Author's Note: Starts with Joker POV, has a small Stella POV in the middle, then the rest is Joker. Personally, I like writing Joker. Which do you prefer?

Reviewers:

Alice's Restaurant – First off, great review. I can see a debate come off of it. Haha. Look, irony…Anyway, I agree that Stella has a flawed philosophy. I'll admit, at first I thought it would work when I first devised the plotline. But I understand if I want to get it where I want it to go, I'm going to have to tweak a few things. She'll work on it over the next few chapters. She's actually confronting it in this one. But be prepared for a few compromises and setbacks along the way.

Forever Jinx – Sorry, but she isn't the Squid. If she was, I wouldn't have to ask for an opinion on a codename, would I? (wink) You can Wiki 'Batman Villains' of you want to find a little more of my inspiration

Lukeyg – Another nice, long review. It's like a drug to me…Moving on. Don't worry, Batman will be thrown in sooner than you think. What do you think Bruce will do when he finds that Wayne Enterprises is going to be ransacked?

Disclaimer: I'm not Nolan or part of DC comics, so I don't own the rights to sell this. I can just post it here. On Fanfiction. Whoopee. And I don't own A Streetcar Named Desire. C'mon…I had to do it once!

The Chaos Theory

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"I don't care if there are twenty ninjas guarding the place. Take him out." Sigh. Click. "People these days. The more you pay them, the lazier they get, right?" Pause. "Hun? Whatcha doin'?"

Trying to ignore you.

"I'm trying to find the last of the octopus's operatives. You call everyone?" I asked, looking up from the laptop.

"Yeah. Everything's set," Harley said, spinning the wheel casually to mount the curb heading into an alley. "We just need to get to there before the live ones do. How many do you think this guy hired?"

"It's Labor Day. They all have the day off, don't they?" I muttered, scanning the info I just received. "Harley, babe. Run by the Narrows for a second. I think I've got another."

"We don't have much time, J…" She quickly shut up when she caught the look on my face.

We reached her apartment building about twenty minutes before the time we needed to be in the financial district.

"Stay in the car," I ordered, jumping out.

"Can't—?"

"Thanks, you're a doll."

I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do when I reached her floor. Killing her was the obvious choice. She could hardly be kept loose while I'm trying to work; she's much too inexperienced. I had guessed she was dealing with the mob to get her plans rolling. I just needed someone to finally track her connection to them. Luckily I got the proof before the heist.

But it would be such a waste. So much potential…

Ah, we'll see. I haven't caught her yet.

Skipping two stairs at a time, I reached her apartment humming along the way. I tried the doorknob, but it was locked. I rolled my eyes. Things could never be that easy twice. I backed up and threw myself at the door, kicking it right above the doorknob. It gave in smoothly.

"Hey, Stella! Hey, Stella!" I called, giggling. There was no answer. I scanned the kitchen and the living room. I realized it was empty. Not just of the nymph, but of all the furniture and appliances. "Damn."

She had moved. That clever woman. I didn't even think of that. She knew that I knew where she lived, and she probably guessed I was on to her about her cooperation with the Chinese. Growling obscenities, I left the apartment. She was probably already on her way to Wayne Enterprises. I ran down the stairs, hopping over the railings at the end.

"Did you…?" Harley asked as soon as she saw me barrel out of the building.

"He was gone before we got here. Let's go. Go, go, go!" Quinn jumped at my demand and threw the van into drive. We bulldozed through the noon traffic. We were going to get around the back and cover the bottom and top floors…providing that the Chinese—and Stella—weren't there before we arrived.

"How many have called back in so far?"

"All but one. I guess he got deterred by the ninjas," she told me with a grin. It faltered when I didn't return it. "The rest are on their way to the center of the city."

Wayne Enterprises was the phallus of Gotham City. It was the only reason Gotham still stood. Financially, at least. When the prodigal prince finally returned, some thought, with his outrageous lifestyle, that he would throw the city back into a depression. But there it stood in all its glory. I sighed.

I'm going to have to do something about that someday.

After disabling a few security guards 'round back, Harley parked the van.

"Everyone already set?" I muttered into the van's walkie-talkie. Once a scattered affirmatives were made, Harley and I unloaded the van. We had two motorcycles, two shotguns, and one blueprint of Wayne Enterprises.

