First off, I want to apologize for the long delay of this chapter. As we all know, life gets in the way every now and again and life always comes first. I've cut this chapter in thirds because I wanted to get something out for you guys who have so patiently waited for it.

More is coming, this I promise. Thank you all for staying with me! Please, a review or comment would be most appreciated!


They had checked every room, every closet and under ever bit of rubble that they could find, but they hadn't found one goddamned thing in regards to the Joker's or Harley's whereabouts. They had found however, more evidence of the tortures that Tim had suffered. They had found one room that may have been his cell. There was a lot of old blood smeared on the walls and on the ground. There were a lot of scratch marks on the door with illegible words scratched or painted with blood on the walls. There was also a camera that had been recently installed inside the cell. He had been watching, watching and laughing. He really was going to cripple him. He didn't care now if Batman or anyone would hate him or hunt him down forever for it, but he was going to break that clowns neck for this. They kept looking and would stumble on more horrors. There were several cattle prongs that had blood on them, old worn out surgical tools that had been most likely thrown out and some makeshift ones that they didn't even want to imagine what they were used for. They had even come across what seemed to be the Joker's and Harley's bedroom. It had been completely ransacked though. Papers and clothes were strewn everywhere. He looked at the bed and some of the objects in the room and didn't even want to think about what went on in here.

"It looks like someone's already been here and took everything important." Batgirl said.

"Yeah," he said, "are you sure we checked everywhere?" Batgirl shook her head.

"I'm not sure, dad and the others had been here longer than us and checked as much as they could until they got that call about that gang war," she said looking over some paperwork, " and we've been literally crawling around here all day and most of the night. We checked the outer grounds, all throughout in here...I'm not sure where else to look." Nightwing looked away, trying to think of what they could be missing. He was just so tired; they all were.

"What about down in the basement," he asked, "remember that story I told you about how Scarecrow used the underground river to try to poison Gotham?" She stood up and brushed herself off.

"It's the only place we haven't thought about," she said, "but we better be careful, who knows how stable it is down there." He nodded in agreement and they made their way down toward the old basement. They soon found the stairs and pulled out their flashlights to get a better view.

"Nightwing," Batgirl said pointing down, "look." He looked down and could see faint traces of blood on the stairs. They made their way carefully down and headed down into the cave. Batgirl tried to see if the lights worked and to her surprise they did. The emergency lights were faint, but did help them see slightly better. They walked on, and soon came up to a strange sight.

There was a coal shovel on the ground next to a small person sized mound in the ground and a medium sized slab of cement.

"What do you make of this?" Batgirl said.

"I don't know," he said taking a closer look, "but there is something in here." He put his hand on the mound and felt it.

"It's been recently dug here," he said turning to her, "the dirt hasn't settled in yet. It's probably only been moved in about a day or so. Hand me the shovel and I'll see what's in here." He already had his suspicions, but he had to be sure. She handed him the coal shovel and as he was digging, she took the opportunity to take a closer look at the slab of cement. Nightwing finally came up to something and used his hands to brush the dirt away. He could see part of a green vest.

"I think I know where the Joker is." he said looking up. He saw her holding the slab and showing it to him.

" 'Here lies my Puddn' ' ", Batgirl said sarcastically, "I think we can safely say who put him here." She tossed the slab away and looked down.

"What should we do now," she asked, "should we call Batman?" Nightwing looked down. It did appear that this was the Joker, but he pulled out a small knife and took a tissue sample.

"Yeah, we should."

"You sound upset." He looked up and narrowed his eyes.

"I am," he said, "I've never wanted to hurt someone so badly before, not even Zucko. I wanted to make him suffer...and now if this is him, I can't even get that satisfaction." Barbra didn't say anything. She also wanted to make the Joker pay, but like he said, if this was the Joker then there wasn't anything they could do. She looked up and saw that Nightwing was recovering the body with the dirt.

"It's not going anywhere for now," he said, "for now let's report back to Batman." He seemed very tense. They walked out of the asylum, the air really think around them, finally Nightwing spoke up.

