A/N: Here I am again, with another Author's Note. Hopefully you are are liking or at least starting to like this story. I'm not quite sure if I've "captured" the actions and emotions of the characters properly, but I am trying. I don't know if I want to have Joker liking Aidan more than just one of his little "pets" but I am sure bent on trying to make Batman/Bruce Wayne and Aidan come together somehow. Not sure how to do it yet, mostly because I still don't know if I want Joker to be mixed in with a love triangle. Though, that would make things interesting. But, I'll just see how things go. And so... one more thing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Batman or anything related to Batman, sadly. Even though I've fallen for that lovely Joker, I still don't own 'em. I do own Aidan Jaxon and this plot.

Now, enjoy!

In the last chapter:

"She was uh, she was too distracting I think – don't you think?" he spun around and stopped, pointing a knife at one of the goons who stood near him.

"Yes?" the young henchman replied, to only regret it moments later.

"She was not distracting!" Joker shouted back, throwing his knife at the poor soul. The knife landed right at the man's chest, where his heart would be, and then he fell to the ground. "No, no… I need to – to get back to causing des – destruction to my favourite, unsuspecting Gotham!"

Joker jumped out form his seat and started to march toward the exit. "Let the games continue!"

Chapter Three

The sun was just beginning to pass over the horizon, maybe a couple of hours before it was completely gone, when Aidan had decided to prepare herself for this social party Bruce was taking her to. She had locked herself in the bathroom for quite some time, making Alfred wonder how long does it really take to slip on a dress and apply a few hints of blush or lipstick. Alfred glanced from the bathroom door to the sun outside, a low frown on his face.

He made his way over to the entrance of his master's most beloved room and knocked once, waiting patiently for Bruce's head to pop out through the opening. Alfred smiled warily when Bruce's head did pop out and looked at him expectedly. "What is it Alfred?"

"I think I might know what Joker did to Miss Jaxon," Alfred whispered in a low voice, almost afraid that Aidan might hear their conversation. "She's in the bathroom right now,"

Bruce fully stepped out and stood beside Alfred, taking a glance toward the bathroom before facing Alfred. "What do you think might have happened?" he asked curiously.

"Well," Alfred leaned in closer, still whispering in a low tone of voice, "Those aren't bruises,"

Bruce raised a single brow on his forehead as soon as Alfred's words left his lips. He stared at Alfred to see if the old man was positive, and only saw seriousness in his eyes. "If they're not bruises then what…" Bruce couldn't finish his sentence when he finally caught onto what Alfred was trying to tell him. First his eyes widened and his jaw dropped for a moment, the shock taking him off guard momentarily.

Then his eyes narrowed angrily and his teeth clenched tightly together. His mind suddenly became flooded with all the different things the Joker might have or did do to Aidan while she was with him. Bruce became disgusted at the thoughts that swam through his mind and his hands fisted so tight his knuckles were turning white. "Are you positive about this Alfred?"

Alfred nodded his head and Bruce immediately started to march toward the bathroom. He grabbed onto the doorknob and turned it just a bit, noticing right away that she had left the door open or had just recently unlocked it. Bruce swung the door open and shut it quickly behind him, locking the door. He came face to back as Aidan held onto the small jacket Alfred had gotten her to help conceal the marks around her shoulders.

Bruce looked at Aidan from head to toe and back up again. She wore a silk-like black dress that dragged along the floor just a bit and the small white jacket around her covered her from the elbow to her neck. Aidan looked at him with confusion upon his intrusion into the bathroom. Bruce took a step forward and extended his arm out to grab onto Aidan's arm.

He pulled her to him, making sure they were face to face, and pushed the jacket aside with his other hand. His eyes started to just stare at them, examining them, to see if Alfred's theory was correct. Bruce looked up at Aidan before looking back down and gently pressing against one of the bruise-like marks.

"He likes to call them 'love bites', though he never really bit me," Aidan answered for Bruce having searched his mind to figure out why he was acting the way he was. Bruce let his hand linger at the crook of Aidan's neck and shoulder as he looked up at Aidan and into her strangely coloured eyes.

"Stop doing that," Bruce demanded, his voice sounding angry.

"Sorry," Aidan looked away and fidgeted for a bit, unable to withstand Bruce's angry glare anymore. "But don't worry, I only read the thoughts that are floating around freely; I don't go into the secret places,"

"Why couldn't you have just told me what he did earlier?" Bruce growled out, his hands gripping not-too hard onto Aidan.

