A "Safe" Mission

Decisions, Decisions

*mount justice*

"My body hurts." Wally complained, finally in civvies and plopping down on the couch. He was so done with the night and really just wanted to go to bed. He didn't want to stay up and get scolded, once again by the bat, for failing the mission.

"I wouldn't get too comfortable, Wally." Artemis says, plopping down on the chair next to him.

"I know... I know." He says and turns around to turn the TV on.

"I'm gonna contact Batman. So make sure to turn that off in a few mi-" they were cut off by a newscast girl who was yelling into the camera.

"The charity Banquet who was funded by Bruce Wayne has just been infiltrated by the Joker. We have yet to see what is happening but on channel 9, Becky Vilanteh is on the inside being forced to document by the joker about wha-" without even a pause, Wally turned it to Channel 9 and Kaldur, Artemis and Wally's faces fell into shock.

Joker was talking to the camera but they could see a young boy behind him, slumped in the henchman's arms. Wally turned it up and shot forward. "-i mean i know Bruce wayne knows the Batman. So it's either your precious son, or contact the Batman, Bruce Wayne. It's up to you. Harley. Mind lifting the boys head? He should always smile for the camera." The Joker says with a smile. Harley came over and lifted the boys head, making all of the young justice, currently in the room gasp. Robin's lip was busted open and his cheek had a bleeding cut on it and his head was bleeding. Harley, who was holding his hair, finally dropped his head. It dropped back down with a grunt.

"You have 2 hours to contact Batsy! Fail and every thirty minutes something will happen to the boy. START THE COUNTDOWN!" Joker sang. "You can turn off the camera, frightened girl, I'll tell you when to turn it back on." And with that, the screen went blue with a multicolored barcode at the bottom.

They sat there, staring at the screen until Wally stood up. "We have to contact Bruce." He states, finally cutting the silent tension.

"We can't do that! He will never forgive himself!" Artemis argued.

"But he has to know Dick is in that position! We can't keep him like that! We certainly can't go against the Joker and Harley Quinn! We need to tell Batman." Wally argued back.

"I don't think contacting him is such a bright idea. Plus we can take the Joker! We've done it before!" Artemis pointed out.

"But that was when It was just Joker and he didn't have one of us as a hostage!" He shouted.

"You know what-"

"Enough!" Kaudur shouted, putting a hand on his nose. "Wally is right. We need to contact the justice league. We don't know exactly how many people the Joker has and how many hostages." He says, already starting to tap away. Connor and M'gan were in the other room, not even aware of what was going on. That was until they walked out of the kitchen and say the upset faces and heard Kaldur speaking.

"Young justice to Justice league: we have bad news. Contact Batman." He says.

"Contacting Batman." The voice says.

After a few moments, the intercom announced Batman's presence. "Is this about your mission?" Batman asks.

They all looked at each other until Kaldur pressed the camera butting and projected it full screen. Batman accepted and they were now face chatting. Wally sighed, stepping forward.

"Since you are dealing with a lot I'm guessing you haven't heard or watched the recent news so I'll just explain it." Wally says. He paused waiting for batman to give him a "go ahead," before continuing.

"Okay, so we failed our mission," he announced, earning a bat glare but Wally immediately started up again before Batman could give a lecture. "But when we returned to base and we got into civvies. I plopped on the couch and turned on the TV. The news happened to be on and we saw something you won't like." Wally says.

Batman let it soak in before looking at them. "And why are you contacting me? Surely it is something you can handle right?" Batman asks.

Wally sighed. "It's the Joker." Wally says. "He escaped and that's not even the worst part."

"What's worse?" Batman asked, narrowing his eyes.

"He's looking for you." Kauldur stepped in.

"And? I'll deal with it la-"

"And he has Robin."