it was a dark, rainy day in Gotham city. Bruce had been sitting in front of his fireplace all day. "Would you like some tea sir?", Alfred's voice sounded through the room. "What do you think is going on Alfred?", Bruce asked, ignoring the earlier question. "What do you mean master Wayne?" "It has been very quiet the last couple of months, just some small things. Small robberies, nothing else, no murders, no hostages, nothing!", Bruce said, still looking into the fire. "Maybe you finally cleaned up the streets sir." "Maybe", Bruce said, "but we both know evil never stops" "I'll go get you that tea sir", Alfred said and walked out of the room.
After Alfred had brought the tea Bruce still couldn't get his mind of off this thought. "Six whole months! Six months of nothing at all, the only thing was one tiny little robbery and even that was of a store, not even a bank", Bruce thought, getting frustrated because he couldn't figure it out.
"Mister Wayne?...", an insecure sounding voice sounded soft through the room. A voice Bruce could recognize every single time, his help, his side-kick. "Come in Robin", Bruce said while turning his seat around so he was facing the door. A little girl came walking through the door, she didn't look strong or very fast, but she didn't need to be. Thanks to some gadgets and her small size she would come in handy every once in a while. There are things even Batman's strength or expensive gadgets couldn't do, you needed someone who could reach into small openings, she was the one you needed. And above all, she was courageous. This was the one thing that was most important, Bruce hadn't seen her scared of afraid yet, he admired that in her.
"The weather sucks tonight", Robin said while looking out one of the many windows. "Yeah, it's dark and rainy, the perfect weather for a patrol, don't you think?" A smile appeared on Robin's face, "I think you're right". "Well, let's suit up then", Bruce said while pulling the book "A Silent Night", which would open the door to the Batcave. After putting on their suits the quickly went out in the dark night.
Jumping from building to building they were looking out for crime, but like many times lately there was nothing, absolutely nothing. "What the hell is going on?!", Batman said angrily, "how can it be that at one moment the city is full of criminals and now, all of a sudden, they're all gone? Maybe Alfred was right, maybe we did clean the whole city and are we no longer needed" "I don't think so sir", Robin said, "there are still some bad guys that we haven't caught yet, there must be. I mean, what happened to guys like the Joker? Guys like that don't just give up." "That's true", Batman answered doubtingly, "but I'm not sure he survived our last encounter, he made a pretty serious fall." "Well, if he didn't it does explain why you haven't heard of him for at least four years, 'cause I've never seen him in real life, only on TV".
"I hope, for your own good, that you never will meet him, he's a very dangerously insane man", Batman said, "you never know what he'll be up to next". "Shall we call it a night Robin? We've been out her for five straight hours now, you should go home a take some rest" "Good idea", Robin said, sounding very disappointed in yet another slow, silent night.
Robin had gone home when Bruce decided to watch some TV before heading to bed himself. "A strange thing happened at Daniel's Bank tonight. 20 People were found dead inside the bank, without bullet of knife wounds, but with smiles on their faces. Eight million dollars were stolen, but there was no alarm triggered. When looking at security tapes the four men in clowns masks are seen, but the way the people died is still a mystery." "Alfred", Bruce yelled at the open door, "call Robin and tell her to meet me, in costume, at Daniel's bank." "Yes sir", was the last thing Bruce heard before running down to the Batcave.
When Batman arrived at Daniel's bank Robin was already there, waiting for him. "What happened?", Robin asked, her voice sounding sleepy. "The Joker, that's what", Batman answered, "now let's go". When they walked in they found what looked like a whole army of policemen. "Batman!", the police chief said, his voice sounding relieved. "And Robin!", Robin said, "what? Am I invisible or something?!"
"So batman, do you have any idea how he did this? None of these people in the front have any wounds, only one guy in the back, the one who handled the safe", the chief asked, completely ignoring the angry statement by Robin.
"Jokergas, it's lethal but makes the muscles in the face cramp up in such a way that you'll smile forever", Batman answered.
