Storymania - Fear The Reaper: Batman And Michael Myers Part 2 by Mark Brittan

Fear The Reaper: Batman And Michael Myers Part 2 (4)
Mark Brittan

Sarah Essen fired the taser at point-blank range. Two probes, connected
to the weapon by high-voltage insulated wire, buried themselves in the Shape’s
chest. Electrical current surged through his whole body. He lunged for her and
successfully managed to grab hold, then pulled her close to his body. Electricity
now consumed them both.
“Let go of her! Take me instead!” Gordon pleaded.
He wanted desperately to fire at Michael Myers but the risk of hitting
Sarah was too great. He was helpless. The electrical current had totally
paralyzed Commissioner Essen, but not Michael. He lifted up her limp body
over his head and threw it into the burning Jeep.
“Nooo!” Gordon screamed as he emptied the contents of his revolver into
the Shape.
The Shape barely seemed to notice. He got into one of the GCPD’s
police cars and drove off. Detective Bock fired at the vehicle. He managed to
blow out the back tire on the driver’s side, slowing the vehicle’s momentum, but
not stopping it. Montoya ran for the other car and radioed for backup.
“Dispatch, dispatch, officer down. I repeat, officer down!” she said.
Gordon hurried over to Sarah. He pulled her body from the wreckage but
it was too late. Sarah Essen was dead.
“No, this isn’t happening. This isn’t happening. She’s not dead. This is
just a bad dream. None of this is real.” he whimpered.
He frantically performed CPR on his wife until the paramedics arrived.
They confirmed what he already suspected. She was gone.
Bock put his arm around Gordon and tried to comfort him as best he
could. James Gordon was once again Commissioner of Gotham City. But the
price he had to pay for that promotion would haunt him for the rest of his days.
After several minutes, Gordon walked over to Batman’s body. He had just
lost his wife and probably his best friend within mere minutes of each other. He
would have never dreamed of asking Batman to reveal his true identity while he
was alive but since he was dead now, Gordon felt compelled to pull off his mask.
He was stunned by what he saw.
“Jean-Paul Valley was Batman?!!?” he asked.

