Sesame, DC: The Gotham Grouchfest

[muppetwriter]

This next chapter will be narrated by Omi.

Chapter Seven​

The situation was becoming most desperate, as we followed Batman up to the very top of the building. I was never ashamed to admit it when my strength could only go so far, but the girl in the orange sweater and red skirt with the most peculiar glasses was very much heavy. Luckily, I had Clay assist me in carrying her upstairs. Going in that direction, I could not help but wonder what would become of Jack Spicer, after being infected by that strange toxin. Doctor Crane was of no concern of mine, because he was evil and most dishonorable.

“Set them down here.” Batman had told us, once we all had reached our destination. We gently set the strangely dressed teenagers, the red furry creature, and Miss Dawes down on the floor, while Batman had done the strangest thing ever. He had fallen from the rafters, while attached to a cable, and when he had returned, Detective Gordon was in his possession. As soon as Detective Gordon and Batman were on their feet, Detective Thomas had approached him and showed him his police badge.

“Detective Sean Thomas of the Metropolis Police Department.” He had told Detective Gordon. “Glad to see you willing to help us in our situation.”

“No problem. I love doing my job, and doing it right.” Detective Gordon said, as he was brought over to where Miss Dawes, the strange teenagers, and the red furry creature were lying down. “What’s happened to them?”

“Crane poisoned them with his toxin.” Batman had explained to him. “He was the third man at the docks.”

“Let me take them down to the medics.” Detective Gordon had offered, but Batman was very quick to contradict.

“They can’t help her.” He had said. “But we can.” And before we all had known it, all of the lights in the building had returned. It was by then when we all had realized that we were in the shadows of the attic. I noticed how Batman had reached down to his boot and pressed a switch in the heel (most intriguing, but most confusing at the same time, because neither of us had known what it was for).

“We need to get them the antidote before the damage becomes permanent.” Detective Thomas had suggested, while Kimiko tended to the furry, red creature.

“Especially this little guy.” She had said, seeming very worried over his health. “He looks like he could fade at any time now.” I looked down at the frightened creature; he did look very nervous and close to passing, especially with his fur becoming drenched in his own sweat.

“Hang in there, Elmo.” Detective Thomas told the creature, even though he could barely have heard him. “I don’t think they have long.”

“Everybody get them all downstairs and meet me in the alley on the Narrows side.” Batman had ordered the rest of us.

“But how will you get out?” Raimundo had asked him.

“I called for backup.” Batman had responded, indicating his boot, before returning his attention to Detective Gordon. “Crane and some others have been refining his toxin, stockpiling it.”

“What were they planning?” Detective Gordon had asked.

“I don’t know, but they’ve been working for someone else.” Batman had replied, and I knew he would not dare tell Detective Gordon about Ra’s Al Ghul (at least not until we confirmed Doctor Crane’s information regarding him). I wanted to focus on the situation at hand, but neither myself or my friends could ignore a strange squealing noise approaching.

“What is that sound?” I had asked.

“Backup.” Batman had replied, just as something very unexpected had happened. Out of nowhere, Count von Count appeared near us, with a pleasant smile on his face.

“You called?” He had asked, and before we could ask why he was there, another surprising thing had happened. Thousands upon thousands of bats shattered through the windows and had filled the building from the bottom to the top. It was by then when I had realized what Batman had done. He had summoned the bats (and Count) with that boot of his. Most intriguing!

“Get them downstairs! Now!” Batman had demanded, and we all carried Miss Dawes, the teenagers, and the furry red creature down the stairs, out of the building, and into the alley. Once we were there, I was most taken aback by the vehicle parked there: a van with bright colors and flowers painted all over it.

“Man! Whoever owns that hunk of junk needs to let the 60s go!” Raimundo had said, just before Batman had exited the asylum and approached us. As soon as he had done so, a bright light shined over our location, meaning that we must get away as fast as we could. While Batman had taken Miss Dawes away from Detective Gordon, the rest of us brought the unconscious victims into the “Batmobile” (most unusual name for a great vehicle).

“Let us fire concrete!” I had said, just as Batman came into the Batmobile with Miss Dawes.

“I believe you mean ‘burn rubber’.” Count had corrected me.

“That, too.” I had said, and once our blinding headlights flared and massive engines began roaring, our matte-black and stealth-finished car had come zooming by Detective Gordon, who immediately dove out of harm’s way. To say that Batman’s driving techniques were impressive would be quite an understatement, especially witnessing how he smashed into a cop car, bouncing the Batmobile right over it in a messy display of brute force. “Was that very necessary?”

“Hey, as long as they’re not getting our license plate number, who cares?” Raimundo had told me, as Batman turned our vehicle left and accelerated down the street. While he was weaving around traffic, I turned to our endangered friends who were breathing fast and staring at the road ahead.

“Try to stay calm.” I had instructed them. “You have been poisoned.”

“No kidding.” The gorgeous one with the red hair and purple dress had replied, as we continued racing along, passing two lights and nimbly dodging through the cross-traffic.

“Two cop cars are following us.” Count had informed, and through the rearview monitor, we noticed the cars joining the pursuit, with their lights blazing and sirens blaring. Our situation was becoming most desperate.

“No problem.” Batman had uttered, just before flipped a switch that dropped spike strips onto the road. The police vehicles hit them and tires explode; they skidded sideways and one lied into the other.

“Whoa! Nice job!” Kimiko had complimented him, right before we slalomed outside of the freeway supports, rolled over the sidewalk, and squeezed back into the roadway. We came out from under the elevated freeway and were immediately caught in the light from a helicopter above us.

“No way we can get away from them with that light on us.” Detective Thomas had told Batman, who glanced at a row of buttons—each one a tiny screen showing different views. The Batman had pushed one, while one of our poisoned friends was hyperventilating.

“Elmo! Breathe slowly!” Detective Thomas told the furry, red one. “Try closing your eyes.” For a moment, the creature had done so; but then he opened them again, more frightened than ever.

“That’s worse!” He had yelled, just as we had skidded through the entrance to what Detective Thomas had called a “multi-level parking garage,” taking some sort of machine and barrier in the process. We raced upwards through the structure, with our enormous width taking out pillars at every turn. I could only imagine the money that Gotham City would have to spend for our damages.

“What you doing?!?!” Detective Thomas had asked Batman, with a hint of hostility in his voice.

“Shortcut.” Batman had calmly responded, while the cop cars smashed into the downed pillars in the Batmobile’s wake. When we had arrived on the very top level, we were again lit by the helicopter’s light. Batman had reversed our vehicle into a spot marked “compact,” crushing the cars on either side of us, and then raced forward.

“We branded those cars worst than a bull on a hot, sunny day.” Clay had commented with his cowboy slang, which neither of us could understand at the time. We saw how the cop cars had emerged on the roof and blocked the only way down, leaving us screeching to a halt.

“Oh, no.” Kimiko had said.

“TURN OFF YOUR ENGINE!!!” One of the officers had demanded, while Batman had pressed some buttons that made him amazingly slide into a horizontal position. That vehicle had yet to impress me with its mechanical abilities!

Another button had been pressed and cannons emerged from the nose of the Batmobile, blasting a wall that was far away. We had all known we were going to be in for a fierce ride, so all of us held on tight, as the vehicle rocketed forward and headed for the gap in the far wall, accelerating at intense speed! We all had screamed very loud, as the Batmobile jumped off the parking garage and soared over an intimidating thirty-foot gap, landing heavily on a flat roof nearby.

“THAT WAS VERY WITCHED!!!” I had yelled, and Raimundo had seemed to agree with me on that sentiment.

“That’s ‘wicked’, dude.” He had said, but only now do I realize that he was actually correcting me.

The next part of our chase was more intense than the first, as Batman turned left and boosted, causing the Batmobile to turn and go to the next roof. In mere moments, we were driving over rooftop after rooftop, with the helicopter above us still in pursuit. The Batmobile had landed on a pitched rooftop, racing along at a precarious angle; the tiles had slid off the roof in our wake.

“I wonder if he’s driving with his eyes closed or using the Force.” Detective Thomas had said, and I wondered what he had meant when he referred to this “Force.” It sounded like a most intriguing ancient tradition to me.

We blasted forward again and jumped another large gap that had led us straight back onto another freeway. Other cars had swerved fiercely, just to avoid us as we had landed. The Batmobile swerved, but no matter how much we had done so, the helicopter’s light was still shining upon us.

“Those cars are closing in on us.” Detective Thomas had informed Batman, who had brought himself back into his regular position to do something that had impressed the rest of us. He had turned all of the lights in the vehicle off, as well as the engine, and we found ourselves no longer subjected to the helicopter’s bright light. Not even the cop cars could see us, as they drove past our windows.

“Most impressive.” I had said. “We are like a wraith on this street now.”

“Man! Wuya’s got nothin’ on us.” Raimundo had said, and yet I wondered what exactly she wouldn’t have that we do (besides Shen Gong Wu). I also wondered how our poisoned friends were doing, turning to them just as Detective Thomas had.

