No Land for Men

Ties that Bind {EP-5}

There it was a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel, a  physical escape for him. He headed to it, seeing a drop at the end and a service ladder at the side, that was his way up. He had lost Harley some time, the stray light rays hitting his bare body. He crawled through a manhole, the road being one which had not been hit by water, it was on the far edge of the city, closer to the Strip, a side that had survived through too much it shouldn't have. He waded through the water and into a clothing store, grabbing the closest, dryest clothes and tugging them onto his battered body.
She ran a hand through her hair, filled with regret and guilt as she looked at Jason who was gearing up to head out into the water to search for Grayson, both of them were hungover, Jason barely remembering the night they had, but the fact she had very little clothing on meant he could probably make an educated guess.
"Don't come back without him." She said as she got changed, watching Jason leave, he scoffed some and rolled his eyes, heading down.
"How long do we have Jim?" Bullock asked, drying off papers that they needed.
"Maybe a few days at the most, it looks like they're pushing everyone into this quarter of the city, we'll maybe see Gothamites being put into temporary houses in the areas that aren't flooded." He was taking stabs in the dark at what the government would do. There were some flashes on the TV, a broadcast coming from somewhere, an alert message usually used to address the city's population. It came up on the tv in the clocktower, as well as tvs in shops that were still working, one Grayson was close to, every TV on the strip and in the other districts were playing the same warning image and music.
"It has come to my attention people of Gotham, that the GCPD, the vigilantes, pussballs like Victor Freeze, they all want Gotham to be under control, they want to dethrone the current kings of the crop" It was him, of course it was, he was in some kind of broadcast studio., stood in front of what looked like a torn up green screen background, some of his costumed lackeys surrounding him. "Well, I say this to you now, Cobblepots, Sionis, Falcone, anybody with any level of power, fight them, take those peace-loving, power-hungry cowards out!" He spoke, seemingly trying to aggravate the Rogues in Gotham, though it wasn't working.
Oz looked over at Zsasz and laughed some "Why the fuck should we do what this ugly bastard says?"
Freeze sighed, leaning his head on his hands before inhaling sharply and looking at his men. "Time to kill a clown."
Ivy didn't even have access to a TV.
Grayson watched, sat on a shop counter, away from the water beneath him, tired of being wet and damp. He eventually hauled himself up, letting Joker ramble on the TV before the speech ended. He headed up the stairs to the second floor, looking out the window at the clock tower, he needed to get back and get healed up.
"That should be enough to intimidate them, they'll take out each other, and then we'll reap the benefits" Joker spoke with a proud smile and his arms folded.
"Uh, Mr J, there's pretty much an army outside of Freeze's men."

Freeze had solidified the water between him and Joker, letting his men walk across, down it like a street. He wanted revenge on the clown for what he did to Nora, and nothing was going to get in his way. "Alright baby, grab the guns and go to the roof. "He spoke, his voice rough still, he needed medication, he couldn't move as quick as he used to be able to, almost walking with a limp, his twisted neck was on show however, proud that he survived and The Bat didn't. "Boy's distract him!" He said and hobbled as fast as he could, leaving his men to try and figure out what to do, they settled on opening fire on Freeze.
"It's turning into a Warzone out there, be careful." Babs said, she was devastated, unsure of if her boyfriend was dead, and unsure of what she had done the previous night with her best friend, her hand pressed to the comms in her ear, she had finished her armor upgrades and repairs, ready to go out into the waters herself.
"Holy shit!" Oz yelled and laughed, eyes wide as he looked over Gotham. "Dad's gonna be pissed." He scoffed and looked over at Zsasz.
"Correct sir, he's not too far now, he's coming in by air."
Harley made it to the roof, tossing Molotovs over the edge of the building, down onto the iced-over street where Freeze and his men were. She was laughing as it melted the ice, Freeze attempting to keep up with it, re-freezing it over as his men opened fire with their automatics, plastering holes through the building. A few guys were up there with Harley, returning fire, hoping to make the enemy back away from them, Joker however was not there. He had gone down the fire escape with one or two guys, he had a select number of loyal followers who had been out recruiting for him, all ready to meet at his new base, Amusement Mile. "Make sure that fucking clown doesn't get away!" Freeze demanded to some of his men, they split off to try and follow Joker after spotting him escape down through a dry alleyway, Freeze himself backed off back down the road, taking a longer route so he could gather men on the way.

