AN: Accidentally deleted my first story. Oh well. Story gets more than a bit choppy around after the funeral part.
Despite what many people believe about the Caped Crusader, Batman is not, and never will be a killer. Each and every one of his students, no matter how enraged, would never be driven to take a life, no matter how vile and grotesque. So when the Joker actually murders-murders-one of the Bat-Family, it is only human that they may be tempted to forsake the no-killing part of the responsibility that comes with the suit and gadgets and the masks. But much to the shock of the superhero community, it isn't them who actually manage to actually take down the deranged lunatic that killed the Boy Wonder.
FOUR DAYS AGO
Nightwing knows from personal experience that Batman doesn't do public displays of emotion. It's not for the image of being Batman, the untouchable, grim and aloof figure. Batman can't do that. Bruce Wayne can't do that. Because in the end, the billionaire has never been whole, from the moment he first heard a gun bark twice in a dark, shadowy alley, and the sound of bloodstained pearls clattering against cold, hard marble. So when Nightwing sees a fragile, broken corpse in the arms of the dark hero, he grieves for his mentor too. But it is a part of Richard Grayson, rather than Nightwing that shrivels up even more as his heart clenches. It was Richard Grayson that allowed him to let go of the role of being Robin and become Nightwing. It was Richard Grayson that welcomed the younger child into the Wayne household and convinced Batman to adopt him, and consequently let him take up the mantle of being Robin. He hates himself for it. Jason Todd was the closest thing to the brother he never had and he had got him killed.
All it had taken was a crowbar, about enough explosives to take out a small warehouse and the haunted determination that only can be afforded by the criminally insane. Barbara winces and tries not to scream. The Joker has now taken two members of her life away now. But she remains calm on the outside, because that is how she usually acts, even if she is about an inch from death. He had to kill them both. She loved them both so much. Now her mother and brother in all but blood, even if he was distrusting at first, were dead and Joker was missing. But she remains calm, as she knows that wherever they are, they wouldn't want her to do anything she might regret. God, she misses them. But, it would never ever be the same. So she starts crying inside and doesn't say anything when she first catches a glimpse of her younger brother's body.
YESTERDAY
Batman cringes. He was losing focus. Jason's death was entirely his fault. How he took too long to get to him, how he didn't think that Joker would be lying when he sent Batman in a mad dash over the entire city. So when he accidentally lets go of Joker's informant over the edge of the building, it takes a red and blue blur that swoops to catch the screaming man to let him breathe in relief. However, as Superman finds out, for all his powers, he cannot for the life of him, give advice to his closest friend.
"Bruce… you need to let him go. We'll find Joker and bring him to justice." He trailed off when he realized that his friend wasn't paying him any attention. He swallowed.
"Batman… I'm sorry but you need to get yourself together, like… like how Conner and I did. Socialize and try to remember the better parts of your relationship."
"You only paid attention to him after half a year, Clark." Batman growled. "I didn't. I loved Jason. I loved him…And now, he's gone…"
Superman bristled. As he turned and slowly glided away, the billionaire felt the newly familiar sensation of tears, blinking them away as his eyes prickled. The lone alien stared after him, knew he was right, and slowly started to ascend to the heavens.
THREE DAYS AGO
"Today we have gathered here to mourn the loss of life, taken too soon from this brave soul…"
The old man means well but his words are meaningless. The only thing they do is rub in his face that he was too slow to find him. No matter how well-trained, he was only a human.
He was only a human. Now Superboy stands at what he fervently hopes will be his last funeral, having to pay respects to a body that wasn't even there. The rain falls slowly, like one of those cheesy sad tragedy movies or how the dead would magically spring back to life. Only now it is so real it burns a deep searing line in his heart and there will not be a resurrection. Jason Todd is dead. Robin is dead. It does matter that his body is not in the coffin everybody is placing roses on. Curse Batman and his damn IF ANYBODY WOULD DESECRATE A TEEN'S GRAVE. (Disgusting, disgusting, how could anyone ever think of doing-?)Curse Joker and his demented cackling. Now he will never hear again the sound of his friend's laughter. Curse himself and his stupid genes. Why couldn't Cadmus have cloned him right? Jason is dead because of him. Hell, when he thinks of it, Tula died because of him. He hates the fact that he couldn't even keep his team safe anymore. Right now, what scares him is that he wishes with all his heart that he was never created, or never knew them. It would make this so much easier.