"You think the Joker is behind this? He hasn't been here, or he hasn't been seen"
"The guy in the back, what happened to him?"
"He got stabbed multiple times and the corners of his mouth have been cut open"
"Oh, the Joker was here"
"What do you think his next move will be, sir?", the police chief asked.
"With the Joker, you never know, but one thing is for sure", Batman said and when he looked him in the eye he said: "this isn't the last we've seen of him".
The police chief looked at one of the bodies before turning his head back and noticing Batman had vanished. The only one left there was Robin who looked the chief in the eye and slowly walked away, not being able to vanish like Batman had done.
A few minutes later they were both at the top of the biggest hotel in Gotham, Batman was had been waiting for Robin. As Robin stepped on the roof of the building she asked: "So, you think he'll strike again?" "The Joker?", Batman asked, "I know he will, but like I said, I just don't know where or when." "How's that possible?", Robin asked, "every villain has a style, right? A pattern?" "Normal villains do, but not the Joker, he creates chaos for the sake of creating chaos, that's what makes him so dangerous. This robbery wasn't for the money, it was to let us know he's coming back, to let us know he'll make our lives a living hell again".
Batman had barely finished his sentence when they heard a loud explosion. Without saying a word they looked at each other and ran towards the Batmobile. The explosion had come from one of the many offices at Wayne Enterprises, one of Bruce's many companies. When they arrived they immediately entered the building and went up to the 6th floor, from which smoke was rising.
When they reached the 6th floor they could hear voices, Bruce could separate at least four different voices. "A minimum of four guys", Batman told Robin, "you take the left side, I'll take the right." Robin just nodded and turned left, without hesitating. There it was again, that courage, which you wouldn't expect from a girl who looked like her, but she could really surprise you.
Batman turned right and walked through the thick smoke. He could hear footsteps getting closer and heavy breathing, he still couldn't see anyone though. Very slowly he walked further, taking every step very slowly to make himself as unnoticeable as possible. He started to see people through the smoke, two men, not very big, they shouldn't form a problem. When they turned around he could see they were wearing masks, white masks. But Batman knew he had seen these before, but where? "CLOWNS!", he thought, "that means the Joker should be around here somewhere. ROBIN?!"
He now ran toward the clowns and quickly threw them at the wall, they hadn't seen him coming, so they couldn't defend themselves and where immediately knocked out. "Robin!", Batman yelled at the top of his lungs, "Robin!". But before he could say anything else he heard a high pitched scream, it was Robin's, he was sure of that. As fast as he could he ran to the point from which he had heard the scream come, but there was nobody there. Slowly the smoke started to clear. One of the windows was broken, they probably escaped through that. There was a body lying on the floor, it was wearing a clown mask. "Well, at least she was able to take one out", he thought proud, "I trained her well". Then he noticed a bullet wound, fresh. That meant it couldn't have been Robin who took him out. Not only because he had taught her to never kill, but also because she wasn't carrying a weapon.
"Has the Joker killed one of his own men? Why?", Batman asked himself. Then he noticed a playing card, lying on the clowns chest. It was a Joker card, it had writhing on it. It said: "Tomorrow night, the old Gotham High-school, if you're not alone Robin dies", on the front, but when he turned it over he could also read: "but if it takes you more than ten minutes to rescue her, she'll also die!"
"That son of a bitch has Robin", Batman thought, but he'd have to wait until tomorrow night before he could rescue her, he didn't even want to think about the things the Joker would do to her if he'd come for her right away. That and he had no idea where the Joker was now, so there really was no choice.
Bruce tried to get some sleep, so he could think of ways to rescue Robin the next day, but he just couldn't seem to fall asleep. He couldn't stop thinking about her, what she had to be going through right now, the fear of now knowing what that sick, twisted psychopath was going to do to her. "Well, knowing her, she'll stay calm and think on her feet", he thought, "until now she had never seemed to be afraid, not even that night when going straight into that office, without being able to see for more than three feet, even though he had told her there were multiple enemies waiting somewhere in there.
