Fan Fiction ❯ Appearance of the Joker ❯ Where's Waldo -- I mean Robin? ( Chapter 2 )

Teen Titans: Appearance of the Joker

Chapter 2: Where's Waldo -- I mean, Robin?

Rating: PG-13, for lots of violence, some swears, and some perversion, and because I don't want to be a rated R author.

Disclaimer: Not mine… never has been mine… and won't be mine anytime soon… rats… I'm going to be one dirt-poor person for awhile… Oooh! A penny! BACK OFF! I SAW IT FIRST!!! ((growls))

Author's Note:

Alright… well… you know how I said that this story should be "fairly easy" because the basic storyline is not original? Yeah, well, who could have guessed that adding a bunch characters, changing Robins, and describing more than the movie did would possibly make it difficult? (Yes, sarcasm greatly intended) Yes, so that is why, for those of you who read it, that the old chapter 2 was deleted.

I realized not long after I finished the old chapter 2 that I was horribly unqualified to be a Batman-related fanfic writer. I'm a nitpicker who hates nitpickers. To avoid them, I have to get a good sense of what I'm doing. And that's what I've been doing. Renting videos, reading biographies, taping TT and watching it religiously… It's getting really sick. ((hides sketchbook full of Robin drawings))

This whole story has been dedicated to my friends, who have been putting up with my new Batman obsession for the past couple of weeks. They include, but are not limited to, Alicia, Kayli, Jessica, Monyee, Topher, Glenn, Sarah, and anyone who has read my xanga in the past week.

Read and Review, especially if you want me to work harder and faster!

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The Teen Titans… or the four of whom were present anyway, strolled as casually as possible down one of the busy streets that made up their gigantic city. Starfire was absentmindedly twirling her hair around one finger as she voiced her concerns for Robin, as she had been since they left the tower. After over an hour of it, the others weren't paying close attention anymore.

"Suppose those HIVE children who have caused us such harms in the past have imprisoned him," she went on, "in hopes of draining away of his memories and making him a HIVE member as well. Or perhaps maybe someone has transported him to a planet of desolation and savages, like PentSirius, or Rigel 4."

She stopped suddenly, causing the others to halt as well, turning to face her with annoyance. She didn't seem to notice as she looked fearfully up at them. "And what of these intoxicated porno store owners? You don't suppose they have something to do with…"

A loud burst of laughter from Beast Boy stopped Starfire mid-sentence. He bent over, gripping his side as he snorted in perverted glee. Cyborg gave a loud hacking cough, to cover up his own outburst. Raven merely raised an eyebrow sardonically.

Starfire looked incredibly confused. "Did I say something of amusement?"

"Don't… worry about it…" Beast Boy managed to gasp before a second round of high-pitched giggling engulfed him, sending him onto the ground. Cyborg stepped over the snorting changeling and over to Starfire, placing ua hand gently on her shoulder.

"Robin's just fine," he said in a soft, reassuring voice. "He knows how to take care of himself."

"His locator probably just got destroyed in a brawl," said Raven in her usual calm but cheerless way. "He'll turn up sooner or later."

"I do hope that you are right," Starfire said softly, sounding still worried.

A soft grumbling startled them out of their conversation. The three of them turned to Beast Boy, who stopped laughing and got to his feet, a guilty blush spreading through his face.

"Uh… heh heh… Guess I'm getting a little hungry," he admitted, grinning widely and patting his stomach. "We're close to the pizza place, after all… Hey!" he exclaimed, as though just thinking it up. "We should go get a slice! What do ya say?"

The others stared at him unenthusiastically, and a drop of sweat ran down his head.

"It was just an idea," he said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Actually, that's not a bad idea. I could go for a slice," said Cyborg, looking down the street, where the pizza parlor stood only a block from where he stood.

"A glorious suggestion!" said Starfire, in a suddenly enthusiastic tone. It was obvious by her expression that she wished to act as though nothing was wrong, even though she was still incredibly worried. "Come Beast Boy! Let us go feast on the cheesy crusts!" She grabbed Beast Boy by the wrists and shot off toward the corner, dragging the dumbfounded changeling behind her. Cyborg raised an eyebrow in a mixture of amusement and confusion, then turned to Raven.

