Well, I promised I would update as soon as I got five reviews, so here it is. Please do not kill me.
Warnings: Mentions of violence, but not much. Enjoy~
Darkness. Complete and total darkness is what surrounded Dany. She groaned in pain as she sat on the cold floor, feeling as if a safe had been dropped on her head. When she finally opened her eyes, she had to make sure she wasn't blind. After many blinks and being able to see the outline of her hand, she calmed down and tried to subdue her headache. After a while it left, letting her think of what had happened before. What did she remember? Something about a movie and arguments, but nothing else. She remembered having a popcorn fight with Wally, Roy, and Nightwing, then nothing. What happened after the playful fight?
She heard something like locks being unlocked and a rusty door being slowly forced open. Light poured into the dark room, making Dany shield her eyes. The room was gray and damp, with rust showing through the walls, a creaky bed to the side, and a door to the back of the room. A shadow fell upon Dany, letting her look up from the brightness, only to notice in just how much trouble she was.
A face that was painted white, with cracked, bright red lips, and crazy green eyes that matched his unmanageable hair stared down at her, a crazy smile that only helped to make him look even more demonic.
"Oh, goodie!" The man exclaimed, voice shrill as if to mock a girls' voice. "They brought me one of the impostor's sidekick." He continued, voice getting lower and eviler. As if he were disappointed, yet happy.
Dany's eyes widened as the Joker stepped towards her, some handcuffs twirling on his right forefinger. "We're going to have so much fun." He told her darkly.
The group of kids and adults was going crazy trying to find their lost comrade. While they were watching the movie, an eerie fog filled the room. Jason quickly deduced what it was and tried to get the teens out, but a crowbar hit him in the back of the head, making him fall unconscious before he could help. And once all of them had woken up, the group bolted out of the movies to try to find Danielle. They weren't able to find her anywhere they looked.
Jason had gone to the camera room; forgetting all about his possible concussion; to see if there was some kind of clue as to what had happened to Dany. And what he found made his blood boil. Three Joker goons had entered the room and taken her, carrying her out of the room after consulting with each other.
Jason ran back to the group, then told them what had happened. None of them were too happy with the fate that had befallen their friend.
"Nightwing, please tell me you'll help." Wally said as he hugged a sobbing Angy.
They were now standing in a plaza in front of the mall, thinking of what they should do. Nightwing looked back at the red head, knowing this was serious.
"We have to tell Batman." He told them, as serious as any of them had ever seen.
Jason scoffed, crossed his arms, then said, "As if! I could find him with the right resources!"
Nightwing rolled his eyes, and retorted with, "Yeah, but you don't have the resources. And we all know just how the Joker is. He will enjoy hurting Dany for a few hours, maybe leave her for another few, then finish her off. Knowing this, she most probably has less than ten hours." He said grimly.
Jason's eyes widened at the memory of his captivity with the psycho, then admitted they needed help. The one person that could help was the same he hated. Luck just wasn't on his side today, was it? "Fine." He sighed, letting his head and shoulders drop, as if to admit defeat.
Nightwing let a small smile graze his lips at his success, then turned serious and spoke to the group. Greg, Justin, Ollie, and Lee were crazy with worry, and Nightwing knew if any of them was allowed, they would tear the Joker apart. He still didn't fully understand the relationship each man had with Dany, but he knew it was just as deep; or maybe even deeper; as the one he and the Bat clan had with one another.
"Good. Now, where are we? We have to get to the closest zeta station." He told them.
"What?" Jason interrupted whatever Nightwing was going to say. "I told you I'd allow the Bat to help us, not your Sissy League." He growled.
Nightwing ignored the insult to the League and explained. "This is the Joker we're dealing with. We need all the help we can get."
Jason looked like he was ready to start a fight with the older man, but luckily, Kaldur stepped in between to defuse the situation. "Dany is in the hands of a psycho and you want to argue?" He asked in a disappointed tone. "I do not know about the rest of you, but the very thought makes me want to do anything to prevent it. But now that it has happened, I will do everything to get her back. Even if it means having to ask the League for help." He told them, glaring at each male.
Jason crossed his arms and grumbled something about stupid fish people while Nightwing pouted. Kaldur almost chuckled at how much Jason and Dick acted alike, but he knew that would be counterproductive. The Bat family's problems have to be pushed to the side until further notice.
"Nightwing, we are in Las Vegas." He spoke, then turned to the rest of the group. "Wally, Conner, Greg, Justin, Ollie, and Lee, you will have to come with us. Raquel, Deadpool, I trust that you two will make sure the rest get home safe. Is that a safe assumption?" He asked the two.