CHAPTER EIGHT: MASKS

October 31, 2001--Michael Myers had completely disrupted the balance
of power in Gotham City over the course of the past year. He came to Gotham
looking for Laurie Strode and killed multiple police officers, government agents,
and a costumed crimefighter in the process. He destroyed anyone who got in
his way. Plain and simple. The people he had killed were bound to oppose him
by either their jobs or their convictions. But they had opposed him without their
champion. While the citizens of Gotham believed that Michael Myers had killed
Batman back on September 16th, a select few knew that he had in fact slain an
impostor instead. Though brash and undisciplined, Jean-Paul Valley had good
intentions when he assumed Batman’s identity and went after Michael Myers.
He had no reason to believe he would fail. The last time he had filled in for
Batman, he disabled Bane, the man who crippled the real Batman. This time he
pushed the envelope a little too far.
The aftermath of Batman’s death was characterized as a media frenzy.
Some citizens believed that the city would be doomed without its protector.
Others joked about it. Deminski and Doyle, a light-hearted local radio talk show
based out of New Jersey, focused on the Michael Myers incident from a comical
perspective. They encouraged their listeners to call in and speculate as to who
might win mock serial killer fights to the death. For example, they matched
Michael Myers against Dr. Alan Feinstone, the neurotic dentist.
“Here we’ve got Michael Myers, a man notoriously associated with
Halloween, a holiday centered around candy, going up against a psycho dentist.
This is perfect!”
While some joked, others mourned. James Gordon was a ruined man.
He took an indefinite leave of absence from the force after Sarah’s funeral. The
Batsignal had been removed from atop police headquarters and sold on Ebay to
a collector for one million dollars to help raise money. Detective Bock filled in as
acting Commissioner in the interim.
Nightwing had moved his base of operations back to Gotham City from
Bludhaven. He reasoned that Gotham needed him more than the Haven did.
With one Batman dead and the other missing, and the police department in
disarray, he believed Gotham City was vulnerable to opportunistic criminals.
He, Robin, and the Hunter all patrolled the city in shifts.
During one of his sweeps of the city, Robin noticed Catwoman on one of
the city’s rooftops. He swung his line over in that direction and landed right
behind her. She swung around to face him, her claws ready to strike.
“I don’t have the gem,” she said before he had the chance to ask, “I’ve
been set up. Framed.”
“Yeah,” he replied, “I’ve heard that one before.”
“Look out!” she hollered, “There’s someone right behind you!”
He chuckled. She must really think I’m gullible, he thought.
A sharp pain radiated from his left shoulder down his left arm and back.
“Aggghhh!” he screamed.
He dropped to his knees, then rolled onto his back and sprang back up to
his feet. He was now facing his attacker. The dark figure wore a worker’s outfit
and pasty white mask.
He gulped.
“Uh oh! It’s HIM,” was all he could get out.
He quickly pulled out his retractable bow staff and readied it. He was still
in shock. The pain from the stab wound hadn’t totally hit him yet. When it did,
his left arm would be useless. For now, he could function. His blood covered
about a third of the butcher knife Michael Myers was holding.
Michael Myers began walking towards the two costumed figures.
Catwoman snapped her bullwhip at Michael’s wrist, causing him to drop the
knife. When he bent down to retrieve it, Robin hammered him in the side of the
head with his staff. The impact was not significant enough to prevent him from
recovering his weapon. Robin and Catwoman turned to flee. Neither was any
match for him. From behind, Robin heard the sound of one human body hitting
another. He turned. Nightwing had arrived.
“You’ve been one half step ahead of me every time,” he said to Michael,
“This time I showed up to the party on time!”
He delivered a rapid series of punches and karate kicks to Michael Myers.
Michael was not fast enough to dodge out of the way of these attacks. He took
the punishment, defenseless to prevent it. After several minutes, the abuse
seemed as if it was having some effect on Michael. He was wearing down. But
so was Nightwing. Most fights Nightwing was involved in were usually over in a
matter of seconds. He was not used to his opponents going the distance.
Catwoman was long gone. Robin watched from an adjacent rooftop. His
shoulder was burning. Only then did he notice the sign on the building
Nightwing and Michael Myers were fighting on. It read, “Subzero Cryogenics.”
And through the window on the top floor was a small apartment with a woman
inside. That’s Laurie Strode! he thought, That’s what he’s doing here!
And she wasn’t alone either. Upon closer inspection, Robin noticed that
there was an elderly man in the room with her. That’s Sam Loomis! Bruce had
told him about these two. Robin had seen photos of them on the Batcave’s
computer. Bruce had created files on them after the incident at the airport last
Halloween. The plot thickened...
Nightwing was bordering on exhaustion and Michael knew it. The window
of opportunity for Michael’s counterattack had started to open up. He swung at
Nightwing with the knife, barely missing. He was getting closer with each swing.
It would only be a matter of time. Robin desperately wanted to help but he was
in no condition to. He was no match for Michael Myers healthy, let alone
wounded. Nightwing was on the ground, desperately trying to evade Michael’s
assault. But his luck ran out. Michael’s knife buried itself deep into Nightwing’s
upper thigh, not far from his groin.
“Uggghhh!” he grunted.
Michael moved in to seal the deal.
“I’ll take it from here son,” a voice said from behind Michael Myers.
Two hands grabbed him from behind and hurled him into the glass
skylight, sending him crashing through to the inside of the building.
“Batman. Thank God!” Nightwing said, “Where the HELL have you
been?”
“Doing my homework,” he answered, “I’ll explain later.”
“YES!” Robin shouted from the neighboring rooftop, his fist clenched.
Batman disappeared through the new opening in the skylight. He moved
like a ghost.
Michael Myers had shifted his focus from the costumed heroes to the two
people he found in the apartment, one in particular. Laurie Strode was horrified.
Loomis drew his revolver. A dark specter landed gracefully behind Michael.
“Get the hell out of here!” it shouted at them.
Michael spun around and buried his cutlery in Batman’s side. It was like
deja vu for him. The same scenario all over again. Laurie was within his grasp
once more but this creature was in the way like last time. He resolved to finish
him off once and for all.
Batman brought his leg all the way up from a stand-still position, kicking
Michael in the forehead, staggering him backwards and disorienting him. By the
time he recovered, Batman was already gone.
Michael did not have the patience to figure that out. He turned his
attention once more to Laurie. He descended down the staircase he had seen
her and Loomis running towards. The staircase led to a laboratory. The lab was
freezing. He could see his own breath. There were a variety of chambers in the
room containing frozen cadavers. He was unbothered by the cold but his rage
consumed him. He began knocking over the chambers and throwing lab
equipment across the room. He leveled anything he thought was large enough
for them to hide behind. Nothing.
Suddenly, Laurie appeared in the center of the room. She began
speaking to him.
“Michael stop! I want to end this. Once and for all. I don’t want to run
from you anymore. I don’t want any more people to have to die saving me.”
Michael walked slowly towards her with a tight grip on his knife.
“Just answer one thing for me. Nod if you agree. If you kill me, will you
pleeease not kill anyone else ever again?!!?
Michael stopped in his tracks. And then nodded.
“One more thing,” she added. “Let me see your face one last time. No
more masks. No more hiding the evil.”
He pulled the mask from his head and dropped it at his feet, then walked
the rest of the way over to Laurie. He raised the knife above his head, then
stopped and brought it back down to his side. He starred at her, tilting his head
from side-to-side. She was wearing a green T-shirt. When he saw her in the
apartment upstairs, she was wearing a blue one. Something was wrong. He
swung the blade at her but only sliced open air. A hologram. A trap.
Michael snapped. But he had a new problem. A large ventilation grate
sprung open directly above his head and enveloped him with liquid nitrogen.
Michael froze completely solid. Like a concrete statue. The enraged expression
on his face was captured forever.

