AN: There are two things I must say:
Number One: I am so sorry I took so long to wrote this, I honestly have no excuse
And Number Two: Wowzers, over 500 hits, for one chapter? And 14 lovely reviews, everyone who read/reviewed/author or story alerted gets a load of virtual cookies for making me the happiest author on Fan Fiction.
And now this old thing;
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Young Justice, the Joker or most of the funny bits, like that joke at the end, they belong to DC, as does the lovely page of Joker quotes I found, so anyways...
Boy Wonder
Chapter Two: If I Weren't Crazy I'd Be Insane
Artemis snorted, "Relax Wally, Robin probably did that disappearing act and wound up getting lost,"
"Even so we should still find him," Aqualad said, "If the clown is here and Robin's on his own then he could be in serious danger, we should split up and find him;"
"I'll take the tent," Megan decided,
"Superboy and I will go to the old animal and performers' facilities," Aqualad said,
"That leaves me and Kid Mouth here with the Horror Hotel and hall of mirrors, right?"
Artemis frowned as Kaldur nodded, "M'gann, link us up,"
The Atlantean looked to the Martian, who nodded; there was a slight jolt as the teams' minds connected; the five of them set off, and Megan's voice seemed to echo around the insides of their skulls;
'Can everyone hear me?'
'Yeah,' came Superboy's growling telepathic response,
'As always,' Wally replied,
'That's a positive Miss M,' Artemis confirmed,
'Robin, check in,' Aqualad said, there was nothing,
Kid Flash stopped, and thought hard; 'Hello, Rob? Anyone? Hellooo!'
'He can't hear you, genius,' Artemis snapped, 'Not if he didn't reply to Kaldur.'
'Says who?' Wally snapped back,
'M'gann can you locate Robin?' Aqualad said,
There was a pause, in which all of the teens seemed to freeze; ten seconds, eleven seconds, then;
'I can't make contact! I'm sorry, I tried but it's like he isn't there.'
Even in thought the panic in Megan's voice was clear,
'And what does that mean?' Wally asked, 'When you can't make telepathic contact?'
Megan paused for thought; 'Well, they are either outside my mental range, they have no consciousness or they are dead.'
'Let's try and rule out curtain number three.' Artemis suggested,
'I agree,' Aqualad said, 'For now, we search for both Robin and the clown,'
'He's not in the old animal quarters,' Superboy said, 'I'd be able to see him,'
'I can't see anyone in here either,' came Miss Martian's reply from the circus tent,
Artemis looked around the darkened hall of mirrors, nothing, she was about to report her non-existent findings when there was a muffled crash, immediately the archer was on high alert, drawing her bow and fitting an arrow within seconds of her hearing the noise, there was a gentle whoosh as Kid Flash skidded to a halt next to her,
"Did you see something?" he whispered,
Artemis shook her head, "Heard something," she muttered,
The pair walked on in silence for several minutes, "Wally, are you scared?"
The speedster stopped in his tracks, "Who? Me? Nah, why would I be? I mean it's only a dumb old clown who is armed with marbles and flowers, how scary can it be? And really why-"
"Wally." Artemis interrupted her companion's chatter, "Are you scared?"
"I- Yeah, I am, Robin's the only guy who knew how to fight this wacko and now he's gone and vanished off the radar," this time the Kid's chatter actually made sense, "What about you?"
Artemis nodded, "Anyone with a brain in their head is scared of this guy, he taints everything he touches and quite possibly has leverage against the league now Robin's out of the picture." Artemis couldn't help but shiver slightly, "If I wasn't scared I'd be a fool."
A mirror in front of them toppled with a crash and they yelled out in shock and fear, Artemis brought up her bow; "Who's there?"
There was no reply, only a distinct shadowy figure turn and sprint away, Kid Flash whisked off after him, leaving Artemis standing alone, arrow poised for firing, "Hello?"
Her voice echoed around the building as Kid Flash sped back, shaking his head, "Nothing, no-one was there,"
Artemis growled and slammed her fist into the nearest mirror, causing it to shatter, "This place! It's driving me crazy,"
There was a high pitched whistling and a cackling, lilting voice streamed through dozens of concealed speakers; "Now, now Fartemis; you're not going crazy,"
"No, crazy would be you," Artemis shot back,
"Oh please, it's one of my best features! If I wasn't crazy I wouldn't be anywhere near as brilliant!" Joker giggled,
Kid Flash snorted, "You're insane if you think you're going to get away with this,"
"Really Flash-Boy, I'm offended, I'll have you know that I am not insane..."
Kid Flash ignored the clown's mistake in his name with a smirk, "Yeah, right,"
"...I am simply crazy; there is really a huge difference,"
It was then that Artemis noticed a hissing sound, even as the Joker's insane cackling filled her ears she and Kid Flash fell to the floor with a thud.
Oo0oO
Miss Martian felt a small jolt as Kid Flash and Artemis' minds disconnected, she put a hand to her temple and concentrated, nothing,
'Aqualad, Superboy.'
'We're here M'gann, what's wrong?' Kaldur's voice echoed reassuringly around her mind,
'Kid Flash and Artemis have disconnected, I'm worried something may have happened,' Miss Martian
'Stay there, we'll come over and regroup,' Kaldur said,
Miss Martian turned midair, gazing around the large and mostly empty red and white tent; clearly abandoned for at least five years, all the spectators stands were still in place, there was still straw strewn across the floor and a trapeze swung gently above her in a gentle breeze seeping in through tears in the garish tarp. Miss Martian noticed a second trapeze lying on the floor below her; she landed and bent over to have a closer look, the wood looked old, but not rotten, the wires it had previously hung from were twisted, like it had been dropped carelessly once it had broken, Megan picked it up, there was a harsh screeching as maniacal laughter filled the tent;
"Ladies and gentlemen if I may direct your attention to the centre ring; you will see Miss Space-Invader, clutching the trapeze that led two fully trained professionals to their deaths,"
Megan dropped the trapeze in horror, "What do you mean Joker?"
She rose into the air, spinning in an attempt to locate the source of the deranged clown's voice,
"Tut, tut Marshy you really should do your research, I do, I looked up why this place closed down five years ago, the murder of the star act, the orphaning of their eight year old son and, of course, a fully stocked carnival chock-a-block full of stuff for me to use."
"Use for what?" Megan demanded,
"Nothing! Now aren't I just good enough to eat?"
"That makes no sense clown,"
"I know, do you want to hear a joke?"
the question distracted Megan, "No, I do not."
"Shame, I've got a really good one,"
Megan noticed a sight hissing sound as the Joker continued; "Two guys are in a lunatic asylum and one night they decide they don't like it there anymore..."
"What is the point of this Joker?" Megan asked, sinking to the ground,
"Tch, tch, let me finish Moonbeam, now as I was saying... they don't like it in the loony bin so they decide to break out! Just like that and they're on the roof and there's this one little gap between the asylum roof and freedom and one guy, he jumps it no problem, but the other... well he chickens out. So then, the first guy has an idea...He says 'Hey! I have my flashlight with me! I'll shine it across the gap and you can walk along the beam and join me!'"
Megan sank to her knees, coughing,
"But the second guy shakes his head and says, well he says..."
Megan felt her head hit the floor as the joke drew to an end,
"'What, do you think I'm crazy? You'll turn of the light when I'm halfway across!'"