DISCLAIMER – I do not own YJ or its characters. I only own the plot and my minor OC.
Chapter 6 - Breakout
"Are you sure about this?" Chaton hissed, for what seemed like the hundredth time.
"Nobody's ever completely sure about anything." He replied, before scaling down the side of the apartment building they were perched upon.
"That isn't an answer!" She whisper-yelled down at him, trying to keep quiet while making her own way down.
He sighed, before answering properly, "I'm not sure, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes to be with them today Kate. Short of murder that is."
"Just making sure. I haven't been in Arkham before, and I don't want to be in there longer than I have to be."
"Then go, nobody's stopping you. I could probably do this myself."
"The person stopping me is you. I'm willing to do this for you. Think of it as a favour that I intend to collect, or brownie points."
"We have to get through this first."
"You do realize I'll collect either way, right?"
"And you remember me saying I'll do anything?"
"Touché."
A silence fell, as the duo trudged their way through the alleyways to the hill that Arkham lay upon. When they reached the base of the hill, they stopped, and instead turned to the road after finding sufficient shrubbery to hide in.
"When's it going to get here?"
"According to the schedule, five minutes. But who knows whether that'll be right. The only time I was in one of those trucks they took an extra fifty."
"And you're sure that you changed them round?"
"Yes. I hacked the records so that they'll take the one with the holes in it. It'll work."
"So what? We're just gonna sit here 'til then?"
"That's the plan."
FIIVE MINUTES LATER:
The two heads in bushes snapped up in sync when they heard the low rumbling of an asylum truck making its way along the road. (pic at top is the model I'm basing this off)
"Remember what to do?" At her nod he continued without missing a beat, "We have to be extremely quick or this all blows up in our faces."
They waited for it to reach them before making their move.
"Go." his voice barely a whisper.
The two young teens darted out onto the road and jumped at the side of the truck, latching on with their hands and feet. This was because of something Dick had been able to create - magnetic gloves and shoe soles.
As quick as they could with the wind resistance, they crawled over the side of the truck to the front of the container, where Dick input a code on his hologlove (that he never took off) underneath his magnetic glove that caused a 70 by 70cm square panel to eject slightly and slide forwards. It was through this that they crawled into the container's inside, in the space Dick had had hollowed out from a day he was bored. It had finally come into use.
They sat tight for the bumpy ride up the hill, knowing they could make a noise if they moved.
It took a while, but they eventually heard the opening of gates. They quickly moved to either side of their compartment, before opening the hole in the floor and placing the panel to the side.
Dick counted the seconds 'til the moment to move.
28...29...30...31!
"Go!" he hissed.
They both dropped through the hole and started rolling the second they touched ground.
This enabled them to reach the outer ventilation shaft, taking them to the fans. Continuously moving at a slow pace, the time to move through was easily calculated, as performed by the 14-year-old genius.
After that, it was simply the job of navigating their way through the complex. Which, of course, proved to be no problem at all given that Dick had hacked his way to the map of the shafts.
Carrying on with the plan, they split up, with Dick going to his father and Katie to Harley. Once there, they both slipped their detainee a com.
Meeting back up in the vents without anything amiss, Dick started to count down from 5, without anyone knowing why.
"5...4...3...2...1!"
Everyone braced for an explosion or something, 'cause with him you couldn't be sure.
Instead, they got the Mission Impossible tune.
Feeling the questioning look from his female counterpart and just knowing it was coming from his parents as well, he put on an innocent face and using his best innocent face, responded with, "What? I'm allowed to have some fun with this."
Cue the sweatdrops.
"All right. I've had my fun. Now let's get you out of here."
Meanwhile, in the guard control room:
The guard on duty at this point of time was not happy. No, instead of being pleased that Arkham currently housed the famous couple of criminals, he was worried.
He prided himself on being able to pick up on patterns, and he had suspected one for some time. So no, instead of being happy that The Bat had captured Joker and Harley Quinn, he was worried about what might happen next.
For at this point, it was well-known by everyone that the two had a kid. A kid called Trapeze.
This kid seemed to be the bane of the Bat. You heard him right, the almighty Batman.
He had only ever been captured once, and even then it was because that goddamned stick of his had jammed. Even then he escaped with an insane amount of ease a week later, stating that his curiosity about Arkham had been sated for a while.
It was almost as if he had been intentionally captured to see the inside.
Most people just saw him as a smartass little jackass, but not him.
No, William Ulric Sebastian Slater saw the makings of a pattern. See what I did there?
Every year since Trapeze had first shown up there was a single day that nothing happened to do with the trio. If any of them were in Arkham they seemed to miraculously escape the day before, or in one case, on the day itself.
It wasn't a definite, but it was too coincidental for him to ignore. The makings of a pattern were there, he just wasn't sure.
But it was because of that pattern that he was worried.
Today was that day.