There were collective groans from the group, but Raquel still nodded. "Anything to help Dany." She said, then turned to the rest of the group. "Come on, y'all. We ain't no help to the search now, time to get you home." She told them, then nodded at Deadpool.
In a poof, the teens were gone, along with Roy and Liam, leaving the people that Kaldur spoke of in the plaza. The four men walked up to the trio along with Conner and Wally, then turned to Kaldur for further plans.
"First we must get to the zeta beam. I do not Las Vegas as well as Wally, so I am letting him lead us there." He said, getting a nod from the speedster. "When we get to the mountain, we will most probably be bombarded with questions of where we have been and why did we leave. Do not answer. We will tell the team to get Batman there, and if they do not listen, Jason, you are allowed to scare them. But do not hurt them." He commanded, glaring at Jason in specific.
Said man let his pride show a hint of embarrassment by his cheeks coloring a little, but still nodded. "Once Batman is there, do not start a fight with him. We need his help to find Dany and I know once we tell him what has happened, he will help. But, and this goes for both Jason and Wally, do not bring up things that will get him angry. An angry Bat is not a helpful Bat." He quoted from something he had heard Nightwing say back when he was still Robin.
All of the men nodded, and they started their walk to the zeta station. They were going to get their Dany back, no matter what.
When the computer voice announced the arrival of Green Arrow, Nightwing, Superboy, Aqualad, Vigilante, Shining Knight, Crimson Avenger, Kid Flash, and a visitor, the team took off running to see them. What they saw, they didn't like. They all wore serious expressions, and the men that had costumes, were wearing civvies. Even Ollie, who had his arms covered in bandages and was in need of crutches to walk correctly.
"Ollie, what happened to you?" Artemis asked, running over to her mentor.
He smiled down at her, told her he was okay, and asked for Batman. The team, who had crowded around the rest of the group and asked what was going on, stopped and turned to him.
"What do you need Batman for?" Robin asked, wondering just why his mentor was needed.
"Robin, where is Batman?" Jason asked, stepping forward, making all the teens take a step back and pull out their weapons.
Jason smirked at them, but before he could say anything to instigate the team, Kaldur stepped forward. "We are not here to fight. We need Batman, right now." He said, using a voice so full of authority that the team was actually shocked. He had never spoken to them like that, not even when they had to get serious for a mission.
A chill seemed to pass through the room as Batman glided in, his world famous Bat glare being aimed straight at his rogue son. Was it not enough that he had Dany and Wally with him? Was it not enough he kidnapped his eldest and shot Superman? Would Jason ever be satisfied? Batman sighed inwardly, knowing that the answer to that question was that Jason would never feel that way until the Joker was dead.
"How are you, old man?" Jason asked, already disrespecting Batman.
Wally chuckled on the inside. Not even a minute had passed since Batman entered, and Jason had already insulted him. Batman glared at him, then turned to Nightwing and Aqualad.
"Where have you been?" He asked, addressing the two, but the question was for everyone from that group. Even Jason.
Nightwing shook his head, then said, "No time for that, Batman. We got a real problem on our hands."
Batman raised a brow from under the cowl, then Greg stepped up, limping even more heavily than last time. "Dany's missin'. An' this time it wasn't she ran away. Kidnapped more like it." He explained, as he limped towards the couch.
Wally sped over next to him and let the man lean on him as they made their way to the couch, staying silent as the words sunk in. Once Greg was seated and Wally looked up, he finished the horrible truth. "Kidnapped by the Joker." He told him, eyes narrowed.
Artemis helped Ollie walk towards the couch, ignoring the complaints from the older blonde that he was able to walk alone and helped him sit down. She didn't want to admit it, but she really had grown attached to her 'uncle' and she really hated seeing him like this. Whoever did this is going to pay.
"How do you know this?" Batman asked the rest of the men, already thinking of places that the Joker was known to habit.
"We were watching a movie when there came this fog. None of us knew what had happened until Jay went into the computer room and saw that three Joker goons had taken her away." Nightwing answered.
Batman frowned at the information, then nodded. "We have to get to work right now." He told them, then swept out of the room towards the computers.
Nightwing and Robin followed him, but Jason stayed back and sat down on the arm rest next to Greg. He didn't want to let it show, but he was worried for Dany. No… Worried isn't the right word for it. He was scared. Downright scared for what the Joker could be doing to her right now. She may have survived the Donovich kidnapping, but she had Roy and Jason with her. Now… She didn't have anyone. He closed his eyes, wanting to rub some of the sleep away, but what he saw made him gasp and open them abruptly. An image of the warehouse where he died, the bomb ticking away… but he didn't see himself as the victim. He saw Dany, blood running down her face, her right eye bruised and closed, and her left green eye open, showing how scared she was.
