Chapter 33 - Who?
Writing the Joker is very challenging. When writing Kori, I only have think about how she says things and what things could confuse her, but when writing the Joker I have to see and feel through someone who doesn't use logic, and reasons for doing things are insane, but I think I pulled it off. Alright guys, here we go. Prepare for tears, angst, and utter heartbreak. Will there be a happy ending? I haven't decided. There are two possible endings to this story, but considering you have no idea what the plot is it was kinda pointless for me to tell you that, so let the fireworks begin. 535 reviews for an update.
Nightstar- Red X isn't in arche three, but if I do and arche four or a sequel I plan to include Red X, who is not Xavier, and Terra because Gar and Raven relationship needs drama.
Isob3l- If you think that was a plot twist then wait to you get to the end of this chapter. *Evil laugh*
Saturday, June 7th 6:30 PM - streets of Jump City
Panic, horror, dread, and emotional agony. All emotions that Nightwing was currently feeling, all expressed by two words. "Oh, no."
"What?," Oracle asked.
Coming to his senses he ran to the N-cycle, leaving the cops currently pulling up to detain Cinderblock. He had much more important things to worry about right now.
"What?," Oracle questioned again.
"I sent Star there ten minutes ago," he said as he threw his helmet over his head.
"Oh shit... Try contacting her."
"Right," Nightwing replied as he switched to the Titan's frequency. "Nightwing to Starfire. Nightwing to Starfire. Abort mission. I repeat abort mission."
No response, but he could hear what sounded like footsteps and then... gunfire.
"Shit," Nightwing growled. As he cranked up his bike and sped off he tried to calm the panic coursing through him.
"No response?," Oracle asked.
"No, gunfire. I need to quite. Nightwing out."
"Dick, no. Don't..." Before she could finish he dropped the line.
Nightwing sped down the streets of Jump, going well over one hundred miles per hour. As he drove he couldn't help, but to think about what if something happened to her. It would be his fault. He was the one who had sent her there. He should have never let her go alone.
Nightwing made it to the bank within ten minutes. Ready for an all out war, he charged through the door and what he found stopped him dead in his tracks. It was a blood bath. The once hostages laid in pools of red on the ground, bullet holes in each of their heads and chest areas, but Starfire wasn't anywhere in sight.
He heard rough breaths coming from behind him and quickly turned to see a man laying on the floor near the wall, quickly bleeding out. Nightwing ran to the man and dropped to his knees beside him. There were two bullet holes in his chest and one in his stomach. He didn't have to be a medic to know this got only a had a minute or two left.
"What happened here?," he asked hurridly.
The man struggled for breath, and coughed as he tried to talk. "The Joker was here. He was holding up the bank." The man paused, taking in another ragged breathe.
"What else?," Nightwing urged, trying to get as many details as possible before the man died.
"We tried to give him money, but he said he didn't want it. He was after you. A girl came in, I think her name was Starfire." Another pause.
"And?," he questioned, his voice clearly frantic
"He opened fire as soon as she flew in, ended up catching her in the chest. She never even saw what hit her."
"Shit," Nightwing barked, as tears began to roll down his cheek. He prayed that she wasn't dead. He never be able to live with himself if she were.
The man's voice weekend dramatically. "He left a camera for you."
"Where?"
The man pointed toward the desk on the far side of the room before his hand fell to the ground and his eyes became glassy.
Nightwing said a short prayer for the man before leaping to his feat and running over to where the camera sat. There was a paused video waiting on him, and he hastefully clicked on it. The Joker's face appeared on the screen and the sadistic bastard was smiling. "Hello, Batboy," he began with a laugh. "Did ya miss me?"
I have been in hiding for a few months, but we both know it wasn't out of fear of Daddy Bats. No, I had plans to make, and they all started with you."
He laughed again and Nightwing fought to not throw the camera clear across the room. "You see my old friend, I figured if I killed you then I might be able to convince Bats to kill me. Isn't that wonderful? I was all set and ready to go until I heard about this knew team of your's. I had to rethink my whole plan, shouldn't you at least be more considerate?"
