Nightwing and Harley: Revenge of the Joker

Chapter 5: Judge, Jury and Executioner

The pale full moon lit up the horizon as Nightwing and Harley appeared in the Gotham City graveyard. He led her to the grave of Barbara Gordon.

"She believed in the good side of Gotham, the people, the mission that Batman had started for the both of us. Even in the darkest of moments, she found hope," said Nightwing.

"How long were you two together?" asked Harley.

"Not long enough," sighed Nightwing.

Harley looked down at the grave.

"I heard so many stories about all of you, Joker would go off on tangents. Were you really the Boy Wonder before this?" asked Harley.

Nightwing nodded.

"Babs always wanted me and her to go off on our own to be our own heroes, the protectors of Gotham. I was tired of being Batman's Robin, I needed to be something else," said Nightwing.

"What do you mean?" asked Harley.

"Gotham needed a hero after Batman decided to hang it up, but I'm not even close to the hero he was," said Nightwing.

"You can only do so much," said Harley.

"What I've done on my own hasn't been good enough. If I've been better she would still be alive," said Nightwing.

"You don't know that, the Joker would have done everything in his power to hurt you guys in some way. He always gets what he wants," said Harley.

Nightwing shook his head.

"I need to know you're with me right now, because I'm warning you. Any setback, any change of heart or anything like you tried back there and I will not hesitate with you Harley," said Nightwing.

Harley nodded her head, her blond curls falling around her.

Nightwing's ear set begins to go off.

"It's Jim, we have to go now," stated Nightwing. They boarded his motorcycle and headed in the direction of the police department.

At a round table sat Jim, Nightwing, and Harley. In the middle of them was a pile of files, each pertaining to one of Joker's victims. Nightwing's eyes carefully examined each face, a face before it was deformed and lost its color and life.

"All of these people have one thing in common, they were involved in placing the Joker in Arkham, there is only one person left in this,'' said Jim.

He put the picture of Judge Surllio on the table, she had been a court justice in Gotham for many years, putting some of Gotham's most notorious criminals behind bars.

"She denied the Joker bail and was even pushing for the death penalty," said Jim.

"What should we do?" asked Nightwing.

"We have to take a trip to Judge Surillo's house," said Jim.

The dark decrepit building was the foundation of the new hideout for the Joker and his many goons. The Clown Prince stood in the mirror gazing at his work that was imprinted on his knife, the blood of the prosecutor forever stained. His madness was a ticking time bomb ready to be set off at a moments notice and destroying whatever was in its path. Something was off, however, as his gaze felt a little more unhinged. Knocking on the door to the room was some of his loyal goons.

"Boss we haven't had any luck finding them, they're in and out of everywhere they go," said a goon.

"Oh pity, for a minute I thought you would actually be useful for once," said the Joker.

"We've done everything we could, the guys are tired and this new place is awful," complained the goons.

A group started to rally behind him, one of them approaching the Joker. However his smile only grew as the knife he held penetrated the stomach of the first one. He dragged the blade across his chest, cutting him open like an animal in a butcher's shop. The blood splattered in his face as the goon fell to the ground. He turned to face the other men while licking the blood off the blade. They were all frozen to the ground in fear as he stabbed the next man in the face, carving a smile while he was still alive. By the time the Joker left the room, it was a bloodbath and in Joker's hand was his knife and a piece of Harley's clothing.