Gotham City

If there was one thing Laurel and Shado never talked about, it was the Amazo.

There were just too many bad memories tied to those days. Everything involving the Mirakuru, Slade's gradual descent into insanity, the trauma of thousands of gallons of sea water slamming into them all out at once… it was just too much. So it had been easier to just forget. Forget, and just pretend it had only ever been the two of them.

Maybe it hadn't always been the two of them. Maybe that had been a lie they told themselves to make themselves feel better about what had happened to the third member of their little island family. But it was only the two of them now, and that was the only thing going through Laurel's mind as a power, that power, the power that had consumed her in the middle of the Amazo's brig and brought even a super soldier to his knees, swallowed her up once again.

Because there was another reason why they never spoke about the Amazo. And that was because of what happened before Shado had stabbed out Slade's eye—what Laurel had done to free her friend from Slade's grasp, before he could choke Shado to death. Something that had managed to rend metal and shatter bones and leave her completely exhausted, unable to comprehend what, exactly, had happened.

Laurel had thought it an illusion. A dream. Some kind of weird hallucination she had in a moment of great stress. Or maybe those were lies too, another way to ignore the elephant in the room so she could make it through the day. Whatever the case, what happened that day had been real. And she couldn't pretend any longer, no matter how much she still might want to.

"SHAAAAAAADOOOOOOOOOO!"

The sonic energy imbued in Laurel's screech was immense, far exceeding the amount she had used on the Amazo. It stretched across the entire warehouse, reverberating across every surface. Even the Joker and Harley Quinn, both of whom had been standing on the other side of the building, couldn't help but notice. They were struck speechless as the glass barriers shattered under Laurel's super-powered scream.

As for the Jokerized assassins who had been in the process of cornering her, they suddenly found themselves repelled away from their quarry thanks to the sheer force. The lingering gas was similarly stopped from reaching her, while Laurel herself was literally blown off her feet, smashing through the window she had been trying to open earlier. It was only thanks to her League armor that she wasn't harmed by the glass shards.

Right after that, Laurel found herself saved from her attackers but now plummeting to her death. On sheer instinct, she managed to angle her body so she was now facing the ground instead of the sky, and use her new power for a second time. The force of her sonic scream struck the concrete below, gradually slowing her descent until she was almost floating. Upon that realization, she stopped screaming, instinctively landing on her feet.

What… what just happened? Laurel wondered as she grasped her chest, wide-eyed. But before she could really think about it, a roar from inside the warehouse reached her ears, causing her to flinch as she remembered the current situation.

Pushing away her shock in her desperation to get away, Laurel found one of the motorcycles the League had used to arrive at the warehouse. She quickly took out a pin-like device, standard equipment for all League members to allow them to steal whatever vehicles they needed when in a pinch, and fit it into the keyhole. The motorcycle roared to life, and she threw herself over it, giving it a few revs before speeding over to the nearest road and to Gotham.

It took Laurel several minutes to calm down and think up of a plan. As much as she wanted to just leave this entire mess behind her and find some hole to hide in, she couldn't it. Regardless of how small her part in all this had been, she was one of those responsible for what had just happened, and what was going to happen to Gotham. She needed to make amends for that, no matter what might become of her when it was all over.

Not to mention, she couldn't abandon Shado and leave her like this. Shado was her best friend, her partner, her sister in everything but blood. In some ways, she was all Laurel had left. All of her other loved ones were in Starling and thought she was dead. And as for everyone else — she hadn't been able to save them. Robert, Yao Fei… Slade, she might as well have damned herself. Only Shado was left, and if Laurel couldn't save her…

Don't think like that, Laurel, she silently berated herself. She would save Shado. Any other outcome was not an option.

But she couldn't do it on her own. She didn't have the resources needed to figure out how to cure the infected, nor the manpower to stave off the inevitable invasion. Right here and now, she was all on her own.

However, thanks to the League, she did know someone who did. The only question was whether or not she could get him to trust her long enough to help her. Laurel thought it over for a moment, and then reached over to the GPS unit on the left handlebar and turned it on. She scrolled through the list of locations, and felt a moment of relief when she saw the one she wanted. With that finally thought, she clicked on the one named 'Wayne Manor' and began angling herself to make a turn on the next street.

