Ceri was not in a good mood. Apparently Joker took the fact that Bruce Wayne had adopted yet another stray as an excuse to kidnap her. She knew the others were extremely leery of the man, for damn good reason, but she couldn't see it.
She had been warned, extensively, about the gas he used. How dangerous it was.
Joker sneered as he held up the knife that he was going to use to "put a smile on her face".
He was not expecting her to slam her leg hard into his balls. No matter what sort of criminal you were, being kicked hard in the balls hurt like a bitch.
While he was temporarily dazed from the pain, she slammed her fist into the side of his head to further confuse him. She then grabbed the knife he dropped and without hesitation slammed it into his Achilles heel, severing the tendon completely. Joker screamed, and hit a button releasing the gas into his base.
Ceri didn't hesitate, and put a bubblehead charm up. The gas passed harmlessly over her, allowing her to continue her work. The others had been abundantly clear about how dangerous this man was, and while she was uncomfortable with killing, maiming was still on the table.
Once the worst of the noise outside died down, Joker was a damn mess. She had made very sure that he wouldn't be following her and would be focusing more on surviving the blood loss than chasing her. The incredulous expression on his face from the fact a fourteen (soon to be fifteen) year old girl who wasn't a cape, was clearly untrained in the art of combat and having zero hesitation in permanently maiming a threat was almost comical in a way.
She ran through the corridors, following her limited sixth sense on where to turn to get out. She crashed into someone, and almost thrashed when they held her close...until she realized it was Dick.
She almost cried with relief, and the charm didn't break until she was safely outside the range of the gas. The shock of what she had done, and how close she had gotten to near-death again hit like a brick. She was blacked out when Dick put her in the car.
Inside the Joker's base...
"Holy..." said Cass, in shock.
"That tiny thing did this?" said Tim in disbelief.
"Not bad, for an amateur," said Damien.
Joker was bleeding profusely and Batman was trying to stabilize him for his arrest. However he was in for a lot of physical therapy from the damage done. His feet were toast, as both his Achilles heels had been severed, and not with a sharp knife either. It was clear Ceri had zero clue where the major organs were, but had done enough damage that he was still bleeding profusely.
Joker was going into shock, but would likely become a menace once he was healed up enough.
The Bat fam looked at each other, before someone dared to say it.
"How much you wanna bet Harley is going to send Ceri flowers for this?" said Steph after a moment.
"No bet. Hell, I'd be surprised if half the Rogues didn't compliment her on this," said Tim deadpan.
Damien was torn between taking pictures to send to his mother, who he knew would be very interested in the newest member of the family, and hoping she never found out. Who knew how Talia would react to a girl not even fifteen almost single-handedly taking out one of the most dangerous Gotham rogues with zero training whatsoever.
Several hours later...
Ceridwen woke up in a very advanced medical facility being checked out by a doctor. She could sense what was outside the door and wanted to groan.
"They had to bring me into Bruce's fancy man cave," she said, mostly to herself. The doctor choked for a moment, before she realized the woman was desperately trying not to laugh.
Dick came in looking concerned.
"You alright?"
"I'm fine. Wasn't expecting my usual fight or flight response to go into overdrive around that asshole, but I'll live," said Ceri, her head thumping against the pillow. She did glare at him slightly though. "Did you have to bring me into Bruce's overpriced man cave though?"
Dick was about to say something, before he choked as her words hit him.
"Overpriced man-cave?" he repeated.
Outside, he knew damn well his siblings well all in hysterics from Ceri's sarcastic comment about the Bat cave.
She managed to sit up and glare at him.
"Really?" she said, her tone sarcastic.
Dick's eyebrow went up as she proceeded to describe in fairly good detail most of the things in the bat cave. Despite the fact that she had not yet been down here, as the security cameras could prove. Even Bruce was incredulous from how much detail she was giving.
"How long have you known about the Bat Cave?" asked Dick, hoping to win the ongoing bet.
"Since about thirty minutes of entering the house the first day. The echos were throwing me off."
"Echos?" said Dick.
Ceri refused to elaborate any further.
"Joker didn't do anything, did he?"
"Not after I nailed him in the balls," she replied. "I hit him in the temple for good measure, and used the knives he planned to use on me to give him another reason to stay down. After everything you lot told me about that bastard, I wasn't about to take any chances."
Dick's mind went back to the scene they had found, most of them fully expecting Joker to be long gone.
Jason had been torn between his PTSD flashback from what Joker did to him...and wanting to hug her for giving Joker hell. There was no way in hell Joker was coming back from the damage she did to him anytime soon.
He had expected a wilting flower, and had gotten a rabid animal fully prepared to take her pound of flesh.
~*~*~*~*
Ceridwen found herself sitting at the table with everyone. Apparently it was supposed to be a big deal that they all went out and fought crime while wearing capes and spandex, so they were thrown a bit by the fact that she honestly could not give a damn.
To be fair, she had no idea who half the capes or vigilantes were until she got that crash course within a week of being moved into the manor.
"So let me get this straight...you know who Zatanna is, but have no idea who Batman is?" said Tim incredulous. The girls hadn't shared this fact, as it had thrown them off as well.
"Again, I was in a pretty isolated school which I'll have to go back to for at least another year for the past four years," deadpanned Ceridwen. "Honestly, I have no idea why you are all so scared of a guy in clown make-up with terrible jokes. I've seen scarier."
