Disclaimer: I don't own young justice. I only own Alex Matthews A.K.A. Mia Sanders.

NOTE: The Joker still doesn't know that Mia Sanders and Alex Matthews are the same person. He's thinking back to the time in the warehouse when Alex went after him to prove herself to Black Canary.

I run back into the fight, leaving Robin behind and focusing on the mission. I stop beside a battered Kid Flash. "You look like hell."

He nods and coughs heavily. "I lost my powers, and Jokers around. The good news is that he's got the suitcase. The bad news is that none of us can take him down without our powers."

"I'll find the Joker. You get the others into the bioship."

He nods as I run off. Good, this is my fight - I'll pound the Joker into a grave. He broke me. It's only right that I get my revenge. I pause when I reach a clearing, looking up to face the cliff edge where Joker waits, the black suitcase dangling tauntingly from his fingers.

I crack my knuckles. "Hand over the suitcase you demented lunatic."

His eyes narrow as he glances at me. "You just don't die do you? It's starting to become very irritating. Like a Bat."

"Give me the suitcase." I growl.

He laughs and dances on the cliffs edge. "Nope, I'm keeping it. I can travel everywhere with it."

I raise my eyebrow. "Fine then. Give me what's inside the suitcase."

He shakes his head vigorously. "No, you foolish girl. I already told you, I can travel everywhere with it."

I blink in complete confusion, his jumbled mentality baffling me. "Weirdo." I mutter. Then shrug. "Fine. I'm happy to take it by force."

He claps his hands together, his creepy clown smile crawling across his face.

I lunge at him with one of my knives, but he grabs my hand twisting it hard and fast till I drop it. He laughs then kicks it over the cliff edge, barely giving me enough time to recover before he sprays a bottle of acid at my face. My eyes widen and I curse, throwing my second knife to hit it out of his hand. The knife disintegrates into a bubbling pool of toxins. I growl in frustration. I have no weapon, and no powers, but he has a bottle of acid. I roll my eyes muttering to myself. "Stuff like this never happened when I was a bad guy."

Just then my comm unit activates and I hear Wally's voice contacting me. "I've done some tests in the bioship. The effects of the nanochips will only last for about a day. By tomorrow, we'll all be back to normal."

I grunt as I throw myself onto the floor, dodging another spray of acid. "It amazes me how one boy can carry so much 'stupid' in him." I flip out of the way of another attack. "Think about it Wally. How does any of that help me now?"

Joker runs closer to me, trying to aim the nozzle directly at my face, no doubt so he can watch me burn. I kick upwards from the floor, the acid can flying out of his hands and over the cliff. I smile.

Wally's voice crackles back through the comm. "Talk about ungrateful."

I frown. "Oh shut up you speedster."

He snorts. "Since when did 'speedster' become an insult?"

I aim a sweep kick at the Joker, jumping upwards to perform a flying kick when he dodges it. "Since you became a speedster." I hit the Joker harder and faster each time, trying to get through his defences.

Wally voice sounds hurt. "Now that's just cold."

The Joker punches me in the face and I stumble backwards, my head hitting a tree. He advances faster, each time punching dents into the trunk, barely missing my face. I growl at Wally. "You can't blame me. I'm facing a genetic joke...and losing."

He cheers up instantly, his voice becoming mocking. "So what I'm hearing is that you're too weak to beat the Joker alone."

I slide down the trunk and crawl under the clowns' feet. Not one of my better moments. I hiss at Wally. "Well then get your ears checked because that's not what I said."

He laughs at me. "I don't get it, you beat him that time in the warehouse didn't you?"

I dodge a sharp kick from the Joker, aiming a hard first to his neck. He blocks it and flings me away, cackling like a demented witch. "Technically no. I just threw a bomb in his direction. Besides, even Batman has trouble with this villain."

I fall onto the floor as I dodge a spinning kick, and grunt in pain when he stomps on my arm. "Listen Wally, I'm not saying that I need help or anything, I just wouldn't mind it if you could get someone down here. You know, someone that can actually do damage without their powers."

I struggle to lift his foot off my arm but he just grinds harder and I writhe in pain. Wally's voice turns serious. "Artemis is AWOL. The only other person is Rob. And I have no idea where he is."

I whimper in relief when the Joker removes his leg, only for him to grab my head and bang it against the tree trunk. I gasp with each hit, forming broken words. "He wouldn't come for me anyway." I hiss when one particular hit causes me to bite my tongue. "Not that I need him." I add as an afterthought. One more hit causes my comm unit to smash, and the sound of blood rushing to my head is the only thing I'm able to hear.

I hang limp as the Joker holds me above the ground in a strangle hold. Stealing a glance at the long forgotten suitcase a smile graces my face at the sight of a familiar green costume. Artemis. She shoots an arrow at the Joker causing him to release me. I turn towards her, a good-natured smirk on my face. "I forgot you even existed."