He waved his hand through the air. "Anyway, I decided I was going to need some help, so after hiring Sacrecrow and few of his thugs to cause some distractions, breaking a few big baddys out of jail, and shooting one of your friends, here we are." He turned the camera to the ground and Nightwing could see Starfire rolling on the ground in pain. She as barely awake, the pain being the only thing to coax her movement. Tears were running down her face and he was aware that she was bleeding, but it wasn't that bad. He could guess the Kevlar caught most of the impact, and that the bullet hadn't punctured her heart, thank God.
If he didn't have a billion things to worry about at the moment, he would say he was relieved.
"You see, I knew I would get at least one of them, and when it was her I couldn't have been more delighted. So, now were are gonna play a little game of hide and seek. I'm gonna take the girl and you have till midnight to find or else I blow her brains out of her head. This is going to be so much fun! Just like old times, huh?" The Joker reached to turn off the video, but paused just before he did so. "Oh, and if you could bring the camera with you, that would be great. It took a a lot of time and effort to steal that thing. Thanks!"
The video clicked off and Nightwing tried to process all the information he just received. The Joker had kidnapped a wounded Starfire, and he had a little over five hours to find her, or else he was going to kill her. He focused his mind, blocking out all his emotions just like he had been trained to do. Thinking with his emotions would only get her killed. He needed to rely on his brain rather than his heart if he was going to have any chance to save her.
He replayed the video once more, looking for any sort of clue. He knew the Joker would always give a way or a hint to find him, no matter how elusive or vage it was.
One name struck him. Scarecrow. He needed to find Scarecrow.
Clicking on his earpiece, he contacted Oracle, who's voice exploded in his ear. "Nightwing! You idiot! You can't just drop the line when shit like this goes down!
Nightwing ignored her, his mind was much to focused on finding the girl he loved. "Oracle, I need you to run a scan on Scarecrow. All crime reports, sightings, and surveillance camera footage from every camera in the city."
"Scarecrow? Why him I thought we were looking for the Joker?"
"Run scans on him too, but I need to find Scarecrow and fast. The Joker captured Starfire and if I don't find her before midnight he's gonna kill her. He's the one who hired Scarecrow and his men. It was a divide and conquer tactic to get to me. Now hurry, I need your full focus here."
He knew she wanted more answers, but she only said "right."
Nightwing called the cops and informed them of the situation at the bank before rushing off to the N-cycle. He decided he needed to inform the other Titans of the situation, so he switched frequency once more. "Titans, report."
"We're all outside the mall's parking lot. There was a huge raid, but everything's taken care of for now. How you doing?," Cyborg asked.
"I need you all to listen to me carefully. The Joker's in Jump, and he captured Starfire."
A pause. "But how? I thought she was with you." Beast Boy remarked, sounding just as frantic as he did originally.
His teeth gritted. Another reminder that this was his fault. "She was. I sent her off to handle a hostage situation at First National Bank. The Joker was there and he shot her, but she's alive... for now. He left a video saying that if I didn't find him before midnight he was going to kill her."
"WHAT?," they all exclaimed in unison.
"I need you to be calm. We need to be rational in order to find her."
He heard Raven swallow and take in a deep breathe. "Okay, what do we do?"
"Scarecrow, we need to find him. The Joker hired him and his men, and if we locate him and capture him I might be able to get him to tell me where the Joker's hide out is," Nightwing informed.
"Alright were on it," Cyborg responded, an urgency in his voice.
"Get back to me if you find anything out. Nightwing out."
Saturday, June 7th 8:30 PM - ?
Kori's POV
My eyes open and I find that I am in a room and five men are on the ground below me, including one I recognize as the Joker. My mind reflects on a sharp pain hitting me in the chest, but I remember nothing after that. I notice they do not realize I am awake, so I do as Nightwing tought me and take in my surroundings while I have the chance.
I am in a building that appears to be the inside of a warehouse, and I am suspended into the air, hanging by my wrists, which is most paiful. I may be able to break free, but I am unsure. Nightwing says that when you are in a situation like this you must weigh the risks and rewards for every choice because one mistake could be your last. The reward is obviously freedom, but the risk is me failing and them seeing me as a threat so they kill me.
