See chapter 1 for the series Disclaimer.
Summary: As he finds himself fitting in pretty well, Th'm's happens to come across one of the last people Leo would want on Terra Venture.
Power Rangers Galactic Justice
By Lucas Harrell
Episode 9
The punchline is key
Th'm's sighed as he was making a round in Terra Venture's city. It'd been almost 2 weeks since the fight with Doomsday when he'd joined the team, which he was glad he had. It has been a strange experience just so far, but one that satisfied his wanderlust.
Suddenly, a screeching sound followed by a smash drew Th'm's attention down to the streets below him and he headed that way after putting an alert out to Leo and a call into emergency services. Turned out it was a fairly bad crash, though only 2 vehicles were directly involved.
Th'm's checked the closest car and inside was a man with what looked to be his kids. "Are you alright, sir?" Th'm's asked the man, who nodded. He used his ring to quickly scan the trio, which confirmed they weren't too badly.
"I think we're fine, Green Lantern, so please go check the other driver," the man said, "If they're alright, please apologize as it was my fault, but only because something happened to my brakes and that I'll be happy help them hopefully get their fixed."
"Is Dad going to be in trouble?" the man's daughter asked.
"Don't worry, I'm sure everything will be fine if it was just faulty brakes," Th'm's said, "I'm going to go check on the other driver, so please stay where you are as I'm not detecting any immediate danger with your car and you 3 might be hurt worse than you know."
The man and his kids all nodded before Th'm's headed over to the other vehicle involved. The driver was an attractive woman with light brown hair. A name tag on her blouse showed the name Kim Hart. "Are you alright, Ms. Hart?" he asked.
The woman nodded. "I was was a little woozy for a moment, but I think I'm good now, Green Lantern," she replied. She shifted around a little and hissed through her feet. "All right, maybe my legs are pretty banged up too, but I don't think there's anything broken. Do you know what happened?"
"The other driver was apparently having trouble with their brakes," Th'm's answered, "He said to tell you he feels awful and will work with you to get your car fixed if it can be."
"As long as no one got hurt, him and I can just exchange info, no problem," Kim said.
"Emergency services will be here soon to make sure you and the other driver are alright, ma'am, and I'll be with you or at least close until they get here," Th'm's said to assure the woman, "From what I understand, you may want to stay in your car unless there's danger in case you're hurt worse than you realize."
"Damn it, I just know Director Morgan's going to kill me for being late," the woman muttered.
Th'm's barely kept from reacting to Kendrix's name. "If that's your boss, I'm sure she'll understand," he said.
The woman nodded. Kendrix was a cool boss and would understand. She couldn't help but notice Th'm's was quite handsome and his glowing eyes were dreamy. Unbeknownst to her, he was having similar thoughts as she was very beautiful.
It didn't take EMTs long to get to the scene and start assessing the people involved. "We appreciate the assist, Green Lantern, and we can take it from here," one of the paramedics said. Th'm's nodded.
"Thank you, Green Lantern," the kids called out, sentiments echoed by their Dad and Ms. Hart.
Th'm's smiled at winked at them. "All in a day's work," he said before flying off. He continued making his rounds of the colony before heading back to Shedquarters, where he found Leo and Kendrix making out. They sprang apart, embarrassed. "Shit, sorry about that."
"It's all right, Th'm's," Kendrix said as she pulled her uniform top down as it had ridden up a little thanks to Leo's notoriously wandering hands. "I needed to get back to work anyway. I was bringing Leo some lunch on my break and we got… distracted."
"I can see that," Th'm's said with a smirk, "Oh, speaking of work, that reminds me. Your assistant was in an accident I oversaw and is going to either be late from coming back or won't be back today at all. Don't worry as she seemed to be good the time last time I saw her, but there's no telling how long she'll be at the hospital."
"All right, thanks for telling me so I can call ahead to get a temp," Kendrix said.
"Thanks for the food, hon," Leo said. Kendrix nodded and gave him one more kiss before opening a portal back to her back to her office. "Let me see your watch for a sec so I can get a recording of what happened."
"Gotcha," Th'm's said, taking his watch off and handing it to Leo.
"Any thoughts on what you want your ring to make you look like when you're out and about out of costume?" Leo asked. The image inducers didn't quite work well with Th'm's as they couldn't mask his height, a little over 7', but it wasn't a big deal as his ring could put a false image over him that could.
"Not quite yet, but I think I'm close to deciding," Th'm's replied. Suddenly, Leo frowned and zoomed in on the image of a strange man that had been near the scene, leering at Green Lantern. "What's wrong?"
