Title: Invisible Amongst Us

Author:

Prompt: "Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall"-- Measure for Measure (Act II, scene i)

Disclaimer: TDK, Batman and all related products belong to DC, I only own this story and make no profit from this.

Rating: R

Warnings: Language, violence, sexual situations, slash, voyeurism, etc. (Flashbacks are in italic)

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He often wondered, though he wouldn't always admit to it, how exactly he differed from the Joker. There were many big, obvious things, of course, but there were also small little things nagging at his mind, making him wonder how he was at the point where he was and the Joker was where he was, at the opposite side, yet still so similar to himself.

It was a maddening thought; he didn't want to be similar to the madman in any fashion. The Joker was responsible for Rachel's death, after all, just as much as if he had done the deed himself, and he was also the reason Gotham's White Knight, a shining star amongst the darkness, was broken, now a criminal himself. It was just lucky, if you could call it that, that Harvey had been put away in Arkham and no one, other than himself, Gordon and a few of the Arkham staff, knew he was there.

Chaos would come to his city if the people found out what truly happened to Harvey Dent, now calling himself Two-Face. It was just the sort of thing that attracted the Joker, what would make those slumped shoulders shake in uncontrollable laughter, would make the man lick his painted lips in excitement. He dreaded what would come, should that occurance ever happen.

He did not want to fight Harvey, but he would do what he must for Gotham, his city. It must be protected at all costs. Batman would stand against any and all foe who try and take her down, whether it be Harvey Dent, no Two-Face, any of the two-bit criminals still trying to drag Gotham down, or The Joker.

Anything else, such as conflicting thoughts, could be analyzed and dissected later. He couldn't let himself get distracted with unneeded stray thoughts; even one could destroy him, when he knew where those stray thoughts led.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"Good evening ladies and gentleman! We are...tonight's entertainment!"

He takes a seat down, days later, focusing on the screens in front of him. The large room, his temporary hideout until the Cave was fixed up, was silent except for the video screens in front of him, all filled with the Joker's laughing visage. All were video from Gotham East Hospital's fundraiser, raising money to rebuild Gotham General, the main hospital in the city, the one that was blown to million's of pieces by the Joker.

He watches as the criminal takes a walk around a few of the people, all of them obviously frightened as the man approached them, though this just seemed to excite the man further. He was glad to notice that none of the cameras caught him leaving the party out a side entrance. He had left as soon as he saw who had crashed the party, and now Bruce had to feel a bit thankful that he had hid himself away from the cameras as well as he hoped he had.

"Youuuu people," drawled Joker, turning to face the group of Gotham's wealthy. Even from the angle Bruce was looking, he could see the glare in the man's eyes as well as in his body language; he also appeared to be fiddling with something in his right coat pocket. "You with your little balls, wasting time, wasting your breath with inseconsequential things; as if putting a buck into a hat will do you, or anyone else, any favors. I think it's time to...show you a little of the truth. Oh, it may be rough, and I can definitely see a few squealers in the room, but it's for your own good," The Joker laughs, unconsciously licking his lips. "And for my enjoyment; I can't deny that." He grins.

Bruce knew, at this time, that he was already in gear and on his way back into the party, having found an empty closet near the ballroom of Gotham Hotel where the party was being held. His eyes stay focused on the clown prince as the man continued to rant and rave, perpetually moving, arms gesturing wildly, as if unable to contain the seemingly limitless energy within him.

"So we'll all just waittttt here," continued Joker, moving to walk over near a brunette woman, who couldn't be older than twenty and looking absolutely terrified as the madman drew near. "He hasn't shown up yet. But I know that he will; otherwise I wouldn't have even bothered coming here. Well..." he appears to think deeply for about a second. "Act--uallyyy I probably would have shown a few of you the sharp end of my knife, but it wouldn't have been as much fun..." He looks around, the next words were almost too quiet for Bruce to hear. "It never is."

The Joker seemed to pull himself out of whatever he had just been dwelling in and he pulls a knife out of his coat pocket, it apparently what he had been fiddling with. He shoves it in the woman's face, who screams outright now, other people's gasps were also audible.

"Hey beautiful, you're starrrring at me," the Joker says, grabbing onto the face of the female who only grows more anxious and tries to pull away. "Ah-ah, now that's a bad girl, shh-shhhh. Stop it and look at me." The criminal's hand tightens on the girl's face, looking very angry. "Look.at. me! That'ssss better," he all but purrs, standing close to the girl, leaning in to look at her close face-to-face.