Throughout the day he had been shooting glances at the date, as if to reassure himself that he wasn't imagining it. It was causing him to be quite on-edge.
So naturally, when music started blasting through the entire prison he immediately knew what was going on.
All of a sudden, his radio was blasting with messages from guards throughout the prison.
Selecting the option to respond to all, he belted out in his soft voice, "LISTEN TO ME! EVERYONE NEEDS TO GET TO CELLS 102 AND 394. IT'S TRAPEZE! HE'S TRYING TO BREAK THEM OUT!"
He then breathed deeply.
Now he just had to make a very important phone call.
With the teen villains:
After listening to the radio feed he'd hacked into, Trapeze couldn't help but feel his trademark smirk falter, before donning an intrigued look on his face. He'd have to meet this person later on.
Then the reality of the situation hit him: he only had three minutes at best to break his parents out of Arkham.
He felt the colour drain from his face. It wasn't impossible, but it was a marathon away from being easy.
He needed to be quick.
Linebreak
"HAHAHAHAHAHA" The cackle bounced around the room, stopping the running guards in their tracks. They had all heard so much about the infamous, signature cackle of Joker's brat. Along with this they had also heard how much he seemed to like using the shadows. Reminded people of the Bat, and that was scary enough on its own.
So imagine their surprise when he dropped down right in front of them, looking as menacing as the caped crusader with a happy-go-lucky smirk on his face.
"Hey boys. Let's talk. I don't want you getting to my parents, as that would make busting them out a lot harder. You guys don't want me getting to them, as I would break them out. And so we've come to an impasse. But worry not! For I have a solution. All of you against me. Winner gets...well, winner gets what it is we're at an impasse about. How about it?"
Getting over their shock, the guards nodded their heads, wary of the situation they were in. For all they knew, he could have already have freed his parents, or anyone else for that matter.
Only one was brave enough to ask, "Why? There's thirty of us, grown men might I add, against one of you, a kid."
"So you fall into the trap that young people use all the time then, do you?" He let out a short laugh. "So that's how the Justice Toddlers defeated the Injustice League, is it? The greatest weapon of the young. Shall I tell you? Yes, I think I shall. Underestimation. You adults all think the same. 'Oh they're just a kid, they can't harm me.' But what if they had actually been trained to fight. What if they were much better at fighting than you. No. You never think about that though, do you? That is the power of the young; you underestimate them and they use that to their advantage. The only reason I'm telling you this is because I want this to be at least a little interesting. So what are we waiting for - Let's do this!"
He pulled out his baton, pressing a button that caused it to elongate, before twisting its midsection, causing it to break apart into two batons the same size as the whole one at first. Twirling them around casually, he lowered himself into a crouch, tensed, waiting to attack.
Noticing the guards' hesitation, he smirked once more, before springing forward.
Instead of charging straight into them like they expected, about a foot away from making contact with the man in front he flipped over him, landing in a crouch and sweeping the legs out from the men around him. When the 6 men's heads hit the ground, he hit each of them with his batons, knocking them out.
Before anyone could strike him in his close proximity, he ran up the front of the next guard in front of him, kicking him in the head as he did a backflip to get away.
23 to go.
"Still underestimating me?" This had to finish quickly, he knew that. While he was doing this, Kate was giving His mum and dad the silent self-working drills he'd invented. They were efficient enough to work in 3 minutes, he just needed to provide that time and be outside their cells to catch one of them, as Kate could only support one. The problem was, there was another route that guards could be taking to get to their cells, and he couldn't cover that one while he was still fending off these ones.
As much as he wanted to have fun with this, he alone understood the urgency that he pull this off.
Sighing, he put his batons back together, putting it away and instead pulling out a smoke bomb he'd designed. Not only did it produce a smokescreen so thick it was impossible to even detect heat signatures, but it was also capable of knocking out a horse.
"Well, this was kinda fun, but I've gotta go. There's more of you to entertain. Bye now!" He said casually before tossing the grenade into the middle of the throng and calmly walking away before breaking into a sprint as soon as he was positive they couldn't see him. He might have been on a mission, but he still had an image to keep for God's sake!
Linebreak
After knocking out the last of the guards coming from the other way, Dick heard Katie's voice come over his com.
"We're ready to get them out of here, we just need you now."
"On my way." Was his reply as he used his trapeze to launch up to the nearest window. He quickly broke through and made his way round to his Father's cell, and sure enough, there was his dad sticking his head out of a hole big enough for him to climb out through.
"At dad's now. On your 6 pops." He joked as he watched his dad whip his head from looking to the opposite direction to see him.
Now next to him, he attached the cables of his trapeze bar to the little overhang outside the cell as he instructed his dad on how to use it. Watching to make sure nothing went wrong, he slid down the cables, using his hands and feet with the metal lining he had created to protect himself to slow his descent.
