Chapter Eight
"Arkham Asylum, my home a way from home," Harley Quinn said in high pitched voice. The guard ushered her into a cell, she sat down on a bed. "I wonder where Puddin' is?"
"I'm next door Harley," came the Joker's voice. She looked over at him. "So who got you this time? Batsy?"
"No, not Batsy, it was that Batgirl chick this time," Harley replied. "But I discovered something you're really going to like Mr. J. You wanna guess?"
"I despise guessing games, leave that to Edward Nygma," Joker grumbled.
"Bats has a girlfriend," Harley said excitedly.
"But that's not new Harley, I know the Cat has a thing for the Bat!" he shouted. "Why did you bother to tell me something I know already?"
"But Boss, this girl's someone new. She's some redhead I've never heard of."
"Batsy has a new girlfriend, do you know what she looks like?" he asked.
"Well, uh Boss, I haven't exactly seen her—" Harley began.
"Then why did you open your big, fat mouth in the first place?" the Joker roared.
"But Boss, Pengy's seen her!"
"Penguin, well, well, once I get out of here I'll just have to go see him," the Joker let his already permanent smile grow even wider.
"So Puddin', have you come up with a plan to get rid of the Bat for good?" Harley asked.
"Harley, you know me, I don't make plans for anything, well, almost anything. I just fly by the seat of my pants. He he he he heh he heh, ha hah haha haha ha! fly by the seat of my pants! Can you imagine that, Harley?"
"Sure Boss, whatever you say," Harley said nervously.
"I'm going to need a plan…to get rid of the Batman…" Joker said, he began to think, he was a schemer, not that his schemes weren't diabolical; they were insane to the normal mind. "Do you have any suggestions Harley? Not that I'm not a genius, already."
"But Boss, the Bat always foils our—Excuse me your genius schemes, as much as I hate to say it."
"You know, your right, Harley. The Batman does always manage to beat me…Well If you can't beat 'em…"
"Mr. J. You're not going to join the Bat, are ya?"
"…Be 'em," the Joker's wide mouthed smile showed his teeth. Harley Quinn's eyes widened.
"What?" Harley asked, slack jawed, "you want to be the Bat now?"
"Why not, Harley?" Joker asked, "You just said the Bat always thwarts my schemes."
"But I heard that Bane beat him," Harley said.
"If Bane beat the Bat, then who did Penguin fight?"
"Batsy, of course," Harley replied. "But how could he be Bats beat Pengy if he got beat by Bane?"
The Joker looked puzzled. "I don't know, it all sounds insane, doesn't it? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Just like me!"
"You're really sick, you know that Boss?" Harley asked.
"Um hmm," the Joker's smile became smug. "But really Harley, if Bats got beat by Bane, how could he just show up and take out the Penguin?"
"I don't know," Harley shrugged.
"Indeed, the Batman is a mysterious one," a voice interrupted. Harley and the Joker looked up from their conversation to see Edward Nygma sitting across from them in another cell.
"Oh, hello Eddie," Joker smirked.
"Don't call me Eddie, " the Riddler growled angrily. "I am the Riddler, I'm not Edward Nygma anymore."
"Have it your way Eddie," the Joker smirked. The Riddler glared at him from a cross the hall.
"So you were the first one to get knocked off the street since Bane supposedly broke the Batman's back."
"He did, I guess he recovered quicker than we thought," Edward Nygma said. "But the Batman is only human, and Bane broke his back almost a month ago. No human can recover that quickly, can they?"
"You've all heard the theories, Harley," Joker said. "We all wonder who he is beneath that mask. He could be extremely ugly and disgusting under there for all we know." You know, Two Face thinks Gordon's got 'em stashed away like a S.W.A.T. team," Joker said. "He's thinks it's more than one guy."
"I highly doubt that," the Riddler said. "I've fought him enough to know that he's just one man, and how could one more than man have an intellect that rivals mine?"
"I don't know Eddie," Joker said, "But anyway, have you heard Croc's theory? He says it's a robot. For someone who claims he's smart, he sure comes up with some stupid theories. Ha, ha ha, Oooh ha!" Joker chuckled. "It's a good thing he's not in the same room with me, he'd probably try to tear me a part. I'd sue; then I'd rip his lungs out."
"But I thought you all were friends," the Riddler smirked.
"We're all not friends Eddie, just acquaintances that have one thing in common. The Joker doesn't have any friends. Scratch that, Two Face and Pengy, and maybe Croc if I'm in a good mood, are my, what would Pengy call us? Oh yes, fellow Rogues, I think. Pengy and I have our little spats. He says I have no professional courtesy, whatever that means. But we understand each other. Oh yes, and dear Harley here, I couldn't possibly leave her out!"
Harley smiled adoringly at the Joker, who just cringed and said, "Ugh! I hate it when she does that!"
"So what's this idea of your Joker, you like to play dress up with the Batman's toys?" Riddler asked.
"Someone with your oh-so-high-and-mighty intellect should've figured that out sooner Eddie. Anyway, this next scheme of mine will be fun, for me at least."
"Fun? You want to impersonate the Batman for fun? I'd think you'd want to get rid of him."
"Yes, I'm planning to get rid of him, have you no sense of humor, Eddie?" the Joker asked indignantly.
"But he's right ya know, that doesn't help us get rid of him though," Harley said in a voice that resembled a high pitched whine.
"But who says it won't?" the Joker asked. "If the Batman commits a crime, let's say a murder, everyone in the city will turn against him! Then we can do anything we want! Heh, heeh, heh, ha, ha, ha hoo, hoo, hoo, ha ha ha hahaa!"
"But the Bat doesn't do that kind of thing and everybody knows it!" Harley protested.
