Disclaimer: I do not own the canon. I merely enjoy it.
Starring: Batman/Joker
Author's Note: Because I do so love Batman – good Batman – and Joker is such a malicious villain. I enjoy the war between the two, Joker always has some master plan beneath the random chaos and Batman can never seem to keep up with him.
Summary: The green lipped smile haunted him even after his death.
Rating: K
...
"Go to work."
The words were bitter, filled with bile and the old man had to bite his lip to prevent himself from saying anything else. As he stumbled off to the side, to stay out of the way, to keep watch because this was the very meaning of unreal he felt the sensation of deja vu hit his solar plexus. He hates clowns and their harlequin marionettes, the bad gags that end in somebody dying and this, this is why he has no sense of humor.
"You've never mentioned him."
If Bruce has his way Terry will never have to see the Joker again, never hear his cackle, never be at the end of his dangerous pranks. The Joker is not funny, he is deadly and hides that explosive potential beneath the bleached skin, allowing only slips of it to rise to the surface. No, this is unlike anything that Terry has ever seen, unlike anything that the other heroes have seen. The Joker is a cunning monster who hides under destruction to conceal his true purpose.
"How do you feel?'"
However, Terry is like all the rest of their kind: loyal and headstrong. He will go after the Joker because he has dared to hurt his girl, his mutt and his boss. Bruce appreciates the sentiment but would rather just have a thank you card. The Joker is death and torment incarnate, he rots all that he comes into contact with. The list of names that the evil clown has twisted begins with Harley Quinzel and he had hoped ended with Tim Drake, but now it is not the case and Terry is gone to rid the world of the evil that poisons the pantheon of gods that he looks up to.
"Lousy."
Some, like Kent or West would comment on his growing softness, but he knows what it is. This boy is Batman, but he is Robin and Batgirl and the others all rolled into one package. This is the new world, the new Batman and it is a good thing because he could not have been this twenty years ago when his heart would let him leap over alleys at night. But this is what the Joker feeds on and the old fear bubbles up in his chest, a fear of a green lipped smile on their faces, smiles that he has seen – Tim, Alfred, Barbra, Gordon, himself and even Dick once before Nightwing.
If Terry is to fail and the Joker to win then it will not be the laser that kills him.
It'll be that green lipped smile that asphyxiates him.