“Stay with us, kids.” He had said, and looking away from them to gaze upon Batman, I could see the wariness past his black mask and in his eyes.

Soon our lawful adversaries again spotted us, and Batman was forced to bring the vehicle back to life, slipping into the horizontal position again and accelerating down the street. With many more unnecessary but impressive techniques of evasion, we were able to get the police cars off our tail and fly off another ramp, jumping down to the road below.

Batman again turned off all of the lights and started running on something that Kimiko called “Night Vision,” which I believed would keep any other police cars alerted of our presence. With the police helicopter losing sight of our location again, we soon found ourselves free of any attention and coming through a dark, wooded path that would lead us straight to our primary destination: Wayne Manor.

“Oh, no! We’re losing them!!!” Kimiko had informed us, and I had turned to see our poisoned friends slowly falling into unconsciousness. Detective Thomas and Count von Count had tried desperately to wake up the red, furry one that they had been referring to as “Elmo,” while Kimiko, Clay, and Raimundo tried to wake up the strangely dressed teenagers. I had even attempted to wake up the brown, black-spotted dog, while Batman yelled to the unconscious Miss Dawes.

“Just hold on, Rachel.” He had yelled, and when there was no response from her, he yelled even louder. “RACHEL!!!!” When we were approaching a waterfall nearby, the Batmobile had again accelerated at a remarkable speed and speeded right over the edge, flying straight at the face of the waterfall. Splashing through it, our vehicle had emerged into the bat cave.

Once we had come to a complete stop, the Batmobile opened and allowed us all to climb out of it, carrying our unconscious, poisoned friends over to places at Mr. Wayne’s work area where they can rest as we got them the antidote to their poison. I stood close nearby with Detective Thomas, Count von Count, and my fellow monks, all of us watching as Batman took a container that Mr. Fox had contained the antidote that Mr. Fox supplied him with and removed some vials from it. He plugged the vials into a set of syringes and injected each of our poisoned friends with the antidote. Afterwards, he stepped back to where we were standing, removing his mask and revealing the worried expression of Bruce Wayne.

“Will they be alright?” Detective Thomas had asked him.

“Time can only tell.” Mr. Wayne had answered, and it was not very long before one of our friends began breathing again, very slowly. It was the red, furry creature named Elmo, and Detective Thomas and Count von Count were most pleased by his recovery. Soon the rest of our friends started slowly breathing again, rectifying our fears.

“Well, now that the worse is over, what should we do with them?” Kimiko had asked Mr. Wayne, and before he could answer, Dojo—who I was most glad to see again after we had returned from our mission—had glided down into the caverns and approached us.

“Hey, you guys made it back just in time! Do you realize how hard it is entertaining a bunch of fancy pants pushovers like the ones upstairs? Especially after Count bailed out on me and…” Dojo had stopped talking long enough to notice the other guests that had come (but not for the same reasons as the ones upstairs). “Who are they?”

“Victims of the toxin created by those snakes, Jack Spicer and Jonathan Crane.” Clay had said. “And if we hadn’t arrived in time to inject them with the antidote, they’d be goners for sure.”

“Well, it looks like they’re gonna wake up pretty soon.” Dojo had noticed.

“And with a lot of questions, too.” Detective Thomas had added.

“Ones that I’ll handle answering.” Mr. Wayne had suggested, as he placed his mask back over his head. “You all go ahead and get to the party. I’ll be sure to take care of Rachel and the kids, when they come to.” Without any hesitation, we had done exactly what Mr. Wayne had demanded and took the lift back up to the manor portion of his home, where we would attend his birthday party.

“Hey…has anyone seen Oscar?” Detective Thomas had asked, but none of us could answer his question, for none of us knew what had become of the grouchy monster. Though it seemed as if none of us had even worried over the matter of his absence. “Ah, well. I’m sure he’ll find a ride back to the manor.”

END OF CHAPTER SEVEN​

 

[The Count]

Hexcellent... Simply hexcellent. Loved the part I was hexpecting, the rooftop jumpin' Batmobile chasin' time racin' scene to get the victims of the toxin back to the manor. Course, the revelation at the party's next, but I'm no going to give that away Post mre as soon as you can!

 

[muppetwriter]

Thanks, Count. There is indeed a big revelation in the next chapter. In fact, it's so massive that it's actually a "two-part" revelation.

The next "Sesame, DC" story that I will do after this one will be a Teen Titans/Sesame Street crossover, and I'm real excited about doing it, because we all love those crazy Teen Titans, just as much as they (possibly) love Sesame Street.

 

[The Count]

Hi... You've probably seen this already MW, but I just read that WBs considering making a JLA movie to sort of rival te X-Men franchise. No particulars areknown as of now, but I'd guess the floodgates are now wide open for DC fan speculations.

 

[muppetwriter]

Yeah, I did notice that. I really do hope it gets off the ground, though they'll have to get Wonder Woman and The Flash done first if they want to go as far as to do a JLA movie. Then again, like you said, it sort of rivals the X-Men franchise in a way (and we all, of course, know how that turned out, resulting in spinoff film like Wolverine and Magneto). Maybe a live-action JLA film would help bring those two DC comic flicks into fruition afterwards.

Despite whether they make one or not, I have an idea for a future "Sesame, DC" story, in which our friendly neighbors/Daily Planet reporters (Bert, Ernie, and Bob) encounter the team at their Watchtower headquarters.

 

[muppetwriter]

This next lengthy chapter will be narrated by Bruce Wayne.

Chapter Eight​

A few moments later, Rachel had reached consciousness, but the others hadn’t yet. Upon seeing me in my “Batman” gear, she was definitely surprised to find herself in my home below my other home. She felt groggy from the aftereffects of Crane’s toxin and asked me why I brought her there, which led me to explain about being poisoned by Crane. I had to give her credit for being so anxious to alert the police about him, but I informed her that Gordon had him and was probably interrogating him about the plans he was forming with someone else (who I had still refused to believe was Ra’s Al Ghul, because the mini-monks and I watched him die). Not long did we go on a short discussion about my reason for saving her life (which I said was because Gotham needed her) and how I served justice for the city.

After that discussion, we went into more important matters such as Crane’s plan for unleashing his toxin. I told Rachel that I was going to give her a sedative, and that when she woke up at her home, she needed to take two vials that I gave her to Gordon (one for Gordon himself and the other to start mass-production). Once the instructions were given, I injected her with the sedative, and she went back into unconsciousness again, ready for Alfred to take her home. I looked back over at the other victims of that night’s incident and realized that it was too dangerous to take them back to their van in the Narrows. I knew that keeping them there was a sacrifice to my identity as Bruce Wayne, but I had no other choice. Besides, they had already meddled themselves further into the situation than they expected.

Another few moments later, I was out of my bat suit and into more suitable attire for my birthday party upstairs. Upon emerging from the bookcase, I was confronted by Alfred himself, who did not seem to be so pleased over my actions during that police chase I was in. After a brief dispute over respecting my father’s name, I simply instructed Alfred to take Rachel home and tell his staff to stop serving drinks and move everyone on after the cake. Once I had stepped into the main hall of the manor, I was greeted by several guests and Detective Thomas (who was wearing the tuxedo I had loaned him) and the mini-monks (Clay, Raimundo, and Kimiko were dressed formally, but Omi was still wearing what he believed to be his actual formal attire) and Count von Count (who looked the same as usual).

I could not believe how many people were there, just for my thirtieth birthday party, including Mr. Earle, who provided me with news on Wayne Enterprises’ stock-offering and assured that the company’s future was secured (so it possibly was in his mind, as he believed to be running things and not me). Even Sesame Street’s own Kermit the Frog was there at the party, wearing a tuxedo with no shoes and asking me several “off-the-record” questions after wishing me a happy birthday. Of course, I was able to avoid his questions and move to the buffet table, where Lucius Fox and my friends were at the moment.

“Thank you for that item, Lucius.” I told him, referring to the vials I found in the caverns. I believe that was the first time since I met him that I addressed him by his first name.

“I know you’ll put it to good use.” Lucius replied.

“We already did.” Clay uttered. “We saved a few lives just a moment ago, after we were…” He stopped talking after Raimundo elbowed him in his stomach to keep Lucius from knowing about our “secret.”

“How long would it take to manufacture on a large scale?” I asked Lucius, and he thought about it for a brief moment, before giving me an answer with a curious look on his face.

“Weeks. Why?” He asked me in return, and I was ready to give him a straightforward answer, until Sean had instead.

“Someone’s planning to disperse the toxin using the water supply.” He informed Lucius.

“The water supply won’t help you disperse an inhalant.” Lucius remarked, and I could tell he realized something afterwards, just by seeing the cautious look on his face. “Unless you have a microwave emitter powerful enough to vaporize all the water in the mains.”

