She's gone.
Batman and Nightwing trusted Harley Quinn enough to break her out of Arkham, and for the barest of moments, Nightwing was truly happy. They had been reunited. Little did he know, it was a different reunion that Harley had in mind. She was a pillar on which Nightwing's plan rested, and when she ran- it collapsed.
Robin fights for his life over a near-fatal bullet wound, and Nightwing, too, is suffering; the loss of Harley, the failure to provide as a leader, and the Joker's dagger in his side all contributing to the pain. He's left with one question, yet again: Why?
Nightwing panted and cried out again, squeezing his eyes shut tight. The pain he could handle. The pain was awful, but it was nothing compared to his confusion. "Why'd she do it, Babs, why-" he gasped, tasting blood in his mouth. "She just left me she left with him after he murdered his Harley Quinn right-" Nightwing's eyes flew open in horror. "Oh God no… no! I left her there! Joan- I can't just leave her there! Go back!" he shouted, and the effort pressed against the dagger. He groaned in pain, his chest heaving.
"Dick are you insane!? I'm not going back! We have to get you help!" Batgirl shouted.
"She was my friend!" he screamed over her shouting.
"You need help! Damn you, Dick Grayson!" Batgirl cried angrily. Nightwing screamed in pain as she turned a corner and he slammed against the door. "Sorry, sorry! Not used to driving this thing!"
Nightwing couldn't think straight. He could feel his blood seeping around the dagger, could feel his blood wetting his lips as he closed his eyes again. She'd lied to him. Had she ever really been on their team? The thought of it made him more sick to his stomach than the steel in his side.
"Almost there," Batgirl assured him gently. "Stay with me, Dick, come on…"
"How could she do this to me?" he choked, his head spinning. His hand was still gripped tightly in Batgirl's as they pulled into the Batcave, and she dragged him out of the car.
"Alfred!" She screamed. "Get us some first aid, now! Batman!"
Red Hood yanked Poison Ivy to a stop.
"Jeez, so overprotective and we aren't even a couple," Ivy commented, yanking her wrist away from his gloved hand. It was chaos behind them. The alarms shrieked through the police sirens. The smoke from Arkham was like a hazy beacon. Red Hood wondered how many villains were going to escape and how many would get caught.
He ignored Ivy's indifference and stepped in closer to her to get in her face. "What the hell was that?" he demanded furiously. "You told me your girl could handle it!"
"Relax," she told him boredly. "I said we've got this." Red Hood bit back his retort and stared at her.
"What-" he started, only to spin around as someone came upon them.
"-Why hello Jason," Catwoman teased, sauntering up to them. "Nice of you to join our party."
"Mistah J?" Harley asked, glancing around the crumbling walls. "Where are we going?"
"Home, Harley, we're going home." He smiled happily, smoothing his curls back away from his forehead. His gloved hand was wrapped in her's as he tugged her along excitedly, practically skipping in his hand-stitched Italian leather shoes.
"You're excited," she told him with a small giggle.
"I'm allowed to be," he snapped, and then grinned over his shoulder at her. "The plan worked, and you executed it. I couldn't be happier." Catching sight of himself in a window as they passed, the Joker halted and examined his reflection. "Good God, I look a fright. We'll have to fix that, won't we?" he mumbled, rubbing at the running paints on his face, his disheveled and bloodied clothes, and his unruly green hair. Dismissing the issue, he started off once again.
"Babs- I can't breathe-" Harley jumped a little as Dick's voice gasped across the comm in her ear. He had been silent for a while, so she had forgotten it was there. She resisted the urge to reach up and touch the comm.
"We'll need to regroup- some loyal employees stayed behind, the ones that didn't get captured by Batman… but we need to rest for the night… swear when I get my hands on that little tree-hugger's neck I'm going to snap it like a rose stem…" Joker let out a wheezing laugh, pulling Harley around a corner.
"If she had done what you wanted, then I wouldn't have gotten to," Harley tried to placate him. Joker seemed to consider this for a moment, but then shook his head.
"It doesn't matter." He glanced over his shoulder at her. "Betrayal never goes unpunished." She blinked as Dick sounded in her comm again.
