Painkiller: Gotham's Finest

Chapter 16: Sorrows and Surprises

"NOOO!", Bruce yells, falling to his knees.

Lightning flies back to join, the team.

They all run over to look over the edge but see nothing. Khalil looks up to where Joker and Riddler were standing but find the spot empty. His nose flares as he clenches his fist and walks out.

Later that night back at Wayne Mansion, Bruce sits in front of the fire place, staring off into space. Jenn comes down and sits on the chair across from him, they sit in silence for a few minutes, then Bruce breaks the silence.

"She was trying to change you know", Bruce says still looking at the fire.

Jenn turns and looks at him.

"Kept telling me one day, she would prove to me, that she was gonna be a good person", Bruce continues, "I know she caused you guys a lot of trouble, but she just wanted to be accepted, and our team couldn't accept her because she had family ties to bad people, so we kicked her out of the league, and she joined another league, it just wasn't the right league"

"Bruce, you can't beat yourself up over this", Jenn says.

"Oh I'm not, I've been at peace with that situation for years, but when she came and reached out for help, and you guys wouldn't give her a chance, it just reminded me, of how we did her", Bruce says.

"Well I don't mean to be rude, but our situations were very different", Jenn says.

"How, she wanted to be good, she reached out for help from good people, but we wouldn't give her a chance", Bruce replies.

"But her having family ties to bad people is not her fault, and she shouldn't have been kicked out, but her actually being one of those bad people and constantly bringing us trouble, justified our stance on not her letting her in", Jenn starts, "I mean, you said it yourself, she needed to prove that she was fighting for good, to be trusted, because trust is earned".

"Seriously, prove herself, she just sacrificed herself, for all of us", Bruce says.

"And I won't take that away from her, I will always have thanks for what she did, but that was her first time truly proving herself, she gave us no reason to trust her anytime before that", Jenn says.

"She saved us from getting shot at from the pizza man", Bruce says.

"That was just because her life was in danger too, I mean until someone puts their life on the line to save others, how can we truly call them a hero", Jenn says.

"You're right", Bruce says standing up, "But take this piece of advice, don't let a person mistake, keep you from not trusting them ever again, people can change, and everyone has some good, it just takes some digging to find".

Jenn turns and looks at the fire. 

Khalil walks down into the batcave. Alfred is hard at work.

"Is it done yet?", Khalil asks.

Alfred looks up.

"What's the rush?", Alfred asks.

"Well after the day we had, it's just best we get rid of this thing once and for all, I can't risk Painkiller coming back out and being the result of another death", Khalil says.

"Dinah sacrificing herself is not Painkillers fault, that was her choice, so nobody should feel at fault at this", Alfred says.

"Yeah, but for a split second I was about to kill her to save everyone else", Khalil replies.

"Not you, Painkiller", Alfred states.

"Either way, I don't need those negative feelings in my body", Khalil says.

"Well I have to warn you, this is a dangerous procedure, I mean Painkiller is like the Yin to your Yang, who's to say removing him, or in other words killing him, doesn't kill you too?", Alfred says.

"It's a risk I will just have to take", Khalil replies.

"Well in that case, I'm almost done, I just have to do a final alignment, of the Proton Rings, then we can begin the operation", Alfred says not looking up.

"and how long will this operation take?", Khalil asks.

"About 3 hours, each proton ring shuts down one vital part of your body at a time,  then restarts each part, giving you, shall I say a new life", Alfred says, "meaning....".

"I'll be dead for a few minutes", Khalil says.

"That is correct!", Alfred says.

"Well my decision hasn't changed, how long before we can begin?", Khalil asks.

"Give me about 20 minutes then I'll be ready", Alfred replies.

Khalil turns and walks into the living room, Jenn is about to walk up the stairs, tears are in her eyes. Khalil quickly approaches her, grabbing her hand.

"Woah Jenn, are you okay?", Khalil asks.

"No, I'm a terrible person", Jenn replies.

"What, What are you talking about?", Khalil asks.

"I mean I was talking with Bruce.....", Jenn starts.

"Bruce called you a bad person, where is he, I need to talk to him anyway", Khalil states.

"No, no, no, Kahlil, let me finish, I was talking with Bruce about the situation and he made a valid point", Jenn replies.

"What did he say?", Khalil asks.

"He said that we didn't give Dinah a chance to show the good she had in her, and we didn't listen, when she told us she had changed for the better", Jenn states.

"C'mon Jenn, we didn't know Dinah like that, and plus we didn't spend enough time with her to even determine if she was to be trusted just yet", Khalil says.

"But she did though, she saved us from the Pizza Man attack", Jenn replies.

"That doesn't justify her being a good person, that justifies her of saving her own ass", Khalil states.

"But what's the difference between her and you, we let you back in no questions asks, and you tried to harm us many times, but me being blindly in love, let you back in, it just turned out that you actually were trying to change for the good", Jenn says.

"Me and Dinah's situation, is totally different, yes you were in love, but my reason was something that I couldn't help", Khalil says.

"Maybe you're right", Jenn says calming down, "And did you really have to repeat, that I was in love?".

"I mean you were", Khalil jokes.

"So were you", Jenn jokes back.

"I mean I still am", Khalil says.

The room falls silent. They stare at each other for a moment too long. Suddenly Khalil leans in and kisses Jennifer.

"Khalil wait", Jenn says softly, pushing him away, "I can't do that to Brandon". 

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that, I'm gonna go now", Khalil replies starting to walk back to the Batcave.

"Where are you going?", Jenn asks.

"Alfred's about to perform the procedure to remove Painkiller", Khalil replies.

"Wait what?", Jenn asks, "Don't you want to talk about it first?"

Suddenly there's a knock at the door.

"We just did", Khalil says entering the batcave.

Jenn takes a deep breath and walks to answer the door. 

"Hey stranger", the person says.

"Brandon?", Jenn says nervously.