"I can't quite place the face, but I know that guy from somewhere," Leo answered, "I'm going to run it through facial recognition. It might take a while, but I can't shake the feeling that he's bad news."
"You think he might've really caused the accident?" Th'm's asked.
"Possibly though it could've been as the one driver said, a freak occurrence," Leo replied. He was a little surprised when a couple of minutes later, Cyborg called him so he brought him up on the big monitor so him and Th'm's could both interact with him. "What's up, buddy?"
"How long ago did you take that picture you're running?" Vic asked.
"Well, our resident Green Lantern was the one who took it, not me," Leo said.
"About 20-30 minutes ago," Th'm's interjected when Leo glanced at him.
"Why?" Leo asked, "What's going on?"
Nothing Leo could've imagined was even close to Vic's next words. "I don't know how it could be as it shouldn't be even remotely possible, but I think that's the Joker," he said.
"What?" Leo asked, going pale. Even him, Kal, and Kara knew to be very careful when handling the Joker. Now that he thought about it, the man did resemble the Joker, just missing the acid bleached, permanently pale skin and creepy grin.
"I thought about getting hold of Batman, but he won't be available for several hours over something unavoidable and you need someone now," Vic interjected, "Want me to see if Nightwing or Red Hood can help?"
"Yeah, please do that and if they agree, send me their coordinates and I'll open a portal to bring them here," Leo said. Vic agreed and cut the line.
"Who's the Joker?" Th'm's asked.
"He's the one villain that no hero stationed on Earth wants to go against alone, not even Kal, Kara, and I," Leo replied, "He's probably the single most dangerous of the non-powered villains on Earth, with countless lives ended or as good as at his hands."
"I don't know, he doesn't look that tough to me," Th'm's said.
"Whatever you do, do not underestimate him like that," Leo said, "Lantern ring or not, you might not live to regret it."
"Do the others know of him?" Th'm's asked, "Why isn't he in prison?"
"Except for Maya, oh yeah," Leo answered, "I don't know of many people on Earth that don't know about Joker. Psychopathic doesn't even begin to describe that piece of shit. I'm surprised one of the Earthborn GLs haven't mentioned him or have him in the Corps database."
"I don't remember if they mentioned him, but I don't really spend much time going through the database unless I need to and I don't go to Oa anymore than I do most planets, mostly just to recharge my Lantern at the Central Battery," Th'm's admitted with a shrug.
Leo nodded as it made sense. "As for why he's not behind bars, he's notorious for getting out but maybe Nightwing or Red Hood can tell us how he's on Terra Venture as there's no way he could've gotten invited if the selection process is half he did as detailed as the one most of the citizens went through," he added.
"How'd you get on?" Th'm's asked.
"Out of costume, Mike was able to add me as a +1 while Batman was able to get me able to get me fast tracked as Trezo, both of which made the process easy," Leo explained, "Doesn't hurt I was going to be the only hero officially assigned to Terra Venture until the others registered a few days after launch."
Th'm's modded. "So, what's the protocol with visiting heroes?" he asked.
"I'm sending a report to TVPD now about the Joker at least potentially being spotted here and will in a request for Nightwing or Red Hood's visit when I find out which might be coming," Leo said, "Hopefully it'll go through by the time Vic gets a hold of them.
"If you mean with addressing them while they're here, I'll leave him to tell you their real names as Batman's team tend to be guarded on that with people that they don't know but like the rest of us, in-costume, call them Nightwing or Red Hood respectively," Leo added.
Th'm's nodded. "And Joker?" he asked.
"If that is him, it's a matter of time before he does something, so all of us need to be on alert," Leo answered. As if on cue, there was a call coming in and the HUD said Kendrix. "What's up?"
"I leave for not even 10 minutes and you're putting out an alert that the Joker is here somehow?" Kendrix asked, "What the Hell's going on?"
"We're still not 100% sure it's him yet but yeah, Green Lantern accidentally caught an image of a guy at the site of the accident he mentioned we think might be," Leo said, "I was running his image and Cyborg called to say it might be him. Red Hood or Nightwing one are coming in here shortly to say if it's him or not."
"Holy shit, Trezo, this could be bad," Kendrix said.
"Yeah, no kidding," Leo said, "Joker's so destructive, he's almost as bad as Doomsday in his own way. I'm going to be putting the new surveillance online here shortly and handing out quadrants to the team for even day to day use. The way we're spread out on our usual day to days, it's near perfect."
