Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Moon Princess in Gotham ❯ Emerald Showdown! ( Chapter 13 )

Batman and all related characters are the property of D. C. Comic and Warner Bros. I do not own these characters nor am I making any money off of them. I also don't own Sailor Moon-and if you thought I did, you belong in Arkham Asylum with whoever keeps producing those Adam Sandler movies.

 

Chapter 12: Emerald Showdown!

“Well, Zoicite,” Queen Beryl said to her General, “This is a pretty fiasco. Not only have we lost Tengu the Birdman, but Tuxedo Mask now has his hands on one of the rainbow crystals!”

Zoicite bowed her head. “I regret my failure, my queen.” If the axe was to fall, best that it be swift.

“No matter.” Queen Beryl waved her hand. “Hopefully we shall recover it.” It wasn't like the Dark Kingdom's ruler to dismiss something like this so casually; Zoicite wondered if Beryl was well. “The important thing now is to find the other crystals and to re-emerge them into the Imperium Silver Crystal!”

That at least made sense. Zoicite tried not to let the relief show on her face. “Black Crystal, show me the next Rainbow Crystal carrier!”

Light flashed from Zoicite's dark crystal shard; an image of not one, but three different people appeared. “Four at once?” Beryl asked in surprise. “Zoicite, you must see to this matter immediately. This is too good an opportunity to pass up.”

 

Dottie Sparks stood with Moonbunny and La Donna on a stage platform set up before the control tower of Gotham Air Force base. The three clowns each wore flight attendant jackets over their clown dresses and caps over their wigs. T. V. cameras rolled, showing them on the giant screen for the audience in the bleachers and in T. V. sets across the country.

“Now ladies,” the whiteface told the two augustes, “you'll both be handling coach here while I do first class. Remember, I pulled a lot of strings to get you both this job,” Dottie put her hands on her hips and gave a comically stern expression, “so you better not mess it up!”

Dottie walked offstage, leaving Moonbunny and La Donna to the passengers-who consisted of four clowns sitting in different spots of two rows of folding chairs. The `stewardesses' went to each of them with a serving cart and handed each of them a small dish.

They just finished with all four when the first passenger-a man in whiteface with curly rainbow hair and a suit just as garish-honked his nose. “Stewardess!” he cried.

Moonbunny went up to him. “Yes?”

The clown handed her his dish. “This is roast beef. I wanted chicken!”

Moonbunny took the dish. “Coming right up.”

“Stewardess!” La Donna walked to the short pudgy hobo who just honked a bicycle horn. “I want a pillow for my seat!”

“Right away.” La Donna took a pillow from under the cart and placed it behind the hobo.

“Stewardess!” The third passenger was a young woman in black overalls and white shirt with the simple makeup of the perriot. “Is there a movie on this flight?”

“Why sure!” Moonbunny waved her hand and the large T. V. screen suddenly showed the clowns looking up at the screen.

“That's not quite what I had in mind,” the perriot said.

“Stewardess!” La Donna went up the fourth passenger, a nerdish looking auguste with really thick glasses. He was holding an airbag over his face. “I need some air sickness pills!” he said in a high nasal voice.

“Stewardess!” the hobo honked his horn again. “Could you fluff up this pillow for me?”

“Stewardess!” Rainbow Head called again. “This chicken is dark meat! I wanted white!”

“Stewardess!” the perriot said. “This magazine is missing a page. Could you get me another one?”

“Stewardess!” the nerdish auguste said. “I think you gave me laxatives instead. I feel even worse!”

Moonbunny and La Donna kept racing to passengers but couldn't keep up with their demands. “Stewardess!” “Stewardess!” “Stewardess!”

The audience couldn't hold themselves. There was hardly anyone in the bleachers who wasn't at least smiling at the clowns' antics and most were laughing as hard as they could-including one Raye Hino.

Amy looked over at her friend. “I don't think I've ever seen you laugh so loud, Raye.”

After a last couple of giggles, Raye calmed herself. “She may be a clumsy airhead and I still say she doesn't have what it takes to be a leader. But if there's one thing Serena's any good at, it's bringing a laugh out of people.”

“Yes,” Amy smiled in agreement, “that's for sure.”

Behind the stage Mayor Hamilton Hill was sitting with several other functionaries and dignitaries-including Bruce Wayne. Turning to Bruce the mayor whispered, “I must say, Mr. Wayne, that word of yours and her friends are doing a most excellent job.”

“They certainly are, Mr. Mayor,” said a middle-aged African-American sitting to Bruce's right. Lucius Fox was Bruce Wayne's right hand at Wayne Enterprises and the thumb and index finger of his left. “I had my doubts when Bruce suggested them as the side entertainment for this, but they sure know how to please a crowd.”

