The heat is on.
Batman and Robin stopped the hit that the Joker issued on the head doctor at Arkham, but it left lingering questions. Why was he targeted, and why did Harley Quinn tip them off? More questions than answers.
The team must split up to fight the growing threat of the Joker- he's out in the open and he's made the first move. But can they work divided? And can Batman handle his team spread that thin?
"Okay, I'm here. What happened? It's nearly dawn!" Nightwing said, walking toward the others where they stood in the Batcave. Bruce's cowl was resting on the computer banks beside him, Damian sat in the chair, his knees barely touching the arms of it with his legs crossed under him, Batgirl stood beside Batman with her mask in her hands, and Red Robin had pulled his cowl down from his head. Dick took his mask off, catching sight of the blood splattered on Damian's cape and gloves. "What happened?" Dick repeated, looking Bruce in the eyes.
"Robin got a little carried away in an interrogation," Bruce replied. Damian scoffed and Bruce shot him a warning look.
"Okay, who was he interrogating?" Dick asked, putting his gloved hands on his hips.
"Deadshot." Bruce nodded slowly, and then looked around. "Where the hell is Jason? I told him to-"
"Don't get your bat-panties in a bunch, Bruce, Al was giving me something to eat," Jason called with a full mouth from across the Batcave, walking towards them. Alfred trailed behind him, looking overtaxed as he carried a tray of neatly made sandwiches.
"Good of you to join us." Bruce said, running a hand through his dark hair; smoothing it back. Alfred offered the sandwich tray and Dick and Tim gratefully took two. Barbara graciously took a couple, and Tim scarfed his first down like he hadn't eaten in a day and a half. Alfred stepped to Damian and bent down, proffering a sandwich. Damian crossed his arms.
"Damian," Bruce said sternly. Damian looked at him and then snatched two sandwiches, nodding a thanks at Alfred, who smiled a little, looking hopefully at Bruce. He held up a hand to decline.
"Bruce," Jason snapped seriously, mimicking him. Bruce rolled his eyes and took a sandwich. Alfred waited, the tray hovering in the air, until he took a second. When he walked past Jason and Dick, Jason snatched the last sandwich and Dick put a hand on his shoulder.
"Go get some sleep, Al. Thank you." He said quietly. Alfred nodded gratefully and then left the Batcave.
"Okay. Now that we're all here-" Bruce paused to swallow his bite of sandwich- "we need to get to work. Splitting up is the only way we can do this. To get the rest of you up to speed," he looked Dick, Tim, and Jason all in the eyes one by one, "Tonight Robin and I received a tip of an attempted assassination of Dr. Charles Asbury, the head of Arkham's medical staff. The tip came from Harley Quinn."
"What?!" Dick straightened up from where he'd been leaning against the computer banks beside Damian's chair. Bruce nodded, handing him the envelope.
"Is that Harleen's handwriting?" he asked. Dick turned the envelope over in his hands, his mind flashing back to the day he first met her and the scrawl on her notepad.
"This is her," Dick confirmed, handing the envelope back to Batman. "She tipped you off?"
"Yes. Damian stopped the assassination, and we interrogated Deadshot. He told us that the Joker was the one who'd hired him."
"Why the hell would the Joker want to kill the head of Arkham's medical staff?" Barbara asked, crossing her arms.
"That's exactly what we need to find out," Bruce said, finishing his sandwich. He pointed at Barbara. "I want you and Jason to watch the Joker. Do not, under any circumstances, engage or expose yourself. I want to be perfectly clear on that."
"Yes sir." Barbara nodded.
"Nice. Batgirl and I get some alone time," Jason smirked. Barbara scowled at him and Dick rolled his eyes.
"Come on, Jay, don't be an ass." He raised his eyebrows at him seriously.
"Father is only putting her with you because he knows that she can control you, Todd," Damian sneered. Jason narrowed his eyes at him.
"Focus," Batman interrupted. "Jason and Barbara will watch the Joker and report back regularly to the Batcave. Don't let him out of your sight, and see what you can find about the new Harley Quinn. Tell us the second that he's on the move. The Joker threatened to attack Christopher Renner today. We need to know the second that he starts something."
Barbara and Jason nodded. Batman turned to Tim. "You, Damian, and I will be surveilling Renner's hideout. He successfully drove the police off of his property, but they've still set up a perimeter. I don't think that will be enough. Alfred from the Batcave will inform us the moment that Barbara and Jason tell him that the Joker's on the move, and we'll be ready."
Tim and Damian both mumbled an agreement. Dick's eyebrows knit, confused.
"Where am I going?"
