Chapter Ten: Two Birds and a Bat

Blue-Jay smiled as she swung through the air on her grapple-line, coming in for a landing on the roof of the Iceberg Lounge. Moments later, Robin landed beside her, and then Batman dropped down behind the two of them.

It was way after the Lounges' closing hours, and the three of them where there to investigate Penguin. Oswald Cobblepot may have put on the guise of a legitimate business man, but Blue-Jay, Robin and Batman were far from fooled, they knew for a fact that he was the fence for most of Gotham's' big-time crooks. Most people knew that Penguin was still in the racquets, but the difficulty was proving it.

Batman reached out and gripped Blue-Jay and Robin's capes, stopping them as they tried to go forwards. They turned to look at him and he pulled them back a little, going ahead of them, towards the skylight in the center of the roof.

Blue-Jay glared at his back for a moment before turning to Robin "Is he always like that?" Robin nodded "And he can be a lot worse, trust me." "Oh, I do." She whispered back as the two of them came up beside Batman.

Settling into crouching positions on either side of Batman, the two teens looked in. Sure enough, Penguin was there, along with Two-Face and Killer Croc, both of which were collecting their cash for the stolen goods they had given to the Penguin for him to sell.

Blue-Jay had to stifle a giggle and Batman and Robin looked at her, she smirked as she said "That diamond that Croc just got about fifty grand for is worth about twice that much." Robin snickered and Batman raised an eyebrow at her. "And you would know that, how?" She rolled her eyes at him "Look at the size of it, you don't see a gem that size on a ring, Batboy." He glared at her, but had to admit she was right, the stone was big enough to fit into both of Blue-Jay's small hands, and neatly into his palm.

They could see Croc grumbling about being cheated, but the other two ignored him as Two-Face collected his takings for his contraband. It seemed that Harvey had gotten a better price than Croc had, because the reptile glowered at them man as he stood and left.

Blue-Jay knew that it was probably a good idea to let Batman call the shots on this one, as Harvey Dent had been one of Bruce Wayne's best friends before the accident, and he would know how best to deal with him.

Batman pulled out a small camera from his belt and began to take pictures of the three of them walking towards the doors together. Following his lead, Blue-Jay used her glove cam to take pictures as well.

"I'm guessing that we'll be handing these over to the cops?" Blue-Jay said, as they left the roof, Batman didn't answer and Blue-Jay bristled. Seeing a fight on the horizon, Robin quickly intervened "Probably, but what about that shipment you told me about?"

This seemed to catch Batman's attention and he looked back at the two. Blue-Jay checked her watch "It should be coming in sometime around midnight, so that gives us about an hour to scout the place before the games begin." "And what shipment are you talking about?"

The two looked over at Batman, seemingly having forgotten that he was with them. "It's a shipment of drugs that are being brought into Gotham tonight by freighter. Robin and I have been planning to ambush it for the past few days." Batman's eyes narrowed "And why was I not informed?" The two birds looked at each other, then looked back at Batman "We were gonna' take care of it." Robin said.

Batman glowered at the two of them, before saying "Well you're bit going to, we'll let the police handle this one." "What!" Blue-Jay hissed, and Robin could just see her feathers becoming ruffled "That's our gig, you can't just tell us we can't go!" "Oh, yes I can, I'm in charge here, in case you have forgotten." "You are not in charge of me!" "Yes I am, while you are with us you are my responsibility and you will do as I say!" "Make me!"

Things were about to get very ugly as the two glared at each other, only for Robin to break in once again, averting the impending storm. "You know, BJ, maybe we should leave it to the cops. I mean," he continued quickly as she turned to look at him "We're use to boats and the occasional air plane, we've never done a train before." After a moment of tense silence, Blue-Jay grumbled, saying "Fine then, let the police take it."

Blue-Jay stormed past Batman, over to where the Batmobile was parked. Batman followed her. Robin sighed, no matter how long it took them to catch Bane, if tonight was going to be any indication, it was going to seem a lot longer.

Blue-Jay and Robin swung through the air, side by side, both doing a summersault before coming in for a landing on the roof of Wayne Tower, Batman sweeping in behind them a moment later.

For a few minuets, three pairs of keen eyes swept the city below them, looking for any signs of disturbance. That search was interrupted, however, by the Bat-signal coming on.

The three of them moved at the same time, shooting of grapples and swinging off the roof, towards the police headquarters.

"Commissioner?" Batman said, as the three of them swung in for a landing, the two birds pulling their signature summersault through the air before moving into the light that the searchlight gave off.

The commissioner came forwards and said "The Joker has escaped from Arkham." Robin felt Blue-Jay shudder slightly beside him and moved a little closer, she looked at him out of the corner of her eye and he gave her a reassuring smile.

During their previous run in with the clown prince of crime, Robin had seen that Blue-Jay had been effected more than she let on. It was understandable, the Joker had set him on edge the first time he had come face to face with him as well, and he knew that all the girl needed was a little reassurance when it came to the clown.

She returned his smile with a slight on of her own before they bother turned their attention to what the commissioner was saying.

"He left this note, it was on the body of the security guard that he used his Joker toxin on." As the commissioner handed the not to Batman, Blue-Jay frowned and asked "How did he get Joker toxin smuggled into Arkham, I thought all of the incoming and outgoing mail for the facility was screened?" Gordon looked at her "It is, we think it was an inside job." The girl nodded before moving over to Batman and standing on tip-toe to see what was written on the note.

Dear Batman,

I wanted to invite you to a party that I am throwing tonight. It's formal, so I insist that you and your brats wash up before you come.

Love,

Joker.

Blue-Jay thought for a moment, her mind puzzling the emphasis on the words wash up. And then she had it. "The abandoned 'Happy Suds' soap factory!" Batman looked at her for a moment before nodding. "Come on." he said, turning to the edge of the roof. Moments later, the three of them were swinging through the air once more.

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