Back on the stage, Rainbow Head pushed an empty pie plate at Moonbunny. “This pie is peach. I wanted banana cream!”

The nerdish auguste again heaved into his barf bag. “Could you get me something for my air sickness?” he called to La Donna.

The stewardesses walked back to the cart. Moonbunny took out a pie plate filled with shaving cream, while La Donna removed what looked like a short-handled sledgehammer from right under the cart.

Moonbunny went back to Rainbow Head. “Have you got it right this time?” the passenger-clown asked.

“Sure.” The giant screen showed the female clown wink. “I've got it right-IN YOUR FACE!” Now the audience roared to watch Moonbunny shove the shaving-cream pie into Rainbow Head's surprised face.

Meanwhile La Donna went back the auguste, who'd just looked up from his barf bag. She kept the mallet behind her back “Have you got something to help me this time?”

“Sure thing.” La Donna whipped out the mallet and slammed against his head. As it touched the auguste, microchips inside the hammer gave sounds like breaking glass, and he fell back into his seat.

The other passengers seemed completely oblivious to what happened. “Could you get me another magazine?” asked the perriot.

“And I want another pillow!” cried the hobo.

Moonbunny took out an armload of magazines from under the cart. “Here!” she said as she dumped them on the perriot. “Have all the magazines you want!”

La Donna went to the hobo with another pillow. “HERE!” she screamed as she held it over his face, “Here's your extra pillow!”

It was right then that Dottie came back up on stage. She saw one passenger with shaving cream over his face; another sprawled over his seat, Moonbunny still dumping magazines on one, and La Donna smothering the last. “Come here!” she screamed.

Moonbunny and La Donna went up to her. “I can't believe you two! I go out of my way to get you these jobs and look what you do! When we land, I'm report you both! When the Flight Attendants' Commission hears about this, you won't be able to get work bussing tables at a taco stand in L. A.! You'll be-!” Moonbunny and La Donna looked at each other and nodded. La Donna whacked Dottie across the head with her mallet and the whiteface fell on her back to the floor. Picking Dottie up by her ankles, the two clowns dragged her offstage, and the others portraying passengers followed after them.

Now the audience stood up and clapped their hands while airpark employees removed the seats from the stage. The applause was dying down as a middle-aged man in a blue Air Force uniform came up on stage clapping his own hands.

“All right there.” The man, whose uniform nameplate read Col. Leslie Hapablap spoke into the microphone with a West Texas drawl. “And how about one more round of applause for these three very lovely and talented girls!” The audience clapped again as Moonbunny, Dottie and La Donna came back on stage and curtsied. As they left again, the officer spoke. “Very well now. These girls will be handing out balloons and doing face painting down by the concession stand. And you'll see more of their antics in between exhibits and stunts by the country's best military and civilian stunt pilots here at the Gotham Charity Benefit Air Show!”

 

Serena, Molly, and Lita, still in costume, stood in the dressing room across from the four `passengers,' who just washed off their makeup and changed into normal clothes. “Thanks again for helping us with the opening skit,” Lita said.

“And you four just got the easy part,” Serena said. “Molly, Lita, and I still have some more skits to do for the rest of the air show. Plus Molly and I have face-painting and balloons.”

Andrew smiled. “No problem Serena. Anything to help out two of the arcade's best customers.”

“I still can't believe I let you talk me into this Serena,” Melvin said. “How could I do that in front of what had to be half of Gotham!”

“Oh come on Melvin. In that makeup and costume no one could possibly recognize you.”

“Yeah. Besides,” Molly fluttered her silvery eyelashes, “it was awfully sweet of you to do this for us.”

“Uh yeah.” The nerdy boy blushed. “Uh, I think I hear my folks calling me. Gotta join `em!”

“Ah yes.” Ryu Hino smiled at Serena. “Thank you girls again for asking me to help you out. It's the most fun I've had in ages.” Serena smiled back; she was glad Raye's grandfather hadn't held it against her for getting shot by the Joker and was willing to help out in the opening skit. “Well, I've got to go join my granddaughter and enjoy the rest of the show.” And with that the old Shinto priest stepped out of the dressing room.

“I'm going too.” Andrew stepped into the doorway, and then looked back at Serena and Lita. “It was a lot of fun helping you out.” Serena and Lita both sighed as Andrew stepped out room.

“Say Lita,” said Renee-she had been the perriot. “You don't do anything like paint faces or tie balloons-why not step out of that costume and watch the show with me?”

