I do not own the rights to Teen Titans. Also, I am changing Jump City to its more traditional comic location of San Francisco.

Sirens were not an unfamiliar sound in Gotham City. In fact, sometimes they were the most familiar sound one could hear. The routine of daily life in the city was accompanied by the constant reminder that death was a far more regular commuter in this city than most.

No one was more aware of that than Batman. Except perhaps Robin.

Though he had been working with Batman for longer than he cared to remember, he was still shocked at how often they were needed. After all, while Gotham was a big city, it did have police, right?

Clearly, it didn't have enough. At least a third, maybe half of them were on the payroll of vicious crime lords or other syndicates, making the need for help that more apparent.

Robin had a feeling that this might be a real mistake. He knew that he probably should wait for Batman to come first, but he wanted to be there first this time. He'd told the man this earlier, but the boss would hear none of it, as usual. Apparently there was some dangerous new criminal in town, or an old one coming back. He wasn't sure.

It's not like Batman ever told him the whole story anyway.

But he didn't, and Robin had to steal one of the Batcycles to get to the scene first. Was this a mistake? Maybe. Did he have any idea of what he was doing? No. But he had to go.

Robin zoomed down the slick street, going much faster than he realized he should have. He tried to slow down, and managed to make the right turn he wanted, nearing an ally where he thought the perp he was after had gone to.

He might not have been Batman, but he would still beat the police by a mile and a half.

He turned down the ally, going as fast as he could without risking a wipeout. He quickly realized the ally had a dead end, cornered by a building alcove. If either he or the perp he was after were careless, this could get ugly.

He slowed down as he neared the end finding two cars, which looked to be stolen, and three or four people standing by them. Not running. Just standing. One of them was the strangest looking fellow he'd ever seen.

Batman was furious. He'd received an alert downtown about an armed robbery. He'd heard it had been perpetrated by a particularly dangerous criminal, so he wanted Robin to sit this one out. Once he got to the Batcave, he realized that might not be possible. One of his Batcycles was missing.

"Dammit!" he said to himself as he jumped into the Batmobile. He cursed himself for not having better foresight. Robin was improving as a fighter, and was surprisingly good at detective work, especially for someone his age, but he was no match for the threat he was heading into the teeth of.

Batman started the engine up and pressed the button to position the car to face the exit. Once it was lined up, he gunned the engine, peeling out into the night.

Heading into the city at desperate speed, he connected the onboard computer to the Batcave.

"Alfred," he said. "Come in."

"Yes, Master Bruce?" his stately butler responded.

"Please tell me DIck is in the mansion."

"I'm afraid I haven't seen him. Is something wrong?"

"Knowing Robin, probably. Search his room. If he's there, I need to know."

"Will do. Is there anything else I can do for you?"

"Actually, there is. If he isn't in the mansion, pack up his belongings."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me," he said. abruptly shutting the communicator off. Batman shifted his attention to the computer, accessing the transponders he had in every vehicle he owned.

One by one, he searched for all of his bikes, which were where they should have been. All but one. There was one that wasn't in the Batcave as he had observed. It was downtown. Right where it shouldn't have been.

Golden Gate park was a popular place at night. With many avenues of activity, it was a place where people naturally tended to flock to, becoming a virtual watering hole, especially for the young.

Most people here right now were on dates, enjoying the romantic atmosphere that was all too apparent to even the most cynical.

Well, most people, at least.

Garfield Logan was trying to enjoy it as well, but a usual, he was on his own. He wasn't in his costume right now, nor was he with his team. This was his night off, and he intended to enjoy it.

Unfortunately, there was little opportunity for him to really do that. He was wearing a T-shirt and jeans, just trying to look as casual as he could, be he couldn't avoid the stares. He'd dealt with the stares for nearly a decade, but that didn't make it any easier to deal with.

Especially when he heard the comments.

Having been many animals who had greater hearing than any human reckoning, Garfield could easily hear the cruel comments that people were mean enough to make, but too cowardly to openly say out of a false sense of respect.

