The plan was simple. Dick would lure Harley and the Joker inside the house, Jason, Tim and Damian would close the door behind them, so the villains wouldn't be able to escape and the Young Justice, who had hopefully already defeated the goons by then, would catch the Joker, without anyone getting kidnapped, injured or killed. That would be really nice, but of course, something had to go wrong. Thing just can't be simple for once.
A warning for everyone who has to deal with the Joker: Don't make plans. The Joker will just do something totally unexpected or mad and mess up the whole operation.
The four rules of Leonard Snart work every time: make the plan, execute the plan, expect the plan to go off the rails, throw away the plan.
Same thing here, though Jason thought that this plan sucked from the beginning anyway.
"I heard you were looking for me," said Dick loudly, looking at the madman and his queen challengingly. They seemed startled for a second, but the Joker quickly recovered from his shock and laughed, the crazy laugh that send shivers down everyones spines. "Who do we have here? Richard Grayson, I assume." He mock bowed. "It's an honor to meet you."
Dick narrowed his eyes. "I have a proposal for you. I'll go with you willingly, without fighting back, but only if you leave my brothers alone." He paused. "And only if you can catch me."
Jason smirked from his hideout. Dick was fast, like really fast, and he seriously doubted that the Joker would be able to catch him. The mad clown laughed once more, chuckling at Dick, as if he were some cute, little child. "It was stupid of you to come here alone, little boy. What stops me from kidnapping you now and coming back for your brothers?"
Dick rolled his eyes. "Well, to kidnap me, you still have to catch me first." Joker grinned and turned to Harley. "Get him."
The blonde laughed crazily and replied, "Sure thing, Puddin'," taking out her baseball bat and charging at Dick full speed.
Tim snickered quietly. What a stupid move.
Dick waited as she raised her bat, ready to knock him unconscious and jumped to the side at the last second without a sweat. Harley let out a surprised yelp and ran head first into a tree. Dick had to bite his lip to stop himself from laughing as she fell to the ground, knocked out cold.
"Now that was rude," said a very angry Joker, his wide, red lips pulled into a pout. "Didn't your mother teach you not to let people run into trees?" Dick clenched his fists, narrowing his eyes. "No, and even if she did, I don't think her rule applies to psychos. So, do you accept my deal or not?"
Joker glanced at the Manor, where he could see the Young Justice taking down the thugs he'd hired. He realised that he didn't have much time before the heroes would have finished them all off and come searching for him. He needed to act fast.
He snickered madly and grinned at Dick, showing his yellow teeth. "Bad, boy, really bad, Richard. Me not like ultimatums. Hehehe, let's destroy grammar. Like, seriously, how can anyone expect us to remember all that frippery." He sighed deeply and did something the brothers had not expected him to do. He pulled out a gun.
Dick's eyes widened slightly and Jason mentally face-palmed. "Damn it, we forgot that he has a gun," he muttered, watching the Joker's next moves carefully. The maniac laughed and a chill went down Jason's spine. This just got a whole lot more dangerous.
"No, I don't accept," sang-sung the Joker, aiming the gun at Dick's head. "But I don't think that you were stupid enough to come here alone, so we're are your brothers?" He looked around, gun still maimed at Dick, hopping from one foot to another. "Come out, come out, wherever you are," he sung.
Jason stayed still, glancing at Damian and Tim, who didn't move a muscle, their eyes following the Joker's every movement. Someone had to do something, before this shit show escalated. "Come out!" yelled the Joker, finger hovering over the trigger of the gun. He was not a very patient man. Jason knew that from experience. "Or I'll shoot your brother."
Dick locked eyes with Jason and slightly shook his head. "If you shoot me," he said, turning his attention back to the maniac in front of him, "you won't get any money." The Joker considered that for a second, then smirked devilishly and lowered the weapon, so it aimed at Dick's shoulder instead, the lust for pain shining in his eyes.
"I don't have to kill you, I can just inflict a lot of pain on you. That's always more fun, wouldn't you agree? Fun, bun, funny, bunny. Tell me, can you sing?" Dick stiffed and Jason saw the fear in his brother's eyes, who quickly put his poker-face back on. Yeah, they both knew what that sentence meant.
"I guess you'll find out soon enough."
Jason glanced at at his younger brothers, who were nodding at him. They couldn't let Dick get hurt.
"Don't hurt him," said Jason, slowly walking towards the Joker, Damian and Tim following behind.
"Jason," hissed Dick warningly. "What are you doing?" Tim rolled his eyes. "Isn't it obvious? We're saving you from getting shot, idiot."