Garfield Logan, despite what many people thought, was not a child. So when he shrugged off the many people that tried to offer comfort and walks toward the coffin, it is not that he is in denial. Oh, no. He has seen his mother's last moments, the terrible accident that wasn't one at all, and people thought he was in denial. Idiots. What he really does do is press his head on the mahogany wood and try his best not to let the tears flow. M'gann and Conner might have taken care of him, but losing Jason is like losing the closest thing to a cousin that he would ever have. He tries not to think about how much Jason must have hurt before he died, and how he'll never play videogames again together, always mysteriously having new arrival weeks ahead of scheduled dates, how they would never prank FishFace again with Superboy's eager help.( Amazingly, they never once got caught. Oh well. Perks of hanging out with a ninja.) How Jason would egg him on if he tried to transform into something major, like a primeval creature. Sadly, it had always lasted for only a few seconds. But right now, Gar wishes that he could have a million more of those moments. He knows that is impossible now. So he settles for second best, leans down and whispers into the wood.
"Goodbye cuz, and I know you and I both hate this cheesy stuff, but you're right here with me now. I can feel it. And I will make that freak pay…I swear it." Superboy and Superman both look at him, but they don't say anything. Good. He feels better that way.
-x-
She was the tough, kick-ass Amazon. She had known and come to respect him in a mere three weeks. He had always that flair surrounding him. They weren't exceptionally close, like with Blue Beetle or Bumblebee or (gods help her) even Superboy. So why was her heart shattering about now? Oh right, maybe if it was the fact that she wanted nothing to do but to just sit down and stare. She did that when she first heard the news. She was numb. She didn't want to do anything desperately with death. It scared her beyond belief for some weird reason. Maybe it was because on one of her first cases alone, she had let an innocent child die. She absolutely despised human traffickers since. Maybe it was because for some weird reason, her cerulean-armored crush just loved to take blows that she could never stand against. Or maybe it was that the mock-apathetic clone did the same thing for everyone, even La'gaan. She admires and hates them both for it, because taking blows that could kill or injure her, an Amazon, often leaves them inches from death themselves. Or maybe it was that her stepfather had died in a brutal robbery, an incident that she could do nothing about. In retrospect, that was what drove her to pursue crime in the first place. She was in denial. Oh joy.
She walks to the clone, sharing the warmth and shelter from the unrelenting downpour. He just glances at her with those red-rimmed eyes, and she lazily flops an arm around him, knowing that he needed the comfort. Not just that, but a distraction from the Martian and Atlantean that were currently in each other's arms. She had no idea what happened between them, but he rarely talked to his ex, as he was such a nice guy. So he just sighs and his shoulders slump in something resembling defeat. He squeezes her shoulder, and she tries not to wince. She knows he was grateful for her presence; he shows it in his eyes.
A while later, she sees him looking at something. He half-smiles and very unsubtly nudged her to his right. She's confused until she smacks right dab into Jaime Reyes. If she wasn't so distracted, she would have publicly vowed to stuff kryptonite down his shirt there and then. But right now, she melts in her crush's arms and he gracefully accepts, despite the fact that he was sopping wet, both their feelings sparking a tender blaze. Blue Beetle has never felt so indebted to the half kryptonian. Cassie hugs him tightly; she knows that he and Jason were really close. She feels droplets on the crown of her head and sighs into Jamie. He hums back; even though she knows he was hiding more than just tears. The fact that for all his armor and powers, he couldn't save his friend and all the alien technology in the universe couldn't bring his friend back to life, made him feel more worthless than ever, but right now he felt strangely at peace. He hopes with all his heart he'll never have to attend another funeral again.
He is wrong.
NOW
M'gann rushes desperately through the Gotham night air, panic blossoming in her heart and tears brimming in her eyes. Below her, La'gaan follows with most of the team in the bioship. Most. Robin would have begged to travel in the air whenever the team was in Gotham, somehow keeping up with all those convenient gargoyles or ledges and vantage points. The team would cave when Nightwing and Batgirl would grin and join him outside as well. She closes her eyes at the memory. Jason Todd never knew how much everyone had liked him. Surly and distrusting at first, but warming up he became the gentlest, most delicate soul she knew.