He may not have been wearing his mask, but no one could miss the green skin. He was probably the most out of place person there. He couldn't think someone who seemed to belong here less.

Then he saw her.

He didn't know who she was, but he could see that it was a girl. He'd been walking down a sidewalk through the park, and he could have sworn that he saw a girl around his age in a dark blue cloak standing near a tree.

Like his hearing, his eyesight was better than the average bear, but unlike the cruel comments he'd heard people make, he wasn't completely sure that he'd seen what he thought he did. Maybe it was he simply wanted it to be what he thought it was.

He didn't know, but there was just something about her that caught his attention.

Best not to think about it. He'd tried talking to about half a dozen girls already, and it hadn't gone well. No matter what he did, there wasn't a thing he could do to really enjoy himself, and that was what he was here to do.

A noise broke him out if his thoughts, as he saw a couple arguing. It was an absolutely stunning blonde, and a guy, maybe five years older than him, who, honestly, made Garfield look like Mr. Universe. Not exactly a match made in heaven.

His first thought went to his poor luck. If this guy could get a girlfriend, why could he? Then he figured out that they weren't actually a couple.

The scrawny guy began tugging on her arm. "Come on, babe," he said, using a macho tone that was completely inappropriate considering his size.

"Get away from me, you creep!"

"What's the matter," the guy said. "Afraid you might like it?"

Garfield grabbed the arm he'd grabbed the girl with. "Hey! She said she wants to be left alone."

The wimpy guy turned to face him, his face full of rage. "Hey! Mind your own business, wuss!"

Garfield ignored him, turning to the girl. "Do you want to go with this guy?" he asked. She shook her head mutely. "I didn't think so." He turned to the loudmouth. "Get lost."

The guy pulled his arm free and knocked Garfield to the ground with a two handed shove. "Who's gonna make me?"

Garfield knew he should've just asked for police, and not made a scene. He knew he wasn't supposed to do this out of uniform.

But screw it. He only had one night this month really, and it was a complete bust. With a thought, he morphed into a grizzly bear, roaring in his face.

"Oh my god!" he screamed, turning to run away.

Garfield morphed into a cheetah and ran past where the idiot was running.

"Going somewhere?" he asked, a menacing tone in his voice.

He still had a hard time talking to enemies without his voice cracking, so to be able to scare a punk this badly felt pretty good really.

Right until he felt the hand on his shoulder.

He turned around to see Mento, leader of the Doom Patrol. He was in uniform, wearing a purple costume with a lightning bolt on it, with a purple helmet with two antenna protruding from the front.

"Having fun, Beast Boy?" he asked, not looking pleased in the least.

No, this wasn't a fun night at all.

Robin had been chasing leads on his own for a while, and he was ready to catch this thug on his own. But he'd never seen someone like this before. He'd heard about a criminal who like the theatrics, but Batman hadn't talked to him too much about him, and he'd almost thought he was an urban rumor.

Not now, though.

Standing before him was a man in a purple suit, with green hair, powder white skin, and ruby red lips. He was a living clown, but not the good kind. He was the kind how might spray you with acid rather than seltzer, which was about what he expected at this point.

He was flanked by two goons who looked like just that: goons. Enforcers. Big, dumb enforcers, who were much bigger than he was.

"Who the hell are you?" Robin asked.

The man, assuming it was a man, laughed maniacally, throwing his head back.

"What, you mean you don't know?" He shook his head, clucking his tongue. "My, my. I really must get a new press agent."

Robin moved in closer, either to try to attack him, or because he was drawn by morbid curiosity the way one might be by a horrible traffic accident.

"I don't care who you are," Robin said. "You're going to jail."

"I'd like to congratulate you," the man said. "I was expecting the Bat-Freak to get here first."

Robin couldn't believe his eyes. Was he serious? He wanted Batman to catch him?

The man continued. "But this is even better. I'd heard that he was using a kid sidekick now," he said, pointing to Robin. "That must be you."

He moved closer to Robin until he was only about three or four feet away.

"But where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself," he said, bowing. "I'm the Joker."