Batman, Nightwing, Robin, Laurie, and Loomis all gathered around
Michael.
“Where the HELL were you?!!?” Nightwing blurted out at Batman.
“I never really went anywhere,” he answered, “I was here all along. Clark
Kent from the Daily Planet Newspaper in Metropolis.”
Loomis nodded.
“Sir Hemingford Gray at the Venue.”
“That was YOU?” Nightwing asked.
Batman nodded.
“And Matches Malone.”
It all made sense to Nightwing now.
“I needed to track him,” Batman said as he walked over to Michael’s mask
which was still lying on the floor where he had dropped it.
He turned the mask inside out and revealed a tiny bat-shaped
micro-transmitter which was attached to the inside flap near the neckline.
“As long as that signal didn’t move, I knew he was still where he landed
when he fell out of the plane. But when it did, I knew he was on the loose again.
I put that transmitter on him right before he fell so I could always locate him. The
only time I couldn’t track him was when he took his mask off. I used Sir
Hemingford Gray and Matches Malone to stay close to him until the time was
right. I used Clark Kent to learn more about him from Dr. Wynn and Dr. Loomis.
I needed to know as much as I could about him so that I could set a trap for him.
By the way, Catwoman DID take that diamond but I stole it back from her. She
wasn’t framed. She just got her own pocket picked.”
He pulled the gem from his utility belt and flipped it to Robin.
“Take that back to its rightful owner. By the way, I thought I told you to
stay away from her?”
Robin looked crushed. He had managed to stop her the first time she
stole the diamond but Batman refused to acknowledge that.
“Good job by the way,” he added, “Just don’t let it happen again OK?”
Robin’s mood improved slightly.
“I don’t know what to say,” Nightwing said to Batman, “I’m speechless.”
“A lot of good people died because of this maniac,” Batman responded, “I
did the best I could, but I’m only one man. I should have realized that sooner. I
need you guys. All of you. Even you up there.”
They all looked up. The Hunter was looking down from atop the
staircase, doing the best he could to stay hidden. Damn he’s good, the Hunter
thought.
Batman returned Michael to the Batcave in one of the cryogenics
chambers. He had the chamber’s thermostat set to maintain Michael’s frozen
state indefinitely. Technically, Michael was not cryogenically frozen.
Cryogenics was designed to maintain human life in a frozen state over many
years. Liquid nitrogen was not the vehicle that was used to do this but it was the
only substance strong enough to incapacitate Michael Myers. No normal human
being could survive liquid nitrogen. But Michael was no normal human being. In
every way that mattered, he was not dead. He was Batman’s prisoner now so to
speak. He had vowed never to kill and he had not had to kill Michael to stop
him. But just in case, Batman positioned his chamber right at the base of the
giant copper penny in the Batcave. At any given time, he could disable the
support bracket which held it in place by remote control and send the penny
crashing down on the chamber. Once shattered into pieces, Michael WOULD
be dead for good. But Batman never anticipated having to take that drastic step.