Ever since launch, Leo and the team had been subtly putting thousands of nanite cameras all along the major points of Terra Venture. He hoped that it would help cut down on most crimes, especially if this really turned out to be the Joker.
"Well, it's been slow in the office, so you know I'll help any way I can and I know the others will too," Kendrix promised.
"I know," Leo confirmed. His HUD showed another call coming in. "That's gotta be Cyborg so I'll call or shoot you a text about any updates I get."
"Gotcha and be careful," Kendrix said.
"You too," Leo said before ending the call and bring up Cyborg.
"Red Hood's agreed for a visit here in about 30 minutes, Trezo, so I'm sending the coordinates now," Cyborg said. It only took a minute for Leo's watch to chime that he'd received the coordinates and the 2 said their goodbyes.
"Want me to come with you?" Th'm's asked when it was time to go.
"Sure," Leo said with a shrug, knowing Th'm's was curious to see what Earth was like. "Just to warn you, Red Hood tends to be one of Batman's less stable allies especially around people he doesn't know, so keep your shield up as he tends to shoot first and ask questions later."
"Gotcha," Th'm's replied.
With that, Leo opened a basic portal and they went through it. Red Hood was waiting on the other side. "Good to see you again, Trezo," he said, extending his hand. "It's been a while."
Leo nodded as he shook it. "Yeah, a little too long," he said then gestured to Th'm's, "Red Hood, this is Th'm's, the newest member of the Justice League and our resident Green Lantern. I'll leave it up to you if you want to give him your real name, but you can trust him."
"Maybe later, but for now, let's stick to the subject at hand," Red Hood replied, "I hear you might have a Joker problem."
Leo nodded. "Th'm's accidentally caught the image of a man that looked familiar to me and when I went to run their face through the database, Vic called and said he thinks it's him," he said. He used his watch to make a temporary mannequin like head out of nanites.
"Hm… well, I think Vic was wrong for once," Red Hood said, "It's close but there are a few little things that don't add up."
"He could've had… what do you call it, plastic surgery?" Th'm's pointed out.
Red Hood shook his head. "We know for a fact that Joker's tried but the chemicals he was dunked in did something to his face that makes repairing it or making major changes impossible by current means," he said, "Besides, the asshole's currently in Arkham. I happened to be there checking right before Vic called."
Leo sighed in relief but before he could thank his old friend, a call came up on his HUD from Kendrix. "Just a sec, guys," he told the other 2 and they nodded as he connected the call.
"Trezo, where are you?" Kendrix asked.
"Green Lantern and I are with Red Hood in his lair on Earth, why?" Leo asked.
"I just received reports of gas bombing in the factory downtown," Kendrix said, "The whole thing reeks of Joker's MO."
Leo frowned. 'Why didn't I get a notification on my watch?' he asked himself but shook his head. He was still working the bugs out of his systems at Shedquarters, so this one was still slipping through the cracks wasn't too surprising.
"We'll be back shortly, probably with Red Hood in tow," Leo said, "See if you can get the others to go do a preliminary inspection of the scene if the cops aren't there, then send the coordinates and I'll be right there."
"What's wrong?" Red Hood asked.
"Well, apparently, we have a Joker copycat loose on Terra Venture after all," Leo answered and quickly explained what Kendrix's had told him.
Red Hood nodded then laughed. "I wonder if I should let it 'accidentally' slip to him," he suggested, "Trust me, he'd find a way to get to Terra Venture and deal with the impostor himself."
"Uh, yeah, I'd appreciate it if you didn't," Leo said, "Who knows what kind of collateral damage he'd cause taking this jackass impostor down? By the way, Th'm's here is curious about who you are, but I know to leave it to you guys for that."
Nodding, Red Hood turned to Th'm's and extended his hand. "It's good to meet any new friend of Trezo's," he said, "It's good to meet you, Th'm's. My name's Jason Todd when we don't have to be formal." The Green Lantern looked at him and especially his hand suspiciously.
"Don't worry, Th'm's," Leo said with a laugh, "I was mostly joking when I told you that. All of us have little in-jokes like that about each other. At the very least, he wouldn't offer to shake hands unless he trusted you enough."
"Let me guess, he gave you the 'watch your ass as he shoots first and asks questions later' speech?" Jason asked.
"Something like that," Th'm's replied with a grin as he shook Jason's hand.
"That's mostly for people like the Joker, the real one that is," Jason explained.
"By the way, is Batman alright?" Leo asked, "Cyborg mentioned he was doing something he couldn't be pulled away from, so I didn't know if it was serious or like, just a meeting or something."
