HEY GUYS! I'm unreasonably blehh today. I have shifted moods several times, and I really don't know why. I'm happy now, which is probably going to make writing a difficult chapter relatively difficult, but this one's got some action, so I'll do my best. :)
DID YOU HEAR THAT!? SOME action. Don't get your hopes TOO far up. Of all my moods, generous was not one of them. ;)
BY THE WAY: I realized I forgot to answer those little number things again last chapter. So I'll do that now.
– I named the henchmen Punch and Judy because that's what they were in the TV series called The Batman… I think that's the right series. I've seen just about every batman episode ever, so I get confused.
– In the comics, Nightwing has electricity in his Eskrima sticks, and it's never been defined whether he has them in the YJ verse, so I said he did and called it good.
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It seemed that Tim could never just enjoy a relaxing day at the manor. Never. Not since he'd become Robin, and even before then it was relatively difficult.
Tonight was no different. Just one night, he thought. Just one night where I can sit on the couch and watch T.V. and pig out on Alfred's cookies and other junk foods he doesn't want me eating. He inwardly groaned, already hearing the unwanted company's approach.
"Hey, Tim." Artemis greeted casually, plopping down on the couch next to him as Wally made himself at home on his other side. "What are you watching?" she scoffed slightly, arching one eye brow and smirking at him, mocking his choice of entertainment.
"Is this a documentary?" Wally asked, laughing slightly, and draping his arm across the back of the couch.
"Yes," Tim sighed, feigning annoyance about the former heroes shock and disbelief. "It's a documentary covering a murder investigation that went cold a few years back." Tim said, playing the currently paused program and turning the volume up slightly. He took a bite of popcorn from the bowl in his lap, maneuvering his hand out of the way of Wally and Artemis' hands.
Tim, although he'd planned to spend the evening alone for once, didn't mind the company. Although both the heroes had quit the game before he'd joined the Team, Tim had spent many hours in the presence of both the archer and the speedster. He'd gotten to know them mainly in their civilian identities, and had become comfortable having late movie nights with them, during which they generally made fun of his movie selection (documentaries, usually) and challenged him in video games. Despite the fact that neither had been real parts of the Bat Family, Tim considered them like distant relatives, an aunt and uncle, perhaps.
Oh yeah, Tim thought. Hey Bruce, can I go to Aunt Artemis and Uncle Wally's house? He laughed quietly at the conversation he was having with his mentor in his head, not realizing that he had just laughed at a part of the movie that had a particularly disturbing part of the murder case.
Artemis looked at him suspiciously. "Kid," she finally said after observing him, and he could tell she was struggling to keep a straight face. "You're insanely messed up." A small grin finally lit her features, and her eyes sparkled with the good nature of teasing a friend.
Tim, realizing what he had just done, allowed his jaw to hang slightly and his eyes to widen. "Oh! No, that's not what I-… I just… Ugh." He gave up as both Wally and Artemis started cracking up at his awkward struggles.
He reached down to grab more popcorn, realizing Wally had eaten it all. He looked at the speedster, a slight glare in his eyes.
Wally, with a mouthful of popcorn, did not hesitate to defend himself. "Hey! I wouldn't feel the need to eat your food if you would pick a movie that was less boring."
"It's true kid." Artemis said, standing and walking over to the huge flat screen that practically covered the wall. Bruce's TV room truly was amazing. Tim would've loved to grow up here. "You tend to be a total and complete bore." She bent down, browsing the movies that Alfred had learned to keep out since Dick moved in and Jason after him.
"Yeah!" Wally said, leaning forward, having finally swallowed the popcorn. "You're nothing like Dick and Jason. They both loved wrestling and playing extreme hide and seek and watching action movies and playing zombie games with me, Dick more than Jason on that last one." Wally smirked at Tim.
"Speaking of the two idiots," Artemis said, absent mindedly, finally selecting one of Jason's old movies. The plot line, Tim thought, revolved around explosions and sex. Both of which were Jason's forte, Tim supposed. "Where are they tonight? I figured at least Dick would be here."
"Why?" Tim asked, slightly angered at the thought of his older brother being here. The two had not spoken since their little scuffle a few hours ago. Tim was tired, so Barbara had instructed him to go home and take the night off, claiming she would finish up patrol and then meet him at the manor. Tim had just assumed she'd go find Dick anyways. "He doesn't even live in the city anymore."
"Am I detecting slight anger there, Timmy?" Artemis gasped, placing a hand over her heart as she tossed Tim his documentary and played her plot-less, testosterone filled excuse for a film. "There some inter-bat angst going on I should know about?"
Wally walked back into the room now – when had he left? – carrying a bowl of fresh popcorn, most of it already being engulfed. "What happened that we should know about?" he asked around his half chewed snack.
