Gotham's Apocalypse (A Joke Story [Sequel to Cruel])

34: Zero Xavier

Special Thanks to all of my readers. I hope all of you love this chapter. 

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I took in a deep breath as my eyes fluttered closed, pressing my lips together so tight I could feel the indentations of my teeth start to form on the insides of my mouth. I took in a deep breath until I could no longer take in any more, then slowly exhaled, my chest faltering and steadying as my stress faded for one, pure second.

The sound of an explosion in the distance cut my brief moment of relaxation, creating chills up my arms, granting me goosebumps. I could feel my lips curl at the corner into a devious smirk, and I wet my lips with my curious tongue, turning my head to look out of the window at the mushroom cloud forming at the edge of Gotham city, bursts of black smoke curling up into the air.

My smirk faded, and the chills were replaced with worry. I walked towards the windows, pushing back the curtains farther to examine the entire scenario. What was that? Normally, I could recognize whose bombs were whose, but this one. . . 

This was not one of ours, this did not belong to a single Gotham City villain. 

The door to the office quickly open and shut, and I just slightly turned my head to the left so my ear could hear whatever the person who just walked in had to say. Their presence felt slightly familiar, so I wasn't bothered. "Miss Morphine," the voice panted. The person sounded rushed, it was enough to convince me to fully turn around, but once I did, I regretted my actions.

There stood Reese, covered head to toe in hardening, browning crimson. The blood was not fresh, and it was obviously not all his. I felt a shiver roll up my spine, tickling my neck, causing me to grimace. "Reese, what happened?"

"It's not good, Miss Morphine," he spoke hurriedly, gripping his chest with a wince. I pushed everything that was on the desk, off of it, as I ordered him to lay down upon it, whipping out the emergency health kit I kept in Joker's office for stitching. 

"Sum it up fast, Reese, then stop talking," I spoke as I pulled on my medical gloves, draping a white coat over my outfit. There was no time to even put my hair up in a bun, Thankfully, my hair wasn't in my face. 

Reese started to gasp as I pulled his shirt up, eyeing the now obvious hole in his chest started to bubble and overflow. I cursed when inspecting it. This was no ordinary bullet hole, whatever shot him had to be the size of a tennis ball, and it was meant to eviscerate flesh. I could see his organs. "Dammit!" I barked. There was no way he was going to survive this. I wasn't even sure how he got here in the first place. 

He pointed to the mushroom cloud outside of the window, and I suddenly noticed as he paled, sweat beading down his clammy forehead. I pulled my hands away, grimacing. There was nothing I could do now. He was already a dead man. I wasn't sure if he knew it already. He seemed to have no urgency in his voice. 

For once, Reese was aware of what was going on. Sadly for him, this breakthrough was on his deathbed. Or, er, death. . .Desk.

Jesus, Lucy. A little empathy would be nice.

"Reese, a little more description,"I demanded. He coughed, causing the gaping hole of blood to squirt in the air, I stepped back, but not before earning a nice spatter of blood all over my Doctor's coat, and my neck. I cursed as I took out a knife. There was no morphine in this room, and I had nothing else to mercy kill him with. 

"Joker. . . We all. . . We-" he gasped. "We all-. . We tried to take down Zero Xavier, but he-. . . "

I wasn't sure if this was the shock talking now, or truly the story. I grimaced, shaking my now pulsing head. "Reese, who is Zero Xavier? Where is J?"

"There," he gasped, pointing at the mushroom cloud. "We got out before he could."

My heart stopped. My hand clenched around the knife in my hand. "What?"

Another explosion ran out in the distance, just a few feet from where the other one had erupted.

Reese started to go into shock now, convulsing, I groaned and grabbed him by the neck, sinking the blade deep into his eye socket, killing him instantly. I started to run towards the door, no time to remove my blood stained outfit, just only enough time to remove my gloves. I took the pager out from my pocket, alerting all of my nurses. I rushed into Morphine General where they had arrived, panting, they ran once I stated code blue. 

"We need to move out," I barked. "Joker and our henchmen are where that giant explosion was," I felt my blood run cold as the words left my mouth. "Bring as much gear as possible. Put on your armor. We may have suffered multiple casualties. Grab your guns, too, ladies. I'm going to start up the car." 

Without another word, I grabbed the essential items I kept in a Go Bag by the front door. Pills, needles, alcohol pads, gauze, wraps, etc. I jumped out of the door, down the steps and pulled myself into the truck, starting the car, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel impatiently. 

I saw my nurses bolt out with full armor and helmets with red plus signs.. I  had made sure to buy them each kevlar armor for field work, flexible enough to put on their arms, legs and chest without hindering movement. Once they were in the van, I slammed on the gas, causing Tammy to curse as she struggled to close the door, but finally did with the help of Yasmine. I put the pedal to the floor, driving into the belly of the beast.