"IRS is auditing him," Jason answered. Leo winced as he nodded. Even the world's richest vigilante feared the taxman. Hell, even the Joker was said to not want to get on the bad side of the IRS.
"IRS?" Th'm's asked, confused.
"Long story he'd definitely hurt me for if I didn't leave it up to him to explain it himself," Leo replied, "Anyway, are you coming with us, Jason? We need to get back before the copycat strikes again and we could use your insight on how the Joker thinks if this guy is anything like the real one."
"Oh yeah, wouldn't miss the chance to see Terra Venture for the world," Jason said, getting into Red Hood mode.
"Lethal weapons stay here though," Leo warned.
Jason nodded as he knew it was a condition for heroes visiting Terra Venture, made by Batman himself. It took him several minutes to put all of his guns and other weapons down. The only thing that he was allowed was his telescoping quarterstaff from his Robin days as it was generally nonlethal.
Once they were ready to head back to Terra Venture, Leo opened a portal directly the scene of the crime, where he found the Galaxy Rangers helping the cops process it as best as they could without having forensics training.
"Red Hood?" one of the cops asked. "Shit, it really is him?"
Leo shook his head. "Red Hood assured me he was definitely still in Arkham, so we're looking at a copycat," he answered, "Have you got anything for us?" The cop nodded and gave a brief overview of what the forensic team had found so far.
"Geez, whoever this asshole is, they're really sticking to copying Joker," Red Hood said, "I know the real jackass wouldn't stand for someone posing as him, so maybe I should take this idiot with me and make sure they meet up."
"I wouldn't wish that fate on my worst enemy, Hood," Leo said. Red Hood just shrugged. He turned to the main cop. "Anything that may point us to where he could strike next? Even the real Joker liked to lead Batman on a merry chase sometimes."
The officer shook his head. "Not that we can find," he said.
"Well, if you do find something, have Officer Marshak contact us," Leo replied.
Still on desk duty due to her shoulder, Angie had been made the liaison between the team and law enforcement after she'd been shown to have a good rapport with them, made easy after they had to reveal their identities during Mutantrum's little reign of terror while posing as him.
The cop nodded. "Thanks in advance for stopping this guy," he said.
Leo chuckled and he knew Red Hood was probably giving them both strange looks. It'd been something of an in-joke for years as the next time he usually saw a cop on a case, he'd have the perp caught before he saw them again.
'I must've come across him back home for him to say that to me,' Leo mused. The officer didn't look familiar but that didn't necessarily mean anything as he'd met many in Angel Grove alone over the years. "When we do, it'll be our pleasure, buddy," he said.
"You know that guy?" Red Hood asked when the team portaled to Shedquarters and he quickly introduced himself out of costume.
"He kind of looked familiar but nothing's ringing any bells though that particular phrase was generally only said by cops I've worked with in some at least small capacity, so I must've met him at some point before," Leo said, "You catch a name?"
"Badge said C. Reeve," Red answered.
Leo shook his head. "I'll have to figure it out later, maybe run his face through the database or maybe Ang will know," he said.
That made Red Hood freeze up. "Wait, Ang? As in Angie Marshak?" he queried. While the name could easily be a coincidence, he had an old girlfriend that he knew had since become a cop and Johnny saying his last name was also Marshak made everything click.
That piqued the others' curiosities, especially Johnny's. "Yeah, you know her?" Leo asked. He'd been curious how Angie seemed to know Bruce on the shuttle here and he was hoping he could get some answers from Red Hood.
Jason could tell that something also clicked with Johnny as he suddenly started glaring at him. "Wait, you're that Jason?" he growled as he moved towards Red Hood in a threatening manner.
"Whoa there, no need to come to blows, big guy," Red Hood said, throwing up his hands defensively. "You're her brother, right?" Johnny nodded. "Whatever Angie might've told you about how it ended, I assure you it wasn't what even she thought."
"Easy, Johnny," Leo said, "Just hear him out." While he knew Johnny was a good fighter, he also knew wasn't anywhere near Red Hood's league and he didn't want to have to break up an actual fight. The Red Galaxy Ranger nodded but he continued to glare daggers at the vigilante.
"So, you 2 dated?" Kendrix asked.
"More like High School sweethearts," Red Hood replied, "We met not long after we started High school and dated for most of the way through school until about halfway through our Senior year when…"
"When you disappeared, abandoning her and breaking her heart, when she needed you most," Johnny interrupted. He had to be careful because of his promise to Angie to not tell anyone exactly what happened, but he couldn't help but lash out at Red Hood
"Wait, so this would've happened about 4 years ago?" Leo asked. Red Hood nodded as he knew he'd know exactly what he was talking about. "Shit, he's telling the truth, Johnny. That really wasn't what happened." Johnny gave him a strange look.