"Alfred- Al she's gone… she left with the Joker. Babs says she's never coming back," Nightwing gasped weakly, turning his head heavily to look at Batgirl leaning against the computer banks.
"I never said that," she sighed, turning her head to look at him. Nightwing shook his head slowly. "How's he doing, Al?"
"His blood loss is not as bad as it could have been, though the injury is severe. The pain should be gone now, thanks to the medication." Alfred said, stitching Nightwing's side. Nightwing pulled at the IV in his hand.
"Stop playing with that," Batgirl instructed, slapping his hand.
"It itches," he complained, his voice hoarse. He stared up at the ceiling of the cave and pointed at the stalactites that hung there. "Is Bruce ever worried that those will fall on him!?" he demanded, the action of raising his hand tugging at the IV again.
"Master Dick, please," Alfred snapped, pulling a stitch tight.
"Maybe we should just put him under," Barbara suggested, pulling her cowl off.
"Put me under what?" Nightwing asked, his brow knitting in the weak amount of concern he could muster.
"That would probably be best," Alfred sighed.
"Where's Tim!?" Nightwing demanded suddenly, sitting up.
"He's going to be okay, right?" Red Robin asked, walking over to Batman. He adjusted his sleeve back over his arm.
"I hope so," Batman muttered, watching the operating table carefully. Robin's pale face, half hidden by an oxygen mask, was the only thing they could see as doctors worked around him. Red Robin watched Batman, concerned for him. Robin had been too badly hurt and had lost too much blood; they'd had to take him to the hospital.
"Give me more pressure on the top of the wound," one doctor commanded a nurse.
"And where is the blood for the transfusion?" another demanded, bustling to the other side of the table. The light shone down harshly on Robin's small exposed torso. A nurse rolled a stand over with a blood bag hooked and the needle ready. Red Robin turned around, closing his eyes. He'd never been fond of the boy, but it was impossible to see him like that.
"Batman, perhaps we should wait outside," he whispered.
"No." Batman didn't turn away from Robin.
"There's nothing we can do," he said quietly. "Except wait. I can't watch this anymore."
"Then go," Batman said coolly. Red Robin's jaw tightened, and he looked down, feeling rejected. He walked out of the room quickly, his head still burning from the Joker's blows.
"Oh, Puddin it's wonderful," Harley cooed. The windows were all boarded up, but the ceiling was vaulted even though the chandelier had fallen. Joker grinned.
"Isn't it though?! There's space to work, plenty of room for other things, and a gorgeous bedroom you will love, Harley-Darling," he smiled proudly.
"That isn't enough," she said giggled. "What else will we fill it with?" She spun around, arms outstretched.
"I'll get you anything you want, Dear," he laughed. "You've earned it." Harley suddenly pouted.
"You didn't say that before. You hurt me and replaced me."
Joker sighed sadly. "I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am for hurting you. I overreacted, and you did such a lovely thing for me, too…" he shrugged and looked at her in a way he'd never looked before. Sheepishly? Guiltily? "I replaced you… but she meant nothing to me. She was a useless little toy to fill the costume- to fill the hole you'd left behind. I killed her because… she never did. No one can be Harley Quinn but you, Dear," he confessed, clasping his hands and looking up at her.
"Why should I believe you?" she demanded, crossing her arms.
"Would you have come back if you didn't?" Joker asked quietly, smiling at her. She jutted her lower lip out and turned her head to the side.
"Well you're the only one I have," she said, her hand wrapping around the comm concealed in her hand.
"You're all I have too, you know," Joker whispered sadly.
Red Robin dug in his utility belt for his last quarter, and then shoved it into the vending machine. He tapped the glass contemplatively, attempting to choose between a bag of muffins or a candy bar as a nurse stared in disbelief. He sighed, punched in the number, and waited for it to fall. He nodded a hello at the nurse and then pulled it out, walking back toward the operating room to wait for Batman. Red Robin tugged at the bag, trying to get it open with his gloves on; he stopped in the empty hallway to pull on it, and the bag suddenly popped open, spilling his muffins on the floor. He stared at them dejectedly.
"Red Robin!" Catwoman called, sliding over by him. "How is he?" she asked in a low hum of a voice.