“Uh, well,” Lita ran a hand over her makeup. “I can't exactly wash this off. It's a lot harder to put back on than to take off.”

“Just leave it. So many in the audience will have their faces painted already no one will notice.” Now Renee's voice dropped a little. “It's been so long since we've done anything together, and I have to go back to work tomorrow. And you used to love it when Mom and Dad took us to stuff like this. So please, could you?”

Lita sighed. It HAD been a long time since she and her sister had spent time together as family-since their parents had died, in fact. But the way in which they died left her uneasy around airplanes.

Serena slapped Lita on the back. “Go right ahead Lita! Just remember to be back here in an hour and 45 minutes to get back in costume for our next skit!”

“Okay.” Lita stepped behind the dressing curtain. Two minutes later she stepped out in a sweatshirt and jeans, although she still wore her makeup and clown nose. “C'mon sis lets go.”

“Hey Andrew!” Andrew looked around the bleachers until he saw Darien Shields waving a hand. “We're over here, Andrew!”

Sitting next to Darien was Andrew's girlfriend Rita. “Oh Andrew,” she hugged him as he sat down next to her. “You were wonderful out there!”

“Please,” Andrew blushed. “It's Serena, Lita, and Molly who are the real performers. All I did was say a few lines and get a pie in my face.”

“I still can't believe you dressed up like a clown and made a fool of yourself in front of all those people,” Darien said. “No way you'll ever catch me doing a thing like that.”

“Ah gee Darien, lighten up,” Andrew said. “Life's too short to be all intense and uptight the way you are. Have a little fun once in a while.”

But Darien wasn't listening to his friend. Instead he just noticed two sixth-graders walking down the steps. One of them he recognized as Dick Grayson, Serena's brother who beat him up only a few weeks ago. But there was something strangely familiar about that red-haired girl he was with. Where had he seen her before?

 

Hal Jordan smiled as he climbed into the cockpit of his F-16 Eagle. Being a test pilot for Ferris Aviation was all well and good, but there were times when he just needed to get away from that love triangle he had with his boss Carol Ferris and his alter ego. And the Guardians on Oa hadn't called him for anything lately. When he heard that Bruce Wayne had been putting together a charity benefit air show and needed pilots with experience in military aircraft, he had immediately volunteered.

He strapped on his oxygen mask as his plane was taxied out to the runway. Another pilot's voice came on through his cockpit radio. “Just like the good old days, eh Hal?”

“Sure enough, Eddie.” Hal and Eddie Johnson had been roommates at the Air Force Academy and remained in touch after Hal got booted out. “It sure is a beautiful day for an air show.”

 

“And there go the Eagles!” Col. Hapablap spoke into the microphone. “The Air Force's top fighter, the F-16 is perhaps the most maneuverable fighting jet in existence. Capable of mach speeds of 30 Gs, the F-16 can turn on a dime and take off and land on a very limited runway. Also within it's abilities is-.”

As the colonel continued on in words that made little sense to anyone not familiar with aviation terminology, the five-plane squadron began a series of dives and, forming a cluster, immediately separated, leaving their smoke in a star-shaped formation.

 

“Here you go,” Moonbunny said as she finished painting the fighter jet on the boy's left cheek. In keeping with aviation theme of the event, most of the designs she'd been painting on people were jets, helicopters, or full-face paintings in the colors of the various squadrons performing.

A couple of steps away, Dottie Sparks was busy tying balloons. “Here's your passenger jet, little girl!” as she said as she handed the girl the four oblong balloons she'd tied together in a jet like formation.

Moonbunny looked at her friend in amazement. Dottie may have only wanted to be an amateur, but the shapes she came up with tying balloons could put a lot of professionals to shame.

She turned to her next customer, a red haired girl who looked about eleven or twelve. “I'd like the cloud with the rainbow bursting out please,” the girl said.

“Right away.” Moonbunny dipped her paintbrush into the red paint and began painting on the girl's cheek.

Suddenly she noticed a familiar face at the front of the short line. “Dick? What are you doing here?” Her brother had told her he'd be over at a friend's and couldn't go to the air show with her and Bruce.

“I'm just here with Barbara. She then decided she wanted to go here and her dad dropped us off.”

Moonbunny looked back at Barbara. “So, Dick has a girlfriend, does he?”

“No!” Dick and Barbara said simultaneously. Dick went on, “We're just friends, Mea-Sere-, er, Moonbunny.” Moonbunny smiled inside as he stumbled over the names.

“Still, I think it's sweet to see you here together,” Moonbunny said. She finished painting the cloud-rainbow on Barbara's cheek. She handed her a mirror. “Have a look.”

