Alright! Next chapter of Dusk! I'm gonna have to make this a little quick here, but please read and review.
The van slowly made it into a badly made garage, the engine smoking in the gloom. The leader, a surly looking white man in a sweater, a gun jacket, and army pants got out of the drivers seat and the rest of the thugs followed, wordlessly unloading the loot that they got from the vaults.
"Any ideas?" Batgirl questioned. "I thought you could handle thugs like these?" Gauntlet said with a cocky grin. "Well, your advice will be considered." She mumbled. They watched them unload the van. Scanning for any weaknesses.
"C'mon boys." The leader said, motioning for them all to move on. Silently they moved their cargo into the hall of mirrors
"Gotcha." Gauntlet grinned as the two saw the thugs on the move. "They're heading into the Hall of Mirrors, a really bad place to be when you're in a fight." "It's such a cliche." Batgirl sighed. "Alright, let's take 'em down before we run into their boss."
"Who's their boss?" Gauntlet questioned.
"Take a look around!" She said, motioning to their surroundings. "Who do you think is their boss?"
"Oh." He replied as he followed batgirl into the hall of mirrors. Knowing that girl, she was gonna need a little backup.
The thugs walked up the side stairs of the Hall of Mirrors and rapped on the metal door that lead to an upper office. A slide in the door opened and two masked eyes stared at the group. They looked from the left to the right, then the slide closed, followed by the iron door to slowly open, then close as the group went inside.
Gauntlet and Batgirl slowly walked into the hall of mirrors, carefully going through the path that was already outline with neon green graffiti. When they got to the other side, however, they saw a large bonfire and a crudely made ring was made with scrap metal, cars, and wires. "This...isn't creepy at all..." Gauntlet said, as the two slowly moved into it, Gauntlet with his revolver out, and Batgirl with her batarangs at the ready.
"I really don't like the looks of this." Batgirl mumbled.
"Welcome boys and girls!" A voice proclaimed. The two of them snapped towards the voice. "To tonights entertainment!" A skinny man in a purple suit stood before them with a wicked grin.
Gauntlet whipped the revolver around and aimed down the sights at the Joker, the man himself. "Joker! What the hell are you planning?" Batgirl mentally face palmed herself. Why did she have to be with this meat head? She regained her composure. "We're not playing your game Joker." Batgirl growled at him, readying her batarangs.
"Where's the fun in that, sweets?" Joker cackled. Soon the two were surrounded by a hoard of thugs. They all smirked to themselves. There was going to be a fight. "I'm so glad you could make it to my little party! I spared no expense."
"Did I hear that right? Did he call you "Sweets"?" Gauntlet muttered to Batgirl, who sighed. "It's a long story, Shauntlet." Batgirl said, getting ready for the upcoming brawl. "For the last time." Gauntlet said, a vein popping in his head, "It's not 'Shauntlet." It's GAUNTLET!" He suddenly roared, and then all hell broke loose.
That's when the thugs charged. All of them attacking at once. The two of them began to fight off the crowd. Batgirl preformed a series of flips and kicks while Gauntlet stuck to his revolver. Joker just watched the two of them in amusement. To him this was the funniest thing in the world
Gauntlet fired two more shots before his gun ran empty. He cursed underneath his breath and jammed it into its holster before lighting his fists up and continuing his assault, throwing right hooks and dodging the wild punches that the thugs threw. "Is this a joke?" Gauntlet yelled as he and Batgirl finished off the last of the thugs, "Was that supposed to be a challenge?"
The Joker began to applaud the two. "That was merely the appetizer Gauntlet. Here's the main course." Joker sneered. With that, two titan creatures were lead into the arena. Bound in chains. "Of course, I couldn't bear to force the two of you to share just one. So I brought two." With that, the chains were released as the titan monsters roared. Batgirl readied herself. As did Gauntlet.
Gauntlet studied the creatures, who were now lumbering towards the two. "Okay..." He said, a plan already coming to mind. "Batgirl." He said. "What?" She said, swiveling her head to look at him. "Do you trust me?" "No." She said bluntly. "Wasn't hoping for a yes." He said. With that, he grabbed Batgirl's shoulder, practically forcing her to move while the Titan Brutes charged, and as they stumbled by, Gauntlet tossed her on the back of one of them like Colossus would with Wolverine...or was that the other way around... Hmm... He scratched his head. "How do you ride this thing?!" Batgirl shrieked as she hung on for dear life. That broke him out his train of thought and then Gauntlet tried to fend off the other one.
