Batman Tales #9

Okay, here’s a scene of Two-Face at the Gotham City Electric Company, charging up an electric robot truck programmed to rob the First National Bank of Gotham:

Two-Face, his scarred side illuminated by the flickering neon sign of the Gotham City Electric Company, adjusted the charging cable connected to a hulking electric truck. The truck, painted a dull gray, hummed quietly, its battery indicator slowly climbing. “Almost ready, my friend,” Two-Face muttered, his good side smiling, his scarred side twisting in a grimace. “Soon, we’ll make a withdrawal from the First National that they won’t forget.” He flipped his coin, the silver glinting in the dim light. “Heads, we stick to the plan. Tails… well, let’s just say Gotham will have a very bad day.” The coin landed heads up. He chuckled. “As if there was ever any doubt.”

Okay, here’s the continuation of the scene, with the truck heading to the bank:

The electric truck, now fully charged, rumbled to life, its tires squealing as Two-Face punched in the coordinates for the First National Bank of Gotham. “Remember the plan, old girl,” he said, patting the dashboard. “In and out, nice and clean. No unnecessary violence.” He flipped his coin again, more out of habit than genuine indecision. “Heads, clean. Tails… well, let’s just say Gotham PD will have a real mess on their hands.”

A few minutes later, the truck pulled up to the bank’s loading dock under the cover of darkness. The automatic doors hissed open, revealing the bank’s interior. With no alarms triggered, the truck deployed a large, industrial-strength vacuum hose. The hose snaked its way through the bank, sucking up stacks of cash with a deafening roar. Dollar bills, coins, and even deposit boxes were swallowed whole by the voracious machine. In minutes, the truck was filled with the bank’s fortune, leaving the First National Bank of Gotham utterly bankrupt. Two-Face watched the operation from a hidden camera feed, a satisfied smirk spreading across both sides of his face. “Easy peasy,” he chuckled. “Now, time to disappear.”

The next morning, five miles outside of Gotham City at Walkerville Elementary, a familiar gray electric truck screeched to a halt just as the iconic Magic School Bus was pulling away. Before anyone could react, the truck deployed its monstrous vacuum hose, targeting the bright yellow bus. With a tremendous whoosh, the Magic School Bus, along with Ms. Frizzle and her entire class, was sucked into the truck’s cavernous interior.

Inside the truck, chaos reigned as the students tumbled around, disoriented but unharmed thanks to the bus’s magical safety features. Ms. Frizzle, ever the optimist, tried to keep everyone calm. “Alright, class! Another unexpected field trip!” she announced, adjusting her eccentric hairstyle. “Let’s see what we can learn about… uh… grand larceny!”

Meanwhile, Two-Face, watching the scene unfold on his monitor, grinned. “Excellent! Phase two is a go!” He then reprogrammed the truck’s navigation system. “Now, to the school’s Rheem air box! Can’t let those kids get too comfortable, can we?” The truck, now carrying a busload of bewildered students, sped towards Walkerville Elementary, its vacuum hose ready for its next target. The truck soon arrives at the school and the vacuum hose steals the schools Rheem air box. Two-Face watches the monitor. “Excellent!”

At Gotham Police Headquarters, the Bat-Signal was already a memory, replaced by the grim reality of a city under siege by the bizarre. Batman and Robin stood before Commissioner Gordon, the grizzled cop looking even more haggard than usual. “A bank robbery, Commissioner? That’s Two-Face’s MO, but the vacuum hose… the school bus… the air conditioning unit? It’s escalating,” Batman stated, his voice a low growl.

Robin, ever the eager sidekick, chimed in, “And an electric truck? That’s eco-friendly villainy!”

Gordon sighed, running a hand through his thinning hair. “We’ve got eyewitnesses who say it was a gray electric truck involved in all incidents. No license plates, no driver identified. The Mayor’s breathing down my neck, Batman. He wants answers, and fast.”