"Well, we might as well go ahead and join them… Hey, what's up? …Raven?"

Raven didn't seem to be paying any attention to him at all. Her eyes were cast off into the distance, deep in thought.

"Hello, Earth to Azarath! Do you copy?" Cyborg asked, waving one of his large metal hands in front of Raven's blank stare.

"Huh?" she gasped, blinking and looking up at him.

"What's up?" he repeated.

Raven opened her mouth to answer, but then seemed to think better of it and shut it, tilting her head down so her face was completely hidden by her hood. A few moments passed in a heavy silence.

"I don't know," Raven confessed finally, in a strange voice that Cyborg rarely ever heard her use. She looked over at him, her eyes flashing a look that was distinctly troubled "It's just, Robin has disappeared on us before, and he's always made it back to us… but do you really think it can always be that way?"

Cyborg stared silently down at Raven, unable to answer her question. A horrible tingling dread passed over him at her words, because he, like the other Titans, knew of Raven's psychic powers. If she felt something was wrong about Robin's disappearance, then something must indeed be wrong.

"Come on," he said finally, gesturing toward the pizza place. "Star and BB are probably halfway through the first pizza by now. We better go and…"

"MRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

A strange sound cut off Cyborg in mid-sentence. He saw with a rush of horror that a shadow was forming around himself and Raven. Raven, who was already looking upwards because of Cyborg's height, gasped and dove out of the way. Cyborg looked up just in time to see a large green mass filling his range of vision. He had no chance to move before he was smacked down to the earth by a particularly heavy cow.

"Beast Boy!" he gasped, wincing as he pushed against the heavy hairy body pinning him to the ground. "What the hell, man?"

"Hey! It wasn't like I meant to get thrown off!" the changeling yelled, the moment he turned to human form.

"Aw, man," groaned Raven as she helped the two to their feet. "Not them again."

Cyborg didn't need to think twice before he knew who it was. He cast his gaze down to the pizza store and saw Starfire floating just above the second story terrace, her hands glowing with her green radiance, and before her, standing on tables and looking very smug with themselves, were the three best members of the HIVE squad.

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It was the scent of dust and the hum of electricity that first caught Robin's attention as he slid out from unconsciousness. He was aware of it, but that was just before the pain erupted in his head, and all thoughts of it were erased. He cried out despite himself, screwing his eyes up against the pain, mentally telling it to go away. But it wouldn't. If anything, it grew worse.

Damn that woman, Robin cursed silently, trying to reach up a hand to massage his pounding head, but realized with a jolt that he couldn't. Straps secured him tightly to a flat surface, not just by his wrists, but by his ankles and waist as well. He threw his eyes open and started pulling on his restraints, testing their strength. It didn't feel like they would give out anytime soon, he decided as he stopped to look around him.

He was in a small room, lit only by a flickering blue glow that sounded like it was being created by some electricity behind him. The walls on either side of him were lined with huge metal structures, which could only be incredibly outdated computers. He could see dials, switches, and meters along their surfaces. Wires sprouted from beneath them, snaking along the floor in many ways, some heading out a curtain lying directly before him, acting as another wall. And finally, off to one side stood a long table, where Robin could see the shadowy outlines of a large assortment of items, but couldn't quite identify them all… was that a plunger?

Where the hell am I? he wondered, tugging again at his restraints, but of course, they wouldn't give.

It wasn't long before he became aware of something else. Music had appeared from somewhere. A wave of unease washed over him as he stopped his struggling to listen. It sounded like a sort of upbeat carnival song. Robin sighed. It was way too typical. He should have seen it coming.

The curtain flew open suddenly and the room became fully illuminated with an intense light. Robin cried out in alarm and threw his head to one side, shutting his eyes in attempt to keep the brightness away from his sensitive eyes. The volume of the music increased, and there was the sound of a tooting party horn.