"And ruin your perfect day? I would never,"

Aidan yelped in surprise when Bruce shook her roughly, her eyes closing shut when he did. "What do you care anyway? Just because you're Batman doesn't mean you can or must save everyone!" Aidan shouted at him. Bruce's hands loosened until he finally let go of her, letting his hand fall limply at his sides. His eyes were suddenly downcast when Aidan looked at him, his lips pushed together in a tight line.

"I thought you said you wouldn't read any secrets?" he said in a monotone, lifeless voice.

"I didn't it – it was floating," Aidan half lied. She reached out to his arm and tugged at it gently, trying to gain Bruce's attention; trying to get him to look at her. When Bruce didn't look up at her but turned his head instead, Aidan tugged on his arm again and let her other hand grab onto his. She laced her fingers around his and tugged again. "I'm sorry," she whispered, leaning her face closer to Bruce's to see his reaction. "I didn't mean to read that – you were sort of just… throwing it out there,"

Bruce squeezed onto Aidan's hand hesitantly, slowly turning his head toward her. "I think I would rather have you not read me anymore," he said to her sternly, like an adult disciplining a child.

Aidan nodded her head and smiled warmly at Bruce, their hands still holding each other. Bruce reached up and opened Aidan's jacket, pushing it passed her shoulders and letting it rest at her elbows. He noticed Aidan's curious stare and knew she wasn't reading him anymore and so he continued. His eyes went on to try and spot every mark along her shoulders and then started to trail down her chest.

Bruce made a move to reach out and touch her chest until Aidan stopped his hand, a worried look on her face. He ignored her worried face and pushed passed her hand to continue what he was doing. His hand lightly brushed against the bare skin there and pushed the fabric of her dress aside as he continued to look for all the marks. "I wonder why he didn't do anything else to you…" he whispered out loud, though he wasn't really expecting Aidan to answer the question – which she didn't.

Suddenly he pulled away from her and let go of her hand, surprisingly upsetting Aidan a little bit. Bruce took a step backward, looking Aidan over, and then pulled her jacket back up to close it back together. He looked her over one last time before exiting the bathroom. "We leave in an hour," he said to her through the closed door.

Aidan listened to his footsteps walking farther away until she couldn't hear them anymore. She turned around and looked at herself in the mirror, examining her face very closely. She let her fingers run through her hair and let out a dejectedly sigh. "I wonder why too," she whispered to herself out loud.

--

Bruce had made Aidan travel with him in his helicopter, stating that it was much safer than riding out on the streets. Aidan kept clear from looking down through the window while the helicopter was in motion, her hands gripping onto the seats in reflex whenever the helicopter would turn unexpectedly.

Bruce was wearing a very clean-cut, black and white tuxedo that matched Aidan's black dress and white jacket nicely – though it wasn't really in intention. There were two other young women in the helicopter, shoving Aidan farther to the window so they could sit on either side of Bruce. Aidan scowled at him, when he just shrugged his shoulders at her, before nearly screaming when the helicopter shook a bit.

"Relax darling," one of the women said to her, the raw German accent making her sound slightly sophisticated despite her looks, "Have you been so unfortunate enough to have never ridden in a helicopter?"

"Oh no, I prefer jet planes," Aidan replied drily, earning an evil glare from the German-sounding woman. "I think it's just because I've never had to share a helicopter,"

Bruce started to chuckle, his light laughter being followed by the other two women, which made Aidan want to roll her eyes. He turned to Aidan and winked at her only after making sure the other two women weren't paying attention.

Aidan found his new attitude completely different from when they were in the penthouse, but only figured it was like that because he had to keep up an image that would steer away from Batman. She smiled hesitantly at Bruce before turning her head away from him, tying her luck by staring out the window.

She turned back sharply when she felt a hand grab onto her elbow gently and saw that Bruce was still looking at her with a small, but warm, smile. She looked down and saw his fingers wrapped around her elbow with his thumb rubbing small, comforting circles to calm her uneasiness.

The other two women started to chat about something Aidan couldn't care even less about and she drowned out their voices by concentrating on the sound of the helicopter blades spinning around above her.

The sun had set a long time ago, their arrival to the party further away now because Bruce just had to pick up the other women. Aidan was almost daydreaming when she heard the other woman, the one with a slight Australian accent, calling for someone.

"Excuse me, hello?" the Australian woman called, her eyes staring at Aidan.

"Hm, what?" came the garnet-hazel eyed woman's response.

"Why are you wearing such a long dress on such a hot night?"