The Bat-Cave

"It is way too quiet tonight."

"And of course, both of you consider a quiet night of crime a bad thing," Alfred Pennyworth said with an insufferable sigh as he rolled in the latest tray of sandwiches and coffee.

Up at the Bat-Computer, standing next to a pensive and scowling Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson gave his surrogate grandfather a half-hearted shrug. "Sorry Alfie, but there's a never quiet night in Gotham. Usually that's just a prelude to something even worse happening."

"Especially with the League in town," Bruce grunted, typing away at the computer. "We still haven't determined where they're currently holed up, nor what their plans are. If only we had managed to secure those two League members Barbara had managed to capture the other night; we could've planned a counterattack by now."

"Don't remind me," came Oracle's computerized voice from another nearby screen. Emblazoned on it was her symbol, the sharp face of a bald woman colored neon green. "I can't believe how long it took me to realize those two were League. Ra's really went all out this time with their backgrounds."

Bruce grunted again. "That just shows how badly he wants his current plan to succeed. Talia told me the last time we spoke he only had a few decades left before the Lazarus Pit stopped working entirely and he died, which means he's getting desperate to make me his heir. I shudder to think what his pl—"

Whatever else he was about to say was cut off by the sound of the Bat-Cave's alarms firing off all that once. Bruce immediately shot out of his chair as he put back on his cowl, while Dick put his mask back on and drew out his escrima sticks. Even Alfred drew out a pistol which had been holstered under the tray cart.

The cause of the commotion soon revealed themselves to be an unauthorized vehicle riding down the ramp typically reserved for the Batmobile and the Wingcycle. A motorcycle, to be exact, currently being ridden by a member of the League. Everyone present tensed as they prepared themselves for battle, only for confusion to filter through when they realized there was only one motorcycle and one member of the League. Was there an army already invading the Manor? Was Ra's preparing for an ambush? Or was he sending a message?

"Wait!" A feminine voice called out, panicked and desperate. The assassin quickly parked the motorcycle and quickly removed her hood and mask to reveal herself as one of the assassins that had been watching Barbara, the one who had called herself 'Myra'. "I'm not here to fight!"

"Then what are you here for?" Bruce asked, lowering his stance but not his guard. Behind him, Dick and Alfred did the same. "Does Ra's have a message for me?"

'Myra' shook her head, and it was only then that Bruce saw the tear tracks on her face. She had been crying recently. Remembering how League members literally had the emotions beaten out of them during training, a sinking feeling appeared in his gut. "My… my name is Taer Al-Aswad," she said, swallowing. "And I need your help."

Laurel didn't bother protesting when they asked to restrain her before hearing her out. The Batman, or rather Bruce Wayne, was a paranoid man who barely trusted anyone, even those within his inner circle. There was no way she could expect him to hear her out immediately, especially when she had been found spying on one of his proteges mere days ago.

"Alright," Dick said once she was fully bound. "Start talking. What do you need our help for?"

"The League," Laurel said, because she didn't know where else to start. "They—we've been compromised, at least those present in Gotham right now. I'm the only one that's left."

Bruce frowned. "What do you mean?"

She looked down. "The master is desperate for you to become his heir, as you've probably realized. When we came here to Gotham, he decided to partner up with one of your Rogues, using the plot they currently had in the works to essentially hold the city hostage and force you to accept his offer."

"Who?"

"…The Joker."

Laurel wasn't really surprised at their reactions. Both Dick and Bruce's butler, Alfred, reeled back in horror. Even Bruce couldn't disguise the hiss at the name. She had a feeling the Joker had something of a reputation in this city, and this only proved it. "What is his plan? What is Ra's helping him with?" Bruce demanded.

"He's made this gas. He calls it Joker Gas. It…" She swallowed again, this time in horror, as the memories resurfaced. "…it turns someone into an insane copy of him when they're exposed to it. Their skin turns white, their lips red, and their hair takes on a dark green tint. They start laughing maniacally and attacking indiscriminately; from what I can tell, they only obey his or Harley Quinn's orders."

"What he wanted to do was Jokerize all of your other Rogues and unleash them on the city." That got another hiss, this time from Dick, as Bruce narrowed his eyes. "But apparently he doesn't have a good reputation with them—"

"He doesn't," Dick interjected, speaking flatly. "Everyone in this city hates the Joker."