"Let's storm the castle," I announced into my personal walkie-talkie. We mounted the bikes and kicked them to life.

I just love making an entrance. Especially one that includes shattering glass and gunshots.

My clown-faced thugs swarmed onto the first floor along with Harl and me. As they shouted over the screaming for everyone to get on the ground, I dropped the bike and walked over to the far wall. I crouched in front of a cowering secretary or some woman.

"Hi. I was wondering where y'all keep your files. You have an archive perhaps?" She didn't answer, just hid her face in her hands. "Hey, I'm talking to you." I grab the bundle of hair she had tied up with a scrunchie and forcefully pulled her head up and back. Tears were smudging thick layer of mascara she had applied on her lashes. "Shh, now…don't be afraid. I just want you to answer my question." I pretended to absentmindedly stroke the butt of my gun with one hand. Her mouth quivered for a moment, and then she pointed to the elevator.

"B-basement. You've got to…" Her voice broke, and her face was twitching from her effort to keep from screaming, or sobbing. And I was asking such a simple question.

"Yes?" I crooned pleasantly.

"You've got to press 25052 before you hit the basement button…please don't hurt me, I-I have two kids I've got to take care of. Please don't—"

I clicked my tongue sympathetically and handed her a grenade, slipping out the pin in the process. I let go of her hair and patted her on the head.

"Never let go, Rose," I told her before standing up and letting out a wild peal of laughter. Then I motioned for Tragedy and Comedy to follow me to the elevator. But just before I pressed the button with the 'down' arrow, the elevator pinged and the doors slid open. I hardly had a moment to grin with pleasant surprise with a thick, black hand shot out and sent me staggering.

"Hoo hoo! Look who it is! I guess you took care of the guys on the roof then?" I chuckled, scrambling to my feet. The Batman snarled and lunged. I was prepared this time, though, and I danced out of the way. I snatched up my shotgun and cocked it, leveling it at one of the guards that was lying on the ground, his hands covering his head. Bats froze, one hand raised at me. "Ah, ah, ah, Batsy. I don't think you fully understand the situation here."

"What's there to understand?" he barked. "You're breaking into one of the most important corporations in Gotham. I'm surprised you didn't pull this sooner."

I sighed dramatically.

"I suppose a little birdie told you there was going to be a break in on Labor Day, hmm? I guess that birdie wanted you to think I was a part of it." I muttered with a tortured sigh. "Despite what it looks like, I'm the counter-break in." He looked pointedly over my shoulder. I glanced at the shattered glass. "Yeah. That…Okay, listen. The guys you want are part of the Chinese mob. Penguino wanted me to foil their little plan so that he doesn't go out of business. And since the Chinese didn't really like how I disposed of Lau for you…" I shrugged. "Win-win situation."

"You're telling me…you're trying to stop a heist?"

"Mmm hmm."

He looked flabbergasted. I loved this.

"And you want to help me?"

"Ooh, goody, you got it! A gold star for you."

"I don't trust you."

"I don't need you to. Just let my guys get down to the archives…"

"Not necessary. It's a fortress down there. No one can get in without proper authorization."

"I wouldn't bet on that," I said lightly, giving him a patronizing look. "I'm inclined to believe one of our Chinese checkers is a talented hacker. The security system is probably down already. You would think that busting through a few glass doors would set off a few alarms…" I cocked my head to the side, as if trying to listen to something. "Weird. Do you hear anything? I'm sure your ears are better than mine—" Then I found myself hovering above the floor, slammed against the wall with the Bat's arm pinned on my throat. Déjà vu, anyone?

"What are you up to, Joker?" he snapped. Suddenly, gunshots rang out from somewhere in the building. Batman looked accusingly at me.

"Not it," I protested, smiling.

"J, it's one o'clock," Harley informed me.

"Right. Hope you have back-up, Bats," I told him. Grunting in exasperation, the Batman took one more look at me and then towards the sounds of shouting and gunfire. He threw me down and dashed down the hallway, his cape whipping behind him. It was then that I heard the faint sounds of sirens.

I looked at my group, who were anxiously waiting for my next order.

"Looks like our work was done here before we started, boys. Pack up, move out."

Harley walked over to me with my bike.

"Well…that was anti-climatic," she commented, handing it over.

"You win some, you lose some," I said. "And sometimes you just gotta let things go."