The next morning he had been able to sleep for a few hours, not nearly the amount he had hoped for, but it'd have to do. "Gotham High", Bruce thought to himself, "where do I know that from, why does that ring a bell?". At that moment Alfred came walking in. "Good morning sir, the usual breakfast?", he asked, like every morning. "No thank you Alfred, I'm not hungry right now." "Is there something wrong master Wayne?", Alfred asked while walking closer to be able to understand Bruce better. "It's the Joker", Bruce said, he sighed, "he has kidnapped Robin". "The Joker has miss Robin?", Alfred asked shocked, "then what are you still doing here sir?" "He told me to come to Gotham High tonight, alone. If I come early he either won't be there, or he'll do something horrible to Robin, I have to listen to what he tells me, for her sake", Bruce said, feeling powerless. He had to trust that freak to make good to his promise and not hurt her.
That day seemed to go slower than any day before that. The waiting almost made Bruce go crazy, it was unbearable. The sun was setting, this was the time, he could feel it. He went down the secret door to the Batcave. For a second he stood in front of his suit, just looking at it. "This suit is my safety", he thought, "not only does it give me my "powers" but it keeps me unknown from all these creeps I fight every night. Without it I'd never be safe, I'd always have to be on the lookout for danger." He quickly put on the suit, because he had a job to do, safe Robin.
There had been multiple Robins before this one, but Bruce was sure she was the best. He knew it from the day she had begged him to be his sidekick when he was on patrol one night. Without hesitating she had walked up to him and begged him. After meeting her in the city multiple times when they went on patrol he trusted her enough to tell her his real identity, he knew she'd keep the secret.
As he reached Gotham High he remembered why it rang a bell, it was his old high-school! It had to close its doors after the floor between the top two floors had come crashing down, at night, luckily, so no one had been hurt. Hopefully he could use his knowledge of the school to his advantage, using shortcuts and places he could quickly hide if needed.
Inside the school it was dark. Every once in a while there was an old light, most of which didn't work and the one's that did were flickering, not very useful. The Joker wasn't here alone, that was for sure, there were clowns here, a lot, most likely. As he entered he could hear the old intercom squeak, did it even still work? "Well hello bat", the Joker's voice sounded trough the intercom, "I'm happy you could make it. Like you probably read, if it takes you more than ten minutes to get to the fourth floor, your little helper won't survive", it was followed by a sick, high pitched laugh. "How much I hate that laugh", Batman thought, "it shivers my spine every time. No clowns yet though". But there was a pretty long way to go before he would even reach the stairs toward the second floor, not to mention the fourth.
Very quiet Batman walked toward the stairs, somehow, even after all these years, he still knew the way he had to go. "Thank god the Joker chose this location", he thought to himself, "now, for once, the surroundings are in my advantage". He could hear muffled voices coming from around the corner, they were closing in on him, they couldn't be more than a few feet away now. He grabbed one of his bat-shaped ninja stars, jumped towards the voices and threw it at them. It got stuck in one of the guys' arms. He quickly tackled them and tied them up. "That was easy enough", he thought, "but the Joker probably has more up his sleeve".
He could already see the stairway toward the second floor he ran up the stairs as quickly as he could. "Come on, don't rush this, I'll make it, but I have to make sure I don't mess up", he thought as he was slowing down to make less noise. He could now hear heavy footsteps. It almost sounded like they came from a bull! As he wanted to run up the next stairs he saw a humongous clown walk up, carrying an automatic weapon. He had to be near seven feet tall and looked like he weighed 300 pounds! Batman was shocked. He stopped running up the stairs and turned towards this giant. He knew he had to take him out with speed, he wouldn't be able to overpower this one. Batman started to run when the giant started shooting. "Ha, thank god he can't aim", Batman thought.
Now that Batman had come close enough the weapon was useless, aiming was impossible now. Batman had to think quickly, what did he need to do against this beast? He took the rope he used to swing from building to building and threw the hook around the giant's tree trunk sized legs. He then started running in large circles around him to avoid the wild punches this man threw. Over the intercom he could hear the Jokers voice: "Only two minutes left bat and the time is tick… tack… ticking away!", followed again by one of his twisted laughs. "two minutes", Batman thought, "that should be enough, I hope. The floor between the third and fourth floor was the one that had collapsed. That was a much better way to face the Joker then at the same level.
