Chapter Eight: Pursuit

Even before Jonathan Crane had become the Scarecrow, Crane Chemicals hadn't been the most pleasant location in Gotham to work. Crane himself wasn't the most friendly or understanding boss, and the whole manufacturing plant gave off disgusting smells. Fortunately, unlike the competing Ace Chemicals, safety violations were rare, and after the professor began his criminal career, conditions greatly improved. Nowadays, most of the staff did enjoy working there.

However, today was not one of the good days.

The employees had all been subdued with sleeping gas pumped into the air vents, while various mind-controlled henchmen walked through the plant, gathering the supplies necessary for the production of the Scarecrow's famous fear toxin. Joker, having lost the coin flip and been forced to manage the operation, had wanted to use his laughing gas, but even he was smart enough to know it was better not to draw attention to the supervillains' operation yet. As long as Batman was in the picture, no extraneous risks would be taken.

"Hurry it up, you dull-brained lap dogs!" he shouted into his two-way radio. "I want to finally take out Batman, and my patience for you is waning thin!"

The brainwashed minions didn't answer, and Joker huffed. Logically, he should've been in a good mood, since the supervillain team had not only acquired those strange weapons, but had managed to drive Batman away in a fight. Unfortunately, he knew their victory had been largely due to luck, and the fact that Batman's new friends had been underprepared. The Bat wasn't one to make the same mistake twice, so even if he did bring those girls along with him again, Scarecrow's gas probably wouldn't work anymore. Sure, his compassion for the girls could potentially be exploited, but Batman was smart. He might've already considered that. Combine that with the superpowers the girls had, and any advantage the villains had went down the drain.

Joker glanced at his watch. According to the plan he'd arranged, the second shift of thugs with their crates of chemicals should've been here by now. However, they were five minutes late.

"Jervis is really losing his touch," he complained as he walked down the long hallways of the chemical plant. Now he had to get those mentally incompetent servants of theirs back on track. Tonight was definitely not Joker's night. Just in case, he pulled another spray can of Joker venom out of his jacket. If nothing else, maybe he could use it on some of the thugs for fun. They were replaceable, after all.

Eventually, he reached the main storage room, and almost dropped the can in shock. The people were lying on the ground, clearly unconscious. The control chips sat next to their heads, having been stomped into oblivion. It didn't take a genius to draw the obvious conclusion.

Frantically, Joker whipped out the two-way radio and hurriedly changed the frequency, hoping he was close enough that the others could pick up his signal. But before he could push the button, a blur zipped by his face, and the radio was gone. It was like he blinked, and his hand was empty. He remembered the speedy girl at the warehouse.

"Alright, little missy," he growled, raising the can of Joker venom threateningly. "I know you're in here. You'd better come out, before I—" He didn't finish, as the can suddenly vanished from his grip as well.

"Or else you'll what?" came a voice. Joker turned to find the girl with the blue mask and the rainbow hair, holding both the radio and the can, smirking triumphantly.

"How'd you find this place?!" Joker demanded, clenching both fists, clearly infuriated.

"Hey, we're working with the world's greatest detective," replied Rainbow. "It wasn't hard to figure out."

"Then figure this out, Skittles!" Joker snarled, before reaching into his jacket. He hurled three more sharp playing cards, one after another.

Rainbow smiled. This really was too easy. To her, it was like the cards were going five miles per hour, as she reached out and plucked each of them out of the air, taking great care not to cut herself on the edges. Once she had all three cards out of the equation, she dashed over and delivered a quick punch to Joker's stomach. The Clown Prince of Crime was sent stumbling backwards, right into the grip of Batman.

"'Figure this out?' That's the best line you could come up with?" Rainbow said with a chuckle.

"His material was never Emmy worthy," added Batman, as he slipped a pair of cuffs on Joker's wrists.

Joker groaned. "Sending one of your new kids to take me out, Batsy? I thought we had something special!"

The remaining Rainbooms walked into the room. "We cleaned out all the brainwashed people," said Applejack. "They didn't manage to get away with any of this chemical junk. Still, it's kinda scary that they managed to enthrall that many people."

"We also called the police," added Twilight. "They'll be here in a few, so if we're gonna do any interrogating, we'd better do it now."

To everyone's surprise, Joker started cackling again. "Oh, that's precious! You honestly think you can get anything out of me?! You kids are greener than Pam's thumb!"

Batman punched the space on the wall next to Joker's head, missing by centimeters. He'd missed on purpose, of course. "You forgot about me, Joker."

"Oh, Batman, have more faith in me than that!" laughed the clown. "I know you better than Robin does. You won't do anything really nasty. And you won't even pull out your measure of the big guns while you've got your little cheerleading squad here."

Batman's expression didn't change, but internally, he winced. As much as he hated to admit it, Joker had a point. There were lines Batman couldn't cross, because there had to be. Not to mention the fact that he didn't want to show his darker side in front of the Rainbooms, something Joker had deduced from observation alone. He remembered the time he'd interrogated that one germaphobic thug the first time he'd encountered Clayface. Sure, it had been a bluff, but what would they think of him if they knew about that?

Before he could respond, Sunset Shimmer stepped forward, pulling one glove off. "We don't need your compliance to get anything out of you, clown." She reached for Joker's face.

"DON'T!" yelled Batman, realizing what she was up to.

But he was too late. Sunset touched one finger to Joker's chin, and her eyes flashed white. As soon as the light faded, however, she recoiled as though she'd been struck, and fell backwards onto her rear, sputtering all the way. Her hands shot to her hair, tangling themselves in her red and gold locks.

