We don't deal with outsiders very well
They say newcomers have a certain smell
METROPOLIS
Aug 15, 02:00
"We need a certain operative for an upcoming plan," Savage explained. Large faces stared down at me from my own screens. Even Luthor's. It had been a week and we hadn't spoken at all but the unspoken boundary had been set and we both seemed to respect and agree with it. Savage continued, "But he's still imprisoned for his previous crime."
"Who is the operative? Is he at Belle Reve or Arkham?" I asked.
"Arkham." Klarion smiled with glee. "You're fetching the Joker." I clenched my jaw to control my glow and anger. They were testing me.
"Is that a problem?" Queen Bee taunted.
"No." I said flatly.
"Good. His partner, Harley Quinn, will be there to pick him up. They will BOTH leave alive and unharmed," Savage warned. If I had to prove my right to be on the Light, then so be it.
"Understood."
ARKHAM ASYLUM
Aug 16, 00:00
I sat outside of the sight lines of the prison towers, waiting for Joker's getaway ride to show and my mind wandered. How could I justify this? Joker killed me, killed Jason, yet here I was, about to release him from Arkham.
Team Year Four
GOTHAM
Oct 31, 21:20
"He'll be fine," Batman said as we were on our way to Joker's hideout. Jason Todd had been missing for weeks and we had received a Joker card with Jason's blood on it. After some detective work, the entire Batfamily and Gotham PD set out to an abandoned warehouse to save Robin. Bruce remained calm but I was a mess inside. "You trained him for this kind of scenario."
"Except I was kidnapped by Scarecrow. Joker is a completely different psychopath." I looked at the card again, fighting my imagination to keep from thinking of ways the sadistic Joker and Harley Quinn have tortured him. "He's just a kid, Bruce. He shouldn't have had to be trained for this."
We were the first on the scene and as we crept inside, Joker's laughter pierced the night. Followed by screams.
Team Year Five
ARKHAM ASYLUM
Aug 16, 00:04
The screams echoed in my mind as I realized a ridiculously loud sports car was fishtailing down the road towards me.
What is this shitshow thinking?
The red car purposefully stopped inches from me but I stood unflinching. The car would end up with all of the damage anyways. Harley popped out of the sleek car and popped a large bubble from her gum. From behind the safety of my helmet, I glared at the crazed woman.
"So you must be the new boss everyone is talkin' 'bout. Hmmm... you don't seem that tough ta me. What's the helmet for? Ya got some scahs or somethin'?"
"Don't worry about it," I said through my voice altering helmet. "Just stay here and wait for us to come back. And don't do anything stupid. If you can help it." I turned to the entrance to the tunnel that was previously dug.
"I bettah come along." Harley skipped to catch up to me. "Mistah J will probably killya soon as ya set him free and we wouldn't want that now, would we?" Her smile was venom laced with sugar. Jason's screaming echoed in the back of my mind.
"Fine." Before I did something stupid, I turned away from the woman I'd most like to see roast. We walked to the tunnel that was previously dug and crouched to fit in the small, dark hole. Scarecrow's mask flashed in my mind. I took a deep breath and turned to Harley.
"From this moment on, don't talk," I said quietly.
"Okay," Harley loudly whispered.
"What did I just say?"
"Don't talk?" She said innocently. I growled. "Oh! I gotchya. Oops." She mimed zipping her mouth up and I shook my head, wondering how Joker didn't kill her.
We began crawling into the hole with nothing to light the way except for my red glow. I made sure to keep focused, keep breathing, but Harley's bubble gum popping was starting to get on my nerves. We were too far into the tunnel and under Arkham for me to chance even glaring at her, let alone threaten her to stop. Thank the gods that soon enough, we were to the end and underneath Joker's cell. All I had left to do was melt a few feet of dirt and then the flooring. It was like they built this place to be broken out of.
I motioned to Harley to back up. Placing my hands on the ceiling of the tunnel, my hands heated up the earth and concrete until it started glooping down over me, rolling off my hot suit and falling in a magma pool at my feet. Soon, I was through and stared up, waiting.
Didn't this asshole know we were coming?
I whistled and a green haired, white skinned demon popped his head over the hole, grinning from ear to ear.
"Funny, I don't remember scheduling a wake up call." His voice grated my ears as I remembered his laugh echoing in my mind. My hands clenched.
"Puddin'!" Harley yelled, startling me out of my homicidal daydream. I quickly turned to her and glowed brightly from annoyance. She quickly covered her mouth. "Oopsies."
"Harley," Joker whispered. "Aren't you a sight for gouged eyes." He plopped down the hole quickly changing his smile into a snarl as he turned to me. "Who is this?"
"She's new," Harley said as she hugged me, quickly letting go when I growled.
"Yeesh... Has she had her shots?" He said out of the side of his mouth. "What's your name, kiddo?"
"Pyrrha," my altered voice reverberated strangely in the small tunnel. "Now let's go. Your cell neighbors heard your loudmouth girlfriend and have probably sold you out by now."
The tunnel felt even longer on the way out. I was out front to make sure this asshat didnt cave the tunnel in on me but his silence was unnerving as he followed behind me. After getting out of the hole, Harley squealed and ran ahead as we brushed ourselves off.
"Look, Mistah J! I got you a new car!" Harley flipped and cartwheeled to the stupid red car.
"Harley, my felonious femme, you shouldn't have! I didn't get you shit," he said as he pushed her out of the way and opened the car door. A stumbling Harley regained her balance and bounced to the passenger side just accepting the abuse. I stared at her and her strange relationship as she seemed positively gleeful he was back. Joker paused before getting in.
"I gotta say, kid, thanks for bailing me out. But why'dja do it?"
