5. Beware the Rumor

Peter, Garfield, and Harley were careful to be quiet and not attract attention as they made their way up to Peter's apartment; one never knew who was listening in outside the walls of the safehouse. Once they reached the security of the apartment, however, they burst into laughter and cheering, taking the cash they'd earned at the Fourth Circle for a recent job out of their respective carrying cases and running it through their fingers.

"Okay, I know I was skeptical," Garfield said at last, "but Harley, you really came through with the clutch."

"Only 'cause Peter said keepin' the baseball bat was a good idea," Harley stated. "I guess you could say that security guard didn't know what HIT him!"

"Well, let's not forget about Garfield's ingenious diversion of setting the entire fourth floor on fire," Peter brought up. "They practically let us walk in after that."

Garfield began to crack up with laughter. "Peter…the look on that one guy's face after you came out of that tiny cardboard box…"

"So I take it we're all in for the gem depository job on Sunday?" Peter reminded his friends.

"Wait," Harley replied. "THIS Sunday?" She adopted an expression of worry.

"Yeah, this Sunday," Garfield insisted. "Trying to get in there on a weekday is impossible, and I'm not waiting a whole other week to try and pull this one off."

"But…I can't," Harley pouted.

"Why not?" Peter and Garfield asked as one.

"Because Mr. J and I are supposed to…well…he doesn't really like me discussin' his top-secret plans with anybody else," Harley sighed. "But we've got a big plan, and it's gotta be this Sunday."

"Harley," Garfield sighed, "the gem depository is a three-person job. We already scripted it out. We NEED you for this."

"Can't you find another villain for the job?" Harley asked apologetically.

"In theory," Peter replied, "but it will be considerably less fun."

"I didn't mean to let you guys down," Harley moaned, "but…I can't really explain it. You kinda gotta be in love to get why it matters so much."

"Well, Peter's still got that secret crush he won't tell anybody about," Garfield brought up. "So I'm guessing he gets it."

"Secret crush?" Harley fired Peter a wink. "Oh, REALLY now?"

"Still not telling who," Peter said enigmatically.

"It HAS to be Catwoman," Garfield stated confidently. Then, a little less confidently, "Right?"

"I've got a theory," Harley said, "but I'm keepin' it all to myself."

Garfield sighed in frustration. "Anyway, I guess we COULD put off the depository – "

"Oh, no, no!" Harley insisted. "Don't hold back just because of me! Find somebody else and go have fun!"

"Yeah, but we invited you because you're our friend," Garfield groaned. "We don't actually HAVE any other friends. We would have given you an equal three-way split of the profits, but if it's going to be someone else, we have to find some lackey who will work for a small cut, will take orders from both of us, and has just enough skill to be useful but not enough that he can think he's better than any of us."

"You know who that sounds like?" Peter asked, a wicked twinkle in his eye.

"Oh, no." Garfield realized who he was thinking of. "Peter, NO."

"Peter, yes."

...

"I just wanted to say thanks so much to both of you guys for asking me to be on your team," Killer Moth stated sincerely. "Even now that I'm a moth monster, people still don't wanna work with me for some reason."

"Can't imagine why," Firefly replied, deadpan.

Firefly, Ragdoll, and Killer Moth had set up in an out-of-the-way warehouse. It was agreed upon between the former two that Killer Moth absolutely had not earned the right to use the safehouse.

"Now, as you know," Ragdoll explained, rolling out the blueprints he'd acquired of the Gotham gem depository on a long table, "this is a highly delicate operation. Each of us has to know his mission and carry it out to the letter. Killer Moth – "

"Yes, sir!"

"I have a very important mission for you to kick this whole scheme off," Ragdoll went on. "Listen to me very carefully. You will have to follow my instructions TO THE LETTER."

"Whatever you want, sir!" Killer Moth said excitedly. "I won't let you down!"

"You better not," Ragdoll insisted.

"Just tell me what I need to do!"

Ragdoll stepped closer to Killer Moth, looking him dead in the multifaceted eye. "What I need you to do," he said in a serious tone, "is go to the coffee shop around the corner and bring us back one latte and one decaf caramel frappuccino."

"…Okay," Killer Moth stated, sounding rather defeated at the realization that he was once again reduced to coffee gofer. "Coming right up." He turned and left the warehouse in a flurry of wings.

"It always catches me off guard that you're a decaf guy," Firefly admitted. "When I first met you, I was sure most of your…you-ness was a product of caffeine. What are you even LIKE on caffeine?"
"I don't know," Ragdoll replied with a wicked grin. "Should we find out?"

"…I think we're good for now."

"Well, we have precious little time before he returns," Ragdoll pointed out. "Time to get all the talking about him behind his back we can out of our system."

"R.D., he is a LOSER."

