AN: thank you so much for continuing to read this! Special thanks to Shoroi Misa as well as Charade14 for advice and support. So this is the next chapter, hopefully I did this right so uh... ENJOY
Disclaimer: see previous chapter.
-Dick/ Nightwing's POV-
It had been two days since he was taken. He would still attempt escape, but that only made the torture even harsher. Not that it stopped him from constantly trying.
Nightwing gritted his teeth as his shoulder was popped out of place. Joker frowned at the lack of answers the hero was giving him. The crazed clown took a step back to admire his handiwork.
Nightwing's body was suspended in the air by chains that restrained his wrists. His right side was bleeding heavily, from when Joker had gotten bored on the first day and cut the ebony haired hero's already bleeding side when he wouldn't scream, his hair stuck to his face with both blood and sweat, he had been almost drowned three times now, been beaten and bruised so many times with both a crowbar and bare hands that even Joker himself had lost count, stabbed twice, cut multiple times and been subjected to a large amount of fear gas, joker venom and laughing gas, and his shoulder now dislocated.
"Tell us what we want to hear, and I might think about letting you down from there. Surely now with a dislocated shoulder, hanging there must really be hurting. Huh Bird boy?" Joker cackled before his playful, grin disappeared and was replaced by a frown.
"Or are you still refusing to spill the beans? If so, I'm sure Deathstroke wouldn't mind helping me with this…. Interrogation." Joker tapped the one way glass mirror opposite the restrained hero. Nightwing clenched his jaw tighter. He remembered what happened last time Deathstroke had "interrogated" him. He hardly survived, in fact even to this day, Dick wakes in a cold sweat and has to reassure himself he's not there.
Instead of showing his fear, Nightwing let out a humourless chuckle. "You know Joker…. They say… that doing the same thing over and… over is a… sign of insanity." He managed to mumble through the pain. Suddenly, something inside joker snapped. Like the small thread of sanity he did have left (a very thin thread, but a thread none the less) had been cut.
"I AM NOT INSANE!" he screamed at the chained man as he punched the hero's stomach, which was wide open due to him hanging from chains, knocking what little air remained out and leaving him gasping even more so than before.
Joker sighed as he ran his hand through his messy green mop of hair. "I just like to do want I want, when I want and how I want to. So… answer my question or I stop being Mr. Nice Uncle J." he paused to add to the already heavy atmosphere. "Tell us all the League and League Jr's secrets." Joker's face was so close to Nightwing's, he could feel his breath on his face. He smelt it too.
Nightwing gave the clown prince of Gotham a bat death glare. "(cough) Go… (Hack, cough)… to Hell." He rasped out. Nightwing then spat the blood that filled his mouth at Joker, who had been in centre meters from the hero's face. Joker's face (now covered in Dick's blood) darkened. "Deathstroke! Get in here! It seems we need to take more…. Drastic measures." He wiped the blood off with one of his purple sleeves.
Deathstroke entered the room with a metal rod in one hand and alligator clamps and battery charger in the other. In front of him, Joker was taunting Nightwing. "Joker. It would seem his friends have found us. I suggest you go get your goons and take care of them." Deathstroke mumbled. He hated working for the Joker, but Joker had paid him good money to get revenge Nightwing. And if he was honest with himself, which he always was, Deathstroke loved revenge.
-Meanwhile with the team-
Superboy was first in the door, followed by Miss M, Wally, Artemis, Robin, Batgirl, Lagoon Boy, Blue Beetle, Impulse, Wonder Girl, Bumblebee and Beast Boy. Immediately after entering, Miss Martian fell to her knees, gripping her head. "Miss M!? What is it?! What's wrong?!" shouted Kid Flash in panic.
M'gann slowly got to her feet, shaking. Her eyes were wide with fear and pain. "Nightwing's in pain!" she whispered to the team who were all trying to calm down. An unfamiliar cackling made the team's heads whip around.
"You can say that again, Greenie!" chirped Joker, bloodied crowbar in hand and around twenty goons behind him. The goons had surrounded the team. "Is… Is that Wing's?" whispered Beast Boy as he pointed at the blood. Blue Beetle, who was next to him, remained silent.
Within a second, both Batgirl and Robin were running over to joker, throwing baterrangs at the clown and his goon's. The team snapped into action.
Connor charged forward, not even wincing when he was hit on the head with a baseball bat.
Wally was running around the room, disarming the goons while the others took down the now unarmed goons.
That's when the team heard Robin cry out.
They whipped their heads around and saw Batgirl lying on the floor unconscious. Joker had his foot on her back and Robin struggling in his arms.
He squeezed the flower that was connected to his purple suit and a purple mist came out the flower, Robin accidentally inhaled some and went limp. Joker smirked as he slung Robin's limp body over his shoulder. "Don't move or the kid won't be breathing in a second." Joker cackled. The team froze when they saw Joker had a knife in his free hand. The clown licked the blade. "Good heroes." Joker slid the knife into one of his jacket pockets.