"You-" Batman shook his head- "I can't believe I'm saying this- You will be at Arkham, getting information from the former Harley Quinn. When I call you, I'll want you to report to Renner's place with the rest of us, but until then, you're going to be civilian."
Dick nodded solemnly, hiding his happiness at seeing Harley again. "Yes, Sir."
"I brought you some brunch," Dick dropped down to sit cross legged on the floor in front of Harley's cell, pulling a brown take-out bag out of his coat. He grinned, reaching into the bag and pulling out two boxes of food and a stack of napkins; the scent of barbecue sauce and chicken filled her cell. Harley had been getting nothing but the Arkham Asylum cafeteria food, that, while good, was more like school food than real food. She sat up from her bed, staring at him. "The best wings in all of Gotham," he grinned, holding a box out to her. "And Joe put all your favorites in there for you."
When Harley came to the bars, Dick pulled the food back, out of her reach.
"Give me a kiss first." His eyes gleamed as he grinned that stupid, gorgeous grin of his. Harley smiled, put both hands on either side of his face, pulled him close, and kissed him on the forehead.
"I believe I satisfied your demands," she said with a wicked smile. Dick groaned in exasperation.
"Fine. You win." He smiled, handing her the box of wings and some napkins. She sat down on the other side of the bars, facing him. She'd missed being this close to him, and as if he could sense her thoughts, Dick scooted closer to the bars. Harley pulled out a wing and took a bite, and actually whimpered in delight at the taste. Dick grinned. "You're welcome."
"I've missed these," she said between bites. She paused to grab a napkin and smile sheepishly up at him. He smiled at her lovingly, brushing his dark hair away from his healing face.
"I figured you would. Unfortunately, I'm here on business, too," he sighed, wiping his mouth. His voice dropped to a whisper. "Why did you help Batman and Robin last night?"
"I didn't want Dr. Asbury to die. He had nothing to do with what's going on." She shrugged.
"What is going on, Harley?" Dick asked, leaning closer. "You helped him. Help me now. What do you know- really- about the Joker's plan?"
"I only know parts. Everything he's doing is part of something bigger. I can tell you that the drug lords are merely a distraction. A ploy to distract Batman." She laid her wing aside.
Dick let out a slow breath. "Son of a bitch." He shook his head and bit his lip. "Okay, that's good. That's really good. Thank you. Anything else?" She shook her head slightly, looking down at her napkin. Dick nodded. "Thank you for telling me that, Harley. They're treating you okay here, right?" He smiled, picking up his soda and taking a drink. He put her drink through the bars for her.
"I'm not going to break, Dick." She smiled at him a little. "I've been through worse."
"I know, though that doesn't exactly reassure me; I just want to make sure they aren't torturing you like some Sci Fi movie." He joked, picking up another wing. Harley snorted.
"So everyone does think the stereotypes of asylums are true."
"Right down to the hot doctors," Dick agreed, winking at her. Harley blushed, reaching for her drink.
"So how's the family?" she asked, changing the subject.
"Still as messed up as ever," Dick sighed, "but I think things are getting better. Bruce and Damian spent some quality time together, Tim's back in town… Jay is still on the cop's manhunt list, but he's pretty chipper for a wanted felon." Dick laughed, wiping his mouth with another napkin.
"And you?" she asked, grabbing another wing.
"I'm fine," he assured her. "I go to work, day and night, and I'm having lunch with my best girl. I couldn't be better. Well… maybe I could. There are things I miss, like getting to hold you." Dick grinned. "Among other things." Harley rolled her eyes.
"How about you focus on missing things like getting to see each other whenever we wanted outside of visiting hours instead of that."
"Okay, okay," Dick laughed, smiling broadly. He finished his soda and then ran a hand through his hair.
"I'm surprised you got in to see me," she told him. "The cops have been hounding me ever since the Joker's broadcast."
"Your angry red-headed doctor has been holding them at bay. I think she let me through, too." Dick finished his wings and wiped his hands with a napkin. Putting all of his trash in the bag, he set it aside.
"Well, they do liven things up around here. You know, break up the boredom." She smiled, setting aside her last wing.
"I'm sorry you're bored. Next time I come I'll bring some puzzles," he laughed. Harley giggled.
"If only boredom were the most of my problems right now."
"What's worse? Other than being locked in here with doctors experimenting on you?" Dick smiled, leaning his head against the bars as he watched her.
"I'm not being experimented on!" she objected, smiling. Dick shrugged. "And I don't know, should we start a list for all of the things going wrong in my life currently?"
"Tell me what I can do to help." Dick looked at her through the bars, his blue eyes serious and attentive.