Deciding to stay still till I further analyze the situation, I turn my attention back to the men. It is obvious they could have already killed me if they had wished, so they must be waiting on something, but what?
My eyes widen as I realize that it is the trap, and they are waiting for Nightwing to come. "No!," I shout, loosing control over my emotions.
All the men look up at me and the Joker almost instantly smiles, which disgusts and terrifies me at the same time. "Well, look who decided to join. How are you?"
I yank at the chains, but I cannot break free no matter how hard I try.
The Joker laughs as he wiggles his finger at me. "It's no use. Those chains are designed to hold Superman if ever needed. Stole them from Lex Luthor myself." He taps his head as he continues to smile up at me. "I thought this through. You see, as soon as Batboy comes busting in here, I'm going to make him watch me kill you, the I'm going to kill him, the Daddy Bats is going to kill me."
"You wish to die?," I shout, but truthfully I do not understand.
"No, wishing is for stars, I want to prove a point. I want to show the world that even the best of us have evil in them, and whats the best way to do that you might ask? Rip out his heart by taking what means most from him. He won't hesitate to kill me if I kill the original little birdie, then everyone on Earth will finally see that I'm not crazy. I 'm just the same as all of them... besides that I wear make-up and my hairs green, but hey, I can't help if my fashion sense hasn't caught on yet."
I blink twice. He... he is... there is no word I know of to describe him besides... well, crazy. "Nightwing is smart," I shout. "He will find a way to stop you." I know my chosen better than anyone besides his father and Raven. I know he shall be able to save me. After him defeating Karras, I swore I would never doubt him again and I shall not now. He will save me just as sure as the sun will rise.
The man shrugs as he laughs. "Either way someone is dying tonight."
Sadly, I actually believe him too. If it comes down to it I shall sacrifice myself in order to protect Nightwing. The scary part is I know he feel the same way.
Saturday, June 7th 9:00 PM - the streets of Jump City
Richard's POV
I unsuccessfully searched the city for over hours, each passing minute, each tick of the mental clock im my head, I become more, worried, but I hide it well under my stoic expression. I feel so guilty at this point. It's my fault. If only I had never went to her at the table that day, never fell in love with her, never told her I was Nightwing, never let her in on this life, never let her out of my sight, none of this would have happened.
I had so many chances to stop it, but I didn't. If I lose her, this girl that I dream of ever night when I sleep, I don't know what will happen to me. I can't even begin to make anyone understand how much I love her because words just can't describe it. This isn't some high school fling like I'm sure the vast majority of people think it is. This is real love. The kind the means forever. Through all the uncertainty and ungaranteed tomorrows in my life there is only one thing I am certain of. I love her and she loves me.
It truly is an amazing thing to know that someone honestly loves you. To know that someone would climb a moutain for you... the feeling it gives has no word that I know to describe it. If I lose that... If I lose her, then God take me now because I don't want to be in a world without her.
As I make a sharp turn on the N-cycle I hear Oracle's voice in my ear. "Nightwing, the cops have found Scarecrow and have him detained. I've contacted them and they've agreed to give you a supervised interrogation session."
I feel my heart soar ever so slightly. Finally the fist step in getting her back is taken care of. "Good, I'm in route as we speak."
A pause. "Don't let her die Dick."
So much sorrow in her voice that it aches at my heart. She feels the same pain that I do, maybe not to the same extent, but she definitely feels it.
"I promise you Babs, she will make it out of this alive."
"And you?"
I briefly bite my lower lip. "Babs, I just need you to know how much I love you, okay? Don't ever forget that, and don't give up with your legs until you're at a hundred percent."
"Dick, what are you..."
"Nightwing out," I interject before dropping off the line.
Somehow these things never workout for me, and as long as Kori is alright, I'm okay with that. Like I said before, love is being prepared to give up everything for a person in a split second. For Kori, I'll willingly hand over my life in exchange for hers.
"Titan's, come in."
