THE UNDERGROUND

"You were marvelous out there, Jane. You've broken through his trust barrier. Getting him to gush like that." The entity that resembled (Y,N) complimented Jane by the entrance of the Underground late into the night.

"Whatever gets me out of prison and these suicide missions quicker." Jane said. She didn't want to think about how good of a time she had anymore. "So what's your stupid plan all about again? Why do I need him to trust me?"

"Because you'll have a hunch on Punchline's whereabouts. You remember seeing her on the news during her initial arrest saying she was Alexis Kaye of Snyder University. She stayed in Finger Hall." He was interrupted by Jane laughing.

"Finger Hall?" Jane repeated through her laughter. "Is that by Fisting Hall?"

"Cute. It was named after the creator of the Bantam book series about a detective that had his work stolen by his coworker."

"Bantam? Sounds a lot like Batman."

"None of that is important. What is important is (Y,N)- and the rest of you search for her in the hall!"

"How do you even know that we'll find her there?"

"Like previously stated the two went to the same school and Alexis stayed in that hall. (Y,N) passed her many of times."

"Why would she be there now?"

"She may be there, she may not. Her time as Punchline began long before her expulsion and she was obsessed with the clown. There's a... possibility she rigged the room to kill anyone if they entered it and she forgot materials in it. It can't hurt to check."

"A possibility? What do you know about Punchline you're not fucking telling me!?"

"(Y,N) has locked out parts of her in his head."

"But you know them, right? So tell me."

"I've told you all that is necessary." He began to grow tired of Jane's disobedience.

"Listen here you fuck! I've been playing fucking nice with you but I haven't liked you since the second you came into my fucking head unannounced! So either you tell me what I want want to know or you can get the fuck out!" Jane shouted at him. The right side of his mouth lifted into a smirk for a slight second, almost like a muscle spasm.

"Snyder University. You saw it on the news. He goes there or everyone dies." His eyes looked around the underground for a second. "Everyone." He repeated. "I mean I sense Waller grows tired of the group's lack of progress. And she might want to get a record for most casualties. Sixty-Four heads for the price of one."

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO ME YOU LITTLE SHIT!?" Jane said stomping towards him but he vanished into a cloud of smoke with a cackle. Jane was now starting to feel uneasy.

Almost like she was... scared.

. . .

I was woken up from a deep sleep by someone licking my face.

"Cleo c'mon someone can walk in at any point..." I told her lightly pushing her face away from me. She was a lot furrier than I remembered.

"Hm?" Cleo muttered next to me... still licking me on the other side of my face. I opened my eyes and I realized it was actually a golden retriever.

"Oh, hello." I said before slowly petting his head.

"BARK"

Afterwards I heard giggling as two kids and Babydoll went running passed us. A boy and a girl, presumably Devin and his younger sister, Amanda's kids.

"𝘛𝘢𝘨, 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵!" Babydoll said. They continued to run around until Amanda shouted out "Kids, time for breakfast!" The three of them ran out the room. I rubbed my eyes before lightly shaking Cleo.

"C'mon, breakfast. Good morning by the way." I said sitting up. Cleo groaned and lightly pushed me before pulling me towards her.

"Thirty more minutes."

"C'mon we have to be out of here by twelve." I told her. She groaned as I got up and threw her my dress shirt from the night before. "That should cover up all your lady bits while we eat." I said. I walked into the kitchen with Firefly's family already sitting at the table. Babydoll was thumb wrestling the daughter.

"Took you long enough. Change the KAFF lunatic here back into an adult, would ya!?" Firefly said.

"I can't 'change her back', she has DID. She just has to snap into one of the other personalities. Most of the time it's like a mood ring with her. If you can piss her off but not enough that she'll want to rip you arms off you'll probably get Jane." I explained. We all ate breakfast with Firefly's family after Cleo eventually came in still rubbing her eyes. Eventually Jane came back to us after Babydoll pouted they couldn't keep playing and had to eat. Firefly seemed to actually be a good uncle and breakfast was more of us observing the Lynn Family Dynamic than anything. The arsonist assassin seemed to be completely gone.

I was surprised Jane wasn't as vocal as she usually was. I could tell something was bothering her but I didn't want to pry. The fact I've gotten her to open up so much last night was a miracle and I didn't expect to have it happen again sometime in the near future. My eyes started to wonder for a second and I looked back down at the golden retriever. He was panting and staring back at me.