Aidan looked down and noticed that the other women were wearing knee-length dresses, the German wearing a grassy-green colour and the other wearing a cool blue, while her dress was so long it dragged along the floor. Aidan quickly started to think of some sort of good excuse or sarcastic remark to reply with to the women when she felt Bruce's hand squeeze her arm gently.

"I think the dress suits you just fine," he said, their eyes locking together, "I think the long dress brings out your shape a lot better than a short one would,"

The other women immediately began to question Bruce, asking him why he hadn't told them he preferred long dress to short ones. Bruce looked away just as his thumb went back to rubbing soothing circles against Aidan's skin. She smiled to herself and looked out the window just as she saw that the helicopter was coming around a large building.

"We are nearing the landing spot sir," the pilot said just as he started to hover above the helipad.

"Good, let's finally get to this party," Bruce laughed lightly as the helicopter settled onto the ground. As soon as the helicopter landed, Bruce moved his arms away from all the women except for Aidan's elbow. The other two hopped off first and then Bruce followed them. Aidan stared at him for a bit, wondering why did hadn't let her off before him.

Then, surprising Aidan and the other two especially, Bruce let go of Aidan and held out his hand for her to take. Aidan took is timidly, letting Bruce help her off of the helicopter, and almost tripped if Bruce hadn't helped her balance by placing his other hand against her waist. Bruce thanked the pilot, hands still on Aidan, as he led everyone away from the helicopter and toward the doors. "Are you all right?" he whispered low into Aidan's ear, not wanting the other two to hear.

"Why are you being so nice?" Aidan whispered back, ignoring his question.

"I don't know why," Bruce said just as he released Aidan from his grasp. The two women went back to their places at his side and Aidan walked just behind him as the four of them stepped into the room through the large, opened doors. Aidan listened to Bruce welcome everyone and greet everyone in the party, saying his few words. Apparently, this was a party that he had set up for himself for some unknown reason.

The two women didn't waste anymore time and hurriedly began walking around the room, leaving Bruce and Aidan alone. He turned back to her and wrapped his arm around hers before leading off somewhere. "Where are we going?" Aidan asked suspiciously, keeping to her word by not reading Bruce's mind to know what was going on.

"I want you to meet someone," he said to her with a smile. His arm that was wrapped around hers moved away only to be placed around her waist. Bruce led her away from the large crowd and into a smaller, but still large, room. He let go of her for only a moment to lock the door and returned to holding her by the waist. "Still not reading my head?"

"Maybe I should be reading it," Aidan mumbled out loud as Bruce walked her further into the room. She saw someone standing by the bookcase she saw farther away. She looked up at Bruce and then back to the stranger not too far away.

Bruce pulled his arm away from Aidan and stood not too far away from her. He straightened himself out and cleared his throat to gain the other man's attention. "Lucius," Bruce called out, his voice not too loud but still firm and commanding.

"Lucius?" Aidan repeated. She gasped when the other man turned around, her hand going up to cover her mouth. "Lucius Fox," she repeated.

"I trust you've been keeping your powers in check," Lucius said as he started to walk closer to where Bruce and Aidan stood side by side.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Aidan pursed her lips together and crossed her arms over her chest angrily. She really had no idea what he meant.

Lucius chuckled, stopping just a foot or two away from Bruce and Aidan. "You might not remember because if they were smart they would've erased it but," Lucius looked at her up and down, examining her reactions to what he was saying, "When you were just a young teen your powers were wild and out of control, you almost destroyed a whole city.

"So they put a little chip in your head, saying that it would dull your powers but a tad but I can see that it was dulled more than just a tad. However, they warned everyone to keep you happy, keep you stress free, because if your mind became too unstable than it would break that chip," Lucius finished speaking and waited patiently for his words to sink into Aidan's head. She looked up at him, confused, as she tried to figure out why he would say such things.

Aidan reached out and quickly grabbed onto Lucius' hand before dropping it like she had just been stung. "You think Joker's trying to make me lose my mind so I could break the chip myself?" she asked, still confused. She turned back to Bruce and pointed an accusing finger at him. "You told him about my little fit?"

"'Little'?" Bruce asked, smirking when Aidan turned from him with a huff.

