Gotham City. A cold, damp, autumn evening. A special night. One that fills children with glee and those who know better with fear. All hollows eve, commonly referred to as Halloween.

The rain patters softly across the stone and brick of the old city. Buildings approaching two hundred years old stand in silent testament to the original builder's blood, sweat and labor.

Along one such buildings edge stone gargoyles stand silent vigil against the nights fearsome reputation. Silent and cold as stone.

That is, until one of them...moves.

With a cackle to chill the blood, and the very soul a yellow skinned, red eyed horror suddenly leaps from his perch atop the buildings cornice, bouncing from rooftop to rooftop, laughing in a way to send men indoors and cowering 'neath their covers. Twenty to thirty foot leaps carry him from rooftop to rooftop gleefully, as people run inside at his haunting shriek carried across the cities breath and scape.

They know not why they are so frightened to their very core, they just know that they are.

They ghastly creature lands on a rooftop and twists its head quizzically to one side, smiling a smile that would stop the blood flow in a brave mans heart, and then it speaks.

"From the shadows step, and speak to me of that which troubles you, oh man who would be a Bat."

Then with a ruffle of his long floor length cape, Batman glides from the shadows, an angry demeanor to his step, as he stands above the smaller monstrosity and stares down at it.

"What are you doing to my city, Etrigan? Why are you back here again?"

With feigned indignation, the Demon slapped his own chest with one hand and put the back of his other hand to his forehead saying, "You offend me oh Bat of man, for I come here merely to lend a hand. This city is mine as well as yours, fellow thing of the night, its eternal protection is both our plight."

"You? Protecting anything? You are a schemer and a troublemaker at best, Demon. You do nothing for anyone other then yourself. During the so called 'Cold Armageddon' war I was surprised you even lent aid to the heroes then, instead of conspiring with the invading forces to overthrow the planet."

The Demon shakes his head, the smile gone from his lips as he sits atop a stone cornice again, and motions Batman to join him. Reluctantly the Batman walks closer to the Demon and sits next to him, keeping both eyes on the creature.

"What do you want Etrigan?"

"At the time of the invasion did I tell you not I was not the creature who terrorized and tricked those around me for a time? In truth and without rhyme?"

"You did mention it, but I know the ways of liars and Demons well, whether they be hell born or earth born of normal women. I gave your explanation little thought."

"Then heed my tale, dark Knight of the city, for it is one that will send shivers down your brave spine."

"Go on, Etrigan."

"A short while ago, a few years in your mortal standard, I was attacked by a foe of mine known as Klarion the witch boy, this is that tale..."

"It was a night much like this, Hero of the night, and my mortal guise was walking this very block when he came upon a fight..."

Jason Blood walks silently through the rain swept night, he turns his head towards the sound of a scuffle in an alley where he sees two men attacking a third, beating him with a bottle, instantly he heads towards them, when he is jumped from behind. All four now attack him, seeking to rob him and perhaps murder him, who can truly say, save these evil men?

He disappears beneath their flailing fists. Then suddenly his voice is heard beneath the pounding fists, reciting a mantra that is almost a thousand years old. "Fall, fall form of man, rise the demon Etrigan!" and with an explosion of bodies where once a man stood now stands revealed the powerful form of the Demon!

"Hahahhaahahaha! Foolish whelps, you seek to ensnare the wrong prey this eve, now the tables have turned and hunters have become the prey, oh what for you has become a woeful day!"

He leaps about them slashing his clawed hand through their flesh, rending skin and bone enough to wound and scar, and leave a remembrance of, but not enough to kill. When two turn to flee, Etrigan rears his head back and expels fire from his mouth, bathing them both in a hellish glow, that burns their very essence, and not their flesh! All four men cower and shake fearfully in his presence, frozen now by their own fear. The Demon sneers at them, pressing his face mere inches from each of theirs, and then he speaks in that voice, that horrific voice.

"You will each remember this night, well and long oh thieving fools, from this day forth your lives unspool."

They suddenly wailed and cried like children as the Demon spit flame at the four once again, their every sin was played back for them in that flame, as their souls shriveled under the onslaught of their own evil.

Then, he was gone. Leaping up the fire escapes above him into the night, disappearing as if he was never there, the only telltale trace was his laughter floating on the wind back to the crying men.

Etrigan leapt and bounced form rooftop to rooftop when he heard a slow clapping sound. He turned towards it as he stopped and his red eyes went wide at the sight that greeted him.

"So Demon you have finally returned to me, in time to pay for your crimes against both myself and my beloved Teakle." The figure stood as it spoke, a gaunt child, black of hair and pale of skin. He would be called a Goth today. But back when he first stepped from hell to this plane of existence he was simply known as...

"Klarion, witchboy of the pits! Again you have returned to assault poor Etrigan? Have you no mind, kin to no man? Know this well, oh dark souled boy, back to the pits you will go when I am done, and like a broken toy."

"You get ahead of yourself, rhyming Demon, doesn't he Teakle?" The strange horrible child asks the black cat in his arms that purrs acknowledgement.

"What game do you play this night, oh child of fright?"