"What's going on?" Cyborg asks me, and I can hear the same pain and worry in his voice that is in everyone else.
"The police have arrested Scarecrow. I'm on my way to the police station right now. Meet me there as quickly as you can," I instruct.
"Right. On our way now. Titans out."
Saturday, June 7th 9:30 PM - Jump City Police Station
Normal POV
Nightwing made a B-line straight for the police station, ignoring every red light and speed limit sign he came to. It wasn't like the cops were going to stop him, considering he and the Titans were the ones who were getting everything done. With record timing, he arrived at the police station. Throwing his helmet off, he purposefully walked straight into the building, his gaze more intense in that moment then it had been in his entire life.
He came to the one way glass of the integration room, and glared inside, seeing Scarecrow, otherwise known as Prof. Rance, sitting there with a satisfied smirk on his face, his hands cuffed to the metallic table in front of him.
Nightwing's teeth gritted and his fist clenched into an impossibly tight ball, only relaxing when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Officer Peterson standing there, a somber smile on his face.
"Hey wings, heard what happened. You doing okay?"
Nightwing didn't have the heart to lie. "No. No, I'm not."
"Always rough loosen a teammate, they become like family to ya after awhile," Peterson replied, trying to comfort him.
Nightwing shook his head. "She isn't just a teamate. She's my girlfriend."
Peterson's eyes widened in realization. If something like this happened to his wife, he would going out of his mind, so he could imagine what Nightwing was going through. "You know, I was supposed to supervise this interview, but I think I have to go to the bathroom."
Nightwing, knowing what he was getting at gave him an appreciative smile before walking into the room.
When Scarecrow saw him, his eyes widened slightly. Nightwing knew he was expecting a cop, but he wasn't that lucky. "Well, if it isn't the old Robin. It's been awhile."
"Shut it, Rance," Nightwing spat , slamming his hands down on the table and leaning forward as he did. His eyes narrowed. "I'm gonna ask this one time before I beat you till you can't move. Where. Is. The. Joker?"
Rance began to laugh. "Like I know. He just payed me and my men to come here."
"So, your telling me that the Joker's plan was to kidnap a member of my team in order to lure me in, but give me no way of knowing how to find him. I've dealt with this man for almost ten years. I know him better than that, so if you enjoy breathing I suggest you give me the truth."
Rance laughed once more. "I'm a psychologist. I know you won't kill me. You've been wired that way."
Nightwing didn't have time for this shit. With every passing second Kori was closer to dying. Feeling the urgency Nightwing grabbed Rance by the throat and with all his strength began to choke him. "You're right Rance, you are a psychologist, and as a psychologist, you should know that a desperate man will do desperate things." Nightwing's masked eyes narrowed into a blazing glare. "I'm desperate." His grip tightened. "Very desperate."
Rance began to choke, his face turning a mixture of blues and reds. "I tell you," he gasped.
Nightwing loosend his grip, but didn't release it. "Where?" he growled.
"The warehouses just outside the city limits. He's in number seven," Rance replied quickly
"Swear to me!," Nightwing roared.
"I swear. Just let go."
With one last glare Nightwing released Rance's neck before turning toward the door.
"You'll never make it out alive," he heard Rance call.
"Like I said, I'm desperate," Nightwing retorted as he walked out the door to find Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, and Supergirl standing there. They all looked a little banged up and completely exhausted, he himself was running on will-power alone, but after fighting through hell all day, that's what he expected.
"Did you hear?," he asked them.
Supergirl nodded. "Warehouse outside the city."
"Raven can teleport us," Beast Boy offered.
Nightwing shook his head. "She's already low on energy. She needs to save it to heal Starfire. There's no telling what that sick bastard has done to her."
Everyone grimaced at the thought.
"C'mon, we need to go."
The Titans exited the building, but not before Nightwing talked to Peterson and told him to give them a forty minute window before bringing in their forces. After confirming that, it was off with a race against time. It took twenty minutes to arrive at the warehouses and from there they stood behind a nearby warehouse, they could see that warehouse seven was heavily guarded, at least twenty men out front and there was a light on inside of it.
