelted the jeep with rocks. The plane carried them to London. Gregor had spent most of the time in the plane weeping, Odysseus in silence. "We killed the worst monster humanity's ever seen," MacLeod told them as they prepared to go their separate ways. Odysseus shook his head and walked off. Gregor looked at his friend through red eyes. "You just don't get it, do you, Duncan? *Humanity* is the worst monster it's ever faced." He broke into tears and ran away from the airstrip, leaving Duncan alone by the plane with his thoughts. ======================================================================= "What're *you* doing here? Are you working with the Joker?" The voice came from behind Duncan. He whirled, drawing his sword by instinct. He stood face-to-face with the Batman, the last person he'd wanted to run into in Gotham. If Night had borned a child, this would be him. His long black cape fell across his shoulders. The man stood bent just the slightest bit, the corners of his mouth bent in agony. "You're wounded." "I was looking for the Joker. Looks like you got here first." The human eye was not fast enough to follow Batman's hand; he seemed to move instantly from a standing position into the air, his boot smacking the Highlander in the nose and knocking him to the pavement. Duncan grabbed Batman's foot and jerked him to the ground, then sprang up. He looked for his katana, but it had skidded away. "There's been a mistake--" Batman sprang to his feet. "You made it." Duncan saw the blood, wet on Batman's side. The next punch broke two of Duncan's teeth. Duncan grabbed Batman's hand and pinned his arm behind his back. He tried to shut out the fact Batman was turning into a wolf before his eyes, then a vampire, complete with sharp teeth and blood on his lips. "You're injured. You need to get to a hospital." "Such concern..." Batman struggled to break free, but his arm was pinned firmly behind his back. "I am not the killer. I didn't kill the man. And I don't want to have to knock you out to get you medical attention." Batman slipped his shoulder out of its socket and tore himself away from MacLeod's grasp. He sprang to the top of a trash dumpster and from there leapt to a fire escape. The cracking of the joint as his arm slid back into its socket was audible on the ground. His hand reached to the yellow belt at his waist. "Wait! He didn't do it!" MacLeod and Batman both turned to look at the teenager on the roof above them. "It was the Joker." The young man looked at Duncan. "Jason?" As Batman mouthed the words, the shock of his wounds and the swim in the river caught up with him and he collapsed." The kid stepped off the edge of the roof and dropped the three stories to the fire escape on which Batman had stood. He leaned to feel for a pulse, then looked up at Duncan. "Wish we were meeting under different circumstances, Highlander. Garrett's told me a lot about you in the last few minutes." "Garrett?" Jason pointed to the headless body. "Or Odysseus. Whatever. You wouldn't happen to have a *car* nearby, would you?" **** To be continued... =========================================================================