Anjo

41

The sight before them was nothing more than horrific. "Oh my god." Superman mumbled, swallowing down the bile rising in his throat.

Superboy looked away. Taking slow deep breathes to calm his racing heart as he listened to Superman speak slowly into his comm. "Batman, I-" Superman took a deep shuddered breathe. "I don't even know what I'm looking at, but can you just get to Crime Alley. Now."

"I'm en route to you, Kid Flash is in the area. Try to meet up with him. Batman out."

That got both the Kryptonians attention as they gave a nervous glance to each other. Quickly, Superman scouted the area. "I don't see him anywhere around us with my x-ray vision."

"I can't hear him either." Superboy added, making the knots in his stomach twist more as he looked back at the scene in front of them. "You don't think he's-"

"No. No. I don't see him." Superman cut in quickly. "He's not anywhere around here."

Superboy nodded slowly at that. A tiny bit relieved as he whispered, "What could do something like this?"

"I-" Superman took a deep breathe as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know."

"I do." Both men jumped as they watched Batman approach from the shadows. The frown on his face deeper than usual as he took in the horrific sight before them.

He sighed loudly, stopping just in front of the display. "Flash, meet me-." He started, but a blur of red had immediately appeared before he could finish his sentence.

"What's up Bats- oh my god!" Flash exclaimed, taking a few quick steps back from the scene with his hand clamped over his mouth.

"I see four males. Judging from the build of their body, I would say late twenties to early thirties-"

"Where are their heads?!" Flash interrupted the Dark Knight, sending him a panicked glance before looking back at the two Kryptonians for answers.

"They were like that when we got here." Superman stated.

"Kid Flash probably saw what happened. He was investigating the area." Batman mumbled. "Did he tell you where he was going?" He asked Superman.

"We- we haven't seen him yet." Superboy explained.

"Kid Flash. Status report." Batman immediately spoke into his comm, shooting Flash a slight glare as the speedster poked at one of the bodies with a small gag. "Kid Flash. This is Batman. Tell me where you are." He tried again. But received no reply.

Now Flash was starting to get worried. "Hey Kid, are you there?" He immediately joined in, speaking on the open channel so the rest of the hero's scouting the city could hear. "Anyone have eyes on Kid Flash?"

A chorus of "no's" met his ears, followed by a familiar voice asking "what happened?"

"Um.." Flash began, looking back at Batman for help. It was possible the younger speedster was currently busy at the moment?

Oh what the hell, this was Gotham and the scene before them screamed that something was definitely wrong.

"We have five bodies in the area Kid Flash was supposed to be and are unable to locate his whereabouts." Batman cut in.

"What?! Where are you? I'm heading over now."

"Anjo, please calm down. There are already four of us looking for him. I need you to focus on finding Robin." Batman explained.

"Batman, if I may," Aqualad cut in before the acrobat could. "The team is more than capable of continuing the search for Robin. If Kid Flash is in any danger, Anjo would be best suited to help since he knows the city so well."

"I got your location. I'm on my way now." Anjo stated. Deciding to not even bother hearing the Dark Knights decision.

Batman sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Anjo was letting his own personal feelings for Kid Flash cloud his judgement.

But so was he..

He looked over at Superboy. "You'll he helping the team look for Robin." He stated. The half Kryptonian gave a small nod. Quickly taking off. "Flash have you found anything?"

Said speedster gagged slightly as he reached into the last of the pockets of the bodies before him. Nodding slightly, he held up four cards. "Yep. Joker cards." He stated, gagging once more. "And they got letters written on them."

Batman held out his hand, taking the cards and sprawling them out on the ground. The other two hero's were leaving over him as he placed them next to each other one by one to spell out a single word. "We need to get Anjo off the mission. Now."

"He won't do it." Superman stated. "Two of the people he cares for the most are missing and all fingers point to Joker."

"And if we don't take him off the mission, two missing people are going to turn into three." Flash added.

"He's not going to listen." Superman argued.

"You're right, he won't." Batman sighed. Staring back down at the four joker cards before them. "But it's obvious who the true target is. We can't let Anjo know Joker did this. Not right now."

"So what are we supposed to tell him?" Superman asked.

"Just keep him distracted until we can find out where Joker is. We don't need him doing off on his own and doing something reckless again."

"He's going to be pissed when he finds out we hid the truth from him."

But light shuffling could be heard behind them as Anjo appeared on the scene. Ceasing their conversation. It was a bit unnerving how unfazed the acrobat was at the sight of the four bodies before him, but he had other things to focus on. "Have you found anything yet?"

Flash quickly gathered up the cards before the other could see. "Um nope. Not yet." He stated. Watching as Anjo rose a brow at him before he circled the bodies, poking and inspecting every inch.

He was quiet a moment before saying, "The blade that severed the head wasn't sharp enough to cleanly do this. The skin on their necks are too jagged." He stated. Reaching down and picking up a couple of their hands, looking them over and then the shoes on their feet. "Hands are all scratched up. Especially around the fingers and their shoes have multiple scuffs on the heels.." He gently placed a hand on one of the bodies. "They were alive when it happend."

"Ew, ew, ew! No!" Flash groaned. Bringing his hands up and over his ears. "No details! No details!"

"Their killer wanted them to suffer." Batman joined in. Making Flash groan in disgust.

"But where are the heads?" Anjo asked.

"Whoever killed them, must've took them." Superman joined in. "But why? What did he need the heads for?"

Anjo shot the Kryptonian a look. "He?"

Now Batman was shooting Superman a look. A very dark look. "I-I mean, I'm just assuming it's a 'he'." Superman quickly choked out.

Flash was rubbing his temple with a sigh while Batman glared daggers into the man of steels skin. "I see." Anjo mumbled. "Thats understandable. A lot of Gothams villains are men. But the woman are just as dangerous." He explained. "Don't just let the fact that their woman make you think they're weaker."

"Right." Superman nodded. A bit too enthusiastic for the acrobats taste.

Anjo raised an eyebrow, but made no comment. "I'm going to investigate the surrounding area." He said, placing a gentle hand on Flashs shoulder. "I'll let you know if I find anything concerning Wally." He gave the speedster a gentle smile before walking away.

Turning a corner, he looked down at the four Joker cards in his hand. The letter on each card spelling out a certain name, his name.

So the Joker knew who he was..

But now, the acrobat knew where to go.

To be continued