Author's Note:

Hey everyone, sorry for being so slow at updating. I'm going on a camping trip for the next few days but after that the updates will be coming a lot quicker! Thanks so much for reading the story and keep commenting and voting because I love to hear feedback! Thank you guys sooo much:)

Chapter Seventeen:

Dick’s POV:

I just sat there, on my knees, starring at the static on the screen. I couldn’t move—I didn’t want to. Everything just seemed to be slipping out of my grasp. Everything I could ever want was finally mine and then just like that it was all ripped away from me.

“Can we still save her?” I asked, my voice cracking with emotion.

“I don’t know…I don’t know” Bruce replied, shaking his head with thought.

He took a deep breath in and then spoke again.

“I do know where they are holding her though”

My eyes shot up to him, filled with the one thing that could actually keep me going; hope.  He punched what seemed like a million keys on the keyboard until an image from the video popped up. He controlled the computer so that the image zoomed in on the reflection in one of the mirrors. It showed a piece of trash on the ground on the floor. The words read “East Gotham Memorial Theater”.

“Is that the abandoned theater by the pier?” I asked, my heart and mind racing.

Bruce nodded; I whirled around and ran toward the glass case that held my Robin suit.

“Wait” Bruce said.

“We don’t have time to wait, who knows what they could be doing to her? I’m not going to let this haunt me for the rest of my life!” I exclaimed.

“No…it doesn’t make sense. Why are they all working together? It’s not like them to put their own individuality aside…and why are you the target? They obviously took her to get a reaction from you.” He voiced his thoughts.

“Look, you have a point but we can’t just sit here. We need to do something and we need to do it now. So I say we go kick some ass”

Bruce gave me a look like he wanted to object to my idea but he knew that I was too emotionally compromised to change my mind. Within fifteen minutes we were on the roof of the East Gotham Memorial Theater.

“Stick to the plan” Batman whispered. I nodded in compliance and sprang into action. I unbolted a glass panel that lined the roof, Batman was the first to dive inside and I followed. Stealth was the key. The plan was to have me grab Annie and get her as far away from Joker as fast as possible while Batman subdued Joker and hopefully sent the lunatic back to Arkham Asylum where he belonged.

The moonlight shined through the windows lighting up the dark, abandoned hallway.  A pair of voices became audible. I followed Batman’s lead and dashed behind a loose pair of red velvet curtains as the pair of bodies walked past.

To my dismay, it was just a pair of Joker’s goons and not Annie. Crouching behind various objects and hiding in the shadows, we made it to some sort of stage room. Batman hid behind a row of seats on one side of the massive room and I hid on the other.

“You know Harley, this plan is ingenious. I wish I’d only thought of it sooner.”

Harley sat on the edge of a wooden stage, kicking her legs back and forth cheerfully. Joker walked about the stage as though he was giving some sort of monologue in a play.

Where the hell is Annie?

I felt a tap on my shoulder.

Why is Batman tapping me? He should be on the other side of the room.

I turned around and felt a massive force smash into my face. I honestly had no clue what had hit me. I felt a small amount of blood spurt out of my nose and made a mental note that I had received two bloody noses in the past week which was unlike me.

I looked to my attacker.

A pair of black combat boots stood in front of me, my eyes looked up to see who they belonged to.  

Adorned in a tight-fitting black and orange corset and tight leather pants of some sort, a clown girl stood before me. Her eyes were a glowing shade of emerald green and concealed in layers of black eye make-up and her face was as white like an old fashion porcelain doll. Her black lips formed a smirk.

“ANNIE?!” I exclaimed in utter confusion. “WHAT THE HELL?!” I shouted.

She kicked her leg up again but this time I had warning. I grabbed her ankle which kept her from kicking me in the face.

“Boy Wonder!” The Joker exclaimed as he had become aware of my presence. “You came to see the show?” He asked with an eerie grin.

“I see you’ve met the latest addition to the Joker family. Meet Jester.”

Without warning, Annie tugged her leg out of my grasp and did a back flip out of my reach. Then she dramatically curtsied.

Jester? You’ve got to be kidding me.

Not only had the girl I had been closest to been kidnapped by a homicidal maniac, she had been brainwashed into believing she was some sort of master criminal.

Awesome.

“Annie, you gotta snap out of this. He’s just using you. C’mon, this isn’t you” I said, hoping that I could somehow reason with her.

She just glared at me with the mesmerized green eyes that had replaced her beautiful brown ones. “You don’t know anything about me!” She snarled at me. Then she made a lunge towards me. I flipped out of the way, not wanting to hurt her. I couldn’t hit a girl, let alone the girl I liked!

“Annie, Stop!” I shouted as I dodged the various punches and kicks that she threw at me. I could see the frustration growing on her face, even through the clown make-up.

At some point, I lost focus and one of her blows connected with my cheekbone. It hurt like hell. I stumbled backwards before luckily catching my balance.

“Don’t make me do this, Annie” I pleaded.

“It’s Jester now” She replied smugly, not giving a damn.

She lunged at me again, but this time I was ready. I countered her punches and grabbed her wrist, pinning it behind her back.

It should have hurt, the way her wrist was pinned behind her body and considering how hard I was squeezing it. But she didn’t look like she was in any sort of pain. She struggled to be free and moved her leg to kick me in…a very unpleasant area. By reflex, I threw my fist out. It accidently connected with her jaw.

I put my hand over my mouth in shock. I JUST PUNCHED HER IN THE FACE.

I mentally scolded myself, but then I realized; she didn’t even feel it. She just looked at me with angry eyes.

Oh, this is so not good.