"Domino, watch your six!"

"Y'know, I didn't expect to be caught in the middle of a gang war the moment we come back from Greece!"

"It's a welcome home party." Dick smirked as we both hid behind some crates. "Though, you're slowing down and looking greener. You weren't ovulating, right?"

"Remind me to check my calendar. I was thinking the same thing, but I took a test and it came back negative." I shrugged, grabbing one of my guns. "Zee's not gonna be too happy about that."

"Don't tell her."

"Oh, I won't."

"Domino, I've got visual." Barbara called out through the comms just as a droid flew past us. "The Falcones are at it again... and welcome home, you two."

"The hell are the Falcones doing on my turf!? This is Blüdhaven, not Gotham!" I exclaimed and fought the urge to gag. "CARMINE, I'M COMING FOR YOUR ASS!"

"Boss won't like that." One of the goons yelled and I shot him on the shoulder. "You bitch!"

"Yes, I am!"

"Damn straight!" Dick yelled and I raised my eyebrows. "I love you?"

"Dude, you just got back and now you're gonna sleep in the dog house. You don't even have a dog yet!" Barbara laughed.

"Y'know what? I'm giving him a pass. I'm too tired and ticked off to deal with it." I waved it off and grabbed the crowbar. "I just wanna break some teeth and get to bed."

"I'm scared to ask... you sore?"

"Nope. I think jet lag or something. Our flight back was delayed twice." I mumbled, taking a step but immediately fell to my knees. "Shit!"

"Shit!" Dick exclaimed, rushing to my side. "Domino, you alright?"

"I'm fine!" I pushed him away and vomited part of the Venom along with something red. "Okay, maybe not so fine."

"Sweetheart, your eyes are glowing. I haven't seen them glow like that since Louisiana and we were thirteen."

"Nightwing, talk to me!" Oracle begged as Dick tried to help me stand but my legs kept giving out and I vomited again all over my suit before collapsing in his arms. "Nightwing!"

"Joker Venom's is finally fighting back. She's vomiting blood and can barely stand on her own."

"She's what!?"

"Get the danger twins and Orphan to finish this. Call her doctors and tell them to meet us at the emergency room. I'm dressing her up in civvies." He ordered and shielded me from the gun blasts.

"Already on it. I alerted Artemis as well. She's on her way."

｡ﾟ•┈୨🃏୧┈• ｡ﾟ

"Mom! What happened?"

"The Venom's fighting back. We have her on two pints of anti-venom and we're starting dialysis in the morning. It can't wait." One of the doctors said as Bruce and Dick kept me restrained to the bed.

"Get it off, it hurts!" I cried out, trying to rip off my IV's but Bruce kept my arms still. "It hurts!"

"Maeve, you're gonna injure yourself. I need you to stay still." Bruce pleaded and stepped back when one of the nurses placed an oxygen mask on me.

"But it hurts!"

"We're here!" Artemis yelled, rushing inside with the rest of the Team. "How is she?"

"Mr. Wayne, a word please?" The doctor asked and turned to Dick. "Her body should be rejecting the Venom soon enough. Keep your eye on the heart monitor and if it goes over 135, call us immediately."

"Venom's fighting back. We're waiting on the blood tests to see how much Venom are we dealing with." Dick explained once they left, passing a bin to me when I was about to puke.

"The Falcone's-"

"On their way to jail. You two did the heavy lifting so Cass and I barely had to do anything when we got there." Steph said and I nodded, falling limp against Dick's arms. "Dick, she's gonna be alright, is she? She has to!"

"She'll be alright, Miss Brown. Miss Maeve's a fighter." Alfred assured.

"I've got no puke left in me." I chuckled as Tim grabbed the bin with a grimace. "Tell me there's no blood in it."

"Just green goo."

"That's a good sign."

"Dick said your eyes started glowing. You didn't feel anything?" Barbara asked and I shook my head.

"Normally when that happens, I feel like I lose control of my body... but I didn't. I just feel weak."

"Good news. You're halfway through if you get dialysis in the morning." Bruce announced and we all widened our eyes. "You've been taking the Venom pills every day?"

"Like clockwork and I mixed the Joker Venom with some anti-venom to get her used to it six months before we even started the treatment." Dick answered.

"That's why it's working so fast. Her body had time to adjust and start rejecting it, slowly but surely."

"So, she will be cured?" Kaldur asked.

"She'll never be fully cured." The doctor walked in and Tim raised an eyebrow. "She's been exposed to it for twenty-two years. It's become her lifeline. We can't fully remove it without killing her in the process, but we can at least remove 90- 95% of it."

"But if I ever decide to have a child-"

"As long as it's not exposed to the Venom the way you were, the baby will be completely fine." She assured and we all let out a sigh of relief. "The nurses will be back in a little while to take your vitals. I suggest you get some rest, dialysis can be very tiring."

"Monkey, I know it's not ideal. But-"

"I can live with five percent of the Venom in me." I interrupted. "I lived with this inside me all my life... I should've known I can never truly be rid of him."

"There hasn't been a Joker sighting since before the wedding. You think someone finally killed him?" Tim asked.

"I don't think so. I've got a feeling he's just hiding... just waiting for the punchline."

"From what I've learned these past thirteen years is that the Joker doesn't die. He's not immortal or meta, he's just-"

"A nightmare." I interrupted Dick and he nodded. "I learned that in Arkham... there's no Gotham without the Joker."

"I think it's weird that we haven't heard from the Arkham Knight in the same time span." Steph shrugged. "You think they're working together?"

