A/N: Thanks for the comments and reviews! I'm talking to you Carl, Blas and JokerFan2011. :)

Carl and JokerFan2011 - I can try again, if you want, with a different villain and setup. I'm always willing to take corrections and ideas and try to apply them. I don't write the "normal" villains very well, though, so it would probably be an original character. Let me know what you think.

As far as my next story is concerned, I can't give many hints without spoiling the whole thing. But...there is an angst-y Batman, a semi-tricky villain and, of course, poor little Robin. :) It's based on an idea from a reader. As of right now it is titled "Fighting for Robin".

The writing of it is going a little more slowly than some of my other stories - I've been stuck a few times - and it is not even close to being finished. Therefore, I might have to slow down the posting of this one so that people don't forget about me between stories. :)

Anywho, after that rambling tangent, here is the next chapter.

Chapter 9:

Robin had been placed on his back and was watching Joker prowl around him. Why hadn't he started yet? That question vaguely worried Robin but he couldn't focus on anything right now, much less answer a question about a crazy villain with a psychotic mind.

"How do you want to start, sidekick? Well, we both know how; I meant where do you want to start?" Joker's face was as dark as his voice.

Robin realized he could roll his eyes so…he did.

Joker snapped his foot out, crunching the small ribs on Robin's left side.

Since it was pretty much the only thing he could do, Robin rolled his eyes again.

"Are you mocking me?!" Joker screeched as he dropped to his knees right beside Robin's chest.

Robin couldn't move but he laughed in his head. Yeah, I guess I am. He was a little more aware of the situation now that he had been steadily breathing for over fifteen minutes.

Joker lifted his hand but Robin didn't even flinch. Robin knew, but Joker didn't, that he couldn't flinch. Joker thought the sidekick was trying to appear brave for the camera and Robin laughed in his head again. His eyes widened, though, when the hit didn't land on his face but was driven into his ribcage – right below his heart. He mentally sighed; broken ribs again. Did every capture have to result in broken ribs? On the bright side, he was pretty sure that the punch was close enough to have activated his emergency Bat-transmitter signal. It didn't matter, though, because neither Bruce nor Alfred could possibly be home yet….

In the Batcave, a series of short, high-pitched beeps startled Batman and he was surprised to see Robin's emergency Bat-transmitter signal blinking. Robin was…could he still be…? Batman grabbed the printout from the Bat-computer and compared it to the location of Robin's flashing light. Robin – and Dick with his meticulous notes – had just helped Batman find him. If he didn't know about the tunnel, he probably would have dismissed the signal as broken or an attempt at a distraction. The light was blinking on a cactus, after all, and the only building in the area was a lab; a little over five miles away. He sprinted to the Bat-jet and set a course for the desert twenty-five miles west of Arkham. Hold on a little longer Robin; don't give up, I'm coming!

Robin really wanted to give up. Joker was doing well but going so slowly; pausing between every two or three hits. Robin couldn't move, at all; he had even stopped rolling his eyes for fear of antagonizing Joker even more. He really, really wanted to give up. But, Batman would come for him in a few more days and he could hold out, right? He was strong enough…right? He wasn't too sure about that thought as another punch-kick combination rocked his body onto his left side and left him gasping. However, after he had initially given up, he had promised Batman that it wouldn't happen again. So, he continued the fight against his eyelids and struggled to control his breathing. He was going to be a walking bruise after this.

The flight was taking too long; it felt like three hours when, in actuality, it had been twenty minutes. He would have to wait another two or three minutes to land and it would take another four to get to the lab's entrance. Then, five miles away, his partner would be waiting with, probably, no hope of Batman even coming for him. If he was still alive….

Batman ran down the stairs of the Bat-jet and sprinted to the entrance of the dilapidated laboratory. Shoving aside some debris, he crashed through the glass door and pushed himself inside. He was greeted with a maze of offices and cubicles. Now where do I go? The history book had given him possible locations, not detailed maps of each building. He knew Robin's signal was five miles west of the lab so he went west, looking for anything unusual. Scientists wouldn't know the first thing about hiding the entrance to a tunnel…would they? He opened every office door, checked every wall in every office and looked under all the desks in all of the cubicles. He stomped on floors – both tiled and carpeted – but there were no sights or sounds of any hidden openings. Scientists may not know much about hiding from members of the mobs but they were smart. Maybe they started in one direction and curved the tunnel around to the west? East, north, south – which way should he go?!

He shoved a cubicle aside angrily, triggering a domino effect down the hall. The last one fell against the wall, causing a portion of the ceiling to drop onto the floor. He peered into the dusty darkness and then ran again; a rope had fallen with the ceiling. The entrance was in the ceiling?! Not trusting the disintegrating rope, he attached his Bat-rope to a Bat-a-rang and tossed it up into the hole. He jerked the rope down to test the hold and, when it pulled taught in his hands, climbed quickly up into the attic. It was obvious from here; there was a door with reflectors around it. He strode to the door and pulled it open, expecting another hallway. Instead, he found a ladder which took him down past the main floor to what he assumed was the basement. He realized as he descended that he was in between the office wall and the outside wall. How the scientists had done that he would never know. Upon reaching the end of the ladder he pushed on an outline of what appeared to be an exit but it didn't budge and there was no handle. There was nowhere to go now except back up and that wouldn't take him where he needed to go. He pounded his fist on the wall in frustration. Robin was dying and he, BATMAN, couldn't find the entrance to a secret tunnel in a small laboratory!