"BARK."

"BARK."

"Buster, quiet boy!" Kent told the dog.

"BARK."

I dropped my fork for a second as the golden retriever was replaced with a rabid dog for a split second. It was at this moment I realized the last time I saw a normal dog was on Halloween. For a split second I saw flashes of images etched into my brain of the bloody dogs foaming at the mouth, the only thing stopping them from tearing me apart was I was still able to use their fears to keep them away from me. I quickly snapped back to reality but the sudden and surprisingly unpleasant memory shocked me. I tried not to show it but I was slightly rattled because quite frankly it reminded me of the visions I got when I was first exposed to I.9.K. and that's what concerned me more than the actual vision itself.

"(Y,N), is everything okay?" Cleo asked me.

"Hm? Yeah I'm fine, I was just daydreaming a little." I told her. We finished up our meals and Firefly said his goodbyes to his family as Vertigo and the rest of the group drove up. Vertigo was in the drivers seat with Lee playing air drums in the passenger seat to a Killing Joke song. Copperhead sat in the back with... Duela, who was tied up and gagged in the back with a dirty sock. She was yelling muffled screams behind the sock as she tried to escape.

"Cobblepot has a no clowns allowed policy and I didn't want to deal with her antics. Livewire provided the idea to just tie her up and shut her up and we did it."

"Who's sock is that?" Cleo asked.

"I don't wanna know." I said.

"I do! Who's sock is that?" Jane asked again.

"Pretty sure the rat brought it on when we left Wayne Manor." Lee answered.

"Oh, god, that might be Boomerang's." I said.

"MPH!?" Duela communicated with the gracefulness of Kenny McCormick. I assumed she shouted "WHAT!?" as she started thrashing around like a shock treatment patient. She was moving around and shouting through the sock but all I heard was

MPPPPPHHHH!

Again a sudden flashback to Halloween night with one of my former friends tied up in her wheelchair, mascara ran down her face as she cried and tried to break free. I turn around to use a grab a hook to enact part of my revenge but I don't see a hook, only Cleo who's eyeing me with a worried look along with Jane, although Jane's is more suspicious. Before either of them can say anything, I say "Alright, funs over. Un-gag her." Before getting on the bus and walking towards Duela.

"Awwwwwwww!" Lee pouts as Copperhead takes the sock out of her mouth. She spits afterwards and starts to wretch.

"YOU FUCKING MOTHER FUCKERS! I'M GONNA PUT A SMILE ON ALL YOUR FUCKING FACES! I'M GONNA-" Duela stops talking for a second as I grab her by her neck and force her to look at me. "Oh, hello~." She says suddenly docile.

"Duela, listen to me carefully, and be honest. Who gave you the code?" I ask her. Her mood suddenly is so nonchalant and fun like I asked her how she passed a test she would've surely failed.

"You would not believe me when I tell you that it was the voices."

"You're right, I don't."

"Well, I'm telling the truth. Scouts honor. Honestly was it so bad I got a hold of the mask anyways!? I almost killed Quinn and Boomerang! It's not like anyone would miss Boomerang and that bitch Harls has it comin'. And apparently we're competing with them, anyways! We could probably have an easier time getting our sentences cut short if some of the other teamsters had some unfortunate accidents involving a razor blade and a piranha tank." Duela said. She then quickly switched moods again, this one was dead serious. "Something else is bothering you. Tell me."

"What's bothering me is you could've done a lot worse last night if Batman didn't stop you, couldn't you?"

"Awwwwwww, it means a lot that you believe in me so much. I'm touched." She said before chuckling a little. I untied her in silence before addressing the rest of the team.

"So the deal is we have seven out of ten members of The New World Disorder. Joker, Punchline, Bane, Zsasz, Hugo Strange, Flamingo, and Condiment King. Or at least there were ten. Flamingo and Condiment King are dead after being interrogated by the B Team. Flamingo was killed for not cooperating but he was a mute. Condiment King started to squeal, telling the team one member isn't in Gotham and another is a big name that's been laying low lately. The main suspects are Mr. Freeze, Riddler, and Poison Ivy. Before a name could be confirmed, Condiment King apparently ingested a pill that Joker said would make him as strong as a member of Superman's family."

