Hey guys! I'm back from Thanksgiving break!
Shout out's to the awsomeness that is: Smokeydirtcat, AelitaOfTheWolves, Tessika14, Guest...Special shout out to Sheepdog20, who has gone through in a matter of days and commented on almost every. single. one. of the chapters...0.o...I got on my email sunday night and it was about ready to explode!
Thanks to all who reviewed, virtual batcookies to all of you! To the rest of you lurkers out there...SHAME!
ENJOY!
JJ grinned.
He watched as the Gotham City S.W.A.T. officers swarmed over the expensive looking building, going through doors, windows, wherever. He had to give those guys credit, they sure knew how to seal off a building!
They were getting faster too, he noted with satisfaction.
They had sliced a good ten minutes off their response time, and if he was any judge they'd shaved several more seconds off of their entry time.
And they had good reason.
GCPD's dispatch had received an anonymous tip by phone about four minutes ago, stating that the Joker was pulling a job tonight at the Gotham City Central Bank. This was the sixteenth tipoff they'd had from this anonymous caller in the past two weeks, and his tips were always good.
So naturally they were being pretty quick to respond to his calls.
JJ pricked up his ears. It was hard to tell over the engines of the police cars outside, and the voices of the normal officers setting up a perimeter.
But he could hear yelling from inside the building, and gunshots.
The sound of squealing tires off to his left suddenly drew his attention and his head whipped around. Joker was making his escape in a nondescript blue sedan, with Harley at the wheel.
He grit his teeth at the sound of his father's laughter. "I forgot about the getaway car." He muttered.
Mini me chuckled. So? Have a look at Mr. G.I. Joe over there, just coming out of the building!
JJ returned his attention to the building. It took him a few minutes to locate the one Mini me was talking about.
The tall officer removed a helmet to reveal short, straw colored hair and hazel eyes. With his gun slung over his shoulder and his helmet under his arm he made his way over to Commissioner Gordon and presented him with a dully colored carpet bag. JJ grinned when the commissioner opened it, revealing a bag full of wadded up cash.
The cake might've run way. Mini me laughed. But we got the icing!
"Impossible!" Joker howled, kicking a stool across the room. The clatter it made when it hit the wall wasn't even close to satisfying enough. "How could they have known we were going to hit that bank?" he growled, pacing back and forth across the room like a caged animal. "That's the fifth job this week!"
Come on Puddin', it'll be ok." Harley soothed, trying to get her husband to stop pacing. "Our next job'll go over without a hitch, you'll see!"
Joker grudgingly allowed his lover to guide him to a seat. He didn't stay there long, getting back up within a couple minutes to pace the floor again.
"I don't understand it." He growled. "That's sixteen jobs in a row the police have busted us mid heist...Someone's squealing!" He rounded on Harley.
Harley quickly backpedalled. "Puddin'! You know I wouldn't do that!"
Joker growled but lowered his fist. No. Harley wouldn't. If she was angry with him, she'd belt him with that thrice blasted hammer of hers.
Someone else was tipping the cops to his doings.
And he intended to find out who!
JJ grinned, pulling his knees closer to his chest. "Pops must be going absolutely out of his mind right about now trying to figure out who's tipping the cops!" he chortled gleefully.
He already was out of his mind. Mini me answered. Though from the amount of yelling and crashing that was going on when he got home, I bet he's slipping a little bit farther than he was before! Mini me laughed. The Joker, outwitted and driven mad by his own son! It's absolutely delicious! You were right, we did have a lot of fun with those gizmos!
JJ smiled.
He was hidden away in a small recess in the masonry of the building opposite his father's hideout, his own hideaway hidden by a series of small, ill tended shrubs. "Finally, something we both agree on."
Oh, we agreed on other things!
JJ frowned and cocked his head. "Oh yeah? Like what? Because if I remember correctly, you usually have the ideas that most people would deem bad ideas."
I resent that remark! Mini me, exclaimed indignantly.
"You resemble that remark!" JJ laughed quietly, pulling his sleeping bag up around his shoulders and cuddling into it for warmth.
He slipped a small device out of his coat pocket and held it up where he could see it.
Roughly three inches long and two inches wide, it was a small black box with an olive drab green screen on one end, various controls on the other. The screen displayed a grid system of grey lines, a green dot blinking off to one side to show where the tracking bleeper was in relation to the tracker.
Said bleeper was currently embedded in the sole of his father's shoe.
JJ had always been adept with mechanical and electrical apparatus, and he'd learned a good deal more while in Gotham. It had been a simple matter to take the different components his father kept for making bombs, and put them together to make something different. Like a tracking device for example!
The hard part had been locating and sneaking into his father's current hideout to place the tracer!
After that, all he had to do was follow the crook and phone it in!
"What did we agree on?" he asked, his eyes beginning to droop.
He flicked a switch, locking the tracer in place on the grid. If it moved more than two squares in any direction, which constituted two city blocks, a shrill alarm would go off.
He settled himself more comfortably in his nook, waiting for Mini me's reply.
We agreed that getting even with your old man would be marvelous amounts of fun!
"Any idea who it is, Batman?"
The dark knight silently eyed Commissioner Gordon, Officer Montoya behind him and to his left. After a long moment, he nodded.
"It's the Joker's son. Somehow he's keeping tabs on his father, and calling in his crimes through whatever phone is most readily available. I found his fingerprints on several of the payphones."
"But why?" Officer Montoya shook her head. "I don't get it sir. He's free of his father, of us, why hasn't he gone home? There's nothing to keep him here."
