It Takes Broken To Know Broken – Nico Di Angelo X Batfam Sprit of Laughter

Guess who’s back?

I sighed.

I was the one to decide to attack soon, but upon further thought it seemed like a risk. If we just had some more time I could come up with a plan, that put nobody in harms way.

Why do I care?  

It’s not like those people had ever done something for me, but somehow I felt pulled towards camp, like an addict to his drug. I just had to save Camp HalfBlood, I had to save them.

Percy had come up with a plan, and although I wished to protest, my mouth wouldn’t speak. I overthought every word I could speak and every way they could react. And I just couldn’t argue. It was my idea to begin with, so I had to follow it now that everyone else had agreed.

Most were already thrown in the field. We had located the Joker. Damian and Jason agreed not to tell the ‘Bat-Family’ of this event, as it could put danger to them, and we have no way of being sure the mist won’t make them hear something very different.

“This is the spot,” someone had said. I looked up. Just like Batman had his Oracle, Camp HalfBlood had Nyssa, the daughter of Hephaestus. She was using a device created by her Cabin, which is much like a modern smartphone, but behind its screen there was only mist, which can be used to create an Iris Message. The device was placed in the front of the car we were driving, which most likely belonged to Argus.

“It is time,” I heard another voice say. It was Percy, he used a much deeper voice than I was used to.

We opened our doors and stepped out of the car. In front of us I could see a group of demigods battling an army of spirits. Nobody had fallen yet. But my mind remained using the word ‘yet,’ as I did not expect anyone to live through this.

I could hear laughs echoing through the night sky. Loud overacted horrid laughs of the madman. It was the Joker.

Damian’s face turned sour. I had heard he faced this madman many times, never before had he used an army of the undead. Never before was he a threat of this level, which says a lot, if speaking of a man who killed more beings than the amount of people most will ever see.

We ran down the land. We were the last batch of heroes. Although I would consider myself no hero, not in the way Damian was a hero, he wouldn’t lead his people to death.

“Ready?” Damian looked at me. 

No. I was a greek hero. We were defined by our strength, and courage. And a greek hero doesn’t hesitate. He only strikes.

Austin was the first to join the battle further on the field, shooting arrows at the spirits. Every time an arrow pierced through a monster, the beasts evaporated into dark energy. I could sense their life forces being send back to Tartarus.

Clarisse quickly joins, being followed by the rest of us. Jason was shooting around with Bullets of Celestial Bronze, which he obtained even after loud protest from Malcolm. It reminded me of the story how the mortal Frederick Chase, father of Annabeth Chase, once had helped his daughter, Percy, Thalia, and Grover to escape from Luke’s army at Mount Tamalpais. 

We were overwhelmed.

The armies kept growing from the back, even if we killed many even more would be generated. In a last-case attempt Percy threw Riptide onto the army. Being terrified as the loud laugh became even louder.

He yelled out as a knife flew into his leg.

“There’s no escape, fish-boy,” the cackling had stopped. The Joker stood there, a smile evident on his face.

Jason pointed his gun at the Joker, only to be thrown into the crowd of spirits, who had taken over the Joker’s laughter. 

Damian’s face was full of panic, and he spit out blood as he took out a group of spirits, only for more spirits to launch themselves at him.

Clarisse yelled out a battle cry as she charged at the Joker, beside her stood Damien White, the son of Nemesis, out for the revenge he so desperately needed. Thunder crackled in the sky, as Jason Grace stood once again. He had lost an eye, just like Ethan Nakamura had once done to gain the ability to make a change. 

His voice was deep, his expression was mad, the son of Jupiter seemed like he was about to push a fist through the Joker’s heart. “Stop laughing.”

He launched from the ground, his departure shaking the earth. “It’s not-“

He punched the Joker in the face, lightning sparkling from his fists. “Fucking funny!”

He punched the madman again. And again. But the Joker’s laugh wouldn’t cease. No matter how hard he punched.

“There was once a companion to this god-” The Joker got out before being punched.

“Gelos was always there for the god. Raising the spirits by raising the laughter.”

Jason was mad. He punched the Joker once again, finally causing the clown of crime’s nose to bleed.

“But one day- The god left. He abandoned Gelos for the rest of eternity.”

“Oh the irony, the god was always fine, but with you. And Gelos was left all alone, being punished by all that that the god did alongside him. But Gelos couldn’t quit-“

“Shut up!”

“Ugh. But I haven’t even reached the punchline!”

“I don’t care,” the roman demigod said.

“Fine,” the Joker said as he punched through Jason’s chest, joking that it was a punch made in a straight line.

Jason looked down at his chest, where a purple sleeve went through his chest. He fell to the ground, as I felt his spirit leaving for the afterlife.

“No!” I screamed as I freed myself from the souls I was fighting. 

Not another one! I can’t be responsible for another death! 

I cried out.

Clarisse reached the Joker only to be impaled by the Joker’s knife.

Damien was about to attack the Joker as he suddenly stopped. Turning around and running.

A giant shadow appeared on the ground, and I could feel a presence. A familiar one.

I looked up in the sky to see the Batwing. Out of it, jumped a person. A female. And another, a male.  

The man had a crimson suit with green details, much like Damian’s suit. It was Timothy Drake, the fourth Robin, alongside a woman I presumed was Cassandra Cain, the so-called Orphan.

The batwing’s defences shot at the army, only to have no effect. Cassandra launched herself at Joker, as Jason Todd freed himself from the crowd. Damian used his grappling hook to throw a spirit on the ground, as he followed the spirit of laughter himself- the Joker.

I took one last look around me, on the ground were many demigods, one of them, Percy Jackson was actively being overwhelmed by waves of monsters. I felt a small flood wave entering on the land, allowing us to remains running around. Percy’s stopped bleeding, as he suddenly was full of energy again. He ran alongside us, easily killing waves of creatures. I was sure it was a blessing from Poseidon.

It wouldn’t be weak to walk away now. And even if it were, it wasn’t as if I never did it before. 

Yet I kept following the Bats.

A group of the zombies that were fighting the spirits followed me as I ran.

We stood in front of the Joker, and I felt awfully aware of the sounds and screams in the background.

“So, you didn’t wanna come to dinner?” The Joker asked me.

“Fuck you,” I said. I tried to grab Jason’s pistol but he stopped me. I needed it. I needed to kill the Joker. I was done with that bitch.

I punched Jason in the face and grabbed his gun, swarms of zombies forming a barricade around me blocking the others from stopping me.

“So, have you made your choice?”

“Fuck off.”

The zombies stopped surrounding me, as I got free access to shoot the Joker. 

I could see Damian’s face, he was scared. Of the Joker?

Was this truly the courage of a hero?

The harsh truth became awfully clear to me. If I shot the Joker, I was beyond redemption. I would be the villain. I would be like Luke, like Minos. 

Could I still be a hero, like Damian?  

“You took everything from me,” the words left my mouth by themselves. I had no control over them at all.

“I hate you,” I said with hot tears streaming down my face.

A gunshot was heard as I pulled the trigger at the Joker.

The Joker fell on the ground, blood streaming down his torso. But I hadn’t killed him. I had merely injured him. Possibly for the rest of his life. I had shot his abdomen.

I dropped to the ground, my mind burning, asking me why I hadn’t killed him. Why hadn’t I send him straight down to the Tartarus? But the moment I saw him my mind could only think of Damian’s face.

I could feel a presence around myself, as I realised Damian hugged me.

I suppose I am coming to dinner.

But this time, with a new family. With my amazing boyfriend, Damian. And my future in-laws, I hope.