"Like what?" asked Jason, morbidly curious.
Ceridwen's face went absolutely flat.
"You really, really don't want to know," she said in a tone that spoke volumes of how much she didn't want to talk about it.
"I mean how bad could it be?"
"Literal soul sucking monsters that were staged around the school because a supposed 'escaped convict' was after me. Later turned out the man was my godfather, and never actually given a trial because 'everyone knew he did it'," she deadpanned.
She was a tad surprised at Bruce's serious face.
"This godfather of yours have a name?"
"Sirius Black," she said without hesitation.
"Wait...as in the guy who blew up a street and killed thirteen people?" said Barbara.
"Compared to the Rogue's supposed victim count, is it really that noteworthy? And he didn't kill anyone. Pettigrew cut off his finger, accused Sirius of betraying my parents, then faked his death and ran off into the sewers. Check the security feeds," said Ceri, glaring.
It was a sad fact that the Bat family later did check the security feeds, as well as the 'evidence'...and in less than two seconds believed her side of the story. Peter's finger was clearly cut, not blown off, and Black's laughter was less "insane" and more "hysterical/shock".
With the number of times they'd have to face the Joker (among others), they could tell the difference.
Which really begged the question of where Black was now, and how Ceridwen found out this information.
(Sirius was still in shock that his Pup's new adopted family was the one to clear his name in the mundane and magical worlds.)
"So you're okay with us being vigilantes?" said Dick.
"I'm saying I'll happily stay behind and patch your sorry arses up after a patrol, so long as I'm allowed to train with you," said Ceridwen. "What you do in your free time is not my problem."
Bruce...was silently glad that at least one of his 'strays' wasn't going to suddenly join in the game.
"Now that that's out of the way, onto important business. What do you want for your birthday?" asked Dick.
Ceridwen's confused face was almost painful. It was like the idea of actually celebrating her birthday had never occurred to her.
Everyone silently vowed to make her fifteenth birthday one to remember.
~*~~*~*~*
She knew she should be panicking. She had been exposed to 'fear toxin', and everything looked warped beyond recognition. Nearby, Scarecrow cackled insanely with dark glee. To be fair, none of the Gotham rogues apparently believed in the leaked video that had been making the rounds of a fourteen year old British girl nearly doing in the Joker. It had to be faked, right?
(Barbara had choked on her coffee when she first found the video, and most of the Bat Family had an impromptu movie night to see what exactly happened.)
The thing was, she wasn't afraid in the slightest. Yes, the images were frightening, but to her it barely rated a "meh".
Realizing the girl was barely affected, Scarecrow sneered behind his mask...and used his special toxin on her. He was eager to see her break, and to make Batman suffer.
Ceridwen couldn't think. The toxin was in her bloodstream, and she was hearing the sounds of her parent's deaths among others in a hellish loop.
She reached up to her hair bun, and pulled out her wand. Without thinking twice about the Statute of Secrecy, and just wanting the screams to stop, she did the only thing she could think of.
"Expecto Patronum!"
A spectral crow flew out of the tip of her wand, the ethereal glow bringing her comfort. Oddly enough, the patronus was lessening the effect of the toxin. Not just for her, but for everyone who was within it's range.
Now that she could think a bit more clearer, Ceridwen narrowed her eyes at a suddenly nervous Scarecrow.
However he was an adult man and she was a thin teenager. It was obvious who would win in a fight. At least, that was what he assumed.
Her wand sparking with implied violence, Ceridwen narrowed her eyes at him. She had already cast a major spell, and it was inevitable that the Aurors were on their way. So why not go for broke? Everyone else was too caught up in the toxin to notice anyway.
On an unrelated note, the Bat family had another movie night seeing Scarecrow run crying like a little bitch from a very hormonal and angry fourteen year old girl who was hexing him to hell and back.
Batman watched the scene incredulous, seeing Scarecrow taken out by the least trained member of the family.
"Communicator, call Zatanna," he said, unable to tear his eyes away from the rather humorous scene.
Jason was the one to catch Ceridwen when the adrenaline wore off, but this time she was a bit more aware. Bruce administered the antidote, and a sedative. He didn't want anything to happen because of her powers after all.
A few hours later...
Zatanna took one look at the girl in the bed, then turned to Bruce.
"Wait...this is who you called me about?" she said.
"I took her in after her family was killed. The abilities she used implied she had magic, rather than a meta-human ability."
Zatanna ran her hand through her hair.
"You really stepped in it this time Bruce," she said.
"Sir...there are several people who would like to have a word with you," said Alfred from the intercom.
Zatanna winced.
"Exactly what happened? Leave nothing out."
"She was hit by Scarecrow's fear toxin. When she didn't display the usual reactions, he hit her with another stronger dose. She used some sort of spell that created an ethereal crow, before she started casting at him," said Bruce.
"Did you catch what she said before the crow showed up?"
Bruce replayed the camera footage. Zatanna was openly impressed.
"A fourteen year old casting a corporeal patronus is pretty damn impressive."
"Sir, the visitors are becoming rather...impatient."
"We better get this straightened out," said Zatanna.
It was a good thing she was there, otherwise the Aurors would have had an awkward time explaining how they got their asses handed to them by No-Maj.