"If the Joker gets his hands on you again-" Lucius' sentence was cut off by Bruce's low growl of distaste, like he was angry with Lucius for even thinking about that. "If the Joker were to get his hands on you again I want you to not resist this thoughts, no matter how disturbing they are, so you won't put any stress on your mind,"

"What? That's absurd! You have no idea what it was like! He may seem like a lunatic, a wild dog, but he is a complete and utter genius! It was like he already knew I would read his mind! Every thought, every memory, was blocked by some kind of code that would take an expert years to decode! But the things he did let me see…" Aidan's voice lowered to almost a whisper, her eyes now looking distant and far away, "Those images… The things he wanted to do, the things he would do to get his way were all…"

Aidan's hands went up to her head and her eyes closed tightly. Bruce was about to reach for her when he heard a loud explosion in the other room. He looked up to Lucius, silently asking him to watch over Aidan, before running off. Lucius helped Aidan stand and carefully led her to the sofa near by. "Try not to resist too much Aidan," Lucius reminded her, "Try and calm down,"

Meanwhile, Bruce had quickly changed and was back to being Batman. He rushed over to the room where everyone was in for the party and saw Joker throwing people and objects around like a child on a temper tantrum. "Every time I find something fun to do Batman always comes and wrecks it for me!" he heard Joker complain loudly just before throwing everything on the table beside him to the ground.

Batman snuck around behind the crowd to get behind Joker. He made sure that his body was bent low and kept near the wall as he made his way around. Just as he was about to make his move he heard Aidan's sharp cry.

Both Joker's and Batman's head spun toward the sound. Joker with a smile on his face and Batman cursing himself. Batman looked up from the crowd and saw Joker's eager face just as he was about to move. Faster than any average could, Batman rushed through the crowd and jumped in front of Joker's path. "Where do you think you're going?" his voice once again raspy and husky.

"I knew – I knew she would be here," Joker laughed, head rolling back and back arching just a bit.

"And how would you know that?" Batman flexed his hands, getting ready to pounce.

Joker brought a hand up and poked at the side of his head once he stopped laughing. "I can see what she see – when we're close enough of course," Joker took a few, wobbly steps toward Batman, twirling a small dagger in his hands. The two of them glared at each other in the eyes, Joker stopping his steps just a foot away from where Batman stood.

The crowd around them stepped away in fear, making sure they made as little noise as possible. Even the Joker's own goons took a few fearful steps back. "So uhm… who invited you to the party?"

Suddenly Batman lunged forward, punching Joker in the side of his face. Joker stumbled a bit and jumped to the side just in time to dodge another one of Batman's punches. He pulled out another dagger and started to swing it toward Batman.

The masked vigilante hero sidestepped the swings easily and brought an arm up to stop a swing before punching Joker in the gut. However Joker grabbed onto Batman's arm, pulled him downward and kneed him in the chest. The two took a few moments to settle themselves before jumping at each other again. Joker, still gripping on Batman's arm, swung him around and released him to throw him a few feet away.

Batman quickly regained his footing, turned around, and froze on the spot when he saw that Joker wasn't there anymore. He turned his head to the direction of where he had left Aidan and saw Joker just turn the corner. He slapped himself mentally before chasing after Joker.

Joker skipped and laughed happily as he neared the room where he knew Aidan to be. He turned around and started to laugh uncontrollably once he saw Batman chasing after him. "Are – are we playing a game now? May – maybe capture the flag?" Joker shouted in between fits of laughter. "Except, there's no flag," he skidded to a stop and kicked down the door. He ran for Aidan, throwing Lucius away from her, and moved to stand behind her just as Batman entered the room.

Aidan started to thrash against Joker's hold, even so far as to hit him repeatedly with her small fists. Everything but the people within the room started to float straight into the air until they were about a foot from the ground. Both Joker and Batman looked around but Batman only looked for a second before focusing his eyes on Joker.

"That's different," Joker whispered. His arms were tightly secure around Aidan and he started to move the both of them toward the windows. "Well, I think the pretty lady needs some rest," Joker said as he edged closer and closer to the windows. As soon as his back was against the window he brought one hand around and laid it flat against the glass. He had grabbed onto Aidan's small hands and pressed them hard against his chest to stop her from hitting him but was still able to hold onto her.

"You wouldn't drop her," Batman stated as calmly as he could.

"Who said anything about dropping?" Joker looked almost disappointed that Batman had suggested he would do that. He turned his head a bit and looked outside. He turned to Batman with a large grin before leaning forward just a tad and then jumping right through the glass.

Batman rushed to the window but stopped just inches away when he saw Aidan and Joker floating in mid-air. Joker had one arm over Aidan's shoulders and the other wrapped around her waist tightly so he wouldn't fall to the ground. Aidan's head was lowered so Batman couldn't see her face and a thin fiery purple aura surrounded her body.