"Do you think they'll win some?"

"Oh, I'm fairly sure they will. Their hacker's a slippery one."

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"That wasn't too bad," I murmured, shuffling through disks and folders of paper in the duffle bag.

"Would have been easier if that Joker-man wasn't killing off all of my operatives," the Squid said, scowling.

"I told you he had been tracking me," I reminded him. "It would be common sense to think that he had been keeping tabs on the rest of your men. You should have warned them."

"Don't start, Nymph," the driver—I think his name was Tank—told me, his accent skimming over a few words. "You were the one who turned the corner that got us face to face with the Bat Man."

"We managed, didn't we?" I replied, mostly to myself. The Batman had given me a good whack in the ribs. They were already bruising, and I was trying to keep my breathing shallow.

The Chinese were a stoic bunch. Even when our team was cut to a forth of what it was supposed to be the morning of our mission, no one was phased. A few jobs were shifted around and we changed our time to strike earlier. It was easier because of the fewer people we had to keep track of.

From what I gathered—even as their gringo hacker—the Squid was going to sift through these files to find any evidence that would prove that the CEO of Wayne Enterprises, Mr. Lucius Fox, had helped the Batman capture Mr. Lau last year. The Chinese had yet to find anything over at LSI Holdings.

They had also gotten information from the Penguin about the Joker that proved to be useful. They were to deal with him and the international dispute that would erupt when they hand the information to the Chinese government.

Me? I would get a look at the files that would help me shut down the corporation that owned more than half of Gotham. What we stole contained a lot; passwords, blueprints, government contracts. I would deal with bringing the corporation to its knees.

I was dropped off at my apartment, along with the specified materials I asked for. I wanted to get to work immediately. They also gave back my laptop, which they asked to tinker with and update the security. I silently decided to check it over before I used it as I took it with a good-bye.

I still lived in the Narrows. But after that suspicious encounter with the Joker at my last apartment, I didn't want to take any chances. I cut off my lease, quit my job at the bookstore, erased my metaphorical footprints, and got a new laptop courtesy of the Zhang crime family.

The apartment I lived in now was in worse shape than my last because my previous landlord asked for more money to pay off my lease because I left on such sort notice. But it was the one housing complex I could find that had no connections with any of the mobs of Gotham. I guessed that is how the Joker found me in the first place. So far he hasn't ratted me out.

I settled in my bedroom and sat my laptop onto my lap and turned it on. As soon as it started up, I went through the programs and encryptions that the Squid's computer man set up on it. I found a few gaps that looked blaringly obvious and filled them in myself. One of the programs could be manipulated from whoever set it up, even from another computer. I deleted that one. I would send it over to one of my own men later to look over it more thoroughly.

For now I should be okay, I thought as I settled in and began to browse through the paper files from Wayne Enterprises. Specifically, I was looking to target the corruption within the business powerhouse. Weeding out such a disgustingly monopolizing company would certainly not hurt Gotham, especially when it's to further the interests of the individual citizens.

When I couldn't find anything of notice among the various paper files, I moved on to the disks. Some needed passwords, but I had those on hand already.

My brows furrowed when all I could find were seemingly legit dealings with international companies and charities. Some were anonymous donations and blatantly accurate descriptions of their trust fund.

I wasn't too worried, though. There had to be a hidden—illegal—source of all this revenue. I mean, look at Bruce Wayne! The playboy of the year for nearly two years in a row. He didn't look the least bit concerned about the way his company works. He just cared about his new hotrod, or the glittering string of diamonds he can drape on his newest plastic bunny.

Days past. I scrounged some security clearances from the Squid in my sudden obsession to find something wrong with Wayne Enterprises. A small voice (sounding oddly like the Joker) appeared at my desperate attempts to prove myself right. It hissed that I was being silly. That this whole quest was stupid.

I took more drugs than usual one night and couldn't help but start screaming when I saw bats crawling up out of the walls. No one was there to distract me from my subconscious bringing up my guilt, questioning my motives. I was trapped inside my own mind, and it was spewing black monsters and strangling my sanity.

I had to admit; even the Joker would have been welcome that night. I couldn't control myself. I'd close my eyes to block out my hallucinations and then open them again, thinking that I might never be able to open them again. I would find myself grasping onto my cheap Browning handgun, pointing it at the blank television, at the reflection of myself inside it. I was surprise no one came when I fired a shot into the wall, at a grinning little bat.