"Barbra," he said to her apprehensively, "you do realize that this could be it." She looked over at him; she knew what he was taking about. If that was the Joker, then her father would have to run an investigation. Everyone would know what happened here. They would know about Robin. They would know about everything. She was honestly worried about all of them, including her father. This could lead them to all have jail time after all.

"Yeah," she said looking at him, "are you just as scared?"

"No," he said quickly, "Bruce knows how to warp everything to suit his needs, he'll somehow pull this off."

"You sure about that?" she asked him. He didn't say anything. She decided that right now wasn't the best time to think about it, but for now just focus on what they had at hand.


Considering all that had happened and what was coming ahead, he had to admit that this was probably one of the coolest things to ever happen to him. Here he was, flying with Superman! Really the only hard thing about working with Batman was to not talk about it. There had been so many conversations at school about Batman and Superman and all the others and he could never set the stories strait. Sometimes he wished he could shout out that he had personally worked with Superman in the past and basically hung out with him. Superman started to slowly turn to the right, derailing his train of thought. He looked down, wondering how high up they were and how fast they were going. He had always wondered what it would be like to fly. This was probably the closest that he would come to it, so he took it all in as best as he could. It was dark, but in a way it made it all the more cool. The lights below looked like stars just like in the sky. He even didn't mind the fact that he was getting cold.

"We're almost back to Gotham," Superman said, he looked down and smiled at him, "do you want to kick it into high gear and go faster?" J.J. thought about it, and shook his head. No, he didn't want to go any faster, in fact in a way he wished they were going slower. He really wasn't looking forward to facing the others. Superman's smile slightly wavered and looked ahead. What kid didn't want to fly faster? The first time he discovered he could fly he flew as fast as he could go. He glanced back down at the kid and could see that he wasn't enjoying the flight anymore. He felt him huddle closer to him; could feel him shiver probably from the cold. Soon enough Gotham was in full view. He kept flying high though, as not to attract attention from down below. He could see Wayne Manor up ahead, normally most of the lights were turned off and it looked as if nobody lived there. Tonight though, all the lights were on. Perhaps they were trying to make it feel like a home rather than just a house. He slowed down and gently and landed near the steps of the Manor. He put the boy down and looked down. He made no movements; stood still like a deer staring in headlights. He gently tried to push him forward, but he resisted.

"Come on now," he said, "let's just best to get it over with." J.J. looked up at him. 'Easy for you to say,' he thought, 'you're not the one who messed up and have to face them.' He sighed and shuffled forward. It felt like he was walking toward his death, in a way. Yeah it was melodramatic, but it really felt like that. Superman rung the doorbell, and slightly jumped when the door immediately opened up. J.J. suddenly stood behind him, trying to hide himself from view. Alfred looked at Superman with relief.

"I know Master Bruce had called someone to help," he said, "I hope you were able to locate Tim?" Superman smiled at him. He tried to sidestep to show him, but J.J. just sidestepped with him.

"Yes, well," he said looking down, "it did take some time for him to come with me. I didn't want to force him." Alfred ran over to him and knelled down, pulling him into a hug. J.J. did try to avoid it, but once he was embraced he just let it happen. He was almost being hugged too tightly though. Alfred stood back up and straitened himself up.

"Thank you so much for finding him and bringing him home sir," he said very happily to Superman, "I honestly don't know how to repay you."

"No need," Superman said waving it off, "but you can give Bruce a message for me. Tell him that I am going to have a word with him. Obviously not tonight but I will be in touch."

