Must Love Hyenas

19: Introductions

After an hour of waiting, Joker was getting bored. He drummed his fingers on the armrest of the sofa and inspected the empty popcorn bag for the third time. A knock at the door gave him something to do, and he bounded over to answer it.

"Boss, we got something," the criminal standing outside reported. He held up a file folder, and Joker took it to examine its contents, his perpetual smile widening. "Get the boys."

"Harley!" Joker shouted as he turned around. He held up the folder. "We have some errands to run."

***

The front window of City Hall shattered in a shower of glittering fragments. Bouncing off the stone pillars and tumbling down the steps beyond them was a dark figure. As the person stood up, almost nothing was revealed as the long cape of black trailing behind the figure closed in on all sides and hid everything from view. A cowl covered all but the lower half of the man's face; a strong jaw with sharp edges, it was the only visible feature of the man underneath. Matching protrusions jutted upward from the cowl like a pair of horns, giving the cloaked figure a menacing presence even in the daylight.

The police surrounding the government building looked to each other in confusion, uncertain how to respond to the sudden appearance of a person they believed to be a myth. Their doubts were quickly forgotten when another person emerged.

Bane pushed aside the broken window, causing the entire frame to split from the cement wall around it and crash to the ground. Pressing a switch on a small control panel belted to his forearm near the wrist, Bane activated the equipment strapped to his back. Glowing green fluid was pumped through a hose and into a port on the rear of his mask.

Some in the crowd gasped as Bane's physical structure began to change. His muscles surged in side, becoming even larger and nearly doubling Bane's overall bulk. Marching straight toward Batman, Bane took several punches from the costumed crime-fighter, shrugging them off as if nothing. A single backhand in response sent Batman tumbling across the sidewalk to slam into a parked police car. The vehicle door dented under the impact.

"You are nothing, Batman," Bane taunted. He was only fighting one handed as his opposing hand still held the detonator with his thumb on the trigger. "You were a fool to face me, and you shall die for it."

Batman tossed a few small pellets on the ground, and they exploded into a cloud of blinding smoke. Lunging into the smoke cloud rising around Bane, Batman vanished. After a few moments, the cloud began to dissipate in the wind. Bane was revealed, standing tall and unassailable, his free hand clamped firmly around Batman's throat.

"You cannot defeat me," Bane taunted. He lifted Batman high overhead with one hand before bringing him back down to slam onto the hood of a parked police car and cave in the hood. Batman didn't get up, and Bane turned toward the surrounding police and reporters.

"There is no hope for those who oppose me," Bane informed them. "Even the mighty Batman, the terror of criminals' nightmares, is finished. All shall bow to Bane or be destroyed!"

***

Joker's van honked its horn loudly, barely giving the cops the chance to get out of the way before it crashed into their vehicles and broke through the barricade around City Hall. Several more vans followed behind it, all painted in purple and green to match Joker's preferred colors. Turning the wheel hard, Joker skidded his van to a stop at the foot of the stairs near where Bane stood over the still form of Batman.

"Greetings!" Joker said happily as he hopped out of the van and walked fearlessly toward Bane. Because Bane was nearly twice as tall as Joker, the clown had to crane his neck to look him in the face. "It's so nice to find someone in Gotham I can look up to."

Bane grabbed Joker by the throat and lifted him into the air with all the effort of raising a piece of tissue paper.

"Who are you?" Bane demanded, his accented voice betraying more boredom than anything else.

"Didn't I say?" Joker asked in return. "It must have slipped my mind. So much does these days. Names, dates, sanity."

Joker's laughter halted when Bane tightened his grip enough to put uncomfortable pressure on the clown's throat.

"The name's Joker," he introduced himself, extending a hand for Bane to shake. The giant holding Joker ignored the gesture. "I just thought we should meet, seeing as how I had all your bombs disabled."

"It is a poor joke," Bane sneered. "I have trackers on all my bombs. All of them are still active."

"Are they?" Joker inquired as he raised a hand and snapped.

A series of beeps came from a small computer screen hooked on Bane's belt. Joker was dropped to the ground so Bane could remove the device and inspect it.

"What have you done?" Bane growled, turning on Joker.

"You bought the bombs from Penguin," Joker explained while standing up, dusting off his suit, and straightening the cuffs. "However, you didn't change the frequency for the location transmitters, and you didn't change the access codes we found in Penguin's records. We were able to place new transmitters broadcasting the same signal nearby before shutting off your bombs. The only one left was the one in City Hall, and our conversation has gone on long enough for my people to take care of that one as well. The explosives have been relocated elsewhere in Gotham, and now one of my people has their thumb on the button. The detonator you have in your hand is about as dangerous as the clicker on an ink pen."

"I will kill you!" Bane roared.