She nodded. "Yeah, well, he knows that. Which is where the master came in. He wanted to use Ra's' reputation to call a meeting, get everyone gathered in one place, so he could Jokerize them all at once. The master agreed, and earlier tonight we finally went through with it."

"But something went wrong," Bruce guessed knowingly.

"The Joker betrayed us," Laurel admitted and it said a lot that neither of the vigilantes nor their butler looked very surprised to hear that. "He blindsided the master and managed to Jokerize him. Once that was done, several other members of the League revealed themselves to have already been Jokerized and began attacking those that hadn't been. I… I managed to escape before they could get to me, but I was the only one. I knew I needed to get help, which is why I came here."

Bruce crossed his arms, eyes narrowing us once more. "You want our help to save the League."

"Yes," Laurel breathed out, and now her desperation was coming out full force. "I'll do whatever you want, even go to jail after this is over and keep my mouth shut on everything I know about you. Just save the League, please."

They didn't say anything at first, just eying her speculatively. Laurel held her breath as she waited for their answer. While everything she knew about the Batman said he would accept her request, if only because he wasn't a man to leave someone to suffer or die, this was still the League. She had heard enough from the grapevine to know the kind of damage they had caused to Gotham over the years. It's entirely possible Bruce might very well leave them out to dry and finally be done with them, while figuring out some other way to save Gotham from the Jokerized villains.

"You're not here because you want to save the League," the vigilante finally said, causing her to stiffen. "You're doing out of this love, and nobody loves the League. Not even Ra's. So why are you really here?"

Laurel's mouth fell open slightly. She didn't know what to say.

"If you want us to trust you, trust that you are telling the truth, then you actually need to tell us the truth," he continued.

There was another moment of silence. Finally, Laurel's shoulders slumped. "My name, my real name is Laurel. Dinah Laurel Lance, to be exact. I was a pre-law student in the middle of my gap year before law school traveling to China for a humanitarian aid project when the yacht I was on was shipwrecked in the middle of the North China Sea. I eventually washed ashore on an island named Lian Yu, where I met and befriended a man named Gulong Yao Fei, a disgraced Chinese general."

"Lian Yu turned out to be the headquarters for a mercenary named Edward Fyers who was working on an operation to crash commercial airliners and destroy the Chinese economy. He planned to pin his actions on Yao Fei, so he kidnapped Yao Fei's daughter, Shado, to force him into compliance. Oracle would know her better as 'Peng Deilan', the other member of the League that had been spying on her alongside me."

"Fyers killed Yao Fei, but Shado and I, along with another friend of ours who is no longer with us, managed to stop Fyers and kill him. After that, we stayed on Lian Yu waiting for a way to get off the island. We finally found one in a passing freighter manned by pirates and owned by a mad scientist named Anthony Ivo, who was using it as a lab to experiment on people while searching for a drug called the Mirakuru—"

"The Mirakuru?"

Laurel blinked as everyone turned to stare at Bruce. "Yes. What about it?"

Bruce frowned. "That drug was one of the inspirations for Venom, the drug Bane uses to enhance his strength."

That got shocked looks from everyone except Laurel, who wondered who Bane was. "Anyway," she continued, recapturing their attention, "we managed to capture the freighter and kill Ivo. But… something happened, and there was a mutiny, and the freighter sunk. Shado and I managed to hold onto each other but we were washed out to sea. We probably would've drowned, had they not found us."

"The League," Dick quickly surmised. Laurel nodded.

"It was Nyssa, the Heir to the Demon, who saved us. She brought us to Nanda Parbat and had us nursed to health, but it came with a cost. We either agreed to swear our lives to the League, or we would die."

There was a silent finality to her words that seemed to quiet the entire cave. Laurel felt herself tremble as tears began to stream down her face again. "I don't care what happens to me in the end," she admitted. "I've done a lot of horrible things to survive. I've killed so many people, even before I joined the League. All of them might've been evil, they might've deserved it, but…"

The assassin closed her eyes for a brief moment, and sighed, steadying herself. "I probably deserved to be punished for all that. And if that's the price I pay in order to get your help, I'll pay it gladly. Please, just save her."