"Yeah, I cared a lot for Angie and never would've abandoned, for any reason," Red Hood added, "I didn't even find out what happened until last year when I tried reconnecting, but she was pissed and wouldn't talk to me, though I don't blame her since she doesn't know the whole story and I can't tell her without giving away my secret identity."
"So, what happened?" Kai asked.
"What happened to Angie's something she'll have to tell you herself, though from what I hear, you probably never will," Red Hood replied. Most of the team nodded. That was all they needed to hear to have some understanding of what had happened.
"Yeah, she refuses to talk about it," Johnny added, "Even I only know because her last Foster parents thought I needed to know after we reconnected after we turned 18. She's never even seen a professional. Let's just say there's a reason I call her my rock."
"Same about how I found out and as for what happened to me, Joker damn near killed me and I was in and out of Lazarus pits for almost 2 years, the first of which I was in one for the back half of our Senior year of High School not to mention in a coma," Red Hood finished.
Johnny glanced at Leo, who nodded confirmation that it was what had happened. "Kal and I took turns stepping in Batman for because he'd taken time away from his costume life because he was so distraught over what happened to Jason and was trying to find a way to heal him," he explained.
"Shit, Jason, I'm sorry for the way I overreacted," Johnny said.
"It's no problem as you didn't know the whole story behind me being gone and you were being the overprotective brother she'd always told me you were," Red Hood replied, "Hell, most of the League doesn't know, only now all of you and people Batman and I trust absolutely like Trezo and Kal." Leo grinned and nodded, touched at his words.
"Oh and Johnny, come here a second," Red Hood said. Johnny did as he asked. He gestured for him to lean closer, which he did, before whispering in his ear "Don't worry about the pieces of shit that ruined Angie's life.
"One died before I could even find out what happened and start tracking them all down and as for the rest, let's just say they wish I hadn't reluctantly stuck to Batman's no-kill rule," Red Hood continued. Johnny nodded. It explained what Angie had told him before about the guys that had raped her.
"All right, you should get out there patrolling for this Joker copycat," Leo said, "I'm going to check in with Angie to see if the TVPD has any info on him that might help finding him a little easier." He glanced at Red Hood. "I can make a vehicle for you to borrow while you're here but would you maybe want to come with me and see her?"
Red Hood took a minute to think about it. On the one hand, he was dying to see Angle as when he'd tried reconnecting she had shut him down through emails and texts before blocking him but on the other, he honestly didn't know how he'd react to seeing her in person. "I think I'm going to help the others patrol," he finally said.
"Reprogram my Astro Cycle and he can use that while I use my Jet Jammer," Johnny offered.
Leo nodded. "You 2 stay behind a minute so I can do that while the rest of you go ahead and start patrolling," he said, "If you think you might've found him, be careful as if he's anything like the real deal, he'll be very dangerous and probably have some traps set."
The others nodded and portaled out except Red Hood and Johnny, the latter of which called forth his Astro Cycle. Leo used a backup watch to attune it to and the motorcycle to the visiting vigilante's biorhythms before handing it to him, after which he opened a portal that they went through.
Leo then called Angie to make sure she was clear and wouldn't mind him dropping in. When she gave him the go ahead, he portal shifted directly to her fancy new office. "Sorry to bother you, Ang," he said.
"Not a bother at all, Trezo," Angie said with her usual wide grin after giving Leo a kiss on the cheek before gesturing at one of the chairs across from her desk and he sat down in one. "So, what can I do for my favorite adopted son of Earth today?"
"I need all the info you can find out on the Joker copycat," Leo said.
"Yeah, I had a feeling that was it, so I planned ahead," Angie said, handing a folder she had on her desk across the desk, "We don't know what this jackass looks like or anything but from what we can tell, he calls himself Punchinello and he's already becoming a pain in my ass."
Leo nodded as he looked over the file. "Weirdly makes sense as I believe that's another word for clown," he said. He noticed a bunch of little attacks he'd been hearing about but had never related to any major villain or in this case a copycat of one. "Here, this may or may not help in finding him."
Angie was surprised when Leo tossed a printed-out, zoomed in copy of the picture he'd taken of Th'm's' recording earlier onto her desk. "You think this is him?" she asked as she picked it up. She had to admit that the man had a strange resemblance to Joker, so it'd be one Hell of a coincidence if it wasn't.
