//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: Clay // Story: Young Amazons // by Wanderer D //------------------------------// Young Amazons By Ackbarfan5556 Executive Produced By Wanderer D Chapter 15: Clay   “I honestly can’t believe that he trusts you.” Sunset heard Detective Yin’s voice crackled over the communicator that Batman had given her after the Catwoman/Ragdoll encounter at the Gotham Clock Tower.   For Sunset, even after receiving the communicator and earning the Dark Knight’s approval, most of October felt like the same old routine that Sunset was used to. She goes out on a patrol, deals with some low-level criminals then head back home; all without interacting at all with Batman.   “Well, it’s more of his approval rather than his trust. If he truly trusted me, I’m pretty sure I would already know his identity.” Sunset said as she was looking over a spellbook. Most of her free time had been deep into studying magic as she wanted to make sure that the incident involving her mask would never happen again,as well as a range of other spells like some healing ones after some of the bruises she would inadvertently end up getting.   “You know, he’s probably listening on us right now.” Yin pointed out.   “I’m aware. But I’ll admit; it is nice to hear a friendlier voice on this thing. By the way, Detective, I’m not putting you in danger right now by talking to you, am I?”   “No,” Yin told her. “I’m currently spending Halloween off from work for a few days, so as of right now, I’m in my apartment with little worries of Chief Rojas or someone walking in and seeing me have this.”   “That’s good to hear. I would’ve contacted you sooner but I didn’t know if you were going to be able to talk without being discovered.”   “I appreciate your concern, but I think the bigger concern is more about what you do.”   Sunset gave a small chuckle. “Oh, are you talking about me going around being a vigilante just like the Bat?”   “Well, yes,” Yin paused. “I mean, from reports and everything else I have, I’m guessing that you’re at least high schooler and yet, you’re out there risking yourself.”   “First of all, Detective, you are right about my age, but I might not be a high schooler; I mean I could be homeschooled or something.”   “Look, that’s not the point I’m trying to make. I’ve come to understand that Batman might be the only one who can deal with all these crazed criminal that has been tormenting Gotham lately.”   “And?”   Sunset heard the older woman sigh over the communicator. “Listen, I’m just concerned that you want to do this stuff too.”   Sunset nodded, even if Yin couldn’t see her. “You’re not the first one to express your concerns to me, but-” Sunset paused for a moment as she tried to think of what to say next. “- it’s something that I feel that I need to do. I have the abilities to do it, and I feel that I would be wasting them not doing what I’m doing.”   Sunset heard nothing from Yin’s end until a moment later when she heard the Gotham detective started to chuckle. “Is something funny, Detective?”   “You certainly have quite the heart if you want to do something like this. I’ve been thinking about some of the perps we’ve brought in. Most are terrified of the Bat, but you?”   “I’m still not being taken seriously, am I?”   “No, far from it, but I hear more things about you from people you help. The way I see it, if the Batman brings fear to the criminals of Gotham, then Alicorn brings hope to the citizens.”   “You’re giving people hope. You’re giving them the assurance that they don’t need to be afraid to simply walk out of their homes and do anything.” The words Zatanna gave Sunset on the first night she went crime-fighting in Gotham echoed in her head.   A smile crept along Sunset’s face as she now truly understood what her mentor had meant that night.   “You don’t know how good that makes me feel, Detective. It makes me feel like what I’m doing is making an impact and all worthwhile.” Sunset checked her clock and realized how late it suddenly was; being buried in those spellbooks made her lose track of time.   “Listen, Detective Yin, it’s getting late and I need some rest. It was nice to finally talk to you.”   “Yeah, I’ll admit, it was kind of nice to talk to a more friendly voice on this thing. Take care of yourself, Alicorn.”   “You too, Detective.” Sunset turned off the communicator and put it down. She stretched her arms as she got ready for bed and school in the morning.   She walked back to the living room as she heard that the television was left on. As she turned the hallway corner, she saw that the TV was on the news and there was another story involving Bruce Wayne.   Sunset leaned down and got ready to turn it off but as she got close to the screen, she stopped. Her eyes were locked to the screen and Bruce’s face while her mind began turning as if she was trying to solve a puzzle.   