"At this point, everything is possible." Bruce said and my jaw clenched.

"Not a word. Nobody make a sound." M'gann warned and Artemis clenched her fists. "Maeve, not a word."

"Is there really no word on Jay?"

"None. I've been keeping tabs on him, but it seems like he disappeared from the world. Not even when he was in the LOA this happened!" Barbara sighed.

"I was here last week and I didn't see or hear anything from him." Connor continued. "But I'm sure he's fine, Mae. You raised him to be a tough bird."

"He was tough when I met him. He just adapted to new surroundings."

｡ﾟ•┈୨🃏୧┈• ｡ﾟ

"Put the computer down. I brought it so we can watch a movie while you're in dialysis, not so you can stalk your son."

"I'm worried."

"And I'm worried about you, so put it down." Dick ordered and pried the laptop from my hands without much effort. "Maeve, you're currently getting the Venom you didn't puke our sweat out of your body for the first time. I hardly think this is the time for working."

"But Jason-"

"Is completely fine. We went months without seeing him until days before the wedding, remember? You taught him everything you know, M. He's gonna be fine." He assured and sat next to me. "How you feeling? The doctors told me you might get cramps or nausea."

"I'm okay. I puked about five minutes ago, but other than that, I'm okay." I shrugged. "It just hurts a little bit."

"They want to keep you an extra day or two for observation and more blood tests. After that, you're not supposed to do any physical activity for a week, which means no night shift."

"Why don't they stick a dagger in my heart while they're at it?" I spat and he rolled his eyes. "Some welcome home party, huh?"

"Could be worse and we have lived through worse. Remember that time we had to drag you from Hatter because you had an episode only to find out you needed another surgery?"

"Hey, for better or worse, right?" I laughed, resting my head on his shoulder. "I just hope this is the worst, or else I'm not gonna be too whelmed."

"Knowing us, there's gonna be a world ending threat soon and that's not gonna be the worse thing that happens to us." Dick laughed and I rolled my eyes. "But we'll be okay. We always are."

"I have a feeling."

"I hate it when you get those feelings because somehow they're always right and I get screwed over... what is it this time?"

"A war's gonna happen soon in Gotham. We need to get ready for it."

"I'll say." Tim called out and walked inside with Bruce, Steph and Cass. "The entire time you've been gone, it's all going to hell."

"What do you mean?"

"Scarecrow's out and MIA, there's been reports on Pyg terrorizing people again, Dollmaker's back but we managed to get him back to Belle Reve because Arkham isn't operating right now." Bruce said and we both widened our eyes. "There's been a war between the inmates, so for now they're being transferred to Belle Reve and neighboring facilities until they improve security."

"I swear we just got back! It hasn't been a full 24 hours yet!" Dick groaned. "I'm taking a week off but I'll see what I can find on the computers with Babs."

"Dick-"

"Maeve is bedridden for a week and I've got too much on my plate with the whole gang war that's going on our turf right now. We were gone for a month and were in the hospital two hours after we got home... give me time to get back into the swing of things, Bruce."

"Last time I saw Scarecrow, he talked about poisoning Gotham but that was a while ago. When I was in Arkham, I faintly remember some experiments going on that Jaybird and I were tests subjects for. Since I'm immune, it all went to Jason. A day turned into a week or a month to him." I admitted and lifted my shirt to reveal a scar shaped like a smile.

"The hell is that?" Steph gaped and I shrugged.

"Details are foggy on that since I couldn't tell a nightmare from my reality in there. All I remember was Joker giving me laughing gas while Crane was cutting up something on my body."

"How the hell are you still alive!?"

"I'm alive out of spite. I die and the Joker wins. It's a game we've been playing since I was five years old."

"Don't ever tell me another story about Arkham because I never know what to do with that information." Tim rubbed his temples and I chuckled.

"Bottom line, keep an eye out for Crane on patrol. I don't like that he's out after all I heard in Arkham."

"And Joker?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. You have to fight crazy with insanity, Tim. Lucky for you, I have experience in that."

"So much that you killed him the second you were left alone?" Bruce rolled his eyes.

"And I'd do it again given the chance. Just you because you have a moral code doesn't mean I should have the same one. We're different people with different traumas and mentalities. We've been over this and I had to go through a lot of therapy to make my peace with it." I shrugged.

"Mae-"

"I grew up with him, you didn't. When I said that the man can never be redeemed, I meant it. There's no hope no matter how deep you search. Believe me... I was searching for that same hope for the majority of my life until Arkham. Everything is a joke to him and he has no feelings or a soul, Dad. It's call being a sociopath and I did a lot of research on it during my free time."

"Bottom line, give us a week to a week and a half. Let Mae rest and heal and we'll start our search for Scarecrow." Dick butted before an argument started. "And I don't think we shouldn't be talking about this when she's in the middle of dialysis. She's already drained as it is."

"Give me a week and I'll figure out things my way. I had a month to relax and I'm itching for some action." I grinned.

"I don't want to know what the hell you two were doing a month in Greece." Steph grimaced and Cass nudged her. "They make me sick!"

"Actually, it was only a week. Haly's circus was there, so we joined for the remaining three weeks until we got homesick."

"Flying Graysons?"

"Dan Danger and Ace Quinn. I dressed up as a jester and swung around on ropes." I shrugged. "I missed it but it's not something I'd do for the rest of my life."

"Frankly, neither would I." Dick agreed and pressed a kiss to my temple. "Learned from someone that swinging from buildings can be my circus."

"It helps that you married a jester who did acrobatics growing up."

"Guess so."