I OWN NOTHING FROM THIS GAME! ONLY TAYLOR AND DYLAN ARE MINE!

LOL, glad you like it, Leyshla Gisel. It all gets even better ;)

Chapter Three

Joker's Taunt

Batman had been serious when he told her that they were going to be crawling.

She looked at him like he had been crazy when he told her to crawl through the air duct but she did what he said; after all, he was letting her come without a fight.

Oracle had patched them through into the guard's radio feed and they got wind of some more Blackgate prisoners by the Boiler and that the guards had spotted Joker behind them before the feed went down. The Computers were apparently up and down like crazy and Gordon's daughter told them that she would keep trying.

"Watch out," Taylor squeezed into the small corner to let Batman slip past her and kick the vent off of the end of the passage.

She gave a whistle at how far it flew. "20 bucks says that you would play a mean ball of soccer, Bats."

He turned and looked at her. "Bats?" Only the Joker called him that.

"Yep. I ain't gonna say 'Batman' every time I talk, you know." She told him. She could have sworn the man had rolled his eyes before dropping out of the duct into the Processing Corridor just in time to see the doors ahead of them closing behind a guard. Taylor crawled forward and followed after him, hanging onto the edge so her drop wouldn't be as hard as his. She took notice of the wind-up teeth chattering around on the floor. "Okay, if you didn't get this from before I believe that the Joker is playing with you."

Batman nodded before stomping on the teeth. "That's all Joker does, but there's something about this one. How had he gotten control of the inside?"

"A traitor, perhaps?" Taylor offered. Batman looked at her. "Believe me, that's gotta be the only way."

They moved through the doors themselves to find the guard in front of a window, watching in horror as two on the other side of the glass were banging on it as a green smoke filled it up.

"Warning. Decontamination Room. Toxins detected. Warning. Decontamination Room. Area Sealed."

"A warning earlier would have been helpful!" Taylor growled, looking at the control pad next to the door. "Damn," She cursed. "You need a code to override and open the doors."

"Can you do it?" The guard beside them asked.

"Not fast enough." Taylor shook her head. "I'm good with computers but I doubt that those guys in there can last too much longer."

The Guard turned to Batman. "What is that stuff?"

"Joker Toxin," Batman answered. "Listen! The room is full of poison gas. Anyone caught in there is dead!"

"Are you going to get in there and help them, Batman?" He asked.

"How can he do that? If he's caught in there he'll die too. Then what'll happen? He's who Joker and the others want, right?" Taylor asked. She looked at the man in tights with a raised brow as he held out a hand to her. "What?"

"Are you coming or not?" Batman asked her. She then took notice of the small gun in his other hand and put two and two together with the vent above them. She, ignoring the blush on her cheeks, wrapped her arms around his waist as his arm wrapped around her. This guy…was very warm and very, very muscular.

There was another vent duct that they had to crawl through and they heard the guard's cries below them still. Batman seemed pissed as he tossed the metal vent against the wall before hurriedly charging through on his hands and knees. Taylor was half pleased and half disappointed, as she followed behind him, that Batman was wearing a cape. It covered everything from behind.

"This isn't a simple escape attempt," Batman told himself as he kicked the other vent off. "Joker's been planning this."

"Over here. Please!" Taylor dropped down and followed Batman to the edge of the floor to see one of the guards hanging on for dear life.

Batman reached down and pulled him up with one hand. "You're going to be fine. Stay here." Taylor could see a few others on the vents and catwalks above the green gas, all looking worried about the ones still below. Batman hurried on and nearly gave Taylor a heart attack when she had to jump across the large gap to follow him.

"Batman's here! Just hold on a little longer, Steve."

"You, stay here." Batman told Taylor.

"What?" She asked.

"Let me go down there and take care of the Joker Toxin before you follow. You've never dealt with it before so it's safer this way."

Taylor thought for a moment. "It does make sense. All right, but if you try to ditch me," She gave a smirk as the man in tights grappled up higher above them. She then turned to the guard beside her. "Hey, have you heard from Carmicheal since any of this happened?"

"Carmicheal?" The man looked at her for a moment. "You must be…no, I haven't. Dylan's radio was cut off. I know that Cash had been trying to get through to him but I lost contact with him as well. His radio was either dropped or smashed, but don't worry. Your brother's smart. He was a Marine so he knows how to stay alive in situations like this. When everything is back to normal you'll see; he'll be just fine."

Taylor smiled at the man. He was right. Dylan was a Marine. She shouldn't worry too much. "Thanks."

Batman had done something to turn the fans back on, sucking all the green gas back out and the computer voice went off about the air being pure again before Joker's creepy laugh went off. Hearing a whistle from below, Taylor tilted her head down to see Batman on the main floor, looking like he was waiting for her to jump down to him. She frowned for a moment before doing just that. She had always wanted to jump off her balcony and into the arms of the man waiting below that would take her away to something…whatever it would be, but the Dark Knight hadn't been the one she had seen doing just that. And this wasn't a little fairy tale that she wanted. This was something else.

Glancing at the bodies on the ground she continued to frown; they were guards and convicts both. "It seems that Joker doesn't care who he kills."

"No, he doesn't," Batman told her. "It's all just a game to him; a game that I intend to break."

