Five
With the dry earth outside Ringworm Junior High crunching underneath the soles of their shoes, Abby and Ty Archer walked stealthily towards the back of the school building, where on the roof stood large, glass windows that stared down towards the corridor where their lockers were. Ty cursed under his breath as he struggled to find his grapple gun while Abby silently and quickly found hers.
"Yes, I finally found the damn thing!" Ty whispered.
"You should really consider being more organized." Abby replied coldly, aiming her own grapple gun towards the roof of the building. She fired, blasting a long, silver rope with a mechanical claw at the end zooming towards the edge of the roof. The gun then toted Abby across the air towards the edge of the room, and Ty repeated her action.
"Is there something wrong, Abby? You haven't said a word since we came here." Ty asked, putting away his grapple and moving towards one of the windows, which had a latch that had been secretly installed by the Grossologists in order to enter the building.
"This just doesn't feel right, Ty. Chester's a good kid; we can help him if we put in the effort." Abby protested.
"Chester is a criminal, Abby. He chose this path, and instead of choosing to make himself better, he just wanted to be better than people of the society. He's not any better than Lance Boil or Sloppy Joe or Insectiva." Ty responded, flipping the latch and opening the window.
"What about Dr. Young from Arkham? If we brought him back to Arkham, maybe she could help him. She specializes in that kind of stuff. If she was able to work with the Titan Project…" Abby argued.
"The Titan Project was probably less complicated than removing a parasite from the nervous system. Besides, even if Dr. Young could've helped Chester, she can't now. She's dead, remember?" Ty replied. A surprised expression came over Abby.
"Dead?" Abby asked.
"Joker killed her when he tried to take over Arkham Asylum. Don't you remember?" Ty asked.
"Oh yeah." Abby replied sadly. Ty leaped through the window of the building and landed in the dark corridor of the school building with Abby following behind her. The two moved towards their lockers, where they activated their locks to open the secret passages to the Gag Lab. The lockers sank into the ground below them, revealing two doorways into the Gag Lab. Ty and Abby entered into their entrances, and the lockers returned to their original position behind them
Batman remained standing silently before the window as he watched Ty and Abby disappear into the entrances into the Gag Lab. He then pressed the tele-communicator in his cowl.
"Oracle, are you there?" Batman called.
"Yep, what's up?" Oracle replied.
"I'm going into laboratory the two Grossologists have. I need you to find any information you have on Kid Rot and why Joker would want to use Kid Rot for any one of his plans." Batman explained.
"Will do, Bruce." Oracle replied cheerfully.
The door to the Gag Lab opened, allowing Abby and Ty to enter inside.
"There you are! I've been waiting for you for about 20 minutes now!" Lab Rat snapped.
"Jeez, take it easy Lab Rat." Ty said as the two approached the small desk where Lab Rat worked. Lab Rat sighed and pressed his hand to his forehead in frustration. Hermes, the mouse that stood on his shoulder, squeaked silently as he did.
"I'm sorry. I'm just really worried about what's happened, and the Director hasn't called yet." Lab Rat apologized.
"The Director hasn't called in?" Abby asked.
"Yeah, it's really weird. I'm worried something's gone wrong in the Department of Grossology headquarters." Lab Rat explained.
"That's impossible! The Department of Grossology headquarters is located in a remote, airtight location. There's no way that anyone could have found it. Not even Lance Boil could find it, and he used to work for us." Ty argued.
"Kid Rot may not be able to find it, but the Joker could." A voice spoke from the shadows in the corner of the Gag Lab. The three teenagers watched as an ebony figure emerged from the shadows. A black cape and cowl covered the man's body, and his gray, armored shirt had the symbol of a black bat on the chest.
"Batman?" Abby asked.
"How the hell did you get in here?" Lab Rat questioned.
"I knew that this place had to have air ducts somewhere. If I was able to enter this place this easily, the Joker will have no problem finding the Department of Grossology headquarters." Batman explained.
"No kidding?" Abby asked.
"Do you think that the Joker's there now?" Ty added. Suddenly, there was a ping, and static emerged on the screen of the large television where the Director made his transmissions.
"Hey! There's an incoming transmission from the Director now." Lab Rat announced.
"Great! The Director's safe." Abby sighed in relief.
"Guess again, Abby Archer." A slightly obnoxious voice spoke. The image of a blond-haired woman with white makeup on her face, a black mask over her blue eyes, and a sexy white outfit with a combination of purple and red appeared on the screen. A large pistol was clutched in her right hand, and a wicked smile was curved on her black lips.
"Is that Harley Quinn?" Abby asked.
"In the flesh! And that old fart of a Director of yours is having fun with us too!" Harley giggled as she pulled the Director, who had a cover around his mouth, towards her.
"Let him go, Quinn!" Ty roared.
"Why don't you come over here and make me, handsome? I'll put a bullet in your skull when you come!" Harley snapped. Batman then stepped before the screen, and Harley gasped.
"B-man! It's great to see you! I haven't seen you since Arkham!" Harley said.
"You won't get away with this Quinn. I'll stop you and your boyfriend and send you two back to where you belong, in a cell in Arkham." Batman replied.
"Tough words Bats, but can you walk the walk?" Harley giggled. Batman narrowed his eyes. The Director then shrieked for help behind the cover on his mouth. An angry expression appeared on Harley's face.
"Oh, quiet you!" Harley snapped. There was the sound of gunfire, and the Director fell backwards with a pain-filled scream. The three teens gasped in fear.
"I only shot him in the shoulder, but the next one's going for his forehead. Come on kiddies! Save your old man!" Harley challenged, kicking the webcam on the Director's computer. Static returned to the television screen.
"That evil bitch! She's going to pay for hurting him!" Abby growled.
"You two know the building more than I do. You two should go and stop Harley. I'll have to stay here in the lab." Batman explained.
"Why?" Ty asked.
"Knowing the Joker, this is just a distraction and a trap. Not to mention that there could be something he wants from the Department of Grossology. While you two are gone, he's going to send one, or some, of his goons down here to kill Lab Rat or go through your files." Batman explained.
"That makes sense." Ty replied.
"Let's go Ty. I'm going to kick Harley in her teeth for hurting the Director." Abby growled. The two Grossologists then moved into action.