The rain poured down from the sky. A figure flew by, merely a shadow amongst others. A shadow that others feared. A shadow they called "Batman".
Bruce landed on the rooftop, softly. Robin proceeded to do the same. They were above the old toy factory, the one that had been shut down years ago. Joker was here. They'd been tracking him for weeks. Since he was broken out of Arkham by Harley, he'd been doing his usual, terrorizing Gotham with explosives and bloody messes. Finding him had been difficult, until Bruce had managed to get a tracker on Harley. Jason smirked. It had been his idea. Now they were here, about to nab Gotham's worst, all because Jason had decided to use his head. Not that Bruce gave him much credit anyway. why couldn't he at least give a little recognition?That wasn't too much to ask, was it? Just to be - "Jason!" Jason snapped back to attention as Bruce glared at him. "Don't doze off, this important. The Joker is relentless, and minute he could be laughing at you, the next, beating you with a crowbar. Don't get caught off guard"
Jason opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it. But did Bruce really think he was off guard right now? He knows how dangerous the Joker is, he didn't need a reminder! Whatever. Maybe after tonight Bruce would be proud of him. He focused back on the mission. They had already deduced that Joker was on the Third floor, now getting there undetected would be the hard part. Bruce pried open the hatch on the roof, and began to descend. There were only 4 floors in the building, so the roof had been the quickest way. Batman saw the stairs, and began to seemingly float down them, not making a sound. Sometimes he wondered how Bruce managed to do that. Then again, he could too. As Jason crept, he could hear a noise, faintly, off in the distance. It sounded like - laughter? as they crept around the corner, Jason could tell now, this was the ominous laughter of none other than the Joker himself, Harley giggling along.
Jason and Bruce ducked behind some crates. They now had a clear view of the Joker, who was sitting in a comfy chair and laughing his ass off about something. Jason scowled. Whatever it was, he sure wished the clown would shut up soon. Some found the laugh scary. Jason just found it annoying. Suddenly, the laughter ceased. The Joker grinned." Oh Harley baby, I believe our guests have arrived. Won 't you be a good girl and get them a welcoming present?" Harley giggled." Sure thing Mistah J! Where are they?" Joker snickered and said " Oh they're being shy. Don't worry, they're right over there." Joker pointed calmly- in their direction. Harley giggled that nauseating giggle again, and began to trot over to them, bazooka in hand.
Bruce leapt out from behind the crate, and all hell broke loose. Harley fired, but missed due to a neat mid- air turn by Bruce. He threw a swift punch to her temple , and she slumped down onto the floor. Bruce began to advance towards Joker. The clown merely grinned, and held up something in his hand- a detonator. " Oh Batsy, you old spoil-sport did i know you'd stop by for a visit? I'm guessing you're not here for a friendly cup of tea, eh?" A fit of maniacal laughter followed. Jason snarled. This clown was really starting to get on his nerves. Joker noticed the dirty look. "You keep making that face, bird boy , and i'll blow it off!" He turned back to Bruce. " As for you, if you're not here for tea I guess you just got bored and came to see me for a bit of fun! Well you're in luck! I have a new game for us! In this one, yo have to make a choice. In my hand, I hold a detonator. The big red button here sets off the bombs early. This little switch here decides which bombs it blows up in about ,oh I don't know, say about 4 minutes and 20 seconds? If the switch is up, it blows up bombs set all over Gotham. If the switch is down, it blows up this warehouse. Sound fun? Good, because if the device is broken, both sets of bombs go off immediately ."
"Disarm them, Joker" Batman growled. 'Now." Joker laughed him off "Oh but what would be the fun in that? C'mon, bats, make a choice..." That was it. Bruce was doing nothing, and they were not getting anywhere . Without thinking Jason hurled a Birdarang that embedded itself in the Joker's arm. Joker dropped the detonator, and Bruce made a dive for it. It landed safely on his palm, and he began to retreat in order to not give Joker a chance to grab it back. Joker glared at Jason. "Not nice, bird brain. But don't worry, we still have more games."
Joker pushed a button on the arm of his chair, and the room began to fill with a green mist- Joker venom. Jason tugged his gas mask on, Bruce attempting to do the same."Nuh-uh, Batsy,now that's just cheating." Joker squeezed the flower on his jacket, and out squirted a thin stream of acid- that landed right on Bruce's gas mask. As the acrid liquid burned through the mask , Joker leapt down and hit Bruce over the head with a metal bar. " Now calm down Batsy. This isn't your usual joker venom. It won't kill you it'll just... paralyze you." Bruce fell to the floor, breathing in the toxic fumes. Joker snatched the detonator out of a now paralyzed Bruce's hand." I'll take that back now, thank you very mu-" He was interrupted by a kick to the jaw, and another to the stomach. Jason snatched the metal rod from Joker and threw it. As Joker doubled over in pain, he laughed. "You've got moxie kid! Now normally , I feed moxie to the hyenas, but since they aren't around..." Joker grabbed a knife from his waist and chucked it at Jason. It embedded itself into his side, and Jason felt a warm trickle down his side before another punch met his stomach. He caught Joker's next punch, and twisted his wrist into an unnatural angle,and heard a small snap. He swept his leg under the Joker and watched the clown tumble to the tossed a Birdarang and watched it entangle itself around joker. He grabbed the detonator from Joker's hand. "I'll take that back now, thank you very much."
He looked at the detonator. It read 1 minute and 43 seconds, and the switch was up , this was an easy decision. He flipped the switch down. He grabbed Bruce, and deployed his grappling gun out the window. Wow, Bruce was heavy. He glanced back at Joker. Should he save him?He slowly turned around. No. He wouldn't save Joker. Besides, it was not the same as killing him, right? He swung from the window.
He didn't know how what happened next happened. He had stopped Joker, saved Bruce, and it all, in an instant, went wrong. It seemed to happen instant by instant, in slowed time. One minute he was swinging to safety. The next, he was falling. He looked up, and saw Joker, sneering, holding a knife in his hand.
Joker. Yes, it had been Joker who'd thrown the knife. Joker who made them fall, right next to the building. Joker, who laughed as the bombs went off.