"You mean Shado, don't you?" Dick said with a note of sympathy in his voice.

Biting her lip, Laurel nodded, red-eyed. "She's my best friend, my sister. Everyone else I've ever loved either thinks I'm dead or is dead themselves. I don't have anyone else left. So I'll do whatever it takes to save her, even if it means my own life in the end."

It was the truth. The honest-to-God truth. And if they didn't believe her, then Laurel didn't know what else she had left to offer them.

"Is she telling the truth, Oracle?"

They had taken Taer Al-Aswad — or Laurel, as she claimed to be — aside, far away from the Bat-Computer while they consulted Barbara. Not a single man present could say they hadn't been affected by the young woman's words, not even Bruce. She really did seem sincere and genuine, even if she wasn't quite telling them everything about what happened during her time before she joined the League. Clearly, the memories were painful for her.

But still. They were Bats. And Bats always verified first.

"She is," Oracle admitted reluctantly. It was obvious she was having conflicting feelings about the young woman who had been spying on her, now that she knew that woman's story. "Everyone, meet Dinah Laurel Lance: the world's unluckiest castaway."

The Bat-Computer came to life with numerous articles and pictures, showing what was essentially a complete overhaul of Laurel's life. The first thing that caught Bruce's attention was the article about the shipwreck. Namely, whose ship it had been she was sailing on. "She was sailing on the Queen's Gambit with Robert Queen?"

"Yes. Apparently, she's also the long-time girlfriend of Robert's son, Oliver. They met at Berlanti Preparatory in elementary and basically grew up together. Robert offered to let her sail with him to China so she could save on airfare."

"Shit. That really is bad luck," Dick said with a low whistle. "What about everyone else she mentioned?"

As an answer, the screen scrambled again before showing new pictures and articles. "She's telling the truth about them as well. I found redacted files about Gulong Yao Fei, along with his two twin daughters, Gulong Shado and Gulong Mei. They're both dead ringers for 'Peng Deilan', and I've already checked in on Mei — she's currently attending medical school in China. So that means 'Deilan' has to be Shado."

Bruce nodded slowly. "What about the others? Edward Fyers and Anthony Ivo?"

"I was able to confirm the existence of a mercenary named Edward Fyers, who went off the grid about five years ago after accepting a classified contract. Sightings indicate he was in or near Southeast Asia, for what it's worth. And Anthony Ivo was easy enough to find, along with why he was searching for the Mirakuru and conducting all those experiments — his wife just died. Terminal cancer."

"So in short, she's telling the truth," the former Robin surmised.

"This time," Oracle added with bite. Clearly, whatever sympathy she might have Laurel wasn't enough to wipe out all of her grudge against her.

Alfred turned to his long-time charge and surrogate son. "What now then, Master Bruce?"

The Batman narrowed his eyes.

When Bruce returned, it was the full cowl of Batman on. Laurel stiffened as the shadow appeared in her line of sight, feeling intimidated. Despite all that she had gone through these past several years, there was something about that cowl that just struck a chord in her. The same chord that Batman seemed to strike in everyone in this city, to be honest.

"You can help," he said, and Laurel let out a sob of relief as he went behind her and began to untie her bonds. As she moved to get up, however, she felt something slipped under the lapels of her armor.

"What was that?" she asked, as she tried to feel for it. It felt like some kind of small disk.

Bruce grunted. "Tracker. Just to be safe. And let me be clear: you can help, but you need to obey my every order. No going lone wolf."

That was fine. Laurel didn't really know much about this city beyond what was required of her to spy on Barbara, and she didn't even know where to begin when it came to stopping the Joker and saving Shado.

"Okay. What now?" she asked instead.

The Batman simply turned on his heel and began walking back towards the Bat-Computer. Laurel, blinking, began to follow him.

"Now, we stop the Joker."

And so, Laurel uses the Canary Cry again to save herself from the Joker and the Jokerized League, and heads to Batman and co. for help. Right now, she's at her absolute lowest point — all she really cares about now is saving Shado, and she doesn't care about whose help she needs to make it happen, nor what becomes of her in the end. This will have consequences once this is all over, but you'll have to wait and see.

Next Chapter: The counterattack begins.