Updated: May, 2 2007. I looked at my chapters out of curiosity and saw that they were in dire need of cleaning up.
Era/setting: Post crisis comics, some BTAS.
Pairing: Batman and Joker. Don't like it, tough!
Synopsis: Batman and Joker go deeper into delving into each other's disturbed psychosis. Is it two steps forward? Two steps back? Do opposites attract?
Feedback: Yes, please!
Beta: Phoenix Skyborn, thanks doll!
"My word! Sir! Are you all right?" Alfred panted. His sleeves were disheveled from preparing that evening's dinner but it was more like the quake had shaken the normally calm butler out of his firm, gentle demeanor.
"I'm fine, Alfred," was all the Batman said as he stepped into the kitchen, carefully walking over the messy floor which was covered in sauce from the broken glass containers. It would take hours to clean up the mess but fortunately, most of the good china remained intact due to thumb files Alfred had installed to prevent such as occurrence. He owed the old man one but now wasn't the time as the Batman filled himself a glass of tap water and swallowed its contents generously.
"Sir, may I inquire as what you have done with in regards to your new guest?" The old butler began scrubbing the black and white tiled floor with a very moist cloth.
"He's not too happy with the living arrangements but there's not much you can do with a lost cause like him." The Batman set the empty glass into the sink, eying the man who had been a surrogate father to him for most of his life.
"He's tied down, so I doubt he'll do any harm, to himself especially." The Dark Knight looked out the window where the skies were heavy and grey with stray patches of black had begun to produce a downpour again. His mind was still in a deep haze over the Joker's words. They stung him like sharp needles. They pierced him in a way that no gun shot would or blade could ever do. He quickly shook it off.
It was just a lie, a lie to keep himself alive, a fib to bring him to the brink and make him slip. They were slippery and Joker is slippery.
"Master Bruce, if I may-"
"Save it, Alfred." Batman interjected as he started his way back down to the cave to lock himself away from all civilization.
"Sir, that's precisely the problem!" The middle aged butler asserted, making the Knight stop in his tracks. "You always insist on maintaining control like it's a wild bull elephant and you turn a deaf ear on anyone who warns you about possible circumstances, I only ask that you don't forget that as Bruce Wayne, you are your father's son, and well, it wouldn't hurt to listen, even once in awhile."
Questioning his line? It wasn't exactly the first time but it wasn't something Bruce couldn't easily digest and the Batman found irritating.
"Thank you for the words, Alfred," Batman gruffed. "I'll remember them when I'm busy breaking Joker's bones after he slips antifreeze into your cornflakes." Batman shot the older man a dirty look and proceeded down stairs into the dark passageway, into the Batcave.
"At least think about it, sir." He turned back to offer him a warm plate of pasta but saw that it was already gone.
Everything had maintained its place except for a few off-balanced jets and vehicles from his private collection. Some went as far back as when Dick wore the mantle but with a few modern modifications. The computer was still shut down, with occasional circuits sizzling faintly, but no permanent damage was done. Looks like sleep won't come tonight for Bruce Wayne but even then, there were more serious matters to be tended to. He surveyed the general shake up of the place and decided it was nothing he couldn't handle, but it wasn't without its neck breaking challenges.
Joker meanwhile was half sitting, half lying down in a corner playing with the fabric of his torn, sweaty shirt from the hospital. His left hand was tied to a pipe, extra tight so as to prevent a similar occurrence like the one at the hospital. His dainty wrist hung there weakly in the chain and it had been sometime since he had nutrients, the hospital fare notwithstanding.
"Zip a dee doo da, zip a dee oom, my oh my what a wonderful boom!" Joker hummed to himself, recalling one of his first mass murders, they way people lay out like props over the city, in the warehouses, a young pup and he already had the city at its knees. It wasn't until he caught sight of the Bat standing over him that shifted from his position. He was feeling cramped in that position.
"Oh, you're back!" Joker beamed. "I was beginning to think you didn't love me, any more." He giggled at his remark. Batman set the dinner aside on top of a flat space on his computer.
"Shut up." He said disgustedly. He suppressed a desire that the quake should have done some sort of damage to him, like shock, or whatever, but with more than half his medical supplies gone and most likely destroyed, it wouldn't help being too rough on him at the moment. He knelt down and faced him with one foot approximately in between them. Joker's emerald eyes widened at the closeness.
