(A/N: You guys flatter me! 17 reviews for chapter 9! =D Thanks so much!
as Lilrobin so aptly put, almost everyone guessed the Joker and well, sorry if it was obvious and stuff and sorry if he's always the person to attack BUT I LOVE the Joker, he's my all time favorite villain and I always imagined if something like this happened that Joker would be the first to act so… Villain revealed, here it is I hope you enjoy~~ ALSO, just cause I said I would, Random Under The Sun was the first person to guess it correctly so~ Yay you! ^-^ I PM'd you and I hope you like the mini gift from me~
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Bruce looked at the Joker with a stoic expression, not sure if the mad clown had heard the news yet or not.
Joker grabbed the billionaire's chin firmly in his bony hand and turned his head this way and that.
"Hm…" he mused as he released Bruce's chin, "are you sure you're THE Batman? You just don't seem to have his… gusto."
Bruce instantly put on an innocent face. "Batman? What do you mean?"
Joker laughed his psychotic laugh, patting Bruce on one cheek. "Oh yes, as if you don't know. Even in Arkham we got the news, it's all we have to really entertain ourselves. It also helps us know when to break out, but that's beside the point. When I heard about it, I broke out instantly and used my Intel to stalk you down so I could pay you a little… visit." The Joker peered around him, craning his neck to scan the crowd.
"The Intel was very good and I heard your little Boy Blunder was here too, so where is he?" the Joker asked, turning his yellow eyed gaze back to meet Bruce's eyes.
Bruce's expression instantly went from innocent to fierce. He silently slipped a hand behind his back, knowing that Dick was watching, and started to flash off signals to his son.
Dick saw the hand gestures and he knew what they meant. The Joker was looking for him and Bruce wanted him to run, flee, escape and not come back, and to NOT help. This is what Bruce wanted but Dick couldn't do that, he wouldn't. He did step back slowly, merging into the crowd, but escape was not his intent.
Joker cackled again at Bruce's face, not even noticing the exchange that had happened behind Bruce's back. "Now THAT was Batman-like, being protective for the boy like that and I can see your care for him in your eyes."
The Joker circled Bruce slowly, looking him up and down.
"You know, now that I think about it and I really compare you to that Dark Rodent you do have similarities. You both are very fit, and why would a rich brat like you need to be fit? Oh, right, because you go out as a vigilantly and fight crime at night," Joker paused in front of Bruce with a sneer on his face. "It makes perfect sense. Just admit it –" he leaned forward and whispered hoarsely in the billionaire's ear, making the hairs on the back of his neck rise "– you ARE the Dark Knight."
Bruce pressed his lips into a firm, thin line as Joker leaned back. When the clown saw his expression he instantly cackled. "THERE'S the stubborn ass Batsy I know… of course, I can't be sure until you admit it yourself. You can never trust the media," Joker pointed out, wiggling his finger in the air. He took a step back, looking over one shoulder at his men.
"The boy, Dick Grayson, find him," he snapped firmly and the gunmen nodded, fanning out into the crowd of cowering rich people. The Joker looked back at the playboy with a psychotic grin as one of the men shot his gun in the air.
"EVERYONE DOWN, just hand over the boy and no one has to get hurt!" he shouted.
All of the rich, "important" people shrieked, diving for the ground and instantly protecting their valuables before even covering their heads. How materialistic was that?
Dick cursed as the people around him zeroed in on just who he was like starving wolves looking at a meal. He could have easily fought off most of them but one man ended up being almost over three-times his size. Said man grabbed Dick by his arms before the boy could react. Dick struggled in his grasp and the man's hold only tightened.
"You are not going to get us all killed BOY," the man holding him growled harshly in his ear but Dick only continued to struggle, actually getting a little bit looser.
The man growled a bit louder before looking over Dick's head and at the man slowly fanning out in the crowd.
"He's right here!" the man shouted out to the gunmen. All of their heads snapped up and the one nearest them came over. He snatched Dick roughly away from the large rich man before knocking said man unconscious with the butt of his gun. He sneered at everyone around him and they all cowered in sudden fear.
Dick held back the urge to snort, stupid, weak rich people.
The man who now had a tight hold on Dick began to head back to where Bruce and the Joker were waiting. They stopped about five feet away from Bruce and the Joker.
The clown headed over to Bruce's son. Said kid instantly put on a scared mask, hating to act like the people he'd just teased but they still had an act to keep up for a bit. He made himself appeared like a weak rich kid, cowering back a bit, even, whenever the Joker grabbed his chin like he had Bruce's and turned the boy's head this way and that.
Joker suddenly grinned and smacked Dick hard across the face, making his head snap to one side. Dick didn't falter in his act, though, and kept his scared mask on; now adding shocked to the emotional mix.
"You're a good actor boy –" Joker started to say, running a finger along the boy's jaw line, but he was cut off mid-sentence.
"What if he's not acting, though? He's JUST a KID!" Lois Lane's voice shouted across the room, worry in her eyes for what could happen to the young boy.