"But he is obedient. And cheap."

"Y'know," Firefly teased, "since he's not here, you could tell me who your secret crush is and he'll never know."

"Hmm…don't think I will."

"I mean, I know it can't be MOTH," Firefly laughed. Then he was struck with curiosity; "…IS it Moth?"

"Maybe it is," Ragdoll replied enigmatically.

"It's MOTH?"

"I never said it was."

"So it's not Moth."

"It could be."

"R.D.!"

"I take it you still think it's unfair that I now know your sordid history with Mr. Freeze and didn't give you any juicy personal secrets in return," Ragdoll suggested. "Will it pacify you if I tell you a different secret?"
"What kind of secret?" Firefly asked, interest piqued.

"Something even more personal than the identity of the elusive secret crush," Ragdoll promised. And, he realized, something that was probably a romantic relationship deal-breaker in a lot of cases, but with so many other things standing in the way of him ever being attached to Firefly, he hadn't even wanted to consider that Firefly might balk at it. Once it was out in the open, it would probably just prove that they were better off friends anyway.

"Hit me," Firefly urged.

"Well, you see…"

...

The customers of Arrows Coffee were on the whole enjoying an average day, utilizing the shop's wi-fi connection and watching cars pass through the wide front windows. When Killer Moth landed before the shop and barged right through the wall, the crowd was immediately thrown into an instant panic; screams rang out, and coffees were dropped as people rushed for the door.

"IT'S KILLER MOTH!" someone yelled.

"HE'S HERE TO KILL US ALL!" someone else screamed.

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

Killer Moth advanced upon the counter, where the barista was frozen in place, quivering before the enormous insect. "C-C-C-Can I help you?" the terrified man asked.

"Yeah," Killer Moth replied. "I'd like a latte and a decaf caramel frappuccino, please."

"Sure," the barista agreed. "On the house."

In only a few moments, Killer Moth left Arrows with a tray containing the requested coffee orders. "Maybe after this, they'll actually let me help with the plan," he muttered to himself.

He tried to walk carefully as opposed to flying, clutching the tray as best he could with his insectoid appendages. Still, upon turning one corner, he tripped, dropping and spilling both coffees all over the pavement. "Aw, man," he groaned. "Now I gotta go back and order these all over again!"

He heard a very slight sound, like the subtle steps of feet on the nearby pavement, but when he had righted himself and looked to see from whence the noise had come, there was no one to account for it.

"Weird," he muttered to himself.

The blow to the back of the head came so quickly that he wasn't even aware it had happened.

...

"…No," Firefly said in complete and utter shock after Ragdoll had revealed his secret. "No way. You're making that up."

"I am absolutely not making it up," Ragdoll confirmed, smile as wide as ever.

"So you really don't have a…"

"Nope!"

"Or…"

"Definitely not."

Firefly removed his helmet, pointing to his face, which was frozen in an absolutely bowled-over expression. "I just need you to see that this is my face right now. How do you even…if you don't…WHY? Okay, yeah, that's my first question! WHY would you get rid of them?"

Ragdoll shrugged. "They were in the way. I should think it would be obvious that doing what I do is much easier without them."

"You know what?" Firefly realized. "I had WONDERED about that sometimes. How you dealt with that getting into all those weird positions. This…explains a few things." He shook his head. "So…wait. Does this mean that whole secret crush thing was made up?"

"No. That's real."

"But if you can't…you know…"

"I didn't have my HEART surgically removed, Firefly."

"But you can't do it with whoever it is. And this doesn't bother you."

"Not a bit."

Firefly just stared at him, still in disbelief.

"Do I REALLY have to explain the difference between being asexual and being aromantic to you, Firefly?" Ragdoll asked.

"No," Firefly answered. "I'm still not convinced you didn't just make this up to have a secret to tell me."

"I could show you if you REALLY wanted."

"I'm good on that front, really," Firefly said quickly. "The more I think about it, the more I realize I have no idea why you'd even make something like that up." He replaced his helmet to disguise the fact that his glance occasionally shot downward to see if he could confirm Ragdoll's outlandish claim without actually having to see the dirty details. "So, uh…Moth's been gone a long time."

"He probably got lost trying to find Arrows," Ragdoll guessed. "I really wouldn't put it past him."

"Neither would I, but…you don't think that one guy from the rumors got him, do you?"

"What rumors, exactly?"

"You haven't heard?" Firefly was taken aback. "EVERYONE at the Fourth Circle's been talking. There's been some new guy going after Gotham's bad guys. Except the thing is, when he gets them, they don't go to jail and they don't go to Arkham. They just…disappear."

"This sounds like a bad ghost story," Ragdoll commented.

"They say the guy figured out some way to turn invisible," Firefly went on. "He could be in this very room…right…now." He paused for effect, staring directly at Ragdoll.