“A microwave emitter like the one stolen from Wayne Enterprises?” Someone interjected, and we all turn to where the voice came from. Though the others were, I wasn’t too surprised to see those meddling kids from Mystery Inc. and their friend, Elmo, up and about in the upper levels of the manor. Sean, Count, and the mini-monks turned to me, all looking very worried about the kids finding about our secret, but I winked and smiled to let them know that everything was okay, as long as they were helping us in our situation.

“How do you know about that? That information’s classified.” Lucius asked Velma, who was the one that spoke out about it.

“They’re helping me in this matter.” I had spoken for the kids, who were as pleased as they could be about it. “They’re the reason that I had asked for more of that antidote, because they got close to the same person who used the toxin on me and my friends.” I looked over at the kids and noticed how Sean and Count were checking on Elmo, who appeared to be a lot better than he was hours ago.

“We’ve discovered that the ones who poisoned us have the emitter in their possession.” Daphne mentioned.

“Which could only mean that they could be vaporizing all of the city’s water at this very moment!” Omi exclaimed, and I could see how anxious Lucius was to talk more about it. But he maintained his anxiety, as he looked over at Mr. Earle and continued collecting more food on his plate.

“Earle has already fired me for asking too many questions about it. So unless I want to keep myself out of prison, I’d better shut up about it.” I looked over at Earle, who was mingling with some of the guests, surprised that he was do such a thing to Lucius. Kimiko, who looked up to Lucius as a great technological mentor, seemed the same way and wasn’t too happy about it.

“That Earle is starting to get on my nerves. He has no business firing you, Mr. Fox.” Kimiko said. “You’re a brilliant man who could really bring the company into the next century and the one after that. And trust me when I say that, because you remind me so much of my dad, who is just as great.”

“That’s sweet of you to say, honey. But as long as he’s playing the role of CEO of Wayne Enterprises, he can do whatever he wants.” Lucius told Kimiko, who glanced at Earle with a violent look in her eyes.

“Somebody really needs to kick his butt out of that CEO chair.” She said.

Not once did it cross my mind to ask the reason for Earle’s action. Instead of asking, I just made what could’ve been one last demand for Lucius. “I need you to go back to Wayne Enterprises now and start making more of that antidote. The police are gonna need as much as they can get their hands on.”

“But my security clearance has been revoked.” Lucius told me, but I just gave him a sly grin with a motivational remark.

“That wouldn’t stop a man like you, would it?” I asked, and Lucius gave me the same sly grin.

“I suppose not.” He said, and he put down his plate and headed out of the manor to do his job, while I motioned for the Mystery Inc. kids, Elmo, Count, Sean, and the Xiaolin monks to follow me into the study where we could slip out of the party in time to get out of the manor and head back over to the Narrows. But Kermit, who anxiously approached me, soon foiled our plan.

“Mr. Wayne! Mr. Wayne! I’m sorry to bother you again, but you have to meet someone who I really think is your best guest at this party.” Kermit said, grabbing my arm and leading the others and me over to one particular guest at the party, a young Asian man in his thirties.

“Yo, Kerm! From one reptile to another, could you please give us some space?” Dojo requested. “We’ve got some important business to take care of.”

“It’ll just take a sec.” Kermit said, just as he turned to the Asian and talked to him real loud, as if he immediately assumed the Asian couldn’t speak any English. “Now am I pronouncing your name correctly, Mr. Ra’s Al Ghul?” My friends and I nearly jumped out of our skins when we heard that name spoken out loud by someone who didn’t know it as personally as we did. I could hear Omi and his monk friends chattering amongst themselves, asking what was the meaning of this trickery, as the man who was calling himself Ra’s Al Ghul that moment had turned and faced us.

“He is not Ra’s Al Ghul. We had watched Ra’s Al Ghul die, remember?” Omi took the words right out of my mouth. We stared at this man for a long time, seeing the double-boomed blue poppy that was in his buttonhole, until we heard a voice behind us that sounded new to Sean, Count, Elmo, and the Mystery Inc. kids, but was all too familiar to myself, Dojo, and the Xiaolin monks.

“But is Ra’s Al Ghul immortal?” We turned, and standing there, smiling at all of us, was Henri Ducard. “Are his methods supernatural?” At first I wondered what was Ducard doing there at the manor on my birthday. But then it was starting to become all too clear, not just to myself, but to the Xiaolin monks, Dojo, the Mystery Inc. kids, Detective Thomas, Count, and even Elmo. The one that I believed was Ra’s Al Ghul at that monastery in the mountains was only a fake. The real Ra’s Al Ghul was the man standing in front of me at that time: Henri Ducard.

“Or cheap parlor tricks to conceal your true identity…Ra’s?” I asked him, and he smiled in acknowledgement, while Kermit the Frog chuckled over his own mistake.

“Oh, so he’s Ra’s Al Ghul. My bad.” Kermit said, and he spoke to Ducard/Ra’s Al Ghul in the same loud way that he spoke to the Asian. “I did pronounce your name right, didn’t I?!” With all due respect to Kermit the Frog, the matter between Ra’s Al Ghul and us was none of his business, and he needed to mind his own before he put himself in serious danger. Luckily, Sean knew exactly how to drive him away from our situation.

“Kermit, Kermit…I thought I saw a few flies in that cake over there. Have at it!” I told him, and with much glee, Kermit hopped over to the buffet table, while we confronted Ra’s. “I don’t get it. Why would you make Bruce and the Xiaolin monks assume that you were nothing more than just a common assistant, instead of the real deal?”

“Now, hold on a second!” Shaggy exclaimed, holding his arms high in the air in protest and then pointing at Ra’s. “Who is this guy? How come we didn’t find out about his involvement in this mystery until this very moment?”

“Because you twerps hadn’t meddled early enough to find out at the time the rest of us did.” A different voice yelled out, and I noticed how several guests were holding their noses and covering their mouths with disgusted looks on each of their faces, as they parted ways to allow Oscar the Grouch to walk up to our location. Sean, Count, and Elmo were really surprised and overjoyed to see him there, safe and unharmed; however, Oscar didn’t feel the same way. “Don’t pretend like you missed me or even wondered where I’ve been! Ya didn’t even hear me scream, as I was carried away by that literally stupid redhead kid and that blonde girl who’s even grouchier than me.”

When Oscar spoke of the two characters named Billy and Mandy, we were surprised to see them there at the party. Mandy was insulted some of the guests, telling them that they would soon pay for their “greedy ways,” while Billy was…um…“making bubbles with his butt” in the punch bowl. One of the guests, an elderly man who was a friend of my family’s, had approached me and demanded for Billy, Mandy, and Oscar to be removed from the premises.

“Hey, hey! Butt out, geezer!” Oscar told the man. “We haven’t yet unveiled the big plot twist yet.” I exchanged awkward glances with Sean, who was just as puzzled by that statement as I was.

“Oscar, what’re you talking about?” He asked, and Oscar let out a deep, wicked chuckle.

“You know, when I first heard about this ‘League of Shadows’ thing, I thought it was all a bunch of rotten boloney.” Oscar said. “But then, after being kidnapped by Billy and Mandy here and taken to their hideout, I realize that they’re only here in Gotham to make everyone grouchier than they already are.”

“And that’s supposed to be a good thing?!” Sean asked, and I sensed a bit of anger in his voice, as we all began to realize the “big plot twist” that was unfolding before us.

“Hey, in my experience as a common grouch, that’s a marvelous thing!” Oscar remarked. “All they had to do was tell me that they’re planning the biggest ‘Grouchfest’ Gotham City has ever seen, and I offered my services to them.”

“YOU WHAT?!?!?!” Sean and the others screamed in horror.

“Sure. I love to see a bunch of grouchy people go at it with one another. It’s always been my biggest dream.” Oscar said, and as he was talking, I noticed how several of the party guests were starting to leave the manor. However, there were some that stayed behind, and just when I thought they probably didn’t mind the unruly guests that had arrived, I realized that they were actually members of the League of Shadows.

“Oscar, do you even know what is happening here?!” Sean angrily asked the grouch. “That toxin that affected Bruce and nearly killed our friends, including poor Elmo, is going to be unleashed all over the city! It’s not going to just make everyone grouchy…it’s going to kill them all!!” We could see the worried look on Oscar’s face telling us that he realized he made a mistake. But then he shook off the voice of reason that was talking in his head and pretended as if he hadn’t heard a word that Sean said.

“You just can’t stand the fact that Gotham’s a bad city, can ya? The complete opposite of that goody-two-shoes home you call Metropolis!” Oscar told Sean. “Well, you know what? I’m tired of Metropolis, I’m tired of Sesame Street, and I’m tired of the rest of the world! Gotham’s my new home now, and I’m gonna make sure it becomes one of the grouchiest places in the world!” I could clearly see how much Sean had been fuming over Oscar’s betrayal and oblivious behavior, while Elmo and Count seemed very distraught by it. The Xiaolin monks were just ready to fight Ra’s Al Ghul and his League of Shadows, while the Mystery Inc. gang was still trying to go over their clues and figure out what was going on. Meanwhile, I was keeping my mind focused on the subject at hand: the master plan of Ra’s Al Ghul.

