"Throw her in the tank over there!" came the shrill demand. There was some resistance and confusion and then the voice was heard again, "Don't stand there looking at me like I'm a mime! Mister J told me I need to keep her occupied so she can't escape! Do it!"

The voice peaked in its tone and almost instantaneously two larger oafs hoisted a large writhing sack into a tank they normally used for the high divers stunts.

"You stand watch! I gotta go freshen up for Mister J and show him my ring mistress outfit!"

Her mind was almost incoherent but survival instinct did not need much thought. She felt the water drenching the bag and flailed her arms about to break free. Her arms were firmly locked behind her, three sets of handcuffs cinched her arms quite firmly. She kicked as well, uncertain of how deep the water was. Her feet and legs were bound just as tight.

Get out of this now

Finally her mind was clearing as she heard a voice, the voice of her father in her head urging her to live. She opened her eyes wide and writhed about in the water so much that it looked like a storm at sea. She was about to lose all faith in her attempts when she looked above her. The sack was small and it wasn't entirely closed. She stretched out, pushing against the binds of the sack until they gave way and the sack opened.

Now out of her small prison she needed leverage to keep herself above water, she found though that if she was on her toes she could just keep her nose above water. That was all that was needed as her mouth was gagged.

Taking her first breath of fresh air stung, her lungs stung and she couldn't remember clearly why. She remembered she was going for lunch with the girls again, after Raquel's party all the girls had agreed that life was too short and they would meet up more often. The road she was on had been closed and she was told by quite a burly street worker that she had to take a short cut through the alleyway. Which was blocked by a large gift… which exploded…

Zatanna, you should have realised…

Zatanna remembered that after the explosion a sack was thrown over her head and then she must have been hit as well. She noted the burly clown before her and suddenly saw her burly street worker guiding her down the alleyway. She felt foolish and if she were not concentrating so hard on at least keeping her nose above water then she would have shook her head as well.

"TADA! Mister J is gonna love me in this!"

Zatanna scanned through the dusky surroundings to where the voice was emanating from. There was a trailer and in the doorway wearing a top hat and ring leaders red jacket was.

"Presenting! The new! The improved! Harley's Circus. Freaks a plenty and for sale to the highest bidder! Mister J is just the best for giving me my own circus! I think the look suits me." Harley Quinn twirled around in jubilation, until she stopped and looked Zatanna in the eyes.

"Oh, she escaped." She pulled the cane from her side, it had the head of a jester as the grip. She looked at the clown who was meant to be her guard. He looked back at her, not certain of what to expect. Like a twig she snapped and began striking the man repeatedly.

"WHY… DID… YOU … NOT .. TELL … ME! I … SHOULD … FEED … YOU .. TO … THE … LIONS!"

Harley's tirade was vicious and you would almost assume that the large clown would be able to defend himself but he simply cowered under the abuse of the slight and maniacal woman. Zatanna looked around, trying to find some way to take advantage of this distraction. She tried to see what slack the rope and cuffs around her legs had. It was almost minor. Not enough for her to bend to get her arms over her legs, never mind the fact that her arms were cuffed past her wrists so they would never bend anyway. Being gagged wasn't exactly helpful either. She could only watch and wait, this pained her.

How long till someone noticed she was missing, how long till someone came to save her if she couldn't save herself. Would Nightwing notice she was gone?

Whilst Zatanna mulled over her options in her mind, Harley had stopped taking out her frustrations and had walked over to the edge of the pool. She leaned against the edge and rested her head in her hand quite casually.

"Mister J says I need to break you, he told me he had full faith in me. You hear that? He trusts me," Harley cooed happily as she spoke to Zatanna, her expression suddenly drew on a dark tone as she smirked: "I'm gonna use all of my know how to make you forget and be a toy to be sold for Mister J. You'd draw a high price and then who knows, maybe that would mean Mister J would take me somewhere fancy to eat. Buy my some new clothes too!"

Artemis closed the door behind her; she heard the familiar quick steps of Wally coming to the door. He locked eyes with her and wrapped his arms around her tightly. Having to pretend she had been dead had made him value her all that more deeply.

"And how was the ladies get together?" Wally asked and took hold of her hand, leading her to the lounge so that she could sit down.

Artemis bit her lip: "It was good, but Zatanna wasn't there."

"League business?"

Artemis shook her head: "That's the thing, she had sent me a message to say she was on her way. Then she never arrived."

Wally sat on the couch and pulled Artemis onto his lap, he thought hard for a minute or two: "Maybe she ran off for a secret rendezvous with Nightwing. They do have a history." Wally raised an eyebrow and grinned sheepishly. Artemis clicked her tongue and elbowed her boyfriend in the ribs. She had this deep seated feeling that something was wrong. Even if Zatanna had gone off to see Nightwing, she would have told Artemis the truth anyway and not lied about it.

"If it were me that just didn't arrive when we promised to meet up, would you just laugh it off and think I'd gone to do something like visit my mom rather?" Artemis asked in an attempt to steer Wally back on track.

He tightened his grip on her and buried his head in her back: "I'd be getting the entire League to comb the Earth for you."

Artemis stroked his red hair and smiled: "Well then can we at least check if anyone has seen her? Please Wally, she's my friend."

Zatanna's nightmare had only just begun to get worse. Harley had summoned the other half of the pair of clown goons and had ordered them to climb into the pool once they saw she could no longer hold herself up. Zatanna had been gripping onto the last remnants of energy she had until eventually her legs gave way. The two lackeys waded clumsily through the water and hoisted her into the air, they carried her through what seemed like a large trailer park all the way to where Harley Quin had emerged earlier.

The clown who had been beaten up earlier knocked on the trailer door.

"WHAT?!"

The two men cowered at the sound of her voice. Harley swung the door open and it almost flew clean off of its hinges. She looked at the sight before her and sighed: "Bring her inside boys. Time to check if she's got anything useful in her pockets!"

Harley stepped aside and Zatanna was tossed onto the floor of the trailer, she landed with a heavy thud and could do naught but remain motionless. Harley closed the door and locked it carefully behind her.

"You know, the way Mister J talked about you. I got jealous, thought of all the ways I could make you seem unappealing to Mister J. Thought I could even cut you with this nice knife here that Mr J gave me." Harley took a silver blade off a table and slowly brought the knife closer and pressed it against Zatanna's cheek. Zatanna felt her skin wanting to tear and to smart, she held glare of defiance in her eyes. She would not let Harley have her way.

"You're looking at me in the same way that old man Haly did before I killed him. I hate that look!" Harley pressed the knife down hard enough to cut Zatanna's cheek; a line of blood began to emerge as Harley got up to wipe the knife down till it shone again.

"Next time I may just accidentally aim for your neck, Mister J wouldn't mind. He values me too much," Harley reassured herself as she began to pat down Zatanna's pockets to ensure she had no tracking device on her.

Zatanna's breath was ragged, her cheek stung bitterly. It was her first warning in this hellish circus, she thought back to what Harley had said.

"… old man Haly did before I killed him."

Nightwing surely would need to hear about this, if he ever found her, if she ever escaped. The first inklings of fear began to cling to her mind. She needed out of this circus of horror. She needed out of here right now.

Please rate and review, I was initially doing this as a story with an OC but I wanna keep it all original you know. Thanks for taking the time to read. Young Justice does not belong to me, this is merely me showing my appreciation and love through fanfiction!