Bruce pulled off his mask as he entered the garage by the bay in his bat bike. Turning the ignition off , he swung his leg over just as Alfred walked through the door.

"Alfred," he started. Alfred held up his hand to stop him.

"I already know master Wayne. The media are having a field day on saying that you killed all those people, but mainly it's about Harvey Dent."

"You know I didn't do it on purpose," Bruce asked, looking up.

Alfred gave a warm smile, "Of course I do, but this isn't going to go well for Batman."

"Batman needed to become the villain. He was created to help Gotham, and that was the only way to do it."

"It was very noble on your part, though, sir. To take on that kind of responsibility, and to take it willingly."

Bruce sighed and rubbed his face, "Well, just the same, I think it's better if Batman laid low for awhile."

"Quite right," Alfred said, giving a tiny smile and grabbed the mask to hang up.

Bruce began disassembling his outfit. "Was there any word on the joker in between the news about Batman?"

"Yes," Alfred called from the other end of the room. "He's been taken to Arkham Asylum, where he's going to be held under top surveillance."

"However much good that is," Bruce mumbled under his breath. He threw a white t-shirt and walked over to his computers.

"Would you like some dinner…or rather… breakfast?" Alfred asked, making his way back over.

"No thanks," Bruce said, signing in, "but coffee would be good."

Alfred nodded and made his way towards the car for the order.

Bruce picked up the phone and dialed Lucius's number.

"I figured you would be calling soon," a familiar voice answered.

Bruce smiled. "Did you type your name?" he asked, confirming that the self-destruct sequence on the Cell phone computer had gone correctly.

"Yes, it's done," Lucius answered, letting out a sigh, "But I'm hearing more about your apparent murders than that of the joker's."

"Yeah," Bruce scoffed, hacking into the Asylum's security cameras. "I noticed as well, when I was being chased."

Silence came from the other end for a moment. "You're a good man, Bruce Wayne."

"Well," Bruce sighed, leaning back into his chair, "no one else seems to think so at the moment."

"That's good, Mr. Wayne. You might know this, but people will still think of you as a hero before it's over."

"Yeah, well, that day isn't today," he raised his voice, "Thank you, Lucius."

"No, thank you Mr. Wayne." Bruce hung up the phone and watched as Joker was brought to his room. Even from the screen, he could tell that he was getting to the two guards who were escorting. The door closed, satisfying Bruce for now. He exited out of the Arkham surveillance system.

Alfred placed the coffee and a sandwich beside the computer.

"That was fast," Bruce observed, grabbing the cup

"Well, I am getting rather good at picking up food for you from here," Alfred said, almost jokingly. His face composed. "What's the next step, Master Wayne? For you. And Batman."

Bruce absently stared on, taking a sip of coffee and then gave a sigh, "I'm not sure. I want to keep an eye on Joker. For a while, anyway. I need to talk to Gordon, but that won't be happening any time soon. Things will be messier for Batman. I don't know how this is going to work, now, to be honest."

"Maybe you'll be able to think better after you sleep a couple of hours," Alfred, grabbing his coat and hat.

Bruce stood up to follow him, "You're right about that." The floor from the lair rose up as the lights slowly, one by one, went out.

The Wayne Building glistened on the new day, as Bruce made his way inside. People greeted him with false over cheerfulness, as if expecting him to give them a promotion for whoever smiled the widest. Bruce gave a smile and friendly wave as he put a hand in his Versace suit pocket as if to pose for a camera. Finally shutting his office door, Bruce gave a sigh and headed to his desk. On cue, his phone rang.

"Yes, Kayla," he said, sitting at his desk.

"Sorry to bother you," his receptionist started, "but you have an appointment with the Board in an hour."

He opened his desk, "Thank you."

"Not a prob.." Bruce hit the button before she had a chance to flirt. Sighing, he leaned back in his desk and turned towards his view of Gotham. It was bright and made the appearance that everything was alright. The fading in and out noise of Police cars and ambulances gave evidence otherwise. Bruce put his chin on his hand and stared out at the ever-disappearing Gotham. A knock interrupted his concentration. He whipped around in his chair and recomposed.

"Yes?" he called, opening the folder in front of him and grabbed a pen. Kayla poke her head around the door.

"I'm sorry to bother you, sir, but there's a…." Another hand appeared around the door, pushing it as she charged passed Kayla. She held out a hand towards Bruce.

"Barbara Gordon," she finished, obviously trying to control anger.

"Bruce Wayne," he returned the handshake. She stood as a five foot seven girl in a suit that only spoke librarian. She couldn't have been any older than nineteen. Her long dark wavy red hair matched perfectly with her hazel eyes and fair complexion.

Bruce looked behind towards Kayla, "Thank you Kayla." Kayla's expression mixed with anger and disappointment, both poorly hid, because of her not having the opportunity to kick out the woman who had rudely entered demanding to speak with Bruce. Kayla slowly closed the door, and Bruce turned back towards Barbara.

"Gordon…You're not any relation to Detective Gordon, are you?"

"Barely," she answered shortly, not wanting to chitchat, "he's my father."

Bruce's eyebrows raise as she continued, "Not meaning to come off as rude, Mr. Wayne, but I have a rather urgent matter to discuss with you concerning the Gotham East Public Library."

"I know the place," he shrugged, "What about it?"

"I would like an explanation on why you are having it demolished in two weeks?"

"Why would I demolish it?" he asked, confused.

Barbara glanced at his desk and glared back at him, pointing, "To make way for that."

He turned to look back at her pointing at the folder he had just opened with contract for him to sign right next to a design of office buildings to replace the library.

Bruce turned back around, "There is some confusion here I believe. I haven't signed anything, and have no recollection of this Office Building even planning on being built. I haven't even looked at that file yet."

Barbara smirked, "Had one too many this weekend, Mr. Bruce?"

Bruce looked on at her as he continued, "Now, I can assure you, I have no intention of tearing down the library. As a matter of fact, I will personally guarantee you that nothing will happen to that library and.." he grabbed his check book, wrote and tore it, giving the check to her. Barbara looked at the amount and looked back at Bruce in shock as he gave his modeling smile, "that check plus an entire new set of books. No limit."

Barbara's guard immediately went down and tried to speak as Bruce grabbed the file to throw it in the trash, "Is that alright with you?"

She laughed, still staring at the check and nodded, "Thank you Mr. Wayne. You have no idea what you've just done here……and….. I'm sorry about , just now."

Bruce waved his hand, "Don't worry about it. I would've been upset, too."

Barbara smiled as she folded the check.

"Thank you," she repeated, and put it in her pocket.

"Can I do anything else for you, then?" he asked.

Barbara shook her head, now acting shy. "No, thank you, though. I better get back to the library."

"Got to start ordering all of those books," Bruce smiled, and walked behind Barbara towards the door to open it for her. Barbara walked out, and then turned back to Bruce.

"There's going to be a masquerade ball tomorrow for a charity. I mean, we don't need it now so it would e more of a celebration of us keeping the library, but it would be very nice of you to come and be our guest of honor."

"I would love to," he smiled, holding out a hand.

Barbara shook his hand and walked out quickly as Bruce still stood at the door with both hands in his pockets, smiling.