Disclaimer: ownership is such a fickle thing when basic characters are about 75 years old. Still, DC owns these guys. I wonder if they'll ever be public domain...

Yes, another chapter at last. Lets see what bats does here. And just a reminder of what this story is. it's what happens during 'Without Me'. it's not always gonna be angst or drama, it's just what happens. And I'm usually fluffy/crack, not action. So enjoy!

Where's Robin?

Ch. 15 – Take One: Dinner Rescue

"That's obvious." Joker gave a mocking pout towards the new arrivals. Each of the boys had their faces covered, by either bandanas or ski masks. And other than dressing warmly, they really did not give the impression of being their typical vigilantes. He cocked his head as they slid down the rope to him. "No bird boy with you either. Friends of his? Nah, no tights. Amateurs. No fun."

The mad man glanced over to his thugs, tiredly giving orders. "Kill them. I'm missing my favorite show."

"You're not going anywhere clown," Wally insisted. He dashed at a normal rate at the jester, only to be sidestepped and tripped upon his approach. On the way there, the team had agreed not to use their powers in battle, though they'd stay in telepathic contact the whole time. Using all the skills they were taught by Canary and the rest, the team spread out to take down each of the thugs before they could harm anyone. Wally though focused on trying to stop Joker.

Not the wisest decision he's ever made. As the speedster lunged out at him, the mad man took out his knives, nicking him whenever he came within reach. "I wouldn't say that. I'm going a lot of places, mostly bananas! You're the one not going anywhere."

A quick slice tore through Wally's sleeve, barely missing skin. "Can you just hurry this up and die? I want to see Conan when he falls into acid."

"Shut up you clown!"

Wally! The bomb!

At Kaldur's voice in his head, the speedster jerked away. Blinded by the stories Robin had told him about Joker, he forgot the worst part about this fiasco. There was a bomb in the middle of the room, and who knew when it was going to go off, and what kind it was. Gritting his teeth, Wally kicked the guy in the chest before abandoning the fight to disarm the thing.

"Awww…" Joker taunted. "Don't wanna play with good old Uncle J anymore? Too bad." The maddened clown laughed hysterically until one of his own men was thrown into him courtesy Conner.

All around the speedster chaos unfold. Kaldur worked on the thugs guarding the doors to help the guests escape while Conner took on the ones with heavy ammunition. Megan, now disguised as a girl scout, disarmed the ones closer to the guests, briefly looking into the minds of the men to find out who knew where the other bombs were. But as far as any of them knew, only Wally had experience handling these things. That was why he was in charge of disarming the thing.

As the teenagers tried to save the day from crazy thugs, Wally tried to keep his focus on the machine before him. A few of the guests were getting up to help or to save themselves, but it was clear none of them were in condition to fight, even if they could on normal days. One in particular tried to run for it only to ram straight into a gunman, toppling him before vomiting all over his disguise. Others just stood up to throw out what they just ate. A few others fainted. Whatever they were hit with, the effects weren't touching the team. Must have dissipated if it were airborne.

Quickly the teen jerked back to attention, focusing in the wiring. It was a mess, pure and utter chaos. A perfect match to Joker's mind. Slowly he went over every connection, every possibility, before considering even one wire to take out. Parts of this looked familiar from something the Trickster used in Central, but it still had too many parts to make sense. He had to be sure before he did anything. One wrong move meant everyone was gone.

Any luck? Kaldur asked once he cleared one doorway for good.

I'm thinking! Wally barked back. He looked over the rest of the bomb's insides before making a conclusion. Conner, think you can take the impact of a single stick of dynamite?

Maybe, the clone answered. Haven't tested it but—

Time to test it. There's enough plastique here to blow this whole block sky high. But if I cut out one part of it, the part connected to the wires, it'll be about that much. Wally took out a pocket knife and started carving out a portion of the explosive out from the rest, the part connected to the detonator. This way, if I get the wiring wrong, there won't be any casualties.

"It'll still hurt," Conner grumbled as he threw one thug into another. Soon he dashed over to the bomb, ready to take the piece Wally was preparing for him.

Slowly the speedster transferred the piece to his hands and started physically working on the wiring. As he cut one wire after another, the ginger held his breath. Right then he wished it was Gotham's bomb squad there and not him doing this. He really was an amateur now. Barry was the one who took these things down every other day, not him. This really was more Batman's job after all. But the big guy hadn't shown up yet, so it was up to them.

