Tony Zucco was freaking out of his mind. He was in his cell, pondering about what was to happen during the breakout tonight, when a big explosion erupted near the wall of the penitentiary.
"Holy shit!" he yelled. "What the hell is going on here!"
Another blast shook the building, this time blowing a large hole in the wall near his cell. The wall crumbled down to the ground, blowing a fury of plaster, dust, and smoke in the air. When the air had somewhat cleared, Zucco saw a group of men in dark trench coats entering the building through the hole. Each man sported a military-style gas mask. The gang moved towards Tony's cell.
"Hey, what the freakin' hell is going on here!!" he bellowed.
One of the men took out a stick of dynamite, which bore their boss' leering face on the base. He stuck the dynamite in the lock on the cell door.
"The boss sent us to bust ya out," the man, who was obviously the ringleader of the group, grumbled.
"But," Zucco stammered. "But, I thought I was getting busted out tonight?!?"
"The boss doesn't like to wait," the man said simply. "Now take cover." The ringleader and his followers quickly ran behind the outcropping of wall that Harley Quinn used when she spoke to Zucco.
"Take cover..." Zucco was repeating. He was very confused. Then it dawned on him as he saw the dynamite with the flame on the wick almost eating down to the highly-explosive base of the stick. "Take cover,... OH SHIT!!" Without thinking twice Zucco tipped over his cot and dived behind it. A few seconds later the cell door erupted inwards and hit the wall a few centimetres from where Zucco was cowering in fear. The force was so great that there was a permanent imprint of the door on the cheap plaster.
In the distance, everyone could hear the alarm sound and already guards were pouring into the cell block, guns in hand. The gang leader grabbed Zucco and they took off through the hole blasted in the wall; the others followed close behind, as they produced sawed off shotguns and fired round after round at the oncoming guards in an effort to forge their escape.
"Come on you guys, they're getting away!" one of the guards shouted. Zucco could tell by the man's voice that it was the same guard who had brought the disguised Harley to see him, and who also criticised him with her present. Ha, we'll see who's so high and mighty now, Zucco thought smugly to himself, as he ran with the gang out the penitentiary walls and towards a sewer grate in the middle of the dense bushes near the jail.
Zucco stopped uncertainly when they approached the subterranean entrance. "Are we going down there?" he asked cautiously.
"Yeah," the ringleader growled. He ripped off his gas mask as his men started prying up the grate. "Why? What'sa matter? Ya chicken?" The man threw his head back and let out a huge laugh. The other men followed suit as they took off the grate and got flashlights out from regions undisclosed.
Tony Zucco seemed offended by their smart-ass remarks. "No, I am not chicken," he answered defiantly. "I was just wondering, that's all. No big deal." He looked behind him. "Now let's hurry and get the hell outta here before the guards come!" Already the shapes of heavily armed characters could be seen rushing out of the huge hole where the group had escaped.
The ringleader gestured to the sewer. "Come on, ya mugs, let's go!" One by one, the gang members jumped into the dark sewer and switched on their flashlights. Zucco was still looking uncertainly down the dark hole when the guards started firing at him; one shot missed him by only a few millimetres, striking the ground behind him. Without a further hint of hesitation he deftly jumped down into the hole, the ringleader landing close behind him.
"Come on, this way!" The gang made a mad dash down the dimly lighted tunnel, as the guards came running to the entrance of the sewer.
"Damn, we lost 'em!" one of the younger guards exclaimed.
The guard who annoyed Zucco was on his knees shining a flashlight down the hole. "They couldn't have gotten far. Come on, let's go after 'em!"
The one who had spoken earlier shook his head defiantly. "No way. There's no way in hell I'm going down there!"
Another young guard spoke up. "Yeah, I'm with Keith, man. There ain't no way I'm going down that hole." The other guards nodded their heads in a combined agreement.
The guard looked at them in a mix of disbelief and rage. "You big bunch 'a babies!" he shouted. "You guys are pathetic! You make me sick!"
"If you want them, then you go down there," Keith challenged. The others nodded their heads in agreement again, this time more defiant then before.
The older guard growled at this but, before he could say another word, the other guards turned their backs on him and headed back towards the penitentiary. Standing alone near the sewer entrance, the guard looked down one final time, imagining the fleeing inmate he was supposed to guard, then turned and started after the others.
When Dick Grayson appeared in the Batcave, it was two hours before sunset. He looked around suddenly, having heard a noise, and realized that he wasn't alone in the subterranean world. He walked towards the noise and saw Bruce Wayne sitting in front of the computer, in the Batman costume but with the cowl off and hanging behind his head like a hood. He was starring intently at the T.V. screen in front of him, the sound mute, as the evening news announced the special reports for the day.