After a short silence, Ragdoll asked, "Are you trying to scare me?"

"Maybe. Are you scared?"

"No."

"Anyway," Firefly concluded, "those are just the rumors." He bent to look over the blueprints. "Okay. So basically what we have to figure out here is which end of the building it makes more sense for ME to break into and which one it makes more sense for MOTH to break into. Two of us can fly, so it might make more sense if we move the whole thing to an aerial – "

He felt a heavy hand lay on his shoulder.

Giving a scream, Firefly rounded on his assailant and pointed his wrist directly in his face. Of course, Ragdoll had taken advantage of Firefly's diversion and the aftermath of his "scary story" to silently move behind him and scare him. "Boo," he said teasingly.

"R.D.," Firefly growled, "have I told you lately that you're a jerk?"
"It's honestly worth repeating," Ragdoll replied smugly.

A box tipped over at the far end of the warehouse, and now both of them looked warily at the spot where it had fallen. They shook it off with a synchronized "Nah."

"But seriously, where's Moth?" Firefly groaned. "I'm going to go see what's taking him so long."

"Count me in," Ragdoll volunteered.

The pair stepped outside the warehouse, took two steps, and saw the tray of spilled coffee splattered on the pavement.

"…Maybe it's different coffee?" Firefly suggested.

Ragdoll knelt over the spill and dragged a finger through it, and before Firefly could finish his "Aw, c'mon, R.D., DON'T," he licked it. "That is definitely a decaf caramel frappuccino," Ragdoll deduced.

"So he ditched us," Firefly theorized, not wanting to acknowledge the other possibility. "Who else are we going to find to rope into this heist on short notice?"

"What if this was the work of your little rumor?" Ragdoll asked.

"I really don't want to think about that," Firefly snapped.

"Why not?" Ragdoll stood back up. "It isn't as though there's a vigilante out there the two of us can't best."

"Well, it sure looks like there's one out there who knocked out KILLER MOTH."

"You're probably right about him leaving us high and dry," Ragdoll resolved. "Perhaps making his first mission a coffee run wasn't the smartest move." He turned to head back to the warehouse, and Firefly followed, though he glanced over his shoulder more than once.

"Okay," Firefly sighed as he and Ragdoll re-entered their temporary sanctum. "So now, we need ANOTHER villain for hire. That, or we try to pull this off as a two-man job. Think we could?"

"I suppose that all depends on – "

Ragdoll cut himself off with an ear-splitting scream. Firefly's blood ran cold as his friend toppled forward, unconscious, the crackling of electricity filling the air where he had stood.

"PETER!" Firefly yelled without thinking. Then, as his fighting reaction kicked in, he aimed both wrists at the place where Ragdoll had stood, letting twin jets of flame fly.

There was a slight sound as the invisible assailant leapt out of Firefly's range, retreating further back into the warehouse.

"Oh, so you wanna hide?" Firefly taunted. "Too bad I know you're here." He kept both wrists extended, shooting flames into the depths of the warehouse. "You wanna keep playing cat and mouse? Fine. I'll just bring the whole house down on top of you."

A bright yellow light, serving as a crosshair, blinked into view on Firefly's armor; Firefly didn't miss it, and zipped out of the way just before an electric bolt could be fired at him. Opening fire on the direction from whence the bolt had come, Firefly scorched the concrete floor well. The "click" of a weapon alerted Firefly that his quarry had changed directions, and Firefly spun, keeping his flames alive. Over and over, one cue or another let him know where the invisible vigilante was hiding, and Firefly opened literal fire on him.

Against a background of flames, Firefly called out, "You're running out of places to hide! You can stay in the burning building if you want, but I'm taking my partner and leaving!"

"Actually," a gruff voice said from just behind Firefly, "I have one place left to hide. And I don't think you can hit me from here."

"Oh yeah – " Firefly whipped around to see Ragdoll suspended in midair by the wrists. The invisible attacker was using him as a shield. And Firefly, as his attacker had suspected, couldn't fire on that.

"Low. Blow," Firefly growled.

One of Ragdoll's wrists dropped, and the invisible attacker quickly used his free hand to reach for a weapon. This time, Firefly wasn't fast enough to escape. A pellet exploded in midair, carrying Firefly with it on the blast until he hit a wall and blacked out.

...

When Ragdoll came to, he couldn't make heads or tails of exactly where he was. He was enclosed in some sort of cell with transparent walls. Looking around, he could tell that his cell was one of a multitude, and other familiar famous faces from the Gotham underworld were visible in the other cells; Killer Croc was bound up in one of the adjacent enclosures. Looking up provided a view to a close transparent ceiling and a more faraway dark one that suggested a factory or a warehouse of some kind.