As he carefully cut each wire, he remembered the sequence. Once he was down to his last three, he knew he made a mistake. Number four shouldn't have been cut yet and now the timer had sped up. "Crap."

"Get it out of here!" Kaldur ordered quickly. Conner nodded once, looking around for some way to be rid of the thing without using his powers. Though he could probably handle the explosion, he didn't want to risk anymore exposure. Besides, he liked that jacket. Quickly he spotted a sewer drain pipe on the tile floor. He ran towards it, clutching the device to his chest. Ripping the grate off, the clone shoved the bomb inside before replacing the cover. Within a few seconds they heard an explosion, forcing a shower of sludge upward and onto the teen's clothes and hair.

Secretly everyone gave a sigh of relief. Bomb handled. And the party crashers…

Wally took another look around for the stray thug or the Joker, but couldn't find anymore need for him. Nearly every thug was out cold on the ground. The others had somehow slipped out when they weren't looking. And Joker was missing. "Dang it…"

In the distance they heard sirens. We have to go, Kaldur started. We cannot be seen anymore than we already have.

No duh. Conner looked between the crowd of guest trying to escape, the fallen baddies and the skylight. Think we can shimmy back up or should we mingle in the crowd?

I vote for option three, their leader stated, indicating towards a blocked exit.

Before they could make a step towards the fire escape, Wally stopped them. Wait! Joker, the other bombs! We can't just leave without knowing what he's planning. And we don't know where the other bombs are!

We will have to leave it to the local police, Kaldur insisted, only to be cut off once again

Haven't you learned a thing from Robin's stories? Half of Gotham's cops are either corrupt or incompetent. That's why Batman's needed here! The speedster would have run a hand through his hair if his head wasn't covered by a ski mask. We have to find out where those other bombs are or there won't be a Gotham left. M'gann, did you get anything from those guys?

The girl shook her head. Only a few images, but nothing that made sense. We only saw some parts of Gotham today, and I only recognized one place besides here.

Alright, Wally concluded. Then we have to go back and—

"Gotham PD! Hands where I can see them!"

"Crap." Discussion ended then and there. Hard to concentrate when you're running from the police after all.

Outside the Hill residence, several high class guests were giving their testimonies while given an antidote for the toxin they breathed in earlier. Bruce was nearly done with his checkup and his cheep coffee when Alfred appeared with the car. He smiled briefly to the EMT looking him over as he handed over his empty cup. "I'm afraid my ride's here and I have someone waiting for me at home. Excuse me."

"But Mr. Wayne—" she tried in hopes to stop him.

But the billionaire couldn't be distracted now. He was one of the first to give his testimony, and faked agony for having lost the contents of his stomach during the scuffle earlier. Now that Bruce was relatively better, he had work to do. Top of the list was getting to those bombs, but not until after he took care of something else as well.

"I take it the event tonight was more eventful than planned Master Bruce?" Alfred started once his charge was in the limo.

"By far," Bruce started as he dimmed the glass for extra privacy. He pressed a panel in the seat, releasing his suit for immediate use. "Joker's men planted five bombs around the city, some with his gas."

"I heard." The butler kept his eyes on the road as the reviewed what he heard on the news. "His ransom is ambrosia cake?"

"He didn't say he wouldn't detonate them if he got it." He snapped his belt in place, glaring off into space. "This is just his idea of a prank."

"I think we would all prefer one of Master Richard's," Alfred muttered dryly.

"Agreed. But that isn't the end of it. Gotham has a few unexpected visitors."

"Oh? Who?"

"Robin's team."

"Oh dear." The butler shook his head. Everyone knew Batman didn't like metas in his city. Why would a group of teenage heroes risk a confrontation with him by coming in uninvited?

"Good thing they were," Batman started, placing his comlink in his ear before putting on the cowl completely. "Thanks to Cheryl and Joker's new gas, I couldn't do anything until it was too late. They'll prove further useful before this night is out. Batman to Aqualad."

The other end of his com hesitated to pick up, but did. "Aqualad here. Is something the matter?"

"Have the four of you on Wayne Tower's roof in ten minutes." He added a growl to his voice to emphasize the seriousness of this situation. He could hear the young man on the other end stiffen.

