Part Seventeen

A roar cascaded across the sky, masking the explosions and gunfire. The army was pulling back, withdrawing while the monster pursued them. The six apache choppers that hovered above emptied their rounds into the relentless beast. “Is there no stop to this thing?!” one pilot had shouted. Another pilot held his hand onto the trigger to his M230 chain gun and added. “It’s useless; we can’t stop it, no matter what we fire at it. We have no choice but to abort mission!” the beast then roared launching a bus at one chopper striking the tail end and sent it spiraling into a building, exploding on impact. The remaining choppers then withdrew.

           

“I don’t believe this… the army is retreating.” a reporter behind the scenes announced to the world. “They are pulling out as the choppers did nothing, they’ve fired all they had and yet, this beast is unstoppable. I can’t believe my eyes… Can it be stopped? Only one question remains on everyone’s mind. If not, mine. Where is our red caped crusader? Metropolis is under attack and he isn’t anywhere in sight. Even Batman and his foes have tried but failed to stop it. We have witnessed them falling…” the reporter paused as the camera zoomed in on him. “I’m sorry folks, but it just hit Me.” he was at a loss for words. “May God have salvation on their souls, whoever these brave souls were, Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and it is not determined yet that Batman is neither alive nor dead. CNBC has caught dramatic footage of the dark knight fighting this beast; and he also saved many soldiers as he diverted this monster away. He fought fearlessly, sacrificing himself as this goliath overshadowed him and… defeated him, the building he was thrown into, collapsed. This was the last known report of Batman alive.” the reporter lowered his head as his free hand lifted to cover his eyes. He then turned to look behind him as the beast roared and explosion thundered. The camera zoomed across the bay, close as it could. Black clouds sifted and flashes of light lit up the sky that was now ablaze of orange and red. “Where are you Superman?” his voice aired as the camera was still on viewing the carnage of Metropolis. “May God have mercy on us?” The monster thundered in the background as the cameraman captures a skyscraper toppling.

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            Meanwhile not far behind the raging beast,

 

            Batman was taken by the aftermath from the beast. In a short while it had decimated most of Metropolis. The entire area had looked like an explosive device had gone off; buildings leaned on each other as bodies of soldiers and civilians lay here and there. Batman stood staring and his heart dropped witnessing the number of casualties. Rubble continued to fall as the earth shook beneath them from the beast as it made it way downtown. It roared as it went and Batman turned to see which way it was heading.

 

“I don’t know what we can do with my bag of goodies; it’s a little too big to carry. This thingamajig comes with a bang,” Joker giggled. “And it may buy us some time. I mean, my means of transport reached as far as it can go. And speaking of tools, where are all your gadgets? And how do you suppose we crash the party?” Joker turned his head to Batman.

 

“Sorry to disappoint you Joker, but my jet already crashed it.”

 

Joker snickered, “and I thought I was the one who delivered the punch lines.”

 

Batman then turned to find some sort of transportation, the ground shook as another building in a distance weakened from its support and tumbled. When he had spotted a bus that was damaged but drivable; he went forward and ducked inside to check for the keys.

 

“Really, like you couldn’t find anything bigger.” Joker mumbled.

A smile crawled on Batman’s face when he noticed the keys in the ignition. He twisted the keys and the bus’s engine turned and turned but would not start. “Come on you piece of crap, start.” he smacked the instrument panel and turned the keys once more. Again the engine spluttered a few times before it fired up with a puff of black smoke that plumed into the air. He revved it a few times as Joker looked on.

 

Batman opened the driver window and coolly said, “Living easy, loving free, season ticket on a one way ride.” and the bus doors opened with a hiss. “I’m on a highway to hell.”

 

            The Joker grinned, “I was expecting more pizzazz but fitting isn’t it? Highway to hell.” and they all boarded the bus, Joker stopped as he entered the bus and rested a hand on Batman’s shoulder and said, “And if I recall, I believe it goes something like, ‘I’m on my way to the promise land, I’m on the highway to hell’.” Joker laughed, “On that note, I did say… it was going to be one Hell of a ride.” he giggled.

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