A small, sad smiled tugged at Dick's lips. Why did they have to be so loyal?
"Aww," purred the Joker, his eyes glistening with craziness. "A family reunion. That's so sweet. My old man was a jerk, always cutting away on my face." His smile stretched across his face grotesquely. "Until I cut back."
"You have what you want, now put down the gun," demanded Dick, moving away from Jason, Tim and Damian.
Whilst the Joker's attention was on Dick, Jason signalled Damian and Tim to go to either side of the Joker, successfully surrounding the villain. "Hey, Joker," said Tim, crossing his arms, glaring dangerously. "You do realise that it's four against one, right? And you can't shoot all of us at the same time. You shoot one, the other three will take you down." They knew that the Joker wouldn't kill them, he needed the money after all. They all had been shot once or twice, they could handle the pain.
An uneasy feeling spread through Dick as the Joker's smirk didn't waver. "You sure I won't kill you? I could just demand the same amount of money for only three of you." He grinned at the brothers, pointing the gun at one boy, then aiming at the next, keeping them in check.
Bang!
Joker pulled the trigger.
A body fell to the floor, a head hitting the ground with a dull thud.
Earlier with the team, just after they had send the brothers away:
Artemis was firing arrow after arrow, injuring but not killing the thugs that were attacking her and her teammates. Luckily, none of them had guns with them, so it was a somewhat fair fight, even though the team was outnumbered, but with their powers, they could hold off several guys at once.
Artemis jumped back as one of them, a big guy with a pig mask, threw a punch at her face. She hit him in the temple with her bow in response. The pig-guy crumbled to the floor, but another one, this one had a horse mask and was swinging a metal bat, took his place.
She dodged a kick to her stomach and ducked under a swing of the bat. She took an arrow out of her quiver and rammed it into the guy's leg. He let out a pained scream- a really high pitched scream- and Artemis knocked him out with a punch to the face.
She saw a yellow blur ran past her and smiled gently at the thought of Wally. A kick to her stomach pulled her out of her thoughts, causing her to skid backwards. She cought and glared at the guy who had kicked her. "Hey! I was daydreaming about my boyfriend, you brainless idiot!" She roundhouse-kicked the guy in the face and he stumbled backwards, but quickly regained his balance.
He pulled out a pocket knife and aimed at her arms, but Artemis blocked it with her bow and kicked the guy right between the legs and he fell to his knees, a high-pitched whining sound escaping his lips. "That's for interrupting my daydream, asshole." Then she successfully knocked him out with a punch to the temple. "And that's because punching people is fun."
She looked around to see if anyone needed help. Wally was zooming around, throwing punches here and there and just running against people and throwing them to the ground. Miss Martian was probably invisible and goons were falling to the ground without a visible cause. Kaldur was surrounded by unconscious bodys and had a gash on his cheek, but otherwise he seemed fine. Superboy was throwing thugs against the walls. He defenitifly didn't need help. The last goons fell to the floor and didn't stand up again.
"Is everybody okay?" asked Kaldur, breathing heavily. Artemis nodded. "Yeah. No lethal injuries."
"Good. Now we just need to find the boys." Suddenly, Megan gasped, stumbling to the side. Conner caught her before she could hit the ground. "What is it?"
"I don't know," muttered Megan, holding her head. "Something is wrong."
Bang!
Kaldur's body went rigid. "Was that a gun shot?" Everyone could hear the worry in his voice.
"It came from outside," panicked Artemis, gulping heavily.
Suddenly, they heard a laugh that chilled them to the core. "The Joker," breathed the archer.
What if he had killed one of the brothers? They looked at each other and sprinted towards the horrible laugh, Wally already out of sight. When they reached a clearing in the woods in front of the Manor, they stopped dead in their tracks. Artemis gasped. Blood. The first thing she smelled was the metallic scent of blood. Her eyes landed on someone on the ground, a pool of the red liquid surrounding them.
"Oh God," whispered Artemis. This couldn't be happening. "The Joker is gone," whispered a quiet voice. Someone was sitting next to the shot person, applying pressure to the wound, ignoring the blood on their fingers. "And he took them with him. They are gone. Both of them." That's when Artemis noticed that only two Wayne brothers were present, one unconscious and bleeding out, the other one at the verge of tears, trying to save his brother's life. The other two were gone and so was the Joker.
A/N: Dundunduuuuun! Cliffhanger! So, who is bleeding to death? Who was kidnapped? I know I'm evil