“Crane was working for you.” I said.

“His toxin is derived from the organic compound in our blue poppies, the same ones that was used during your first test to obscure your focus.” Ra’s Al Ghul said, and when I looked over at the Xiaolin monks, they were impressed by that fact at the same time they were angered by it. “Crane was able to weaponize the compound. He is a brilliant scientist, but no visionary. He just wanted money and power.”

“And where do the rest of these people fit in? The Heylin? The two kids from Endsville?” I asked, very curiously.

“The Heylin warriors, Jack Spicer and Wuya, were promised a hefty sum of Shen Gong Wu in return for their services. Soon after Gotham is dealt with, the League of Shadows will assist them in finding the artifacts and helping them gain the upper hand in their war against the Xiaolin warriors.” Hearing that made the monks themselves become increasingly furious, especially considering the fact that they almost asked for the League of Shadows to join forces with them until they found out about their demented plot. “As for the children from Endsville, they are mere flukes to this situation. They just happen to be neighbors of Jack Spicer and heard about his involvement with our plans and us. They just want to witness the chaos that will take place, once Gotham tears itself apart through fear.” I could hear Billy chuckling with glee over the thought itself, while I saw Mandy just maintain the morbid look on her face.

“I only see one horseshoe that’s caught in your gears, Mr. Al Ghul.” Clay said. “What good are you gonna be in your little plan, without Jack and Wuya by your side?”

“He’s probably clawing at those padded walls right now, while Wuya’s just looking on.” Raimundo added, and Ra’s just smiled at them, not seeming very intimidated.

“On the contrary, Raimundo…Mr. Spicer will soon be back to his senses and released from Arkham Asylum, along with Crane and several other inmates, all helping us bring our task into fruition.” While Ra’s was revealing his plans to us, we were moved to the hallway that led to the study.

“You’re going to destroy millions of lives.” I told him, but he did not seemed to be bothered from that fact.

“Only a cynical man would call what these people have ‘lives’.” Ra’s remarked. “Crime…Despair…This is not how man was supposed to live.”

“OK. So they’ve made a few mistakes over the centuries…they’re learning to make up for it now.” Dojo told Ra’s.

“It is too late for making up past mistakes.” Ra’s contradicted. “The League of Shadows has been a check against human corruption for thousands of years. We sacked Rome. Loaded trade ships with plague rats. Burned London to the ground. Every time a civilization reaches the pinnacle of its decadence, we return to restore the balance.”

“But Gotham isn’t beyond saving, Ra’s.” Kimiko tried to explain to himself. “Give us more time.”

“Yes, please, Ra’s Al Ghul.” Omi pleaded. “There are good people here.”

“You are defending a city so corrupt we have infiltrated every level of its infrastructure.” Ra’s refused, turning to me and seeming as if he was changing to a different tone. “When I found you in that jail, you were lost. But I believed in you, taking away your fear and showing you a path. You were my greatest student.”

As he told me this, I wasn’t certain whether to feel honored or ashamed, because all that he said was true. I was lost in that Bhutanese jail, after losing all that I had cared so deeply about: Rachel, my mother, my father…everything. Everything that I had become at that very moment was all because of Ra’s. But should I repay him for his teachings by helping him destroy a city that had more innocent lives than guilty ones?

“It should be you standing by my side, saving the world.” Ra’s concluded, but I could not let him do what was beyond my purpose of becoming Batman.

“My friends and I will be standing where I belong…between you and the people of Gotham.” I said, and Ra’s was not too pleased with my words, immediately going back to a more forceful attitude.

“No one can save Gotham.” He said, right before he nodded to his men, who commenced turning over my furniture and setting fire to everything in the manor. My friends seemed very nervous about what was going on, and I needed to get them out before it was too late. “Tomorrow the world will watch in horror as its greatest city destroys itself. The movement back to harmony will be unstoppable this time.” When he told me that, it was almost like I was over what he told me before and more surprised than ever over the fact that the League of Shadows had attacked Gotham before. “Over the ages our weapons have grown more sophisticated. With Gotham, we tried a new one…economics. But we underestimated certain of Gotham’s citizens…such as your parents.”

My eyes grew wide when he told me that, and my mind began to race, feeling myself being brought back to all of those horrible memories of watching them bleed to death in a Gotham alley.

“Gunned down by one of the very people they were trying to help.” Ra’s said, obviously trying to use painful thoughts as one last attempt to join him in his sadistic plot. But he was only making me angry. “Create enough hunger and everyone becomes a criminal. Their deaths galvanized the city into saving itself and Gotham has been limping ever since. We are back to finish the job. And this time no misguided idealists will get in the way.” I stared coldly into his eyes, while the hallway we were standing in began to flame up more and more, scattering burning ashes everywhere. “Like your father, you lack the courage to do all that is necessary. If someone stands in the way of true justice, you simply walk up behind them and stab them in the heart.” And just as soon as he said that, one of the Mystery Inc. kids screamed out to me, as soon as they noticed something (or someone) coming up from behind.

“Mr. Wayne, look out!!!” Fred cried, and I quickly turned away from Ra’s, facing one of the League of Shadows members and taking him down with a blow to the head by a wine glass. When I turned back to Ra’s, he already had a sword out and ready to take me down. I grabbed the arm he was using to hold it and forced him to move it at the right side of my torso. Unfortunately, it wasn’t far enough from my body for me to avoid it, and I ended up being nicked by it slightly. The pain was intense, but it didn’t keep me from fighting Ra’s.

“I am gonna stop you.” I told him, and he looked at me with that same sinister, confident smile. I could feel his grip on the sword that he had been holding increasing greatly, while mine was slowly beginning to weaken, due to the pain in my side.

“You never did mind your surroundings, Bruce.” He said, and before I knew it, I was pushed away by him, just as a section of the burning roof dropped onto me. The last thing that I saw before blackening out was Ra’s glaring at Count, Elmo, the Mystery Inc. kids, and the Xiaolin monks before exiting the flaming manor with his men.

When I had regained consciousness, I noticed how Alfred had returned from taking Rachel home and was helping the others remove the burning wood off of me. Both Alfred and Sean helped me to my feet and carried me to the study, while being accompanied by Count, Elmo, Mystery Inc., and the Xiaolin monks, and once we were there, Alfred jabbed at the flaming piano keys to open the bookcase and take us to the wrought iron spiral staircase.

We crawled onto the lift, as the smoke and flame exploded through the passage. Alfred yanked the lever, dropping us out of the heat, and we speeded down the shaft, landing hard at the bottom. While Alfred and my other companions were coughing up the smoke they had accidentally inhaled and trying to regain their breath, I stared up at the spiral, seeing the sparks and firelight high above. The crash of collapsing timbers echoed down as Wayne Manor died…all because of me.

“What have I done?” I asked, with tears streaming from my eyes (not because of the smoke, but the pain of ruining all that my family had worked so hard for over the centuries). “Everything my family…everything my father and his father built…”

“The Wayne legacy is more than bricks and mortar, sir.” Alfred told me, but I was too lost in my despair to even realize that.

“I thought I could…help Gotham…but I’ve failed.”

“Nonsense!!” Omi exclaimed, his voice echoing throughout the shaft, and I look down from the fire above to see how bruised and smudged they all had looked that moment. “You have done much for this city in recent days, Bruce Wayne, as you masquerade as the terror to criminals known as the Batman. We have helped you bring honor into this fair city, and we have not come this far to just sit on our butts and give up.” I gave a little smile at Omi, who smiled at me in return.

“The lad has a point, Master Bruce.” Alfred said. “Why do we fall?” My eyes gleamed at Alfred, as he was about to tell me something that my father had always told me when I was as young as Omi. “So that we might better learn to pick ourselves up.”

“Still haven’t given up on me?” I asked Alfred, as well as the rest of my old and new friends.

“We’re with you one hundred percent on this, Bruce.” Sean said. “We’re willing to help you do whatever it takes to save Gotham.” I looked from the grinning face of Detective Thomas to those of Count, Elmo, Mystery Inc., and the Xiaolin warriors, who all nodded in agreement to what Sean had said. Finally, I looked back to Sean and, with a smile, gave him my hand to help bring me back up to my feet. “Let’s make your father and my sister proud…Batman.” And with that being said, we immediately went to work.

END OF CHAPTER EIGHT​

 

[The Count]

Wowwweeeee!! That's probably the best chapters of all so far. From the plot twist when Oscar comes back in, to Kermit subbing for the woman who introducedRa's to Bruce,to the gang inspiring Master Wayne down in the cave beneath the burning brimstone building above... Hopfully, more of this grand tale will be told soon.

