Info: Chapter 4 of my Young Justice story, Batman, Connor and Zatanna face off against the Joker and his minions. I still might create a story based around on Nightwing and Zatanna's relationship which may connect to this story, or I just could make a story based solely on Batman...or maybe not. I digress, enjoy chapter 4!


Jokes on You

"Hey Bats, looking tired ha", Joker laughed in his usual manner at his arch nemesis and the young duo.

"Joker, you won't get away with this", Batman struggled to breathe.

"No? I think I already did when I escaped Arkam Asylum...again", Joker moved side to side his allies giggling and taunting his greatest foe. "Ladies and gentlemen, let's enjoy today's special event and...let the games begin."

Bane charged at Superboy, tackling him to the ground, "We meet again kid", Zatanna glanced at Connor and then at Poison Ivy who blew a kiss at Zatanna and Batman before summoning over grown plants.

The plants took Zatanna off by surprise tangling around her, gripping her tightly, "I think my babies like you magic girl".

Zatanna gave a fierce look to the plant queen, "Zatanna! My name is Zatanna!"

"Ha-ha, Bats looks like it's you and me...jokes batman, it's you against my splendid army, get him boys", Joker pointed at Batman and giggled happily.

Dozens of armed criminals savagely launched themselves at Batman punching and kicking the already heavily damaged Batman. The Dark Knight blocked several of the attacks but succumbed to his wounds and fell to the floor, getting kicked repeatedly on the floor.

"Ooh that's gotta hurt Bats", Joker ran up to the subdued batman and taunted him, "Aw, what's wrong Batman? Did you get a boo-boo? Ha-ha."

Batman snarled at his archenemy and managed to break free from his captors; Batman head butted Joker in anger and watched as he crawled away, "OW! Bats that wasn't very nice...wait what am I talking about."

The Joker grabbed an item from his pockets and chucked it towards the dark knight, "I've got a present for you bats."

Batman turned to see chattering teeth on the floor, beeping every second, "BOOM! HA-HA", Joker was just as surprised as Batman, "Wait, that wasn't supposed to happen, where's the boom, I want a boom".

"You want a boom joker, here's a boom", Batman struck the side of Jokers face, watching him fall to the floor, whimpering and giggling at the pain.

Connor on the other side was having trouble with Bane, Superboy's strength was immense, but didn't come close to Bane's brutality. Zatanna was also having trouble with Ivy, but managed to catch her off her guard.

Superboy was thrown out the window, struggling to get up Connor unleashed his anger, he charged at Bane tried to tackle him, but Bane grabbed his enemy by the neck and slammed him to the ground.

Bane noticed a smile crawl up on Connor's face, "Why are you grinning?"

"Look behind you", Connor pointed, the smile still on his face.

Bane turned and found a surprise kick strike his mouth, Bane noticed it was Aqualad and returned a grin, "Two! Finally, a challenge."

The two young men used their teamwork to attack Bane with perfect precision, Bane enjoyed revelled in every hit, laughing off the pain.

Batman turned to the young members, noticing that Aqualad just arrived and was preoccupied fighting Bane alongside Connor, he then turned to Zatanna noticing that she was in trouble.

Poison Ivy and Zatanna were locked in combat; the spells were easily deflected back to the magician. Just as Zatanna was about to chant another magical spell, Ivy managed to gag the magician by wrapping a plant around her mouth.

Zatanna struggled to rip the plant from her mouth but her muffled attempts were to no avail, more roots surrounded Zatanna and wrapped themselves around her, pulling her up and eventually hanging her upside down.

"Your magic is useless against my sweet babies", Zatanna's continued to try and chant something, anything but only muffled words were heard, she shook her head vigorously in anger, "Oh what's wrong plant got your tongue little girl?."

Poison Ivy slowly walked towards Zatanna and calmly looked into the magician's eyes and chuckled. A flying object flew towards Ivy and Zatanna releasing the girl from her bondage, it was one of Batman's batarang, and immediately after being free from her bondage she screamed a backwards spell towards the plant queen, pushing her away.

As Zatanna fell towards the floor, Batman caught the girl with quick ease, "You okay Zatanna?"

Zatanna immediately sprung up from Batman's arms and giggled nervously, "Yeah, thanks Batman."

Zatanna and Batman turned to the joker who laughing psychotically on the floor, "Xena? Zenu? Or was it Zen?"

"Oh for god's sake, it's...ZATANNA!" the young magician was getting rather annoyed by the joker and frowned at the villain in disgust.

"Honey, your name is just too darn hard to pronounce, what was it again? Zuzu? Katanna?" he continued to roll on the floor laughing away.

Zatanna growled at the joker and crossed her arms angrily, "We still beat you Joker, that's all that matters."

"Beat me? No, no, no you didn't beat me, you just...halted my advancement in the plan", Joker grinned at the duo and pulled a pin, "Nighty night".

The Joker dropped a smoke pellet at Batman's and Zatanna's feet, distracting them momentarily. Both the magician and caped crusader waved their hands around, coughing violently.