"Yes there is. As long as the Joker is loose, it would not be safe for him to return home. Joker would hear of it and either try to deal with JJ directly, or he might take action against the grandmother."
He fell silent again, knowing Robin wouldn't like his next statement.
"Father and son are a great deal more alike than either would care to admit. Joker Junior has an aversion to killing, but he's not above revenge." Batman's eyes narrowed. "And with Joker's history, his son doesn't have to look far to find something worth avenging."
Robin shivered. "So what do we do? Do we keep looking for JJ? Or do we concentrate on catching the Joker, and hope we find JJ along the way?"
"We go after the Joker." The commissioner stated firmly. "The Joker is the biggest threat to the general public, and that makes him our prime target. We'll catch JJ later when he either slips up or goes home."
He walked across the roof to put a hand on the boy wonder's shoulder. "I know he's a friend of yours Robin. And you have my word, my men and I will be doing everything in our power to bring him in safe."
Robin nodded. "Thank you sir. So will I…"
There was a soft beep, and Batman's hand flew to his belt, removing a flat square with a screen. He took a moment to read the text scrolling across the screen, then returned the device to his belt. "Not tonight." He said grimly. "We're going to be busy."
"Busy? Doing what?" Montoya questioned.
The door leading down into the police station suddenly burst open. "Commissioner! Commissioner Gordon! The Joker's kidnapped Mayor Hill's baby!"
Jim didn't look for the dynamic duo, knowing full well they'd already be gone. Instead, he settled his gaze on Montoya. "You were saying?"
Montoya's face was pale when she answered. "I'm sorry I asked…"
"Oh! He's so cute!" Harley squealed, giving Jordan Hill a finger to grip. The infant took it, cooing softly to himself and waving his other tiny fist in the air.
"Is not! And don't get attached to it Harley! He won't be staying with us for very long." Joker fussed, scratching Bud behind the ears.
A drop of water plopped onto the end of his nose and he made a face. In an attempt to forestall another botched job, they had gone to a backup hideout in the catacombs under Gotham instead of returning to the main hideout they'd been using.
He made a mental note to find better backup hideouts the first chance he got.
"Yes Mr. J." Harley answered, disappointed.
The smile soon returned to her face when she looked back at the baby. Jordan was still very young, barely two weeks old, and small. Wispy blonde peach fuzz stuck out from under the cap he was wearing, and his cheeks were rosy, forming a sharp contrast with his dark blue blanket.
The baby opened his eyes, and Harley was suddenly struck with a sense of déjà vu.
Pale blue eyes stared up into her own sky blue ones, but in her mind's eye they were a darker, deeper grey blue. She missed her son. She missed him terribly.
"Puddin'?"
Joker inwardly braced himself, knowing exactly what she was going to ask. "Yes Harley?" he asked, bending over the ransom letter he was writing and pretending to really focus on it.
"Have you heard anymore about JJ?" Harley asked hesitantly.
She knew father and son didn't always see eye to eye, but deep down inside, she was convinced that Joker still cared for his son.
Joker sighed, really playing up the concerned father bit. "No. They boys haven't heard so much as a kazoo hoot about Joker Junior since we stormed the safe house. The delinquent isn't on the street, and he hasn't gone home to that old harpy of a grandma." He returned to his note, hoping she'd drop it.
No such luck.
"Do you think the Batman got him?" Harley asked worriedly.
"I don't know…" Joker muttered.
"Do you think…?"
"I DON'T KNOW!" Joker yelled, jumping to his feet. Enough was enough. "Now shut up and let me do my job!"
Harley meekly bowed her head, cradling Jordan close. "A-ok Mr. J…"
"All set?" JJ asked, carefully resettling his hat, and making sure his hair was tucked up inside.
You're nuts you know that? This'll never work, it's absolutely insane! Mini me fussed.
JJ chuckled, straightening his bow tie. "Wow. You think you're crazy when you start hearing voices in your head and have conversations with them. You know you're nuts when the imaginary voice in your head agrees that you're crazy! And yes it will work by the way. Just walk in dressed as Pops, do what we need to do, and get out. Easy as that."
Oh really? Exactly what part of this plan screams foolproof!
"Oh, now you want foolproof? Whose idea was it to take my body for a joyride last week?" JJ wanted to know.
He scowled and shrugged his backpack onto his shoulders again, clipping the belt across his chest. "I'm still mad at you for that! Taking me out for a sleep walk was bad enough, but putting superglue on the seat of a cop car?"
Hey! How was I supposed to know his partner would chase us three blocks? Mini me argued. And besides, he wasn't that big! We got away fine!
"Yeah, after I lost a good chunk of my sleeve and climbed a fire escape!" JJ answered. He crept to the alley opening and peered out, making sure they were alone. "And whose eyes where you looking through? That police dog was huge!"
He looked up and down the street. "All clear-crap!"
The young clown quickly ducked back into the alley, starring across the street as a familiar black car slowed to a stop by the curb.
Two figures emerged and hurried into the building that housed the entrance to his father's underground hideout.
He waited for a long minute, then quietly slipped out of the alley.
Oh, for the sake of cream pudding pie, can't you leave well enough alone just this once? Mini me pleaded. The blasted Bat and his little brat are already in there, they'll give your father the wedgie he deserves!
"Relax." JJ muttered, skirting the building and heading for the back. "A moment this good deserves to be caught on film. I'm just going to watch…"
Why, do I not believe you?..."
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Untill next time...