Batman’s cowl turned towards the window, his gaze fixed on the distant skyline. “Two-Face is sending a message, Commissioner. A chaotic, unpredictable message. We need to find out what he’s planning before he turns Gotham into his own personal junkyard.” He turned back to Gordon, his eyes narrowed. “Robin, to the Batmobile. Commissioner, alert the forensics team. I want every inch of that bank and school analyzed. We need to find a connection, anything that will give us a lead on Two-Face’s next target.”

Back at the Gotham City Electric Company building, Two-Face’s goons were busy unloading the stolen Rheem air box when they stumbled upon the Magic School Bus inside the truck. “Boss, we got a problem! There’s a school bus in here!” one of the goons shouted.

Two-Face, ever the pragmatist, pondered the situation. “Well, we can’t just leave them here. That Batman will be all over us like mustard on a hot dog.” He flipped his coin. “Heads, we let them go. Tails… well, let’s just say those kids are going for a swim in Gotham River.” The coin landed on tails. His scarred side grinned. “Looks like we’re making some new… partners.”

The goons, following Two-Face’s orders, rounded up Ms. Frizzle and her class. Despite her best efforts to reason with them, they were soon tied up and crammed into a beat-up van marked “Gotham Plumbing & Air Co.” The van, as it turned out, had been stolen from a Chick-fil-A parking lot earlier that morning. Two-Face watched the van disappear into the Gotham traffic. “Now, to put our plan into action.”

The goons, following Two-Face’s twisted orders, drove the “Gotham Plumbing & Air Co.” van to the Gotham River. With callous indifference, they tossed the gagged and tied children into the murky water, leaving them to struggle against the current. Fortunately, the Magic School Bus’s magical properties extended to its passengers, providing them with an unseen force that kept them afloat and clustered together.

Ms. Frizzle, however, received a different fate. The goons drove her to an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Gotham and locked her inside, leaving her alone in the darkness.

With the children dealt with, Two-Face refocused on his plan. “Next, the Gotham Daycare,” he announced, his good side momentarily flickering with a hint of remorse. “Their AC is next on the list.” He then ordered his men to dismantle the Magic School Bus’s engine, selling it for scrap metal. “Can’t let anything go to waste,” he sneered.

The magical forces that had been keeping Ms. Frizzle’s class afloat in the Gotham River began to fade. The children, gagged and bound, struggled against the current, their small bodies sinking beneath the surface. Panic set in as they fought to stay afloat, their muffled cries lost in the rushing water.

Two-Face, watching the scene unfold on his CCTV cameras, erupted in laughter. “Looks like the Friz’s class is about to learn a very harsh lesson about gravity!” he cackled, his scarred side contorting with glee.

Suddenly, an alarm blared through the electric company building. “Batman! He’s here!” one of his goons shouted. Two-Face’s laughter died in his throat. “That meddling bat! He always ruins the fun.” He raced towards the rooftop, where a helicopter waited, its rotors already spinning. “Time to make like a bad penny and disappear!”

As Two-Face scrambled into the helicopter, Batman burst onto the rooftop, his cape billowing in the wind. He watched as the chopper lifted off, its blades whipping up a frenzy of air. “Robin, to the Bat-Copter!” he barked, his voice echoing across the rooftop.

Robin, ever-ready, was already sprinting towards a smaller, less conspicuous helicopter parked on the far side of the building. “Right behind you, Batman!” he yelled.

They leaped into the Bat-Copter, and with a roar of its engine, it ascended into the Gotham sky, pursuing Two-Face’s helicopter. A high-stakes chase was about to begin, with the lives of Ms. Frizzle’s students hanging in the balance. Batman knew he had to stop Two-Face before it was too late.

The Bat-Copter gained rapidly on Two-Face’s helicopter. Batman, with his grappling hook launcher, fired a line that snagged the other chopper’s tail rotor. Two-Face’s pilot struggled to maintain control as the helicopter lurched violently.

“Heads, we shake him off! Tails, we go down in a blaze of glory!” Two-Face shouted, flipping his coin. It landed on tails. “Well, shoot!”

Batman, using the grappling line to swing across, leaped into Two-Face’s helicopter, landing with a thud. “This ends now, Harvey!” he growled.