"We're not 100% of course, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is," Leo replied, "That's how we picked up his trail. Green Lantern accidentally caught a glimpse of him on a recording, I ran his face through the League database, and Cyborg called right after flagging it.
"There's also a possibility, albeit slim as it might really be a coincidence, that he might've caused the accident that Green Lantern was overseeing earlier when the recording happened," Leo added. Angie nodded. As the liaison, she was well aware of the incident. He handed her back the file. "Thanks for letting me scan the info you have. Anything else?"
"Yes, I'll probably need to see Red Hood before he goes back Earth," Angie said, "I understand he probably wanted to head out to help patrol so it's cool he didn't come in with you and I'm sorry if it's an inconvenience, but it's part of the job, you know?"
"Yeah, I'm sure he wouldn't mind popping in for a minute," Leo said, trying not to grin. He was more than happy to give his old buddy this chance at least at a friendly reconciliation. "I've got to get out there looking for Punchinello, but I'll relay that to Red Hood and I'll let you know when we've got them."
"I'd appreciate it and we'll do the same if we find him first," Angie said with a nod.
With that, Leo stood up started to portal shift away when another officer came bursting in, accidentally smacking the young Kryptonian with the door. "Geez sorry, Trezo," he said, "I didn't know you were in here."
"It's all right buddy, but what's the emergency?" Leo asked.
The cop blanked for a minute before remembering. "Oh, I was just coming in to tell the boss that the Joker copycat, Punchinello, was just spotted at the plaza, holding some kids that are on a field trip to the clock tower hostage," he told them.
"Get as many feet on the ground there as we can," Angie told the officer who nodded before hurrying off. She glanced at Leo. "I'll probably see you there shortly, so you might not need to relay the message for me after all."
"I'm going straight there if you want to piggyback," Leo offered, "Red Hood's bound to be there, so you can make the request to come see you yourself if you want."
"I'd much rather do that than get there the old-fashioned way," Angie admitted. It had been strangely exhilarating to finally go through a portal a couple of weeks back and she'd been looking forward to experiencing it again.
Leo opened a portal and him and Angie stepped through to find the plaza in panic as a man that was definitely the near twin of the real Joker, right down to the cackling hyena-like laughter, turned. "Ah, there's the resident leashed superhero," he said, "Oh look, you brought your little handler too."
"Oh look, here we are with a poor attempt at a copycat," Leo replied as he noticed the Galaxy Rangers, Th'm's, and Red Hood appearing on the scene behind Punchinello.
"And one that can't even come up with a good name to really instill fear like the real Joker," Angie said, "I mean, seriously, Punchinello? It might be synonymous with Joker, but you're far from being at his level."
"The old man should've quit years ago," Punchinello said, "All of them should have. My friends and are the future."
"Let me guess, they're a bunch of 2-bit wannabes too?" Leo taunted, "Trust me, you keep this up, you won't have a future. You should be lucky you're not pulling this on Earth, as I know for a fact that Joker doesn't like imitators."
"Yeah, there was on about 2 years… yikes, I heard he was awake for every second of Joker sawing him to pieces," Angie pointed out. Luckily, the kids in the group of hostages had all be evacuated and didn't hear any gruesome details.
Punchinello paled even more at that. He knew the real Joker was very vindictive and while he'd love to meet his idol, he also knew that it would be suicide under even the best of circumstances.
"Well, I know I can't hurt you, Trezo, but let's see how much hurt I can do… hey!" Punchinello exclaimed as he turned to find Red Hood, Galaxy Rangers, and Th'm's had evacuated everyone and were glaring him down.
"So, what's it gonna be, you 2-bit knockoff of a Joker wannabe?" Red Hoo taunted, "We can put you in the hospital back on Earth, where you can run the chance maybe end up being the real deal's cell mate…"
"Or you can do your time here," Leo offered.
"Or maybe a lonely Sciencell on Oa," Th'm's added.
Punchinello's eyes went wide. None of those options were particularly appealing, but he had to admit the TVPD gray bar hotel was the slightly better option. "Take me away, liaison officer Marshak," he said, offering his wrists to Angie, who was quick to cuff him.
"By the way, you all better watch your ass," Punchinello added, "I'm not the only copycat on Terra Venture. We call ourselves the Underground Villain Doppelgänger Alliance and I'm admittedly the weakest of the bunch. You'll wish you were just dealing with me, I can guarantee it."
"If any of them get their heads out of their asses and attack, you'll be end up being a little less lonely then, I guess," Leo said.
"I need to see you in my office in about an hour, Red Hood," Angie called out to said vigilante, who nodded before she pushed Punchinello towards the portal Leo opened to the station.
