She's Sunshine, She's Grace, She'll Punch You in the Face

Chapter 58: The Joker

"There is only one road leading into Arkham, so our best bet is to set up spike strips to stop them from circling the whole building." Batman spoke.

As he gave out directions, everyone listened and followed his orders. Officers immediately broke off to do what was asked by the Batman himself and some seemed almost overly eager to do so.

"We expect inmates to be trying to escape from the front and the back of the facility where the doors have just been blown off." The way Batman spoke held a strong authority that could not be ignored. "Joker is the most flashy and therefore will most likely be here to greet us right at the front doors with a hostage. I believe the other higher priority inmates will most likely try to escape from the back so we will need heavy forces back there as well." He turned to the commissioner. "Your forces will need to split up. I'll be sending Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin and Robin back there as well. I will stay at the front with Ivy, Harley and Ladybird."

"Oh, you haven't forgotten about me, have you?" Catwoman gracefully made her way through the crowd of officers to stand directly in front of Batman. "Looks like you could use this cats help." She winked at him.

Jim took this opportunity to make his way out. "Okay, officers." He cleared his throat. "Come with me to find your stationed positions."

Batman kept a straight face the whole time and once the officers were out of earshot, he finally turned his attention to Catwoman. "Why are you here?"

"It's always work and no play with you, isn't it?" Selina joked before answering. "A couple of birdies told me what's going on and it's been awhile since you and I had some fun like this." As she spoke, she lightly ran her hand down his chest.

"Ya made it, Selina!" Harley cut in cheerfully. "The sirens are back together again. How fun!"

"Am I correct in assuming you two are the couple of birds who tipped her off?" Batman looked at both Ivy and Harley.

"Guilty as charged!" Harley gave the brooding man a wide grin before turning back to Catwoman. "You're gunna help us at the front gates, yeah?"

"I would never leave my girls behind in a fight. Plus, I'm dying to see Ladybird in action." She gave a small wink to the bluenette.

"Well we better get into position. We have about three minutes." Batman looked over at his sons. "Keep in contact and remember..."

"No killing." All his sons answered in unison.

"Don't worry." Nightwing smiled. "I'll keep them in check." He briefly waved before all four of the boys disappeared into the shadows to move into position.

"Stay safe, Ladybird." All but Ivy and Harley could hear Robin speak up over the comms. The rest of the boys cooed at him along with Oracle before he continues. "The Joker is unpredictable, so keep your eyes open."

"I hear you loud and clear, Robin." Ladybird speaks up as she tries to keep her blushing down to a minimum.

"Oh, you guys can hear each other?" Harley frowns. "What a bummer. Don't you feel left out, Red?"

"I'll keep you updated when need be." Batman ordered. "For now, let's get into position."

"Everything is set up and ready to go." Jim spoke as he came back from a group of officers. "Their armed men are close. We just caught sight of them on our GCPD traffic cameras."

"How many?" Batman asked.

"Three large white vans. Less than a minute out by now." Jim took a deep breath. "Let's do this."

"You are our first line of defense from the outward attack. Just slow them down and hit your emergency signal if you need backup. My team will work with the escapees."

"Business as usual." Jim sighed before walking off.

Batman and his crew made their way over Arkham's large gates to prepare for whatever may come their way. Just as all their feet touch the ground again, the loud sound of tires popping and breaks squealing sounded off from not too far down the road. Not a second later, the front doors burst open and the Joker could be seen with a doctor in a lab coat he has held at knife point as a hostage. A large group of inmates could be seen crowded behind him, cheering him on.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite caped crusader!" Joker began to laugh hysterically. "Looks like you crashed lady's night."

Ladybird felt uncomfortable chills run down her spine when the Jokers eyes finally landed on hers. His smile became even wider when the first round of gunshots started to ring out behind them.

"Now this is a new face. Found a new one, did you Bats?" He never took his eyes off of the bluenette. "I love it when you find me new toys to play with."

"Asshole." Oracle spoke up over the comms.

"This is your one and only chance to surrender, Joker. Give up now while you have the chance." Batman was unfazed by his antics. Fighting could be heard from behind them and over the comms as Batman tried to talk him down.

"Why would I go and do something like that?" Joker finally turned his attention to the man before him. "And after I went through all this trouble to set this whole shebang up? Nah. No thanks." He began to laugh again.

"I dunno why ya even try to reason with 'em." Harley rolled her eyes as she toyed with her bat. "He ain't ever gunna listen."

"Harley dear, you are correct for once." The Joker smiled menacingly at her.

"Do not call her dear, you pathetic excuse of a man." Ivy retorted.

"Oh, Ivy." Joker tightened his hold on the doctor. "How are you enjoying my sloppy seconds?" He cackled.

"Listen." Selina nimbly walked over to Batman and playfully leaned against him. "Not that I don't love a good cat fight, but I got something to do tonight." She sneakily slipped her hand under his cape to where no one else could see. "So, can we wrap this up?"

While all of this happened, Batman never broke character and kept his signature bat glare on Joker.

"Fine." The joker abruptly stopped his laughter. "What a party pooper."

Ladybird could see that his change of attitude was a sign for a turn for the worst so she acted fast. She saw how his eyes snapped towards the doctor he held hostage and she worked at lightning fast speeds. Her yoyo was set free and wrapped around the Jokers wrist in a flash. She yanked hard on her end of the yoyo, forcing the doctor to stumble free and out of his grasp.

Ivy then followed suit and vines grew around the doctor, effectively pulling them out and away from any danger.

"Plan B it is then." The Joker smiled as he swapped his knife over to his opposite hand.

This must have been a signal for the inmates behind him to start their attack because they all charged at once. The Joker was trying to cut himself free but it didn't seem to be working.

"Hey, what's this thing made out of anyways?" He followed the yoyos string back to its source. "You mind if I take this?" Joker grinned wildly as he pulled on the string too.

Ladybird was pulled towards him and she just barley dodged his knife attack that he aimed right at her face. She let her yoyo run slack so she could pull it back towards herself. Taking a brief look around, she noticed that everyone around her was engaged in a fight with at least three other people and Batman alone was dealing with over half a dozen.

"Look's like no one is here to help you fight the big bad Joker." He roared with laughter.

"It's a good thing I don't need help." She gave him an icy stare as she rapidly swung her yoyo in a circle.

"You must be the one Two Face mentioned. Ladybird, right? I thought you would be much bigger." He started to wave his knife around without care as they both slowly danced around each other, sizing the other up. "You're so... tiny." He snorted.

"Thank you, captain obvious." She spoke sarcastically.

Joker began to laugh even harder at her attitude. "A sense of humor? Oh, I like you, Ladybird. I don't think I will kill you... today." And with that final remark, he lunged at her.