Two questions stood out to Ragdoll. One: where was he? And two: where was Firefly?

There were holes drilled in between the cells. For what purpose, Ragdoll didn't know. Maybe communication. Maybe just for the airflow. Whatever the case, they were just large enough. Whoever had designed this prison had made a fatal mistake.

Ragdoll quickly wormed through the aperture in the wall separating him from Killer Croc.

"What're you – " Croc grumbled.

"Just passing through," Ragdoll replied innocently before squirming into the next cell.

"What do YOU want?" a rather incensed Mr. Freeze asked.

"Don't mind me," Ragdoll told him as he made his way into the next cell over.

But a good deal of the cells were empty, and all of the empty cells looked exactly alike. Trying to chart a course through them, Ragdoll had no landmarks to go on besides the prisoners they contained, and he became turned around quite easily. Even worse, several times, he came across what must have been the walls of the warehouse itself, and there was no conceivable way out. Ragdoll had hypothesized that if his captor were careless enough to leave him a route between cells, there would be some exit somewhere that said captor hadn't expected Ragdoll could utilize, but the outer walls seemed to be blank stone, no ducts, no doors. No way out.

"Long time, no see," he told Killer Croc on his first return visit to that cell.

He lost track of time. How long had it been? He hadn't even glimpsed Firefly. However, after what seemed like an infinity, a familiar streak of red and black flashed in his peripheral vision. At least he knew where Harley Quinn was.

Harley was huddled in the corner, arms wrapped around her knees. She hoped it wasn't too visible that she was shaking. Her stomach was boiling as well, and she wasn't sure what was worse: the circumstances she was in or the anxious symptoms that were creeping up on her. She closed her eyes and buried her head in her arms, praying her shakes would go away.

"Well, well," a comfortingly familiar voice broke into her sphere. "Imagine seeing a nice young lady like you in a place like this."

Harley's head snapped up so she could visually confirm that Ragdoll was in fact standing in her cell. "RAGSY!" She was on her feet in a flash, and before even she registered what she was doing, she had practically tackled Ragdoll in a bone-crushing hug. Ragdoll's first instinct was to return it with equal force, lifting Harley off the ground ever so slightly and spinning 360 degrees before setting her back down so she could let go.

Harley immediately played it cool; "So the guy from the rumors got you too, huh?"

"Apparently," Ragdoll replied, looking as pensive as one could while still grinning. "You don't know what this mysterious vigilante plans to DO with all of us here, do you?"

"No idea," Harley answered. "Maybe he's just a collector."

"You think he's a fan of our work?"

Harley gave a dramatic shrug.

Overhead, there was the sound of a door opening, and someone began to walk over top of the cells. "Get outta here!" Harley hissed. "If he finds out you're movin' cells, he'll tie you up!" She gave Ragdoll a hard shove, and Ragdoll took the hint, flitting two cells over. Ragdoll glanced back at Harley from across the divide, and she pointed up at the ceiling. Both turned their gazes upward to behold a man clad in silver armor perched high on a catwalk above their heads.

"I have bad news and I have worse news," the vigilante known as Rumor announced.

Well, then I better sit down, Ragdoll thought jokingly, and folded into a pretzel position.

"The bad news is I've sentenced all of you to life," Rumor went on. "The worse news is it's going to be a very short sentence."

A chill ran down Ragdoll's spine. So that was Rumor's game. He wanted to kill everyone there. Would it be so hard, now that he had them all in one place? There were very few things Ragdoll feared, mostly because he wasn't sure quite what could kill him. However, the thought of dying at all was the one thing that gave him pause. Of course this mysterious man would have a method figured out to kill him. Rumor had already captured him, which was no small feat. And where was Firefly? Had Firefly managed to escape? Or was he, too, lined up for the executioner's block?

"However," Rumor continued, becoming invisible where he stood, "before I can carry it out, I still have a very special piece to add."

Feeling a lot more unstable than usual, Ragdoll stood slowly, staring forlornly at the catwalk. This could very well be the place where he was going to die. Him, possibly Firefly, and definitely…

He looked across the way at Harley, who was leaning on the glass facing him, her hands pressed up to the wall. Her expression was absolutely heartbreaking, and as Ragdoll and Harley maintained eye contact, her frown only deepened, and the look in her eyes grew more hopeless.

Ragdoll didn't realize that her depression, already deep from hearing that she was sentenced to death, was deepened by looking at him. For Ragdoll wasn't smiling. It wasn't a momentary break, as he often had on the regular rollercoaster of emotions. As Harley looked at him, he couldn't even muster up a false grin to cover up his fear. And when Ragdoll didn't smile for that long, things were very, very wrong.