"What is it, darling? Do I have an eye booger?" He gasped. "Wait! You noticed my crow's feet!" Batman stood up once again, creating a dark looming shadow. He did not like the look of those sunken hollowed cheeks. They looked like snow frosted basins in terrible need of nourishment.
"Just checking for any minor discrepancies," the Bat responded as a matter of factly.
"I'm fine, you overgrown ugly cephalopod!" Joker squawked. "How many times do I have to tell you, I feel no pain and even if I did, I would be up and running in no time, as you have been subject to witness many times over! I'm invincible! I am the walrus! I am Joker, here me roar!" He huffed.
Batman however, made no misgivings about the clown's tantrum. In fact, he was expecting it.
"Just because you don't feel pain doesn't mean there is not any thing wrong with you." Batman reached for the warm dinner, substituting for what the Joker had requested earlier. "I really suggest you eat something." He held out the warm plate which was emanating dancing fumes that tickled Joker's senses.
"I prefer macaroni" he spat out. No way was he going to take orders from him!
"Very well," Batman said flatly. "I'll ask my butler to make you some." The last thing he needed was unnecessary drama in his own home and it wouldn't hurt changing a meal for him. He turned to make his way up the stairs.
"Wait! Wait!" Joker cried.
Batman stopped dead in his tracks. The pointy eared figure turned back at the corner where Joker was occupied.
"Are you going to leave me down here, again?" He asked with a hint of concern in his voice.
"If you want something other than baked ziti, I do have to tell my servant." Batman replied. Never in recent memory could he recall Joker sounding so, well, helpless. He didn't mull over it for long. Joker made a vague attempt to adjust himself but failed.
"Well, if you are going to be my guardian, the least you could do is make my stay a little more… hospitable, if you will, just until I get back on my feet." Joker sighed. He strained at the growing discomfort at his back.
Batman pondered over his next decision carefully.
"What is it this time?" He asked simply. For all he knew Joker would want him to site quotes from Marx Brothers movies or do impersonations from his favorite Stooges films.
"Do you mind getting these mangy things, off of me, Bats?"
The Dark Knight looked at the cuffs, which were squeezing themselves at the psycopath's joints. He looked uncomfortable there but with all that he had done, Joker deserved it. He deserved no ounce of sympathy or charity.
"You've handled worse Joker," was all Batman said as he turned back. It wasn't until he was at the foot of the stairs that his stern train of thought was broken by the Joker yelling.
"Go on! Go on! Run away from all your problems! All I asked was that you give me a bit of your attention and what do you do?! You turn all coward on me!"
The burning words gripped at the Dark Knight's ego. He could have easily ignored the jab and acted as if he didn't hear it but he wasn't about to let the Joker have the upper hand again, especially after the uncomfortable tirade only moments earlier. Poked and prodded like a caged rat, he wasn't going to let go of it this time. He marched back at the crook with the caliph of clowns staring up at him defiantly.
"Like they say," Joker purred, "the bigger they are, the louder they…." But before he could continue, he was jerked violently at the collar, making the chain at his wrists rattle.
"How dare you! After saving you from that hellhole and taking you in, you just prove to me that it's all one sick act! Well you know what? Congratulations! I knew it was somewhere in you, just waiting for the right moment to come out!" Batman barked. His rage blazing like wildfires that even the clown prince was taken aback at the display.
"Not quite," Joker said nonchalantly, trailing his thin finger with a jade curl on his forehead. "My leg is getting numb from sitting like this, and I could use some iced tea, I am rather parched," he smiled softly.
"What is it going to take, Joker? Until I break every bone in your body so that you'll stop being a walking chemical waste dump to people?! Do I have to break your neck for you to finally get it!" Batman grabbed the thin wrist very firmly, shaking the Joker out of his relaxed state. His teeth clenched and gritted that it both fascinated and startled him. Although he had been used to Batman reprimanding every single one of his incongruities, he had to admit to have never been this close and unsure at the same time at such rage, such feeling, and such vulnerability.
"All I ask is that you remove my shackles so that I may move more freely," he said sternly.