"Yes, she has a point," the Riddler said.
"But if they can be convinced that he did, if they see it my dear Harley; the people of Gotham will believe anything!"
"But how are they going to see it?" Harley asked, looking around. "And what about the guards? They'd separate us if they knew what we were planning."
"The prison guard, he's just a moroon. He's too stupid to think about anything," the Joker said happily.
"So how are we going to do it, we have to get out of here," Harley frowned.
"Don't worry, if we're good then they'll let us go," the Joker said.
"Didn't know the word "good" was in your vocabulary, Boss," Harley said. "But how long are we going to be in here?"
"Not too long, Bane's still on the loose, I'm sure he'll come bursting in here, send all the guards running, and we can walk out of here free without any problems."
"What makes you think that'll happen?" the Riddler asked. "Just because he did it before doesn't mean he'll do it again."
"You're right Eddie, I suppose we'll have to break out," Joker said.
"But what about getting out on our "good" behavior?" Harley asked.
"I changed my mind and decided to scratch that plan," Joker said.
"But Mr. J, if we break out of jail the coppers will come a lookin' for us," Harley said.
"Weren't you listening to anything I said earlier? Bane will come and break us out, you'll see."
"I wish I could believe you," Harley muttered, staring out her cell window.
Dick Grayson sat in the dark; shadowed in the inky black shroud of a lightless room, save for the monitors that were attached to Starfire's body. Raven's healing techniques had done some good, her body was no longer internally bleeding, and she had remained in stable condition many hours after Dr. Tompkins had left. Alfred, being a certified army nurse had volunteered his time from his duties at Wayne Manor to watch over her until Dr. Tompkins returned.
Yes, her body was healing, but why wasn't she awake? Surely someone with her strength and power would not be snuffed out even by the most serious of injuries. Her strength was that she was often underestimated by her enemies due to her naivety concerning Earth and its ways. They thought that she was weaker because she did not understand everything about a planet that was not her own. She wasn't stupid, she was just ignorant; but not the ignorance that comes from stupidity, it was the ignorance of someone who was experiencing things that were unfamiliar to her.
"Starfire…" Dick Grayson whispered her name. "Why did you follow me?" he asked softly. "Why did you come to this place, where things are worse and lives are threatened every day? Where people die in the streets by the hands of maniacs and psychopaths? Why didn't you trust me when I said that I would be back soon?"
Dick rose to his feet and began to pace the floor, his footsteps soundlessly moving across the room, "I didn't want anything to happen to the team while I was away. I wanted everyone to be safe. But I guess we never get what we want in life, do we? If I had what I wanted my parents would still be here…" He sighed, there was no use reliving the past, trying to grasp things that you couldn't reach.
He looked over at the limp unconscious figure on the bed and walked over to her. Sitting down in a chair, he observed the screens. Her heartbeat and vital signs were steady, but she still wasn't awake.
"You're strong, Starfire. Stronger than any normal human being, you can pull through this," Dick whispered. He felt his eyes growing heavy; he'd been up all night watching her. He slowly drifted off to sleep. He slept for a short while, his chest rose and fell with his breathing.
Unbeknownst to him, the display on the monitors tracking Starfire's vital signs began rising and falling, not rapidly, like her body was going into seizures or convulsions, but it was showing that her body was recovering. Her eyes flickered open; she blinked and looked around.
"Robin…?" she asked. She didn't know where she was. After she slipped into unconsciousness, it felt like a dream. She felt herself drifting out of her body. She didn't remember seeing anything, but she heard words. People speaking, muddled voices, murmuring whispers saying words she couldn't understand, either that or her brain couldn't comprehend them. She turned her head, expecting to see her friends, she tried to focus on what she was seeing, but she couldn't visualize what she was seeing.
"Robin…?" Dick started in his sleep. Was someone calling him? It sounded like a hoarse whisper. He wasn't sure if he was dreaming. He opened his eyes briefly, only to shut them again. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder, shaking him.
"Master Dick!" Alfred said. "Master Dick! The young lady is stirring, and she's asking for you!"
"What?" Dick said in shock before he could restrain himself. He immediately sat up, his weariness gone. He was fully aware and alert now. "She's awake?"
"She's conscious but she's only said one word since she woke a few minutes ago. I happened to walk in and hear her speak."
"Shall I get her some breakfast?" Alfred asked.
"Yes, but don't tell her about me."
"What am I supposed to say, Sir?" Alfred asked.
"Just tell her that you're a friend of Dr. Tompkins."
"I'll get her that breakfast right away, Sir," Alfred said, walking briskly out of the room. Dick turned his attention back to Kory Anders, Starfire.
"Robin…?" she asked again. "Where are you…?"
"He is close," Dick replied in a low voice.
"Who are you?" Starfire asked in surprise as her eyes finally focused on the dark clad figure sitting beside her. Apparently, she forgot who he was.
"The Batman," he replied. He hated lying to her, but it was the truth in a sense. He was the Batman now; Robin was gone, hidden away from her, for now at least. He looked at her quietly. "You've been wounded…I took you to Thomas Wayne Memorial Clinic for medical attention."
"I thank you…Batman. But where is Robin?" she asked.
"I can't tell you…it's too dangerous for you to know…"
"Why?"
"It's just…too complicated."
"I understand," she replied. "But I will not stop searching for my friend."
"I admire your courage," Batman said. "Just rest now Star…Just rest…" He rose to his feet and began to walk away. "You've been through a lot. Don't worry about Robin. He can take care of himself." Dick Grayson walked over to a window and opened it. She watched as he vanished into the early morning light. Little did he know that all Hell was about to break lose in Gotham City…