Batman came to on the pavement- his chest was on fire, he was covered in dust and soot-
All around him, splayed on the pavement, were unconscious police officers. He staggered for a moment- something was wrong. He knew he was injured, but it didn't matter. The hotel they'd been investigating laid in rubble at his feet...
"Sparrow!" he called out hoarsely. His heart droppe when silence was his only answer.
His head was spinning, but slowly, it came back to him. The delayed ignition device, the whole building had been set to blow...
And his daughter was missing. He was about to begin digging frantically through the rubble when a figure staggered over to him, a strong hand grabbing his armored shoulder. He nearly attacked the person, before he saw it was none other than Commissioner Gordon himself.
"B-Batman..." the man wheezed out, looking pale. "I-it was Joker..."
"Were we hit with Joker Gas?" he asked, his heart speeding up. He had antidotes in his belt, but not nearly enough to help all the officers here.
"No... Kn-knock out gas. He didn't want us dead... He wanted something..."
"He took Sparrow." Batman ground out, gloved fist clenching as his blood pressure skyrocketed. The Joker- a homicidal maniac who'd swore he'd break him- had his nine-year-old daughter.
Commissioner Gordon's face fell.
"I have to go." Batman didn't even bother to disappear like usual- not that he even could, considering his present condition.
"Are you kidding? In your state, he'd shoot you on sight!" Gordon looked horrified, and he realized he must look about as bad as he felt. "Hell, I thought you were dead less than ten minutes ago! Even Sparrow thought you were gone..."
"I'm finding my daughter, Jim!" he shouted, his voice sounding close to a roar. "I will get her back. I'll do whatever it takes."
Jim said nothing- he'd heard the change in Batman's voice, and he realize he couldn't stop the man. He ran a hand through his greying hair, looking anxious and haggard. "Alright. Just- be careful, alright? You're a symbol of hope for this city."
Batman said nothing, turning to disappear into an alley.
"And Batman!" Gordon called, causing the dark knight to turn impatiently and look at him.
"If he hurts that little girl- you give him hell, you hear me?"
Batman smiled slightly at the way Gordon's tone changed to a low growl- that was exactly what he was planning to do- before he turned, cape snapping behind him as he allowed the night to swallow him up.
She awoke in someone's arms and groaned- she felt as though she'd had a building dropped on her- probably because that was precisely what'd happened. Still, right now she was just working on opening her eyes- not remembering everything she'd been through.
She waited for her hazy focus to clear, to find a demented white face with a smile carved into the lips staring at her, filthy teeth barred into a smile, yellow eyes looking down at her anxiously.
She screamed and flailed, falling to the ground. Colors of pain exploded before her eyes- she'd hit the hard floor and jarred some injury inside, and she instinctively curled in on herself, trying to ignore the blood she could taste in her mouth...
As soon as she was back to herself enough to hear, she heard his gravelly voice. "Oh darling- I didn't mean to scare you." she felt long fingernails press against her back as she was gathered into his arms- she simply closed her eyes, not wanting to see his frighteningly disfigured face but helpless to move- she didn't know why, but everything ached...
"I want my Dad." she whispered hoarsely, before she realized the mistake of what she said. Still- she was so out of it, she couldn't really bring herself to care.
"What was that?" the Joker leaned closer to her, trying to listen as he walked. Every footstep was jarring and hurt her worse, but she forced herself to control her breathing through the pain. "I want Batman."
She was laid gently on the cool cement floor, and she looked up to see he was frowning down at her, fingers twitching irately.
A moment later his shoe had hit her between the ribs, and she was left curled in the fetal position on the floor, tears leaking from her eyes and blood dribbling down her chin.
"I'm really sorry about this, darling. Truly, I am. But Batman won't come unless he thinks he needs to. He doesn't care about anything but keeping his reputation alive."
She wanted to tell him he was lying, but she couldn't get a good breath- her chest throbbed painfully as she wheezed, and the Joker stared down at her prone form, as though disappointed she couldn't speak back. "I'll be back soon, Darling. Maybe you'll forgive me."
He struggled up the stairs of the abandoned factory, trying to ignore the burning in his ribs. This was where he'd first met the Joker all those years ago, before he'd become well-versed in crime fighting, before he'd met his children- back when all he'd wanted was justice and revenge.
He forced the thoughts from his mind, though, stumbling on the metal catwalk and trying to ignore the empty vats all around them. He'd find his daughter, and she'd be alright- but he couldn't stop the nagging voice in his head, the chilling promise that echoed in his mind...
"I will take your daughter. Maybe not today- maybe not tomorrow, either, but you won't be able to protect her- you will lose her when you least expect it..."
"Sparrow!" he called out over the sound of the wind whistling through the broken windows, his voice bounding off the metal walls, rousing the dust on old cases of goods left to rot, bounding through the cobwebs and echoing through the open pipes, into the very vats themselves.
His only answer was laughter, and the Joker himself came to the railing of a catwalk two floors up, leaning on the metal pipe railing like he was Juliet in the balcony scene, demented smile crossing his features.
"I knew you'd come!" he sang out triumphantly, before he ducked out of view. A moment later he'd returned to the railing, holding Scarlet, an ivory handled kitchen knife pressed to her throat while he held her up by raven hair.
