Fall of Justice

The Joke & The Punch Line

The Supergirl Renee knew and admired-- the Supergirl the world had come to love, was gone. Renee ran through the streets, the chaos of war all around her. She weaved her way past a surge of panicked pedestrians-- the tanks beside her rocking the ground beneath as they tore across the pavement, their shells exploding from the guns. Helicopters tumbled in pieces all around her, fire raining from the sky. The military fired everything they had into Kara as she flew over the city, but she wasn't going down. Green muzzle-flashes showed Renee that they may actually have a chance at beating her.

Renee reached the station, the police were huddled, afraid, unsure what their role was. Half the room fought with the other half. "The military is dealing with it! We can we do?!" one officer yelled.

"Our jobs!" another said, "People are getting hurt!"

"This doesn't make sense, why would she do this?" someone asked. "Maybe it's not really her."

"They're chasing her," someone pointed out, above them, a news station showed the battle from a helicopter, Supergirl was surrounded, she avoided the green shots as they streamed from the surrounding military Blackhawks. A bullet hit her leg from behind. The Blackhawk came in for the kill. Supergirl's eyes went red-- a flash of orange flame and the helicopter scattered across the sky. "She doesn't kill them unless she has to, is no one seeing this?" the officer said.

"It doesn't matter," Renee said. "People are dying, we have to take her down. We know what happened in that house... to that family." Crispus Allen was among the crowd, he caught her eye, he lowered his gaze. Renee spoke. "She was in Arkham for months for hurting Lois Lane, she killed that orderly... no one wants to believe that a hero can become what we're seeing, but it's happened, and the city's counting on us."

"What do we do?" Allen asked.

"We need to know what she wants," she told him.

"She was calling for someone before the shooting started. Some woman."

Four black SUVs came to a halt outside the station. Men in black suits poured out. Waller among them. They marched inside as the officers watched.

"I need to see your captain," Waller said.

"Who are you?" Renee asked.

"We're taking control of this station."

"What?! Who do you work for?"

The captain rushed to their side, giving his hand and shaking hers. "I've spoken with the commissioner, he's not happy about it but... we're at your disposal," the captain said. Renee didn't understand but she was willing to listen.

"We're gonna need access to your arsenal. Luthor gave you liquid Kryptonite bullets, you're the closest station to carry it."

"Doesn't the military have it?" Renee asked.

"He was planning on it but they take time to make, or so I'm told. What we have is far less effective."

"What's the plan?"

"Set up around at the buildings with a clear shot of Wayne Tower. I'll wait on the roof, she'll come to me. I need your best snipers, and tell 'em to be fast, we're not gonna exchange a whole of pleasantries before she vaporizes me."

"You're bait?" Renee asked.

"Won't be the first time," Waller told her. The captain barked at the others to call for SWAT. Renee turned to the officers behind her. "Kryptonite bullets," she told them. They switched their magazines. Renee already had the green striped bullets in her gun.

"I'd like to stay with you," Renee said.

"I have plenty of protection," Waller said.

"I'd like to be there. I want to make sure she's taken down." Waller watched her, then nodded.

"Stay back, out of sight," Waller said. Renee nodded.

"She's gone!" One of the officers said, pointing to the TV. Supergirl was nowhere to be found.

"She'll come back when I show myself," Waller said. "Let's go."

#

Batman hung by the arms, his wrists over his head, legs limp beneath him. He couldn't quite sleep but wasn't entirely awake. Something pulled at him. He opened his eyes. One of the Joker's men was trying to get his mask off.

A hand came quietly from behind the man, around his neck, a blade between the fingers. The knife cut the man's throat, his eyes bulged, he didn't know what had happened or why. He fell, dying as he choked in blood. The Joker stood in front of Batman, wiping the blade on his sleeve, smiling as he put it away. "Take him away before he starts to stink the place up," Joker said. A few of his men came and took the still living man away.

"But sir," another man said. "Shouldn't we know who he is?"

"We do know who he is..." Joker said, "...he's the Batman..."

"What do you want?" Batman asked.

"How many times are you gonna ask me the same thing? You know how they say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? Well... they're wrong, trust me, but it's very annoying... I've told you what I want, I've told you a thousand different times in a thousand different ways..."

"To see me smile."

"Now is that such a bad thing?"

"You killed her friends... her family," Batman said.

"All for you! I can't kill your superfriends! Breaking them is the best I can hope for, then maybe, when you see what becomes of them, what becomes of any of us who have it all taken away, maybe you'll see things my way."

"You're nothing to me."

"You're so locked in that cage you call a mind, that prison you call sanity-- that you can't see the world for what it is, but hey, I can't fault you for that, a man sees what he needs to see to keep the illusion going... but the truth is you see things through roooose colored glasses. I see the world through a clear lense, free of optimism... I see atoms smashing into one another! I see supernovas, I see absurdity. My best chance to break you out of your cage is to make you like me... only then will you be happy. Only then will you be free! So that's what I've been doing, it's taken a long time, I had to align myself with some pretty unsavory types and a lot of lives were lost, so don't let it be in vain, I'm giving you a gift!"

"You're going back to Arkham," Batman said.

"Oh I can't be imprisoned. A warehouse, Blackgate, Arkham, it's all the same to me! You're the one in prison... you think you have some kind of control over what's going to happen, don't you see how sad that is? All you've built, I've taken! And I'll take more!" he laughed and snapped his fingers. Two of his men carried a TV with rabbit ears on top. "The truth is... well, it's as I've always said really, you're all just one bad day away from becoming me... even gods." He turned on the TV.

Static hissed, the picture faded into view. Supergirl hovered in the sky, her eyes red, helicopters burning, exploding around her. "This is a just a replay... she's taking a break," Joker said, turning to Batman. "But trust me, she's coming back, she doesn't have what she wants just yet..." he pointed to the TV again, a new shot, a live shot. Amanda Waller at the roof of Wayne Tower.

"Harley!" he called. Harley came into view, still limping from the pain. She carried a small purple box wrapped in a green bow. "What could it be?" Joker said. "I wonder, I wonder..." he took the box and held it up by Batman's face. "It's for you..." he smiled and opened the box.

Batman looked inside. It was a long metal key. "Today, you find out, that control... is the joke," Joker said taking the key from the box. "And chaos is the punchline." He slipped the key into the lock holding Batman's wrists and click it open. Batman nearly fell, but managed to stay upright. One of Joker's men jogged up to Batman holding out his utility belt. The others watched, Harley Quinn hid behind the Joker who held a half smile, waiting for Batman to act. Batman put on the belt and took out his grappling hook, aiming to the second floor window.

The joker burst out in a mad laugh. Batman shot the hook and zipped up and out of the building. Even as he got into the Batmobile outside he could hear the Joker laughing.