A/N: Thanks for the review Victor. Sorry, but the Ponds won't be in this story. But Donna is in this chapter, so, hope that makes up for it. As for timeline, this is after "The Doctor's Daughter" and before "The Unicorn and the Wasp."

The Dark Who?

"So, random destination?" Donna asked, stepping out into the dimly lit street. The Doctor scooped a paper up from the wind and frowned.

"Gotham? Why Gotham again?" he wondered.

"What's Gotham?"

"A city. You should know, the terrorist attack on it made international news." Donna shrugged.

"I think that was when I was in Egypt then." She shoved him when he rolled his eyes at her.

"Anyway, it's a city full of people almost as crazy as I am."

"In that case, we'd better get out. Don't want to risk it being contagious."

"Harhar, very funny Donna. Now if we could just find out–" he said, as they walked toward a main street.

BANGBANGBANGBANGBANG!

The Doctor covered Donna's body with his own, both of them hitting the ground to avoid the bullets. That was when they noticed the demented looking clown in a purple suit with a machine gun walking through the middle of the street.

"Come on, come on, I wantcha to do it, I wantcha to do it, come on, come on, I wantcha to do it, I wantcha to do it. Come on, hit me! Hit me! HIT ME!" the clown yelled and the figure in black yelled, but swerved at the last moment, hitting a wrecked semi behind him. The Doctor got up to help him, Donna following him, only for a SWAT team member to put a gun on the madman before they made it halfway there. The two then melted into the background as more of the GCPD arrived and closed off the scene.

"Doctor, who are they?" Donna questioned him, as the clown was loaded into a police car. The Doctor shook his head.

"The Batman and the Joker."

"Jim Gordon, UNIT commander John Smith, codename the Doctor. This is my partner Donna Noble," the Doctor said, holding up his psychic paper to the soon-to-be police commissioner. The dark haired man nodded at the ID but shook his head as he looked the duo over.

"Why would UNIT be interested in this?" he asked them.

"I'm somewhat freelance, Commissioner, I go and help where I want. Now what do we know about the Joker?" the Doctor asked, stashing the paper away and moving to look at the clown in the cell.

"Less than nothing."

"Give me a bit of time with him and I'll see what I can get out of him," the Doctor said and Jim nodded, too tired to argue, before heading out.

"Doctor… why are you so fascinated with him?" Donna asked as they turned to look at the Joker.

"He… reminds me of… someone I lost… Someone I couldn't save," he murmured and she frowned; she didn't want to crush his hopes but she didn't want to let him raise them too high either.

"Doctor, people can't be saved unless they want to. Not really," she told him, but he still was looking at the Joker with sadness she usually only saw when he mentioned Rose.

But the Doctor couldn't stop thinking. He only knew a bit about the Batman because of the Occupation of Gotham by the League of Shadows that wouldn't take place for another eight years, which had heralded a new era of Global Security for the Earth, and knew even less about the Joker. But, in the little he'd seen of the Joker and the Batman, he'd seen human counterparts to himself and the Master. His stomach churned upon remembrance of his fallen former friend and though he knew Donna was right, he couldn't stop himself from saying, "I just need to make sure."

The Joker twiddled his thumbs through his cuffs in the interrogation room. "You're not GCPD," he observed.

"Nope. But I'm here to talk. Think of this as a psychological evaluation," the Doctor said, sitting across the table. He'd thought about using his psychic abilities but the Joker was liable to try and take him hostage if he let him get that close. So old fashioned talking it was.

"Gonna use Rorschachs on me? Or word association? Oh, or try and find out how I really got my scars. Well I'll tell ya, I was a bit of a wanderer before I came to Gotham. Love of my life just died and I just couldn't sit still. Had to run. So I traveled with a friend, just the two of us. And it was fun, while it lasted." Behind the observation room glass, Donna squirmed. "But then, we ran into trouble. These guys, they were messing around with her, and she, she was a pistol and didn't put up with any of it and of course, I backed her up. So she calls them out on it, and well… things got bad. They attacked us, had me in a headlock and had two guys holding her." The Doctor sat a little taller. "And at this point, I was yellin', screamin' at them to let her go. And the leader had a knife at my throat and said, 'Sure, wise guy. We'll let her go, if you give us a smile.' She tells me not to, and of course, I don't listen and agree. And so they stick the knife in my mouth and, well, you can guess the rest," the Joker shrugged, gesturing to the scars that rimmed his mouth. "But the real funny part, you wanna guess the real funny part?" The Doctor didn't respond. "They killed her anyway. She died, bloody and blank, without any of the life and happiness that she'd once had in her face." The Joker leaned back in his chair and raised an eyebrow at the man across the table. "Is that what you wanted to hear, sir?" The Doctor let out a breath through his nose and stood, turning his back on the Joker and heading for the door. "Oh, by the way, you might wanna check on the DA. Make sure he got home safe and sound. He is a wanted man after all." The Doctor didn't respond, just left.

The Doctor had wanted to leave right after that and, for once, Donna didn't argue. Between the psychoanalysis the Joker had given him and the delicate, easily changeable nature of Gotham's history over the next few days it was better to let history fold out without their interference. But not quite ready to leave entirely, they just skipped ahead to the week after the Joker's arrest and chose to visit the other half of the duo they'd seen in combat.

"Mr. Wayne, you have a visitor," Alfred said, leading the Doctor. Donna had chosen to keep the butler company instead of meeting the illustrious Bruce Wayne, wanting to give the Doctor the space needed to talk.

"Mr. Wayne, I'm–"

"I know who you are," Bruce interrupted. He was wearing a robe over his pajamas and holding a cane and the beginnings of a beard on his face. "UNIT's guy. Gordon mentioned you. And judging from the records I picked up on you, I'd judge you know who I am."

"Won't have to beat around the bush then, good." The Doctor sat across from the Batman. "I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry. So very sorry. Believe me, I've been where you are and while it may take a while, things will get better. But only if you let people in."

"Forgive me for having difficulty doing that. Me letting people in has a tendency to get them killed."

"Maybe find someone as dangerous as you are to let in." The Doctor smiled wryly. "Say, have you ever met a woman named Selina Kyle?" Bruce furrowed his eyebrows.

"Who?"

"Sorry. Little early on that one," the Doctor assured him. "But know that you can trust her. Well, kind of. Well, sort of. Well… maybe. Depends."

"Thank you?" Bruce said, not sure what to make of the strange man.

"No problem." The Doctor stood and shook the Batman's hand. "Good luck with life Bruce."

"You too, John." And then the Doctor left, as always, appearing like he'd almost never been there at all.