In the Transfer Loop Taylor gladly took her turn in smashing the Chattering teeth before a few more convicts decided to get the jump on Batman. There was green paint on the floor in the shapes of arrows and smiley faces, leading them down one of the corridors and at the end of the hall was another face, waiting on them. As they drew closer the door opened, giving them view of Joker waiting on them on top of some kind of hanging…block.

"What took you so long?" The man in the purple suit grinned. Batman whipped out one of his Batarangs and tossed it; the Joker ducked down and gave a laugh.

"There's no escape, Joker. I will find you." Batman growled.

"I'm counting on it. Just not yet!" The Joker replied before he stomped on the metal object he was standing on and it began to be pulled back. The door dropped open and Taylor let her mouth drop as well at the sight of the creature stepping out of it. "Oooh. He's a big one."

"What the fuck is that!" She cried. The ground trembled as the thing jumped down towards her and Batman.

"Get back!" Batman growled as the creature picked up a dead guard and threw it at them.

"With pleasure. This one's all yours, Batman!" She told him, dodging out of the way. She would have gladly gone into one of the offices but they were blocked with those blue lights again' she was sure she would be shocked or something like that if she even tried. With nothing else to do but dodge when the creature got too close, Taylor turned. Joker was still just standing on the metal box, laughing and watching. "Oy!" she called out. "You mind telling me what you plan on doing?"

The crazy man turned to look at her with that grin of his. "Now why would I tell you that? It would ruin all the fun!" He then gave her a question himself. "Who are you? Is this Bats new partner?"

Taylor snorted. "Please, you wouldn't get me running around in tights if the world was on fire."

"Oh? Then one of his…fan girls?"

Taylor made a buzzer sound. "Not even close. One more try, Mr. J." She then pulled a thoughtful look. Who had she heard calling the Joker that before? She was sure that she had heard it.

Joker threw his head back with a loud laugh. "Oh, I like this one, Bats! You should keep this one! Or just give her to me, whichever one you prefer!"

Batman gave the creature a kick to the face before glaring at the man behind it. The creature went to run forward but then grabbed its head, stumbling as it cried in pain. It then just fell over. Taylor moved forward and kicked its leg; it didn't move.

"Well," Joker sighed. "That was unexpected, wasn't it? Oh well, note to self, need stronger test subjects." He glanced back up at Batman. "Seeing as how I'm feeling generous, I'll give you this one for free, but only because you brought a little friend this time. Knock me off," Joker snarled. "I dare you! End this, pull the plug, stop me once and for all!"

Batman pulled out a Batarang but stopped himself. Taylor looked at him like he was crazy before she pulled out her gun. "All right," She pulled the trigger but Batman had knocked her hand aside. The bullet whizzed right past the Joker's leg. "What the hell, Batman?" She growled as the man took her gun away.

Joker gave off a wicked laugh as the crate was pulled back into the wall. "You're getting too predictable, Bats! You should have let her shoot me! Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I have a party to organize. I've got guests flying in from all over Arkham. You'll see." He waved as the doors shut with another of his laughs.

Taylor watched as the door shut before turning back to the man beside her. "Here's a question, Bats. Do you want Joker to get away and kill more people?"

"No." Them an answered her with a harsh look.

"Then why did you just let him get away?" She stomped her foot. "He's just going to kill more and more people now!"

"I don't kill people." Batman told her.

"Maybe you should," Taylor growled. He looked at her. "Every time these guys break out they just kill more and more people, they're not ever gonna change, so why bother?"

The man in tights glared at her and opened his mouth to reply but he was beaten to it. "Batman. Over here!" A voice called. They both turned from their argument to see a guard in one of the small offices. Batman led the way over; the lights were down.

"You were hiding here all this time and didn't help?" Taylor growled at the guard. She then noticed the man at his feet and knelt down to see if she could do something.

"They came out of nowhere!" The guard told the man in tights. "I dragged Jerry in here, powered up the gate. Must have passed out." He explained, looking at Taylor.

"Joker went through that door." Batman told him. "What's on the other side?"

"We call it Extreme Isolation. Only way in is via the transport system."

"Open it." Batman growled.

"Not a problem. I'll just need to call another cell." He turned to the computer. "Something's wrong here," He commented after a few moments. "The main security loop is locked."

"Here, let me see it," The woman moved towards the computer but the screen made all three of them turn to see joker on it.

"Having a little trouble up there?" He grinned.

"Joker!" Batman growled.

"You were expecting maybe Two-Face?" The man in purple chuckled.

"There's no escape, Joker!"

"Silly Bat! Don't want to escape. I'm having way too much fun. I even have you here to keep a smile on my face." He pointed. Taylor had to place a hand over her mouth so Batman didn't see the grin.

"Not for long." Was the Dark Knight's reply.

"Really?" Joker asked. "We'll see. Ta ta." He moved to leave but returned and grabbed the screen and turned it. "Oh, I forgot to say. Just in case you were planning on following me, I've arranged a little insurance. Gordon is on his way to Harley as we speak." The other screen showed one of the Guards hitting Commissioner Gordon from behind with his baton.

"Bolos, you bastard!" Taylor growled as Joker let out one of his laughs. "If I see you trying to follow me, he dies. Harley is looking forward to it. Maybe I'll film it and post it on the internet." The screen went blank.

"The Transport system is down," The guard told them. "Best I can do is open the door you came in. Sorry."

"We have to go save Gordon," Taylor instantly told the man beside her.

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