Just Breathe: A batsis story

16 - One Last Battle

Chapter 16: One Last Battle

Alyna and Damian were sitting under a tree just outside the hospital watching as Tim, Jason and Dick kicked a stress ball around like a hacky sack. Every now and then the wind would blow a piece of Alyna's hair into her face reminding her she needed to get a haircut soon.

"Your hair is in my face, again," Damian grumbled. Alyna lazily tied her hair back into a loose bun not really caring if it looked cute or not.

"I've seen neater bird nests," Damian muttered under his breath, just quiet enough that Alyna could pretend she didn't hear him. She chuckled lightly, messing up his hair with her hand. "S-stop that!"

"Come on, let's show your brothers how it's done," Before Damian had time to protest she had already pulled him up off the grass by his elbow and was leading him towards the 'idiots' as he, so lovingly, calls them. He rolled his eyes tucking his hands into the pockets of his pants, begrudgingly kicking the ball as it came flying at him.

Unbeknownst to the group, a mere foot below their feet, under the soft grass and worm filled soil, was a cement tube built by the city to transport waste. But it wasn't the waste that they should be worrying about but rather who was scurrying beneath them.

Alyna felt goosebumps rush up her body, distracted she missed the ball and they all watched as it rolled over the edge of the sidewalk and down into a storm drain. She stopped Tim as he took a step towards the drain, putting herself between them. "I-I can get it,"

Tim gave her a look, his brows furrowed but shrugged it off and continued talking to Jason about some homework assignment. Alyna took a few steps towards the drain stopping as soon as she heard the repetitive beeping of some kind of device. The beeping stopped and a wave of pain coursed through her. The pavement below her feet uprooted and the cement sidewalk that rested just above the drain was launched into the sky in a crumble of its former self. Alyna's ears rang and Dick quickly grabbed her. Lifting her away from the explosion site.

"What the hell just happened?!" Tim exclaimed, as he and his brothers pulled a variety of weapons out from their casual clothes. At least they were always prepared. "Alyna are you okay?!"

"Y-yeah, I'm good," She popped her ears, ignoring the ringing.

"She better be or Bruce will have my head," Dick looked a bit pale. Alyna wasn't sure what he was more worried about. Alyna almost got blown up or what Bruce would have done to him if something had happened to her, or any of them really. "God he told me to watch you guys not ten minutes ago and one of you almost gets blown up!"

"Yeah you're a shit babysitter alright," Jason joked. As he and Tim protectively stood on each side of Damian.

"Well I think you're doing a marvelous job!" A voice echoed out from the dust. Dimitri steps out with a rusted knife, spinning it between his fingers til the tip of it pierces his thumb. Jason scoffed, mocking him for his lack of skill with a blade. But Dimitri just brought his thumb up to his lips and wiped his blood from one cheek across his lips and then to the other. Everyone stilled, they had not recognized him without the make up. But standing before them, as Xenon Grunts poured out from the sewers, was the joker.

Alyna felt sick to her stomach. Each grunt had at least a gun or a cleaver. They quickly surrounded them. "What luck! Not only did I find 207 but I managed to catch a flock of birds as well!"

"You haven't caught anyone yet!" Damian spat. His brothers quickly move to shield him from view.

"Oh really?!" Dimitri, or rather The Joker cackled. "Then let's fix that. Grab those BRATS!"

In an instant the grunts were on them, they were outnumbers six to one at least. They felt as if The Joker's painful laughter was coming from everywhere, spinning around their heads like the melody of an annoying song, stuck. The second they managed to defeat one grunt another took his place. They were being toyed with, the Joker wanted to make a spectacle out of them, mere entertainment.