 

[muppetwriter]

Thanks, Count. I've really enjoyed working on this crossover. Kind of feel sad that it's almost coming to an end, but it's going to be a lot of fun writing the final chapter and the epilogue. I think you all will love how I'm going to write that last chapter. It'll really bring the whole story together, as well as all of the characters who I had narrating the chapters, from my character to Elmo.

 

[muppetwriter]

The final chapter will be narrated by all of the characters who have narrated throughout this story. And to help you all keep up with who's narrating what, I'm color-coding each section.

Detective Sean Thomas will be the plain text.

Batman will be the bold text.

Elmo will be the red.

Omi will be the olive (he would be yellow, but the words won't show up that well on the screen).

Daphne will be the purple.

And Oscar the Grouch will be the green.


The final chapter will be coming up right after this post. Hope you'll enjoy it.

 

[muppetwriter]

Chapter Nine​

Though the “detective clothes” that I wore before the party were burned in the fire, I had some spare ones to switch out of my smudged tuxedo and into them, right before I took one of Bruce’s fancy, expensive cars to the Narrows, with Elmo and the Mystery Inc. kids accompanying me. As we drove to the city, several thoughts ran through my mind, such as what could be happening that very moment in the Narrows (with all of those Arkham inmates released and running amok through the neighborhood), whether or not Ra’s Al Ghul, Jack Spicer, Wuya, Billy, Mandy, and the League of Shadows warriors (along with that treacherous snake, Oscar) were already there and commencing with their plans, and how long would it take Batman, Count, and the Xiaolin monks to get there in time.

When we were within Gotham’s limits, we approached the bridge to the narrows, only to see how cop cars were blocking it. Police were in riot gear; some of them were on horseback. It would be impossible to get in, without being stopped by the Gotham authorities. However, I spotted Rachel Dawes at the scene and then got an idea.

“You all stay here.” I ordered Elmo and Mystery Inc.

“No way. Meddling is what we do best, Detective.” Fred told me.

“The situation is way too dangerous now.” I retorted. “And you kids have already been in enough danger as it is.”

“You know, ya have to agree with him, because I’m still feeling the effects of that toxin as it is.” Shaggy said, and I noticed how Scooby had given him an odd look, as if to say, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I feel fine.” But when Shaggy also took notice of his lose, he nudged the Great Dane in the side and urged him to appear as if he was still suffering the toxin’s affects as well.

“Detective Thomas, you have to let us come with you.” Velma insisted. “We all agreed to pitch in and help save this city.” Velma had me there; we all did take a bit of an oath before leaving what used to be Wayne Manor in stopping the whole evil plot. It would be only fair to let these meddling kids come with me. But you have to give them credit in being so brave to come (at least when I say “brave,” I’m referring to Velma, Daphne, Freddy, and Elmo—not Shaggy and Scooby).

“Elmo,” I said, most concerned about him more than everyone else. “Promise me that you’ll stay close to us at all times. Okay, buddy?”

“Elmo promises, Detective Thomas.” He said, and I gave him a little smile, before leading them all out of the car and over to Rachel Dawes, who was just about to approach one of the police officers guarding the bridge.

“Miss Dawes!” She immediately turn to see me, as soon as I shouted her name, pleased to see me at the same time she was worried.

“You shouldn’t be here, Detective. This is…”

“Way out of my jurisdiction. I know.” I was actually getting a little tired of everyone telling me that. “But I’ve met with the Batman, and he’s given me some information that might help us stop all of this madness, so I need to get past these officers. And with a Gotham City District Attorney like you at my side, they wouldn’t dare keep me away.” Rachel grinned over my confidence, but that grin quickly faded, once she noticed the peculiar characters with me. “Don’t worry. They’re here to help.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Rachel said, right before she led us over to the Gotham police officer that (of course) did his job and try to keep us from getting through. “We’re about to raise these bridges.”

“Officer, we have information relevant to this situation, so let us pass.” Rachel said, with such a forceful attitude that left the officer with no choice but to let all of us past through. We were followed by several armed police officers that immediately went to work on all of the rioters that were infecting the neighborhood more than it had already been. While we were moving further and further into the chaos, I turned and looked at Elmo, who was moving very close to Daphne and seeming to be scared by it all. He shouldn’t have been there; it was not a territory he was all that familiar with.

“Harassment! I see police harassment!!” I heard a man shout, and I looked to where he had been shouting and noticed Detective Flass aiming a gun right at an innocent bystander.

“Maybe you’d like to see some excessive force.” Flass threatened.

“I’m not messing with a madman who has a gun!” The bystander yelled.

“SHUT UP!!!!” Flass screamed furiously, and I moved away from the group for a moment to run over to him and try to calm him down.

“Hey, Flass! Cool it!” I demanded, and one look at me made him even angrier, as he took the butt of his gun and slammed it against the side of my head, knocking me down to the ground. While I was sitting there on the asphalt and putting my right hand over the bleeding scar on the side of my head, a group of officers stepped and moved Flass away from me, before he could do any more harm. Detective Gordon suddenly appeared and helped me to my feet, just as Rachel and the others approached us.

“You okay, Detective Thomas?” Daphne asked me.

“I’ll live.” I responded, soon after Gordon turned to Rachel, seeing the two vials that Bruce (as Batman) had given her earlier.

“What are you all doing here?” Gordon said. “It’s pandemonium all around.”

“The Batman sent us with some information and this.” Rachel said, handing him the two vials. “It counteracts Crane’s toxin. Hopefully you won’t need it.”

“Not unless he’s got some way of getting that crap into the air.” Gordon stated, which was where the rest of us had stepped in.

“He has.” Fred said.

“He’s using a special machine to vaporize all of the city’s toxin-polluted water supply.” Velma informed him. “I’m not sure when exactly, but in moments, everyone on this island and in the rest of the city is going to be breathing in his ‘medicine’.” Both Gordon and Rachel looked at Velma in shock, which was the initial reaction that I was expecting from them.

“We better get you all off the island before they raise the bridges.” Gordon said, and Elmo and Mystery Inc. looked towards me.

“You kids go ahead and get back to the other side with Miss Dawes. I’m going to stay here with Detective Gordon.” I demanded, and they were about to deny my order, until I revoked them of the opportunity to do so, sounding a bit more forceful than before. “Go! Get your butts back to the other side! Now!” I didn’t want to talk to them that way (I actually only talk that way to perpetrators—never anyone else), but it was important to get them to safety. Once a patrolman guided them away with Rachel, I was left standing in the midst of the chaos with Flass and Gordon. I want to at that moment tell Gordon about all of the dirty work Flass had been doing for Crane, Falcone, and everyone else involved in this mess; but I just assumed that a smart cop like him already knew.

While I was praying that Rachel and those meddling kids were safely off the island, I heard a screeching noise above us. I looked up to where the city’s monorail tracks were and noticed how the train had come to a complete stop above the Narrows. It kind of confused to see something like that happen, and I continued wondering how exactly was Ra’s and his cronies were going to go about doing their plans. All I wanted to know was how long was it going to take my friends to get there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~​

Boy, do I hate consciences! And did I ever hate that Sean Thomas for talking that way to me about Ra’s Al Ghul’s plans for the “Gotham Grouchfest”! I wanna know what the heck was so wrong about a bunch of people being grouchy! It ain’t like no one was gonna get hurt…were they? Geez! I didn’t know what was goin’ on anymore. I mean, I never really cared whether people got angry with me for doing things that I know were stupid (I kinda really enjoy it, to be honest). But Detective Tommy really did get sore with me for siding with Ra’s on this whole “grouchfest” thing, not to mention how sad Elmo and Count looked. I just didn’t see what was so bad about it.

“I envy you, Mr. Grouch.” Ra’s Al Ghul said, as we made it to the Narrows, which was already turning into one big grouchy area. “To live in a peaceful, pleasant neighborhood like Sesame Street and not have to worry about being infested with the crime and unbalance that this city has suffered from.”

“Well, hey, S.S. is definitely no Gotham, if that’s what you’re sayin’.” I told him, not really getting where he was comin’ with this, when we were minutes away from making everyone have a rotten day. “But I would trade all that peacefulness and pleasantry for all of the garbage in this city any day.”

“Really now?” Ra’s said, with a smirk on his face.

“Well…yeah…maybe.” I couldn’t really give him a straight answer, because somewhere deep down (and I mean deep), I don’t really mind all of those morons on Sesame Street. But one grouch can only take so much of “the letter of the day” or “the number of the day.” “But who cares about that place? In a few moments, I’m gonna be living the life of luxury in what will soon be the grouchiest place in the world.” Ra’s Al Ghul chuckled (couldn’t get why), as both us and Billy and Mandy came up to where his boys were movin’ a big machine into place under the monorail train and bindin’ it into a hoist. Didn’t know what the machine was for and didn’t really care.

“My green friend, I think you should enjoy the moments this city has left.” Ra’s said to me. “Because after we succeed in our plans, there’ll be nothing left of it.” I gave Ra’s a funny look, as that stupid redheaded kid named Jack Spicer showed up with his ghost friend named Wuya, wearin’ an orange jumpsuit and lookin’ a bit peeved.