He quickly got up from his seat and started to pace. If he stayed here, he was most probably going to go crazy. If he went to help Batman with the search, there would most probably be a fight. And if he left to search by himself, and if he found them… There would be no one to stop him. With that thought, he went to help Batman, deciding it wouldn't help if he actually told him some of the places he knew the Joker frequented. This was for Dany, he would deal with the goody two shoes for the while… For Dany.
Once he entered the control room, he found Batman sitting on the main computer, Robin sitting to the side with a hologram popping out of his left arm as he searched for something, and Nightwing sitting at another set of computers, also searching for whatever. None of them even flinched as he entered the room and headed towards the main Bat, wanting to get the meeting over with.
"So, what you looking for?" Jason asked obnoxiously, deciding to use one of the lines he had learned from Wally.
"Why are you here Jason?" Batman gruffly asked, already knowing that Jason knew what he was searching.
Jason sighed, and decided he had to be the bigger man here. Dany's life was in peril. Taking in a deep breath, he spoke to Batman in a serious tone for the first time in years. "You may not believe this, Bruce, but Dany's an important part of me. She's… She's like my little sister, and I've already been through what she's most probably going through right now. I don't want her to feel the same pain." He said, voice getting quieter by each word. How it hurt him to admit his feelings. "Look, I know some of the places that the Joker likes to stay, so I'm just going to check those with Wally, cross them off the list." He explained.
In the middle of his speech, the three Bats had stopped what they were doing and turned to him. Jason sounded sincere, and he looked like he meant what he was saying. Not once had Jason let his emotions show except for anger and disappointment. Now, he looked as if he was on the verge of tears. Batman quickly got up from his seat, and before he could react, Jason was enveloped in a hug by the Dark Knight.
"Jason, I know just how close you two are. And I know that you do not trust me, but you have to. Right now, finding Danielle is of top priority and when I find where they are, you'll be the first to know. But now, I need you to go be with the team, make sure none of them kill Wally and that they don't smother the Soldiers." Batman told him, then let go.
Jason was surprised at the emotion that the Batman allowed to show, but decided to leave it at that and nodded stiffly. He walked out of the room, to make sure no one killed Wally, or Kaldur, or Superboy, who were most probably being smothered by the questions from the team.
The crowbar swung down once more, making Dany grunt as it connected with her stomach. She coughed up blood as the piece of metal was retracted, only to be swung down once more, this time on her arm. The hits weren't strong enough to crack bone, but they were strong enough to make sure she would bruise. Already thirty minutes had started since Dany was taken to the middle of the warehouse to be beat while the rest of the Joker family caused mayhem outside, and she was praying to any god that would hear her to let her leave.
"Oh, how much fun I'm having!" the insane man exclaimed as he swung it down once more, this time hitting her in the knee.
Dany screamed in pain as a fire burst through her knee. She wanted to curl up in a ball and just protect herself from the blows, but the Joker had cuffed her hands behind her back. There was nothing she could do.
"No wonder the Hood chose you to be his sidekick! You still haven't broken!" The Joker cried out in glee.
Dany glared up at him, but gasped in pain when the crowbar hit her in the stomach once more. After five more minutes of the Joker's laughing fits and continuous hits from the crowbar, the man finally stopped.
"Well, because I've gotten so much fun out of you, I'll leave you to my own protégé!" He exclaimed, then a boy walked towards them. He was younger than Kaldur, but older than Dany. Maybe fifteen or sixteen. He was dressed much like the Joker, with purple tux and everything, but he didn't have makeup on, but a domino mask. How that mask caused such safeness to Dany before.
The boy also had a smile on, then turned to the Joker. "Really, for me?" He asked in a shrilly tone, eyes shining with malice and mischief.
"Of course, Jr. All for you!" The Joker said, then leaned a little on the boy. "But you'll have to give her back once I come back." He said, in a threatening voice, as if daring the boy to contradict him.
"You got it, cap!" The boy spoke, then the Joker smiled once more and walked away, twirling the crowbar in his hand.
The boy waited until he was gone to turn to Dany, then gave her a predatory smile, making Dany try to crawl away in fear. The Joker was bad, but she could take the hits. What this boy wanted… She didn't want to give it! She couldn't lose it!
But still, the boy continued walking over to her, the smile getting crazier as he got closer, and Dany couldn't help but let the tears fall. Oh, God, how could this be happening to her again?!
Please don't kill me!... Now that I'm a little calmer, I can't believe this is already the forty fist chapter! It's so close to finishing! Five reviews and I'll update tomorrow. I have gotten my muse back.