"Continue being the one thing going right," she whispered. Dick smiled at her gently and reached through the bars, pulling her face close to his and kissing her softly. Harley leaned into the kiss, inhaling his scent, and placing a hand on one of the bars to support herself. His lips fell away from hers and he smiled, resting his forehead against hers. Dick stroked her cheek gently.
"I promise I will." Harley closed her eyes and put her hand over his.
"I don't deserve you," she mumbled. Dick smiled and nuzzled her nose with his.
"You're kind of stuck with me," he whispered, and kissed her again. His other hand slid into her hair and pulled her close, and Harley squeezed his hand against her cheek, wishing that they didn't have to be so far apart. She reached her hand through the bars and grabbed onto his shirt, trying to get closer to him. Dick smiled and kissed her harder, having to remind himself to breathe as his hand tightened in her hair. He didn't want anything more than to wrap his arms around her, but he savored the moment, holding her as close as he could through the bars as he kissed her passionately.
Harley reluctantly broke away, keeping her face near his and not letting his shirt go. She stared into his blue eyes. "Stuck with you isn't how I would describe it," she told him gently. Dick stroked her cheek and smiled.
"How would you describe it?"
"I'm lucky my crazy has brought you closer to me instead of driven you away." She laughed a little to herself. "Although maybe that should worry me."
Dick smiled and laughed, and then smoothed her hair away from her face. "Last time I was here, you asked me why I loved you," he whispered, holding her hand.
"And why is that?" she asked, looking down at their hands.
"I love you because from the moment you met me, you didn't put up with any of my bullshit. You looked past my sarcasm, and you saw that I needed someone like you. I do, I need you." He tilted her head up to look at him. "I fell in love with the girl who faced impossible odds and still rose above them to get what she wanted. Then and now, Harley. You fought your way to college, and even now, though you know it's dangerous, you're helping Batman. I love you because you're resilient and independent and caring and beautiful. You care for me, you care for others; I love that about you. I love the way you clung to me in your sleep. I love the way your eyebrows knit when you're worried-" he poked her between the eyebrows and smiled- "I love the way you laugh. I love your accent. Your real accent," Dick stroked her cheek. "I love your rosy perfume, and I love your glasses. I love how nervous you got when you were going to meet my family, and I love how you stand up to Bruce." He laughed. "I love you, Harley."
Harley's eyes started to water, and she blinked back tears. "I love you, too," she whispered. Dick pulled her close and kissed her forehead.
"I'm sorry," a voice said from the hallway. Dr. Isley stood, watching them. She'd heard everything, and her eyes met Harley's as she smiled gently. "But I can't hold the reporters back much longer. Mr. Grayson… you come back any time you like."
Dick smiled at Harley and stood up, taking the garbage with him. "I'll see you soon, Harley." He glanced at his phone as he walked down the hallway when it buzzed with a call from Bruce.
"No sign of the Joker yet," Red Robin said over the comms as Nightwing joined him on the rooftop. "At least not from this angle."
"We've got nothing here," Batman agreed from his vantage point, where he crouched on the rooftop with Robin. The policemen had all gone, leaving the streets deserted. Even Christopher Renner's hideout was silent.
"He'll be here," Red Hood assured them as he and Batgirl arrived on the scene, in the streets below. "Now, we wait."
As if on cue, a white van hurtled around the corner, followed by two more.
"Three unmarked vans on the Northeast corner," Nightwing said quickly.
"Three on the Southwest, too," Robin added.
"Two coming from the Southeast and the Northwest," Batgirl commented.
"Dammit, Where's the Joker?!" Red Hood cried.
"Calm yourself, Red Hood. Let's handle this. On my command."
Nightwing and Red Robin tensed. Batgirl and Red Hood readied themselves on the street, and Robin looked up at Batman.
Identically clothed and masked Joker goons piled out of the vans, surrounding the building; they held up their guns and advanced from all directions.
"This is incredibly organized," Batgirl whispered.
"Which one is the Joker?" Red Hood hissed, scanning the clown masks.
"He's trying to confuse us," Nightwing said.
The Joker goons suddenly burst through every available door, flooding into the building.
"Now!" Batman ordered, and they dove into action. Batgirl ran to the back door as Red Hood raced around the vans, smashing the window out of each and dropping a gas bomb into it; knocking out the drivers. Red Robin and Robin did the same from the front and side doors, until every driver was unconscious. Batgirl, Batman, and Nightwing all raced to the three ground-floor doors. Nightwing and Batgirl quickly pulled out the handheld welding torch that Batman had given them, melting their respective door handles and then welding them closed around the edges.
"North door sealed," Nightwing pressed his comm as Red Robin joined him.
"South door secure," Batgirl added, stepping back from the door and bumping into Red Hood.
"Watch it," he snapped.