"Steer him into the other one!" Gauntlet shouted. Batgirl did as she was told. She yanked the creature until it stumbled into the other one. Finally the titan managed to knock her off. That's when Gauntlet hopped onto the back of another one.
"Oh! I get it!" Batgirl proclaimed as she pieced the puzzle together. "Alrighty." Gauntlet grinned. "Now, let's wreck shit!" The two then directed the brutes to charge into Joker's podium. Already seeing it coming, the clown jumped out of there. The Demigod and Batgirl were able to jump off in time. The Brutes however, met a very sticky end indeed.
"Give it up, Joker!" Gauntlet shouted, his arms and fists lighting up. "You're done for!" "I hope you kiddies have saved room for dessert." The Joker chuckled as he pulled out a detonator. The two of them froze. Not wanting him to press the button.
"You wouldn't dare." Gauntlet growled.
"Oh but I would." The clown replied. Slowly, his thumb began to lower as his smile grew wider. Batgirl just couldn't take it anymore as she leaped from where she was and knocked The Joker down. Falling on top of him in the process. The detonator flew out of Joker's hand in the process, and while Batgirl struggled with him, Gauntlet ran to where the device had landed, plucking it from off the ground.
"Face it Joker. You'll never win." Batgirl grinned triumphantly. Joker glared daggers at her. He was a bit of a sore loser at times. Gauntlet walked over and ripped Joker off the ground. "What the hell was that all about?!" Gauntlet groaned. "You put us through all that for what?"
"For a distraction." Joker mumbled, then he passed out. At first the duo were confused, then they both heard the peeling of tires on asphalt, and they turned to see the speeding van from before getting farther and farther away, turning into a dot in the dawn dappled sky.
"Dammit! They got away!" Gauntlet cursed as the two left Joker, tied up of course, and were slowly walking out of the amusment park. "Well, that was completely pointless." Batgirl muttered. "So, care to elaborate on your long Joker story?" Gauntlet questioned. Batgirl let out a heavy sigh as she looked up at him. "It's not exactly the happiest of tales." She explained. "Believe me, I've heard worse." Gauntlet chuckled, putting his hands in his pockets
"Well... I lived with my mother for about 15 years. She was a psychologist at Arkham. Joker's head psychologist." Batgirl explained. "She died not too long ago." Gauntlet and Batgirl went real quiet until she started speaking again. "Joker killed her. But...the thing is, she wasn't even my mother in the first place." Batgirl chuckled slightly. Gauntlet looked closely at her. "She adopted me from my birth parents. Who weren't exactly...fit for the job."
"Wait...you don't mean..." Gauntlet said as the wheels turned in his head. Batgirl rubbed under her eyes and nodded.
"The Joker and Harley Quinn are my biological parents..." Batgirl concluded, finishing her story.
Silence followed after that. The two slowly walked on the sidewalk until they reached a park. When they got to a bench, they sat down. "Damn." Gauntlet said, "I've heard of messed up things, but that...well, that's messed up." Batgirl nodded. "It is." She said.
Silence followed.
"I'm sorry for what I said earlier." Gauntlet said, apologetically. "Hey, don't worry about it." She replied. The two of them walked in silence back towards the city. "Well, I should probably get back. B-man's gonna be so pissed." Gauntlet laughed. "Yeah. You know, personally I think he needs some anger management classes."
He chuckled at his own joke while Batgirl stared at him blankly.
"It's not that funny." She said.
"Yeah, I guess." Gauntlet admitted, scratching the back of his head. "But, I have to say, your jokes are a bit better."
"Only a bit?" Batgirl chuckled with a smirk. Gauntlet smirked back at her. "Sorry for yelling at you back at the bank..." Gauntlet shrugged. "Let's just call it a truce?" He held out his right armored hand, which glinted in the dawn. She looked up at him and smiled as she took his right hand with hers. "Truce!" A wide smile on her face.
With that, the two shook hands, the small blonde haired dark knight and the puke punk rock demigod with the metal arms became friends.
"Alrighty, now that's out of the way, now is the time for the night owls to snooze." Gauntlet said, stretching his arms out. "Adieu, Batgirl!" Gauntlet then ran to the nearest building, and shot his chain grapple up into the roof. Batgirl watched the small red blur shoot from roof to roof and looked down at her hands to see that a small post it note was stuck to her right hand, the same one she had shook with. It had a number on it, and three words were written above.
"Call me sometime?"
Batgirl smiled at the note in her hand. How cute. The whole punk rock look aside, he wasn't actually that bad of a guy.
"Sure, why not." Batgirl muttered to herself as she made her way back to the batcave.