Cy and Gar both stood in the room, the thug on one bed and Harley Quinn tied up on the other. Gar stood so that he looked out the window and Cy was facing the door. The staff had been alerted and were keeping the area clear. After a few minutes, Harley moaned, looked around, and then shook her bonds. "So, is this fun time tie-up or am I in trouble?"
"Shut up," Changeling said. "Say one more word and I gag you."
"Don't let her get to you," Cy said.
"I guess I'm in trouble," Harley laughed. "What with me being in my skivvies I thought it was fun time."
"She won't if she's gagged," he shot back, jerking the sheet under her loose, making her hips shift, and ripping a strip of cloth off.
"That gave me a wedgie," she said, lifting her hips and opening her legs as far as possible, "Can you help a girl out?" She laughed when they ignored her. "A shape changer," Harley mused, "I bet that little witch chick you're dating loves..." Gar grabbed her neck, squeezing hard enough to cut off her breath.
"Open wide," he said. She responded by scrunching her face up and shaking her head as best she could. If she had a free hand, she would have done the "tick-a-lock" gesture. Gar's expression didn't change. "I will do this until you pass out and then I'll gag you," he said coldly. Her chest started to heave and she relented, opening her mouth. He stuffed the leg of her own leotard in her mouth with his free hand but even then he didn't let go. Her eyes began to bug out. His grip increased until the wiry muscles of his arm were corded. Harley made a harsh, gagging sound.
"Dude," Cyborg said, grabbing Gar's wrist. "Ease off." He had to pull Gar's hand away. Their demented captive sucked in a pained breath and then writhed and leered salaciously at them as Gar tied the strip tight, gagging her. "Go back in the hall," Cy said. "I got this."
"Yeah," Gar said, glaring hard at the woman on the bed. "That's probably best."
He stepped into the hall just in time to see Batman, Robin and the women coming towards the room. "What happened?" Batman asked. Gar described the events as succinctly and clearly as he could. "I wasn't aware you had enhanced hearing in human form," Batman said.
"It isn't, really," Gar replied. "A bit better then normal but not, like, a lot better."
Batman nodded with just a hint of a tight grin. "I see."
Robin grinned, "It isn't a trick. He didn't mean for us to catch her." Batman nodded agreement.
"How do you know?" Raven asked.
Robin pointed at Batman with his thumb, "If he wasn't aware that Gar had such good hearing, it's a pretty good chance Joker wasn't either. If this were planned, if it were a trick, it would depend on knowing about that because the only reason she got caught was that Gar heard her when a normal person wouldn't. QED, Joker didn't mean for her to get caught."
"It also proves," Cyborg said thoughtfully, "that the crispy critter knows something Joker doesn't want us to know."
"Correct," Batman said. "Can adequate medical care be provided for him in your infirmary?" Cyborg nodded. "We move him there and we hold Harley there too. It's more secure."
"I'll arrange it," Robin said, turning from the group and opening his communicator.
"I have a question," Raven said sharply. "Why didn't we move him to the tower in the first place?" Batman looked at her and didn't speak. "You wanted to see if Joker would try to kill him. You left Cy and Changeling in the wind and didn't tell them..."
"It was made clear to them to expect an attack," Batman interrupted.
"Batman," she said coldly, "I say this with the immense respect you deserve but we are working with you, not for you. You have a plan that involves us or uses us, you tell us."
He regarded for a long moment. The legendary intimidation he radiated began to effect even her but she steeled herself and held his eyes. "If I don't?" he asked.
"I didn't give you an option." Eyes went wide and mouths gaped open all around her, except for Batman and Rob. The former didn't react and the latter grinned.
"Understood," Batman said. "That being cleared up, are we good to go to the tower?"
They were back at the tower in about an hour. Most of that time was spent moving the badly burnt thug. An intern insisted on accompanying them to care for the patient. As soon as they hit the door, Cyborg was activating every defense and sensor they had available. The windows were all covered by retracting steel blast doors. Rae and Gar went to help the doctor and to restore order to the infirmary, which was only fair. Rob and Star, ironically given the jokes about preparing a hot meal, went to get food together. Batman went to interrogate Harley. After about an hour, they met in the common room. "I got nothing from her," Batman said, leading things off. "The man we have in the infirmary is Harold Altman. Former Marine. Two combat tours in Afghanistan. He made a living in MMA fighting after an honorable discharge. He went into a spiral of minor violent crime and mental illness over the last five years... PTSD, manic depressive disorder. He had just been released from a VA facility after treatment for a suicidal episode." There was a glum silence around the table. "As we established earlier, he knows something Joker doesn't want us to get." Batman shook his head and squeezed the bridge of his nose. "I hope we can help him. Until we find out what he knows, we're just chasing and hoping to get lucky. We caught a break with capturing Harley." He nodded towards Changeling. "We won't have that kind of luck again. Any word on when Mr. Altman might be able to talk?"
Raven replied, "We asked the doctor," she said. "He doesn't know. With burns that bad, the victim might fall into a coma or just die, even after days."
"Or he could wake up in five minutes," Gar added. "No telling."
"Marines are fighters," Cyborg said. "I bet he'll wake up."
"Until he does," Batman said, "We will continue as we have. Robin and I will pursue leads as to Jokers whereabouts and intentions. I suggest you four stand by, as we were doing. Any time you have to go out for anything, two go and two stay here. Essentially, three pairs, one always here."
"We don't leave for anything less then an emergency," Robin added. There was general agreement.
"Do we have any clues as to his intentions?" Starfire asked. "Why did he come here?"
Batman shrugged. "Two guesses. One, Robin is here. That one is obvious. The other is worse. At the school party… there is some indication that events may have been manipulated to get Raven and Changeling there but not the rest of you." There was a dead silence at that. "Nothing conclusive," he went on. "Nothing certain. Just a feeling. For two people that strike me as being fundamentally private, you two spend a fair amount of time in the news." He held up a hand quickly. "Not your choice, I know that."
"Of course they draw attention," Satrfire said. "They are unaware of it, but they are adorable."
"We're what?" Raven said, her voice going up an octave.
"You're freaking adorable," Cy said in a serious tone with an undercurrent of humor. "That's why you got all those interview requests you turned down last year." There were sounds of general agreement around the table.
Except for Batman, who sighed in exasperation. "Whatever the cause," he said, "it is true that it is a statistical fact that you two have received more media attention then any other metahuman couple of your age. The two of you were the only ones at the first attack. I am merely suggesting there may be a connection."
Raven crossed her arms over her chest and Gar did his best not to laugh. "Star was in Steel helping the Titans East, which could have been contrived. Cy was speaking at that UCLA engineering thing… also easy to arrange.," he said. "Robin just said 'no' with the flimsy excuse that he needed to work. How could that have been set up?"
"For that, you don't have to set anything up," Rob said, "you just have to know me and he does. Anything else?"
"I think that Cyborg and I should work together in this pairing scheme." Starfire said.
It looked as if Batman were going to say something but he was clearly nudged under the table. "I don't think there's anything else of use we can do here" he said, standing. "Robin, let's go."
Cy and Starfire moved Harley to the infirmary so they could watch her and guard Harold Altman at the same time. It was only about eight in the evening but Gar and Rae headed to their room. As soon as the door was closed he got so far as actually opening his mouth before she said, "If you're thinking of saying a word about how..., just don't." She tossed her cloak on the floor and began taking off her costume. "Rob and Star are adorable. That's who's adorable," she muttered.