Barbara's face let up as she looked at the clown's handiwork. “I like it!” She handed Moonbunny back the mirror and walked away with Dick.

As they headed back to the bleachers, Barbara looked at Dick. “What were you about to call her, Dick?”

“Meatball Head.”

“Dick! I can't believe you. What an insulting nickname!”

“Well, she wears this weird hairstyle even when she's not dressed like that and she's always causing accidents and bumping into things.” Dick didn't know why his cheeks were going hot; he'd never felt embarrassed about insulting Serena before.

“Still-she's your sister. And she's the only family you've got left too. I wouldn't act like that if my bro-.” She stopped and her face clouded up a little.

“What?” Dick looked at his friend. “You have a brother?”

“I had a brother.” Now Barbara looked down. “I don't even remember him at all. I was about three when my folks split up. Mom took him with her on a trip to Japan. Their car fell off a cliff and-well they never found his body.” He face lifted up and Dick could see the moistness in her eyes. “That's why Dad just dropped us off instead of coming here with us. Today would have been Darien's birthday, and he likes to be alone on this day.”

Dick couldn't think of what to say. Most of the time insulting Serena was like water to a fish to him; and Barbara made him feel ashamed of it. Deciding to change the subject, he said, “That rainbow cloud she painted on you looks pretty good. Serena is good at face painting, maybe because she paints her own face so much.” He took a short breath, and then went on, “When you get right down to it, she is a pretty special person, the way she can bring the cheer out of anyone.”

“Maybe you should tell her that, Dick.”

 

At a hidden section in the air base, two people were watching the air show on TV with satisfaction. “Ah, just the first step in our little plan,” Jonathon Crane, AKA the Scarecrow said as he rubbed his hands together. “Next the gas will filter in through the intercom systems onto the bleachers and as everyone has hallucinations of their worst fears, including the security personnel, leaving the box office and the concession booths open for my men to loot.”

His companion nodded, although she was not after money like this Crane person. As everyone was paralyzed, Zoicite knew she would be able to locate and extract the rainbow crystals from their carriers at this base. Though she had scorned both Jadeite and Nephrite for at times using humans to do their dirty work, this Scarecrow person showed promise. She especially liked that fear gas of his; perhaps after she retrieved the four crystals she was after, she would present Crane to Queen Beryl. Who knew what other useful weapons he could come up with?

 

Lita looked around where she and her sister had sat with Amy and Raye. Renee had been right; all around them were people who'd had their faces painted with Air Force colors and designs. Right behind them were a bunch of college age boys stripped to their waists and entire upper bodies painted orange and blue each with a letter spelling out NIGHTHAWKS, the name of a Navy Squadron performing today. With the motley array of body art, nobody noticed a teenage girl in clown make up.

I could have kept the costume and wig on and no one would have noticed, Lita thought, and then braced herself as the first squadron flew right over her. I can get through this, it's just a show, and these pilots are professionals. Of course, the pilots on her parents' plane had been professionals too and it hadn't done them any good.

The F-16s came together in a formation scattered, leaving their smoke in a star formation-and suddenly something went wrong.

 

“All right,” the F-16 squadron commander spoke through the planes' radio intercom, “Jordan, you bank to the left, Johnson to the righ-AAUUGGGHH!”

“Squadron leader, what's the matter?” Hal cried.

“SNAKES!” screamed the squad leader. “SNAKES! THEY”RE ALL OVER ME!”

“Squad leader, is this some kind of joke?” the man at the control tower said.

“SLUGS!” Eddie Johnson screamed. “SLUGS! They're crawling all over me!” Now Hal tensed; Eddie had once confided in him that he had a phobia of creatures. He smelled something funny coming from his mask; instantly his ring flared to life, forming a shield fro whatever was affecting the other pilots.

“I'M ON FIRE!” another pilot said.

“RATS!” “FROGS!” “SPIDERS!” “I'M BEING AUDITED!”

Hal pulled the ejection cord below his seat. Immediately he shot out of the cockpit and right into a nearby cloud. Certain no one could see him his ring quickly changed his clothes into a black and green jumpsuit.

“This is a job for the Green Lantern.”

 

“Sweet Enola Gay!” Lita heard Col. Hapablap shout through the park speakers. “What in tarnation has gotten into these pilots?” Everyone in the bleachers screamed when the F-16s flew into a wild formation, and then one of the pilots ejected.

I should have known something like this would happen, Lita thought, and then smelled something funny in the air. “LITA!” she heard her sister cry out. “DON'T TAKE HER FROM ME!”