"Don't step on my muffins," he warned her, bending down to pick them up one at a time. When he stood back up, he looked at her distractedly. She could see the blood running down his face through the eyes of his mask, and he probably had a concussion from the Joker's blow. "It looks like he'll be fine. Batman's in there if you want to join him… I couldn't handle the gore…" he mumbled, blowing on a muffin and trying to decide whether or not to just eat it.
"And how is he?" Catwoman asked. Red Robin glanced at the nurse taking a photo of them in the hallway, and then looked at her.
"Who, Nightwing?" he asked, shoving a muffin in his mouth.
"No," she said, patient with him. "Batman, sweetie."
"Cold and unreadable as ever. I need to go lie down somewhere. He probably will talk to you before he talks to me," Red Robin said seriously. "He opens up to you. He just told me to leave." He popped another muffin in his mouth and examined her uniform. "You wouldn't happen to have any quarters, right?"
"Sorry darling," she said, heading for the operating room, "but if you need the crown jewels, I'm your gal."
Batgirl didn't know how much more of this she wanted to take. Dick had started sobbing the moment she took his mask off, like it had been blocking his emotions until she'd removed it.
"How could I have been so stupid? I let this happen again… I failed her," he cried, trying to sit up for the fourth time, only to be pushed gently back down by Alfred again.
"You did not fail her," Barbara snapped. "She betrayed us."
"No!" Dick shouted, glaring at her. "She's sick and she needs help. She needs to be guided by someone good, and I failed her!" he closed his eyes tight, tears streaking his cheeks.
"She isn't a four year old. She made her decision," Barbara told him harshly.
"Whoa," Jason said, walking in and tossing his helmet aside, "chill, librarian from hell. Give the stabbed man a break."
"Welcome, Master Todd," Alfred said, cleaning up the mess from the first aid he'd administered to Dick.
"She didn't know what she was doing!" Dick yelled angrily, leaping up and this time succeeding. In his drugged haze, he bolted for the elevator of the Batcave. Jason caught him by the arm and Dick took a lethargic swing at him, struggling his hardest. "I have to help her! I'm the only one who can help her!" he screamed. Jason grabbed him around his middle and dragged him, fighting the whole way, back to the table.
"They gave you the good stuff didn't they?" he muttered as he forced Dick to sit down. Each breath he took shuddered past his lips, his tears dripping down his nose as he sat with his head hung. Barbara touched his shoulder.
"It's the Joker. It's the damn clown," Dick hissed, his jaw clenched. "Damian, Joan, Harley; it's all my fault. I have to help her, I have to-" he shot up from the table and Jason caught him again. This time, Dick managed a well placed blow to his jaw and sprinted for the elevator. Barbara quickly overtook him and injected him with a sedative. Fully aware of what she'd done, Dick struggled and screamed until he finally collapsed, leaning against her and falling limp in her arms. Barbara stroked his cheek, looking at his finally calm face sadly. She traced his lips with her finger.
"God, Dick. What has she done to you?" she whispered, holding him close.
Harley folded her legs beneath her and sat. "So what now?" she asked beaming.
"Now we go on to bigger and better things, Harley Puddin," Joker was getting excited, his face lighting up. "Phase two. Just me and you." He laughed.
"And what is it?" she asked.
"Oh, Harley, Harley, Harley," he teased, leaning down to look at her. "You have no idea the things I have planned, the things I will do." He spun away and started pacing. "Of course some things have changed now, but the foundation remains the same don't you think?"
"I don't know what you're talking about Puddin," Harley told him exasperated. He stopped in his tracks to turn and look at her, a sly grin spreading across his face.
"Now that all of my good old friends are free to do as they please, I find I feel a little less important around here."
"I don't understand," Harley said warily.
"I think it's time to do away with some of my…competition don't you think?" Harley refrained from gasping and kept her face mildly interested.
"Is this the plan you've been keeping to yourself?" Had he really been planning for so long to free all the inmates from Arkham just to kill them?
"Well you don't know who you can trust, do you Harley?" he asked her darkly before resuming is pacing of the room.
Harley turned away. "No you don't," she whispered quietly to herself.