“About time you guys got be thinking straight again! I thought I was going to miss all of the fun, especially after spending hours salivating in front of a bunch of doctors!” Jack complained, which I actually took pleasure in hearin’. “Man! I feel like a big fool right now!”

“And you’re just starting to?” Wuya asked him (I love the sarcasm that got thrown around there).

“Hey, hey!” Jack yelled, while pointing at me. “What’s the grouch doin’ here? He’s supposed to be on the other team’s side!” That’s when Billy and Mandy had walked up next to me, each of us glaring at Jack.

“He wants to watch the chaos take place with us.” Mandy said, and she balled her fists at Jack, makin’ the punk really nervous. “You don’t have a problem with that, do ya?” Jack just smiled nervously and waved his hands at her.

“N-N-No. I-I-It’s fine with me.” He stuttered, and I grinned at Mandy, who impressed me each time she told people to take a hike. While I watched my new friends continue workin’ on that stupid machine, some kid came up from behind and asked one of Ra’s boys a stupid question.

“Have you seen my mom?” The kid asked, and Ra’s man just took his hand and shoved his hand in the kid’s face, pushing him away. Had to confess that kinda seemed too grouchy to me.

“HEY!!” Somebody yelled, and some of us rolled our eyes when we saw that Rachel Dawes dame come up to us with those stupid Mystery Inc. kids and Elmo (who still wasn’t too happy to see me).

“Buzz off, will ya?!” I told them.

“You’re really making a big mistake, Oscar!” Fred shouted. “Lives are going to be destroyed because of this.” I really wish these party-crashers would just shut up, because I was starting to losing interest there. I was kinda glad Ra’s stepped in when he did, because I had someone to shut the yaps on these kids.

“Gentlemen…time to spread the word.” He said, and I noticed how Billy, Mandy, Jack, and Ra’s boys were putting on some funny lookin’ masks. “And the word for the day is…panic.” After making that obvious S.S. reference, Ra’s pressed a button on the machine that sent some weird pulse of energy everywhere and caused pipes, taps, and drains to explode with pressurized steam. As they had, I looked at Elmo, Dawes, the stupid kid, and those Mystery morons, seeing how they were diving for cover and coughing from the steam. I then looked at Ra’s, seeing how he had put on a mask of his own.

“Hey, I didn’t know this was a costume party!” I complained (which was what I do best). “Where’s my mask?”

“Don’t worry.” Ra’s told me. “The toxin won’t affect you, because you’re already ‘grouchy’.” I wasn’t worried about that stupid toxin…I just wanted to know how come I didn’t have a mask!

~~~~~~~~~~~​

I didn’t know where Bruce, Count, or those Xiaolin monks were, but as soon as I saw those manhole covers and fire hydrants exploding, hissing and releasing geysers of steam all around Flass, Gordon, the other officers, and me, I started to panic. However, my anxiety soon began to increase rapidly, as I was starting to feel the effects of the toxin. Faces all around me looked dreadful and frightening…even my own hands were beginning to “melt away” and become nothing more than skeletal replacements.

“Oh…god!” I yelled, looking away from my hands and seeing everyone else near me, including a demonic version of Gordon, who was already injecting the antidote into his system.

“Are you alright?” He asked me, not sounding like himself anymore. His voice sounded deeper and sinister, almost as if he was possessed by the devil. But then it started to twist a little and sound more familiar. “Do you need me to help you?” As soon as he asked me that, I pulled out my gun and aimed it directly at him, nearly pulling the trigger. Because of that **** toxin, I was led to believe that I was facing Lori’s killer, who was actually dead.

“No. No! NOOOOO!!!!!” I screamed, trying to fight the voices…the images flashing in my head. I wanted to shoot the person in front of me, thinking it was the ******* who murdered my sister while she was on duty. But I had to force myself to think rationality. It was Detective Gordon who was in front of me…not him. But the more Gordon spoke to me and the more I looked at him, it was all starting to become too real for me. So, instead of standing there and facing him, I fled into the nearest alleyway I could find, getting away from everyone who looked and sounded too much like Lori’s murderer at that time.

~~~~~~~~~~~​

I held on tight to Elmo, as Fred, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby, and I hid in a shadowy area with Miss Dawes and that poor Narrows boy who suddenly found himself caught in the midst of this toxic fog that was hanging over the island. I could feel poor Elmo shivering under my grasp, obviously reminded of the toxin’s effects and becoming extremely scared of it there and then. I whispered into his ear (that is, if he had one) and told him to stay calm and that I was there to keep him protected.

“How come we’re not affected again?” Fred asked, and that was a good question, because despite us being really scared that moment, we weren’t seeing half of the strange things we saw when we were poisoned earlier.

“Who cares, man?” Shaggy asked in return. “As long as we’re not seeing four-eyed monsters with fangs and scales, we should consider ourselves lucky!”

“Oh really, Shaggy?” Velma remarked, sarcastically. “Tell that to the rioters who are affected for the first time and just waiting to tear us to pieces.”

“VELMA!!!” I yelled, a little disturbed over the thought of being torn to pieces, and she looked at me sheepishly.

“Oops. Sorry.” Velma uttered, just before we looked up into the fog and saw Ra’s Al Ghul’s men hoisting the emitter up to the monorail. “Well, at least it can’t get any worse than this.”

“Oh, I seriously doubt that!” A voice said from behind, which was followed by a dragging noise. We all turned to see a horse emerging from the fog. Crane was riding the horse in that ridiculous Scarecrow mask again, with a dead mounted policeman dragging along behind, his boot caught in the stirrup.

“Crane!!” Rachel cried.

“No!” He remarked, sinisterly. “Scarecrow!!” I wasn’t sure if I was hearing things or maybe we were being affected by the toxin again, but his voice sounded much deeper and more menacing when he said “Scarecrow.” Whoever or whatever he was at that moment didn’t matter to us, as we chased us through the foggy streets on horseback.

~~~~~~~~~~~​

I wasn’t certain of where I was, because that toxin had completely eradicated my focus on things. The walls were starting to mold into the image of Lori’s killer and reach out at me, forcing me to fire all the bullets I had in my gun at the wall. When all I heard was clicking noises coming out of it, I threw it down on the ground and continued running. I ran and ran until I found myself near people again. What was worst was that the first person I saw was Flass, who was more affected by the toxin than I was.

“DON’T MOVE!!!” He told me, and even he sounded like my sister’s murderer, pointing his gun at me and seeming to be ready to fire it. But then someone came up from behind him and bashed him over the head with something, knocking him out cold. Before I had the chance to even try to make out who it was, I felt a slight pricking sensation in the back of my right thigh that left me falling to the asphalt again and screaming.

Before I knew it, everything was starting to seem clear again, and the voices around me weren’t sounding like Lori’s killer anymore. Blinking my eyes and regaining my focus, I looked up to see Detective Gordon handcuffing Flass someplace where the authorities would find him and take him off to jail where he belonged. I took my focus off Gordon for a moment to look at the back of my thigh and see how there was a syringe sticking out from it. After slowly pulling the syringe out from my thigh, I looked around to see who it was that might’ve injected me with the antidote. But I could only hypothesize that it was Gordon who cured me.

“I owe you one.” I told him, as he came up to check on me.

“I didn’t do it.” Gordon said, and when he told me that, I was a bit confused. Before I could ask him who it was, he took his walkie-talkie and spoke into it.

“Loeb! Loeb! This is Gordon!” He shouted. “We need reinforcements. TAC teams, SWAT, riot cops!”

“Gordon, all the city’s riot police are on the island with you!” Loeb informed him.

“Well, they’re completely incapacitated!” Gordon told him.

“There’s nobody left to send in.” Loeb said, and soon after he said that, I heard a familiar roaring noise approaching.

“So we’re on our own?” Gordon asked, looking worriedly at me, just as soon as something came crashing through a tiny alleyway, ripping metal sheets and drywall from both sides of it. Gordon and I turned to what had just literally busted into the scene: the Batmobile.

“No, we’re not.” I replied to Gordon’s question, as the first person to pop his head out from the opening cockpit was Count von Count.

“Vhat vas one grand entrance! Ah-ah-ah!!” He said, while Batman and the Xiaolin monks stepped out from the vehicle and approached Gordon and me. The mini-monks had noticed how I was bleeding from one side of my head, and they got a little worried.

“Oh, my gosh! Sean, are you okay?” Kimiko asked, and I just simply smiled at them, glad to even see that they were there at the scene.

“Never felt better.” I said, confusing them a little, especially Omi.

“Getting severely injured must be new remedy for lifting spirits.” He uttered, while Gordon filled Batman in on the details of what had been happening.

“The Narrows is tearing itself to pieces.”

“This is just the beginning.” Batman remarked. “If they hit the whole city with toxin, there’s nothing to stop Gotham from tearing itself apart.”

“How are they going to be able to do all of this?” Gordon asked.

“The train.” Kimiko replied. “The monorail follows the water mains to the central hub beneath Wayne Tower. If they get their machine to the station, it will cause a chain reaction that’ll vaporize the city’s water supply.”

“And we’re gonna stop him from loading that train.” Raimundo added.

“But we may need your help.” Batman suggested.

“Sure.” Gordon said, free-willing. “What do you need?”

“Can you drive stick?” Batman inquired, indicating the Batmobile. Gordon turned to me, seeming to be a little worried about operating such a massive vehicle, which was why Count and I volunteered to assist him.

