Chapter 10

I'm back everyone! I have a new computer and I am LOVING IT! Oh how much I missed the fanficting gig! I missed everyone! Haha—also! I refuse, REFUSE! To use the Young Justice Joker, I LOVE Mark Hamil, his Joker Voice was the best, best laugh too. So I will be using that version of Joker and the Arleen version of Harley Quinn as well. So now without further delay, ONWARD TO THE BATTLE FIELD!

"Joker?!" Dick shouted, Mariko looked back and nodded as she removed her hat and coat.

"Yes, Joker." She said with a smirk then looked to Harley Quinn who was standing in front of the trio, "Where is the sick humored sonuva—"

"No need for such language Miko." Joker said as he walked down the open staircase that led to the ground floor of the Comedy Club. Mariko narrowed her eyes as the Clown Prince of Crime began to laugh his usual twisted laugh. Mariko smirked and crossed her arms.

"I have questions." She said confidently.

"And I may or may not have the answers, my girl," Joker said, then noticed Dick glaring daggers at him and scowled. "Who's the sour puss?"

"Who him?" Mariko asked pointing her thumb toward Dick, who's glare switched between her, Joker, and even Tony—who stood nonchalantly beside Mariko. Suddenly Mariko spoke again, "It's Nightwing he's here with me and Tony-boy to help make sure you don't decided to end a punchline my way."

Dick stared as there was a long pause between the group. This silence lasted for a good five minutes before Joker suddenly let out a loud insane laugh and slapped Mariko on the shoulder, he then sighed.

"This is why we get along kid, you get the joke every time!"He shouted, Dick let out an inward sigh of relief. What the hell was she thinking!? Saying something like that? What if Joker had actually believed her, it would have gotten them killed. He was definitely going to have a stern talk with Mariko about that later. But now, now there were more important things to deal with.

"That's great J, but like I said I have questions." Mariko said removing Joker's hand from her shoulder, "Questions that involve a certain scared faced man."

"Oh not this broken record again." Joker groaned. Mariko glared.

"Listen Bozo, I know you have information on Savage!" She hissed placing her hand on her hips, "You can either tell me or I can have Tony pick the place clean. You're choice Joker."

"Hey you can't do that!" Harley shouted, "Can she?"

"Hm, let's see, I have a high-tech cyborg body guard equipped with rocket launchers and high powered hydrolic system that can shoot a B.B. through a steal barrel using only his thumb and forefingers," Mariko said calmly, "I think I can do whatever I want."

"No need to get hostile Miko-girl." Joker said, "Harley-kins get the girl the files she asked for."

"You keep files? This is new." Mariko said narrowing her green and purple eyes at the clown, as his Harlequin clad partner cartwheeled over to an old desk and pulled out a file. She then cartwheeled back and handed the file to Joker.

"Ok, so I do have something, but it'd going to cost you." Joker said in a singsong voice.

"I think we're forgetting who's holding the cards." Mariko said pointing toward Tony and Dick.

"I haven't forgotten anything kid," Joker said, "I know you're dirty secrets, like how you're supposed to be dead."

"Why you low life—"

"Shut up Tony," Mariko hissed, "Alright Joker, what's it gonna be this time?"

Dick scowled and grabbed Mariko by the arm, she gave him a look as he knelt down to whisper in her ear.

"Mariko, are you insane?" He asked, Mariko simply gave him a look, "Point taken, but seriously? This is the Joker you're dealing with, you can't trust him."

"Uh duh?" Mariko mumbled, "Relax I have everything under control."

"You say that but I don't believe it." Dick grumbled. Meanwhile Joker pursed his lips.

"You know I can hear everything right?" he asked.

"We know, we don't care." Tony said plainly crossing his arms. Harley glared.

"How rude!"

"Back to the subject at hand, what's it gonna cost me?" Mariko asked, jerking her arm out of Dick's grip. Joker grinned.

"You're a Technomaniac, I've got some plans for the Bat that require your technical expertise." He said, Mariko frowned.

"Yeah sorry J. I'm not up to doing any technical work, I've got my own problems to deal with and the last thing I need is the Batman and his Bat-family on my tail." She said, then began inspecting her nails with a bored look, "I've already got one of the Batbrats on my trail."

