Artemis screamed as the crowbar once again connected with her ribs. She was trying not to cry, but it was getting difficult, her eyes had begun to tear naturally. As the crowbar connected, this time with her stomach, Artemis finally gave in. She cried and let her tears trickle silently down her face as the demented clown played his game of torture with her.
As he swung again she felt her ribs crack, and too add to her pain the clown started speaking. "Ouch, that looked like it hurt." Artemis gritted her teeth trying not to give the clown what he wanted. He continued with his bashing until he got another response out of her, this time she was sure that her scream could be heard from anywhere in Gotham. She felt her body sag as the clown took a break in beating her to death. Her wrists were worn raw where the rope had chafed her as she moved. Her hands were mounted above her head, tied to a bar in the warehouse. She had no idea where her bow and arrows were, and right now she didn't care. She probably couldn't string one to save her life in her condition. She slowly was finding it harder to breath as her rib pressed against her lung. As the joker turned to once again play with her, as he called it, a window broke as a boy wearing a yellow and black cape flew in. "Why Robin, nice of you to join us. I was curious to why Bats hadn't come to her rescue yet, but now I see. She your girlfriend isn't she, well I honestly think you're a little young to be dating and apparently so does Bats, but what the hey, you too look good together." Robin's eyes narrowed as he observed Artemis' body lying limp and broken on the floor. "What, not in a talking mood? Well, I can talk for the both of us then."
Dick had never looked so much like Batman than in that one moment, he expertly jumped and landed next to Artemis, leaning down he deftly untied her from the bar. She looked even worse up close, her skin was pale and she was covered in blood, her eyes were only halfway open and she had tear stains on her cheeks. "Leaving so soon Bird Boy, we didn't even get to talk." Dick ignored him and bent down to pick her up, but was stopped when goons rushed in on every side of him. He normally would have jumped into the rafters to confuse them, but couldn't leave Artemis on the floor by herself defenseless, so instead he stood his ground and took them on. He successfully disabled ten of them before he got hurt, as he was taking the gun out of someone's had, he felt an explosion of pain from his left arm from where someone had stabbed him with a knife. He turned and caught the one with the knife in the jaw and the guy fell backwards over his own feet. As Joker realized that his goons were almost gone, he headed for the exit. "Goodbye boy blunder, I forgot I have a date tonight, hey maybe we could double up some time," he said before chuckling and taking off. As Dick took down the last of the goons he picked up Artemis and took her outside to his bike, that's when he wished that he had a car. Lucky for him Artemis realized that she needed to hold on and was still conscious enough to do it. Dick went straight towards the Batcave; he only slowed when the lights of the said cave came into sight. He stopped just as Wally zeta-ed into the cave. Wally ran over to the bike in the same seconded that Artemis was letting go. Wally caught her as she fell off of the bike, and ran her over to the med bay. After checking everything over twice before Alfred even made it down the stairs, Wally then began questioning his best friend.
"What happened?" his first question was predicted and Dick already had an answer.
"Joker," he said evenly before going into more detail.
"You know Bruce is out of the country at the moment, so when Joker escaped and planted bombs I kinda needed help from someone nearby and Artemis was the only one I could think of that wasn't busy. She said yes when I asked her, we went our separate ways to disarm the bombs and we were supposed to meet up on top of one of the houses. As she was approaching I saw Jokers men grab her and I followed them until I lost them during the chaos of the city streets, so I came back here to review video camera footage and found out where they took her. As you know I had been trying to get ahold of you all night to tell you what was going on, and I finally got through on the way to get her. When I got to the warehouse that Joker was using I found him hurting her and we both managed to get out, but he got away, so I probably will be getting back out there sometime soon to go find him before he does any permanent damage," Dick's explanation took about two minutes, but pretty much summed everything up.
"Come on," Wally said as he became fed up with the fact that Dick was just standing there bleeding while explained. The boy took him into the back end of the med bay and grabbed some cleaner and gauze for the wound.
"Don't bother, it needs to be stitched and I don't think you know how to do that yet," Dick's response caught the speedster off guard for a moment, then Wally smoothly responded, "Doesn't matter, it still needs to be cleaned." Dick didn't protest and sat still as Wally cleaned the wound; Alfred came over later to stitch it.
About an hour later Dick had gotten his bike ready and had a list of possible Joker hideouts in his head and was ready to head off when Wally stopped him. "Where are you going?" the speedster asked.
"I have to go find Joker before anything happens to anyone else," the boy wonder responded curtly and emotionlessly.
"Do you need help?" Wally was looking closely at the boy now, searching for some excuse to come along.
"No, I already got someone hurt tonight, I don't need to hurt you too," the boy turned and started to get on his bike when Wally grabbed his shoulder.
"No, you do need me. You're off your game, I can see it. All that's going to happen if I don't go is you getting hurt."