"East entrance finished." Batman confirmed. "Red Hood, Red Robin, and Robin- Stay out here and watch the perimeter. Batgirl, Nightwing; with me."
All three of them stepped back and simultaneously fired their grappling hooks.
"Nightwing, second floor. Batgirl, third floor." Batman commanded. Nightwing retracted the grappling hook, watched the windows race by, and then released the hook in time to smash through a second floor window.
"I'm in."
A crash above him was followed by a dull rolling across the floor as Batgirl broke her fall. "Third floor secure," she said, looking around the large empty storage area. The entire floor was one dusty, bird infested room, and she made her way to the stairs. Nightwing checked through each of the rooms in the office spaces of the second floor, and then met Batgirl by the stairs.
"Second floor secure," Nightwing pressed his comm. "Batgirl and I are coming to you," he told Batman.
"The goons are still searching the ground floor; no one in the offices on the second," Batman said as Batgirl and Nightwing came silently down the stairs to him. The three of them checked the small knockout-gas bombs and stun guns that they'd been equipped with.
"Nothing out here on my side," Red Robin whispered.
"Ditto," Red Hood said.
"East side is clean," Robin agreed.
"Good." Batman said gruffly. "Let's take care of this quickly and quietly."
"There ain't no one here!" They heard a goon cry from below them.
"I can't get out the door!" another called. Trying another door, he looked at the rest of them. "The doors are sealed! We have to-"
He was cut off as a smoke bomb exploded in front of him. Panicked goons opened fire, the bullets ricocheting off of the machinery on the machine floor. Another bomb blew up in the middle of the room, the sound of the gunfire and the gas hissing from the small cans joined by the coughing of the goons as they dropped to the floor. Two more containers blew, filling the room with a gray haze; the gunfire slowly ceased as the dull thuds of the final goons bodies hitting the floor sounded through the room. Nightwing took a deep breath through his gas mask, walking out into the center of the machine floor; he began pulling the masks off of the goons.
"No sign of the Joker," he said slowly, tugging the clown mask off of another unconscious goon.
"I don't think he's here," Batgirl agreed.
"Of course he isn't." Batman said, his voice muffled by his gas mask. "He wouldn't make so public a threat without taking some precaution. He wouldn't come. Robin, call the police and tell them that they can come get these men."
Batman walked to the east door and kicked it open. Nightwing and Barbara followed, returning to the doors they'd welded shut and cutting them open again to let the gas out. Sirens wailed toward them, echoing in the tall buildings.
"Red Hood, get out of here. Batgirl, Red Robin; you're relieved too. Head back to the Batcave." Batman ordered, and the other heroes dispersed without another word. Robin and Nightwing joined Batman at the east doors as several police vehicles pulled up. The Commissioner walked slowly up to Batman and Robin. "There are twenty men in the building, and eight drivers in the vehicles. You have Renner's operation in custody?"
"Yeah," the Commissioner said slowly, "but Renner himself is dead. One of our new officers murdered him. Looks like he was working for the Joker. I did thorough background checks on them all and I still ended up with a corrupt cop…" Gordon shook his head.
"Don't beat yourself up about it, Commissioner Gordon." Nightwing assured him with a hand on his shoulder.
"Anyway," Commissioner Gordon sighed, smiling at them. "We dismantled his drug operation, and now we have Joker henchmen, thanks to you. Your plan worked, Batman, we avoided a lot of death."
Joker surveyed the chaotic scene from above as his henchmen were loaded into police vehicles one by one, Harley Quinn standing at his side. He scowled angrily down at Batman, wanting nothing more than to torture him in every way he knew possible, but it would have to wait.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know about Batman's plan," Harley squeaked. Joker grinned.
"It's no matter. He won, and I won. We accomplished our goal; Renner's operation is dismantled. We had a common enterprise." Joker smiled darkly, staring down at the three heroes and the Commissioner.
"Well then that's perfect, Puddin'!" Harley giggled, and the Joker suddenly whirled and caught her by the throat.
"Do not-" his hand tightened on her neck and she gasped, clawing at his hand. "-call me 'Puddin'." Joker hissed, his teeth clenched in a sinister grin. He let out a wheezing giggle. She called me that. Only she can call me that.
"Joker- p-please-" the replacement struggled for air, her hands weakening as she tried to pry his fingers away. He closed his eyes, his face twisting in fury. Betrayal. All we were- betrayed. The new Harley's hands fell away from her neck as she slipped into unconsciousness, and he dropped her on the roof. Joker rubbed his temples.
"We have work to do, my dear," he muttered cheerily. "Quit lying around." Joker cackled and then grabbed Harley's arm to drag her away over the rooftop.