Chapter 18: Unexpected Surprise

The battle was beginning to turn in their favor, especially with the help of Nightwing. Batman and his allies had managed to push back against Talia and Joker's forces. Some were already retreating back up the staircase and out of the Batcave, bruised and defeated. Batman was squaring off against Talia now, as Nightwing dealt with the Joker.

"Give it up Talia. You're losing this fight and you know it." Bruce said as he blocked a kick to his head with his arm. He quickly grabbed her leg and spun her around, then released her. Talia soared through the air and slammed into the nearby cave wall. All it did to her though was knock the air out of her. Talia quickly recovered and stood ready for another go.

"You betrayed me my love. You broke my heart. Now it's only fair I break yours."Talia replied coldly, her eyes dead and emotionless.

Batman was expecting her to attack, instead all Talia did was smile sinisterly. That smile made Bruce feel uneasy. Talia pulled out a ball from her pocket, and what was left of her minions followed suit. They flung the balls onto the floor and an explosion of smoke filled the cave. The Dark Knight quickly covered his mouth with his cape as his vision was obstructed and the coughs of his allies filled the Batcave.

The smoke soon dissipated, revealing a cave empty of enemies. Batman frowned to himself, angered that Talia and Joker got away. He was about to go after them, but decided against it. He knew they were long gone by now and it would take awhile to determine where they went. Besides, he had bigger things to worry about. Joker knew his identity, knew where the cave was, and knowing the clown, he was going to tell the world on some grand stage.

"Will they come back?"Dick asked as he walked up beside Bruce.

"Count on it." Bruce responded as he turned on his heel and surveyed the cave. He would definitely need to upgrade the mansion and cave's security, not that it would do much good when the whole world knows the secret identity of the Batman. Every villain in the world, and probably off-world, will be after his cowl. As Bruce stood there, wondering how to combat this inevitable outcome, Alfred walked up to him, a worried look on his face.

"What's the matter Alfred?"Batman asked.

"Sir I can't find Miss Quinzel." Alfred answered, a look of panic on his face that was instantly matched by Bruce's face.

"Harley! Harley!"Bruce shouted, his voice echoing in the Batcave, "They took her! Harley!"

How could Bruce not have noticed sooner that Harley was gone! This must have been their plan all along. Joker wanted his toy back, and Talia wanted her out of the way. Looks like they got what they wanted...for now. Batman quickly strode over to the Batcomputer and furiously began typing into it. He would get Harley back, and he must do it as quickly as possible. No telling what was happening to her even now.

Harley awoke with a pounding headache. She moaned as her eyes slowly opened, blurry and unfocused. She clutched her aching head in her left hand, staring into the blurry nothingness. Finally, her vision started to clear up and from the looks of the ceiling she supposed she was on the floor of the Batcave, since it looked very similar. One of the assassins must have gotten in a lucky shot when they dropped those smoke pellets, then dashed away like the coward they were.

Slowly, Harley rose up into a sitting position, her head still throbbing but the pain was receding. As she looked around at her surroundings, that's when she realized she was not in the Batcave. After all, Harley was sure the Batcave didn't have a dungeon, which is what the place she was in looked like.

She was in a small square room, the walls and floor made of gray brick stone. Chains hung from the rafters above and she could still the faint scent of blood, which to her horror, meant that this room had a previous occupant. On the other side of the room was a steel door, where she could hear garbled conversations on the other side. She tried to move closer to hear whatever the people on the other side were saying, but as she jerked forward she was stopped dead in her tracks by iron clasps and chains on her wrists and ankles. The chains were embedded in the wall behind her and Harley doubted she had the strength to break free.

An idea struck her as she looked down at her waist, hoping to spot her own trusty utility belt. However, the belt was gone. Harley guessed that the League of Assassins had dealt with Batman enough to know that if they ever captured him, the first thing to get rid of was the belt. Come on Harley think! This is the exact situation Bruce trained you for! As she was contemplating how to escape that's when the steel door on the other side of the room opened inward, revealing a smug-looking Talia in the doorway.

"I was wondering when you were going to wake up."Talia said as she strode into the room, "I was beginning to think my men had hit your pretty little head too hard. I suppose they thought you were tougher than you actually are."

Harley let that comment go, since she knew she wasn't really in a position to retort, "What do you want Talia?"

"A little girl time of course. Although I doubt you enjoy the same things I like."Talia answered, a smile on her lips.

"Yeah I don't much care for stalking ex-boyfriends like you."Harley quipped, which caused Talia's smug smile to twitch. Harley was guessing that comment just about made her loose her cold girl persona.

"No you blonde little bimbo. I enjoy torturing then eventually killing anyone who stands in my way and the way of my plans."Talia spat, venom in her voice.

"Couldn't you just enjoy going shoe shopping like most normal girls?"Harley asked, looking up at Talia's towering figure before her with a smirk. That smirk was quickly taken off her face with a hard smack from the back of Talia's hand. Harley yelped in pain, her cheek stinging furiously and she was sure that it was going to leave a bruise.

"Oh my dear Harley Quinn, I'm going to enjoy torturing you."Talia said as she patted Harley's wounded cheek, "I would kill you but I did make a deal with that clown. So after I'm done playing with you, he'll get his turn. He may kill you, or he may keep you as his plaything again. Who knows? I do hope for the first option though."

Their little chat was interrupted when one of Talia's assassin thugs walked into the cell, bowing slightly to his master. Talia barely registered his existence but turned a bit to look at him. He silently held a sheet of paper up to her, as if presenting her with some holy relic. She took the sheet and waved her hand in a shooing motion. The assassin bowed once more and then quickly left the room. Talia scanned the paper quickly, which something on the sheet must have surprised her, cause her eyes bulged. She glanced up from the paper at Harley and instantly regained her cool demeanor.

"Well these results are interesting."Talia stated, with what appeared to be a hint of jealousy in her tone for some reason, "While you were out like a light, I had my father's top physician run some tests on you. I like for my prisoners to be healthy after all before I torture them. Don't want them dying too soon after all. Funny thing though, this showed up in the medical results."

Talia shoved the sheet towards her, the paper slowly falling to the ground in front of Harley in a slow descending dance left to right. The sheet finally landed in front of Harley and her chains on her wrists rattled as she picked it up and read it. Everything seem normal according to the medical records, except however, when she got to the final test they ran on her. She wasn't even sure why they would run such a test, guess assassins like to be thorough. The results of the test caused her whole body to shake in fear, the paper trembling in her hands.

"No...no this can't be...I'm...I'm pregnant..."Harley said, almost in a whisper. She tried to hold back her sobs but couldn't.