First of all, a lot of the credit goes to my amazing beta reader OctaviaWithStarsForEyes. Go check out her work. Seriously, go look. You know you want too.

Feedback is VASTLY appreciated, even if it's just "Cool fic dude".

(Also fun fact, I couldn't decide on which title I wanted so I rolled a d20)

In all honesty, Nightwing should've been more afraid than he was.

What with the explosions, the Joker gas, and the ringing laughter, he shouldn't be this okay with it. Or used to it. All in all, this was probably very unhealthy. Mostly for the baddies, having the busted noses and all, but pretty unpleasant for the good guys too.

"Nightwing! You there?"

Panting, the young vigilante dodged a thrown chair and hit a button on his comm. "Yeah, I'm here."

"Good. I found Joker."

Cursing under his breath, Nightwing turned a corner, and leapt into an air duct at a speed the Flash would envy. "Whatever you do, do not engage." After a somewhat disgruntled sound, Robin replied, "I could just knock him out from a distance."

"No."

"But-"

"I saw Harley Quinn right after we got here, along with about forty-five goons. We've probably run into twenty. No way in hell he's unguarded. Stay put until I get there," Nightwing said as he crawled deeper into the maze of ducts, silently praying that they wouldn't collapse under his weight. He hadn't had time to check, but this was a pretty old building, maybe renovated in the- No. Stay focused, Grayson.

After three minutes of hissed profanity, cursing incorrect sources, and checking building schematics, Nightwing carefully slipped out a smoking hole in the wall from where someone else had fought. The moment his feet touched the floor, his hand flew to his comm. "Tigress. Where are you?"

"First floor. Did something happen?"

"Robin found Joker. Eighth floor. We need all the backup we can get." He inwardly flinched when she spat out a choice four letter word, followed by an audible thwack. "Got it. The stairs blew up, but I can get there from the fire escape. East side."

"Roger. Nightwing out."

The second he switched his comm off, Nightwing heard the laughter. He flinched, breath hitching as he moved to the exterior wall, forcing back the wave of panic that came from hearing that God-awful sound.

Regardless, Nightwing pulled his escrima sticks from his back once more, lowering into a fighting stance.

Unfortunately, he didn't have a moment. As he was focusing on the laughter, Harley Quinn charged from one of the empty rooms, inexplicably wearing roller skates. "Hiya, birdboy!" She yelled, swinging her oversized mallet at Nightwing, clipping his shoulder as he leapt out of the way. With a hiss of pain, he side-kicked her in the torso, and she skidded a few feet with a shriek before crashing to the ground.

However, he didn't have the time to savor his victory. Rolling out of the way of a strike from the side, he got a good look at his new opponent before he had to move again.

Same green hair, same yellowish-brown eyes, that damn Cheshire grin, and that damn crowbar already raised to strike him.

"Well, well, well, what's the birdie doing so far from the nest?" Joker cackled. He took a step forward, and Nightwing instinctively tensed. "Does Batsy know you're way out here in Metropolis? Ooh, the boy in blue's not gonna be happy about this, no..." He descended into manic giggles and lunged. Hissing a curse, Nightwing grabbed Joker by the back of the collar and slammed him to the ground. The clown twisted around, somehow landing a hit on the side of Nightwing's face.

"Mm, that had to hurt," he said, as Nightwing reeled for a split second before returning the blow three times over. But Joker just wouldn't stop laughing. The shrieks of mirth echoed off the walls. Out of the corner of his eyes, Nightwing caught a glimpse of a limp form slumped against the wall.

Robin.

Swearing under his breath, Nightwing tensed to strike. Artemis had better get there soon.

"Oh, come now, you're not focusing at all!" The maniac kept grinning despite the hail of blows from the twin escrima sticks, very few of which were deflected by the crowbar. "You know, the other one was really much more fun, oh yes..."

Nightwing froze, eyes almost comically wide. No. No way he was going there.

A shrieked cackle and a heavy blow to the ribs sent Nightwing to the floor with a loud snap.

"Y'know, there are just so many of you that I get a little mixed up. Robin this, Batgirl that, it just gets so confusing! Oh, but it must've been the second one, who was he again?" He took a second to land another blow on Nightwing's side. There went another rib.

