Barbara Gordon felt as if she was waking from a dream, or more accurately, a nightmare. Strange phantoms still seemed to flit in front of her vision, as if she hadn't completely woken up from the nightmare. But all she could remember was the deep, throbbing ache of terror in her heart which lingered, and returned stronger than ever when she looked around the room she had woken up in.
She heard a noise near her feet and looked down. "Tim!" she gasped, seeing her husband lying next to her. She tried to reach out to him, but her hands were bound to the chair. "Tim, are you ok?" she whispered.
"No," muttered Tim, raising his face to her. Pain was etched in every line of it. "I've been injected with…something, and…it hurts."
"Oh my God, Tim!" she gasped, struggling to reach him. He reached up his hand, tightened it around the ropes which bound her, and suddenly ripped them free. Barbara was astonished by the strength it would take to do that, but she didn't consider it then – she knelt down beside him and embraced him tightly.
"Are you…ok?" he asked, his breathing unsteady. "You were fear gassed…"
"I'm ok now," whispered Barbara. "I don't really remember it, except…I remember the terror."
"I'll make Scarecrow pay for what he's done to you," whispered Tim.
"You're in no condition to make anyone pay," replied Barbara, forcing a smile. "But we'll get you fixed up. We always do, anytime you get into a scrape…"
She trailed off, realizing how forced her light tone was in the situation. Tim gently put his hand over her belly. "If I don't…live to see the child," he murmured. "You have to let them know how much I loved them."
"Tim, you're going to live…" began Barbara.
"I don't think so," he whispered. "Not this time. But you will – he told me he'd be merciful to you and the child."
"He?" repeated Barbara.
"The Arkham Night," replied Tim.
"I don't trust a word he says, and you shouldn't either," retorted Barbara. "You never could trust the Joker. And he's…so much like his father."
"Better hope our kid doesn't turn out like his father," said Tim, managing a wry smile. "Much better to be like his mother. Into books and reading and gadgets, staying out of trouble…"
"If I wanted to stay out of trouble, I never would have got involved with you," retorted Barbara, forcing another smile. "Or Bruce. I would have never let myself get mixed up in things like this."
"Probably would have been better for you in the long run," murmured Tim. "You wouldn't be here now, you wouldn't have been fear gassed, and you'd still be able to walk…"
"Hey, Joker targeted me because I was the Commissioner's daughter, not because I was Batgirl," interrupted Barbara. "And I wouldn't have traded my time with you guys for the world. I made a difference for the better, and that's all anyone can ask outta life. I'm lucky, Tim," she said, putting a hand to his cheek. "I really am. The luckiest girl in the world."
"I guess I am…quite the catch," agreed Tim, smiling through gritted teeth. "You won't be able to find another guy like me, but I want you to try, Barb, for the kid's sake…he needs a father…"
"Don't talk like that," interrupted Barbara. "Everything's going to be fine, Tim, you'll see."
Tim nodded, but let out a cry of pain, shutting his eyes tightly. "What is it?" whispered Barbara. "Tim, what…"
She was cut off as Tim roared, and she saw his skin beginning to stretch as hints of bone poked through it. "Tim!" she gasped, trying to embrace him, but he shoved her away, his muscles and bones shifting and stretching.
"Don't worry – it doesn't have the full Titan effect," said a voice. Barbara turned to see J.J. standing in the doorway, smiling as he watched Tim writhing in agony. "It's based on the Titan formula, but I didn't feel like fighting a giant monster," he continued, entering the room. "I'm a fundamentally lazy person – I like to do as little work as possible with as much reward as possible, and duking it out with giant monsters is just so much effort. This formula replicates the effect the minimum amount needed to cause unendurable pain, and eventually death."
"Why?" gasped Barbara. "Why are you doing this to him?"
"It's what happened to my father," replied J.J. "It's justice. I'm not a chemist myself, but I was able to hack into the servers here and retrieve a copy of Dr. Young's notes for the Titan formula. I had Dr. Crane, who is a chemist, mess with the formula some to remove the full monster effect – that's why we needed him to come back to Gotham. Well, that, and so we'll have a full set."
"A full set of what?" asked Barbara.
"You'll see," said J.J., smiling at her. "Anyway, the good doctor did well," he continued, studying Tim. "I hope your husband appreciates what my father went through during the final moments of his life, all thanks to Batman."
"Tim didn't have anything to do with the Joker's death!" exclaimed Barbara, through tears. "It's not his fault! You have to stop this, please!"
"Now, now, now, you shouldn't get worked up in your condition," said J.J., raising a hand. "Anyway, I do have an antidote," he said, opening his hand to reveal a vial. "Dr. Crane was able to synthesize that too. I might give it to Robin – it all depends on how Batman responds. It's unfortunate for you both that you chose to ally yourselves with him – your torture is nothing personal, except for the personal reason of you making bad life choices. But then we all do have free will to make the choices that are right for us, don't we? And we have to live with the consequences of those choices."
"J.J., please, I don't think you're a bad person," said Barbara. "Just give him the antidote! Please!"
"You're right – I'm not a bad person," agreed J.J. "I'm completely amoral. And this isn't about morality. It's about revenge."
"You know revenge can only end in tragedy, don't you?" asked Barbara.
J.J. grinned. "Maybe. I've never heard of a revenge comedy before, but maybe I'll be the first! Fortunately I find tragedy terribly funny too. And somehow, I don't think the tragedy will be mine."
He glanced down at the screen on his gauntlet. "Anyway, stuff to do," he said, heading for the door. "I'll be back soon, although it'll probably seem like hours to you and the Boy Blunder. You should ask Mommy about how pain has the ability to slow down your perception of time. She used to say she felt like she was living an eternity without Daddy. Again, I'm kinda sorry this has to happen to you, but unfortunately Batman made himself strong enough to withstand any physical pain. If you want to get to him, it's gotta be mental. And the greatest mental torment is often prompted by external factors. That's the risk of interacting with the world, you see. If every individual was an island, every individual would be invincible. Unfortunately, all humans are connected, and we break by breaking each other. Circle of life. And if you think about it, that's all Batman ever was - an individual, broken by external factors, who believed he could fix the world by himself. And because of that, he ended up destroying everyone he ever cared about. Makes you want to laugh, doesn't it?" he chuckled, as he headed out of the room, leaving a sobbing Barbara and a screaming Tim alone.