"Of course sir." Alfred said, resting his hands on J.J.'s shoulders. Superman knelt down and said to him:

"I'll be back to check in on you," he said, "perhaps later we'll go flying again and really cut lose." J.J. looked down and away from him. Even Superman was talking to him like a little kid. Superman stood back up and lifted off from the ground. He waved to them both and flew away. Alfred smiled and waved him farewell. He looked down at J.J. and said gently:

"Come inside now Master Timothy," he said gently, "it's getting cold out and I can feel you shivering. I'm also most certain that Dr. Tompkinsns would like to see you as soon as possible." J.J. flinched at the name...it bothered him now. He sighed and turned toward the door. Alfred walked inside behind him and closed the door. He started to walk toward the study when he saw that Tim was standing still, arms wrapped around himself. Alfred walked back over to him.

"Come now," he said, "they are all so anxious to see you." His hart slightly broke when Tim covered his face with his hands and shook his head. He didn't say anything more, but pushed him forward toward the study.


Gordon looked through the paperwork on his desk. That gang war was one of the first thing major things that had happened in Gotham in a long time. They had chosen the worst time to have it too; Batman showed up and only about seven of the twenty arrested were in jail. The rest of them were in the hospital, two of them would be lucky to walk again without needing a cane. He felt a breeze and looked up.

"Any news?" he asked Batman.

"Yes," he said stiffly, "there is." Gordon looked up at him. Batman was always a fairly stiff character, but tonight it was worse.

"Well," he said, "tell me."

"Nightwing found a body buried underneath Arkham," he said while Gordon looked over a file, "DNA tests confirmed that it was the Joker's." Gordon put the file down and gazed forward, lost in deep thought.

"Is it bad that I'm actually glad," he said looking up at him, "that it's finally over with that maniac? Good riddance to bad news," he looked down and then back up to Batman, "do you have any idea who or what could have killed him?" Batman didn't say anything at first, a bad sign.

"There was a makeshift headstone, written by Harley," he said, "but that doesn't mean that she killed him."

"You think it was someone else," he asked him, "who do you think could have?" He looked at Batman and finally put two and two together. He stood up and walked over to him.

"So," he said quietly, "you found him then?" Batman nodded only slightly.

"Is he alright?" Batman didn't say anything. Gordon placed his hand on Batman's shoulder.

"Listen Batman," he said to him, "you and everyone has sacrificed so much for this city. I don't care what's happened, but if it does turn out...I will help you as much as I can but I can only promise so much. Let me know what you learn...and I'll go from there. For now," he said locking the file into his desk, "we'll pretend that we still don't know about Arkham and the Joker for as long as we can." He looked up to see that Batman was gone. He sighed and sat back down in his chair. He was getting too old for this.


This was going to be hard. It was bad enough with Alfred and Superman but now with the others? It was going to be absolutely horrible. As they walked down he could hear quite a bit of activity down in the cave. He stopped midway down to look for the others, but they appeared to be on the lower levels. Alfred gently pushed him to continue. There really was no avoiding it now. He sighed and held his breath, if he could do one thing he would try to stop that laugh.

"I have wonderful news," Alfred called out, making J.J. again hide himself behind someone bigger than him, "Master Timothy is home!" The noises down below immediately stopped and they could hear footsteps quickly make their way up to the elevator. J.J. looked down and sighed as he tried to hide himself better behind Alfred. The elevator door opened and Barbra and Dick rushed over to Alfred, but stopped dead in their tracks when they looked down. Alfred sidestepped to the left, revealing poor Tim.

It was just as Alfred had described to them, but seeing it for themselves made it all the harder. The little purple suit, the skin color; that horrible frozen smile. He looked down and wrung his hands together; feet shuffling. They were just, staring at him. He could feel the laughter squirming inside his stomach, building up and trying to make it's way out. Barbra was the first one to approach him. She knelt down and pulled him into a hug, just like Alfred had done. He wished she hadn't though, it was getting really hard not to laugh and it did kind of hurt for people to hug so tightly.

"Thank God you're back," she said, her voice starting to tremble, "I had started to think you were dead!" She squeezed him harder, feeling just how thin he really had become. She finally relented and let him go, but became slightly worried when he wouldn't look at her.