PRGJ
Jason was feeling very nervous as he stepped through the portal Leo opened for him, especially when he spotted Angie. She was writing something that he guessed to be a report on what went down with Punchinello. 'Oh wow, she's even more beautiful than I remember,' he thought. He made sure the voice changer on his borrowed nanite gear was working before clearing his throat. He didn't want to give himself away or at least not right away.
Angie looked up with a warm grin that made Jason's heart ache. "Oh sorry, I was just working on my report on what happened downtown," she said. She stood and extended her hand.
"It's all right, Officer Marshak," Jason said, shaking Angie's hand.
"Please, call me Angie as I've told all of your counterparts here at some point," Angie said, gesturing to the chairs opposite her, one of which Red Hood took. She was a little surprised he knew her name but she knew Batman and his crew all seemed to know most of the cops from Gotham or he could've heard Punchinello say it earlier.
"By the way, I'm glad you're doing better than the last time I saw you," Jason replied. Angie gave him a confused look. "About 5 years ago, you'd been assaulted and probably would've been worse off if I hadn't been making a patrol for Batman back in my Robin days. You looked like you had a concussion, so I'm not surprise you don't remember."
That'd been what caused Jason to ask Angie out. He'd seen her around school and had developed a huge crush on her but hadn't really thought about approaching her before a few days after that night, when he asked her out.
Angie laughed. "Oh my God, that was you?" she asked, "I woke up in the hospital the next morning thinking some random Good Samaritan had saved me, not even thinking it could've been you or Batman. Thank you so much."
"You're more than welcome," Jason replied.
"I'm sorry about asking you here as I'm sure you wanted to head back, but I just needed to debrief you on your part in this whole incident with Punchinello," Angie said.
"Hey, if a beautiful woman like you asked to see me, for any reason, Hell itself couldn't keep me away," Jason said then winced as he realized that he'd just screwed up big time, muttering "Oh shit." 'Bruce is going to kick my ass if he finds out, I just know it,' he thought.
Angie's eyes went wide and she hurriedly turned off the recorder. "Jason, what the Hell are you doing here?!" she demanded. She knew exactly it was under that mask now as Jason used to tell her that exact thing as justification on why he followed her around like a lovesick puppy. 'Hard to believe I used to find it romantic,' she mused.
Jason sighed. "Guess I don't need this now," he muttered, deactivating the voice changer then reaching back and touching the panel to make his nanite mask disappear. "Hi, Angel, and I can explain."
"Don't you dare call me that!" Angie hissed angrily, "You lost the right to call me when you disappeared from my life and abandoned me, you son of a bitch! Are you really the Red Hood or is this just some elaborate, horrible prank?"
"Would Trezo do that to you?" Jason asked. Angie had to give him that. "Look, while I admit I disappeared from your life, I didn't exactly abandon you and I could never apologize enough for it happening, especially once I found out what those bastards did to you."
That rocked Angie as much as if Jason had punched her. "You know?" she barely managed to squeak out, getting really emotional. He nodded. "I'm going to kill Johnny. He promised…"
"Don't worry, he kept that promise as he wasn't the one to tell me and I was technically the one to let the cat out of the bag with the rest of the team here though they don't know the whole story, just the very basics," Jason interrupted, "Our old mutual friends told me and eventually those bastards confessed before I put them in the hospital."
"That's what happened to them?" Angie asked. She'd heard most of them had been badly assaulted. That brought up another question though. "Wait, Brayden Starspier died under mysterious circumstances last year… that wasn't you, was it?"
Jason shook his head. "No, that was even before I went on my quest to avenge what had happened to you and it wasn't mysterious as much as those rich piece of shit parents of his sweeping his OD under the rug," he said.
"All right, but if you didn't actually abandon me, what did happen?" Angie asked.
"Joker found my Mom and held her hostage to make me find them right before New Year of our Junior year," Jason replied, "When I got there, I found the bastard had already killed her and he damn near killed me with a crowbar before leaving me to get blown up.
"If it had been for Trezo, I would've died," Jason added, "Hell, I almost still did. I was in a coma until almost 2 years ago and would've died if Batman hadn't struck a deal with Ra's al Ghul, who reluctantly allowed him to take me on a tour of Lazarus Pits.".
"I know it sounds crazy, but with the exception of my… let's call them nocturnal activities… did I ever lie to you when we were going out?" Jason asked, "Trezo can also vouch for what happened if you need it. He helped us out off and on for a while after that because Batman was in a bad headspace because of what happened to me."