"We're leaving now." He said into a walkie-talkie he pulled out of his jacket. "Affirmative. But he's still not talking." Came a voice through the speaker. Joker frowned at the comment. "Well then I'LL get him talking. I picked up another birdie, so maybe he will help…" the team heard a familiar voice cut off the clown. "Nu! Joker, te (cough, hack) ...naibii monstru! Să nu îndrăznești... să pune un deget pe el-" A loud buzzing noise replaced the voice of their leader followed shortly by an antagonized scream that rang throughout both the walkie-talkie and the large bare police station they were in.
"Nightwing" shrieked Miss M as she put a hand on her head ready to attack. Her face contorted in pain suddenly when she felt Nightwing stopped screaming. Joker tutted. "No you don't Greenie! Remember my hostage here!" he shouted at her. She slowly lowered her hand.
The voice before was heard from the speaker again. "He's unconscious. Moving him now. Deathstroke out. Oh and Joker?" Joker frowned. "What is it?" he snapped at the now identified Deathstroke.
"Stop messing around. This kid doesn't stay out of it long" replied Deathstroke with annoyance clear in his voice.
"Aww. You're no fun. Fine." Joker turned to the team of heroes that were still frozen in place and continued talking, putting the walkie-talkie back into his jacket. He smiled and waved. "Bye Justice Brats! Don't follow or the new Robbie gets what the original one had fun with. But maybe I'll just kill him instead. I mean, the original is so much better!" he waved to the hallway the screams were coming from, to someone the team couldn't see.
That was until the team saw a masked man emerge from the darkness, dragging something behind him. The man's outfit was orange and black and he had guns and a large sheathed sword strapped to his back. The team then saw what he was dragging.
Nightwing's limp body was covered in blood. He had cuts, bruises and burns on all the skin that was showing through his torn and bloodied uniform. His face was contorted in pain even though he was unconscious. But what stood out most was the metal rod that was sticking through the limp hero's side.
Nightwing was being dragged by some chains that were restraining his hands. There was a trail of blood that was forming on the ground beneath him as he was pulled by the villain. The team gasped.
Deathstroke stopped when he saw the anguished faces of the young heroes. He let go off Nightwing's chains, causing the hero's upper body to hit the ground hard. The metal rod was pushed in deeper. Nightwing remained unconscious.
"Huh. The pain worked last time." Deathstroke said to the team, waiting for their reactions. Connor growled while the rest of the team went to attack. "No. He has Robin. If anything happened to him Nightwing would never forgive us." Said the half Kryptonion to the team.
"Smart choice." Saying this, Deathstroke picked Nightwing up by his collar and threw him across the room to where a large man with a clown mask was waiting. "Take him. I have other business to take care of" he stated to the man, who nodded quickly.
-Nightwing's point of view-
"Tell me the information now. Then I can kill you, get my pay from that idiot clown and get out of here." Snapped Deathstroke as he stabbed the metal rod in his hand through Nightwing's side. Nightwing screamed before losing consciousness again. Deathstroke sighed and slapped him across the face. No response
Deathstroke grumbled and hit him harder, causing Nightwing to growl as he slowly regained consciousness. "Answer me. What are the Justice League and Justice Brat's weaknesses, secrets and strengths? My patience is thinning."
Nightwing scowled and spat the blood that was pooling in his mouth at Deathstroke's mask. "Not. The. Answer. I. Was. Looking. For." Snapped Deathstroke as he grabbed the alligator clamp he brought in earlier and connected it to the metal rod implanted in Nightwing's side.
Nightwing let out another antagonized scream as electricity surged through his body, causing it to arch and spasm. After ten seconds the electricity stopped, leaving Nightwing panting and wheezing for air. Deathstroke pulled out a walkie-talkie he had strapped to his belt when a voice crackled through it.
"We're leaving now." Nightwing growled when he recognised it as Joker's voice. "Affirmative. But he's still not talking." Saying this, Deathstroke glanced at the still panting Nightwing. He was glaring daggers at the mercenary.
"Well then I'LL get him talking! I picked up another birdie so maybe he can help…" Joker was cut off when Nightwing started shouting at him in Romanian. "Nu! Joker, te (cough, hack) ...naibii monstru! Să nu îndrăznești... să pune un deget pe el-" (No!Joker, youF*cking monster! Don'tyoudare lay a fingure onhim-) Nightwing was cut off by Deathstroke reattaching the alligator clamps to the metal rod implanted into his side. Nightwing screamed outs in pain. Deathstroke hit the hero with the butt of his gun, causing Nightwing to go motionless and loss consciousness.
When he woke up again, it was to an enormous head ache. Someone was dragging him by his collar. Slowly, he opened his eyes. He was being taken to a van that was fifty meters ahead of his current position. He saw men and women with clown masks on surrounding a building. A trail of blood in suggested he had just come from there.
That's when he noticed Joker, who had an unconscious Robin slung over his shoulder. Poison Ivy was standing next to him, a plant cradled in her arms. Nightwing just reacted. He grabbed the hand that had a hold on his collar and twisted the wrist, ignoring the pain that moving caused him. Nightwing then got up shaking, and stared at Joker, who had yet to notice what was happening.
"Put. Him. Down." The hero snarled at the villain. Joker turned around with a surprised gasp. "Bird Boy's awake! Who forgot to chain the Bird?!" he shouted angrily at his henchmen. "Idiots! Get him!" he screamed at them. They nodded and charged forward.
A battle ensued.