“NO DAD!” Raye screamed. “I'M NOT LIKE YOU! I'M NOTHING LIKE YOU!”

“I DID THAT TEST HONESTLY!” Amy shouted. “WHOEVER SAYS I CHEATED IS LYING!”

Lita touched her screaming sister on the arms. “Renee what's going on-AAAGGGHHH!”

 

“Bruce?” Lucius Fox tugged at his employer's arm. “Bruce what's happening?”

“I don't know,” Bruce said, although he had an idea. The Scarecrow.

A short distance away, Serena and Molly looked at the bleachers in fear. “What's going on?” Molly asked.

Serena shook her head so hard her wig almost fell off. “I don't know.”

Suddenly Molly pointed to the sky. “Look Serena! It's the Green Lantern!”

As he lowered the F-16s, the Green Lantern suddenly noticed the bleachers. As quickly and gently as he could, he set the planes on the ground and used his ring to turn their flight suits into straitjackets. He hated to do it, but at least they couldn't hurt themselves.

He flew over the bleachers and saw the afflicted spectators. Most were sitting there screaming, while a few were running and grabbing onto others and hitting them.

Quickly Green Lantern put straitjackets on the most unruly, and then created a barrier around each of the others.

 

Zoicite and the Scarecrow gasped as the saw the Green Lantern on the T. V. screen. “As if Batman isn't enough of a nuisance!” the Scarecrow fumed. “That emerald meddler will ruin everything!”

“Not if I can help it,” Zoicite said as she disappeared in a swirl of cherry blossoms. And if I can find those Rainbow Crystal carriers.

 

Using his ring, Green Lantern was able to make the gas show itself. As quick as he could, formed a bubble around it, and flew off above the clouds, where, dissolving the bubble, the gas evaporated harmlessly.

He flew back down to see a blond woman in a gray military style uniform floating above the bleachers who seemed to be shooting some kind of black light down on the spectators.

“Drat!” Zoicite screamed as she fired the light from her black crystal again. She'd spotted two of the carriers among the bleachers, but those green bubbles around them had prevented her from extracting the crystals. Suddenly she noticed another on the stage among the Gotham dignitaries. “Zoi!” she cried. The light lept her crystal at the carrier-and was stopped by a large green dome.

“Who are you?” Zoicite turned and saw the man in green and black floating right behind her. “If you are the one who caused this, why?”

“This is none of your business, meddler!” Zoicite answered. She looked at the Green Lantern. The green mask her wore blurred his features but he was about the right height and mass, and he even had the same kind of hair-. “Zoi!”

The force field from Green Lantern's ring blocked light from Zoicite's crystal. “I am Green Lantern, and protecting people from evil IS my business!” He shot his fist forward and Zoicite found herself trapped inside a bubble of green shimmering light.

Green Lantern looked down at the bleachers and saw most of the people seemed to be coming out of their hallucinations. Carefully, he removed the mini-barriers and straitjackets, and then dissolved the dome around the stage.

Zoicite pounded against the bubble that ensnared her. She tried shooting her cherry blossoms but they only bounced off of the bubble walls-and nearly cut her to ribbons. She tried using her crystal, but that did nothing. The bubble seemed totally indestructible.

She threw back her head in rage when all of the sudden her prison dissolved. “I'm free!” she exclaimed. The Green Lantern turned to face her, and not wanting to face his power again, she opened a portal and quickly exited.

 

Scarecrow saw it all on the television. That woman, who'd come to Arkham and signed his release papers and gave him the chance to pull this off, had just abandoned him like this!

“Crane.” Scarecrow looked and saw Zoicite in his chamber. “Come with me. We may have been stopped for the moment, but you can still be of value to us.” She took his hand and they disappeared.

 

Seeing the woman was gone, Green Lantern floated to the ground. Slowly, everyone in the audience and on the stage came up to the man who had just saved them.

One of the dignitaries, a middle-aged man with glasses and gray hair came straight up to the Emerald Knight. He extended his right hand. “Green Lantern, the entire city of Gotham owes you a dept of gratitude. As Mayor, I Hamilton Hill personally wish to say Thank You.”

Green Lantern took Hill's hand. It was manicured and uncallused but very strong. “I just happened to be in the neighbor hood, Mr. Mayor.” He looked down at his ring; it was running low on power. “I hate to leave so abruptly, but I have to be elsewhere.” He took off into the air and out of sight.

Eddie Johnson looked around. “Hey, any of you guys seen Hal anywhere?” The other F-16 pilots shook their heads, since coming out of their gas induced hallucinations they only saw Jordan's plane with the ejector seat gone.