"Dick just refuses to tell me and Babs what the hell is going on with Jason." Tim said, shifting his gaze between the archer and the speedster.
"Language, Master Timothy." Alfred said, strolling by the door way. A small smirk lit Tim's features before he continued.
"We went to squeeze it out of him and he flipped. Batgirl is looking for him now, but she doesn't really know who he is right now." Tim said, watching his companions listen to him.
Then, as if on cue – which seemed to be happening a lot lately, to Tim at least – Barbara walked, well more like rushed, in the door, still wearing her Batgirl get up.
"Guys!" she said, realizing Artemis and Wally were here and briefly wondering why. "I can't find either of them." She said, pulling her cowl down. Her cheeks were still rosy from the chills of Bludhaven. "Not Jason or Dick. Apparently, Jason's been missing for a couple of days too."
Wait, what?
"How do you know?" Tim asked, standing from his spots on the couch.
"His bags and stuff," She said, reaching for the remote to turn off the movie that had just started. "They haven't been touched in a few days."
All three looked at her strangely, questioning her reasoning. She shrugged, explaining herself. "The little bastard hid all my pants the other day while I was in the shower, and I had to run around the apartment looking for them for two hours. I was late to work." She grumbled. "I got him back and hid both of his bags on the third floor of the fire escape a couple days ago."
"You think Dick knows?" Artemis questioned, although they all knew the answer. Of course Dick knew. How could he not?
"Probably. My bet is that he's looking for him now, because Jason wouldn't just up and leave, not when they're searching for Joker and he's got a score to settle."
Wally sighed, placing his bowl of popcorn down and walking towards the door, grumbling to himself. "Just when we stopped watching the stupid documentary, too."
Tim sighed too, quickly following Wally as the other two were following him. Never a relaxing evening. Not. Once.
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Jason could hear the door open, and he looked up from trying to slowly wriggle out of his restraints. He knew it was a pointless effort, Joker had been tying up the best escape artists in Gotham since Batman had started out in the hero biz. No way Jason could get out without breaking a few bones, and even if he did his chances were slim.
Although, when he looked up and saw the empty room, he was slightly concerned. Am I going crazy, because I could've sworn I just heard the door open… he thought to himself, glancing around the room, his shaggy hair flailing about.
Suddenly, a thud from above made him jump, shaking his glass compartment and nearly stopping his heart. Damn it, Dick.
He looked up to see Nightwing grinning down at him, crouched on the upper part of the little ball Jason had started calling home recently. Joker hadn't returned yet, and Jason couldn't help wonder where he went, and when he'd be back. His eyes darted to the door momentarily, then back up at the stupid look on Grayson's face.
"Are you going to smile like an idiot all night or are you going to let me out?" Jason asked bitterly, pushing against the ropes yet again to prove his point, as though it actually needed proving.
"Well, with that attitude, I just might let you die in there." Dick taunted, standing up to his full height and still grinning down on Red Hood. He's having way too much fun with this.
"Well, Wing Nut, that's certainly what I'd intended to do." Both vigilantes were startled, neither had heard Joker and his crew enter the premises. But, sure enough, there he was standing with one arm around Harley's shoulders as she hung off his waist. He had his purple jacket slung over one shoulder, and his eye brows knit together, making his smile look that much more diabolical.
As Jason momentarily pictured Joker with the head of Mojo Jo-Jo from the Powerpuff Girls, who Jason always immediately thought of when thinking of the word diabolical (come on, that guy was the most diabolical of them all), Dick crouched back down on the ball. He looked like he was preparing to break the ball down or something. That would just not do, because from this height, Jason would be killed from the fall. Although, on the stroke of luck that he did survive the fall, he'd probably die from the millions of glass shards that would puncture him in several places.
Just because Jason had died a time or two didn't mean it was something he'd like to do again.
"Well, you wanted me, Joker. Here I am." Nightwing said, and Jason rolled his eyes, forcing his mouth to shut when all his instincts told him to shout, 'REALLY? THAT'S the best you got?'
"That's true, Boy Blunder." Joker said, prying himself from Harley's grasp and strolling towards the two slowly. "I kind of need that favor I was promised."
Nightwing narrowed his eyes, leaping from the ball and landing perfectly, allowing his knees to absorb the shock and crumple beneath him, before standing perfectly and reaching a good five inches taller than the Joker. Damn. Jason thought. And Jason was probably an inch taller than Dick, but now wasn't the time to debate who was the tallest.
"That was five years ago, Joker." Dick growled, taking a small step forward. He lowered one hand, towards the holster that hung by his thigh that contained both electric Eskrima sticks. "You really expect me to go through with that?" He crossed his arms, clenching some unknown hidden device in his fist. Dick wasn't nearly stupid enough to approach the Joker unarmed.