"That won't be necessary," Angie said, "You never could really lie to me, just avoiding anything to do with your… nocturnal activities. But what are you wanting, for us to go back to the way it was?"
Jason shook his head. "I've found someone recently and even I hadn't, I would never presume that I had the right to ask," he said, "I just wanted you to know the true story behind it all and see if we could be friends again."
Angie smiled. "I'd like that," she said, "Well, let's get back to the official reason for your visit and get that wrapped up so that Trezo can get you back home." Jason nodded and she turned the recorder back on and she debriefed him on the day's events.
PRGJ
2 days later…
Th'm's felt a little uneasy as he stepped into the main R&D building. He'd finally decided on an image to use while walking around the colony out of costume and though he knew it only projected over his body, it still felt very wrong. However, when Tommy, as he wanted to be called in his human guise, saw the beautiful woman he'd met the other day, who smiled brightly as he walked up to her, all of his nervousness disappeared. "Oh hi," she said, "Are you here to see anybody?"
"Actually, I'm here to see you, Ms. Hart," Th'm's said, handing Kendrix's assistant a bouquet of flowers. She'd told him they were Kim's favorites.
"Oh, um, thank you very much," Kim said, taking the flowers. "But… do I know you? You look familiar but I can't place it and for you to bring me flowers… especially my favorites, I can't help but wonder why."
Th'm's' knew he was supposed to keep his identity secret, but his people had always instilled a sense of absolute truthfulness in their children. "Well, yes, you do sort of know me though we only met the one time when I was helping you during the crash the other day," he replied.
Th'm's couldn't help but chuckle when Kim's jaw dropped. "Green Lantern?" she asked, leaning forward to whisper it to make sure no one else could hear her except him.
"Please, call me Tommy when I'm out of costume as I believe that's the Earthborn variation of my name," Th'm's answered. Kim nodded. "I've heard that you go on lunch break around now and I was hoping I could join you this fine day."
"I really shouldn't," Kim stammered, her mind reeling from the offer. She'd been engaged once and it'd ended badly, so she's been reluctant to even date ever since. "I've been getting swamped and I'm still making up for missing the rest of the day the other day. I just couldn't…"
Unbeknownst to Kim, Kendrix had been coming through the lobby when she noticed Th'm's approaching her and snuck up behind her assistant, gesturing to her teammate not to say anything or react.
"Kim, you should go for it," Kendrix said suddenly, making the petite brunette jump a little. "You've more than made up for missing the other day even though I've told you that you didn't need to, so you're more than welcome to go on break now."
"Are you sure, Ms. Morgan?" Kim asked.
"I'm more than sure, now go on and have some fun," Kendrix said. Kim nodded with a smile and clocked out on the terminal before following T'm's' out of the building.
PRLG
A few days after defeating Punchinello, Leo was in Shedquarters talking to Cyborg. "So, you think you've found a good spot in the forest dome to relocate Shedquarters?" Vic asked.
"Yeah, it's the spot's not that far from the Galactabeasts and that way, they can come inside as some Infantry have come a little too close to finding them a few times recently than I'm feeling comfortable with and they can stop any bad guys that are able to find it and try to break in," Leo explained.
"Besides, Mom's never been a fan of its anchor being up on the roof and though he hasn't said anything, I'm sure Batman isn't either if just because it could be a major security breach to have it so close to where I live," Leo pointed out.
"Well, you'll need to be careful of course but it's doable," Vic said, "Just give me a few days to figure things out and then I'll call back to take you through the process of relocation step by step."
"I'd appreciate that a lot, Cyborg," Leo replied.
PRGJ
Meanwhile, on a still to be discovered planet…
A young member of a yet to be discovered species kneeled beside their bed. "Please, oh great Presence and mighty Zizaya, bring us someone that can deliver us from the invaders," they begged.
To be continued…
Notes: I'm sorry if this might be a weak chapter, especially as it's one seemingly about the Joker, but there's a reason for that. Unlike the real Joker, who as anybody that reads DC knows is not a team player in the least, Punchinello was working as a distraction for something else the Underground Villain Doppelgänger Alliance is doing.
Also, if you're wondering if they're who Angie asked "Trezo" to help her investigate a couple of chapters ago, yes, yes they are but even she doesn't realize it yet, at least partly thanks to the mole mentioned in the teaser last chapter feeding her false info. If you're wondering why I decided to name the Joker copycat Punchinello, it came up on a list of words synonymous for joker that I found and when that came up, I just honestly thought it was perfect. Anyway, until next time, Catch ya on the flipside.