"No game Merlin's pawn. Merely your long overdue downfall and return to what you should have been, and always were."

With a move as quick as lightning the boy suddenly whips his hand out, flashing energies at the Demon, engulfing him in color. The beast convulses and then drops to the ground, unconscious.

"Now Teakle, let the fun begin." The boy talks to his cat once again, as they both walk over to the Demons prone form. "You have foiled me in the past Etrigan, but never again. From now on you carry a small reminder of myself with you, in this you will be true to your own nature."

As he talks the witchboy slits his own wrist with one of his long. Sharp nails and presses the bleeding wound to the insensate Demons mouth. He pulls away and the wound heals instantly as he pets his cat. A moment later, the Demon rises, but he is different, darker, angrier, Evil. He stares at the witchboy, then growls like a beast and leaps into the night.

"And you expect me to believe that story?" Batman asks angrily.

"Believe it or do not, tis entirely up to you. The truth of it is in front of your eyes of blue."

"Regardless, what does that story prove? That you were somehow possessed by this...Witchboy?"

"Yes. Possessed I was, for years by your count, through hell and back did I travel, a mere passenger aboard this fearsome mount. My mind was my own yet in thrall was it held, I was an unwilling witness for all I befell."

"So what happened? How did you break free?"

"My mind was fragmented in truth in three, myself, the mortal form, and the evil new shade were all within me. But after years of behavior most foul, I awoke one morning, and the Witchboy's shade was gone. Now I am myself, forever anon."

"Hhhmmm, if I were to believe you, it seems your own mystic energies fought off this infection from this 'Witchboy'. But why are you here tonight? Why the howling at the moon?"

"Why I thought it would be clear to a great detective such as you, I wanted you attention to involve you in this too."

"WHAT?" Batman asked, as he leaped backwards away from the Demon.

"Relax yourself man of Bat, I mean you no harm, be sure of that. I need your help in this endeavor, you see Witchboy has returned, worse then ever."

"Why do you need me, Etrigan? You're strong, fast, powerful. What do want from me?"

"I want you to tend to his familiar, though with you the rodent and she the cat, think not of yourself as dinner, oh Man of Bat."

"The cat? You want me to waste my time with a cat? Are you more insane then ever Demon?"

"Sane, insane it matters not, if we do not do this thing this city will be laid to rot."

"How?" The grim Knight furrows his brow and simply asks.

"The Witchboy has returned, fellow creature of the night, for this city he will create a mass plight. Mystic elixir he did prepare, to be ingested by every man woman and especially child, all unawares."

"He's going to poison everyone in the city with some mystic elixir? How?"

"What night is this o caped one? What does every man woman and child eat a little of for fun?"

"Candy. Somehow he mystically poisoned all the candy in Gotham. But how? The candy is not made here, none of it is. Like every city in the country it's shipped in."

"You heard but did not listen, creature of the night. Tis a mystic poison we must endeavor to fight. He need not be near the candy to poison, merely cast a spell and all will be chosen."

"So he's mystically poisoned the candy. What happens to those who eat it? Death?"

"The fate they share is worth then death, they become monsters till their last breath."

Batman sets his jaw stoically. "Where is he? How do we stop him? What is the time limit we have?"

"His spell will be cast at midnight to set, after that all who eat the candy will begin to fret. Their lives will change upon the hour, the crisis will peak, and the outlook will be much more dour."

"So at midnight this happens. We have less then an hour. Do you know where he is?"

"His location is known to one such as I, his evil is felt like a festering sore, merely look down below us, and inside that door."

"We're standing on the roof of the building he's in? Wasting time talking about it? You fool. There is no more time to waste. If you want to save lives, start acting like it." Batman roared as he threw himself over the roofs edge, a blast of his line gun affixing a line to the rooftop's edge above him as he slid silently down the line to the street below.

As he landed, he turned to find the Demon already there. Batman shook his head, and motioned to stand clear as he was about to kick the door in, but Etrigan beat him to it, smashing it in with his right fist.

Ba-KOOM!

Batman looks at the Demon, annoyed for a moment but then begins to search the darkened building. Then he hears the sound "Meow"

He looks towards the sound and a small black cat crosses his path, looking at him then scurrying away.

Etrigan is less stealthy, he leaps from steel rack to steel rack in the old warehouse, landing loudly, all the while laughing that horrific laugh of his. He wants Witchboy to know he's coming.

"Come out o denizen of hell, the time is nigh for you to pay your bill. My existence you did take for several years away, now it is the pipers turn to exact his pay."

"Looking for me Demon?" a boyish voice questions. Etrigan turns towards the sound and leaps instantly, avoiding a blast of eldritch energy that sears the air where he stood mere seconds earlier. "Oh you are quick, quick Demon. I guess I won't be catching you napping this time eh?"

"No foul Klarion, your ruse worked but one time, now I say, vengeance SHALL be mine!"

The Demon unleashes hellish flame from his mouth, as the Witchboy scampers away, to be seared to his soul by the powerful blast.

"Ugghh, still as fast as ever I see Etrigan, but remember there are two of us against you this night, not one. Teakle, come play with the nice Demon, won't you?"

