[Thread] Two-Fer

[gonnaloveme]

Characters: Bruce Wayne/Batman (OU), OPEN
Where: anywhere
When: anytime
Summary: Bruce Wayne is traipsing around town by day. Batman is prowling at night.
Warnings: None until further notice.

Comments

[entro_pist]

On the top floor of the office building, a pair of doors leading into what had once been a grand meeting hall were thrust aside, creaking stridently on their rusted hinges. Inside it was dark, just like every other room in the building, and derelict. But this room had its perks-an extended meeting table in the center and several large panoramic windows. Most of the panes were either cracked or broken out completely from recent attacks, but on this corner of the building that jutted toward the plaza, the windows were overlooking the heart of the compound. A perfect setup.

Resting a heavy duffel bag on the floor in front of the windows, the Joker knelt beside it, glass crunching under knee and foot as he reached inside for ammunition. Upon his shoulder he hefted an improvised rocket-propelled grenade he had began constructing months ago out of whatever usable scraps he could requisition or simply happened upon discarded inside the compound. Now that he finally had the launcher assembled to his liking it was time to take it for a test drive. The clear moonlit night was perfect for stalking nocturnal game. Especially that of the large and elusive winged man variety.

Once the first warhead was loaded, the clown convict set his sights on the city outside. Here the windows didn't reach the floor so there was a good two-and-a-half-foot margin of wall space to crouch behind for cover that allowed clearance for both his shoulder and his weapon. He sucked his lower lip in anticipation then began a low grinding mantra of "where is he where is he where is he" under his breath, eyes darting erratically from place to place, hunting for flickers of movement along the night sky.

That's when he caught glimpse of a fluttering black cape on a rooftop across the plaza. The excited mantra under his breath switched to "Here we go! Here we go!" as he immediately swiveled on his knee, the gun's oversize barrel swinging to line up for the shot. He squinted down the barrel, took aim, annnnnnnd KAPLOOEY!

The warhead arced over the plaza toward the building diagonal. When it hit, chunks of brick and limestone and roof-tile took flight not terribly far from where the shadowy movement had been just a moment ago. Anyone near the vicinity would have likely heard it, may have even seen the office building's top floor illuminate in a flash of light before smoke curled out of its windows, giving away the shooter's location.

[gonnaloveme]

Batman heard the distinctive swoosh of a projectile exiting the object shooting it off and instinctively ducked down as low as his body could go. A rocket launcher being aimed at him was not an entirely new event. It was barely a second later that the rooftop he was on blew up in a cloud of debris that soon began falling back down on top of him, pelting his back and shoulders with mangled, still scorching rubble. He considered himself lucky that that was all that affected him.

He threw his cape off him and stood up in what could almost be called a theatrical moving pose, but the aura and expression of the Bat meant serious business. He searched the direction from which the sound had come from and his eyes latched onto an area where he thought he remembered a flash emanating from when the sound went off. His eyes narrowed, calculating, and within the next second the Bat had jumped forward into action.

His cape snapped open as he leapt off the building and he glided down towards the suspicious area. He went in fast and furious, ready for anything as he tumbled through the pre-broken window. He landed hard, rolled forward over his shoulder, and came back up into a low crouch.

[entro_pist]

Smoke crawled through the eerie silence of the dark room, the only indicator that anyone had ever really been there at all, except perhaps for the invisible presence of excited energy that still hung in the air like static. The culprit hadn't gone far. In fact, he was still very close and very much aware of the Bat's arrival, but remained unseen.

Knowing Batman would arrive shortly, the Joker had fled the room soon after firing his first shot, hauling both launcher and ammo on either shoulder to a new position just outside the door. He'd barely finished loading another warhead when he heard the heavily armored Bat hit the floor. Now, he had the gun upon his shoulder once more, barrel pointed toward the floor to keep it from appearing beyond the edge of the open doorway whose side wall had become his current hiding place.

If the Batman was listening, and surely he was, he would begin to hear a voice echo in the cold darkness-that voice-playfully intonating a twisted take on the familiar old 'One two, buckle my shoe' children's nursery rhyme. It started out faint but grew louder and more sinister as it went...

"Six, five, still alive. Four, three, he's looking for me. Two, one, gonna come undone." Then a complete break from melody, "Ready or not here I come!"

The Joker's appearance was quick and lethal as he whipped around the edge of the wall, firing as soon as he'd spotted Batman's silhouette. His aim was purposefully low, toward the floor in front of the Bat's feet.

[gonnaloveme]

Batman's head instantly snapped to the position of the Joker when the madman finished his litany. The last phrase didn't echo eerily off the walls and was easy to pinpoint. He began to take a step forward but just then the Joker whipped around the corner and the Bat's eyes immediately went to the more than simply dangerous weapon on his shoulder. He stopped, froze.

His first instinct was to roll forward again into another dive; it would not only help him dodge (hopefully) but put him closer to the Joker. He was lucky he thought twice on the idea.

As the rocket launched at him his quick mind saw the intended flight path and he checked his forward movement. He brought his arm up, and with it his cape, to cover his face as he stepped back and crouched into a tight little ball around his middle.

But the fallout from the blast was hardly beginning to settle when the dark form of the Bat loomed frightenly within the dust, his form heading straight at the Joker at break-neck speed. His armor was dinged and cape worse for the wear, but he seemed determined enough despite the close call. With a small growl he as atop the Joker's position.