A Tale Of Clowns

Chapter-18 The Clown Games Begin!

Barbara dropped her cup, He was back. She thought Harley and Red Hood blowing up his hideout would be the end of it but no. He was alive. He was here.

"HELLO GOTHAM! DID YOU ALL MISS ME? I HAVE BEEN GONE FOR A WHILE, WHAT CAN I SAY RELATIONSHIPS ARE HARD! ESPECIALLY WITH PEOPLE WHO BLOW UP THE HOUSE YOU LIVE IN TOGETHER! So Puddin, how about we talk it out? One on one? No Ragweed, No copycats, No Capes? I'm waiting~ Oh and you know me, I always come back with a bang! Have fun finding the bombs I've planted around the city! Byeeeeee!"

Barbara sighed and sent an alert to the Batcave, it was an all hands on deck mission. She opened Joker's file, leaving Jason's file open as well, she also opened Red Hood and Harley Quinn's files, they were the reason he went missing for so long and Joker wanted to see Harley, but where?

As she was going through the cameras trying to find anyone of the Crime Alley crew her alarms went off. She checked her cameras and she saw that the tower was broken into. This was the first time it had happened....

She pressed her emergency beacon, immediately Robin and Batgirl sent their locations and ETAs. She took out her escrima from her drawer and pressed a button to close the door leading to the main room.

It was useless however as the intruder managed to get in any ways. Barbara froze.

It was him. "Gordon! Long time no see!" He said looking straight at her.
"I have to say when I dangled those thugs from a building for information about this 'Oracle' I never expected that it would be you! But I should've known... Batgirl was never a quitter after all." He pounced on her, syringe in hand.

She whacked him in his jaw with her escrima. Knocking him to the ground. "Oh For fucks sake everyone is a karate master these days! I swear I should've taken away your hands!" He grumbled looking at up at her scowling. She looked down at him, right in the eyes, and said "Joker, you took nothing from me." That shut him up.

He didn't try fighting again, he pulled out a spray can and sprayed it right on her face. He pushed her chair away as she coughed, going through the open files, then, he got what he was looking for. Red Hood and Harley Quinn's files, but he found something else.

A file called "Jason Todd." As Barbara was knocked unconscious Joker read Hood's and Jason's files.
Jason's statements of "If he'd cared for me then he would've killed the Joker!" That he said to Barbara over text messages and Red Hood turning Harley against him..... "OH MY GOODNESS!" he wheezed "BOY BLUNDER IS BACK FOR REVENGE! WITH DOUBLE DADDY ISSUES!"

He soon left the tower, couldn't risk more Bats coming here now could he?

***
Robin and Batgirl arrived well after Joker had left. After making sure Barbara was okay, they layed her on her couch, whilst Batgirl reported to Batman and Nightwing, Robin went through Barbara's open files, Joker must have come here for something important.

He was not ready to see the late second Robin's face to be displayed right in front of him. After reading his file his questions had all but doubled, sadly now was not the time to get any answers, he also noted the name and appearance of the "Chris Smith" Who owned a garage with Jason.

Next he reviewed Red Hood's file. He read it again, and again, and again. "No...." Batgirl ran over to him "What's wrong?" She questioned, Robin read over Jason's then Red Hood's file, again.

All those times Red Hood had called him out for insulting Jason and Stephanie, the beating he had received at his hand.... Oh dear God.....

"Jason Todd is Red Hood. And Joker knows."
How were they going to tell Bruce? Learning this now.... Learning this now would destroy him!

***
Wingman, Frank and Poison Ivy were once again breaking every speed limit known to man to regroup with Red Hood and Harley as soon as possible, Joker was back and they knew how vulnerable they would be to the clown's influence.

The Joker had meant his promise of 'no ragweed' and 'no capes' however. They were met with heavy gunfire as they got closer to Ivy's safe house. Joker's goons somehow knew about Ivy's safe house.

Wingman grappled up to a rooftop but mid grapple he used his helium tank to launch himself higher in the air. Ivy ran over two of Joker's goons with her car. She threw Frank at the third, his screams were music to her ears.

Wingman responded to their bullets with their own while sending a distress signal to Red Hood. But gliding while shooting wasn't easy and the goons managed to get a hit in, sending Wingman plummeting below, Ivy immediately grew a vine from a potted plant in her car to catch Wingman and safely put him on a rooftop.

"IVY WATCH OUT!" Frank yelled, Ivy turned in the direction he was pointing at to see him there. Holding his customized flamethrower, it was pointed towards her. She managed to jump to the right so as to not get her whole abdomen and chest burned, instead she got her shoulder and side burned.

"OH FUCK YOU THIS WAS MY FAVORITE TOP!" She yelled at the Joker sending more vines towards him, he burned all of them and he was about to burn her again when Chris started firing towards the Joker with his uninjured arm.

Joker got in his Joker mobile with his goons and drove away.
Ivy and Chris collapsed where they were and waited for Red Hood and Harley Quinn to show up, not knowing their whole fight had been seen by Robin, Batgirl and a now conscious Oracle by a nearby trashy security camera.

***
Saying Red Hood and Harley Quinn were angry was an understatement, Chris and Pamela could feel their rage as they examined their injuries, Jason's eyes we're glowing green, they hadn't been green since he fell in the acid.

Jason gave Chris his pain killers as he worked on getting the bullet safely out of his arm, it wasn't like they hadn't patched each other up before but Chris had never been hurt this badly, is this how he felt when he saw Jason with his entire body bleached? To see his childhood friend turned lover in a state like this after he had just got him back from the dead?

Harley was going through a similar crisis, Pamela was the one patched her up after the rocket crashed, She would sometimes appear invincible, but seeing her now... In a state like this, it hurt. It hurt seeing someone she loved so much hurt like this. She didn't bother holding back the tears as she tried to help her unconscious friend, Bud and Lou sat beside her, just for comfort.

When they had laid Ivy on Jason's bed and Chris on Jason's couch, one Hyena accompanying each of them, they moved to the kitchen to discuss their next move, Frank joined them.

"So. How are we torturing him?" Frank said, Jason and Harley had never heard him sound so serious.
"Well I think we should beat the shit out of him with a crowbar and a baseball bat, then smash his balls and then castrate him, cut off all his limbs, cut his tongue out, gouge out his eyeballs, rip his jaw off, shoot him in the spine and then burn him alive. " Jason's eyes only glew brighter and brighter as he spoke.

Frank nodded in approval but Harley stayed quiet, a distant look in her eyes. "Harley? You there?" Frank asked, Harley snapped out of her thoughts and grinned, it was her old maniacal grin for her villain days. Oh boy this is gonna be good. Jason thought smiling back.

"Harley? Do you have something to tell us? Something that can hurt the Joker?" Jason asked. Harley just nodded, "So you know how I was his therapist for months?" Frank and Jason nodded. "You know how he managed to get me to hate Batman and get me over to his side completely? He told me about his family. His real name? Is Jack Napier. He had a wife and son, the kid was an infant, the day Jack fell in the acid was the day his family was killed by a rival gang.Last I checked their old house is still owned by him, no one has gone in to it from that day."

Harley could see the wheels turning in Jason's head. "So, what you're saying is we blow it up before torturing him?" Jason said, his smile growing wider.

"Yep." She said smiling back

"LET'S FUCKING GO!" Franck exclaimed.