Batman pulled his rope as hard as he could, closing the giants legs, who now had nearly no balance, but still, somehow, managed to keep standing. "What the hell does it take?!", Batman thought, "I don't have time for this". He threw another ninja star at the cavities on the back of his knees. This finally took the giant down. In the fall the giant knocked himself out by hitting his head against the wall. Batman took the gun and threw it out the window so no one could use it against him later.
He ran up the last stairs, the one's toward the third floor. He didn't hear anyone, except for some voices one floor up. "That must be the Joker", he thought, "I can't go there, I've got to think clearly and do as I planned". He ran toward the place of the collapsed floor.
The chunks of stone were still lying there, it had never been cleaned up. "Joker!", Batman yelled, "I'm here! Where's Robin? Where are YOU?!" "Aahw, you made it", was the first thing Batman heard, no sight of the Joker though. "Well this way is more fun, so I'm actually happy you made it bat", the Joker said the Joker, who was now visible for Batman.
"Where. Is. Robin?!", Batman said, the anger had come back now that he had made it and he saw the face of the Joker. "You know bat, we haven't seen each other is so long, how about we catch up first? How have you been?", the Joker asked, a big smile on his face, like always. "Where. Is. Robin?!", Batman asked again, "give her back to me!" "Why so serious… Bruce?", the Joker asked him, the usual smile got even bigger. Batman's breathing stopped for a second, his eyes opened wide. "Did he just call me Bruce?", he thought to himself, "but… how does he know, he can't right? Did Robin tell him? No she couldn't have, she would never do that."
"Yes, I know your true identity Bruce. But don't worry, your precious Robin didn't tell me. What did you think I've been doing the last years? Nothing?", the Joker started laughing again, "oh, don't worry, I won't hurt you when you're dressed like a civilian, for two reasons. One: no one would know I had killed Batman and two: where's the fun in that? 'Cause see Bruce, life is a game, it's all just one, big game. And a game is only fun when you have a worthy opponent, right? Well, the police are no match for me, let's be honest here. But you, you have always been someone I've enjoyed playing with. Now, if I beat you IN game and kill you, I won, right? But if I did it outside the game, then I never really won, I just cheated, now where's the fun in that?"
"You've killed over a dozen people Joker, all just to get me to 'play' with you again. But the thing you really got me with was taking Robin from me! Now, I'm here, give me Robin back, and after that I can beat you in your little 'game'.", Batman said, hoping this would work.
"Well Bruce", the Joker started, "let me tell you something. Like I just told you, life is a game, but if you get beaten at a game every single time, the game becomes boring, don't you think? Because until now, you've beaten me every single time, so as someone who truly loves the game and wants to win, even if it's just once, I analyzed it. Looking for things I needed to improve to beat YOU for once. Now, the thing I found out was, you always had a little edge. Now, sometimes you won by more than other times and I think that was because of your little helpers. So, if I get rid of your current helper I might just be able to beat you tonight, right? But, then again, I might need a bigger edge, so I got my own helper, and no I'm not talking about the clowns." "Oh Harley", the Joker yelled cheerfully, "could you bring out our little guest? O, and also a knife, please" "Of course puddin'", a female voice sounded out of one of the many corners.
"Bruce, let me introduce you to my lovely wife-to-be Harley Quinn. A woman in a black and red colored harlequin's costume came skipping to the Joker, a knife in hand. She handed him the knife as he kissed her on her cheek. "Isn't she beautiful?", the Joker asked proud, "and she's the most twisted woman I've ever met!" "I'll bring you our little guest now", she said just before skipping back the way she came.
"So, to come back to what I was saying", the Joker continued, "I'm terribly sorry, but I don't think I can give her back to you. Harley and I have been talking about it and we agreed that it would be better for us, and for the fun of the game, if we… ehm… killed Robin. I'm sure I'd be very sorry if I didn't look forward to it so much", he said with a kind of guilty smile on his face.
