Tim walked into the cave, looking kind of cheerful…well as cheerful as he ever got. It had been a good day…so far. "Hey Dick, whatcha doing?"
Dick waved his hand at Tim to silence him. "Shhh, I'm watching something."
Tim moved closer so he could see the screen better. "What are you watching?"
Dick tried to silence him again as Tim pulled up a chair and sat down next to him. "Shhh"
Tim just stared at the screen very confused. "Is that…" He couldn't even find the words to finish his sentence.
Dick's eyes were glued to the screen. He hadn't even blinked since this started. "Yup"
Tim thought he was smart, but what he was seeing just didn't make any sense to him. "Is he…?"
Dick nodded. "Yup"
"Undercover?" It was the only thing that explained it.
Dick shook his head, but kept his eyes focused on the screen. "Nope"
There had to be a reasonable explanation for this. "Talk before the fight?"
Dick shrugged. "There's nothing to indicate that."
Tim really couldn't believe his eyes now. "So, he's…"
Dick nodded once again. "Yup"
Tim had to ask. He didn't think Dick would have an answer, but he still had to ask. "Why?"
Dick hung his head slightly. "I don't know."
"Do you think he's…?" Tim didn't get to finish his sentence before Dick interrupted him.
"Tim, I don't know." Dick sounded just as lost and confused as Tim felt.
Suddenly, Tim's anger flared. This wasn't right. This couldn't be. "Batman wouldn't!"
Dick sighed. He didn't want to believe it anymore than Tim, but how could he deny what he was clearly seeing on the screen. "Timmy, who knows what he's capable of, if…" Dick didn't need to finish that sentence. He knew Tim understood.
Tim shook his head as if trying to clear it. "So, he really is…" Tim's voice dropped off.
Dick turned to face him for the first time since Tim had walked into the cave. His blue eyes were bright, but sad. "Yes, it appears Batman is really sitting down and having a conversation with The Joker."
Dick watched as Tim removed all emotion from his face. "Recording?"
"Nope, live footage." As Dick answered, he couldn't help but think about how much Tim was reminding him of Batman right now.
Tim folded his arms over his chest. "Volume?"
Dick showed him the volume controls. "All the way up. Whatever it is he's saying, he doesn't want us to know."
Tim tended to be very direct and use as little words as possible when something didn't make sense, and he wanted it to. "Other camera angles?"
Dick looked through the other live feed he had coming in from the other cameras. "None that we could lip read from."
Some emotion flashed across Tim's eyes for a moment, and Dick suspected it was worry, even though it happened too quickly for him to see. "Do you think he'll try to kill him again?"
"No." Dick could at least be sure in that answer, even if it was little to no comfort at the moment.
Tim gave him a small nod, and stood from his chair. "Call me when you have the full recording."
Dick wasn't sure if it was what he was seeing on the screen, or if Tim's thoughts were just naturally faster than his, but he wasn't keeping up. "Why?"
Tim rolled his eyes. The answer really should have been an obvious one. "I'm good with computers. I'll be able to enhance the volume later."
Dick spun in his chair to stare at Tim. "You really want to know, don't you?"
Tim didn't even turn around. "Yes."
There were just certain things that were too complicated for Dick to comprehend, and this was one of them. "Why?"
Dick watched as Tim visibly tensed. "If Batman has gone off the deep end, I want to know."
Dick gave him a curt nod as Tim left. He couldn't watch that. He just couldn't. Tim felt bad for leaving Dick to watch it by himself, but he just couldn't handle that. He knew one of them had to stay and watch, but that didn't mean it had to be him. Tim hated himself for thinking it, but he couldn't help it…he couldn't keep from thinking that he would have had an easier time watching that if Batman was trying to kill The Joker, but he just couldn't watch him sitting there having a conversation with him like it was mid afternoon tea time, or something. That was just too much for him to stomach.
Dick understood why Tim had left, and he didn't blame the kid one bit. Dick wished he wasn't sitting down here. He wished that, when it first came on the screen, he would have gotten up, walked away, and hit some rooftops to blow off some steam. Instead, when he had first seen it, he had become entranced with the screen. Dick needed to know what was going on, and why. Unfortunately, after watching all of it, he found it didn't give him an answer to either of those questions, and now that it was all over, he found himself wishing he had followed Tim out of the cave over an hour ago.
Dick sighed as he sent the recording to Tim. He had already watched it three times to see what information he could gather from it, and each time all he was left with was more questions. He didn't even have the energy to care right now. Right now, he needed a shower and rest; because anything else would have just given him reasons and time to think about what he had watched. Dick silently headed for the shower, thinking about the last time he had gotten shot. It was sad that right now, that was what he thought of for comfort.
It had taken Tim a matter of moments to manipulate the sound to a point where he could clearly hear it. Truth was he could have done that while they were watching the live feed in the cave; he just didn't want to. Something about being able to analyze it piece by piece without Dick there made it just slightly easier to bear. So far, nothing of any kind of importance had been said. Bad jokes and random ramblings from Joker, and a few grunts, snarls, and glares from Batman…all in all, a normal encounter between the Bat and the psycho--so far at least. It got to the point where Tim wasn't even watching the screen anymore. He was just listening; that was until Batman had started speaking in more than just grunts. Tim's eyes shot up to the screen and he watched in complete silence.
"You know why we're here, Joker." The Batman on the screen sneered and spit the name out like it was venom.
The Joker smiled that menacingly evil grin and laughed. "You had an offer for me. Isn't that right, Mister Tall, Dark, and Glaring?"
"Yes." Batman was still and calm, and looked as though he wasn't sitting across the table from one of his worse enemies.
Tim paused the feed for a moment. Yes, he wanted to know more about this apparent offer which Batman had given The Joker, but first he needed to stop and scrutinize the Batman on the screen. He seemed as calm, rational, collected, and most importantly, sane as Batman ever was. So, why didn't any of this make sense? Tim resumed watching, and couldn't believe his ears.
"You know the deal, Joker. I give you Damian, and not only do I never see your grotesque face again, but you never harm another person…ever…for as long as you exist."
"Yes, yes, I know. Well, no one besides Harley. It's her own fault she just keeps a-comin' back. I can't be blamed for whatever happens to her." Batman stood and began to walk away, but stopped when Joker started to speak again. "Don't you ever get tired of the whole 'sacrificing your own to save others' thing?"
Batman spun around to face him. "Who said I was doing this to save others?"
The Joker looked outraged. "What?"
The Batman stood facing the madman completely stoic, as always. "I'm doing this to torment you."
"Torment me?" The Joker broke out into laughter. "How is this going to torment me?"
"You've never met Damian." Batman turned and walked away.
Tim turned off the monitor, and grabbed the cell phone out of his pocket. It rang a total of one time before Dick picked up. "Is Bats nuts?"
Tim forced himself not to smile. "No, far from it. But I think he finally found the only non-lethal way to deal with The Joker."
The End