Joker's laughter echoed in Batman's ears and he stared in awe and confusion at Aidan. "I knew she'd come out of that little shell," Joker knocked lightly against Aidan's head, laughing more when she didn't react to it at all. "Let's go down now beautiful," Suddenly Aidan shot down toward the ground at high speeds. Joker was caught off guard and tightened his hold on her. "Not so fast!" and Aidan immediately slowed down.

Batman stared after them, still caught off guard. He turned around when he heard Lucius getting to his feet. "What just happened?"

"Aidan's lost control again, and the last time this happened she had – no, her mind was linked to the last person she read," Lucius answered, walking up beside Batman in time to see Joker and Aidan drive off.

"How can we break it?"

"I don't know… Last time she didn't destroy the whole city but she did destroy at least one large chunk of it, leaving everything in ruins, before collapsing from exhaustion,"

"So you're telling me I have to wait until she destroys almost everything to snap her out of it?" Batman's teeth ground together in anger, his thoughts now full of the city being left with nothing but dust. "And what happens until then?"

"Joker could command her with a single thought, no need to even speak," Lucius was about to turn to Batman until the masked man jumped out of the window. He watched as Batman glided down to the ground, landing with such force that he even heard Batman land. Tires screeched in the distance and Batman's tank-like vehicle appeared in a blink of an eye.

Batman quickly got in the strange vehicle and drove off after the Joker. He increased his speed as soon as he saw the back of the vehicle Joker was in. He rammed into the back of it several times, secretly happy when he heard Joker's loud surprised grunt from inside. Joker's head popped out form the roof of the car and he shook his head disapprovingly at Batman. "You're not – you're not playing very nice now," Joker said as he shook a single finger at Batman.

However, Batman ignored it and just rammed into the back of the car again. He watched Joker reached inside the car and pull Aidan out, along with a little grenade in his hand. Joker was just about to say something when Aidan suddenly climbed up on top of the car. Joker frowned for a moment before pulled the pin off the grenade and throwing it toward Batman.

Joker went to grab Aidan when she jumped forward and grabbed onto the grenade. Batman came to a quick stop just inches away from where Aidan stood. The seconds ticked by and both Joker and Batman watched Aidan with worried faces. Five seconds passed, then six, seven, eight, nine…

Nothing happened.

Aidan's hands shook violently as she kept a firm grip on the grenade. A small 'boom' was heard as light emitted through the cracks between her fingers. Joker's car also came to a quick stop but wasn't as close as Batman was. Aidan's slowly opened her hands to reveal the dusty remains of the grenade and her palms appeared perfectly fine.

Batman quickly jumped out from the 'tank' and rushed to Aidan's side. She looked up at him expectantly, her hands still together as they held the dust. Batman took careful steps toward her and placed an unsure hand on her shoulder.

"Hey – hey! I don't like to – to share!" Joker shouted as he neared Batman and Aidan.

Aidan turned to face Batman and walked toward him, resting her head against his chest. She dropped her hands, the dust falling slowly to he ground. "My head hurts," she whispered before falling limply against Batman, who easily caught her.

From the corner of his eye, Joker saw one of his goons lifting up their gun and he suddenly slashed the other man's throat, his body falling lifelessly to the ground. "You might shoot her!" he growled out. The other goons around him stepped away warily, their legs shaking slightly. Joker turned around to face Batman again but stomped his foot angrily when Batman was already starting to driving away. "Now you shoot!"

The bullets flew but none were able to penetrate the beast of a car. Batman rushed to his hideout but also took the long, winding way to make sure that if anyone was following him they would get lost. He had Aidan placed neatly in his lap, her head against his shoulder. Once he reached his not-so-little domain, he remained where he sat.

Aidan turned more toward Batman in her sleep, somehow finding his cool armour comforting. "I at least know one good thing about this situation," he said to himself out loud, "You stay calm when I'm near you,"

End Chapter

--

Preview of the next chapter:

Bruce looked over the building again, his anger rising even more. All along the edges of that one side of the building had headless bodies stuck against it. Each body's head was held by its owner's hand for they were all tapped to each other. Written right on the building with what looked to be still wet blood read:

IT'S JUST YOU AND ME BAT-MAN. YOU TAKE AWAY MY NEW TOY AND I'LL JUST TAKE IT RIGHT BACK. ALONG WITH A FEW OTHER HEADS. OH WAIT... THAT ISN'T JUST YOU AND ME, IS IT?