A moment later, her eyes widened and she turned off the TV to head back to her bedroom. She quickly pulled out the journal she was writing and add something to the entry she wrote earlier in the night.   ‘PS Princess, I think I just discovered something a moment ago. It’s a mystery that has been somewhat bothering me, though I’ve been a bit more preoccupied with my whole training and schoolwork to think about it.’   ‘However, I think I may have just solved it, though I don’t have much in terms of proof. It’s involving the identity of Batman. Most probably wouldn’t figure this out since most people have little interaction with him and don’t get close to him, but I’m not like most people.’   ‘The car he drives, the gadgets he uses; it’s someone with a lot of money. And even though he has a cowl on, it’s clear that he’s young and learned much from many different people around the world. With all this, and quite possibly a perfect motive, there could be only one person.’   ‘I think that the Batman might be Bruce Wayne.’     “Boy, classes was certainly boring today,” Barbara said as she, Sunset and Pamela were walking out of the school once classes were over.   “Yeah, it’s Halloween and the school allows the students and faculty to dress up; lucky us we get the teachers that don’t get the mood.” Pamela chuckled.   “Certainly would’ve made things a bit more enjoyable,” Sunset agreed. “Maybe they did have costumes, though they might have been on the banned list.”   “Yeah, I saw some of those bans.” Barbara nodded. “They made sense though; pretty sure it would be in bad taste if somebody showed up as the Joker or something.” Both Sunset and Pamela nodded at that.   “Hey, did anyone see Principal Lewis’s Solomon Grundy costume? He looked intimidating.” Pamela said.   “Who’s Solomon Grundy?” Sunset asked.   “Solomon Grundy!” The girls nearly jumped before turning around and seeing Murphy walk out with his two friends, Harvey and Jason.   All three of them were dressed up for Halloween with Murphy in this sleeveless blue outfit with some sort of plastic flail whip on his hip, Harvey wearing a different blue outfit with a cape and a fake mustache and Jason was dressed like a cowboy with a large poncho wrapped around his torso.   “Grundy is supposedly a Gotham legend. He’s a swamp zombie that will rise out of Gotham Swamp on a lunar eclipse during Halloween night and cause havoc for the wealthy elite of the city.” Murphy explained.   “Well, I can see you boys certainly dressed up today.” Barbara crossed her arms.   “The school is having that Halloween party tonight so we were planning to attend,” Harvey, the dark-skinned, black-haired boy said.   “What about you girls? You planning on showing up tonight?” Jason, the light-skinned, brown-haired boy asked.   “Sorry, boys, I’m going to spend the night with my mom giving candy out to trick or treaters,” Pamela told them.   “I’m going to have to spend most of the night with my dad at this office since my mother’s got a late shift and they don’t want me to stay home alone,” Barbara explained.   “And I’ve got some school work to take care of so I’m out as well,” Sunset said.   “Alright then, take care of yourselves,” Jason turned around and the other two boys followed him.   “Oh, keep your eyes out; it is Grundy’s Night after all!” Murphy teased. The girls shook their heads as they rolled their eyes.   “I swear, Murphy is the biggest weirdo in this school.” Barbara chuckled which caused her two friends to follow suit.   “Well, I hope you girls enjoy your night, I’m gonna get into the books,” Sunset said as she got ready to split with the group.   “Okay, then, don’t overexert yourself there, okay Sunny?” Pamela said.   “I will. Bye.” Sunset turned around and walked back to her apartment. “Another Nightmare Night away from home.”   Sunset opened the door to her apartment, walked in before she headed straight towards her closet and got out her Alicorn outfit.   “Considering that it’s now Halloween, there’s probably a good chance for some crooks to try and get away with their crimes tonight,” Sunset said to herself before she chuckled. “I wonder if any of them are going to think I’m the real deal. If not, they’re going to be in for a surprise.”     Sunset’s belief that she was going to have a lot of work on the patrol tonight turned out to be quite a bust. Most she was encountering as she ran along the rooftops were disorderly conduct and teenagers playing some Halloween pranks, but nothing in terms of a crime that needed to be stopped.   She soon found herself sitting on a small bench in an isolated area of the city with a few houses in the area. It was one of the wealthy areas where many of the descendants of the town founders and several of Gotham’s elite resided.   “Hey, we have the same costume!” Sunset’s train of thought came back to reality as she turned and found herself looking at a smaller version of her, or rather; a little girl was trick-or-treating as Alicorn.   Sunset chuckled. “Yeah, we sure do. That looks good on you.”   “Thanks! My daddy helped me make it! Alicorn is the coolest superheroine ever!”   Sunset felt a wave of pride come across her as she heard that. It was lucky she had the mask on or the girl would’ve seen some joyful tears starting to build in her eyes.   “Molly! Molly!” A young man, possibly the girl’s father, ran up to the two of them. “Molly, remember, don’t stray away, okay?”   “Okay, Daddy! Look who I met, it’s Alicorn!”   The man laughed. “Yeah, it sure is her. Certainly looks good,” The father sat down next to Sunset while the little girl sat on the ground and looked through her candy pile.   “Yeah, I was going to a costume party with some friends but they bailed,” Sunset lied. “So now I’m just walking home.” Her voice was quieter so that only the man heard her; just to keep up the idea that the girl met the real Alicorn while her father met some random girl dressed as the superheroine.   “Well, I know my Molly is going to be talking about this for a long time, so thanks for really making her night, ma’am.”   Sunset shook his hand. “No problem, sir. Have a good night. You too, Alicorn.” She waved at the little girl before she stood up.   “Bye, Alicorn!” The girl called out as Sunset walked away.   However, after walking a few dozen yards away from the father and daughter; Sunset heard what sounded like a house violently collapsing in the distance. She ran towards the sound and saw on the wreckage of a large home on a hill.   Sunset ran as fast as she could up the hill to try and see if any survivors needed to be rescued. When she got to the wrecked front door, she saw there were two old ladies, who were twins, clutching each other in the ruins that surrounded them.   “What exactly happened here?” Sunset asked and got the women’s attention.   “Can’t you see we’re not giving candy right now!?” One of the sisters snapped at Sunset.   “I’m not trick-or-treating, ladies. I’m the real Alicorn and I’m trying to help you right now, so tell me, what exactly happened?”   “It was him! He came for us!” The other sister shouted, her eyes filled with horror at what had just happened.   “‘He’? I’m sorry, you two, but you’ll have to be more specific.”   “Solomon Grundy!” The first sister cried out. “Look how strong he is, he did this all with his bare hands!”   Sunset looked around the ruins of the home. “It does certainly look that way. I’m pretty sure the home was structurally sound,” Sunset then looked back at the old ladies again. “But, why did he do this?”   “It’s all part of his revenge! We’re Georgia and Virginia Bolton, great-granddaughters of Emmett Bolton, one of Gotham’s founding families who helped rebuild the city after the Great Fire in 1871.” Virginia explained.   “It’s exactly as how the legend goes: one night, Grundy would rise from the swamps on the darkest night to take and destroy the descendants of all that they had,” Georgia said.   “Look around now, our home, our assets, Grundy took everything from us. We’re just lucky he decided to spare our lives.”   Sunset put her hand to her chin as she went into thought. “So, Grundy is obsessed with revenge. And you’re sure you saw him?”   “Of course, we’re sure! If you don’t believe us, then go to the others! Grundy came after us so they’ll be next!” warned Virginia.   “Others? Who exactly are these others?”   “Winslow and Parish. Those two are the descendants of the men that helped Great-grandfather Emmett.”   Sunset nodded. “Okay, then. You two stay here and wait for the police to come. I’ll go after this infamous swamp zombie of yours.” Sunset turned around and ran back out of the ruins and down the hill.   As she reached the base of the hill, the Batmobile pulled up right in front of her before the top opened up and the Dark Knight jumped out.   Batman looked up at the ruins for a moment before looking back at Sunset. “Care to explain?”   “I can on the way,” said Sunset. “But we need to find a man named Winslow, a descendant of one of the city’s founders. Do you know where he lives?”   Batman nodded. “I do. Get in.”     The Batmobile pulled up to a large mansion not too far away from where the Bolton sisters lived. Sunset and Batman got out and started walking towards the front door where it was clear that it had been knocked in.   “So the women were convinced that a mythical swamp zombie destroyed their home,” Batman said.   “Well, I’m pretty certain it was up to code so right now, I’ll take their word for it,” Sunset told him. The two of them entered inside the building to find a trail of mucky footprints on the floor and the main foyer completely torn apart.   “If this is indeed Grundy, he works surprisingly fast for a zombie.” Sunset observed.   Batman walked forward before putting his finger up to his mouth as he motioned Sunset to follow him and stay quiet. The two heroes moved deeper into the mansion as they heard the sounds of furniture and walls being wrecked.   The two of them turned their heads around a corner and saw an older gentleman in the study backing away with a terrified look on his face.   They ran into the room only to find in the corner a truly grotesque figure. He stood almost well above eight feet with pale rotting skin, bleach white hair that was in long clumps and soulless pale yellow eyes. This was the infamous Solomon Grundy in the flesh.   “Winslow! Run!” Batman called out as Grundy turned his attention to the two heroes. The zombie stared right at them before he roared in anger.   “Grundy wants revenge! Grundy must destroy!” The trench-coat wearing monster shouted before tossing aside a table and flinging it into a wall.   Batman responded by aiming his grappling hook at Grundy and causing it to wrap around the giant to tie him up. However, Grundy simply tore his way out of the cable like it was made of string.   The zombie charged forward, his attention more towards Batman rather than Sunset, but the Dark Knight ducked out of the way and landed a few punches in Grundy’s back. Sunset came up close and did a leg sweep at Grundy’s leg to try and knock him over but the ghoul merely shrugged off her hit.   The two heroes backed up a few feet before Batman threw out some smoke bombs. The bombs detonated in Grundy’s face as a distraction and to cover Batman’s next move as he ran up and kicked Grundy in the face.   Batman continued the assault with a few more punches before Grundy grabbed Batman’s arm and had him at his mercy.   “Destroy!” Grundy yelled before he tossed Batman right into Sunset’s direction. She tried to duck down but the speed Batman was thrown at her caused him to collide into her and knocked them into one of the hallways, with Batman trying to somewhat soften the blow for Sunset as they landed.   Sunset got back up first as Batman was still disoriented. She ran towards Grundy, jumped over his arms as he tried to grab her and delivered a kick right to the side of Grundy’s head. When she connected though, pain shot through her entire leg as if she kicked a brick wall.   “Ahh!” Sunset cried out in pain as she fell on the floor and clutched her leg. “Ugh… I’m going to feel that in the morning.”   Sunset soon found herself getting picked up and thrown through the air before she ended up crashing right through the wall of the building and ending up outside. Thankfully, the protection spells on her clothes took most of the damage, but she still ended up getting hurt from some of it.   The former unicorn tried to get back up, but her body’s injuries were screaming at her to stay down for the time being. She could only turn her head and watch as the whole mansion began to crumble apart.   She then heard loud footsteps at the front door before she saw Grundy walking out and turning back to look into the foyer.   “Grundy wins,” the zombie said before he swung his arms and took out the support beams on the front porch and caused the entire mansion to finally implode and collapse.   For the next few minutes, there was no movement coming from the house as Sunset slowly began to get back up. She stumbled over the ruins as she tried to find any signs of life in the wreckage.   She heard the sound of a man groaning in pain before she came across Batman who was currently pinned under some rubble.   “Hang on, Batman,” she said as she started to move some wood and stone off of him. She noticed that his arms were pinned and that she could peak under his mask if she wanted to prove her theory that Bruce Wayne was Batman.   Curiosity began to get the better of her as she reached over and nearly grabbed his mask before she pulled her arm away.   “No,” she shook her head. “It just doesn’t feel right.” She then sighed and continued to free him from the debris.   “My home… everything I’ve owned, gone.” Sunset turned her head and saw that Winslow had somehow managed to escape from the ruin.   After taking off a few more planks of wood, Batman seemed to recover from his disorientation and got back up.   “Thanks,” he said to Sunset as they soon heard police sirens getting closer. “We should probably get out of here before the police think of pinning all this on us. Come on, I’ll drop you off somewhere away from here.”   “I’ve got my own way out of here,” Sunset told him. “Besides, I’d like to get some information about our certain zombie.”   “Alright then, but don’t take too long. I’m sure we’re not done with Grundy tonight.”   Sunset gave him a thumbs up before she opened up a portal to the Tower of Fate. “Got it,” she said before stepping through.   