~~~~~~~~~~​

Elmo was so scared over all that was going on in the Narrows. People who were more scared than Elmo was were running away from Dr. Crane, who was wearing his scary mask and chasing us on that horsy (who was probably just as scared himself). Elmo and his friends tried to run as far away from the scary Dr. Crane as we could, but Elmo and his friends found ourselves trapped. Dr. Crane was talking to us in a voice that didn’t sound like his. It was so deep that Elmo could barely understand what he said, but all Elmo was able to make out was…

“There is nothing to fear…but fear itself!”

Elmo couldn’t figure out what Dr. Crane was talking about, but all Elmo knew was that it was making Miss Dawes and Elmo’s Mystery Inc. friends really angry. Dr. Crane had reared up the horsy and tried to get him to stomp on Elmo and his friends, but Miss Dawes had used a funny device to knock out Dr. Crane and make him fall sideways on the horsy. Elmo felt real bad for Dr. Crane, as Elmo watched him be dragged into the fog by the horsy.

“You alright, Elmo?” Daphne asked Elmo, and Elmo nodded slowly, not quite sure how much Elmo could take of everything.

“Zoinks!!!” Shaggy yelled, and usually when Shaggy says that word, it means something bad was coming. And Elmo and Elmo’s friends noticed how those unhappy people from Arkham Asylum was coming towards Elmo and his friends, looking like they were going to do some bad things.

“Don’t be scared.” Elmo looked up to see how the Narrows kid was looking down at Elmo, smiling. “Batman will save us. He will come. I know he will.” Elmo and the Narrows kid looked back at the unhappy Arkham people, who coming closer and closer.

“Hold onto me, Elmo. And don’t peek.” Daphne told Elmo, and Elmo did what she said, but couldn’t help but to stare back at those unhappy Arkham people, wondering why would they want to hurt Elmo and his friends. But that’s when something big and black came down and scared off the unhappy Arkham people, and then took Elmo and his friends high above the street. When Elmo and his friends found ourselves on a rooftop, we look to see what it was that grabbed us. It was Batman.

“I told you he’d save us.” The Narrows kid told Elmo, and Elmo was glad he did, because Elmo was worried there for a second.

“Perfect timing.” Daphne told Batman, as Elmo noticed how his new Xiaolin friends were with Batman, waving to Elmo with friendly smiles. Batman looked at Elmo and his friends for a moment, and then he went to the edge of the rooftop, just as Miss Dawes called out to him.

“Wait!” Batman turned and he faced Miss Dawes; he didn’t look so scary to Elmo, even while Elmo was sick from the funny smoke. “You could die. At least tell me your name.” Batman looked at Miss Dawes for a long time, and he said something that Elmo will never forget.

“It’s not who I am underneath…but what I do that defines me.” And then Miss Dawes had a look on her face that told Elmo that she had recognized who Batman really was.

“Bruce?” Before Miss Dawes could say anything more to him, Batman and the Xiaolin monks fell from the rooftop and went to save the day.

“Did we do good, Freddy?” Elmo asked him, and Fred looked at Elmo and the other Mystery Inc. members, smiling.

“Yeah, Elmo.” Fred said, playfully rubbing his fingers through Elmo’s furry head. “We did great.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~​

My friends and I rode on the back of Dojo, gliding alongside Batman as we made our way to where Ra’s Al Ghul was loading the microwave emitter onto the monorail train. I was most discouraged of what had become of the Narrows after all that had happened. Everyone and everything was steaming, burning, and screaming. It was almost as if the end of the world had come, and we were getting a firsthand glimpse of it all. While Dojo flew higher into the sky and a few slight feet above Batman, I was able to see the wide sweep of the monorail tracks. I could see at that moment why Kimiko was fascinated by it all. It almost had the potential of being the perfect Xiaolin Showdown challenge…although I could not determine what the challenge would be and did not have the focus to at that time.

“Look! Over there!” Clay had shouted, pointing downwards to one particular spot on the street, where the ones known as Billy and Mandy were lying under a massive pile of garbage that was dumped from a nearby truck. They did not look pleased at all by it either.

“I wonder who could’ve done that to them.” Kimiko had said, but I had urged them to focus on the matter at hand, which was getting to Jack Spicer, Wuya, Ra’s Al Ghul, and the League of Shadows before it was too late. And when we had, we found them standing halfway beneath the structure of the monorail tracks, in the process of loading the microwave emitter onto the train. Batman, Kimiko, Clay, Raimundo, and I landed near them, while Dojo remained flying close nearby.

“Argh! I’m gettin’ tired of you guys butting into our business!” Jack Spicer had said, upon seeing us arrive.

“Well, well. You took my advice about theatricality a bit literally.” Ra’s Al Ghul had told Batman.

“Where’s the Grouch?” Raimundo had asked, referring to Oscar.

“Who cares? He decided to go off and ditch us at the last second!” Jack Spicer had told us, and we were a bit surprised by that information. Could it be that Oscar the Grouch had second thoughts? Or was he just part of some secret elaborate plan?

“It ends here, Ra’s.” Batman had said.

“For you and the police, maybe.” Ra’s had remarked. “My fight, however, lies with the rest of Gotham.”

“Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have a city to destroy.” Wuya had said, with a fierce cackle, as two of Ra’s Al Ghul’s ninjas stepped forward and challenged us.

“And leave us with just two butts to kick?” Kimiko had asked. “How disappointing.”

“As you wish.” Ra’s Al Ghul had said, just before he ordered five more ninjas and six of Jack Spicer’s robots to come down and confront us. I looked at Kimiko and gave her the most furious look I could muster, and she had just smiled bashfully at me. Before we had known it, Ra’s ninjas and Jack’s robots had tackled all of us off the monorail’s structure and brought our fight down to the streets below.

The ninjas and the robots were a slice of pie to beat, but soon after our battle was when the poisoned victims of the toxin had appeared and began to topple over us. While we attempted to fight our way out of the madness, we had noticed the train above us starting to move down the monorail tracks. We needed to get out of our situation immediately, if we had wished to stop Jack, Wuya, and Ra’s Al Ghul.

“Hang onto me!!!” Batman told us, and Clay, Raimundo, Kimiko, and I did, just as he aimed his grappling hook into the air and fired it, attaching the hook to the underbelly of the train. Instantly, we were pulled away from the mob of poisoned victims and sent soaring through the air faster than Dojo could ever fly us, beneath the monorail tracks.

~~~~~~~~~~​

Gordon made certain that he told the men operating the bridge to the Narrows that they lowered it immediately, if he, Count, and I were going to drive the Batmobile all the way to the location of Wayne Tower (as Batman had instructed us to). We could already see the manhole covers exploding in the wake of the moving overhead train (with the activated emitter inside), sending up fresh geysers of steam.

“Alright, Gordon! Let’s do it!” I shouted, and when Gordon pushed his hand against the throttle, we accidentally drove backwards and crashed against a newsstand, crumbling it to pieces.

“Oh, boy! That was one big mistake!” Count exclaimed, while I just glared at the embarrassed Gordon.

“Sorry.” He told me, just before he drove in the right direction, crossing the bridge that led us towards Commissioner Loeb and the other Gotham police officers that dodged out of the way as we passed them. Count and I held on for dear life, as Gordon drove wobbly down the streets of Gotham, trying to get to Wayne Tower before Ra’s Al Ghul did. I could actually see Batman and the Xiaolin monks being dragged through the air by the overhead train, painfully crashing into different structures in the process.

“Either we get to Wayne Tower or they do.” I told Count and Gordon. “But if neither of us get there in time, the water supply right across the whole city is gonna blow!” Gordon made a hard right and caused Count and me to have our faces pressed up against the window.

“Sorry. I’m only doing what the GPS is telling me.” Gordon said, as we saw Wayne Tower a little further ahead of us.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

The Xiaolin warriors and I needed to get inside that train, before I lost my grip on the grappling hook. We were lucky that none of the structures we had crashed into while dangling beneath the tracks at rapid speed hadn’t done any serious harm to us, because we needed all of the strength we had to stop Ra’s, Jack, and Wuya from succeeding in their goal. With one massive swing, I was able to bring us inside the train by crashing into one of the windows of the front car, where Ra’s, Jack, and Wuya were at the controls and the microwave emitter was sitting behind them. Needless to say, they weren’t too pleased to see us.

“WILL YOU NEVER STOP GETTING INTO OUR HAIR???!!!” Jack screamed.

“No, we shall never stop, Jack Spicer.” Omi told him. “For our determination to stop you three from destroying this city will keep going strong, no matter how powerful yours is!”

“Spare us the lame quotes, Omi.” Jack remarked. “Do you really think you can challenge us all to a Xiaolin Showdown on a moving train? Whether you beat us or not, this city’s goin’ down!”

“Challenging you to a Xiaolin Showdown was never our intentions, Jack Spicer.” Omi retorted. “But kicking your butt is!!”

“Backing out of an opportunity to beat us the honorable way, Omi?” Wuya said, with a snicker. “Very unlike you.”

“DRILL THE HONORABLE WAY!!!” Omi yelled, just before he lunged at Jack and engaged in a rough fight with him. Kimiko, Clay, and Raimundo seemed shocked at the same time they were confused over what Omi had said before fighting Jack.

“Did he actually mean to say…?” Raimundo began to ask, but Kimiko was quick to interrupt him.

“Better leave that one alone for now.” She said, while Clay took off his cowboy hat for a moment to scratch his head.

“I think the little partner should be careful, before he winds up with soap in his mouth.” Clay said, and they went to helping Omi fight Jack, while I had my eyes set on taking down Ra’s Al Ghul.

“You will never learn.” He told me, just as he drew his sword from his cane again. I lunged at him, as he swung his sword at me. I parried with my gauntlet, sparks striking off the metal scallops. Ra’s then swung his cane, but I trapped it in my scallop. With a twist from my arm, I was able to send the cane spinning away from Ra’s grasps. “Familiar!” Ra’s thrust his sword at my chest, just as soon as I dodged left. He then attempted to strike down at my head, but then I crossed my arms, catching the sword in the scallops of both of my gauntlets and holding fast. “Don’t you have anything new?”

“How ‘bout this?!” I yelled, just before I yanked my arms in opposite directions, breaking Ra’s Al Ghul’s sword in two. Nearby, in the middle of their fight, Jack and the Xiaolin monks noticed what I had done and were each impressed.

“Sweet!!!” They exclaimed, and then continued on fighting, while I kicked Ra’s in the chest and made him stumble back, losing his footing. With him momentarily distracted, I went near the controls and looked ahead to see Wayne Tower approaching.