"That's precisely it, isn't it? Everyone gave you a little wiggle room and you took the entire arm. Not happening, Joker!" Batman bellowed. He shook the clown's limb in his grasp. Joker's palm gripped at the strength applied to his lower arm, particularly in the radius. Batman caught himself in the midst of all feeling. It wasn't helping the occasion and yelling at the Joker did little to curb the situation, but nonetheless he felt slightly better and took deep calculating breaths to simmer down and to compose himself. Joker wasn't going to win again. It was one thing battling with him on rooftops, abandoned toy factories and the like, but here in his own private space, in his most intimate vicinity where everything held so dear close to him, it felt more like a battle within himself than with his arch nemesis. He felt he was walking on eggshells.
"I'll get you your tea." He said coolly.
Should he leave the Joker down here, he would most certainly hurt himself by strangling and breaking his wrists and thus making things worst. He could also give into his request, but under his control. There was little to lose with the latter. That would mean giving into his demands, and as far as he was concerned, the murderous clown deserved nothing.
"Don't give me that modest Bat guano." Joker hissed. "You seem so tense at any mention of familial connections. Don't I think I didn't notice…."
Batman felt a punch in the gut. The only family members he had were all operating on their own successfully and even that was sacred ground Joker was treading on. Naturally, as if he cared, and after what he had done to two of them, he proudly treaded on the skin deep wounds. Marking his territory and spraying it with his poison.
"You killed my ward, how else is any sane person going to feel?" Batman spat back. The dish was shaking in his hand.
"Oh, I know about that already, but that is not what I am talking about. Tell me, Bats, did your parents have anger management problems?" The Clown Prince strained at the tightening grip of the cuffs, but the Batman did nothing to stop it. He looked pathetic and in real pain. It was a tragic sight. He secretly liked seeing Joker like this. The bastard deserved it.
"Didn't yours? I would say expressing them through violence is a pretty bad example." Batman replied.
"True, but she did tell me to express myself." Joker chortled, "But I'm not the one on trial here, I want to hear about you, I want to continue our little chat session."
The Dark Knight was growing more and more agitated with the same old song and dance.
"I say we stay away from that until you can prove to me that you're sane and that you have an ounce of decency."
The Batman stared down at the Joker like a cat about to pounce on a mouse. Shaken and rattled, he couldn't forgive himself for momentarily slipping. It meant that he was getting the upper hand and that's what he ultimately wanted. Joker was dicey. Any minor glitch in his favor was a victory and that was long overdue. The Batman was in control and it was his turn to handle the Joker as he saw fit. He was an inhuman monster who murdered his ward and paralyzed a sidekick in the most sinister of ways. He set aside the plate.
Enough was enough and he wasn't going to get away for the thousandth time.
Joker's only response was an insolent smile that spread over his face.
"Very well, I see you're a man of privacy and I can totally respect that. It is part of the fun factor for me to be honest with you, Batsy, but honestly, is it too much to ask for a teensy weensy favor?" Joker cooed. His ruby lips turned downward into a deep frown that almost looked mocking.
Whether it was or wasn't, Batman was chewing over his thoughts considerably. Magnifying them ten million times over and analyzing every single nuance and effects ten steps ahead. Giving him this one little glitch would be minor but it would still mean that he has one. On the other hand if he didn't untie him, he would not only shut up about it but it would affect him somehow, shaking violently and bleed to death. He couldn't risk that. He would only do this favor out of concern and not out of pity. Scratch that, concern for his health, not pity for the man himself.
"Well… have at you Batsy?" Joker asked assertively. A fraction of that infamous beam smudged on his face.
"On certain conditions Joker, one, only under my supervision…" Batman said as he began to pick the locks of the chains.
"Okay, but how will that fly when it comes to my rights to privacy?" Joker prodded on, looking suspiciously at the overgrown Bat.
"Two, this isn't Arkham, so don't expect the liberties that you had there in here." He picked the second lock, finally releasing the clown prince who stretched himself out, letting blood circulate more freely in the numb areas. His long limbs were reaching out into the empty air. He cracked his wrists to rid himself of the stiffness.