She took a few steps into the grand hall where all the books were in the Tower before looking around. The Tower felt empty like the many times before that Sunset had been here.   “Hello? Doctor Fate?” She called out as she started walking up some stairs at the center of the Tower. She soon heard the sound of something materializing and turned to see that Fate had appeared behind her.   “Ah, there you are. Listen, I’m sorry to bother you at such a late hour and be unannounced,” Sunset respectfully bowed. “But, I need some information, like right now.”   The man said nothing to her, like with every one of her visits to the Tower. Sunset rolled her left shoulder as it still felt somewhat stiff after landing on it when she was tossed through the wall. It was clear to her that Fate noticed this.   “Oh, yeah, about my bruises and scratches, it’s related to why I’m here. Please tell me that there’s a book that contains any information pertaining to an eight-foot-tall zombie.”   Fate continued to look at her. “Okay, you may be wearing that mask, but I’m a hundred percent sure you’re raising an eyebrow right now.”   “I know it sounds crazy, but it’s the truth, I’m sure of it. Batman and I ended up getting tossed around by Solomon Grundy, the infamous swamp zombie of Gotham City. That’s why I came here; I need whatever you have on this monster, including some information about how to stop him.”   Fate said nothing as he held his hand over Sunset and it began to glow. A warm tingling feeling went through her body before Sunset realized that Fate was performing a healing spell on her.   After the powerful magic-user was finished, Sunset rolled her shoulder once more and felt almost no more stiffness in it.   “Thank you, Doctor,” she bowed once more. “I would’ve tried to heal myself, but I doubt I would’ve done it as well as you did.”   Fate slowly nodded his head once before he held his hand out once again and a book ended up flying off the shelves and landed in his hand. He flipped through a few pages before he handed the book to her.   Sunset saw that he had found a book about Gotham’s legends and flipped the pages to the section involving Solomon Grundy.   “Wow! This… this is perfect! Thank you!” Sunset exclaimed before the Doctor floated to the center of the tower and teleported.   Sunset walked back down the stairs and sat in one of the chairs that were placed in the tower as she looked over the pages.   “Okay, Grundy, where is it you come from?” she said to herself.   “According to this, Gotham Swamp wasn’t originally a swamp. Before, it was a lake home to a predominant number of Eastern European laborers who helped rebuild Gotham City after much of it was destroyed by the Great Fire.” Sunset thought to herself.   “However, three businessmen, Bolton, Winslow, and Parish, conspired with each other and turned the lake into a dumping ground with the industrial waste that the rebuilding efforts had created, which turned the lake into the mostly uninhabitable swamp that the city knows today.”   “Several of the laborers turned out to be well versed in magic that they learned from their native countries. On All Hallows Eve, during a lunar eclipse, they performed a ceremony that created Solomon Grundy from the wastes of the swamp.”   “Because the laborers and their families lost everything to the greed of Bolton, Winslow, and Parish, Grundy would hunt them down and their families throughout the decades, attempting to leave them as destitute as the ones they wronged.”   Sunset closed the book and rubbed her temples. “Alright, well, I would say those men had it coming back then, but their descendants shouldn’t have to suffer the sins of their ancestors.”   The apprentice magician then growled. “But curse it all, this thing doesn’t say anything about how to defeat this walking corpse!”   She then sighed before she came to a realization. “Wait a second; Grundy still has one more target in terms of the Parish family; that means he’ll be going after them any minute now!”   Sunset quickly reapplied several of her wards and spells on her outfit as she got ready to leave the Tower.   “Thank you again, Doctor!” She called out but received no reply. She then opened the portal and headed back to Gotham.     When Sunset returned to Gotham, she made sure to try and find wherever the Parish’s were in the city. It didn’t take too long to figure out that Grundy’s target wouldn’t be their home but rather one of the oldest attractions in the city: The Gotham Wax Museum.   The Gotham Clock tower struck midnight as Sunset climbed onto the roof of a building that overlooked the wax museum.   “Night, Mr. Parish,” a man waved at the other man who was locking up the building. “Happy Halloween.”   “You too, Frank,” Parish said as he locked the door and started walking away.   “I see you made the connection too,” Sunset glanced behind her and saw Batman walking up to her.   “Yeah, I discovered that the Depression wasn’t too good for the Parishs so they didn’t keep as much of their wealth as the Boltons or the Winslows.”   “That means the only thing that Grundy could take away from them would be their wax museum, which happens to get quite a bit of money during Halloween. Hmm, if that’s the case, then Grundy might not be all he appears.”   Sunset gave the Bat a look. “You’re thinking there’s something deeper to this than a supernatural curse?”   “I’m running an analysis on some of the mud that Grundy left on me back in the Batcave. The results should prove whether or not Grundy is truly a supernatural monster, or something else,”   “Something else?” Sunset asked. Batman didn’t continue as the sound of Grundy’s moaning echoed across the alleyways. The two of them looked towards the source of the noise and saw Grundy slowly walking towards the direction of the wax museum.   Grundy began to walk through a curtain of steam that was rising out of a nearby pipe. Both heroes took the opportunity to jump down to the alley and hide before Grundy could walk through the steam cloud and see them.   Batman looked over to Sunset and silently nodded before they both moved out of cover and looked down the alley... only to find that Grundy had just vanished. The two of them looked back towards the other end of the alley, but still no sign of their target.   “For a swamp zombie, Grundy seems to move pretty fast,” Batman said before some trash cans rustled down the alley. The two of them quietly hurried over to the sound only to find a black cat walking by.   “Black cat, hope that’s not an omen for us,” Sunset bit her lip before they turned around and found themselves being yelled at by a guy in a demon mask. The heroes jumped back before the man held his hands up.   “Whoa, easy, easy,” he took off his mask and chuckled. “I’m just messing with you two. You know, I don’t think I saw you guys at old man Parish’s party. Nice costumes, by the way, Batman and Alicorn, right?”   “Yeah, my daughter and I were coming back from a different party,” Batman made up an excuse. “Though we’re looking out for a friend of ours, bit of a tall man, he was dressed like Solomon Grundy.”   “Well, I haven’t seen any swamp zombies lately, but if I do see him, I’ll be sure to tell him that The Batman and Alicorn are looking for him!” The man laughed.   “Come on, Dad,” Sunset pulled on Batman’s arm to keep up the charade. “Let’s try this way.”   “Have a good night, sir,” Batman said as he and Sunset turned and started walking down the alley.   “You too, buddy,” the man walked away from them.   “Go ahead,” Sunset saw Batman putting a hand up against his head which meant that the Batcave was probably contacting him. “It was in the mud itself.”   “What? What are you saying?” Sunset wondered.   “The results came back from the Batcave, looks like my suspicions were right. Grundy isn’t supernatural, but that doesn’t change the fact that his threat is all too real.”   As if on cue, the two crimefighters turned looked behind them and found Grundy standing right over them.   “Grundy will destroy!” The zombie roared at them. Grundy proceeded to knock Sunset aside before he grabbed Batman and threw him through a brick support beam and crashed right in front of the wax museum.   Sunset watched as Grundy charged forward towards Batman who was slow to get up, but fast enough to at least dodge the charge; causing Grundy to knock a hole into the side of the wax museum’s wall. However, Grundy grabbed him by his cape and dragged him into the zombie’s arms.   Sunset got up and ran towards the two of them as Grundy proceeded to wrap his arms around Batman and squeezing him like he was trying to snap him in two.   “Revenge!” Grundy shouted as he squeezed tighter.   “Halloween’s nearly over, Grundy. Time to lose the mask,” Batman said as Sunset stuck Grundy in the back with a small blast of magical energy. The zombie lost his grip and Batman escaped while pulling off Grundy’s face.   Sunset expected to see a skull or some horribly deformed flesh, but instead, she saw a different kind of deformed face. It was a darker grey color that looked like it was slightly melting and instead of a yellow eye, Grundy now had one bright green eye glowing.   “Trick or treat, Clayface,” Sunset could see that Batman was right about Grundy not being supernatural, but she still had no idea what was going on.   “You can’t blame me for having some Halloween fun, can you, Bats?” Clayface laughed. “By the way, when exactly did you start bringing your ‘daughter’ to work?”   Sunset realized that Clayface was also the man in the demon mask they encountered earlier. This man was a shapeshifter, similar to a Changeling.   “I’m surprised not to see you in that glass cage in Arkham,” Batman said as he took a few steps back.   “Took a few months, but I managed to finally make good my escape. They won’t know I’m gone till morning.”   “Terrorizing the descendants and destroying their homes, that was nothing more than a cover to you robbing them of their cash.”   “Leave them destitute just like the story told.” Clayface reverted his face to the Grundy look while his hand morphed into a giant mace. He wasn’t just a shapeshifter in terms of looks; he could also morph his body into anything he wanted.   Clayface jumped up and tried to slam the mace down on Batman and Sunset but both of them jumped out of the way, leaving behind a small crater that Clayface stood in.   “No one would think of going after Grundy just because he stole the money,” Sunset put together the rest of the mystery. “If they even believed the survivors that Grundy attacked them, they would still have to dredge Gotham Swamp.”   “And I’d be long gone with my loot while taking any face I wanted,” his face now turned into that of the man with the demon mask. “Alive, dead or nonexistent.”   “Knew we couldn’t have lost a five hundred pound, eight-foot-tall zombie that easily,” Batman muttered to himself.   “I may not have tricked you, Bats,” Clayface charged the duo once more and knocked them both out of the way as he ran into the large open hole in the side of the museum. “But I’m still gonna collect my treats!”   Batman walked over to Sunset and helped her up before they looked into the hole that Clayface had escaped into.   “What ‘exactly’ was that thing?” Sunset asked.   “Clayface, he’s a shapeshifter, able to mold himself like clay and take the form of anything or anyone.”   “Where exactly did he come from? How is he able to do all this?”   “It’s not important right now, Alicorn, what’s important is stopping him.” Sunset stomped her foot down and grabbed Batman’s arm before he could walk any further.   “No, I want to know exactly who we’re dealing with!” she shouted.   Batman stared at her for a moment before he sighed in defeat. “Okay, he’s actually Detective Ethan Bennett of the GCPD. He was Detective Yin’s old partner.” Sunset’s eyes widened as she heard that.   “One day about half a year ago, Joker managed to capture him and tortured him. He then used some sort of unstable chemical on him and caused him to mutate into Clayface. He tried going after Chief Rojas but Yin and I stopped him and sent him to Arkham.”   “Wait, why he is doing all this, why did he go after Chief Rojas instead of the Joker and be some sort of super cop?”   “I’m not sure, but something snapped in Ethan’s mind when he was tortured. Rojas chewed him out for letting me go; he and Yin were assigned to try and arrest me. After that, he came back as what you just saw and tried to attack Rojas.”   “Ethan’s mind… it seems like he’s suffered from some sort of split personality, except the split persona of Clayface has taken complete control. He’s been in Arkham since that day, and as that clay-being form, you just saw. Essentially, no one has seen Ethan since that day.”   Sunset looked back to the hole in the museum’s wall as she processed what had been told. “So, Ethan is a prisoner in his own mind?”   “As I said, looks that way,”   Thoughts crossed Sunset’s mind as tried to figure out what she could truly do to help Batman fight the shapeshifter. It suddenly hit her; while she was researching spells, she came across one that was helpful in clearing one’s mind. It was of great help to her when she just needed to calm down after a long day of school or a rough patrol over the last few weeks. So, could it be possible to calm someone else’s mind? Could she be able to help clear Clayface’s mind, and perhaps allow Ethan to come back and take control of himself if what Batman said was correct? There was one catch though. If she wanted to make sure that Clayface just simply take back over Ethan’s mind, then she was going to have to put a lot of magic into the spell. The problem was that the odds of it working were probably against her, and she might end up doing some serious damage on either Ethan or herself. After a few seconds of thinking it through, she made up her mind.   “I think I have an idea to permanently stop him.”   “How?” Batman asked.   “Well, it’s not something I’m too sure about,” she told him as they walked inside.   The two of them kept glancing around the building as they walked past multiple wax figures in different dioramas. Knights, vampires, werewolves, aliens, all sorts of different statures; and any one of them could be Clayface.   “Looking for a shapeshifter in a wax museum,” Batman shook his head.   “Like looking for a needle in a haystack, right?” Batman nodded at Sunset’s analogy. They walked towards a statue of Grundy but Batman shook his head.   “No, it would be too obvious,” Sunset glanced back and pushed Batman out of the way as soon as she saw an alien trying to slice at them with one of his claws. The claw crashed into the Grundy statue as the two heroes got back on their feet.   Clayface’s arm got caught on the Grundy statue and he threw it away, but it took too long which gave Batman enough time to throw a green vial at him. The vial exploded and engulfed Clayface’s leg in ice.   “My leg!” He cried out as Batman jumped up and tried to dive kick the shapeshifter but Clayface just knocked him away with his free arm. “Sorry, Bats, but I’m the one providing the chills tonight.”   Clayface proceeded to simply cut off his incapacitated leg and then stood back up as he let a new one reform. He then turned into a gray blob of clay and hopped around the museum away from Sunset and Batman.   “What exactly was that plan of yours again?” Batman looked to Sunset.   “I just need him to hold still for a few moments, that’s all,” Sunset ran in the direction Clayface did while Batman stayed behind.     Batman didn’t follow after Alicorn as she didn’t know exactly where Clayface was. However, Batman knew where Clayface was going thanks to the ice melting away and the remaining part of Clayface that was left behind began slithering back to its host.   Batman followed the blob up the stairs into Mr. Parish’s office, as he should’ve expected. He slowly opened the door and noticed nothing was amiss except for the large safe door that was slightly opened. He was sure that Parish would’ve kept that locked so it must have meant that Clayface was already inside.   He walked up to the safe door and opened it wider… only to find himself looking at another safe door. In an instant, he realized his mistake, but it was too late as his hand was soon engulfed by the door.   Clayface began to change back into his normal form and wrapped Batman in his fist before slamming him against the glass door that led to the massive wax vats that made the figures.   Clayface then took his other hand and engulfed Batman’s head in his slimy form. “The problem with your mask there, Bats, is the lack of air holes!”   Batman could feel himself running out of air but he was still able to reach his utility belt. He pulled out a Batarang and stabbed it into Clayface before activating an electrical surge that tore through the shapeshifter’s body.   The Dark Knight took a deep breath as Clayface backed away and allowed him to breathe again. Clayface growled and punched Batman right through the glass to the ground floor of the wax factory.   He looked up towards the offices feeling very disoriented and seeing Clayface looking down on him.   “Hey! “ Batman could hear Alicorn’s voice coming from up in the office. “Were you forgetting about me?”   Clayface chuckled as he looked over to her. “Not really, but I didn’t feel like bothering with you since you’re no challenge to me.”   “It’s not wise to underestimate me; I think you of all people should know that, Bennett.”   The look on Clayface turned from smugness to anger. “Ethan Bennett was a weak fool! I’m the one in charge here, not him!”   “So, you like to think? I’m not going to let you get away with what you’ve done tonight.” Sunset took a deep breath before Batman could see her moving into a fighting stance.   Clayface just burst out laughing. “You? You think you can stop me!? Oh, that’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard! Tell you what, I’ll be sporting and let you get a hit on me before I crush you.”   Sunset walked up to him as her hand started to glow before she slapped it against his face. “Big mistake,” she said as her hand got brighter.   “What? What is this, what are you do-” Clayface looked confused before his eyes widened completely. “No, stop, don- AHHHHHHH!!!” He gave out a bloodcurdling scream.   Batman watched as Sunset looked like she had a pained look on her face as if she was really straining with whatever she was doing. This went on for about a minute before there was a bright flash of light and both Sunset and Clayface vanished.   Batman fired off his grappling hook and got himself back up to the office level before he looked at the sight in front of him. It was nothing that he was expecting.   He saw Sunset lying on the floor with that pained look still on her face. Her mask leaked a stream of tears slowly running down her face.   Meanwhile, the more surprising sight was that the other figure on the floor wasn’t Clayface but rather the body of Ethan Bennett.   Batman went into this utility belt and pulled out his communicator. “Detective Yin, come in.”   “Huh, what?” he heard her say as it sounded like he woke her up. “I’m up, I’m up, what is it?”   “I need you to come to the Gotham Wax Museum immediately,” he told her.   “What for?”   “It’s Bennett… he’s here.”   There was a slight pause. “I’m on my way.”