Justice League Begins – Free the Joker?

Arkham – Dr. Fine's office

Not long after Bruce left, Milton returned to his computer and started to type rather rapidly. Kara contemplated how she could talk Milton out of doing what she thought he was trying to do, yet her mind when about as blank as the walls of the office. A few pieces of furniture, the couch, the desk, a book shelf and sunshine pouring in from the balcony were the only things to disrupt the four blank white walls. The overly organized nature of the bookshelf looked almost artistic with books arranged by height and color.

"We really need to talk," Kara declared.

"Sure, but not here and not now. How about you go to the park? I can have Jason meet you there, if you like," Dr. Fine said calmly.

Although she knew how wrong this was, something about that appealed to Kara. She blushed and let out a nervous laugh. "You know, right up until you walked through that door, I thought he was you," Kara admitted.

"You thought he was me and you actually let him kiss you," Milton asked calmly.

"Bad judgement! I know! But now…" Kara began.

"But now you know he wasn't me," Milton interrupted just as calm as ever.

"That isn't what I was going to say," Kara replied.

"We can discuss this later. There is a good reason I didn't want you to come here anymore," Milton was going to say more, but this time it was Kara who interrupted him.

"Yeah, like you didn't want me to catch you killing someone!" Kara blurted out a bit louder than she intended. "He is actually trying to help Kal. He just doesn't realize all you're trying to do is…"

"He might be trying to buddy up to your cousin for now, but as soon as Kal does something he doesn't like, I guarantee he will be right back to trying to kill him. That is just a matter of time. You will see." Milton looked Kara right in the eye.

"You don't know that for sure," Kara doubted him.

"Oh, but I do," Milton responded.

"What did you do?" Kara could feel the rage building up inside, yet she knew acting on it would be a grave error. Her eyes glowed with a yellow energy. "My friend, Zadkiel, was right about you. I should have listened to him. Ironically, his blindness let him see you better than anyone!"

Suddenly, alarms sounded everywhere. Usually super hearing was an advantage for Kara, but right now, it felt more like a curse. She covered her ears. "Ahhhh, please make it stop!" Kara pleaded.

Milton touched the computer in the room. An invisible energy flowed through his hands. A few moments later, all the alarms suddenly stopped. "Better?" Milton questioned.

"Much!" Kara nodded and smiled.

"See, I am always looking out for you," Milton assured her. "But that alarm means there is some kind of emergency here. You really should go…"

"And help fix whatever the problem is," Kara stated.

Parking lot – Outside Arkham

Elsewhere, Bruce wished to be in two places at once. He wanted to pursue Jason and he also wanted to stop the Joker's men. Barbara, better known as Batgirl, used to claim women were superior when it came to multitasking, but not today. As he rushed to his car, Bruce already started dialing for Alfred. He switched his phone to a hands free mode and didn't bother waiting for an answer before starting to change into the Dark Knight outfit.

Once Alfred answered, Bruce continued to get suited up while he gave instructions. He told Alfred to go to the bat cave and use the facial recognition software to find someone who looked like Jason Todd. He noted this man was extremely dangerous, much more so than the real Jason. He requested that Diana pursue him, but not engage under any circumstances.

Batman knew he heard the alarms go off, then suddenly all of them stopped. He was still pretty confident that whatever the trouble was, it wasn't over. He wondered if the Joker's men had a way of disabling the alarms. He rushed off to go stop the Joker's men. After everything the Joker did to both Jason and Barbara, the idea of simply killing the Joker certainly held a seductive appeal.

Front desk of Arkham

The front office of Arkham pretty effectively hid much of the horrors within. The waiting area felt cozy with a fake fireplace, somewhat comfortable chairs, and tables stacked with an assorted collection of magazines. There was even a mini fridge stocked with soda, ice tea and bottled water. Scenic paintings depicting mountain ranges, a sunset, and an island paradise suggested a warm and inviting place, yet it was nothing of the sort.

The true horrors of Arkham rarely made its way to the front desk, yet today was an exception. Two of the Joker's men had the receptionist held at her desk at gun point. "Where are the Joker and Harley Quin?" one of them demanded to know.

"I don't know," the receptionist insisted. The little hairs on the back of her neck all stood up. She feared for her life.

Dr. Fine and Kara walked in from the stairs, about the same time Batman busted in from the front door. "Let her go. She doesn't know anything," Dr. Fine stated calmly.

Another of the Joker's men pointed a gun at Milton. "Then you tell me. Where are the Joker and Harley Quin?"

"They are on a private jet being transferred to another cell in Washington D.C. Their flight leaves in about an hour." Milton looked the man right in the eye.

Batman breathed a sigh of relief at the realization that the Joker's men had no chance of freeing them today, but that didn't automatically mean the men would just go away. They probably would free other dangerous prisoners, hurt or kill hospital staff and cause massive property damage.