Rumor took his leave, and Harley slid down the wall, back to a sitting position. It suddenly occurred to her who this "special piece" Rumor needed to acquire might be. She, Punch, and Judy were all in adjacent cells, surrounding the one empty one that Ragdoll occupied the other side of. Were they foreshadowing for the Joker's special place in Rumor's collection? Harley highly doubted they could lay a finger on her Mr. J…but then again, Rumor had already rounded up every hard-to-catch villain in the book save Clayface.

The door upstairs slammed, and once Ragdoll was fairly certain Rumor was gone – he wouldn't just close a door to make the others think he'd left so he could spy on them, would he? – he slipped back over into Harley's cell. She slowly looked back up at him. The look of absolute dejection on his face was almost too much for her to stand. But she knew what she needed to say.

"Go find Gar," Harley whispered.

"I'm not sure he's here," Ragdoll told her. "I'm rather hoping he isn't."

"I gotta bad feeling he is," Harley replied, her voice just as soft. "You gotta be with him right now if he is."

"What – "

"You don't have to pretend with me anymore," Harley insisted. "I know he's your guy. I know you love him. If we're gonna go down…ya gotta be WITH him." She forced a smile. "And tell him I said hi."

Ragdoll was hesitant to leave Harley, but he knew where he wanted to be, and it was exactly where she had said he should be. "Well, then," he resolved, "I guess, this might be 'toodles' for the last time."

"See ya on the other side?" Harley suggested. If there even was another side.

"It's a plan." And with that, Ragdoll was gone.

Harley forced herself to keep her smile on. After all, if she was right, Joker would be there soon, and everything would be right.

Ragdoll got himself lost again in the maze of transparent walls, passing Killer Croc for what must have been the twentieth time. Once again, time seemed to lose its definition. There were only walls after walls, and occasionally a glimpse of green here, or blue there, or yellow –

Yellow.

Ragdoll fixed his eyes on the point where he'd glimpsed the telltale color. About ten cells away, a figure dressed in yellow and black was slumped down against the floor and the wall. Ragdoll made a beeline for the sight, not sure if he was happy to have found Firefly or just horrified that Firefly had not, after all, escaped.

He slithered into the cell, and it was indeed, finally, Firefly who sat on the floor, back pressed against the wall, fuel tank to the side, helmet off, head back, eyes closed. He didn't even notice when Ragdoll entered. Ragdoll wondered for a moment why Firefly hadn't tried to simply burn his way out of the cell. Then he saw the scorch marks on the wall. He had tried, and it hadn't worked.

"So, you too?" Ragdoll greeted, sliding into a sitting position next to Firefly against the wall.

Firefly opened his eyes and turned to look at Ragdoll. "Hey, R.D.," he grunted, looking utterly defeated. "Yeah. Me too. If not for lack of trying."

For a moment, a heavy silence passed between them. Neither knew exactly what to say under the circumstances. Ragdoll considered trying to muster up a forced smile and say something positive, or at least with the semblance of positivity, but he was fresh out of any bright side to put on the situation. "So this is how we go," he remarked at long last.

"Yeah," Firefly replied. "Surprised you're not skeptical he's actually gonna do it."

"You think he's not?"

Firefly returned his gaze to the ceiling. "He totally is."

"Did you ever think it would end this way?" Ragdoll asked.

"Nah," Firefly answered. "I always thought if I went, I'd go out like I do my crimes: in flames. Something more impressive than…this. What about you?"

"I never really entertained the thought," Ragdoll confessed. "I was running under the assumption I would live to the ripe old age of one hundred and fifty, then die peacefully in my sleep after cleaning out Gotham's highest-security bank."

"You wouldn't have lived to a hundred and fifty."

"I wouldn't if I had that attitude."

That got both of them to crack a smile for a moment, but it immediately faded, and Firefly, much like Harley, was struck by how odd it was to see Ragdoll's face twisted into an expression of concern. It was no good omen.

"I've been to see Harley, by the way," Ragdoll told Firefly. "She says hello."

"Good old Harley." Firefly didn't fully smile, but he did look slightly less depressed. It reverted almost immediately; "So he got her too."

"Unfortunately."

"Who DIDN'T he get?"
"I haven't seen Basil Karlo. I imagine it would be impossible to keep him here," Ragdoll mused.

They sat in silence before Firefly blurted, "You know, we're going to die, so just…to heck with it."

"To heck with what?"

"You should know before we both bite it," Firefly went on. "Peter Merkel, you're a jerk."

"This is news to me how?" Ragdoll joked.

"You're also the best friend I've ever had," Firefly concluded. "And you're kinda great. Just…thanks. For being there and all that sappy crud."

"You know," Ragdoll realized, "that might be the ACTUAL nicest thing anyone's ever said to me. And on that subject, Garfield Lynns, I don't think I could have asked for a better partner in crime. There really isn't anyone quite like you."

