I do not own Batman or any Batman characters, except my OCs. Please R&R, if you would :)

CHAPTER 5

It wasn't long before Batman reached the old Route 14 road. He kept his eyes peeled for anywhere the Joker could've hid. Finally, he saw a hill, which could be big enough for an old convertible to hide behind. Plus the fact that Batman lost track of the Clown Prince of Crime around this area. That made the Caped Crusader curious enough to check it out.

Batman drove along the side of the road the hill, which is part of a rundown town park called Gotham Acres City Park, which he figured out because he saw the sign, and parked in the entrance. It didn't take long for the Dark Knight to find the Joker's old car. Batman got out of the Batmobile and headed for the other car. When he reached the car, he inspected it, and saw no one was in there. He also saw the lid of the car was open. The engine apparently died, so the Joker couldn't head back to Gotham.

"Where could he be?" the Winged Avenger asked in his thoughts. He knew the Joker wouldn't walk back; He may have been highly irritating, but the Joker was not dumb. He suspected that the Joker would try to find a house to call his lackeys or steal a car. But where would he go? There didn't seem to be any houses or anything around here.

When Batman further studied his surroundings, he spotted a house all by itself, not too far away from here. Batman then recognized the house. It was the house of one his employees, Norman Travis. He, as Bruce Wayne, visited to discuss some business plans once. He had a wife, who he says works late everyday, and a daughter. Funny kid. But Norman was on a business trip representing Wayne Industries on a big businees deal. Before he left, he said something about his daughter and her friend would probably burn the house down, since they would be alone tonight. And if the Joker spotted that house…….

"My God!" he exclaimed when he imagined two young girls alone with the extremely dangerous Joker. With that he immediately sprinted towards the house.

"Please let me get there before he ruins two more innocent lives."

"Hello…..Nicky girl."

Nicole was in shock when she saw she bumped right into the Joker. She had two thoughts popping up in her head. 1: What was he was going to do to her after what she said on the walkie talkie. Probably not the best idea to insult him. And 2: How'd the hell did he get to the other side of the house that fast? What does he have, teleportation powers?!

"Uhh, hi."

"Get up." The Joker said fiercely while grabbing the hood of Nicole's jacket, forcibly pulling her up.

"Now let's take a walk and find your buddy, shall we?" With that, he started to take long strides out of the study hallway, pulling Nicole with him.

"Let me go!" Nicole yelled, trying not to trip with the Joker's fast walking. The Joker ignored her and kept searching all over down stairs. He looked upstairs too, not thinking to look under the bed in Nicole's parent's room which Mara hood under. When the captor and captive reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around, he really was getting impatient. The Joker stopped walking, he turned to the girl he was holding, giving her a furious look.

"Where is the other brat?!" he leant in towards his hostage and asked angrily.

Nicole looked up to her captor and smiles smugly. "Guess genius."

This did not help his anger. "Insolent little brat!" he yelled while lifting her up and slamming her against the wall, holding her by the shoulder part of her jacket.

The Joker had a very menacing look on his face, but as if it were nothing, he calmed himself down a notch.

He chuckled darkly. "Gutsy little cretin, aren't you. Well, don't worry. I'll take care of that. When I find your little pal, we're going to take a little trip back to my hideout. You two are going to be perfect little mindless, giggling zombies after I'm done with you. And the first one I'm going to teach a lesson to is you. And your hero Batman won't be able to save you either."

"Uh… is there any way to refuse this?"

The Joker gave her a smile that a wolf would give a baby deer before it makes a killing blow.

"No, there isn't. Now I'll ask again." He said while pulling out a knife with his other hand and putting near her neck. "Where is the other little brat?"

All of a sudden, a batarang swooshed in and knocked the knife right out of the Joker's hand, making him hiss in pain. The batarang returned to its owner, a figure shrouded in black, with pointy ears and white slits for eyes. It was the Batman.

"Batman!" the Joker yelled, which made him put Nicole off the wall and in front of him. The Joker wrapped his one arm around the girl, and said while smiling his trademark smile, "And I thought you were never going to get here."

The Dark Knight started to walk towards them, when the Joker pulled out a gun and pointed it to Nicole's head, making Batman stop dead.

"Oh, come on!" Nicole whined. "You have a gun, too? What else do you have on you, a sword?"

"Hush, kid. Adults are talking." The Joker said, not taking his eyes of the Caped Crusader.

"Let the girl go, Joker. Now. She did nothing to you."

" Oh, but she did. She and her little friend tried to make a fool out of me. No one makes a fool out of the Joker! When we escape, I'm going to make these insolent little brats wish they were never born, starting with this one. And there is nothing you can do to stop me. They were doomed the moment they opened the front door!"

The Joker then started cackle insanely, unaware of Mara right behind him on the stairs.

"Hey Bozo the clown!" Mara yelled, making the Joker stop midlaughter, "Let go of my friend!"

Mara then shot a big marble from a slingshot she found in Nicole's room and it hit the Clown Prince's head, making him release Nicole long enough for her to escape from his clutches.

"Yeah, that's right. You better hunch over in pain! No one messes with my pal but me."

"Thanks Mara….I think."

When the Joker looked up at Mara, he growled in anger. "Why you little….." he started while aiming the gun at Mara.

" Oh, crap." Mara said while backing away from the gun.

Before the Joker could pull the trigger, Batman kicked the gun away from him. They started to punch each other, resulting in both of them falling on the ground on top of each other, trying to hit each other. During their scuffle, Nicole and Mara got together and ran in another room to get something.

Before long, the Joker was on top of the Caped Crusader, holding his arms on the ground.

"You should've stayed in your cave, Batsy. Now it's time to meet your punch line!" the Harlequin of Hate said while aiming his pink flower full of lethal Joker gas, followed my crazy laughter.

Before the Joker could finish his enemy, a baseball bat hit him across the back of his head, making him pass out. Batman pushed his arch nemesis off him and got up to see who hit him. It was the two 14 year olds, both smiling triumphantly. Nicole was the one holding the bat. "That was for holding me hostage and calling me a cretin." she said.

"He really should've seen that coming." Mara said.

"Without a doubt." Nicole agreed.

The two girls then high-fived each other, which made Batman smirk. Making the Batman smile was a rarity, so the girls thought of that as a major achievement.

"Are you two alright?" Batman asked.

"Yeah, we're fine." Nicole relpied.

"Man that was so cool! How you kicked the gun out of his hand, and started to beat the crud out of him! Was totally coolio."

"What my friend is trying to say is thanks for saving us and stuff." said Nicole.

"You're welcome." replied Batman coolly.

The Joker then started to stir and moan, which was a sign he wouldn't be out for long.

"We should call the police" implied Batman.

"Already did." Mara answered happily.

Soon the sounds of police sirens flooded the air, and Batman put bat cuffs on the Joker, waiting for the police to take him away.