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

38: Next Target

Seven o'clock sharp, in front of the wall of a cave on the island far out near Arkham Asylum. I sighed and shook my head. "This is where I die," I muttered to myself, touching the mossy wall of the waterfall, wincing at the random droplets that fell on my face as I waited. Oh, wait, maybe this was one of those fancy secret doors.

I pressed the one spot of the wall that wasn't mossy, and there was a clicking sound, and the wall made a depressurizing sound, sliding upwards and revealing a walkway. I frowned, once I walked in the wall behind me shut, and lights illuminated the walkway. I started to walk down the hall, eventually I was walking through the ocean itself, watching the fishes swim by, the lost belongings bunched up on the side of the tube. Batman's batcave was connected to the island and the floor underneath the ocean? No wonder he wanted me to come this way, I'd have no idea where the Batcave was by the time I arrived. This seemed like a long walk.

Eventually, I reached what looked like an elevator, but it was orb shaped. I walked into the doors that slid open once I approached, and went to press a button, anything, but there were no buttons. Instead, a screen that popped up, the image of an older man with a hat and a mask covering his chin and nose appeared. "Batman has been expecting you." The man spoke in a British accent.

The image of the man disappeared, and suddenly the pod I was in made a harsh jolt, throwing me to the other side of it. Seatbelts popped out of the walls and wrapped themselves around me. It then made another harsh movement, catapulting itself, and I felt like I was in a high speed chase. This pod must have been going at least one hundred and ten miles per hour.

It began to slow down, and once the pod stopped, the seatbelts unlatched, and I fell through the open door. I crawled out of it and stood up, gripping onto the nearest thing I could find, the railing, and gasping. The pod flew out of sight, and I turned to finally look at the cave.

At one end, a giant screen with multiple smaller screens and a keyboard. On another side, a bunch of different Bat Suits, lined up next to each other, and in the center, the Batmobile. I gasped, I looked around and it looked like there were several exits and entrances, probably leading to different parts of Gotham City. I looked down and gasped, realizing this whole operation was levitating above a gaping, black hole. We were in a literal cave, suspended in the air.

I wasn't scared, this cave looked secure. In fact, it looked like it had at least, at least, fifteen million dollars worth of technology and security precautions in it.

"What are you doing here?" I heard a stern voice. I turned to see a boy in red and green attire with a black eye mask, and a red-headed girl with glasses in a wheelchair that had a screen popping out of the tray in front of her.

"Oh, boy wonder, and. . . " I looked at the girl, who was glaring daggers at me. I gasped. "Oh my god, is that Batgirl? What's. . . " I grew grim when I remembered what Joker did to her. "Oh, that's right."

"You have stumbled into the wrong cave, M--"

"Robin! Oracle!" I turned to see one of the cave doors had opened, and Batman had walked in. He started to walk towards me. "What did I tell you?" Guess she went by Oracle now.

Robin and Oracle started to mutter, then left through another cave door. "Not my biggest fans, huh?" I questioned Batman.

"They believe you're guilty by association."

"I mean, they're not wrong," I spoke, then folded my arms.

"I was out gathering intel from Gotham citizens on the event from earlier," he spoke, then plugged what looked like a bat-shaped flash drive into the large brain of the computer. Of course. A map of Gotham City in high-definition popped up on the screen, several locations circled, and the map suddenly zoomed in to the area Zero destroyed the landscape. A huge chunk of the forest was gone. Bare. What was left was charred, stubby pieces of trees, dark brown landscape, and blood left behind from the bodies I'm guessing coroners and forensics had already cleaned up by now.

He zoomed into one of the trees. It had a symbol on it. It was a circle with an X through it. "This is his calling card, and I searched Gotham City, and. . . " He zoomed out on the screen. Three other circles lit up on Gotham's map, lime colored this time. "These are the zones that are marked with that exact symbol, which means he's going to hit one of these locations next, but how? When? Which one comes first?"

I studied the map. "Well, he said he wanted to come after me first, so. . ." I studied the map harder, my eyes widened in horror. "Oh, oh no. Oh my god." I pointed to one of the green circles. The building that was currently falling apart, the vans parked in front. "That's. . . That's my hideout. He's going to hit it next."

I quickly took my phone out and dialed Tammy's number. She answered on the first ring. "Yes, boss?"

"GET OUT OF THERE, NOW! EVACUATE THE BUILDING, BEFORE--" I heard an explosion in the distance. Tammy screamed, the line cut out, leaving me with silence. I watched on the screen as the back of my hideout burst into flames. I turned to Batman, horrified, and he looked back at me with a grim expression.

"Batman, we have to--"

"By the time we get there, Lucy, it will be gone. You have to trust your friends to get everyone out safely."

"Joker, he's--" I quickly started to run to the entrances of the cave, trying to find a door that would let me out. I started to scream and pound at one. "Let me out! Let me save them!" I screamed before my now weakened fist hit the door one last time before I slid in anguish against the door, my face pressed against it, staining the door with my tears. I couldn't move. I knew he was right. I heard another explosion go off just a minute later, then another, then another.

I felt the world around me feel numb. "Did it look like anyone got out?"

"I can't zoom in that far," Batman said solemnly. "You're going to have to wait and call them yourself."

"They better be alive. . . " I sighed. "They better be." I felt my heart hurt. They better be.