Here's a bigger chapter for you! ;D Btw, this is NOT the YJ's kiddie-friendly version of the Joker from the series.
Oh, and I don't own Radio Shack (LOL!) and neither have I ever worked for the company. I have bought stuff from them though, not that that makes any difference to the story or my rights to the company- of which I have NONE! Free advertising, guys! No suing . . .
WARNINGS: Some Language and Mildly Graphic Images . . .
The crash was loud and shattered glass flew everywhere as Green Arrow made his dramatic entrance; dropping down onto the second level near the top of the escalators. His bow was out and a special arrow notched. He was taking Robin's word for it that the Joker was not to be trifled with.
"Time's up, clown," he yelled. He wanted to draw the madman's attention further away from the hostages, and give Robin time to get them out.
As Robin took his cue and the hostages began scurrying toward him and the safety of the hallway, Green Arrow took his shot; cuffing together Joker's wrists. The clown was only startled for a moment, however as he looked up at the intruder, scowling.
"You're not Batman!" The Joker declared loudly.
Green Arrow got his first good look at Gotham's clown prince. He'd seen blurry pictures and shaky-cam videos of him before on the news and in the paper, but none of them had done the Joker any justice. The camera couldn't seem to capture the sense of unease and discomfort being in the man presence produced; especially when his attention found you.
There was something about this guy that was wrong . . . It was that 'off' feeling that made the hair on his neck rise and a creepy-crawly sensation walk itself up his spine. So this was what the kid was talking about! It took some effort not to allow himself to freak out in some way.
God! Was this what Batman was up against on a regular basis here in Gotham? Oliver let his eyes wander to Robin. He was tugging on a teenager's jacket to get him moving, and then the last of the hostages disappeared. No wonder Robin had been so afraid of facing him. He was glad the kid called the JLA for backup.
"I demand to know who you are," Joker was saying; dragging Green Arrow's attention back to him.
He hesitated; a shiver running up his back.
"I'm called Green Arrow," he said with a dry mouth. "I'm filling in for Batman."
"Hm," Joker growled at him; actually growled at him! "Well, you are ruining everything. I expected Batman to show up."
"You can't have everything you want, Joker, so learn to deal with the disappointment," GA hugged his bravado close and taunted the clown. "Batman was too busy to deal with you personally today."
The Joker's weird smile dimmed a bit and his eyes narrowed dangerously; his anger plain on his distorted face. "He might live to regret that," the clown prince smirked. "You, however, won't live long enough to regret much of anything."
Green Arrow notched another arrow and drew the bowstring back taut as he prepared for whatever unexpected thing that was supposed to happen that Robin had warned him about. "Don't threaten me, clown."
Joker's smile widened. He began to laugh. The clown's chuckling was deep and slow and definitely caused a wave of goosebumps to crawl over one's flesh.
"It's time for you to shut up, now," Green Arrow snapped.
The Joker slid his feet closer to the edge of the table he was still standing on.
"Freeze, Joker! Not another step," he warned.
Joker held up his cuffed hands in a parody of surrender. "You've already caught me," he giggled, in a voice that was made for horror films. "What harm could I possibly do now?"
One foot stepped onto a chair standing next to the table. The balloons that were attached to it wavered ominously. Arrow frowned.
"I said, stand still," he ordered.
Joker held his hands above his head. "I give up," he said. "I surrreennndeerr . . ."
The chair wobbled and Joker's cuffed hands dropped to the back of it to gain stability and a second later, both toppled to the floor. The balloon bunch broke free and began to lazily rise.
Joker struggled to his feet with the radio shack bag in one hand. A birdarang came out of nowhere, severing the handle to the bag. Robin was back! Green Arrow let loose another arrow, unwilling for the clown to get the slip on him. Bolos flew free halfway there and knocked the clown back to the floor when they wrapped around his legs.
"Nice shot, kid," he called down. "This guy's not so scary after all."
He notched another arrow, but the balloons had drifted in between him and the clown; blocking his view. The little box dangled ominously below the colorful array.
"Damn it," he snarled.
What is in it, he wondered. A bomb? It was getting too close to him. Better to lower the package, he thought. He trusted Robin when the boy had told him Joker was tricky, so, he would avoid the box. If he got rid of a few of those balloons though, it would lower whatever the potentially deadly device was in the box back down to the floor gently.
"Arrow, watch out for the balloons!"
"I got it, kid! No worries . . ."
Robin skidded back into the food court and paused only long enough to assess the situation. Joker was carefully stepping down off of the table and onto a chair; his Radio Shack bag dangling from his arm. He held his hands away from his body in an effort to appear harmless. Was the other vigilante buying into it?
