Janey had rushed back to her room, and sat crying on the bed. Seeing her father again had brought back a lot of bad memories she had tried to repress, and the fact that the Joker was responsible for inflicting that pain on her truly hurt. Her feelings for him were conflicted – her hero had done something unheroic, and that was a hard blow to recover from.
"Janey Bennett?" said a voice. Janey looked up at her window to see Batman standing there. She frowned, wiping her eyes.
"Yes? What do you want?"
"I want to talk to you," said Batman. "Can I come in?"
Janey nodded, opening the window for him. "What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I was alerted to the Joker's plan by Harley – she told me about how you feel about him," said Batman.
"How did she do that?" asked Janey, confused.
"She sent a note to the police threatening to blow up a hospital unless I met with her," he sighed. "And then you. Didn't want to risk that she wasn't bluffing, so I agreed. And I'd like to help you out – that's kinda my job."
"Funny, I thought your job was beating up people," muttered Janey. "Not a very heroic thing to do."
"I don't see myself as a hero," replied Batman. "Because the truth is, heroes don't exist, Janey. Not human ones, anyway. Humans are flawed and fallible, and putting anyone up on a pedestal is a dangerous thing to do. Even me. If I thought of myself as a hero, that would give me license to do all sorts of things in my head, all sorts of things that wouldn't be very heroic, but I would excuse them to myself because I'm a hero. I would feel I had the right to do what is necessary. But I don't. The Joker thinks he does, however. He thinks he has the right to do whatever he wants, whatever amuses him, and that's not right. That's not something a hero would do. And if you excuse these actions just because you think he's being controlled by someone else, that's not very heroic either. You're trying to make excuses for someone while blinding yourself to his true character. That's not something any sane person should do."
"I just want to help him," murmured Janey. "Like he helped me."
"I understand," said Batman. "I want to help him too. But he can't be helped because he doesn't want to be. Believe me, I've tried for a long time. But you can't force someone to try to be good again. Even if you think he is trapped in a cycle of violence, he has to come to that realization by himself. No one can force him. If you care about someone, all you can do is be there for them."
"Is that why you're always there for Joker?" asked Janey. "Because you care about him?"
"Why does everyone think…no," snapped Batman. "I have to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't hurt other innocent people. It's for their sake, not for his."
"But have you ever considered taking the first step to ending the violence?" asked Janey. "And not fighting him?"
"I can't risk the lives of innocent people by trying to be the better man," said Batman. "I know sometimes it seems like life would be better if we could live our ideals. And my ideal world is a world where Batman doesn't exist. But I also have to live in the real world, and understand that Joker won't stop hurting people if I stopped fighting. If anything, he'd hurt more people in order to draw me back out."
"But if you honestly think that you're both going to be trapped in a cycle of violence forever, why haven't you ended it?" asked Janey. "Why haven't you killed him?"
Batman was silent. "Because I still need to have some ideals," he murmured. "I think we all do. But it's important to pick your ideals carefully, and recognize when they're delusional. The Joker as a hero is an ideal that is ultimately going to disappoint you."
"He already has, a little," murmured Janey. "But he was very heroic to me once, and I still believe there's good in him."
Batman said nothing again. "Maybe…very, very, very deep down," he conceded, slowly. "In some almost microscopic corner of what passes for his heart, maybe his concern for you was motivated by some sort of affection rather than as a meaningless joke."
"I need to believe that," murmured Janey. "Just as you need to believe in your ideals. Sometimes they're all we have left."
Batman was going to try to say some more comforting things, about how he could relate to feeling alone, when he suddenly heard screaming from down the hall. "Hold that thought," he muttered, racing toward the door. "Joker! Whatever you're doing, stop right now!"
"Aw, c'mon, Bats, lemme even out the other side!" protested Joker. "It's rude to interrupt an artist halfway through a masterpiece, y'know!"
A moment later, Batman had dragged both Joker and Harley back into the hotel room. "I've called an ambulance for your father – I'm taking these two back to Arkham," he growled. "It was nice to have met you, Janey."
"Wait, before you go," said Janey, standing up. She paused. "I realize…I might have made you uncomfortable, Joker, by calling you a hero. You're a lot more complex than that, and I'm sorry if that action of mine caused you to lash out…"
"Hey, I lash out unprovoked all the time, kid," interrupted Joker. "That's why they call me crazy. Don't blame yourself."
Janey nodded. "I'll always see you as…my hero, but I see now that you're not just my hero," she said, looking at Harley. "And it was wrong of me to just show up back into your life and expect to change everything. I think maybe…I should leave Gotham. I'll head back to Motor City and try to re-evaluate my life. But maybe…we can be pen pals again?"
"Of course we can, kid," he said, nodding. "You can write to me care of Arkham Asylum, at least temporarily, of course. The dump can never hold me for long. But since I'm always dragged back to it by this killjoy here, I can catch up on any letters I miss when I'm away."
Janey nodded. "Harley…you're a lucky woman," she said, holding out her hand. "I hope in future you can think of me as a friend. I think we both care very deeply about the same man, and we should be united in that, not divided."
"Yeah," agreed Harley, nodding. "I guess. C'mere, kid," she said, holding out her arms to embrace her. Harley pulled Janey in close and whispered in her ear, "But you ever make a move on him, and I'll divide your head from your body, get me?! He's mine! Mine, mine, mine!"
"That's just how she talks to her friends," explained Joker, as Batman dragged them away. "See ya around, kid!"
