Harley's Funhouse

Harley's Funhouse : One Shot

Gotham : 11:22 PM, Spring Night.

Nightwing grappled effortlessly through the air, landed at his destination without incident. He perched himself n an adjacent building while staring at the ominously quiet carnival attraction. Witnesses placed Harley Quinn at the scene, as recently as 3 hours prior. It seemed that Harley was busy scheming while Joker was locked up in Arkham. Batman was going to interrogate Joker, while Nightwing was going to confront Harley. He scanned the abandoned game stands and concessions areas. After finishing his surveillance, the vigilante pressed a finger to his comm.

"Nightwing to Cave." He said curtly.

"Cave here. Go on Nightwing." Barbara replied.

"I'm at the fun house, no signs of activity. Going to take a closer look."

"Copy Nightwing. Careful out there. Cave out."

He hopped to the ground, replacing his escrima stick in its holster. With a deep sigh, Nightwing stepped into the funhouse.

The Acrobat had anticipated some kind of horror show when he broke into The Clown's hideout. He scanned the area for corpses and traces of blood; nothing.

"No hostages, no bodies..." Nightwing said to himself, examining the lobby he had walked into. The hallway was lined with distorting mirrors and caricatures of clowns. The Dark Heir ignored his reflections as he stepped deeper into the funhouse. He failed to notice the Jester hiding behind one of the mirrors.

Nightwing stepped into the next room. It had tunnels shaped like faces, its walls covered in vibrant circus colors. The room was adorned with decorations and party favors. It was as if there had been a celebration there recently. Nightwing lifted his gaze to see a banner hanging up above one of the tunnels. His eyes went wide as he read the message scrawled on it in spray paint.

"Welcome Birdie Boy!" It said in red and black, causing his heart to flutter in his chest. The lights shut off.

Patter patter patter.

He swiftly turned to the direction the footsteps came from, escrima sticks buzzing to life as he drew them. He stepped cautiously as anxiety crept into his stomach. The assailant was well trained, able to avoid coming up on Nightwing's scanners. He felt like he was in a diving cage with a tiger shark.

Patter patter patter.

There it was again, this time much closer to him. Nightwing tried to use his escrima sticks to illuminate the room. His breathing had gotten a bit faster after the footsteps made their second appearance. He gritted his teeth in frustration.

"SHOW YOURSELF!" He yelled.

"BOO!" A feminine voice replied from above. Nightwing was briefly blinded as the lights flashed back on, seeing a figure pounce at him from the rafters. Nightwing rolled out of the way as Harley attempted to slam her bat at his head. Nightwing crouched as he flung his escrima stick at her, only for Harley to deflect it with ease.

"Can't we just talk Harley?" Nightwing offered, a single escrima stick in hand. Harley swung at him again, this time following up with rapid strikes to Nighwing's sternum. He doubled over briefly, before back flipping out of harm's way.

"So that's a no on the conversation, got it." He quipped, holding his ribs with his free hand. "How about-"

"LESS TALKY MORE SMASHY!" She yelled, swinging at his head again. He sidestepped the attack and brought his escrima stick down on her left knee. She dropped to the ground but managed to bring the bat down on his left forearm. The force caused him to drop his other stick.