"That might be the nicest thing anyone's ever said to ME," Firefly admitted.

They made eye contact for a moment, and they could see each other's fear. Then, without warning, Ragdoll leaned forward and wrapped Firefly in a tight embrace, folding his wrists over one another behind Firefly's back to keep him right there where he wanted him.

"What the – " Firefly was taken aback at first, unsure how exactly to react. Then he realized the only course of action was to do the only thing he wanted to do. He put his own arms around Ragdoll, drawing his friend's thin frame even closer.

"I don't wanna go like this," he whispered, and Ragdoll could hear his voice strain, almost to the point of breaking.

Ragdoll wished he could say something akin to "You won't" or "Obviously, our captor has made a fatal flaw if he thinks he can contain us" or "You really believe he'll go through with it? Because I don't. He's all talk." But he wouldn't have believed any of it. He was brought back, suddenly, to a memory of taunting the Batman that "When it's your time, it's your time." Well, it was all well and good if it were the Batman's time, but why did it have to be his? Why did it have to be Firefly's? All he ended up saying was "At least we got a few escapades in before it fell apart."

"We sure did." Firefly loosened his grip and squirmed a bit to test exactly how difficult it was to extricate himself from Ragdoll's arms. "…You can let go now."

So Ragdoll did, with great reluctance, and the two returned to sitting across from each other, staring straight ahead.

After a long pause, Ragdoll realized that the absolute finality of the situation might call for one more secret to be revealed. "You know…since we are about to die and all…you might as well know the identity of that secret crush of mine."

"I'm actually pretty sure I know it," Firefly admitted.

Ragdoll flinched. "You do?"

"You're not exactly subtle."

"Never have been, have I?" Ragdoll practically laughed.

"Though you were pretty smart to keep it a secret," Firefly informed him.

"And why was that? You don't approve?"

"I just think you and I both know that you being in love with Joker's girlfriend is going to bite you in the butt HARD."

Screeching brakes. Harley. Firefly thought Ragdoll was in love with Harley.

"Though since this is the end, you should probably be with her," Firefly suggested. "I know you wanted to say goodbye to me since we're roommates and all, but, and this is coming from a guy who's sworn off love, if I had somebody like that, I'd wanna be with them right now."

"Actually – " Ragdoll was about to clarify, but the sounds of footsteps returned above.

"Get outta here!" Firefly hissed, waving Ragdoll away, knowing if the two were caught together, Rumor would know one of his prisoners had been moving. Ragdoll put space between himself and Firefly: three full cells.

So Firefly really thought there was something between Ragdoll and Harley. Well, there wasn't going to be any time to correct him now. Maybe, if there was another side, he could clear things up there.

There was the sound of a scuffle; a loud thud and a ceiling sliding into place over one of the cells. Joker was dropped unceremoniously into his new prison, scrambling to his feet as soon as he hit ground.

"Puddin'!" Harley cried from the adjacent cell, a genuine smile brought to her face by the appearance of her paramour.

"Harley?" Joker looked to her curiously. "How long have you been here?"

"I dunno," Harley answered. "I lost track of time. It's probably been a day. Maybe two."

"Well, that explains a few things," Joker mused.

"This new guy…" Harley felt her voice tremble. "He's gonna kill us, Puddin'."

"No, he isn't," Joker growled. "What he's GOING to do is let me out of here."

"You mean let 'us' outta here, right?"

Joker ignored Harley's correction, rushing to the wall to pound furiously against it. "Let. Me. OUT! You are making a BIG mistake, thinking you can keep me in here!"

Rumor had finished pacing down to the other end of the enclosure and was now making his way back. He paused over Joker's irate wall-pounding. "Time's up, my friends," he announced.

Ragdoll had now arrived at the final question: how was Rumor going to do it? How was he going to pull the trigger on so many people at once? He assumed a sort of gas would be pumped through the cells to slowly suffocate them all. That would explain the holes in the walls. There was a muffled voice sounding from far away; Hugo Strange was asking some sort of long-winded question. Rumor, held aloft, could be heard by all when he answered:

"Why? I'll tell you why." He lifted his mask; his voice sounded considerably less threatening without it on. "I'm the bodyguard of Paul Karon: a great man. A man you, Joker, maimed."

Ragdoll had no idea who Paul Karon was and he couldn't have cared less. Now he was just angry. He was being punished for Joker's crime. Shouldn't he at least have the right to be sentenced to death for his own crime? Goodness knew he'd committed enough that probably deserved it.

Harley had a front-row view of Joker proudly settling his fingers on his chest and grinning widely: the only person in the entire enclosure who could still smile. "ME?" She couldn't help but wonder how he could take it so lightly when so much was on the line. And she didn't know whether or not she liked it.