Harley Quinn came walking back out with a rolling bed that had Robin on it. When Robin saw Batman he could see her facial expression from worried to calm, she had complete faith in him. Little did she know Batman had no idea yet how he was going to safe her, he needed to buy time, that was something he knew. The Joker grabbed Robin of the bed and with one arm held her close to against his body. With all her strength she tried to get loose but he was too strong.
In his other hand the Joker held the knife Harley had just handed him. "But before I kill her", the Joker said, "let´s put a smile on her face!". He slowly moved the knife toward Robin´s face, hoping to see fear in her eyes, but there was nothing there, no fear at all. "Why always the knifes?", Batman asked quickly, hoping the Joker would take enough time answering the question so he could come up with a plan. "Well", the Joker started as he lowered the knife, "when you use a knife you really have the time to see the fear of people. People pretend to be tough and strong all their lives, but in the last couple of seconds of their lives they always show who they really are."
During the entire explanation Batman had looked straight into the eyes of Robin. He nodded and stomped his foot on the floor. Robin nodded back.
"But let's get back to business", the Joker said and moves the knife back to Robin's face. Batman threw the last ninja star he had on him toward the Joker, it missed him, but it did startle him for a second. Just enough time for Robin to stomp the Joker on his feet, who then released her out of reflex. Robin quickly jumped down to the third floor and landed right next to Batman. "Are you okay?", Batman asked quickly. "I'm fine"
"Well, if I can't even things up like this, then I have to do it some other way. Harley, bring your toy!", the Joker yelled. Almost immediately Harley Quinn came running in, with a bazooka on her shoulder. She fired and blew up the wall behind Batman and Robin. "Let's get them", Robin said, "I want payback!". Batman said nothing, he just nodded and smiled. He threw a sticking grenade on the bottom of the fourth floor. When it went off the floor underneath the Joker's and Harley's feet collapsed and they were now on the same level as Batman and Robin. "You take Harley", Batman said, "I'll take care of that freak".
Robin quickly got as close to Harley as possible so that she was unable to use her bazooka. Robin had picked up a couple of rocks to throw at Harley and try and distract her. While she was throwing the rocks she closed in on Harley. Being about three feet away now Robin jumped and tackled Harley. Now being on top of her Robin punched Harley in the face multiple times.
"So bat, here we are, once again", the Joker said while standing in front of Batman, waiting to see what he would do. Batman too had picked up a rock and threw it at the Joker, missing by about a foot. "You are really not a good thrower bat", the Joker said, following the rock with his eyes. When he turned back his head he felt a strong impact against it, it knocked him of his feet.
"Maybe you shouldn't comment on my aiming before you know my intentions", Batman said, looking down on a confused Joker. "Well", the Joker said, feeling if he could still move his jaw, "that was one hell of a punch, but I prefer one of these babies to make an escape", he continued as he threw a little bomb-like thing on the floor. A lot of smoke appeared and when it had cleared, both the Joker and Harley had vanished. "How do you guys do that?", Robin asked, "I want to be able to pull that off!" "I'll teach you some day", Batman said, laughing, "But for now the most important thing is that you're safe.
They walked out of the school and got into the Batmobile, on their way to Wayne mansion. When they arrived Bruce told Robin: "I'll have Alfred bring you home, take some rest, things like this aren't good for the body, not even that of a superhero".
"Do you think you're in danger sir?", Robin asked. "No", Batman said, "like the Joker said, he doesn't take pride in killing me if no one knows he killed Batman, they'll just think he killed Bruce Wayne. But one thing is for sure, when I put on my suit, he'll be watching my every move. To make sure you're rested, because one day he'll strike again."
Bruce went straight to bed. As he was laying in his bed he thought: "Robin really doesn't need me much longer. The way she handled herself today, when a psychopath like the Joker was threatening her, she has shown real courage. I'm very proud of her". He fell asleep with a smile on his face.