"Ahhhh, much better, "he chuckled. He folded his arms and leaned back at the wall behind him. "So, how's life? What do you think about the trash TV they have nowadays? I bet that's why you like coming outside to play almost every night, aren't you?" Without warning, the Batman lunged at the jester, pinning him violently against the granite wall in a different corner and out of the shadows. "Ouch! And here I was trying to make decent conversation with you and this is how you treat me? What happened to my half of the bargain?!"
Batman scowled, his hand clutched to Joker's shirt, which had rotted some more.
"There's nothing decent about you, first off and secondly, conversations are a two way street and I only heard you talking." The stern animalistic tone had aroused an old hatred from both men. Joker squinted and the pressure at the torso. He glared back at the horned figure pinning him down. He let out a low yowl.
"If you think you're getting away with it again this time you're sadly mistaken." Batman grumbled, paying no mind to the labor he had induced on Joker. He leaned in to make sure that it really was what he saw.
"Batman…." Joker strained with barely a voice attached the whisper that came out of the red lips. Days without a meal had done their damage as Batman caught on close proximity. Dry skin, lifeless glassy eyes, it was not a decent sight, even in the most evil of monsters.
"Owww…" Joker mumbled. The pull was twisting and nerve racking. He had tolerated worse kinds of pain but nothing really like this. He had no concept of pain or torture unless he was the one orchestrating it. It was almost as if Batman himself was enjoying it.
"What's wrong, Joker? I thought you wanted my attention." Batman said sardonically. He had to admit it felt liberating having the Joker under his thumb. The murders, the lies, it was like getting some sort of compensation without feeling really guilty.
"What are you doing?" Joker strained. The absence of any itinerant movement on his behalf was aggravating.. Pain was the way that they both communicated: broken bones, black and blues on various places. Most normal people opted for emails, pictures, silly stuff like that. But they weren't most people, and they certainly weren't normal.
"Just one question, Joker, what do I get if I were to let you go?" the Dark Knight said darkly.
"Gnnnnn, my undying devotion, Bats…" Joker clenched. His concentration arrested because of the sting.
"Please," he pleaded under his breath. The Batman further constricted him.
"You're. Hurting. Me." Joker said drearily. He really was hurting. The limited mobility on the floor had generated pain on his arm and it didn't help at all that it was concentrated on his chest, where the center of his induced trauma was at its strongest. His ribs felt like they were about to be crushed.
Batman registered the words in his mind, but his arms didn't comply. It could have been involuntary but when he caught the expression on Joker's face he knew then he wasn't helping the situation. He let go slowly but assuredly, letting Joker know who was really boss.
"Thank you," said the mountebank adjusting the contents of his shirt. The open space suddenly let him feel a chill. "Now Batman, was that entirely difficult?" The harlequin piped up, feeling fresh as a daisy.
"It's all one big game for you, isn't it?" Batman spat back, staying at close propinquity to the Joker in case he tried to pull a fast one.
"World's greatest detective indeed, ha!" Joker spat back, rubbing his dainty white wrists to free himself from the ache generated from the metal fetters. "Now, I don't kiss and tell freely to just anyone, but in your case, Bats, you might say we're connected. Don't tell me you didn't notice…" Joker looked ashamedly down at the floor, setting his eyes down at a puddle leaking out of a small pipe close to his feet.
"Again with the distorted romance," Batman snorted. He couldn't tell what was more frustrating, that or Joker acting like a two year old. "You were saying…" He made a mental note to stop with the needless violence. It wasn't helping him at all. He was going to need a lot of hours to dedicate to yoga as soon as possible.
"That's exactly your problem, Batman. You have this egocentric God complex that it blinds you to see things from other people's perspectives!" Joker hissed, standing mere inches away from the Dark Knight who had a small advantage in height. Batman felt his gut tighten.
"You have nothing to share with the world, Joker, just a warped sense of reality that only allows for mindless chaos with my head on the stake." Batman lolled crossing his broad arms across his chest, looking like an angry parent.
"Can you at least listen to what I have to say without jumping to conclusions? I do it because I know you hate it, it gets you come after me. You're like my best friend and Gotham is a stage. You're my playmate and we have this chemistry that I know you feel too."
Joker's words stung like acid. Batman knew what he was talking about. That long history of battle, the deep wounds, all the losses were all at this man's feet. Jason. Barbara. He just didn't like the way he was interpreting it.
