Author: CaptainTightPants12

Rating: K

Disclaimer: If I owned Batman or any of the related characters to any Batman Franchises. Also, I don't not own DC Comics, Warner Brothers, or any of it's characters or story-lines.

Summary: Something terrible has come to Gotham. And Batman can't let it go. He has to know what he is. A tie-in to my Superman on-going in the Smallville thread: Flashpoint, a Smallville Tale.

Title: Wanna Know How I Got These Scars?

Author's Note: For those of you that don't know me from Flashpoint, a Smallville Tale, this is just a little one-shot that I was itching to do and I wanted to share! The plot of my Flashpoint story is that the Smallville universe had a Flashpoint-like event and basically rebooted the continuity so that I could blend together bits and pieces form my favorite franchises while sneaking in some of my own original stuff. So this is my version of Batman and another icon! Hope you enjoy!

"I can't... It's like he wanted me to catch him, Alfred. I have to go."

The furrowed brow of his butler was evident without even having to turn around to see it. He could hear it in his sigh. "You must be careful, Master Bruce. This man... He is not... normal."

His caped whipped as he headed towards his Batmobile, "You know that nothing is normal anymore, Alfred."

"I know, sir. But even for these times..." Alfred warned. "That man is dangerous."

He hesitated for just a moment before climbing into the Batmobile. Ever since that night at the Gotham Reservoir, he'd been unable to stop thinking about it. The way that he'd laughed as Batman had punched him. The way that he seemed all too happy to be placed in Gordon's squad car. Shouting about how much fun they were going to have. Perhaps the thing that had bothered him the most was how he'd said, "Don't you recognize me, Batsy?"

It had echoed in his mind as he'd poured over old case files. Late hours of the night spent with his fingers clacking across the keyboards of his Batcomputer. None of the pictures of the thugs, criminals, and low-lifes featured the same face as his grinning mugshot. None of the prints matched. None of them. Not even the ones that Cyborg ran for him on a global scale came back as a match. This guy was a ghost and there was no record of him anywhere.

So when he'd heard that he had invited Batman to visit him in Arkham, how could he refuse?

Leaves parted like the Red Sea behind him as he roared down the old cobblestone road. He'd studied the grounds and knew all of the quirks of Arkham Asylum. He knew the back ways in, and he knew about the tunnels underneath. Batman couldn't just stroll through the front door so he made his way off the road own a dirt path that led back to the Gotham River.

There was an access point to the old drainage system down there. It was a hike, but he was ready for it. It took a little gadgetry and a smidgen of C4, and he'd found his way into the infrastructure of the Asylum. Luckily the building was old. And where the water had splashed for years across the stone walls, they'd receded enough to work as a make-shift ladder. He climbed slowly to avoid making sound. As he shifted his cowl's vision filters to the thermals, he could see that there were three guards just above the metal grating. He needed to be careful and quiet to take them down silently and quickly.

He found a point of entry about twenty hards away from where they stood. With a little grapple cord magic and a bit of skillful wall scaling, he flipped up onto the concrete with minimal sound.

It took some careful planning. He had to get the angles just right. The batarang had to clank loud enough to get their attention, turn them around, so that when it bounced to their right and then behind them, the final turn would have them off-balance enough to be surprised. It also had to be hard enough to knock out the guard at the front. That would be a little difficult considering he had to sprint the second he let go of the batarang.

But somehow, like it normally did, it all worked. The batarang smacked off the steam pipe with enough force to know the guard at the front out and drop backwards. When the other two turned to check if he was ok, Batman was on them and delivering knock-out blows. He looked over his work for a moment, tying their hands and taping their mouths. He didn't want them waking up and alerting the rest to his presence. That would happen soon enough when they didn't check in with central command. He toggled the map vision of the Asylum when his fingers pushed above his ear in the proper sequence.

Batman worked his way towards the floor that he needed to get to. When he hacked the schedule for the patient, he found that he was going to be in therapy with one of the psychiatrists that Arkham provided. He'd have to deal with him first and then find the room that they were supposed to meeting in. The psychiatrist was an easy take-down. He wasn't expecting to be taken because like most doctors, he was too big for his britches to expect that sort of thing.