"Sun?!" exclaimed Twilight, barely remembering to use the codenames they'd come up with. She rushed to her friend, grabbing her by the shoulders as Sunset started dry heaving.

The Joker merely chuckled. "You really are just kids, aren't you?" he asked. "Just weren't ready for a little dip inside my brain. You should consider yourself lucky, though. I have to live in there twenty-four seven!" He threw back his head and laughed some more.

Batman ground his teeth in fury, grabbing the Joker by the collar and yanking the villain around to face him. He reared back with one fist, prepared to knock every tooth out of Joker's mouth, when one of Rarity's barriers stopped him.

"Stop! It's okay!" she insisted, pointing to Sunset. "She's getting better."

Batman looked. Indeed, it looked like Sunset was recovering. She'd stopped shaking, and had managed to avoid throwing up. Twilight kept her hands on her friend's shoulders, even as Sunset climbed to her feet.

"I'm okay...I'm okay," breathed the former unicorn. "Just...not gonna do that again." She stared at the Joker. "You're a sick man. You need more therapy than you could ever get in one lifetime."

"Well now you're just trying to flatter me!" laughed the clown.

"Well, now we need another way to get info out of this guy," said Pinkie. "Anybody got any ideas?"

"That may not be necessary," replied Sunset. "I could only get one word out, but maybe it'll mean something to you."

"What was it?" asked Batman.

"Arkham."

Batman's eyes widened. Joker's smile morphed into a frown.

Within ten minutes, the Gotham City PD arrived to arrest the Joker (as usual), as well as help out the formerly mind-controlled people. Most of them just needed a few minutes to rest after what was, understandably, a traumatic experience. They also woke up the unconscious employees. Outside of Crane Chemicals, Commissioner Gordon met Batman again. The Rainbooms, wanting to stay away from the law just in case, had retreated back to their tour bus.

"So Joker, Penguin, Mad Hatter, Scarecrow, and Croc?!" demanded Gordon. "Why couldn't it just have been one or two?!"

"I had the same thought," admitted Batman. "Still, at least Joker's out of the game. All that remains is to track down the others and get those weapons away from them."

"What's up with these weapons, anyway?" asked Gordon. "I heard about the fight down at that warehouse, but we didn't get any real details. Any idea what they are?"

Batman had to fight to avoid showing any change in facial expression. He hated lying to Jim about anything (except his secret identity, of course), but he knew if the Rainbooms were exposed to the GCPD, there would be a full-on investigation regarding who they were, as well as their powers. The girls might even end up with criminal records, and considering all the help they'd given him so far, they didn't deserve that. He supposed there was no other option than to reveal as little information as possible. Joker wouldn't reveal anything about the girls to the cops, and even if he did, everyone knew he was insane. Nobody would believe him.

"I have no clue as to how they work," he finally answered. Not technically a lie. "I am certain that they're dangerous. I need to find the others and get those weapons out of their grip, and fast."

"But where could they be?"

"Joker gave me one word: Arkham. I think they might be planning to break all the other super criminals out of the asylum and start a new crime wave."

"Whoa," Gordon breathed. "Every supervillain in Gotham on the loose at once?! That would take months to clean up!"

"Exactly. That's why I'm going there now. My best guess is that they'll be using the tunnels under the asylum to get inside. Remember how Crane once tried to taint Gotham's water supply with fear toxin from there?"

"All too well," Gordon replied with a groan. "Still, are you sure you can take them on your own? They gave you trouble once before."

"I don't have much of a choice, do I?" said Batman with a grin. "Besides, they'll never see me coming this time."

"If you say so."

Soon after Batman pulled his disappearing act on Gordon again (that never got old), he made his way back to where he'd parked the Batmobile. On the way, he received a call on the com link he'd installed in his cowl. He didn't have to answer to know who it was, but did so anyway.

"Master Bruce, I've finished plotting the route through Gotham's sewers to the water main beneath Arkham. The map is in the Batmobile computer. It should be relatively simple to get there," said Alfred.

"Thank you, Alfred," replied Batman. "Hopefully the girls can keep up with me."

"About that, Master Bruce." Alfred went silent for a moment, and Batman could easily imagine the expression on his face as he debated whether he should ask this question. "Are you certain they're up to this task? I saw what happened when Sunset Shimmer attempted to read the Joker's mind. They've never faced anything like this before."

"I understand where you're coming from, Alfred," said Batman. "I had my own reservations about them helping, as you know. But they need this, as much as I need to wear this mask. I trust them."

"If you say so, sir. Just be careful."
"When am I ever not careful?" asked Batman with a smile on his face.

"Shall I go alphabetically, or chronologically?"

Batman chuckled a bit before he ended the call. With the press of a button on his utility belt, he popped the roof to the Batmobile, and climbed into the driver's seat. He grabbed the two-way radio from the passenger's seat and called up the Rainbooms.

"Alright, girls, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Batman," came Twilight's voice from the other side.

"We're going to the tunnels under Arkham Asylum, as discussed," replied Batman. "Remember, we'll need to be careful. The last time Scarecrow was there, he almost tainted all of Gotham's water with fear toxin."

"Ooh, that sounds really unpleasant," said Pinkie.

"Agreed." Batman pressed a few buttons on the Batmobile's computer. "I need you to follow my instructions carefully. Hopefully, we can get there before the criminals do and set up an ambush."

"Fire away, Bats," said Applejack.