Plenty Wrong With Me.
Amusement Mile
It was a cold winter night in Arkham City, in fact one of the coldest in a century according to the weather reports.
From a first glance, Tana Brooks appeared to be your ordinary citizen in Gotham. Well that is until you get a glimpse of her incredibly sharp fangs and grey eyes. She's the Daywalker. Half Human, half vampire. Born to a human mother and vampire father, they were killed by a group of radical vampires that despises the inter species romance. Adopted by a hunter who was a close friend to her father, He taught her everything he knew about vampires and keeping her innate thirst for blood at bay. She joined the Military at 18 and honed her skills further with the military training. She became a force to be reckoned with in the vampire world. She was making sure that the vampire infestation doesn't take over the criminal underworld. She was no hero of by any means, oh no but you could say that she was the exterminator.
She spotted a group of vampires that was toying with some of political prisoners they had in their grasp at an alley near the Monarch Theatre. Four suck heads. Unarmed. It was gonna be easy.
She leaped down from a second store building to the the alley. She landed elegantly, they all turned around and saw her. "Now, now, boys. It's not nice to play with food."
The vampires hissed loudly as one of the four suck heads charged towards her but she stepped aside drawing out a katana from her scabbard and proceeded to cut his head off in one swift move. She drew out her gun from her hip and fired three silver bullets, hitting the remaining vampires in the hearts, they dissolved into piles of dust.
Placing the gun back into the holster, She walked up to the political prisoners that were in awe of their savior. "You should be more careful. You'll never know what goes bump in the night."
"W-We'll try to remember that." One of the political prisoner stammered. Seeing that they were safe, Tana headed back to an old hotel that was transformed into her lover's lair near the old GCPD building when she and Ivy was brought into Arkham City when it was opened by Mayor Sharp.
She used the back door that wasn't covered with vines and entered the lair. While she leaped up several floors, she recalled the first time she met her.
XXXX
2 Years ago.Old Gotham.It was a quiet night in the old Gotham District which was a rarity in itself, given the crime rate in the city is equal to a third world country and unfortunately it wasn't gonna last long given what was about to take place that night.The recent Arkham escapee Poison Ivy was thinking about another devious scheme to rid of the humans that had been abusing Mother Nature for too long when a group of rather pale people with gray eyes."Well, look what we have here. Poison ivy.""Wanna share a kiss with us?"Poison ivy rolled her eyes in disgust. She doesn't have the time for those fleshy meat sacks. "Not interested."One of the pale people walked up to her and grabbed her wrist roughly, dragging her to him. "It wasn't a request."Poison Ivy was no means a damsel in distress as she kneed him in the groin but to her surprise, he gave no reaction to it. He simply laughed it off as he tightened his grip on her wrist. he was strong. "Ooh, I like it when a girl plays rough. You'll make an excellent dinner." He showed his extremely sharp fangs making Ivy's green eyes go wide in shock. Vampires. She was about to become their next blood bag if it hadn't been for a certain daywalker to the rescue."Now, now boys. That's no way to treat a lady." Tana appeared behind the vampire and proceeded to cut the head off the first vampire with her katana and tossed it like a boomerang, slicing through their necks like butter before unloading a clip from her gun that was loaded with sliver bullets. The vampires turned into piles of ashes. And that's how they met.
XXXX
Ivy's lair.
"Why am I not surprised by this?" Tana mused as she laid her eyes on an unsurprisingly scene.
Catwoman hanging upside down from a very angered Poison Ivy by a vine.
"You have some nerve, Selina." Poison Ivy hissed, sauntering over to her. She was still angry over an incident that resulted in the destruction of her plants indirectly caused by Catwoman.
"Look, Ivy. I said I was sorry, alright But the thing with the plants wasn't my fault. " Catwoman replied then turned her head to Tana who had a bemused look. "Hey, Tana. Can you try to convince your girlfriend otherwise?"
Tana shook her head no. She's learned the hard way that some fights aren't worth winning over. "Sorry, Selina. But you're on your own in this one."
"So much for us girls sticking together." Selina scoffed.
"You said that you would water them." Poison Ivy said. "But you didn't. And now there's only one left. And it is locked inside Strange's vault."
Tana smiled taking out a pot that contained her specialized plant and handed over to Ivy who was delighted to see it. "Not anymore."
Catwoman huffed in disbelief as the vine let her go allowing the thief to land on her feet as Ivy took it and caressed it like a newborn child. "You could've done that earlier." Tana shrugged. She wanted to see Catwoman squirm a bit. Well, she didn't exactly squirm but she was a bit uncomfortable. "Well now that's been taken care of, I'll be on my merry way."
As Catwoman made her leave, Ivy had no resentment towards thief any more. "How did you get it darling? I heard the vault is the second most protected place aside from the Wonder Tower."
"Every vault has it flaws. you just have to find it." Tana replied cryptically. Poison Ivy smiled coyly as she went to place the pot somewhere safe.