Suddenly Joker was toppling from his precarious perch. As he fell to the ground, the balloons were released into the air. Joker climbed to his feet, now clutching the all-important bag of parts from Radio Shack. As much as Robin knew those balloons were bad news, so too was whatever was in that bag. If Joker wanted it, he knew that people would die if the clown got to use it.
Robin pulled out a birdarang. He threw the sharp little weapon, severing the handles from the bag and causing it to drop onto the floor. Joker jerked his head in Robin's direction and spotted him.
"Oho! So, there you are! Where's your bat-buddy, little bird," he asked, hopefully.
"Too busy for you, Joker," Robin taunted. "You picked the wrong weekend to break out if you hoped for his attention."
A new arrow flew by releasing a set of bolos which wrapped around Joker's legs and once more the clown hit the tiled floor.
"Nice shot, kid," GA called down to him from the upper deck. "This guy's not so scary after all!"
The balloons crossed between Joker and Green Arrow; blocking the hero's line of sight to the mad clown for a moment.
"Damn it," GA growled.
"Arrow, watch out for the balloons," Robin yelled.
There might be something in the little box, too, but knowing the Joker as he did, Robin suspected that the box was a decoy. The balloons were the danger . . . He suspected they contained a gaseous form of the Joker toxin.
"I got it, kid! No worries . . ." Green Arrow changed his aim and shot at the balloons in front of him.
"NO!" Robin yelled. "Not the balloons!"
Green Arrow aimed to take out just three of the balloons from the bunch drifting by him. Robin's cry came as his fingers released the bowstring; too late to stop the arrow from flying.
His accuracy, as usual, was dead on, and the arrow struck three of the balloons; popping them instantly. But instead of lowering to the floor as he had expected, all the balloons exploded in his face; flinging him off of his feet with the force of the blast!
The fire flared out and then began raining down in small clumps of burning latex. The tiny glowing particles of whatever had been inside the balloons began to fall onto him. It burned his bare skin and caught his uniform on fire. He slapped at the fire, but it wouldn't go out. He rolled, but the burning embers refused to die.
A hazy portion of his brain that still worked latched onto this information and gave it a name: white phosphorus!
"Surprise," Joker laughed in the distance.
Oliver screamed.
Robin gasped and dove under a table as particles of white phosphorus rained down over the area, catching everything combustible on fire. White smoke began filling the open area; obscuring sight. He wrapped himself in his flame-retardant cape and covered his head as the other balloons began exploding all around him. The embers would land on another balloon and would quickly eat through the latex, causing yet another explosion and fueling what was threatening to become a raging inferno.
A normal fire wouldn't stand much chance in the open mall area with all of the tile, metal, and concrete, but this was white phosphorus! It wouldn't go out and stay out unless it was submerged in water. What little he could still see showed that the fire was now expanding into a nearby clothing shops. As the more flammable substances inside the stores began to burn, black smoke was added to the heavy white haze.
He needed to get to Green Arrow! The man's screams echoed in the cavernous space. Robin had seen him take the brunt of that first explosion. If his body was covered in the white phosphorus particles, Oliver Queen would die! Those embers would burn all the way through to the bone!
Robin bolted from his hiding place.
Robin tried looked for the Joker, but the clown had disappeared into the white haze that was becoming thicker by the second. He didn't know if the explosion and fire had killed the clown or not, but as much as Joker needed to be caught, Robin had to help GA first. The man had only come to Gotham because Robin had asked him for his help!
There were still particles of the phosphorus floating in the air. Pulling his cape over his head, Robin ran in the direction of the screams. He couldn't see anything in the gray smoke. He coughed; his hands moved unerringly to his utility belt and the rebreather he had stored there.
Robin yelped as a few particles landed on his bare arms. He felt sharp pinpricks of pain as the white phosphorus began to eat through his cape. They dropped onto his shoulders and back, burning through his costume and into his skin and the muscles beyond. The pain flared as the phosphorus hit bone and organs, and he stumbled onto his knees. His rebreather fell from his lips as he gasped and grunted under the assault. His hands fumbled as he struggled to pick it up.
His saving grace was in that the particles were small and few at this point. His body was healing him almost as quickly as the phosphorus burned through him, but it hurt! Gah! The pain was excruciating! His head hanging down, Robin blinked at the sight of particles burning a hole through his uniform from the inside out and dropping to the tiled floor beneath him. It had eaten its way entirely through his body! This would have killed him had he still been normal!
Oh God! Green Arrow . . . Ollie!
How much worse would this be for Oliver who had been standing within a few feet of the balloons when they first blew up?