As Dick walked up to his mentor, Bruce touched the remote on the arm of his chair and the sound suddenly came on. Summer Gleeson was on the news at that moment, reading the script that was already prepared for her. Pictures flashed in the background as she announced the top stories:
"And, finally, there was a big breakout at the Gotham State Penitentiary this afternoon. Witness reports say that approximately six men wearing military gas masks were using plastic explosives to create an opening in the north side of the penitentiary's wall. We are still unclear as to what they were doing in there but the police are still investigating for any possibilities of a major incident. Upon leaving the building they were again spotted with a seventh person who was later described as being Tony Zucco. Despite the efforts of the guards, Tony Zucco and the other men had escaped. They were last seen heading north down -"
Bruce pressed a button on the remote and the T.V. once again became dormant. He put his elbows on the armrests and steepled his fingers, his eyes closed almost shut, his mind deep in thought.
Dick stood behind him, unsure of what to do. Finally a voice could be heard in the echoing darkness; a voice so dark and ferocious that it couldn't possibly have come from a human being.
"You'd better get into costume, Dick," the voice had said. "It's going to be a long night."
Five minutes later, Batman and Robin were in the Batmobile heading towards Gotham State Penitentiary to do a little investigating on their own. Maybe they could figure out who those men were and why they wanted Zucco, among other mysteries.
"If we take a look at the scene of the breakout in the penitentiary," Batman was saying, "we might be able to find out who they were working for," he expertly drove the sleek vehicle around a sharp corner and stopped smoothly at a red traffic light. "And what they wanted with Zucco," he concluded.
Robin just sat in the passenger seat, his left arm throbbing where he had hit the parallel bar. The physical pain didn't bother him half as much as the emotional discomfort he was feeling. He had failed. He'd said he would prevent Zucco from escaping and he was ashamed at himself for letting the breakout happen. Now there was a demon on the loose who was seeking personal revenge on him; both in his dreams and in a mortal form.
As the Dynamic Duo approached the penitentiary, they saw that already work had begun to fix the place up after all the explosions that took place the previous day. Where there used to be the big hole in the north wall, there was now an orange tarp stretched over top of it to protect the interior from Mother Nature's unrelenting fury.
The Dark Knight parked the car in the bushes so as to hid it from passer-bys and then the duo proceeded to the north wall. Under close inspection, nothing out of the ordinary was found out than what the police already knew. They continued their search inside; particularly with Zucco's cell. While Robin went inside the cell to study the imprint on the wall, Batman inspected the hole in the empty cell where the door used to be.
"Hmm," he mused, as he used his glove to probe around in the plaster that had blown apart along with the door. His hand felt something hard and sharp and he pulled it out of the wreckage, revealing a worn out piece of metal; some of the metal that was in the door when it exploded.
Robin came over to Batman when he had found the clue. "What is it, Batman?"
"This piece of metal was on the door the minute it exploded," he explained. "There seems to be some kind of sticky residue plastered on here. Maybe under closer examination I can determine what it is." He reached into his utility belt and took out his magnifying lenses.
"Well what do you know," Batman exclaimed in a hushed voice, as he looked into the lenses. "This is some of the trinitrotoluene that the Joker uses."
"Trinitro... what?"
"TNT, Robin." He pointed at the sample. "This is some of the stuff that the Joker uses; you can tell because the magnified strength is always at a greater velocity than that of regular explosives." He appeared thoughtful for a moment. "But why would the Joker be involved in this..."
Robin thought for a moment. "Maybe if we looked through the security videos from yesterday, and possibly the day before, we'll find out whether there's a connection."
His partner nodded in agreement. "Good idea, Robin. Maybe now we'll get to the bottom of this mystery."
The door to the Chief of Security's office was mysteriously unlocked and two figures silently slipped in. Rummaging around in the shelves and filing cabinets, they stopped their search when they found what they were looking for.
"Psst,... Hey Batman,... I think I found them," Robin urged silently to his partner, as he held up two video cassettes with labels that read 'Security Video -Section 121: Subsection A: Friday 27th; and Saturday 28th'.
"Good, let's go." With the twin rustle of their capes they left the room.
"Ok, now let's see what you can tell us," Robin spoke to the first video, even though he knew he wouldn't get an answer from the inanimate object. The crimefighting duo were in the central security monitoring station where all the security equipment was located and where the video cameras' images get fed to the T.V.'s and recorded. The security guards supposedly on duty were enjoying a nice coffee break and a relaxing game of poker in the main cafeteria.
Batman had decided to play the video from the day before, when the breakout had occurred, in the hope that maybe they'll find something to aid in their investigation. As Batman and Robin intently watched the screen, they saw the room on the monitor shake, as a sign that the bombing had already started on the outside of the wall. A few minutes later a portion of the wall seemed to fly in, blowing a trail of dust and plaster with it. Then six heavyset men came barrelling in, each with their gas masks on to protect them from the flying dust hazard. One of the men took out what appeared to be a stick of dynamite and placed it in the lock of Tony Zucco's cell.