“Excuse me.” The F-16 pilots looked and saw Hal Jordan in his flight suit come up behind the bleachers. “When you guys all started screaming I ejected and then kind of got knocked out by the blow of the G-force. I just came to a couple seconds ago. Did I miss anything?”

 

“Are you sure?” Malachite asked.

“Yes, I'm positive.” Zoicite replied. She used the black crystal to show the two images-the first being one of the rainbow crystal carriers, the second of Green Lantern. “They have to be the same person. Even the hair is turning gray in the right places.”

“Yes.” Malachite rubbed his chin. “But if he has that ring to protect him and others, how can we extract the crystal he carries?”

He closed his eyes as if deep in thought. Suddenly he opened them and looked at Zoicite. “You say the bubble dissolved when you backed you head against it?”

Zoicite nodded. “Yes, that's what happened. Why?”

“It may have to do with the color of your hair-that his ring's power can't affect anything yellow.”

Zoicite held a lock of her hair. “You mean-we might have a way after all?” Malachite smiled and kissed Malachite on the cheek. “Oh Malachite, you're wonderful!”

A white lily appeared in Malachite's hand, and he handed it to Zoicite. “Not as wonderful as the sight of your face, my beloved.”

 

“Whew!” Lita wiped the sweat from her forehead. She was at the Batcave and had just gone through another grueling practice session with Batman and Robin. “I've never pushed myself that hard before-or got beaten so thoroughly.” She'd sparred with both of them and they'd each been able to trounce her. Batman had blocked every one of her moves and managed to pin her to the floor in less than five seconds. Robin took longer, but only because he seemed to be playing with her. Unlike Batman he dodged and jumped over her punches and kicks in a style that was much more showy than Batman's but undeniably effective.

Robin handed her a towel to wipe herself. “You think that's hard, wait till he makes you try to get out of a straitjacket in a water tank full of piranhas.”

“He would actually do that?” Lita exclaimed in surprise.

“Of course not.” Batman was at the Batcomputer and typing away at the keyboard. “Piranhas cost too much to feed and maintain.” His voice was so grim that Lita wondered if he was really joking. “Robin, Lita, come here.”

Lita walked up with Robin; she'd long gotten over the shock of Batman knowing she was Sailor Jupiter. She also knew Robin hadn't told him, he'd seemed almost as shocked as she was when Batman told them he knew. That made her more likely to believe the Dark Knight when he said he still didn't whom the other Senshii were.

She looked up at the computer screen. “Arkham Asylum releases Scarecrow?”

Batman nodded. “Two weeks ago this woman named Dr. Zoë Sights came into Arkham. She claimed to represent a government chemistry project that wanted Dr. Jonathon Crane as an adviser-he's a deranged lunatic but also a chemistry genius. She presented papers that seemed authentic that promised he'd be under tight surveillance.”

“I guess we can all guess what that project was.” Robin said. “That had to have been his fear gas that caused the people to have those hallucinations. And `Dr. Zoë Sights' has got to be Zoicite.”

“Precisely.” Batman said. “Eyewitness reports say that Zoicite was flashing her black crystal onto the audience in the stands.”

“Then one of those people the bleachers must have carried a Rainbow Crystal!” Lita said. She didn't remember exactly what happened-the Scarecrow's gas had given her a nightmare of Renee being killed in the line of duty-but that was the way it looked anyhow.

“There's more,” Batman said. “Zoicite flashed her crystal not only in the bleachers but at the center stage as well, so more than one carrier may have been present. And she also flashed it at the Green Lantern, which must mean-.”

 

“-the Green Lantern is a Rainbow Crystal carrier!” Luna said to the girls at the Cherry Hill Shrine. It was late in the day; already the sun was beginning to go down.

“Are you sure Luna?” Amy said.

“It has to be,” replied the black cat. “Serena said that Zoicite flashed that black crystal of hers at him. The only reason she would have done that was if she thought he was a carrier!”

“If that's so, it's a good thing that force field from his ring protects him,” added Raye.

“That may be so, but what if they find some way of penetrating it?” Luna looked at all the girls. “After all, Superman is vulnerable to kryptonite and to magic. How do we know that Green Lantern doesn't have any similar weaknesses?”

“Actually he does.” Amy, Serena and Raye saw Robin and Lita emerge from the trees. Robin was dressed in his usual disguise of ordinary clothes and sunglasses over his mask.

“How did you too get here?” Serena asked.

“That's a secret I can't tell,” Lita said with a smirk. Actually Robin had just removed the blindfold he'd put on her before they climbed into a Bat-boat and shot out into Gotham harbor to the meeting.

“That's not important.” Luna looked at Robin. “You said he had a weakness. What is it?”