"Don't blame Joker," Rumor went on. "Blame the Bat. He had the chance to permanently stop each and every one of you, but was always prevented by some code of ethics. Now, I'm left to finish the job he doesn't have the guts to."

As Rumor crossed the facility to the device he intended to use to carry out his deed of doom, Ragdoll could faintly hear Hugo Strange's voice again: apparently Strange had a penchant for incensing his captor. "THAT'S NOT TRUE! SHUT UP!" Rumor suddenly barked at Strange, and Ragdoll had to wonder exactly what button Strange had pushed.

Rumor whipped a curtain off an enormous mechanical device. "Karon's sonic weapon," he introduced. He then set about inputting codes into the device, and a large appendage shaped like a tuning fork lifted itself into the air, ready to activate. At least it was a more unique method than gas, Ragdoll thought. Gas made him think too much of Joker anyway. And Rumor could blame the Batman all he wanted, but Ragdoll still knew that he, Firefly, and Harley were paying for a mess Joker had made. "Once it's warmed up, it's gonna destroy every supervillain in Gotham in one fell swoop."

"You have nothing to prove, Mario."

It was the voice of the Batman.

None of the prisoners of Rumor knew exactly why he'd shown up. And the scuffle that ensued between Rumor, Batman, and Robin took place too far out of the visible range from the cells to be able to see. But when something during that battle caused the airlocks on the ceilings of every single cell to be released, every last prisoner took notice.

Firefly quickly replaced his helmet and reattached his fuel tank so he could become airborne, one of the first to rise from his cell. A quick glance revealed that Ragdoll still wasn't that far away, and was in fact peering up from the bottom of his cell, wondering how to get from point A to point B. Firefly dipped down into Ragdoll's vicinity; "Need a lift?"

Ragdoll's smile, his sincere smile, returned. "Second floor, please."

Firefly casually wrapped his arm around Ragdoll, much less intimately than before, and they blasted off into the air.

By that time, the other prisoners had found ways out of their cells, and they wanted blood: Rumor's blood. And since Batman and Robin were there, why not kill three birds with one stone? As the throng gathered, Firefly landed himself and Ragdoll not too far away from Harley. Ragdoll glared daggers at the back of Joker's head, wondering if he was the actual enemy who should be taken out here…but he shook away the thought. The real one to pay here was the one who thought Ragdoll should have to suffer for what Joker did.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Firefly asked.

"Sweet revenge?" Ragdoll suggested.

"With a side of butt-kicking for the fun of it?" Harley added.

All three shared a single nod.

"Mind if we cut in?" Joker interrupted the tussling vigilantes.

Batman and Rumor cut their battle short to turn and look at the size of the crowd that had amassed, and it hit home what sort of odds they were up against.

"You see," Joker continued, advancing upon the pair, "there's this nasty little Rumor we'd all like to STOMP OUT."

Rumor turned to the Batman in desperation; "You have to save me." Ragdoll found this more amusing than anything. He was good and ready to snap the man's neck for making him come to terms with mortality: for making him afraid. And, on top of that, for doing the same to Harley and Firefly.

"I know," Batman grunted to Rumor, obvious distaste in his mouth with the words.

"Lemme guess," Robin said with a smirk as he took staff in hand and twirled it for show. "This is one of those 'Not the easy way, but the right way' moments?"

Mr. Freeze struck the first blow, letting a blast of pure ice loose at Batman. The latter threw a smoke bomb, and the wintry ammunition missed its mark.

The battlefield became a frenzy, with every villain out for themselves. As Harley stuck close to Joker and Firefly retreated to the air to find a way to strike from above, Ragdoll ended up part of a mass charge upon Batman, running alongside Cluemaster (who he wasn't aware could actually run), Temblor, and even Penguin. None of those who made up the charge took notice of Freeze on Batman's other side, and as the caped vigilante darted away, all at once were frozen in a great block of ice, only their heads left unfrozen.

"R.D.!" Firefly immediately rushed down toward the frozen villains while Batman was distracted by Freeze himself.

"Don't mind me," Ragdoll told Firefly playfully. "I'm just…chilling out."

"Hang on!" Firefly adjusted his wristborne weapons. "I'm gonna get you out of there."

"Forget about me!" Ragdoll urged. "Go after the Bat! And ESPECIALLY the Rumor!"

Firefly hesitated for only a moment before deciding to take Ragdoll's advice, leaving him frozen so as not to waste time. Somehow, somewhere, Rumor had disappeared in the fray, and Firefly was less than happy about this. He took to the air again, making a circle of what he now understood to be an abandoned factory, keeping an eagle eye out for Rumor. What he saw instead was Robin, hitching a ride on a tether that had gotten into the clutches of Man-Bat. It may not have been Rumor, but it was still a nuisance Firefly wanted erased. He changed course to pursue.