"Raven, can you tell many how many men are inside?," Nightwing questioned as his mind already began to contemplate a plan.
She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath before reopening them. "Five men and Kori."
Nightwing was relieved to know that she was inside, but there was another pressing question on his mind. "She's alive, right?"
Raven nodded. "She's fine. Really she's more scared for you then worried about herself."
Of course she was. This was Kori after all.
"So, what's the plan?" Cyborg asked.
"You four will engage the men outside, while I take care of the Joker and the other men inside, understand?"
"No suicide moves, okay? I don't have the energy to heal both of you from major injuries."
He just nodded before standing from his crouched position. "Titans, go!"
In an instant his mind took over and he no longer felt anything, only seeing and reacting to his surroundings. He was vaguely aware of the light of cybrog's sonic cannon beaming past as he charged at full speed toward the window, only barely noticed supergirl's eye beams, Raven black energy, Beast Boy's t-rex roar. Without a second thought, Nightwing dove into the window, glass shattering around him as he did.
Within a split second he assessed the situation, only briefly noticing Starfire's delighted gaze as she hung form the roof. There were four goon visible to him, each armed with a M-16. Before any of the armed men had a could even so much as react, Nightwing was sling four night-a-rangs from his hand, each making contact with the men's hands, causing them to drop their weapons almost instantly.
Nightwing caught a blurry glimpse of purple and green out of the corner of his eye and turned to throw another night-a-rang, but he halted his arm mid-throw when he saw that the Joker didn't have the gun pointed at him, but at Starfire, a wide grin on his face.
"No, no, no, Birdboy. I'm not letting you ruin my plans again."
He glanced up at Starfire who had a sad smile on her face and tears glittering in her eyes smile. What she mouthed killed him. 'I love you... Please go.'
"No," he shouted at her. Before turning to the Joker. "You have me. Now, let her go."
The Joker laughed hysterically. "Oh, what would be the fun in that? I want to make you suffer." With that the joker pulled the trigger of the gun.
Nightwing's heart briefly stopped at the sound of the gun fire. He watched in utter terror as two bullets buried themselves within Starfire's stomach.
He heard a loud scream, but he wasn't totally sure if it was coming from her or himself, possibly both. Her body almost instantly went limp, he ones raised head falling down to her chest"No, Starfire!," he shouted, his composure shattering.
No response. No movement. No indication that she heard him.
Anger and panic began to couse through him like never before and is rational mind was consumed by a furious roar of emotion.
He slung the night-a-rang in hand at the Joker with all his force, apart of him wishing that it spun off target and made contact with Joker's throat, but he wasn't that lucky.
The night-a-rang flew straight into the Joker's right shoulder causing him to howl in pain and drop his weapon to the ground. That is when things went completely black for him. The next thing he knew he was on top of the Joker beating the laughing man senseless. Every blow became harder and quicker as he thought about what just had happened. This man... no, this monster had just shot Kori. Took everything from.
Nightwing now understood the anger Kori had felt when he thought Karras had killed him. It was like a primal beast inside of him had been awaken. Right and wrong were just words that had no meaning. Rationallity no longer existed. Revenge is what he wanted. The Joker would pay!
If Nightwing wasn't solely focused on beating the now unconscious Joker to death, he might have nocticed the man walk up behind with a crowbar in hand. With a forceful swing the grunt made contact with Nightwings, and instant cracking sound echoing off the blow. Nightwing fell over onto his stomach, instantly passing out from the brutal blow.
It that same second Cyborg burst through the door, and no longer than it took his brain to scan the scene did he shoot a sonic cannon at the man standing above Nightwing's body. Supergirl soon flew in behind him follow by Beast Boy and Raven.
"Shit," Cyborg snapped as he mad he rushed over to Nightwing, while Raven and Supergirl took out the remaining thugs with their long-range attacks.
"Oh, no," Beast Boy breathed, sounding almost sick.
"What?" Supergirl questioned.
Beast Boy wordlessly pointed to Starfire's limp body dangling in the air.