"Oh, man, you can't be serious," the man looked Milton in the eye, hoping for a sign that he was lying, yet there was none. "I don't believe it!"

"See for yourself," Milton walked toward a door marked security followed closely behind by two of the Joker's men.

Batman used the batarang to knock the gun out of the man's hand who threatened the receptionist. The man quickly changed weapons and held a knife to the receptionist's throat. "Stand down or she dies! I will kill her!" Batman put his hands up.

"Don't kill her," Kara pleaded.

"Don't kill her," one of the Joker's men mocked her. "You should be more worried about what we are going to do to you. You are next."

"I don't think so!" Kara raced toward the man holding the knife so fast that they barely saw her. She forced the knife from his hand and shoved him into a wall. Then she raced back through and grabbed the receptionist and rushed her to a safer area. Her speed caused magazines to fly everywhere.

Now that there were no more innocent people here anymore, Batman proceeded to take down man after man one by one with a bit of ease. Several of the men opened fire on Batman, but his armor easily absorbed the shock. Batman did a sweep kick which knocked one of the men on his ass. Then he lunged forward and punched another one in the face. Another of the Joker's men picked up a chair and thrashed it against Batman's body. Batman could feel some pain from this, but for the most part, his armor took the brunt of the hit.

Kara returned rather suddenly. One of the remaining Joker's men looked her over. "Wait, isn't that the girl that tossed the J-man around like a rag doll," He asked. Kara just shrugged. She had no idea that J-man was a nick name for the Joker.

Security room

Milton led two of the Joker's men to the surveillance room. This room totally lacked any windows to the outside world, yet various monitors showed just about every room in the complex and even outside areas too. One guy had his back turned to them as they entered. He watched the screens while still trying to figure out how to turn the alarms back on.

"Don't move or he gets it," the Joker's goon said to the security officer.

Milton pointed out all the monitors that showed images from all over the complex. "I told you, no sign of Harley or the Joker," Milton crossed his arms. He had an odd lack of concern with the threat of being shot.

The Joker's man read the name tag from the security officer's shirt. "Mike, show me where the Joker and Harley Quin are. Now!" he pointed a gun at his head.

"Ok!" Mike used the controls to show a particular cell on the screen. "What the!" Mike said when the monitor stopped on two empty cells. His hand went to his mouth. "They must have…"

"I told you, Ms. Waller ordered them transferred. They are on a private jet," Milton reiterated.

"On their way to Washington D. C., yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time. Which means I have no further use for either one of you." He quickly shot both men in the chest resulting in Mike going down. Milton didn't even flinch.

"You are de…" Milton began to speak. He stopped talking once he noticed Mike let out a healthy sigh of relief, and started getting back up on his feet.

The man who fired at them looked on stunned. He couldn't believe how ineffective his gun was.

"Thank goodness for bullet proof vests." Mike assumed Milton had one too.

"Looks like I will just have to aim higher," the man raised the gun to his head.

Milton easily forced the gun from the man's hand and pinned him to the floor. His grip was like iron. "Who are you?" the man winced. He could feel the circulation in his hand being cut off.

"Now you are going to tell your little band of thugs that they got the wrong location and lead them all out of here," Milton loosened his grip.

The Joker's man pulled out a little hand held short distance communicator. Just before he was about to speak, a voice came over the transmission. "Found them."

"Damn it!" Milton whacked him on the head, which made a loud thud.

"I am confused. They are still here?" Mike questioned with his eyes fixed on the monitors.

Milton ignored Mike and returned to the main room where Batman pretty much finished tying up the Joker's men. "They found the Joker. Let's go," Milton turned to the elevator. Kara and Batman both followed him.

He took them right to the bottom floor. This building had about three levels of basements. Because of his identity as Bruce Wayne, he knew the elevator shouldn't just open at the bottom floor, you needed a staff key. Milton definitely had one, but he didn't use it. The door just opened automatically. Now wasn't the time to question this. They raced to the holding cells that contained the Joker and Harley. They were in separate cells across the hall from each other with barred windows facing each other. One of the Joker's men was trying to pick the lock.

Holding area

Batman used the Batarang and wrapped it around the man and tied him up.

"Sweetie! Why haven't you returned my calls?" The Joker grabbed the bars of the cage he was in and looked Kara in the eye. The bars suddenly triggered an electric pulse that zapped the Joker and forced him to let go.

"I always return your calls, Puddin," Harley called out from her cell.

"She is so stupid. She thinks I am talking to her." The Joker laughed and reached his hand out toward Kara.

"Me?" Kara only just began to realize the Joker was hitting on her.

"What? Why are you calling her sweetie?" Harley demanded to know.