“His ring won't affect anything yellow.”

 

Hal Jordan walked back to the motel where he and the other civilian pilots were holed up. Due to panic caused by that mysterious floating woman, the rest of the air show was postponed until tomorrow, and he had to call Carol to extend his vacation time.

He'd just reached the door of his room when a voice behind him said, “Planning to go to bed, Mr. Jordan?”

Hal turned and saw the Batman standing right behind him. “What do you want with me?” he asked.

“I know who you are,” Batman said, “Green Lantern.”

Hal Jordan wasn't surprised. He'd never met the Dark Knight before but his friend Oliver Queen had, and Queen had told him Batman had ways of knowing things that made him seem almost omnipotent. “What do you want with me?” he asked again.

“I'm here to warn you about that woman you fought at the air show,” Batman replied. “Her name is Zoicite. And she wants something from YOU.”

“What could that be?” Hal scratched the back of his head.

“You'll find out soon enough, little man,” Batman and Hal looked up and saw Zoicite floating above the motel parking lot. She looked at Batman. “Well, you turn up again-just like that flying pest you model yourself after. Zoi!”

She fired a blast of cherry blossoms at Batman, who prepared to dodge, but a green force field stopped the blast. “You already seem to know who I am,” Hal Jordan said, and suddenly his clothes shifted to his Green Lantern uniform.

Zoicite smiled. “That little toy won't help you this time.” She brought out her black crystal-and a yellow lens that floated right in front of it.

Green Lantern barely managed to dodge the beam that had shot out at him. That lens had made the beam yellow!

He lept out into the sky and faced Zoicite, who only smirked again. “So, you want to make this a game, do you?” She flashed her beam at Green Lantern again.”

 

“The Crescent Moon Wand's detection system-it's blinking! It must mean that Green Lantern's in that motel!” Sailor Moon said as she, Robin, and the others ran towards the motel. They'd gone from the shrine to docking bay where Robin had kept the Bat-Boat tied. They'd raced from there to the nearest dock by the airport and raced to the motel.

“Then Robin was right. Green Lantern really is one of the pilots from the air show!” Sailor Jupiter slapped Robin on the back.

Robin shrugged. He already knew who the Green Lantern was: Bruce had made him study the Bat-Computer's files on superheroes. “It could be one of the others. But then again-,” they'd just gotten to the motel parking lot where Green Lantern and Zoicite were fighting-and Zoicite's beam just caught Green Lantern square in the chest.

“We-we're too late.” Sailor Mercury gasped.

“Ha ha ha.” Zoicite laughed as the green crystal emerged from Green Lantern. “This crystal's mine!”

“Not so fast!” All of them looked up and saw Tuxedo Mask standing on the rooftop. “That crystal belongs to me, Zoicite!”

“Oh really?” Now the female General threw back her head and laughed. “To get it you first have to get through-,” light swirled around the Emerald Knight in a sphere, and then faded, “the Jade Oni!”

In place of the Green Lantern was a nine-foot tall man with a greenish complexion and dark green hair and beard. Short yellow horns grew out of his head and in his right hand was a four-foot long iron club.

“He he he,” laughter rumbled deep from the youma's chest. “Come and try to get me, little man.”

“Very well.” Tuxedo Mask threw three roses at the Jade Oni-that were suddenly deflected by a large green force field.

Robin looked the Jade Oni's right hand. “He's still got Green Lantern's ring!”

Tuxedo Mask barely had time to leap off the roof before the Jade Oni swept his club in his direction. Suddenly the Oni blasted the tuxedoed man with his ring, and trapped him in green force-field bubble. Laughing, the Jade Oni tossed the bubble with Tuxedo Mask inside and swatted it with his club like a baseball.

“Tuxedo Mask!” Sailor Moon cried.

“Sailor Moon!” Robin said. “His ring still wouldn't affect anything yellow. Use you're tiara to capture him!”

Sailor Moon pulled the tiara from her head. “Moon Tiara Cap-!” Before she could throw the tiara, Jade Oni sent a ring blast her way, knocking it out of her hand-and trapping her in a small force field dome.

Zoicite laid herself back as she watched fight. This was all very amusing, and the addition of Green Lantern's ring made the Jade Oni powerful enough to fill the shoes of Manbulldog and Tengu.

All of a sudden something hit her left hand, making her lose the crystal. Zoicite looked down, only to have a bright light flash into her face, blinding her.

“JUPITER THUNDER CRASH!” Lightning struck uselessly on the Jade Oni's force field.

“MAR FIRE IGNITE!” Sailor Mars's fire was no more effective.