Cyborg looked up to see what they were looking at and his heart sunk. "Damn," he said in a tone that echoed Beast Boy's. He had to calm himself. He was the second in command and with Nightwing down that made him the active leader, so he had to ask himself something. What would Nightwing do?
"Alright, everyone listen to me. Raven, get Starfire down and get to work on her. BB, me and you need to round-up the rest of the thugs, and Supergirl I need to get Nightwing back to the Nightwatch as quickly as possible. His vitals are okay, but he needs to be sedated and his head stitched up. Is everyone clear?"
Everyone nodded and hastefully did as instructed. As Cyborg and Beast Boy tied the Joker and his men up, and Supergirl gathered up Nightwing in her arms and flew out the door at moch speed, Raven used her energy to unlock the restraints that binded Starfire's hands together before slowly lowering her to ground and dropping to her knees beside her.
Raven wasn't a very emotional person, or at least she didn't express her emotions, but the truth was that Kori was that inoing little sister that she never wanted, but she loved anyway. Ever since the day Richard brought her to the table, she thought she was odd, but over time she became very protective of her and soon she was family. She wasn't planning on letting her die anytime soon.
Raven could see Starfire breath and after further examination, found that the bullets actually only penetrated one of her nine stomaches. The problem was that she was bleeding internally and that stomach acid was flowing freely. Raven was going to have to work quick to heal the internal wounds in order to save her. The empath's eyes began to glow a bright, shining white and suddenly black energy coated Kori, causing her to float slightly off the ground. After about ten minutes of exhausting her energy supply and cursing to herself Starfire's eyes finally opened, though very dimly.
Relief coursed through Raven as she smiled down at her before hugging her sister. "Kori, thank Azar you're awake," she exclaimed, a tear almost finding it's way out from behind her eyes before being swallowed back.
"Raven, Where is Richard? I want Richard," Kori said weakly.
Raven leaned up to look her in the eyes. "He had to be taken back to Nightwatch. He's got a pretty bad head injury, but I can wake him up as soon as we get there."
Kori smiled lightly. "You all came for me."
"Of course we came for you, were family."
Just the red blue flashing lights reflected in through on of the windows of the building and the sirens could be heard become louder and louder, meaning that the cops were here and this Nightmare of a day was finally over... Or was it?
Saturday, June 7th 11:00 PM - Nightwatch
Normal POV
The four Teens entered the Nightwatch to find not only Kara and Bee, who had a sling over her broken left arm, standing over a still sleeping Richard, but Wally and Bruce as well.
"What are you guys doing here?," Gar asked as he helped an exhausted Raven walk, as Vic did the same for Kori.
"Babs contacted me at the Watch Tower, and said she was worried that Dick was going to do something stupid, and it appears she was right," Bruce replied, his eyes never leaving his son.
"He did not do something stupid. He risked his life to save me," Kori retorted.
Bruce just glanced at her before looking over at Raven. "Can you fix him up or are we going to have to take him to a hospital?"
Raven focused on Richard's mind. Something was off, but she could tell that if he wasn't medicated he would be awake, still though something was definitely troubling for a moment she returned her eyes to Bruce. "No, I can wake him now."
Everyone gathered around Richard as Raven placed her hand to his temple.
His eyes slowly opened and a agony filled groan escaped him. Why was his head hurting so badly. And why was the room moving? Due to the angle his head was at, he could only see Bruce and Wally, which confused him greatly. In fact nothing made sense at the moment. "Bruce? Wally? What happened?"
Bruce's stoic demeanor broke. Richard hadn't called him Bruce in months. Something was wrong.
Before Bruce could say anything, Vic spoke up. "The Joker captured Kory and you suffered a head injury, while trying to save her, but don't worry, we got her right here."
Richard's head quickly whipped around to Vic, surprised by the Vic's voice, but the sudden movement made his world spin, causing him to shut his eyes tightly, but as he did he mumbled a question that would bring every one to a pause.
"Who's Kori?"
I said shit was going to hit the fan, and I wasn't talking about the Joker. Most of you thought the third arche was about dealing with him, but nope.