Then the Joker happened. All she remembers were several distress alerts, bombs, lights, chases, realizations made too late and blood.
Back then, all she saw was fire and blood and broken bones. All she felt was the beginning of a prickling sensation at the eyes and slow, chilling heat. All she tasted was the soot on the very air, no water droplets or dew at all and the metallic tang of blood. But she couldn't hear a thing at all. Nothing.
That was what scared her. There should have the faint reverberation of mental chatter or consciousness in his mind. Nothing. He was really dead. It scared her, and she flung herself onto the person closest to her, Wonder girl, thank god. She didn't think she could stand the thought of Superboy looking at her if it was La'gaan. Even the Atlantean was fond of the Boy Wonder; the grief in his mind spoke untold volumes of the fact. So at the funeral she almost couldn't stand the grief in all the minds and sought solace in her boyfriend's arms. It wasn't the same as Conner's though, and she felt a small pang of longing for times long past; when things were simpler and the worst injuries were severe dehydration, fatigue or a couple of stitches.
-x-
Mental links allowed them to feel each other's pain. Not fully, just a tingle or a light spark that notified each other of their injuries. They could switch it off though, but who would want to? Just a spark allowed them to drop everything and fight to their hardest because no matter the situation, you take on one member; you've taken on the whole team.
When they finally heard the signal from Batman, they all didn't bother answering it. They had already endured one whole day of false alarms in Gotham City. Batman's paranoia was reaching untold levels. He had abjectly refused the company of other League members, claiming that they would be more of a hindrance than a help.(Even though Hal had pointed out that his ring could find anybody, Superman had super-hearing and Flash could search an entire city in a matter of seconds.) Joker had gone mysteriously missing after the murder of Jason, and knowing him, he would be hovering elusively under Batman's very nose. However, The Clown Prince of Crime remained undetected despite all his searching. After the first day, the League cracked and sent their younger counterparts down to Gotham, saying that if they were caught there by Batman, they wouldn't be immediately punished as there were two of his students in the team.
"What you're saying is that if he spots us, we would be taking the blame." Conner deadpanned. Flash considered this, and bobbed his head in acknowledgement. Green Lantern shrugged and snorted. Superman and Green Arrow had remained silent.
On the first day in Gotham, they had remained as a team, monitoring police broadcasts, listening to leads. It seemed the entire police force had come to help. It didn't help that, Jaime pointed out, some of them were corrupt. Reports of suspicious activity were garbled and inconsistent. They didn't rest, and continued, tracking all possible leads until Superman himself had come to them and told them to stop and take a break. The moment the he left, they ignored his instructions. He didn't know Jason like they did. Jason would want them to find Joker. After a while, the team split up.
Cassie had left first. She explained that she wanted to check out who was feeding the police force all that garbage in the radio transmissions before flying off to the GCPD. Blue Beetle had hesitated, and then followed her, after Miss Martian had provided a mental link.
Conner had perked up halfway, his head snapping up and turning to rest, looking at seemingly nothing in particular. He growled and bounded away, leaving only Nightwing, Miss Martian, Beast boy, Batgirl and Lagoon Boy. Time elapsed. They chased fruitless leads and staked out deserted warehouses. (Or at least with wrong occupants. Gar could have sworn he already saw the Mad Hatter three times.) More leads, more leads. All fruitless. M'gann had no idea such an untamed criminal mind could be so wily.
-x-
They finally gave up and were about to take a break before Nightwing's com chirped. Rebecca Black's "Friday" belted out. Nightwing blushed.
M'gann instantly got a headache, Gar smashed his head against the floor and turned into a snake, La'gaan let out a yell, and Batgirl cringed before plugging her ears. All of them furiously turned on the sheepish troll in their midst.
Somewhere across Gotham, a clone crashes hard into the side of a building.
He shrugged. "Guilty pleasure," Looking at the message, his face turned grim. He flashed it to them.
Batman. Warehouse, Northeast Gotham. Incident. Big. Regroup quickly. Jason would have wanted this. Same goes with why you're even allowed here to search. If anything comes up, don't get in my way.