"We were out of our minds with worry kid," Dick said, taking his turn in hugging him, "you sure know how to give us some grey hairs." Sure, it was a stupid thing to say, but he really didn't know what to say to him. He looked down at him and saw that he was struggling with something. He balled his fist in front of his mouth and started to bite his finger, shaking all the while.

"Hey, it's ok," Dick said to him, "we don't care what you look like right now, all-" he stopped when he felt himself being pushed away. He let go of Tim and allowed him to push him a little more. He looked at Tim, his smile still frozen there and the only facial feature to convey any emotion was his eyes and all they showed was anger. His eyebrows were furrowed in anger, but just as quick they relented back to worry. He turned and walked away from them, arms shaking. He tried to stop the shaking by hugging himself.

'Why are they doing this,' he thought miserably to himself, 'can't they just get it done and over with?' He felt someone place a hand on his shoulder, but he pulled his shoulder away; he was getting really tired of people doing that. He tried to walk away, but Dr. Tompkinsns stepped in front of him. He looked up at her, she had her 'no nonsense' face on. He sighed and looked away, he really wished he could just leave now.

"I think it would be best if we gave Tim some time," Leslie said looking at them, "he's obviously tired and has had a long day." They gave her hard looks. She shook her head and started to push J.J. toward the medical bay.

"There will be plenty of time for talk later, for now it's best to let him settle down." They looked at each other and sighed. They didn't really want to just...ignore Tim. There were so many questions to ask and it was going to be hard to just wait. J.J. was grateful that she had chased them away, yet not. A small part of him wanted to let them cuddle and love him, but the other half just wanted to be left alone. He looked back at them, they were still standing there. He hated how they just stared at him. Leslie closed the curtain behind them, giving them privacy. As she grabbed her clipboard, he could hear the others leaving the cave; quietly talking to each other. He knew that they were talking about him; it just bothered him so badly. Leslie looked over her notes, then looked back at him.

"Now Tim," she said to him still looking over the notes, "I won't pretend that I'm not curious as to why you didn't say who you were but I need you to be completely honest with me now." He looked up at her, and then nodded. She nodded back and told him to jump back up on the stretcher. He climbed back up on it and quietly waited.

"Have you had anything to eat today?" she asked. He gestured with his hand that he kind of did. She looked at him.

"Can't you talk?" He looked down, and shook his head. She grabbed a spare pad of paper and a pen and handed it to him. He looked down at it and wrote on it.

'No, I can't. I've tried and I can't.' She read the note, then started to write on her papers. He wrote another note and waved it to get her attention.

'Where's Bruce?'

"He's out for the moment," she answered, "but he should be arriving soon." He looked down and wrote another note; he started to giggle.

'I want to go.' She read the note.

"Where do you want to go to?" she asked. He pointed back to the note. She wrote more down in her notes. She looked up at him and said:

"Normally," she said to him, "I would take you to the hospital, I may still," she said; as she said that, he started to laugh at it, "but considering the delicate situation at hand, I think it would be best to treat you here for now." He tried to catch his breath; the laughter had built up so much that it was hard to stop it from poring out. Leslie turned a valve and handed him a oxygen mask. He looked at it, and shook his head. He didn't want it. She still put it on him despite his protest. He breathed in-between each laugh, and admittedly it helped. However as soon as the laughter subsided, he pulled it off and tossed it away. She wrote down more notes and looked at him.

"I need to ask Bruce some questions, but until then I think it would be best if you got some rest for now. Lie down and I'll give you something to relax you." He looked hard at her, not wanting any more medicine. He had his fill with the Joker's 'medicine'. She picked up the discarded oxygen mask and tried to put it back on him, but he kept moving his face away from it; eventually covering his mouth and nose with his hands.

"I promise it's not going to hurt in any way." she finally said. After a short stare-down he finally let her put the mask on. She turned on the oxygen and turned another valve. As the oxygen and unknown gas hissed inside the mask, he looked at her as she gathered some supplies and wrote down more notes. As he looked at her the world seemed to become fuzzy at the edges. He breathed in deeper out of reaction and it only made it more fuzzy. He lied down on the stretcher and tried to take off the mask, but his arm didn't want to listen to him anymore. The last thing he saw before falling asleep was Leslie waling toward him, then nothing.