"Wait," I held my hand up. "You didn't know anyone was coming for you?"
"She's part of the Light, Mistah J."
"Who do you work for? The neanderthal? Cueball? Queen Bitch?" He mocked.
"She's one of the main members! Can you imagine? Just outta the blue too. Nevah even seen her before."
"Shut up," I said to Harley and turned back to Joker, my skin beginning to crawl. "You aren't part of ANY plan for the Light?"
"Nope. Just a free agent now. No plans for the future except for causing chaos in Gotham with my Harley," he patted her head like a dog.
This was a test. My blood began to boil, my skin began to glow as I realized exactly how elaborate and intentional this was.
"How odd that they'd send you out instead of, say, whoever dug that tunnel. Not one of THEM does grunt work. And especially with you being one of the head honchos?" His eyes widened. "Why, it must be a test! To see if you'd kill me or not. Well then, we must know each other!" He frowned and tapped his white chin. "I don't remember hurting anyone lately. Oh, except for purposefully-accidentally burning up that batbrat." I flinched a little and he quickly jumped on it. "Oh! That's it, isn't it? Well, color me surprised! That's why you wear the helmet. So no one knows it's you under there. What a test! You must be just HOMICIDAL right now. I killed your baby bat-brother and then I killed you." At this point, I was using every ounce of willpower I had to control my fire. And he could sense it. "But how are you alive? Improved AND playing for the other team!?"
"She's one of dem meta-humans, baby." Harley interjected into his monologue. She aimed a finger at me. "Don't think I haven't forgotten what you did to me!"
"So," he grinned, showing far too much teeth. A sight that once haunted my dreams. "I'm like your daddy! Oh, that must just put a wasp's nest in Batsy's leather underwe-" a gutteral sound of surprise came from the green haired freak as I grabbed his throat tightly and pushed him into the car, bending the frame. A groan came from the metal and from him.
"I should rip you apart right now and make her watch," I gritted through my teeth at the psychopath.
"Tsk tsk! You can't hurt us! Light's ordahs!" Harley shouted through the open car door. A tense moment passed between us until I loosened my grip, reluctantly allowing him to breathe.
"That reminds me," he coughed. "So, kiddo, what horrible thing did you do to be worthy of sitting at the head table? Who did you kill? Or who WILL you kill?"
"Get in the damn car or it'll be you," I whispered menacingly. He slunk inside the car again and tried to close the door, slamming it on the bent frame. The door flung back out. He frowned and tried again. Then again and again and again. The alarms at Arkham began to sound. I grabbed the door and ripped it off.
"Just. Go."
"Yeesh... Let's paint the town red, doll!" He yelled.
"Oh, Puddin'..." she swooned. I watched them drive off like the fucking psycho jackasses they are, realizing the terror they would cause and knowing I would be the reason.
A scream began echoing in my head again.
Team Year Four
GOTHAM
Oct 31, 21:30
"Jet, stop," Batman grabbed my arm and pulled me back from running to Jason's screams. "We need to analyze the situation."
"Right. You're right," I said, mindlessly but my grey eyes were wild and furious. My anger was always an issue but hearing Robin screaming brought murder up as a valid option.
A gunshot popped and the screaming stopped.
The world slowed. I could hear my heartbeat as it pounded. Batman turned his head towards the sound and I pulled from his grip. As soon as I was free, I ran towards the gunshot. My body froze as I saw a limp body laying in a pool of blood.
Time sped up as my anger took control and I ran behind Harley Quinn. Pulling out my grappling hook, I wrapped it around her neck and shot it into the ceiling. She gagged as she lifted off the ground, causing Joker to spin around with a smoking gun in his hand. I punched him hard in the throat and he fell to the ground, dropping the gun. Grabbing it quickly, I sat on him and held the hot gun to his head. I couldn't think straight as he laughed at me, spitting blood.
"Jet!" Batman yelled out. "Jet, don't!"
GOTHAM CEMETERY
Nov 2, 10:31
"Jet." Bruce walked up next to me as I watched the casket lower into the ground.
"Don't." I warned. "Don't tell me. He escaped Arkham." We sighed in unison. "You should've let me kill him."
"That's not how we do things," he explained as the other heroes paid respects and walked away, nodding at us.
"You're worried about your code? The blame would've been on me, not you."
"I couldn't let you carry that weight, Jet."
"He was family, Bruce," I seethed. "And he was murdered. Now that psycho is out in Gotham looking for another laugh." The crowd began to disappear.
"I need to know you won't go after him," he said gruffly. I turned to him defiantly.
"I don't answer to you anymore." We stared at each other tensely until I faltered and sighed. "When we have all left you, Bruce, how will you justify your code of honor? When you are all alone with nothing but the Batsignal in the sky and devastation all around you?"
"I'll know," he clenched his jaw, "I didn't turn into one of them." Shaking my head, I chuckled and walked away.
"Don't call me up unless it's something big."
Team Year Five
METROPOLIS
Aug 16, 03:00
Standing in front of the large screens, I did my best to remain composed. I took my helmet off so the Light could see my eyes.
"It's done."
"Any complications?" Savage asked.
"No."
"Good."
"Might I add something?"
"You may," said Ra's al Ghul.
"Pull some bullshit like that again and I will light all of your bones on fire and watch you burn from the inside out past the point where any amount of money, radiation, or pit goo can bring you back."
The group, excluding Lex, just smiled at me like this was some sick initiation then the screens went black.
'What horrible thing did you do?'
With Joker's words fresh in my mind, I thought about my new 'family'. Murderers. Psychopaths. Sociopaths. Tyrants. Megalomaniacs.
And I was one of them.