~~~~~~~~~~~​

After crashing into several parked cars and apologizing each time that he did, Gordon was able to get us to Wayne Tower. As soon as we stopped, I first thanked God that the three of us made it there alive and well, and then I told Gordon that he should slide into the front driving position if he wanted to fire the missiles at the support beams of the monorail track. Gordon just stared at me as if I was from outer space, not knowing what I was instructing him to do, while Count (who had somehow familiarized himself with the Batmobile’s controls) pressed the button that made Gordon slide into a horizontal position.

“Try to stay focused, Gordon.” I said, and just as soon after I did, a cannon was fired from the nose of the Batmobile and found its target on one of the support beams, blasting it away. “Whoa!!!”

“Hexcellent!!” Count exclaimed, and I looked at him strangely, wondering why he would add an “H” to that word.

~~~~~~~~~​

Ra’s Al Ghul foiled my attempt to stop the train by pulling me away from the controls and dismantled them afterwards. Of course, I counted on him doing that. I then commenced in grappling, punching, and kicking him all over the train, coming in between the fight that was taking place between the Xiaolin warriors and Jack Spicer. At one point in our battles, something hard bashed against the back of Jack Spicer’s head and sent him falling to the floor, slipping into unconsciousness. When we looked up to see who it was, we were surprised to discover that it was Oscar the Grouch, holding the dented lid to his trashcan (which he used to knock out Jack).

“Oscar?!?!” The Xiaolin monks exclaimed, and the grouch gave a little snicker, while Wuya (hovering near the dismantled controls of the train) screamed in agitation.

“NOOOOO!!!!!!” She yelled. “We can’t be defeated!!!!”

“And we shall not be!!” Ra’s shouted, just before he lunged at Oscar, grabbing both sides of his trashcan and then hurling both it and him through a nearby window. “Traitor!!!”

“OSCAR!!!!!!” I screamed, along with the Xiaolin warriors, watching Oscar and the trashcan fall several feet to the street below, banging and thrashing against several things before hitting the concrete. With my attention distracted, Ra’s took the advantage of throwing me against several different parts of the train, before throwing me down on the floor. He then started to choke me, with his thumbs pushed deep into the flesh above my neckpiece, struggling uselessly against Ra’s Al Ghul’s iron grip.

“Don’t be afraid, Bruce.” He told me. “You are just an ordinary man in a cape. That’s why you couldn’t fight injustice…that’s why you can’t stop this train.”

“Who said anything about stopping it?” I asked him, and that’s when he looked up at the controls and realized what I made him do. Yes, the train was still going to its primary destination, only not in the direction that Ra’s originally intended it to go. Ra’s watched in shock as the last line of tracks leading straight to Wayne Tower up ahead were crumbling to pieces, thanks to Gordon, Count, and Sean and their great aim on the Batmobile. “You never learned to mind your surroundings!” With him distracted, I took the opportunity to push him all off me, and then pin him to the floor. Ra’s just looked at me calmly, as I had my fist high in the air.

“Have you finally learned to do what is necessary?”

“I won’t kill you…” I reached into my utility belt and pulled out a small controller and pressed the green button on it. That button sent a beeping noise to the tiny speaker I had Dojo place in his left ear, signaling him to fly down to the train and tear off the entire rooftop of that train car and cause massive gusts of wind to billow all around us. “But I don’t have to save you.” With one last look at Ra’s, I allowed my cloak to go rigid and catch the wind, allowing myself to be pulled away from Ra’s Al Ghul and into the air. The Xiaolin monks climbed onto Dojo and were carried away as well, and even Jack Spicer regained consciousness in time to escape through the helicopter built in his backpack with Wuya.

Ra’s Al Ghul had been left all alone (at least with the microwave emitter still on board with him) to ride the train off the monorail, crashing down into Wayne Plaza and digging into concrete. Metal was shredding, marble was shattering, dust clouds were flying, and parked cars were exploding. The train had disintegrated into burning rubble just short of the entrance to Wayne Station. It was a massive fiery destruction (most of it due to the destroyed microwave emitter), and above it all was I, the Batman, soaring in a high bank and riding the thermals, while staring down at Ra’s Al Ghul’s funeral pyre.

~~~~~~~~~~​

I could not believe what Gordon, Count, and I had succeeded in doing, all to avoid what could’ve been the most catastrophic event in the history of the world. As the three of us climbed out from the Batmobile, I looked back at the steam that was shooting out from the open manholes and noticed how they were beginning to subside, with the microwave emitter gone. I then looked up with Count and Gordon to see Batman in time to simply wave goodbye to him, knowing that we would eventually see him again in due time.

“Oscar!!!” I heard someone shout nearby, and I turned my head to notice the Xiaolin monks being placed back on the street by Dojo, who immediately shrunk to his normal size afterwards. Moving away from Gordon and Count, I ran over to the monks’ location, and as soon as I got there, I was looking down at what they were: Oscar’s mangled, ravaged, crippled trashcan lying in the street with his limp green legs and feet sticking out from where the bottom was.

“He had done a most honorable thing before he was thrown from the train.” Omi said, and I looked over to the monks, seeing how each of their eyes was beginning weld with tears as they gazed at the remains of the trashcan and Oscar. “He had helped us defeat Jack Spicer, Wuya, and Ra’s Al Ghul…and save Gotham City.” My eyes were starting to tear up as well, realizing that Oscar had actually felt guilty for hurting everyone and tried to make up for it by doing something that cost him his grouchy life.

“Oh, Oscar.” I muttered, kneeling down to the asphalt and placing a hand over one section of his beaten-up trashcan. “A simple ‘I’m sorry’ would’ve sufficed, pal. But…I knew you had to prove that you were truly sorry.” My voice was beginning to break as I spoke to his remains. “I’m just sorry that you were forced to do it, because even though we felt betrayal by what you had done…we knew it only happened because you misguided and didn’t understand what was…Oh, Oscar!!!” At that point, I just broke down and cried, feeling like I had lost another great person in my life.

“Oh, knock it off with the waterworks, ya big crybaby!!” A voice bellowed within the remains of the ravaged trashcan, and the Xiaolin monks and I exchanged surprised glances, as we watched a battered and bruised Oscar the Grouch slowly climb out.

“Oscar! You’re alright!!!” I yelled, as the Xiaolin monks laughed and cheered near us. “We thought you were dead, man!”

“Are you kiddin’? I’ve been through worse messes than that!” He remarked. “In fact, that was the most fun I ever had in my life.” And with that sentiment, he added (very loudly), “And I’m never gonna do it again as long as I live!!!!” Despite his grouchy behavior, it was good to see Oscar alive and well again, and I let him know how glad I was by giving him a big hug. “Yuck!”

END OF CHAPTER NINE​