XXXX
Meanwhile
Sionis Steel Mill
"Just to recap: Strange knows that you are Batgirl and Bruce Wayne is Batman. He also told about something called Protocol 10 will be his moment of triumph." Batman summarized of what Batgirl had just told him about the situation in Arkham City inside the Steel Mill. The signal was coming from there, so they had to use the higher ground to get past the hired help that was guarding the mill and went through the main chimney to enter the building. They were now crawling through the tunnels.
"That pretty much covers it. He didn't say much else about it." Batgirl replied. "I asked Catwoman if she knew about it in the courthouse but she was as clueless as I was." Batgirl then thought about her father who was in no doubt worried about his only child being locked up in Arkham City.
"How's my dad doing?"
"He's holding up." Batman answered the question.
"Somehow he always does." Batgirl mused on how much willpower her father had to not go up to Strange and throttle him.
They were now under the floor of the loading bay of the Steel Mill where Harley Quinn was standing next to a petrified Dr. Stacy Baker of the medical team while Joker's men was filling up the bay.
"I promised some entertainment boys." Harley announced to them.
"Please I tried my best." Baker made a feeble attempt to beg for her life to be spared. Harley scowled darkly.
"Well you should've tried harder!" Harley spat as she kicked the doctor down to the floor before heading back inside the manager's office at Joker's command. The two caped crusaders crawled deeper as they watched Stacy crawling away from a 7 ft tall one armed muscled henchmen dragging a sledgehammer on the floor. Stacy scurried away as quickly as possible from him. He was about to deliver a lethal blow when Harley's voice boomed from the office.
"Change of plans." Harley said, causing the men to groan in disappointment. "Take her to the smelting chamber. Mistah J wants this one to suffer a little longer."
Compiling to her orders, some of the men took the doctor to the smelting chamber while the rest scattered to their devices.
"How many?" Batgirl asked Batman of the number of the thugs were left.
"12. We'll take 6 each." Batman told her after scanning the loading bay with his detective vision as they now were under the floor grates.
Then they launched from the grates and together they wiped the floor off with them beating the henchmen down in matter of minutes. Having heard the commotion, the ex Blackgate intern went to the ledge of the office and saw Batgirl and Batman standing victorious.
"What the hell are you two doing here? You're supposed to be dead!" She snarled, expressing her distain. Batgirl and Batman were unfazed by the menacing glare. A croaking voice came from inside the office. It belong to the Clown prince of crime.
"Harley. Come back here. I think I'm dying."
"Coming, Mistah J." Harley wasted no time to come to her boyfriend's aid.
"So the rumors are true." Batgirl muttered quietly but not quiet enough for the Dark Knight to hear it.
"What rumors?"
Batgirl let out a sigh before telling him about the private investigation. "Ever since the Asylum, there have been word on the grapevine about Joker's alleged terminal condition. I have been doing some digging and apparently the Titan overdose he took did a lot more to his body than I'd presumed. I was unsure whether it was true or not until I heard about Dr Baker's captivity by Harley Quinn about fixing up the Joker."
"Why wasn't I told of this?" Batman inquired.
"With everything that's been going on, Sharp becoming the mayor and Arkham City being built, I didn't want to jump into hasty assumptions until I have all the facts." Batgirl told him. "Besides, it's only fair that I get to keep some secrets."
XXXX
Smelting Chamber.
Stacy Baker was trying to make her captors see sense in the officer at the smelting office about Joker's untreatable illness, but it's like trying to talk to a brick wall.
"There's not much that I can do. His toxin levels are through the roof. I'm surprised that he's still alive by this point." Stacy said.
The captors were not pleased with the answer. "You are gonna tell us how to fix up the boss or you are in for a world of hurt."
"I can't! He literary has hours to live. He's too far gone!"
As the captors were threatening the doctor, Batgirl and Batman went their separate ways taking out the henchmen one by one before rejoining outside the manager's office. They smashed their hands through the windows grabbing the two thugs through the broken windows and smashed them into the grate floor, knocking them out with one punch.
Batgirl entered the office and cut the ropes off Baker's wrists. "Can you stand?"
"Gimme a minute." Baker said as she recovered while standing up from the
chair."Crazy people, they think I can fix the Joker."
"What's wrong with him?" Batman asked her.
"It's something in his blood, it's killing him, some kind of toxin. He blames something called TITAN." Stacy revealed.
Batgirl and Batman shared a knowing look. It gave them some explanation why Joker hadn't been seen since his attempted takeover at the Asylum and It seemed that for once Joker wasn't faking any illness but they needed to be sure.
Knowing what she had to do, Batgirl exited the office and went straight back to the loading bay to get some overdue answers. "Batgirl, Wait!" Batman tried to stop her before she could do something irrationally.
"Not now! Batman, get the doctor out of the Steel Mill and take her to the Church. I'll deal with Joker." Before he could protest, Batgirl was already out of the chamber.
"Damn." Batman muttered.
XXXX
Loading Bay.
Inside the Manager's officer, Harley was sobbing when beeping sound of a heart monitor standing next to what appeared to be a deceased Joker. It seemed that the Joker had croaked his last joke .
At least that's what it looked like when Batgirl burst through the door by kicking the door in.