"Good question. I have no idea," Kara admitted.

"Awe, sweetie that is because I don't know your name. But no matter, I can make one up for you. From now on, you will be known as Porsche!" the Joker grinned.

"Ignore him!" Batman suggested to Kara.

"What are you? Her father? She can talk to him if she wants to," Milton declared.

Batman gritted his teeth. Of course, Milton wanted to convince Kara that the human race are basically scum and what better way to do it then show her the worst examples of humanity. This was no different than when he told her to explore Gotham city to see for herself what human beings are like.

"Oh, she wants to. I can tell. Don't you Porsche?" the Joker gave a wide grin with a blood curdling laugh. The sound of his laughter brought a smile to Harley's face. Kara found it to be almost as annoying as the emergency alarms.

"No, I don't. I am not your friend," Kara insisted.

"I don't want you to be my friend. I want you to be my something else," the Joker laughed creepily.

"Why would you think I would even be remotely interested? We only met once and all I did was break your gun and…" Kara bit her lip as she realized she probably should not have said that in front of Milton. He warned her not to show off her powers in public.

"Hopefully, nobody saw you do this," Milton quietly said to Kara.

"Oh, I don't think anybody noticed," Kara gave an overly wide grin and tried her best to look innocent.

"Oh, nobody except several million football fans," Harley smirked. She quickly realized Milton had a problem with this girl taking the spotlight, so she smiled right at Kara. "I will bet all the cameras zoomed in on you when you tossed my Puddin right at me." She wanted the Joker to remember being thrown, so she had to remind him of that and question why he was hitting on her. "Do you remember that Puddin?"

"Of course, I do. It was love at first throw," the Joker explained with a chilling grin. "Don't worry sweetheart. I promise to throw you at some nice place in return."

"I suggest a volcano," Harley piped in again.

"That is never going to happen." Milton glared at the Joker.

"What are you? Her father?" the Joker laughed excessively loudly. "Let's see that awesome strength again! How about you rip this door right off the hinges?" the Joker suggested.

"But then you would escape," Kara said.

Batman found this turn of events very concerning. He had little doubt Kara couldn't destroy this entire building in record time and without that green rock, he had no chance of stopping her.

"Yeah, that would be the idea. How else Porsche, my dear are we supposed to have our first date? I already have it all planned out. We will start with a visit to the local slaughter house," the Joker laughed creepily.

"What?" Kara exclaimed as she didn't know what that even meant.

Harley picked up immediately on her puzzled expression. "Oh and I am the stupid one? She doesn't even know what a slaughterhouse is. Do you? It is so romantic. You are in for a real treat. Total stench of death. You will love it!" Harley grinned. The Joker just nodded at what Harley was saying.

"Then we will go to the history museum," The Joker said. Batman couldn't help but to wonder why on earth the Joker would have any interest in the history museum. Before he could ask, the Joker actually answered the question, with a gleam in his eye. "They recently opened an exhibition of medieval torture devices."

"Oh, Puddin, I thought you were going to take me to that," Harley pouted. She looked at him with pleading eyes.

"If you see anything you like, we can steal it for later," the Joker raised a brow at Kara. "Just a preview of all the fun things I will do to you later."

"Are you insane?" Kara asked.

"Yes, why, yes, I am," the Joker grinned at Kara as though she just paid him a huge compliment. "Then we will have a moonlit stroll through the cemetery," the Joker grinned.

"For a virgin sacrifice!" Harley nodded with a bit of a wild look in her eyes.

"You are a virgin, aren't you?" the Joker asked with a nod.

"None of your business," Kara crossed her arms.

"Yep, definitely a virgin," Harley said with a bit of a smirk.

"Shut up," Kara glared at her.

"Awe, it is ok to be a virgin," Harley said comfortingly. "Of course, I would rather be dead myself."

"I said shut up!" Kara glared in response to Harley's psychotic smile. Her eyes glowed yellow.

"Ignore her. She is just jealous. Come on! Be a bad girl. Show me your strength. Rip the door right off," the Joker pleaded.

"You want to see strength, ok," Kara moved close to the cage.

"Don't!" Milton called out to her.

"Trust me, I know what I am doing," Kara advanced to the door of the Joker's cage and stretched her hand to just outside the bars. The Joker reached his hand out for her. She grasped his hand. At first the Joker laughed, but then his expression changed to that of fear as Kara's grip got tighter. "Don't ever call me Porsche again. In fact, don't call me at all." She let go of his hand.

A/N

I would like to thank my beta readers bearhow, CSGT and Loki God of Evil. My beta readers go over this for sense of story and give suggestions. They don't correct spelling and grammar. I would also like to thanks to ZadArchie who allowed me to borrow his character Zadkiel. I do intend to have a future flashback chapter that explains exactly what Kara was talking about.