"Wasn't his name...Jason?"

Nightwing's vision went red. Roundhouse kick to the side of the head. Punch to the stomach. Kick to the groin. The clown never stopped laughing.

"You son of a bitch!"

Honestly, Nightwing wasn't sure when the maniac hit the floor. He wasn't even fully conscious of what he was doing until he felt someone's hands on his arm. "Nightwing. Nightwing! Stop! He's down!"

Breathing heavily, Nightwing struggled to regain his composure as the blind rage ebbed away, his vision clearing as he focused instead on the shaking voice besides him. Robin?

At some point, Robin must have gotten up. He let his brother pull him off the clown as Artemis came through a broken window.

"I got held up. What'd I-Oh. Oh."

His vision came back into focus, and Nightwing internally winced at the bloody, laughing mess before him.

"...Nightwing?"

He glanced down at Robin for a moment when the younger's grip tightened. Biting back a curse, Nightwing instead said softly, "I'll call the police. Get to the Zeta." He gently pulled his arm from Robin's grip, and activated his wrist computer. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his two teammates hesitate at the window.

"Go."

The second the trio stepped out of the Zeta, Batman could tell something was wrong.

At first glance, it was immediately obvious something was off. Artemis was watching Nightwing out of the corner of her eye, tense and wary, clearly on edge. Robin had a hand on the back of his head, a slight grimace twisting his features. He, too, was obviously very aware of his older brother's every move.

Then there was Nightwing. He had a hand on his side. From how gingerly he was moving, it looked like he had at least one broken rib. A large bruise was already forming on his right cheek, and the side of his mouth was bloody, from what Batman hoped was only a knocked out tooth.

After a moment of deafening silence, Aqualad, who had returned from a separate mission, spoke up.

"What happened?"

Nightwing attempted to respond, but winced instead and looked to Tigress.

"The sources were wrong. It wasn't an arms deal, it..it was Joker. Harley Quinn, too, and God knows how many thugs.."

Batman's eyes flicked to his grimacing sons for a moment before he responded. "Nightwing and Robin are injured. Explain." Tigress hesitated, biting her lip. After taking a moment to formulate her response, she replied, "I...got to the fight with Joker late, I don't..."

Robin spoke up as soon as he realized that he was the only one capable of giving all of the information necessary. "I got to Joker first. Quinn knocked me out, so I didn't see what happened to Nightwing. But, I did see him...uh...beat the crap out of Joker."

With difficulty, Nightwing spoke up, his voice quiet and hoarse. "Crowbar. Broken rib, maybe two. Some bruises, lost a tooth. That's it."

Batman took a few steps towards his eldest and lowered his voice to barely more than a whisper. "You were clearly off guard to have sustained that many injuries in such a short amount of time. What the hell happened?"

The younger vigilante drew in a deep, painful breath and met his mentor's eyes. "H-He started talking about Ro-about Jason. I...I froze up. And when I hit him, I didn't stop hitting him until he went down, and...after."

Batman stilled for a split second before responding. "Nightwing, you cannot get that close to crossing the line, do you understand? No matter what he says, you will not do that again. Ever."

The younger paused for a split second, before staring back defiantly as his gaze hardened. "Like you wouldn't have done the same," he shot back harshly. Before Batman could interrupt, he continued. "If you're done, I'm going to go see Doctor Leslie. Broken ribs, remember?"

As he left, Nightwing turned and said something to Aqualad with a smile that seemed just a bit off, before stepping into the Zeta beam and disappearing into the yellow light.

Far below the Watchtower, a young man sat in a decrepit apartment in Gotham City, watching a screen displaying the hacked watchtower feed. He watched as the Dark Knight stared mutely after his angered son as Nightwing asked Aqualad for two weeks off, and left the orbiting fortress. Robin grimaced and glanced at Batman, who turned and immediately started getting details out of Tigress.

With a smile that didn't reach his eyes, Jason Todd lifted a red helmet from the table before him. He kept his eyes on Batman as he stood.

"I always love watching you work."