"Yes." He said simply, a small laugh coming out of his mouth. Joker allowed Harley to nestle herself under his arm again, probably leaning a majority of his weight on her.
"What do you want?" Good question, Dickie Bird. What was this guy's angle? There must've been something Joker wanted. Jason doubted there was anything logical about the guy's request, but that didn't stop his curiosity.
At this, Joker burst into laughter. He leaned into Harley, his green, greasy hair falling into his eyes in such a scraggly way that it covered more of his eyes than Jason's did. He pretended to wipe a tear from his eye, and wiped a few drops of blood from his already ruby lips.
Dick noticeably tensed when he started laughing, having not seen Joker since the night he'd given him the antidote and disappeared. The smile was obviously a trigger for the guy. Hey, Jason sympathized, just not a lot. After all, the maniac had killed him. And Jason had dealt with him several times since then.
When Joker finally stopped laughing, Nightwing's muscles did not relax. If anything, they tensed more. Joker tried to lunge at the black clad hero, but his movements were slow and sluggish, his muscles probably strained with whatever illness the lunatic had come down with.
He ended up falling at Nightwing's feet, laughing quietly up at him as he stared into his face. He stood quickly, not backing away from Nightwing, but stepping closer, sticking a prodding finger into his chest.
"Do you still have it?" he whispered, although Jason could easily read his lips. He began tracing the letters on Dick's chest, feeling the hero tremble slightly under his bony touch. "Is my master piece still there?"
Jason could vaguely remember what he was referring to, a scar that Jason himself had only seen once. Jason had several ugly scars from Joker, bruises that didn't go away after he died and the blood ran cold under his skin, cuts that had healed to an extent, a few stab wounds. But none of them were as ugly as the one on Dick's chest.
It seemed to have healed as a scab, the fiery red disrupting his pale skin. It was clear the cut had been deep when it had been carved, cutting into the muscle and marring it forever. The tissues had never healed back correctly. Jason could barely picture it now, the lines jagged and crooked. The cut had been slow, making each second last painfully long. HA! It said in horrifying letters, just the thought turning Jason's blood uncomfortably cold.
Dick shoved Joker roughly back, landing the clown on his ass and laughing again. Dick took a few steps back, his breathing had become rough, and Jason could've sworn he could see the vein in Dick's neck start pulsing a bit faster.
"DO YOU WANT THE FAVOR OR NOT?!" Dick shouted at him, chucking the sharp weapon he'd pulled out earlier at Joker, pinning his sleeve to the cement and whipping out his Eskrima sticks threateningly. Harley approached him, but he quickly chucked some sort of sticky residue at her, sticking it to her face, successfully blinding and, luckily for everyone, silencing her.
"Yes, Boy Blunder. Don't get your panties in a twist." Joker said, finally calming down from his second laughing fit.
"Well?" Dick said, putting away his Eskrima sticks. Joker was stuck anyway, that batarang was at least an inch deep in the cement. That maniac wasn't going anywhere.
"Geez," Joker said, a pouty look over coming his diabolical (Mojo Jo-Jo) features. "And you call yourself a detective." He grinned slightly, before exploding into yet another coughing fit. Nightwing didn't respond, only glaring at the clown and waiting for him to get on with it.
"Alright, alright, Blue Bird." Joker said.
"Hey!" Jason called, enraged tat Joker had once again stolen his nick name. Joker ignored him, again, however, choosing to instead talk to Nightwing.
"If you couldn't already tell, I'm kind of sick." Joker said, his voice becoming extremely hoarse and strained. He glanced at a glass of water by his bed longingly, but said nothing and made no moves towards it. "Now, think about that and think about what your favor to me could possibly be."
"You want me to find the cure." Nightwing said monotonously, not missing a beat. He crossed his arms over his chest, probably hiding another batarang in his fist. "Why? Why not find it yourself?"
"No, bird brain!" Joker cried, fruitlessly attempting to wriggle the batarang out of the cement. "You're too stupid to find the cure! I want you to infect Batman 'accidentally'," he put air quotes around the word as he used his free hand to pull out a vial filled with liquid of a sickly green color. "With this, which is the same toxin I got, and then wait for him to find the cure. Then, bring me the cure. Then we'll be even."
Nightwing narrowed his eyes, knowing that this small task would be nearly impossible. Batman was, after all, off world. There was no way that Nightwing could get him to make the cure without explaining the full situation, let alone get the cure from him within a decent amount of time.
"And what if-"
"You say no?" Joker asked in what was probably supposed to be a sing-song voice, but came out as a comedic whisper. "Then you'll be losing two of your little friends…. Again." At this, Joker's face darkened. His smile seemed to grow as it melded into the shadows his pointed nose and shaggy hair cast over his skin.