Batgirl spotted Joker's prone body while Harley glowered at the heroine. "You!!" She snarled in a venomous voice.
"Get out of the way, Harley." Batgirl demanded.
"Leave us alone, Girl-Brain." Harley pleaded to her sincerely. "Just... let me be with him."
Batgirl wasn't gonna take no for an answer, having gotten used to any dirty tricks by either Joker Or Harley over the years. She grabbed Harley by arm and pushed her away from her lover. "I didn't ask."
She scanned the Joker's body to see his heart had stopped beating. "This is all your fault! You and B-Man had hounded him for years! Beaten him to a pulp! And for what?"
Just as Batgirl was about to address her, a much healthier Joker pounced her from behind, placing a cloth filled with chloroform to her mouth.
"Here's Joker!" Joker laughed as Batgirl struggled to get him off. By the time she did that, it was already too late. Chloroform was taking affect as she was starting to lose consciousness. "Oh, can't believe that you fell for the old Fake Joker gag, Batgirl."
Of course. Only the Joker could come up with such a despicable joke. He had her fooled for a moment or two. Taking advantage of her weakened state, Harley struck her in the stomach with a baseball bat and then on her back, bringing the Dark dame to her knees.
"Banzai!" Harley delivered a final blow to the side of her skull, knocking Batgirl out cold.
XXXX
10 minutes Later.
After the surprise attack, an unconscious Batgirl had found herself strapped to a chair with ropes tightened around her wrists. Harley was about to take the cowl off to see who the heroine really was until she was stopped by a croaking voice in the shadows.
"Get away from her, Harley." Joker snapped at his girlfriend, motioning her to move away from Batgirl with one hand. Harley pouted in disappointment.
"But don't ya wanna know who she is, honey?" She whined, while Joker was having another coughing fit. The poison in his body was making his death date come closer than ever.
"No one's who you think they are, my dear. Why should we spoil the fun?"
Batgirl came to at the sound of their voices. She shook her head off the blunt trauma she had gained from Harley's baseball bat as she regained consciousness. "So it was all just a lie. There's nothing wrong with you."
Joker chuckled, walking up to her. "Thats' nice of you to say, but you of all people should know..." Joker said stepping into the light, revealing a boiled riddled face along with a blood shot eye to the heroine's shock. "There's plenty wrong with me."
Having gotten the heroine's attention with his unusual appearance, he showed a vial that had his blood in it to her. "Take my blood for example. I wish somebody would. This stuff is killing me."
"And this concerns me, why?" Batgirl inquired, not seeing where he was going. Joker cackled as he walked up to her.
"Because now there's a teeny little bit of me in you too, Girl-Bats."
Her eyes went wide in horror at the dramatic reveal as she made a glance to her left, seeing a blood bag hooked to an Iv pump that was injecting Joker's tainted blood into her blood stream. She tried to get out of the chair once again But the ropes on her wrists was knotted tightly.
"Aw, don't be so sad, Girl-Batsy. I can easily remedy that with one simple request." Joker said. "I need your help. I nearly had a cure; it was so close and then it was taken from me."
"So we both die. I'm ok with that." Batgirl said, trying to be calm and collected on the outside when internally she was pulling her hair out of head. She wasn't ok by any means. But she didn't want to give the mad man the satisfaction.
"Are you? Imagine, sucking down that last breath, knowing that Gotham is doing the same." Joker told her vaguely, giving her a vivid mental image.
"What are you talking about?" Batgirl demanded.
"Oh, didn't I say?" Joker said. "I've spent weeks shipping samples of my blood to emergency rooms all over the city."
"So that's Protocol 10?" Batgirl guessed. "Poison Gotham. Gotta say, i'm a bit disappointed about the punchline."
"Protocol 10!" Joker gasped in horror as if he was caught for a moment before dropping the pretense. "Never heard of it."
Joker walked up to her, whispering into her ear. "Hold tight."
Joker pushed the wheelchair out of the office through the window. "I'll be in touch!!!!!!" He shouted as Batgirl crashed landed outside the Steel Mill's office.
XXXX
As a rebellious teenager she's always loved joyrides but this one she didn't take any joy in it whatsoever especially when it involved the Joker.
Batgirl groaned, picking herself up as she heard a cheerful ringtone. She looked down on her armored chest and saw a cellphone taped to it. She removed the phone from the chest plate and answered the call.
"What do you want?"
"Is someone feeling a little down?" Joker taunted her.
Batgirl was trying to be patient and not taking the bait. "Joker..."
"Relax. A phone call won't kill ya. Oops." Joker realized the indirect pun in his joke before letting out a maniacal laugh.
Batgirl was on the verge of throwing the phone out into the Gotham River if she didn't get her answers at this moment. "Where is the cure? Who has it?"
"I had our cold blooded friend Mr.Freeze making it, but he's gone dark on me." Joker said.
"I'll find him." Batgirl vowed.
"I'll bet..."
Batgirl crushed the phone, ending the call abruptly before taking out the SIM card and placed it into her right gauntlet.
This night had just gotten from bad to worse.