"How much pain is she worth to you, bats?" the madman demanded, idly trailing the blade down her cheek. He nose was bleeding, the blood had dried all over her face- but what alarmed him the most was how she wasn't even standing by herself, how she seemed so far gone that she didn't even look afraid, or aware of what was happening...
"Let her go." he growled. He could taste blood, he was on the verge of collapsing- but his daughter needed him.
The Joker frowned, a cold look coming across his demented features. "If you say so, Bats." a moment later his daughter was being thrown over the railing towards the floor- he dove and caught her. Everything within his body screamed in protest at the deft movement, but he didn't care.
His nine-year old cried out when she landed roughly in his arms, before she shuddered and was still, looking dazed and half-dead.
Her face and hair was caked with dried blood, she was breathing shallowly, and her arm was bent at an awkward angle- it was probably broken. She seemed to be on the edges of shock.
Batman did his best to set her down gently, leaning her against the railing.
"Get out of here. Run, if you can, but crawl if you have to. No matter what you hear going on here- keep going. You understand me?"
Her eyes were glassy, but for a moment fear dawned on her face. She could tell what was going to happen here- they were going to fight, and Batman was going to kill the Joker.
"I'm waiting, Bats." the Joker didn't amused. Batman was in no shape to fight after the explosion, but if he didn't stop the man, he'd come for Scarlet. He knew there was only one way this conflict could end- and he'd be the one walking out alive, with his daughter in his arms.
He forced himself up the stairs, trying to get a good breath and ignoring the way his chest fizzled and cracked as he breathed.
"So this is how you want it- using children as pawns-"
"You did that, Batsy, when you put her in the costume. I just hurt her." and the clown prince of crime lunged, slashing wildly. Batman barely dodged the haphazard strike, and even then, the attacks came faster, stronger- he could hardly compete- his forearms bled from multiple cuts he'd had to block with his hands. He was struggling, failing- he changed a glance at the catwalk below them to see it empty.
The thought of Sparrow crawling through a dingy alley, desperate for help, gave him an adrenalin rush. He caught the Joker's knife-wielding hand, slamming the man backwards into the railing where the catwalk turned 90 degrees. He kicked out at the man's knee, and with a crack he went down. From there, his hands were wrapped around the bastard's throat, all his remaining strength and rage directed onto his hated foe as he wrung his neck, choking the life from him...
He didn't stop when the harlequin of hate started spitting blood, or when the man's yellow eyes rolled back in his head- some sort of primal rage had fused with his hatred, the only thing he needed was for the Joker to die by his hands...
A small body slammed into him, shoving him back off the man. For a moment he was stunned, before he stumbled to his feet, ready to crush all opposition to ending the man's life, only to come face to face with... Sparrow.
His daughter stumbled to her feet, shaking like a leaf. Her body was still between him and the joker, but tears streamed down her face, and she looked close to hysterical.
"Y-you were gonna kill him, Daddy!" she choked out, voice barely above a whisper.
"Sparrow- step back. This is the only way..."
"We don't kill people!" she shrieked, looking horrified. She stepped back, shocked that even after she'd knocked him out of his stupor, he still wanted to go back and kill the man...
"Sparrow! Move..." he growled, about to shove her aside. But when he stepped towards her she recoiled, flinching like she was afraid.
He looked down to realize the glove he was reaching out towards her with was covered in blood that wasn't his. When had that happened?
He could see the fear in her eyes, then, the way she held herself, the way she looked afraid- afraid of him, her own father, for the first time in her life. It made him pause and think for a split second about what he was going to do-
Before he could take her arm and leave, however, she let out a strangled cry- he saw the flash of metal protruding through her stomach, watched his child crumple to the floor in a heap, and heard demented laughter from the joker as he stood, bloody knife in hand...
He went on autopilot then, kicking the bloody knife from the man's hand, hefting him up and throwing him over the railing, letting go. He didn't even comprehend that the man was going to fall two stories- didn't hear the sickening thud of the man's body hitting the ground. Instead, he was curled up beside his daughter, frantically gathering her into his arms.
There wad blood- so much blood. It dripped through the metal grate floor of the catwalk, staining the floor below, and he wrapped her in his cape as she stared at him, eyes glassing over quickly, too quickly.
She whimpered- he jostled her as he sprinted as fast as his mangled body would allow him outside, slamming the button on his wrist to call the batmobile.
She was bleeding out in his arms, whimpering, clawing at his chest frantically, as though being closer to him could somehow save her.
"Shh...shh. I-I'm right here, Scarlet, Daddy's here..." he soothed her absently as he drove home, the car never slowing down to under 90 mph as he struggled to keep his voice from cracking. If she knew how bad it was, she'd give up- he expected her to slip away on the drive back, to simply stop breathing in his arms as he drove like a maniac.
She slipped in and out of consciousness, laying heartbreakingly still, but she held on.
No sooner had he stopped the Batmobile in the cave then he was bounding out, holding his bloodied cape and barely keeping his knees from buckling beneath him.
"Alfred!" the tone of his voice must've been desperate, because the butler fairly sprinted over, looking horrified at his charges- Bruce himself on the verge of collapse, Scarlet lying half-dead in his arms...
"Alfred- Leslie- call Leslie. She's dying."