Dick glared for a second then nodded his head and said, "Fine, just don't do anything stupid, okay?"
Normally Wally would make a joke about how he wasn't stupid, but with the mood Dick was in he didn't push it.
They took off together, Wally quickly putting in the earpiece that Robin handed him as he ran out of the cave. "So, where do you think he is?"
"Not sure, but I think the Carnival is a good place this time," he said as they turned a corner and Robin sped up.
"Why the Carnival, isn't that a little cliche?" Wally responded as he sped up to match the bike's speed.
"Yes, but I don't believe the Joker cares about cliche. He almost rotates through the iconic places that he uses, and since he hasn't used the carnival in over two months it almost around time," Dick glance over at Wally who just nodded in response then added on, "He also said something about having a date with Harley, and since both of them are clowns it wouldn't be surprising that they would go there." The rest of the trip was spent in silence. As they neared their destination Robin slowly let up on the speed, bringing the bike to a easy stop. He hopped off at the lit gates and walked in, not even waiting for Wally to stop behind him. As they walked various devices sprung out in attempt to catch them and Robin easily thwarted them all, leaving a slightly shocked Wally in his place. When they approached the fun house, Jokers signature area, Robin grabbed two gas masks out of his utility belt and handed one to Wally after putting the other one on. A few seconds after walking through the entrance the room they were standing in was engulfed in a green colored gas. Robin just kept on walking and a slightly confused Kid Flash followed. When they reached the main room Robin spoke through the garbling gas mask, "Come on out Joker, I know you're here and you might as well bring Harley out with you right now."
He spoke with an authority that Wally didn't even know the young boy could have. Sure enough a few seconds seconds after Robin spoke an eerie cackle filled the room and robin armed himself with a few birdarangs as the man appeared. "Wow Bird Boy, I didn't know you liked guys, hey we still could have that double date if you want, but you and your friend are going to have to take off those masks if you expect to eat." As he mentioned the masks Harley came from behind and yanked them off of both boys heads, leaving a stunned Kid Flash and a ready Robin.
The fight started when Robin launched the two birdarangs at the smiling man and Harley began attacking the yellow clad speedster. While they were fighting Joker kept trying to taunt the boy wonder by talking about dating. At some point Robin got fed up with it and mumbled out, "Shut up you deranged clown."
"Now Bird Boy is that very nice, I'm just giving you advice," He ended with an attempting innocent smile looking smile on his face.
"Yeah, just like you gave that little girl advice Joker?" He said as he backflipped over the clown's head, "You will pay for hurting her."
"Oh, now Bird Boy, I just gave her a make-over. What's the harm in that?" he asked as he stabbed towards the boy with a knife, "I can give you one too if you would like,or maybe your friend over there would want one."
Robin turned and watched as Harley tripped Wally and pinned him to the ground with a gun. "KF!" the boy screamed as he threw a birdarang, not even noticing that it put his arm within Jokers reach. The instant the projectile was released Joker reached out and grabbed the teen's gloved hand and spun the young vigilante towards him.
"Now," he spoke happily while holding the boy from behind, the knife pressed up against his face, "how about we make you date ready."
"NO!" Dick heard Wally scream as the blade of the knife dug into the side of his mouth. He tasted the metallic tang of blood and tried to kick and bite his captor. The kicks were useless because of the way he was being held and biting wasn't working because half of his cheek was ripped open. From the corner of his eye he saw Wally be hit in the head with the butt of Harley's gun and fall to the ground unconscious.
"Now that that meddling speedster is out of the way, we can take our prize and go. Come now Harley, we have some work to do."
Dick struggled a second longer before Harley walked up to him and hit him hard in the head and everything went black.
When Wally woke up all he could think about was the blaring pain in his head and the question, 'where was he? This isn't Central City.'
It took him a moment to realize that he was in Gotham and had been helping Dick and when he was able to stand he went outside and saw that his bike was still there, which most likely meant that that he was captured, not looking for them. The speedster ran back to the cave, his thoughts filling with worry, he almost didn't notice the ice patch in front of him. He just barely dodged the obstacle. The secret entrance opened and Wally raced in, Alfred stood up from his spot next to the bed as he ran in.
"Is Master Dick with you?" the english butler asked, a hint of worry in his tone.
"No," Wally paused to catch his breath, "I think Joker has him."
The butler's eyes widened at the mention of the green haired clown. "Master Bruce made sure he could track him if something like this ever happened," Alfred walked over to the computer that took up a good portion of the cave and brought up a map of Gotham, he pressed a button and a red light appeared on the screen. It was moving toward the warehouse district.
"I'm on it, tell me if he moves," the speedster didn't even wait a second before he had his goggles on and was ready to go.
"Wait," the butler yelled, "that area is already iced over from the last storm we had, you wouldn't be able to run. I can get the Batmobile ready for you."
