Babs + Batfam
Crack
The Joker
_
Barbara Gordon was not a fan of the Joker. Not surprising, really. She was not bound to a wheelchair anymore, but the memories of pain, defeat, red, the flashing of a camera and laughter would forever be etched into her brain. In moments like these, she understood Jason's desire for revenge.
She was relieved Red Hood was not accompanying them on this mission (Bruce had grounded him and after one stern look from Alfred, Jason had stopped protesting and insulting Bruce immediately, going to his room to sulk).
Joker break-outs didn't happen often, contrary to popular belief, and they usually didn't last very long (in the end, Joker always wanted to be found, it just depended on his mood if in a matter of hours or days).
The problem Gotham's vigilantes were always left to deal with, were the civilians. Joker tended to leave some kind of trap whenever he got free, designed to cause havoc like nothing else. It sadly also included civilians most of the time, if from Joker Venom or just blind panic, Gothamites went rampage post-break out every time. The effects of Joker's schemes always took weeks to solve and in the end, Gotham had thousands of traumatized citizens to deal with.
But really, that's why the Joker was classified as highly dangerous. He was crazy but smart, unscrupulous and cruel. It always ended in blood.
So no, Barbara was not a fan. But now, standing face to face with the man that had crippled her, she was taken over by rage like she had never felt before.
She wanted to hurt him like he had hurt her, humiliate him and destroy his life. But the gun pointed at her head prevented her from doing any of that. It was a strange looking gun, it had green, glowing stripes along the sides, an alien looking liquid splashing in small containers at the top, not to mention that it was bigger and... pinker that any she had seen before. The whole gun (aside from the alien tech green) was pink, like out of a Disney movie. She would have to be careful not to get hit, who knew what alien tech like that would cause?
Pretending to listen to the Joker ramble about his latest plan (how in the hell was he planning on getting the King of Goldfishes to fight the Queen of Elephants on top of Wayne Enterprises?), she inched closer to him, trying to get in range to grab the gun.
Looking back at it, her next move might have been a little bit... idiotic (according to one Dick Grayson), but she had really not tried to provoke the man, it had been an honest to god question, "How is the King of Goldfishes supposed to survive on land?" The answer she got was Joker pulling the trigger as he screamed that she had destroyed his dreams, tears streaming down his face.
Her last thoughts were something along the lines of, what the fuck?!
_
Dick Grayson was not a morning person, but being at the Manor always lifted his mood lately (things had been going great between him and Bruce, Jason came to visit more often and Damian actually got along with Tim a quarter of the time, which was all he could ask for.) So, when he trudged down into the kitchen that morning, he smiled at Tim (who was making coffee again and Dick seriously contemplated putting him in a rehab centre for coffee addicts (if those existed)) and slumped down in one of the chairs.
Bruce looked up, gave him a once over (to check of injuries from patrol probably) and when he couldn't find any, he settled for giving a short smile and asking how Barbara was doing. They had found her unconscious the other night, lying in the middle of the street and at first, everybody totally freaked out, especially since she had been tailing the Joker (who was back in Arkham again), but Leslie said Batgirl was fine, she was just over-worked (which seemed highly unlikely, but no one wanted to think of the alternative, so they excepted her answer).
Dick waited until everyone (including a very pissed-off Jason (he was even less of a morning person than Dick)) was seated and explained that Babs was still asleep, but did not have any visible injuries. They had put her in one of the Manor's many rooms, and simply needed to wait for her to wake up now.
Dick bit into the toast that had appeared on his plate at some point, listening to his siblings bicker. Of course he was worried about Babs, but after all the drama of the last years, he just didn't dare to put a dampened on the mood, fearing they all might collapse if something was seriously wrong with her.
They had eaten breakfast with friendly chatter, as suddenly, loudly, the air was filled with music, Dick falling off his chair in shock. He didn't recognize the song (not that he paid much mind to that, the fact that there was a song playing, even though the radio was turned off, was the more pressing matter right now.)
"The fuck?!" yelled Jason, successfully overpowering the music with his own voice, hands clasped over his ears.
The fuck indeed.
_
Barbara woke up with a pounding headache, the feeling of wrongness deep in her bones.
She groaned, remembering back to what had happened. Mentally, she patted herself on the shoulder for not freaking out about the fact that the Joker had shot her again, instead focusing on her body. No injuries, not even a bone out of place. So the gun had either not hit her or whatever alien thing was supposed to happen didn't work.
With a relieved sigh, she closed her eyes and sank back into the pillows, taking in the unmistakable smell of Wayne Manor around her. So Bruce found me.
Only then, listening to her own heartbeat, did she hear the music from outside. With a frown, she rolled on her side, taking in the time on the clock (why wasn't so early?!) and moved off the bed. At that time, everyone should be in the kitchen, and she wondered how loud they had turned the music that she could hear it even a floor above.
Her frown deepened the closer to the kitchen she got, hands pressed to her ears to block out the blaring voice of Panick at the Disco (which is not the kind of music Bruce would listen to) and pushed open the wooden doors.
Her chin dropped open, hit the floor and broke through earth's core. No fucking way. Bruce, Dick, Jason, Tim and Damian were singing, dancing (though Damian looked more like a chicken trying to fly) and running around.
This is my roaring, roaring 20's
I don't even know me
Roll me like a blunt, 'cause I wanna go home
Roll me like a blunt, 'cause I wanna go home
My roaring, roaring 20s
I don't even know me
Roll me like a blunt, 'cause I wanna go home
Roll me like a blunt, 'cause I want, I wanna go home
Babs began tapping her foot subconsciously, still staring at her family like they were crazy (considering Batman was dancing in his kitchen to Roaring 20's, they probably were).
Oscars and Emmy's and Grammy's
Everyone here is a trophy
And I'm sipping bourbon
The future's uncertain
The past on the pavement below me
Maybe I'll elevate, maybe I'm second rate
So unaware of my status
Maybe I'm overjoyed, maybe I'm paranoid
Designer me up in straight jackets
Barbara couldn't help it, she jumped into the room, grabbed Dick's hands, swung him around and yelled the song from the top of her lungs.
Whatever that gun did to me, thank you.