He stashed him in a supply closet and headed towards the room he was looking for. He waited until he saw the guards leave him in the room. The one they'd tied him to a chair in. Batman got up to the rafters and cut all of the lights in the room except for the one that hung over the table that normally would have sat between the patient and the psychiatrist.

Silently, he dropped down into the room, waiting in the darkness. Watching him sit there. Sitting there like he was waiting for something. There was an amusement hanging in his eyes. It unsettled Batman.

"I knooooow... You're in here..." he grinned from the seat he'd been chained to.

He pushed the surprise away and his hand stretched out of the darkness and pulled the chair from the table before stepping into the light. He sat down slowly, watching him carefully. "I heard you've been asking for me," he said quietly.

"You know, I'm supposed to be meeting with Doctor Crane to talk about just thaaaaaat. He thinks that I can be a little, obsessive, with my hobbies. That's a little rich coming from Crane if you ask me."

"Doctor Crane will be a little late for your appointment."

He shifted in his chair and grinned, "Well then, it's always nice to see a friendly face anyways."

"I'm not your friend."

"No?" he chuckled. "Honeymoon over already, Batsy?"

Batman gritted his teeth. "You've killed people. You've killed cops. You would have poisoned everyone in Gotham if you'd succeeded in contaminating the Reservoir. I don't consider murderers my friends."

He rolled his eyes dramatically, "You've got an odd choice in friends then. I hear you and Gordy are buuuud-ies."

"Lieutenant Gordon fights for justice in this city."

"Oh, does he now?" he laughed. "You sure he's not the payroll? Are you sure that Falcone doesn't have him on a leash like that partner of his? Or is it Maroni holding it? I can never keep track with these 'heeeroooes' of yours."

He chose not to comment on that. Batman knew all about the rampant corruption within the GCPD. He knew all about the hold that organized crime had on Commissioner Loeb and Gordon's partner Detective Flass, but he knew that Gordon was an honest cop. He'd been there for him before. And he had begrudgingly realized that he'd have to have faith that Gordon would be there for him again. "You said something at the Reservoir. You asked me if I recognized you."

"I supposed I didn't have these scaaaaars when you met me before," he snickered as he wagged his head from side-to-side to show them off. "I guess they leave a bit of an impression. Wanna know how got 'em? After all... Yooou were there..."

Batman's cowl covered most of his face, but still, you could tell her was frowning. "When?"

He scooted forwards in his seat. "You know I wasn't like this... I had a wife once... Beautiful... Supportive... And she used to tell me, 'You oughta smile more,'" he laughed. "'You oughta quit that job you hate so much... You should try out at that open-mic comedy-night at the Iceberg... There'll be scout theres... You could make the big time!' But here's the thing, she was pregnant. You don't just quit a job while your wife is pregnant, noooow doooo yoooou? "

"So, she tells me about this guy... Helped out a friend of hers... She was... Cute when she was naive... He was a loan shark, but she just wouldn't let it go... Says we can pay him back after I make the big time. No sweat. Haaaaa."

Batman watched him carefully. Behind his cowl, he's searching for open-mic comedy-nights at the Iceberg Lounge. Trying to figure out who this man is by finding the participants. Trying to find a clue about him.

"Finally, I do it... I get the loan... I get the gig... But heeeeere's the kicker... They didn't laugh!" he cackles with glee. "They didn't think... I... Was... Funnnnnnn-y... Neither did any of the comedy scouts... So when the Loan Shark came back to get his money from us," he chuckled softly. "He told me that I could do him a job... That I could make it up to him..."

He bent his torso across the table and eyed him for a moment, "Do you know who the Red Hoooooood is?"

It surprised Batman. He could tell because Batman leaned back and twisted his head. "He's dead."

"Ha... He's not dead! He's not... real!" he laughed. "You see, the Loan Shark worked for the mob... And the mob made up the Red Hood so that the cops would gun for him! Why do you think he wore bright red, Batsy?! He's a target! So these guys, they tell me I gotta wear this thing, and help them break my old place. At Axiiiiiis Chemicals..."