Leslie turned off the gas and looked down at him. She didn't give him much, because she didn't know what all was still in his system. She adjusted him better on the stretcher, so he wouldn't fall off. She thought about phoning Bruce when she heard a car's engine. She opened the curtain and could see the Bat-mobile approaching. The Bat-mobile came to a stop and Bruce jumped out. He appeared to be more rigid than normal; suit torn and damaged.

"And where have you been," Leslie asked, "it's been well over 12 hours since you last checked in."

"Out." is all he said, walking past her. She turned to watch him walk toward the computer.

"Tim's home now," she said, causing Bruce to stop dead in his tracks, "I gave him a anesthetic to calm him down. He's behind the curtain over there." she gestured toward it. Bruce slowly moved toward the curtain and just as slowly gripped it, but stood still after that.

"Is it bad?" he asked so quietly that Leslie almost didn't hear him. There was also a waver in his voice that she hadn't heard from him in over 30 years. She walked over to him and put her hand on top of his and gently lowered his hand; replacing his hand on the curtain.

"You'll have to see for yourself, Bruce." She said opening the curtain. She looked down at the child, then toward Bruce. He moved slowly toward Tim and looked down. She couldn't see what his; if anything, expression was but Bruce just stood there just looking down at the poor boy.

"I haven't had a chance to run anymore tests on him," she finally said picking up her clipboard, "but I can only guess what's his mental state is. He certainly did not want to return here, as it took Superman hours to coax him into going with him." She looked up and saw that Bruce was still standing near Tim looking down at him, gently stroking his hair. She walked over to him and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm not going to lie about this Bruce," she said more gently than she usually would, "but judging from what I've seen so far in his behavior...well, It's beyond what I know in that field." Bruce slowly turned and looked at her from the corner of his eye; she could see his stubbornness approaching mixed with anger. She sighed.

"I know what you're thinking," she said to him turning away, "lord knows that only Alfred is probably the only other sole on Earth who knows how you think...but for Tim's sake Bruce..." He only looked on all the harder. She sighed again and looked over her notes.

"Alright...I'll humor you Bruce," she said sternly, "We'll watch him for a few days to see how his mentality is. It's a damn miracle that he's alive Bruce, with all that's in his system but other than that I wouldn't hold out for any more of them." Bruce walked over to the computer and started to type on it, as if she hadn't said anything. She walked over closer to him.

"Bruce, you can't just give him anti-venom and everything will be fine...most of the damage is psychologic-" Bruce slammed his hands down with such force that it caused her to jump. He breathed heavily through his nose and curled his fingers into a fist on the console and looked down.

"I know you're hurting Bruce," she said to him, "probably more than any of us, but you have to face reality; Tim may never be the same person ever again. It will probably be a life long struggle to ever regain any sanity." He turned to her again with full anger in his face.

"He's not insane." he growled to her. She shook her head.

"You're in denial; you haven't seen or...or heard him Bruce. The way he acts, the way he moves-"

"Enough."

"-the way he laughs." They stood and stared at each other, the air thick with tension.

"You just don't know Bruce. You have to see it for yourself when he wakes up." He turned back toward the computer and started to type on it again. Leslie walked up to him and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Get some sleep Bruce," she said to him, "we're all tired and we have a big day ahead of us." He didn't look at her, but stood up from the chair and walked toward Tim. He lowered himself near Tim's head and whispered something to the sleeping boy, but she couldn't make out what it was. He stood up and turned away walking toward the changing room. She was slightly amazed that for once he was sort of listening to her. She walked back over to Tim and picked up the boy and gently carried him toward the medical bed. She put him in it, took off his shoes and put the blanket over him. She looked down and decided to call her assistant and cancel all her weeks' appointments; it was going to be a long, hard week.