"Then why'd he die?" Lee asked.

"It was a joke. Superman is an alien from a planet destroyed years ago. His family is dead." I said. Duela started to laugh. "Joker gave him a pill form of Joker Venom. CK being on the team was probably a joke in itself and that was the punchline. That all being said we have our ideas on who to target now to find Joker. Our best bets are Hugo Strange, Punchline, and taking the mystery big name by surprise. Bane is too smart and too strong for us to take out ourselves-"

"You got a crush on him or something?" Jane interrupted me.

"- and Zsasz is in Arkham. Us getting in would be hard and getting out would be even harder. Not to mention Waller said she'd blow our brains out if we got near there or Blackgate. Maybe just a threat to scare Batman but I'm not taking the risk. The question is how do we go about that?"

"Are you positive we are incapable of taking on Bane? A good half of us are decently intelligent. Surely we can out think the meathead." Vertigo said.

"Don't let recent media fool you. Bane is much more than a junkie. He's highly intelligent in fighting and in general. You don't almost kill The Batman your first go of it by getting lucky. It has to be meticulously planned. Not to mention we would have to deal with Trogg, Zombi, and Bird. His most trusted henchmen."

"Never heard of them." Jane said with her arms folded.

"Does anyone else have a crazy feeling of deja vu? Or a feeling of incompletion?" Duela asked.

"How about we split? A couple of us get the jump on Riddler and Freeze. Doubt it's Ivy. She always hated the clown and heard she's playing it straight now." Firefly said.

"Woah, really? I thought she was a total carpet muncher." Duela quipped.

"Can someone shut her the fuck up!?" Jane asked.

"We can't rule her out. Going clean may be her cover." I said. "Not a bad plan at all, Garfield."

"Watch it." Firefly warned me.

"Your real name is Garfield?" Lee asked him.

"Got a problem with that, Leslie?" Firefly said.

"Actually," Jane suddenly interjected. "Why don't we instead go after Punchline?"

"Because we don't know where she is." Cleo said like it was obvious.

"And what about those other guys? We don't know where they are either." Jane said.

"Actually we do." Vertigo responded. "Freeze will always be found in the coldest point of Gotham which as of now seems like the cryogenic lab Freeze used to work at. Honestly funny he hasn't been caught by the police yet."

"As for Ivy, she's at her flower shop she's been running since she was released from Arkham. She lives upstate, can't stand to be away from 'her babies'. And Riddler has been reportedly seen in the East End, reportedly living in an apartment complex right by... Snyder University." I said.

"Well I mean, I think we should maybe look for Punchline there, too. I remember seeing a news story about her one time. She could still be working on something there or have Joker's address stored somewhere in her old room."

"That makes sense, I suppose. She was obsessed with Joker before becoming Punchline from what I-"

"- never said I was worth saving" I tell her before walking away.

"...Remember." I said. I realize I was lost in memories again and I shake it off. "Jane is right. Half of us deal with Freeze and the other half find Riddler and investigate the University."

"(Y,N) are you sure everything is okay?" Cleo asks me again.

"Everything is fine, Cleo." I said. "I think the best splitting is of Firefly, Livewire, Vertigo, and Copperhead for Freeze and for the four of us to find Riddler and Punchline. Considering the four of us could blend into the college scene the easiest down there."

"And what about you? Notorious Snyder University Serial Killer? Do you think no one will know who you are?" Vertigo asked me.