“Robin! Sailor Mars! Sailor Jupiter! Sailor Mercury!” The four looked and saw Batman emerge from the shadows of the motel. “Use your bubbles around that thing, Sailor Mercury. At least it won't be able to see us!”

Sailor Mercury faced the Youma. “MERCURY BUBBLE BLAST!” Bubbles formed and burst around Jade Oni, dissolving into mist.

“Now use your fire and thunder, Mars and Mercury. It won't stop him, but it will use up the energy in his ring! Robin, go to Sailor Moon and rub your cape against the dome.”

All three did as the Batman said. Unable to see where the assaults on him were coming from, Jade Oni could only turn up the power to his force field-and drain his ring of energy.

As Robin got up to Sailor Moon, he saw she was gasping for breath. Immediately he rubbed his yellow cape against the force-field dome, which dissolved right before his eyes.

“Thank you!” Sailor Moon gasped as she leaned on her brother.

“Here, sis.” Robin handed Sailor Moon her tiara. “Now use it on that thing!”

“MOON TIARA CAPTURE!” This time the tiara flew from Sailor Moon's hand and stretched until it completely encircled Jade Oni, catching it an unbreakable bond. Sail Moon picked up the Crescent Moon Wand. “MOON HEALING ACTIVATION!”

The Jade Oni faded, and Green Lantern's ring, too drained of energy, left only an unconscious Hal Jordan lying on the parking lot ground.

 

Zoicite wiped her eyes and saw that Jade Oni had been restored to normal. Grinding her teeth, she also saw that the green crystal was nowhere to be found. Queen Beryl was not going to be happy about this, she thought as cherry blossoms swirled around her and she disappeared.

 

The force field bubble around Tuxedo Mask had dissolved and he managed to make it back just in time to see the Jade Oni turned back into a human. He looked around and saw the Rainbow Crystal was nowhere to be found. Zoicite must have it, he thought glumly.

 

The turntable in the Batcave turned the Batmobile back to facing the exit. Batman got out of the driver seat, took off his cowl, and walked over to the Bat-computer.

He removed the green Rainbow Crystal from his utility belt. He had hit Zoicite's hand with a batarang and then blinded her with a flash grenade when she wasn't looking. Now the crystal that had been inside the Green Lantern was his.

He had been looking at it for several minutes when Alfred came up too him. “Evidence from a jewelry store robbery, Master Bruce?”

“No Alfred. It's a crystal like the ones that Zoicite woman took out of Bullock and you.” Bruce frowned. “Robin told me they're called Rainbow Crystals and that there are seven of them-inside of people that then turn into monsters when they are taken out.” Bruce couldn't explain why, but as he looked at the crystal he had this strange feeling-as if he was connected to it in some unexplainable way.

 

In the bleacher stands at Gotham Air Force Base, the spectators were all laughing at another skit by Moonbunny, Dottie Sparks, and La Donna-this one about a cargo plane with Dottie and La Donna as pilot and copilot, and Moonbunny as luckless stowaway.

“I can't believe Serena.” Raye was not in a good mood. “We lose another rainbow crystal and three other carriers slip through our hands; and all that ditz who's supposed to be our leader wants to do is clown around! And she's rubbing off on Lita.”

“Don't be such a spoilsport Raye,” Amy said. “We did lose the crystal but another of the Seven Shadows is vanquished, the Green Lantern is his normal self again, and Zoicite's not around. Besides, Serena and Lita did sign on to perform for this air show and they can't back out.” Just then, the giant T. V. screen showed Moonbunny falling onto her butt and crying into the other two clowns' faces. Everyone laughed at that one, even Raye.

“By the way Raye, I don't mean to be rude, but just what did you hallucinate when you breathed in the Scarecrow's gas?” Amy asked. “I dreamt I was accused of cheating on an important exam and my entire grade record was ruined.”

“It was about my dad,” Raye said, and Amy didn't ask any further.

End of Chapter 12

Just so everyone who reads this knows, I will NOT have Barbara Gordon become Batgirl in this fic. In some later fic I might, but this one.

You likely know who the Rainbow Crystal carriers in the bleachers were, but which was the one on the stage with Bruce? Mayor Hill or Lucius Fox?

Right now Jonathon Crane is working in the Dark Kingdom's labs. What kind of horrific creations do you think he'll come up with?

And in the next chapter Barbara gets into danger and Tuxedo Mask rescues her. Sailor Moon sees this, and how do you think she'll react?

And finally, this would likely have to be for a later fic, but how do you readers like the idea of Amara/Sailor Uranus as Jean Paul Valley's/Azareal's sister?