I woke up in a smallish cell with no window. It took me a few second to remember why I was there, and another few to take quick bodily inventory. My body felt fine but I wasn't in my costume or had any of my weapons. My hands were chained to the wall but in chains so measly I knew they were meant to be broken. I did just that and slipped over to the door, looking out the food slot. I reached out and turned my handle from the outside, slipping into the empty hallway. It was eerily vacant until I hit a major crossway where I took out a guard. I checked for a comms unit or a walkie talkie but he had no communications equipment whatsoever. Creeping into the main room I could tell I was no longer in the glue factory but somewhere very similar. The huge cement building with it's metal trappings stretched out around me, an urban maze if I'd ever seen one. i took a few exploratory turns and came upon a massive room. Three huge columns stood in the main room, and the middle one had a huge burn mark around it, like some kind of explosion had taken place. I knelt on the catwalk and watched patiently. It took nearly 30 minutes for them to notice I was gone. I younger guard rushed in and started yelling about my absence. Out of a dark corner a voice hushed him.

"Don't worry she's right there. So nice of you to join us my dear. Prince, if you would." The Joker laughed as his apprentice hit a button and the catwalk vanished from underneath me. His men quickly took a hold of me and chained me around the large pillar.

"You know, this was actually meant for our dear Batty, but you'll have to do. Boys, if you will."

His men started piling firewood around me and suddenly I knew what the burn marks on the pillar were from. I fought my bonds but they only tightened. The Prince was holding out his fist and the harder he squeezed, the more the chains tightened.

"Noticed finally? Yes, I am quite proud of him. A marvel of the same thing you are about to endure, although quite different I must say."

His men finished piling the wood and the Joker himself struck a match and dropped it on the wood. I watched as the flames snuck toward me. They licked at my feet and the pain started. I refused to scream, even as the flames grew higher and hotter. The grey jumpsuit they had put me in wasn't lighting and neither was my hair, which some minute part of my brain registered as odd, but it felt as if the flames were my skin. The Joker watched me passively, as if I was a mildly interesting show on TV. I bored my eyes into the Joker's refusing to let him see me cry in pain. The flames grew higher and his apprentice cast a nervous glance between the Joker and I. But the man himself still watched me as the pain mounted. I felt a pressure in my head and I was pretty sure it was my brain boiling. The pain lasted eons. Every second dragged out in an endless feeling of agony.

"Seems she needs a little more...convincing. Gentlemen, move her to the crematorium." He grinned maniacally.

I would not. I refused to be turned into a pile of ash for his enjoyment. I felt the pressure mounting, and then everything switched. The flames purred around my feet and swirled around me like a tornado. I flung them outward, engulfing all of my attackers. The chains melted off of me and I jumped in front of the Joker. For some reason, neither he nor his protégée seemed to be affected by the flames at all. Their goons were screaming in pain but the fire didn't do more than lick the cuffs of their pants. I went to attack the Joker but the Prince stepped in and defended him. But my rage fueled me, and this time I led the assault. I kicked him back to hit a pillar and his head cracked against the cement. For the first time, the Joker looked agitated.

"What are you waiting for, you idiot?"

The Prince struggled to his feet and hit a button on his belt. Fire extinguishing foam filled the room quickly. I felt my eyes drooping, and all of the energy leaving my body. I continued to charge at the Prince but my strength was gone. After a few sloppy punches, and almost out of sympathy, he kicked me in the head to knock me out.

I woke up in the cell again, and my internal clock told me it was night time. I groaned, every bone in my body aching. I tested my bonds but found they were much stronger now. They were coated in some form of waxy rubber which I assumed was fireproof. At this thought I shuddered.

What had they done to me?

I slumped on my chains and sighed. I had no idea what to do. I had never been so weak in my life, I knew I didn't have the strength to escape. Just as the hopelessness was setting in I heard a grunt in the hallway. Batman! The electricity had been cut, and it was pitch black even after he crept in. He was too short to be Batman, so I amended my assessment to Nightwing. He came in and cut through my bonds, and I tackled him in a hug.

"I knew you'd come." I couldn't quite hide how scared I'd been.

"Of course." Came his gruff whisper, his voice modulator struggling at the low level. He returned the embrace quickly before pulling me out into the corridor. He maneuvered the hallways until we came to a dead end and he popped open an air shaft vent.

"Follow this outside, hold your breath when crossing the yard." He turned to leave.

"Where are you going? Please, come with me."

"I can't, I still have something to do for Bats. I'll see you outside."

I sighed but let him go, summoning all my energy to jump up and enter the shaft. It was a straight shot to the outside, and I crossed the yard without inhaling or exhaling at all. I ran to the wall, 20 feet of solid stone, and stopped. I didn't have my belt or anything else to climb with. I scouted for a tree but there wasn't any within jumping range. A grappling hook shot over the wall 5 feet to my right and I quickly climbed it, reveling in the sight of the almost-invisible Batmobile. I jumped in to Batman sitting in the driver's seat.

"I am glad I saw you when I did. I was just debating coming in after him."

"He said he had to do something else for you."

"The priority was to get you out, but I asked him if he saw anything valuable to pick it up. I guess he wanted to get some intel."

It wasn't ten minutes later a form fell from the top of the wall and landed in a heap on the ground. I bounded out, grabbed Nightwing, and hauled him back to the car. Batman drove home while I did a diagnostic scan on Dick.

"His vitals are fine, it looks like he just got knocked out." I took his pulse again as he woke up.

"Lissa?"

"I'm right here Dick." I stroked his face.

"What happened?"

"What do you remember?" Batman asked

"I got Lissa out of the cell and directed her to an air shaft that led outside. Then I returned to see if I could find any information. I recovered this," he held out a flash drive "before I ran into the Joker's sidekick."

"The Prince." I added

He nodded and continued. "We fought but before I could get any good hits in he blew a purple powder in my face. After that, I don't remember."

"It wouldn't surprise me if he had been intending to use it on Lissa. We can talk more in the cave." He turned on the Batmobile hyper speed and gave the road his full attention.

I leaned down to Dick's ear and whispered. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, just confused. Everything's so blurry. I don't really remember doing anything, I just know I did."

"It's alright. We don't know what he hit you with, it's probably made to confuse you. You're safe now."

"I should be telling you the same thing. You've been missing for three days."

"Three days?!" it was difficult to keep my whisper.

"Today is Sunday. We only just got a ping off of your belt a few hours ago."

"Where was I?"

"You were in some building out in the middle of nowhere, about an hour from Gotham. It isn't old; in fact it is actually brand new. It was just built about a week ago by some off-shore construction company."

"That's odd. I wonder if the Joker built it."

"I'm not sure but if he did then we should be very worried. Planning like that can mean nothing good. What did they do to you in there?"

"Wait until I tell Batman, I'm not sure I'll be able to tell it twice."

"Okay." He looked really worried but didn't press me.

We arrived at the Batcave just before sunrise, and Pennyworth was standing by the door to greet us.

"While I am sure the intention was to recollect recent events privately, Mr. Fox is waiting upstairs in the study."

"Thank you, we'll take breakfast there." Batman slipped off his mask and armor before heading upstairs.

"And Madam Lissa, it is good to have you back." He gave me a smiled which I returned.

"It is very good to be back."