Second Chances: Batwoman

Chapter 26

The Joker was currently standing in his lair, where the rest of Gotham's worst were waiting for him. Currently that meant Bane, Scarecrow, Riddler, Jane Doe, Clayface, Penguin, Professor Pyg, Cluemaster and Calendar Man were all waiting.

"I see you couldn't find any of our other friends." Joker said disappointedly.

"Freeze died years ago, Red Hood is locked up in Argus, no one knows what happened to Poison Ivy and Killer Croc went soft." Riddler told him, right as they heard someone else walk in and saw Harvey Dent, aka, Two Face, join them.

"Sounds like you've got room for one more then." Two Face said.

"The more the merrier for what I have planned." Joker said gleefully.

"What exactly do you have planned?" Bane asked.

"It's simple. Batman needs to pay for ghosting me and the only way to do that is to punish his beloved city of Gotham and I think we all want to see what this newbie Batwoman can do. So, I intend to test her with you. One at a time, each of you will attack Gotham in whatever way you choose to. Should you defeat Batwoman, then I will give a piece of Gotham to rule as your own after I take over. If she should defeat you however, another one will take over until she works her way up to me." Joker said.

"Uh, we all just escaped from Arkham, why the hell would we want to risk getting sent back? I'm out of here." Jane Doe said, only to be shot in the head by the Joker.

"Because, I think you'll find rotting in Arkham preferable to dealing with me should you refuse. Besides, Batwoman is already going to be on the hunt for all of us. This way, we can keep her distracted, allowing each of us time to better prepare." Joker said.

"Fair enough. As long as you plan to get us out before we get back to Arkham." Scarecrow said, since if he was going to follow the Joker's plan, he wanted some assurance that the Joker would return the favor.

"Consider it done. So, are we in business?" Joker asked and all the criminals nodded, except for Two Face, who aimed his gun at him.

"Heads I help, tails you die." Two Face said, only to have the Joker walk up to him.

"What if I knew a secret old Janey never bothered to tell you after your little acid bath?" Joker asked.

"What are you talking about?" Two Face asked as Joker whispered something into his ear.

"Give me proof of what you're talking about first." Two Face said.

"Done. Now, let's start talking about who's going first." Joker said.

Meanwhile, Kate was currently showing Ryan into her new home and she could tell that while Ryan was happy to be adopted, she wasn't thrilled about living in this place.

"I know you likely have your problems with the rich, but can you at least pretend to act grateful you live here now?" Kate asked and Ryan sighed.

"I'm sorry, it's just, old habits die hard." Ryan said and Kate nodded.

"I get it, but I am trying to help Gotham." Kate said, right as her phone buzzed and she saw Luke texted her telling her to turn on the news immediately.

Confused, Kate walked into the living room and turned on the TV and was stunned when she saw the Joker on live TV.

"What's going on?" Ryan asked and Kate swore she heard fear in her voice, not that she blamed her one bit.

"Nothing good." Kate said, not wanting to sugarcoat things for Ryan, which she could tell the girl appreciated.

"Hello Gotham, did you miss me?" the Joker asked and Kate rolled her eyes at the sound of his obnoxious cackle.

"You know, I heard that Batman decided to leave town and he didn't even bother to say goodbye to me first. Like our history meant nothing to him. That hurts. And now that I can't take my anger out on him, all of Gotham will pay, though his replacement will have a chance to stop it. As you're probably not aware, all of Batman's enemies are now free and we all want a shot at this new Batwoman. So, I propose a game of sorts. Each of us will take our shot at her and she'll get one chance to defeat each of us, working her way through us all until she finally makes her way to the grand prize. Me. And if she manages to defeat me, I will leave Gotham forever. Each time she defeats one of my friends, I will give her a clue about who the next one will be." the Joker said and Kate's blood ran cold, since while she'd always known she'd have to fight all of Bruce's big bads, she didn't think it would be this soon.

"This is insane, even for Gotham." Ryan said.

"You have no idea." Kate said, hoping Helena would see this, hoping she could help her with this. And it made her glad that Poison Ivy and Killer Croc were unreachable, while also wondering who she was going to have to fight first.

"And now onto what you're all wondering. Who will the new bat be fighting first? Well, here's a clue. He's not as well known as a certain man in green, but he's certainly got a TV personality and he's always asking questions. Take your best guess on who that is, but don't take too long. He'll strike soon and it will be personal. Good look." the Joker said as the message cutout and now Kate was really wondering who it was she was fighting first.