Joker barked out a laugh before sending her a harsh glare. "You are stupid to speak up reporter lady! Plus you obviously don't know the Boy Blunder. His fighting skills and smarts are of that which is MUCH more than a mere child's!" He put a hand up as if to make what he was saying between him and Lois only. "Between you and me, I think he's just a midget adult playing kid!" Then Joker laughed again before turning back to look at Dick who actually WAS a bit frightened now, yet satisfied that Joker actually admired his skills a bit. It wasn't a crazy feeling, either, when most villains treated you like a kid, it was nice to be appreciate for once.
Joker suddenly smacked Dick across the face again (only on the other cheek this time), as if to prove his point but the boy reacted the same way as the first time, much to Joker's slight displeasure.
Bruce's reaction, on the other hand, was entirely different.
"Stop!" he snapped fiercely. He knew Dick had been through much worse but the Dark Knight hated to see Dick even being poked by that mad man, so it drove him up a wall to see him get smacked around like that.
Joker turned his crazed expression to look at the billionaire. "Does this annoy you?" he all but purred, eyes widen and gleaming in a way that only a psycho's could. He stepped over to stand in front of Bruce and hiss in his face. "Then admit it. I want to hear the words come from your mouth here and NOW, not from some cops over the telley."
Bruce flashed Dick a quick glance and the boy shook his head slightly, telling Bruce wordlessly to not speak and that he could handle the slaps.
Bruce pressed his lips into a firm line, glaring down the Joker, this being his response.
The clown shrugged, leaning back away from Bruce's face. "Suit yourself," he said, turning back to face the raven-haired boy.
Just then, Bruce heard the soft whoosh of material being rubbed on as a knife slid out of the Joker's purple suit sleeve. He gripped the butt of it in his hand and grabbed one of Dick's arms with the other. Then he raised the blade to the large artery on the boy's wrist, slowly beginning to move the blade against the boy's soft skin –
Suddenly, a bat-a-rang knocked the blade out of the clown's hand, sending it flying across the room, embedding itself in a wall, whilst at the same time an arrow knocked out the man holding Dick.
Bruce leapt up and punched Joker square in the jaw, sending him tumbling to the ground. Bruce stood over him ferociously, hands clenched into fists at his side. "I'm the GOD DAM BATMAN, alright?" he shouted at the fallen villain.
Joker chuckled, hard a slow as he propped himself up on one elbow, wiping some blood away from his mouth with the back of his hand. Then he grinned crazily at Bruce. "Excellent," he purred hoarsely. He motioned with his hands and suddenly Batman and Robin were encircled by Joker's henchmen, back to back, with the clown still inside the circle. Both vigilantes got into a sparring stance, ready to fight their ways out.
Bruce's left hand twitched when he heard two soft sounds from either side of him. It was the sound of a rope being pulled taught…
Bruce quickly pushed Dick down just as eight arrows (four red and four green, mind you) knocked out all of the men in the circle, minus the Joker, in one fluid movement.
Green Arrow and Red Arrow dropped down from the balconies and risers above, landing on either side of the Dynamic Duo with their bows loaded and aimed at the Joker.
Joker cackled, still propped up on one elbow on the ground. "Of course the Arrows would come and help out –"
"It is our city," Green Arrow interrupted with a growl.
Joker laughed again, sitting himself up. "Yes, yes I know," he purred, "but I thought you two –" he gestured to Roy and Oliver "– had split up and yet, here you are to help out Batsy and his Little Bird, how perfectly tragic."
Red Arrow growled. "We got over it," he told the Joker just as Green Arrow said, "How so?"
Joker grinned slowly. "Well, it's just a bigger audience for mwah."
All four hero's eyes widened, but Bruce was the first to react.
"What do you mean?" he growled harshly and Joker just beamed wildly. Batman's left hand began to shake a bit, out of anger, at this. He'd about had it with the psycho's taunting. Lucky him, before he could go all crazy Bats on the clown, Green Arrow stepped in for him.
Oliver stared down the man unwaveringly. He had his bow taught and loaded, turning it on the mad man. "Put your hands up where we can see them NOW with no funny business and you won't get hurt," he said firmly.
Joker turned his psychotic grin to look at Green Arrow. "If you insist," he said smoothly and his hands whipped out from behind him. A glint of light reflecting off of something caught Dick's eyes… Whatever it was appeared to be –
BANG!
"Ah –"
Thwip!
…
All of it happened so fast that only one person hand time to react, the one with his bow loaded. He hit the Joker on the temple in a second, but it still wasn't fast enough.
The clown prince fell unconscious to the ground as blood began to pool on the floor…
(A/N: HOW could I make it such an EVIL Cliffhanger? WELL I just did XP Sorry! Couldn't resist folks!
YAY! I got to use my favorite line her *I'd been trying to figure out how to work it in and I finally did!* "I'm the god dam Batman!" hehe ^-^~~
ANYHOO sorry for the shortness! I just BARELY made me 2,000 word mandate *YES I always make every chapter at LEAST 2,000 words, it's how I keep them not TERRIBLY short.
I hope you guys liked it! As always, please review!)