Joke's On Me [Batman/ DC Universe]

Chapter 3/3

The area was unusually silent, not even the crickets dared to make a sound as Batman scaled up the highest building in Cathedral Square. The church stood in complete darkness, an atmosphere of pain and death hung like a shroud around the structure. Riddler had sent an encrypted file to Batman and once opened, the picture of Cathedral Square lit up his windshield. Theatrics were Harley's game, and if she was playing the role of a widow, Bruce expected she would be waiting at the altar for him.

It made no sense, he thought to himself as he silently began his glide from the high building to the roof of the church. There was no way Quinn could have orchestrated all of this, it must be part of the game. So Bruce took extra precaution as he clicked on his night vision and slipped through an open window, balancing on a wooden beam on the inside of the building. The church seemed abandoned, but he waited in the still silence for movement.

Suddenly, the sound of pipe organs began blaring over two heavy-set speakers underneath him and Batman squinted his eyes, looing for the perpetrator. "Here comes the bride" continued to play when his night vision picked up a figure swaying and sashaying up the isle. It was Harley, all alone, in a long black cloak with a matching black veil. Her blond hair peaked out from beneath it, tips dyed black.

The sound of wood on wood finally made sense to Bruce when he saw the large baseball bat Quinn dragged along with her, pulling to a stop at the altar. She lifted the bat, balancing it on her shoulder and the metal spikes jutting from the end of the weapon glistened in the thin stream of light.

"Come on down, B-man! I've been waitin'!"

He paused. The church was empty, save for Quinn. Yet something held him back.

"Come over here, you murderer! Too afraid to face me after what you did to puddin'?" In the blink of an eye, she swung the bat around and slammed it into the altar, splitting it in half. She ripped the bat back out of broken wood and slung it over her shoulder again. "I won't bite!"

He leapt from the beam, landing silently on the ground several feet away from her.

"There you are! Been busy?" She grinned, lifting her veil up and tossing it over her head. Her ruby red lipstick was smeared from one side of her face to the other. Quinn stalked forward, one slow step at a time.

"You're behind all this, Quinn?"

"Surprised? So was I when I got back home and found out Mr. J was gone!" With a quick lunge, she swept the bat through the air and Batman jumped back. "You monster! You said you would never kill anybody, so why Mr. J?"

Batman flung the metal bat-shaped shuriken from his gauntlet, and in turn, Harley slid on her knees, head ducked back as she dodged them. She leapt from the ground and dealt an upper cut, catching Bruce under his chin. He recovered quickly, landing a kick above her stomach, and she fell back, rolling onto her feet. A tear slid from her eye as she reached for her bat.

"I didn't kill Joker." He stepped on her bat and kicked it out from beneath her hand before she could lift it off the ground.

"You did, too! He's gone and I'm all alone! You took him away from me!"

She swept his feet out from beneath him and he fell. Without a moment to think, she jumped onto him, throwing punches and half of them made their mark. Batman pushed his weight to the side and rolled over, ending up on top as he pinned her arms to the ground. "Enough!" Blood trickled from his nose as he caught his breath.

Harley's tears began flowing heavily as she screeched and punched and kicked underneath him. "Why'd you do it, Bats? Why'd you kill Mr. J?"

"He's not dead." Bruce shut his eyes, head shaking. "He's alive, Quinn. He's not the same crazy man he was once, but he's alive."