"Welcome, Robin! Welcome to the party!" said a cheerful, high-pitched voice before a second blow of the party horn right against his ear nearly deafened him. Robin squinted against the blinding light, his eyes adjusting far too slowly for his patience. He was just barely able to make out the tall, strong build of the villain that stood there, teetering slightly on his feet, seeming more excited than anything. His purple suit stood out brilliantly against the white light flooding into the room.

"Aw, now why are you looking at me like that?" Joker asked, feigning sadness. "I thought you would be happy to see me! It's been so long!"

Robin glared up at the Joker's haunting white face. "You…" he growled. "What are you doing? Where am I? What the hell do you want with me?"

Joker's beaming white face took on a look of innocence, and he scratched his head. "Oh so many questions. You know, if I had known there would be a test, I would have studied."

Robin grimaced, his head pounding worse than ever as he stared up at the Joker, who's piercing red gaze held his own for several moments before he looked away thoughtfully.

"Well, my little birdbrain," the Joker said, beginning to pace back and forth before Robin with a slight bounce in his step, his hands clasped behind his back. "I just got to missing you, I suppose. You just got up and left Gotham without me being able to throw you a farewell party. I must admit, I felt quite rejected…."

"I'm sure about that," Robin grumbled.

"So I asked myself," Joker continued, as though Robin hadn't said anything, "Why not have one anyway? A belated farewell party is better than none at all! Oh, but no, I answered. He would never accept such an invitation. Not willingly anyway."

Robin gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, straining against his bindings, wanting nothing more than to give this man a good hard kick in the mouth.

"Oh, now, now, Birdbrain! Don't be so restless!" Joker said with a laugh. "I know you're excited. After all, we have so many party games planned! Truth or dare, dress-up, charades, spin-the-bottle."

Robin was unable to hold back an outcry of disgust at the last one.

"Oh, well, maybe not that last one. We'd have to see what sort of mood Harley's in," he added with a wink.

"Where is Harley?"

"Oh, she's out and about, getting together the party favors and ordering the pizza. But that's okay. We can continue the party without her…"

"Quit clowning, Joker," Robin spat. "Tell me what it is you are planning!"

"What I'm planning?" the Joker repeated, a whoop of laughter jumping into the middle of his sentence. He raised his hand and gave Robin a few hard raps on the head with his knuckles, causing his head to give a particularly nasty throb of pain. "Now, now, Robin. You and I have both seen far too many movies to know that you never reveal your master plan to your enemy, no matter how close you are to winning."

"No duh," Robin grumbled.

"Besides," Joker went on, his voice dropping to a low coldness. "I have already told you what I'm planning. Games. Lots of fun games…."

A shudder ran down Robin's spine at the tone of Joker's voice, and the way he was staring at him… It felt him with an incredibly feeling of foreboding. The Joker stepped slowly up to him, his eyes flashing with an intense anger and hatred as he stared the boy deeply in the eye.

"Trust me, Robin…" he said dangerously, his face contorting into the most malicious smile he could possibly manage. "We will have tons of laughs together…"

This is not good…

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A/N again

((graceful bow))

Well, my puppies. Just wanted to make another note here. Just letting you all know that I have been working my little arse off on this story. I'm going to reward it by putting a Batman tattoo on it. ^_~ And, I'm completely serious, this chapter has gone through at least 6 revisions in the past couple of weeks. It is of my highest quality. I think those of you who read my old chapter 2 will agree that it's way better.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the two reviewers that have been most helpful: TigerHelix (good ideas. I'll keep them all in mind!) and InuKurama (you were the one who made me realize how much the old chapter 2 sucked!! Beast Boy doesn't think! What was I doing?!?!). For those of you who weren't mentioned, you can have the honor of being mentioned if you just be helpful in your reviews! Tell me what you liked, what you didn't, give me suggestions, etc.

I'm now taking requests for funny things you want to happen to Beast Boy. Anything you want, as long as it has nothing to do with death, rape, tapioca pudding or Michael Jackson. I'm thinking high heels right now… ((giggles inanely))

Review por favor!! Chapter 3 is in the works, and should be up in the next couple of weeks.

~Lighty~