Chapter fourteen: Merry Christmas

Chapter fourteen: merry Christmas


Bruce's POV:


I'd checked the perimiter of the theater a few times before I went in. There seemed to be no sign of any disturbance. Yet I knew of the jokers cunning ability to fool me, and I was extra careful. Just because a weirdo that snuck into my party was warning my girlfriend not to go somewhere didn't mean the Joker had planned anything. Actually, maybe it did. The point of the matter was to make sure nothing went wrong, for certain, and I had to be at the top of my game.


I snuck into the dark theater, and hid amoungst the high ceiling rafters, where the ghosts from the play were supposed to fly across. Hundreds of people sat below me, laughing and smiling with Christmas spirit. It reminded me of a time, the time that I went with my parents to play, how I had asked them to leave because I was afraid. Now all these people could die, I had to stop it.


"It was a dark Christmas Eve at the Scrooge and Marley buisness, for as you see, Marley had just passed away that very evening," the play began.


Fifteen minutes without a problem, and my mind was starting to play tricks on me. Every move in the crowd made me cautious.


Scrooge was now in his bed, waiting to meet Marley again in his chains. There was a fake wall from which Marley was going to appear, with a door inbetween. Scrooge shot up as the door flung open, and then he screamed, not because he was supposed to, but becuase the actor playing Marley fell over onto his face, with a knife sticking out his back.


Behind him was none other than, the Joker.


"Wow, he really knows how to drop dead, you could get a few tips from this guy," he directed towards the actor playing Scrooge. I got into a position, ready to attack, but I held it, just in case.


"Ladies and gentlemen," he spoke to the screaming and stunned crowd.


"Please, stay in your seats, or my clowns will have a few thinks to say about it, won't you boys?"


A loud string of gunfire rose, the clowns were shooting into the air. The screams got louder, and the people panicked in their seats.


"Quiet! Didn't anybody tell you it was rude to talk during a show?" The Joker walked across the stage.


"This is how it's gonna go people, you give me something, and I don't give you anything, but if you don't give me something, I'll give you a free bottle of my new drink, I like to call it happy juice, because it, well it makes me happy."


I quickly got to work, swooping down into the shadows. I spotted out as many clowns as I could, as they took bags around the theater, collecting valuables. There were thirty of them, not including the five on stage with the Joker.


I got to work taking them out stealthily, telling people to stay quiet as I passed them.


"I think the name happy juice is a little corny right? Like Batman, come on people, Batman? That's so lame, why not the Joker, it's so original."


I had them all now, none of them even suspected me, and I saw the Joker squinting his eyes into the crowd looking for some sort of sign things were alright.


"Hey you," he picked one of his guys off the stage.


"Yes boss?"


"Go down there and see what's taking so long."


The man followed his orders, walking off stage, and right into my hold. Unfortunately he grunted rather loudly when I pulled him away, and it was heard.


"What was that!" The Joker yelled, getting angry.


There was no hiding now, so I walked onto the stage, as a light followed me.


"Oh my goodness, what a pleasant surprise! It's Batman everyone, can we have an applause!"


The crowd stayed absolutely silent, no one even dared to whisper.


"Tough crowd," he sighed.


Without warning i clocked him hard on the head, causing him to fall over, and the four remaining clowns to aim their guns at me.


"Relax boys, I'm sure I deserved that, I mean I did ruin his life."


I pulled my arm back and swung again, this time he caught my punch, and crushed my wrist in his hand. I didn't feel any pain due to my unhealthy motive to tear him apart.


"Batsy, you should know by now that I'm your equal, your evil twin, you can't beat me because you'd only be beating yourself, I see you Batman, I know your weakness."


I used my other hand to punch him in the gut, making him hunch over in pain, holding his abdomen. The sound of police vehicles filled the empty air.


"Looks like it's time for me to split, goodbye Bat!" He threw a pellet of green smoke on the ground. I felt a hail of bullets fire into the smoke, none of which hit me. When it cleared, I was back at my spot on the rafters and the four last clowns were dead, god knows how.


Until the Joker reared his ugly head, I used to be master of deception. Now even my own tricks are played against me. Sometimes I think he's right, that we are yin and yang, a never ending fued of equality.  I will be choking on my last breath as he does the same, is that the only way it can end. I can't kill him, not even after what he'd done, I still couldn't kill him.


The police quickly got inside the theater and started to take control of the situation, I took this time to leave, my work was done here. Now I was concerned to who was at my party, and how they knew of this incident. Why would he warn Harmony not to go, I better go check on her, just in case.


Within a few minutes I found myself, again watching her sleep. My growing need to be near her was starting to scare me. What scared me even more was the thought of losing her. There seemed to be no immeadiant threat to her, but I stayed a whole hour just in case.


"Alfred," I called him from com.


"Master Wayne I haven't heard from you in nearly two hours, is it customary to give old men heart attacks at your age?"


"I'm fine Alfred, but I'm going to need security footage from the party tonight, I want to see this guy that knew about the jokers plan."


"I'll get right on that sir, when will you be arriving home?"


I looked at Harmony toss in her bed once more.


"Within the hour."


I shut off my com and pressed the auto-pickup for the bat mobile.


-------------------------


I was trying to pay attention to working out who this man was, but I couldn't get it through my head that he was near her. She could have been taken, hurt, ...killed. My life wasn't some dandelion in a bright spring medow, my life was a rose of beauty, that when you got too close to would cut you.


"I've brought you some coffee, I figured you'd be staying up late tonight?" He handed me the warm cup.


"You would be right about the up all night thing."


"It seems to me you are a vigilante purely because you want to hide your insomnia, is that right Master Wayne."


"You caught me now Alfred, I'm doomed," I said without humor.


Alfred stood behind me staring up at the screen, which had a picture of Harmony smoking with the mystery man outside.


"You really like her don't you?" Alfred spoke.


"I don't know what to do Alfred."


"I spoke with her you know," Alfred insighted "it seems I may have judged her much too quickly, and I apologize for attempting to ruin your relationship, I should have trusted your judgement."


"It's fine Alfred really, you were only looking out for me."


"Do you have an identity on his chain smoker by any chance," he changed the subject. I pulled up the screen from underneath that said no matches had been found against this guys face.


"He doesn't exsist, he must be some sort of super hacker or something, because there is not a single technological footprint to be found against him, anywhere."


"You can't be the best at everything sadly."


I glared at Alfred from the light of the computer "I'm still the best at getting what I want, I'll find someone to crack this guy."


"Who do you have in mind?" Alfred insisted.


"Fox has a few programmers in Ireland, we can try and root it through them, if not that then I could use some of my criminal contacts."


I heard Alfred muttering under his breath, of course he wouldn't like the sound of a criminal contact, but petty hackers were small fish compared to the joker. If I court find his mysterious friend then I could find him.


I couldn't get it out of head that of all people he told Harmony to not attend the theater. Did the joker know for sure who I was now, it came close with the whole Harvey mishap, but I never thought it had gotten so far.


If he was targeting either Bruce or Batman, Harmony could still be at risk.

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