When he hit the ground, he collected his prized possession and diverted his attention to looking for his father, as he had disappeared.
He caught sight of him, and looked ahead of where he was running to see his mother. Of course he was running to her, the big softie. Only their closest friends knew this, but his mother and father were married, and deeply in love. It wasn't common knowledge, as his dad was so paranoid about her being targeted in a fight over him that they acted as if their love was one-sided in public.
So he wasn't surprised in the least to see him kissing her deeply after being separated for a week and a half.
Deciding it was about time to leave, he cleared his throat, making his jump apart, as if they had forgotten where they where and who they were with.
Which they probably had.
"We can have a family reunion later, right now we need to get out of her before the Bat appears. I'm too tired to take his crap right now."
And with those words they followed him to the car he had selected to be used for their getaway.
After easily picking the locks of the gates, courtesy of Dick, they set off. After a while, Dick noticed a movement out of the corner of his eye. He instantly knew who it was.
I mean, who else jumped on top of buildings after a car?
Without meaning to, he let out a growl, shocking the passengers of the car.
He sighed, "I'll go deal with him." He simply stated, before opening the window and crawling out. He smiled at the "Be careful," he got from his mother and friend.
He rolled on the road, before stopping and shooting his cord off to a building in the middle of the skyline, making it obvious for Mr Tall, Dark and Brooding where he was going.
He knew he wouldn't pass up the opportunity to try and take him in.
Linebreak
A few buildings away, Batman was having an internal argument. Should he go after Trapeze or his parents? On the one hand, he knew that Selina's child was with them, and he had never had the opportunity to combat her, so he had no clue what she was capable of. But, on the other hand, he couldn't pass up a chance to bring in the brat who'd escaped him so much.
Sure, he had caught him once, but that was only due to his opponent's equipment acting up - a rare occurrence.
Making up his mind, and having a feeling that the boy knew his decision before he did himself, he made his way to the building he saw Trapeze heading to, knowing he would be waiting for him there.
Linebreak
Dick smiled to himself as he saw the dark knight change course and head to him. At least his family was safe for now.
"Alright Trapeze, I'm here. Now come on out and I'll make this easy on you. I know you're tired from fighting all the guards."
"Then you obviously don't know much Batsy boy. I feel great!"
Having pinpointed his position in the shadows, Batman suddenly threw a batarang at him. Luckily, his reflexes allowed him to dodge it, but barely. He had felt it slice open his cheek, drawing blood. And he knew his adversary had seen it too.
"Alright then. If it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you'll get!" He snarled, before charging at him.
They threw blow after blow at each other, with the other dodging or blocking it, and Dick could feel himself tiring. He would not last much longer, because of the energy he had wasted fighting the guards, and he knew that both of them knew it.
It was because of this, that Batman started putting more into his punches and kicks, forcing Trapeze to block them, injuring him a little in the process.
Dick started to panic, before gaining a calm mind-set and looking for a way out of the situation he was in.
It was when an idea hit him that he broke away. The Bat would no doubt expect him to run away, so he did just that.
When he reached the edge, he threw himself off it, before turning around and firing his trapeze at the ledge above. He instantly shot up, before detracting his device to slingshot himself up, feet first.
After he had jumped off, Batman ran to the edge to search for him, as Dick had expected. What he was greeted with surprised him.
Dick's feet collided with his jaw as he flew back up, dizzying him.
Trapeze used this time to jump off and swing away, knowing he had escaped for now.
Batman looked out across the skyline as soon as he had righted himself, before deciding that he wouldn't be able to catch Trapeze now.
Linebreak
"You're okay!" Was what he was greeted to as the two girls jumped him with hugs.
Laughing as they broke away from him, he was pulled into a hug by his dad, who simply said "Thank you." It was all that was needed between the two.
"I couldn't bear to be away from you two today." He replied just as simply, feeling the tears brimming in his eyes.
Wiping his eyes with his arm, he turned to all of them and asked, "What now?"
He was immediately thrown to the wall by Katie as she spoke, "Now I collect that favour."
He paled, knowing that he had walked into that one. Unfortunately, the girl worked specifically to be stronger than him, so she could pin him until she got tired.
He just decided to comply, he was too tired to resist at this point.
"What do you want?"
"You to make passionate love to me before realizing that you do love me, and become my boyfriend."
"Nice try, but no."
"Fine. I want a kiss then. An actual kiss, one where you take part too."
He sighed, " I guess that's fair. I mean, I couldn't have done it without you."
That was all he managed to get out before he felt her soft lips touch his own. He hesitantly kissed back, knowing she would keep it up until he did.
Soon enough, he felt her tongue pushing its way into his mouth, shocking him so much that he let her in, her tongue starting to explore his mouth.
He let her have 7 seconds before pushing her away, stating that it was enough.
He then turned to his parents, wrapping them both in a big hug, just happy being with them on that day.
After all, it was their anniversary.