Disclaimer: I do not own Suicide Squad or any of the characters represented in this story. They are the sole property of DC Comics.

01

BANG!

The sound the gavel made as it met the surface of the podium echoed throughout the courtroom and a hushed silence fell over the crowd that had come to observe the Clown King of Crime's trial. In the very back of the room, Bruce Wayne stood silently in a corner, his lips pressed into a grimace. From where he stood, he could just make out the top of the Joker's vibrantly green head.

"The jury has reached a verdict," the judge announced. He shuffled some papers around on the podium and began reading. "The defendant is found guilty of crimes against humanity and the citizens of Gotham, and is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. Time is to be served at Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane, but as there are currently no vacancies at the asylum, the defendant will be held at Blackgate Penitentiary until a vacancy opens at Arkham. That is all."

The judge banged his gavel once more and then the crowd, which was made up mostly of reporters, flooded the aisles of the courtroom as the Clown King was led away from the podium by his lawyer. One reporter stood on her tiptoes and shouted to the judge, "Aren't you worried about the threat the defendant could present to the inmates of Blackgate?"

Bruce never caught the judge's answer to the reporter's question as he left the courtroom. Once he was out in the hall where there yet even more reporters he pulled his cellphone out and punched the first number on speed dial. "Bring the car around, Alfred," he said into the phone.

"Yes, sir," Alfred responded.

And with that, Bruce pocketed the phone. What a strange feeling it was; not being the object of the media's attention for once.

Then as if on cue a reporter with a photographer trailing along beside her, approached him. "I'm with the Gotham Gazette, Mr. Wayne," she said, following him down the hallway that led to the exit. "What do you think of the verdict?"

"No comment," Bruce said simply, and he pushed through the double doors of the courthouse and stepped into the dazzling summer sunlight.

This is where the wolves lay in wait, he thought as he started down the steps of courthouse, which were flooded with Joker supporters and members of the Die Laughing gang. Many of them bore picket signs with slogans like, "Free Our King!" or "Long Live the King!" painted across them.

A horn went off and a divide appeared in the crowd of protesters as a jet black limousine pulled to a halt in front of the courthouse. Then Alfred climbed out of the drivers' seat and walked around to open the back passengers' side door.

"Sorry, Harls," Deadshot muttered as he positioned himself on the rooftop of the skyscraper that stood kitty-corner to the courthouse.

For the first time in his long career as an assassin for hire, Floyd Lawton was doing a job free of charge. For himself. It had been exactly two months since the Joker had dragged Harley Quinn to his ex's home in the Narrows and threatened his daughter's life with a ruflaseia cocktail in order to use him in their revenge scheme against the Batman.

Now, it was time for Floyd to get his revenge.

He grabbed his sniper rifle off the rooftop and took aim. From where he stood, he had a perfect view of the courthouses' front steps. This would be a difficult shot, though, not just because of the Joker's guard, but because of the sheer mass of the crowd down below. Floyd had never seen anything like it. It looked like more than half the city had turned up to observe the trial.

You'd think they were waiting on some sort of celebrity to exit through those doors, which Floyd supposed, the Joker was in his own right. But this was still ridiculous. Even if he was a criminal himself, Floyd could never understand the sense of glamour people associated with this psychopath and his followers. Their fascination with Harley, though - well, that was another story.

How she had managed to end up in love with the most notorious criminal Gotham had ever known was the question of the century.

Floyd adjusted his aim just as he saw the doors of the courthouse opening, and a crowd of media hounds merged with the fans waiting on the steps. Cheers filled the air and the chanting below grew louder still.

Then just as the Joker had stepped into focus, Floyd felt someone grab him from behind as a powerful arm clad in black armor wound its way around his neck. "Man," Floyd choked, gasping as he was pulled into a chokehold. He already knew who the arm belonged to."What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I'm taking you in, Lawton," the Batman growled at him. He wrestled Floyd to the ground and pulled the sniper rifle from his grasp.

Within an instant, Floyd had pulled out a second gun and had taken aim directly at the bat's head. From this distance, there was no missing. He had him and the bat knew it.

They both froze.

"I'm doing you and the rest of the world a favor, taking him out," Floyd panted. "I'm doing what you don't have the guts to do."

"You think killing the Joker would make you a hero, Lawton?" Batman asked him. In one swift movement, he knocked the gun out of the Floyd's hand and twisted his arm behind his back. "It doesn't," he informed the assassin. "You're nothing more than a murderer, seeking his revenge."

Floyd kicked at Batman's feet and with his free hand, he grabbed yet another gun from his arsenal of weaponry. This one was a Glock 18 machine pistol. He aimed it into the air and set off three rounds right next to the bat's head, deafening him, before he came at the vigilante with a wicked upper cut.

