His throat tickled, he wanted to cough so badly, to scratch the itch, but he couldn't. The men underneath him would have heard, would have looked up to see where the noise came from. Batman couldn't let that happen, he was on the lookout for their leader, the one who was behind all the explosions from the last week.
His throat hurt so much, this cold just was NOT going away. Alfred had told him to take a sick day but he knew he couldn't. Criminals never took a sick day, so neither did Batman. Even with the cold, he hoped he could still take him down.
"Hello Batsy." Batman had enough time to catch a glimpse of purple and green before pain erupted from the back of his head and the darkness closed in.
Batman came slowly to. He could hear someone tapping their foot. He slowly opened his eyes to see the Joker in front of him, his eyes on the knife in his hands. Batman tried to move, but realized his hands were tied above his head, he was dangling just low enough for his toes to touch the ground.
Joker, noticing his victim was waking up, smiled.
"Well Batman, I never imagined it to be this easy. With you, I always expect a challenge. But hey, we all have our nights." Joker stood there waiting for him to reply. He opened his mouth to argue with him but nothing came out besides a few UN-BATMAN like sounds came out. He cleared his throat. But still no sound came out. Joker, seeing Batsy's mouth moving but no sound coming out, stepped closer. He noticed a light flush on his face.
"Don't come near me!" Batman finally was able to spit out.
"Your voice sounds different Batsy…..Could it be…..You have a COLD?!" With this Joker realized why he had been able to overpower the Bat so easily this time. Joker started to laugh, and once he started he couldn't stop. He leaned against the Batman to hold himself up while he body shook with how hard he was laughing.
"Hahahaha….Hahaha…..Ha…..Ahhhhhh….Oh Bats, you get me every time. Don't worry though. If you end up making me sick, I'll stab you right in the heart."
"Joker, let me DOWN!" Batman forced out. His head was pounding from the cold and the beating it took. Joker tossed a knife at him but it hit wrong because he was still shaking with laughter, and just bounced off his armour, leaving no wound.
Eventually Batman was able to get loose and capture the little henchmen, Joker managed to escape though. He cut short the police inquires in order to get back home and sleep the cold away.
The following week was pretty quiet on the Joker end of the spectrum. Batman still managed to clear up some mob dealings and little thefts here and there.
Finally when the Joker did come out of hiding, it was with a vengeance. He chased Batman through Gotham wearing a stethoscope and a nurse's hat while trying to stab him with a syringe. He kept screaming that Batman needed to be quarantined to save the city from his disgusting germs. It was a very awkward handover when Batman met up with the GCPD.
When the Batman was explaining what happened, Commissioner Gordon swore he saw a smile on Batman's face a couple of times, though he never mentioned anything.