Chapter Two

The next morning...

"What was I thinking..." Bruce Wayne scrubbed his face with his hands before dropping his arms and shoulders, leaning forward as he sat in his oversized armchair in the extravagantly decorated lounge at Wayne Manor.

"I let him go...I just...ugh, what was I thinking...maybe I've taken too many blows to the head lately," Bruce spoke aloud to himself, barely watching the national news program that was on the large television in front of him.

"But..." Batman continued, his tone changing, becoming lighter as a ghost of a smile touched his lips while he sat back in his chair, spreading his fingers along the fine, black leather, "...those eyes of his...all of him...so beautiful, it's almost painful."

"Master Wayne...?" a pleasantly accented voice sounded from the doorway, catching the black-haired male's adamant attention as he sat up straight upon seeing his butler and most trusted person in the world enter the room.

"Hello Alfred..." the Wayne heir greeted his butler before going right into the details that were plaguing his mind, knowing that it would have only been a matter of time before Alfred got the facts out of him anyway, "...I ran into Scarecrow last night."

"Dr. Jonathan Crane?" Alfred replied as he set down the tray he had been holding, the aged gentleman sharp as ever as he knew precisely whom Bruce was referring to, "...the young man that that dreadful Joker fellow spoke about on the news? Just how is he faring these days?"

"The one and the same," Bruce affirmed, a vivid image of bright, blue eyes and high cheekbones flashing in his memory for a moment before he concentrated on his response, "...he's be lying low, but last night, it looked like he was in the process of moving some goods."

"Chemicals, perhaps, for more of his toxin?" Alfred asked curiously, always providing the last surviving Wayne family member with solid logic to consider as well as a platform to bounce ideas off of while the two continued.

Bruce pursed his lips and clasped his hands together at his chin, thinking on Alfred's question.

"I'm not sure, but there's a bigger problem," Batman preambled as he looked up towards his most precious person, needing for Alfred to know the whole truth and to judge him accordingly.

"And what might that be, Master Wayne?" Alfred spoke gently, forever displaying infinite patience with his young charge as he could read the anxiety on Bruce's features directed to him.

"I let him go..." Bruce Wayne confessed, almost a comical guilt present in his voice and face while he peered up from his chair to his butler's calm facade.

"You did what now, sir?" Alfred asked calmly, tilting his head a bit to the side, no criticism within his words or gesture at all but he knew the rhetoric would not be lost on the heir.

"I let him go. If the Joker is tracking him down like he said, I'll be able to find him," Bruce explained, his words almost sounding as if he was telling himself in the process.

"Meanwhile, I'm assuming you will need to protect Dr. Crane until the Joker decides to rear his ugly head...?" Alfred Pennyworth assessed the situation correctly as usual, folding his white-gloved hands cordially in front of him.

Bruce nodded solemnly before speaking.

"Yeah...that pretty much sums it up," Batman agreed with a bit of effort, knowing that on the surface the situation looked rather bleak, full of unnecessary hardship on his part as well as risky for all involved.

"Hmm...using one villain to catch another..." Alfred reiterated humorously, causing Bruce to smirk at his dearest friend and confidant, "...maybe you've had too many blows to the head, I suppose."

Bruce laughed as Alfred gave him a pseudo-pointed looked and then made to exit the room, leaving the billionaire to his thoughts as well as the morning tea he had brought.

X

Meanwhile, on the edge of town...

Jonathan Crane stirred his coffee slowly as he sat at his breakfast nook, his other hand holding the morning newspaper as he checked over a few of the articles that had made the print.

"Batman..." he whispered with a certain degree of disdain as well as inquiry, as he read the brief synopsis of the masked vigilante putting several small-time criminals behind bars last night, some of their names Scarecrow recognized as having been his men.

"Wonderful..." Crane spoke the sarcastic comment aloud to himself as he set the paper down on the counter and lifted his coffee mug to his lips, sipping the rich, hot drink carefully.

"I'm willing to let you go this one time, Jonathan..."

The former Arkham administrator could still hear Batman's words to him from the night prior, the man behind the dark mask speaking to him as if he had known him, really known him and cared about him.

"...absurd...even for me...maybe Batman has finally lost his mind as well..." Jonathan remarked aloud in order to force himself to stop considering the enigmatic Batman, taking another longer sip of his coffee.

"I'll be there...I promise..."

"That does it," Crane announced, annoyed at himself as he remembered another comment the dark knight had spoken so sincerely to him that it had honestly shaken the doctor with its obvious deeper significance, "...this is ridiculous."

Jonathan drained the last of his coffee before nearly slamming the mug on the counter top and raising up from his chair.

He only took a moment to smooth his hands down the front of his pressed, grey suit before walking towards the front door of his apartment, ready to immerse himself in the day and forget about his very present and personified troubles.