The Demon merely smiled that awful smile of his baring his sharpened row of fangs, then he leaps towards the Witchboy his claws scratching air as he growls "Your pet is unavailable, oh deceiver most foul, I believe his time is being take by one with a cape and a cowl."

"What? You brought the Batman here?" the Witchboy shouted as he rolled away from the Demons swipe.

"Indeed I did, Child of the Witch, now sometimes you must agree, life can become such a sonuva- "

BRAM!

Batman suddenly comes crashing through the boxes on the warehouse floor, thrown there by something powerful. Rolling to his feet, he throws several ampoules from his belt at the shadowed creature that leaps towards him, the ampoules explode, releasing a cloying fog upon release to the atmosphere and then in an instant of light it appears, and bares its fangs at Etrigan. A Black Panther. The largest one Batman has ever seen. Fully as large as the largest Tiger known to man.

The Demon smiles at this. "Hello Teakle, I see you met my friend. He will keep you busy, while to your master I must tend."

"Batman scowls beneath his mask as he hurls a batarang at the creature., snapping it across the nose sharply, it turns towards him and leaps. Everything goes into slow motion then, as Batman stands his ground, until the very last possible instant, then throws himself aside, letting the fanged and clawing monster sail past him, when surprisingly, it suddenly continues to fall when it should have impacted the floor. Its claws grasp for purchase but none is there as it drops down a huge hole in the floor that was hidden behind Batman, to the floor some fourteen feet below. The cat lands on its feet, and begins to leap again, when suddenly Batman pulls out another gun-like device from beneath his cape, and fires it at the hole, creating a fine wire-like mesh net over the opening that attaches itself powerfully into the concrete floor with many harpoon-like anchors.

"Rrraarrrrrrr!" The cat cries as it leaps up again and again, to bounce off the taut net, like a trampoline in reverse.

"Down kitty." Batman scolds, "No bat for you tonight."

Meanwhile the Demon and Witchboy continue to spar, The Witch child firing blast after magical blast at the Demon, who deftly evades them all, then he counters with powerful bursts of flame and swipes at the fleeing demon-child with his own claws.

"Your familiar is caged, your power broken. Tis time to end this madness before your dire words are spoken."

"S-spoken? Yes my spell!" Klarion leaps away, towards the candle lit spot nearby in the warehouse he had laid out earlier, pentagrams and candles lie about in a precise order as he begins to quickly, and nervously speak his spell. "Stay back Demon, you can't cross those lines, you know that. You'll burst into flame and die instantly! I put these runes here just for you, incase you would find me. Now it's lucky that I did. You can't stop me, you can't touch me. You walk into my mystic sanctuary and you die. I have won creature. When I finish this spell , all of Gotham will be turned into mindless, shambling monstrosities."

"Not if I can help it, monster."

The voice came from above the Witchboy and instantly he realized what his mistake was, as a dark enshrouded figure drops down on top of him, cape spread wide, a powerful left fist connects with the Witchboy's jaw, tossing him out of the circle, and lands him at Etrigan's feet.

"Now the time for retribution is at hand, oh Klarion the Witchboy. There is a special place reserved for those in hell, who seek great evil and then are felled. Everlasting pain is your eternal gift, from one who gladly does away with you, here, let me give you a lift!"

He grabs the beaten Witchboy by the back of the shirt, lifts him up then gestures with his right hand, and a swirling pattern of flames opens in thin air. Batman stands his ground and stares stoically, as The Demon tosses the kicking and screaming Witchboy into the swirling, roaring miasma, where he disappears. The vortex closes with a loud, hellish snap of flame.

Batman walks up to the Demon and speaks, angrily. "Why didn't you tell me the cat could do that?"

"Protector of Gotham, surely you jest, you thought I sent you after a normal house cat, at my behest? Teakle is a changeling most foul, its abilities make it one to avoid when it is on the prowl."

"You had better send it to whatever stinking pit you sent its master." Batman grumbles as they both walk towards the hole in the floor that Teakle had become trapped in.

"It's empty." Batman angrily blurts out, staring at a torn hole in his titanium netting, small enough for a house cat to escape from.

"Indeed the beast escaped the trap. It is probably somewhere taking a catnap."

"And I suppose you have no way to trace it? No clue to where it may be?"

The Demon shrugged his shoulders and said "None."

They both turned towards the building's entrance and began to walk towards it, before Etrigan continued.

"A question I ask of you Oh Man of Bat, how did you know the cat would leap past you into that?" He points at the hole in the ground behind them as they continue to walk.

"We both have our secrets its seems, Etrigan. You with the cats morphing abilities, me with the mysterious hole in the floor. Leave it at that."

He walks out into the street and fires a swinging line from his gun, and disappears into the night. The Demon stares at him as he recedes into the distance and then begins to climb the building's facade, to scamper up to the rooftop. Where he howls one last time as the clock strikes midnight, and leaps away past the old worn out sign on the abandoned buildings roof, that still can be read 'A Waynetech warehouse, a division of Waynetech.'