And then, of course, I woke up the next morning, afraid I was dead.

Because the Joker was standing over me, grinning like Jack Skellington, flanked by three clown-faced thugs.

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She blinked at me once and sat up.

"I thought I told you to check yourself into rehab!" I scolded, catching a whiff of…salvia, I think.

Once she was able to take in the situation, she scrambled up off of the couch she had collapsed on and grabbed something from the pocket of her grey sweater. It was a gun, of course. I rolled my eyes.

"Nice to see you, too," I said.

"How'd you find me this time?" she demanded in exasperation. "No one but the Chinese know I even exist!"

"I told you I'm the better hacker," I said. "Oh, and never trust the foreigners. You're lucky I found you first."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, lowering the gun a smidgen.

"They were probably hoping you would get caught and be their scapegoat," I rambled casually, sitting on her couch. "You know, it's a good thing I got here before the police—or Batman—did. You'd be a sorry piece of ass then."

A faint crash. Stella jolted, her eyes growing wide.

"Speaking of."

"How did they find me?"

"Like I said…don't trust the foreigners."

And just like that, the door broke in, revealing the masked crusader himself. My men backtracked, raising their various weapons. The Batman didn't have eyes for them. He didn't even have eyes for me. He was staring straight at Stella.

"The Nymph, am I right?" he growled at Stella. I looked at her with curiosity.

"Nymph?" I could have sworn I saw a shadow of a smirk pass her lips before she aimed her gun at the Bat.

"Hey, I'm just a minor minion," she protested.

"You weren't when you tried to break into Wayne Enterprises three weeks ago, and when you were jailed for attempting to erase the MCU mainframe. Where are the files?"

"Give the girl a break. She's only just learnin'," I said.

"I should have guessed you were in on this, Joker," he muttered before grabbing for Stella. She fired and missed, the bullet burrowing itself in her wall. The Batman took her arm and twisted the gun from her grasp. Stella took the hit and shifted to swing an elbow into his side. When he huffed and bent, she kicked up and the side of her foot connected with a loud thwack at the crook of where his mask met his suit. It might have brought down a weaker, less armored man, but, of course, it wasn't enough to bring down ol' Batsy. He retaliated by shooting out an arm and catching her from behind the knee, knocking her legs out from under her. She fell, her cheek glancing off of the coffee table.

I motioned for my guys to go at the Batman. When he was distracted, I quickly tugged Stella to her feet and ushered her to the window. I handed her a loop-ended cord that led to a harness around my waist once I threw the glass open.

"Jump," I told her. She looked at me in disbelief.

"Are you—?"

"Crazy? Nuts? Insane? All of the above, professor," I grumbled, pushing at her. "You'll be fine, promise."

"I was going to say joking. We are six stories up," she said, eyes wide with determination. "I am not going to jump

"Alright then. You can fall instead," I said, rapidly securing the cord to both of her wrists and then roughly pushing her out of the window. I had a good hold on it before she fell too far. Didn't want her shoulder get dislocated, did we? Just a healthy dose of fear.

"You son of a bitch!" she shrieked up at me as I leaned over the edge to look at her. Her legs scrabbled about uselessly, trying to reach the brick side of the building. I just grinned wildly at her and slowly lowered her down past the fifth, fourth, third, second floors.

"Joker."

I turned around and saw the Batman approaching me from across the room. Fast. Uh oh.

"Nymph, prepare yourself for a bit of a fall."

"Wha—AHH!"

The cord slipped out of my hands when he tackled me. I was able to kick him off, but he had me cornered in less than a second. Luckily, Comedy wasn't as unconscious as he looked, and he took his crowbar and swung it at Batman's head. I took the chance to dash out the door and into the old elevator. Hopefully it would be faster than a bat.

I found Nymph trying to stand against the wall of the apartment complex. She obviously sprained something from the look on her face. Great, now I had to drag her.

"The van's over here," I barked at her as I grabbed the arm on the side she was favoring. She had to hop like a pogo stick to keep up as I pulled her to the other side of the building. I jumped into the passenger side, yanking her up with me onto the bench seat. She yelped in pain, probably from her shoulder. I shouted at the driver to drive.

"But what about the rest—?"

I pulled my knife from my shirt pocket and smiled tightly at him. He was a smart one. He got the message.