"Sounds like he already knew we were here." La'gaan stated. The Team nodded.
"Just let it go." Gar sighed, leaning against the wall. Nightwing raised an eyebrow at him. Gar huffed.
"I'm not a kid, kay? You should know Batman; he would probably say that just to stop us from getting to Joker." Batgirl nodded. M'gann gently slid an arm around her younger brother.
"Chum's actually right." La'gaan crooned in mock amazement. Beastboy's eyes narrowed. Nightwing sighed and nodded.
"Right, but first off we need to regroup with Wonder girl an-"He was cut off as M'gann moaned, and in tandem, their left limbs ominously-and much too familiarly- tingled, more intensely than ever before.
-x-
Once it assaulted his senses, he knew without a doubt where-who- it came from. No está bien, as Jaime would put it. He hated knowing so many languages sometimes. Wally kept on using him as a translator for Vietnamese. Just like how he hated super-hearing at times. Super hearing is what got him now here, face-to-face with none other than Mr. Lex Luthor himself.
When Cassie and Jaime had wandered off, he was fine; he could still hear their heartbeats, steady, strong and obviously attracted to each other. But when there was that telltale, painful, maddening whine that strongly resembled the call of a dog whistle. Anger clutched at his heart at the thought that Lex would consider him something like that. He heard it once, before. He was positive it was him. So all in all, he wasn't really surprised.
"Luthor. What. Are. You. Doing. Here."
"Manners cost nothing, dear boy. Cant 'a father check in on his favorite son?" Lex smoothly replied, brushing lint off his jacket, as he exited his car.
"I'm not your son. If you're here to cause trouble, I suggest you leave Gotham. Right now." Lex shrugged.
"So be it." He strolled to his limo door, and pulled out a familiar-looking packet. "I didn't call you here for fun, you know."
He tossed it to Superboy, who caught it disbelievingly. Shields…why?
He must have said the last part out loud because Lex actually hesitates and a look of remorse flashes over his face because Lex actually says-
"…I don't like child killers."
He drives off. Superboy hesitates…then slaps two of those patches on.
-x-
"Hola. You seeing that?" Cassie looked up from the report she was currently looking at. She had more or less ascertained who was corrupt and who wasn't (hello, lasso of truth, remember?) and Gordon, whom she was told was a close friend of the Big Black Bat, had given her a report on where they were understaffed, and the dealings in the black market and so on. Jaime and the Scarab had helped, and they had managed to rule out all but the southern part of the islands.
It was weird, though. Because, the come find me Bats! And the where are you batman? Fireworks seemed to originate from what seemed not to be the South side of Gotham. More like North Gotham. Mighty suspicious, if you asked her.
They would have noticed more, if both their coms hadn't chirped simultaneously. They looked at it.
Batman. Warehouse, Northeast Gotham. Incident. Big. Regroup quickly. Jason would have wanted this. Same goes with why you're even allowed here to search. If anything comes up, don't get in my way.
"Trap, chica?"
She nodded. "Trap indeed. You think he'll be smart enough not to do something like that."
He shrugged nonchalantly. "Sounds like something the Scarab would do. Hey!" She chuckled as he yelled at himself.
-x-
As he slowly starts to float through the air, he doesn't feel rage, oh no, not the blind crimson haze that always clogged his mind after taking those…shields. What he does feel is…detachment. He doesn't feel anything much, like an ice-cold barrier around his emotions. He listens out for his friends' heartbeats. He hears the pulse of alien technology and the strong beat of an amazon's heart. Good. He listens up for Nightwing and the others. He catches the faint sound before he hears something being set off behind him. The first two flares blind him, not to mention an ungodly tune that was playing just about then sending him toppling backwards.
Then when he sees the light, the glare from the nearby fireworks from the warehouses and he cannot believe the audacity the Joker has, the ice-cold barrier has now crumbled into razor-sharp shards and he would like nothing more than to drag Joker away and give him a long, painful death.
He settles for second best and immediately switches to thermal vision. Nothing, except for the rapidly approaching figure of Batman. He smirks but catches himself. So predictable. He frowns and tries again.
