Arriving at the Batcave, Batgirl instantly changed her mind on telling Batman about her predicament. He was pacing up and down and Batgirl guessed that Robin was still unconscious, he would have to be. Nothing but the bird could get Batman worked up like that…except Batgirl on a sugar high but that's another story for another time.
He didn't turn to speak to her, or glare or scorn, nothing. Batgirl went straight past him and in the instant they passed each other they shared a brief glance, a brief second of eye contact.
Daaaaamn. He's pissed.
She walked over to the computer and tapped in a few keys and brought up all information on the Joker, but she growled at the computer afterwards.
There isn't a single shred of information on Harlequin? Not a tiny bit?
She glared at the computer for a few more seconds before she downloaded all the information on the Joker and looked over a few case files that involved him. None of the files had his name on them, but they all shared his mark, his insanity.
Would bats worry about me if I got hurt?
She blinked and shook her head. Where had that come from?
The blunder chicken is getting to me, damn him.
She brushed the thoughts aside, Batman didn't need to worry about her. If anything she should worry about Batman…actually she did worry about Batman. She worried that he might get hurt and it would have been her fault, that she would lose him.
Now your just being ridiculous, Batman hates you. There's no reason to care…so why do I?
She brushed the thoughts aside, they would just make her grumpy…or grumpier than she already was with her current predicament. She took a quick glance at Batman, still pacing as he was before. She took a breath and turned to him, this was going to be one of the rare moments in time when Batgirl tried to improve the Bat's mood. Normally she's the reason he's grumpy.
"How is he?" She asked carefully, knowing that he would understand the question.
Batman turned to her and watched her carefully for a moment before he answered, as if he was trying to tell whether or not a bad joke or pun was about to follow the question.
"He'll be fine, after some rest" He told her simply and she nodded her understanding and he went back to his pacing.
Batgirl turned and started to walk over to her Batbike when Batman spoke.
"Who was she?"
Batgirl turned and titled her head to the side. Batman was taking an interest? Not in her, no, in Harlequin.
"She called herself Harlequin, she's Joker's partner" Batgirl told him, the only time the two really spoke where when they were talking about criminals or growling insults at each other. It wasn't the best partner relationship but then they weren't trying to earn awards.
"What did she say to you?" He asked her and she shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.
"Nothing important, just gibberish really" She told him, the lie came easily. It wasn't like he needed any more stress on his plate after what happened with Robin.
"Are you sure? Joker likes to play with peoples heads" Batman persisted but Batgirl merely shrugged her shoulders.
"Honest, it was just gibberish, I didn't understand half of it" She told him before turning back to her bike and revving the engine.
"Just make sure your careful"
Batgirl wasn't sure she'd heard right because the engine was muffling most of the nose as she shot out of the cave.
Must have been my imagination…am I buzzing?
As she sped down the freeway Batgirl clicked on her comm. link and listened to the transmission, expecting Batman to mutter something about Robin but instead the voice that spoke to her almost caused her to crash into a lorry.
"Hey Batbitch, how's it going?" Joker asked with a laugh and Batgirl could here some distinctly feminine giggling in the background.
"Joker, Harlequin. What do you want?" She demanded already tracing the location of the call and doing a U turn into the next lane and charging back the way she had come.
"We have something here, something very precious to you-" More giggling from Harlequin "-and we were wondering if you'd like to know where we hid it?" Joker finished his question with some loud rambunctious laughter and Batgirl frowned in concern. Had they attacked her family?
"Where are you" She demanded and Joker chuckled.
"Your already on your way aren't you? Come fetch it" And then the line went dead.
Batgirl growled and picked up the pace, pushing her bike as much as she could. It only took her five minutes to arrive. She scrutinised the building, it wasn't anywhere she knew. Just someone's house, it had the same design and layout as her own but it was older, as the outside walls were covered in mould.
"Ready or not, here I come" Batgirl grumbled pushing open the door, which was hanging on for dear life to the single hinge that kept it upright, it was a musty red colour and the paint was peeling off.
Oh my god…
There was a corpse, sat on the stairs staring straight at Batgirl. Her stomach churned at the sight and smell and she was afraid she was going to be sick but she swallowed her panic and crept towards the corpse.
The person, a woman in her mid thirties with died brown hair that had natural blonde roots and dull green eyes that had probably sparkled in the sun when they had some life behind them, had been killed by a single blow to the back of the head with a 6 inch butchers knife. The knife was still embedded in the back of her head.
The thing that horrified Batgirl most about the corpse was it's face, a long, thin smile had been carved into the face and the blood had dried and was black on the skin. Like some kind of demonic clown. Like the Joker.
Batgirl climbed onto the banister and up the stairs, avoiding the corpse in any way she could, she flipped and landed with a light thud on the landing. Sending up dust from the floor.
Okay, I don't care if he's in a bad mood. I'm calling Batman.
She reached to her comm. and clicked it on and dialled Batman's comm. link number and waited a moment.
"What do you want?"
Great, I ask for the bat, instead I get the almighty blunder chicken.
"Kid, put Batman on the line" Batgirl ordered in a hushed tone, she heard him giggle on the other end.
"Why are you whispering? Did you get scared and need hel-HEY!" Robin yelled and Batgirl heard shuffling before a deep familiar voice answered.
"Batgirl, where are you?" He demanded, Batgirl frowned. It sounded as if he was panicking for some reason…ah she must have imagined it.
"Just doing some snooping" She replied calmly her voice still hushed, she might have imagined up but she could swear she heard a floorboard creak in the room down the end of the hall.
"Batgirl, Joker sent me a message, get out of there. NOW"
"Too late"
Batgirl turned as something was sprayed into her face, she coughed and took a few steps backwards before glaring up at Joker. Or at least she tried to, her vision was blurred and she felt dizzy and off balance.
Oh shit, some sort of anaesthetic? Damn I am not fainting! No way!
"Feeling kind of woozy? Oh don't worry it doesn't last long" Harlequin giggled and Joker grinned leaning forwards and taking Batgirls chin in between his long slender fingers.
"Now the burning sensation that follows it however, can last up to four days" He chuckled before releasing her and letting her slump against the wall.
Burning sensation? Oh fan-bloody-tastic.
She slid down the wall and the last thing she heard before her world went dark, was Harlequins gentle voice whispering.
"Sleep tight Barbara"
Hey peeps!
Yeah this took longer than I thought it would, but I wanted to do a sort of bonding thing with Bats and Babs, not that it's very obvious yet but it will be by the end of the story. (Hopefully)
Knightmare, glad you like the names I made up for Robin. It's quite entertaining to see what you can get from the word 'Robin'. And I'm torn about the Batmobile, as much as I love it blowing it up later on would really help with dark Batgirl.
Highlander, I'm your favourite writer? Please excuse me whilst I go hug some random strangers cause that's how happy I am!
Winter Rain, Yay! Another reviewer! And yes you are right, spanking in the bad sense.
Read and Review guys!
Tulip Out.