Robin struggled to regain his feet; ignoring the fresh pain as new particles landed on him. Green Arrow's only hope lay in the fact that the majority of the balloons had exploded beneath the second floor deck where he had been standing.
Unable to see his hand in front of his face, Robin slammed into the side of the escalator. At least now he knew where he was! Robin followed the metal side until he discovered the entrance to the moving stairs. This one was going down, he realized. It wouldn't stop him though. Robin jumped onto it; racing as fast as he could to the top against the motion of the steps.
"Green Arrow! I'm coming," he yelled. "Hang on! Just . . . hang on!"
Only the man's continued screams told Robin that he hadn't yet succumbed to unconsciousness or, thank God, death. But the agony in the man's cries was the worst thing that Robin could ever remember hearing. It was a sound that he knew would haunt his nightmares forevermore.
And it's all my fault . . .
A blazing palm tree from the planter below stretched high towards the broken skylight. The darkening smoke appeared to be glowing in that direction. But its proximity to roofline helped raise the temperature in the sprinklers high enough to finally set them off. Robin sent a prayer of thanks because they desperately needed the water. He scrubbed at his skin, using the water to wash away new particles from his skin. His arms were peppered with burn marks, but even as he spotted them, they faded from view; his skin healing them within a few seconds.
Green Arrow should be somewhere to his left, he thought as he stumbled onto the second level. The noise the man was making made it easy to locate him. The incredible amounts of water that rained down on them shorted out the escalators and the lights flickered off. Emergency lighting came on next; making the gray smoke appear to glow a dark, dim red.
If not for the flood of water cascading over their heads, Robin would have sworn he had arrived in hell. He fell to his knees at Green Arrow's side and got his first glimpse of the man.
Oh God, no! Oh no . . .
Burns were splattered over half of his face! The upper portion of his uniform had been burned away, leaving the second and third degree burns on his chest exposed. Robin rubbed at the still burning cloth on his thigh and gaped at the hole beneath it. Scooping up palmfuls of water, Robin attempted to douse it. The phosphorus would burn all the way to his bone otherwise. . . .
There were still a few particles of burning white phosphorus in the air. Ollie couldn't stand anymore, so Robin yanked off his cape. It was flame retardant. Although it couldn't withstand the phosphorus for long, it was like him and could heal itself. He tossed it over Oliver, and grabbed the man under his arms. Green Arrow wasn't as large as Batman, but he was much larger than Robin, and the boy struggled to pull him away from the danger.
"You have to help me, Ollie," Robin gasped. "I'm not strong enough to pull you all by myself!"
Between them, Robin was able to drag Oliver several feet away. The smoke continued to darken as more poisonous gases from the flames were added to the now dingy white smoke. It was making Oliver choke. Robin only had the one rebreather with him. He didn't know if Green Arrow carried something similar or not, but didn't want to waste the time searching for something that might not be there. Robin would recover from smoke inhalation, but what good would it do Oliver if he could breath but still died from his injuries?
It would take time before rescuers could get in here and find them. Robin simply wasn't strong enough to get Green Arrow out alone, and Oliver's strength was next to nonexistent in his current state. Even now he was hovering between consciousness and unconsciousness. It would be more merciful if Ollie could just pass out, but Robin needed him awake. They couldn't stay here!
Robin could feel the pull of his power even through his gloves . . .
He could heal Ollie! Robin would become worthless for a while, but Green Arrow was more than strong enough to carry Robin to safety. But, unfortunately, Green Arrow didn't know the Joker. This disaster was proof of that! If Green Arrow went back after Joker while Robin took the time to heal and recover, who's to say that something like this wouldn't happen again, only next time without Robin there to save him!
No . . . Robin had to stay mobile. They still didn't know Joker's ultimate plan, and until Batman returned, Robin was Gotham's last, best hope against the madman!
Decision made, Robin pulled off one of his gloves. He would heal Green Arrow just enough to save his life and enable them to escape the inferno around them. Then he could get Ollie to the Watchtower for medical treatment. Once Green Arrow was safe, Robin would go after Joker again.
He would still need help. He knew that, but Green Arrow proved to him that the remaining adult members of the JLA wouldn't take him seriously enough to heed his warnings about the deadly clown. He needed help from heroes who knew him personally and respected him. Heroes that already had some bit of experience working with him.
Gritting his teeth against the pain that was to come, Robin lay his hand onto Oliver's chest . . . And screamed!
REACTIONS? Come on . . . There are bound to be some! Let me hear them!
(And no . . . It isn't time for the endings just yet. There is still more to come!)