Easy. It had been too easy. Batman frowned as he watched the last of Joker's henchmen flee into the night. It had been so straight forward...A bunch of goons dressed as clowns attempting to rob Gotham Bank. It wasn't like Joker to be so straight forward

He dismissed his misgivings, "I'll figure out what he's up to when I get back to the cave."

...

He drove the Batmobile in through the hidden entrance, and parked it. Jumping out, he called, "Hey! Alfred! Alfred, where-"

His voice faltered off as his eyes adjusted to the dim light of the Bat Cave.

The place had been destroyed, the walls spray painted with obscene gestures and happy faces, and in the middle of the wreck laid Alfred's coat, neatly folded, with a jack-in-the-box slowly playing on top of it. As the song reached its climax, a tortured looking jester's face popped out of the box, accompanied by a ghastly laughter that filled the cave. Held in the Jester's grinning mouth was a note. It read:

Batsy Batsy, what's a Bat to do? Lost his butler, did he?

You want him back? Jump City's the name, play time is the game!

At the bottom of the note was a simple playing card, marked with a big red 'J'.

"Joker…You've crossed the line", Batman growled through clenched teeth.

...

Lightning flashed, thunder boomed, and Robin couldn't sleep. Something just didn't feel right. Sighing, he got up and left his room.

"If I can't sleep, might as well train." He thought.

As he went through the TV area, the lightning flashed again, silhouetting a figure by the window.

"You…!" hissed Robin, as he extended his Bo staff.

The shadow gave no acknowledgement. "Why the hell are you here!" screamed Robin as he unleashed a furious attack.

"Why can't you just leave me alone?" The figure did not respond, as it gracefully dodged every blow.

Then one of Robin's more wild swings smashed open a window, activating the Titan's alarm system, lighting up the room.

"Robin! What's going on! Why did the alarm…" Slow Cyborg and the other Titan's shouts trailed off as their steps slowed.

"Its…Its…"

"The Batman, I know" responded Robin to Cyborg's spluttering.

"What I want to know is what he is doing here."

"Robin…" the cloaked figure croaked, his voice hoarse. Robin mentally frowned at this "Since when has Bruce's voice been hoarse…?"

"Robin…" he rasped again suddenly sounding…old,

"Robin…he's got Alfred…"

Robin gasped, "No…"