"I don't find psychological dribbles enlightening, especially when they are from a self proclaimed psychopath."
Joker stood there, examining his finger nails, but the words bit him. Not once did he look at the Batman.
"Typical." Joker hissed.
"If I am your best friend as you claim, where does that leave Harley?" Batman inquired. He was revolted, but curious.
"Harley?" Joker replied with a look of inquiry on his face.
"Yes, Harley, wears red and black and calls you pet names that sound like kid's desserts." Batman said frankly.
Why was she so important? Joker's deep green eyes tensed together as if he was insulted.
"Cute kid, but a little too needy for my tastes." He turned to face him.
"You don't say," the Dark Knight replied dryly. "Then why don't you kill her?"
"Oh come off it! You've seen how clingy she is! Can I help it if the dumb broad is a little cookoo for my cocoa puffs! How can I if she doesn't get the joke if she won't see it coming?!"
"Perhaps as a way to preserve YOUR ego, Joker?," the Batman pointed out. How could he counteract that one Batman wanted to know.
"What's there to be proud of when someone claims they love you when they do nothing but live off the air that you breathe! Harley, she… she's just my henchwench, my right hand girl. The only reason I keep her around is because she distracts me in between my stays at Arkham and my encounters with you! She doesn't understand my need to see you! The challenge you bring me, not her! She doesn't stimulate me to the extent that which you do because you have this joie à vivre that she doesn't!"
Batman was very taken back at Joker's confession. It wasn't like him to pour himself out about his henchgirl. Although he knew he wasn't exactly her biggest fan either, Joker's words made sense. Not a lot but some sense. It certainly shook up his views on his arch nemesis but not entirely. There was still the factor of his constant abuse.
"An interesting display of emotion," Batman folded his arms.
"I only took her in because she was my one way ticket out of that hell hole! But she wouldn't leave me alone and I thought I would make use of the girl, she had this something, this passion, this life. She, she reminded me…" Joker couldn't finish his words. Whatever he was thinking of next was twisting his senses, bubbling up like a tar pit that couldn't break surface. Whatever it was, Joker couldn't bring himself to say it.
Interesting, Batman thought. Joker's breakdown was definitely a first, and it wasn't an act as far as he could tell. He made no effort to get back at him, no teases, no taunts, not a word of torment from him in this entire tirade. The very idea of humanity within the Joker was an unnerving one in itself. It put him in a different light. Not necessarily a better one, but different nonetheless. It was a sick joke and it was hard to swallow.
He wasn't as ready to be forgiving about Harley. It had become pretty obvious that she had used the Joker as a way to compensate for something in her life. Hearing something similar out of the Joker was something quite dark.
"Those are real people you're dealing with. You just don't see that. They are not material things you can dispose of easily." Batman warned, talking to the Joker like he was a first grader, knowing full well he wasn't going to listen. Still, it was better than letting him think blindly that he was taking in every word. "Something must have happened to you earlier in life, and I can understand that. It doesn't have to be this way for you." The gentle tone was warm and assuring, and when it graced the Joker's ears, he felt a warmth inside. It was the first time ever in recent memory that someone talked to him like a person, the Batman of all people, talking to him and not down.
The Clown Prince turned and shied away from the words, hiding his frown that masked deep resentment because he knew that Bat tapped into something. It didn't have to be this way. It didn't have to end with another round at the hospital wing and back to the asylum for another pointless analysis. The Batman provided for that already and in far shorter time than the asylum could ever do.
"Hmmm, took you awhile," Joker retorted. His mind was racing at a hundred miles per hour at the myriad of thoughts swimming in his brain. Had Batman finally seen the bridge? Was he willing to cross it? The Clown Prince took the time to reflect his disposition. He wanted that connection and in that fleeting second he felt that friction dissolve and they both saw eye to eye. It only took seconds to dissipate and fizzle away as if it wasn't there any more.
"The offer I made at your place still stands." He was of course referring to the proposition made it his carnival grounds, right after he humiliated the commissioner and his daughter. Batman knew Joker had gone off the deep end a long time ago, but the glimmer of hope he saw reflected in the tirade seconds earlier didn't seem like an awkward idea.