"Wait a minute..." At that moment the Dark Knight saw something. He quickly stopped the video and backed it up to the point where the dynamite was in clear view. He pressed a button on the control panel and the screen zoomed in so that the explosive filled the whole monitor. "Just as I thought." He pointed to the screen. "Look, Robin. This is the Joker's explosive. It means that these guys probably work for that insane clown."
"I think you're right, Batman," the Boy Wonder agreed. "We probably won't find anymore information in this video. Let's check the other one to see if there's any explanation for why the Joker is involved in this breakout."
"Right." Batman ejected the old tape and put in the other tape from Friday. He pressed play and they watched as Tony Zucco paced in his cell. A guard came walking towards him, with a woman visitor close behind. Soon the guard left and the woman was left alone with the murderer.
"Wait, Batman. Turn the sound on," Robin suggested. "I have a funny feeling this confrontation will tell us something."
The Dark Knight flipped a switch on the console and the speakers came to life.
"I'm here to help you," she began. "I represent -"
"I don't care who you represent! And I don't need any help; especially not from a damn slut like you!"
"Maybe if I showed you who I am first then you could decide whether to hear me out or not. Now don't go anywhere!"
As the Dynamic Duo watched, the woman ran behind the jutting out wall and started to change. Their eyes widened at this and they both turned their heads away. "Um, I guess she didn't know about the security cameras," Robin said.
"Ok, she's probably done now." The duo turned back to the screen just as a red and white clad clown girl was talking to Zucco.
"Harley Quinn? No, it can't be!" Batman exclaimed, just as Harley was telling Zucco about the proposed breakout. "It isn't possible! Joker and Tony Zucco working together!"
Robin was equally shocked. "Everyone knows that the Joker works alone. Why is this happening? What's in it for him?"
Batman shook his head sombrely. "I don't know, Robin," he said. "I just don't know."
Tony Zucco was feeling sick all of a sudden. He and the gang had been racing through the sewers for hours on end and it seemed to him that they would never reach the Joker's hide-out. Not only was he getting tired from the running, but the smell of the sewers didn't help him one bit.
"Are we there yet?" he whined. This was the first time he had spoken in three hours and he wanted to make sure he still had his voice.
"Quit yer complainin' ya big wuss! We're almost there!" The ringleader lead the way through the subterranean jungle of pipes and valves, the others following close behind. Suddenly a huge cavern opened up before them with many different lights shining radiant beams all over the murky place. It was a relief to the men because at that particular moment the batteries in their flashlights started to flicker from overuse.
Zucco looked around in the bright light. The place seemed to be decorated with the most modern surveillance cameras which were placed in the Commissioner's office, the Mayor's office, and the banks in the Central Business District of Gotham City. This guy thinks of everything! he thought to himself. As he moved to get a better look at the monitors, he was halted in his tracks by a very shrill voice.
"Why, Anthony Zucco! How nice of you to come!" The last sentenced was followed by a barrage of insane laughter. "By the way," the Joker continued. "How's your uncle, Arnie Stromwell doing, hmmm?"
"Joker," he greeted hesitantly. "And I haven't seen him for ages. He kicked me out of the family when Batman was after me nine years ago. And I almost got rid of the Bat, only that freakin' Boy Wonder stopped me."
"Ah yes. Robin, the Dark Knight's young partner." The Joker turned to Zucco with an evil grin on his white face. "I know how much you want to get even with that little pest, just as I'd like to get even with the Bat." He started pacing around the room, stopping in front of two hyenas who were tied up near the monitors. At the site of the Joker they started barking and snapping at him. He was about to pet them but thought better of it and yanked his hand away. "HARLEY!!" he bellowed.
A red and white clown girl poked her head out from behind some strung up curtains in the far corner of the cavern. "Yes Mr. J.?"
"Feed the hyenas! They almost bit my hand off!"
"Yes puddin'!" she responded with a wide lovesick smile, as a result from the attention he gave her.
"Now Tony, I'm sure you remember the agreement my associate Harley told you about. She didn't give you the details but since you're here, I assume you'd agreed to it. Now the plan is simple, you get the Boy Blunder. Simple enough?"
Tony Zucco was surprised. "Yeah it's,... it's pretty straight forward." Then something dawned on him. "Wait'a minute. What's in it for you?" he asked suspiciously.
The Joker turned around with a feigned look of innocence on his face. "Me?" he asked. "Why, with the Birdy out of the way, Batman will be mine to break. He'll be so depressed with his little partner gone that his defence will be down." He stuck out his hand. "So have we got an agreement here?"
"Deal." The two shook hands. "AARRRGGHH SHIT!!!" Tony yanked his hand away when he felt the electric shock from the Joker's hand buzzer.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.....
To Be Continued...
Next: The Gauntlet