Jason's own eyes found themselves widening in shock. Of course, he'd be one to die. Hell, he'd be surprised if Joker didn't kill him anyway, just for fun. He had come to face the facts about thirty minutes ago that Joker would most likely kill him again. It was a sinking feeling he was well aware of.
But the second person? Jason couldn't come to think of who it may be. He actually couldn't think of anyone that Joker might be able to get a hand on. He knew Nightwing was flipping through everyone possible for the Joker to capture. Most likely targets were probably Batgirl and Robin, but they hadn't found the Joker yet. Next was probably Artemis and Wally, but they also hadn't found the Joker yet.
Actually, as he thought of anyone and everyone there seemed to be one large reason it couldn't possibly be them.
Jason found his thoughts rudely interrupted by the hoarse laughter that had come to sound almost normal since he'd heard it so often in the last few days.
"The second person, right?" Joker asked, looking up at Dick's 'I'm concentrating' face. The one where he narrowed his eyes and, behind his mask, his azure gaze was going in and out of focus on seemingly random objects that he absent-mindedly chose to keep them busy while he thought. "You're wondering who the second person is, aren't you?" Joker glanced over Nightwing's shoulder, at Jason who sat tied to his little chair in the background. "So is my favorite little bird!" his voice was ecstatic, as though he'd just won a car on some late night game show.
"Why it's the big, bad Bat himself!" Joker cried, finally prying himself loose of the batarang's iron grip. He frowned at the large hole in his sleeve where the object had torn through and pinned him down. Jason had to admit, Dick had a good arm and nice aim.
"But… how did you-"
"The cure, dummy!" Joker said, knocking on Nightwing's forehead once before dancing around him once. He bent over, already struggling to find his breath. "There was a different poison in the cure I gave you! It won't activate unless I press the detonator!"
Dick tensed, so much that his spandex suit looked like it was going to burst, more than usual that is. Jason and Bruce.
"And don't forget about you're little misfit, who I intend to have lots of fun with until I receive the cure." Joker grinned, turning to look at Jason, who only scowled and mumbled profanities in return. "My crowbar hasn't been used in a while, and I've got a few good new serums to try on him."
Dick's jaw dropped open, and his gaze shifted to Jason frantically. He now noticed a large red gash on the side of his forehead, the blood from the gash blending in almost seamlessly into his ebony hair. No wonder he hadn't seen it before. A small droplet of blood had dried along his hairline. Although Dick knew Jason had been through much worse (duh), he still worried for him.
"Fine." He sighed, holding out his palm to take the toxin that Joker still clung to. The madman grinned maniacally and tossed him the vial.
"You have two weeks until they're both dead."
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OKAY! Are you guys happy?! I've finally revealed Joker's secret favor! GASP IN FREAKING EXCITEMENT OR I WILL FIND YOU AND BLOW YOUR HOUSE UP.
I'm kidding. I love you guys. You can't review without a house.
Or sleep.
I myself am a huge fan of sleep, so yeah. I would never…
ANYWHO!
I have TWO review questions this time! You guys are just sooo lucky today. ;)
QUESTION 1: was the favor a slight let down for some, or did it by far exceed your expectations, or just meet them, or…. Just tell me what you thought of how the plot is going so far. I'm a bit if-fy on the rest I suppose.
QUESTION 2: This is more of a self confidence thing than anything, and I kind of just want to share, but still. How many of my favorite readers think I could write for real? As in, as a career and get paid for it and publish actual books. Or possibly write movies? My parents have little to no faith in me and it's starting to wear me down, so I need a little boost. :/
REVIEW ANSWERS!
Yuna Kimitachi: I know that feel. I twirl pencils between my fingers and it drives people crazy for unknown reasons…True. I probably would've updated this chapter on Wednesday, but I didn't like how the ending turned out. :/ Is it good enough to meet your standards? ;P I didn't include butt-kicking, but it's coming. Pinky promise.
Lakeshine: I already answered your review in a PM…. But still… thanks. I love you by the way, I don't believe I've ever said that, but you review just about every chapter and I appreciate it. :)
GwenuitHolland: Thanks! And now, I liked your drawing. I personally don't believe I could've drawn it better myself. I never got around to darkening the lines though and it's starting to drive me crazy. :/ No I don't, actually. If you happen to find out though, please share. :P
READINGhearts17: I know! Her voice and stuff got to me in the Arkham City and Arkham Asylum games. I like her character and all, and I especially love how she was portrayed in BTAS, but sometimes I just want to light her on fire.
Undecidable: I do, actually, love your predictions. ;) You were ironically close. I hope it took more than just five minutes of thought! Don't want to make things TOO easy for you. ;) Please, make another prediction, because as previously stated, I love them. By the way, you called me Charlie, and for some reason, I found that significant. I like this game we got going on here too, it keeps me on my toes too. ;)