Batman fell to the ground as screams erupted from the crowd below, his ears ringing from the gunfire. His head collided with the cement rooftop and he tasted blood in his mouth, but was spared any serious injury thanks to the cowl. He got back up, ready to counter Deadshot's next attack, but it was too late.

The assassin had gone.

Then all hell broke loose.

As gunfire rang out over the streets in front of the courthouse, the SWAT team that had been assigned to watch over the Joker guided the clown through the panicking crowd and into the armored car that was waiting at the curb. A policeman bearing a nametag that read Hernendez, closed the doors of the car and said to the driver through the window, "Onward to Blackgate." The engine rumbled to life and the car pulled away from the courthouse.

Beside him, the Joker grinned.

For about one brief moment, everything was going according to plan. Then Hernandez felt the street quake beneath his feet and turned his head just in time to see the blinding flash of light that was being emitted from somewhere within the courthouse. There was a sickening crack as smoke began to pour from the windows and the base of the courthouse began to cave in on itself. Then, as if on cue, cars on either side of the street went up in flames just as the pillars supporting the roof of the courthouse groaned and fell to the street.

Hysteria filled the air as the thick black smoke that was billowing from the courthouse only mere feet behind them rolled past the windows of the armored car, blinding everyone inside of it. Hernandez had just enough time to mutter a swear before he was thrown backwards as the car lurched suddenly forward with a burst of speed. "What the -?"

But he was cut off as laughter filled the car and he looked through the window to see the SWAT guard in the front passenger seat take their helmet off and shake out long pink-and-blue pigtails. It was none other than Harley Quinn herself who leered back at him.

"Shit!" Hernandez cried, aiming his gun at her. He cocked the gun and pulled the trigger - and out popped a bright red flag with a single word printed across it: BANG!

Then he was seized under his arms by two other members of the SWAT team as the doors of the car swung open, and they threw him out onto the pavement as the car careened past the panicked citizens of Gotham.

"Happy to see me, puddin?" Harley grinned at her beloved Crown King.

"Boss, look!" the driver cried out before the Joker had a chance to respond. "It's the bat!"

Harley turned her head just in time to see Batman come flying towards them from the rooftop of a nearby building on his Batcycle. He pulled to a halt in front of them, blocking their passage to the bridge that led to the highway.

"Do I have to do everything myself around here?" Harley muttered, reaching into the space under the dash and pulling out what appeared to be a bazooka.

She rolled down the window as the car looped in a long arch to avoid crashing into the bat head on. Then she leaned outside, angling herself away from the car, aimed and fired. The rocket missed the bat altogether, hitting the overpass directly above him instead. She grinned as the overpass split open with a rumble and cars crashed into the void, filling the air with still more smoke and fire.

"Pull a U-ey," she instructed the driver, ducking back inside the car. "We won't be getting home that a way."

The driver did as he was instructed and pulled out of a sharp turn so quickly that the car was momentarily balanced on only two tires. Then they sped back towards the pandemonium that was surrounding the courthouse. In the rearview mirror, Harley glimpsed Batman close on their tail.

"Any other brilliant ideas, Harls?" the Joker asked, poking his head through the barred window.

"Pfft!" Harley scoffed. "I'll show you a brilliant idea." She pulled out her ivory-plated .22 handgun and angled herself out of the window again. Then she began shooting wildly down the street at the Batman.

The Batcycle sent sparks flying as it toppled to the ground as Harley shot out the front tire, but that didn't matter and they both knew it. Just as the bike came grinding to a halt, Batman pulled out a grappling gun and shot a hook at the roof of the armored car.

"It's time to play, boys," the Joker laughed as the Batman landed on top of the car with a thunk.

Harley climbed back in the car, and turned towards the window. "C'mere, puddin," she said, pulling out a pocket knife.

The Joker leaned forward and she promptly cut off the plastic handcuffs the police had shackled him with. Then he got to his feet and looked around at the remaining members of the SWAT team. "Gimme that," he said, yanking a gun out of the hands of the guard nearest him.

Then the doors of the armored car were flung open as they bulleted past the smoking ruins of the courthouse and Batman stood in the threshold. But the quarters they were in were too close to do any real fighting and two of the SWAT members had grabbed him by the arms in an instant. The Joker pressed the barrel of his gun against the Batman's throat as he tried to push him from the car, but Batman gripped the edges of the doorframe desperately.

Just then there was the sound of a gun being cocked and a bullet ricocheted off the edge of the door, narrowly missing the tips of Batman's fingers. Startled, the bat released his grip on the car and rolled out of sight into the crowds on the crowded street.

Grinning, the Joker turned to see who had fired the shot and found Harley grinning back at him, brandishing a shotgun at him. "You wouldn't believe the toys we've got up here," she told him.

"I wonder how we can survive this romance, but in the end if I'm with you I'll take the chance." - Bryan Adams