Two-Face, never one to back down from a fight, lunged at Batman, a deranged glint in his eyes. The two titans clashed in the cramped cockpit, their struggle causing the already damaged helicopter to spiral out of control.

The helicopter careened through the Gotham skyline, finally crashing through the giant, blinking eye of an “Ocu-Wash” sign on top of a skyscraper. Glass and metal rained down on the streets below.

Inside the wreckage of the helicopter, hanging precariously from the side of the skyscraper, Two-Face coughed amidst the shattered glass and twisted metal. He thought he’d finally gotten rid of the Bat. “Heads, he’s gone. Tails, he’s still around to ruin my day,” he rasped, flipping his coin. It landed on tails, of course. He scowled.

Suddenly, a dark figure appeared on the front window of the mangled helicopter. It was Batman, clinging to the glass with his magnetic gauntlets, his cape whipping in the wind. Two-Face’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Impossible!”

Batman’s fist smashed through the remaining glass, and he reached inside, grabbing Two-Face by the collar. “It’s over, Harvey,” he said, his voice a low growl.

Batman hauled Two-Face out of the mangled helicopter and, using his grappling hook, secured the wreckage to the side of the skyscraper. He then activated the helicopter’s emergency autopilot, programming it to land on the roof of Gotham Police Headquarters. “You’re going back to Arkham, Harvey,” he stated grimly.

Meanwhile, Robin, having tracked the “Gotham Plumbing & Air Co.” van, had located the abandoned warehouse where Ms. Frizzle was being held. He swiftly disabled the lock and freed her. “Are you alright, Ms. Frizzle?” he asked, helping her to her feet.

“Never better, Robin!” she replied, adjusting her glasses. “Although, I must say, this field trip has been rather… unconventional.”

As Batman delivered Two-Face to the GCPD, news crackled over the radio: Gotham Harbor Patrol had pulled Ms. Frizzle’s students from the Gotham River. They were unresponsive, not breathing. Medics were performing CPR, but the situation was dire. Air ambulances were en route to airlift them to Gotham Medical Center.

Batman’s jaw tightened. He’d stopped Two-Face, but the villain’s actions had left innocent lives hanging in the balance. He knew the fight for Gotham was never truly over.

The news from Gotham Medical Center was grim. Despite the best efforts of the doctors, some of Ms. Frizzle’s students succumbed to the effects of drowning. The loss weighed heavily on Batman, a stark reminder of the human cost of his war against crime.

He personally escorted Two-Face to the hospital, where he would be treated for his injuries before being transferred back to Arkham Asylum. As he watched the medical staff tend to the villain, Batman couldn’t help but wonder if there was any hope for Harvey Dent, or if the darkness had consumed him completely.

Outside Gotham Medical Center, a throng of reporters swarmed as the Batmobile screeched to a halt. Batman emerged, his face grim, Robin at his side. The flashing cameras and shouted questions were a cacophony of noise, but Batman held up a hand, silencing the crowd.

“Today, Gotham suffered a terrible loss,” he began, his voice resonating with somber authority. “Two-Face’s actions led to the drowning of several innocent children. I can now release their names.” He paused, his gaze sweeping across the faces of the reporters. “Liam Johnson, age 7. Maya Rodriguez, age 8. And Ethan Chen, age 6. May their memories be a blessing to us all.”

He continued, “Two-Face is in custody and will face justice for his crimes. But today, let us remember the victims and offer our support to their families. Gotham must heal, and we must do it together.” With that, Batman and Robin turned and disappeared back into the Batmobile, leaving the reporters to process the tragic news.

The Batmobile sped off into the Gotham night, leaving the reporters to their somber task. Inside Arkham Asylum, Two-Face would face a different kind of justice – the twisted logic of his own fractured mind. He would be haunted by the faces of the children he’d indirectly killed, a constant reminder of the innocent lives he’d destroyed.

Whether he would ever truly atone for his crimes, or whether the darkness would continue to consume him, remained to be seen. But one thing was certain: Two-Face’s actions had left an indelible scar on Gotham, a wound that would take a long time to heal.