As the smoke cleared, Joker disappeared within a second, "We have to find him", Batman turned to Zatanna and nodded, "What about Connor...and Aqualad", Zatanna glanced over to Connor and Aqualad who were fighting a deadly fight against the large Bane.

"Zatanna, they'll be fine, we have to go after Joker, he's the one we want", Zatanna nodded at Batman and followed him on, looking back on the fight that was going on between the three.

Aqualad swung his blades towards Bane, using his expertise to his advantage, also his flexibility allowed him to dodge most of Banes heavy attacks. Connor on the other had used all of Black Canary's knowledge she taught him.

"Superboy! Let's take him out together!" Aqualad came up from behind Bane kicking his legs from the behind and flipping overhead, allowing Connor to unleash his attacks on Bane.

Bane fought and defended himself with extreme strength and brutality; both Aqualad and Connor were surprised at Bane's stamina. The duo were already exhausted from the battle but Bane was a monster inside and out, continuing to swing heavy and devastating hits to the younger men.

Bane then suddenly realised another figure was standing above, "Heya fella's, who's this guy?"

Aqualad and Superboy noticed the figure was Captain Marvel, Bane realised this wasn't a fight which turned to his favour, "Adios friends, lets continue this next time ", Bane dropped a smoke pellet in the same way as Joker, disappearing into the air.

"Aw, I wanted to fight him too", Captain Marvel was let down by Bane's escape, both Connor and Aqualad turned to one another and gave questionable looks to one another.

"We should go after Batman and Zatanna", Aqualad still remained in charge of the team at the moment, both Marvel and Connor nodded following their young leader.

On the other side of the large warehouse, Batman and Zatanna were running after Joker, who left a clear trail for the two to follow. "Look, there he is Batman."

Joker was skipping slightly, before noticing Zatanna and Batman, "Uh oh, this isn't looking good, luckily I brought this with me", Joker quickly grabbed a gun out of his pockets and started shooting inaccurately, "I'm full of tricks".

After shooting for several seconds at the duo the clip suddenly emptied, "That's not good, good thing a brought a second one."

Just as he entered his pockets for another time, a shadowy figure appeared from behind the Joker knocking the gun away from him, he turned to see a female bat figure, Batgirl, "How many Bats do I have to take out, too many of you vermin."

Batgirl high kicked Joker "We are not vermin, clown." The Joker laughed on the floor; even though beaten he continued laughing, "At least you have a similar fire to Batman, I like that."

Police officers were already waiting outside for Joker and the escaped goons, Batman escorted the Joker to Commissioner Gordon, "We'll take it from here Batman."

"Hey bats, I'll see you soon, very soon...uh what the heck I'll laugh anyway", he laughed hysterically as he was taken into the back of the police car headed for Arkam City.

"Where's Poison Ivy and Bane?" the Commissioner asked Batman.

"Escaped", Batman replied back calmly.

Zatanna was reunited with Connor, she stood on her toes and kissed him passionately in front of an entire audience, "Are you okay Connor?" she noticed Connor's clothes were slightly ripped, she knew Bane had caused a great ordeal to both Connor and Aqualad.

"Zee, I'm fine, I was more worried about you", he lifted her with arm and gave a curved smile to Zatanna, he slowly moved in, returning a kiss to Zatanna.

"Get a room you two", Captain Marvel appeared behind the duo, laughing and scratching his head after saying the comment, "I-I mean good work team, no, great work team".

As Captain Marvel left Batman gave a heavy sigh, "Don't worry about him, his methods are…unusual, but he is a member of the Justice League, somewhat in a way, Connor, Zatanna thank you for the assistance." Connor and Zatanna watched as the Dark Knight vanished into the shadows.

"We make a good team Connor, don't you think?" Zatanna gave a wide smile to Connor.

"Yeah Zee, yeah we do, did Joker hurt you?" Connor moved his hand on the side of Zatanna's face affectionately.

Zatanna quietly giggled gleefully and lost herself in his touch, "No, I'm fine Connor…thank you." She was surprised at how he interacted around her, she didn't see a clone or an alien, but a man who was so much more than that, and he was a man with feelings.

"Thank me? What for?" he looked confusingly at Zatanna.

"For being here with me, I want you here with me all the time", she placed her head on his chest and closed her eyes.

"Come on lets go home Zee", Connor handed his hand to Zatanna.

"Yeah let's go Connor", she placed her hand into his and walked side by side with Connor, back to Mount Justice, back to their home.


Well there's chapter 4 done, I think I'm going to take a small break at my Young Justice story and focus on my others; I've been getting requests to finish chapters of the other stories I've created so yeah… this story just might take a short break. But you never know, I may just create another chapter in the following days, perhaps even create a story around Aqualad, maybe an origin story for Nightwing or Zatanna, it's just, darn it, I feel so sorry for Aqualad as much as Connor. I always enjoy writing about Joker; no villain can beat the epic personality of Joker, just move the spelling mistakes aside, hope you've enjoyed chapter 4. My next chapter will skip a few months, Nightwing is all grown up, and a love triangle between Connor, Zatanna and Nightwing occurs, ENJOY!