"Alright," Wally responded impatiently. He walked over to the medical area and looked at his sleeping girlfriend. He reached down and gently brushed the hair out of her eyes. He heard the revving of an engine and turned towards the sound, a second after he turned a hand grabbed his.
"Wally?" Artemis voice searched for an answer. He turned back around to face her and kneeled down so he was level with the bed. "Hey," whispered quietly, "how are you feeling?"
"Bad," she responded, "What happened?"
"You don't remember?" Wally asked, truly worried that she could have had a concussion.
"I remember being taken and Robin asking me for help. I remember disarming the bombs," she paused for a second and looked like she was remembering something horrific, "But when did you get here and why?"
"I came here when Rob said you had been taken, and when he went out to track the Joker I went with him, figuring he needed back up. I got knocked out and when I woke up Robin was gone," he stopped and looked down. She could tell he was blaming himself from the way he was acting about it.
"Hey, we'll find him," she said and sat up, "Together." He smiled at her and then she turned to get out of the bed. Artemis hissed in pain and closed her eyes when she attempted to stand up. Wally steadied her with his arm and helped her lie back down, by that time Alfred had come back over, "I wouldn't try standing yet ." He came by after Wally sat her down, "It would be best if you rested for a few days," then the butler turned to Wally, "The Batmobile is ready for you."
"Thanks Alfred," he said before running over to the said car. Strapping himself in he found it to be more complicated than his dad's car. Once he figured out where the gas and brake were he set off, taking care not to go so fast that he would wreck it.
When he neared the warehouse he pressed down on the brake, careening to a stop. Remembering the traps from last time, Wally opted to be fast and unseen. He planned on just getting Robin out of there and didn't even consider capturing the demented clown. Taking a deep breath he opened the door to the Batmobile and took off running. Deftly avoiding the ice around the building he ran straight inside and stopped dead. He gasped and his mouth opened slightly.
Strapped to a chair was Robin, his mouth, arms, and legs were each bound by a strip of fabric . His utility belt hung on a peg surrounded by goons across the room. What was really scary though was the line-up sitting in front of Robin. Thirteen girls, each with their hands bound behind their back and sitting on their legs, were nervously eyeing the boy wonder and the green haired ghoul that was named the Joker. All of the girls had big scared smiles stretched across their faces and each girl had their own design of clown make-up on. Robin was awake, glaring at the supposed 'man' that stood next to him. It took Wally a second too long to realize that Harley was missing from the scene in front of him and by the time that second was over it was a second too late. He felt the impact of something against his skull and fought to stay awake. Turning on his heel Wally snatched the crowbar out of her hands and stumbled forward as she tripped him. He regained his balance and shot towards her again. Aiming for her legs Wally managed to knock her down and he quickly tied the girl up using a piece of rope on the floor. When he looked up he saw Dick standing over Joker, a cocked fist in front of the man's face. The boy punched twice and then stopped himself, glancing at the girls next to him.
"KF help me up here," Robin yelled and the speedster shot towards him. "Get the girls out of here, I'm grabbing my belt."
Wally nodded then started carrying the hostages out at superspeed. When he was done he looked over at Robin and saw him tying the goons up with rope.
"I called the police they should be here soon, let's go."
Wally nodded and headed towards the car, Robin followed after. Wally drove and Dick tensely stared out the window. He was still off and detached even though Joker was going to be behind bars in the next hour. Wally remembered the look on Robin's face when he was standing over Joker and the look on Artemis' when she was remembering what had happened.
"Dick," Wally said softly, "What happened when you were with Artemis and Joker."
"I don't want to talk about it," the boy said curtly and closed his eyes.
When they arrived at the Cave Alfred seemed relieved that Robin was with them. The butler grabbed the boy and brought him over to a medical area and began bandaging him immediately. Wally went back over to Artemis.
She smiled at him, he smiled at her. "Artemis, what happened before I got here?"
Her smile dropped, she closed her eyes and opened them. "Before he set bombs Joker attacked a little girl, she was seven or eight at the most. He dressed her up in clown make-up and had used his knife to cut a smile on her face. Robin and I had been trying to catch him when he disappeared with the girl. She was crying when we found her," Artemis took a deep breath, "then-"
"Joker murdered her," Dick cut in. "A helpless little girl and he killed her, murdered her and laughed!" Dick got quiet and Wally reached out to touch his shoulder, he pulled back. "No!" he shouted, "I don't need your sympathy that girl's family does! They didn't want their child to die they didn't want-"
Wally pulled Dick into a hug. The boy started to cry. "It's so unfair. Why did she have to die, she was so young."
"Shhhh, Dick, shhh. I know, I know it's unfair, but it's what happens." Wally started rubbing circles on his back.
"Why does it have to happen. Why did they have to fall! Why did she die! Why wasn't it me!"
Wally held his brother close and let him cry.