Chapter Seven
Toxic Acres
1545
Both thirteen year olds were locked in cages next to each other, wearing inhibitor collars. They were so weakened from Joker's torture tactics that they laid on the floors of the cages.
"Garfield? Garfield, are you awake?" He didn't answer, didn't move. The only way Mirabella knew he was alive was the fact his chest moved up and down. "Garfield…please? Do something…say anything, to show you're awake? I don't want to be alone."
"You're not…alone." Garfield groaned.
"I wish…you could hold me…you know, like when I'm scared or upset?" She got a weak smile from Garfield.
"I am…mentally."
"Garfield…do you think we're gonna die here?"
"No…"
"How can you tell?"
"M'Gann and the others, they'll come save us. Just like on the Reach ship." He tried to sit up, but just pulled himself to the side of the barred cage. "I promise you, Mirabee, we will get out of here."
Mirabella smiled, "Noted…" They both chuckled weakly, taking each others' hand.
"Aw…isn't that sweet, Harley? Doesn't it just make you…sick?"
Joker walked over to Garfield's cage, as Harley walked over to Mirabella's cage, both gripping the tops. After a moment of evil grinning at each other, Joker and Harley pulled the cages apart, just one foot away. Mirabella and Garfield gripped each other's fingertips as much as they could before Joker and Harley pulled them across the room from each other, both teens screaming the others name.
"We'll be back soon, kiddies." Joker said before they left the room.
"We need to get out of here." Garfield said before noticing the sound of sobbing echoing out of Mirabella. "Mirabella? Mirabella, it's going to okay."
"I'm so scared, Garfield. Now, we're far away from each other…I feel like it's the whole other side of the world."
"Calm down. Look at me, Mirabella." She looked at him, the dim light making it almost impossible to see him. "We will get out of here…alive. I promise you, okay? You will not be alone ever again."
Mirabella sniffled, wiping her tears away before looking at her hand.
"Oops…"
"What?"
"I think…I pulled some of your fur out. Sorry…"
"It's okay. I didn't even notice. But Mirabella, you've got to be strong. M'Gann and Venus and Iridiven and everyone will find us. They'll save us."
Watchtower
1550
"Mirabella, where are you?" Venus questioned as she stared at the paused video of her passed out little sister and Garfield.
"Venus!"
Turning around, "Aster, Bart? Why aren't you in uniform?" Venus said as she hugged her sister.
"We just came from school. Aqualad called us in on an ASAP situation. He didn't say—Mirabella?"
"Aster, you need to sit down. Venus, bring them up to speed. I must get some more of the team up here for the mission."
"Sure, Aqualad." Venus said.
Aqualad left as Venus turned the screen off. Blue ran in soon after Aster and Bart sat down.
"Aqualad sent me in. What did you find?"
"Joker…and Harley Quinn, they somehow kidnapped both Beast Boy and Lupita this morning. From the video that Flash brought in, it looks like…they are being tortured for some reason."
"Why them?" Aster sighed, burying her face in her hands.
Venus bent down in front of Aster, holding her hands.
"I promise, we are going to get them back." Venus stood back up. "Aqualad's getting M'Gann, Batgirl, and Robin. He's also trying to convince Nightwing to come back for this one. Since it's mainly their territory, Batman's coordinating the mission from the Watchtower."
"What could they know that these insane people could want?" Bart asked.
"We…don't know. But Batman might have an idea." Venus replied.
Toxic Acres
1635
Mirabella gasped sharply for air as her head was yanked out of the tub of ice cold water.
"Leave her alone already!" Garfield had been screaming something along those lines for almost a half an hour.
"Her lungs must be burning by now, Harley. Maybe she'll talk."
"Who is he, pup?" Harley questioned.
"We…don't know…who Batman really is. Please…stop…" Mirabella hoarsely replied.
"All right. We'll stop…" Harley said, letting Mirabella collapse on the floor, coughing out the little water she allowed into her lungs. Harley walked over to Garfield and unchained him from the floor. He wanted to fight, he tried to fight, but Harley grabbed him and dunked him into the ice water. "We'll stop with you."
Harley pulled Garfield out before Joker dumped more ice cubes into the water like he has been. Then she slammed him back down into the water. She held him in pretty long, Mirabella watching but unmoving. Soon Garfield stopped struggling and Harley pulled him out, tossing him to the floor. Garfield was limp, Mirabella couldn't even tell if he was alive or not. It wasn't until he coughed and spat out water that Mirabella knew he was alive.
"This technique is getting us nowhere, Pudding." Harley said.
"Then we must think of something else. But what?" Then Joker pulled Garfield across the room, picking him up and dropping him on the metal table. "I know how to get the kiddies to talk. Harley sit her up, will you? And hold her so she doesn't go anywhere."
"Sure thing, Mr. J." Harley said, gripping Mirabella's arms tightly.
Joker strapped Garfield down; easily ignoring the fact of Garfield's weak struggling.
"I'm not going to talk, Joker. So, you can just forget it."
"Oh, but you will talk." Joker said, evilly cackling.
Watchtower
1645
Aqualad had gathered M'Gann, Superboy, Batgirl, and Robin with Blue, KF (remember Bart took over), and Iridiven. And they stood with Batman and Venus.
"He must be somewhere within Gotham City. We do not have long to find Beast Boy and Lupita, as Joker stated…sundown." Aqualad announced.
"In Gotham, that's between 530 and six o'clock." Batgirl pointed.
"Which is why I was trying to gather you all quickly." Aqualad pointed back.
"Aqualad, the video? Should we play it?" Venus questioned.
