Robyn growled as the clown danced into her field of vision again. It was getting harder to talk through the pain, so the teen settled for intimidating noises.
"Aw, is the little birdie getting tired on me?" Joker crooned, coming forward to trace a finger across Robyn's bruised cheek. The young crimefighter wasn't sure how long she'd been locked in this room, undergoing various bouts with her old enemy, but by now there was very little of her that wasn't injured in some manner.
Bruises dotted Robyn's exposed skin, which was much greater than usual thanks to Joker cutting away her sleeves, gloves, boots and pants legs just above the knees. When making the knife cuts, the clown hadn't been particularly careful about avoiding stabbing the flesh beneath the clothing, staining the floor of the room crimson red. Then, she'd replaced the wrist and ankle restraints with coils of wire that bit into Robyn's skin, and started randomly punching, slapping or kicking the prone teenager. At least one rib was cracked if not broken outright, and Robyn didn't think her limbs were in any better condition.
"Well, maybe we need to wake her up a bit more!" The girl stiffened a split second before the ice water was upended over her; there were several empty buckets by the opposite wall, and quite a few full ones ready and waiting.
Her shivering renewed, Robyn cracked her eyes open again to glare once more at the madwoman, grinning even wider than usual. She didn't doubt for a minute that the evil clown was planning on keeping her awake as long as possible. Already, exhaustion was slowing down her mental processes, and would get much worse before getting better.
A sudden, blaring alarms startled both of them.
"Sounds like... My help's here..." Robyn rasped, traditional smirk appearing once again. Frowning, Joker stalked over to the door, and pounded for a full minute until it finally opened.
"What's the matter with you goobers?!" She demanded of the guard who stepped into the doorway.
"Sorry, ma'am, we've come under attack. My orders are to move the prisoner for transport to another facility." Robyn felt panic blossom, silently praying her rescue came before the guard could get too far.
"Oh, really?" Sighing, the Joker raised her hands to start fiddling with the lapels on her coat. "That's too bad, sonny." A split second before Robyn could scream a warning, the clown activated her acid flower.
The guard's screams only lasted bare moments, and the hands clutching at his throat hid the damage, but Robyn still shuddered at the horrifying sight. Once the man had collapsed to the floor, Joker turned back to her, smile in place once more.
"Now, little Robbie, why don't you and I hit the road together, hm? See if we can't find someplace more fun than this dump?" Weak struggling didn't help in the slightest as Robyn felt the gloved hand grasp the back of her tunic, and start to drag her from the room.
-CC-
The pair of guards racing down the hallway didn't even have time to register the black form in front of them before each was taken down in a burst of pain.
Batman took only a bare moment to cuff the unfortunate men together before continuing on his way. Entering the base had been child's play - by the time the airborne squad began their distraction, the two stealth teams were inside and beginning their respective tasks.
"Aqualass to Batman." He swiftly raised a hand to the comm. link, still checking each room as he passed despite knowing it would be closer to the end of this hall.
"Go ahead, Aqualass."
"We've secured the main storage room, and Flash is gathering samples of the Astral energy. What is your squad's status?"
Batman couldn't help the slight growl. "I'm en route to the containment room their records displayed as holding Robyn. The others are currently holding back a group of guards who sought to interrupt."
"... Understood. Aqualass out." Finally, he reached the eleventh door - and found it already open. Slipping out a percussion batarang, Batman prepared to push the door aside and take aim at any foes within.
He was greeted with the body of an obviously dead guard, and bloodstains.
Lots of bloodstains.
Briefly, Batman found himself leaning against the doorway, horribly reminded of another occasion when his own Robin had been trapped scrambling in a warehouse with several trigger-happy thugs. He'd received multiple gunshot wounds before getting out and to a spot where the communicator could punch a signal through to the Batcave. Those injuries had thoroughly stained the concrete by the time Batman finally found his partner's hiding place, a sickening image he'd not forget easily.
Robyn was going on seventeen hours of captivity at this point. Batman didn't want to think about how many of those had been torturous for the slim teen.
"Batman to Black Canary!" He barked, turning and retracing his steps.
"What is it? Did you find Robin?"
"The containment room's empty. I need you and the others to prevent any guards from getting to the vehicle bay on the lower level."
Her response was momentarily put on hold by a sonic scream, overlayed with the shrieks of pain from several parties. "We're on it. Find her as quickly as you can, Batman."
He didn't bother to reply to that.
-CC-
"Coming through!" Joker hollered, letting loose one of her terrifying laughs. The workers among the jeeps and trucks of the room weren't trained for combat or dealing with psychopathic clowns - they scattered in seconds.
Taking a deep breath, Robyn tucked her knees to her chin, and maneuvered to slip her wire-bound arms underneath her feet to the front of her weakened body. Then the teen reached up to grasp the wrist of the hand still clutching the back of her shirt. When Joker glanced down, Robyn twisted and yanked.
Unready for the sudden weight, the madwoman nearly lost her footing and pitched over. She recovered just in time, instead launching a swift kick into her prisoner's ribs. Robyn gasped at the flare of pain, unable to register any other sensation before she found herself being deposited into the passenger seat of an armored truck.
"Now, you just sit tight until Auntie J gets us someplace nice and quiet, alrighty?" The menacing giggle was drowned out by the engine starting.
-CC-
The room was in disarray when he arrived, and Batman didn't waste any time in zeroing on a target. One unlucky guard had his head down and was stumbling straight towards the Dark Knight. His fist shot out, knocking the man back into the concrete wall. Before he had time to recover, the hand came again, this time gripping the front of his black uniform.
"Where did your men take the girl?" Batman growled, lifting the terrified guard a little higher on the wall, enough that his feet were barely touching the ground.
"W-we d-didn't t-t-take her anyw-where." He tried to stammer out. "Th-the J-jok-ker Kn-knock-off d-did." The Bat's grip momentarily went slack, before tightening even more.
"When and where." Speech gave out on the shaking guard, but he was still able to raise a trembling finger and point to the furthest bay doors, and the road that lay beyond the the opening.
In the time between when Batman released him and when the guard collapsed upon the ground, the crimefighter was already halfway across the vehicle bay. Jumping into the first truck that pointed in the correct direction, Batman started it up and plunged out the open doors.
"Superman to Batman, we have the materials and most of the squad members back to the Bioship. Where are you-"
"Not now!" He barked. "When the Teams were switched at the factory, they weren't the only ones. The Joker of the other dimension is here, and she just left this facility with Robyn."
There were a few moments of stunned silence before the Man of Steel responded. "Do you want back-up?"
"Only if I can't catch up to them." And with the breakneck pace he was setting on the icy road, that was rather doubtful. "Once you all are back aboard the Bioship, have Martian Junior bring it around to the southern road and be ready to respond to my orders."
"Alright. Be careful, Bruce."
-T-
Heh heh heh. Next chapter will be soon, I promise. And just to clarify, it's January in a forest-covered mountain range. I figure there'd be ice and snow around.
I finally got on a roll again today, with unintentional help from my friend Aisling Moon.
Blame her for what happens next, too.
-Triscribe