"And what would you do, if I accepted?" Joker asked. His voice was timid, like a frightened child. This was dangerous ground and he didn't feel like trampling on it and spoiling the moment.
"That would be up to you. Providing of course, you make progress, I will personally see to it that you get a better cell, if that helps," Batman said assuredly.
"Oh, what makes you think I can't change?" Joker teased.
"That would be up to you." Batman said simply. He toyed with the cuffs in his possession.
"Again with the abstracts, Batsy." Joker smiled.
"I wouldn't want to get my hopes up." Batman stepped back and surveyed their surroundings. Joker took the opportunity to step in closer.
"You're such a pessimist," Joker hummed, "but enough about me, let's talk about you, the subject I originally called for." Joker prodded. He touched the cape on Batman's side. The Dark Knight, although taken by slight surprise, let him play with the fabric, if it was what kept him calm and cool. He clutched at the cuffs and hid them out of sight away from the clown prince.
"Why are we so tense?" Joker asked softly. His eyes were hazy, tired looking.
"You're touching again," Batman snapped. He hoped the words conveyed enough sense into him without having to be physical. Of course they didn't. Joker's hands traveled from the thick hanging Kevlar to the one attached to his face. It was getting very, very personal.
"What's a matter, you don't like my touch? You got something there. I was only getting it," The Clown Prince taunted. There really wasn't anything there, he just wanted to see if the Bat would lunge at him after being so gentle with him. He couldn't resist touching even if his hands would be cut off as a result. He wanted to see if the Bat was sincere and that if he really was caring enough to actually let him sneak a stroke. He didn't attack, that was a good sign, but he stopped while he was ahead. He settled his left hand onto a bar sticking out of a wall.
He then felt something grab at his wrist and click.
Trapped again.
"You-" Joker tensed.
"I told you not to touch me." Batman responded sharply. He executed each word forcefully., hitting each one like a nail into a wall.
"You, I should have known it was too good to be true. I offered you trust and this is how you return the favor?!" Acidic eyes glared in rage at the Batman. The treachery was an insult to injury and that could not be forgiven easily.
"Trust? What trust, Joker? For all I know, they could be nonsensical rantings coming out of you." Batman spat. Old prejudices were creeping up on him.
"You rotten, sneaky, son of a-"
"Hey, watch it!" The Dark Knight snapped. "You keep up that monkey business and I'll-" But before he could finish his sentence, Batman had the wind knocked out of him upon feeling a swift force fly across his face. A stinging sensation ensued afterwards.
The Joker had just slapped him.
He registered what had just happened after he turned and saw the frail clown heaving. His teeth clenched tightly. He let out a low growl. "Joker, this is the last time…"
Another speedy backhand had greeted him. He then grabbed the Joker's free wrist.
"Joker, stop it-"
"Or what?! You'll cage me up like a dog and have total disregard for me and treat me like the dirt between your toes when I've been cooperative under your and I quote care and you expect me to-"
"SHUT UP!"
A jab at the stomach broke the Batman's fuse as he landed a fast punch on the Joker's jaw. His tolerance was snapped and irreversible beyond repair. There was no use getting the Joker to collaborate and he felt that he had gone too far despite warning himself earlier. What a fool he thought. He's not human, he got to you! Idiot!
Joker kneed him, but the tables were turned when Batman landed another jab this time at the Joker's stomach, making him yowl at pain. He elbowed the clown prince after a failed attempt by him to kick him in the groin but managed to stop him in time. Lies, pain, madness, that's all that there was to him and you almost fell for it! How could you have been so weak Bruce! You're a fool!
"Stop…"muttered the Joker pathetically. The wind knocked out of him senselessly. His vision was barely at focus when he felt another painful jab attack his body knocking him off balance. All that pent up rage was there when he couldn't protect Barbara when she was shot fatefully in the spine, for Jason when he couldn't be there for him, and for Sarah when she was caught in the madman's trap.
"Stop!" A voice just above a whisper emanated from the Clown Prince but had fallen on deaf ears on the Batman who seemed to have answered the dying plea with an uppercut right bellow the bony chin, sending the Joker to the floor. A white hand had stretched out to grab at something, anything to keep his balance. His thin thighs were shaking in labor.