She smiles at me. "I wish you didn't."

She shoots another arrow at the Joker, encasing him in a net. "Do you realise how long it took me to find you? I've been wandering around these woods for hours. When the others lost their powers I figured it was just me, you and Rob."

I run at the Joker, delivering a hard kick to his torso and stomping on his arm. Revenge is sweet. I snort at Artemis "If you're naming the people that can actually beat the Joker, It's just me and Robin."

She puts her hands on her hips and narrows her eyes. " I'm just as much a threat as you are."

I laugh. "Listen Art, you shoot pointy sticks. Forgive me if I don't view 'poking someone to death' as a serious attack strategy."

She frowns and turns her back on the Joker, fully facing me in her blind rage. "How would you like it if a 'pointy stick' found its way up your fat as-"

I wince as the Joker hits her on the head, knocking her out mid-sentence. I sigh muttering darkly. "A butt-load of help she was."

I re-focus on the clown, fully aware that I'm now at a huge disadvantage, I've taken a lot of hits, and now he has Artemis as leverage against me. I roll my eyes, grumbling sarcastically. "Yes Artemis, I'm so glad you came. You're like Superwoman."

As Joker grabs Artemis I run over to the black suitcase. We stare at each other and I lower my voice to a cautious tone. "Hand over my teammate, and I'll give you the suitcase."

Joker just grins, and throws Artemis' limp body towards me. I hang onto the suitcase, reaching for her as I back out of my deal. "Sucker." I yell.

Too late I realise my predicament. I can't fight, because my arms are full. Joker barrels towards me and I curse, dropping both Artemis and the suitcase in a useless attempt to protect myself. He feigns an aerial attack then crouches low to deliver an uppercut, my head snaps backwards and I fall onto the grass, the force propelling me over the edge of the cliff.

I grab onto the muddy rock with both hands, digging my fingernails into the crevices. Dangling over the deadly drop, strands of grass blow into my face as I feel footsteps approach. I close my eyes, hoping beyond belief that it's Artemis instead of the Joker.

I speak hesitantly. "Artemis, if that's you, and you help me, I promise to remove the food colouring I put in your shampoo." The footsteps come closer and the vibrations on the ground cause me to loose my grip on the muddy rock. My eyes widen and I curse as I begin to fall.

Suddenly sweaty hands grasp onto my wrist tightly and I look up to see Robin. He gives me a cheeky grin. "Don't go dying on me; I had to run all the way here."

I roll my eyes. "Your compassion amazes me." He pulls me up and I crawl along the grass, raising my head when I notice the Joker tied to a tree. "That won't hold him for long." When Dick remains silent I turn to look at him as he clears his throat to speak. "You're right, what's said is said. All I can really do is get over it. After all, you're going to say many more stupid things in our relationship."

I smirk. "You done with the insults?"

He gives me a devilish grin. "And even though you're unbelievably difficult, and stubborn to the point of stupidity," He wiggles his eyebrows "You're really good in bed."

I grin at him, rolling my eyes at his stupidity. "Of course I am. I know how to make a guy happy."

"Ok, that's just nasty." I turn towards the voice and see Artemis rubbing her head with the suitcase in her other hand. "I'm taking the suitcase back to the bioship... Unless someone else wants to hit me over the head." She says bitterly.

I wave my hand in the air, bouncing up and down like a child to mock her. "Oh pick me, pick me!"

She narrows her eyes in anger. "I will shoot you with a very sharp arrow."

"And I'm sure If you try extra hard, you might actually hit me." I say with a fake sweet voice as though speaking to a child.

She walks away muttering. "It wouldn't have been such a shame if you dropped off that cliff after all."

Robin just raises his eyebrows at me. I shrug. "We have a love-hate relationship."

He scoffs. "You sure about that? I'm only seeing the hate."

I roll my eyes. "If you want to see hate, stick around Mount Justice tomorrow. Artemis is gonna have green hair." I grin, bowing slightly. "Courtesy of me."

He shakes his head. "Alex Matthews, you have a death wish."

Suddenly, the Joker breaks out of the bonds and I instantly become serious, conversation forgotten. "If we work together we can bring him down."

Dick pauses, thinking, and then a mischievous smile grows across his face. "Or we can make this into a competition."

I brighten. "Fine. The first person to get in twenty hits, wins."

He laughs, his face beaming. "Alright. But no cheating."

I widen my eyes innocently, and shift my body discreetly to trip him up. "I don't cheat, I just bend the rules."

THE END.

The Journey of Alex Matthews and Dick Grayson is finally over. Thanks for reading.

A special thanks to IceFire27, my first reviewer of 'Rough Relationships'. Without you, 'Queen Of Loners' wouldn't exist and 'Rough Relationships' would have never passed chapter 6.