"Understood."

Batman cut the transmission just as Alfred pulled up into an alleyway. In moments the dark knight was on the streets, ready to take down Joker's plans and give certain teenagers a piece of his mind.

"We are so dead."

Wally's head hid itself between his knees and hands. They screwed up. Despite having cut the news transmission, they were seen by Batman somehow and he knew they tried to take on Joker. He knew they hadn't a clue where the bombs were. He knew they let the madman get away. He knew they were to blame for all of this, that he was the one who planted the idea of any of them going to Gotham to begin with. They were so screwed once Batman arrived.

"We cannot be sure of that," Kaldur reassured him. "He only called me saying to have the four of us here. He did not say which four."

"This is Batman we're talking about," the speedster reminded them. "He knows everything. Especially in his city."

"What do you think he'll do?" M'gann floated around nervously. Conner leaned heavily against a gargoyle, glaring into the abyss below the skyline in thought. Kaldur kept looking around to await the city's protector's arrival. Wally was the only one sitting, and he was determined to blame himself all over again.

"Probably make us eat the leftover plastique from that bomb."

"You did your best Wally," the Martian tried, hoping it was acceptable for the dark knight as well. "No one else even knew how to disarm the thing."

"I messed up!" He jerked his head out of his lap and glared at her. "And with bombs, there's no redo. Everyone could have died!"

"But they didn't," she tried again. This time Wally jumped to his feet.

"Doesn't matter! I picked one wrong wire out of sequence and everything goes down! Batman would have gotten it right the first time around! My uncle would have gotten it out of there in the blink of an eye! Even Superman would have done better than that!"

"Hey," Conner started, jerking his head away from the mesmerizing gaze, "I think you did pretty good. Even thought ahead in case you did screw up."

"It was your quick thinking that saved everyone!" Wally jerkily waved a hand towards the clone. "If you hadn't thrown it into the drain, who knows what would have happened!"

"Actually," a dark voice started just above them, "it was your combined efforts that saved them."

Everyone jerked around towards the voice, on their feet and ready to either fight or run. Batman was somehow perched on the top of the roof access doorway above them, giving everyone a shrewd look. He jumped into the midst of their impromptu meeting, immediately taking control.

"We'll talk about your insubordination later," he started, growling slightly. "There are five bombs placed around Gotham set to detonate before sunrise. Here it's around seven am. We have less than eight hours to find them and get rid of them. I want them gone before six and the three of you at school on time."

"So," Wally started shakily, "you're not gonna kill us for being here?"

Batman gave him a withering look, but only for a moment. He looked back towards the others, shaking his head. "I was indisposed during the attack. Consider it luck."

"Do you know where the bombs are?" M'gann asked, finally putting her feet on the ground.

"Roughly." He brought up a map on his wrist computer. "The man I questioned only gave me districts. Split up to find them. Keep in radio contact. I'll walk you through the disarming procedure when you find them."

"What if the bomb squad beats us to it?" Conner asked, looking over the screen. "I mean, Gotham has those, right?"

"If you see them working on the bomb," Batman amended, "let them work. Focus on clearing the area of civilians. Radio in. Everyone needs to be on their toes for this."

Having all their attention now on the Bat, he started explaining who went where and how to proceed. Privately they were glad this crisis helped them avoid the man's wrath. Still wasn't helping the people of Gotham though. Only finishing this mission would.

A/N: So I'm debating something. I pretty much had this chapter done yesterday but I wanted to get some facts done and right before putting it up. Editing it helped a lot I think. Anywho, the debate is whether I should post another chapter before I'm done with the whole story or this action arch. Opinions? I'm working on five different angles for a bit after all. =/

Also, I have no idea how to disarm a bomb so do not quote me on this. I probably just told you all how to blow yourselves up faster. ^^; I made Wally the brains of this outfit because let's face it, the others haven't dealt with everything he's been exposed to. Uncle's a forensics cop and public hero. Aunt's a reporter. In comics, his dad's also a tough guy who fights for other reasons (really, so little info online on him). Wally's a science geek. him knowing how to disarm a bomb over the others is just as likely as knowing how to make an EMP pulse. Just thinking about it, it made sense to have him disarm a bomb.

So, should I not put up anything more until at least I'm done with the bomb scenario or done with joker, thus getting it all solid, or normal chapter by chapter updates?