A/N: This story is combined from two sources and takes place before Batman: Tales of the Demon and Joker Goes to School.

B&D&B&R

Missing

By

AJ

Prologue: Opening Move

'Why! Why did he leave me alive? He was perfect. He should have followed through."

The man thought back when John Doe came among the group. He just showed up one day, half starved, nearly frozen from the bitter cold, but there was a fire in his eyes that he recognized. It was the same fire within his and in very few candidates. John Doe proved to be stronger than he had expected. The first test, take out ten men, and even when he did, he left them alive.

"They're good men," John Doe said. "Why waste a life if this is just a test."

It was a reasonable statement, and after all they were training for something much more. Even so . . .

'I don't know why I took him in. I should have killed him where he stood. Yet, there was something in him that I could not deny.'

He thought back on the training. John Doe had taken to it like a duck to water. John Doe had succeeded in the training within six months, faster than any other candidate. It was as if he was possessed by a demon, rushing to hell. Why was the man doing this? Though no man would ask or even answer. Whoever joined, their past was expunged, but John Doe, it was as if he had no past. Nothing was known about him.

'John Doe of course was an alias, but that did not stop him and many others from seeking us out,' he thought. 'We had a strict code. Our clan was known, but only in whispers. No one knew where we could be found, at least not directly. If you did find out and you came seeking training, then you must have been not only desperate, but determined to become something that the rest of the world frowns upon.' The man's thoughts continued to dwell on who and what his group meant.

'After all, what we do, even my own mother would be ashamed, if she were alive. We also had another code. Don't ask. If you were there for training, to be a part of the clan, then you had left your other life behind, for whatever reason. It no longer mattered. '

Even so, John Doe was a man determined to do more in that six months than every other candidate had done in a year.

'And that baffles me to this day. Why is it that you refused to follow through?'

Again, when the second test came, John Doe still would not kill.

'I warned him he had to harden that heart if he was to be a member of the clan,' he thought. 'But John Doe had his own agenda.'

The final test, defeat the master or die trying. 'And if you lived after your injuries healed, then you would be a member of the clan. Only the best were allowed, that was why our numbers were small, and how we were able to stay alive and keep our secrets. But did I say defeat?' he thought. 'I meant kill. I wanted him to take my place, just as I took the place of my master, and married his daughter. He would have been my heir and my daughter would now be his wife. But he did not kill me. He left me broken and then disappeared without a trace, until now.'

A young woman entered into the man's private chamber carrying a tray.

"Thank you daughter," the man said.

She placed the food in front of her father along with a folder.

"Is this what I think it is?"

"Yes."

The man opened the folder and saw the face of the man who became his enemy. He read the newspaper clippings.

"So, John Doe, you are more than what you seemed. I guess each man has his secrets.'

The man went through the clippings and found another image.

'You left me broken, and alive, perhaps for a reason. A second chance maybe? I wonder. Do you still remember your training? I think you do.'

He picked up another photo and stared at the image, and knew he was looking into the face of the same man. 'Your eyes betray you. They still have that fire.'

His eyes fell on the other figure in the photo. Then he pulled out another photo and nodded his head, and he knew just what he needed to do to bring him back to the fold, and if he refused — well a life for a life. Payment must be made for his insult.

'After all, you had taken my death from me, so it is only right that I take the life of someone you love. Perhaps, that will release the kind of man I know is within you . . . Bruce Wayne.'

Part 1: Pawns Face Off