"No deal?" Joker asked.

"No deal…" Mariko said narrowing her eyes. Joker shrugged.

"You're loss, Harley-kins…" he said as Harley appeared with a tomygun. Mariko pursed her lips as she stared down the barrel of the semiautomatic gun.

"Yup, this is happening." She said, "Tony."

Just before the gun went off Tony grabbed Mariko and—with a bit of hesitation—Dick and pulled them behind a fallen metal table. Gunfire filled the room and bullets soared through the air, ricocheting off the table the trio hid behind. Dick glared.

"What was that about having everything under control?" he asked. Mariko shrugged.

"If I told you I was wingin' you'd get pissy." She said matter-o-factly. Dick let out a growl of frustration, "Hey, do I look like a girl with a plan?"

"No. But I would have thought you'd have thought this one through this time!" He shouted, Mariko went silent.

"Uh, yeah back to the part where Joker and Harley are shooting at us?" Tony asked.

"Then wait, it's a semiautomatic gun, it has a low accuracy in actually hitting it's intended target, not to mention the amount of ammunition it unloads per second. Harl should be running low by now." Mariko hissed then as if on cue the gunfire stopped. The duo looked to Mariko who huffed, "Just a guess. Tony see what's going on."

"What happened to the rest of the bullets? I thought I told you to get more amo?" Joker shouted. Harley glared.

"We're broke remember? What was I supposed to do rob the guy at gun point? It's a gunshop for cryin out loud!" She shouted. Mariko stood and leaned her hand on the side of the fallen table.

"Aww out of bullets J? That sucks," She said in a mock sympathetic tone. She then reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a revolver, "Cause I'm not."

Harley dropped the gun as she and Joker held up their hands in defense, "Now, now Miko no need to be short. HAHA!"

"Yeah real cute, now about that information?" She asked then aimed the revolver at Joker, "and remember unlike Batman and the other bats, I don't have any hesitation in pulling the trigger."

"Harl, give the nice girl her information." Joker said with a nervous smile. Harley groaned as she handed over the file. Mariko huffed.

"Nice doin business with you Joker." She said, "Unfortunately for you however, I'm not in a good mood anymore."

Dick looked to Mariko, recognizing the look in her eyes. It was the same look she had when she tried to kill Savage by setting off a bomb. She was going to pull the trigger, and kill them both. If he didn't do something she was going to have a lot more than just Savage after her again. Mariko smirked.

"Looks like I've got the last laugh on this joke. Hope you like the punchline." She said, then went to pull the trigger only to have her arm yanked away as she fired. Mariko glared as Dick grabbed her and took off with her and Tony. Once out of the building Dick dropped Mariko and glared.

"Are you insane?! You were going to shoot them!" He shouted. Mariko glared back and smacked him in the face.

"DON'T! EVER! Stop me again." She hissed, "Those bastards tried to kill us! The world would have better off! Not to mention given your boss less work to do with that shithead gone!"

"That's not how we do things, you can't just kill them." Dick said.

"What's the big deal? You and Batman won't do, someone should." Tony grumbled. Dick glared.

"It wouldn't have solved anything!" He shouted back, then glared down at Mariko, "And it certainly wouldn't get you any closer to finding those missing girls. Mariko, I thought with their lives on the line you'd finally start thinking things through."

"Shut your fucking* mouth!" Mariko shouted, "You think I'm not aware that I'm risking the lives of a bunch of innocent kids?! I had everything under control! I knew Harley would run out of bullets! I knew Joker would pull a stunt like that. He always does! He the friggin JOKER! I'm not going to do something without a plan when my girls are on the line! So for the love of god Dick would you just for once have faith in me?"

With that Mariko turned and walked off leaving Dick and Tony behind.

"Nice going dick." Tony mumbled.

Short chapter I know but I've been out of the game so long I've lost my touch a bit. I apologize, and hopefully my next chapter will be much longer. Heh, I hope you like the chapter, I'm really making Dick out to be a real Richard, but he'll get better I promise.

(*) That's the first time I've dropped the F-bomb in this fiction. If this bothered you, sorry but it's gonna happen. Probably not very often, but just to let you know. See you later armadillos—unless I see you first. HAHAHA!