"STOP!" Cried the madman. It had been too much for the mogul of mountebanks. His wits end at the violent blows the Bat was giving generously. It wasn't like other times when he was on both feet, even for him, this was intolerable and excruciatingly embarrassing. But most of all, it was heartbreaking.
The door on top the stairway had creaked open, letting in an orb of bright light, shining like a laser. The poised butler had made his way with a tray of light snacks made for two. His expressionless face however would turn into one of full blown shock upon seeing his master and his arch enemy engaging in combat. It was one thing hearing about these encounters via newspaper or from the primary source, but to see it in the flesh was more than he could handle.
"MASTER B-!!" his voice was drowned out by crashing metal breaking the trance between the two men locked in combat. It was like a bright line had shone on him, and he was caught. The Batman held his clenched fist upon feeling the bright light from the kitchen shine on him, creating an overlapping magnifying impression on the situation. He looked directly at the source, there was his faithful butler standing at the foot, looking aghast at the man he had raised since boyhood, engaging in a battle in the private quarters of his cave. And there beside him lay the Joker, bleeding, breathless, and exhausted. All his sins lay bare.
Batman let go of the Joker's shirt, and looked at his hands, he felt them covered with Joker's blood, covering him like an unwashable sin that would certainly taint him forever. This wasn't what he had intended for. He was supposed to protect the Joker even if he was the worst of the worst. He felt naked. He had been caught, found out, exposed as to how far the violent nature of the jab had consumed him, and it was beyond the capabilities of a common man. He was more than man. He was the Bat. The Monster.
No.
Monsters only hurt for their own gratification and he wasn't that. He only went after crooks, psychopaths, extortionists, murderers, and cheats. Joker was all of these and more, and he had finally had him under his thumb, under his control. But he didn't mean for this. He didn't mean to almost kill him. He didn't want to be exposed to his faithful butler, all the ugliness, all that imperfection, out in the open.
Master Bruce Alfred thought. He wasn't sure if he should venture further but decided against it after Batman knelt down and released the Joker from his shackle. The next moment surprised the old butler beyond all comprehension. He took the Joker in his arms, the clown prince, wincing and groaning in pain made a pathetic attempt to push him away. Batman settled the Joker on a nearby bed he added into the cave just in case he wanted a five minute snooze. He immediately relieved the Joker from his rotted chemise and began administering tender attention to the shaking clown prince.
"Don't… come… any… closer… " Joker said weakly.
Batman ignored the complaint and instead applied baby wipes to the snow skinned man's forehead, scrubbing away dried blood and sweat to prevent any infections. He swept the cloth gently over that pure white skin. He then set some blankets and covered the quivering jester with them. He didn't want to know if it was because of the drafty atmosphere of the cave or because he was disquieted. The Clown Prince continued to whine and writhe in protest.
"Shhhh," Bruce said brusquely and much to his surprise, Joker did as he was told and lay down on the cot almost immediately while the Dark Knight wiped away residue, dried blood, and sweat. Batman meanwhile resettled himself onto the Bat computer and sought to distract himself by working on rewiring circuits to get it started again. Alfred had gone off to clean up the mess he had created and came back with a fresh batch of water and deviled eggs.
Neither man was hungry.
I just wanted to make a small declaration on my interpretation of the Joker: I see him as a complex, deep, psychologically driven sociopath, much like his beloved Bat. However, there are some people who think that the one note serial killer angle for the Joker is better. I disagree. I see Joker as more than just the deranged retard I read in 'It's Joker Time!' (Seriously, I wish I hadn't read it, looking back. It's a cheap way to make the Clown Prince seem 'maniacal' by milking his fluid psychosis) or as a loose fruit loop like in Emperor Joker. God, what was I thinking buying that trade? Folks, save your money. The mind numbing Joker is psycho 24/7 version gets so numbing and boring. It is stories like that that make me appreciate Joker's characterization in Hush Returns; at least he was able to compose himself there and in Killing Joke and Arkham Asylum even. Seriously guys, as much as I love Batman 1989 and Batman: The Animated Series, not giving Joker human qualities just makes him a simple criminal. By giving Joker humanity, it makes him three dimensional and enigmatic instead of a one note killing machine. Hell if Darth Vader and the Devil can have origins, why not the Joker?