"I'll just-" W̵̧̗͈͖̬͍͙̳̝̣̬͙͍̻͇̊̀̄̈́̋͑̔͆̍͌̾͝Ë̷̝̠͉̣̹́̾͗͂́́̒̐̂̿̊̐͗͘͝Á̷̡̢͕̩̩͔͔̬͊̍̔̑̈́́̅͐̈́Ŗ̸̡̥͚͚̺͗͛̓͗̾̀̍͗́̓͛̌͐̃̈́ ̷̧̧̢̛͈͇̲̟͎̝͍͓̟̆̑͑͗͌̂͝͠͝Ą̷̞̗̠͕̠̳̭̰͙̻͖̮̅ͅ ̶̛̭̰̹͉̬̻̯͔̼̼̱͇̔̆̏̒̏͛̃͠͝ͅM̵̨̘̹̤̺̹̙̮͉͍̺̣̄̓̍̄̇̈́̈̈́̽̚͘͜͝Ă̷̧̡͎̫̜̹̫̯̰̖̲͈̹͋͆͋͜Ş̵̪͉͉̝̘̟̄̈́͐̽̾̑̓̈́͐͛̐́͘ͅͅK̷̛̞̗̙̰̇̈́̏̅͐̐ W̵̧̗͈͖̬͍͙̳̝̣̬͙͍̻͇̊̀̄̈́̋͑̔͆̍͌̾͝Ë̷̝̠͉̣̹́̾͗͂́́̒̐̂̿̊̐͗͘͝Á̷̡̢͕̩̩͔͔̬͊̍̔̑̈́́̅͐̈́Ŗ̸̡̥͚͚̺͗͛̓͗̾̀̍͗́̓͛̌͐̃̈́ ̷̧̧̢̛͈͇̲̟͎̝͍͓̟̆̑͑͗͌̂͝͠͝Ą̷̞̗̠͕̠̳̭̰͙̻͖̮̅ͅ ̶̛̭̰̹͉̬̻̯͔̼̼̱͇̔̆̏̒̏͛̃͠͝ͅM̵̨̘̹̤̺̹̙̮͉͍̺̣̄̓̍̄̇̈́̈̈́̽̚͘͜͝Ă̷̧̡͎̫̜̹̫̯̰̖̲͈̹͋͆͋͜Ş̵̪͉͉̝̘̟̄̈́͐̽̾̑̓̈́͐͛̐́͘ͅͅK̷̛̞̗̙̰̇̈́̏̅͐̐ W̵̧̗͈͖̬͍͙̳̝̣̬͙͍̻͇̊̀̄̈́̋͑̔͆̍͌̾͝Ë̷̝̠͉̣̹́̾͗͂́́̒̐̂̿̊̐͗͘͝Á̷̡̢͕̩̩͔͔̬͊̍̔̑̈́́̅͐̈́Ŗ̸̡̥͚͚̺͗͛̓͗̾̀̍͗́̓͛̌͐̃̈́ ̷̧̧̢̛͈͇̲̟͎̝͍͓̟̆̑͑͗͌̂͝͠͝Ą̷̞̗̠͕̠̳̭̰͙̻͖̮̅ͅ ̶̛̭̰̹͉̬̻̯͔̼̼̱͇̔̆̏̒̏͛̃͠͝ͅM̵̨̘̹̤̺̹̙̮͉͍̺̣̄̓̍̄̇̈́̈̈́̽̚͘͜͝Ă̷̧̡͎̫̜̹̫̯̰̖̲͈̹͋͆͋͜Ş̵̪͉͉̝̘̟̄̈́͐̽̾̑̓̈́͐͛̐́͘ͅͅK̷̛̞̗̙̰̇̈́̏̅͐̐ W̵̧̗͈͖̬͍͙̳̝̣̬͙͍̻͇̊̀̄̈́̋͑̔͆̍͌̾͝Ë̷̝̠͉̣̹́̾͗͂́́̒̐̂̿̊̐͗͘͝Á̷̡̢͕̩̩͔͔̬͊̍̔̑̈́́̅͐̈́Ŗ̸̡̥͚͚̺͗͛̓͗̾̀̍͗́̓͛̌͐̃̈́ ̷̧̧̢̛͈͇̲̟͎̝͍͓̟̆̑͑͗͌̂͝͠͝Ą̷̞̗̠͕̠̳̭̰͙̻͖̮̅ͅ ̶̛̭̰̹͉̬̻̯͔̼̼̱͇̔̆̏̒̏͛̃͠͝ͅM̵̨̘̹̤̺̹̙̮͉͍̺̣̄̓̍̄̇̈́̈̈́̽̚͘͜͝Ă̷̧̡͎̫̜̹̫̯̰̖̲͈̹͋͆͋͜Ş̵̪͉͉̝̘̟̄̈́͐̽̾̑̓̈́͐͛̐́͘ͅͅK̷̛̞̗̙̰̇̈́̏̅͐̐

Cleo suddenly slaps me in the face and brings me back to reality. Expressions range from deeply concerned to noticeable intrigue to complete wonderment from Duela.

"I'll... just figure it out. Now let's head somewhere to prepare for the night."