"Yes, we received a video late this morning after Flash had brought it in. It was a disc left at-"
Aqualad was interrupted by M'Gann suddenly screaming in pain.
"M'Gann?" Superboy said, holding her shoulders. "What's wrong?"
"It hurts…I can feel…Garfield."
"You can feel him?" Venus questioned. Then she hit the side of her head. "Duh! Hello, Venus! They must be connected by their blood connection."
"Do you think you can track him from this connection, M'Gann?" Batgirl questioned.
"Toxic…Acres…I think."
"Toxic Acres?" Robin questioned, looking at Batman.
"That's why they said sundown. The toxic gas there will kill them by then."
M'Gann continued to scream, still feeling the burning pain Garfield felt.
Toxic Acres
1715
"Garfield! Stop it! Leave him alone, you manic!" Mirabella was struggling, trying to get free, all the while screaming and crying.
"Harley, can't you make her be quiet? This is delicate work…" Joker said.
Harley nodded shortly, covering Mirabella's mouth with a thick piece of cloth.
"Now, shut up! Mr. J's trying to work!"
Mirabella sobbed, trying to cry hard through the cloth. After a minute of listening to Garfield screaming again, she stopped crying and her eyes were suddenly anger-filled. Mirabella's nails grew longer, sharper, and she gripped Harley's ankle. Harley, now in pain, let go of the cloth, and Mirabella. Mirabella stood up and went to attack Joker, but was pulled back and slammed into the wall.
"You're not going no where's, you pup."
"Let me go!" Mirabella shouted.
"No way! Not unless you wanna tell me what we wanna know…"
Mirabella's face started turning red, and her eyes closed tightly. She felt like screaming, but she didn't want to. "Leave…me…alone."
"Sorry, what was that?" Harley questioned, smiling evilly.
Now a large amount of energy was building up, close to exploding. She tried not to scream but she finally had to, the energy to much for her to handle.
"I said…leave…me…ALONE!"
Mirabella's scream was powerful enough where Harley was thrown into the concrete wall across from them, knocking over Joker in the progress.
"What was that?" Joker shouted before seeing Harley in the concrete, now dented with Harley's form.
"I said to leave me alone!" Mirabella screamed again.
Bioship, Above Toxic Acres Building
1720
"What is that?" Batgirl shouted over the repeating screams from inside the building.
"I don't know! But it's loud, whatever it is!" Iridiven replied.
"It sounds like Black Canary, but she's back at the Watchtower!" Blue shouted.
"Analysis shows it is coming from a smaller being than the Black Canary."
"Anyway to get heat signature of the inside of the building?" Venus questioned.
Superboy looked down toward the building, covering his ears as much as he could, and saw four heat signatures, one that was echoing the screaming.
"I've got four people! Two adults, the other two could be Beast Boy and Lupita!"
"Who's doing the scream-"
All of a sudden, it seemed like time had stopped. No one moved, sound stopped…except for Iridiven. She uncovered her ears, silence all around her.
"Venus? Blue?" She walked over to Kid Flash. "Bart? Can you hear me?" She waved her hand in front of his face, nothing happened. "I hope I didn't get speed powers. Bart will have a field day."
Then Iridiven flew out of the bioship and into the building. Inside, time still stood in place as she walked down a dimly lit hallway. But as Iridiven turned a corner, she jumped as two frozen guards blocked the hallway with a hyena. She blasted three orbs, but they stopped in time. She smiled and placed them in front of the two guards and hyena before doing the same to the other side of the hallway with another guard and hyena. She flew down the hallway and stopped in front of the door that was there, kicking it open. Entering, Mirabella was frozen as she was screaming, Garfield was strapped down, and Joker was with Harley, both dented into the wall. Iridiven handcuffed Joker and Harley together and to a pipe on the wall.
Iridiven walked over to the table, stepping on the hot metal, "Ow!" She shouted, her voice echoing in the silence. "Weird…"
Then she unstrapped Garfield, setting him against the wall behind Mirabella. Then she covered his ears, before concentrating.
"Okay…just concentrate, Iridiven. Just like all your other situations, you just concentrate…" Iridiven closed her eyes, time starting up again.
Iridiven bared herself against Mirabella's screams before they died down and there was a thump, like a body falling, and little explosions from the hallway. Looking up, Mirabella had collapsed on the ground. Running over, Iridiven picked Mirabella's head up, stroking her hair a little.
"Ugh…Iridiven…?" Garfield groaned.
"Don't try to move, Gar. The team will be in here soon."
"Mirabella…"
"I've got her…Don't worry. She passed out."
"My ears…they're ringing."
"She was screaming pretty loudly. Just relax. You're safe now."
Garfield sighed heavily, lying on the ground.
"I'm so…tired…"
"Rest, now. It'll be okay."
Then, in the hallway, Kid's voice called, "Iridiven? Where are you?"
"Down here! It's cleared!" She shouted back.
A moment later, the squad came in, looking around.
"Iridiven? What happened?" Batgirl asked.
"I…I…I don't know. All of sudden, time stopped…sort of. I went ahead and cuffed Joker and Harley over there." She explained, nodding toward the villains that were handcuffed and passed out.
"Mirabella and Garfield?" Superboy questioned.
"Mirabella passed out, she was doing the screaming. Garfield has multiple burn marks over his body, passed out as well."
"Let's get them on the bioship and out of here. Robin, call Batman and report. Then stay here and wait for him, you two can handle taking these two back to Arkham." Batgirl ordered.
"Right, Batgirl." Robin acknowledged.
Then the team disappeared with Mirabella and Garfield to the bioship.