And he was almost immediately slammed into by a leaping Killer Croc, who'd wanted the same target. Firefly and Killer Croc, both knocked off course by the collision, fell back into one of the cells, and the ceiling closed over them.

"Oh, COME ON!" Firefly yelled as Batman passed over the cell and quickly sealed the airlock. "I just got OUT of one of these things!" Zipping upward, he pounded on the ceiling frantically.

"Did I ever mention I hate you?" Killer Croc groaned.

"Feeling's mutual," Firefly grunted.

"Oh, no, no, no!" Harley moaned as she watched Firefly become imprisoned. She knew it was time to move, or at least time to look for a good window. After seeing Batman and Robin thoroughly distracted by Poison Ivy, she leapt into the fray, landing a swift kick on Robin's cheek and bowling the boy over before he was even aware of what was happening. And once Harley was moved to action, Joker figured he might as well join in. With a giggle, he dealt a roundhouse kick in Batman's direction; Batman expertly dodged it. Joker and Harley worked to fence Batman and Robin in, swinging blow after blow, until Batman managed to land a blow of his own on each; Joker was knocked back into the ice that contained the initial charge, and Harley hit the floor with such force as to be rendered unconscious.

"Well, that couldn't have gone any worse," Firefly muttered from his prison.

Penguin was able to slightly crane his neck out to look at the other end of the wall of ice. "What are you so HAPPY about?" he growled at Ragdoll.

"We're not all dead," Ragdoll replied.

"Well, we might still be!" Penguin realized. "That sonic doohickey's been charging this whole time!"

The revelation hit Ragdoll like a freight train.

But the Bat was prepared, throwing a batarang at just the right moment to pierce and short out the engine of the machine, neutralizing the threat.

"Y'know, I think there was an off button," Robin quipped.

There was a moment of complete and utter silence. Then, it was broken by a loud, high-pitched laugh. Everyone sought to place the source at first; Joker was usually the only one to laugh at such an inappropriate time, and so obnoxiously, too. But the voice wasn't his.

Ragdoll was alive. He'd confronted his mortality, and come out of it alive. And that made him joyful enough to simply laugh and laugh.

...

"Whaddaya know?" Harley asked as Firefly and Ragdoll were loaded into the back of the same police van as her. "We're back together again!"

"It's like they set this up on purpose," Firefly remarked as the van began to move.

"I like to think it's destiny," Ragdoll commented.

"You ALWAYS blame destiny," Firefly pointed out.

"I'm just glad we're all fine," Harley sighed.

"I'd be happier if that Rumor was just smoke and ashes right now," Firefly growled. "Seriously, the Bat not wanting to kill anyone is real good news for us, but this time, it got ANNOYING."

"Perhaps we'll meet up with our nasty little Rumor at a later date," Ragdoll theorized. "And then, we can finally put that Rumor to rest."

"He tries anything on either of you or my Puddin' again," Harley growled, "and I'll make HIM into puddin'!"

"So, uh…" Firefly cleared his throat awkwardly. "Can we all just agree not to talk about what happened when we all thought we were gonna croak?"

"There is one point of clarification I'd like to make," Ragdoll brought up. "It isn't Harley."

"What isn't me?" Harley asked, baffled.

"As much as I'm normally entertained by hilarious misunderstandings," Ragdoll went on, "NOTHING good can come from it if you think it's Harley."

"WHAT ISN'T ME?" Harley yelled this time.

"Apparently R.D.'s secret crush," Firefly said in awe. "I was SURE it was you. That whole story about you two fighting over the jewelry store was the beginning of a bad romance film if I've ever heard one."

"Aw, I coulda told ya it wasn't me, silly!" Harley laughed.

"And I suppose you know exactly who it is," Firefly sighed.

"Love lives were my business, remember?" she giggled. "Why WOULDN'T I know who it is?"

"Well?" Firefly asked. "Who is it?"

"And ruin the fun?" Harley winked at him.

"Crushes aside," Ragdoll quickly said to intercept the conversation, "shall we all agree it was nothing short of fortuitous that all three of us managed to live to commit horrid atrocities another day?"

"Here's to friendship," Firefly said, putting out his fist.

"To friendship!" Harley chirped, softly meeting his fist with her own.

"To friendship," Ragdoll agreed, adding his own fist to the gesture.

"So what happens now?" Firefly asked. "You two make a mess out of Arkham?"

"Our survival ensures Arkham remains in business," Ragdoll reminded him. "I'd say this occasion calls for the loud singing of show tunes in the middle of the courtyard during socialization hour."

"Louder than we usually go?" Harley asked.

"MUCH louder."

"I'm gonna miss you guys," Firefly admitted, "but, hey, at least it won't be for long."

They would remain locked up for only two weeks before finding their way back to the safehouse.