Later...
Commissioner Gordon was sitting on the deck in the backyard of his
house.
“Hello Jim,” a voice said.
It was Batman. He was sitting on Gordon’s roof looking down. Gordon
didn’t look up. He didn’t need to after all this time.
“How DARE you stay away that long?” he said coldly, “She’s dead. And
Jean-Paul Valley is dead. And Harvey.”
Batman climbed down onto the deck.
“I know Jim,” Batman said, “I did the best I could. And I really am sorry.
Sarah didn’t like me, but I liked her. She was an excellent cop. For what it’s
worth, I got him. He’ll never do this again.”
“Are we friends?”
“Yes Jim. We’re friends.”
“Damn odd. I don’t have many friends. I don’t have many people I trust.
But I trusted you. I trusted you. You protected this city. I’m grateful for that.
Don’t think that I’m not. But that’s not enough. You say you’re my friend. But I
don’t think you have friends. You use me. You’ve been using me for ten years.”
“Or vice versa.”
“Absolutely. Because I thought we wanted the same thing. I thought we
wanted our city, this city, to be safe. That’s what I thought. I thought we were in
this together. Where the hell were you? That’s why I don’t believe we’re
friends! You don’t respect me. You don’t trust me. That whole fiasco awhile
back... When you vanished, and I had to deal with that parade of pretenders?
Did you think I wouldn’t notice that it wasn’t you under that cowl? Did you think I
was that stupid?”
“No.”
“You have your secrets. I’ve never pressed you for them. Maybe I should
have. Instead of letting you turn me into your whatever it is you see me as!”
“You’re my partner.”
“Don’t blow smoke at me.”
“It’s true--”
“It’s what you’d like to think. That doesn’t make it true. Partners are
equals, Batman! When have you ever treated me like your equal? Partners, for
example, tell you their plans! They keep you informed! And they sure as hell
don’t walk out on you in the middle of a sentence!”
“I’ve never been good at saying goodbye. You’re the best cop I’ve ever
known. And I’ve known a lot of cops, Jim. There’s no man or woman living that I
respect more than you. But like you said, saying it isn’t enough. The words
don’t mean anything. They don’t fix the damage. Actions speak louder than
words Jim.”
He removed his mask but Gordon looked away.
“Put it back.”
“It’s the only thing I can give you other than my word. I need our
partnership. We can save Gotham. We’re so close, Jim. We can bring it back
from the edge. This is the one thing I can give you.”
“I don’t want it, dammit! If I wanted to know who you were, I could have
discovered it ten years ago. And for all you know, maybe I did. Maybe I do. But
that’s not the point. Put it back on.”
He put his mask back on and Gordon faced him again.
“She’s never coming back,” Gordon said, sobbing.
Batman hugged his old friend.
“I feel so alone right now,” Gordon said.
“Well don’t,” a female voice said from the doorway to the house, “I’m here.
And I want to be here for you. Sarah was like a mother to me.”
It was Barbara Gordon, his daughter. Oracle. She wheeled herself over
to her father and hugged him. They both cried. By the time he looked up,
Batman was long gone.
“Some things never change,” he said.
Unlike her father, Barbara knew Batman’s secret. In fact, James Gordon
was not even aware that his daughter had once been Batgirl and was now
Oracle.
“Dad, I’ve got something I’ve been wanting to tell you for a long time,” she
said, “It won’t be easy for you to hear, but it’s about a job I took on recently.”
“Barbara please. Sweetheart you’re capable of making your own
decisions. You don’t need me to approve or even acknowledge them. And in
this case I can’t. All you need to know is I love you. All of you. And that is all I
have to say on the subject.”
She hugged him.
“Thanks Dad,” she said.

EPILOGUE

James Gordon did return to the Gotham City police department and
reclaimed his old job as Commissioner. At dusk on his first day back, he found
himself on the roof of police headquarters. He was surprised that the Batsignal
was still there.
“Old habits die hard huh?” a voice said.
“I thought this thing was auctioned off,” Gordon said.
“Bruce Wayne was the high bidder. He donated it back to the
department.”
“You need my help, huh?” Gordon asked.
“You and your people.”
“Figured it wouldn’t be me alone. Then we should plan.”
“Tomorrow at sunset?”
“Here?”
“Done.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
“Have a good night, Commissioner. And welcome back.”
“And you, Batman.”

END

July, 2001

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