X-ray vision. Lovely. He scans the warehouse and gazes past the ceramic walls. Enough explosives to take out the warehouse, triggered to a switch at every entry-weak walls, windows, doors and even the air vents. But what make him suddenly develop an aptitude for heat vision are the contents of the warehouse. Right smack-dab in the middle of it, there was a bloodstained crowbar lying across a piece of cloth and a newspaper. He looks carefully across it and his vision turns crimson.
The 'R' logo from Jason's uniform.
The bold headline screams from the newspaper-BOY WONDER DEAD!?- And the words turn to garble and trails off altogether.
That's it.
He screams.
His eyes flash blue-red, the building blows up in a wreckage of fire, ice, and telekinesis.
He doesn't know whether he tracked Joker's laugh all the way from the other side of the island or he used one of the many other visions (electromagnetic, his g-nome part of his brain says) or it was just plain luck but he doesn't care.
The clone's hands are already around Joker's neckandhalf of the clown's face is singed and most of his hair is already burned away when Conner realizes where he even is. He doesn't recall having taken down all the henchmen- he thinks he might have killed one or two, but he can't bring himself to care. They can't bring back Jason. He squeezes hard and tosses Joker into a random corner. He walks over and calmly stamps, hard on Joker's leg and there is a satisfying crunch as his femur snaps. He leans over and spits into Joker's face before lifting him up and pinning him against the wall. Joker is brave enough to chuckle.
He finds out why when he gurgles, whips out a kryptonite knife and sinks it deep into the exposed flesh of his left arm. There is a flash, then familiar pain. He feels his flesh sizzle and he tosses Joker backwards right back into the wall, and through it. He lets out an involuntary cry.
Hnnngh. Damn.
He grabbed the knife and handle and tried to tug it out of his arm.
It shattered, sending shards deeply embedded in his arm.
Sneaky bastard. How did he even get kryto-Never mind. Screw this. Still burns, though.
He hears Harley Quinn shouting behind him, to leave her puddin' alone and he briefly wonders where she had been when he had been beating the crap out of the henchman. It didn't matter. What did matter was… What was her role in this again? Oh yeah…Batman had said that she was the fatal distraction that had delayed him in Joker's mad scheme.
Fatal distraction.
Out of instinct more than anything else, he turns around and feels apart of him- his mind?-travel across the ground and reach Harley Quinn. She falls silent, immobile. He slaps away the meteorite knife she was holding.
How do they keep on getting this stuff?
He growls in her face. She sticks out her tongue.
Wait just a minute. Telekinesis? Must've been from the genomorphs. I really don't care, though.
He cocks his head, focuses, and splays his fingers. Harley Quinn's body starts to follow the motions. He grins savagely. With a loud crack, he dislocates both her shoulders and sends her into the ceiling with an uppercut. His ears catch the whisper of motion and he whips around and kicks Joker in the side and sends him flying. He leaps over to him and tries very hard not to kill the Joker, not yet anyway.
"You know, Supes,"Joker wheezed. "With all these canoodling you've been doing to me, we've never got a chance to make conservation, you know?" Joker mock swooned in Superboy's grasp when he lifted him up by his jacket. "I did a lot of these things to Boy Blunder back then, too. Say, did you watch the tapes?" His vision briefly flickered red and Joker flew out of his grasp, another burn forming on his face, bloody and pale white. "Say, Bats isn't going to be very happy, is he? I mean, look at me! You didn't even save some for him." Joker smiles through a mouth of blood and coughs as he lands into the floor, bringing down more of the warehouse.
"Oh…I get it! You're like him! Didn't talk, didn't blink, hell, I didn't even see him smile! "Joker gushes. "What a naughty Boy Blunder he had been! He didn't even do his homework! You see, the least he could do is answer me, right? Nope!" Joker sighed. "He didn't even tell me whether fore or backhand hurt more!" Joker giggled and held up a convenient piece of metal nearby.
"I'll show you." Conner picked him up and slammed him into the floor. He could feel the kryptonite radiation spreading. He didn't care. He swung it. Again. Again. Again. Again. Forehand, backhand, it didn't really matter. He notice Joker was trying to say something, and jammed the metal straight into his shoulder.
"Hey! I should have done that!" Joker wheezed happily, as if fantasizing about doing it to Robin again. Conner knew he was.
You don't deserve to live.
He would have done much more, if Cassie hadn't punched him in the face.