"Looking at my scars...wanna know how I got 'em? Of course you do. Everyone is cur-iousss about them. Well...there was this girl. Beauuutiful, like you. Older than me, never took much notice of me, but I...I took notice of her. I knew ever--y little thing about her, what she liked and didn't like. She was always smiling, ah...got to love a good smile, but one day she wasn't smiling anymore. So I got up the courage to go up and talk to her; I wanted to see her smile again! So I grabbed my knife, and carved my face, giving myself a lasting smile. I wanted her to see that she could smile! That everything would be fine! But she, hey," he yanks the girl's face back to look into his. "But what does she do? She screams at me, looking at me as if I'm a monster. Well, do I look like one to you?" He starts to shake the girl, looking more than a little insane in that moment. "Do I?!"

Punch! The Joker goes flying as Bruce sees Batman, come into view. The Knight stalks forward, glancing at the shaking girl. "Go!" he growls. He looks at the group of people, all still frozen in terror. "All of you! Get out now!"

People hurry out the doors as Batman turns to face the clown prince, who starts to slowly stand up, wiping blood from his mouth and looking positively giddy.

"I was wondering when you'd finally get here, Batsy," said Joker sounding breathless.

Bruce is horrified when his body starts to respond to that. He shifts uncomfortably in his chair, angry at himself. This wasn't the first time he had had a similar kind of...experience before.

"You ran out after dinner." pouted Joker, straightening up as much as he usually did. "And right when I was looking forward to dessert!" He throws an angry fist towards Batman but misses as the caped crusader sidesteps. And thus began their deadly dance.

Fists flew, and kicks were thrown. The Joker managed to find a spot between armor pieces on his arm and his nails dig in so deep that little lines of blood started running out, meanwhile Batman gives a particularly hard kick to Joker in the stomach, making the madman wheeze with laughter as he kneeled on the ground, doubled over.

Bruce could feel his cock grow harder, a hand reaches out rubbing hard against the front of his pants and he closes his eyes. Unable to help himself any longer. The zipper on his pants gets pulled down, opening up his pants to pull his now erect cock out, thumb moving over the head, making him let out a low moan.

Although his eyes were closed, he could still hear Batman and Joker battling each other, growls mixed in with laughter. He moves his hips forward, unable to help himself, growling low in his throat.

"Fuck," he hisses. He couldn't get the image of the damned clown out of his head. No matter how much he tried to, all he could fucking think about were those damn lips that always got licked, that lithe body that was deceptively stronger than it looked, which he knew better than anyone, and those damnable eyes. Those eyes always glowing brightly in laughter or dark in anger; always. "Damn...you...fuck."

They were both from different circumstances, but both of them had also had a life altering, shattering experience. It took them both to two different paths, leading him to seek out Justice, to keep more little Bruce Wayne's out there from losing their parents and having the world broken underneath them. And it led the Joker to a path of fire and madness, to destroy and rub the faces of everyone into the chaos that the world was. Some rise by sin, some by virtue fall. He had went the path of the Just, but he could have easily just have slipped, made a mistake and become what the Joker had become.

He could faintly hear the low moaning of the Joker and the low growl of Batman as another punch sounds. Joker. Joker, Joker, Joker, Joker, Joker, Joker--!

Bruce cries out the Joker's name, hands like vices on the arms of the chair, shuddering as his climax overwhelmed him, eyes opening up slowly, looking down to see the mess all over himself and the ground.

The Joker smiles languidly up at him.

"Mmm, Brucey." purrs Joker, moving one hand from Bruce's now spent cock to rub his thigh, his other hand moving from his own, now limp, cock. "You should have given into me sooner. Now we have so much to catch up on." He licks his lips.

The screens in front of them now showed Batman, looking angrier than ever, push the Joker hard against the wall and kiss him.

One side for justice, the other for chaos. Opposing forces. Forces which were also so alike it frightened him.

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A/N: Yay my first entry for the Challenge! Go Team Knight!!!! 3 This Challenge is AWESOME and I am so glad to be apart of it, and this comm that has so many great people in it! =D You all are awesome! I wuv u all! lol 3 I can't wait to do more!

I hope you all enjoyed this!

Let me know what you thought!

--PhoenixJustice