"We need to get a handle on all of this Bullock, we can't have that asshole joining the fight!" He shouted in frustration, throwing damp papers off of one of the desks, referring to the Joker.
"I know, I know Jim! We'll take him down, but first we need to get out of this shithole and make sure they don't go through with the protocol, pack everything up fellas! We gotta move!"
Harley had ziplined down once there was an opening, leaving her grunts to try and dispatch of Freeze's men, she headed after J, following him to the Old Gotham Theme Park and Carnival, the old Haley's circus get-up was there too.
Babs headed down, in her gear and ready to search for Grayson, no knowledge of where Jason had gone, for some reason satellite activity was playing up, meaning any kind of tracking was flickering on and off. She used a re-breather to help her stay underwater for longer, searching around the crashed oil rig where Grayson went offline. No trace of him, or at least there wasn't at first, she had almost given up hope and that's when she saw an Escrima stick, flickering with a little light beneath the water right next to a sewage opening. Taking a deep breath, she dived under, following where the line went, luckily ever since the quakes, sewage just went straight into the waters surrounding Gotham, meaning most of the sewers had semi-clean waters running through them.
She made it down to where it looked like Grayson had landed, seeing bits of his armor that had chipped off, she tucked the Escrima into a slot in the back piece of her armor, still following that system, seeing dried up blood and bits of armor along the way, it looked like it had practically fell apart.
Then~
"Look what I found" Her voice low and taunting as if she was dragging back a prized deer she had hunted,hauling Grayson's broken body behind her, he was covered in cuts and bruises.
"Oh baby, you are such a good girl." He replied as his eyes glared at what she had discovered. "Hurry, bring him over here for me, we need to wake him, before we have another run in with Cockface the Crocodile."
Now~
She saw the chair they kept Grayson on, lots of blood, but no signs of his body, surely if Joker had killed Nightwing, then he would have bragged about it during his big announcement, so she took a stab in the dark that he was alive. She headed through to a small service room, a place used by engineers, inside was a bed, on the floor a mattress, an end table by it with medical equipment on, to the side was a small bathroom through a doorway, including a toilet, a sink, and a mirror, a razor coated in dried blood was laid on the counter, bits of dried flesh on the metal surface of it. Another stab in the dark, this is why the ugly bastard's face was seemingly cut off, and reattached with medical staples and stitching. But why?

"But why?! What did I ever do wrong to the snowman?!" He asked one of his men.
"Uh sir, you killed his wife, in front of him..." the henchman replied and shrugged a little bit in confusion.
"So what? He used to just stare at her anyway, he still can, her remains are in the ice cream tub I sent him." Joker nudged his way past the male, all his words deadly serious. "How many did we get?" He questioned another one of his men, higher up in the ranks this time.
"About 10 of Cobblepot's men we found stranded in the water, then all of Falcone's men that are still alive, something happened..."
"Oh no! She's not dead is she?" Joker gasped out and covered his mouth. "That old broad was a real nut busting machine."
"N-no sir, he's dead, her husband, he was killed by Pyg and his farmhands, turned him into a giant eagle, or penguin, different to tell with all the water."
Joker proceeded to crease into laughter. "Alright alright stop! Get as many men as possible on the entrance, don't let anyone in, I don't care how blue they are, or how many wind-up penguins they have, no one steps foot in the park!" He demanded to the man, sending him off to do so.

The helicopter landed on top of the nightclub, men standing around the landing pad, it was a military chinook, painted black and grey. The doors opened and he climbed out, looking around at the destroyed city. "I missed a lot." He said and looked at the blonde boy who had been waiting for his arrival.
"You have,father." Oz replied and shook his hand. "Let's redesign, rebuild, and reclaim."