His records shifted from the unhelpful listings at the Iceberg Lounge to the employee history at Axis Chemcials.

"But somebody wanted somebody dead, because the cops were already... there... Gordon and his boys... And so we split up running, and I can't see in this damn thing..." he laughs. "It's fogging up, and then who do I run into, but yoooou?"

"That can't be you. He died."

He grinned, "Noooow you remember me... You remember how you thought I was trying to fight you? That I was trying to pull one over on the Batman I'd read about in the Gazette? Ha! I tried to take my helmet off, got it about half way too when I remembered it was hooked to my belt so that it wouldn't fall off my head! I'm a little more slender than the guys that normally wore it, I guess... Cops thought I was going for a gun... So they shot me and POP! Through my cheeks!"

Twisting his head around, he showed his scars again. "I started to fall... You grabbed my jacket, remember? Tried to save me from falling... But like I said... I was a little toooooo thin... Slipped right out of fat man's jacket... Fell in the vat..."

Images flashed inside the left eye of his cowl. He was trying to find some sort of connection between the Iceberg Lounge and the employment history of Axis Chemicals, but nothing was coming together for him.

"You know... Those vats... They have a drainage system... When the chemicals get compromised... They flood out to the Gotham River... I'm sure thaaaaats environmentally sound!" he laughed loudly. "I woke on the shore, right by the amusement park that I planned to take my kid to someday... And I just... started... tooooo... laugh."

Batman remembered reading the story in the Gazette about the deaths at the Amusement Mile. Three security guards had been killed. There was also a note about the petty theft of the clothes from one of the mechanical clown figures that had been staged at the entrance. He remembered that clown. It wore a purple...

"You're lying."

He leaned forward again with a laugh, "Lying?! Ha! I laughed like a hyena!"

"No," Batman shook his head. "I've been checking your story. You never worked at Axis Chemicals. And you never did the open-mic comedy-night at the Iceberg. There's no history of you ever being in Gotham before."

A confused look slipped across his face, hiding his grin. "Hmm..."

"Who are you?"

His eyes flickered up. "You know... You might be right... Just the other day... I was telling Crane about how I remembered working for this mob boss... What was his name? Started with a G... Grissom or something other... But then he pointed out that there was no mob boss in Gotham named Grissom. Maybe you are right, Batsy..."

Batman clenched his fists, "Who are you?"

He started to laugh, "I guess coming home to my wife ripped open and my baby dead on the living room floor left an effect on meeee... Addled my mind perrrrhaps... I'm not really sure anymore. Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes aaaanother... If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice anyways!" he shook with laughter. "But really, why does it matter who I really am, Batsy? Does it matter who you really are?"

"I don't think so," he shook his head slowly. "Noooo... All that really matters, is that we're having a fun... And I'm having a ball, Batsy! You're just too much fun! You're like the best punchline ever! You're the serious set-up, and I'm the hilarious joke at the end! Ha! Hoooow... about... that?! Guess you'll just have to call me the Joker!"

When he left Arkham that day, he couldn't shake the Joker's laugh from his mind. He was useless after that and the tranquilizer he'd given Crane had worn off anyways. But he swore to himself that he'd find out the Joker's secret. He'd find out who he was behind that bleached skin and before those scars.

Even if it killed him.

Author's Note: Well, what did you think? Those of you that know me from Flashpoint know that I love (and wish DC had done it after their own Flashpoint event) the idea of mixing the various incarnations of the characters we love to make the best possible versions of them, and this is my version of the Joker! A bit of the Heath Ledger, a bit of the Mark Hamill, even some references to the Jack Nicholson version, and of course the comic book version, this is the Joker that I'd love to write in the future! Anyways, let me know what you thought! Not sure if I'll do more Batman outside of Flashpoint, but I know that I'd love to do more tie-ins like this. Shooting me some reviews and letting me know what you thought would go a long way towards motivating me to do more Batman stuff! Anyways, thanks for reading!