Shifting so that Nymph was no longer half on my lap, I put my knife away and ran a hand through my hair. I looked at her. She was blank-faced and rubbing her left shoulder. She felt me staring and caught my gaze, waiting.

"You…" I started, my voice low with irritation. "Just can't help but screw up with this whole hiding thing, can't you?

"I'm…sorry?" she said dryly, brows rising. "I'll try harder next time? Maybe hang with the Italians instead?"

I sat and fumed. Maybe it would be easier just to kill her. Why didn't I just kill her?

"I guess you want me to tell you what I found with all of the files I helped steal," she said. My jaw tightened as I studied her.

"Not really. But, since you brought it up, whatcha find?"

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." Her lips peeled back over her teeth in a grimace. "You can't trust anything these days."

"And this is interesting…how?"

"I looked in every nook and cranny!" she exclaimed. "Wayne Enterprises is the biggest company in Gotham, and there's not one piece of information that lends itself to point to any shady deals, overlooked corruption…nothing!"

I clicked my tongue against my teeth.

"Ah. Now I get it," I murmured, grinning slyly. "You wanted to bring down the corporation. What a noble pursuit. Oh, but now you're questioning yourself. Is the world not as black and white and conquerable as you thought it was, nymph-y?" She winced. "Is that why you smoked yourself into oblivion last night?" Her head snapped up, her face stony.

"Didn't I tell you my life was none of your business?"

"You brought it up, Nymph," I replied smoothly. I paused. "So…why Nymph? Why not Eris, or Maenad…or Agent of the True Creative Chaos?" I snickered. "That'd be more your style."

"I thought it was simple enough to work," she shrugged. Then she smirked at me. "I'm used to you calling me that, in any case. I've never had a nickname before. Why not just choose that, right?"

"Hmm."

She hesitated, like she was going to say something more, but she just turned her head to look out the window. Then, "Where are we going?"

"Eager to start the cycle over again?" I said.

"What cycle?"

"I drop you off to live your life, you commit a few more petty crimes with a shaky moral basis, you get caught a few times, and then get out because either you don't legally exist, or I bail you out."

She glared at me.

"Are you talking about you stealing my hacking into the MCU idea: hence I walk free because I have no criminal record?"

"Don't forget that one time when I pushed you out a window so you weren't kidnapped by a bat."

She couldn't hold back a quiet snort of laughter.

"So are you taking me to your fortress, or are dumping my lifeless body into a Dumpster?" she asked.

"The latter is more probably of the two," I replied truthfully. Her reaction was controlled. She just waited. I sighed. "I'll dump you at a hospital." I nodded at the driver. I haven't figured a name for him yet. "You know, you're not very good company."

"Good. The less time I spend with you, the higher my life expectancy," she said sharply. I pretended to look hurt.

"What? No 'thanks Joker for saving me from the big bad bat'?" I asked.

"Maybe if you didn't throw me out of a window…"

"Fine," I retorted as we slowed up to the clinic. "Just don't expect it to happen again."

"Me getting thrown out a window? I sure hope not."

"Haha. You should do stand-up," I mocked. "Maybe you should talk about your attempts to balance chaos. That's definitely a laugh." She scowled, but didn't try to refute my words. She ran a hand over her hair and sighed, looking out the window at the hospital.

As soon as we stopped, she opened the door and slid out, being careful to watch her right leg as she did so. I saw her face harden and her jaw clench when she put weight on it, but she turned away almost immediately as if to hide it, and slammed the door. I scooted over and rolled the window down slightly so she could hear me.

"Next time, use your whole body to absorb the impact, not just your leg," I taunted.

She awkwardly turned back to me and flipped me off with a terse smirk.

Laughing, I motioned for the driver to start driving, but right before we pealed away, I leaned closer out the window.

"Cripple coming through!" I howled. Cackling, I rolled the window up again.

As we left the lot, I saw some woman walk over to Nymph and take her arm to help her inside. I leaned back in my seat, my lips still frozen in quiet mirth.

I wonder if old Stella Rosario has any relatives.

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Author's Note: Yeah, this was a little fluffier, slightly OOC for Joker. This isn't permanent, I swear! I'm trying! (hangs head)

(Turns into ADORBLE lolkitty)

Reviewses plz? K thnx bi!